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With two KB forces near Wake his CAP will eat up those PBYs trying to haul in supply. What he doesn't shoot down stand a good chance of being op losses at that range. Wake's isolation works both ways - if he puts troops on there and takes it, he has the problem of trying to keep them supplied and supported. You might not be able to take on a concentrated KB yet, but in six months you will have more carriers, Hellcats and lots of Avengers. Then it will be KB trying to stay safe!

Sorry to all for the delays in posting but we have continued to chug away.

The IJN has now been off of Wake for nearly a month and he has been bashing the poor bastards. six strikes for the concentrated KB, two separate shore bombardments (including yesterdays' from the Mushahi) and my guys were basically out of supply and at 80% disruption. And yet, when the IJA came spilling off of the gunwales they were slaughtered! There is still a unit on Wake but it is not in good shape at all since most of the attackers were just wiped out.

I had managed to put two AA guns ashore who took care of about 35 vals or so (good idea) and had flown in 40 F-4fs who gave the IJN target practice (bad idea). I did get a torpedo into the Soryu and had three (yes three) duds on IJN bombarding BBs. Sigh.

I now suspect that Wake will survive since the KB must be getting short of fuel and bombs having been out there for a long long time. The American KB is just about 20 hexes away and refueled. If he leaves his surface fleet there I'll pounce. If Wake does survive I do have supplies heading its way along with three AKs trapped in port there that are thus far unschathed.

In China he has taken the Changsha triangle of cities and has now advanced to the next river line. Here is hoping that I can hold there for at least a little while.

In Burma I just won two battles and am pushing on. It feels like the tide is turning. More as it develops.

Looks like he tried to land unprepped troops ... [:-]

We interrupt this program of Glen Miller Dance music to bring you an important bulletin from CINCPAC. Early reports today of a carrier battle due east of Wake Island. As yet, there are no reports of casualties on either side. More news as it develops.

And now for the evening news, brought to you by Ovaltene. Preliminary reports of a major carrier clash near Wake are being confirmed this evening as the US Navy is releasing reports of aircraft losses on both sides. It seems that the IJN blundered by sending 50 fighters to sweep over Wake leaving their strike and carriers each with less than optimal protection. The early battle reports for the entire day of fighter show more than 100 IJN planes lost for relatively light US casualties There are reports of significant hits on US carriers, however, as well as at least two torpedo strikes on a US BB CINCPAC promises an update on IJN ship damage within the hour.

And now the late news. Battle casualty reports increased IJN plane losses to nearly 250. Further, the reports from the morning airstrikes show significant damage to the Kaga, the Hiyo, and the Akagi. THere are reports of a fuel explosion on the Hiyo and an ammo storage explosion on the Ryuho. Still no word on US casualties although our sources indicate that several US carriers were hit and at least one was reported to be on fire.

Good morning America. This is your 6 AM news flash straight from CINCPAC. A further round of battles took place between carrier groups yesterday afternoon. The IJN strike was reported to be very weak and no hits on US carriers were reported. The US counterpunch was not as successful as the reports from teh morning, but 3 hits were reported on the Zuikaku starting heavy fires and 2 bombs hit the Hiryu and there are reports of an ammo explosion aboard that ship. In the evening, long range sonar reported sinking sounds and the Naval Intelligence bureau concludes based on airplane losses and damage reports that they Hiyo went to the bottom taking her plane component with her. We are now getting early damage reports from the US side that we will bring to you on the other side of this break for an important word from our sponsors.

CINCPAC reports that while three US carriers have taken significant damage, all are currently operational and capable of flying aircraft (though two just barely). No fires are reported on board US ships. US carriers are reported heading away from the battle area to the North East while the heroic Repulse is heading south west in an effort to heading off any IJN surface interception of the US carrier force. Low levels of fuel on US destroyers are hampering efforts to evacuate the battle area and the US BB (the Washington) is basically stuck having spent most of the night refueling destroyers. If the IJN stays there will be a second day of battle tomorrow but this time the US is likely to have the aircraft advantage having all five flight decks in operation. The heavy loss of IJN planes and potential that 2-3 of the their carriers are out of action puts them in a tough spot. US subs (and presumably IJN subs) are converging on the area in an attempt to round up the stragglers. A US replenishment fleet is approaching Midway and will be in a position to refuel the US carriers in two days.

The marines on Wake, tired and out of supply were reported to be cheering by their radio sets.

This just in, another days battle report has just been recieved. Stay tuned for the latest!

Wow, 100+ Wildcats off on escort and KB was not able to damage you much in return. Looks like proper Midway to me Congratulations!

Great ambush!

You might consider stealing the DDs from the replenishment TF since they will have full AA ammo, and give the AOs Washington and one of your damaged DDs.

The IJN had 20 fighters on CAP for your second strike. They will have a hard time escorting any strikes and protecting their fleet. My guess is they used their fighters as escorts to try and cause what losses they can now knowing that the IJN will be at a numerical disadvantage for the remainder of the war. The pilots and aircraft will not have any better opportunities in the future.

BBFanboy,

I was actually not really expecting a carrier battle. Scott had been keeping his CVs on the other side of wake so I thought I"d sneak in put a hit on his invasion fleet and get the hell out of dodge. Er, wait, I mean I foresaw everything and all went exactly as planned. [:)] I have a DD group heading out from Pearl and they can join up with the CV group. It's the subs that you always have to worry about.

GetAssita, sometimes you just get lucky! I like to think that a lot of top notch IJN pilots are not flying anymore.

The second day results are in. At night the SS Snapper batted clean up and took down two CVs. I suspect that these were going down anyway, but it's always nice to be sure. Kind of like the double tap rule #2 from Zombieland. You're pretty sure it's dead, but one more hit just to make sure. The rest of the IJN, with one heroic exception took off. Given how fast his carriers moved, it appears that the rest may be in okay shape. But, one of them may go down since we don't know if they're still on fire and they are likely to be in drydock for awhile. Several carriers are heading towards Truk. THat's fine with me they can't get fixed up there and they lost a lot of planes. They are out of the war for awhile.

The one heroic exception was a lone IJN DD that put a torpedo into the Washington. In the daylight an AVG put a torpedo into it and it went down.

Phew. Nothing is more exiciting and nerve wracking than a massive carrier battle! This is a great game but those are the real high point.

@ poodlebrain,

Sorry, did not see your post when I put my last one up. You're right. I think that their carriers are badly damaged and not able to fly. Given Scotts reaction of running away I suspect he was not able to do anything the next day. I toyed with the idea of trying to chase him, but I had some shot up carriers and it's only 1943. I figure it's better to try to get my boys into the shop, not have to risk a surface action and then be all the stronger as the Essex class start to join the fleet.

ORIGINAL: John B.
GetAssita, sometimes you just get lucky! I like to think that a lot of top notch IJN pilots are not flying anymore.

Still, this is quite a lopsided battle w/o Essexes against what looks like full KB. Suspect something more than luck might be involved here. Did your opponent attrite his strike pilots a lot in the previous months? What was his air strike, I suspect there was only one?

Having Avengers and 1943 torpedoes helped a lot! With his losses in fighter pilots the soon-to-come Hellcats should be able to take on any carrier force he puts together in future.

I agree with your decision to retire, and I'd bet Raymond Spruance would too. No use squandering any of the pilots who gained useful battle experience in aircraft that will soon be obsolete, or risking capital ships to submarine attacks with your limited escorts. You'll have plenty of time and opportunities to inflict damage on the IJN and Japanese merchant shipping in the coming months as your Navy expands now that you have the initiative following the Battle of Wake Island. I just thought there was going to be a second day of battle given your heads-up, and was voicing my expectations for the combat. It turned out your opponent thought it better to retire as well as he was likely to take a whipping. His only real hope would have been to get to the magic 7 hex range.

The fact that torpedoes exploded made a big difference! I don't think that there were any duds.

One item that might have been a factor was that he had spent the previous 5 days doing ground strikes on Wake. His Vals had taken some heavy losses to AA (35 planes or so) so their morale may have been low and I'm sure that his squadrons were all a little tired from the constant flights. Who knows what effect that would have had on his attack on my CVs. But I'm sure it did not help. But, I really think the biggest thing in my favor was that he did a fighter sweep over Wake with a total of 50 planes for three days before the battle and then on the day of the battle itself. He must have gotten a sinking (no pun intended) feeling when the recon reports came in, the two CV TFs reacted towards each other to a range of 4 and then the first two missions were the sweeps. That is 50 fighters that were not escorting his strike or that were not were not on CAP over his carriers.

He was doing that because I had flown some F-4Fs to Wake. He shot most of them down and I withdrew the rest but I think he was trying to prevent air to air losses on his ground strikes. It's kind of like the torpedo bombers at Midway. Their sacrifice opened up the KB to the dive bombers. Here, the Wake sacrifice inadvertantly opened up the KB to my strikes. One other item in my favor is that a sub put a torpedo into a CV about 5 days before. Scott had two CV TFs there and appeared to withdraw a few CVS to escort the wounded carrier home. That was part of the reason why I was willing to risk a strike at the invasion TF.

Can you post the ship loss record for the last few days to show which carriers sank?

ORIGINAL: John B.
His Vals had taken some heavy losses to AA (35 planes or so
...
he did a fighter sweep over Wake with a total of 50 planes for three days before the battle and then on the day of the battle itself.

Oh, that's 2 major mistakes. Making KB visible and tied in a ground attack for several days in a row in 1943 with alive unaccounted for allied CVs asks for disaster. Which was promptly executed )

BBFanboy, by popular request.