13 December 1941
The Battle of Celebes Sea
Celebes
So, not only did my opponent manage to surprise me but moving a fleet carrier in with a minimal-sized escort that I didn't think could possibly be bigger than a CVL, he managed to put two battleships into the mix with no escort whatsoever. Why would I think two ships off on their own were heavyweights? Sigh. So my committment of both Celebes area surface groups to this fight ended up leading to exactly the sort of decisive engagement I wanted to avoid.
By days end I'd lost the CA Houston and 5 destroyers. My fleets scattered and disorganized. CL Marblehead managed to escape to air cover but the Soryu's Kates got two hits on her anyway (at a cost of 4 Kates).
The battleship Ise was badly damaged in the exchange, so we probably won't see her for months (if ever again), and the Hyuga took a decent pounding. But even with these ships putting in for repairs, the IJN now has uncontested control of the Celebes Sea.
Luzon
The SS-40 took light damage in a depth charge attack as it tried to hit troops ships.
Japan had an absolutely dreadful day in the north. The Zeroes and Oscars escorting their bombers were apparently easily distracted. We bagged 16 bombers and four Zeroes over Manila and Clark at the cost of 6 P-40s and 2 P-26s. My B-17s hit their troops in Lingayan again while they're still in open territory.
Naga has been captured.
Malaya
The Repulse limped into port and our dockyard got to work. Who knows, maybe I can get her seaworthy in time to escape.
Japan didn't have a good day in the air here, either. Their Oscars failed to keep my Buffalo off of bombers hitting Kuala Lumpur; we got 5 Anns, a Sally, and 5 Betties at the cost of 2 Buffalo. We lost 3 more Buffs trying to defend Singapore from an escorted Betty raid, and three Vildebeests in a raid on landing ships (which managed to get one hit). My medium bomber raid on Kota Baru was unescorted, but successful (light damage, no losses) as the base was only being defended by anemic Nates. Even with our territory rapidly shrinking and our mechanics more concentrated, we just can't keep enough fighters in the air to hold them off.
One of the Dutch subs hunting troop ships was depth charged for light damage. Japanese subs continue to probe Singapore.
Alor Star was captured by advancing armor. We're now in a race to get damaged fighters out of Georgetown before they're overrun. Kuantan has also been taken; 5 damaged bombers had been left behind at the overrun airfield.
Elsewhere
-Japanese marines landed on Midway and the nearby Kure Island. One of their Kure troop ships was torpedoed by USS Gudeon. But Kure was taken without resistance. US Marines are giving them hell on Midway hitting several troop ships and supporting warships with coastal defense artillery, but it's not looking good. I've evacuated the aircraft based there. The KB didn't sweep Pearl again today, so it's likely moved to Midway to provide some CAS to the troops.
-Midway being under seige means that Wake is effectively cut off, including the Wildcat detachment operating there.
-Japan landed troops on Guadalcanal and Kevieng, taking both without opposition.
-More troops and supplies came ashore in Rabaul, but our batteries got good hits on two of the cargo ships. It's a relatively small force, it's a shame my bombers can't reach them from Port Moresby because I'd probably win if I had air support.
-That pair of DDs at Suva wrecked another minesweeper. I'm going to have to be careful about landing troops around there. I tried to attack them twice with Vincent bombers, but the pilots aren't trained for it and unsurprisingly whiffed.
-Lily bombers have started bombing British troops in southern Burma.
-Jesselton has been captured.
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We managed an air-to-air kill ratio of 2.5 today. We're still losing fighters too fast, but the enemy's loss of bombers should help our ground forces hold out.