SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - War in the Pacific AAR Thread

Molon Labe · 02-19-22, 01:57 PM

16 December 1942
Babar makes like a nail and waits for the hammer

Banda Sea
Babar was attacked by the surface task force that the Dauntlesses gently welcomed to the area the other day. The damaged Naka was still with the group. They destroyed the minesweeper, but not before it finished clearing the enemy minefield. They also somehow managed to surprise my PT squadron right after killing the minesweeper, 1 PT was sunk before they were able to break off. A few torpedoes were fired but no hits. With the PTs out of the way, the bombarded the airbase, destroying a P-38 and damaging a few other planes.

As per the above post, the Scorpion got a shot at the Hiryu passing nearby and hit it. With a dud. She also was able to engage a pair of unescorted AOs following the KB, but missed.

Burma and Thailand
The evacuation isn't going so great. 1st Manchester Battalion deserted due to being out of supply for so long. They probably won't be the last. At Uttaradit, I have enough troops gathered there to defeat the enemy forces "on paper", but due to supply shortages I don't think any more than half of them are in shape to fight. I'm hoping he attacks so my forts can inflict losses, but so far he's not taking the bait.

Reinforcements
AM Strive arrives at Eastern USA
SC-749 arrives at Balboa
No.79 Sqn RAF arrives at Chittagong
317th TCG/46th TCS arrives at Eastern USA
175 Wing arrives at Aden

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17 December 1942

East Australian Coast
There's a surge of submarines coming down towards Sydney, at first I though these were the Arafura Sea patrol being retasked, but some of them are too far ahead already. At least part of this surge is a new deployment coming from Rabaul or Truk. One of these guys got a shot at the Lexington and Saratoga's escorts as they're trying to make their way to Sydney for repairs. A Wirraway at Brisbane reported a hit on a sub, and a minesweeper managed a damaging near miss on another.

I'm also a little concerned about having a concentration of forces at Sydney that I can't defend. At least for now the KB is still around Timor but that could change at any time. I'd start evacuating ships now, but, with all the subs around, he'd probably figure out where they were going.

CENTPAC
We killed another midget sub at Midway. I think that's the last. I'm already sending a CVE to snoop Wake and getting marines ready for that operation. Might as well take advantage of his attention being focused around Darwin and the Solomons to make some moves here.

Burma
Our fighters at Magwe proved to be completely insufficient to support a bombing raid we attempted on troops right next door to the base. We shot down 2 enemy fighters but they otherwise had a field day with our bombers, 8 Blenheims and 6 B-25s lost. I was trying to maintain a CAP over the hex, next time I'll try sweeps. I already know the escorting is just going to result in coordination SNAFUs. As some consolation, the enemy unit below looks like it's just the 48th Division and it's really beaten up.

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Hammann taken out of commission to begin refit at Noumea
SS Thresher taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
120th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden
24th NZ Pioneer Coy arrives at Auckland

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18 December 1942

Eastern Australian Coast
One of our ASW-minesweepers got another 3 damaging near misses on an enemy sub near Newcastle. There are at least 6 enemy boats off the coast now, 5 of them near Sydney.

Burma
Switching to sweeps at Magwe did protect the bombers better, but we were throwing our fighters to the wolves. 3 P-40s downed without getting any kills. We lost 3 Blenheims, 2 B-25s, and 1 B-24.

New Britain
Recon flights said lots of fighters at Guadalcanal but none at Rabaul, so I sent a bunch of B-17s to Rabaul. And they ran into a bunch of fighters, mostly Zeroes. Two B-17s down and 2 Zeroes taken out by the gunners. We probably bombed from higher up than we needed to, 15,000ft, and damage was light. We did get a Mavis on the ground though. Speaking of Mavises, 3 of them tried to attack a supply convoy making a delivery at Milne, which actually doesn't have a CAP right now because I transferred it to Port Morseby so that a Port Morseby squadron could go to Horn Island to participate in the battle there. You know, to be one of the squadrons that sat the fight out and watched my carriers die right off the coast. Despite the convoy only being a few cargo ships escorted by a subchaser, and the Mavis being a relatively large, durable plane, they put up enough flak to take one of the Mavises down. Their torpedoes missed.

Banda Sea
I attempted a land attack on the enemy encampment on the island, figuring its not going to get any better than it is now. Hoping for an enemy supply shortage and broken morale from all the bombings. No such luck. Casualties 218 to 323 favoring them.

All enemy task forces have vanished. The can't be that far, one of my subs patrolling off Timor was attacked by a Kate (and the Kate got the worst of it, limping home damaged).

Reinforcements and refits
DD Walke taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
AVD Thornton beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane
AVD Hulbert beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane
SS Tambor begins refit while under repair at Adak Island
DD Radford arrives at Balboa
AP John Penn arrives at Cristobal
VMF-216 arrives at March Field (We've built up a pretty nice reserve of USMC fighter squadrons, which in turn have built up a good reserve of trained pilots. Starting probably around 2/1943 I'm going to start buying these restricted units out, loading them up with Corsairs, and sending them to the front)
145th USA Base Force arrives at Corvallis
171 Wing arrives at Aden
15th Indian Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras

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A really uneventful set of turns, right now it looks like he's building up something big around Timor. I'm expecting him to finish off Babar; the Lex and Sara were really all that was stopping him before. He's probably having some trouble finding the troops to do it with, hence the empty troop transport convoy we shot up at Guadalcanal a few days ago.

02-19-22, 01:57 PM	#522
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	16 December 1942 Babar makes like a nail and waits for the hammer Banda Sea Babar was attacked by the surface task force that the Dauntlesses gently welcomed to the area the other day. The damaged Naka was still with the group. They destroyed the minesweeper, but not before it finished clearing the enemy minefield. They also somehow managed to surprise my PT squadron right after killing the minesweeper, 1 PT was sunk before they were able to break off. A few torpedoes were fired but no hits. With the PTs out of the way, the bombarded the airbase, destroying a P-38 and damaging a few other planes. As per the above post, the Scorpion got a shot at the Hiryu passing nearby and hit it. With a dud. She also was able to engage a pair of unescorted AOs following the KB, but missed. Burma and Thailand The evacuation isn't going so great. 1st Manchester Battalion deserted due to being out of supply for so long. They probably won't be the last. At Uttaradit, I have enough troops gathered there to defeat the enemy forces "on paper", but due to supply shortages I don't think any more than half of them are in shape to fight. I'm hoping he attacks so my forts can inflict losses, but so far he's not taking the bait. Reinforcements AM Strive arrives at Eastern USA SC-749 arrives at Balboa No.79 Sqn RAF arrives at Chittagong 317th TCG/46th TCS arrives at Eastern USA 175 Wing arrives at Aden ------------------------------------------------- 17 December 1942 East Australian Coast There's a surge of submarines coming down towards Sydney, at first I though these were the Arafura Sea patrol being retasked, but some of them are too far ahead already. At least part of this surge is a new deployment coming from Rabaul or Truk. One of these guys got a shot at the Lexington and Saratoga's escorts as they're trying to make their way to Sydney for repairs. A Wirraway at Brisbane reported a hit on a sub, and a minesweeper managed a damaging near miss on another. I'm also a little concerned about having a concentration of forces at Sydney that I can't defend. At least for now the KB is still around Timor but that could change at any time. I'd start evacuating ships now, but, with all the subs around, he'd probably figure out where they were going. CENTPAC We killed another midget sub at Midway. I think that's the last. I'm already sending a CVE to snoop Wake and getting marines ready for that operation. Might as well take advantage of his attention being focused around Darwin and the Solomons to make some moves here. Burma Our fighters at Magwe proved to be completely insufficient to support a bombing raid we attempted on troops right next door to the base. We shot down 2 enemy fighters but they otherwise had a field day with our bombers, 8 Blenheims and 6 B-25s lost. I was trying to maintain a CAP over the hex, next time I'll try sweeps. I already know the escorting is just going to result in coordination SNAFUs. As some consolation, the enemy unit below looks like it's just the 48th Division and it's really beaten up. Refits and Reinforcements DD Hammann taken out of commission to begin refit at Noumea SS Thresher taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor 120th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden 24th NZ Pioneer Coy arrives at Auckland -------------------------------------------------------- 18 December 1942 Eastern Australian Coast One of our ASW-minesweepers got another 3 damaging near misses on an enemy sub near Newcastle. There are at least 6 enemy boats off the coast now, 5 of them near Sydney. Burma Switching to sweeps at Magwe did protect the bombers better, but we were throwing our fighters to the wolves. 3 P-40s downed without getting any kills. We lost 3 Blenheims, 2 B-25s, and 1 B-24. New Britain Recon flights said lots of fighters at Guadalcanal but none at Rabaul, so I sent a bunch of B-17s to Rabaul. And they ran into a bunch of fighters, mostly Zeroes. Two B-17s down and 2 Zeroes taken out by the gunners. We probably bombed from higher up than we needed to, 15,000ft, and damage was light. We did get a Mavis on the ground though. Speaking of Mavises, 3 of them tried to attack a supply convoy making a delivery at Milne, which actually doesn't have a CAP right now because I transferred it to Port Morseby so that a Port Morseby squadron could go to Horn Island to participate in the battle there. You know, to be one of the squadrons that sat the fight out and watched my carriers die right off the coast. Despite the convoy only being a few cargo ships escorted by a subchaser, and the Mavis being a relatively large, durable plane, they put up enough flak to take one of the Mavises down. Their torpedoes missed. Banda Sea I attempted a land attack on the enemy encampment on the island, figuring its not going to get any better than it is now. Hoping for an enemy supply shortage and broken morale from all the bombings. No such luck. Casualties 218 to 323 favoring them. All enemy task forces have vanished. The can't be that far, one of my subs patrolling off Timor was attacked by a Kate (and the Kate got the worst of it, limping home damaged). Reinforcements and refits DD Walke taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney AVD Thornton beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane AVD Hulbert beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane SS Tambor begins refit while under repair at Adak Island DD Radford arrives at Balboa AP John Penn arrives at Cristobal VMF-216 arrives at March Field (We've built up a pretty nice reserve of USMC fighter squadrons, which in turn have built up a good reserve of trained pilots. Starting probably around 2/1943 I'm going to start buying these restricted units out, loading them up with Corsairs, and sending them to the front) 145th USA Base Force arrives at Corvallis 171 Wing arrives at Aden 15th Indian Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras ------------------------------------------------------ A really uneventful set of turns, right now it looks like he's building up something big around Timor. I'm expecting him to finish off Babar; the Lex and Sara were really all that was stopping him before. He's probably having some trouble finding the troops to do it with, hence the empty troop transport convoy we shot up at Guadalcanal a few days ago. __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 02-19-22 at 03:21 PM.