Speedy vs Fabertong: Death to the Penguin!

[VSWG]

408 aircraft at San Francisco, and 5 HQ units? Not enough shipping to transport stuff to the frontline?

[Speedysteve]

Hi VSWG,

No problem on shipping. 90% of AK's and TK's are used moving fuel and supply but I still have 10% in the WC.

To be honest they are there since they are not needed at present. I have so many aircraft at frontline bases as is and each invasion force has HQ's.

ctangus - forgot to answer your question. My submarines are always at mission speed.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A good day all round.

A further enemy oiler was blown to pieces today.

SS Rasher located an empty convoy NE of Lingayen. She picked out AO Naruto and 4 torpedoes bore into her hull leading her to quickly sink. Enemy escorts tried ot locate Rasher but failed.

SS Tuna sank the troop laden AP Igasa Maru with 2 torpedoes NE of Tawi Tawi. She was carrying elements of 1st Ind. Brigade.

Air sightings = 10
Air attacks = 0

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Majuro reached level 5 airfields today. 3 x PB4Y squadrons flew in as did a B24J BG. They will all hit Kwajalein's airfield and supply depots.

A P47C FBG also flew into Apamama and one to Wotje to hit enemy troops at Tarawa and Kwajalein.

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Attu's P38's will attempt to sweep Paramushiro again tomorrow.

Darwin's Heavies will go for Kendari's airfields.

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More R & R for my warships at PH.

The Timor bound forces are moving north past Rockhampton.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A good day over Kendari. The Darwin heavies somehow survived all of the CAP's attention and pummeled the place. Check this out:

Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 21
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 28
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 31

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 16
B-24J Liberator x 195

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 7 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 18 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 17 destroyed
J1N1-R Irving: 2 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
149 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 49
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 227

Aircraft bombing at 10000 feet

79 enemy planes were lost during the day to my 10..............

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A sweep over Paramushiro Jima found no enemy CAP. A cursory follow up is planned for tomorrow with 16 x Liberator bombing the airfields escorted by my P38J's.

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SS Devilfish had a fun day............4 torpeodes hit TK Kuremente Maru......240 miles ESE of Shanghai....they were duds..........during the afternoon she tracked the convoy and hit oil laden AO Iro with a torpedo. It's doubful she'll sink but maybe the fires will burn out of control.

SS Tuna easily evaded 3 x MSW on patrol NE of Taytay.

Air sightings = 11
Air attacks = 2

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My Darwin bound forces will reach CAP airspace tomorrow provided by Beaufighters, P40N's and P38J's....just in case enemy planes from PM, Lae and Dobadura decide to interfere with my movement.

CV Franklin and CVL San Jacinto are about 1/2 to PH now.............

Tomorrow 2 x DD, an AK, SS and LST arrive in theatre.

Below is the massacre at Kendari:

[BrucePowers]

Very nice from an allied fan boy perspective[:D]

[Mike Solli]

Pfffttt!

[Onime No Kyo]

Cool!!!! No more CAP at Kendari for a while. In fact, a few more strikes like that and they'll have to bring in soil from Java just to keep the place above sea level. [:D][:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

There is no hiding for Faber now[;)]

Another good day all round.

The Heavies did well against Kendari again. Only 20 enemy planes were on CAP but they performed well in shooting down 22 x Liberator. In retaliation I destroyed 85 enemy planes on the ground and 3 in the air. My men are tired though so i'm resting my boys.

P47C's took off from Apamama to bomb enemy troops at Tarawa....for the first time.

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A good day for my submarines too...........

SS Swordfish unfortunately missed a nice target......AV Sanyo Maru with 4 torpedoes inbetween Borneo and Sulawesi.

SS Devilfish continued to track the enemy oil bearing convoy towards Japan. 60 miles further east of where Iro was hit TK Yamazuru Maru was hit by a torpedo producing sever explosions of oil.

SS Tuna moved 60 miles NW from her position yesterday and heavily damaged the empty oiler Hayamoto with a torpedo. This happened 120 miles NE of Tay Tay.

4 x DE tracked I-37 120 miles WSW of Majuro today. No firm contact was established or DC's dropped.

Air sightings = 8
Air attacks = 0

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1 x SS, 2 x DD and a DE arrive in theatre tomorrow as does the 632nd USA Tk Bn

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

RL has been busy i'm afraid and i'm not sure how much time i'm going to get before going away on holiday to see my Father this Friday morning.

SS Haddock hit AP hakozaki Maru with dud torpedoes 120 miles east of Tarakan.......

SS I-37 managed to hit DE Baron with a torpedo before she was jumped upon by the other DE's which proceeded to systematically annihilate her. Baron will hopefully survive and has made it back to Majuro.

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Heavy bombing by me throughout the Marshalls and Tarawa today.

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2 x DD, 2 x AK, an LST and a DE arrive in theatre tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A further dud torpedo attack! That's 2 ships in 2 days that should be under the waves. Some engineers in the US are going to get a kicking.............

SS Seadragon hit AK Awata Maru with dud's 120 miles south of Banjarmasin.

Air sightings = 15
Air attacks = 1

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Heavy bombing by me in Burma. A Tojo was also torched on the ground at Paramushiro Jima when Liberators raided the place escorted by P38J's.

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All being well CV Franklin et al should be at PH within 2 days. Then we move out to Midway to refuel and then we smack the crap out of Wake Island.

CL Biloxi, an AK and an LST arrive in theatre tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Back at it after a vacation to see my Father in Spain [:)]

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Well December is approaching fast but first the thoughts on today.

A couple of successful sub attacks:

SS Swordfish moderately damaged the empty transport Yamura Maru with a fish 120 miles east of Balikpapan. She will probably not sink.

SS Guardfish almost blew the bow off of AP Jusan Maru 120 miles SE of Davao. Hopefully she will sink.

SS Tally Ho missed AK Chosen Maru with 4 torpedoes 240 miles ENE of Palembang.

SS S-32 evaded unknown ASW forces 180 miles WSW of Paramushiro Jima.

Air sightings = 16
Air attcks = 2
Hits = 2 - Cisco and Grampus. Both retuirning as is to Darwin for repairs.

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Heavy attacks by FB's, Mediums and Heavies throughout the Marshalls.

A Mavis spotted my Darwin bound transports 180 miles NE of Cooktown. CAP is still present. Will Faber attack?

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CV Franklin et all arrive at PH and will rest for a day before reforming the TF's and moving out to Midway.

2 x AK, a DE and a DD arrive theatre tomorrow as does a Beaufighter Squadron.

[Speedysteve]

Intel score:

Points:

Japanese: +326
Allied: +736

Planes:

Allies lost: 216
Japanese lost: 345

Troops:

Allies lost: 74 points
Japanese lost: 129 points

Ships:

Allies lost: 5 ships - 33 points
Japanese lost: 22 ships - 209 points

Still not a bad return considering most of these Japanese ship losses are due to submarines - factoring in Faber's probable changing of Convoy patterns, regularity, ASW escort, Air patrols etc.

[pauk]

I found your air raids on Kendari very unfair[:D]...

His Samurais must be unexperienced....

just want to drop message that i'm still here...and ready to lower your average hits per posts
[:'(][:D]

[BrucePowers]

I found your air raids very fair. I view more than I post so I should not be hurting your average too much.[:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Thanks Bruce[:)] Pauk[:@][;)]

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The first day of December put quite a few British Merchants, DD's, T Class Submarines and CV's into repair at Columbo for AA upgrades.

F6F5-N's are now being produced also.

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SS Trout avoided 3 x ASW craft 300 miles ENE of Palembang.

SS Salmon attacked a Timor evac convoy heavily damaging the troop laden AP Midori Maru with a torpedo hit.

Air sightings = 16
Air attacks = 0

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My Darwin bound convoy was just heading around the narrows between Australia and New Guinea when JApanese airfocess from PM attacked her. The CAP and AA performed well though and no damage was sustained on my ships despite several enemy planes managing to break though my defences. By the end of the day 45 enemy planes had been shot down to my 23 fighters. A screenshot of the largets raid is shown below.

2 x B24J BG's will hopefully hit PM's airfields tomorrow from Cooktown.

Air raids throughout the Marshalls. I have decided to attack Eniwetok for the first time tomorrow with Liberator's from Majuro.

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The fleet was assembled at PH today with 4 x CV Divisions, 3 x BB Divisions, 3 x CVE TF's and 2 x Transport TF's leaving for Midway.

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2 x AK, 2 x SS, an LST, a DE and a DD arrive in theatre tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

It's good to have the fleet moving again. I hate it being quiet in December 1943! The screenshot below shows the armada's heading towards Midway. What a sight they would be.

Also good news. The Darwin bound forces were not attacked today and I think they will be safe now[:)]

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Thre raid on Eniwetok was a failure. A lot of the Liberator's turned back due to the 25 enemy planes on CAP. I lost 16 heavies to his 14 planes (mostly fighters on the ground). Good to keep him guessing though.

The heavies at Cooktown failed to take off today as have many airgroups in Burma over the past 3 days. Caused by bad weather.

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2 enemy ships were reported sunk by my submarines today.

SS Swordfish reportedly sunk the empty transport Kaimyo Maru with 2 torpedoes in the narrows between Sulawesi and Borneo.

SS Haddock fired her last 4 torpedoes and sank PC CH 9 with a torpedo. This occured 120 miles east of Tarakan.

SS Seal fired 4 torpedoes at DD Shirayuki which missed. This took place 240 miles NW of Legaspi.

Air sightings = 12
Air attacks = 1

SS Tang, Guavina and Tactician left harbour today to enter the foray.

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ML Terror leaves PH today bound for Midway and ultimately Wake. Time to lay her first eggs.

Tomorrow an LST and a DD arrive in theatre as does a P70A and SBD squadron.

I'm really looking forward to getting more hits in soon from Wake to Timor to Burma............

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Good to see an S-Boat in action today..........

S-23 patrolling 60 miles SE off Kunashiri Jima, Lower Kuriles was surprised by PC Fukue at 11AM. The PC aggressively attacked my subs causing minor hull damage. S-23 slipped away though and exacted her revenge 2 hours later when she caught up with the empty Japan bound convoy and put 2 fish into AP Kyuma Maru. She quickly fled the same for fear of Japanese reprisals. The transport although not reported sunk is not expected to survive.

Ironically S-23 is the last of the S-Boats that has NOT received her SJ Radar upgrade. She will return to Seattle in duie course for upgrade.

Air sightings = 13
Air attacks = 3
Hits = 1: SS Rasher. Returning to Darwin for repairs.

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The attack on PM by B24's from Cooktown did not go well. 37 x B24 and 10 x P38J escort encountered 82 assorted enemy CAP and lost heavily. 28 planes were lost for 10 enemy. We rest and in the future will go again before Timor is invaded and the P38J's are needed further north.

The Darwin convoy is safe now and should be in Darwin within 5 days.

The Midway bound TF's should all be there within 3 days. We proceed with the combat elements to Wake straight away.

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2 x British subs and an AK arrive in theatre tomorrow as does a Corsair Squadron.

I thought i'd show my aces list since I haven't before. Almost all CV based Hellcat jockies:

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Relatively 'normal' day with air attcks in Burma and the Marshalls.

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SS Seadragon damaged AK Nosiro Maru with a torpedo hit 120 miles SE of Banjarmasin. She is to return to Darwin to rest. SS Sargo is en route to replace her.

SS Clyde and Templar are to leave Karachi for patrols.

Air sightings = 14
Air attacks = 0

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An AK and an LST arrive in theatre tomorrow as does a Corsair Squadron.

[DuckofTindalos]

Not a single CW or Chinese pilot in your top aces list? Surprising...

[Speedysteve]

Chinese = forget it. With Zero's, Tony's and Tojo's in China P40N's are no good against them. British Spits and US P38's keep China safe.
 
CW = main reason being anywhere within Spitfire VIII/Thunderbolt II range has been evac'd by Faber.