AE Historical Game Project. Cantona2 (allied) vs Fletcher (Jap)

[Fletcher]

FROM: VADM. S. INOUYE, 4TH FLEET CINC. TRUK
TO: ADM. ISOROKU YAMAMOTO, COMBINED FLEET CINC. ABOARD HIJMS KAGA. HOME WATERS.
SUBJECT: AIR COUNTERSTRIKES OVER LUNGA POINT.
DATE: SEPT. 15TH, 1942

xAK KAURI have been torpedoed by I-34 boat off Lunga. Our boat have get three hits in two days. Six boats will departure from Truk at once to reinforce our deployment around Guadalcanal Island.

Our air strikes have been uncoordinated. In our first wave with 11 A6M3, 7 A6M2 and 8 A6M2-N escorting 5 D3A2 our pilots will face with 35 F4F4 on CAP over enemy ships. 10 of our aircrafts were downed without any enemy fighter reported lost.

IJAAF launched strikes against USMC units at Lunga Point with 42 Ki-43Ic escorting 24 IJA Level bombers. 19 F4F4 were on CAP over Guadalcanal and we lost 6 ACs vs 1 F4F4 reported downed by our pilots.

Third uncoodinated flight, with only 7 Ki-21IIA met with 3 F4F4 and 2 of our IJA bombers were downed.

8 G4M1 have get to drop their bombs against two enemy cruiser SW of Lunga Point (CA CHESTER, CL HELENA). No hits, no air losses. Torpedoes will not available until tomorrow !!.

Our last uncoordinated strike with only 2 FF A6M2-N escorting 10 valuable G4M1 must to face with 23 F4F4 on CAP. 5 IJNAF bombers and 1 FF were downed with no hits reported on USS NEW MEXICO.

CARDIV3 have been ordered to wait best chances after enemy carriers must withdraw to Spiritu Santo to be replenished. CRUDIV 8 await orders at Salomon naval corridor. After the uncoordinated air strikes over Lunga, we must to wait.

XVII ARMY assets awaiting orders at Truk to be shipped ...

Long live to the Emperor !!!
END//

[Fletcher]

FROM: VADM. SHIMIZU, 11ST AIR FLEET CINC. MUNDA.
TO: ADM. ISOROKU YAMAMOTO, COMBINED FLEET HQ. ABOARD HIJMS KAGA.
SUBJECT: LARGE TRANSPORT TORPEDOED.
DATE: SEPTEMBER 16TH, 1942

I.34 C.O. REPORTS ENEMY LARGE ATTACK TRANSPORT HAVE BEEN ENGAGED AND ONE TORPEDO HIT REPORTED OFF LUNGA POINT. ENEMY SHIP IDENTIFIED LIKE "LILLIAN LUCKEMBACH".

TODAY THE FOLLOWING BOATS HAVE DEPARTURE FROM TRUK:

I-2
I-3
I-34
I-33
I-29

AL OFF THEM TO SHADOW ENEMY ACTIVITIES AROUND GUADALCANAL ISLAND.

END//

[Fletcher]

FROM: VADM. S. INOUYE. 4TH FLEET CINC. TRUK
TO: ADM. ISOROKU YAMAMOTO, ABOARD HIJMS KAGA.
SUBJECT: SOUTH SEAS REPORT
DATE: SEPT.16TH, 1942

Heavies have been defeated over Munda sky. 22 enemy heavy bombers were intercepted over our airstrip with 65 A6M3 and 28 A6M2. Our fighters got to down 7 enemy bombers. Their wrecks will be used like "false japanese wrecks" in our camo works at Munda AF.

At Sea, the "Tokyo Express" to Munda (with motorized support for 11st Air Fleet) have been sunk. Unrethless one after one enemy waves have plumbed our light forces. 4 destroyers, 2 gunboats and 1 minesweeper have been sunk by SBDs.

VADM. Tsukahara have deployed his HQ at Munda for the next cicle of operations against the enemy at Guadalcanal Island.

14th Infantry Division is being shipped at Truk.

CarDiv3 have been spotted at High Seas by enemy boat. Unsuccesfully our escorts tried to sink her.
BB Hiei have been engaged by another electric boat at Koepang. Our battleship will departure tomorrow to join with Mobile Force (RADM Tanaka).

END//
Long Live to the Emperor !

[Fletcher]

FROM: VADM. S.TAKAHASHI. SOUTHWEST AREA FLEET. SOERABAJA.
TO: ADM. ISOROKU YAMAMOTO, COMBFLEET CINC. ABOARD HIJMS KAGA.
SUBJECT: SURFACE ENGAGEMENTS.
DATE: SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1942

AFTER ONE ENEMY FREIGHTER HAD REPORTED BY OUR NAVAL SEARCH ASSETS AT TIMOR, AN APD HAD BEEN DETACHED FROM FAST TRANSPORT MISSIONS AT KOEPANG TO INTERCEPT HER. TODAY, OUR SHIP REPORTED ENEMY FREIGHTER IDENTIFIED LIKE XAK HARMONIDES WAS ENGAGED AT NIGHT TIME, WITH NO LESS THAN 8 HITS REPORTED. WITH SUNRISE NEAR, OUR SHIP WITHDREW AT HIGH SPEED TO AVOID BE ENGAGED BY SURFACE OR AIR ENEMY ASSETS.

SCTF NAGARA REPORTED ENGAGEMENT OFF HORN ISLAND. SHE AND HER SCREENING DESTROYER, HIJMS AYANAMI GOT 1 SHELL HIT ON CA. NEW ORLEANS, ANOTHER HIT ON CL HONOLULU AND 1 HIT ON DD ELLET. ONE FRENCH LARGE DESTROYER WAS ENGAGED TOO BUT WITHOUT HITS. OUR SHIPS STEAMING FAST UNDAMAGED TO HER HOME BASE.

A LONG LANCE ATTACK WAS LAUNCHED UNSUCCESFULLY.

LONG LIVE TO THE EMPEROR !!
END//

[Fletcher]

FROM: LTGEN HYAKUTAKE, XVII ARMY CINC. MUNDA IS.
TO: GEN. SADOMU SHIMOMURA, SOUTHERN AREA ARMY CINC. NEAR KUMMING.
SUBJECT: GUADALCANAL FIGHTINGS REPORT.
DATE: SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1942

AT LUNGA POINT, OUR FORCES STAND AFTER BE STORMED BY HEAVY ENEMY GROUND FORCES. IDENTIFIED 2 USARMY TANK BATALLIONS (193RD AND 754TH), 1 USARMY INFANTRY REGIMENT (131ST), 2 USMC REGIMENTS (7TH & 8TH), ONE FIELD ARTY BN (131ST), ONE HQ (IST AMPH) AND ANOTHER SUPPORT UNITS. OUR FORCES REPORTED 740 CASUALTIES VS. 331 ENEMY MEN LOST.

I AM REQUESTING AIR SUPPORT TO 5TH AIR DIV CINC. LT GEN. S.OBATA. HEAVY ENEMY AIR SUPPERIORITY WITH CARRIER BASED AIRCRAFT.

ONE BATTLESHIP IDENTIFIED OFF LUNGA POINT (USS IDAHO)


END//

[traskott]

MARINES ARE HERE !!!!! xDDDD

[Fletcher]

Yes !! And they have captured Guadalcanal today (Sept 18th, 1942).... Will be my works to avoid enemy will get air facilities there

A massive battle will change balance in few days...

Best wishes, and happy weekend.
Ramón

[Blind Sniper]

Good luck Ramon!

Interesting turns will follow...

[Fletcher]

Thank you very much, Blind Sniper

I´m very stunned with all my uncoordinated strikes !. All efforts and heavy works to launch massive strikes against enemy ships around Guadalcanal, but all my efforts have gone to hell ! What´s the reason ? I don´t know. Altitude of all assets have been standarized for the strikes, Air Hq is present in the base, more than doubled that neccesary supplies were on the base dumps. The leaders are the best... Why all my Zeros lost contact with the wave, and why the bombers go ahead to suicide [&:](it´s not time for kamikaze missions [:-])! . I´m really shocked !

Best wishes and happy weekend.
Ramón

[Fletcher]

FROM: VADM. TSUKAHARA, 11ST AIR FLEET, MUNDA
TO: ADM. ISOROKU YAMAMOTO, COMB FLEET CINC. HIJMS KAGA
SUBJECT: AIR STRIKES OVER ENEMY FLEET
DATE: SEPT 19TH, 1942


All our fighters lost contact with our level bombers in the strike leg against enemy fleet around Guadalcanal Island and many G4M1 were lost in "suicide" strikes... Would be an interesting idea select our own pilots like human bombs to clash their aircrafts against the enemy ?

- 12 A6M2 sweep Lunga vs 11 F4F4 on CAP over Lunga. 1 A6M2 was lost
- 9 A6M2 and 17 A6M3 sweep Lunga vs 5 F4F4. 1 A6M3 and 1 F4F4 were downed.
- 22 A6M3 and 7 G4M1 attack HMAS CANBERRA with no hits reported.
- 8 A6M2 and 24 G4M1 attack enemy ships (4 Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, 1 Large attack transport). no enemy ships were reported hit.
- 19 G4M1 were interecepted over enemy Task Force, due our fighters lost contact with our bombers. More than 60 enemy fighters destroyed our wave.
- 8 A6M2 sweep (??) over enemy fleet reporting 71 F4F4 over carriers. 1 F4F4 was downed.
- 7 A6M3 sweep (??) over enemy fleet reporting 1 A6M3 lost.
- 9 G4M1 with 10 A6M2 dogfighted with 11 F4f4. 1 A6M2 and 5 G4M1 were lost. ENEMY CARRIER USS WASP was attacked by one G4M1. No hits reported.
- another 9 unescorted G4M1 launched another "suicidal" strike against the fleet... 5 G4M1 reported lost. BB IDAHO and BB NEW MEXICO sighted. No hits reported.

In the hope of best times, LONG LIVE TO THE EMPEROR !
END //

[LoBaron]

Ramon I only have a fuzzy picture of the situation, but from what I notice the uncoordinated strikes could have been caused by these key factors:

Weather (at least on the screenshots it looks like the area is currently under a bad weather zone)
Range to target (If I interprete the situation correctly you are launching the strikes from Rabaul)

An additional reason could be the different position of targets (I think this could lead to unbalanced assignement of escort forces, more so because the enemy carriers are even further out
than Lunga already is, - maybe shorten the range to attack the amphib group only?)

As a last observation: I wonder if additional problems are caused because of the higher cruise speed of A6M3 as compared to the A6M2 and G4M1.
Just a thought but it could be wise to sweep the potential target hexes with the M3 while using the M2 as close escorts for the Betties.

Still, seing the list of "x loses contact with raid" it really looks like weather in combination with long range could have thwarted your attacks, in this case there is probably not
much you can do about it.

Banzai!

[Fletcher]

Hello LoBaron,

Thank you very much for your support!.

About strikes, it were launched from Munda with A6M2, A6M3 and G4M1 torpedo-armed with a Airbase size 5, and IJNAF Air HQ (11stAir Fleet). All my aircrafts at same altitude and same range to attack (7 hexes)-this is the distance between enemy fleet and my strike base-. Taking notes about your advises, I´ll follow in the next turn, for sure.

I received several pop-up windows in the combat save like these:

21 A6M2 lost contact with the strike, returning to base.
13 A6M3 lost contact with the strike, returning to base.
28 A6M2 lost contact with the strike, returning to base.

Detection level about the enemy Task Forces is high (with number of ships/aircraft show). I have several chutais with H6K4 and H8K1 patrolling the correct search arc.

It´s dishearting, but could be my fault, we will see in a near future.

Best wishes, and thanks a lot for your support
Ramón

[LoBaron]

Ramon I do not think you did anything wrong, except maybe flying the strikes at all, which I trust you deemed as a necessity as you always
seem to be thoughtful in your actions.

Also, could it be that plane units from Rabaul participated in the action? The reason I am asking is
that the screenshot seems to suggest that part of the raid originated beyond Munda.

It looks like you did everything possible to enable a coordinated strike, the separation messages indicate though that there was
a strong factor against coordination. It is very possible that this factor was weather, if we can rule out range due to mission
base being Munda.

[Fletcher]

Thanks LoBaron,

Other aircrafts flying with Munda ACs were from Panggoe and Vella la Vella, all airfields at 1 hexe from Munda with a HQ at Munda (4 hexes command range -11st Air Fleet-)

Thanks, probably it´s my fault .. I´ll try to follow your advises closely. I´ll report about outcomes

Thank you very much, LoBaron.
Ramón

[LoBaron]

I´d like to add a small suggestion, not knowing your complete strike composition:

In case you expect coordination issues (for whatever reason) you can still increase your chances for
maximum protection, even if coordination partly fails.

The relation between bomber and fighter units is very important in my opinion:

The higher the number offighter units participating, the higher the chance that at least some will be able to excort the strike.

The higher the number of bomber units, the greater the chance of an uncoordinated strike, simply because then you will have
to excort two or more separeate strikes instead of one.

In case you deem it neccesary to attack with multiple bomber squadrons it could be wise to split them by altitude into different
packages and then assign escorts specifically for the separated strikes.
With naval attack you cannot predict which target will be chosen, so to preemt a mess because squads all set to the same altitude
have to strike targets in different hexes, you could already prepare the ground for those separate strikes.
Please be careful with this advice though, I have not repeatedly used this practice, so am not sure if it works like I think it would.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: Fletcher
Other aircrafts flying with Munda ACs were from Panggoe and Vella la Vella, all airfields at 1 hexe from Munda with a HQ at Munda (4 hexes command range -11st Air Fleet-)

This could be an additional reason for the lack of coordination. Reduced chance of coordination is given if the fighter bases are not situated between the bomber bases and the target.
Since Munda is level 5 I assume this is the Betty homebase?

[Blind Sniper]

Interesting comments LoBaron. I have the very same problem in my game (Zero with Betty) and also with sweep mission. I will try to follow your advices.

Back to the topic, Fletcher are your CVs ready for a counterstrike?

[LoBaron]

Blind Sniper, just to clearify: it was confirmed by the devs that sweep is excluded from coordination.

What Fletcher experienced where that fighters on escort mission partly RTB after losing contact with the raid, while other parts,
also losing contact, proceeded on target. These separated fighter squads arriving on target are tagged as "sweep" in the combat report
though in fact they were on an escort misison.

Personally I consider sweep missions in concert with strikes on a target as "free hunt" or "high cover" missions, where their primary target
is engaging fighters without paying attention to the bombers wellfare, while escort mission is in fact "close escort". Only the escort mission
is coordinated for game purposes. (which does not mean that it doesnt make sense to include fighter sweeps when attacking a certain target
to weaken CAP)

Do not assume that setting fighters on sweep to the same alt as the strike coordinates as a result. It does not.
There IS an improvement though, in my experience, with higher chance that these fighters -set to the same or lower altutde- arrive before the escorted strike,
but this is not due to coordination but due to the fact that time from takeoff to target is very probable a factor of range to target, altitude that needs
to be reached and cruise speed of the concerned fighter squad. Since the the tange to target and the altitude is the same, the cruise speed
enables the sweep to arrive on target earlier than the strike. Not always, but it is something to consider.

[Fletcher]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

ORIGINAL: Fletcher
Other aircrafts flying with Munda ACs were from Panggoe and Vella la Vella, all airfields at 1 hexe from Munda with a HQ at Munda (4 hexes command range -11st Air Fleet-)

This could be an additional reason for the lack of coordination. Reduced chance of coordination is given if the fighter bases are not situated between the bomber bases and the target.
Since Munda is level 5 I assume this is the Betty homebase?

LoBaron, yes, they are all based at Munda AF.
The escort fighters are based at Munda too. Another group at VellaLaVella (1 Fighter - 1 Bomber Daitai)

Best wishes
Ramón

[Fletcher]

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

Interesting comments LoBaron. I have the very same problem in my game (Zero with Betty) and also with sweep mission. I will try to follow your advices.

Back to the topic, Fletcher are your CVs ready for a counterstrike?

Hello Blind Sniper,

My carriers will need several days to launch a counterstrike. All carriers are upgrading their dive bombers chutai to D3A2, taking reemplacements and veteran pilots for their ranks and files. I hope to launch a massive counterstrike with two I.Div (9th and 14th from II Army) with all Mobile / 1st Air Fleet naval forces.

Best wishes
Ramón