Balade of the Newbie: First Stop, Operation Buccaneer

[BBfanboy]

I don't like the idea of 20% training while going on a real mission. This means 50% of your aircraft are committed in the air at a time and will suffer fatigue and mechanical failure. You may not know, but 30% CAP means 30% in the air in position, 30% are transiting to and from the ship, and 30% are refuelling/rearming on the ship or getting minor snags fixed. Pilots also have to eat, drink and visit "the heads".

You can put up a higher level of CAP for an expected attack, but you run the risk that they may all be down for refuelling when the attack actually arrives. And attacks will often be fragmented so they come in several waves, making your initial CAP use up ammo and fuel and RTB before the next attack arrives. You really do need a continuous rotation of CAP to keep it fresh. Better to have fewer fighters on continual coverage than hit the first attackers hard and leave the rest unmolested. The key job is to make the bombers miss, and shooting at them during their run-in usually does this, even if they are not shot down.

About the fighter altitude, layering is important to intercept both high and low [TB] attacks. Put your Seafires higher, say 18K, and the Martlets down around 7K. Otherwise you will not have time to climb to intercept high attackers nor dive to intercept low ones.

There are never enough fighters, so make compromises where you must.

Your land based planes on ASW should fly much lower - 1K or 2K so they can attack before the sub submerges. They are not searching a wide area for initial contacts, they are flying out to the places your Nav Search detects subs and trying to get a visual sighting for attack.

[BlitzimX]

Now for the results of turn 2:

(Sorry for the pictures i can't post them yet, jsut copy the adress in the internet adress bar)

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Morning Air attack on 112th Infantry Regiment, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 19



Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 28


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

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Aircraft Attacking:
16 x Liberator II bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
12 x Liberator II bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(19 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 17 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes



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Morning Air attack on 112th Infantry Regiment, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 10



Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 32


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

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



Aircraft Attacking:
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 18000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(12 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 7 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes

As we can see, lowering the altitude of my Bombers made them in range of Enemy CAP which seem to be quite important in Port BLair. As a result, i will stop Bombing the area since for now it seems we are taking quite important damages for very little results.

[center]

Third Turn actions
[/center]

imageshack.us/a/img856/166/y1og.png

We can see the position of my ships on that 3rd turn and their destination. You can see my two Surface TF (red) and their destination nearby PB. They will be able to add extra cover for the landing troops, even if these will already receive the help of the Excort TF.

The closest Surface TF will leave the area of LBP search zone. As a result i set its planes as follow:
- Seafires at 18 000feet, CAP30% Max Range 1
- DB and TB remain as before.

In the Black circle we see all the TFs gathered after meeting with the ASW TF (4 KV ships). That's only there that i realize this ASW TF only mooves at 12 knotts, so it will take ages for it to reache PB. As a resultn i form a new ASW TF at Colopbo with 3 DDs and ask it to meet up with the other 3 TF: The Bombardment TF, Amhibious TF and Escort TF. The KV TF will wait at its current position to escort the Cargo TF soon to be coming from Colombo.

Since we don't risk many things for now, i don't set the Escort planes to any duties yet.


imageshack.us/a/img402/4504/i40a.png

After stopping the Bombing Missions, i set the Blenheim IV squadron at TRiconmalee to Naval Search:
- Altitude 2000 ft , 20% ASW, 20% Search, Max Range 9.

Now that i have stoped the bombing, shall i also set the heavy bombers to search duties?

[BBfanboy]

I thought you were not going to do a bombing campaign against PB, just one day to get Intel, so that is why I recommended bombing the troops. If you want to do damage to it with HB, use Airfield Attack. That may get some supply hits that use up their supply and could close the airfield. Don't worry, when you take it, it will repair faster than it takes to build it in the first place. You don't even need engineers, although they will speed the repair up.
As for the lack of results on the ground troops, the combat report does not show everything and usually under-reports casualties. The progression of bomb/bombardment effects is: disruption/fatigue [not shown in combat reports] followed by disablement, followed by destruction. The number of squads/guns/vehicles destroyed rises sharply after a unit reaches 50% disablement. This means continuous bombing over several weeks will suddenly give the results you want. The problem is your HB need rest and repair and I doubt you have enough to rotate various squadrons through a bombing campaign.

Hold your HB back from attacking PB until about two days before your landings. Get them rested and repaired. You can send a % on Nav Search if the fatigue does not rise too much.
Note that 20000 feet is much too high for Nav Search. There is a posting in the War Room section of this forum called something like "FAQ for Newbies" where the developers give lots of advice about aircraft settings. Their recommendation for Nav Search altitude is 6000 feet. This is a compromise between seeing small vessels like subs and covering a wider area. I search for subs at 3K or 4K.

After bombing and bombarding the PB enemy, their disruption will be elevated for a few turns and give your troops a chance to get ashore and attack. Do NOT use Shock Attack until you have info on how high the forts are [anything over 2 will cause you lots of casualties. You also want the enemy to have much lower AV than your total and have your own troop fatigue low before a SA. If you have tanks and engineers, they will help a lot against forts.

You can post pictures in your post if you save them as JPG on your computer first. When you are in the post window there is a small box labeled "Embed picture in post". Click that. Nothing will happen at this point. There will be some text that says "Upload more files". Click on this text and it will then bring up a small box that allows you to browse to your computer's files and find the picture you want to embed. Put in the picture name and end the post. I have done your map for this post:

[BBfanboy]

Now that I see the map, a couple of additional comments:

- I hope you have not set the Bombardment TF to "Bombardment" mission yet. They will then attempt to run-in and out at full speed from a long way out, using a lot of their fuel and getting lots of system and maybe engine damage. With BBs, this takes a long time to fix. If they have not been sighted by enemy air search [check in the Operations Report] they can go in at normal speed set with Surface Combat mission, and switch to Bombardment as close to target as possible.

- I noticed that you set your initial TFs to follow your Amphib force. That means that enemy attacks will usually go after the Amphib force first. It is usually best to set your ASW first, followed by your SCTF, followed by Carriers and Amphib TF. If you get too many TFs following each other, the game will sometimes just stop them in place because it cannot figure out what to do.

- Also keep an eye on fuel states of your shortest-range ships. They will refuel from larger ships but this uses operations points and reduces their movement for the day. You don't want this happening when you are in combat with the enemy. Tell them to "Refuel at sea" just before you expect combat next turn.

- On the map, there are two red diamonds at the island chain where PB is located. Does that indicate enemy TFs?

[BlitzimX]

Note that 20000 feet is much too high for Nav Search.

It's 2000 not 20 000 But i will set them to 6000 as advised.

- I hope you have not set the Bombardment TF to "Bombardment" mission yet. They will then attempt to run-in and out at full speed from a long way out, using a lot of their fuel and getting lots of system and maybe engine damage. With BBs, this takes a long time to fix. If they have not been sighted by enemy air search [check in the Operations Report] they can go in at normal speed set with Surface Combat mission, and switch to Bombardment as close to target as possible.

Nope, they are jsut following for the moment.

- I noticed that you set your initial TFs to follow your Amphib force. That means that enemy attacks will usually go after the Amphib force first. It is usually best to set your ASW first, followed by your SCTF, followed by Carriers and Amphib TF. If you get too many TFs following each other, the game will sometimes just stop them in place because it cannot figure out what to do.

In fact the order is the following: the ASW TF has destination PB, and the Bombardement/Amphibious and Escort are set to follow the ASW TF.

- On the map, there are two red diamonds at the island chain where PB is located. Does that indicate enemy TFs?

Yeah i forgot to say about it, that's the destinations of my two Surface TFs.

[BlitzimX]

Nothing special to report for turn 3, appart that the Japs claimed Little Adaman, and a few Periscopes/Coning Towers around my TFs.


[center]Turn 4 Orders[/center]


The first thing that bothers me is that my first Carrier TF has arrived to position (South), whereas my second one (Northern) is still on its way. Is it safe to have my first TF standing and waiting for the other to arrive, even more when subjs have been detected, or shall i moove it at least one Hex away?

I changed the Northern TF 's planes to the same setting than the other one, since it is now out of LBP searches.
- Fighters 23 000 Feet (And not 18000 since they are not Seafires), 30%CAP , Max range 1
- TB 3000 feet, 30% ASW ,Max RAnge 3, Random arc
- DB 6000 feet, 30 % NAval Search, Max Range 3, Random Arcs


Also my DD ASW TF reached the three others waiting South of Colombo. I set its destination to PB, set the Escort TF to follow the ASW TF and the Amphibious/Bombardment to follow the TF.
And it brings me to an other question: Why do my DD TF now only sails at 12 knots instead of 36? I know that it normaly set its speed to the lowest ship of the TF (or in our case, in the TF that follows), but i don't remember having ships these slow in my TFs. It seems that all 4 TFs have a reduced speed, even if i set them all to Cruise speed.
As a result, they only progress 4 Hexes at a time (appart if it is 4 Hexes in morning, and 4 in the Afternoon, for 8 Hexes a Turn).

[BBfanboy]

Whether the Southern CV TF is safe depends on what the opposition is. If he has LBA and SCTFs that can reach it, it should retreat immediately to keep in touch with the other TF. Exception, if it is there to provide LRCAP over the SCTFs, have them complete their mission ASAP and move back to be closer to the rest of the force. Loitering in one place while detected invites attack by subs, bombers, carrier aircraft and even enemy SCTFs. It's all about playing cat and mouse to keep him guessing where you are and what route you plan to take.

Do the Japanese have carriers in this scenario too? That is a huge threat - they carry more and better aircraft. If they have the same pilot quality as other scenarios they can be deadly. Your advantages would be AA and perhaps locally greater numbers of fighters if you keep the CVs together. If the Japanese strike is coming to you, their fighters on escort are at a disadvantage as they must sacrifice themselves to protect the bombers. If you are attacking them the reverse is true.

About the TF speed - typically some of your amphib ships are 12 kt. cargo ships. If you watch the replay carefully you will see something like "TF xxx slowing down to allow following TF zzz to catch up". That is the only way they can stay together. If you want your ASW TF to go a bit ahead of your following TFs, set the follow distance for the latter to the number of hexes you want.

[BlitzimX]

Do the Japanese have carriers in this scenario too?

Nope, in the briefing it's just told about a CA which could arrive during the mission, but that's not sure. The only threat is coming from LBA.


Turn 4 ended quite nicely, with the ASW preceding the 3 TFs detecting and attacking a Sub. However it didn't do any damage and the Sub escaped without any scratch.

I mooved the Southern Carrier TF a few Hexes North to be nearby the Norther one.


[center]
Turn 5 Orders[/center]

Time for a bit of cleaning. Before setting up my Heavy Bombers to bombard PB again, i need to get ride of the CAP over the island. On each Carrier TF, i set one squadron to CAP 50%. All the other FTR Squadrons are set to Sweep PB:
- 18 000 Feet, 30% Sweep

I also set the Escort TF's planes ready for duty, with the standart settings set before for the two other Carrier TFs.

From Colombo, the Cargo TF is set to meet the ASW TF waiting South of the island, composed of 3 KV.

[BBfanboy]

Looks like you are getting the hang of this!
You should check the ammo on the ships in that ASW TF. If one or two of them used up most of their DCs, send them back to replenish immediately. They can catch up to the TF later and rejoin.

[BlitzimX]

HEre are the results of Turn 5:

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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 34



Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 13


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire IIC: 1 destroyed



CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 20 scrambling)
10 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 16



Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 22


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Martlet IV: 1 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Martlet IV sweeping at 23000 feet

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
15 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 48 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 22 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 7



Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 11


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Martlet IV sweeping at 23000 feet

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 1



Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 13


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

No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Seafire IIC sweeping at 18000 feet

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 8000 , scrambling fighters to 18000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 65 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes


Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 11


No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Seafire IIC sweeping at 18000 feet

AS we see here, a ratio of 9 Japs Killed for 2 of ours. I am really impressed by the first raid, where the Seafires were fighting with a 3:1 ratio and still only lost one plane. I did a test run before that turn and that's where i see many elements are included in the calculation, since here all the raids were independant. In my previous run, i had only 3 raids with more than one squadron joining, even at differnet altitude.

Noob Question : I had a question on the Primary/Secondary mission setting. For example here i set my planes to "Sweep". I suppose the choice of altitude is the altitude of the mission, but i still had the "MAx range" and "Patrol Level" options still available. For a CAP ar 30%; does it mean that 30% of the planes in the squadron will stay at CAP and the others be sent to Sweep, or all the planes are dedicated to the Sweep and then once back with proceed with the CAP mission?
[center]

Turn 6 Orders[/center]

This is where the fun starts. The Invading TFs are now in range of PB, and the action will start next turn.


Carrier TFs orders
My fighters start to be building up some fatigue (about 12-15 on average), so i set them the most tired to 20% cap, max range 1. The less tired squadrons are set to LRCAP over PB, 30% too, to support the incoming invasion forces and the coming Airfield bombardment.

All Carriers DB are set to Ground Attack at PB: 30%, 11 0000 feet.

I also ordered my embarked Float Plane to proceed with a Recon flight over PB, 6000 feet.


Heavy Bombers orders

B24s and Liberators 2 from Trincomalee are set to "Airfield attack" mission, Altitude 20 000 feet.


Amphibious TFs orders

I cancel the "Follow TF" order and set PB as destination, with the right to unload Cargo at Destination


Bombardement TFs orders

I cancel the "Follow TF" order and set its mission back to "Bombardment", destination PB.


Escort TFs orders

I cancel the "Follow TF" order and orders it to go one Hex before PB to cover the Invasion with its FTR.


Cargo TFs orders

Orders are set to follow the ASW TF, which destination has been set for PB.

[BBfanboy]

I have always been murky about the fact that you get to set CAP with either Sweep or Escort missions.
My take on it is that if you set "Escort" with a CAP setting, some of the sqn. will stay on CAP but any still on the ship when the bombers fly a strike mission will try to accompany the strike as escorts. This will leave few aircraft to replace the ones on CAP when they need to refuel, so CAP will be spotty.
With a Sweep setting you need to set a hex to sweep, and this should be either a distant hex you want to clear of enemy defensive fighters, OR, your own TF if you want to set them to CAP as well. I don't think you can do both the distant sweep and CAP with the same sqn., but I could be wrong about that.

Lowering your CAP to reduce fatigue is good, but you get better results if you specify "rest" for some of them. Without it, any pilots not in the air are on standby in the ready room and don't reduce fatigue much until nightfall. Try CAP at 30% and Rest 20%.

Your fighter sweeps did very well - you seem to have found the sweet spot for altitude to fight the Tojos, which can be a formidable fighter if the pilots are good. I guess this scenario models lower Japanese pilot experience because of previous losses.

At PB, you can expect mines and possibly mini subs. Send in your minesweepers and ASW ahead of the bombardment TF if possible. Also put at least two SCTFs in the same hex as the amphib force to intercept his ships trying to interfere. Two six-ship TFs are better than one 12-ship one. In a large SCTF some of the ships will never get to fire a shot in a battle because they are too far back or other friendly ships are in the way.

All your other orders look good to me. Good luck!

[BlitzimX]

Thanks you are really a great help

At PB, you can expect mines and possibly mini subs. Send in your minesweepers and ASW ahead of the bombardment TF if possible.

I thought about it but how do you set up this "ASW first to clean, then BB TF" order? I just gave both TF (in fact 3 with the Amphibious) PB as destination, but can you also set an order of arrival? I know that the BB is done before the landing, but is the ASW done before the BB or at the same time than the other operations?

I ask this because i have spoted a lot of Subs in PB and around.

I have also an other question concerning Float planes and Patrol planes used as ASW.

From what i saw in the reports, I had some planes set to ASW search obliging some Subs to dive and prevent them from attacking. I was wondering if you are olbliged to set a max range for the ASW search, or if we can leave 000 arcs and 0 range? Would it mean that the planes will jsut search for subs in the vicinity of the TF?


My troops are also set to "Defend" in their landing crafts; from what i got from your first post, i have to leave them that way until they are fully unloaded?

[BBfanboy]

You can have the BB TF set to follow the ASW or Minesweeping TFs, but I can't recall if you can set the bombardment order at the same time. Usually the bombardment TF will try to sprint in to bombard at night and sprint away to get away from LBA attacks the next morning. In that case the follow order would not work, I think.
Best bet is to send the ASW a hex or two ahead of the BBs just before the bombardment and have the ASW reach the target first. Alternately, embed your ASW ships with your bombardment force, but they will be sprinting too and use up a lot of fuel. I don't think they do ASW as well when sprinting and when that is not their primary mission.
On the other hand, sprinting ships are difficult targets for subs. [:)]

You can have your float planes [and others] at O range so they patrol only the hex the TF is in. The 000 arcs just means they search all around the home point. This may not be the best choice - the subs could get a bead on the TF before they are spotted. At range 1, the ASW/Nav Search has a chance to spot the sub and force it down before it can get a shot at the TF. The TF will also have a better chance to avoid the sub if it does have to pass through that hex during its movement phase.

The troops in the landing ships cannot be given attack orders until they are in the same hex with enemy troops. There are some circumstances in which the troops will automatically shock attack when they land - something about the proportion of the unit landed during the turn affects it, but I can't remember the details so I won't guess. Search "The War Room" section of the forum for the info. I never looked it up because I didn't think I could orchestrate the circumstances - it's a case of "Qué sera, sera". It just happens ... or not![:D]

[BlitzimX]

A lot of things happened during this turn.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 23, 43
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ASW attack near Little Andaman at 45,60

Japanese Ships
SS RO-67, hits 7

Allied Ships
BB Valiant
LSI(L) Brisbane Star
LSI - 309
xAP Congella
DD Isis



SS RO-67 launches 6 torpedoes at BB Valiant
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub


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Sub attack near Port Blair at 46,59

Japanese Ships
SS U-188, hits 2

Allied Ships
CL Boise
DD Rapid
DD Relentless



SS U-188 launches 2 torpedoes at CL Boise
U-188 diving deep ....
DD Relentless attacking submerged sub ....
DD Relentless fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Relentless fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Relentless fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Relentless fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-3

Allied Ships
DD Nubian
DD Tartar



SSX Ha-3 is sighted by escort
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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ASW attack near Koggala at 30,51

Japanese Ships
SS I-26, hits 1

Allied Ships
AM Cromer



SS I-26 is sighted by escort
I-26 diving deep ....
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer fails to find sub, continues to search...
AM Cromer attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 18 damaged
H6K4 Mavis: 4 damaged
H6K4 Mavis: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Warspite
CA Frobisher
CA Sussex
CL Newcastle
CL Birmingham

Japanese ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled



Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 10
Port hits 2
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

BB Warspite firing at Port Blair
CA Frobisher firing at Port Blair
CA Sussex firing at Port Blair
CL Newcastle firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
CL Birmingham firing at Port Blair


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Morning Air attack on 112th Infantry Regiment, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 9



Allied aircraft
Barracuda II x 13
Seafire IIC x 37
Martlet IV x 4


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

Allied aircraft losses
Barracuda II: 2 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Barracuda II releasing from 4000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
7 x Barracuda II releasing from 3000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (1 airborne, 2 on standby, 6 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters to 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes



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Morning Air attack on 112th Infantry Regiment, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3



Allied aircraft
Barracuda II x 14
Seafire IIC x 9
Martlet IV x 12


No Japanese losses

No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Barracuda II releasing from 2000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x Barracuda II releasing from 2000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
8 x Martlet IV sweeping at 23000 feet
4 x Barracuda II releasing from 3000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 73 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 2
Martlet IV x 4
Liberator II x 25
B-24D Liberator x 13


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses



Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 10

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Liberator II bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
12 x Liberator II bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
13 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb



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Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 7
Martlet IV x 4
B-24D Liberator x 16


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses



Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-4, hits 4, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CL Enterprise
LSI(L) Empire Battleaxe
xAP Singu
xAP Khedive Ismail
DD Isis



SSX Ha-4 launches 2 torpedoes at CL Enterprise
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis attacking submerged sub ....
Large oil slick appears over area of attack!
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-6, hits 1

Allied Ships
DD Tartar
DD Nubian



SSX Ha-6 launches 2 torpedoes at DD Tartar
Ha-6 bottoming out ....
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tartar attacking submerged sub ....
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tartar fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 32 damaged
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 7 damaged
H6K4 Mavis: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Warspite
CA Frobisher
CA Sussex
CL Newcastle
CL Birmingham

Japanese ground losses:
133 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled



Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 24
Port hits 22
Port fuel hits 3
Port supply hits 7

BB Warspite firing at Port Blair
CA Frobisher firing at Port Blair
CA Sussex firing at Port Blair
CL Newcastle firing at Port Blair
CL Birmingham firing at Port Blair


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Invasion action off Port Blair (46,58)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

28 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Valiant
CL Ceres
CL Enterprise
DD Inconstant
LSI(L) Brisbane Star
CVE Stalker
DD Isis

Japanese ground losses:
126 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


BB Valiant firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
CL Ceres firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
CL Enterprise firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
DD Inconstant firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 6,000 yards
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amphibious Assault at Port Blair (46,58)

TF 5 troops unloading over beach at Port Blair, 46,58


Allied ground losses:
891 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 144 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 80 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 78 (0 destroyed, 78 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (0 destroyed, 6 disabled)


12 troops of a African Rifle Sqd accidentally lost during unload of 11th (East African) Div /6


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3924 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 143

Defending force 4532 troops, 202 guns, 19 vehicles, Assault Value = 200

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



Assaulting units:
112th Infantry Regiment
INA Detachment Battalion
55th Const Co
90th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
XXXIII Corps Engr Bn /4
11th (East African) Div /12

As you can see, a lot of subs are hunting nearby PB. Lucky for me, none hit their target. On the other hand, I didn't kill any. That's a draw on that side.

The Airfield Bombardment had quite a very little effect , and we can see the BOmbardement from the BB TF had a very nice scoring with a lot of planes destroyed or damaged. Good job guys.

SOmething which stuns me is the number of casualties during the Amphibious assault. I guess that's normal, the Japs won't welcome me onshore with flowers.

Now let's get to the real action

[center]
Turn 6 Orders[/center]

A Mine laying cruiser leaves Ceylon island for PB in order to have some present deliveries over there. I shoudl have d0ne this sooner.

I cancel the Airfield attack from my Bombers; with my troops around, i don't want to damage the runway even more. BEsides, i think most of the based planes are out of action for now thanks to the BB TF.

I also cancel all Dive Bombing Activities from the Carriers. They had quite a little effect for now, and i just set them to rest for this turn. The Fighters are spread between a 20% CAP over the Carriers and a 40% LRCAP for the less tired ones over PB. With all the Japs Airfields around, i sense something nasty could be coming.

The BB TF, now set to Surface TF, is set to retreat a few Hexes back to give space to the other TFs already on position.

The Escort TF have its FTR set to cap 60, Max Hex 1 to cover PB too. ts 4 Float planes are given a 50% ASW Search, on an arc 310-000 over Port Blair, max range 3, Altitude 2000 ft.

I don't touch the ground troops for now and let them on Defensive bahaviour while they have not all unloaded. They seem to handle correctly JApanese attacks for now.

Finaly, i moove my Carriers a few Hexes away to avoid the Subs hunting around.

[BBfanboy]

The high level of disruption during landing indicates lack of preparation for this target, and probably some bad weather. There was not enough gunfire during the landing to cause that much disruption.

The Japanese bombardment at the end indicates he has a regiment [~ 150 AV], a battalion [~ 50 AV] and some construction troops with very low AV. If he has more than level 3 forts you will need more than just your division and Engineers to take the base. The right thing to do is dig in [defensive orders] and wait for most of your disruption to clear. Meanwhile, keep pounding his troops and use CAP to try limit airlift of enemy troops to the base.

Reload those BB magazines as soon as you can.

[BlitzimX]

Nothing much to report on that day appart from a massive Raid from LBA on my landing ships, and my ASW TF getting low on AS ammos. Oh and we finaly sank our first sub too \o/

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 24, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Port Blair (46,58)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

23 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Valiant
CL Ceres
CL Enterprise
DD Isis
DD Inconstant
LSI(L) Brisbane Star


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


CL Ceres firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
CL Enterprise firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
DD Isis firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
DD Inconstant firing at 112th Infantry Regiment
DD Inconstant fired at enemy troops
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 2,000 yards


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-3, hits 1

Allied Ships
DD Roebuck
DD Ashanti



SSX Ha-3 is located by DD Roebuck
Ha-3 bottoming out ....
DD Ashanti fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Ashanti attacking submerged sub ....
SSX Ha-3 eludes DD Ashanti by hugging bottom
SSX Ha-3 eludes DD Ashanti by hugging bottom
DD Ashanti is out of ASW ammo
DD Ashanti fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Ashanti fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Ashanti fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-5

Allied Ships
DD Roebuck



SSX Ha-5 is sighted by escort
DD Roebuck fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Roebuck fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Roebuck fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Roebuck fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Roebuck fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Port Blair at 46,58

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-5, hits 9, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Racehorse
DD Roebuck



SSX Ha-5 is located by DD Racehorse
Ha-5 bottoming out ....
DD Roebuck attacking submerged sub ....
Sounds of submarine breaking up detected!
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Port Blair (46,58)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
LSI(L) Brisbane Star
DD Isis


Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Port Blair (46,58)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

19 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
LSI(L) Brisbane Star
DD Isis


Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on INA Detachment Battalion, at 46,58 (Port Blair)

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes


Allied aircraft
Barracuda II x 10
Seafire IIC x 26
Martlet IV x 11


No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Barracuda II releasing from 4000'
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes


Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 21
Liberator II x 24


No Allied losses



Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Liberator II bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
11 x Liberator II bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Port Blair , at 46,58

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 28 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes


Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 13
Martlet IV x 17
B-24D Liberator x 28


No Allied losses



Runway hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb
16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 20000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Port Blair at 46,58

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 105 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 42
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 13



Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 28
Martlet IV x 17


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 15 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 5 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVE Stalker
BB Valiant



Aircraft Attacking:
25 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 16000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
No.834 Sqn-FF-2 FAA with Martlet IV (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 23000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes
No.800 Sqn FAA with Seafire IIC (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 18000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 9 minutes
No.809 Sqn FAA with Seafire IIC (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 12 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 13000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 19000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
14 planes vectored on to bombers
No.881 Sqn FAA with Seafire IIC (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 18000
Raid is overhead
No.888 Sqn FAA with Martlet IV (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 23000
Raid is overhead
No.896 Sqn FAA with Martlet IV (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 23000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invasion Support action off Port Blair (46,58)
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

41 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
LSI(L) Brisbane Star
BB Valiant
CVE Stalker
DD Isis


Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 2,000 yards


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3926 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 144

Defending force 6901 troops, 231 guns, 38 vehicles, Assault Value = 287

Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled


Assaulting units:
112th Infantry Regiment
INA Detachment Battalion
55th Const Co
90th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
XXXIII Corps Engineer Battalion
11th (East African) Division

[center]Turn 7 Orders[/center]

I'm starting to get worried about my ships' ammo level. As long as my troops are not unloaded i can't bring in my Cargo TF. Is there an other way of replenishing my ships with ammo or are they obliged to be in a port to reload?

On an other part, nothing much to report here. I just do some rotations in my FTRs to reduce fatigue, and this time i REALLY canceled the Heavy Bombing of the airfield. This may free more FTR away from Escort duty and reinforce the CAP over PB. I sense more attacks are comming.

Troops Unload should be nearly done next turn.

[BBfanboy]

You can reload ammo if you have the right support ships at a port that you control. AEs and AKEs are ammo ships that can reload most or all ships, depending on the size of the loading vessel and the size of the ammo. BB ammo requires a large capacity AE or AKE. The manual specifies the size needed for each caliber of gun.

Some support ships like ADs and AGs are designed to support destroyers and smaller vessels. The ADs can even handle torpedo reloading on DDs, even if the port can't do it. ASs reload subs with torpedoes and shells. All these types assist with repairs of their supported vessels.

Support vessels must be loaded with supplies and disbanded in port to do their work.
Once you have PB, you should have some AMs disbanded in port to maintain your minefields. IIR, one AM takes care of 150 mines. AMs can also sweep enemy mines but they will not be looking after your mines while sweeping.

Did you load your supply TF as cargo or amphibious ships? If cargo, they will not be able to unload until you take PB. If amphib, they do not need to wait for the other assault ships to unload - they will find their own patch of beach and start unloading if you let them.

[BlitzimX]

Thanks for that lesson on replenishin.

However, I see you give me some ship types in your post, but i have none in reserve. I have Tankers, but they are for fuel not ammo. Though, i think some ships may have different names but perform with the same job. I attach you a list of all my remaining ships, can you tell me if i can use some of these?

Thanks a lot, it's true the number of different ships is incredible...


And no, i didn't put the Cargo as Amphibious. I will think about it for next time.

[BBfanboy]

You have an AD which can reload DDs and some of the larger escorts like KVs. It cannot help your BBs and cruisers.
Looks like they will need to go back to base. Consider Calcutta too, if the port is large enough to reload the ship.

The AMc is a local minesweeper - smaller than an AM and good for daily sweeping of a port. Put one or two in each of your port to sweep enemy mines [which can be laid sneakily by subs].

The AKV is an aircraft transport. Using one of these your squadron will be ready for action soon after it is unloaded, rather than needing a day or two to be reassembled when shipped in regular freighters.

The AO is an oiler that can do underway refuelling. Tankers can only do refuelling from their cargo in port [other than buddy-fuelling from their own ship's fuel, which is limited].

The LSTs are landing ships that can unload very quickly - best used for Tanks and artillery that can roll off rather than be hoisted with a crane onto a landing craft. However, if they are not being used for anything else they are great for delivering supply, unloading in one turn and heading back for more.

The CVL/CVE and other warships should head to the landing area to provide cover when the CVs go back to replenish.

One caution - unless you have PB under your control and are confident you can fend off air and surface attacks, do not send your valuable support vessels there. If there is a closer port that you can put them in until PB is secure, that is where they should go. e.g. if Calcutta is too small to load BBs, put the AKE there and load away.
Don't forget to reload your support ship after it uses supplies. There is a button on the screen that shows ships in port. I think it is labeled "Reload tenders". Just click it and supplies will be loaded up to the capacity of the ship or the operations limit for the day of the ship and port. Also check your loaded BBs etc. to make sure they all got their ammo - ops limits may have prevented full reloads in one turn.

[BlitzimX]

I don't have access to Calcutta, but Colombo :3 YOu must be mistaken here ^^


Okay so since i don't have access to AE or any other replenishing ships, so i guess my BB and CL have to replenish at Colombo.

When i select Aux ships in the list, i have AS ships with my AD, are they here for the same purpose?
Also concerning Carriers, can the planes on it refit ammo with AE or can they use any other ships?

Thanks a lot