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I'd certainly be aggressive but on your terms. ANY form of exchange between you only hurts him. Even if you lose 2-1 you still win because it forces him to slow down and brings your big reinforcements closer...

My .02

Combat Report - 4/11/1942

Very little to report today.

- He landed enough troops at Ambon that his previous force looks like it was just the tip of the spear. Won't be a long hold out there
- The KB moved just 1 hex to the west of its previous location NE of the Duff Islands. He doesn't mind fighting me but wants to do it up there. Interesting [:-] Since he is so hesitant to come near Suva, I've moved my bombers back down there and will use the break in tension to do some refueling. I may pull some damaged ships out for some shore leave as well.
- He massacred about 3000 troops (43 squads) that didn't march fast enough to get away from his southern army. I consider it a worthy sacrifice since that means he will be at least a few days behind my main force which is still fleeing northward.

Combat Report - 4/12/1942

I've noticed that the number of Oscars escorting the bombing of Changsha has decreased. That'll be nice when the AVG moves over for tomorrow's ambush.

He attempted a deliberate attack in Ambon. To what I imagine is the surprise of both of us, he did very poorly at 1 to 2 odds and suffered heavy disruption.

The KB has moved westward, but if I'm not mistaken it came 1 hex southward as well, which may be the first hint that he is going to raid Sydney or Luganville. On the other hand, they may simply be trying to prevent an early invasion of Ndeni. In either case, it means that landing in Luganville will require my CVs to push up. They will move west a bit this turn to discourage any more southward movement on his part. The Banshees are back in Suva for now.

Combat Report - 4/13/1942

I'm quite pleased with the AVG's performance over Changsha. I lost 1 Warhawk and shot down 4 Sallies, 4 Oscars, 2 Anns, and 6 Lillies. They will retreat to Chungking to celebrate (and frustrate his sweeps).

The KB has moved south as I suspected it would. He is just outside of range to attack Luganville. My Luganville fleets are near Noumea and will now move further south as a precaution. Banshees are moving to Noumea.

Combat Report - 4/14/1942

To my surprise, he continued to push south, which resulted in...

The Battle of Espiritu Santo



If you look at the screenshot from 4/13 (yesterday), you will noticed a TF right on the "d" in "New Caledonia." This was a transport fleet that I was calling the "Luganville Express." It was carrying the bulk of my Luganville troops, and it was supposed to remain at Noumea. I didn't notice it on the map, so I assumed it was where it was supposed to be and was one of the TFs that I ordered south from Noumea. Instead, it continued all the way to Luganville.

Evidently, this caused 3 of his 5 carriers to react even further south than he had ordered them. They attacked the troop transports several times during the day, sinking an AP and 2 AKs, destroying roughly the equivalent of a Brigade, and badly damaging several other ships - two of which may sink before they can get the troops off. It was my mistake not spotting the TF and fixing the problem, but I have to give credit to the fleet commander for ordering the ships to gun it all the way to Luganville. At least they're in port and might can unload some of the troops.

Unfortunately for Japan, his attack on Luganville resulted in 4 of my 5 CVs reacting northward (I believe the USS Lexington fell behind only because it required a refuel). First, they had to defend against several morning attacks...

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
B5N2 Kate x 36
D3A1 Val x 39



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 10
F4F-3A Wildcat x 17
F4F-3 Wildcat x 47
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 15 destroyed, 6 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 8 destroyed, 7 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga
CL Helena
CA Louisville
CV Enterprise
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1 (11 SYS and 2 ENG damage)
CA Canberra

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
B5N2 Kate x 12
D3A1 Val x 22



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 6
F4F-3A Wildcat x 15
F4F-3 Wildcat x 37
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga
CV Enterprise
CA Minneapolis
CL Helena

Japanese aircraft
B5N2 Kate x 12



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 4
F4F-3A Wildcat x 9
F4F-3 Wildcat x 25
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4


Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 8 destroyed

No Allied losses

Couldn't be happier with the performance of my CAP. He did get a lot of runs at my carriers, but they had my boys right on their tails the whole time.

Then it was payback time.

First, all 5 carriers launched against the southernmost division of the KB:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 11
SBD-2 Dauntless x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 18


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 4 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
SBD-2 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
SBD-3 Dauntless: 7 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi
CV Kaga
CV Soryu

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29



Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 19
F4F-3 Wildcat x 39
F4F-4 Wildcat x 17
SBD-3 Dauntless x 54
TBD-1 Devastator x 45


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBD-1 Devastator: 2 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires
CV Soryu, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Chikuma
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
DD Hatsuharu
DD Susuzuki
DD Nenohi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Hatsushima
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Ariake

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 40



Allied aircraft
TBD-1 Devastator x 15


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
TBD-1 Devastator: 7 destroyed

Soryu must surely sink. Akagi suffered both fuel storage and ammo storage explosions. In any case, they will be out of the war for a while even if I don't get them in the next day or so.

Then came the attacks against the northernmost division of the KB. The morning attacks were poorly coordinated and mostly resulted in the loss of a bunch of my pilots and aircraft, but the afternoon attacks were a bit more...interesting:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 6
SBD-3 Dauntless x 14


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu
CV Zuikaku

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27



Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 2
F4F-3A Wildcat x 18
F4F-3 Wildcat x 46
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD-3 Dauntless x 61
TBD-1 Devastator x 58


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBD-1 Devastator: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Tone, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Wakaba
DD Suzukaze
DD Yugure, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Teruzuki
DD Shigure, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hatsuzuki

Hiryu suffered an ammo storage explosion on top of eating 10 1000lb bombs. I suspect she'll be going down.

According to tracker, he lost a total of 92 Vals, 91 Kates, and 57 Zeros to my 28 -3 Dauntless, 19 -2 Dauntless, 17 -1 Devastators, 12 Buffalo, 11 -3 Wildcats, 6 -3A Wildcats, and 6 -4 Wildcats. I don't think those numbers account for the number that may have been lost on board his ships or attempting to land on damaged ships.

Obviously, it was a very bad day for Japan. If it hadn't been for the loss of life at Luganville, it would have been a perfect day. I'm elated, though I'm smart enough to know that I should gloat about it to him. Losing that much in a single day has to be pretty hard psychologically. It'll be tough to keep him interested in the game. But a win is a win, and I'm elated.

Now what?

Well, first I'm going to disband most of that Luganville Express TF just in case he tries any funny business on his way out of town. I will have to leave the badly damaged ships out in a vain attempt to unload them before they sink, but most of them should last a day, so they'll set anchor. Unfortunately, the most badly damaged ship is carrying my Bobcats USN Construction Battalion (although they lost almost all their equipment already anyway).

My AGs are pretty beat up, but I will risk at least one day of pursuit in the hopes of finishing off a CV or two. I have reports that the Kaga sank, but I'd rather know for sure than rely on tracker, and I feel like I'll be relatively safe since most of his aircraft would have had to ditch. After that, my carriers will stick around just long enough to cover Luganville from LBA as the troops unload, and then they will retire to PH where I will sort out who is going back to the WC for their April Upgrades and who is going to NOPAC to clobber his sub base there.

This does accelerate my own plans a bit. I have another sizable force at San Francisco ready to be loaded and brought to SOPAC, and then I may be in a position to start something of an offensive in the Solomons. I had considered a land war through Burma, Malaysia, and China, but with near total control of the seas, that just doesn't make sense to me know. Thoughts on this?

An invasion of Australia seems highly unlikely now, and I'm leaning heavily toward deploying the V Bomber Command to India, but I'm going to give it some thought before doing so. One consideration is that there isn't anywhere near enough aviation support in Australia to handle what I've got much less an influx of more aircraft.

Bravo on an outstanding bait and trap, even if it was unintentional! You played the "deke and look for an opening" part very well in the turns leading up to the engagement.

As for results - Hiryu and Soryu are certainly toast [how in the world did your Devastators get two exploding hits!?] , and Akagi a definite maybe. I strongly doubt that Kaga and Zuikaku would go down with 4 or 5 bombs without any ammo or fuel storage explosions.

Two big questions/heads up: Where is Shokaku? and Where is his heavy surface combat group? They may be seeking to even the score. If I were him I would send the surface group to Luganville.

As for onward strategy - having superiority in carriers isn't everything since they cannot stay in one area for long. I would not go for the Solomons until I had enough fighters and heavy bombers to suppress his Netties. Your April and June upgrades will steal away a lot of your naval strength for those two months. Stage your troops to Australia and Noumea/Luganville until you get the other pieces of an offensive put together.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Where is Shokaku?

Good question. I suppose it is possible that she is with the others and my pilots just failed to take note of her. More likely, she was split off to work with whatever CVLs might have survived the Battle of the Timor Sea. I'm not terrible concerned about a lone CV running around. My CVs will be vulnerable until I get back to PH to refill the AGs, but even in its current state, I think we could handle Shokaku.

Where is his heavy surface combat group?

These guys were last seen heading back after having bombarded the port at Noumea. They should have had enough time to replenish, but just barely. If they show up it won't surprise me, but they'll have to deal with my dive bomber pilots to attack luganville.

Speaking of Luganville, I forgot that you cannot disband a loaded troop transport. That left me with the choice of trying to run from a force one hex away or trying to unload. I chose the latter hoping that my carriers maul the remaining threat during the day.

Combat Report - 4/15/1942

The day started off terrible. LBA from Tulagi/Munda arrived at Luganville to hit my transport fleet. Despite my CV CAP intercepting the bombers, not one of them was shot down. As a result, I lost 3 more transports and a total of 256 squads. Ouch! I'm not sure why my CAP performed so badly, but my CVs will be anchoring there until the unloading is complete. I have two more transports that are on the brink of sinking - both of which have troops yet to be unloaded, but most of the ships unloaded their troops (either into the water or...the normal way).

I won't bore you with battle reports for each of the various air raids against the fleeing KB. I'll try to give you an overview of all the hits.

CA Chikuma - 2 bomb hits (go Banshees!)
CA Tone - 2 bombs
CV Kaga - 4 bombs [note: Kaga barely moved and was split off with 3 DDs escorting. She's going down]
DD Nenohi - 4 bombs, sunk
DD Hatsuharu - 2 bombs, sunk
DD Ariake - 4 bombs, 1 Torpedo, sunk
DD Shiratsuyu - 2 bombs, 1 torpedo, sunk
DD Teruzuki - 1 bomb
DD Wakaba - 1 bomb
DD Suzukaze - 1 bomb

I was quite pleased to see the Banshees get some blood on their hands, but I'm disappointed that we didn't have more attacks on the northernmost TFs. It appears that he sacrificed Kaga and then split the rest to run as fast as they could, and it largely worked. Interestingly, there is a CV that appears to be by itself and running FAST to the NE. Perhaps that is a false report.

Anyway, here is where we stand with the KB:

Kaga - 7 bombs(?), Evident engine damage, heavy fires, all escorts sunk, likely to sink
Zuikaku - 4 bombs & heavy fires, but escaped detection on Day 2
Hiryu - 10 bomb hits, secondary explosions, Not spotted on Day 2, likely sunk
Junyo - reported sunk (I've never seen this guy. Didn't even know he existed)
Shokaku - Whereabouts unknown, reported sunk today (?!)
Akagi - 5 bombs, secondary explosions & heavy fires, Not spotted on Day 2, likely sunk
Soryu - 5 bombs, 2 torpedoes, & heavy fires, Not spotted on Day 2, likely sunk

Obviously, the Junyo and Shokaku reports are almost certainly false. I did do some research on the Shokaku, though. Back on 1/13, CA Houston suicide charged into the KB and put 5 shells into Shokaku. She was spotted again a few days later behaving as though she was not damaged at all. I suppose it is possible that he had decided to repair some light or moderate damage and had her in the yard for this battle.

Anyway, I'm going to leave my CVs parked at Luganville to until a shipment of P40s arrives from Suva (3-4 days). Also, in that time the other 2 transport TFs should arrive and be able to unload. Then it's back to PH and the WC.

Your fighter pilots likely have high fatigue. Carrier battles rarely last more than two days because flying off that tiny airfield is so stressful, on top of the combat and hoping you find your way back home after flying out of sight of your ship.
Your mop-up attacks were as good as you could expect and I think your assessment of results is pretty good. One possible quirk - the FOW often substitutes Kaga for Akagi, so it is possible that the attacks on Kaga on day two were actually Akagi, heavily damaged from day one.

I hope when you say "park" your CVs at Luganville you are not just setting them with a destination of the port - carriers only operate 50% of their available strength when sitting in port. If you put them on Patrol in port, it is moving and, I think, should be able to launch all the aircraft. It's in the book somewhere ...

Combat Report - 4/16/1942

What was left of the KB has disappeared into the sunset. It will have to make its way through about a dozen of my subs to get home, but I'm not especially optimistic given that they sailed through those same subs without detection to make it to that area in the first place. My own CVs are patrolling at Luganville while my transports unload.

I'm also putting together a convoy of damaged ships that have been accumulating at Suva. The Aussie repair yards can't handle a lot of it, so I'm sending all these folks back to PH. At PH, I still have 3 BBs. I've moved Arizona to make room for these incoming repairs, and I think she may be just healthy enough to make it to the WC as a longer term solution. I'll have to consider that some more.

He tried another deliberate attack at Ambon. I'm not sure if he just attacked too soon after the last attack or if he simply doesn't have enough troops there yet, but in either case, I got 1 to 2 odds and the results reflected that.

Strange happenings at Singapore. At first I thought it was a lightweight bombardment when several SCs began to fire at the coastal guns, but it appears that he was trying to move a landing force of some sort through the strait. 2 SCs and 3 AKs (the entire TF as far as I can tell) were given heavy damage for their troubles. 3 of them hit mines and 1 of those hit 2 mines! He never tried to land any troops and the ships in question are not visible any more.

I look forward to a few relatively peaceful weeks to regroup, but I'm still on high alert until I get all these troops ashore at Luganville. I never gave this troop transport operation a name, but it has proven to be a huge undertaking and the occasion for the defining naval battle of this game. Though I lost a lot of troops because of my mistake a few turns ago, the operation has been a success overall.

Is there still a sub gauntlet to run on the West Coast? If so, I wouldn't discount sending the Arizona to the EC via Panama, or alternatively, use the substantial shipyard at Portland which has approachs rarely patrolled by subs. If you choose Portland or Seattle, just run Arizona due north from PH and then straight east to port. As long as system damage is less than ten and flooding less than 50% you should be able to make it. You can use pierside repair to [slowly] get the system damage down some more if necessary.

That convoy at Singapore sounds like an attempt to get to Port Blair or Cox's Bazar with a small force. Were any troop casualties reported?
He must have forgotten to set waypoints to go around Singapore.

Combat Report - 4/17/1942

AVG performed well over Changsha, but mysteriously lost half their planes during the day (only 2 were shot down). Back to Chungking.

The guns at Singapore engaged a leftover AK from yesterday. I assume that means that the rest sunk. There was no indication on either day that troops were killed.

Combat Report - 4/18/1942

I lost 3-4 cargo ships today to submarine action in the Indian Ocean and near Kodiak, AK. There's nothing I can do about Kodiak at the moment, but I have plenty of my best ASW ships sitting in port at Trincomalee. Time for some action.

I have a squadron of P40Es and Aircobras that arrived in Luganville today. They aren't much, but I'm hoping they will discourage any naval attacks against my unloading transports. My CV fleets are falling apart and I need to get them back to PH on the double. They'll stay tonight, but hopefully I can ship them out tomorrow.

There is a TF of 4 ships north of Luganville which has been moving one hex at a time to the NW. This certainly LOOKS like a damaged ship trying to get home, but it could also just be a surface group shielding against any pursuit of his carriers. As I said, my CV fleets need to go home to rest, so I'm not going to investigate, but it sure is tempting.

Movement one hex at a time is perfect for investigation by subs! [:)]

Nice job on that CV battle. I would investigate that slow TF; very possible you find a crippled CV there. At one hex a turn, though, whatever that is is probably going to sink.

The initial Japanese strikes were patheticly small. I wonder if a) he made an error somewhere in his aircraft settings, where not enough were on Nav Strike, or b) he hasn't been replacing his losses. If all the USN CVs were present, which he knew they were, he should have also had all the CVLs committed, and maybe not even bothered without SHOKAKU, which is probably in the yard. Maybe he had a high number on NAV SEARCH too; at this stage, the IJN CVs shouldn't have ANYONE on Nav Search; that's the CS units are for (equipped with Jakes)

If all 5 Japanese CVs launched, they should have sent nearly 200 strike planes against you. Instead, you saw maybe 1/2 that. An extra 60-80 strike planes would have made a huge difference.

At any rate, that was Midway for sure.

I'm sure it was the unexpected react by some of his carriers to the landing force at Luganville that split his carrier strikes and directed the first one at the amphib ships. He had all his aircraft on naval strike but there was no way to coordinate after the react of two or three hexes. Both sides danced around the fire but it was the Japanese who fell in. Could have gone the other way.

Combat Report - 4/19/1942

Pretty much nothing happened. I bombarded in Singapore in an attempt to locate that 11th Division that was supposedly plotting for Calcutta, but didn't find it.

Unloading at Luganville is taking ages. I'm about 55% of the way to a level 4 port, but I don't think I'll enjoy speedy unloading there until the next wave arrives in a month or so. I now have 24 aircobras and 15 Warhawks flying CAP from the airfield. The Warhawk squadron will grow as soon as we get above 20000 supplies (a couple days). I am counting on those two squadrons for Luganville's air defenses now and ordering my carriers home. It has been a long but important cruise. Time to go get some shore leave.

Damn. To lose those CVs in April 1942. I would cry and be forced into the waiting arms of my wife who TRULY would not understand...

Combat Report - 4/20/1942

(Sidenote: I've learned a lot from this game, and now that we've "turned the corner" in this one, I'm eager to get another game started to run parallel with this one. See post in Opponents Wanted forum)

Japanese forces have moved into my defensive line near the Kweilin. He attempted a deliberate attack with 1300AV against my 800, but I got 1 to 2 odds and with terrain bonuses clobbered him pretty hard. I have another 550 battle weary AV coming in from the west and a fresh unit of about 275AV on its way from Kweilin. My biggest concern, though is that the gap between Kweilin and the Changsha area is extremely vulnerable. I'm going to have a hard time keeping him off that rail line.



He did some bombardment scouting in Burma today. We have exactly the same amount of AV in the hex SE of Pegu. I don't know if the presence of his 33rd Div is new or if I'm just forgetting that it was there before. In either case, I don't think it will be long before he starts his offensive here.

I've been thinking about what I would do in his position. He has lost much of his naval umph with the sinking of the KB and the likely sinking of many of his CVLs. I think that makes any serious invasion of Australia unlikely. I also have no worries in Hawaii or Alaska. He has been pretty aggressive in China from the start, so I suppose he could shift his focus there, but if I were him, I would probably make an effort in India. My fleet over there is weak and he shouldn't require a whole lot of naval power to support his campaign. You may recall that a week or so ago, I got SigInt that his 11th Division was planning for Calcutta. I've been searching in vain for that division since then. I know that it is not at Singapore or in Burma; nor was it a part of the force that captured Clark/Bataan.

That line of thought, along with my lack of aviation support in Australia at present, has led to my decision to send the V Bomber Command to India. They are boarding in Cape Town now and will unload at Colombo thence to be distributed to the bases I have prepared for them in India. Coincidentally, they will be escorted into the theater by a freshly repaired and upgraded USS Boise, the crew of which is eager to avenge the sinking of her sister USS Houston.

Combat Report - 4/21/1942

Aside from a couple Sub vs. ASW encounters, the only thing that happened today was a deliberate attack on Singapore. My forces have had 0 supplies there for a while now, so it came as no surprise that my troops fought poorly. 3 to 1 odds in Japan's favor. The actual damage results look even, but he can endure twice as much as I can. Singapore will fall within a week methinks. 56th Division, which has been transferred from the Philippines, was present at this attack. I have not yet seen the 48th, which was the other division in the PI.

No sign of the 11th, which is supposedly planning for Calcutta.