War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen - Page 17

Molon Labe · 10-08-21, 02:25 PM

22 May 1942

Japan
USS Swordfish put a torpedo into a PB that was hunting it in the Kyushu-Okinawa gap, sinking it.

Sumatra
A small ARG attempted a landing at Sabang, on the northeast coast. One destroyer and the armed merchant acting as a transport were hit by coastal artillery and their rather small force of troops came under heavy attack. Their assault collapsed and their remaining troops are now on the defensive.

An attempt by our Falcon bombers to strike ships off the coast was aborted after Oscars brushed aside our escorting Kittyhawks like they were nothing. We lost one Kittyhawk and a Falcon during the intercept.

Malaya
Singapore suffered another sweep, but the RAF held their ground, shooting down 5 Zeroes and 6 Oscars with a loss of 3 Hurricanes and a Martlet.

Thailand
We shot an Oscar down over Tavoy. Still no sign of any amphibious op here.

Timor
Another day, another P-40 wasted over Koepang. Our heavy bombers switched to hitting their land forces. Hudson medium bombers went after ships near Kendari without result, we lost 1 to flak.

China
Another sweep on Kaifeng hit them hard--6 Zeroes down, no losses.
Our soldiers attacked and brought the forts down to zero (casualties 2400 to 3900 favoring them), but our forces now look evenly matched, and I think he has more reserves to bring in. I don't think we're going to pull this off.

Reinforcements/Refits
Repairs completed on SS Pompano at Dutch Harbor, ship returned to service (radar)
Repairs completed on AM Wollongong at Sydney, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
Repairs completed on DD Rathburne at Alameda, ship returned to service (endurance upgrade)
Repairs completed on SS S-34 at Brisbane, ship returned to service (radar)

Molon Labe · 10-08-21, 02:50 PM

23 May 1942
Ships assigned to Timor appear to have retreated, using Kendari as a bastion

Gilbert Islands
One of my recon-in-force destroyer task forces reached Ocean Island, near the Gilberts. Instead of finding tenders, it was attacked by a submarine. The torpedoes missed and we got some damage on it before it slipped away. I doubt the sub would have moved through this shallow-water hex routinely--this is a sub base, I just haven't found the tender. I'm going to leave some mines here for him and continue the recon.

Thailand
Tavoy was swept and we did not get many fighters up to oppose it. 2 Hurricanes went down along with 1 Oscar.

The enemy army has reached Tavoy and the bulk of Force Lauren is still days away. A small consolation is that they have such numbers that I think even if I had not screwed up maneuvering my forces, they'd still take it before I could respond. I'm going to hit them as hard as I can with bombers. Also, at sea, my Brit CVBG and covering force will change roles, instead of the heavies covering the carriers as the carriers look for ships to attack, the heavies will provide gunfire support to Tavoy while the carrier provides fighter cover in case of bomber attack.

China
Bomber attacks on Kaifeng have resumed and this time the fighters linked up as they should. No losses, except for enemy troops on the ground of course. The numbers keep looking even worse though, for the land battle. I'm doing an artillery attack tomorrow to probe them a bit, depending on the outcome I might start pulling back.

Timor
Not much happened in Timor itself, but we did spot a CVL/CVE hanging out with the naval forces idling at Kendari. I'm going to take advantage of them being away by sending a minelayer to Koepang to do its thing.

Sumatra
We counterattacked in Sabeng, causing 600 casualties without loss, nearly wiping out the enemy presence there.

Paratroopers hit Tandjoengbalai but are finding themselves outnumbered.

Reinforcements/refits
Repairs completed on DD Hatfield at Sydney, ship returned to service (endurance upgrade--this old clunker will head east to join supply convoys)
Repairs completed on CLAA Atlanta at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
Repairs completed on DMS Long at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
DD Preston beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
DD Cassin beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles
SS Gar taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor (radar)
VT-6 converting to TBF-1 Avenger
2th BG arrives at Stockton (ugh. These are B-25s, 4 squadrons worth, but it's a fully restricted unit. Which makes these excellent, modern airframes trainers, at least until I can find another aircraft to transition them to)

mapuc · 10-08-21, 03:27 PM

It's going to be interesting to see how close to the history you will be.
I'm thinking on 4-7 June 1942.

If I remember correctly you have with some delays followed the historical line of the battle in the Pacific.

Markus

Ostfriese · 10-09-21, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mapuc

It's going to be interesting to see how close to the history you will be.
I'm thinking on 4-7 June 1942.

If I remember correctly you have with some delays followed the historical line of the battle in the Pacific.

Markus

One of the reasons that the Americans won the Battle of Midway was that at the point of attack they were -numerically speaking- more or less on par with the Japanese, because the Japanese had split the KB (Coral Sea), which in turn was down to four carriers at Midway (and the rest of the fleet was too far away to support the KB).

Molon Lobe's opponent now seems to keep the KB together, and -just as it was historically- Molon Lobe simply doesn't have the assets to counter the KB in a direct engagement (not yet, that is).

His opponent is indeed behind schedule in many of the land battles (even though he has taken Midway and Guadalcanal, if I remember correctly), but at sea the KB still dominates the seas wherever his opponent sends it.

mapuc · 10-09-21, 08:29 AM

^ Thank you for the update. I must have mist it.

Markus

Ostfriese · 10-10-21, 02:27 AM

I should add one thing, though. In his May 13 report Molon Lobe already mentioned that his fighters tore through the KB airgroups. Molon Lobe might not be able to attack the KB directly for now, but his opponent should already feel the effects of attrition.
Unless Molon Lobe loses any of his carriers for nothing he should be on par with the Japanese by the end of 1942 (with the additions of Essex, Independence and Princeton to his fleet), but by then his pilots should outclass the Japanese pilots.

Also bear in mind that the Japanese cannot afford the loss of a single fleet carrier. Even if his opponent can speed up the building time of ships I don't think this will result in miracles. Historically the only fleet carriers the Japanese would commission during the war were Taiho, Unryu and Amagi, none of them before 1944. Shinano was never completed (I don't know about Shinano in WiTP, but historically she wouldn't have added much strike power because of a small air group), but wouldn't have been ready before early 1945 anyway, and although Katsuragi was completed in late 1944 she never got an air group.

@Molon Lobe: Taiho should be under construction now. Historically she was laid down in July 1941, launched in 1943 and commissioned in March 1944. The first Unryus were laid down in August, October and December 1942, respectively.
From your experience with WiTP: how early can your opponent realistically get one of them (especially Taiho) into the fleet by speeding up the building process, and how hard will this hit other areas (like production of aircraft, escort ships, submarines, freighters and tankers)?

Molon Labe · 10-11-21, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

@Molon Lobe: Taiho should be under construction now. Historically she was laid down in July 1941, launched in 1943 and commissioned in March 1944. The first Unryus were laid down in August, October and December 1942, respectively.
From your experience with WiTP: how early can your opponent realistically get one of them (especially Taiho) into the fleet by speeding up the building process, and how hard will this hit other areas (like production of aircraft, escort ships, submarines, freighters and tankers)?

They can cut the remaining time to complete production in half by accelerating production. Accelerated arrival dates and daily shipyard point costs for carriers up to the Shinano are:
Junyo: 2/20/42 (cost: 168)
Hiyo: 4/4/42 (cost: 168)
Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)
Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)

This is all on a per day basis. So he can accelerate production for 1 day and take 2 days off the time to complete, and then resume normal pace, and be on track to get it 1 day earlier than scheduled.

I don't believe it's practical to accelerate all of these. On 12/7/41, Naval Shipyards are producing 1384 points per day, and the unaccelerated production schedule costs 1123, so they have a surplus of 261 per day. So accelerating more than 2 of these means you will need to expand your shipyards or halt production on something else. Adding, say, 100 to their shipyard production capacity would cost 1000 Heavy Industry and 10,000 supply. After that's built, it would cost 300 HI daily to run that additional capacity. To put that in perspective, building a Zero costs 36 Heavy Industry, so the opportunity cost of that expansion is 28 Zeroes to expand plus 8 Zeroes per day to operate it.

Looking only at the per day cost, getting the Unryu on 4/8/43 instead of 8/7/44 would use up an equivalent amount of industry as producing 4951 Zeroes (122 shipyard per day--> 366 HI per day --*487 days= 178,242 HI; /36 HI per Zero = 4951 Zeroes)

EDIT: In terms of direct tradeoffs with other ship types, Merchants and Warships use different production shipyards, so you can't just halt a few tankers to get a carrier sooner--you still need to produce enough Shipyard Points at your warship shipyards. But operating those merchant shipyards costs Heavy Industry, so there is an opportunity cost to that similar to the example I did using Zeroes. A large tanker, for example, costs 30 shipyard points per day while it's under construction, so if you wanted to pay of the HI cost of accelerating the Taiyo by halting tankers, you'd could halt 7 tankers. But other warships you can more or less trade directly. Here are some example costs of those:
Type A1 submarine: 33 SY points
Akisuki class destroyer: 13 SY points
Yamato: 233 SY points

So, if you don't want the Yamato, you can halt that and use that to pay for accelerating a carrier or two.

By the way, producing one point of HI requires the consumption of one point of Fuel, so that's the other tradeoff lurking behind all of this (EDIT 2: To put that in perspective, using the example of the Unryu acceleration above, the fuel needed to support that acceleration would require 16 deliveries from a large tanker).

Molon Labe · 10-11-21, 09:47 AM

24 May 1942

Gilberts
My second recon-in-force destroyer group arrived in Tarawa, and like the group at Ocean Island, was attacked by a submarine. Our ships evaded and retaliated, scoring some near miss damage before it got away.

Again, I wouldn't expect to find a sub here passing through. Is every island here with a small port a sub base?

Thailand and Burma
His sweeps hit Tavoy while my battleships approached with the CVBG's air cover, so the navy's CAP participated in the fight. 4 Oscars were shot down along with 2 Martlets from the CVBG.

The battleships hit the invading armies at Tavoy hard, causing significant disruption.

China
Kaifeng isn't looking any better. We shot down a Nate trying to get to our bombers, but we don't have enough bombers to make up for their slowly building numerical advantage on the ground.

Refits and Reinforcements
Repairs completed on DMS Chandler at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
Repairs completed on CL Phoenix at Alameda, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
38th BG/70th BS arrives at Eastern USA (probably unrestricted B-26s--can't check right now as they are off the board while in transit to L.A.)
301st BG/419th BS arrives at Mojave (3/8 B-17, restricted)

Molon Labe · 10-11-21, 10:15 AM

25 May 1942
Offsetting heavy air losses over Tavoy and Rabaul

Thailand and Burma
I had the battleship group attack one more time before departing, making sure they expended as much ammo as possible before pulling out. The CVBG will remain on station while they rearm.

For once, our bombing raids were well-coordinated; a single massed raid was made to support Tavoy, with a strong fighter escort. So it was 22 Oscars against 22 Hurricanes, escorting 34 bombers. We shot down 12 of the Oscars! At a cost of 2 Hurricanes and a Hudson bomber.

We're still going to lose. In addition to the 12,000+ in Tavoy now, there are 30,000 troops following that up. I'm ordering a retreat to the north to prevent these guys from getting cut off--I don't want to risk them retreating south, which would mean they'd be eliminated/captured in their entirety. The enemy attacked this turn, reducing fortifications to level 2. The fire they took from the battleships is probably the only thing that kept them from overrunning the base.

Timor
I don't even see the enemy fleets standing by in Kendari anymore. It just looks like they left. There are also at least 3 subs patrolling near Darwin, despite there not being a whole lot of merchant activity there--suggesting they're there for another reason. So, between that and the bastion behavior, it looks like he knows what I'm up to here. I should probably do something else.

Enemy armies attacked Koepang, reducing forts to 0 , casualties 300 to 700 favoring them. This is just about over anyway.

Our minelayer made the trip to Koepang safely, left its gifts, and is returning.

Gilberts
We bombarded Ocean island hoping a sub tender would turn up, but got nothing.

Coral Sea
He finally got tired of me bombing Rabaul. I thought I'd have wrecked it enough that a fighter deployment would be a problem, but a bunch of Zeroes managed to operate from the base just fine. 12 Hudsons went down.

Sumatra
Tandjoengbalai has been captured.

Reinforcements/Refits
Repairs completed on SST Argonaut at Brisbane, ship returned to service (my first "transport" submarine)
Repairs completed on CA San Francisco at Alameda, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
Repairs completed on CL Adelaide at Brisbane, ship returned to service (AA upgrade)
DD Aaron Ward arrives at Balboa (future Wasp escort)
301st BG/BS (Comp) arrives at Mojave (8/8 B-17, restricted--training squadron)

Molon Labe · 10-11-21, 02:27 PM

26 May 1942
Fog of war--it's a bitch

Timor and N. Australia
One of my ASW groups found one of the subs patrolling the Darwin area, but the ship that made contact was a minesweeper that carries only enough depth charges to fire 4 patterns. It ran out of ammo without scoring a hit.

Our scouts made contact with 2 enemy task forces north of Timor, one of which was reported as 10 ships including heavy cruisers. So I was too quick to declare they'd run off last turn. If the KB is headed here, it would probably arrive around the 29th. So we're cutting it close, but I can give myself another day of playtime to maybe get these cruisers.

Thailand and Burma
An Oscar sweep over Tavoy took out one of my Hurricanes. We came in with a strike after that, but with far different results than last time--3 more Hurricanes down along with 3 bombers. No enemy kills. The enemy interceptors were Nick fighter-bombers--their combat debut--instead of Oscars.

Looks like a good move on his part. The Nick can outrun the Hurricane so that's probably why its getting to our bombers without taking losses. It's only marginally less maneuverable than the Hurricane.

His armies attacked Tavoy again and did not make progress. They were hampered by a supply shortage, one of the nice things about him conceding the road to me and going through the mountains while being bombed.

On the road to Raheng in the north, we reached the second group of blocking forces and routed them easily, casualties 1100 to 400 favoring us. The road is now clear and the airlift operation is cancelled.

I'm still not convinced I can keep what I've taken. If Tavoy falls (and it almost certainly will), once he heads north he'll be able to cut off Raheng again with his main force. If that happens, force Peter is probably surrounded and done for. I may have to abandon both bases and consolidate a defensive front. Essentially, the Burma campaign has begun. It's just beginning mostly in Thailand because that's where my invasion moved the front line to.

China
The situation is becoming rapidly more fluid. Enemy troops are leaving Sinyang headed for my base at Nanyang. It also looks like troops are leaving Kuikang. I'm reinforcing Nanyang for now and keeping my eyes open in case something opens up.

Strategic picture
His supply shortages in Oahu are surprising. Before the Naval Battle of Oahu, coastwatchers consistently reported over 100 ships in Lahaina, now they report it empty. We sank one troop convoy of maybe 10 ships; what happened to the rest and why are they not resupplying his troops? I suppose it's possible that he's either crashed his economy trying to expand his production and has no supply to send, or, his fuel shortage is becoming critical and resupplying Oahu just isn't a priority right now.

Solomon Sea
A flotilla of landing barges was reported headed southwest from Rabaul. My best guess is these guys are going to try to pick up troops stranded on Normanby Island, right next to Milne. If I can track them I'll try to hit them with bombers, with fighters also set on orders to strafe, and a few surface assets available as well. I expect they'll be covered by the Zeroes that just moved into Rabaul and that Betties may be standing by in case I send surface forces, so I'm not rushing to respond.

Reinforcements and Refits
303rd BG/BS (Comp) arrives at Mojave (more restricted B-17s for training)
86th Coast AA Regiment arrives at March Field (restricted)
71st RAAF Wing arrives at Sydney (aviation engineers--we have a surplus of aviation support in AUS right now, what we really need are more squadrons and planes to train up competent pilots)

Ostfriese · 10-12-21, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

They can cut the remaining time to complete production in half by accelerating production. Accelerated arrival dates and daily shipyard point costs for carriers up to the Shinano are:
Junyo: 2/20/42 (cost: 168)
Hiyo: 4/4/42 (cost: 168)
Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)
Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)

This is all on a per day basis. So he can accelerate production for 1 day and take 2 days off the time to complete, and then resume normal pace, and be on track to get it 1 day earlier than scheduled.

I don't believe it's practical to accelerate all of these. On 12/7/41, Naval Shipyards are producing 1384 points per day, and the unaccelerated production schedule costs 1123, so they have a surplus of 261 per day. So accelerating more than 2 of these means you will need to expand your shipyards or halt production on something else. Adding, say, 100 to their shipyard production capacity would cost 1000 Heavy Industry and 10,000 supply. After that's built, it would cost 300 HI daily to run that additional capacity. To put that in perspective, building a Zero costs 36 Heavy Industry, so the opportunity cost of that expansion is 28 Zeroes to expand plus 8 Zeroes per day to operate it.

Looking only at the per day cost, getting the Unryu on 4/8/43 instead of 8/7/44 would use up an equivalent amount of industry as producing 4951 Zeroes (122 shipyard per day--> 366 HI per day --*487 days= 178,242 HI; /36 HI per Zero = 4951 Zeroes)

EDIT: In terms of direct tradeoffs with other ship types, Merchants and Warships use different production shipyards, so you can't just halt a few tankers to get a carrier sooner--you still need to produce enough Shipyard Points at your warship shipyards. But operating those merchant shipyards costs Heavy Industry, so there is an opportunity cost to that similar to the example I did using Zeroes. A large tanker, for example, costs 30 shipyard points per day while it's under construction, so if you wanted to pay of the HI cost of accelerating the Taiyo by halting tankers, you'd could halt 7 tankers. But other warships you can more or less trade directly. Here are some example costs of those:
Type A1 submarine: 33 SY points
Akisuki class destroyer: 13 SY points
Yamato: 233 SY points

So, if you don't want the Yamato, you can halt that and use that to pay for accelerating a carrier or two.

By the way, producing one point of HI requires the consumption of one point of Fuel, so that's the other tradeoff lurking behind all of this (EDIT 2: To put that in perspective, using the example of the Unryu acceleration above, the fuel needed to support that acceleration would require 16 deliveries from a large tanker).

Thank you for this very elaborate answer

I can see how rushing Junyo and Hiyo early in the war makes sense, because at this point it's a move the Japanese player can still afford (even though it's going to hurt somewhere else). Rushing anything else seems only viable if the Japanese are already winning or in extreme desparation.
All this makes losing a carrier even more critical for the Japanese player. Losing the Soryu back in February must have been a real pain in your opponent's behind. Junyo and Hiyo arn't adequate replacements.

Two more questions:
a) is strategic bombing of industry possible and if yes is it a viable strategy (or is the game practically over anyway if the Allied player can have heavy bombers in range of the Japanese home islands)?
b) does manpower eventually become an issue (like: can the Japanese eventually run out of men to fill their divisions/planes/ships), or is the industrial capacity the limiting factor?

Molon Labe · 10-12-21, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Two more questions:
a) is strategic bombing of industry possible and if yes is it a viable strategy (or is the game practically over anyway if the Allied player can have heavy bombers in range of the Japanese home islands)?
b) does manpower eventually become an issue (like: can the Japanese eventually run out of men to fill their divisions/planes/ships), or is the industrial capacity the limiting factor?

Yes, strategic bombing is pretty much the endgame strategy because trying to invade the home islands is borderline crazy with the amount of troops they'll have and the extent of the fortifications they can build. And also yes, by the time you can do that the game is pretty much over.

Manpower is modeled in the game, but the numbers are so generous to the Japanese player that all the strategy guides advise ignoring it completely. I paid no attention to it when I played vs the computer as Japan and it never held me back.

Molon Labe · 10-13-21, 09:27 AM

27 May 1942
Enterprise hit by Japanese submarine, Hornet between two fires as KB reappears near Noumea

Timor

The Enterprise and Hornet had been lurking near Koepang looking to strike the substantial naval forces that had been congregating there. This area is, however, infested with enemy submarines. Despite ASW air patrols from Darwin, from the TBD squadron on Hornet, and 14 destroyers screening the task force, the I-20 penetrated the screen and put a torpedo into Enterprise's side. The explosion set off secondary avgas explosions, causing fires and flooding that threaten to destroy the ship.

The I-20 escaped without damage, none of my destroyers even got close enough to drop a pattern.

The AI isn't helping. The Enterprise detached from the task force with just one destroyer to try to make Darwin, which is just inviting another submarine to finish it off. The Hornet aborted its mission and started heading back east, which you'll see in following sections is a really, really stupid idea. And not because by turning around it was going right back to the I-20. Which did happen--but this time the escorts weren't sleeping and drove it off. Anyway, I've had to order it back west, right back into the submarine operating area.

And as it turns out, the enemy task forces we were hunting appeared at Koepang today--so, because the Enterprise is out of action and the Hornet gave up and turned around, we're not going to get an attack on them for at least another day or two, if at all.

Enemy land forces attacked Koepang and reduced the forts to nothing. This is going to be an enemy airbase very soon.

Japan
USS Seal attempted and failed to torpedo the IJN CVE Unyo outside of Kyoto.

China
We both sent escorted bomber raids to Kaifeng. We lost a P-40 and two Chinese Lancer fighters, plus a B-25 to flak. He lost 2 Zeroes.

At Chusien, Nate fighters shot down one of my SB-IIIs that I sent there in a probing attack.

Thailand and Burma
We had heavy losses over Tavoy today as the Nicks continue to work out well and as our fighter-to-bomber coordination is starting to break down again. 5 Blenheims and a Hudson lost, just one Oscar shot down by our escorts.

Strait of Malacca
The Brit CVBG, with the battleships heading to port to rearm, got some playtime near the Strait by itself, but the result was rather disapointing. We only found a single AMC and it wasn't carrying troops. Swordfish torpedo bombers hit it 4 times and sent it to the bottom. A second attack targeted 4 destroyers and a cargo ship--all torpedoes missed.

SouthPAC
The KB is back, this time at Noumea, probably my most important forward base with Pearl neutralized. It struck in force, hitting a CAP that was weakened to try to fill in gaps at Pago thanks to the KB's damage there. 3 P-39s were shot down along with 3 Zeroes; we never got to the bombers. The bombers focused on the airbase and caused significant damage, but we're still in operation. There was also a SNAFU on his side--a flight of Kates went to Efate unescorted and got bounced--21 shot down.

An attempted strike on the KB resulted in 4 P-39s shot down along with 3 A-24 Banshee bombers; 8 Banshees got through and attacked Shoho, Hiryu, and Shokaku but all missed.

I can reasonably expect the KB to start heading west to finish off Enterprise and contain Hornet.

Molon Labe · 10-13-21, 01:24 PM

28 May 1942
Enterprise makes it to Darwin, but how long can it survive there?

Java Sea
The O20 torpedoed and sank a destroyer that was part of an ASW group stalking it.

Timor and N. Australia
Enterprise reached port and disembarked its air wing to Darwin. At least 5 enemy subs are converging on the port, either trying to stop it from getting there or to make sure it doesn't leave. One was moderately damaged by minesweepers that found it near the harbor. I'm removing my heavy bombers to make room for CVW-6 at the airbase, bringing in more fighters, and deploying subs to likely areas the KB might try to strike Darwin from.

Darwin doesn't have proper repair facilities, which severely limits the extent and speed that I can patch the ship up at. As it stands, it would probably sink if it went back to sea like this. It would also be very slow, and vulnerable to attack by submarines or aircraft, with Koepang falling.

Hornet managed not to suffer the same fate this turn as it moves back west to where it should be. I've detached a few more destroyers to Darwin for if/when the Big E is healthy enough to move. But Hornet still wasn't in position for the airstrike that should have happened yesterday. Enemy reinforcements landed in Koepang unopposed, and it put them over the top--Koepang is theirs. Which means the airfield is theirs, putting Darwin and the Enterprise in range of Betties and Nells.

Sumatra
Benkoelen was bombarded by the Haruna & company. So that's twice, maybe this is an opportunity if he keeps running these guys here.

SouthPAC
The KB is sticking around Noumea for now. We each lost 2 fighters in the KB's second strike. They all bombed from 20,000 ft today though, and hit almost nothing from there.

Efate attempted a strike against the KB, resulting in the loss of 4 P-40s, 3 P-39s, and 11 Banshee dive bombers. We got 6 Zeroes. 3 Banshees attempted an attack on the Zuikaku but missed.

China
3 Zeroes went down over Kaifeng trying to stop my bombers/escorting theirs.

The enemy army attacked but we held them off. The enemy appeared to take the worse of the battle as they already have many weakened units that were finished off. But, they still enjoy numerical supremacy. I'll pull back eventually, but as long as he keeps attacking without reorganizing, I'll stick around to hurt him a bit more.

He also attacked in Chusein, which was a 7000-casualty disaster for him. Not bad enough to invite a counter-attack, though.

Thailand
Tavoy held for another day, but forts are down to level 1. We are still benefiting from the enemy being disrupted by bombing and possibly supply shortages.

Note
I requested, and was reluctantly granted, my first Mulligan today. Originally, the Enterprise made it to Darwin, then went right back to sea to try to get to its homeport of Noumea because I didn't realize it wasn't going to automatically disband at Darwin. So with that error, I finished her off for him, along with the entire air wing. A really expensive consequence to not seeing one of the settings needed to be changed!

Ostfriese · 10-13-21, 02:04 PM

What's a Mulligan?

10-08-21, 02:25 PM	#241
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	22 May 1942 Japan USS Swordfish put a torpedo into a PB that was hunting it in the Kyushu-Okinawa gap, sinking it. Sumatra A small ARG attempted a landing at Sabang, on the northeast coast. One destroyer and the armed merchant acting as a transport were hit by coastal artillery and their rather small force of troops came under heavy attack. Their assault collapsed and their remaining troops are now on the defensive. An attempt by our Falcon bombers to strike ships off the coast was aborted after Oscars brushed aside our escorting Kittyhawks like they were nothing. We lost one Kittyhawk and a Falcon during the intercept. Malaya Singapore suffered another sweep, but the RAF held their ground, shooting down 5 Zeroes and 6 Oscars with a loss of 3 Hurricanes and a Martlet. Thailand We shot an Oscar down over Tavoy. Still no sign of any amphibious op here. Timor Another day, another P-40 wasted over Koepang. Our heavy bombers switched to hitting their land forces. Hudson medium bombers went after ships near Kendari without result, we lost 1 to flak. China Another sweep on Kaifeng hit them hard--6 Zeroes down, no losses. Our soldiers attacked and brought the forts down to zero (casualties 2400 to 3900 favoring them), but our forces now look evenly matched, and I think he has more reserves to bring in. I don't think we're going to pull this off. Reinforcements/Refits Repairs completed on SS Pompano at Dutch Harbor, ship returned to service (radar) Repairs completed on AM Wollongong at Sydney, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) Repairs completed on DD Rathburne at Alameda, ship returned to service (endurance upgrade) Repairs completed on SS S-34 at Brisbane, ship returned to service (radar) __________________

10-08-21, 02:50 PM	#242
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	23 May 1942 Ships assigned to Timor appear to have retreated, using Kendari as a bastion Gilbert Islands One of my recon-in-force destroyer task forces reached Ocean Island, near the Gilberts. Instead of finding tenders, it was attacked by a submarine. The torpedoes missed and we got some damage on it before it slipped away. I doubt the sub would have moved through this shallow-water hex routinely--this is a sub base, I just haven't found the tender. I'm going to leave some mines here for him and continue the recon. Thailand Tavoy was swept and we did not get many fighters up to oppose it. 2 Hurricanes went down along with 1 Oscar. The enemy army has reached Tavoy and the bulk of Force Lauren is still days away. A small consolation is that they have such numbers that I think even if I had not screwed up maneuvering my forces, they'd still take it before I could respond. I'm going to hit them as hard as I can with bombers. Also, at sea, my Brit CVBG and covering force will change roles, instead of the heavies covering the carriers as the carriers look for ships to attack, the heavies will provide gunfire support to Tavoy while the carrier provides fighter cover in case of bomber attack. China Bomber attacks on Kaifeng have resumed and this time the fighters linked up as they should. No losses, except for enemy troops on the ground of course. The numbers keep looking even worse though, for the land battle. I'm doing an artillery attack tomorrow to probe them a bit, depending on the outcome I might start pulling back. Timor Not much happened in Timor itself, but we did spot a CVL/CVE hanging out with the naval forces idling at Kendari. I'm going to take advantage of them being away by sending a minelayer to Koepang to do its thing. Sumatra We counterattacked in Sabeng, causing 600 casualties without loss, nearly wiping out the enemy presence there. Paratroopers hit Tandjoengbalai but are finding themselves outnumbered. Reinforcements/refits Repairs completed on DD Hatfield at Sydney, ship returned to service (endurance upgrade--this old clunker will head east to join supply convoys) Repairs completed on CLAA Atlanta at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) Repairs completed on DMS Long at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) DD Preston beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles DD Cassin beginning refit in shipyard at Los Angeles SS Gar taken out of commission to begin refit at Dutch Harbor (radar) VT-6 converting to TBF-1 Avenger 2th BG arrives at Stockton (ugh. These are B-25s, 4 squadrons worth, but it's a fully restricted unit. Which makes these excellent, modern airframes trainers, at least until I can find another aircraft to transition them to) __________________

10-08-21, 03:27 PM	#243
mapuc Fleet Admiral Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 17,832 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	It's going to be interesting to see how close to the history you will be. I'm thinking on 4-7 June 1942. If I remember correctly you have with some delays followed the historical line of the battle in the Pacific. Markus __________________ My little lovely female cat

10-09-21, 08:29 AM	#245
mapuc Fleet Admiral Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 17,832 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	^ Thank you for the update. I must have mist it. Markus __________________ My little lovely female cat

10-11-21, 09:47 AM	#248
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	24 May 1942 Gilberts My second recon-in-force destroyer group arrived in Tarawa, and like the group at Ocean Island, was attacked by a submarine. Our ships evaded and retaliated, scoring some near miss damage before it got away. Again, I wouldn't expect to find a sub here passing through. Is every island here with a small port a sub base? Thailand and Burma His sweeps hit Tavoy while my battleships approached with the CVBG's air cover, so the navy's CAP participated in the fight. 4 Oscars were shot down along with 2 Martlets from the CVBG. The battleships hit the invading armies at Tavoy hard, causing significant disruption. China Kaifeng isn't looking any better. We shot down a Nate trying to get to our bombers, but we don't have enough bombers to make up for their slowly building numerical advantage on the ground. Refits and Reinforcements Repairs completed on DMS Chandler at San Francisco, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) Repairs completed on CL Phoenix at Alameda, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) 38th BG/70th BS arrives at Eastern USA (probably unrestricted B-26s--can't check right now as they are off the board while in transit to L.A.) 301st BG/419th BS arrives at Mojave (3/8 B-17, restricted) __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 10-11-21 at 10:24 AM.

10-10-21, 02:27 AM	#246
Ostfriese Ace of the Deep Join Date: May 2004 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 1,174 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I should add one thing, though. In his May 13 report Molon Lobe already mentioned that his fighters tore through the KB airgroups. Molon Lobe might not be able to attack the KB directly for now, but his opponent should already feel the effects of attrition. Unless Molon Lobe loses any of his carriers for nothing he should be on par with the Japanese by the end of 1942 (with the additions of Essex, Independence and Princeton to his fleet), but by then his pilots should outclass the Japanese pilots. Also bear in mind that the Japanese cannot afford the loss of a single fleet carrier. Even if his opponent can speed up the building time of ships I don't think this will result in miracles. Historically the only fleet carriers the Japanese would commission during the war were Taiho, Unryu and Amagi, none of them before 1944. Shinano was never completed (I don't know about Shinano in WiTP, but historically she wouldn't have added much strike power because of a small air group), but wouldn't have been ready before early 1945 anyway, and although Katsuragi was completed in late 1944 she never got an air group. @Molon Lobe: Taiho should be under construction now. Historically she was laid down in July 1941, launched in 1943 and commissioned in March 1944. The first Unryus were laid down in August, October and December 1942, respectively. From your experience with WiTP: how early can your opponent realistically get one of them (especially Taiho) into the fleet by speeding up the building process, and how hard will this hit other areas (like production of aircraft, escort ships, submarines, freighters and tankers)?

10-11-21, 10:15 AM	#249
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	25 May 1942 Offsetting heavy air losses over Tavoy and Rabaul Thailand and Burma I had the battleship group attack one more time before departing, making sure they expended as much ammo as possible before pulling out. The CVBG will remain on station while they rearm. For once, our bombing raids were well-coordinated; a single massed raid was made to support Tavoy, with a strong fighter escort. So it was 22 Oscars against 22 Hurricanes, escorting 34 bombers. We shot down 12 of the Oscars! At a cost of 2 Hurricanes and a Hudson bomber. We're still going to lose. In addition to the 12,000+ in Tavoy now, there are 30,000 troops following that up. I'm ordering a retreat to the north to prevent these guys from getting cut off--I don't want to risk them retreating south, which would mean they'd be eliminated/captured in their entirety. The enemy attacked this turn, reducing fortifications to level 2. The fire they took from the battleships is probably the only thing that kept them from overrunning the base. Timor I don't even see the enemy fleets standing by in Kendari anymore. It just looks like they left. There are also at least 3 subs patrolling near Darwin, despite there not being a whole lot of merchant activity there--suggesting they're there for another reason. So, between that and the bastion behavior, it looks like he knows what I'm up to here. I should probably do something else. Enemy armies attacked Koepang, reducing forts to 0 , casualties 300 to 700 favoring them. This is just about over anyway. Our minelayer made the trip to Koepang safely, left its gifts, and is returning. Gilberts We bombarded Ocean island hoping a sub tender would turn up, but got nothing. Coral Sea He finally got tired of me bombing Rabaul. I thought I'd have wrecked it enough that a fighter deployment would be a problem, but a bunch of Zeroes managed to operate from the base just fine. 12 Hudsons went down. Sumatra Tandjoengbalai has been captured. Reinforcements/Refits Repairs completed on SST Argonaut at Brisbane, ship returned to service (my first "transport" submarine) Repairs completed on CA San Francisco at Alameda, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) Repairs completed on CL Adelaide at Brisbane, ship returned to service (AA upgrade) DD Aaron Ward arrives at Balboa (future Wasp escort) 301st BG/BS (Comp) arrives at Mojave (8/8 B-17, restricted--training squadron) __________________

10-11-21, 02:27 PM	#250
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	26 May 1942 Fog of war--it's a bitch Timor and N. Australia One of my ASW groups found one of the subs patrolling the Darwin area, but the ship that made contact was a minesweeper that carries only enough depth charges to fire 4 patterns. It ran out of ammo without scoring a hit. Our scouts made contact with 2 enemy task forces north of Timor, one of which was reported as 10 ships including heavy cruisers. So I was too quick to declare they'd run off last turn. If the KB is headed here, it would probably arrive around the 29th. So we're cutting it close, but I can give myself another day of playtime to maybe get these cruisers. Thailand and Burma An Oscar sweep over Tavoy took out one of my Hurricanes. We came in with a strike after that, but with far different results than last time--3 more Hurricanes down along with 3 bombers. No enemy kills. The enemy interceptors were Nick fighter-bombers--their combat debut--instead of Oscars. Looks like a good move on his part. The Nick can outrun the Hurricane so that's probably why its getting to our bombers without taking losses. It's only marginally less maneuverable than the Hurricane. His armies attacked Tavoy again and did not make progress. They were hampered by a supply shortage, one of the nice things about him conceding the road to me and going through the mountains while being bombed. On the road to Raheng in the north, we reached the second group of blocking forces and routed them easily, casualties 1100 to 400 favoring us. The road is now clear and the airlift operation is cancelled. I'm still not convinced I can keep what I've taken. If Tavoy falls (and it almost certainly will), once he heads north he'll be able to cut off Raheng again with his main force. If that happens, force Peter is probably surrounded and done for. I may have to abandon both bases and consolidate a defensive front. Essentially, the Burma campaign has begun. It's just beginning mostly in Thailand because that's where my invasion moved the front line to. China The situation is becoming rapidly more fluid. Enemy troops are leaving Sinyang headed for my base at Nanyang. It also looks like troops are leaving Kuikang. I'm reinforcing Nanyang for now and keeping my eyes open in case something opens up. Strategic picture His supply shortages in Oahu are surprising. Before the Naval Battle of Oahu, coastwatchers consistently reported over 100 ships in Lahaina, now they report it empty. We sank one troop convoy of maybe 10 ships; what happened to the rest and why are they not resupplying his troops? I suppose it's possible that he's either crashed his economy trying to expand his production and has no supply to send, or, his fuel shortage is becoming critical and resupplying Oahu just isn't a priority right now. Solomon Sea A flotilla of landing barges was reported headed southwest from Rabaul. My best guess is these guys are going to try to pick up troops stranded on Normanby Island, right next to Milne. If I can track them I'll try to hit them with bombers, with fighters also set on orders to strafe, and a few surface assets available as well. I expect they'll be covered by the Zeroes that just moved into Rabaul and that Betties may be standing by in case I send surface forces, so I'm not rushing to respond. Reinforcements and Refits 303rd BG/BS (Comp) arrives at Mojave (more restricted B-17s for training) 86th Coast AA Regiment arrives at March Field (restricted) 71st RAAF Wing arrives at Sydney (aviation engineers--we have a surplus of aviation support in AUS right now, what we really need are more squadrons and planes to train up competent pilots) __________________

10-13-21, 09:27 AM	#253
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	27 May 1942 Enterprise hit by Japanese submarine, Hornet between two fires as KB reappears near Noumea Timor The Enterprise and Hornet had been lurking near Koepang looking to strike the substantial naval forces that had been congregating there. This area is, however, infested with enemy submarines. Despite ASW air patrols from Darwin, from the TBD squadron on Hornet, and 14 destroyers screening the task force, the I-20 penetrated the screen and put a torpedo into Enterprise's side. The explosion set off secondary avgas explosions, causing fires and flooding that threaten to destroy the ship. The I-20 escaped without damage, none of my destroyers even got close enough to drop a pattern. The AI isn't helping. The Enterprise detached from the task force with just one destroyer to try to make Darwin, which is just inviting another submarine to finish it off. The Hornet aborted its mission and started heading back east, which you'll see in following sections is a really, really stupid idea. And not because by turning around it was going right back to the I-20. Which did happen--but this time the escorts weren't sleeping and drove it off. Anyway, I've had to order it back west, right back into the submarine operating area. And as it turns out, the enemy task forces we were hunting appeared at Koepang today--so, because the Enterprise is out of action and the Hornet gave up and turned around, we're not going to get an attack on them for at least another day or two, if at all. Enemy land forces attacked Koepang and reduced the forts to nothing. This is going to be an enemy airbase very soon. Japan USS Seal attempted and failed to torpedo the IJN CVE Unyo outside of Kyoto. China We both sent escorted bomber raids to Kaifeng. We lost a P-40 and two Chinese Lancer fighters, plus a B-25 to flak. He lost 2 Zeroes. At Chusien, Nate fighters shot down one of my SB-IIIs that I sent there in a probing attack. Thailand and Burma We had heavy losses over Tavoy today as the Nicks continue to work out well and as our fighter-to-bomber coordination is starting to break down again. 5 Blenheims and a Hudson lost, just one Oscar shot down by our escorts. Strait of Malacca The Brit CVBG, with the battleships heading to port to rearm, got some playtime near the Strait by itself, but the result was rather disapointing. We only found a single AMC and it wasn't carrying troops. Swordfish torpedo bombers hit it 4 times and sent it to the bottom. A second attack targeted 4 destroyers and a cargo ship--all torpedoes missed. SouthPAC The KB is back, this time at Noumea, probably my most important forward base with Pearl neutralized. It struck in force, hitting a CAP that was weakened to try to fill in gaps at Pago thanks to the KB's damage there. 3 P-39s were shot down along with 3 Zeroes; we never got to the bombers. The bombers focused on the airbase and caused significant damage, but we're still in operation. There was also a SNAFU on his side--a flight of Kates went to Efate unescorted and got bounced--21 shot down. An attempted strike on the KB resulted in 4 P-39s shot down along with 3 A-24 Banshee bombers; 8 Banshees got through and attacked Shoho, Hiryu, and Shokaku but all missed. I can reasonably expect the KB to start heading west to finish off Enterprise and contain Hornet. __________________

10-13-21, 01:24 PM	#254
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	28 May 1942 Enterprise makes it to Darwin, but how long can it survive there? Java Sea The O20 torpedoed and sank a destroyer that was part of an ASW group stalking it. Timor and N. Australia Enterprise reached port and disembarked its air wing to Darwin. At least 5 enemy subs are converging on the port, either trying to stop it from getting there or to make sure it doesn't leave. One was moderately damaged by minesweepers that found it near the harbor. I'm removing my heavy bombers to make room for CVW-6 at the airbase, bringing in more fighters, and deploying subs to likely areas the KB might try to strike Darwin from. Darwin doesn't have proper repair facilities, which severely limits the extent and speed that I can patch the ship up at. As it stands, it would probably sink if it went back to sea like this. It would also be very slow, and vulnerable to attack by submarines or aircraft, with Koepang falling. Hornet managed not to suffer the same fate this turn as it moves back west to where it should be. I've detached a few more destroyers to Darwin for if/when the Big E is healthy enough to move. But Hornet still wasn't in position for the airstrike that should have happened yesterday. Enemy reinforcements landed in Koepang unopposed, and it put them over the top--Koepang is theirs. Which means the airfield is theirs, putting Darwin and the Enterprise in range of Betties and Nells. Sumatra Benkoelen was bombarded by the Haruna & company. So that's twice, maybe this is an opportunity if he keeps running these guys here. SouthPAC The KB is sticking around Noumea for now. We each lost 2 fighters in the KB's second strike. They all bombed from 20,000 ft today though, and hit almost nothing from there. Efate attempted a strike against the KB, resulting in the loss of 4 P-40s, 3 P-39s, and 11 Banshee dive bombers. We got 6 Zeroes. 3 Banshees attempted an attack on the Zuikaku but missed. China 3 Zeroes went down over Kaifeng trying to stop my bombers/escorting theirs. The enemy army attacked but we held them off. The enemy appeared to take the worse of the battle as they already have many weakened units that were finished off. But, they still enjoy numerical supremacy. I'll pull back eventually, but as long as he keeps attacking without reorganizing, I'll stick around to hurt him a bit more. He also attacked in Chusein, which was a 7000-casualty disaster for him. Not bad enough to invite a counter-attack, though. Thailand Tavoy held for another day, but forts are down to level 1. We are still benefiting from the enemy being disrupted by bombing and possibly supply shortages. Note I requested, and was reluctantly granted, my first Mulligan today. Originally, the Enterprise made it to Darwin, then went right back to sea to try to get to its homeport of Noumea because I didn't realize it wasn't going to automatically disband at Darwin. So with that error, I finished her off for him, along with the entire air wing. A really expensive consequence to not seeing one of the settings needed to be changed! __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 10-13-21 at 01:37 PM.

10-13-21, 02:04 PM	#255
Ostfriese Ace of the Deep Join Date: May 2004 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 1,174 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	What's a Mulligan?