Speedy vs Admiral Dadman: Coral Sea - The US Fights Back!

[Speedysteve]

Hard to say Alfred IMO.....

[bwheatley]

yea this new model seems awesome i really like the fact air battles take time and you can feel an ebb and a flow to them. I was watching a battle over singapore where allied cap was doing a decent job about the japs. It was very nice to see the planes closing on each other and then lose position and have a zero on their tail etc.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Alfred
Did the USN CAP have an effect on the accuracy aim or time on target of the IJN bombers?  If yes, that would be a tangible benefit of CAP even if no enemy planes were shot down.

As far as I know, CAP does disrupt accuracy/effectiveness of the strike.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The carnage in the Coral Sea continued on 7th May.

It was a day of bad luck for the allies and for me in particular (unusually) with my Subs! Throughout the day SS S-42 fired 12 torpedoes at IJ CV's! 8 against Shokaku, 4 missed, 4 were duds and 4 against CVL Shoho which were also duds. All down to luck of the die I know but if these had hit these day wouod have been dramatically different...........

Even after then the day went atrociously......21 x Betty from Rabaul virtually sank Lexington in the space of 30 mins! 4 torpedoes struck the port side in quick succession. 3 x Betty werre shot down by AA, none by CAP.

Soon after a striek from Shokaku and Shoho planted 6 x 250/60Kg bombs into Lexington which finished the deed....1 x Widcat was shot dwon by a Zero and a Val was lost to AA.

Whilst the US fleet was being pummeled Lexiongton had already sent her strike towards Shokaku. Results were VERY poor! 42 x SBD and 17 x TBD achieved a single 1000Lb hit on Shokaku....useless!

At the same time enemy planes had located Yorktown (Rabaul and CV's) putting 2 torpedoes 6 bombs into her! I was expecting the worst but amazingly she's still afloat and limping towards Australia. Her temporary survival can be atributed to CA New Orleans which nestled alongside her starboard taking 5 torpedoes heading towards Yorktown! She disappeared into a cloud of smoke and fire never to be seen again...........

Yorktown's last contribution to the day had been to send 16 x SBD and 11 x Widlcat towards the enemy moments before she was attacked. More poor bombing saw just 1 more 1000Lb bomb hit Shokaku.

The only good news fro mtoday was that 40 assorted CV planes landed safely at PM. These coudl be useful in defending the vital base if the Japanese continue to press on.

I personally doubt they will thouggh since both Zuikaku and Shokaku, although not sunk, are out of the battle and will probably head back to Rabaul. As such all 4 remaining SS in the area will vector on their likely path to try and exact some revenge.

If Yorktown survives this i'll be amazed...........

Thoughts for the battle:

CAP did virtually nothing in any battle in terms of shooting down planes on either side. The only exception was the P40's vs Nells over PM. Note this is not a complaint. Merely a comment.

AA was pretty light too but did shoot down a few planes on both sides.

USN bombing accuracy, in particular, was staggeringly poor. I count 5 bombs out of about 110 dropped hit - vs the CV's this is. The hit ratio against the AK's was very good. Probably in the region of 65%!

Let's see if Dadman continues to head towars PM. If so he will face PM air and 5 x CA, 6 x DD CV escort remnants now formed into a SCTF.

[Grotius]

So far I'm pleased with the air-to-air too. One thought: If CAP does disrupt the accuracy of bombing strikes, maybe the game could mention this to reassure players that the CAP is helping? Perhaps a line or two in the combat report or in the real-time description of the naval/air portion of the engagement? "Nell approaching target...bombs go astray because Nell is distracted by enemy fighters..."

[sfbaytf]

I played the Guadalcanal scenario and seen the CAP take on an escorted Betty attack (6 F4F vs 6 Zeros escorting 8 Betties). The 6 F4F's got reinforced by planes from other carrier groups nearby. When all was said and done 16 F4F's had engaged at one point or another.
 
In another instance 12 Betties attacked transports and no CAP showed up, eventhough they were in range to do so.
 
Sounds like there is an element of randomness, which looks about right to me. Sometimes stuff just happens in war.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A mixed couple of days which were markedly quieter than the previous maelstrom.....

The 8th was a bad day for the Allies....pumps failed on Yorktown at 11.20AM. This was disatrous to say the least and despite the best efforts of the DC teams flooding increased significantly with the ship low in the water by 2PM. A final effort was made by teams to restore the situation at 5.15PM.....this failed and the waters were nearing the flight deck.....the orders were given to abandon ship......

Despite being ahead by 300 VP's I would consider this a victory for Dadman. I've lost 2 CV to his none AFAIK... Both Shokaku and Zuikaku are damaged but I have no idea if they're close to sinking. I've seen or heard nothing to confirm this.

The 8th also saw 3 more failed sub attacks (sheesh Terminus was RIGHT. They've coded it so that subs fail if i'm the user!) 2 of these were dud torpedo hits on E Asanagi and an MSW outside of Rabaul harbour.

The 9th saw a successful sub attack as SS S-47, patrolling outside of Rabaul's main harbour, spotted CV Shokaku! Only 1 Mk X hit home though and the impressive ship seemed unperturbed as she reached the safety of Rabaul. Grrr. SS S-47 was then pounced upon by ASW assets and lost with all hands......

Dadman made a surprise move on the 9th sending what seems to be Shoho down to within 320 miles of Townsville, Australia. She's clearly hunting for my cripples and she finished off CA Chester (already sinking at 82 FLT) with 3 torpedoes from Kates. The only other cripple down there is CA Astoria - 34/46/3.

This actually provides me with a small window of opportunity to exact some minor revenge. I can only assume Dadman doesn't know that both CV's are gone since the risk of sending a small CV to enemy waters is high. 5th AF HQ is located at Townsville and all available air assets have flown overnight to station themselves there. There's a hodge podge of CV remnants (gunning for revenge) - F4F's, SBD along with B25's and A20's and some P40E's to provide CAP. In total 26 x Fighter, 23 x DB and 34 x Level Bombers await Shoho if she moves another 80 miles west......

I've also vectored 4 x CA and 4 x DD into a possible trajectory...I figured it is worth the risk since Shoho can't carry many Kates (1 was shot down yesterday b Chesters AA aswell).......

[Hornblower]

I agree with Speedy's point, if any of S-42 's Torp's hit this might have a totally diffrent spin on the AAR

[BrucePowers]

I realize that this scenario is over, but when Midway comes up in a month Speedy is hurtin'.[X(]

[Speedysteve]

Scenario's not quite over yet Bruce[;)]
 
Has been fun though and IMO shows the chance of war....all the if's and but's.......

[spence]

I've recently started a Coral Sea Scenario as the Japanese. Since he's claiming responsibility I congratulate Terminus for a very tense and entertaining scenario. The only critique I might have is that perhaps the scenario is a little bit short. Rather than go 'all in' by turn 2 I think the Japanese Player should have the opportunity to hold back for a little just to give manuever a bit more time to come into play.

[Mynok]

I'd be curious to hear from T if the Jap CV force really did historically take the route they are set to at the start of the scenario, i.e. around the end of the Solomons then into the Coral Sea.

I always change it, but it's a curiousity.

[anarchyintheuk]

Yep, Takagi went all the way around the eastern end of the Solomons before turning westerly.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

We zipped through the last 5 days since neither side had any sea power assets to do anything with. My forces retreated to Australia and the Japanese were holed up in Rabaul.

Score wise it was a Marginal Allied Victory but tactially I'd say it was a Japanese victory sicne I lost both Yorktown and Lexington for no Japanese loss....however

[Speedysteve]

Zuikaku was a burning wreck and her condition worsened over the past few days. In short she would have sunk within another 2-3 days due to the uncontrollable fires......evening out the tactical side a little.

My thanks to those who have read and commented[8D]

[Alfred]

Any chance to view the final game statistics?
 
Did the invaders of Milne Bay get pushed back off the beaches?
 
Alfred

[Speedysteve]

Hi Alfred,
 
No Japanese troops landed at Milne Bay or PM. Their invasion convoy was smashed by my CV's before the CV battle. Approximately 10 x troop carrying AK's were sunk.