Aboard the Red Castle - Erkki(J) vs. Smeulders(A) - no lookin'!

[koniu]

I have all the DEI bases still in Allied hands reconed at least once in 2 turns: theres nothing. Koepang has 3 land units and 4 bombers. Denpasar has 4 bombers. Java has 10 fighters and 10 broken bombers. Ambon is empty, Ternate has search planes, Manado is empty.

If they have something left its at Darwin and will react with some delay... Which is why the CVs are there.

Having all those bases in enemy hands make difficult to have CV`s undetected. And if he know that CV are in area he will probably not react.
What path you chose for CV`s? Do you planing to cut of from Darwin Allied naval forces in case they react and try to destroy them or you will use CV`s only as protection to invasion?

I ask so much because i seriously think what to do with Timor in my game and i can`t choose between invasion and living tiomor for later.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: koniu

I have all the DEI bases still in Allied hands reconed at least once in 2 turns: theres nothing. Koepang has 3 land units and 4 bombers. Denpasar has 4 bombers. Java has 10 fighters and 10 broken bombers. Ambon is empty, Ternate has search planes, Manado is empty.

If they have something left its at Darwin and will react with some delay... Which is why the CVs are there.

Having all those bases in enemy hands make difficult to have CV`s undetected. And if he know that CV are in area he will probably not react.
What path you chose for CV`s? Do you planing to cut of from Darwin Allied naval forces in case they react and try to destroy them or you will use CV`s only as protection to invasion?

I ask so much because i seriously think what to do with Timor in my game and i can`t choose between invasion and living tiomor for later.

CVs are undetected now but CarDiv5 which covers the invasion fleet's approach will probably get detected tomorrow. Its 2 hex behind the amphibious TF near Mindanao.

I have 2nd and 3rd CV forces in Indian Ocean, both undetected. From tomorrow nothing will be able to escape along the Australian coast, and Makassar's G4M1s should be able to take care of the others, should weather co-operate.

CVs are just making sure the operation will succeed and making sure Smeulders sees my CV fleet divided into small fragments. [;)] Semi safe to do now that the USN CVs are at Pearl and Allies have already lost one.

[Erkki]

April 7th


East Indies:

Timor invasion fleet and CarDiv 5 are sighted by the enemy naval air search. Aerial reconnaissance reports the enemy to have moved bombers to Kendari. Other CVs advance unsighted by the enemy.

Tomorrow:

5 DMS minesweeper destroyers will dash to Kendari ahead of a bombardment squadron with 4 light cruisers and 10 destroyers. They will hit the airfield in hopes of getting some bombers and damaging the runway to prevent the enemy from flying.

Simultaneously, 3 more surface action units arrive to Makassar from Singapore. A transport convoy is unloading fuel to support this operation at the moment and will finish that in 2 days.


Submarines:

We lose another xAK to a USN submarine... Thats 7 days and 7 ships.

West Coast lurker I-26 ends IJN sub fleet's almost 2 month long period of no kills by boldly attacking a force of 5 APDs near Los Angeles, hitting APD Gregory, and escaping Gregory's 4 sisters. In the evening, I-26 makes another attack run on the crippled and amazingly still afloat Gregory, sinking it, and again escaping unscathed.

SigInt: Jap spies report 246 ships at Los Angeles' port(20 more than week ago), 6 of them are DDs and/or APD or other small warships, the rest apparently just xAKs and the like.

[Erkki]

BTW I have recently got good intel + E14Y search from Pearl, LA and SF, LA twice within a week and PH twice in 2 weeks. None of these bases have enemy BBs reported. Where did they go? I'm pretty sure that none of them sunk during the PH attacks but 2 or 3 were pretty heavily damaged. Is there any reason for the Allies to move them to East Coast? Both damaged and intact BBs, that?

[PaxMondo]

Seattle has good repair. And the two other bases near SF also do IIRC. Some might also be in transit. Can take long time for damaged BB to move PH -> west coast.

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Seattle has good repair. And the two other bases near SF also do IIRC. Some might also be in transit. Can take long time for damaged BB to move PH -> west coast.

In my limited experince the floatation damage better be less than 50 or "flotation repairs failing" will sink the ship. As the Oklahoma in RF. [;)]
But I think you have a point in that if surving BB's had been on the pier or in the yard for 5 months they might be ready for that 4 knt jouney to Seattle (200 Tonne repair base) or LA ... or might have started the jouney early ..

[Erkki]

April 8th



East Indies and Indian Ocean: Here we go!

Japanese cruiser TF bombards Kendari, hitting pretty hard the airfield and port but no planes are destroyed. Hmm. Against orders, most escort DDs did not bombard and the bombardment squadron went in too fast, arriving before daybreak.

During daylight, Allies flew lots of naval air search. 9 139WHs from Kendari tried to attack CA Suzya TF but were shot down by Zero-LRCAP from Makassar

Kaga and Ryujo undetected, they arrive at their station tomorrow and will then turn to West, towards map edge(and Cape Town).

Timor Sea raiders undetected, they will be at the southern coast of Timor tomorrow and will be able to attack any Allied surface units trying to directly engage the invasion fleet or CarDiv5.

On Borneo, Balikpapan falls! Oil wells and refineries are 4/5 intact.


South Pacific: 3 CVs arrive at Truk tomorrow. Allied subs attack 3 more times but incredibly, especially for Dutch and British subs, they only score 2 duds and lots of misses.

[Erkki]

Regarding the 2 Tenryu class CLs, Tenryu and Tatsuta, I can now convert them to CLAAs. Currently Tenryus are the very most worthless Japanese CLs(although with one of the best crews). Conversions take 180 days and they'd get 8 x heavy 127 mm AA guns and 20 x 25 mm guns plus depth charges. Currently, they only have 4 25mm guns and dont get more until 4 are added in 43 and depth charges they wont get ever.

Are they worth of it as CV escorts? I dont think I want to get them wasted in surface combat. They are way too light for light cruisers - Akitsuki class DDs are just 500 tons lighter and actually better armed, no armor though but with the better weaponry, speed and mvr they are probably just as good, or bad... As CV escorts they'd be worth 2-3 upgraded DDs in AAA projection while doubling as ASW escorts and bomb/torpedo magnets(somewhat).

EDIT: 8 x 127mm AA + 20 x 25mm AA is actually the same AA armament the Kongo class BBs have. I think I'll have them ordered to head to Osaka tomorrow!

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Regarding the 2 Tenryu class CLs, Tenryu and Tatsuta, I can now convert them to CLAAs. Currently Tenryus are the very most worthless Japanese CLs(although with one of the best crews). Conversions take 180 days and they'd get 8 x heavy 127 mm AA guns and 20 x 25 mm guns plus depth charges. Currently, they only have 4 25mm guns and dont get more until 4 are added in 43 and depth charges they wont get ever.

Are they worth of it as CV escorts? I dont think I want to get them wasted in surface combat. They are way too light for light cruisers - Akitsuki class DDs are just 500 tons lighter and actually better armed, no armor though but with the better weaponry, speed and mvr they are probably just as good, or bad... As CV escorts they'd be worth 2-3 upgraded DDs in AAA projection while doubling as ASW escorts and bomb/torpedo magnets(somewhat).

EDIT: 8 x 127mm AA + 20 x 25mm AA is actually the same AA armament the Kongo class BBs have. I think I'll have them ordered to head to Osaka tomorrow!

After conversion they are very good ships. Hi AAA+maneuverability+good crew makes them hart to kill and they should be back in service when Allies can start medium scale offensive moves. You can never have enough CLAAs

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Regarding the 2 Tenryu class CLs, Tenryu and Tatsuta, I can now convert them to CLAAs. Currently Tenryus are the very most worthless Japanese CLs(although with one of the best crews). Conversions take 180 days and they'd get 8 x heavy 127 mm AA guns and 20 x 25 mm guns plus depth charges. Currently, they only have 4 25mm guns and dont get more until 4 are added in 43 and depth charges they wont get ever.

Are they worth of it as CV escorts? I dont think I want to get them wasted in surface combat. They are way too light for light cruisers - Akitsuki class DDs are just 500 tons lighter and actually better armed, no armor though but with the better weaponry, speed and mvr they are probably just as good, or bad... As CV escorts they'd be worth 2-3 upgraded DDs in AAA projection while doubling as ASW escorts and bomb/torpedo magnets(somewhat).

EDIT: 8 x 127mm AA + 20 x 25mm AA is actually the same AA armament the Kongo class BBs have. I think I'll have them ordered to head to Osaka tomorrow!

After conversion they are very good ships. Hi AAA+maneuverability+good crew makes them hart to kill and they should be back in service when Allies can start medium scale offensive moves. You can never have enough CLAAs

Thats is what I thought... I could have sent them to convert 2 months ago, damnit. Well, rather late to conversion and useful later than continue sitting at Rabaul doing nothing for years until getting sunk by PT boats or an air raid.

[Erkki]

April 9th

East Indies:

Invasion fleets advance in schedule. However, the Timor Sea Raider CVs for some reason dont move at all, while their escort surface combat squadron keeps sailing and gets sighted today. Nothing catastrophic but we might have missed some kills... Theres a slight chance of something reacting out from Darwin tomorrow.

Indian Ocean raiders almost at position: they're at shooting range but nothing sighted. Tomorrow Kaga and Ryujo will split up to cover as much as sea as possible.

Japanese bomb Djokjarta's airfield: 12 D3As go in first and run across 10+ P-40Es, and lose 3 of their number. Rookie pilots so nothing valuable lost. Then Ki-43 sweep kills 6 P-40s and damages 3 to no loss while bombers get 2 more P-40s on the ground and 6-7 other planes - not bad for 2 dozen Japanese bombers...


South Pacific:

Another xAK is lost to a sub... Again escorted but escorts dont even try to engage - they arent even mentioned in the combat report. [:@]

Submarine RO-66 near Sydney attacks CL Java!!!!!! So 6 shell hits and a Long Lance did not sink her after all. Unfortunately the hit is a dud and so Java escaped again.

3 Allied combat ships pay visit to Horn Island: CL Glasgow escorted by DDs Vitte de With and Pillsbury. They sink 2 transports, 3rd is about to sink and bombard the island. They retreat towards Darwin and were so out of Port Moresby's G4Ms range by daybreak. Lets see if Timor Sea raiders or CarDiv5 will catch them! Interestingly CL Glasgow that bombarded Horn Island against troops in combat mode did about twice as much damage as a Japanese battleship TF with Ise and her 14 escort ships(all ships firing) did at point blank range at Makassar and the 4 Japanese CLs and 10 DDs did at Kendari 2 days ago.

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Another xAK is lost to a sub... Again escorted but escorts dont even try to engage - they arent even mentioned in the combat report. [:@]

Escorted by PBs? [:D]

You really have to check every PB's commander and change them if needed (have you done that?) Some of them, espesially converted ones, have lousy commanders: naval skill and agressivness are below 25, so they won't do anything...

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: Puhis

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Another xAK is lost to a sub... Again escorted but escorts dont even try to engage - they arent even mentioned in the combat report. [:@]

Escorted by PBs? [:D]

You really have to check every PB's commander and change them if needed (have you done that?) Some of them, espesially converted ones, have lousy commanders: naval skill and agressivness are below 25, so they won't do anything...

Yup will have to do that later, but first I'm saving PPs to buy out at least one more division from Manchuria. Lately those "escorts" have included some lately converted xAKLs...

[Erkki]

This is how the eastern DEI looks at the moment. CL Glasgow TF is somewhere in the Arafura Sea as I know it escaped Horn Island to the hex North of it, not South(ie. its most probably not heading South to Normanton at the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but towards Darwin).

[Erkki]

Another question: does Darwin have a torpedo-enabling air HQ at the beginning of the war? Any ideas about Da Babes vs. stock game? Atago and Chikuma are going to be within Swordfish range from Darwin tomorrow so they'll be provided a light LRCAP by CarDiv5, but I'd like to know how necessary that actually is for the day after tomorrow.

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: Puhis

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Another xAK is lost to a sub... Again escorted but escorts dont even try to engage - they arent even mentioned in the combat report. [:@]

Escorted by PBs? [:D]

You really have to check every PB's commander and change them if needed (have you done that?) Some of them, espesially converted ones, have lousy commanders: naval skill and agressivness are below 25, so they won't do anything...

Yup will have to do that later, but first I'm saving PPs to buy out at least one more division from Manchuria. Lately those "escorts" have included some lately converted xAKLs...

It's actually very cheap to change those commanders. Usually it costs 0 or 1 PP. PBs are not much better after that, but sometimes they might even try to find sub...

[Erkki]

April 10th


Indian Ocean: Raiders at station, nothing sighted. They'll move slightly to the SW overnight...

East Indies:

Surprisingly the aerial battles over Java carry on for the 3rd day as 5 more P-40Es try to stop the Japanese bombers, achieving nothing but getting themselves shot down. Bombers destroy 3 more P-40s on the ground together with 6 bombers and search planes.

Koepang invaded! First troops are ashore with minimal losses and the place should fall tomorrow.

DD Witte de With is sighted and attacked near Darwin by CVE Hosho's D3A1s, getting heavily damaged by a 250kg bomb through deck. The rest of the CL Glasgow TF is not sighted.

SigInt: Allies admit the loss of CV Yorktown on February 24th 1942 to a submarine-launched 53cm Type 95 torpedo - Banzai!!!

[Erkki]

April 11th


East Indies:

CA Atago & CA Chikuma SQDN was ordered to make a sweep near Darwin, sail West and after daybreak head North back towards the Japanese carriers. This sweep didn't miss but found the damaged Witte de With trying to escape to the West. It was sunk by CA Atago after 7 x 200mm main gun hits.

Koepang falls to the Japanese! Patrol H6Ks and the crack Zero group Tainan Ku S-1 are flown in. Assault odds were overkill 25:1.

Indian Ocean: Still no contacts.

Submarines: I-20 takes a shot at 3 British destroyers near Sydney, but misses. They were a part of the CL Java TF... I-20 escapes with minor damage from a depth charge near miss.

EDIT: also, today the Allies admit the loss of xAP President Johnson near Lahaina, Hawaii(by a submarine). That one was a nice 10410 ton liner, one of those that can convert to APA, right?

[koniu]

So far it Timor invasion going good.
I think that your opponent will not make any action against you. I looks like he retreat from this area.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: koniu

So far it Timor invasion going good.
I think that your opponent will not make any action against you. I looks like he retreat from this area.

Yep now it looks like he wont be challenging it. Cant blame him. But I used CVs and lots of cruisers because I couldnt be sure... Well at least we got that one DD. [8D]