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7/12/42:
Jap squadrons based in the Marshall Islands strike Tarawa and Makin Island ...
Brisbane hit again from Rockhampton - Losses are getting severe, IJN lose 20 aircraft while the allies lose 64 in the air and 9 on the ground ...

Off Tarawa, exactly what I did not want comes to pass - a CV battle. I was hoping to lay off Tarawa by 2 squares, thus keeping a distance from KB coming from Kwajelein, but somehow the IJN appears off the east side of Makin, close enough for a big CV duel. Adm. Spruance gets the first strike (123 aircraft intercepted by 61 zeros) but only 4 1000 Lb bomb hits are made, yielding no critical damage.

The Japanese pilots do much better - 240 aircraft strike, sweep aside the F4Fs on CAP, sinking Yorktown and crippling Hornet. Wasp fights on alone in a hopeless 2nd round, a few more bomb hits from her strikes and the SBDs on Tarawa are made, adding up to modest damage to 2 Jap CVs before a further strike sinks Wasp and CL Nashville.

IJN Transport TFs do not arrive so Tarawa remains in U.S. control - for now.

7/19/42:
Kweiyang attacked by the IJA and the Chinese manage only a 2-squad defense, the defenders retreat to Chungking ...
KB is observed with oilers off Makin, so they appear to have remained on station for more action ...
Brisbane is bombed by strikes from Rockhampton, no air resistance (all squadrons withdrawn south for retraining and recover of strength).

7/26/42:
Tarawa has gone to a 3-factor airfield, so with 2 F4F Marine squadrons and 1 SBD squadron, the Engineer unit is evacuated south towards Ellis Island ...

Brisbane attacked by air once again, again no air resistance ...

Tarawa is attacked - first bombarded by a CA TF, then the 48th IJA Inf Div lands and quickly overcomes the 2 U.S. Army Bdes defending, Gen. Emmons (former SWPAC commander) surrenders.

KB gets some strikes on the evacuation TF heading for Ellis, 1 AMC sunk along with a couple of MCS, but the other AMC survives, so the Engineer unit makes it out with 8 squads left.

Alaska: CL task force again bombards, this time Anchorage, where U.S. P40s and B26s manage to sortie, sinking 1 DD and getting a hit on a CL [:D]

8/2/42:
Brisbane struck again, still no air cover. That may need to be rectified soon, the factory here has production of 1* (close to being knocked out [:@])

Makin Island: A Kongo BB plus CAs bombard, then the 18th IJA Div lands - but it cannot take the base and evacuates after 4 rounds of combat [:)]

2/5 IJA Bde on New Caledonia finally mopped up after over of month of trying.

Taking Stock:
With Allied carrier forces at low tide, I turn to take stock of my defenses. Espiritu and Noumea are well defended, but Fiji looks a bit thin (1 U.S. Div, 1 NZ Bde and a couple of Engineers) - an 8-factor airfield helps, so does the presence of most of my Surface units, plus the Enterprise and Formidable.

American Samoa and Canton both have a U.S. Div plus an additional Rgt/Bn, so that is as much as I am willing to use to defend atolls. Palmyra has a Marine Bn plus U.S. Army Bde, so the defense of Hawaii is taking priority. the 1st Marine Division will be sent to Oahu, so that it plus 1 Army Div (24th) should be a reasonable defense, it also allows for the other Division (25th) to be sent to Kauai - to resist an attempt by the Japanese to seize this and establish a G4M base. Also this allows me to pull the Marine Bn to Maui, so it and the big island have 2 Marine Bns each. Johnson Island has its Bn plus an Army Rgt arrived from West Coast. All airfields are maxed out, and squadron reinforcements will be sent here first. Not that am worried [8|]

Adm Phillips brings his British TF with 3 R-class BBs to New Caledonia and surprises a transport TF - 3 AVs, 6 DEs and 2 APs sunk.

Dang, Skip. Looking at that screenshot of the Ramilles trashing that IJN DE is a lot like looking at a picture of someone swatting a fly with one of those big ol' solid oak tables...! [X(]

Nicely done, though. [8D]

Tarawa has gone to a 3-factor airfield, so with 2 F4F Marine squadrons and 1 SBD squadron, the Engineer unit is evacuated south towards Ellis Island ...

Does that mean you evacuated the air units before the base fell?

ORIGINAL: Cerran

Adm Phillips brings his British TF with 3 R-class BBs to New Caledonia and surprises a transport TF - 3 AVs, 6 DEs and 2 APs sunk.

Dang, Skip. Looking at that screenshot of the Ramilles trashing that IJN DE is a lot like looking at a picture of someone swatting a fly with one of those big ol' solid oak tables...! [X(]

Nicely done, though. [8D]

Thanks, it was fun seeing BBs pounding on a transport TF. Does not happen too often. [:)]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Tarawa has gone to a 3-factor airfield, so with 2 F4F Marine squadrons and 1 SBD squadron, the Engineer unit is evacuated south towards Ellis Island ...

Does that mean you evacuated the air units before the base fell?

Not 100% sure, but I think the squadrons were flown to Ellis Island. Sorry I have not posted for a while, I am recovering from surgery right now.
Hope to post more updates next week.

8/9/42:
Allies bring squadrons back to Brisbane to defend against airstrikes, which the Japanese send (200 IJA vs. 98 Allied) - losses 34 vs 78.
Makin defenders take airstrikes from Tarawa, Maleolop and Kwajelein.

8/16/42:
Airstrikes on Brisbane and Makin continue with similar results ...

8/23/42:
Brisbane raided again, losses remain around 2:1 favoring the IJA ...
Makin is invaded - first a Kongo-type BB plus CAs bombard, then the 56th Inf Div lands but cannot take the base over 4 rounds of combat ... the 16th Inf Div follows and overcomes the 2 U.S. Army Bdes on the 2nd combat round [:(]

8/30/42:
Air raid on Espiritu Santo from Guadalcanal resumes ... 125 A6M and 25 G4M vs 31 F4F, but the Marines acquit themselves well (24 vs 35 lost).
Brisbane losses 36 IJA vs 85 allied ...

Ellis Island attacked - first a bombardment TF centered on Musashi and Mutsu, SBD strike on KB manages a ** hit on Akagi, then the 16th Inf Div takes the base on the first combat round [:(]

9/6/42:
Air raid on Espiritu Santo comprised of 130 A6Ms and 35 G4Ms is received by 76 a mixture of Allied fighters - P40s, P39s and F4Fs. Losses 50 IJN vs. 86 Allied.
Brisbane raid again results in about 2:1 losses allied vs. IJA.

South Pacific / SWPac commands determine to try a counter-attack on Rockhampton whilst the IJN is busy in the Central Pacific. Covered by CVs Enterprise and Formidible, BBs bombard then the landings begin - 5 Infantry Divisions, 1 Inf Bde and the 1st Armoured Bde land but it is not enough to overcome the defenders - 2 IJA Divisions and 2 SNLF units. The odds did get above zero by the end, so it was close.

9/13/42:
Allies try a ground attack in Brisbane but it does not dislodge the Japanese, Rockhampton invaders are withdrawn before the IJN can arrive to wreak havoc (the KB did arrive off the coast of Australia to try and get some licks in, but the evacuation got away to the south).

Air raid on Espiritu Santo now includes strikes from Santa Cruz also.

9/20/42:
Air battles over Espiritu and Brisbane continue but are smaller in scope ...

9/27/42:
The Japanese try a counter-move against Espiritu Santo while the Allied fleets recover from the failed attempt at Rockhampton.
Although thanks to SIGINT 2 U.S. SCTFs are able to respond - Adm Halsey brings the North Carolina with 2 CAs, 3 CLs and DDs; Adm Lee brings the South Dakota with 3 CAs, 3 CLs and DDs.

What transpires is a confusing air-sea melee - the VCR does not appear to be accurate which does not help.
The first IJN TFs to move in are a CA TF and a Transport TF which lose 4 DDs and an AV to allied air strikes; KB stands off Espiritu and hits the U.S. SCTFs on the way in - Lee suffers 1 DD sunk while a BB and 2 CAs, 2 CLs take damage - Halsey takes slight damage to a BB and 1 DD sunk.

Halsey then hits hard in the surface action - IJN losses are 2 of 3 BBs (Musashi, Kongo-type) while the U.S. lose a CA and a DD.
One IJA Div manages to land but the U.S. / N.Z. Defenders hold them off.

U.S. fleets retire, most notable damage is South Dakota (47%) CAs Astoria (35%) and Houston (61%) and CL Enterprise (56%).
Other ships (North Carolina 18%, Quincy 20%, Hobart 21%, Perth 12%) are not too badly off.

Halsey then hits hard in the surface action - IJN losses are 2 of 3 BBs (Musashi, Kongo-type) while the U.S. lose a CA and a DD.
One IJA Div manages to land but the U.S. / N.Z. Defenders hold them off.

The audience wants blood -- the audience is pleased!

(But once again you're hard on your CA's ... you're going to need those Baltimore-class units.)

Was there any damage to Japanese transports?

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

The audience wants blood -- the audience is pleased!

(But once again you're hard on your CA's ... you're going to need those Baltimore-class units.)

Was there any damage to Japanese transports?

Sunk menu did not show any additional APs sunk [:(]. Current total claimed is 23. As long as the IJN has a decent fast AP force, they can threaten a counter-attack, so chipping away at the AP fleet is something I hope to do. Trimming down the surface combat ability of Kaigun helps also [;)]

10/4/42:
Airstrike on Espiritu - 110 A6 / 25 G4 vs. 74 Allied fighters - losses 37 vs 59. Follow-up strikes come in from Rennell Is. and Santa Cruz.
Surprisingly no IJA airstrike on Brisbane, so allied AC can attack Japanese ground forces ...
SIGINT showed Perth unoccupied, so the Allies send Enterprise, Formidible and a bombardment TF to retake it, along with the 7th Aus Div and 2nd Brit Div.

10/11/42:
Airstrikes continue on Espiritu - originating from Guadalcanal, Rennell Is. and Santa Cruz ... Brisbane attacked from Rockhampton (losses were rather even this time, 56 vs 66).
U.S. SCTF patrols Espiritu but only action is IJN airstrikes from land bases, a Sims DD is sunk with some other minor hits incurred ...

End-of-turn summary: With Perth back under allied control, reinforcements begin moving from Ceylon to Australia - Warspite, Resolution, 5 CLs and 6 DDs along with the 23rd PG.

10/18/42:
Air strikes on Espiritu and Brisbane continue with heavier losses incurred by the allies, but resistance is kept up ...
IJN moves on Midway, bombarding with a BB and 3-4 CAs - then the 18th IJA Div takes it from the Marine Bn on the 3rd combat round ...

10/25/42:
Airstrikes on Espiritu and Brisbane show much more even losses this turn - then a B17 raid on Guadalcanal destroys 66 aircraft - managing to give a little back [:D]
Japanese move on Dutch Harbor - bombardment for now, but more TFs appear to be on their way ...

11/1/42:
P38s make their appearance at Espiritu, and the show the ability to even the odds vs the raid from Santa Cruz ...
Brisbane still making due with P39s/P40s, and the exchange still reflects that (42 IJA lost vs. 74). A B17 raid from New Caledonia on Rockhampton manages to destroy 44 Japanese aircraft [:)]

Alaska: Japanese bring 2 BBs, 4-5 CAs to bombard Dutch Harbor, still no invasion - yet.

11/8/42:
Allied attack at Brisbane drives the Japanese back - only 1 Bde was left at this point, the IJA appears to be pulling back ...
Air raid on Espiritu now turning in U.S. favor with 2 squadrons of P38s present [8D]
Brisbane still the same (IJA raid lost 31 A/C vs. 54 allied).

Alaska: Several TFs move on Dutch Harbor, U.S. sub active and get some hits in on APs and AVs - then Adm Halsey engages with BBs Indiana and Washington, 3 CAs and 3 CLs plus DDs - looks like IJN brought 2 BBs, a CA, 3 CLs and DDs. Losses: lots of damage on both sides, a Fuso BB and some DDs sunk. Then the IJA 48th Div, Karafu Div and 1st Para Bde land and take the base.

Losses: lots of damage on both sides, a Fuso BB and some DDs sunk. Then the IJA 48th Div, Karafu Div and 1st Para Bde land and take the base.

You are certainly whittling down the number of Japanese battlewagons. How far up had the airfield at Dutch Harbor been built?