Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

This was much more satisfactory. First, a brave IJN sub captain put two torpedoes into the Yorktown. No fires but reports of belt armor penetration for both hits so likely it's taken some not insignificant flooding damage and may not be serviceable for aircraft. Given the rather tepid response from his naval air (one hit on one of my CLs) during the airphase he may only have three operable CVs.

[John B.]

And, even better, the Razor got into is transport TF. There had been some desultory combats before this one when some of my DD got through at night and put a torpedo into a large AP (which was hit by a sub in the daylight and is reported to have sunk) but this was very nice. Reasonable to assume that several of these APs went down and maybe even two DDs. The APs matter more and there was a pleatora of sinking sounds later on in the turn.

Well done Razor, well done.

[John B.]

Here is the current map situation. Scott is running south and I'm sprinting subs into his likely withdrawal path to see if I can get any stragglers and, even more hopefully, take care of the damaged CV. I have one DD heading out of Darwin on a prayer mission but everyone else is heading home. His troops on Taberfane are now exposed to a series of shore bombardments so we'll see how much damage I can do to them.

[John B.]

Time for a quick update. We did another turn and my subs found the Yorktown again. Put one more torpedo into it and got a heavy damage report (but no fires). There were sinking sounds but no dead aircraft. I'm not sure and the subs continue to scour the area. I did get a torpedo into a burning destroyer and took it down but I think it was on the way out already anyway.

Assault on Chungking planned for this turn!

[John B.]

Damn Yorktown is just not going down. My DD made it into the attack but no torpedo hit. It did get 2-3 hits on the CV but they all bounced off its armor (that's pretty sad when you think about it since this CV has a wooden flight deck) and my DD went down with flags flying. So, 3 torpedoes and 3 shell hits on this CV.

[John B.]

But there is a massive sub hunt going on to see if I can put another torpedo into her. I've got 5 subs scouring the area. On the down side, I'm at level 10 detection. On the upside, it's 100% moonlight and the Yorktown is moving very slowly. The allied TF you see to the Southwest is his main CV TF.

[John B.]

And, another day, another assault on Chungking. More dead Chinese and a drop in his fort level which will help future operations. It's tough going though. Each assault puts my troops at 90 percent disruption and 85+ fatigue so I have to sit around and recuperate for a week or more. But, progress is being made.

Bad day in the air over Burma. I lost 33 planes and did not shoot any down.

But, a sub near Pearl put a torpedo into the Pennsylvania. There was belt armor penetration so that will be sometime in the yards for that BB.

[John B.]

Another day and the Yorktown is one hex closer to a port. There are subs all over so we'll just have to see if I can get a good shot in.

As a back up plan, the long quiescent KB is about to refuel at Balikpapan. If I don't sink the Yorktown and Scott leaves it Meruke to repair a bit before trying to move it, I think a carrier raid might be in order along with a shorebombardment to see if we can put it down.

Not much other news. Scott's heavy's hit another airfield in china and I lost more planes on the ground since nothing really dents those big bomber boys.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
And, another day, another assault on Chungking. More dead Chinese and a drop in his fort level which will help future operations. It's tough going though. Each assault puts my troops at 90 percent disruption and 85+ fatigue so I have to sit around and recuperate for a week or more. But, progress is being made.

Those kind of sieges against the enemy with relatively weak firepower are ideal for building up experience for your infantry units because squads are mostly disabled not destroyed. You will come out with dozens divisions in 90+ xp that will come handy in defense later. Just don't forget to rotate those with high disablements so that they not lose too many squads destroyed in the next assault. No biggie if the siege is prolonged for some weeks.

[John B.]

Get Assista,

Good point. I wait between assaults for the Disruption to be under 5 and the fatigue to be under 10. I was actually surprised in that last assault for me to get a (-) for disruption but I guess I missed a die roll someplace. Getting the forts down is most important towards cutting down my losses and, hopefully, shortening the turn around time for the next assault.

[John B.]

Things are starting to get interesting in the Arafura sea. As you can see, the KB has bestirred itself and, having refueled at Balikpappan is now head towards the general vicinity of Taberfane. I have two goals. One, retake Taberfane and two sink the Yorktown which I suspect is holed up at Merauke.

[John B.]

Now, it looks like Scott has a surface TF near Taberfane and that he may be moving in reinforcements. So, next turn I may be able to sprint the KB in to be in a position to attack the CA TF and perhaps hit the transports if they head up north. I've put my CA TFs nearby back into port to not scare away Scott so that I can get one more turn for the CVs to show up. As always, they don't have ASW flying so his subs can get cheap recon by spotting Kates or Vals on ASW. Always a bit of a risk but surprise is worth it. IMHO.

I have the edge right now because I know I have sunk one US CV and two are badly damaged. He does have a large airfield at Merauke but that is very vulnerable to shore bombardment so if my CVs clear out the seas around Taberfane I have the Yamato et al. who have nothing better to do than shoot at planes on the ground.

This is, of course, subject to change.

Not much news in Burma. I've stopped flying and scott is bombing my divisions in the jungle. I'm not to worried about that as they will head south as soon as they get to a railway station. In China, just resting up for the next assault on chungking.

[John B.]

Looks like it's on sports fans. The KB is sprinting to just next to Taberfane. His Suface TF is still there, no reports of any carriers, and an AP TF continues to move NW towards the island. If my carrier TF actually moves 16 hexes (8/8) and he does not retreat this turn it could be a bad turn for the US Navy. He still has no airfield on Taberfane so Merauke is the closest and he should not be able to get any significant bombers out of there.

If he runs away, we'll head south in an effort to neutralize Merauke and put down the Yorktown.

Not too much other news. Scott has destroyed almost all of the oil at Magwe but who cares. It cuts my supply production in Burma a bit but it's not worth losing planes to defend it.

Other odds and ends but focued on the carrier. Not sure if it will go the entire 16 hexes but here's hoping it gets close enough.

[John B.]

ARGGGHHHHHHHH. It turns out that Scott had all of his carriers sitting right on top of Taberfane. And, as you an see, I was just two hexes away. And, and, my Q#$%Q#TT planes did not launch. They did not launch in the morning, they did not launch in the afternoon. It appears that there was very bad weather in my hex so no one got in and no one got out. Now, of course, Scott knows I'm there.[:@][:@][:@]

This is my fifth campaign game and I have never seen weather shut down operations over an entire hex like that in the midst of a CV battle.

[John B.]

It was not all bad news. Scott had his planes set on anti-ship but no escorts I suppose because he did not think that my carriers would be there to provide CAP. He got a hit on a CA and sank a DD but took heavy losses in TBFs and SBDs (I count 69 shot down with a few more lost to flak and ops). This may well give me an edge tomorrow.

[John B.]

Tonight and tomorrow are likely to be wild. My guess is that Scott will run back so I'm moving my CVs down to hopefully parallel his course. I have three BB TFs (one has the Yamato) that will go one hex towards Taberfane and then turn south east. My two CA TFs coming from up north will basically do the same thing. The BB TFs should be in position to either bombard Meruake or intercept his TFs as they head south.

It promises to be a wild night near Taberfane.

I guess that Scott could stay in Taberfane but he's also likely to send surface groups out to hunt the KB which is part of why I"m moving away. If he does stay in Taberfane I'd be between him and home and I would converge on that port next turn from the south and north.

For some odd reason, although there was no refueling, all of my capital ships had high ops points useage this turn and I don't know why.

[BBfanboy]

After a 16 hex sprint, your bigger ships would have had to refuel your DDs.

[John B.]

BBfanboy, I've learned to set the TFs to no refueling to avoid just that problem and the DDs don't have a fresh load of fuel. Hopefully it won't affect the battles tomorrow!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

BBfanboy, I've learned to set the TFs to no refueling to avoid just that problem and the DDs don't have a fresh load of fuel. Hopefully it won't affect the battles tomorrow!

Pretty sure "Do Not Refuel" only applies to refuelling in ports. When the DDs lack the fuel to get back to home port, they WILL draw from the bigger ships, perhaps just enough for the trip to base rather than a full tank that they would get if you ordered them to refuel at sea.

[John B.]

I have not noticed that but you very well may be correct. I guess the extra ops points are to prevent endless sprinting.