Racing the Sunrise: RA 4.0--Japanese Side

[BigBadWolf]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Has anyone EVER seen a Battleship sunk in exactly ONE surface turn? I have! BB Yamato, CL Kitakami, and 3 DD SURPRISE USS Colorado and sink her before she can even fire a shot. Pretty simple: 8 Shells (3 18.1") and 4 Long Lance TTs. Yamato's opening salvo in her life results in sinking a BB. It is a GRAND beginning...

BANZAI!

Scratch TWO BBs in as many days up north.

Meanwhile the curtain opens on the MAIN ACT...

Feel the power, baby

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

It is impöressive how risky you play.
Splitting your CVs into various groups, letting whole divisions ship without serious cover, tiny escorts for BBs and CVs...

What do you do if you face an enemy who reacts on that and destroys your assets early in the game?

Hey Sir.

Short Answer: ADAPT!

I know Lew. We played our first RA Game into mid-1943. In that game he gathered all his CVs and there was a climatic battle in the IO where I sank 4 US CVs and 1 Brit CV.

In this game he has kept them separate and I have counted on that with the last moves. Yes: I am a gambler. I planned to sacrifice Junyo and Nisshin for Saratoga if she came out. Well...she didn't (where might she be?) and I was able to still bag a couple of high profile ships while exerting control over a non-priority theatre of operations.

Don't consider the Invasion Forces going into Australia tiny whatsoever. The mass of the Kaigun is there. Probably 80% of the Fleet is there Covering the upcoming landings. Additionally, it is all planning. Only Rockhampton will occur without the benefit of LBA providing additional support and CAP. Wait until I cover the turn in the air over Rockhampton---WOW!

One final aspect to this answer is luck. I could very easily be forced into playing a totally different game right now. The early operations SHOULD have cost me Zuiho, Shoho, Soryu, and/or Ryujo but did not. Got very lucky to be fighting near my Ports, was able to get ships home, have support vessels and HQ present. If I was down a CV, medium CV, and 2 CVLs, it would be faaar more delicate and my tactics would reflect that.

How's that?

[John 3rd]

March 18, 1942
Rockhampton Invasion

Less then 60 miles from the landing point, the Rockhampton Invasion Force is FINALLY spotted. This sighting probably is from fishing boats since not a single air search aircraft even noticed over the force.

So surprised are the Allies that their response doesn't begin until the afternoon.

Strike packages take off as quickly as they can be armed and cleared for flight:

A group of bombers already loaded to hit Lord Howe's Island is the first to arrive. 3 B-17 and 12 B-25/B-26 appear and are immediately smothered by nearly 50 Zeros flying CAP over the TF. NOTHING can shoot down B-17s but six of the 2EB fall. The remaining six attack but miss their targets.

Next up is the Vindicator squadron that was originally on the sunk Lexington. Sixteen brave crews fly up from there base to attack WITHOUT fighter escort. They are slaughtered. No one gets through.

Flying from Rockhampton itself are 23 Wirraways and the Wir-Coffins live up to their name. Thirteen are shot down coming, 12 attack the transports, they miss, and ALL tweleve and then shot down trying to escape.

The last strike to come in are 12 2EB (American and Brit-Aust). Three are shot down coming in, 9 attack and miss, and one more is destroyed on the way out.

Total Losses are 61 Allied Planes to just 7 Japanese Zeros (2 shot down and 5 operational) for the entire day. NO DAMAGE to the Japanese Landing Force. We land TOMORROW!

Orders:
1. Rotate the Zeros flying LRCAP.
2. Raise remaining CAP over the CVs to 70%.

Let us see what 'appears!'

[John 3rd]

March 18, 1942

Detaching the Yamato, CL Kitakami, and 3 DDs works out VERY well. As shown above, the TF gets surprise on the Colorado and it is sunk at 3,000 Yds without firing a SHOT! CL Helena is damaged and DD Downes is hit as well. Those ships FLEE the immense monster that has come down upon them.

In three more short engagements, the Yamato sinks Helena, DD Downes, DD Crosby, and DD Dent. Unfortunately CL Helena pummels Kitakami as she is sunk with 8 6" hits and the old training cruiser (she is not a TT Cruiser in RA) does sink.

For ONE DAY the Battleship Yamato is everything her designers HOPED her to be! We'll see how long that lasts...



Meanwhile near Umnak, a raid of 15 PBY fly in to attack shipping there and they are crushed by 16 Zeros flying from the Nisshin. At least 10 PBY are destroyed and no damage is sustained by shipping.

The CVs move slightly NW and Yamato is ordered to get her steel putuckus back to friendly waters!

TOTALS for Operation:
Allies:
SUNK--BBs Warspite and Colorado, CL Helena, and 3 DD.

Japan:
SUNK CLs Jintsu and Kitakami and 4 Old DDs

Hate losing Jintsu but I think this turned out quite well. Will consolidate the TF and order it to head south to attend the grand show occurring around Australia.

[Cribtop]

Wow, I am making popcorn, ordering pizza, cracking a beer and turning off my cell phone in anticipation of this Op. It really looks like you may catch him unawares. BANZAI!

[John 3rd]

March 19, 1942
Rockhampton, Aust

Over 40,000 Japanese troops storm ashore opening the ambitious opening phase of Operation Cherry Blossom. These troops, prepared for a massive fight find only one small Base Force of less then 1,000 troops holding the AF. The troops quickly take the town and prepare to grab the AF tomorrow.

Ashore, the troops watch the flashing of a surface engagement as well as then waves of Allied aircraft attempt to penetrate the CAP defending the massed Invasion Fleet. By the end of the day over 2/3 of the transports depart, having disgorged their cargoes and troops, heading for Koumac to get clear of Allied bombing. Several transports have been forced to beach, however, so this fight is not bloodless for the Japanese.

Tomorrow the AF will be taken and then the troops begin to fan out.

Roughly 600 miles east of this town, the fleet gathers itself for the most dangerous portion of the operation. Newcastle and Port Kembla await the 'tender' mercies of Japan...

[John 3rd]

Operation Cherry Blossom
March 19-20, 1942

The Port and AF at Rockhampton is totally undamaged as it falls to Japan on the 20th. To say that these turns are eventful is a slight understatement.

During the night of the 19th a small TF attempts to get at the Invasion Fleet. The attack is carried out by CL Leander and 5 DMS. They are met by BBs Mutsu and Nagato, a CA, a CL and several DDs. As the big 16" rifles boom out, every ships is hit and driven away from the fleet. Unfortunately the Invasion Force, in trying to get moving, has THREE pairs of collisions among the 50+ AK-AKLs. Ooops.

During the morning a strike from the KB (19 Z, 27 V, 52 K) easily finish the job sinking the CL and 5 DMS.

Seven air strikes bore in on the TF and all but one are strongly dealt with by the CAP. Wirraways, Vindicators, several 2 EB, and a few P-40s are shot down. During the fracas the Lexington's TBD group gets in without being touched by 53 Zeros. These well trained pilots live and manage to smash 3 AKs. KB itself is attacked by 14 P-40 and 9 B-17s. No damage and several planes are shot down. When the sun sets, many of the AK are unloaded and departing for Noumea with the Air Losses tallying up to 34 Allied to 14 Japanese. The day costs the Japanese 4 AK.

The 20th doesn't see a fight at sea. Lew tries to confuse the issue by suicide sorties of 4-5 AK-AKLs trying to mask another STF trying to reach the anchorage. KB easily sinks 2 AKL and an AMc while damaging CA Australia (3 Bombs) and CL Concord (2 B). A few small strikes come in but nothing is damaged. It is actually--thinking about it-- a fairly calm turn. Two more AK go down on the Japanese side but everything is unloaded and so the BBs depart for a quick refuel and rearm at Noumea while the KB does the same thing. There is plenty of fuel and AKEs waiting there for that exact purpose.

As stated the AF is not damaged whatsoever. I immediately fly in 3 Daitai of Zeros and 1 Daitai of Vals for CAP and some striking power.

PLANS
1. Sydney is now cutoff from the north. I order a Brigade to head west to take that small base. One division moves north and one moves south. We work to expand the lodgement quickly.
2. We land at Carnavon tomorrow.
3. Will order a Parachute drop by both Army Raiding Forces to take Kalgoorlie and cut the West Coast from the target area.

We now work to isolate the battle area as quickly as possible.

All TF are now moving towards Geraldton, Port Kembla, and Newcastle. The dice are on the table boys and girls!

[obvert]

Opposition is wat you want. Good. That probably means he doesn't realize the scale of what you are attempting yet either.

[John 3rd]

You are correct. All these strikes that he is flying will tire the pilots and make the next set of landings easier. In some ways I feel this is a massive version of Normandy. By landing in one place I try to draw his attention while I use paratroopers to isolate the target and prevent reinforcements from arriving. The sheet scope of this staggers me. I am landing multiple TF at differing points of a CONTINENT and it is all happening within 7-10 days of time.

What will he do? This is the question. My SS are deployed and ready to interdict as well. We shall see pretty quickly...

[BigBadWolf]

John, what are the skill levels of your LBA Naval pilots? You seem to have awful lot of them in combat.

[John 3rd]

Excellent Question. Here is a series of screen shots depicting all my Zero and Betty Daitai. RA 3.0 dropped starting Japanese pilot experience to reflect the dilution of the pilot pool in adding several new units just prior to the outbreak of the war. You'll see that the experience factor is all over the board. Deploying the 9th Air Fleet a little earlier then I want really reflects in their scores to date. Past these planes I have all the Daitai available from sunk Hosho (15 Z and 6 TB), and damaged Soryu, Ryujo, Shoho, and Zuiho (TOTAL: 96 Zero, 21 Val and 63 Kate). ALL of them will be used in one form or another.

Have got to figure out the army contribution more specifically and will have that tomorrow.

Here are three screen shots:

[John 3rd]

#2:

[John 3rd]

Betty and Nell Daitai:

[John 3rd]

Forgot to mention but as soon as I land with the Sydney Operation I shall be looking to take a base WAAAAAY south to use for bombers and air search to bag incoming reinforcement convoys...

Anyone got a good target in mind there?

[seille]

Perhaps you can grab Hobart. Level 4 port and level 3(7) AF already. Launcheston and Burnie could be your backup airfields.
Both 1(7). But you have to figure out the strength of the defense there. Would imho be a good position to catch incoming convoys.

[BigBadWolf]

From your experience level I'd say you don't pull 80+ pilots into TRACOM?

[John 3rd]

To be candid, I am not too big a fan of TRACOM but I do have about 80-90 pilots there right now. What I really like to do is get a decent number of pilots up to that magical number and then transfer them into other units so they can help train the newer pilots. It SEEMS to work. Regardless, I always keep my CV Daitai with the most, best pilots. In taking a stronger look at these screens, it appears I could do some transfers right now to raise some of the lesser experienced units up a bit. Have been so focused getting everything to where it needs to go and making sure everything is moving that this has not been a priority since March 1st. Need to fix that.

I've got about 20 units in Tokyo right now that were reinforcements and are ready to deploy. Nearly all of them deploy to the Pacific since I will be quite vulnerable there now that Lew suspects--if not KNOWS--that Australia is my target. Have got to get them out and on the way to their new homes so I have some strength at key points in the perimeter.

Once the initial lodgements are made, I will bring more IJA air units onto the continent while I create a decent-sized reaction force for any Allied activity.

HOBART? Does it start the war with any CD? I NEVER look at the Allied side once the war begins except the Dec 7th turn. Figure that is the last ACCURATE intelligence the Japanese have.

[BigBadWolf]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

To be candid, I am not too big a fan of TRACOM but I do have about 80-90 pilots there right now. What I really like to do is get a decent number of pilots up to that magical number and then transfer them into other units so they can help train the newer pilots. It SEEMS to work.

I heard of this, but I thought it was proven wrong? What ratio do you use of experienced vs. rookies?

[ny59giants]

I like to use two or three highly experienced pilots for each of the restricted air groups that cannot leave Japan (and Formosa). Don't forget to get a good leader (see my AAR for the qualities that help). Finally, if an air unit has very low skills at start of game, don't pull in extra pilots as this tends to slow down the whole group. There are very few pilots with good ASW skill, so you have to be smart. I use the small 9 plane groups with a good leader to gain experience quickly and then move those with good ASW to some of the larger air groups (for both Navy and Army).

[BigBadWolf]

Dunno, I've tried that. I put two groups in the same base, one with "instructors" and one without, with similar leaders and there was no difference. If anything, the one without experienced pilots gained skills faster. From what I figured, there is some dice rolls involved and those rolls are wasted on high experience/high skill pilots, because they have too small of a chance to pass it and gain skill. I did, however, noticed that some bases are better than others. For instance, units in Tokyo have already started on their second batch of pilots (april 1942) while those in Ominato are stuck.