Oct. 25, 1943
I believe veji1 mentioned something about a recipe for humble pie? [;)]
This is going to be quick, with more analysis to follow. But I was able to pull off a one-sided carrier strike, close to my plans. Not quite as planned, since only 17 Hellcats were drawn off escorting a strike on my sacrificial ships. (Maybe if I had CAPed them the escorts would have been more numerous.)
Here are the most important strikes. Lots of messages about strike AC and escorts not being able to locate the target due to range or weather. Too bad I didn't have any fighters get separated and sweep on ahead. They might have knocked back the CAP some. OTOH, the first strikes in both the morning and afternoon took surprisingly few casualties. (refer to the picture below)
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,114
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 47
A6M5 Zero x 189
A6M5b Zero x 21
A6M5c Zero x 9
B6N1 Jill x 22
B6N2 Jill x 87
D4Y1 Judy x 188
D4Y3 Judy x 12
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
FM-1 Wildcat x 21
F6F-3 Hellcat x 388
Allied Ships
CVL Cowpens, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
BB North Carolina, Bomb hits 3
BB South Dakota, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL St. Louis, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Braine
CV Essex
BB Massachusetts
CV Bunker Hill
CVL Independence, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Santa Fe
DD Chevalier
DD Boyd
DD Conway
DD Converse, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Bradford
DD Claxton, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Brownson
DD Daly, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Hornet
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Yorktown
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring BB South Dakota
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Enterprise
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,114
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 53 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 60
A6M5c Zero x 9
B6N1 Jill x 15
B6N2 Jill x 35
D4Y1 Judy x 44
D4Y3 Judy x 11
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4
FM-1 Wildcat x 14
F6F-3 Hellcat x 364
Allied Ships
CVL Independence, on fire
CV Yorktown, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Converse, on fire
BB South Dakota, on fire, heavy damage
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring an Allied CV
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Hornet
SKIPPING A RAID THAT DID NOT GET THROUGH
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,114
Weather in hex:
Partial cloud Why is this different than in the morning?
Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 36
A6M5 Zero x 127
A6M5b Zero x 21
A6M5c Zero x 37
B6N1 Jill x 60
B6N2 Jill x 96
D4Y1 Judy x 141
D4Y3 Judy x 23
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7
FM-1 Wildcat x 18
F6F-3 Hellcat x 260
100 fewer than in the morning
Allied Ships
CV Essex, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CVL Cowpens, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CL Mobile
CV Pago Pago
BB Washington
BB Massachusetts, Bomb hits 1
BB Alabama, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Helena, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Bache
DD Ammen
CV Bunker Hill, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Beale
DD Anthony
CVL Independence, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Abbot
DD Bennett, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Belleau Wood, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Fletcher
BB North Carolina, Bomb hits 2, on fire
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Wasp
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Lexington
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CVL Cowpens
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,114
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 55
A6M5c Zero x 6
B6N1 Jill x 15
B6N2 Jill x 6
D4Y1 Judy x 73
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6
FM-1 Wildcat x 17
F6F-3 Hellcat x 236
Allied Ships
BB Alabama, on fire
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB North Carolina, on fire
CV Bunker Hill, on fire
CV Lexington, on fire
DD Abbot
BB Massachusetts
CL Mobile
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Lexington
ALLIED STRIKE AGAINST SACRIFICIAL SHIPS
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Truk at 116,110
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 17
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAKL Uga Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAKL Hakuyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
SC CHa-23, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-12, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-13, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-17, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-20, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-24, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
According to Tracker, CVs Wasp, Enterprise, CVLs Belleau Wood, Monterey, BB South Dakota, CL St Louis, and DD Abbot are sunk. Tracker lists 36 SBD-5 and 36 TBF-1 as destroyed on the ground. True to the lopsided nature of the altitude advantage and the assured death of escorts, the USN lost all of 27 fighters A2A. Including all losses for the day, the allies lost 122 planes while the Japanese lost 501. Only about 100 fighters were lost from the carriers. But our dive bomber and torpedo bomber strength seems to have been halved.
More analysis to follow.
