18 October 1942
Large transport convoy sails through minefield, carnage ensues; subchaser squadron eliminated by blitzing cruisers
Taiwan Strait
USS Gudgeon got into a gunfight with a cargo ship, dealing fairly serious damage before breaking off.
Espiritu Santo Islands
The cruiser force that's been hanging out near Ndeni sprinted south to Luganville at night, locating the group of 3 subchasers we've been using to try to clear our the subs there. We now have an accurate classification of this group: 1 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD. But the subchasers were no match for them, all were sunk without doing any damage to the enemy. The cruisers escaped before sunrise could bring an airstrike--which is actually good, because we had phibs on the way to deliver engineers and base forces. We dodged a huge bullet there. I think I had 1 CA, 1 CL, and 4-5 DD escorting, so it would be an even fight, but I'd rather not have an even fight with loaded transports in close proximity.
One sub tried to attack the phibs but was spotted and driven off with light damage.
Celebes Sea
The KXIII made two separate attacks on an unescorted AO near Manado, hitting it with a torpedo in each salvo. The AO was carrying fuel, so it burned violently and quickly sank.
Sumatra
There are some subchasers operating off Palembang that started spotting mines and clearing a few. But apparently they did not get the word out in time. A large transport convoy moved through the mined channel--10 of them hit mines, including 3 minelayers that were acting as escorts. Live by the mine, die by the mine I guess. I'd expect about half of these to sink. No troop casualties were reported, so they were probably empty.
CentPAC
Wasp arrived safely at Pearl, exchanged fast battleships and dropped off a light cruiser for an upgrade, and is now headed for a drive-by recon of Midway.
Reinforcements
CVE Prince William arrives at Tacoma
AM Requisite arrives at Seattle
SC-631 arrives at Los Angeles
36th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (unrestricted)
85th British AT Gun Regiment arrives at Aden (empty unit, another one that's going to take time to outfit)
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