Bring me the head of Diego Garcia...and the Mayor of Addu Atoll too!

[sprior]

Is it possible the barnacles acted as a torpedo blister

Would they be blistering barnacles then? Or is that too Belgian?

[Cap Mandrake]

Now I know where they got the idea for this photo

[sprior]

I did wonder but then my grandmother's pic, taken in 1930's Calcutta, predates it so I think the lovely Marilyn might have nicked the idea.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: sprior

I did wonder but then my grandmother's pic, taken in 1930's Calcutta, predates it so I think the lovely Marilyn might have nicked the idea.

Ah, did they meet there then? Not Marilyn and your GM, I mean Marilyn and your GF? No wait, I nean your GM and GF.

My kids Greatgrandparents on their mother's side met in India. I t[:)]hink he was there oppressing the locals.

[Grollub]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Mandrake "at work"

I'm more into this line of thought. [:'(][;)]

[Cap Mandrake]

I'll be Groucho. I could probably have used his driver's license as a 20 year old to buy drinks.

[zuluhour]

[:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

One time my brother (the evil one) took his son and my two nephews and their friend out for steaks. His son was 21, the other thre were 18-19.

Brother: You guys want beers?

Thirsty young men: Yeah!

Brother: You got ID's?

Thirsty young men: Yeah!

They call over the waiter. Of course, he has to card them. It turns out they have "lost" copies of the oldest's driver's license. He had purposely been reporting them lost for the previous two years, then going down to the DMV to get replacements so that his cousins and friend could use them WHEN he truned 21. Quite a clever and resourceful plan, years in the making. Worthy of Carlos the Jackal or something....except...they all had the same birthday and name..and the picture is roughly the same as well. [:D]

It turns out that wiaters are trained to memorize the crucial year on the card indicating 21 and then check the month. They purposely each asked him about 10 questions about the beer selection before they ordered to flood his short term memory...AND IT WORKED!

Sometmes it only takes a medium quality pran executed with bravado...which brings us back to the game.

[Cap Mandrake]

Planning for D-Day+1 Central Luzon. We didn't have enough surface firepower to guard the carriers and the anphibious groups so I sent the carriers West of Luzon to stay out of land based Val range and thin down the escorts for the Bettys...and to engage any carriers that might be about. Waiting a day for more air bombardments and to see how the attack on Clark went would have been helpful but the IJA is already on the move to the SE from Manira and Clark.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?[;)]

[Cap Mandrake]

****************How it actually went***********


Luzon et environs: LYB DD's know exactly where we are headed and intercept an ASW group 40 mi SW of Lucena

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lucena at 79,80, Range 4,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome
DD Shirayuki
DD Yamanagiri

Allied Ships
SC-520, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
SC-646, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
SC-739, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
SC-740

[Cap Mandrake]

It would have been desirable for the USN CL force to engage the DD's but....shit happens. Pretty good showing by the IJN here.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lucena at 79,80, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome
DD Shirayuki
DD Yamanagiri, Shell hits 28, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina, Shell hits 2
BB South Dakota, Shell hits 1
DD Taylor, Shell hits 2
DD Meredith, Shell hits 2
DD Bailey, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Frazier

[Cap Mandrake]

Another IJN DD force has predicted the attack on Clark and intercepts the CA's headed for Clark. Benckert and Thracian were supposed to lead the way in a scouting DD force but...you know..shit happens. Gaak. Weak effort.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lubang at 78,78, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome
DD Shirayuki

Allied Ships
CA Chicago, Shell hits 4
CA Pensacola, Shell hits 2
DD O'Bannon
DD Hughes

Friedell is in charge. He doesn't give up. Someone told him this was improtant.

The LYB DD's double back and intercept us again near Bataan. This time we are redy for them.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Bataan at 78,77, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 1
DD Shirayuki, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Chicago, Shell hits 1
CA Pensacola
DD O'Bannon
DD Hughes

[Cap Mandrake]

Hory Crap! Americans! Climb Mt. Shitake! (I like mine sauteed with a little red wine, butter, garlic and salt and pepper). Overall, I'd say this is going pretty well

Night Time Surface Combat, near Clark Field at 79,76, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-7, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MGB G-4

Allied Ships
CA Chicago
CA Pensacola
DD O'Bannon
DD Hughes

[Cap Mandrake]

Benkert and Thracian show up.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Clark Field at 79,76, Range 6,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Hakkaisan Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
PB Nikkai Maru, Shell hits 23, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Belgium Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK San Francisco Maru, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Kinkai Maru, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
DD Banckert
DD Thracian

And payday for Fiedell. Not bad considering everything that might have gone wrong. Somethng went srong with the spotter planes. Oh well.

Night Naval bombardment of Clark Field at 79,76

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
D3A2 Val: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged
A6M3a Zero: 10 damaged
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Pensacola
CA Chicago

Japanese ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 6

Both Friedell's group and the DD's only make it back to Bataan hex when the sun comes up. They have no LRCAP assigned. Oh well. The cruisers encounter an IJN straggler

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lubang at 78,78, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA Chicago
CA Pensacola
DD O'Bannon
DD Hughes

[Cap Mandrake]

The surface groups at Lucena draw first attention. The carriers are too far for the Vals. The boys over Lucena perform well. Apparently, there is a ittle help from Naga or San Jose. Could have been worse.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Lucena at 79,79

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
A6M3a Zero x 10
D3A2 Val x 24
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 8



Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 5
P-39D Airacobra x 1
P-40E Warhawk x 13
P-40K Warhawk x 5
F4U-1 Corsair x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 2 destroyed
D3A2 Val: 10 damaged
D3A2 Val: 2 destroyed by flak
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 3 destroyed

No Allied losses

Smallish P-38 sweep but the CAP is getting less too.

Morning Air attack on Clark Field , at 79,76

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 1



Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

Wimpy raid on the Manila fields. The B-24's at Jolo have no air HQ and it's only level 4.

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 11



Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 4


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 2 damaged



Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 4

[Cap Mandrake]

Now the carriers. They are still packed with fighters and light on bombers. We go after some DD's near Bataan. Evidently, the LYB carriers have departed. A fresh SBD group was flown in to make up for yesterday's losses.


Morning Air attack on TF, near Bataan at 77,77

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 11



Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61-Ia Tony: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Samidare
DD Yayoi, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Tankers

Morning Air attack on TF, near Balabac at 69,79

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes


Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 5
SBD-3 Dauntless x 13


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PB Kashiwa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Samui Maru
DD Hasu, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk

Evidently the sortie North of Palawan was not expected. Tankers go boom. Perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balabac at 69,79

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes


Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 5
F4F-4 Wildcat x 16
SBD-3 Dauntless x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
TK Samui Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Nihon Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires

[Cap Mandrake]

Legaspi: Unloading of troops had to be suspended becuase of IJN DD's about 400 mi out to the NE. This raid was broken up. The diversionary aspect of the Legaspi landing has worked pretty well..although the 1st Marine Tank Bn. might not see it that way.

Morning Air attack on Legaspi , at 82,82

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 64 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 10
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 15



Allied aircraft
Hurricane XIIb x 6
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40K Warhawk x 2


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed

No Allied losses

[Cap Mandrake]

Summary of the PI action:

Arries: 3 PC lost, a few DD's dented. One CL dented. Transports safe.

Shinto Boys: 4 DD sunk or wrecked. 2 TK's wrecked or sunk. Heavy LBA losses.

[Cap Mandrake]

I am now stationed at Hilton Head in case the LYB's try to land on the east coast.

A fine example of Sounthern poise and charm in Savannah. In defense of Savannah they are probably visitors.

[Chickenboy]

Did you inquire regarding her bleaching status? You should preface such questions with, "You can tell me, I'm a Doctor" for greater acceptance.