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Back in the DEI it looks like there is potential building for a surface action. I have a cruiser TF and a battleship TF sweeping the area. My subs and spotter planes have indicated that enemy forces are nearby.


Also, during the turn I finally captured Port Moresby.

Do you have any CV assets around to surprise his SCTF?

Turn 51 26 January, 1942

Offenseman,
Nope, no carriers around in that theater. Oddly enough, the Bermuda triangle must have swallowed all of his ships as I can not locate them.

During the turn, two things worth noting happened:

Off the western Australian coast, I-165 put three torpedoes into the Empire Hamble, sinking her.

Not to be left out, on the East coast of Australia, off the port of Sydney, I-172 put three fish into the freighter Lowana, sinking her.

There was also a very unusual night time surface combat east of the Solomans.
Earlier this four stacker had been at Tulagi, I guess she picked the wrong direction to evade and was just unlucky.


ight Time Surface Combat, near Auki at 117,136, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga
CV Akagi
CL Kitakami
CL Tatsuta
DD Arare
DD Kasumi
DD Ariake
DD Amagiri
DD Akebono
DD Sazanami

Allied Ships
DD Lawrence, Shell hits 13, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk



Reduced visibility due to Thunderstorms with 71% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 71% moonlight: 2,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 2,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 2,000 yards
DD Lawrence engages CV Akagi at 2,000 yards
DD Lawrence engages CV Kaga at 2,000 yards
DD Sazanami engages DD Lawrence at 2,000 yards
DD Lawrence sunk by DD Akebono at 2,000 yards

Turn 52 27 January, 1942

Absolutely nothing important happened this turn.
I merged my two SCTF into one down around Ambon hoping for a battle with his cruiser TF. My 2 BB, 10 CA, and 12 DD did not find his ships even though I reconned the nearby ports.

Turn 53 28 January, 1942

Sub Action continued off Brisbane this turn. RO-68 shelled the coastal freighter Kindur untill she ran out of deck gun ammo. Despite 18 shell hits the small freighter would not go down. Infuriated, the Captain put two torpedoes into her, sinking her in short order.

Off Hawaii, the I-175 put three fish into the large freighter Betelgeuse, sinking her.

Turn 54 29 January, 1942

Evidently Traskott is not afraid of the kido butai as he is continuing to try and move outbound convoys from the west coast.

I-23 located one unescorted convoy and put a torpedo into the side of the troop transport Santa Elena. No evidence yet that she went down.

I looped the KB back up towards the north to see if he had convoys in the waters off San Francisco.

We found a convoy and hit several ships including a loaded transport which went down with loss of life. The combat report showed at least 128 casualties.

Next turn, I will take the KB in closer to the coast and do a fighter sweep of San Francisco Bay.

Turn 55 30 January, 1942

Off hawaii, I-171 torpedoes and sinks the freighter Alcoa Pennant with two well placed fish.

Off Balikpapan, I-153 shelled the coastal freighter Lee Sang, putting 9 shells into her and exhausting her gun ammo. She was left burning from stem to stern in a sinking condition, but the Captain did not deem her worthy of a torpedo.
-------------------------------

Off San Francisco, my four carriers conducted fighter sweeps and found the skies full of American fighters of various types. We lost 5 zeroes during the fight but shot down 16 yanks.

Elsewhere, Traskott's B-17s hit Kuching again, which was defended by 40 Nates. I lost zero nates and damaged 15 forts.

I also performed a fighter sweep over Rangoon using a unit of Oscar 1b fighters. I chose the Oscars because they had more maneuverability than the zero and the hurricane IIB trop. Even with the pitiful firepower installed on the 1b we were able to shoot down several hurricanes and AVG tomahawks.

Turn 56 31 January, 1942

WARNING! The following recap may be disturbing to some readers....especially allied fan boys!

This turn it was all about California.....

The mighty bombers of the Kido Butai conducted a series of strikes in the waters off the California coast. This included sinking 7 yachts (YP) that were hunting for subs. I normally don't like wasting torpedoes on yachts, but we did spot John Wayne's personal yacht and put three torpedoes into it from our kates.[X(]

Our bombers also hit the docks at San Francisco, and found a troop transport convoy hiding up the river at Stockton, California. We sank two of the five transports and left the other three in a sinking condition.

We also found a transport loading at Eureka and we dispatched it with great loss of life (596 casualties).

Through all of the attacks not a single American fighter was in the air. Obviously he knows that he faces certain death if he dares to face the zeroes with his obsolete fighters.

Here is the summary of ships sunk.

As you can see, the losses were negligible.

His forts also did not fly this turn after my Nates damaged so many of them last turn.

For next turn, I will direct all of my KB airstrikes at the 141 point repair shipyard in San Francisco. If he is going to allow me to make free attacks on his coastal cities I might as well damage something that will hurt him for a while.

In the waters near Tsushima, the patrol boat Ginyo Maru successfully attacked one of the American sea pirates.

He must have moved all of his AA assets out. Let this be a lesson to all of us AFBs. You need to keep AA on the West Coast and not ship it all out to the war.