Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[Cribtop]

Y'all's help was much appreciated. I have focused on turns with the very patient CF rather than the AAR. We are about 6 days past the last entry. I promise to update soon, including a summary by Samuel Eliot Morison concerning the now famous Battle of the Torres Islands.

Official comment on this battle was obtained from Cribtop HQ's Spokesweasel as follows: "OH MOMMA!"

[Arnhem44]

Oh you tease, now you got people wondering if it was a "oh (sheeeeet), momma!" or oh (hellooooo), momma!"

[Cribtop]

October 18, 1942

Enemy CVs confirmed at Suva

Subs

Truant sinks an ASW DMS sent to hunt her near Singers. We will pull DMS off ASW duty as they are ineffective.

I-4 misses a DD escorting troopships near Fiji. More evidence something is up.

Recon by I-34's elite Glens CONFIRMS multiple enemy CVs at Suva. This is what led to the well answered plea for advice above.

4th Fleet

The Baker invasion fleet is hovering near Miri due to enemy CVs. Wake hits level 4 forts.

Burma

Night raids on Imphal damage 9 enemy Blenheims on the ground.

China

Recon and adjacent IJA forces note that at long last CF is moving a few ChiCom units toward Inner Mongolia and Peking. The entire Yenan area is cut off from Chungking and western China, so these guys must be starving. We will detail a division to deal with the threat. Also, by good luck the elements of 1st Armor Division are assembling in the area and could provide a rude surprise if needed.

Combined Fleet

We will move in tomorrow and hope to avoid being spotted. BANZAI!

Bangkok makes AF level 7. Nice since this was accomplished without commitment of extra engineers.

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: Arnhem

Oh you tease, now you got people wondering if it was a "oh (sheeeeet), momma!" or oh (hellooooo), momma!"

Hehe. True that. Read and find out. I am cranking updates late tonight trying to avoid the aftereffects of Spurs Championship Loss Syndrome.

[Cribtop]

October 19, 1942

MKB is unspotted. Yay! CF moves his CVs off to the West. Boo!

Subs

Escorts of a TK convoy chase off I-173 near Pearl. At least we've found his convoy route.

Due to the sudden 10/10 spotting of a sub near Tanna, we believe the enemy CVs headed West. Naturally they skipped right over my subs near Fiji. [8|]

A Glen boat spots a TK TF that looks suspiciously like Fleet Oilers SE of Noumea.

China

Patung is abandoned. Hmmm.

We are resting our tired army and moving air support into position for Operation Dragon Tail, the destruction of the KMT air force and supply depots.

Combined Fleet

The Heavens are blessed and we are unspotted. MKB will AGAIN pull back to Point Loiter near Nauru. Perhaps a new opportunity will present itself.

[Cribtop]

October 20, 1942

Subs

Shark duds on a PC near Tavoy.

More evidence from subs that CF has a lot of bird farms near Luganville.

Southern Army

33 B-17 raid one of our tank regiments guarding the flank of Daly.

Burma

Hurris sweep Magwe and Blenheims bomb the airfield in numbers. Our AA is next to useless, but the raid is not too effective either.

China

Changsha makes level 3 forts.

[Cribtop]

October 21, 1942

Subs

Seal duds on a DD near Donggala, then torpedoes an xAK in the same TF.

Glens and subs and Mavii provide definitive proof that all USN CVs are just West of Luganville headed NW.

Burma

A night raid at Akyab catches enemy Hurris and Blenheims on the ground. Looks like they will retaliate at dawn.

Yep, a big raid comes in at Magwe but is only moderately effective. We will respond tomorrow.

Taung Gyi airfield makes level 3.

China

Oscars from Lao Cai intercept transports over Kunming. We will up the ante with Sallys here soon.

Combined Fleet

We will be cautious as CF's intentions are unclear. Is he covering an invasion near Lunga? Is he going to raid Munda Point? MKB will move into best guess position for an 8 hex strike.

[Cribtop]

October 22, 1942

MKB almost hits the jackpot!

Subs

In the third miss of an enemy CV during the war, I-19 misses Saratoga very near where we thought CF would end up. Oh boy.

I-175 puts two TTs into BB California near Pearl. CF hilariously responds that this "frosted his corn flakes" as the BB was finally back to the war after a long sojourn on the West Coast since shortly after December 7. [:D]

A Lily claims a hit on a sub near Palembang.

The xAK Macassar Maru, torpedoed yesterday, goes down.

Enemy Fleet Oilers again spotted near Noumea. Oh boy.

Burma

Our Tojo group (there will soon be a second, allowing for more aggressive action in Burma) sweeps and crushes a group of 15 Hurricane IIc on CAP at Akyab. Then our bombers come to add to the pain, as escorts shoot down two more Hurris and destroy Blenheims on the field. Total losses are 8 Hurricane IIc and 6 Blenheim for 1 Tojo IIa and one Helen. Nice.

China

More gooney birds are hit by Oscars over Kunming.

Combined Fleet

Enemy CV CAP destroys two search planes based at Tulagi, but not before radioing the enemy position. MKB misses being in 8 hex range by only a few hexes. The 45 Zeros of Tainan Air Group manage to almost get a pitiful 13 Nells from Munda onto the enemy CVs. Sadly, overwhelming numbers of Wildcats do their job and only one Nell launches on Wasp before being shot down by flak. 14 IJNAF pilots are lost. Enemy CVs are 12 hexes south of Munda near Rennell Island.

Home Depot Construction Report

Dacca AF up to 8, Townsville up to 7. Noticing that trend Cribtop Intel keeps harping on about enemy engineers hard at work in SWPAC and the Assam?

Port Moresby forts make the all important level 6. Banzai! Koepang makes forts level 4.

[Cribtop]

Intentions for Combined Fleet

October 23, 1942

After much thought, we decide to be aggressive but not insane. We have a good weather report, we have a huge detection level advantage on CF (indeed, our DLs are zero), we have a horde of subs all around him that may get lucky in the night, and we have the Yamato and Tanaka Force BB TFs to soak off attacks in addition to organic BBs in the two MKB TFs. Every single IJN CV and CVL afloat is available for battle with air groups at nearly 100% readiness with elite pilots. CAP will be set at 50% except for Ryuho, which will set CAP at 100% as it has no strike aircraft.

As dawn breaks, the Z flag flies from the masthead of Carrier Akagi as the fleet turns into the wind...

BANZAI! BANZAI!! BANZAI!!!

[Cribtop]

And now a peek into the notes by Samuel Eliot Morison concerning the Battle of the Torres Islands. The full chapter on the battle will be available soon.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Torres Islands at 120,146
 
Weather in hex: Overcast
 
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
     A6M2 Zero x 132
     B5N1 Kate x 38
     B5N2 Kate x 106
     D3A1 Val x 145
 
 
 
Allied aircraft
     F4F-3 Wildcat x 43
     F4F-4 Wildcat x 61
 
 
Japanese aircraft losses
     A6M2 Zero: 9 destroyed
     B5N1 Kate: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
     B5N2 Kate: 5 destroyed, 8 damaged
     B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak
     D3A1 Val: 6 destroyed, 6 damaged
     D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak
 
Allied aircraft losses
     F4F-3 Wildcat: 6 destroyed
     F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
 
Allied Ships
     CLAA San Diego
     CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
     CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 3,  heavy fires
     CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
     CV Lexington, Bomb hits 4,  heavy fires
     CL Detroit, Bomb hits 3,  heavy fires
     DD Aaron Ward, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
     CA Northampton
     DD Ellet, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     DD Blue
     CL Trenton, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
     DD Benham, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
     CLAA Atlanta, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     DD Buchanan, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     DD Henley
     DD Lang, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
     CL St. Louis
     CL Helena
     CA Portland, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
     DD Bagley, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
     DD Duncan
     DD Lardner, Bomb hits 2,  heavy fires,  heavy damage

[Cribtop]

A few more notes.

The Big E and Lex both suffered ammo storage explosions, so their damage may be worse than it appears.

Enemy counterstrike damaged Ryuho with two bombs, Chiyoda with one torp, and put one bomb into Kaga for 4 SYS.

[Arnhem44]

Wow, as someone who plays the Allied side exclusively, that combat report was extremely painful to read, can only guess how CF felt looking at the combat replay.

Congrats are in order though! That was a well planned strike. Well played Sir! Well played! [&o] I suppose you'll be moving in to administer the coup de say goodnight gracie?

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go atone for the sin of praising a fatal Japanese strike on Allied CVs by kicking a random small household pet.

[&o][&o][&o]

[Sakai007]

Also an allied player, and also about to cry at that battle report. At about the same exact day in my game against the AI, I have lost the Saratoga and Wasp, and Sunk FIVE jap fleet carrier including Kaga and Junyo. Not to mention 2 CVE's and a single CVL. In a recent CV fight where Junyo was sunk another CVL has been taking a beating for three turns already, now by LBA exclusively.

Ack, good for you rising sun types, but I say bring on the Essex

[jrcar]

VERY Nice!

Cheers

Rob

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

A few more notes.

The Big E and Lex both suffered ammo storage explosions, so their damage may be worse than it appears.

Enemy counterstrike damaged Ryuho with two bombs, Chiyoda with one torp, and put one bomb into Kaga for 4 SYS.

Banzai!!! Great stalking!

Looks like tomorrow might be more of the same. Will you send in the dogs on the surface as well?

PS - No Gridley, which is a good thing! Although it would have been fun to eventually read a report of this strike from that perspective.

[Cribtop]

Thanks, all. I have very mixed emotions.

The good - obviously a devastating strike with the result of potentially delaying the enemy's budding counter-offensive until summer of '43. I worked hard to develop and use a significant search and recon advantage and feel on some level I deserve a little luck because of that.

The iffy - My strike was fine given how good my pilots are and how many planes went in. CF's counter though found my CVs in severe storms, meaning that instead of a winning exchange I effectively get a free shot. We've seen this before, and we all live with the engine, but it feels a little cheap for the weather die roll in one hex to be so important. Obviously IRL CVs avoided strikes by ducking into squalls and storm fronts, but it's probably a tough pill for CF to swallow.

And yes, we will pursue tomorrow. Yamato will bombard Ndeni to destroy enemy CV aircraft trapped there, although I imagine everything that can fly will jump to Luganville. I have to be a little careful as that means Luganville will be an SBD nest. No danger from Ndeni, FYI, as it's still level 1.

As for Gridley, it's very possible she was in the Wasp/Hornet TF that appears to be there. If so, this should make for one heck of a writeup in CF's AAR.

[obvert]

I hear you. It's tough to know you've gotten an advantage you didn't control, but that's the game as well. And life.

Still, this most likely would have been a resounding victory regardless.

Dying for some Cuttlefish updates now!

[Grfin Zeppelin]

Ola

[Cribtop]

Thanks, Obvert, you're probably right.

Welcome back GZ!

[Crackaces]

There is an operational mistake here IMHO) Stacking all 4CV's in the same hex allows for a first strike disaster like we have seen. Keeping a maximum of 2 CV's per hex provides an opportunity to bag maybe 2 ...given how the game engine works rather than real life .. maybe a better choice ...

My thought given all fators also for maximum 2 CV's per hex for the Allies is that the game engine also does not allow for the Allied defense in depth. Raids are only detected at the target hex and the hexes flown in-between are ignored -- even if they contain RADAR. Thus "real life" needs to be ignored and the game engine accounted for ...