PEARL HARBOR 1941 AAR

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the results of the second attack phase. The Utah was struck multiple times, but the Second Strike planes just couldn’t penetrate its armor. Historically, the Utah was sunk, but it must have happened in the First Strike. On the other hand, the Raleigh was sunk, so it wasn’t a total waste.

Meanwhile, Wheeler field was targeted and lost 0 aircraft at a cost of 5 aircraft to the Japanese.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here is how the attacks are set up for the third attack phase. The level bombers have been reassigned to airfields, since there are no more targets that they have good chances to hit and can penetrate. But the Vals are now targeting a stack of ships in an anchorage hex.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the results of the third attack phase. Note that there were nine ships in the anchorage hex. Other than the USS New Orleans (which is a CA) most of these are small ships and are easily sunk. Five ships are sunk, the Ramapo is heavily damaged and the New Orleans is moderately damaged.

Meanwhile, Hickam field was targeted and lost 8 aircraft at a cost of 1 aircraft to the Japanese.

[Curtis Lemay]

That hex is attacked again in the fourth attack phase. The results show that the Ramapo and the Schley were sunk and the New Orleans got further damaged.

Meanwhile, Wheeler field, Hickam field, and Pearl Harbor NAS were targeted and lost 10 aircraft at a cost of 0 aircraft to the Japanese.

[Curtis Lemay]

For the final attacks, the level bombers have been retasked to the Utah again, since there just aren’t any airfields left that are worth targeting. The Vals continue to attack the remaining ships in that anchorage stack.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the results of the fifth combat phase. The New Orleans and Sacramento were both sunk. The Utah only took a little more damage. That’s all the attacks. While there is an American player turn, it’s irrelevant and can just be skipped.

Meanwhile, Hickam field was targeted and lost 2 aircraft at a cost of 1 aircraft to the Japanese. The Japanese lost 9 aircraft in the second strike and the Americans lost 28 aircraft.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the Japanese aircraft losses. A total of 15 planes were lost. This is less than the historical 29, but not too bad. In the next post I’ll go over one screw up I made in the scenario that may have affected this.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the American aircraft losses. A total of 149 were lost, compared to 188 historically. Note the screw up I made in the scenario, though: I failed to deny reconstitution privileges to the American air units and so most of them rebuilt after turn 1, putting 284 planes out of danger. Had I not done that, I think at least some of those planes would have been returned to on-map units, making them available to be destroyed – and for them to possibly destroy a few more Japanese planes. So, I’ll make that correction, and then I will expect air losses to be a bit closer to historical for both sides. But the results weren’t too bad even so.

[Curtis Lemay]

Here are the American ship losses. Seven battleships were sunk and one was heavily damaged. One CA, one CL, and three DDs were also sunk. An additional five minor ships were also sunk, and the Utah was lightly damaged. This is a little better than historical and I’m satisfied with that. Note that destroyed ships never go to the “On Hand” pools. They are actually sunk.

[Curtis Lemay]

The result was an overwhelming Japanese victory. The final victory total was 948 in the Japanese favor. Anything over 600 is overwhelming. The American loss penalty was 1098 and the Japanese received 350 VPs for sinking the seven battleships. The Japanese loss penalty was 0. The Americans held 1000 on-map VPs while the Japanese had received a 500 VP award at the start. So 948 = 1098 – 1000 + 500 + 350.

This is probably a sign that the scenario is not too well balanced, but, since it is a solitaire scenario, I’m ok with that.

[larryfulkerson]

Thanks a lot for this report. It was needed. It reads well too.

[Cfant]

It is very interesting to see, how historical accurate the TOAW-Engine can be. [:)] Thanks for this AAR, very informative!