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16 Dec 42

San Francisco Chronicle reports "Huge Naval Victory at Torokino!". "The back of the Japanese Navy has been broken!"

I sent this to my opponent.

It was a good turn, just not THAT good.

The night started out with CLs Detroit and Trenton and 4 destroyers storming into Torokina's harbour. They found just xAK and a PB. Both were easily sunk.

Then the ships bombarded Torokina:

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
H8K1 Emily: 12 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 4 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Trenton
CL Detroit
DD Mustin
DD Farenholt
DD Buchanan
DD Aaron Ward

Japanese ground losses:
73 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 25
Port hits 7
Port supply hits 2


Just one Zero was actually destroyed. Still decent though.

Then I-173 targets CL Trenton with 4 torpedoes at Torokina, but misses. In return, I-173 is hit twice with depth charges, and takes many near misses. Normally I'd say that sub is sunk, but since it is already at a base, maybe not.

My ships then retired at full speed to Rennell Island. They made it safely. They did take some SYS damage from the high speed run, so I send them to Brisbane to make necessary repairs.

During the day, 9 Bettys with 24 Zeros attack a small xAK and DD, but all torpedoes miss both. There is no CAP.

At Malaybalay, Mindanao, the 1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment has joined the 4th Division and 33rd Infantry Regiment in sieging my mountain base. The enemy just bombards.

Today, I note that my subs east of Kavieng show extremely high detection levels all of a sudden. Could KB be heading east? I'm preparing to invade Nauru and Ocean Islands, and now KB may be moving that way. If this is the case, it must be due to my carriers being seen at Luganville.

Depending on where KB moves, I have options. Option 1 is landing at Nauru and Ocean. Option 2 is landing at Munda. Option 3 is reinforcing Milne Bay with an infantry division. All 3 options are going to occur, it's just a matter of when and in what order.

17 Dec 42

Near Phuket, Thailand, sub KXVII launches 2 torpedoes at an xAK in an xAK and xAKL task force. Both torpedoes hit, leaving the ship on fire and with heavy damage. A probable sunk in my book. No troops loaded.

Back by New Guinea, the enemy task force in question turned out to be just 6 destroyers, and it bombards Rossel Island. This is good for me. I was worried that it may go to Rennell where I was loading troops. AM Muritai was in port with no fuel, and takes 2 shell hits, causing moderate damage. I wonder if the enemy figured that I had an ACM there. Runway and port damage is low.

A squadron of B-26s bomb Port Moresby's airfield, doing moderate damage. There is no CAP.

Today, my B-17s in Australia will all hit Buna's airfield. I want to keep it damaged. I start loading the 27th Infantry Division for Port Moresby, for the third time. I believe that KB has continued east from Kavieng, and is approaching Kusai(sp?) Island, northwest of Nauru Island. I do continue loading troops for Nauru and Ocean Islands, but this invasion will not take place with KB possibly in the area.

However, loading for Munda will start tomorrow, and I can do that without carriers. I did get SigInt the other day that there are enemy troops at Vella Lavella too. Both of these are still dot bases.

Finally, I did several recon missions of Port Blair for the first time. There are about a dozen fighters there. Today I've scheduled all of my bombers in India to bomb Port Blair's airfield and port, flying from Trincomlee, Madras, and Chittagong. I want to hit this target repeatedly and keep the airfield down. There are no other bases close. I want my opponent to start wondering why I would be doing this.

I did get SigInt today that 1/3 of the 32 Infantry Division is loaded on ships and headed to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. Just recently, I got similar SigInt for Cocos Island. Makes sense, beefing up defenses in likely places of interest. Good to know exactly what is there, should I decide to visit.

Good to see you planning and playing head games with the Japanese. [:)] I hope the psyops bear fruit. Just two more weeks and your subs will turn into a much more potent threat -- I wonder if that will make the Japanese a bit more conservative with bombardment TFs and the like.

On the landing or landings you might make soon -- even if KB is away, they wouldn't be all that far away, and unloading seems to take long enough that your ships and troops would be vulnerable. Or am I missing something?

You are correct, jwolf. I do need to worry about unloading times. For Munda, I'm using a lot of APDs, and hope to land quickly with them. I will be able to LR CAP there too, so I'm fairly confident about this attack. Whether I actually defeat the defenders, that is unknown. I can have a lot of bombers helping there if I need to.

My subs have done very poorly around Rossel Island, not even spotting the incoming bombardment forces. Hopefully they start seeing them, and then start attacking them, and then have the torpedoes start working.

December is a big month for radar upgrades for the fleet subs. Have you been able to send any to port for this?

Yes, about 75% of my fleet subs have been upgraded. The rest are cycling through ports as they need to refuel. A bunch are setting up as a screen for Nauru and Ocean Islands.

I've also done a large redeployment of subs that were in the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific, including Dutch subs and S boats.

18 Dec 42

A subchasing group gets a hit on I-10 near Rossel Island.

During the day, 37 Zeros sweep Milne Bay, finding no CAP. Then Sallys and Helens hit the airfield, with escorts. Damage is light, and all is repaired by the end of the day.

My attack at Port Blair wasn't a surprise. 20 Nicks were on CAP, decent bomber killers. Who knows how long they've been there, but it was an obvious move for me to bomb there, eventually. The British Liberator II's went in first, and took heavy losses. US B-24s and B-17s went in next, and losses were lighter. Overall bombing results were poor. Mouse-over damage is just in the teens. My B-17s at Chittagong are vulnerable, and excellent enemy recon there shows them easily. I pull them back to Calcutta to rest. I set my B-24s to return to Port Blair. The Liberator II's are out of action for awhile. Replacement pool is dry. I set one squadron that is missing half of its planes to train for recon. Might as well use them for something useful until the pool fills some.

B-17s from Australia hit Buna's airfield, finding about 25 fighters from Lae. Zeros and two Oscar types. Damage is light. I flew just half of the bombers today. Tomorrow I send the other half to Port Moresby. I can note that there was no flak at all firing at Buna.

A dozen B-25Cs hit Horn Island's airfield. Damage is light. There is no CAP.

At Malaybalay Mindanao, my holdout mountain base is attacked, and results again are poor for the Japanese. 201 enemy casualties, 127 Philippine losses. The fort is reduced to 1 however. The Philippine units will be worn down, but not before hurting the more numerous enemy troops.

KB is not seen. Detection levels say that they could still be by Kusai Island, or further east by Kwajalein.

My carriers and part of my invasion task forces will move northeast of Luganville. Others are still loading and will catch up tomorrow.

More APDs arrived at Rossel Island and unload supply. They will merge with a bunch of other APDs and load for Munda tomorrow. A Marine raiding unit begins to load for the base adjacent to Munda, one on the same island. I don't know if that base is occupied.

Air losses today were 10 Liberator IIs, 6 B17Es(including Buna and Port Blair), and 1 B-24. Enemy losses at Port Blair were just 3 Nicks.

19 Dec 42

A good turn for my submariners.

East of Tarakan, Permit sights a big tanker task force. It doesn't get a shot off, but this is progress. I haven't been able to commit many subs to find the tanker routes so far, but learning these routes is important in the long run.

On the other side of Borneo, north of Jesselton, Thresher fires on an SC escorted at least 4 other tankers, but misses. More intel.

Southwest of Rangoon, S-23 gets one torpedo hit on an xAK in a task force apparently headed to Rangoon.

During the day, I send a reduced number of aircraft back to Port Blair. 18 Nicks are on CAP, but they are less effective today. B-24s do some damage to the airfield and damage and destroy a few Nicks on the ground.

Near Milne Bay, I have 4 destroyers on ASW duty, and they get a good hit on I-168.

Near Umboi Island, O24 gets a torpedo hit on xAK Biwa Maru, doing heavy damage, and there were troops on it.

And at Malaybalay, the enemy attacks again, gets the same 1 to 2 odds, but does much better, with my casualties being twice the enemy's. My long held base will fall soon.

The suspected area for KB shifted south some. It is now closer to Nauru Island. I had 4 subs with 10/10 detection. It's almost like he knows I'm coming.

I'm still not loaded completely, so my armada hangs out east of Ndeni, not spotted. With KB suspected to be closer to Nauru, I certainly won't continue as is, but I suspect that once I hit Munda, which should happen tomorrow, KB may respond that direction. My large APD force at Rennell Island is loading now for that.

B-24s will hit Port Blair today, and about 40 B-17s will try to hit Lae for the first time. I see over 100 fighters there, but he sneaked a task force past Horn Island and it is 2 hexes northwest of Port Moresby now. I am sure he'll LR CAP it from Lae if it stays at Port Moresby, and that will reduce the Lae CAP some.

Milne Bay did achieve achieve port size 1.

I have a 4 destroyer group getting into bombardment range of Tarawa. It may be seen before it gets there, which is ok too. It will look like more interest around Tabiteuea. I wouldn't expect destroyers to do much bombardment damage, but I'm sure there are cruisers and destroyers hiding in Tarawa's port. They were the ones that sank 2 battleships at Tabiteuea earlier.

I have used APDs to run raider and para battalions to weakly held enemy islands but I always find they do not carry enough supply to keep my troops fed if the place does not fall immediately. Combat just evaporates all the supply in the first clash. Do you have enough APDs to have some with supply only?

I have just one APD carrying only supply. That's not enough. I do have a few xAKLs in the area, and I will be sending one in with the initial landing. I hope to take the adjacent dot hex also, hoping that it is undefended. That will allow me to land supply there and have it get to Munda, plus have a retreat path if I need it. I don't expect Munda to fall immediately. I will probably bombard with a cruiser force when I land, and I have lots of nearby airpower. Just keeping up the pressure here, and hopefully making KB jump around reacting to my moves. I have many more subs taking up station now, in the area between Rabaul, Truk, Kwajalein, and Ndeni.

I hate unloading at dot bases - max 100 supply per turn per ship. Even a 1000 ton xAKL will take 10 days to unload. Don't think amphib loading the xAKLs will help much either. A follow-up APD TF with just supply would help. Also consider FT in one of the Port Service companies to speed unloading.

EDIT: Should have mentioned that you cannot unload a cargo TF at a dot base - no port facilities. You must load the xAKLs amphibiously.

20 Dec 42

I didn't find KB near Kusaie Island, but I did find a big AO task force. That's enough proof for me, combined with the detection levels. This AO was pretty far south. If KB is with these ships, it can strike the Munda area or the Nauru area within one day. The question is, will the enemy make a move before I do?

Halibut spotted the AOs, but didn't get a shot.

KXV fires on a tiny minesweeper at Goodenough Island. There aren't any mines left.

And there was an interesting development near Phuket, Thailand. 3 heavy cruisers and 7 destroyers were sighted by 3 different subs, and the task force's direction was north. Porpoise got a shot at cruiser Haguro, got a hit, but it was a dud. KXVII then missed a shot at destroyer Nenohi.

Cruisers heading north toward Andaman Island maybe? I'm betting that this is a reaction to my determined bombing of Port Blair.

During the day, at Milne Bay, a huge air strike arrives, with lots of escort. Damage to the airfield is very light, and is repaired by the end of the day.

At Chittagong, a couple of bomber raids arrived. There was no CAP. My B-17s had moved out 2 days ago. I think my opponent guessed that I'd move them back in when Chittagong wasn't hit yesterday. Damage to the airfield was moderate.

About 30 B24s hit Port Blair's airfield, again. Damage is light but mouse-over damage is over 40 now.

B-25s from the Solomons find CM Itsukushima escorted by a destroyer, and attacks at low level, getting one 500 pound bomb hit on the minelayer. I hadn't seen this ship before, so I'm hoping that it was inbound to the Munda area and not outbound.

Then the most interesting development for the day.

The task force that passed Horn Island and neared Port Moresby yesterday moves between Port Moresby and Milne Bay, and it has at least one battleship! I moved bombers to Cairns, hoping to get a shot at this task force, and I do. First 14 Beaufighters attack at 100 feet, and find 6 Zeros on LR CAP. Some bombers are lost, and 8 bombers miss the target battleship Hiei.

Then 6 Beaufort VIIIs attack, 5 of them find battleship Hiei and cruiser Takao, but all torpedoes miss.

11 B-25s attack at 6000 feet, missing the same 2 ships.

4 Beauforts then miss the battleship again with torpedoes.

Then 12 more B-25s go for Hiei, and all of these miss.

Lots of opportunities, including torpedo attacks. That would have been very nice against Hiei, but no hits.

I postpone Nauru and Ocean Island invasions, again, for now. Troop ships go south for safety. Carriers head west to be closer to Munda and Milne Bay.

Disappointing that all those aircraft could not get a hit on Hiei. Hopefully they got some experience for the next attack.

Looks like your CVs will be a little too late to catch Hiei, assuming the plan is to bombard Milne Bay. But if he goes to Tagula you may be able to catch him. Fingers crossed ...

21 Dec 42

An interesting day.

First BB Hiei, 2 cruisers, and 6 destroyers move into Milne Bay, and find 3 PT boats that just arrived from Australia. They are Q boats. I'm not sure, but I think they may have come from the Philippines. The battle is short and inconclusive as no hits are achieved for either side.

Near Munda, RO-34 sights my cruiser bombardment force, and the sub takes a bit of a pounding.

Then at Munda, RO-60 sights the same ships, and takes some minor hits from depth charges.

Still during the night, up by Kusaie Island, sub Halibut lines up carrier Akagi, fires 6 torpedoes, and gets a hit! But it is a dud. KB is right where I thought it was.

AM Muritai was damaged at Rossel Island while hiding in port. I decided to make a run for safety today. I-26 spots the ship just after it left Rossel, but 2 torpedoes miss.

Then the Hiei task force engages the 3 "Q" PT boats at Milne Bay again. The fight starts at 2000 yards, but all PT torpedoes miss, and all 3 PT boats are sunk.

AM Muritai then moved one hex further from Rossel, was spotted by I-26 again, and this time a torpedo hit, sinking the small ship.

Back at Munda, my cruisers find RO-60 again, and this time damage it moderately.

At Milne Bay, Hiei and 2 cruisers bombard the base. The only damage was to ground troops, and it was very light. The base remains operational. It was nice to see my coastal artillery unit at least try to hit the bombarding ships.

Back at Munda again, my cruiser task force bombards, and does good damage, causing 303 casualties with 10 non-combat and 6 engineer squads destroyed. There were 46 port hits and 7 port supply hits.

Troops then land on Munda. A lot of disabled troops, due to less than complete preparation.

Troops then land on adjacent Vangunu, and find a small unit there. Disabled troops here too.

With daylight, B-17s bomb Port Moresby's airfield. There is no CAP. Damage is excellent.

At Katherine, south of Darwin, one squadron of B-24Ds makes a nuisance raid on the airfield, destroying a couple of Babs planes and doing light damage to the field.

2 B-24D squadrons then bombed Tabiteuea, doing light damage.

At Port Blair, 19 B-24Ds hit the airfield again, destroying a couple of Nicks on the ground and doing light airfield damage. There is no CAP now.

At Malaybalay on Mindanao, the enemy finally attacks my mountain base successfully. Allied units retreat to Butuan, my last base. This is clear terrain though, and it might as well be over. I will try to move one combat unit back to the northeast to try to reclaim the empty enemy base in the jungle there, just to prolong the fight. It was nice to tie up over a division's worth of troops clearing me out here. In 10 days, it will be 1943, and we held out in the Philippines!

Now for today's planning.

KB will undoubtedly move to strike Munda, and I have little doubt that it will do so at a range of 6 or 7, keeping as far from my bases as possible. This would mean a move to north or northeast of Buin. I think it will move as close to Buin as possible, as my opponent loves the extra LR CAP from the airbases for KB.

I will play the same game today. My carriers will move to a defensive position between Rennell Island and Guadalcanal, with my land based fighters given a CAP range of 1. I move lots of bombers to Tulagi, but don't expect KB to come within range.

At Munda and Vangunu, I landed enough troops to defend but not to attack. Fatigue was moderate, so I'll just defend for now. I am happy to report that enough supply landed, with excess for each of my units. Most of my APDs go to Rennell Island, where they will either pick up more men or supply. 2 APDs go to Ndeni to get the rest of one of the units that landed.

I'd hoped that Vangunu was undefended, but the situation is fine. My goal here is to take the islands, but also to give the enemy another focal point. Whether I take these bases today or in 2 weeks, it doesn't really matter. Any effort the enemy makes here isn't being made to shut down my other bases that are building. Priority 1 for me remains building up Milne Bay and the island bases. It will be quite a different situation when all of these bases that are airfield 1's become airfield 2's.

So today there will be no shipping at Munda or Vangunu. B-24s will hit Buin's airfield. My air efforts are maximum CAP for my bases and carriers, and bombers on Tulagi just in case KB comes too close.

With more focus on the Solomons, I'm moving my reinforcement division for Milne Bay again. I hope that its arrival, in a few days, coincides with the airfield still being undamaged and me moving lots of CAP in.

Finally, I moved 4 destroyers to maximum bombardment range of Tarawa. This was only a few hexes from Tabiteuea, but my ships weren't seen. I'll go ahead and bombard Tarawa and see if I can get lucky with some ships in port. Tarawa is a size 3 airfield, but Tabiteuea is just a size 1. It's too bad that I don't have my Tabiteuea invasion queued up 3 hexes away from it right now. It'll happen, in time.

This is real nail biting action for your fans! If the Japanese BB force is where you say, then presumably they would be out of action for only one day (or 2?) before they could bring more grief at either Milne Bay or Munda. I would be worried about the combination of the strong BB force AND the KB attacking your newly landed troops.

If only it had been 11 days later, that fish might have exploded in the Akagi. Sure would have been nice.

22 Dec 42

4 enemy destroyers charge into Munda's harbor, and find 6 PT boats. The fight is inconclusive and a PT boat takes a minor hit.

Near Milne Bay, 4 US destroyers on ASW duty find I-174 and get one good depth charge hit.

At Butuan on Mindanao, the predicted bombing of my troop remnants occurs, with massive troop losses in the clear. My troops will probably not make it to the jungle hex to the northeast.

B-26s bomb Horn Island's airfield. There is no CAP. Airfield damage is moderate.

B-25s and B-26s, escorted by P-400s, bomb troops at Munda. The enemy has LR CAP of 8 Zeros and 5 Tojos. A few P-400s are lost, as well as 1 or 2 Tojos. All bombs miss the target.

30 B-24s bomb Buin's airfield. CAP is just 17 Zeros. No bombers are lost, and damage is moderate to the airfield.

At Munda and Vangunu, the enemy attacks with artillery, and finds that in both places, the enemy is stronger than they are.

Today I will attack at both locations. I don't expect either attack to take a base, but I will try. Reinforcements are on the way.

My carriers move west to prepare to guard a big transport convoy headed to Milne Bay, delivering the infantry division that I've been trying to get there for quite awhile.

I predicted correctly where KB would go today. I'm not sure about tomorrow. It will probably stay in range of Munda, and hug a friendly airfield or two. But it could get bored and be more adventurous. But I doubt that.

My bases are making good progress in building airfields and ports. I'll have a couple of size 2 airfields in less than a week.

23 Dec 42

Near Finschafen, S-28 finds a tiny minesweeper and elects not to engage. The enemy is doing constant minesweeping around Umboi Island.

19 Zeros sweep Deboyne Island. There is no CAP. Then Sallys escorted by lots of Nicks attack the airfield. Damage is low. The same bomber package attacked again in the afternoon, and did almost no damage.

At Munda, 25 P39s sweep at 7000 feet as part of a staggered sweep. Most of the P39s are shot down, finding over 20 Tojos and a handful of Zeros on LR CAP. It was brutal for the P39s, but it did give the enemy fighters something to do before my bombers arrived.

A naval task force is spotted at Munda. It is battleship Hiei and friends. 27 SBD-3s attack, escorted by 18 P400s. 15 Tojos and 5 A6M3 Zeros are on LR CAP. Some planes are lost, 21 SBDs drop bombs, and every bomb misses. Most went for the battleship.

Then 22 P39s arrive at 100 feet. Losses are light, but no bombs hit, and nothing was strafed either.

Next 18 Albacores arrive. Half are shot down, with 14 launching torpedoes at Hiei and 2 cruisers. All torpedoes miss.

Next, 16 SBD-2s arrive. Some are lost, 10 drop bombs, all bombs miss.

Finally, 25 P40Es sweep Munda! Better late than never. But not by much. A couple of Tojos are downed for no loss.

Still at Munda, and during the day, Hiei and cruisers bombard my troops. Losses are very low, but some level of disruption occurred.

At Horn Island, B-26s hit the airfield again. Damage is mounting and there are no planes there.

I did attack at both Munda and Vangunu. Both attacks went at 1 to 2. Munda is a fort 1. Vangunu is a fort 0. My losses at Munda are 152 casualties, causing 40 to the enemy. The disruption hurt. At Vangunu, my losses are 33, causing 73. Both of my units at these bases still have enough supply.

KB has moved just south of Rabaul. I'm sending troops and supply to Vangunu, supported by a big task force with battleship Indiana and a bunch of cruisers and destroyers. My task force is running in at full speed during the night, and staying during the day. It will be very heavily LR CAPped from Lunga. I'm also landing engineers at Rekata Bay, east of Munda, just to have another point of concern for the enemy.

I'm landing the infantry division at Milne Bay today. That big task force was not spotted today, so I'm hoping to land cleanly. My carriers will move just southwest of Milne Bay. There's risk and reward to this move. I'm risking running over subs on the way, and also risking a move by KB that could be at the magic 7 hex range. The reward is that I loaded up Milne Bay with fighters, and put them on range 1. My carrier CAP is also on range 1, so I'll have maximum fighter support.

I hope that KB does not go to one of its favorite spots just southeast of Lae. That's 7 hexes from where I'm going.

Very tense times. Milne Bay's airfield just became size 2. That is helpful. My bases continue to build, and time is on my side. Anything I accomplish here before I start getting large fighter replacements in mid 1943 is a bonus. I now hope to take Vangunu quickly and contest Munda. I'll be able to land troops at Vangunu and march north to clear the island.

It was disappointing to not get Hiei today. The SBDs weren't going to hurt it, but the torpedo bombers could have. I had no luck with the Albacores today. Just one torpedo would have been a success. I can't decide if leaving Hiei there was an accident or a plan to guard the base. The Hiei task force would have been in deep trouble if my carriers had remained where it was yesterday by Guadalcanal.

Sometimes the roughest AE days are when there's no turn in the inbox. No turn today, hopefully one tomorrow. With so much activity from Milne Bay to Rabaul to Guadalcanal, there's action just about every turn.

ORIGINAL: apbarog

Sometimes the roughest AE days are when there's no turn in the inbox. No turn today, hopefully one tomorrow. With so much activity from Milne Bay to Rabaul to Guadalcanal, there's action just about every turn.

The delay may indicate you have him in a quandary, trying to decide what to do next .... mistakes are more likely when guessing!

You've done a great job at seizing and holding the initiative against a strong Japanese opponent. Even though your losses have been higher (I think?) they have been reasonable and you have achieved some real progress with threats of much more. I wonder if the Hiei's successful journey will persuade your opponent to be more aggressive with such missions.