Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop (J) vs CF (A)

[bigred]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Especially since these are the first losses on the CA front of the war. I hate to lose those beautiful ships, but the strategic implications of a fleet carrier score of 5:0 in my favor for the war are huge. He's now lost Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown, Saratoga and Lexington.

Enterprise vs Japan, indeed.

congrats...

[FeurerKrieg]

Nice job!

[Capt. Harlock]

He's now lost Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown, Saratoga and Lexington.

Enterprise vs Japan, indeed.

Yes, but it's February 1943. How far away is Essex?

[Cribtop]

IIRC, Essex arrives in mid-43. The horde of Essex class CVs in later '43. The single lead ship in the class won't be enough, CF will have to wait until he has a good handful of them. By then we're pushing 1944. Not saying I'm going to win militarily, but running out the clock is a big step closer after today.

[temagic]

BANZAI!!!! BANZAI!!!!! BANZAI!!!!

[Cribtop]

Thanks, Temagic. You always believed, even when I had doubts. February 4, 1943 will forever be remembered throughout the Empire.

Now it's time to wipe out a bunch of Allied ships and 5 LCUs at Broome. Looks like Darwin will not be under new management for a while, yet! [;)]

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

He's now lost Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown, Saratoga and Lexington.

Enterprise vs Japan, indeed.

Yes, but it's February 1943. How far away is Essex?

Essex is arriving in May. Next Two fleet carries in July. By end of 43` he will have 4 or 5 new Essex class CV
Between May an June Allies will have also ~5CVE and 2 or 3 CVL

Not best news to Japan

EDIT: to late Cribtop, You already write it

[GreyJoy]

Great!!! BANZAIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This move was really a great one Crib! From a succesfull landing operation deep into Assam in 1943, to a wonderfull carrier victory in NW Oz in less than a month!?!?!? This is the mark of a strategic genius![&o][&o]

[jrcar]

Awesome great job! Will slow him down, he will have to focus on island hoping and land routes... Whivh you are also nicely cutting off.

Cheers

Rob

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Especially since these are the first losses on the CA front of the war. I hate to lose those beautiful ships, but the strategic implications of a fleet carrier score of 5:0 in my favor for the war are huge. He's now lost Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown, Saratoga and Lexington.

Enterprise vs Japan, indeed.

Well done!!! [&o]

You now have another full year or more to secure the perimeter. His focus will undoubtedly shift to Burma and to New Guinea. You should be able to keep him at bay until well into 44, and that is tough to come back from.

[GreyJoy]

How well defended are the Kuriles?
In these situations, when The allies got a bloody nose in 1943 and so their operational tempo gets delayed (as Obvert said), i'd start to think about how to defend against an Hail Mary move. Kuriles, Mariannas...all those places that, once conquered in 1943/1944 con more-or-less write a death sentence for Japan

[Cribtop]

Priority one for PPs in February is to buy out several units waiting to occupy the Kuriles. They already have base forces and engineers digging, time to put some meat on the bones. I am concerned about a move up here when winter ends in March, but it should be covered. Marianas have a minimal garrison for now, but both engineers and troops are earmarked to go there in the coming months.

Looking forward to letting a tired KB rest, refit and upgrade ships and planes for a while, too.

[ny59giants]

Kuriles - I used some of the Infantry Groups from Japan up here. Most of them will expand to a full division soon and you can start prepping everybody for the same base now.

[Cribtop]

Yes, those are exactly the forces allocated, plus an independent brigade, the little early reinforcement battalions, base forces and an Air HQ at Bihoro.

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Yes, those are exactly the forces allocated, plus an independent brigade, the little early reinforcement battalions, base forces and an Air HQ at Bihoro.

I'd move there another small air HQ (a flottilla one maybe) and place it at Shimushiri Jiima, in order to have a good cover of the whole chain of bases. Keep a decent reserve of training groups in Hokkaido so that, if he ever pops up, you have something to throw at him immediately

Some AA there won't hurt too... i'd suggest to use the smaller calibers cause, if ever, you're gonna face only carrier based bombers

[nashvillen]

Glad to see the Hibiki in action. Did she come out unscathed? Do you have any information on the location of the Gridley? Have you sunk her yet?

[Cribtop]

Good advice on the second Air HQ, GJ. They are just so hard to come by and prioritize placement, but I believe a new one arrives soon.

Hibiki survived undamaged, but she always was a lucky ship, eh? [;)]

No sign of Gridley. If I recall my USN reinforcement tables, I bet she has come off CV escort duty in favor of the shiny new stuff. She was with the Hornet/Wasp TF at Torres Islands and that force escaped damage there. Gridley's crew is fortunate they were re-assigned as even the nimble DDs escorting the Hornet and Wasp were bulls-eyed yesterday. Just too many IJN bombers in clear skies with good pilots. Assuming Chester and the one DD go under, and they were badly damaged, we would have an entire CVTF eliminated in 24 hours! [X(]

[Cribtop]

Also, thanks to all of you who chimed in with congratulations by posting here or by PM. It feels good to win this one because we had a plan and executed it from the strategic down to the operational and into the tactical level. As my squeals of delight grew watching the replay on Sunday, even my wife, kids and dogs gathered round, high-fiving the hits and laughing as I kept bouncing in and out of my computer chair. They had no idea why Dad was acting like a 3 year old, but they went with it. [:D]

Still, I'm aware a lot of things had to break my way for this to work out, and it's not like the war is won or anything. I have to curb my enthusiasm and continue to execute the broader plan. The breathing space gained at Exmouth will make it easier to accomplish this, but I won't lose my head and invade California or anything.

[nashvillen]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Good advice on the second Air HQ, GJ. They are just so hard to come by and prioritize placement, but I believe a new one arrives soon.

Hibiki survived undamaged, but she always was a lucky ship, eh? [;)]

No sign of Gridley. If I recall my USN reinforcement tables, I bet she has come off CV escort duty in favor of the shiny new stuff. She was with the Hornet/Wasp TF at Torres Islands and that force escaped damage there. Gridley's crew is fortunate they were re-assigned as even the nimble DDs escorting the Hornet and Wasp were bulls-eyed yesterday. Just too many IJN bombers in clear skies with good pilots. Assuming Chester and the one DD go under, and they were badly damaged, we would have an entire CVTF eliminated in 24 hours! [X(]

No sign of Gridley. If I recall my USN reinforcement tables, I bet she has come off CV escort duty in favor of the shiny new stuff. She was with the Hornet/Wasp TF at Torres Islands and that force escaped damage there. Gridley's crew is fortunate they were re-assigned as even the nimble DDs escorting the Hornet and Wasp were bulls-eyed yesterday. Just too many IJN bombers in clear skies with good pilots. Assuming Chester and the one DD go under, and they were badly damaged, we would have an entire CVTF eliminated in 24 hours!

Glad to see Cpt. Ishii and crew still doing their duty for the Emperor! BANZAI!

Has CF given up on the chronicling the exploits of the Gridley and crew? Or, like the rest of us, has his situation change such that he can't put time into it right now and it is somewhere on his to-do list?

[Cribtop]

You know, I'm not sure, but it seems like CF has given up on the story. Perhaps he isn't inspired from the Allied side or just has too much going on IRL. I've never asked him, I know a few others have, but I don't know what his answer was.

One thought - What if Gridley is escorting one of the task forces at Broome? Oh, my, that could get interesting!