See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[BBfanboy]

Not sure why you figure Tabituea will take KB out of play for a while. It is much to close to your main event to delay KB for long.
I will be watching this one - expecting a carrier battle. Go Avengers! Sock it to 'em SBDs! [:)]

[jwolf]

This promises to be quite a show for the spectators! [8D] If some of the landings go well and quickly, will you be able to put some land based air at the new bases to try to help out with CAP?

[apbarog]

Yes, Milne Bay is a size 1 airfield, so fighters and search planes will go there as soon as possible. Buna is a huge airfield. That will be the big prize and will get well stocked with aircraft. And troops. And coastal guns. And mines.

4 Nov 42

Sallys bomb my small combat unit at Butuan, on Mindanao. My fragment of a base force gets to Butuan finally, but needs a turn to switch to Strat mode to get on the subs. At least 3 subs will be waiting tomorrow.

I agree that Tabiteuea isn't that much of a diversion from my main invasions. But it could give me a couple of days that I may not have otherwise. It could mean KB arriving after most of my troops have unloaded. Or it could mean nothing, and it turned out that KB was in refit or hiding at Koepang on Timor.

The Tabiteuea convoys are moving to rendezvous. Final task force arrangements will take place, and they will head in.

I've moved up the beginning of my big invasions slightly. Today, my task forces for Buna and Salamaua start to load at Sydney. I'll stagger loading a couple of days for other task forces scheduled to load at Brisbane and Rockhampton, trying to be ready when the Sydney task forces approach from the south.

There is now an enemy sub spotted about 6 hexes west of Koumac. This could be a problem when my carriers leave Noumea very soon. I didn't want to hug the coast here, as that is the most likely place to run into a sub, but this sub is spotted out away from Koumac. I'm hoping that it is just on the way to Sydney, and hope that it gets there after I've left.

The enemy is looking at the Perth area now closely. I had a tiny cargo task force spotted north of there unloading some supply. Koepang is still active with some kind of activity. I spot a cargo task force just south of Koepang now, and it is eastbound, possibly headed to Darwin.

[BBfanboy]

Six hexes away from a port is a popular stakeout for subs. Most of the ships in the 12-14 Kt. category will travel six hexes in one turn if they leave port at the beginning of the turn.
If you send a couple of DDs to hold it down and have an ASW air patrol (land based) over the area it should not spot you.

[apbarog]

5 Nov 42

Well, my inventive effort to evacuate the base fragment from Mindanao was a failure. First, the unit was bombed and completely disabled every remaining squad. I don't think this prevents it from being picked up, but I'll never know, because all 5 subs in the area cannot load troops. Doh. I was making an assumption that every sub can carry a few men at least. All of my troop capable subs are in the South Pacific on mining operations. Oh well, it was fun to take the empty base.

Invasion task forces leave Sydney today. I'm taking a looping path out of the port, on a route that has been unseen so far. Other task forces start loading at Brisbane.

I sent 2 squadrons of B17s to bomb Horn Island and see what is there. They found 5 Zeros. 2 B17s were lost, taking down 1 Zero. No bombs hit the target. I'm working on getting one of the dot bases in the far northeast of Australia to size 2 for the airfield. Then Horn Island will get swept and pounded. Clear terrain.

The Tabiteuea invasion task forces are rendezvousing. Won't be long now. Nothing spotted, as far as I know.

[jwolf]

If your assault on Tabiteuea is really successful, it's possible that you might zip in and take the base so fast that the Japanese don't bother trying to intervene. The ironic result would be a free hand for the KB, wherever they are.

I like seeing the masses of Allied TFs on the move. Good luck!

[apbarog]

6 Nov 42

I-166 spots a bunch of APD's repositioning to Rockhampton. It misses APD Ward. These ships will contribute to the landings at Horn Island and Terapo.

I-25 is spotted by ASW forces near Sydney. No hits achieved.

The Sydney task forces have moved east without being spotted. The Brisbane task forces move out today. The Rockhampton task forces will wait a few days to load for Horn Island and Terapo. These invasions will not occur simultaneously with the others, but will follow a few days later. I don't want to show more movement on the coast until surprise is lost.

US sub Seal hits a mine at Merak on Java. It was moving from Ceylon to Sydney. I need to watch the pathing for these long range moves.

15 B-26s from Lunga bomb Ontong Java's troops. Just a nuisance raid.

The Tabiteuea invasion will take place in 3 days. I'm timing the movements so that I stop 3 hexes from the base, then move in to invade during the next night phase.

A small xAK task force is spotted west of the invasion task forces. It is carrying followup supply for Tabiteuea, and is stopping at the nearby small base.

In Burma, although the enemy looks to be purely defensive, the 1st Tank Division is still reported to be planning an attack at Chittagong. Probably just leftover from before, but I remain alert.

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

US sub Seal hits a mine at Merak on Java. It was moving from Ceylon to Sydney. I need to watch the pathing for these long range moves.

That path seems almost deliberately perverse. Through the straits of Malacca?

[apbarog]

No, Seal didn't come down the straits of Malacca. It came down the "west" side of Sumatra, then passed Merak coming in the Sunda Straits. I think that the destination was Sydney but I'm not sure of that. The damage is moderate, and now that Seal is on the east side of Java, it will continue south and head for the Townsville area.

[apbarog]

No turn today.

To say that I'm looking forward to the upcoming operations is an understatement. We average a turn a day, so it takes quite awhile to prepare for a major operation. This one took even longer than most, as I put most of the US Navy into refit first. I started preparation almost 3 months ago. 3 months in the game, and 3 months in real life.

I've been playing AE and WitP from day 1, and its predecessors before that. I can't begin to count up how much time I've spent in the Pacific. Literally months of real life, I'm sure. As far as money spent on gaming, this is by far the best investment I've made. Some great games played, and met some good people along the way.

Now I'm itching to do the next turn. And the next. Big things are afoot. Lots of planning finally being put into action. It may be a bad plan, or just go badly in action, but it's been great to arrange and will be great to roll the dice and see what happens.

[apbarog]

7 Nov 42

Off Carnavon, I-122 sinks small cargo ship xAKL Schouten, which was about to bring supply in. One xAKL continues on.

The Tabiteuea invasion convoys are now 9 hexes south of the island, and have not been spotted. They will move 6 hexes today and be in range to land the following night.

I recon Buna for the first time, and find more there than I expected. I see 9 units, 11600 men, 67 guns, and 43 AFV's. I know that an Air HQ is there. Even more interesting is that I see movement from Buna to the west to Kokoda, the dot base. I have paratroopers prepped for Kokoda, and I don't want a combat capable unit to be sitting there.

Also worth noting is that I know that an Air HQ is at Torokino, near Shortlands, and another is at Lae. It's a good bet there's one at Rabaul too.

Here's a snapshot of the many task forces coming together for the New Guinea invasions. I also started loading at Rockhampton today. If I can scrape together the transports, I may load my Port Moresby invasion force too. Recon there didn't show the infantry division that I know was there recently. Probably bad recon, but it could be an opportunity that I'd like to be ready for.

[jwolf]

That's an impressive looking armada -- may the force be with them! Good luck!

[apbarog]

8 Nov 42

At Cebu, the enemy attacks with the newly reinforced troops of the 4th Division. Odds are 3 to 1, reducing the forts to 2, but Japanese casualties are 3 times the Allied's. Almost all are disabled squads, for both sides. Cebu will fall.

US task forces approach Tabiteuea and stop 3 hexes to the south. The CVE task force is spotted and CVE Copahee is attacked by I-24. Torpedoes miss! The transports and escorts are not spotted, but an invasion has to be suspected. It will occur overnight.

A few of the US task forces gathering for the New Guinea invasions are spotted. I-15 takes a shot at a destroyer with light cruisers, but misses. One cargo task force is spotted, and so are some minesweepers. Their location, out in the middle between New Caledonia and Australia, may or may not spark some concern with the enemy.

I decide to move the armada mostly westward, toward Australia. I needed another day for some ships to catch up anyway. If I'm spotted today, it will look like a big move toward Australia, not an imminent invasion.

Not much I can do though. My opponent is very good with searching, including with Glen subs.

I will bomb the dot base at Rossel Island today, looking for a searchplane tender.

I don't have the shipping at Rockhampton to load troops for Port Moresby, so that will have to wait, as I had thought.

In the Solomons, I swept Shortlands with 36 F4F-4s, finding 27 Oscars on CAP. It goes pretty well, with 12 Oscars lost, and I lose 5 F4F-4s. I did a nuisance bombing of Munda with 12 Hudsons. It's still a dot base, and I didn't know if there were any troops there, but the Hudsons find the 89th Naval Guard unit and do almost no damage to it in the jungle. This is good information though. Plus it makes it look like I'm preparing for action here.

So the next turn is a big one with the Tabiteuea invasion.

[apbarog]

9 Nov 42

The first battle of Tabiteuea takes place.

I'd felt like I had a fair amount of surprise with my invasion of Tabiteuea task forces being spotted only 3 hexes away from the island. I was wrong.

First, BB Colorado with DD Frazier approaches to bombard the island. I wanted to get this tiny task force in and out. Instead, CA's Chikuma, Mikuma, and Suzuya are there waiting, along with 4 DD's. The fight is very brief, and is nothing short of an absolute ambush. The fight begins at only 2000 yards, in the rain, and the enemy gets surprise. Colorado and Frazier and immediately hit by multiple torpedoes. Frazier sinks without firing a shot. Colorado barely survives the surprise round of fighting, and gets one minor gun hit on a cruiser. It takes a total of 4 torpedoes and is sunk. It was very fast.

Then the big invasion task force arrives. Radar detects the Japanese approaching at 7000 yards, and the ships try to get underway. Fighting starts at 3000 yards. Allied escorts are BB California, CL Tromp, DD Gansevoort, DD Kortenaer, and APD Manley. California does better than Colorado, and gets several 14 inch gun hits on cruisers. But the Japanese again perform superbly. Here is the report:

Japanese Ships
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 3
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 1
DD Yukaze
DD Namikaze, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BB California, Shell hits 70, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
CL Tromp, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Gansevoort, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Kortenaer, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
APD Manley, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AP U.S. Grant
AP McCawley
AP Barnett, Shell hits 10, on fire
AP Henderson, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Betelgeuse
xAP Taroona
xAP Nairana
xAP Bloemfontein
xAP Kota Gede
xAP Kota Agoeng
xAP Kota Inten
xAP Kota Baroe
xAP Maetsuycker
xAP Swartenhondt, heavy damage
xAP Van Cloon, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Van Overstraten
xAK Cycle
xAK West Ira
xAK West Ivis
xAK City of Rayville, Shell hits 3

Allied ground losses:
909 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 49 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 47 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (23 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Next, 2 hexes southeast of Tabiteuea, RO-67 is sighted by combat ships in the CVE task force. The sub is forced to surface, and then an amusing gun duel occurs between BB Tennessee and RO-67. The battleship gets at least 8 14 inch gun hits on the sub, as well as many smaller caliber hits, before the sub sinks.

Then the Japanese cruiser task force engages 3 minesweepers that I had sent in. One DMS is sunk, one is badly damaged, and the other escapes.

Then the cruiser task force finds my transports again, at 3000 yards range this time. Now CL Tromp is the only combat ship left escorting. Results are predictably bad for the Allies, but it could have been a lot worse. I think that the enemy was low on ammunition by this point.

Japanese Ships
CA Chikuma
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio
DD Yukaze

Allied Ships
CL Tromp, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage
AP U.S. Grant, Shell hits 2, on fire
AP McCawley, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
AP Barnett, Shell hits 1
AK Betelgeuse
xAP Taroona
xAP Nairana
xAP Bloemfontein
xAP Kota Gede
xAP Kota Agoeng
xAP Kota Inten
xAP Kota Baroe, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAP Maetsuycker
xAP Swartenhondt, and is sunk
xAP Van Overstraten, Shell hits 1
xAK Cycle
xAK West Ira
xAK West Ivis
xAK City of Rayville

Allied ground losses:
761 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 28 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 37 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 20 (19 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Daylight comes.

One curious thing about the invasion task force is that I had it set to absolute movement. I wanted it to get to Tabiteuea and stay, no matter what, and land the troops. I was willing to accept losses if I could take the island. Well, I think that my task force may have retreated one hex after the first battle, then moved back to Tabiteuea for the second battle. It didn't unload at all. Now in the day phase I find the task force 3 hexes south of the island. I'd guess that absolute movement is not absolute. I hadn't seen this type of behavior before.

The first air raid is at Munda in the Solomons. P40Es sweep and find 3 Zeros on bleedover CAP.

Back in the Tabiteuea area, 11 Nells escorted by 24 Zeros (from Tarawa, I believe) target my CVE task force. 31 F4F-4s are on CAP, but they aren't the best pilots, and performance is generally poor. CVE Prince William takes a torpedo hit.

Next 24 B-24s from Ndeni bomb Tabiteuea to soften up the troops for the landing that didn't occur.

Now 11 unescorted Nells attack the CVE task force. 18 F4F-4s are on CAP, but none intercept in time. CVE Nassau takes a torpedo hit. Some bombers are downed exiting the area.

Summary:

Tabiteuea was not invaded. I used slow battleships and a few non-US combat ships here. I'm not happy losing 2 battleships, but they were at least the old slow ones. One AP that could have upgraded to an APA later was lost. A few more are damaged but should survive if they can avoid the subs.

The fight was a huge Japanese victory, no doubt.

Of more concern to me is that there is now a huge area of high detection level south of Truk, and it's between Truk and Shortlands, not Truk and Tabiteuea. KB is coming and it is reacting to my ships on the Australian coast, not my attempt at Tabiteuea. From where it is apparently at now, it could be to Milne Bay before I can get there.

[jwolf]

I read about the battles near Tabiteuea in Walker's AAR, and I was amazed how well his cruiser force performed. Just a rotten day (actually, night) for the USN all around. [:(] One thing that really puzzles me -- by this time all the USN warships have good radar, right? I'm wondering how they could be consistently surprised and ambushed repeatedly. The CAP not doing its job was the icing on the cake of this debacle. [:@] Hope you have better luck with what follows, especially if you get into a major carrier action as you suggest may be coming.

[apbarog]

Radar did play a factor in at least one of the transport task force battles, with the enemy being spotted by radar, but the ships were stationary and couldn't get underway in time. As has been discussed in other threads, naval combat in the game only occurs with visual sightings, and this happened at point blank range.

The Japanese had advantages. Better trained crews and ability to launch lots of torpedoes at short range. The Allied ships were not the best combat ships. The makeup of the first US task force with just a battleship and one destroyer was fine for a quick bombardment but terrible for a surface battle. The other battleship did a decent job protecting the transports for awhile, but was never going to fight well being in an amphibious task force.

So the Japanese had inherent advantages, good luck with the weather (rain) and visibility (2% moon, which I didn't pay attention to ahead of time), and good dice rolls.

There's always something to learn from a battle, no matter how many times you've fought before.

[apbarog]

10 Nov 42

Lots of enemy sub action on my retreating Tabiteuea task forces:

RO-34 lines up CM Bungaree but misses.

I-26 hits already damaged AP McCawley with a torpedo. It will sink.

Then I-26 gets 2 torpedo hits on AP Barnett, which was also already damaged. It sinks.

So I committed 4 good AP's to this operation, and lost 3 of them (so far). All were loaded with troops, so 3/4 of the mountain unit is lost.

I-6 takes a shot at AVD Hulbert at Funafuti, but misses.

In the air, 20 P-38Es sweep Horn Island, and find 12 Oscars and 9 Zeros. 2 Oscars and 1 Zero is downed. 1 P-38 is lost.

At Cebu, another Japanese deliberate attack occurs at 2 to 1 and forts go to 0. The base is about to fall, 11 months after the start of the war. Japanese casualties here are somewhat significant. The 4th Division will need a small amount of recovery time. The other units will need more time.

Judging by detection levels on my subs south of Truk, it's less clear today where KB is heading. There's one concentration northeast of Kavieng. There's another concentration over by Kusaie Island.

The upcoming New Guinea invasions have been postponed, but not cancelled. Troops are unloading at Australian ports. US carriers move elsewhere for now. My invasions will take place, but not with KB in the immediate area.

A few months ago, when my Nauru Island/Ocean Island/Tabiteuea invasions were cancelled with KB showing up before I got there, KB then found itself deployed but with nothing to do. My opponent then moved KB down into the Solomons looking for targets and ignoring my bases, then moved further south almost to the northern tip of New Caledonia.

I am going to wait and see if KB gets bored again. Only this time, the US carriers may spring a trap.

[jwolf]

Well, time is on your side -- I can understand your decision to postpone things. It's still disappointing for your fans. [;)] I hope you can turn the tables with an ambush of your own.

[apbarog]

I am learning the tendencies of my opponent. His early game was cautious and careful. This resulted in a slow advance to what he has taken now. He's still cleaning up strongpoints in the Philippines that were never a threat, but are still there. Java took a long time to clear out.

His game since then has been reactionary. I think that he could be a good counter-attacking opponent, but there have been some things missing in the defense. One is his use of bombers, or lack of. There has been absolutely no use of bombers in the Solomons, and little use in Burma. I know that there are many bombers at Rabaul right now. I'm seeing 137. Most, if not all of these, are Bettys/Nells, as I regularly see them on ASW duty. When I was taking Lunga and Tulagi, I knew that KB was in the Indian Ocean, but there was no attempt at stopping my building of the bases.

My point is that I will try to take advantage of his reactionary style. Maybe it will be predictable. I have to give him something worth reacting to. I will do so.

[apbarog]

11 Nov 42

A generally quiet turn, which is a good thing for me. None of my task forces leaving the Tabiteuea area was spotted today.

Cebu falls.

High detection levels of my subs are now around the Kavieng/Rabaul area. No carriers are spotted, but I'm convinced they are out there. I did get SigInt that the Japanese 26th Infantry Division is at Kavieng. There's a strong defense commitment by the enemy in the Solomons and New Guinea.

My postponed invasion task forces are unloading at Australian ports. I have shipping at Cooktown now that is unloading troops that were headed to Horn Island. My ships are also spotted at Townsville. This could draw enemy carriers south. Also, I sent 2 small surface groups of a couple of cruisers and destroyers towards Milne Bay and Rossel Island. It may look like I'm coming now. One of these task forces is spotted. It will run south.

I'd like to see KB show itself in this area. My carriers are loitering south of the Solomons waiting to see if anything is coming.

I'm building the dot bases in Australia north of Cairns now. I swept Horn Island from one of these bases the other day.

I am bombing Milne Bay with lots of B-17s today, hitting the airfield, port, and troops. More stuff to look like I'm coming.

I did set up a bunch of fighters and bombers at Lunga for naval attack today, just in case KB comes calling. I have enough fighters on escort duty, if they all fly and coordinate, that I could cause KB some trouble.