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12/3/44 and 12/4/44

Battle of Hainan Island (as it came to be called): The two days that followed the great battle were much quieter. There was skirmishing, mostly on the periphery, with little harm done to the Allies but a few good licks against the Japanese forces. Three USN DDs put a TT into BB Hyuga, which sank one of the DDs. Depleted of ammo, Hyuga then took a barrage of hits from a combat DE TF that registered a bit. A raid of kamikazes somehow penetrated DS's awesome CAP and sank four empty LCIs. And Allied aircraft and combat vessels sank several more DDs and a PB TF.

The army of 1000 AV is ashore at Kwangchowan with 70k supply. Enough to manage until I can work in more, but not enough to get overly fancy with. Samah has 200k supply.

DS is low on ammo. The DDs and possibly up to CAs can replenish via AKEs at Samah, but the big ships need bigger ports, damaged ships need triage, and the carriers don't have torpedoes for the Avengers. That, and the supply situation, warrant pulling the ships back. There are a bunch of important tasks that can be done, and full supply TFs are already assembled at Singkawang. And CV Ticonderoga and two CVEs are ready for action.

Watching with interest.

T Rav

Thanks for the entertainment! That was a strategically bold move. He'll have to bail out of Indochina as fast as he can. And once again Surabaya's shipyard will come very much in handy to handle those kami hits.

What are Samah's port and AF levels? I've been able to replenish 14" and 16" ammo with Harriman or larger AKEs (not sure about Hog Island-class; I usually don't convert them). I have not paid a lot of attention to CV TFs getting replenished from forward bases, so I'm not sure how that'll work. I'd be interested to hear what you already know or find out. It would be a shame if the DS had to retreat to Borneo or further south.

Also, don't forget, you'll be able to do underway replenishment with AEs as of January 1.

Cheers,
CB

Samah is a level 3(3) port and 7(7) airfield (the latter is up three since the Allies took the base). I have 200 naval support and a ton of AKE and AE.

I'm weighing options. Just in case DS has to retire, I'm moving more naval support, AEs, AKEs and ADs to Batavia, which is a level 7 port.

Another option is retire only far enough to retrieve the supply TFs accumulating at Singkawang, Borneo, while releasing damaged TFs bound for Soerabaja.

The Allied army is moving out from Kwangchowan, partly to apply maximum pressure on Dave. The target is cutting the road coming into China from Indochina. I have to be careful, given supply levels. The Allies army on Hainan Island, now 4k strong, is all available to come and assist (bringing some of that 200k supply).

Complicated situation. And fun.

Very surprised to see so many AKs and especially xAPs used for amphibious assault in December of 44.

Also surprised to not see supply TFs comprised of LSTs.

The Kamikazes leaking through the DS CAP seem to have counterbalanced the last time when none got through.

That was an amazingly heavy penetration.

A little less than a month to go before your DS can bring along a ready resupply of torpedoes.

xAPs and xAKs aren't used for amphibious assault, but they are used.

This armada brought along three huge armies - two ready for assault landings and therefore loaded aboard APAs, AKAs, etc. The third big army was in strat mode and aboard xAPs and xAKs and AKs. They unloaded at Samah and were ready in three days to re-board empty assault ships for the third invasion, if triggered. That's more efficient than trying to spread three big armies amongst the available assault shipping.

Supply comes via LSTs, AKs, and dedicated xAK TFs (that's always been my practice, though here it was more necessary because of the number of good transports in triage at Soerabaja and the number still "hiding" at Kota, after that invasion - DS retired while ships were still unloading, and will "pick them up" on the way home from Hainan Island).

Complicated things, but I'm not sure how you arrived at some of the conclusions as to what's involved and what isn't. Did I imply that LSTs aren't used for supply?

12/5/44

Battle of Hainan Island: The enemy fought again, the Allies did well, but the points - if tallied just this one day - don't indicate the Allied prevailed. I think they did. Allied TFs destroyed a PB TF, six enemy DDs, and a bunch of MTBs. But the Japanese claimed a good CL and two USN subs. So Japan took the points advantage.

In the air, the Allies prevailed 4:1 (49 to 12) in relatively light combat.

It appears that Dave may be pulling his fleet away from Hong Kong, possibly abandoning the notion that he can afford to go toe to toe in this theater. Samah may already be too strong, with it's level 7 airfield and growing.

Down at Manila, I think Dave finally pulled out his damaged ships, including BB Kirishima. It appears he had to send it SE, around Luzon's southern tip, since DS and subs patrol in the other direction. I think the BB is hurting (she showed up on the sunk list, a hex from Manila, but I think that's a fable). Allied subs will patrol the area between east Luzon and the southern Home Islands.

The war goeth well in Malaya. And the enemy appeareth to grow weary and thus retireth in Indochina, me thinks; me hazardeth a guess.

12/6/44 to 12/8/44

Kwangchowan Campaign: DS has replenished and can remain in theater, covering movement of reinforcements from Samah to Kwangchowan. The lead elements of the Western Army has nearly reached the main road from Vietnam. We'll see what kind of battle this turns into. The Allies lost another sub or two; the Japanese two more DDs and several ASW platforms. In this campaign, to date, I've lost two CLs (Caradoc and Houston II), a few DDs, and around 5-8 subs. Dave has lost CL Yura, possibly another CL, possibly CA Ashigara, with damage to BB Hyuga, and roughly 20 DDs. The air campaign has decidedly favored the Allies but at a cost of some damage to good ships.

The taking of Hainan Island and the invasion of western China has ripped into Dave's interior and he's scrambling to address matters. This should seal the fate of Malaya, Thailand and Indochina.

Burma: Allies are sending reinforcements to Burma by sea, first to aid in the Rangoon campaign and then to manage the situation in Thailand and Indochina.

Singapore: Allied army brushed aside light opposition to take Kuala Lumpur. Dave probably won't stand at Malacca and may not stand at Johore. He may prefer to keep the core of his Singapore garrison as strong as possible in preparation for the pending siege.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

xAPs and xAKs aren't used for amphibious assault, but they are used.

This armada brought along three huge armies - two ready for assault landings and therefore loaded aboard APAs, AKAs, etc. The third big army was in strat mode and aboard xAPs and xAKs and AKs. They unloaded at Samah and were ready in three days to re-board empty assault ships for the third invasion, if triggered. That's more efficient than trying to spread three big armies amongst the available assault shipping.

Supply comes via LSTs, AKs, and dedicated xAK TFs (that's always been my practice, though here it was more necessary because of the number of good transports in triage at Soerabaja and the number still "hiding" at Kota, after that invasion - DS retired while ships were still unloading, and will "pick them up" on the way home from Hainan Island).

Complicated things, but I'm not sure how you arrived at some of the conclusions as to what's involved and what isn't. Did I imply that LSTs aren't used for supply?

Sorry for the mistaken interpretations. Wasn't shown any LST TFs with supply and presumed they weren't there. Was shown only an xAP TF representing a major invasion and incorrectly interpreted it to be an invasion TF, not a reinforcement TF.

12/9/44 to 12/11/44

Asia: Dave commits a CL/DD TF against Allied transports carrying reinforcements to China (protected by DS in a blocking position). The enemy TF scores some hits against empty shipping but gets wiped out in the process. The reinforcements have been delivered, so it's about time for DS to escort empties and cripples back towards Java. DS won't leave the South China Sea - she'll receive inbound TFs and escort them back to Hainan Island.

Dave is fighting more persistently than I expected. Once his first wave got mauled, I figured he'd cede this area. The Western Allied troops in China must be giving him a lot of indigestion.

I wonder if he lost track of DS when it went to port to restock ammo. Seems like a foolish use of good DDs, even if he was willing to lose the old CL.
I suppose his other thought might be a desperate bid to get into DS and torpedo some carriers or find the crippled carriers from the kamikaze strikes.

12/12/44

Asia: The dude keeps coming, keeps getting in some licks, and keeps paying a heavy price. He's lost a lot of cruisers and destroyers in this two-week old battle.

Elsewhere, Allied measures continue to move forward around Rangoon and Singapore. All told the Allies should get about 5k or 6k points for bases in this region, while Japan loses about 1k points. The current score is Allies 54k to Japan 36.5k. So at the moment the Allies need about 18k points to achieve AV in 1945. Bases, men, aircraft, and ships in Sumatra, Malaya, Indochina, Thailand areas should net about half the needed points. Meaning: the war will be won in China, Formosa and via Strategic Bombing.

Could you post a list of Capital Ships lost on each side? Have the 2 big Japanese BB's made a showing yet?

Neither Musashi nor Yamato have been seen, to date. Can an IJ player delay them/cancel them to work on/speed up other ships?

This list shows every Allied capital ship from CA to CV sunk.

Only two BBs and three CAs to date, which is terrific.

I've lost far more CVs and CVEs than I did in my games with John III and Erik. In the former, the only carrier lost was Wasp. In the latter, Erik had reason to be cautious attacking by the time I stepped in, March '44.

I have lost a lot of CLs, DDs and subs.

Japanese carriers sunk - I think this is fairly accurate, though Unryu is confirmed sunk.

IJN BBs (Kirishima took a third torpedo, this one from a sub, a few days ago, so she's hurting pretty bad).

Dave is low on cruisers.

He's also lost a lot of CLs, DDs and subs.

Yes, the Japanese player can stop/delay construction of any ship to free up points to accelerate other ships. The Yamato's are the most expensive at 233 points. The Unryu's cost only 61, so several of those can be accelerated if a Yamato or two is delayed.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Neither Musashi nor Yamato have been seen, to date. Can an IJ player delay them/cancel them to work on/speed up other ships?

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I wonder if he lost track of DS when it went to port to restock ammo. Seems like a foolish use of good DDs, even if he was willing to lose the old CL.
I suppose his other thought might be a desperate bid to get into DS and torpedo some carriers or find the crippled carriers from the kamikaze strikes.

Did it go to port?

not yet.

But where is Japanese air based, no sweeps over captured bases, no CAP over the ships?!?

No coordinated kami attacks with ships attacks (maybe he was counting to duck before dawn)?