Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

[apbarog]

Another thought. OPilot saw my carriers going north, and not going to Noumea. They went to Belep Island and rearmed, but OPilot (probably) didn't see that. He may be thinking that the Japanese lost a lot of planes in the last battle, and a carrier was damaged. To take on replacement planes and pilots, KB would have to go to a large base, such as Rabaul. He may be thinking that KB has left the area. If so, the US carriers could very well be heading to Noumea for a raid. Or maybe even a counter-invasion. I'm not seeing transports southeast of Norfolk, but there are a lot of task forces there, and I'm not seeing all of them. He just moved 6 hexes north from New Zealand. His carriers could have moved 8. As if he's escorting something. Or just getting into maximum range for a move towards Noumea today.

Just speculating. KB will be waiting just east of Noumea, and this time, I'll have the extra CAP from the nearby land base.

I will get those carriers!

[pontiouspilot]

it's worth a try....to my way of thinking almost everything for Japan turns on getting a CV battle and win in '42!!

How big is your base at Noumea?

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot

it's worth a try....to my way of thinking almost everything for Japan turns on getting a CV battle and win in '42!!

How big is your base at Noumea?

Noumea is a size 4 port. Not sure on the airfield, 4 or 5 I think.

[apbarog]

20 May 42

In a first for me, Japanese cruisers bombard Nome, Alaska. Nome! Why Nome? I had a hunch that OPilot was using the base as a forward sub base. I bombarded to get the AS that might be there. I had seen enemy subs a bit farther north of the Aleutians than I could explain. The bombardment did moderate base damage, but nothing seen at Nome: no ships in port, planes or troops. This is the first time I've done anything with or to Nome in any of my games. OPilot is probably thinking "What in the world is he bombarding Nome for?". I'll chalk it up as a good psychological operation.

Japanese advance in far northern China.

Ground combat at 90,33 (near Paotow)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 35648 troops, 271 guns, 64 vehicles, Assault Value = 1060

Defending force 3656 troops, 34 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 31

Japanese adjusted assault: 804

Allied adjusted defense: 7

Japanese assault odds: 114 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
73 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1298 casualties reported
Squads: 149 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 37 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 22 (22 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
22nd Division
20th Recon Regiment
68th Division
116th Division
12th Army
16th Field AA Machinecannon Company

Defending units:
81st Chinese Corps

Magwe is attacked. It will fall soon.

Ground combat at Magwe (57,47)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 26148 troops, 220 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 710

Defending force 8553 troops, 92 guns, 76 vehicles, Assault Value = 240

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 609

Allied adjusted defense: 215

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
697 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1123 casualties reported
Squads: 27 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 22 (18 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (5 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
55th Division
15th Army

Defending units:
Rangoon BAF Battalion
45th Indian Brigade
17th Indian Division
100th RAF Base Force

Time to try again for the decisive carrier battle!

[apbarog]

20 May 42- Northern China

[apbarog]

20 May 42 - KB Moves South

[EDIT: Note that KB was not spotted]

[apbarog]

21 May 42

I-173 hit xAP Tjisadane with 2 torpedoes northeast of Christmas Island. One of the torpedoes was a dud. The ship is carrying troops.

KB moved to the south and the US carriers stayed in the same place as yesterday. Big strikes went both directions.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Norfolk Island at 114,172

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 47
B5N2 Kate x 117
D3A1 Val x 98

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 72

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed, 12 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 8 destroyed, 21 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Lexington
DD Anderson
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 10, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Salt Lake City, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Aylwin, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Chester
CL St. Louis, Bomb hits 4
DD Farragut
DD Dewey
DD MacDonough
CA Northampton
DD Hull, Bomb hits 1

83 Vals and 104 Kates got through and dropped bombs and torpedoes. Just 2 torpedoes found a target. Sinking ship audio was heard just after combat, and enemy carrier aircraft were listed as destroyed on the ground, so Hornet did sink. As you can see, many ships were targeted. Lexington dodged many torpedoes. I saw only 3 enemy carriers, not the suspected 4. Yorktown had been sunk, but Wasp has not been seen yet. The attack was in partial cloud. The US had 30 minutes to intercept.

The US struck back in light rain.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Norfolk Island at 116,168

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 71

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 23
SBD-2 Dauntless x 17
SBD-3 Dauntless x 103
TBF-1 Avenger x 10

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 13 destroyed, 18 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 2 [Neither bomb penetrated the hull. Lucky.]
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CV Hiryu
BB Kirishima, Bomb hits 1
BB Hiei, Bomb hits 1

93 dive bombers and 10 torpedo bombers got through and dropped bombs and torpedoes. I was disappointed with this. The strike had only 23 Wildcats escorting. I hoped that 71 Zeros would have done better. A contributing factor was just 15 minutes to target for the intercepts due to no radar.

18 SBD-3s then attacked unescorted, and found 62 Zeros still on CAP. Every Dauntless was shot down before dropping bombs.

Kaga is gravely damaged with SYS 51/FLOT 17-9/ENG 13-3/FIRE 93. With minimal flotation and engineering damage, Kaga can still move 6 hexes a day at normal speed, and 10 hexes at full speed. Noumea is 8 hexes away. I know, and you know, that Kaga will burn up immediately. Because I like to try to save my ships, and the fact that if Kaga sinks, this battle was a one-for-one trade of carriers, and that is a loss for the Japanese. If I save Kaga, it's a Japanese win. I've ordered Kaga to move with 3 destroyers to Noumea, at cruise speed. It would take 2 days to get to Noumea, getting past enemy subs on the way, and be an incredible miracle for it not to burn up. But it's more fun to try. I pulled out all of the carrier pilots still on Kaga. I think there is just one plane left on the ship.

Bettys and Zeros from Noumea attacked, but they went after a few DMs at Norfolk Island instead of the enemy carriers southeast of the island. Many Bettys and some Zeros were shot down by P-39Ds and F4F-3As. These fighters did not help cover the carriers 2 hexes away. 6 Bettys dropped but missed DM Gamble.

Total air losses were:

37 SBD-3s (4 on ground)
18 F4F-4s
11 F4F-3s (6 on ground)
10 SBD-2s
9 TBDs (6 on ground)

31 Zeros (some from Noumea)
21 Vals
20 Kates
13 Bettys

Lesson Learned:
After the last carrier battle, I had to split off 2 CLs and half of my DDs from my carriers. The ships didn't have enough fuel to get to Belep, but they could get to Noumea. My carriers refueled and rearmed at Belep, but I didn't have those CLs and DDs rejoin the carrier task forces. This resulted in smaller than normal carrier TFs, each with 3 CVs, 2 BBs, 1 CA and just 3 DDs. Not ideal. On the day before the battle, a big CA task force, with CAs, CLs and DDs moved east of Noumea and were in the same hex as the carriers. I should have distributed those ships into the carrier task forces. While that CA task force did move with the carriers, and presented themselves as additional bombing targets, no enemy planes tried to attack those ships. These ships did not contribute to my flak against the enemy strikes. Lesson learned. It was easy to not pay attention to the current composition of my KB task forces. I'm used to forming them up and not changing them for long periods. More flak could have made a difference.

What to do now? I expect the US carriers to sprint south to Auckland, or maybe to Wellington. I have subs on the route. I don't want to fight another carrier battle with my depleted air groups, particularly one that is adjacent to a big enemy base. So, Kaga will try to get back to Noumea, and the rest of KB will take a roundabout route back to Belep Island. I'll decide later whether to stay in the immediate area or head to Truk for some repairs. Haruna is SYS 14 from non-penetrating bomb hits, and other ships could use some minor repairs.

Elsewhere, the enemy evacuated Magwe just as 2 Japanese divisions attacked. Just 3 of the oil was damaged. The enemy did lose a few Hurricanes and Warhawks on the ground. Zeros are moved in immediately to protect the oil.

[apbarog]

I didn't mention that all of the battleship bomb hits did not penetrate. Could have been a lot worse for the carriers if they hadn't been there.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I didn't mention that all of the battleship bomb hits did not penetrate. Could have been a lot worse for the carriers if they hadn't been there.

I have never seen a bomb penetrate a BB deck or side armour. Even on the Kongos. Some CAs decks also stop 500 pounders but not 1000 pounders.

[Lowpe]

I take it you didn't do the radar upgrade in April or is it June? --for Shokaku and Zuikaku? I scour the upgrades to get all possible radar onto the KB asap. I seem to recall some APDs that get radar early for Japan -- Aug of 42?

You need to really stuff your TFs to get some decent AA on them, you might have been better off just having one task force.

What were your CAP fighter settings? Japan plays much differently than does the Allies here, I think.

Good luck with Kaga!

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I take it you didn't do the radar upgrade in April for Shokaku and Zuikaku? I scour the upgrades to get all possible radar onto the KB asap.

You need to really stuff you TFs to get some decent AA on them, you might have been better off just having one task force.

What were your CAP fighter settings? Japan plays much differently than does the Allies here, I think.

I saw that there are 2 Japanese carrier upgrades coming up in June. If there were others in April, I missed them.

I use 60% CAP usually. I've had success with that for years. Looking at this fight, a higher percentage may have worked better. I still like the ratio I used for CAP versus escorts. It's just that my advantage in number of fighters on CAP didn't help enough.

[Lowpe]

Probably June for the CV upgrades...

For IJN CV fights, I have found nothing works better than 100% CAP, 0 Range for Navy fighters. Maybe 90/10 rest 0 range if the chance of a CV fight isn't great but decent. Japan never seems to get the planes into the air fast enough and their flight controllers always screw up if allowed a range greater than 0.

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Probably June for the CV upgrades...

For IJN CV fights, I have found nothing works better than 100% CAP, 0 Range for Navy fighters. Maybe 90/10 rest 0 range if the chance of a CV fight isn't great but decent. Japan never seems to get the planes into the air fast enough and their flight controllers always screw up if allowed a range greater than 0.

Since I plan on another carrier battle as soon as possible, I'll keep that setting in mind. It is a logical choice when you expect a big battle that day.

[apbarog]

22 May 42

Kaga moved a few hexes towards Noumea during the night, and sank. Expected but still discouraging. 12 Vals went down with the ship, so OPilot knows that it sank. All pilots were removed before the sinking. Kaga's air fragments were disbanded at land bases, and the units were purchased and will appear in Tokyo in the months to come. I think that it is worth the cost, even if the units do only training. I'll decide later what to do with them.

I-168 fired 4 torpedoes at Enterprise, and all missed. During the night phase, enemy task forces were seen moving away from Norfolk Island. Some went towards Wellington, others went towards Sydney or Melbourne. Nothing went towards Auckland. OPilot has a damaged carrier that is probably going to Sydney, sooner or later.

North of Wellington a few hexes, I've had a line of 4 subs waiting. Task forces had moved at high speed away from the carrier battle and ended up on 2 of my subs. I-6 fired 2 torpedoes at destroyer Bagley and missed. Cruiser Chicago was spotted, with other destroyers.

I-22 then fired 6 torpedoes at destroyer Dale, but missed. Right place with the subs, just nothing to show for it. Except intel.

40 Sallys bombed refineries at Sian but didn't hit any in moderate rain.

Mandalay was captured. 2 divisions will head north to push the enemy towards India and to relieve the paras at Katha.

Ground combat at Mandalay (59,46)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12618 troops, 179 guns, 128 vehicles, Assault Value = 772

Defending force 5056 troops, 28 guns, 55 vehicles, Assault Value = 165

Japanese adjusted assault: 239

Allied adjusted defense: 43

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Mandalay !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
273 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1477 casualties reported
Squads: 53 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 97 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 19 (12 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 30 (30 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
21st Division
2nd Division
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
6th RF Gun Battalion
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion

Defending units:
44th Indian Brigade
46th Indian Brigade
1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment
106th RAF Base Force

[apbarog]

23 May 42

Catalinas at Koepang are causing problems over Dili. 2 Cats attacked an APD with troops aboard at Dili. The Cats got 2 bomb hits on APD Okikaze in severe storms. Koepang's airbase is heavily damaged, and the base is at least low on supply, but that hasn't stopped the Cats, attacking at 1000 feet. In the afternoon, the 2 Cats came back and put another bomb into Okikaze, sinking the ship. There's an xAK there also, with men unloading. It wasn't spotted but I'm sure that it will be today.

I moved 9 Zeros from Java to Dili, and am starting to fly in a small base support unit. APDs are forming up at Kendari to do a fast transport run into Dili with supply. Troops are preparing at Kendari for Koepang and Darwin, but they need higher preparation values, so it'll be some time before they go.

I've used Catalinas for torpedo bombing, even at night, but I've not used them for conventional bombing. These guys are very successful.

I guessed right at Prome. I have Nells based there, doing search, but never had any fighters there. I moved the Nells out and move Oscars in, and now 49 Blens attacked the airfield. 14 Blens were shot down, although 35 bombers were able to drop their bombs, doing moderate base damage in overcast conditions.

Melak in the interior of Burma near Balikpapan was captured. All bases on Burma are now in Japanese hands. There's still a couple of small Dutch units between Melak and Balikpapan, and another two southwest of Tarakan. They will be hunted down and eliminated. Can't have them pop out of the jungle somewhere and take a minimally defended base.

With the northern China diversion offensive underway, I'm seeing units leaving Chungking to the northeast. Units near Hanoi are close to being ready to start the offensive into China, but I want to give my diversion more time to draw the enemy to the north. I have time for this offensive. No need to rush.

Shokaku and Zuikaku were spotted southeast of Luganville. They are headed to Japan for their radar upgraded. The 3 carriers staying in the south were not spotted east of Koumac. They'll get to Belep Island today and take on planes and pilots and torpedoes. Fuel is scarce in the area, but the 3 carriers aren't in need of it right now.

[apbarog]

24 May 42

I-25 missed xAK Talune with 4 torpedoes 5 or 6 hexes southwest of Norfolk Island. I'm not seeing more units, men, guns or tanks on the island, so this ship, and regularly seen APDs, are bringing in supply. I have figured out that the APDs are using the northernmost base in New Zealand to pick up the supply. Not using Auckland.

I-17 was sighted and attacked south of Ceylon. British destroyers hit the sub with a depth charge. Prince of Wales and Repulse are in this task force. I think these ships were in a separate task force from the British carriers recently seen moving around in the Indian Ocean. It looks like this task force, and maybe the unseen carrier task force, is heading back to Colombo. If they take a direct route, they'll run over 2 subs placed exactly in their way.

9 Zeros had been moved to Dili to protect the xAK there. Those 2 groups of those pesky 2 Catalinas showed up again to bomb the ship. The Zeros intercepted, but didn't get to the Cats. What? The Zeros were patrolling at 20000 feet, a holdover from when they were at Soerabaja. I neglected to give them a low CAP altitude to get to the Cats, which have been attacking at 1000 feet every day. So, the Cats got in and hit xAK Nanrei Maru, sinking the ship, along with part of the small infantry unit still aboard. Some troops did unload. This reinforcement of Dili was an attempt to get to the 20 garrison requirement. Now the units there will have to take on reinforcements to build up to that requirement. APDs will run supply in tonight.

S-46 sank AMc Uruppu Maru at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

The 3 carriers of KB that are remaining in the South Pacific took on torpedoes and replenished their sortie count. The squadrons can't take on replacement planes as they did so less than a week ago. These ships will loiter to the north of Belep for a few days, and hopefully remain unseen.

[apbarog]

25 May 42

I-19 missed DE Starling with 2 torpedoes near Koggala. British carriers and combat task force spotted nearing Colombo.

Big bomber raid planned for Kunming. First of the war. Aiming for the airfield, which is a size 3. The "pull" of supply from Burma in this area is limited by the size of the base and forts, so damaging the base helps the supply war, slowing the construction. But with the enemy in the process of losing Burma, it is more important to damage the field to hinder supply being flown in from Ledo.

Sallys damaged some Cats at Koepang. Some retribution for yesterday.

Zeros at Port Moresby set LRCAP over Kokoda, and shot down a couple of transports dropping supplies there. I have one naval guard unit there, and another on the way. When the second gets there, we'll try to clean up Kokoda. There is no base there but there are probably forts. And mountains. An Australian brigade retreated to there. A decent sized unit for defense in the mountains, with or without supply.

The push in Burma continued. The 100th RAF Base Force was destroyed near Magwe. Other enemy units left the hex just in time. 2 Japanese divisions will attack to the north of Mandalay. 2 others will attack east to Lashio, and may head into China.

The 3 Japanese carriers north of Belep will head to Belep today, and hopefully take on planes. A Kate unit had transferred to Luganville, and it was able to take replacements, and I'm pretty sure that took replacements for all of the units at the same time last week, so the carrier units should get new planes.

Subchaser Ch 30 hit S-46 with 2 depth charges at Amchitka Island. The chaser will move a few hexes towards enemy bases, trying to catch the damaged sub on the way home, then will turn back to the west to meet up with an inbound AG near Attu.

[apbarog]

26 May 42

Battleship Ise, 2 CLs and 4 DDs bombarded Portland Roads. The base had become a size 1 airfield. This should slow things for a bit. Moderate base damage and 111 non-combat squad casualties.

My surprise raid on Kunming was a surprise. Unfortunately, it didn't matter. A squadron of the Flying Tigers was there, flying H81s, and in training. Didn't matter that they were in training either. The Sallys were shot down in droves. 31 Sallys shot down, doing minor airbase damage. Recon shows about 25000 men there. The 9 Tojo unit will sweep Kunming today. Sallys will regroup at Bangkok.

Sallys bombed Koepang again, damaging more Catalinas. The airbase is badly damaged.

It's about time to start pushing east out of Vietnam into China. Paras will drop into the Chinese dot base in the mountains south of Kunming. No idea if there are enemy there. We'll find out today.

[apbarog]

27 May 42 - Aleutians

[apbarog]

27 May 42 - Timor Area