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Hi all,

As promised here's the long awaited [;)] update on the next CentPac invasions....The Mariana's.

At this stage of the war, and with the superiority in material I have, it's all about bringing a sledgehammer.

My fleets are about 10 days out from the target area (they're currently SE of Midway).

I'm invading both Tinian and Guam. The amount of force I'm bringing should be enough to overwhelm anything Faber has in terms of defences.

Here's the LCU's involved in the assault:

Tinian:

7th Infantry Division
6th Infantry Division
33rd Infantry Division
27th Infantry Division
4th USMC Division
1st (Spec) Cavalry Division
110th USA Combat Eng. Bn
4th USMC Tk Bn
104th Combat Eng. Bn
131st Combat Eng. Rgt
640 TD Bn
+ oodles of ART, HQ, BF's, Support etc.

Guam:

38th Infantry Division
93rd Infantry Division
31st Infantry Division
77th Infantry Division
43rd Infantry Division
111th (Sept) Infantry Rgt
22nd USMC Infantry Rgt
2nd USMC Amphib Tk Bn
5th USMC Tk Bn
671st TK Bn
+ oodles of ART, HQ, BF's, Support etc.

This will also be the showcase for all of the Allied Technological toys and infrastructure; AGC's, LCI (G)'s, AE's, CVE carrying VR's etc.

In total there are 887 ships taking part in this operation. The main combat vessels include:

12 x CV
9 x CVL
12 x CVE (Combat)
14 x BB (4 in CV TF's and the rest in 4 x SC TF's)

There's 1567 combat aircraft available as well.

All in all this should be fun [:)]

---------------

The Allies have so much power at this stage of the war that I have LCU's at PH preparing for 3 more follow up invasions (not Mariana's).

The LCU's involved in the Mariana's campaign will either take out Saipan and surrounding bases afterwards or be used in early 45 invasions nearer Japan.

That is certainly a very big hammer! [:D] Won´t really matter what he has at the targets as I think you will overwhelm them quickly!

Good luck with the invasion! [&o]

PS. What are you doing with the rest of the CVEs?

Thanks Jocke [:)]
 
I'll be recon'ing again shortly to get the latest Intel on the region as well.
 
Been counting the CVE numbers eh? [;)]
 
There's 21 of them upgrading and repairing at PH.
 
A further 13 are to provide air support for the next set of invasions north of Ambon. I'll detail these plans shortly but the TF's have just left Townsville and will disembark and re-arrange at Ambon before setting forth. I would imagine these invasions will take place a week or so after the Mariana's

Hehe, Well they are certainly a force to be reckoned with and I have come to cherish mine. [&o] 21 CVEs are roughly 600 extra planes. That would increase your combat strength from 1500 to over 2000. Something I would really consider waiting for! [:)]

No need for the Mariana's invasions. I'm very confident of success. KB is virtually non existant and I'm confident of closing 3 major AF's with what I have on hand.

I should have also added that its a no go for me - turning back now. I'd lose so much time and the troops would need to disembark etc. all in all it would delay the invasion by 35-40 days which I don't think is worth it IMO[;)]

As I usually say: I hope I´m wrong and you are right! [:D]

Me too[;)]

Hi all,

Been holding off on an update as it's been a routine 10 game days with the usual air raids by me in Sumatra and Burma. Heavy air battles and raids took place over southern Malaya from the 5-9th costing about 150 Allied and 220 Jap planes. Faber has withdrawn again now.

The B29's take forever to repair so I've only managed to launch 1 raid knocking down Soerabaya's Refineries to 40% production.

Troops and material are unloading at both Ambon (for the SRA Offensives) and Oosthaven (for the Malaya invasion). It will probably be another week or so before both of these invasions kick off.

I've recently moved 750 AV worth of Aussie troops up from Alice Springs to retake northern Aus (Darwin/Broome) which have been held by Faber since 42.

Katherine was easily taken on the 11th. Next stop Darwin and c.20K Jap troops. Supply (as always) is an issue up here but I've been building the bases north of Daly Waters up for the past 2 years to allow more supply to flow overland.

The Mariana's are hotting up though as my fleets near their destination.....

--------------------

Mariana's:

Faber's recon spotted my Fleets (hard to miss so many ships [;)]) on the 13th.

The first Jap air raids took place today, on the 15th, and were repulsed heavily with the Japs losing a reported 128 planes to 8 Allied fighters. Faber will do well to break through this level of CAP but I'm sure 10's of raids could weather them down:

Morning Air attack on TF, near Saipan at 116,95

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 27
D4Y1 Judy x 24

Allied aircraft
Seafire IIC x 10
FM-2 Wildcat x 179
F6F-3 Hellcat x 286
F6F-5 Hellcat x 213

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 7 destroyed
D4Y1 Judy: 12 destroyed

No Allied losses

The below screenshot shows the present position of my fleets and a mass of spotted enemy subs (Faber loves the tactic of massing subs at invasions points and I don't blame him). I'll sail to a position 1-3 hexes off the Mariana's and attempt to knock out the enemy AF's over the next few days before deciding when to go in and invade. It's likely I'll invade at Tinian first and then Guam.

My Airgroups have been ordered to attack enemy TF's first with a secondary of AF's and Ports on the Islands.

We'll see what transpires!

Recon indicated approx. 350 enemy fighters and 250 enemy bombers spread across the Islands AF's. Both Guam and Tinian seem to have 12-15 units numbering 45-60K men and 200-300 AFV.

--------------------

Submarine Warfare:

A barren spell is upon my boys at present with the Silly E class ASW vessels being annoying to boot.

12 x dud/missed attacks.

SS Jallao sank TK Katsukawa Maru off Balabac on the 5th.

SS Silversides sank SC Ch 54 off Ominato on the 9th. She was in action again on the 13th claiming SC CHa-51 sunk.

SS Grayling blew up SC CHa-36 off Wakkanai on the 10th.

SS Sculpin found the same ASW TF sinking SC CHa-7.

SS Guitarro sank AKL Daiju Maru SW of Japan.

SS S-44 heavily damaged AK Toun Maru, on the 14th, with a torpedo as she fled the Mariana's with the Allies approaching.

On the other side SS Sunfish, Telemachus was sank by ASW vessels. SS Caiman and Guavina were heavily damaged. SS Grayling was sunk by LBA off northern Japan.

Fingers crossed! Good luck! [:)]

Thanks [:)]

Not had time to run or look at the turn yet but saw the CR for the 16th September.

A mass of further air raids tried to hit Allied shipping and despite a few bombers breaking through the CAP no hits were sustained and further heavy losses were reported on Jap LBA.

Now the bad......

Faber had some fun with his subs this time. Not good:

Sub attack near Saipan at 114,95

Japanese Ships
SS I-27, hits 20, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CV Wasp II, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Iowa
CA Northampton
CA Indianapolis
CL Denver
CL Honolulu
CLAA San Juan
DD Bell
DD Aulick
DD Bryant
DD Brownson
DD Boyd
DD Black

Fuel storage explosion on CV Wasp II
SS I-27 launches 6 torpedoes at CV Wasp II


AND THEN

Sub attack near Saipan at 114,95

Japanese Ships
SS I-45, hits 3

Allied Ships
CV Wasp II, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Iowa
CA Northampton
CA Indianapolis
CL Denver
CL Honolulu
CLAA San Juan
DD Bell
DD Aulick
DD Bryant
DD Brownson
DD Boyd
DD Black

I suspect she's a goner. Grrrrr.

A DD and an AK were also sunk. Escorts did report sinking 4-5 of the buggers though.

Hi all,

CentPac:

It was as a I feared by the end of the morning CV Wasp was slipping under the waves with heavy loss of life and her full complement of planes. Very disappointing and frustrating. Faber's subs have scored well against my CV fleet in this game!

The AK was carrying supply for Tinian and was lost as well. The DD (Ammen) is still afloat with 70 FLT damage.

I've attached a screenshot of the day's air losses. The loss of 90ish planes on Wasp skews the losses.

No of my other ships were hit by the few bombers that got through the CAP.

Air raids were launched against Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan moderately damaging the AF's and ports. We'll go again tomorrow if no enemy TF's are located.

I may then send the troops ashore in a day or 2 further time.

--------------------

Elsewhere troops continue to disembark at Ambon and Oosthaven in preparation for the upcoming invasions.

All being well troops will re-embark in assault formation at Oosthaven within 4-5 days.

Siberoet's B29's will try to take out Balikpapan's oilfields tomorrow.

--------------------

Submarine Warfare:

No contacts.

Sorry to hear about the WASP [:(]

I have also been a victim of disproportionately effective Jap subs. I have found the only way to decrease TTs on capital ships to move, move and move while absolutely flooding the area with 10-20 ASW TFs. I have found that the actual number of ASW TFs and ASW value in the hex of the attack seems almost irrelevant. I had subs launching TTs at CVs even though the total ASW value in the hex where over 1000 and well over 100 in the TF itself. Attacks have gone down significantly with the ASW TF flood tactics. Instead of firing at capital ships the subs fire at the ASW TFs instead and then gets damaged and/or sunk.

Hi all,

Thanks JocMeister. There's been no more 'mishaps' over the past 2 days. I believe I've sunk about 7-9 Jap subs in the operation so far. No compensation for the loss of Wasp mind you........

Mariana's:

My armada has move to a position just east of Tinian now. The last 2 days has seen a reduction in the number of Jap air strikes and I've been launching raids on the Airfields to keep the Japs on their toes. Most of the Islands AF's are now at least moderately damaged. Losses have increased my end due to the need to escort bombers and to AA etc. Reports indicate I've lost 70ish planes to 120 Jap over the past 2 days.

Tomorrow will, hopefully, see a mass of air raids against Tinian's troops and then the day after I'll send the boys ashore.

Quick question as I've forgotten: Do the AGC's (loaded with Amphib HQ) need to be in the invasion hex or ok 1 hex away to confer invasion benefits?

----------------------

Almost ready to begin to load up troops at Oosthaven and Ambon for further operations in SRA.

Balikpapan's Oilfields are down to 63 operational out of 300 total after 2 days of heavy air raids by Siberoet's B29's.

-----------------------

Submarine Warfare:

1 x dud/missed attacks.

SS Bonefish sank AK London Maru near Jolo on the 17th.

SS Burrfish sank PB Magan Maru from the same convoy.

SS Bonefish was in action again the next day heavily damaging AK Nichiyu Maru with a torpedo.

Nothing annoys me more than losing a capital ship (especiallyl a fleet CV) to a sub.

Detection is the best preventative against successful sub attacks. The best is provided by plenty of patrol planes in areas where you expect subs. Planes for detection and then high experienced DDs in an ASW TF with a good patrol zone and reaction range set to three. By mid 44, I had pretty much eliminated any Japanese Sub threat. But I am willing to say over the course of the game they probably torpedoed 15 to 20 capital ships of mine, some on multiple occasions. I am lucky that he never sunk anything larger than a CA. Just got to be very careful in 42 and early 1943..

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Detection is the best preventative against successful sub attacks. The best is provided by plenty of patrol planes in areas where you expect subs. Planes for detection and then high experienced DDs in an ASW TF with a good patrol zone and reaction range set to three. By mid 44, I had pretty much eliminated any Japanese Sub threat. But I am willing to say over the course of the game they probably torpedoed 15 to 20 capital ships of mine, some on multiple occasions. I am lucky that he never sunk anything larger than a CA. Just got to be very careful in 42 and early 1943..

Everyone always mentiones reaction range three for ASW...why not anything over that? Do you not wanting them exhausting their opps during one phase so they may react multiple times during the turn if more subs are detected?

ORIGINAL: crsutton

Detection is the best preventative against successful sub attacks. The best is provided by plenty of patrol planes in areas where you expect subs. Planes for detection and then high experienced DDs in an ASW TF with a good patrol zone and reaction range set to three. By mid 44, I had pretty much eliminated any Japanese Sub threat. But I am willing to say over the course of the game they probably torpedoed 15 to 20 capital ships of mine, some on multiple occasions. I am lucky that he never sunk anything larger than a CA. Just got to be very careful in 42 and early 1943..

Yup agree with that.

Faber is using interesting tactics though by essentially husbanded all of his subs in threatened areas and using them from local hubs to counter the upcoming invasion. In this invasion for example I've sank 7-9 of the buggers and there's a further 4 spotted and attacked out there.

I quite like his tactics and will use similar ones past 42 in my future Jap games. The positive with them is you're staying out of range from masses of enemy LBA and you'll have more chance of hitting ships as your own LBA spots the enemy.

I believe the Command Radius of the HQ is what matters, whether on an AGC or on land.
On other [non-AGC] types of vessels not designed to support an HQ, it would not be able to lend command support.

ORIGINAL: jeffk3510

Nothing annoys me more than losing a capital ship (especiallyl a fleet CV) to a sub.

Be glad you were not working in the British Admiralty in WWII! They lost quite a number of ships to subs. The ones I can recall quickly were CVs Courageous, Ark Royal and Argus, BBs Royal Oak and Barham, and indirectly, BBs Valiant and Queen Elizabeth heavily damaged in Alexandria harbour by mines planted by Italian sub-launched human torpedoes. They also lost several CVEs.