Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[Anachro]

John's carriers are way to the south, 14 hexes south of Pago Pago, but they aren't too far west of my carriers. In fact, they are currently only 19 hexes west of my carriers current position. To better show this, I have the image below.

[ny59giants]

Many versions ago I suggested and we implemented putting a small detachment of 3 Kate recon planes on some of Japan's CVs. This will greatly extend his recon and NavS capabilities beyond the 10 hexes of the Jakes.

Just a friendly FYI.

[AcePylut]

Set a search percentage equal to 3 planes.

[Anachro]

June 24, 1942

My carriers move to just west of Palmyra and tankers are all around to replenish them. A pleasant surprise is that CV Wasp and her escorts manage to catch up to my carriers earlier and if there happens to be potential for a carrier clash, it will be able to take part in the action. Meanwhile, my French BC's bombard Canton Island, damaging some planes and destroying some units and also manage to hit an unspotted supply convoy that moved in during the middle of the night, which is nice. DD Bagley takes another mine hit, but she should also be able to make it back to Pearl for quick repairs.



Meanwhile, John' carriers hover southeast of Suva and another task force is spotted northeast of Pago Pago. Can these be his tankers? If John moves east again for just one turn, I think I can have a very decent chance of striking, though certainly not guaranteed. Meanwhile, if John decides to strike at Pago Pago, I do have a decent number of fighters there, which he might or might not expect.

[Anachro]

India

In India, two divisions appear south of Raipur heading to reinforce John's tank regiments. It will probably reach two of them. One regiment is isolated and we'll see if it is able to escape tomorrow. My armored units will shock attack before pulling back to await divisional reinforcements.

[BBfanboy]

Looks like John has a mini-KB searching for convoys bound for Australia or NZ.
There is no viable reason for his tankers to be east of him, so I would take that TF as Fast Transport - APDs and a TB are likely for that mission. Given his propensity to take risks and try to expand to the max, I suspect he is going for one of the islands south of Palmyra. It could also be a feint, given the westward movement last detected, so he might veer toward Johnston Island. Japanese APDs are valuable enough that I doubt he would deliberately sacrifice them to draw out your CVs. He could do that with lots of less valuable ships.

[DOCUP]

Great updates.

[CaptBeefheart]

Good stuff. "The dream of the Subway Banzai Warriors." Good luck with the upcoming (hopefully) carrier clash.

Cheers,
CB

[Anachro]

June 25 1942

My carriers are spotted today and its a shame as they were on the right trajectory to make an intercept. I will never know if my BC bombardments raised his awareness of need for recon, but I am also close enough that normal recon practices should pick them up. Nonetheless, they are in a good position to have a slim chance at catching John's CVLs. They will most likely hit John's APDs (although I suspect these are actually tankers as their movements and speed mean they can't be APDs to me).

I anticipate John will more west towards safety in Lunga. He should haven't much to fear that way whereas going north spells doom. I'm hoping he passes very close to Suva where I have 125 fighters set to escort ~22 bombers. If they manage to hit something and slow his TF down, perhaps I will have a better chance of catching up. My carriers have enough fuel to flank west, but will probably need to self-replenish if they want to flank more than that. We'll see.

[BBfanboy]

Odd that the anchor and runway symbols at Canton Is. are not red. Did you leave an AVP and seaplanes there? [:D]

[Anachro]

June 26 1942

Position of my carriers today. Good position, but they had to do a bit of self-replenishment and won't be able to flank speed some more till tomorrow. They will continue west to try and reach John's carriers, bombers will be set to naval bombing today to see if they can catch his tankers. Lexington will remain behind because she can't move. The CV Indomitable and her task force will link up with Lexington and be posed to get John's oilers if they try to move east anticipating my carriers moving west. This means that only 3 carriers will be pursuing John's 3 CVL's and BB Yamato.



My land-based dive bombers at Suva managed a strike against John's carriers, but unfortunately they all missed. I left half of my fighters on CAP in case he launched a strike against Suva, but probably should have had them all escort the bombers.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Taveuni Island at 134,157

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 32 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 43
A6M2-N Rufe x 6

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 4
P-39D Airacobra x 24
P-40E Warhawk x 24
F4F-3A Wildcat x 18
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 2 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 4 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed
F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CVL Kushiro
CVL Tokachi
BB Yamato
CVL Shoho

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Taveuni Island at 134,157

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 41
A6M2-N Rufe x 6

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 8
P-40E Warhawk x 9
F4F-3A Wildcat x 7
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 2 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 3 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVL Shoho

[Anachro]

CV Indomitable sank a submarine I hope in a port strike on Canton Island today, so there's that at least.

Afternoon Air attack on Canton Island , at 153,143

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 16
Fulmar II x 9
Sea Hurricane Ib x 6

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
SS I-23, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage

Port hits 2
Port supply hits 1

[Anachro]

June 27 1942

Positions as of this date are below. Three carriers will flank speed down to Suva, but things are a bit hairy with Japanese airbases nearby (lvl 2 on Ndeni, lvl 5 on Lunga). ~75 fighters will be set to LRCAP to cover the carriers from Luganville. Majority of fighters on carriers will be devoted to escort duty and dive bombers/torpedo planes will stay within the fighters' escort range. We are hoping that John sticks close to Luganville this turn as he tries to go north to the safety of his LBA at Lunga.

If not and he continues west, we're not sure we will have fuel for another opportunity to strike.We hope for great success with the opportunity to sink 3 CVLs. But we could also lose our carriers to his CVL bombers or long-range LBA bombers. We'll see. We most likely will turn back to Suva for refueling after this turn.



The Lexington/Indomitable TF hit one half of John's tankers today. We're hoping they finish the job tomorrow.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Funafuti at 140,147

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 18

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
AO Iro, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC PB-63, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AO Kazahaya, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC PB-69, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

In India, we get a nice little surprise when a US submarine managed to torpedo the CV Hiryu. Two hits, but one fails to explode, unfortunately. Ah, early Allied torpedoes... Here's to hoping her being damaged means my submarines get another shot tomorrow. Either way, I hope the damage puts her out of action for a little while.

ub attack near Koggala at 29,51

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu, Torpedo hits 1
CA Miyako
CA Nachi
CL Niyodo
DD Shiranui
DD Asashio
DD Hamakaze

Allied Ships
SS Spearfish

[Anachro]

In India, my fighters bag some Japanese bombers.

[Anachro]

June 28 1942

Bad day. Strike successfully sent against John's CVs, but my dive bombers fail to back a punch and a decent number use GP 1000 lb'ers instead of SAP. We will move up a small amount of hexes tomorrow to see if we can get a second strike and maybe sink one, but my carriers are low on fuel and fighters and getting ever closer to the level 5 airbase at Lunga. We retire after tomorrow, but my carriers are in a precarious situation if they manage to get into a surface action.

No sinking sounds for the day, though Shoho was listed as heavy fires, heavy damage. Notice, however, that there is no "heavy smoke" message at the bottom. The bombs seemed to bounce harmlessly off the other CVLs, hitting deck armor and bouncing off. Shame.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Efate at 119,154

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 56
A6M2-N Rufe x 5

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 6
F4F-3 Wildcat x 56
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD-3 Dauntless x 73

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 4 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 15 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CVL Kushiro, Bomb hits 1
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 3
CVL Tokachi, Bomb hits 3
CA Chokai
DD Hatsukaze
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Maya, Bomb hits 2

[jwolf]

Even with relatively weak results, that's probably enough to discourage John from further deep raids for a while. And that is valuable. With the KB not just in the Indian theater but actually in the Arabian Sea (!!) John has ceded naval air control in the Pacific, temporarily, whether he knows it or not.

[Anachro]

June 29 1942

Okay day, but our carriers are in a precarious situation and our fighters decimated. My TF will attempt to retire south with CAP and ASW as Japanese subs are in the area. Meanwhile the CV Lexington and BB North Caroline will continue west in an attempt to intercept John's remaining carriers and the BB Yamato. This is okay given that his carriers are damaged (and slower), seem to be devoid of bombers. BB North Carolina will remain under Lexington's air cover till she can get in range of potential surface action.



In the air battles, escort fighters again suffer tremendously against CAP even with even numbers. My bombers have a lot of misses, but hit some (with a few torpedo strikes). I can only chop up their sloppy performance to CAP interference and fatigue from long use (they came all the way down from the Aleutians and over without R&R). If Lexington gets in range, her bombers might do better. We'll see.

The key here is that we hear sinking sounds so we believe at least one CVL is sunk. This should be the Shoho, which was by herself south of Luganville (most heavily damaged yesterday and probably too slow for the rest) and was actually sunk by a few old Vindicators near Efate. At least one more CVL (most likely the Zuiho) is heavily damaged. It's a shame we didn't manage to sink his G.6's which can be converted into Hiryu-esque carriers. However, a few CLs/CAs are also hit. We can only hope some more ships burns up or sink over the next few days.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Vanikoro at 122,146

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 72
A6M2-N Rufe x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 11
F4F-3 Wildcat x 43
F4F-4 Wildcat x 19
SBD-3 Dauntless x 73
TBD-1 Devastator x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 4 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 13 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 2
CVL Tokachi
CL Ishikari
CVL Kushiro
CL Suzuya
CA Chokai
CL Tokoro
DD Kagero

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 117,144

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 13

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Umikaze
CL Otonase, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Vanikoro at 122,146

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 51
A6M2-N Rufe x 2

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 7
F4F-3 Wildcat x 24
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
SBD-3 Dauntless x 73

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 5 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed, 14 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Tokachi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Kushiro
CA Chokai, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
BB Yamato
CA Maya, Bomb hits 2

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring a Japanese CVL
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CA Chokai

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Efate at 120,154

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 17 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

The big danger for tomorrow is surface interception of my carriers. We'll see. I am forming some DDs and CA/CLs into a new TF to escort the carriers and try to fight off surface intercept attempts.

[Anachro]

@JWolf You are right; and hopefully the update below fully solidifies a future reluctance on John's part to do such deep raids into enemy territory. It can really come back to bite him. If it's just subs I have to deal with, getting supply to the SoPac will become more routine.

June 30 1942

Today is nice enough in that my carriers escape safely a few hexes to the south and now should only have to worry about the danger of enemy submarine activity.

I inadvertently leave a few DBs on naval strike and they subsequently try to hit a heavily damaged CVL Zuiho which has only moved to Ndeni while the rest of the CVLs flee further north. While my DBs get eaten up by enemy CAP, the Zuiho sinks during the combat. We can now confirm that two CVLs have been sunk. While the more valuable G6 CVLs escape to live (and convert) another day, we are happy with this result as it stands; and while we did suffer an inordinate amount of plane losses, the number of pilots lost was relatively minimal.



The top image above shows CVL Ryukaku in addition to the Zuiho, but the two CVLs sunk are most likely
the Shoho and the Zuiho (below image). CV Hiryu took a torpedo a few turns back and, based on the position
given in the intelligence report on where it sank, is most likely heading towards Singapore.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 120,143

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 6 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
A6M5 Zero x 14

Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 8 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, and is sunk

The ships of this Task Force 100 have been driven hard. Except for the CV Wasp, when news of the Japanese carrier raids happened on Tahiti, they were just south of Adak Island up in the Aleutians where they has been hovering around for a more than a week looking for opportunities. They then moved all the way down to Palmyra and then east to eventually make an intercept with John's carriers. If there is one thing to be learned here for John, he let his carriers dally for way too long given me time and opportunity to intercept.

TF 100, the CV Indomitable, and the CV Lexington will all soon retire to Pearl Harbor for much needed R&R and refit and/or repair. First order of business is to get refueled very quickly at Luganville.


Task Force 100 was placed in a most precarious and difficult situation. Their fuel situation was more
critical than I let on and probably John can only guess as to what he could have done. I'd have detached some
surface vessels to try for an intercept. Their a/c strength is down from a maximum of ~270 to ~100.

Tomorrow sees the CV Indomitable and a few suface ships try to sink John's oilers still fleeing south of Canton (they have been moving about trying to avoid my ships). Meanwhile, my CV Lexington might try one last-gasp strike against John's fleeing CVL TF, but I have to balance this with the knowledge that John has two probablly servicable flight decks and could move within range of Lunga. I need to keep Lexington away from any air power John might have there.

As things stand, I'm happy with my haul and hope Japanese subs don't sink my carriers.

[Anachro]

John's remaining tankers and my forces arrayed around it. Indomitable is retiring due to lack of fuel and will not try to intercept.

[Anachro]

Minesweepers begin minesweeping Midway in preparation for the first of many bombardments meant to soften up the target. Can you guess my first amphibious "training" operation? [:)]