Excel Empire - F Krieg vs Great Went - DBB-C 28

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jeffk3510
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by jeffk3510 »

That is a huge blow for the Allies.. looks like free reign down there for some time..
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by JocMeister »

Congrats! That´s a solid result!
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FeurerKrieg
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by FeurerKrieg »

Hi Jeff -

There is a sub tracking program out there, and I have the worksheet that does it, but I don't have the correct version of excel to use it. The sheet you see is just me manually typing in submarine activity and then each month I sort and update each sub with that month's shots/hits/kills. I also check over old hits to make sure ships haven't been reported killed.

CV battle -

Yes, I think a good result and I agree it will be nice having a free hand in the Pacific for a while. April 6th was a busy day - not only tracking down the US ships, but the British decide to get frisky as well! Lots of action on both sides of the globe. I'll try to get that report done tonight, it is another long one though.
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by ny59giants »

KUDOS!! [&o][&o]

To others playing Allies, why don't you place those 18 plane Marine fighter groups on your American CVs early in the war when they have just 27 fighters until July '42 re-sizing?? For me, its SOP as it helps with survivability even with some still having the old Buffaloes. 135 fighters are what you should have faced. [:(]
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obvert
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by obvert »

Nice work there in the South Pacific. That'll ease the pain of Shokaku. Now you have a good year, maybe a year and a half to do as you like.
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FeurerKrieg
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April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by FeurerKrieg »

April 6th, 1942
Another lively day! Action on both sides of the Empire today.

India/Burma
Apparently realizing that my heavy cover for Shokaku had left the scene, the British run some fast light cruisers out to try and take out our carrier for good! Yikes! Just to set the scene, we have two ASW TFs of 3 destroyers each (I may have said four before, but it was changed to 3 when the other carriers left). Also, Shokaku has lost CL Kashii, so she is sailing with only five DD's in her TF. It is a rainy night, with 67% moon, so max visibility is only 6,000 yards. The enemy TF consists of CL Emerald, CL Ceres, CL Colombo and five DDs (John Edwards, Decoy, Fortune, Griffin and Hotspur).

The first TF that the cruisers encounter consists of DD's Yamakaze, Kawakaze, and Umikaze. Our boys try to disengage, but the enemy cruisers are fast and they are out for blood. Shots start flying at 5,000 yards and we get as close as 2,000 yards before we are able to get away into the rain. Overall - our boys do excellent given the odds. Umikaze opens up initially hitting Hotspur and Colombo with guns, and also manages to put a torpedo into Colombo causing heavy damage to the light cruiser. Yamakaze also does well, putting some hits on John Edwards, Hotspur and one on Griffin. Kawakaze comes in late, but hits Griffin and Hotspur as well. Colombo gets some revenge on Umikaze however, and puts a 6inch shell into the destroyer. Ceres does the same so Umikaze isn't in good shape by the time we are able to make our escape. Yamakaze looks bad in the picture below, but only has 15 sys and 15 fires, so she should be fine. Thus, round one sees CL Emerald with 1 hit, CL Colombo with 7 shells and a torp hit, DD Edwards has 4 hits, Griffin has 2 hits and Hotpur goes under after 12 shells find her.

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Round 1[/center]

While Shokaku and her five escorts do their best to get out of the way, our other three brave destroyers engage what's left of the enemy TF. DDs Tokitsukaze, Yudachi and Samidare spot CL Emerald, CL Ceres and DD Decoy still heading towards the carrier. This time our DD's get to within 4,000 yards and as Ceres pelts Tokitsukaze with AA gunfire, Tokitsukaze hits back with a gun round and then puts a torpedo into Ceres and the ship appears to sink immediately. This seems to dissuade the Brits from further combat and they disengage. We manage to hit Emerald with a shell on the way out, but our destroyers escape unscathed!

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Round 2[/center]

So far all seems great - only one destroyer is likely to sink (Umikaze) and we sink an enemy DD and maybe two light cruisers (these torps are the big 61 cm ones after all). Just when we think we are out of the woods, though, SS KIX takes a crack at Shokaku since the ASW TF's have been chased away! DD Suzukaze gets in the way of a torpedo and is sunk, but Shokaku lives another day. Unfortunately, because of the high speed used to get away from the enemy cruisers, Shokaku's damages jumps up 7 float points and 3 engine points to 40/88/55. Umikaze struggles and has several messages about fires and flooding, but ends the day still above the waves with 74/60/28 damage and 64 fires. Those 64 fires will likely do the ship in tomorrow, but she fought well!

That's just the night! Once the sun is up, British planes attack our battleships arriving at Trincomalee! First a pair of unescorted Albacores attack, but our Oscars shoot them both down easily. Next 5 Hurricanes and 2 more Albacores come in and again, we take the TBs down easily and a couple Hurricanes as well. Finally seven Swordfish come in but thankfully they have no escort, so our Oscars take them all down easily. We lost a couple Oscars but our battleships are safe for another day!

Blenheims again attack at Colombo, but we only have a couple Oscars from CAP leaking over since most were on LRCAP over the surface fleet. We don't really engage, and we lose a couple squads to the Blens.

DEI
Pakanbaroe, next to Padang on Sumatra, is occupied by us today.

Philippines
The mines laid yesterday immediately do the trick as SS Spearfish hits on and has fire and heavy damage. It is a long way from a friendly port, that is for sure.

Pacific

This will be in the next post - this report is already pretty long!
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April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by FeurerKrieg »

April 6th, 1942 continued

A couple things I missed in the last post - one is that SS Trusty was found three times by DD Samidare and Kawakaze after their surface fights. Thankfully Trusty wasn't able to torpedo them. Also, our battleship TF was attack by SS Salmon, but we were saved by a dud torpedo. Anyway - onwards to the Pacific!

Pacific
All kinds of action here, as we dive into the remains of the Allied fleet and have a field day.

First up, Zuiho sinks early in the night phase, so that's a bummer, but not unexpected. The rest of the fleet will do their best to make sure her death was not in vain!

First, our amphib force makes landfall at Koumac without incident. So the entire basis for our combat ships to be in the area was successful. The 28th Division and 8th Tank Regiment will march down the island and seize Noumea.

The rest of the night is pretty quite. Once the sun comes up, the first combat action of the day occurs when our Akagi TF stumbles across CA Chester, CA Chicago and three DD's! Both TF's bolt from each other, but not before CA Ashigara hits Chicago at the impressive range of 30,000 yards. The shell doesn't penetrate Chicago's deck armor, but still a nice shot.

Next, as CA Chester and Chicago flee our carrier TF, they cross the path of I-9 which fires a spread of six torpedoes at CA Chester and hits with three of them. I-9 gets away and then returns later for another attempt, but DD Benham gets in the way so I-9 fires at Benham, misses, leaves and calls it a day. A good one for any sub to put three fish into a heavy cruiser.

During the AM Search phase we get three hits on unidentified destroyers and one hit on a CV - not sure which one it was.

The first airstrike we launch is from the Akaki TF and is 49 Zeros, 34 Kates and 6 Vals. They find the most important enemy ships - Lexington and Enterprise. Lex gets 3 torpedoes and Enterprise gets 4 bombs hits - both ships are reported sunk.

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The last two big carriers go down[/center]

After that we have strikes going all over the place to try and get various USN Ships.

4 Kates and 7 Vals attack CA Northhampton, scoring a torpedo hit.

13 Kates armed with bombs find CA Chicago and manage to hit Chicago with 3, DD Benham with 3 and DD Fanning with 2.

19 Vals find DD Dunlap and hit with two bombs, sinking the ship.

6 Kates and 8 Vals hit DD Cummings and Mahan, and score 1 bomb hit on Cummings.

3 Kates fail to hit DD Gridley and with that the morning comes to an end.

In the afternoon, we keep at it. During the search phase Vals hit DD Cummings once and DD Mahan twice. Then the naval strikes start.

25 Vals attack CA Chicago, and a pair of DD's. Chicago gets six bombs, DD Fanning gets 1 and D Maury takes 1.

6 Vals miss Gridley.

24 Kates go to where Chicago was, but find the ship has sunk.

26 Kates hit DD Ellet and Gridley. Ellet is hit once while Gridley gets hit six times and is confirmed sunk.

5 Kates miss DD Cummings.

7 Kates and 8 Vals hit both DD Cummings and Mahan with two bombs each, sinking Cummings.

With that the day ends. Our surface force failed to connect with any enemy ships, but our air wings do plenty of damage. Here is the summary of hits from both yesterday and today. We will surround Suva with subs and hopefully catch some of these damaged ships. Every destroyer listed below is at 'heavy damage, heavy fires', so some might not make it home, although the Allied damage control is legendary. The 'sunk' notes below are those that were listed as sunk in the replay. For comparison a screen shot of the sunk ships list is also below.

Hits (both days) -
CV Lexington 2 bombs, 5 torps (sunk)
CV Enterprise 8 bombs, 4 torps (sunk)
CV Yorktown 6 bombs, 3 torps (sunk)
CA Northhampton 1 bomb , 2 torp
CA Indianapolis 0 bombs, 5 torps (sunk)
CA Chester 2 bombs, 4 torps (sunk)
CA Chicago 13 bombs, 1 torp (sunk)
CA Pensacola 2 bombs, 2 torps
DD Dunlap 2 bombs, 1 torp (sunk)
DD Ellet 2 bomb , 0 torp
DD Craven 2 bombs, 0 torp
DD Benham 3 bombs, 0 torp
DD Fanning 3 bombs, 0 torp
DD Cummings 4 bomb , 0 torp (sunk)
DD Maury 1 bomb , 0 torp
DD Gridley 6 bombs, 0 torp (sunk)
DD Mahan 4 bombs, 0 torp

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obvert
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by obvert »

Way to clean it up! [:)]
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by JocMeister »

Sorry if I missed something from earlier but why the heck does your opponent operate only 3 CVs in the SOPAC? Where is Wasp Hornet and Saratoga?
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by FeurerKrieg »

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Sorry if I missed something from earlier but why the heck does your opponent operate only 3 CVs in the SOPAC? Where is Wasp Hornet and Saratoga?


Saratoga was sunk back on January 2nd. I believe Hornet would be on map now, but wouldn't have been able to reach this battle unless she had been sailing full speed. I don't think Wasp has arrived yet.

John did comment in an email right after this battle that he didn't expect me to have so many CVL/CVE's here. He may also have some FOW telling him I lost a carrier from our January battle. Also, I have had all CV/CVL/CVE on accelerated production since day 1 so he may not have expected Junyo and a couple CVE's to be here yet.

It is always hard to tell what info the other side has, that is for sure.
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April 7th, 1942

Post by FeurerKrieg »

April 7th, 1942
Relative calm descends on the war for a couple of days...

India/Burma
DD Umikaze can't take the damage and goes under in the night.

Much more significant is that Shokaku finally loses her fight with the enemy submarine forces. SS Haddock manages to sneak past the escorts and hits with two torpedoes. One is a dud, but one detonates which puts Shokaku under. Hard to say if she would have made it home anyway, but still a sad day. The crew certainly fought to keep her afloat!

[center]Image
Shokaku's luck finally runs out[/center]

DEI
B-17E's hit Dili for no damage.

On Borneo a coordinated day of attacks was launched on enemy remnants. In four places - Melak, outside Kuching, Tandjoengselor, and Beaufort - we attack simultaneously to ensure none of the enemy units have retreat paths. Everywhere we have victories and in all about 1,800 British and Dutch troops surrender. All bases on Borneo, including the inland ones, are now occupied and there are no rogue units roaming around.

Philippines
SS Spearfish hits another mine at Bataan which should be the end of that sub.

Pacific
Koumac is occupied for 'free' today. Probably helped that we had a division and a tank regiment sitting on the base ready to attack.

SS Sturgeon fires at some transports we have headed to Port Moresby to pick up the 21st Division now that an attack on Suva can be safely carried out without worrying about US Carriers. Sturgeon misses so all is good. SS Seawolk attacks a group of yard oilers we are using to move fuel to Port Moresby. Don't want to risk bigger tankers so these YO's come in handy for this. I also have a pair of YO's moving the oil from Formosa to the Home Islands. They have just enough fuel to make the round trip. Seawolf misses too. SS S-41 is chased away. I clearly need to get some ASW planes down here.

In the warzone, Our surface combat group finds DD Mahan and a couple 40cm shells from Mutsu are enough to take care of the destroyer. Some SBD-3's attack our battleships from Suva, 6 DBs to be exact, but they all miss.

Our carriers take a southwesterly route home to avoid the obvious return path which is probably littered with enemy subs. We'll head towards Koumac and then turn north. The carriers will go and rearm, refuel and rest a couple days while our infantry march down to Noumea and we get the 8th Division and 21st Divisions loaded up from Luganville and Port Moresby respectively. Transports will also load up the 26th from Koumac as soon as it is captured, and then all three divisions will head to Suva.

Submarines
Near Suva, our subs try to catch enemy ships headed back there after the battle. I-19 and I-1 both take shots at DD Maury but miss. I-164 however finds DD Ellet and hits the damaged destroyer with a torpedo, sinking the ship.

Near Brisbane, I-160 gets spotted a couple times by AMs and DD Worden.
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RE: April 7th, 1942

Post by offenseman »

That was really an amazing series of turns for Shokaku. The sub attacks, float damage going up and down. More fun to watch than TV. [:)] Sorry she was lost though.
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RE: April 7th, 1942

Post by setloz »

Shokaku for Indomitable. Not a good trade. :(
But you did get the 3 USN CVs and you're still in the lead.

just caught up reading your AAR, very good read. Thanks for keeping it.
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RE: April 7th, 1942

Post by FeurerKrieg »

Yes, I agree a bad trade, but looking on the bright side, at least it wasn't Shokaku for nothing!
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RE: April 5th, 1942 - CV Battle!

Post by jeffk3510 »

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

KUDOS!! [&o][&o]

To others playing Allies, why don't you place those 18 plane Marine fighter groups on your American CVs early in the war when they have just 27 fighters until July '42 re-sizing?? For me, its SOP as it helps with survivability even with some still having the old Buffaloes. 135 fighters are what you should have faced. [:(]

None of them are Carrier Trained.. Carrier Capable, yes. Not trained.

That takes something like 180 days, correct?
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by jeffk3510 »

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

Sorry if I missed something from earlier but why the heck does your opponent operate only 3 CVs in the SOPAC? Where is Wasp Hornet and Saratoga?


Saratoga was sunk back on January 2nd. I believe Hornet would be on map now, but wouldn't have been able to reach this battle unless she had been sailing full speed. I don't think Wasp has arrived yet.

John did comment in an email right after this battle that he didn't expect me to have so many CVL/CVE's here. He may also have some FOW telling him I lost a carrier from our January battle. Also, I have had all CV/CVL/CVE on accelerated production since day 1 so he may not have expected Junyo and a couple CVE's to be here yet.

It is always hard to tell what info the other side has, that is for sure.

Wasp doesn't show up till around June 10/11th or so.
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ny59giants
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by ny59giants »

None of them are Carrier Trained. Carrier Capable, yes. Not trained.

That takes something like 180 days, correct?

No, only 90 days. You don't suffer much in the way of op losses or in combat effectiveness.
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RE: April 6th, 1942 - fighting everywhere!

Post by FeurerKrieg »

I agree with that, I have several carrier capable A6M2 units on my CVs. Just had one get carrier trained the other day, but to reduce ops losses you can put the none-trained ones on Escort, 0 CAP and up the CAP on the others. That way, unless a strike is launched, you non-trained pilots aren't flying.
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April 8th, 1942

Post by FeurerKrieg »

April 8th, 1942

India/Burma
Our ASW attacks SS Swordfish near Koggala, but doesn't get any hits. Our own I-123 lays a minefield at Trincomalee before finally pulling up to the pier to stablize it's flooding. Mines are hard to come by, so we wouldn't want the sub to sink with a full load. Hopefully the mines will help if the British battleships show up. I still haven't been able to locate them, so all sectors are still on alert. I expect a sudden bombardment anytime.

Blenheim's switch to Trincomalee today and we have no CAP up since our cap is LRCAPing the incoming 16th and 48th Divisions and their battleship escorts. The Blen's don't hit anything anyway so no problem there. Our ASW misses SS Salmon which takes a shot at a small convoy hauling a pair of AA units in. Salmon misses though.

DEI
B-17's at Dili do little damage.

We attack at Mataram and the defenders are tough! We only get a 1:5 result against forts of only level 1. We'll bring in some more small units before we try to attack again. Worst case I'll have to wait for the Brigade that is in the interior of Borneo to reach Balikpapan and haul it down here.

Philippines
Today SS Cuttlefish hits a mine at Bataan. So far those mines are paying off!

Pacific
Just north of Tanna, the dot base of Erromango is occupied.

China
The Chinese send a Corp across the river southwest of Hengyang. We have two-thirds of a division there and the Chinese unit is beat up good with a 1:41 result. We take zero casualties while the Chinese take 1,400. We will attack tomorrow and bounce that unit back to Hengyang.

Submarines
I-160 takes a shot at DD Worden near Bribane but misses.


Other
Always nice to see these...

SS Shark determined to have been sunk on or about Mar, 21, 1942
AM Warrnambool is reported to have been sunk near Derby on Feb 06, 1942
xAP Republic is reported to have been sunk near Derby on Jan 20, 1942
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April 9th, 1942

Post by FeurerKrieg »

April 9th, 1942

India/Burma
We chase SS Salmon away as the 16th and 48th Division unload. These empty fast transports should start home tomorrow. I'll be glad to get them out of harms way.

Although reinforcement are on the way, I don't want to Brits to rebuild very much so I do a deliberate attack at Colombo today. Results are 1:1 and forts drop to 2. We lose more than they do, but with 45,000 more troops on the way I think we will be okay.

DEI
Some Dutch refugees that I must have missed come out of woods and sit on Sibolga causing it to flip back to Allies during the freebie phase. I have a tank unit up that way that will go clear the base before I load them up for Burma.

Pacific
Belep Island, just north of Koumac, is occupied. I had unloaded an SNLF unit there, but now I will reload it and move them over to Koumac.

A couple SBD's from Noumea attack our transports at Belep that just dropped off the SNLF there. They manage to sink one of our nice big xAP's. The other transports will have to get to Koumac where our BB's will have more AA and likely draw the SBD attacks. In the afternoon, two SBD's attack the BBs. Our Pete's on CAP damage the bombers, and the bombs they drop miss Hiei. As soon as we take Noumea this won't be a problem.

[center]Image
Didn't really expect SBD's down here[/center]

One nice thing about the YO's moving oil is that so far the USN Subs keep deciding they aren't worth wasting a torpedo on (Captain of SS Sturgeon elects not to launch torpedoes at this target). In the meantime I have fuel flowing to Port Moresby. Nice!

B-17's hit Horn Island but do no damage.

China
At Hengyang, we counter attack the unit that came across the river an easily bounce it back. We get 11:1 odds and the enemy unit loses about 2,500 men.

Submarines
North of Suva, I-7 takes a shot a DD McCall but misses.

Other
Shortlands goes to airfield size 2.
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