To Young to Die, To Old to Rock and Roll

[zuluhour]

Hey! No more threat of AV.[:)]

[zuluhour]

Merauke proving a tough nut, CO is relieved and another attack scheduled for tomorrow with air support.

[BBfanboy]

With 79 Betties on Munda I would be setting the Hellcats to CAP the CVs, not Sweep a remote airfield.

[Sangeli]

Wow you have a lot fewer VPs from sunk ships than I would have thought based my own experience. Have you been using subs in an anti-commerce role? I've had some really good success with subs in their more historical role. Through August 1943 I've manged to get around 7500 VPs of sunk Japanese ships and a good 3/4ths of that are from subs by my estimate.

[zuluhour]

BB:
I have recalled the carriers as he has way to many one ship TFs in the Guadalcanal area again. I have a plan, but first a couple of airborne assaults.

Sangeli:
I have been completely out played on the sea. I finally overtook him in A2A last month. The sub war has been a bust. Another attack off Japan today. Two fish launched at a big AK, two misses and a counter attack. It's not for lack of targets, if it hits it duds, and I lose to counter attack by ASW. Most of the subs are fishing for surface forces at present until I get a foothold in the Solomon's, maybe 30-45 days. Then I will deploy another 24 boats to intercept supply. There are
only twelve boats or so deep in his rear, ....that doesn't sound right...

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour
Sangeli:
I have been completely out played on the sea. I finally overtook him in A2A last month. The sub war has been a bust. Another attack off Japan today. Two fish launched at a big AK, two misses and a counter attack. It's not for lack of targets, if it hits it duds, and I lose to counter attack by ASW. Most of the subs are fishing for surface forces at present until I get a foothold in the Solomon's, maybe 30-45 days. Then I will deploy another 24 boats to intercept supply. There are
only twelve boats or so deep in his rear, ....that doesn't sound right...

I too have been outplayed...at least as far as anything above the surface is concerned. Which is why I am so keen on using subs in a strategic role. Seems to be the one role where I actually can beat the Japanese.

Well if you're using 12 subs against his shipping lanes that could definitely play a factor. But the other than that's worth mentioning is how you set up patrol zones. I've had good success with the two point patrol zone separated by the number of hexes the sub can move at cruise speed. The idea is that each night subs will move into the "kill zone" then move back out during the day to reduce any detection it might have. Though its entirely possible that your opponent just does a much better job with ASW than mine does. That being said, I would recommend you try some different sub tactics until you find something that works. It's really easy to gloss over subs because they require a lot of manual control but I think its worth the investment in the end.

[ny59giants]

American CVs - OK, we know the air capacity is 90, but you can overstack up to 99 planes and still conduct full air ops. From the beginning, I tend to make mine fighter heavy through '42 with an additional Marine fighter group of 18 planes (36 F, 18 x 2 SBD, 15 Avengers = 87 planes). In July '42 when the fighters go up to 36 planes, I don't fill out that many fighters so I can keep the additional Marine fighter group on board, but add extra pilots that can be trained up. An option that may need to consider depending on operations planned is to remove the 15 plane Avenger groups and add in those Marines in '43 (36 Navy fighter planes, 36 SBD, and 18 Marine fighters = 90 planes). You can divide an Avenger group or another Marine fighters group to add 5 TBs or 6 more fighters. So, you can have 60 fighters per CV vs the normal 36 that your opponent may be expecting. Having about 150 additional fighters on say 6 CVs may be the difference. IMO, for most of '43 you want survivability of your CVs and being able to keep them where the action is vs them spending 6 months at Pearl repairing 2 TT hits. With your Hellcats and later the carrier version of the Corsair coming out, your CVs may need less and less extra fighters as the year ends. By '44, you should be able to go back to having more strike planes (DBs and TBs) to truly go after KB.

[zuluhour]

You are right sir. As the CVs enter port for their upgrades I noticed two carriers under 90 a/c and one under 70. I typically fill them in before leaving port, but this time they will have to detour a ways to pick up some new fighter fragments to fill them out. As I have eight fleet carriers now, that is a lot of extra protection, one worth remembering.

[zuluhour]

Any advice on where to interdict IJN shipping??

[Alfred]

Get surveillance up from Biak/Sarmi and then interdict in the area covered by your surveillance.
 
Combined with eastern coverage from Mili you will get you MDLs on enemy SLOC to Rabaul.  Rabaul is probably the feeder base for the Solomons and eastern New Guinea using Japanese barges for local deliveries.
 
Alfred

[ny59giants]

Any advice on where to interdict IJN shipping??

Everywhere! [:D]

When I play Japan, the fuel from Balikpapan and Tarakan (I would send 2 to 4 subs to patrol the straits between the two bases) goes to Babeldoab (some players use Davao) and eventually over to Truk. So, I have Allied subs in Patrol Zones starting 3 to 6 hexes away from Truk and running about 6 to 10 hexes. Four subs to north in parallel paths, 4 to 6 subs to west, 4 to 6 subs between Truk and Rabaul. Next will be 6 to 10 subs running in SE to NW paths off the northern coast of NG to see if shipping is coming directly into Rabaul. On the map, the words, "Philippine Sea" sees two subs patrolling DIRECTLY on the word "Sea." This will get TFs go to and from Babeldoab to Japan. [;)]

Remember, stay out of shallow sea hexes. [:-]

[zuluhour]

I have been spending some long minutes on the secret service, I'll post screens soon.

[zuluhour]

some welcome news,




There is no battle of the Santa Cruz Islands with the giant IJN BBs, they vanish in the evening.

[zuluhour]

confrontation: SoPac

[zuluhour]

the next day

[zuluhour]

Merry Christmas sailors!!!

[zuluhour]

Happy New Year from the South Pacific!

[zuluhour]

..................the string has been pulled.....

[zuluhour]

The plan........Damn!!! I lost the plan.

[zuluhour]

FOUND IT