19 Apr 1942
DEI
I saw a couple of ships unloading at Kali and set the B-10s to take a look, they and their escorting P-40s ran into a wall of Zeroes (or is that Zeros? Da-nit, now I'll have that thought racing about inside my head all day). 11 B-10s shot down without even having a look at the TF composition. This is followed by a shock attack at Tjilatjap by the IJA, it's a good thing the engineers managed to bring the fort levels back up to 1 the previous turn. Still, shan't be long now.
Ground combat at Tjilatjap (51,102)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 23953 troops, 217 guns, 78 vehicles, Assault Value = 660
Defending force 9632 troops, 41 guns, 135 vehicles, Assault Value = 190
Japanese adjusted assault: 357k
Allied adjusted defense: 185
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
685 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 92 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
505 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
SWPAC
So CTG goes "why Hello HMW Warspite and HMS Prince of Wales" in his email. Drat. Turns out it wasn't a hit and run. Zeros sweep Sydney (action, reaction) before Vals and Kates descend on it on a port attack. The BBs came off better than the attack suggested,
Warspite is barely scratched at 6/0/0 while
PoW is at 42/12(3)/5(2), up from 18/0/0 (she was repairing after an incident in port had bumped her to 62/0/0 in Feb '42). The way things are going either she sinks or by the time I get her back in action it'll be V-Day.
I had a 4 DD ASW group trying to sweep away some pesky subs off Sydney and they weren't attacked, pretty ballsy move by CTG not setting a reserve on naval attack. Anyways, that 4 DD TF and a TF centred around
Warspite are going to pay a night visit to those CVs to see if we can put a couple of holes in them pretty CVs. The DDs and
Warspite are set to run for NZ after their attack to put some distance between them and the enemy CVs. I've even thrown in the kitchen sink in the form of a TF centred on
Adelaide and consisting of 3 AMCs and that old Dutch gunboat
Soerabaja, the Kitchen Sink TF will make a 3 hex run out and back in again so I don't expect it to hit anything.
I have a motley group of fighters over Sydney, 1 P-40E, 1 Buffalo, 1 Blenheim and 1 Kittyhawk squadron. They're set on layered cap over Sydney. Not expecting to stop the buzzsaw as apart from the P-40s the other 2 squadrons have exp levels in the 30-40s.
So that's the plan, the turn is all done but I've still got a couple of hours before I have to send it off. I'm considering the following alternatives to what I've set.
1) I have 30+ Hudsons and 40+ Wirraways in Sydney training, I'm tempted to throw them at the enemy CVs but they'll probably be massacred and if they survived probably wouldn't be able to hit anything.
2) I'm thinking of having
Warspite, the DDs and the Kitchen Sink stick around instead of scooting off after trying a night intercept (which may or may not happen) and having them react into the enemy CVs come daylight. Risking a BB to mess up some CVs is ok by me anyday.
3) Having set all his planes on port attack and seeing I had a 4 DD element so close to his CVs, what do you think CTG will do next? He's obviously excited he caught 2 BBs in port so I reckon he's going to want to stick around and finish them off but the thing is, will he reserve some planes on naval attack knowing that I have surface assets in the area or is he still going to go all in on Sydney?
Peanut gallery, do your thing.
Morning Air attack on Sydney , at 90,167
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 90 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 26
B5N2 Kate x 73
D3A1 Val x 83
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 3 damaged
D3A1 Val: 6 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Bomb hits 19, heavy fires
BB Warspite, Bomb hits 14
CL Hobart, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Glasgow, Bomb hits 2
CL Durban, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Danae, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Cagou, Bomb hits 1
CA Exeter, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 1
AMC Westralia, Bomb hits 1
xAP Idomeneus, Bomb hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
15 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
13 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
15 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
17 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 20000 feet
18 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
22 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
5 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
City Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
21 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
2 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
7 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
14 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Port Attack: 1 x 250 kg GP Bomb
Sub War
The S boats continue to represent, this time it's
Daifuku Maru going down to
S-35 just north of Rabaul.
Greyback plays surface warship and tries to sink an xAK by shellfire in the same vicinity.
Allied Sub killboard
Seadragon - xAP Rakuyo Maru (7,470t), xAKL Kanjo Maru (1,650t), xAKL Tamaki Maru (1,650t)
K XIV - AK Sakura Maru (6,840t)
O 20 - xAP Taizan Maru (3,380t), PB Hirota Maru (2,780t)
K XI - xAK Kinugasa Maru (5,935t)
O 23 - xAP Manzyu Maru (5,830t)
S-34 - xAKL Kanaiyama Maru (1,650t), xAK Kotobuki Maru #5 (2,375t)
S-38 - xAK Gyoun Maru (1,900t), xAK Kikuryu Maru (1,900t)
K XV - xAK Nojima Maru (3,425t)
Sargo - xAK Gosei Maru (3,425t)
Swordfish - xAKL Yamatsuru Maru (1,650t), xAKL Muko Maru (1,650t)
Snapper - DD Hatsuyuki (2,090t), APD Hagi (935t)
O 21 - DD Urakaze (2,553t)
K XVII - CM Itsukushima (2,400t)
S-35 - xAK Daifuku Maru (2,375t)
Perch - DD Sazanami (2,090t)
Tarpon - TB Manazuru (775t)
Probable
xAK Kogyo Maru (torp hits 2, hvy fires/dmg, 07/12/41-Kota Bahru 53,74) - K XI
xAK Tamon Maru (torp hit 1, on fire, 12/12/41-Laoag 80,72) - S-38
xAK Kano Maru (torp hit 1, hvy fires/dmg, 06/02/42-Oosthaven 49,96) - S-38
xAK Azuma Maru (torp hit 1, hvy fires, 11/02/42-Pontianak 54,90) - K X
