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

[sfatula]

Regarding night bombing with those B17s, this would be a house rule item. B17 raids against Rabaul at night were pretty bad in WW2 and tending to have very high ops losses. Quite ineffective without radar. What altitude were they at? That's a lot of damage (kills). I don't think a rule should eliminate all airfield or ports night bombing for the whole game either though.

[Mike Solli]

Question for the group:

Do you think it's more effective to bombard with one large bombardment TF or split it into 2 separate TFs? I'm thinking Adak. I have a total of 7 BB, 6 CA and 7 CL there. This would be the bombardment on the same turn as I do a deliberate assault.

I'm convinced that it's better to split it into 2 when there are planes at the base because the first one will damage some and the second one will destroy some of those damaged planes. Not sure about devices though. I don't have a lot of data points, but I did hit Adak with 2 bombardments in the most recent turn. You'll see it below in a few minutes.

[RangerJoe]

14 Dec 42

Sub War

The I-30, also at Adak, put a torpedo into LSD Shinshu Maru causing light to moderate damage: 5-31(28)-1-0. She'll head for the Home Islands for repairs.

If I read that correctly, a Japanese submarine torpedoed a Japanese ship?

Use Pete's at low level for night fighters. The idea is just to disrupt their attack.

If air unit upgrades are needed at bases that can be bombed, I would consider dividing the air units into thirds before upgrading and then only upgrading one third at a time unless there are a lot of defenders.

The best defense against Allied 4Es is to bomb/bombard their bases at night. During the day, a long range LRCAP at even a low percentage can increase the operational losses for those enemy air units that fly during the day.

[sfatula]

Yeah, slow floats are a great option. The idea there is they can't really catch or engage the B17s mostly but it does still count as disrupting the bombing runs.

[Mike Solli]

20 Dec 42

Sub War

The Dutch sub, KXVI, torpedoes an xAK a hex SE of Truk. The xAK made it to Truk and is expected to survive. She does have 6 fires, so whether or not they go out will determine what happens.

5 Fleet

So, I sent in 2 separate bombardment TFs (as mentioned above). Ted decided to spend some of his supply at Adak on PT boats. There was a group of 12. The first TF (3 BB, 4 CA, 3 CL) found them and took them by surprise. Only one got off its torpedoes and 8 of the 12 were obliterated by the TF. The 4 surviving PT boats then ran into the second bombardment TF (4 BB, 2 CA, 2 CL) and got away without taking damage or launching their torpedoes.

The two bombardments went in. Here's what it looked like:

First bombardment:

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
CA Ashigara
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
CL Yura

Allied ground losses:
401 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 14 (2 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Airbase hits 8
Runway hits 13
Port hits 2

Second bombardment:

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Musashi
BB Haruna
CA Chokai
CA Takao
CL Kuma
CL Agano

Allied ground losses:
315 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 26 (6 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 11 (6 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 29
Port hits 3
Port supply hits 1

The second bombardment was more powerful and they did kill more squads. I'm still not sure if combined they'd do more damage than if split. What do you guys think?

After the bombardments, the 4 surviving PT boats went after 3 DMS I had in the hex on ASW duty. They expended their torpedoes and the DMS went home. Well, those 4 PT boats are toothless now, unless Ted wants to waste more supply on torpedoes.

The US troops didn't bombard at Adak today. Supply running low? I hope so!

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

There were a total of 59x 4E and 17x 2E night sorties against Rabaul, destroying a Thalia and causing little airfield damage that was easily repaired.

A dozen Kittyhawks swept Madang and ran into 9 Zeros, who shot down 3 for no loss. An additional 3 Kittyhawks were reported to be op losses too.

A total of 31x 4E sorties hit Lunga/Tulagi. There may be an invasion force of APDs moving in, so KB2 is moving in range tomorrow.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Kienko was attacked today getting 1:1 odds and reducing the forts from 1 to 0. They'll attack again once they get supply.

The bombing/bombardment claimed 42 Chinese squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3476 (+3)
China: 5069 (-115) - Nice day!
Enemy strength: 311k (-1k)
Enemy units: 91 units (no change

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
AMC Gokoku Maru

[Mike Solli]

14 Dec 42

Sub War

The I-30, also at Adak, put a torpedo into LSD Shinshu Maru causing light to moderate damage: 5-31(28)-1-0. She'll head for the Home Islands for repairs.

If I read that correctly, a Japanese submarine torpedoed a Japanese ship?

Use Pete's at low level for night fighters. The idea is just to disrupt their attack.

If air unit upgrades are needed at bases that can be bombed, I would consider dividing the air units into thirds before upgrading and then only upgrading one third at a time unless there are a lot of defenders.

The best defense against Allied 4Es is to bomb/bombard their bases at night. During the day, a long range LRCAP at even a low percentage can increase the operational losses for those enemy air units that fly during the day.

Lol, it was S-30.

Good idea on splitting the air unit. Fortunately, 44 of the 46 planes will be repaired by tomorrow. None have been hit, so they still are an unknown to Ted.

I'd love to put some LRCAP on the bomber air bases, but they're all out of range of my fighters.

I'll have to "upgrade" some floatplanes to Petes. I have none in any combat zones.

[Mike Solli]

21 Dec 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

I'm waiting to attack Adak because the 9 and 56 Divisions both have disruption in the 20s and fatigue in the 40s. For some reason, it's just not coming down very quickly. Once it's about half that, I'll attack.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Today, 65x 4E and 21x 2E night sorties hit Rabaul destroying 4 planes on the ground. I converted a small FP unit to Petes at Kavieng. When they repair, I'll send them to Rabaul on a low level night CAP mission. One B-17 was destroyed by flak and a B-24 and 2x 2Es were allegedly op losses.

Twenty-five P-40Ks swept Gasmata getting the bounce on 9 Zeros there and shooting down 5 of the Zeros (3 KIA). That sucked. Hopefully, they come back tomorrow because my vaunted Tojo IIc sentai is there ready to get its baptism of fire.

Fourteen B-17s hit Lunga and another 17 hit Tulagi.

KB2 was in range of a small TF 2 hexes west of Tulagi, but they didn't attack. A sub was spotted just to the SE of KB2, so they're moving NW a bit. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today's bombardment/bombing destroyed 41 squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3478 (+2)
China: 5004 (-65)
Enemy strength: 304k (-7k)
Enemy units: 91 units (no change)

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

22 Dec 42

Sub War

The I-25 was caught a couple hexes SE of Noumea nosing around down there looking for enemy carriers. She was hit twice, at least once by a mousetrap. They must have a small warhead because her damage is only 19-30(19)-4-0. She'll head home for repairs because there are a lot of small TFs (probably ASW) in the area. I took a screenshot:

Noumea.jpg (221.33 KiB) Viewed 51 times

Take a look at the number of ships in port! Kind of hard to hide that!

5 Fleet

Nothing much to report. The 9 and 56 Divisions are still pretty fatigued (~40 each). I put them in reserve.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The night raids on Rabaul consisted of 77x 4E sorties and 20x 2E sorties in 13 separate attacks. An Emily was destroyed on the ground. Very little airfield damage ever happens, and the little that does happen is easily repaired. The Emily was one of 3 damaged Emilies remaining at Rabaul. The unit has moved to Gasmata.

I haven't been telling the whole story of Allied attacks in this AO. I don't bother to mention the 100 or so P-39Ds that strafe/bomb and the 11 A-20A1s that bomb in SE PNG. I'm sending my brand spanking new Tojo IIc sentai to sweep Finschafen from Gasmata. Let's see how they do.

The only action at Tulagi was an 11 Wildcat sweep. The bombers rested.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Today's bombing/bombardment netted 71 destroyed squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3481 (+3)
China: 4925 (-79)
Enemy strength: 310k (+6k) - I think this number is not very accurate because I see fluctuations like this one. I'm sure it's close though. Good ball park.
Enemy units: 91 units (no change)

Other Stuff

I got word that the BB Colorado didn't sink. I knew that. She took a bunch of non-penetrating bomb hits that wrecked her topsides though.

[Mike Solli]

23 Dec 42

Sub War

The I-34, patrolling off San Francisco, put a torpedo into an xAK. No report of her sinking.

5 Fleet

The 4 surviving enemy PT boats harassed my two bombardment TFs. I know they used up their torpedoes a couple of days ago. I suspect they didn't/couldn't reload because they are pretty much just targets. The second bombardment TF obliterated one of them. Three to go...

The two bombardments killed 51 enemy squads. I want to attack soon, but my divisions there aren't in the best shape. He still has supply because I fly a handful of Sallies on troop bombing every day and there's still flak. He has a LOT of flak, mainly MGs but they're still shooting. Here's the status of my two reinforcing divisions:

9 Division: 13 disruption, 36 fatigue
56 Division: 18 disruption, 36 fatigue

Waiting for that to drop some more.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

There were 43x 4E and 8x 2E sorties in 8 attacks. They killed 3 planes on the ground. It looks like there were 2x 4E op losses. This is irritating, but not debilitating. I have a plan for this. I have a 42 plane sentai of the Tojo IIc operating here and just upgraded a 31 planes IJN daitai to the George. Tomorrow, I'll upgrade a 36 plane sentai to the Tojo IIc as well. The day after, I'll upgrade a 9 plane chutai to George and two days later I'll upgrade another 9 plane chutai to the George. In addition, I have 2x 42 plane sentai of Nicks operating. That's all in this AO.

Once everything is flying, I'm going to try and put all of it on 100% night CAP over Rabaul. That'll potentially be 49 Georges, 84 Nicks and 78 Tojos for a total of a possible 211 planes on CAP. Sure, it'll be at night so I don't think everything will fly, but it'll be over my territory so my pilot losses shouldn't be too bad and it could hurt his 4E numbers. All this won't happen for a couple of weeks though.

It's a plan...

Tulagi had an 11 plane Wildcat sweep followed by 18x 4E bombing the jungle. Lunga had 15x 4E go after troops.

Fighter combat began with the squadron of Kittyhawk IAs going after my chutai of Zeros (the old A6M2 model). There were only 9 Kittyhawks still serviceable. My Zeros shot down 3 with a couple more probable op losses. Nice start!

My brand spanking new Tojos were at Gasmata on CAP yesterday hoping to catch a couple dozen P-40Ks that swept Gasmata the day before. When they decided not to come and play, I sent them on a LRCAP mission to SE PNG to hopefully find some P-39Ds. Initially, the P-40Ks swept Gasmata again and I was really bummed because my Tojos weren't there. The Warhawks were opposed by 9 Zeros (the new A6M5 model). My Zeros got the bounce on the Warhawks downing 2 for no loss. I'll take it but it could have been a bloodbath.

I needn't have been worried. The 42 plane Tojo sentai on LRCAP put 43 planes over Salamaua! I guess one of the reserve pilots didn't want to miss out on the fun and joined in of his own accord.

The first enemy flight was 16 P-39Ds. The Tojos shot down 7 for no loss. Only one Airacobra actually made a strafing run.

The second flight was 8 P-39Ds. Forty-two Tojos caught them. Only 2 enemy planes were shot down but they jettisoned their bomb loads so none made a run.

The third and final flight was 22 P-39Ds and were met by 27 Tojos. Six were shot down for no loss and only 9 remained to make their bombing runs. Some of my Tojos caught 6 of the enemy afterward shooting down 3, but losing 2 Tojos. The pilots were both WIA. I can live with that!

Overall, it was a nice day here. In total, 23 enemy were confirmed shot down for the loss of 2 Tojos (plus 2 more op losses). No pilots were lost and the experience gained was great. In the Tojo sentai, 5 new elite pilots were christened:

24 Sentai.jpg (408.3 KiB) Viewed 17 times

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The IJA fighter corps assigned here are chomping at the bit waiting for their turn to get the vaunted Tojo IIa. That will begin in about a week or so.

China

Kienko was attacked again today by 1 Tank Division and 17 Tank Regiment. The 1:1 attack (1.24:1 actually) reduced the fort to 0. They'll shock attack in a couple of days when they get more supply and rest a bit.

Today's bombing/bombardment of Chungking claimed 64 destroyed squads.

Raw AV:
Japan: 3875 (+344) - 33 Division arrived, 10 divisions there now.
China: 4841 (-84)
Enemy strength: 308k (-2k)
Enemy units: 91 units (no change)

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

I attribute the ability of the Tojo yesterday to several factors:

1. 77 average experience
2. 72 average A2A
3. 69 average defense
4. They were fighting P-39Ds. Admittedly, those planes are pretty tough and difficult to bring down.

I've been spending a LOT of effort increasing defense in both the IJA and IJN fighter corps.

Edit: I pull out extra elite pilots. I keep 3 in every fighter unit. I also replace them with pilots of a minimum of 70/70/70 exp/A2A/Def.