Another day, more blood in the water.
My bombardment TF is surprised at Trincomalee. I'm sad to lose the Chikuma, but otherwise it's a good day:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Trincomalee at 31,47, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
F1M2 Pete: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Walrus II: 2 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 2
BB Hiei, Shell hits 7, on fire
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 2
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 21, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Urakaze
DD Oshio, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Arare, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kasumi, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CA Cornwall, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
CL Hobart
CL Dauntless, Shell hits 22, and is sunk
CL Ceres, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Glasgow
CL Colombo, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 1
DD Witte de With
DD Scout
DD Express, Shell hits 1
Damn Brits and their good crews. All the shell hits on Chikuma and the Kongos are blocked by armor. The torpedoes, though... ugh. The hits on Colombo are 6" and 14", penetrating, from the Kongos.
Kirishima absolutely ripped Cornwall apart with ~8 consecutive 14" hits that penetrated the belt.
Bombardment goes off. I destroy ~30 planes on the ground. On the way out, I find the CLs again. Urakaze blows up the Express and sights Van Nes on fire. The remaining 14" shells from the Kongos find their way into Glasgow's waterline.
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
BB Hiei, Shell hits 3
BB Kirishima, Shell hits 4
DD Urakaze, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
CL Hobart, Shell hits 1
CL Glasgow, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Colombo, Shell hits 2
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
DD Witte de With, Shell hits 1
DD Scout
DD Express, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
Later on, KB strikes:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 33
B5N2 Kate x 29
D3A1 Val x 35
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 3 damaged
D3A1 Val: 11 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Hobart, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Colombo, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Cuttack, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
DD Van Nes, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DD Witte de With, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Scout
CL Glasgow, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Something(s) sunk at noon. Glasgow probably did not, as it was sighted in the PM recons.
I have plenty of sorties left and twice as much fuel as I need to get back to Singapore, so I'm sticking around, moving a bit NE. 6 ships are sighted in Trincomalee's port, "BB BB". I hope Lex is still there. My groups are a little low on planes, but I've got the replacements in the pools. About 2/3 of Kaga's pilots survived her sinking, so I can replenish all of my pilot losses so far as well.
