SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - War in the Pacific AAR Thread

Molon Labe · 06-28-21, 10:10 AM

11 January 1941
Heroic sacrifice by USS McCall, USS Maury, gives Palmyra fighting chance; CVLBG continues to frustrate in Java Sea, Heavy cruiser torpedoed off Noumea

CENTPAC
When I detected those "two" ships near Palmyra yesterday, I detached 2 DD from a convoy passing near the area to intercept. They found a lot more than 2 ships.

CL Abukuma
CL Oi, Shell hits 3
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 2
PB Magan Maru, Shell hits 2
PB Shoei Maru
xAK Okiyu Maru
xAK Nichiyu Maru, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
xAK Nitisan Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
xAK Kosei Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Kotoku Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Taizan Maru
PB Yamahagi Maru #3, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD McCall, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Maury, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
1886 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 46 destroyed, 91 disabled
Engineers: 34 destroyed, 53 disabled
Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Despite being outgunned, the two tin cans did awesome, splitting their fire between the transports and escorts. They took out one of the Oi's gun mounts and hit 4 of the 6 transports. One went down in view of the DDs. Unfortunately, so did the Maury, and the McCall isn't going to make it either. None of the damaged ships landed troops, and one of the two transports that continued was struck by coastal defense artillery. The Oi was also hit two more times. The damage done seriously disrupted the landing, resulting in heavy casualties to the Japanese troops coming ashore under fire from US Marines. They would have taken Palmyra easily with 6 transports full of troops, but as of now the fight could go either way.

At Pearl, four enemy destroyer-minesweepers were shot up and two barges were sacrified to Neptune. One of my subs tried to finish off one that retreated but missed. USS Gar was damaged by depth charges trying to mine Lahaina.

Air raids over Pearl cost two zeroes, but level-bombing Kates managed to hit USS Maryland with an 800kg AP bomb, and 250kg hits on W. Virginia and Pennsylvania.

SouthPAC
That sub I was looking for found me first. My cruisers, instead of pursuing enemy ships north, had been covering reinforcements landing on Efate. The sub found them returning to Noumea and torpedoed the USS Pensacola. So that's two heavy cruisers in this group sidelined with torpedo damage. I'm suspending troop movements and reassigning their ASW escorts to deal with this (in addition to ASW assets summoned yesterday).

Malaya
The Japanese destroyer group found two more ASW craft before they could shelter in port, both were sunk.

Air losses were one Oscar to one Hurricane, in a sweep of Singapore. Enemy bombers are now focusing on Kuala Lumpur, too far north to be worth dividing my fighter coverage. The armies at Johore appear to be waiting for this mop-up operation to complete before beginning the siege of Singapore.

Java Sea
"Plan B" was a surface battle with the CVLBG. I sortied a rather large UK-Dutch-US fleet--it should have outmatched them even with 4 heavy cruisers escorting the flattops. But the CVLBG had moved off to the east under darkness, and my ships didn't find them. The carriers launched an airstrike at the fleet, fortunately only scoring hits each on two cruisers, neither inflicting serious damage. They lost two Vals and two Kates but shot down a Hawk and a Buffalo.

Dutch East Indies
I had been raiding Miri and Kendari with light bombers with little result. I changed them to low level attacks for today and it worked; I got 2 hits on a tanker at Miri (likely a kill thanks to fires) and a hit on a cargo ship at Kendari.

Elsewhere
Guam, finally, has been captured. I'm sure that's a relief to him.

06-28-21, 10:10 AM	#84
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	11 January 1941 Heroic sacrifice by USS McCall, USS Maury, gives Palmyra fighting chance; CVLBG continues to frustrate in Java Sea, Heavy cruiser torpedoed off Noumea CENTPAC When I detected those "two" ships near Palmyra yesterday, I detached 2 DD from a convoy passing near the area to intercept. They found a lot more than 2 ships. CL Abukuma CL Oi, Shell hits 3 DD Isokaze, Shell hits 2 PB Magan Maru, Shell hits 2 PB Shoei Maru xAK Okiyu Maru xAK Nichiyu Maru, Shell hits 6, and is sunk xAK Nitisan Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire xAK Kosei Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires xAK Kotoku Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires xAP Taizan Maru PB Yamahagi Maru #3, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships DD McCall, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Maury, Shell hits 17, and is sunk Japanese ground losses: 1886 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 46 destroyed, 91 disabled Engineers: 34 destroyed, 53 disabled Guns lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled) Despite being outgunned, the two tin cans did awesome, splitting their fire between the transports and escorts. They took out one of the Oi's gun mounts and hit 4 of the 6 transports. One went down in view of the DDs. Unfortunately, so did the Maury, and the McCall isn't going to make it either. None of the damaged ships landed troops, and one of the two transports that continued was struck by coastal defense artillery. The Oi was also hit two more times. The damage done seriously disrupted the landing, resulting in heavy casualties to the Japanese troops coming ashore under fire from US Marines. They would have taken Palmyra easily with 6 transports full of troops, but as of now the fight could go either way. At Pearl, four enemy destroyer-minesweepers were shot up and two barges were sacrified to Neptune. One of my subs tried to finish off one that retreated but missed. USS Gar was damaged by depth charges trying to mine Lahaina. Air raids over Pearl cost two zeroes, but level-bombing Kates managed to hit USS Maryland with an 800kg AP bomb, and 250kg hits on W. Virginia and Pennsylvania. SouthPAC That sub I was looking for found me first. My cruisers, instead of pursuing enemy ships north, had been covering reinforcements landing on Efate. The sub found them returning to Noumea and torpedoed the USS Pensacola. So that's two heavy cruisers in this group sidelined with torpedo damage. I'm suspending troop movements and reassigning their ASW escorts to deal with this (in addition to ASW assets summoned yesterday). Malaya The Japanese destroyer group found two more ASW craft before they could shelter in port, both were sunk. Air losses were one Oscar to one Hurricane, in a sweep of Singapore. Enemy bombers are now focusing on Kuala Lumpur, too far north to be worth dividing my fighter coverage. The armies at Johore appear to be waiting for this mop-up operation to complete before beginning the siege of Singapore. Java Sea "Plan B" was a surface battle with the CVLBG. I sortied a rather large UK-Dutch-US fleet--it should have outmatched them even with 4 heavy cruisers escorting the flattops. But the CVLBG had moved off to the east under darkness, and my ships didn't find them. The carriers launched an airstrike at the fleet, fortunately only scoring hits each on two cruisers, neither inflicting serious damage. They lost two Vals and two Kates but shot down a Hawk and a Buffalo. Dutch East Indies I had been raiding Miri and Kendari with light bombers with little result. I changed them to low level attacks for today and it worked; I got 2 hits on a tanker at Miri (likely a kill thanks to fires) and a hit on a cargo ship at Kendari. Elsewhere Guam, finally, has been captured. I'm sure that's a relief to him. __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 06-28-21 at 03:22 PM.