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mixed bag, all the wirraways, Lysanders, Vengences, mixed bag of 3 models of Mitchells, etc..[:D]

ps. I stopped by aerospace museum again today for lunch. I got some more pics to post down the road.

February 3rd 1944

Game: Apparently cocktail hour at IJ HQ went late last night according to a communique through back channels. "Kampai!" my IJ foe. Zulu HQ does get a replay though and after a most heavy raid, the Aussies are ashore at Aitape with minimal loss. There is no shock attack or any resistance on the beach. Aside from some small losses in the surf and 1st Amphib unloading with the Aussies we expect to take the base quickly. Allied HQ decided against the original target of Hollandia after recon showed a massive build up in the fall. The developed (50%-+) of Hollandia would have been a nicer prize but Aitape will serve our purposes the same and cost less (like Walmart [:D]). The isolation of eastern New Guinea and the Solomons is almost complete. With the new bases are search aircraft and ASW assets will be in far better position to pick up threats to Kavieng. There are now 5 divisions within the northern Solomons and New Ireland with three more preparing or in route. There was no contact from RADM Shermans CV TF yesterday.

Nice job with the Aitape landing.  Build up Aitape and bomb Hollandia.  I have the same PC runs the game great.  Love my big screen monitor.

I think Aitape will be a great place for Mitchells to hit Hollandia from. They should not fatigue much, get in some good real world experience, and keep the Japs down. Here is the basic plan for the next step.

Somebody is getting good with Paint.

February 4th 1944

CenPac: Fuel and supply ordered forward to support Operation Thoroughbred.

SwPac: RADM Sherman does some tomfoolery with the CV TFs and refuels enough till the oilers arrive. No political muscle to get hold of valuable ASW Aussie assets to patrol off Manus. Some TBFs wil arrive in a week to assume that responsibility (I have trained some squadrons that way). The beach head shows 220 Japanese at Aitape, because we barely made the beaches at daybreak we only landed 26AV, we will assault tomorrow.

Up date on Thoroughbred: Primary units: status: location.

Replay: hunch may be right: heres a mouse over in the Marianas: To drunk to issue orders tonight. GO O's.

Update:

CenPac: 93rd INF Div, 27th INF Div, 3rd Marine Div, 265th CA, V amphib. are loading for the forward areas.

SwPac: No IJN surface force contact off Aitape. Deliberate assault ordered for tomorrow. Oilers should reach Sherman's TFs tonight. Three IJN subs reported hit by ASW a/c today. Raids ordered on Truk, Hollandia, Aitape, and Taberfane. Southern Mist clearing the coast, over 800nm from nearest Jap base. She will not alter course to the north for another several days.

China: Liberators from Ledo ordered to raid into southwest China, hoping to catch some IJAF bombers (being used as transports) on the ground. T-storms in the forcast there.

Burma: Recon picks up a IJAF bomber concentration at Taung Gyi. A strike is ordered.

February 6th 1944

CenPac: We get two fish in a large oil filled tanker off the HI. She does not go down. Pearl Harbor is crammed full of ships of every description, loading, unloading, and support.

SwPac: Aitape falls easily at 99:1. Southern Mist makes fine progress, I hope it is going to be worth it. IJN subs take two xAKLs to the bottom in the central Solomons but ASW scores three hits on the subs (Hudson ASW a/c).

CBI: T-Storms predicted accross the region. We stand down recon and organize a small raid, doubting if they fly at all.

West Caost: YorktownII is under a 100 days. Five more CVEs leave for Pearl.

Game: CnC Zuluhour informs TWIT we are no longer suffering a major defeat. We are only suffering a minor defeat. Drinks all around, no further excuses needed.

Morning Air attack on Truk , at 112,108

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M2 Jack x 11
N1K1-J George x 11



Allied aircraft
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 33


Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 6 damaged
J2M2 Jack: 2 destroyed on ground
N1K1-J George: 2 damaged
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
J1N1-C Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged



Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 14000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 14000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
12 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 14000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
341 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes
381 Ku S-1 with J2M2 Jack (3 airborne, 8 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes

Forgot to mention, the reduction of Truk has begun in earnest.

Update:

west coast: CenPac: Army BFs, Navy BFs, and aviation engineers ordered to prep for Thoroughbred.

SwPac: No sign of surface assets off Aitape. Sherman still patrols 150nm off the beach head. Southern Mist clear of long range IJ air groups, she will turn to the northwest in 48 hours. We hit Truk again. This is going to be expensive.

Burma: Little action, Bettys night raid over Akyab, night fighters score some kills. Mitchells hit Schwebo for 300 casualties.

India: elements of the 11th Chinese Army Group prepare to railhead south to the Ledo valley.

SwPac: No sign of surface assets off Aitape. Sherman still patrols 150nm off the beach head. Southern Mist clear of long range IJ air groups, she will turn to the northwest in 48 hours. We hit Truk again. This is going to be expensive.

Have your CV TF "follow" a SC TF or two made up of 4 DDs. If anything comes out from Truk let them try to hit the nimble DDs rather than CVs or Bbs. Set reaction to '0' and make sure their leader is NOT aggressive.

February 7th 1944

nygiants: We play you guys this year. I had the turn away when I got your tactical advice above. I see I could ahve saved some lives. It did not fall on deaf ears.

SwPac: Zulu HQ: Not anticipating anything special, the day becomes ominous very quickly. The combat reports from the front begin to arrive after a couple of bloody marys and eggs benedict (Canadian bacon, American bacon to over powering for the Bernaise sauce.) The first indication something is up comes from Manus. Bettys come in at night and score heavy at the newly captured base.

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-5 Catalina: 3 damaged
PBY-5 Catalina: 1 destroyed on ground
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 5 damaged
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed on ground
Hudson III (LR): 6 damaged
Kittyhawk IV: 3 damaged
Kittyhawk IV: 1 destroyed on ground



Airbase hits 7
Runway hits 19

Aircraft Attacking:
16 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

The news does not get better when word from Burma arrives that a high scoring RAF fighter squadron sweeping Mandalay loses at 1:4. The Tony appears to be better than first thought. Then word comes from Sherman off Manus tacking to the NW of Manus he has been spotted and has incoming bogies, bearing NNE. In heavy cloud but with 30min warning well over 100 attack aircraft are spotted by radar. The Japanese show up over Intrepids TF and a mighty CAP is assembled to meet the raiders. Almost 50 Japanese aviators are reported splashed for two fighters and no hits on Intrepid or her screen. Fingers crossed as the reports continue to flow in from the battle. 98 more bogies spotted by radar at 88nm 22min from RADM Shermans own TF of Wasp and Yorktown. Only 8 corsairs get airborn but the carriers and battleships Massachusetts and South Dakota fill the air with flak.

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 10
A6M5 Zero x 30
B6N2 Jill x 36
D4Y1 Judy x 22



Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 24 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 4 destroyed by flak
D4Y1 Judy: 4 damaged
D4Y1 Judy: 6 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Wasp
BB Massachusetts, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3
BB South Dakota, Torpedo hits 2



Aircraft Attacking:
5 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb
8 x A6M5 Zero sweeping at 20000 feet
21 x B6N2 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
5 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb
9 x A6M5 Zero sweeping at 20000 feet
6 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 10000 feet
3 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 10000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb
8 x B6N2 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
4 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb
3 x D4Y1 Judy releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 kg SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
VMF-111 with F4U-1A Corsair (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 8 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 14000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes

Fuel storage explosion on CV Yorktown
Fuel storage explosion on CV Yorktown

Yorktown is in trouble but she is not done yet. She breaks off to the southwest with a destroyer escort and makes for port. The Massachusetts and South Dakota receive DD assistance also and follow the Yorktown. It's not easy waiting to read down through the wires now. The IJN has struck first again and slipped a co ordinated package right through the massive CAP package earlier in the morning. Over 150 Hellcats and Wildcats had met the first raiders and shredded them, what happened to Shermans TF? Then word arrives we have gotten a strike in the air and the results appear to be impressive. Hellcats and Helldivers find Akagi, Kaga, and Shokaku:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 101,112

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 32 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 7
A6M5 Zero x 31



Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 52
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 59


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 6 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 4 destroyed, 25 damaged
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Ryuho, Bomb hits 2
CV Kaga
CA Nachi, Bomb hits 1
CVL Chitose, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Shokaku
CL Oyodo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CA Ashigara

It's still morning and I can only wonder what the hell the rest of the CVs are doing. And the report continues. Wasp, Yorktown, Intrepid, Gettysburg, and all the escort carriers do get planes away and hit home.


Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 101,112

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 3
A6M5 Zero x 15



Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 139
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 61
SBD-5 Dauntless x 31
TBF-1 Avenger x 82
TBM-1C Avenger x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 4 damaged
TBM-1C Avenger: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Chitose, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CVL Ryuho, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Chikuma, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Yahagi, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Nachi, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Tone
DD Naganami
DD Hamanami
CA Haguro, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Tamanami
DD Asashio

It's all over by noon. The last action report of the day comes from the CO on Manus. Two dozen Jills show up to take 50% casulties and return to smoking ships. Orders have been flowing from Zulu HQ for the past hour to the fleet. It is a time of decision. A map of the situation after some of the orders are received by Sherman on Wasp.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

SwPac: No sign of surface assets off Aitape. Sherman still patrols 150nm off the beach head. Southern Mist clear of long range IJ air groups, she will turn to the northwest in 48 hours. We hit Truk again. This is going to be expensive.

Have your CV TF "follow" a SC TF or two made up of 4 DDs. If anything comes out from Truk let them try to hit the nimble DDs rather than CVs or Bbs. Set reaction to '0' and make sure their leader is NOT aggressive.

I like this advice also to have a shot of flushing out submarines .. I make it a point to have a high naval leader/low agression of a ASW force lead my CV TF's ...

You can set your CV TFs to 'follow' at different ranges. I use 1 or 2 hexes as I want some leaky CAP to cover them. Set your CVL based fighters to 0 or 1 hex range. You will see less of the message recalling them. If you have all your fighters at max range, then some could be out too far to make it back in time to be help for your CAP.

I set my DB/TB at 10% Naval Search (maybe 20%) as this helps find and bring in the strikes even if PBYs have spotted them from shore.

After training up my Kingfisher in NavS, I go with ASW. Half are for Naval Search and then the other half at 2 hexes range for ASW (1 hex actual). Their bombs are big enough to seriously damage if not an outright sink a Japanese sub.

Still working the turn around the other parts of the map, I am getting close to a command decision in regards to the naval action. I think if I had heeded the advice above, (retrieved it before sending out orders) I may have completely staved off the second strike which hit Yorktown. Unfortunately, I have no PPs and hav'ent for some time. It's a long story, suffice it to say, I have a badly crippled battleship which should have withdrawn and cannot until repairs reach a level months away yet. I only got Sherman on the Wasp by a twist of fate, withdrawing some squadrons early. Southern Mist is my attempt to get an ARD to Columbo from the west coast. The BB Revenge still has 72F damage (was 76) on critical on Ceylon. What I'm thinking now, or leaning toward is pressing this battle into a second day. I'm crunching ship numbers and aircraft numbers now. I will lead as suggested with a destroyer screen or if I retire, I'll trail one to. Todays action should have come as no surprise to me as the IJN has counter attacked landing TFs on the 3rd or 4th day with the Kido Butai several times after I retired my carriers. It was only in late 1943 off Namatani with naval land based air I was finally able to claim a naval victory from Terry. My thoughts now on what he will do: 1) press SE to hit shipping he knows is unloading at Kavieng (least likely in my mind given the days results.) 2.) attempt an intercept with his cruisers (I did not spot a BB yet.) and destroyers on my carrier TFs relying on the long lance while his carriers retire. 3.) Retire to the Marianas or Baleobob(sp) I suspect Saipan.

The last look from departing strike aircraft:

Fuel storage explosion on CVL Chitose
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Akagi
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Shokaku
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CVL Ryuho
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CL Yahagi
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CV Kaga
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring a Aoba class CA

The BB Revenge still has 72F damage (was 76) on critical on Ceylon.

Assign 2 DDs as escort and head for Cape Town, at Full Speed. Either Allied damage control keeps her afloat or she sinks and allows you to use PPs for things useful. Having a constant drain of PPs is not good for you at this point in the game.

7 CVs are currently spotted
IJN flew 168 attack aircraft against our TFs
IJN flew 77 CAP missions and 56 fighter escort missions
Our estimate of their air losses:
53 aircraft, mostly strike aircraft.
I think the KB has 247 of all types at the maximum ready for combat. This does not include damaged aircraft or Op losses. I believe a further 40 strike aircraft are damaged and some are thought to have diverted to Hollandia, (the forcast is partly cloudy) and has a max strike package scheduled for tomorrow.
On our side:
3CVs and 7CVLs with 378 aircraft and Wasp (to the sw) with a further 71 aircraft for a total 449.

Will Kaga, Shokaku, and Akagi be able to launch and recover aircraft at all? Is this the time to finish the job?