Matrix Games Forums

19 Aug 43

3 US YMS went to Soerabaja. Some mines were swept, but all ships were hit by coastal guns. 2 of the YMS sank after combat. 59 mines were cleared, but there are still more. They will have to wait until after Soerabaja is captured.

Dutch sub O18 fired 4 torpedoes at CVL Ryujo near Balikpapan. All missed. O16 was hit by a depth charge and will head to Darwin. Gunnel got a dud torpedo hit on SC Ch 36 near Muntok.

27 Lilys attacked the Australian paratroopers at Soerakarta, causing 15 casualties. 25 Thunderbolts on range CAP from Tjepoe tried to intercept, but didn't get there in time. After the bombs fell, the Thunderbolts shot down 9 Oscars which were on some type of CAP over the base.

Later, 17 SBDs with 27 Hellcats tried to hit the enemy armor at Soerakarta, but missed. The enemy then attacked:

Ground combat at Soerakarta (53,103)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 264 troops, 0 guns, 52 vehicles, Assault Value = 42

Defending force 544 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 19

Japanese adjusted assault: 20

Allied adjusted defense: 28

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
4th Tank Regiment
1st Ind.Tank Co

Defending units:
1st Aus Para Battalion
1st Aus Para Bn /2

The Australians won't hold for long, taking all of the casualties. B-25s will try to bomb them today. Reinforcements are still a couple of days from arriving.

Today's plan is for all of the Allied carriers to move towards the Celebes and try to strike the enemy carriers near Balikpapan. The Allied carriers were not spotted today. If the enemy carriers stay near Balikpapan, there will be a big carrier battle. Allied carriers include 9 big carriers: Saratoga, Lexington, Wasp, Yorktown, Victorious, Hornet, Enterprise, Essex and Dewey. 3 CVLs and 7 CVEs are also there. There are 5 carrier task forces. Each one has a fast battleship in it. 2 combat task forces that had guarded Tjepoe are now absorbed into the carrier task forces, beefing up the AAA. Carriers carry the following:

18 Sea Hurricanes
54 FM-1s
377 F6Fs
46 F4Fs
71 SB2Cs
225 SBDs
218 TBFs

Half of the naval strikes are set for 11k. The other half are set at 12k. The only exception is one squadron of 9 TBFs with 18 FM-1s are set for 2k, to either sneak in low or draw down the CAP. I like a good Yogism.

Kolaka and Makassar will participate. Kolaka has 49 SBDs and 20 F6Fs, with 17 F4Us to sweep Balikpapan, and maybe knock down some ranged CAP. Makassar has 61 SBDs and 16 F4Us, with 20 P-38s to sweep Balikpapan.

I don't know how many carriers are near Balikpapan, but I think that we have the advantage. The enemy can fly CAP over the carriers from Balikpapan, but I'm doing the same from the Celebes.

Flying Fish was bombed and damaged by a Judy in the Philippine Sea, far away from any land base. At least one carrier is there, and headed towards Babeldaob or Mindanao.

Up until now, my strategy has been to continue pressing forward with invasions, doing so mostly in multiple areas and landing where the enemy carriers are not. I'd land quickly, and exit the area quickly, allowing the enemy carriers to show up and temporarily control the seas, but not until after I've landed and taken my objectives. I've said all along that I'd eventually fight the big carrier battle on my terms. Today is the day.

Is it wise to engage KB + LBA after your bombers have already suffered heavy losses? What do you figure is the balance of carrier numbers now?

The Japanese fighter pilots on CAP just might be worn out after shooting down all them planes. [;)]

I lost 20-some SBDs the other day. They came from the Celebes, not my carriers. The Japanese lost more Lilys that day. My squadrons are well-stocked and ready to go. My AAA is much better. I don't know which side has better pilots. I'm guessing that the average carrier fighter pilot skills are about the same. Any elite pilots that the enemy has from the start will be better. The enemy lost about 3 Zero squadrons over Rangoon long ago. That depleted some pilots. I have some very good pilots, and some average ones. As for plane types, the Hellcats can handle the Zeros.

Of course, anything can happen. In our last carrier battle, the Allied task forces became separated and my CAP assignments did not take that possibility into account. This time, each task force can cover itself, as much as possible.

Time to wait and see what happens. The enemy could panic and leave the area, not seeing my carriers yesterday. Or they could advance, knowing that most of my shipping has left Tjepoe. Anything can happen.

OPilot wasn't able to do the turn today. He did watch the replay. I know that he doesn't fast-forward through any parts of the replay, so he may have spent hours watching it, if there was a huge battle. I have a feeling that we had the huge carrier battle that I sought. But I won't know until later tomorrow.

Good luck!

Cheers,
CB

ORIGINAL: apbarog
The Australians won't hold for long, taking all of the casualties. B-25s will try to bomb them today...

Cheers for being creative on the moral support front! Those Aussies need some discipline to be useful [:D]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: apbarog
The Australians won't hold for long, taking all of the casualties. B-25s will try to bomb them today...

Cheers for being creative on the moral support front! Those Aussies need some discipline to be useful [:D]

Sorry about the unfortunate mis-type! The Aussies have a tough job, trying to hold the inland base, cutting the rail line. We're doing all we can to help them. It's a race to see if they can hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved! (Brit reference, but it works)

ORIGINAL: apbarog

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: apbarog
The Australians won't hold for long, taking all of the casualties. B-25s will try to bomb them today...

Cheers for being creative on the moral support front! Those Aussies need some discipline to be useful [:D]

Sorry about the unfortunate mis-type! The Aussies have a tough job, trying to hold the inland base, cutting the rail line. We're doing all we can to help them. It's a race to see if they can hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved! (Brit reference, but it works)

"Hold until relieved." From the movie "The Longest Day", after the Brit commandoes capture a bridge behind the D-day beachhead and the commander surveys the scene while his orders play out in his thoughts. I am trying to remember if it was Sean Connery playing the Brit commander.

I sensed that this was going to be a big turn, and it was. I'd been waiting for this. After having the US carriers essentially split into two groups for most of the war, I had combined them for the invasion of Java. Yesterday, they successfully escorted most of the valuable APAs out of harm's way, and found themselves in a position to strike at the enemy carriers that had essentially stayed in place for about 5 days, hovering near Balikpapan. And the US carriers were not spotted. I pulled the trigger and moved within range of where the carriers were...

And now for something completely different...

The most important thing in war...LOGISTICS!

Supply and fuel continues to be delivered to Darwin and Sydney from the West Coast. Sydney now has 288k fuel and 928k supply. Darwin has 1,053k fuel and 475k supply. Those are the two big concentrations in Australia. Supply and fuel is not an issue.

As for the big battle, that update will have to wait until tomorrow.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: apbarog

ORIGINAL: GetAssista


Cheers for being creative on the moral support front! Those Aussies need some discipline to be useful [:D]

Sorry about the unfortunate mis-type! The Aussies have a tough job, trying to hold the inland base, cutting the rail line. We're doing all we can to help them. It's a race to see if they can hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved! (Brit reference, but it works)

"Hold until relieved." From the movie "The Longest Day", after the Brit commandoes capture a bridge behind the D-day beachhead and the commander surveys the scene while his orders play out in his thoughts. I am trying to remember if it was Sean Connery playing the Brit commander.

Sean Connery (a Scotsman) portrayed an Irish Commando who came ashore on D-Day. He said that it took an Irishman to play the pipes.

Richard Todd portrayed Major Howard at the bridge. He actually was one of those who went to the relief of the paratroopers at the bridge during the war.

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: apbarog




Sorry about the unfortunate mis-type! The Aussies have a tough job, trying to hold the inland base, cutting the rail line. We're doing all we can to help them. It's a race to see if they can hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved! (Brit reference, but it works)

"Hold until relieved." From the movie "The Longest Day", after the Brit commandoes capture a bridge behind the D-day beachhead and the commander surveys the scene while his orders play out in his thoughts. I am trying to remember if it was Sean Connery playing the Brit commander.

Sean Connery (a Scotsman) portrayed an Irish Commando who came ashore on D-Day. He said that it took an Irishman to play the pipes.

Richard Todd portrayed Major Howard at the bridge. He actually was one of those who went to the relief of the paratroopers at the bridge during the war.

Gotta love it when the casting people work a real life connection into the roles!

Kind of mean to your readers to tease the big CV battle and then talk about logistics! [:D]

20 Aug 43

Battleships Mississippi and Idaho bombarded Kendari. 551 casualties but no combat squads, all support. Moderate base damage. Three more slow BBs to bombard today, in preparation for the first deliberate attack at Kendari.

25 Sallys tried to bomb Ankang. 25 P-40N1s were waiting. Almost all Sallys were shot down.

Now for the main course.

15 Corsairs swept Balikpapan, downing some Zeros. 35 B-24s dropped mines at Balikpapan.

In the morning, the enemy carriers were spotted right where they were yesterday, adjacent to Balikpapan. All Allied task forces were now six hexes away from the enemy carriers, but not spotted. The Allied CVE task force reacted one hex towards the enemy. No carrier planes attacked from either side, presumably due to weather.

In the afternoon, the Allie CVE task force again reacted, moving another hex closer to the enemy. The fireworks began as they always do, with the Japanese striking first. (The strikes are really simultaneous. The Japanese strikes always get listed first.)

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Madjene at 65,102

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 47
B6N1 Jill x 59
D4Y1 Judy x 52

Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 18
F4F-4 Wildcat x 28
F6F-3 Hellcat x 49

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 9 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 17 destroyed, 4 damaged
B6N1 Jill: 2 destroyed by flak
D4Y1 Judy: 7 destroyed, 10 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 6 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
Sea Hurricane Ib: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Corregidor, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CVE Barnes, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Anzio
CVE Santee, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CL Marblehead
BB Prince of Wales, Torpedo hits 1
CVE Breton, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Hermes (hit by a dud torpedo)
CVE Altamaha, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Massive explosion on CVE Breton
Ammo storage explosion on CVE Breton

CVE Breton sank right after combat. The second enemy strike went after the big US carrier task forces, and found a much stronger CAP.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Madjene at 65,104

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 37
B6N1 Jill x 25
B6N2 Jill x 15
D4Y1 Judy x 42

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 164

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 6 destroyed
B6N1 Jill: 13 destroyed, 1 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 5 destroyed
D4Y1 Judy: 12 destroyed, 4 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 2 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CV Hornet
CV Victorious, Bomb hits 1 (did not penetrate the armor deck)
CV Enterprise
BB Indiana

The next attack was just 9 Jills with 11 Zeros, going after the big carriers. All were shot down before getting to the targets. Still 155 Hellcats overhead.

Time for the Allied attacks.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 64
A6M5b Zero x 22

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 83
SBD-5 Dauntless x 105
TBF-1 Avenger x 90

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 14 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 4 destroyed, 10 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 5, on fire
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires (2 dud torps also)
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Yura
CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CV Unryu
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1
CL Natori
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 1
DD Ushio
DD Asashio
CA Tone
DD Oboro
DD Matsukaze
DD Arare
CA Myoko
DD Sazanami

Fuel storage explosion on CV Hiryu
Ammo storage explosion on CV Hiyo

I had my big carriers split up, with strikes set at two different altitudes. My second strike then arrived.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 42
A6M5b Zero x 13

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 63
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 36
SBD-5 Dauntless x 33
TBF-1 Avenger x 85

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 17 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Unryu, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CV Hiyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Junyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kamikaze
CL Agano
DD Harukaze
DD Kasumi
DD Ushio
DD Kagero, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Yukikaze
CV Hiryu, heavy fires
DD Oboro
CL Natori
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Matsukaze

A third, smaller strike, was next. Enemy CAP was weakening but still got some dive bombers.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 19
A6M5b Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 8 destroyed, 6 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
DD Oboro
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Ushio
DD Sazanami, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Fuel storage explosion on CVL Ryujo

Then a strike from the CVE task force arrived. The Allied pilots were not as trained as the big carrier pilots.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 9
A6M5b Zero x 5

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
FM-1 Wildcat x 36
SBD-3 Dauntless x 15
TBF-1 Avenger x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-1 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Amagi, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Unryu, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Hatsukaze
CA Tone, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Umikaze
CL Agano
CL Abukuma, on fire
CV Hiryu, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CA Chikuma

7 Jills then tried to sneak in, but 148 Hellcats easily prevented that.

Unescorted US bombers then attacked, finding a mostly non-existent CAP. Too bad some of the bombers turned tail and ran.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 4
A6M5b Zero x 2

Allied aircraft
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Sazanami, on fire
CV Junyo, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Oboro
DD Harukaze
CV Hiyo, and is sunk

Ammo storage explosion on CVL Ryujo

Then another unescorted attack, now against no CAP.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 65,98

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 48 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 1
A6M5b Zero x 1

Allied aircraft
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 35

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Harukaze
CL Natori, Bomb hits 3

Fuel storage explosion on CVL Zuiho
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Zuiho
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Ryujo

9 TBFs then tried to sneak in and did so, but all torpedoes missed.

It was a bad day for the Japanese. I was unlucky that the CVEs reacted ahead of the big carriers. Fewer, and maybe none, of them would have been lost if covered by the heavy CAP that the big carriers provided. The CVEs did draw half of the attention, though, and spared the big carriers completely.

Total air losses were:

81 Judys
69 Zeros
98 Jills

29 SBDs
19 TBFs
14 F6Fs
7 SB2Cs
5 F4Us
3 FM-1s
1 Sea Hurri

Only 26 Allied pilots were KIA. 17 naval fighter pilots became aces. One became an "ace in a day". Two became double aces.

CVE Breton did sink. Here's the rest of the damage:

CVE Sangamon SYS 46/FLOT 91-64/ENG 47-31/FIRE 2
CVE Santee SYS 35/FLOT 17-5/ENG 7/FIRE 1
CVE Altamaha SYS 22/FLOT 7-3/ENG 1/FIRE 0
CVE Barnes SYS 55/FLOT 20-6/ENG 2/FIRE 9
CVE Corregidor SYS 14/FLOT 73-57/ENG 12-4/FIRE 0
BB Prince of Wales SYS 11/FLOT 6-3/ENG 0/FIRE 0

Note that not all of the enemy carriers are here. This wasn't everything. It was, pretty much, for me. Big carriers are ordered north, hoping to finish off cripples. The big carriers will do so for just one day, then return to Darwin.

A very nice job. [&o]

It shows what happens when you leave your toys out for too long.

Still, two CVEs or even four for what he lost already and will lose is very good. Just check out the ground losses to see if any of his CVs sank.

"Ground" losses were 12 Zeros, 8 Judys, 10 Jills and a Jake.

So a few CVs probably sank since most of the survivors would have been in the air or already relocated to a land base.

Adding up the hits, I estimate that the only CV/CVL that could have survived is Unryu. Several of the cruiser escorts were also smacked around and could be hiding in port. Go get 'em!

The end is nigh. I hope your opponent doesn't give into Sudden Carrier Loss Syndrome (SCLS).

Well done! I'd say the CVE/CVL TF reacting ahead of the crowd was in your favor. They soaked up sorties which could have dented your CVs. The CVEs that survive will be back in action fairly quickly as opposed to CVs taking torps or deck-penetrating bombs, which take a long time to repair.

That's a good lesson in the need to provide good search around your CVs if you're going to keep them that far forward.

EDIT: Mining the ports? Talk about kicking a man when he's down...[;)]

Cheers,
CB