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

[apbarog]

I don't know about night troop transports. We do have a house rule against night activity. I don't remember the exact wording of that rule, whether it was just night bombing or something else. We do use night recon on ships for bombardments, but I haven't considered that to be against the house rule. If Walker is pulling troops out at night with seaplanes, I don't have a problem with it. It isn't going to make a big difference.

I do know that he has done a lot of evacuations like this. I imagine that some were done by plane and some by sub. He has fragments all over the place. For the most part, they've just gotten evacuated from an imminent danger spot to some other slightly less imminent danger spot. From what I can tell.

[apbarog]

No turn from Walker today. Probably one tomorrow.

From time to time, I take some extra time and look around the map, finding units that can be freed up for future operations. I make a list of these units. I also have a list of future operations, and place units with each operation, taking them from the available list. I did this again today.

Lots of operations coming. I know that Boela is next. The Americal Division is approaching Darwin, where it will unload and reload for amphibious operations.

More of the Indian and Chinese units are arriving and approaching Perth. They will make up a big part of the Java operation.

I think that once Boela takes place, other operations will follow one after the other, taking just as long as it takes to get the APAs back to Darwin (or wherever), and get them loaded again.

Carriers will be used, but won't be absolutely necessary for all of the landings. Boela should be fairly easy. Others more difficult.

I'm not seeing enemy ground troop levels that are too high at any of the planned invasion targets. Defended, yes, but nothing impossible to deal with. Right now, the only fortress that is very heavily defended is Rabaul, and I'm not going there.

[apbarog]

1 Aug 43

Sub Runner finds a tanker convoy out in the middle of the South China Sea. 2 torpedoes are fired at huge tanker Nisshin Maru #2. One hits, but is a dud.

Prince of Wales and escorts bombards Kendari. The task force will retire to Darwin. Ships will repair minor damage. PoW will join the carrier task forces, since 2 of the US battleships have split off to upgrade at Sydney.

Gorontalo, southwest of Manado, in invaded by a small unit. The base is empty and will be captured.

Near the northern part of Japan, sub Mingo spots a cargo task force and torpedoes a patrol boat.

North of Rabaul, sub Pickerel spots an unescorted cargo ship. While the sub fire its gun at the ship, many torpedoes are launched. Most miss. 3 are duds. One torpedo hits and probably sinks the ship, in combination with 12 gun hits.

P-38Hs sweep Ternate, finding a similar number of A6M5s from lost carrier Hiyo. 5 P-38s are lost, downing 4 Zeros.

Some heavies bomb Ambon. B-25s bomb Taberfane. One heavy squadron hits Boela. No CAP at any of these. Airfields are damaged.

12 B-24s bomb Ternates airfield, finding 10 ineffectual Zeros. A Topsy is destroyed on the ground.

At Koepang, Allied artillery fires on the enemy, doing minor damage, but 5 squads hit are all destroyed. I'll mostly use the artillery here while the infantry rests and recovers in preparation for the next targets. I'm undecided whether to commit them further at Koepang to wipe out the enemy. The enemy troops are doomed. Just a matter of finishing them off faster and damaging my infantry divisions further, or just using artillery and finishing them off slower.

Allied carriers will arrive at Groote Eylandt. After an incredibly long voyage from the West Coast, a 55,000 ton ARD has just arrived here. Carrier Saratoga still has 5 flotation damage from a torpedo long ago. It will be repaired here. The 20,000 ton ARD that was here in now heading to Darwin. Other 3,000 ton ARDs are here and there in the area. I'm finding the most difficult damage to repair is engine damage. Even with an AR at Darwin, it won't repair engine damage. It will be good to get a port with a shipyard closer to the front than Brisbane and Sydney. That makes Soerbaja a nice base to capture. Eventually, but not yet.

A Brit division and a portion of a US division have marched to Kendari from Kolaka. They will bombard and wait for other troops, including armor, to catch up.

An interesting side note - AKEs are spotted disbanded at Rabaul. They weren't here and haven't been here for a long time. Could be a sign of a response to my capture of Munda.

[apbarog]

Question about how an ARD works:

I have ARD ABSD-1 disbanded at Groote Eylandt. The port is size 3. There are no other auxiliary ships there. Saratoga has arrived here, with 5 SYS and 5 FLOT damage. From what I understand, the ARD can handle the carrier. The ARD has a ship lift capacity of 55,000 tons. Saratoga is 37,200 tons. Saratoga just arrived at the port, and the repair management screen for the port has the repair ship option grayed out. I expect to be able to repair the flotation damage.

Here's an excerpt from the auxiliary and tender thread in the War Room:

ARD – Auxiliary Repair Dock
Assists the repair of any ship type, but only floatation damage, including Major floatation damage [14.2.3.2]. An ARD is a floating drydock used to repair damage below the waterline [20.1.2]. Although ARDs can only repair hull (flotation) damage, they do it much better than any other type of Tender or Repair Ship [20.1.2].
Use #1 – Stabilize flotation damaged ships before sending ships to repair yards.
Use #2 – Enable ports of size 6 and below the capability to repair Major Flotation Damage.
Use #3 – Augment repair services provided by ports size 7 and larger and enables the repair of Major Floatation Damage over five points.
Use #4 –Augment shipyard repair services.
Note: ARDs are very efficient at floatation repair, but are limited to hosting a single ship per cycle [14.2.3.2.1.2].
Note: An undamaged, “fresh” ARD may contribute, up to a maximum of, 100 Repair Points per turn [14.2.3.2.1.2]. An ARD may repair, therefore, up to a maximum of 1 floatation damage point per turn on a single ship.
Note: The “Shift Lift Capacity” value on the right side of the ARD’s Ship Information Screen is the maximum damaged ship tonnage that the ARD can repair.
Note: [As of 9/29/11] Public beta pitch change #049 is “Fixed ARD repair”. Not clear what this is but it may be that with the beta patch installed ARDs do not have to have a disbanded AR, AS or AD in port to function.

Any ideas?

[BBfanboy]

It might take a turn for the ARD to "prepare" for the carrier. IRL, a day or more was needed to set up the support blocks before the ship was accommodated.
Is there an Ops point issue for either ship?

[apbarog]

The ARD was already there. Saratoga just arrived. Neither have used any OPS points.

[apbarog]

I am going to wait a turn and see if Saratoga can be repaired next turn. If not, I'll move the ARD to a bigger port, Gove, and see what happens there. I liked Groote Eylandt originally because it seems to be just far enough away that Walker has never looked at it. Gove does get recon from time to time. So, we'll see.

[apbarog]

This Chinese Corp will be fun to use. I foresee using it to amphibiously invade China down the road.

[apbarog]

2 Aug 43 [edit - date corrected, it really isn't 1942]

At least a couple of enemy destroyers run over sub Shad near Manado. The sub escapes. I think that the enemy ran into nearby Gorontalo, where I had 3 APDs yesterday. They made it out to the south.

Helens bomb the 1st Fiji Commando at Gorontalo, doing minor damage. The notable thing is that the Helens flew from Mindanao. I have to admit, it was satisfying to see that the Allied advance is close enough to Mindanao to see bombers flying from there.

B-25s bomb enemy troops at Kendari and Taberfane.

Southwest of Manila, sub Scamp spots a big tanker convoy, but misses with 2 torpedoes. This is a bunch of small or medium tankers making the run from northern Borneo to Manila.

Allied troops do an artillery attack at Kendari. The 18th British Division and the US 32nd Infantry/C Division was here, and the US XIV US Corps just arrived. I'm waiting for another portion of the 32nd Division, an armor unit, and a combat engineer unit to arrive. The US Southwest Pacific HQ is supporting from Timor.

As I mentioned in my ARD discussion, US carriers are at Groote Eylandt now, and are unseen. The US Americal Division will arrive at Darwin tomorrow, will unload, then reload for Boela.

Got heavy activity messages in SigInt for Saipan and 6 hexes north of Saipan. Also got a message for Talaud-Eilanden, which is a future target south of Mindanao.

[Rob322]

I still think an AR needs to be present. Someone once described that's how it works in real life, the AR supports the ARD with support workers and gear.

[jwolf]

Heh, I liked your positive spin on seeing your troops bombed in northern Celebes.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Rob322

I still think an AR needs to be present. Someone once described that's how it works in real life, the AR supports the ARD with support workers and gear.

Unless this changed in the Betas or other mods I don't think that is correct. You may have been confused by all the recent posts about problems getting the right ship into the ARD when an AR is present - there was a bug that Michael M fixed.

All you should have to do is select the ship (Saratoga), stand it down, then toggle through the repair types - pierside, AR, ARD, shipyard (whichever are applicable at that location). At least that is how I did it when I used an ARD a long time ago in Scenario 1.

A new thought, apbarog, the ARD option may be greyed out on the "Repair Management Screen" because you do not yet have Saratoga in repair status, just disbanded. Once you put Saratoga in the ARD from the ship screen all should be well.

[apbarog]

I went to Saratoga's ship screen, and choose for it to stand down. This didn't change what I saw in the Repair Management Screen, other than putting Saratoga into Pier mode. It still has the Repair Ship option grayed out. I've never manually had a ship to stand down before. I've always just used the Repair Management Screen, and that's done everything I needed. Until now, maybe.

So Saratoga still has a "#" by it, saying that it can't repair the major flotation damage. I can choose to put it into Pier mode, but not Repair Ship mode.

[apbarog]

I looked at my other ARDs to see if they are working. I have a 3,000 ton ARD at Ndeni, port size 4. I have a sub that has flotation damage, and I can choose Repair Ship mode for the sub. However, there are also 2 ARs at Ndeni. So I put the ARs into a task force, and I can still choose Repair ship mode for the sub, but with a much longer repair time.

Possible explanations, which are pure guesses on my part, include:

1. The port size and/or ship size matters. Groote Eylandt is a size 3 port, and can dock a ship that is no more than 24,000 tons. The ARD is 30,800 tons. Saratoga is 37,200 tons. Maybe this matters? The ARD does have a ship lift capacity of 55,000 tons, so that isn't the problem. Maybe there is a relationship between port size and getting an ARD to work in it.

2. It takes a turn to get the ARD option to show up. I'll know the answer to this when I get my next turn.

3. Having exactly 5 flotation damage is missed in the code somehow. Just speculation. The amount of 5 flotation damage is important for some kind of repair, somewhere.

If I can't get the ARD working in the next turn at Groote Eylandt, it will move to Gove and we'll try again there. If that doesn't work, it will move to Darwin.

[apbarog]

3 Aug 43

Enemy destroyers spot sub Swordfish north of Borneo, but can't hit it.

Sub Jack finds a patrol boat task force on ASW duty south of Mindanao, but misses with 2 torpedoes. The same thing happens to nearby sub KXVII, with the same results.

North of Japan, sub Mingo fires 2 torpedoes at a very tiny xAKL, and misses. A waste of torpedoes. Mingo heads to Adak for minor repairs and more torpedoes.

2 enemy heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 5 destroyers arrive at Munda during the daylight. Walker was undoubtedly looking for the APA task force that was here yesterday, and unloaded an engineer unit. The APAs had left, and were replaced with a PT task force. The cruisers engage at long range, sinking 2 PT boats.

Near Laoag, at the NW tip of Luzon, sub Whale spots a big xAK, fires 2 torpedoes and hits with one. No troops on the ship. Whale then conducts a followup attack on the damaged xAK, but the torpedo that hit was a dud.

At Gorontalo, on Celebes, Bettys and Helens fly from Mindano, bombing the small commando unit in the jungle. All but one of the squads are now disabled.

Back at Munda, Allied bombers arrive to attack the loitering enemy task force. Walker provided LR CAP, with Zeros, Oscars, and Tojos. He planned on staying during the daylight. SBDs and TBFs and Beauforts attack in the morning and the afternoon. 30 SBDs are shot down, as are 12 TBFs. Many bombers did drop bombs and torpedoes, but only one bomb hit, hitting CL Yubari with a 500 pound bomb. I should have provided escorts, I guess.

All of my troops at Koepang today, hoping to help clear out the enemy. How this attack goes will determine if I will continue or just rest my troops for future operations, and let the enemy troops die from isolation.

Ternate will be swept by P-47s, with heavy bombers hitting Ternate and Boela.

My ARD at Groote Eylandt was not able to start repairing Saratoga, so I ordered the ARD to move to Gove to see if a bigger port will help. Gove is a size 5 port, Groote Eylandt is a size 3 port. If that doesn't work, the ARD will continue to size 6 port Darwin.

SigInt reports that the 4th Air Division is moving to Butuan, on the northern coast of Mindanao. No doubt that Walker is reinforcing Mindanao.

In Burma, Allied troops have marched south along the coast, and will now engage the enemy tank division on the road to Cox Bazar. I did get SigInt that the 56th Engineer Regiment is planning an attack at Ledo. I have Chinese units moving from Ledo into the mountains to flank to the south. I doubt that an enemy attack at Ledo is possible.

Medium bombers will hit the tank division, and heavies will bomb Cox Bazar and Akyab.

In the Solomons, an Allied cruiser task force will move at high speed to Torokina, hoping to intercept the enemy cruisers as they retire to Rabaul. An intercept is possible if the enemy moves at normal speed. I'm not bombarding Torokina, just trying to intercept.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I went to Saratoga's ship screen, and choose for it to stand down. This didn't change what I saw in the Repair Management Screen, other than putting Saratoga into Pier mode. It still has the Repair Ship option grayed out. I've never manually had a ship to stand down before. I've always just used the Repair Management Screen, and that's done everything I needed. Until now, maybe.

So Saratoga still has a "#" by it, saying that it can't repair the major flotation damage. I can choose to put it into Pier mode, but not Repair Ship mode.

In this picture Saratoga is disbanded in port but not "Stood Down". Stood Down = pierside repair, and from there you can cycle through the other repair options available. Apologies if your statement is correct but the picture does not match it.

[BBfanboy]

ARDs are specifically made to repair floatation damage. Port size should not matter - you are using the ARD's repair points not the port's.

[apbarog]

Agreed. I'm just trying to figure out either what I am doing wrong, or what isn't working correctly.

[apbarog]

Yes, I did stand down Saratoga, putting it into pier repair, but that didn't make the repair ship option available. I was able to undo that attempt, so the picture doesn't show the pier repair setting.

No turn today, hopefully tomorrow. I'll try again with the ARD at Gove in a day or two.

[apbarog]

4 Aug 43

Enemy cruisers start to retire from Munda, but PT boats react to them and engage, this time at night, and at 2000 yards with little moonlight. PT boats do launch 2 torpedoes, but both miss. 2 of the 4 PT boats are sunk.

Sub Truant is located by 2 subchasers near Bataan, but is not hit. Truant just laid a minefield at Bataan.

Cruisers Northampton, Louisville, and Salt Lake City, with 3 destroyers, sprint from Milne Bay to Torokina, hoping to intercept the retiring enemy cruisers. The cruisers are not found, but lone xAK Unkai Maru is found docked, and the cargo ship is sunk easily.

Near Puerto Princesa, on the oil route from northern Borneo to Manila, sub Skate spots the usual tanker convoy, fires 4 torpedoes at tanker Ayazone Maru, gets 2 hits, but one of the hits is a dud. The one good hit sets the tanker on fire, as it has fuel loaded.

An Allied sub just dropped some mines southwest of Osaka, in the shallows in the exit to the area. A destroyer and subchaser finds the minefield immediately, and starts sweeping. Too bad. Was hoping for something big here.

Isolated enemy troops at Koepang are bombed by B-25s. Allied troops attack to good effect:

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1887 casualties reported
Squads: 68 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 27 (14 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
206 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Losses are acceptable, so I will continue to eliminate the enemy after a couple of days of rest.

In Burma, an Allied offensive has begun. Heavy bombers hit Cox Bazar and Akyab, and will continue. Allied troops attack on the road between Chittagong and Cox Bazar.

Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33646 troops, 476 guns, 737 vehicles, Assault Value = 1143

Defending force 14692 troops, 206 guns, 435 vehicles, Assault Value = 474

Allied adjusted assault: 590

Japanese adjusted defense: 995

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1461 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 87 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 39 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 40 disabled
Guns lost 92 (12 destroyed, 80 disabled)
Vehicles lost 70 (8 destroyed, 62 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
420 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Guns lost 37 (1 destroyed, 36 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Assaulting units:
9th Indian Division
641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
14th Indian Division
268th Motorised Brigade
255th Armoured Brigade
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
26th Indian Division
XXXIII Indian Corps
78th Light AA Regiment

Defending units:
1st Tank Division
Imperial Guards/A Division
5th Field Construction Battalion
8th RF Gun Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
15th Army /1

Things went surprisingly well for me. I expected an attritional battle here, one that could be long and require swapping fresh troops in and out. Results are encouraging. Allied troops will attack again today. Rest will probably be needed after that. I do believe that there is an infantry division at Cox Bazar. It could come in as a reinforcement, or it will be the next target. It will be nice to defeat the 1st Tank Division here.

At Kendari, Allied artillery attacks continue as we wait for the combat engineers and armor to arrive. No hurry here.

Allied carriers and the big ARD will make it to Gove today. Then I'll try again to use the ARD to repair Saratoga. Another guess as to why it didn't work at Groote Eylandt is that Groote Eylandt had about 13,000 supply. Maybe that isn't enough? Just guessing. The next test will be at Gove. It has lots more supply, as well as being a size 5 port, while Groote Eylandt is just a size 3 port.