Dutch AVP Arend: Scenario 1 Exploits

[WEXF]

I have said before that this AAR is being done, in part, as a way for me to become more familiar with some of the rules of our game. This turn was a help in that regard. Here's how:
In a previous screen that showed the base of Geraldton after AVP Arend and her sister AVP arrived with "Aviation Support of 16+10". The +10 is "seaplane support. That is clear. Arend has the ability to support 7 seaplanes and her sister ship AVP Reiger can support 4. I wondered why the screen for Geraldton didn't read 16+11?
I realized that the base screen took into account the floatplane that was ON Arend. So a better statement of what the + number means, I think, is how many seaplanes that are not located on ships can be supported. Here are 2 screens that show this. The first is of the base of Ambon at the start of the game, where Arend was based, and it shows Aviation Support of 21+7. The second screen shows Arend at Ambon at the start with the capability of supporting 7 seaplanes. The screen also shows that there is no seaplane actually on Arend.

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My understanding is that the "ship screen" shows the number of seaplanes that can be supported regardless of whether they are on the ship or in the port while the "base screen" subtracts out the number of seaplanes that are on ships.
There are lots of threads in the forum about whether only "seaplane support" can support seaplanes. That is not what I am talking about here. I am only trying to explain why the numbers on the screens are different. If you look above on page 16 of this AAR you will see that the number on the ship screen for Arend when she was in the TF heading for Geraldton with the Walrus II shows that she can support 7 seaplanes.
At the bottom of page 15 of this AAR I reported that a Dutch unit that had been destroyed and bought back had showed up at San Francisco because the home bases for Dutch units had been captured and that there were two more rebuilding Dutch units that were due to arrive shortly. Both did arrive on time and at SF. A few PP have to be spent to make them unrestricted ABDA units but the rule is now clear in my mind.
At the top of page 16 there was a detailed discussion of the impact that upgrading the infantry devices of the three units at Geraldton might have. All three units were set to "allow upgrades" and a look at the operations report of 5 Jun shows that all three did receive upgrades.

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What the operation report does not report is what actually happened. That turns out to be very interesting but is too complex to go into in this section of the AAR. It will be a separate entry soon.
Just as the meeting Goerk was at was breaking up all of the officers heard loud sounds that could only be associated with a quantity of large aircraft. Looking skyward, Goerk was pleasantly surprised to see 6 Do-24K patrol planes approaching for a landing. It was clear that Goerk and the crew of the Arend were about to go to work!

[WEXF]

Understanding what happened during the upgrade of the "squad devices" in the three units at Geraldton needs some background and rule references.
The three units all together had 48 CMF Militia Sections, 9 in the fort, 3 in the Base Force and 36 in the infantry BN.
These three units were the only Australian units set to receive upgrades and there were two possible upgrades currently available, CMF Infantry and AIF Inf 42 Sections. All three units showed the = indicator confirming upgrades were possible.
Supply at Geraldton was well in excess of twice the required amount needed so the criteria of Section 16.4 of the Rules was met.
Here is what the Australian Pool looked like as the orders for 5Jun were being written.

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The pool numbers show that there were enough CMF Inf Sections to upgrade all three units but there were not enough AIF Inf 42 Sections to make all the upgrades, 6 more would be needed. Here is what happened.

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The Fortress upgraded its 9 Militia Sections to CMF Infantry Sections and the unit screen still shows the = confirming that a further upgrade is available. Both of the other units had their total of 39 Militia Sections upgraded to AIF Infantry 42. All of the moves are consistent with the pool numbers. How the selection of which units would be upgraded was made is unclear to me.
I was a bit surprised by the results especially the ability of the 39 squads to "leapfrog" to become AIF Inf 42. I looked back through the rules and found out how that happened. All players should be aware of Rule 8.11 on Squad Upgrades together with Rules 16.4.1 and 8.2.1.

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Here is the pool chart for 6Jun showing the numbers after the upgrades.

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If you look closely at the numbers you will see that the number of CMF Infantry Sections available in the pool after the upgrades is still 49 reflecting that all of the militia from the Fort were sent to the pool as CMF Inf. Also notice that the CMF Inf Sections "used so far" has risen from 154>163, reflecting the 9 that were the upgrade at the Fortress (0 were produced last turn).
The number of AIF Inf 42 sections in the pool went from 42>44. The same process was followed here as was with the Fortress upgrade and the additional 2 are from current production.
I learned a lot from this. I had always thought that allowing upgrades to units that were restricted was not a good move. Rule 8.11 actually makes upgrading units a way of having your cake and also eating it.
Hope this makes sense to everyone. I expect that many already knew these things but I did not. Learning something new every turn. I did a similar exercise with some NZ units and had the same results. I expect the same works across all nationalities. For those nationalities that have small monthly production of Type 23 and 24 devices (squads and combat engineers) this is very important.

[BBfanboy]

What you have not looked at yet is the effect of upgrades on supply. Upgrades to fighting squads usually means additional firepower - more weapons slots in the TOE or heavier weapons replacing lighter ones (except maybe the Bren AA gun replacing the Vickers). To the extent the TOE change raises the load cost of the squad, it uses supply. (the old weapons are returned to the pools like the troops were, but are not upgraded there AFAIK). The load cost change is small per squad but multiply it out by the number of squads and it can be a hit on the supplies at a forward base. Geraldton has a rail line so the supply cost is easily handled.

[WEXF]

Thanks for this. I have known that there is a supply cost for all replacement and upgrades and that the amount of supply spent relates to the load cost of the devices. I haven't commented on it other than to say that there was adequate supply at Geraldton, but it is something that will come into play more and more as Geraldton continues to grow in size and importance with larger units and other resources. Support levels are another issue that I haven't talked about much yet but that will come into play as well.

[BBfanboy]

Glad you are aware of the supply issues. I post as much for other newbies as for the AAR writers. It's all about learning from each other.

[WEXF]

Understood. I have learned lots from your posts. They not only address details of the rules but they give me, and others, food for thought as we put together our posts. Please keep the inputs coming They are really appreciated.
WEXF

[WEXF]

The mine production is not increased, they come loaded with mines. Then use them for escorts.

Back on page 4 of this AAR there was a detailed discussion of what happens when a DD is converted to a DM with regard to the mines. The position of most was that when the conversion was completed the DM would arrive with a full load of mines regardless of whether the specific mine was available within the "pool".
Activities this last day show something that is a bit confusing to me. Here is the current base screen for Geraldton.

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There are a few differences based on what happened recently but the confusing item is that there are now 147 defensive mines. The number is great as it is near the maximum for the single ACM in port but the additional 32 mines that were placed raised some questions.
When Arend was at Perth 5 US DD were converted to DM and each of them had the ability to carry 40 MK6 mines. There were no MK6 mines in the pool but it was the consensus that as the conversions were completed each of the DM would arrive with 40 mines.
One of the new DM was DM Pope. That ship was assigned to TF 350 and ordered to lay a minefield at Geraldton, which it just did.

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I need some help understanding what could have happened to the other 8 mines that were to be on DM Pope? The other 4 DMs all had 40 mines.

[JanSako]

My first thought is that when the conversion finished there were some Mk6 mines in the pool, but not enough to fill up the DM.
The other option is that the conversion is set not to arrive with a full complement, if that is possible to do in the Editor. If you are playing a Stock scenario, then I would say it is 'possible' that the devs have a much more capable editor at hand.

As to why this would be set like that? No clue.

[WEXF]

My first thought is that when the conversion finished there were some Mk6 mines in the pool, but not enough to fill up the DM.
The other option is that the conversion is set not to arrive with a full complement, if that is possible to do in the Editor. If you are playing a Stock scenario, then I would say it is 'possible' that the devs have a much more capable editor at hand.

As to why this would be set like that? No clue.

I checked the Editor to see what the setting was for the Clemson DM Class and it shows that 40 MK6 mines are loaded in slot 8.
I have noticed something regarding DM Pope. After laying the minefield at Geraldton with the 32 MK6 mines, Pope returned to Perth. I checked the mine pool for the current day and I noticed that there were now 41 MK6 mines in the pool where there had been none.

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Since Perth was a port that had the ability to load mines, I tested what would happen if I created a new mine laying TF with Pope. That test showed that DM Pope loaded a full load of 40 MK6 mines.

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It was also interesting that the "Used so far" number had dropped by 40, meaning that somehow 40 mines were replaced in the pool. Where did they come from?
I noticed a line in the Operations Report saying that "DM Preble" had started refitting". That combined with a line in the "What's New" data explained what had happened.

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What had happened was that when DM Preble started refitting the mines that were on her had been automatically unloaded and returned to the pool.

[WEXF]

Here are the screens showing the reloading of DM Pope:
Before the reload DM Pope had just returned from laying the minefield at Geradlton and TF 350 is showing a red (0) and a green (40)* in the ammo spot for MK6 mines. That means that there are no mines loaded and that the ship is in a port that has the ability to load mines. The * adds a detail that indicates that there are MK6 mines currently in the pool.

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After the reload DM Pope is showing a full load of 40 MK6 mines and is still showing the *.
This is what the pool looked like after the reloading of DM Pope. The "used so far" is again 446 and there is only a single MK6 mine remaining (the one that was just produced).
The * only tells you whether there are mines of the type that can be loaded. It does not indicate anything about how many there are.

[WEXF]

The previous entries were all done to help explain what was being seen related to the loading and use of mines. I expect that the info provided will be helpful to some readers. Unfortunately, nothing above provides the answer to the question I asked.
I still need some help understanding what could have happened to the other 8 mines that were to be on DM Pope?
It will also be interesting to see if DM Preble is automatically reloaded with 40 MK6 mines after it completes its refitting at Auckland regardless of how many mines are in the pool.
Always more to learn in this game!

[BBfanboy]

Not sure what your question is. When Pope first loaded mines from the pool there were only 32 available. The weapon slot on the ship does not show the asterisk * to indicate there are any mines of that type left in the pool. So during its mission to lay the mines, Preble starts a refit and its 40 mines go into the pool plus one that was newly manufactured. Pope came back and took the 40 mines leaving the one newly produced mine in the pool. Seems quite straightforward to me.

[WEXF]

Not sure what your question is. When Pope first loaded mines from the pool there were only 32 available. The weapon slot on the ship does not show the asterisk * to indicate there are any mines of that type left in the pool. So during its mission to lay the mines, Preble starts a refit and its 40 mines go into the pool plus one that was newly manufactured. Pope came back and took the 40 mines leaving the one newly produced mine in the pool. Seems quite straightforward to me.

BBfanboy, you have one thing wrong in the above. I wish you were right. When the DDs were converted to DMs there were only 7 MK6 mines in the pool. The 5 DMs were to be loaded with 40 each for a total of 200 and 4 of the five I know were loaded with 40 each. DM Paul Jones, DM Peary and DM Pillsbury still are loaded with 40 mines. DM Pope may also have been loaded with 40 or she may have only been loaded with 32, I just don't have that record. Either way what happened is a puzzlement. Did Pope load less that she was scheduled to load as a result of the conversion (that was not based on what was in the pool)? Or did she load the full 40 like the others and somewhere lose the 8 that are missing.
To see the status of the pool when Pope was originally loaded please go back to my December 9 posting on page 4 of this AAR. The pool numbers are shown and there is a full discussion there.

[BBfanboy]

Pope could also have run into the port Ops Points limits for how much it could handle that day, and loaded the other 8 next turn before it set out on the trip to Geraldton. You would not have been able to notice that happening and you do not get any indicator of the size of the minefield she laid. That can happen with BBs loading ammo too - they don't complete their load in one turn so it finishes next turn and they sortie as ordered. You don't get to see the completion of loading.

[WEXF]

Pope could also have run into the port Ops Points limits for how much it could handle that day, and loaded the other 8 next turn before it set out on the trip to Geraldton. You would not have been able to notice that happening and you do not get any indicator of the size of the minefield she laid.

The completion of the conversion of the 5 DM happened in April 42. In my posting in the AAR of December 19 I said: "All 5 were loaded with 40 mines". Did I check all 5 of the ships? It is what I would normally do but I can't be absolutely sure I did that. The 5 ships were always listed in alphabetical order in the screens and DM Pope was last in the list, so it is possible that she could have had only 32 mines loaded instead of the 40 and I might have missed that.
From the recent postings in this AAR we know for certain that DM Pope only has 32 mines when she sailed to place the minefield at Geraldton. The number of defensive mines at Geraldton increased by 32 following Pope's mission.
I thought that a possibility existed that after DM Pope had loaded a full 40 mines she lost 8 (20% of the load) by accident while at sea. No way to know if that might have happened.
It is looking like the issue of the "missing 8 mines" may not be answered any time soon. I will keep my eyes more closely focused on future activities to see if new clues as to what might have happened show up.

[BBfanboy]

I never thought of checking the minefield stats at that base - was only think of individual minefields not the total mines- so thanks for pointing that out. Maybe those eight mines were sold on the black market ...

[WEXF]

LCDR Goerk was really impressed with the activity at Geraldton. It was hard to get a grasp on what was actually happening but it was clear that a decision had been made at command level that Geraldton was key in the defensive plan for western Australia. Aircraft had already arrived and more were anticipated shortly. A variety of land units also were rumored to be enroute by sea and overland but it was not clear whether all of the new units would remain in Geraldton. Goerk was able to view a map of the current situation that showed some detail of the region.

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Goerk was able to find out a bit more on the two TF that were close to arriving at Geraldton.
The closest one was TF 416 and had 6 ships.
The most important ship in the TF was the small AG Canopus. This ship could provide the ability to rearm and repair many of the small ships that were likely to be based in Geraldton. She had her limits but she was better than anything else in port. Three small local minesweepers were also in the TF along with two escorts.

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The second group of ships was TF 369. It contained 7 ships. Four were escorts that were guarding three xAP loaded with troops. The troops on board were all tiny remnants of Dutch units that had been air lifted out of the DEI.

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Two thoughts dominated Goerk's mind. The first was whether all of these ships and troops were going to remain in Geraldton or move to other locations? More interesting was the realization of how much was going on. Thinking about the ships in more detail allowed Goerk to be amazed at what these 13 ships had gone through so far in the war.
Seven had started in the DEI and had made the long trip to Australia. xAP Kelantan had started in Georgetown, Malaya. KV Nigella had started near India, AM Penguin was at Guam and some of the other escorts had been at Manila and Brisbane. Goerk realized that the history of his own ship was not unique. War had been rough on all of the Allies as they tried to stop the advance of the enemy while attempting to preserve assets for future operations. It looked like a three beer night was on the menu!

[WEXF]

Activity at Geraldton continued as both TF that were nearby arrived. TF 416 disbanded in port and TF 369 docked to unload all of the 3 xAP, while the escort ships disbanded. There were now a total of 15 ships in port.

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All ships were refueled to use their operation points as they awaited new orders. The decision had been made that all of these ships as well as the three transports that were unloading would have ABDA as their HQ. There was also another AMc currently on patrol bringing the total number of ships currently using Geraldton as their home port to 19.
Other things were happening as well. The expansion of the port had now reached 2(1) 79%>P3. Additional aircraft had arrived including a squadron of 12 torpedo bombers. Unfortunately, Geraldton did not have the ability to provide torpedoes to the planes so for now, the new air assets would be training and performing ASW patrols. Another patrol plane had arrived bringing the number to 7.

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What was being overshadowed by all of the new activity was the ongoing training of the pilots of the Walrus II on Arend. Since their arrival at Geraldton the pilots had been assigned to ASW training and all flights had so far been piloted by PO Caruthers. His ASW skill had improved from 41>43>45. The goal was to get both pilots to an ASW skill rating of 60.

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[WEXF]

As the morning of 9Jun greeted LCDR Goerk he felt really good about the activity at Geraldton. The port was now 80% of the way to level 3, new ground units were arriving almost daily bringing some heavier weapons that were badly needed. The supply situation was also improving and he had heard that the squads at the fort had been upgraded to AIF Infantry 42.

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Goerk was really impressed with the progress of the training of pilots. PO Caruthers had improved his ASW skill to 47 from 45 and WO Hazard defensive skill was now at 56.

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Most impressive were the skill levels of the Australian torpedo bomber pilots of No. 100 Squadron. They had skills in a number of categories averaging in the high 50s with many of the 14 pilots having numbers in the 60s and closing in on the 70s. Many had just improved their ASW skill.
Goerk was looking forward to an expected meeting that was going to review in detail the status of the ground forces at Geraldton.

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[BBfanboy]

As the morning of 9Jun greeted LCDR Goerk he felt really good about the activity at Geraldton. The port was now 80% of the way to level 3, new ground units were arriving almost daily bringing some heavier weapons that were badly needed. The supply situation was also improving and he had heard that the squads at the fort had been upgraded to AIF Infantry 42.Ger9juna.jpg
Goerk was really impressed with the progress of the training of pilots. PO Caruthers had improved his ASW skill to 47 from 45 and WO Hazard defensive skill was now at 56. pilot9juna.jpg
Most impressive were the skill levels of the Australian torpedo bomber pilots of No. 100 Squadron. They had skills in a number of categories averaging in the high 50s with many of the 14 pilots having numbers in the 60s and closing in on the 70s. Many had just improved their ASW skill.
Goerk was looking forward to an expected meeting that was going to review in detail the status of the ground forces at Geraldton.tbpilotsa.jpg

I have never found enough units to give Geraldton a robust defense in 1942, which makes me wonder if Perth is well garrisoned? A typical Japanese move is to land further south and cut off a stack of LCUs in isolated locations. If Perth fell, Geraldton would indeed be isolated.

What altitude are you using for training those FPs? I notice one pilot's ASW went up two points but the DEF skill did not rise at all. I know they don't rise at the same rate, but 46 is pretty low for DEF skill and should climb fairly easily. I train at minimum altitude for the main skill (2000' for NavB, 1000' for LowN and ASW). Some say training at low altitude makes pilots too fatigued but I have not seen that if the range is set to 0.