two Germans in the Pacific - Sc17

[fuelli]

about 8,5 hours later

[bigbaba]

great success, fuelli. i hope mitcher shares the rum with the pilots. they earn that.[:D]

great AAR, guys.

[Popeye USN]

Abe: Welcome to UV! You'll be sorry as this game can become quite addictive as you can see.

BTW are you related to Bart? LOL

I've played a lot of games over the last eight years or so, but am still learning.

As you read the manual and start playing the AI to get your feet wet, feel free to email me with any questions. As a teacher, I'm off for the summer, and anything to do buy "Honey Do's" would be a very welcome diversion.

If you get bored BigBaBa and I have an game going on another AAR.

Again, feel free to email me: USN_Cdr@comcast.net

I'm in Cape Coral, Floriduh....you?

[Popeye USN]

RGIJN: What's your objective in this game? You in it for the long haul and hang on and win on points, or an Auto-Victory?

[RGIJN]

of course I cannot reveal everything, even more so since the detailed plans are still in the final stages of elaboration. But since it´s Sc17 I tend to go for Autovictory. However, another game I fought recently showed up it IS indeed possible to win on points with alot of fortune and right utilization of your assets. The question is if I WANT to endure the usual 1943 hammering on mine...

[RGIJN]

Yep, Welcome to the forum AbeSimpson! Enjoy the talks and the game as well. [:)]

[RGIJN]

Unfortunately Frank caught me on the way home, pants down because I relied on bad weather. And he was pretty bold in doing so... it rained bombs on me. I´m still looking for a pretext to tell Supreme Command, let alone the Emperor. Really fear some wigging...

[RGIJN]

Fellow Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa wasn´t amused to hear about the rather bad news... But he promised to take care for some concealment in order to keep more reinforcements flowing down to me.... Furthermore, we were contemplating the overall situation and contrived some nice plan. Lots of Sake then made us assured of our complete success and ended our "conference"

Meanwhile my intelligence came up with informations about allied frontline troops at PM. After several days of rain and rain and even more rain they get tired from switching their locations every night in order to avoid japanese heavy shells falling on their heads.

[RGIJN]

finally some day suface action occured. Off PM I had splitted a SC TF group into several branches, and one of them hit the button. After the allied a/c rather in vain tried to attack, three of my DDs met with two AKs south of the harbour entrance (two stragglers already wounded the day before from Rabaul bombers).

See here the melee then occured:






Of course both AK sunk right on.

But Frank´s SS GREENLING hit home once again and torpedoed an other DD of mine in the GG area. Wondering about the relative success of the allied fleet subs early on. Usually they are rather impotent in the first months...

[bigbaba]

nice....a "long lance" finds his victim.

about the allied SS and their effectivitiy:

popeye attacked TW in our game with a huge force. i had 8! SS in the area, but 2 were sunk and 3 damaged without any positive results.

so it was bad luck, or it is like you said and the "silent service"  needs a while for their warm up.

[RGIJN]

When talking about their relative harmlessness I was referring to the GATO class submarines only. The S-class is a killer from the beginning. Though it has other shortcomings (less rugged, regrettable range).

[fuelli]

It may have been just a few AK´s but the loss of these ships is a major drawback for my future operations. Still wonder what they were doing in this hex. On the other hand they were already doomed to go down. And somehow they managed to throw off their cargo at PM anyway.
A lot of DD´s are no swarming around PM without any Fear. Seems to be the KB must be near by...But I need more evicence.
The troops around PM are just some drunken Aussis who got lost on their way home from a Party with natives in the jungle...nothing to worry about

[RGIJN]

Oh, KidoButai isn´t close to PM. But very close to... BRISBANE! As you will have noticed last turn, I got on your tail [:D]

Will care for your drunken Aussies later then.[;)]

[RGIJN]

Bang! Operation RETALIATE commenced last morning. As mentioned before I got on the tail of the allied CVs that had pummeled my BBs. KB had already sailed the day before this debacle, but too late to interfere. So I got to rush south...
After three days of sneaking thru bad weather I reached my destination some hexes off Brisbane. Our imperial spies revealed Admiral Frank had disbanded his force here and gave the sailors some time off - to celebrate their earlier success in the watering holes of the city. Unfortunately two times my search planes were noticed by the Allied, what obviously denied complete surprise. Since Fuelli suspected something odd he ordered his aircrews to stand by on the local airstrips. Next day he attacked KB´s "death star", with little success but for tremendous losses in return. Then a single super wave hit the town... and smashed the harbour with the flattops at their piers!

See here the battle report:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/27/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Naval bombardment of Brisbane, at 22,77


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 3 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 6 damaged

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 48


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 19,41

Japanese Ships
DD Takanami

Allied Ships
SS Grenadier


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 29,35

Japanese Ships
DD Kuroshio

Allied Ships
SS S-46


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 27,71

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 121
A6M3 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD Dauntless x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 13 destroyed

CPO S. Yoshino of BI-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 5


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 27,71

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 119
A6M3 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 46
SBD Dauntless x 100

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 11 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 6 damaged
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 28 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 12 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 43 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 62 damaged

LT M. Suganami of BI-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 4

CPO S. Yoshino of BI-1 Daitai bails out and is CAPTURED

Japanese Ships
CV Soryu, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 2
CV Hiryu


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Brisbane , at 22,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 54
D3A Val x 118
B5N Kate x 164

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed
D3A Val x 6 destroyed
D3A Val x 18 damaged
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged

PO2 V.Ibusuki of EII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 2

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 1

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 27
Guns lost 1

Port hits 29
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 3

Attacking Level Bombers:
27 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet
20 x B5N Kate at 7000 feet
16 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet
14 x B5N Kate at 9000 feet
12 x B5N Kate at 8000 feet
22 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet
18 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet
10 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet
24 x B5N Kate at 7000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 27,71

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 89
A6M3 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 29
SBD Dauntless x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 10 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 7 damaged

PO2 T.Hamano of EII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 3

LCDR C. Fenton of VF-42 bails out and is RESCUED

Japanese Ships
CV Zuikaku


-------------------------------------------

Now there are 61 F4F and 76 SBD missing at Brisbanes airstrips, 137 a/c total... [8D] My losses were a tenth of that...

I am short of time right now, but will try to post a map and some details later. and of course day 2 of operation RETALIATE that brought shells on carriers!

[Popeye USN]

Wow! What a fight!  In the past I have tried to keep my USN CV's south east and hiding behind Noumea's air cover.  Otherwise they can get caught in Brisbane. Plus, if the CV's do get hit near OZ, the planes are stuck there.
 
One time, as the IJN, I thought I chased the US CV's into Brisbane. However, when I got there and pounded the base...nobody was home?  In truth though, they were there, he just disbanded them!  Kind of a bug, cuz I guess the IJN pilots couldn't see em' with their disbanned stelth cloaking device on? If I had put my A/C on port attack I would have got em'....sneaky!

[bigbaba]

now thats a fight. the AC-loses of the US are fatal and that is the reason why i dont like early carrier battles as the USN player...espacialy without avengers.

[fuelli]

That really hit me where it hurts. After two days and reassesing it is still a debacel.
My losses are tremendous, but today I woke up with 80 crates in my yard and "SBD" painted on it. SBD losses are completety restored in two days. You got to love capitalism. Fighter losses will take a littlebit longer then that. Now the carriers...I could cry...
But first the positive. None will sink. But thats all I want to say right now. My lack of carriers was also recognized by PH on short notzice. What really made me mad was the fact that only one Jap carrier got pummeled. That is the real loss in this battle.
Nevertheless the cards have been shuffled and I have something like deuce seven offsuite in my hand now. I can only hope to flopp tripps to get this into 43.

[RGIJN]

as mentioned before, I got off Brisbane. The next three days saw intense bombardments by several TFs with and without BBs. Each turn at least one CV was hit by shells. My own casualties to (defensive) minefields and shore guns are surprisingly low. After a brief pause due to weather KB´s a/c hit again, but a juicy convoi with some DDs instead of flattops. It presumably came over from Noumea. I think all vessels sunk, with one straggler finished by a sub torpedo one day later.

see map for some sketchy details






as you see, the "slow branch" of the KB was already out (KAGA, JUNYO and the CVLs). The remaining parts of the Combined fleet just arrived in time to follow up south. They joined in the Coral Sea, creating the "Death Star" as you call this cluster here on the forum... [:D]

[RGIJN]

here is another combat report from these days down there:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/28/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Naval bombardment of Brisbane, at 22,77


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra x 7 destroyed
P-400 Airacobra x 3 damaged
TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 5 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Hornet, Shell hits 1, on fire
CV Yorktown, Shell hits 1, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 25

Airbase hits 45
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 138
Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Brisbane, at 22,77


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Hornet, Shell hits 1, on fire

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 103
Port hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 29,35

Japanese Ships
DD Uranami, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-46


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I really would love to know the likely damage of Franks Carriers... [&:] Can ships sink in a level 9 port at all?

[fuelli]

I can aussure they won´t. Flooding and fires for all carriers is 0.