Banana vs Erik the Viking

[EUBanana]

Incidentally his troops went right past me in the Owen Stanleys and hit Port Moresby.  I am bemused.

I've had to rush the reinforcement, so APs are being hastily loaded up at Townsville, hopefully in time to counter this.

[EUBanana]

Here's the map on the evening of the 23rd...

[EUBanana]

Well, the chase on August 24th wasn't quite as decisive as I had hoped.  The Allied airgroups on the two  remaining CVs are down to about 50% now and fatigue is high.  Nevertheless it was as I suspected, the Japanese naval air power had been broken so it was mostly risk free.  3 x 1000lb bombs found Shokaku, the rest of the Japanese carrier force seems to have retired to the north.

In the night my cruisers attacked Tassafaronga, finding a couple of ASW craft, the remnants of the earlier convoy perhaps.  They were greased.

Several more sub attacks though, he's been very unlucky with submarines.  Torpedoes being aimed at my carriers seems to happen with disturbing regularity.

CV Enterprise is somehow still alive, on 84 floatation, and now being hastily repaired at Lunga's pierside.  If she makes it out of there it'll be a miracle, but in the tradition of the Big E so I have hopes.  [:)]

Far as I'm concerned the Battle of the Eastern Solomons is now over.  I've ordered my CVs to retire, just being around those subs makes me wary.  I consider it a decisive victory, though a somewhat guilty one as Newbie Erik is still getting the hang of this game.  [:(][8D][:)]

As I think naval superiority is now decisively mine at least for the moment, I've ordered the recommencement of the Tulagi invasion, called off on Day 1.  The original forces are being augmented with some SeaBees to exploit the base when it's been captured.  I'm going to try and pull this off with Lunga's air power only.

[EUBanana]

25th of August sees more focus on New Guinea, while Noumea is very busy with loading and unloading and whatever.

The Japanese have left some troops in the Owen Stanleys but it's been 1:1 odds so far.  Today I unleashed Hell, in the form of 35 B17s, on the limited Japanese forces there.  The Aussies managed to shock attack them back to Buna in disarray (they suffered almost 40% casualties - roughly handled). 

So now the poor b*stards at Port Moresby are cut off.  My reinforcements - 2/3rds of a division pretty much - are almost there.    I've moved up another squadron of Airacobras to Port Moresby for protection as they unload, which will, unfortunately, take quite a while as I deployed them in a hurry in transport mode.

He's been testing the airspace over Port Moresby as well, sweeping with Zeroes - today he shot down an Airacobra for no loss.


Elsewhere quiet, though USS Albacore has managed to get the first real sub success of the campaign so far, torpedoing an AK apparently loaded with fuel.  Fuel is precious in this scenario so thats gotta hurt!

[EUBanana]

Fair few quiet turns, its now the 31st.

Albacore was sunk (!!!) by ASW south of Rabaul.  Annoying, as it was the first Jap ASW TF in action, while I have nigh on 30 ships, including fleet DDs, all patrolling between Noumea and Lunga, and while they engage, they seem to have forgotten where the button that drops the charges is...

Troops are still unloading at Port Moresby, really this was not ideal.  I should have waited for them to unpack at Townsville (they railed up from Brisbane) and sent them with an amphib TF.  As it is Erik's Betties aren't flying for whatever reason.

Zeroes from Lae have been sparring over Port Moresby, a few sweeps.  They've not acquit themselves nobly.  So far its 2 Zeroes for 1 Airacobra, but there are only 5 Zeroes attacking, and they are up against ~15 Kittyhawks + ~20 Airacobras when over PM, so just a tad outnumbered.

[EUBanana]

Last turn of August sees results for my ASW taskforces finally - I-1 is heavily depth charged at Lunga and forced to surface, whereupon she is sunk by 5" shells.  (My DDs even fired torpedoes at the surfaced sub, good stuff, though they missed.  [:D])

Base forces are being loaded up at Townsville for Port Moresby - one USAAF base force + SeaBees.  The 2 regiments of Aussies are almost done unloading there, and I see Erik has called the retreat already. 

The Tulagi invasion will be happening in 2 days I think.

Air forces are quiet, not sure why on Eriks side, but on my side the only strike force I have is the 30-40 B17s at Townsville, but half of them are currently in maintenance...  really, I dunno why so much griping about 4Es in this game, B17s are practically useless!

[EUBanana]

September 1st sees my Tulagi forces at Noumea, the landing will happen tomorrow.

CL Hobart + 3 DDs do a raid on Shortlands.  They encounter 4 Jap DDs.  One gets filled full of 6 inches and sinks.  CL Hobart takes a dozen hits, but none penetrate.  No torpedo hits on either side.  I figured I'd want to keep him honest as the invasion is about to begin.  Risky though, his Betties are set to fly...

And they do fly, but they hit the Tulagi force at Lunga!  30 unescorted Betties meet the Cactus Air Force.  1 is shot down, the rest get through, bad day for the USMC fighters.  However not many hits.  3 Betties are downed by flak, 1 AKA, loaded with paratroopers, gets torpedoed.

[EUBanana]

September 2nd sees another bad day at Tulagi, the worst yet in fact.  The Betties come on in, losing 9 a/c in total from various causes, but causing five torpedo hits, fortunately spread out across the fleet.  The battleship there (North Carolina I think) is on 10 flot, 5 of which is major.  Three heavy cruisers are damaged - not damaged enough to likely sink, but they won't be in the war for a while when they get home.  Fortunately I have no shortage of CAs as of yet.

So Tulagi will be mine but not without cost.

Another sub, this time a RO boat, was sunk at Tulagi by ASW forces.  I think they are beginning to pull their weight a bit.

On the other hand the reinforcement of Port Moresby is going on without a hitch so I guess I can't complain.

Enterprise is on 78 flotation now, if he decides to Betty it one day I really dont think she'll survive...

After Tulagi is taken I plan on taking an island a little further up, so I can get within Wildcat range of Shortlands.

[EUBanana]

Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 114,137
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 56 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      G4M1 Betty x 22
 
 
 
Allied aircraft
      F4F-4 Wildcat x 9
 
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 17 damaged
 
 
Allied Ships
      CA Astoria
      BB Washington, Torpedo hits 1
      CA Quincy, Torpedo hits 1
      CA Portland
      CA Pensacola, Torpedo hits 2
 
 
 
Aircraft Attacking:
      18 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
               Naval Attack:  1 x 45cm T91 Mod 3 Torp
 
CAP engaged:
VMF-212  with F4F-4 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
      (9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
      4 plane(s) intercepting now.
      0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
      Group patrol altitude is 10000
      Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes

 

[EUBanana]

Continues to be a high tempo of action on the 3rd.

In the night USS Greenling off Truk attacks an AK on the surface and keeps attacking until out of gun ammo.  Many torp hits but only one exploded.  Greenling literally fired all her ordnance far as I can tell, so she's going home.  Two subs remain between Truk and Rabaul.

Japanese subs were busy as well.  AKA Bellatrix at Lunga was hit by three torpedoes from I-9 and promptly sank.  I-9 has endured repeated ASW attacks over the last few days but shes' still out there and with teeth.   Fortunately Bellatrix was only (?) carrying supply, so no marines were harmed.  I-9 later that day moved to Tulagi and torpedoed the Minneapolis, and again evaded the ASW.  In fairness the ASW is not quite as intense as it was prior as depth charge ammo is starting to get low.

Lots of Betty attacks, all unescorted, mostly on Tulagi but some were focused on Port Moresby as well.  Mixed bombs/torpedoes, the ones attacking PM were bombs only.  Not quite as decisive as the previous day, pilot fatigue and damaged a/c means the raids are of the order of 15 strong now.  Also my Wildcats did considerably better.  27 Betties were lost due to various reasons today, but the Betties did score a torpedo hit on CLAA San Juan and two on AP Fuller which sinks.   

The fighting over Port Moresby was interesting to me as my CAP was set to very high altitude (25k and 30k) due to high altitude Zero sweeps a week or so ago.  The Betties came in much lower (15k) and managed to drop their bombs without being intercepted.  There were, however, a few lost after the bombs were dropped, but not many.  I've reduced the altitude of the defenders, as I think they basically got in under the fighter cover. 

Tulagi was heavily bombarded by everything I had (B17s, shore bombardment) and assaulted, and captured, at the end of the day. 

Fatigue is now extremely high in my fighter crews at the front lines, but surely after losing almost 40 Betties in 2 days the Japs are in a much worse state, so aside from a few tweaks, my orders to my a/c remain unchanged.  My bombardment TF, with the slightly damaged battleship, is ordered home.  An escort TF is formed with all the hit cruisers in it, they are on an average of 40 floatation and need to return to Noumea as a matter of urgency.    However the bulk of the amphib TF remains, to drop more supply at Tulagi.  One more day will be plenty, supply at Tulagi is already good (6000) but I dont want to have to run again next week...

[EUBanana]

Somewhat less busy on the 4th.  Blunted Betties? 

A badly damaged AK with a speed of 2 knots had been ordered to proceed to Noumea on its own, rather than hold up other ships.  She was torpedoed and sunk by a Jap sub 120 miles south of Lunga, so she didnt get far.  However, my damaged cruisers run the gauntlet and are now out of the danger area.

Heavy attacks made on Port Moresby today.  The CAP is ineffective, their fatigue is just too high.  Miss Betty had torpedoes today and ravaged the convoy, one AP sunk, one badly damaged, an AMC badly damaged.  I notice I have trouble here, so if anybody reading knows the answer do pipe up.  It's an amphibious TF carrying engineers, for some reason the engineer vehicles are unable to be unloaded.  Even in an amphib TF?  Do I need APs rather than xAPs, is an xAP simply unable to do this?  I had a similar problem with a transport TF carrying artillery pieces, the arty couldnt be unloaded.  I put that down to the port size being inadequate.

[Laxplayer]

the x in front of xAP and xAK means that they cannot perform amphibious duties. You need an AK or AP.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Laxplayer

the x in front of xAP and xAK means that they cannot perform amphibious duties. You need an AK or AP.

Ah OK. I just thought it meant they couldn't do it as well, not that they couldn't do it at all.

Easily rectifiable, then... no shortage of APs yet.

[EUBanana]

I think we're entering a period of consolidation.  There was some minor action - unescorted Betties being chopped up over Port Moresby - but the intensity of the previous few days combat is over.  I'm giving my squadrons some rest, and hopefully my ships will be back at Noumea soon.

There is fighting on Guadalcanal though, he moved his troops to Lunga, but his supply situation is terrible and he was immediately horribly repulsed.  I had my armour in reserve and they pursued.  He suffered 50% losses (3000 men) and almost all of them were destroyed rather than disabled.  I think my armour might be able to clean up Tassafaronga on their own, which would be nice.

[EUBanana]

September 8th, we're in a definite lull.  The only activity anywhere is from subs.  Here he has the upper hand.  I've lost three transports in three days, despite escort.  My ASW efforts havn't scored.

Port Moresbys reinforcement has allowed me to move more a/c there, so it now sports a squadron of Marauders - the first time PM has really had any offensive punch.  I'm having a poke at Lae tomorrow with them.

At Lunga I've ordered the marines out to Tassafaronga, the armour cannot handle the Japs there on their own.    Its a long walk for them, though...  I doubt Erik has plans for amphibious landings at Lunga so its fairly safe I think.  The CD guns are still there, as is the Allied navy at Noumea.

There is something of an enforced pause going on as the Allied rear areas have no supply.  Sydney is almost out.  In truth the forward bases are all well supplied anyway so theres no need of any more convoys - in fact some needs sending urgently to the airbases in Australia like Cairns.  Still, there's going to be a fair bit of waiting in this month I think as a result.

[Laxplayer]

Actually after reading the manual's description again, it simply states that the xAP/xAK have "no amphibious bonus." So I would say that YES, they can do amphibious operations... just very poorly/slowly. Sorry for the confusion, I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of this, and I thought I'd try and help out on one of the things I thought I knew. [8|]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

ORIGINAL: Laxplayer

the x in front of xAP and xAK means that they cannot perform amphibious duties. You need an AK or AP.

Ah OK. I just thought it meant they couldn't do it as well, not that they couldn't do it at all.

Easily rectifiable, then... no shortage of APs yet.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Laxplayer
Actually after reading the manual's description again, it simply states that the xAP/xAK have "no amphibious bonus." So I would say that YES, they can do amphibious operations... just very poorly/slowly. Sorry for the confusion, I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of this, and I thought I'd try and help out on one of the things I thought I knew. [8|]

Well, theres definitely something up as the unload troops button is in red, and it says "Cannot complete unload operation". And sure enough they never unloaded.

I'm going to try with some APs.

[EUBanana]

September 11th...  in the South Pacific at least, a day of peace.

Not much going on.  I'm pondering the next offensive move.  I'm thinking of a move actually onto Shortlands itself, this may well be crazy however.  Failing that, an island near Shortlands...  Buka maybe, even, which is beyond it.  I have plenty of fighters in the form of Enterprises complement which no longer has a CV to base themselves on.

I think it can wait until I've secured Tassafaronga though. 

The only action planned by the Allies now is moving the USMC air wing guys (90 av support) to Lunga, which will solve most of my basing problems.

Port Moresby is half way to being a level 5 airfield... the bell tolls dolefully for the Japs!

[Mynok]

Do you have naval support in PM? That will help you unload.

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: Mynok


Do you have naval support in PM? That will help you unload.

Unfortunately not, it's as rare in my OOB as hens teeth.