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

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Zorch

What is the longest running AE game you know of? In real time.

I'm pretty certain there are longer, but last year Walter and I finished after 5 years and 2 months.

I'm currently at 4 years, 11 months in my Bullwinkle/Obvert game.

Man, you guys are a bunch of slackers! [:'(] [:D]

[Mike Solli]

25 Oct 43

Sub War

Rough day for Japanese subs south of Manus. Ted has at least 4 ASW TFs running around down there. I'm pulling out of that area. Too hot right now.

The I-184 was attacked by two different ASW TFs south of Manus, hit by both and sunk. [:(]

The RO-104 was also hit in the same area, but her damage wasn't too bad: 15-34(22)-0-0. She's trying to make her way out.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The US carriers are sitting at Manus. I think he's still afraid of my carriers ambushing them. Does he know about my 3 Unryus? He hasn't spotted them or attacked them, but maybe he got some intel. *shrug* He may just be waiting for the rest of his thundering herd of carriers to arrive. Why do they sit at Manus? Maybe because he's afraid of my subs. So many questions...

Not much happened here today. Just the usual 2E bombing, this time of Rabaul and Talasea.

SRA

Well, my 2 BBs ran into that little TF at Darwin. It was composed of DDs Walke and Stuart, an xAK and an xAP and sank all 4 ships. The xAP was empty.

Then they bombarded Darwin causing light airfield damage and the following plane damage:
Catalina I: 1 dest, 3 damaged
Beaufort VIII: 2 dest, 15 damaged
SBD3: 2 dest, 8 damaged

On their way out, they found a small TF of 3x LCTs and sank them.

In retrospect, the TF should have gone to Merauke to try and kill some 4E bombers. That's much more important than sinking a ground unit. [8|]

I have 4 CAs heading back to Ambon from refit at Soerabaja. They're being diverted to Merauke. Unfortunately, it'll take a couple days to make it there.

I've noticed that the number of 4E bombers at Merauke has decreased to ~30. I suspect the undamaged planes have flown out leaving some juicy damaged bombers remaining.

I tried to send some bombers there for a night raid or two, but the moonlight is currently at 0%. [8|] Figures.

Burma

A sweep of Cox's Bazaar netted 9 Allied fighters shot down (+4 op losses) to 2 Tojos shot down (+1 op loss). The number of fighters spotted at Akyab, Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong keeps decreasing. I figure as long as I can keep air superiority, I can hold off the inevitable offensive there a little longer. I know, I need to pull back and I will eventually. Right now I have 9 divisions in the line with a reserve of another division and the 2 Tank Divisions. All 10 divisions are at full strength.

I'm unable to sweep Ledo because of a lack of supply in the NE of Burma. That damn monsoon isn't over yet. Rangoon has plenty of supply, but it just isn't making its way that far.

China

The number of destroyed squads is beginning to creep up from the air bombardment. It still isn't much, but it's definitely on the rise. Today, 5 squads were destroyed with another 33 damaged.

There will be a deliberate assault in a few more days.

Other Stuff

The N1K5-J George R&D advanced to 5/45 (will become operational 5/44).

Confirmation on 3 more ships sunk earlier, an AM and xAK, and the SS Guardfish, sunk by Helens off Truk on 5/28/43. I'm counting 53 Allied subs sunk so far in the war. Some of them haven't sunk in reality, but the number is creeping up.

[Mike Solli]

26 Oct 43

Sub War

The Billfish has been hanging around in the shallow hex to the NW of Jesselton for quite a while now, causing major problems. The convoys out of Singapore using the coastal route go through that hex. I've been avoiding that hex like the plague and had anything that carried a DC rack there hunting her. It finally paid off. The PB(!) Kyo Maru #13 hit her twice. There's no confirmation of her sinking but she's not in the hex any more. [:D]

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Interesting day here today. [;)] First the mundane...

Allied 2E bombers hit Talasea and Rabaul.

Apparently, Ted wanted to whittle down my fighters defending Truk and sent 2 squadrons of P-38G and 1 squadron of P-38H to sweep. They went in separately. It didn't go quite as expected:

1st attack:
24 P-38G vs. 176 Japanese fighters (George 2, Nick, Tojo, Frank and Tony)

9 Lightnings went home.

2nd attack:
21 P-38H (first time I've seen them) vs. 165 Japanese fighters
10 Lightnings went home.

3rd attack:
25 P-38G vs. 165 Japanese fighters
11 Lightnings went home. One Tojo was shot down and the pilot was WIA.

Overall, 40 of 70 Lightnings were shot down with another 5 op losses. My one Tojo was shot down with 3 more Tojos and a Nick as op losses. I can take these kinds of battles. [:D] All this battle did was to give my pilots some nice experience.

I think he may give up on Truk after this fiasco. We'll see. If he attacks again in a week or so, maybe not. At some point I'll have to pull some of the fighters out to guard other locations, but not yet. He's upped the number of subs hanging out around Truk, but they are taking more damage than they're giving. That tells me he wants to put Truk out of business.

SRA

A DD showed up at Darwin. Interesting. The 4 CA bombardment force is 2 days out of Merauke. I see 27 bombers, probably the damaged bombers from the bombardment a couple of days ago.

Burma

The sweep of Akyab cost me more planes than Ted for a change. 4 Tojos to 3 Hurricanes shot down. Between Akyab and Chittagong, I see only 17 fighters, with none at Cox's Bazaar. I'll keep pushing until he pulls out. There are 30 fighters at Ledo. They're beyond my reach most of the time with the monsoon messing with my supply.

China

149x 2E sorties against Chungking. 13 squads destroyed and 60 squads disabled.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

Zuiho-2 rebuilt, 9 Jills and will be assigned to Nisshin.
xAK Ekisan Maru, converting to a TK.

I got confirmation on another sub sunk, the S-42 by Helens off Adak.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

25 Oct 43

Sub War

Rough day for Japanese subs south of Manus. Ted has at least 4 ASW TFs running around down there. I'm pulling out of that area. Too hot right now.

The I-184 was attacked by two different ASW TFs south of Manus, hit by both and sunk. [:(]

The RO-104 was also hit in the same area, but her damage wasn't too bad: 15-34(22)-0-0. She's trying to make her way out.

Isn't this about where the USS England sank 6 Jap subs in 12 days?

[Mike Solli]

Never heard about the USS England. Gotta look that up.

[Mike Solli]

27 Oct 43

Sub War

Things were a little more even today.

The Scorpion ate a DC off Truk.

The RO-39 ate 2 DCs a couple hexes NE of Wewak. She's joining the string of subs limping toward Truk: 38-64(31)-5(1)-0.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Talasea and Rabaul were the recipients of the 2E bomber visits.

Kaga is fully repaired at Truk! She picked up an escort and is leaving Truk for Saipan. Her Judies are flying ASW and the Jills are providing naval search, both out 1 hex. The Zeros are flying CAP in the TF hex only. She should make Saipan in 2 days. Fingers crossed.

Now, Akagi is bumped up to critical. She should repair in 26 days: 35-7(7)-8-0.

SRA

I have some 45 Nells and Betties trying to hit Merauke's airfield at night. Exactly 5 flew and damaged 1 B-24. Really? [8|]

I goofed and left the 4 CAs on retirement so they're headed back to Ambon. [:@] They'll get in position tomorrow and bombard Merauke the day after.

Burma

Nothing flew today.

China

73 sorties flew killing 1 squad and disabling 28.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

TK Hidaka Maru, Type-1 TL, 11.6k capacity
DD Asashimo, Yugumo class, will join KB.
3 Area Army HQ, Kwantung Army

The Ki-67-Ia R&D advanced to 3/44 (will become operational 2/44).

[rustysi]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Zuikaku safely made Ulithi today.

How far is that port from Manus? At level 6 if he's in range and gets eyes on Ulithi and strikes the port kiss those carriers good-bye.

Ulithi is out of range fortunately. No recon there at all.

Yeah, I checked, but that base is still pretty exposed to a naval strike if he gets wind that you've CV's based at that locale. Makes me nervous and they're not my CV's.[:D]

Don't know what his intel tells him, but even if he notices AR's and Navel HQ's heading to the place it could be a clue. It could just be me though, losing carriers on the Japanese side makes me cringe.[:(]

[rustysi]

Apparently, Ted wanted to whittle down my fighters defending Truk and sent 2 squadrons of P-38G and 1 squadron of P-38H to sweep. They went in separately. It didn't go quite as expected:

1st attack:
24 P-38G vs. 176 Japanese fighters (George 2, Nick, Tojo, Frank and Tony)

9 Lightnings went home.

2nd attack:
21 P-38H (first time I've seen them) vs. 165 Japanese fighters
10 Lightnings went home.

3rd attack:
25 P-38G vs. 165 Japanese fighters
11 Lightnings went home. One Tojo was shot down and the pilot was WIA.

Overall, 40 of 70 Lightnings were shot down with another 5 op losses. My one Tojo was shot down with 3 more Tojos and a Nick as op losses. I can take these kinds of battles. All this battle did was to give my pilots some nice experience.

I think he may give up on Truk after this fiasco.

Yeah, Truk requires a different approach IMHO. IRL the Allies had Truk in a different position than in your game. More needs to be done to isolate it than an attack from Manus. It seems to me that Manus would just better serve as flank protection for his advance up NG. Once his carriers are fully back in action it seems he would be best served by moving through the Gilbert's and Marshall's once more. Thereby putting more pressure on your resources. But his failed efforts are your gains. I would've thought he realized this when he saw the number of A/C that intercepted his HB's.

[ericv]

ORIGINAL: rustysi
...

Yeah, I checked, but that base is still pretty exposed to a navel strike if he gets wind that you've CV's based at that locale. Makes me nervous and they're not my CV's.[:D]

....

Isn't that when you get into a tickle contest with your kids?

[rustysi]

ORIGINAL: ericv

ORIGINAL: rustysi
...

Yeah, I checked, but that base is still pretty exposed to a navel strike if he gets wind that you've CV's based at that locale. Makes me nervous and they're not my CV's.[:D]

....

Isn't that when you get into a tickle contest with your kids?

Oops. OK, OK. I fixed it.[:)]

P. S. The tickle contests are now with the grand-kids.[:D]

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: ericv

ORIGINAL: rustysi
...

Yeah, I checked, but that base is still pretty exposed to a navel strike if he gets wind that you've CV's based at that locale. Makes me nervous and they're not my CV's.[:D]

....

Isn't that when you get into a tickle contest with your kids?

Oops. OK, OK. I fixed it.[:)]

P. S. The tickle contests are now with the grand-kids.[:D]

Which do you contemplate more, your navel or naval?

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: rustysi



How far is that port from Manus? At level 6 if he's in range and gets eyes on Ulithi and strikes the port kiss those carriers good-bye.

Ulithi is out of range fortunately. No recon there at all.

Yeah, I checked, but that base is still pretty exposed to a naval strike if he gets wind that you've CV's based at that locale. Makes me nervous and they're not my CV's.[:D]

Don't know what his intel tells him, but even if he notices AR's and Navel HQ's heading to the place it could be a clue. It could just be me though, losing carriers on the Japanese side makes me cringe.[:(]

[:D] I just sent back the 1 Nov turn. No interest at all in Ulithi. One day had a 1/1 DL but nothing at all since, including enemy subs.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

Apparently, Ted wanted to whittle down my fighters defending Truk and sent 2 squadrons of P-38G and 1 squadron of P-38H to sweep. They went in separately. It didn't go quite as expected:

1st attack:
24 P-38G vs. 176 Japanese fighters (George 2, Nick, Tojo, Frank and Tony)

9 Lightnings went home.

2nd attack:
21 P-38H (first time I've seen them) vs. 165 Japanese fighters
10 Lightnings went home.

3rd attack:
25 P-38G vs. 165 Japanese fighters
11 Lightnings went home. One Tojo was shot down and the pilot was WIA.

Overall, 40 of 70 Lightnings were shot down with another 5 op losses. My one Tojo was shot down with 3 more Tojos and a Nick as op losses. I can take these kinds of battles. All this battle did was to give my pilots some nice experience.

I think he may give up on Truk after this fiasco.

Yeah, Truk requires a different approach IMHO. IRL the Allies had Truk in a different position than in your game. More needs to be done to isolate it than an attack from Manus. It seems to me that Manus would just better serve as flank protection for his advance up NG. Once his carriers are fully back in action it seems he would be best served by moving through the Gilbert's and Marshall's once more. Thereby putting more pressure on your resources. But his failed efforts are your gains. I would've thought he realized this when he saw the number of A/C that intercepted his HB's.

More action coming at Truk. I'll get to it in turn....

[Mike Solli]

28 Oct 43

Sub War

The I-4 put a torpedo into an xAK a few hexes north of Vava'u and sank her later in the day. This area is becoming a hot bed of activity. I keep 3-4 subs here. I may increase that number.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied paratroopers landed at Wewak taking the base from the partial SNLF company I had flown today. He can't (or won't) risk his ships to invade so he's moving up the coast with paratroopers. That's the only thing I can't counter. [:(]

Ted rested most of his 2E bombers today. A couple dozen hit Talasea's airfield, probably for a bit of training.

I think he moved all of his 4E bombers out of this AO to the SRA.

SRA

Nells bombed Merauke's airfield damaging 4 planes (not many left there anymore) and putting a few more holes in the runway.

MKB2 hit some ships at Darwin with a small force of 6 Vals, 6 Judies and 7 Jills (1 lost to flak) escorted by 11 Zeros. Surprisingly, there were no enemy fighters. They sank 2 xAKLs and damaged LSI(L) Empire Star (loaded with troops), DD Fletcher an xAK and another xAKL. Later I heard sinking sounds, probably the xAKL.

I decided to keep the carriers in the area in case something else turned up.

Burma

I swept Akyab shooting down 4 Hurricanes in exchange for a Tojo. He has only a handful of fighters at Akyab, Cox's Bazaar and the next base north (can't think of it right now - fried from a busy week at work). [8|]

China

My bombers destroyed a dozen squads.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

29 Oct 43

Sub War

It was completely one sided today. [:(]

First, the Tomozuru took a torpedo and went down.

And second, the RO-44 was caught by ASW forces off Wewak and hit once. She's limping back to port. There's been a steady stream of subs getting beat up in this area.

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Talasea was visited by 18x 2E bombers. Other than that, it was pretty quiet here today.

SRA

I sent 4 CA and 2 DD to bombard Merauke to disrupt the 4E bombers stationed there. They caught and sank an xAKL then did a nice job on the airfield:

Coronado - 1 dest, 3 damaged
B24D1 - 0 dest, 17 damaged
5FA - 0/4
Kittyhawk IV - 1/2
B24J - 0/2

The airfield is about 50% damaged. I'm moving a couple BBs to finish the base off. They were supposed to be 7 hexes away so they could go in tomorrow, but the commander is taking his good sweet time getting to the jump off point. They "should" reach that point tomorrow. [8|]

About 2 dozen 4E bombers hit Boela's oil fields today (from Darwin). The oil remains at 7(18) and will not be repaired. I'll squeeze whatever oil I can get out of this field as long as possible.

MKB2 was 1 hex too close to Darwin. Yeah, I screwed up. This TF has only 30 Zeros also. Yep, you know what's coming....

A land based attack of 21 Wildcats escorting 25 Dauntlesses found them. My Zeros gave a decent account of themselves shooting down 13 Wildcats and 11 Dauntlesses while losing a single Zero, but it wasn't enough. A single Dauntless put a 1000 lb bomb into Taiyo. I figured the little CVE was finished but was surprised to see her damage at only 19-5-2-2. She could still launch planes! I shipped her Vals over to Chuyo (sitting at Ambon without any planes) and detached Taiyo and 2 DDs to go to Soerabaja for repairs. Chuyo will merge with MKB2 and replace Taiyo. I pulled MKB2 back toward Ambon but still in a position to guard against a potential invasion of the SRA.

I also moved the 2 BB bombardment force to a position 7 hexes NE of Darwin, to possibly bombard that base. There are about 50x 4E bombers showing up there. Definitely getting interesting here.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Bombers destroyed 4 squads today.

Another deliberate assault on Chungking. I attacked with 11 divisions. The other 11 divisions are still resting.

Ground combat at Chungking (76,45)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 140176 troops, 1610 guns, 1455 vehicles, Assault Value = 4953

Defending force 364120 troops, 767 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 12297

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 1309

Allied adjusted defense: 14033

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 10 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
18215 casualties reported
Squads: 27 destroyed, 995 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 126 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 219 disabled
Guns lost 161 (5 destroyed, 156 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
16093 casualties reported
Squads: 248 destroyed, 800 disabled
Non Combat: 117 destroyed, 636 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 82 (29 destroyed, 53 disabled)
Units destroyed 6

Nice attack. Forts are down to level 2 so things should (hopefully) start accelerating now. The destroyed units included an infantry brigade, 3 base forces and 2 artillery regiments. The divisions that participated in this attack are moving back to the R&R base (the one 2 hexes to the west of Chungking). 10 of the 11 other divisions are moving into Chungking. One still has too many disabled infantry squads to get a participation ribbon. [:D]

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: E Kanju (Etorofu class) - Convoy escort

The D4Y4 Judy R&D advanced to 1/45 (will become operational 2/44).
The B7A2 Grace R&D completed a second factory. The other two are currently at 25(5) and 21(9).

[rustysi]

I just sent back the 1 Nov turn. No interest at all in Ulithi. One day had a 1/1 DL but nothing at all since, including enemy subs.

Well that's good, but it still makes me nervous. I'll feel better when you get them safely out of the place. Now does that matter, no.[:D]

[rustysi]

MKB2 was 1 hex too close to Darwin. Yeah, I screwed up. This TF has only 30 Zeros also. Yep, you know what's coming....

Not easy to keep up with every single little detail. Not too bad though, I've seen those little Japanese CVE's go with one 500 lb hit. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.[:D]

[Mike Solli]

30 Oct 43

Sub War

There were some juicy APAs spotted at Kavieng that I'd been watching for a few days. I couldn't resist it any longer and sent the RO-113 in on a suicide mission to torpedo one. I'd done these suicide missions before and they usually went pretty well. What could go wrong? Well, she ran into a mine and went down. I guess they really do call them suicide missions for a reason. [8|]

Today, the RO-40 was hit by a depth charge off Wewak and went limping home. This place is really getting rough for my subs. I don't have anything else that can counter the Allies, and the subs are just targets now. [:(]

5 Fleet
4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied 2E bombers came back in force today. 125 sorties hit Aitape's troops, the next base with Allied cross hairs on it.

SRA

I screwed up here big time. I have some naval search covering the southern SRA toward Merauke and Darwin. I had a Glen sub sitting off Horn Island looking for anything that came in that way. I have a couple of RO subs off Perth that usually do well on the odd occasion they run into something, but I wanted a Glen sub down there. The SRA has only 2 of them, the one off Horn Island and one looking for convoys off India. I need at least 3 of them and decided the next 2 reinforcements will head down there. Perth was heating up so I (stupidly) moved the one off Horn Island to Perth a few days ago. Guess what came through that straight after I did that? A couple US fleet carriers. [:@]

I'm pretty sure it was 2 CVs because of the attack force. They caught MKB2 looking the other way (what do you want for second stringers). The attack force was 36 SBD-5s, 31 Helldivers and 36 Avengers (carrying bombs(!), which saved me), all escorted by 36 Hellcats. I suspect there were 36 Hellcats on CAP and a few of the Helldivers were scouting.

Anyway, my 30 Zeros didn't put up much of a fight shooting down 4 Hellcats, 3 Dauntlesses and a couple Avengers. That left almost 100 bombers against my little carriers. Here's the damage:

CVE Unyu - 4 bombs put her under with 27 Judies.
CVE Chuyo - 2 bombs, 42-32(9)-5-2
CVL Chitose - 3 bombs, 40-23(16)-10(3)-4
CVL Chiyoda - 2 bombs, 22-16(7)-3(1)-0
CL Jintsu - 1 bomb, 23-8(1)-5(1)-0

I split up all the carriers into separate groups and set the 2 CVLs to full speed to get out of Dodge. Chuyo was kept at mission speed because her speed was 4/3. I didn't want to risk full speed for 1 hex. It turned out Ted took his victory and fled. [:D] [:'(] I expected him to stick around to finish off the cripples. Unless they run over a sub (unlikely), they'll all make Soerabaja around 2-3 November. (As of 1 Nov, the two CVLs are 1 day out and Chuyo is 2 days out. They're all repairing some damage too.)

Burma

The Tojos shot down 9 Hurricanes for no loss over Akyab. [:D] I'm not sure why Ted even keeps his fighters in range of my fighters. Ledo, yeah, I get it, but not along the coast.

China

4 squads lost to bombing. *yawn*

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

E Mikura, first of the Mikura class. They'll be ASW TFs.
MTB G-151, I like these guys. We start the war with 6 of them. I put 4 at Pt. Blair, where they are getting really, really, really good at doing figure 8s. The other 2 went to Adak. They actually participated in combat against Allied bombardment fleets a couple times. One died quickly, but the other is still at Adak and actually torpedoed a BB! [:D] Anyway, I've been looking forward to getting oodles of them. And now I got the first one! [:D]

So, my carrier fleet is kind of rough but still can pack a punch. Here's the healthy bunch:

CV Kaga - 81 aircraft
CV Shokaku - 72
CV Unryu - 63
CV Amagi - 63
CV Katsuragi - 63
CV Hiyo - 54
CVL Shoho - 30
CVL Ryuho - 33
CVL Ryujo - 48
CVL Nisshin - 30
CVL Mizuho - 30
CVE Hosho - 18

That's 585 capacity. They're all full with planes except Ryuho, who gets her planes in 2 days. Finally! I actually have spare carrier air units now. I'm going to figure out what to do with MKB2 when they're repaired. 30 Zeros ain't nearly enough, but if there are a lot of fighters, then there aren't any bombers. But, they were never expected to go toe to tow with US CVs and survive.

The damaged ones (as of 1 Nov)
Akagi, 29-7(7)-8-0, 21 days to temp repairs completed, Truk
Soryu, 14-28(28)-0-0, 18 days to temp repairs completed, Ulithi
Zuikaku, 28-51(51)-21(19)-0, 19 days to temp repairs completed, Ulithi
Chuyo, 42-31(9)-5-0
Chitose, 40-23(16)-10(3)-0
Chiyoda, 25-15(7)-5(2)-0
Taiyo, 19-0-2-0

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

MKB2 was 1 hex too close to Darwin. Yeah, I screwed up. This TF has only 30 Zeros also. Yep, you know what's coming....

Not easy to keep up with every single little detail. Not too bad though, I've seen those little Japanese CVE's go with one 500 lb hit. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.[:D]

I've had more than my fair share of luck with those little paper carriers. Read the 30 Oct entry.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

I just sent back the 1 Nov turn. No interest at all in Ulithi. One day had a 1/1 DL but nothing at all since, including enemy subs.

Well that's good, but it still makes me nervous. I'll feel better when you get them safely out of the place. Now does that matter, no.[:D]

I'm actually more worried about Akagi, sitting in 4E bomber range at Truk. I really want to get her out of there.