How do you win a carrier battle?

Grotius · Post by **Grotius** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 3:47 am

Feinder: Thanks for the suggestion on radar. I keep forgetting about that. I'll check on it.

Drongo: Good idea about Coral Sea. I think I'll run it a couple of times before I take the PBEM plunge.

Denisonh: When I set my bombers to Naval Attack, I generally have been giving them Nav Search of 10-20%. But you seem to be saying that you'll set whole squadrons of SBDs to Naval Search. I assume you do this when you know you won't be conducting any naval attacks this turn.

Also: how far out does an SBD (or any other plane) search -- extended range or max range? I just browsed through the manual and I'm still not sure.

HawaiiFive-O · Post by **HawaiiFive-O** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 3:54 am

It's been my experience that search planes operate at extended range.

This thread's been a good read

. My carrier battles tend not to go so well, might be why I'm so reluctant to commit my carriers (against PBEM opponents).

denisonh · Post by **denisonh** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 5:36 am

I never set an SDB sqn or Kate sqn to more than 20%. (I guess I forgat to mention that)

They would be too busy looking to go attacking:)

And the point about naval search is you can miss a TF real easy at extended ranges. Just had a TF hit PM on a bombardment run in a PBEM game. Never saw it coming and never saw it leaving!

Had a sqn of PBYs at PM with a sqn Hudson's set to 20% naval search, as well as PBYs out of Cairns. Given it was in thunderstorms, but if I had control of GG, that would not be the case.

At the end of your search aircraft range is the area where TFs will "appear". That is my experience.

Grotius · Post by **Grotius** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 10:16 pm

Sometimes this game just makes me laugh! After two lopsided engagements, the USN had scored at least one hit on all but one of my CVs, though SYS damage ranged only from 10 to 30. In return, I hadn't hit a thing. Now all 6 USN CVs were prowling south of Gili Gili, ready to finish me off. So I started to flee. I had virtually no bombers left, but enough fighters to put up 40 very fatigued Zeroes as CAP.

So what happens? First I get a strange report that Lexington strikes a mine. I had mined the channel into Gili, but I don't think Lex ever got that close to Gili. <shrug> Next the USN launches a series of strikes against me and my tired little CAP, and my pilots suddenly turn into Top Guns, slicing through escorts and bombers alike. No hits on my CVs at all.

And finally, out of nowhere, 3 Kates and about 10 Vals launch a tiny little airstrike. The Vals are shot down or driven away by CAP, but somehow a couple of Kates make it to target, and POW!, a succession of torpedo hits on Lexington. She sinks next turn.

I love this game.

Mr.Frag · Post by **Mr.Frag** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 3:02 am

It sounds like the USA CV pilots where even more tired then your CAP pilots.

Remember you are BOTH subject to fatigue, and it certainly looks like there is some form of fatigue moral check in the code for bombers, as they seem to veer off in high numbers if they get shot at and were tired...

Nells against tired CAP are pretty much a sure thing, and after all, a torpedo hit is worth a hundred bombs everytime, cause water sinks ships, not bombs

That is one of the extreme advantages that Japan has, with their Level Bombers converting to Torpedo Bombers when on Naval missions.

A single torpedo can sink a ship. A single bomb hit unless lucky may not even scratch it. The extra perk is flotation damage generally slows ships enough that they splinter off from the main task force, giving you a chance to snack on a CV only protected by 1 lone DD that is probably already out of AA ammo from the previous couple of attacks.

Grotius · Post by **Grotius** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 3:19 am

Good point about torpedoes. I was amazed that one or two Kates (with pilots falling asleep at the controls) sank a fleet aircraft carrier. Well, there may have been a little help from a mysterious mid-ocean mine, but still...

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:53 pm

Originally posted by HawaiiFive-O
It's been my experience that search planes operate at extended range.

This thread's been a good read . My carrier battles tend not to go so well, might be why I'm so reluctant to commit my carriers (against PBEM opponents).

Maximum Range is generally used for transfering aircraft between bases.

Extended Range is the "technical" maximum search distance, but if you only have a few planes on naval search, it will be more like Normal Range.

Makes sense if you think about it. Less aircraft means more space to search per aircraft.. More aircraft means they can search out farther from the base.

Also, really small airfields tend to restrict naval search distance even more.

That's all been my experience and I'm pretty sure all of the above is in the manual somewhere...

Matt Erickson · Post by **Matt Erickson** » Wed Aug 20, 2003 12:38 pm

maybe he shoulda stayed outta sight?:eek: ...if you know whadda I mean...hahahaha!:D

jmkas · Post by **jmkas** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 11:34 pm

Grotius wrote:I need general advice on how to win carrier battles, especially as the IJN.

On a related note, how long does it take for damaged ships to get from Gili Gili, to Truk to Tokyo and back? I had a CV battle in which my 2 CVs were sunk, one outright and one had to be scuttled on the way back to Nouima, but I seriously malled their 3 CVs. Each IJN CV (2 CV 1 CVL) had double digits in bomb hits and 1 torp hit to boot (2 from my subs while the CVs were on the way back to Truk) I dont consider it a total loss, maybe even a draw because my air strikes and some of the CAP diverted to PM...and my carrier based planes at PM have been instrumental in stopping several transport runs to Gili Gili since the carrier battle.

Its been 3 weeks since the battle, there has been no IJN carrier activity or sightings in the entire theatre at all...no attacks from VALs or KATEs either, anywhere (I dont know if their strikes were diverted to airbases like Rabul...the big numbers dont show up in the aircraft loss intelligence table to make me believe an 80 plane strike just dropped into the ocean. I assume the IJN planes are still on the CVs at the least) Anyhow, I just received a CVE and CV and have another CV due from Pearl in 14 days. The air groups for these 3 CVs will have assembled entirely in about 35 days....so my dilemma is now this: Do I sail to Brisbane, pick up the carrier planes there (I would transfer the air from PM, to Cooktown and then to Brisbane) and go from there or do I have time to wait for the air groups to assemble - all the while getting stronger? I guess figuring out when the IJN CVs will be back will answer that...but I have no idea.

How do you win a carrier battle?

....kwato captured!