This was the turn I ran then:
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/22/43
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Sub attack at 85,90
Japanese Ships
SS I-162
Allied Ships
BB Colorado
CA Hawkins
DD Gansevoort
DD Frazier
DD Caldwell
BBs are moving towards Makin again, the torps missed unfortunately...
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Sub attack at 84,91
Japanese Ships
SS I-164, hits 11
Allied Ships
DD Radford, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Stevens
DD Pringle
DD Philip
DD Brownson
DD Braine
DD Bradford
we hit a DD in this TF, the sub should make it...
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ASW attack at 85,90
Japanese Ships
SS I-162, hits 12, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
DD Stevens
DD Radford, on fire, heavy damage
DD Pringle
DD Philip
DD Brownson
DD Braine
DD Bradford
this one was sunk immedietely though...
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And here you go, I took the chance to send in my BBs from Mili (four hexes) and encountered enemy TFs en masse at Makin... unfortunately the use of my BBs is a gamey move for my opponent. No, using BBs and fighters at a base is gamey, unfortunately we disagree on that one...
Night Time Surface Combat, near Makin at 85,89
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 3
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 5, on fire
BB Yamato, Shell hits 2
BB Musashi, Shell hits 1
BB Fuso, Shell hits 3
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 4
CA Mogami, Shell hits 2
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
DD Naganami, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tamanami, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Suzunami, Shell hits 2
DD Hayanami, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Kiyonami, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Hamanami, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
Allied Ships
BB Colorado, Shell hits 2
BB West Virginia
CA Northampton, Shell hits 4, on fire
CA Houston, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
CA Hawkins, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Frobisher, Shell hits 1
DD Buchanan, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Duncan, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD McCalla, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Farenholt, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Barton, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Woodworth
DD Caldwell, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Frazier, Shell hits 1
DD Gansevoort, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
our TF was surprised even that it had spotted the enemy with radar... [>:] during the surprise phase Mutsu took a penetrating shell hit and as soon as our ships started to fire back the Allied TF was also hit hard. After this engagement, two of the enemy CAs should be history...
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 1
BB Mutsu, on fire
BB Yamato, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Musashi
BB Fuso, Shell hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 3
CA Kumano
DD Naganami, on fire
DD Tamanami, on fire
DD Suzunami, on fire
DD Hayanami, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Kiyonami, on fire
Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania
BB California, Shell hits 1
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 2
CA Portland, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CA Indianapolis, Shell hits 1
CA Wichita
DD Hammann, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Mustin, Shell hits 1
DD Russell
DD O'Brien, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Morris
DD Case
then a second BB TF is engaged, another CA is hit hard while we only suffered more damage on a DD...
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 1
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Yamato, on fire
BB Musashi
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 4
CA Mogami
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano
DD Naganami, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tamanami, on fire
DD Suzunami, on fire
DD Hayanami, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kiyonami, on fire
Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 3, on fire
BB California
BB Tennessee, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Portland, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CA Indianapolis
CA Wichita
DD Mustin
DD Russell
DD O'Brien, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Morris
DD Case
another round and a 16 inch shell heavily damages BB Tennessee and more or less finishes CA Portland... Mutsu takes another penetrating hit...
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Makin at 85,89
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 4 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 1
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 2, on fire
BB Yamato, on fire
BB Musashi, Shell hits 2
BB Fuso, Shell hits 7
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 5
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 2
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
DD Naganami, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tamanami, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Suzunami, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hayanami, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kiyonami, on fire
Allied Ships
BB Colorado, Shell hits 3, on fire
BB West Virginia
CA Northampton, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
CA Hawkins, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
CA Frobisher, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
DD Buchanan, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Duncan, Shell hits 26, and is sunk
DD Farenholt, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD Barton, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Caldwell, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Frazier, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Gansevoort, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
and then the most succesful engagement of the night against the Colorad/West Virginia TF again... we surprise them and wreck havoc... three CAs sank during the engagement, Frobisher doesn´t look good either. In all engagements BB Musashi proved to be the most dangerous, hitting with 18 inch and 6 inch gun fire. Especially the 6 inch batteries prove to work very well at short range during the night as they were able to penetrate the Allied CAs belt armor while the enemy´s 5 inch shells did no damage on our cruisers. What isn´t fun at all is the loss of nearly half a dozen Yugumo class destroyers as those are carrying air search radar. In total the enemy probably lost 5 CAs, has a BB heavily damaged and probably 9 destroyers are sunk. We have Mutsu damaged and lost 5 destroyers... this seems like a victory for us, I would have preferred to only meet the enemy invasion TFs though and to be honest, I didn´t expect to meet the enemy BBs. Don´t know if Miller thought I would send my BBs in or if the enemy BB TFs were intending to do just another bombardment. When looking at their performance, I would say they were bombardment TFs but I don´t know... we did not get through to the transports...
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ASW attack at 80,81
Japanese Ships
DD Matsukaze
DD Hatakaze
DD Oite
DD Hayate
DD Asanagi
DD Yunagi
Allied Ships
SS Batfish
we sent out five DD ASW TFs from Kwajalein to deal with the two dozen subs in the area... not hard to stumble across them...
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TF 1045 encounters mine field at Nanomea Atoll (87,101)
Allied Ships
DD Henley, heavy damage
guess a sub laid mine would have finished the DD... no luck...
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Sub attack at 86,90
Japanese Ships
SS I-166
Allied Ships
DD Caldwell, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Frazier, on fire
But we hit another DD from the Colorado/West Virginia TF. Looks like those BBs have no escort anymore now...
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
A6M5 Zeke x 86
D3A Val x 105
A6M5c Zeke x 47
A6M3a Zero x 35
B5N Kate x 152
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 70
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-61 Ic x 35
No Japanese losses
Allied ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 89
Port hits 5
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
32 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Tarawa , at 85,91
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 49
PV-1 Ventura x 18
PB4Y Liberator x 7
B-24D Liberator x 48
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 2 damaged
PV-1 Ventura: 3 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 4 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
93 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 53
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator VI bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on Apamama , at 86,92
Allied aircraft
PBM Mariner x 4
B-17E Fortress x 18
B-24D Liberator x 19
B-24J Liberator x 17
Allied aircraft losses
PBM Mariner: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 2 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 17
Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 10000 feet
the enemy keeps pounding my atolls...
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Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 35
No Allied losses
Runway hits 13
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Kittyhawk III bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Wallis Island , at 93,107
Allied aircraft
Boomerang II x 59
Kittyhawk I x 14
P-35A x 42
No Allied losses
Runway hits 27
Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Boomerang II bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Wallis Island , at 93,107
Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 38
No Allied losses
Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 7
Aircraft Attacking:
35 x P-40N Warhawk bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Baker Island , at 94,92
Allied aircraft
PB2Y Coronado x 2
Wellington III x 60
Liberator VI x 52
Allied aircraft losses
PB2Y Coronado: 1 damaged
Wellington III: 10 damaged
Liberator VI: 14 damaged
Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 57
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Liberator VI bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 1st Guards Division, at 47,100
Allied aircraft
PV-1 Ventura x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 44
B-25J Mitchell x 28
B-17E Fortress x 3
IL-4c x 2
Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
IL-4c: 2 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
187 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25J Mitchell bombing at 20000 feet
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Day Air attack on 64th Division, at 47,100
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 36
B-25J Mitchell x 21
B-17E Fortress x 3
Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 7 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
53 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 20000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 85,86
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 49
SBD Dauntless x 90
TBM Avenger x 54
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
TBM Avenger: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu, Bomb hits 22, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
SUNK
DD Tamanami, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x TBM Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
here you can see how gamey it is to have Japanese BBs in use... After being hit twice by heavy gunfire during the night engagement, BB Mutsu was slowed down and didn´t make the four hexes back to Mili (it only moved three... [:(]). While Miller had his carriers further away from Makin the last turns, he sent them one hex closer in this turn, which resulted in my BB being in range of his carriers. Mutsu had no chance of course. The rest of my TF made Mili easily, all ships except Yamato (which also took a heavy penetrating hit) are undamaged. We have spotted enough carriers to estimate the enemy strenght about 700 or more aircraft and nearly 1/3 should be torpedo bombers with a torp range of four. Thinking about 150+ torp bombers that can be escorted by hundreds of Hellcats make it even more absurd (for me) that I´m being called gamey to use my BBs as a "bait" when I have them at a base with a level 4 airfield that can field 200 Tonies (of which probably not more than 110 would launch anyway).
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Day Air attack on TF at 85,86
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 2
SBD Dauntless x 18
TBM Avenger x 18
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
The BB was sunk already...
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Day Air attack on TF at 85,86
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 11
SBD Dauntless x 18
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 85,86
Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 18
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
G4M2 Betty x 9
P1Y Frances x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M2 Betty: 5 damaged
P1Y Frances: 4 damaged
Allied Ships
AK William Vanderbilt, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL De Ruyter, Torpedo hits 1
AK Luther S. Kelly, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Stephen H. Long, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G4M2 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
after seeing the enemy´s carriers sitting too far off Makin the last days I´ve ordered strikes for today, all limited to a range just to reach Makin... Majuro is one of the bases I´ve set my bombers to attack...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Empire Severn
AK Empire Avocet
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
due to having spotted more than a dozen TFs in the area we launch piecemeal strikes
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 16
P1Y Frances x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Allied Ships
AK John P. Holland, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Henry Durant, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Granville Stuart, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
one torp hit on an Allied AK is in 2 out of 3 times not enough to sink it, so in fact my attacks aren´t doing a lot of damage at all, even though that we achieve a lot of hits. The hits are just too dispersed...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
G4M2 Betty x 3
P1Y Frances x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M2 Betty: 3 damaged
P1Y Frances: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
AK B. F. Irvine, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Benjamin Lundy
AK Empire Dawn
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M2 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
but this one is surely finished...[;)]
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 56
G4M2 Betty x 11
P1Y Frances x 38
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 6 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Antrim, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Dona Nati, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Morazan, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Zebra, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
APD Gilmer, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APD Crosby, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Dorothy Philips, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Scotia, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Santa Anna, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APD Dickerson
AK Monarch of the Sea, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Scout, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Alamosa, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
that´s the main strike from Majuro, sinking an APD immedietely and probably sinking another APD togehter with three more AKs...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 9
P1Y Frances x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Sigli, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107
Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 40
Liberator VI x 11
P-40N Warhawk x 33
No Allied losses
Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 44
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x Wellington III bombing at 10000 feet
this was the morning phase...
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Day Air attack on TF at 85,86
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 58
SBD Dauntless x 129
TBM Avenger x 64
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x TBM Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
afternoon phase, strike on the Mutsu TF again but there´s nothing afloat anymore...
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Day Air attack on TF at 84,90
Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 11
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 126
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 11 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 8 damaged
and hey ho, due to the enemy carriers being closer to Makin today, our bombers at Kwajalein are now exactly as far from the carriers as they are from the invasion TFs at Makin (which we want to attack). Needless to say that our piecmeal strikes go after the carriers... The fact that we have 100 Zeroes together with 80 bombers doesn´t mean anyhting as the many enemy TFs trigger totally useless strikes... amazingly few Hellcats on Cap, so few that a massive strike could have easily punished that.
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 2
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
CL De Ruyter exploded after a magazine went off...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
G4M2 Betty x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M2 Betty: 1 destroyed, 10 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Josiah Snelling, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK George Westinghouse, Torpedo hits 1
AK James M. Goodhue, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Success, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G4M2 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
those are strikes from Majuro against the invasion TFs again, Majuro is 8 hexes from Makin and 9 hexes away from the enemy´s carriers. Range of the bombers set to 8... [8D] I bet none of the AKs that were hit here will sink...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Charles N. McGroarty, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 67
P1Y Frances x 27
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Empire Lake, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Herstein, Torpedo hits 1
AK Francisco Coronado, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Wosang
DD Farragut
AK Meroendoeng
AK Modjekerto
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
that´s the main strike from Majuro in the afternoon... we sink one AK... hurrey...
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Day Air attack on TF at 84,90
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 16
P1Y Frances x 43
Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 126
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 16 destroyed
P1Y Frances: 30 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 destroyed, 50 damaged
Allied Ships
BB Massachusetts
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Mississippi
BB New Mexico
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
after getting a couple of messages of my bombers failing to locate the enemy carrier TFs, this strike went in... needless to say that 16 Zeroes were enough to really do something, nevertheless more than dozen of our fast Frances bombers managed to get into torp range of the carriers and put a torp into CV Enterprise. No follow on explosions and unfortunately 3/4 of the bombers went after BBs instead of further attacking the CV. What really was impressing was the enemy flak fire, as bomber after bomber fell victim to enemy shipborne flak. If we would launch concentrated attacks into this hex we really could have hurt the enemy CVs but I´m not keen on losing a hell a lot of my bombers when the enemy can´t achieve much with his invasion anyway...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Makin at 85,89
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 16
P1Y Frances x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
LST LST-29, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
LST LST-24, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
last of the attacks on the invasion TFs, probably two LSTs sunk. There were still ground troops on the transports but none of the invasion TFs unloaded today. This can only mean that the enemy has given up after one day. I expected to see the enemy picking up his troops and running after this turn...
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Ground combat at Irkutsk
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 373528 troops, 4460 guns, 1347 vehicles, Assault Value = 9396
Defending force 145163 troops, 1824 guns, 209 vehicles, Assault Value = 2986
Allied ground losses:
419 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 1
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Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 89292 troops, 1045 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 2657
Defending force 94249 troops, 1114 guns, 314 vehicles, Assault Value = 1777
Allied ground losses:
95 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Kweiyang
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 22574 troops, 267 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 3521
Defending force 313945 troops, 806 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 8656
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Ground combat at Iman
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 41466 troops, 390 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 853
Defending force 53148 troops, 506 guns, 213 vehicles, Assault Value = 917
Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Townsville
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 7288 troops, 227 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4665
Defending force 125826 troops, 845 guns, 456 vehicles, Assault Value = 2048
Allied ground losses:
206 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
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Ground combat at Chungking
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 22919 troops, 254 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293
Defending force 127057 troops, 221 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 2467
Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Irkutsk
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 106119 troops, 1674 guns, 134 vehicles, Assault Value = 2977
Defending force 459271 troops, 4512 guns, 3387 vehicles, Assault Value = 9396
Japanese ground losses:
284 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1
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Ground combat at Iman
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 41917 troops, 460 guns, 175 vehicles, Assault Value = 917
Defending force 41466 troops, 390 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 853
Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Allied ground losses:
2 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
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Ground combat at Cairns
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 35870 troops, 399 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 991
Defending force 270293 troops, 2090 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 4236
Japanese ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
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Ground combat at Townsville
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 59925 troops, 597 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 2044
Defending force 234551 troops, 2370 guns, 28 vehicles, Assault Value = 4665
Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
as you can see, the enemy didn´t attack with his troops on Makin at all this turn. The loss of Mutsu is a tragedy, it wouldn´t have happened if the enemy carriers wouldn´t have moved closer but that´s war, we can´t keep on inflicting heavy losses on the enemy without having to suffer at all forever. The loss of bombers was also high due to our piecemeal strike on the carriers but the Majuro daitais are nearly undamaged. The damage dished out this turn was not bad at all and the invasion of Makin is already a failure. At least two enemy BBs are heavily damaged and not yet safe in port, half a dozen cruisers were sunk, a dozen DDs sunk, probably a dozen AKs sunk too with more being damaged. The invasion troops won´t achieve anything on Makin and are due to being evacuated again. Estimated time to see them recover is at least three months, which would be needed to prep for another target anyway. By then it will be early 44 and we would still be in a good position. 4000+ enemy av are fighting their defensive battles in Australia, so there won´t be much left in terms of strong ground forces to do a major invasion sometime soon.
BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!
