Headhunter - Lokasenna (A) vs. mind_messing (J) - No MM yet

[Lokasenna]

October 31-November 1

Another few days. Some interesting things... it took me forever to do the turn for November 2 as I had some decisions to make.

Subs
I-28 sinks an xAKL outside Prince Rupert, on the surface... probably one of the CS convoys I set up for the Canadian coastal bases.

Paddle sinks an xAP NE of Ponape, one of those shown as xAP in the image in the previous post. Probably had JAAF AF Bn onboard, per SIGINT, heading for Kusaie.

Redfin sinks an xAK outside Iwo Jima.

RO-37 finishes off an xAP outside Tabiteuea.

Narwhal and Nautilus land Aussie paratroops at Maiana, but they meet a Naval Guard fragment and are destroyed. Oh well... got some intel.

Gilberts
Corsairs sweep Tarawa and bat aside the meager remaining CAP, just a few Oscars. Then on November 1, they sweep Makin and get destroyed by 30+ Georges on CAP. Will have to bombard the airfield there...

CENTPAC
I split my 12 DD TF into 4 DDs and 8 DDs - the 4 heading to Kusaie to bombard, the 8 heading to Ponape to see what's up with the small ships there.

The 4 DDs run into the SCTF at Kusaie, which is back again - seemingly from Mili, as Mili is now mostly empty...

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kusaie Island at 125,118, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 1
BB Kirishima
DD Shiranui
DD Amatsukaze, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Urakaze

Allied Ships
DD Frankford
DD Benham
DD Ellet, Shell hits 1
DD Stack, Shell hits 2, and is sunk

Reduced sighting due to 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 17% moonlight: 11,000 yards
Range closes to 23,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 23,000 yards
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 11,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 11,000 yards

Well, that's my intel. I'm going to try to sink these with 2 CV TFs... we'll see if I can punch through the CAP at Kusaie, along with 100x P-38s, 36 Hellcats, and 18 Corsairs on sweep from Nauru.

Solomons/Coral Sea
Mines are now present for the daily bombardments of Shortlands. A Fletcher hits a mine, but is heading to Tulagi to repair. I'll send 2 DMS from Tulagi to clear it up.

The 2 Fletchers (Chevalier and DeHaven) that had been bombarding are moved up to Munda, under a 150-plane CAP of Thunderbolts, P-40Ks, and F4F-4 Wildcats. I would like to do some night patrols outside of Rabaul to clear out his periodic ASW patrols that I keep sighting. That seems like a few easy VPs, and should serve to make him a bit more uneasy in general...

Munda's port is now expanding, currently at 2. Will keep going... Ontong's AF reaches its max of 5, now we'll get the port to 3.

Unloading the Shortlands LCUs at Tulagi, and will aggregate my LCIs and some LSTs there to start in on Shortlands...

P-39s bomb Kiriwina Island's airfield for 2 days in a row, just to harass his supplies and see if there's anything there. Nothing, but a few hits.

Others
CVL air groups finally resizing to 24 VF/9 VT. Been waiting for this, it'll help a lot with my CV TFs.

An ARD arrives at Canton Island today. I might move it all the way up to Arorae or Ndeni... Am bringing another from the West Coast as well.

The search for KB continues... Kavieng and 3 dot bases outside of there have been checked so far. Expanding to the remaining islands, including Manus, and looking at Satawal up near Truk.

Landing at Mornington Island outside of Normanton so that I have another place to "hide" things...

Ships for the movements near Darwin are passing Townsville now.

[Lokasenna]

And here's the stuff around Kusaie.

[Lokasenna]

Here's Nauru's air forces.



Now that the AF is capable of taking 4Es, I'm going to bring some in after this set of sweeps. I'll start bombing the crap out of Kusaie, Makin, and Mili - the latter with some help from Tabiteuea and the surrounding smaller islands, all of which can be at least AF 5 as well.

After my APAs finish unloading at Tulagi, I'm going to send them to Luganville and Pearl to load up forces for Tarawa. A tank battalion and a USA ID are going to be landed for sure, maybe more.

[Lokasenna]

November 2

A disappointing day, but not too bad.

Landings at Abemama of only 3 Seabee units (the base force is 2 days behind, because I screwed up with a Remain On Station order), which is contested by a full naval guard unit. I'll bomb them with B-25s from Tabiteuea, hoping to keep my Seabees alive.

The CVs are not sighted. DL 1/1 on the Fletchers in the same hex...

The big SCTF moved back to Mili? Interesting. Does he really have them on a patrol pattern like that? There are now 116 fighters at Mili and fewer at Makin (down to 56).

In the air over Kusaie, the initial P-38 sweeps get trashed by Jacks and Georges. In all, we trade 35 to 40 for planes on the day. Not terrible, but not good. 28 P-38s shot down, out of 31 A2A losses.


In Burma, we discover via dive bombing that there is a full IJA ID where we previously thought were just 2 RTA fragments... cancelling the movement of Chinese to the hex, for now.

[Lokasenna]

Game is up to November 20 now - over 2 1/2 weeks to update. A few action-packed days throughout, but overall lots going on anyway.

November 4 - Bravely Brave Sir Robin...

Subs and Mines

E Tsuga hits a mine at Kusaie while attempting to clear (?) and probably sinks. Good - a nice ASW asset down.

SS Dorado misses a lone PB and that's it.

S-36 gets run off from Rabaul:

ASW attack near Rabaul at 107,126

Japanese Ships
CA Mikuma
DD Isonami
DD Sazanami
DD Akebono
DD Uranami

Allied Ships
SS S-36, hits 8, heavy damage

...bravely ran away

O-ho, dear readers! I send the 6 Fletchers directly at KB, hoping for good luck more than anything else. In the end, they didn't get any. I lose 4 of them, but definitely caused some grey hairs in the IJN. If I'd gotten a little torpedo love, it would've been perfect.

I decided that, seeing only 1 KB, I should elect to flee here. If I had had a few more flight decks present, I would have gladly taken this engagement. I would have engaged from out of range of his Lilys, at least, and only had to worry about Kusaie. Unfortunately my strength was only: 3 Essex hulls, 3 Yorktowns, and 3 CVLs. Enough to handle ONE of those TFs, but not both. My other 3 CVs and CVL are chilling at Townsville, getting new planes and readying up for the Arafura Sea...

First, they run into KB-minus-Kaga/Akagi:

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Ponape at 119,116, Range 6,000 Yards [X(]

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu
CV Soryu
CV Shokaku
CV Zuikaku
CA Tone
CA Chikuma
DD Naganami
DD Tamanami
DD Suzunami
DD Fujinami
DD Hayanami

Allied Ships
DD Aulick, Shell hits 1
DD Foote
DD Jenkins, Shell hits 1
DD Strong
DD Trathen
DD Wadsworth, Shell hits 1


Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 46% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 24,000 yards
Range closes to 19,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 6,000 yards
Buchanan, O.O. crosses the 'T' [X(]

That could have been absolutely amazing if they'd opened up with a salvo of torpedoes and scored even just 2 hits. As it was, nothing.

Then they meet up with "the other KB", which seems stronger, if anything.

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Day Time Surface Combat, near Ponape at 120,116, Range 14,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga
CV Junyo, Shell hits 2
CV Hiyo, Shell hits 4
CVL Ryujo, Shell hits 4
CVL Shoho, Shell hits 2
CVL Zuiho, Shell hits 1
CVL Ryuho, Shell hits 2, on fire
CVE Hosho
CLAA Tenryu
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage --probably sunk
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
DD Hayashio
DD Maikaze
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 1
DD Hamakaze, Shell hits 2
DD Nowaki, Shell hits 4, on fire

Allied Ships
DD Aulick, Shell hits 9, heavy fires
DD Foote, Shell hits 1
DD Jenkins, Shell hits 1
DD Strong, Shell hits 2
DD Trathen, Shell hits 1
DD Wadsworth, Shell hits 2

Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions: 20,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 19,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 19,000 yards
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 14,000 yards
...
Ammo storage explosion on CVL Ryuho

During the day, the Fletchers only make it as far as pictured in the screenie below, and then this happens:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 122,120

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 63 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 10
Ki-48-IIc Lily x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 4 damaged
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DD Trathen, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Foote, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Strong
DD Jenkins, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Wadsworth

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 122,120

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
A6M5 Zero x 9
A6M5b Zero x 29
B5N1 Kate x 3
B6N2 Jill x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N1 Kate: 1 damaged
B5N1 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
B6N2 Jill: 3 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
DD Wadsworth
DD Strong
DD Foote, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Trathen, on fire, heavy damage
DD Aulick, heavy fires

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 122,120

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 27 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y1 Judy x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y1 Judy: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Strong

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 122,120

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 63 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 18 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 10
Ki-48-IIc Lily x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Wadsworth, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Aulick, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Trathen, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 122,120

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
A6M5 Zero x 9
A6M5b Zero x 48
B5N1 Kate x 2
B5N2 Kate x 7
B6N2 Jill x 35
D4Y1 Judy x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 2 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Aulick, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Wadsworth, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Trathen, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Foote, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Otherwise, there was night bombing of Kusaie, getting a few planes "DOG" - Oscars, Zeroes, Georges, and a Dinah.

Elsewhere, Munda's port goes up to level 3.

[Lokasenna]

Going to try to get up to date really quickly here. Will group several days into one post, likely no pictures unless there's something compelling...

November 5-7, 1943

Subs
I-32 is hit once by KV Dawson outside Nikunau, in the Gilberts.

RO-37 sinks AO Guadalupe with a lucky attack outside Tabiteuea on November 6. 2 hits and the ship goes down, full of burning fuel.

Seal cripples, maybe sinks, an xAK in the Strait of Malacca. She has to head back to Ceylon for repairs, though.

S-44 cripples an xAP at Hansa Bay.

Wahoo hits an AK outside of Chichi-jima on November 7, but it is empty and will survive.

CENTPAC
DDs bombard Makin on November 5, getting lots of A6M5b, N1K1, and Ki-43's destroyed and damaged. Jills from farther up the chain try to bomb the DDs at night but miss. Nells try during the day.

26 Oscars sweep into 10 Corsairs on LRCAP over Nonouti, outside Tabiteuea. The Corsairs win easily, but later on 13 Bettys come in and put a torpedo into an xAP as the Corsairs don't even intercept.

Liberators continue to pound Ocean Island's troops, causing a few hundred casualties per day.

On November 7th, the Ki-100 makes its combat debut (I think). It beats my P-38s that sweep from Tabiteuea. This will become a theme... this plane is either much better than I expected, given its stats (and I know it to be a solid frame), or else he has saved his aces for it.

Kuria is captured on November 7 with a light landing.

Tabiteuea's port expands to 2. Arorae AF to 2.

Up north, at Taongi, my SSTs land Aussie paratroops and capture the base in a surprise attack on November 7. 197 IJA casualties reported, probably an AF Coy, and 7-9 Jakes are destroyed on the ground. That's a tidy little victory, and should help keep his attention focused in this area.

Further helping out, and also on the 7th, 24x B-24s from Tabiteuea bomb the airfield at Roi-Namur during the day, destroying a bunch of Jills and Nells on the ground and hitting the airfield over 50 times.

KB
On the 5th, still spotted north of Kusaie, heading east for the Marshalls. Fine by me...

A large surface force is again sighted at Mili on November 6th, and I assume KB is still in the general vicinity.

NW Australia
A Sentai of 27 Zeroes from Saumlaki sweeps Wessel Islands, clearly looking for leaky CAP from Gove. My steady expansion here hasn't gone completely unnoticed...

My CVs, well ahead of the rest of my operational forces, are spotted at Portland Roads. I decide to send them back to Townsville for some R&R.

Burma
Aerial mining of Rangoon's port at night. I have all these mines in the pools... may as well use them, and it may as well be here where I'm trying to starve him in the northern part of the country. The more I can do to interdict his supply ships, the better. He has a lot of mouths to feed in this theater.

On November 6th, CL Agano and some DDs come to Cox's Bazar and make a mess of the xAKs and other merchants I have unloading there. Upwards of 100 VPs are lost in ships. It's time to bring my own surface assets to the area... this was a negligent mistake on my part. I have Fletchers at Ceylon. They should be over here, baiting his attacks.

Elsewhere
Bases continue to expand in the Coral Sea, Solomons, and Assam (nearing maxed here). Munda is nearing maximum and LCTs are spawned to ferry USN Seabees to nearby islands for more expansion. May as well farm the VPs while I have them sitting on their butts.

I also begin targeted bombing of Chinese industry from Ledo. Chengtu is basically bombed out of HI on November 7.

[Lokasenna]

November 8 - 10, 1943

Subs
SS Skate is sunk by 3 DDs at Rabaul. I've been having subs periodically enter the hex as major surface forces have been sighted daily. SS Rasher sights BB Haruna, CL Tama, and 4 other DDs there as well. On November 9, SS KXIII misses a DD there and gets crippled for it, but confirms the presence of the 3x Mogami SCTF...and then gets sunk.

Lapon sights 3 of the big Tonan Marus (the 2100/15000 capacity TKs) outside of Pescadores, and fires 4 torpedoes at one... but misses.

My gaggle of subs outside Truk gets spotted and attacked by ASW aircraft and surface craft several times. I had been hoping for a lucky strike against KB in case they were retreating, but no dice. I'll disperse them again.

Flasher sinks an xAKL outside Kagoshima.

Cisco cripples and then sinks an xAP Hoten Maru outside Ponape with troops on board. Looks like it's heading for the Marshalls area, or maybe Mili/Makin.

Drum joins in on November 10 and sinks xAP Tango Maru just east of Ponape, so it looks like this group of ships is actually heading for Kusaie.

Gunnel sinks a medium size TK southeast of Iwo Jima.

Haddock cripples an xAK north of the Marianas.


On November 10, I-153 cripples CVE Anzio outside of Tabiteuea with a fuel and ammo storage explosion from just 1 torpedo hit. I-153 is sunk for her troubles, and CVE Anzio eventually makes it to Tabiteuea after some bobbing and weaving through the other subs in the area. She then stops by Nikunau to await a few more DDs to escort her on back to Pearl, which she is scheduled to make in mid-December.

Solomons/Coral Sea
Landings begin at Shortlands. It's the 5th Australian Division loaded up in several TFs. Mostly APDs and LCIs with 1 AP, 1 APA, and 2 LSD. 2 AKs for extra supplies. It's a short hop from Munda. LBA in the form of B-25s and TBFs continues to bomb here, but switches to ground bombing today. Only 37 reported casualties to show for it, so forts must be decent.

Other amphibs (many others...) dropped off units at Tulagi and are on their way to Portland Roads and then Normanton...

The first day of bombardment at Shortlands shows AV to be 348:220 in my favor. The second day it is 446:221 in my favor, which is what I have to show for my second day mistake:

Unfortunately, I had a stupid and left the ships there to unload for one more day, thinking that my (in retrospect) meagre LRCAP of 65 planes or so could defend them. Huge raids of Jills and Judys from Rabaul fly in and sink a bunch of my LCIs, as well as both LSDs and the APA. About 90 Jills and 120 Judys participate, along with about 100 or so fighters on escort. Oops. I knew this would happen. The LSDs kind of hurt, but what really hurts is the LCIs, oddly enough. They're so useful for the small island hops, and now I have fewer of them.

CENTPAC
LBA from Tabiteuea causes daily casualties amongst the IJN/IJA defenders at Makin, Tarawa, and Abemama. I'll take all of these places eventually, but just going to wear them down for a while. I only want them so that transiting through my hub at Tabiteuea is safe(r), when I decide to finally move on New Britain/New Ireland. I had been hoping to do that in early '44.

KB is probably spotted near Emirau, way up north in the Marshalls, on November 8. My CVs are also spotted, but near Ontong Java.

Nauru maxes out at Port 3, AF 5. Will move my construction guys somewhere else at some point, but don't have the fighter cover available to make sure my transports make it alright. It can wait.

Burma
I've established via bombing recon which units are on his defensive line in northern Burma. It's 1 division in each hex, at least, making it difficult for me to break through in my current positions. I have about 1/3 of my current Great Chinese Horde outside Warazup, but am reluctant to shock them across 2 river hex sides into what looks to be 3 divisions... not worth it for this piece of real estate.

Outside of Akyab, one hex NE of the end of the dirt road, I have his 2nd and 3rd Tank Divisions, along with an IJA ID and a fragment of the RTA and 1 HQ unit, somewhat locked down. Which is to say that it will take them a very long time to move out of the hex, so I've decided to try and smash them up. On November 10 I bombard to burn up some of their supply. AV is revealed as 2345:1354 in my favor, but most of mine is Chinese.



Am hoping that if I can break him in the west, I can rush across the open terrain to Shwebo, Mandalay, and Magwe-Meiktila. The only thing allowing me to make headway so far is the supply battle. I can bomb him and burn his supply, and with a slow increase in the number of bomber units available here, I should be able to get a few of these hexes under my control. Once I'm that far, I may look at Ramree. British CVEs are beginning to arrive every now and again (I think I have 2 now...).

Also have a few USAAF fighter units coming in that originally arrived at Cape Town. Will upgrade to P-47s and begin working on air superiority in the northern half of Burma.

If I can break through his ships at Rangoon, I can begin bombarding. He would be wise to bring his naval search back to this area at least a little bit, but so far I have been able to get nearly right up next to Rangoon with no consequences. Fletchers going in for the first time tomorrow.

[Lokasenna]

November 11 - 13, 1943

Subs

SS KIX gets hit outside Rabaul and has to head for the barn.

SS KX misses CM Okinoshima outside Umboi on the 13th. Little bit of intel here.

I-166 is camping outside Russell Islands in the Slot. She sinks an LCT on the 11th. Can't seem to get an SC to attack her.

I-21 still outside Perth, misses an APD and is hit twice by APD Whipple. She is then located by APD John D. Edwards, which hits her 2 more times and forces her to surface... where she sinks APD Whipple with a torpedo before going down herself. Lame.

I-33 sinks APD Edsall outside Perth. More lame.

Solomons/Coral Sea
Night raids on the 11th against Rabaul, which I had planned to do and then didn't do before hitting Shortlands, meet with 22 Irving NFs. Eventually the raids punch through, getting some planes on the ground. But only a handful. Then on the 12th, I send them in again. Moderate results, with a few more destroyed today than yesterday. Then on the night of the 12th/wee hours of the 13th, I moved more Navy Liberators to Lunga to join in. I actually intended to stand down the USAAF bombers from Portland Roads, but it works in my favor - Rabaul gets pounded. 115 planes are destroyed on the ground and the airfield significantly damaged but not shut down. My bombers are damaged and rather than risk facing a much larger night CAP, they'll get some rest now.

3 PBs are sunk at Torokina by Fletchers. Looks like a Fast Transport TF trying to unload supplies.

I continue to bomb the airfield at Kiriwina, trying to make sure that the brigade+ here is kept out of supply.

More troops were dropped at Shortlands via LCT and other small craft - the 40th US Infantry Division, or at least most of it. On the 13th, a 2:1 DA drops the base's forts to 3 and causes 743 IJA casualties against 93 Allies. When the base is ready to fall, I'm going to land my tanks at Torokina.

Vella Lavella expands its port to 1. Tagula's airfield to 2.

CENTPAC
Fletchers go in at Mili and sink 2 MTBs, and then bombard on the 11th. Some aircraft are destroyed on the ground and a lot are damaged. Runway is hit 43 times. DD O'Bannon takes 3 hits from the CD fortress. I have them bombard Makin on the way back, as they still have about 50% ammo, and they cause 72 casualties on the ground. Hurrah.

Bombings continue at Ocean Island and Tarawa.

I make another mistake, but again thankfully not too costly here. I leave AKs unloading supplies at Nauru, and CA Kako along with 2 CLs and DDs come in and sink them all. Mostly the 3000-capacity version, so not huge losses, but 2 are 6250 capacity AKs.

In exchange, DD Strong runs up to Kusaie and probably sinks an xAP and damages 3 more, with guns reported as lost.

On the 12th, Georges from Kusaie attempt to sweep Nauru. They get dominated by Thunderbolts on high CAP with Hellcats/Warhawks mixed in lower. Allied losses are minimal.

Arafura-Timor Seas
Beginning a slow, patchwork recon here. I could easily divide my RC units into thirds and spy on all of the bases at once, but I don't want to tip him off here. I also want to do it early, in case he notices the planes, so that it's a couple of weeks before I actually head in. Here's what it shows:

Taberfane - 8 units, ~18000 troops, ~90 guns, ~40 vehicles. So likely a couple of AF units, maybe an HQ of some kind, and maybe a weak division or a couple of regiments.
Dobo - empty!
Kai-Eilanden - 2 units, ~2000 troops, ~15 guns. Probably 2 AF units?
Saumlaki - 6 units, ~15000 troops, ~120 guns, less than 5 vehicles. Looks like some AA and some troops.

I'm loading up my units into lots of smaller TFs at Normanton. The 4th Australian Division will be landed at Taberfane, with just a base force and some seabees at Dobo. Another regiment is prepped for Kai-Eilanden, but that will happen later. The other target in the first wave will be Saumlaki, with 2 regiments heading there. Probably not enough, but as long as we can begin the battle we can bring in more later.

Also have a few TFs loading with supply and a small amount of Fuel to head to Darwin. A big stack of units, formerly of the Great Australian Exodus in spring 1942, will be marching back into the city to coincide with the invasions. Some of these units are prepped for targets on Timor and further up towards the Moluccas/Celebes.

Burma
On the way in to Rangoon, the Fletchers sink a PB picket to the west. Then they run into CL Agano and 5 DDs. DDs Shikinami and Amagiri are each left with heavy fires, while DD Charles Ausburne loses a turret. I think I need better leaders on this group of DDs.

Elsewhere
Merauke's airfield advances to 5. Exmouth AF goes to 6.

[Lokasenna]

The Southern Routes

Here's my prep work. It's a slow process loading at Normanton, even with port 4, because I am trying to keep everything organized and in TFs that will unload quickly. This means a lot of ships.

I'm going to try to sneak 3 CVs and 1 CVL through the Torres Strait soon. He detects larger TFs, but not smaller ones. Recon and Search near Normanton has dropped off. Nothing is detected between Normanton and Horn Island, and my ships only get detected as they approach and dock at Gove. He recons Groote Eylandt also, although Gove is the more important base.

[Lokasenna]

November 14 - 16, 1943

Subs

USN is starting to attrit the IJ merchant fleet...


A bunch of misses outside Rabaul and Luzon on the 14th, and some sightings south of Tokyo.

-On the 15th, Amberjack hits CA Atago with 1 torpedo at Mili and gets some minor damage in return.
-Spearfish cripples CM Okinoshima SW of Truk, so mines were already dropped at Umboi.
-Archerfish sinks an AM outside Saipan.
-Gato probably sinks a TK outside Donggala as there was Fuel on board. Heavy fires, heavy damage.
-Gato then duds on, and then hits AO Naruto outside Donggala, with fuel burning heavily. Something sinks later, I think it's this ship.
-Flasher damages an xAKL outside Kagoshima.
-Cero sights a DD and xAKs outside Calayan...wonder where these are heading.

-Pogy sinks a small, empty TK to the NE of Babeldaob on the 16th.
-Pogy cripples a second TK later in the evening.
-O23 is sighted outside Kendari, but then sinks the lone PB escorting the xAKs.

RO-64 sinks an xAKL with some motorized support onboard outside Milne Bay.

CENTPAC

15 Frances from Mili sink DD Bache at Tarawa. This Fletcher group later bombards the island, and sinks an SSX there.

Fletchers go in to Mili to engage the SCTF there during daylight. They run into the Atago group. DD Hutchins is sunk by Laser Lance from 20,000 yards. DD Hamanami is sunk, with DDs Asashimo and Shiratsuyu probably also sunk. CA Atago shows heavy damage, but it's probably just system damage. DD Shigure shows heavy fires. Smattering of damage to my other 4 Fletchers. They'll go hang out at Tabiteuea now.

Tabiteuea's port expands to 3.

The first ARD arrives at Arorae sometime around this date.

Solomons/Coral Sea

Another attack at Shortlands on the 14th drops forts to 2. On the 16th, the base is captured in a 4:1 attack - 2257 IJA casualties reported. All units killed except the 7th Air Division, which will surrender on the 17th.

An LST sinks at Torokina on the 15th after unloading tanks. Must have hit a mine at Shortlands on the way through? It doesn't tell me what sunk it. AV at Torokina is revealed to be 79 IJA to 109 Allies on the 15th. This'll be a cakewalk.

Munda's port expands to 4.

Burma

Daily bombardments continue. No change in AV, light casualties to each side.

Other
VPs on November 16 are 45659 : 24910, or a 1.833:1 ratio. Getting better every day.

[Lokasenna]

November 17 - 19, 1943

Subs

Sightings of IJ ships outside Aogashima and Babeldaob. More circumstantial evidence that he has been using Babeldaob as a fuel/oil hub. More sightings and unsuccessful attacks outside Luzon.

Scamp sinks a TK outside Iwo Jima.

I-173 sinks an xAK outside Umnak on the 18th. OK.

CENTPAC

Continuing to bomb Ocean Island, Tarawa, etc... the last of the troops at Ocean are actually killed on the 19th, leaving the base empty. It's a trap!

Nonouti AF expands to 1. This is the base just NW of Tabiteuea.

Solomons/Coral Sea
On the 18th, B-25s try to bomb xAKs at Buna but I lose some to LRCAP from somewhere - Umboi, most likely. Lae is not always in use by him.

Also on the 18th, he drops the 2nd Raiding Regiment at Panggoe, outside of Munda. Well, a fragment. We'll bomb it into dust.

Attacks at Torokina on the 17th and 18th get 1:1 and then 1:2. Forts are dropped to 2, and then remain there. No actual losses for the Allies, just some disabled tanks and motorized support, but only a few. Several hundred IJA casualties each day. We rest the troops on the 19th.

On the 19th, LCTs and APDs/LCIs drop most of a USA infantry regiment at Buka. We'll try to drop in some engineers later, but for now we just want to claim the base and have enough there that he can't bomb me out. We'll fly in supply, and if we can find the Catalinas spare somewhere, we'll bring them up to fly in Seabees and the rest of the regiment.

Also on the 19th, his 3 Mogamis and 5 DDs run into my 2 token Fletchers at Shortlands, and sink the USS DeHaven. This was the predecessor to my grandfather's ship, so I'll rename one if the Gearing/Sumner version of the DeHaven isn't in the game. I have Avengers on night attack with torpedoes from Vella Lavella, but they miss.

Ontong's port maxes at 3.

Arafura-Timor
19 Lily DBs from Hollandia sink 2 LSTs and their escorting AM at Merauke. They were on the periodic milk run to keep the base with enough supply to use it as an auxiliary fighter/bomber/recon base for the coming operations.

Burma
Bombers cause 1281 casualties on the 104th Division outside Shwebo on the 17th. 1690 more on the 18th. And 802 on the 19th. [:)] This will continue until he manages to move out of the hex. Clear terrain is a death trap against Allied LBA.

On the 18th he actually had LRCAP up here and I lost some bombers, mostly B-25s and Hudsons. The Chinese bomber force is once again down to single digits in terms of available planes. I sweep the hex on the 19th with P-47s and P-38s, breaking up his LRCAP before the daily raids.

We send the less hardy 2Es and Vengeance dive bombers to Shwebo instead on the 19th, to save them from the LRCAP above the 104th Division. We catch AA units and at least one tank unit on the ground there, in the open, and start causing casualties.

Continuing to bombard outside Akyab to burn his supplies.

Other
In China, some Tojos shot down over Urumchi by my northern P-38H's.

Some Topsy airframes destroyed by flak and such - I think he was trying to drop supply at Torokina?

Canberra AF to 9, finally. Last 60 points from this base.

[BBfanboy]

LSTs and other landing craft frequently hit rocks while beaching to land their cargo. If you don't see the message flash by on the screen, you can usually see it in the Ops Report, buried among the other minutiae of course. And just to make it harder to suss out, sometimes the damage occurs one day and the sinking the next day.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

LSTs and other landing craft frequently hit rocks while beaching to land their cargo. If you don't see the message flash by on the screen, you can usually see it in the Ops Report, buried among the other minutiae of course. And just to make it harder to suss out, sometimes the damage occurs one day and the sinking the next day.

I bet this is exactly it. The damage occurred one day, with no "last hit by" message, and it sank the next. Something like 70-some float damage, and only about 15 system.

[Lokasenna]

Game is up to December 10. Once I get to the first week of December, I will be doing more screenies as there's a bunch of action and some movement on the map.

November 20-22, 1943

Subs

Ray sinks an xAKL outside Muntok, near Singapore.

On the 20th, Escolar cripples, and then sinks, an AV outside Daito Shoto, near Kyushu. This is a nice catch.

On the 22nd, Escolar sinks an xAK near Orchid Island off the coast of Formosa.

Cero cripples an xAK near Iba, but unsure if she ends up sinking.

Sculpin sinks an xAK outside Mili on the 21st.

SS Raton, my cat's favorite ship, is sunk by a single E-class ship on the route between Shanghai and Sasebo.

SS Dace is also sunk, at Buka, by BB Haruna's surface combat force. Sadly, she didn't get a shot off first.

An SSX is sunk at Mili.


Solomons/Coral Sea

Buka flips to our control on the 20th. Almost the entire regiment made it ashore, so it's safe enough for now. Will airdrop supplies as needed, and hopefully reunite the fragment later on. BB Kongo, BB Haruna, and their buddies came out from Rabaul to try to get my landing craft here, but they wisely got out of the way.

His paratroop fragment at Panggoe is bombed out by B-25s and PV-1s.

Torokina's forts are dropped to 1 on the 20th, and the base is captured in a 7:1 attack on the 21st. The IJ units don't surrender for a few more days, however.

3 Mogamis and 6 DDs come to Kiriwina on the 21st, after I began landing an infantry regiment on the 20th using landing craft only from Milne Bay. I lose 51 landing craft, but many of them are not worth any VPs at all. I did lost a few support squads/devices from the regiment, however.

We get lucky on the 21st, when 40 Navy Liberators (previously set to bomb ground troops at Shortlands/Torokina) venture on in to Rabaul to drop bombs on the 61st Division. Thankfully, only 46 planes on CAP for the IJ and I only lose 1 plane.

We notice on the 22nd that fighters are once again based at Lae, but this doesn't seem to be a permanent thing.

Rekata Bay's AF expands to 4.

CENTPAC

On the 20th, a large TF of 12 Fletchers flies into Mili's harbor and sink 3 DDs, while bouncing off of CA Kako, CL Natori, and CL Abukuma. DD Charrette is lost in the action. The remaining Fletchers then sink 3 MTBs and don't have enough ammo left to bombard the base. Still, a nice night.

It's quiet here on the 21st, aside from bombing Tarawa daily... and then on the 22nd, fireworks! Detailed in the next post.

Beru's AF expands to 1.

Burma

A total of 2300+ casualties reported amongst the 104th Division over these 3 days. [8D]

Also, 28 guns and 58 vehicles are reported disabled at Shwebo over 2 of the 3 days.

Other stuff
Remember SS Gato, and how she sunk stuff outside of Balikpapan/Manado lately? She sank to a bomb hit on the 20th of November. I'm pretty sure I had Mush Morton as her CO, and he's no longer in my leader lists in Tracker. A sad day.

Operation TBD, Arafura-Timor Seas
Still loading up, still rendezvousing...

[Lokasenna]

Party at Mili's House



The night bombing doesn't really happen, sadly, so our results aren't as spectacular as they could have been. Still, 5 B-24Js fly against 10 Tojos and shoot 1 down, plus a hit on the runway.

Then, the day sweeps start:

Morning Air attack on Mili , at 136,121

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 24 NM, estimated altitude 42,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 38
N1K1-J George x 25
Ki-100-I Tony x 25

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 3 destroyed

Not great... but we knew it would be bloody. It's all about the end goal here. His fighters are just 3 Sentais. Successive attacks:

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 31
N1K1-J George x 22
Ki-100-I Tony x 17

Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 24
N1K1-J George x 22
Ki-100-I Tony x 14

Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 50

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 2 destroyed

OK, not the best, but at least the last sweep was coordinated. That doesn't happen that often. Still, the CAP should be cut down to a manageable size for the CV flyboys:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Mili at 136,121

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 14
N1K1-J George x 16
Ki-100-I Tony x 3

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 69
SBD-5 Dauntless x 72
TBF-1 Avenger x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 8 destroyed - in actuality, this is a lot higher
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 3 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CA Chokai, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yugure, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Ariake, Bomb hits 1
CA Takao, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shimozuki
DD Wakaba, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Awesome! Then the PM:

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mili at 136,121

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 10
N1K1-J George x 16
Ki-100-I Tony x 14

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 51
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 34
SBD-5 Dauntless x 36

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 11 destroyed [X(]
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Ariake, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
CA Takao, Bomb hits 16 [X(], and is sunk
DD Shimozuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Wakaba, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Chokai, heavy fires, heavy damage - confirmed sunk via Jake losses on ground at end of turn (5)
DD Yugure, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Bolded ships sunk. A great victory! Sort of. The IJN should have a nice bloody nose now.

Global air losses for the day were 42 for him, 103 for me. In terms of VPs, this was only a minor victory - his CAs make up for my planes, and the DDs/planes are my positive margin. Strategically, however... he's down 2 more CAs, bringing the confirmed total to 5. Just 14 more to go...

[Lokasenna]

Bump for combat report update.

Game now up to December 17 and I'm going to try to do at least another few posts tonight. Spoiler: I've sunk some more ships and blown up a bunch of planes [:D]. Lost some, too.

[Lokasenna]

November 23 - 25, 1943

Subs
SS Corvina sights the injured DD Shimozuki all by herself, fleeing, outside Majuro.

Solomons/Coral Sea
CL St. Louis and some DDs bombard Kiriwina on the 23rd, but only a few casualties reported. I underestimated the force needed to take the island. I need to make more liberal use of my divisions. Yes, I want them prepped for my big targets down the line, however the delays due to not landing enough at places like Kiriwina are going to cost me what would have been the prep time anyway.

Munda's port maxes to 5 on the 23rd, so it's time to begin shuttling engineers to all of the surrounding islands. Treasury Islands is up first, and Choiseul Bay might get some more. Might even go as far west as Woodlark, depending...

On the 24th, some kind of IJN SCTF comes out of Rabaul, but fails to make any sort of contact. All of my TFs flee.

Russell Islands AF maxes on November 24, and Tagula Island's AF hits 3.

CENTPAC
Another SSX bagged at Tarawa for a free 4 VPs.

On the 24th, 21 Bettys make it through my small CAP at Tarawa and I lose an LST and xAP with some support on board. Oh well. 15 or so P1Y1 Frances try for the Fletchers 1 hex to the NW, but they shoot some down with the flak and the torpedoes all miss.

Tarawa is captured on the 24th in those initial landings. A 15:1 attack, with 2245 reported IJA casualties against only 207 Allies. The island will be quickly cleansed, with 5 units immediately wiped out due to attrition. I'm going slower than I'd like here, but most of my seapower is elsewhere and I know that KB is in the vicinity so I'm unwilling to risk daily bombardments and sorties farther north to Mili and Makin, where my ships would be vulnerable on the return trips.

KB is spotted west of Roi-Namur on November 24/pre-orders of November 25.

I begin moving all of my Mk 12 mine-capable subs to Pearl and Tulagi. I don't have many left - less than a dozen. I should have conserved them, as these are my sub mines for the future. I only have 176 of the old Mk 10 mines in my pools, and won't be getting any more. I am planning to mine places like Truk, Ponape, Kwajalein, and so forth - likely places for KB to make a stop while out and about.

On November 25, those Fletchers from near Tarawa go up to bombard Mili. They sink an MTB and get a few planes DOG. KB does appear to be heading SE, from the gradual lowering of DLs during the night and my subs in the area being spotted by night search letting me see this part of the map [:D].

At the end of November 25, KB located just west of Ebon. I don't expect him to venture close enough to Tabiteuea to do any raiding, as his DL 9/10 recon there should be reporting 120+ fighters to him. However, I didn't order one of the smaller base force landing TFs to flee (they hadn't yet made it to the island) and I lose 1 xAP, 1 xAK, and a crippled xAP. A6M5s from Mili on naval strafe also plant a bomb on DD Hoel outside Nonouti.

Burma
837 casualties among 104th Division outside Shwebo. Unfortunately, after the 23rd, they have made it to the jungle to the west. Too bad.

64 guns, 61 vehicles, and 280 casualties at Shwebo over several days. I love bombing troops in the open without any forts. It's rude.

Arafura-Timor
One of my TFs is spotted outside Mornington Island on November 25...not a good sighting yet, but I need to keep my eye on the area. It's still several days before I want to sortie for Taberfane, etc., although now's a great time with all of KB in the Marshalls and only MKB to worry about.

[Lokasenna]

November 26-28, 1943

Subs

SS Tang and Dick O'Kane arrive for November 27th. O'Kane goes to the commander pool, where he will eventually be assigned to command of a Fletcher for use in a "Fletcherstar" - his stats are amazing at 78 Ld, 80 Insp, 90 Naval, and 91 Aggression. This is the highest naval skill in the game on the USN side. Sadly, he can't actually command a TF as he's only a LCDR, but as long as I add his ship to the TF last he'll be in command.

Harder cripples CL Natori outside Saipan, but unknown if she eventually sinks. She also sights CA Kako, CL Abukuma, and 4 DDs.

Archerfish sinks an AM outside of Saipan.

Bluefish sinks an xAK carrying Oil in the middle of the South China Sea, and sights others. Bueno...

I-156 sinks an LCT outside Shortlands, either empty or carrying supply.
I-157 gets another.
I-166 is camping outside of Russell Islands in the Slot. Still. Not much to show for it, though.

Solomons/Coral Sea
On the 26th, DD Flusser and her friends get into a tussle with 3 IJN DDs at Shortlands and she actually takes a bit of a hit, with no hits on the IJN DDs. Turns out my commanders aren't great, time to change that. A bunch of TBFs try to hit the IJN at night, but can't.

Some TBFs are lost over Kiriwina in the daily bombings due to Oscar/George LRCAP (from Lae? Umboi?)

Units at Torokina finally wiped out to attrition on the 26th.

Not really Coral Sea, but we lose 20 Liberators over Hansa Bay to flak and fighters. Rough day.

Shortlands AF expands to 5, Choiseul Bay AF to 3.

CENTPAC

We bomb Kusaie at night on the 26th, but only get a couple of A6M5's "DOG" (destroyed on ground), at best.

On the 27th, a bad day at Ocean Island. I was lazy and sent amphibs with a regiment of the Americal to capture the now-empty island. KB was camping and sunk them. About a 300 VP hit on the day, my first negative VP day in weeks (and the last for weeks).

Tabiteuea's AF goes to 6 on November 27.

Burma

Outside Akyab, a bombard on the 26th reveals the AV to be 2918 Allies against 1303 IJA. It's his 2nd Tank, 3rd Tank, and 33rd Division plus 13th Army HQ and 1 RTA divisional fragment. We'll continue the bombardments until we finally attack.

Elsewhere
British Liberators, the really long range ones, hit Sian today. By the time FOW catches up, 10 or 11 of the Oil there was damaged.


Here's what Burma looks like prior to the 29th.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna


Subs

SS Tang and Dick O'Kane arrive for November 27th. O'Kane goes to the commander pool, where he will eventually be assigned to command of a Fletcher for use in a "Fletcherstar" - his stats are amazing at 78 Ld, 80 Insp, 90 Naval, and 91 Aggression. This is the highest naval skill in the game on the USN side. Sadly, he can't actually command a TF as he's only a LCDR, but as long as I add his ship to the TF last he'll be in command.

Did you find Mush Morton too? If I remember correctly he arrives in the pool, not on Wahoo, but has great stats too! [:)]

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna


Subs

SS Tang and Dick O'Kane arrive for November 27th. O'Kane goes to the commander pool, where he will eventually be assigned to command of a Fletcher for use in a "Fletcherstar" - his stats are amazing at 78 Ld, 80 Insp, 90 Naval, and 91 Aggression. This is the highest naval skill in the game on the USN side. Sadly, he can't actually command a TF as he's only a LCDR, but as long as I add his ship to the TF last he'll be in command.

Did you find Mush Morton too? If I remember correctly he arrives in the pool, not on Wahoo, but has great stats too! [:)]

I think I posted about it already, but I'm pretty sure he died.

For all of Commander Kennedy's lackluster patrols in Wahoo, he actually has good stats so he gets to keep the boat. I'm pretty sure I put Mush on Gato, which was sunk by a bomb in mid-November. I didn't get a "commander killed" notification when she went down, but I can't find him in my pools.