20 Aug 43
Battleships Mississippi and Idaho bombarded Kendari. 551 casualties but no combat squads, all support. Moderate base damage. Three more slow BBs to bombard today, in preparation for the first deliberate attack at Kendari.
25 Sallys tried to bomb Ankang. 25 P-40N1s were waiting. Almost all Sallys were shot down.
Now for the main course.
15 Corsairs swept Balikpapan, downing some Zeros. 35 B-24s dropped mines at Balikpapan.
In the morning, the enemy carriers were spotted right where they were yesterday, adjacent to Balikpapan. All Allied task forces were now six hexes away from the enemy carriers, but not spotted. The Allied CVE task force reacted one hex towards the enemy. No carrier planes attacked from either side, presumably due to weather.
In the afternoon, the Allie CVE task force again reacted, moving another hex closer to the enemy. The fireworks began as they always do, with the Japanese striking first. (The strikes are really simultaneous. The Japanese strikes always get listed first.)
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Madjene at 65,102
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 47
B6N1 Jill x 59
D4Y1 Judy x 52
Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 18
F4F-4 Wildcat x 28
F6F-3 Hellcat x 49
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 9 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 17 destroyed, 4 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 2 destroyed by flak
D4Y1 Judy: 7 destroyed, 10 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 6 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
Sea Hurricane Ib: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CVE Corregidor, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CVE Barnes, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Anzio
CVE Santee, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CL Marblehead
BB Prince of Wales, Torpedo hits 1
CVE Breton, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Hermes (hit by a dud torpedo)
CVE Altamaha, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Massive explosion on CVE Breton
Ammo storage explosion on CVE Breton
CVE Breton sank right after combat. The second enemy strike went after the big US carrier task forces, and found a much stronger CAP.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Madjene at 65,104
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 37
B6N1 Jill x 25
B6N2 Jill x 15
D4Y1 Judy x 42
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 164
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 6 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 13 destroyed, 1 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 5 destroyed
D4Y1 Judy: 12 destroyed, 4 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 2 destroyed by flak
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
CV Hornet
CV Victorious, Bomb hits 1 (did not penetrate the armor deck)
CV Enterprise
BB Indiana
The next attack was just 9 Jills with 11 Zeros, going after the big carriers. All were shot down before getting to the targets. Still 155 Hellcats overhead.
Time for the Allied attacks.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 64
A6M5b Zero x 22
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 83
SBD-5 Dauntless x 105
TBF-1 Avenger x 90
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 14 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 4 destroyed, 10 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 5, on fire
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires (2 dud torps also)
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Yura
CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CV Unryu
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1
CL Natori
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 1
DD Ushio
DD Asashio
CA Tone
DD Oboro
DD Matsukaze
DD Arare
CA Myoko
DD Sazanami
Fuel storage explosion on CV Hiryu
Ammo storage explosion on CV Hiyo
I had my big carriers split up, with strikes set at two different altitudes. My second strike then arrived.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 42
A6M5b Zero x 13
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 63
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 36
SBD-5 Dauntless x 33
TBF-1 Avenger x 85
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 17 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Unryu, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CV Hiyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Junyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kamikaze
CL Agano
DD Harukaze
DD Kasumi
DD Ushio
DD Kagero, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Yukikaze
CV Hiryu, heavy fires
DD Oboro
CL Natori
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Matsukaze
A third, smaller strike, was next. Enemy CAP was weakening but still got some dive bombers.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 19
A6M5b Zero x 10
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 8 destroyed, 6 damaged
Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
DD Oboro
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Ushio
DD Sazanami, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Fuel storage explosion on CVL Ryujo
Then a strike from the CVE task force arrived. The Allied pilots were not as trained as the big carrier pilots.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 9
A6M5b Zero x 5
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
FM-1 Wildcat x 36
SBD-3 Dauntless x 15
TBF-1 Avenger x 34
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
FM-1 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Unryu, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Hatsukaze
CA Tone, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Umikaze
CL Agano
CL Abukuma, on fire
CV Hiryu, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CA Chikuma
7 Jills then tried to sneak in, but 148 Hellcats easily prevented that.
Unescorted US bombers then attacked, finding a mostly non-existent CAP. Too bad some of the bombers turned tail and ran.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 4
A6M5b Zero x 2
Allied aircraft
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Sazanami, on fire
CV Junyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Oboro
DD Harukaze
CV Hiyo, and is sunk
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Ryujo
Then another unescorted attack, now against no CAP.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 48 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 1
A6M5b Zero x 1
Allied aircraft
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 35
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Harukaze
CL Natori, Bomb hits 3
Fuel storage explosion on CVL Zuiho
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Zuiho
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Ryujo
9 TBFs then tried to sneak in and did so, but all torpedoes missed.
It was a bad day for the Japanese. I was unlucky that the CVEs reacted ahead of the big carriers. Fewer, and maybe none, of them would have been lost if covered by the heavy CAP that the big carriers provided. The CVEs did draw half of the attention, though, and spared the big carriers completely.
Total air losses were:
81 Judys
69 Zeros
98 Jills
29 SBDs
19 TBFs
14 F6Fs
7 SB2Cs
5 F4Us
3 FM-1s
1 Sea Hurri
Only 26 Allied pilots were KIA. 17 naval fighter pilots became aces. One became an "ace in a day". Two became double aces.
CVE Breton did sink. Here's the rest of the damage:
CVE Sangamon SYS 46/FLOT 91-64/ENG 47-31/FIRE 2
CVE Santee SYS 35/FLOT 17-5/ENG 7/FIRE 1
CVE Altamaha SYS 22/FLOT 7-3/ENG 1/FIRE 0
CVE Barnes SYS 55/FLOT 20-6/ENG 2/FIRE 9
CVE Corregidor SYS 14/FLOT 73-57/ENG 12-4/FIRE 0
BB Prince of Wales SYS 11/FLOT 6-3/ENG 0/FIRE 0
Note that not all of the enemy carriers are here. This wasn't everything. It was, pretty much, for me. Big carriers are ordered north, hoping to finish off cripples. The big carriers will do so for just one day, then return to Darwin.
; Julia Child
Good luck!
