ORIGINAL: PetrOs
Is it actually interesting what I write? Anyone's reading?
I am, not just for the pictures but also the fact that withdrawals are off. This leaves the IO in play for much longer. I am playing a pbem (in September 42 now) as the Japanese with the same setting, and I had tremendous difficulty in securing the bay of Bengal due to the Jutland 15 inchers outgunning my Fuso/Ise/Kongos (lost a couple of BB duels) I've had to have the Nagatos and Yamato stationed in Singapore to deal with that threat, and the British/Dutch subs operating from Ceylon have on more then one occasion put a torpedo in that triplet - with 3 months yard time required on avg (Singapore's repair is too small for the Yamato which is an additional complication). Took me half a year to get to secure the Bengali coast. Ceylon I've tried to raid to get the damaged subs and search planes off the grid, but the flak there is so devastating, I've lost a lot of elite CV aircrews (my Pt. Blair Nells can only get there without fighter escort). It's an impregnable by air fortress, and if its supplied by lots of KVs then it's also very costly to submarine blockade. So unless KB is in the theater, and you own Ceylon and have good search arcs, you have a good chance of outflanking any seaborne move he might make (with LRCAP from Calcutta/Chittagong) and in case of damage to your surface assets you have nearby bases to temporarily retreat to and then try to night dash port to port out of a/c range. To control the Bay of Bengal I should have taken Ceylon where I could have had Betties and Nells with fighter escorts ranging far, but I decided divert a lot of my IDs to try to bomb Sydney to oblivion from Lord Howe Island and to try to intercept his line of supply from Pago Pago. Your opponent doesn't seem too aggressive so far but I would make sure Ceylon is secure if he looks like going coastal to Akyab and beyond.
