LoBaron + Robbrennan vs Offenceman, allied secret AAR

[LoBaron]

Not much to tell from my side of the war. Preparations are continuing, I think I am a bit behind schedule for the Evil Plan (tm) but not by much.
Just saying things will get more dense in the next weeks and more story to tell.

The main actions were sub driven.

First good old Amberjack reminded me that torps are still not working by sending a dud into the side of AO Kokuyo Maru. My kill list would not be
long if these damn things exploded but contain some quite valuable ships.

Second DD Aylwin caught SS I-23 sneaking into Vavau Harbour, meanwhile a level 5 port and dished out some near misses.
I want to kill that sub, maybe I will got another chance tomorrow. Minesweepers are already on alert in case Mike tries his Aleuthian stunt down there.

[Rob Brennan UK]

25-26 Oct 1942

Good days and bad days come along like buses, got 2 bad in row this turn [:(].

SS Trusty sank from Jap ASW near Babar

Submarine attack near Babar at 76,117

Japanese Ships
DD Shiratsuyu
BB Yamato
BB Nagato
CA Mikuma
DD Shigure
DD Urakaze
DD Yugiri
DD Shinonome
DD Murasame

Allied Ships
SS Trusty, hits 26, and is sunk


Even S-39 patrolling off Palembang was damaged by PC's ! eek .. Should i start a thread on how powerful jap ASW is in 42 ? .. nah , its being done already [;)].

Up in Burma (briefly) the much more stubborn jap night defense over Magwe is causing a lot of allied a/c to turn back due to no fighter escort ! odd, considering what's happening over Germany right now . Anyhow , hit rates are in the toilet so its time to cut the night campaign down/over for now until the next full moon , then maybe some different targets are dues a looksie.

MAIN EVENT !

Japan invades in sulamaki (see the screenshot)


Allied PT boats hampered the landings and forced the jap ships away for a turn , allies will counterattack on land forcefully tomorrow. The CD guns were badly neutralized by the Japanese CA's in the invading TF. The PT boats are now out of fuel but will row back into combat as the AKL delivering fuel was this turn sunk by a jap sub (and would have been hammered by the invasion TF anyhow).

BB Yamato and group hit and sank a small AKL group unloading the mech support for troops and AA guns on the adjacent island.

We are going to be extremely brave/suicidal as BB's Ramilles and Resolution head out into dangerous water under ADM Warwick (naval 71 aggression 70) .. all ship captains checked and no idiots found [;)]. every fighter i have will be on LRCAP over this group from darwin airfields. i.e not much vs jap carriers but i hope to avaiod that fate and hit the landing force with Yamato being 2 hexes away. In a moment of honesty , if i leave these BB's in darwin i strongly suspect Japan will port strike and sink them anyway, Aussie fighter cover is very weak here atm , as this whole operation makes "operation shoestring" look like operation "well endowed" .

Fingers crossed regardless.

[witpqs]

Yikes! That's 9 hexes as Saumlaki can only be approached from the northern sides IIRC. So, the BB's will still be there in daylight. As in my own game, pray for rain!

[LoBaron]

Ouch.

Still could be worth a crippled invasion though. When Rob goes offensive this usually means carnage.

Good luck to the RN!!!


US news are scarce as usual. We are expanding into the Ndeni area and the last convoy before my own
invasions will get the go is assembling on WC.

All carriers received their October refits and will meet at PH to merge into the the CV group which is destined
to cover my operations for the next 5-6 months.
The mainstay of my fighters slowly are receiving modern equipment, P40K and P38F.

Whatever lies in the near future will depend on speed and deception. I think I can already go head to head against the Japanese naval air arm
(as the JAAF is occupied against Rob in Burma and China the IJN will be my main opponent) but the most important unit
in the coming months will be SeaBees. Many of them. I hope they perform as I expect them too.

The rainbow press will be disappointed to hear that I-23 retreated NE and I lost contact on 26th.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Yikes! That's 9 hexes as Saumlaki can only be approached from the northern sides IIRC. So, the BB's will still be there in daylight. As in my own game, pray for rain!

Yup i know ! .. but better to die valiantly than in port .. actually i was hoping that they would stay back and rush in at night .. I did put then on high threat tolerance and non-direct approach to try and match up ranges , but its a bit of a guess on my part.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Well here we have the biggest naval battle of the game so far .. lets call it :-

The Battle of The South Dutch East Indies (as a work in progress) (daylight and fine sea -- eek jap air later)

Commonwealth TF 1 centered on the BB Ramilles encountered the BB's Yamato and Nagato covering the unloading invasion TF.

The Ramilles got in 2 early long range hits on both Yamato's and Nagato's superstructures while blowing off 2 of Yamato's 6 inch secondary armaments DD stronghold was badly wounded by japanese DD's but managed to lay a smoke screen allowing the Dutch DD kortaener to dash forward and launch torps into the CA Mogami (scoring one hit) . When range reduced to 14000 yards the Yamato seemed to throw off its fug and in one salvo hit Ramilles twice , once into the superstructure causing massive fires while the other plunged down through a secodary gun turret into the engine room. From then on the Ramilles main guns fell silent. Nagato had been keen to open at longer range than the Yamato but failed to hit anything at all the entire battle.

Resolution , Stronghold and Kortaenar limped away on fire while Japan withdrew with Nagato and DD Shiratsuyu both burning fiercely.

As this is an on going report from our embedded reported (ie im typing this as i watch the turn run) more will come just after this small advert break.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Continued..........

BB Resolution and cohorts slipped through the retreating allied TF1 and opened up on the surprised Japanese ships at 20k yards, with no effect at all ! [:(]. But that was just the opener to a protracted battle that saw the heavy ships trade salvos with little effect until the Japanese commander decided to retire , almost immediately the surprise turn rectified the errors in the venerable battle-wagons fire control system and 2 15 inch shells sliced through the belt of Nagato while Yamato had a huge dent when one hammered into the belt. While withdrawing the Nagato in particular was hit with accurate fire and 2 15 inch shells skipped off the deck armour due to the firing angle while many 6 inch and 4 inch rounds hammered the turrets and set small fires blazing.

One unlucky jap DD was hit by a torp and immediately sank while another was left burning furiously. On the allied side the CLAA Van Hernsbreak was targeted by both jap CA's and was heavily damaged while the CL enterprise wasn't scratched. All 4 allied DD's had damage to one degree or another and depending on Japanese air power might make it back. I fear however that the clear weather will lead to both BB's being lost.

So overview ..

BB Ramilles heavily damaged along with the CLAA, several DD's heavy - light damage

For

BB Nagato heavily damaged and with massive fires , BB Yamato losing several turrets and small fires last seen on deck. CA Mogami not to be seen by battle 2 so must have detached with damaged DD shirayayatsu. Along with one more jap DD casualty.


Happy hunting allied subs !

[Rob Brennan UK]

I am very happy, nay shocked, to report that neither Japanese LBA or CV air interfered with the British BB's retiring to Darwin ! His CV's launched ground attacks on sulamaki instead , maybe wrong settings or i suspect range was too long as both brit BB groups retired a few hexes south and Jap CV's hadn't advance as expected. Oddly the only naval air attacks were from Aussie Beauforts who attacked a CA (missed) and the landing ships (lost 4 a/c to zeros ) and hit an AP with 2 eggs. the weirdest was one Beaufort managing a run on the retiring Yamato getting in 2 HE bombs onto the deck and leaving heavy fires in the rear view mirrors.

Sadly the Aussie land attack was a disaster with the Japanese landing craft not forced away they unloaded more men and supply than we could handle, this does bode ill for next turn.

Better news over Akyab with hurricanes and Canadian kittyhawks (1st combat patrols) downing 26 Oscars and 4 helens for 5 hurricanes and one kittyhawk.

All Allied ships from Sulamaki made it back to Darwin in some sort of shape as seen below. While sulamaki might well be lost the operation was a great tactical success with its strategic goals being unrealistic in hindsight.

after 3 cups of tea i need a break ! .. more tomorrow i hope.

TTFN

[tiger111]

Hi Rob.

This AAR has really come alight. I bet you didn`t expect this attack on that (important?) island? Hope yoy can repel boarderers-anyway great fun.

PS Get the US Navy to wake up [:D]

[LoBaron]

Ahh, but this is a big misunderstanding. The US Navy is awake. We are watching a movie about British battlewagons.

Could you please hand me the popcorn?

[Rob Brennan UK]

All Popcorn vendors are under arrest for producing such a bad ending [:(].. Let me begin at the beginning

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 29, 42

Allied AVP (sea plane tender) escaping from sulamaki was caught by a Japanese DD squadron and promptly sent to the bottom .. BAD

(see piccie) .. WOW i was amazed to see this pop up , especially the position (near to Darwin) .. the torp i suspect did little lasting damage apart from giving offenceman a quick coronary.

Japanese sub I4 arrived at cosos islands with a bang and sank 2 large british AK's (no escort , as none has been needed for months i was getting complacent). still its a minor loss.

Then Japanese fighters seen on radar approaching Darwin , the celebrations were quickly cancelled and spitfires scrambled, the kittyhawks and beau-fighters were on rest as their fatigue was between 60-80 after yesterdays long range cap missions , i doubt they would have made much of a difference to what happened next but i would have felt better [;)] . anyway the on call spit Vc's did a great job even outnumbered and shot down (over 2 days) 19 zeros for 4 losses , consider its vs KB air groups i'm happy with the ratio given each combat Aussie fighters were outnumbered 2-1 on average and sometime a LOT more.

Anyway the upshot is this arrived !

Afternoon Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 51 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 50
B5N2 Kate x 100
D3A1 Val x 76



Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed, 26 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed, 17 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Ramillies, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL De Ruyter, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Kortenaer, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAP Kepong, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Resolution, Bomb hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Scout, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CLAA Van Heemskerck, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Decoy, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Holy cow ! .. well its a great move from Japan and well executed as by day 2 he'd skipped east toward koepang (now im scared that broome will get busted , its my main sub base in N Australia.

Only DD scout sank and unless KB comes back (which i would not be surprised if it did) both BB's are wrecked and everything's in dry dock.

Ground combat did have some good news with sulamaki holding and madeoin (java) still holding well despite Japanese deliberate attacks today.

As a slight bonus Dutch subs got an AP unloading in lautern (Timor) and a DD escorting jap battlewagons near Sulamaki.

Overall IF KB doesn't come back I'll be happy , even if it does and smashes both BB's they are old and slow ones , Its the DD's that are valuable to me in the big picture.

TTFN and fingers crossed for quiet ay in Australia tomorrow.

[LoBaron]

*drops popcorn and runs for command post*


I think Rob said about everything about this turn that was worth mentioning.

A few thoughts:
The Spits really do well, but the new A6M3a´s Mike is using out of Timor are also a new factor to recon with, at least if their numebrs are stable and their pilots good.

Considering the last strikes by KB I assume the current composition is 6 CV´s, so I think its the complete
original KB. The numbers on port attack minus naval search assets make it at least quite probable.



US news is all about the final convoy with 1st wave assets for the invasion.
Namely it will haul SeaBees which will be used to erect as many airfields as fast as possible in the central and southwestern Pacific so the number is quite high.
Boarding the ships are 43rd, 35th, 27th, 23rd and 15th SeaBees, plus another two USAAF BFs.
These have to arrive before I start to move, the current plan sets an invasion date to early December.

Also with the convoy will be an additional punch of ground troops considered wither for a second wave or if not needed as a relief for the units on the frontlines.
These are the 6th Marines Btl, the 32nd Division and two Para units for quick seizures.
Most of the ships in the convoy will stay in NZ and take part in the invasions.

A supply convoy will trail the important ships by some days.

The only aciton worth mentioning is that I am lucky against Japanese torpedoes:

SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes at TK William H. Berg
I-3 diving deep ....
SC PC-578 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC PC-578 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC PC-578 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC PC-578 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC PC-578 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

William H. Berg is part of a large fuel convoy to Auckland which left the west coast 3 days ago. The torp was a dud. [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

December ? , thought it was in November [&:][&:].. I know Pearl Harbour was not attacked but the American public must be tearing the Whitehouse down for some payback after the loss of Manilla and the heroic death of MacArthur at Bataan [;)]. Still his twin brother's in Australia poring over maps of Horn island so he can send some Australians into combat. Which i am launching soon btw.

( awaiting the turn so the ministry is sending snotty communiques to the US Embassy [:D] ).

[tiger111]

Eeeks !

`bout time the US carriers did something about the KB....You can`t carry on alone forever

[LoBaron]

I will try to explain what I will try to do, and why I am still careful with setting a date for each phase of operation One Small Step.
Please feel free to comment/critizise, this is the largest synchronised operation I did up to now in the GC.

Here is the main plan, detailed plans will follow but are a work in progress:

Red will be the invasion convoys, yellow is the planned path if my carrier divisions.




The idea is the following:

The first offensive operation of the US will be in thre phases, closely timed with Carrier TF movement. Timing is critical to let the deception do
its own job.

Phase one will be a move into the Gilberts to get into striking range of the Marshalls. This phase will initiate the operation.
I will mostly try to rely on stealth there, at least until the first contingents are landed.
Target areas for phase 1 are Tarawa, Tabitauea and Abemama. While Tarawa is the main effort, most of the construciton units
will unload at Tabitauea to create a naval support base and a point from where I can respond to threats to Tarawa.


Phase 2 will be a deception. I tried to make Marcus Island look like an island of interest for a couple of months now.
While the 1st Marines are already prepared for the op I am still undecided whether I actually try an invasion or just fake one with
cheap transports. I think the Marines can handle troops there, but since this has to take place without CV cover I think that actually
invading is what strategists call "gambling". Marcus is heavily defended by minefields so I would have to risk important
assets to sweep the place clean in case of a landing, and I would need combat ships (BBs and CAs) to defend the landing against
coastal defenses (which are available but stretch my forces).

Any ideas or comments which one it should be can help here.
The main reason though is to draw Mikes carriers north, away from phase 3.


Phase 3 will be the largest move and will, as phase 1, be supported by the CVs. Its the uninspired forceful move into the Guadalcanal area
with targets Lunga, Tassafaronga, Rennel Island (maybe only airdrop) and Tulagi. I expect heavy response against this move and so
want his carriers to be at least late for the party.


Most of the assets are already in the areas of responsibility except one major convoy form west coast and the carriers which have to assemble
at Pearl.


More details further down the road.


Rob, I will try to keep November for Phase 3 realistic, but I cannot confirm yet this is possible.

Btw: I considered a move now while KB is occupied elsewhere but I am not sure I can pull this off without carrier protection
and without the airbase at Ndeni is ready to rumble.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: Augustas

Eeeks !

`bout time the US carriers did something about the KB....You can`t carry on alone forever

Thanks Augustus , but i think LoBarons plan has the beauty of a well oiled machine (ie one that's just about to go badly wrong as soon as you buy it [;)]). Seriously though we have both chatted and agreed on this as a plan of operations for the US , but i swear i had a memo saying it was in Nov .. but given November and December rhyme i might have mis heard ??? <cough> <cough>

Anyway on with the War ..

Great news , neither Broome nor Darwin was visited by the KB and she has disappeared into the ether .. wonder if shes heading to Christmas island as Japan has really upped the runway raids ?? interesting. Cocos has great air and even better pilots but numbers don't help me here vs a full KB , and Hiyo's planes have been spotted flying over Christmas island .. so it might get hit.

Over in china , the much planned but never executed air ambush happened , but not as i had hoped , Tojo sweeps triggered combat day 1 over the base just NW of the screenshot ,, with only v late bomber raids happening and all LR CAP tired or flying home. Day 2 and the fighters flew an additional 80 miles to cover Chinese troops , leaving the P40's to return to Chungking (short legs) .. we did have great success vs both the sweep and the escorting Oscars killing about 40 Japanese fighters for just a few Chinese models . the P38's really really shone today. but we missed the bombers utterly. Now hes alerted .. ah well I'll be happy with what i have.

Burma . With no jap attacks on Mandalay the supply level has upped to 2k in 4 days , I'm tasking the allied heavies with transport duties for today to see of we encounter Japanese fighters before committing fragile transports. Allied mediums will haul supply from ledo to Mythilinka while the transports fly back to china supply runs , which have not been operating for about a month due to the urgency in Burma.

One very odd thing -- got 2 reconstituted Chinese /B /C corps back in Chungking but both have 2 squads and 2 support ! not quite the free 1/3 i was expecting , could this be due to a lack of Chinese replacements in the pools ? (down to 150) , and i wish i could use those darn Chinese scout squads ! All Chinese replacements turned off now so i dont mis any more freebies , if needed i'll go and suicide these units again in a month or 2.

TTFN

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

I will try to explain what I will try to do, and why I am still careful with setting a date for each phase of operation One Small Step.
Please feel free to comment/critizise, this is the largest synchronised operation I did up to now in the GC.

Here is the main plan, detailed plans will follow but are a work in progress:

Red will be the invasion convoys, yellow is the planned path if my carrier divisions.




The idea is the following:

The first offensive operation of the US will be in thre phases, closely timed with Carrier TF movement. Timing is critical to let the deception do
its own job.

Phase one will be a move into the Gilberts to get into striking range of the Marshalls. This phase will initiate the operation.
I will mostly try to rely on stealth there, at least until the first contingents are landed.
Target areas for phase 1 are Tarawa, Tabitauea and Abemama. While Tarawa is the main effort, most of the construciton units
will unload at Tabitauea to create a naval support base and a point from where I can respond to threats to Tarawa.


Phase 2 will be a deception. I tried to make Marcus Island look like an island of interest for a couple of months now.
While the 1st Marines are already prepared for the op I am still undecided whether I actually try an invasion or just fake one with
cheap transports. I think the Marines can handle troops there, but since this has to take place without CV cover I think that actually
invading is what strategists call "gambling". Marcus is heavily defended by minefields so I would have to risk important
assets to sweep the place clean in case of a landing, and I would need combat ships (BBs and CAs) to defend the landing against
coastal defenses (which are available but stretch my forces).

Any ideas or comments which one it should be can help here.
The main reason though is to draw Mikes carriers north, away from phase 3.


Phase 3 will be the largest move and will, as phase 1, be supported by the CVs. Its the uninspired forceful move into the Guadalcanal area
with targets Lunga, Tassafaronga, Rennel Island (maybe only airdrop) and Tulagi. I expect heavy response against this move and so
want his carriers to be at least late for the party.


Most of the assets are already in the areas of responsibility except one major convoy form west coast and the carriers which have to assemble
at Pearl.


More details further down the road.


Rob, I will try to keep November for Phase 3 realistic, but I cannot confirm yet this is possible.

Btw: I considered a move now while KB is occupied elsewhere but I am not sure I can pull this off without carrier protection
and without the airbase at Ndeni is ready to rumble.

Hmm, seems like you are trying to out Yamamoto the complexity of the RL Japanese Midway operation.[;)] I'm not certain that such a degree of complexity is best.

Essentially you are running two subsidiary phases (one of these being basically a maskirovka) and one substantive phase, none of them along mutually supportive axes and it appears separated in time from each other. If my understanding of your intentions is correct I see the following weaknesses with the current plan.

(1) the routing path of the phase #2 operation against Marcus (= the maskirovka) is through too much empty ocean which may not be well patrolled by the enemy. The essence of this maskirovka surely must be that it is spotted ASAP by the enemy to allow adequate time for the KB to be sent to intercept this operation. Either its target destination or routing path should be altered to improve the odds of it being detected.

(2) you are not intending to send any valuable assets in the phase #2 operation which will sell the idea to the enemy that this is the real operation and invasion fleet. The best selling assets of course would be the presence of Allied carriers but other assets can also be of value. Assets such as escort carriers and oilers (to suggest the intention of maintaining your station at full strength to meet the counterattack), or a substantial vanguard of subs to "sweep" a clear path in advance would help to sell the maskirovka.

(3) I don't like that in temporal terms you are separating phases #1 and #3 and are relying on your carriers emerging unscathed from the subsidiary phase #1 operation. Should anything happen to your carriers during the phase #1 operation you run the risk of having to postpone the sole real substantive operation (= phase #3) due to lack of adequate supporting carrier assets. That actually is more of a "gamble" than what you have identified as being the "gamble" of phase #2.

(4) No consideration appears to have been given to using the mighty Allied SST Armada[:D] to "drop" your paras beyond transport plane range onto undefended enemy islands which could convince the enemy that the Allied intention regarding these newly conquered anchorages is for their immediate use via seaplane tenders to house float/patrol planes to act as force multipliers.

To address these weaknesses I would consider the following modifications.

(a) launch the fake invasion of your currently scheduled phase #2 first and approach Wake and Eniwetok from the NE (or due W from Johnston) and only after the enemy has achieved a firm lock then veer NW towards Marcus

(b) valuable assets must be deployed and spotted by the enemy in the fake invasion fleet. Definitely include oilers, minesweepers, some capital ships etc, anything which makes it look like a legitimate invasion fleet. The one thing you can scrimp on is not actually embarking any troops

(c) use many subs to provide a moving vanguard for the fake invasion fleet and to increase the odds of this maskirovka operation being detected

(d) as part of the vanguard to the fake invasion fleet "drop" half a USMC para bn via SST on the dot base Taonji (alternatively Bikini or Rongelap) and anchor a seaplane tender plus move in FP or PA

(e) combine the Gilbert and Solomon fleets to run silently and at the last moment and only after the fake Marcus fleet has been spotted and is being tracked by the enemy, split them apart to send them separately to the two different areas. If the fake invasion fleet is not detected first, then don't split the real substantive fleet but sail everything tp the Solomons. You can always come back later for the Gilberts when the Allied carriers are again free.

The fundamental issue you have to determine is this:

am I determined to invade the Solomons even in the face of potential KB intervention, or
am I prepared to only invade the Solomons in the absence of the KB.

This issue of course is predicated on the assumption that of the three target areas, the greatest benefit to the Allies accrues from invading the Solomons.

If the former then the two other operations are essentially only supplementary operations intended to improve the odds of the real substantive operation but need not in themselves generate their own independent success. If the latter, then there really is no real point to planning the Solomons invasion now before the two supplementary operations have achieved their own success.

Alfred

[LoBaron]

Alfred, that you take the time to analyse and comment my plan is very welcome, I hoped you would do that. Thank you. [:)]

I was myself a bit in doubt about the order in which the phases shoudl be launched as long as I am viewing them as separate operations.


What I was sure until now is that phase #2 should separate the two others. The logic behind this was simply governed by the map, since it
pulls potential forces away furthest from the main objective.

The idea was to try the following:
Land troops in the gilberts which could be a bit srprising to Mike as I never showed the least interest into that area before.
Let a bit of time (1-2 weeks max pass) and then be very loud at least near Marcus Island. Since it was the center of action before, and since the closest
forces available to Mike would be the forces he assembled to counter/stop Phase #1, I thought that in this order the invasions create the highest
chance of Mike pulling troops from the south.

Phase #1 should be the least risky because there is no warning in advance, but on the other hand I am arguing like Yamamoto here.
What if the Japanese Carriers are there to react? Hm, I got a lot of half baked answers for this but in the end it comes down to "I hope they are not".

Which brings me straight to your point (e) which is a very interesting suggestion.
The fundamental issue:
I am determined to invade the Solomons even in the face of potential KB intervention, but will not press a Gilbert invasion in the same situation

So a change of plans looks as an interesting option:
Phase #1: Marcus Island (I think I am stuck with this, not really many alternatives there, maybe a move from Wake isl. kicks off more attention than an aproach from Midway,
have to ponder on this)
Phase #2a Gilberts
Phase #2b Solomons

2a and 2b closely timed together so I force Mike into an either - or situation with the Solomons obviousely more important. Hm.
The only disadvantage I see is that one invasion (and this means the Gilberts) will lack CV support after the initial landings.

A lot to ponder on. [:)]
Thanks Alfred, your comments are seed for thought as always!

Best reagrds,

Lenny

PS: I got the SST assembling at Vavau but still am at loss what to do with them. Originally I simply considered them to be
a rescue force for any troops running into too strong opposition, but since Rob stole all my transports for his China and Burma ops
I might not have enough C-47 to pull it off anyway, so Ill check on the SSTs again.

[LoBaron]

11/06/42

Catalinas dont seem to like attacking bases with enemy CAP it seems. [;)]
My attack on Marcus island did not materialise. I think the above plus the low aggression rating of their commander was the reason.

Anyways, I don´t want to fly good pilots into CAP so I decided against exchanging commanders and switched back to nav search, since Alfred found Don Bowens post about
ACM max dmg for ops (about 10%). It was hit by bombs a couple of weeks ago, that got to be enough. Thanks by the way. [:)]

All carriers arrived at PH and assembled into their Car Divs.

TF 89 under command of VADM Towers:

CV Saratoga
CV Wasp
BB North Carolina
CLAA San Diego
CL Nashville
5 DDs


TF 224 under RADM Spruance:

CV Lexington
CV Enterprise
BB Washington
CA New Orleans
CLAA San Juan
5 DD´s


TF 225 under VADM Mitscher:

CV Hornet
CA Salt Lake City
4 DD´s


2 Avenger Squadrons got replaced by VMFs because primarily will be protecting the transports and 36 fighters more are 36 fighters more.


The fleet is heading into the south pac under complete radio silence and without ASW patrols except BB floatplanes and meet with the oilers.

This leaves just enough combat power at PH to produce a credible threat once the Marcus Island invasion gets going.
Assigned to the diversion are 2 CVEs, 1 BB, 2 CA, 1 CL and 8 DD. Not enough to win against the IJN but able to fend off small counterattacks.


Besides that:
APD Gregory (I tried to hunt subs with suboptimal weapons [8|]) was sunk near Noumea.

I have to keep the area clean of subs for the next few weeks
so ASW activity will rise, and there is not enough SC/DD around to do the job alone.

[FatR]

The big problem I see with demonstrating towards Wake and only then turning in the direction of Markus is that the opponent might become suspicious about the purpose of these careless maneuvers. Still, I guess this is sligtly better than just going for Markus, because an approach resembling actual attempt of a suprise invasion will create only a very short diversion. Within 2 turns the diversionary nature of the move will be clear (due to invasion not actually happening).