Against the Wind: Cuttlefish (Japan) vs. Q-Ball (Allies)

[Capt. Harlock]

Round four. The heaviest Allied surface force is encountered. Nagato gets absurdly lucky and detonates magazines aboard both CA Chester and BC Repulse, sending both to the bottom. DD Yamagumo is lost and Uziki and Suzukaze are sunk by aircraft the next day.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Jolo at 74,88, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato

Two victims and not a scratch. It looks like you have a second "lucky ship" in this game.

[Cuttlefish]

[font="Arial"]Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more![/font]
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Old Ironsides"

---

June 27, 1943

Q-Ball turned his carrier forces around and sent them up towards Puerto Princessa. My carriers, west-southwest of Manila, engaged them in the largest carrier duel of the war. The result was a crushing defeat for the Empire of Japan.

My carriers struck first and most of my bombers got through. But too few hits were scored, far too few, and the Allied counter-blow was both heavier and more accurate. Gone are Kaga, Akagi, Junyo, Shoho, Zuiho, and Ryuho; only Hiyo and Ryujo survived. Also sunk were crippled CA Aoba and a pair of destroyers. In return I only have heavy damage to Saratoga and Massachusetts to show for my pains.

Aircraft losses were surprisingly even, with about 70 planes down on the Allied side against my losses of 105 planes. I have a lot of carrier planes left, but no flight decks; Luzon will thus become a very large, stationary aircraft carrier once I get the scattered groups rounded up from the various places they landed.

It’s always painful to see one’s carriers go down. And of course this defeat makes an already bad situation much worse. It was an aggressive move by Q-Ball. I knew if he tried it I would lose carriers but I really hoped to do more damage in return than I did.

It’s interesting that the two ships I really hurt were both damaged in the earlier surface battles. Obviously they were not as hurt as I hoped. In particular the presence of Massachusetts had an effect on the battle because a lot of my bombers spent their attacks against it instead of one of the carriers.

The Japanese attack:

[font="Courier New"]Morning Air attack on TF, near Puerto Princesa at 73,84

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 46
A6M3a Zero x 10
B5N2 Kate x 43
B6N1 Jill x 26
D3A1 Val x 9
D4Y1 Judy x 19


Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 12
F4U-1 Corsair x 2
F6F-3 Hellcat x 87


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 12 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 12 destroyed, 23 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 5 destroyed, 11 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 6 destroyed, 9 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Lexington
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 1
BB Massachusetts, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
CV Victorious
CV Essex
CV Wasp
CLAA Atlanta, Torpedo hits 1[/font]

And the main Allied attack:

[font="Courier New"]Morning Air attack on TF, near Busuanga at 76,78

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 52 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 41
A6M3a Zero x 14


Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 2
F6F-3 Hellcat x 56
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 33
SBD-3 Dauntless x 108
TBF-1 Avenger x 73

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Martlet IV: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 11 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 6 destroyed, 28 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 10 destroyed, 49 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CA Haguro, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
DD Oyashio
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryuho, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Kuroshio
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Natsushio, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Susuzuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Agano
DD Kiyonami
DD Makinami
DD Oshio, Bomb hits 2, on fire[/font]

There were a few follow-up attacks, of which this was the most significant:

[font="Courier New"]Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Busuanga at 76,78

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 52 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9


Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 14
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 27
SBD-3 Dauntless x 30
TBF-1 Avenger x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 5 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 6 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 17 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Haguro, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kiyonami
DD Kuroshio, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Oshio, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Makinami[/font]

[Chickenboy]

Thanks for the post, Cuttlefish. Sorry this went so badly for you.

[Bomber]

Look at the bright side...Only two and a half more years to go [:)]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Thanks for the post, Cuttlefish. Sorry this went so badly for you.

The sympathy is appreciated. I figure it's especially my duty to post about the disasters. After all, it may well be that the main purpose of this AAR is to serve as as a sort of primer - "How Not to Play AE as Japan." [:)]

ORIGINAL: Bomber

Look at the bright side...Only two and a half more years to go

Heh. If it takes Q-Ball until the end of '45 to win this game I am going to be very surprised.

[Cribtop]

Congrats on the surface battles, but condolences on the CV exchange. Do you think target hex weather was a factor? Seems to make a big difference in many CV battles.

PS - Oddly, I-155 is by far my best sub too in my PBEM. Only Jan 31, 1942 and she's sunk at least five enemy vessels and put a torp into the dreaded Boise.

[Swenslim]

Cutterfish, did you have all your CV's in a single TF ? If yes , you did a very big mistake, because I see a very small number of your planes in first attack. I think more than half of your dive and torpedo bombers simply didnt flew.
 
Penalty for more than 200 carrier planes works and you should made atleat 2 separate TF.
 
P.S.
 
If you had separate TF 's in this battle than it very bad luck for you, cause than I dont understand why so few planes attacked.

[fabertong]

A bold move my Q-ball and bad luck on your part.........so far in AE......in my experience.......the days of the one sided carrier battle were over......this indicates that may not be true.......

What is the 'Evil Plan' now?........How long do you think can hold out? ........When will I stop asking questions?


btw.....Yours and Q-balls AARs are first class reading.......looking forward to what would appear to be the endgame.

[Miller]

Hard luck Cuttlefish, the accuracy of his DB in the first attack is not far off a 50% hit rate.

[ComradeP]

Congratulations on the surface battle and with regards to the outcome of the carrier battle, I'll just shrug at those who said luck isn't really a factor and that Q-Ball wasn't lucky, earlier on in the AAR.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: fabertong

A bold move my Q-ball and bad luck on your part.........so far in AE......in my experience.......the days of the one sided carrier battle were over......this indicates that may not be true.......

What is the 'Evil Plan' now?........How long do you think can hold out? ........When will I stop asking questions?


btw.....Yours and Q-balls AARs are first class reading.......looking forward to what would appear to be the endgame.

The "Evil Plan"...I have been thinking about this. I still have six months to wait for kamikazes, and the Great Penguin only knows where Q-Ball will be then. I am massing LBA and may be able to use those to some effect, especially as the fighting nears all the large Japanese air bases on Luzon. Otherwise I only have one clear-cut advantage over my opponent at this point and that is battleships. I don't know how far I will get fighting WWII with WWI tactics but it's what I've got.

How long can I hold out? Maybe for a while. We are still a long ways from Japan and there is hard fighting ahead. But I expect Q-Ball will keep pushing hard and I am not optomistic about what the game will look like by the end of '43.

[Canoerebel]

You can hold out a long time.
 
The Japanese can choke the key islands/bases with good ground units now.  Luzon, Formosa, Okinawa, etc.  That means that every Allied operation will take a great deal of time from this point forward.
 
Also, you should be able to put up 1500+ aircraft to defend the Philippines and Tawain.  I don't know how many can cover Okinawa, but it must be a very high number too.
 
The days of the easy and quick Allied advance through the "all-but-barren DEI" should be over now, right?  True, Allied carriers will overwhelm you beginning in 1944, but even then Q-Ball will have to take one heavily defended base after another.
 
You're in a tough position, no doubt, but I bet the fighting is going to be vicious as the Allied advance slows down.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Swenslim

Cutterfish, did you have all your CV's in a single TF ? If yes , you did a very big mistake, because I see a very small number of your planes in first attack. I think more than half of your dive and torpedo bombers simply didnt flew.

Penalty for more than 200 carrier planes works and you should made atleat 2 separate TF.

P.S. If you had separate TF 's in this battle than it very bad luck for you, cause than I dont understand why so few planes attacked.

I had my carriers divided into two TFs, each with under 200 planes. As Cribtop suggests, weather might have been a factor - there was heavy rain over his carriers, light rain over mine.

ORIGINAL: Miller

Hard luck Cuttlefish, the accuracy of his DB in the first attack is not far off a 50% hit rate.

After watching my planes miss and then miss some more (and all my pilots had a bombing/torpedo skill of at least 70) I then saw Q-Ball's first group of three dive bombers score three hits on one of my carriers. I knew right then that all was lost. My gut feeling after watching the replay was that a big factor affecting the relative accuracy of the opposing forces may have been the heavier and more accurate Allied flak.

[Capt. Harlock]

My gut feeling after watching the replay was that a big factor affecting the relative accuracy of the opposing forces may have been the heavier and more accurate Allied flak.

That sounds like a very reasonable guess to me. At this point, Q-Ball has many ships packing the dreaded 5/38 gun, and lots of the 40mm Bofors as well. The IJN have no light guns comparable, and very few of the 3.9 inch DP guns.

But sometimes the dice just seem to get stuck rolling low for one side and high for the other . . .

[Venividivici10044]

Cuttlefish,

Shameless plug follows for Shattered Sword...but your mention of the effectiveness of Flak from the IJN reads similarly in the book!  Good thoughts on your part and (another shameless plug) great modeling by the designers! 

You SIR should be saluted...excellent effort by the IJN (bad fortune is just that...your tactics were still good)!  Luck and an excellent opponent (you are well matched) have led to where the empire lies...NOT your tactics or lack of skill.  BANZAI!!!!


EDIT - typo fix

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Wow, Cuttlefish, what a fight!  Your guys did very well - though missing that one golden opportunity against the Wasp/Essex TF is certainly a hair-puller-outer.  I'll bet Q-Ball was "having kittens" (as John III likes to say in these circumstances).  This should force him to move more carefully in the future, which will help you.

In my game with John III I had a combat like this up around the Kuriles.  I guessed right and had an Allied BB/CA TF meet a weakly escorted (only a handful of DDs) IJN carrier force in combat, but the damage inflicted was very slight to my utter dismay.

Nevertheless, having one's carriers undergo surface combat with enemy battleships and cruisers is a tremendously unnerving experience.

Thanks for the QUOTE Dan!

I do NOT thank you for making remember that horrible image of my CVs encountering Allied heavy surface units. On that turn it was I who, pardon me, was having kittens!

[John 3rd]

CF--Terrible luck in that CV fight. I cannot bring myself to keep more then 3-4 Cvs in a CTF. If a massed raid comes in I only want to lose that many and HOPE to get away with the rest.

Must have been awful to watch!

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

CF--Terrible luck in that CV fight. I cannot bring myself to keep more then 3-4 Cvs in a CTF. If a massed raid comes in I only want to lose that many and HOPE to get away with the rest.

Must have been awful to watch!

Hey John. Yeah, it was't fun. I just slumped deeper and deeper into my chair as it went on. But at the end of the day it is, after all, a game. No real harm is suffered. But still...a good game of WITP or AE is a tremendous investment of time and energy. You can't help becoming invested at least a little in the fate of your virtual forces. And that's part of what makes it fun. Victory would not be so sweet if defeat didn't carry a sting.

[Cuttlefish]

[font="Arial"]The explosion was like forty hells. The ship virtually lifted out of the water. I fell to my knees. I tried to get up. I only remember that before I could move a muscle there were two more explosions and I was still fighting to get up. All around us I saw white flashes. Two fighter planes were blown over the side. Some were thrown topsy-turvy. Part of the deck blew up past the bridge where captain of the ship, Captain Forrest Sherman, was standing. Suddenly, I got to my feet. You would have thought there would have been utmost confusion. There was absolute calm. The torpedo explosions were followed immediately by internal explosions. One right after another they came and seemingly, they never stopped.[/font]
- Aviation Chief Ordinance Officer Harry I. Penrod, describing the fatal torpedoing of CV Wasp

---

June 28, 1943 – July 1, 1943

Following the big carrier battle things settled into relative calm. The Allies occupied Jesselton and both side have withdrawn their fleets from the battle area. Hiyo and Ryujo both sank while trying to make Hong Kong, as did heavy cruisers Haguro and Myoko. All other Japanese ships have safely made port somewhere.

After surviving a night attack by Kongo and friends and coming through the big carrier fight untouched, CV Wasp ran into I-33 not far from Tarakan. The carrier took four torpedoes in two attacks and two of the hits touched off ammo explosions. Wasp was confirmed sunk. This is the first confirmed sinking of an Allied fleet carrier, though I have a suspicion that Hornet might have gone down some time ago. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

In an odd occurrence a fair number of Allied merchant ships were spotted travelling west not far south of Guadalcanal. Over two days Japanese bombers out of Lunga hit five xAKs, three xAPs, and an APA. At least two of the freighters carried fuel and the troop ships were all loaded. It looked to me like they were making for the Torres Strait and just wandered too far north. Q-Ball confirms that it was navigational error and assures me that the officer responsible has been sacked. Two of the xAKs were confirmed sunk and I doubt that more than one or two of the ships hit will survive.

Marooned: about thirty Japanese carrier planes landed on San Jose following the battle. As there are no Japanese forces there the planes are effectively stranded. I’m flying in a base force and supplies from Manila to try and recover those planes. The rest of the carrier planes (over 100 aircraft with good pilots) all landed in places where they can be repaired and most are already at Clark Field.

Below is the victory point screen for the end of June ’43. Wasp was sunk on 1 July and so is not included in these figures. There has been an impressive spike in points for ships sunk, especially on the Japanese side – losing eight carriers will do that. But the Allied toll climbed a fair bit as well.

[LoBaron]

Hey Cuttlefish!

I followed you battle through. Q-ball made a bold decision that payed off, looks like here happens your Midway.

Great you keep going. Being beaten back is for sure hard to bear sometimes, most of all when you don´t have anything in immediate reach
to hit back.
You really made good use of those surface action groups before the CV battle. [&o]

A few comments:
Is it possible for you to reduce naval ops to a level that you can strech your fuel supplies to the maximum without depending on DEI oil for
at least some time?
Are you already starting to assign specific squads to future kamikaze action? Don´t forget Q-ball could still trigger it early inadvertedly.
Any new fighters coming of the production line to at least keep parity in the air against 2nd generation US models? Having Luzon is great for defense, but
only as long as you have something better to stack it with than flying coffins.

Really looking forward to IJN defense WWI style! BANZAI!!