Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

18 February 1943

Hornet makes Nanumea and promptly sinks. Oh, well. CV Enterprise and Esses head for Samoa after replinishing their AAA stores. Yorktown is one day out of Savali with 65 Flot damage. So the final tally is 3 Japanese CV's for 2 USN. Again, the pilot and airframes losses are where I really came out ahead. ALso, Yamato is not a bad pick up either. Larry's remaining CV's are heading to Japan for repair. In the next 176 days, I will receive 2 CV's and 7 CVL. Offensive ops are merely slowed right now.

CA Frobisher succombs to wounds at Moulmein and from air attack.

Ouch! That's a lot of useful ships going to the bottom. (Well, maybe Frobisher isn't a first-stringer.) What's the current score?

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

ORIGINAL: vettim89

18 February 1943

Hornet makes Nanumea and promptly sinks. Oh, well. CV Enterprise and Esses head for Samoa after replinishing their AAA stores. Yorktown is one day out of Savali with 65 Flot damage. So the final tally is 3 Japanese CV's for 2 USN. Again, the pilot and airframes losses are where I really came out ahead. ALso, Yamato is not a bad pick up either. Larry's remaining CV's are heading to Japan for repair. In the next 176 days, I will receive 2 CV's and 7 CVL. Offensive ops are merely slowed right now.

CA Frobisher succombs to wounds at Moulmein and from air attack.

Ouch! That's a lot of useful ships going to the bottom. (Well, maybe Frobisher isn't a first-stringer.) What's the current score?

Roughly 22,000 to 14,000. I have narrowed Larry's lead by about 1000 points in the lsat two months or so. Rangoon alone will give me an 1800 point swing not counting troops. The entire differential at this point is from Army points lost in the PI, Malaya, and NEI. I am ahead in ships and a/c and near equal in bases. Larry has not developed a lot of the outlying bases. My asumption would be that he doesn't want to give me anything for free.

19 February 1943

Yorktown makes port and is safe. Enterprise is about five days out. First recon pictures of Tarawa reveal only 8 fighters and 13 bombers. I would assume these are remnants of carrier Air Groups. All during this battle I watched Japanese training runs around Singapore with over 50 Betty's involved. It is beyond me why these were not transferred to Centpac and thrown into the fray. They could have made a huge difference. I am toying with the idea of occupying Abemama with APD's in fast transport mode. If I could get this base up to Level 2 (preferably 3) I could use USMC SBD's to further Isolate Tararwa. That big AB there is the Big Cheese as far as I am concerned. It is presently 4(3). Meaning it could go level 6. Then the 4E's would rain death upon the southern Marshalls. At present the units tabbed for ABemama will go to the next base south of Nanumea (Nukefutur ?) and build an auxillary base there. My CVE's are restocked and heading back to Nanumea to escort these ships. I have two CVE(R) at Pago Pago. I am going to switch one of these to F6F (they are both set to F4F now). First Essex needs to get into port and restock her airgroups.

Lost CL Emerald and a DD off Rangoon today as both Ramree Island were socked in during the AM air phase. Of course the skies cleared in the PM and a nice T-strom was over the TF. Alas, the fortunes of war. Supplies still unloading at Moulmein.

LBA from Darwin will strike Koepang tomorrow. With my recent CV losses, this is a dead theatre for now.

Wasp arrives at LA tomorrow.

[vettim89]

20-22 February 1943

The war goes into a lull after all the intensity of the past few weeks. Both sides retreat to their corners and lick their wounds. Not completely though. Larry sent another SCTF into Moulmein. I saw him coming and moved my TF to Rangoon. I had sent three PT's up to Moulmein to act as a backstop. These guys engaged the IJN and torpedoed a DD. They are a one shot deal though as they are out of fuel - none at Moulmein. Also, Moulmein is a level 1 Port so they cannot reload. Still there presence there might scare Larry - a little. Then the Supreme Allied COmmander proved he is still a dufus and moved his TF into the open and forgot to reset CAP. SO the Bettys hit the transports at Rangoon unopposed.

Second deliberate attack at Rangoon came off at 1 to 1 and reduced forts to 4. Back to bombardment. This process would go faster if the weather would cooperate. I have yet to have a turn where both the Liberators from Chittagong and the B-25's from Akyab both fly. Its an either/or proposition. Still at this pace, Rangoon should be mine in about two weeks. Then the fun begins.

In the SoPac, Enterprise makes port next turn. Yorktown is down to 44 FLOT damage (40 SYST). Wasp is at LA and sits at 30 SYST. Independnce is about 2/3 of the way out of the Panama Sea Lanes. Princeton arrives in 12 days. Looked at the ground reinforcment schedule. I have another large burst of engineer types coming in about two weeks. Now I have to find the lift to move them.

My subs are getting hits almost every day now. S-18 hit an AP near Tarawa. Not sure if it was inbound or outbound but there were troops on board. I have boats around the home islands and in the South China Sea. I think Larry is wishing for the good old days when my subs just laid mines.

Including a screenie of a training run near Singapore. I am guessing those fighter units have pretty low experience. Also cursor intel detected a CV leaving the north end of the Malocca Straits. That has got to be a FOW error as I can see no possible reason Larry would send one into range of my LBA

[vettim89]

Having a Saturday morning off (only one a month), I thought I would do a quick recap of the overall strategic situation. First the score. The gap had stayed at about 9000 points through most of the second half of 1942. It has narrowed slightly in the last two months as I have reclaimed most of Burma and sunk a lot of Japanese Ships. As of now, Japanese losses are at 5 CV's, one CVL, 2 CVE's, 4 BB's, 7 CA. My capital losses are 3 CV, one CVE, 2 BB, one BC, and about a dozen CA's. I think Japanese a/c losses are going to really go up in the near future as the experience level is very low on a lot of Larry's units

[vettim89]

Strategic Map. Red circles are where major action is going on. WIth my recent CV losses, my offensive plans are scaled back. It will be a while before I can move out of Darwin. I can use my 4E's though to terrorize the southern ports of the SRA. Larry seems to be pulling out of Tarawa. I am going forward with my low intensitiy plan to occupy Abemama. If this AB could be built up to level 3 or 4, I may be able to go after Tarawa using LBA vice CV's. I will be very cautious here. Once Rangoon falls, my UK/Indian/Chinese forces will rest and rebuild. My UK CV's will be coming back online in a few months. I will take back Port Blair at that point and then consider a move on Victoria Point.

[vettim89]

Finally a status update on my major combattants. It is kind of ugly right now, but from comments Larry has made, I think his screen looks very similar. The old BB's with damage are the last PH ships. British ships were all damaged off Ramree Island.

[vettim89]

23 February 1943

Not much of a turn. Larry runs another BOMB TF into Rangoon. LBA strikes during the day and puts two bombs into Heii and a torpedo into a CL. Allied SS torpedo and sink an already damaged DD, a MSW, and an AP.

Larry is reiniforcing Tarawa. I have no units to oppose him as of now. Nanumea is 44% to Level 4 AB. I have B-25's and P-38's standing by.

[vettim89]

24 February 1943

Once again the IJN runs into Moulmein. I lose two DD's but only one AK is hit. I am changing tactics now. Liberator III's at Chittagong are put on minelaying duties. They will pollute Rangoons port so if Larry comes back he will be in for a nasty surprise. LBA out of Moulmein sinks two Japanese CL's are repayment for all the SCTF action. Deliberate attack at Rangoon comes off at 0 to 1 and does not touch forts. I think I went a turn too early. Will bombard for four or five days now before I hit him again. More supplies heading to Rangoon in an unscorted TF. I figure I might lose a few AK's but I seem to have way too many on this side of the ocean.

In SoPac, the Dutch SCTF is heading west. It will make the long trip to Trico to augment the battered UK surface fleet. Also, I am sending four us DD's escorting supply that way. This US produced supply should allow me to build PT's in the Far East. Abemama is occupied by the paramarines. My CVE's are returning to Nanumea to escort the TF's originally tabbed for Abemama out. Part of me is tempted to make a run at Abemama with Essex and the CVE's alone. Probably not a good idea. I am toying with another idea. CVL Princeton is only 10 days out. There is still a TF at Tarawa. My recon numbers are moving all over the place on this base. Troop numbers have gone from 12 k to 22 k to 19 k. I don't know if this TF is reinforcing the base, evacuating the base, of just moving supplies.

Allied subs had a busy day but only sunk one AP in the Formosa strait. I am betting Larry is wishing for the days when the US subs just layed mines.

[vettim89]

25 February 1943

Liberators do their job and Larry took note. I am guessing he will be very reluctant to send any more SCTF in there. I am frustrated at my lack of ability to project LRCAP over Rangoon. AVG is almost repaired to full strength. I may need to pu them on the job. Sending two more small TRANS TF's into Rangoon. Got to take the losses. Bombardment attack did 450 casulaties and reveal IJA AS below 1000 for the first time. I am keeping up the pressure here. Liberators do one more turn of ML then back to ground attack.

Attack at KoePang is not doing much AB damage but killing a lot of a/c. The 4E are set at 32000 ft so that is affecting accuracy but saving the airframes. I may need to lower this altitude down to do more damage as the first TF with supplies for Darwin is approaching Broome.

Larry complained about the subs. SS Trout is homebound with empty magazines. She had a very successful patrol with at least three confirmed kills. Crew experience on this boat is 57/70 - nice.

Betty's have returned to Tarawa and harrassed the TF's at Nanumea. No ships hit and lots of enemy a/c damaged/destroyed. Two additional VMF squadrons are repairing at Savali after upgrading to F4U.

[Capt. Harlock]

Two additional VMF squadrons are repairing at Savali after upgrading to F4U.

Feb. '43 is so much more fun than Feb. '42, isn't it?[:D]

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Two additional VMF squadrons are repairing at Savali after upgrading to F4U.

Feb. '43 is so much more fun than Feb. '42, isn't it?[:D]

Why yes, it is as a matter of fact. Still amazes me to look at the Ships Avaible screen and roll the scroll bar down to 50% to see the date like November 1944. That means 1/2 of what I am getting for the war effort will arrive in 18 months. Three years left in the war and half my stuff comes in the latter half of that timeframe.

26 February 1943

Very quick update. CVE's approaching Nanumea to get all those units out. Will travel to that funny named base four hexes to the south Nukafutur or something like that. Working on a plan for the Abemama op. Yorktown is down to to 5 FLOT damage and the Big E is down to 12. They are heading back to WC as soon as pump out is complete.

Again little LRCAP protects my Transports at Rangoon. They are mauled but keep unloading. I am going to have to activate the AVG. I was hold off on that becasue I want to have this unit at max strenght for when Rangoon falls. They will escort the 4E raids on Hanoi, Bangkok, etc. Still, got to win this battle first.

Another AK is hit and sunk by The Silent Service. SS Guardfish is the culprit this time. I so enjoy playing with my little toy boats but it does increase the time required to process turns. It was so much easier when I had them in six to ten boat TF's laying mines. That said, if I can continue my present rate of attrition, Larry will conservatively lose 150 or more AK,AP,TK this year. Present rate is about one a day or more but I cannot hope to keep that up. My one concern, if you could call it that, is I have not even seen a TK yet.

Looking around the map, I think Larry may be feeling a DD shortage. The SCTF in the BoB have not had many if any along with them of late. Not seeing them escorting convoys either. FOW reveals 38 DD lost so far for IJN. Is that a lot? I have lost more but as a previous post pointed out, I get 50 brand new Fletchers in the next six months. IJN fleet is banged up right now. His Carrier fleet has only one operational CV (Akagi) and one CVL (Zuiho). I have hit Fuso and Hiei in the last week or so. Not crippling damage but dinging them up some.

[vettim89]

27-28 February 1943

Finally got my CAP in order and you can see the results. I'll take any day when I get a 10 to 1 loss ratio. Unfortunately the Deliberate Attack at Rangoon just missed 1 to 1 and did not touch the Forts (which are still at 4). Well back to bombardment. More supplies in bound.

TF's are at Nukefutau now and unloading. This base will make a nice waypoint for shifting a/c to moving to and from Nanumea. APD's are moving supplies into Abemama.

My CV situation right now has shut down major offensive operations . Probably looking at at least two months before that changes. By then I should have at least 3 CV's and 4 CVL's With Hellcats on board that will hopefully be enough for some modest ops.

[vettim89]

1 March 1943

Little to report this turn except SS Guardfish scores the first hit on a TK which gave me the lovely "oil cargo burning" message. There are two TK in this TF and my daisy chain of subs is moving in for the kill. SS Sunfish was hit near Formosa and will likely succomb to its wounds. This is offset by SS I-9 being sunk near Nukefutau. That is very nice because that is a Glen carrying sub.

The IJA AS at Rangoon is down to 909. Constant aerial and ground bombardment continue. Maybe I should send in the UK BB's to add to their misery. Looking at the ships available screen and nice to see some UK surface combattants arriving this month especially DD's. Also, the AI did not think Churchill neded any of my UK ships for useless ops in the Med or Western IO this month. I think this is only the third time I have not had a British withdraw in 16 months of war.

[vettim89]

2 March 1943.

Troops are about done unloading at Nukefutau. All ships damaged at the Battle of the Gilbert Islands are now on the way to PH (including CV's Yorktown and Enterprise). My APD's are getting worn down so I will have to send them back to Savali to be repaired a little (at least into the green). This time will allow me to build up Nukefutau (that has got to be a cuss word in some language). This base can then be used to stage a/c into Nanumea. Recon reveals bombers back at Tarawa and troops at 38 K. WIll have to watch this for a few days as one of our HR's limits troops on atolls to 30 k. This is the only time I have seen this high of a number so it may just be FOW.

All my a/c flew in the BoB and went on one combined mission against the 55th ID at rangoon. Japanese losses were over 500. The bombardment attack then did an additional 800 casualties. LRCAP intecepts transport a/c trying to run into Rangoon. LRCAP leaks one lousy Sally which drops a bombe on one of the already damaged AK's. ANother TF with 4 AK's is two days out. P-38's out of Ramree are flying CAP over this TFNeed either clear weather over Ramree tomorrow or lousy weather over the entire area.

TF is near Broome with supplies for Darwin. I transferred a P-38 squadron to Broome to cover the first couple of days. The sqaudrons at Darwin will pick it up as it approaches there. There will be a gap of two or three days without aircover. Intel reveals a/c at Lautem again. I send the B-26's and B-25s over that way with heavy P-38 escort. The 4E's at Darwin will caontinue to hit Koepang. I dropped the altitude from 32 k to 17 K. Hopefully this change will get me one good day of bombing. My hope is Larry has all his CAP set at max altitude to try to counter my high level attacks. We will see. The reduction of these airbases is essential for getting supplies into Darwin.

A TRANS TF with an AV Regiment is nearing Noumea. It is heading for Oz where it will be airlifted into PM. I have a lot of A/c with short legs in Oz neading a theatre to work out of. This Av support is the key to open a new front.

Lastly all the F4F squadrons at Savali are now upgrade to F4U and repairing for use in or near Tarawa.

Screenie show another bad day for IJN/IJA air forces with a 6 to 1 loss ration!

[vettim89]

3-5 March 1943

Just a quick update. Most notable thing is the last Deliberate attack at Rangoon dropped the forst to level 3. It should take a few more weeks but the base will be mine soon. Leaky CAP failed me and Kates from Tavoy hit two freshly arrived AK's. As it will be at least four days before I go with another Deliberate attack, I put my 4 E's on airfield attack with Tavoy as the target. They will hopefully be escorted by Spits from Moulmein. Even if not, there are only 25 or so fighters there and Larry had been sending most if not all of these escorting the Kates. They may find home looking a littel different tomorrow when they return there.

CVL Princeton arrives Pago Pago in four days. CVL Independence arrives Panama City in two days.

My TF for Darwin is 5 hexes away and has been unmolested so far. It whoudl be well within LRCAP range of the P-38's and Kittyhawks for the daylight portion of the next turn.

Air losses evened up a little today going 38 to 20 in favor of the allies.

[vettim89]

6-7 March 1943

Raids on Tavoy and vicotry point yield a good number of Japanese bombers anf fighters over the past two days. Air loss totals were about 60 to 20 over the two days. quick updates by theatre

CBI

The 4e raids did their job and air activity over Rangoon is very low. I think Larry has even stopped the supply runs as he has lost over 40 transport a/c in the last week. Supplies are now in good shape here and I continue to run small convoys in to keep them flowing. I have lost a lot of ships over this base in the last 3 weeks but the sacrifice was worth it. Two more days of bombardment and then another Deliberate attack. The Japanese AV is now approaching 700 while allied AV remains steady at about 2700. Still think it will take about another 10 to 14 days. Once Rangoon falls the emphasis in this theatre will shift to strategic bombing. I will use Rangoons non-malrial status to rebuild the Commonwealth troops to full strenght before setting off on my next adventure. At present I am thinking Victoria Point as this base will allow me to reach both Saigon and Singapore with 4E's. ALos the big Kahuna - Palembang will be at extreme range.

Oz

My TF with 54 K of supplies will arrive next turn. No Japanese a/c except for search planes molested this TF on its journey. This supply is greatly needed and will help me keep the pressure up on TImor from the air. I am move the 51st Av RGT to PM now. Once there, the RAAF wil reposition and start hitting Dobodura, Lae, Wau, and eventually Rabaul. I have quite a few RAAF units that have spent the entire war resting. In addition, once Darwin's AB is built up, I will move the few Dutch units I save there to add to the assault. I am considering occupying Thursday Island to make a fighter base. This would allow me to move supplies through the Gulf of Carpenthia with LRCAP.

SoPac.

TF's moving to reposition units for the further build up of Nukefutau. Nanumea is now a level 4 AB. LP-38's and B-25's will trnasfer there to reduce Tarawa's AB. I will continue to reinfroce ABemama by Fast Transport as allowed. But as you will see below, I need to shore up this theatre first. My CV's are 25 hexes from PH. CV Wasp at LA is at 26 SYST damage. CVL Princeton arrives Pago Pago tomorrow. CVL Independence has left Panama City.

Subs

SS Sea Lion sunk from damage inflicted by an a/c near Formosa. Two damaged subs arrived at Midway and are being diverted to PH for repair. I encountered another TF with TK in it and SS Guardfish put two TT's into the TK in two separate attacks. Oil cargo again is burning. Picket subs NW of Kwajalein attack and miss CS Choyoda and BB Harauna in separate attacks. Cursor intel listed Harauna's TF with 3 CV in it as well. No direction on this TF but if it is inbound to Kwajalein, it may forebode a counter offensive of some sort for Larry. The only place I could see this would be Abemama. Need to either stop reinforcing this base or get a lot in there very quickly.

[vettim89]

8 March 1943

The previously seen TF with CV's has disappeared. I am inclined to beleive this TF may have been heading to Japan. The sighting was about 8 hexex NW of Enietowok (SP?). You can practically walk across the Pacific Ocean jumping from hull to hull of US subs in this region; so, I am thinking maybe the TF was outbound. The sub that spotted it was teh furthest NW of this line ergo if it was heading to Japan I would lose the contact. I think Larry has mined Abemama with subs as I have had some sightings there in the past few days.

Larry moved bombers to Bangkok to atack shipping at Rangoon. Unfortuantely for them the one strike of Sally's came in unescorted and was wiped out save for one airframe. Deliberate attack in the next turn. Last bombardment ment attack said base AV was 2711 for Allies vs 753 for IJA. Forts are three. Hoping just to reduce the forts to 2 on this attack. I run a Port attack into Rangoon about once a week to keep port damage from falling to 0 thus freeing engineers to rebuild the forts.

[vettim89]

9 March 1943

Slow turn. Deliberate attack at Rangoon reduces forts to 2 with a 2 to 1 attack. Should take 8 to 10 more days. Byond that, stuff is just moving. My subs did detect a small SCTF heading south from the HI. Is this heading to Kwajalein for the feared counteroffensive?

I had an epiphany. I was thinking about what to do with the UK/Commonwealth/Chinese troops once they take Rangoon. I fiugre my options are threefold (all of which would be executed after these units rebuild):

1. Move towards Tavoy and/or Rahang overland. This has the advantage of being in close proximity to where the troops are now and won't require additional lift other than what would be needed to move supplies into Rangoon. It has the disadvantage of sending the troops into the jungle where they will be hard to supply, suffer disruption from malaria, and take a long time to cover the necessary distances. In addition, these troops will be at the end of a long supply line even once they achieve their goals.

2. Wait for my UK CV's to repair and move by sea towards Victoria Point and Sabang. Disadvatage here is exposure to LBA while at sea and the dearth of amphibious lift in the theatre.

3. A new option. Send the bulk of the troops into China and either push towards the coast or into Indochina. Disadvatage here is of course the never ending supply problems in CHina. I do have a lot of transport a/c due in the next 150 days. I could move these into the CBI to push along the offensive. Advantages of this plan are once the troops are out of Burma they are free from malaria and there are a lot ov VP's to be harvested in this region. Also, I have to wonder if this would catch Larry completely by surprise.

Have a while to think about it but option 3 is looking promising to me.

[vettim89]

10-12 March 1943

Well I got a surprise when my last Deliberate Attack at Rangoon went of at 13 to 1 and captured the base! Still 62 k hungry Japanese that need to be mopped up. Supplies are at 17 K with 30 k due to arrive next turn. Av support being lifted in starting next turn. AB is at level 6 and expanding. Moving in the engineers also.

The Silent Service had a banner couple of days. SS Lapon torpedoed an AO south of Kwajalein then surfaced and shelled her two. The skipper of this boat ..... Capt Kirk (no lie). Then another sub hit this same ship on the 12th. Then SS pogy feeling left out finds BB Kirishima in her crosshairs and puts a TT into her. Huzzah. Larry must really be missing those sub minelaying missions now.

In the CentPac I have two squadrons of P-38's rady adn two squadrons of B-25J repping up. Once the Mitchells are ready to go I will pull the marines out of Nanumea and send the USAAF in to hit Tarawa.

[bigbaba]

congratulation on the liberation of rangoon. its so early in the war and you hit the japs hart...this poor japs will suffer even more when you get even more material this year and in 1944.[&o]