Two main events happend on this turn, none of them good.
The first carrier battle in history.
On March 2, Force X was lurking to the south of Java's eastern tip, and then NavSearch detected what looks like most of IJN, save for Kido Butai, apparently heading for Java. Unfortunately, Kates detected Force X too, and it exchanged strikes with Japanese light carriers. Well, "exchange" might be too big of a word in this case. Swordfishes and Albacores flew uncoordinated and beyond the range of their fighter cover. Those who didn't turn back were eaten alive by CAP. In return...
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Loemadjang at 55,108
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 51 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 35
B5N2 Kate x 33
D3A1 Val x 12
Allied Ships
CVL Hermes, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CV Illustrious
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
6 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
11 x D3A1 Val releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
13 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
CAP engaged:
No.800 Sqn FAA with Sea Hurricane Ib (1 airborne, 3 on standby, 3 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 14000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
2 planes vectored on to bombers
No.880 Sqn FAA with Sea Hurricane Ib (1 airborne, 4 on standby, 4 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes
If liars from my intelligence services are to be believed this time, real Japanese losses were around 8-10 planes.
In the aftermath, I'm setting almost every plane I have on Java to attack the incoming fleet on the next day. I don't have much hope for results, but I don't think I'll have a better shot at IJN. Force X will rendezvous with approaching Force Z (now led by BB Beatty and BC Repulse) around Christmas Island. RN will attempt to interfere with the landing, if an opportunity presents itself.
The first counterattack on Luzon fails.
Pretty much what the title says.
Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 35167 troops, 673 guns, 400 vehicles, Assault Value = 1251
Defending force 30558 troops, 359 guns, 373 vehicles, Assault Value = 826
Allied adjusted assault: 1480
Japanese adjusted defense: 2185
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2
Looks like NY59Giants intends to cut off my troops at Southern China. Just look on the map below. I have some formations in the way, but don't know if that will be enough. I'm forming a stack to move on Nanchang for the purpose of creating a diversion.
Nearly all Allied bombers in DEI flew to hit the Japanese invasion force, which was targeting Denpasar (which made my subs and torpedo boats miss it). The coordination was better than I feared and most planes arrived in two large raids on 3rd and one more raid on 4th. Didn't help them any. The fighter cover from my exhausted squadrons was meager and NY59Giants had more than 40 Zeros on CAP. The mishmash of obsolete Dutch bombers, various flying boats, British stringbags and Blenheims got butchered. While all major raids broke through to the ships, most of them targeted Japanese cruisers. In the end, no hits were scored. Perhaps setting most of the bombers to 8k, instead of 6k, to avoid small-caliber flak, was a mistake. Also, that was still too low - Japanese 40mm AA guns reach precisely up to 8k in this mod - and I should have checked that before giving the orders.
Between that and two massive bomb raids on Soerabaja, which housed most of my squadrons, the turn losses amounted to 100 planes. The Allied airforce in DEI is shattered, and I'm scattering units across various airfields, to let them recover and receive new planes. As a cherry on this cake for the Emperor, my best ace got wounded in action.
Meanwhile, several less bloody (at least for the airmen) air campaigns are ongoing. In Burma, Japanese overran Moulmein (both defending batallions capitulated), and now British bombers from Rangoon, as well as evacuated from DEI B-17 squadrons, now based in Dacca, try to demolish the airfield, before it is occupied by a strong force. USAAF Marauders plaster Lae. But I still fail to convince my B-17 pilots to fly a night raid against Rabaul. Next turn they'll try to bomb Shortlands. Ideally, I want to make forward Jap bases in SWPac look like the Moon, before they are actually occupied by Zeros. NY59Giants now directed some of IJAAF assets in China to bomb my troops on Central Plains, which significantly increased the devastation they cause with each raid. He continues to pound Singapore and Clark-Bataan every day.
Charge of Force Z
I ordered Force Z to bombard Denpassar. Mini-KB and its battleship cover hand one hex to the east, only cruisers cover the invasion force itself. I hope, that AI will interpret the order correctly, and my ships will behave like they are supposed to during night raids - charge in, blast, and get away at full speed. Just in case, the remaining part of Force X provides whatever meager aircover Illustrious can put in the air.
Kido Butai Found?
There was a flurry of sub activity, including Glen recon flights in SWPac on the last turn. Moreover, a Japanese torpedo bomber was sighted over Tongatapu - that's south of Fiji! Is that a mistake by coastwatchers, or a timely warning sign? Certainly, KB had enough time to slip into this position. I'm currently redirecting all convoys that stand a chance of escaping away from Fiji, but the tanker TF currently unloading in Suva will stay at the port - its does not have enough speed to escape. Hopefully, KB, if it is there, will strike Noumea - nearly 80 fighters with lots of air support and strong flak wait there. Losses in ships probably will be heavy (some valuable auxilaries are parked there, and BB Mississipi now runs for the harbor), but so will be losses in elite KB aircrews. Suva doesn't have much of either, only one P-39 flight group, but there also aren't many targets around.
Pretty much nothing new happened this turn. KB did not appear. Force Z failed to attack for some reason, so I'm withdrawing it back to Christmas Island, as the invasion fleet is not likely to wair for me at Denpassar. Samarinda was finally and predictably overran. Unlike Balikpapan, where engineers damaged most of the oilfield, Samarinda was taken in ideal condition.
The biggest question that plagues me now is whether to defend in Southern China, or to withdraw, avoiding possible encirclement. Pros of defending: most of the hot spots combine easily defensible terrain and fortifications, Wenchow can be extremely valuable for Allies later in the war, Japanese forces are kept divided between two independent theaters, so Central Plains can hold too. Cons: the possibility of losing a lot of troops.
Chinese planes dropped some Intelligence Bombs (c) on advancing Japanese troops, and both pincer seem to consist of just one brigade (plus a recon regiment in the south), so I think I'll try holding, defending the road to Chuhsien.
A bad month for Allies, partially due to the Bali Turkey Shoot, and partially due to the fact that IJAAF bore the main weight of losses. Combined with first pilots' arrivals from training units, this likely means that Netties pools and pilot cadres had largely recovered from the losses of the first two months. Notably, the figure of Val losses increased noticeably, even though they had seen little combat. Probably the sinking of Hermes was indeed costlier than shown in the combat report. And at least Zero losses were considerable.
My best squadron, 27th RAF. Interestingly, initially it just lucked out as the first squadron with Hurricanes and one that intercepted two unescorted raids (I assigned it a good commander later). Since then, it proved itself suprisingly resilient. Maybe Hurricanes II just are too overmodeled. At least they clearly perform better than Warhawks, while in RL the reverse was true.
Japanese are landing around Coral Sea. Kawieng is invaded and Lunga taken.
I-159 found Force Z at Christmas Island IO, so now I'm forced to retreat. In return, the pesky sub took 16 DC hits, including 3 penetrating, from British destroyers.
My own subs achieved no results around Denpasar, taking some damage from depthcharging in return. Only S-39 is crippled so far. Being out of the means to fight the enemy is frustrating, and now the situation in DEI is such that Allies can only take pounding passively and hope they'll be able to recover enough for one more battle.
Saratoga arrived in Sydney and Adm. Sherman force is one day away. Unfortunately, Saratoga is too big for the local shipyard, so she'll be moved to the West Coast after the repairs that can be done pieside. In fact, the Sydney-Brisbane area is full of ships - 3 CVs, 4 BBs (2 new), more than 20 cruisers. However, I don't yet know where I'm going to use them, as KB location is unknown. Two USN CAs are put out of action for upgrades, in the light of this.
Defenders of Luzon are toast, as they have no supply anymore. Their recent attack were repulsed with heavy casualties, so now they can just sit in their trenches and die. Singapore is stalemate. Supplies are fairly plentiful, so starving the garrison should take months. The situation is still unclear at Burma, but Allies keep local air superiority for now, so I doubt NY59Giants will attempt any fancy maneuvering. However, Japanese just might be able to overrun Pegu with a head-on attack. We'll see.
In China, Nanchang is too well defended to threaten it. Part of reserves gathered from the Changsha area will instead proceed southeast to reinforce the main area of battle. On Central Plains, Japanese aviation takes out hundreds of guys every day. So far losses are tolerable, but the perspectives look bleak. Looks like NY59Giants pulled some air units from Manchukuo. IJAAF bombs alot all over the map, and against practically nonexistent Chinese AA these attacks are very effective. I already evacuated construction regiments from Loyang area to Nanyang and Sian and the first major defeat probably will be the signal for total retreat, because the air pressure makes any troop maneuvers too costly.
The main operational question is deployment of USN carriers. With Enterprise just out of shipyard, I now have 3 in one place. Unfortunately, KB still is off the radar. And to intervene in DEI I need to send them around Australia right now. After some deliberation, I deciced to keep them in SWPac for now. It might be just too late to help Java. And at least in SWPac I have plenty of aviation. For now. Lots of squadrons withdraw on March 15. I wonder if NY59Giants waits for this to lauch his operations. While uncertainty with KB prevents major operations in SWPac for now, I'll try to land troops in Milne Bay in the nearest future, as Moresby is fairly secure now, with over 500 AV, two CD units and fortifications on the way to level 4.
Quiet turns. A few sub attacks here and there, probably all inconsequential, no further movements by IJN anywhere. Dutch DD Van Ghent, recently repaired at Soerabaja, attacks a pair of large xAKs, that for some reasons were hanging at Denpasar unescorted and severely damages both. I raised CAP at Soerabaja again, this time reinvorced by AVG/3, but there was no attack there. AVG still dominates the skies of Burma. 132th and 138th US Inf.Regiments reach Noumea safely and began unloading, so now it is largely secure, with more than 30k men, 3 coast AA regiments, and a lot of planes.
The prolonged lull in the action gave me the time to take a good look around rethink my strategic goals in the light of recent developments. More about this later.
So far, NY59Giants offers little opposition to my efforts in SWPac. This might change any moment, but with PM and Noumea already strongly reinforced, I think that it's no longer possible to cut off OZ, before the Allies achieve carrier parity. Meanwhile, thanks to a bit of luck and some mistakes made by my esteemed opponent, probably due to the fact that it's his first game of AE, my positions in DEI still are strong. Singapore holds, there are no landings on Java or Sumatra yet, wreck of Warspite allows me to still operate subs from Soerabaja, even the defenders of Luzon probably will hold for a week or two more. In China there is a stalemate. I'm not sure about IJN losses, but mine aren't particularly high. Ceilon is reinforced with everything that arrived from Europe, except for 6th Australian Division. In short, unless KB prepares to strike Sydney right now, I'm fairly sure that Allied position is stabilizing and that Japanese will be able to lauch and win one major siege after their inevitable victory in DEI at most, before Allied start to bounce back with significantly greater strength that they have in stock - and that I merely need to keep my fleet safe in rear areas to secure such outcome.
However, upon some introspection, I decided to pursue the more interesting, more risky and, I think, more believable (in the light of relatively good beginning of the war) course of action. Namely, the attempt to reinforce and hold Java, which I codenamed Operation Breakwater. Yeah, yeah, I know, madness, and I'll inevitably fail anyway. But as this mod gives Allies more advantages than the stock scenarios and as I was relatively lucky in PH and elsewhere, I think that giving NY59Giants another chance for an early battle is simply a good sportsmanship and that realistically the decision to stand and fight should be really tempting for the Allied strategists in a situation like this. I would prefer to fight in SWPac, on my conditions, but there is no sign of any major Japanese attack here so far.
Operation Breakwater: Naval Forces.
Two fleet groups will move into the Indian Ocean. The first will consist of three USN Carriers (Lexington, Hornet, Enterpise), BB South Dakota, 5 CAs and 8-10 DDs. Adm. Sherman will be in command. It'll depart immediately after completing minor repairs on Sherman's CVs. The second, formed from Halsey's Air combat TF (to save PPs - unlike Sherman, Halsey has excellent Naval rating, so I'm going to exploit that), includes CA Australia, Boise and two of her sisters, 2 Australian CLs and 8 USN DDs. It'll be permanently stationed in Indian Ocean, whether I'll decide to proceed with Breakwater or not.
Right now, I'm turning back the evacuation convoy that was meant to lift British air support from Tjilatjap (?). Most of its escorts (three old CLs and two DDs) are diverted to bombard Denpasar, where a transport TF is noticed. Force Z and Force X need refueling, so they'll contuinue to Colombo. I ponder if I can establish a refueling/recon station at Christmas Island IO to support future counterattacks.
The ideal goal for my CVs (and the Allied fleet in general) is finding and engaging a large part of IJN that is not KB, preferably a large invasion force, but if no opportunity present itself, I'll probably attempt to attack Kendari, which seems to be the main IJN forward base.
Operation Breakwater: Ground Forces
I'm getting more than two divisions in India and Aden within 19 days. In the light of that, I decided to send 7th Australian Division to Java. Considering methodical play NY59Giants demonstrated so far, there is no way Ceilon can be threatened within the next month, so I'll be able to reinforce Colombo again. And as about leaving India and the western coast of Australia weakly defended, I don't really need the latter if the axis of my future advance is SWPac, and I'll welcome any invasion of India as an opportunity to attrite Japanese.
Operation Breakwater: Air Forces
One of the main reasons I want to hold Java as long as possible is the wealth of aviation reinforcements Dutch get from March onwards. With 1/3rd of AVG, two squadrons of Fulmars, I'm sending alongside with 7th Division (mostly so that my pool of Fulmars won't be idle), and nearly all Commonwealth replacements going to the frontline squadrons on Java, they should be able to keep up the air war.
Operation Breakwater: Criteria for Cancellation
If Japanese land on Java in force before I can unload 7th Division, I'll turn the convoy back. If the entire KB appears in DEI, both the landing of reinforcements and the naval counterattack will be cancelled, as this is 99% likely to be a prelude for landing on Java in force. While this means that the best part of my fleet will spend several weeks in pointless movements, I don't yet have free LCUs for any operation that might justify its commitment in SWPac. Enough surface combatants remain there to resume raiding Japanese forward bases.
Sounds like an exciting effort. Don't forget to put some mines where you think the Japanese will be landing, and I have reason to believe CD guns are more effective in AE than they used to be.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
I thought that I made my NavSearch, after the recent rush of Glen activity and suspicious torpedo bombers detections in SWPac, with the unbroken zone of search arcs coverage throughout Southern and Central Pacific. I was wrong. And was one turn from paying for that horribly, when a resource-hauling convoy xAKL moving between Noumea and Brisbane ran straight into KB (now with seven carriers)! KB apparently was running in stealth mode, without planes on naval strike and NavSearch, because neither this convoy nor the tanker TF nearby got attacked. I'm putting as many fighers as I can on CAP (in Sydney and Brisbane around 70 planes can be put in the air, in Noumea around 50) and getting whatever I can from Sydney, but my surface forces at Brisbane are too likely to be nailed in the morning, so I disbanded all ships larged than destroyers into port. Also, Saratoga and my upgrading CAs are stuck in Sydney. But, thankfully, my troop convoy at Noumea is nearly unloaded.
Also, it seems I was not thinking straight after such surprise, and forgot to transfer Saratoga's airgroup from her, as well as to put her fighters on CAP. At least other carriers are relatively likely to run away. Relatively. With two-days turns, I'm not daring to make them steam at full speed, so there is still a possibility of intercept, based on KB's orders. As no planes searched "behind the lines" the last turn, I don't even know where exactly KB is! Worse still, Lexington's airgroup just has upgraded from Bufallos to Wildcats, and doesn't have many combat-worthy planes. So, I'm waiting for the next turn with trepidation.
Meanwhile, NavSearch detected a ton of ships, including BBs and transports around Rabaul. Looks like my attempts to draw attention to SWPac succeeded all too well.
Elsewhere, subs bagged a xAK around Bali and possibly another south of Saigon, but my surface combatants found no ships at Denpasar.
Lots of things good and bad happened on this turn. First, the good things
The battle of Soerabaja
On the morning of 16th my light cruiser TF tried to get out of Soerabaja, after refueling and getting a new commander, to raid Macassar and return to Colombo. But...
Day Time Surface Combat, near Pamekasan at 58,106, Range 25,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Tosa, Shell hits 12
CA Chokai, Shell hits 3
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 3, on fire
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
CL Natori, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Sendai, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Yukikaze, Shell hits 1
DD Hayashio
DD Minazuki, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
CL Enterprise, Shell hits 14, on fire
CL Dragon, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
CL Durban, Shell hits 6
DD Peary, Shell hits 16, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Pillsbury, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Van Ghent, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 25,000 yards
Japanese open fire on surprised Allied ships at 25,000 yards
Pillsbury ate a Long Lance at 15k - the longest-range torpedo hit I've ever seen in AE, then, as fleets closed, I got a long streak of luck, with no penetrating hits on my ships. Eventually Tosa got range on Dragon correctly and my poor CL was pounded into oblivion while trying to get away. DDs mostly exchanged fire with each other, and both Peary and Van Ghent were damaged bad enough to sink immediately after the battle.
Then quite a lot of Netties raided Soerabaja, but the raid was uncoordinated, and, even though less of my fighters sortied than I hoped, they get chewed up.
Afternoon Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 1
Hurricane IIb Trop x 11
B-339D x 3
75A-7 Hawk x 2
Hurricane IIb Trop x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 4
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
G3M2 Nell x 26
Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 1
Hurricane IIb Trop x 10
B-339D x 2
75A-7 Hawk x 2
Hurricane IIb Trop x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 3
Allied Ships
BB Warspite, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid spotted at 23 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 12
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 6
B-339D x 1
75A-7 Hawk x 2
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 2
P-40E Warhawk x 2
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
Allied Ships
BB Warspite, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
If anyone is interested why I got such a flying circus over Soerabaja, I'm using old fighters until they are expended completely, as pilot losses over my own airfields are relatively slim. As usual, combat reports understate losses.
On the morning of 16th, the same Japanese combat TF encountered my PTs at Soerabaja. Four of six were sunk without scoring a single hit. But their sacrifice, as well as that of my brave cruisers weren't in vain, because:
Naval Gun Fire at Soerabaja - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
384 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
BB Tosa, Shell hits 31, Mine hits 1, on fire
CA Kumano, Shell hits 14, Mine hits 1
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 26, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chokai, Shell hits 13, Mine hits 1, on fire
CL Sendai, Shell hits 19, Mine hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Natori, Shell hits 16, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Minazuki, Shell hits 4, Mine hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 20, Mine hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yukikaze, Shell hits 23, Mine hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 6, Mine hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
To be honest, my jaw just about hit the table upon seeing such carnage. I can only presume, that the Japanese bombardment TF expended its main caliber ammunition fighting off my cruisers and PTs and went close to the coast to bombard, because most shots on my side were fired by 75mm guns (as I said at the beginning of this AAR, Soerabaja is my main stronghold on Java and there is a lot of infantry units with their artillery there). Tosa and Japanese CAs, except, possibly, Suzuya are likely to survive, because they took no penetrating hits. Light cruisers and DDs are almost certainly doomed. I'll try to hit Japanese ships with everything that flies the next turn. They cannot get far.
Then JNAAF visited Soerabaja again, now with better coordination, and extracted a measure of revenge:
Afternoon Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 28 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
G3M2 Nell x 40
G4M1 Betty x 14
Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 1
Hurricane IIb Trop x 16
Hurricane IIb Trop x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 4
Allied Ships
BB Warspite, Bomb hits 12, heavy damage
SS S-39, Bomb hits 1
SS Porpoise, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 2
I believe, by now Warspite took more than 100 bomb hits. Only a few of them - those from the initial KB pounding - were penetrating, but the ability of ships to survive non-penetrating hits when at the pierside of a large port still is clearly exaggerated.
Minor victories and defeats
S-36 sank AO Erimo near Kendari. Spearfish successfully attacked BB Hyuga south of Rabaul, but all torpedoes were duds. Also, on Mindanao NY59Giants got careless in his advance. Exploiting this, my Philippine units ambushed Kure 2nd SNLF at Cotabato on 15th and routed it. They were shelled by a small cruiser TF on the next day, but too late. Now they'll withdraw back to Cagayan.
In return, Japanese took Nauru against the token opposition.
The hammer falls
Okay, okay, the main event of the turn. First of all, Adm. Sherman managed to get away with seaworthy carriers, modern battleships and most of USN cruisers. This, by the way, means that I'm going to proceed with Operation Breakwater as planned. Particularly after my victory at Soerabaja. Unfortunately, Saratoga, as well as bunch of USN CAs and DDs, that were undergoing repairs or upgrades in Sydney, weren't able to get away, and Sydney CAP squadrons, despite taking out - I hope, but I haven't seen the results of the turn yet, only combat replay and reports and these often show less than third of total losses - a number of Zeros, failed to break through to the immense waves of KB bombers on both days.
Afternoon Air attack on Sydney , at 90,167
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 89
B5N2 Kate x 174
D3A1 Val x 48
Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Ic x 2
P-40E Warhawk x 75
Allied Ships
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Chicago, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Queen Elizabeth, Bomb hits 1
CA Louisville, Bomb hits 1
CA Augusta, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Macedon, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 4, on fire
DD Farragut, Bomb hits 1
Repair Shipyard hits 1
Port hits 6
Port supply hits 1
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Afternoon Air attack on Sydney , at 90,167
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 101
B5N2 Kate x 170
D3A1 Val x 169
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 33
Allied Ships
xAK Lillian Luckenbach, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
xAK Chios, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Anhui, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
xAK Lancaster, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
CA Louisville, Bomb hits 1
xAKL Carlisle, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Bungaree, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Lena Luckenbach, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
AVD William B. Preston, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
xAK Mathew Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Herstein, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Lewis Luckenbach, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
CA Augusta, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
On 16th Japanese torched my decoy convoy, which was formed to, hopefully, distract some bombers from my CVs, if the worst comes to the worst, but, for some reason, returned to Sydney. CV Saratoga is confirmed sunk. I don't know yet if any planes or pilots were saved. I also don't know why my fighters performed so poorly on the second day.
In short, that was not nearly as bad as I feared, but worse than I hoped. Certainly, I failed to keep my head cool and forgetting to evacuate and use planes from Saratoga was a huge mishap. Oh well. My shock on the previous turn certainly served well to imitate the panic and confusion that can result from sudden appearance of the enemy carriers where you don't expect them.
NY59Giants said that the events in Soerabaja were caused by his SCTF reacting first to my cruisers and then to PT boats. If that's the reason why coastal defenses were so effective then sailing into defended hexes with TFs on surface combat, instead of Bombarbment ones should be a big no-no.
Air losses for the turn would have been 60:23 in my favor, if I didn't indeed forget to remove planes from Saratoga. While pilots lived through this, 75 valuable aircraft went under with the ship and all squadrons are destroyed.
What it says in the title, really. Two regiment-brigare sized Jap units are next to the large Chinese stack that just arrived from Changsha area or through it from Ichang, and I intend to attack and squash them, unless NY59Giants retreats towards his reinforcements. Meanwhile, troops from the general reserve move towards Changsha.
KB revisited Sydney. Total losses include CA Portland and DDs Benham and Farragut. Five othern CAs are so damaged, that they probably are going to be stuck in shipyards for the next year. Particularly because the repair shipyard took 22 damage and won't be even able to repair heavy cruisers for a time (only 8 points remain). Considering, that, AFAIK, Allies get free Baltimore-class cruisers to replace USN CAs sunk in 1942, this might be worse than losing these ships outright, except from VP standpoint.
KB lost approximately 50-60 planes over four days of raids, mostly to fighters, which broke through to Kates this time. The difference in ability between 50+ and 60+ experience seems to be huge, as the more experienced squadron on P-39s racked 3:1 kill ratio, while Warhawk squadrons only managed 1:1. AA fire was disappointingly weak. As NY59Giants doesn't seem to be disappointed with the results at all, real figures might even be lower. Or most of pilots were saved - 50-60 planes by themselves are no big deal.
My bombers did not sortie, because Japanese ships managed to clear Soerabaja at surprising speed. As DD Hatsukaze is said to be falsely reported sunk after ramming two mines, I suddenly doubt that IJN losses were that big. However, KXVI found BB Tosa, steaming alone, and put two torps into her. There was no sinking sound after the attack, but even in the worst case, this should confine Tosa to shipyard for many months.
Also, S-40 achieved her second success (after damaging Zuiho), sinking PB Gamitsu Maru #1.
On 18th, CL Durban revisited Denpasar alone, found more Japanese cruisers and was trounced by them, barely escaping in the end.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Denpasar at 58,108, Range 5,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara
CA Takao
CL Agano
DD Arashio
DD Asagao
DD Fuyo
DD Karukaya
Allied Ships
CL Durban, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
In the morning my planes found Japanese cruisers and launched multiple raids against relatively weak Zero cover (no more than 8 planes at a time). But now Dutch have some real bombers (Mitchells seem to be as awesome as ever), as well as some crews trained in LowN, so things went much better than before. CA Takao was hit twice, including one penetration, CL Agano was hit once and reported to be on fire.
March 17-18, 1942
Considering, that, AFAIK, Allies get free Baltimore-class cruisers to replace USN CAs sunk in 1942, this might be worse than losing these ships outright, except from VP standpoint.
This is no longer the case in AE, unless the respawn switch is enabled in the scenario. It is not for any of mine.
ORIGINAL: FatR
But now Dutch have some real bombers (Mitchells seem to be as awesome as ever), as well as some crews trained in LowN, so things went much better than before. CA Takao was hit twice, including one penetration, CL Agano was hit once and reported to be on fire.
From the Japanese perspective (atleast in my game vs csatahajos) these planes are a real annoyance. Make the most of them!
No further attacks by KB. Good, as the NavSearch debacle resulting in raid on Sydney already cost me more than the Pearl Harbor attack.
British bombers attempted to strike the airfield in Pisanuloke, but Japanese were waited for them and the raid totally lacked coordination with fighters, despite having one AVG squadron set on escort. Probably the fact that my fighters operated at their extreme range influenced the outcome. The results were predictably bloody. As my aviation seemingly was keeping Japanese troops next to Pegu pinned down until now, that's quite unfortunate.
O16 damaged a troop-laden transport south of Formosa. I wonder where it was heading.
