cap_and_gown(j) v witpqs(a) - no witpqs

[veji1]

pfiou... How big is KB ? What is its latest upgrade status ? how much LBA, can you rotate in and out of the Marshalls for the job of tiring this CAP ? How many Subs can you send to disrupt ? Have you planned some small cheap SCTFs (Old CLs and DDs) to disrupt the allied mass ? Do you have big guns available for roughing up his fleet if it becomes disorganised ?

This is it mate, You have the LBA advantage, the KB is strong, his power not unstoppable yet.. If you hurt him very badly here, it gives you hope until late 44....

I can't wait !

[krupp_88mm]

go for it!, be aggressive now and here, the longer you wait the bigger one-side losses you will take, next time you may not be so lucky to spot his attack early, engage him with ferocity and everything you can muster under LBA, put subs in his retreat path to take out the cripples...BANZAI!

[veji1]

Indeed, the key here is the stacking off all the planes you can muster within range..  Oscars would be good if you have some, with their extra range they can escort further, even if they will get slaugthered...

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 7, 1943

My attempt to engage the allied Carrier CAP was an abysmal failure. Basically, the system makes escorts into cannon fodder. If the escorts get separated from the bombers, then everything is great because they become sweepers rather than escorts and not only get the sweep bonus, but do not suffer the escort penalty. But should they stick with the bombers, the escorts are toast.

The reason for this mainly seems to do with the all powerful altitude advantage. In the following CR you can see that Hellcats were able to scramble to a higher level than the incoming raid. Therefore every single Hellcat on CAP was able to dive on and bounce the escorts. In no case did the Tojo's dive on a Hellcat. OTOH, the Wildcats in this combat were "spill over CAP" from an adjacent hex. They did not get the advantage of radar (bizarre, yes?) and so in that case, the Tojo's dove down on the Wildcats. Over all, only 2 Hellcats were lost A2A, 3 Wildcats were lost A2A, and 26 Tojo's. That is a 13-1 kill ratio for the Hellcats.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 142,116
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 63 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 70
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
F6F-3 Hellcat x 324

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 11 destroyed
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
VF-1 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 10 on standby, 21 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 53 minutes
27 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-2 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 20 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 27000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
25 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-3 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 27000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 52 minutes
28 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-42 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 20 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 51 minutes
25 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-6 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes
32 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-8 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 27000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 50 minutes
10 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-9 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 31000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
26 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-16 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 21 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 23000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes
27 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-18 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 22 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 60 minutes
28 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-71 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 27000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes
12 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-22 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 23000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes
8 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-23 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 18000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 48 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-24 with F6F-3 Hellcat (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 25000 and 32000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
8 planes vectored on to bombers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 142,116
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 63 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 8
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4
F6F-3 Hellcat x 294

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed

So, since only a fool would volunteer to escort a bombing mission, I am going to try to make fools out of the American CV fighters. Since I cannot sweep the enemy CAP, and trying to hit it via the escort method is worthless, what I need to do is hit it when it is escorting a strike. This will give me the altitude advantage and the enemy will suffer the escort penalty. I wish I had considered this earlier, but I really didn't understand that the escort penalty was so extremely severe. If I had planned for this, I could have had more sacrificial ships in position that I could induce the allied carriers to attack. What I do have is four ships anchored at Kwajalein. I formed them into a TF and am moving it to Ailinglaplap. Meanwhile basically every fighter sentai on the adjacent islands has been set to either CAP or LRCAP Ailinglaplap. The hope is that the allied CVs will launch a strike on these sacrificial ships which my CAP can then engage on advantageous terms.

It looks as though the main allied target here is going to be Ailinglaplap. I say this because of the path the allied ships are taking and because this atoll offers the largest potential airfield in the entire island group. Therefore, it seems likely that an invasion is still two days away. Meanwhile, KB is still one day from Truk and 3-4 days from the Marshals. Hopefully I will not lose any CVs to allied subs, although this seems highly probable.

[veji1]

Don't lose your focus, this turn sucks but what you want to do is attrit his CAP, make it work, tire it, so that when the KB arrives he is on the back foot. you need to stack all the islands to death and attack him relentlessly. try this CAP trap this turn if you want, but next attack him with massed lba, and repeat until the KB arrives.. this is the ideal scenario for a jap player : have surface forces converging as well, you need to hurt him badly here and keep Ailinglapap closed if he takes it because you need Kwaj for your injured CVs after the battle while his will have to travel a long way. Be brave and to not hesitate to bleed your LBA to death over the next 3 days, it all happens now!

[krupp_88mm]

Hopefully I do not lose and CVs to allied subs, although this seems highly probable.

put a hand full of dd's in front of and or beside the KB as it advances, should force the subs down keep them suppressed as KB passes by, and maybe even distract one of his air strikes and or intercept any surface raids

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 8, 1943

My plan to sacrifice some ships in order to draw out a naval strike worked. Turns out I used more ships than I needed to, but at least we put some hurt on the allied CAP. The reason I used four ships was because I was afraid that the search SBDs would sink anything less than that and lead to no naval attack occurring. Also, the target needed to be big enough so that it would not be ignored.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ailinglaplap at 133,117
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 27
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 73

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed (3 Wildcats lost A2A)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ailinglaplap at 133,117
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 27
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 67

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 80
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36
TBF-1 Avenger x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 4 destroyed (9 A2A)
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 3 destroyed (9 A2A)

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 15 destroyed (29 A2A, 17 Ops)
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AV Kiyokawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
ACM Tosho Maru, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
ACM Nigitsu Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
AMc Shonan Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

The Tojo's are credited with making 19 kills while the Zero's are credited with 12. In watching the replay it was apparent that the 20mm cannons on the Zero were a big factor. Also, because almost all my squadrons had the bounce (because of the stupid altitude routine) the lower durability of the Zero did not prove too bad since in most cases the Zero was doing the diving rather than being dove on.

I really wish I had more ships to send out as sacrifices. This tactic really is getting me the results I want and need. Well, next time I will be prepared and have the sacrificial ships in place!

Anyway, since I have run out of ships, I needed to come up with another method of dealing with the situation. What I am going to try next turn is a split level attack. At Roi-Namur I have 2 formations of 4 Helens each. One formation is set to naval attack at 25k feet (our house rule maximum) and the other formation is set to naval attack at 6k feet. The fighters at Roi-Namur and Kwajalein are set to escort at 25k feet. If the two Helen formations fly at the same time, then half the attack will be down low while the Fighters will be up at 25k feet ready to pounce on any allied fighters going after the low level Helens. OTOH, if only one formation of Helens attacks, then I can kiss off some more fighters. [8|] I have duplicated this "split level attack" thing for a group of Helens and Tojo's based at Mili.

I will be interested in seeing how this tactic works out since it can be used in setting up carrier strikes: i.e. Most Kates/Jills set to 6k feet, Judy's set to 12k feet, and one formation of Kates/Jills set to 25k feet and fighters set to 25k feet.

KB has now passed by Truk without running across a sub yet. We have still not cleared the danger zone but I am keeping my fingers crossed. We are now 2 days away from engaging the allied carriers. I am not sure if the allies will try to unload at Ailinglaplap tomorrow, or if they will wait a turn to allow for a full turn for unloading. I have evacuated my air groups from Wotje, Ailinglaplap and Maleolap. I don't want to lose any airgroups and the allies could land on any of those islands this next turn and capture it, wiping out any airgroups based there. For airbases I am using Roi-Namur (size 4), Mili (size 4), and Kwajalein (size 1, fighters only set to escort). Kwajalein and Jailut (size 1) also serve as search bases.

[bklooste]

Tiered escort and caps can work as they do give you more time to rise to their altitude i often use a chutai of some old planes and green pilots since they are toast anyway and green pilots and old air frames cost me nothing. It doesnt allways work but it does help in the bigger fight as they all seem to dive on the chutai and some of your daitais will climb and reposition ( must be some sort of comand roll).

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 9, 1943

This turn was a mixed bag, with the allies no doubt facing their share of hair pulling moments, while I was tempted to throw the computer out the window at one point.

Let us take things more or less in order:

First came invasions of Wotje and Maleolap. The CD guns managed to put some serious hurt on the allies. Three allied destroyers are listed as sunk. I would guess that a few of the transport ships were also sunk. (As a side note, during the damage control phase later in the turn, I also heard a sub sink. Apparently, one of my ASW patrol planes scored. This is the third allied sub my ASW planes have sunk as confirmed by the sinking sound.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Wotje

18 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Iron Prince
PC Travis
xAK Illisos, Shell hits 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
140 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
CL Concord
DD Carmick, Shell hits 3, on fire
AKA Bellatrix
DD Ralph Talbot
APA George F. Elliot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
276 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
CL Concord, Shell hits 11
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 4
DD Mugford, Shell hits 8, on fire
APA George F. Elliot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
AKA Bellatrix, Shell hits 7, on fire
CL Concord
DD Mugford
DD Ralph Talbot
APA Zeilin, Shell hits 1, on fire
APA George F. Elliot, Shell hits 6, on fire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Maloelap

25 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Iron Crown
PC Vigilant
xAK Ellaroo, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Knob
xAK Iron Master
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
197 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Shell hits 8, on fire
DD Mustin, Shell hits 4, on fire
AKA Thuban
DD O'Brien
APA Sheridan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
93 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DD O'Brien, Shell hits 4, on fire
APA Sheridan
CL Detroit, on fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Ellaroo, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC Vigilant
xAK Iron Crown, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAK Iron Master, Shell hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAK Iron Crown, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC Vigilant
xAK Iron Master, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage

The allies landed 3 regiments on Wotje and 2 on Maleolap. Unfortunately for them, they got a very bad roll at Wotje:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Wotje (135,115)
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 11285 troops, 219 guns, 220 vehicles, Assault Value = 391
Defending force 2214 troops, 39 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 41

Allied adjusted assault: 62
Japanese adjusted defense: 29

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
283 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1455 casualties reported
Squads: 45 destroyed, 52 disabled
Non Combat: 36 destroyed, 85 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 26 (7 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 32 (12 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Assaulting units:
21st Marine Rgt /1
159th(Sep) Infantry Rgt /1
7th Marine Rgt /1
110th Combat Engr Bn /1

Defending units:
Wotje Naval Fortress
Wotje Base Force
47th JNAF AF Unit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Maloelap (136,117)
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 8774 troops, 188 guns, 90 vehicles, Assault Value = 341
Defending force 3453 troops, 51 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 92

Allied adjusted assault: 50
Japanese adjusted defense: 26 (Almost 2-1!)

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
820 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1053 casualties reported
Squads: 19 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 64 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 32 (21 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (9 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Assaulting units:
9th Marine Rgt /1
23rd Marine Rgt /1
102nd Combat Engr Rgt /1

Defending units:
44th Naval Guard Unit
Maloelap Naval Fortress
Maloelap Base Force
1st JNAF AF Unit

This result is very, very good for me, and very bad for the allies. First off, it denies bases for LBA to the allies. Also beneficial, from my perspective, is that I now have a hex my fighters can target rather than dealing with the insane escort routine.

Which brings me to my own hair-pulling moment: My "split-level" naval attack did not come off. Instead, only one Helen formation launched a naval attack, meaning the enemy CAP could concentrate at one level, i.e. above mine, and slaughter my escorts. Really, looking at these results one wonders how people can say the air model is just fine. If this modeled reality, no one in WWII would have volunteered to escort a bombing mission except for Kamikaze pilots. Escorts were able to defend themselves, not just soak up the attacks meant for the bombers. Every single allied fighter got a chance to roll on bouncing the escorts. Not once did the escorts get to dive on the allied fighters. Over 130 fighter escorts were only able to shoot down 4 CAP fighters. Tell me that is realistic. [8|]

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,116
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 63 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 28
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 107
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 35
F6F-3 Hellcat x 327

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 8 destroyed (13 lost A2A, 1 ops)
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 17 destroyed (32 lost A2A, 2 ops)
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed (2 lost A2A, 3 ops)
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed (2 lost A2A, 3 ops)

Again, at base, the problem here is the altitude/bounce routine. Allied fighters were able to scramble to a higher level than the incoming raid and so every one of the allied fighters got a chance to roll for the bounce, all 350+.

This is why the allied invasions of Wotje and Maleolap are important: I don't need to rely on escorts to attack the enemy CAP. I now have a fixed position that my fighters can LRCAP and engage the enemy on favorable terms.

Fighters from Roi-Namur/Kwajalein are set to LRCAP Wotje at 25k feet while a formation of Helens is set to ground attack Wotje at 10k feet. As the allied fighters dive down to the level of the bombers, they will be bounced by my fighters on LRCAP. I have set up a similar "trap" for Maleolap using fighters and bombers from Mili.

The intent here is to wear down the allied CV CAP before the KB attacks the day after tomorrow. For tomorrow then, I will be doing the LRCAP/ground bombing routine. On the day after, it will be an all-out naval strike. I have fresh formations of Tojo's and Zero's ready to fly in after tomorrow's action. My LBA will then be used as escorts on naval strikes with the intent of disrupting the enemy CAP. If I am a little bit lucky, and plot out the distances correctly, the LBA strikes should arrive before the KB strikes. I plan on positioning the KB 6 hexes away from the allied carriers while the LBA will be striking from between 4-5 hexes. It may not work, but it is my best shot of achieving a victory.

Meanwhile, the KB made it almost all the way to Einewetok without running across any subs. So its position is still a secret (there are no detection levels listed on any of the task forces that make up the KB). Unfortunately, the KB split up into 3 groups, so it needs to be brought back together again. I have seen this happen when using the follow command most often when the group is about to reach its home port. In this case Enewetok is set as the home port for the KB. Chalk it up to an over-anxious desire to reach home.

I will post about the composition of the KB next time.

To bklooste: Thanks for the tip on using green pilots. I realized I was throwing away good bomber pilots on suicide missions when I didn't need to. So I stripped my "bait" Helen formations of their good pilots and filled them up with newbies.

[PaxMondo]

C&G:

I'm not expert, but I know that Elf has mentioned and my own playing confirms that numerical superiority is a BIG deal.  You are facing almost 3:1 odds (135:362) in fighters ... IRL you might actually fair worse.  These are Mariana's Turkey shoot type numbers ...

Do you think these odds are explaining your results?

again, I'm not expert.  Just a thought ...

[aprezto]

Did it seem unrealistic when escorting P-40s and hurricanes were cut down in swathes in the early game against CAPing zeros?
 
Interesting that he doesn't appear to have bombarded or used the carrier planes to suppress your ground troops. Is this just missing from your excerpts?

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: aprezto

Did it seem unrealistic when escorting P-40s and hurricanes were cut down in swathes in the early game against CAPing zeros?

Interesting that he doesn't appear to have bombarded or used the carrier planes to suppress your ground troops. Is this just missing from your excerpts?

For the escorts it was brutal! Even more than for Hurri's and P-40s was what happened to P-38s. They were creamed when used as escorts. I think every allied player has seen how disappointing P-38s are when escorting. Hurri's never did very well on sweep or escort. I think that is because they are rather slow, but it was much worse when they were used as escorts. On sweep things seemed better for the P-40s, although some P-40 formations were still being eaten alive. That is why we lowered the height limit to 25k. But escorting is just horrible.

No, he is not bombarding or bombing. I assume this is because he does not want to use up ship ammo. He has a lot of subs screening the Solomons. He may be expecting some surface interference from thence. He knows I have some BBs in the Solomons. Also, I doubt he wants to burn up his carrier bombers against ground targets. I know I wouldn't!

[veji1]

you seem to be very very cautious, I suppose the game will tell if you are right, Had I been you I would have loaded all the bases by now with fighters mainly and launched hard... With failed landings, if he has no second wave he might choose to retreat and then you have lost the biggest bestest (sic) opportunity a jap player can dream of that late in the game... I hope I am wrong and that the Samuraï spirit triumphs..

[CapAndGown]

Sept. 10, 1943

It looks like the allies got tired of seeing their ships shot to pieces by my CD guns and finally decided to unload with the battlewagons:

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Night Naval bombardment of Maloelap at 136,117 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia
BB Colorado
BB Maryland

Japanese ground losses:
352 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 14 (2 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 12
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Wotje at 135,115 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi
BB New Mexico
BB Idaho

Japanese ground losses:
88 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

My attempt to get an altitude advantage on the allied CAP was not very successful. First off, only one Helen formation flew, so we did not get the fighters providing LRCAP of Maleolap to contribute to the day's action. On the one mission that did fly, many of our fighters on LRCAP did not get into the fight. The reason for this seems to be that allied radar was able to vector the CAP directly onto the bombers while avoiding the fighters. As a result, only 5 Hellcats were shot down today.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 159th(Sep) Infantry Regiment, at 135,115 (Wotje)
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 56
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 24
F6F-3 Hellcat x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 5 destroyed
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed

So what have we achieved? The KB is in position to attack, but the enemy air strength has not been reduced. Thus, the advantage I was hoping to achieve through the use of LBA has not yet materialized. Committing the KB to battle under these circumstances, therefore, seems premature. Just because KB is in position to attack does not mean it has to right away. Certainly, the allies will be sticking around for another few days giving me more opportunities to attrition the allied carrier air power. In addition, the situation has become somewhat murky. Our air search revealed a new group of task forces. I cannot tell if they are coming or going, but the spotting report indicated the CVL Hermes was present. I had thought the British Carriers were in the Indian Ocean, but apparently not. So this adds a new wrinkle to the tactical situation. In addition, the allies spotted at least two of the task forces that make up the KB. So he now knows I have carriers in striking range.

Based on these developments, I will not commit the KB to action next turn. Instead, she will withdraw to the west where she will meet up with a replenishment task force. My LBA in the Marshalls will also stand down one turn in order to reduce fatigue. I wish to see how the allies react to the presence of enemy carriers. I also wish to see what the story is with this report of a British CV. I am also expecting another attack on Wotje. Should the allies capture Wotje this next turn, which seems likely, I will have the opportunity to sweep that base and engage allied fighters while having the sweep bonus work in my favor. Meanwhile, KB will loiter in the area waiting for an opportunity to strike.

I said I would comment on the composition of the KB in my last post. I won't go into too much detail here, just an overview. There are 4 air combat TFs and one surface combat TF. The four ACTFs are set to follow the SCTF around. Each ACTF is limited to 15 ships and has 3 CV and 1 CVL. Each ACTF has between 230-240 AC. They are escorted by 1 BB each, 9 DD, and one CLAA or one Kitikami CL (at this point the Kitikami's actually have more AAA, 444, than the CLAAs, 384). The SCTF is composed of 8 DD and 2 CS. This is a flexible set up such that the BBs can be shifted over to the SCTF should the need arise for a surface action and the CS's switched out. I just did a calculation of the fighter strength of the KB and found that it has 368 fighters available.

[aprezto]

That is an impressively potent force. This is getting very exciting. I've been waiting for your report for most of the day! With the Brit CVs potentially included this will be a very interesting combat.

Would you consider racing some of those surface forces into the protective umbrella of LBA in order to make another CAP vs escort fighter trap in order to gain the attrition you are after?

[veji1]

You really need to mass up LBA for a 2 turns attack :
- Turn 1 send a massive wave of LBA, regardless of Losses, while having in bases right behind a second round of ammo.
- Turn 2 transfer that second round of LBA to the bases in the frontline and order massive attacks + Commit the KB.

This is the god sent opportunity every japanese player dreams of at that juncture in the game. I am looking forward to the developments...

[BBfanboy]

I also wish to see what the story is with this report of a British CV.

The map says the Brit CVL is identified as Hermes, a slow and small capacity carrier. The only reasons to include her in a task force in this part of the Pacific are [1] because they are desperate for every bit of air cover they can field or [2] as bait to draw out KB. I think [2] is likely and that Hermes is with a CVE group with the main Allied CV force lurking nearby.

Perhaps you could hit his bombardment BBs without getting KB too close to the Allied CV force? Lots of VP in six BBs!

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: aprezto

That is an impressively potent force. This is getting very exciting. I've been waiting for your report for most of the day! With the Brit CVs potentially included this will be a very interesting combat.

Mine? Or His? [:)] I must say, I am not optimistic about the outcome of a straight up battle since I am out numbered at the moment.

I am currently working on the next turn. I will update this AAR once I have finished the current turn. But it will probably be tomorrow before I am willing to hit the end turn button.

Would you consider racing some of those surface forces into the protective umbrella of LBA in order to make another CAP vs escort fighter trap in order to gain the attrition you are after?

I thought about this, but have been very hesitant to throw away destroyers since Japan gets so few of them. And needless to say, the DDs that escort the KB around are some of the best that Japan gets; mostly Yagumo's and Kagero's. I would rather throw away SC's, or xAKL's, or AMc's or PB's.

Anyway, I am working on exploiting what I perceive to be a weakness in my opponent's tactics and will explain the events of the last turn and my plans for the next turn in a later post.

Thank you for following this AAR.

[aprezto]

Well both honestly, but by this time of the war yours is a very impressive Japanese carrier force. You are closer to your home bases, to send damaged ships; and have the advantage of LBA. I would put the odds only slightly in his favour, and as such, it may just be down to the fortunes of war.
 
Yes, understand the reticense of throwing away some of your best fighting destroyers on a suicide mission, but I'd coin the chess analogy that it isn't a bad thing to lose a pawn or knight to take his queen.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: aprezto

Yes, understand the reticense of throwing away some of your best fighting destroyers on a suicide mission, but I'd coin the chess analogy that it isn't a bad thing to lose a pawn or knight to take his queen.

So you would really like to have this queen for a night! [:'(]