Speedy vs Fabertong - time to smack back the Penguin

[crsutton]

Speedy,

That is a carriers fight that makes an Allied player smile. I would not be able to get to sleep thinking about it. (Come to think of it Fabertong might not sleep too well either)

Caution is the word here. It is tempting to go after his carriers but there is no need for the risk. You might have sunk four. Any of his survivors might be out of the war for a year's time and in a years time his carriers start to become redundant. I would head for home as your intact carriers are going to dictate the action for some months. And your damaged carriers will repair faster than his. You had a great fight but you are also lucky that very few of his kates hit you. Clear out. His invasion is going to fail.

Cheers!

[HMS]

Speedy ,
Any chance of posting the CR for that carrier battle as an attachment ? I'm sure i'm not the only one who would enjoy watching it !
It will be interesting to see if you decide to pursue or withdraw . Wanting to bag all four carriers is something that would be hard to resist !

[BBfanboy]

Just ask - What would Nimitz do ...?

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Just ask - What would Nimitz do ...?

Smiling while reading the report and then grabbing a cigar and some scotch and then read it again?

[Mynok]

That's a really nice result. Seems poor Fabertong's carriers never got a good strike in. Those four CVs should have put a lot more death in the air than they did.

[vettim89]

Most likely Akagi, Kaga, and Soyru are already gone. It seems Heavy Fires, Heavy Damge = sunk for even USN CV's. Even if Hiryu makes it, she will be out of the war for a year. If it were me, I'd pull back because you don't want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Considering the date, your opponent will never be able to recover from this.

This situation reminds me of a moment in my WiTP game with Greasylake. I had about the same results on day one and decided to chase the cripples. Problem was there was a third CVTF lurking and I ended up losing a CV.


That said I tend to be a cautious player

[BBfanboy]

I can't help looking at four full-sized US CVs with little plane loss [and likely carrying extras from Lex and Sara] and I cannot see any enemy force strong enough to smash them. As I see it:
1. Shokaku and Zuikaku were being used recently much further south.
2. Zuiho was sunk. CVLs Ryujo and Shoho may be about along with perhaps Hosho and Ryuho. It would be a real coup if Speedy also took them out and they are unlikely to cause severe damage to his four big CVs.
3. Netties would have attacked already if there were any in the area. I think some could be transferred in tomorrow but would not strike until the following day. That gives a day to beat on the IJN whether in port or at sea around Paramushiro.

One of the prime military principles is to continuously attack a defeated and fleeing enemy before he can regroup. Japan gets a raft of new carriers in 1943 and any of current ones that join them wil make a dangerous force again. Now is a once-in-a-wartime opportunity to follow up on a very lucky dice roll.

It's up to Speedy now to check his pucker factor and proceed!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Firstly, thanks for all the comments and PM's....nothing like a CV Battle to get people talking[;)]

So, in the end I decided to keep my 4 remaining and active CV's on the scene BUT I did order them to move to 7 hexes away from the nearest enemy base (Paramushiro Jima). It was something I deliberated on for a while but in the end my thinking was similar to BBfanboy and Smeulders - I had 4 untouched CV's all with pretty full complements of aircraft (other than 1/3 fighters were shot down/damaged etc), I doubted very much that any of the Japanese CV's could launch planes and with Paramushiro, the only base within range to conduct strikes, surely to be overstacked due to CV orphans I figured it woudl be worth the risk to try to net more Japanese shipping.

The 10th started out with a surface combat! CL Kitakami and DD Kasumi heading SW stumbled acorss my CV Cripples. I had them escorted by BB North Carolina, 2 x CA + 4 x DD (BBfanbly - NC is fine except 13 SYS, 3 ENG and 1 16" Turret blown up!) The action was short and swift. DD Kasumi severely daamged DD Buchanon with a Long Lance, she'll probably sink. In return BB North Carolina landed a 16" shell into Kitakami tellingly slowing her down with a heavy list....

Whilst this action was occuring 10's of FP's and SBD's were out scouring the seas for enemy ships. Reports came back were limited! Only 2 small groups of ships were detected (1 west of my cripples and another 90 miles east of Paramushiro - no CV's detected!) Raids were launched anyhow......

The group east of Paramushiro was mauled by SBD's leaving 3 x DD sinking. The group west of my Cripples turned out to be the limping CL Kitakami. 4 x bombs put paid to her.

The big downer for the day in this theatre was the fragmentation of my strikes led to the loss of 17 x planes (10 x TBD!) to Zero CAP over the Paramushiro bound DD's.

So that's it....we now retire from the region in he fairly safe knowledge that 4 x first class Japanese CV's are with the fishes.

I may lose a DD or 2 but, baring any sub attacks, my other ships should all reach port safely.

Aircraft losses were roughly 60 Allied vs 140 Japanese.

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

Faber and I have had some detailed e-mail discussions about the battle, the plan and results etc.

I actually feel Faber had a decent plan here. It appears that after my CV's were spotted approaching Faber decided to move his Transports as bait and swung his CV force around mine to act as a lid on the trap. As I moved in for his transports 120 Netties/60 Zeroes were to attack from various bases and the KB would move in from the east to mop up.

For some reason (Faber says they were all supplied with adequate AV support) none of the LBA took off. I suggested maybe northern latitude weather or over stacking issues? The rest is history........

Faber feels that he should have called off KB AFTER his LBA failed to launch. Easy to say in hindsight but I agree with him. As it was only 4 x Jap CV vs 6 x US CV. Not a desirable or massively advantageous position for the Japanese which they need to have IMO.

Having said all of this I feel I have been lucky in this CV Battle:

1.) LBA didn't launch. If it did and was massed then it could have been effective.
2.) As has been mentioned already, the Kate hit rate was abysmal. Thankfully for me.

Anyhow, it 's all done now. We move on. I feel the Japanese force at Attu has had it. That's 2 divisions off the books all being well.

In due course, once my ships have been recovered I'll need to take stock and decide what I can do and where now. Interestingly, this doesn't give me free reign yet. I have 4 x CV vs 4 x Jap CV (Sho, Zui, Junyo, Hiyo) + 3/4 CVL/CVE. These backed by LBA mean I can't really invade any well protected area as yet.

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

Other areas -

Japanese LBA has begun bombing my force advancing on Daly. They're not causing much damage but are slowing me down - 25 miles to go.

My subs have had mixed fortunes:

3 x dud/missed attacks.

SS Grayling blew up SC CHa-18 near Wakkanai.

SS Silversides sank the 2000 tonne AKL Nitiyu Maru near Kushiro.

SS KXIV has been lost with all hands in the Malacca Strait. A Jap ASW TF hunted her to her death.

[Speedysteve]

ORIGINAL: HMS

Speedy ,
Any chance of posting the CR for that carrier battle as an attachment ? I'm sure i'm not the only one who would enjoy watching it !
It will be interesting to see if you decide to pursue or withdraw . Wanting to bag all four carriers is something that would be hard to resist !

Hi HMS,

Afraid I can't attach ZIP's to the AAR forum. Only in the support forum[:(]

[Speedysteve]

Any thoughts/questions etc?[:)]

[BBfanboy]

Ahh - you obviously had a better grasp of the situation than I did - I would have supposed that he had little or no LBA in the area to strike at you and your CAP could handle the leftover aircraft from the IJN CVs. You did the right thing by backing off and cleaning up a few small but valuable surface combatants. Most IJN players seem to love to make CL/DD SCTFs.
Glad you protected your cripples well. After such a coup it would have been a shame to lose them to a paltry CL surface group. Now if you can just dodge all the subs ...
Weren't you about to land some reinforcement troops in the Aleutians when all the commotion started? What is the status of that?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

ORIGINAL: HMS

Speedy ,
Any chance of posting the CR for that carrier battle as an attachment ? I'm sure i'm not the only one who would enjoy watching it !
It will be interesting to see if you decide to pursue or withdraw . Wanting to bag all four carriers is something that would be hard to resist !

Hi HMS,

Afraid I can't attach ZIP's to the AAR forum. Only in the support forum[:(]

Should be able to just e-mail it directly to him, bypassing the board limitations.

[Speedysteve]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Ahh - you obviously had a better grasp of the situation than I did - I would have supposed that he had little or no LBA in the area to strike at you and your CAP could handle the leftover aircraft from the IJN CVs. You did the right thing by backing off and cleaning up a few small but valuable surface combatants. Most IJN players seem to love to make CL/DD SCTFs.
Glad you protected your cripples well. After such a coup it would have been a shame to lose them to a paltry CL surface group. Now if you can just dodge all the subs ...
Weren't you about to land some reinforcement troops in the Aleutians when all the commotion started? What is the status of that?

Yeah reinforcements for Attu and Amchitka are just reaching/passing Dutch Harbour. All proceeding fine there

[vettim89]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Any thoughts/questions etc?[:)]

I agree this vistory is not a license to run wild but what it does mean is you cannot be threatened with being on the wrong side of the numbers game in a CV vs CV battle. With his LBA threat you still need to proceed cautiously. That said just like after the RL Midway, you can now truly start thinking about retaking bases.

[Roger Neilson II]

Have a look at Dropbox if you really want to make files available to download. Then you just give the url here.

Roger

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Attu -

My damaged CV's have just reached SW of Attu and will refuel beefore heading back slowly to the West Coast. Amazingly both of the heavily damaged DD's are still afloat!

The Japanese attacked my positions at Attu on the 13th. They managed to reduce forts ot level 3 but suffered heavy casualties (2000 vs 99!) and won't get any further without reinforcement as the US reinforcements have begun unloading at Attu.

Amchitka is also being occupied. The Japanese had laid mines in the area and 2 x AP hit. AP Caleb Strong (surprisingly) sunk after hitting hers with heavy loss of life.

My 4 active CV's are nearing Dutch Harbour were they'll rearm before taking station off Attu.

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

Australia -

My forces have reached Daly Waters and initial recon and bombardment has identified 2 x Japanese divisions on station (5th & 20th). I have 1500 vs 900 AV so no chance of taking this right now. Supply is tight but my units in the field are ok. Of course the main problem is that I can't provide air cover over my men due to lack of supply at my base further south.

Faber bombs my men every day causing few casualties. In return my heavies from Alice keep him on his toes at both Katherine and Daly.

My western offfensive will kick off soon towards Carnarvon.

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

Submarine Warfare -

4 dud/missed attacks!

Only (and good) successful attack was against the small 1120 Tonne TK Ose Maru NE of Jesselton. SS Permit did well in igniting the fuel laden ship with a torpedo seeing her go down.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Attu -

All reinforcements are ashore now. Just supplies and fuel to be unloaded now. I have around 550AV vs 450 Japanese. This is fine since the chance of any Japanese reinforcements arriving is slim and they'll run out of food and ammo in due course. The Japanese attacked again on the 1th and faield miserably:

Ground combat at Attu Island (153,49)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16769 troops, 231 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 437

Defending force 19219 troops, 320 guns, 418 vehicles, Assault Value = 547

Japanese adjusted assault: 75

Allied adjusted defense: 567

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 7 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2543 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 186 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 118 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 30 disabled


Allied ground losses:
80 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)


My damaged CV's are now in the Dutch Harbour area heading to Seattle.

DD Buchanan finally sunk 200 miles west of Attu. DD Benham was on hand to transfer most of her crew before she sank. Looks as though Buchanan is the only Allied casualty in our first CV Battle. A pretty good trade [;)]

My active CV's are heading off somewhere for a little mission...more soon.

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

Australia -

US and Japanese forces continue to be at stalemate and trade shells outside of Daly Waters. Japanese planes bomb our troops daily causing few casualties. Current levels are 1400 AV vs 990 Japanese AV. My men are doing well for supply in the field though which is good. I can hold here which is now my plan before attacking from other directions.......

The advance on Carnarvon has begun. This is spearheaded, primarily by the majority of 7th Australian Division along with Kanga Force and 14th, 16th and 23rd British Bde's. Additional Engineers and Aviation Support are on the roads of Australia heading west.

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

Submarine Warfare -

It's been a fairly good few days.

SS Silversides continues a very impressive patrol east of Ominato. She's claimed AK Nitiho Maru, AKL Shinnan Maru and AKL Jouban Maru sunk over the past 5 days. Well done men. Bronze Stars all round......

SS S-31 broke PB Yoshida Maru in 2 near Shikuka on the 15th.

SS Tuna and SS Gar stalked and attacked the same convoy on the 19th near Wakkanai. They claimed AKL Nichirei Maru and AKL Kizugawa Maru respectively.

[BBfanboy]

Have you used your desert warfare experts at Daly Waters or are you saving them for the advance on Carnarvon?
I refer, of course to the 1st Australian "Desert Rat" brigade below ....[8|]

[Smeulders]

Hey Speedy, what do you think about a couple of attacks on Attu, the quicker they are eliminated, the less chance that he saves lots of fragments. He's probably pretty weak at the moment with about 40% of his combat squads disabled and high disruption.

[ckammp]

re: Australia
 
 -Any idea what Fabertong has at Carnarvon?
 
 -In your earlier advance to Daly Waters, your arm rgts ran into the 8th IJA Div; now that you are facing the 5th & 20th Divs, any idea where the 8th went to?
 
 
re: Subs
 
 A great patrol by Silversides, her Captain should get the Navy Cross!
 Do you remember how many torpedoes it took to sink those ships, and does she have any left?