Thanks Obvert, I think we have so damaged Andrew's confidence that he is now playing very carefully and cautiously... we can't really stop him but we have a good history of being at the right place at the right time to give him a bloody nose... and he knows too many of those in sequence will severely impact him even now.
I've included the curent score below.
Trying to get the last couple of really good aircraft into production. Combined with a pool of really good pilots which we are hoarding we should be quite competitive when the air campaign over Japan finally gets underway... Still digging in so bases in the home islands, have done very little until recently and we need some form of credible defence gainst an invasion....
16 Oct 1944
Today was a good day, in particular for the IJAAF.
The last two days the IJAAF had bombed USMC Amphib Bn's on Hainan island, then we switche targets. Basing almost 300 Fighters out of Vinh we swept Tourane and the bombers (covered by Frank on LRCAP) followed in according to plan...
Morning Air attack on Tourane , at 66,65
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 21 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 74
Allied aircraft
P-38L Lightning x 22
Japanese aircraft losses Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed
Andrew is moping up some areas, like the SWPAC but also the Andamans. We have been bouncing in and out LB with torpedoes, did good today
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Trinkat at 44,64
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
P1Y1 Frances x 23
Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y1 Frances: 13 damaged
P1Y1 Frances: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied Ships
DD Ulysses
DD Clark AKA Aurelia, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
LSI(L) Empire Battleaxe, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Grenville
Aircraft Attacking:
21 x P1Y1 Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
Now to find some more targets
Cheers
Rob
Attachments
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18 Oct 1944
Quiet day except for sweeps by Franks against Kiungshan on Hainan which was showing only about 80 fighters. All up we lostabout 2:1 against, but we managed to kill more P-47, and we have large pools of pilots and aircraft... we lost 60 planes and 40 pilots for the turn, he lost 30 planes. Made the mistake of not following up with bombers.
Morning Air attack on Kiungshan , at 71,61
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 40,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 44
Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 25
F4U-1A Corsair x 24
Japanese aircraft losses Ki-84r Frank: 10 destroyed
In the Andamans Port Blair is slowly being turned into rubble in retailiation for sinking those ships. Some Frances are trapped there, have plenty so not a problem.
20 Oct 1944
Tried a sweep with followup bombing atacks on Kiungshan on Hainan, not as good as I hoped, overall losses are 2:1 against, lost a lot (40-50) of mostly junior pilots. I expected to get some planes on the ground, not one
Morning Air attack on Kiungshan , at 71,61
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 15 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 72
Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 15
Thunderbolt I x 16
P-38L Lightning x 25
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 24
F4U-1A Corsair x 21
Japanese aircraft losses Ki-84r Frank: 6 destroyed
You've got to be getting to his pools with even 1:2 strikes. It's also got to keep him on his toes if not the back foot. You have to keep showing you're willing to take chances to make it hurt as he drives forward.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Jrcar: Just caught up with this AAR, although I admit to not having read all the earlier stuff. You are doing an admirable job holding back the juggernaut and no doubt offer a lot of lessons to JFBs.
Could you perhaps give us an idea of naval losses on each side to date, at least the bigger stuff?
G'Day CC, the exact losses aren't that important, what is important is that out opponant believes that the remaining Japanese forces are a credible threat (something we wish to encourage) and therefore he has to act cautiously...
Japan still has remaining:
7 CV
1 CVL
5 CVE (1 badly damaged)
5 BB
4 CA (1 badly damaged)
8 CL
85 DD
Tracker shows the following Allied v Japanese losses:
6 CV v 6 CV
3 CVL v 3 CVL
15 CVE v 0 CVE
12 BB v 6 BB
1 BC
14 CA v 14 CA
2 CLAA
29 CL v 16 CL
101 DD v 58 DD
Whereevr possible we tried to pick on smaller forces a nibble at a time, hence the significant loss of Allied DD's... He probably has several hundred now though!
24 Oct 1944
A "whole bunch" (TM) of allied CV forces have moved into the south China Sea and arrived off Hainan. A souple of small strikes by both sides sees the respective attacker handelled roughly with around 70 aircraft lost on both sides. 3 Japanese ACm are lost.
No invasion force is detected, he may just be trying to draw us into attacking this horrible mass.
Our airforce is bought to alert and moved in preparation of being able to launch... however it will hold off for the moment.
Japanese defences on the coast are being rapidly reinforced, still some holes but around 3000 AV is on the way.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Hong Kong at 78,65
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 119 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 39 minutes
Japanese aircraft
B6N2a Jill x 12
N1K2-J George x 37
Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 32
Hellcat I x 24
Seafire IIC x 33
F4U-1A Corsair x 86
F4U-1D Corsair x 50 F6F-3 Hellcat x 483
F6F-5 Hellcat x 147
How is your sub fleet doing? Are you still able to use those to harass the Allied fleets, or has that turned into a futile gesture simply adding to his VP totals?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
How is your sub fleet doing? Are you still able to use those to harass the Allied fleets, or has that turned into a futile gesture simply adding to his VP totals?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Ref subs mostly futile, although did get a torp into a BB a few weeks back. have sortied most of the rest of the boats now.
This turn we lost almost 600 aircraft trying to attack the fleet that has landed on Hainan at Takao. we lost about 200 Kamis and 120 TB for no effect as they largely went in piecmeal and hardly any of the escorts flew Only lost about 180 aircrew though, have already rebuilt most of teh airgroups, can do this at least once again.
This turn am trying a few things.
Our CV fleet has sortied, probably for the last time.
Also a few other strikes to try and keep him honest....
Another couple of weeks (Nov 1944) and his bombers will be able to attack the home islands. Moving the intercepter units into position now.
Ref subs mostly futile, although did get a torp into a BB a few weeks back. have sortied most of the rest of the boats now.
This turn we lost almost 600 aircraft trying to attack the fleet that has landed on Hainan at Takao. we lost about 200 Kamis and 120 TB for no effect as they largely went in piecmeal and hardly any of the escorts flew Only lost about 180 aircrew though, have already rebuilt most of teh airgroups, can do this at least once again.
This turn am trying a few things.
Our CV fleet has sortied, probably for the last time.
Also a few other strikes to try and keep him honest....
Another couple of weeks (Nov 1944) and his bombers will be able to attack the home islands. Moving the intercepter units into position now.
Cheers
Rob
Yeah. That is a lot of planes. Although I just lost 900+ in one turn, so I feel your pain! I think the A6M2 might be making another appearance.
After the CV battle we've just had (and I've lost) I am thinking again about settings. How do you set movement for yours? A follow? A patrol hex? Just a destination, no retire?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Ref CV movement usually in two TF following an ASW TF, this has proven to be the most effective, they all stay togather and almost never "react".
27 Oct 1944
This turn massive air attacks on Takao. 117,000 allied troops and 3,500 AFV easily take Takao.
Our CD guns did almost nothing. Being a clear hex the air attacks (400 odd 4E plus several hundred CV aircraft) trashed the troops. Most of our aircraft didn't fly due to weather, although LRCAP over Takao did work and we got over 100 allied aircraft for about 60 of ours.
Hainan is now lost. Have begun the evacuation from here, the southern Phillipines and the Marianas. Time to start building up the coastal defences of Japan. Air groups are starting to transition back to Home Island Defence.
Our CV's failed to get close enough to strike, and now he has detected them. The battlefleets will now retire on Japan as a fleet in being.... with almost no fuel
The only good news is our fighter groups are in good to great shape and have a good pool of 70+ exp and skill piots to draw on. Our strike groups are almost fully rebuilt as well.
Are you glad you built out all the carriers? It seems to me Katsuragi won't ever be able to accomplish anything except being sunk in port. Are you glad to have her to bump up your fleet in being, or would you rather have the HI points to turn into fighters?
