December 26th, 1942
The action continues in the Pacific, but the war continues elsewhere also.
Near Adak island, 2 waves of B-25C's attack our supply convoy. The first wave of 5 planes is unescorted and our Tony and Tojo fighters take down 3 of the bombers. The remaining 2 bombers miss. The second wave is escorted by P-40Es and we take down 1 P-40E and 2 more B-25c's but lose 1 Tojo in the process. This time two of our AK's are hit by the bombers. Damage is moderate - hard to say if they will make it home or not.
The airfield at San Fernando in the Philippines is expanded today. (size 3)
Line Islands
As the night begins three cargo ships are reported sunk near Christmas Island - AK's Caleb Strong, San Angelo, and Bellatrix all sink from damage sustained in previous days.
At Palmyra, enemy battleships arrive and shell the beaches. No major damage is sustained since it is only small caliber fire, however, the troops manning the coast defense guns do need to take cover and are disrupted. most of the enemy battleships are hit 10-20 times with 4.7" and 5.5" shells, but none inflict any serious damage.
A group of enemy destroyers came in too close to the beaches and three of them struck mines - DD's Bancroft, MacDonough and Smith all hit mines. The latter two are heavily damaged.
Back at Christmas Island, enemy troops continue to unload. Our gunners are still managing some sporadic defensive fire and a DMS, a MSW, and 2 AK's are all heavily damaged by the remaining CD guns.
As dawn rises, our carriers launch a strike against the enemy shipping at Christmas Island. No enemy fighters are in the area to defend so our bombers score many hits today. Apparently the enemy CV's have moved to positions north of Palmyra where our CV's won't follow due to the risk of heavy bomber attack.
The one and only strike of the morning consists of 9 A6M2, 47 A6M3a, 54 Vals and 69 Kates. CL St. Louis takes 2 bombs, CL Nashville takes 3 bombs. CL Phoenix gets 4 bombs and 2 torpedoes and is in rough shape. CL Helena is pounded by 2 Bombs and 3 torpedoes and sinks late in the day. Three destroyers are hit also, DD's Downes, McCall and Fletcher each take a pair of 250kg AP bombs.
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Morning strike finds good targets[/center]
Throughout the afternoon our bombers are launched as they are ready since their are no enemy fighters present. The attacks go as follows:
Wave 1: 12 Kates - AP Japara hit with 2 torps, AP Esperance Bay hit with 1 torp
Wave 2: 7 Kates - no hits
Wave 3: 4 Vals, 9 A6M2, 47 A6M3a - AP Macdhui hit with 1 bomb
Wave 4: 4 Kates - no hits
Wave 5: 4 Vals - AK Manulani hit with 2 bombs
Wave 6: 2 Vals - no hits
Wave 7: 2 Kates - no hits
Wave 8: 11 Vals - AP Mataroa and AK Selma City each hit with 1 bomb
Wave 9: 2 Vals - AK John Adams hit with 1 bomb
Wave 10: 2 Kates - CL Phoenix is hit with another torpedo
Through all these attacks 8 Vals and 3 Kates are lost.
While the enemy ships are being harassed at sea, the enemy troops are pushing hard on the island. Today our brave troops managed to fend off the Americans for one more day, but tomorrow they will surely have to fall back. (1 to 1 attack - base holds)
Plans for tomorrow:
Since we have managed to hold Christmas Island for another day our carriers will remain in the same area and attempt to hit more shipping there. Since the enemy CV's are in transfer range of Hawaii now, it has to be assumed they have replenished their fighters. Since we cannot risk our carriers at this time, Palmyra will be left to defend itself. It has about 2800 mines, 33 5.5" guns and 48 4.7" guns that will hopefully do some damage. There are 25,000 troops with an AV of 350 on the island. Christmas Island will likely fall tomorrow and enemy land based planes will be coming in soon after - forcing our carriers to retire back to Tarawa. Subs and Mavis transports are standing by to evacuate as many our of troops as possible once control of the airfield is lost.
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