Logistics in the Pacific - USSAmerica (A), Mike (J)

[Mike Solli]

Yep, I'm still working on this game. It takes me a looooong time to get the first turn ready. I'm going to do Ted's turn during/after breakfast and then work on this one some more. I'm just about done with the SRA, then Cent Pac and Malaya. I've never had any real luck in Malaya. We'll see what happens this time.

[RangerJoe]

Something to remember, the US removed the Purple machine from Hawaii to give away but did not keep Kimmel nor Short informed of the intercepts so they could make their own decisions. It was Short's responsibility for the safety of the base, it was not Kimmel's job.

Also, it was an Act of God which kept the USS Enterprise out of port, they were returning from a mission and were slowed by a storm . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBt-ewflKNo

I posted the above on Mike's AAR but I will add this.

Move fast, airlift paratroopers to Indochina then paradrop onto Singawang, Fast Transport a base unit and an Air HQ there to maintain the base and to provide torpedoes. Another parachute unit to cut the rail line into Singapore to Malaysia while you invade Mersing . . .

An AF level of 2 will allow bombers including Nells and Bettys to fly with torpedoes. Without torpedoes but with torpedoes set to the ordinance on Naval attack, they will carry the full bomb load which is good for all but the Prince of Whales and the Repulse.

Another paradrop onto a base two hexes away from Sian, it has an AF of 2 and you can bring in other light units including some Air Support. There is another base a little farther on to help cut the flow of oil to Chungking. Race to Nanchang, I do believe that is the base, and go after Chungking before you wipe out many Chinese units. Just cut them off and bottle the up. Kill the Chinese units after you capture the two main bases where the spawned units appear.

[Mike Solli]

7 Dec 41

Sub War

My first change was to send the 5 midget carrying subs to other targets. Thought I'd mix thing up a bit. Two of them were able to reach their new targets, Lahaina and Hilo. Both ran aground. [8|] But, something good did come from it. The I-16, at Lahaina, shelled and torpedoed the AG Antares, sinking her.

In the past, I would keep just about all of the sub starting around Hawaii in that area to catch whatever I could. It usually amounted to damage to my subs for little enemy damage. I left maybe half a dozen in the area and the rest went to other venues.

My RO class subs will head to SE Fleet area, per normal. I'm sending half a dozen to 5 Fleet, close to a dozen fleet/Glen subs to SE Fleet. Only a handful will patrol off the US West coast, primarily to get Mike to escort his convoys. A few will wander around the SE Pacific area and a handful each to find the convoy routes to Perth and the Indian Ocean AO.

5 Fleet

Nothing....yet.

4 Fleet

Pretty much the only thing here was in the Hawaiian Islands. I detached Kaga and sent her to the SRA to give the carriers there a little extra punch. The 5 remaining carriers of KB hit Pearl. The Vals went after the airfield. (I hate wasting 250kg bombs against the BBs.) Of the Kates, only 4 daitai launched in the morning with one carrying torpedoes and the other 4 carrying bombs. Here was the result:

Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N2 Kate x 90
D3A1 Val x 101

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 8 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 61 damaged
P-40B Warhawk: 4 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 27 damaged
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 105 damaged
PBY-5 Catalina: 3 destroyed on ground
O-47A: 8 damaged
O-47A: 2 destroyed on ground
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed on ground
R3D-2: 2 damaged
SBD-1 Dauntless: 19 damaged
SBD-1 Dauntless: 2 destroyed on ground
B-18A Bolo: 25 damaged
B-18A Bolo: 3 destroyed on ground
P-36A Mohawk: 20 damaged
P-36A Mohawk: 5 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 18 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
A-20A Havoc: 14 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 1 destroyed on ground
C-33: 2 damaged
C-33: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB California, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
DMS Perry, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Chew, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 24
Runway hits 53
Port hits 11

Only a DMS and DD were sunk. Amazingly, only one Kate was lost to flak! [X(]

In the afternoon, the remaining Kate daitai launched, carrying bombs:

Afternoon Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 92 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 39 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N2 Kate x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 1
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Cassin, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Jarvis, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Port hits 2

Nothing else reported to have sunk, but 1 or maybe 2 additional DDs may go down. They don't seem to like 800 kg bombs.

KB will head to Wake and should get in range in 3 days. The invasion fleet from Truk (a NG and SNLF) should arrive about the same time. KB will support the Wake invasion then move to the SE Fleet AO.

The nice thing about this attack is that there still are ~4.5 carriers worth of torpedoes available for future missions.

SE Fleet

Nothing happened here yet, but I'm not messing around. I've never been able to take Pt. Moresby in any game I've played. I've got 144 IR moving toward Rabaul and 4 ID prepping to load to invade Pt. Moresby. Surface forces headed to support them will be KB, 2 BBs and the 4 Aobas. I do have small invasion forces of small infantry forces and AS heading to Manas, Kavieng and Shortlands Island for starters.

SRA

I was more aggressive in this game than ever before. Today I invaded the following and will take them all on 8 Dec:

Puerto Princessa: Will prevent short range planes in the Philippines from using this base to island hop out.
Lingayen: Main landing in the Philippines. 65 Bde, some arty, engineers and 14 Army HQ.
Vigan: Small invasion to take the airfield so short range fighters and 1E bombers can be based there.
Cabanatuan: Paradrop. I took it in a shock attack today. This cut off the northern half of Luzon, along with a few units that I'll clean up later.
Jolo: A couple small infantry units along with some AS and engineers. I'll base Zeros, Betties/Nells & recon here and build it up to a level 4 airfield as soon as possible.
Davao: A couple small infantry units along with some AS and engineers.

I was concerned with what Mike would do with Boise and Houston, and Marblehead and her attending DDs to a lesser extent. I sent a cover force of CAs Maya and Ashigara, CL Natori along with 4 DDs, just in case. On their way there, the cover force ran into the Scout, Thanet and Thracian high tailing it out of Hong Kong 4 hexes NW of Vigan. They sank two of the DDs and heavily damaged Thanet in the engagement. In return, DD Nagatsuki took a couple of shell hits heavily damaging her at 30-39(21)-56(32)-0. She's limping back to Takao and will make it in 3 days baring any unforeseen events. The cover force and invasion force made it to Jolo and disgorged its troops and a little supply. It turned out Boise ended up 1 hex SW of Jolo, Houston is 2 hexes W of Jolo and the Marblehead TF is about 6 hexes to the west. I'll take Jolo tomorrow, but they don't have much supply. I'm leaving an xAKL to offload supply, but the rest of the cargo ships are running north toward Puerto Princessa until the area can be secured. If I were Mike, I'd send all 3 TFs to Jolo. We'll see what happens.

Later in the day, Vals from Kaga sank the Thanet. At first I was upset that Kaga tipped her hand, but that may work to my advantage. Mike probably knows there's at least 1 fleet carrier in the SRA. (No CVL or CVE has Vals right now.) Maybe he'll just run. We'll see. Kaga (and Ryujo, who's trying to catch up) will be in range of Jolo, so sticking around can be hazardous tomorrow.

Malaya:

I've never been able to successfully invade Mersing, so I went all in for Mersing today. 5 and 18 ID, 2 tank regiments and whatever else I could scrape up went for it and they all landed today. I was REALLY worried about PoW/Repulse going there, so I sent the 2 Kongos, along with 4-5 CAs, 2 CLs and about a dozen DDs as a cover force. I must have tested various configurations a couple dozen times and decided to go with whatever I could get there. I had them all meet the BBs and merge with them. It turned out the Brits all fled south.

I'll take Mersing tomorrow and am having the 2 tank regiments, 5 & 18 recon regiments & an infantry regiment in reserve with orders to pursue. I'm not sure the infantry will actually pursue them but the armor will. They'll then attack on the 9th.

My troops are about 99% landed, so the landing is a success.

Finally, I invaded Singkawang. The troops landed, along with a little supply, but Force Z is in range of them. I'm having the invasion forces flee, leaving an xAKL behind to drop off some supply and be a sacrificial lamb in case Force Z get's frisky. If they do go to Singkawang, I have some Betties just in range of Singkawang to be able to torpedo them. Not likely, but possible.

I have other invasion forces headed out, but it'll take awhile for them to reach their destinations. More on that later.

Burma

Nothing yet. Troops are headed in that direction though.

China

Troops are headed all over. The only attack was at Pengpu, where a weak Chinese Corps and a Japanese IMB start. The Chinese were easily pushed out with heavy losses.

Other Stuff

Not much right now. Overall, I'm happy with the results, but things will get more dangerous tomorrow. Mike has a few places where he can disrupt things now that he knows where I'm going.

While I didn't sink any US BBs, 6 of the 8 are heavily damaged and the other two took some damage. They're out of the war for awhile. Possibly 3 US DDs have sunk, which is a nice loss of escorts for awhile. KB lost only 2 Kates! That's amazing!

Anyway, I want to get this out. I'll talk more about other things later.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Mike used his long range Chinese bombers (5x DB3Ms) to hit the oil at Formosa, destroying 6 of 8 fields. Ah well. Such is life. I stationed a chutai of Zeros there in case he tries it again tomorrow.

[btd64]

Nice start Mike. Mersing is a gamble. How is Florida?....GP

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: btd64

Nice start Mike. Mersing is a gamble. How is Florida?....GP

Yes, Mersing is always a gamble. The big question is whether or not the pursuing armor will succeed in its follow-up attack on 9 Dec.

Florida is wonderful. Today is a short travel day to visit my wife's sister. Tomorrow, we leave Daytona Beach and head to Edisto, SC for the relaxing part of the trip. We've been there many times and have done all the touristy stuff. It's more of a relaxing time. I'll have more time to dedicate to games.

I've been out of the AAR business far too long. Missed a lot of details. Here are the ship losses. I suspect there are 1-3 more US DDs and a DMS gone as well.

[Mike Solli]

Japanese air losses. I have never had so few losses. The RNG smiled upon me. Not so much with enemy ship losses though.

You'll see there are Pete A2A losses. I used them as CAP over Mersing, along with Oscar Ia & Ib and some Zeros, all on LRCAP.

[Mike Solli]

And Allied air losses. Nice harvest of Buffalos, though few P-40s. Hopefully that increases tomorrow. [;)]

[btd64]

Still not bad....GP

[Mike Solli]

Mike has been working the turn, around RL and work. He said he'd get it to me this weekend. No hurry. (That's a lie. [:D]) Anyway, I'll post what I've landed (or will land) in various important places.

Mersing:
25 Army HQ
5 Division - still broken down - explanation below
18 Division - still broken down - explanation below
41 Regiment/30 Division
91 Naval Guard
1 Tank Regiment
6 Tank Regiment
18 Med FA Regiment
3 Med FA Regiment
3 Ind Man Gun Regiment
20 AA Regiment
34 Field AA Battalion
4 Ind Engineer Regiment
15 Ind Engineer Regiment
23 Ind Engineer Regiment
5 Field AF Construction Battalion
53 Construction Company
54 Construction Company
55 Construction Company
11 Shipping Engineer Regiment
18 JAAF Base Force
21 JAAF AF Battalion
84 JAAF AF Battalion
5 JAAF AF Company

I'm keeping the 2 infantry divisions broken down in order to maximize the number of units that can pursue. I usually combine divisions as soon as possible because larger formations fare better in combat than smaller formations. This won't be an issue here because the only enemy units in Mersing are a reduced Aussie brigade and an AA unit. The two divisions WILL be combined before they move into Singapore.

My idea is to pursue with the two tank regiments and the two recon regiments from the divisions. I also set the 41 Regiment to pursue. I'm not sure if an infantry formation will pursue, but there's nothing to lose. The attack will succeed due to overwhelming numbers even without the 41 Regiment.

Singkawang:
I/143 Regiment
16 Naval Guard
7 Field AF Construction Battalion
6 JNAF Company
8 JNAF Company
9 JAAF AF Company
33 JAAF AF Company
85 JAAF AF Company

My goal is to station Zeros here after the base is liberated. Then, increase the AF from level 3 to 4 so I can station some Nells or Betties there to help control the seas in the area. Yeah, I know, no torpedoes. I'll fly/ship the 22 Air Flot HQ in as soon as I can.

Puerto Princesa:
15 Naval Guard

The goal here is to prevent US short range aircraft from using this base to island hop out of the Philippines.

Davao:
Kure 1 SNLF
1 Naval Construction Battalion
1 JNAF Company
2 JNAF Company

Initial beachhead in Mindanao and station some naval search and fighters here. I'll probably send a couple tank regiments and a couple infantry units here to take Mindanao.

Jolo:
Kanno Det
Tanaka Det
28 JAAF AF Battalion
40 JAAF AF Battalion

Station Zeros and Nells here. Only 24 engineers in the invasion force. Not sure if I'll spend the supply to increase the airfield from 3 to 4.

Vigan:
24 JAAF AF Battalion

Fighter base.

Lingayen:
14 Army HQ
65 Brigade
Sasebo 1 SNLF - will reinforce Cabanatuan.
9 Ind Heavy Art Battalion
8 Med FA Regiment
2 Ind Art Mtr Battalion
15 Ind Art Mtr Battalion
3 Ind Engineer Regiment
21 Ind Engineer Regiment
3 Eng Construction Battalion

Main invasion hex.

Cabanatuan:
1 Yokosuka SNLF (para)

This base was taken on 7 Dec. Taking it and Lingayen will cut Luzon in half.

Future invasions

Legaspi (11 Dec):
Miura Det

Antimonan (12 Dec):
Kimura Det

They’ll pinch off anything in the peninsula, then combine to the 33 Regiment, which will combine with the rest of the 16 Division units to form the 16 Division.

Mauban (13 Dec):
9 Regiment
20 Regiment
16 Recon Regiment
16 Engineer Regiment

This is the rest of the 16 Division.

Lingayen Reinforcement (15 Dec):
113 Regiment
148 Regiment
56 Recon Regiment
56 Engineer Regiment
56 FA Regiment

The remaining regiment (146) is at Babeldaob and will begin loading for movement to Lingayen to form the 56 Division. The 3 main formations to take Luzon are 16 Division, 56 Division and 65 Brigade. I’m in no hurry here. 5 Air Division will assist, along with 21 Air Flotilla. 23 Air Flotilla will move to SE Fleet AO and 5 Air Division will follow them upon the complete liberation of Luzon.

Namlea (11 Dec):
II/81 Naval Guard
3 JNAF AF Unit

Forward fighter/recon airfield.

Ternate (11 Dec):
4 Engineer Company
5 JNAF Company

Forward fighter airfield.

Pt. Moresby:
4 Division
8 Base Force

I’ve never taken Pt. Moresby in a game. I’m not messing around this time. I’ll begin loading the division on 9 Dec on xAPs so it’ll be awhile.

Rabaul (18 Dec):
144 Regiment
15 Base Force
6 JNAF AF Unit
10 JNAF AF Unit
35 JNAF AF Unit

Gasmata:
7 JNAF AF Unit

In the SE Fleet AO, the 4 Division will move on to take Merak and clear out that area then on to the SRA. 144 Regiment is part of 55 Division and will eventually work its way to Burma. Other smaller infantry formations will backfill (SNLFs, NGs and a regiment that I buy out). KB will top off at Truk after supporting the Wake invasion. Then they'll head here for awhile.

Ponape:
33 JNAF AF Unit

Air bridge between Kwajalein and Truk.

Wake (12 Dec):
Maizuru 2 SNLF
53 Naval Guard

They won’t land until KB arrives to give them support.

Tabiteuea (10 Dec):
51 Naval Guard

A necessary grab in this area. It’s too important to the Allies.

Ocean/Nauru Islands:
61 Naval Guard.

Adak (16 Dec):
7 Base Force
5 JNAF AF Unit

I like to grab Adak before the Allies can get something there. I’ll buy a regiment to send there as soon as possible.

That’s the list of the main invasions currently planned. Phase I.

[Mike Solli]

Oh yeah, I have 48 & 2 Divisions loading as my operational reserve. At least one of them will end up in Malaya, but not sure which one yet. In addition, IG Division is heading to Malaya to fight its way south, killing off the dregs that get cut off from Singapore.

[Nomad]

The Inf unit will pursue, just not as fast as the armor ones.

[Mike Solli]

Very good. Thanks, Nomad.

[RangerJoe]

If you can, get your armoured regiments to pursue the Allies into Singapore along with a division or more. The armoured units should make it right away and then you don't have a shock attack. The division should show up the next turn in case there is a counter attack.

[Mike Solli]

Joe, you're sneaky! Good idea!

[btd64]

As the allies I like to get Adak Island asap. It's a good sub base....GP

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Joe, you're sneaky! Good idea!

Actually, I read it in another AAR. But by following the armoured force with an infantry division, that should wreck any counter attack while also keeping the armour pretty much intact for an attack. Those armoured forces alone can reduce the fortifications but are better off supported by infantry divisions with their engineer forces as well as the artillery.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: btd64

As the allies I like to get Adak Island asap. It's a good sub base....GP

Exactly why I want it. [;)]

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Joe, you're sneaky! Good idea!

Actually, I read it in another AAR. But by following the armoured force with an infantry division, that should wreck any counter attack while also keeping the armour pretty much intact for an attack. Those armoured forces alone can reduce the fortifications but are better off supported by infantry divisions with their engineer forces as well as the artillery.

In my testing, the Aussies always retreated to Johore Bahru. About 50% of the time the 4 armor units would win that battle the next day, cutting Malaya from Singapore.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Joe, you're sneaky! Good idea!

Actually, I read it in another AAR. But by following the armoured force with an infantry division, that should wreck any counter attack while also keeping the armour pretty much intact for an attack. Those armoured forces alone can reduce the fortifications but are better off supported by infantry divisions with their engineer forces as well as the artillery.

In my testing, the Aussies always retreated to Johore Bahru. About 50% of the time the 4 armor units would win that battle the next day, cutting Malaya from Singapore.

Yes, but the armour can also cut the grey road / railroad hex to the west. Then a massive army can march on Jahore Bahru with the armour and an infantry division in reserve with pursuit for the attack.

Don't forget, if you don't capture Singkawang with paratroopers that a Fast Transport will do so and look like a SCTF - which it then becomes. You can even have it going somewhere else with a midway stopping point at Singakawang to drop off the troops including air support. Then the Betties and Nells can fly from there. If they are set on 1000 feet with torpedoes, with no torpedoes available they can and will carry a full bomb load on a Low Naval attack at 1000 feet. The only thing is, the POW and Repulse are not bothered much by those bombs but everything else is and you have that many more chances to hit.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Updated thoughts on R&D:

Oscar to IIIa. 3 R&D will remain R&D.
Tojo to IIc. 6 R&D, 4 will remain R&D.
Frank to r. 12 R&D, 9 will remain R&D.
Ki-83. 12 R&D. ? will remain R&D depending on when it becomes operational.
Helen to IIa. 1 R&D will remain R&D.
Dinah NF. 3 R&D will remain R&D.
Patsy. 0 R&D, will eventually have 6 R&D.
Peggy (T). 0 R&D, will eventually have 6 R&D.
Ki-115. 0 R&D, will eventually have 6 R&D.

Sam. 12 R&D. ? will remain R&D depending on when it becomes operational.
George to K1. 12 R&D, 9 will remain R&D.
Rufe to A6M5c. 4 R&D will remain R&D.
Judy to Y4. 3 R&D will remain R&D.
Grace. 3 R&D, 1-2 will remain R&D.
Jill to B6N2. 3 R&D, 1-2 will remain R&D.
Myrt NF. 3 R&D, ? will remain R&D depending on when it becomes operational.
Shinden. 0 R&D, will eventually have 12 R&D.
Francis. 0 R&D, will eventually have 3 R&D.
Toka. 0 R&D, will eventually have 6 R&D.

Until it changes later. [;)]

Edit: Forgot the George.

Mike, following your discussion closely. Always very informative.