Matrix Games Forums

AE Shasta and Lassen have 5400 capacity. Those are available in '42. Two more come in later and then AE Mount Hood which has a 6400 capacity later in the war. All can do 16 knots.

But couldn't you use two smaller AE ships to rearm BBs? Or am I misinterpreting the game mechanic? It is less efficient but there are many ships that can be converted for this.

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
But couldn't you use two smaller AE ships to rearm BBs? Or am I misinterpreting the game mechanic? It is less efficient but there are many ships that can be converted for this.

I do believe so. I once rearmed a couple BB's in a size 2 or 3 port with an AE. It took about a week tho - I kept using up all the AE's ops points.

ORIGINAL: sanch

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
But couldn't you use two smaller AE ships to rearm BBs? Or am I misinterpreting the game mechanic? It is less efficient but there are many ships that can be converted for this.

I do believe so. I once rearmed a couple BB's in a size 2 or 3 port with an AE. It took about a week tho - I kept using up all the AE's ops points.

Did they actually rearm the main guns, or just the 5" and AA?

13 Jan 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing exciting once again. The BB TF vanished, as did the carriers. I did spot 3 subs in a north-south line, west of Adak, sweeping west. I learned from Ted this morning that he did find my carriers. I don’t know how, but I suspect it was his intel. If he had plans to invade Adak, I’m pretty sure they have been called off now. Adak’s all beat up, but that won’t last forever. Port – 100%, Airfield Service – 100%, Runway – 67% damage. My troops all lost a little from the last bombardment. (Who wouldn’t after being bombarded by 9 BBs!) They’ll recover though. Anyway, I’m going to send KB2 west then south to evade the subs. Then I’ll decide what to do. KB1 & KB3 continue to head north.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Just some minor damage to Pt. Moresby’s airfield, along with a destroyed plane and some damaged planes.

Ted swept Lae with P-40Ks, shooting down 3x Oscars (1 KIA, 1 WIA) for the loss of 1 Warhawk. I had a chutai of fighters at Madang serving no purpose. They were the planes that got ambushed. I pulled them out.

Eleven P-38Gs swept Gasmata, losing 1 of their number while shooting down 3 Zeros (1 KIA, 1 WIA) and 3 Oscars (2 KIA). I discovered after the next turn the Lightnings were coming in at max altitude of 39k feet. Hmm…

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

If you don’t recall, I paradropped most of the 4 Parachute Regiment at Rangpur, to cut off Ted’s land line of supply. Well, Ted sent 130 2/4E bombers to visit and wiped them out! A shock attack later in the turn took the base back. So much for that little stunt. I still have ~25% of the unit. I’ll rebuild it.

China

I’ve been sweeping Chunking daily for a while now. Some Chinese fighters finally came up to play. Twelve P-66s came up, and only 6 made powered landings. I lost 1 Oscar. I don’t expect to see them again for a while.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:

8 Mongol Cavalry Division – Mongol Garrison Army – will be used for garrison duties, relieving a unit that is better for frontline service.
17 Medium Field Artillery Regiment – Rebuilt – will garrison one of the Marianas Islands after it fills out.


A DMS began conversion to E at Tokyo.
Six DMS began conversion to E at Singapore.

14 Jan 43

Sub War

Lots of significant action here today. First, the Drum was sitting in one of the deep water hexes to the west of Nagasaki and caught my 12.8k TK convoy, sinking the Rikko Maru, fully loaded. That’s 12.8k fuel up in smoke, along with the TK. Ted and I were talking about this (and other things) this morning. That cost me 12.8k HI, or the equivalent of 355 single engine aircraft in fuel. I’ve come to the realization that I’d rather have more smaller TKs hauling fuel and oil, simply because when he sinks one, I don’t lose as much. Yeah, more fuel is lost steaming more tankers. I don’t know if the extra fuel burned makes more smaller TKs less efficient or not. Ted is going to sink TKs, so I’d rather he sink small ones. It’s really a moot point, because I have what I have.

I had a midget sub (Ha-33) sitting at Buna hoping to get a shot off at something. The DD Gwin ended that little excursion.

I did get a bit of retribution a little later. The I-31 was sitting several hexes south of Dutch Harbor and had gotten a little damage from a depth charge attack the day before – 11 sys damage. I spotted the 9 BB bombardment TF heading east, presumably to the US West Coast. The more sys damage a ship has, the less effective and more vulnerable she is. She was the only sub in the area that could get in front of the TF, so I sent her out in front of the TF to wait for it. What I didn’t see was the West Virginia (escorted by the CLAA San Juan) ahead of the bombardment TF. The I-31 found the wounded BB West Virginia, launched 6 torpedoes, and put 4 of them into her! Nothing can take a total of 6 sub torpedoes and stay afloat. Banzai! The I-31 is still to the east of the bombardment TF and will wait for them to arrive, probably tomorrow. Two BBs from a single sub in one patrol would be more than I could hope for.

5 Fleet

Things have settled down quite a bit. KB2 and cruiser TF got around the subs that were looking for them, I think. I’m still not sure that Ted even knew that my carriers were in the area because they never launched [See below].

I took a chance and moved a single cargo ship with some of the 23 Tank Regiment to Adak. They reached port today and will start to unload tomorrow. It will take a while because the port is 100% damaged. Keeping fingers crossed here. If that works, I’ll send in another with some of the garrison unit next. Each of the cargo ships has supply as well, so I’ll keep resupplying Adak as well as reinforcing it. The ACM will arrive tomorrow, as will the minelayer TF with 150 mines.

The US carriers disappeared again. I am taking a calculated risk with the cargo ship and CMs. I don’t know how long it will take for the cargo to unload, but the CMs should be in and out tomorrow. KB1 & KB3 are still heading north. KB2 will hang around and wait for them. When all of KB arrives, I’ll probably take a shot at Dutch Harbor. I’d like to do something useful considering how much fuel I will have burned. The one thing I will not do is to attack just for the sake of attacking. There needs to be the potential for accomplishing something useful for the risk and plane/pilot loss that will result.

4 Fleet

Fort building.

SE Fleet

This was a bloody day in the air, as well as on the seas. Ted tried something new here and in Burma. He sent his fighters on sweep missions, but the planes were at maximum altitude. That hurt, but it ended up costing him more overall.

There were 3 sweeps over Gasmata. His P-40Ks took 6 losses and the P-38Gs took a single loss. I lost 7 Tojos, 2 Oscars and a Zero, with 3 WIA & 3 KIA pilots. Not bad on the pilots and I can replace the planes easily. Hopefully, he lost all the pilots, since it was over my territory.

I rearranged things a bit to rest some fighter units and place my fighters on either max altitude or second highest band. We’ll see how things fare tomorrow.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Here, Ted tried the same thing with his fighters, over Shwebo and Magwe. Losses were more even with 12 Allied fighters to 11 Japanese fighters lost. Again, I lost a few WIA and a few KIA. The kicker was when 130 Allied bombers (in 2 groups) came in to bomb Shwebo’s ground units. (They hit the same construction battalion each time.) Thirteen bombers were shot down for no Japanese loss. Very nice. Ted forgot to stand down his bombers from yesterday’s massacre of the 4 Parachute Regiment. Serves him right!

So, overall losses in the air were 32 Allied planes to 21 Japanese planes shot down and 5 KIA/8 WIA. Heavy losses in the air for me, but I have the planes and pilots to replace them.

I increased the altitude of my fighters here as well. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

China

One of my armies arrived at Kweiyang. I attacked today getting 1:1 odds with a fort level of 2. Losses were 880(5) Japanese to 1363(32) Chinese. I’ll rest a day or two and attack again. I want to take this base because it will cut off some Chinese troops to the east and will take some LI from the Chinese. Less Chinese supply is good.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements (lots & lots):

Endo Det – 2x J1N1-S night fighters – 13 Air Flotilla – It’s a tiny unit (max size 2) and Ted rarely uses his bombers at night. I bought them out and am sending them to the SE Fleet area. Maybe they will do something useful, but I’m not holding my breath. The war will not be won by 2 night fighters.
108 Sentai – 27 Transports – 51 Air Division – training
90 IF Chutai – 12 bombers – 51 Air Division – gave them Idas – Kamikaze training
AMc Wa-8 – I’ll probably convert it to something else.
E W-24 – Convoy escort
CM Yurijima – minelayer
SC CHa-50 – ASW
1 Air Division HQ – Northern Army - Sapporo
19 JAAF Base Force – Southern Army – Naha
20 JAAF Base Force – 1 Air Division – Sapporo
21 JAAF Base Force – 1 Air Division – Hirosaki
1 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
49 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
55 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
63 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
73 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
77 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
83 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
177 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo
178 JAAF AF Battalion – General Defense Army – Sapporo

Lots of AS arrived at Sapporo. Kind of strange, but I’ll take it. I’ll buy out some of them and use them where I need them. If I don’t, they’re stuck on that island.

Ki-43-IIIa R&D advanced to 7/44.
A6M5b R&D advanced to 8/43.

Ted is an interesting opponent. Neither of us plays for points. We play to play. We’ve been talking about the Aleutians pretty much all morning, and I finally asked him if he had planned on invading Adak. Here’s his response:

“OK, I'll admit it, you stopped a landing. I was having some doubts to start. You had gotten some reinforcements/supply into Adak. Quantities were unknown. [no troops and 1-2k supply] The landing TF held in place and I figured three or four days of naval shelling would certainly help. Then God and everybody decides to make Adak #1 on their to-do list and that was a wrap for me. I didn't think you would send carriers up there, or even heavy surface ships. That's a major fuel expenditure for you. So, you may have stopped a landing but I made you burn gas. Note to self...plan some large feints ”

He’s right, this endeavor is a major fuel expenditure. I estimate it’ll cost me 60-80k fuel when it’s all said and done. Fortunately, I’ve been shipping almost all the fuel produced at Balikpapan (81k fuel a month) to either Davao (Combined Fleet) or Truk. Currently, Davao has ~100k and Truk has ~80k fuel. There are 8x 7950 capacity TKs that do nothing but haul fuel to either of those destinations, primarily Truk. In addition, Truk provides fuel for all of 4 Fleet and SE Fleet. It is the major supply/fuel hub for that part of the world. With Davao currently inactive as a hub and not housing the Combined Fleet or KB, all of the fuel from Balikpapan will go to Truk. It’ll be back up to 150k+ in no time.

I expect the US carriers to remain in the Pacific. The Aleutians was the farthest point from Truk that an invasion might occur. If Ted decides to do something in SE Fleet area, it’ll take a while for more carriers to arrive down there since they’re currently running from the Aleutians. I’m moving the subs I have patrolling east of Hawaii and off San Francisco to try and find the carriers and more importantly, where they roost. Then I can keep an eye out for their movements. I know they’ll head home, at least for a short time because of an email he sent earlier today:

“You had a TF (a surface TF I think) [my cruiser TF] hanging out for a few days SW of Adak. I had sent a couple subs in that direction to intercept while my bombardment TF moved in. I was planning to stay a couple days in Adak, but on the day of the bombardment about 4 more separate TFs appeared, one of them reported as CVs and something like 99 bombers, 100+ fighters, etc. [KB2] It was time to un-ass the area. I did have carriers there, but not much supporting ships so the AA was low. So I set everything to hit Adak once and then full speed out. Boy, did that cause some damage to the carriers. It may take three days to fix it all <snicker>. I love my damage control.

I underestimated the winter factor up there. I wanted to use it to my advantage for any LBA [exactly 9 Emilies and 9 Jakes] you may have, but I wasn't ready to deal with a full blown carrier fight.”

By the way, I hope he does execute some large feints. I don’t think he’ll risk his carriers so I can nit-pick him to death for minor losses.

He escorted a damaged BB with a CLAA? That is like taking candy from a baby.[:D]

Banzai!

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: sanch

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
But couldn't you use two smaller AE ships to rearm BBs? Or am I misinterpreting the game mechanic? It is less efficient but there are many ships that can be converted for this.

I do believe so. I once rearmed a couple BB's in a size 2 or 3 port with an AE. It took about a week tho - I kept using up all the AE's ops points.

Did they actually rearm the main guns, or just the 5" and AA?

The manual says nothing on it. I always assumed that underway rearming followed the same rules as rearming in ports, so the same things about maximum load on the ship + how many points of supply, and so on.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

He escorted a damaged BB with a CLAA? That is like taking candy from a baby.[:D]

Banzai!

Yeah, he told me today he had a severe lack of escorts up there. The CLAA did have DCs and used them.

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

ORIGINAL: sanch

ORIGINAL: Sangeli
But couldn't you use two smaller AE ships to rearm BBs? Or am I misinterpreting the game mechanic? It is less efficient but there are many ships that can be converted for this.

I do believe so. I once rearmed a couple BB's in a size 2 or 3 port with an AE. It took about a week tho - I kept using up all the AE's ops points.

Did they actually rearm the main guns, or just the 5" and AA?

Yes, main guns and all. It was a while ago, and I fully rearmed a couple old US BB's for bombardment in the Marshalls.

Thanks, sanch. Interesting.

15 Jan 43

Sub War

My subs in the Aleutians continue to take a beating. I have 8 (surviving) subs allocated here and began this turn down to 2 undamaged subs and a third that has some minor damage (the I-31, who sank the WV). My goal is to keep an eye on Allied shipping in the area. I keep the subs moving, but that turned out to be a bad thing today. The I-159 moved into a hex containing an Allied ASW TF composed of 3x AMs. She took two direct hits and was forced to surface. The AMs all took potshots at her, but never hit! I figured she was a goner and listened for the sinking sounds and the report that she sank, but never received it. She survived! I’ve never seen a sub that was forced to the surface survive the contact. Amazing. Her damage is 23-62(43)-1-0. She’s headed to Etorofu for emergency repairs. It’ll take 2 weeks to get there.

The SSX Ha-32 was abandon at Gasmata for some unknown reason. Hmm…

The Dutch O24 nosed into Gasmata, probably hunting a small supply convoy there, and ate a mine. She showed up as sunk, but she isn’t. I’m sure she’s limping back to port, which is almost as good.

5 Fleet

Well, the contact that basically wasn’t seems to be over, but I’m assuming Ted is out there somewhere. If he is planning something, he’ll be cautious because he knows my carriers are about. It was a quiet day here so I took advantage of it.

KB2 and the cruiser TF refueled. The cruisers are heading back to Truk. I don’t see a need for them. KB1 & KB3 are 1-2 days out from their rendezvous with KB2. My sub force remnants still see some shipping at and around Dutch Harbor. I want to send all of KB there for one massive attack (309 Zeros, 126 Vals, 141 Kates) against the local shipping and port, just for fun. Actually, I’m hoping the invasion fleet is there. If it is, I’m sure the troops are unloaded, but I’d love to sink some of the shipping he had allocated for an invasion. If it is there and the troops are still aboard, all the better! It’ll be one attack and skedaddle back to Truk. Ted has subs around there, probably to the west though. Once he sees Japanese carriers, every sub for miles around will move in. I’ll set the bombers to naval attack with a secondary port attack on Dutch Harbor.

I’m toying with the idea of risking a sub to move through Unmak Island to make sure there aren’t any mines there. If there aren’t, I may risk sending the 3 Kongos (Hiei collided with Wakaba back on 29 Dec and both are still repairing at Truk) and 4 CAs to bombard Unmak Island. This would coincide with the air attack.

At Adak, the damage went down a nice amount: Port 100%, Airfield Service 100%, Runway 39% (down from 57%) with 884 supply present. The troops are still repairing, but no new squads arrived. The CM TF dropped off 150 mines (now 185 present) and the ACM disbanded in port to tend the mines. The xAK with a slice of the 23 Tank Regiment arrived and began unloading. Exactly 1 Type 95 tank unloaded. I docked the ship in port today hoping the offload goes a little more quickly. I’m not exactly sure what 100% port damage actually means.

I still have the remainder of the tank regiment, along with a garrison unit and artillery battalion waiting to unload at Adak. They’re carrying with them ~12k supply, which will help tremendously.

Ted and I discussed weather quite a bit yesterday. He did make a comment about how the weather affected him adversely, more than he expected. I’m relatively confident that he won’t try anything up here before March. That’s nice because it’ll give me 45 days to repair damage, dump more troops and supply, and get the fort up to level 6 (currently at 5.68). I still have the Hiryu fighter daitai sitting at Etorofu. I may move them to Adak for CAP when the airfield repairs are complete. I expect the airfield to be fully repaired in a week and the port in another 5-6 days. That’s assuming no visits from Ted, of course.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

No Allied fighter sweeps today. Only my bombing of Pt. Moresby, which damaged half a dozen 4E bombers.

I wonder if the O24 incident was merely to go after my shipping or to scout out a potential invasion site. I can see the merit of invading Gasmata. Readymade airfield (level 4) and a little port. I have to check tonight to see how many troops are stationed there. I may have to add to that. I have the 90 Infantry Regiment available, but it’s sitting at Davao. Months ago, it was part of an invasion plan for Merauke, which obviously didn’t pan out. It’s still at full strength with 80 experience. I will move it to Gasmata to bolster the garrison. I’ll also send in some SNLFs from Truk. I have quite a stack of them sitting there.

SRA

I have a daitai and chutai of Nells (40 aircraft) sitting at Ambon along with the 21 Air Flotilla HQ, so they have torpedo capability. That base is too far back from the front line to be able to do much useful (especially with torpedoes), but today they engaged a couple of xAKs (unsuccessfully) near Wessel Island (which I still control). The airbase at Saumlaki reached level 2. I have some AS there and moved the daitai there. It’s much closer to the action but can only use bombs from that location. I’m hoping to attack the convoy that traverses that area regularly from Saumlaki airbase. (I think it moves between Horn Island and Darwin, supplying Darwin.) I am tempted to move the 21 Air Flotilla HQ to Saumlaki so I have torpedo capability, but I hate having that HQ right on the front line. I may look around for another HQ with torpedo capability that I can move there. I’ll check that tonight. If I can get another HQ there, I’ll station all of the Nells there and also station a chutai of Rufes there. (They are the only fighters I have in the SRA other than some at Palembang.) Those guys fought pretty well early in the war, shooting down a number of planes (for no loss) at Wessel Island and gaining some nice experience.

Burma

I learned something valuable today. First, increasing my target height for my fighters did wonders. In battles over Magwe and Shwebo, I netted 7 Allied fighters shot down for no Japanese losses. However, Ted sent in a handful of bombers to bomb Shwebo’s troops at low level and my fighters didn’t respond. I guess I’ll have to have fighters at multiple levels. That’ll increase my losses to his fighters but I’ll be able to wear down his bombers. I’ll test it out to see what happens and try to figure out an optimal solution. The other alternative is to battle his fighters and ignore the bombers. I’ll keep my fighter strength up and wear his fighter strength down more quickly. Gotta think about that.

China

I took Kweiyang in a deliberate assault today. The 3:1 attack (fort level 1) netted 4966(504) Chinese casualties to 1363(6) Japanese. The infrastructure: Manpower 1(1), Resources 52(8), LI 35(5). I will not repair anything. Forty less LI for the Chinese!

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:

4 Independent SNLF Company: Rebuilt – Will garrison one of the resource producing islands south of the Philippines that still needs a garrison.

I fielded the Ki-43-IIb for the first time in Burma. We’ll see how they fare. I suspect it won’t be any better than the older models.

Aircraft R&D Update. First those that are actually accelerating:

Ki-43-IIIa – 4x30 – 7/44 (10% to next acceleration)
Ki-44-IIc – 3x30 – 10/43 – These factories will convert to another model when the Tojo upgrades are complete in mid-43. (74%)
Ki-100-II – 6x30 – 5/45 (4/45 tomorrow) (100%)
A6M5b – 6x30 – 8/43 (17%)
N1K1-J – 22,27,30,21,18,19 – 9/43 (51%)
B6N2 – 1x30 – 10/43(12%)
D4Y2 – 2x30 – 4/44 (9%)

And those still working their way to the magic 30:

Ki-84a – 41(size 55 factory),10,22,26,12,22 – 4/44
Ki-201 – 3,4,0,1,4,6 – 3/46
Ki-102b – 8,10,5 – 11/44
Ki-67-Ia – 10 – 9/44
Ki-46-III KAI – 11 – 10/44
A7M3-J – 5,3,5,5,4 – 1/46
E15K1 – 29,23 – 8/43
G4M2a – 19,5 – 6/44
B6N1 – 12,21 – 5/43 (factory upgrades to the N2 when it reaches 30)
P1Y1 – 20 – 11/43
C6N1-S – 2,0,3 – 11/45
D4Y1 – 29 – 2/43 (factory upgrades to the Y2 when it reaches 30)
B7A2 – 8,12,6,12 – 4/44

A few notes:
-Most of the R&D factories will not become operational. They’ll upgrade to something else, probably relatively close to completion so it repairs rather quickly.
-The Ha-35 engine pool hovers around 502-509 each day. Some days, the Oscar &/or Zero do not have enough engines available to get magic 2% per R&D factory for all the factories. Only some of them get the bonus. My current Ha-35 production is 450 and I will not increase if further just to get the 2% per factory per day. Current monthly needs for the Ha-35 are:

A6M5 production: 120
Ki-43-IIb production: 128
Ki-45 KAIb production: 30
A6M5b R&D: 180
Ki-43-IIIa R&D: 120

Or 258 production and 300 R&D per month. The production comes off the top leaving 192 left for R&D or about 2/3 (actually a bit more) of the R&D factories get the bonus each month. I can live with that. Late war, I expect to need the Ha-35 only for the Oscar IV (128 a month). I will not spend the additional 100k supply needed for an additional 100 Ha-35 engine factories that I won’t need later. I can use that supply for other purposes. I do shut off the Nick production most of the time because I have only 1 unit fielding this plane (at Rabaul). I keep only 10 in the pool and lose few of them.

Mike, what do you see as Ted's intentions, other than to strike where he can? Was the Aleutian operation just a target of opportunity, or a major objective? I'm thinking he really wants to advance up the Solomons when his land based air is strong enough. He might make a feint up north to draw your carriers up there now that he knows you're willing to send them that far.

Do you plan to split up your carriers or leave them concentrated at Truk? For the sake of argument let's say Ted uses the 2 carriers at Noumea to strike down south before your CVs can get there. Can he hurt you (or pull off a small invasion) enough to justify the risk?

When does he get F6Fs?

Your AAR is always interesting.

Hi Zorch. I know he eventually wants to move in the SE Fleet area. I suspect he'll bypass the Solomons completely. He does have a focus on Rabaul. I still have air superiority over Gasmata and Rabaul. He's afraid of my Netties, even though they have horrible accuracy. I don't expect Ted to move in this area until he has the ability to escort his bombers over Rabaul. That will happen beginning in June 43, when he starts getting 40x P-38s a month. Whenever he sends unescorted bombers alone, they get butchered. Once his bombers get through and level Rabaul's airfield, then he'll bomb it to the stone age. At that point, he'll move. My counter to that is to have multiple airfields in the area. He won't be able to level them all. As long as my planes aren't destroyed on the ground, I'll be able to keep him at bay with LBA.

Keep in mind that the Yorktown took a 250kg bomb on 3 Jan. I suspect she'll be out of commission through the end of January at least. If he want's to move with 1-2 carriers against my LBA in the area, I'll take him on.

I had a convoy flush a Japanese sub to the surface, and not only did it survive, but it put torpedoes into 2 additional ships and shell holes into another. See this link for a blow-by-blow account of that battle.

16 Jan 43

Sub War

Well, sneaking those mines in at Adak paid off. I heard a mine explosion early in the turn but didn’t know where or what happened. I saw later that the Wahoo and S-35 were both reported sunk at Adak by mines, but neither actually sank. At least one was hit, I’m sure. I do see a sub just to the NE of Adak heading NE. I have a sub next to it. I’m moving in for the intercept.

I like to keep a sub on the edge of the Australian coast 4 hexes south of Canberra. Convoys tend to move through that hex. I’ve sunk a few ships there. The I-175 had the mission of sitting in that hex. An ASW TF composed of some AMs found her and hit her with a depth charge. She’ll survive, but needs to go in for repairs. Her damage is 23-13(7)-2(2)-0. I may have to abandon that hex for a while.

5 Fleet

Well, what you’re saying may be true. I’m convinced Ted had planned on invading Adak for 2 reasons. First, he wanted to see how invasions work. He hasn’t really invaded anyplace yet. He told me that he didn’t expect me to send heavy ships or carriers to defend the place. I think he thought it would be an easy invasion. Second, I think he wanted to clear me out of the Aleutians. I have relatively secure naval search from there so he can’t sneak a fleet through there easily.

This month I’ve definitely spotted 3 of the 6 US carriers, Yorktown at Noumea and 2 in the Aleutians. I’m surprised he split them up, but he definitely didn’t expect me to visit Noumea. I’m guessing that he’s using his carriers in pairs or maybe groups of 3, but I don’t know for sure. Ted said that there were 2 carriers in Noumea, and I believe him. Also, my intel of that base supports that. I have never lied to him, but usually omit details that he can use against me, and I believe he does the same with me.

Adak is hopping, and still a wreck. The cargo ship dropping off the slice of the 23 Tank Regiment offloaded 2 more tanks, making 3 altogether now. It was also not docked. I docked it again. Does a port 100% damaged not allow a ship to dock? We’ll see tomorrow. Port and Service damage are still at 100% but the Runway is down to 29%. There are also 2 fast transport ships arriving over the next 2 days with a couple thousand supply. There’s also a midget sub patrolling the hex. The disabled squads continue to repair, but I haven’t gotten any replacement squads in a few days. I’m sending in a ship with a slice of the garrison unit, to get more infantry there. It’s only a day out. The base force upgrade to CD guns is 29 days out!

Ted and I are doing our usual bantering and heckling by email. He just confirmed that 2 subs (S & Gato classes) did hit mines at Adak and survived. He’s not sure they’ll make it to a friendly port.

4 Fleet

Nothing exciting going on here.

SE Fleet

There may be up to 4 carriers (1 damaged) in the SE Fleet area (1 damaged CV confirmed and a second Ted admitted was there). He may be up to something there. He has mentioned several times how extensive his recon is in that area, and I believe him. There is constant recon of my bases. When I asked him about the O24 hitting a mine in Gasmata, he said that she was nosing around looking for ships. He admitted that he can’t find them but knows they’re about. He seems concerned that I may try to do something at Buna or Milne Bay.

Buna is out, because he has at least 1 division there. Milne Bay, well, if he didn’t have so many planes at Pt. Moresby, I might try something, but it would be expensive in ships. He’s got at least 1 squadron of SBDs at Pt. Moresby. Letting him believe I am planning something is a good thing. Let him react to me. The only convoy I have around there is a small TF consisting of an xAKL & PB that haul supply into Gasmata from Rabaul. It hugs the coast.

I’m shipping one of the 48 squad SNLF units from Truk to Gasmata. Right now there’s only ~1500 infantry at Gasmata. I’d like to get it to 5k or so. It has a level 4 airfield but only level 1 port so I’ll have to move the infantry there in pieces. I have a few H6K4-L transports at Rabaul that I can use to move some of the troops there, but it’ll have to go in xAKLs or maybe some barges. I’ll have to see if barges can make the trip. Next turn, I’m going to move the 90 Infantry Regiment from Davao to SE Fleet, where it belongs. I keep forgetting. Just added it to my to do list.

My night bombing of Merauke, Terapo and Pt. Moresby netted a little damage to each airfield and 2 fighters destroyed on the ground and ~8 damaged planes.

Ted swept Gasmata twice, with P-38Gs and P-40Ks. I like to keep even losses if possible, but that didn’t happen here today. In exchange for 4 Allied fighters shot down, I lost 8 planes (1 IJN WIA, 1 IJA WIA, 1 IJA KIA). At least the pilot losses were low. Since the battles were over my territory, my pilot losses have been mercifully low.

SRA

Nothing exciting to report.

Burma

Three separate Allied sweeps of Shwebo and Magwe evened the odds a bit. Three Japanese fighters went down (all IJA – 1 KIA, 2 WIA) to 10 Allied fighters.

My Akyab assault force is crawling through the jungle and will have to cross a river. It’ll be a couple of weeks to get there, I suspect. It is composed of 8 Division, 77 Infantry Regiment and 4x artillery battalions vs. 1x Indian Brigade.

China

Nothing exciting to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements:
TK Kenwa Maru – Type-1 TM (8150 capacity)
xAK Mayasan Maru – Std-D – will convert to a TK
23 Independent Mixed Brigade – 23 Army – Canton – will move to Foochow to replace the infantry regiment currently garrisoning that location. That regiment is a part of the 51 Division and will move to Canton. The remainder of 51 Division is at Canton. It will reunite. I want to buy this division out of China for use elsewhere (not sure where yet). It’s a pretty nice division.

Ki-100-II R&D advanced to 4/45.

The third D4Y1 Judy R&D factory finally completed its repairs to size 30. As each one reached 30, I upgraded it to the D4Y2, which will become operational in July 43. The model I really want is the D4Y3, but I’ll build out the D4Y1/2 until the engines dry up. If you recall, I goofed on this engine and produced 700+ before I realized my mistake. It’s been off but I still have 650+ in the pool. I’ll have a bunch of Judy Kamikazes late in the war. Hopefully, I can make good use of them.

A pilot escaped capture. Banzai!

This little episode at Adak sort of woke me up. My defenses aren’t all that they should be. I don’t have enough infantry (for my tastes) to protect everything I want to protect. This weekend I am going to review my defenses and make a plan for what I need to beef them up where needed. Then I’ll go and find the extra forces I need (whether restricted or future reinforcements) and allocate them. The SRA really scares me. There are a lot of islands where Ted could land and make a foothold. I don’t have the naval or air power there to effectively oppose him.

hilarious!

100% port damage means its time to send out for pizza and watch an episode of "COMBAT". With only 884 supply, lifespan seems short unless something good happens.

At Adak, the damage went down a nice amount: Port 100%, Airfield Service 100%, Runway 39% (down from 57%) with 884 supply present. The troops are still repairing, but no new squads arrived. The CM TF dropped off 150 mines (now 185 present) and the ACM disbanded in port to tend the mines. The xAK with a slice of the 23 Tank Regiment arrived and began unloading. Exactly 1 Type 95 tank unloaded. I docked the ship in port today hoping the offload goes a little more quickly. I’m not exactly sure what 100% port damage actually means.

Scratch that. Fed ex will get them there fast.

ORIGINAL: topeverest

hilarious!

100% port damage means its time to send out for pizza and watch an episode of "COMBAT". With only 884 supply, lifespan seems short unless something good happens.

At Adak, the damage went down a nice amount: Port 100%, Airfield Service 100%, Runway 39% (down from 57%) with 884 supply present. The troops are still repairing, but no new squads arrived. The CM TF dropped off 150 mines (now 185 present) and the ACM disbanded in port to tend the mines. The xAK with a slice of the 23 Tank Regiment arrived and began unloading. Exactly 1 Type 95 tank unloaded. I docked the ship in port today hoping the offload goes a little more quickly. I’m not exactly sure what 100% port damage actually means.

Speaking of weather in the Aleutians... http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... g/36927708
Imagine the sys damage and ops losses!

You're a goofball. [:D] Something good did happen. I drove off an invasion of Adak, sinking a BB (and possibly 2 subs) in the process. I'm probably going to sink more shipping soon and possibly trash Adak and/or Unmak Island. Damage is decreasing, reinforcements and supply are arriving. Life is good!

ORIGINAL: topeverest

hilarious!

100% port damage means its time to send out for pizza and watch an episode of "COMBAT". With only 884 supply, lifespan seems short unless something good happens.

At Adak, the damage went down a nice amount: Port 100%, Airfield Service 100%, Runway 39% (down from 57%) with 884 supply present. The troops are still repairing, but no new squads arrived. The CM TF dropped off 150 mines (now 185 present) and the ACM disbanded in port to tend the mines. The xAK with a slice of the 23 Tank Regiment arrived and began unloading. Exactly 1 Type 95 tank unloaded. I docked the ship in port today hoping the offload goes a little more quickly. I’m not exactly sure what 100% port damage actually means.

You have the most detailed AAR's of any I have ever read - and you can even poke fun at yourself.

I tend to be a lousy empire player focused mostly on economy management, but your expositions help my thought processes immensely.

Perhaps I play allies too often.