two Germans in the Pacific - Sc17

[bigbaba]

nice work by defending the aussie coastline.

[RGIJN]

as Frank already mentioned, there was a little party at Cairns recently. Actually it was intended as holiday trip recommended from one of Tokyo´s finest travel agencies. However, something went wrong in the path of my FT TF - spotted too early and pounded too bad. I don´t know why my little flotilla made it that fast close to Oz coast, since they actually should have been still far out at Sea instead some hexes east of Cairns. I should have known better and cancel the operation, but me dumb pressed on. The bill for this fault came promptly - 1CL + 3DD sunk, the troops sacrificed in vain. [:(]

Few days later, some morons at Vunakanau airstrip decided to end their boredom: more than a dozen Betty´s took off, not to return to base since they attacked without any escorts... And they did this masterpiece of dumpishness during very bad weather!

At least one relief - the fishes into the enemy CA![8D] And since this cruiser was already damaged and crawling back to Noumea from an earlier battle north of Luganville where he attempted to evac some troops, I suspect this ship will make it on the "Sunk" list.








AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/12/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Naval bombardment of Port Moresby, at 10,40


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
no losses

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 9


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 55,64

Japanese Ships
SS I-4

Allied Ships
CA Vincennes, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Luganville , at 53,53


Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 23
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
B-25D Mitchell x 28
B-26B Marauder x 15


no losses

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 40

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 29

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-26B Marauder at 6000 feet
6 x B-26B Marauder at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
6 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-26B Marauder at 6000 feet
4 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-26B Marauder at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on 228th Regiment, at 53,53


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 15


no losses

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 24
Guns lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 14

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14
P-39D Airacobra x 16
P-40E Kittyhawk x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty x 16 destroyed
G4M1 Betty x 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 damaged

FLT F.Chadwick of No. 76 Sqn RAAF is credited with kill number 3


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
E7K2 Alf x 4

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
P-39D Airacobra x 11
P-40E Kittyhawk x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf x 5 destroyed


FO L. Meng of 36th FS is credited with kill number 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
P-39D Airacobra x 11
P-40E Kittyhawk x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty x 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 damaged


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 19,45

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami

Allied Ships
SS Greenling


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

[fuelli]

I´m sorry to inform you that the CA that was correctly identified as already damaged made it back to Noumea and was promptly send to Pearl. I hope he gets his chance in 43. Right now another horde of Japanese tourists is travelling the aussie coast in its CVs.

[RGIJN]

ORIGINAL: fuelli

I´m sorry to inform you that the CA that was correctly identified as already damaged made it back to Noumea and was promptly send to Pearl. I hope he gets his chance in 43. Right now another horde of Japanese tourists is travelling the aussie coast in its CVs.

I am not amused that this cruiser made port, thought two torpedoes would finish this cripple! Anyway - I think you won´t need that vessel in 1943... War is over by then[;)]
last few days went by pretty boring, much to my upset since I brought KB back into Coral Sea once again. Actual intention was to hunt allied shipping, unfortunately there was none at all. Not the slightest evidence of anything afloat!

Some of my Navy Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane (you call them "ALF") are equipped with photographic devices, here is an example for the results of their search for targets...




[font="Verdana"] JUST VAST & EMPTY OCEAN...

[bigbaba]

maybe stealth-techology? otherwise i would say: "it was a good ship."[:)] i realy can not imagine that a CA can survive this punishment.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: bigbaba

maybe stealth-techology? otherwise i would say: "it was a good ship."[:)] i realy can not imagine that a CA can survive this punishment.

The game severly overmodels the ability of all ships to sustain punishment. I have heard it said on the WitP forum that it also overmodels the hit rate of all aircraft. This was done, auspiciously, to make the game "more fun" by having lots and lots of action. I have seen unarmored transport ships survive multiple toredoes....go figure.

[bigbaba]

you are right, hans.

i remember a situation, where one of my carriers was hit by a air torpedo and in the next turn, its system damage was unchanged. maybe some hits are duds but the game engine can not show this correct to the player.

[fuelli]

Just to clarify: The CA was damaged in a previous surface engagement but the flooding was repaired within several weeks at Efate. It got hit about 3 hexes away from Noumea and the two torpedoes did a flooding damage of more then 60. In this state it arrived at Noumea the same day it was instantly send to pearl. This is of course not realistic as a ship with 60+ flooding can not travel to Pearl. But this counts for both sides.
It is correct that the game models damage in a different way then reality looks like. This has been already discussed intensely. Ships usually sink the day they are mortally damaged or they do not. But in the game they can sink days or even weeks after being hit.

[RGIJN]

will try to make it better next time... and actually sinking the ships right away. [;)] New instructions to my I-boats are sent already. Did you picked up that transmission, didn´t you?

[fuelli]

If you are talking about the next turn I have to answer NO[:D]

[RGIJN]

Oh, your next turn will come over around lunch time! May be the new orders for my submarines are going to yield fruit then already...! [8D]

[fuelli]

Ah, I see, after I sunk more than half a dozen of your I-Boats you have to buy some Type VII from the germans[;)]

[RGIJN]

Yes, but actually I did not bought them. It´s a gift from our fellow Admiral Dönitz. After the Tommies have collapsed [;)] under the siege of his Uboats, he has alot of these marvellous weapons as surplus. And they came over with german instructors... [:D][:D]

[fuelli]

Now that I have to deal with superior german assets there is maybe a chance for autovictory....[:D]

[bigbaba]

the allied can realy thank god, that the japanese submarines, their crews and their commanding officers had not the quality of the german "graue wölfe".

[RGIJN]

Though my subs killed a decent degree of the allied naval lift yet, they received some pounding the last turns eventually. But as told already - even more are underway by now...!

[RGIJN]

Since this picture was taken from one of your allied spies, you know by now German U boats start arriving at Penang, Malaya. Hopefully the local commander will release some of them over here to my theatre... [:)] Need to contact fellow Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa to get some boost in this regard...[8D]

[fuelli]

He did a again. For the third time the Japanese tried to sneak in with FT TF. And for the third time I was able to repel this hideous tactics. This time it was Koumac which caught the enemies attention because I have build a small airbase for scouting planes there. And it was exact this scouting Sqdr that detected the FT TF and gave me the chance to react. A strong surface unit with 2CA 2 CL and several DDs acted as the welcome party sinking one DD outright during the battle. Nevertheless the FT TF delivered its package and a handful of surviving troops were washed upon the shore. The next day they tried to dislodge my Engineering troops but were also confronted with real infantry. Now they are trapped while the ships which were responsible for the delivery got caught by a few Sqdrs of my carriers sinking all except one DD. This was a welcomed time killer after endless bombing runs on the Japanese troops on my bombing training range at Luganville.

[HansBolter]

I can't figure out why fast transports involved in surface action are allowed to unload while they fight.

A regular transport TF that remains in a hex at night with an enemy surface TF that doesn't leave the hex till morning is prevented from unloading (notice the message that flashes on the screen "TF may not unload here and now").

How is it that the fast transport TFs are immune to this effect?

[bigbaba]

grats for the naval success, frank. seems that you have your eyes and ears everywhere to respond the japanese landings.