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

[Mike Solli]

By the way, I lied when I said that Burma had nothing to report. There was a LOT going on there. I just forgot about it while focusing on the events in SE Fleet AO in the replay. I'll catch you guys up on Burma next installment.

[Mike Solli]

3 Oct 42

Sub War

See the text below.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report - yet.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

From what I pieced together, here's the probable composition of the BB TF:

BB Colorado
BB New Mexico
BB Idaho
BB Maryland
BB South Dakota
BB Pennsylvania
BB Nevada
CA Portland
CLAA Juneau
DD Shaw
DD Conyngham - I think this DD escorted Colorado to safety. I never saw her again.
DMS Warmth
DMS Chandler
DMS Southard
DM Montgomery

Looking at the map now I see where Colorado and an escort went. They headed due west and were just south of Roussel Island 9 hexes from Tulagi. I never realized it was Colorado. My "intel" said it was 2 DDs. I had 3 subs to the west of her, but they never connected.

The action started with the BB TF entering Tulagi harbor. I heard a mine hit and saw later that it was New Mexico. The 3 DMS cleared 8 mines.

Somewhere around this time, I-121 laid her mines in Tulagi, but decided to stick around.

The 6 BBs and 2 cruisers bombarded Tulagi doing massive damage to the base: 84-74-97. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. I have no planes there. The troops there are an independent SNLF company (who got away scot free with no damage), a construction battalion (that took a lot of hits in the bombardment) and an AS battalion that took 12% losses and about 10% disabled. In all, I was lucky.

Then the 3 DMS cleared another 58 mines. This was when New Mexico cleared a mine by herself.

Next, in the mayhem of the mine clearing, I-121 launched 4 torpedoes at CLAA Juneau and connected with one, leaving her burning.

In the morning, two flights totaling 23 B-17s bombed Tulagi's harbor. I suspect there wasn't anything left to hit.

Now, the first flight from KB2 arrived. This is where I began to wonder about a mistake I possibly made. After the replay was done, I checked and yep, the Soryu and Shokaku's TBs were set to use bombs. Only Zuikaku launched torpedoes.

Here's the composition:
26 A6M2 - no losses
11 A6M3a - no losses
33 B5N2 - 1 flak loss
25 D3A1 - 4 flak losses

And the results:
BB New Mexico - 5 bombs
BB Idaho - 1 bomb
CLAA Juneau - 2 torpedoes, fD (my code: f=fire, F=heavy fires, d=damage, D=heavy damage)

Afternoon attack:

26 M2 Zeros
11 M3a Zeros
48 Kates
48 Vals - 1 flak loss

Results:

DD Shaw - 1 bomb - f
BB South Dakota - 2 bombs
BB Nevada - 2 bombs
BB Maryland - 6 bombs
BB Idaho - 1 bomb, 2 torpedoes (Yay, Zuikaku!)
BB New Mexico - 10, yes 10 bombs, f

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Here's what's going on in Burma. I have a big army on the front line a hex east of Cox's Bazaar, including and area army HQ, army HQ, 6 divisions and about a dozen artillery units. The problem is that I can't keep them supplied. The only ports that are supporting them are Cox's Bazaar and Akyab, both level 1 ports. There's a constant stream of small cargo and fast transport TF (all under 6k tonnage) trying to support them, but it's not working. I'm pulling about half of the army back to Cox's Bazaar because I'm getting messages that certain units are isolated with no supply. Anyway, about a week or more ago, I loaded up multiple convoys from areas that have lots of supply and shipping to send there. The total was 90k supply. Naval support is enroute to both bases to support offloading. Engineers are headed to Akyab to build up that port once supply begins to arrive, in a couple weeks. So, that is my problem but Ted has been making it worse. He occasionally sends 2 British BBs, the Royal Sovereign and Valiant to bombard Cox's Bazaar and clean out any shipping I have there. I've been on the hunt for them for a long time. I thought they were hiding in Madras, but I found out about a week ago that they were hiding in Diamond Harbor. So, I sent MKB up to give them a warm welcome. The problem with MKB is that it really doesn't have much staying power. The tiny carriers carry few torpedoes and some have few sorties, especially Ryujo. So, guess when they arrived (undetected, I might add)? Yep, today. So, there were two major operations on opposite sides of the globe at the same time.

Here's MKB's carriers (all the Kates are the B5N1 variety):

CV Junyo - 27 Zeros, 18 Vals, 9 Kates, 18 torpedoes
CV Hiyo - 27 Zeros, 18 Vals, 9 Kates, 18 torpedoes
CVL Ryujo - 36 Zeros, 12 Kates, 27 torpedoes
CVL Shoho - 21 Zeros, 9 Kates, 18 torpedoes
CVL Zuiho - 21 Zeros, 9 Kates, 18 torpedoes
CVE Hosho - 14 Zeros, 6 Kates, 6 torpedoes

Their launch point was 5 hexes SW of Diamond Harbor. That was a mistake that will make itself clear later. At least I had them launch torpedoes.

Morning Diamond Harbor attack:

51 Zeros
25 Kates - 1 flak loss
9 Vals - 2 flak losses

Result:

BB Royal Sovereign - 2 torpedoes
BB Valiant - 1 bomb

Here's the mistake. I was 5 hexes from Diamond Harbor but everything had a 6 hex range. This next attack launched against Calcutta.

Morning Calcutta Attack:

7 Zeros
9 Vals

Results:

xAKL Agnes - 3 bombs - FD, she later sank
xAKL Bust (great name ) - 2 bombs and sunk

Afternoon Diamond Harbor attack:

47 Zeros
51 Kates - 3 flak losses
16 Vals - 1 flak loss

Results:

BB Royal Sovereign - 3 bombs, 4 torpedoes - D
BB Valiant - 3 bombs, 1 torpedo - f
CL Caradoc - 2 torpedoes - sunk - never heard of this CL before.
CA Cornwall - 1 bomb

Afternoon Calcutta attack:

11 Zeros
18 Vals

Results:

xAKL Hermelin - 6 bombs - sunk
xAKL Ardent - 6 bombs - sunk
xAKL Chaksang - 1 bomb - F

China

The Zero sweep over Chungking shot down 3 of 4 P-66s. Bombing later destroyed another on the ground. (The fighters can't have all the fun.)

The 2 Chinese units on the road south of Kweiyang were attacked by 116 Division supported by two artillery regiments and trashed and pushed out of the hex to the east. 116 Division will follow them and the arty will move to the main army at Kweiyang.

Other Stuff

So, that was my day. Let's see what tomorrow brings!

[Mike Solli]

4 Oct 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Unfortunately, I chose poorly today. KB2 was 6 hexes SE of Tulagi and the enemy BBs fled due west. They were 15 hexes WSW of KB2 and flying toward Australia. I had a few subs that could possibly intercept, but they missed. Too bad. Had I used torpedoes on all 3 CVs, I estimate at least 2 of the BBs would have gone down. As it is, they'll need a lot of yard time because their decks were trashed (lots of secondary turrets and AA guns destroyed), but they'll live to fight another day. Ted has mentioned more than once that there are no shipyards in that area large enough to handle the big capital ships. They'll have to go to the US west coast for repairs. A sub may later get a chance to make amends.

The ships sunk screen showed that the Juneau had gone down but wasn't reflected in the intel screen (which is accurate). In ten days, I will get confirmation that she actually did go down today.

In the morning, 4x B-17Es made a run on KB2. They were met by 57 Zeros who failed to down any of the beasts, and 2 were shot down and 2 more were op losses (2 KIA, 1 WIA), all from Soryu. I checked today and saw that I forgot to pull out Soryu's training pilots and the losses were from them, fortunately. They shouldn't have been there. My mistake, but at least I didn't lose any of my good pilots. Reports said that 2 crashed on the way home.

KB2 is on its way home to Truk in preparation for its next mission. You'll find out soon what that is.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

So, I did a couple of things with MKB. I moved it back a hex so they wouldn't be tempted to go after Calcutta with its xAKLs. I also put the planes on port attack thinking Ted would disband the damaged ships to prevent torpedo attacks on them. That was a mixed decision, but I learned some useful info. The morning port attack went in:

58 Zeros
52 Kates
31 Vals - 1 op loss, no pilot loss

Results:

CV Illustrious(!): 7 bomb hits, f - Damn those armored flight decks! If she had been US, she'd be a goner. Still, great info!
BB Valiant: 2 bomb hits

I don't think there were any penetrating hits either, which is not surprising. I really need the Judy. Maybe there was one or two. They Kates all used 800 kg bombs, but bombed from 15k feet. Tactical error. They should have been lower.

It appears the Royal Sovereign is still in a TF. That is surprising.

For tomorrow, I shook things up. There were few torpedoes remaining so I broke down the Kate units and gave as many as I could the remaining torpedoes on naval attack and the rest were on port attack with bombs. The Vals were on port attack with the high value CV sitting damaged in port.

China

No P-66s rose to meet my valiant Zeros.

Bombing and maneuvering.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

5 Oct 42

Sub War

The I-169 caught an xAK near Norfolk Island (the trade route between the US and Australia) and torpedoed her. There was no report of sinking but she was loaded with fuel. I'm sure she went down.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Unfortunately, there's nothing to report. KB2 is slowly retiring north. The BB TF has simply vanished.

When Ted got the replay on 3 October, his response was simple: Mistakes made, lessons learned. Very true. Fortunately for the Allies, mistakes like this can be made. I can't afford mistakes like that. It would have been a LOT worse for Ted had I not made the simple mistakes I made, in both AOs. Attention to detail...

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The morning attack on Diamond Harbor's port:

50 Zeros
27 Kates
31 Vals

Results:

CV Illustrious - 5 bombs (12 total), 1 was 800 kg penetrating, f
BB Valiant - 2 bombs (7 total +2 torpedoes), 1 was 800 kg penetrating

The morning torpedo attack (mostly, 2 carried bombs) at Diamond Harbor:

8 Zeros
17 Kates - 1 flak loss

AMc Dacca - 1 torpedo, sunk
CA Cornwall - 1 torpedo (plus 1 bomb earlier)
CA Devonshire - 1 bomb, f

Afternoon torpedo/bomb attack at Diamond Harbor:

31 Zeros
20 Kates

Results:

CA Cornwall - 1 bomb (plus 1 torpedo and 1 bomb earlier)
CL Birmingham - 1 bomb
CA Devonshire - 1 bomb (plus 1 bomb earlier), fD

Royal Sovereign was not spotted. Maybe she sank? That's definitely because she took 6 torpedoes (+3 non-penetrating bombs). She's showing up as sunk but it was not reflected in the intel report. *Shrug* If she's still around, it's going to take a LONG time to repair her.

And that did it for the torpedoes. I'll try one more port attack tomorrow to try and get an 800 kg bomb into Illustrious.

Overall, I'm happy with this operation. For the loss of just a handful of bombers to flak, 2 BBs were put out of commission (1 probably sunk) and with that the end of the sniping at Cox's Bazaar. Also, 1 CL confirmed sunk, a CV(!), 2 CA and another CL were wounded to one degree or another. We'll see if we can damage Illustrious some more tomorrow.

China

The Zeros caught 2 P-66s over Chungking and downed one.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

6 Oct 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Things have settled down. I am in complete control of the Solomons. All of my bases are pristine except Tulagi (84-74-86). KB2 is headed back to Truk with 2/3 of its torpedoes still aboard.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

So, I tried a port attack, which was a mistake. Illustrious was in a TF, so she wasn't attacked. Also, her Martlets made an appearance. Here's what showed up:

38 Zeros - 1 shot down (Pilot WIA)
34 Kates
31 Vals

17 Martlets - 3 shot down
8 Hurricane IIc

The attack was a bust. I sank an xAK and AMc. I considered sticking around but decided against it for 2 reasons. First, he has >100 fighters in southern India and he could have set up a huge CAP trap and demolish MKB's air groups. I can afford the planes, but those pilots are too valuable. Second, with his major ships in a TF, the best I could do would be 250 kg bombs, which would be hard pressed to penetrate Illustrious or the BBs. So, I called it quits and am heading back to Singapore.

China

Bombing and maneuvering...

At Kweiyang, I'm bombing a lot and now am adding in barrages. Those units there (14 rifle corps and a cavalry corps plus some HQ units) are literally getting trashed. There are ~170k troops but the combat power is declining. I'll attack when the entire army arrives.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Skyros]

Enjoy Myrtle beach, your wife camping down by Huntington Beach State Park?

[Mike Solli]

7 Oct 42 - quiet day for a change.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report. No bombers have flown for the past couple of days. Interesting...

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

The Zeros decided not to fly today. Nine Sallies flew and ran into 3 P-66s. One bomber was shot down and, to add insult to injury, another was lost to a rare flak hit. They did manage to damage the airfield.

Other Stuff

Something sank. Probably insignificant, but I'll find out in a few months or so.

[Mike Solli]

Enjoy Myrtle beach, your wife camping down by Huntington Beach State Park?

She and her family are staying in an RV her brother owns at a place called Ocean Lakes Family Campground. I'd much rather be in a decked out condo than in a cramped RV with 4 people, 3 of them women.

It is very nice here. Off to my daily 2-3 mile walk on the beach soon. Just one more update. Trying to catch up. Still 11 days behind. We're doing about 3 turns a day here with no grandkids to interrupt me.

[Mike Solli]

8 Oct 42 - Very quiet turn today.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report - yet!

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Really quiet down here. The only Allied activity was a squadron of P-39Ds strafing some troops in the jungle, which is a common occurrence.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Bombing and maneuvering....

Other Stuff

The Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 9/43. It is expected to become operational in mid-December 42.

[Skyros]

I've stayed at Ocean Lakes in a pop up with 3 kids and my spouse. Fun times. If really bored you should drive up to Wilmington and see the North Carolina.

[Mike Solli]

9 Oct 42 - More quiet.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report, but things are going to happen pretty soon...

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The only Allied effort in this AO was 20 P-39Ds strafing troops.

There were no enemy 2E or 4E bombers seen today. It's becoming a habit.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

At the front, I've begun pulling out the units that are "isolated with no supply". Pretty irritating.

I realized something else pretty irritating. I actually realized it about 8 game days from now. Akyab can only draw 200 supply a day and Cox's Bazaar can only draw 150 supply a day. No wonder my troops at the front line aren't getting supply! The only way for those bases to get significant supply is by ship. Fortunately, I realized that (before realizing the supply draw issue) and am sending about 90k supply there. Both ports are level 1 so only 6k of ships can dock there. I had already decided to increase Akyab's port (and now I will follow suit with Cox's Bazaar). I haven't started it yet this turn. I'm waiting for the first pulse of supply to arrive, which should happen in 3 days at both bases.

I wonder if supply will move directly from Akyab to the front line? It's just 2 hexes away but one hex is not on a road. Basically, the only supply that can easily move to the front is from Cox's Bazaar. On 18 October, where I am now, Akyab has 8600 supply at the base and 60k on ships offloading and Cox's Bazaar has 20 supply at the base and 8500 on ships offloading. I'm going to shift some of the convoys at Akyab to Cox's Bazaar next turn.

With the neutering of the British fleet, that is now much safer to do.

China

The Zeros made up for their lack of effort yesterday. They encountered 6 P-66s and shot down 5 of them!

Bombing, bombarding and maneuvering...

Other Stuff

The Ha-43 engine R&D advanced to 6/44 and is expected to become operational 7/43.

The B6N1 R&D advanced to 12/42 and is expected to become operational 11/42. I won't build any of this model simply because it uses the Ha-44 engine and I'm not building any. I'll start building the B6N2 when it becomes operational 2/43.

[Mike Solli]

I've stayed at Ocean Lakes in a pop up with 3 kids and my spouse. Fun times. If really bored you should drive up to Wilmington and see the North Carolina.

That sounds great, but she has the car. I'm hoofing it this week. Gotta keep that in mind for future trips here.

[Mike Solli]

10 Oct 42 - Really quiet day.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

I'm finally gathering my forces at the Home Islands to invade all the must see sights in the Aleutians: Attu, Amchitka, Adak, Dutch Harbor. I have a lot of naval forces escorting them too. All the BBs, 10 CAs, KB1, KB2, countless CLs and DDs. My fuel situation is very good. I can afford the bite in fuel.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

No enemy bombers flew. I saw only ~20 P-39Ds strafing.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

I tried a small Nell raid at low height to Diamond Harbor to sneak under the enemy fighters. Five Nells went in and none came home.

China

Just bombing, bombarding and maneuvering.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

11 Oct 42 - Another quiet turn.

Sub War

The I-33 launched 6 torpedoes at a medium sized TK hitting her with 2. She was loaded with fuel. Big pyre. Even though it wasn't a large TK, I relish sinking any of them. Just the other day, I sank an xAK loaded with fuel. TKs are definitely an issue with him at this point.

5 Fleet

All the TFs are congregating around Yokohama. They'll leave in a few days. I'm going to try something different. I'm going to skirt along the Russian coast and try and come in from the north. Maybe he doesn't have any naval search looking north. Fingers crossed.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

No P-66s came up to play with the Zeros over Chungking.

Same ole stuff...

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
CVL Ryuho, its air group doesn't arrive until 1 Nov 43. Really? Actually, I knew that. It's always been that way. Anyway, I gave it 22 Vals and 9 Kates from land based units so it has something to carry. It'll be part of MKB because of its 26 kt speed. I'll take it though. Every flattop has a purpose. Remember what MKB did to the Brits just recently?

[Mike Solli]

12 Oct 42

Sub War

The RO-63 was minding her own business off Espíritu Santo when she was viciously attacked by an enemy PC. She took a DC. Her damage is not too bad at 31-20(10)-1-0. She'll head to the barn for repairs.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Forty-one B-17E/Fs attacked Tulagi's port today. Tulagi's damage is 85-74-52. There's still a lot of damage remaining from the BB bombardment a while back. I think Ted doesn't want me to drop off any supply there. The Ansyu PBs on fast transport don't seem to be bothered by a wrecked port.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The supply is starting to arrive (by ship) at Akyab and Cox's Bazaar. There currently is about 7k at each port still to offload. Akyab has ~2500 at the base and Cox's Bazaar has only 20, still. But, the supply that's being offloaded is heading to the front. My troops there are finally getting supply.

China

No P-66s wanted to play with the Zeros again today.

Other Stuff

The A6M5b R&D advanced to 4/44 and is expected to become operational 2/43. The A6M5c is my goal because of its armor. Anything to keep the IJNAF pilots alive is a good thing.

[Mike Solli]

13 Oct 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I put some Nicks over Tulagi to try and do some damage to the B-17s I expected to show up again. And they did. Twenty of them. Unfortunately, on 7 Nicks showed up. They did manage to down one of the beasts. Then 19 more showed up and only 2 Nicks remained. Nada. Fortunately, they didn't do much damage to the port, only because the port was already battered.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Bombing and maneuvering, as usual.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
51-58 Construction Battalions - 6 with Southern Army, 1 with China Expeditionary Army and 1 with Kwangtung Army. I bought the last two out and all 8 are going to the Marianas, starting with Saipan. I want to max the forts at all 4 of those bases. Yeah, that's a lot of supply, but I don't want Ted to get them easily. Saipan's fort is already at 5.14.

[Mike Solli]

14 Oct 42 - A little action for a change...

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Thirty-nine B-17s hit Tulagi's port in 3 waves. I let them do it. I had bigger fish to fry.

But, before that, Ted came all the way this time. He sent 69 B-24Ds escorted by 35 P-38Fs to Rabaul's airfield. I had a fair number of fighters available: 38 A6M2, 11 Ki-43-Ic and 36 Ki-44-IIa. Not the best planes in the inventory but there were a lot of them. Actually, none of my fighters are any good any longer. But, they acquitted themselves pretty well. They managed to shoot down 5 Liberators and apparently a couple more crashed on the way home. That's half of their monthly production! Also, a handful of Lightnings crashed on the way home as well, so my intel says. I had only one Zero shot down (KIA) and a Thalia, a Nell and a Sally were destroyed on the ground, all acceptable.

Next came some B-25Cs. Two were shot down and they fled.

They didn't do much damage either: 0-13-7. By tomorrow it would be down to only 1 point. I have a LOT of engineers at Rabaul for just that eventuality.

I set up a trap over Lae for the P-39Ds. Unfortunately, only 9 Zeros arrived vs. 21 P-39Ds. I lost 3 Zeros (1 KIA, 1 WIA) to 4 P-39Ds. Not a good trade.

Then, he sent 23 P-39Ds on a strafing run at a little dot hex in PNG called Nadzab just NW of Lae. Forty-one Nicks were waiting for them and shot down 9. Very nice!

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

There is now 39k supply offloading (slowly) at Akyab and Cox's Bazaar. The supply offloaded at Cox's Bazaar is being pushed to the front line. They now have excess supply there. The supply at Akyab is being pushed to Cox's Bazaar in the form of replacements to the units I pulled out of the front line. They all have excess supply too. Life is good. Only Cox's Bazaar itself is not supplied.

China

Same old stuff.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
34 Sentai, 5 Air Division (SE Fleet AO), 27 Sallies for bombing. Will eventually be ASW.
35 Sentai, 5 Air Division (SE Fleet AO), 27 Sallies for bombing. Will eventually be ASW.
110 Ship Engineer Company, General Defense, will stay in the Home Islands.
210 Ship Engineer Company, General Defense, will stay in the Home Islands.
310 Ship Engineer Company, General Defense, will stay in the Home Islands.

[Mike Solli]

15 Oct 42 - A whole lot of not so much today...

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The Aleutians invasion fleets and their support left yesterday and are heading up the Japanese coast toward their targets. So far, no one has been observed (as expected this far from their destinations).

Edit: Actually, that's not entirely true. The fast oiler fleet and KB2 have left Truk. KB2 will guard their southern flank. KB1 is hanging out just behind the mass of ships. they'll come charging from the west when the time is right. KB1 and KB2 will be in supporting range of each other, just in case.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Thirty-three B-17s hit Tulagi's port again. Again, not much damage was done only because he's just making big rocks into little rocks.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

No love over Chungking today. The Chinese just don't want to play anymore, it seems.

Other Stuff

The Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 8/43 and is expected to become operational 12/42.

Reinforcement
SC Ch-36 - ASW, I have ASW TFs composed of these guys pretty much everywhere I want. They have only 3 boats per TF and in 3 cases 2, 2 and 1 where 2 were sunk by subs and the singleton just doesn't have any buddies yet. As I get these guys, I'll increase the TFs to 3 and then try to get them all to 4. If I'm lucky enough to succeed at that, I'll start forming new ASW TFs.

[Mike Solli]

16 Oct 42

Sub War

I-170 was prosecuted 3 separate times today, but each time she slipped away.

5 Fleet

Most of the invasion TFs have congregated around Etorofu. They're now all moving to the vicinity of Paramushiro-jima.

KB2 and the fast oiler fleet are skirting to the west of Marcus Island to ensure secrecy.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report. No Allied planes attacked me today here.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

I think the P-66s are done playing with the Zeros. Too bad...

Just about the entire replay was me bombing Chinese. Kweiyang is getting most of the love. A few weeks ago they had ~180k troops there. Now there are only ~155k.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[PaxMondo]

George: 30x2, 28, 27, 26, 24, 23, 21x3, 20x2, 19x2, 18x2, 16, 8
-The Ha-45 pool is at 795 and the last 4 (of 6) factories will finish repairing tomorrow. The total engine production will be 570, or 19 a day. Operational status is still at 7/43. Research is currently at 57% and increasing at 4% per day. This is the first thing I check every turn.

So, N1K is now moving fast. you gain a month every 25 days now, so in Oct, it will be 6/43. By the end of Oct you'll be gaining 8%/day, or gaining a month every 13 days. I'm guessing that N1K will arrive in Feb, +/- 1 month. The key here is that it arrives before Ted gets the P47, so you will have a counter to it and you will have a fighter with legs. N1K allows you to walk all the way into India from Burma. Your only issue will be finding enough IJN fighter groups. I steal from the KB all the time 1 - 4 groups and swap to N1K for immediate pressure for a week or so and then send them back. A6M3-a has GREAT range, so the KB can be a LONG way away from where I'm using them.