9 December 1941
The IJN aggressively interdicts evacuation attempts while the air campaigns in Luzon and Manila start to tip.
Luzon
My minesweepers still have't finished clearing the Manila harbor entrance. A small IJN SCTF intercepted and sank 3 cargo ships that had escaped Hong Kong and were passing south to the west of Luzon. An enemy sub also picked off an AKL loaded with fuel for Cebu to the south--other ships on similar missions would follow. Asiatic fleet boat S-38 because our first sub to get a kill, sinking a subchaser off Laoag. The Porpoise, Seadragon, Seawolf, and Swordfish also attempted a attacks there, but were chased off by...subchasers. S-41 attempted an attack at Aparri.
The expected landing at San Fernando happened, with at least 631 AV worth of troops coming ashore. Presumably, support troops were landing at Laoag.
The Dutch submarine O20 arrived on station off Cam Rahn Bay and immediately got to work, sinking a light cargo ship loaded with troops. The captain then got cocky and tried to chase down a larger, more heavily armed cargo ship, only to find out the AK's guns outranged his own. He aborted after taking two hits. This would draw a response from area destroyers, and the O20 got into a game of cat and also cat against the IJN Yomogi, trading misses with each other. The USS Perch tried to join in on the fun with a failed attack on a destroyer-transport.
In the air, the Japanese switched tactics. The bombers were going unescorted, they counted on sweeps to clear the air in advance. It worked. (There were also far less sorties). Zeroes brushed aside the CAP at Clark, trading 3 A6Ms for 7 P40s. Fortunately, the Lillies that followed were too high up to do any real damage. I lost just one P-40 on the ground. On my end, the B-17s dissapointed again. I managed to get 8 in the air to attack the fighter base on Bataan Island--they got through but only did minor damage. And the southern strikes were aborted due to weather for the 3rd day in a row.
What I assume are the last of the paratroopers dropped unto a superior Philippine Army unit in Cantabuan--this time, instead of routing the inexperienced PA soldiers, they were wiped out completely by them. It was was just 70 guys, but I'll take it.
Malaya, Rangoon, and West Java Sea
Malaya was very much the same story as Luzon--we're losing the air war and evacuating ships are getting picked off. Minesweeping continued in the morning. To the south, Japanese submarines had a turkey shoot near Batavia, claiming two tenders intended to set up a PT boat base, 2 AKLs carrying fuel to small bases, damaging a transport evacuating to Cape Town, and missing a transport headed to Miri for evacuations.
*Image should say 12/9, not 12/10.
I've ordered some patrol aircraft over to try to sanitize this area. Also, 4 destroyers intended to round out a SCTF to compliment Force Z (I've been calling it Force Y) are being reassigned to try to chase down whatever the seaplanes find. It's a shame my DDs near Surabaya got so shot up, they would have been my first choice to respond.
I had a much larger group of transports trying to evacuate Kuching (4 AP, 1 AK), they were interdicted and wiped out by a SCTF of 4 DD and 4 CA. This was a covering force for an invasion fleet, so my attempt at evacuation was too late anyway. At least 165 AV worth of troops came ashore. Blenheims from Singapore attempted to bomb the transports, to no effect.
Likewise in Luzon, the air campaign switched to unescorted raids. It didn't work as well here as Luzon. I lost 4 Buffalos over Singapore with no local payback. The Buffalos are simply being outmatched, numerically and qualitatively, by the Oscars. But Buffalos on CAP over Kuala Lumpur got a crack at the unescorted bombers pummeling the smoking hole in the ground that once was Kuantan airbase. We got at least 6 of them. IJAAF bombers also tallied another HDML with a night raid on Rangoon, softened up Georgetown a bit with another, and light bombers took out an evacuating AKL in the strait. My Blenheims tried to hit Kota Baru, but were routed by Oscars. ASW air patrols spotted just about every Dutch sub that I placed off Indochina to pick off Malaya reinforcements, so I'm expecting those convoys are just going to avoid the trap tomorrow. Patrols spotted ships off Kuantan--looks like they're ready to land troops and take it.
Celebes Sea, Makassar Strait, and East Java Sea
The Ryujo CVBG did what's called a pro-gamer move, hauling ass out of the Celebes Sea and parking off Balikpapan, where it used its last 3 torpedoes to take out a minelayer. It passed an AVP on the way, which managed to report an accurate composition of her escorts: 3CA, 11DD. Not worth trying to gun down. Scout spotted two more task forces approaching Manado from the east--probably troops followed by airplane mechanics.
Another CVL is entering the Celebes Sea from the East. It sank some evacuating AKLs with Vals (which I think is poor form, AFAIK the IJN light carriers couldn't carry Vals).
Near Surabaya, I had the worst damaged two ships in my SCTF return for repairs, sending 1CL and 3DD back to hunt the 4 enemy DDs. The found the two healthy ones (did the damaged ones both sink?) Another disappointing round of shelling saw one enemy DD blazing with flames, but all 3 of my DDs were hit, one quite badly.
Elsewhere
-Hong Kong suffered serious damage in an air raid. Zeroes from Takao are doing sweeps there. In theory, I could provide some support from the AVG there, just not sure it's worth it.
-KB launched an Alpha strike against Johnston ground forces. There's nothing there of value to hit. I don't get it.
-Jap marines landed in Tarawa, capturing it without resistance
-A minesweeper evacuating Guam blundered into a troop convoy (10 merchies, 2 DD, 1 CM) north of Papua New Guinea. They didn't report a heading. My guess is they're headed for Rabaul; it's too big to commit to the north coast of PNG, and they're too far east to be headed for the southern Philippines.
-4 ships were spotted entering the Bismark Sea. I'm tempted to try to interdict such an apparently small force, but except for a few spotted covering the Malaya landings, the Japanese battleship fleet has been absent. This would be a good place for them to make an appearance.
Today was the first and only day so far that Japan lost more aircraft than me--26 to 14. 14 of the Japanese losses were medium bombers.
But, fighter losses aren't going my way (to 14 to 6), and whichever way the fighters go, the bombers will follow, so I'm not counting this as a good result.
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10 December is going to be an aggressive turn for me. Except for the subs that got spotted that are going to be more focused on evasion than attacking, most of the forces that I set up to make a move are now in position, and have targets available. It's just a question of whether I get away with it. I think putting the Ryujo deep into the Makassar Strait with no torpedoes and ALL THE SURFACE COMBATTANTS left stretched him thin in the Celebes Sea, enough that I'm willing to risk some surface assets. And it is risky--I'll be potentially exposed to 2 CVLs (CVL #2 in particular with Zeroes and Vals on board is a problem) and Betties. But, my ships are fast enough to hit their target before sunrise, the Betties are at the extreme limit of their range, and the evacuating ships moving through the area will probably draw some attention. If the air strike still happens, I have land-based fighters providing cover so at least I'll put up a fight. And lets face it, if Manado becomes a Betty base, my SCTFs in this area are pretty much trapped. It's time for them to leave, and as it happens their targets are in the same direction as their escape route...