Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

2 Jul 43

Sub War

More success today. First, the I-33 caught an empty tanker off Perth and put a torpedo into her. I doubt that she sinks.

Next, the I-175 caught an xAK loaded with fuel south of Fiji and put a torpedo into her. She probably went down but there was no confirmation.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing happened here except for the Allied bombers getting more practice.

I did notice that Ted invaded the dot hex at Buna. My Betties won’t fly from Rabaul any more (the slackers!) so I’m sending 3 CA & 4 DD from Truk to catch that little TF (an APA and DD) and sink them. Hopefully, they won’t be gone by the time I get there. I’m going to try and get some intel to see if I can do an air drop and take it back. I have a para regiment at Rabaul and can fly in 45 transports from Truk if needed.

SRA

My carrier and surface TFs have refueled and are headed for their jump off points. The BB TF (4 BB, 4 CA, CL, 12 DD) will move to a point 7 hexes from Merauke and the carrier TF (Ryuho and 3 CVEs) will stay 8-9 hexes from Merauke as a cover force in case any Allied surface ships wander within range (7 hexes) of the carriers. Merauke currently has ~30 fighters and ~30 auxiliary planes, but no bombers. Cool! There are also a number of small TFs hanging out there, including APs. I suspect a potential invasion of the SRA in the future. The purpose of this operation is to sink the shipping in the area to delay any invasion. With no Allied bombers in the area and nothing bigger than a DD, I expect to clean up the area. The, I’ll bombard Merauke to smash the base there. The carriers have only 9 Zeros unfortunately, so they have to support the surface ships. I don’t expect them to play a part at all. Neither of my TFs have been spotted.

Burma
China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 8/43. I expect it to become operational around 7/12/43. Three of the 6x30 factories will become operational and the other three will convert as follows:
2x30 will convert to the A7M2 Sam and the last 1x30 will convert to the Ki-84a Frank.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Allied CVEs:

'42 - 8

'43 - 13

'44 - 44

'45 - 25

Total: 90 [X(]

Just go away, Michael! I like having my head in the sand! Those numbers make my eyes bleed, even though they're just CVEs. That's 2700 planes! [X(]

[Mike Solli]

3 Jul 43

Sub War

Two Allied subs, the O19 and Tinosa, were hit by DCs from prosecuting DDs off Truk. Ted is beginning to comment on the action around there, so it has to be having a negative effect on his subs.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

About 200 bomber sorties visited Kavieng’s port. Lots more damage:

Madang: 89-100-92
Kavieng: 87-88-51

All else is quiet other than some small raids against Tulagi’s garrison, the former Shortlands Island garrison and the remnants of the former Madang garrison.

The CA TF that hopes to hit the Buna invasion TF (1 APA and 1 DD) should be in position to attack tomorrow. They are currently undetected.

SRA

The carrier TF is in position to support the surface TF, which will be in position to hit Merauke tomorrow (it’s still a couple hexes too far to reach the base).

Burma

A Tojo IIc sentai swept Akyab again killing 4 Allied fighters for the loss of 1 Tojo. Over the past 3 turns, six pilots have reached elite status. It might have something to do with the fact that this particular sentai is the most experienced IJAAF sentai and has a bunch of 80 experience pilots. Its job is to generate elite pilots and it is doing that admirably.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: 65 JNAF AF Unit, Southern Army

The Ki-43-IV Oscar R&D advanced to 7/45 (will be operational in 2/44).
The D4Y3 Judy R&D advanced to 4/44 (will be operational in 11/43).

I got confirmation that the Sunfish sank after hitting a mine at Adak on 5/12/43 (according to my notes, she hit 2 mines – ouch!) and the xAP President Madison went down at Finschafen after being bombed by Vals on 6/13/43 (she took 8x 250kg bomb hits – double ouch!). She was also carrying vehicles (Yay!).

So, we’re halfway through 1943. I am surprised that I am still able to hit and damage the Allies as much as I am. A lot of it may have to do with the fact that I usually go where the US carriers ain’t. At some point I will need to face the US carriers with my carriers. I’m hoping that when that happens, my carrier planes will be a little better than they are now. The problem is the Zero. They can’t compete with the Hellcat (or pretty much anything) when they are escorting. I won’t have a viable solution (if there is one) for a long time.

Another issue I see looming is the Ha-43 engine, for the Sam and the George K5. The George is due around January 1944. No clue at this point on the Sam. I currently have 5 factories but they have little repaired (3, 2, 2, 1, 1). I’ll add 2 in a couple weeks plus another 7 or so within the next few months making around 14 factories before the year is out. Anyway, I have 4 R&D engine factories left, 2 with the Ha-43 (60 & 30) and 2 with the NE Turbojet (2x30). If left as is, the Ha-43 won’t be available until September 1944, 8 months after the George K5 is available. I’m thinking I should convert both NE Turbojet factories to the Ha-43. That would accelerate it to 5/44. Then I could let 1-2 become operational and let the other 2-3 convert to the NE Turbojet R&D. It’ll cost some supply, but I don’t see any other choice. What do you guys think?

[Mike Solli]

4 Jul 43

Sub War

The Allied subs around Truk finally succeeded in doing something other than wasting torpedoes. The Rasher struck the W-18 with a single torpedo sinking her. She’ll pay for that later.

The I-38 was hit by a plane east of the Aleutians. She suffered 33 flot damage. She’s headed for the Home Islands for repairs.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The supply TF (10x xAKL & 4x PB) is 2 hexes from Rabaul. I set a Tojo IIc sentai to LRCAP and I’m glad I did. 13 SBDs escorted by 2 Corsairs went after the TF. I had 26 Tojos covering. They shot down 1 Corsair and 11 of the 13 SBDs were shot down as well. The two remaining missed. Nice.

Ted’s bombers were happy to bomb my small outposts.

SRA

My carrier fleet is in position to attack anything west of and excluding Merauke. They have only 9 fighters and there are around 36 stationed at Merauke.

My BB fleet is close enough to hit Merauke (and all the TFs sitting there). I contemplated making it a bombardment TF but decided on leaving it as a surface TF. I want to kill the ships. If there’s ammo remaining, I’ll hit the base on the way out. Note that there are no Allied bombers stationed at Merauke.

I just realized that the Allies control Timoeka, a base up the coast from Merauke to the west, very close to the edge of the SRA. I’m going to “recon” it by Nell using 250kg bombs. Let’s see what’s there.

Burma

A Tojo sweep of Akyab netted 3 Allied fighters for no loss. They’re gaining stupid experience!

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The N1k2-J George R&D advanced to 4/44 (will become operational 9/43).

I converted the 2x30 NE Turbojet R&D factories to the Ha-43 R&D. They will be fully repaired in a month and then will double the acceleration of the engine. When they are done, I’ll convert 3x30 back to the NE Turbojet and let the 1x60 become operational. Then I’ll expand it and convert a couple others that I don’t need to the Ha-43.

[Mike Solli]

5 Jul 43

Sub War

I spotted a supply/fuel convoy headed to Dutch Harbor and vectored 3 subs to intercept it. Two caught it sinking a couple of xAKs. Too bad they couldn’t have hit the tankers (if there really were tankers in the TF).

Off Truk, the Kisaragi found the Rasher and hit her with a DC. Serves her right for sinking my little escort yesterday!

At Amchitka, I had an Ansyu PB on a fast transport mission dropping some supply. She found and hit the SS Blackfish with 2 DCs. No report of her sinking, but I can’t see her anymore. [;)]

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted knew I had a supply TF headed to Rabaul (see yesterday’s report) so he sent a bombardment fleet in to catch it (I suspect) and hit the base all in one shot. It was composed of 6 CA, 8 DD, 3 DMS. They did catch the fleet in port and sank it all (4 PB and 10 xAKL). I was concerned about the supply, not the ships. Turns out they dropped all the supply before being destroyed! Yay!

The US TF is still sitting in Rabaul harbor, low on ammo. I set my two Betty daitai (72 aircraft), sitting at Truk to naval attack out to their normal range of 17 hexes, exactly the distance to Rabaul. Each has 10% search on a narrow vector at Rabaul. If he decides to stick around another day, I hope the Betties launch. They’ll have fighter cover and can possibly take out a few warships.

Oh yeah, immediately after my cargo TF was taken out, I heard a mine explosion. The DD Bache was shown as a loss to mines at Rabaul, but I don’t think she sank….yet.

Allied air target for today: Rabaul

There were a total of 11 separate attacks on Rabaul, 4 fighter sweeps (carrier based Hellcats and P-38Gs – 79 total sorties) and 7 bombing runs (97x 2E and 87x 4E sorties), all against 135 Japanese fighters.

When it was all said and done, I ended up losing 25 planes shot down, 10 KIA and 10 WIA (not bad overall). The Allies lost 11 fighters (all CV Hellcats), 13x 2E and 4x 4E bombers along with about a dozen op losses too, half Hellcats. The reason he did so well was that the first three attacks was from Hellcats, 13, 12 and 32 aircraft. That wore down and damaged the defenders so they weren’t very effective against the bombers later. Damage to the airfield was significant: 0-66-96 (that was including the naval bombardment. We’ll see if he keeps it up. If not, Rabaul will be back in business in a few days.

SRA

My Nells dutifully recon bombed Timoeka, reporting the 4 Marine Raider Battalion to be present. I’m hitting it again tomorrow to see if something else shows up. I have the 16 Division hanging out as the SRA reserve, along with ships to move them. I may send them to visit and oust the Marines. There are plenty of powerful surface ships and aircraft in the area to support the visit.

My carriers did their job, which was nothing really. They sat, just in case some ships came west. None did. My BBs moved to within a few hexes of Merauke…and stopped. Really? Tanaka is their commander! Oddly enough, neither TF was spotted by the Allies! I see a small Allied TF a few hexes to the SW of Merauke and a decent sized supply/transport convoy 2 hexes to the east of Merauke and headed there. So, I changed plans a bit. I detached 4 DD from the surface TF to go after the small TF. The surface TF (4 BB, 4 CA, 1 CL, 8 DD) changed to a bombardment TF and is headed for Merauke. I hope to take out the convoy headed there, then bombard the base. Merauke has some 16-17k troops so I don’t expect to ever take it back, but I want to keep him cautious here. Merauke is a very nice jump off base to invade the SRA.

Burma

The daily sweep of Akyab netted 11 Allied fighters shot down for no loss.

China

A Chinese corps was destroyed out in the middle of nowhere. A few days ago I surrounded Chungking except for the hex to the NW of the city.

Other Stuff

I finally shut off Sally production for good. Not sure why I kept it going for so long. I think the Helen is better. Also, it frees up an airframe factory for other uses. In addition to the Sally factory, I have had the Mary factory off for a long time (engines used up). They are both available for future airframe needs.

[ny59giants]

Now there are about half a dozen Allied subs (that I can see) within a couple of hexes of Truk. The subs are ineffective with 150x 2E and 30x 1E bombers flying ASW within 2 hexes of Truk along with 3-4 ASW TFs there as well. I have regular fuel TFs arriving from Balikpapan as well as other convoys moving in and out regularly, and none of them are having issues.

I hope some of these bombers are flying night NavS to keep the DL up.

Rex - Why not?? These are the FF version of the George. There are going to be bases within his heavy bomber range that need some sort of fighter protection. The Rufe is too slow to catch up to some of them when on CAP.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Now there are about half a dozen Allied subs (that I can see) within a couple of hexes of Truk. The subs are ineffective with 150x 2E and 30x 1E bombers flying ASW within 2 hexes of Truk along with 3-4 ASW TFs there as well. I have regular fuel TFs arriving from Balikpapan as well as other convoys moving in and out regularly, and none of them are having issues.

I hope some of these bombers are flying night NavS to keep the DL up.

Rex - Why not?? These are the FF version of the George. There are going to be bases within his heavy bomber range that need some sort of fighter protection. The Rufe is too slow to catch up to some of them when on CAP.

I have recon planes flying day and night naval search at Truk.

I never knew that about the Rex. Guess I know what that cob-web filled Mary factory is converting to. [:D]

[ny59giants]

Another issue I see looming is the Ha-43 engine, for the Sam and the George K5. The George is due around January 1944. No clue at this point on the Sam. I currently have 5 factories but they have little repaired (3, 2, 2, 1, 1). I’ll add 2 in a couple weeks plus another 7 or so within the next few months making around 14 factories before the year is out. Anyway, I have 4 R&D engine factories left, 2 with the Ha-43 (60 & 30) and 2 with the NE Turbojet (2x30). If left as is, the Ha-43 won’t be available until September 1944, 8 months after the George K5 is available. I’m thinking I should convert both NE Turbojet factories to the Ha-43. That would accelerate it to 5/44. Then I could let 1-2 become operational and let the other 2-3 convert to the NE Turbojet R&D. It’ll cost some supply, but I don’t see any other choice. What do you guys think?

I say you got to do what you have to do to ensure the Sam and George are producing. Those are your main IJN fighters for the rest of the war. There are some fighters that come out in 45/46, but you have to get that far in the game first. [:D] You will need the Sam ASAP for your CVs to stand up to the 2nd gen Corsairs that will be coming out near end of '43. They will eat your Zeros for lunch and think it was just a light snack. [X(]

[ny59giants]

Rex gives you 34 mph increase (270 to 304) and a much better climb rate. Besides that, the stats are very similar.

[Mike Solli]

Michael, it'll be a month before the two factory conversions will help the R&D effort, but I figure I'll get the Ha-43 in May 1944. That sucks but there's absolutely nothing I can do to change that. Bad mistake when I first started the game years ago. [:(]

[Mike Solli]

6 Jul 43

Sub War

Not much today. The Mochizuki hit the Gudgeon with a DC.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

My little CA TF raided Buka looking for the APA and DD to kill, but only found a YMS, which they dispatched. [8|] They did bombard Buka giving the 1 Australian Para Bn a colossal headache. [:D] They're on their way back to Truk.

I heard sinking sounds. No clue what it was but I hope it was the DD that hit a mine the other day. [;)]

Ted's bombers went after Rabaul again. Since the airfield is closed, they had no opposition other than flak. They really didn't do much against the airfield (it was already resembling the surface of the moon) but they did destroy a couple dozen planes on the ground.

SRA

The 4 DD TF that separated from the bombardment fleet to go after a little convoy found it, an xAK that they promptly sank. They're headed back for Ambon.

The bombardment TF (4 BB, 4 CA, CL & 8 DD) found the convoy headed for Merauke at Merauke. There were 4x xAKs escorted by DD McCall. They put them all down, but the Ise and Jintsu collided. Ise got a little paint chipped but Jintsu will need some yard work: 1-6(6)-25(17)-0. They then bombarded Merauke causing light to moderate damage to the airfield, killing half a dozen planes on the ground and damaging another 3 dozen. I should have split the TF to hit them again tomorrow to kill some of those damaged planes but that ain't happening. They're headed back to Ambon to rearm.

The planes I saw were Kittyhawk III, PBY-5, P-70 and C-47. Not surprising.

Burma

The fighters at Akyab are being systematically destroyed again. I killed 2 of 5 that rose against my fighters.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

The Ki-100-II is only 5 days from becoming operational. I'm excited about this. There are 6x30 R&D factories. Three will become operational with 1 going to the Frank and the other 2 going to the Sam. What do you guys recommend I set for the Tony production? Also, how do you recommend I use the Tony?

[ny59giants]

The bombardment TF (4 BB, 4 CA, CL & 8 DD) found the convoy headed for Merauke at Merauke. There were 4x xAKs escorted by DD McCall. They put them all down, but the Ise and Jintsu collided. Ise got a little paint chipped but Jintsu will need some yard work: 1-6(6)-25(17)-0. They then bombarded Merauke causing light to moderate damage to the airfield, killing half a dozen planes on the ground and damaging another 3 dozen. I should have split the TF to hit them again tomorrow to kill some of those damaged planes but that ain't happening. They're headed back to Ambon to rearm.

Others may differ from me, but I go back to Nemo's comments and experiences with mixed SC TF (BBs with CL/CAs) having one group of warships (BB or CL/CA) sitting out part of a surface battle. I know this was a bombardment, but there is always the possibility this could become a surface action. The reason I separate is the range difference in their guns. Just something to consider as you go forward. It will also depend on the number of DDs you have available. Currently, I've lost about 10 to date (Sept 43). I've not been impressed with the results of Japanese CLs in bombardment missions. The Allied CLs are much better in this role.

[rustysi]

A6M5c, so I can have some armored fighters for land based use. Their range is too short for carrier use.

Just a suggestion here... Use as 'fleet defenders' on CVL's or the sister ship of a 'carrier division'. One provides escort at 100% the other provides cap at 100%. For me their firepower (17?) is too much to pass up as a cap plane for a carrier. It should be good enough to knock down a lot of U.S. planes, although I have no experience with such as yet. I will let you know for sure when I get to that point.

H8K2-L Emily Transport – Even though they are armored, I probably won’t use them. I’ll continue to use the Mavis transport because of its incredibly long range.

Before you make this decision, check the load capacity on the Emily.

[Mike Solli]

Michael, that is an interesting observation. After the bombardment, all the cruisers and BBs had burned most of their main gun ammo. But, during the surface action, all 4 BBs shot, but only 1 CA.

Rusty, good idea on the A6M5c for CAP only. I'm going to try it. I usually use 60% of my fighters on CAP. I'll start with one carrier per division with the M5c and go from there.

You're right about the load on the Emily. I keep going back and forth between range and load. Thanks for making me unsure....again. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

Ted's response when he saw the action at Merauke:

Just minding my own business, running a quiet little port on the west side of PNG. But oh no, you gotta come in like an unwanted party guest and trash the place....

[:D]

[Mike Solli]

7 Jul 43

Sub War

The Umikaze, prowling around Truk, hit the Steelhead with a couple of DCs. [:D] No report of her sinking. Heck, it didn't even say there was heavy damage. FOW maybe?

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Most of the Allied bombing sorties targeted Rabaul's port. That's good, because the engineers work on the airfield first. I suspect Ted thinks I'm low on supply there. I actually have ~33k supply there so that's not the issue. The airfield is closed and those 200+ engineers need to work overtime repairing it!

A PB fast transport TF got caught at Manus and sunk by SBDs. [:(]

Current damage:

Rabaul: 40-79-96, they repaired only 2 points of runway damage, the slackers! [:@]
Kavieng: 78-88-16, 9 runway repaired
Manus: 91-100-65, 14 runway repaired

SRA

Things have quieted down around Merauke. I see 21 fighters, down from 36 before the bombardment. I really wish I had split my bombardment TF into 2 and hit it 2 days in a row.

I am going to send the 16 Division to invade Timoeka. I see only the 4 Marine Raider Bn there. I need to scrounge up a garrison though. I'm thinking a Naval Guard unit. That way, whatever is left of the Marine Raiders will starve in the jungle.

Burma

Six more Allied fighters were shot down but one Allied fighter got lucky and shot down a Tojo (pilot MIA). Another elite pilot though!

China

My Chungking assault force continues to grow. I'll send them in when more arrive. It's more a bombardment force really. It has a LOT of heavy artillery with more arriving every few days.

Other Stuff

I allocated and sent (in most cases) stuff accumulating in Tokyo to various locations:

Kunashiri (island with nice potential airfield in the northern area): 89 Naval Guard and a construction bn.
Wake: 1 Independent Tank Company, once it's filled out. Wake now has an armored reserve! [:D] Wake is under its 6k limit and this fits nicely.
Tinian: 1 RF Gun, why not?
Saipan: 60 & 61 Field AA Bns, this is going to be a major airfield for me later in the war. The fort there is currently 6.70. There are a LOT of engineers completing the forts. They'll build the airfield up some more after they're done with the forts.
Kendari: 63 & 64 JNAF AF Units, nice airfield but not enough AS to utilize it if needed.
Philippines: 3x construction battalions. I want to build up Manila, Clark and Bataan to 6-7 forts each. Engineers are there, but not enough.

My huge cargo fleet finally left Singapore for the Home Islands. It has 151k fuel, 90k oil and 126k resources. Not sure it's worth doing this because it took so long to fill (in pieces) and I'll have to do the same thing once it reaches the Home Islands in 3 weeks. I tried it because a fair number of players work convoys this way. I think it might be better just splitting it into convoys big enough to dock at both ends is better (and easier), which is the way I normally do it.

[ny59giants]

Rabaul: 40-79-96, they repaired only 2 points of runway damage, the slackers! [:@]

Not really. If you look at all your LCUs, they are mostly highly disrupted (70s to 80s). They take one turn just to shake the cobwebs out (if not attacked again). On the second day, the disruption goes down to the 40s and you will get 'some' repairs done. By third day without attacks, their disruption is reduced again and they are basically fully functional.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Rabaul: 40-79-96, they repaired only 2 points of runway damage, the slackers! [:@]

Not really. If you look at all your LCUs, they are mostly highly disrupted (70s to 80s). They take one turn just to shake the cobwebs out (if not attacked again). On the second day, the disruption goes down to the 40s and you will get 'some' repairs done. By third day without attacks, their disruption is reduced again and they are basically fully functional.

Sounds normal, 2 working... 6 supervising

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Rabaul: 40-79-96, they repaired only 2 points of runway damage, the slackers! [:@]

Not really. If you look at all your LCUs, they are mostly highly disrupted (70s to 80s). They take one turn just to shake the cobwebs out (if not attacked again). On the second day, the disruption goes down to the 40s and you will get 'some' repairs done. By third day without attacks, their disruption is reduced again and they are basically fully functional.

Sounds normal, 2 working... 6 supervising

The 6 are project managers. You've got to have enough project managers for emergencies.

[Mike Solli]

You guys crack me up. [:D]