Speedy vs Fabertong: Death to the Penguin!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

What a good day for my submariners:

It started badly though.....SS Dace was heavily damaged and has flooded compartment after a thorough working over by 5 x IJN DD's 180 miles SE of Hong Kong. She is to return to Darwin.

SS Silversides attacked a convoy twice in the night. Firstly missing TK Ichiyo Maru and then an hour later severely the oil laden Tanker with a torpedo amidships 120 miles NE of Jesselton.

SS Hake surfaced and blew up the freighter Bushu Maru 240 miles WSW of Okinawa with 3 torpedo hits and gunfire.

SS S-35 sank AK Huzikawa Maru with 2 torpedo hits in the bow in the lower Kuriles.

SS Crevalle sank the emtpy transport Syoka Maru with 5 torpedo hits over 2 attacks 300 miles north of Truk.

Well done lads[:)]

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Apamama has a level 4 airfield now. 3 x PV1 Squadrons have flown in to bomb supply and troop positions on Tarawa.

An AK, AP and DE arrive in theatre tomorrow.

Here's an update of Burma and China showing the stalemate on the ground. I dominate the air though:

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Over 10,000 hits. Thankyou to those who read[&o][8D]

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Well the fleet has been ordered to leave Baker Island again tomorrow. 3 x CV Divisions + 4 x BB Divisions (10 x BB) are to proceed towards the Marshalls and bomb and shell the sh*t out of the place. Specifically Maloelap and Kwajalein which appear to be the local fortresses.

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SS Amberjack evaded 5 x IJN DD west of Tori Shima.

SS Muskallunge sank the troop laden AP Shoun Maru with 2 torpedoes 240 miles west of Tori Shima.

SS Seadragon missed freighter Oregon Maru with 4 torpedoes ofF SW Borneo.

SS Skate was lightly damaged by a near miss bomb dropped from a Sally SE of Iwo Jima. She is relocating further south.

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Interesting intel:

IGD is now at PALAU NOT WAKE.

2nd Division is on its way to Tarkan.

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Rangoon's oil and resource production have been heavily disrupted from Imphal. Next target is Moulmein's resources.

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SS Darter, SS Rock and an AK arrive in theatre tomorrow.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Speedy
IGD is now at PALAU NOT WAKE.

Wow. His intel is leaking like a sieve. [X(]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

I'm looking forward to the prospect of more action in the Marshalls soon. Tomorrow I will post a current breakdown of my CV and BB Divisions. A quick update on timelines I will probably be invaded 2 locations (1 decided, 1 un-decided as yet) over the next 4-5 weeks.

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A mixed day in the submarine war.

Faber's increased air search hits 3 submarines. Pompon and Drum are to return to Darwin with moderate damage. Corvina is fine and is to relocate from Hong Kong area nearer to Camranh Bay.

The good parts:

SS Tunny sank AK Lyons Maru with 2 torpedoes 120 miles east of Tarakan.

SS Muskallunge scored her 2nd AP kill in 2 days by sinking the empty transport Tainichi Maru. The ship blew up after its magazines were detonated.

SS Silversides sank AK Hoeisan Maru after 2 hits in 2 separate attacks 120 miles NE of Jesselton.

SS Herring hit tanker Jinei with a torpedo near Iwo Jima.

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The usual bombing raids against IJA troops positions in Burma and China.

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2 x AK arrive tomorrow as do an SBD and a F4U Squadron.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

And we near to further action in the Marshalls...........

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SS Hackelback spotted and avoided 4 x ASW vessels 480 miles south of Guam.

SS Gar hit DD Mochizuki with 4 duds 120 miles east of Tori Shima[:-]

SS Escolar was heavily damaged during a 2 hour hunt by 5 x IJN DD's SW of Tori Shima. She is to return to Midway.

SS Rasher hit DD Akikaze with 4 duds west of Jolo[:-][8|]

SS Herring avoided a couple of light ASW vessels and succeeded in damaging AK Hoki Maru with a torpedo NW of the Bonin's.

SS Hake blew up the oil laden tanker Tennan Maru with 2 torpedoes. A huge explosion followed the 2nd torpedo hit leaving little remnants of the small tanker. This took place 240 miles ESE of Batan Island.

SS Tuna avoided an MSW west of Bataan.

SS Tinosa hit AK Azuchisan Maru with a torpedo 240 miles east of Legaspi.

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An SBD squadron flew into Makin and Apamama today to offer 'anti shipping service'.

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Here's the breakdown of the current Marshalls force:

TF1013 - CV Lexington/Saratoga/CVL Princeton
TF1044 - CV Enterprise/Hornet/CVL Bellau Wood/Cowpens
TF1050 - CV Essex/Wasp/CVL Monterey/Cabot

TF1099 - BB West Virginia/Nevada
TF1100 - BB North Carolina/Washington/Alabama
TF1101 - BB Idaho/New Mexico
TF1102 - BB South Dakota/Indiana/Massachussetts

The map below shows their current position. I'm sending out FP's to recon every base en route. Important to get an assessment before finalising my invasions.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A day of bad wather across the Pacific prevented any recon or offensive raids by my CV's or by many airfields across Burma.

Unfortuinately mine's are not subject to weather conditions and as my fleets were passing Mili en route to Kwajalein DD Pringle felt and heard a loud explosion in it's port bow area....it had hit a mine....damage is slight though - 20/18/7

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SS Tuna performed a great attack today. She sank AO Shiretoko with 3 torpedo hits out of 6....1 in the bow, 1 amidships, 1 in the stern. This occured 180 miles west of Bataan. Well done lads.

SS Pargo avoided a HK group 120 miles NW of The Bonins.

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2 x AK arrive in theatre tomorrow as does the 5307th US RCT in Karachi

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Well my battlegroups have reached the target point 180 miles SE of Kwajalein. Today scouts were sent out to try and find any shipping.....not a soul was found. Recon of the surrounding islands indicated only Maloelap, Jaluit and Kwajaelin are occupied. I have formulated a plan...............

Tomorrow Kwajalein will be subjected to a huge air bombardment, weather permitting. Also 2 x BB divisions will hit the place at night and 2 more will hit Maloelap..

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An old S-Boat hat success today. Patrolling in a storm 180 miles south of Tarakan her radar picked up a small convoy approaching from the east. She surfaced, had a peak and managed to let loose 4 torpedoes at an AK before being spotted. 1 hit the side of AK Pacific Maru. S-38 dived and escaped before the pathetic escort could locate her.

SS Batfish evaded an MSW 180 miles west of Manila.

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Tomorrow my Darwin heavies have been ordered to bomb Kendari's airfields for the first time in weeks.

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With the situation as it is in the Marshalls I will probably sail my transport within 1-2 weeks.

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CVE Anzio arrives in theatre tomorrow as does an AK and DE.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Well Kwajalein and Maloelap were bombarded from sea and air. Not all went as planned though.....mines[:@]

The following ships struck a mine:

CL Honolulu
CL Columbia
DD Converse
DD Laffey
DD Strong

None of them should sink but still require yard time.

The good news though is that both places suffered substantial damage with regard to supply dumps, support troop losses etc. All helps and will make the upcoming invasions easier, hopefully.

During the day 360 bombers pounded Kwajalein destroying several supply dumps and 16 enemy planes on the ground.

BB Divisions have been ordered to bombard Maloelap and Jaluit before retiring to Baker Island.

CV Divisions will move 60 miles SE and target Maloelap tomorrow before leaving also.

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The Kendari raid was quite successful too. 80 enemy fighters were on CAP but my heavily armoured planes performed well. They lost 22 planes but shot down more of the enemy and torched 10's of planes on the ground. We fly again tomorrow.

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Subs...........

SS Permit let me down when she missed ML Aotaka 240 miles south of Truk.

SS Cero missed TK Chiyoda Maru 180 miles SW of Davao.

SS Porpoise missed TK San Diego Maru 240 miles north of Pagan.

Then things got better............

SS Scamp probably sank AO Sata with 2 torpedo hits 120 miles SE of Davao. She then made up for Cero's failure by putting 2 fish into Chiyoda Maru.

SS Thesher probably sank AK Nitiyo Maru with 2 torpedoes 300 miles south of Hong Kong.

SS Corvina and SS Finback both evaded enemy ASW vessels in the SRA.

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3 x AK and a DE arrive in theatre tomorrow as does a Corsair Squadron.

[castor troy]

Every update of your AAR amazes me! Your subs are scoring like mad it seems! [X(][X(][X(] Never seen such success before. Why isn´t Faber strenghtening his ASW efforts? I don´t think about hundreds of Sallies or Helens as this is a bit strange for me but changing his convoy and ASW tactics. To me it seems he has far too many TFs around, he better would concentrate his ships. Of course you suffer losses against US subs but I had never such huge problems as Japanese.

Like your subs are performing they will win the war alone! [&o]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi Castor - Faber has strengthed his ASW efforts. I assume people have given him advice in this area. He now has a LOT more squadrons on ptrol. A lot more of my subs are spotted/attacked from the air. I would say in the past month 5 have been hit by planes.

He also has 4-5 ASW HK groups that I know off searching for my subs.

95% of his convoys do have escorts - DD/MSW/PC/PG.

This is how I view the situation:

I am showing what CAN be done with submarines that are:

1. Placed in the right spots.
2. Upgraded with SJ Radar.
3. EXPERIENCED. I think this is one of the keys for me here. Through so many attacks and patrols my submarines are in the 70's/80's experience. I believe this is giving them a greater chance of attacking, hitting and evading his escorts in conjunction with SJ Radar.
4. Constantly on the move.

I do think submarine warfare is one of my best qualities at WiTP play. Faber has improved his ASW efforts but it just means I pay even more attention to placing and moving my submarines. Sure some will get caught by air and sea ASW but I still believe I will score. More and more subs are coming off the line as well which I like[;)][8D]

I do agree though in that his resouce/oil gathering convoys could be grouped/massed a little more. Other than providing huge DD escort i'm not sure what else he could do.

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You have cursed me today Castor - 2 sub attacks on TK's both missed[;)]

TK San Diego leads a charmed life after beng missed again. This time by SS Jack 120 miles north of Pagan.

SS Tuna missed TK Kuremente Maru 120 miles west of Bataan.

SS Batfish evaded 4 x MSW 60 miles NW of Bataan.

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Both Maloelap and Jaluit were bombarded in the night with poor results. DD Nicholson hit a mine (will be fine).

Maloelap was hit by 340 bombers in the day.

All forces are retiring now back to Baker to get ready for the invasion........

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Kendari was hit again but this time the results were not as good. I lost 35 planes to Faber's 40 (mainly on the ground).

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3 x AK, 3 x LST and 2 x DE arrive in theatre tomorrow as does 2nd USA Prov Tank Bn

[castor troy]

Hi Speedy

What you achieve with your subs should be an example for every Allied player and it´s what I fear the most as a Japanese player. Sure Faber didn´t do what he could do (fewer but bigger TFs or more hunter killer groups for example) but as you said you will still score.

In most of my PBEMs as Japanese I had the luck that my opponents stopped the sub war after they faced a couple of 6 ship hunter killer groups and a couple of daitais on patrol (not really many but enough to get a lot of spottings). To place the whole IJAAF on ASW patrol is odd to me.

The sub war is one of the most important actions of the Allied player and is often forgotten. 10 Japanese 16000 TK are worth their weight in gold so I would surely trade an US sub for every tanker I sink (and even with a good Japanese ASW tactic I won´t lose that many). Several AKs and APs and even escorts are just goodies besides the precious tankers.

If Japan loses only a third of it´s tankers then there won´t be an empire outproducing the US in first line planes. People are often complaining about the ability of a Japan, that conquered e.g. far more then historic, that´s able to produce more then historic but in the same moment those people forget about the need to sink the tankers. No tankers --> no oil --> less HI and supply --> fewer planes and because of the lack in supply fewer trained pilots (training pilots with ground attack missions takes a looot supply).

As I said, your performance is really impressive!

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: Speedy


3. EXPERIENCED. I think this is one of the keys for me here. Through so many attacks and patrols my submarines are in the 70's/80's experience. I believe this is giving them a greater chance of attacking, hitting and evading his escorts in conjunction with SJ Radar.

radar is great benefit in both air and naval surface combat so i'm pretty sure it works for sub warfare too....

but i can't figure how did you train your sbs in the 70/80, or do they arrive with such high ratings?

I was looking at my subs exp ratings and VERY rarely (almost) never they got exp even afer succssful attacks on the enemy ships?

[DuckofTindalos]

He gets increased exp because he uses his boats correctly. Not letting them sit still for too long in the same hex, etc...

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

He gets increased exp because he uses his boats correctly. Not letting them sit still for too long in the same hex, etc...

Why? Does it matter? [&:]

[DuckofTindalos]

If a submarine sits still too long in the same hex, his detection factor goes up, making him a target for more ASW attacks, which can be counterproductive when it comes to gaining submarine experience.

[Onime No Kyo]

Oooh. Thanks for that. As I said elsewhere, my PBEM against Faber is the first time I've tried to control all my own subs.

[DuckofTindalos]

It's very easy to "forget" to do it properly, but it really is the way to gain maximum ROI for your boats.

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

If a submarine sits still too long in the same hex, his detection factor goes up, making him a target for more ASW attacks, which can be counterproductive when it comes to gaining submarine experience.

In short. What are you talking about?

ORIGINAL: pauk

but i can't figure how did you train your sbs in the 70/80, or do they arrive with such high ratings?

I was looking at my subs exp ratings and VERY rarely (almost) never they got exp even afer succssful attacks on the enemy ships?

[DuckofTindalos]

They do gain experience after successful attacks, but it takes a looooooooooooooong time...

[Onime No Kyo]

No XP for unsuccessful attack or surviving CD attacks? Thats a bit unfair. IMO any experience you can walk away from is a learning experience. So, were saying that a crew of a boat that operates for 2 years and never has a succesful attack learns nothing? [:-]