Miller (J) vs Mr Kane (A)

[Miller]

So as night fell on the evening of the 7th, it was time to take stock of the results.

I lose 5 CVs (three of the Unyru's and Junyo/Hiyo), 8 CVL/Es, CL Oyodo and 5 or 6 DDs. Three more CVs take moderate damage. Throw in about 1000 a/c as well.

Allowing for FOW on Allied losses, I would estimate he lost 2 British CVs, possibly a BB and between 10-15 CVL/Es, with a few more CVs taking moderate damage. His a/c losses are about 700, half of them ops due to their flight decks being closed or sunk.

Air losses:

[Miller]

A/c losses by type:

[Miller]

8th June 45

So here was the situation at the night/morning of the 8th:





Red shows my survivng CVs fleeing for home. Green is his main death star, light green some of his damaged CVEs. Dark red shows my entire surface fleet, that was left unconvered by my CVs reacting but not attacked the day before. A total of 5 BBs, 15 CAs, 10 CLs and about 60 DDs. After pondering for a while, I decide what the hell and ordered them to attack at night, hoping to see them get through to finish off some of his crippled CVs. I loaded up Naha with fighters to provide LRCAP for them during the day. What followed was a load of ship vs ship action during the night and early morning phase, followed by massed CV air attacks on my ships during the day, it wasn't pretty.

[Miller]

Here is summary of the surface actions. Most were fought at a starting range of 12k yards at night and 25k in the morning. First the night actions (IJN ships listed first)

Round 1: 4 CA and 8 DD vs 4 CA and 10 DD. CA Kumano is hit multiple times and left in a sinking condition along with a DD. Two US DDs are sunk by torpedo.

Round 2: 3 different CA and 9 DD versus the same TF as above. Inconclusive, both TFs burn through most of their ammo for a few hits on each others DDs.

Round 3: 5 old CLs and 7 DDs versus BB Alabama, 4 CA and 10 DDs. The CL Abukuma is sunk under a hail of shells but the rest of my TF escapes harm. One US DD is sunk by torpedo, however Alabama and her CAs burn through most of their ammo which will have dire consequences for them soon.....

Round 4: 4 CA and 8 DD vs 4 CA and 7 DD. Again, light damage to a few DDs on each side but nothing more.

Round 5: Same TF as above vs Alabama and co. CA Chokai takes several hits and is in trouble, but the Alabama TF burns the rest of her ammo in the process....

Round 6: BBs Kongo, Kirishima and 8 DDs vs Alabama and co. Just like their sisters back in the Marianas, the Kongos rip into the fast US BB and her escorting CAs which have used up all their ammo and offer no reply. Alabama and the CAs Chester, Louisville and Pensacola go under along with 2 or 3 DDs. My BBs are barely scratched but their escorting DDs are hit hard.
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 4
DD Makinami, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Hayanami, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Minegumo, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Asagumo, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Oboro, Shell hits 2
DD Mikazuki, Shell hits 5, heavy damage
DD Mochizuki
DD Kawagiri
DD Kiyokaze, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
DD Murakaze, Shell hits 22, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Alabama, Shell hits 61, and is sunk
CA Northampton
CA Chester, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CA Louisville, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Pensacola, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
CLAA Tucson
DD Frank Evans, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Robert Huntington, Shell hits 2
DD James C. Owens, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Hudson
DD Murray, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Newcomb
DD Owen
DD Picking, Shell hits 1
DD Stephen Potter, Shell hits 1
DD Prichett, Shell hits 2
DD Pringle, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Robinson
DD John Rodgers, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Rooks, Shell hits 1

Round 7: The Kongo TF vs 4 British CLs and 6 DDs. Having used most of their ammo, my TF breaks off early but only after Kirishima takes a torp and 3 of my damaged DDs are finished off.

That was the conclusion of the night action. The early morning fights were fought at mainly long range.

Round 8: 3 CA and 9 DD vs 2 US CL and 5 DD. My fleet is already low on ammo and breaks off without doing any damage but a few of my CAs take damaging hits.

Round 9: BBs Nagato, Mutsu and Ise plus 10 DD vs 3 old US BB in large amphib TF. Mutsu and Ise take damaging hits and Colorado in return in an old battlewagon battle.

Round 10: Kongo/Kirishima and 3 DD vs 2 CL and 5 DD. Now completely out of ammo my BBs retire but their 3 remaining escorting DDs are crippled or sunk.

Round 11: 2 old CL and 6 DD find a CV TF containing Enterprise and some CVLs and the BB Iowa, which promptly destroys both my CLs without mercy.

Round 12: 3 CL and 7 DD vs 2 CA and 4 DD. The super destroyer Shimikaze is sunk for no damage done in return.

Round 13: 4 CA and 8 DD vs 5 BBs and 15 DDs. This should have been a one sided massacre but I get lucky. CA Ashigara is sunk along with 2 DDs and I sink the old BB California with torpedoes in return.

There were a few more meetings between his CV TFs and some of my surface forces (usually after they had used up their ammo) which resulted in both TFs attempting to withdraw. So now with daylight all my ships were now going to run the gauntlet of carrier air attacks. Over the course of the day he plays whack a mole with my widely scattered fleets. LRCAP tries its best to protect some of them but most of his bombers get through. CA Takao and 5 CLs and about 10 DDs are sunk outright and many others damaged, but Kongo and Kirishima manage to lead a charmed life are not hit.

I had loaded up the bases around Naha with bombers and one strike finds some damaged CVEs:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Naha at 93,68

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B6N2 Jill x 41
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 91

Allied aircraft
Hellcat I x 15
Hellcat F.II x 8
Seafire IIC x 1
FM-2 Wildcat x 13
F4U-1D Corsair x 10
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16
F6F-5 Hellcat x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2 Jill: 11 destroyed, 9 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 4 destroyed by flak
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 9 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Matanikau, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Formidable, Bomb hits 3
CV Indomitable, Bomb hits 1
CVE Suwannee
CVL San Jacinto, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CVE Prince William, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Ommaney Bay, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Other strikes target his death star and are swotted away without causing any damage.

So as night falls on the 8th the totals for the day are:

Jap: 3 CA, 7 CL, 10-12 DDs, 200 a/c.

Allies: 2 BB, 3 CA, 2 CVL/E, a few DDs, about 100 a/c.

[obvert]

Wow! Your surface forces did really well considering the timeframe. [&o]

[Miller]

9th June 45

As our respective cripples headed for home I had hoped he would retreat everything south at this point. No such luck. He forms a lot of SCTF consisting of CL/DDs to hunt down my damaged ships during the night. Several of my damaged DDs are finished off as a result. He keeps his death star in place during the day in order to cover the withdrawal of his amphib forces. Some sizeable LBA forces attack it but again they die in vain, costing me another 300 a/c or so. His strike a/c put a torpedo into the Mutsu but she manages to make port. My subs try and finsh off a few of his cripples but are brutally killed off by his massive ASW DE TFs, I lose at least 10 between 7th-9th with many more damaged. I have barely a dozen operational now.

In other news he tries his first deliberate attack at Clark:

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 261218 troops, 5003 guns, 7563 vehicles, Assault Value = 10166

Defending force 84819 troops, 974 guns, 622 vehicles, Assault Value = 2203

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Allied adjusted assault: 5445

Japanese adjusted defense: 9277

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 5)

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

Japanese ground losses:
6307 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 430 disabled
Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 141 disabled
Engineers: 33 destroyed, 174 disabled
Guns lost 259 (41 destroyed, 218 disabled)
Vehicles lost 77 (15 destroyed, 62 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
14625 casualties reported
Squads: 77 destroyed, 1467 disabled
Non Combat: 49 destroyed, 426 disabled
Engineers: 22 destroyed, 180 disabled
Guns lost 229 (37 destroyed, 192 disabled)
Vehicles lost 512 (71 destroyed, 441 disabled)

I give it till the end of the month if I'm lucky. He bombs it daily with hundreds of bombers just like my bases in China.

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Wow! Your surface forces did really well considering the timeframe. [&o]

Agreed. Just wish the entire battle had happened a day later when I would have had a ton of LBA in place to attack his CVs at the same time as my carrier a/c. But for 45 I can't complain[:)]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Miller

ORIGINAL: obvert

Wow! Your surface forces did really well considering the timeframe. [&o]

Agreed. Just wish the entire battle had happened a day later when I would have had a ton of LBA in place to attack his CVs at the same time as my carrier a/c. But for 45 I can't complain[:)]

Yep. That happened to me as well, but I lost 800 planes for one CVE. Luckily no strikes against the KB though.

[Canoerebel]

It's hard for you, Paul, to notice the forest for the trees. But from where I sit, you and your forces performed pretty doggone well here.

The real question is whether this blunts Mr. Kane from proceeding with his invasion. Going forward, does this leave him with inadequate protection to move against invasion sites well-protected by interlocking enemy airfields? If so, you might've won a key victory here. But if your air force is gutted or otherwise unable to stand toe-to-toe with him (due partly to PDU Off), then the picture is much different.

But you've fought well.

As for Obvert, don't listen to him. The guy is clearly inexperienced and incapable of defending the Empire. He just muddles along doing little or nothing....

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

It's hard for you, Paul, to notice the forest for the trees. But from where I sit, you and your forces performed pretty doggone well here.

The real question is whether this blunts Mr. Kane from proceeding with his invasion. Going forward, does this leave him with inadequate protection to move against invasion sites well-protected by interlocking enemy airfields? If so, you might've won a key victory here. But if your air force is gutted or otherwise unable to stand toe-to-toe with him (due partly to PDU Off), then the picture is much different.

But you've fought well.

As for Obvert, don't listen to him. The guy is clearly inexperienced and incapable of defending the Empire. He just muddles along doing little or nothing....

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

It's hard for you, Paul, to notice the forest for the trees. But from where I sit, you and your forces performed pretty doggone well here.

The real question is whether this blunts Mr. Kane from proceeding with his invasion. Going forward, does this leave him with inadequate protection to move against invasion sites well-protected by interlocking enemy airfields? If so, you might've won a key victory here. But if your air force is gutted or otherwise unable to stand toe-to-toe with him (due partly to PDU Off), then the picture is much different.

But you've fought well.

As for Obvert, don't listen to him. The guy is clearly inexperienced and incapable of defending the Empire. He just muddles along doing little or nothing....

Hi Dan. Although my navy has took a beating the last few turns, I still have a huge LBA armada ready to go. I'm not sure why he was going for Okinawa, he has big airbases already on the eastern Chinese coast and his ongoing conquest of Luzon means the door is already closed to the SRA fuel/oil. I'm starting to think he may actually have been en route to Korea and was using the Okinawa route as a waypoint keeping his fleets out of range of my LBA form the mainland? Whatever the target he's withdrawing for now.

[Miller]

10th-12th June 45

Kane continued to sit his death star about 10 hexes south of the mainland, obviously looking to pick off a few more cripples before retiring. It sinks a few small patrol craft send by me to burn up his CVs remaining sorties, however most of my cripples are now in port. On the 12th he decides to retire south, but forgets to send the order to one of his CVE TFs, which is attacked from the mainland in large numbers:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Daito Shoto at 103,68

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 78
A6M5c Zero x 31
B7A2 Grace x 120
N1K2-J George x 39
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 46
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 49
Ki-84a Frank x 11
Ki-84r Frank x 8
Ki-100-I Tony x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
B7A2 Grace: 4 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
CVE Gilbert Islands, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Cape Gloucester, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Casablanca, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
CLAA San Juan, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CLAA Oakland, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Corbesier, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DE Shelton, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
DE Jesse Rutherford, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CLAA San Diego, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Gleaves, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DD Frankford, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Bailey, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Harding, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD McCook, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Richard M. Rowell, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Chester T. O'Brien, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Silverstein, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DE Conklin, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Daito Shoto at 103,68

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 31
B6N2a Jill x 71
B7A2 Grace x 48
N1K2-J George x 29
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 34
Ki-84a Frank x 23
Ki-84r Frank x 18
Ki-100-I Tony x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
B7A2 Grace: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CLAA San Juan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Richard M. Rowell, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DE Tabberer, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Chester T. O'Brien, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
DD Bailey
DD Harding, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Niblack, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DE Corbesier, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shubrick, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Frankford, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DE Jesse Rutherford, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD McCook
DE McCoy Reynolds
DD Endicott, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Daito Shoto at 103,68

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30
B6N2a Jill x 68
N1K2-J George x 10
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 27
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 51
Ki-84a Frank x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2a Jill: 1 damaged
B6N2a Jill: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DE Key, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DE Silverstein, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Endicott, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CLAA San Juan, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DE McCoy Reynolds, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Benson, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Niblack, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DE Conklin, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shubrick, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DE Corbesier, and is sunk
DE Jesse Rutherford, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

The fact that 200 a/c are lost on the ground and no CAP up at all means it was an a/c replenishment TF for his CVs. So a nice little haul of 3 CVEs, 3 CLAAs and about 15 DDs and DEs for free. Not as bad as losing 5 BBs, but still I can't complain[:D]

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Miller

Scoreboard



With a 4k point swing for the fall of Manila plus another 2k or so for strat bombing over the last fortnight it's looking like AV will arrive pretty much when the soviets activate. We shall see.

Nice. Great job getting here in this shape. [&o]

I forgot also this is a PDU-off game. No wonder he's strong in the air at this point!! [X(]

To conserve supply you might turn off replacements to all of the new HI divisions you're getting now. You have a lot of PPs too, and could buy some to send to the Russian front soon. They're only like 400-500 PP before filling out.

Yes I've turned off replacements for every single LCU for now. Not sure if it's even worth sending anything to try and stop the Ruskies, their divisions TOE are frightening!

[Miller]

I'm now the proud owner of over 1000 of these heaps of sh ite.





The plan is to send them in en masse before my proper bombers in the hope the entire USN runs out of .50 cal ammo in shooting them all down. Hey, you never know.....

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Miller
On the 12th he decides to retire south, but forgets to send the order to one of his CVE TFs, which is attacked from the mainland in large numbers:

So Mr.Kane is human after all, not a merciless meticulous malicious machine

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Miller
On the 12th he decides to retire south, but forgets to send the order to one of his CVE TFs, which is attacked from the mainland in large numbers:

So Mr.Kane is human after all, not a merciless meticulous malicious machine

Yes, I was beginning to wonder....

[Anachro]

Everyone makes mistakes. In my game, I had set ships to bombard and forgot that I also had them set to remain on station. Result being that the next day they were still at their point of bombardment and in range of enemy bombers..

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Everyone makes mistakes. In my game, I had set ships to bombard and forgot that I also had them set to remain on station. Result being that the next day they were still at their point of bombardment and in range of enemy bombers..

That's how I lost 5 battleships a few months earlier in this game[:(]

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Miller

I'm now the proud owner of over 1000 of these heaps of sh ite.

The plan is to send them in en masse before my proper bombers in the hope the entire USN runs out of .50 cal ammo in shooting them all down. Hey, you never know.....

With your PP one option is to convert to FB and then to F, turn them to kamis and use them for CAP. [;)]

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Miller

I'm now the proud owner of over 1000 of these heaps of sh ite.

The plan is to send them in en masse before my proper bombers in the hope the entire USN runs out of .50 cal ammo in shooting them all down. Hey, you never know.....

With your PP one option is to convert to FB and then to F, turn them to kamis and use them for CAP. [;)]

Don't think I can do that with PDU off?