Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[CaptBeefheart]

I hesitate to offer advice since you are doing quite well.

For what it's worth, you seem to be making excellent progress, or about to make excellent progress, in the DEI, so I'd probably keep that going with CV support. That said, if you have a lot of shipping assets in the Indian Ocean you should use them if the risks are manageable. xAPs and xAKs can still be used for quick invasions if you spread the troops wide (and have a number of xAKs devoted to solely carrying supplies so if you have to bail quickly, there'll still be something on the beach).

Cheers,
CB

[apbarog]

OPilot had real life issues yesterday, and today he spent a lot of time on his turn today but didn't finish. I'm speculating that he needed some time to gather his thoughts on reacting to my latest moves. He's probably assigned some ground units to preparing for a counter attack somewhere. A fresh look at the threat beyond Taberfane may be triggering a plan for a defensive line north of there. Just guessing. Should have a turn early tomorrow.

[apbarog]

9 Nov 42

An enemy sub dropped mines at Horn Island, and they were cleaned up by the end of the day.

Tarpon hit a subchaser, SC Ch 17, near Lautem, but the torpedo was a dud.

8 small xAKLs raced to Milne Bay to unload supply. They just got there, under the protection of F4F-3s that were moved in, but didn't unload any supply yet. Bettys from Rabaul attacked, but without escort. I could have used more fighters, but there isn't any air support at Milne Bay yet. I keep trying to fly some in from Port Moresby, but the airfield is apparently still too damaged for that. I keep trying.

13 Bettys attacked and 8 Wildcats intercepted. About half of the Bettys were shot down. 6 launched torpedoes and all missed. Then 38 Bettys arrived, against 7 Wildcats. The CAP was overwhelmed just by the number of targets. A few bombers went down. 13 Bettys launched torpedoes. 3 xAKLs were hit and sunk by a total of 4 torpedoes. 23 Bettys dropped bombs and all missed.

In the afternoon, they tried again. 13 Bettys versus 6 Wildcats. Again, Bettys went down. 7 bombers launched torpedoes but missed. Some went after the escorting destroyer. Then 22 Bettys arrived, and found just 4 Wildcats. A couple of bombers went down. 20 dropped bombs and all missed. Then 13 more Bettys arrived, against just 1 Wildcat. All dropped torpedoes but all missed.

I'll probably lose the rest of the xAKLs tomorrow, but I'll get some supply unloaded during the night, barring enemy ships showing up.

Enemy task force spotted at Gasmata, west of Rabaul.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 103,127

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 36
SBD-3 Dauntless x 2
TBF-1 Avenger x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
APD Aoi
APD Tade, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
APD Hagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
271 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

and

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 103,127

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 16

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
APD Hagi, on fire
APD Aoi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Wakatake

Japanese ground losses:
93 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

and

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 103,127

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 1

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 16
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 18

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 3 damaged
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
APD Aoi, and is sunk
APD Hagi, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
DD Kuretake
DD Wakatake
DD Yugao

Japanese ground losses:
437 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 31 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

What's left of the enemy task force is still at Gasmata. Maybe it is unloading there. I don't know. Men were lost though.

Total air losses were 26 Bettys at Milne Bay, and 9 F4F-4s and 6 SBDs going after the APDs. No Zeros were downed over the APDs.

[Lowpe]

You are inside Japan's ooda loop, and it will take time for him to re-adjust.

[RangerJoe]

Use float planes to fly in the air support, they don't need a runway.

[apbarog]

10 Nov 42

Brief summary, turn completed in the wee hours of the morning.

The destroyers with the APDs that were bombed at Gasmata continued to Buna during the night and were not seen during the day. We know they were loaded with men, so Buna was reinforced a bit.

RO-58 torpedoeds and sank APD Sands near Portland Roads. Sands is with some transports reinforcing Portland Roads with engineers. Most of the men are on the xAPs, so not a lot of men were lost. Some were fished out of the water by another APD.

Mississippi and New Mexico bombarded Merauke again. The plan is to keep it damaged and no bigger than a size 1 airfield.

Unoccupied Taberfane flipped to the Allies. Dobo was invaded with a weak landing and found enemy troops there. Not a lot, just I/81st Naval Guard Unit, but all I landed were:

3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
7th Air Advn Base Force
18th US Naval Construction Battalion

Cruisers will bombard the enemy and we'll try an attack with these guys. A commando unit at Normanton is tasked to reinforce Dobo despite low preparations. APDs will bring them in in a few days.

Major enemy air effort at Port Moresby, with fighters sweeping from Lae and Rabaul.

29 A6M2 Zeros then 27 A6M2 Zeros then 35 A6M2 Zeros then 44 A6M3 Zeros then 29 A6M3 Zeros. Defending were squadrons of F4F-4s, P-39Ds, and P-40Es. Total losses were 30 A6M2s and 5 A6M3s for the cost of 13 F4F-4s, 12 P-40Es and 12 P-39s. 8 US pilots were KIA.

Cleanup continues on Horn Island. Just 2 to 1 odds achieved but the enemy is out of supply. Losses were:

Japanese ground losses:
1093 casualties reported
Squads: 32 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 42 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 21 (8 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
218 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

No sign of KB since it went north from Rabaul. Odds are it'll pass by Sorong soon headed to the Taberfane area.

[apbarog]

11 Nov 42

2 small US cruiser task forces bombard the enemy at Dobo. Results are moderate and help the later attack.

Near Victoria Point, Dutch sub KXVIII fired 4 torpedoes at huge transport xAP Teikyo Maru, hitting it once. Not enough to sink this large ship. There are troops on it, and this ship is southbound from Akyab. There were 2 wrecked infantry divisions there, one of which was the Imperial Guard Division. Some unit(s) look to be headed to Singapore to rest and recover.

More enemy sweeps of Port Moresby. First 28 A6M2 Zeros, then 38 A6M3 Zeros. 30 P-40Es and 7 P-39s defend. 17 A6M2s are downed for the loss of 11 P-40Es and 2 P-39s.

The odd lot of Allied troops at Dobo try to clear out the enemy. The fighting SeaBees!

Ground combat at Dobo (83,116)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2852 troops, 9 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 32

Defending force 523 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15

Allied adjusted assault: 9

Japanese adjusted defense: 7

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
7th Air Advn Base Force
18th US Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
I/81st Naval Guard Unit

The leader of the 18th CBs is readying his bulldozer for the final charge.

[jwolf]

The leader of the 18th CBs is readying his bulldozer for the final charge.

Loved this line! [8D]

[apbarog]

12 Nov 42

I don't know where KB is, but I do know where the battleships are.

Night Naval bombardment of Kusaie Island at 125,118

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Yamato
CL Yubari

Allied ground losses:
945 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 34 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 31
Port hits 10
Port supply hits 8

All supply at Kusaie is destroyed again. The troops are taking a pounding, with about half of the squads now disrupted. Wow, a 5 battleship task force. I thought that the enemy might react to the Taberfane and Dobo landings, and maybe KB is on the way, but the battleships are still here. The time to hit my landings is now, when the airfields are size 0, to keep them from building. Once the US gets airfields built, it'll be easy to move from there. Kusaie still has the enemy's attention. More than I could have hoped for.

3 APDs will move from Luganville to restart the fast transport supply runs into Kusaie. In a couple of days, if Kusaie's airfield is operational and supplied, I'll move some torpedo bombers in. Kusaie has a unit that can supply torpedoes. If OPilot doesn't LRCAP the battleships as they pass by Ponape, the torpedo bombers could cause some trouble.

US subs now patrol around the Mariana Islands. Blackfish spotted carrier Junyo and fired 6 torpedoes. One hit but it was a dud. Junyo is probably returning from the Home Islands after repairs.

Cleanup continues on Horn Island. 877 enemy casualties. I need to finish off the stragglers here so I can retask the 3rd Marine Division.

The engineers are triumphant at Dobo.

Ground combat at Dobo (83,116)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2904 troops, 9 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 34

Defending force 495 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Allied adjusted assault: 12

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 12 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Dobo !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
168 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
7th Air Advn Base Force
18th US Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
I/81st Naval Guard Unit

I/81st Naval Guard Unit Wiped Out at Dobo by attrition!!!

[CaptBeefheart]

Wedge Donovan wins the day!

EDIT: In this mod, what kind of combat power do those three units have?

Cheers,
CB

[apbarog]

After the fight, 18 US CB has a combat value of 7 with about half of the unit disrupted. Full strength for the unit is 12 CV.

3 Amph Trak Eng Bat now has a combat value of 13, with full strength of 18.

Both units had some disruption before the attack.

7 Air Adv adds 8 CV.

[RangerJoe]

All that you have to do is to watch the movie about the Fighting Seabees and know that they can do anything . . .

[jwolf]

Those poor guys at Kusaie are taking an awful beating, but by occupying so much of the Japanese effort they are making a huge impact in the success of your operations.

[apbarog]

13 Nov 42

I-11 has been patrolling around Diego Garcia for some time now. I sent an ASW squadron to the island about a week ago, but no luck hitting the sub to this point. The sub spotted a tanker that brought fuel from Capetown, but the tanker went to Ceylon afterwards and the sub expected it to head back to Capetown. Today I-11 entered the port area and hit tiny minesweeper AMc Rampur, sinking her.

A big Allied cruiser force, one that had protected the Gove landings, bombarded Horn Island on the way back to Townsville. 486 casualties and plenty of disruption that helped with the ground attack later in the day.

Battlecruiser Repulse and a couple of CAs bombarded Merauke on the way back from Taberfane. Battleships Mississippi and New Mexico also hit Merauke, for the 3rd or 4th time. Merauke is pretty wrecked.

Plunger hit subchaser Ch 24 with a torpedo near Kendari, but the torpedo was a dud.

Near Cooktown, I-34 spotted damaged destroyer O'Brien but missed it with 2 torpedoes.

36 Oscars, now at Babar, swept Taberfane for the first time. The carriers left days ago, but were unseen. There's no CAP here and no airfield yet. Nells from Babar followed.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Taberfane at 82,117

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Lowana, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Matiana, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Koomilya
xAK Hauraki
xAK Asphalion
xAK Mernoo

There's about 10 or 12 cargo ships at Taberfane. I was lucky that only 2 were hit. Lowana sank, and Matiana is disbanded in port but will most probably sink. The rest head south, still at risk for another day or two.

Bettys with Zero escorts hit Kusaie Island's airfield, following up with the big battleship bombardment yesterday. The airfield was too damaged to move fighter in. I expected the airstrikes today but couldn't counter them. Now only bad weather will let the airfield repair enough to become operational.

The US 41st Infantry Division and I US Corp have marched inland from Port Moresby to Kokoda. They find 8 units that had retreated from Port Moresby. They show no combat value, and the Americans will attack in the mountains, and then push to Buna.

Cleanup continued at Horn Island. The odds are up to 11 to 1, and 5 of the 7 remaining Japanese units were wiped out by attrition after the fight. Another attack today should clear the island.

Most of the US fleet will pass by Horn Island today, heading back to Townsville. Americal Division is inbound to Townsville from Tulagi, in strategic mode. Once they get into combat mode and all of the shipping arrives, we'll load for Darwin. And figure out when and how to get everything I need to Ceylon for the big Burma invasion.

[apbarog]

An interesting event occurred. 2 US damaged destroyers from the Merauke battle had gone to Normanton and been patched up a bit. They set out to Townsville, but just east of Cairns destroyer O'Brien reported that the engine room had opened up to the sea. FLOT damage went from 23 to 66. Fortunately, it is one hex east of Cairns and should make port.

The damage looked low enough but you never know. Things happen.

[RangerJoe]

Maybe it was hardwired into code for the O'Brian. She was torpedoed at the same time as the Wasp on 15 September 1942.

The O'Brien made it to Suva in the New Hebrides on 13 October, and then she steamed out once more on 16 October. The rate of leakage of seawater into the O'Brien continued to increase, and on 18 October it was necessary for O’Brien to head for the nearest anchorage. Large amounts of topside weights were jettisoned, and preparations were made for abandoning the ship, but her captain still thought that she could be taken intact to Pago Pago. However, at about 0600 on 19 October, her bottom suddenly split open considerably, and her forward and after hull portions began to work independently. At 0630 all hands except for a small salvage crew abandoned, but half an hour later the O'Brien was abandoned entirely. Just before 0800 she descended beneath the waves, and after steaming nearly 3,000 miles (5,500 km) since she had been torpedoed. All members of her crew were saved.

http://military.wikia.com/wiki/USS_O%27Brien_(DD-415)

[apbarog]

14 Nov 42

US subchasers hit I-25 near Portland Roads. Lots of enemy subs here and lots of subchasers looking for them.

Seadragon fired torpedoes at destroyer Hakaze between Rabaul and Truk. 4 DDs spotted, direction of movement unknown. And probably with more than just destroyers.

Thresher fired 2 torpedoes at xAK Toyokawa Maru north of Rabaul. One hit but was a dud. Perch had a similar encounter with subchaser Ch 24 near Kendari, with a dud hit. That subchaser was hit by a dud torpedo yesterday, fired by Plunger.

Sonias bombed 2 infantry brigades east of Cox's Bazar. I've shown movement southeast here, with an inland push. This is an enemy recon by bombing. I don't know if I'll continue the movement or not. They could hold their own against the enemy unit in their destination hex, but could not advance further.

Horn Island is cleared. The 4th Division piece was destroyed, and the AF Unit died by attrition soon afterwards.

Ground combat at Horn Island (91,128)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14260 troops, 232 guns, 212 vehicles, Assault Value = 451

Defending force 2229 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 46

Allied adjusted assault: 162

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 162 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1597 casualties reported
Squads: 110 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 23 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 29 (27 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Marine Division
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion
12th Air Advn Base Force
21/22 Field Arty Regiment
32nd Aus Lt AA Regiment
7th USN Special Construction Battalion

Defending units:
4th/B Division
39th JNAF AF Unit

Destroyer O'Brien made it safely into Cairn's port. It will slowly repair SYS damage for awhile, then switch to a Dutch 3000 ton capacity ARD that is at Cairns. It will be a long repair between the ARD and a shipyard repair somewhere, but the ship is saved.

[apbarog]

Planning continues for the Burma operation. All invasion troop transports will be xAPs. No nice APs will be used. Many ships are in ports refitting to xAPs from xAKs. The key calculation is having enough troop lift capacity to pull off these landings in one go. I don't want to unload and have to go back to Ceylon to reload. Here's the breakdown of where the xAPs are now:

Capetown --- 79 ships with a capacity of 84,300
Aden --- 23 ships with a capacity of 45,630
Bombay --- 5 ships with a capacity of 6,700
Cochin -- 2 ships with a capacity of 600
Sydney --- 15 ships with a capacity of 25,875
Brisbane --- 15 ships with a capacity of 15,000
Auckland --- 11 ships with a capacity of 14,810
On the way to Sydney --- 3 ships with a capacity of 3,700

This is a total of 196,615. Adding up all of the troops, I have a total of 136,394. A good buffer is needed when one considers the inefficiency of loading amphibiously, and the inefficiency of loading units on ships that are a bit bigger than needed. I have that buffer.

Here's the major ground units that will be involved:

2 British Division
18 British Division
3rd Carbineers Regiment
623 Tank Destroyer
US 43rd Infantry Division
11 Indian Division (reduced strength, for Rangoon garrison)
5 Chinese Corp
US 32nd Infantry Division
150 RAC Regiment
US 147 Infantry Regiment
US 24 Infantry Regiment
503 Para Regiment (to land at Port Blair and para from there)
6 Chinese Corp
50 Tank Brigade

Paras to be used but not loaded on ships:
111 LRP
77 LRP

One of the Chinese corp will land in thirds. One of the parts had upgraded to 105mm guns, while the others have not, and the production rate is only 4 per month. One of the parts will not be upgraded in time.

[Bif1961]

Good to see at least half the combat units are US as they have much deeper pools then the British and Indian forces. Also good to see paras involved to reach behind enemy lines and grab choke points cutting of supplies and reinforcements as opportunities arrive. How much does he have at Port Blair? Will the para Rgt be enough to take it?

[apbarog]

I know of an enemy regiment at Port Blair. The paras aren't in the assault wave for Port Blair. They'll land after the base is taken. I have 2 US regiments assigned to take Port Blair. I'd like to have a division, as I want it to fall quickly, so that it can support the other landings, but 2 regiments will have to do. Port Blair will get the slow battleship bombardment treatment, while the other landings will not. That should help with taking it. I'll have AKEs and other support ready to move into Port Blair ASAP.

This is all still about a month and a half away, I figure. I need to run the Darwin operation first, and get all the shipping from Australia to Ceylon first.