AEHGP2 Traskott (A) vs. Seydlitz (J) Japanese side AAR

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 34 09 January, 1942

I continued to wage war against anything that floats off the California coast. It starts with I-6 putting two fish into an American patrol craft.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near San Francisco at 217,71

Japanese Ships
SS I-6

Allied Ships
YP-250



Captain of SS I-6 elects not to launch torpedoes at this target
I-6 diving deep ....
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near San Francisco at 217,71

Japanese Ships
SS I-6

Allied Ships
YP-401, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage



SS I-6 launches 4 torpedoes at YP-401
I-6 diving deep ....
Escort abandons search for sub

Why the captain chose not to waste a torpedo on the first patrol craft but used four on the second I will never know. I do know that my constant attacks off the California coast have got to be annoying to Traskott.

[seydlitz_slith]

Meanwhile, a few miles away, I-3 puts another yankee patrol craft on the bottom.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near San Francisco at 218,72

Japanese Ships
SS I-3

Allied Ships
YP-133, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage



SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes at YP-133
I-3 diving deep ....
Escort abandons search for sub

[seydlitz_slith]

Most of the allied task forces off the California coast seem to be ASW forces, so I know that he feels that he needs to sink my subs.

Meanwhile, I am moving all of my convoys under heavy escort. He has spotted convoys a few times in the past couple of turns but in all cases the sub was sighted by the escorts and driven away before they could get a shot off.

I am surprised that he is leaving his subs guarding the western end of the Sea of Japan since he has seen no traffic there over the past couple of weeks.

I am running multiple resource convoys on a very regular basis from Port Arthur and also from Shikukua to the home islands.

Here are the air unit losses for the turn.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 35 10 January, 1942

Weather was rotten over several sectors of the map. This cancelled all of my airstrikes targeting Clark and Bataan. A classic case of "bad weather delays attack". Oh well, my Takao based aircrews could use a day's rest anyway.

Speaking of rest, all of my Luzon based troops are currently in rest mode removing disruption and fatigue before moving forward to join battle at Clark Field. I now hold all of the Philippines except for Clark, Iba, Bataan, Davao, Zamboanga, and Cotobato.

Flying from Borneo, my zeroes conducted a sweep over Bandoeng, Java where they flushed out a bunch of Dutch CW-21 Demon fighters. Even though the lightweight Dutch fighters were known for their maneuverability, they didn't stand a chance against the zeroes. Three of them went down in flames compared to no zeroes lost.

[seydlitz_slith]

As you can see, aircraft losses were light for the turn.

[seydlitz_slith]

At Rabaul, my transports were busy unloading air support and naval HQ units. By the end of the day, the first unit of fighters and a detachment of Mavis patrol seaplanes had arrived. Another detachment of Mavis' were also transferred in to my secret base at Manus. Together these units will provide advanced recon of the Moresby area and also begin scouring the seas for enemy shipping.

Two days ago my Port Moresby invasion task force sailed from Truk. The transports are escorted by a surface combat task force consisting of 4 battleships (Fuso, Yamashiro, Hyuga, Ise) and also by a carrier task force containing Kaga and Akagi. If needed, Nagato and Mutsu are at Rabaul where they were performing escort duties for the transports that were offloading there. I did not want to take the chance of an invasion convoy running into the Australian Navy without enough firepower to win the engagement.

I normally do not split the KB up during the game as it can risk disaster. However, the other carriers are on a secret mission and the shorter ranged Kaga and Akagi would be a bit of a liability. Besides, I needed some serious airpower around Moresby just in case the enemy carriers turned up to oppose the invasion.

[seydlitz_slith]

Finally, off the California coast the I-17 was damaged during a depth charge attack by the corvette Dawson. If I am lucky, I can run the Dawson low on ASW ammo and then put a fish into her side. She is the most effective ASW platform that he currently has operating in the area and has worked over at least two of my subs. The I-17 will attempt to remain on station for a few more days despite the damage since she has a full load of torpedoes. I will move her out from the coast onto the Pearl-Frisco convoy lanes for a couple of turns to repair some of the damage.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hello, just joined the readership as i like your AAR style (pretty pictures and no cut n paste combat reports).

Secret missions with CV's ? i'll take a guess at US east coast (maybe just south of it to catch any east coast/panama convoys/transits to Oz. OFC long range could be indian ocean but i would imagine far less easy pickings there. East coast you 'might' catch a CV if lucky or some nice juicy troop conyoys.

Best of luck

PS secret base at manus ? i'll have to open my game and find it, as it rings no bells whatsoever.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

[offenseman]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Hello, just joined the readership as i like your AAR style (pretty pictures and no cut n paste combat reports).

Secret missions with CV's ? i'll take a guess at US east coast (maybe just south of it to catch any east coast/panama convoys/transits to Oz. OFC long range could be indian ocean but i would imagine far less easy pickings there. East coast you 'might' catch a CV if lucky or some nice juicy troop conyoys.

Best of luck

PS secret base at manus ? i'll have to open my game and find it, as it rings no bells whatsoever.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

My guess is that the secret mission is Ceylon. Then again, even in the other AAR Seydlitz mused about striking Seattle. Naah, my vote is Ceylon.

[seydlitz_slith]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Hello, just joined the readership as i like your AAR style (pretty pictures and no cut n paste combat reports).


PS secret base at manus ? i'll have to open my game and find it, as it rings no bells whatsoever.

Manus is in the Admiralty islands located NW of Rabaul. Excellent harbor and airfield potential but you do have to build the airfield up from level zero. Most players ignore the place. It gives me a very good base to use as an alternative to Truk and Rabaul that will often not even be scouted by the enemy. It is a good place to base counter strike forces.

BTW, welcome aboard. I also hate cut and paste AARs although I still find myself pasting snippets to go with the pics far too much. I am going to work on keeping the combat report pastes to a minimum. Hopefully you will like what you read.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 36 11 January, 1942

We start this turn with a view of the Kido Butai at sea, in overcast skies, steaming towards points classified on a secret mission.....

[seydlitz_slith]

Off the California coast, I-24 sank an American Patrol craft with a torpedo. It seems like the yankees have converted all of the local yachts into patrol craft. About all that you can say for them is that they suck up torpedoes well. There are a couple of YPs out there that must be smaller than the others since my sub commanders let them pass as not worthy of a torpedo.

[seydlitz_slith]

The California coast continues to be quite active. At least now he has made the decision to escort his merchant vessels. Funny thing is, he is having to assign two escorts to each merchant vessel, and that must be putting a strain on his resources. If he doesn't, my subs could sink the escort on the first attack and then go after the unprotected merchant.

[seydlitz_slith]

If you haven't figured it out yet, the sub/ASW part of the game is one of my favorites.

Here is what it looks like off of Japan right now. I have several ASW groups consisting of SC and PB at sea hunting subs. However, their experience is so poor now that even when they trigger an encounter they usually can't locate the target long enough to drop. However, if I keep them at sea and engaged the experience will come.

[seydlitz_slith]

My invasion force continues to close in on Port Moresby. However, my Mavis' flying recon during the turn have revealled a couple of disturbing facts. First off, it appears that he has search planes based there. Second, it looks like he has shipped in additional combat units and this will be a much tougher target to crack.

I have two regiments, each with 126 AV on the transports heading for the landing. Based on the initial recon, I am going to load the regiment at Rabaul onto the transports that were fixing to return to Japan and instead have them move to Moresby to provide second wave reinforcements. Hopefully this will be enough firepower to handle the situation. I am somewhat surprised that he has put this many troops into this location this early.

[seydlitz_slith]

During the turn my Takao based Nells bombed Bataan and Clark Field again escorted by zeroes. One P-40 tried to intercept the Clark raid, but no losses were incurred on either side. I will continue pounding these targets next turn as I want to strip Traskott's forces of their supplies before engaging in combat.

While my bombers are doing their work, my troops are holding fast in bivouac, removing the disruption and fatigue caused by the landings and three weeks of combat. They will all be fresh when we advance, and hopefully his troops will be fatigued, disrupted, and short of supply from the daily bombing.

I was surprised that no aircraft were shot down during the turn and that all losses were ops losses. I had hoped to kill a B-17 or two. He bombed Khota Baru using 16 forts flying out of Singapore and flew right into my flak trap at 8,000 feet. My three AAA units damaged 8 of the forts on their attack run and my defending Oscars damaged a couple more. Maybe the planes will be down for a few days for repair at least.

[offenseman]

Waiting to see the secret mission play out!  

[Xxzard]

Be careful with your secret mission!

I see something on one of your screenshots that may give a tip to the destination of your carriers. And it is something that your opponent may notice as well, even without looking on this thread. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet I know the destination of your ships, unless you have something really strange cooking up.

Though I will say that at this stage of the war, you probably aren't in tremendous danger from the Allies CVs, but just be on guard.

[seydlitz_slith]

Turn 37 12 January, 1942

I-24 managed to put a torpedo into a large American transport this turn off San Francisco. No idea if the damage is enough to sink her or not, but one hit was enough to finish the last liner we hit.

[seydlitz_slith]

The liner was escorted by at least two of those flower class corvettes, and they worked the sub over pretty good.