Battle of Leyte Gulf

[skirich]

Battle: Oct 23-26, 1944

Well, for the first time during my lengthy career from 1941, I was able to time a major battle (that I knew about) with the PAC Messages and my location to be part of it.


I happened to be in the Luzon Straights when the message came in about our forces invading the Philippines, I figured this had to be Leyte.
So I quickly looked up the dates and the battle routes and I had 6 days to get to either the South West side of the Leyte Passage, or Park near San Bernadino Straights.


I wanted to hit one of the Jap battle groups coming in from the west.
I originally thought of going for the northern carrier fleet with four juicy carriers, but decided the area was way too wide to search in the time I had, I would probably never find them. I may try anyway, in another save.
Anyway I had two battle groups back to back come into my sights while I parked just south west of Bohol Island. Nice deep spot with lots of places to hide and run behind.


The first battle group was Shimas Heavy Cruiser group. 7 destroyers four cruisers, two where heavy, and various support craft.

Nailed one of the heavies and got out of dodge.


As I was escaping, Nishimuras battle group of four battleships and 9 destroyers came steaming right at me in the mouth of the west straight by Sulu bay. I setup for a quick Vector analysis shot, which BTW is awesome for ships traveling at massive speeds. I was able to get the lead battleship and then get out of dodge.


Both times I used 3 torpedos.
Both were mid-day attacks in crystal clear weather.


Now as I escape, I'm thinking, dang, they are traveling towards the Leyte Straight, a tight, small pinch point. I should chase the group. I can probably knock out one or two more.
Now how the hell do I use the red pencil. Gotta figure that one out.



So thats my story.
Has anyone else been part of this battle?
Interested in stories about attacking San Bernadino straight instead, or maybe the carrier group.

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by skirich

Battle: Oct 23-26, 1944

Well, for the first time during my lengthy career from 1941, I was able to time a major battle (that I knew about) with the PAC Messages and my location to be part of it.


I happened to be in the Luzon Straights when the message came in about our forces invading the Philippines, I figured this had to be Leyte.
So I quickly looked up the dates and the battle routes and I had 6 days to get to either the South West side of the Leyte Passage, or Park near San Bernadino Straights.


I wanted to hit one of the Jap battle groups coming in from the west.
I originally thought of going for the northern carrier fleet with four juicy carriers, but decided the area was way too wide to search in the time I had, I would probably never find them. I may try anyway, in another save.
Anyway I had two battle groups back to back come into my sights while I parked just south west of Bohol Island. Nice deep spot with lots of places to hide and run behind.


The first battle group was Shimas Heavy Cruiser group. 7 destroyers four cruisers, two where heavy, and various support craft.

Nailed one of the heavies and got out of dodge.


As I was escaping, Nishimuras battle group of four battleships and 9 destroyers came steaming right at me in the mouth of the west straight by Sulu bay. I setup for a quick Vector analysis shot, which BTW is awesome for ships traveling at massive speeds. I was able to get the lead battleship and then get out of dodge.


Both times I used 3 torpedos.
Both were mid-day attacks in crystal clear weather.


Now as I escape, I'm thinking, dang, they are traveling towards the Leyte Straight, a tight, small pinch point. I should chase the group. I can probably knock out one or two more.
Now how the hell do I use the red pencil. Gotta figure that one out.



So thats my story.
Has anyone else been part of this battle?
Interested in stories about attacking San Bernadino straight instead, or maybe the carrier group.

I've been there, both in TMO/RSRD and FOTRSU. Each time I was against the West shore at the South entrance to the passage up to Leyte. In previous versions of FOTRSU I was attacked by multiple DDs before I could get close enough for a decent shot on the Heavy CAs. Didn't matter if I was mid-channel or just off shore.

Interesting that the DDs from the following group also steamed towards me once the first group attacked. Some of them could not make the channel entrance and went aground on the shore between me and them.

One of my torpedo's aimed at a DD passed close to the lead CA, causing it to slow down and zig towards me. That made it an easy target and it went down with a single hit in the forward magazine. After evading the oncoming DDs by diving deep, I came up just ahead of the BBs, both ISO class. We sank one and damaged the other. Again evading by diving deep, the two groups faded away to the North, but within a couple of hours those that survived the battle up closer to Leyte came back down the channel. Easy pickings on the wounded ducks. It was great fun and I look forward to repeating it in my current career. I'll be back in the Leyte Gulf area come October 1944 to see if I've improved any.

Btw, I've never been able to use the Red pencil. I've given up on it, frankly.

[skirich]

Great story.
So you went for the Nishimuras and Shimas battlegroups that went through the Leyte Straights by Mindanao.
Nice.
I'm gonna restart one of my saves and jump up to San Bernadino Straight and see if I can find the Yamato from the central battlegroup.

[Mios 4Me]

Leaving aside the Battle off Samar in the spirit of your discussion, I have twice encountered a northbound CV task group several days beforehand with rather light escorts. I initially assumed it was Ozawa but didn't he come down from Empire waters?

[skirich]

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

Leaving aside the Battle off Samar in the spirit of your discussion, I have twice encountered a northbound CV task group several days beforehand with rather light escorts. I initially assumed it was Ozawa but didn't he come down from Empire waters?

Ozaka did indeed come from northern waters, and was part of the carrier diversionary group.
Sad that they were willing to sacrafice the group for the chance to send cruisers and battleships up the rear to try and take on the US forces. But they had few aircraft, so why not.

[skirich]

Little ole me vs Yamato Battle Group in San Bernadino during Leyte Battle.

See attachment

[skirich]

Ok that was F-ing epic. I loaded the save before I sunk the previous two BB's in the Leyte Straight and headed north to San Bernadino to get a glimps of the Yamato Battlegroup.

I waited for a while to get the Yamato group close and then I saw all the contacts.

Oh My God. Four BB's Several cruisers and so many DD's and support craft surounding the armada I couldnt count them all.

There was no friggin way I was getting close enough to the BB's to get a shot off without sacrificing the sub.

I thought about swinging around and doing an end around but again the whole armada was completly and closely surrounded. Not to mention the zigzag and speed changes of the battlegroup pretty much eliminated the long distance shots.

To get those BB's I'd need to be real close.

For a moment I thought about going to test depth and wait until they were almost over me and surface for a chance, but as soon as I got close I heard active sonar.

So the initial choice of going for the southern task forces was a good one.

One thing I know about the battle was that our side nailed that Yamato group well with aircraft. So I'm going to go back to my last save, and turn north to see if I can catch the group retreating back to home waters.

If the game is historically accurate the Yamato should be on its way back to Formosa or some other norther port as a safety precaution.

Lets see if thats correct.
Picture of map with group: (sorry I cant figure out how to put up screen shots on subsim yet)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2nekhpz1df...attleGroup.png

[propbeanie]

Is that a "Stock" campaign skirich? Or TMO / RSRDC?

[skirich]

All stock.
Dang Yamato is elusive.
I'm parked at the San Bernadino straights waiting for the group to come back from the battle with our CV's

They have been decimated I presume as I watch 4 of the ship blow up and show wrecked on the nav map.
The Yamato is in full reverse.


So save game.
First try, I wait. they reform and travel into the straights but I cant get proper bearings to get a good solution and I cant get too close since they are surrounded by destroyers.


Second try.
I make haste in flank underwater to the group and I catch them in full reverse, but the yamato is super human speed and agility and out zips all my attempts at 3000 yards.


I try this four more times and no love.
Seems like the cruisers are detecting me and zipping in between me and the yamato and comiting suicide by torpoedo.


Im on my sixth try now. If this gets old, Im going to reload a bit earlier and find an island to hide behind as they steam back to home port through the straights.
Will try sneak attack.

[skirich]

Well thats new. The cruisers suround the Yamato like a blockade and allow it to slip north of me.


I have to rethink this attack approach. Going back to an earlier save and gonna hid in the islands as they pass.


I'm a sitting duck though since its shallow. Will try that once, and then maybe let them slip by and try a back end approach around a larger island.


Exciting stuff.

[skirich]

Ok, 10 tries with different setups and locations each time.
Not gonna happen at the straights.


Gonna try back in the bay.


way too many ships in the way here. Gotta somehow thin them out a bit.


I'll look for another choke point tomorrow.

[propbeanie]

Several points to remember about the game: #1, it "cheats"... #2, islands don't really "hide" you... you can often still "see" sonar lines through them... #3, lots of the capital ships have sonar and hydrophones #4, the collision avoidance in the game is atrocious #5, the game cheats even more...

Probably a lot of the "damage" that you're seeing is the ships and their "collision avoidance" kicking in. I forget how "wide" the Task Force is configured in stock, but I think it's 3 across. The ships of a group do not try to "choke down" to pass through a strait, and the escorts do not alter their pirouettes as they attempt to pass... they run into each other and / or run aground. So you are seeing the ships kick it into reverse to avoid another ship, and possibly running into another as they backup. They turn the wrong way and do all sorts of weirdness doing so... very un-lady-like for a ship...

[skirich]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Several points to remember about the game: #1, it "cheats"... #2, islands don't really "hide" you... you can often still "see" sonar lines through them... #3, lots of the capital ships have sonar and hydrophones #4, the collision avoidance in the game is atrocious #5, the game cheats even more...

Probably a lot of the "damage" that you're seeing is the ships and their "collision avoidance" kicking in. I forget how "wide" the Task Force is configured in stock, but I think it's 3 across. The ships of a group do not try to "choke down" to pass through a strait, and the escorts do not alter their pirouettes as they attempt to pass... they run into each other and / or run aground. So you are seeing the ships kick it into reverse to avoid another ship, and possibly running into another as they backup. They turn the wrong way and do all sorts of weirdness doing so... very un-lady-like for a ship...

#1 and #5, yeah I was beginning to wonder about that.
Collision avoidance is funny though.
Those first few attempts at a flank speed underwater charge at the group as they were stumbling about and the Yamato was fully exposed ... Once the Yamato knew I was en route, it turned tail and boogied into the middle of the scrum causing all sorts of havoc. Hysterical, like and elephant and mouse.

[propbeanie]

... or maybe "elephant in the china shop"? (it's bigger than a "bull" )...

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by skirich

#1 and #5, yeah I was beginning to wonder about that.
Collision avoidance is funny though.
Those first few attempts at a flank speed underwater charge at the group as they were stumbling about and the Yamato was fully exposed ... Once the Yamato knew I was en route, it turned tail and boogied into the middle of the scrum causing all sorts of havoc. Hysterical, like and elephant and mouse.

my apologies for jumping in here late....
skirich, are you playing a career in October 1944 or are you playing a single mission built around October 1944?