June 8th & June 9th, 1942
At last, some action!
North Pacific
Shikuka hits level 7 port. I've been tardy in shipping resources out of here, and now there's just under a million stockpiled. I've formed two big TF's to start shipping that over to Honshu.
Central Pacific
The big show.
On the 8th, a Betty squadron from Rabual finds and sorties against the CL Helena, which is concerningly reported one hex from a transport TF and one hex from some oilers (!). The American warship had managed to insert itself in the chink in naval search between Ndeni and Ocean Island.
The oilers are instructed to run for Kusaie Island, and their escort, the DD Akebono, is ordered on a suicide mission to intercept and stop the American ship.
By serendipidy, the 3 Myoko CA and 2 Aoba CA and 7 DD's that I had detached for bombardment operations against Suva are a days sail away, they're ordered to go into high speed to intercept and sink the Allied CL. Events the following day transpire that this was not the complete picture of Allied commitment to this area.
The PB escorts are detached from the xAK convoy (6 Husimi freighters) and serve as sacraficial shields for the xAK's. All three are sunk, but not before confirming that there's the CL Phoenix, Helena, as well as the Concord and a DD. The Helena and Phoenix are operating as lone ships, and the Concord and the DD together.
After the PB's are swept aside, the Concord and it's DD get in amongst the xAK's, sinking one before they escape. Then Helena appears and mauls the convoy again. Over a series of engagements only one xAK escapes.
The IJN CA force appears at the end of the night phase, but the Concord and escort slip away using radar. Things look like the Allies are running away with it.
Daylight, and the IJN are still searching for the raiders. Commanding the IJN CA Force is CPT Mori of the Haguro, a 70 Nav sea-salt. He earns a promotion or a medal after today.
First found is the Concord and escort:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Ontong Java at 118,123, Range 11,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko, Shell hits 2
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1
CA Nachi
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
DD Akatsuki
DD Hibiki
DD Ikazuchi
DD Inazuma
DD Sagiri
DD Oboro
Allied Ships
CL Concord, Shell hits 21, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Henley, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Then he sweeps down on the Helena and hammers it with the full weight of six heavy crusiers:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Ontong Java at 118,123, Range 15,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi, Shell hits 1
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 3
DD Akatsuki
DD Hibiki
DD Ikazuchi
DD Inazuma
DD Sagiri
DD Oboro
Allied Ships
CL Helena, Shell hits 34, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Next is a scrappy engagement with the Phoenix - IJN ships have used up their ammo and torps fighting the fast USN warships:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Ontong Java at 118,123, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko, Shell hits 1
CA Haguro, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Nachi, Shell hits 2
CA Aoba, Shell hits 2
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 3
DD Akatsuki
DD Hibiki
DD Ikazuchi
DD Inazuma
DD Sagiri
DD Oboro
Allied Ships
CL Phoenix, Shell hits 5, on fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Kusaie Island at 119,123, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Haguro, heavy fires
CA Nachi
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 1
DD Akatsuki
DD Hibiki, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Ikazuchi
DD Inazuma
DD Sagiri, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Oboro, Shell hits 2, on fire
Allied Ships
CL Phoenix, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Kusaie Island at 120,124, Range 19,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Haguro, heavy fires
CA Nachi
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
DD Akatsuki
DD Hibiki, on fire
DD Ikazuchi
DD Inazuma
DD Sagiri, on fire
DD Oboro, heavy fires, heavy damage The Oboro sinks later in the turn to progressive flooding.
Allied Ships
CL Phoenix, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
And then, Mori calls it quits and turns his ships away towards Rabual. He's done good work, three USN ships are sunk. Ammo is depelete, his own Haguro is a mess. Superstructure on the ship is in ruins. The Y turret on the Nachi has been disabled and the TF is short on ammo and torps.
The Phoenix may yet live up to it's name and limp away to fight another day...
...until LCRD Nakagawa in the Akebono bursts on to the scene. Despite missing all the nights action (and the Allied ships completely), he's in the right place at the right time - bearing down on a damaged USN CL:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Nauru Island at 120,125, Range 20,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
DD Akebono
Allied Ships
CL Phoenix, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
So ends this little scrappy affair. I'm moving an AV to Ocean Island to plug the chink in Nav Search, and running all convoys through Rabual in future.
The CA force is shot, they'll all need downtime in port, but there's not much major damage so hopefully it can be fixed at Rabual. The ships are heading to Rabual for emergency repairs then Truk for major repairs.
To replace them, I'm moving the two Takao CA and CA Maya from the Home Islands to SWPAC to resume bombardment duties. They'll be joined by the two Aoba-class CA's once they get the dents fixed on their armour.
South-West Pacific
The sweeps go in at Tongatapu on the 8th, to mixed results:
Morning Air attack on Tongatapu , at 138,168
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 44 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 19
P-40E Warhawk x 15
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Tongatapu , at 138,168
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
However, sweeps on the 9th meet no opposition. I'll take that as a win. The battle-worn groups are rotated out and I'll sweep one day more to make a point.
At sea, IJN submarine captains are learning all about how a stern-chase is a long chase. They're hearding the Long Island towards the KB while trying themselves to stalk the slow (16 knots) CVE themselves.
Meanwhile the KB is undetected, and in a position to cut the USN ship off within one turn (if the CVE force heads west) or two turns (if it continues south-west).
Bombings of Suva continue.
Luzon
At last things are starting to wind down on Luzon:
Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 48500 troops, 515 guns, 392 vehicles, Assault Value = 1370
Defending force 32298 troops, 456 guns, 507 vehicles, Assault Value = 428
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 767
Allied adjusted defense: 491
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1141 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 114 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Allied ground losses:
1060 casualties reported
Squads: 96 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 22 (12 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 60 (1 destroyed, 59 disabled)
DEI
IJA units are set to take Daly Waters next turn.
The 4 Mogami CA's and 10 Shiratsuyu DD's are sent off to start hammering Rangoon.
Otherwise, quiet.
Burma
Bombings continue. The slugfest at Rangoon has been great for my divisions. 75 EXP or above across the board.
I've moved a couple of RTA A/B/C fragments into Burma to help with hexside control and managing the Chinese. I'm not hugely concerned about the situation, but a full-strength (or even half-strength) Chinese corps appearing out of nowhere can ruin any day.
China
Neikiang (2 hex west of Chungking) falls to a IJA tank force. The tanks are barrelling on to Chengtu to help seize that base. The Light Industry is only partially damaged, which is nice.
Shipping is en-route to collect the 40th Division, which is resting at Hong Kong after being mauled in earlier fighting. It is intended for Sakhilin. I'm torn as to where to send it, as operations in North Oz are developing nicely. Will wait and see.
A good couple turns, lets see what the next few bring!
