Gotta figure something out here. These bases are beat up to a point where he can maintain it unless I can get fighter cover over them. Gasmata and another base just to the west of Rabaul are undamaged but have little supply to sustain fighters for very long. Gasmata probably won’t get anything other than the transports that are dropping a little supply (from Truk) but that other base may get some supply from fast transport TFs. That base is within range of SBDs, Avengers and Beauforts, but I think there’s enough supply there to support a fighter unit to protect the TF as it dumps off supply. We’ll see. I’ll set that up tomorrow and fly the fighters in at the last minute so it possibly slips below Ted’s radar.
So ship in about 100 heavy AA guns. I would go with Manus first. They don't cost too much to rebuild, if you have to.
I'd advise against this. Not because it's a bad idea, it makes perfect sense, but because it will burn supply like crazy on an island in a remote theater.
100 AA guns will burn more supply than the Allies will ever bomb. The airbase supply dumps make take 1 hit in a raid, or 10, and supply loss will vary. With 100 AA guns, the supply will be eaten up every raid, irrespective of damage caused.
To that end, my advice is keep your AA guns centralized around the major supply centers in the DEI and Home Islands. Out in the wilderness they're a liability, but they're an invaluable asset in the industrial heartland.
Supply is definitely an issue everywhere except Rabaul. Here's SE Fleet area. Note where the US CVs are sitting right now. I suspect they're going to head north. If they do, I don't really know where they'll go. Truk? I'll evacuate all the shipping if they head in that direction. I have a bunch of fighters and ~72 Nells/Betties too. I don't think the carrier aircraft can do much except take losses up there.
And here is the southern SRA. You can see my op just starting. I have 3 turns to post so you'll find out more.
Edit: Oops, I goofed. The BB TF is actually the CA TF returning from the raid on Wessel Island. The CA TF is the BB TF and the unlabelled TF to the east is the CA TF that'll going to bombard Timoeka a turn prior to the para landing.
I saw a small TF at Wessel Island, off the north coast of Australia south of Merauke. I thought it might be something worth attacking and sent the I-157 to investigate. Turns out it was the Fletcher. The sub was smacked around a bit suffering moderate damage. She’s headed back to Soerabaja for repairs.
The I-29 caught an xAKL off Prince Rupert Island and put her down with a torpedo.
Finally, the E Fukue hit the Shad with 2 DCs sending her home (or possibly to the bottom). She had been hanging around off Etorofu for some time being a nuisance.
5 Fleet
4 Fleet
Nothing to report.
SE Fleet
Two Kongos, detached from KB2, visited Buka and beat up the port and airfield there. I was hoping they’d shell the ships in port, but no such luck.
But, KB2 launched against Buka’s port, 36 Kates and 49 Judies escorted by 19 Zeros. They badly damaged the DD Russell and APA Sheridan while sinking the AKA Libra. Nice. Later, I heard sinking sounds and will not see anything in port tomorrow. In a couple days, I’ll get confirmation that the Sheridan sank and I believe the Russell sank as well. A 250kg and 500kg bomb on a destroyer will ruin her day. No confirmation on the latter though.
In the afternoon, some land based planes from Shortlands Island launched against KB2. There were 14 SBDs escorted by 15 Wildcats. The defenders were 29 A6M5s and the debut of the A6M5c, 19 of them. For no loss to the Japanese, they shot down 8 of the Wildcats before breaking through to the Dauntlesses. Then they shot down 12 of the Dauntlesses. Of the 2 remaining, flak got one and the other missed Soryu, then was shot down on the way home. According to intel, 5 of the remaining 7 Wildcats were op losses. Lots of very nice experience was gained and a couple of elite pilots too.
The Allied bombers smacked Rabaul and Manus beating on their already destroyed airfields. Kavieng was spared again, but that won’t last unfortunately.
SRA
Twice (morning and afternoon), half a dozen Nells went after the Fletcher and her charge, the LSI(L) Empire Star. They all missed. I’m sending a CA TF there tomorrow to try and catch them.
KB1 launched full deck loads against Timoeka’s airfield. I wanted to damage it a bit so forts can’t be built up. I’m loading the 48 Division on transports to invade if necessary. The para regiment will invade by air soon. They get the first shot.
Ambon is now enemy sub free. Thank goodness. I have 4 TFs to play with:
There’s MKB1 with Ryuho, and 2 CVEs carrying 9 Zeros, 27 Vals and 21 Kates. Recall that Taiyo was torpedoes (and headed to Soerabaja for repairs) and her 27 Vals are now flying ASW at Ambon. They’re currently disbanded in Ambon port.
I have a 4 BB bombardment TF headed to a point where they will bombard Timoeka the day the paratroopers invade.
I have a 4 CA bombardment TF that will bombard Timoeka the day before the paratroopers invade.
I have a 3 CA TF that’s on its way to check out Wessel Island for enemy shipping. It’s normally part of the escort for MKB1. It will either remain as a surface/bombardment TF or reintegrate with MKB1 depending on the needs of the operation.
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
The N1K2-J R&D advanced to 3/44 (will become operational 9/43).
A couple Allied xAKs were confirmed sunk. One sank at Pt. Moresby way back on 6/7/42 by aerial torpedoes (probably Betties). The other sank at Dutch Harbor by Vals on 2/10/43.
The Hatsuharu caught the Sturgeon off Truk and hit her once with a DC.
I had an unescorted xAKL between Balikpapan and Tarakan. No clue why she was unescorted. Anyway, the Greenling surfaced and sank her, but not before taking a 12cm shell. It was almost worth it. [:D]
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
I had pulled out the 90 Regiment at the beginning of the war to spearhead the aborted invasion of Pt. Moresby. She’s been sitting in Truk the whole war. I just learned that Ted dropped off some troops at Tabiteuea, engineers I believe. I’m loading the regiment to take it. I have a CA TF headed there to bombard it to slow down any construction. Once KB2 returns to Truk to replace lost planes, they’ll head there to, along with the BBs to either bombard or support KB2.
SE Fleet
Not a whole lot happened other than the Allied bombing. Kavieng was hit demolishing the airfield once again. *Sigh*
Fifteen B-25s raided Hollandia. They didn’t realize I have a chutai of Zeros stationed there. Five bombers were shot down and I gained 2 more elite pilots! Banzai!
SRA
The CA surface fleet steamed to Wessel Island to find the Fletcher and the LSI(L). Instead, they found a cargo fleet of 2 xAK and 4 xAKL and sank them all. Not sure if they had dropped their supply or not. They’re headed back to Ambon to rearm for the impending invasion of Timoeka.
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
Reinforcement: 131 Naval Construction Battalion, SE Fleet
The B6N2a Jill R&D advanced to 7/44 (will become operational in 12/43).
The TK Ogura Maru #3 reached port at Tarakan, and sank after being torpedoed a few days ago. It was a valiant effort but the fires were too much.
I’ve been having fuel issues in C/M/K and shipped some up to Pt. Arthur. I made the mistake of not escorting the TKs (none were readily available). Of course Ted had a sub hanging out up there. He sank one and the sub got away. Stupid loss on my part. I sent a couple of ASW TFs with SCs that carry Type 95 DCs. It’s all shallow hexes so they will be effective, even with the crummy DCs. We’ll see if they can find the sub.
I had sent a minelayer TF to drop their eggs at Adak, which they did successfully. On the way back, the TF ran through Amchitka, where Ted had the Barb lurking (never saw her). She torpedoed and sank a small CM. I’m sending three of the ASW TFs (Type 95 DCs) to guard Attu, Amchitka and Adak. Those subs are a pain in the ass.
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
The 90 Regiment invasion TF, the CA TF and the BB TF are headed for a rendezvous at Kwajalein. KB2 arrived at Truk and replenished its aircraft and is heading to Kwajalein tomorrow. I’ll probably reconfigure the TFs after they all arrive at Kwajalein. I’ve also pushed out a screen of 9 subs for early warning, just in case. I don’t expect any trouble, but you can never be sure with these sneaky Americans.
SE Fleet
I moved some fighters back to Talasea to try and take out a few bombers. It worked pretty well considering the small number of fighters. A total of 1 Tojo IIc and 9 Georges met 10x P-38Gs and shot down half of them for no loss. Then they met 18x B-25s and shot down 5 of them as well. Unfortunately, that was the end of my fighter support. The Tojo was lost along with its pilot. The rest of the bombers hit Rabaul keeping the airfield damage maxed.
The US CVs had been tooling around about 4-5 hexes south of Rabaul. Today they showed up at Lae. Are they headed north? We’ll see!
SRA
The Timoeka operation begins tomorrow! The CA bombardment TF will do its thing overnight. The 48 Division TF is enroute. KB1 continued to bomb the defenders, hopefully increasing their morale and fatigue to intolerable levels.
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
E W-27 – ASW
E W-31 – ASW
E Maeshima – Hirashima class, short range ASW ship (2550 endurance)
SC Cha-62 – ASW
MKB2 (Junyo, Hiyo, Shoho and Zuiho, 168 aircraft) will complete its refit at the Home Islands in 2 days. We’ll see where they go. They will probably go to Truk. I’m tempted to send them to the Aleutians to surprise Ted up there and sink some shipping on their way to Truk. There is also a Replenishment TF at the Home Islands that is ready to go to assist them if needed. Their escorts just finished refit as well. MKB2 is composed of 96 Zeros, 36 Vals and 36 Kates.
Thanks. Just ran the next turn. My CAs bombarded Timoeka. The paratroopers, BBs and carrier bombers go in tomorrow. 48 Division is waiting in the wings if they're needed. Fingers crossed.
I did nail the xAP President Fillmore. I just love taking out those Presidents. [:D] Too bad she was empty.
I think you need to have a look at what you can do to backstop your deployments in New Guinea. To my eye, everything east of Hollandia is now gone once the Allies make their next jump.
What's your dispositions around Sorong and Manado? The Sorong region can be very nice to defend as Japan due to geography protecting many bases from surface threats.
I had pulled out the 90 Regiment at the beginning of the war to spearhead the aborted invasion of Pt. Moresby. She’s been sitting in Truk the whole war. I just learned that Ted dropped off some troops at Tabiteuea, engineers I believe. I’m loading the regiment to take it. I have a CA TF headed there to bombard it to slow down any construction. Once KB2 returns to Truk to replace lost planes, they’ll head there to, along with the BBs to either bombard or support KB2.
Counter invading the Cent Pac islands at this stage might be a tad overextended. In my book this uses a LOT of fuel for not much long term gain. These islands will not win the war for the Allies, and it's almost better they work through them slowly than be shut down early and change tack.
Also, counter-invading an atoll is risky. Kind of a tar baby there, and IJA independent regiments don't have much extra oomph from arty to punch through.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
The various "E" Class ships will help your ASW efforts. I'm putting at least one escort in my large Cargo and TK TFs that has radar and Type 2 depth charges to hopefully help out. If nothing else, it makes me feel better. [:D]
The B6N2a Jill R&D advanced to 7/44 (will become operational in 12/43).
At some point in her development the Jill switches engines. From the Ha-4x (don't recall which), to the Ha-32, or Ha-33. Just wondering if you were aware, and not heading for a surprise.
2)Also starting around November '43 you start to get large numbers of ground reinforcements. This will go on into at least early '45. My point here is how are you situated for armaments? From what I've read these reinforcements will put a strain on this resource. Pretty sure you can ignore filling out some of these units, but how many I've no idea.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
There were 14 SBDs escorted by 15 Wildcats. The defenders were 29 A6M5s and the debut of the A6M5c, 19 of them. For no loss to the Japanese, they shot down 8 of the Wildcats before breaking through to the Dauntlesses. Then they shot down 12 of the Dauntlesses.
Something I meant to say the other day. With your superior numbers I would expect nothing less. Curious to see what the results would be in a more even contest.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. Hume
In every party there is one member who by his all-too-devout pronouncement of the party principles provokes the others to apostasy. Nietzsche
mind_messing, that area is in pretty good shape. I have decent defenses at the important bases, regiment, brigade or division. Plus, I have IJA fighters and IJN bombers in the area as well. Not to mention MKB1, significant surface ships and KB1 (only temporarily though).
Obvert, I understand what you're saying but Ted has a habit of sneaking into a base close to my main bases and building it up with a billion engineers. Then he shoves droves of fighters there and my base gets overwhelmed. I need to take Tabiteuea back. I should have taken it months ago but neglected to do so (yes Michael, you warned me).
Michael, I'm beginning to do the same. I know I'll get a bunch of them but I don't have a lot yet. I also like to use them in ASW TFs in critical deep water hexes. Too many needs, not enough assets. I guess that's the norm for Japan. [:D]
Rusty, I have no idea if I have enough armaments. I currently have ~120k and it's growing every day. I don't have them all turned on but keep increasing the number turned on. We'll see.
The sub war started today with the I-28 about 15 hexes NE of Pearl Harbor, on the West coast-Pearl SLOC. She found a convoy and put a torpedo into the xAK Chios. That slowed her down enough that she put another 2 torpedoes into the cargo ship and had the satisfaction of seeing her go down.
Finally, there were 3 subs around Vauva’u and Fiji. A convoy was spotted and the subs moved to possible routes the convoy would take. This paid off and the I-171 put 2 torpedoes into the xAP President Fillmore. She also went down.
I sank a President and didn’t lose any ships. It was a very good day.
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
Everything is headed to Kwajalein. They should arrive over the next couple of days. Then I’ll set the invasion in motion.
SE Fleet
Ted’s bombers went after Talasea’s airfield today, which was nice since it allowed the other airfields to repair a bit. They’re still all closed, but it’s going in the right direction. I may not be able to recover from this unless something really good happens. No clue what that could be though. I’ll just try to prolong the combat in this area as long as possible. Until the end of 1943 would be wonderful, but I’m pretty sure it’s unlikely.
I had a whopping 16 fighters in the air over Talasea and Rabaul today. For the loss of 1 Tojo, I shot down 4 Spitfires and 4 Beauforts. Picking away at them, but it’s not enough to make any difference.
I saw the first P-47s today. Nothing could touch them but at least they didn’t shoot any of my fighters down. One was lost as an op loss!
The carrier force at Lae is still sitting there. It’s the CVE force. (The CV force is at Milne Bay.) I have an RO sub 2 hexes north of Lae and gave it orders to move into Lae to go after the CVEs. It’s probably a death sentence, but I hope to get a shot at a carrier. Sinking one, even a CVE, might really set Ted off and he might do something stupid. I’ll pit my CVs against his CVEs any day. See below.
SRA
The 4 CA bombardment fleet hit Timoeka, along with KB1s bombers, doing damage to the airfield, port and the troops there. Tomorrow, the 4 BB bombardment fleet and the bombers will hit it again, and the paratroopers are going in. The 48 Division is in reserve at Ambon should the paratroopers fail. I’m mildly concerned because the transports are flying at extended range. I sure hope they drop some paratroopers. The CAs are going to stay in the area as a reserve bombardment force if needed. They used up only half of their main gun ammo.
I still need to scrape up a garrison for that base. I don’t want to leave the paratroopers there and also don’t want to abandon the base.
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
Reinforcement: TK Ayagiri Maru – replaces the tanker I stupidly lost a day ago.
The A6M8 R&D advanced to 7/45. That's it for this model. I moved the last of these R&D factories to the A7M2 Sam, which now has 11 factories. They’re repaired to 4,3,2,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0. Just humming along!
Ted is getting really frustrated with my carriers. In an email last night he went off (but he did end it with a smiley). Apparently, the 3 carriers I torpedoed recently (Enterprise, Essex & Lexington) are in the shop for longer than he recently claimed. He said he wants to go after my carriers but can’t because of his “carrier shortage”. Really? He hasn’t lost any at all. In addition to the damaged carriers, he has at least 4 CVs, 1-2 CVLs and 7+ CVEs. If it were me, I’d invade in the Central Pacific, where Japanese LBA is scarce (though he may not know that). Attacking the right island could draw me out. I guess he’s afraid I’d send everything and overwhelm him. That’s a possibility but my carriers are spread out all over the place:
KB1 (Akagi, Kaga, Ryujo, Hosho) – NW corner of PNG
KB2 (Soryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku) – Headed to Kwajalein from Truk
MKB1 (Ryuho, Chuyo, Unyo) – Ambon
MKB2 (Junyo, Hiyo, Shoho, Zuiho) – finishing up refit tomorrow in the Home Islands
His problem is that he can only see KB1 right now. He probably has good idea of MKB1 and knows KB2 is probably around Truk. But, he can only see 25% of my carriers while I can see almost all of his. I don’t think he really needs carriers down there. He can do everything with LBA (as you can plainly see). He has quite a few TBs and DBs there to hit any of my ships that stray too close.
One thing that I have realized (and I suspect he’s realizing too) is that he’s invading with too few troops. My forts allow a couple Naval Guards/SNLFs to hold off a division for a good period of time. Does he have a shortage of AP(A)s at this point in the war? I haven’t a clue. I haven’t seen him invade with more than a single division and an engineer regiment at any one time. Can he haul more? I suspect so, but I’m not sure at all.
The RO-109 dutifully went to Finschhafen to hunt down the Allied CVE TF. Those cowards fled, but she did find an xAK which she torpedoed and probably sank. I heard sinking sounds later in the day.
5 Fleet
Nothing to report.
4 Fleet
Almost ready for the invasion TFs to sail from Kwajalein.
SE Fleet
Talasea was the target of Allied bombers again today. Damage to the other bases dropped:
Manas: 98-100-73
Kavieng: 78-100-90, an engineer regiment will be landing here in the next couple of days.
Rabaul: 44-100-25, still not able to fly planes from here but that should change with a couple more days of peace.
Talasea: 0-100-98
Both the US CV and CVE TFs are idling at Milne Bay.
SRA
Well, para drops happen only at normal range apparently. I’m flying the para regiment to a base that is closer to Timoeka and will try again in a couple of days.
The BB TF hit Timoeka hard, killing about three dozen steps and disrupting another dozen. The CA TF will wait and the BB TF will replenish at Ambon. KB1s bombers also pounded the troops there.
Burma
China
Nothing to report.
Other Stuff
Reinforcement: 17 Naval Construction Battalion returned after being destroyed.
The Ki-43-IV R&D advanced to 6/45 (will become operational on 2/44).
MKB2 completed refit. It’s composed of Junyo, Hiyo, Shoho and Zuiho, 96 fighters, 36 DBs and 36 TBs, along with escorts. I’ve decided to send them back to Truk.
Only one undersea event of note, and I’m glad I wasn’t drinking coffee at the time. The Cisco found KB2 a hex SW of Kwajalein and launched 6 torpedoes at Shokaku. [X(] One hit but it was only a dud. [:'(] Thank goodness! In return, Cisco ate one depth charge.
5 Fleet
A few Allied subs continue to hang around trying to cause problems. Two are in or around Adak and one is at Amchitka. I’m trying to scare up an ASW TF made up of good ships to kill or drive them off. It’s an ongoing issue with the Japanese to find enough good ASW vessels.
4 Fleet
Well, KB2 was spotted. Ted definitely knows I have at least one carrier at Kwajalein. The bombardment TF (2 BB, 3 DD) is at Kwajalein and has a low detection level. I suspect he thinks it’s one of the normal supply TFs hanging around Kwajalein between missions to resupply the small garrisons in the area. Finally, the invasion TF (with 90 Infantry Regiment aboard) is still 6 or 8 hexes to the west and undetected.
I’m sending all 3 TFs to the SW to assemble and then go in to Tabiteuea. I should have done that from the start. I should have realized that there would be subs around Kwajalein. I don’t have enough ASW/Naval Search right around Kwajalein to see them.
I got real lucky with Shokaku.
SE Fleet
Rabaul’s airfield was the target of about 180 Allied bomber sorties. Her damage went up again.
I had moved a daitai of Georges to Gasmata hoping they would fly some CAP over Rabaul. I didn’t want to use LRCAP to minimize fatigue. In retrospect, that was a mistake. They ended up flying CAP over Talasea, tangling with P-47s and Spitfires. A dozen P-47s arrived first and they shot down 4 for the loss of 1 George. That was a pleasant surprise. Then about half a dozen Spitfires showed up and they shot down 2 of them as well for no loss. Finally, 3x B-25s showed up and all were shot down. I pulled them out again, just in case the bombers visit Gasmata. Actually, I wouldn’t mind the bombers hitting Gasmata for a few turns. That would allow my other bases to repair, possibly to the point where I could station fighters there again.
I see one Allied carrier TF at Milne Bay. The other is MIA.
SRA
I moved about 75% of the 2 Raiding Regiment to Dobo today. The 3 dozen transports moved there and will drop the paratroopers on Timoeka (3 hexes away) tomorrow. I have a 4 CA bombardment force going in to soften the place up a bit more before the paratroopers land. The 48 Division invasion TF is at Ambon and will head to a staging area just west of Timoeka in case they are needed. There’s only ~280 paratrooper infantry that will be going in. My intel says there’s 560 US troops at the base. A lot are support though. We’ll see what happens.
Finally, the BBs have replenished and will head back to the staging area in case they are needed. MKB2 is still disbanded at Ambon. I don’t think they’ll be needed. I see no enemy shipping at all (other than a single sub sitting at Merauke), all the way to Horn Island. I have a sub stationed in the straight by Horn Island, just in case something tries to enter the area.
Burma
Nothing to report.
China
Another Chinese unit in the countryside (a HQ this time) was killed off.
Most of my Chungking assault force is sitting and waiting for the remaining units to arrive. Four divisions and about 8 or so heavy artillery units are still enroute. I’ll give you a full list of what’s there tomorrow.
Right now, all my bombers here are bombing various isolated groups of Chinese and Chungking’s troops and airfield (to keep it damaged). When I decide to move my army in, I’ll focus all of the bombers on Chungking, keeping 1 chutai on the airfield and the rest on the troops. I want to try and keep the fatigue and disruption up on the troops (if possible – not sure how effective they’ll be in a city with an unknown number of forts).
Other Stuff
Not a whole lot to discuss. Several different ops are in various states of progress – Timoeka, Chungking and Tabiteuea.
To be honest, I didn’t expect to be launching operations (at least at this frequency) at this point in the war (other than Chungking). Ted has been testing a new tactic: sneaky invasions. None of the large scale operations like the invasion of Adak many months ago. I need to catch them early and snuff them out before he gets too many troops in to make it impossible for me to invade. I have to be cautious though because he can ambush my forces.
Early in the war I converted all of the Tohos to carry troops. They’re nice because they can haul quite a lot of troops and are 14 kts. Most of them are at Singapore right now. I think they just ended up there. I’m going to take stock of what I have and move some around to strategic locations with reserve troops co-located to be able to do these necessary invasions as needed. I have decent reserves in the SRA but very few in the central Pacific. I need to scour the rear area troops for some powerful brigade sized units to use as these fire brigades.
I’ve also hoarded most of the xAPs and LSDs, which are decent at invasions. Most of them are in Tokyo with some at Singapore. I think it may be time to use some of the xAPs to haul potential invasion forces. They drop troops quicker than xAKs and are much faster. I’m still going to reserve the LSDs to dropping off garrisons near the front lines when needed. They can do it very quickly then get the heck out of Dodge.
Obvert, I understand what you're saying but Ted has a habit of sneaking into a base close to my main bases and building it up with a billion engineers. Then he shoves droves of fighters there and my base gets overwhelmed. I need to take Tabiteuea back. I should have taken it months ago but neglected to do so (yes Michael, you warned me).
I like to do the same as Allies, but the most effective strategy against that I've seen is to move the Japanese base back. This does two things.
1. It shortens the LOC as the game goes on and forces the Allies to extend into area protected only by CVs, thus giving the KB opportunities to arrive by surprise and take advantage of proximity to their own LBA and bases.
2. Changing strong points forces the Allies to reprep for targets somewhere else down the line, but it also obscures somewhat where those strongpoints might relocate.
Why do you need anything in the Marshalls or Gilberts at this point in the war?
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
One thing that I have realized (and I suspect he’s realizing too) is that he’s invading with too few troops. My forts allow a couple Naval Guards/SNLFs to hold off a division for a good period of time. Does he have a shortage of AP(A)s at this point in the war? I haven’t a clue. I haven’t seen him invade with more than a single division and an engineer regiment at any one time. Can he haul more? I suspect so, but I’m not sure at all.
The Allies (Americans) start off with about 15 or more APs that can convert to APAs in 3/43. I hide mine at Mare Island until I can do so. He will get about another dozen APAs by mid-43 (he gets one or two per month until '44 starts the flood - after Normandy invasion is over). So, he can load two to three full divisions depending on how many you (Japan) have sunk. He gets some APs and LSI to use but they don't unload as fast. When you see Ted invade with these ships, does he have any LCUs with Nav Support squads (these speed up the unloading process for LCUs and supply)? He should be loading his 'assault forces' with minimal supply and then have 2 or 3 TFs with just supply unloading next to them (this should mean he unloads troops in two days or less and then gets them out of danger). Even though they are slow (11 knots), the LST is ideal to use.
Japan's counter - Do you have any Tina's (or Topsy) within range to airlift troops into base? Do you have a full division with enough fast APs to counter invade, if possible? You would need some degree of air superiority to do this, but it is something to plan for.
I would say its about time to start concentrating KB back together. Having 4 parts almost got me into trouble. [:-]
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