Turnaround? Lowpe (J) vs Tiemanj (A) Stock

[Lowpe]

And they day finally ends....a reasonable day.[8D]

[Lowpe]

The battle isn't over...more Allied ships have rounded the horn of Burma.

Unbeknownst to the the Allies, a powerful second heavy cruiser force arrives at Tavoy and is not spotted!

But how can the IJN get the damaged ships at Moulmein away? Surely, Lightnings and Corsairs will sweep Moulmein in great number and then bombers will arrive to pound the port so staying put is not an option.

Steaming down the coast is perilous too though.

Choices? How to inflict a crushing naval defeat on the Allies...and avoid losses to the IJN?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I've not had the Tone class perform well in surface actions.

Presumably, since yours didn't ram any friendly ships here, you replaced the turd in command of her from game start.

Or maybe it's just that you had no CVs present for her to ram [:D].

The Tone is undamaged from her recent activities and freshly rearmed.

She is having a good war for me so far: two long range solo commerce raids complete with several xaks, escorts, and 2-3 armed merchant cruisers sunk, plus the destruction from last night.

I was hesitant about including her on the mission into Rangoon, she is so speedy I didn't want to slow her down...

[Lowpe]

All those ships sunk, puts my tally now at 800 Allied ships sunk!

Not all was great, a tank regiment got trashed (I left it on railroad cars in northern Burma) and a Mortar unit also got hit, but only lost one gun. I lost an Iboat off Burma too. Mandalay is now British again.

Well, I am off to sleep, too sick with a cold to do the turn. Any counsel on how to save the Aoba would be greatly appreciated!

[Lokasenna]

You used him on Tone?!? [X(]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

You used him on Tone?!? [X(]

Sure. The Tone is one of my most active ships. Sure beats putting him in a BB that sits in port. I am quite happy with the Tone's performance...sure beats yours.[:D]

[Lowpe]

The Aoba and damaged ships are going into an escort task force at mission speed making a dash for Tavoy. Very risky, even without the Allied fleet close by. They will be escorted by the Tone and 4 undamaged destroyers. I have yet to have any luck with screening task forces actually engaging, so I have dismal hopes here.

Meeting up with them will be a powerful surface fleet of 6 CA and 9 DD. I thought about breaking it down smaller, but because I wanted to have plenty of LRCAP I decided on fewer, larger task forces. 15 is awfully large. Too large? Tanaka is in charge.

Moulmein air field is abandoned. Tojo and Zeroes went to the Raheng triangle bases where they are flying LRCAP over the fleets. I suspect Moulmein is going to see the full fury of the Allied air force...no reason to be there.

At Bangkok 70 Vals, 17 Kates and 250 fighters are set for a 6 and 5 hex naval strike. I probably made a mistake adding the Kates, but well, there you go.

In Burma, 1 sentai of Betties will bomb Akyab's port (full of ships), 1 sentai of Zeroes will sweep (no fighters this turn) and another sentai of Betties are going to perform a low level limited range naval strike. Naval search is heavily ramped up.

My idea of a perfect day would be the Allied task forces head towards Tavoy looking to engage the Aoba, but my two screening surface forces encounter him instead. The naval battles go well for Japan, the Aoba makes Tavoy and disbands (fat chance), the Allied fleets are stuck near Tavoy far from fighter coverage, and the Vals and Kates do them serious harm, and while the Allied planes are all down south the Betties up north nail ships both in port and at sea. And Moulmein port is heavily bombed by the Allies and their sweeps meet empty skies.

In China, the capitol's airfield is being bombed and swept. Bombardment at Kweiyang again.

Anxious to see what goes wrong![:D]

[Lowpe]

I am expecting the Allies to be very aggressive with their surface fleet today...hopefully I can deliver a crushing blow.

Their naval strike planes are weakened from yesterdays losses.

My heavy cruiser strike force is not detected and should be a nasty, nasty surprise.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

You used him on Tone?!? [X(]

Sure. The Tone is one of my most active ships. Sure beats putting him in a BB that sits in port. I am quite happy with the Tone's performance...sure beats yours.[:D]

But she only has forward-facing guns! Travesty!

I like Kongos. I'd put him in a Kongo.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

You used him on Tone?!? [X(]

Sure. The Tone is one of my most active ships. Sure beats putting him in a BB that sits in port. I am quite happy with the Tone's performance...sure beats yours.[:D]

But she only has forward-facing guns! Travesty!

I like Kongos. I'd put him in a Kongo.

I don't think I have had a battle where a BB fired their rear facing turrets.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: Lowpe




Sure. The Tone is one of my most active ships. Sure beats putting him in a BB that sits in port. I am quite happy with the Tone's performance...sure beats yours.[:D]

But she only has forward-facing guns! Travesty!

I like Kongos. I'd put him in a Kongo.

I don't think I have had a battle where a BB fired their rear facing turrets.

Anecdotal!

At least put him in a Mogami! I've always been partial to Suzuya.

[Lowpe]

June 16th, 1943

I-169 gets several torpedoes off at a juicy target, and hits, but no explosion.

Where is this force headed to? Will run down the coastline seeking a naval engagement? Or, will it bombard Moulmein?

[Lowpe]

During the night Moulmein it hit with a heavy waves of Allied night bombing, and the Allied cruiser force bombards Moulmein while the IJN Cruisers flee down the coastline to Tavoy.

The sweep of Akyab doesn't happen, and I end up losing 17 Betties to assorted CAP over either Akyab or the returning Allied cruisers, but I garner some solid intel: the heavy hitters are at Akyab! Battleships and APs! Oh my![X(]

Too bad I didn't think to send my heavy cruiser force to Moulmein - I might have gotten lucky and hit them after their bombardment.

[Lowpe]

Interesting times in Burma!

What superior seamanship is being shown on the Aoba as she makes her mad dash down the coast...damage control crews pump out some counter flooding, clearing compartments, and pick up some much needed speed. Amazing! Exciting! Death defying! What suspense!

[Lowpe]

If I had to guess, the Allies are going to invade Ramree. Not much there now.

Caveat: I have had a very poor record of guessing correctly.[:D]

[Lowpe]

Elsewhere: About 200 Chinese combat squads get sent to the hereafter in two different engagements.

In the deep water near Pescadores, an xak is torpedoed by an American sub. She is burning, and will try to make it the one hex to Pescadores, but even money she is toast. Crispy toast. What is worse, though, is that it is a Yusen N.[:(]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
Anecdotal!

At least put him in a Mogami! I've always been partial to Suzuya.

But it is a lot of anecdotal evidence![:D]

Heck, I can't transfer him....the crew would revolt.

[Lowpe]

Okay: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being no biggie, and 10 being send everything including the kitchen sink rate the current crisis in Burma.

Is it an opportunity or death knell?

[PaxMondo]

In perspective:

You like to hold Burna through mid-44 because Palembang is in B29 range from Rangoon.

Having said that, in your game, given your starting point, I think holding the DEI through mid-44 to be an unrealistic goal. Holding the DEI to 1/1/44 is a goal and then every day after is gravy.

So, you situation in Burma now is consistent with losing the DEI in early 44 ... So should you cave? No. Go all in? I don't think so. The allies can't beat you in Burma, but you can lose the game there if you lose too many LCU's ...

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
Holding the DEI to 1/1/44 is a goal and then every day after is gravy.

That goal seems a little more reasonable.[:)]