PzB vs Wobbly - Clash of Steel

[PzB74]

I think it's time to retire the Combined Fleet! It's still alive to fight another day.
Even the Mutus may make it [:)]

Time to finish enemy cripples with naval ac and subs!

[Honda]

Hey PzB, it's been a while since I last posted but I never left the boat[;)]
With all the highs and lows you had over the last few years, this piece of action gave me a warm fuzzy feeling after a long time. Really nice to see the Reppus do a solid job under such unfavourable conditions. And the Taiho sortie...[&o]
Medals all around, it's on the house[:D]

[AmiralLaurent]

I would not have bet a cent on the Taiho returning from this sortie... A very very good turn for you. [&o]

[PzB74]

Nice to see you around again Honda!
As I told Andy, This is what I live for in 1945 - not the big victories but the amazing small miracle sorties [:)]
The less you have to fight with, the better you have to use it!

I really wanted to take advantage of one of the last opportunities to fight great naval battles in this game.
That's one of the best reasons for playing this game [:)]

The Taiho may still be sunk, but she got a fair chance now.
She's an amazingly sturdy ship - not a coincident that she is the only Jap carrier left alive.
If you read her TROM Laurent, you may have been willing to put a few cent on her after all! [;)]

Pauk-San's scenario didn't come through - fortunately! Still got some limbs left [:D]
I think we have achieved our goal, most of the enemy's battleships have been damaged together with half a dozen cruisers
and escort carriers. They don't have a port in a thousand miles radius and have to dodge subs and air strikes to make it home.
The battle isn't over yet, and maybe we can further attrit Andy's armada and diminish his ability to launch another major offensive before we have 600 Reppus and 500 Shindens operational!

[Naskra]

And a very merry Banzai to all!

[HarryM]

Pretty darned amazing, tough ship, the Taiho! Congrats on your "small miracle" [:)]...

[pauk]

Congrats! What a great victory by you! Andrew is quite careless knowing that you almost have no KB and IJN! - you've managed to achive one of the greatest victory I ever seen - despite all odds! Finally your cuning plan worked[&o].. Imperial Pauk Family will study Battle of PI as "New Hope"-go!

Can you list all enemy CVE sunk so far in the game?

[castor troy]

I LIKE THE TAIHO! [:D]

[PzB74]

Yep, it was a great day for all IJ Fanboys! [:D]

Now back to the reality of total war and total enemy domination.
Andy may have gotten spanked, but knowing him he will only take a look at his reserves and shrug it of.

As it is I can not afford to sent more fighters to Luzon. The 350 crack fighters in Takao will protect our fleet for a while, but we cannot afford to
fight enemy LBA for long. I'm going to order a few follow up strikes by the Naval bombers and the Fleet will sortie with the Ise and Yamashiro and a mangled assortment
of light/moderately damaged cruisers and destroyers. The aim is the hex immediately east of Appari; should be rich pickings here [:D]

With a little luck we can retire the Battle Fleet home to Japan and try to fix the Yamato and Taiho to fight yet another day.
A big Reppu screen will be needed against bad weather soon.... The Mutsu now has a daylight exp of 99. Not sure how she can be saved though, Takao isn't a very safe
spot in the time to come.

Last supply convoys from India will attempt to unload either in Manila or Palau/Marianas.

[PzB74]

Back indeed to the reality of total war!

After having our fun and humilating Halsey, Andy massed his forces placing all his ships, except cv's, into Appari and sent 200 Corsairs and Mustangs on sweeps over Takao and plastering the place with 200 B-29s.

Our best fighters fought well and claimed 120 top enemy fighters, but after the first wave they were overwhelmed and
the remainder smashed on the ground. The 2nd Battle Sqd only moved 5 hexes, despite of being able to move 4/4. Never makes much sense to me this movement!-) 2 battleships, 2 ca, 2-3 dd's pummeled by enemy naval ac. The good news is that the invulnerable Kirishima and Yudachi survived, the former only with 11 sys damage after taking 50 bomb hits <G> The Taiho and Yamato are also safe and will form the nucleus of a strike force.

A major strike on an enemy cv TF cost us 125 ac with only 1 TBD breaking through.
Don't feel too bad abpit it as there's nothing I can't do about game mechanics and use of such brute force [:'(]
Some 100k Jap and 50k Allied ac have been destroyed in this game thus far [8|]
Today alone some 600 Jap and 150 Allied ac were destroyed.
Ca 200 Jap ac destroyed on the ground while all Allied ac were shot down in A2A. Good thing is that many of our pilots survived
as they fought over friendly turf.

With 900 Reppus coming of the lines soon we will provide new ac for the quickly enough [:D]

Some of the most important actions below:

Capital ships hit:

BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Ise, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CA Nachi, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Mikuma, Torpedo hits 1
CL Noshiro, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tochi, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Isonami, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Nachi, Isonami and Tochi sinks, the Yamashiro and Ise have ca 40 sys, 30 flood and 10 fires.
The question is were I should send them...Takao or towards Home Islands. Should have sailed them all home yesterday,
but obviously we pis$ed Andy of big time [;)]

The Mutsu is disbandoned into the relative safety of Takao port. With 99 damage all over
the place we can't protect it from tomorrows B-29 waves.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camranh Bay and Tuguegarao fell after continued enemy assaults; Glad I'll never have to ruin my tongue on that awful name again!-) Ironically, our troops west of T shock attack the enemy tanks that follow our retreating troops over
a river. Andy's advancing tanks on the other hand did not have to shock attack [8|]

Here's a cut and paste of the loong list of actions.
Removed failed night air attacks, bombing runs and enemy attack on patrol crafts and minesweepers.

All our kamis failed to hit their targets or were shot down by P-38s over Appari.
Only 1 enemy LST was sunk today and our subs were mostly hunted instead of hunters.

Next Wed-Thursday I'll be going on vacation for 3-4 weeks.
From the 12th of August my fiance will be moving in....so turnaround rate will be dropping as real life and
all its doing makes an impact on the war. Been trying to increase turnaround lately, but the turns take too long if I
want to do them properly...which is the only way I do them!-)

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/21/45

Air Combat

This was the best CAP I could muster and it couldn't even manage 1-1 parity with an inferity force of Corsairs and
Hellcats. Bring on the Shinden I say...Reppus fight well, but the Corsair is still the Advanced Tie fighter in this game.
Had hoped to cause even bigger losses on the enemy if he pounded Takao, but as long as weather didn't shut down some enemy cv's or bases, it was impossible to achieve much.

Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Reppu x 51
N1K1-J George x 95
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 16
Ki-84-Ic Frank x 10
Ki-100 Tony x 29
Ki-102a Randy x 17

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 17
F4U-1D Corsair x 102

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Reppu: 21 destroyed, 9 damaged
N1K1-J George: 32 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 10 destroyed
Ki-84-Ic Frank: 9 destroyed
Ki-100 Tony: 28 destroyed
Ki-102a Randy: 17 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 11 destroyed
F4U-1D Corsair: 76 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the first massive sweep our fighters continued to fight without much spirit and ammo?

Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Reppu x 16
N1K1-J George x 30

Allied aircraft
F4U-1D Corsair x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Reppu: 5 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 10 destroyed
Ki-84-Ic Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1D Corsair: 2 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Reppu x 21
N1K1-J George x 27

Allied aircraft
FM-2 Wildcat x 25
F6F Hellcat x 10
F4U-1 Corsair x 22
F4U-1D Corsair x 30
P-38J Lightning x 3
F-5C Lightning x 3
P-51D Mustang x 66
A-26B Invader x 57

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Reppu: 30 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 56 destroyed
Ki-100 Tony: 7 destroyed
Ki-102a Randy: 2 destroyed
B7A Grace: 4 destroyed
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-84-Ic Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
F6F Hellcat: 4 destroyed
F4U-1D Corsair: 2 destroyed
P-51D Mustang: 16 destroyed, 2 damaged
A-26B Invader: 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
41 casualties reported

Airbase hits 10
Runway hits 87
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leaving the door open for the B-29s....

Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 2

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 1
B-29 Superfortress x 193

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 15 destroyed
A7M2 Reppu: 3 destroyed
B7A Grace: 7 destroyed
Ki-100 Tony: 10 destroyed
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed
A6M5 Zeke: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 4 destroyed
Ki-84-Ic Frank: 3 destroyed
Ki-46-III Dinah: 2 destroyed
Ki-102a Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-29 Superfortress: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese Ships - capital ships in a port size 9 doesn't take a lot of damage from this bomb rain.
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 14, on fire
BB Kirishima, Bomb hits 17, on fire
CA Takao, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
168 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 44
Runway hits 401
Port hits 4

Was a bit annoyed that Andy lay mines in Takao - not allowed to as long as I contest a base since
mine laying ac can't be intercepted!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 1

Allied aircraft
B-29 Superfortress x 75

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-29 Superfortress: 12 damaged

Japanese Ships - the number of hits is quite incredible, but balanced by the small amount of damage caused by bomb hits on dreadnoughts in port.
BB Kirishima, Bomb hits 42, on fire
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 23, on fire
CA Takao, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AO Hayamoto, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Katsura, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kaba, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Port hits 13
Port supply hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our biggest counter strike of the day against an enemy cv TF wasn't funny to watch.
103-0 kills. I NEED the Shinden [;)]

Day Air attack on TF at 49,48

Japanese aircraft
B7A Grace x 66
G4M2 Betty x 21
P1Y Frances x 8
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 21
Ki-84-Ia Frank x 14
Ki-84-Ic Frank x 12
Ki-49 Helen x 8

Allied aircraft
FM-2 Wildcat x 12
F6F Hellcat x 77
F4U-1 Corsair x 9
F4U-1D Corsair x 8

Japanese aircraft losses - HOW can so few enemy fighters shood down so many ac [&:]
B7A Grace: 53 destroyed
G4M2 Betty: 19 destroyed
P1Y Frances: 4 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 18 destroyed
Ki-84-Ia Frank: 13 destroyed
Ki-84-Ic Frank: 12 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 15 damaged
F4U-1 Corsair: 3 damaged
F4U-1D Corsair: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x B7A Grace launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tie Interceptors sweep Takao

[Naskra]

Oh dear, looks like you may have awakened a sleeping giant

[Fishbed]

Well the sleeping giant certainly didn't like the dead corsairs toll he had to pay for that... 80 Corsairs down, pfew!

His CVs will have to withdraw anytime soon anyway. And then he'll have to feed the troops on Luzon... That will be a nice torpedo, bombing and kami training ground [8|] [:D]

[duckenf]

could you post a strategic map showing the front lines/extent of japanese empire?

[PzB74]

Give me 500 Reppus and I'll gun down 300 Corsairs [;)]

Spent 2-3 hours on this turn, re-organizing and thinking out new cunning plan.
Need a couple of turns to rotate air units. Damage isn't as bad as it looked initially, some 40-50%
of our pilots survived.

Counted 25 enemy cve's sunk thus far, and I expcet 2-3 more to follow suit after the last beatings!

Front lines of the Empire are kinda strange, punctuated by enemy islands in Burma/Malaya, DEI and now northern Luzon
with a contingent of marines on Iwo Jima and a presence on Marcus Island. Except from this we own everything from Karachi in the
west to Sakhalin in the East. Java and most of Borneo, the Philippines, parts of the DEI including Kendari and Menando, the Palaus and Marianas are still strong Japanese bastions.

Moving Home Island reserves, AA units and base forces to Kyushu - will face a torrent of steel from the air and sea soon.
Expcet Andy to do a move against it before the end of the war. We are well prepared [8D]

We received 3 new destroyers today. The last 2 dd reinforcements are due in 25 days. Only got 1 RO sub left on the slips, will arrive soon. The last class to arrive is the radar equipped HA boats.

Situation Map

[PzB74]

Relatively quiet today except the never ending stream of enemy heavy bombers.
Started preparing for the next round;

1. The continued defense of Luzon.
2. Upgrade of all defenses between Kyushu and Formosa - the most likely next targets.
This includes moving of non Home Island troops to islands around Kyushu.

Andy wondered whether I would have defended India if he had invaded. He feared that I would
have stripped bases and reinforced only Bombay and Karachi, and this was the reason why he chose not to.
Explained that his would not be the approach I would have followed. Will use the resources in India to restore
and train some of our shattered air groups. Plenty of supplies and bases over there.

Our Reppus are coming online in growing numbers and it will be interesting to see how well they can protect us.
We have hired the ex German Armaments Minister A. Speer and given him free reigns to optimize production [;)]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/22/45

Air Combat

The heavily damaged Mutsu takes 100 hits in Takao and sinks at her moorings.
The rest of the ships except 3 crippled dd's have been evacuated.

Andy did not pursue our damaged ships. Currently we can only muster one fast Battle Squadron
with 10 destroyers, 3 cruisers and one fast battleship.

Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 16
F4U-1 Corsair x 16
F4U-1D Corsair x 103
P-38J Lightning x 19
F-5C Lightning x 3
P-51D Mustang x 27
A-26B Invader x 47

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-100 Tony: 3 destroyed
Ki-102a Randy: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-26B Invader: 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
52 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 82
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-29 Superfortress x 177

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-100 Tony: 2 destroyed
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
Ki-102a Randy: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-29 Superfortress: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu, Bomb hits 26, on fire, heavy damage
AO Ondo, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PC Kuga, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kaba, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
40 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 21
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 287
Port hits 6
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Takao , at 48,45

Allied aircraft
B-29 Superfortress x 56

Allied aircraft losses
B-29 Superfortress: 8 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu, Bomb hits 47, on fire, heavy damage
CA Takao, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AO Hayamoto, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AO Takasaki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Kaba, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported

Port hits 6
Port fuel hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Legaspi , at 44,55

Allied aircraft
F-5C Lightning x 4
PB4Y Liberator x 8
B-24J Liberator x 49

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 4th Mixed Regiment, at 29,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84-Ia Frank x 27

Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 26
A-26B Invader x 55
PB4Y Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84-Ia Frank: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38J Lightning: 3 destroyed
A-26B Invader: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged
PB4Y Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
123 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A strike on enemy armour in the mountains in Luzon!

Day Air attack on 706th USA Tank Battalion, at 45,50

Japanese aircraft
D4Y Judy x 14
Ki-49 Helen x 10

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 706th USA Tank Battalion, at 45,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-67 Peggy x 15

No Japanese losses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 671st USA Tank Destroyer Battalion, at 45,50

Japanese aircraft
D4Y Judy x 25

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground Combat

Ground combat at Iwo Jima

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 82048 troops, 958 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 2243

Defending force 60229 troops, 600 guns, 164 vehicles, Assault Value = 1329

Allied ground losses:
94 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Camranh Bay

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 141019 troops, 1011 guns, 1435 vehicles, Assault Value = 2634

Defending force 24889 troops, 34 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 276

Allied max assault: 3870 - adjusted assault: 3259

Japanese max defense: 231 - adjusted defense: 69

Allied assault odds: 47 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
1157 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Allied ground losses:
713 casualties reported
Guns lost 13
Vehicles lost 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was interesting: 2 enemy division crossed the river from Appari and was forced to shock
attack our garrison. This is how our defenses in Appari should have been if not for the silly
'bomb all supplies to zero in one turn and cripple the defenses' ability in this game!-)

I now think it can be possible to attrit the enemy severly in Luzon. In reality a landing in Appari
would have been impossible. US does not have Mulberry artificial harbours this far from their bases, and
Appari could not have handled the immense logistical requirements of such a huge Normandie sized landing.
When I invaded India I went straight for a large port and captured it.

The iron laws of logistics somehow doesn't quite work in WitP. Unload a gazillion supplies on a beach - or dig
them all down - and your 200k combat troops are ready to go in no time [:D]

Ground combat at Laoag

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 28674 troops, 320 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 874

Defending force 20909 troops, 245 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 381

Allied max assault: 578 - adjusted assault: 76

Japanese max defense: 343 - adjusted defense: 1420

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 9)

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses: <- will be difficult to restore these men in a malaria base.
2048 casualties reported
Guns lost 94
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kompong Trach

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3609 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 58

Defending force 2133 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Allied max assault: 51 - adjusted assault: 30

Japanese max defense: 9 - adjusted defense: 7

Allied assault odds: 4 to 1

Japanese ground losses:
34 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[PzB74]

Working 9 shifts in a row...will have to finish next turn tomorrow, but here's a snag for you [:)]

Hunting down the wounded!

Sub attack near Aparri at 46,49

Japanese Ships
SS RO-113

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD John Rodgers

[Fishbed]

In Mutsu memoriam!
Revenge is everything

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

While everyone else is in action around Takao, I took some time to visit the Taiho docked somewhere in the H.I. (the location is still secret to lure the B-29 away of course)

Apparently the May '45 modernization adds a great deal of electronics, jeez!



Could have a sight of the newly arrived Reppus on the deck. Good hardware, but still it can't keep pace with the devilish Corsair. We need better than that - one reactor is just not enough against technology from outer space.



Despite the heavy losses, the even greater enemy pain is our consolation, and morale is high aboard the ship!
Of course, the huge human sacrifice implied by our national war machine makes that we're more and more keen on drafting female personnel. But yet, tactically speaking aboard the ship, no-one seems to complain about that.



Sure those 2m wide new torpedo mounts on the foredeck behind our new multiple rocket launcher look strange, but designers have probably some answers about that... I trust our valiant technicians on that matter, of course. Long live the empire!

[ChezDaJez]

The Minsk!?!? Where is she moored? Obviously available for tours (unless you are a spy or something[:D])

I flew many a surveillance flight on her and her sister, the Kiev during my Navy days.

Sure would be cool to go onbaord.

Chez

[Fishbed]

Hello Chez

The Minsk is moored in Shenzhen, Shatoujiao district.
It was bought several years ago (but unlike the Varyag the so-called private owners really seemed private for a change [:D]) and made into a Museum quite popular in Shenzhen.

The decks between the Hangar and the flight deck are available to visit. The conning tower is partly available too. But unlike the lower decks which got transformed in some kind of aircraft carriers (and out-loud Russian army propaganda...!) history museum, the bridge is poorly looked after, and while most of the Russian stuff is still in place, it is in a pitiful state. Same thing whenever you try to get into backdoors and get wild around the ship, you'll see everything is rotting all over the place once you leave the visit path.
They also have a couple MiG-23 and Chinese planes, several Mi-24 and a lonely Mi-8 (the Hinds and the Hip received an awful treatment... but still sitting inside the Hind cockpit is something, even if it has been strapped of nearly everything). Unfortunately no Forger nor Helix around (just a Helix engine in the hall).

I could get inside a 76mm twin mount too for instance (the one aft the castle), but I wasn't supposed to get there, and well you could see that... What a mess! [8|]

They restored the CIC too, and that's a nice part to visit. That's awfully cranked and tight compared to the western designs. Working in there was probably a pain the a** when you are over 1m80...

Some shows are taking place there too. The hangar deck has a show of Russian and Chinese traditional dancing, while on the flight deck twice a day there is a "world navies" armed review (people in parade USMC uniform executing drills with their rifle like in D.C. for instance).

The ticket is around 100 RMB (10€) and for 30 RMB more you can go around in a little ship.

All in all a very nice experience and I enjoyed it to its full extend. I came to like this ship very much, even though the Chinese really do the minimum to maintain her apart from the restored areas...
But there is already enough to visit to stay there a whole afternoon (I came there at noon, and left at half past 5 while taking over a hundred photos)

[ChezDaJez]

Sorry to hijack the thread, PzB, I couldn't resist!

Thanks for the information, Fishbed. Too bad they don't have a Forger onboard. The last time I saw one in real life, the thing was about 5 feet from my wingtip and the pilot was motioning for us to get out of there!!!

Chez