WW2 Grand Strategy Question SEA BASING - Pacific At War PO Version

[larryfulkerson]

I found another B-24 unit and moved it to Marcus Island and this is the range arc of that unit. There's lots of Japanese stuff to bomb but the problem remains the LBA present in the Home Islands. I gotta get my ships to start doing a lot of airfield attacks to rid the world of Japanese aircraft.

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[larryfulkerson]

Well guys, I'm not sure what to do now. I'm at a loss as to what to do. The problem is the high density of LBA in the home islands, they are now using Kamikaze's, and I feel like I don't have enough ships to deflate his air force. I have
something like 4 BB's and most of them have damage. Should I try to take the Phillippines?

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[larryfulkerson]

The CA New Orleans suffered a Jap air strike but didn't suffer any damage because of my CAP. They lost over 30 aircraft and I lost only 8 total. This is the typical result of Jap air strikes. I'm using my ships as bait so the Japs can strike them with these kind of results.

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[larryfulkerson]

I find myself in a peculiar situation now. It's Nov. '42, I'm in possession of Makin Island near Tarawa, a port without an airfield but an AA unit is present in case of Jap air attack. Lots of engineers for a good defense in case of some kind of surface attack. There are no aircraft present at Tarawa and I know that because it's within range of my PBY's and they do long range recon. I don't have enough amphibious power to overrun Tarawa given all the assets the Japs have in the hex. And there's a handful of enemy LBA that can reach Tarawa of unknown strength. The presence of the CD guns gives me pause before I consider using any ships at all. I believe I can do some damage with my ship-borne aircraft but I hesitate to do it because I have better uses for my anti-ship aircraft. Just in case. I think I'll run some more ( probably 2) AA units into Makin and use the units there as bait for Jap aircraft.

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[larryfulkerson]

There's no Jap aircraft at Saipan or Tinian so I guess the Japs evacuated them further north or something. I see some CD guns at both ports but there's the possibility of two open ports. Or maybe there's some invisible unit there. I need to check that out. That calls for a PBY strike at minimum losses to recon the hex.

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[dtashji]

Hi Larry, well . . . exciting game play and thanks again for the ultra intercepts that reveal the hex locations of IJN Capital Ships. Looks like you are getting the upper hand. As I mentioned, I have used your game play to inform mine with great effect, and trail you by approximately two weeks on the game clock.

Image Caption | Allied Air & Sea Control in the South China Sea and Hainan Island (The Malta of the Indo-Pacific).


HELPFUL NOTES ON GRAND STRATEGY

I reinforced the British position at Singapore with an American infantry division I sent from Hawaii all the way around via Australia by rail and destroyer escort convoy. The combined Anglo-American force wiped out the japs and completely liberated Malaysia . . . pushing on to destroy from the rear all of the Japanese at Rangoon which was completely crushed. All of Malaysia and Burma is in the hands of the allies and I've redeployed the bulk of the force to Hainan island in the South China Sea. That island now looks like southern England in June of 1944 with a massive Indo Anglo ground, naval and air force build up.

In the Philippines I reinforced the Filipino gorillas on Mindanao with four divisions of Australian troops who surrounded the Japs and removed them from the island. Backed up by a fast carrier strike group with three carriers, four battleships and ten destroyers I deployed from Hawaii and reinforced by the Royal Navy with three battleships, four cruisers and numerous destroyers that sailed from Singapore, the joint Australian American Invasion force landed on the north west coast of the island of Luzon and is in the final mopping up of the Japanese units in Manila. I referred to this in my last post as the "coast watcher strong hold" strategy that capitalizes on the early 1942 liberation of Mindanao in partnership with the numerous guerilla units there.

The situation in the Solomon's is also fully contained and operation cartwheel has fully isolated the Japs on New Britain, and I am happy to let them rot there with no hope of naval support or air unit re-enforcement.

There continues to be a air war of attrition with land-based units on the island of Borneo and Java that I am fighting by redeploying new units arriving into Hawaii with hellcats, P38 Lightnings and the new corsairs.

I have employed my "Kevin Costner" style Water World sea basing concepts by deploying three major carrier tasks strike groups and the entire Anglo American Pacific Naval Force under an overlapping umbrella of land based air cover.

Macarthur Task Force West is located in the South China Sea and enjoys air cover from the buildup on the island of Hainan. This force is eyeing an amphibious assault on Shanghai and the six air fields there. This force will then move on Seoul South Korea and get after that land based air problem you are having with mainland Japan and the Kamikazes.

Nimitz Carrier Task Force Central is positioned north east of Ulithi and also enjoys air cover from Palau. This task force will support the coming campaign against the Marianas (Saipan and Guam) by neutralizing the Japanese LBA on Truk via air raids with the new Hellcat fighters which are just now coming into the navy and marine air squadrons.

Mitschers Force East is located just south of Marco Island and is comprised of four fleet carriers, four battleships and numerous cruisers and destroyers. This force will be used in my proposed strategy to attack the Kuril Island hex and Hokkaido Island with the new Marine Divisions shipping in from the west coast in late 1943. It will be bloody, but I will need those air bases to provide air cover for my sea base concept that will support attacks against Japanese Industry and land based air on Honshu.

Finally, after deep experimentation, I have arrived at a recipe for assaulting fortified Japanese held atolls.
1. Use carrier planes to neutralize all land based air via the air raid function.
2 Move cruisers and destroyers within range and eliminate any coastal guns and fortifications.
3. Organize your assault force into two destroyer escorted convoys and then conduct two successive waves (rounds) of attacks using the "ignore all losses" setting.
4. In wave one, include your Seabees and engineer units supporting Marines. In round two (2) bring in the tanks, There are Sherman's and Stewarts and they are the difference maker in round two, and should dislodge any remaining dug in jap infantry from the island or coral atoll your are attacking.

I have attached an image of the south china sea and Philippines campaign progress that shows the cumulative effects from some of my "time travel" strategies (Sea Basing) (Coastwatcher Strongholds) (Broken Arrow Air Support) from wars past, present and future. Thank you Larry.

Ernest J. King - Chief of Naval Operations

[larryfulkerson]

Wow! That's way cool beans. I'm impressed. You've impressed me impressively. I love it. I'd like to see a play by play of what you've described. I'm trying to figure out a way to capture the TOAW playback feature as it happens. Maybe using OBS or something similar. I've started a WITP-AE version of what you did to see if I can duplicate it. I've started an IRONMAN version though so maybe not. We'll see.

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[dtashji]

Hi Larry (+ community)
I have reached the halfway point in the campaign and it is now turn 96 or October 3rd, 1943, and 98 turns remain.
You can access the current game file at the link below where I have established an off premise secure cloud location for game files and my research notes that I am happy to share with Larry or anyone else. Just download the .SAL file.https://1drv.ms/f/c/cd652f91baf358af/Eq ... A?e=rC5v4Y

Churchill said that of all the Nazi wonder weapons, nothing scared him more than the U-boat menace. I can think of another island nation whose economy was "torpedoed" by the destruction of their entire merchant fleet by US Navy submarines.

Advanced war fighting concepts like mobile logistics characterized by the large scale use of submarine tenders that allowed re-supply rendezvous inside forward patrol areas in contested waters without having to return to a fixed base outside of the assigned war patrol are the kind of difference makers needed to keep your number one weapon system doing its job. I have done extensive research on how these ships were proposed to Congressional committees for appropriations and funding circa 1937-41. See USS Holland image below.

I intend to prosecute my revised Indo-Pacific War Plan using war fighting concepts of operation (CONOPS) borrowed from wars of the past present and future including "broken arrow air support", "coast watcher strong holds", "Malta of the Indo-Pacific" " "Fogga Airfield Complex Aerodromes and Bomber Bases" and a "Water World style Sea Basing" Marine Amphibious Expeditionary Attack on Northern Japan by way of an Alaska "Sea Bridge"

I can also provide (if there is an appetite on this forum) a comprehensive briefing to President Roosevelt in the Oval Office on Turn 96, and the disposition of all land, naval and air forces and the remaining campaigns and war plans I will employ to destroy the Kido Butai and defeat the IJN in this amazing scenario.

Thanks again Larry for the excellent game play and all of the ultra intelligence on the IJN capital ships.

Ernest J. King - Chief of Naval Operations

[larryfulkerson]

Hi Larry (+ community)
I have reached the halfway point in the campaign and it is now turn 96 or October 3rd, 1943, and 98 turns remain.
You can access the current game file at the link below where I have established an off premise secure cloud location for game files and my research notes that I am happy to share with Larry or anyone else. Just download the .SAL file.https://1drv.ms/f/c/cd652f91baf358af/Eq ... A?e=rC5v4Y

Churchill said that of all the Nazi wonder weapons, nothing scared him more than the U-boat menace. I can think of another island nation whose economy was "torpedoed" by the destruction of their entire merchant fleet by US Navy submarines.

Advanced war fighting concepts like mobile logistics characterized by the large scale use of submarine tenders that allowed re-supply rendezvous inside forward patrol areas in contested waters without having to return to a fixed base outside of the assigned war patrol are the kind of difference makers needed to keep your number one weapon system doing its job. I have done extensive research on how these ships were proposed to Congressional committees for appropriations and funding circa 1937-41. See USS Holland image below.

I intend to prosecute my revised Indo-Pacific War Plan using war fighting concepts of operation (CONOPS) borrowed from wars of the past present and future including "broken arrow air support", "coast watcher strong holds", "Malta of the Indo-Pacific" " "Fogga Airfield Complex Aerodromes and Bomber Bases" and a "Water World style Sea Basing" Marine Amphibious Expeditionary Attack on Northern Japan by way of an Alaska "Sea Bridge"

I can also provide (if there is an appetite on this forum) a comprehensive briefing to President Roosevelt in the Oval Office on Turn 96, and the disposition of all land, naval and air forces and the remaining campaigns and war plans I will employ to destroy the Kido Butai and defeat the IJN in this amazing scenario.

Thanks again Larry for the excellent game play and all of the ultra intelligence on the IJN capital ships.

Ernest J. King - Chief of Naval Operations

I downloaded your *.SAL file, thank you very much. I'm really interested in your ideas and I love your analysis and commentary. I can see how the SSN's of the American Navy can effectively "starve" the Japanese into surrender. And it wouldn't take so very long either. I'll try that of course. I've got an update on the war I started. As you can see below, the Japs have awakened and are as busy as beavers going places and capturing resources to ship back home. I've got submarines all over the map to stiffle what traffic I can. I've already sunk at least a dozen Jap ships. Anyway, I thought you'd like to see what you started.

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[dtashji]

Hello, Thanks Larry for the excellent game play and winning strategies. I will post another .SAL file of the gameplay when we begin preparations for the attack on Mainland Japan which in game time will be late 1944 early 1945 using my Northern Front strategy mentioned earlier, starting with the Kuril Islands.

More Helpful Hints on Grand Strategy
Developing the three fast carrier strike groups permanently on forward patrol has delivered air superiority success across the entire Indo-Pacific. Figure one illustrates the current situation in the Marianas campaign with two carrier strike groups supporting the Marine and army tank Invasion force. Figure two shows the interesting development in the Philippines where after crushing the Japanese left flank at Rangoon, the British army was redeployed to Hainan island and subsequently launched an amphibious operation to seize the southern half of Taiwan where another fast carrier strike group comprised of an Anglo-American force with battleships and cruisers maintains firm control over the South China Sea and the Straits of Taiwan, as well as provides air cover for the mopping up of the Philippines by the Australians.

In some of my earlier post I made mention of the concept of a water world where there is no land. This can be a difficult concept to get behind for terrestrial dwellers like us but if you imagine the Kevin Costner movie water world where there is no land and they have large movable bases notably the Hazelwood oil tanker as depicted in the movie. Some said I was crazy but thanks to the United States Navy they recently published a video that depicts the sea base concept based on a captain Hazelwood style oil tanker hull (see photo). The video is a fascinating look at how marine Expeditionary forces (and apparently special operations forces) can be sustained without the use of land in effective ways that provide both mobile Logistics and sovereign territory for enduring power projection directly from the sea, and effectively solve the "tyranny of distance" paradigm. The video is a fascinating view of the evolution of naval warfare with ships in the fight now supporting marines and special operations. Don't miss it.

Thanks again Larry for the game play and ultra intercepts!
Ernest J. King - Chief of Naval Operations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UIRUn5ttKg