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

[rustysi]

Every weapon in the Japanese arsenal has a use.

[rustysi]

Mike

I passed some misinformation to you a while back. I said that the second two CS-CVL conversions had no torp carrying capacity. Wrong... One, the Nisshin (sp?) has a capacity of 27 when converted, better than most. From what I recently read the second (name?) will get some after its first upgrade.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Mike

I passed some misinformation to you a while back. I said that the second two CS-CVL conversions had no torp carrying capacity. Wrong... One, the Nisshin (sp?) has a capacity of 27 when converted, better than most. From what I recently read the second (name?) will get some after its first upgrade.

It's the Mizuho that has no torpedoes. Didn't realize they'll get torpedoes after their first upgrade. That's good news. Your comment made me look at the 4 CVLs a little more closely. Chitose and Chiyoda arrive in 8 and 9 days. Can't wait.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: rustysi
So that's probably faster than CB's method (are you listening dude?)

Wha?

That response was from March, had to find it again. I was referring to eliminating aircraft fatigue on CV's. Looks like you can do it faster by unloading from a disbanded CV. They eliminate almost all fatigue with one day of repair, as opposed to 'replacing' the A/C which may take days to repair. Try it, see what ya think.

By jove, I believe that I will. Thanks for the clarification yo.

[Mike Solli]

Morning Guys. No news, which is probably bad news. I've tried to contact Ted a couple of times with no response. That's unusual for him. I fear he's lost heart from having his carriers trashed. I'm keeping my hopes up. I'll let you know what happens.

[Zorch]

Will you start a new game if this happens?

[Mike Solli]

Definitely. I just don't know how long to give it. Also, a new opponent would be a big question. I've been playing Ted since 2005. [:(]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Definitely. I just don't know how long to give it. Also, a new opponent would be a big question. I've been playing Ted since 2005. [:(]

There's more than a handful of old timers here that would jump at the opportunity to play you, Mike. You gotta branch out a bit, man. [:)]

[ny59giants]

If I didn't have a 2nd game that I took over, I would challenge you Mike. I really think you need to play as Allies. Even if just once as I think it would make you a better player overall.

[Mike Solli]

CB, thanks for the vote of confidence.

Michael, I've actually been talking to someone and trying to convince him to do a PBEM with me as the Allies. I do need to have a game going as the Japanese though.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
Michael, I've actually been talking to someone and trying to convince him to do a PBEM with me as the Allies.

It may help convince erstwhile Allied partners if you change your siggy line too. [:D]

[Mike Solli]

Never, Chickenboy! [:D]

[Zorch]

What will be the new AAR title - 'Twice More Into the Breach'?

[rustysi]

I've tried to contact Ted a couple of times with no response. That's unusual for him. I fear he's lost heart from having his carriers trashed.

Still has plenty more coming, CV's that is. My guess is he's probably really wrapped up with the house thingy. Depending on the situation buying/selling a house can add a lot of stress. Be patient I'm sure you'll hear something sooner or later. Now about that other game thing...

[Mike Solli]

Ok guys, I just got the turn from Ted. He was "out of town" with work. His line of work takes him places where there is no internet. I should have figured that. It's been a while since that happened though. He also sold the house somewhere in there too.

Rusty, I've tried playing two games at a time back in the WitP days. I don't care for that much. I can't keep track of things very well.

Anyway, off to run a turn! [:D]

[DanSez]

(lurker mode: off)
Yay, good news...

(lurker mode: on)

[Mike Solli]

Ok, we're back at it hot and heavy. Carrier damage! (Ain't saying who's! [:'(]). I actually got the turn back and ran another turn but the Chungking deliberate assault took an hour to run by itself. I'll get it back to him after work today. Good to be back in the saddle. I'll write up the updates at lunch and post them tonight. August 1943 is going to be known as an infamous month for both of us. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

20 Aug 43

Sub War

The day began with sinking sounds. I suspect it was one of the YMS that visited Rabaul the other day to sweep mines and got beat up by the CD guns.

NE of Cam Ranh Bay in the deep water along the coast, the Shark missed an xAK and then took two DCs from an escort. That was my primary route to the Home Islands from Singapore until recently. There still were a couple of convoys using that route. It’s officially closed now. I’m using the coastal route along the north coast of Borneo. It’s a little longer, but much safer.

Just off Adak to the north, the Wahoo has been lurking for a long time. I sent two ASW vessels there a while ago to drive her off or sink her to no avail. Today, the Wahoo sank the W-33. Now I’m down to one left. Time to send some reinforcements.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I had sent KB1 (Akagi, Kaga, Zuikaku – the remaining undamaged CVs) hunting for APAs and AKAs between Buna and Rabaul. They found the US carriers instead, CVs Hornet and Gettysburg and CVL Princeton (and possibly Independence). There were 4 attacks over the course of the day.

It is interesting to note that Ted hadn't replaced his lost planes from previous days battles. There definitely weren't full carrier loads.

Attack 1: US carriers based at Buna hit my carriers 7 hexes away (7 hexes east of Kavieng). 49 SBDs and 25 Avengers escorted by 41 Hellcats were met by 55 A6M5s and 10 A6M5cs. For the loss of 1 M5, 20 Hellcats were shot down. [X(] Unfortunately, the Hellcats did their job and held off the Zeros long enough to allow most of the bombers to get through. Only 6 SBDs and 1 Avenger were shot down. Talk about stress! None were shot down by flak. Sheesh! When it was all said and done, Akagi took 4x 1000lb and a 500lb (the Avengers were all carrying bombs), Kaga took 4x 1000lb and Zuikaku took 2x 500lb. Finally, Hiei had 2x 1000lb bouncers. I thought Akagi and Kaga were finished (and I’m pretty sure Ted thinks so too from his comments later). Kaga had heavy fires. We all know what can happen to Japanese floating torches with just a bit of fire. I was concerned at this point. [:(]

Attack 2: My counterattack. Remember, this TF had extra fighters replacing some DBs so there weren’t a lot of bombers. There were 9 Kates, 18 Jills, and 15 Judies escorted by 46 Zeros. They ran into 46 Hellcats and 69 miscellaneous land based fighters (P-47s, P-38s, F4Fs and maybe something else). Two Kates, 14 Jills and 7 Judies made it through the fighters (10 Zeros were shot down as well). Flak got 4 TBs and the remaining planes managed to score exactly 1x 250kg hit on Gettysburg. I was very concerned at this point. [:(][:(]

Attack 3: 40 SBDs and 21 Avengers escorted by 12 Hellcats were met by 53 Zeros. I had high hopes for this defense. 7 Hellcats, 13 SBDs and 6 Avengers were shot down. Not what I had hoped. Fortunately, the morale of the US pilots must have been pretty low because a good number of the planes aborted. But, Akagi took another 1000lb bomb and was reported to have fire and heavy damage. (Another 13 bombers were shot down on the way home.) Now I was extremely concerned. [:(][:(][:(]

Attack 4: My final “attack”. Seven Kates and 6 Jills escorted by 19 Zeros met a buzzsaw of 91 Allied fighters. Nine Zeros survived and only 1 Kate made it through the Allied fighters. The Kate went after the Hornet but was taken out by flak. [8|]

It turned out that the damage wasn’t too bad:

Akagi: 58-23(7)-12-6
Kaga: 40-20(4)-20(2)-2
Zuikaku: 3-0-1-0

Unless the fires take hold, they should all make it to Truk, 2-3 days from now. I ended up losing 59 pilots and Ted lost about 80 aircraft. Some of my aircraft diverted to Rabaul and Kavieng, unfortunately. Right now both airbases are closed so no aircraft are being repaired, but I was able to fly out the undamaged aircraft to Truk. I hope to get the remaining planes (and most importantly, pilots) out in the next few days.

Ted is helping me out though. He’s focusing his massive bomber force on a lone SNLF sitting a couple hexes south of Kavieng, blocking his attempt to move north to take that base. That’s allowing my four airfields in the area to repair. Here’s their current state of health (or lack thereof):

Manus: 81-42-0
Kavieng: 83-97-50
Rabaul: 49-100-18
Talasea: 0-97-43

SRA
Burma

Nothing to report.

China

More air bombing of Chungking. Tomorrow, I’ll do my second deliberate assault.

Other Stuff

By the time my wounded carriers make Truk, I’ll have Soryu, Shokaku and Ryujo fully repaired, along with Zuikaku (which only has some scratched paint). In another week, Chitose and Chiyoda will complete their conversion to CVLs. I also have little Hosho and her 18 planes. That’s 333 aircraft capacity. Then there’s the damaged Akagi, Kaga, Hiyo and Shoho. In the SRA, there is the Ryuho and 3 CVEs. Finally, the Katsuragi, Amagi and Unryu arrive in ~45 days.

I got some intel from Ted. The CV Gettysburg has been floating around with some moderate damage. Every time I spot her, I see black smoke pouring out of her. Ted said he’s sending her and Yorktown (heavily damaged on 8/7/43 – apparently she survived) back for repairs. I don’t know where Yorktown is though. We’ll see.

That infers that Wasp went down during the battle that Yorktown was hit. (I already got confirmation that Saratoga sank.)

So, I know Hornet is operational. So is CV Wolverine, which arrived a month ago (haven’t spotted her). There are 3 CVLs and 4 CVEs.

Enterprise took a torpedo a month ago so I expect her to show up soon. Lexington took a torpedo and 500kg bomb 4 months ago and hasn’t returned yet. Finally, Essex took a torpedo a few days after Enterprise.

So, I’m outnumbered with the US having about 5 CVs and 3 CVLs. I will be until I get the 3 CVs at the end of September. I need to be careful with my remaining healthy carriers.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have done that with my carriers. Yeah, yeah, I got lucky. I’m at the point in the war where I need to take risks to slow down the Allies. If I just sit in port, I’m doomed. Heck, I’m doomed anyway, but where’s the fun in just watching him pound my bases to dust? [:D]

[Mike Solli]

21 Aug 43

Sub War

There was a fair amount of undersea action, and it was all Allied. The old, leaky Dutch sub KX put a torpedo into an xAK at Boela. She survived it but went down after another hit by the same sub later in the day. Time to send some ASW forces there. It’s a shallow hex, so any old trashy ASW ship will do.

The Puffer caught a TK convoy in deep water just north of Jesselton hauling oil from Miri to Babeldaob and torpedoed a loaded TK. She’s still afloat and headed to Jesselton, but won’t survive full of oil and with 63 fires.

Finally, the I-3 was tooling around west of Buna hoping to get a shot at a damaged US carrier, but was caught by an ASW TF and hit once. She’s headed to Truk with 18-32(9)-11(9)-0 damage.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

KB1 is now 7 hexes from Truk and should make port tomorrow. All the fires are out too! Damage to the carriers hasn’t really changed either.

I see a single CV TF 6 hexes SW of Buna heading SE. I suspect it is Gettysburg. I’m vectoring every available sub to try and intercept to put her down. It’s not likely, but I might get lucky. If she's going to team up with Yorktown, I might get really lucky. [;)]

The Allied bombers went for that poor SNLF again today. My airfields are recovering:

Manus: 81-23-0, down 19
Kavieng: 83-97-16, down 34
Rabaul: 49-85-0, down 33
Talasea: 0-97-36, down 7

SRA
Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Deliberate assault number 2 went in (last one was 8/12/43). I did reduce the fort to level 5. I consider that a success.

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 168202 troops, 1834 guns, 948 vehicles, Assault Value = 5057

Defending force 380733 troops, 1135 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14194

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese adjusted assault: 2067

Allied adjusted defense: 24785

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 11 (fort level 5)

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

Japanese ground losses:
12747 casualties reported
Squads: 55 destroyed, 2766 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 207 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 144 disabled
Guns lost 194 (7 destroyed, 187 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6738 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 739 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 213 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 34 disabled

Another 1.5-2 weeks and I’ll try again (when the AV breaks 5k again). A couple divisions got trashed (mainly disablements) but I don’t think I lost that many squads destroyed. I’m not going to bother to bombard with the artillery unless I’m doing an assault. The 135x 2E bombers do much better and fly practically every day.

It is interesting to note that the Chinese gross strength is 380k. I need to check but in the past, when I hovered over Chungking, I would see ~680k troops. Gotta check the old combat report too.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[ny59giants]

I actually got the turn back and ran another turn but the Chungking deliberate assault took an hour to run by itself.

Next time you are doing orders, hit the "P" button. Use right and left clicks to adjust replay speeds. Mine are in screenshots. Even as Japan, you can hit the "Esc" key once to fast forward through the replay. I often do so as Allies, but doing it as Japan will not effect the Allies ability to watch in normal speed.