ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks
So you're just gunna leave us hanging 4 awhile? Now that's just WRONG! [:D][:D]
Really tho - I look 4ward to reading what's been going on with your battle vs Big-T.
TTFN,
Mike
Never fear sir.
I'm back on track!
Here's a series of abbreviated updates, to catch you (and me) up with the action.
9/27 - 9/28:
Mostly a quiet turn.
I-10 torpedoes the AK Crater just south of Guadalcanal.
Hornet and Saratoga are safely in Noumea - both are already combat-ready once more.
The usual air battles over Noumea - 40+ Zeroes from Lae versus ~12 P-40s and ~4 Spitfires(numbers vary over the two days). Casualties are light, but the P-40 force is being whittled down by damage.
9/29 - 9/30:
Another quiet-ish turn, but the beginning of something big.
Goodenough Island is invaded. Terminus mentions the Imperial March from Star Wars in his email..clearly this is the beginning of a major op.
I proceed to make a pun about this being "not goodenough".
No other action, no vessels spotted.. Reacting to Goodenough, I begin loading the Australians into their transports. They will finish and leave by the 2nd of October.
10/1 - 10/2:
A very important turn - thus, screenshots.
Both days saw major air assaults on Port Moresby. Beginning with a major sweep of Zeroes from Lae - 52 to be precise. Immediately following, a major Betty strike burst through the CAP and hit the airfields. Both attacks were repeated on the second day. At the end of the turn, I had taken severe losses, including the ability to contest the air over Port Moresby. See pictures below:
Goodenough Island fell to an SNLF.
The submarine Gudgeon intercepts a Japanese task force between New Britain and New Guinea, just off Lae, and heading south. Not sure what it is, but it's important, since it includes at least six first-class destroyers.
Finally, I spot two task forces heading southwest, about to round the tip of New Guinea.. see below.
My best guess at this point is that he is heading for PM. My responses are to reshuffle my LBA in northern Australia, divert the 7th Aus Div aroudn past Thursday Island (I don't want them to be caught at sea, but I also would like to sneak them in if possible), and basically send every combat vessel I have available north towards PM. Hornet and Enterprise, backed up by Washington and South Dakota, form the core of the main task force. (I stupidly attach Long Island to the TF without thinking about how slow she is.)
Four surface combat forces follow the main force north.
I also send the Kittyhawks to Port Moresby, after recuperating in Charter Towers for a bit.
10/3 - 10/4:
On the third, essentially nothing happens, but Japanese task forces finish rounding the edge of New Guinea and
speed towards Port Moresby.
In the early morning of the fourth, a task force led by Kongo and Haruna, and including three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and five destroyers, moves to bombard Port Moresby.
In three seperate engagements, my PT boats there (formed about a week before) fail to score any torpedo hits, but succeed in preventing the bombardment. All but a few PTs are sunk. PT-109 comes through unscathed.
Another task force is spotted off PM, but I cannot really tell what it is..
My naval forces continue north. The faster surface combat forces split away, heading directly for Port Moresby. Realizing my error in re: Long Island, I send her back to Noumea with a destroyer. She's probably cost me a day. I project that at this point, the main force should be in position near PM sometime next turn. See situation map below:
I am now bleeding fighters over Port Moresby. During this turn, as a result of his sweeps, 7 Kittyhawks go down, along with two Warhawks and two Spitfires, against two Zeroes shot down. I probably should have pulled the fighters out at this point, but controlling the air over PM seemed essential to me. Indeed, I flew in a group of Beauforts from Cooktown, hoping to torpedo some Kongos.
One more surface combat force is sent up from Townsville at full speed to PM - four destroyers led by light cruisers Achilles and Leander. I probably should have held them back, as you will see..
PS - October 4th is my birthday, and this is what Terminus gets me?! Sigh.
10/5 - 10/6:
A huge and ridiculous turn!
To start things off, Kongo and Haruna finally get their bombardment. It is a "nuclear" one - all aircraft are destroyed, base facilities hashed. A follow up bombardment by 4 heavy cruisers and their escorts only pounds rubble flat. A sweep by Zeroes meets no CAP, and a Val attack from Buna follows.
Saratoga and Hornet are in position, and their Avengers are spotting all sorts of targets. This one frightens me a bit:
Yep, just three hexes away. But the weather or some other strange modicum prevented my force and his from launching strikes on each other. Instead, his carriers (by the all-Kate strike package I deduce a pair of CVLs) damage one stray AK carrying a chunk of the 7th Aussie Division rather badly.
My carriers hit the retreating secondary bombardment force (the cruisers). The damage is excellent, spread out over three strikes. The enemy has no air cover. Chokai takes six 1000lb bombs and two torpedoes, and sinks shortly. Atago takes seven big bombs and sinks the following day. Takao takes 8 bombs and a torpedo - sunk. CL Jintsu is sunk, DD Kawakaze is sunk, CL Nagara and DD Shirayuki heavily damaged, later sunk. Thank god I have Avengers instead of Devastators. I cackled with glee as I watched the bombs hit..
Then, in the early night of the sixth, my Leander/Achilles force (with 4 DDs: Bagley, Blue, Helm and Henley) shows up at Port Moresby as expected. Unexpected is a massive task force led by YAMATO and including Mutsu and four heavy cruisers, sitting offshore. (Plus a hefty destroyer escort.) Needless to say, every ship in my force is sunk, though not without scoring torpedo hits on CA Myoko and CL Oi.
After the last ship sinks, the Japanese begin landing troops over the beach - looks like a brigade and a regiment, enough to overpower my force, given time. Meanwhile, my other surface forces from Noumea are speeding towards PM, and will reach it in daylight. Now knowing what is waiting for me there, I would rather have turned them back, but I can't.. so I watch the turn continue to unfold.
Now, this combat blew my mind. Heavy cruisers New Orleans and San Francisco, along with CL Helena and 6 modern destroyers, arrive off PM only to run smack into the Kongo/Haruna force that had bombarded the airbase so effectively earlier in the day. They seem to have used up most of their main gun ammo, and as a result of that or some other factor, this battle went a bit insane. I haven't been able to watch the whole combat replay, because it goes on forever, but the result is the most bloody and
unlikely combat I've ever seen. I post the CR and an image here:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Port Moresby at 53,91
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 4 destroyed
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-3 Seagull: 4 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
BB Haruna, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
CA Tone, Shell hits 36, and is sunk
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 4
CA Haguro, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
CL Yura, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
DD Akizuki, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
DD Shiratsuyu, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
DD Murasame, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Harusame, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Yudachi, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Samidare, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CA New Orleans, Shell hits 21, on fire, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 28, and is sunk
CL Helena, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Fanning, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Mahan, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
DD Cushing, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Preston, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Waters, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
...
Yes. Both Kongo and Haruna, sunk by eight inch guns, confirmed. Along with nearly every other ship in both forces. Absolutely bloody. But I'll trade CAs for BCs anyday.
Immediately after this, another force charges in, encountering the Japanese landing force itself. CAs Portland and Northampton + CL Hobart + 6 DDs run into 6 APs escorted by Chiyoda, light cruiser Kashima, and three destroyers. Kashima and the destroyers are sunk, but they shield the landing force from any significant damage.
At the end of the day, I finally get to see what Terminus has landed on my beaches -
Ground combat at Port Moresby
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 2707 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 135
Defending force 9447 troops, 106 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 315
Japanese ground losses:
31 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Definitely he could take the place if I give him time. I have 7th Aussie Division within a day's sailing, but with Japanese carriers lurking about, and further Japanese task forces heading for PM (according to recon), it's too hot to send them in. So they wait near Thursday Island for their chance.
My carriers are set to jink northwest out of Betty range, 4 hexes due west from PM, so as to hammer the bombardment and landing forces. I also hope to be able to hit the Japanese CVLs next turn - they were last spotted just a few hexes away from PM. I'm still doing okay on sorties - I can manage a few more days of this...
Here's a map of the situation at the end of this turn.
More in a bit - probably tomorrow! These next few turns are so full of action, it'll take a while to write them up.. I'm about a month behind the game, now.
