20th Dec
A large number of ships are still clustered at Moresby and, well, to be frank, they are irritating me a bit. I've ordered my bombers from Rabaul to go and cause trouble. In preparation I've moved my brand new squad of Oscars to Lae to provide some escort duties although I'm not overly concerned about losing aircraft. In fact, I'm hoping we do run into some sort of heavy CAP because that should tell be whether his carriers are still in the area. My subs are patrolling up and down the coast of PNG but have so far failed to turn anything up.
I mainly want to find his flat tops because sometime in the next few days I want to start moving some units into PNG via Buna. These troops will then move along the Kokoda trail. I don't expect them to achieve much in the time frame but it would be nice if CCIP could oblige me by beefing up his defence in the mountains somewhat.
I've also moved my carriers out 'just in case'. They will sortie to point about halfway between PNG and Rabaul and will return to port as soon as they complete this little patrol. Again, it's mostly to see whether CCIP brings anything out, or even whether he gets a bit spooked - which I doubt.
Supply ships are running around but I feel like I'm on the losing side here. As soon as supply ships finish unloading it seems they have to do the process all over again. Getting decent stockpile limits at the outlying bases is becoming increasingly frustrating. All those red exclamation marks get to you, even if you know you can ignore some of them.
OK, I'm out of town again from tomorrow until the start of next week. We might get another turn or two in before I go. CCIP says he should find it easier to get turns in over the next few weeks so hopefully we should be able to up the pace a bit.
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