The Emperor's Champions - 3x3 AAR

[FeurerKrieg]

This will be the Japanese thread of a 3x3 PBEM starting up between Team Nippon, consisting of AlexCobra, Mantill, and myself (Feurer Krieg), or collectively, The Emperor's Champions, [:D] and the Allies team of Scott (scott1964), Nomad, and Gary (Gary Childress). To see how things are going from the Allied perspective, check out the 'Brink of Disaster' thread.

Assignments:

AlexCobra - C-in-C IJA, IJN as well as directly commanding the Phillipines, DEI, Home Islands, and Northern Area
Feurer Krieg - 4th Fleet, Southeast Fleet, and IJN Submarine Fleet
Mantill - China, Burma, Malaya, Manchuria


KB will likely be handed around or split up as needed, most likely between Alex and myself.

Stay tuned, as Team Nippon attempts to cower the allies into letting us maintain our rightful place as the dominant nation in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Game Settings

version: 1.6
scenario: vanilla # 15
1 day turn increments

settings:
Player defined upgrades ON
Allied sub doctrine OFF
Japanese sub doctrine OFF
Fog of war ON
Advanced weather effects ON
Allied damage control ON
Historical first turn ON
Vary setup OFF
December 7th surprise ON
Reinforcements +/- 60 days (Allies and Japanese both)
Map hexes ON

Additional house rules:
1) Max 6 ships for ASW TF.

[FeurerKrieg]

The war has begun with a glorious attack on Pearl Harbor to cripple the USN fleet. With a great amount of damaged caused, the Empire can continue with its planned expansion.

Dec 7th Summary:
AC loses: 28 (Kate=9, Val=8, Zero=7...)
Allied AC loses: 235 (Tomahawk=66, Catalina=40, P-26A=21, Mohawk=20...)
Allied ships sunk: BB Nevada (in PH, 800 kg AP Bomb), MSW Pengwin (at Guam, 8in Gun shell), SS KXII (near Khota Baru, type 95 DC).
[center][/center][center]USS Nevada burning at Pearl Harbor [/center]
Japanese ships with casualties: BB Kongo (damage – sys/flt/fire: 0/0/2), CVL Ryujo (48/12/26)
Captured bases: Batan island.
Wake held, and reinforcements are on the way. Sub picket in place to harass any allied attempts at reinforcement.

Most notable was the ability of some B-17s in the PI to drop a bomb on the Ryujo, amazing but true. An enemy submarine has already been sunk which is nice, and while the Nevada is the only 'confirmed' kill from PH, two other battle ships took multiple torps and bombs, and are probably out of action for a bit. Overall Pearl Harbor attack was about average to maybe a little better than average.

Upcoming plans:
I'll let Alex and Marc speak for themselves regarding their plans, my plans are as follows:
The SAA units on Palau have been placed under my command, and as such they will be treated as an element of the Southeast Fleet, eventaully being properly transfered via PP's if HQ's become short. In the meantime arrangements have been made to send a SAA Fleet and Army HQ to Palua to handle the business of leading these guys.

Command Level Goals:
SEF (Southeast Fleet) with SAA units: Secure New Guinea and the Solomons.
4th Fleet: Penetrate as far southward as possible to maintain a break in communications between the Western US and Australia. Establish island defense system to prevent Allied counterattack.

Tentative Tactical Plans:
The SAA units will hit the northern areas of New Guinea which are hopefully out of range of Allied air, taking Wewak, Hollandia and such. From there it is hoped that some LBA can be based in Wewak to cover, and depending on Allied dispositions at the time, the SAA units will either advance east or west to continue the securing of the northern coast of NG. Once this is accomplished, and providing Rabual has fallen, these forces will turn to capturing Port Moresby.
Meanwhile, the SEF will attempt to establish a base in the eastern most Solomons, from which they can proceed westward using overlapping float plane and LBA fighter cover to prevent Allied attacks on shipping. It is expected that a fairly large portion of float planes will be based in these islands if the expansion operations are successful.

The 4th Fleet will begin by moving to Juluit and holding there aboard transports until US CV's are located. If they are out of range of the theater, these forces will advance in a fan to seize all of the Gilberts in short order. If the US CV's are near, then KB will be called for assistance. Air units will then be based on Tarawa, and float planes on Baker. The forces will select new targets, regroup, and plan to advance to the next island group, again depending on Allied forces present, and will hit either Santa Cruz, Nanomea or Canton. From there it is hard to say what to expect at that point, but the overall goal will be to go as far south as Fiji and Tongatapu. If able to advance that far, it will be past time for the Allied counterattacks by then, and all resources will be put into hampering their invasion attempts. No invasion of New Zealand is planned or expected at this point. Any invasion of Australia will fall under the command of Alex and the Southern Area Army, after the DEI has been secured, and thus I cannot speak to it.

At this time, KB will be retreating from Pearl to cover the reinforcements en route to Wake. Once Wake has fallen, KB will move to various positions between the Solomons and the Gilberts. The idea being, if the US CV's move to hamper either the SEF or the 4th's southern movements, KB will step out and curtail those Allied plans.

Once LBA is sufficient, KB will likely be divided and part sent to Alex to assist with the SRA campaigns, part sent to Marc for his Burma campaign.

Southeast and 4th Fleet areas of responsibility and (very) tentative lines of advance:

[AlexCobra]

Hello everyone, here's Chief Commander of Combined Japanese Fleet, Emperor's right hand, Gross Admiral Alex Cobra.

Althrough I'm very fond of this AAR's I see here, I think I will not be of much help in writing them. For the most part it's about language problems - I think I can speak fair enough, but to write such special reports is a bit problematic. Second reason for it - I'm not good in drawing maps and such. Still, a few comment from High Command will be posted for sure.

You already know, that we are at war. At morning 6th Dec Emperor called me and said: "Alex, here's our hour of honour and destiny. Tomorrow we will smash with all our might; Americans and Brits forced us to do this by rejecting our offers. They tryed to build up their influence in Asia and Indonesia, threated to destroy our recently established relations with the countries like China, Siam, Thailand and on. Our plans for creating a Sphere of Great Eastern Asia are meeting obstacles and difficulties, nations of this countries are still under cruel colonial governmental pressure. We need to bring them peace and prosperity for ages to come! They are crying for our help - and we will help them to free themselves from slavery and tyranny! With our close support and control they can grow and flourish, so finally, after some dozens of years, we can create huge Asian Empire of Rising Sun!... Now go, Alex, fight with honour and pride, failure is not an option for our people. The destiny of entire nation lies on your shoulders. Go and kick some arse."

The results from first day of war are somewhat discouraging. Admiral Feurer described them, so no need to repeat. The first phase of "Centrifuge" operation is starting to develop, and we are on the very beginning of what later will be called "Pacific Catastrophy". Now it's time to issue some orders, so I'll check up here later.

Alex off.

[Widell]

ORIGINAL: AlexCobra

For the most part it's about language problems - I think I can speak fair enough, but to write such special reports is a bit problematic.

From what I see in this post, I don´t think you should be worried about your language skills, so don´t let that stop you....

Sorry for the OT comment, I´ll leave your AAR thread ASAP

/Robert

[Fornadan]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg
CVL Ryujo (48/12/26)
Most notable was the ability of some B-17s in the PI to drop a bomb on the Ryujo, amazing but true. An enemy submarine has already been sunk which is nice, and while the Nevada is the only 'confirmed' kill from PH, two other battle ships took multiple torps and bombs, and are probably out of action for a bit. Overall Pearl Harbor attack was about average to maybe a little better than average.

Urk, not good at all.
Will she make it to port?

[FeurerKrieg]

Hard to say... fires an float damage both, but with the bad luck of getting hit by a B-17, maybe we are due some good luck in getting this tug back to port. [8|]

[AlexCobra]

Just remind me the fact, that in duration of war B-17's were disastrous in bombing naval targets, so considering the chances for B-17 to hit ship from 15000 feet (it was turn 1, remeber?), Ryujo was VERY unlucky. With such luck I will not be suprised if it sink a couple of turns later (fingers crossed[:)]).

Alex off.

[FeurerKrieg]

Report for December 8th, 1941

Expansion proceeds as planned. Several air strikes against naval assests in the Khota Bharu area, and Wake resists capture. Legaspi, Vigan, Aparri and most importantly, Khota Bharu all captured today.

Anti-air capabilities of the ships in the Khota Bharu area performed extremely well, allowing no enemy aircraft to land hits on our valuable vessels.
Total reported allied bomber airstrikes, and losses:
Blenheim IF x 6
Blenheim I x 36, 5 Damaged, 1 Destroyed
Hudson I x 15, 5 Damaged, 3 Destroyed
Swordfish x 9, 7 Damaged, 1 Destroyed
Vildebeest IV x 6, 4 Damaged, 1 Destroyed
Blenheim IV x 7, 2 Damaged

Ryujo continues to steam home, fires are being brought down, but not out yet. Current status is (49/24/10) from yesterday's (48/12/26).



Feurer Krieg Command Area Operations Report:
SAA/SEF - Units have boarded transports and will disembark for north coast of New Guinea this turn. SEF ground forces spending time preparing for objectives.

4th Fleet - In the south, units are holding at Juluit until US CV's are located. Mavis patrols have been arranged to cover a very large area of the 4th Fleet's area of responsibility.
Wake Island continues resistance, the 5th NLF from Saipan has loaded and will sail for Wake at full speed. Also, 4 Furutaka class Cruisers and 4 Destroyers are enroute to bombard Wake into submission. Part of the invasion escort force already present at Wake has been reassigned to bombardment activities as well.[center] [/center][center]Furutaka Class Cruisers enroute to Wake Island.[/center]
Additionally, KB is steaming west towards Wake at full speed to provide air cover for the cruisers and 5th NLF, if US CV's attempt to interfer with Wake operations, they will be dealt with immediately. Once Wake has been captured, KB will sail south. A picket of RO subs has been established east/southeast of Wake also.

Ships unloading at Wake received incoming shells - hits on the Cruiser and Destroyer Yubari and Yayoi produced no damage, however the cargo ship Kongo Maru was hit and damaged significantly, with some fires still on board (40/10/10). It has been dispatched with one escort back to Saipan for repairs.

Submarine Ops -
Mines places at Singapore by I-122.
I-121 enroute to lay mines at Rangoon.
I-123, while enroute to lay mines at Tarakan was hit by a Do 24k-2. Sub is still afloat with no fires (22/38/0), and will try to return to Saigon for repairs.
I-124 has taken over the mission of mining Tarakan.
Other subs enroute to stations near their respective float plane equipped spotters.

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report December 9, 1941
No major battles to report, an Allied destroyer was hit by Sallys off of Alor Star, pilot reports critical damage, but that report is unconfirmed.
Buffalo's and Blenheim's were driven off by Oscars and Zeros before they started their bombing runs over Khota Bharu.
A lone Val attacked an Allied DD outside Hong Kong hitting in the attack, hopefully with significant damage.
SS S-41 was depth charged off Vigan, hit multiple times, but kill not confirmed.
Allied Perch sub reported hit by Mavis patrol plane south of Legaspi.


Feurer Krieg Command Area Detail:
Guam was captured easily, and the South Sea Detachment promptly set about reloading to head off to Kwajalein, where it will prepare to head south for the Gilberts or points beyond.
Destroyers Bombarding Wake came under fire from shore guns and took several hits. DD Yayoi took the worst of it, and it is questionable whether she will make it to Kwajalein for repairs. DD Mochizuki and DD Oite also took hits, but should return to Kwajalein without problems.
The Kongo Maru (damaged yesterday at Wake) was attack by Allied sub while returning to Saipan, but was not damaged. Its escorting DD was unsuccessful in locating the enemy submarine.

In other areas, some Base Forces are being shuffled around a bit, and forces are continuing on to their planned objectives.

Damaged ships status:
DD Yayoi 85/45/13 (Wake)
DD Mochizuki 14/7/2 (Wake)
DD Oite 3/2/2 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/9/2 (Wake)
I-123 22/30/0 (Borneo)
CVL Ryujo 53/28/4 (PI)

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/10/41
2 Allies subs spotted in S. China Sea, SS Seal confirmed sunk, SS Tarpon escapes unharmed.
Various air action, large strike on Clark destroyed several Allied aircraft. Due to commander oversight (ie - Feurer's newbie mistake) DD's are sent in alongside CA's to bombard Wake and get badly damaged by coastal guns. The heavies took several hits and took only surface damage. 3 DD's however were badly damaged and have heavy fires going - unlikely they will make it to a friendly port.
Ryujo's fires nearly out, continues to head for home.


Feurer Krieg Area Report:
Bad weather forecasts in the south will hopefully keep the New Guinea invasion forces covered while they proceed to their landing points. Engineers dispatched for Wewak and Biak Island, should land one day after bases have been secured by landing forces. Airfield construction will begin immediately upon arrival at both bases.
Surface combat fleet dispatched from Ponape to Truk to assist with Rabual assault.

Sub Ops: I-124, while en route to Tarakan to lay mines, hits AK Escalante R with two torpedos. Convoy appears to have no escort, and I-124 will continue on to Tarankan, which is where the AK convoy seems to be heading as well.
Floatplane onboard I-15 spots BB south of Pearl, 3 KD6 class subs nearby will take position acrossed its spotted heading. I-123's fires are out, at 26 float, maybe will make it home.

Damaged ship report:
DD Uzuki (Wake) 46/33/45
DD Yuzuki (Wake) 43/41/22
DD Oboro (Wake) 48/27/22
DD Mochizuki (Wake) 14/0/0
DD Yayoi (Wake) 90/52/5
AK Kongo Maru (Wake) 40/5/0
CA Furutaka (Wake) 4/0/2
DD Oite (Wake) 3/0/0
SS I-123 (Borneo) 22/26/0
CVL Ryujo (PI) 54/31/1

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/11/41
Things fairly quiet as preparations and buildups continue.
Allied sub S-41 confirmed sunk near Batan Island. Nates see air-to-air combat in China - 19 P-40B's versus 6 Nates, 2 P-40B's destroyed, 5 damaged, no Nates lost or damaged.

Feurer Krieg Area Report
Landings at Sarmi and Balak, those bases should fall tomorrow. Landings also nearing for other New Guinea bases down to Wewak.
Orders sent out for Phase I of Rabaul operations. Timetable as follows:
12/14
TF 93, carrying 22nd Special Base Force to sail from Palau for Admiralty Island
TF 101, carrying Maizuru 1st SNLF to sail from Kusaie Island for Tulagi, then onto Guadacanal after Tulagi is secure.
2 TF's carrying 24th NLF and 66th Nav Gd to sail from Truk for Admiralty Island
12/15
2 TF's carrying 4th NLF and 8th NLF to sail from Truk for Emirau
12/17
TF carrying 7th Nav Constuction Bn to sail from Truk for Emirau

Engineers will begin airbase construction upon landing, NLF forces will rest for 3-7 days and continue prepping for assault on Rabaul.

Sub Ops:
Lost contact with TF south of Hawaii. I-124 was successful in mining Tarakan, and will head to Sasebo to reload.

Damaged Ship Report
DD Yayoi 93/57/2 (Wake)
DD Uzuki 67/38/20 (Wake)
DD Oboro 55/32/9 (Wake)
DD Yuzuki 44/48/6 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/2/0 (Wake)
CA Furutake 6/0/0 (Wake)
CVL Ryujo 54/30/0 (PI)
SS I-123 22/19/0 (Borneo)
DD Mochizuki and DD Oite safely back to port in Kwajalein

[AlexCobra]

Good day.

GA is back here again.

Actually I prefer to keep silence (especially when I get nothing valuable to say), but now with this amount of sake/beer I can't keep myself off flooding.

The overall course of war actions is going as planned so far, no mistakes yet from our side. I need to praise adm. Feurer and gen. Mantill for their dedicated and complete treatment of their war theaters... althrough we're not nearly at victory yet.

Considering my direct part of Pacific ocean, here's what I'm doing now.

Landings in Aparri and Vigan have definite success. 65th Bde and 48th Div will continue their advance forth. Aparri airfield will be used as a prime airbase for our aircrafts on striking Clark and Manila as soon as support units arrive there - within 5 days. Legaspi base is capruted as well and will be the target for Philippines Expeditionary Corps (under my direct command) consisting of 3 infantry divisions.

First invasion TF gone to Brunei. Another one is finishing preparations and will go to Kuching. The only thing that slow the Borneo invasion is lack of escort ships, wich will be dealt in a week.

In not-so-far plans is Mindanao invasion; Support TF is ready, consisting of 3 CVL/CVE's, 3 BB's and screens. It will escort transport TF to Davao or such to obtain precious airfields deep inside DEI.

General Mantill is fighting overwhelming forces in China and Malaysia; but the High Command have utter trust in his capabilities in dealing with such threats. He assured HC that he is really able to deal with anything tricky Allies can withstand. He's planning few outflank maneveurs in Burma and China regions and with full support of High HQ is considering deep assault operation *Classified*, wich can cause a real pain in the back for Allied generals. We hope he will succeed.

Alex off.

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/12/41
Dutch Subsmarines north of PI causing some stir.
Two AP's hit by torpedos, the AP Oridano Maru is not a terrible concern since it only has a small amount of supplies on board, but the AP Terukuni Maru is certainly a worrisome hit as the entire 14th Army HQ, including Gen Homma are on board! Neither ship has sunk yet, but they are heavily damaged and on fire. We can only hope that the Terukuru makes it to Vigan and gets the General and at least some of his staff unloaded before the ship sinks.
[center][/center][center]Terukuni Maru, with 14th Army HQ on board, is hit by an Allied torpedo.[/center]
A paradrop on Wuchow did not go as well as hoped, as contrary to previous recon, the base was defended much more heavily than believed, and the para regiment was forced to retreat out of Wuchow.
In other action,allied AK Taurus hits a mine laid only the night before by I-124 at Tarakan, and is heavily damaged.
In assorted air action, including some flak-intensive low level strafing attacks in China, air losses on both sides occured as follows (destroy/damaged):
Allies
P-40B (4/1)
P-40E (1/0)
P-35A (1/0)
B-17C (1/1)
Buffalo (1/0)
Blenheim IF (1/0)
Blenheim IV (0/3)
I-16C (1/3)

Imperial Air Forces
Nate (3/1)
Sally (2/3)
Lily (0/6)
Nell (1/5)
Betty (2/5)
Sonia (3/20)

Feurer Krieg Area Report
Bases captured at Sarmi and Balak. Those units loading up to head for points further northwest on the island.
Troops on the ground at Wewak, Aitape, Dagua, bases should fall tomorrow. Cloud cover continues to be heavy in the southern areas which can only help our invasion plans.
Bombardment forces heading to Marcus to refuel, so that they will be able to continuously shell Wake while reinformcents are unloaded in a couple days.

Sub Ops:
Mines successfully placed at Rangoon.
The damaged I-123 continues to make progress toward Saipan.

Damaged Ship Report
AP Oridono Maru (63/83/24) (PI, sub)
AP Terukuni Maru (43/77/44) (PI, sub)
DD Yayoi 92/66/0 (Wake)
DD Uzuki 70/48/7 (Wake)
DD Oboro 55/34/2 (Wake)
DD Yuzuki 44/51/1 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/0/0 (Wake)
CA Furutake 8/0/0 (Wake)
CVL Ryujo 53/32/0 (PI)
SS I-123 22/9/0 (Borneo)

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/13/41
ASW groups toss depth charges at Dutch subs, but no hits as far as we can tell. AP Oridano Maru sinks with a small amount of supplies on board. 14th HQ and General Homma are still afloat, but it is almost assured that their vessel will sink as it pulls into port tomorrow evening. With any luck, some of the group will be able to put to lifeboats and make it to shore.
Allies in Mayala throw whatever air units they have at our ships, to very little avail, although one torpedo did manage to hit the Sakura Maru at Songkhia, but the ship is empty and at port, so it should recover fine.
Non-Ops Air Losses
Allies
P-40B - 9
P-40E - 3
Swordfish - 1
Buffalo - 9
Blenheim I - 4
PBY Catalina - 1
I-16C - 3
Vildbeest IV - 6

Imperial Air Forces
A6M2 Zero - 1
Ki-27 Nate - 4
Ki-21 Sally - 3
Lily - 1
G4M1 Betty - 6


Feurer Krieg Area Report
Bases captured at Hollandia, Dagua, Wewak, and Aitape. Wewak airbase expansion already started (2%).
Cloud cover continues to be heavy in the southern areas.
Bombardment forces refueled and rearmed at Marcus, and moving full speed to Wake. 5th NLF should land in two days.
Phase I Rabual troops are loaded and set to leave port over the next three days per the timetable.


Sub Ops
The damaged I-123 reaches Saipan and puts to port for repairs.
Enemy AP spotted northeast of Hawaii, moving towards Pearl Harbor. 5 subs in the area are deployed to try and tag it.

Damaged Ship Report
AP Terukuni Maru (58/93/18) (PI, sub)
DD Yayoi 92/75/0 (Wake)
DD Uzuki 72/54/4 (Wake)
DD Oboro 55/30/0 (Wake)
DD Yuzuki 44/60/0 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/0/0 (Wake)
CA Furutake 8/0/0 (Wake)
CVL Ryujo 53/37/0 (PI)
SS I-123 in port at Saipan, Sakura Maru in port at Songkhia.

[MarcA]

Weekly Assessment of Operations on Mainland Asia: 7th Dec to 15th Dec, 1941

General mantill


With the greatest repects I submit my assessment of operations on mainland Asia for approval by the high command

Malaya: With predetermined landings at Khota Baru and Songkhia the coarse of this campaign has to some extent been fixed. Landings went smoothly with the week seeing significant build up of troops and support personel at K. Baru and Songkhia. Within the week both cities have become operational airbases. Enemy air action has to the greater part being inefffectual, substantial allied air losses have led to hits on three ships, 1 AP and 2 AK's. Two were empty and while all three are in transit for repairs all three stand a signficant chance of being saved. Our forces now stand poised to roll up the British forces in Malaya.

Submarine activity around the peninsula has been negligible with no attacks and one sub sunk of Kuantan.

Burma: Our forces currently advance to positions in order to engage the Indian divisions in Burma. Poor weather over our bases in Indo China prevented the evacuation of Victoria Point.

China: Typical Chinese aggressiveness has led to a signifcant increase in activity wihtin the China theatre at this time. Chinese counter invasions occured at 2 points, 8 Chinese Corps entered Canton and four corps entered Nanning.

Fortunately the Hong Kong attack force was still in position at Canton and were able to resist this aggressive thrust. This has meant the speed of the attack at Hong Kong has slowed, though not been postponed. Several divisions are en route to Canton with the aim of the destruction of the Canton attack force. To this effect the LOC and retreat route for the Chinese corps in Canton have been cut by elements of the 1 st paras.

Several units have been ordered to Changsha in order to cut off this significant source of supply for the Chinese, with the eventual aim of capturing the city. Our troops would have been in the city this week but with typical disregard for the lives of there own troops, Chiang Kai Shek order a lone corps from Changsha to intercept our forces on the eve of entering the city. This corps was shattered and pushed to a position where it can no longer influence events in the city. The sacrifice of the corps gained the Chinese in Changsha three more days while our troops reorganise and advance again.

Build up of troops also proceeds outside Yenen, with the aim of entering the city to capture it.

As a footnote; our stated aim of reduction of the American Volounteer Group has experienced signficant success. While intel figures are hazy we estimate a reduction in operational performance of approximately 40% in the first week of our campaign.

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/14/41
Dutch subs, KXIII is sunk, KXV is hit, and likely will sink.
[center][/center][center]Prewar Photo of KXIII, sunk 12/14/41 by Japanese Depth Charges[/center]

Portions of 14th HQ were rescued from the sinking Terukuni Maru, and Gen Homma has not been reported lost, but likely there is very little of 14th HQ left.
[center][/center][center]Staff members and officers of 14th Army HQ evacuate the sinking Terukuni Maru.[/center]

As General Mantill detailed, Imperial CAP grows stronger over Malaya, although the Miyako Maru and the Hakutetsu Maru were both hit today.

Non-Ops Air Losses
Allies
P-40E - 9
Buffalo - 3
Blenheim I - 4
PBY Catalina - 2
Vildbeest IV - 1

Imperial Air Forces
Ki-21 Sally - 1
G4M1 Betty - 6
Ki-15 Babs - 1


Feurer Krieg Area Report
Wake Island shelled heavily, landing forces should land tomorrow night.
Rain forecast everywhere in the south Pacific, so KB will take a day or two to fix up some system damage in port.
Phase I Rabual ops continue.
Gilbert Islands invasion forces moving into final position for invasions on 12/16.


Sub Ops:
Several Allied TF's spotted on a curving course north of the SF to Pearl Harbor line. Perhaps these are Allied ships hoping to avoid subs by not going straight to Pearl. In any case, all subs in the area have targets and are moving fast to try and engage while outside of any enemy air cover.

Damaged Ship Report
DD Yayoi 92/88/0 (Wake)
DD Uzuki 73/61/1 (Wake)
DD Oboro 55/28/0 (Wake)
DD Yuzuki 44/61/0 (Wake)
DD Shirayuki 7/0/0 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/0/0 (Wake)
CA Furutake 10/0/1 (Wake)
CL Tenryu 5/0/0 (Wake)
CVL Ryujo 53/36/0 (PI)

Cruisers taking some hits off Wake, but mostly ineffectual. One or two AA guns are off line, and one 5in gun has been hit. These ships will likely head to Tokyo for full repairs as soon as Wake has been secured.

[FeurerKrieg]

I've gone back and added a little color to a few of my posts with some photos. I'll try to add them when I initially post from now on, hopefully several months down the road it will make reading through the AAR seem a little more 'real'.

If you haven't already, please go back and take a look!

[FeurerKrieg]

War Report 12/15/41
Plenty of submarine action today on both sides.
As expected, Dutch submarine KXV sunk. Additionally, the S-36 was located and sunk north of Aparri.[center][/center][center]Dutch submarine, KXV in Soerabaja, 1940[/center]

[center][/center][center]USN SS S-36, Newly built at San Francisco[/center]

Non-Ops Air Losses
Allies
P-40E - 9
I-16c - 3
Buffalo - 2
PBY Catalina - 2
Blenheim IV - 1
Swordfish - 1


Imperial Air Forces
G4M1 Betty - 11
Ki-21 Sally - 3
Ki-27 Nate - 1



Feurer Krieg Area Report
Wake Island shelled heavily again. Landing forces did not land as expected, thus the 51st Nav Gd was destroyed when they charged the defenders alone. 5th NLF should certainly land tonight, hopefully they will fare better agains the Wake defenders.
Overcast conditions everywhere in the South Pacific, so KB will stay in port one more day.
Phase I Rabual ops continue, forces for Admiralty and Emirau are given green light to land. Zero's have transfered to Wewak and can thus cover any air interference coming from Rabual or Port Moresby.
Gilbert Islands invasion forces moving into final position for invasions on 12/17.
Lastly, the DD Yayoi expired while enroute to Kwajalein and sunk.


Sub Ops:
A few sub actions here last night and today:
In the nighttime, west of San Francisco, I-20 scored a hit on a tanker (the William H. Berg) loaded with oil or fuel (probably fuel, it was headed to Pearl), igniting the cargo and heavily damaging the ship. The I-20 then left safely as it seemed no escorts were present.[center][/center][center]Tanker afire after being hit by the I-20. [/center]
Near the Phillipines, the RO-34 located the AK Escalante R, which had been damaged by the I-124 a few days prior, and finished it off with two torpedo hits. It was confirmed sunk.
In the daytime, the I-22 bravely, and successfully hit the AK Susan Luckenbach, but was then detected by escorts, depth charged and destroyed. The first Japanese sub lost in this war.[center][/center][center]The I-22, sunk after a successful attack on a US cargo ship.[/center]
However, both the AK and TK that were hit are quite far from either Pearl or San Francisco and will hopefully sink before reaching friendly ports. If their escorts decide to leave, IJN subs will try to help along the sinking process.

Damaged Ship Report
DD Shirayuki 7/0/0 (Wake)
AK Kongo Maru 40/0/0 (Wake)
CA Furutake 10/0/1 (Wake)
CL Tenryu 5/0/0 (Wake)
CVL Ryujo 53/36/0 (PI)
DD Uzuki, Oboro, and Yuzuki in port at Kwajalein.
DD Yayoi, sunk enroute to Kwajalein.

[marky]

very cool and interesting AAR

fun to read[:'(]

how do u do it with 3 ppl on 1 side tho lol?

hotseat?

that must be hard lol[:'(]

andrews map mod looks great

im gonna install it as soon as my grand campaign is over

and considering i just started like a week ago on december 7th and its already december 17th 1942, that shouldnt be too long[:'(]

[FeurerKrieg]

You just send the turn around after doing your own little area of coverage, just don't end the turn unless you are the last guy on your team. It is kind of nice, since I can do a turn in 30 mins or so on an easy day, since I don't have to worry about much stuff.

I like subchaser's map, makes things much prettier, but it is a matter of opinion.