Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

... I always use the request veteran button. I don't leave anything to chance.

+1

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Ted rolled out a new weapons platform here - the B-24. I'm surprised he placed them here and not somewhere where they matter. Five of them hit Dutch Harbor doing no damage.

He may not have had to spend PP's to deploy these here ... ??? maybe?

Pax, to be honest, I have no clue. I'm now (23 Jul) seeing 5x B-24s in the Aleutians and 6 more down in the SE Fleet AO. His main 4E bomber is the B-17 (50-60 daily), along with 6x LB-30s.

[PaxMondo]

Some of the West Coast groups can deploy in Alaska bases without PP I think.  Buying some of those 4E groups is $$$$ .... just speculation on my part here.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

... I always use the request veteran button. I don't leave anything to chance.

+1

I've been noticing I've had to do this lately, as even with the experience modifier showing a number like 70 I can't trust it to pull only air skill pilots into fighter groups. It becomes a lot of fiddling once you start to lose 50 pilots in a day like I have recently!

[PaxMondo]

For me it is a case that TB and DB pilots can only be discerned manually via the vet button.  Since I train those differently, I don't want DB pilots in my TB units and TB pilots in DB units are a waste of training.  For me, DB pilots suffer FAR heavier losses so replacement rates are FAR higher.  So my training program is a lot shorter, no point wasting any unnecessary time.  [;)]

[Mike Solli]

Ok, here goes.....


15 Jul 42

Burma

Rough day over Chittagong for both sides. Overall, I lost 7 Zeros (+3 op losses) and 6 Oscars (+3 op losses) vs. 15 P-40s (+5 op losses). I am definitely pulling out my Zeros and letting my Oscars carry on this offensive. There definitely were some P-40 reinforcements here because I saw 66 of them in the first attack!

SE Fleet

Nothing of note except Ted’s B-17s visited Buna today. They’re hitting the troops there and, fortunately, not doing any permanent damage. I know why though. A unit has moved to the Owen Stanley Mountains between Pt. Moresby and Buna. Invasion! I’ll bomb them tomorrow to get some intel and see what I’m up against. Right now the only combat troops in Buna is a Naval Guard company. The nice thing is that there is no damage to the port or airfield so I can continue to build up the forts, currently at ~2.50.

Australia

I made a mistake here. I decided to go off on a jaunt with the 20 and 38 Divisions and an artillery regiment. They followed the road to the east to cause a ruckus, which they did. They got to within 1 hex of Normanton(?) and Ted sent an Aussie recon bn out to meet and greet them. It got trashed. Ted thought it was a tank regiment. Well, Normanton has 9 units there. I’m not going to risk my divisions so they’re headed back to Darwin. That’s a long walk. Ted decided to send every 2E bomber in range after them. The 20 Division has been spared and is getting away, but the other two units are getting hit repeatedly. They aren’t taking much damage, but the attacks keep changing them from move to combat mode slowing them down dramatically. Ted’s not using any fighters to escort them so I really want to get my units within fighter range of Darwin so I can ambush the bombers. It’ll be awhile unfortunately.

To make matters worse, my tank regiment that took Katherine kept heading south to Daly Waters and was trashed in an attack there. It lost almost half its strength. It’s been retreating north with an Allied unit chasing it. The Allied unit took Katherine and continued north. All Darwin has is an AS unit. I’m flying an SNLF para unit in to Darwin for some defensive strength. I’m also diverting the Merauke invasion force, the 48 Division to Darwin, just in case it’s needed. They’ll remain embarked until I find out what unit is opposing me.

*Sigh* Stupid mistake. [:@]

Other Stuff

I got Hiryu’s Kate Daitai today. It’ll fill up with the B5N1 Kate (18 planes) and take pilots from the reserve and move to merry up with the Unyo, where it’ll increase size to 27 planes. It’ll be a nice addition to MKB.

[Mike Solli]

16 Jul 42

SE Fleet

Well, the land invasion of Buna is the Aussie 6 and 18 Divisions! [X(] I feel I need to contest this. I am going to fly and ship in the Guards Brigade. They have been sitting in Rabaul the entire war drinking sake. They were destined to invade Pt. Moresby, and we all remember how that turned out. I have a Tina daitai, Topsy chutai and Mavis transport chutai in Rabaul that will begin flying the Guards into Buna. In addition, I will send a string of xAKLs in single ship TFs with more troops. Each xAKL can carry 27 infantry squads plus a handful of other squads. I suspect most, if not all, of the Guards bde will get there in time. I’m also shipping in more supply as well.

China

Kweilin was liberated today in a 65:1 attack. Losses were 14(0) Japanese to 1399(86) Chinese. I’ve now cut Ted’s rail line. Kweilin’s infrastructure was intact at Manpower 1(1), Resources 40(0) and LI 40(0). Banzai!

Other Stuff

Paramushiro Jima’s airfield finally reached level 4. That will become an airbase to counter any Allied activities in that area.

[Mike Solli]

17 Jul 42

Sub War

The lone xAKL Heiwa Maru was tasked with shipping supply from Rabaul to Rossel Island, where a level 2 airfield has been built. Just north of her destination, a Dutch sub surfaced and attacked her. Even though the tiny ship was hit by 3x 75mm rounds, she fought back and hit the sub with 2x 80mm rounds, driving the sub off! She finished her mission and will return to Rabaul for repairs. Banzai!!! [:D]

Burma

A Zero daitai has been sweeping Imphal for days. Today Ted decided to contest it. Eight Hurricane IIbs flew and only 4 returned home at a cost of 1 Zero. If you recall, I started production of the A6M3a and shut off the A6M2 factories. My Zero pool is depleted but tomorrow I will upgrade the Zuikaku’s fighter daitai with the A6M3a which will put Zuikaku’s A6M2s into the replacement pool. It’s working perfectly.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report except that my bombers aren’t doing much to the Aussie divisions moving toward Buna. Ted’s 4Es are hitting my troops in Buna and they aren’t doing much either. A Nick did shoot down a B-17 though. [8|]

Other Stuff

The A6M5 research advanced to May 43. With 6x 30 factories researching this aircraft, I expect it to become operational by 1 Nov 42.

[Mike Solli]

18 Jul 42

Quiet day today. We traded a couple of fighters each over Imphal.

There was one important bit of intel that I discovered though. In my daily bombing raid of Merauke by a Helen sentai, I destroyed a Dauntless DB on the ground. So Ted has stationed Dauntlesses there. [:-] More losses for my invasion force when it finally goes in. I upgraded the Zuikaku fighter daitai with the A6M3a and am waiting for the planes to repair. They should be ready in a few days.

Saipan’s forts reached level 6. The engineers there are loading for movement to Tinian to work on forts there.

[Mike Solli]

19 Jul 42

Not a lot happened today, but some of it was significant.

Over Chittagong, we shot down 4 of 6 Hurricane IIbs for one Oscar op loss. Very nice.

I landed an infantry regiment at Nome, Alaska. Why, you ask? For fun. He had a small base force there. If it was unoccupied, I was going to just withdraw but now that I know he has a force there, I’m going to send in a Naval Guard company as a garrison. Here was Ted’s response:

Nome ? Nome ?? I take aspirin every time I look at that.

That comment made that invasion worth it. I almost fell out of my chair when I read it.

Now for the serious part. We all know and love the 5x Tonan Whaler class TKs we have. I keep them in a single TF and use them to haul oil and resources from Singapore to the Home Islands. I’ve gotten lazy with my TK TFs and have been letting them choose their own paths. Not good. This particular TF was on its way back to Singapore (so it was empty fortunately) and was 3 hexes north of Naha. The Perch happened to have good torpedoes today and put 2 into the Kyokuyo Maru causing heavy damage: 69-68(44)-48(27)-27. [:(] She’s making for Naha, a size 3 port, which she’ll make in a day and a half. Those fires don’t look good though. I’m loading a naval HQ to ship to Naha and am sending an AR there as well. This is the first TK I’ve had hit. Of course it’s a Tonan Whaler. [:@]

[Mike Solli]

20 Jul 42

Sub War

Ted has had a sub hanging around off Finschafen and she caught an xAKL putting 8 shells into her and sinking her. Fortunately, she was empty.

SE Fleet

I’ve had a Helen sentai bomb the two Aussie division heading for Buna for a few days. Today they got ambushed by P-39s(!) and 8 of my bombers were shot down. *Sigh* [:@]

Ted’s 4E bombers went after the airfield at Lae today. I’m surprised he doesn’t hit Buna’s airfield. I guess he wants to take it intact. My reinforcement and resupply of Buna continues unhindered.

China

I have a small op to clear out the 2 clear hexes just south of Nanchang. I hit the hex SE of Nanchang today pushing the rabble to the west (the other hex I am going to hit). The 10:1 attack caused 1637 (137) Chinese casualties to 373(1) Japanese.

Burma

Over Chittagong, I lost 5x Oscars to a P-40 and 7x Hurricane IIcs. This is my first interaction with the IIc. Seven of 21 lost is not a very good showing for them.

Other Stuff

The Soryu and 4x Shiratsuyus entered refit today at Kobe. The Kitakami and Oi are in port at Kobe and will enter refit on 1 Aug.

The Akagi, Kaga and 6x Shiratsuyus are currently in refit at Kobe. The DDs will complete their refit in 2 days and the CVs, a few days later. Four of the DDs will escort the CVs back to Davao and the remaining 2 DDs will hang around waiting for the brand spanking new Hiyo, due at the end of the month.

Reinforcement: xAK Yamaoka Maru (Std-A) – will convert to TK for use between Davao and Japan.

[Mike Solli]

21 Jul 42

Burma

The Hurricane IIcs didn’t do much better today either. For the loss of 4x Oscars, the Allies lost 2x P-40s and 7x Hurricane IIcs. I’ll take those exchanges. I have 314 IJA fighter pilots in the reserve.

SE Fleet

B-17s creamed Finschafen today.

Other Stuff

The TK Kyokuyo Maru is 1 hex from Naha and things don’t look good. Fires jumped to 47. Ouch. [:(]

Reinforcements:

TK Nitiei Maru – 11,600 capacity TK. This is the first of 8 of these TKs I accelerated a while back. Very nice and good timing too.
1 Artillery Mortar Regiment – 32cm mortars! – Southern Army. Not sure where they will go, but I suspect it’ll be Burma.

[Mike Solli]

22 Jul 42

Sub War

The I-164, patrolling off Kodiak, caught the DD Cassin and put a torpedo into her. She was reported as sunk, but even if she didn’t sink, she’s 7 hexes from the nearest port. I’m hoping she becomes a reef. [:D]

SE Fleet

Sixteen Betties flew into Pt. Moresby harbor and put 2 torpedoes into the xAK Si Kiang. Hopefully, she was still loaded with supply.

Burma

Over Chittagong, 2x Oscars were exchanged for a P-40 and 2 Hurricane IIcs. Fighters in this theater are getting hard to come by for the Allies. The 31 Oscars were opposed by 5 P-40s and 12 Hurricane IIcs. Ted has admitted that his fighter pilots are less than stellar right now and it appears he’s low on fighters as well. Gotta keep up the pressure.

Other Stuff

The 6x Shiratsuyus completed refit at Kobe. They’ll hang around and wait for the Akagi, Kaga and Hiyo.

The Kyokuyo Maru’s fires are out! [:)] She’s still seriously damaged at 69-68(44)-48(27)-0 but she’s safely in port at Naha with an AR and a naval HQ enroute to assist in temporary repairs to allow her to steam to the Home Islands for complete repairs.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Other Stuff

The 6x Shiratsuyus completed refit at Kobe. They’ll hang around and wait for the Akagi, Kaga and Hiyo.

I've been wondering about DDs and upgrades lately. All of the best DDs get neutered by the upgrades that give them things they need (AA, better DC, radar) but take away the thing that makes them useful in a surface battle (a greater number of main 12.7cm guns than US and British counterparts, lost after one aft turret is removed).

After the Fletchers arrive in force I'm noticing they can't really even hold their own. I'm sure if all still had the 6 12.7cm guns they would suffer greater losses, but as mine are now they're getting crushed.

So, do you plan to do all of the upgrades or leave some as they are?

I've chosen to leave the Yugumos that I haven't upgraded, about 1/3 of them, and a few Kageros, without the upgrades. I would have probably left both of these types untouched for use with surface forces if I had to go through it again, concentrating on the Akizuki, Shiratsuya and Asashio for CV escort and other dutys.

[Mike Solli]

Obvert response:

Obvert, I look at each class of DD separately, based on the type of mission I assign it. There are a couple of things that have higher priority though. ASW is one of them. The Fubuki I begins the war with no DC racks so they go into refit as soon as possible to get them those necessary DCs. Same with the PC Momi, Otori, Hashidate and DD Momo. I want all my escorts to have DC racks. The last 4 classes sit in port until they are scheduled to get DC racks.

Next I look at the mission of that class. The Shiratsuyu, Hatsuharu, Yugumo and Akitsuki classes all are my CV escorts so I want maximum AA and DCs (and later, radar). I don’t care about losing a gun. If they get into a surface engagement, I screwed up badly. On the other hand, subs are always a threat and CV escorts can expect to see enemy aircraft eventually.

Next come those classes that have other escort missions. These include the Mutsuki and Kamikaze classes, which escort my AOs. Same as the CV escorts.

The Minekaze is a unique class. Right now, they are a surface and escort force stationed at Ominato. They’ve done nothing except the occasional cargo escort mission to the Aleutians. Their small (2500) endurance precludes them from any long range mission. I also consider them obsolete. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them. I may keep them in the 5 Fleet area, but they (along with the 3 CLs also there) can’t really do much against any significant Allied force (say modern CL and larger). Another possibility is to use them as cargo escorts in the SRA. They’re not needed there at the moment so they’ll stay at Ominato. A third (and very likely) possibility is to use them in an ASW capacity around the Home Islands. I’ve got a lot of SCs currently in that mission but a few DDs with good crew and CO experience can’t hurt. If I do this, I’ll break them up into 13 ASW TFs, each with 1x Minekaze and 3x SCs. This last possibility plays into their low endurance because none of the SCs have endurance over 1500.

The classes you’re talking about are (for me) are the Fubuki I, Fubuki II, Fubuki III (Akatsuki), Asashio and Kagero classes. These are the classes that will most likely come into a surface action. The Fubuki I & II are stationed at Truk and deemed most likely to fight enemy surface elements. They are also very likely to meet enemy aircraft and subs. The Asashio, Kagero and Akatsuki classes are split between the 2 Fleet (stationed at Singapore) and the 1 Fleet (Combined Fleet) stationed at Davao. They are most likely to meet subs right now, with the likelihood of meeting surface ships and aircraft increasing with time. All five of these classes are occasionally used as convoy escorts when necessary but I try to minimize it.

Here’s how I look at these classes. All but the final 6 classes discussed above will get every upgrade as soon as possible. I’ll look at the final 6 class upgrades as they become available but I’ll most likely take them. My philosophy is that if they can’t get to the surface action, they’re no good to me. They need all of the best the AA and ASW weapons they can get in order to survive to get to that surface action.

I also have another philosophy about surface action. I want to avoid surface action as much as possible, and when it is unavoidable, I want to overwhelm the enemy with firepower. I want to hit enemy ships with larger types of ships. If there is an enemy CA TF out there that I can hit, I will make sure I have BBs in my TF that hits them. Preferably, I want to hit enemy surface TFs with air first, and subs second. My surface TFs are a distant third. Enemy surface TFs probably have little or no CAP so my aircraft can do serious damage with little loss. My subs will hold off and attack the cripples afterward. My surface forces may go after cripples afterward if there are no enemy aircraft in the vicinity.

Finally, you won’t see my surface TFs with a lot of DDs in them. My CAs carry torpedoes, so DDs aren’t much of an asset. They have little or no armor, so if they get hit, they’re likely to not survive.

My Combined Fleet is currently composed of:

7 BB (8 when Musashi arrives)
8 CA
3 CL (Kitakami, Oi and the DD Squadron Leader)
16 DD

I will eventually split it into 2 (Davao and Truk) roughly evenly. That means that each TF will have 8 DD available. If a TF goes into combat, I’ll most likely use only 4 of those DDs. The remaining 4 DDs will be available as escorts after the battle. I want to make sure I always have ASW available for my ships.

How’s that for long winded?!

[Mike Solli]

23 Jul 42

SE Fleet

Ted must be reading this AAR (only joking). His B-17s trashed Buna’s airfield today. Well, I didn’t get the fort to level 3 there. *Sigh* The engineers will now start to repair the airfield damage. The bombing attack evaporated all of the supply. Fortunately, there’s an xAKL in port unloading supply so that’s short lived, but it definitely doesn’t help matters.

On a curious note, the two Aussie divisions marching from Pt. Moresby to Buna have stopped moving. Interesting. I have noticed that there is more unit movement from PM to the two divisions. Maybe he thinks he can’t take Buna with just 2 divisions. That’s fine. It’ll give me more time to beef up the place. I am also going to CAP Buna with 2x Oscar sentai and the Nick sentai. I might throw in a Zero daitai from time to time as well. I get Tojos in a week. This is the first AO to get the Tojos. I’m hoping they do nice things with the first rate pilots in this theater. The Tojo upgrade should happen ~10 Aug. I have 3x Oscar sentai available in this AO.

Australia

The SNLF para bn attacked the Allied towed AT gun bn and trashed it a couple hexes north of Katherine. I had set the tank regiment to reserve – pursue. They chased them south a hex. I think I set the tank regiment to attack them again tomorrow. Can’t remember though. (Getting old is overrated.) [8|]

Merak

I have seen 2x Allied subs sitting in Merak hex for days. Today, one of them appeared in the hex next to KB. I moved KB. Zuikaku’s A6M3a daitai still isn’t fully repaired. I’ll invade Merak soon, probably in a few days. It’s going to cost me, but, as they say, you have to break a few eggs……

Other Stuff

The Tonan Whaler TK is beginning to repair the flot damage. Hopefully, this will speed up when the AR and Naval HQ arrives.

Airframe R&D Update – Things are progressing. Only the Tojo and A6M5 have fully repaired factories and are accelerating. The 3x Oscar factories are getting there at 20, 19 & 19. The Frank is currently at 19, 11, 11, 6, 2 & 1 and the George is at 13, 12, 9, 4, 3 & 0.

I was getting a bit concerned with fuel usage, but it’s been rising lately and is at 3.45 million. I pull a lot of supply and its rising slightly, which is a good sign. HI is currently at 7417. My goal is 7500. The HI pool is rising nicely at 335,637, rising about 4500 a day. That’ll give me (after the pilot cost) ~115k per month. My 1942 goal of 700k should be exceeded easily.

[Mike Solli]

24 Jul 42

Sub War

More craziness off Buna today. The xAKL Bizen Maru was quietly offloading supply to the Buna garrison when the Dutch sub KXII surfaced and started firing at her with both her deck gun and torpedoes. The Bizen Maru is a Daigen class cargo ship, about 500 tons, not the cream of the IJN. Her crew was nondescript weighing in with an experience level of 28/18 day/night. Her captain was even less stunning at 14/11. Well, today that crew stepped it up a notch when they saw the sub. The Daigen class carry 2 deck guns, an 8cm gun on the stern and a 12cm/12 short gun on the bow. They both opened up on the sub hitting her once with an 8cm shell and 3 times (!) with 12cm shells. The sub failed to scratch the paint on our ship of the week and submerged to try and make it home, wherever that is. The best part of the whole thing is that the Bizen Maru’s experience jumped up to 57/18! Banzai!!!

SE Fleet

The B-17s visited Buna’s airfield again today. Now it’s totally trashed.

An Oscar sentai caught some Kittyhawks over Pt. Moresby shooting down 6 (+1 op loss) vs. 4 Oscars (+4 op losses – all written off).

Australia

Well, I did have the tank regiment that was chasing the towed AT bn attack today. Note that the tank regiment is at only 45% strength. The 46:1 attack destroyed 34 guns and 11 vehicles for no loss to the Japanese. Banzai! They will continue to chase the remnants with the SNLF para bn following as fast as they can.

Burma

Over Chittagong, the same occurred. An Oscar sentai vs. P-40s and Hurricane IIcs. Four Oscars shot down (+2 op losses) against 4x P-40s and 2 Hurricanes. I can keep this up all year. I’m averaging >50 pilots a week graduating from my on map training program (50 exp/70 air).

Here's a pic of the 12cm/12 short gun:

[ny59giants]

The Minekaze and Kamikaze Class DDs are also good coverts to APDs. You don't lose much in the conversion process.

[Mike Solli]

Yeah, I've been thinking about that Michael.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

How’s that for long winded?!

I would expect nothing less! [:D]

Very thorough. I agree with most everything you are saying, and have done much of it along those lines. I use Es a lot for escort of TK and AO escort, often with an older DD class as the flag of the TF because their commanders are better and give more aggression to all of the other escorts. They also have the Type 2 DCs where many of the older DDs don't.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

I also have another philosophy about surface action. I want to avoid surface action as much as possible, and when it is unavoidable, I want to overwhelm the enemy with firepower. I want to hit enemy ships with larger types of ships. If there is an enemy CA TF out there that I can hit, I will make sure I have BBs in my TF that hits them. Preferably, I want to hit enemy surface TFs with air first, and subs second. My surface TFs are a distant third. Enemy surface TFs probably have little or no CAP so my aircraft can do serious damage with little loss. My subs will hold off and attack the cripples afterward. My surface forces may go after cripples afterward if there are no enemy aircraft in the vicinity.

It's great to see this. I haven't always practiced restraint in engaging in surface actions. The first time through is surly an experiment and the prudence comes now when I realize what it means to lose ships early on you're not getting back, and have to fight 3 more years without them.

That said, I've been careful with the BBs, and a bit lucky. None gone yet in 2/44. The CAs have been lost at a rate of 2 every 6 months or so. That's not good, but they did their share of damage as well. Recently though everything is different. If Two Myoko class and two Agano class with 5 Kagero/Yugumo DD with Tanaka as commander can't take on 7 Fletchers, then I know I have to readjust my expectations and resulting strategic and tactical decisions.

Staying out of surface combat is easy to say, but I also have to provide some challenge to moves forward. All TFs in the regions we're battling it out have massive air cover unless they react out of range. Subs lose most battles, but are still a dangerous weapon in the open ocean. Around New Guinea with the air and sea power concentrated, not so much.

So these changes have made me think back. Could I have set myself up differently? Just pondering those early naval upgrade decisions now and what to do in the future.