War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

What's a Mulligan?

A golf term, a stroke that doesn't count. Here, it just means I was allowed to fix the error in my orders and resubmit them.

[Molon Labe]

29 May 1942

East China Sea
USS Tautog torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship.

SouthPAC
Noumea is in for a rough ride. Apparently, my opponent is confident he can finish off the Enterprise without the KB, which launched another strike. Our airbase there is pretty worn down so we only got 5 fighters up today; 1 was shot down, and we only got 2 Zeroes. The bombers all got through:

xAK Mormacsul, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Koolama, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Prince, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AS Pelias, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APD Gregory, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Admiral Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Vichy, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1

Thailand
The enemy fighters got to our bombers again and shot down 2 Blenheims.

Timor and N. Australia
The Hornet finally launched a strike, but it only sent VS-8 (half of which were on search duty) while VB-8 sat on the deck ready to go. Thanks to Koepang already having been captured, there were 18 Zeroes waiting for us, more than enough to handle 13 Wildcats and 9 Helldivers. All 9 bombers were shot down. Our fighters at least managed to get 3 of the Zeroes. So in the end, this entire op got us nothing except the Enterprise torpedoed.

A Hudson bomber on ASW patrol at Darwin reported scoring a hit on a Type A1 sub. A B-26 claimed to hit another one. I asked my opponent about this, and he confirmed that the I-20 was one of the subs that was hit, and there was much rejoicing among the crew of the Big E.

Malaya
Wirraways hit a convoy near Kuantan and put 3 bombs into a cargo ship, likely a kill.

China
Japan attacked my armies in Kaifeng again and was again beaten back with heavy casualties. I can't hold on forever, but this is nice while it lasts.

[Molon Labe]

30 May 1942

Solomons
The S-39 intercepted a replenishment group and put 2 torpedoes into the Ken'yo Maru, a fast oiler. It followed up with a second attack and hit it two more times just to be sure. [EDIT: The S-39 also sank an AGP, which I mistook for the incident of them sinking one of ours tomorrow near Darwin. So that's 3 successful torpedo attacks by the S-39 in a single day!]

Sumatra
Two Japanese submarines intercepted the Brit CVBG on the southwest side of the island and hit one of its escorting destroyers, sinking it. We inflicted some damage on one of them before they slipped away.

Between this and the Darwin incident, I'm worried that I've become predictable. There are no merchants here for him to hunt. He knows where I'm going to put my carriers to strike at him and he's staging subs there to wait for me.

Zeroes swept Palembang, but only got two of themselves shot down for it.

Timor and N. Australia
[EDIT: A patrol boat tender escaping Koepang was picked off by one of the subs blockading Darwin.--This happens tomorrow, not today.]

Instead of going right after the Enterprise, he tried to attack the ASW groups--9 Betties escorted by 40 Zeroes. P-39s as well as the Wildcats of VF-6 defended the ships, shooting down 14 of the Zeroes and all the Betties; we lost only 1 P-39 and 1 Wildcat.

I'm looking for a certain repair threshold to try to move the Enterprise before it's too late, but I'm not there yet and repairs are progressing very slowly. At this point I think the best I can realistically hope for is it will be bombed at dock but I'll force him to use the KB to do it and maybe get one of those carriers in exchange. He's going to have to go through subs and bombers to get here.

China
We got two more Zeroes over Kaifeng--the new Chinese P-43s are really working out well. They managed to get a B-25, though.

The enemy army advancing on Nanyang, now identified as the 35th Division, is now in open terrain and is being bombed by SB-IIIs for moderate casualties. I'm going to move some more bomber squadrons to capitalize on this.

SouthPAC
Noumea got hit again as the KB remains--although I think the results in Darwin today will make him change his mind for tomorrow:
xAK Howell Lykes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Admiral Wiley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAKL Surigao, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AM Turkey, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK San Vincente, Bomb hits 1
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1
xAP President Fillmore, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Procyon, Bomb hits 1
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Mormacsul, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Mormacrio, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS S-46, Bomb hits 1
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1

All that and 6 of my fighters (and a bomber on the ground) for the price of 6 Zeroes, 2 Kates, and 6 Vals.

We counterattacked with Banshees from Efate and got absolutely destroyed. 11 Banshees shot down by Zeroes, and 12th by flak, and 6 escorting P-40s taken down. We had no kills and no ship hits (Hiryu targeted by 4 Banshees).

We also lost 2 damaged ships trying to evacutate Pago Pago to reach a repair yard from when the KB hit there last week; the ships weren't as seaworthy as I hoped and additional compartments flooded.

Thailand and Burma
Tavoy held another day.

[Molon Labe]

31 May 1942

Timor Sea
One of the destroyers detached from the CVBG found a sub near Darwin and scored a few near misses with depth charges. A destroyer-seaplane tender found another and dealt some damage. A Wirraway reported spotting the I-20 specifically, so despite apparent bomb and depth charge damage she's still on station. Enterprise still isn't well enough to move. I'm shifting some planes around; B-26s are flying out to make room for the heavies to come back. The heavies will try to neutralize Koepang.

A patrol boat tender escaping Koepang was picked off by one of the subs blockading Darwin. (reported this as happening yesterday in error)

SouthPAC
Noumea was hit again.
xAK Admiral Williams, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Iron Warrior, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK San Vincente, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Procyon, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Alabaman, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Iron Prince, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS S-46, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAP President Tyler, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Mormacrio, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Lycaon, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Andrea Luckenbach, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Howell Lykes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AM Turkey, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
ACM Heath, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

We made them pay for that a bit. 2 Zeroes, 8 Vals (3 by flak) and 11 Kates went down. We had 4 fighters shot down and another 5 aircraft destroyed on the ground.

He split off 2 fast battleships from his CVBG, which encouraged my bomber pilots to be a little more aggressive. A B-26 got a hit on the Kirishima. Banshees made an attempt as well, but we only managed to have 3 find the ships between having few operational and thunderstorms in the area--8 others got airborne but aborted. The A-20s even got off their asses as well. But the B-26 got the only hit. One B-26 was shot down by flak.

China
Our offsetting bombing raids on Kaifeng cost him 3 Zeroes and 3 Ann light bombers, and us a P-40.

We've now got 12 SB-III bombers hitting the 35th division near Nanyang, causing heavy casualties. Still no enemy CAP protecting them.

Burma and Thailand
We lost 2 Blenheims to the CAP and another to flak at Tavoy.
Tavoy held off another land attack.

[Molon Labe]

1 June 1942

SouthPAC
Kongo and Kirishima bombarded Noumea:
PBY-5A Catalina: 10 damaged
PBY-5A Catalina: 2 destroyed on ground
A-20A Havoc: 2 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 24 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
P-39D Airacobra: 5 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 2 damaged
P-400 Airacobra: 2 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 16 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
Vincent I: 2 damaged
Vincent I: 1 destroyed on ground
Plus they sank the minesweeper patrolling the port.
The air battle was smaller here thanks to the damage done by the BBs: 1 Zero downed plus 4 of our fighters. The bombers got through unmolested:
xAP President Tyler, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP William Ward Burrows, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AR Medusa, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Ormiston, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Wiley, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Andrea Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Warrior, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Wave 2:
AE Mauna Loa, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Wawa, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

The KB is headed north and does appear to be headed for Darwin.

Timor Sea
Our ASW forces found another sub and hit it a little. We have yet to score a truly damaging depth charge hit on any of these Darwin subs. An Avenger from VT-6 reported bombing a submarine.

Enterprise's repairs are progressing, they're reporting they could theoretically do one more knot than they could do yesterday.

The B-17s hit Koepang, but it cost me. The bombers themselves got 3 Oscars and 2 Zeroes, but 4 B-17s were damaged badly enough that they went down on the way home. We did moderate facility damage to the base and blew up at least one Zero on the ground.

China
Another great performance by Lancers at Keifeng--5 Zeroes downed, no losses. We're still hitting the Nanyang armies hard.

He's rested his troops at Kaifeng enough that I've ordered mine to retreat. The next attack is going to suck.

Sumatra
An air raid targeted Benkoelen, close enough to Palembang to draw their CAP. We got 3 Zeroes and 4 Vals with no losses.

Medan has been captured.

Thailand and Burma
Tavoy has been captured, with the loss/capture of 1800 men. Their additional reinforcements arriving over the mountains put them over the top; they now have 30,000 troops here, more than 2 divisions worth.

Refits and Reinforcements
The Saratoga is getting a radar upgrade while its torpedo damage is being repaired. They're also replacing its 12 5" Mk10 guns and 12 of its 1.1" AA guns with 16 5" Mk12s ("unquestionably the finest Dual Purpose gun of World War II" according to NavWeaps) It's AA rating is actually going down slightly with the numbers of guns going down, but I think having the better radar will make up for that with improved CAP effectiveness.

The battleship New Mexico is getting a major AA upgrade.

It seems that just about every merchant I have is now due for an upgrade. Looks like a lot of them are getting 20mms along with the .50 cals the 20mms are replacing on destroyers. That, plus old naval guns are being installed. It's going to be tedious managing this.

SS S-32 arrives at San Diego
VMSB-243 arrives at Santa Barbara - just 2 Vindicators
303rd BG/358th BS arrives at Mojave - more restricted B-17s.

[Molon Labe]

2 June 1942

China
We got to their bombers over Keifeng again--7 Anns downed with no losses on our side. They didn't shoot any B-17s down outright, but one succumbed to its damage on the way back and another was too badly damaged to be repaired.


Timor Sea
B-17s hit Koepang again. 4 Zeroes went down thanks to the gunners. The raid caused moderate facility damage, plus an Oscar blown up on the ground and 2 ships in port hit with 500lb bombs.

The enemy sub presence at Darwin appears to be significantly diminished.

Sumatra
An air raid targeted Benkoelen; P-40s diverted from Palembang and splashed two Zeroes but the raid otherwise got through. There really isn't much there for the strike to be of significance beyond the air battle, though.

SouthPAC
The KB continues on a northerly course, more towards Rabaul or Truk than Darwin. It hasn't reached the Solomon Sea yet, so it's not too late for it to turn west. It would almost be disappointing if it didn't come, I've been scrambling to arrange a greeting party so much the last few turns. But without knowing if he has another plan in the works, if the KB doesn't go to Darwin, the chances of the Enterprise's survival shoot way, way up.

Thailand and Burma
An air raid targeted my retreating troops; they'll have a CAP tomorrow.
A Hudson bombed an enemy sub outside Rangoon.

[Molon Labe]

I've got some catching up to do, we've been at a high pace over the last few days. I actually don't think there's a lot of value in going into the details because most of what's going on is just trends continuing, the interesting developments I'm not even sure what day they happened on. So here's a summary of June 3 - June 9:

Darwin and the Enterprise
Amazingly, he didn't finish her off. The enemy sub presence has dwindled, but it looks like he might just be staging them just outside my aircraft range. I'm probing the seas with ASW teams and bait ships--no one's biting. The KB kept going north after the Solomons, it never turned West towards Darwin. He built up land-based airpower at Koepang, then moved it away it seems. My B-17s are hitting the base, but they're suffering unsustainable losses and won't be able to neutralize it.

The Enterprise itself has dewatered every compartment that isn't open to the sea. She still has significant system damage and those repairs are barely progressing at all.

Sumatra
He continued picking off bases in the northwest, then finally invaded in force at Benkoelen, where he's been bombing for awhile. It doesn't look like a very large force just yet, so the main thrust is still coming...somewhere. I'm tempted to use the Brit carriers to interdict, but I checked the ranges and I'd be facing hordes of Betties with Zero escorts if I got close enough to strike. My Falcon, DB-7, Mitchell, and Fulmar aircraft all took heavy casualties trying to stop enemy ships as we just didn't have enough fighters to escort them. We did get one new fighter squadron there, so maybe that will change soon.

Thailand
He's not advancing up the road north from Tavoy, it even looks like he's pulled some troops back towards Bangkok. He might make a direct push for Raheng.

China
The army moving up towards Nanyang thought better of it and turned east. My Kaifeng adventure is pretty much over as a stalemate at this point, now we just need to see what happens now that we've massed so many troops here.

CentPAC and Pearl Harbor
I tried sending a lone cargo ship to Pearl, and I was shocked that it worked--it was never detected, on the way in or out. That one boat saved a lot of hungry bellies and even got our forts up to Level 4. Now the question is, was that a fluke, or is his presence really so diminished that he can't aerially blockade Pearl anymore? I would consider returning to Lahaina if his airpower was negligible.

Also, a series of SIGINT intercepts suggested that a large task force was moving west, possibly from Pearl headed towards the Celebes area.

Reinforcements
USS Wasp has arrived, although she still needs to get to the warzone from the Canal. The British are producing Hurricanes in much larger numbers than before, which is going to help out in Thailand and eventually Malaya again.

[Molon Labe]

10 June 1942
Invasion of Sumatra

Sumatra
A small force of troops crossed the Strait and landed at Benkoelen and captured it.

Palembang was swept, costing me 5 P-40s with no enemy Zeroes shot down.

We lost 2 more B-25s and 1 more Falcon trying to hit the phibs on the coast.

Japan
USS Sculpin got into a rather embarrassing surface attack against an enemy cargo ship near Toyohara. We bounced 7 dud Mk14s off its hull before getting one to detonate, the whole time the Sculpin was taking hits from the cargo ships guns while its gunners couldn't score any hits of their own. That one Mk14 took the ship down, so all's well that ends well I suppose.

There was a second task force detected here. Classified as a flotilla of coastal minelayers plus at least one cargo ship and a troop transport--headed EAST. I question that these are mostly minelayers...but a large task force that includes merchants heading east from Toyohara is most likely an invasion force headed for the Aleutians. The only other thing east of here are the Kurilles, which make good seaplane bases, but you don't need a task force this size to build them up. If the Aleutians are the target, then spotting this task force near Japan has probably earned me sufficient time to stop the invasion. I intend to have dive bombers and a surface combat task force waiting for them.

Timor Sea
The jig is up. USS Hornet was spotted moving back to Darwin and I think he can figure out why. There are also enemy surface forces skulking around the Banda Sea. Three destroyers moved too far to the south and were attacked by VB-6 from Darwin, scoring a pair of hits on one destroyer for a confirmed kill. A few TBD from Hornet's VT-8 that weren't on an ASW patrol got in on the action, but failed to score any hits.

We hold contact on two enemy submarines and I'm going to try to put them on the defensive. Our B-17s bombing Koepang shot down a Nick and took one loss from flak. Damage to the airbase is still minor, but for now I'm going to keep whatever pressure on them I can. More on this "tomorrow."

Malaya
Our Wirraways scored a hit on a seaplane tender at Kuantan, setting it on fire. Why does he need seaplane tenders in Kuantan?

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

10 December 1941

Time warp!

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Time warp!

Wow, and not just off by a little! Fixed.

[Molon Labe]

11 June 1942
Imperial Guards Division lands at Oosthaven, Enterprise Running the gauntlet

Sumatra
The Imperial Guards landed at Oosthaven, which probably means this is the main force. The western landing is probably to contain my troops and/or neutralize alternate airbases.

30 Sallies attacked Bengkalis unescorted; fighters came all the way from Singapore to take advantage--we shot down 6.

Bengkalis was captured.

Malaya
Wirraways returned to Kuantan and bombed a troop-carrying cargo ship, inflicting heavy damage. They made a second sortie and hit the same ship again.


Solomon Sea
2 destroyers approached Normanby Island, where the enemy landed troops a long time ago and pretty much left them there, stranded. These DDs were probably trying to evacuate them.

Milne has long been a base to USMC Vindicators, and this has more recently been supplemented by Banshees from Noumea as part of a greeting party for the KB should it attempt to go to Darwin. We also have B-26s in Port Moreseby that are in range. The strikes were embarrassingly uncoordinated in the morning, the dive bombers often arriving just 2 or 3 at a time. But the Vindicators managed an early hits on both of the DDs, and by late morning, the Banshees managed to hit one of them as well. In the afternoon, their attacks were more organized, and the Marines and Army bombers together scored 3 more hits on one and 5 on the other for confirmed kills.

China
We got two more Zeroes that were trying to keep my bombers away from their troops near Nanyang.

Timor Sea
The Enterprise is underway, currently under the protection of land-based aircraft from Darwin (including its own VF-6), Hudson bombers providing ASW support along its immediate path, with Hornet providing ASUW protection to its flank and several minesweepers and destroyers providing ASW support further along its intended path. The scale of this operation is massive:

Darwin Assets:
ASW:
4 AVDs (1 sunk by submarine)
1 Dutch CM (sunk by submarine)
3 AM
2 YMS
18 AUS Wirraways
13 AUS Hudsons
VT-6: 15 Avenger

AAW:
VF-6 - 27 F4F
3 P-39 Squadrons: 55 total aircraft
1 AUS P-40 squadron: 16 aircraft
4 B-17s squadrons (offensive counter air vs Koepang) - 36 aircraft

ASUW:
VS-6: 18 SBDs
VB-6: 18 SBDs

Transport: Bringing in extra dockworkers for repairs
4 Dragons
11 C-47
1 DC-2
7 C-33

Hornet Battle Group--protecting Enterprise northern flank from surface attack
1 CV
2 CA
10 DD, plus 4 detached to Enterprise
VF-8 - 27 F4F
VT-8: 15 Devastator - ASW
VS-8: 18 SBCs - ASUW
VB-8: 18 SBCs - ASUW

Supplemental surface forces
2 AM, 1 DD, 2 DMS - Advance ASW on Enterprise's path
2 CA, 2 CL, 3 DD - supplemental escorts for Enterprise, rendevous in Arafura Sea.

KB Greeting Party
3 DM - Laying mines in Horn Island chokepoint
3 US and 4 Dutch submarines
8 PT boats
8 LB-30 Liberators
26 B-26s
19 Hudsons
16 Beaufighters for low-level attack
15 A-24 Banshees
12 Vindicators
40 US P-40Es
16 AUS P-40s

Search aircraft
32 Catalinas (Dutch, AUS, and US)

Totals:
Fighters: 191
Bomber/Attack: 265
Transport: 23
Search: 32
CV: 1 (Enterprise doesn't count)
CA/CL: 6
DD: 18
Other ASW: 14
DM: 3
SS: 7
PT: 8

So if this doesn't work out, don't fault me for not trying, this might be my biggest op so far.

We're going east. I only have two choices, and the fact that our B-17s are not neutralizing Koepang means that the big E and Hornet would be under escorted Betty attacks for several days if we went west, and he could reinforce his numbers during that time. It's very likely he'd break through, putting both carriers at risk. Losing both is completely unacceptable. Going east is risky too-he has at least 2 submarines waiting in that direction, and search aircraft are keeping a very close eye on Darwin. I can reasonably assume that the KB will probably reappear uncomfortably close a day or two after we depart. If that happens, the Hornet will cut and run, and I'll try to draw the KB to my greeting party to make him pay a cost for finishing off the Enterprise. Both options suck, but the eastern route is less bad.

One of the subs we went after to keep it off Enterprise sank the AVD that went after it.

Hornet found a CL and 2 DDs lurking north of our path. We attacked with 25 Helldivers and 4 Devastators (armed with bombs as they are mainly tasked to ASW right now), but the wiggly little bastards managed to evade every bomb.

The Enterprise did not report being sighted by scoutplanes and did not encounter any submarines leaving the base. This is a great start, as it means if the KB is planning on appearing when we leave, he might not know we left yet, so we're getting a head start. But the amount of naval activity in the area is probably a big hint.

Reinforcements
No.118 Sqn RCAF arrives at Canada (fighter pilot training)
Eastern Army arrives at Madras (Command HQ - headed for Calcutta)
39th Can (Militia) Brigade arrives at Vancouver (restricted)
BB North Carolina arrives at Balboa - Maybe she'll join the Wasp, they have similar top speeds.
DD Buchanan arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

12 June 1942
Enterprise remains undetected; S-40 on eternal patrol


Japan
USS Pomano sank an AKL in the Okinawa-Kyushu gap

Sumatra
The S-40 had positioned itself to get a shot at the heavy surface group bombarding Benkolen on its way back to the Java Sea. It was detected an engaged in shallow water with accurate depth charge patterns. Its damage forced it to surface and it was gunned down.

Our Aussie P-40s did better, they got 2 Zeroes over Palembang with no losses today. But none of them escorted the B-25 missions, so two more of them were lost to Oscars. Our Fulmar fighter-bombers attempting a low level attack didn't fare much better, 2 were shot down, the rest routed.

Timor Sea and Arafura Sea
Enterprise made it another day without any evidence of it being spotted. It's kind of quiet over here. The B-17s had another mostly ineffective run at Koepang, not much else to say for now. But, spoiler alert:


Reinforcements
DD McCalla arrives at Balboa
AM Shepparton arrives at Melbourne
No.16 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Blenheim (a very badly needed training squadron)

[Molon Labe]

13 June 1942
Heavies approaching Darwin--centered around Yamato

Darwin area
We opened up by locating one of the subs off Darwin and hitting it with a very accurate depth charge attack. This looks like a kill, so we probably avenged the AVD sunk here earlier.

The Yamato, Haruna, Hiei and several cruisers and destroyers were spotted approaching Darwin from the north. The AI captains wisely scattered our ASW forces out of the way. Fortunately, they failed to reach Darwin today which meant I got an airstrike on them and I got to evacuate most of the planes out of Darwin immediately afterwards. I'm getting a lot of help here because we have a railroad connection, so every plane that can't fly right now is still getting shipped out. If he was hoping for an aircraft massacre, he's going to be disappointed. Also, he probably still thinks the Enterprise is there--for the 3rd day, she still hasn't been detected (to my knowledge).

The first strike was 16 SBDs of VS-6 escorted by 7 Australian P-40s and 5 US P-39s. The enemy had 7 Zeroes on CAP over the task force, who managed to avoid most of my fighters and go straight after the SBDs. We ended up losing 4 of them to the fighters, while one Zero, one P-39, and one P-40 were also shot down. The strike was hampered by the weather as they bombed in a thunderstorm... also three battleships plus escorts put up a lot of flak, taking out another SBD before it could attack. Out of 11 SBDs that made their attack, only one bomb found Yamato.

VB-6 arrived next with 18 SBDs and 16 P-39 escorts. The enemy only had one Zero left on CAP, but it was able to shoot down a P-39 before it bugged out. The SBDs scored a hit on Hiei. After that two stragglers from VS-6 found the enemy task force and managed to miss. We ended up losing a total of 4 SBDs to flak.

Overall a very disappointing result that two dive bomber squadrons were only able to get two hits on huge targets with minimal air cover. I'm tempted to turn Hornet around to get a crack at these guys before they disappear, but Enterprise is going to be in range of Rabaul's aircraft soon and it's not going to consistently be close enough to airbases to reliably provide cover. Lexington is actually nearby too, but it probably wouldn't relieve Hornet in time for Hornet to get to the Yamato---also I'm still expecting the KB to respond and having 3 of my carriers together when his 6 show up is something I'd rather avoid. So, I'll leave the defense of Darwin to their substantial coastal batteries for now. (5x 155mm M1918; 2x 6-pounder (probably 57mm); 6x 6" MkV/VII, 2x 9.2", 2x 4")

China
Some of the enemy armies moving east near Nanyang have turned northwest, which looks like a move to flank my armies that left Kaifeng
and are now guarding a river crossing on the flank of the frontline. Going to have to move them back a bit and possibly engage. Our bombers are now focusing on this group, and the terrain here it open so they are taking a beating.

Sumatra
Another P-40 down over Palembang with nothing to show for it. These Aussie pilots just aren't on the same level as the Japanese.

Oosthaven held out against an attack led by the Imperial Guards Division, which was surprisingly weak. I'm not sure what explains the lack of enemy firepower here because they didn't take that many casualties in Java and they've had time to replace their losses.

Singkep has been captured.

Thailand
We got another disappointing air result over Raheng, as Oscars swept the air base and the US P-40s there got beaten 3 to 1. There also appears to be an enemy army advancing north up the road from Bangkok. At this time, I believe my forces here are sufficient to stop it, although I may have to consolidate with my Raheng forces if he's concentrated his troops.

Aleutians
My USMC dive bombers are in place. The surface task force is lagging behind, I'm going to have them steam at flank speed for a day to try to get on schedule. If the enemy really is coming, I'd expect my Catalinas to spot them tomorrow. One sub that wanted to dock for repairs at Dutch Harbor has been ordered to Seattle instead to keep it from being offline in port during a potential battle.


Reinforcements
VB-5 arrives at San Francisco (Yorktown's old squadron being reformed--I don't have enough planes to spare to outfit them, so this is going to be a hollow command for now)
369th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, ~30% strength)
140th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)
7th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (restricted, full strength)
14th NZ Brigade arrives at Auckland (unrestricted, full strength)

[Threadfin]

A mulligan is a do-over. It's a golf term usually used when the player hits a wayward tee shot, and wants to do it again, better this time.


Great AARs Molon Labe.


OOps, I was on the last page and it appeared that question was the most recent post. Already been answered.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

A mulligan is a do-over. It's a golf term usually used when the player hits a wayward tee shot, and wants to do it again, better this time.


Great AARs Molon Labe.


OOps, I was on the last page and it appeared that question was the most recent post. Already been answered.

No problem, now I know for certain