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17 April 1942
IJN Nagato defeats USS Idaho in single combat; Kaga and Junyo prevail over dive bomber raid at Luganville Hawaii and Line Islands Repair efforts on the Nagato were apparently terminated early, and the damaged ship was on patrol outside Lahaina, ready to receive the Idaho. Nagato had a destroyer with it, but it did not get involved; Nagato and Idaho had a 1v1 duel. Nagato hit Idaho with its main batteries early, and Idaho never got back into the fight after that. Idaho failed to score even a single hit as the Nagato continuously pummeled the increasingly disabled ship. All my other ships managed to get far enough away that they neither launched nor received any airstrikes. We received some help on that front from overcast skies and a few rain squalls. My task forces will now rendezvous with a replenishment group, and after that I'll reorganize them to send some in for repairs and possibly to escort a supply run. At Christmas Island, my DMS is now on ASW duty with the mines taken care of; it found one of the enemy subs lurking and got some good hits on it. Not enough to sink it. Thailand USS Porpoise had been guarding the approach to Bangkok after I received SIGINT about troops being shipped there. It found the convoy--probably on the way out instead of in--and made an unsuccessful torpedo attack. It received light damage from depth charges in return. On the other side of the Malayan peninsula, my surface task force that had been guarding the approach to Rangoon from enemy commerce raiders was attacked by a submarine, the battleship HMS Ramillies took a pretty bad torpedo hit and will need to report for repairs. I'm ordering the whole task force to leave station, I only have 3 DD here which already isn't enough, spitting it further just isn't an option. My air raids on the enemy land forces moving north continued, resulting in one Zero downed and decent damage dealt to the armies below. I'm still very concerned about the number of enemy fighters compared to mine despite the result this turn. Java and Sumatra Enemy air activity shifted from Batavia to Oosthaven (in Sumatra). We lost a Buffalo to the sweep with no victories of our own. Air raids continued throughout Java without significant resistance from us. Luganville I only managed to get 3 B-17s in the air to bomb the port, but they all made it back. No damage inflicted on the port. We had a coordination SNAFU after that, the P-40s that were supposed to be escorting the dive bombers flew with the A-20s instead. And our P-39s trying to sweep the Zeroes just didn't do a very good job. So we ended up with our fighters getting pounced on by diving Zeroes, and still enough Zeroes getting back up to high altitude in time to splash the unprotected Vindicators. We got 2 Zeroes. They got 5 P-39s, 9 P-40s, 2 A-20s, 2 SBDs, and 6 Vindicators. A 7th Vindicator was lost to flak. 4 A-20s attempted attacks on the Kaga and missed; 7 Vindicators split themselves between Kaga and Junyo and all of them missed as well. Solomons The S-42 made repeated attacks on the unescorted tanker convoy, sinking one with a torpedo attack, surfacing to gun another and setting its cargo ablaze, then submerging and hitting another one with a torpedo. I believe all 3 sank. |
18 April 1942
Supply convoy "The Expendables" hit by Nells & Betties; KB spotted in Ceram Sea Hawaii and Line Islands One of my supply convoys (which I named "The Expendables") is arriving from the east, nowhere near my regrouping carriers. I had a lightly damaged destroyer that was headed for the west coast link up with it and proceed--I was hoping that the damage to the airbase's Mavis scoutplanes, combined with their high maintenance rating, would help them approach undetected. No such luck. They were hit repeatedly throughout the day. 4 were sunk, 2 damaged, and 2 undamaged cargo ships are proceeding. They sank the destroyer, too. A second supply convoy is near my carriers. However, based on revised force estimates from today's raids, it now appears any fight between my weakened air wings and his reinforced airbase would be unacceptably risky. So they're going in without air cover, too. I've also got 2 APDs operating solo that might either slip in unnoticed or draw some attention away from the convoys. The Saratoga was not only damaged in the fight but it due for an upgrade, so it's headed to the west coast. Enterprise and Hornet will remain in the Pacific for now but will be returning to Hawaii anytime soon. To the south, I still have at least 4 enemy submarines off Christmas Island, which is deterring me from moving troops around there. The army regiment that was the main force there I would like to send to Palmyra, but they aren't getting back to full strength probably due to a lack of proper support units. So I should rotate them out with a fresh unit--but first, the subs. Burma and Thailand An enemy sub tried to approach Rangoon and hit a mine. Small patrol craft spotted her limping out of the area, but she was able to dive and disappear. She's got a long way to limp home, I doubt she'll make it. I rested my bombers today. The only air-to-air combat anywhere this turn was still here, though, as Oscars swept my defensive patrols near Rahang. We lost one Hurricane with no enemies shot down. Java The O23 torpedoed and sank a sub chaser on patrol in the Java Sea. Enemy troops have entered Surabaya. Air raids continued without significant resistance, aside from two bombers shot down by flak. Loemadjang (south of Surabaya) has been captured, along with 4 grounded bombers. Luganville My window has closed; the enemy carriers are now back between the Solomons and Luganville and the transports have dissappeared. My B-17s scored some hits on an empty port. EDIT: The Kido Butai was briefly sighted in the Ceram Sea this turn. |
19 April 1942
More supply ships intercepted near Pearl Hawaii and Line Islands The Netties had no problem finishing off the two damaged cargo ships from The Expendables, but the other two actually made it to port. But, I hadn't considered that the port isn't the real finish line. They have to unload, and that takes time. Both ships were picked off in harbor before unloading any substantial amounts of supplies. Some good news, though--the second, southern convoy got pretty close and looks like it's going to make it. They suffered some attacks but the Netties are targeting the DDs mostly, and they're nimble enough to dodge. Sumatra A cruiser-destroyer task force made it to Palembang undetected and shelled the airbase. They took out a light cargo ship trying to resupply a small island off the coast, too. They didn't even hit any mines. I think these guys are based in Sinkawang, Borneo, which is a problem because we're not seeing them when they approach at night and they have plenty of air cover when they're at their base in the day. They swept Palembang with about 50 Zeroes during the day, taking advantage of the damage dealt overnight. We hardly got any planes up. 1 P-40 was shot down. Borneo A troop convoy approached Miri and was attacked by HMS Truant. It only managed to hit an escort (twice!), a cruiser-minelayer, which sank. Truk USS Seadragon picked off a light cargo ship approaching at night. Solomons area I moved the Aussie bombers that had been supporting my troops in Luganville back to Port Moresby, and hit Rabaul with them. The base was mostly empty, sadly, so we did no real damage. We attacked ground forces, but did detect some ships in port while we were there, so I'll try that tomorrow. |
20 April 1942
Some supply ships get through to Pearl, our bombers find a light cruiser left behind in Luganville Hawaii and Line Islands We found another pesky midget sub skulking around Christmas Island and depth charged it. I also decided that an amphibious task force I've had on station to invade Palmyra needed to land its troops on Christmas; they've been cooped up on the ship too long and have very high fatigue. I'm also focusing on getting the Xmas base forces recovered because I think the lack of support units is what's making it take forever to get my combat units back up to strength. If they're not recovered by the time we've solved the sub problem, I'll probably rotate them with someone, somewhere. The 2 APDs dodged multiple torpedo bomber attacks on the way to Pearl (and one sub attack; it dropped one depth charge pattern on the sub and resumed its mission). But once they docked and started unloading they were easy targets. So that was a complete waste of two good ships, considering they don't carry much. But some ships from the southern convoy did make it. They benefited a great deal from the Netties prioritizing the DDs and missing a lot. They were all eventually sunk, while unloading or before, but this time we offloaded a substantial amount of supply. Enough to top off the stores of the ground units, build level 2 forts, and have enough in reserve to survive another 7 days--based on the amount of supply consumption when they were hitting me with 3-4 BBs a day. That's going to last much longer now. So, in the end I don't think my operation solved the problem, but I've at least delayed the capture of Oahu--possibly by quite a bit. Air forces at Lahaina are now up to 60 fighters and 60 bombers--I probably wouldn't go back with less than 4 carriers with those odds. Good thing I still have 4, even if two are offline at the moment for refit/repairs. Solomons Area I detected an unidentified ship at harbor at Luganville, so I kept my B-17s assigned to port strikes and added my A-20s and Vindicators to the port strike. The B-17s and A-20sonly dealt facility damage, but the Vindicators found the ship and hit it. It's the light cruiser Kitakami and I had no idea it would be there. It must have been damaged awhile ago and is getting patched up there before moving off to Truk. Well, we hit it with 2 1000 lb bombs and set it ablaze, so if it wasn't in shape to leave before, it isn't now. I'll hit it in force tomorrow, I held back some Banshee dive bombers that were too late for the carriers and the B-26s today, but now that I know what's there I'm going to get it. (I might have to ask my opponent why this ship is here. It's barely mentioned in any reports. It's in this thread for 8 March 1942 as part of a Hawaii invasion force that got shot up, but it doesn't appear that it was seriously damaged then--and if it was, it would have gone to Japan, not Luganville. It was spotted in a seaplane-tender-led task force on 12 April near the Solomons but not attacked. A collision at sea, maybe?) I hit Rabaul again with the Aussie Hudsons and a few Liberators that just flew in from Efate, splitting them between the airbase and port after the useless attack on ground forces yesterday. We sank two mine tenders and damaged a sub tender and a general tender. As much as I like that result, I'm not going to get away with that 3 days in a row, two was a gift. Tomorrow they'll go back to hitting a small group of marines near Milne like they were before the Luganville debacle. My PBYs are reporting anchored ships at Tulagi. I'm guessing this is the small tanker convoy my S-boats have been terrorizing. The Liberators at Port Moresby can make that trip, so hopefully tomorrow we'll start some fires. |
21 April 1942
Kitakami disappears, chance meeting results in destruction of enemy troop convoy Hawaii and Line Islands The two destroyers that were escorting the southern supply convoy were never hit. They did a splash-and-go refueling at Pearl and hauled ass south towards Christmas Island to try to get clear of the naval bombers. On the way, they ran into an enemy convoy carrying troops. I'm guessing this meeting occurred because they had the same destination and nearly the same point of origin; i.e., he meant to take back Christmas Island with these guys. Or at least reinforce Palmyra: Japanese Ships xAK Yamasimo Maru, Shell hits 10, heavy fires xAK Teikoku Maru, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Yamazato Maru, Shell hits 9, on fire AMC Bankok Maru, Shell hits 24, and is sunk xAP Hikawa Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Patterson, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Cassin Japanese ground losses: 312 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 25 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 23 (19 destroyed, 4 disabled) That one hit the Patterson took cut the engagement short, they decided to break off after that hit. We also fired probably the full complement of onboard torpedoes but didn't get any hits to show for it. I'm guessing the Yamazato Maru survives, but that's it. Java An enemy PB hit a mine at Batavia while assisting the real minesweepers trying to clear the formerly-Allied port. We managed to get a few fighters in the air today over Surabaya and shot down an Oscar and two Lillies. Another Lily and an Ann were shot down by flak. But the overall picture is the same, our remaining troops are being bombed and surrounded by enemy armies. Ceram Sea More good luck today. Scoutplanes spotted a troop transport convoy and handed the report of to B-17s based in Darwin. 10 B-17s found them off Ambon and attacked, hitting two of the ships with 500lb bombs, setting one ablaze and causing troop casualties. Japan USS Sculpin torpedoed and sank an enemy PB travelling alone near Toyohara--probably an ASW patrol. Thailand The enemy nearly caught up with my troops before they crossed the river into Raheng. At least I'm assuming that--I've seen the replay but I don't have the save file yet--but they had just 1 more mile to travel as of yesterday. We clashed in the air on the east side of the river as my bombing missions resumed, and our Hurricanes did awesome--just one lost with 2 Oscars and 7 Zeroes shot down. Significant damage to enemy troops below by our bombers. Solomons Area We hit the port at Luganville hard but didn't find any ships there. Did a damaged, burning, Kitakami escape? Or maybe the fires claimed it? No joy on the tanker convoy. My Liberators hit Tulagi but didn't see any ships to bomb. |
22 April 1942
Japan USS Sculpin spotted a small tanker off Toyohara but missed its torpedo shot. More important, we've located a tanker lane. Hawaii and Line Islands A midget sub was spotted and depth charged. The destroyer attacking it got a solid hit with the last pattern it had ammo to fire, which forced it to the surface to be gunned down by the cruiser that was probably its target. Marshall Islands USS Narwhal shot up an unescorted troop-carrying cargo ship, likely sinking it. Solomons USS Gato torpedoed the heavy cruiser Nachi off the Shortlands. It's not in danger of sinking but I'm sure it will need extensive repairs. Luganville Carrier-based Zeroes appeared over Luganville again, but were met by a wave of my P-39s---4 Zeroes down with 1 P-39 lost. We continued to bomb the port trying to get the cruiser, but we can't even confirm it's there anymore. I'm sure he felt the same frustration trying to clear out all the ships at Singapore and Pearl. This situation will hopefully improve once most of my bomber crews are recon trained (they use the recon skill on the way off of target, kinda like BDA), but for now, no such luck. Thailand We got 2 Oscars trying to stop our bombers near Raheng. His troops are apparently tired of being bombed and don't have the appetite for an opposed river crossing; they're turning around. I expect the front lines to stabilize now until someone is able to reinforce in mass. Also, we spotted some enemy troops coming through the mountains towards Burma. I've got recon monitoring them but a least for now they don't look like they have enough troops to be a threat. Java and Sumatra We got one or two P-40s airborne--for nothing--one shot down with no victories. Enemy bombing continued. A Kingfisher on ASW duty off Oosthaven spotted an enemy DMS and hit it with a small bomb. My scouts found a small troop convoy between Borneo and Sumatra and referred it to my Fulmars for a low-altitude gun and bomb attack. A CM escorting the convoy took a bomb hit for moderate damage, and a light cargo ship took 4 bombs plus several strafing runs, likely sinking it. Enemy troops attacked Surabaya, reducing fortifications to level 3. Casualties 937 to 664 favoring us. Indian Ocean Repairs for the Indomitable completed at Columbo as the surface task force, including the damaged BB Ramillies and the CVL Hermes, arrived. Hermes is going to be demoted to a training carrier now that the Brits have 2 real carriers in theatre. We got an estimate on the time to repair Ramillies, and it makes more sense to send it to South Africa for the bigger yard there, despite the distance and even at half speed. |
23 April 1942
Celebes Sea The S-41 was trying to find tankers but found an unescorted troop-carrying cargo ship instead. They had a night surface gun battle, both ships sustained some damage before the sub broke off. Hawaii and the Line Islands The destroyer USS Selfridge was torpedoed by one of the subs it was hunting. The destroyer-minesweeper Southard retaliated and scored some depth charge hits--and then a second sub came in and hit the Selfridge again to make damn sure she went down. Selfridge had probably been my most effective ASW asset at Christmas Island. SouthPAC Noumea and Efate now have mine tenders and my DMs are getting to work building defensive minefields. Java and Sumatra Attacks against Oosthaven resulted in 8 Allied fighters shot down with no victories. My Fulmars & other bombers attempted to hit ships off Batavia. The Fulmars were routed, but some B-25s got through. 5 Fulmars were shot down along with 4 P-40s, a B-25, and an A-20. We got only one Zero. The B-25s got 2 hits on a troop-carrying cargo ship--probably lethal damage. China I paid Hong Kong a visit with bombers again to try to hit ships under repair, and bounced a bomb off the BB Hyuga's armor. Thailand We have a lot of bombers failing to link up with escorting fighters. It cost us 2 Blenheims and a Hudson. Heavy enemy casualties on the ground, though. Solomons S-34 found a damaged cruiser-minelayer approaching Tulagi and put 3 fish into her. Just a little overkill. |
24 April 1942
Japan USS Sculpin torpedoed and sank a PB that was patrolling in the Shikuka-Toyhara area. Borneo USS Sargo laid mines at Singkawang (the base that's probably hosting the cruisers that made a run at Palembang a few days ago), then made a gun attack against a nearby unescorted cargo ship. Both the target and sub were hit before it broke off. Thailand Our fighter-to-bomber coordination issues persisted. This time it cost us 2 Wellingtons and 2 Blenheims; a Hurricane was shot down as well in a flight that was escorted. We blasted 4 Nates and an Oscar in exchange. Damage to enemy ground forces was, again, quite serious. I think the cause of the high damage, when it's been high, is that his armies are prioritizing movement speed over defense--the drop in effectiveness corresponded to when they had stopped moving, and now it's high again now that they're moving again. It's the highway of death in Iraq down there! Just with a lot more enemy fighters. I think they're up to 100 based in Bangkok now. Malaya There are enemy task forces in 3 ports along the east coast. We attacked the convoy at Mersing, and the enemy CAP had its way with our escorting fighters. 7 Hurricanes shot down vs. 1 Oscar. The Wirraways they were escorting failed to score any hits on the cargo ships. Hawaii So, I completely forgot I had ordered 4 supply convoys to Pearl instead of 3. 2 were wiped out, already mentioned in this thread. I turned the 3rd around--and forgot about the fourth. It arrived in Netty range today and got one of their ships blown away. They are actually relatively fast ships, relatively close, and the forecast is for heavy overcast skies. I could turn them around, but I remember choosing these guys for being relatively fast but with poor fuel efficiency. They're probably more expendable than The Expendables were. So I think they've got a good shot at getting a boat our two through, they'll proceed. SouthPAC My minelayers at Efate found a sub sneaking around and depth charged it for light damage. I hope the little bastage is boxed in by the new minefield. Java Enemy troops attacked Surabaya, taking the level 3 forts down all the way to 0. I don't think I've ever seen 3 levels taken down at once before. Casualties were even at ~1150. I have no doubt their next attack will capture the base, effectively ending the Java campaign. |
25 April 1942
The fall of Surabaya SouthPAC Oh, I boxed in that sub at Efate all right. One small and one large sub hit mines there; the little guy hit two. I'm sure the small one is gone, the larger one might be able to limp to Truk. Thailand The Kako showed up to shell Tavoy again. I'm a little steamed that we managed not to see it coming with my improved air search routes. But we still have a CVBG in position that we didn't last time, and we did spot the Kako retreating towards the Strait of Malacca. So maybe we get her tomorrow at sunrise. I let my bomber rest and had a fighter squadron sweep the skies over the retreating armies. We got 8 Oscars and 3 Nates at the cost of 2 Hurricanes--and a bunch more shot up and grounded. As much as I'd like to send the bombers back tomorrow, my fighters need time to recuperate now. China We got another non-penetrating hit on the Hyuga at Hong Kong. You would think by now he'd have a CAP there. I've moved a mostly trained-up squadron of British B-25 long-range recon planes to central China and have started taking notes on enemy force levels. Java Surabaya was captured today with the surrender/loss of 5800 men. A destroyer tender at harbor was scuttled to prevent capture, also destroyed were 8 grounded planes that couldn't evacuate. We have a few units scattered elsewhere on Java, but we hold no territory of strategic importance--it's just a mop-up operation for him now. https://i.ibb.co/ftcwr5K/1942-April-25-strategic.png |
26 April 1942
Solomons An enemy cargo ship evaded an attack by the S-34 in The Slot only to be attacked and sunk by the S-42 a bit further west. Hawaii and Line Islands That supply convoy got through! There were casualties, but I got several ships through undamaged and a few that were hit at the docks but still managed to offload. It appears the weather (heavy rain in AM, light rain PM) significantly harmed enemy accuracy. Hopefully we offload everything we need overnight. This could be huge. I shelled Palmyra with 4 cruisers, plus a raid of Devastators. I'm mostly trying to get a feel for how well defended it is. Intel suggests there is at least a fraction of a tank regiment here, and recon is confirming a large number of vehicles. But, this raid hit mostly non-combat squads, and no vehicles. Hmmm.... I think I'm going to pass for now. Even with my armies recovering, I don't want to have to maintain a carrier presence to provide air cover when the KB could be headed here for all I know. Better to build up the base on Christmas Island and put B-26s there to bomb Palmyra into submission. Also, Christmas Island had been the bigger threat; Palmyra's airbase is, at least for now, too small to support Betties/Nells that could potentially disrupt my sea lanes. Also, I asked for outside help with the Hornet's bombers...and the theory is the problem is the drop tank setting. I've been playing with their settings, including turning drop tanks on/off, so they've declined missions while their drop tanks were on. But, the database shows that the drop tanks are centerline mounted--just like their 1000 lb bomb. So that probably is the problem. Maybe in the next few days we can get Hornet's dive bombers to attack again. At Japan, we spotted a large convoy returning from the east, I have to assume that was a supply run to Lahaina returning to base. So, we know this supply run exists, I just haven't found a good place to interdict it. Japan USS Salmon got into a gunfight with a light cargo ship passing between Okinawa and Kyushu. Kind of embarrassing, but Salmon took a hit and disengaged without causing serious damage to the small enemy ship. Sumatra Enemy Sallies hit Palembang unescorted and paid the price as our Kittyhawks (P-40s) and Buffalos tore into them. 10 shot down by fighters, another by flak, no Allied losses. Light damage caused by the 14 bombers that got through. Oosthaven was targeted for sweeps, costing us 2 Hurricanes with no victories. My prediction is that Oosthaven is where the invasion will come--it's a short trip from Batavia and they'll have local air superiority without much difficulty. That drop tank issue with the Hornet is probably also the reason my Vildebeests at Singapore aren't flying, so if the invasion comes further north they may have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them. Malaya Wirraways attempted another attack at supply ships at Mersing and missed. 2 Oscars shot down by escorting Hurricanes and the Martlet (Wildcat) in its combat debut for the Brits. We lost a Hurricane and 2 Martlets. Java Banjoewangi has been captured China He's sending an army-probably a division strong, to cut off Chusien's supply lines. I've intercepted them with a bigger army (I hope). We fight tomorrow. Thailand A small army has cut off my southern group's supply route. I'm ordering my southern group to take them out before shortages become a problem. I'm ordering sweeps and recon to observe them as well to make sure it's as small as I think it is and to evaluate whether it would be efficient to task my bombers here. |
27 April 1942
Radio silence exists for a reason West Coast https://i.ibb.co/CznhTw6/1942-April-27-westcoast.png I noticed this as I was finishing up my turn: SIGINT reporting radio transmissions just outside of my existing patrol zones. My best guess is this is a submarine looking to pick off damaged ships returning for repairs. So, I've taken a Catalina squadron off training duty and put it on ASW duty--just barely has the range in this mode to make it there. I've also steered the Saratoga and the battleship task force around it so they can hopefully make it back to San Fran without incident. Oh, and 3 destroyers from the Lexington's old battle group are headed there to investigate as well. Japan USS Pompano made a night surface attack against a rather large cargo ship 80 miles southeast of Kyoto. It bounced several dud Mk14s off it but did get one detonation, plus a few gun hits. The torpedo hit didn't appear lethal by itself, but maybe with the gun damage too she'll go down before she can get back to port. Sumatra Palembang got swept, costing us 7 Kittyhawks and 2 Buffalos. We got 4 Zeroes in exchange. The air campaign in Sumatra is going to be short. Hawaii and Line Islands The cargo ships unloaded but were hit on the way out. We have two survivors, one of which is damaged and is going to take its chances docking at Pearl. But Pearl is now fairly well-stocked. I'll have a projection in a few days for how long it can hold out. If the battleships were still there it might be as little as 1-2 weeks, but I suspect we can do much better now. I estimate the KB could be at the Line Islands as early as 4/30 if they started heading this way the last time we spotted them. I have some troops that still need to move, but it's essentially time to go. Enemy sub activity has dropped off, so that's helpful. China The army trying to cut off Chusien was weak, we handled them easily. Recon is giving me good news in the Keifeing area in the northwest. It looks like the balance of forces is favorable for an offensive. Still no CAP at Hong Kong. We hit the Hyuga again with a single bomb. Thailand My bombers got back to work but I couldn't solve my escort problem. We ended up losing 4 Hurricanes, 1 Blenheim, and 3 Wellingtons. Losing the Wellingtons in particular hurts. We got 2 Zeroes and an Oscar. Damage on the ground was relatively light, it looks like they're going to hold Pisanuloke instead of retreating to Rangoon. That's fine, I need my bombers to hit that pesky unit that cut off my southern group's supply anyway, and at least for now my sweeps aren't running into fighters there. Malaya Another attempt at ships in Mersing, another 4 fighters down with no hits to show for it. I'm turning these raids off until my fighters can recuperate. We just got a delivery of Mohawks so we should be stronger in a few days. |
28 April 1942
Hawaii and Line Islands The coup-de-grace against the damaged cargo ship headed back to Pearl was administered by an enemy submarine instead of a Betty or Nell. So just one survivor, plus the destroyer escorting it. Posthumous Silver Stars all around--the data for now shows Pearl can hold out about 40 days. Less if the bomber raids resume in full force or if a new battleship force shows up. Hmmm, where's the Yamato? The Enterprise and Hornet launched a strike on Palmyra as a goodbye. One of Hornet's two dive bomber squadrons did fly the mission. Why not both? Who knows, but at least removing the drop tanks seems to be partially working. Sumatra Oosthaven was shelled by a cruiser-destroyer force, which also sank the minesweeper assigned to the port there. Damage was relatively light because there isn't much there. Palembang was swept by Zeroes; 3 Kittyhawks went down without taking any Zeroes out. We sent 3 Fulmars out for a low-level attack on an unescorted, damaged cargo ship. Their bombs missed, but they strafed it too. 4 DB-7Bs (A-20s) followed that up and scored a bomb hit. I think that's a kill. Thailand and Burma Our southern army moved just in time; a force of 10,000 troops sallied from Bangkok and is now in the hex my forces just vacated. We attack the small force cutting us off tomorrow. Our bombers hit that group for minimal damage thanks to the rough terrain. Sweeps targeted Tavoy instead of Raheng today, and we embarrassed them- 8 Oscars shot down with no Allied losses. It appears the bulk of the northern enemy forces have been moved by rail back to Bangkok. We both seem to be counting on the other not wanting to cross the river at Raheng while under fire. Recon now indicates significant bomber forces are based in Bangkok. On a hopefully unrelated note, my surface task force guarding the approach to Tavoy was overflown by a scout plane. A little further north in Burma, the small army I've been monitoring is heading south instead of west toward Moulmein, and a second small unit has appeared behind it. It appears their objective is to cut off supply lines to Raheng rather than a flank attack on my bases in Burma. The enemy appears to be small enough for my local forces--which have been gradually reinforced ever since Kinky Boots launched--to handle. Java Sea Off the southeast corner of Borneo, the O23 torpedoed and sank a PB that was part of an ASW task force. Subchasers retaliated and damaged the sub a bit before it got away. Solomons Area I sent bombers back to Rabaul, sinking a tender and damaging an apparently empty airbase. |
29 April 1942
Line Islands I sent the 4 cruisers back to Palmyra to shoot it up, causing come casualties and moderate airfield/port facility damage, and also damaging a single Betty that's probably there as a scout. Celebes Sea USS Finback made a night torpedo/gun attack on an unescorted cargo ship and managed to get 2 Mk14s to detonate (and at least that many duds that hit). That's a kill. Thailand Sweeps targeted Tavoy. We lost 4 AVG P-40s and a Hurricane, he lost 3 Oscars and 3 Zeroes. The unit cutting our southern forces off was just 1/3 of a battalion. We wiped them out; casualties 1161 to 83. The next issue is the force of 10,000 following us. Well, my force is 9072 strong, and we're now in the mountains with a terrain bonus to defense. So maybe I just camp here. |
Quote:
Be careful what you wish for ;) |
30 April 1942
Japan USS Trout got into a gunfight with a light cargo ship in the Korea-Japan gap. The ship was set alight by multiple 3" and even .50cal hits, but getting close enough to use ma deuce meant it could hit back, so the Trout took some damage as well. Sumatra Oosthaven got shelled again, and then swept. We got 2 fighters up against the sweep and lost both. Timor In a rare sub v sub surface encounter, the O-24 torpedoed and sank a small Japanese sub. This is probably the 3rd such encounter of the war, but I believe it's the first to result in a torpedo hit. Thailand They attempted a sweep at Tavoy, we broke even at one fighter apiece. The force of 10,000 has caught up with my troops. I think I have the slightly stronger force; roughly even numbers of troops and artillery, but I have more tanks. I'm not going to order an attack, I'll let them try to hit me and hopefully get some kills thanks to the terrain defensive bonus. Philippines At long last, an enemy army is moving against my final base, Cagayan. These guys have been cut off since forever and have been getting bombed daily. They're going to fold like a cheap table when the enemy arrives. Java The enemy siezed several coastal islands with paratroops as mopup operations on the mainland continue. -------------------- Strategic Outlook: We're still in no shape to take on the KB directly, part of that is due to the numbers--effectively 5 on 2 right now thanks to the Lex and Saratoga both being down for repairs/upgrades. But as long as he feels compelled to make Alfred Mayhan roll in his grave by dividing his fleet carriers, I'll be looking for opportunities to defeat a smaller group in detail. Setting aside Pearl, his campaigns in most areas are behind historical schedule (the Phillipines being the major exception): Philippines: Historically, resistance ended April 9, with Corregidor mopped up by May 6. In this campaign, Bataan was taken on February 9 in this campaign. Malaya: Singapore historically fell February 15. Here, we hold Singapore. We will be able to continue to hold Singapore until Sumatra falls. Borneo: Historically, Balikpapan fell on January 24th. In this campaign, he got it on 15 February here. Java: Historically fell March 8. In this campaign, April 25. Sumatra: Historically 28 March. Here, the campaign is just beginning. Burma: Historically, invaded December 1941; here I've invaded Thailand from Burma instead. So, overall I think I'm doing OK. My biggest problem at the moment is that he's going to knock over most of Sumatra like it's nothing. Palembang itself will be a hard nut to crack, but once Palembang is isolated, it's going to become difficult to keep Singapore supplied and they're going to be in the same ticking-clock situation that Pearl is in. My best bet to change that situation is probably to re-invade Malaya from the north and start taking back airfields. But, with 2 enemy divisions deployed to Bangkok stalling my advance, and with my air forces suffering significant attrition, it's going to take a lot of reinforcements to get that moving again. Japan, on the other hand, seems to be suffering their losses with a smile and pressing on. Of note, the Brits are now up to 3 carriers in theatre, which means if I had sufficient land and land-based air forces available, an amphibious operation bypassing Bangkok might just be possible. I might be able to scrounge up some armies in India, but fighters I just don't have right now. Without fighters to protect the supply ships I'd be bringing in to save Singapore (and sustain my armies), there's not much point. I reviewed the Japan Economy Guide, and according to it, Japan starts with enough fuel to last 200 days--just for their economy, ship deployments are extra. They've also got a year's worth of oil to send to their own refineries, so after their stockpiles are depleted they can still produce fuel, just not nearly enough to sustain themselves. So that means they're probably going to be in dire straits before the end of June--but again, that doesn't account for ship deployments. So far, he's seized small-ish oil/fuel centers in northern and eastern Borneo. (And soon, Surabaya will be producing for him as well, he just needs to clear out the defensive minefield.) I've been mining these ports pretty frequently, blockading them with subs, and even hitting convoys headed there with air attacks. That said, I know there are some tankers getting through. I can't really quantify it. He's also been refueling some of his fleets from these bases directly during high OPTEMPO, so a good chunk of his fuel costs aren't coming out of Japan's stores. And he'll be able to continue to operate in the Java Sea area using "my" fuel instead of Japan's. Final conclusion on the fuel situation: He has to be under pressure. I don't know when it's going to become critical, but he's going to need to take Palembang and establish a safe convoy route at some point. Hopefully that pressure makes him take some bad gambles. |
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Well, the Japanese made that mistake (Coral Sea, anyone?), so why shouldn't he be allowed to repeat the same mistake? ;) To add to your strategic outlook: your opponent has also lost way more ships than Japan lost historically (they didn't lose anything larger than a destroyer before the battle of the Coral Sea). That may save him some fuel in the long run, but I'd say he'd rather have his battleships and less fuel. Your losses are also somewhat higher than they were in reality (mostly thanks to the ships destroyed at Pearl - is anyone of the ships there salvagable in your game?), but to a lesser degree. |
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At Singapore, the HMS Repulse is still under repair after being bombed repeatedly in port, I might get her back someday... in about 3 years. |
1 May 1942
Ceram Sea The KVIII put two of its small-ish torpedoes into a cargo ship that appears to have been carrying an artillery unit, sinking it. Hawaii USS Pollack observed tenders and cargo ships approaching Lahaina and took a 4-torpedo shot at a repair ship. It missed. It tried to approach again but the seaplane tender in the group apparently had ASW capability, spotted it, and drove it off. Timor IJN Hiei and 4 destroyers approached Koepang to shell it and were engaged by 5 of my last PT boats. The PTs were spotted early and never made it to torpedo range, all were sunk. Their sacrifice prevented a substantial bombardment of Koepang, though. We launched several airstrikes against transports on the east side of the island as well as the Hiei but all missed. We should have had additional strikes come in from Darwin, Australia, but deploying heavy bombers there depleted their supply faster than the roads could replenish it. Cargo ships with supply had just arrived this turn to start restocking the base, but too late to take advantage of the convoys spotted near Timor. Strait of Malacca The IJN Kako blundered into a light cargo ship that was running resources to Singapore but decided not to engage--indicating it's Winchester after its last shelling of Tavoy. No escorts. Later in the day, it was attacked by my Wirraways and Vildebeests from Singapore--YES! my torpedo bombers finally flew a mission! One Vildebeest was shot down by AA before it got close enough to drop, but we did hit it once. So now we have a wounded, unescorted, out-of-ammo (except AA) heavy cruiser limping through the Strait. Two submarines just finished repair at Singapore, so I've ordered them to blockade the southeast exit. The Brits have two task forces at the other side. Enjoy your future career as a reef, Kako. Japan USS Salmon torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship that was part of a small convoy passing between Kyushu and Okinawa. Thailand We had air battles around our northern and southern groups. These groups need names--going forward, the north group is designated Peter and the southern Lauren. Over force Peter, we turned away a Zero sweep, shooting down 4 and losing a Hurricane. Force Lauren was targeted with a raid of recently-arrived Sallies escorted by Oscars. Our fighters mostly ignored the Oscars and tore into the Sallies, we got 2 Oscars and 12 Sallies. There were about 50 bombers, though, and they dealt some damage to force Lauren. The enemy army attacked and casualties were regretfully even. I'm not sure if that's because of the bombers or if it their troops are just better. Sumatra Oosthaven's being bombed regularly now. We didn't get any fighters up to resist but shot down one bomber with AA. 23 paratroops landed near Benkoelen, a rear area base on the southwest side, apparently hoping to find it undefended. We wiped them out. |
2 May 1942
IJN Kako links up with Aoba and others, survives for now Marshall Islands USS Haddock spotted a tanker and two oilers in a convoy here and made a failed attack attempt. Interesting that these would show up here, there doesn't need to be a whole lot of fuel here... just enough to support the occasional supply run, ASW operations, and possibly a sub base. Makes me wonder if a major fleet--maybe the KB--is hiding in here where my scoutplanes can't see it. Timor Hiei bombarded Koepang; moderate facility damage, 2 bombers destroyed on the ground, a few more disabled. Strait of Malacca An enemy submarine got too close to Singapore and hit 2 mines. Should be a kill. We didn't spot the Kako today, but we found the Aoba instead, also unescorted. Our Vildebeests flew two sorties against it. In the first, our fighters bounced a bunch of Zeroes that tried to interfere--5 kills. But the Aoba turned into the torpedo attack, causing it to miss. In the second sortie the Zeroes got to the bombers and shot one down. The rest were pressured and missed again. Scouts now report a single task force of 4 ships in the area--behind my sub blockade. Subs aren't very good for holding choke points, sadly. A 3rd sub just completed repairs/upgrades, maybe its new radar will give it a better chance. I've also got a new squadron of Beaufort torpedo bombers that should be ready to fly tomorrow, if the enemy is still in range. Sumatra Apparently needing retribution for the paratroopers lost at Benkoelen, he sent his bombers there today. Escorting fighters shot down a Buffalo, and his bombers killed a very proportional 30 people on the ground. A sweep against Tavoy resulted in 3 Oscars down along with a P-40 and a Hurricane. I said earlier he was suffering the attrition here with a smile but I'm starting to reconsider that. We seem to be settling into parity. Or maybe he got tired of me bombing Hong Kong and sent some fighters from here to there. Also, I took a closer look at my reinforcements over the next month, and I actually have an American air group that's going to be available around the end of the month, 60+ fighters. If I'm willing to spend all my political points, I can afford a full division from India now, possibly another by the end of the month. So maybe I will have what I need to either take or bypass Bangkok to threaten the rest of Malaya. Thailand More troops are sallying from Bangkok. This could be bad. Force Lauren has been ordered to start moving back up the road northwest through the mountains. Reinforcements I think this will be worth mentioning going forward. 762nd Tank Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor (Full Strength--yes, it's annoying that they arrive in places under siege instead of off-map or close to it) 221st USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco (about half strength, restricted) xAK Zachary Taylor arrives at Portland Also, Avengers are now in production. 2 built so far. |
3 May 1942
Failed air raids everywhere... Strait of Malacca The "3rd sub" from yesterday was the Sargo; if found the Aoba and a destroyer and fired 4 fish at Aoba--and missed. The destroyer retaliated but fortunately wasn't able to capitalize on catching the Sargo in shallow water. It got away with minor damage. Sumatra 7 DD shelled Oosthaven for light facility damage. Enemy ships are all over the place right now, and our bombers tried to do something about it: 2 B-25s vs CA Kumano: missed 8 B-25s vs 2 DD: missed 5 Beaufort vs 2 DD: missed 3 Blenheim vs 1 DD: missed 4 Fulmar vs ?: Failed to find target due to weather/range 4 Fulmar vs 1 DD: missed, 1 Fulmar shot down by flak 5 B-25 vs CA Kumano & 1 DD: missed 3 B-25 vs 1 DD: missed 4 Beaufort vs cargo ship: 2 Beauforts shot down by Oscars, missed 3 Blenheim vs DD: missed Ceram Sea O19 hit a cargo ship with a torpedo, wasn't satisfied and fired a 2nd salvo--getting 3 hits. Pretty sure that ship is toast. B-17s hit a convoy near Ambon, scoring one 500-lb bomb hit on an empty troop transport. Thailand No enemy bombers today, just a sweep on Tavoy. 2 Oscars and 1 Hurricane downed. I sent a sweep of my own over Force Lauren but no one came out to play with them. We had a few bombers hit the enemy forces chasing Lauren but didn't do much damage thanks to the rough terrain. China I moved the Wellingtons from Thailand to China to participate in the Hong Kong raids. Today there were Nates on CAP--and they did manage to take down a Wellington despite only being armed with .30cal machine guns. Sad! Weather hampered the strike, damage was mild. Reinforcements xAK Daisy Moller arrives at Aden YMS-84 arrives at Stockton 174th Infantry Regiment arrives at Tacoma (full strength but restricted) D Det USN Port Svc arrives at San Francisco (reconstituting a force lost when a Pacific island was invaded) Intel reports the CL Yubari was sunk in the Java Sea some time ago--I think this was the one that ran out of fuel and got hit by a torpedo bomber. |
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