Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

6 Jun 42

Relatively quiet turn. The 10 surviving B-26s were caught by another 5x Zeros. Two were shot down with another op loss. Only 7 B-26s left. [:D]

I finished using up the engines building Glens. I have 122 in the pool, having only used one to date. I expect them to last the rest of the war. I converted the Glen factory to the Mary. There are 85 engines available for building Marys. I will build them out to use for ASW warfare. Their short range is fine for the mission and the 250 kg bomb will put a hurting on any sub they catch.

[ny59giants]

I would question Ted's training of his pilots OR going into A2A battle with not enough airframes. If your Oscars are doing this well at this point in time, then I would say these two points are valid. As Allies, I still have to rely on superior numbers (1.5:1 or better preferred) to come out ahead. I'm getting swept by multiple groups (usually 2 or 3) of 42 Tojo over a particular base and unless I can place over 100 fighters on CAP/LRCAP, why fight??

[Mike Solli]

Not sure what the situation is, Michael. I think he's trying to kill off my pilots. He doesn't realize that my IJN on map training program is producing huge numbers of fighter pilots. My goal is to destroy fighter airframes. Right now I can do that with the IJA. I have plenty of Oscars in the pool. Hopefully, things will get a little better when I get the Tojo IIa around Aug 42, but mid to late Jul is a distinct possibility. The factories are at 30(0), 28(2) and 28(2) with acceleration currently at 12% and in Sep 42.

[Mike Solli]

7 Jun 42

Sub War

This was a busy day under the water. I had dropped off 3x midget subs at Mataiva, one hex NW of Rangiroa, their real target. (The 3x fleet subs carrying the midgets moved 6 hexes north to await events with the midgets.) The DD Shaw caught the SSX Ha-9 and sank her in that hex. Ah well, they're expendable. She did fire her torps at the Shaw first. The other two midget subs moved into Rangiroa. The Ha-8 fired torpedoes at an xAKL missing. She'll move back to Mataiva to be picked up and brought back to Kwajalein. The third midget is still sitting at Rangiroa. Hopefully, she'll get a shot at someone tomorrow.

The I-9 is still patrolling north of Rangiroa and caught a 10k ton AP, the Leonard Wood, putting a torpedo into her. The DD Shaw (who I now know to be escorting this convoy) counterattacked but quickly ran out of depth charges. Bravo to the heroic Ha-9, who absorbed most of her DCs! [:D] Later in the day the I-16, one of the midget carrying subs, caught the Leonard Wood and put her under for good. Very nice!

The I-10, still patrolling off the US west coast, put a torpedo into into the xAP Kota Baroe (strange name, huh?). She wasn't reported sunk but she's ~10 hexes offshore so maybe she'll get caught again or the damage will do her in.

Air War

No enemy fighters flew over Pt. Moresby or Chittagong. My Oscars rule the skies.

Unfortunately, his B-17s hit Buna. My runway and services are ~30% damaged each. I may have to move the Oscars to keep the pressure up on PM.

I saw 5x LB-30s today over Lae. Fortunately, they did no damage.

[Mikawa]

Mike, in terms of Flak versus the B-17's, what flak do you have in Buna?

I've found the 75mm guns useless, but does the Japanese version of the 100mm perform any better? There are quite a few of these in Korea that could be bought out with PP's. My guess is likely not much better...[:(]

[Mike Solli]

Actually, I don't believe I have any flak in Buna. The 17 Army & it's 3 flak units are currently at Truk that I was working out where to send. At least one will go there. Can't hurt.

[Mike Solli]

8 Jun 42

Sub War

The midget sub Ha-10 made it's way to Rangiroa and was DCed by some DDs and had it's torpedo tubes damaged. Well, it's headed back to Mataiva to be picked up and transported to be repaired.

Off the US west coast, the I-10 found a TK and put a torpedo into her heavily damaging her. Very nice.

SE Fleet

Rough day here for me. 51x P-39Ds tried to bomb Lae and 5x Zeros got caught up in the mess. 10:1 odds against you just don't work very well. I lost 4 of the Zeros for no P-39s.

The B-17s and LB-30s (47 total) hit Buna again and got lucky destroying 7 Oscars on the ground. Two pilots were wounded. I'm pulling that sentai out of the front line to rebuild. The other Oscar sentai will move to Finschaven to carry on the war against Pt. Moresby. So far, Ted hasn't tried to bomb that airfield.

Australia

The 5 remaining B-26s went after the tank regiment south of Daly Waters and were hit by a couple of Zeros shooting one bomber down. Four left. I'm surprised that Ted keeps sending these unescorted bombers against my veteran Zeros. The only thing saving him is that it's happening 8 hexes from my airfield so the Zeros have to fly LRCAP with tanks and 50% are on rest so I don't burn them out. One more hex and the tanks drop off so that may help a bit. Soon, that squadron will be out of planes anyway so it may not matter.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: xAK Koho Maru - my first Std-A, Osaka, will convert to a TK.

The Aichi Ha-60 advanced one month.

[Mike Solli]

9 Jun 42

Sub War

The I-20 caught and sank an xAK north of Rangiroa. This is turning out to be pretty fertile grounds. Can't wait until more subs arrive. [:D]

A Dutch sub caught one of my resource convoys from Nauru Island to Truk and sank an xAKL. That was inevitable. I'm sending an ASW TF to try and catch and prosecute that sub. (Note: Over the next few days, I'll catch that sub 1 hex north of Truk where it's still sitting as on 12 Jun. My ASW TF and the sub keep trading shots to no avail on either side. I also have a 31 plane Ann sentai based at Truk that is performing ASW ops. The avg ASW skill is 46, with 1/3 being 70 skill pilots and the remaining being skilled bomber pilots. I'm swapping them out with 70 skill ASW pilots as they become available. Ted is going to find that Truk is not a safe place to park subs.)

The I-122 dropped a load of mines at Akyab and sank an xAKL to boot. If you recall, Akyab is cut off by my ground forces. I'm also flying a chutai of Oscars over it daily to prevent Ted from flying in supply. The only way to supply Akyab is by sea. Hopefully, the mines will deter that.

I had an xAKL dumping supply at Milne Bay. The S-41 caught her and sank her, fortunately after the supply was unloaded. Before she went down, she hit the S-41 with a shell. I refuse to give away anything cheaply. Banzai!

SE Fleet

Today, 49x 4E bombers visited Buna and shot down an Oscar. *Sigh*

The P-39s hit Lae again today, this time by 42. This time they were opposed by a dozen Oscars. each side had 1 plane shot down and two more P-39s were op losses. I'll wear them down with time. I still have >190 IJA fighter pilots in the pool and will get a bunch more on 15 Jun.

Australia

The 4 remaining B-26s hit my tank regiment again today. Two Zeros shot one down and caused enough damage to the remaining planes that 2 were op losses. One left!

Burma

Interesting events in the Burma theater today! I have a BB TF and a CA TF that were preparing to bombard Chittagong. They were just in range to bombard over the next 2 days. They were attacked by Albacores from a TF! The RN has reared it's ugly head! One Albacore was able to scratch the paint on the Hyuga with 2x 500 lb bombs. I have decided to withdraw the TFs a few hexes to the south hoping the RN will follow. We'll see. It appears the TF is composed of 2x CVs and a CVL. I am going to place a Zero and Nell daitai at Magwe in order to hit them if I can. I have the 3 Air Division at Tongoo and have added torpedoes to it so the Nells will fly with torpedoes. Banzai!

More interesting events in Burma. I had noticed that some troops were marching up the road from Akyab. Well, they arrived at my controlled hex today. It's the Burma Division with a whopping 41 AV, and it's going against the 18 Division and 1 RF Gun Battalion. The Japanese DA thoroughly trounced the Burmese troops in a 38:1 attack. Losses were 87(2) Japanese to 440(44) Burmese. The remnants retreated back into Akyab. Rough way to recon the hex.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

I-33 - Headed to Singapore for use against the Brits.
xAP Teiritsu Maru - high endurance so it's going to the Home Islands.

[Mike Solli]

10 Jun 42

Sub War

The I-18 moved to Matavia to pick up the damaged Ha-10. OF course, there were a couple of DDs there and they hit her with 2 DCs. Her damage is 18-54(28)-4-0. Now she's got to make the long trek back to Kwajalein. Actually, I'm surprised she survived.

Off Amami Oshima, the Tarpon put a torpedo into a Std-D xAKL and turned it into matchsticks. She was hauling resources from there to Japan. At least the rare functional torpedo hit a pretty useless ship. [:D]

SE Fleet

Since Ted was using his P-39s to attack my airfields, I thought I'd try a daylight raid of Pt. Moresby with a Sally Sentai. There were 4x P-40s flying CAP and they shot down 5 Sallies. [8|]

On the bright side, the P-39s (46 this time) went after Buna again. My Oscar sentai flying out of Finschaven put 16 planes over Buna and shot down 13 P-39s for the loss of 1 Oscar. Banzai!

46 4E bombers visited Buna after that and fortunately hit mainly jungle.

[Mike Solli]

11 Jun 42

Quiet day today.

B-17s visited Buna again (surprise, surprise).

A new squadron of B-26s (12 again) attacked my tank regiment in Australia. Three Zeros countered shooting down 2 B-26s and causing another op loss. 9 left...

The Ki-49-IIa became operational today, with 3 factories of 30 each. I expect to upgrade a Sally sentai with this model in about 9 days. Not sure if I'm going to have the first sentai upgrade in SE Fleet or Burma. Gotta think about it, but then I have some time.

I shut off the Ki-48-IIa factory, size 34. Not sure what I'll change it to yet. Until then, I'll just leave it off. My IJA bombers are now the Helen (90 per month) and the Sally (40 per month). The Helen will be my frontline bomber and the Sally will support as needed and eventually become an ASW platform, along with the 1E bombers.

The B5N1 factory (size 16) just built it's last plane. I used up the last available engine. There are 166 in the pool. I shut this factory off as well. Not sure what it'll convert to. I have some 36 B5N2s in the pool with it's factory at size 16. It's been off for some time now. All of my CVL/Es use the N1 while the CVs use the N2. Mabels and Jeans are in the training units. I'll use the N1 until it's depleted or until the Jill comes online.

[Mike Solli]

12 Jun 42

Sub War

The Ha-10 sank today, which is kind of weird. It is the midget sub that was attached to the I-18. If you recall, the midget was damaged and when the I-18 moved to pick her up, she was damaged. The I-18 picked her up and they both started limping home at 1 hex per day. Now that the midget "sank" (how does that happen if attached to the mother ship? Broke apart maybe?), the mother ship is traveling at 3 hexes per turn. Interesting....

SE Fleet

55 4E bombers visited Buna again, shooting down an Oscar and doing minimal damage.

16x Betties escorted by 13 Zeros visited Pt. Moresby going after some shipping. They were opposed by 5x P-40s, losing 3 of Zeros in exchange for 1 P-40. They did keep the fighters off the Betties though. The Betties sank an xAK and an AM. I hope she was carrying supply.

Australia

Three Zeros met the 9x remaining B-26s near Daly Waters, shooting down 5. 4 left...

Burma

Interesting events in the seas around Burma. I moved the two bombardment TFs north again, within range of Chittagong. Sure enough, the RN carrier TF popped into view again. It hadn't moved. This time they launched 12x Albacores and they went after the CA TF, hitting the Ashigara, Takao and Chokai. The bomb bounced off the Takao, but the other two took light damage. The two damaged CAs are going to withdraw back to Singapore for repairs.

My BB TF will hit Cox's Bazaar tomorrow. I figure it'll be out of Albacore torpedo range hitting that target but would be within torpedo range if it went to Chittagong. Chittagong is not really a worthwhile target anymore because all it holds is ~12 fighters.

I have an Ro class sub that will reach the RN TF tomorrow if it doesn't move and 3x fleet subs and a Glen sub about 4 days out. We'll see what happens.

My Nell daitai launched 3 bombers escorted by 13 Zeros against an xAKL just off Akyab, blowing her to splinters. I wanted them to launch against the carrier TF. Sure enough, 8 unescorted Nells launched against the carriers. None returned. They met 8x Martlets. [:@

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: The Hiryu DB daitai returned today. I filled it out with pilots and a dozen planes. It'll sit for a week until it can fill out the remaining 6 planes and then fly out to the Taiyo. Maybe Ted will think the Hiryu didn't sink. [:D]

It looks like the 3 damaged subs will all make it. The I-123 is in port at Dutch Harbor repairing her damage. The I-158 is at Soerabaja and the I-18 is about 3 weeks out of Kwajalein. Keeping fingers crossed on the last one still.

[Mike Solli]

13 Jun 42

Sub War

The Ro-66 was caught by 2 DDs off Pt. Moresby and hit by a DC. Her damage is 50-38(22)-0-0. She's limping back to Rabaul. I'm really glad I have that AR at Rabaul. It helps repair the minor damage so the subs can sail to Truk and be fully repaired by the ARD. Very nice.

The I-11 is patrolling around Norfolk Island, which is a supply route to Australia. She caught a TK TF missing one TK and later putting 2 torpedoes into the TK L. P. St. Clair. This TK was loaded. I didn't get word of her sinking, but I don't expect her to survive. Banzai!

The best news of the day was from little Ro-33. She had been posted off Chittagong for weeks sinking an xAKL and seeing nothing else when she got word of the RN carrier TF. She reached that location today, and sure enough, the TF was still there. She put 2 torpedoes into the Hermes. Banzai! No word of her sinking but the Ro-33 will stick around another day looking for more game.

Burma

Ted had been harassing one of my tank regiments with some Chinese SB-III bombers. The tank regiment was sitting on the road just west of Paoshan, in western China along the China-Burma border. I finally put some Oscars over my tanks. 14x Oscars met 5x SB-III bombers and shot down 4 of them. Hehe...

The only other event in this AO was the bombardment of Coxs Bazaar by the BB TF. The TF got away from the RN carriers safely.

SE Fleet

The only event of note here was the daily bombing of Buna. One B-14 reportedly crashed on the way home.

Edit: It's interesting to note that, to date, 3 carriers have been damaged/sunk (Hiryu - sunk, Soryu & Hermes - damaged), all by submarine torpedoes. Hmm...

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
One B-14 reportedly crashed on the way home.

Whoa! [X(] You'd better get your military intelligence guys over to the crash site ASAP. Such an unusual plane model deserves to be picked over.




[;)]

[Chickenboy]

Enjoying the updates, Mike-san.

Nice shootin' on the Hermes, dude. Keep up the good work. [8D]

[Mike Solli]

CB, you're a wise guy. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

14 Jun 42

Sub War

No sign of the RN carrier TF. I suspect they fled to Calcutta. I may try a night port attack to see what I can see. He has a few fighters there and I suspect they're bad fighters, but you don't need good fighters against unescorted Nells. [8|]

SE Fleet

Big battle over Pt. Moresby today with heavy losses on both sides. Nine Oscars lost vs. 2x Kittyhawks, 3x P-40s and 7 Wildcats. I suspect the Wildcats were a Marine squadron. Now it's half a Marine squadron. [:D] I'm not concerned about IJA losses. It's discussed below.

43 B-17s (not B-14s today [;)]) visited Lae. Now Lae and Buna are pretty much out of the picture. Milne Bay and Finschaven (along with Gasmata and Rabaul) are fine. Each of the bases has at least 60 engineers (except for Finschaven). They repair pretty fast.

Burma

Three SB-IIIs visited the tank regiment and none returned. [:D] So much for the Chinese Air Force.

Other Stuff

I culled my training air units today and got the following:

IJA
Fighter: 68 - This is why I'm not concerned with Oscar losses. I get 4-5 Oscars a day and have plenty in the pool (usually 20-30). Perfect.
NavS: 11
LowN: 6
ASW: 16 - I'm using these up as fast as I get them.
GrdB - 30
Rcn - 1
Tran - 9

IJA
Fighter: 1 - Not good but a lot are close to completing training. I'm hoping for more at the end of the month.
NavB/NavT: 2 - I have lots of these available.
NavB: 2 - I have lots of these available.
NavS: 13 - I have lots of these available.

My Tojo R&D is humming along. The 3 factories are at 30(0), 30(0) & 29(1) with 20% at 9/42/ I'm hoping to get them in late Jul 42. Then I'll get 90 Tojos a month. That should help in the air supremacy battles over Pt. Moresby and in Burma.

[Mike Solli]

15 Jun 42

Sub War

The Ro-62, while patrolling off Pt. Moresby, caught and obliterated the AM Tangier with a torpedo. The Tangier, no doubt, was gunning for her.

Some DDs in the deep hexes south of Takao finally caught the Tautog hanging around there and hit her with a depth charge. She's reported as sunk. I doubt it, but I'm sure she's headed back to port.

SE Fleet

Only 11 4E bombers hit Lae today, doing no damage. I placed both Oscar sentai in position to sweep PM tomorrow (Finschaven and Milne Bay). Hopefully, numbers and great pilots will trash Ted's fighters.

Burma

The 5x CAs bombarded Cox's Bazaar causing moderate damage to the airfield and destroying a couple of Vildebeests on the ground.

I got word that the Hermes went down at the same location where the rest of the Brit carriers were located, 8 hexes NE of Trincolamee. I'm sending my subs after them. I also have an Ro sub off Colombo which will get in front of them. We'll see if we can get some more shots at some more carriers.

Other Stuff

I did an evaluation of my airframes and engines to see how things are looking. I haven't done that in a long time. Turns out things are looking good. The only engine factory that isn't producing enough is the Mitsubishi Ha-34, for the Helen and Tojo. I'm building 90 Helens and will build 90 Tojos when they complete R&D, probably late July 42. Right now the Ha-34 factory is at 175(95) and I need 180 for the Helens. Fortunately, I have 497 engines in the pool. Soon, I'll have a surplus of engines and will get the total above 500 and gain that bonus for the Tojo R&D. (The Tojos factories are currently at 30(0), 30(0) and 29(1).) Things are looking good.

The other operational factories are all good with a nice pool of each. I may shut off some engine factories occasionally. I'll have to check future needs first.

[Mike Solli]

16 Jun 42

Sub War

The I-10 caught another convoy coming out of San Francisco and put a torpedo into an xAP. The ship didn't sink but she's 12 hexes from port so maybe she won't make it.

SE Fleet

Same ole thing - 50+ 4E bombers trash Milne Bay and destroy 8 Oscars on the ground. *Sigh* I'm really hoping the Tojos can make a difference.

Other Stuff

I got my 20x Std-C and 2x Std-D conversions to TKs today. Yay! The Std-Ds will go to Hakodate to move oil. The Std-Cs are going to the following locations:

2 - Pt. Arthur to move excess oil to Japan.
4 - Truk to move fuel where needed.
14 - Singapore to be distributed to Bengkalis, Medan and Palembang to haul fuel/oil.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Same ole thing - 50+ 4E bombers trash Milne Bay and destroy 8 Oscars on the ground. *Sigh* I'm really hoping the Tojos can make a difference.

Against 4E's, I haven't found the Tojo to be any more effective than other IJA fighters. Better than Oscar? Sure, but not really that much. George, though, is a different story. But unless you have lost some CV's, you just don't have enough air groups.

[Mike Solli]

I have little recourse at this point Pax. I've got 6 R&D factories researching the George, but they are at 11, 10, 9, 2, 0 & 0 right now with the George at 9/43. I don't see much change for the remainder of this year. Also, at this point, the few dozen IJN fighter pilots I have in the reserve are being saved for KB. I'll need more than that if I want to fill out KB's fighter daitai when they increase in July. So, my only alternative right now is the Tojo. I'm considering a bombardment TF to go to Townsville, where I think the B-17s are located. Scary proposition though. I'm going to send an Ro sub there to see if there are any mines in the hex. Better an Ro sub than a CA or BB. I may burn some fuel and send all available BBs, including the Yamato. I'll also send KB to provide long range fighter support. Then they'll have to run like hell because I know Ted has some Dutch & S class subs in that area.

I have Hiryu's fighter daitai training fighters, along with some floatplane units. I just can't get them to train up to the 50/70 goal I'd like to achieve.