December 19, 1942
A three turn window on air coverage at Rabaul bite me in the butt a bit.
One turn later and I would have had 90 F4F-4s and 30 F6F-3s up on CAP in addition to the Corsairs.
I had to move my CV Escort TF to a base where I could refuel and rearm it and also I needed to refuel and rearm the DS.
So the CV Escort was moving back to Rabaul and was two hexes away and the DS just ported at Shortlands. Xargun got a bit
lucky or good, not sure which, and hit my TFs at Rabaul.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rabaul at 106,125
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 119 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 44 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 99
B5N2 Kate x 95
D3A1 Val x 85
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 18
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 17 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 9 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 4 destroyed, 12 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CL St. Louis
BB New Mexico, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
xAP Kota Tjandi, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Neptuna, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
AGP Jamestown, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD McColley
BB Idaho, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Marblehead
SC-699
xAP Wahine, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Malaita
AD Black Hawk, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE Corrales
SC-743
DD Gilmer, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Bamback
CL Helena, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Kota Inten
xAP Kota Agoeng
AD Markab
CL Trenton
DD Lockard
SC-703
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1
AKE Donald McKay, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AKE Makua
DD Lawrence
Allied ground losses:
1374 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 41 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 45 destroyed, 30 disabled
Vehicles lost 37 (17 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
25 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 17000 feet
13 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
12 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
19 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
9 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
19 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
5 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
18 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 15000 feet
16 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
23 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 17000 feet
15 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
3 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
4 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
12 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
1 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
1 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
1 x D3A1 Val releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
8 x D3A1 Val releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
CAP engaged:
VMF-221 with F4U-1 Corsair (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring AGP Jamestown
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Gilmer
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAP Wahine
While it was a bit costly, it was not a really bad result.
The bombs hitting the BBs were 250kg and did little to no damage.
I lost an AD, AGP and a AKE, not game changing. I also lost three xAPs with engineers and engineering
vehicles on them, but I do have lots and lots of them in the pools, it will just take a bit to get them replaced.
While I hate to lose any ship, things happen and this is not to bad at all.
I only had 18 Corsairs available for CAP, but they shot down 12 Zeros, a Kate, and 5 Vals while losing 2
of their own. flak also downed 19 Kate and 4 Val bombers. there were also some ops losses for all three
aircraft types
The real problem now is the DS has just refueled and rearmed and can only move 1 hex at full speed.
I am unsure how far it will travel in the second naval movement phase, I forget for now. I am setting a
patrol hex that is 10 hexes away, right next to where KB is now in the Bismarck Sea.
I suspect that he will just do a hit and run. That is the way he has operated in the past.
I expect him to retire back towards Truk. I am prepared to follow up to a point.
Naval Search is showing KB with 291 fighters and 201 bombers. I have many more than that on the DS
and a few of the fighters are Hellcats. In total he lost 14 fighters, 21 TBs and 13 DBs, adding them in shows he started
with about 315 fighters and 325 TB/DB bombers. I know he tends to use his CVLs with 50 fighters and no bombers.
So I am somewhat unsure exactly what he has available in this version of KB, but I am willing to find out.
At this point even a 1 for 1 exchange would be to my benefit. In the next 6 months I get 1 more British Indefatigable
CV, and 7 more Essex CVs. So 1 for 1 exchanges are good as far as I am concerned and if I can do better, then that is great.
I took Talasea and Arawe today. I now control all the bases on the island of New Britain.
