Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[BBfanboy]

[:D]
Respect for the admission of the SNAFU, but you missed the chance to say you did it because you expected your opponent to leave Chiang Mai again! [8|]

[apbarog]

4 Feb 43 - Part One - Kusaie Island

[apbarog]

4 Feb 43

xAK Trieste is unloading supply at Port Blair. It'll flee today. Troops are well supplied, but much depleted from the fighting. So is the enemy.

3 Brit cruisers bombarded Port Blair, causing almost 300 casualties and moderate base damage, and getting another shell hit on the invincible I-156. Cruisers will retire to Rangoon despite the increasing risk. At full speed, I think they can dodge KB if the enemy approaches. I still want to leave open the possibility of a para drop on Port Blair, combined with these cruisers bombarding. Maybe if KB gets distracted up by Ceylon.

[apbarog]

5 Feb 43

Mines are found at the base near Singapore, so no luck with that one.

Same heavy activity over the Chinese advancing on Rahaeng. Lots of Sallys damaged by flak. They came down to 6000 feet. Lots of enemy air over China, as usual. No planes brought down by rocks being thrown at them. Supply is gone in far northern China.

US heavies hit Kusaie Island. 4 slow US battleships will bombard, and the infantry will then attack. The US battleships are spotted south of Kusaie. Yamato and Musashi are seen at Truk. Troops begin to load at Tabiteuea for Kwajalein.

21 P-38s swept Magwe, finding 34 Oscars. 11 Oscars downed for the cost of 3 P-38 ops losses.

Enemy carriers appear, surprisingly in 2 separate areas. Near Rangoon, what looks like 2 carriers launch against 2 ships that fled Port Blair.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rangoon at 49,53

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 19
D4Y1 Judy x 19

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AM Lismore, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Trieste, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage

Both ships are sunk.

A bigger carrier force moved towards Ceylon, at full speed. This seemed like a bold move, considering 5 US carriers were just recently in the area. Could OPilot know that they've left? Anything is possible. Maybe he liked his odds and thought a full speed move would surprise my carriers. Or just surprise all the shipping that's been in the area. Neither happened.

West of Toungoo, the US 32nd Infantry Division trashed fragments of already defeated units. The US and Brit divisions there will now move north towards Magwe, into clear terrain, which has some risks.

[Lowpe]

Japan maybe willing to fight and lose all the troops in Burma to prevent a deeper thrust into the Thailand plains. Gives him time to structure that defense and secure Singers better.

[apbarog]

6 Feb 43

Sub Harder spotted AK Aratama Maru near Manado, and hit it with a dud torpedo. The torpedo dud rate, for the applicable ones with the dud rate that changed in January, is 10 duds out of 26 hits, which is 38.5%, since January 1 1943.

At Kusaie Island, I-164 spotted the slow US battleship task force, and fired 4 torpedoes at Tennessee. Amazingly, all torpedoes missed. Those slow BBs are just torpedo magnets. They almost always seem to get hit. The battleships then bombarded the island.

Night Naval bombardment of Kusaie Island at 125,118

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi
BB New Mexico
BB Tennessee
BB California
DD MacDonough
DD Porter
DD Lang
DD Wilson
DD Gillespie
DD Caldwell

Japanese ground losses:
413 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 7
Port hits 10
Port supply hits 2

Lots of Allied light bombers hit enemy troops at Kalemyo, and do almost no damage in moderate rain. Bombers also hit enemy troops at Wyndham, same as most other days. Kusaie Island was bombed by US heavies.

Several ground attacks.

Ground combat at Kusaie Island (125,118)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10973 troops, 202 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 309

Defending force 9416 troops, 68 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 196

Allied adjusted assault: 165

Japanese adjusted defense: 147

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
243 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
178 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
37th Infantry Division
214th Coast AA Regiment
2nd Base Maint Engineer Battalion
5th US Naval Construction Battalion
1/542nd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
10th US Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
Sasebo 6th SNLF
7th Naval Construction Battalion
48th JNAF AF Unit
3rd Naval Construction Battalion
54th JNAF AF Unit

Good numbers. I expect Yamato and Musashi to bombard again, maybe today. I'll wait to attack with the next slow battleship bombardment.

Interesting attack at Wyndham, northern Australia.

Ground combat at Wyndham (70,127)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 676 troops, 0 guns, 73 vehicles, Assault Value = 34

Defending force 1860 troops, 19 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 58

Allied adjusted assault: 7

Japanese adjusted defense: 85

Allied assault odds: 1 to 12 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled

Assaulting units:
13th Armoured Regiment

Defending units:
4th Engineer Co
Kure 2nd SNLF

Now OPilot knows what it feels like for the Chinese facing armor in far northern China. There's little that can be done. The Australians will rest a bit and then repeat.

Allied attack at Kalemyo, near the Burma/India border. The enemy shows movement south now. The Allied advance from India is very weak. It's very much the anvil, not the hammer, of the Burma offensive. Although the hammer may not be strong enough to reach the anvil, for now. We'll see.

Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7281 troops, 80 guns, 323 vehicles, Assault Value = 349

Defending force 5254 troops, 88 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 130

Allied adjusted assault: 119

Japanese adjusted defense: 358

Allied assault odds: 1 to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
224 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
182 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Vehicles lost 27 (2 destroyed, 25 disabled)

Assaulting units:
254th Armoured Brigade
26th Indian Brigade
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
21st Infantry Regiment
5th Engineer Regiment
5th Field Artillery Regiment
11th RF Gun Battalion

CVE Sangamon is now safely at Luganville, with SYS 14/FLOT 30/ENG 10/FIRE 0. It will repair SYS damage first, then utilize ARD Dewey, the hero of the escape from Manila, which is at Luganville.

Most of the British combat fleet has left Colombo and is headed to Bombay, for repairs and to wait out KB.

Two interesting observations today. 4 carriers are spotted in Soerabaja's port. I know that they aren't the big ones. I've had SigInt that a CVE was at Soerabaja a month ago. I don't know what OPilot has been doing with them since the first month of the war. I never see them. I guessed that he was on fishing expeditions well south of Java, looking for convoys between Ceylon and Australia. If they were, they never found anything. Anyhow, US carriers are now passing Cocos Island, not far from Java. I thought about whether a port strike on Soerabaja would be worth it. I decided that OPilot not knowing where my carriers are is more important. I want him to fear my carriers coming out of the darkness near Ceylon.

The second observation was the Kuriles. OPilot has built Paramushiro Jima's airfield to size 4, but no other island has been built at all. All still have no airfield. A landing at Paramushiro Jima, and for that matter, most of the Kurile Islands, would have little to fear from land based air.

Right now, I'm not thinking of going that route, but it's something to consider.

[BBfanboy]

Landing at Paramushiro Jima triggers the Japanese emergency reinforcements (mostly Depot Divisions of low Exp. troops) but landing at the other Kuriles does not. Press 4 to see the country codes. I found it useful to take Onnekotan Jima and Shimushiri Jima in initial attacks and then slowly take the others if they did not autoflip.

I recall one AAR in which almost all the Kuriles were conquered by the Allies and much of Hokkaido had been taken. The Allies were preparing for the big landing on Honshu when a strike by FPs and Patrol aircraft came from a Japanese dot base in the Eastern Kuriles. It hit troop convoys that had no air cover as they approached from the east. It was a huge shock to the Allies and the Honshu invasion was disrupted for a long time. A warning not to leave chinks in your armour that the enemy can exploit!

[apbarog]

The Kuriles would require a maximum effort. It would require US carriers to keep a supply line open. I'm not looking at the option for now. Might be interesting to take a base to get OPilot's attention, and maybe withdraw after a reaction.

7 Feb 43

S-33 fired 2 torpedoes at small tanker Nishi Maru east of Kendari. Both missed.

Usual enemy bombing in China. Got SigInt of enemy prepping for other far northern Chinese cities, other than Lanchow. I moved Chinese fighters to Changsha, but guessed wrong. No attack there today.

Australian armor attacked again at Wyndham. 1 to 6 attack. 41 enemy casualties, no Australians lost. Disruption is moving up, so they'll rest a day.

Invasion shipping for Kwajalein will start to move north from Tabiteuea. Loading for Roi Namur is finishing at Tarawa. CVEs and Yorktown and Hermes will escort. The 4 US slow battleships were spotted at Nauru. They won't go directly to Kusaie. They'll go east to join the armada.

Enemy carriers stayed in two task forces, one much larger than the other, but the task forces are now in the same spot. They moved ENE of Port Blair, 7 hexes from Rangoon, and didn't launch against anything. Probably expected me to load up naval bombers and sacrifice them against KB, as I've done before.

Rangoon has a strong CAP, and I've moved 3 fighters squadrons to nearby Bassein, where they will range CAP Rangoon. Will be interesting to see what KB does. If it does nothing but lock down the area, we'll know that something else is coming. Definitely battleships to bombard Port Blair. Probably cruisers to bombard Rangoon.

LRP unit arrives at Rangoon in Strat mode. 3 days to switch to combat mode. Then they drop on Port Blair in one last big effort to take the base. Without naval bombardments.

I have a US minelayer sneaking in to Port Blair from the west today.

[apbarog]

Overview

Here's my thoughts for the upcoming months.

5 US carriers are headed to Australia from Ceylon, passing Cocos Island now. 2 of the carriers are well overdue for a refit, and will do so at Sydney. Some escorts are also due for refit, and will do the same. A fast battleship has just come out of refit at Sydney and will join the 3 remaining carriers, as will Yorktown, after the Marshalls invasions.

In progress now is fight at Kusaie Island, which is going well but isn't a sure thing. Invasion task forces are now headed to Kwajalein and Roi Namur. The shipping will head towards Kusaie Island, looking like a reinforcement mission, then change course to the invasion targets.

Afterwards, if things go well, Ponape will be invaded. 2 US divisions are ready for Ponape, and it should go more quickly. There's no guarantee that Kwajalein or Roi Namur will go quickly. Both are targeted by a regiment. Kwajalein gets a tank unit too. I expect both to be heavily defended, within 6000 men stacking limits.

Ponape will be danger close to Truk, and will certainly take a pounding by air and ship bombardments. This will allow Kusaie to finish up and build. Kusaie is within heavy bomber range of Truk. Once built up enough for heavies, Truk will no longer be a safe haven for enemy shipping.

As I said, Yorktown will go join the 3 other US carriers when possible. The nice APs will move to Darwin. I may start a Timor area invasion with just the 3 carriers, knowing that KB is near Burma. We'll see. I may also just go with xAPs for invasion shipping. To be determined. Note that the nice APs convert to even nicer APAs on March 1. That will definitely happen.

My push through Timor is planned to be my main area of advance. I want to move through Timor towards Java, and also up to the Kendari area. Timor is an important piece of property. Enemy oilfields start to be in heavy bomber range. Even if I don't bomb them, the enemy has to start defending them. And from Timor, there are just too many bases for the enemy to defend. I can, and will, pick and choose where to go and keep advancing. Plenty of opportunity to bypass strongholds if I don't want to attack directly.

In the meantime, KB is locking down the seas near Burma and the Andamans. I have so much supply in Burma, I don't need to ship anything in. The Andaman troops are in danger if the enemy lands more troops at Port Blair, which can happen. I'm also aware of the small chance of a counter-landing. Pegu would make an inviting target for the Japanese, given KB coverage and clear terrain. A big landing at Pegu would cut the Allied troops off to the east by Moulmein. I've had minimal defense at Pegu, and the enemy keeps doing recon there. I'm moving an Indian unit there now, to have at least some defense. I consider a landing like this unlikely but I need to prepare for the unexpected.

An my eye is on the date of April 1, 1943. That's when the Hellcats start appearing, and in much greater numbers than the Wildcats have been. I've continued to have only about 20 or 30 Wildcats in the reinforcement pool, and that's been without a carrier battle. The Hellcats will make a big difference. Then in the summer, the Essex class carriers begin arriving, and then the fun really begins.

So for now, the rope-a-dope continues with KB, as the Allies stick to the plan of invading where KB is not. I must admit that I do look forward to that day when the US carriers strike, after seemingly wanting to avoid combat. I want it to be a surprise, be sudden, and be decisive.

[apbarog]

I'm going to take all of Wednesday on this next turn. I need to catch up on things like pilot training. Plus, I'm changing my plans somewhat. I'm going to go for Timor and nearby Babar Island very soon, as soon as enough xAPs get to Darwin, along with the 5 US carriers returning from Ceylon. The carriers will go to Darwin directly, crossing north of Australia. The refits will wait.

I did watch today's replay. Some of the expected things happened. 4 heavy cruisers split off from the enemy carriers and bombarded Rangoon. I had moved out some squadrons ahead of time, but I feared the worst. The airbase was hammered. I didn't look at the damage numbers yet, but the replay showed something like 120. The odd thing was that it didn't list a single aircraft hit. I'll see for sure tomorrow.

The other event was 4 enemy battleships bombarding Kusaie Island. These were the 4 that were with Yamato and Musashi earlier, when there were 6 that bombarded. Now the big boys are in their own task force, and weren't at Truk today. They've had time to rearm. I suspect that they'll hit Kusaie today.

That leave a missing task force of 4 other battleships, the ones that bombarded Darwin weeks ago. They haven't been seen. I expect them to be in the Indian Ocean soon and bombarding Port Blair.

What all this means, if all true, is that the Timor area won't have much enemy naval support. I have units fully prepped for Koepang and Babar, but not for Lautem and Dili. Not sure how I'll deal with the rest of Timor after Koepang.

And the Kwajalein/Roi Namur ships were mostly not spotted, but the ones that were were one hex southwest of Tarawa, so it just looked like ships going to or coming from there.

[Bif1961]

Brisbane has a level 15 shipyard tat can be used to refit your smaller escorts while Sydney handles the carriers, when you want to up grade them. Auckland also has a level 15 ship yard as well.

[jwolf]

I believe Brisbane is only a 10. But Auckland is indeed 15.

[apbarog]

There aren't too many refits to be done, and the ships won't incur much damage, so the base won't matter too much.

8 Feb 43

Here's the details for the day.

Two tiny AMc's sunk by 4 enemy cruisers and 7 destroyers at Rangoon. Then they bombarded.

Allied ground losses:
389 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 47 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 16 (7 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Airbase hits 59
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 136

The runway is 89 and service is 53, so it's badly damaged, but still operational with such a large airfield. The engineers got hit hard, as usually happens, so the repairs will be more than a one day job.

Hyuga, Ise, Yamashiro and Fuso bombarded Kusaie Island.

Allied ground losses:
146 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 17 (2 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Vehicles lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Plunger missed a small tanker near Tawi Tawi. Triton missed an E boat near Sabang.

82 Bettys from Truk bombed US troops on Kusaie Island, doing little damage in the rain, and flying higher at 11k.

The advancing enemy tank division in far northern China backtracked to the east to go after the somewhat isolated and completely unsupplied Chinese stack.

Ground combat at 84,34 (near Ningsia)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5581 troops, 106 guns, 341 vehicles, Assault Value = 337

Defending force 29631 troops, 196 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 941

Japanese adjusted assault: 219

Allied adjusted defense: 251

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
145 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled

Allied ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Tank Division
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
38th Chinese Corps
57th Chinese Corps
3rd Chinese Corps
81st Chinese Corps
56th AT Gun Regiment

The Chinese get bombed every day here, effectively in just rough terrain.

US and British troops eliminated a tiny infantry fragment south of Magwe. They'll push into Magwe now, moving in clear terrain. Another US division has pushed north into Taung Gyi, and will attack today. Multiple enemy units but they look weak.

KB moved closer to Tavoy, but stayed 7 hexes from Rangoon. I think all the enemy carriers are together now.

2 days till the paras at Rangoon are in combat mode. Then they drop on Port Blair in what may be the final attempt to take the base, until KB leaves.

US carriers, now southwest of Cocos Island, will leave the 50+ ship transport task force, and head towards the northwestern tip of Australia, on the way to Darwin. 3 AOs go with them. The transports are heading to southwester Australia, and eventually around to Sydney.

Lots of other transports are ordered to Darwin for the Timor/Babar invasions. I spent extra time finding units that can be better used elsewhere, and assigning them to future invasions spots.

Ships for the Kwajalein and Roi Namur invasions are moving north towards their targets.

[apbarog]

8 Feb 43 - Northern China

[apbarog]

8 Feb 43 - Marshall Islands

[apbarog]

8 Feb 43 - Burma

[apbarog]

9 Feb 43

Some good news about the enemy cruisers that just bombarded Rangoon.

ASW attack near Victoria Point at 50,64

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Torpedo hits 1
CA Kumano
DD Usugumo
DD Shikinami
DD Uranami
DD Murakumo

Allied Ships
SS Tunny

SS Tunny launches 4 torpedoes at CA Mogami

Near Kendari, Shad is hit by 2 depth charges by SC Ch 20. Shad is SYS 27/FLOT 49-31/ENG 12-8/FIRE 0 and should make it to Darwin.

Tunny fired 2 torpedoes at an E boat escorting AOs near Victoria Point. These are the AOs that came with KB all the way from Rabaul. Torpedoes missed. Now I can be pretty sure that KB is staying.

The enemy makes a major air effort over Rangoon. Many flights of enemy fighters sweep. The runway at Rangoon was at 89 damage, but not quite high enough to shut down operations.

Enemy sweepers, all in the morning, included:

30 A6M3a Zeros from KB
28 A6M5 Zeros from KB
27 A6M5 Zeros from KB
31 Ki-43-IIb Oscars
42 Ki-43-IIb Oscars
29 Ki-43-IIb Oscars
36 Tojos

Only the Tojos did well, with the CAP tired and depleted, and the fact they are Tojos with elite pilots. Defending aircraft were mostly P-40Ks and Hurricanes, with some Chinese P-43s and a squadron of Wildcats. Total losses over Rangoon were:

27 A6M5s
21 Oscars
21 A6M3a Zeros
6 Tojos

for the cost of:

24 P-40Ks
13 Hurricane IIc Trop's
2 F4F-4s

Nine new aces were created at Rangoon, with 2 aces becoming WIA. One double ace now there.

Enemy strike from Roi-Namur against the CVE TF.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ebon at 131,122

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 12
F4F-4 Wildcat x 67

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed

Over the CVEs, 7 A6M2 Zeros and 5 Bettys are downed, for the cost of 6 Wildcats.

US troops attack at Taung Gyi:

Ground combat at Taung Gyi (59,48)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12357 troops, 202 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 375

Defending force 10272 troops, 71 guns, 100 vehicles, Assault Value = 205

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied adjusted assault: 154

Japanese adjusted defense: 250

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
239 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
223 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
43rd Infantry Division

Defending units:
55th Cavalry Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
III./143rd Infantry Battalion
15th Army
21st Fld AA Gun Co
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

North of Toungoo, divisions clash in the jungle.

Ground combat at 57,49 (near Toungoo)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14216 troops, 263 guns, 165 vehicles, Assault Value = 427

Defending force 12288 troops, 98 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 382

Allied adjusted assault: 170

Japanese adjusted defense: 295

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
437 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
678 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 82 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
18th British Division
XV Indian Corps
2/13th Fld RAA Regiment

Defending units:
33rd Division

[apbarog]

9 Feb 43 - The Marshalls

Making the run towards Kwajalein and Roi Namur.

[apbarog]

Discovered a flaw in my upcoming air drop on Port Blair. The distance from Rangoon to Port Blair is 11 hexes. Normal range for a C-47 is 10 hexes, and extended range is 12 hexes. Normal range is what matters for a para drop.

Plan B is to fly the paras to the Allied base on Little Andaman, near Port Blair. Little Andaman is a size 1 airbase, with fewer than 20 air support, but it'll have to do. OPilot hasn't been doing recon of it. Maybe I can pull this off anyhow. Worst case, I'm reinforcing Little Andaman, which is weakly held. It was supposed to be the satellite field for Port Blair, which, of course, isn't taken yet.

I have 134 engineers and 24 engineering vehicles at Rangoon, but disruption was high from the enemy cruiser bombardment. Runway damage went from 89 to 81. Disruption for the engineers went from in the 80's to in the 40's. Repairs should speed up.

[apbarog]

10 Feb 43 - Part One - The Marshalls

A surprise encounter 2 hexes southwest of Kwajalein. The entire Allied invasion armada is here: carrier TF, slow BB TF with 4 BBs, subchaser TF, 2 minesweeper TFs, 2 transport TFs, 2 cruiser combat TFs.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kwajalein Island at 131,117, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CS Mizuho, Shell hits 1
BB Yamato, Shell hits 2
BB Musashi, Shell hits 1
CL Tatsuta, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Ariake
DD Asakaze, Shell hits 1
DD Harukaze

Allied Ships
CA Portland
CA Northampton, Shell hits 2
CA Astoria, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1
CL Concord
CL Marblehead
DD Blue
DD Helm
DD Henley
DD Jarvis
DD Craven

Astoria was hit by a torpedo from Tatsuta, and Astoria used up much more ammunition than any other US ship. Astoria is SYS 18/FLOT 28-18/ENG 10-8/FIRE 0. We know that Tatsuta sank. The superbattleships didn't score a single hit. The fight was relatively brief, with thunderstorms and 32% moonlight, so the fight began at just 2,000 yards. It moved to 3,000 and then 5,000 yards and then the fight was over. Yes, Rockwell Torrey was in charge, and he did well.

Just after the fight, 5 Pete attacked 2 US CVEs, bombing at night. They missed Suwanee and Prince William. One was shot down by flak. I'm guessing that they came from Mizuho.

6 APDs dropped off supply at Kusaie Island.

Then, during the day, the enemy ships found the US subchaser task force, and quickly sank SC-640, SC-641 and SC-642. This occurred in the same hex as the night battle. It was just a matter of luck that the carriers and transports weren't engaged.

In the morning, Fortresses and Liberators hit Roi-Namur, hitting the airfield and troops, causing almost no damage in severe storms but hitting a couple of Zeros on the ground. Ground units spotted include the 6th Base Force and the 41st JNAF AF Unit. That looks promising. The next strike of 17 Liberators went after Kwajalein, and found a heavier CAP of 11 A6M2s and 12 A6M3s. OPilot had fighters at the smaller airfield, size 1. Lots of damaged Fortresses and little damage done. Ground units spotted were the Nimur Naval Fortress and the Kwajalein Base Force.

In a morning strike, the US carrier aircraft hunted the super battleships.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
A6M3 Zero x 7

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15
SBD-3 Dauntless x 92
TBF-1 Avenger x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed

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

Japanese Ships
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 15, on fire
CS Mizuho, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Ariake
DD Asakaze

Another torpedo hit but was a dud. No bombs penetrated, as expected, but the damage added up. There was some message, up too briefly for me to read, about flooding on one of the super battleships. The attack was in heavy rain.

In the afternoon, they tried again.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kwajalein Island at 132,115

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
A6M3 Zero x 4

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 9
SBD-3 Dauntless x 91
TBF-1 Avenger x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Harukaze
DD Shiratsuyu, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
DD Ariake, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Asakaze

Something sank after combat. Lots of bomb hits. Another torpedo hit was a dud. Getting Yorktown to the area from Sydney paid off, supplementing the bombers on the CVEs. From the replay, I believe that the enemy retired to Kwajalein, but they weren't spotted at the end of the day. The afternoon strike was in moderate rain.

I certainly hope that this doesn't happen, but I've seen damaged ships retire to the nearest port, disband, and go automatically to pier mode. If Yamato or Musashi does this, OPilot is not going to be happy, because the invasion is still on. If they are disbanded in port, they would be scuttled. And if they went into pier mode, it takes 3 days to get them out.

I'm going to risk that Yamato and Musashi could be sitting at Kwajalein. The US armada is just one hex from there, and a 2 battleship slow TF will move in to bombard, and would engage the enemy. But there's no guarantee that the transports get engaged first, and that would be a disaster. The enemy ships, although damaged, have most of their ammunition. Rockwell Torrey is headed in, minus Astoria and 2 destroyers.