View Full Version : AAR - WiTP:AE - Guadalcanal. CCIP(A) vs. Egan(J).
(this is a sister thread to Egan's AAR of the same scenario on the other side - http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=190204 . Please be mindful of the fact that neither of us can read each other's threads until the scenario is over, so, sorry for any repetitions and please don't spoil anything! Should be interesting to follow these reports side by side)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/flag-us2.jpghttp://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/flag-aus.jpg
INTRODUCTION
Morning, August 6, 1942 - Operation Watchtower
The Allied invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi is ready to begin. 57 ships slip from their final resupply stop at Luganville on Espiritu Santu, enroute to the Solomons: 21 destroyers, 6 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers and 28 transports, split into 5 task forces with orders to bombard and invade their objectives the following day. Aboard is the 1st Marine Division, with over 27,000 personnel standing by to be landed on the islands. They are supported by a support force of another 24 ships to the north, including 3 carriers providing air cover for the operation. The operation is expected to be a surprise, with IJN's heaviest units still recovering from the results of Midway and likely more than a week away. This leaves the road to Guadalcanal open.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/force1.jpg
The Japanese have started building an airfield at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal, and a naval base on Tulagi. Taking these will not be difficult - there are no large garrisons present, no big fortifications built, no substantial air cover in the immediate area. Still, we cannot linger for long - and to keep the landings short, the supplies being landed with the invasion troops are minimal. Once on Guadalcanal, the Marines will have to make do. At least the initial landings should be unopposed - and if the Japanese do send cruisers after the invasion force, we expect to make them pay with merciless air attacks!
However maintaining our position on the islands may be a different matter entirely. Once the Japanese reinforcements arrive, a bitter battle can be expected. Although seriously reduced by our victory at Midway, Japanese carrier strength is still greater than ours, and their air crews have more experience. This is probably another week away, so we have a brief window of time to take over the airfield, secure our positions, and prepare to fight back.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/henderson.jpg
Meanwhile on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea, Australian troops prepare to face yet another assault by the Japanese. Having failed to invade Port Moresby during the Battle of Coral Sea, they now attempt to take it by land. One of the aims of the Solomons operation is to divert manpower from this operation - which cannot be allowed to succeed, because it would threaten the Allied supply network, and provide the Japanese with a launch pad for a future invasion into Australia itself. A long battle in the jungle looms ahead...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/australian_soldiers_kokoda.jpg
My plan of operations for this one is simple and conservative: to draw the Japanese into three battles of attrition on as favourable (for us) terms as possible. The first of these showdowns has already started on the Kokoda Track. The second, on the ground in the Solomons, is about to open. The third and most complex will be at sea across this theater. As long as we are able to hang on to Port Moresby, Tulagi and the Lunga airfield on Guadalcanal, and avoid major losses at sea, this operation will be a complete success. It is not in our interest to look for a decisive showdown with the Japanese here, but once our troops are on the ground in the Solomons, we cannot allow them to be cut off from supplies. So, chances are, that there will be battles and they will be bloody. But, for now, all of that is just ahead - there is a lull in fighting across the theater, a calm before the storm as the invasion force steams silently to the north...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/canal02.jpg
Come back tomorrow for the first daily combat report of this saga :D
elephantium
12-06-11, 01:49 AM
Ah, excellent. I'm looking forward to reading this AAR, especially with the opportunity of getting both sides of the story :D
Krauter
12-06-11, 02:04 AM
Excellent this sounds interesting.
Will you eventually be aiming to strike at Rabaul either by land, air or sea? Also, what about the possibility of him starving out your Marine division of supplies?
The Kokoda trail is a mire, but thankfully it's one that has the advantage to you. Thankfully, this soon after Midway it's questionable if the IJN can launch a major offensive towards Moresby, so you just need to worry about the IJA coming over the mountains.
Good luck. :salute:
Will you eventually be aiming to strike at Rabaul either by land, air or sea? Also, what about the possibility of him starving out your Marine division of supplies?
Well, Rabaul would be a pretty bold target! The only way that might happen in the short term is in the first couple of days, I manage to defeat his cruisers and shoot down most of his Betties. I don't really have land bombers that I can use to reach it under escort, and I definitely don't want to lose any carriers before his arrive on the scene. We'll see how it pans out afterwards, but Rabaul is a very distant objective for us. It's not really worth much, anyway, except what we gain by destroying his units there.
Starving out my Marines is a real possibility on the other hand :D
I'll try to send them some relief very quickly, even by air if necessary (I have a couple dozen B-17s available from New Caledonia that I can throw towards that once we capture the airfield). But then it's all up to who controls the sea! And it's almost definitely going to be me for the first week, then him for a couple of weeks afterwards.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/1940_09_astoria_ca-34_painting_a_beaumont_ng_700x.jpg
August 6, 1942
The invasion task force departs in stormy weather. Against heavy seas, they make limited progress over the course of the day - but on the bright side, they are not detected by the Japanese scouts.
A mostly uneventful day elsewhere, with sporadic air activity across the theater. In New Guinea, the Japanese make no offensive efforts in the air or on the ground; an allied air strike on Lae in the morning ends up with disastrous results for the escort - the Kittyhawks manage to keep the numerically-inferior Zeroes away from the bombing Beauforts, but lose 4 in the air and another written off after landing, while failing to make so much as a scratch on the Japanese fighters. Later in the afternoon, B-17s arrive at high altitude to bomb Buna, but cause no damage.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn01-1-1.jpg
Meanwhile on Guadalcanal, a first sign of things to come as a wing of 18 B-17s from New Caledonia comes in at low altitude and sends the troops scattering for cover. The bombs are accurate and are reported to cause a few dozen casualties - a good prelude to the invasion.
At sea, as carrier task forces race to meet each other, their scout planes send panicked reports of possible enemy ships in the area. The ships turn out to be the very carriers they are supposed to meet, and the confusion is quickly cleared up. No enemy scouts or submarines are spotted, though a potential sub contact is reported off Port Moresby on the other side of the theater.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn01-2.jpg
No clear indication of where the enemy fleet is, though coastwatchers report two ships moving south of Rabaul, and 4 ships west of Kaiveng. There is heavy radio traffic reported at Rabaul. As cruisers are based at these locations, we have to take this possibility seriously. However, assuming the invasion moves quickly, we should arrive at Guadalcanal well before them. And assuming the Japanese do make a cruiser attack, we expect to be able to give them a surprise - a last-moment change in the roster of the bombardment force may give them a bit of trouble, as a certain trade of ships is made with the carrier force. What is it? Well, you may find out in the next few days...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn02.jpg
(situation in the Solomons at nightfall on Aug. 7th)
August 7, 1942 - The Battle Begins
The battle for Guadalcanal begins in earnest today, as ships race towards the Solomons. Overnight, task forces make final adjustments and begin heading for their final targets. The aim is to bombard Guadalcanal by nightfall, and begin the invasion proper by the following morning.
At dawn, the Japanese (assuming they weren't clued in by yesterday's B-17 strike) get their first indication of the Allied presence, as a Mavis flying boat sights the USS Enterprise and her group east of Malaita, within striking distance of Guadalcanal. The flying boat is promptly shot down by the Enterprise's CAP, but not before reporting the contact. Rufe floatplane scouts return and shadown the carriers later in the day.
There are conflicting coastwatcher reports from Kaiveng and Rabaul, some reporting the harbors empty, others later reporting ships present. The Japanese naval reaction is still not certain. There is heavy radio traffic from their main base at Truk.
In the morning, as the invasion force approaches Guadalcanal, they are greeted by a particular Japanese kind of welcome - a flight of Betties, escorted by at least a dozen Zeroes, appears in the cloudy skies at about 10,000ft.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/betties.jpg
They are most likely arriving on a lengthy flight from Buka, the nearest airfield capable of supporting such a force.They are detected by radar, fortunately, and Wildcat fighters from the carrier force's CAP are sent scrambling to intercept. The intercepting force gets the jump on the Japanese, who are flying much lower. The Wildcats dive in on the Japanese formation, and score some very early successes.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn02-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/809011.jpg
As the fight develops into a prolonged furball, the Japanese score many hits on the Wildcats, but have trouble downing any - while the Zeroes suffer further losses themselves. The F4F's rugged construction definitely deserves some credit for it.
The claimed results speak for themselves:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn02-2.jpg
A coup for the American fighters - though it is worth noting that two of the damaged Wildcats crash while landing on the carriers. The total air tally for the day is definitely in the allies' favour - 9 Zeroes and 3 flying boats are estimated to be downed at the cost of 4 Wildcats, 1 B-17 and a Kittyhawk lost in a landing accident.
The Betties get through, flying in a V formation, and head not for the carrier forces, but for the transports approaching Guadalcanal - they must be aware of our presence, then. The planes drop their bombs while flying level, missing the transports which are still on the move, many hours away from their landing beaches. They then return to their base - at least the Zeroes have managed to keep Wildcats off them. They'll certainly be back tomorrow....
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/betties2.jpg
Back on New Guinea, allied raids continue. A flight of B-17s tries to bomb Buna from high altitude in the morning, and is intercepted by a pair of Zeroes. The bombers put up a wall of defensive fire, making it difficult for the fighters to approach. One of the Zeroes is damaged, and the other manages to make a head-on pass on a bomber, damaging it in return. The bomber doesn't make it back to its base in Australia.
In the afternoon, two separate raids, one of Beauforts escorted by RAAF Kittyhawks, one of A-20s escorted by US P-39s, attack the airfield at Buna from low altitude. These raids are somewhat successful, encountering no resistance and suffering no losses, hitting the runway in the process.
On Guadalcanal, with the Japanese bombers not seeming too keen to return, the carrier cover force launches a large strike on the northern side of the island:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn02-3.jpg
Japanese defenses are non-existent, but the cover of the jungle helps. Another strike of B-17s arrives later in the afternoon on the same location. Both strikes are estimated to have killed about two dozen Japanese troops on the ground.
With allied aircraft over the island, the situation on Guadalcanal becomes clearer. About 10,000 Japanese personnel are estimated to be on the island, with most of them on the northern end. The airfield at Lunga, the main target of the invasion, is fairly poorly defended.
By evening, the first bombardment force arrives with our last-minute addition - the battleship North Carolina, which was traded to the carrier force for the AA cruiser San Juan. The 16" guns are a welcome addition to the heavy bombardment. However the defenders of the island are alert, and fire howitzers back at the bombarding force. For some reason, they seem to really hate Australians:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn02-4.jpg
However the guns firing in return are puny in comparison to the allied firepower, and the RAN cruisers shrug off the hits without much worry.
Finally, on the Kokoda track, the Japanese launch an artillery bombardment in the evening. Nothing results from this.
And of course, let's not forget the subs! The silent service is not as silent today as it was on the 6th....
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/SS-213_Greenling.gif
USS Greenling, submerged on patrol south of Truk and watching out for any Japanese reaction from their main base in the South Pacific, spots a Japanese sub on the surface during daytime. It is running too fast to catch up, however the contact confirms that the Japanese are probably aware of the invasion and are scrambling what they can to the Solomons. This contact is further confirmed when the sub radios back to Truk later in the day, its location well to the south of Greenling.
There is a credible report of another possible Japanese sub off Stewart Island, to the east of Guadalcanal. Credible because it's reported by two different scout planes. Our escorts better be on alert...
The invasion is now set to begin. Overnight, further naval bombardments of Tulagi and Guadalcanal are planned. The transports should arrive by morning on the 8th. With the Betties expected back - possibly with some naval company - it will be a race to get the Marines on the ground safely. Stay tuned...
Falkirion
12-06-11, 08:15 PM
This is going to be great. Really looking forward to seeing what strategies you and Egan develop as this scenario goes along.
Crud, while looking over the op reports from the last turn and waiting for Egan to get back with the next one, I caught on to something that is giving me a really bad feeling...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/badfeeling.jpg
Just one line of text - an unconfirmed contact report that is easy to miss.
I originally ignored this as very improbable (as in reality, scouts often make totally inaccurate reports), but if it turns out to be true - it could very well be the Japanese force, and if this is where they were as of evening, that puts them within 9-10 hours sailing at full speed of my carriers - the position of which they should clearly know! If they do catch my carriers off guard at night, it will most likely cost me a carrier - the Japanese are better at night fighting and the carriers' screens are no match for Japanese CAs.
The odds are a bit remote, but the numbers (9 ships) and the speed (16kt) do suggest something of the size and quickness of the Japanese cruiser force. The direction reported is totally wrong however.
It'd be bad etiquette to re-do my turn now, but it's going to be a nail-biter waiting for this next one! Fingers crossed that even if it is the Japanese, they won't make it till morning. However the carriers will definitely need to move to a safer position next day.
One line of text is making for some huge suspense here!
They're probably all merchants or junks, like you say, the scouts do get over-excited. Better hope it's not the Jap Task Force or you are going to have a spot of bother if they Long-Lance you in the night.
Still, that's what it's all about! The tension, the agony, the waiting. Now you are a real military leader. :03:
Yep, the scouts definitely have a habit of seeing an enemy fleet behind every rock, whale, wave in the ocean, friendly transport, bird. Sometimes they throw up some truly bizzare results. Sometimes I look up the coordinates given and they turn out to correspond to somewhere like Brisbane... or Canberra. I may make a regular feature of "most improbable contact report of the day" in the future :D
No turn today since Egan's been away, but in the meantime I did something I thought you might find cool - recreated a few scenes from our last turn with SH4. You can check them out in the SH4 screenshots thread right here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1801667&postcount=3595
Krauter
12-07-11, 08:52 PM
I like both of these ideas (the screenshots using Sh4 as well as "Most ridiculous contact sighting of the week" :D) Good AAR and hopefully he doesn't catch your carriers off guard.
Just wondering, but what is the escort composition of your Carrier Forces? Do they comprise battleships? How effective would their guns be in the dark?
These two pictures sort of give it away as far carrier escort...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/SH4Img2011-12-07_181344_552.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/SH4Img2011-12-07_181309_031.jpg
Enterprise has two AA cruisers and a heavy cruiser with her; the other two carrier task forces nearby have two CAs, plus all of them have destroyers (the carrier forces are operating separately from each other, but in close proximity; afaik in WiTP:AE there is an early-war penalty on sortie efficiency for the Allies if they operate multiple carriers in one TF). Originally the North Carolina was attached to the carriers, but was traded for San Juan, one of the CLAAs that you see.
The Japanese have at least four heavy cruisers, but theirs are faster, heavier and much better trained in night fighting than ours. The one perk that allied ships should have on their side is radar (in an AI game I was able to surprise Japanese cruisers at night once), but all in all this is one encounter I do not want to have.
Historically, the result of this was the battle of Savo Island on the night of 8th-9th (which will be the turn after next). The Japanese cruisers went after the landing force, defeating its accompanying cruisers soundly, only to turn away without attacking the transports.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_savo_island
My bet was that the carriers would be far enough to have due warning, and that the forces at Guadalcanal would need all the help they can get. That's why North Carolina is there as a deterrent (and, if worst comes to worst - a ship better able to deal with damage than cruisers) - we'll see what Egan's reaction to it will be!
I like the style of your narrative here. This is sort of like an alternative history novel, only better. :up:
Tribesman
12-08-11, 04:02 AM
They're probably all merchants or junks,
Talking of junk merchants, what are you doing with the merchant shipping in Australia?
Any conversions?
Same question on some of the AMs
Krauter
12-08-11, 06:28 AM
My bet was that the carriers would be far enough to have due warning, and that the forces at Guadalcanal would need all the help they can get. That's why North Carolina is there as a deterrent (and, if worst comes to worst - a ship better able to deal with damage than cruisers) - we'll see what Egan's reaction to it will be!
One other thing, will be that he will be less likely to believe scout reports of a Battleship in a force of cruisers and destroyers so near Guadalcanal. Hopefully buying you some time and surprise
Talking of junk merchants, what are you doing with the merchant shipping in Australia?
Any conversions?
Same question on some of the AMs
My grasp on the supply side of the game is still so-so (I've only had it for a week and a half, after all!), so I'm just slowly and manually loading in supplies. The first couple of small convoys from Sydney have sailed to New Guinea and Espiritu Santo. Would it make sense to go with any of the conversions right now? I guess I should also consider converting the AMs to Es?
The escort on my convoys is generally a couple of PGs, AMs or DDs, a little more in larger convoys - in my experience so far, two ASW-capable ships per convoy have been able to deal with Japanese subs fine. So far, anyway...
As for the battleship, I actually suspect he knows it's there since it has already bombarded his troops on the island. 16" guns are probably not very easy to confuse with 8"!
And thanks TorpX, hope you enjoy the rest of it :salute: Should have another couple of turns today.
Tribesman
12-08-11, 01:54 PM
Only just bought it in the sale myself, I am trying a second attempt at single player Guadalcanal as the first went tits up very quickly on supply and fuel
I was just thinking that the AG and AKE conversions will be of more use as there isn't much shortage of cargo haulers, while with the AM the conversion to sub chaser really boosts the ASW.(also that liitle one in Port Morsby converts to AVP to get extra aviation support)
Thanks for the advice on that AM at Moresby - it's near-useless on its own, when aviation support is something I definitely need! I'll also have to consider the AG conversions.
Otherwise I don't think I have an excess of supply shipping at all, especially if I can count on some later taking hits from air and submarine attacks. It does seem like I may have an excess of passenger/troop shipping, but I'm not sure what that converts to that I can use...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Guadalcanal_diary_1.jpg
August 8, 1942 - On the Beach
The Betties return far sooner than we expected them - shortly after midnight, two separate night raids swoop down on the invasion ships herding in the channel. Fortunately, their accuracy isn't better than it was the previous morning and no hits are scored. Two of the bombers are reported hit. Having lost several Zeroes during the day, I suppose they have no choice but to fly by night - they can't count on much escort.
Both the Lunga Point area on Guadalcanal and the Tulagi islet on the other side of the bay come under heavy naval bombardment in the dead of night. These are both reportedly effective, with Japanese facilities on Guadalcanal being wrecked. Tulagi, being small and with few places to hide, is pummeled for the first time and as many as 170 Japanese are thought to have been killed.
The unloading of the trasnports, which arrive unseen in the darkness, begins as the bombardment is still going on. As the ships approach the beach, they are fired on by the Japanese defenders, but use their own guns to suppress the counter-bombardment.
Weather through the night is rough, and two accidents happen. Collisions between landing craft sends 8 artillery pieces and a combat vehicle to the bottom. These overturned landing craft cause more casualties than the Japanese - 84 are reported at both landing sites.
At dawn, the Japanese resume firing on the landing ships, scoring a few insignificant hits. 14 total casualties are reported on the beaches - a light toll compared to that caused by accidents.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Guadalcanal09.jpg
Japanese scout planes return with a vengeance, shadowing all the task forces they can find. One of them is shot down by the carriers' CAP. It's really time to move out of that patrol area - the Japanese must know we're there.
Daytime air raids end poorly for us in New Guinea - both an Australian and an American raid on Lae allow Zeroes to slip past the escorts in poor weather and attack the bombers. All 3 Beauforts making the attack are lost, and two A-20s are lost to zeroes and flak. No casualties reported to the Japanese.
B-17s continue to pummel the far side of Guadalcanal, but it is the Navy's forces that hit a real jackpot there late in the morning. The Japanese have apparently tried to either resupply or evacuate some of their forces with fast transports that arrived overnight - in fact, there is a pretty good chance that these are the contact I was so worried about yesterday (my carriers remained safe, of course). For whatever reason, these were still sitting at the beach at the far end of Guadalcanal in the morning. The air attack is mercilessly accurate:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn03-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/apdhit.jpg
Four fast transport ships, plus a regular old Maru, are left sunk and burning off the shore. A good catch. The same carrier-based planes return to bombard troops on the ground in the afternoon, and cause a few more casualties to the Japanese.
On the ground, resistance is limited. The Japanese bombard the beaches with artillery both at Tulagi and Lunga, but our troops take cover effectively and take no casualties. On the Kokoda Trail, the Australians do even better - counterbattery fire is reported to score a success, killing a few Japanese gun crews in the process.
As of the end of the day, the situation stands as follows:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn03-2.jpg
The troops are on the beach at both Lunga Point and Tulagi. Fighting is yet to begin in earnest, but all of the soldiers and most of the equipment are now on dry land and ready to attack. They will continue to receive support from the sea.
Subs are reported prowling all around Guadalcanal, but they don't run into any of our ships. The sub spotted yesterday off Truk continues to be chatty, sending radio signals giving away its position as it moves south. No sign of large IJN units anywhere. We'll see what this night brings...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/lunga.jpg
August 9, 1942 - Battle for Lunga Point
Overnight, the Marines' beachhead at Lunga Point is solidified. Return fire from the Japanese further inland withers; only a few shells are fired overnight. At Tulagi, however, the landings are meeting stiffer resistance. The Japanese positions there and on the nearby islets of Gavutu and Tanambogo are well-fortified and return artillery fire. 40 casualties are suffered by the Marines during night shelling, as scattered night-time thunderstorms rumble over the water.
The thunderstorms and artillery aren't the only thing rumbling - the Betty bombers arrive again, surprisingly, as the weather is not optimal and there is no moon to assist them. Nevertheless, they manage to get a few near misses on the cruiser Astoria and other ships protecting the landings.
The larger bombardment force with the battleship North Carolina moves further up the coast of Guadalcanal and shells Japanese positions at Tassafaronga some miles further up, wrecking Japanese port facilities there (where their ships were caught a day earlier), but not causing any significant casualties.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadal1.gif
As the sun rises, Marines continue to secure the beaches at Guadalcanal with no opposition. The Japanese artillery fire on Tulagi is also beginning to wither.
Meanwhile out at sea, the USS Grayling and her sister Greenling off Truk get involved in a morning showdown with an ASW patrol off this Japanese base. It begins when Greenling torpedoes a patrol boat (or perhaps more properly called ASW corvette) patrolling off the island. The now-infamous Mk.14 torpedoes fail her - the small ship is hit accurately, but the torpedo is a dud. The patrol boat and her accompanying sister immediately turn around and depth charge Greenling for a while, but she evades the attack successfully. Grayling, patrolling nearby, is also detected by the same patrol boats a couple of hours later, and is also depth charged without success. Later in the day, they detect Greenling again, but she slips away.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/SS-209_Grayling.gif
Grayling
The usual comedy of erroneous reports continues - multiple ship-based scouts report nearby friendly task-forces as enemies, though the prize for most improbable report goes to the Catalina that reported a cargo convoy a few miles out of Brisbane as an enemy task force.
On New Guinea, air battles continue - the Allied forces at Port Moresby have become better coordinated and US fighters and bombers now tend to fly in the same package as the Australians. Their morning attack on the port at Buna is only met by a single Zero this time, who pounces on the formation from above, downs a single Kittyhawk fighter, then withdraws.
That Zero reappears a short while later when a flight of B-17s arrives at high altitude to make a pass at the local airfield. The bombers put up a wall of defensive fire and the zero is shot down. Another group of B-17s tries to bomb Lae and is met by 3 zeroes. The attackers are driven off, but 5 of the 8 bombers also turn back before reaching the target.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/b-17-pacific.jpg
These attacks aren't very effective as far as bombing, but if they tie up lightly-armored zeroes with a lot of defensive fire at high altitude, it may be a battle of attrition worth continuing. Better then letting them slaughter the smaller allied planes bombing at low altitude - a reminder of which comes later in the morning when Airacobra fighters flying from Milne Bay are ambushed by Zeroes and lose one of their own.
Down below this fight, in the harsh terrain on the ground, the Japanese launch an attack. They do not advance very far, but the fighting is the heaviest seen on the track yet - 580 Japanse and 141 Allied casualties are reported. The Australians hold their ground and remain in positions by nightfall.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/014037-640.jpg
In the afternoon, an all-out strike by carrier aircraft on Japanese forces at Lunga begins the final phase of the attack. SBD bombers make some successful hits, killing almost 40 Japanese. A single bomber is damaged by AA fire and crash-lands on the deck when it returns.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sbdcral.jpg
The Japanese launch their last artillery response, but are overwhelmed by return fire. Finally, the Marines move from their beachheads. First the assault on Tulagi begins, overrunning most Japanese positions and resulting in 351 Japanese killed, 38 Marines lost. However resistance remains on these small islets housing an IJN base that had been constructed there recently.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadalcanal1.jpg
On Guadalcanal, the assault on Lunga is decisive. The attack overruns the airfield and drives the Japanese into a panicked retreat. In the massive firefights that ensue, the Marines take 111 casualties - only somewhat more than the losses from accidents while disembarking ships. The Japanese are reported to have lost as many as 2300 troops in the evening's battle.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn04-1.jpg
As night falls, the battle on Guadalcanal is over - for now. The Marines discover an inhospitable island, but for the moment they have a few days to dig in, repair the airfield, and await supplies. No doubt, the Japanese will also be awaiting reinforcements. Once those arrive, the battle will flare up again...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadalcanal_map003.jpg
Allied positions at the end of the assault
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn04-2.jpg
Situation in the Solomons as of midnight, Aug. 10th, 1942
August 10, 1942 - Battle at Tulagi
The amphibious operation is complete. All supplies - except for 3 tons of them at Tulagi - have been landed. For fear of Japanese surprise attacks and the need to free up naval combat forces, the supply ships are ordered to weigh anchor and sail for New Caledonia immediately. Under the cover of dark, the Savo Sound - filled with as many as 60 ships the day before - is suddenly empty. It is not known whether Betties attempted another strike overnight, but even if they did they would've found no targets.
Coast watchers report 3 ships in port at Rabaul and 4 at Kaiveng - both bases for enemy cruisers. Perhaps the Japanese never really intended to interfere with the invasion? Either way, it's too late - all the Marines are on the ground.
The first of the convoys bringing in the much-needed supplies to the Marines is only a couple of days out. While the carriers continue to stand off and provide air cover over the area, the combat ships will escort the transports south for a day, then turn around and meet up with the small transport convoy inbound for Guadalcanal. From there, we will see how things develop.
A small group of old destroyers converted to minelayers (which can be seen off Stewart Island on the above map) carefully drops by Guadalcanal during the day in the meantime, laying mines off the northern end of the island to make Japanese resupply efforts even more difficult.
During the day's air battles, the same pattern continues - a combined strike by US and Australian planes on the port at Buna yields modest results but no casualties; B-17s are met by Zeros at high altitude and drive them off with heavy defensive fire, with both sides taking some damage; carrier and land-based strikes on northern Guadalcanal continue to harry retreating Japanese forces.
The bitter fighting on Tulagi - more intense and prolonged than on Guadalcanal - finally concludes with the allied assault on the islets of Gavutu and Tanambogo.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Guadalcanal_map002_small.jpg
The Japanese troops there are few, but well entrenched, with caves to hide in. They show no interest in surrendering. The Marines have to fight for every inch of ground, but are ultimately successful. 46 casualties are suffered; 345 Japanese are reported killed. Unlike the large expanses of jungle on Guadalcanal, there is nowhere to retreat on the small Tulagi atoll. A few may have escaped by swimming to Florida island nearby, but effectively all Japanese units on Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo have ceased to exist by nightfall.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/47debf8d_vbattach59076.jpg
Finally there is a lull in the fighting. There are no ships in the Savo sound, although submarines S-37, S-40 and S-41 arrive off Guadalcanal at night, ready to intercept any Japanese units moving into the area. The Marines continue digging in and repairing the bases on the islands for their own use.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn05-1.jpg
Situation in the Solomons at the end of the day, 11/8/42
August 11, 1942
The day begins with a fairly reliable report from a coast watcher at Shortlands Islands, who identified the Japanese cruiser Tatsuta anchored at the Shortlands. The ship itself is not very dangerous and being a small, fast raiding unit is probably not sailing with a big force, but it does reveal at least a token IJN presence ready to pounce on any opportunity against our shipping here. Radio transmissions from the islands are also confirmed, suggesting that the cruiser may be up to something. It's still likely that the Japanese are guarding their strength until heavy units arrive from home waters.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/IJN-Tatsuta.jpg
Cruiser Tatsuta
More disturbingly, the reports of subs all around Guadalcanal show great numbers of them concentrating in deep waters south and east of the island. It's not unlikely that the Japanese are going to make a first attempt to choke off our supplies by attacking our convoys with submarines. Hopefully escorts will do their job - but perhaps freeing up a couple of destroyers for ASW patrol in the area would also be a good idea.
Elsewhere, it's mostly a quiet day. No action on the ground anywhere in the theater. In the air, Zeroes appear over Port Moresby, causing our P-39 and Kittyhawk fighters to scramble. The Japanese lose one zero, shooting down two Kittyhawks and one Airacobra. Elsewhere the daily pattern of strikes continues, with B-17s successfully fighting off Zeroes. One formation of B-17s is confused by weather and arrives over Lae piecemeal, where 5 of the bombers are left without escort and are spooked by attacking Zeroes, leaving without dropping their bombs.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/p40kittyhawk_75squadron001.jpg
RAAF Kittyhawk in New Guinea
Meanwhile the surface combat force has caught up with the convoy to Guadalcanal and is now escorting it. They should arrive on the island by morning on the 13th. Around the same time, runway damage at Lunga is expected to be repaired, at which point some of the B-17s in New Caledonia may be used to ferry supplies to the Marines. More importantly, 4 days from now the escort carrier Long Island is expected to arrive in the theater. It will be used, most importantly, to ferry aircraft to Guadalcanal - once Japanese fleet units arrive, it will be crucial to have an "aircraft carrier" in the area that they can't easily sink. So, the Guadalcanal airfield will have to fill that role. Aviation and naval engineers and support will need to be brought onto the islands as well; this should happen within the next week. For now though, the transports need to get back to New Caledonia and reorganize for the resupply operation. Fleet units are still hoping to scare up some Japanese ships before returning for resupply - causing some damage to the Japanese before their big fleet arrives would give us a good head start for what will no doubt be some tough naval battles ahead.
A quick guide to the recent area of action in maps (courtesy of IL-2 :O: )
Just thought I'd give a little visual aid for those of you not terribly familiar with the area...
Southern Solomons
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/gmp02.png
The Japanese base at Rabaul is off the top left corner of this map; the Allied invasion forces enter from bottom right. At the start of the invasion, Allied carriers were on patrol to the east of Malaita.
Area in blue zoomed in:
Savo Sound (aka. Iron Bottom Sound)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadalmap4.jpg
Invasion forces actually enter around Cape Esperance and through Savo Strait, then head for their objectives at Lunga and Tulagi.
Japanese retreat to the area in red. Here their transports are also sunk.
Lunga Point
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadalmap5.jpg
Marines establish a wide beachhead, then move through the coconut groves near shore to assault the airfield. Retreating Japanese forces flee into the jungle to the south.
Tulagi
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/guadalmap8.png
Initial landings on the west side of the island, near the cemetery. Marines advance eastward and clear fortifications at the southern tip of Tulagi on the 9th; assault on Gavutu and Tanambogo goes on until the 10th.
Great AAR. I like your style. The RL pictures nicely spices it up a bit!
Oh hai thar, I heard you need planes, Lolwaffles ahoy!
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2341/27072009223519.jpg
Better start building that rubber carrier :doh:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn06-1.jpg
Situation at the end of the day in the Solomons
August 12, 1942
A quiet night all around the theater. Coastwatchers continue to report several ships at anchor at both Rabaul and Kaiveng. If only we could know which ships...
In the morning, 23 Betties appear over Guadalcanal, bombing the Marine positions there without much success. Zeroes once again appear over Port Moresby to challenge the local defenders with impunity. They shoot down 3 Kittyhawks and a P-39 and withdraw, losing one of their own.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/p-39ng.jpg
P-39 in New Guinea
The usual pattern of raids continues, albeit with somewhat more success - A-20s and Beauforts hit the port at Buna, while on Guadalcanal B-17s also wreck the port, causing surely more misery for the remaining defenders. A carrier strike on Guadalcanal follows, inflicting a few more casualties on the Japanese.
The convoy that brought Marines to Guadalcanal drops anchor at Noumea in New Caledonia, with no incidents on the way home. A few of the ships will go back there almost immediately to drop off naval and aviation engineers. Meanwhile back on Guadalcanal, the first supply convoy arrives somewhat ahead of schedule at sundown, immediately beginning to unload supplies while the combat ships keep watch off the coast. Convoys to Port Moresby and Milne Bay on New Guinea are also a few hours out from their destinations after an uneventful trip.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/torpwake1.jpg
August 13, 1942 - Torpedo, Starboard Bow!
...is how the night started for USS Buchanan, which was briefly in the periscope sights of a Japanese submarine. As the destroyer accelerated, the torpedoes missed, and she swung around to look for her attacker, signaling to other ships accompanying her. USS Balch's sonar operators, following behind the Buchanan, quickly reported contact with a large Japanese submarine, and moved in with depth charges.
The destroyers were part of the escort for USS Enterprise, which was fortunately never spotted by the sub. Making several passes, the Balch's crew reported heavy hits on the enemy sub, keeping it under. The destroyer Benham then also joined the chase; the sub was kept under prolonged bombardment, and after the Benham scored an accurate pass, it suddenly appeared on the surface - a big, grey vessel. The Balch immediately began firing on it. They were not, however, surrendering; as the destroyers rushed toward her, the sub fired torpedoes on the Benham which was coming back after its successful depth charge pass. These were dodged, and four destroyers closed in to pummel the sub with guns. This did not last long, and it soon slipped beneath the waves, never to be seen again. No crew was observed escaping.
The escorts shared credit for the kill, tentatively reported as I-10, a large A1 class submarine.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn07-1.jpg
The Japanese were to have their revenge that afternoon however. The newly-arrived transports at Guadalcanal lingered off the coast; with the docks virtually destroyed by naval bombardment a few days earlier, the unloading continued painfully slowly. Through the early day, there was no sign of the Japanese. In the afternoon, with the weather grey and occasional showers, they weren't expected either - but then they came.
A flight of 22 Betties rushed in from the northwest at medium altitude, and this time they were not carrying their usual ineffective bomb load. They swooped in low towards the anchorage, and released several torpedoes. One of the first of these was aimed at the destroyer Conyngham.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/conyngham.jpg
USS Conyngham
The torpedo struck midships and broke the destroyer's back. As the Japanese attack continued, she sank rapidly in Savo Sound, the first American loss at Guadalcanal. Fortunately, all of the other torpedoes missed.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/turn07-2.jpg
So, the day's results were very much a draw - one destroyer escaped a torpedo, but another caught it.
Elsewhere, the pattern of previous days continues. The Allied low-altitude raids in New Guinea are unopposed and cause a few casualties to the Japanese on the ground. B-17s are intercepted by Zeroes, but drive the attackers away. On Guadalcanal, both B-17s and carrier-based aircraft are continuing to cause misery to the Japanese. Port facilities are further devastated and over 60 casualties are inflicted on troops on the island. For the first time in many days though, neither side suffers any air-to-air losses.
Still no sign of the IJN, however reports again suggest a possible concentration at Rabaul. Meanwhile convoys arrive at New Guinea, bringing in much-needed (though not desperately lacking) supplies.
Fincuan
12-12-11, 04:08 PM
I already posted about this to Egan's thread, but since CCIP can't obviously see it I'll post here too:
Thanks a lot, your AARs just cost me 52e!
Keep up the good work too, as your stories are a joy to read. The time it takes to produce quality AARs is truly appreciated here :up:
Thanks a lot, your AARs just cost me 52***8364;!
How much is that in British pounds sterling? :hmmm:
Thanks a lot, your AARs just cost me 52***8364;!
To me your AARs costs me frequent visits to the product info page of WitP: AE... And of course eventually the game itself.
To me your AARs costs me frequent visits to the product info page of WitP: AE... And of course eventually the game itself.
Hehe, well, that's how I kind of got into it myself in the first place - AARs in general, but Egan's sadly-aborted game against Happy Times most recently. Hopefully I can get enough of a hang of this to start a grand campaign afterwards. This is really a lot of fun as a PBEM game, though hugely time consuming (even without counting the time it takes to do the AAR).
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/port_moresby_bombed.jpg
August 14, 1942 - Port Moresby Under Attack!
The big news of the day is a surprising switch in the object of the Betties' attention. Rather than going after the still-unloading supply ships at Guadalcanal, they instead head for New Guinea from their base at Buka, with Zeroes turning out in numbers to escort them. The defenders at Port Moresby are caught off guard and scramble to intercept rather late. As usual, P-39s falter against the agile Zeroes; only one of the fighters gets through to the Betties, damaging one bomber. Flak downs a single Betty as they make their attack.
This morning strike hits the port; there it hits the docks, causes 6 casualties, but perhaps most seriously sets two tanks at the fuel dump on fire. This is concerning as these tanks are what feed the aircraft operating at the airbase, and fuel resupply is not likely to arrive for another week. Another casualty of the raid is the small minelayer in dock being converted to an aviation tender to help maintain the flying boats at base - the damage to her is as yet unclear, but she did take a direct hit.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/port-moresby-3.jpg
In the afternoon, the Japanese return for more, clearly not satisfied with the first strike. The allied response is again sporadic, and only a single Zero is downed. The Betties head over the water this time, carrying torpedoes, and begin attacking ships unloading at the anchorage. The cargo ship Maori and the auxiliary merchant cruiser Kanimbla take 4 torpedoes each; Kanimbla rolls over and sinks rapidly, while Maori founders shortly thereafter. Both ships take much of their supply load with them.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/port-moresby-sinking.jpg
Elsewhere in the theater today - submarines ahoy! The night begins with a submarine reported close off Sydney. A light patrol of two ASW ships makes sonar contact with a large sub, but it slips away before they decide to depth charge it.
Off Truk, Greenling makes contact with a pair of old Japanese destroyers patrolling. The captain makes a great approach and attack, and is left cursing as the torpedo bounces off the ship's hull. Fortunately, he slips away from these ships with ease, diving deep.
But the real star of the day's action is the S-38, patrolling just south of the Japanese base at Rabaul. In the morning, it spots a convoy sailing south towards the Solomons. It approaches silently and fires accurately at a large merchant ship, scoring a hit precisely in the middle. Unlike the Mk.14s of the fleet subs, her Mk.10 torpedo works and leaves the ship crippled. A patrol boat escorting the convoy immediately rushes to the S-38, but the submarine is already going deep.
Some time later, just when the crew breathe a sigh of relief, the patrol boat creeps up from astern and starts dumping all the depth charges it can. The S-boat, with its limited diving depth, can't break contact - and receives a thorough going-over. Lights flicker as near misses and one very close hit shake the boat - it seems that the damage may be heavy. However the sub keeps it together - it is a thoroughly experienced crew, veterans who under the command of Moon Chapple survived a hellish 3-day ordeal in the Phillipines and were the only boat to sink one of the Japanese invasion transports then (you can read her real story from a book excerpt I posted way back in the day here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108438 - a gripping narrative of how tough the US subs had it sometimes!)
Naturally, they manage to claw their way out of this situation, and the patrol boat - probably having dumped all of its depth charges - leaves. When the S-38 surfaces by night, the damage to the boat is revealed to be merely superficial, and they radio back to base to claim a single Japanese cargo ship sunk.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/s-38.jpg
USS S-38
Elsewhere, things continue as usual. Allied strikes in New Guinea keep up and even with somewhat more success, with airbases at Buna and Lae hit by B-17s at no loss to themselves, and the port at Buna struck by the usual combined package, losing a single A-20 to AA fire. On Guadalcanal, B-17s further wreck the port and carrier planes strike ground positions with little result. These strikes will end soon though - the B-17s are being assigned to ferry supplies to the Marines for the moment, while the operational losses (accidents etc.) to carrier airplanes are becoming a bit worrying - the Japanese should be miserable enough there by now.
The level of air patrols is to be increased in New Guinea for the next day - hopefully we will be better prepared when the Betties inevitably return.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Guadalcanal01-2.jpg
Marines unloading supplies by hand at Guadalcanal, where the docks are still wrecked
August 15, 1942
The action today is more subdued, but worrysome intelligence and scouting reports are starting to appear. In Australia, a Japanese plane is reported flying north of Sydney. If my understanding of this is correct, it is most likely a submarine-based scout - from the same sub spotted yesterday. Another Submarine is lurking further north off Townsville, with radio transmissions confirming its position. Fortunately no convoys are in the area at the moment.
In the Solomons, there are reports and radio transmissions at the Shortlands. The convoy attacked by S-38 yesterday has likely put in there, but there may be other forces present as well. At least 6 ships are reported in that area. Later in the day, radio transmissions are detected in the Solomon Sea, where no friendly units are currently operating.
Our carriers are currently down in the Coral Sea, with the possibility of moving them to hit ports in New Guinea and distract the Japanese from Port Moresby being considered. However, with this latest radio report, they are sent further south just in case. The surface combat force led by North Carolina is currently tied up patrolling Savo Sound, where more supply convoys arrive today. While unloading at Guadalcanal continues to be painfully difficult and inefficient, a supply dump is growing at Tulagi with its deeper anchorage and largely intact port.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/carriers1.jpg
US carrier forces at sea
Further north, radio signals are detected near Ontong Java, but most worryingly - there is heavy radio traffic just south of Truk. Have the Japanese 'heavies' possibly arrived? We have to keep this possibility in mind. At the moment, Greenling and Grayling are on station there and might hopefully catch a glimpse. For all we know, it might be just the ASW patrols looking for them.
The escort carrier USS Long Island arrives in New Caledonia and is loaded with a first batch of Marine Wildcat fighters destined for Guadalcanal. Their engineers and support crews are still loading onto transports in the same port; it will probably be close to a week until they are on Guadalcanal. Time is running a bit short - to speed things up, the engineers will perform an amphibious landing rather than slowly unload at the docks. This risks more accidents like the ones during the combat landings, but should put them down on the ground much quicker.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/longisland.jpg
At Port Moresby, the Betties are back. The Airacobras scramble (there are almost no Kittyhawks left at the base now - they've been really decimated by the Japanese), and this time start off above the escorting Zeroes. However they still don't have much luck against the nimble Japanese fighters, and get hit a lot in return. Nevertheless, thanks to the better numbers, five of the P-39s get through to the bombers this time. Time to make them pay! Three of the "flying lighters" indeed catch fire, but 21 bombers still get through to Port Moresby. Fortunately, this time the attack doesn't cause any damage on the ground. 1 P-39 is lost in the defense. In revenge, B-17s bomb Japanese bases at New Guinea, scoring good hits against runways at Buna and Lae. Only 1 Zero turns out to meet them.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/mitsubishi-g4m1-betty-bomber-02.png
Betties in flight
During the night, there is a thud in the water near Guadalcanal, followed by the sounds of metal breaking up. I suspect those may be something that has hit mines near the northern end of the island and sunk - possibly a Japanese sub. If so, good riddance.
Guadalcanal is still not ready to meet Japanese counterattacks. We need at least another week for resupply and reinforcement. Hopefully we have that much time...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/betties3.jpg
Betty bombers over Port Moresby
August 16, 1942
The Betties returned to Port Moresby in force today, with a lighter escort but a whopping 43 bombers in the formation.
The allied response scrambled a bit late, but caught up; the P-39s had a somewhat better performance against the Zeroes today, and the last Kittyhawk at the base also took off. After tangling with Zeroes and shooting down two of them, the remaining P-39s (having lost 2 of their own and a number damaged) headed for the bombers, shooting down one. The Kittyhawk joined them, running in to claim two kills.
The remaining bombers attacked the airfield at Port Moresby and caused some damage, but nothing excessive. Allied B-17 raids on Buna and Lae later in the day, while in much lower numbers, were much more effective than this big Betty raid. Only one Zero turned out to meet the American bombers, and was driven off.
There is no raid in the afternoon, and this provides a break to take stock of air operations in New Guinea. The Kittyhawk squadron with only one plane remaining is withdrawn to Australia, and is replaced with its sister squadron previously based at Milne Bay, where it saw little action; one of the beat-up P-39 squadrons is also relieved by a fresh unit. A squadron of B-26 Marauders is moved to Milne bay to bolster our offensive efforts, which have been going pretty well lately.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/moresby-1.png
Damage at Port Moresby airfield
Elsewhere, submarines continue stalking their targets. Greenling was again in action with the old Japanese destroyers off Truk; twice during the day, it carried out a torpedo attack on the same ship, and on the second of these attacks it once again hit it, but the torpedo failed to detonate. The Japanese dropped depth charges on both occasions, but they were set too shallow and the Greenling escaped without any damage.
The Japanese once again launched their float plane from the submarine off Sydney, snooping out the beaches and causing some concern to locals. At Guadalcanal, our intelligence is supporting the report of a Japanese sub blowing up on mines. They believe it to have been another large I-boat, I-11, possibly trying to sneak in to attack our ships in Savo Sound.
The carrier task forces in the Coral Sea face a decision; they are beginning to run short of fuel, and with Japanese heavy forces expected in the area soon, it's now or never for resupply. It would be wise to drop into port and take on not only fuel (which can be brought in by oilers at sea), but also ammunition and spare parts. However this will take at least 4 days away from the main area of action, 4 days during which the Japanese could show up. So, a compromise is made: Wasp and Saratoga's task forces join together and will sail to Townsville in Australia to replenish. They meet up with Enterprise's task force before doing so, and pump off as much remaining fuel as they can spare. The Enterprise's escort is also bolstered with the cruiser San Francisco and a destroyer.
The ships then part, two of the carriers sailing off to resupply while Enterprise returns alone to the south of the Solomons to keep watch.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/enterp.jpg
Business as usual on the USS Enterprise
A squadron of B-26 Marauders is moved to Milne bay to bolster our offensive efforts, which have been going pretty well lately.
Let's just hope that they won't live up for their nickname :-?.
Let's just hope that they won't live up for their nickname :-?.
Indeed - though so far, most of my op losses are on the carriers rather than on land. My Beauforts aren't faring much better - two crash-landed today despite not really meeting much opposition. Speaking of which...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Tadji_New_Guinea_1945-01-20_2.jpg
Australian Beaufort in New Guinea after landing accident (oops)
August 17, 1942
The Betties do not appear today - not sure what spooked them off, although the weather has been less than excellent. This gives us time to repair our planes and our airfield, and launch strikes of our own. The morning combined strike against Lae is met by one Zero, which tangles with the escorts and shoots down one Aerocobra. Two Beauforts suffer accidents on landing; damage to the enemy airbase is minimal.
B-17s follow up, and are met by a pair of Zeroes over Lae. A couple of the bombers take hits, aborting their bombing run along with their wingmen; as a result, only two Fortresses drop their bombs, causing no damage.
The pesky Japanese floatplane continues scouting north of Sydney. No planes can take off from Sydney to intercept it as a large storm is approaching the city from the sea. A submarine is meanwhile lingering off Brisbane, where a tanker convoy is heading northward. A Catalina search plane, as usual, reports the tankers as Japanese warships.
At sea, S-38 tries to torpedo a small Japanese escort (should've waited for the convoy!), but misses. It is depth charged heavily in return, but skillfully evades the prolonged enemy attack without damage.
At the end of the day, numerous fresh units report for duty in theater. Several submarines arrive in Noumea, Brisbane and at Espiritu Santo. Three cruisers are ready for duty at Noumea, and one at Brisbane. Numerous ASW escorts and destroyers are also ready. The USS Long Island is at anchor in Luganville, ready to fly its fighters off to Guadalcanal as soon as they can be supported there. The amphibious task force carrying engineers and aviation support to Guadalcanal is loaded and ready at Noumea and will depart immediately.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/USA-P-Strategy-57.jpg
US transport ships loading at Noumea
A quiet day overall. The Japanese radio frequencies are silent.
Krauter
12-13-11, 02:23 PM
The carrier task forces in the Coral Sea face a decision; they are beginning to run short of fuel, and with Japanese heavy forces expected in the area soon, it's now or never for resupply. It would be wise to drop into port and take on not only fuel (which can be brought in by oilers at sea), but also ammunition and spare parts. However this will take at least 4 days away from the main area of action, 4 days during which the Japanese could show up. So, a compromise is made: Wasp and Saratoga's task forces join together and will sail to Townsville in Australia to replenish. They meet up with Enterprise's task force before doing so, and pump off as much remaining fuel as they can spare. The Enterprise's escort is also bolstered with the cruiser San Francisco and a destroyer.
Just a little bit of nitpicking, but wouldn't a rotation have been better? Keep two on station, one returns to refuel, once that one is heading back send one more back to refuel and finally when that one is finished have the 3rd carrier head back?
That's a good point! I did not have fuel for 2 carriers with sufficient escort, though, and replenishment ships with fuel were not ready - it'd take them the same 4-5 days to deliver fuel there. I might as well drop into harbor instead. The key thing right now is that I need all 3 carriers to be on station at least briefly when the first wave of Japanese reinforcements arrives. I can afford a delay if I have to, but I can't afford facing their carriers at anything but full strength. Enterprise right now is just a token scout + reserve air cover for Guadalcanal in lieu of land-based planes. I have no plans to commit it to any serious naval action until the other two are back.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug17.jpg
Situation in the Solomons at midnight (start of day) on August 18th
August 18, 1942 - Torpedo Alley
As planned, the two carriers head for Townsville, while Enterprise returns to patrol off San Cristobal in the South Solomons. Just after midnight, a coastwatcher from the Shortlands radios an extremely worrying find: he identified the Japanese escort carrier Unyo at anchorage. The Japanese submarine I-7 is also reported there by morning. Reconaissance by P-38s from New Guinea also confirms two small escort ships in the bay. There is definitely a force gathering here.
As the day develops, further reports come in. The Japanese airwaves are abuzz with traffic at Truk. Another strong signal now appears halfway between Truk and the Solomons.
They are here. There is no other way around it now - the Combined Fleet has arrived and will be looking to avenge the slaughter of their troops at Guadalcanal.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/ijnfleet.jpg
IJN battle fleet - where are they now?
As the sun rises, things begin to heat up. A Japanese submarine launches torpedoes at destroyer Cushing, escorting a replenishment force sailing north. The torpedoes miss and the other escort, destroyer Monaghan, immediately picks up a submarine contact. A thorough depth charge attack follows, with a few hits scored, but in the end the sub creeps away - it has probably survived.
On New Guinea, A-20s attack Lae with their escort. Two zeroes come up to meet them, and actually manage to fight through to the bombers. They are too late to stop them from attacking the airfield, but after they make their bombing pass, the Japanese do manage to pick off one of them.
B-17s make a very effective strike on Buna in the meantime, and another B-17 attack on Lae manages to drive off two defending Zeroes.
Then, as the afternoon draws to a close...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/enterprisehit.jpg
Enterprise hit!
A single torpedo, fired in a spread from a Japanese sub undetected by escorts, strikes the carrier. An ammunition store immediately lights up, sending plumes of smoke into the air. The escorts frantically look for the attacker, but fail to find it.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug17-2.jpg
As evening approaches, the situation on the Enterprise stabilizes, but she is clearly damaged. This is a most unwelcome development, but fortunately circumstances play into our favour. The airfield on Guadalcanal is finally reported fully repaired and renamed to Henderson Field, and the Marines make personnel available for aviation support, ready to accommodate as many as 90 aircraft on the field. Conveniently, Enterprise is in range, as is Long Island sitting in port at Espiritu Santo, as is another Marine fighter squadron.
In the end, 32 fighters and 18 dive bombers from the Enterprise are transferred to Henderson field, followed by 16 Marine Wildcats from the Long Island and 24 Wildcats from Efate. We now have significant air superiority on Guadalcanal. The Navy's planes should not stay there long however - it's only a temporary measure. They will soon be replaced by dedicated Marine units and withdrawn back to join the Enterprise. It's just that with the Japanese fleet approaching, we cannot afford to be left without air cover.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/SBDtakeoff.jpg
An SBD from the Enterprise arrives at Henderson Field
16 torpedo bombers from the Enterprise fly off to Long Island to plug another gap in our scouting. The Long Island will lurk in the islands nearby; again, these aircraft will soon be withdrawn, but right now we need all eyes in the area.
The Enterprise is ordered back to Noumea, escorted by destroyers. Another submarine, the one that attacked our replenishment force in the morning, is known to be lurking in its path so it is sent specifically around that area to avoid it. They should be safe, however it is now absolutely imperative that our other carriers remain safe.
Enterprise's larger escorts, two heavy cruisers and two AA cruisers, are detached (with some ASW escort, of course); they will help bolster the surface forces near Guadalcanal, now handily defended by airpower from Henderson field. So at least for the moment, these units should give the Japanese some thought about attacking. Still, it is not something that could beat a determined Japanese attack on the island - so the hope now is that they will know about such an attack in advance.
The situation at the end of the day stands as follows:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug17-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/PICT2993.jpg
The newly-christened Cactus Air Force's P-39s at Henderson Field
August 19, 1942 - Welcome to Mosquito Grove
The Navy aircraft stay on Guadalcanal precisely for one day. Marine dive-bombers are rushed in to replace them, and both the SBD and Wildcat squadrons from the Enterprise leave the island by evening, the former heading to New Caledonia to meet the Enterprise there (it should arrive tomorrow morning), the latter with their shorter range - to the airbase on Espiritu Santo.
Perhaps in a move that's a bit too hasty considering poor supplies and limited runway facilities at Henderson, the P-39 squadron from Milne Bay is also called in. 4 of their planes are damaged during the transit. This squadron will probably not be kept here long, but they weren't seeing a lot of action at their original base, while they could probably be of some use here for the moment. They will eventually be moved back. (I really need to be careful with overstacking an undersupplied base, though).
There are now 40 Wildcats, 14 P-39s, and 26 SBDs at Guadalcanal for a total of 80 aircraft. They become known as the Cactus Air Force - after Guadalcanal's codename Cactus. The crews settle into their new accommodations known as Mosquito Grove - a soggy, low area of coconut trees that has just conveniently been flooded by recent rains. The name is also not for nothing...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/mosquitogrove.jpg
However other than the air groups' arrival, the day is quiet on Guadalcanal. Fuel supplies and engineers will be arriving tomorrow, and everybody's fingers are crossed that they will be able to unload unharassed. Odds are very high that they will come under attack, and soon.
At sea, a submarine fires on the destroyer Benham in the Coral Sea, but misses. The escorts, emboldened by their previous submarine kill, look for the attacker and can't find it for a while, but then USS Balch makes contact. She starts prosecuting and it all works until the ship runs out of depth charges. The sub, probably wounded by the heavy attack, slips away.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/USSBenham8.jpg
In New Guinea - no sight of the Japanese bombers. The bad weather over their main target of Port Moresby is probably helping. The allied B-17 attacks continue, making good strikes and meeting only sporadic Zero resistance. One of the bombers is damaged by flak and doesn't make it back to base.
Intelligence reports are continuing to pour in - the wait is on. The Grayling reports a small force containing at least one APD (destroyer transport) leaving Truk. There is a radio transmission suggesting something at sea north of Bougainville. Yet another task force is at Greenling's general location, about 1/3 of the way from Truk to the Solomons, though its composition is unknown.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Warmreception-vi.jpg
Newly-arrived Wildcat pilots receive a warm welcome from troops on Guadalcanal
August 20, 1942 - Cactus Air Force Fights!
The day begins with Marine Raiders from Tulagi making a landing on Russel Island to the West of Guadalcanal, finding it unoccupied by the Japanese. This is, of course, allowed by the healthy state of supplies at the moment - with more still being brought ashore from ships in Savo Sound.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Raiders_beach_1.jpg
During the night, submarines continue about their business. The Grayling is detected by what it reports as a pair of large, modern Japanese destroyers south of Truk. It slips away without being attacked. Later in the day, it comes across the same old destroyers it tangled with before, and again evades them.
S-44 spots the Japanese destroyer Akizuki just off the Shortlands - another large, modern ship. It misses in its torpedo attack; it reports that several large, loud destroyers then search for it, but cannot find it.
In the morning, a lot of scout aircraft appear over Guadalcanal and Tulagi, something that had not happened for many days now. Another indication that something is afoot.
S-44's attack and report are not in vain, as the information is forwarded to the Cactus Air force, who send their very first mission to catch the Japanese destroyers at the Shortlands. The Dauntless dive bombers arrive to find something perhaps more interesting - a force of at least 4 fast destroyer transports (APDs), possibly loaded with troops to reinforce Guadalcanal. Their attack is merciless - one APD is hit with two bombs and immediately sunk, while two more are struck with a single 1000lb bomb each. Given how small these ships are, surviving a direct 1000lb bomb hit is unlikely for them, so we can quite certainly claim all 3.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/80_G_30517.jpg
B-17s on New Guinea make effective air strikes on Buna and Lae, causing a few casualties on the ground. At Guadalcanal, the newly-arrived P-39s are eager for action, so they go off on a morning mission to strafe the Japanese side of the island. Nothing results from this, and they probably do no more than cut down a few trees.
Late in the morning, the Betties arrive. The Guadalcanal CAP is in the air and ready by the time they approach, apparently heading towards Tulagi. No escorts are spotted with them - will they be easy prey? Turns out not quite so - the defensive fire from the bombers is heavy and desperate, and even as the allied fighters move in and fire on the bombers, downing some, they stick in formation and continue to target. 7 of the 21 bombers ultimately break through to the anchorage at Tulagi. Some of them drop bombs, missing their targets, but at least two drop torpedoes that accurately strike the cargo ship Lycaon unloading at the harbor. The ship sinks rapidly.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bettyattack.jpg
Betty making a successful torpedo run at wavetop level
However 14 bombers are claimed by the Cactus Air force at no loss to themselves. Most end up splashing down in the hostile waters of Savo Sound. Nevertheless, Japanese scouts continue to appear over the area in numbers over the course of the afternoon.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Jap_Bomber_Downed.jpg
Betty sinking in Savo Sound
Thus ends the day of the Cactus Air Forces' baptism by fire, with triumphant results - 14 bombers and 3 ships claimed. The last two Navy Wildcats, temporarily stranded on the island due to mechanical problems, leave in the evening to rejoin their unit at Espiritu Santo. Marines and USAAF flyers now remain on the island, preparing for what the next days will bring.
Krauter
12-13-11, 09:21 PM
Wow, you're really lucky with that torpedo hit on Enterprise. Any idea how she survived an ammo storage fire? Shouldn't that normally cripple, if not catastrophically threaten the ship?
Edit: Can somebody tell CCIP I am very displeased with his magic aircraft carrier shrugging of a superbly worked bit of torpedoing when all my ships go under as soon as they see a sea bird.
Well, looks like he knows I shrugged it off :DL
It would've been interesting to see how things would unfold if he were to assume he sunk it.
My suspicion is that the torpedo set off a minor magazine, like something which feeds the AA battery. It definitely was not the main ammo storage, since the damage is pretty limited and there was hardly any fire on board as of the end of the turn. Were this in the middle of a carrier battle, I probably would've pressed on - the ability to fly sorties wasn't actually affected.
Otherwise, it's a big ship with a lot of reserve flotation, so I'm really not surprised to see it survive a torpedo hit. It definitely could've been worse, but it wasn't; I expect it to be back in action within a couple of weeks.
All of the ships of his that I hit, on the other hand, have been mostly small. The armor-less APDs never had a chance of surviving 1000lb armor-piercing bombs designed to cripple battleships with deck armor. Cargo ships, by default, don't take damage well. Big clumsy Japanese subs with limited diving depth are no match for well-equipped and decently-trained ASW escorts. So the luck mostly lies in me catching and hitting his ships, really, not the fact of Big E's survival.
Can't deny it was the scariest moment of the game so far! I thought it would end up like the Wasp did historically, in that very same area.
My suspicion is that the torpedo set off a minor magazine, like something which feeds the AA battery. .....
I think you dodged a bullet here. In my game, the USS Mississippi was surprised while escorting a convoy at night. (I guess their radar was on the blink.) She took a Long Lance torp and 6 shell hits (up to 20cm) before the raiders retreated. The damage didn't seem too bad, but there was fire and two days later, it sank. I was PO'd, to say the least. Her large guns sank a DD, but the enemy CA got away clean.
Anyway, I noticed your status panel for the Enterprise, showed 0 sorties remaining, so it was effectively crippled.
The armor-less APDs never had a chance of surviving 1000lb armor-piercing bombs designed to cripple battleships with deck armor. Cargo ships, by default, don't take damage well.
I wouldn't overestimate the value of the 1,000 lb SAP bombs. I've found it seems to take a lot of them to put down larger ships. This seems odd to me, but I've learned not to expect too much from bombing attacks. The SAP's, while designed to penetrate armored ships, ARE less destructive than the GP variety. I've sunk the BB Fuso(?). According to my combat reports, it took 14 bombs and 3 torpedos. This was something of a surprise to me. I can only hope that most of the other IJN ships are not so durable. :-?
True, I think one only needs to remember the historical fate of the Wasp (sunk in the exact same area by a sub) - don't even need to imagine this one. Same with SAP bombs - yep, they're not all THAT great. But still, in the end a big ship with a large crew and a lot of reserve flotation has better chances when hit by a fixed amount of explosives. APDs, transports and subs - the only targets I've managed to sink so far - have neither of those luxuries. But trust me, I will NOT be underestimating Japanese torpedoes here, that's for sure. Long Lances are one heck of a weapon! Though it's important to remember that the sub and air torpedoes that I've been hit with so far are only their smaller cousins. This is one reason I'm very weary of night fighting that is probably coming up soon.
Still, gotta love a game with a good damage model. I hate basic 'health bar' models with a passion, and it's great to see a game like this go all out with types and locations of damage having hard-to-predict effects :yep:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/USMC-C-Guadalcanal-12.gif
August 21, 1942
The amphibious force carrying engineers arrives today, bringing in much-needed supplies, equipment and vehicles. These will help maintain the base. A lot of fingers are crossed that these can unload before the Japanese come - the Cactus Air Force is some cover, but not enough. Their cover at sea is now limited, because the surface combat force has suffered a setback while covering this resupply convoy in Torpedo Alley, and the big news of the day is...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/astorialost.jpg
Astoria, the lead cruiser in the large surface formation, came into the sights of a very skilled I-boat captain. This time the torpedoes were launched much closer, and the result was devastating. Three torpedoes hit the cruiser; it sinks over the next couple of hours. The ASW escorts hunt the attacker frantically; many depth charges are dropped by multiple destroyers, but the submarine maneuvers, determined to live. In the end, it slips away.
The loss of Astoria is bad news indeed, and the surface combat force is ordered to pull back to Espiritu Santo, where it will be joined by the Saratoga and Wasp (which recently sucked Townsville dry of all its fuels supplies) shortly to prepare for coordinated operations. A Japanese task force of 9 ships is reported in the Solomon Sea, possibly heading for the Coral Sea. This is a concern; however the carriers transiting to Espiritu Santo are not expected to be in any immediate danger.
The Enterprise cannot be repaired fully at Noumea's limited docks, and is ordered to Sydney, further delaying its expected return to action.
Elsewhere, there is little to report. Only a single B-17 strike attacks Lae, where it is met by two Zeroes. They manage to drive away some of the bombers, but the remaining formation makes a very effective strike on the airfield, without any apparent losses. The Japanese launch no air strikes or offensive operations of any sort today. The supply situations on Guadalcanal, Tulagi and New Guinea are good, with most convoys already unloaded. The fuels situation is not so great; it is difficult to deliver it there, and the only replenishment force to arrive in the area so far has been all but sucked dry by the fuel-thirsty combat ships.
Finally, after the successful occupation of Russel Island yesterday, the Marine Raiders also take a cruise to Rennell Island south of Guadalcanal to check up on the situation. They find no Japanese, and are met by the not-so-happy-looking local chiefs...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/chiefs.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug21.jpg
August 22, 1942
The Japanese press (aka. Egan's emails) are making quite the propaganda killing off the sinking of the Astoria - it was claimed to have been sunk by the submarine I-174, which has been in action against the Enterprise before and today was back to try her luck firing at the destroyer Monssen. Fortunately she missed. Several escorts search for the sub for a while, until Cushing gets a ping. She runs in with depth charges, but the sub's commander is truly a skillful man - again, under heavy bombardment and many near misses, he holds his ship steady and slips away.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/i-174.jpg
I-174: Public Enemy #1
Meanwhile our most accomplished submarine so far, the S-38, makes the final action of its patrol as it fires on an escorted APD off Bougainville - likely the sole survivor of the Cactus Air Force's first strike two days ago. The torpedo is a dud, and S-38 again manages to stay undetected for a bit, but is then found by the fast Japanese destroyers and is depth charged. However they give up and leave rather quickly. This is to be the S-38 last attack of the patrol, as she runs out of torpedoes, having sunk one ship. She heads to Brisbane, while the USS Wahoo arrives to replace her on the same station off Bougainville. Most of our recently-arrived submarines are now on their patrol stations also.
In the morning, Greenling once again lines up a shot on a Japanese destroyer - another dud. Quite the curse - of course she is depth charged in return. Fortunately, the Japanese depth charges are once again too shallow. After surfacing, the Greenling reports that she saw the destroyer escorting at least one large cruiser south of Truk - an important bit of operational info. Radio traffic in the area further confirms this. As heavy cruisers rarely sail toward a battle area without a reason or without company, we can assume that a larger operation is underway. Our ships better be ready - and they are getting towards that. Once the combat and carrier task forces meet at Espiritu Santo, decisions will be made. The Coral Sea is likely where they will be operating until the Japanese positions are clearer. With initial resupply of Guadalcanal almost complete, the urgency of hovering around the submarine-infested waters around the island is mostly lifted; better to know what we are dealing with before we try to strike any blows. As boring as it might sound, right now our strategic goal isn't to boldly charge, but to draw the Japanese into a stalemate they can't win - of course in practice, that is hardly likely to be boring.
B-17s continue their operations in New Guinea and Guadalcanal, making successful strikes. The docks on the Japanese end of Guadalcanal are once again wrecked, along with their supply dumps. They have to be really, really miserable down there right now...
At Henderson field, everything is going swimmingly in the meantime. The Cactus Air Force is in good shape, though making no offensive operations. Fortifications at Lunga have just been improved as marines dig in with their new engineering support.
For the first time in many days, no aircraft losses (or kills, for that matter) are reported, nor are any aircraft lost in operational accidents.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/actc-11.jpg
USS Astoria in better times, as the Japanese might remember her
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/5150665664_d5d519915e.jpg
August 23, 1942
A quiet night settles over the Pacific - probably the quietest seen yet, with no significant reports of activity and no units in contact. The unloading at Guadalcanal continues apace and by morning all the engineering units are on the ground. However when dawn breaks, it becomes all too evident that this really was the calm before the storm...
First light brings all manner of scouts to the Guadalcanal area - and at least one of them is reported looking like a Japanese dive bomber. No land-based dive-bomber would be here...
The worst suspicions don't take long to confirm. As the headquarters on Guadalcanal mulls over the sighting, one of the Cactus Air Force's SBDs sent on morning patrol reports that it is shadowing a Japanese carrier. All hell is about to break loose...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug23map.jpg
Action at Rekata Bay
As soon as the report comes in, the Cactus Air Force scrambles into the air. 17 dive bombers and 24 fighters head out over Santa Isabel. As soon as they get back out over water, contact is made. A dozen white Zeroes are already in the air to meet them, with more scrambling into the air.
The Zeroes come in at a higher altitude and immediately establish an advantage over the Wildcats. Some of the fighters, driven down to the deck, are forced to flee by overwhelming resistance. The planes from VMO-251, an observation squadron flying an older version of the Wildcats, fares particulary poorly - but more than anything, it seems to be the expert flyers in the Zeroes that make a difference. As the escort is broken up and driven away, the Japanese fighters break through to the Dauntless dive bombers, attacking them mercilessly. Only 7 of the 17 get through to their targets...
There is some clouds, but surely the resistance put up by the Japanese plays an even bigger role. The usually-effective dive bombers identify and dive in on two targets - the carrier Zuikaku and the battleship Kirishima - but their bombs miss.
The attack is a slaughter. 14 Cactus Air Force planes are shot down with no apparent losses to the enemy. And the day is just beginning...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug22-1.jpg
Having repulsed the American attack, the Japanese send their carrier planes to strike ships still unloading at Savo Sound. Over Guadalcanal, clouds hang over. That, plus the presence of a few cruisers covering the unloading forces, limits the damage.
First the cruiser Boise is targeted, but the bombs miss it. Then two APDs - fortunately not carrying any troops, but merely providing token ASW cover to the convoy - are hit by torpedoes. A troop transports - with its troops thankfully already on the ground - takes a bomb, as does the heavy cruiser Pensacola, and another cargo ship. The resistance by the CAF can only do so much - it faces dozens of Zeroes. As the Japanese egress from this attack, the two APDs sink.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug22-2.jpg
On the other side of the bay in Tulagi, yet another strike finds the cargo ship Grumium. A Val manages to hit it. This strike is much smaller and faces more determined resistance from the CAF. The Japanese retreat to rearm and refuel.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug22-3.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bombing2.jpg
Ships burning in Savo Sound following Japanese strikes
In the afternoon, the usual B-17 strike on Lae is met by a single pesky Zero, which just won't give up - and on its second head-on pass, it shoots down one of the Forts, immediately retreating. B-17s from New Caledonia continue bombing Guadalcanal. A small Japanese minelayer, probably a convoy escort, is reported bombed and hit by a Catalina in the Solomon Sea.
Then the afternoon raid by the Japanese carrier planes arrives, targeting Tulagi. A weak CAP faces 35 zeroes. The destroyer Dunlap takes two hits, but the bulk of the damage is taken by the already-damaged cargo ship Grumium, which receives another 6 bombs from Vals. It stays afloat until evening, finally succumbing to damage.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug22-4.jpg
At the end of the day, the toll in the skies above Savo Sound stands at 1 Zero and 3 Vals shot down, for the loss of 8 fighters. 3 ships are sunk, and 2 more transports are seriously damaged. The destroyer Dunlap and cruiser Pensacola manage to get their damage under control for the moment.
Most seriously though, the Cactus Air Force is devastated. Several of its damaged airplanes do not return, and some that do are not entirely airworthy. We can only hope that the Japanese carrier operations have also not been without incidents, and that landing damaged planes on a carrier is more difficult than on land. As the sun sets, half of the CAF's combat strength had effectively been wiped out. The worst of it falls on the VMO-251 and their older Wildcats, of which no airworthy examples are left at the end of the day.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bomo2.jpg
VMO-251 Wildcat
The other marine Wildcat squadron, VMF212, is hardly faring much better. And only 14 working dive bombers are left at base.
However Henderson Field must fight on - it has not yet been hit, and we have to tie up the carriers for as long as we can. Any damage we can inflict on them or their aircraft will not be in vain. From the number of planes, particularly Zeroes present in the strikes, there have to be at least 3 carriers operating in close coordination. One of them may be an escort carrier (like the Unyo we were alerted about a few days ago) since the number of strike aircraft is not exceptional, but their fighter cover is very, very good indeed. Even at its best, the CAF is no match. But the fight must be carried on at all costs - we cannot allow an uneven showdown between carriers to happen, so anything that can be done to grind down their strength now must be done.
Reinforcements are ordered in immediately. Marine Wildcat squadron VMF-23 is rushed in from Espiritu Santo to relieve the battered VMF-212. VF-6, the fighters from the Enterprise, move to Espiritu Santo again, ordered to stand by to replace any further fighter losses on the island. Having been gone for only a couple of days, Navy Dauntlesses of VB-6 also fly back to Henderson Field by evening. Another P-39 squadron is sent to stand by at Milne Bay, to be thrown to Henderson the following day if things go bad. 1 of these aircraft is lost during the transit, and two damaged.
By night, the Cactus Air Force is back up to 47 fighters and 33 dive bombers. All of the transport ships in Savo Sound are ordered to leave immediately and at best speed, whether or not their supplies have been unloaded or not. Two of the badly-damaged transports are left to make the best they can on their own without escort. Hopefully by the time morning comes, most of the ships will be out of the carriers' strike range. However then we almost definitely expect Henderson Field itself to become a target.
The Wasp and Saratoga are about to cross 'torpedo alley', avoiding known sub contacts, and head to the Santa Cruz islands. There they will meet the combat force and operate in concert; we'll see how it goes from there. It's evident that nothing will be gained from staying in the Coral Sea. More disturbingly, the carriers reported scouting aircraft following them in the afternoon. However my suspicion is that those may have been our own planes.
On the enemy side, our scouting and intel shows two major task forces north of Santa Isabel. One is the one that we unsuccessfully attacked; its reported composition includes 6 heavy cruisers along with the confirmed Zuikaku and Kirishima. As already noted, though, 3 carriers are suspected to be part of it based on the number of planes. Further north is another task force, reported to contain at least two battleships. It may be a surface combat force meant to attack Savo Sound and possibly bombard our positions. Submarines are rapidly ordered into the area to do what they can to interdict these.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug22.jpg
Situation at the end of the day, August 23
0rpheus
12-14-11, 09:55 PM
Hehe this is quite exciting, good job CCIP! :O:
Tribesman
12-15-11, 04:01 AM
The worst of it falls on the VMO-251 and their older Wildcats, of which no airworthy examples are left at the end of the day.
Did you check the pilots in that squadron before you chose to send them forward?
Did you check the pilots in that squadron before you chose to send them forward?
Nope, and that may have been an error. Part of the reason I sent them in immediately (other than easy availability) is that they were there historically.
Tribesman
12-15-11, 08:10 AM
Nope, and that may have been an error.
There is just so much to learn in this game even on the "small" scenarios and so many things to check and change each turn.
I also screwed up with the same squadron...but on the bright side the few survivors gained enough experience that day to almost be classed as rookie pilots.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug24.jpg
Situation in the Solomons at the end of the day
August 24, 1942: Santa Cruz?
The night is menacingly quiet. This time there's no doubt the Japanese are lurking out there, but no contact of any sort is made, although a possible ship is reported docking on the north end of Guadalcanal - probably an APD briefly checking in.
At dawn the scouts are back. A Val on reconaissance duty is shot down by flak at Guadalcanal, the first kill of the day. In the Santa Cruz islands, the CVE Long Island, lurking at Ndeni, reports being sighted by a float plane. Allied scouting does not take long at all to catch up. The Japanese are reported in 3 task forces, moving eastward, now located north of Guadalcanal and within close striking distance. The Cactus air force launches a strike; some of the SBDs fail to link up with the main package, but ironically they are not attacked; Zeroes as always pounce on the escorts, which today include even the shorter-ranged P-39s. 10 bombers get through to the carriers, locating Zuikaku's sister Shokaku in the mix. However as yesterday, there is no success, while the Wildcats take a heavy toll in the fight. 4 SBDs (shot down primarily by intense flak over the carriers) and 6 fighters fail to return.
A small SBD strike is also sent west, where an APD is detected in New Georgia Sound. It is bombed, unsuccessfully.
The Japanese revenge is not long in coming. A Carrier strike heads for Guadalcanal, with over 30 Zeroes escorting. The battered CAF aircraft bravely take off in the face of overwhelming odds.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/f4f_dusty_takeoff.jpg
However their efforts are hardly successful. By the end of the day, close to 20 total losses - most of them Wildcats - are suffered by the CAF. The Japanese lose a whopping single Zero and another Val shot down while making a diving pass on the crippled troop transport Zeilin. Both she and the Ara, which is focused on by Japanese torpedo bombers, are the targets of the strike. The Ara rolls over and sinks quickly, while the Zeilin lasts for a while, burning intensely. Her captain does not make it off the ship. These were the last ships at Guadalcanal, abandoned by the resupply forces the rest of which successfully retreated south overnight.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/1942_08_08_elliott_ap-13_burning_nh_69118_4x3_700x.jpg
Ironically, it's possible that the loss of these ships was a fortuitous thing for the positions on Guadalcanal. The Japanese were distracted by the possibility of easy ship kills (perhaps thinking there were more stragglers), and by the time they wrapped those up the sun was already setting. This may have spared Henderson Field itself from attack.
Another SBD strike is sent for the APDs in the Slot (New Georgia Sound) in the afternoon, but again without success. B-17 strikes in New Guinea and Guadalcanal are without success, and one of the bombers succumbs to damage.
At the end of the day, the Allied naval forces rendezvous in the Santa Cruz Islands. Now is the time for big decisions. We could easily be in action against the Japanese - but do we want to be? If today's scouting reports are read by me correctly, the three task forces spotted are (1) a carrier force (with my prediction of 3 CVs agreeing with today's scout reports; and we know two of them to be the Shokaku and Zuikaku); (2) a surface combat/bombardment force (likely of CAs and battleships); (3) a transport/supply force with goods and reinforcements for the battered Japanese positions at Guadalcanal. The latter two are tied up; while the Cactus Air Force, even with the devastating losses it suffers, continues operating - they cannot safely approach. The risk of attack by our carriers also restricts their freedom of movement, and if my reading of the situation is right, they at least know that mine are somewhere in the eastern Coral Sea if not our exact position at Santa Cruz. If their direction of movement over the previous day is an indication, they may be hoping to use the CAF's dire situation to draw us north to defend Guadalcanal.
Fortunately, the CAF is not done. In yet another gamble, the battered Marine Wildcat squadrons are relieved by Enterprise's VF-6 at the end of the day. 1 of their planes is lost in transit, but that still leaves 31 fresh fighters on Guadalcanal. The goal of the CAF is to buy more time and grind down as much of the Japanese carrier capability as they can - whatever the cost. Even one successful strike could change everything. It's worth a try. As is the hope of the experienced Navy fighters downing at least a few more Zeroes. It could - has to - buy us more time, and frustrate the Japanese landing attempts.
A few things could happen from here. The Japanese forces are probably doing one of two things (but not both): either tonight they will send their battle fleet to bombard Guadalcanal by sea (which I regard as less likely because they have to be at least a little worried by the CAF catching battleships at dawn), or they are trying to draw my carriers into a battle at Santa Cruz Islands (which I regard as more likely). At Santa Cruz, we have an overwhelming scouting advantage. The Long Island, ordered to move south to the island of Vanikoro to stay safer from Japanese strikes, has torpedo bombers providing eyes on the sea to the north, and ASW support in the Torpedo Alley to the west. There are also Catalinas at Espiritu Santo combing the same patch of sea. Our carriers and combat forces are also ordered to go to Vanikoro, where shallower waters should help deter sub attacks. Their scouts will also search the sea intently.
As tempting as it is, going further north to chase the Japanese and leaving this scouting advantage would be a disaster. So, we will remain at Vanikoro while the CAF is still flying. If the Japanese turn aggressive and move south overnight, this is where we fight. If not, tomorrow's action at Guadalcanal will determine our next moves. Any damage - any reduction of the Japanese carrier strength whatsoever - would be the break we need. So, a tense night comes over the Pacific as the sun sets. When it rises in the morning, the location of the Japanese fleet will determine everything.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/pby-1_consolidated_catalina_vp11.jpg
Catalina of VP-11 combing the Pacific Ocean for contacts
August 25, 1942: Where Are They?
After a tense night of anticipation, when the sun comes up the enemy, surprisingly, is nowhere to be found. The search planes comb everywhere, but as usual the best they come up with is a "Japanese task force" a few miles out of Brisbane. While the weather in the southern Solomons is not ideal today, the enemy fleet still has to have left the area, at least temporarily. Only float planes are spotted above Guadalcanal. The only unit to report contact with a carrier-based airplane is the USS Sailfish, which sees a torpedo bomber well to the northeast of Ontong Java. So it's most likely that his carriers have moved far enough either to the north, or to the east.
The north is most likely as the Sailfish reports not only a torpedo plane - in the morning it tries to torpedo a Japanese destroyer, but misses. It is depth charged in return, but skillfully evades the attack without damage. It's not certain what force the destroyer and her two friends were part of.
Meanwhile our ASW effort in Torpedo Alley is ramping up. Two destroyers, including the very well-equipped Frazier, arrive on station. Overnight they receive reports of a sub at the Santa Cruz islands, and react. After the sun comes up, they locate the sub. Frazier moves in to attack, quickly scoring a number of near misses, then hits. The sub begins leaking oil, and is attacked for several hours. Ultimately its sinking cannot be confirmed, but it certainly took a beating.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/depthcharge01c1.jpg
USS Frazier dropping depth charges
In the morning, the Japanese attack Port Moresby. A raid of 13 Betties and 6 Zeroes comes in - not a large package, but they are apparently well-rested after the recent respite, and make a very effective strike. The Zeroes quickly take down 3 P-39s from the CAP, but then Australian Kittyhawks arrive at a higher altitude and dive in on the Zeroes. Still no luck however; the planes slash at each other for a while with no hits on the Zeroes scored. Finally a few of the allied fighters break through to the bombers, shooting down 3 before they make their attack ont he port. There, they catch the cargo ship Empire Hawk still unloading (although most of its cargo is by now off). It is hit by torpedoes; carrying some fuel aboard for the airbase at Port Moresby, the ship catches fire and quickly sinks.
As the raid retreats, 8 more Zeroes arrive over Moresby. Most of the CAP had already landed, so they face weak resistance, shooting down two Allied fighters for no losses.
In revenge, B-17s arrive at Buna to bomb the port. Here they are met by a stronger-than-usual patrol of 6 Zeroes. As usual, they fare better than the Allied fighters at taking down the nimble but fragile Japanese fighters; two are shot down and a couple more damaged. The B-17s take plenty of hits, but remain in formation and carry out their mission. All of them survive the trip home, albeit with some damage. Two B-17 strikes are also carried out on Guadalcanal, with damage done to the port there. Scouts on the ground are reporting that Japanese strength on the island is still relatively week, but may have been reinforced - probably thanks to some of those APDs getting through. Another one of those supply runs is already detected near Vella Lavella.
In the afternoon, Japanese subs are back in action. Off Port Moresby, where we hadn't noted any subs operating for a while, one suddenly catches a loaded tanker heading in to supply the base with fuel. Bastards! The tanker's cargo catches fire, and it burns and sinks soon after being attacked. The ASW escort fails to find the attacker. In the big scope of things, this may have been our worst loss yet. Fuel is one of the things we do not have a lot of, especially on forward bases. Another tanker is immediately re-routed to Port Moresby; it was initially due to take fuel to Milne Bay, but it is more needed here.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sharksshipfire.jpg
The fuel situation is a little concerning for the moment - there is not enough of it to go around, and our task forces are sucking up much of it. Hopefully this can be resolved over time.
Our combat ships remain at Santa Cruz. An assessment of their readiness to fight isn't terribly encouraging; the fuel situation does not favour a lot of sailing about, and some of the ships are also low on ammo, including the North Carolina which spent most of her 16" ammunition on coast bombardment during the Guadalcanal landings. She is transferred back to carrier escort, as her AA magazines are still full and she can make a useful "damage absorber" in case our carriers do get attacked. However right now we regard this possibility as quite remote.
Hopefully tomorrow can bring us a better idea of where the Japanese actually are.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/betties4.jpg
G4M bombers make low torpedo attack
August 26, 1942: The Curse of the Betties
Overnight, Marine raiders make another landing at Malaita, northeast of Guadalcanal, and again find the island unoccupied.
The Grayback, operating north of Ontong Java, torpedoes a destroyer, but yet again the torpedoes are a dud. The depth charges dropped in return are set too shallow; the sub dives deeper yet and shakes off contact. This seems to confirm that at least some of the Japanese forces have left to go north.
In the morning, Japanese float planes are spotted near Brisbane and at New Caledonia. Big subs are on the prowl there again, I guess. An early sweep of 8 Zeroes arrives over Port Moresby, where ships are unloading; this time, for a change, Kittyhawks shoot down one of them without taking any losses.
North of Rekata Bay, the Cactus Air Force eyes APDs making their way to Guadalcanal. A strike quickly arrives; one APD is hit by two bombs and sinks rapidly, while her sister escapes. Later in the day, she too would be hit and (probably) sunk. For the first time in a few days, A-20s from Port Moresby make a sortie, hitting the airbase at Lae. Zeroes take up defense, and shoot down one of them. B-17s hit a supply dump at Buna; one of the strikes arrives late with only 3 bombers, and is pounced by two Zeroes. They down a fort before retreating. At Guadalcanal, two morning strikes in a row also wreck the docks. Finally, a B-26 snooping out the waters around New Britain spots a convoy and strafes an escorting minelayer.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/burnett_hr_plane_withgunner_1.jpg
SBD returnining from a strike
However the good luck does not hold on for long. In the afternoon, a big raid of Betties, escorted by Zeroes, arrives at Port Moresby. The weak CAP is caught off guard, and can't get through to the bombers. In the port, the cruisers Leander and Achilles put in with the re-routed tanker. This was a mistake; I probably should have never let them go all the way to New Guinea.
As the Betties drop to the deck and make their torpedo runs, the cruisers fire their flak guns, but they can't hold off over 30 bombers. Leander takes a torpedo. All the others, by some luck, miss.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/leander.jpg
HMNZS Leander
Just as the Kiwi crew get hopeful about saving their ship however, out of nowhere appears another raid of 22 unescorted Betties, with no CAP to meet them. That's a full 53 Betties in a short space of time! They fly just feet off the water; this time there's no escape. One more hit on Leander - then another. Before the Betties even leave, the stricken ship rolls on its side and sinks. A major loss to New Zealand's navy.
Her sister Achilles is ordered out of harbor as soon and as fast as possible, escorted by two DDs. She should be safe tomorrow, and is ordered to join the big Allied fleet in Santa Cruz.
In Sydney, Enterprise is finally assessed by repair crews. The news is, well, not good. The torpedo hit deep and the ship needs dry-docking. Even the best efforts in that case will not return the ship to action in sooner than 50 days. Hasty, incomplete repairs without dry-docking could be made in 10 days, but after weighing the risks, I decide to bite the bullet. Enterprise will be out until October; fortunately, her planes are doing good work with the Cactus Air Force at the moment, and our carrier strength will be back up to 3 very soon.
The Japanese seem to be retreating north after all, although this is no time for rash actions. The fleet stays at Santa Cruz, still rather low on supplies. In two days, the battleship Washington will arrive; that should allow North Carolina to resupply at least. In 6 days, the carrier Wasp will also arrive. Around then, unless circumstances dictate otherwise, I plan to bring the entire force (or at least the surface combat ships) back to port for rearming and refueling. After that, we'll have to do our best with the resources we have; no more fleet carriers are available, and no new battleships or escort carriers are expected until the end of November. So, we will have to do our best to keep our forces intact.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/026644-740a.jpg
Kittyhawk in New Guinea
August 27, 1942
A mostly uneventful day. It begins with another Marine Raider expedition, which finds Thousand Ships Bay, to the northeast of the base at Tulagi, also unoccupied by the Japanese. It seems the only place they're in at the Southern Solomons in their side of Guadalcanal.
That side takes its share of bombing today as both B-17s and SBDs from the CAF attack Japanese positions and the port, albeit without much result. Two CAF SBDs are damaged - I think they were a bit too impatient for targets since, well, they didn't have much to gain from this raid.
On New Guinea, the Japanese bring another sweep of 6 Zeroes over Port Moresby. The CAP is ready to meet them, and Kittyhawks start off well, damaging two Zeroes at the start of the fight, but eventually the Japanese gain the upper hand and leave after downing one of the Aussie fighters. The usual B-17 raids meet some resistance from the Zeroes. The attackers are driven off, but two of the damaged bombers don't make it back to base.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/041newguinea_585x390o.jpg
At sea, an I-boat - same one that's been launching that pesky floatplane at the Australian coast, probably - tries to torpedo the patrolling corvette Ipswich off Brisbane. It misses, but the hapless patrol boat doesn't find the submarine either.
Greenling is detected by 3 destroyers off Truk in the meantime, and as usual depth charged. The charges are too shallow and fail to damage it.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/ipswich.jpg
HMAS Ipswich
All else is quiet. Mercifully, there are no Betty raids and ships including the tanker are left at peace to unload at Port Moresby. Tomorrow, several ships including the battleship Washington arrive in New Caledonia.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/milnep39.jpg
P-39s at Milne Bay
August 28, 1942
Well, to put it squarely, it has not been a good day for us in New Guinea. In the morning, a raid of Betties, escorted by Zeroes, appears over Milne Bay. The P-39s at the base scramble, but fail to do much. The cargo ship Utahan, unloading in the harbor, is hit by torpedoes and quickly sinks.
Immediately on the heels of this raid, 20 more unescorted Betties follow. At least 8 P-39s have a chance to go for the unescorted bombers, but they are poorly organized and the unit morale is low, and are quickly driven off by defensive fire from the vulnerable bombers. What an embarassment! These betties drop bombs around the destroyer Gridley, mercifully missing.
In return, B-17s attack Japanese positions on New Guinea. At Lae, they are intercepted by 4 Zeroes and one bomber is lost. At Buna, they actually cause a fair amount of damage.
In the afternoon, Betties appear at Port Moresby. Kittyhawks scramble, but their numbers are few. Still, in an uneven fight they manage to down a Zero, losing one of their own. The Betties bomb ships at anchor, but miss.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Warramunga1-4.jpg
Australian crews fire at attacking bombers at Port Moresby
20 unescorted bombers once again appear over Milne Bay. Another opportunity for the Airacobras - and again they turn away at the first sight of bombers. Just shameful! The bombs miss.
However, not all is finished. Late in the day, a large package arrives. Kates! The Japanese torpedo bombers are here - so the carriers must be in the area. Surely enough a Japanese carrier task force is soon located in the Solomon Sea. But the damage is done. Practically unopposed, the trained carrier bombers fly in low, torpedoing cargo ship Arkansan and destroyer Gridley in harbour. Both quickly sink.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/an013885.jpg
Fresh squadrons are rushed in to relieve the demoralized airacobras in New Guinea, however at this point we are really losing air superiority in the area. We currently lack the supplies necessary to replace losses to our squadrons, and further losses are expected if the Japanese press these attacks. All remaining cargo ships (with most of their cargo fortunately unloaded) are ordered to scramble back to Australia immediately. But my real worry is that the appearance of the carriers could mean the Japanese may be trying to land at Milne Bay. This cannot be allowed. Our naval forces are ordered into the Coral Sea immediately, with the surface combat force sweeping ahead of the carriers, covered by their fighters. The battleship Washington, having just arrived in New Caledonia, is ordered to join them immediately, as is the cruiser Achilles retreating from New Guinea.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sub.jpg
Japanese subs: headache in a can
August 29, 1942
A bad, demoralizing day for the most part. At night, a Japanese sub off Townsville is detected by an ASW patrol but ultimately left alone without being depth charged. The escorts of our combat force sailing from Santa Cruz also detect a sub while transiting Torpedo Alley, and depth charge it without success - it almost seems like it eludes the depth charges too easily. The carrier force, sailing some 80 miles behind the heavy cruisers, should be aware of this sub being present - and yet, a few hours later when it's still dark, it sails haplessly through the same area. The sub approaches and fires a spread at USS Saratoga, hitting the carrier with one torpedo. Fortunately, the damage is limited, but the carrier still takes a good bit of flooding and loses 5 knots off its top speed. Ultimately, the circumstances are desperate enough that it is ordered to remain with the fleet for now, as it sails towards the Solomon Sea.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/USS_Saratoga_CV3.jpg
In the morning, Betties arrive to bomb Port Moresby. Everyone who can - including a newly-arrived squadron of Beaufighters - scrambles to intercept them. The escort is light, and a Kittyhawk even manages to shoot down a Zero. Still, nobody gets through to the bombers... this is especially sad since I brought in Beaufighters knowing that they wouldn't have any chance against Zeroes, but might at least score some bomber kills if sent up in enough numbers. But no such luck.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/air_beaufighter4.jpg
More irritatingly still, what the Betties find in harbor at Port Moresby is even more of a suprise to me - WHY IS THERE A TANKER AND AN AMC STILL THERE? I ordered them out of port at full speed! All the other ships have already left - except what, the two most valuable ones?
This is extremely upsetting, and while the Betties only manage to score a torpedo hit on the AMC Manoora, I already know that this is not the last strike of the day and two very valuable ships are, essentially, doomed.
A Zero sweep of Port Moresby follows; in the ensuing dogfights, a single Beaufighter is lost and a Zero is downed. But some damaged Beaufighters are written off on return to base.
A Val strike on Milne Bay sinks a poor single ASW minelayer still patrolling there. 5 Airacobras are also lost to the experience carrier-based Zeroes without inflicting any casualties on the enemy. B-17s attack Buna's airfield in revenge, actually downing a Zero.
Finally, the hammer falls on Port Moresby. A full-on carrier strike arrives, finishing off the AMC Manoora and the tanker. A single Zero and two of the defending fighters are shot down.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/173098_tanker.jpg
The enemy carrier and battle forces are in the Western corner of the Solomon Sea, attacking New Guinea with impunity, and probably bringing in reinforcements either to the Kokoda Trail or possibly as a landing force for Milne Bay. We'll better know their intentions soon. In return, the only thing I can hope for is that we distract them from the Solomons for long enough that I can land some extra supplies and reinforcements there in the meantime. Our carriers may or may not be in action over the next two days, but with the Saratoga damaged, my appetite for this possibility is greatly reduced. Sailing too far into the Solomon Sea would be suicide in any case - there are too many Betties there.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bettydown.jpg
August 30, 1942: Nice Try, Betty
Today goes a bit better for us, although the Japanese carrier force is very obviously remaining in the area. There is an unconfirmed report of a task force right off Milne Bay. If they are indeed there, we might be in trouble.
Some of the intensive enemy scouting over the last few days is explained when our coastwatcher at the Shortlands reports the seaplane tender Chitose in harbor there. The enemy certainly have good eyes on the Solomon Sea.
Overnight, the Greenling is spotted by enemy destroyers off Truk. It is depth charged for some hours, until the enemy destroyers run out of ammunition. At least a couple of possible TFs are detected however, and the Greenling radioes in a report that it spotted at least one APD in their midst. Probably another run at Guadalcanal.
In the morning, the Wahoo, in the Solomon Sea, takes a stab at one of the Japanese carrier forces. As always, the torpedoes fail to detonate; the Wahoo escapes attack relatively easily as the charges are set too shallow. Further subs are moving into the area to try and intercept.
In the afternoon, things begin heating up. A couple of Catalina patrol boats are shot down trying to snoop out the Japanese task forces, but report contact.
Betties already know where at least our surface combat TF is, and head for it. They are unescorted, and met by a ready Wildcat CAP. The enemy formation is completely broken down, with at least 7 bombers shot down. Another raid of Betties later tries the same thing, with the same result. That'll teach them!
Our own land-based bombers make some brave efforts as well, with much better results. Twice over the afternoon, flights of 3 B-17s spot the Japanese carrier task force and attack. Both times, they are attacked by Zeros on CAP and take damage, but press their attack. Only one of the bombers doesn't return due to damage, and both times they at least try to bomb carriers - first the Zuikaku, then the Ryujo. It seems that we at least now have a pretty good idea of what forces we are dealing with. A flight of A-20s from Port Moresby also tries to attack the cruiser Nagara, without success, losing one of their own. Still, it's an effort!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/b-17carriers.jpg
At the end of the day, the minelayer Conflict, which was caught and damaged in the Port Moresby attack yesterday and has been trying to get back to Australia, founders in the sea - another casualty.
Our carriers carry out a rather pointless but at least not costly strike on Rekata Bay, perhaps just to let the Japanese know we're here.
We will not be moving to the Solomon Sea - that's not where we want to be at all. However we will continue moving West - if the enemy insists on attacking Moresby or landing at Milne Bay, we will have as much support there as we can bring in.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/aug30.jpg
Situation in the Solomons at the end of the day
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Kumano.jpg
IJN cruiser Kumano
August 31, 1942
A quiet one for the most part. Overnight, the heavy cruiser Kumano is reported by coast watchers to be based at the Shortlands, along with at least one large oiler. It seems that at least some large IJN units are using this as a forward base - just out of reach of our bombers.
Subs are up to their usual business. The Greenling, still on patrol off Truk, is detected and depth charged, but as usual Japanese ASW can't even get the depth right.
The Wahoo, in the Solomon Sea, again launches torpedoes at a destroyer escorting a large task force - and as usual, the Mk.14s fail to detonate. She is depth charged in return, but escapes without damage also. She does, however, fulfill her role as scout quite effectively, surfacing before dawn to report contact with a Japanese task force that included the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, as well as at least two heavy cruisers.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/wahoo.jpg
USS Wahoo
While the Japanese launch all manner of scouts, no strikes follow today. Morning patrols reveal the Solomon Sea to be empty - it appears the Japanese units retreated to Rabaul and elsewhere.
A-20s attack Marus in the Bismarck sea in the meantime, without much success. The usual patter of B-17 strikes continues; despite some determined fighting, no air losses are reported on either side.
Taking advantage of the lull, two amphibious convoys arrive to deliver reinforcements to Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Besides engineering support, one is also carrying a tank regiment of M3 Stuart tanks.These light tanks should be useful in the confined terrain of Guadalcanal. Now let's just hope they have time to unload before the Japanese do anything!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/M3-Stuart-Fort-Knox-1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/rabaul.jpg
Rabaul
September 1, 1942
A remarkably uneventful day. There are Japanese heavy units confirmed at Rabaul; we assume this is where they retreated. We also suspect that some Japanese reinforcements have been delivered to their effort on the Kokoda trail; we will have to send in some of our own. An infantry and a cavalry regiment are prepared at Brisbane; they will be sent forward at first opportunity, although given Port Moresby's vulnerability, we will have to be careful to give them sufficient air cover while unloading. At the moment, our naval forces are tied up covering the unloading convoys on Guadalcanal. The Japanese make no effort to react to these.
The only air operations ongoing are the usual B-17 strikes. One B-17 is shot down by Zeroes off Lae.
At the end of the day, USS Hornet arrives at Noumea. She is ordered to help escort Long Island back to her station in Santa Cruz. From there, she will relieve the damaged Saratoga. However most of our naval forces will pull back to New Caledonia over the next few days for replenishment. Fingers crossed that the Saratoga can be returned to action soon enough. Two carriers are really not enough for a sustained effort against the Japanese; currently they outnumber us in all ways.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/hornet20.jpg
USS Hornet
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/zero.jpg
Zero to hero
September 2, 1942: Raid on Tulagi
Today, I have to grudgingly accept that the real stars of the show were the Japanese Zeroes. For the first time in a while, our fighter tally bested theirs (3 Zeroes downed for 1 Wildcat lost), but they accomplished their mission unfailingly, helping the Betties in their care make a rather effective attack on our ships unloading at Tulagi.
The raid came in the morning; a big, fresh CAP by the Cactus Air Force was already waiting for it. With a mere 11 Zeroes escorting about 43 Betties, it seemed like a turkey shoot - their fighters were outnumbered 3 to 1. However the Zeroes fought back relentlessly, even when they weren't able to hit our fighters. The Betties got through to the anchorage at Tulagi and unleashed a torpedo attack.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bettyattack2.jpg
The focus of their efforts was the light cruiser Boise, which fired back and evaded tenaciously, but three transports were also hit, two of them sinking by afternoon. Boise, after sustained attack, was also finally hit by two torpedoes.
As the Betties came off the target, their escorts didn't relent. They continued to beat back the Marine fighters. When they finally retreated, the Betties were all but gone. Only one of them was shot down, although some took quite a bit of damage from flak over their target.
The damaged Boise is not currently looking very good, but holding up. Her floatplanes transferred ashore; two destroyers were attached to her as escort and ordered to get out of the area as quickly as possible. With the Torpedo Alley still ahead, the odds aren't looking very good. Two transports stayed behind at Tulagi; getting boots and supplies on the ground is ultimately more valuable than the ships themselves. Making another supply run would take far too long - time we do not have the luxury of.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/boise.jpg
USS Boise damaged
Elsewhere, the situation continues as normal. Although I'm skeptical that the Betties will return tomorrow (and if they do, they will probably be defeated this time - our air cover will be only stronger), but there are task forces lurking around here and there. S-38, already having resupplied at Brisbane and returned to her station off Bougainville, reported sighting 10 ships moving towards the Shortlands. Another unconfirmed contact report puts a few ships off Rekata Bay. Since the Japanese are now aware we have transports here, I've decided to send our surface combat force to Savo Sound to guard the remaining transports, especially those at Guadalcanal which have not been attacked and need at least another day to unload. With carriers standing by and providing cover at Rennell Island, I don't expect the Japanese will be able to do much. Once the unloading is complete, the whole force will head back to New Caledonia for resupply. Only the Hornet will linger at the Santa Cruz islands, just in case. Once that resupply completes, we'll see what's next, but the most immediate objective will be bringing reinforcements to New Guinea. At this point I'm pretty confident that Guadalcanal can fend for itself. If our reconaissance is correct, there have been almost no reinforcements to the Japanese on the island. We could, in theory, attack, but right now that may be a waste of resources on dangerous jungle warfare. I would much rather try and draw them into making the first move...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Guadalcanal_6.jpg
September 3, 1942
My prediction was correct - the Betties did not return, whether for lack of escort or poor weather, and as a result it is a quiet one today. The two remaining transports at Tulagi finish all unloading by afternoon and move away, while the transports at Guadalcanal finish offloading troops and combat vehicles, and move on to improving the already sizeable supply dump at Lunga. 60 Stuart tanks are now bolstering our forces on the island - a welcome addition indeed, especially if we decide to move on offensive eventually. There's been no action on the island since the original invasion; the main enemy has been not the Japanese but transport accidents, malaria and dysentery.
No air losses are suffered across the theater, although B-17s make their regular outings, including one to Lae that is met by 5 Zeroes.
Greenling, still on its station off Truk, is located by destroyers yet again and depth charged. This time they have the depth settings correct, but the skilled submarine skipper quickly takes the boat out of danger and evades. Upon surfacing, the Greenling reports having sighted a large Japanese cruiser force, including both heavy and light cruisers, and a seaplane-carrying cruiser - which must be the Chitose that we know was at Shortlands just a couple of days ago.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/ChitoseSP.jpg
Chitose
So, it looks like the enemy forces are pulling back for the moment. We will follow suit; whether or not the transports finish unloading tomorrow, we are all pulling back for resupply in New Caledonia.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/papua_attacks_1942.jpg
September 4, 1942: Devious Plans
Our codebreaking and intelligence come through today with incredibly important information - something that I had already suspected, but now cannot afford to delay in reacting to. In their recent operations in the Solomon Sea, the Japanese have indeed landed a large force of troops at Buna and Lae in New Guinea - perhaps at the expense of reinforcing Guadalcanal. Well, today we got a clear idea of what they are: at Buna, over 9000 troops are on the ground. Once on the Kokoda Trail, they will outnumber our current forces there as much as 2:1 or 3:1 (this depends on the types of troops involved). Fortunately, the Kokoda Trail is not a light hike and we do have some time before they march in. At Lae, a force of at least 5000 SLNF (Special Navy Landing Force = Japanese marines) troops is also located.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep4.jpg
However the most important bit of information comes in the form of a very simple report from our SIGINT, based on deciphered Japanese transmissions: "Horii Group is planning an attack on Port Moresby". The Horii group is the Japanese forces on the Kokoda Trail, led by general Tomitaro Horii.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Horii_Tomitaro.jpg
Horii
Well, looks like they may have shifted focus. Fortunately, two Australian brigades have just loaded onto ships bound for New Guinea. However given our recent record in New Guinea, we cannot land them without significant backup from naval aviation, otherwise they'll be getting torpedoed at the anchorage again. And our naval support is only just leaving Guadalcanal for resupply, meaning it will not be available for at least a week.
In the meantime, the best we can do is try and distract the Japanese. One possibility is putting pressure on them at Guadalcanal, now that we are reinforced there. It may divert their crucial support away from New Guinea, at least momentarily. 21 ships are confirmed at anchor at Rabaul - that is very likely their carriers. The only unit positively identified there is the CA Kumano, earlier seen at the Shortlands. So, they're not far when it comes to supporting their troops on the ground.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/JapsinAction.jpg
Elsewhere, Japanese subs launch torpedoes at small fry and miss - one attacks a destroyer escorting the wounded cruiser Boise (which is still taking on water), the other - a small subchaser off New Caledonia. Both subs escape without any damage. Another sub tries to sneak up to our carrier force in shallow waters at Rennell Island, but is spooked off by the destroyer screen.
B-17 raids continue as normal. The strike on the airfield at Buna is particularly effective - perhaps because the newly-arrived troops there were busy repairing it. It's back to wrecked now.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/mildura.jpg
HMAS Mildura
September 5, 1942
Not a very eventful day. Codebreaking reports continue to feed us information about planned Japanese attacks on Port Moresby; another Australian cavalry brigade for the defense of Moresby is readied for shipping out today at Townsville. One can only hope that we have a few days before the Japanese attack begins - we need to be able to deliver our troops to New Guinea before it gets ugly.
Otherwise, the day's action mostly revolves around Japanese submarines. Four of them are spotted approaching our warships. Two are attacked with some success by Australian ASW. First, patrolling corvette Mildura detects a large Japanese submarine, and proceeds to depth charge it, reporting some hits but no confirmed sinking. There are oil leaks on the surface suggesting that the sub was wounded. Later in the day, a submarine tries to creep up on the carrier task force in the Coral Sea, returning to New Caledonia. It fires torpedoes on a destroyer and then tries to sneak away, with the whole force searching for it. Only the Australian destroyer Warramunga finally gets contact and depth charges it for a while. The sub is also reported to have been at least damaged in the encounter.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/warramunga.jpg
HMAS Warramunga
Otherwise, the daily pattern continues. With the information about Japanese plans in New Guinea providing some pressure, both B-17s and A-20s carry out ground attacks. B-17s are not very successful at this; we'll bring them back to airfield attacks. A-20s attack Japanese colums at Buna and score at least a few hits.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/040newguinea_585x390o.jpg
New Guinea
September 6, 1942
Another quiet day in the theater; the enemy is lurking somewhere in the hills of New Guinea, but for the moment out of sight. His subs continue harassing our forces pulling back to New Caledonia; a sub tries to attack a destroyer again today and is chased off.
The main carrier force has put into port already; after spending practically the entire month at sea, some maintenance is required. Most of the ships need a 3-6 day overhaul. We'll see if we can afford that. The damaged Saratoga is being kept on standby for the moment; it might be useful to have 3 carriers available for our next operation, and her damage is not tremendous but still requiring some shipyard attention.
Otherwise, air operations continue as normal. One B-17 is lost to Zero attack on Lae; A-20s strafe and bomb Japanese positions at Kokoda without much effect.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/A20Boomerang.jpg
A-20 crew
Tomorrow we'll tally up our results for the month. In brief - looks like strategically, we've kept it together; tactically, we've had a few setbacks. It seems that our next challenge will be in New Guinea - hopefully we will be able to keep it together.
The Story So Far...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/cobra.jpg
August 6 - September 6, 1942
Guadalcanal and Tulagi occupied by allied forces; no other ground combat since
No naval actions between surface forces or carriers
Steady air campaign by Allies over New Guinea and Eastern Solomons
Occasional heavy air raids by Japanese bombers, focusing mostly on Allied ships
Japanese submarines sink/damage a number of ships; particularly major threat in "Torpedo Alley" in eastern Coral Sea
Japanese focusing on New Guinea, with land offensive planned shortly
Intelligence Summary
(possibly inaccurate, due to fog of war!)
Situation report
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep6-1.jpg
Air losses to date (both sides)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep6-2.jpg
Largest naval losses to date (both sides)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep6-3.jpg
Events:
August 6: Operation Watchtower (invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi) is a go
August 8: Major amphibious landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi
August 9: Battle for Lunga Point - over 2200 Japanese casualties. Objectives on Guadalcanal, including the airfield, are secure by 1st Marine Division with few losses
August 10: Battle for Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo - on the other side of the bay from Guadalcanal - concludes after meeting stiffer resistance than expected
August 13: First naval losses on both sides - Japanese sub forced to surface by depth charging and finished off with guns by US destroyers in Coral Sea; destroyer USS Conyngham torpedoed from air and sunk at Guadalcanal
August 14: Large Japanese air raid on Port Moresby sinks two ships and damages port facilities. USS S-38 sinks the first (and so far only) Japanese cargo ship in the campaign
August 18: Carrier USS Enterprise torpedoed by Japanese sub in Coral Sea. Serious damage results in 50 days of dry dock repairs at Sydney. Henderson Field on Guadalcanal receives its first aircraft: the Cactus Air Force is born
August 20: Cactus Air Force in first action over the Solomons. Its dive bombers sink Japanese fast transports in the morning; its fighters shoot down 14 Japanese bombers in the afternoon
August 21: Heavy cruiser USS Astoria torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine in eastern Coral Sea. Largest warship loss to date.
August 23-24: Action at Rekata Bay - Japanese carriers located by Cactus Air Force. Air attack on them is a failure; return attacks on Guadalcanal result in heavy Allied losses.
August 26: Cruiser HMNZS Leander sunk by air attack on Port Moresby.
August 26-28: Heavy air attacks on Port Moresby. Several transports sunk.
September 2: Air raid on Tulagi - Japanese bombers sink two transports and heavily damage cruiser USS Boise
September 4: Allied codebreakers decipher Japanese radio transmission suggesting imminent attack on Port Moresby
Biggles
12-22-11, 09:56 AM
Loving it. Epic stuff. I've taken to read your AAR more than his, making things just as interesting for me as for you :D
But how is that intelligence thing work? How can they break through a code and through that determine what he will do? He's human after all, and not some predictable AI...:hmmm:
Fincuan
12-22-11, 10:45 AM
But how is that intelligence thing work? How can they break through a code and through that determine what he will do? He's human after all, and not some predictable AI...:hmmm:
Ingame you'll have to set ground units to prepare for an objective if you want them to land and fight with maximum efficiency. It can take several weeks to reach a preparation level of 100%. My guess is that's where the "signals information" comes from.
Yeah, I presume that's what that is. There's actually several ways of knowing, and since allied codebreaking is pretty good, you often get multiple cues. First there's the SIGINT screen readout that gives you a summary of enemy radio intercepts (usually just locations where signals are coming from, but sometimes more info). In my case, I got at least 3 separate "[unit] is preparing for attack on Port Moresby" messages, combined with a few more "[unit] is located at Buna" and "[unit] is located at 99,130" (which is the Kokoda Track). There is also a "[unit] is moving to [location]" which I have not seen yet for those ground units, but wouldn't be surprised by. But, for example, I got a "A submarine is moving to Truk" message yesterday, which I assume is one of the subs I damaged by depth charges returning to base.
Then there's also on-map information gathered by various sources. I've got recon planes flying in New Guinea, for example. In my case, that's also giving me those troop numbers when I mouse over, and I know they weren't there before.
Since his units just went into preparing mode, it'll probably be at least a few days before he moves. I assume, anyway.
It's a pretty cool system! Definitely gives crucial info sometimes. The Japanese, from what I understand, don't have the same luxury. Their SIGINT only gives locations of radio transmissions, as far as I know, and even then not as often as the Allies'.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/dum10.jpg
September 7, 1942
The day begins with torpedo wakes being sighted by destroyer Frasier on ASW patrol in Torpedo Alley south of Guadalcanal. Whoever fired them is not located, however.
The morning brings what seems to be an ill-planned sweep of 4 Zeroes over Guadalcanal; the planes are met by an alert CAP of two Wildcats, and while the others scramble into the air, the Japanese manage to down one. However soon there are nearly 30 American fighters in the air, and 3 Zero kills are confirmed for no further losses. Not a bad day for the Cactus Air Force.
Elsewhere the normal pattern of strikes continues with no losses.
Our ships pull into harbor at Noumea by the end of the day, but there is little rest in sight: scouts report 3 Japanese task forces - two in the Solomon Sea, one in the Bismarck Sea containing carriers. One of the task forces seems to be on a heading towards Milne Bay - this is very worrying. Although our ships could use an overhaul, there is simply no time for it. Whatever supplies, spare aircraft and fuel can be spared are quickly loaded on, and two of the undamaged carriers (Hornet and Wasp) are sent off on their way, each with one of the battleships and cruisers as escorts. With 2-3 days sailing to the operations area, we can only hope that the Japanese don't pull anything drastic in the meantime.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep7.jpg
Situation at the end of the day, September 7th
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/yamatonight.jpg
September 8, 1942
My predictions from yesterday were exactly right. Shortly after midnight, a major Japanese bombardment opens on the Allied base at Milne Bay, led by the battleships Yamato and Mutsu (as far as our observers can gather), and supported by several cruisers. The ships land a very large number of shells on the port, and also damage the airbase; 2 aircraft (1 Wildcat and 1 Dauntless) are destroyed, and a dozen more are damaged (albeit lightly). The ships retreat and are nowhere to be seen by dawn, although the runway is sufficiently damaged that we probably would not have been able to fly a return strike.
Japanese subs are as active as ever, and one finally succeeds at what is virtually an insulting attack - torpedoing poor single minelayer Skylark patrolling off New Caledonia. Two other subs are detected; one attacking destroyer Craven, with its torpedo striking the ship but failing to detonate. It is detected by destroyer Cummings, which comes in with depth charges. It is soon joined by USS Lang, which makes several hits. Sinking cannot be confirmed however.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/skylark.jpg
Our subs aren't far behind in being active, albeit not very successful. Greenling is yet again depth charged off Truk without much effect. The Wahoo is bombed by airplanes in the Solomon Sea, but seems to escape undamaged.
In New Guinea, the local aircraft at Port Moresby switch tactics, flying low-level strafing runs against Japanese troops at Kokoda. These are somewhat effective, causing a couple dozen casualties; one Beaufighter is lost in return. The usual B-17 strikes report 1 loss today.
By the end of the day, it appears that the Japanese forces are gone out of contact, perhaps returned to Rabaul. I'm skeptical that this is really it; however if they left, that's for the better. However as a precaution, Saratoga is also sent out to sea and ordered to join the other two carriers. These will support a reinforcement run to New Guinea, as planned.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/HendersonMarineWildcatWatercolor.jpg
September 9, 1942
The first thing reported in the day is that the Japanese have been sighted occupying the Russell Islands just off Guadalcanal once again. That's not really much of a problem since we don't have troops there nor plan to have any for the moment, but it does seem to indicate that they've been getting a bit more active. I suspect they have been running some minor resupplies by APD (destroyer transport) to their positions at Guadalcanal - we have had periodic reports of those at the Shrotlands and departing Truk, so it's pretty plausible to say the least. They must have slipped in by night.
It may be worth increasing sub patrols; soon some PT boats will arrive in theater as well - they may be useful at running interference here.
In the morning, the Japanese send yet another sweep over Henderson Field. This time, despite rainy weather over Guadalcanal, they are spotted well in advance, and by the time they get near there are 29 Wildcats already in the air, with more coming to join. Our planes start off strong and down a Zero right off the bat, and the rest of the fight continues well. 2 are confirmed downed at the location, although as many as 7 could've been downed in the end. None of our fighters are shot down, although one crashes on landing back at Henderson.
In the afternoon, scouts report that the Japanese are not quite gone from the Bismarck Sea. Responding to these reports are our low-flying attack planes at Moresby. A package of A-20s flying together with Beaufighters is dispatched. Running in at wavetop level, they are met by heavy flak and 3 patrolling Zeroes, but break through to what turns out to be a task force around the escort carrier Unyo. The A-20s miss their attacks, but Beaufighters cause some trouble, concentrating on light cruiser Tenryo. They manage to land a 250lb bomb hit on it, and also rake the bridge with their 20mm cannons. That probably won't sink it, but should teach them a lesson. In this attack, 2 of our aircraft are lost; a Zero also goes down, either to defensive gunnery or their own flak.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/beau.jpg
B-17s continue their strikes on Guadalcanal, but the New Guinea strikes are suspended. The bomber squadrons in Australia assigned to this duty are exhausted, with more than half their planes currently damaged and in maintenance. They are being stood down for a bit to allow some rest and repairs.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/beaus.jpg
September 10, 1942
During the night, an explosion is heard on the far side of Guadalcanal. It is later confirmed by our intelligence that the Japanese destroyer Kazegumo blew up on mines there - further confirming my suspicion that the Japanese are running resupplies by night.
A couple of the usual brushes with submarines take place; destroyer Frazier once again reports hits on a submarine but no confirmed kill.
The big action of the day is once again at Milne Bay. This time, it is a large raid of Betties - we counted 52 of them - escorted by 17 Zeroes. Wildcats stationed at the field, still being repaired from that naval bombardment, scramble and perform admirably well - but there are just too few of them to do much about such a large strike. In the end, 1 Zero and 2 Betties are reported downed, but the rest bomb the airfields in the area, damaging a couple of aircraft on the ground. Fortunately, they have not completely taken the airfields out of action, however the Marines are being pulled out and relieved by Army Airacobras - right now wasting Wildcats on a field that we have trouble defending would be a bad idea. In the meantime, some of the Airacobras from Port Moresby are also called in to fly long-range CAP over Milne Bay to help the situation.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bettylow.jpg
Meanwhile just further up the coast at Buna, the Beaufighters seem to find their niche. They fly in low and hit barges unloading supplies there, and sink all 4 of them. 3 Zeroes turn out to meet them; 1 Beaufighter is lost and another crashes on landing, but overall this is an effective attack. Their fellow A-20s make a low-level run at Japanese positions on the Kokoda Track, without much result. They will be replaced by the rested and reinforced Beaufort squadron tomorrow, which we hope will be as good as the Beaufighters at low-level naval attacks.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/mutsu1.jpg
September 11, 1942
The Japanese seem to be coming back yet again.
The day begins with the usual submarine-prowling - destroyer Duncan on patrol in Torpedo Alley yet again sights torpedo wakes and evades, but fails to find the attacker. At least 5, and possibly as many as 8 submarines are thought to be still prowling in the area.
In the morning, our Wahoo is in the meantime spotted by enemy floatplanes off Bougainville - which attack and damage it with a bomb. However it is able to continue operations.
The big action of the day is - unsurprisingly - in the Solomon sea which the Japanese have far from vacated. It is not a good day for the Beaus, perhaps because they bite off a bit more than they can chew. Moving out on their low-level attack mission, they make contact with the large Japanese battle force containing the battleships Yamato and Mutsu - same one that bombarded Milne Bay a couple of days ago. The Australians bravely strafe and bomb through overwhelming flak, and return twice throughout the day, but the only success they have to report is that the cruiser Yubari had its bridge raked with machinegun and cannon fire - probably not enough to really do much harm. At least 3 Beauforts and 2 Beaufighters are lost today, with a lot of damaged planes all around.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/BeaufortBomber-lge.jpg
Yeah, they wish...
Further ships are reported to be on the move from Rabaul. However if they choose to go for Milne Bay, they will not have an easy run of it tomorrow. Our 3 carriers will be on station off New Guinea tomorrow and the troop reinforcement runs will be commencing (we hope to possibly even sneak some troops to Milne Bay - risky, but if we down some Betties first, it may be possible). If the enemy tries to make landings at Milne, they will pay. Our carriers do not appear to have been spotted by the enemy at all yet. Still, they could potentially be in range for Betties tomorrow, so CAP levels are beefed up.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sarahit.jpg
September 12, 1942 - Disaster!
Worst day of the campaign for us yet. It begins with Yamato and her consorts bombarding Milne Bay once again, this time even more effectively. 13 of the Airacobras at the airfields are damaged (although none destroyed); the port and runways are wrecked, and 78 casualties are reported. But that's just the beginning.
Submarines are reported south of New Guinea, in the vicinity of our carriers, although they do not attack. However these, along with scouting aircraft, appear to have spotted us. Although the weather forecast called for clear skies today, by afternoon there are severe storm cells rumbling in the vicinity of the carriers. Despite those, the Japanese finally do make their appearance. First it is a small Betty flight escorted by Zeroes. The CAP takes a bit to get into the air, shooting down most of them, but 3 bombers still get through to our ships. Thankfully, the flak drives them off.
After that, there is a short break. In the meantime our Beaus try to hit the Japanese at Kokoda, but don't manage to cause a lot of damage while receiving plenty of flak in return.
Suddenly, as the storms are rumbling over, an unescorted flight of 9 Betties breaks though - completely unnoticed by the CAP (and 54 fighters are now in the air) - and goes right for the Saratoga. Only determined anti-air fire saves the carrier. But not all is done - soon 19 more bombers appear. Please CAP! You'd think they would've learned something by now! But no - not a single plane of the 54 on station, perhaps fooled by weather, takes on the bombers coming in at medium altitude. When the Japanese have the Saratoga in their sights, it's too late. She's quickly hit by a torpedo, which also ignites ammunition aboard. Then another. Then another. Four torpedoes in total wreck the carrier. The planes on CAP and on deck - less than half her compliment - fly off to Port Moresby. The rest are stuck on the hanger deck, with the ship's elevators not working. At the end of the day, the ship is still afloat, but gravely damaged. What should have been a turkey shoot of unescorted bombers at medium altitude turns into our greatest disaster yet. (And I am very, very, very ticked off at that). It will be extremely fortunate if the ship even survives until morning - and given the damage, she would take a good 3 days to get back to Townsville, the nearest port where repairs can be made. I suppose now the best I can really count on is that most of the crew will be safe. Otherwise, at least I don't need to regret sending her into combat while damaged - a healthy carrier would not have fared better against 4 torpedo hits. But every carrier should have fared better than this against unescorted bombers.
To add insult to injury, the cruiser Boise - which had been damaged at Tulagi some time ago and had in fact looked stable (and even temporarily put in at Noumea), having only a little distance to go to drydock in Sydney, suddenly foundered and sank in the evening. I had no concerns left about her, so this came as nearly a complete surprise.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/boise-1.jpg
I expect things to begin getting even worse from here however. Even if Saratoga survives, she will probably be out of action for the entire operation. Enterprise is not going to be back for another 35 days. We have 2 carriers left, having never even engaged the enemy carrier forces. While I'm confident that we can complete the reinforcement run to Port Moresby and bring in enough troops to repel the inevitable Japanese onslaught, the situation at Milne Bay is looking more precarious than ever. I expect an invasion there within the next week. If it comes, I expect the sea battle over it will not be in our favour, with the Japanese naval forces currently having significant superiority over us.
Seriously... 54 planes on CAP, unescorted bombers at medium altitude, ships with radar everywhere, how does this even happen? :damn::damn::damn:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/ship_wasp13.jpg
Destroyer Lamson torpedoed by Japanese submarine while the USS Saratoga burns in the background
September 13, 1942
I suppose the best thing that could be said about today is that nothing sunk. Yet. Otherwise, not a great one for us.
It begins with the submarine Albacore, patrolling to the east of Rabaul, attempting torpedo attack on a destroyer. It misses and is located, but goes deep before the depth charges can do any damage. Upon surfacing it reports having sighted a task force that included Hiei and Kirishima, moving east or northeast. Going for Guadalcanal, or Truk?
In the meantime the destroyer Frazier, quickly becoming our most active ASW boat, depth charges another submarine south of Guadalcanal until running out of ammunition. Time to go home to rearm.
It may have been a good thing that it's gone to rearm - it's uncertain why, but a force of at least 3 Japanese destroyers is spotted southwest of Guadalcanal later in the day. My bet is that the Japanese sent these relatively big, powerful, fast destroyers to hunt down my ASW patrol. The Cactus Airforce swings into action and scores a hit on one of the destroyers. Two SBDs are lost to flak.
Meanwhile in western Coral Sea, the crippled Saratoga barely makes any progress back, however is still holding up.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep13-2.jpg
The Japanese do not leave it alone, however. As her escorts strive to keep her safe, destroyer Lamson catches a torpedo. The others look for the attacker, but ultimately turn up with nothing. Lamson holds up through the day, however the prospects for its survival are looking even poorer than Saratoga's.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep13-1.jpg
In the Solomon Sea, the USS Wahoo continues to be assailed - first it is detected and depth charged by destroyers, then it is again attacked by air. It escapes any further damage however.
SBDs from the Cactus Air Force return in the afternoon and bomb the same destroyers off Guadalcanal, again making one hit. This ship looks particularly damaged and secondary explosions follow.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/Dauntless001.jpg
Less lucky are the surviving 6 SBDs from the Saratoga that flew off to Port Moresby. They carry out an ill-planned attack against Japanese destroyers in the Solomon Sea, and none return. Beaufighters and Beauforts go for the same targets, and are also decimated. It seems Zeroes are patrolling above the ships. The Beau squadrons are exhausted, and are recalled back to Australia after only a few days of action.
The only bright spot is that two of the reinforcement convoys to Port Moresby arrive to their destination unassailed and begin unloading. Though the Japanese could come for them tomorrow, pretty well all that's left at the airbase now is fighters, including 30 Wildcats evacuated from the Saratoga - so if they do attack, we should be adequately prepared.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/hornet9.jpg
DISASTER IN THE CORAL SEA
September 14, 1942 - The End
Today marks the worst defeat in American naval history - caused, sadly, less by bad planning and more by weather and utter tactical ineptness.
The night's action is typical; the subchaser SC-707 twice spots torpedo wakes heading for it. The first time it doesn't find who launched them, but the second time it detects a submarine and gives it a good beating.
Just before dawn - the news I feared comes in: Saratoga foundered in heavier seas today. Her captain went down with the ship. If only that were the worst news...
The first morning enemy strike is a group of Nell bombers - which we had not seen in action here up to now - getting through to a convoy sailing towards Port Moresby. A strong CAP from Moresby turns out to meet them, but a number of the Nells still get through. They focus their attack on cargo ship Steel Maker, and successfully sink it with two torpedo hits. 66 of the 2nd Australian Cavalry Brigade's vehicles go down to the bottom; fortunately the troops are not on the ship so actual casualties are light.
Around the same time, our scouts spot the enemy carriers disturbingly close to our own - only 80-100 miles away to the north, in the Coral Sea! A strike package is put together quickly... and aborted when storms are encountered over the target. That does not, for some reason, prevent the enemy from taking to the air in the very same storms; barely minutes later, with most of our planes in the air, the Japanese strike arrives. Although our CAP is heavy, over 50 Zeroes are escorting.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep14-1.jpg
First thought: "This is it".
Wasp is quickly hit by the first dive bombers, and others follow. Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Hornet all receive hits; of these, the heavy cruiser Minneapolis takes the worst, with bombs penetrating into its engine room and causing fire and explosions that rapidly sink the ship. The 2nd and 3rd bombs on the Wasp cause magazine explosions. Hornet fares no better.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep14-2.jpg
Our own planes, still in the air, now head for the enemy position - without their escort anymore. They are met by a whopping 64 Zeroes, of course. Flying through the stormy sky over the enemy group, only half our planes get through.... and of course thanks to that same stormy weather, not a single hit is scored. A total waste.
Other planes try throughout the day, including B-17s, but nothing can hit the enemy planes. By afternoon the stormy weather is gone, but we have nothing to hit them with. Both our remaining carriers evacuate their planes to Port Moresby, and from there a dozen SBDs with heavy escort make another outing. 10 of them get through to the carriers, but again score no hits.
Enemy Betties and Nells come back for that supply convoy - but massive CAP from Port Moresby completely wipes out their first attempt before it reaches target, while others turn away on sighting our planes. Some are still chased down; and another 6 betties and 6 Nells are shot down that way.
However our remaining naval forces, further out at sea, are now out of reach of the CAP from Moresby. The enemy returns with a vengeance, now targeting our surface forces. First Betties make a run at the battleships Washington and North Carolina, making one torpedo hit on each. Then, the enemy carrier forces come in to finish the job...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep14-3.jpg
And that's that. As evening settles, not a scratch is left on the enemy carriers, while our fleet is effectively wiped out. If Washington and North Carolina were not harmed, we could have made a dangerous surface dash right at the enemy - since they really were not that far away, but now that would be sheer suicide. That's more Japanese style.
The badly crippled Australia and the destroyer Lamson damaged yesterday are scuttled to help the remaining ships make headway, however for none of the damaged ships does the situation look good. And if they survive until morning, the enemy air forces are likely to finish them off.
So, this is basically the end. Even if our carriers somehow survive, they will be out of action for the remainder of the scenario. Enterprise is not coming back until mid-October, but alone against a virtually undamaged IJN strength, it really has no hope.
At this point, I will most likely have to resign my command.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/hornet12.jpg
Man, this is just unfair. I mean, I don't have trouble being defeated but to have weather and utter tactical ineptness do this to me AGAIN... Had first contact, first strike in the air... Should've at least been able to pre-empt this somehow... But nope, my planes turn away while theirs take off in the very same storm.
I really don't regret sending my carriers where they were - they were needed there, and when weather and incompetence didn't get in the way, they were performing as designed. Our convoys needed the cover, and as today's turned-away and destroyed Betty packages confirmed - we could stand up to them if needed. So I honestly can't blame my own decisions for this. In the end, it's just reeeeeaaally bad luck.
:cry:
Ah well, Merry Christmas everyone! Guess this is Egan's present :)
Yah, that's a pretty clean sweep...you don't really have much left to put against what the IJN has to field. If a Jap carrier or two had gone down, perhaps, but with them undented and you hammered.
Still, on the up side, you'll make more dollars on the lecture circuit. :yep:
:haha:
Well that is what I do for a living, so... don't quit my day job, I guess? :O:
Nothing surprising about getting whooped in my first game but, y'know, I kind of wish it happened a little more strategically and whatnot.
:haha:
Well that is what I do for a living, so... don't quit my day job, I guess? :O:
Nothing surprising about getting whooped in my first game but, y'know, I kind of wish it happened a little more strategically and whatnot.
Oh, I know that feeling. Although with me it's usually a defeat that can be traced back to an error I made in the opening moves of the game...which usually makes me terrified to make any first move in a game.
On the upside that usually means I land up fighting defensively, which is what I'm good at, but on the downside I still lose. :haha:
Krauter
12-25-11, 01:16 PM
:haha:
Well that is what I do for a living, so... don't quit my day job, I guess? :O:
Nothing surprising about getting whooped in my first game but, y'know, I kind of wish it happened a little more strategically and whatnot.
Honestly CCIP I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. Just bad luck and game querkiness I guess. Up to this point you've played a pretty good game strategically. I really hope this doesn't deter you from further playing as I've really enjoyed reading yours and Egans AARs.
Just as in real life, bad luck really plays a hand I guess. Guess you just got a bad roll this time, however you never know, maybe one of your subs can get a lucky hit in on his CVs.
I really don't regret sending my carriers where they were - they were needed there, and when weather and incompetence didn't get in the way, they were performing as designed. Our convoys needed the cover, and as today's turned-away and destroyed Betty packages confirmed - we could stand up to them if needed. So I honestly can't blame my own decisions for this. In the end, it's just reeeeeaaally bad luck.
:cry:
Ah well, Merry Christmas everyone! Guess this is Egan's present :)
Oh no, I'm not deterred at all. This might be the end of this scenario (I'll find this out in a turn or two) - but even if it is, I expect that we'll be doing either a new scenario or even the grand campaign shortly. I'll just need a little single-player practice and more manual-reading before that. In the grand campaign, this would've actually created more of an 'interesting scenario' than a total defeat. But here it's kind of tough to see a recovery from this since my reinforcements are fixed and no amount of begging will bring more ships in.
It's been a good learning experience though. And I don't think I've had this much fun with a game in a long time :yep:
Biggles
12-25-11, 01:50 PM
It's really been exciting and I'm actually kinda sad it's over if that's the case, but it'd also be fun to see some other part of the Pacific War :DL
We've certainly had a lot of fun reading yours and Egans AARs, and you've successfully sold two to three copies of WITP:AE. Hopefully one day I'll pick a copy up too. :yep:
Fincuan
12-25-11, 02:47 PM
The inadeptness of your DBs and your CAP is really surprising. Not much more you could have done, except for not taking the CVs to the area in the first place.
Better luck in the next scenario, eh? Hopefully there's one coming, given the level of enjoyment these AARs have given. :yeah:
Well, I don't blame the DBs for not hitting anything - their accuracy is badly affected by weather by default, since their dive attacks start pretty high up and wouldn't really have a good view. I notice that they're far more weather-sensitive than TBs, and unfortunately the early-war American TBs are as useless as every other torpedo-carrying weapon in the US arsenal. That already gives the Japanese a big advantage in bad weather (and the TBs are really their 'killer weapon' anyway). It does irk me a little, though, that the weather scared off my strike package from attacking but didn't scare off his strike package from taking off - which if you think about it, is far more weather-sensitive business.
Anyway, we're still gonna play for a bit to see how things develop. I still expect to put up the white flag soon, but as long as I can do something here - expect at least a little bit of an epilogue to the story :)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/capsized1.jpg
September 15, 1942 - Aftermath
The weather just won't leave us alone. In a final insult, today is stormy over our crippled carriers, and that's absolutely not to our advantage. Heavy seas help finish them off. The Hornet, which appeared to be the less damaged of the two carriers, takes on water and capsizes just before dawn. The Wasp, whose AA magazines blew in the original attack, has her crew and escorts bravely fighting fires throughout the day. But the weather remains rough, and by evening she, too, succumbs to flooding.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/capsized3.jpg
The enemy, hidden by the same stormy weather, is nowhere to be seen. Undamaged ships - the remainder of our heavy cruiser force - sail off on their own to the south and by nightfall are well out of range of any threat (and, of course, helpless to do anything).
The only bright spot to the day is the air action. Unescorted strikes go for Port Moresby where ships are unloading, and the air strips are crammed full of airplanes evacuated from the carriers. Many of these planes are damaged, and there is not enough ground crews to tend to them. Almost all of the carriers' fighters are intact and making sorties, but the bombers have been heavily decimated. Some squadrons will need to be disbanded to make pilots and airframes available if we are to have any hope of replacing our forces.
Those unescorted strikes fare exactly as we'd hope - as soon as the enemy bombers sight the fearsome CAP over their objective, they turn back to flee. Our planes give chase relentlessly, and by the end of the day 25 Betties and Nells are down. Three of our pilots make ace - as far as I can tell, Cross is even ace in a day.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep15-1.jpg
But that's about it, really. Our only carrier currently afloat is the CVE Long Island. If we juggle some squadrons around (which would take a few days right now), we could possibly have it equipped with 18 Wildcats in an escort role, where it at least might give some CAP to convoys. The Enterprise is exactly 1 month from being repaired, and attempting to get it active earlier than that is futile.
From here, everything depends on the enemy's aggressiveness. It's fairly certain that Moresby will be sufficiently reinforced and ready to hold off any enemy attacks over the next few days. Milne Bay is now at the mercy of the enemy - reinforcing it is out of question due to risk of air attack and lack of our ability to protect any convoys to it. It's as good as captured. Guadalcanal is not under immediate risk, but if the enemy makes a determined effort to reinforce it, we may not be able to stop it. Running some supplies there now might be a good idea while enemy attention is elsewhere; but in truth, they can cut it off at any point. Even if they do though, we have a solid supply dump there that will last quite a while.
Our naval strike capability is seriously depleted by the loss of the carriers with many of their planes, something we cannot replace. They will further be stretched thin depending on the enemy's approach. Given their current ability to control the seas, the worst scenario right now would be if they run wild off the Australian coast - which they can, if they really want to. There is little we can do to deter them from this, and they may be able to do so while standing out of range of any effective land-based airplanes.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/usswash.jpg
September 16, 1942
The only good news today is that the USS Washington, along with the damaged Australian cruiser Hobart, has managed to limp into Townsville; most of the day had been quiet across the theater. The Washington's sister, North Carolina, is still struggling at sea, a couple of days away from port. No guarantees she'll make it.
At Port Moresby - mistakes again. In the crowded harbor, I forgot to give the unloading order to one of the three amphibious forces currently landing troops there. As usual, that's the one force that the Japanese go for - and I had also forgotten to beef up the CAP levels for the Wildcats evacuated off carriers after withdrawing the Australian and Army fighters from the base to free up support crews. The enemy's carriers, still lurking in the Solomon sea, launch a strike of their Kate torpedo bombers. So... the result is as expected - our losses are only a couple of wildcats and we shoot down up to 8 Zeroes, but the enemy torpedo bombers get through and manage to sink one of our APDs and a transport ship. 210 casualties are suffered by the 2nd Australian Cavalry Brigade troops still aboard.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/japanese_kate_torpedo_bomber.jpg
While it is likely to result in further losses, I order a convoy that had just finished unloading to head for Milne Bay and try to pick up the ground troops there. I've decided to evacuate the base there before it's too late.
Krauter
12-25-11, 07:46 PM
What is the feasibility in making up for your loss of CVs with Land based aircraft? Could you simply stack a squad or two of aircraft on all of the airfields in the Solomens? Would that not give you almost complete coverage?
Well, I only have one airfield in the Solomons, and that's Henderson which is already pretty full. I can only overstack my airfields so far before they get inefficient or run out of support.
The trouble is that I don't really have aircraft with long enough reach. His carrier-based planes have longer reach than mine, so he can keep them away until the right moment. Likewise, while I can defend against the daytime bombing and even carrier attack (assuming I'm expecting it), my land-based planes are no help against night-time bombardments from the sea, as we've seen with Milne Bay - our range is short enough that he can bombard and be back out of range by morning.
I'm already planning to possibly move some B-17 squadrons further forward, and try to rebuild my SBD squads, but I don't really have forward bases that he can't avoid. If he wants to, he can always put his carriers out of reach of the airbases but still have them able to reach ships going between ports.
I assumed Milne Bay might be able to fend for itself like that, but now that's looking pretty bad. The airbase there is too small and can't really defend itself against both bombers and enemy bombardment at the same time (it has to do either one, or the other). Which is why I'll be trying to evacuate it now.
Condolences on your defeat. I can't really fault your strategy. I would have done the same thing with the carriers. Positioning them south of Moresby seemed much safer than having them tethered to Guadalcanal. So much is determined by who gets the first strike in. Makes you wonder what might have happened in the battle of Midway, if the USN hadn't been so lucky. :-?
I would say the game has issues with tactical ineptitude of the AI TF's (and other units). There seem to be a lot of wildcards here.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/wildcatzero.jpg
September 17, 1942 - Four Aces
Overnight, the USS Sailfish gets involved in all sorts of action. She is detected by a destroyer and depth charged while making approach to a task force containing the battleships Kirishima and Hiei. The escort drops depth charges tenaciously, causing a number of near misses that shake the sub - but then suddenly the charging stops. Seems they ran out of ammo. Sailfish uses this pause to sneak away.
However that's not over, because a couple of hours later, the light carrier Ryujo comes into sight, apparently part of the same task force. Sailfish makes her approach undetected and fires torpedoes, which are accurate but fail to detonate... argh! Sailfish is subjected to another heavy plastering with plenty of near misses, but ultimately escapes undamaged. If only we had torpedoes that actually worked.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sailfish.jpg
The rest of the day's action centers on Port Moresby. Betties make two strikes while under escort, and both are disastrous. As many as 25 betties and 10 zeroes are shot down, for the loss of only 3 Wildcats. The experienced USN pilots evacuated from the carriers are really making their presence felt, and by the end of the day we have 4 aces, all of them from the evacuated carrier squadrons.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sep17.jpg
The evacuated SBDs don't do so well - they make an ill-planned strike on a small cargo convoy in the Bismarck Sea, are met by Zeroes and lose one. These squadrons are ordered to stand down and leave the base as soon as possible.
Otherwise, the usual strikes continue. The New Guinea B-17 attack have already resumed as the squadrons have rested and gained back their strength.
Finally, I've changed my mind about evacuating Milne Bay. Let's not rush with that - given the terrain, the troops can always break out and retreat by land. In the meantime, the support crews there have already patched up the airfield and port - and the air units there can be infinitely useful (although we need to patch up the carrier evacuees first).
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bagley.jpg
USS Bagley
September 18, 1942
A very uneventful day. About the only action at sea had been the USS Bagley attacking a Japanese submarine south of Guadalcanal, reporting at least some damage done to it, without confirmed kill. Elsewhere - no major contacts or engagments. A few barges are reported off Rekata Bay, within the range of the Cactus Air Force, but are not attacked.
The Betties did not return for obvious reasons. I wonder how many of them are even left. It's worth noting that as of now, the Japanese air losses for the campaign actually exceed ours, despite having flown only about half the sorties that we did. So at least that's a positive. In any case, that's certainly a big relief to the convoys now unloading at Moresby. Almost all of the reinforcement troops have arrived, and we will begin moving them up to the Kokoda Trail shortly.
The usual B-17 strikes are met by a few Zeroes, but return without losses. Plane repairs continue, and hopefully we will soon be in position to reshuffle our squadrons to maximum effectiveness. At Noumea, the escort carrier Long Island is getting a bit of an overhaul. We are hoping to be able to put some Wildcats on her soon to at least provide some air cover for supply convoys near the shore.
Lots of crossed fingers in Townsville tonight - the North Carolina, still struggling at sea, could make it in tomorrow. We hope that she holds up, like her sister Washington.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/bagley2.jpg
USS Bagley
September 19, 1942 - Sub vs. Destroyer
The main action today is again the sub hunt south of Guadalcanal. I have this sneaking suspicion that his submarines are actively trying to go after the destroyers hunting them - well, we'll see about that! In the morning hours, Bagley encounters a whopping 3 different submarines during its patrol. The first one is detected but escapes before being depth charged; the 2nd one launches torpedoes at Bagley and misses, escaping without being found; and the 3rd one hits Bagley with a torpedo. USS Buchanan, operating together with Bagley, rushes to the scene and quickly locates the attacker. Dropping depth charges, it registers near misses, then hits. Sounds of internal explosions are heard, and the depth charge attack is halted after the submarine contact is lost, but a large oil slick appears on the surface. Buchanan then pulls up to rescue the crew of the Bagley, which sinks shortly thereafter. She then goes back to work, ordered to join the USS Frazier which is coming back on station here tomorrow. We're not done with this showdown in Torpedo Alley yet!
At the end of the day, intelligence confirms the sinking as the old Japanese submarine RO-63.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/ro63.jpg
Otherwise, the day's action continues as normal. In Townsville, good news - the North Carolina, along with seriously damaged cruisers Hobart and New Orleans, has made it after all. She joins the Washington in urgent dockside repairs. Her condition is very bad; before we can move the two battleships to Sydney for drydocking, some emergency patching-up will need to be attended to. I am skeptical whether we will be able to bring these battleships back to form in this operation. Their sister South Dakota, however, will be arriving in theater in a week's time.
In New Guinea, looks like I've made an oops. I clearly remember ordering the troops at Milne Bay to stay where they are and not load onto transports, but my check at the end of the day reveals them nearly loaded and ready to go... well, I guess we're evacuating after all. I can't risk another day for unloading, with a bunch of transports sitting at anchor within easy reach of enemy air power. Now I really have to cross my fingers that they can actually get out safely - the last thing I need is to have a ground unit lost at sea...
Tribesman
12-28-11, 06:12 AM
That is a really bad run of luck. But thanks for the very enjoyable AAR so far.
Just a quick follow up in regards to krauters question on land based aircraft for coverage and some of the upgrade/reinforcement options.
What are the switches possible on Wirraways now rather than waiting for the Boomarang upgrades?
Plus the B-17s E-F upgrade gives lots more range and there is also the arrival of older D which has longer legs than the E.
B-25s should soon be becoming available too with their extra range.
I know it is just tweaking at the edges of your new big deficit gap in air power, but it appears lots of tweaking is what makes this game the game that it is.
Hmm, I should dig a little more into aircraft upgrades. I was originally thinking about replacing Wirraways with Beaufighters, but my current Beaufighter squadron actually ate up most of the replacement planes already. And I think the B-17D stockpile is also pretty small. I notice that the B-24 just became available, although it'll be a couple of weeks before I have enough to equip a squadron.
I'll see what I can scrounge up though. And I really need to start getting ready to play the grand campaign soon!
You're still in a fairly good position to hold on and bleed the Japs, particularly their air forces, so it's not all bad news. Bit of a shame about Milne Bay...but better to keep the troops safe.
I don't know if you can force a US victory, but you could certainly go in for a stalemate here which in the long run is about the same as a victory when you compare the industry of Japan against that of the US.
You're still in a fairly good position to hold on and bleed the Japs, particularly their air forces, so it's not all bad news. Bit of a shame about Milne Bay...but better to keep the troops safe.
I don't know if you can force a US victory, but you could certainly go in for a stalemate here which in the long run is about the same as a victory when you compare the industry of Japan against that of the US.
Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for really. And I mean, it was an attrition battle for me from the beginning, just that I've badly lost it at sea. Elsewhere it's not looking too bad - so far. It's really a question of whether I can fight him down on land. And we'll find out about that pretty soon.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/sky.jpg
September 20, 1942
A quiet one today, other than the submarine action. No airstrikes occur from either side - the weather is crappy and the active squadrons are a bit exhausted.
On the submarine front, the Greenling gets yet another working-over off Truk, without much result. The pig boats are now out in force in the Solomon Sea, keeping an eye for any Japanese moves out of Rabaul - and the lucky S-38 gets yet another contact, this time with a task force containing at least a couple of heavy cruisers. Heading for Milne Bay again? She fires on a destroyer escorting them, but the torpedoes fail to detonate and she is subjected to an unsuccessful depth charging. Wherever they were heading though, it didn't seem to be Milne Bay - the base is not subjected to any depth charging today.
South of the Solomons, the USS Frazier engages two different subs during the day today, scoring hits on at least one. By the end of the day she's out of depth charges and heading back to New Caledonia for resupply - relief is already on station, so the hunt will continue.
A couple of strategic reshuffles today - I've decided to beef up the force on Guadalcanal yet again and prepare to go on offensive there at some point in the near future to distract him. For this purpose, a large convoy is being assembled to bring even more supplies, an Americal brigade of Army troops, and the South Pacific HQ to the island. This should facilitate better reinforcements and command on the island. This convoy will be loaded onto a dozen ships and will be escorted to Guadalcanal by all the forces we can muster, including the soon-to-arrive battleship South Dakota and the CVE Long Island. In the meantime, two small seaplane tenders are heading to the Santa Cruz islands to set up a scouting outpost there.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/coca-cola_douglas_sbd_dauntless_1943-610x511.jpg
September 21, 1942
Not a very eventful day - just some minor Dauntless action brought to you by Coca Cola (apparently) and the Cactus Air Force. In the morning, one of the CAF scouts spots some ships at the Shortlands. Not satisfied to just spot them, the planed dives in to strafe a small minesweeper, reportedly scoring a hit. After it returns, the CAF planes try to form up a raid, but poor weather leaves it disorganized and only 9 arrive unescorted on target. They try to bomb a couple of destroyers, but miss. Later in the day, a patrolling SBD again takes initiative and strafes one of the destroyers, but no further strikes happen. To help the situation a little, I relieve one of the inexperienced Marine SBD squadrons on Guadalcanal with an expert Navy squadron from the Enterprise.
The usual B-17 strikes resume with better weather, and over Lae the bombers are met with a whole 10 Zeroes. But they shrug them off with ease, shooting down one of the fighters and returning to base. The same story repeats at Buna - not a bad day for the Forts.
In Noumea, the docks are a hub of surprisingly efficient activity. The convoy destined for Guadalcanal that I expected to have to wait several days for is already almost completely loaded. Destroyer Frazier, which just yesterday was attacking subs off the Solomons, has not only managed to get to port, but has even re-armed its depth charge racks, reporting ready for action. I'm sure tomorrow it'll already be chasing subs again.
Biggles
12-28-11, 04:37 PM
Those torpedoes turns out to be duds quite often, don't they? :hmmm:
Arclight
12-28-11, 05:27 PM
The Mark 14 torpedo was kinda... bloody useless, yeah. Early in the war, at any rate. :yep:
Those torpedoes turns out to be duds quite often, don't they? :hmmm:
Yep, as historically... :yep: (and probably even somewhat more so, in what I've seen so far. Actually of all torpedoes fired by my units so far, only two hit something and actually worked - one from S-38, and one from a torpedo bomber. And not a single Mk 14 among them!)
The Mark 14 torpedo was kinda... bloody useless, yeah. Early in the war, at any rate. :yep:
The Mk 13 and Mk 15 don't work that well either.
It is as though the USN expected to be able to win the War without modern weapons. It is monumentally frustrating to see failure after failure after failure........
The worst part is knowing that they will not work any better before '43. :cry:
Captain Vlad
12-29-11, 02:51 AM
It is as though the USN expected to be able to win the War without modern weapons. It is monumentally frustrating to see failure after failure after failure........
They were as modern as anything anyone else started the war with, with the exception of the IJN's 'Long Lance'...
...they just sucked.;) And it took years to fix them despite the Germans rectifying similar problems in months.
Sorry to see the loss of your carriers, CCIP, but glad you're still hanging on. I personally feel that you've got a decent shot at winning or obtaining a stalemate despite what happened to your flattops.
I'm enjoying both sides of this greatly.
I'll hang in there for a bit. I think things might get at least a little more hopeful if I can last long enough for Enterprise to be brought back in service and not immediately lose it to something stupid :yep:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/USS-S-44-155a.jpg
USS S-44
September 22, 1942
The night brings an interesting development - 3 relatively disorganized flights of Betties fly over Townsville in the dark and drop bombs, completely inaccurately. Still, I wonder what it is they want here! I wonder if there is anything I could use as night fighters, too...
Otherwise, a good day for our plucky units in the Solomons. The destroyer Buchanan attacks yet another sub south of Guadalcanal. Doesn't seem like a sinking, but at least they gave her a good scare. The S-44, on patrol just off the Shortlands, sights a couple of destroyers and bravely moves to attack. It works and she hits a Fubuki-class destroyer, slipping away undetected. The ship sinks soon afterwards. Her attack and report also bring SBDs to the area, where they attack the same force of destroyers. One is hit by a 500lb bomb; I'm a little skeptical of the bombers' claim of sinking, but they at least hurt her pretty badly.
Elsewhere, the usual B-17 strikes continue. Over Lae, they are outnumbered by 13 Zeroes, but fight back tenaciously and not only complete their mission but even shoot down one of the fighters.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/farenholt.jpg
USS Farenholt
September 23, 1942
Not much of significance to report today. Submarines are chased off Guadalcanal as usual; USS Farenholt sights torpedo wakes and attacks a sub during the night, abruptly stopping after running out of depth charges. Destroyer Buchanan does much the same a few hours later. In the Solomon sea, submarine USS Sculpin spots several destroyers and tries to torpedo one - as usual, the Mk 14 fails, though the boat eludes depth charging with relative ease.
The usual B-17 raids don't meet much resistance. Over Buna, two Zeroes turn out to intercept, but one of them is quickly shot down by the gunners. Betties are nowhere to be seen once again.
Biggles
12-29-11, 01:21 PM
Well they're not called Flying Fortresses for nothing!:D
Well they're not called Flying Fortresses for nothing!:D
Yup. I figured if they cut their teeth on the likes of Fw-190s (a tank compared to anything the Japanese had), they could handle the Zeroes. Glad my predictions on that paid off - the kill ratio is far well in their favour, and the strike accuracy is pretty darn good too (over 40%) :D
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/frazier.jpg
USS Frazier
September 24, 1942: Sub vs. Destroyer
The battle for Torpedo Alley continues relentlessly today. While the ASW force there is being reshuffled, the destroyer Gregory ends up alone for a few hours, waiting for the dawn to rendezvous with its new companion. As it sails at slow cruise speed, it sights the telltale torpedo wakes just in time to avoid them, then swings around to look for the attacker. The Gregory's crew get contact immediately and begin depth charging, apparently with great effectiveness. Soon the submarine is leaking oil, leaving a telltale trail that only helps Gregory find her after each attack. Eventually, the battered sub broaches the surface, firing her last torpedoes as the Gregory's guns train on her. Moments later, it's all over, with the submarine never seen again.
However the revenge is not long in coming. In the morning, the workaholic destroyer Frazier is sailing on to join this ASW effort in the Coral Sea, where it is hit by a single torpedo. It tries to turn around and acquire contact on the attacker, but the damage is too severe. As the sub slips away, the Frazier sinks within about an hour. Most of her crew are lost as no friendly ships are nearby to help.
Elsewhere, the usual B-17 strikes continue. They down two Zeroes for no losses once again today.
At Noumea, the final reinforcement package for Guadalcanal is taking shape. The 12 transports carrying an army brigade and operational HQ are joined by 12 destroyers and 1 AA cruiser. Sailing behind them is CVE Long Island with 16 torpedo bombers acting as ASW search planes, and 6 destroyers. This should help them get through to Torpedo Alley. However we won't rush - first this force will stop by at Espiritu Santo, where it will hold for the surface combat force, centered on battleship South Dakota, to be ready for support in 4 days' time.
Meanwhile at Brisbane, the 1st Australian Corps HQ is also loading onto ships for Milne Bay, preparing to coordinate operations there. My hope is to get an organized, well-supplied force both on New Guinea and Guadalcanal by mid-October, so that we can launch simultaneous operations and dictate to the enemy where and when we want to fight. Likewise, it would be great to have supplies and troops in place so that we don't even need to worry about enemy naval interference.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/USS-Amberjack-219.jpg
USS Amberjack
September 26, 1942
Not a very eventful day. In the morning, the USS Amberjack is depth charged by an auxiliary minesweeper west of Guadalcanal. They must be trying to clear those mines we planted earlier. Fortunately, the sub escapes with ease.
Later in the day, something is reported sunk (possibly after hitting mines?) but I can't quite make sense of it.
B-17 strikes continue at somewhat reduced strength, but even fewer Zeroes turn out to meet them today.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nells.jpg
September 26, 1942: Air Raid on Milne Bay
The morning scouts bring a couple of reports of task forces in the Bismarck Sea. While not exactly a forward operations area, that usually indicates something afoot - and it doesn't take long for things to start unraveling.
A massive air raid arrives over Milne Bay, in two waves - bringing in a total 66 Betty and Nell bombers and 41 Zeroes in 2 waves. Airacobras still based there scramble to defend, but there is only so much they can do - two are lost without much result. However the raid is only moderately effective - one of the Marine SBD bombers is destroyed on the ground, and some damage done to the runways, but Milne remains operational.
We respond with our usual B-17 strikes on Lae and Guadalcanal, and more importantly by pulling the SBDs out of Milne Bay and replacing them with a fresh Kittyhawk squadron. I'm still willing to put up all the necessary appearances of being ready to fight for Milne just to delay their plans to invade - maybe for long enough to distract them elsewhere.
The recently-arrived reinforcements to New Guinea are on the March on the Kokoda trail, covering about 6-7 miles per day through the jungle. They still have 30-odd miles to go to the front line.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/sep26.jpg
Situation at the end of the day
The scouting and intelligence reports show their carriers at Rabaul, but the two forces in the Bismarck Sea seem to include a battleship and several destroyers.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/MilneBayTurningPoint.jpg
RAAF Kittyhawks over Milne Bay
September 27, 1942
Overnight, Marine Raiders check up on Rennell Islands, where the Japanese were previously sighted. They turn out to be once again unoccupied.
Scouting reports in the morning suggest that the cruiser Katori is in port at Lae, suggesting that the Japanese moves through Bismarck Sea yesterday were probably merely a resupply run to their positions in New Guinea. In the meantime our own reinforcement efforts to Guadalcanal are making progress, as the troop convoy and its accompanying escort carrier force put in at Espiritu Santo.
In the afternoon, the big strike returns to Milne Bay. Airacobras and Kittyhawks scramble to intercept. 46 Zeroes... oh man. As the fighters tangle with them, the bombers get through to the airfields and conduct their strike. However, just as they come off the target, the Zeroes seem distracted and most of our CAP has a chance to pounce on the bombers. They quickly tear into them, focusing on the larger Betties. The Kittyhawks come in attacking head-on and from the side, while the US P-39s attack somewhat less successfully from behind the bombers, taking heavier fire.
At the end of this raid, the result is certainly much more acceptable from an attrition point of view. 8 Japanese bombers are shot down for the loss of 1 Kittyhawk and 3 Airacobras.
The usual B-17 strikes return in revenge, with 1 Zero downed by their defensive fire.
At the end of the day, the battleship South Dakota and her escorts arrive in theater, reporting in at Noumea. From these, we quickly assemble a covering force for our reinforcement run to Guadalcanal: 1 Battleship, 8 Heavy Cruisers, 1 Light Cruiser, and 12 Destroyers. 54 ships in total are involved in this run. This should hopefully at least deter the Japanese from ill-considered attacks, although we have to remain wary.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/uss-south-dakota-bb57_9.jpg
USS South Dakota
According to latest intelligence, the enemy ships seem to be returning back to Rabaul. It still seems like their attention is firmly on New Guinea, so hopefully we can get in and unload everything before they react.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/sep27.jpg
Situation at the end of the day
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/desron.jpg
September 28, 1942
One of the quietest days as far as action - the enemy raids do not return to New Guinea, and over the Solomons the weather is very poor. The sole attack today is carried out by 5 B-17s on the airfield at Lae, where it is met by Zeroes that are successfully seen off.
Our reinforcement operation to Guadalcanal is underway, however, wish ships making their way north. A Japanese scout plane is reported snooping around at Espiritu Santo, so there is a possibility that they could have seen our convoy standing by there.
In the meantime signal intercepts report Japanese reinforcements loaded onto ships at Truk, sailing to Rabaul. We alert our subs to move in closer to Rabaul to try and intercept the ships.
Captain Vlad
01-01-12, 02:50 PM
CCIP, gotta ask, I know it's fairly easy to find the actual photos you've been posting, but where are you finding those paintings online? Some of those as desktop background material.:DL
Good to see your P-40's performing well. Underrated fighter, IMHO.
Google image search, nothing else :D
I pick up whatever I find and sometimes raid sites that contain a lot of relevant historical images for content. Unfortunately a lot of them are below wallpaper size. I think the only thing that helps is knowing what to search for - the right keywords and search filters (size, color, etc.) help a lot. That last one for example popped up for "RAAF Kittyhawk".
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/jake.jpg
Aichi E13A Jake
September 29, 1942
Another quiet day, allowing for time to sit back and think. Further reports of Japanese troops loading onto convoys for Rabaul are deciphered; there is lots of radio traffic at Rabaul itself. My bet is that the enemy's focus for now will be distracted by these efforts.
Further consideration of recent enemy moves... why do they seem to have so many troops at Lae? I begin to suspect that Lae is perhaps being used as a staging ground for a future invasion of Milne Bay. My suspicions are further fueled by the deciphered intercept of at least one Japanese infantry regiment making plans for attacking Milne.
So, it's time to make our move. Our ships are ordered to make the dash from the Santa Cruz islands to Guadalcanal, which they should hopefully complete by the early hours of October 1st. Only one sub is detected in their path; we'll try to deal with it - hopefully that hunter-killer force around the Long Island will help with that. However that does suggest that our ASW efforts in the area have been effective. Two enemy subs were reported in the Solomon Sea earlier in the day; either these were retreating back to Rabaul, or returning to station. Either way, the weather over the area tomorrow is predicted to be overcast, and it seems like this is our best window of opportunity.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/sep29.jpg
Meanwhile, the most interesting action of the day is a trio of Jake floatplanes appearing from the direction of the the Shortlands to attack our two destroyers on ASW station off Guadalcanal. There are storms over the area; radar from Guadalcanal intercepts these aircraft and Wildcats of the Cactus Air Force scramble, but never find these planes in bad weather.
The Jakes drop bombs and totally miss, however, and leave. They return again in the afternoon, with the storms still in the area. This time, the destroyer McCalla's AA fire brings down one of the attackers and damages the other. No problem, but it does seem like the enemy is getting increasingly preoccupied with our ASW efforts here - hopefully they don't get undue attention.
Captain Vlad
01-01-12, 05:08 PM
Google image search, nothing else :D
I pick up whatever I find and sometimes raid sites that contain a lot of relevant historical images for content. Unfortunately a lot of them are below wallpaper size. I think the only thing that helps is knowing what to search for - the right keywords and search filters (size, color, etc.) help a lot. That last one for example popped up for "RAAF Kittyhawk".
My search fu isn't always what it could be. Get too impatient. Oddly, I seem to be able to find 'dark-skinned brunettes' anytime I want them...could be the amount of effort I'm willing to put in.:DL
Thanks!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/pickerel.jpg
USS Pickerel
September 30, 1942
The day begins with a report of night-time action from Pickerel, which was detected and depth charged by a destroyer off Kaiveng. As usual, the depth charges were set too high; on surfacing, the Pickerel reported sighting a task force that included the battleships Kongo and Haruna along with 5 cruisers. That's a significant move - but not suggesting anything specific, since the Bismarck Sea is not a forward area. Later in the day, a ship contact is reported south of Rabaul in the Solomon sea, but later turns out to be nothing more than a single patrol boat.
Although Japanese carrier aircraft are reported to be scouting over Port Moresby in the morning, nothing follows. The usual B-17 strikes resume during the day, and over New Guinea they shoot down 2 of the Zeroes that came to attack them.
At the end of the day, several new submarines arrive in theater. The Japanese are obviously moving subs forward themselves; two are reported to be camped out directly outside Port Moresby, although our final convoy there has just arrived in port safely.
Heavy radio transmissions suggest that the position of the Japanese convoy bringing troops to rabaul is about 1/3 of the way out of Truk. Rain is forecast for the next day, so we do not expect trouble with our own reinforcement efforts.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/dcing.jpg
October 1, 1942
The day once again begins with a report from Pickerel, which sighted a patrol boat in the Bismarck Sea north of Rabaul, firing a torpedo at it which failed to detonate. It was then depth charged in return, but ineffectively.
Meanwhile the destroyer McCalla spends the night hunting a sub to the east of Guadalcanal. A long depth charging results in many near misses, and while contact is temporarily lost, it is resumed again later and the sub obviously takes quite a beating before it creeps away, probably badly damaged. This is good news for our ships that are about to move through the area.
The main force indeed moves through unassailed in the morning; a smaller convoy to Tulagi sailing slightly to the north of it (which I consider our decoy force) has one of its sub chaser escorts reports contact, possibly with the same sub that McCalla depth charged earlier. A depth charge hit is quickly scored, but the sub chaser soon runs out of charges and abandons the chase. Further Japanese subs are already pulling up to Guadalcanal, with a CAF dive bomber attacking one of them in the afternoon.
By afternoon, our convoy is already at Guadalcanal, but suddely a setback...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/jake1.jpg
Those darned Jakes make it through to Savo Sound in spite of storms over the area! Of course, our aircraft do not detect them in the bad weather, and the float planes head for the biggest target - the South Dakota. While they're really no danger to the battleship and miss it quite badly, I know for a fact that the enemy now knows that something big is afoot here - if nothing else, a juicy target. Worse, an enemy force including CL Jintsu (according to our radio intercepts) is located near Feni Islands, possibly enroute to the Solomons (or not).
While tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, I can't expect the Japanese to simply let such a certain contact go. They will probably be coming here, and coming armed to hunt for bear. After some thinking, I decide to scrub the entire operation; only the decoy convoy to Tulagi will remain in the area to distract enemy attention and perhaps draw some planes into combat with the Cactus Air Force. The reinforcement convoy to Guadalcanal, despite being ready at its objective, is recalled back to Espiritu Santo along with its supporting forces. If conditions are favourable, we will attempt this run again next week.
Today, the story of the September 14th defeat slowly begins going public with the admission of the loss of the the RAN flagship, HMAS Australia, admitted in the newspapers. She was scuttled after suffering heavy damage that day.
On the bright side, I suppose, if there is a reaction, at least this will divert attention from New Guinea for a bit, possibly postponing the enemy plans for Milne Bay (assuming they were planning to carry them out soon). Also on the bright side, no aircraft losses are suffered across the theater today.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct1.jpg
Situation in the Solomons at the end of the day
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/dayofbetty.jpg
October 2, 1942: The Great Port Moresby Turkey Shoot
Today, I am very, very satisfied with my decision to pull back the Guadalcanal force. And our major victory today is no doubt a result of Japanese confusion and errors stemming from it.
The night begins with a sub launching torpedoes at the RAN corvette Whyalla patrolling off Townsville. The sub is never found, but the torpedoes also miss. In the morning, a Japanese sub also attacks the extended screen of the returning Guadalcanal convoy, never sighting the convoy itself in the rainy weather. Its torpedoes miss, but again, the sub is not found in the choppy seas.
The USS Pickerel, patrolling the western approaches to Rabaul, gets contact with its intended target, a large troop convoy heading in. It fires on one of its escorting destroyers in the morning and misses. Not deterred, it surfaces and runs ahead of the convoy, making another attempted attack on it later in the day, this time accurately launching torpedoes at a Maru, which of course fail to detonate... a noble effort regardless. The Pickerel takes a heavy depth charging in return with plenty of near misses, but ultimately escapes undamaged.
My expectation of a Japanese reaction was completely accurate. The force that we saw off Feni Islands earlier today appears to be a big one, and moves east. Our reports indicate that it contains two battleships, two battlecruisers, and at least two cruisers. More significantly, a patrolling Catalina sights the Japanese carriers leaving Rabaul via the Solomon Sea. We got their attention alright.
But then unexpectedly, the day's action switches to New Guinea, where a massive bomber effort is directed. A huge package of Betties and Nells, with a weak escort of only 4 Zeroes flies in to attack our last convoy finishing up its unloading there, with no troops aboard any longer. Strong Wildcat CAP drives off the Zeroes almost instantly, but 33 of the bombers still get through to their target. They drop bombs on the ships from altitude, and miss. 61 well-organized Wildcats await them when they come off their bomb run, and what ensues is a huge slaughter.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct2.jpg
Very few of the bombers return - and worse for the Japanese, it's far from over. A flight of Nells follows that strike, probably having strayed from the main package, flying cluelessly into the area where it is also torn up. Later in the afternoon, another strike follows with only 2 Zeroes escorting; this time only 4 bombers get through to their targets. Two launch torpedoes, but they miss.
The results at the end of the day are devastating. 61 Betties, 29 Nells, and 6 Zeroes are claimed downed by the Wildcat pilots; only a single damaged fighter crashes on landing, with its pilot wounded as a result. That's not a single Allied serviceman lost for 96 Japanese aircraft (allegedly) downed!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct2-3.jpg
Needless to say, our ace roster more than doubles today. 9 Wildcat pilots now claim that title.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct2-2.jpg
This is a great defeat to the Japanese bomber force and a source of headache to the Japanese command, achieved at little cost.
(This is where things get a bit frustrating for Egan in the game, according to his email - don't blame him! It doesn't seem like he knows anything about my ships leaving Guadalcanal, but if I'm reading his reaction right, he expected the bombers to go there rather than Moresby. However, since it is impossible to assign specific targets to naval strikes for some reason, it seems that they chose the wrong target - very, very wrong target. On the other hand, I'm not so sure they would've fared well had we gone for Guadalcanal. Still, don't tell him my ships weren't even there!)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/dayofbetty2.jpg
Meanwhile our regular strikes continue successfully and with no losses. At Tulagi, our decoy force serves precisely its intended function, giving the enemy an impression we're still there - three Jakes return to check, and hit the transport Heywood with two 60kg bombs. These are not heavy weapons, but they cause a lot of damage to the small ship. Worse, since it was in the middle of unloading operations, a lot of crew on deck were killed. However, its purpose has more or less been fulfilled, and if we manage to unload all the supplies from it by tomorrow, then even if it doesn't make it out of the area the effort will have been worthwhile. Its ASW escort is detached to wait for it at Rennell Island in case it does make it - I would rather not lose more ships here than I have to.
After today, the situation in the air is definitely in our favour. The enemy land-based bomber force in particular just cannot sustain this kind of attrition rate, and that may force the enemy to get more careless with his carriers, giving us at least some hope for future operations. The Enterprise is still nearly 3 weeks away from being repaired.
Biggles
01-02-12, 06:55 AM
Wow, that really gotta hurt!
Fincuan
01-02-12, 07:09 AM
I'd imagine this makes your Moresby, Milne Bay and Guadalcanal resupply a lot less complicated :DL
Now there's basically only KB to worry about, and even that should be easy enough to avoid with proper scouting.
USS Drum
01-02-12, 02:38 PM
Remember he has lost almost all of his carriers that means his BB is really vulnerable to the Japanese.
Fincuan
01-02-12, 02:40 PM
KB == Kido Butai (http://www.combinedfleet.com/cvlist.htm), "Mobile force", aka. carriers
His intel, naval searches and subs tell him more or less when its nearby and thus when it's not safe to try a quick supply run. Betties were able to strike at any time they wished without prior notice.
Yup, I just have to be smart about avoiding them. The KB seems to be based at Rabaul and our scouting there is solid. In the last turn, they were detected pretty much instantly at dawn after leaving port, so in theory we could have escaped them even if we didn't decide to bail from Guadalcanal in advance.
Another limitation that's probably worth keeping in mind is fuel. Even I occasionally have trouble keeping all my ships fueled up with the daily ration of it that I get. I imagine that the KB is even more restricted with mobility.
In theory, the KB can intercept us wherever they like, in practice they shouldn't be able to get very far without being spotted. The key thing now is to not get greedy and go off chasing Japanese units. And they can chase and waste fuel/aircraft all they like.
USS Drum
01-02-12, 03:52 PM
Hmmm... I wonder what has happened to Public Enemy #1...
Hmmm... I wonder what has happened to Public Enemy #1...
Good question! I believe she's either still lurking out there somewhere, or had gone back to get supplies. There's 2 or 3 subs currently enroute to Torpedo Alley from Rabaul according to scouting reports, so one of them could be it. We'll see what we can do about that :D
USS Drum
01-02-12, 05:24 PM
By the way do you have any old Pearl harbor dreadnoughts I'm a big fan of those.
Nope, not yet. Maryland and her sisters are not going to show up until the end of November, and I'm skeptical that this game will actually last until then!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/63bs.jpg
B-17 crew from 63rd BS at Townsville, Australia
October 3, 1942
In the morning, coast watchers count at least 34 ships at the anchorage in Rabaul. That big convoy must have arrived overnight, or else their combat forces have returned - but I am skeptical of that.
Submarine action on both sides continues. The destroyer Barton, patrolling off Guadalcanal, sights torpedo wakes incoming. It avoids them and immediately finds the attacker nearby, scoring quick hits. The submarine soon begins leaking oil as it evades. Eventually the Barton loses contact, having given the sub a serious beating. It may or may not have been sunk.
Meanwhile, off Kaiveng, the USS Sailfish is returning to base. Here it sights a Japanese task force including Hiei and Kirishima, as well as the light carrier Zuiho. It fires torpedoes on Zuiho, which as usual fail to detonate. The Sailfish is depth charged heavily in return, but escapes and resumes course back to base.
B-17 strikes are particularly heavy today. The bombers hit the enemy docks at Guadalcanal twice, while over Lae 12 of the bombers encounter 9 Zeroes, which they see off with relative ease shooting down one. However flak over the target is particularly intense today, with the vast majority of the bombers returning damaged. In fact by the end of the day, the 63rd Bomber Squadron at Townsville has no operational ships, with all of the aircraft requiring some degree of repair. Other squadrons at the base have also taken hits, so ground crews have to work tirelessly.
The transport Heywood, bombed earlier at Tulagi, leaves harbor and tries to make it back to friendlier territory, but as it sails, serious fires develop on board.
Finally, the troops earlier shipped to Port Moresby finally complete their journey up the Kokoda Track, arriving at the frontline after an arduous hike through the jungle. They are ordered to dig in and prepare their positions.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/kokoda.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/welles.jpg
USS Welles
October 4, 1942
The main action today is the continuing ASW effort in Torpedo Alley and elsewhere. Overnight, the destroyer Welles detects a large submarine, and scores quick hits. It temporarily loses contact, but then regains it, delivering more of its deadly load to the submarine below. When contact is finally lost again, the sub will have been hit many times; it is probably sunk.
Meanwhile off Brisbane, subchaser SC-738 also bumps into a sub. It scores a number of near misses before running out of depth charges.
In the evening, Welles is in action again when her companion Buchanan sights torpedoes incoming. Welles turns around and drops depth charges, but quickly loses contact. This is a different submarine from the one successfully attacked during the night.
In the morning, the Japanese try to do something about that by attacking two of our destroyers south of Guadalcanal. The CAP from the Cactus Air Force misses these planes as they make a run for the USS McCalla, but miss.
Our subs are also none too lazy. The Grayback torpedoes a Japanese torpedo boat south of Rabaul, but as usual the torpedoes fail.
In the afternoon, B-17 strikes again run into very heavy flak over Lae, but score some very effective hits on the airfield at Buna.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/heywood.jpg
October 5, 1942
A difficult day for our forces at Guadalcanal, and things only seem bound to get trickier from there. The one relief is that at least no major reinforcement effort was caught there, and even the unfortunate Heywood had at least unloaded her cargo.
Speaking of Heywood, she sinks overnight, after the crews cannot bring fires that flared up aboard under control.
In the afternoon, coastwatcher counts show only 7 ships in Rabaul. Are they off somewhere again? It does not take long for enemy movements to become apparent. The carrier force is sighted soon north of Rekata Bay. CAF Dauntless bombers take off, but most of them don't get to the target due to poor weather. The 6 that do meet an impressive CAP protecting the flattops, with only 23 Wildcats as escort. The results are bad: only 2 bombers get through to the light carrier Ryujo and miss it; 5 Wildcats and 2 SBDs are lost without any kills scored.
The previous day, owing to the relative quiet, I decided to move up our seaplanes from lurking around at Santa Cruz to the much more advantageous position at Tulagi where some support already exists. To extend the seaplane base, the small aviation tenders Mackinac and Ballard, along with escorts, were sent there. I figured that even if they do attract attention, at least they'll be in shallow water without having to move far, and will enjoy CAF protection. However today, they don't quite make it to Tulagi before sunrise, and the enemy carrier aircraft immediately turn on them. A massive air strike escorted by 51 Zeroes heads for them. 17 CAF Wildcats scramble to defend, but they are badly outnumbered. Mackinac is the first to take a hit, but by the end of the attack almost all of the ships in the force, including the destroyer Aylwin, take hits. The small corvette Direct is the only one to escape damage. Both Mackinac and Aylwin eventually sink. At the end of the day, the force is split, with the damaged Ballard plodding on to Tulagi, and the Direct being sent back to New Caledonia.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/mackinac.jpg
AVD Mackinac
In the afternoon, weather over enemy carriers clears up a bit, but now our air forces have already been battered and can't make an effective strike.
With the aviation support force scattered, enemy aircraft now focus on our ASW ships. A Kate torpedo strike attacks the destroyer Barton, but fortunately ends up a lot worse for the Japanese than for us. 1 of their planes is shot down by flak and several damaged, with no result. Meanwhile Rufe float fighters attack the destroyers Gregory and McCalla to the west of this position. One of them is also downed. A submarine later attacks the same pair of destroyers, but is not found.
Further on the south side of torpedo alley, the destroyer O'Bannon escapes torpedoes fired at it, returning to depth charge the enemy boat, however it quickly loses contact.
The CAF tally for the day is not encouraging. 20 Wildcats have been shot down or lost on landing, without downing a single Zero. More worryingly, most of the losses are among the Navy's VF-3, the most experienced squadron at base.
USS Drum
01-03-12, 10:04 PM
Can you give me a status report about the carriers, heavy cruisers and BBs you have left?
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/Yamato_hit_by_bomb.jpg
October 6, 1942: Battleships Inbound!
The morning scouts quickly locate the enemy carriers as they continue to move eastward, keeping north of the Solomons. While the CAF consider their reaction, a strike of Jake floatplanes slips through the cloud cover and past the CAP, attacking the damaged AVD Ballard which has arrived at Tulagi. Their small bombs hit, but cause little damage. In the meantime the Catalina shadowing those carriers gets shot down by the Zeroes.
Finally the CAF response comes, reduced by poor weather, and the results are poor - only 10 Wildcats escorting 10 SBDs get to the target area, where they are instantly picked apart by a heavy Zero CAP.
B-17s on their usual routine strike to Guadalcanal encounter something they probably hadn't seen before - a few Zeroes from the carriers. However these cannot bring down any of the Fortresses.
Afternoon scouting brings up a much more interesting result however: a large task force is located moving down the Slot (New Georgia Sound), somewhat outside the enemy's carrier cover. However that's not a good sign - if I'm reading it correctly, it is most likely a bombardment force bound for Guadalcanal. Worse, it could even be escort for a large troop convoy, something that at this rate we wouldn't be able to do much against.
SBDs take to the air and locate this armada, making attacks at battleships Kongo, Haruna, Mutsu and Yamato. Of these, only the latter is hit by a 1000lb bomb, although it appears that the hit is on an armored part of the ship and probably does little damage. 3 more SBDs also locate a small destroyer force nearby, and attack these without success.
Elsewhere things continue as ordinary. B-17s make their daily strikes in New Guinea, while submarines Grayback and Pickerel, north and south of Rabaul, get located and come under depth charging, escaping undamaged.
The tally today is bad for the SBDs, of which 12 are lost in today's attempted attacks. The only upside about our air situation today is that one of the sqadrons at Noumea successfully converts from B-17 to the longer-range B-24s, which will doubtless help make our reach a little longer.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b17b24.jpg
Fincuan
01-04-12, 06:43 PM
Just a quick question on CAP: At what altitudes are you running your land-based Wildcat CAPs? Their success against Betties seems extremely good compared to what I'm seeing in my game against the AI so far.
Just a quick question on CAP: At what altitudes are you running your land-based Wildcat CAPs? Their success against Betties seems extremely good compared to what I'm seeing in my game against the AI so far.
They're at 20k. I have them flying at 16 when they're escorting dive bombers, but when they're doing pure CAP there's no reason to keep them close, and they actually perform equally well at that altitude, so I figure that gives them a bit of an energy boost. I also find that it works decently well if you combine these higher-flying planes with other fighters patrolling at lower altitude (like P-39s or P-40s, which don't like high altitude). In my limited experience, of course!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/015673a.jpg
October 7, 1942
Overnight, the Japanese forces bombard Guadalcanal, focusing on Henderson Field. With several battleships present, the results are devastating. 33 of the Cactus Air Force planes are destroyed, with the rest suffering varying degrees of damage. The runway and service facilities at the airfield are partially wrecked. The troops at Mosquito Grove fare no better; 276 casualties are reported. By morning, Henderson Field is in no fighting shape, but is rather a mess of wreckage.
Fortunately our scouting Catalinas at Tulagi continue operating, reporting the Japanese carriers continuing to move eastward to the north of the Solomons. In the afternoon, they launch a strike on our destroyers doing ASW work in Torpedo Alley. No hits are scored as a result.
Our B-17 operations continue and again encounter Zero patrols over Guadalcanal, which don't pose much of an obstacle.
Finally, the Japanese main body of battleships is confirmed retreating back to Rabaul, to the north of the Solomons, late in the afternoon. It does not look like they're planning to come back.
As of the end of the day, 1/3 of the Cactus Air Force has been wiped out, with another 1/3 of the aircraft damaged. The remaining third - somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 aircraft - will not be able to fly until the airstrip is repaired.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/CANAL_WILDCAT.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/zuikaku1.jpg
October 8, 1942
The Japanese carriers seem to be loitering north of Guadalcanal today. However no strikes of any sort occur throughout the morning, and in fact there's no significant air activity anywhere in the theater until the afternoon, when the usual B-17 strikes take off. Over Buna they run into poor weather and miss their targets. Over Guadalcanal, they encounter 10 Zeroes flying cover, although these do not present a real threat.
Repairs at Henderson Field are going very slowly, and it is still effectively out of operation.
The one positive report today is that both of our damaged battleships, North Carolina and Washington, are proceeding to drydock at Sydney after being temporarily patched up at Townsville. They're sailing behind the Great Barrier reef and are not reporting any trouble.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/vals.jpg
October 9, 1942
Vals are the unwelcome guests of the day. They first appear all around the Solomons, going about their scouting - the first sign that the carriers are still lurking out there somewhere. Our own scouts soon locate them off Ontong Java, still within reach of Guadalcanal - they are obviously in no hurry to go back to port. In the meantime our coastwatchers also identify a proper troop ship at anchor in the Shortlands - perhaps a signal that the Japanese are about to send some real reinforcements to Guadalcanal?
But we're not done with the Vals yet. Very unexpectedly, a bunch of green-painted dive bombers swoop down on a routine convoy carrying an artillery detachment to Port Moresby, where we surely expected no heavy air presence. The convoy is only lightly protected, and of course owing to shoddy weather the Wildcat CAP flying nearby miss the enemy bombers entirely.
This strike hits two transport ships, causing 12 casualties to troops aboard one of them. 1 of the Vals is shot down by flak.
In the afternoon, the story repeats. The Vals slip past an alerted CAP and bomb the convoy, this time hitting two other transports and the corvettes Lismore and Mildura.
Our own strikes continue as usual. B-17s over Guadalcanal once again encounter Zero patrols, a sign that the enemy carriers aren't leaving yet.
By evening, both Lismore and Mildura sink, with the survivors being picked up by the transports. However all of these transports are damaged. They have less than 50 miles to go to Moresby, but will they make it? Things are looking pretty poor. Most of these ships are seriously on fire and practically dead in water. We may be about to lose an artillery unit at sea, quite unexpectedly at that. Why aren't the Wildcats doing their job when we need them?
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/mildura.jpg
HMAS Mildura, lost
In the meantime, some of these Moresby Wildcats are being relieved by fresh Airacobras. We need to save up some fighters for Enterprise when she returns to service less than 2 weeks from now.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/troopsunk.jpg
October 10, 1942
The situation on the ships damaged by Vals yesterday is quite bad. They are not far from Port Moresby, but the crews are losing the battle against fire and particularly flooding. The transport Rhesus is the first to be abandoned during the night, with other ships doing what they can to assist rescue. Barwon sinks a few hours later. In the morning, the transport Murada sinks just outside of Port Moresby (which helps rescue those on board), and finally the Mungana sinks at the anchorage in the evening. Only a single APD survives out of the whole convoy - a rotten result. Just three of the artillery guns (of dozens that were supposed to be delivered) make it ashore - it will take some time to rebuild this unit, an unfortunate setback to the Kokoda Track plans.
Otherwise, Japanese scouts continue their snooping throughout their theater, and the weather is generally good, but no enemy strikes come today. Our B-17 strikes resume as usual, with good effect reported on Lae airfield, and 1 Zero reported shot down by the gunners over Buna. At Guadalcanal, the bombers do not meet any Zeroes today - a sign that the carriers are gone. Are they? Our scouts can't give any definite answers, but none of the enemy ships are located. We'll stand by to see if we can track them sailing back into Rabaul first, before making any ambitious movements.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/glen.jpg
October 11, 1942
The Japanese seem content with submarine and scouting action today. It seems like some sort of hilarious switch took place in a submarine vs. destroyer encounter overnight: a Japanese sub tries to torpedo the USS Buchanan in Torpedo Alley overnight, but its torpedo is a dud. The accompanying Welles swings around to depth charge, but the charges are set too shallow and the sub easily escapes. Isn't this normally how things go with US subs vs. Japanese destroyers?
Another Japanese sub is depth charged in Torpedo Alley in the morning without much result. Meanwhile at Luganville on Espiritu Santo where much of our fleet is standing by, a single Glen seaplane scout is reported flying around. Great, they might know we're here now... An Avenger flying from the USS Long Island reports attacking and hitting a small submarine nearby - and later in the day, there is an unconfirmed report of a midget sub trying to sneak into the harbor at Luganville.
For now we'll ignore these and hope for a good window of opportunity to move soon. In the meantime, a replenishment tanker is on the way to top up these ships for that next attempt to make it to Guadalcanal.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/p39vzero.jpg
October 12, 1942
Off the Shortlands this morning, an interesting encounter - the submarine Snapper sights an old Japanese sub on the surface, and fires torpedoes. It scores a hit, but as always it's a dud. Bet that woke them up, though!
In Torpedo Alley, the destroyer Welles sights a torpedo coming for it by daylight, and while it does not find the attacker, very soon afterwards it bumps into another submarine. The enemy goes deep and evades after taking a few near misses.
The main action today is over Port Moresby, where 21 Zeroes appear for a morning sweep. A large CAP of Wildcats and Airacobras scrambles, but the initial showing is not great. 3 Zeroes are downed vs. 6 P-39s and one Wildcat, despite us having a numerical advantage and good warning. However soon afterwards, 3 more Zeroes appear, and two of them are downed for no losses. Good, that makes it almost even.
The only strike to take place today is B-17s against Guadalcanal in the afternoon, where they meet no resistance and score no hits.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/amagiri.jpg
IJN destroyer Amagiri
October 13, 1942
A day full of submarine and destroyer action, and not much else.
During the night, the submarine Triton starts off by trying to torpedo a small patrol craft south of Rabaul, missing it and diving to avoid contact. Meanwhile the Swordfish, patrolling just off the Shortlands, tries her hand at a destroyer, which it gets a good shot on with the usual result (a dud). The destroyer and her companion turn around and begin searching for the attacker, and eventually find the Triton. However their depth charges are set too shallow, and in any case the destroyers cease their attack soon without causing any damage. Similar luck accompanies the Pickerel, patrolling in the Bismarck Sea north of Rabaul, where it is located and subjected to a prolonged depth-charging by shallow-set canisters that fail to do damage. It surfaces to report an outbound convoy of cargo ships that it was trying to stalk when it was located.
In the morning, the same destroyers that hounded the Triton off Shortland during the night are sighted by CAF scouts off Guadalcanal - must be a 'Tokyo Express' resupply run. 6 SBDs sortie to attack, but miss. They repeat the attack in the afternoon, with the destroyers (at least 4 of them, possibly accompanying other fast ships) still loitering in the area, but again no effect is achieved.
We're not quite done with these, though. The submarine Amberjack catches up with this destroyer group by evening and tries to torpedo Amagiri, the same destroyer that Triton tried her hand at during the night. Again, the torpedo is a dud and the depth charges destined for Amberjack are set too shallow. So, in the end, a lot of commotion over nothing.
B-17 strikes on New Guinea continue as usual, with 1 Zero being downed today.
At Sydney, 28 Wildcats that were previously stationed at Moresby after evacuating there from the carriers arrive by train, standing by to get aboard Enterprise when she is finished with repairs in about a week. 4 destroyers that were previously on ASW duty off Guadalcanal also arrive in port for overhaul. I'm toying with the idea of turning Enterprise into a pure CAP carrier, to at least give us better air cover to escort task forces and at least fight enemy Zero attacks on even ground. Not sure how practical that plan is, but it may be worth a try. At the moment however we lack the sheer number of ready Wildcats to actually pull that off.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-26.jpg
October 14, 1942
Coastwatchers report 27 ships in port at Rabaul. This may or may not be an indication that their carriers are back there, but right now we just can't guarantee anything.
Meanwhile at sea, rough weather off Australia today causes the damaged North Carolina to take on some water. The battleship is enroute to Sydney and is already on the last leg of its journey, just off Newcastle. The flooding ends up being fairly insignificant - the battleships should be safely in Sydney soon.
During the day, the submarines Flying Fish and Pickerel are detected by enemy ships and both depth charged, receiving only superficial damage. The Pickerel gets the same treatment again by early evening, again receiving some light damage from a prolonged depth charging by patrol boats.
In New Guinea, B-26s recently pulled up to Moresby carry out an attack on Japanese positions at Kokoda Trail with a weak P-39 escort. The Airacobras do not perform well against Zeroes that turn up for the challenge, losing two for no Japanese kills, but manage to keep them off the bombers. The damaged caused on the ground is pretty light though and flak does not treat the B-26s well. In the afternoon, B-17s return to Buna to hit the Zero's home base, and the Japanese turn out in numbers to meet them. However the Forts fly straight and true and shrug off the enemy fighters.
New air units have arrived in theater recently. A whole three US Army squadrons of P-40s, with pilots of decent experience, have turned up at Townsville today, on top of another similar squadron that reported in last week at New Caledonia. These are a bit under-manned and could use a few more planes, so we will not throw them into the thick of it until they are up to 25 planes each and have a chance to train a few rookie pilots. Still, we are now at a point where we have a lot more planes than we can deploy forward. This may be another reminder that we should try to reinforce Milne Bay yet again - the airbase there is small but quite valuable. That's something to think of for the future...
Fincuan
01-08-12, 04:38 AM
Still, we are now at a point where we have a lot more planes than we can deploy forward.
There's an easy solution to that: BE MORE AGGRESSIVE! :arrgh!:
In my experience sweeps in Zero infested airspace removes any surplus airframes.
Seriously thinking I wonder how many replacements the Jap player gets. You could always try a war of attrition if it's you who gets more.
We'll see what we can do with getting more aggressive! Losing planes isn't the worst though - it's the returns and the pilots I'm worried about. No sense in risking decent pilots over enemy territory, or wasting planes on poorly-skilled pilots that'll lose them without downing anything. But we'll see about aggressive soon! :D
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/catsub.jpg
October 15, 1942
The previously-defeated Betties don't give up so easily. Today they make another attempt to use a new tactic and bomb Port Moresby at night. Only 6 of the planes fly in, but cause a fair amount of damage. Most notably, one of the Catalinas of the local search squadron is destroyed at the docks.
In the morning, B-26s carry out another strike on Japanese positions at the Kokoda track. They have generous escort, which performs decently but without shooting any of the Zeroes, while losing one Wildcat. However the bombers get through without losses and bomb their targets to good effect.
In the afternoon, a PBY search plane from Tulagi bombs a sub to the west of Guadalcanal. On Guadalcanal itself meanwhile, three B-24s join the usual B-17 strike today, without much result.
With the major enemy forces nowhere to be seen, the USS Long Island and her complement of ASW-tasked planes set sail for Rennell Island south of Guadalcanal to check for enemy presence.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b17jungle.jpg
October 16, 1942
The Betties are back tonight, arriving in two elements of 5, then 7 bombers. However the weather is stormy and their bombing is completely ineffective.
The same weather throws off our B-26 strike on the Kokoda Track, where the bombers can't find targets, but no losses are taken by escorts either.
Catalinas continue to be active off Guadalcanal, attacking another couple of subs around the island.
In the afternoon, CAF SBDs make an outing to strike the enemy side of the island; nothing results from this. B-17s and -24s follow them, while on New Guinea a larger strike against Lae takes no losses, and at Buna 1 Zero is downed. However one of the bombers, damaged by enemy attacks, falls out of formation and never makes it to base. Its fate remains unknown.
The situation at sea continues to be clear. After some deliberation, the reinforcement to convoy is ordered to sail to an intermediate position at Ndeni at Santa Cruz. If no further developments happen tomorrow, they'll be ordered to attempt to land their load at Guadalcanal again.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/amberjack.jpg
USS Amberjack
October 17, 1942
During the night, the USS Amberjack, patrolling off Munda in the Solomons, sights a large Japanese sub on the surface. It launches torpedoes, and as usual they are duds. However the contact reports mentions that the enemy sub already looked pretty badly beaten up and unable to dive. Perhaps a victim of Catalina attacks in the last couple of days?
12 Betties again appear on their night-time outing, hitting a runway at Port Moresby and damaging a single B-26 on the ground.
In the morning, the Grayback has its turn being briefly depth charged after trying to torpedo a destroyer off Rabaul. A TBF from the Long Island lurking at Rennell Island meanwhile bombs a Japanese sub nearby.
In New Guinea, poor weather interferes with the B-26 strike again, though less than yesterday. The effect on target is pretty weak, and one of the escorting P-39s is lost to defending Zeroes. B-17 strikes nearby continue as usual, if in smaller numbers than yesterday - only 3 of the bombers go for Buna, where they nevertheless down an enemy fighter after dropping their bombs. No strikes take place on Guadalcanal, likely due to bad weather.
At the end of the day, our wounded battleships North Carolina and Washington finally arrive to drydock at Sydney. The news, to put it mildly, is not good - shipyard estimates put them both at 5-6 months of repairs. Well, what could we expect...
Without enemy fleet contact, the reinforcement attempt to Guadalcanal is a go. All ships move to position and begin racing for the island. The airfield at Lunga is meanwhile saturated with 68 fighters to provide cover, while SBDs get to go for a break at New Caledonia.
A question for you, CCIP:
When I bring back a Carrier task force back to Sydney to rest and replenish, I disband and the ships are repaired within a few days (having only token damage from wear and tear), but the aircraft will not be overhauled. It seems the maintainence men go on a drinking binge in Sydney and forget about repairing and overhauling the planes. The SBD's of the scouting squadrons, particularly, have very high fatigue numbers and I don't want to wait weeks and weeks for them to be fully ready. The only solution I have found, so far, is to transfer the squadrons, one or two at a time, to Sydney, wait for them to be overhauled, then transfer them back. Do you have this issue in your game?
Hmm, I'll have to keep an eye on this when Enterprise comes back. I can say that it hasn't been a problem in this game, but that's partly because I haven't got to use the carriers for very long. They did not have any issues with aircrew fatigue though, and as long as they weren't in heavy action they rested aboard carriers at sea without a problem. For the month that I had my carriers active, they were rarely in port at all, but their squadrons were in good shape.
Tribesman
01-09-12, 03:23 AM
TorpX.
Did you stand down the carrier airgroups before you disband?
Do you also find the same problem if you don't stand down the BB/CA floatplanes.
USS Drum
01-09-12, 08:44 PM
What about this I read in one of the first posts? "most improbable contact report of the day"
What about this I read in one of the first posts? "most improbable contact report of the day"
The spotter aircraft can be rather excitable in WITP, they are fond of mistaking this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/YangtzeSampan.jpg
For this:
http://images.wikia.com/military/images/a/a3/494px-Uss_enterprise_cv6.jpg
In the post you are referring to, however, it's geography at play with the spotters declaring that they have seen a Japanese Task Force just outside Brisbane harbour in Australia...
Haha, they've been so predictably improbably that I stopped.
One example: yesterday a 10-ship Japanese task force was reported at Efate. Now, Efate is a small port and moderately-sized airfield where a couple of my squadrons and no ships are based. There wasn't anything resembling a convoy or friendly ship within 200 miles from it, and to get there any Japanese unit would have to pass 3 regular search plane patrol arcs, a submarine barrier, 3 ASW patrols, and scouts from both USS Long Island and about a dozen cruisers. Even a sub usually has trouble getting there without getting spotted.
So, yes, see Oberon's pic :D
Though that's definitely a feature that might get a lot more hilarious in the full campaign. Japanese battlewagons at Madagascar ahoy!
TorpX.
Did you stand down the carrier airgroups before you disband?
Do you also find the same problem if you don't stand down the BB/CA floatplanes.
I am not speaking of pilot fatigue, but on the fatigue numbers of the aircraft themselves. I do stand them down after reaching port. The pilots/crews rest up and will be fully rested within a few days, but when I check on the planes, the fatigue numbers are still very high. The SBD's in the scout squadrons will usually have the highest values, some being over 100 (hours?). After waiting a week or so, I decided to transfer them to the base, in the hope that there will be better aviation support, in this way. This worked ok, but seems a clumsy way to do it.
As far as the float planes are concerned, I haven't paid that much attention to them. They don't seem to have maint. problems as they don't fly that many hours. (I am always getting op messages unable to fly due to bad whether.)
Oh, I see what you mean.
I suspect that might be a feature, requiring planes to receive regular maintenance at shore facilities. Sort of like how ships need refits every once in a while.
It does seem a bit clumsy, but then WiTP is no stranger to clumsiness (I mean, just look at the entire pilot management system clickfest...)
Oh, I see what you mean.
I suspect that might be a feature, requiring planes to receive regular maintenance at shore facilities. Sort of like how ships need refits every once in a while.
You could be right.
It does seem a bit clumsy, but then WiTP is no stranger to clumsiness (I mean, just look at the entire pilot management system clickfest....)
Ugggg.....don't remind me. I am not even close to figuring this out.
I've noticed that the game does not manage the replacements well. If I have, for instance, a new or shattered air squadron, with say 1 pilot and I set it to recieve replacements, the game will give it 26 planes and maybe 1 (or none) pilot. Other groups will have too many pilots for the aircraft available. :x
Tribesman
01-10-12, 02:57 AM
I am not speaking of pilot fatigue, but on the fatigue numbers of the aircraft themselves.
I know.
As far as the float planes are concerned, I haven't paid that much attention to them.
Neither did I, till I was taking some planes off a cruiser to use elsewhere during long repair.
That prompted me to keep a check on floatplanes condition in future
Alright, I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaay behind due to busy week at work. Time to catch up! :)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/B-26johnson.jpg
B-26 in action over New Guinea - among her crew, future US president Lyndon B. Johnson
October 18, 1942
Another 9 Betties appear in a night-time raid on Moresby, however today they don't hit anything important. I am still contemplating a possible night-fighting strategy.
In the morning, the USS Triton continues the result-less action off Rabaul by attacking a patrol craft. As usual, the torpedoes are a dud and the enemy depth charges are set too shallow. Undeterred, Triton tries again in the afternoon, with much the same result.
An American strike of B-26s and A-20s escorted by P-40s heads for the Kokoda Trail from Port Moresby. 10 Zeroes turn out to meet our 12 fighters, and the results are not encouraging. 2 A-20s are lost, and no targets are reported hit. However this is followed by another escorted B-26 strike, during which one Zero is shot down, somewhat evening things out.
In the afternoon, 3 Jake floatplanes appear over the USS Long Island, still lurking at Rennell Island and ready to cover the incoming reinforcement convoy. The Jakes are engaged by RAAF Kittyhawks currently based at Henderson, and two of them are shot down; the remaining one tries to attack the Long Island, but misses. Later in the afternoon, two Rufe float fighters try the same thing, and both are shot down. By that point the battle force joins the Long Island at Rennell, and we know that the enemy knows we're here. With the amphibious force almost at Guadalcancal by the end of the day, we hope that we can distract the enemy away from the transports by making them focus attention on our combat ships at Rennell instead, while the Cactus Air Force keeps air cover. With the CAF beefed up with as many fighters as Henderson can handle, we hope that we can saturate the sky with enough aircraft to outfight the enemy's carrier air group.
Elsewhere, the usual bombing campaign continues. Over New Guinea, 1 Zero is downed; our new effort at bombing the Shortlands with B-17s from Espiritu Santo runs encounters no enemy resistance, but also misses any targets because of bad weather.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/rufe.jpg
Rufe float fighter
October 19, 1942
A large Japanese submarine is located just off Noumea on New Caledonia by a departing ASW force bound for the Guadalcanal area. The destroyer O'Bannon engages and scores some near misses. The sub eventually evades, but must have taken a bit of a beating.
Betties again bomb Port Moresby at night, arriving in two flights the second of which destroys a B-26 on the airfield.
In the morning, the first thing to appear is Rufe fighters coming in to attack the Long Island again. The CAP misses them due to bad weather, but one of them is downed by flak from the light carrier, and no hits result. In the afternoon, this continues despite the stormy weather - two Jakes try to bomb the heavy cruiser Portland nearby, and Rufes head for the force's flagship South Dakota. They are downed by the battleship's flak - but we soon expect a more serious response from the enemy. Nevertheless, the transports are now at Guadalcanal and we are not calling them off. By the end of the day, they are already half-unloaded, with the vast majority of the troops ashore. Please hurry - we have another day at best! Or do we? There is a lot of radio traffic reported from Truk - it's possible that the enemy carriers returned there rather than Rabaul (especially since we did not see them going back to Rabaul after their last mission). If they were at Truk, we may have as much as a couple of days before they're here. Nevertheless, we remain on maximum alert and Long Island's torpedo bomber squadron is replaced by 13 Wildcats to ensure maximum air cover.
Elsewhere, a Catalina from Tulagi attacks a large I-boat off Guadalcanal and scores a hit. Bombing efforts continue apace. Over Buna, B-17s safely make their bombing run, scoring good hits. They also encounter clear skies and no serious resistance over Lae. B-17s and B-24s make two raids on Guadalcanal with no results, while over the Shortlands, B-17s encounter heavy flak. However their effort pays off - a 500lb bomb strikes a big I-boat at dock. That can't be good for it!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/sodaktorp.jpg
USS South Dakota under attack by Japanese torpedo bombers
October 20, 1942
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
As the transports at Guadalcanal hurriedly unload their cargo and personnel overnight, they have no indication of the enemy ships approaching the area. By day, that will change, but for the moment the action is elsewhere.
A patrol craft depth charges the submarine Flying Fish briefly in the Bismarck Sea, to no effect. Soon afterwards, a destroyer joins the search and eventually finds the sub. A prolonged depth charging follows, during which Flying Fish is hit. Fortunately, the destroyer runs out of depth charges and abandons the chase afterwards, sparing Flying Fish from further damage.
The destroyer O'Brien, patrolling in Torpedo Alley, makes contact with a Japanese submarine, quickly scoring a hit and reporting internal explosions heard from the enemy submarine. A kill could not be confirmed however. Another sub is detected in the same area briefly, but eludes attack.
The Betties do their thing for yet another night, arriving in 3 waves at Port Moresby. There are thunderstorms in vicinity, but nevertheless the 3rd and final wave of bombers manages to destroy a Beaufighter on the field. We really need to do something about this!
The very first report after sunrise is a Val sighted scouting over Guadalcanal! There is no mistake about what this means - the enemy carriers are already here. Darn...
As the Cactus Air Force is alerted and prepares for action, radar detects a full carrier strike is already inbound for Guadalcanal from the open ocean in the north, with 45 Zeroes escorting. They were detected by radar and scouts early enough however.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/zeroes.jpg
CAF aircraft scramble immediately and the great air battle begins. The first to engage are relatively 'green' squadron of P-40 Warhawks, which are not well-matched for the Zeroes. Their fellow P-400 Airacobras don't fare much better, although give it a noble try. The Japanese pilots are simply too experienced to be outmatched by these slower, lower-altitude fighters.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/kittyhawkzero.jpg
The Zeroes quickly pounce on the slower planes, which arrived at 15,000 feet. However above these in the light cloud, the Wildcats have already climbed to 20,000 feet. Diving down into the messy dogfight, they cause some confusion.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/9657wildcat.jpg
The Wildcats really try, but the experienced Zeroes are just too good, and there are just too many. They keep the allied fighters tied up and prevent them from getting through to the lower-flying bombers. These get through to their targets - the ships at anchor in Savo Sound - and begin their bombing runs.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/valdb.jpg
A lot of the first attacks are misses, and a mass of flak is sent up into the air from below, particularly from the AA cruiser San Juan that escorted the convoy all the way.
The first hit is on the destroyer Craven, which has one of her main gun mounts blown off by a bomb released from a Val. Then the cargo ship Betelgeuse takes two bombs, and troop transport Cambria - 3, the first of which explodes on deck, while the others penetrate into her hold. This causes a number of casualties and fairly extensive damage aboard. Finally, the transport Barnett takes two bombs, and no torpedo hits are scored at all in this attack.
Here is where the battle turns, however. As the Zeroes, exhausted in their dogfight against CAF aircraft turn around for fear of running out of fuel, our fighters turn on the retreating bombers, immediately scoring hits. The Marine Wildcats, having arrived a little late to the Zero showdown, do most of this work. The luckless Kates which failed to torpedo any of the transports in the attack take a particularly bad mauling. Keep on them! The Vals escape for a bit longer, but then the fighters also catch up to them.
At the end of the battle, the CAF seems to have dominated the enemy. The initial confirmation shows 4 Zeroes, 5 Kates and 7 Vals downed, although the actual count at the end of the day will probably be much higher. Allied losses count 2 Warhawks, 2 Airacobras and 1 Wildcat lost. The transports burn off Guadalcanal, but none of them sinks in the following few hours.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct20-3.jpg
The afternoon hours begin with a B-17 and B-24 strike on the Japanese side of Guadalcanal - a single Zero is present there, suggesting that the carriers are still nearby (not that we ever doubted that). The B-17 strike on Shortland is also met by 4 zeroes.
Finally the enemy carriers strike again. A force of Kate torpedo bombers heads for the combat forces at Rennell Island, flying over Guadalcanal - this gives the CAF an excellent opportunity to intercept them, while the 13 Wildcats from Long Island establish an air patrol over their objective.
P-400s once again mostly serve as a distraction for the Japanese, although they do manage to damage a Zero early on in the fight. Not only the Americans are in this though - the Australian Kittyhawk squadron was transferred off the island yesterday, but one airplane remained behind due to mechanical problems. This afternoon it's ready to get back in the fight, and scrambles as the sole Commonwealth representative, quickly scoring a kill on a Zero crossing Guadalcanal.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/dhm2111.jpg
The Japanese strike, however, still gets through - albeit after heavy losses. Intense flak over the combat ships at Rennell is punishing to the Kates, which have to fly low and slow for their torpedo runs. But the Japanese pilots stay on course despite the losses. South Dakota takes a torpedo hit forward, then another one! The first causes flooding, and the second penetrates into the engine rooms, causing some serious damage. However the battleship stays afloat and operational.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/kate.jpg
Coming off the target the Kates still have dozens of Allied fighters to deal with. These pounce mercilessly on the retreating bombers, with Wildcats leading the way, taking down the slow enemy planes one by one. The sole Aussie Kittyhawk jockey is here too, bagging a Kate of his own before returning to Henderson. He will surely have some stories to tell his mates when he joins them at Milne Bay tomorrow!
The results of this air battle are decisive. Only a single Allied fighter is lost, and we haven't even begun to total up the claims...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct20-4.jpg
When all aircraft land and the sun sets, everybody breathes a sigh of relief. Damage reports flow in from Guadalcanal and Rennell Island, and they are extremely encouraging. South Dakota, though badly wounded, is not in danger. The ships hit at Guadalcanal have got their fires under control and can make way under their own power. What's more, as of nightfall, 95% of all of their cargo and their entire load of troops have been unloaded. Only one order for them: get the hell out of there!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct20.jpg
Situation at the end of the day's battle
The Japanese carriers are still somewhere to the north of the Solomons. South Dakota, as well as the transports and destroyer damaged in the morning strikes, are split off from the rest of the forces, and set up with the best escort available. The rest of the ships get out of the area at full speed. If we can keep them afloat and return them to base, this will have been an overwhelming victory.
The tally of the day's claims speaks for itself:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/oct20-1.jpg
50 bombers and 30 Zeroes are claimed for the loss of 15 allied fighters. What is more remarkable, however, is while most of our fighter losses are among 'green' Army squadrons, all of the Japanese losses are veteran carrier pilots, virtually irreplaceable to the Japanese. With the battle having been fought over Allied-occupied territory, few of them will make it back to their carriers.
Further good news - the Enterprise is due back from repairs tomorrow. Could we be back in this contest? Not so sure about that - but first and foremost, we have to get our ships home safe. If we manage this, this air-naval battle will have been a brilliant victory for us.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/whenyou.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/beaus2.jpg
Beaufighters operating. One squadron is currently based at New Guinea, with another recently converted to the type from Wirraways at Townsville, Australia.
October 21, 1942
Bad weather over the Western Solomons and the Bismarck Sea today - probably a very fortunate thing for cutting down enemy operations and helping our ships retreat.
The nighttime Betties return yet again to Port Moresby, destroying a single P-40 on the airfield. An irritation!
Out in Bismarck Sea, the USS Pickerel gets depth charged by a destroyer yet again, with lots of near misses; a patrol boat later arrives to keep watch on the area, but Pickerel sneaks away from it. The Flying Fish, operating nearby, tries to depth charge a destroyer - possibly the same that attacked the Pickerel - but as usual it's a dud. When they turn around to search, the Flying Fish dives deep and eludes contact. In the morning, the destroyer is still there however, and again makes yet another depth charge run at Pickerel. Fortunately, it runs out of ammunition quickly.
The Japanese subs aren't sleeping either. Right outside the harbor at Noumea, destroyer Case narrowly avoids torpedo wakes during the night, and then the same submarine is suspected of attacking destroyer Dewey in the morning. Dewey drops charges, but does no damage. Is that sub right outside Noumea? Indeed it seems to be - and an aircraft arrives later in the morning to bomb her. Very daring of them to get this close!
During the afternoon hours, our bombers get active. 13 Beaufighters fly at treetop level to attack troops at the Kokoda Track, but they are met by 8 Zeroes that disrupt their attack and shoot down two of the Australian planes.
B-17s and B-24s do their usual runs, and meet no Zeroes over Buna, nor over Guadalcanal, nor over the Shortlands. The B-24 squadron is transferred to Luganville at the end of the day, from where it will be able to reach all of the Solomons.
But the most important news is that the ships returning from yesterday's Guadalcanal operations are all safe and unassailed as they transit torpedo valley. With no sign of enemy carriers, our prospects look good indeed.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b17poster_bigger.gif
October 22, 1942
The night and morning are taken up by submarine action once again, as Betties do not appear tonight. Our submarines don't sleep though - the Flying Fish is depth charged in the Bismarck sea overnight and takes some damage. In the morning, the Sturgeon reports torpedoing a damaged Japanese sub off Bougainville - perhaps the one damaged at the Shortland anchorage just the other day? Either way, the torpedo is a dud as always. Nearby in the Solomon Sea, the Triton tries to torpedo a patrol craft with the same result, while the Grayback is depth charged just outside Rabaul without taking any damage.
Afternoon brings the bomber raids. On the Japanese side of Guadalcanal, B-17s do no damage, although there really isn't much in the way of targets there. Only 3 B-17s fly to the Shortlands, but score an important success, hitting a large Japanese sub docked there with 500lb bombs - I suspect it may have been sunk. The only casualty on our side today is an OSU-1 Kingfisher from the damaged South Dakota, which transferred to Tulagi after the ship was hit, but today crashed during landing.
The enemy carriers seem to have retired - no scouts are observed over the Solomons, and it appears the enemy knows that we have retreated from the area. With their losses of aircraft, they would have had to leave regardless. With that in mind, we can count on a window - so the Long Island is ordered back to position at Rennell to cover a tanker inbound for Tulagi, where we need to bring some fuel to operate a PT boat squadron that has recently arrived in theater.
The last bit of good news today is that the Enterprise reports ready for service at Sydney, 1 day behind schedule. However it will take some time to build up her air wing and overhaul other ships after this latest operation, so we do not anticipate her sailing on any assignments in the next couple of weeks. However she is ordered to join the rest of the fleet at Noumea on New Caledonia.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/noumea.jpg
Noumea harbor
October 23, 1942
The first bit of good news today is that the troop convoy and the main body of the combat ships escorting it safely return to Noumea. Only the damaged transports and South Dakota are still at sea, but not far from port either. At this point I think we can more or less declare our victory - our operation on Guadalcanal has been a total success. We have successfully resupplied the island and brought in crucial reinforcements (along with an army headquarters and thousands of tons of supplies and equipment), brought down 80 valuable enemy carrier aircraft, at minimal air losses and not a single ship lost.
The enemy is not sleeping though - we have reliable intelligence of yet another troop convoy departing from Truk. In response, an Aussie troop convoy is formed at Sydney. Our next operation will be planned in support of New Guinea.
No night strikes by the Betties for a 2nd night in a row. In the morning, the destroyer Dewey sights torpedo wakes and detects a sub, however its depth charges are set too shallow.
B-17 strikes continue as usual, without any particular successes or losses in New Guinea and over Guadalcanal.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/hutchins.jpg
USS Hutchins, lost
October 24, 1942
During the night, Japanese submarines gather off New Caledonia once again, surely there to intercept returning ships from Guadalcanal. Good thing most of them are already back safely. In the course of a few hours, destroyers Barton, Farenholt and Laffey each sight torpedoes heading for them and evade - however they also fail to sight the attackers.
In Torpedo Alley, things are not much better. As the sun rises, a submarine launches torpedoes at the new Fletcher-class destroyer Hutchins south of Guadalcanal - this time it's a hit. The sub is never found, and the Hutchins sinks a short while later. Fortunately, our ASW ships now operate in pairs, so the survivors are rescued.
Dewey, operating nearby, also has torpedoes launched at it, and manages to find the attacker this time. After scoring a few good passes, it loses contact with the sub.
B-17 strikes continue as usual. Over New Guinea, two Zeroes are shot down for the loss of one bomber.
The tanker we diverted to Tulagi yesterday successfully arrives and unloads most of its cargo. The PT boat squadron there is ready for operations now.
Further intel reports of reinforcements bound for New Guinea from Truk filter in, confirming the fact that I will need to run more convoys there shortly.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/barton.jpg
USS Barton, lost
October 25, 1942
The Japanese subs continue their vengeful pursuit in Torpedo Alley today. The casualty this time is the destroyer Barton, torpedoed off Guadalcanal. She is hit under the forward turret, nearly losing her bow and taking on a lot of water. The Farenholt, accompanying her, attacks with a vengeance, but just can't get her despite some very close runs. Barton sinks soon afterwards, with Farenholt picking up survivors. Intelligence suggests the attacker was large submarine I-172.
Morning reports call out 30 ships at Rabaul, and suggest busy enemy movements in the Bismarck sea - must be those convoys.
Our tanker at Tulagi finishes offloading in the early hours and heads back. One of the subchasers escorting her makes contact with a sub in Torpedo Alley, and depth charges her until losing contact, with the tanker itself unharmed.
In the afternoon, bomber action resumes. Two Zeroes are shot down by the B-17 gunners over New Guinea.
By evening, the damaged ships from the Guadalcanal operation also call in at Noumea, with the Enterprise also not too far out. Lots to overhaul, lots to plan. Just in time, our intelligence also decipher Japanese orders to plan attacks on our positions at Guadalcanal. I do not anticipate these planes to move to action soon - they are yet to receive any substantial reinforcements there - but it is something to keep an eye on.
I've lost track of where you are basing your B-17's. I had assumed they were some where near Townsville, but I guess you have some in Nomea. Anyway, could you give us a rundown on your heavy bomber groups?
I am a fan of the B-17 from reading about the European 8th Air Force campaigns, but in this game they seem nerfed to me. Some of what has been written in the Matrix forum suggests they are uber, at least later in the war, and I am wondering about this.
Great AAR, by the way. :rock:
Thanks!
My strategic bombing forces are set up like this (or will be set up as of start of November - haven't caught up the AAR to that point yet):
Australia:
Townsville
8 Squadrons (96 aircraft) - 6 B-17E and 1 B-17F squadrons active, 1 B-17E squadron stood down and converting to B-17F. The 19th BG (4 B-17E Squadrons) are going to be withdrawn in early November (but will be replaced by others). These planes are bombing enemy airfields at Lae and Buna in New Guinea daily, with their primary mission as naval bombing (in case they chance at a target, otherwise to keep them flying in the afternoon rather than morning).
Cooktown
Two B-25 squadrons (32 aircraft, converted from B-26/A-20 squadrons) will go active there at the end of October, bombing New Guinea.
New Caledonia/New Hebrides:
Noumea
3 B-17E squadrons (36 aircraft), bombing Japanese docks on Guadalcanal.
Luganville
1 B-24D, 1 B-17D squadron (24 aircraft, both recently transferred from Noumea), bombing the rest of the Solomons.
Coming soon:
90th BG (4 Squadrons of B-24Ds) coming in to relieve the 19th BG in Australia, followed by one more B-17E squadron. More squadrons to be converted to from B-17E to B-17F soon (better defense, better range); probably at least another B-25 squadron will be converted in the near future.
I actually find the bombers in this game extremely effective and neat to use. There is a big difference between 2 engine and 4 engine bombers for sure though - and the Japanese don't have any of the latter.
My losses have gone up somewhat, but all in all they can definitely keep the pressure up. B-17s do not go down easy. So I honestly can't say that I find them nerfed at all - they absolutely hold their own against the Zeroes when unescorted, especially when you consider that unlike Europe, they do not fly in large formations here, and are still early models without the beefed up armament of the G and H models. All things considered, they're actually performing a little better than I expected.
I'm a big fan myself and have done a lot of reading on the European bombing campaigns lately, mostly because one of the other games that I've been playing in the last couple of months is B-17 II :DL
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/s-37.jpg
USS S-37
October 26, 1942: Sub vs. Sub
Today's most interesting news is the demise of the I-172, which sunk the USS Barton yesterday and was damaged by depth charges from Farenholt. As she makes her way back towards base for repairs, she is sighted off Guadalcanal by the Tambor-class submarine USS Grayback, returning from her patrol north of the Solomons, just after midnight. The Grayback fires a spread of torpedoes at the surfaced sub, but as expected these are a dud. She does report the contact however.
It must have been received by the S-37, patrolling further west in the Slot (New Georgia Sound), and a few hours later the damaged I-172 comes into the sights of the old American sub. She too fires a spread, and the Mk. 10 torpedoes do not fail. Two of them hit the Japanese boat and explode, and soon nothing is left on the surface but oil and debris. This is our revenge!
As the S-37 completes this victory, in the skies right above her 16 Betties are making their way through the dark. Surprisingly, it is not Port Moresby that is their target tonight, but Tulagi. However, no damage results from this night-time raid.
In the morning, the USS Silversides is depth charged by enemy destroyers in the open ocean halfway between Truk and Kaiveng. After escaping, she reports contact with an enemy troop convoy - must be inbound to Rabaul.
In New Guinea, Zeroes are sweeping over the Kokoda Track. US Army P-40s respond, but they are hardly a match. It is a disastrous showing - 14 losses against only 1 Zero confirmed downed. The squadron is withdrawn shortly thereafter.
In the meantime, B-17s and B-24s make another run at the Shortlands without trouble, reporting a midget sub there hit by a 500lb bomb. That's probably not something they can survive. Afternoon strikes by B-17s follow in New Guinea and Guadalcanal, with good hits reported on Lae airfield.
Enterprise arrives in Noumea by the end of the day, joining the rest of the fleet.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/chiyoda1.jpg
Seaplane cruiser Chiyoda, sunk
October 27, 1942
With the Betties inactive today, the action begins in the morning when Zeroes once again sweep over the Kokoda track. These seem to be from a fresh squadron, flying in all the way from Rabaul. The results for us today are equally discouraging - only 3 Kittyhawks are flying patrol nearby, and 2 of them are shot down. Without a numerical advantage, our fighters just can't compete with the Zero.
However we do not sit by idly - shortly thereafter, an A-20 strike heads for the Kokoda Track from Port Moresby. It is escorted by Kittyhawks, and met by 6 local Zeroes. Sadly, once again we're out of luck - 1 Kittyhawk is shot down, for no Zeroes claimed and no damage caused on the ground.
However in the Solomons, we quickly have our revenge when the strike of B-17s and B-24s comes into a bumper crop of targets at the Shortland islands. Two midget subs and the seaplane cruiser Chiyoda are hit by multiple 500lb bombs, and we can presume all three to have been sunk. That would be the first large Japanese surface unit we can claim - not a great record, but we have to start somewhere.
At the end of the day, some reshuffling of bomber forces takes place - a squadron of B-17Ds arrives - these are less well-defended, but have longer range than the B-17Es. They are immediately transferred to join the B-24s at Luganville, while the B-17E squadron currently there transfers to Townsville to back up the bombing effort on New Guinea. Unfortunately, the long transit - flown the same day as the long mission to the Shortlands - proves too much for two of the crews, and they wreck their bombers on landing. Fortunately we should be able to replace them soon.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/a-20.jpg
A-20 Havoc in New Guinea
October 28, 1942
The Betties are back tonight - 18 of them arrive in the dark over Port Moresby, but do not achieve any result.
In the morning, our A-20s take to the Kokoda track for another try, refusing to let the Zeroes deter them. However it's a repeat of yesterday - one escorting Kittyhawk and one A-20 are lost, with no damage caused on the ground. I guess it's just not meant to be.
The B-24s and B-17Ds make an outing to the Shortlands, and there they are surprisingly met by 12 Zeroes - I suppose they had to get to us sometime. The bombers fight back tenaciously, although their attack is disrupted and they fail to score any hits. While they all survive the Japanese attacks, two of the fresh B-17D crews fall out of formation and do not make it back. The fate of the crews remains unknown and they are listed as missing over the Solomons.
In the afternoon, SBDs from the Cactus Air Force, recently transferred back to Henderson (now that we don't need to have it saturated with fighters) make a strike on enemy positions on Guadalcanal, but without much result. B-17s from Australia make their regular outing to New Guinea.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-17smoke.jpg
October 29, 1942
The Betties are back tonight. We have been waiting for them - and a squadron of Beaufighters have now been assigned to night fighter duty to keep them off. The Beaus miss the first wave of bombers, however the Betties also fail to score any hits today. A 2nd wave of bombers appears, and this time a couple of the fighters get into firing position, but fail to get any hits, while one of them is damaged by defensive fire. Still, the Betties miss their targets, and when the third and final wave of them arrives, the scenario repeats. Perhaps we at least spooked them a bit? We'll see if this effort proves worthwhile.
In the morning, the Silversides attacks a Japanese escort in the open ocean south of Truk, with its torpedoes failing as usual and the enemy's depth charges being set too shallow. A Japanese sub tries to torpedo a small subchaser off New Caledonia, but misses.
SBDs from Guadalcanal make a hasty outing toward a pair of destroyers spotted off the Shortlands, forgetting about the Zeroes that now seem to patrol there. Only 4 of the dive bombers get through and miss this rather dubious target, while 9 aircraft are lost. From now on they are restricted to missions within their escorts' range.
B-17s and -24s follow them to the same area, without much result unfortunately. A single B-17D damaged over the target again goes missing.
In the afternoon, other B-17s fly their regular missions. Japanese docks on Guadalcanal are hit very effectively today. Over on the Kokoda track, A-20s still refuse to give up - today they encounter no enemy CAP, but also fail to score hits.
Finally, an interesting observation from recent scouting reports: it appears that enemy submarines are now operating in pairs, particularly in the infamous Torpedo Alley.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-24down.jpg
October 30, 1942
Betties once again appear over Port Moresby during the night. Beaufighters are alerted, and today prove themselves worthwhile - one Betty is shot down on the attack run, and the rest of them miss their targets. So, the night fighters stay.
In the morning, B-25s make their first appearance over New Guinea - a pair of squadrons was recently converted from B-26s and A-20s to these longer-ranged planes, and today they make their first raid on the Kokoda Track from their base at Cooktown in Australia. They manage to elude the high-flying Zero CAP and do better than the A-20s before them, causing a number of casualties to Japanese troops. Not that the A-20s are deterred from trying - they arrive shortly thereafter. Today the Zeroes are outnumbered by the Kittyhawk escort, but nevertheless reign supreme. Again, one Kittyhawk and one A-20 are down, and no effect on the ground is observed from the strike.
B-17s and B-24s make their raid to the Shortlands, and are once again met by a dozen Zeroes. As soon as they make contact, the fighters run in head on and down a B-24 at the front of the formation, with the rest of the force able to do nothing but watch it crash to the ground in flames. No result from this strike, however it is now obvious that we can't continue this - too costly, and it's obvious that the B-17Ds and B-24s, while having better range and performance than the B-17s, do not have the same tolerance in the face of heavy (and apparently still fresh) enemy CAP. They are temporarily called off the mission and switched to ASW duty over torpedo alley.
In the afternoon, SBDs - now escorted - make a raid to Rekata Bay, where they don't hit anything important. In New Guinea, B-17 raids continue as normal. At Lae they score good hits, but over Buna rainy weather prevents them from hitting any targets.
It hasn't been a good day for our large aircraft - both combat and operational losses claim a few too many of them today. 4 B-17s, 2 Catalinas, 1 A-20 and 1 B-24 are lost today. Several good crews are missing. The effort needs to be maintained, but we really need to try to put more pressure on the enemy Zeroes in other ways, or else they'll keep grinding down on our bombers.
Finally, the USS Wahoo - previously damaged by an air attack off Bougainville - returns to Noumea from its long patrol. It will need a couple of weeks to repair the damage here.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/beaunight.jpg
October 31, 1942
This Halloween night, no unexpected horrors occur - though the expected ones turn up away from their usual target. As the Beaufighters at Port Moresby take off for their third night patrol, the Betties - obviously deterred by yesterday's loss - turn up to bomb Townsville instead, missing any targets of importance. Oh well - it just so happens that a squadron of Beaufighters is also available here, recently converted from Wirraway trainers. They will be on night-fighter duty starting tomorrow, then.
In the morning, B-25s make their 2nd attack on the Kokoda trail, flying in at 6000ft and once again eluding the Zeroes patrolling nearby. However they fail to score any hits. An A-20 strike escorted by 21 RAAF Kittyhawks follows. The patrolling Zeroes are badly outnumbered, but still do not allow us to win - the score is 1 Kittyhawk lost for 1 Zero downed, with the bombers missing their targets.
In the afternoon, SBDs once again bomb Rekata Bay without much result, and the usual B-17 strikes on New Guinea and Guadalcanal continue without anything of interest.
So, we need to put pressure on the Zeroes... the best way to do that would be starting with the pesky ones at Kokoda, which are obviously flying their CAP from Buna nearby. A plan is quickly developed for a concentrated attack on Buna from multiple angles - B-25s will come in and attack troops nearby at low altitude creating a diversion, A-20s with heavy escort will try to draw Zeroes into combat, while experienced Navy SBDs will stand by at Milne to provide some support with Wildcat escort. B-17s will do their usual thing, although will switch to morning bombing as well. Leaders of numerous bomber squadrons are replaced with more aggressive, inspiring officers today.
Finally, a bit of good news is that the artillery unit that was practically sunk on transports outside Port Moresby a couple of weeks ago has been quickly rebuilt and re-equipped. They are now assembled for their march up the mountains.
Captain Vlad
01-15-12, 04:25 AM
I'm pretty curious to see how your Libs do on ASW patrol, considering their success in that role in the Atlantic. Also keen on the night-fighter action, as I've always been fascinated by the early-radar prop-driven era of nighttime combat.
Tribesman
01-16-12, 12:36 PM
Just wondering with your bomber set up, what size airfield are Luganville,Cookstown and Townville at and do have you anything going out of Charters Towers?
Just wondering with your bomber set up, what size airfield are Luganville,Cookstown and Townville at and do have you anything going out of Charters Towers?
The Luganville and Cooktown fields are pretty small, both at size 3 I believe (possibly 2?). I have enough support for two proper bomber squadrons at both, but that's it. The Townsville airfield is now size 7 and has almost 300 aviation support, which I believe makes its capacity effectively unlimited. Because of that, I haven't actually had a reason to use the Charters Towers airfield - it's smaller and has almost no support, I can't dump supplies on it by ship, and it's actually further from the frontline. Townsville is also where I try to keep over 20,000 supplies so that I can rotate squadrons back and forth between there and New Guinea for replenishment and upgrades. Although I also have a solid supply dump and 100 aviation support at Port Moresby, for obvious reasons I prefer not to have squadrons standing down there, so to Townsville they go. Working well for me so far.
Tribesman
01-17-12, 04:11 AM
The Luganville and Cooktown fields are pretty small, both at size 3 I believe (possibly 2?).
Isn't it size 5 required to operate B-17&24 without severe penalties?
I mentioned Charters Tower as it starts big enough so no supplies are needed for building the airfield, a single AV support unit would be self supporting and can be moved without any PP expenditure, supply from Townsville is OK as long as Townsville is kept supplied and it is only one hex back so all the New guinea targets plus Rabaul and Shortlands are in reach.
Drat, I think you might be right about airfield size - that might explain why most of the time only half of my active planes at Luganville take off. That's not an issue per se since one squadron is enough, but thanks for the heads up. I forgot about that.
Still seems like one squadron works fine there, two is pushing it though.
I'll be looking to convert more squads at Townsville to B-17F anyway, since that has the required reach for pretty much anything I need to reach on the map, Rabaul included.
[edit]
By the way, I was wrong - Luganville is actually size 4, as is Cooktown which is currently expanding to 5.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/buna.jpg
B-25 bombing a Japanese-occupied village in New Guinea
November 1, 1942
The night doesn't bring any significant reports. Flying Fish tries to torpedo a destroyer yet again, but is foiled by its faulty torpedoes. Off Guadalcanal, patrolling PT boats report seeing a shadow of an enemy vessel, but no combat takes place - it was, I suspect, a surfaced submarine.
In the morning, the destroyer Dewey tracks down a sub in Torpedo Alley, but its brave charge is ended suddenly when it runs out of depth charges. A Catalina from Tulagi arrives to help and attacks the sub when it tries to leave the area shortly afterwards, but only forces it to dive again.
The operation against Buna begins when 28 B-25s make their diversionary attack on Japanese-occupied villages nearby from 6000ft. The high-flying Zeroes nearby do not spot them, and the attack is estimated to have caused about 30 casualties on the ground, with a single B-25 damaged by ground fire in return - not a great achievement, but an acceptable result.
A B-17 raid on Lae further north follows, with 1 Zero downed by defensive gunners. Finally, by mid-morning, 10 A-20s and 19 Kittyhawks arrive to attack Buna airfield, with the bombers strafing at treetop level. The score is 1-1 for fighters (1 Zero down, 1 Kittyhawk down), with the A-20 strafing having good effect on airfield facilities. One of the bombers is lost to flak. A B-17 raid follows shortly afterwards, causing more damage. Decent coordination!
In the afternoon, B-17s appear over Guadalcanal, but stormy weather there causes their bombing to be ineffective.
Decisions regarding our future operation plans are made today. The major goal of the next operation will be to reinforce our positions in New Guinea, primarily Kokoda Track rather than Milne Bay (although we will try to shore up our position there a bit as well). However rather than dumping all of our naval strength into the operation, we will make a smaller decoy run to the Solomons at the same time, with Enterprise escorting. That should divert the enemy carriers away from New Guinea and allow our operations there to proceed without too much trouble.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/RabaulCaldera.jpg
Rabaul
November 2, 1942
Not a very eventful day. In the night, the ASW action off Guadalcanal continues, with destroyer Farragut depth charging a smaller Japanese sub until running out of ammunition, though scoring a few good near misses.
Morning brings poor weather to New Guinea, so none of the planned missions on Buna occur. B-17s bomb Lae further north, scoring good hits - but two Forts are lost to patrolling Zeroes and flak.
In the afternoon, Cactus Air Force SBDs make a raid on the Japanese side of Guadalcanal with no result. B-17s follow them in 2 waves, but also to no effect.
A Catalina flying the risky scouting beat off New Britain, however, does confirm an important fact: the Japanese carriers are at anchor in Rabaul. At least they're not up to anything for the moment.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-17d.jpg
B-17D - not quite a fortress
November 3, 1942
The action in New Guinea resumes today, starting with a B-17 strike on Lae which scores good hits. An A-20 package escorted by Kittyhawks follows into Buna. This time only 3 Zeroes are in the air and ready to meet them, versus 19 of the Australian fighters - but the Japanese are good at what they do, so the tally is 1 lost for 1 kill. In the meantime the airfield defenses are better prepared today than two days ago, and all but one of the bombers return with some damage from flak. B-17s follow a couple of hours later, with only 1 Zero turning out to meet them.
B-17Ds again try to raid Shortlands at very high altitude, but a very well-organized flight of a dozen Zeroes still goes for them. The bombers attack two destroyers outside of harbor, but with their bombs falling 37000ft down and the destroyers maneuvering, there is really no chance of a hit. While all of the older, less well-defended Forts (than the E and F models) survive the initial attack, two of the bombers drop out of formation on the way home and their fate remains unknown.
In the afternoon, B-17Es drop bombs on Guadalcanal, while CAF SBDs dive-bomb the Japanese base at Rekata Bay. No apparent result from these actions.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-17rab.jpg
B-17s approaching Rabaul harbor
November 4, 1942: Mission to Rabaul
In the morning, the Flying Fish - on patrol in Bismarck Sea off Rabaul - has a great shot on a BIG tanker, but alas the result is the already-expected duds. It is briefly depth charged by escorts, but escapes with ease. The tanker looks like it had been sailing west, meaning it was possibly in ballast.
Around the same time, a smaller Japanese sub launches torpedoes at destroyer Dewey off Guadalcanal. Farragut, in company with Dewey, makes contact and attacks with increasingly accurate depth charges, until it runs out of ammunition. The sub creeps away, damaged.
Later in the morning, the submarine Gudgeon is depth charged by 3 destroyers north of Rekata Bay. Wonder what they are doing there... more suspicion is aroused when the base at Tulagi reports seeing a dive bomber flying overhead, but no other signs of Japanese carriers materialize.
Our bombing efforts continue with gusto in the meantime. B-25s from Cooktown, Australia are the first to arrive over New Guinea today, making their low-level attack at the Kokoda Track. They elude the high-flying enemy CAP once again - luckily, as 7 Zeroes were up at the time. The results are modest - reconaissance suggest about 10 Japanese casualties caused, for the loss of 1 B-25 to ground fire.
Kittyhawks follow in company with A-20s to Buna, where today no CAP at all is seen. Have we really beaten them up so badly? However that's about where the good news ends - lots of flak goes up in the air, while the bombers fail to cause any real damage to the airfield.
In the afternoon, SBDs make yet another sortie from Henderson Field to Rekata Bay under Wildcat escort, but surprisingly it's not a waste today. They catch the Japanese off guard, and reportedly cause 20 casualties at no cost to themselves. Meanwhile B-17s bomb Guadalcanal, with reconnaissance also reporting casualties on the ground and good hits on the Japanese port there.
The most surprising action of the day, though, is a daring raid at Rabaul by 3 B-17Fs, the longest-ranged plane in our inventory. It's a 1200-mile trip each way, making for a mission that lasts over 8 hours, flying mostly over water - no easy task for any bomber crew. This has not happened before, and the Japanese seem surprised, throwing 5 fighters up into the air to intercept the bombers inbound at 18000 feet. Defensive gunners fight back, but all 3 of the aircraft take damage. They still persevere and make a line for the airfield nearby, managing to destroy a single Betty on the ground - that'll teach them! Hours later, ground crews at Townsville are anxiously waiting for the return of the planes from this dangerous mission. One can imagine their joy when all 3 planes appear over the horizon, landing safely despite the damage.
Still, we'll restrict them to missions within the same range as B-17Es for now, until we have more Fs to concentrate on Rabaul. This is a great mission though - it will surely cause the Japanese concern about defending Rabaul from the air, hopefully diverting Zeroes from other missions.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/sakai_freudenthal_cut.jpg
Zeroes performing a fighter sweep
November 5, 1942
In the night, the submarine Sturgeon sights a large Japanese sub heading to Rabaul on the surface, firing torpedoes at it. Duds as always... In the morning, the Japanese return the favour, bombing Pickerel from the air in the Bismarck sea, though she dives before any damage is done.
From the Kokoda Track, an alert is sent down to Moresby about a wave of approaching Zeroes, sweeping in at low altitude. US Army P-40s are already on patrol, and head for the area. This will hurt...
The initial tally from the dogfight is 7 P-40s lost for 1 Zero downed. 2 more Zeroes pop in later, of which 1 is downed; then another two surprise the patrolling fighters, downing one Warhawk. Then a few zeroes appear over Port Moresby proper, downing yet another Warhawk. Either way, the result is not good: when claims are counted at the end of the day, intelligence reports 17 P-40s lost for 7 Zeroes down.
B-25s follow into the area shortly, fortunately missing this big furball of Zeroes. Their attack is very effective, causing multiple casualties and damage to Japanese defensive positions. A-20s have similar success against the airfield at Buna, but at greater cost - two are downed by AA fire. As no Zero CAP is present at either Buna or Kokoda, I suspect that these sweeping Zeroes from Rabaul had been sent in because our strikes on Buna worked and they have no other means of opposing us in this area for now.
Afternoon strikes however face no difficulties. SBDs again return to Rekata Bay, but have no success there. B-17s on Lae score good hits on the enemy airfield. B-24s fly to Shortlands, taking no losses - perhaps because the Rabaul-based Zeroes that were a problem there before have been busy sweeping New Guinea today. The B-17Ds are formally removed from duty at Luganville today and will be sent back to New Caledonia shortly - we just can't risk these poorly-defended bombers against large enemy fighter concentrations, so they'll be left to bomb undefended targets like Guadalcanal (which sees no B-17 raids today, perhaps due to weather).
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/raafpilots.jpg
RAAF Kittyhawk pilots in New Guinea
November 6, 1942
Those Zeroes from yesterday are far from done with us - first thing in the morning, yet another flight of them arrives over Kokoda. With the US Army Warhawks decimated yesterday, the fight is picked up by newly-transferred P-39s and Australian Kittyhawks, who are free from their escort duty due to A-20s being reduced to inactivity by recent losses and damage from flak. The tally from the prolonged morning dogfight is not good - 2 kills for 6 losses. B-25s arrive soon afterwards, and again make a moderately successful low-level attack.
After this, another 12 Zeroes make a sweep for Port Moresby proper - here our fighters stand firm, and the initial tally suggests 3 kills for the loss of 4 Airacobras. The total score for the day, however, is still not encouraging: 16 Allied fighters are lost, for 8 Zero kills. The fighter squadrons at Port Moresby have not taken heavy pilot losses, but they are barely operational due to the lost and damaged airplanes. The air war balance is again tipping in favour of the enemy, at least if we go by losses - though we have lots of aircraft in reserve, we just can't outfight the enemy's best fighters (and the Rabaul Zero squadrons are no amateurs) with the planes and pilots we have right now. If the Japanese dare to do this again tomorrow, we'll throw the best we have at them: a unit of 16 Navy Wildcats is transferred to Port Moresby from Milne Bay.
Afternoon action is restricted to the Solomons, where B-17s make their usual bombing of Guadalcanal, while B-24s head for the Shortlands where they are met by only 2 Zeroes. However storms over the target prevent them from getting any hits.
Unusually, no naval units report any action or important contacts today - even the usually-busy subs have a quiet one.
An interesting side story: while currently only Navy Wildcat pilots in the theater hold ace status, we have been building a steady stream of pilots - Australian, US Army and Marines - who are approaching it. The first to do so back in August was a certain Lt. Jacobs, a USAAF P-39 pilot who scored 4 kills in New Guinea. Unfortunately, he was shot down on one of his missions, and was listed as missing for 2 months. Well, no longer - a couple of days ago, Jacobs reported back for duty after apparently surviving in the desolate Owen Stanley Range for weeks, and making his way back to friendly lines through dozens of miles of jungle with the help of locals. He was our only high-scoring pilot assumed lost up to now, so his return is no doubt a great boost to morale, especially in his unit.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-25enroute.jpg
B-25s enroute to New Guinea
November 7, 1942
Destroyers patrolling off Cooktown sight torpedoes during the night, with Farenholt following to depth charge a large Japanese sub, but only near misses are reported. In the morning, Pickerel on its station in the Bismarck Sea takes a prolonged depth charging attack from a Japanese destroyer, but ultimately evades it. It is later attacked by aircraft, as are a couple of other subs near Rabaul, but no hits are scored.
Poor weather on the flight from Australia disrupts the B-25 formations, and only half of the bombers arrive to their targets on the Kokoda Track. They again fly under the Japanese CAP, aided by cloudy weather, and inflict a few casualties on troops on the ground, returning to base without further incident. No Japanese sweep today, then? Good!
Afternoon weather continues disrupt operations between Australian bases and New Guinea, with many of the planes returning after losing their navigation bearings. A few of them of them make it to attack two destroyers off the coast of New Britain from high altitude, without scoring hits, while others make it to Lae where they manage to destroy two Val dive bombers on the ground - a good result, but spoiled when one of the bombers is downed by a Zero.
Over the Solomons, the weather is better and B-24s over the Shortlands succeed at sinking yet another midget submarine at the docks.
In the evening, that same sub that started the day's action returns to bother Farenholt off Cooktown yet again - it wants more? Depth charges do indeed follow, and it is forced to hide once more.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-24hits.jpg
November 8, 1942
The Flying Fish continues its risky patrol in the Bismarck Sea by getting depth charged by destroyers twice during the night off Kaiveng, however escapes without further trouble. The sheer fact that she and other submarines off Rabaul are tying up many times their number of destroyers is very valuable even if their torpedoes aren't worth anything.
Weather continues to be pretty poor enroute to New Guinea, once again disrupting the B-25 mission there. 18 of the bombers do make it to Kokoda and attack below CAP - however the Japanese spot them while they are egressing the area. Fortunately though, they manage to fight off the fighters and return with no losses. Intelligence estimates about 17 Japanese casualties from the attack - not a bad result.
Afternoon flights have better luck - SBDs attack Rekata Bay once more and score hits. B-17s on Guadalcanal and Lae also make hits, and B-24s bomb the shore facilities at Shortland pretty effectively.
At the end of the day, the South Dakota and other ships damaged on October 20th, which had been patching up at Noumea up to now, are gathered up and sent to Sydney under escort for more extensive repairs.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/bgreturn.jpg
Return of the last mission to New Guinea by the 19th BG
November 9, 1942
The Pickerel, patrolling in the Bismarck Sea, reports sighting Japanese carrier planes patrolling overhead. Looks like the Japanese carrier force is keeping sharp - although as far as we know, they are still at anchor in Rabaul.
For the 3rd day in a row, poor weather results in only half of our B-25s arriving on target, but those that do make an effective strike, causing perhaps a dozen casualties.
In the afternoon, B-17s make their usual outing to Guadalcanal where overcast weather makes their bombing ineffective. Meanwhile over New Guinea, the 19th Bombing Group - who carried the bulk of the B-17 action so far - make their final strike on Lae. During this attack, one plane is lost to Zeroes. After this, the group is withdrawn from Townsville and immediately relieved by the 90th BG, equipped with B-24s. However the planes and many of the pilots actually remain - other B-17 squadrons are still operating here at Townsville and badly need reserve aircraft, while the B-24 squadrons could also use experienced crews.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-17wreck.jpg
B-17 after emergency landing
November 10, 1942
Well, our weather troubles only get worse today. Bad weather over New Guinea completely scrubs all missions in the morning, and only by afternoon do our aircraft have a chance to try again, though the situation only improves somewhat by then. Again, half of the B-25s don't get to their targets, and those that do arrive in two disorganized groups, the second of which is intercepted by a single Zero. However they manage to fight it off and make a moderately successful strike on Japanese troops.
B-17 strikes fare worse however - the B-24 squadrons are still getting organized, highlighting the importance of the B-17Es to our effort. Zeroes shoot down one of them over Buna, and one over Lae. Another one is written off after making an emergency landing back at Townsville. Meanwhile in the Solomons, B-24 strikes on Shortland also have no result. Not a great day for our strategic bombers.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-24zero.jpg
November 11, 1942
This Memorial Day is just another day at war. Yet again, morning weather causes mission cancellations throughout the theater. Only by afternoon are some of the planes in the air, although the B-25s don't manage their mission today at all. SBDs from the Cactus Air force hit the Japanese side of Guadalcanal today, but nothing results from this. The first B-24 mission over New Guinea (where they fly along with B-17s) has decent results, taking no losses despite heavy Zero presence. However weather continues to interfere. The longer range of the B-24s allows them to make it as far as the Bismarck Sea now, but the mission there sent to attack the destroyers that have been depth-charging the Pickerel and Flying Fish is broken up by bad weather, with only 3 of the bombers making it to the target, where they are met by a dozen Zeroes. 1 Zero goes down, and 2 B-24s are lost.
Beauforts recently re-based to Port Moresby make a sortie to the airfield at Buna under Kittyhawk escort, but the weather remains poor. Luckily for them, that means that they fly out of sight of the Zero CAP. Unlickily, it also means that no hits are scored in the strike.
At the end of the day, 3 new Marine squadrons arrive in theater, including a torpedo bomber squadron.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-25zero.jpg
November 12, 1942
Finally! The weather has cleared up over New Guinea, and the two B-25 squadrons - accompanied by a recently-arrived B-26 squadron - take off from Cooktown on the way to New Guinea in full strength. But as they approach Japanese positions among the hills of the Kokoda Track, 4 Zeroes intercept them. A long fight develops, with both sides taking damage but giving no quarter. The bombers keep formation and fire back, while the Zeroes continue to make slashing attacks. Just before the bombers get to their target, 1 B-25 is finally shot down, but all the others (nearly 40 bombers in total) get through. During egress from target, 1 of the Zeroes is shot down - now we're even. Reports of Japanese casualties on the ground show solid effect on target.
In the afternoon, another SBD raid on Rekata Bay brings modest results - but some damage is better than none. RAAF Beauforts make another sortie on Buna with Kittyhawk escort. A small but angry CAP of Zeroes meet them, shooting down two of the Australian fighters. Another crashes on landing, although only one of the pilots is lost. However their airfield takes a solid beating in the strike, with all of the bombers safe and operational by the end of the day. B-17 and B-24 strikes today achieve no effect nor take losses in the meantime.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/michishio.jpg
IJN destroyer Michishio, renowned for its speed, armament and teleporation ability (?)
November 13, 1942
While search planes are the ones that can usually be relied on for comically inaccurate reports, it is the usually-accurate coastwatchers today that are the cause of confusion and entertainment. Within minutes of each other, reports are received from Lae and Shortlands, hundreds of miles apart, insisting that the destroyer Michishio is anchored there. How they got so specific I'm not sure - and there's no lack of destroyers out there - but now we're left wondering which report to trust. Fortunately, this is not very relevant to our current operations.
The morning brings little in the way of action, except the Flying Fish taking a few charges set too shallow in the Bismarck Sea. Weather cancels bombing missions until the afternoon, and even later it continues to interfere, breaking up our B-25 packages over the ocean. The first to arrive on target are the Australian Beaufort strike escorted by 14 Kittyhawks, met by 3 Zeroes. As always, the Japanese fight fiercely, but our bombers get through and hit the Buna airfield's supply dump. One bomber is lost to flak.
13 B-25s - only 1/3 of the bombers we expected - arrive at Kokoda in cloudy weather. Their strike achieves only modest results.
The afternoon starts well for the heavy bombers - the B-17/B-24 strike on Lae hits the supply dump, as does the B-24 strike on Shortlands. B-17s on Guadalcanal do not achieve any results though. However this is followed by a not very intelligent sortie of 4 B-24s against Rabaul - not sure whose idea it was to go there in such a small package. Lots of Zeroes respond and swarm the bombers. However 3 still get through to the enemy airfield and destroy a plane on the ground. The Zeroes don't relent, and at the end of the mission 1 B-24 is shot down, one remains missing, and one is written off after landing.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-24nose.jpg
However, the fact that 3 of the bombers got through and actually caused a decent effect on the enemy airfield plants an idea in my head - with the squadrons still fresh, we COULD concentrate enough bombers to do something more. It would be a risky mission, but perhaps one worth trying. Especially if we could get some valuable targets - and well, Rabaul would be the place to look for those...
So, orders are sent out to squadron commanders: plan a large mission to attack the port at Rabaul, focusing on the enemy fleet we know to be anchored there. Let's give them a warning! Losses are to be expected and this mission will be strictly a one-off, at least for a while, however even assuming we miss targets, the greatest value of it would be tying up enemy fighters at Rabaul rather than forward airfields. That in itself might make the mission worthwhile. Still, there will be a lot of crossed fingers tomorrow...
In the meantime, a large number of reinforcement artillery are delivered to Noumea. An intelligence report also suggests that a midget sub was sunk off Noumea on October 21st. Is that what that was back then? (There were reports of two subs right outside harbor back then, though no sinking was claimed by ships - an air attack must've got it).
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-24sunrise.jpg
November 14, 1942
Target: Rabaul
As the sun rises over Australia, bomber crews are briefed on their mission for today. A lot of nervous looks - everybody knows that this is not an easy lot they drew, and the mission is a deadly one. Ahead of them is a long flight to Rabaul, and possibly a no less difficult journey back. Fortunately, the weather forecast has called for clear skies - hopefully this remains true.
Meanwhile, elsewhere operations continue as normal. The submarine Gato tries to attack a couple of destroyers in the western Bismarck Sea, with the usual result of duds. Beauforts from Port Moresby make their sortie on Buna with solid Kittyhawk escort. Zeroes are few but ferocious, and the score at the end of the mission is 1 Zero confirmed downed for the loss of 1 Kittyhawk and 1 Beaufort. However that one kill is made by Wing Commander Thompson, a veteran of the air campaign in New Guinea with over 130 missions, and now finally the first Australian ace.
As the Australians land, the largest Allied strike of the campaign yet approaches Rabaul. 39 bombers (33 B-24s and 6 B-17Fs) fly in defensive formation, ready for the Japanese onslaught - and it does come. There are close to 30 Zeroes in the air by the time the bombers make it to the target. However despite their ferocious attacks, the bombers stick together, and almost all of them make it to target. Heavy flak goes up in the air from the ships anchored below, but they are now sitting ducks as the bombers line up their sights at 18,000 feet. The first trio of bombers splits off to hit fuel tanks at harbor - a valuable target with the Japanese fuel limitations - and sets them alight. The rest of the package focuses on the ships. The first 500lb bomb lands on the deck of the Zuikaku, punching through and exploding somewhere in her vast hold. The cruiser Maya takes the next hit, also reported to penetrate. A bomb then explodes on the decks of the light carrier Junyo, scattering fragments and killing crew. The battleship Mutsu also gets one through the deck, as do the light carrier Ryujo and light cruiser Kinu. 1 of the B-24s is downed while making the run against Mutsu.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/rabaulbombs.jpg
As the bombers withdraw, Zeroes go in for their revenge, and it's not pretty. The bomber crews do the best they can, and down two of the attacking fighters. With a 1200-mile journey home still ahead, several of the bombers fall out of formation, with at least two of them never to be seen again. 3 others crash on return to base. The final tally stands at 12 B-24s lost. All 6 B-17Fs make it back, although if damage assessment is correct, they also did not score any hits in the attack. 1/3 of the bombers lost, and perhaps as many as 50 Allied air men missing - for 6 Japanese ships, including one fleet carrier, two light carriers, a battleship and two cruisers damaged, some no doubt heavily (these 500lb bombs are no lightweights). For the Japanese, this probably means weeks of repairs or a trip back to home waters for some of the ships, and a definite temporary reduction of operational ability (helped also by the loss of fuel). For us, a fresh bombing group beaten up rather badly in a one-off attack. Was it worth it?
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/B-24Landing.jpg
By afternoon, it's back to business as usual. The Pickerel, perhaps busy watching smoke rising from Rabaul from her patrol location to the north, is attacked by a Val dive bomber, diving to evade. SBDs make an outing to the Japanese side of Guadalcanal without much result, but B-17s follow into the area from the south and score some good results. B-17s on Lae and B-24s on Shortlands also carry out successful missions without losses. Destroyer Welles depth charges a large Japanese sub south of Guadalcanal, scoring definite hits. In the Coral Sea, a whole convoy of subs is returning to Brisbane to refuel - apparently their supplies all ran out at the same time. A new Marine squadron of Wildcats, VMF-112, arrives for duty in theater - these guys look like professionals, and if ratings are anything to go by, they seem to be our best fighter squadron save for the Navy flyers and the veteran Aussies in No.75 and 76 Kittyhawk squadrons. Best not waste them.
At Sydney, the convoy of ships damaged in the Battle of Eastern Solomons on October 20th arrive for repairs. The assessment on South Dakota is expected - a solid 5 months of repairs for her, much like North Carolina and Washington already repairing there. Fortunately, 12 days from now, 3 older battleships will be arriving as part of reinforcements.
So, war goes on...
Krauter
01-22-12, 03:10 PM
Very nice, was hoping to see your side of this event. Looks like you scored some good hits. Just a question, what options do you have for escorts currently? Do you have anything like P-38s or P-47s anytime soon or are those well off in the future (or even out of this campaign?)
I do have a squadron that is supposed to convert to early-ish P-38s very soon (probably over the next week), although those still don't have the reach we need for Rabaul. They may be handy if they can reach New Guinea though, but I'm cautious about using them - they're still not really a good match for Zeroes. They may start making outings to New Guinea though, and possibly escorting land-based SBDs - those have much longer legs than the Wildcats that normally have to escort them, and it would be nice to allow them to go out further into Japanese territory. One of the Kittyhawk squadrons I have is also due to be converted to Spits, but only once we have a breather from their escort duty - I need them where they are now.
There's a bunch of upgrades and conversions going on right now actually, mostly of bombers though (newer Beauforts and B-25s replacing older stuff). I'm not too certain about fighter schedules - it seems like even if I do get P-47, that won't be until late December. If we last into January, I believe some Corsairs are also on the horizons.
Still, for the most part it looks like Wildcats and P-40s are going to be the main thing for me to rely on until the end of this one.
Krauter
01-22-12, 03:34 PM
Ah, would it be effective to have the P-40s and Wildcats escort out to as far as they can go and turn back, and, once the bombers are on their return journey, escort them back from as far out as they can reach? Or does Egan's CAPs chase your bombers out that far?
Well, I'm not sure the game even does that (partial escort) - it may, but especially since the enemy response tends to be close to target anyway, what I end up getting is a bunch of unescorted bombers getting attacked by Zeroes in the end. I'm not in a position where we do a lot of flying over enemy territory anyway - most of the long flights are just empty ocean. Heavy bombers are able to handle getting attacked over the target, but lighter bombers really don't do so well, so what I end up having to do is restricting them to escort ranges. This is especially true of SBDs - they have very poor survivability against Zeroes and usually get attacked right over their targets. So I no longer send them without escort unless I expect no CAP. And virtually everywhere they can go, there is CAP, so that means that their range is limited to 6 rather than 8 hexes (i.e. 240 vs. 320 NM), where the Wildcats and P-39s can keep up with them. P-40s can't even get that far, so they are not useful except as CAP and close-range escort. Fortunately that makes them VERY useful in New Guinea right now.
Krauter
01-22-12, 03:44 PM
Ah alright.
What of the possibility of hitting Rabaul at night with SBDs from your CVE? Or would that be a suicide mission :O:
Ah alright.
What of the possibility of hitting Rabaul at night with SBDs from your CVE? Or would that be a suicide mission :O:
I'd be more worried about the carriers than the SBDs! :O: Even assuming I dodge his aircraft there, there would be a huge risk that he'd send his surface ships after me, and I wouldn't be able to escape. It would be very easy for him to catch up to escort carriers, and he'd know about them well in advance since his scouting all around Rabaul is very solid.
My next chance to attack Rabaul would probably be when I rebuild the B-24 squadrons, so, not for a while. It might be worth trying night attacks just to distract him even more, though.
Not that Rabaul is especially important for me right now, anyway, except as a distraction. The more of his ships and planes I can tie up there, the fewer he'll have up front when it matters. That's what my subs are doing there, too - they're sure not sinking anything and getting depth charged constantly, but against 3 of my subs in the Bismarck sea I'm already counting something like 10 destroyers and patrols ships constantly present. Zeroes patrolling over Rabaul are Zeroes not patrolling over his ships and troops, where I still have some chances of hurting them when they come for me. I'm still waiting for his land campaign to begin - and pondering whether I should try and make the first move to get him to start moving before he's ready.
Krauter
01-22-12, 03:56 PM
Ah ok, have you thought about the possibility of hitting Truk or is that base hold no importance (well.. not AS MUCH importance) compared to Rabaul?
Well, the only way to do that would be from carriers - it's a really cool possibility and would probably confuse him a lot, but VERY risky, mostly because I think his scouts would spot me at least 2 days before I even get there. It'd be more likely if this were a big campaign and I didn't actually have to sail ships around the Solomons to do that. Since I only have Enterprise now, I really don't think I can afford the risk. If I had 3 carriers and knew reliably that Zuikaku was out of action for a bit, I'd actually consider it though.
I'm very much playing the attrition game, though. I know that time is on my side and I can afford losses as long as I hang on to my key objectives and force him to deplete his strength in places where I actually expect him (like Guadalcanal and Kokoda). So far I'm losing the attrition game at sea, winning it on land, and am dead tied in the air - but my actual availability and quality of air power is actually higher than ever. I can't win this campaign at sea anymore, so my bets are that I can win it in the air - and to do that, I have to draw him into the range of my short-ranged aircraft, like I did back on Oct. 2nd and 20th.
Fincuan
01-22-12, 05:05 PM
Well, the only way to do that would be from carriers - it's a really cool possibility and would probably confuse him a lot, but VERY risky, mostly because I think his scouts would spot me at least 2 days before I even get there.
It'd be awesome, and no doubt succeed given that there's no way he'd expect you to be that ballsy with your limited assets. Having only one carrier naturally limits your ability to deal out damage though. Against the AI and with three or more carriers a Rabaul-Truk raiding trip is a scenario ender. It's also a great way to start the Guadalcanal scenario.
Captain Vlad
01-22-12, 07:02 PM
You said you had an Aussie squadron converting to Spits...how do those stack up against Zeros? I know their limited range can hurt, but do they even up the odds in dogfights a bit, or are they still outclassed?
You said you had an Aussie squadron converting to Spits...how do those stack up against Zeros? I know their limited range can hurt, but do they even up the odds in dogfights a bit, or are they still outclassed?
The Spitfire Mk. V(trop) which I have enough of to equip a squadron is practically a match for A6M2 Zero in terms of performance rating in the game - just one point off at most altitudes. They can really turn and burn, almost as well as the Zero, something the Kittyhawks can't do. With good pilots, I'm confident it'll be more than a match. It lags slightly behind the newer A6M3 above 15000ft, but otherwise also mostly a match. On paper, anyway, they actually look like the only plane we have that can outfight a Zero, though I'll have to be careful since we don't have a lot of them.
It's worth mentioning, though, that despite being rated lower, experienced Wildcats in enough numbers can really cut up Zeroes too. So with a decent squadron like No. 75 or 76, I'll expect good things of the Spits, though mostly on point defense.
Which, again, brings me back to my main need here - need to draw the enemy in to fight on our terms, not theirs.
Captain Vlad
01-22-12, 08:42 PM
Interested to see how they do against the A6M, as, one of things I wondered when I read Egan's old Grand Campaign AAR, was how much of an equalizer the Fleet Air Arm's Seafires could be versus Zeros. I don't remember which Brit carrier he ended up with for a bit, but it was enough to spark my curiosity.
I've never really liked the Spits much on flight sims as they're too 'twitchy' for my taste; I'm more of a Hawker Tempest guy when it comes to UK aircraft, but I've always thought that if anything could turn with the Zeke, it'd be the Spit.
P-38s did well in the Pacific...I'm guessing on WiTP, you have to wait till later models to really see it?
The Spit is definitely a pretty particular kind of plane for a particular pilot. I wouldn't be that sort of pilot either, but I respect the heck out of what the plane can do :D
Also, on your earlier wondering about how the level bombers did in ASW - well, not that well, although neither B-17s nor B-24s that I have are currently equipped for ASW in any special way, and don't carry anything like depth charges or radars. The B-17Ds are currently flying that mission, and regularly report contact with subs, but they are yet to make an effective attack. Only Catalinas which can carry a wider array of weapons, including torpedoes, have been successful at that so far, but I also need them for long-range scouting.
A thought popped into my head though - I have a RNZAF squadron of Hudsons which have ASV radars on them. They haven't sunk anything yet, though have been reporting contacts regularly and honing their ASW skills. But what if I switch them to night ops? Would that make them potentially deadly to Japanese subs? Might have to try that next turn...
Captain Vlad
01-22-12, 10:41 PM
Can't wait to hear how that works out. I've mentioned my nighttime combat fondness before, I believe.
Incidentally, really enjoyed your account of your raid on Rabaul. I've said it before, but the enjoyment I'm getting out of yours and Egans AARs is quite substantial.
Falkirion
02-02-12, 05:10 PM
Hey CCIP, where's the updates mate? Would love to see what you're up to in this campaign against Egan
Soon! (tm)
Kinda had a few other commitments/stress at work, but don't worry - I keep good notes and nothing is lost. I should start rolling them out again tonight (or tomorrow)! :up:
Thanks for checking up on me, glad you're interested enough to wonder where the updates went :yep:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/beauforts.jpg
RAAF Beauforts over New Guinea
November 15, 1942
Overnight and in the morning, lots of submarine action, mostly of the wrong kind. Seadragon, Flying Fish, Triton and Grayback all report getting depth charged in their positions around Rabaul; Pickerel is bombed by a Val in the morning, but dodges the attack. On surfacing, Seadragon reports sighting a group that included Kirishima and two heavy cruisers north of Kaiveng. Flying Fish takes a particularly harsh beating in the Bismarck Sea in the meantime, taking many near misses over several hours of depth charging.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/flyingfish.jpg
USS Flying Fish
Elsewhere, Beauforts escorted by Kittyhawks make their strike on Buna. Zeroes come from above, but are a bit late and cannot interfere with the strike. The results of the attack are modest, with 2 Beauforts damaged by flak. The damage takes its toll, however, and 3 Kittyhawks along with 2 Beauforts crash on return to base.
In the afternoon, one of our Catalinas from Tulagi attacks a sub south of Guadalcanal. B-25s and B-26s follow with a strike on Kokoda - yet another running battle with 6 Zeroes flying CAP takes place. The B-25s put up heavy defensive fire, quickly damaging a couple of Zeroes. As the flight gets closer two target, two of the bombers are downed by the last 2 Zeroes still doggedly pursuing. The results of the strike are assessed as modest - 14 casualties on the ground, for 2 bombers lost and another crashing on landing back in Cooktown.
B-17s and 24s aren't slacking either - their strike on Lae bags 2 Vals destroyed on the ground. At Shortlands, the Liberators have no effect. The last news of the day is again subs - the Seadragon, shadowing the same task force of Kirishima and 2 CAs, reports being depth charged again.
Meanwhile reshuffles and upgrades are afoot. The first fighter squadron to convert to P-38Gs receives its planes. No.76 RAAF squadron is sent to the rear to convert from Kittyhawks to Spitfires. A USAAF P-40 squadron is sent to Port Moresby to relieve them, but unfortunately one of the airplanes crashes during transit, killing its pilot.
Forces for our next operation to Guadalcanal are almost ready to go, currently topping up their fuel at Noumea.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b26-com.jpg
November 16, 1942
Not a very unusual day today - the usual players are busy doing their ordinary thing.
The Flying Fish, already used to beatings, takes yet another heavy depth charging by a single DD south of Kaiveng. The crew take this test stoically, and evade successfully.
Morning strikes from Cooktown once again run into weather, though most of the bombers do get to target. Zeroes are again waiting right over Kokoda, and down a single B-25 before the attack run. Today's attack is estimated to have caused the enemy 28 casualties - an acceptable result.
Because of weather interference, 6 B-26s arrive about an hour late, by which time there are also Kittyhawks from No.75 squadron on patrol nearby. When a single Zero appears to pounce on the bombers, the RAAF fighters quickly dispatch him.
Afternoon action includes a moderately successful strike on Rekata Bay by SBDs, and a Beaufort strike on Buna escorted by American P-40s. Zeroes appear, but the dogfight between fighters is very uncommitted. At the end, a single bomber is lost, with no casualties among fighters on either side.
The heavy bombers do their work for the rest of the day. Over Lae, flak is heavy, but the bombing is also mercilessly accurate. One of the valuable B-17Fs is lost. B-24s follow to Buna, scoring good hits for no losses. The strikes on the Solomons (Shortlands and Guadalcanal) have no effect.
Naval forces at Noumea are still refueling.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/enterpr.jpg
Enterprise vs. the Empire of Japan
November 17, 1942
Morning brings a Nell bomber scouting over Moresby, although the Japanese don't really seem determined to attack us at the moment. So, our own forces in New Guinea head for another bombing mission on Buna - and new A2M3 Zeroes that weren't there before appear. A tough fight develops between the escorting P-40s and this new patrol, which results in the loss of a single P-40. No effect is achieved from the strike. However further south at Kokoda, no Zeroes are spotted today and B-25s/B-26s make a good strike on the Japanese positions.
Afternoon strikes continue as usual. B-17s and B-24s make an effective attack on Lae, but lose one Liberator in the process.
In the meantime, all our pieces for the next operation are set in place. 3 convoys to Port Moresby are standing by at Cooktown, ready to move as soon as the word is given. Our 'decoy' to the Solomons is a single convoy, escorted by a heavy naval force, divided into 3 TFs:
1) Enterprise (with 52 Wildcats aboard, plus bombers), with 2 AA cruisers and 21 DDs escorting.
2) Surface combat force: 10 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 14 DDs - possibly will be used for shore bombardment tasks.
3) CVE Long Island (with 16 Wildcats aboard), 1 AA cruiser and 5 DDs.
Upwards of 96 fighters will be present at Henderson, and about another 80 fighters at Port Moresby. We just need to draw the enemy into air combat on our terms, and then we'll be able to deplete their striking ability, like we already did at least twice before...
In the meantime, B-24s are switched to night raiding of Rabaul in an attempt to tie up more Zeroes away from the front. We'll see what happens!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/lilywreck.jpg
Lily bomber wreck outside of Port Moresby
November 18, 1942
The night today brings a chance for our night fighters at Moresby to shine. A raid of Lily bombers is detected by radar, and all 14 Beaufighters quickly get up in the air. 2 of the bombers are quickly downed, with the fighters firing from well behind the bombers, having no trouble hitting them. 3 bombers get through, but no effect is achieved by their strike. 6 more follow a bit later, with the Beaufighters missing them, but they also fail to make any hits.
Our own night bombers, on the other hand, do not fly today.
In the morning, our most successful submarine so far, the S-38, adds another success to her tally - while creeping around off the southern approaches to Rabaul, she sights one of the usual patrol boat pairs that have been hounding submarines there for a while. Her commander "Moon" Chapple decides to go for it in the calm weather - and plants a Mk.10 torpedo just aft of the ship's center. It explodes and quickly sinks the patrol boat. The accompanying boat turns around and depth charges S-38 heavily, but the sub ultimately eludes attacks and is victorious.
Gato, on patrol in the western Bismarck Sea, tries a similar thing against a destroyer, but misses. Upon surfacing, she reports a convoy that included 5 transports and the seaplane carrier Chitose. Reinforcements bound for New Guinea?
Air action continues as usual. B-25s and -26s raid Kokoda without opposition by Zeroes, but two are damaged by flak. A small SBD raid happens on Rekata Bay under escort from P-40s. B-24s, which I thought were ordered to do night raids, appear again over Lae along with B-17s (apparently giving an order to "all B-24 squadrons at this base" will work for tasking within the same time of day, but will not switch them from day to night operations).
Biggles
02-04-12, 04:39 PM
Golly, a torpedo that wasn't a dud! About bloody time too! :D
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b24night.jpg
November 19, 1942
The B-24s make their outing at night to Rabaul. 6 of them get to target and don't hit anything, but at least that's a token presence. Should wake up the Japanese and hopefully encourage a reaction if we keep this up.
Otherwise, not an unusual day. Forces get ready at their staging areas for the next operation, while the bombers do their work. Over the Kokoda Track, two Zeroes appear today and attack B-26s, but are driven off quickly. B-17s on Buna again encounter heavy Zero CAP, mostly the newer A6M3s. In the developing fight, 1 zero and one Fortress are down.
At the end of the day, the go word for operations is given. Forces at Luganville and the Santa Cruz islands will sortie to Guadalcanal immediately. The Port Moresby run will hold for 1 day, then also make their run - hopefully by that time the Japanese will be distracted by our activity in the Solomons.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/kiwi.jpg
HMNZS Kiwi, lost
November 20, 1942
At night, a patrol by two New Zealand-crewed corvettes off Espiritu Santo reports a submarine lurking around. We've noted it before, and it doesn't seem to have been a threat to our big combat ships that left Luganville for Guadalcanal as they passed by during the night. However later during the day, the sub makes its presence known by attacking and torpedoing the HMNZS Kiwi, one of these patrolling corvettes. The torpedo hits aft; the accompanying corvette Moa searches for the sub but fails to find it. The Kiwi sinks over the next hour or so, with the Moa picking up survivors.
Meanwhile the night strikes on Rabaul reap their fruit - no, no hits at all, but 11 Zeroes are reported in the air as the bombers make their run tonight. They do not locate the B-24s however, and only AA fire threatens them tonight.
B-25s and B-26s on Kokoda do pretty well today. A Zero does appear, but is quickly shot down by a RAAF Kittyhawk patrolling nearby. Afternoon strikes by heavy bombers throughout the theater achieve no effect.
The ships of the Guadalcanal force are racing to position, with the reinforcement convoy due to arrive by morning. No Japanese reaction is detected - the Port Moresby resupply is cleared to go.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/enterprisewildcat.jpg
Wildcat operations on the Enterprise
November 21, 1942
B-24s have trouble finding targets tonight because of light rain over Rabaul, so they arrive in a disorganized manner. First 6 of them make their bombing run without effect, with one bomber damaged by flak, then 3 more arrive and are pounced by 11 zeroes. However the Zeroes have trouble keeping up and attacking the bombers in the dark, and when one tries to get on a B-24s tail, it quickly gets a stream of .50 bullets from the tail gunner, falling to the ground in flames.
Morning finds the Guadalcanal forces in position - troop convoy escorted by Long Island at Guadalcanal, Enterprise and the surface combat ships at Rennell Island. ASW destroyers patrol nearby, with O'Bannon detecting a large Japanese submarine off Rennell Island and depth charging it heavily, reporting many hits though no confirmed sinking.
To my displeasure (or perhaps due to my pressing the wrong button last turn), several wildcats perform small sweeps over Guadalcanal and Rekata Bay. The direction from which they came will probably alert the Japanese to the location of our forces - then again, that might not be such a bad thing.
Bad weather cancels most of the bomber missions throughout the day. The only ones that really try are B-24s against Shortlands, but even there they run into a thunderstorm over the target.
Supply operations make good progress. The Guadalcanal convoy has already got all of its troops and half the supplies ashore. At Port Moresby, 1 convoy has just arrived, and 2 more are a few hours away. No Japanese response detected.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/b-25many.jpg
USAAF B-25s enroute to New Guinea
November 22, 1942
Bad weather interferes with B-24 missions once again - tonight, none get to their targets.
In the morning, Japanese scouts are seen flying everywhere - a Mavis boat is shot down snooping on our forces at Rennell Island. By this point they surely must know our positions at Guadalcanal.
The B-25/B-26 strike on Kokoda in the morning runs into a very big Zero CAP. Things look bad - the slower B-25s take a heavy beating, losing at least 5 bombers. Ironically, 6 of them fell out of formation on the way to target and arrive late, but the Zeroes don't attack them. Results from the strikes are modest - would be acceptable if it were not for the losses.
Afternoon strikes bring little news, other than the loss of a B-17 over Lae.
The Guadalcanal convoy is almost done unloading by the end of the day, while at Port Moresby the unloading is still in early stages. The plan now is to have our surface ships bombard the Japanese positions at Guadalcanal, and then cover the retreat of our convoy.
Elsewhere, reinforcements are on the horizon. At Sydney, the RAN cruiser Hobart, damaged in our disastrous battle in september, is fully repaired and ready for action. It is dispatched to Noumea with two overhauled destroyers, where it will join larger reinforcements due in 4 days from now - 2 CVEs and 3 old battleships. This certainly encourages caution in the current operation - no sense in wasting our forces before we can concentrate them better.
No sight of the Japanese carriers. It's possible they retreated to Truk as a result of the B-24 threat or earlier damage.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nightbombard.jpg
Night bombardment of Guadalcanal
November 22, 1942: Prelude to Invasion
The first report of the day is the S-38 trying to repeat its success south of Rabaul, firing torpedoes on a destroyer. This time they miss, however, and Chapple's boat is depth charged. On surfacing, he reports contact with 5 DDs.
The night bombardment of Japanese positions on Guadalcanal goes as planned. The 10 heavy cruisers close in to within 4000 yards of shore, pummeling Japanese positions and docks. There is no response from the Japanese until the trailing cruisers in the formation, Chicago and Chester, approach to fire their guns. Chester takes 2 hits from howitzers on shore, although the shells are too small to do any real damage to the ship.
Massive damage is reported to the Japanese docks there, but the casualties are not estimated to be heavy among the enemy. Once this attack is finished, the ships turn around and head for home - the convoy at Guadalcanal should be doing the same around now.
B-24s stray off targets due to poor weather again. Only 6 of them make it to Rabaul tonight, but without any effect. Zeroes are still reported patrolling, but fail to sight the bombers.
In the morning, the first success of the campaign by the fleet boats finally registers, thanks to the aggressiveness of "Pete" Ferrall in command of USS Seadragon. On patrol north of Kaiveng, the Seadragon runs into a large tanker/transport ship Tangyang Maru, sailing without any apparent escort. After firing torpedoes on the ship and scoring one hit, the sub surfaces and begins pummeling the ship with guns, quickly setting it on fire, closing in and sweeping the superstructure with a .50 cal machinegun. During this approach, another torpedo is fired and hits the stricken ship. The Seadragon then retires, leaving its 6600t target on fire and sinking. Well done!
Weather interferes with strikes on the Kokoda Track once again, with only about half the planes getting through. RAAF Mitchells, which relieved the US B-25s at Cooktown after yesterday's losses, face the same Japanese CAP. Kittyhawks from Port Moresby are present and jump in to help the bombers. They largely succeed, though at a cost to themselves in the long dogfight. 5 B-26s are lost to various causes, and 1 Kittyhawk is written off on landing. However Zeroes take losses as well.
Afternoon's report: ENEMY CARRIERS IN SOLOMON SEA!
Without any indication that they were at Rabaul earlier, this is at least somewhat of a surprise. Their course, however, suggests that they are not headed for Guadalcanal, but rather in the direction of Milne Bay and Moresby - they could be a serious threat to our convoys there. B-17s head in for a high-altitude drop on this new threat, along with getting more reliable information. However all they find on their first sortie is the cruiser Aoba, which they miss.
Over the course of the afternoon, the picture becomes clearer - and gloomier. There are multiple forces in the Solomon Sea, all headed southwest. They either saw through our plan and know the convoys to Port Moresby are unescorted - or this has nothing to do with our operations, but rather is an invasion of Milne Bay. Both of those possibilities are fairly scary.
Soon, a strike package of 10 Kate torpedo bombers indeed arrives over Moresby - escorted by 51 Zeroes, which could have only come from the Japanese carriers. The CAP is severely outnumbered, yet somehow they manage to outwit the Japanese fighters, going for the bombers and downing 7 of them. 3 get through to the ships unloading at harbor, but miss after running into heavy flak. Well done, defenders of Moresby.
The day's tally of air kills is witness to the tough fights:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nov23-1.jpg
B-17s continue to make sporadic outings in search of the Japanese force. One flight finds the battleship Mutsu, but they miss, while defensive fire from the ship downs one of the forts.
By the end of the day, the enemy intentions are more or less clear: an invasion of Milne Bay is inbound.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nov23.jpg
Situation at the end of the day, November 23rd
The Japanese forces (seen at the top left) include a fast transport force, a battleship force, 2 possible fleet carriers, 4 possible escort carriers, all inbound on a direct bearing from Rabaul to Milne Bay. Port Moresby convoys are still only about 2/3 unloaded, though their troops almost all ashore. Two of them are ordered to stop unloading and head back to Cooktown. One will finish unloading, and hopefully divert some of the Japanese attention - I feel like our CAP here can handle enemy strikes, so it's best if we can draw them in without too much risk.
The threat we cannot do anything about, however, is the impending bombardment on Milne Bay. I know for sure it's coming - and so, all aircraft airworthy (which are a P-39 squadron and an SBD squadron, one of whose planes is under maintenance and will have to be abandoned) are ordered to fly away immediately. As I expected this invasion for a while - and after the loss of our carriers thought it to be unpreventable - there are almost no combat troops defending Milne, with most of the forces being support crews for our airfields there. They now face a difficult situation - and a no less difficult retreat into the jungle.
Our own naval forces (bottom right on the map) are ordered to sail for Townsville - cloudy weather over the Coral Sea should help hide them from the enemy for now. However I'm uncertain what we could do against an undamaged, fully-armed enemy naval force, with only a single fleet carrier and 10 heavy cruisers available. Most likely we will have to stand by and try to look for an opportunity to cause some damage after the inevitable invasion is done.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/milnebay.jpg
November 24, 1942
Invasion of Milne Bay: Day 1
Before the major events of the day begin, the destroyers Duncan and Aaron Ward hunt a submarine in Torpedo Alley, reportedly scoring some hits. Bad weather meanwhile cancels B-24 missions for the night.
As expected, the bombardment of Milne Bay, led by Yamato, takes place in the early morning hours. 282 casualties are reported. An amphibious landing force escorted by the battleship Mutsu follows into the area immediately and begins unloading. They're here.
The initial landings are resisted somewhat, but the Japanese firepower is overwhelming. 51 more casualties are reported in the fighting, while the Japanese lose about 270 troops in accidents and while hitting the beach. In the morning, the invading force which includes 2 destroyers and a large transport is still directly off the shore, with further ships arriving.
Our scouts waste no time locating enemy forces, but unfortunately one of the Catalinas shadowing the force led by Yamato is shot down by CAP flying overhead.
Disorganized attacks by forces from Australia follow. 3 Beauforts go for the invasion ships, but 5 Zeroes pounce them and down them before they can get to target. B-17s follow, fighting off the Zeroes with ease but missing targets.
The next move is a Japanese strike - 15 Kates escorted by 34 Zeroes attack Port Moresby. This time our CAP is even more determined and organized, quickly decimating the enemy strikes. All of the Kates and over a dozen Zeroes are destroyed for very light losses, with RAAF Kittyhawks leading the way. Another small strike of 9 Zeroes and 2 Kates arrives late, and is completely destroyed for no losses. This is all very encouraging - the enemy aircraft are being drawn into exactly the sort of fight I wanted.
In the afternoon, scouting continues to report positions of the Japanese ships, while a Mavis flying boat also appears to shadow our combat ships sailing to the battle area through the Coral Sea.
Weather over the main theater deteriorates over the course of the day, interfering with most of the afternoon strikes. A flight of Betties appears over Milne Bay, hitting the airbase but not causing much damage - then again, not much left that's not been damaged by the bombardment from the sea.
For the rest of the afternoon our heavy bombers make various attempts to hit Japanese ships, including the battleship Haruna, but all miss. The Japanese are not sleeping either - this time Vals from Lae take off to attack Port Moresby, but do so with practically no escort - only 4 Zeroes are there to cover them. 4 of the bombers still get through, but miss their targets and are finished off by our fighters on egress, adding another dozen or so kills to our tally today.
Ending off the day's action is one final sweep of Port Moresby by Japanese carrier fighters. This time they fare better than they did for the rest of the day, and shoot down several of our fighters, damaging many more. Very few P-39s and P-40s are left in flying condition at Port Moresby at the end of the day, though most of the damaged planes are still in one piece. Still, they fought well, and have outfought the Zeroes decisively today. The final tally of air combat for today stands at 56 kills to 28 losses.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nov24-1.jpg
In the meantime, some intelligence estimates show as many as 13000 (!) Japanese troops landing at Milne Bay. This is obviously a very serious effort by the Japanese - but we never planned to resist it, so I am hopeful that the commitment of resources will tie these up and prevent other, more strategic positions (like Port Moresby) from being overrun.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/nov24.jpg
Situation at the end of the day
Falkirion
02-05-12, 06:01 PM
Do you think you'll be able to hold onto PNG CCIP? Pretty big move from Egan invading Milne like that.
Yeah, it's a big move, but it's one I expected. I have basically given up on Milne after I lost my carriers, and have not reinforced it. My hope is that since the reinforcements that didn't go to Milne ended up at Port Moresby puts it in better position to hold out. I'm 100% confident that I can hold him on the Kokoda track - there is just no way he would be able to force his way through. What I'm afraid of now is a naval invasion of Moresby - it may be costly for him, but it is doable. To deter it, I really need to hand him some sort of naval setback, and I'm just having no luck at all :( Doesn't help that I have only 1 fleet carrier left, and all of my modern battleships are out of action until past the end of the scenario.
Anyway, time for me to catch up - I'm still a few days behind. Have been busy so our game with Egan has slowed down a little bit. Will hopefully pick up by weekend :)
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/moresbykittyhawks.jpg
RAAF Kittyhawks
November 25, 1942
Invasion of Milne Bay: Day 2
Overnight, the Japanese continue unloading on the beaches at Milne Bay. Our position is not looking good, but we don't intend to put up more than a token fight. Sadly, Milne Bay was not a position we could count on defending - so few combat troops are there to begin with, with most of the personnel being support units around the airfields.
At sea, the Seadragon tried to torpedo another tanker off Kaiveng, but this time its torpedoes are duds and she is chased off by escorts, unable to pull the same sort of surface attack as the other day.
B-24s, as usual, have trouble finding targets in their night raid - but a dozen do get through in loose formations and encounter Zeroes over Rabaul. Here the Japanese prove to be poor night-fighters once again - they close in on the bombers, but keeping up with them in the dark by sight alone means attacking from behind, and here the .50 cal machineguns do good work. Two Zeroes fall in flames for no B-24 losses tonight.
In the morning, a submarine tries to torpedo destroyer Laffey yet again, but misses.
B-25s, now acting as scouts, report Japanese forces entering the Coral Sea to the south of Milne Bay.
A morning raid of unescorted Betties flies into Moresby, and does their usual Betty thing - get shot down by Allied fighters, that is. P-39s are the first to respond, and Kittyhawks join later, dispatching two small formations of the bombers before they get to their targets. A small Val raid escorted by 4 Zeroes follows them, and suffers the same fate.
Meanwhile other Betties - probably from the same bases at Rabaul - fly east toward Guadalcanal, where they attack destroyers Lardner and Welles on ASW duty in Torpedo Alley. They manage to surprise the destroyers, who have no CAP from Guadalcanal covering them, but here the flak crews do an excellent job - one Betty is shot down and the rest are either damaged or miss their attacks. Another flight of Betties also tries to attack a few PT boats currently operating out of Tulagi nearby, but miss. Here the CAF airplanes catch up with the Betties as they come off their attack, and pick off one.
Afternoon scouting shows two Japanese task forces operating about 150nm south of Milne Bay, but not much can be done in the way of strikes - weather is poor over the Australian coast and most of the bombers fail to take off. That may be for better, because one of these forces is the main Japanese carriers, and their fighters would pick off our lighter bombers with ease. Some of the B-17s do sight the forces, and confirm one unpleasant fact during their unsuccessful high-altitude attack: Zuikaku is with the force, meaning she is not damaged and out of service as a result of the Rabaul raid liked we had hoped. 1 of these B-17s is shot down by flak over the carriers.
Other B-17s try to attack the landing forces at Milne Bay, including the battleship Mutsu escorting them, but without success. Soon another bombardment of Milne Bay takes place, causing some casualties.
Elsewhere, not much happening. TBFs make a strike on Rekata Bay without result, as do B-24 on Shortland. The same Japanese sub that killed the corvette Kiwi the other day tries to do the same to her sister Moa off Espiritu Santo, but mercifully her torpedo is a dud.
Our naval forces are not far from the battle area, but the aggressive Japanese movement south is worrying. Since Zuikaku is obviously alive and well, we cannot risk a direct engagement with their carriers, especially since we are about to get reinforcements - CVEs and 3 old battleships. It would be foolish to commit our forces piecemeal right now, so they are held back well to the south of the battle area. We'll see what opportunities tomorrow brings.
The air tally is pretty encouraging today, though - 5 losses for 25 kills, most of both being bombers.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/maryland.jpg
USS Maryland
November 26, 1942
Invasion of Milne Bay: Day 3
Japanese troops continue unloading their equipment at Milne Bay during the night. Bad weather meanwhile cancels all night missions by our B-24s.
Dawn brings reports of enemy carriers pretty quickly - our scouts locate them in roughly the same area as yesterday, southwest of Milne Bay. Weather interferes with most missions directed at them from, and those that get through are met by determined CAP. One B-17 and two B-25s are lost in futile attacks, well outside of range of available escorts. 6 Beauforts are later destroyed making the same sort of attempt.
Worse, the Japanese are now in range of the last supply convoy retreating from Port Moresby. I consider its mission to have been justified by successfully unloading supplies, but this attack on it is still very unfortunate. It is practically destroyed by the Japanes torpedo and dive bombers, with only about 1/3 of the ships surviving the short trip to Cooktown, most of them damaged.
Destroyers Farenholt and McCalla patrolling nearby also come under attack by the Japanese dive bombers. They maneuver and throw heavy flak in the air. Farenholt still takes one bomb from the determined Vals, and is left on fire but still afloat.
Afternoon brings more bad news - the Japanese begin their breakout from the beachhead, inflicting heavy casualties on the remaining Australian troops at Milne Bay. Their positions are quickly overrun, with over 1000 casualties reported as a result of the assault, and the remainder of forces retreating into the jungle to the west. We need to hit back - but this is nearly impossible with the Japanese fleet blocking the way.
At the end of the day, our naval reinforcements arrive at Noumea. These include escort carriers Chenango and Suwannee, and the old battleships Maryland, Colorado and Indiana. The Australian light cruiser Hobart also arrives there after repairs in Sydney, and the cruiser Honolulu which arrived at Noumea a few days earlier is standing by. These forces are grouped up and ordered to sail as soon as possible. They might give us a bit more of a chance in concentrating our remaining naval forces against the Japanese.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/tbf.jpg
TBF torpedo bomber with heavy damage
November 27, 1942
Invasion of Milne Bay: Day 4
During the night, the determined Seadragon yet again gets a juicy Japanese tanker in her sights, firing an accurate salvo of torpedoes at least two of which are direct hits. Sadly, they are all duds, and the tanker's escort prevents further approach by the submarine.
Weather once again disrupts all B-24 missions tonight.
In the morning, Japanese ships are yet again reported south of Milne Bay, roughly where they had been the day before. Weather does not bode well for level bomber strikes on them either.
The Japanese have only somewhat better luck with their strikes. 20 Betties arrive to bomb Port Moresby, and Kittyhawks scramble to defend. Half of the bombers are shot down, while 10 bomb various targets to no effect. Shortly afterwards, the smaller Lily bombers attack the Kokoda track - an unusual action from the Japanese. Allied CAP is present and successfully down 5 of these planes.
Next, a strike by 18 TBF torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 P-39s (carrying drop tanks to extend their range) takes off from Port Moresby (where the TBFs transferred yesterday to bring some naval strike capacity to the area) to attack the Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea. The fleet is in fact so close that the drop tanks weren't really needed. However, frustratingly enough these torpedo bombers are carrying bombs, not torpedoes! This would have been our best chance to do damage to the Japanese otherwise, but now the TBFs are out there without their primary weapon. P-39s fare very poorly against Zeroes, but do tie up the enemy CAP to allow all but 1 of the TBFs to get through. They are slow and vulnerable to flak as bombers, and the attack is almost totally botched. 1 hit is reported on the light carrier Zuiho, but that's about it. Not a single Zero from the CAP is downed, and both the P-39s and the TBFs take heavy casualties. Worse, in the afternoon they try again, despite the losses - this time they're practically totally destroyed.
The mistakes and poor tactical planning continue. SBD dive bombers which were transferred to Cooktown to fly missions with the recently-converted P-38 squadron take off without escort to attack the enemy carriers. Predeictably, all that make these attack are downed by the Zeroes. As many as 20 SBDs may have been lost today. B-17s, B-25s and B-26s from Australia continue making largely useless attempts at enemy carriers, taking some losses. We just can't dent them!
At the end of the day, the tally is grim - the Japanese have outfought us, if only through our squadrons' sheer tactical incompetence and willingness to take stupid risks. 18 kills (mostly on bombers) are reported today, versus 46 losses (mostly of bombers also).
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/aoba.jpg
IJN cruiser Aoba
November 28, 1942
Invasion of Milne Bay: Day 5
12 Liberators do get through to Rabaul tonight, despite stormy weather over the target. They achieve no success, and 1 is lost to flak. No Zeroes come out to meet them tonight, however.
In the morning, the first contact is with Japanese forces north of Milne Bay. Nothing is being picked up in the Coral Sea at the moment.
The submarines pick up the pace today. First, Gudgeon tries to torpedo a large Japanese sub on the surface south of Rabaul (probably returning to port after being damaged by our destroyers off Guadalcanal), but suffers duds as usual. But the main success of the day is the S-41 - patrolling to the east of Milne Bay, she finally gets contact with one of the Japanese task forces operating there. She manages to approach undetected and torpedoes the Japanese cruiser Aoba, hitting it with one Mk.10 torpedo under the forward turret. Secondary explosions follow, and the cruiser retreats, as does the S-41, ultimately evading escorts without receiving any depth charges. She reports that five other cruisers and the battleship Haruna were also in the same task force. Finally, one of our subs manages to dent an enemy capital ship! However, it does not appear that Aoba has sunk. Still, at the very least she received some heavy damage.
Our scouts finally get contact with Japanese forces in the Coral Sea late int he morning. That looks like their carriers - they have moved a bit further east, and outside of most of our bombers' range.
However, while our intelligence is distracted dealing with this contact report, another comes in - and sadly, despite how panicky it seems, it turns out to be totally accurate. A task force is reported rapidly approaching Port Moresby, less than 40 miles off the shore. B-17s fly out, and local fighters take off to help them fend off the Zeroes. These guys must be here to bombard Moresby - and little can be done to stop them. The attack by B-17s confirms battleship Hiei present in the formation.
A couple more hours pass by as the task force bears down on Port Moresby, and by early evening, they appear in full sight of the defenders, presenting them with the full terror of this particular sight...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/myspb2006/stuff/yamatomorning.jpg
What follows is a massive and devastating bombardment, with Yamato and her 18" guns leading. Massive casualties - nearly a thousand killed or wounded - are reported at the port. The airfields around Port Moresby take a particularly bad beating, where all of the runways are disabled and while not too many airplanes are destroyed (26 in total), virtually all are damaged or disabled. Hits on storage facilities lead to a massive loss of supply and fuel. In short, Port Moresby is totally disabled and made ineffective as an air base for days to come.
The only upside to this report is that the enemy carrier fleet is reported to be in the Solomon Sea in the late afternoon, meaning that they are not with the Yamato force. Now is our chance - Enterprise which had been standing off the Australian coast is ordered north, with heavy cruisers covering, in order to attempt an intercept on the Yamato force. They sail at full speed and, assuming the Japanese retreat as we expect them to, should be able to strike them. The only problem is the weather - overcast is forecast for tomorrow. So we will wait and see...
0rpheus
02-12-12, 10:26 PM
Argh! Cliffhanger'd! :har:
vBulletin® v3.8.11, Copyright ©2000-2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.