Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[apbarog]

CA Houston

Houston sank today 2 hexes northeast of Belep Islands, near Koumac. This is the first major US combat vessel lost in the war.

[apbarog]

14 Mar 42

The enemy invades Tawi Tawi, east of Borneo towards the Philippines, near Jolo. Undefended.

Another day of action over Akyab. First, 27 P-40Es sweep from Chittagong, finding 40 Oscars. Many Oscars are shot down, with a few Warhawks lost. Then another Warhawks squadron from Chittagong sweeps, finding 23 Oscar Ic's. The Warhawks get the better of the fight.

Near Toungoo in Burma, P-40Es LRCAP the 1st Burma Division. Only 8 Warhawks intercept 21 Sallys with 8 Oscars. The Oscars hold off the Warhawks and no bombers are shot at. A couple of Oscars are downed. Then 16 or so Sonias arrive unescorted, and 7 Warhawks intercept, shooting down most of the enemy planes.

Chinese A-29s and British Blens bomb Cox's Bazar, as do 8 B-17Ds, hitting the port, and doing very minimal damage. Just hitting an undefended base while it is undefended.

Total air losses for the day are 25 Oscars and 19 Sonias, for the loss of 9 P-40Es. 20 Oscars were shot down yesterday over Akyab, so it's been a couple of good days. The air war is heating up fast. The P-40E pool is very good now that 4 or so squadrons had to withdraw in Australia. One ace was made yesterday. 4 more aces were named today.

Bandjermasin on Borneo is lost.

And as displayed, heavy cruiser Houston sank from flooding and fires today.

Enemy ships near Wake Island, but not headed towards Wake, at least for today.

[apbarog]

KB Advancing

[edit: There are Catalinas everywhere you see aircraft at bases on this map. Good coverage.]

[apbarog]

Concern in Northern China

[apbarog]

15 Mar 42

Sub Searaven fires 2 torpedoes at AK Hirokawa Maru near Koepang, Timor but misses.

Taulaud-eilanden, south of Mindanao, is invaded.

Destroyer Van Ghent is hunting the enemy sub west of Noumea. I-171 fires 2 torpedoes at the Dutch destroyer but misses. The ship can't find the sub.

A fair amount of enemy bombing in China, nothing notable.

B-26s in northern China hit 2 enemy units in the desert. What are the odds. The Marauders come in at 6,000 feet and find an AA Regiment protecting a cavalry brigade. One Marauder is shot down. Just 9 casualties to the enemy.

I-28 is spotted by AM Quatsino and xAKL Mexican near French Frigate Shoal. The sub eludes the depth charges. The small task force is headed to Midway with fuel.

Unoccupied Bendoelen on Sumatra is lost. Mandalay in Burma is lost also, cutting the escape route to the north. Troops still to the south are headed east into the jungle.

KB has retreated back to between Tarawa and Ocean Island. If it was on a raid, it aborted the mission since it was spotted. It could be protecting transports spotted at Ocean Island.

The 3 Allied carriers that hit Lunga will get to Auckland tomorrow. Hornet is 2 days to the east of Auckland, coming from Panama. 2 US carriers still have about a week in refit at Auckland.

A USMC raider unit will get to Ndeni tomorrow. 2 enemy units at Lunga but no base built yet.

[BBfanboy]

You need an ARD in the Aleutians more than anywhere else it can get to soon. Shouldn't it go to Kodiak or someplace he won't look, like Nome?

[apbarog]

It could go to the Aleutians. I haven't expanded at all from Dutch Harbor, but OPilot hasn't done anything in the Aleutians either. I could put it at Kodiak. Right now, though, I have no plans for activity in the Aleutians.

More importantly, Dewey is still badly damaged. It still has SYS 50 damage and FLOT damage in the teens, as well as significant engine damage. I'll repair it at Pearl. Dewey has been repairing SYS damage on the trip, very slowly.

It hasn't made it to safety yet. Enemy subs around Pearl Harbor. But I will certainly celebrate if it makes it. I didn't think it had much of a chance to move past mainland Japan, be spotted, and still escape. I'm sure that someone has saved Dewey in their game, but I've never read about it being done.

I read the following today. It's from Wikipedia, but it seems to be sourced, so it's probably true.

On 28 December 1905, Dewey began a journey to her station in the Philippines under tow by colliers Caesar and Brutus, stores ship Glacier, and tug Potomac. Leaving Solomons, Maryland on the Patuxent River, the convoy sailed to Olongapo, Philippines, via Las Palmas in the Canary Islands; Port Said, Egypt; the Suez Canal; and Singapore. They arrived at their destination on 10 July 1906. This constituted the world's longest tow job at the time.

[apbarog]

16 Mar 42

Destroyer Warden goes after I-171 near Noumea, but can't hit the sub. Air ASW is improving. I have adequately trained Bolos at Pearl Harbor, Christmas, Pago Pago, Suva, Noumea, and Brisbane.

AM Cairns is with an xAKL unloading supply at Horn Island. The small escort finds RO-63 there, and does minor damage to the sub after 2 torpedoes miss the Cairns.

4 enemy cruisers and 4 destroyers bombard Chittagong for the first time. Coastal guns do engage, as the ships got to within 10,000 yards but got no hits. The enemy does a fair amount of damage, with 400 casualties (almost all disruptions), and minor damage to the airfield and port. The most important part of this bombardment is that OPilot saw that the 23rd Indian Division and the 18th British Division are at Chittagong. This is a strong defense, maybe enough to dissuade him to go after it, or maybe force him to make a much larger commitment to it. The funny thing is that I had decided just 2 turns ago to not keep the British division there, but to move it to India's east coast between Madras and Calcutta.

An Allied sub just dropped mines south of Akyab, and there are at least 2 task forces at Akyab now.

Southeast of Truk, Dutch sub O23 fires 2 torpedoes at xAK Yosida Maru #3 and one hits. Damage is not noted. O23 sank a patrol boat near Buka just 10 days ago.

Enemy bombardment attack at Soerabaja. A deliberate attack will follow tomorrow and the big base will be lost.

No sign of KB today, but I got 3 messages of heavy activity at Kwajalein. I got 2 messages of heavy activity at Kendari, and was able to see that there are 69 ships in port there.

[BBfanboy]

Those small ASW vessels need captains with high Naval and Aggression skills to be effective. Naval for the skills duel with the sub captain, aggression for persistence. The good news is that you can often change the captain with no PP cost. I know high Naval skill COs are in demand, but there are lots who have lousy Leadership and Inspiration skills so I use those. The rest is crew experience and equipment.

[apbarog]

17 Mar 42

I'll list all of the enemy air activity today:

29 Oscars sweep Henyang.
17 Bettys bomb troops at Malang, Java.
46 Lilys bomb troops at Bandoeng, Java.
29 Anns and 16 Sonias bomb troops at Baybay, Philippines.
18 Sonias with 41 Oscars bomb a base force at Shwebo, Burma.
28 Sonias with 30 Nates bomb troops near Wuchang.
21 Lilys bomb troops near Yenan.
27 Sallys with 12 Oscars bomb Hengyang's airfield. Moderate damage.
36 Sonias bomb troops near Wuchow. (This is the target for my CAP trap tomorrow)
23 Nells bomb troops at Malang.

Malang, in the mountains near Soerabaja, holds with a 1 to 2 attack. Miscellaneous Dutch units take 353 casualties, while the enemy's 21st Division takes 294. The base will fall but some enemy will fall too, attacking in the mountains.

An artillery attack at Soerabaja. The base is now weakly held and will fall immediately.

In the mountains of Java near Batavia, this is my strong fortress. It's going to take a lot of effort and/or a lot of patience for OPilot to take this base. I have over 40,000 supply.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 21808 troops, 287 guns, 102 vehicles, Assault Value = 700

Defending force 23609 troops, 225 guns, 78 vehicles, Assault Value = 483

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
65th Brigade
2nd Formosa Inf. Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
19th Ind Engineer Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
48th Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
1st Cav Regiment
IV Landstorm Cdo
2nd KNIL Regiment
Mobiele Battalion
1st KNIL Regiment
4th KNIL Regiment
Andir ML Base Force
HQ I KNIL Division
2e-VLG-V Sup Afd
ML-KNIL
3e-VLG-V Sup Afd
A-III-Ld AA Battalion
ABDA
KNI Zeemacht
KNI Leger
VkA-1 Sup Afd
*****************

Meiktila and Baybay in the Philippines falls.

Auckland is packed with combat ships again. Many need minor repairs, and it will take awhile to complete. At the end of the month, most of the carriers will go in for a short refit, along with some cruisers and destroyers. Assuming the fleet isn't needed sooner.

A British task force of 4 light cruisers and 5 or so destroyers will move from Ceylon to Calcutta. I want them to make a run into Akyab sometime. Enemy light carriers have been missing for awhile in the Indian Ocean, but could be lurking out there. I just ran some cargo ships from Calcutta to Madras along the coast, and they weren't spotted. I hope to take the same route in with the cruisers.

[apbarog]

18 Mar 42

I-10 spots KV New Westminster near Christmas Island. 2 torpedoes miss the Canadian ship, but one depth charge hits the sub.

31 Anns with 16 Oscars bomb Manila's harbor. No doubt that my damaged S sub has been spotted there repairing for the past 10 days or so. Just 2 days of repair left. It had over 50 SYS damage. I wonder if it will get out unscathed.

Some of the usual enemy bombing in China. I forgot to move the H-81 AVG squadron today. It will still be LRCAP over a hex in the south. No enemy bombers were there, and my home base did get recon.

Soerabaja is easily captured by the enemy.

British battleship Warspite had gone from the West Coast to the South Pacific, where it attempted to bombard in the Solomons. But 2 days south of the target, a sub found it and hit it with a torpedo. The damage wasn't tremendous, just 9 FLOT damage, but it had to go back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. It just got there today. 26 days in the shipyard required.

[zuluhour]

Thats one small invasion force.[:D]
I'd send something out to take a look.

[Macclan5]

Still lurking Apbarog

Cheers for your AAR .. another accomplished author providing great insights.

An insights I would appreciate comments on..

1) Deployment of Catalina's and scouting in 1942 is a very informative lesson. Too often ignored by rookies.

I note you seem to specifically target 0 level bases with an AV or some ship to support the Catalinas? Why 0 level bases ? I mean its not universal - but your intention here is to hide somewhat at the dot bases as opposed to a semi developed base? Do you subdivide the Cat squadrons ? or are they fully flushed out ?

--

[apbarog]

Hi Macclan5, good to see you.

I generally put the Catalinas in tiny dot bases, ones that probably won't be invaded immediately. The enemy then lands at the expected bases nearby, but I still get good coverage. Eventually the enemy hunts them down and finds where I'm basing them, but that takes time and I get search coverage longer. If they are found, the AVP that is hidden in the port either runs for safety or runs to another port to hide in. The ship has supply loaded on it, so it can operate from any dot base.

I almost always subdivide the Catalina squadrons. I get good coverage from just 3 or 4 planes, not using any search arc settings.

19 Mar 42

Sub Snapper fired 2 torpedoes at a patrol boat near Shortlands, but missed.

Yesterday I had a few xAKs unloading supply at Wake Island. The ships had been spotted, and with all of the continuing SigInt heavy activity being reported at Wake[EDIT: I meant to say Kwajalein], I got a feeling that maybe it is time to leave, so I ordered them to Midway still half full of supply. There was also an amphibiously loaded xAKL task force inbound to Wake with supply, and I decided that they were less valuable and I'd risk unloading them.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Wake Island at 136,98, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Haruna
CL Tenryu
CL Tatsuta
CL Yubari
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima
DD Wakaba

Allied Ships
AM Grebe, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Kahuku, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAKL Malama, Shell hits 23, and is sunk
xAKL Manini, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
xAKL Absaroka, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
xAKL Mauna Ala, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAKL Vincent, Shell hits 15, and is sunk

Well, they are even less valuable now. The enemy then bombards Wake Island, doing minimal damage. Supply is only slightly more than 2,000 at Wake, so I still need to get more there.

At Horn Island, RO-63 fires 2 torpedoes at xAKL Wollongbar, hits with one and sinks the ship. It was unloading supply, and was mostly empty. The sub took minimal damage from the escort recently, and took a bit more damage today.

The Anns bomb Manila's port again, but again don't hit the repairing sub there. The S sub will be fully repaired tomorrow, assuming no bomb hits.

Shwebo in Burma falls, as does Mauban adjacent to Manila. The enemy has crept closer to Manila but doesn't have the numbers to go after the capital yet. Supply in the Philippines is dwindling.

The intelligence yesterday about a cargo ship near the Canadian coast was probably bad information. No sign of anything today.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

Hi Macclan5, good to see you.

I generally put the Catalinas in tiny dot bases, ones that probably won't be invaded immediately. The enemy then lands at the expected bases nearby, but I still get good coverage. Eventually the enemy hunts them down and finds where I'm basing them, but that takes time and I get search coverage longer. If they are found, the AVP that is hidden in the port either runs for safety or runs to another port to hide in. The ship has supply loaded on it, so it can operate from any dot base.

I almost always subdivide the Catalina squadrons. I get good coverage from just 3 or 4 planes, not using any search arc settings.

For the forward search bases that are likely to be enveloped by the enemy, I try to use AVDs since they can make good speed/distance when it is time to bug-out.

[apbarog]

20 Mar 42

With Soerabaja lost yesterday, enemy minesweepers swoop in and clear the minefield in a day. One mine clears DMS W-2, sinking the ship.

As so often happens, so close and yet so far. S-36 has been repairing in Manila's port. It took about 12 days of repair, and all of it was under the threat of enemy air attack. I had the sub in shipyard repair for this time. Until the last 3 days of the repair, there was no enemy attack, and repairs proceeded well. Then OPilot decided to go after whatever ship I had in port. With just 3 days left, it made sense to leave the sub in shipyard repair, since it would be stuck there for 3 days anyhow when removing it from such. Might as well get the repair done under the same risk. For the first 2 days of the attack, the bombers missed the sub. Today was the day that repairs would be complete.

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-30 Ann x 31
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 16
Ki-51 Sonia x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-30 Ann: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
SS S-36, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk

S-36 is the first US sub lost in the war. The only other Allied sub lost was Dutch sub KVII which was torpedoed by sub I-165.

Near Sydney, KV Thyme is patrolling for subs. I-22 spots the ship and hits her with 2 torpedoes, sinking the ship, and then sinking the debris from the ship, including the spice rack.

OPilot decides that he's bombarded and bombed Bandoeng on Java enough, and he attacks. Bandoeng is the mountain hex up towards Batavia. It is inland, which aids in its defense: no naval bombardments. I have a strong defense here with lots of supply. He either has to wait until the supply runs out, or surround the hex and own the hexsides, then leave a guarding force and forget about it. I'd do the later. He still may do that after this attempt.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24237 troops, 290 guns, 108 vehicles, Assault Value = 702

Defending force 23577 troops, 224 guns, 78 vehicles, Assault Value = 480

Japanese adjusted assault: 353

Allied adjusted defense: 1045

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3189 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 314 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 31 disabled
Guns lost 27 (1 destroyed, 26 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
844 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 94 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Assaulting units:
2nd Formosa Inf. Regiment
65th Brigade
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
19th Ind Engineer Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
14th Army
2nd Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
IV Landstorm Cdo
2nd KNIL Regiment
1st KNIL Regiment
1st Cav Regiment
Mobiele Battalion
4th KNIL Regiment
KNI Zeemacht
ABDA
3e-VLG-V Sup Afd
A-III-Ld AA Battalion
KNI Leger
Andir ML Base Force
2e-VLG-V Sup Afd
HQ I KNIL Division
ML-KNIL
VkA-1 Sup Afd

Koumac airfield became level 1. At least several enemy subs around New Caledonia.

I bought out an infantry division from the West Coast today. It will go to Tabiteuea eventually. As it is already 100% prepped for a West Coast base, I'll leave it set and continue training to the US Army limit of 60 before I start prepping for Tabiteuea.

April 1942 is a big upgrade month, with most of the US carriers getting short upgrades, and some cruisers and destroyers upgrading also. Unless the situation changes in the next week, I'll upgrade everything available that is in port. The cruiser upgrades are particularly good, more than doubling the anti-aircraft values.

[Macclan5]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: apbarog

Hi Macclan5, good to see you.

I generally put the Catalinas in tiny dot bases, ones that probably won't be invaded immediately. The enemy then lands at the expected bases nearby, but I still get good coverage. Eventually the enemy hunts them down and finds where I'm basing them, but that takes time and I get search coverage longer. If they are found, the AVP that is hidden in the port either runs for safety or runs to another port to hide in. The ship has supply loaded on it, so it can operate from any dot base.

I almost always subdivide the Catalina squadrons. I get good coverage from just 3 or 4 planes, not using any search arc settings.

For the forward search bases that are likely to be enveloped by the enemy, I try to use AVDs since they can make good speed/distance when it is time to bug-out.

Again insightful advice gents... both....

This is one of those learning curves discovered over a year or two into the game - another FYI for rookies.

Once you gain a certain level of comfort - with Infantry Divisions, Naval Task Forces - Fighter Squadrons - you are always combining and consolidating the forces to improve results.

However in the Catalina equation (early war especially) "Less is more"...i.e. Less is more Coverage..

It is the "consolidation of coverage" that is important - not the number of Cats in a squadron.

[apbarog]

21 Mar 42

Near Rangoon, British sub Trusty spots minelaying ship CM Kamome, fires 4 torpedoes and gets 2 hits, sinking the ship.

At Midway, I-27 moves in and fires 2 torpedoes at destroyer Allen, which is escorting xAK Florence D. Torpedoes miss, and Allen does minor damage to the sub.

Malang on Java is lost. The defenders were vastly outnumbered by 2 infantry divisions, but they still managed a respectable fight in the mountains. 548 enemy casualties and 1770 Dutch.

[jwolf]

It's always a nice feeling when you get rid of an enemy minelayer.

[apbarog]

I've used mines here and there to let OPilot know that I'll use them, but I've been mostly stockpiling them. I haven't run into enemy mines anywhere yet.

April 1942 is coming and it's a big navy upgrade month. Carriers Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet will all get minor upgrades that take only 7 days. They are all at Auckland. Indomitable is there also, and its upgrade will take 15 days.

8 heavy cruisers at Auckland will upgrade. 2 will take 18 days, the other 6 will take 21 days.

7 light cruisers at Auckland will upgrade, with 2 taking 17 days and 5 taking 27 days.

3 other light cruisers are at Sydney and will upgrade.

A total of 46 US destroyers upgrade, mostly at Auckland, Sydney and Pearl Harbor.

13 DMS upgrade, as well as most if not all of the US subs.

If OPilot doesn't rush south from the Solomons, the ships will upgrade immediately.