Maintaining Fuel Supplies In Australia

[HansBolter]

A good way to deal with the lack of escorts is to station what I refer to as escort "shepard" groups at the ports the subs concentrate around.

You surely won't have sufficient numbers of escorts to assign them to every TF for the full length of every trip. So station small groups of them at the ports and send them out past the subs to meet and merge with the incoming TFs to shepard them through the sub concentration areas. This IS tedious and heavy on micromanagement as you have to pay attention to when your incoming TFs are nearing the sub concentration areas, but it can be effective.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

A good way to deal with the lack of escorts is to station what I refer to as escort "shepard" groups at the ports the subs concentrate around.

You surely won't have sufficient numbers of escorts to assign them to every TF for the full length of every trip. So station small groups of them at the ports and send them out past the subs to meet and merge with the incoming TFs to shepard them through the sub concentration areas. This IS tedious and heavy on micromanagement as you have to pay attention to when your incoming TFs are nearing the sub concentration areas, but it can be effective.

In my first try at playing the Japanese I don't have bases yet which give me range to patrol off Perth with any dwell time. I'm not sure most players will before Allied ASW gets into the '5' range. (Batavia is the obvious choice, but there are others.)

In these early months though I'm harvesting lots of Allied ships between SF and PH, and none of them are near either base. With Glens and patrol areas it's easy to plot bigger triangle areas which overlap. Subs operating from Kwajelein. Out in that 2000-mile wide expanse of nothing rarely is an ASW patrol plane seen, and anything without escort is a good bet for at least one, and possibly three, torpedoes.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

A good way to deal with the lack of escorts is to station what I refer to as escort "shepard" groups at the ports the subs concentrate around.

You surely won't have sufficient numbers of escorts to assign them to every TF for the full length of every trip. So station small groups of them at the ports and send them out past the subs to meet and merge with the incoming TFs to shepard them through the sub concentration areas. This IS tedious and heavy on micromanagement as you have to pay attention to when your incoming TFs are nearing the sub concentration areas, but it can be effective.

In my first try at playing the Japanese I don't have bases yet which give me range to patrol off Perth with any dwell time. I'm not sure most players will before Allied ASW gets into the '5' range. (Batavia is the obvious choice, but there are others.)

In these early months though I'm harvesting lots of Allied ships between SF and PH, and none of them are near either base. With Glens and patrol areas it's easy to plot bigger triangle areas which overlap. Subs operating from Kwajelein. Out in that 2000-mile wide expanse of nothing rarely is an ASW patrol plane seen, and anything without escort is a good bet for at least one, and possibly three, torpedoes.

Yes, the technique I mentioned is good for getting through concentrations around ports only. If the subs are savvy enough to range among the shipping lanes further out, shepard groups become moot.

[geofflambert]

I also use the technique Hans is describing, and on a similar subject to the thread's origination, I use xAKs to "meet" TFs that are critically low on fuel, tranferring their wealth of fuel to them to get them home. This helps with the strategy of not sucking fuel out of the delivery ports, but ekeing out what you have to get back to the supplying ports.

[jmalter]

in the early war, many Allied ports are staffed w/ airgroups that need training-time. these guys will need months of training, as well as time for air production to fill out their airframe complement. at the same time, naval escorts will need to be upgraded, to increase their AA/ASW capability. it's gonna take 6-8 months for training/upgrades, before the Allied ASW forces can start to exert some control around its major ports.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter


Yes, the technique I mentioned is good for getting through concentrations around ports only. If the subs are savvy enough to range among the shipping lanes further out, shepard groups become moot.

Shepards were used a lot in RL, especially for subs coming in to prevent blue-on-blue attacks. Also for other ship types if minefileds were laid.

My post was only to let newbies know that there are many ways to skin a cat. Near-in base-hex sub ops can be fruitful, but the trade-off is more danger. As an Allied player I know that after a certain date I tend to think of the WC to PH transit as "safe." I've never seen the AI use IJN subs as aggressively as I'm doing, which is good for me when I play the Allies. USN ASW is pitiful early.

[geofflambert]

Still, better to have some kind of escort even if it's a AMC with no ASW, otherwise the subs will have a field day with their deck gun.

[NAVMAN]

geofflambert;
I was not aware that one could trans fuel from xAKs to ships at sea which were not in the same TF.
Thx for the info.

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I also use the technique Hans is describing, and on a similar subject to the thread's origination, I use xAKs to "meet" TFs that are critically low on fuel, tranferring their wealth of fuel to them to get them home. This helps with the strategy of not sucking fuel out of the delivery ports, but ekeing out what you have to get back to the supplying ports.

[Dan Nichols]

ORIGINAL: foliveti

A lot of folks are talking about convoys from Cape Town to Perth. I have had a heck of a time with Japanese subs off of Perth. Given the scarcity of tankers and escorts, I have been staying away from that route.

Albany to the South of Perth can have its port built larger than Perth can. It is a port that is worth using since your TFs are south of the Perth hex row. I still try to have 1 or 2 small ASW TFs the patrol that Perth hex row.