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[font="times new roman"]8 May 1942[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]The Enemy carriers withdraw.  Submarines are moving to cover likely ports where the damaged Yorktown might attempt to repair.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The KB is retiring to Shortland to refuel, rearm and bring its airwings back to full strength after minor losses.  [/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Tanaka’s cruisers bombard Buna and then return to Shortland[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Enemy submarines continue to operate in the shallow waters around Rabaul.  Four destroyers have been sent to conduct anti-submarine operations.  Nells are flying in support.[/font]

[font="times new roman"]9 May 1942[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]A large enemy transport taskforce is sighted by Mavis patrols putting in to harbor at Port Moresby.  Tanaka’s cruisers will try and interdict the off-loading.  Thunderstorms have rolled in so airstrikes from Rabaul are unlikely.  S-21 is now patrolling 30 miles southwest of the harbor.  Yamaguchi’s carriers are moving to intercept the returning transports.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]An enemy carrier and cruisers were sighted off Townsville.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]SNLF recon at Tulagi finds no enemy activity.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]We have reinforces Lunga with costal batteries and engineers have begun preparing an airfield.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]Engineers at Gili Gili report 25% progress on the airfield.  We are reinforcing Gili Gili with costal guns and more anti-aircraft capability by fast transport (3 light cruisers).

thanks for the kind words, but I am far from mentor status as of yet. Ike is correct about the Nells and Bettys being great sub-killers. I have had more luck at 1000 than 100, and I think that is mentioned on one of the threads in the Forum as well, but either will work. Plus the float planes from your AV's will not have much else to do, so setting them on ASW is not a bad idea either

[font="times new roman"]10 May 1942[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font][font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]An enemy submarine torpedoed our fleet minelayer 90 miles east of Gili Gili in the deep water channel.  The damage was not critical.  The ship will put into Shortland for hasty repairs before returning to Truk. [/font]

[font="times new roman"]11 May 1942[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Bombardment Task Force catches enemy troop transports attempting to unload the 18th Aus Bde at Port Moresby.  The enemy taskforce scatters but the cruisers catch the large AP Largs Bay and sink her with shells and torpedoes.  180 enemy soldiers are lost.  The cruisers go on to bombard the airfield destroying a Mitchell bomber and damaging another.[/font]

[font="times new roman"]12 May 1942[/font]
[font="times new roman"]Heavy Cruiser Furutaka hits a submarine laid mine just outside Rabual harbor and limps into port.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Bettys make two strikes against the transports unloading at Port Moresby sinking the large AP Moreton Bay and torpedoing two AKs  [/font]

[font="times new roman"]13 May 1942[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Mine sweepers clear the approaches to Rabaul.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]S21 catches an AK retiring from Port Moresby and hits her with two torpedoes.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Yamaguchi’s carriers catch two more AKs returning from Port Moresby to Brisbane along the normal (i.e. shortest) convoy route.  The enemy has not begun more carefully altering his convoy routes.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]An enemy S Class submarine sinks a barge on the surface in the Slot, 120 miles from Lunga[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Fuel supplies are low (6,000) at Shortland.  The fleet moves its center of gravity to Rabual and Kavieng.  The enemy submarines have withdrawn for the moment.[/font]

[font="times new roman"]14-20 May 1942[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Weekly Staff Update to Admiral Yamamoto.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]The staff officer begins with an intelligence summary.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]“Sir, Gen MacArthur appears intent on making a stand at Moresby.  We have had additional sightings of transports from Mavis patrols.  We also believe he has adjusted the convoy routes.  The transports are now hugging the coast until north of Cooktown and then making the 24hr run into port.  We anticipate that he will begin staging convoys in the waters northeast of Cooktown and exploiting periods of bad weather to cover the final leg of the run into Port Moresby.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Sir, I24 reported torpedoing an enemy carrier 90 miles northwest of Noumea on 14 May.  One hit was observed.  The intelligence section believes this was the Lexington.  I24 has failed to report and enemy news is stating that a submarine was sunk on 14 May.  We believe I24 has been lost, but we also believe that both enemy carriers are currently out of action.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Enemy submarines have shifted from operating around the ports of Rabual and Shortland to the deep water channel south of Gili Gili and in the Slot; however, the Greenling is still vicinity Truk.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Enemy bombers are massed in Port Moresby.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Sir, our situation is generally progressing along the lines foreseen.  As of 20 May, engineers have cleared airfields at both Lunga and Gili Gili.  A barge network has been established in the Solomons to support Lunga and Tulagi.  PGs now escort the barges due to numerous night surface attacks by enemy submarines.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The CA Myoko was stuck by a 500lb bomb while conducting naval bombardment of Port Moresby.  She is enroute to Japan[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]CA Aoba was struck by a torpedo 60 miles south of Gili Gili while retreating from a bombardment mission, but the torpedo failed to explode.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The 21st Indian Mixed Bde has been staged at Kavieng in preparation for operations at Lae.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]ADM Yamamoto thinks for a moment.  “Continue as planned.  Commit the 21st and 65th Bdes to seize Wae and the northern route to Port Moresby.  Continue to tighten the air and naval noose on southern New Guinea.  Continue to advance down the Solomon chain.”[/font]

[font="times new roman"]21 – 31 May[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Staff Officer update to ADM Yamamoto.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]“Sir, in preparation for the planned build-up of ground forces at Lae, we sent in a TF composed of CLs and DDs as a fast transport and a conventional convoy of small transports to test the enemy’s response.  It was quick and heavy.  He moved submarines into the port and conducted heavy bombing raids from Port Moresby using up to 30 level bombers and 12 four-engine bombers escorted by Kittyhawks and Airacobras.  A light cap of 10 Zero-sen fighters was ineffective at protecting the convoys.  Three small transports were sunk by enemy bombs while trying to off-load.  The fast transport TF did not arrive from Kavieng at night and was hard hit.  Two CLs and one DD were struck by bombs and one DD was hit by bombs and a torpedo from a submarine.  All the combat ships were able to return safely to Rabaul; however, four will need to be repaired in Japan.  The TF commander chose to take his own life once his ships made port.”[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]“The enemy continued to attempt to reinforce/resupply Port Moresby.  Our submarines sunk two transports in the approaches to Port Moresby.  RADM Tanaka’s cruisers sunk two more in port while bombarding the airfield and Bettys from Lae sunk another 60 miles southwest of Port Moresby.”[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]“We have probed at the aerial defenses of Port Moresby.  Daytime raids by escorted Betty’s have had little success.  High altitude fighter sweeps over Port Moresby have been the more fruitful.  The enemy continues to use Airacobras as CAP at altitudes where they are no match for Zeros.  Kill ratios are approximately 6-to-1 in these engagements.  The enemy’s Kittyhawk fighters are faring better with our pilots achieving approximately 2-to-1 results.  With two Daitais now at Lae, we intend to engage the enemy CAP with overwhelming numbers.”  [/font]

[font="times new roman"]1 June 1942[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]SLDR John Jackson, the commander of the 75th Squadron RAAF, has just returned from a week of R & R at Brisbane. He feels refreshed. He avoided the trap of drinking heavily after stepping off the transport aircraft last night to be assualted by the reek of the New Guinea jungle.  He started the air battle for Port Moresby at the beginning of May with seventeen Kittyhawks.  He has received 10 replacement aircraft over the past month and has only lost four aircraft and three pilots.  His men have shot down two enemy Zeros and performed much better than the other squadrons.

Much of the outcome of an air-to-air battle can rest on a single decision made by a squadron or flight leader in the heady seconds before the battle...SLDR Jackson considers himself a man of action.

The next morning dawns bright and clear.  At a little after 9:00 AM, the base radar detects an enemy air strike of approximately 40 planes inbound.  SLDR Jackson is the first in the air with 30 Kittyhawks and Airacobras behind him to join the handful of aircraft already on CAP. [font="times new roman"]The climb to 10,000 feet takes a number of minutes.  The two squadrons of Airacobras are already struggling to keep pace when the Squadron Leader's eyes catch a hint of movement at eleven-o-clock-high. The enemy fighters come on in their typical swarm, weaving and bobbing. The numbers look about equal, but the zeros have the altitude advantage. They have come in at 15,000 feet. There is no sign of enemy bombers. SLDR Jackson is feeling good and decides to mix it up with the Japs anyway...He loses half is aircraft and pilots  in the next ten minutes.[/font]

[font="times new roman"]1-7 June Staff Update[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]The KB has arrived and moves to link-up with Yamaguchi’s carriers 150 miles NE of Lae.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]A bombardment TF is formed around Yamato and Haruna and is sent to randevous with a replenishment TF 180 miles SW of Rabaul[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]The lead elements of the 38th Division are loaded on transports at Truk[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The Mixed Indian Bde is loaded at Kavieng and sent to Lae under aircover from Yamaguchi’s carriers.[/font]

Intelligence Report for 6 Jun 42

[font="times new roman"]8-12 June Staff Update [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Sir,   The KB has arrived and has link-up with Yamaguchi’s carriers 150 miles NE of Lae.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The bombardment TF formed around Yamato and Haruna is within a day's steaming of Port Moresby[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The transports carrying the lead elements of the 38th Division are formed up south of Rabaul[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The Mixed Indian Bde is off-loaded at Lae.[/font]

[font="times new roman"]13 June 42 Staff Update[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Sir, the enemy continues to mass aircraft at Port Moresby.  His air forces include some B17s.  Some transports have been sighted at the harbor.  Our aircraft from Lae and a submarine wolfpack have failed to attack any of the transport.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The enemy sent a taskforce of auxiliaries to try and intercept our barge operations between Woodlark Island and the South Seas Detachment at Gili Gili.  Our single patrol craft escorting the barges fought an inconclusive night action against at least four enemy patrol craft.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The enemy may have as many as four aircraft carriers.  Enterprise is probably still out of action.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The South Seas Fleet HQ reports that both Lunga and Gili Gili airfields will be capable of supporting our land-based bombers in the next two weeks.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]One of our engineer battalions at Lunga and an AA battery at Gili Gili have been reported as combat ineffective due to malaria.  The South Seas fleet is in the process of rotating in fresh units.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]An ad hoc force will be available to take Irau, on the southern tip of San Cristobel Island, as soon as sufficient aircover is available either from Lunga or Carriers.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Yamamoto absorbs the information, then directs RADM Yamaguchi carriers to smash the enemy air power at Port Moresby; continue the build-up of supplies and troops at Lae; a brigade sized probe of Wau; and an amphibious assault of Buna with overwhelming force. [/font]

[font="times new roman"]The well before dawn on 14 June arrives, the aircrews on board Yamaguchi’s seven carriers have been readying for action.  The appropriate rituals have been completed and now the airgroups are forming up above the mighty taskforce.  The carriers have been sighted by enemy patrol aircraft over the past 24 hours so most chances of surprise seem lost.  Never the less, the admiral has ordered an approach to within 210 miles of Port Moresby.  Consequently, a heavy CAP is stacked above the TF at 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 feet.  There will be few fighters available for escort.  Zeros from Kaga lead the almost 300 aircraft due west over Buna and the thick spine of mountains that divides southern New Guinea.  To their surprise, Kaga’s sweep finds no CAP and long lines of Vals and Kates stoop on Seventeen Mile Airstrip.  The airstrip, as the name implies, is now quite large, but numerous enemy aircraft are parked along its edges.  By the time the strike is done, 14 enemy bombers have been destroyed and another 20 damaged.  The great aerodrome is badly damaged with the runway heavily pocked and much of the support facilities burning.  As the aircraft are recovered onto the heaving decks of the carriers and rearmed for a second strike, heavy clouds have formed over the Coral Sea. By the time the second strike is ready, visibility is so low that the Admiral can barely make out the front of the carrier deck from the bridge.  He regretfully cancels the second strike.  [/font]

[font="times new roman"]15 June.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]Thunder clouds continue to roll in as night falls.  RADM Tanaka’s force of two Battleships and six Heavy Cruisers, with 4 destroyers as a screen, plows north at 20 knots.  The coastline of southern New Guinea flows by.  Port Moresby is still burning from the air strikes making her an easy mark for the bombardment taskforce.  On board Yamato, gun crews sweat and the hoists rattle as the gigantic 18” shells are loaded into her might guns.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]60 miles away, a fast minesweeper wallows in the swells waiting for the destroyers that where supposed to link-up to escort her in to sweep the harbor ahead of the battleships…[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]120 miles away, 4 destroyers are still searching the dark waters off Gili Gili for more enemy ships.  They had stumbled upon an Australian Patrol Gunboat and sank her.  The TF commander, a highly competent and aggressive commander, has forgotten his orders.  The engagement and its aftermath have left the destroyers too far behind Tanaka’s battleships.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Yamaguchi’s air crews find enough breaks in the weather to strike Port Moresby twice more.  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Photos from recon flights by Nells from Rabaul are rushed to Fleet HQs.   The pictures portray a devastating image of modern war.  The airfield is in ruins from 500KG bombs and 18” shells.  35 enemy bombers are destroyed on the ground and another 20 appear damaged.  Almost 1000 enemy dead are strewn about the airfield surrounds.  The recon photos also appear to indicate that only a single enemy brigade is defending the port and has prepared only a basic fortifications.  There appear to be 4 enemy engineer units struggling to get the damage under control.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]16 June 1942[/font][font="times new roman"]

Yamamoto orders a fleet submarine to deliver a small force to reconnoiter the enemy defenses.  The target for the 38th Division may now have changed…[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]22 June 1942.[/font]
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[font="times new roman"]The SS Tautog, commanded by CDR F. T. Watkins, surfaces just after dark 10 miles west of Port Moresby.  The Tambor class submarine, on her 2nd wartime patrol, has spent the last eight hours submerged.  The 252-cell excide batteries that drive the four GE motors are exhausted.  CDR Watkins is both grateful for the cool winter breeze and the deep guttural coughs of the big 1,600 hp Winton diesels. [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Last night, CDR Watkins saw the biggest battleship he had ever seen bombard Port Moresby but was unable to maneuver for a shot.  He radioed the enemy position and course and heard that one of the S-boats did fire a spread at the mighty ship, but no hits were reported.[/font]
[font="times new roman"]  [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Low flying enemy Kates from two light carriers escorting the enemy transports have forced the Tautog to remain submerged throughout the day as she looked for targets.  The one time Tautog was able to get close enough to the port for a view, there were over 30 enemy transports busily off-loading soldiers, small tanks and supplies.  Artillery shells could be observed bursting in and around the beachhead, so the defenders were at least putting up a fight.  Give-em-hell thought CDR Watkins while the Tautog dodged depth charges from enemy patrol boats that had glimpsed the periscope.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]With her batteries recharged and shrouded by the dark embrace of night, the lean hunter turns once more for Port Moresby harbor.  She slips silently under water.  Near the harbor entrance, CDR Watkins takes a bearing on a large enemy transport, a dark slow moving silhouette against the few lights still burning in the port.   “Range 3,000, course 250, Spd estimated at 6 knots.”  He orders the helm to bring the ship to a course of 10 degrees.  He checks again.  “Range 1,800, bearing on the bow 015, speed increasing to 8 knots”.  “Make ready tubes one through four.” "Set depth to 15 feet." One last glimpse to confirm course and speed, then “fire one.”  10 seconds later, “fire two” and so on until four fish are running.  A Mark 14 running at 46 knots should cover the distance in 70 seconds.  The time ticks by and no sound of detonation.  The exec swears.  “Damn torps!”  [/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]“Up periscope.”  CDR Watkins can see the enemy clearly now.  She has turned away to the north to comb the torpedo tracks, but is still within range for a tricky stern shot.  "Make ready "five and six". “Set depth at 0 for 5 & 6.” "Continuous bearings, Mark."  "003, 002, 001, 000." “Fire 5.  Fire 6.”  He resolves to leave the periscope up to watch the track of his last two bow torpedoes.  Almost as soon as the last torpedo is in the water, the sound man squeaks, “High speed propellers to port!”  CDR Watkins realizes, in his frustration, he forgot to scan before last shot.  His pulse pounding, he spins and sees a small enemy destroyer rapidly overhauling his submarine.  He judges there is not enough time to turn and fire his stern tubes and orders a dive instead.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]The water is shallow.  The Japanese destroyer captain and crew are skilled.  Oil bubbles to the surface after the 4th depth charge.[/font]

Following Map displays the final phase of the Japanese Campaign to take New Guinea.

Gili Gili fell in early May without significant resistance. The lead elements of the 38th Division landed at Port Moresby on 24 June while the Mixed Indian Bde marched on Wau from Lae to the North.

By 3 July, the 13,000 defenders in Port Moresby appear on the verge of collapse while the 38th Div remains fully combat effective.

The Kanga force will be faced with to full regiments of the Mixed Indian Bde on 10 July.

Yamamoto has ordered the 2nd Division (staged in transports SW of Rabaul to assault and defeat the enemy Bde at Buna simultaneous with the Mixed Indian Bde's final assualt on Wau and the 38th Divisions final attacks on Port Moresby.

3 CVLs continue to cover the landings at PM while the KB provides airsupport and patrols defensively 150 miles to the SW.

ASW groups of 4 destroyers hunt enemy submarines at the beachheads and in the straights SE fo Gili Gili supported by Vals from the KB.

Total shipping losses during the assaults (since 22 May 42) : one small AP sunk and one large AP damaged

One enemy Tambor class sub sunk at PM and two S Class subs damaged.

Port Moresby falls to Japan during the first week of July, 1942! Over 100 allied aircraft were destroyed on the ground at the 3 major aerofields that surrounded the port.

MAJ Shiraishi is astounded by the results of the Battle Damage Assessment from the three airfields around Port Moresby. From his own observations and the results of prisoner interrogations, he has been able to piece together a picture of the devastating success of 1st and 2nd Carrier Division airstrikes on the morning of 14 June 1942 and the general success of follow-on strikes and naval bombardment.

On the morning of 14 June, ten enemy squadrons with over 150 aircraft occupied the large aerodrome complex (level 8 Airfield). Three enemy base support units and a construction regiment with giant earthmoving equipment of a type the Major has never seen before supported the burgeoning base. When the long lines of Kates and Vals appeared through the thunderstorms, they caught all the enemy aircraft on the ground except a few naval patrol craft willing to brave the weather. The initial strike closed all the airfields and damaged or destroyed over 30 aircraft. The two follow-on strikes by both carrier divisions the next day, combined by ADM Tanaka’s naval bombardment the same night, caught many of the base engineers in the midst of desperately trying to get the airfields functional. Losses in personnel, engineering equipment and aircraft support services were so great that only the smallest airfield capable of launching fighters on short range missions was ever serviceable again. Final tally of enemy aircraft found destroyed or abandoned when the 38th Inf Div overran the airfields on 7 Jul 42:
12 Catalinas
16 Hudsons
16 Beauforts
24 P-39D
24 P-40E
16 B-25D
32 B-26B
5 B17E
16 A-20B

Lessons Learned:
1) The Enemy’s decision to build a large, well dispersed base in lieu of significant fortification contributed to a devastating loss of personnel, airfield support services and supplies.
2) Large, well dispersed airfields can still be effectively closed by a massed attack by carrier-borne aircraft
3) The presence of enemy CAP over the base does not indicate the major airfields have been put back into service
4) Follow-on air strikes by a single carrier division and naval bombard by a battleship division every three days was adequate to keep the base closed for three weeks.