Groundhog Day! - No NJP

[Mike McCreery]

And then another attempt and a hit!!! Belt Armor Penetration with *Critical Damage* and Damage to Engines... Is Soerbaja big enough to repair this critter or is she headed back to the HI?

[Mike McCreery]

Tulagi is bombarded again to make sure the runways stay down. I attempted to use 4EB's to ground attack Tulagi and got absolutely no casualties. I believe it must have very high level forts. Fortunately for me, forts are not as good against 8"-16" shell fire.

Next turn will pale compare to this as I am sending in a division onto Tulagi. Need to get this one taken out quickly.

[Mike McCreery]

The focus right now as I cannot simply jump over Rabaul is to stage a rapid buildup of bases and roll the forces upwards as I go. Here is 7 naval battalions taking over Thousand Ships Island. Lugna recently received a similar amount of troops and last turn went from Airfield level 3 + 54% level 4 + 7%.

Air HQ's are getting flown onto islands by transports. xAK's are carrying troops just to move them faster.

[pontiouspilot]

Home for Shokaku....Soerbaja only 10K as I recall.

How many of those IJN TFs were really only ASW or patrol craft?

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot

Home for Shokaku....Soerbaja only 10K as I recall.

How many of those IJN TFs were really only ASW or patrol craft?

3 of them at Feni are the KB carrier groups. There is at least one major surface combat group and 2 light surface combat groups along with numerous support ships.

About half of those were ASW or patrol craft on his side.

He has moved off north of Manus out of my search radius.

[Mike McCreery]

Tulagi fell on or around the 18th of May. I am mopping up forces there now. In the meantime, an amphibious assault started going in at Buin last turn. I have a division plus an AA unit landing there to start entrenching.

Simultaneously I have fleets heading for Buna and Port Moresby. I have a division ready to land at Buna and 2 divisions plus support troops for Port Moresby.

Depending upon the response the operations will occur counter clockwise in the solomon sea over the next week.

[Mike McCreery]

BUTTPUCKER!!!!!

[witpqs]

Oh, that's a lot of Zeros!

[Mike McCreery]

The day proved to be a brutal lesson for the Japanese.

NJP had coordinated attacks coming in from the KB death star and planes on Namatani along with possibly Rabaul.

My main carrier fleet was west of his near Woodlark Island. It was 8 hexes away from his carriers. They were directed or chose to attack Buin.


At Buin were my escort carriers along with LRCAP from Shortlands, Munda and Vangunu.

Some of his bombers got through and 3-4 CVE's were hit, one with torpedoes. The most damage is 74(51) flotation on a CVE. Going to dive it into Shortlands and pray he doesnt take it out before I can limp it elsewhere. 2 more have 22 flotation damage and will be heading for Muna. A battleship also took a bomb or torpedo for 11 damage. Mostly it was superficial.

For that effort, the Japanese lost over 350 aircraft to 80 allied.

[vicberg]

Why the huge air losses for the japs? He looked to have numbers on you.

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: vicberg

Why the huge air losses for the japs? He looked to have numbers on you.

That picture was taken early on in the fight. I think about 230 wildcats met the attackers. The real carnage was when the follow on forces hit in bits and pieces. Also, his morale is great so no bombers or fighters turned back during the day.

I am really tired but can post the air battles tomorrow if you would like to see the details.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 103 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 43 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 1
A6M5 Zero x 228
B5N2 Kate x 4
B6N1 Jill x 49
D4Y1 Judy x 65
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 29

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 1
P-400 Airacobra x 2
P-40E Warhawk x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 157
F4U-1 Corsair x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 9 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 7 destroyed, 11 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y1 Judy: 10 destroyed, 5 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 3 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Suwannee
CVE Long Island, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CVE Sangamon
BB New Mexico, Torpedo hits 1
CVE Prince William, Bomb hits 2
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Hawkins
xAP Aeon, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Etolin
CVE Chenango, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Nassau
CVE Copahee, Bomb hits 1
BB South Dakota
CA Astoria

Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

[Mike McCreery]

Morning Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 96 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 32
B5N2 Kate x 14
D4Y1 Judy x 26
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 30

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 2
P-400 Airacobra x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 136
F4U-1 Corsair x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed
D4Y1 Judy: 6 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 6 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Bomb hits 1
xAP Illisos
CVE Sangamon
xAP Aleutian
CVE Long Island, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Buin , at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 1
A6M5 Zero x 83
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 18

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 9
B-24D1 Liberator x 9
P-38G Lightning x 2
P-400 Airacobra x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 45
F4U-1 Corsair x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 29

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Buin , at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 52
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 7

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 9
P-38G Lightning x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 50
F4U-1 Corsair x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 11 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Runway hits 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Buin , at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 7 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 14
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 2

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 9
P-38G Lightning x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 36
F4U-1 Corsair x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 2
B6N1 Jill x 7

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 1
P-400 Airacobra x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 75
F4U-1 Corsair x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 4 destroyed

No Allied losses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 1
D4Y1 Judy x 13

Allied aircraft
P-400 Airacobra x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 1
F4F-4 Wildcat x 75
F4U-1 Corsair x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
D4Y1 Judy: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CA Hawkins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 94 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 40 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 169
B5N1 Kate x 4
B5N2 Kate x 11
B6N1 Jill x 21

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 13
P-39D Airacobra x 4
P-400 Airacobra x 10
P-40E Warhawk x 5
P-40K Warhawk x 13
F4F-4 Wildcat x 115
F4U-1 Corsair x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 31 destroyed
B5N1 Kate: 2 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak
B6N1 Jill: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Idaho
CVE Sangamon
CVE Prince William
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 95 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 25
B5N1 Kate x 5
B6N1 Jill x 39
D4Y1 Judy x 12
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 15

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 7
P-39D Airacobra x 4
P-400 Airacobra x 10
P-40E Warhawk x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 9
F4F-4 Wildcat x 59
F4U-1 Corsair x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 10 destroyed
B5N1 Kate: 3 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 16 destroyed, 2 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y1 Judy: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Copahee
CVE Nassau, Torpedo hits 1
CVE Sangamon
CVE Altamaha

[Mike McCreery]

Just got a shout out from Radio Japan... It appears they had a great victory!!

[Mike McCreery]

In Australia, Alice Springs has fallen and he is bugging out of Tenant Creek as I have troops entering the hex.

[Mike McCreery]

The other notable naval combat happened in the same hex as NJP's large forces attempt to squash my light cruisers and destroyers. They had orders to remain on station last turn. I blame the staff...

[Mike McCreery]

In 2 turns I plan on landing a large force at Port Moresby. We shall see what defenses NJP puts up.

I just put a heavy pasting on the airfield at Lae. I do not have good intel but my bombers put over 60 hits into the airfield.

Next turn all of them go in on Port Moresby. Partly to try to take the airfield down, partly to wear down his CAP.

Hopefully the recent loss of hundreds of Zero's will assist me in getting in rather cleanly. We shall see. The islands southeast of Port Moresby have grown nicely and there are hundreds of fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes ready to attack anything heading into the solomon sea.

200AV+ oftroops are ashore on Buin. I will start moving tanks and artillery onto the island.

I have a division plus a few other units ready to land on Buna but want the PM invasion going in first. They are going to sortie southwest and hang out in the ocean for a few days to see what happens.

[Mike McCreery]

PM falls

[BBfanboy]

What are all the enemy ships gathered at Merauke?

[Mike McCreery]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

What are all the enemy ships gathered at Merauke?

One smaller surface task force, One larger surface task force and a group of mine sweepers/ASW.

I began my advance through PM, Merauke - Dobo last game and I think NJP is overcompensating. Merauke is 5/5 airfield at this time and he has hundreds of fighters there on CAP.

[Mike McCreery]

A sub sent to waylay some of my battleships off for refit was sunk.