AEHGP2 Traskott (A) vs. Seydlitz (J) Japanese side AAR

[seydlitz_slith]

These flower class corvettes are the best ASW platform that the allies have at this point in the war. I must destroy them before they destroy my subs.

[seydlitz_slith]

At least one of my subs got shots off at one of the corvettes this turn, but they missed.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is the damage to I-24 after the corvettes finished pounding her. She will have to head to Yokohama for repairs.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here is a quick look at the California coast. As you can see the sub wars continue here.

[seydlitz_slith]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pacific, my sub chasers engaged in several attacks on American subs.
Even when not successful, they will help the crews gain valuable experience.

[seydlitz_slith]

During the turn I again bombed Clark and Bataan. My fighters conducted sweeps over Palembang and Bandoeng where they bagged a few Dutch fighters.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 38 13 January, 1942

I continued my war on the California yacht club this turn.
I-8 torpedoed and sank YP-92 45 miles SW of the golden gate bridge.

[seydlitz_slith]

Meanwhile, southwest of Oahu, I-175 announced her presence by sinking the freighter William Luckenbach.

[seydlitz_slith]

Off the north coast of Mindanao, I had a bit of a scare as an American S boat shot a spread of four torpedoes at the heavy cruiser Haguro. Luckily all of the fish missed and the cruiser's escorts punished the sub with an extended depth charging.

[seydlitz_slith]

While we are on this end of the map, here is a look at Mindanao. I have landed at multiple points and it looks like he is pulling all of his units into the mountain hex in the center of the island.

[seydlitz_slith]

Off Rabaul, the CL Naka intercepted and sank the AP Macdhui as she tried to sneak in and rescue the survivors of the Rabaul garrison force.

[seydlitz_slith]

SE of Moresby, Vals from the Akagi located and sank the AP Morinda, sinking her with 6 250kg bomb hits. This was a good bombing attack considering that only 7 Vals were attacking. No Vals were lost.

[seydlitz_slith]

I will confess that I had thought that I was still two turns out from Moresby, so I was not prepared for what I saw when the turn ran....namely all three task forces in Port Moresby harbor. This of course reduced the number of aircraft that could fly off of the carriers, and that had an impact during that day's air action.

Also, upon entering the hex, CL Yura struck a mine. She is retiring to Rabaul for emergency repairs escorted by one destroyer.

[seydlitz_slith]

He was evidently building Moresby into a major base, and during the morning air phase he attacked my carriers with 10 A-24 Banshees escorted by 15 P-40E Warhawks. Only half of my cap launched since I was in a coastal hex, but they did a credible job by shooting down 5 A-24s and 3 of the P-40Es. Japanese casualties consisted only of one Pete from the cruiser Aoba.

It was an intense combat that could have went either way. As it was, 5 of the Banshees made it through the cap to dive bomb the Akagi.

[seydlitz_slith]

Luckily, Akagi was not hit by any of the bombs.

[seydlitz_slith]

Over Amoy, he surprised me by putting 6 AVG fighters over the city where they intercepted multiple flights of unescorted Japanese bombers. In the end, he shot down 6 Lily and 2 Val bombers without loss.

[seydlitz_slith]

Here are the aircraft losses for the turn.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 39 14 January, 1942

After several turns of nothing, I finally scored with my subs stationed in the Makassar strait.

I-154 put two torpedoes into the freighter Governor Wright, forcing her to founder and sink 45 minutes later. Two lifeboats were spotted among the wreckage.

[seydlitz_slith]

12 hours later, I-157 also scored in Makassar Strait when she put a torpedo into the side of the tanker Ravnaas.
However, the tanker was in ballast and refused to go down. I-157 was unable to surface and give chase because the merchant ship's crew had manned their deck gun mounted on the stern and did a credible job of lobbing a few shells near the submarine's periscope.

[seydlitz_slith]

During the daylight air phase, his fortresses bombed the port of Saigon. The raid was not spotted until it was 18 miles out. Luckily, the raiders were flying at only 5000 feet, and all ready aircraft that had a gun were vectored in on the four engine bombers. It was incredible watching Pete Float planes conduct firing passes, and they were successful in damaging two of the large bombers heavily, including shooting out two engines on one, forcing it to drop out of formation.

In the end, the American bombers made a somewhat ineffective bomb run, scoring only 1 port hit, obliterating a small motor gun boat with an unlucky direct hit, and putting one bomb into the hapless cruiser Isuzu. Isuzu was already in drydock effecting emergency repairs from the two previous fortress raids.

Nine of the bombers involved in the raid suffered damage.

No Japanese aircraft were lost.