War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Threadfin]

I'd like a mulligan on my post haha

[Molon Labe]

14 June 1942
Emperor furious as his battleships bombard an empty port, the Grey Ghost nowhere to be seen...

Sumatra
A measure of payback for the S-40, an enemy destroyer-minesweeper hit a sub-laid mine adjacent to the S-40s old patrol area, very likely sinking it. The idea had been if he'd detected one, he'd steer towards the other. I guess he ran over both.


Darwin and the Enterprise
Yamato, Hiei, and Haruna stood off from Darwin, bombarding it at long range to avoid my shore batteries getting involved. The shelling caused major damage to the runways at the airbase, moderate damage to the service bays, and moderate personnel casualties. Overall, nothing that can't be rebuilt or replaced, and a very disappointing result for the largest battleship in the world that thought it was going to catch a carrier under repair. Only the Hudsons were left at the airbase, and they escaped damage. The port was completely empty, I had all the remaining ships scatter to nearby ports at top speed. The enemy force left to the northeast. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back next turn to hit us with secondary batteries. so I'm not having any planes return yet--we need to repair the runways first, anyway.

USS Hornet has been spotted by Rabaul's aircraft passing the Horn Island chokepoint, but not Enterprise. With the chokepoint now behind us, my submarines there have been reassigned to normal patrols. The elevated aircraft presence will continue for the time being. VF-6 and VT-6 are redeploying to coastal airbases along Enterprise's path. VS-6 and VB-6 for now will remain near Darwin for ASUW support, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to see if operating from Darwin will become feasible or desirable in the next few days.

Enemy Zeroes swept Darwin and were met by the fighters formerly based there flying a long-range CAP. We shot down 3 with one P-39 lost.

Thailand
A sweep on Raheng took down 4 of our P-40s, we got 1 Oscar.

Aleutians
Nothing yet. I'm probably leaving the dive bombers here even after the all clear is signaled.

[Molon Labe]

15 June 1942
Tanker Goyo Maru sunk near Miri, more submarines lurking on Enterprise's path

South China Sea
The S-37 missed a shot at a tanker convoy departing Miri consisting of the San Clemente Maru and Goyo Maru-- both very large and fast--and a PB escort. But a few hours later the same convoy ran into the KXVIII, and the Dutch sub put two fish into the Goyo, setting its fuel cargo ablaze. The convoy left the Goyo behind to burn, so the KXVIII put two more into it to be sure. The Goyo is a 10,000 ton Type-N, they only had 8 of them, so this is a major loss.

Coral Sea & Australian coast
Submarines were detected, engaged, and damaged off Brisbane and Cooktown. The Cooktown one is close to the Enterprise and was detected by its advance ASW escort--we're rerouting around it.

No contact with Rabaul's scoutplanes this turn.

SIGINT reports that a Shokaku-class carrier is headed for Rabaul. I interpret that to mean the whole KB. By the way, the Shokaku and Zuikaku are due for refits that would take them out of service for 3 weeks. Kaga, Akagi, and Hiryu will be due for a similar upgrade in July.

I had to scuttle Noumea's repair tender. It was damaged so severely in the KB's attack that it wasn't going to be useful for the rest of the war unless I got it to a repair shipyard. Very little of the damage was flotation, so with really nothing to lose, I ordered it to Brisbane. But because the system damage was so high, the little bit of water in the people tube quickly became a lot of water, and there was no way it was going to even make it back to Noumea. The lack of a repair tender at Noumea means that most of the damaged ships there are basically done. I only have one other, and it's needed where it's at.

China
They didn't waste any time crossing the bridge when my flank guards fell back to block the wide flanking force. So it looks like they intend to mount a counteroffensive here. I think they have more troops than me here, but if I play smart defensively I should be able to hold. My recon is better than it used to be, but not great, so I'm mostly guessing about this.

Malaya
Our Wirraways bombed another cargo ship in Mersing. A shame these bombs are so small, it's probably going to be fine.

Thailand
2 more P-40s down with nothing to show for it. The air campaign here is just brutal for us. I wish I could just take Bangkok and let the army blow up these Oscars on the ground.

We attacked their roadblock but didn't budge it, casualties were even and light on both sides. We'll have more units to try again tomorrow.


Reinforcements
The Wasp has arrived on the West coast. We transitioned VT-71 to Avengers.
AM Junee arrives at Sydney
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

16 June 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an ambush, Royal Navy smashes troop convoy, Oosthaven captured


Battle of the Coral Sea
EDIT: I started calling this the "second" battle of the Coral Sea, but looking back the "first" wasn't much of a battle, it was just me tearing up enemy ships unopposed.

The first combat event was well forward of the Enterprise's path, two minesweepers found an enemy sub off Brisbane and failed to damage it.

At first light, scoutplanes detected Carrier Division 3 making its way towards what I'll call the Lae Strait (the gap between Papua New Guinea and New Britain). The carriers had scouts of their own--a Val spotted the USS Nautilus waiting in the strait for it and attacked. The bomb was a damaging near miss--but the Nautilus' gunners actually shot the #$%^er down for trying. Nautilus remains on station, but the carriers are obviously alerted to it. Port Moresby launched an ill-considered level bombing attack on the fleet.

Later in the morning, the Hornet's radar detected a large incoming strike from the north--behind it. CARDIV3 is still too far away for this to be them, but clearly this is a strike from multiple carriers:
A6M2 Zero x 18
B4Y1 Jean x 13
B5N1 Kate x 14
B5N2 Kate x 8
D3A1 Val x 44
Hornet immediately scrambled a strike and sent it north to sink whoever launched the planes.

We managed 18 Wildcats opposing the enemy strike, plus a single Australian P-40 from a nearby airbase. They did OK, I guess, considering the equal number of enemy fighters: 1 Zero and 1 F4F shot down, plus 4 Vals and 4 Jeans. But that left quite a few getting through:
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires

So the opening blow knocked out my only operational carrier here--Hornet is in pretty much as bad of shape as the Enterprise was when this all started.

The Hornet's air wing found the enemy fleet, positively classifying the Kaga, Hiryu, Shoho, and Kongo (I suspect Junyo is there too). They had 42 Zeroes on defense up against our mere 8 Wildcats escorting 25 SBCs and 4 TBDs. The Zeroes splashed 3 Wildcats and 7 of the SBCs, one more SBC was shot down by flak during its dive, so we ended up with 17 SBCs and 4 TBDs actually making attacks. One TBD put a 500lb bomb (because the squadron was assigned to ASW duty they were carrying bombs) through Kaga's flight deck, setting off an Avgas explosion and setting the ship on fire. I don't think the ship is done for, but it is most likely out of this fight. An SBC also managed a hit on Shoho, which wasn't as damaging but it's a big bomb and a small ship, so there's a good chance this one is out of the fight too.

Port Morseby's bombers (2 Hudson, 5 Liberators) arrived at CARDIV3, running into 54 Zeroes and 9 Rufe float fighters. The fighters splashed the Hudsons easily, then got 3 of the Liberators. A fourth Liberator was lost to flak, leaving a single plane to attempt an attack on Shokaku, which missed of course. The number of enemy planes on CAP suggests the Akagi is here too.

Enterprise was next. 13 late-arriving Jeans went after her. We only had 2 Wildcats and a P-40 left on patrol; they did what they could, shooting down 1 before the attack (and two more on the way out). Flak got another, but that's still 11 torpedo bombers attacking a vulnerable ship:
CA Australia, Torpedo hits 1
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

A follow up attack by the KB-fragment failed to locate the carriers, finding instead the surface forces that had been part of Hornet's group before she broke off to try to get to port. 16 Zeroes escorted 27 Vals and were intercepted by 3 Australian P-40s. We got two Zeroes. The Vals only managed a single hit on a destroyer.

How did this happen? The KB was expected, but it was supposed to show up the way CARDIV3 did--at least a day away with enough warning to order the Hornet to bug out. I'm not sure where the western force came from--I can only speculate that it took advantage of the evacuation prompted by the Yamato's group to find a gap in our scoutplane coverage and it got into the Arafura Sea completely undetected.

Here's the situation now:

I'm hoping CARDIV3 will face the brunt of my "KB greeting party", in particular from Milne as they have about 50 fighters supporting the bombers there, so they might break through in force. Enterprise's air wing is now at Cairns, which is further south than we want, but the northern bases aren't big enough to support offensive operations. VF-6 will help cover the damaged carriers; Enterprise's bombers can get involved if KB-west continues southward. Hornet's air wing--what's still operational--is going to Port Morseby, which could give them a shot at either group.

I'm laying a minefield in Cooktown since that's the obvious place for them to send surface forces to try to finish the damaged ships off. I'm also detaching a few cruisers to sprint around behind KB-west to maybe get a shot at the Kaga or Shoho if they try to retreat back the way they (probably) came. And the submarines that I just dismissed have been ordered back. Hopefully when the smoke clear tomorrow his carrier forces will have suffered as great a loss as mine.


Malaya
I've rebuilt my torpedo bomber squadron at Singapore, and sent them out hunting. They killed a cargo ship at Mersing with 4 hits.


Sumatra
Oosthaven has been captured.

Now for the good part of today. The Royal Navy CVBG had been moving back along the Indian Ocean coast of Sumatra, as it looked to me like the enemy task forces there were starting to venture too far to be supported by Betties that could have Zeroes escorting them. That target disappeared. But, I'm also trying to get a squadron of Hurricanes into Palembang from Rangoon. To do that I need an airbase in northwestern Sumatra as a refueling point, and the bases are dropping like flies. The last suitible base has enemy troops closing on it. So, my heavies are closing in for a bombardment of those troops. The CVBG was ordered back north to cover that operation. By random luck, we spotted a troop convoy protected by a single destroyer--probably airplane mechanics and base forces trying to move into my base after the infantry clears out my troops.

Albacore I x 27
Fulmar II x 12
Sea Hurricane Ib x 6
Martlet II x 15
Swordfish I x 6

xAK Senyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Eiko Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Aso Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Zuiko Maru, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Rokko Maru, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Tateisi Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Koto Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Mikasa Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Kawakaze

One Swordfish was downed by flak. I'd happily trade this success for a fully operational Enterprise or Hornet, but right now this is the good news in a world of despair.

Hawaii
Actually, there is one other bit of good news. After successfully getting a cargo ship to Pearl about a week ago, I started sending more. One is about to arrive tomorrow, and it hasn't been detected despite mostly clear skies. Lahaina airbase is really looking like a paper tiger. We managed to siphon enough avgas out of hangar queens to put a recon flight up: we spotted 9 support ships and merchants at harbor--including a sub tender--but no warships; airbase strength reported as 8 fighters, 29 bombers, no auxilliaries (scoutplanes and transports), and just 8000 troops estimated. I can't say I understand it, but it looks like the Pearl operation was abandoned, with the invading troops left stranded.

I'm going to respond to this conservatively. The first priority to to resupply Pearl because my cargo ships are so plentiful that if this is a trap and I lose a bunch, no big deal. But if I am able to resupply Pearl, I'll probe the invading armies and see if they are ready to fight or if they're starving and out of ammo. As for Lahaina, if I can get a supply convoy in undetected, then I can get battleships in undetected, and there isn't much that base can do to retaliate if the runways are a cratery mess. Also, an operational base at Pearl/Hickam can support lots of bombers.

Reinforcements
DD Duncan arrives at Balboa
ML No. 230 arrives at Karachi
177th USAAF Base Force arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted, full strength)

[Molon Labe]

17 June 1942
Can I name CV-16 Enterprise?


Battle of the Coral Sea, day 2
USS Seadragon intercepted a task force including a seaplane carrier in the Solomon Sea--because CARDIV 3 included Rufes when Port Moresby's bombers attacked yesterday, I think this is CARDIV 3 but Seadragon just didn't spot the carriers. Anyway, the escorts were onto her immediately and drove her off.

Enterprise was trying to make it to the small port at Cooktown for hasty repairs. It was engaged first by a small element, 2 Kates with 6 Zeroes. P-39s based at Cooktown shot down both Kates and 3 of the Zeroes with just one loss. Obviously they weren't done, next was 18 Vals with 18 Zeroes--which we opposed with 18 P-39s. The Zeroes got the job done. 10 of them were shot down with no losses, but the P-39s never made it to the Vals:
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Australia, Bomb hits 2, on fire

...and that's pretty much it for day 2. My opponent is furious that his carriers didn't launch more strikes, and I'm pissed that my land bases didn't seem to even attempt to strike the carriers. Milne in particular should have held CARDIV 3 at close range from multiple search arcs, and had over 50 fighters to escort its dive bombers, so it would have been pretty evenly matched with their expected 50-60 Zeroes on CAP. And the enemy did press south, so CVW-6 was in range.


Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca
My Brit heavy task force ran into a destroyer that might have been covering the phibs. We fatally wounded it before it broke off, but not before expending a ridiculous amount of ammo and getting one of our destroyers moderately damaged. The task force would bombard the enemy invading Sabang later in the day, but at reduced strength thanks to this ammo expenditure.

There phib task force we hit is bigger than we realized; two small ships evacuating Palembang ran into 3 cargo ships with 4 escorts, two cargos were burning so this can't be a different task force.

With that contact report arriving with the CVBG covering the heavies, another air strike was launched, sinking the 3 remaining cargo ships and causing massive casualties to the troops inside them. One escorting DMS was also damaged by multiple bomb hits.

The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Palembang and got 2 transport aircraft shot down by flak, then the 39 paratroops that made it the the ground were immediately killed or captured. He complained to me that I had 2 divisions sitting there after I supposedly promised not to fortify Palembang. No, I promised to turn off the refineries once under siege so as not to take advantage of the fact that refineries produce supply, which would unrealistically make a siege ineffective. As if I'm not going to defend the biggest oil/fuel producing base in theatre. Sheesh.

Thailand
Another P-40 downed over Raheng... I'm a little annoyed because I actually ordered the CAP there to stand down since they aren't bombing, they're just picking my fighters off. No sense coming out to play when it benefits him, right? Apparently some fighters came over from a nearby base to help out...

Good news, though. Our reserve armies cleared the road again. Casualties 1151 against the retreating enemy army to our 190.

China
We had a major victory here today as the enemy flanking force, badly disrupted by days of bombing, was routed by my former Kaifeng assaulters turned flank guards. Casualties were 6547 to 1540, but the reality was even more skewed than that as the enemy suffered 246 squads destroyed instead of disabled, compared to my 12.

We're still outnumbered here, and there is a bigger force that made it across the bridge. For now I'm going to hold position, try to get better recon, and let my bombers start wearing them down.

In terms of victory points, we actually inflicted enough troop casualties today across three battlefields that even with the loss of Enterprise, we nearly broke even.

Hawaii
My second lone cargo ship arrived at Pearl completely undetected. Today's recon report on Lahaina is similar to yesterday's, giving it credibility. I'm putting together a large resupply convoy to follow up behind the loners.

Reinforcements...and withdrawals
The 301st and 303rd bomber groups--B-17 training groups all--withdrew to redeploy to Europe. But they're apparently getting new aircraft, they left their bombers. So I now have about 40 more B-17s ready to assign to combat squadrons, should I choose.

DD Lansdowne arrives at Balboa
DD Stack arrives at Balboa
No.1 PRU RAAF arrives at Melbourne - Buffalo recon variants. Doesn't have the range to be immediately useful, so trainers for now. If a knifefight breaks out in or around Australia that could change.

[Molon Labe]

18 June 1942
The third sister perishes

Battle of the Coral Sea, day 3
As the battle is shaping into a decisive Japanese victory, the enemy's main concern was tracking down Hornet, which for all they knew made it to a nearby port already, or might even be escaping under cloud cover. In reality, it hadn't survived the night, succumbing to the damage it suffered in the first day. At Cooktown, 3 enemy destroyers detached from the KB entered the port and shelled the damaged HMAS Australia without suffering any hits in return. The same 3 destroyers found 3 of mine on ASW duty that had been trying to clear a path for Hornet; they lightly damaged all three before they cut and run. Further south, near Bowen, an enemy submarine intercepted a cruiser and 3 destroyers trying to make it to Brisbane, it torpedoed and sank one of the destroyers.

CVW-6 attempted an attack on the KB, mustering 16 SBDs escorted by 26 F4Fs. By this point, the 2 elements of the KB had recombined and I was facing a massive CAP of 52 Zeroes and 9 Rufes. We got massacred... all 16 SBDs downed, along with 7 Wildcats; we only got 1 Zero and 2 Rufes.

The KB sent an airstrike after the 3 destroyers that escaped his detachment. 3 P-39s attempted to provide cover but only got 2 of themselves shot down. Fortunately, the enemy Vals (18 of them) all missed. 27 Kates arrived next, unescorted. Alerted by the enemy raid, we now had 14 fighters on defense. We got 26 of them with no losses.


Celebes Sea
The KXV torpedoed a troop transport that appears to have been empty but approaching Tarakan. Apparently troops there are needed elsewhere. The ship will likely survive but it's going to struggle to get to a repair yard.

China
It's beginning to look like the defeat the enemy suffered yesterday is actually giving them an opportunity for a much bigger victory, as my "flank guards" that was the main force invading Kaifeng isn't in great position to support the new frontline. The enemy main force is now racing my "flank guards" to Chengchow. They have better roads to use, but they're also getting constantly bombed. Not sure who wins that race.

Strait of Malacca
An AGP and an AM evacuating Palembang were attacked by Nells, the AM was sunk but the AGP successfully refueled at Sabang (which will soon fall) and should make it to Colombo.

Sumatra
Fulmars attacked enemy shipping at Benkoelen, scoring hits on a light cruiser and cargo ship. One Fulmar was lost to flak.

[Molon Labe]

19 June 1942
Milne dive bombers annihilated by KB's CAP


Battle of the Coral Sea, day 4
The Kido Butai continues to search for the Hornet, this time checking Port Moresby. Our base at Milne responded, first with our USMC Vindicator squadron (12 aircraft) with 39 escorting fighters, up against 51 Zeroes and 7 Rufes on CAP. We lost 8 fighters and all the Vindicators, downing just 2 Rufes and a Zero. Next, 13 Banshees arrived with 11 fighter escorts. We shot down 1 Rufe while the CAP took down a P-40 and 12 of the Banshees.

Well that pretty much does it for Milne.

The KB hit the port at Cooktown with a small raid, still thinking Hornet might be there apparently.

I'm failing to reconstitute CVW-8 because the squadrons were all technically destroyed with the loss of Hornet, and the aircraft ashore are just fragments. So the aircraft are entering the reserve pool instead of being reconstituted as combat effective squadrons. I can't even give these to CVW-6 (which wasn't destroyed with Enterprise, they officially disembarked) because every squadron is flying different aircraft than their sister units--even the Wildcats are different variants. I'm going to work on giving some of the Helldivers to reform the USMC squadron that was just wiped out at Milne.

If I'm going to hurt him, it's pretty much up to the submarines now. Milne, CVW-6 and CVW-8 were my main weapons, and they're all done for, at least in the short term. Subs cycling back onto station from replenishing at Brisbane and Noumea are headed directly for the KB--which will only work if they turn south into them. A bunch of subs that had been patrolling the Solomons are also guarding the KB's likely exit routes from near Milne up towards Rabaul.

An otherwise uneventful day, air raids continue in China, Thailand, and Sumatra but that's about it.

[Molon Labe]

20 June 1942
Junyo detached from KB

Coral Sea
He's really got it in for my 3 destroyers running south (just 2 now, the worst damaged split off from them). They suffered a sub attack that missed yesterday that wasn't worth mentioning. Now, the Junyo has detacted from the KB and sprinted south, hitting these damaged ships with an airstrike:

DMS Trevor, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Edsall, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk

The main KB raided Milne and sank a minesweeper, and also severely damaged two cargo ships that have been desperately trying to clear the area for several days.

N. Australia
Darwin is coming under air attack again. I had been returning ships there that had evacuated with the Yamato was spotted. That was a bad call...I'm clearing them out again, maybe permanently. Some of the fighters that had been supporting Hornet and Enterprise are working their way back here to put up a defense.

Burma and Thailand
Oscars are being used in the attack role, trying to hit my small ASW boats at Rangoon. We shot down 5 with Hurricanes and got one more with flak with the loss of one Hurricane.

[Molon Labe]

21 June 1942


Coral Sea
The KB detacted its heavies and bombarded Port Moresby:
B-26 Marauder: 10 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
Beaufighter Ic: 16 damaged
Beaufighter Ic: 3 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 6 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 13 damaged
Hudson III (LR): 1 destroyed on ground
LB-30 Liberator: 1 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed on ground

Although I'm guessing he was looking for the Hornet in port. The detachment made for Rabaul, passing my Milne and drawing a PT boat attack. He sank two, we never got close enough to shoot.


N. Australia
Some evacuating ships came under Nell attack, which fortunately missed. We'll have a CAP tomorrow.

East China Sea
With the enemy committed to a major ground offensive around Kaifeng, centered around a 100k-plus soldier death star unit, he's going to be sucking supply in China like never before in this campaign. With that in mind, I've ordered several subs into the dangerously shallow East China Sea to try to interdict supply lines from Japan to Shanghai and other bases further north up the coast. We got our first kill of that operation with the sinking of an AKL by the USS Gar.

Hawaii
I'm about to have another cargo ship successfully dock at Pearl undetected. With enough supply to operate Kingfishers, I've noted that there is some merchant traffic here and identified its route of approach. Some of my subs supplying Pearl will be retasked to interdicting these merchant runs. The "big" cargo run is still several days off. If successful, I'll probably have battleships--Arizona and Nevada in the lead--and phibs on the way next.

Burma and Thailand
We got 6 Oscars (one by flak) l in the enemy's second attempt on my Rangoon area shipping--this time going after cargo ships, with one Hurricane lost. They also lost an Oscar trying to stop my bombers in the Raheng area.

I'd been supplying Port Blair to make it capable of sustaining air ops in the future if I needed it. Betties took advantage, sinking one of 3 cargo ships unloading there. I had actually considered moving fighters here for this turn, but I decided against it since the attacks on Rangoon were occurring while this raid was just something I thought might happen, so I missed a chance at unescorted Betties.

[Molon Labe]

22 June 1942

Coral Sea
The heavy detachment ran into some merchies at Milne but did not engage..probably out of ammo. I think these guys are doubling back to rejoin the KB.

The Junyo is still pursuing ships clearing out of the area. It's near the north end of New Caledonia--too far to be supported by the KB. Lexington already left this area, but it's not far. I expect it to turn back, but in the past he's shown that he's fine with parking his carriers off my bases, so we'll see.
Wave 1 (Vals)
DMS Zane, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Mungana, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DMS Boggs, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DM Tracy, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Wave 2 (Kates)
xAP Mungana, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DMS Boggs, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Montoro, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

An air strike on Milne cost the enemy 6 Zeroes and 2 Kates, we lost a P-40. Our B-17s that were in Darwin are now in Brisbane, they went after the Junyo as it continues south... one B-17 was lost with no hits on the enemy.

N. Australia
The Kittyhawks now on CAP here got bounced by a sweep--7 lost with no victories--clearing the way for the bombers we knew were coming later in the day.

South China Sea
KXI sustained light depth charge damage off Miri.

China
There is now a squadron of Zeroes trying to defend his death star near Kaifeng. We shot down 3 of them at the cost of 2 P-43s, our bombers are still getting through. A decent chunk of the death star has already arrived in Chengchow, so it looks like he's won the race.

Burma and Thailand
An enemy submarine showed up at Port Blair to finish what the Betties started, both remaining cargo ships were sunk.

One fighter on each side went down over Rangoon in a sweep.

[Ostfriese]

Bleak, but far from hopeless.

[Molon Labe]

23 June 1942
The Silent Service and US Army Air Corps strike back... a little.


Hawaii and the Line Islands
S-32 torpedoed a cargo ship near Pearl, which appears will survive.
I have a cargo ship docked and unloading now. I have another that could arrive tomorrow, but I'm having it hold off because there are two enemy task forces at Oahu right now... a pair of merchants and a flotilla of landing barges. Not sure if he's landing troops or removing them but I don't want my cargo ships spotted if I can avoid it.

Our airfield is now big enough to support level bombers, and today B-26s began raiding Palmyra.

Coral Sea/Solomon Sea
The KB followed the predicted exfiltration route near Milne. USS Grampus was first to attack, striking one of the KB escorting destroyers. The stricken destroyer was left behind by the KB, so Grampus tried to finish it off but missed. Further along, the KB was attacked by the S-39, which scored a hit on the Akagi. The damage does not appear to be serious.

Not only does the Akagi look OK, but it also appears that the Kaga and Shoho have resumed flight operations.

The KB launched raids against shipping near Port Moresby and the airbase Milne. At PM, the CAP clobbered the raid, shooting down 7 of 9 Zeroes and 17 of 22 Vals with no losses. At Milne, with a cost of 1 P-40, we shot down 10 Zeroes. The bombers got through and caused significant facility damage, but nothing we can't repair. Their dive bombers are nearly all shot down anyway, so reducing this base doesn't do much.

I'm moving CVW-6 to Port Moresby and sending level bombers out to make room. I don't expect the KB to stick around, but Junyo might pass through here before it meets up with the KB (it turned back around and is headed north). There are also several detachments--he may be trying to pick up those troops at Normanby island again. A PBY bombed a cargo ship near there this turn.

Burma and Thailand
Two fighters each side down over Rangoon. We lost one more Hurricane around Raheng.

The Nells that attacked port Blair made a run at cargo ships near Rangoon and found Rangoon's CAP protecting them. 4 of the 5 Nells were shot down, 1 made an attack but missed.

China
Looks like we made it. My "flank guards" main force will reinforce Chengchow tomorrow. The attack hasn't come yet, so we look on-time. We'll still be outnumbered but we'll be behind Level 5 forts. He attempted a bombardment attack with the substantial forces he already has there, but I took no casualties thanks to the forts, while counterbattery fire disabled several of his units.

Zeroes tried to stop our bombers and managed to shoot down 4 obsolete I-16s trying to protect them, but the Lancers took care of business--8 Zeroes down with no Lancers lost.

I'm also attacking an enemy army in the southeast near Chusein. We outnumber then 4-to-1 there, inflicting 1598 to 201 casualties.

N. Australia
We lost a Kittyhawk to a sweep; this squadron is already beaten down.

Japan
USS Pampano torpedoed and sank a PB that was apparently on an ASW patrol.

----
Air losses today were 62 to 19, with 27 of the Japanese losses taken by Zeroes. I'm hoping the silver lining in all this is that next time we see the KB, their pilots won't be as good.

The North Carolina has arrived on the West Coast.

[Molon Labe]

24 June 1942
Pearl cargo run detected...now what?

Hawaii
USS Tarpon found one of the enemy merchants near Oahu and sank it. It was carrying troops. It later found a landing barge and gunned it down, then attempted a gun attack on another cargo ship before return fire changed their mind. Recon is showing Lahaina troop numbers briefly went up, then down again to lower than when I started watching a few days ago. My guess is he's not moving anything in or out of Hawaii, he's moving exhausted troops off the front and replacing them with fresh reserves.

While my cargo ship on the way in was standing off, the one in port finished unloading and departed. It ran into an enemy PB. The PB's contact report led to a submarine finding and sinking the cargo shortly after. But more important, now he knows I'm running supply with single ships--just days before a large convoy is set to arrive. Will the Betties come back?

Solomon Sea
S-39 torpedoed a cargo ship at Normanby Island that had troops aboard.
The KB has moved out of view towards Truk. Junyo still appears to be lagging behind but is also headed that way.

Sumatra
Fulmars escorted by Hurricanes attempted to stop a cruiser group from bombarding Palembang, but Zeroes fought them off. One Zero was shot down along with a Hurricane and 2 Fulmars. The bombardment disabled a few aircraft and caused light facility damage.

China
An enemy bombardment at Chenchow once again hurt him more than me. The troop numbers look pretty even, except he also has tanks. Doesn't look like enough to overcome the fortifications.

I attacked again at Chusein, but this time he did more damage to us, I need to rest and resupply my troops.

Reinforcements
YMS-100 arrives at Astoria
China Air TaskForce arrives at Kunming
22nd Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego
267th Armoured Brigade arrives at Madras
4th British Brigade arrives at Aden
----

This turn was another Mulligan for the enemy...the settings on the cruisers attacking Palembang were incorrect and they ended up further north than he wanted, resulting in a torpedo bomber attack from Singapore. The error really wasn't all that different from mine with Enterprise so I gave it to him. In the original turn, he actually attacked Chengchow and reduced the forts to level 4. I also remembered--the first time--to stop my cargo ship leaving Pearl in addition to stopping the one about to arrive. Also, the attack at Normanby Island was done by PTs instead of a sub.

[Molon Labe]

25 June 1942

Sumatra
The cruisers that hit Palembang yesterday arrived late enough in the day that they hadn't gone far, so my opponent ordered them to shell Palembang again with the ammo they had in reserve. They didn't do much damage this time, and one of the heavy cruisers hit a mine. On the way out, they were attacked by the KXII, which scored a hit on one of their destroyers (a likely kill). The KXII--caught in shallow water--took severe damage from depth charges. It's headed to Singapore for emergency repairs.

Thailand
My fighter-to-bomber coordination problems really never went away, and today that cost me 3 Blenhiems that had few or no escorts. We also lost a Hurricane.

China
We splashed a Zero trying to interdict our bombers at Chengchow. Another enemy artillery attack hurt him more than me. I'm moving the I-16s here off the frontline, they're just getting killed but would be useful as trainers. We have enough P-43s and P-40s that we don't need them.

Hawaii
There is still too much activity to move my waiting cargo ship into Pearl. A second is now arriving--and the big convoy isn't far behind.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

My fighter-to-bomber coordination problems ...

Is that a problem the game simulates or is this more a problem of (not) giving the perfect orders?