Air Raid Pearl Harbor (Navy CPO vs Imp AI)

[ChiefOC]

I would like to share my 1st WitP-AE campaign. No doubt I have much to learn. And perhaps a few things to share that might be new to the group.

In a former life, there was a forum for the Classic game 'Pacific General' where we put ourselves in the story as we told it sort of being there as well as telling the tale as a gamer. That is what I will do here. I have read about the first 60 pages of the rulebook and can not wait to start. I will also share some historical anecdotes and some of my strange gameplay encounters. Comments and recommendations especially recommendation, are welcome.

But if I may, permit me to get a few of my starting posts out as I could not wait to sort out my login issues before jumping in. I'm now in Feb of '42 and a lot has happened. As I said I know I need a lot of 'schooling' so let my rantings catch up with my game, before y'all ring the bell. Much to learn for 2nd go round after I finish this one.

Full Campaign - Quiet China (I'm a Navy guy and a bit all out to sea on land ha ha)
Historical 1st turn - on
Dec 7th Surprise - on
Allied D/C - on
Reliable USN torps - off
Realistic R&D - on
AI Diff - Historical
Auto Sub OPs - on

- - - - -

Air Raid Pearl Harbor, and again and again.

"Ok Chief, how bad?", says Nimitz.

"Well, sir considering their carriers hit us on Sunday, Monday, and yesterday, it could have been a whole lot worse. The old Raleigh, Destroyer Dewey, Antares, Condor and a couple of transports are junk under water. But everything commissioned bigger than a light cruiser is pretty hurt, barely floating, or shouldn't pull away from wherever/whatever they are tied up to - or a combination thereof. California actually touches bottom during low tide. We lost a lot of everything with wings that were on the ground. General Short also lost a lot of planes of all kinds."

"Now tell me the good news."

"Umm, not much in that department. Major Devereux on Wake sent a message saying his 5" guns sank a large transport (Kinryu Maru) as it was unloading invasion troops. He also said he couldn't get his civilian contractors to pick up a rifle or a shovel once the bullets and bombs started flying. The Army also found a Japanese mini sub (SSX Ha-14) washed ashore at Waimanolo Beach, sir."

"Where in thee hell is Waimanao?"

"Over by Bellows Field, sir."

"Gees, them boys were way ta hell and gone lost. How about the PI", Nimitz continued.

"Shooting fish in a barrel all over PI, Hong Kong and everywhere else. We're still waiting on check ins from almost all our ships."

- - - - -

So yes. Rough first couple of days, some scares, lotta scrambling, with few bright moments over the first few weeks. I was shocked to sea bi-wing fighters on Enterprise. I shot them off to Pearl while running up to Wake. While Wake's Wildcats were knocking down some Bettys, I knew the Wildcats (kinda sparse right now) were doomed. When Big E got close, I launched Wake's birds, leaving one hanger queen which would be destroyed when Wake was overrun. But I saved seven F4Fs.

In the PI, I left my troops on the beaches figuring opposed landings would make it harder on my "guests". I left my subs to the tender mercies of the AI, but did have a few load mines to mine the waters of Bataan to prevent any surprises. I also had one sub load/evac some of the Engineers to start improvements at Darwin. I started loading many of the local merchies with fuel to save the gas and some of the ships, hopefully as my great scurry commenced. I also disestablished a few squadrons to prevent easy exp to the Visiting team.

Same in Hong Kong. I disbanded some squadrons to cheat the IJA out of early experience. One or two gave me Political pts. OK. Didn't know what they were for. I also started loading many local merchies with fuel/supplies. My reason was the ships were likely doomed, but since I couldn't torch the gas, eh? Actually one small fuel convoy from Hong Kong made it to Australia. My MTB's tried to be mtbs but were just flash cubes. If I had known I could disband them I would have.

Force Z. Wow. Ok. Both are afloat, barely. Repulse has a lot of structural and engineering damage, on fire, can make 4 knots. PoW, has lots of structural damage, barely floating, also capable of 4 knots. Singapore dockmaster, make me a couple of reservations, hope my girls get there. Seems like a long way.

I formed up some tanker and supply convoys from offboard to Oz. I also sent a few smaller, similar convoys from Oz to NZ.

Further West in the BTO, waking up ten thousand people and getting stuff on the way, moving East. I drew a line across Thailand (?). Those units above it to move North to Moulmein as a start. Those units south, head to Singapore.
Noteworthy was the ordering of 13th Burma Rifles and BFF Brigade to get their arses to Chiang Mai(4 hexes east of Rangoon) to be a "trip wire". It would take them til Mid/late February but they did get there first to find it unoccupied. Throughout the DEI, I gathered everything that could float and formed up rally points and started several "Battlestar Galactica herd style" retreats. I wanted to save everything with particular emphasis on assets that were not so fortunate in real life such as all the ABDA vessels, particularly USS Langley. There were some other semi-valuable lost assets I wanted. One being a strange beastie Master Grigsby designated as a PG. Their Dutch Royal Highness' called it a coastal defense ship. The Brits might call it a "Monitor". I wanted to save HNLMS Soerabaja. Got a feeling having something mounting a pair of 11 inch guns can come in handy.

Stay tuned.

[ChiefOC]

December 12, 1941 somewhere NNW of Pearl Harbor

"Fire 2...Fire 4, Down Scope! Take her down to 100 feet!"

- - - - -

Five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, USS Tambor came to periscope depth, into the middle of a Japanese Formation, and snap fired two torpedoes at Zuikaku. The Japanese first Air Fleet had launched three strike at Pearl, US Carrier Groups centered on Enterprise and Lexington are low on gas keeping their distance from Pearl; and a lone Japanese Fleet Carrier is only a day or two out of strike range of Hawaii. Where are the others?

Hong Kong, Guam, Wake and another dozen places have fallen to Japan. Force Z, along with USS Boise and couple tin cans are licking their considerable wounds in Singapore, watching the tendrils of the Japanese Empire reaching for them. A few of the lesser damaged older U.S. battleships, in company with other ships are crawling towards the U.S. West Coast with thin escorts. Meanwhile, a pair of Canadian Flower Class Corvettes are edging south to help combat the I-boat menace off San Francisco.

Seeing this akin to the German threat to England, my plan is to deny Japanese troops to disembark. In an anachronistic manner, I holed up ABDA surface units to act as Privateers. I teamed two groups, each with a pair of CLs, with six DDs. Any larger of a group (8?) seems to greatly increase the likelihood of a collision during surface engagements. They will strike at any amphib group within a day's run. In similar fashion on the Australian East Coast, HMAS Canberra with escorts made a stab at an task group seemingly bound for Port Moresby. The IJN force was wiped out, but a Betty Bomber hit Canberra with a torpedo, putting her out of action for at least the next two weeks. Dozens of ships were sunk near Hong Kong, and many other ships in the Philippines have also fell to IJA/IJN airstrikes. Forces in the Philippines are putting up a stiff resistance.

HMS Mauritius' Battle Group reacted to an enemy group near Batavia. A Dutch scout plane had sighted four small ships with a light cruiser escort. Upon contact, the force turned out to be three destroyers, a light cruiser and the light carrier Zuiho. Destroyer HMS Stronghold hit the carrier with a torpedo, which exploded abaft her island. Gunfire hit a destroyer and the light cruiser before they escaped in a rain squall. Intelligence says the Zuiho sank. Hmmm.

Lots of ships in motion, but where are the Japanese Carriers. With two small exceptions, no sightings in over a week.

Oh, and Tambor's torpedoes, like so many others, missed.

To be continued.

[ChiefOC]

22 DEC 1941

Not much going on. Still falling back, though I'm kinda thinking I may have overreacted crying Romeo, Alpha, Papa, Echo too early. I've rounded up, I think, just about every vessel tied up smoking and coking and got them gainfully employed or at least moving. My Dutch, didn't know how many assets they had, are particularly busy. I've tasked each Dutch station to start evacing their ground personnel to points closer to Kapang, which will be my Dutch "Alamo". Once their Patrol Groups have got out who they can, I reassign their respective Seaplane tenders (worth their weight in Dutch gold) and Patrol Groups and repeat the process. I found a Dutch Sub Tender and she is on her way to Kapang. Likeways, I found my Dutch "Monitor" and she is herding a bunch of flashcubes to OZ's west coast. All these wee coastal/tramp freighters are worth VP's and no sense throwing them away, yet. If I can't get these I-boats out of OZ's waters, I may start wiggling the small freighters and AMC's in front of the enemy subs; to take possible torpedoes intended for higher value targets when OZ's sea lanes start getting really busy. Flash bangs.

My two Java Sea Raider Groups are doing well, at least up until today. "Tromp's Transport Terrors" ran into a bit of 'bother'. They had successfully raided several small convoys, sinking many ships - occasionally the whole convoy. One convoy destroyed reflected 5,567 casualties, including 56 squads destroyed as well as engineers (109 destroyed) and 53 guns lost. Plus, a few Jake float planes. Who knew the IJN had float scouts on their "freighters"? Explains a lot of the recon traffic. Anyways, after destroying two amphib groups landing at Kuching (North coast of Sarawak), I went for the 'hat trick'. Well, I reckon someone at IJN HQ had lost enough "Face" and ships and had a surprise waiting for "The Terrors". My raiders opened fire, and then noticed they were shooting at Battleships Mutsu, Nagato and Fuso, plus smaller ships protecting their convoy. Final "Butcher's bill":

CL HMS Danae - sunk
CL HMS Durban - sunk (from 16" guns)
DD HMS Tenedos - sunk
DD HMAS Vendetta - sunk

vs

CL Katori - sunk
DD Wakatake - sunk (collision )
AMC Saigon Maru - sunk
xAK Burma Maru - sunk
xAK Hanakawa Maru - sunk
xAK India Maru - sunk

So the Terrors didn't do too bad in the face of overwhelming odds.

Elsewhere, I have convoys enroute to start developing either New Caladonia or Espirito Santo as well as smaller groups beefing up Johnston Island, Midway and Canton (?) Island down south. A few "escort" convoys headed to the US West Coast with damaged "standards battleships" leaving only California, West Virginia and Pennsylvania as resident BBs in Pearl. Many IJA landings throughout the P.I. Manila and Clark Field are now front line outposts. A few hits here and there from Allied subs, but no confirmed sinkings.

[ChiefOC]

30 DEC 1941

Nothing much to write home about during the last week, so I will show the conditions/patients in my shipyards, and then game stats. Edit: it seems whenever I put in the damage values, I get a you can not list phone numbers thing, so I will just say heavy, medium or light damage.

Batavia speed

BC Repulse 14 Very Hvy
DD Vampire 27 medium
CL Boise 29 light

Soerbaja

BB Pow 10 Very heavy

Pearl
California 03 Critical
AG Vega 04 Very hvy
West Virginia 08 Heavy
Pennsylvania 12 Heavy
New Orleans 14 Heavy
DMS Dorsey 16 heavy
DD Dale 16 medium
CL Honolulu 20 critical
San Francisco 20 medium
Indianapolis 28 light
Enterprise 30 light
Lexington 33 light

Seattle

BB Colorado 20 light

Arriving San Francisco
BB Maryland 12 heavy
BB Nevada 13 heavy
BB Tennessee 13 heavy

Arriving Los Angeles

BB Oklahoma 16 heavy
BB Arizona 13 heavy

[ChiefOC]

Game stats 30 DEC 1941

Allied A/C Pts Lost 376
IJN/IJA A/C Pts lost 537

Allied Army Loss pts 1186
IJA Army Loss pts 222

Allied ships sunk: 54
Pts for sunk allied ships 264

Japanese ships sunk: 39
Pts for sunk ships 200

Political points: 1,084

Japanese score: 4,066
Allied score: 11,468

[ChiefOC]

0630, 03 JAN 1942

First Light off Espiritu Santo

"Radio, bridge. Send to Line Coach in the clear, Visiting Team has take the field. Send it now."

Bridge, radio send to Line Coach, visiting team has taken the field, in the clear. Aye Sir!"

"Captain, lookouts report more masts, now estimate 20 plus ships!"

"Thank you. Tell lookouts to keep reports coming. OOD, signal Parrot to have her division prepare to lay smoke and make torpedo attack."

"Sir, her division?, it's just the two of us", asked the OOD.

"Ensign, it is just the two of us, but we are going to make the ruckus of a lot more, Saavy?"

"Aye, cap'n, make a ruckus aye aye."

"Captain, radio says message from Line Coach. Message is switch to rally caps and play ball, acknowledge."

"Typical. Tell radio to acknowledge message."

'aye, aye. Radio, bridge, send acknowledged."

"Captain, what do you mean typical", asked the Executive Officer.

"XO, the captain on Pensacola is an Academy Man. He thinks he needs to tell us Reserve Officers to engage. Better get to Aux Con. On your way, find Bill. Tell him single fish spreads. I think more confusion will be caused, and maybe more damage with lots of fish running around, than just one or two ships hit. If you see Weaps before me, tell him to load star shells."

"OOD, port 10 degrees, all ahead Full and tell Engineering to start the smoke generators. Gator, give me a course to our Rally Point at Noumea."

a series of aye ayes rang out.

- - - - -

So January started with a bit of a fright. Two Clemson Class tin cans were scouts for my expeditionary force headed to Espirito Santo to start building a base. Behind them were two transports with some engineers. Behind them a few hexes was a larger convoy with a hastily assembled ground units guarded by Pensacola and a pair of Clemson DMS's. What my DDs found at ES, was 29 Japanese freighters unloading about a division of troops. 29 ships, each mounting a single 3, 4 or 5" gun, outgunned my DD's by about three to one. Fortunately after firing a few shots and a few fish, with little effect, my DD's departed. However they would return shortly, over and over again with more DD's and Pensacola and sink many troopships.

In the DEIs, my two task forces of Mauritius's Maru Maulers, and Tromp's Transport Terrors bushwacked several small convoys (3-8 ships) sinking many IJN troopships with only slight damage taken. No surprise, many small outposts and islands have fallen to the Empire. Also no surprise, my subs have had few success's. A few actual hits, but mostly misses and duds. I have left my subs, by and large in the hands of the AI. With a few exceptions. Following something I tried successfully in the original game, I had a US sub take off a detachment from my Cavite Base force (2 .50 mgs, and a couple other troops) and it is headed to Brisbane. One strange item, which may be of interest. Seems, the AI sometimes takes it's eye of the fuel duration of the subs it is handling. I found a couple of Allied subs up in the sea of Japan, with nominal fuel - some close to being outta gas. I snuck them into some Chinese (Home)ports and refueled them.

Further south, a very happy note. Australian based search planes found an IJN force west of Darwin! The only men o'war close, in Darwin coincidently, was old Houston, and a mix of four DD's. I set Houston's TF to full speed with max react. To my surprise, the enemy Task Force was a PB and CVL Zuiho, pouring out some smoke. Zuiho had previously been reported sunk. Houston landed four 8" shell hits, and then HMS Stronghold (IIRC) hit the carrier with a torpedo which detonated. More shell hits, from the DD's and Houston and Zuiho sank. Hot damn, love it.

Much Farther East, more convoys headed various destinations in Southwest pacific. Further still was TF 23, centered around Lady Lex and Saratoga (CV's 2 and 3). TF 23 stumbled across, literally ran over a IJN raider group of CA Atago with two DDs. Surface action was only a few shots, though Lexington did get off two 8" shots, no hits. Immediately after, USN airstrikes landed 4 1000 lb bombs in quick succession on Atago. MAGAZINE EXPLOSION! A few more bombs and Atago sank, along with one of her consorts. Back in the Central Pacific, TF 65 centered around Big "E" and Yorktown (CV's 6 and 5) raided shipping in and around Wake. Several troopships sunk, with some others damaged.

I've formed up more task forces. Some shuttling planes down under, and a couple supporting "Operation Northern Reach" to develop Naval Base Adak. Speaking of down under, HMAS Canberra and Australia each led small strikes at IJN TF's sinking some ships, but each took a torpedo from Betty bombers and are in "the yards". Meanwhile I'm slipping troops etc into Port Moresby. Don't know how that is gonna turn out.

[RangerJoe]

Never, ever, let the computer control your subs.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Never, ever, let the computer control your subs.

+1, although I understand in your first time out you want to simplify the game somewhat. The thing with subs is that once you give them a patrol zone you really don't need to do much with them. And if the dud US torps get annoying, you can use the subs to haul supply to cut-off garrisons so they will survive longer. But don't do that with the S-# boats - their Mark 10 torps work.

[ChiefOC]

31 JAN 1942

Scratch One Flattop, Happy Birthday Mr. President and Mini Stats SitRep

After the rudeness of being beat to the Punch at Espiritu Santo, I'm concurrently developing Noumea and Suva. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give the "visiting team" good seats. My limited forces have been making hit and run raids, sinking a number of Maru's and some small ad hoc escorts. A bit to the east The Battle of Santa Cruz went down, the first battle between aircraft carriers. Sara and Lex duked it out with Shoho and some other small birdfarm. A TBD Pilot, radioed "Scratch One Flattop" after his squadron put three bombs (have no idea where all my torps went!) into Shoho. I doubt she sank, even though the Intel Report says so. When Zuiho was sunk in the above surface action, the damage report also said 8 zeros and 6 vals were destroyed. 'Course Shoho's attack birds were wiped out when they came a'calling without invite or escort. That will pull her teeth for a short while.

Back closer to Pearl, TF 65 raided Wake. A number of IJN ships, all merchant traffic, were sunk. Maybe a dozen, I watched several go down. Then a long range B-17 made the report "Enemy carriers, so we'll sea [;)] what becomes of that. Several I-boats are making quite the pests of themselves in/around Pearl and my West Coast Ports.

Back to Darwin, I was surprised after USS Houston's sinking of Zuiho (ok she had help), she is out of 8" ammo, after docked for a few days. A quick lQQk in the rules and seems I either need an AE, or a bigger port. I reckon Houston is headed back the Java Sea to add her weight of shot, after she scrounges some ammo at Surabaya. Noting Houston's ammo prob, I've sent a few more ships to Noumea, including one of my few AE's.

Most of the Philippines have fallen. I've started using my subs in "Operation Breadcrumb" to scrounge supplies from nearby islands to feed Bataan. Thanks to USS Trout, and some creative accounting, some subs have also scrounged some supplies in "Operation Dim Sum." Speaking of the Philippines, I was shocked to find General McArthur still on the base golf range. 200 Political points saw him on his way outta there. Don't know if big wigs are worth victory points, but something tells me Dugout Doug may come in handy in another 18 mos or so. Also wrt supplies, now (USS) Rochambeau got diverted from a supply run by an I-boat's torpedo. There was an interesting battle between the transport and the sub which surfaced. If the sub truly "slipped beneath the waves" after an explosion, and counter flooding from numerous hits, I'll take it. Meanwhile, the fast transport which in real life brought a certain LTjg John F. Kennedy into the theater is limping to Singapore for major repairs. Speaking of subs, one of my fleet boats hit the small IJN Carrier Hosho, but no explosion. For her efforts she took a bomb down her neck and is limping to Pearl, she might end up being my first sub loss. Only the very southern part of the Singapore peninsula is left in Allied hands, lookng grim. Commendations to the Vildebeasts there, who for some reason, woke up and put a beatdown on some IJN ships heading back east. Very satisfying seeing "Massive Explosion" and "Fuel burning". Add a couple more Maru's who's final berth is Davy Jone's Locker.

[RangerJoe]

Mac comes back in the SWPAC which shows up in Australia. [;)]

If your sub is in trouble, send her to even a 1 level port which will help to dewater the sub.

You have ships that can become AKEs, they are very useful for your cruisers and even some battleships.

[ChiefOC]

Which brings me to ABDA's Birthday present to President Roosevelt. On January 22, 1942 HMS Mauritius leading "Mauritius' Maru Maulers", including light cruisers Sumatra and DeRuyter surprised a major Japanese convoy approaching Bandjermasin. Twenty five ships, mostly large transports with a few tiny escorts were engaged. Thirteen were sunk, and the remaining 12 were all belching smoke and flame as they weighed anchor and tried to disengage. A subsequent battle saw all 12 sunk. The official report for the Battle of Band Aid Bay reads:


(why can't numbers be posted?) Anyways, it was a lot. 35 Thousand casualties
504 Squads destroyed
204 Non Combat destroyed
107 Engineers destroyed
Guns Lost: 320

31 JAN 1942 SitRep

Escort TF USS West Va (36 hexes from Seattle) Medium damage

Seattle
BB Maryland Est days to repair 92
BB Tennessee est days to repair 104

San Francisco
BB Nevada ETR 97 days
CA New Orleans 56 days
CA San Fran 06 days

Los Angeles
BB Oklahoma ETR 67 days

San Diego
BB Arizona ETR 108 days

Pearl Harbor
BB California 03 knots ETR 689 days
BB Pennsylvania 11 kts ETR 392 days
CL Honolulu ETR 100 days

Sydney
HMAS Australia ETR 56 days

BC Repulse, speed 14 ETA Cape Town 7 days
BB Prince of Wales speed 10, 7 hexes to off board

Mini Stats
Allied A/C pts Lost 611
IJN A/C pts lost 994

Allied Army Pts lost 2430
IJN Army Pts lost 1001

Allied Ships sunk 66 (Increase of 12 from last month)
Pts for ships sunk 297

IJN Ships sunk 205 (Increase of 166 from last month)
Pts for ships sunk 1,550

IJN Score 6,084
Allied Score 14,887

[ChiefOC]

Ranger Joe: copy and Thank you

BBfanboy: Roger, and Thank you.

[RangerJoe]

You need another post or so in order to post some things.

You can speed up repairs by using ARs and Naval Support with Pierside repairs. Once those are done, then put them into the shipyard.

[BBfanboy]

Also, it is highly recommended to keep PH shipyard capacity open for short-time repairs so combatants like CVs and cruisers can get ready for action much closer to the front, rather than going back to the U.S.

But before you send those BBs at PH to the US for repairs to their float damage, get the system damage all the way down to 0. That will minimize the chances of runaway flooding while they go east.

[ChiefOC]

Copy BBfanboy.

Good to know for Cali and Penn. The other standards are all Stateside, except for WeeVee who is about a week out. She has red Sys 35, Float 39 and Eng 33. Yeah. Pearl is gonna get real busy. ADM Lockwood is wanting my plans for his subs. They can all start getting RADAR etc in April but they need a level 5 port. Only one near Pearl is Pearl. Another 3/4 months Lanai s/b a 5. Same for Darwin. That means sprinkling my subs Down Under (Auckland) and back stateside/Canada.

[RangerJoe]

Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane . . .

[RangerJoe]

Once the vessel start the upgrade, unless there is more than 5 major float and/or engine damage, the vessel can be moved to pierside.

[ChiefOC]

3 Feb 1942

"Admiral, message from Station HYPO."

"Go, ahead Chief, what does Commander Layton say?"

"Bad news, Good news, Admiral, which do you want first?"

"Chief I hate this, bad news first as usual."

"Admiral, Commander Layton reports the Army Air Corps report of sighting carriers was wrong. No carriers. Good news, seems Yorktown and Enterprise found Yamamoto's fleet train out in the middle of nowhere north of Midway. Layton says Enterprise and Yorktown sank a handful of fleet oilers and a pair of tin cans escorting them."

"Well. That is good news. Wish I knew what the tankers were doing out there, but someone is going to be looking for them when their bunkers start drying up." Admiral Nimitz continued, "Stay on it. I have to meet Charlie Lockwood at the "O" Club for lunch. He's raising hell about his torpedoes not being worth a damn, and wants to talk about it."

"Aye, aye Admiral.

[Post war JANAC reports would verify destroyer Akebono and seven Fleet Oilers each about ten thousand tons were sunk by carrier aircraft.]

-----


Back on the East Coast, small task forces had finally assembled and were bound for the Alaska Territory. Likewise, Eight fleet subs, carrying supplies were also headed North. Included were three "V" Type Boats Argonaut, Narwhal and Nautilus. Took me some doing to round them up. Waters near Washington/Canadian border are under I-boat blockade. I-boats made two attacks on my Canadian ASW (KV) corvettes. One was hit and blown to bits, and the other was hit, but the torpedo failed to detonate.

Back at Darwin, a Dutch Captain reported when he departed Boela (near Ambon) there were tons and tons of quinine, teak and unrefined oil abandoned. I rustled up some AKs and tankers, snuck up and secured thousands of tons of resources and oil. Seemed like a good idea, especially as the ships were sitting idle and it was only a matter of time before the IJA closed down that area with aircraft and heavy fleet units. On the topic of idlers in Australian ports, I found a ship which is known for a great escape. In Cairns, the Dutch AM Abraham Crijinsen is chilling as just another short legged, no teeth "flash bang", but is known for it's real life escape from the Japanese disguised as an island.

Up in Tricomolee, the Royal Navy is forming up it's first Carrier Battle Group. His Majesty's Carriers Indomitable and Hermes, supported by cruisers Cornwall, Dragon, Hobart, three DD's and the errant USS Boise [X(], will make up TF 12. A DE from Calcutta will rendezvous with TF 12 at sea.

And in Rangoon, there was bad news. Major Gregory Boyington was shot down, and is listed as MIA.

And more of the Philippines are taken by Japanese invasions as well as numerous other places.

[ChiefOC]

13 Feb 1942


"Can you repeat that message, Chief?", asked ADM Nimitz.

"That's what the message from the British embassy says Admiral. I repeat, the bombs made a sound like doink, doink, doink, doink."

"Well, I guess that is good news, but I would have preferred some damage to the Japanese Carriers", admonished Nimitz.

- - - - - -

So, the second Carrier battle of the war is in the books. IJN Carriers Akagi and Hiryu jousted with HMS Indomitable and Hermes. A large group of IJN aircraft tried to attack British TF 12 near the straits of Batavia. The Japanese warbirds first had to fly through past several British and Dutch Fighter Squadrons based in Java. Finally, more than a dozen broke through the British CAP to drop four bombs on Indomitable. And they bounced off, hitting her armor belt without damage. One bomber also scored a hit on unlucky USS Boise doing moderate topside damage. All the Japanese strike planes were shot down during the attack as were a handful of Zero fighters. Allied losses were a few Buffaloes and P-40s. Boise was detached separately to join other US Navy ships in Darwin via Kapang.

Taking advantage of the IJN carriers to the West, Mauritius' Maru Maulers and Tromp's Transport Terrors continued terrorizing and wreaking havoc among IJN convoys. They even expanded their repertoire with shore bombardments. A few bombardments of Bandjermasin resulted in numerous IJA Zeros, Bettys and Mavis aircraft being damaged and destroyed. However, in one attack HMS Mauritius was hit by a torpedo launched by a midget sub. The torpedo put a big hole in Mauritius and she will have to exit the theatre. However, her escorting destroyers forced the midget menace to the surface where it was destroyed by gunfire. Meanwhile at Kapang, a small IJN task force landed a SNLF at Kapang. This could be an obstacle for Boise and Mauritius, planning stops at the Dutch base prior to making port at Darwin.

With the IJA "in the wire", I evac'd all aircraft out of Singapore, hoping 4 damaged a/c would follow. Finishing her repairs done by a submarine torpedo, then loading secret cargo, VIPs, and litter patients, USS Rochambeau slipped out of Singapore; being the last ship out.

Back in the Central Pacific, there were a few minor clashes with IJN surface groups. Near Canton Island, two Japanese Destroyers ran into a small USN force of two Clemson DMSs escorting a transport. The transport and one Clemson were sunk with the other DMS badly mauled. Only slight damage was taken by the Japanese. Near Midway, a Japanese CA, with two DD's drew the attention of Midway's PT squadron. One PT was sunk with no damage to the IJN, whom disappeared into the vastness of the Pacific. My Navies were proving their proficiency at sinking Marus by the score, but were having a darn hard time with real warships.

As evening fell, Tokyo Rose announced that Singapore had been captured.

[BBfanboy]

This far into the war the DEI are under the umbrella of Japanese Netties which are deadly to most ships. Their long range carrying a torpedo makes Koepang a poor choice for a stopover, and Darwin will soon be in range. The pocket formed by Horn Island, the Eastern DEI and the Northern Oz is a trap that valuable ships should not go into until you get back air and naval superiority. I always send ships like Boise down the west side of Oz, fueling at Perth or Adelaide before going on to Sydney for repairs. It's worth the trip to save the ship!