Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[Anachro]

I cannot overstate how exposed this CV fleet is...and I know its path of retreat. I wish I had the combat report from a few days ago (it weirdly disappeared from the PC), but there are around 3-4 CVs and 5-6 CVLs in his task force...and its only 10 ships...and recon continually shows CVs, no surface ships. It only has 1-2 escorts in it at most.

EDIT FOUND IT was wrong about the TF composition



Recon continually shows one TF of a much smaller size: 10 ships, however. I'm not sure this is the actual composition any more as it was a few days back when he hit my carriers.

This has been what recon has shown for days.

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Force Black...rested and waiting.

At the risk of stating the obvious, consider the benefits of breaking your SCTFs into smaller battlegroups with similar orders. Chewing through another TFs ops points is a lot easier than wearing down endurance

[Anachro]

The TFs were always planned to be broken up. CA/DD, CL/DD, DD...speed dependent. I have situated subs to pickoff any damaged stragglers between Male and Addu. Hopefully things go as planned. Does anyone know the # of sorties used up in a strike? Per plane?

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

The TFs were always planned to be broken up. CA/DD, CL/DD, DD...speed dependent. I have situated subs to pickoff any damaged stragglers between Male and Addu. Hopefully things go as planned. Does anyone know the # of sorties used up in a strike? Per plane?

per plane per flight is my understanding

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Cheesesteak

ORIGINAL: Anachro

The TFs were always planned to be broken up. CA/DD, CL/DD, DD...speed dependent. I have situated subs to pickoff any damaged stragglers between Male and Addu. Hopefully things go as planned. Does anyone know the # of sorties used up in a strike? Per plane?

per plane per flight is my understanding

CAP is a variable on sortie usage. Just flying cap without combat takes a number of aircraft to use up one sortie, but I think if they get in combat then ammo usage means one sortie is used per aircraft. Sorties use both ordnance and avgas.

[Anachro]

April 22nd, 1943

Not much to report. An ineffectual bombardment of Colombo. Supply still coming in. This is the position it goes. Which direction will John take?

[BillBrown]

I believe that it will never say more than 10 ships, no matter how many there are. I don't remember seeing a display that said more than 10 ships.

[BBfanboy]

Do what Commodore Harwood did - he had three suspected paths for Graf Spee's next move and he just split the difference and took the middle one. From there you might be in react range of one of the other paths.

[Anachro]

The only contact...everything else went one hex by without reaction. This was the force I put slightly to the left if he moved slightly around the subs. This was my gut reaction to what'd he do. Should have set all my ships as such.

Day Time Surface Combat, near North Male at 19,40, Range 19,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi
CV Amagi, Shell hits 1
CV Hiryu
CV Soryu
CVL Karasu
CVL Ryukaku
CVL Aso
CVL Mizuho
CVL Nisshin
CVL Chitose
CVL Chiyoda
CVL Kushiro
CA Maya
CA Chokai, Shell hits 4, on fire
CA Haguro, Shell hits 2
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
CA Seiki
DD Makinami, Shell hits 2
DD Naganami
DD Tamanami, Shell hits 1
DD Suzunami
DD Onami
DD Maikaze, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CS Sukai, Shell hits 2
CS Norikura

Allied Ships
DD Nepal, Shell hits 2
DD Van Galen
DD Pakenham, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Le Casque, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
DD Lafayette, Shell hits 14, and is sunk

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Anachro
The only contact...everything else went one hex by without reaction. This was the force I put slightly to the left if he moved slightly around the subs. This was my gut reaction to what'd he do. Should have set all my ships as such.

Did you put your SCTFs to patrol the target hex, or just to move there? Patrol guys consistently react much more than those ordered to move to the hex

[Bif1961]

If you have a few more surface TFs that can react it looks like u r starting to peel away the layers of the onion. He has 5 CAs but only 6 DDs makes the TF vulnerable to several attacks by opposing CL and DDs TFs. Damn him with torpedoes full speed ahead.

[Anachro]

Sorry for the delay. Busy in real life. Will talk in more detail tomorrow.

May 1st, 1943

Landings have successfully taken place at Milne Bay, Tagula Island, as well as the unoccupied islands of Rossel Island and Deboyne Islands. The very good news is that the resistance at Milne and Tagula is lighter than expected. I have 2 divisions and one reserve division for Milne Bay, but it looks certain that the reserve division will not be needed. Moreover, the Americal Division didn't unload today (perhaps no op points, I don't know) and it's debatable whether or not it will be needed. I still have one transport task force to move up and invade Woodark with. Regardless, Milne and Tagula should quickly fall, helping to secure my flank as I quickly move on Port Moresby and Horn Island with other troops. Following this, the DEI... We await the appearance of John's main KB: Ceylon is a sideshow that I hope to not lose, but if he keeps so many forces devoted to that, well, then I will hit his soft underbelly. Heck, I can even bypass Horn Island for now (continually bombarding it), while I send troops already designated for targets in the DEI.

Beyond what you see here, 1200 AV is marked for Port Moresby...I should note, I have a LOT of BBs and BCs here for bombardment.



In previous turns, I sank a bunch of transports and a few DDs (I think 2-3 Akitsuki-class ones) at Port Moresby with air strikes. Acting on intelligence, I also did a port strike at Buin and hit some key Japanese ships pretty hard, which might impact John at least somewhat here.

Morning Air attack on Buin , at 109,131

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 3
B-24D1 Liberator x 9
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 7

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AKE Cormasta, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AD Koshu Maru #2, Bomb hits 1

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 3
B-24D Liberator x 11
B-24D1 Liberator x 3

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AD Koshu Maru #2, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AKE Cormasta, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

[Anachro]

In India, John clearly can't rearm his big boys anywhere close. His battleships seemingly have to move back to Burma. For now, my heavy bombers have been focused once again on destroying his airbases. A lot of Japanese planes have been destroyed on the ground in the past week. My bombers, of course, have taken some attrition. I have two strong BB task forces at Trivandrum. I'd love to place them at Colombo, but the airfield is too weak there to place fighters to protect them. If I get a gap in which to do so, I will move them to create fortress Colombo once again. Additional surface forces are on their way to reinforce my forces here.

John has a LOT of troops outside Colombo. 40k troops in the hex to the northeast, which I bombed last turn given they are in a clear hex. A point of frustration: in the past week, I have had subs attack CV Akagi and CV Soryu - both misses.

Morning Air attack on 67th/A Division, at 29,47 , near Colombo

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 23

Allied aircraft
Beaufort I x 6
Blenheim VD x 19
Liberator II x 6
Wellington Ic x 6
Beaufort VIII x 10
B-17E Fortress x 3
B-17F Fortress x 12
B-24D Liberator x 15
B-24D1 Liberator x 18
B-25C Mitchell x 10
B-25D1 Mitchell x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort I: 1 destroyed
Blenheim VD: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Liberator II: 1 damaged
Beaufort VIII: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
B-17F Fortress: 3 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-25D1 Mitchell: 11 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
1287 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 55 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)

[HansBolter]

So John's only real victory from all of this waste of resources was to sink three carriers?

You obviously have the upper hand in this operation.

Instead of evacuating his army on Ceylon when he had the chance he sent them deeper into Indian country to have their Little Big Horn moment.


Once his retiring carriers are too far away to react in time I would be laying nuclear bombardments on all his coastal bases, including Addu.

Strike hard while his fleet is back in Burma rearming.

[Anachro]

He will waste resources there. He might even stay committed to Ceylon as that is a place of potential victory for him. But it will come at a price: if the majority of his surface fleet stays there, I can brute force my way into the DEI. He's also wasting a LOT of fuel there.

Turn is to John. I send my reserve division back to Australia so it can reset target for a new location; it'll not be needed. The Americal division will stick around, but not unload; I'm waiting to see if I take the place next turn or at least have very good progress towards that effect. I expect Tagula to fall and then fighters will be offloaded from AKVs there. In Ceylon, I take a gamble and move a strong BB force to Colombo under the protection of LRCAP and CAP placed at Colombo. I do this because half of John's CVs moved southeast back towards Burma. The other half might stay in range and could suffer from a good CAP trap. John won't set his forces to a range to hit Trivandrum, but he might not expect my force going in range of Colombo.

As for other things, I hope my ASW is doing some work on John's subs...

OPERATIONAL REPORT FOR May 01, 43

a Japanese SS is reported HIT
TBF-1 Avenger from VT-6 attacking SS I-76 at 99,135
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
SS RO-61 is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
a Type KD8 class SS is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
TBF-1 Avenger from VT-5 attacking SS I-74 at 100,135
TBF-1 Avenger from VT-5 attacking SS I-70 at 101,134
SBD-3 Dauntless from VB-71 attacking SS I-70 at 101,134
SS I-70 is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
Albacore I from No.827 Sqn FAA attacking a Japanese SS at 104,135
a Type J1 class SS is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
SS RO-61 is reported HIT
SS RO-61 is reported HIT
SS RO-66 is reported HIT

[Cheesesteak]

Nothing quite like seeing an enemy CV in the periscope, only to have it slip away. Keep it up, your hunting will pay off eventually!

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Anachro
In India, John clearly can't rearm his big boys anywhere close.

If cargo loads are not touched in this mod, he can always have a company of AKEs steam together with the main CV force or come to the port of choice from elsewhere. It takes 1-2 turns to disband, reload combat TFs, then undock and sail away from your bomber radius.

[jwolf]

My guess is that until very recently, John did not assemble AKEs anywhere near Ceylon because he didn't need them, holding Colombo. It might (??) take him some time to regroup to bring together these assets.

[Bearcat2]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

.................... The Americal division will stick around, but not unload; I'm waiting to see if I take the place next turn or at least have very good progress towards that effect. ...........................................

Wow, Americal is at Milne? unloaded? in range of all those Japanese airbases?

[Anachro]

@Bearcat The risk is worth it; I have very strong CAP over Milne Bay; moreover, I have many, many capital ships that would soak up damage before the divisional transports took them. The benefit of not unloading is that if they are not needed, I can quickly send them back home without having to reload, which puts them in danger for a lot longer and at risk of those same airfields. My carriers can't provide CAP forever.

May 2nd, 1943

A decent turn. My transports unload unhindered into the night and next day at various bases. While I fail to take Milne or Tagula in the first round of attacks, the initial forays are very encouraging . The bases should fall soon enough. Given this, I will send any and all reserve forces back to Australia. The 32nd ID left last turn and will soon begin prepping for new targets. The Americal division leaves for home this turn. John does try an airstrike this turn, but his bombers are massacred by my CAP. Transports heading to Australia will quickly be reloaded with forces set for Port Moresby. Replenishment carriers are bringing planes up to replenish my carriers. I need to take the islands, take Woodark, and get planes on the ground so I have CAP to protect my forces while I bring in additional supplies.

Transports also seem to be flying to Milne Bay and my CAP downs 26 of them in addition to the bombers John sent at me.

a Type KD6A class SS is reported HIT
a Type C1 class SS is reported HIT
SS I-76 is reported HIT
a Japanese DD is reported HIT
SS I-74 is reported HIT
SS I-76 is reported HIT
SS I-76 is reported HIT
a Japanese SS is reported HIT
a Type J3 class SS is reported HIT
a Type KD5 class SS is reported HIT
SS I-74 is reported HIT
a Type K6 class SS is reported HIT