Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[Mike Solli]

22 Jul 42
Forgot to mention that Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku have completed their upgrades. Only Shokaku and Zuikaku have radar. All 4 will head back to Truk shortly. Akagi and Kaga are upgrading and will be done in 20 days.

Ah, finally you can re-size those air groups!!!!

Yep, first thing I did. Here's the new air group strengths. Note that in this mod Kaga has a capacity of 81:

Akagi, capacity 81, 42 Z, 21 V, 18 K
Kaga, capacity 81, 42 Z, 21 V, 18 K
Soryu, capacity 63, 33 Z, 15 V, 15 K
Hiryu, capacity 63, 33 Z, 15 V, 15 K
Shokaku, capacity 72, 36 Z, 18 V, 18 K
Zuikaku, capacity 72, 36 Z, 18 V, 18 K

Total: 222 Z, 108 V, 102 K

[Mike Solli]

25 Jul 42 - Quiet day today.

Sub War

An Allied ASW TF spotted the badly damaged RO-33 but somehow she got away. She's still limping toward a friendly port and even managed to repair a point of flotation damage.

Just south of Milne Bay, the RO-64 spotted the Brit BB TF, got CA Pensacola in her sights, launched 6 (of 10 total) torpedoes......and missed.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I put 99 Nells/Betties on night naval attack with some Jakes on night naval search in the direction of Milne Bay. Twenty-four of them launched against a couple of DMS and missed. Ah well, it was worth a try. I'll let them go a while longer.

Ted's now using his 4E bombers against the units in Milne Bay and the 2E bombers agains Salamaua. He can bomb those troops for the rest of the war for all I care. They aren't going to do anything except starve. Every bomb directed at them is a bomb that isn't hitting something important.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

The Helen sentai that is doing daily raids against Chungking's airfield, had a nice attack causing 2 air supply hits (alway nice in China) and 18 runway hits. Chungking's airfield damage is up to 40. Nice.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
TK Nittier Maru, Type-1 TL, 11.6k capacity. Headed to Singapore to help haul oil/fuel to Hong Kong.

Ted has no subs (that I have run across) in the South China Sea. If he only knew how many oil/fuel/resource convoys I have plying those waters between Palembang/Singapore and Hong Kong, he's have every sub in his inventory there. I have no ASW or Naval Search there yet either. Eventually I will, but I have to protect the important bases and haven't started work on the SLOCs.

[Mike Solli]

26 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Ted is still putting his 4E bombers on the SNLF and NG at Milne Bay and his 2E bombers on Salamaua. I've pulled out a slice of both units and continue to pull out elements of the SNLF, the better unit. I have only 3 IJN FB transports so it's a slow process.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

A couple of attacks here and there to wear down the defenses.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

27 Jul 42

Sub War

The I-7 torpedoed and sank a big xAK (Empire L Class) off San Francisco. Later in the morning, I-7 missed an xAK and in the afternoon she put a torpedo into a different xAK. No report of her sinking though.

The Spearfish got a rare good torpedo hit on SC Ch-27 and blew her to pieces off Miri. She was on ASW patrol. That's one way to do it...

5 Fleet

RO-33 is still plodding its way to Etorofu. She repaired another flotation damage. I'm hopeful she might actually make it!

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The 4E bombers did their usual run on the former garrison of Milne Bay. Some 2E bombers made a surprise attack on the troops at Madang. They were unescorted. Oops. I had a chutai of Zeros flying CAP over the base. There were 3 attacks. The first was 5x A20A Havocs. All were shot down without Japanese loss. Next came 8x B-26 Marauders. Six were shot down for no loss. Finally, there were 7 more B-26s. When they spotted my fighters, they fled. This unit now has the distinction of having the pilot with the most kills, and the most experienced pilot as well. PO1 Sugio has 9 kills, experience of 91 with an A2A rating of 86. Very nice!

The rest of the 2E bombers hit Salamaua, and they were probably glad they did.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

The Helens added a little more damage to Chungking's airfield.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[RangerJoe]

25 Jul 42 - Quiet day today.

Sub War

An Allied ASW TF spotted the badly damaged RO-33 but somehow she got away. She's still limping toward a friendly port and even managed to repair a point of flotation damage.

Just south of Milne Bay, the RO-64 spotted the Brit BB TF, got CA Pensacola in her sights, launched 6 (of 10 total) torpedoes......and missed.

The subs will tend to dewater themselves of the minor float damage.

As far as the RO-64 is concerned, I do believe that the Captain got what is referred to as "buck fever!"

You can also use regular float planes to remove your units, you can even just have a portion of the air unit doing that while the rest fly naval searches. But leave at least one device behind if you can just to keep it there for him to target and rejoice when he destroys it.

PM me if you want a hint for the kamikazes . . .