The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

The situation has changed a bit. With Thin Man, the balance of power favored John. I was seeking decisive battle somewhere in the vicinity of the nest of big Allied bases in the Marshalls. John made plenty of mistakes like the JEB Stuart ride, revealing KB for long stretches, allowing me to have high detection on KB for long stretches, and him losing detection on Death Star. I didn't foresee any of those things happening, but I did think the op offered the most favorable location for decisive battle to take place.

Now that the decisive battle has occurred and the balance of power has shifted, I'm not quite as concerned with what John does since he doesn't really control the flow. But any mistakes he makes helps, of course. Based upon SigInt and other things, I think he's defending forward again, and now he's again revealing KB. Most importantly, I'm not seeing any indications that he's identified the Big Tent targets.

I'll gladly take another naval battle on favorable terms, but that's not a high priority now. Seizing important bases is the priority. I don't think John will risk his big ships.

[Canoerebel]

My focus from the start of the game has been to whittle down Kaigun. The Battles of the Andaman Sea and Sumatra were effective in this regard. The recent Battle of Wake Island added to the toll. As best I can tell, John should be having serious issues with capital ships. In particular, he's going to be short of CAs and CLs - making it tough to provide escorts to his carriers and to form strong combat TFs.

If my count is right, in Scenario 70, here's what John gets and what he's lost thus far:

BB/CB: 14/2 total; 4/1 sunk; 10/1 remaining.
CA: 20 total; 10 sunk; 10 remaining.
CL: 25 total; 19 sunk; 6 remaining.

This is subject to FOW of course, but his CL losses are particularly high.

Many times this year, I've pointed out instances in with carriers or BBs were shy on escorting capital ships. I still think this is John's achillees heel. And since he's a Navy guy, he's probably feeling these losses.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

My focus from the start of the game has been to whittle down Kaigun. The Battles of the Andaman Sea and Sumatra were effective in this regard. The recent Battle of Wake Island added to the toll. As best I can tell, John should be having serious issues with capital ships. In particular, he's going to be short of CAs and CLs - making it tough to provide escorts to his carriers and to form strong combat TFs.

If my count is right, in Scenario 70, here's what John gets and what he's lost thus far:

BB/CB: 14/2 total; 4/1 sunk; 10/1 remaining.
CA: 20 total; 10 sunk; 10 remaining.
CL: 25 total; 19 sunk; 6 remaining.

This is subject to FOW of course, but his CL losses are particularly high.

Many times this year, I've pointed out instances in with carriers or BBs were shy on escorting capital ships. I still think this is John's achillees heel. And since he's a Navy guy, he's probably feeling these losses.

I agree with your take on this, with one small addition. DDs are the most critical ship type in the game - the jack of all trades, in demand for every task. You sank 14 of his fleet DDs recently - he will be starting to use smaller DDs with less AA/torpedo/gun power, and maybe even less speed. It all goes to erosion of his defensive screen! [:)]

[Canoerebel]

I've mentioned DD attrition before. I didn't post it this time, only because FOW in the Ship's Sunk list makes that category particularly tough to evaluate. But for the sake of discussion, in Scenario 70, John gets a total of 255 DDs. Some of these are yet to come on map, but I'd estimate he's had at least 175 to play with. Of that number, the Ships Lost Screen shows he's lost 101. That number is fairly accurate, because I was showing mid 80s before the major Pacific battles commenced. Of the number sunk, 36 are his highest-value DDs (10- and 13-pointers).

[Lokasenna]

Yeah, that hurts, but honestly the Matsu-class isn't a bad KB escort. It's AA guns and ASW only. Only 27 knots, but...

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I have F4U-1s available now in limited quantity. Should I swap out Hellcats for these where I can do so?

Also, confirmed today that CB Kawachi sank during the Naval Battle of Wake Island. That's icing on the cake - I wasn't expecting it. I think John gets two CB in this mod, so that further whittles his available carrier escorts.

Well they are faster than the hellcat but they have a service rating of 2 and the hellcat is a 1. Still, I will put a few of them on my carriers. The George is more than a match for the Hellcat and that is a problem in this game. They were not as good in stock. The second generation Hellcat has a much better speed of 390. Fast enough for most Japanese fighters and you get them in spades. But you don't see them until mid 44.

[Canoerebel]

If memory serves, both Hellcats and Corsairs (the carrier model) can fly from CVLs. Can either or both fly from CVEs?

[Canoerebel]

10/20/43

Big Tent: More than 200 ships have loaded and left port. Tomorrow, the ground units that changed from Combat to Strat mode will be ready to load. This final loading will probably take two or three days, but the op is about to get underway. In addition to five full divisions and many other units, ships will carry more than 400k supply and more than 175k fuel. This will be a big, slow moving "cow." It will seem ungainly when it sails into John's field of vision, but the configuration of Allied bases and activity going on should mislead John for awhile. The biggest question is whether he'll commit combat ships and carriers. I don't think he'll be that desperate, but given the hits he took last month he may elect to throw caution to the wind. So even though the invasion armada will resemble a cow, the carriers and combat ships had better do a good job of driving the herd and keeping it intact.

Bearded Lady: Lots of enemy shipping in and around Roi-Naur and Eniwetok. I don't know if John will try a snap attack. I don't think so, since these are all hardened targets. Wake would be a more likely target.

Lion Tamer: The Allies take Efate.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

If memory serves, both Hellcats and Corsairs (the carrier model) can fly from CVLs. Can either or both fly from CVEs?

Hellcats can for sure operate from CVEs. I don't know of any restriction on the Corsair operating from a CVE either, but I think some people make house rules not to because IRL it was too big to have a full squadron aboard a CVE.

[CaptBeefheart]

The Sangamon Class CVEs were big enough to operate F6Fs. I think most of the rest, besides replenishment CVEs, operated FM-1s and then FM-2s (i.e. Wildcats) since they had smaller flight decks.

EDIT: What's the line on Yap, Ulithi, Wooleai, Pelilieu/Babelfish, Morotai, Talaud-Eilanden, Davao, Cagayan, Tacloban et al?

Cheers,
CC

[Cap Mandrake]

CR;

I'm surprised you strat-loaded your "second wave" troops for Big Tent. If you don't seize a good sized port in working order AND have a bunch of naval support ashore they literally can't get off the boat. You lose a lot of operational flexibility that way.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

CR;

I'm surprised you strat-loaded your "second wave" troops for Big Tent. If you don't seize a good sized port in working order AND have a bunch of naval support ashore they literally can't get off the boat. You lose a lot of operational flexibility that way.

I think the idea is to swap them into the APAs before landing on enemy shores. They are in big xAKs now and will take too long to unload in an amphib landing, and I think CR said he is short on transport overall so he needs the better use of space in Transport mode. The few days to change from Transport to Amphib mode at the staging base will be good for recovery of fatigue.
Also pretty sure CR has found weakly held enemy bases with good ports to use for the swap. He's damn good at organizing details!

[Canoerebel]

You're right, but I've done it before and find it very, very efficient if done properly.

In this case, one of the major targets has big port potential. On D-Day, I'm landing an army division, a big USN base force (with naval support), and two construction regiment. The next day, two more construction regiments come ashore (in strat mode, so it'll take awhile). Then I'll concentrate on building the port.

It works because the first wave of landings will require the presence of the carriers for quite some time, meaning I couldn't move on the second wave landings (more remote and fairly distant) for some weeks anyhow.

By strat loading, I can bring far more troops and supply, and that's what's really important in this operation. Time isn't the restricting issue this time. I anticipate keeping Death Star in the area into January 1943 to allow all the supply to come ashore, to build the important bases big, to engage in secondary landings, and to only depart once the network of bases is strong enough to stand without Death Star's presence.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I think the idea is to swap them into the APAs before landing on enemy shores. They are in big xAKs now and will take too long to unload in an amphib landing, and I think CR said he is short on transport overall so he needs the better use of space in Transport mode. The few days to change from Transport to Amphib mode at the staging base will be good for recovery of fatigue.
Also pretty sure CR has found weakly held enemy bases with good ports to use for the swap. He's damn good at organizing details!

Yes, that's a good summary.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

The Sangamon Class CVEs were big enough to operate F6Fs. I think most of the rest, besides replenishment CVEs, operated FM-1s and then FM-2s (i.e. Wildcats) since they had smaller flight decks.

EDIT: What's the line on Yap, Ulithi, Wooleai, Pelilieu/Babelfish, Morotai, Talaud-Eilanden, Davao, Cagayan, Tacloban et al?

Cheers,
CC

I don't know, but that vector is now my guess. However, Manus (or Rabaul) would be a necessary first stop as if it isn't taken then carriers will remain necessary since no SLOC that is even semi-secure would exist. With Manus, Rabaul will be isolated and eventually stop being useful as even an air base, and it also has a large port potential.

If CR is planning to build his port, it's also important to consider the airfield potential as well because total SPS is used in the calculations for how quickly a base builds. Manus fits that bill. So does Hollandia for that matter, although it can only reach port 6.

I would be surprised at a jump past Manus and Hollandia in this area, as otherwise the invasions would be isolated from resupply and from transferring in fresh air units of most types.

[Canoerebel]

10/21/43

Flying Trapeze: Confirmation came today that CVL Chitose sank. Barring any "icing on the cake" reports later, that should bring the Naval Battle of Wake Island toll to a close. Enemy capital ships sunk: 3 CV, 3 CVL, 8 CVE, 1 CB, 3 CL.

Big Tent: My fingers are tired from clicking. The remaining units at Pearl, most in strat mode, ordered to load today. I'll probably add a few additional units as the victorious Wake contingent will arrive over the next couple of turns - it will be nice to have a reserve that can be used to assault undefended bases in the Big Tent area of operations. But most of the transports and support fleet is at sea or will depart Pearl tomorrow or the day after. Most of the carrier and combat TFs, being faster and also at pierside buffing out low SYS damage, will depart in about five days.

The invasion fleet is immense. TFs dedicated just to supply will carry more than 460k. AOs, TKs and xAKs carrying fuel should have something on the order of 250k. The invasion carries the equivalent of 6+ divisions plus many other combat and support units.

Some interesting SigInt today. I think John may have looked at the map and decided that fighting forward may not be in his best interest. I'll watch for developments carefully.

I considered loading an additional division or two, but ultimately decided not to. instead, they'll stand in reserve in the case of emergency. There is a chance - small but sobering - that something could go badly wrong with Big Tent, leaving the Allied armada and troops isolated or decimated etc. So a strong corps will remain at Pearl, prepping for "after Big Tent" locations and giving peace of mind.

Lion Tamer: Efate flips to the Allied side since it was undefended. The landings at Koumac go well, though Bettys from Lunga sortie at 18 hexes without success. The force that came ashore doesn't include combat troops yet, so the base won't fall until day after tomorrow. I have a small CVE TF operating in this region now. John knows that combat ships of some kind are present. Shortly, I want to make sure he gets a good sighting. There's a chance he'll deploy some of his carriers to give chase, looking on CVEs as easy though distant pickings. But I intend to move these carriers to Pearl to serve in reserve.

SEAC: Things have been absolutely still in this theater while I work behind the scenes on future ops. A few turns back, I ordered a noticeable increase in recon in order to draw John's attention here. He's responded by reconning my bases. Nothing's about to happen here, but he's at least wondering.

John III: I think Big Tent is solid, but as you can probably sense, I'm also a bit worried. We all know things go wrong. We all know that plans usually devolve in unexpected ways. This force is strong enough to keep John wary of attacking. But he's been hit hard and he knows he's at a disadvantage now with the balance of power likely to steadily build in favor of the Allies. So I'm concerned that he might throw everything he has at Big Tent when he realizes how deeply its penetrating.

The Allies will have far more carriers and probably signficiantly more destroyers than John has available. But he'll have parity with BBs (unless those that were damaged in the Marshalls are still out of action) and perhaps with CAs. At a few points on the way, he'll have the option of loading up some of his big bases. And there is always the threat posed by his subs.

Big Tent is not a "Home Run" kind of op, but it's probably a "Triple" or "Long Double" kind of op. If it succeeds it creates all kinds of problems for John and positions the Allies well to bring the war to Japan's Home Islands in '44 and to attack John's oil and resource centers and to interdict part of his key LOCs.

Like I posted yesterday, Big Tent is so huge it will look like a cow ambling throough a landscape full of hostile cactuses. I need to protect the cow against an aggressive, wounded, and perhaps desperate foe.

[jwolf]

Bettys from Lunga sortie at 18 hexes

What is the actual range capability of those planes? Though I am far from an expert, either in game or historical, these super long range torpedo strikes seem very unrealistic.

And I would submit that "hostile cactus" is redundant. [;)] Good luck with the Big Tent op.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

Bettys from Lunga sortie at 18 hexes

What is the actual range capability of those planes? Though I am far from an expert, either in game or historical, these super long range torpedo strikes seem very unrealistic.

And I would submit that "hostile cactus" is redundant. [;)] Good luck with the Big Tent op.

From memory - 17 with torpedoes, 21 with bombs.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

Bettys from Lunga sortie at 18 hexes

What is the actual range capability of those planes? Though I am far from an expert, either in game or historical, these super long range torpedo strikes seem very unrealistic.

And I would submit that "hostile cactus" is redundant. [;)] Good luck with the Big Tent op.

I think there is a Nell model that can go out to 26 hexes! [X(]

[pws1225]

The Nell G3M3 has a normal radius of 21 hexes and an extended radius of 26 hexes. They make good Nav Search platforms since there are never enough Mavis/Emily to go around.