The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

8/20/44

Battle of Miri: Full KB moves on Miri, where LBA sweeps combine with naval air strikes. The air battles come out roughly even and the strikes badly damaged one USN DD. Overall, though, this is a huge allocation of enemy power that accomplishes little on the day.

[Canoerebel]

8/20/44

Peep Show: John showed some fight today, as he posted strong CAP over Takao, Formosa, and employed two DDs to bombard Foochow, to little effect (except doing so alerted him that I have B-29s there).

There will be an ebb and flow of fighting in Formosa, in China, and in Indochina, over the coming weeks. But in none of those locations can John hope to stand toe-to-toe with Allied troops that are supported by air power. He can pick and choose his moments to achieve temporary and local superiority. Overall, though, the Allied position is growing very strong.

The only way he can really stand toe-to-toe for a slugfest is to employ KB. I don't know if he has any intention of doing that.

[Canoerebel]

8/20/44

Air Losses: Tough fighting today, but overall the Allied air forces did pretty well.

[Canoerebel]

8/20/44

DS and Mini DS: The two armadas will combine tomorrow and DS has refueled as much as it could. So this little dance is nearly complete, and the combined force can return to the Formosa AOO.

Mini DS is bringing 370k+ fuel, which combined with refueling in the DEI will permit operations into the medium term. It should be enough to fully handle Formosa, some activity elsewhere, and eventually the "operation" to escort empties back to the DEI or the Pacific (at both places, additional TKs with fuel will be ready).

[witpqs]

I assume you have the supply convoy(s) in tow as well?

[DRF99]

Knowing where the KB is, couldn't you simply escort the empty cargo ships and tankers straight out to the Marshals? It seems like the miniDS could handle just about any LBA attacks from the Guam, Saipan, Truk, etc.

You must have 400-500 or more transport ships sitting around in the Philippines.

[Canoerebel]

Yes, Mini Death Star is escorting the supply/fuel/reinforcement TFs. 700k+ supply and 370k+ fuel and some good ground units.

Yes, I have a zillion empty ships in Luzon, awaiting the proper moment to egress, either to the DEI or to the Pacific. The plan and timing for the egress is pretty much set in place, now. It'll be awhile but it will happen.

[jwolf]

Regarding the Lexington: at this point are you just trying to hide it from attack, or actually move it to a major repair facility? Got an ARD anywhere?

[Canoerebel]

8/20/44

CV Lexington: See graphic for details.

[paullus99]

So John went ahead and finally attacked Miri - interesting choice, but in a way somewhat consistent with his ongoing apparent desire to be "doing something."

Obviously, he has a small window of opportunity here, until the DS makes it way back to the area - I'm wondering what he intends to do with it?

[Canoerebel]

If he reduces Miri's supply of oil or destroys its oil production and refining capabilities, he will justifiably take comfort in that.

But it won't really affect my operations. To this point, I've only used Miri's fuel for subs, and subs right now are playing a miniscule role in the game. My subs seem to pose a greater risk to themselves than to the enemy. Enemy ASW is lethal, and my subs haven't targeted a decent enemy vessel in several months now. You might think, "Well, position them better!" But they've been positioned right in front of enemy carrier TFs, which then trampled all over them.

What I'm saying is that subs are a minor part of the game and I'm not using (or counting on) Miri's fuel for anything important.

Since KB has stopped to mess with Miri, I'd guess John isn't planning to go to Formosa's aid. If he was, he'd be moving fast to get there before Death Star could return.

[MakeeLearn]

But they've been positioned right in front of enemy carrier TFs, which then trampled all over them.

Maybe put them around softer targets. Like Palembang, Balikpapan and other fuel/resource ports he may be moving stuff from. Or blockade ports on Japan Home Island. Send your rats after the cheese, not the cat. This may cause him to chase your subs with KB instead of the other way around. Submarine warfare is a study unto itself.

[Canoerebel]

A month ago, I made that change. My subs are concentrated around Boela, Miri and Formosa - places where I have CAP up, which suppresses John's use of air ASW (until KB shows up and dominates the scene).

Using subs anywhere else that he's using E-class ships or air ASW is useless. Palembang, Singapore, Home Islands, whatever: ASW clobbers subs.

I expected this, from reading the AARs of others, like Bullwinkle and crsutton. There are other good uses of subs - to serve as tripwires and to "flood the zone" when it's likely that enemy combat TFs will be damaged in combat. That's what I'm focusing on now, though I do want to give my subs a day or two around Miri, just in hopes that by sheer weight of numbers they finally strike. I can just picture one of them putting two TTs into Shokaku....

[MakeeLearn]

ASW clobbers subs.

From reading the forum, late war Japanese ASW seems to be very good.

[Jellicoe]

Do you think that John ever realised the Lexington was at Boela? I am not so sure he did as one would have assumed that he would have gone after Boela over Ternate with the KB and associated surface forces if he had trult known she was there before the arrival of the DS. A lone damaged carrier with a full KB nearby is total catnip to JIII

Still, getting her into a lovely Manilla shipyard will be good and she will repair much more quickly than the more heavily damaged Sumatra. Maybe you do need Hong Kong after all, one yard per carrier.

What is that big red blob that has emerged into the clear hex next to Canton? Have you sent something to recon by bombing?

[AcePylut]

Curious, but what is the aggression rating of your sub commanders (in general)?

If they mostly have a "high" aggression, could that lead to the US Subs being targeted and sunk because they are staying near the surface and looking for contacts and/or firing solutions on 'anything'....

....Whereas, if they had a "low" aggression, they'd be more willing to "run and hide" (i.e. dive and dive deep) from his ASW assets and only pop up for the occasional "easy target"?

I don't know, just curious if putting low aggression commanders would increase their ability to survive (if they mostly have high aggression). Then again, having low aggression, maybe they won't "drive home" an attack on a CV that's in their sights. Again... IDK... thoughts from the peanut gallery?

[BBfanboy]

I just checked - in stock, Manila SY is 20K tons capacity. An Essex carrier is 27K tons - too big to go in the drydock to repair float damage. Did John increase the SY size in this game?

[Canoerebel]

BBfanboy: Manila shipyard is size 40 in this mod.

AcePylut: good observation about sub commander aggression ratings. I've seen Lowpe use the tactic you refer to. I'll give that a try (assuming any of my subs survive through tomorrow, ha ha).

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Jellicoe

Do you think that John ever realised the Lexington was at Boela? I am not so sure he did as one would have assumed that he would have gone after Boela over Ternate with the KB and associated surface forces if he had trult known she was there before the arrival of the DS. A lone damaged carrier with a full KB nearby is total catnip to JIII

Still, getting her into a lovely Manilla shipyard will be good and she will repair much more quickly than the more heavily damaged Sumatra. Maybe you do need Hong Kong after all, one yard per carrier.

What is that big red blob that has emerged into the clear hex next to Canton? Have you sent something to recon by bombing?

John had high detection on Boela, so he probably knew there was a damaged carrier in port. I'm sure the torpedoing of CVs Sumatra and Lexington are etched in his memory, so he probably did some educated guessing and came up with the right answers.

The "big red blob" east of Canton is just 4k troops.

[Canoerebel]

I had some extra time with this turn before I sent it this morning, so I made a few tweaks:

1. Per AcePylut's suggestion, I switched the commanders of two subs at Miri to low-aggression gents. I'll begin cycling subs into port to continue. It can't hurt.

2. Lexington is moderately damaged but capable of flight ops, so I moved four Avenger squadrons from airfields to her. These are dedicated fully to ASW settings.

3. There is a big AO TF accompanying Mini DS. I had all the important TFs draw fuel from her. Then I detached the TF from Mini DS to steam to Sorong, where she'll do similar duty tomorrow, allowing more Death Star TFs to refuel. That'll empty out the AOs and allow them to retire to Oz. That'll keep some of my oiler capacity in rear areas rather than forward in the Philippines.