Meanwhile, in another corner of the multiverse (No Dmitry Z zone)

[John B.]

However, here is where the bullet was dodged! He engaged my carriers three (3) times! Unlike the IJN which moves to protect the CVS in surface combat my guys were more than happy to go toe-to-toe with CAs and BBs. Crazy jerks! But, even though there were multiple hits on the Lady Lex and on several other carriers there is no serious damage at all! Phew!! Each flight deck is still operational.

[John B.]

Here is what made it to Suva. Looks like I have 3 CLs and some DDs that can still dish out some damage (the Dutch were the only surface group that did well account for three destroyers). Plus the ships in the CV TFs.

[John B.]

And here is the tactical situation. As you can see, the CV TFs never made it to Suva and there are IJN ships all around, but, recon does not show very many of them and at least two are the damaged IJN CAs. The strategic goal is to get the supplies into Suva on the merchant TFs that are about 7 hexes or so out and to not lose the CVs. I have 6 flight decks, the ships in Suva and the AK TFs. These are the options that I see.

For the Carriers:

1. Fly the CV wings to Suva and use them there while the CVS dash home. This is kind of a tempting idea.

2. Have the CVs dance around and attempt to finish off IJN survivors while attracting airstrikes which they can hopefully fend off.

3. Have everyone run away.

For the Suva ships.

1. Use the ships in Suva as surface TFs to try to get the AKs into Suva.

2. Use the Suva ships to try to bombard Nadi again.

3. Have the Suva ships crank it up and try to flee.

I suspect that Demitry will be back out again with his surface ships. His port is level 3 but I'm sure he has ships there to rearm. While the Kirshima may be hors d' combat the Mutsu was also floating around and only seems to have taken 2-3 hits.

[John B.]

So, I came up with a new option. I have two CA TFs hunting those damaged IJN CAs near the carrier TF. I've merged the carriers together into on TF they will head west, then south, then east to try to wind up in the shallow water hex two hexes east of the "i" in Fiji. This way, with range reduction on my carrier DBs and TBs I hope to be able to catch anything that is trying to block the AKs and not attack Suva. The AKs, meanwhile, will head south and then back north to basically wind up where they are now and hopefully avoid any surface TFs sent out to intercept them. The fighters on Suva are going to stand down this turn to try to rest and make them available to sweep Nadi next turn if things go better than the 14th of July. My ships in Suva will rest a turn and then come out next turn to try to escort the AK TFs into Suva. If Dmitry can't rearm then I might have a chance. If he can, well, I can sit around for two years and not do anything while I rebuild my navy.

[CaptBeefheart]

Thanks for the screenshots. I was going to say naval losses were fairly balanced (except for the Hornet), but 7 CAs lost last turn has got to hurt.

On the bright side, you are doing pretty well in the air war.

Good luck in the next few days, which could have far-reaching repercussions.

Cheers,
CC

[Bif1961]

I am curious why your carriers didn't conduct any airstrikes against his damaged surface forces? With 470+ aircraft I thought maybe they would have been set to naval strikes.

[John B.]

They were set to naval strikes. I have no idea why only the British torpedo bombers flew (it was them who got the hit on the Jap CA) and the only American planes that flew were the one SBD squadron that flew into 120+ fighters at Suva. I really have no idea why my other american squadrons did not fly against the ships that were right next to them.

And, the cascade of bad news continues. This time it was the fact that I had three different subs shoot and miss and one sub shoot and hit, but it was a dud. The one Jap Sub that shot sank the Chicago (which makes for 8 CAs down). I told Dmitry that selling his soul to the devil so that his subs hit and mine miss was likely not the best long term strategy.

so, what the hell, if the game is going against me won't be the first or last time. A bit of a hail Mary, I sent most of the carrier fighters to Suva and they're on maximum CAP. The carriers are heading back to NZ and any surface ship I have back there is heading to Suva to try and shepperd home the convoys that have about 40,000+ supplies in them. I put the absolute best commanders on each ship and we'll see what happens. Maybe the dutch cruisers can bail me out.

barring more bad sub news I may (just may mind you) wind up with all of my carriers.

[John B.]

Actually, since I lost 7 CAs last turn and only 1 this turn the trend is clearly in my favor!!

[John B.]

July 1942. A very bad month for the US Navy and not a good month for the Japanese air force. As you can see, he went with the air this time and the carrier fighters I have on Suva managed to prevent any serious damage. I also did not lose any ships this turn. True, my subs missed three more times[:@] but the absence of pain can start to feel like pleasure. [:'(]

Interestingly, there was no movement from his very large fleet in Nadi. I can only pray that he can't refill his shells for CLs and higher. It's a level three port so I'm just not sure. The one piece of naval good news is that my AKs etc.. are all in Suva so they'll get at least some unloading done. I have three surface TFs in Suva to try and hold Dmitry off and we've pulled out Arliegh Burke and the other top naval commanders for each TF and ship. No use in saving them for later.

He does have a new surface TF heading my way, we'll see what it does. Hard to think that I could do worse in a surface engagement, but those are could be famous last words.

[John B.]

The sun'll come out tomorrow ...

[John B.]

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun. . .

[John B.]

Sorry, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun . . .

[John B.]

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow . . .

[John B.]

You're only a day awayyyyyyy.

[John B.]

This game is going to kill me and quickly. An amazing series of highs and lows. Apparently my cobbled together damaged surface TFs found their mettle and took out at least three Jap CAs and a DD for the cost of two DDs. It's still a naval victory for Dmitry (and he really is a no holds barred opponent) but this evens up the losses or at least gets them to 2-1. The airwar over Fiji has thus far, been very good with his losses in the past 4 turns at 200+ planes. And, a nice victory in China where the lines are still holding.

The most important thing here is that Suva has been resupplied. That was the whole point of this exercise and this turn I managed to offload about 24K of supply with another 20 or so in the ship holds. However, Dmitry does have a fresh surface TF that just showed up including a BB so I may disband the AKs for a turn just to see if he brings in the big boy.

My carrier TF is almost to Auckland but it has not yet made it home (I'm paranoid about subs now). And, I have a whole lot of damaged surface ships in Suva.

It seems to me that someone is trapped on Suva, we're just not sure who.

[BBfanboy]

This looks exactly like Guadalcanal IRL - both sides have lodgement they do not want to lose, both sides suffering heavy losses and racing to build up land/air strength and unload supply. The Japanese are going to hurt most because of their air losses which will make all their naval and land ops risky.
The question will be decided by player resolve and the ability to bring in replacements for lost ships and aircraft. Don't flinch, you should have the clear advantage in the replacement column. Be Halsey, not Ghormley!

[Bif1961]

The comparison to Guadacanal is interesting, since the US started out by losing several CAs and had to pull supplies out early as the carriers fled south; history repeating itself? It did end well for the US though, maybe it will for you as well you just have to find your Halsey nerve.

[John B.]

I have to say that Dmitry (like Scott) is Halsey all the way! He's not backing down and I"m not either.

My assets are 2 damaged CAs and 5 damaged CL/CLAAs plus about 10 damaged DDs at Suva. Suva also has a level 5 fort, 1200 artillery pieces, the carrier fighter wings and the army airforce. At or near New Zealand I have a BB, 6 DDs and 5 CVs. There is really nothing else in So Pac combat ship wise. But, while Demitry has taken fewer losses I think many of his surface units are badly damaged. And, his airforce has taken brutal attrition these past few days. He has 71 ground units on Fiji and my guess is 4 divisions, at least two tank units and lots of artillery pieces.

And, at some point the KB will be back. I don't know how long his ships are tied up in refit but he does still have other carriers. So, I"m trying to get as much supply as possible in while I can.

My CVs also need to go through their upgrade cycle. The Lex and Saratoga, for example, are past due on the June 42 upgrade which will take them out of commission for a month and I have the short term upgrades for the other carriers.

My plan is to use the carrier air wings on Suva to establish air control and then bomb his ships by flying in the CV dive bombers. It depends on whether or not Demitry can shut down the airfield with shore bombardments. His BBs are one shot wonders since they have to head back to Rabaul to replenish. He has few CA/CLs (I hope) that can bombard due to losses and battle damage. If I can keep the airfield going I win this battle. If not, Demitry does. There are two differences with Guadalcanal. 1. Dmitry has an airfield right next door so he can contest my control of the air. 2. Fiji is a lot farther away from Truk and Rabaul so it takes lots of extra time/fuel for him to resupply his forces and reup his capital ships.

[Bif1961]

True, him having an airfield right next door is a huge advantage he has over the historic position of the Japanese and he can help resolve his issue with fuel and rearming by bringing them in on AEs and AOs, stationed out of your zone of air attack. Shutting down his airfield should be your mission as he will try to shut yours down. How you decide to do that is solely in your hands, but losing Fiji, with everything on it will be costly to either side. This has turned into Fijigrad.

[John B.]

Perhaps you're wondering where the Yamato is? I know, its right there off shore bombarding my airfield Suva along with two other BBs. Ay yi yi yi. He did a massive shore bombardment on Suva this turn that shut down the airfield and destroyed 24 planes. Then, it was shock assault time with, as it turns out, 8 divisions at least 4 tank regiments, the guards infantry regiment, numerous independent regiments and lots of artillery battalions. The result....