[Molon Labe]

1 June 1942

SouthPAC
Kongo and Kirishima bombarded Noumea:
PBY-5A Catalina: 10 damaged
PBY-5A Catalina: 2 destroyed on ground
A-20A Havoc: 2 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 24 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
P-39D Airacobra: 5 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 2 damaged
P-400 Airacobra: 2 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 16 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
Vincent I: 2 damaged
Vincent I: 1 destroyed on ground
Plus they sank the minesweeper patrolling the port.
The air battle was smaller here thanks to the damage done by the BBs: 1 Zero downed plus 4 of our fighters. The bombers got through unmolested:
xAP President Tyler, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Wiley, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Andrea Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Warrior, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Wave 2:
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

The KB is headed north and does appear to be headed for Darwin.

Timor Sea
Our ASW forces found another sub and hit it a little. We have yet to score a truly damaging depth charge hit on any of these Darwin subs. An Avenger from VT-6 reported bombing a submarine.

Enterprise's repairs are progressing, they're reporting they could theoretically do one more knot than they could do yesterday.

The B-17s hit Koepang, but it cost me. The bombers themselves got 3 Oscars and 2 Zeroes, but 4 B-17s were damaged badly enough that they went down on the way home. We did moderate facility damage to the base and blew up at least one Zero on the ground.

China
Another great performance by Lancers at Keifeng--5 Zeroes downed, no losses. We're still hitting the Nanyang armies hard.

He's rested his troops at Kaifeng enough that I've ordered mine to retreat. The next attack is going to suck.

Sumatra
An air raid targeted Benkoelen, close enough to Palembang to draw their CAP. We got 3 Zeroes and 4 Vals with no losses.

Medan has been captured.

Thailand and Burma
Tavoy has been captured, with the loss/capture of 1800 men. Their additional reinforcements arriving over the mountains put them over the top; they now have 30,000 troops here, more than 2 divisions worth.

Refits and Reinforcements
The Saratoga is getting a radar upgrade while its torpedo damage is being repaired. They're also replacing its 12 5" Mk10 guns and 12 of its 1.1" AA guns with 16 5" Mk12s ("unquestionably the finest Dual Purpose gun of World War II" according to NavWeaps) It's AA rating is actually going down slightly with the numbers of guns going down, but I think having the better radar will make up for that with improved CAP effectiveness.

The battleship New Mexico is getting a major AA upgrade.

It seems that just about every merchant I have is now due for an upgrade. Looks like a lot of them are getting 20mms along with the .50 cals the 20mms are replacing on destroyers. That, plus old naval guns are being installed. It's going to be tedious managing this.

SS S-32 arrives at San Diego
VMSB-243 arrives at Santa Barbara - just 2 Vindicators
303rd BG/358th BS arrives at Mojave - more restricted B-17s.