12 June 1942
Enterprise remains undetected; S-40 on eternal patrol
Japan
USS Pomano sank an AKL in the Okinawa-Kyushu gap
Sumatra
The S-40 had positioned itself to get a shot at the heavy surface group bombarding Benkolen on its way back to the Java Sea. It was detected an engaged in shallow water with accurate depth charge patterns. Its damage forced it to surface and it was gunned down.
Our Aussie P-40s did better, they got 2 Zeroes over Palembang with no losses today. But none of them escorted the B-25 missions, so two more of them were lost to Oscars. Our Fulmar fighter-bombers attempting a low level attack didn't fare much better, 2 were shot down, the rest routed.
Timor Sea and Arafura Sea
Enterprise made it another day without any evidence of it being spotted. It's kind of quiet over here. The B-17s had another mostly ineffective run at Koepang, not much else to say for now. But, spoiler alert:
Reinforcements
DD McCalla arrives at Balboa
AM Shepparton arrives at Melbourne
No.16 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Blenheim (a very badly needed training squadron)