7 April 1942
SouthPAC
Wirraways from Noumea scored another bomb hit on the subs infesting these waters. Truk's going to have a backlog of repairs soon.
CENTPAC
Not just midget subs at Christmas Island, but landing barges too. I detached some cruisers and destroyers from a nearby task force to bombard the enemy here, and they found the barges and wiped them out. Probably a waste of ammunition. We bombarded them with what was left after that. Our troops attacked afterwards, enemy fortifications are down to level 1 and their troops/tanks seem at least a little disrupted. I'll rest up again and make another push in a day or two.
Java
The KB reappeared south of Java to the east side of the island, and launched a major strike on Surabaya. The air battle cost us 7 fighters, and him 4 Zeroes, 4 Kates, and 8 Vals. One of our pilots got 4 of those to himself. Damage to the base was relatively light, the Kates bombed from high altitude and weren't very accurate. They did score 3 bomb hits on 2 damaged cruisers in the shipyard, but it doesn't change much. They were already fated to be caught there when the base is overrun in a week or so.
I'm a little disappointed no one hit any mines today, but that's going to slow down--UK and US submarine-laid mine stocks are exhausted for the moment, and the Dutch have been empty for awhile, so we're not replenishing any minefields. It was mostly 2 UK subs that had been doing the mining recently because their late entry into the theatre allowed them to have a decent mine stockpile built up.
West Coast
The Lexington and all her escorts have reported for maintenance and upgrades. The Lex will have her 8" guns removed and replaced with 1.1" AA guns, and is getting an additional 28 20mm Oerlikons. Most of the escorts are also getting new 20mms installed, several destroyers are also getting radars and/or additional depth charge launchers. Lex's fighters have been "upgraded" to F4F-4 Wildcats--I consider the -3 version to be superior (the -4 adds 2 .50 cals, sacrificing speed, maneuverability, and range), but the -4 is far more numerous right now--it's probably the first aircraft model where we're really starting to see the Allies show off their industrial potential with a build rate of 45 per month. We're getting 25 P-39s and 35 P-40Es per month, for comparison. The -3s will now be available as replacements for the ships still flying them.
Thailand
My opponent decided it was a bad idea to let my bombers hit the 38th division in open terrain, so my bombers were greeted by a CAP over their troops today. They got through my escorting Hurricanes pretty easily, but were mostly ineffective against the bombers-probably due to their relatively poor armament. The Oscars are having trouble catching the B-17s and B-25s in Java but they should have adequate speed to deal with British bombers like the Blenheim. Anyway, we lost 1 Hurricane, and them 3 Oscars, no bomber losses.
New Hebrides
He withdrew his CVBG further northwest towards the Solomons, leaving his Nells and Betties to attack Luganville unescorted. We got 5 of them. Our troops are still fighting, enough that my opponent is complaining about it over email--apparently fighting to the last man is only cool if you're Japanese. They're nearly wiped out, though, won't be much longer.