IronMan Nasty!

[Lowpe]

Ambon falls.

[Lowpe]

Samarinda falls.

[Lowpe]

Finally, another attack on Singapore.

[Lowpe]

Port Moresby looks doomed.

[Lowpe]

Jan 25, 1942

Attu Island, at sea

The Enterprise and Lexington made good their escape, and steamed east their destination Seattle.

The raid on Toyohara had taught the naval aviators, sailors and officers many lessons on strike force management, refueling at sea, and ship management. These lessons would be learned quickly and adopted throughout the Pacific.

Unknown to most sailors in the task force, back in Pearl Harbor, the code breakers got a treasure trove of useful material, which would help them break the Japanese messages and improve their signal intelligence briefings for Admiral Nimitz.

While in Seattle, the Buffalo fighter wing would be replaced with newer F4Fs at Seattle and some ships were slated for upgrades. Needless to say, the sailors were all looking forward to a period of liberty. In the near future, the newsreels in theaters across the country would make them celebrities.

[Crackaces]

The latest Beta would have enabled you to better strike a city target like the oil resourses ... [the ability to target city resources out of range and then sail full speed into range then determing range in the day light hours .. striking and then getting out that evening ..] Oh Well maybe next time every upgrading

[Lowpe]

Jan 26, 1942

West of Milne Bay, at sea

Captain Getting ordered his task force of cruisers to return to their patrol area off Milne Bay. The crew had wanted to catch the Japanese cruiser force that was hunting for them, but Getting was fine with punishing the troop transports of the Port Moresby invasion force instead.

Patrolling south and east of Port Moresby, Getting had caught two ships in the dead of night and with radar to guide his ships in the Japanese didn’t stand a chance. Then at dawn they encountered the Hanatsuki Maru.

The Hanatsuki led them on a merry chase, over 120 miles east of Milne Bay, before they caught and sunk her.
Now, they steamed east with the sun setting off their stern as they looked for more prey. Intelligence alerted them to look for the armed merchant cruiser Tone Maru; reportedly loaded with the 80th Infantry Brigade.

Those boys in Port Moresby had enough Japanese to worry about already, and Getting wanted to make the 80th swim to Moresby.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

The latest Beta would have enabled you to better strike a city target like the oil resourses ... [the ability to target city resources out of range and then sail full speed into range then determing range in the day light hours .. striking and then getting out that evening ..] Oh Well maybe next time every upgrading

I am playing v1.71123e which was mid Feb 2013 version of the beta.

I deliberately put the planes on naval strike first, and airport strike second. Those guys would have been very worried about enemy planes I figured.

To tell you the truth, I thought they would all get sunk since I am playing two day turns. Oops, there goes John Ford. There was a sub attack as the fleet fled, but it didn't even penetrate the DD screen so I left it out of the narrative....

[Lowpe]

Jan 27, 1942

East of Milne Bay, at sea

Astern of the cruiser task force several Japanese ships burned furiously. Getting had broken off combat for a chance to rearm and refuel. Once again, his ships performed well together with only the destroyer Edsall taking significant damage from charging the minelayer Yaeyama and her 12 centimeter guns. She would return to Sydney for repairs.

A more aggressive commander would have stayed to finish of the convoy, but Getting worried about the Japanese cruisers in the area that were tasked with protecting these Port Moresby landing forces. It would be trouble if he encountered them without torpedoes and eight inch shells.

While he returned to port, Port Moresby would be protected by the recently arrived British battleship Warspite. Warspite was the first arrival of Allied ships re-routed to defend Moresby and she would take station closer to Port Moresby than the Canberra's patrol area. Intelligence warned that the Japanese were making a major push on Port Moresby, perhaps the first part of an offensive aimed at Australia.

The Japanese troops at Moresby had been quiet since their initial attacks and that hopefully boded well for the future of the garrison.

[Lowpe]

Jan 27, 1942

Funafuti, at sea

Rear Admiral English was out of his comfort zone, and knew it. A capable, hard working submariner, he now held the command of a cruiser task force tasked by Nimitz at disrupting Japanese naval operations around Canton Island.

Yesterday, all had gone well as his ships visited death and destruction on enemy ships at Funafuti. Now his command steamed towards Baker Island. Long range patrol planes reported another concentration of Japanese ships there with no capital ships present.

Soon, English would find out that report was very wrong.

[Lowpe]

Jan 27, 1942

Palembang

Wavell issued another attack order to the besieged defenders at Singapore. He felt that a pure defense would doom the defenders to slow starvation. His only hope, was an aggressive defense that would force the Japanese back. In addition, the water plants were perilously close to the forward defensive line and if they fell the city was doomed.

He felt every confidence that his troops would be able to defend Singapore as long as supplies held out. Currently a squadron of Lodestar transport planes were flying in supplies and out wounded.

Wavell needed to get freighters in, and had been successful of late sending a lone freighter into Rangoon. Perhaps, that would work at Singapore too until the promised Hurricanes arrived and a proper convoy could get in. The situation was much like Malta, but on a bigger scale.

[Lowpe]

Jan 29, 1942

Canton Island

Rear Admiral English timed his raid on Baker Island perfectly. Taking advantage of the rain and darkness, his cruisers first came across two cargo ships. They didn’t go down without a fight and the destroyer minesweeper Boggs was hit and sought permission to repair back to port. The damage on Boggs was modest, but she was on fire so English assigned the Worden to help shepherd the Boggs back to Canton Island. Whether he regretted that decision was never known, but his destroyer screen was now performed by only the Trevor and was substantially weakened.

Now, short two destroyers, English pressed his attack and found two more cargo ships and set one ablaze while the other fled into the storm.

English had his ships pursue the fleeing cargo ship, when they chanced across a small patrol boat and another cargo ship. The patrol boat was promptly sunk, while the cargo ship fled on fire.

After sinking the patrol boat, English’s ships were very close to the harbor and it was there that they caught another three more cargo ships sinking them all before the enemy could even get underway.

With dawn approaching and their ammunition at critical levels the task force headed for Canton Island. The rain storm continued into the day and it was approximately 100 miles south southeast of Baker Island that the lookouts spotted the Japanese at a scant 7000 yards.

The range rapidly closed to 2000 yards in a swirling chaotic fight. The heavy seas made spotting torpedo wakes next to impossible and the short range greatly favored the Japanese. Scant minutes into the battle a burst of blinding light enveloped the line -- the magazine of the Louisville had exploded.

English quickly ordered his remaining ships to make smoke and break off but before the order was sent the Pensacola was hit by at least two torpedoes and foundered. Within minutes the two cruisers were gone leaving the Trenton and Trevor alone.

The Trenton, her main gun ammunition expended, managed to increase the distance to 8000 yards when a torpedo spread sent the gallant ship down.

The Trevor, dodging torpedoes and shell fire managed to escape and made her way back to Canton Island with news of the disaster.

[Lowpe]

Jan 30, 1942

Pearl Harbor

The last two days had been very hectic for Admiral Nimitz. Depressed by the loss of the Pensacola and company, the news got worse as the Yorktown was torpedoed by a submarine off Lihue.

Then the reports started coming in from New Guinea.

SigInt had reported the Tone Maru transporting additional troops to Port Moresby and Nimitz had sent almost all available ships to aid the Australians.

His staff was still sorting through the chaotic battle reports, but it seems that first encounter with several Japanese task forces was by the Saratoga now under Halsey’s command. Halsey, deemed too aggressive to command the Sakhalin raid, used his aggressive style to launch three air raids in two days that savaged the Japanese forces.

While the air raids were being fought, the Warspite group, eventually reinforced with a few light cruisers and Le Triomphant, closed with several different task forces. They did yeoman work, shrugging off many hits, and engaged cruisers, light cruisers, destroyer, and all manner of transports and freighters.

Unfortunately, in her last engagement the Japanese cruiser Tone managed to hit Warspite with another of those ungodly long range torpedoes and forced her group to withdraw.

[Lowpe]

Warspite strikes:

[Lowpe]

Warspite strikes again.

[Lowpe]

Warspite group now reinforced with two light cruisers versus the Tone.

[Lowpe]

The Warspite group finishes of the Tone Maru!

[Lowpe]

Saratoga strike:

[Andy Mac]

Clearly I need to go back to the drawing board not nasty enough !!!

Hmmmm

[Lowpe]

Jan 30, 1942

Nimitz could only scratch his head at Japanese naval dispositions. While the invasion fleets in New Guinea were getting destroyed by sea and air, two of the IJN's carrier groups were making raids.

One was south of Midway, while the second was west of Java again.