XJ vs Ike - # 17

[borner]

BTW - a great film, although mostly adapted from the book Killer angles I beleive. Shows both sides without really favoring one over the other as right or wrong. For the mosst part accurate as well.

[xj900uk]

I have many months of PBEM experience XJ and you have 36 days in game PBEM experience

True, but you never know... History sometimes favours the underdog...
Plus the fact I do have a few advantages over you. For a start I am a qualified (former) RAF pilot, and have logged many hours on the D3A Val and also F4U Corsair, plus a few in the TBF Avenger, so I know how they perform in real life. I've also done some dive-bombing in the Val (on French stuff in the Channel, before you ask), and also taken part in probably the last ever torpedo drop in the UK

[fuelli]

ORIGINAL: xj900uk

I have many months of PBEM experience XJ and you have 36 days in game PBEM experience

True, but you never know... History sometimes favours the underdog...
Plus the fact I do have a few advantages over you. For a start I am a qualified (former) RAF pilot, and have logged many hours on the D3A Val and also F4U Corsair, plus a few in the TBF Avenger, so I know how they perform in real life. I've also done some dive-bombing in the Val (on French stuff in the Channel, before you ask), and also taken part in probably the last ever torpedo drop in the UK

Don´t get me wrong, but this won´t help you in this game. If you believe all the people here then none of the planes in the game is modeled according to reality or history[8D]

[xj900uk]

Don´t get me wrong, but this won´t help you in this game. If you believe all the people here then none of the planes in the game is modeled according to reality or history

True, but there are few better things on earth than conducting a mock dive-bombing attack on some unsuspecting French schooner or yacht trolling up and down the English Channel...

Oh, BTW IMHO the F4U Corsair is about hte most powerful prop-powered plane I have ever flown, that 2000hp is just awesome even though the machine was well over 50 years old

[borner]

true, but in this game it seems to have been given the value of the jet powered version it shared it name with in the 70's  [:D]

[bigbaba]

hehe, ikes presentation of his victories? is always a great fun. now general lee blames jeb stuart for doing a poor job in south pacific.[:D]

[xj900uk]

Well right now we are having some interesting air-battles over Port Morseby, which, incidentally, is still jam packed with burning/smoking Allied bombers... perhaps Ike should do a pictorial representation of those??? [;)]

[xj900uk]

Communique delivered personally to HM The Emperor on the evening of June 7th 1942

'May His Majesty be pleased to know that earlier today, a powerful surface force headed by Rear Admiral in the battle cruiser Haruna, successfully carried out a bombardment of the airfield facilities held by the treacherous Western agressors at Port Morseby, destroying many of their medium and heavy bombers on the ground. This follows on from hard aerial fighting over the two previous days over New Guinea as well as today,where many American and Australian aircraft were engaged and destroyed in combat by your most loyal pilots who succeeded in bombing the airfield several times in spite of fierce resistance and flak, destroying many more of his bomber planes on the ground. Today the Australian and American defenders cowered in their bunkers, and our aircraft from both shore and carrier bases reigned supreme over the enemy town.
Further more, in the late afternoon whilst retreating from the Port Morseby area, due south of Gili Gili, an enemy submarine was spotted by the bombardment force and immediately sunk by your most loyal subjects on board the destroyer Kikuzuki'

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/07/42

Weather: Clear

Naval bombardment of Port Moresby, at 10,40


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress x 3 destroyed
B-17E Fortress x 1 damaged
Hudson x 5 destroyed
Hudson x 3 damaged
PBY Catalina x 1 destroyed
PBY Catalina x 2 damaged
C-47 Dakota x 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 97
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 48


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 10,34

Japanese Ships
AP Heiwa Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-44

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 18
Guns lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 18,44

Japanese Ships
DD Kikuzuki

Allied Ships
SS S-41, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A Val x 15
B5N Kate x 6

Allied aircraft

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra x 2 destroyed
B-26B Marauder x 1 destroyed
Hudson x 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 39

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 10

Attacking Level Bombers:
6 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G3M Nell x 12
G4M1 Betty x 15

Allied aircraft

no losses

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina x 2 destroyed
Hudson x 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 63

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 14

Attacking Level Bombers:
7 x G3M Nell at 11000 feet
12 x G4M1 Betty at 11000 feet
3 x G3M Nell at 11000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty at 11000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two announcements made by Radio Tokyo at dusk concerned the smoke pall from the burning American bomber planes at Port Morseby can be seen all the way to Lae, and also something about S-41 will not be returning from patrol... [:D]

[bigbaba]

cpool to destroy this bombers on the ground on a "cheap way".

but be careful. ike is a master of naval movements. maybe he gets your bombard Tfs in his carrier range one time.

[xj900uk]

I've got loads of seach planes looking for them but so far his carriers haven't reappeared. Hopefully I hit them good and hard in the May battles in the Coral Sea by both Kate and sub so they have had to limp away and be out of action for several weeks.

If they do reappear I've got a nice little surprise waiting for them...

[Ike99]

The battle for Wau.

[Ike99]

True, but you never know... History sometimes favours the underdog...

History will never favor a bambo shoot over a Samurai sword.

Agreed. That's knocked both of his carriers out at least for the next few months -

(ahem)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 19,42

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 30
SBD Dauntless x 49

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 3 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 11 damaged

LTJG E. McCuskey of VF-42 is credited with kill number 2

Japanese Ships

CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 2, on fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[xj900uk]

{ahem!} What you do fail to mention Ike, is that task force you bombed was a small cruiser force that was retiring after unloading a generous helping of 8" shells all over Port Morseby airfield. It also would have destroyed your flotilla of one-ship supply convoys if they all hadn't scuttled away like rabbits caught in the headlights.

Naval bombardment of Port Moresby, at 10,40


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina x 1 destroyed
PBY Catalina x 1 damaged
P-40E Kittyhawk x 3 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 5 damaged
B-26B Marauder x 1 destroyed
B-26B Marauder x 5 damaged
Hudson x 2 destroyed
Hudson x 2 damaged
A-24 Dauntless x 1 destroyed
A-24 Dauntless x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 2 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 3 damaged


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 33

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 47

Then, just to make doubly sure and in a superb example of inter-service co-ordination, the Rabaul strike arrived to add fuel to the flames...

Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
G3M Nell x 9
G4M1 Betty x 15

Allied aircraft

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 damaged
P-39D Airacobra x 1 destroyed
B-17E Fortress x 1 destroyed
A-24 Dauntless x 1 destroyed
B-26B Marauder x 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 50

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 20

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x G4M1 Betty at 11000 feet
3 x G3M Nell at 11000 feet
6 x G3M Nell at 11000 feet
12 x G4M1 Betty at 11000 feet

It's true you did bomb my cruiser force on the way out as it was skipping past your waiting sub-traps, fortunately it had some aircover on standby.
How many planes have you lost on the ground at Port Morseby now? Well over a 100? And most of them are medium & heavy bombers + PBY's...

[xj900uk]

Communique delivered with the greatest of pleasure to HM The Emperor on the evening of June 11th 1942

'His Divine Majesty is pleased to be informed today that our naval forces of the South East Asian Great Prosperity Co-Operation Sphere today won a stunning victory over the decadent Imperialist American forces.
The plan instigated by Central Command Headquaters, Sho-1, was completely and successfully carried out by his most humble subjects. The previous day, the cruiser force headed by Rear Admiral Abe carried out the follow-up bombardment of the air-force base at Port Morseby, and this time was successful in drawing out the remaining US carrier units in pursuit. When it rounded the SE tip of New Guinea, it was attacked by air elements from the US carrier Yorktown and two cruisers were damaged in the engagement - his majesty will be pleased to know neither seriously. The knowledge that the remaining US carrier was in the area instigated the Kido Butai headed by Admiral Nagumo and his air-staff on board the carriers Akagi and Kaga, that had arrived in complete secrecy at Shortlands a few days before, to head SW at all available speed for the combat area, claokedbehind fortuitous bad weather sent by the Gods themselves in their divine wisdom.
Thus on the morning of the 11th of June they made positive contact with the US carrier fleet some 180 miles to the SW and immediately launched two telling and critical strikes which proved utterly decisive.
Attacked from all sides by our carrier-launched dive and torpedo bombers, the Yorktown suffered many decisive hits. Several observers noted a massive internal explosion on board the stricken carrier midway through the first wave of attacks, almost certainly the result of a 250kg bomb piercing the flight deck and exploding in some ammunition magazine or locker. It's screening force of cruisers and destroyers were also severely attacked by our forces, at least four separate hits were reported.
Before nightfall our retiring search planes noticed that the US carrier was still afloat and blazing 'as brightly as the sun itself', we believe it is a forgone certainty that it will sink during the cover of darkness

To the north, outside the approaches to Port Morseby, one of our submarines made contact with an American supply ship that was fleeing the awesome presence of our carrier forces, and sent it to the bottom in a decisive and one-sided engagement.

Praise be to our most humble pilots and servants of the Empire. They have served his Divine Majesty well! Long live the Emperor!'

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/11/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Air attack on TF at 20,45

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 21
SBD Dauntless x 39

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 15 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 19 damaged

CPO O.Hirano of AI-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 2

LCDR G.Adams of VB-5 bails out WOUNDED and is RESCUED

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi
CV Kaga


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 16,51

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
D3A Val x 47
B5N Kate x 27

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 4 destroyed
D3A Val x 14 damaged
B5N Kate x 7 destroyed
B5N Kate x 22 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chicago, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Anderson, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Australia, Torpedo hits 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 16,51

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
B5N Kate x 24

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate x 4 destroyed
B5N Kate x 21 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Minneapolis
CA New Orleans
DD Sims
CA Astoria


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 9,41


LT L. Knox of VF-42 is KILLED
Japanese Ships
SS I-2

Allied Ships
AK Adelong, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 62


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Wau

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 13761 troops, 167 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 9206 troops, 89 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 6
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With his carriers out of the way or heading to the bottom, now the assault on Wau and Port Morseby can truely begin... [:D]

[Ike99]

With his carriers out of the way or heading to the bottom, now the assault on Wau and Port Morseby can truely begin...

A ¨carrier¨ out of the way. I have had others arrive as reinforcements too.

But one carrier was a good trade to be fortified and supplied in both Port Moresby and Wau so early.

If you can´t eject me from Wau soon, and the combat report says you can´t...and I get a airfield up there you will have a big problem.

Ground combat at Wau

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 13761 troops, 167 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 9206 troops, 89 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 6
Guns lost 1

[xj900uk]

A ¨carrier¨ out of the way. I have had others arrive as reinforcements too

 
I'll just have to sink or disable those then as quickly as I can.  I know all you have to do is wait,  Japan will never be this strong again & with the Allied build-up you will eventually get parity & then overtake me unless I can find some way to stay ahead.
 
PM I can keep on hitting to keep your planes on the ground & destroy them there.  Wau I agree you have rushed a lot of reinforcements there,  it will be a tough nut to crack. The Japs have nothing like the C-47 in their arsenal (at least, until they copied it!) and IMHO nothing moves troops & supplies around faster! [:@] Building up the airfield there though will be very difficult though whilst I keep on pounding away, disable it and bring in additional troops

[Ike99]

The Japs have nothing like the C-47 in their arsenal (at least, until they copied it!)

You will recieve the Topsy.

[xj900uk]

You will recieve the Topsy.

 
True but it's not as good as the C-47, I have to wait some time b4 it arrives (you have 4 squadrons of C47's at the start, if my memory is correct) and there are never enough of them to go round!
 
All joking & propaganda aside,  the Japanese are at their strongest/most dominant in the early months & I have to use that to my advantage.  You as a player have tons more experience than me so it is a rather fast learning curve, but I do have a flexible strategy and grand plan which I am sticking to (at least for the time being) and I need to use early Japanese superiority whilst I have it and make it count.
I have a historic clock which I am counting down against :
July '42 - TBF starts replacing the TBD.  From now on the US have a decent torpedo plane (fish are still crap though)
Oct '42 - P38G's start replacing the P39's.  From now on the US have a decent long range escort fighter/interceptor
Feb '43 - F4U start arriving & replacing the F4F's on marine squadrons.  This is the best fighter plane in the game & I have to find some way to keep it neutralised
June '43 - Hellcat starts replacing the carrier-based F4F's.  From now on the US have the advantage in carrier battles,  the only concession the Japs have is that their carrier planes still have a slightly better range than the US but timing & positioning will have to be perfect
Fall '43 - unless losses especially heavy F4U's may become generic on US carriers
 
Carrier-wise I guess with the Midway carriers I still have the advantage (if I can keep all of them together & intact) until your Essex-carriers start to arrive early '43

[borner]

Is Lexington showing as sunk or just Damaged? I think Yorktown has had it. I will have 4 carriers, enough to hit you around the edges, but not enough to fight without getting slaughtered. I disagree with IKE that this is a good trade off, unless you were going for an auto victory. Putting a lot of allied troops into PM and the surrounding area will slow down Japan's expansion, but C-47's do not stand a chance against LRCAP, and the KB can secure and hold the area easily.
 
One point of advise. A mistake I often made as Japan was to loose too many planes early.  The Allies can throw them away, Japan needs to try and preserve as many as possible.
 
 

[xj900uk]

I managed to put one torp into Yorktown & a couple into the Lady Lex in our 'Battle of the Coral Sea' which took place on 25.05.42. I haven't seen the Lady Lex since then, but I doubt it sank & is probably licking its wounds somewhere on the Aussie mainland or has else limped back as far as Noumea. However, the fact I haven't seen it again since means that it's probably more damaged than I first surmised.
Yorktown certainly seemed to absorb a lot of damage before finally succombing. In addition to the battle damage mentioned above, on 31.05.42 one of my subs put two fish into it just SW of Port Morseby. However it was back again less than two weeks later spoiling for action - this time though I finally got it good and proper (3rd time lucky!) [8D])

I honestly thought that setting a trap (using the 2nd smaller cruiser force as bait, they were mainly older type Furutaka ones) would draw any carriers he had out on the Great Barrier Reef after it, and in doing so run into my 'cream of the cream' - Akagi and Kaga. I almost fixed it so that I could strike him whilst out of range, but unfortunately that was not quite to be - fortunately no hits from his SBD's. I had actually hoped I might draw both out, namely Yorktown and Lady Lex, but it was not to be.
Without boasting I would say my trap worked exactly as I hoped - the first shore bombardment by the Haruna tf to get his attention, then the second with the smaller (and more expendable) older cruisers under Abe to bring out any carriers he had in the area in hot pursuit, straight within range of my waiting Kido Butai under Nagumo.
The result is PM airfield burns some more, and now the Yorktown has more holes in it than a sieve
And also my grand plan does seem to be working quite well so far (no clues, at least not on this Forum!)

I can take a guess that he's had more carriers arrive this month at Noumea, probably Enterprise and Hornet with Wasp and Saratoga on their way. I have lots of search planes looking that way for the first sign of activity from them, he may be waiting though until the TBF's have replaced his turkey TBD's (that's what I would do) which will give him parity in the torpedo bomber stakes