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4/16/44

Celebes: PBYs from Watampone find enemy carriers up north.

4/16/44

Celebes: A lot more enemy fighters swept - from Balikpapan, Ambon, Kendari, Manado, and Soerabaja. They worked through the Allied CAP, and then a strike came from Soerabaja. Two good ships take damage...but that's the only strike that sortied.

Dave had his carriers set for 8-hex strike (or, they're eight hexes away, anyhow) but perhaps weather foiled his plan.

4/16/44

Celebes: Oh, there was a second strike. It targeted four YMS doing minesweeping duty. I assume Dave had hoped for a full-on assault. If so, he only got dribs and drabs, but he did get the only two decent ships there. I wonder if he knows the rest of The Herd took cover with DS? (I'm glad I cancelled the orders given to transport TF carrying 77th Div. to the base.)

4/16/44

That was it for the day around Celebes. I think Dave had hoped for much more.

The number of sweeps that his guys flew vs. Watampone was staggering. I'd hate to see DS run up against that kind of LBA + KB.

So I'll change things up a bit. Dave is probably expecting an all-out for Watampone now, now, now! I've got enough ashore to hold the base for awhile. So DS & The Herd will consolidate with the incoming carrier reinforcements. As with the period leading to the Timor Sea engagements, I'll focus on a possible carrier battle and working to attrition enemy subs. If the Allies can win this little battle, even while building up the islands north of Timor, the Japanese position in the eastern half of the DEI will be critically undermined.

Battle of Lautuem: The enemy surrenders on the first attack. The Marines weren't even prepping for the base. They're looking ahead.

4/16/44


Celebes: Another vortex developing. The last one turned out well. But Dave's LBA network looks formidable.

Last post for awhile. I gotta go run up Lavender Mountain in the heat, to sweat some and let the mind mull over whatever needs mulling over.

The two damaged AKAs will disband at Watampone. One has light-moderate damage; the other is surely a goner. But supply at the base went from 1k to 3.5k, so their sacrifice meant something.

ORIGINAL: jwolf

If Dave loses Makassar then yes, pretty much the whole DEI becomes unusable for him. So he has to react, as you said. I'm just wondering why he hasn't already done so. Maybe his major ships took more of a beating than you thought, or something else bad happened to them.

He may also be hurting for carrier aircraft. CR had a lot of carrier-capable aircraft on bases in the area to replace his losses. I doubt the Japanese have that luxury.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

4/16/44

Celebes: PBYs from Watampone find enemy carriers up north.

The Frances was a land-based 2E bomber: http://worldwar2headquarters.com/HTML/a ... kaP1Y.html

A lot of IJ players use them for ASW work.

4/16/44

Celebes: A new turn is just beginning. There are two main objectives (jobs): (1) merge the two carrier forces (DS moving east, near Kendari; the reinforcements moving NE, from Koepang; and (2) deal with the sub threat. If these things go well, today, then beginning tomorrow the Allies can begin working on the third "job" - looking at new offensive opportunities.

4/16/44

Celebes: The wolves have the scent. Dave is really vectoring in his subs.

As mentioned yesterday, Dave has done this before: committed big concentrations of subs that have largely gotten chewed up. The most recent was just a couple of weeks ago, in the Timor Sea. When that threat was dealt with, there suddenly weren't any subs around. Now the place is crawling with them. Perhaps he withdrew a large contingent from the group that was guarding the approaches to Sumatra, Port Blair, Malaya.

4/16/44

Celebes: I'm only about 30 seconds into the turn (I'm taking screenies and pausing to post, so you know as much as I do, as each post is made). The interactions between enemy subs and Allied TFs are non-stop. Gulp. Thus far, no shots fired by either side.

4/16/44

Celebes: Opening skirmish of the day.

As the turn begins, I'm wondering if Dave is committing more combat ships and/or his carriers. So far it looks like enemy TF icons are closing towards southern Celebes.

4/16/44

Celebes: I-154 finished off.

Thus far, it appears that DS & The Herd are properly steaming east, to the point SE of Kendari.

4/16/44

Celebes: A previous port strike mission indicated a damaged sub was here.

(A few days ago, a night strike at Kendari sank another sub damaged during the Timor Sea campaign.)

4/16/44

Celebes

4/16/44

Celebes: This is where Tambor fired six TTs at CV Ikoma yesterday, and missed. Tambor took modest damage and then started to the yards at Perth. Peto had been patrolling near Balikpapan but was drawing heavy detection. So I moved her down here.

4/16/44

Celebes: That must've been Tarpon missing Ikoma yesterday, because here's Tambor.

Dave and I are both using our subs but differently. He knows the location and general mission of DS & The Herd. So he's vectoring his guys in on really juicy targets. I have less information about the location and mission of KB, so my subs are more dispersed, with the bulk of them in the Banda and Java seas.

4/16/44

Celebes: The happy audio of an enemy sub hitting a mine, so I paused the turn to check the Combat Report, which confirmed it. The field was sowed by Ariadne, about three turns back.

Then a less happy sight and sound. DS & The Herd have arrived at the point of destination. Yesterday, you may recall, I mentioned my desire to pick a course and destination that Dave might not foresee. Either he did foresee or there's just so many subs out there that he simply covered all possibilities.

Chenango got hit hard by torps awhile back. I can't remember if it was off Port Headland, by enemy sub, or near the Gilbert, by aircraft. If the former, she went to Capetown for repairs. If the latter, she holed up at a dot hex in the middle of nowhere for more than a year, an ARD provided assistance, and then repairs were finished at Pearl.

4/16/44

Celebes