Attack Ships in Port

[ILCK]

Will airpower ever strike ships in port? Not tasks forces at a base but ships docked in port. I've tried several times to mount a strike on 4 undefended APD's at Shortland (their fighter cover has been stripped away) but the airstrikes won't go there. In an alternate game I've taken Luganville and my Betty's won't fly vs the overflowing port at Noumea.

[tocaff]

Set your planes to bomb the port and the disbanded ships there will become targets that way.

[ILCK]

ORIGINAL: tocaff

Set your planes to bomb the port and the disbanded ships there will become targets that way.

I had tried that and all they did was get port and supply hits.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: ILCK

ORIGINAL: tocaff

Set your planes to bomb the port and the disbanded ships there will become targets that way.

I had tried that and all they did was get port and supply hits.

It seems to be somewhat random as to whether or not ships at anchor get hit when the port is bombed. You are not targeting the individual ships and a port covers a large area so the dispersal of the bombing effort over the entire port area will not automatically hit ships at anchor every time. If you keep up a sustained bombing effort over several days you will eventually get some hits on anchored ships. There is just no mechanism for targeting them directly.

[Ike99]

Will airpower ever strike ships in port?

Yes absolutely. In fact it can be dangerous to port large ships, BB´s,CA´s,CV´s in ports close to bombers. Especially later in the game.

For example basing the Japanese capital ships at Rabaul can be dangerous early in the game and late in the game when Allied bombers are within easy reach of the port.

Remember Pearl Harbor.

[ILCK]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter



It seems to be somewhat random as to whether or not ships at anchor get hit when the port is bombed. You are not targeting the individual ships and a port covers a large area so the dispersal of the bombing effort over the entire port area will not automatically hit ships at anchor every time. If you keep up a sustained bombing effort over several days you will eventually get some hits on anchored ships. There is just no mechanism for targeting them directly.

I can understand my B17's and B24 not striking ships from altitude but if I send in my SBD's and TBF's I would think they would hit ships as their priority target. Unfortunate I can't create little mini-Pearl harbors more effectively.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: ILCK

.. I can understand my B17's and B24 not striking ships from altitude ...

Actually this happens for the Allies (almost) all the time for ships disbanded in port.

Clarification: Sorry, but what I tried to say is that you certainly can bomb ships disbanded in port from altitude, despite any enemy CAP; in fact, in my current PBEM game, I've either sunk or hopelessly disabled several damaged enemy CVs and capital ships disbanded at Rabaul from 11,000 w/B-17s from PM; Zeros have a hard time w/B-17s, esp. at altitude.

[PizzaMan]

To go along with sustained attacks over several clear weather days, try sending in attacks from different bases.  I've had moderate success of getting a strike on ships in port that way.  I believe the AI disbands too many taskforces in harms way, so it's a good thing that air strikes put more effort into bombing the port. IMHO