Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

The questions is, have you made the appropriate sacrifices to the dice gods??
The next day will give the result. If your float damage decreases, you have a good chance. If it goes north, then she is apart of the sea floor. 

Well the absolute abyssmal result on my CV strikes against the Japenese CV's makes me hope I am due for some dice Karma. Here's hoping

[vettim89]

10 June 1943

Just reporting that USN DD's were forced to put torpedoes into stricken Essex. Her SYST was 99, FLOT 90, and speed 0. No point in continueing this farce. Really not happy with the result of this battle. I sent 150 strike a/c at the Japanese and got like 8 hits. I lose a CV andd he loses nothing. I am sure Akagi and Zuiho will both be out of the war for a while. I am pressing on for Tarawa. Larry needs to feel the effect of a Nuke bombardment as he has dropped at least a dozen of these on me in the course of this game.

[Capt. Harlock]

I am sure Akagi and Zuiho will both be out of the war for a while.

Too bad. I suppose you have no subs in a position to intercept?

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

I am sure Akagi and Zuiho will both be out of the war for a while.

Too bad. I suppose you have no subs in a position to intercept?

No plenty of subs - like a dozen. None have been able to penetrate the screen yet. There is a TF two hexes south of Kwajalein that I would assume has at least one of the carriers in it. I have six subs just right here

[vettim89]

11-20 June

I know its a while since I have posted but I don't want to bore anyone with a series of "Not much happened today" posts. Besides the constant training runs in China and NEI by Japanese a/s, here is what has happened in the last 11 days

* Larry has moved more units into Honan but still trails my AS here 3000 to 3200. He has tried two Deliberate attacks which came off at 0 to1 and didn't touch the level 9 forts. This base and Singyang are the forcus of a lot of Japanese air attacks in northern China that are more than just training runs. My limited Chinese Bomober force is focusing on Honan also. In Central CHina, all my units are in Changsha for my counter offensive. The problem as always is supplies. I have all my SEAC transports flying supplies from Ledo to Kumming. Once I get a reasonable stockpile there I will transfer the Dakota's/C-47's to Kumming and move the pile up to Changsha. This will take a while.

* Larry finally snuck some bombers into Koepang and hit a TF heading back to Perth from Darwin in the gap between Darwin and Broome where I could not cover it with LRCAP. One AK was hit and it is now in Broome pumping out. With Thursday Island now operational, I can think about moving some AV Support into Malauk on the southern NG coast. This woudl allow me to cover transports moving through the Gulf of Carpenthia. There are several unoccupied bases in the Adaman Sea that could be built up to provide additional LRCAP

* Fighting has been heavy in PNG. Air losses have been about equal but this is mostly due to the fact that I am fighting Tony's and Tojo's with Hurricans, KittyHawks, and P-40E. I almost have enough P-47C in the pool to upgrade the 72 plane P-40 sq at PM due for this airframe. AT present all my P-38 airframes are tasked to CBI and CentPac. The guys at PM will just have to make due for now. On the 19th and 20th Allied bombers from PM hit a TRAN TF at Lae and farily ripped it to pieces.

* The last two TF for Operation Happy (Invasion of Tarawa) are at Nukefutau heading for Nanumea. I sent a SCTF with 6 old BB's in on the 17th and it is heading back now with an additional two BB's. CV yorktown departed PH on the 20th but is still a week out of Pago Pago.

* Larry must have a huge pile of engineers at Bangkok because he is repairing the HI industry there almost as fast as I am hitting it. This has got to be causing him a huge amount of supply point though.

Operation Happy is about a week off. Should be some fireworks soon.

[vettim89]

21-22 June 1943

It just takes forever to move these AMPH TF's. The main TF with 1st Marines on board ignored my order to proceed to Nanumea and is still parked at Nukefutau. Grrr. This adds two more days to the op. My SCTF will hit Tarawa again next turn. I certainly hope FOW is playing games in me because in spite of constant air and naval bombardment, the port damage is listed at 5! AB damage is 0. Now I hit this base with an 6 strong BB Nuke less than a week ago. When Larry hit Abemama with 1/3 the force a few weeks ago, he creamed the base and it took nearly a week to repair. I don't care how many engineer units there are at Tarawa, he should not be able to repair that quickly. I hope its FOW. I plan to run one more BOMB TF in and before I hit the beaches. Matter of a few days now. I guess the only solace I can take is if there are that many engineer units in place, it should make taking the base easier.

CV Yorktown is eight days out of Pago Pago. CVL Monterrey arrives in Panama in three days. CV Hancock arrives Panama in 15 days. CV Enterprise at SF with 17 SYST damage

Two RN CV's have sortied from Aden heading for Trico. One still has SeaFires on board but I will have enough Corsair II in the pool once it arrives to upgrade. Once the pieces are in place, I will head back to Port Blair. Operation Grommet: the Sequel.

[vettim89]

23 June 1943

The second BOMB hit did a lot more damge and the number of CD guns was only about 40% of the first one; so, its obvious that while the port and airfield weren't hit on the first one, there is considerable disruption/diablement of the ground forces. DD kinnison hit a mine and is limping back to Nanumea. Another DD (whose name escapes me) was torpedoed by a Ro class sub at Tarawa. The sub took a moderate beating as a result. moving the MSW in now. I am hoping the Nuke will have done enough damage so I won't lose too many

Bettys and Nells out of Gerogetown put a TT into a RN CL at Tavoy. It cost the Japanese 25 A6M3a's, 2 Betty's, and a Nell.

Huge numbers of Japanese aircraft running training out of Canton now - over 200. I think its time to set up another ambush

[vettim89]

24 June 1943

I don't know how he does it but Larry slipped another SCTF into Tavoy and roughed up a convoy unloading two BF's there. Results were not good as the Allies lost four DD's to the combat and subsequent air attacks. Weather again socked in ALL my BoB AB's so no CAP over the TF which ran out to sea after the surface battle nor counterstrike from the Beauforts/Avengers/Beaufighters bases at Moulmein. Grr. [:@] The only good news is that only one empty AP and one AK were hit.

MSW did not suffer any affects from CD but two were hit by raids out of Kwajalein and Maeolap. LRCAP is up and flying from Abemama and my approaching CV's. Would be nice to dissipate some of Larry's LBA before the transports arrive. Should be three more days of the slow crawl. This should allow me to sneak my BB's in for at least one more good pounding.

Supplies are building in Central China. There is 33 k at Changsha and 17 K at Hengchow. It is nice to see supplies will move in China if they exist. Kumming has not risen above 6 k even though I have 100+ C-47/Dakota's flying it in from Ledo everyday. One problem is that all those static units at Chungking are the giant sucking sound you hear in China. I know some aggressive JFB have conquered China in stock but you could not do it in Big B. There is like 4000 AS parked in Chungking alone.

[vettim89]

25 June 1943

Well my a/c flew out of Moulmein - check that, some a/s flew out of Moulmein. Only the Beaufighters have the range it seems. The put a 250 lb bomb into a D and strfed that one and another pretty badly. I put all the LBA at Rangoon on Naval attack but they didn't want to go. Seems there was this cricket match between the Indian and Chinese units stationed there and well ....

My TF's are two hexes from Tarawa. They are ordered to pause one hex away next turn. That makes D-Day the 27th. The BB's should make it in just in time to give the base one last pasting.

CV Yorktown is approaching Canton Island. If I was feeling braver I would send her across the short rout. But I am not feeling brave. I love my CVL's but they do not have the offensive capacity of a full CV. As I only have Wasp and Yorktown right now, I dare not risk one. CV Enterprise is down to 16 SYST damage at SF. CV Hancock arrives at Panama City in about ten days. Unfortunately, ther is about a 40 day gap after that before I receive any new CV/CVL. Need to husband my resources.

[vettim89]

26 June 1943

Just sent Larry the turn for Operation Happy. Here's hoping

[vettim89]

27 June 1943

Well things went well. Larry sneaked another SCTF into Tarawa this time but it was met by my SCTF. Over three combats, the Japanese were wiped out. On the allied side, Maryland is in extremis and crawling towards Nanumea. I will list the combat results:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95

Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 5
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
DD Yugure, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
DD Hakaze, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Karukaya, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Sagi, Shell hits 10, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Colorado, Shell hits 2
BB West Virginia, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Oklahoma
BB Arizona, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1
BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 2
BB California, Shell hits 2
BB Idaho, Shell hits 2
BB New Mexico
BB Mississippi
CL St. Louis
DD Meade
DD Sims, Shell hits 1
DD Hughes
DD Balch
DD Crosby
DD Crane

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed
E8N Dave: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 4, on fire
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Karukaya, Shell hits 14, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Colorado
BB West Virginia, on fire
BB Oklahoma
BB Arizona
BB Pennsylvania
BB California
BB Idaho
BB New Mexico
BB Mississippi
CL St. Louis
DD Meade
DD Sims
DD Hughes
DD Balch
DD Crosby
DD Crane

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
F1M2 Pete : 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 37, and is sunk
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 42, and is sunk
DD Karukaya, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Colorado
BB West Virginia, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Oklahoma
BB Arizona
BB Pennsylvania
BB California
BB Idaho
BB New Mexico
BB Mississippi
CL St. Louis
DD Meade
DD Sims
DD Hughes
DD Balch
DD Crosby
DD Crane

Heavy LBA counter attacks from the Marshall Islands yeield no hits but cost the Japanese a lot of a/c. Daily totals were: 54 A6M3a, 16 G4M1, 11 G4M2, and 8 G3M. I lost 4 F4U and 3 F6F. My shock attack did not come out well with Allies losing 200 to 400 for Japan. In spite of massively over commiting AP's, a lot of my troops did not make it ashore this turn. I assume a lot of Ops poits were used up dodging Bettys. Minefield damage was minimal. It Appears Larry sent Kaga down from Kwajalein to interfere. You will see her position in the next image.

[vettim89]

The first attack

[vettim89]

28 June 1943

All in all a good day. My only complaint is that for some reason my MSW stopped sweeping mines. I lost a LCI and an AK hit a mine also. Only a small fragment of 1st Marines remains on the transports. Lost of supply still to unload. The Japanese CV's (I suspect about one CV, one CVL and two or three CVE) moved two hexes ENE but remained five hexes NNW of Tarawa. They launch massive strikes against the transports.

The first attack of the day is the screenie provided. This strike will likely cost me CL Concorde, four AP, and one AK. What is more important is that the F4U-1/F6F-3 CAP shot down or damaged almost all of the escorting fighters. What ensued was a series of close to ten separate attacks in the AM and PM phases that were fun for me to watch but had to be painful for Larry. There was almost no escort of the PM strikes and those that were saw the fighters brushed aside by Hellcats and Corsairs. The hits in the first strike were it for the day. Total Japanese air losses for the day were 48 A6M3a, 38 B5N Kate, 26 D3A Val, 8 A6M5, 4 B6N Jill, and 4 D4Y Judy offset by Allied losses of 8 F4U-1 and 3 F6F-3. This was the combat introduction of the A6M5, Jill and Judy. Total air losses were 131 to 16!

CV Yorktown is just past Canton Island. I am sending her towards Nanumea now. She is at least four days away from being in the battle zone. It is tempting to send my CV's north to hit the Japanese CV's as their air groups have got to be about shot. I am Spruance at Phillipine Sea here not Halsey at Leyte gulf. They can sit out there and dissipate themselves.

In the ground phase, the Japanese shock attacked and lost 2161 to Allies 172. The Allied Shock Attack then caused 208 additional Japanese casualties to 423 for Allies. Allies attack came off at 2 to 1 and reduced forts to 8. Need to try to regain some strenght here but it should be done sooner rather than later

[vettim89]

29-30 June 1943

Well everybody is ashore but disabement was pretty horrid. I will have a hard time getting through with the units in place. The 5th Cav Rgt is sitting at Savali fully prepped for Tarawa. Should have brought them along. I expected more support troops at Tarawa and fewer INF. Should have payed attention to those recon reports. I am having a hard time getting tracker to run for me. Guess I should fix that before I go forward.

CV Yorktown will take up its position just south of Tarawa next turn. Nice to have her in place with the addition F6F's plus the SBD's in case Larry sorties his CV's again.

[ny59giants]

Bodhi's Utility is probably better for tracking intel reports than Tracker. It helps you plot Ops and se a possible pattern. Good for sending your subs along those frequently used paths. 

[Capt. Harlock]

She is at least four days away from being in the battle zone. It is tempting to send my CV's north to hit the Japanese CV's as their air groups have got to be about shot. I am Spruance at Phillipine Sea here not Halsey at Leyte gulf. They can sit out there and dissipate themselves.

I can certainly understand that. IMHO Larry will never be able to train CV pilots to an effective level -- this is the Midway of your game. Even if the CV's get away, the threat has been greatly reduced.

But I wonder if you could get any LBA to Abemama with enough range . . .[;)]

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

She is at least four days away from being in the battle zone. It is tempting to send my CV's north to hit the Japanese CV's as their air groups have got to be about shot. I am Spruance at Phillipine Sea here not Halsey at Leyte gulf. They can sit out there and dissipate themselves.

I can certainly understand that. IMHO Larry will never be able to train CV pilots to an effective level -- this is the Midway of your game. Even if the CV's get away, the threat has been greatly reduced.

But I wonder if you could get any LBA to Abemama with enough range . . .[;)]

Abemama just went to level 4 AB; so I could but that AB is presently being used for LRCAP over Tarawa. I was looking closely at the map and only Maeolap and Kwajalein are developed to Level 4 AB at this point. So once Tarawa is taken I may be able to blitz those AB's and then send my CV's rushing at Kwajalein. I could put a AMPH TF out there to make it look like I am going for one of the southern Marshalls and then sprint for the big prize. This assumes that the CV's are still there. Larry may have seen the hadnwriting on the wall and pulled them back to safer waters. I compare this situation to Operation I-Go. Timing is about right. Larry has dissipated his remaining CV Air power for naught.

2 June 1943

My last deliberate attack came off at 3 to 1 and reduced forts to 6 at Tarawa. Allies only lost 200 troops. I think the Japanese force is about shot. I ordered a Shock Attack for this turn. CV Bunker Hill is just five days out of Paama City. Another CVL is in the Sea Lanes heading for Pago Pago. CVL Monterrey is heading back to PH with 24 SYST damage. CV Enterprise drops to 12 SYST at SF but she needs an upgrade.

The UK CVTF is 1/3 of the way to Diamond Harbor from Trico. There it will meet up with a SCTF and AMPH TF with 2nd UK ID for Port Blair. I have two UK Brigades fully prepped at Trico for reserve if the 2nd can't handle it alone. Last recon reveal only 6 k troops at Port Blair with at least one BF. Cursor recon shows five CA's disbanded at Georgetown. F-5 Recon bird tasked there next trun to determine possible air resistance.

First P-40E unit will be able to upgrade to P-47C in about a week. I need better a/c in PNG. The Tojos, A6M3, and Tony's are ripping the P-40, Kittyhawks, Hurricanes IIb's, and even Spits apart. I have another FG already flying the Juggs heading to OZ but EXP is only 57 for that group - ugh

[vettim89]

3 July 1943

No progress at Tarawa. The 112th Cav RGT is loading and heading up there at max speed. PBY's had spotted a TF at Nauru Island yesterday so I sprinted my CV's over there and had this result:

Day Air attack on TF, near Nauru Island at 77,95


Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 42


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Konei Maru
AP Atsuta Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Bangkok Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AK Wuhu Maru
PG Takunan Maru #3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Astuga Maru
AK Muko Maru
AK Suez Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
MSW Shanan Maru #16

Day Air attack on TF, near Nauru Island at 77,95


Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 25


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Bangkok Maru, on fire
AK Konei Maru
AK Suez Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Assam, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Takunan Maru #3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Shanan Maru #16

About 150 4e ran down to Georgetown from Rangoon and had this result:

Day Air attack on Georgetown , at 23,44


Allied aircraft
Liberator III x 90
F-5A Lightning x 4
B-24D Liberator x 50


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator III: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Madras Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AG AG-5071, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kawakaze, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nenohi, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ganges Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kagero, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AK Tokihime Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AS Chogei, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 2
Port supply hits 3

All three DD's sunk. There are now 115 fighters at Georgetown. Too late. That was a one time thing. My 4E's are now resting to soften up Port Blair starting in a few days.

LBA flew into Tarawa and put a TT into BB Oklahoma but she is fine (10 Syst, 2 Flot). LRCAP shot down 16 A6M3a, 4 Betty, and 3 Nell. AS there seems to be either a SCTF or possibly CVTF lurking north of Tarawa now, I am sprinting 2/3 of my CV force east to meet this threat. The remainder will stay near Nauru to hopefully finish off the transports parked there.

AMPH TF is 2/3 loaded at Chittangong. It will head to Diamond Harbor to meet the RN CV's plus a healthy SCTF.

[vettim89]

4 July 1943

The situation on Tarawa is bad. My AS has fallen below Larrys by quite a bit (like 168 to 224). Its that shock attack that did it. I don't understand this game. I had a deliberate attack come off at 3 to 1 and disruption was at about 20% after it. I thought for sure the shock attack would do it. Instead it creamed my units. In a desperation move, I am barge lifting a completely unprepped RCT from Abemama to Tarwa. My hope is enough of these troops can get ashore to at least bolster my defense enough to avoid an outright eviction. The 112th Cav Reg - the reserve for this op- is nine freaking days out. This is not good. The SCTF lurking NNE of Tarawa is withdrawing NE. My CVL's off Nauru only put one more TT into an already damged AK and another TT into an undamaged one. Recon now shows three units there and troop count went from 3000 to 7500. Looks like Larry snuck another SNLF in there but he couldn't have off loaded much in terms of supply. The 2nd Marines are loading onto AP's at Kormac and Savali bound. They are 100% prepped for Nauru

In the BoB, the AMPH TF has one or two more days of loading before the redevous at Diamond Harbor. A SCTF is seen retreating from Georgetown. Perhaps I have forced Larry to reconsider using this as a forward base.

In CHina two offensives are underway near the Changsha/Hengchow area. The ultimate goal here is Hankow.

[vettim89]

5 July 1942.

So the SCTF I was worried about slips away but some how another makes it way south and engages the unloading transports at Tarawa. Not a good day. CL Raliegh is in extremis and will likely sink. Now the bad news. With the perceived threat of surface action gone (emphasis on perceived), I had pulled back my SCTF AND set all Naval and LBA on ground attack. So the wounded ducks from the surface battle were sitting 60 NM NE of Tarwa and got ignored. I think I need a Tylenol.

Combat results were not all that bad. At least Kirishima has some serious topside damage:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 84,95

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 37, on fire
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 8
DD Teruzuki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Ikazuchi, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Mutsuki, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Fumizuki
DD Mochizuki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Akikaze, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Shiokaze

Allied Ships
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 14, on fire, heavy damage
DD Bennett, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Craven, Shell hits 1
DD Wilson
DD Clark, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Alden, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Allen, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Stuart
DD Kilty, Shell hits 1
DD Brooks
AP Zeilin
AP Henry T. Allen
AP Harris
AP J. Franklin Bell
AP President Polk, Shell hits 1, on fire
AP Sumter
AP Bolivar
AP Cambria
AP Thomas Jefferson
AP Henderson
AK Aludra
AK Castor
AK Horace Luckenbach
AK Lewis Luckenbach
AK Malama
AK Mana
AK Manini
AK Manulani

I am moving my CV's just a few hexes NE in case one of the Japanese ships is really hurting. Then back towards Abemama