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CV Battle outside Korea - 2nd of May[/font]
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Got the replay back. I THINK I won...but not without losses. Erik didn´t head North as expected but rather due West ending up in the straight between Korea and Kyushu. The feeling when I counted the hexes and realized it was 7 hexes and not 8... [:)]
I havn´t seen the turn file yet and it will be a while before I get it. Here are the 3 strikes that mattered.
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Japanese Strikes
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This is the 3rd Jap strike of the day. Two previous ones where destroyed by the CAP. ALL the strike planes got through without a single loss from the CAP... for the millionth time. I´m not sure how Erik does it but it works!
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Keijo at 102,49
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 197
B7A2 Grace x 110
D4Y4 Judy x 126
Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 38
Corsair IV x 154
Seafire IIC x 20
Seafire L.III x 28
F4U-1A Corsair x 274
F4U-1D Corsair x 433
Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 42 destroyed
B7A2 Grace: 8 destroyed, 11 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 3 destroyed by flak
D4Y4 Judy: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged
D4Y4 Judy: 3 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
Corsair II: 1 destroyed
Corsair IV: 3 destroyed
Seafire L.III: 3 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 3 destroyed
F4U-1D Corsair: 2 destroyed
Allied Ships
CVE Attacker, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Hollandia, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CV Randolph
DD Hobby
CVE Activity, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVE Admiralty Island, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVE Sitkoh Bay, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
CVE Begum, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Steamer Bay, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CVE Wake Island, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Battler, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Kalinin Bay, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Ranee, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CVE Manila Bay, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Attu, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Munda, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Shamrock Bay, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires
CV Implacable
CVE Fencer, Torpedo hits 1
CVL San Jacinto
CVL Belleau Wood
DE Hemminger, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Rajah, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Sargent Bay, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVE Salamaua, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Pursuer
CVE Empress, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
DE Hutchins, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
DE Spangler, Bomb hits 1
CVE White Plains, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVL Princeton, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CV Intrepid, Kamikaze hits 1
DE Canfield, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
8 CVEs sunk outright. Most of the other will likely sink. The finally tally will probably end up around 20 CVEs. Sounds pretty much but its less then 600 planes which would leave me with a quite respectable CV force of 2000 planes.
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Allied strikes
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Here is the biggest allied strike of the day. Considering how much that actually got through I´m not too pleased with the result.
Eriks CAP of course quite quickly come through the escorts and take a massive chunk out of the strike planes. Still not enough though.
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 104,56
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 6
A6M5b Zero x 6
A6M5c Zero x 16
A6M8 Zero x 4
A7M2 Sam x 178
J2M3 Jack x 9
J2M5 Jack x 32
N1K2-J George x 5
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 17
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 11
Ki-84a Frank x 18
Ki-84r Frank x 110
Ki-100-I Tony x 19
Ki-102a Randy x 8
Ki-102b Randy x 4
Allied aircraft
Avenger II x 39
Corsair IV x 4
Hellcat I x 48
Hellcat F.II x 21
F6F-3 Hellcat x 27
F6F-5 Hellcat x 229
SB2C-4 Helldiver x 166
TBM-3 Avenger x 138
Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 3 destroyed
J2M5 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Avenger II: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
Avenger II: 1 destroyed by flak
Hellcat I: 3 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 4 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 15 destroyed
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 12 destroyed, 24 damaged
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 5 destroyed by flak
TBM-3 Avenger: 13 destroyed, 9 damaged
TBM-3 Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CV Akagi
CV Amagi, Bomb hits 5, on fire
CV Katsuragi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CV Kasagi, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Hiyo, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
BB Kirishima, Bomb hits 1
CVL Ryuho, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CV Taiho, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CV Aso
CV Unryu
DD Hamanami
DD Makinami
CV Hiryu
CV Ikoma
DD Yugure
DD Fuyuzuki
DD Akigumo
DD Matsu, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
DD Kashi
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 104,56
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 3
A6M5b Zero x 5
A6M5c Zero x 7
A6M8 Zero x 5
A7M2 Sam x 110
J2M3 Jack x 3
J2M5 Jack x 16
N1K2-J George x 3
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 7
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 5
Ki-84a Frank x 10
Ki-84r Frank x 62
Ki-100-I Tony x 9
Ki-102a Randy x 7
Ki-102b Randy x 1
Allied aircraft
Hellcat I x 6
F6F-5 Hellcat x 68
SB2C-4 Helldiver x 28
TBM-3 Avenger x 38
Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed
J2M5 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Hellcat I: 1 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 9 destroyed
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 9 destroyed, 5 damaged
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak
TBM-3 Avenger: 18 destroyed, 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
CV Taiho, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Amagi, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Katsuragi, heavy fires
CV Kasagi, heavy fires
CLAA Natori
DD Akigumo
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 104,56
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 2
A6M5c Zero x 2
A6M8 Zero x 4
A7M2 Sam x 58
J2M3 Jack x 3
J2M5 Jack x 10
N1K2-J George x 2
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 4
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 3
Ki-84a Frank x 7
Ki-84r Frank x 41
Ki-100-I Tony x 7
Ki-102a Randy x 3
Ki-102b Randy x 1
Allied aircraft
SB2C-4 Helldiver x 29
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 12 destroyed, 4 damaged
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CVE Kaiyo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Shinyo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CVE Taiyo
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Fusan at 104,56
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 5
A6M5b Zero x 4
A6M5c Zero x 15
A6M8 Zero x 9
A7M2 Sam x 130
J2M3 Jack x 8
J2M5 Jack x 36
N1K2-J George x 2
Ki-43-IV Oscar x 16
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 4
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 24
Ki-83 x 11
Ki-84a Frank x 33
Ki-84r Frank x 143
Ki-100-I Tony x 50
Ki-102a Randy x 7
Ki-102b Randy x 4
Allied aircraft
Avenger II x 15
Hellcat I x 46
Hellcat F.II x 18
F6F-5 Hellcat x 180
SB2C-4 Helldiver x 78
TBM-3 Avenger x 105
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A7M2 Sam: 11 destroyed
J2M3 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IV Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 4 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Avenger II: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hellcat I: 11 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 16 destroyed
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 12 destroyed, 6 damaged
SB2C-4 Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak
TBM-3 Avenger: 19 destroyed, 15 damaged
Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Torpedo hits 1
CVL Mizuho, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVE Kaiyo, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CVE Shinyo, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CVE Taiyo, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Aso
CS Nisshin, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Mutsuki, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
CV Ikoma
CS Chitose, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
DD Natsuzuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Satsuki
DD Yakaze
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Japanese losses
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Going by the damages I would say the following KB ships are either sunk or out of action for the Battle of Korea:
CV Akagi, TT 1
CV Amagi 5 Bombs, 1 TT heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Katsuragi 2 Bombs heavy firess
CV Kasagi 3 Bombs, 1 TT, on fire
CV Hiyo 4 TT, confirmed sunk
CVL Ryuho 3 Bombs, 2 TTs, Heavy fire, heavy damage
CV Kaga, 3 Bombs, 2 TTs on fire, heavy damage
CV Taiho 3 bombs, 2 TT on fire, heavy damage
CVE Kaiyo Bomb 1, 3 TT confirmed sunk
CVE Shinyo Bombs 1, 2 TT confirmed sunk
CVL Mizuho 2 bombs, 3 TTs confirmed sunk
CVE Taiyo 2 TTs confirmed sunk
CS Nissin 2 Bombs, 3 TTs confirmed sunk
CS Chitose 4 bombs Confirmed sunk
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State of the KB
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Remaining ships:
CV Aso
CV Ikoma
CV Unryu
CV Hiryu.
I havn´t made the exact count but on a 70 capacity average that is only 280 planes. That means the KB has most likely lost the capability to punch through allied CV CAP. In effect that means KB is neutralized as a force.
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Win/Loss/Draw
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I would say the tactical outcome of this was a draw. But a draw means an Allied victory. With 70% of the the KB gone the Allied CV fleet can now dominate the battlefield with much reduced risk. The risk of LBA still remains but with an estimated Allied CV capacity of around 2000 planes LBA shouldn´t pose a lethal threat.
As most of the Japanese Navy is now destroyed I can retool the Allied CV fleet to CAP heavy one changing out much of the strike capabilities for a more potent CAP.
I´m happy with the result at least! [:)]
