The Hive - Cruft PBEM (Japan, Scen 2 Beta + Stacking Limits)

[Captain Cruft]

Well if it was then Japan might have done quite well. I really like the look of the old BBs with their ridiculous pagodas.

Speaking of which (sort of), I have now started building the Yamatos since Naval Shipyards are at 2,400 and the Unryus and Taihos have all been accelerated to arrive before the end of August 1944.

[Captain Cruft]

3 July 1943

We have agreed new HRs as follows:-

1) No Naval Attacks below 6,000ft except for Fighters, Fighter-Bombers and Allied Attack Bombers.
2) No Ground Attacks by 4E bombers (I couldn't shift him on the 2Es)
3) Strategic Bombing is now allowed anywhere and can target anything in the daytime but only Manpower at night. Previously the DEI and Burma were off-limits and it was Manpower only across the board.

So hopefully he will make some moves into the eastern DEI now so as to try and bomb the Oil. This would enable my Nick Swarm to have a go at his 4Es.

Meanwhile, the Judy and Kill debuted quite successfully at Maloelap. Getting rid of a DMS or two is always nice.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,117

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 69 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
H8K1 Emily x 8

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K1 Emily: 3 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
xAP Chief Washakie, Bomb hits 1
DMS Elliot

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x H8K1 Emily bombing from 7000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VF-8 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 13000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,117

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 35

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
PT-125
DMS Elliot
PT-127
PT-126, Shell hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x A6M5 Zero bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
8 x A6M5 Zero bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 1 plane(s) with no ordnance
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb
7 x A6M5 Zero bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 2 plane(s) with no ordnance
Naval Attack: 2 x 60 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VF-8 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 8 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 13000 , scrambling fighters to 7000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,117

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 147 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 48 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 14
B6N1 Jill x 18
D4Y1 Judy x 20

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y1 Judy: 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
DMS Elliot, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Chief Washakie, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DMS Wasmuth, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk

Allied ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x B6N1 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
8 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb
8 x B6N1 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
12 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VF-8 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 13000 , scrambling fighters to 7000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAP Chief Washakie
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DMS Elliot

[Captain Cruft]

Large Aircraft Guns

I have a theory that all those stupendously inaccurate 37mm, 40mm and even 57mm guns that some of the IJAAF fighters are equipped with can actually be effective if the pilots are good enough. So I have started building a few Ki-44-IIb Tojos, Ki-45 KAIc Nicks and even some Ki-46-IIIb Dinahs.

The first unit into action with their big cannons will be the 64th Sentai, currently based at Bangkok and piloted entirely by TRACOM Golden Boys. I think he will move on Rangoon soon, after which Bangkok will probably get bombed, but there should be plenty of time to fit the group out with 40mm toting Tojos.

If it doesn't work I have lost nothing, the fighters and factories can be swapped out and the spare aircraft used for Naval Attack.

[Captain Cruft]

7 July 1943

Unsurprisingly it has all gone a bit quiet after the Maloelap debacle.

One small news item - the IJA has taken over administrative control of the Bonin Islands.

Here are the aircraft pools ...

[Captain Cruft]

Sandbox

I have fooling around with bombs against BBs. Quite surprising results really. You can sink the blighters without a single penetration if you can get enough hits to generate fires which overcome the intra-turn damage control.

500kg bombs do it easily, 250kg'ers have to work somewhat harder and with 100kg it's a struggle but still achievable. The great thing is that the bombs also take out the flak devices on the ships so you get to a point where the ship essentially becomes a sitting duck.

As a result of this testing I have increased my focus on dive bombers including even the Lily.

[Captain Cruft]

Update ...

I just tried the same test with the Beta and the flak changes have made an enormous difference. 1,000 DBs can now only sink a couple of CAs and put a couple of BBs out of action, rather than completely annihilating whole TFs, and this at a loss rate approximately 4 x that from before.

Interesting, and I approve. Let's see if my opponent agrees that we install the Beta immediately.

[obvert]

There is so much good stuff there. I would really like to update as well.

Beware though that it will change the air model considerably for massed attack coordination, (which you may have already learned in these tests or through the several threads recently about it). Your opponent will most likely not like the immediate results with massed 4Es and 2Es. He may have to change a lot of HQ settings to get it close to the coordination in the official patch, spending a lot of PPs. Unlesss of course he has already aligned all of the groups to their HQs, put in quality leaders, etc.

[Captain Cruft]

8 July 1943

The Ebadon Emilies strike again, going in at 7,000ft.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Mili at 136,121

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
H8K2 Emily x 3

Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K2 Emily: 2 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
SC-750, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TK Manzanillo, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x H8K2 Emily launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

CAP engaged:
343rd FG/11th FS with P-40K Warhawk (5 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 13000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 13000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
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I am encouraging my opponent to embrace the Beta patch so that his ship-based flak starts working and we can avoid another potentially game-ending Maloelap debacle.

[Captain Cruft]

12 July 1943

Nothing much happening.

According to the ships sunk list the CV Enterprise and BB Massachusetts recently went down near Johnson Island. Whether this is true or not it does indicate that he has no forward naval bases near the Marshall Islands, which is a bit odd. Tarawa and Tabituea are now both size 4 ports, and with a Naval HQ and an AR or two they ought to be serviceable places to get the float and sys
damage down before heading back to Pearl.

[Captain Cruft]

13 July 1943

Still not much happening.

Here is the top list of Allied ships sunk (allegedly). Remember this is against a single DD on my side.

[Captain Cruft]

15 July 1943

It looks like Wotje is the next target.

Does anyone know what ships use Type 3 Mines? I can find nothing obvious.

[obvert]

I can't find any either. I was about to ask the same.

[Captain Cruft]

I checked in the editor. In stock Scenario 2 that device (1713) does not equip any ships whatsoever.

So, either it's a deprecated device or perhaps if Japanese bombers could lay aerial mines they would use this type.

[Captain Cruft]

17 July 1943

He has started bombing Roi-Namur with B-24s out of Tarawa or somewhere in that vicinity. The airfield is now a mess, and as Wotje has also been closed by B-25s and Naval Bombardments this means an end to my offensive air ops in the Marshall Islands. We will now progress towards "Fortress Ponape", such as it is.

Where he can Sweep (out of Maloelap and Mili in this instance) I cannot stand. This is the fundamental driver of my strategy, as explained much earlier when I described a 20 hex exclusion zone around the Home Islands.

[Saros]

There are a few 19-20 kt CM ships that can use type 3 mines in Scen 1. However they upgrade to E's at the start of '43. I don't know if they lose minelaying capability then but I suspect so.

[obvert]

I just looked through both Scenarios 1 and 2 and none of the CM, ACM, CMc or PB can load the Type 3 mine. It is seemingly a wasted resource, but why is it there, then? Something must be able to use it? Do IJ planes carry mines in the endgame?

[Saros]

Whoops they are apparently type 4 mines not type 3.

[Captain Cruft]

24 July 1943

Wotje is a wreck, Roi-Namur is a wreck and Kwajalein has just been bombed for the first time today.

I have withdrawn all non floatplane airgroups from the Marshalls and am re-grouping at Ponape and Truk.

Reinforcements (mostly eng, avsup, arty and flak) are being sent to the Bonins (from the Home Islands) and to the Marianas (from Changsha via Hankow).

No action anywhere else except for subs, which are having less success now that I have enough long-range PBs and Es to escort most resource convoys.

[Captain Cruft]

28 July 1943

Nothing significant has happened. He is Sweeping and bombing Pegu on a daily basis, this surely is the prep for an invasion. There is a huge stack of LCUs to the SW of Toungoo just sitting there waiting ...

Unfortunately he now has a large number of P-47D2s in Burma. The poor old Tojo just cannot compete with these beasties. We are not backing down though, not yet.

The whole Burma thing is a sideshow anyway. Much more important is the Bonins->Kuriles axis. I am moving the Combined Fleet (KB plus modern surface vessels) to Yokohama, while all the older slower stuff will be based at Hakodate.

When the Soviets activate in Aug 1945 I should have have well prepared invasions of the Kamchatka peninsula (Petropavlovsk) and Sakhalin ready to go. This will hopefully prove to be a fly in the ointment at that time and also provide a bit of extra oil at an opportune (desperate) moment.

My entire plan for this game is based around 1945, in case that wasn't obvious.

Sidenote: After enthusiastically converting large numbers of xAKs to AKEs and ADs earlier on I now find I am reversing the process. If you have adequate ports you do not need a lot of the ammo ships and I have lost a lot of Resource carrying capacity over the last months.

[Captain Cruft]

29 July 1943

Upon further investigation Yokohama definitely looks like a good place to base the fleet. It cannot be usefully bombarded due to the fortresses, I can base innumerable fighters there and (as I just discovered) within about 6 months the house Naval Base Force will be equipped with 96 x 12.7cm DP guns after a ToE upgrade. Once we have the beta or next official patch installed that should make for a useful flak concentration on its own, even without all the the other AA units that I could move there.

It has an oil refinery in-situ, and I have set oil to stockpile there (also supply and fuel). Hopefully that will allow for some limited fuel production even under the most dire circumstances.

The only way the place is vulnerable is by land invasion, and if that ever looks like a possibility it will be game over anyway.