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Molon Labe · 02-08-22, 12:33 PM

5 December 1942
Enemy carrier air raids target transports near Colombo and Babar, Darwin shelled by Yamato, large amphibious task force approaching Babar

Bay of Bengal
Today's overnight festivities began with an enemy sub being spotted by the destroyer escort USS Kenneson, which was escorting a pair of (relatively) fast tankers to Colombo. Kenneson managed to connect solidly with one pattern and managed another damaging near miss. It's possible that was enough to send it home.

The enemy carriers chose to attack Colombo rather than our CVBG (which backed off from this, I don't have enough attack aircraft there to get a good result against even one fleet carrier). The first raid was 27 Zeroes and 9 Kates against 22 Sea Hurricanes, as well as several Beaufighters that were on a training flight. We got 8 Zeroes and lost 2 Beaufighters and a Hurricane. The Kates, apparently flying at extended range without torpedoes, attacked a troop transport from high altitude and missed. A second wave of 19 Zeroes and 18 Kates was opposed by 15 Hurricanes--we got 7 of these Zeroes without losses, and once again, the Kates all missed.

They stayed too far away for any of our planes to reach them. If they want to get their Vals involved, that might change. The newer D3A2 variant would have to get inside our attack range, while the older D3A1 can reach us at extended range--and a severely reduced bombload.

Just as we're seeing in the Timor Sea action, it appears that the enemy is keeping at least one carrier's airwing in reserve to make it look like it's just one fleet carrier here. I'm fairly sure it's at least two, if not the whole KB-west.

We got some SIGINT with three valuable bits of information: that the 14th Division is planning to attack Ceylon, and that the 14th Division is currently at Port Arthur, Korea, and that they are currently split of in fragments that suggest they're being loaded onto ships right now. If they leave today, I'd expect them to arrive around December 23rd. So the attack on Colombo seems like it's trying to prepare the battleground by eliminating the British fleet there or by cutting off reinforcements.

Battle of the Timor Sea
My surface task force withdrawing southeast from Babar spotted a sub and made an ineffective attack on it.

The heavy cruiser Suzuya and three destroyers, which I presume detached from the enemy CVBG, attacked Port Hedland, Australia, a small port that collects a ton of resources. I've had small, unescorted convoys running from there to Perth since day 1 of the war. We lost two light cargo ships.

The lead enemy heavy surface task force approached Darwin to shell the base. We had 5 PT boats attempt an intercept, at night, but sadly they didn't get any hits even though the attacked from just 1000 yards. No casualties on either side in that exchange. The task force--comprised of the battleships Yamato and Hyuga, the heavy cruisers Maya and Kingusa, and 11 destroyers--continued, sinking a coastal minesweeper before hitting the base. We suffered 131 troop casualties at Darwin. Aircraft losses (damaged numbers are estimates): 3 Wildcats destroyed, 23 damaged; 4 SBDs destroyed; 1 Beaufrighter destroyed, 8 damaged; 3 PBYs destroyed, 9 damaged; 2 B-17 destroyed, ~8 damaged; 15 B-26s damaged, 1 transport aircraft destroyed, 6 damaged. The runway damage is at 47% and service damage at 41%.

80 miles west of Babar, the KVIII took a shot at a cargo ship in the approaching amphibious task force, but missed. It took a rare hit from a type-95 depth charge in deep water--perhaps this boat can't dive deep enough? Flooding is moderate. At least we got good intel; the task force is 1 CA, 1 CL, 9DD, 1 APD, 2 PB, and 6 xAK. That we know of, anyway, there could be more.

The first air attack was a sweep of Babar by 6 Oscars from Ambon. We had 10 P-40s, 7-P-38s, and 15 P-39s greeting them. 1 Oscar was shot down.

Next was a pair of attacks from CVW-6 out of Darwin, although the fighters for this attack were VF-3 instead of VF-6. CVW-6 had to rebase from Rossel Island, but VF-6 didn't have the range to make it to Darwin. But they could make it to my carriers, so the Saratoga lended VF-3 to CVW-6 and CVW-6 lended VF-6 to the Saratoga. I'm very disappointed that the AI commanders decided to split this strike into two instead of just picking one target, considering they were already beaten down by the pre-dawn bombardment.

Against the enemy amphibious task force, we had 9 Wildcats (led by Jimmy Thatch) and 9 Dauntlesses against 65 Zeroes, 3 Rufes, and 3 Oscars. It looks like 80% of the CAP came from the enemy carriers, which joined up with the 'phibs, with the rest coming from Koepang. With numbers like that we obviously weren't going to do well--we shot down 1 Zero and 1 Rufe while losing 5 Wildcats and all 9 SBDs.

Against the Yamato's task force, we had 10 Wildcats and 11 Dauntlesses against 27 Zeroes and 9 Oscars--probably all from Koepang. We lost 3 Wildcats (including one flown by this world's version of Albert Vorse, killing him), and again, all 11 Dauntlesses. We had no kills of our own--very disappointing considering how elite the VF-3 pilots are--but we did manage to get 6 SBDs through to the Yamato before they were shot down, enough for a single hit that destroyed an AA gun mount. The bomb was just a 500lb SAP instead of the usual 1000lb thanks to the extended range of the strike.

Darwin also sent 8 flyable B-26s to bomb Babar; thanks to the strikes against the enemy task forces, enemy CAP did not intervene.

The enemy carriers--at this point preliminarily identified at the Shokaku and Hiryu, plus a CS probably a CVL and one more fleet carrier (of the fleet carriers, only two have been involved so far, I think he's keeping one in reserve)--attacked our amphibious task force at Babar. This was 27 Zeroes, 6 Kates, and 26 Vals, opposed by 10 Australian P-40s, 7 P-38s, and 14 P-39s, all flying directly from Babar itself. We lost 1 P-39 while taking down 7 Zeroes, 16 Vals, and 3 Kates, but that left plenty getting through:
xAK Centaur, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Yochow, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later)
xAK Johanne Justesen, Bomb hits 2, on fire (sank later)

In the afternoon, the enemy launched another strike, but it fragmented. First, 5 Kates and 13 Vals arrived without escorts, we picked off all 5 Kates and 4 Vals. But, more hits:
xAK Yunnan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later)
xAK Autolycus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Then 21 Zeroes and 18 Kates went after a pair of minesweepers on an ASW patrol between Babar and Darwin. It was close enough to Babar that our fighters responded, 6 P-38s and 5 P-39s, enough to shoot down 5 Zeroes and 6 Kates without losses. The Kates failed to get any torpedo hits on these rather small targets.

The action ended with torpedo attack by USS Greenling against the amphibious group, bouncing a dud Mk14 off one of the cargo ships. It evaded counterattack.

During all this, VT-3 Avengers were hunting enemy subs, reportedly bombing two of them around noon. We currently have detections of 6 subs in the Arafura sea, making me nervous of a repeat of the Enterprise debacle.

As I mentioned earlier, although this enemy force is holding itself out to be centered around two fleet carriers, based on scout reports it really looks like 3 to me, 4 is even possible (i.e., the KB is back)--that plus the likely CVL and support from Koepang is more than the Lex and Sara can handle. I'm not counterattacking today, instead I'm going to try to get away from the subs, get under some P-38 protection, and see if he wants to come to me. If I pick up the P-38 support while he loses Koepang, our odds are pretty even. If he stays to cover the landings, there are plenty of opportunities for me to cause attrition...subs, PT boats, mines, my defensive CAP, and I'm going to send what's left of VF-3 on a high altitude sweep. I'm sending another PT squadron from Darwin to Babar, they'll hold off to avoid attacking in the day, but I should be able to get two consecutive nights with PT attacks in low moonlight. With a little luck, tomorrow we'll be looking at a weakened and vulnerable Kido Butai.

The heavy enemy surface task force is pulling out to rearm. He may be faced with a bit of a tradeoff--with the heavies headed to rearm, and with a detachment broken off to hit Port Hedland, his surface forces at Babar are somewhat limited. Will he bombard the island to neutralize the airbase overnight? If he does, those ships will need to rearm too and won't be much use if I send my surface forces in to have a knife fight with him. But if he doesn't, he's going to have to deal with those fighters in addition to my carriers, plus whatever I can throw at him from Darwin.

Solomons
The S-44 put 2 Mk10s into a troop-carrying cargo ship near Ontang Java, sinking it.

CENTPAC
I've greenlit the Midway operation. I'd be really surprised if they had a carrier ready to intervene with what we're seeing around Darwin, but I have CVEs for added protection. We were ready in advance for this, so it will proceed quickly.

E. Australia
I'm tentatively organizing a new offensive based out of here as well. The last pieces are coming into place now, but because of the proximity to events in the Timor Sea this isn't as certain to go forward as the Midway op.

Reinforcements
224 Group RAF arrives at Aden (AirHQ)
LST-447 arrives at Portland - that makes two, off to Pearl with them
TK Gulfwave arrives at Balboa
317th TCG/40th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (unrestricted and full strength, but most valuable as a training unit at the moment)

02-08-22, 12:33 PM	#504
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	5 December 1942 Enemy carrier air raids target transports near Colombo and Babar, Darwin shelled by Yamato, large amphibious task force approaching Babar Bay of Bengal Today's overnight festivities began with an enemy sub being spotted by the destroyer escort USS Kenneson, which was escorting a pair of (relatively) fast tankers to Colombo. Kenneson managed to connect solidly with one pattern and managed another damaging near miss. It's possible that was enough to send it home. The enemy carriers chose to attack Colombo rather than our CVBG (which backed off from this, I don't have enough attack aircraft there to get a good result against even one fleet carrier). The first raid was 27 Zeroes and 9 Kates against 22 Sea Hurricanes, as well as several Beaufighters that were on a training flight. We got 8 Zeroes and lost 2 Beaufighters and a Hurricane. The Kates, apparently flying at extended range without torpedoes, attacked a troop transport from high altitude and missed. A second wave of 19 Zeroes and 18 Kates was opposed by 15 Hurricanes--we got 7 of these Zeroes without losses, and once again, the Kates all missed. They stayed too far away for any of our planes to reach them. If they want to get their Vals involved, that might change. The newer D3A2 variant would have to get inside our attack range, while the older D3A1 can reach us at extended range--and a severely reduced bombload. Just as we're seeing in the Timor Sea action, it appears that the enemy is keeping at least one carrier's airwing in reserve to make it look like it's just one fleet carrier here. I'm fairly sure it's at least two, if not the whole KB-west. We got some SIGINT with three valuable bits of information: that the 14th Division is planning to attack Ceylon, and that the 14th Division is currently at Port Arthur, Korea, and that they are currently split of in fragments that suggest they're being loaded onto ships right now. If they leave today, I'd expect them to arrive around December 23rd. So the attack on Colombo seems like it's trying to prepare the battleground by eliminating the British fleet there or by cutting off reinforcements. Battle of the Timor Sea My surface task force withdrawing southeast from Babar spotted a sub and made an ineffective attack on it. The heavy cruiser Suzuya and three destroyers, which I presume detached from the enemy CVBG, attacked Port Hedland, Australia, a small port that collects a ton of resources. I've had small, unescorted convoys running from there to Perth since day 1 of the war. We lost two light cargo ships. The lead enemy heavy surface task force approached Darwin to shell the base. We had 5 PT boats attempt an intercept, at night, but sadly they didn't get any hits even though the attacked from just 1000 yards. No casualties on either side in that exchange. The task force--comprised of the battleships Yamato and Hyuga, the heavy cruisers Maya and Kingusa, and 11 destroyers--continued, sinking a coastal minesweeper before hitting the base. We suffered 131 troop casualties at Darwin. Aircraft losses (damaged numbers are estimates): 3 Wildcats destroyed, 23 damaged; 4 SBDs destroyed; 1 Beaufrighter destroyed, 8 damaged; 3 PBYs destroyed, 9 damaged; 2 B-17 destroyed, ~8 damaged; 15 B-26s damaged, 1 transport aircraft destroyed, 6 damaged. The runway damage is at 47% and service damage at 41%. 80 miles west of Babar, the KVIII took a shot at a cargo ship in the approaching amphibious task force, but missed. It took a rare hit from a type-95 depth charge in deep water--perhaps this boat can't dive deep enough? Flooding is moderate. At least we got good intel; the task force is 1 CA, 1 CL, 9DD, 1 APD, 2 PB, and 6 xAK. That we know of, anyway, there could be more. The first air attack was a sweep of Babar by 6 Oscars from Ambon. We had 10 P-40s, 7-P-38s, and 15 P-39s greeting them. 1 Oscar was shot down. Next was a pair of attacks from CVW-6 out of Darwin, although the fighters for this attack were VF-3 instead of VF-6. CVW-6 had to rebase from Rossel Island, but VF-6 didn't have the range to make it to Darwin. But they could make it to my carriers, so the Saratoga lended VF-3 to CVW-6 and CVW-6 lended VF-6 to the Saratoga. I'm very disappointed that the AI commanders decided to split this strike into two instead of just picking one target, considering they were already beaten down by the pre-dawn bombardment. Against the enemy amphibious task force, we had 9 Wildcats (led by Jimmy Thatch) and 9 Dauntlesses against 65 Zeroes, 3 Rufes, and 3 Oscars. It looks like 80% of the CAP came from the enemy carriers, which joined up with the 'phibs, with the rest coming from Koepang. With numbers like that we obviously weren't going to do well--we shot down 1 Zero and 1 Rufe while losing 5 Wildcats and all 9 SBDs. Against the Yamato's task force, we had 10 Wildcats and 11 Dauntlesses against 27 Zeroes and 9 Oscars--probably all from Koepang. We lost 3 Wildcats (including one flown by this world's version of Albert Vorse, killing him), and again, all 11 Dauntlesses. We had no kills of our own--very disappointing considering how elite the VF-3 pilots are--but we did manage to get 6 SBDs through to the Yamato before they were shot down, enough for a single hit that destroyed an AA gun mount. The bomb was just a 500lb SAP instead of the usual 1000lb thanks to the extended range of the strike. Darwin also sent 8 flyable B-26s to bomb Babar; thanks to the strikes against the enemy task forces, enemy CAP did not intervene. The enemy carriers--at this point preliminarily identified at the Shokaku and Hiryu, plus a CS probably a CVL and one more fleet carrier (of the fleet carriers, only two have been involved so far, I think he's keeping one in reserve)--attacked our amphibious task force at Babar. This was 27 Zeroes, 6 Kates, and 26 Vals, opposed by 10 Australian P-40s, 7 P-38s, and 14 P-39s, all flying directly from Babar itself. We lost 1 P-39 while taking down 7 Zeroes, 16 Vals, and 3 Kates, but that left plenty getting through: xAK Centaur, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Yochow, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later) xAK Johanne Justesen, Bomb hits 2, on fire (sank later) In the afternoon, the enemy launched another strike, but it fragmented. First, 5 Kates and 13 Vals arrived without escorts, we picked off all 5 Kates and 4 Vals. But, more hits: xAK Yunnan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later) xAK Autolycus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires Then 21 Zeroes and 18 Kates went after a pair of minesweepers on an ASW patrol between Babar and Darwin. It was close enough to Babar that our fighters responded, 6 P-38s and 5 P-39s, enough to shoot down 5 Zeroes and 6 Kates without losses. The Kates failed to get any torpedo hits on these rather small targets. The action ended with torpedo attack by USS Greenling against the amphibious group, bouncing a dud Mk14 off one of the cargo ships. It evaded counterattack. During all this, VT-3 Avengers were hunting enemy subs, reportedly bombing two of them around noon. We currently have detections of 6 subs in the Arafura sea, making me nervous of a repeat of the Enterprise debacle. As I mentioned earlier, although this enemy force is holding itself out to be centered around two fleet carriers, based on scout reports it really looks like 3 to me, 4 is even possible (i.e., the KB is back)--that plus the likely CVL and support from Koepang is more than the Lex and Sara can handle. I'm not counterattacking today, instead I'm going to try to get away from the subs, get under some P-38 protection, and see if he wants to come to me. If I pick up the P-38 support while he loses Koepang, our odds are pretty even. If he stays to cover the landings, there are plenty of opportunities for me to cause attrition...subs, PT boats, mines, my defensive CAP, and I'm going to send what's left of VF-3 on a high altitude sweep. I'm sending another PT squadron from Darwin to Babar, they'll hold off to avoid attacking in the day, but I should be able to get two consecutive nights with PT attacks in low moonlight. With a little luck, tomorrow we'll be looking at a weakened and vulnerable Kido Butai. The heavy enemy surface task force is pulling out to rearm. He may be faced with a bit of a tradeoff--with the heavies headed to rearm, and with a detachment broken off to hit Port Hedland, his surface forces at Babar are somewhat limited. Will he bombard the island to neutralize the airbase overnight? If he does, those ships will need to rearm too and won't be much use if I send my surface forces in to have a knife fight with him. But if he doesn't, he's going to have to deal with those fighters in addition to my carriers, plus whatever I can throw at him from Darwin. Solomons The S-44 put 2 Mk10s into a troop-carrying cargo ship near Ontang Java, sinking it. CENTPAC I've greenlit the Midway operation. I'd be really surprised if they had a carrier ready to intervene with what we're seeing around Darwin, but I have CVEs for added protection. We were ready in advance for this, so it will proceed quickly. E. Australia I'm tentatively organizing a new offensive based out of here as well. The last pieces are coming into place now, but because of the proximity to events in the Timor Sea this isn't as certain to go forward as the Midway op. Reinforcements 224 Group RAF arrives at Aden (AirHQ) LST-447 arrives at Portland - that makes two, off to Pearl with them TK Gulfwave arrives at Balboa 317th TCG/40th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (unrestricted and full strength, but most valuable as a training unit at the moment) __________________