Breaching the Brisbane Line: Sierra Juliet v Ambassador

[SierraJuliet]

Captain Jisaku was rightly concerned about the course of action that Vice Admiral Nagumo had decided upon.  The plan to cover the landing on Wake Island had been put on hold while the carriers attempted to intercept major warships that were steaming west of Pearl Harbour.  Surprise would have been nice but today a Catalina scout plane had been briefly seen over the fleet.  It was unknown if the fleet had been spotted but only a fool would think the fleet was missed by the prying eyes.  Nevertheless the fleet sailed on with a slight alteration of course to the north east to take the fleet between Johnson Island and Midway Island.  There was still a chance that the next day could possibly bring the fleets close enough to force an action.  Then again maybe the fleet would have to fight off whatever bombers the Americans could fly off of their outermost islands.

   

[SierraJuliet]

14 December 1941[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Malaya[align=left] [/align]Air: Off the coast of Malaya 15 Blenheim and 6 Hudson locate an unescorted troop convoy and amazingly manage to miss everything.  Ambassador will be jumping mad at this result.  Usually these attacks on merchant shipping come up with a good result…. Not this time.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air: 2 Martin 139 locate a troop transport fleet and put 1 bomb into PG Eiko Maru causing 40 16 04 damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: North West of Changsa Japanese bombardment causes 22 casualties and 2 guns lost.  The return fire from the Chinese causes 23 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Hong Kong causes 70 casualties and 7 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Canton causes 26 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At the cross roads hex south of Kaifeng Japanese bombardment causes 7 casualties.[align=left] [/align]Air: At Canton 63rd Chinese Corps is bombed by 12 Betty causing 34 casualties.  64th Chinese Corps, also at Canton, is bombed by 10 Sally causing 13 casualties.[align=left] [/align]West of Changsa 80th Chinese Corps is targeted by 25 Nate who cause 6 casualties. [align=left] [/align]North West of Changsa 81st Chinese Corps is bombed by 9 Ann which causes 7 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Hong Kong 23 Nell drop their bombs to cause 1 airbase hit and 14 runway hits and destroy 1 SB-2c.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Naga.[align=left] [/align]Air: The Americans are keen to avenge their losses from the previous day and this time send in 28 Warhawk to contest the skies above Laoag.  A CAP of 11 Zero rise to meet them and at the end of the action 5 Warhawk have been reported destroyed.  PO2 Okura of F1/3rd Daitai scores 3 kills to become an ace and take his overall tally to 6.[align=left] [/align]4 B-17C make a bombing run on the fleets at Naga.  A CAP of 28 Zero is on duty.  5 Zero are reported damaged in return for a report 1 B-17 destroyed and 2 damaged.  The attack is broken off before reaching the shipping.[align=left] [/align]Sea: Naval bombardment of Naga led by Yamashiro, Fuso and Nagato causes 2 airbase hits, 14 runway hits, 1 port his, 3 port fuel hits and 4 port supply hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]SS I-168 takes on the destroyers in the task force seen heading west in my previous post.  She takes a shot at DD Shaw and misses and then has to duck and weave.  By the end of the day she has 3 reported hits which cause 26 44 00 damage.[align=left] [/align]SS KXI finds AP Hakuteetsu Maru #13 and sinks her with 4 shell hits and 2 torpedoes.  79 troop casualties are also reported.[align=left] [/align]North east of Pearl Harbour SS I-9 locates a fleet containg 8 DMS.  She puts 1 torpedo into DMS Chandler and then has to hot foot it and dive deep.  Later in the day the DMS fleet locates her and subjects her to depth charge attack resulting in 4 hits and damage of 11 07 00.[align=left] [/align]Near Tarakan SS I-123 locates the Asiatic destroyers and is hit 4 times in the first attack and another 3 times in an attack later in the day all up causing 64 78 00 damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align]AP Hakuteetsu Maru #13[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]Stacks of submarine activity today.  I’ve only made reference to intercepts where damage was caused.  There was plenty more attempts on both sides apart from the above.  Another good day in the skies above Laoag.  Zeros shooting down a B-17…. Don’t think I’ll see that happen too much.  KB was spotted by a Catalina with a report of 9 ships heading east at 15 knots.  Course has been changed and speed moved up to mission speed and will wait to see if this draws a reaction from Ambassador.  I’m expecting there will be a response as he has started off with an aggressive defense.  Canton continues to be a bombardment engagement.  Within a few days I will have another 1/3 of a division there to assist with the defense of the city.

[SierraJuliet]

15 December 1941[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Malaya[align=left] [/align]Air: At Khota Bharu 47 Oscar rise to meet a force of 3 Blenheim and 3 Hudson escorted by 14 Buffalo.  1 Oscar is destroyed whilst 7 Buffalo and 3 Blenheim are claimed as destroyed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Air: Near Brunei 7 T.IVa and 13 Martin 139 obtain 1 bomb hit on AK Kinryo Maru causing 31 06 05 damage and 1 bomb hit on CL Kashii.  A later raid by 4 Martin 139 obtains another 2 bomb hits on Kashii.  Altogether Kashii has damage of 36 00 07.[align=left] [/align]Near Tarakan 9 Nell locate a surface combat force which includes CA Houston and CL De Ruyter.  DD Alden is hit by 1 torpedo and is reported on fire and suffering heavy damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Northwest of Changsa Japanese bombardment attack causes 108 casualties and 4 guns lost.  The Chinese counter bombardment causes 5 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Hong Kong causes 18 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost to 1 Allied casualty.[align=left] [/align]At Nanning Japanese bombardment attack causes 13 Chinese casualties.  The Chinese mount a deliberate attack at Nanning and achieve 0 to 1 odds against the level 3 forts and lose 558 casualties and 18 guns lost to 13 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment attack at Canton causes 26 Chinese casualties.  The Chinese counter bombardment causes 13 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]At the cross roads hex south west of Kaifeng Japanese bombardment attack causes 10 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost and 6 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]North of Wuhan Japanese bombardment causes 5 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost to 19 Chinese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Air: At Changsa 4th New Chinese Corps is hit by 25 Nate and reports 8 casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Yenen 27th Chinese/B Corps is bombed by 22 Ann and 17 Sonia and records 24 casualties.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese deliberate attack liberates the undefended base at Naga.[align=left] [/align]Air: 79 Betty escorted by 48 Zero bomb the airfield at Manila and destroy 1 Mohawk, cause 33 casualties and gain 1 airbase hit and 4 runway hits.  1 Betty is lost during the raid.[align=left] [/align]At Takao 6 B-17C are met by a CAP of 23 Nate.  The Nate fighters are industrious with reports of 3 bombers damaged and importantly the attack breaks off with out making it to the target.[align=left] [/align]Near Naga 5 B-17C make an attack on Yamashiro and without causing any damage loose one of their own.[align=left] [/align]Well off shore from Naga 2 B-17C locate Ryujo.  9 Claude are on CAP and 2 reports of damage to the bombers are received and the ships remain unscathed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]SS Salmon is located by an ASW task force of 5 APD at Vigan with 9 hits are reported.[align=left] [/align]North of Pearl Harbour SS I-4 takes 2 hits from a DMS task force.  DMS Chandler which was struck by a torpedo last turn is listed in this force (on fire and suffering heavy damage).  Later in the day of force of 6 destroyers find I-4 and she takes another 5 hits.  At the end of the actions she has 39 73 00 damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Nil reports

[align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]KB was sighted again and the ships that were the target have scattered upon Ambassador making an initial correct assumption (in his email he suggested that Nagumo should be told that he wasn’t on a cruise ship) that KB was in the area on an easterly course.  KB will now head north and work over Midway Island before moving west to cover the Wake Island landing.  Plenty of sub activity again.  China has action going on all over the place.  An excellent result from my Oscars in the skies over Khota Bahru.  Added to this it was wonderful to watch the outdated Nate and Claude mixing it up with the Flying Fortress and appearing to come out ahead on points.  The attack on Nanning saw the Chinese rebuffed and I am happy to see Ambassador continue these attacks with this result.

[SierraJuliet]

16 December 1941[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Malaya[align=left] [/align]Air: At Khota Bharu 19 Tomahawk pay a visit and meet 16 Zero and 35 Oscar on CAP.  1 Zero is destroyed and 5 Tomahawk are reported destroyed.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: North of Changsha Japanese bombardment causes 19 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.  The return bombardment from the Chinese causes 2 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Hong Kong causes 3 Japanese casualties to 74 Allied casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Yenen causes 50 Chinese casualties and 5 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at the cross roads south of Kaifeng causes 4 Chinese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment north of Wuhan causes 3 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Chinese bombardment at Nanning causes 15 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Chinese bombardment at Canton causes 6 Japanese casualties.[align=left] [/align]Air: 21 SB-2c attack the Canton forces and cause 6 Japanese casualties and 2 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Changsha 25 Nate strike at 80th Chinese Corps and cause 3 Chinese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]North of Changsha 9 Ann bomb 191st Chinese Division and cause 3 Chinese casualties.[align=left] [/align]At Yenen 21 Ann and 14 Sonia bomb 27th Chinese/B Corps and cause 28 casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land: Troops are ashore at Legaspi.[align=left] [/align]Air: 54 Betty bombs the airfield at San Marcelino and cause 2 airbase hits and 7 runway hits.  Unfortunately the B-17s are not at home.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Central Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: 20 Zero from KB fly sweep over Midway and shoot down 2 of the 3 Wildcat fighters sent up on CAP.[align=left] [/align]KB sends out 77 Val and 20 Kate guarded by 10 Zero to assault Midway.  5 Val are traded for 1 Wildcat and 3 Catalina whilst on the ground 4 casualties and 2 guns were reported lost as well as 15 airbase hits, 4 airbase supply hits and 31 runway hits.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]South of Jolo SS I-123 runs into 7 ABDA destroyers and reports 1 hit which causes no damage.[align=left] [/align]North of Pearl Harbour SS I-15 takes 2 hits from a bunch of US destroyers.  Later in the day she is hit another 3 times by the same group of ships which leaves her with 43 85 00 damage.[align=left] [/align]South of San Francisco SS I-24 locates a convoy and put 1 torpedo into TK H.M.Storey but gets pounced by MSWs Outarde, Nipigon, Wasaga, Ungava and Quatsino sailing with DDs Brooks, Kane and Dawson and reports 8 hits.[align=left] [/align]Later in the day I-24 is located by another task force containing a bunch of destroyers and another 8 hits are reported leaving her at 57 95 00 damage.[align=left] [/align]120 miles off shore from San Francisco SS I-26 is located by a DD ASW groups and reports 5 hits and is sunk.[align=left] [/align]North of Batavia SS I-166 scores 1 torpedo hit on AK Beatrice.[align=left] [/align]At Khota Bharu a Ki-30 Ann reports a hit on SS O16.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]SS I-26[align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align] [align=left] CL Boise is spotted at Davao.  This along with the recent sighting of ABDA ships near Tarakan means enemy ships are on the move in the Philippines.  I have a number of ships in the Sulu Sea so some surface action may be at hand.  A wild day for my submarines and a fluid situation developing in China with Ambassador moving troops around all over the front[/align]

[SierraJuliet]

  17 December 1941[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Burma[align=left] [/align]Air: Ambassador has been doing a night time bombing run on Bangkok for the last week without any result.  I try my hand by staging 9 Sally out of Tavoy for a night raid on Moulmein and only succeed in losing 1 and having 1 damaged for no result on the ground.  Hmmm… perhaps 6000 feet is a tad too low during the night.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]DEI[align=left] [/align]Sea: Off shore from Brunei 15 Martin 139 and 3 Hudson locate a Japanese surface task force and land 1 bomb on board CL Sendai.  Most have been a dud as no damage was reported.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]China[align=left] [/align]Land: Japanese bombardment north of Changsha causes 75 Chinese casualties and 3 guns lost.  The return Allied bombardment causes 10 Japanese casualties and 2 guns lost and 7 Chinese casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese deliberate attack at Hong Kong reduces forts to level 5 and achieve assault odds of 1 to 1 resulting in Japanese loses of 129 casualties and 2 guns lost against 74 Allied casualties and 3 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment at Yenen causes 179 Chinese casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Japanese bombardment north of Wuhan causes 13 Allied casualties and 2 guns lost.[align=left] [/align]Chinese bombardment at Nanning causes 5 Japanese casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align]Chinese bombardment at Canton causes 27 Japanese casualties. [align=left] [/align]Air: 21 SB-2c target Canton and for the loss of 1 of their number score 4 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]At Hong Kong 28 Nell bomb the airfield and score 2 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]North of Changsha 9 Ann bomb 81st Chinese Corps causing 16 casualties and 1 gun lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Philippines[align=left] [/align]Land: The undefended base at Legaspi is captured.[align=left] [/align]Boac is occupied by the Japanese.[align=left] [/align]Air: At San Marcelino 3 Betty bomb the airfield and get 1 runway hit.[align=left] [/align]At Laoag 36 Warhawk make a return only to meet a CAP of 32 Zero and 3 Oscar.  2 Zero fall from the sky whilst 5 Warhawk don’t make the return journey.[align=left] [/align]Sea: Near Jolo 47 Nell locate an Allied task force containing CA Houston, CLs Boise, De Ruyter, Java and Tromp and DDs Barker and Stewart.  Tromp is hit by 1 bomb and Barker is also hit by 1 bomb.  Barker was reported to be on fire and appeared to have suffered heavy damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Central Pacific[align=left] [/align]Air: 83 Nell bombers from Kwajalein hit the airfield at Wake Island and report 2 airbase hits and 5 runway hits.[align=left] [/align]Sea: Naval bombardment by Kako, Furutaka, Kinugasa and Aoba at Wake Island causes 179 Allied casualties, 2 guns and 2 vehicles lost and 1 airbase supply hit, 3 runway hits, 1 port fuel hit and 3 port supply hits.[align=left] [/align]Things go awry as DD Mochizuki spots a minefield and destroys a mine before locating one the hard way.  The ship is in a bad way and current damage stands at 59 74 35.[align=left] [/align]Land: Shock attack at Wake Island achieves 41 to 1 odds and the surrender of 1st USMC Defense Btn and 14th USAAF Base Froce/1 (seems those US subs have been busy laying mines and sneaking away troops).  2 Wildcat are destroyed on the ground.  Japanese casualties amount to 194 casualties and 6 guns lost whilst 1099 Allied troops are captured and 7 guns are lost.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Subs[align=left] [/align]During the invasion of Wake Island DDs Yuzuki, Kikuzuki, Uzuki and Oboro locate SS Tambor and register 2 hits.[align=left] [/align]At Khota Bharu a Sally bomber reports a hit on SS KXVII.[align=left] [/align]Off shore from Mersing SS I-121 is reported hit after an attack by a Hudson bomber and reports 29 67 00 damage.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Naval Losses for the Day[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]SS I-24 (scuttled after the pounding from the day before)[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Comments[align=left] [/align]PO1 Yoshida of F1/Tainan Daitai shoots down 2 Warhawk today to make it to ace status.  At the end of the day Japanese and ABDA ships are in close proximity but haven’t managed to bring each other to battle.  My Nell bombers have attempted to influence the course of any future battle and although Houston and Boise were in their sights no damage was sustained.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]Here is a shot of Tromp in the target zone.[align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align] [align=left] [/align]

[SierraJuliet]

I waiting for the next turn back from Ambassador but in the mean time here is a shot of the situation in and around Jolo when I sent off the last turn.  I'm thinking there is huge potential here for a surface action.  My Nell bombers have already had a couple of nibbles at the ships of the ABDA but nothing to get too excited over.  Houston and Boise are out there!