War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Ostfriese]

Wehn a unit is restricted it means that you cannot use/move that unit unless you spend political points or wait a certain time, correct?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Wehn a unit is restricted it means that you cannot use/move that unit unless you spend political points or wait a certain time, correct?

Yes, although I wasn't as specific as I could have been. Some units are fully restricted and can't be purchased with political points. Others can be purchased. The restriction prevents the unit from being loaded on ships, but they can still move across land. By house rule, you can't walk them over national boundaries until you've paid to make them unrestricted.

[Molon Labe]

9 May 1942

Luzon Strait
USS Snapper torpedoed and sank an Aden-class cargo ship.

SouthPAC
Near Pago, an enemy sub took a shot at minesweeper on ASW patrol and missed. The minesweeper's partner, a corvette, found the sub and scored a solid hit with depth charges. But we didn't sink her.

Celebes Sea
USS Finback fired at least 3 salvoes of torpedoes at an Aden class cargo ship, only scoring 2 hits, of which only one detonated. The two ships also traded a few gun hits, motivating Finback to back off. The cargo ship didn't immediately sink but the damage appears bad enough to be lethal.

Timor and Banda Sea
We lost a B-26 to Oscars while bombing troops in eastern Timor. But, our B-17s hit the airbase at Ambon--good chance that's where the Oscars are from--blowing up 2 Oscars on the ground and causing moderate facility damage.

China
We took Pucheng back after the enemy vacated it. No one loves this base, despite having significant forts already built.

We have troops on the march in the Keifeng area.

Sumatra
A surprisingly large amphibious force landed on Enggano, a small island south of Sumatra. South as in, in the Indian Ocean. This could be a vulnerable group if they stick around long enough. They can get Zeroes here, though. The question is whether they're protecting something else, or if their MPAs are searching somewhere else. At this time I don't know the number of ships there, but I think the troops are a full marine unit.

Bay of Bengal
There are sub-based floatplanes being sighted near Sri Lanka, Calcutta, and Rangoon.

Reinforcements
Repairs completed on AE Harpoon at Los Angeles, ship returned to service (converted)
Repairs completed on AE Royal T. Frank at Los Angeles, ship returned to service (converted)
Repairs completed on SS Tarpon at Dutch Harbor, ship returned to service (radar)
Repairs completed on DMS Boggs at Brisbane, ship returned to service (AA upgrade+radar)
3rd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (restricted)

[Molon Labe]

10 May 1942
Tavoy airbase threatened

Thailand
The enemy launched a massive air raid against Force Lauren, 24 Sallies back up by 25 Oscars. We opposed it with only 5 Hurricanes and a P-40, but we managed to shoot down 1 Oscar and 6 Sallies without loss. The bombers that made it through were ineffective thanks to the terrain.

Force Lauren has broken contact with the pursuing army, but that may be a mixed blessing. At least some of that army is leaving the road and crossing into the western mountains, headed for Tavoy. I can mirror his movement--and I will--but he may have a few days head start on me. I'm detaching my armor to take the roads the long way around, it'll be faster for them. I can't reinforce directly from Rangoon because of the armies that also crossed the mountains there. I have enough reserve there to protect one or the other, not both. So, in addition to Force Lauren going full defensive, I'm going to purchase that Indian division I was thinking about using for an offensive deeper into Malaya. That's my new Rangoon garrison, which will free up the current forces to reinforce Tavoy. I'm also recalling my British CVBG and covering force. The battleships in particular may be useful if they reach Tavoy through the mountains.

The silver lining in all of this is he's proceeding without supply lines by taking is armies off-roading through the mountains. My troops will be fully supplied at their bases and will have supply lines from Rangoon to sustain them during a battle. Raheng is at some risk of being severed, but even if that happens, I have supply there now, I have an airfield there, and I have several squadrons of transports on reserve in Calcutta just waiting for the word that they're needed. So, assuming he hasn't achieved strategic surprise with his move on Tavoy, there's a potential to cause some serious damage to major land forces here.

Sumatra
We lost 3 Australian Kittyhawks over Palembang to Oscar sweeps. These Aussie pilots aren't as well-trained as their counterparts, sadly. We've added some training squadrons in recent weeks, but the benefit of them hasn't fully kicked in.

Our CVBG and land-based searchplanes failed to locate the ARG landing on Enggano, so no attack took place. That mission will be aborted, as this task force is being recalled to the Bay of Bengal.

Ceram Sea
B-17s from Darwin flew all the way up to the western edge of Papua/New Guinea (with a reduced bomb load) to bomb some cargo ships, and we actually got a hit on one.

SouthPAC
Now a bogey has appeared north of Suva. Instead of sending ships, this time my response will only be airborne. I don't want to get too predictable, especially when I'm reacting to him. He'll be in for seaplanes carrying bombs, B-26s, A-24s, or even P-39s strafing, depending on how close he gets. The seaplane crews aren't trained for naval attacks, though, so I don't expect much from them.

Reinforcements
Repairs completed on CV Lexington at Alameda, ship returned to service (major AA upgrade)
CLAA Atlanta taken out of commission to begin refit at San Francisco (AA upgrade)
SS Pompano begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor (radar)
DD Woodworth arrives at San Francisco
SS Grunion arrives at Eastern USA (ugh, long way to go before I can deploy her)
148th Infantry Regiment arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted. Nice!)
108th RN Base Force arrives at Aden (6% strength, unrestricted)

[Molon Labe]

11 May 1942

So little happened this turn there's no need to break it down by region.

Our Beauforts in Singapore attempted a strike against shipping in Kuantan; Zeroes and Oscars intercepted and we ended up trading 2 of our fighters for 1 of theirs; the bombers missed their targets.

Some B-17s fought their way through Oscars to bomb Ambon airfield for light damage.

At Keifeng, China, our forces are in contact with the enemy and begin their attack tomorrow.

Our subs laid mines near Batavia and Balikpapan.

There were lots of air raids elsewhere, but nothing opposed and nothing that did significant damage.

Reinforcements/Refits
CL Adelaide taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane (AA upgrade)
SS S-34 taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane (radar)
Repairs completed on DD Craven at Brisbane, ship returned to service (K-guns for depth charges added)
Repairs completed on DD Perkins at Los Angeles, ship returned to service (1 5" gun replaced with K-guns, .50cals replaced with 20mms, depth charge capacity increased, radars added)
Repairs completed on AM Cromarty at Aden, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
AGP Jamestown arrives at Balboa
ZP-32 arrives at Alameda (2/8 ZPK blimps with radar. ASW night duty)
3rd USMC Parachute Battalion arrives at San Diego (full strength, restricted)
5th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (full strength, restricted)
15th NZ AA Bde arrives at Auckland (35% strength, restricted)

-Enterprise and Hornet have received 4 recently upgraded destroyers and are sending 4 back to port that need upgrades. Tomorrow they'll do the same with a cruiser.
-VS-6 on Enterprise transitioning from SBD-2 to SBD-3 (there are no longer enough SBD-2s to equip both her squadrons, VS-6's old aircraft will be VB-6's replacement pool)

[Molon Labe]

12 May 1942
Kido Butai tries to ambush a surface action group, gets a consolation prize

Java Sea
O21 attacked a surface combat task force that was mostly or all destroyers...maybe not the best choice. It missed, and fortunately got away with only slight depth charge damage.

Timor
The 48th Division (veterans of the Luzon campaign) is landing in Koepang. The landings were supported by a wave of 14 Sallies escorted by 35 Zeroes; we only managed 7 P-40s to oppose. One P-40 was shot down, the rest were driven off. We scored a hit on a cargo ship in the amphibious task force with a light bomber, but the damage was negligible (stupidly small 50kg bombs). That mission cost us another P-40.

I have a surface combat task force nearby, but the enemy formation is large and is centered around the battleship Hiei. This probably isn't the best target. Too bad I turned my Brit carriers around when I did, they'd be here for this otherwise.

Malaya
We lost 2 Beauforts, 2 Mohawks, and a Blenhieim trying to hit Kuantan's supply runs. Our Mohawks took down a Zero. A few Beauforts got through but missed their target.

SouthPAC
Not sending a surface group after the bogey north of Fiji ended up being a really good call...it was an ambush setup by the KB.



In addition to the last bogey off Fiji, there was also one at Pago again, I just didn't spot it yet. The KB was hanging out between them in strike range of both. Even though I didn't send a task force to intercept the Pago bogey, I did have a transport convoy moving through that area on its way back to the US, so the KB did get a target. We also had 4 destroyers passing near the Fiji bogey but the enemy didn't spot it. The KB launched raids against the transport convoy as well as a nearby ASW task force.

In echoes of the real life Battle of the Coral Sea, it was the USS Sims escorting the transport convoy, which fared only slightly better than the real-life Neosho. One transport was hit by 4 torpedoes and sank immediately. Another took two hits and is going to try to make it to port in Pago. The Sims will try to leave the area with the single remaining undamaged transport. Vals followed up to attack the Sims but missed.

The ASW group to the west of Pago drew a strike and fared better. The first wave attacked the PC Taney and missed, but not before P-40s from Pago shot down a Zero and 8 Kates, while losing only 2 of their own. That was followed up by Vals, though, and by that point our fighters had been mostly routed. We lost 2 more P-40s with no kills. The Vals severely damaged the Taney, sank a minesweeper, and damaged a corvette. This would have been a wipe had the bombers not been flying at extended range and carrying only 60kg bombs.

The timing of this is fortunate...I don't have any carriers passing through here, only one of my tanker convoys is here, and the only troop convoys are on their return trips. Although part of the reason the carriers aren't near here is because the appearance of the second bogey really made it look like something was going to go down here, so I moved them away. I'm routing as much traffic as I can away for now, which is going to be a little chaotic but we'll manage. I'm also moving a bit more aircraft into Pago and Suva from nearby bases. It looks to me like the KB isn't going to be deployed aggressively here. He's already standing off and trying to use his bait ships to bring me to him. But just in case, I'll have more fighters protecting the bases and even a few A-20s in case he gets close enough. Both bases also have a compliment of dive bombers, and Suva has B-26s with naval-attack trained crews.

China
The battle for Kaifeng is going well. We took their forts down from level 3 to level 2 and it appears we have overwhelming numbers. Casualties were 2300 to 3300 favoring them--that will improve as the forts come down. Support from SB-III and B-25 bombers is getting through unmolested. It appears we achieved strategic surprise.

South China Sea
USS Porpoise got into a surface attack against a previously-damaged cargo ship off the coast of Vietnam. It failed to score any detonating torpedo hits, but dealt significant damage with its deck gun, starting major fires.

Thailand and Burma
As theorized, the enemy armies bypassing Raheng have moved onto the road that supplies Raheng from Rangoon. Per our contingency plans, our reserve armies are moving out to retake the road and airlift operations have begun to keep Rageng supplied. Our bombers, resting ever since taking heavy casualties, are getting back into the action and will commence bombing the road tomorrow. I've pulled our fighters out of Raheng to be closer to Rangoon, in hopes this will help our bombers link up with them better than before. I've also moved a few fighters from protecting Force Lauren to add to the bomber escorts.

I've paid for the Indian division in Calcutta. It's going to take a couple days to load them onto ships and a few more to get them here and disembark. Figure a week before they can truly enter the fighting if need be.


Reinforcements/Refits
-HMS Illustrious is about to finish its journey from South Africa to Sri Lanka. (13 Swordfish, 20 Martlets)
DD Dent beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles (bigger fuel tanks, AA, radar)
CVE Long Island arrives at Balboa (no aircraft)
1st USMC Air Wing Base Force arrives at San Francisco (0% strength; I think this is a unit destroyed on Luganville being reformed)

[Molon Labe]

13 May 1942
Pago Pago endured alpha strike from Kido Butai

Timor
As the enemy landings continued, 4 of my PT boats were arriving from Darwin that were meant to be stationed at Koepang. We never got them close enough to hit anything; they were spotted coming in and the escorts blocked their advance and forced them to retreat. But they did cause an alarm that caused the enemy to temporarily abort the landing and try to evade. A transport collided with an escort in the chaos. Later in the day, two destroyers hit mines, one of which probably sank.

Our resistance to the enemy's air raids was of little consequence, a few planes shot up but nothing shot down on either side. We sent out bombers to hit the enemy ships, losing 2 Falcons to AA and 2 B-26s to Oscars. B-17s from Darwin managed to hit a transport, but it was mostly empty by then.

Malaya
Our Wirraways managed to hit a cargo ship at Kuantan, but we lost a Hurricane and a Beaufort to enemy fighters in the attempt. The Beaufort squadron is essentially done at this point, I'm standing it down until it gets replacement aircraft. I have to say I had high hopes for these aircraft and I'm very disappointed in them...their accuracy was just horrible even with reasonably well-trained pilots.

SouthPAC
Defying my prediction, the KB aggressively charged south and launched a full-strength strike against Pago from rather close range. It was 54 Zeroes escorting 150 Vals and 153 Kates. All 6 fleet carriers are there, with the Junyo taking Soryu's place. Against that, we had 22 P-39s and 14 P-40s. They were excellent--so good that it makes me wonder if the Japanese have taken more pilot losses than I've realized: 2 P-39s were shot down, we got 10 Zeroes, 5 Kates, and 3 Vals. Another 4 Vals were taken out by AA.

Damage was lighter than you'd expect for over 300 attacking bombers:
xAK Minnesotan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Day, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Fomalhaut, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Admiral Senn, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Mormacmar, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires (SUNK)
AP Wharton, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Challenger, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PC Taney, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE City of Elwood, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP President Hayes, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AG Sirius, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP President Polk, Bomb hits 1
xAK Charles H Cramp, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP President Monroe, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK President Quezon, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tambua, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK American, Bomb hits 1, on fire

I think I can be criticized for having that many ships in port, but I had been planning to return to Palmyra with these guys soon (hence why they were there in the first place) and moving them away from Pago would likely have gotten them attacked without fighters and base AA protecting them. So I think it was the right call.

I didn't attempt to use any of Pago's bombers this turn because I figured they'd just get torn to pieces. For next turn, the A-20s are in position and I've brought in another fighter squadron. So between wearing down their Zeroes and having more assets to bring, I'll attempt a strike next turn if he's in range. Dive bombers up high with escorts with the A-20s coming in low and fast. With a little luck one will draw the CAP and the other will get through and score some hits. The numbers still favor him, though.


Java Sea
USS Stringray attacked a transport convoy near Batavia and hit a troop-carrying cargo ship. It sustained light depth charge damage in exchange but got away.


Makassar Strait
The O16 found a convoy of 3 oilers and a destroyer. It put 3 of 6 fish into the side of one of the oilers for a confirmed kill. The destroyer was one of the few with deep-reaching depth charges, and it dealt the O16 a serious hit, but the sub eventually got away and will live long enough to be repaired--unless she's hit again.

Thailand
A sweep over Tavoy cost the enemy on Oscar. The enemy is apparently having second thoughts about his manuevers. The southern army that appeared to be headed for Tavoy through the mountains now looks more interested in Force Lauren. One of two groups of enemy land forces on the road to Raheng now appears to be moving off of it. This changes nothing, though, I'll proceed as before.

The troop convoy at Calcutta loaded faster than expected and will depart tomorrow. ASW is a huge concern. He clearly has multiple subs along the route waiting for me, and my ASW assets here are simply inadequate. I'm routing this convoy differently than the ones before to hopefully throw him off. The US fighter squadron has also arrived in Calcutta by rail and is assembling its aircraft, they'll be contributing in 3 days or so.

China
Day 2 at Kaifeng did not go well. Apparently we burned through a ton of supplies yesterday and should have used today to replenish. Casualties 1500 to 2700 favoring them, forts holding at level 2.

Reinforcements/refit
SS Herring arrives at Balboa
YMS-118 arrives at Los Angeles
No.99 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (2/16 Wellington bombers--fees like a bad joke)
209th Field Artillery Battalion arrives at Seattle (full strength, unrestricted)
256th USAAF Base Force arrives at Santa Barbara (40% strength, fully restricted)
138th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted)
6th Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego (43% strength, unrestricted--and the squads it needs to fill out are available so we can get this one ready pretty quickly)

[Molon Labe]

14 May 1942
A target of opportunity in this Pago mess

Timor and N. Australia
Enemy landings continued and our PTs harrassed them again and disrupted them. They're going to run out of fuel soon, but at least we're getting our money's worth before then.

We managed to bypass the enemy fighters escorting their airstrikes and shot down 3 Lillies. In our own strikes, we lost a P-40, 2 Hudsons, and a B-17.

South of Timor, near Darwin, two torpedo boats are getting disturbingly close to my ASW patrols. Patrol aircraft reported hitting both with bombs, but airstrikes from medium bombers didn't see any visible damages on the ships. Of course the medium bombers missed, and every bomber that went after them was a bomber not attacking the forces landing in Koepang. Tomorrow it'll be light bombers at low altitude, and possibly a surface combat task force if they really want to hunt our ASW ships.

CentPAC
There is a buildup of enemy fighters on Palmyra. Looks like he's expecting me to build up my airbase and hit him with level bombers. He's right.


SouthPAC
The battleships Kongo and Kirishima bombarded Pago Pago, nearly knocking out the airbase for the turn.

Airstrikes on Pago came in two waves, first a sweep and then a proper strike. The sweep mostly took care of what little resistance our wrecked airbase could send out. We took out 2 Zeroes but lost 5 fighters. For the strike, we got two more Zeroes but otherwise let about 200 bombers by:

AKE City of Elwood, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Anna Odland, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Admiral Day, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP President Polk, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK San Simeon, Bomb hits 1
AP President Hayes, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
--
xAK Minnesotan sinks in port
xAK Tambua sinks in port
PC Taney sinks in port
xAK Challenger sinks in port
AP President Monroe sinks in port

The KB is now off to the southeast of Pago and may be chasing a 12-knot maximum tanker group. A task force I suspect to be the battleships was spotted north of Fiji on a northwestern course, which I would read as headed for Truk.

Enterprise and Hornet are near the Coral Sea right now. I could send them to intervene in Timor or have them take a run at that suspected battleship group. But Timor's probably about 6 days--it might be over by then. Those battleships I might be able to intercept in 2 if I'm willing to sprint for a day and incur extra maintenance. A nice benefit of the 2nd option is that as far as I know, the airbases at Guadalcanal and Rabaul have been emptied. Although, I haven't been to Guad recently, my Liberators are down for maintenance. Still, I think I'll be able to position myself in a position that's relatively low-risk and that offers me a shot at an intercept. And it's also going to be easier to retreat and disappear from there than it would from Timor.


China
He's sending mass reinforcements to Kaifeng, including from neighboring bases on the front line. I'll be looking for another weak point to open up, meanwhile I'm matching his reinforcements. Our airstrikes are still getting through and they look like they're hurting him.

Thailand
His southern army is still headed to Tavoy. No sub attacks on the incoming convoy yet. The US fighter squadron is half-moved to Rangoon while the other fighters are being assembled.

Reinforcements
AK Electra arrives at Cristobal
TK Saidja arrives at Abadan
No.607 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (2/16 Hurricanes--useless--I transitioned them to 3 Buffalos to free up the Hurricanes to be used as replacements for the frontlines)
38th BG/69th BS arrives at Eastern USA (B-26s, I think it was 5/13, unrestricted. They're on their way to a west coast port)

[Molon Labe]

15 May 1942
KB disappears, USS Shark on eternal patrol

Japan
USS Shark was bombed by maritime patrol aircraft near Nagasaki, taking two bomb hits. They failed to contain the flooding and the boat succumbed by evening. We're going to have to hang out a bit further away from this coast now that their pilots are apparently ASW-trained.

Timor and N. Australia
Two of our PTs collided and the others are out of fuel. We got one more turn of harassment/disruption out of it before they got to base on fumes. I'm disbanding them and sending them back to the pool.

Our fighters again managed to evade enemy fighter escorts and hit the bombers, we got 2 Lillies and a Sally with no losses. The enemy also lost an Oscar trying to shoot down B-17s; they don't call them Flying Fortresses for nothing.

The two TBs were intercepted by my surface group and sunk without hitting us back.


Thailand
An air raid targeted Tavoy airbase. We shot down two Oscars but didn't reach the bombers. As has been frequent in this campaign, though, the bombers were at too high an altitude to do any real damage, so we're fine.

SouthPAC and Solomons area
Our CVBG was snooped by scoutplanes enroute to its intercept point. Meanwhile, both the KB and the suspected battleship group dropped out of contact, possibly due to overcast skies interfering with our scouts. The risk calculus just changed substantially--I'm aborting the intercept.

I wasn't able to return to Guadalcanal, but I did hit Rabaul with 22 Hudsons. The airbase is still empty but I damaged it badly enough that he probably won't want to send aircraft here until it's repaired.

My best guess is the KB was going to Christmas Island next because that's where he has current detections on my ships. But with my CVBG spotted, he might just turn them around.

China
We attacked Kaifeng today and knocked their forts down to Level 1, casualties 2300 to 2900 favoring them. That's good news but there's no guarantee he won't reinforce before I overrun them. But I kind of want him to reinforce there because my bombers are dealing so much damage, the terrain isn't favorable, and his forts are reduced. It's a good place to kill Japanese troops.

Reinforcements/Refits
Just the Cachalot getting its radars installed.

[Molon Labe]

16 May 1942
Kido Butai reappears near Pago, invading forces at Koepang reinforced by Imperial Guards Division


Timor
At least one more amphibious group arrived at Koepang and started dropping off the Imperial Guards Division and more combat engineers. He was cutting it a bit close on troops before this but probably still would have won, this move assures he has enough to take the base. There is now a rather large collection of assets here, though, so a possible opportunity to cause some attrition.

That attrition isn't coming from our bombers today, though. We flew several sorties, mostly from Darwin, and came up empty except for a Zero shot down by a B-17 gunner. Our CAP continues to do well against the enemy air raids, today we got 3 enemy fighters and 9 bombers with just one P-40 shot down.

Hawaii
I had a thought about Pearl--his bombers don't seem to be causing a lot of damage but I'm still sucking supply, where's it all going? Maybe it's being spent to repair/replace the devices and squads of our land forces. So I turned replacements off for everyone at the base. Hopefully if we stay at our current force level we won't consume so much. Also, the first submarine assigned to transport duty arrived. They can't deliver much, but every little bit will help, especially if turning replacements off made a difference.

Sumatra
Our scouts found a vulnerable transport convoy transiting the west Java Sea and our bombers took advantage. A pair of Fulmars got two 250lb bomb hits on a cargo ship loaded with vehicles and artillery, and Falcon light bombers scored multiple 50kg hits on two more--also carrying vehicles.

China
Reinforcements have arrived at Kaifeng and we might be outnumbered for now, but I'm attacking as planned anyways. The enemy base is being displayed with multiple large fires in the bombing animation--I'm not sure exactly what that means (high facility damage? low supply? high % of squad disablements?) but I'm willing to bet it means he's weaker than his apparent numerical strength. Also, some of those numbers are probably troops shipped in by rail, and a land unit needs 1-3 days to "unpack" from that mode of transport. During that time they're not fighting and they're more vulnerable to taking damage.

I regretfully lost one of my Hudson bombers here to AA today, which is worth mentioning only because I have so few decent bombers in theatre. Most of the results are from one British Wellington squadron (formerly operating in Thailand) and one American B-25 squadron. I'm moving the altitude for the attacking bombers up a pinch to try to avoid further losses.

SouthPAC
We've reacquired the suspected battleship group near the Gilberts--further North than expected. The KB has also been spotted again on a western course north of Pago--so it does look like they're reacting to my CVBG being spotted.

Ships at Pago are continuing to succumb to fires and flooding...
AP President Hayes sinks in port
...hopefully that's the last of them.

Reinforcements/refits
Two Australian minesweepers collided while on ASW duty near Brisbane--both were due for an upgrade so now that they're going to be spending time under repair anyway, I've cued that up.

SS Grayling taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor (radar)
xAK Robert Morris arrives at Alameda
23rd FG/74th FS arrives at Aden (23/25 P-40s -- already being loaded on a boat to India to get shipped by rail towards Thailand)
34th Infantry Regiment arrives at San Francisco (2% strength, restricted)

Also, I have enough Avengers in inventory to transition a VT squadron. Next carrier to stop at a large port gets them, not sure who that is yet.

[Molon Labe]

17 May 1942
Another shelling of Pago suggests larger operation underway

SouthPAC
A force of 5 heavy cruisers shelled Pago overnight, which made the day's air operations almost non-existent clearing the way for another airstrike by the KB (only 1 Zero shot down, 4 US fighters lost).:
AP Crescent City, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAKL White Wing, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Ohioan, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK San Simeon, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Dardanus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Arkansan, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK American, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AK Fomalhaut, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Missourian, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

The bombardment group appears to be leaving on the same northwesterly course as the last one with the battleships, so, it looks like he's set up an ammo tender somewhere in the Gilberts to rotate 2 or more bombardment groups to Pago and back.


Timor
The only aerial loss over Koepang today was one of our P-39s, as our squadrons are just getting worn down. I could send in more, but the enemy army hasn't attacked yet and I'm not sure how many turns the base can hold out, so I don't want to risk losing entire squadrons on the ground. Our bombers that were attacking his ships almost missed completely--we did get one non-penetrating hit on a battleship, which isn't a big deal. So for now I'm switching to bombing his land forces.

Sumatra
We sent a pair of Fulmars after a task force, only one came back thanks to an LRCAP of Oscars.

China
Our attack on Kaifeng knocked his forts down to 0, but casualties were pretty bad (1500 to 4000). Bad enough that I'm now depending on my own reinforcements to put me over the top.

Burma and Thailand
Giving that troop convoy an alternate route worked splendidly. It wasn't even detected by a floatplane.

Strait of Malacca
There's a large-ish task force making its way up the Strait, and there is a smaller group of cruisers already docked at Georgetown. We may be looking at an attempt to open up a new front in Thailand/Burma with an amphibious landing. This could get interesting.

The larger group drew an airstrike from Singapore as it entered the Strait; one cargo ship was hit with a torpedo from a Vildebeest. It did not appear to be carrying troops, which is curious. I don't know what a supply task force would be doing in the Bay of Bengal right now. Then a second strike by Wirraways from Singapore and Falcons from Palembang hit the convoy, scoring bomb hits on two cargo ships and setting one on fire--this one did result in troop casualties, so that's making a little more sense.

Reinforcement/Refits
CA Portland beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at Sydney
CA Astoria beginning refit in shipyard at Sydney
(these two were from Enterprise/Hornet CVBG, swapped with 2 others recently upgraded)
AM Bunbury begins refit while under repair at Sydney
AM Whyalla begins refit while under repair at Sydney
(I mentioned these the other day)
Repairs completed on SS Grampus at Brisbane, ship returned to service (radar installed)

xAK Rufus King arrives at Portland
214th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco (35%, restricted)
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion arrives at Eastern USA (full strength, unrestricted)
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted)
8th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (full strength, restricted)
8th Medium (artillery) Regiment arrives at Aden (5% strength, unrestricted. There are enough to this unit's type of guns (4.5" field guns) in the pool to outfit this unit, so the strength should come up quickly).

[Molon Labe]

18 May 1942
Aerial defeat in Strait of Malacca attempting to strike ARG

Timor
We didn't do as well here as on previous days, 2 P-40s down in exchange for an Oscar and 2 Lilies. Our bombers made it through to the enemy troops without much complication.

Strait of Malacca
A flight of 8 Martlets escorting my remaining 3 Vildebeest torpedo bombers was bounced by 14 Zeroes and 16 Oscars. 5 Martlets were shot down, the rest routed, and the Vildebeests were wiped out. The Martlets didn't shoot down anyone. A follow on raid of Wirraways escorted by Mohawks was also routed, 1 Wirraway shot down as the mission was aborted due to too many opposing fighters. Both my torpedo bomber squadrons here are now effectively out of action and it could be months before I have enough replacements to bring them back to readiness.

SouthPAC
I scrapped together a few destroyers to go looking for the enemy tenders supporting their Pago op. I've lost track of the KB again, probably because so many aircraft at Pago have been disabled that scout routes don't have available aircraft to be assigned to them. Of course, he could always be going somewhere else.

Ships at Pago are succumbing to damage sustained yesterday:
xAK Arkansan sinks in port
AK Fomalhaut sinks in port
xAK Missourian sinks in port

Reinforcements and refits
SS Seadragon taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane
Repairs completed on BB Arizona at Seattle, ship returned to service (the last survivor of the initial Pearl Harbor attack requiring repair. She also got an AA upgrade while she was in the yard)
Repairs completed on DD Conyngham at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on DD Shaw at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on DD Farragut at Alameda, ship returned to service
Repairs completed on DD Dale at Alameda, ship returned to service
(DDs are all upgrades, mostly AA, some radars and K-guns)

23rd FG/HqS arrives at Aden (2/5 P-40s)
10th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Port Hueneme (full strength, restricted)

[Molon Labe]

19 May 1942
B-25 squadron decimated over Kaifeng


Timor
We're running out of planes to defend the island with. We lost one of the few P-40s that took off today and shot down nothing.

We planned on sending Liberators to Kendari and the B-17s to Ambon to try to reduce the enemy fighter threat. Weather hampered us; the B-17's mission was cancelled and the LB-30s didn't deal significant damage. One LB-30 was lost to flak.

Thailand
Each side lost a fighter over Tavoy. Our reserve armies are now in contact with some of the road blocking forces near Raheng and will engage tomorrow.

China
There are now Zeroes and Nates protecting Kaifeng. The B-25s were the first to find out and they arrived without their escorts thanks to Murphy. One was shot down by the Zeroes and another lost to flak... but the remaining aircraft were so badly damaged that many didn't make the return trip or had to be scrapped after they landed. I have one operational B-25 left in China, with 4-5 more expected to be repaired and returned to service.

The situation on the ground isn't looking so great anymore. We reinforced the north end of the frontline (Tsiaotso) as he was pulling troops out of there, but when we attacked we didn't make any progress and took heavy casualties for trying (3300 to 500). Further north, he's pulling troops away from a river/mountain pass he was guarding, and I'm going to fill that space, but I don't know if I'll turn that into something meaningful. Kaifeng itself is still up for grabs but it really depends on who can muster more reinforcements at this point.

Strait of Malacca
I've lost track of the ARG and its likely covering force. I'm deploying assets to try to pick them up before they arrive at Tavoy, if that is indeed where they're headed.

SouthPAC
Quiet today, but there are still enemy planes scouting Pago, so I don't think they've left yet.

Well, not that quiet I guess, the fires are still burning on a few ships...
xAK San Simeon sinks in port

Reinforcements/Refits
I had to withdraw 5 squadrons today to send to Europe, one group of Fulmars that was training on the Hermes, and 4 US training squadrons.

Radar installation:
SS Salmon begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor
SS Stingray taken out of commission to begin refit at Palembang
SS Seawolf taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane

AA upgrades:
Repairs completed on AM Bayfield at Seattle, ship returned to service

New Arrivals:
TK British Hope arrives at Abadan
VT-5 arrives at San Francisco (The Yorktown's old squadron being reformed. I'll use them for training.)
303rd BG/359th BS arrives at Mojave
23rd FG/75th FS arrives at Aden (23/25 P-40s--headed to Burma via India)
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted)
5th Marine Regiment arrives at Eastern USA (full strength, unrestricted)

[Molon Labe]

20 May 1942
KVII sunk off shore of Oosthaven

Timor
The S-38 and S-41 both sustained depth charge damage trying to get close to landing areas. We also lost another P-40 trying to get to their bombers. His local ARG with battleships attached is now on the east side of the island, I assume, to pick up the troops there and bring them back west to Koepang. Our B-26s scored a hit on one of the transports, but it was empty at the time.

I put all my heavy bombers in the area on Ambon this turn but we destroyed no planes on the ground--I think the base is empty and that Kendari is the only base supporting this operation. Well, that's good news for me, safer for my ships operating near Darwin. I'll hit it once more to be sure, the weather was T-storms so our accuracy might not have been that great.

We defeated the first group of road blockers at Raheng. One more to go.

Strait of Malacca
A destroyer and an armed merchant cruiser pulled into Medan, a base in northwestern Sumatra, and started offloading troops. Heavy machinegun fire made them change their minds, they got back in their boats and left. I'm guessing this was the "covering force" I detected earlier, it's too small to be the suspected ARG. For now I'm going to continue under the assumption there is still an ARG headed for the Tavoy area.

Sweeps targeted Singapore, which is a curious move because he's dealing with my bombers quite effectively without needing to open up the skies for a strike on my airbase. But I do thank him, because the RAF got some much needed payback. 9 Oscars shot down with a loss of a Mohawk, 2 Marlets, and 3 Hurricanes.

Sumatra
A series of several sweeps hit Palembang, costing him 3 Zeroes and us 2 Kittyhawks.

A strike by 5 DB-7Bs hit an ASW group, sinking a PB. A flight of 9 Falcons attacked a pair of subchasers but missed.

That same group of subchasers then detected and attacked the KVII, scoring several solid hits with depth charges. The boat suffered internal fires and sank--the first submarine kill by the Japanese not by an aircraft.


Thailand
I've made an interface error here that could cost me dearly. I had intended to split force Lauren between armor and everything else, sending the armor to Tavoy the long way on roads, with everything else hiking through the mountains. This is to stop the armor from slowing everyone else down with their extremely slow movement on rough ground. But one armor unit stayed with the main force. So they're suffering the movement penalty, and have been for over a week. Which means he probably gets to Tavoy ahead of me with time enough to take the base before my reinforcements arrive.

I'm going to try to slow his movement with airstrikes. I'm only ordering one strike to stop escorting fighters from being divided, and I'm hitting the skies with a sweep because I expect heavy fighter resistance. I'm expecting heavy air casualties but losing Tavoy would suck worse.

Today, an air battle over Tavoy resulted in 4 downed P-40s from the newly arrived squadron--not a great start for them--along with a Hurricane; we got just 2 Oscars with that loss.

China
Our troubles getting our fighters to link up with bombers continued, costing us 3 SB-IIIs and 6 Wellingtons. I'm grounding the bombers and switching to sweeps for a bit.

Hawaii
The enemies armies on Oahu decided to remind us they're still here. They attacked and were repelled easily, casualties 300 to 5000 favoring us, forts holding at level 3. Apparently they are suffering supply shortages. Speaking of which, I think what's sucking my supply is AA ammunition expenditures, which I can't turn off.

Reinforcements and refits
SS Silversides begins refit while under repair at Dutch Harbor (radar)
AM Horsham arrives at Sydney
301st BG/352nd BS arrives at Mojave (3/8 B-17E)

[Molon Labe]

21 May 1942

We've been going quick yesterday and today so these might be a little rushed as I try to get caught up.

Sumatra
A bombardment task force centered on the Haruna hit Benkoelen, on the Indian Ocean side of Sumatra. Wasn't expecting that. I'd consider deploying my Brit carriers to deal with this, but I don't know it will repeat and holding the Tavoy area is really important.

Paratroops captured Langsha, along the northeastern coast.

An attack by DB-7 bombers against his ASW group failed to avenge the KVII, we lost a Buffalo, a Kittyhawk, and a DB-7 for trying.

Line Islands
My surface task force from the Pago area has been in evasive mode thanks to the KB's appearance, but I decided to put it to use and bombarded Palmyra with it. We didn't get any airplanes but the airfield damage was serious. I think he spotted us and moved his fighters away.

Timor
2 more P-40s down over Koepang with no results to show for it. We raided Ambon again with the heavies and ran into significant fighter resistance. But again, the damage to the base didn't include damage or destroyed planes. Hmmm.

The enemy armies at Koepang attacked and knocked our fortifications down to level 1, casualties 540 to 170 favoring us.

China
We swept Kaifeng with AVG-2 while our bombers are being repaired, shooting down 2 Zeroes and 4 Nates with no losses.

Reinforcements/refits
Repairs completed on CL Honolulu at San Francisco, ship returned to service (repairing torpedo damage sustained near Oahu)
Repairs completed on DD Lawrence at San Francisco, ship returned to service (upgrade)
Repairs completed on DD Kane at San Francisco, ship returned to service (upgrade)
DD Chew beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Schley beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
AM Cromer taken out of commission to begin refit at Aden (AA upgrade)
303rd BG/HqS arrives at Mojave (pretty sure these were B-26s)
1st USMC Tank Battalion arrives at Eastern USA (full strength, unrestricted)