At dawn we slept...in the cab on the way back from Olongapo

[Cap Mandrake]

Crap. Do you realize how hard it is to repair of B-17? This will not shut down a level 5 field, however. And Mutsu is in no shape to do it either.

Night Naval bombardment of Noumea at 115,160

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 11 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 4 damaged
PBY-4 Catalina: 1 damaged
PBY-4 Catalina: 1 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 3 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 3 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 18 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 3 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
CA Atago
CL Nagara
DD Kagero

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 23

[Cap Mandrake]

A friendly cosmic ray advised us to bombard La Foa instead of Koumac...and lookie here....Zeroes back at La Foa again.

Night Naval bombardment of La Foa at 114,159

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 18 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania
BB Arizona
DD Kennison
DD Stuart

Japanese ground losses:
304 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Resources hits 1
Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 13
Port hits 11
Port supply hits 5

BB Pennsylvania firing at 4th/C Division
OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for BB Arizona
BB Arizona firing at La Foa
DD Kennison firing at 4th/A Division
DD Stuart firing at La Foa

[Cap Mandrake]

The IJN cruiser force seems to have split. Pretty good performance by St Louis and Helena.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,160, Range 21,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Atago, Shell hits 6
CL Nagara, Shell hits 1
DD Kagero, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 2
CL Helena, Shell hits 2
DD Smith

[Cap Mandrake]

We get 4000 yards of free fire before the Japs start shooting back.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,160, Range 23,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2
CL Tenryu
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 1
DD Yukikaze
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 1
DD Shiranui

Allied Ships
CL St. Louis
CL Helena
DD Smith, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Case, Shell hits 2

[Cap Mandrake]

Revenge of the BB's

Day Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,160, Range 26,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma, Shell hits 2, on fire
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
DD Yukikaze
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 1
DD Shiranui

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Shell hits 5
BB Mississippi
DD McCall
DD Shaw, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1
DD MacDonough
DD Dent

And a cripple they left behind..

Day Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,159, Range 24,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
DD Hibiki

Allied Ships
BB Maryland
BB Mississippi
DD McCall
DD Shaw, on fire
DD Monaghan
DD MacDonough
DD Dent

[Cap Mandrake]

2 squadrons of TBD's fly in to Noumea and some staff idiot forgets to set them to torps. I think the Zeroes are flying from La Foa.

fternoon Air attack on TF, near La Foa at 115,158

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12

Allied aircraft
P-40B Warhawk x 4
F4F-3 Wildcat x 9
TBD-1 Devastator x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
TBD-1 Devastator: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Hibiki

Well, at least they hit something.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Noumea at 110,160

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 6
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5
TBD-1 Devastator x 13

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shiranui
DD Hayashio, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 9000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

[Cap Mandrake]

No CAP over Koumac:

Afternoon Air attack on Koumac , at 113,156

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
A-20A Havoc x 6
B-17E Fortress x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 9
P-40B Warhawk x 2

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 12

[Cap Mandrake]

NSW:

Looks like KB moved 360 mi West. Pompano fires a spread of 4 torps at Zuikaku.

Sub attack near Sale at 85,174

Japanese Ships
CV Zuikaku
CA Tone
DD Yunagi
DD Harukaze
DD Kasumi

Allied Ships
SS Pompano

SS Pompano launches 4 torpedoes at CV Zuikaku

[John B.]

Looks like he might be down a DD, 3 CLs and a BB. That's a nice night's/day's work for basically dents in your surface forces. I'd almost rather my subs miss the CVs than to watch duds.

[Cap Mandrake]

That...and to save time is the reason I don't watch most combat replays. Watching a dud plow into Zuikaku is just too much to bear.

[desicat]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

2 squadrons of TBD's fly in to Noumea and some staff idiot forgets to set them to torps. I think the Zeroes are flying from La Foa.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near La Foa at 115,158

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12

Allied aircraft
P-40B Warhawk x 4
F4F-3 Wildcat x 9
TBD-1 Devastator x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
TBD-1 Devastator: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Hibiki

Well, at least they hit something.

Happy to see the Hibiki survive - and making a cameo too boot. Very popular AAR you have here.

[Cap Mandrake]

Yes, of course. The boys are instructed to leave Hibiki alone.

[erstad]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Yes, of course. The boys are instructed to leave Hibiki alone.

I had the pleasure to play Cuttlefish in an AE campaign, where I was Allied.

I renamed one of the reinforcement carriers the "CV Hibiki".

I figured he wouldn't have the heart to sink it, giving me a tactical advantage!

[Cap Mandrake]

Problem:

[Cap Mandrake]

Here is the question. Those 2 Jap BB's SE of Sale that are now gone were likely inbound for a bombardment of Melbourne, which is now mostly repaired and would otherwise be a spectacular spot for the B-17's and SBD's.

So:

1) Is it possible that this battle depleted the ammo of the two BB's enough so they won't have an effective bombardment? And what happened to them? They do not show up on recon.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Sale at 83,173, Range 22,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso
BB Yamashiro
DD Urakaze
DD Minegumo

Allied Ships
TK Petronella, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
TK Aletta, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
TK Angelina, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
TK Talang Akar, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
Range closes to 22,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 22,000 yards
Japanese open fire on surprised Allied ships at 22,000 yards
TK Talang Akar sunk by BB Yamashiro at 22,000 yards
BB Yamashiro fires at TK Aletta at 22,000 yards
Range closes to 21,000 yards
BB Fuso engages TK Aletta at 21,000 yards
BB Yamashiro engages TK Petronella at 21,000 yards
DD Urakaze engages TK Angelina at 21,000 yards
Range closes to 18,000 yards
BB Yamashiro engages TK Angelina at 18,000 yards
BB Fuso engages TK Aletta at 18,000 yards
DD Minegumo engages TK Petronella at 18,000 yards
DD Urakaze engages TK Petronella at 18,000 yards
Range closes to 16,000 yards
BB Yamashiro engages TK Angelina at 16,000 yards
DD Minegumo engages TK Aletta at 16,000 yards
DD Minegumo engages TK Petronella at 16,000 yards
DD Urakaze engages TK Aletta at 16,000 yards
Range closes to 12,000 yards
TK Angelina sunk by BB Yamashiro at 12,000 yards
DD Minegumo engages TK Aletta at 12,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards
BB Yamashiro engages TK Aletta at 10,000 yards
TK Petronella sunk by BB Yamashiro at 10,000 yards
Range closes to 6,000 yards
BB Yamashiro engages TK Aletta at 6,000 yards
TK Aletta sunk by BB Fuso at 6,000 yards
Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk...

[Cap Mandrake]

I count at least 3 rounds of fire from Fuso and 5 from Yamashiro. Does each engagement correlate to a main gun battery ammo point?

If an inbound bombardment TF uses up much of its ammo will it turn and run for port a day early as if it had
completed its mission? That would explain the failure to find them on recon.

[Cap Mandrake]

I suppose somebody is going to say "it depends" [:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

Fuso and Yamashiro both have ample 12 point main gun magazines when full

[John B.]

It depends. [:D] I"ve seen bombardment TFs fight surface actions against weaker targets such as transports or pt boats and go on to do a bombardment. I wonder if the TF commander has a low agressionn rating and thus is more likely to abort a mission after shooting off shells.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

I suppose somebody is going to say "it depends" [:D]

Why say something when you can draw a picture? ....