Mogami's AAR

[mogami]

message intercepted and decoded by US Naval code breakers"


14 April 1942 Tokyo, Kube, Yokohama, and Nagoya were bombed by American medium bombers launched from carriers.
In response Admiral Mogami is appointed War Minister/Commander in Chief of Imperial General Staff. He called a conference of senior Army and Navy officers to determine future conduct of the war.

Minutes from Conference
"Pre War planners envisaged the creation of a defensive perimeter around Japanese possessions. The expectation was American counterattacks would be ensnared amidst the web of bases and the Americans would tire of their losses and accept a compromise peace that would confirm Japan in her gains. Before the war I maintained this was foolhardy simply because we lack the resources to create and maintain bases along a 6,000 mile perimeter. There is no guarantee the fleet will always be available for counterattack and any single base will be inferior to the forces committed against it. On Jan 1st of this year 26 Nations declared adherence to the Declaration of the United Nations to wage total war against Japan without negotiating for peace. Thus the battle of attrition to force an American compromise will fail.
I have been given command and ordered to win the war. My first order is to cancel Operation Mi. This operation is simply too large and complex and lacking in clear objectives. I will instead transfer the resources from Operation Mi to another Operation. I have chosen the South Pacific as the area Japan will concentrate efforts in. Unlike the Central Pacific where all bases are isolated in the South Pacific we can establish a chain of bases as we proceed. The immediate objectives are to secure New Guinea and the Solomon's. The long term objectives to be attained prior to 1 Jan 1944 are Santa Cruz, Espirtu Santo and New Caledonia. In the process of securing these objectives we will engage and destroy the US Navy.
The Operation code named 'Ultimate Victory' (UV)
is to consist of 2 phases. Phase 1 conquest of NG. This is required to secure the flank for phase 2 and to eliminate allied threats to our supply line from Rabaul. While phase 1 is underway bases and supplies will be readied in Solomon's for use in Phase 2.

Orders: transfer all available CV's to commander South Pacific (me)
Order the movement of all available surface forces and land combat and air groups to commander South Pacific (still me)

Mission 1 seek out and destroy all allied carriers operating in South Pacific.

Mission 2 transfer sufficient force for the capture of Port Moresby. Failure to capture Port Moresby means the eventual defeat of campaign for New Guinea and whole South Pacific Operation.

Mission 3 establish airbase at Port Moresby and transfer all un needed assets back to UV pool for use in phase 2.
Phase 1 to be completed not later then 25 June 1942 with Phase 2 commencing on 1 July 1942. "

[U2]

Hi!

Byron13 should be nicer to Mogami. It is after all his birthday!
May you stay at this forum for many years to come Mogami. I wish you a good one.

Dan

[Supervisor]

Mogami, remember to stay out of Betty's anywhere near the front lines when you take command. I understand it can be extremely bad for your health.


( You realize that you will have to leave your underground bunker near Mt. Fuji in order to oversee your command, you know.)

[Von Rom]

Members of Matrix Forums gather in the War Room to plot strategy in how to defeat Mogami in Uncommon Valor. . .

[mogami]

Scenario 17 Allied computer/Mogami Japan 1 day turns Historical sub doctrine. US damage control. Auto sub off, variable reinforcement arrival.
May 1-5 Units leave Truk bound for Rabaul
CV Zuikaku and Shokaku with CA Myoko and Haguro and 3 DD
pilots of all airgroups put on rest. 6 subs sent from Truk to Rabaul. The 4 Aoba class CA and 4 DD form surface TF for transfer. Lae is sent the South Seas detachment HQ (Maj Gen Horii) and 2 AA units. While a single AP is loaded with Naval Garrison units from Rabaul and sent to Lunga and another like force to Tulagi. All LBA units put on stand down to reduce fatigue.
The plan is for CV's to sortie from Rabaul after refueling and combat US CV while Solomon's are occupied. Supply levels will be built during month of May to support operations aimed at capture of Port Moresby in Mid June.

Battle of Solomon Sea.
6 May 1942 TF comprised of AV CL and 2 DD leaves Rabaul mission is to preform naval search with the 10 floatplanes onboard AV to locate US CV's. 2 subs also leave Rabaul to assume positions at eastern end of Solomon Sea. (you can't miss it since 'Solomon Sea' is written on map. )
7 May 1942 V Adm Nagumos TF comprised of
CV Zuikaku
CV Shokaku
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
CL Yubari
CL Tenryu
and 6 DD
sails from Rabaul. Weather is rainy so I leave all airgroups on rest.
8 May weather changes to party cloudy. Rabaul 2 Mavis groups (9 planes each) begin search missions with 3 planes per day each
The AV group begins searching with all 10 float planes while the CV group uses the 8 floatplanes carried on board the CA with 4 Vals fro the CV. Troops begin unloading on Lunga and Tulagi it is hoped this will bring the US CV's north.
9 May Nagumo continues search weather overcast. Spot enemy TF but weather prevents strikes from launching.
10 May rain Nagumo reverses course puts all aircraft on stand down (fighter groups had 6-8 pilots each with 40 percent fatigue.
11 May over cast Nagumo again reverse course back down Solomon Sea.
12 May party cloudy reset search as before assign 30 percent CAP
as soon as search phase starts Val spots ship, then report changes to Lexington at same moment Dauntless spots Zuikaku
in bound strike 15 Wildcat 59 Dauntless and 22 Torpedo planes
15 Zeros intercept. Very first UV CV versus CV battle begins with me thinking I've lost the game in only 12 days. A miracle occurs Shokaku is hit by 4 bombs but able to operate aircraft. Japanese strike is 83 bombers and 24 fighters. Lexington is hit by 4 bombs and 6!!!!! torpedoes Yorktown 2 bomb hits and 3 torpedoes both are on fire when strike is over. Nagumo considers himself lucky and turns back towards Rabaul it is raining again on the 13th.
Shokaku does not arrive back in Truk till the 25th when she is returned to Japan (211 days before she is again available)
Meanwhile at Lunga on the night of May 25th Surface TF composed of CA Furataka and Kako and 4 DD commanded by R Adm S. Nisamura are patrolling when the encounter the AO Neosho a SC and 3 PG They sink them without too much fuss. What they were doing I still wonder but Nisamura only savored his victory for 24 hours. On the night of May 26th he ran into 5 USN CA and 10 DD Both IJN CA were sunk along with 2 DD. 4 US CA were burning at end of battle. The Koei Maru was sank by A-24's (army Dauntless) while delivering supply to Lae.
June 1st Rabaul fuel depots over 100k tons supply 50k tones.
Shortland fuel 30k Supply 40k Lunga supply 5k with 11k fuel being off loaded. 65th Bde HQ and support units (engineer and AA) in route. Plan is for all assault troops to stage from Rabaul to invade Port Moresby as soon as BB/CA reinforcements arrive in mid June. IJN CV in support Zuikaku, Junyo and CVL Shoho.

[osros]

Dont know Half of whats going on there, but it sounds good alot to learn....

Me Likes!

[Rob Roberson]

THe enemy has gotten his weapon first and is already practicing!

Nice AAR!

[Sinjen]

Keep it coming. Great AAR so far. I like the detail.

[mogami]

The period 1 June to 6 June saw Japanese LBA from Rabaul make their first attacks against Port Moresby. I had refrained from bombing before in order to preserve both my air assets and supply for when it mattered. On the nights of 3 and 4 June the bombers targeted the airfield while the fighter groups at Lae and Rabaul recovered from recent Long range cap missions. (Bombers operating from PM can reach up to Kaveing so I have fighter groups at Kaveing/Rabaul/Lae/Shortland/Lunga and whenever a TF is in range they are given LR cap missions. On bad weather days they rest and on the rare clear weather no TF days I assign the bombers to strikes and the fighters to escort-the rest of the time the bombers rest or fly recon) On 5 June Rabaul launched a 70 Bomber 25 fighter daylight raid preceded by Lae's 40 fighter sweep. PM lost half it's defending fighters. The goal of course is to reduce the bomber threat to my transport TF's that will head that way in around 10 days. (Kaga and Ryujo and 2 Kongo class BB's arrive at Truk in 3 days. They will need 4-5 days to transit to Rabaul. Invasion force will sail the day they arrive)
Meanwhile Zuikaku Junyo and Shoho are south west of Lunga patrolling they will head back to Rabaul when Kaga arrives at Truk. Zuikakau and Kaga will form a TF stationed in Solomon Sea to cut off anything coming from New Cal while Junyo and the 2 CVL's cover the transports. The 2 Kongos and 4 CA's will run a bombardment mission.
Lunga has float plane fighters covering it and reinforcements continue to arrive there. (although I have held the bulk of the combat rated formations at Rabaul for use against PM.
Mine laying operations are underway in the bottlenecks east of Lunga (I will clear them myself in phase 2) No enemy action other then very small bomber raids against shipping and subs in the slot. I have 2 TF composed of patrol craft and sub chasers running back and forth between Lunga and Shortlands conducting ASW. (S-42 and S-44 sunk so far but not before they put a AP carrying an AA unit on the bottom.)

[Sinjen]

Looks like a sound plan. If you take Port Moresby and hold without losing Lunga, I'll be impressed.

[mogami]

Hi, Actually I have very strong doubts about being able to take PM
(I know if I were the allies it would have recieved every Aussie LCU avaialble and the airfields would be stacked with bombers. Worse for Japan is the guantlet of bases below PM, no doubt they have loads of bombers. The problem is simply that PM can interdict my supply line. So I have to begin with a plan to take it if possible. As the allies PM will form one prong of the two pronged attack against Japan. Japan can not fight in 2 places at once. If i can take PM then I can operate against New Cal if PM remains allied then I will be forced into adopting a defensive posture and we all know what defensive postures look like.


(Edit 11 June 2003) Oh boy. Does anyone still try to defend PM versus human in Scenario 17 or 19?)

[osros]

With all the tasks that need to be done, Im just wondering
how long do you take to do all your orders & such and end a turn?

[Sinjen]

I agree. You have to force the issue now while the american CV's are licking their wounds. I would reinforce defensively in the lunga area while building the AF there.

Then I would commit your main offensive assets to the attempted capture of Pt. Moresby. The longer you wait, the more US air power.

If you can close the AF at Moresby you might catch alot of US Air assets on the ground and possibly destroy them if you follow up with some bombardment and the capture of the base.

With Moresby operational under your command, your options would look alot better for offensive and defensive operations in either area.

Good luck!

[Supervisor]

Having Port Moresby will free up all those air assets protecting shipping in/out of Rabaul.

[mogami]

Hi, what is making me almost ashamed is everything so far has went according to the plan I worked up months ago and then refined while reading the AAR's. One thing I wonder about now is how often the playtesters rested their aircrews. If you put 100 percent of a group on cap or strikes every day it will not take long to wear them out. I follow the weather. On rain or thunderstorm I rest (I see reports when allied pilots are killed from cracking up on runways. ) Allied operational (non combat) aircraft loses are much higher then mine. I know where my airgroups are and what they did the turn before so if need be the first thing I do is go around to airgroups and set their status for the day. Then I go around all my ports (only have 4 that have ships Truk/Rabaul/Shortland/Lae and check TF's (they take several turns to load or unload. New arrivals that are empty i place in port. Empty transport TFs at Rabaul are given their orders to return to Truk (except recently I have been gathering AP's at Rabaul for Port Moresby.) Remember many ships also have aircrews so you have to keep your eye on them as well. (I use CA float planes to conduct naval search but pay attention to how exp those pilots are. Shoho stayed at Truk all of May because I wanted to train her aircrews.
The CV battle was interesting because I planned on a recon TF to find the enemy and then I could hit it without a counter strike. My recon TF did find it but my CV's were in bad weather. Then the next time we were very close and they launched first. (The plan called for them to be out of range for the torpedo planes and only be carrying 500lb bombs. I was shocked when those 1000lbs started hitting Shokaku. I don't know who was in command of the US TF or what condition the pilots were in but they only achieved 4 hits with 80 bombers
my 80 rested bombers scored 18 hits (15 on CV and 3 on other ships) I was hoping one or both of those CV's would show up on the sunk ships list. But they have not yet. Zipping through everything and not 'Easter egg hunting" means I can do a turn in around 15 minutes. The CV battle lasted a long time. But the game has not been nearly as eventful as the human versus human AAR's we have seen. I keep units out of combat unless that combat is part of on going operations. (I don't bomb PM just to bomb PM) I should have figured the US would send their CA's up to Lunga and given Nisihmura a larger TF (the other 2 Aoba's)
Since that battle I have not seen a single allied TF. (13 days)except of course the herd going to PM and back to Brisbane. I have no recon to speak of east of Lunga. (1-6 plane mavis group at Lunga flying 30percent a day) I have made 3 turns of my PacWar PBEM (turn 99 in 2 weeks) posted my AAR's and played 37 turns of UV. (correction as I type the 100turn has arrived

[mogami]

11 June 1942 the Kaga TF is headed toward Rabaul the other carriers went almost to New Cals air zones looking for prey but with no results. (the reinforcments are variable) I figured since Japanese Midway assets are showing up prehaps Enterprise and Hornet might show up to spoil my party. I really don't want Junyo involved in a battle with American fleet carriers. (well prehaps as the bait TF) but I can't afford even a bad CV as bait. I captured Buna with a SNLF just to make it retreat proof. (OK for me but no allied retreat from PM except up the trail to nowhere)(see how long I can maintain the fantasy of Japan capturing PM) The SNLF is evacuating Buna (I need it for PM) The subs will leave Rabaul today to be in place for next week. Busy busy busy 3 Pacwar turns 2 UV PBEM and my solo. My computer is smoking.

[Sinjen]

I think you can do it. Stay focused and stick to your guns. You will take losses, however if you can take PM I think it may be worth it and perhaps decide the fate of the whole campaign in the long run.

[1089]

What, no AARs for the 2 PBEM games? Idle hands are the Devil's workshop, you know! About those 18 hits on the two carriers: How many do you suppose were hyperbole?

kp

[mogami]

Hi, I think PM is the whole key also. My problem is I know if I was allied PM would be bristling by now. There are no AAR's on the other PBEM games because the walls have eyes and ears and my AAR's are not written in Japanese. How hard can it be to play the allies against me? I have to reinvent the wheel and the fur is near wore off my lucky rabbits foot. I'll let them start the AAR's since there will be nothing to report from my side. Right now the IJN is leaping into the air and preparing to land on both flanks and rear simultaneously. The 32 Guards division embarked in midget subs is sneaking into Brisbane harbor, While a vast air armada of Petes Rufes and Jakes launched from hidden pre war caches fly out of bat caves on Bora Bora armed to the teeth with 2kg hyperbole bombs. I enjoyed the show even if my air attacks were fiction. (I haven't seen those 2 CV's since)

[Jason629]

Mogami,
I am surprised to see you focusing on the occupation of Port Moresby. From what I had gathered of your observations from the past month, I did not think this would be your approach. Are you sure your twin brother Mikuma is not conducting the war? Anyway, good luck! I appreciate the detail and insights.