No raid on the POW and Repulse on Turn 1?

[SqzMyLemon]

Hi,

Has anyone ever ran across a situation of no naval strike by the Japanese on the POW and Repulse during Turn 1 with historical first turn settings? Can bad weather cause the strike to not take off at all? No recon of the British taskforce was reported either. Just wondering.

[Mike Scholl]

It happens occasionally, and weather is one of the causes. But just failure to locate the TF can cause it as well (remember, historically the Japs didn't find them until Dec. 10th.)

[SqzMyLemon]

Thanks Mike, I'll just have fun hunting then down then!

[Smeulders]

If this is from our game, I can tell you the reason, your pilots were too ashamed to report their encounter. The only splashes they made were when their planes hit the water.

[SqzMyLemon]

Smeulders, no this is from another game. Why did you have to remind me [:(] On that note though, the pilots in question have been dealt with...accordingly. [:D]

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

Thanks Mike, I'll just have fun hunting then down then!

Good luck to you. Handled right, they can be quite a "Pain in the Butt" until KB arrives in the SRA. [:D]

[bacchus]

Squeeze, I appreciate your pilots lack of spotting since the rest of my BB's are on the bottom of Pearl. At least you left me a couple of battlewagons to play with in the early months.

[xj900uk]

Yeah, happened to me - bad weather saved the PoW & Repulse and a flight of searching Nells ran into a few NZ Buffallo's & lost seveeral of their numbers.
On another (aborted) game,  the Nells & Beatties found both British ships but for some strange reason concentrated on the Repulse (took a total of 8 torpedo hits) rather than the PoW (took one hit & limped back to Singapore)
So,  finding & sinking them is not automatically guaranteed on day 1

[Xxzard]

Of two starts so far, POW and Repulse have both been sunk once, and in my longest game, escaped with limited damage; (ie 1 torp to POW, 2 or 3 to Repulse) POW was mostly fine but unable to participate in the DEI theatre, and it was somewhat of a close call with Repulse, but it sat under air cover at Singers until it could make it to Colombo (the long way around.) It's repairing at Cape Town now, but will take some 200+ days to repair.

It really depends (if the attack launches) whether or not the buffalos get there in number, and this is something that can vary a lot. In other words, it's mostly luck.[:)]

[SqzMyLemon]

Xxzard, I envy the fact that the Japanese even located Force Z. In my game no recon sightings were indicated, and my opponent commented that Force Z was never picked up by Japanese recon planes. We've put it down to karma, Pearl was clobbered with the loss of all BB's so I'm told, so I won't complain.

There's a rumour among the troops of a mysterious Ghost Force though and I'm worried of the effect on the men. There are numerous Taskforce commanders crapping in their Kimonos right now. [:D]

[Xxzard]

Hah, I did have an undamaged Force Z running around in the DEI in one of my old WITP PBEM games. It wasn't so pleasant when they engaged my forces and won an out and out BB duel handily.

[bacchus]

"Xxzard, I envy the fact that the Japanese even located Force Z. In my game no recon sightings were indicated, and my opponent commented that Force Z was never picked up by Japanese recon planes. We've put it down to karma, Pearl was clobbered with the loss of all BB's so I'm told, so I won't complain."

Let me update since I feel that I must be completely honest[:D]... The West Virginia only has 98flt damage with some fires if I remember correctly so thats only 7/8 BB's gone at Pearl. With luck, I may get the W. Va back in action by 1945-46 to carry the a-bomb to the Enola Gay instead on the ill fated Indianopolis[8D]

[Venividivici10044]

In reading the Explorer Society report of the PoW, the first torpedo hit was essentially fatal with the second two strikes finishing her off. Has anyone seen their final report on the Repulse?

[Venividivici10044]

One last question...has anyone thought of adding in the aircraft carrier Indomitable. She carried only one squadron of Fairey Fulmars and one squadron of Hawker Sea Hurricanes. It would be interesting to see this battle unfold. I suspect that Indomitable would also go down in the end.
The A6Ms would defeat the British planes. Any thoughts? Its not historic, but an interesting premise.

[findmeifyoucan]

I only got one strike with minimal damage on both BB's. In fact the task force still stayed in tact so yeah they can get away with a little luck. Also in my game I didn't sink one battleship in Pearl so bad luck on my part I'd say for the Japanese on turn one in my game. I will just have to count on my expertise to make up for the bad luck.

[xj900uk]

If the Indomitable had been present she almost certainly would have been sunk, although given the FDO skills of the FAA officers it is quite psosible the heavy underpowered Fulmars, thanks to good radar, communications and positioning would have made mincemeat of the unescorted Nells and Beatties

[HMS Resolution]

ORIGINAL: Venividivici10044
The A6Ms would defeat the British planes. Any thoughts? Its not historic, but an interesting premise.

What A6Ms? The bombers were unescorted. That being said, Indomitable's crew were quite raw even five months later.

[xj900uk]

Agreed.  And, given the superb, efficient state of Indomitable's FDO even with a slow old warhouse like the Fulmar, they could have decimated the incoming Japanese planes