Dec. 30th and the initial phase of operations are now winding down. The IJA is ashore on Java in force with nearly 3 divisions with armor and artillery support. All forces are ashore in Malaysia. The initial attack on Tarakan suffered from a bad die roll, and my 2 SNLFs there are bogged down for the moment. Palembang fell with minimal damage to the oil and refineries, and we will land at Balikpapan today. There is no strat bombing until 6/43, so the Palembang operation was much less of a headache than normal. I could disable the airfield prior to landing, and not worry about following up immediately with construction battalions, aviation support, and a large stack of AA. The IJA is mopping up the isolated units in the Chinese plain.
Nearly the entire Japanese fleet has clustered at Kendari for reorganization, re-fueling, and re-arming. The Kushima has gone through 2 full loads of supply, and there are yet more ships to rearm. The CVs will finish replenishing their sorties today. Most of the major surface units and CVs have been refueld, with the excption of Tanaka's fast BB group. It is low on fuel, and there is no more fuel in the oilers, so we must wait for Balikpapan to fall before refueling the fast BBs.
Now that nearly the whole of the fleet is gathered in one location, I will reorganize the fleet into task groups. I am very particular in how I structure the IJN TFs, as you may have guessed from long dissertation on the various DD types. I will set up 2 CV groups, 1 CVE group, 1 fast BB group, 3 CA SCTFs, and multiple amphibious groups with APs and AKs organized by speed and capacity. I have 700 PPs stockpiled and will review the commanders of the entire IJN all the way to the DDs. My top priority, after the CVs, are the CAs and fast BBs. They will receive the best naval commanders. I am partial to the Takao class CAs (for no good reason) and these will receive the best commanders, followed by the Mogami Class, and so forth, with the most modern CAs receiving the best commanders. For many CLs, I will choose high naval skill, low aggression commanders, as these ships often lead my amphib groups.
The CLs Kitakami and Oi are special cases. These ships will be in SCTFs and I find the highest aggression, highest naval skill commander available for these ships. High aggression commanders on these ships will often close in surface combat and launch torpedos from close range. Since these ships can put 20 torpedos in the water at one go, if they are able to get in close, they can single-handedly win a naval battle. I have seen Kitakami score 3 torpedo hits on 1 BB before in surface combat with a very aggressive commander.
After the CVs, BBS, and CAs, my next priority is the AOs and large TKs. I think it is very important for the Japanese player to remove all the civilian commanders (naval skill 30) from these ships and place military commanders (naval skill 60) in command. The fast APs, LSD, and the large capacity APs will also receive good naval skill commanders. As Japan, if your review your AP commanders, you will find a very pleasant suprise on the AP Brazil Maru.
