Dutch AVP Arend: Scenario 1 Exploits

[WEXF]

As the sun came up on 23 June, there was a different kind of feeling among the troops at Geraldton. Sketchy reports had been coming in about a successful submarine attack nearby. Some details were presented at the morning intel briefing. One of the xAKL transports in TF 382 heading north along the coast has been hit by 2 torpedoes from I-20 at 47-135 near Carnarvon and had gone down.

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There was no longer any doubt about the presence of I-20 in the area. At least 4 aircraft on search missions from Geraldton had spotted the submarine 80 miles north of where the attack took place at 47-133.

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Orders have been issued to TF382 to move at full speed to Carnarvon in an attempt to avoid additional losses.
The intel officer said more details on the plans of the day would be provided later.
Everyone had thought that enough assets were in place to detect any submarine nearby and prevent any attack. Clearly, everyone was wrong!
It was a minor consolation to hear that Geraldton was now 99% of the way to being a P3.

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PO Caruthers was mad at himself for not being able to do more on the 2 additional missions he flew looking for submarines.

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[WEXF]

Some additional intel was provided on the enemy submarine. There had been at least 4 aircraft reporting seeing indications of a submarine at 47-133 near Carnarvon. Although there was no way to know if I-20 had been damaged by the earlier attack by our light bombers, there was a report of an "oil slick" at the location. All of the reports had come from the OP report. No mention of sightings or contacts were included in "combat events". The only thing known for sure was that I-20 had fired 2 torpedoes of the 20 it could be carrying and that it had the capability to transport a midget submarine.
From the op reports it seems clear that enemy air recon activity is extremely heavy along the entire northern coast of Australia.

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It was mentioned that HDML Panglima had reached Geraldton and was enroute to join TF 505 on its ASW patrol. These small launches had a combined ASW rating of 32 and would be a significant issue for I-10 or a midget sub if detected.
Orders were issued for all assets in the region to maximize patrols that could likely intercept I-10 regardless of whether she headed SW as last reported or continued heading N. Everyone was a bit on edge!

[WEXF]

As the sun rose on 24Jun Geraldton had completed the installation of their submarine nets and the port was now at level 3(1). Ships up to 12,000 tons could now dock at Geraldton. As the cost of increasing the port further was high, it was thought that attention would be given to the airfield and fortifications as a priority.

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Everyone was relieved to hear that there had been no new attacks by enemy submarines. In fact, there had not been a single sighting of I-20 or any other enemy ship. Perhaps I-20 had actually been sunk or damaged to the extent that she had to head home. There was no way to know. Of course the possibility that I-20 is lurking around can't be ignored so all of the air searches and ASW patrols will be continued.
On Arend PO Caruthers had flown 2 more ASW missions and the Walrus only had a fatigue of 4.
The AA at Geraldton had been augmented with the arrival by train of part of the 2nd KNIL AA BN. Although the guns they were equipped with were not the best they were significant and were a welcome sight.

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[WEXF]

June 25 was going to be somewhat of a different day for the command at Geraldton. Everything started out pretty much as expected with all breathing a sigh of relief that no additional sightings had been made of any enemy activity. Command had made the decision to improve the airfield because 13% work had already been done toward reaching a level 3. The engineers had worked hard and 20% of the work was now done. The AF had the potential of being ne of the largest in Australia but, for now, the plan was to get to level 4 so medium bombers could be accommodated easily. On Arend PO Caruthers once again had flown 2 more ASW missions.

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There was somewhat of a celebration when one of the supply officers reported that TF277 containing the 8150 ton tanker British Destiny with around 10000 fuel, escorted by 2 900 ton KVs, had arrived and started to unload. This was the first supply TF that had ever arrived at Geraldton.

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Everyone quieted down as the supply officer continued with his report. He pointed out that as Geraldton was now a level 3 port it had a capacity of handling 51000 fuel without worrying about spoilage. When TF 277 arrived there was 45383 fuel in port. The previous day there had only been 17044 fuel. A large amount of fuel obviously had been shifted from other locations as the "program" anticipated the needs of all locations. TF277 still had 9540 fuel on the tanker and if all of it were unloaded the amount at Geraldton would exceed the fuel limit.
A quick decision was made to fully refuel all the ships that were in port, stop the unloading of the tanker and refuel it as well. When all of that was completed there was still 42780 fuel at Geraldton not counting the 9540 on the tanker.

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Since there was a chance that there could be over 51000 fuel on base, if no other adjustments were made by the "program" a decision was made to not unload the tanker. That was not really an issue as the refueling used all of the ops points for the day anyway. If the engineers worked really fast and got the AF to level 3 Geraldton could handle 73000 fuel and at level 4 99000. The timing for that construction did not seem realistic so a backup plan was put in place to send the tanker to Perth as there was no limit on how much fuel could be handled there. It will be interesting to see what the fuel level for Geraldton is tomorrow.

[BBfanboy]

You don't have fuel stockpiling ON in place at Geraldton, so that fuel will flow according to demand and port size. I suspect Perth port will be bigger and use more fuel so the fuel will tend to go there. That's OK, but it will flow back to Geraldton if stocks get low.

What I don't know is how much is lost to spoilage while 'flowing' up and down the paved road and narrow gauge rail line. Using the '5' key to see potential supply distribution from Perth, the count drops from 100 to 88 between Perth (P7, AF7, fuel 8977) and Geraldton (P1, AF6, fuel 1009). I have tankers arriving at Perth with fuel and oil for Australian industry and Perth has 40 HI which creates constant demand, but most fuel flows on to Melbourne and Sydney.

[WEXF]

You don't have fuel stockpiling ON in place at Geraldton, so that fuel will flow according to demand and port size. I suspect Perth port will be bigger and use more fuel so the fuel will tend to go there. That's OK, but it will flow back to Geraldton if stocks get low.

Thanks for the posting.
I expect that the fact that Geraldton just completed going from a Port2>Port3 caused the program to send additional fuel. I doubt that the program could take into account the tanker that was about to arrive. It is the fuel on the tanker that would put Geraldton over the max. Since my orders are for the tanker NOT to unload any further the program might not move any fuel out of Geraldton. On the other hand I could see the fuel level in Geraldton going down on the next turn also. It will be interesting to see what happens.
As for the amount of fuel that is lost during transit between bases, I understand that some does get lost but I am not really concerned with knowing how much is lost on the way. All I want to know is how much is in the bases.

[WEXF]

As the orders for 26Jun were being prepared it was interesting to note that the fuel situation was working itself out. There was now 42714 fuel at Geraldton, down from 45383 and the requested amount was now 7995 down from 10188. It appears that the program was adjusting things sufficiently to allow the tanker in port to unload the 9540 fuel without exceeding the 51000 limit, at least if the trend downward continues. In any case the amount that would be subject to spoilage would be minimal.
Geraldton was now 28% toward having an AF3 (up from 20%) as the engineers have been working quite hard. In about 10 days the AF should be at level 3.

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Everyone was quite satisfied that there had been no new sightings of enemy submarines in the region. On Arend, 2 more ASW missions were flown by PO Caruthers. It is interesting that in the past few days all of the missions have been flown by the same pilot. Perhaps that is because they were all ASW and Caruthers has the best ASW skill? A decision has been made to have the Walrus II change to training for low level naval attack as that skill is quite low with both pilots on Arend.

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[WEXF]

As the orders for 27Jun were being prepared everyone at Geraldton was watching the progress on the AF as it was now at 36% of the way to level 3. The fuel situation at the base continued to adjust with only 21998 on hand down from over 42000. This was despite the unloading of the tanker currently docked in port.

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On Arend the training of PO Caruthers on his low naval skill has paid off with his rating going from 15>19. His experience also improved from 50>52. Lots more improvement is needed but every little bit helps.

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At the officers club the discussion was focused on some rumors that significant troop reinforcements had just arrived at Perth and that some were also heading for Geraldton.

[BBfanboy]

Now you know that the game fuel distribution algorithm will take back what it calculates as excess fuel based on usage. So unless you are planning on sending a good sized TF to Geraldton to refuel, there is no need to send a tanker there - the road will bring fuel as normal usage dictates. The alternative is to stockpile fuel there (and bring in more by tanker, because it will not flow back via the road unless usage dictates). The downside to stockpiling more than needed is that if the enemy suddenly lands and takes the base, he could get a bonus of free fuel.

[WEXF]

Now you know that the game fuel distribution algorithm will take back what it calculates as excess fuel based on usage. So unless you are planning on sending a good sized TF to Geraldton to refuel, there is no need to send a tanker there - the road will bring fuel as normal usage dictates. The alternative is to stockpile fuel there (and bring in more by tanker, because it will not flow back via the road unless usage dictates). The downside to stockpiling more than needed is that if the enemy suddenly lands and takes the base, he could get a bonus of free fuel.

Thanks again for your comments. I appreciate the fuel distribution system of our game now more than before. Just to clarify what was happening at Geraldton, I did not send the tanker there to actually bring fuel to Geraldton. The tanker loaded the fuel at Abadan quite some time ago and made the long trip to Geraldton as a means of getting some additional fuel to Australia and to demonstrate to the defenders at Geraldton that their base was really important to the Allied effort. The tanker was the very first cargo ship that used Geraldton as a unloading base. There are more on the way as Allied command wants to be sure that not everything depends on Perth.
I also understand that what I sometimes do in my game is for my own enjoyment rather than to improve the way the game handles things. So I don't expect that the morale ratings of all the troops at Geraldton will improve when they see the tanker at the dock or see the size of the AF grow or see that a high ranking officer has been assigned to take command of the units at the base. IRL there would likely have been quite a big bump in morale but not is our game. It is really for my own enjoyment and maybe for some others who follow this AAR.
WEXF

[BBfanboy]

OK - just make sure the ship bring mail with them!

[WEXF]

The morning of 28Jun found the AF at Geraldton 43% of the way to level 3. It should be half way there in another day. All else at the base was pretty quiet and no new enemy submarine contacts were reported. Training on Arend continued with PO Caruthers reaching a low naval skill of 21.

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There were two interesting developments mentioned at the intel briefing.
It was mentioned that the building of a small airfield at Corunna Downs had been completed allowing the stationing of some fighters to protect against enemy bombing attacks on the large resource centers there. There had been many reports of enemy recon flights all along the north coast of Australia. The new airfield had the potential of reaching a level 9AF.

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At the port there was anticipation of the arrival of TF458 from Cape Town carrying almost 17000 supply (and a few mail bags). The four ships will unload and return to Africa. Plans were in place to increase the level of supply at Geraldton as more troops were expected shortly. It was rumored that the troops were Americans.

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[WEXF]

June 29 was an exciting day at Geraldton. The AF was now more than halfway to level 3. On Arend PO Caruthers further improved his low naval skill from 21>22. However, the real excitement was at rail station as large amounts of all kinds of equipment was being unloaded. The base was increasing the number of guns from 73>130, artillery was increasing from 32>46 and the Flak rating of the base was now 13 up from 6. Everyone was anxious to get to the intel briefing to hear the details on what had happened.

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As the intel meeting started everyone noticed that there were two new faces in the room. One was CPT T. Morgan, commander of TF458 and the flagship Hermion. He informed everyone that his TF of 4 Euro M Cargo ships had just arrived from Cape Town with 16000 tons of supply and that unloading had already started and would speed up as soon as possible. The tanker at the docks was almost empty and some shifting of positions at the docks would happen soon. As soon as the 4 ships were empty they would return to Africa.
LCDR Goerk noticed that one of the ships in TF458 was xAK Nicholas van Vonn, a Dutch ship that had been at Tjil. when the war started. He was glad that she had survived.

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The most excitement was caused by Colonel Raymond Knapp. His uniform was not familiar to the officers in the room but they soon found out why. He was commander of 2nd US Marine Defense Battalion a unit of Americans that had just arrived after a long trip that had started at San Diego. Their presence at Geraldton would make a big difference in their defense ability should an enemy attack be forthcoming. A chart was shown listing all of the heavy artillery and AA the BN brought with it. In addition to the big guns a sizeable number of USMC Rifle Squads and MMG Sections also were in the TOE. The unit also was equipped with 2 radar sets. Perhaps the most impressed officer in the room was the commander of the Geraldton Fort who could see the dramatic improvement in the coastal defenses at Geraldton.

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[WEXF]

The daily briefing on 30Jun started out normally. No new enemy contacts had been made and the construction of the AF at Geraldton was now 59%>level 3. There was some new concerns about the level of fuel at the base as it again was nearing the limit of 51,000 but everyone felt the system would self correct before any spoilage would take place. The tanker in port was just about empty and the supply ships were well on their way to finishing their unloading as well. On Arend PO Caruthers had another small gain in his low level naval skill going from 22>23.

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Before the meeting ended, Colonel Knapp, the Marine BN commander briefed everyone on details related to the defensive capability of Geraldton now that his troops were in place. He presented the following data.

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Colonel Knapp made three main points:
1. His unit was currently at 128% of TOE and that as time moved on a number of the guns currently at Geraldton would be replaced. When at full TOE his unit would have 8 155 M1A1 GPF guns. Most of his AA would also be upgraded. The timing for all of the changes was unknown.

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2. The Colonel pointed out that the guns at Geraldton were very good but were not totally able to prevent the enemy from bombarding their base. Japanese BB and CA had a range of more than 30000 yards for their main batteries, so it was possible for them to stay far out of range of the best guns at Geraldton. However, all of the secondary batteries on the enemy ships would then be unable to join in the bombardment. Enemy CL would have to come into range if they wanted to bombard Geraldton.
3. Japanese BB had armor that would prevent any of the guns at Geraldton from penetration. The only exception were Kongo Class BB with a deck armor of 130. All enemy cruisers were in trouble if they were hit by the best of the Geraldton guns. Since Japanese damage control was poor the enemy had to take into account that any damaged ships would have to travel almost 1500 miles to get to the shipyard at Soerabaja and if a ship over 12000 tons was damaged and needed a shipyard it was around 2300 miles to Singapore.
It was a lot to take in but that night everyone felt a little better but still not totally safe.

[WEXF]

The morning of 1Jul found the airfield at Geraldton 67% of the way to size 3. Fuel level at the port was being managed well and the supply level on base was growing and had reached almost 12000. No new enemy contacts were reported and the pilots on Arend continued their training but no advances in skill levels were recorded.

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The supply level at the base no doubt had been increased by the unloading of TF 458. Since yesterday 3200 tons of supply were unloaded from the 4 docked ships. Each ship had started the day with 3059 supply and now had 2259. The 800 tons per ship was exactly what was expected. As a P3 Geraldton would have an 300 ton/ship/12 hours limit. However, because of the 10 naval support at Geraldton that number is increased by 100.

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[WEXF]

2Jul found the airfield at Geraldton 74%>level 3. Unloading of the supply ships was continuing and on Arend PO Caruthers had his low naval attack skill rating advance to 26. No enemy contacts were reported by any of the air assets in Geraldton or other nearby bases.

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Everyone on base was amazed to see that in only 2 days the 3" and 5" CD guns of the 2nd Marine Defense BN had been upgraded to 4 155mm M1A1 GPF guns. Everyone pulled out their "spec" sheets and realized that the defenses of Geraldton just took a leap forward. (Check out the table above a few postings ago).

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What was most on the mind of LCDR Goerk were the 3 US Navy Bird Class Mine Sweepers that were in port. He had heard some rumors about possible upgrades or conversions of these ships but wasn't sure what actually was happening. He planned to get to the officer's club early and look for the commanders of the 3 AMs.

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[WEXF]

At the officer's club LCDR Goerk sat drinking a beer and trying to understand the possibilities of what might happen. Goerk was worried that some US Navy AMs were going to be converted to AVPs and that the role of the Dutch ships, like Arend, would be diminished. His fear was eliminated when a US Navy officer, LCDR Ready, the commander of AM Penquin, joined him and told him that the decision was made not to convert the AMs but instead to upgrade them. Command had decided that there were enough Dutch AVP assets to service all of the float planes in the region. Goerk bought the next round!

In WITP-AE, I found the decision of whether to convert or upgrade these three Bird Class AMs a bit difficult. In the end I decided to upgrade them. Looking at the choices:

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The AM before conversion or upgrade has two 3" guns with a range of 15,000 yds, ASW1, and AA rating of 15 that mainly comes from the ability of the 3" gun to fire AA.

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If the upgrade is done or the conversion made the 3" gun is replaced, along with the 7.7mmLewis MGs, by 40mm Bofors (range 6000) and 20mm Oerlikon (range 4000) AA guns. Both maintain the ASW capability. The only differences between the two are that the conversion has the ability to support 6 seaplanes and carry 160 cargo but has a somewhat smaller supply of 40mm ammo. (There is no "device" for minesweeping, but the AVP is not allowed in a minesweeping TF, so it can be assumed that some minesweeping equipment was removed to allow for the seaplane support).
Notice that the AA guns on the AVP screen do not have an * while the guns on the upgraded AM do. The * is used to designate a gun as having the capability to fire both at surface targets and as AA. In checking the Editor, it was clear that both the upgraded AM and the AVP have the exact same AA guns devices (1539 and 1540) and that both are classified as "TYPE 12" and not considered the same as DP guns that are TYPE 17 in the Editor. Perhaps a device that is designated as DP is handled differently in the "program" from those that can fire both at surface and aircraft targets but are TYPE 12? Both have the ranges shown in the screen and ceilings 9800 and 6200 feet respectively. There is a mention in "What's New" that the * was sometimes missing.
It is also interesting that the 3in/50 Mk 10 Gun on the original Bird Class AM is designated as a DP Gun TYPE 17, in the Editor.
In the end the decision was made to do the upgrade because the conversion could still be done at a later time if the needs of the war required more AVPs.

[WEXF]

3 Jul found the airfield at Geraldton 82%>level 3. The low naval skill of PO Caruthers on Arend improved from 26>27.

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Interest was high at the port. Two TF had just arrived. The first was a group of 5 small cargo ships loaded with resources from Port Hedland. They had made the final leg of the trip at full speed and without escort and luckily avoided any contact with the enemy. They had been part of a larger group that had contained a very important ship.

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AKE Ethel Edwards, a 4990 ton Harriman Tender Class Ammunition supply ship, capable of carrying 4200 tons of ammunition of all kinds had arrived from Carnarvon, where she had been based for several months. Command had decided that with the enemy possibly heading to Australia after their campaign in the DEI it would be safer for the AKE to be in Geraldton where the sub nets, minefields, coastal defenses and air coverage were dramatically better protection for this key ship. Sufficient supply is in Geraldton to fully load the AKE. This ship is capable of reloading all but the largest of the Allied BB. For an AKE to be able to reload a weapon the "weapon rearm cost" has to be less than or equal to the "tender cargo capacity". Only the large 16" guns on some classes of BB exceed a rearm cost of 4200. The 16"/50 MK7 guns (rearm cost 5400) and the 16" MK5 gun (4480).
Does the presence of this ship indicate that Command is expecting the arrival of significant naval assets at Geraldton? Needless to say the conversations at the Officer's club were very interesting!

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[WEXF]

As the Americans at Geraldton prepared to celebrate their Independence Day on 4Jul, everyone saw that the AF had reached 90% completion > level 3. The recently arrived AKE was loading ammunition in the port.

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The pilots on Arend had no reported advance in their skill levels but they were somewhat upset by a report from the intel officer about a Japanese bombardment that had happened over 3000 miles away at Diego Garcia where both pilots had been stationed before moving to Perth to join Arend.

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The attack by the Japanese Ise Class BB was opposed by a small detachment armed with 6inMKV/VII Naval Guns.

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The Coastal Guns firing at the BB had no chance of penetrating the armor of the BB as the maximum penetration of the guns was only 108mm. Some level of surface damage could have been caused but no hits were recorded. In the combat animation the bombardment by the BB was from all of the various size guns including the 25mm Type 96AA and was at ranges between 2-14K yards. I am not clear on whether the penetration of the CD guns varies based on the range of their target?

[BBfanboy]

All guns have a calculation of their ability to penetrate based on range. You can see this in naval combat when a US cruiser firing 6" guns cannot penetrate Japanese CA belt armour until it gets to about 6K yards range. Similarly, US CAs cannot penetrate the belt armour of a Kongo class BB until they are very close. And there is a small window of range in which enemy deck armour might be penetrated by a plunging shell fired from long range. I have only seen this a couple of times and don't remember the relevant guns and ranges.