Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

[Mundy]

I'm kinda torn at this point.

I'd like some cover for when I eventually land at Diamond Harbor, and I'm not sure CVEs alone could do this.

On the other hand, matching them with two more CVs and two more CVLs could almost match up with KB.

I'll probably do my landings and then depart from there to Australia.

I think new carriers are a bit sparse the first half of 44. I haven't looked in a while, but I'll refresh next turn.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

I'm kinda torn at this point.

I'd like some cover for when I eventually land at Diamond Harbor, and I'm not sure CVEs alone could do this.

I'm surprised you'd want to land at Diamond Harbour at all? With Ceylon in your hands and KB prowling off the coast just when do you plan on getting a chance at invading Diamond Harbour? India should be a land war now so your fleet can support operations in the Pacific. You've accomplished your goal of liberating Ceylon, but I fear you are losing the chance to exploit KB's presence in the IO.

With KB at Diego Garcia you should be pushing as hard as you can in the Pacific. The longer you delay, the more likelihood CF will have time to shift KB to protect the Pacific just when you finally get moving there. KB in the IO is only a problem if you let it be. It's time to shift your focus away from fleet operations in the IO and get them concentrated on where KB isn't.

[JocMeister]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon
With KB at Diego Garcia you should be pushing as hard as you can in the Pacific. The longer you delay, the more likelihood CF will have time to shift KB to protect the Pacific just when you finally get moving there. KB in the IO is only a problem if you let it be. It's time to shift your focus away from fleet operations in the IO and get them concentrated on where KB isn't.

+1

PS. Don´t count CVEs as replacements for fleet CVs.
PS.2. Don´t go looking for a fight with KB. [:)]

[Mundy]

I'm loading up an invasion now in the eastern part of the Pacific. Stuff's starting to roll there.

I'm favoring Diamond Harbor for a couple reasons. One, is that I already have a ton of troops at Cocanada, and I don't really want to feed that meatgrinder overly much. I have about 2-1 on him now in raw AV. Another UK division and brigade are enroute from Bezwada, and I'm hoping to reach the tipping point soon. The other is that DH and Calcutta are fairly weakly held right now. If I can grab those quickly, things will get tough in a hurry for his units in the west. On top of that, if/when I break through there, you know durn well I'll be bombed over the entire hike across the subcontinent.

04 February 1944

I never heard of this carrier before. It looked like a big one.

Sub attack near Diego Garcia at 11,62

Japanese Ships
CV Kasagi
BB Kirishima
CA Nachi
CL Noshiro
DD Michishio
DD Benigumo
DD Urazuki
DD Arare

Allied Ships
SS Hackleback, hits 2

SS Hackleback launches 4 torpedoes at CV Kasagi
Hackleback bottoming out ....
DD Benigumo fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Urazuki fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Arare fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Arare attacking submerged sub ....
DD Arare fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Arare fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Arare fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Arare fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

A pity I missed. He'll be up to his armpits in subs before too long. I'm bound to get lucky again.

[zuluhour]

He may have changed the name of the carrier. I try and do the same using the supplement and general index, vol XV

[Mundy]

Interesting... I thought that was only for the repeat US names.

[Sangeli]

No, the CV Kasagi is a historical ship. Its just that IRL the Japanese canceled it as there was no point in completing it given their lack of air crews and fuel. Seems that CF finished it well before historical build date (no surprise).

[Mundy]

I've been seeing A6M8s at this point too, which sounds like an ultra-late model.

Looking at ye olde Wiki, She's an Unryu class, with a capacity around 60.

I'm going to sit tight in the west right now. Prep's not high enough yet anyway. I'm making moves in the east now. I'd be further ahead there now, if not for that cargo loading bungle with Baker.

[Mundy]

05 February 1944

More of the same, mostly.

Recon at Diego Garcia indicates that CF has disbanded some or all of his carriers to port. Probably to avoid my subs.

This is an opening. My carriers are sortieing out. Doing this mission depends on whether they're spotted or not. If I'm unseen the first turn out, I can flank there and hit them quickly. Recon's only showing one search plane there.

The next question is: do I set the primary mission to port attack, or can I count on it getting hit if I primary naval attack with a port secondary attack?

[jwolf]

It looks like you're hoping for a Pearl Harbor sort of strike against the Jap carriers at DG. I guess it's possible but it seems like a real longshot. At minimum, even if he disbanded some of the carriers, wouldn't the air units be actively patrolling there anyway? Or could it be that he simply pulled his carriers back a few spaces to the SW?

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

Recon at Diego Garcia indicates that CF has disbanded some or all of his carriers to port. Probably to avoid my subs.

This is an opening. My carriers are sortieing out. Doing this mission depends on whether they're spotted or not. If I'm unseen the first turn out, I can flank there and hit them quickly. Recon's only showing one search plane there.

The next question is: do I set the primary mission to port attack, or can I count on it getting hit if I primary naval attack with a port secondary attack?

A lot of ifs to me. How big is Diego Garcia's airbase? If I disbanded any carrier in port with even a hint of danger all the air groups would have been transferred to the airbase to provide CAP and still set to naval attack. Think land based carrier here.

Port or naval strike? The safe bet to me would be naval strike with port set as secondary. There's no guarantee those CV's will still be disbanded in port by the time you get there. You are relying on CF keeping his CV's disbanded for two more days until you can strike. I just don't see CF risking keeping a portion, or all, of his fleet disbanded in port for a total of three days?

I wouldn't risk the AI doing what you want it to. Whose to say the day you go to strike you don't get a good DL on the CV's which are now at sea and not in port as you hoped, so the AI launches a port strike instead and whiffs, meanwhile KB spots you and launches a naval strike and you have no counterpunch? I never trust the AI to do what I want...ever.

Is this a high risk/reward operation, sure, but you are relying on a lot of things to go just perfectly while putting your CV's at risk. I wouldn't leave something this important to chance.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

05 February 1944

More of the same, mostly.

Recon at Diego Garcia indicates that CF has disbanded some or all of his carriers to port. Probably to avoid my subs.

This is an opening. My carriers are sortieing out. Doing this mission depends on whether they're spotted or not. If I'm unseen the first turn out, I can flank there and hit them quickly. Recon's only showing one search plane there.

The next question is: do I set the primary mission to port attack, or can I count on it getting hit if I primary naval attack with a port secondary attack?

While its theoretically possible for you to hit his CVs disbanded in port, it does not sound like CF to be so sloppy as to let such a thing happen. Yes you did sink his BBs in port before with 4E but CF is far less likely to make such a mistake with the KB since BBs typically shrug off level bombers while CVs are very vulnerable to any sort of port strike. In order for you to succeed in such a mission you need a lot of things completely out of your control to go correctly. Even if the KB is disbanded and he doesn't spot your CVs approaching which I deem unlikely, there's no guarantee that in the following turn they won't reform into a TF.

Can you hit DG with 4E? If those CVs really are disbanded then maybe you could do some damage that way. Losing a few dozen heavy bombers is nothing compared to losing all your CVs in the area. I've always felt the key to this game as the Allies early on is being able to damage and sink Japanese CVs without putting your CVs at risk and this is the perfect opportunity.

If you do opt to go for it, I think you have to use naval strike as the primary mission in case the KB actually does form up. With naval strike you will probably lose anyway but at least you could damage or even sink some ships but if the KB is going after your CVs while you go after an empty port then it would be nothing short of a disaster.

[Mundy]

06 February 1944

Don't worry guys, I scrubbed it. A day out of Colombo and my ships were spotted. I wasn't real comfortable either with the number of carriers showing up in port. My ships will be okay, as they'll reach port before daylight.

There was risk, but given the chance to splatter them across the sidewalk in port, I'll look at such chances.

[Mundy]

Sangeli, my B-24s are four hexes short of reaching there.

That would have been my preferred way. If he's still hanging there in a few months, B-29s can deal with it then. I think I'm only two months before the first squadrons show up at Aden. I'm wondering if they can fly to Karachi or not from there.

[HansBolter]

I don't think you can make an air transfer from an off map base to an on map base. but must admit it is something I have never tried.

Correction, it can be done if there is a rail connection to the off map base such as East Coast and Canada.

[Mundy]

I wasn't sure if the brute range of the 29 could overcome the hex mileage condensing thing with the off-map bases. IRL they probably could make the trip one-way.

I won't know until I get there.

[jwolf]

I wasn't able to make a transfer from Aden to India with Catalinas even though they have a transfer range of 56 hexes and can go from San Francisco to Pearl. So I assume it is just not possible -- but if it is, somehow, I would sure like to know!

[Mundy]

I'll just assume it isn't. I just didn't want the delay of having them boxed up.

I'll have to look up where my AKVs are. I haven't noticed them in a while. Probably at Cape Town.

I'm overdue on an S-boat getting withdrawn. It's currently enroute to San Fran from Pearl. I'm not sweating the PP hit. I think I'm past the point of buying out divisions anymore, and I probably have 4,000 in the bank.

[Mundy]

12 February 1944

Just been quiet lately, since a whole lot of nothing's been going on.

At Diego, I've pulled my subs back a bit to form a ring about 4 hexes out. All I'm dealing with right now are ASW groups. I'll get everyone in a bunch of short-radius search patterns, so I get some warning if KB decides to sortie out.

An Indian division and brigade have reached Cocanada. Everyone's attacking this turn. I'm hoping I've enough to push over the top. All of India could hinge on this right now.

My target in the Eastern Pacific is Roi-Namur. I'm landing a division in about 3.5 days. This one seems to have the largest airfield. Kwajalein just has a level one. My invaders got spotted yesterday, and they took a shot today.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ailuk at 143,113

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 9
N1K1-J George x 36

Allied aircraft
FM-1 Wildcat x 72
FM-2 Wildcat x 8
F6F-3 Hellcat x 78

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 6 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-1 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
VF-10 with F6F-3 Hellcat (5 airborne, 12 on standby, 16 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 32370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes
24 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-31 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 8 on standby, 11 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 32370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
15 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-32 with F6F-3 Hellcat (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 11 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes
10 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-65 with FM-1 Wildcat (3 airborne, 6 on standby, 9 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 31450.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
8 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-3 with FM-1 Wildcat (3 airborne, 6 on standby, 9 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
14 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-4 with FM-1 Wildcat (3 airborne, 6 on standby, 9 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 31450.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes
12 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-5 with FM-1 Wildcat (3 airborne, 6 on standby, 9 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 31450.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
1 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-11 with FM-2 Wildcat (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 2000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers



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

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ailuk at 143,113

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 9
N1K1-J George x 36

Allied aircraft
FM-1 Wildcat x 62
FM-2 Wildcat x 7
F6F-3 Hellcat x 67

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-1 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
FM-2 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB California

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

CAP engaged:
VF-31 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(12 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 11 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 32370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes
15 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-32 with F6F-3 Hellcat (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 4 scrambling)
(11 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 32370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 45 minutes
8 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-65 with FM-1 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 4 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 26095.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
10 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-3 with FM-1 Wildcat (10 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
10 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 6 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 14 minutes
10 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-4 with FM-1 Wildcat (11 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
11 plane(s) intercepting now.
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 20740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 43 minutes
12 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-5 with FM-1 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 8 scrambling)
(9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 31450.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 45 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
VC(F)-11 with FM-2 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 4000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes
3 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-10 with F6F-3 Hellcat (16 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(10 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
16 plane(s) intercepting now.
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 1000 and 32370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes
11 planes vectored on to bombers

Drove them off fairly easily. Two CVs and two CVLs are with the landing force, along with 5 CVEs. The follow-on base forces are about two days behind. I detached another 5 CVEs to cover them, in case the Nells reach further out.

[jwolf]

This looks promising, exactly the kind of operation you need. If he's got most of his carriers tied up at Diego Garcia (!!) then pretty much the whole Pacific should be up for grabs.