Tokyo Rose was a Hussy! Chez (J) vs. Canoe (A)

[Cribtop]

[Nemo121]

Khorne would be leased [:D]

[Cribtop]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Cough -- that Cribtop fellow was right -- Cough. [shuffles off stage right] [:D]

Let the pounding commence!

In this case I don't mind being wrong. [:D] Let the fireworks begin and I echo Paullus's comments, this is a golden opportunity to finish your opponent's hopes and aspirations. Too many lessons not learnt. Good luck CR, but I don't think you will have much to worry about.

Just teasin' you, Sqz. We Texans have a bad habit of pointing out when we're right. When we're wrong, of course, we just edit our prior posts. [8D]

[witpqs]

CR,

Just a caution about SigInt. The display is from Tracker - two different troop counts for the same base in the same turn! [:D]

[GreyJoy]

Have these 8 hours passed? [:D]
We're all wating....[&o]

[Canoerebel]

4/12/42 (Preliminary Report)
 
Since I teased you guys with the "we'll know in eight hours" comment yesterday, I'll go ahead and tell you what happened around Sumatra.  I've only seen the actual combat report to this point - I haven't watched the combat replay or seen the new turn file - so I only have the highlights.  I'll say this - it was a good day for the Allies, though not exactly in ways I might have foreseen:
 
Invasion of Port Blair (?):  There's nothing in the combat report about any Allied carriers going into action, nor about any enemy ships heading toward Port Blair or elsewhere.  That's not a huge surprise as I didn't expect my carriers to be within range today.  Until I open the turn file, I won't know if the enemy ships are still headed for Port Blair, retired back towards Singapore, took a left turn to round Sumatra, or took a right turn towards Rangoon.  I also don't know if enemy patrols caught wind of the Allied carriers.  I do know that enemy bombers didn't sortie against them and that they didn't have the bad luck to go into a surface engagement with enemy combat ships.  I'll post more about this in a few hours, as soon as I've seen the combat and turn files.
 
Battle of Singapore:  This was the scene of the major battle of the day.  An Allied TF led by two CL and a handful of DDs raided this port and found it underprotected.  The result was a decisive Allied victory as follows:
 
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Apr 12, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 2,000 Yards
 
Japanese Ships
      PB Kyo Maru #11, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
      PB Kyo Maru #12, Shell hits 2
      AO Erimo, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
      AO Notoro, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
 
Allied Ships
      CL Capetown
      CL Colombo
      DD Barker
      DD Bulmer
      DD Paul Jones
      DD Stewart
      DD Stuart
 
Night Time Surface Combat, near Singapore at 50,84, Range 9,000 Yards
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Kashii, Shell hits 2
      CL Kitakami, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
      DD Usugumo, Shell hits 7,  on fire
      DD Tachikaze, Shell hits 7,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      DD Wakatake, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
      DD Hasu, Shell hits 4,  on fire
      TB Otori, Shell hits 4,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      PB Kyo Maru #2
      AV Sagara Maru
      xAK Enju Maru, Shell hits 2,  heavy fires
      xAK Hikosan Maru
      xAK Hokko Maru, Shell hits 2,  on fire
      xAK Hokusho Maru, Shell hits 5,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      xAK Iwaki Maru, Shell hits 3
      xAK Josho Maru
      xAK Kurohime Maru, Shell hits 1,  on fire
      xAK Meisho Maru
      xAK Midori Maru
      xAK Nittei Maru
      xAK Ryujo Maru
      xAK Sanuki Maru
      xAK Taibun Maru
      xAK Tatsuho Maru, Shell hits 1,  on fire
      xAK Tone Maru
      xAK Ume Maru
 
Allied Ships
      CL Capetown, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
      CL Colombo, Shell hits 1
      DD Barker
      DD Bulmer
      DD Paul Jones
      DD Stewart
      DD Stuart
 
Enemy air later sortied against the brave little Allied ships, with this result:
 
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Muntok at 49,89
 
Weather in hex: Overcast
 
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 24
      G3M2 Nell x 9 
 
Allied aircraft
      Hurricane IIb Trop x 6
      P-39D Airacobra x 4
      P-40E Warhawk x 16
      F2A-3 Buffalo x 6 
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
      G3M2 Nell: 4 destroyed
 
Allied aircraft losses
      Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
 
Allied Ships
      CL Capetown, Torpedo hits 1,  heavy damage
 
China:  The Chinese attack at Loyang game in at Seven Billion to One odds as 2200 AV destroyed 100 squads of 101st NCPC Route Brigade.  It looks like the Japanese are weak in this region, and Steve seems to be drawing down his Changsha stack to reinforce.  Over the next few weeks, the Chinese will seek chances to overwhelm small Japanese units.  Eventually, the Chinese will have to pull back and give up most of all of the advance bases reclaimed temporarily, but the Chinese army is growing strong enough on two fronts (Changsha and Sian) to continue this pattern of striking weak enemy armies.

[paullus99]

Nice - losing those AO's continues to hurt & inflicting losses on potential escorts is always good. Your CLs are a magnitude better than his, but any warships you can cull as sunk or badly damaged is a good thing.

Very interested to learn where those other SCTFs went.....

[Canoerebel]

4/12/42
 
Bay of Bengal:  The three enemy TFs took a right turn and seem to be heading for Rangoon (and undoubtedly using Victorial Point fighters for LRCAP).  This seems to be a mission to bring supplies and possibly reinforcements to the Burma theater.  I don't like this, because I have some plans of my own in Burma.  And since this is also a juicy prize within range of the Allied carriers, the Allies will continue to press for an engagement.  The carriers are trailing the enemy TFs by fifteen hexes, but seem to have a speed advantage of four hexes per turn.  There's no question the Allied carriers can cut the enemy's path of retirement from Rangoon, though I'm a bit nervous about being in range of the level-four airfield at Victoria Point.  There's also the cost of having my carriers pretty far from Sumatra, and a the same time revealing their location to the enemy, but in weighing everything the Allies have decided to pull the trigger.  It's not often a chance arises to hit a major enemy TF without any risk of enemy carriers in the vicinity.  No strikes should occur tomorrow, assuming the enemy TFs continue on the same course, but after tomorrow the Allies will have interdicted the enemy sea lane.  Also, there is still SigInt that IJA 56th Regiment is aboard a maru bound for Port Blair.  If the three TFs turn left and move on that base, a clash will take place tomorrow.  But the 56th TFs may be trailing somewhere back near Singapore.  Also, Formidable and Lexington are at sea and will join the fray in no more than three days.  Saratoga departs Colombo in two days.
 
Singapore:  CL Capetown sank, a noble end after an effective mission.  The Japanese seem to have lost one CL, two DD, two AO, one PB, one TB and one xAK, with another ten ships damaged.
 
Sumatra and Java:  No appearance of an imminent threat.  The Boise/Canberrra TF on a mission from Oosthaven to interdict enemy shipping at Denpasar was sighted.  Five Bettys sortied from Denpasar but missed.  Steve will surely withdraw his ships from that exposed post.  Palembang forts are up to 4.82, on schedule to reach level 5 in less than ten days.  Both Oosthaven and Benkolen forts are nearing 4, at which point their engineering units will move up to Palembang to try to boost progress there to level 6.
 
Pago Pago:  The Japanese ships have retired.  The Japanese troops aren't even trying to attack, which confirms that the landing didn't go well for them.  Japan will have to bring more to the table - either reinforcements or perhaps a stout bombardment TF.  The Allies are bringing about ten DDs to theater - three on the way from Auckland and the balance from Pearl Harbor.
 
NoPac:  The enemy is primarily concentrating on reinforcing Shimishura Jima and Shikuka, with a build up of troops reported at Ominato.  Carriers reported in vicinity.  The Japanese seem to be moving slowly, which I much prefer.  The Allies cannot hold these islands against a determined enemy counerattack, but the objective is to hold enemy attention and assets as long as possible.
 
China:  The Japanese have drawn some of the Changsha garrison a hex to the south, while one division seems to be heading north as though to reinforce in the Loyang sector.  The Chinese army retiring from Kukong on the road to Henyang is making good progress.  The Chinese will continue looking for opportunities to hit dispersed or weak enemy troop concentrations.  Since Japan is ready for its Phase Two operations now that Luzon and Singapore are vanquished, one possibility is that Steve will reinforce his China army.  So the Chinese must be careful not to blunder into a mismatch somewhere.

[Cribtop]

Reminiscent of Babeldoab long ago. Fool me once...

[Canoerebel]

You have quite a memory, Cribtop.

Here's a map of the developing situation in the Bay of Bengal. The Japanese TFs are being chased, but I don't think they're aware of it yet.

[paullus99]

Wow - he's screwed. No matter which way he turns, he'll have multiple carrier task forces in a position to cut he off from getting home.

None of those ships should escape at this point.

Also, I'm very confused as to what he would hope to accomplish throwing that kind of combat power into the Bay of Bengal - with no real aircover to speak of - once he rounds that bend, he's pretty much trapped if you had any kind of carrier presence in the area.

Any idea what kind of LBA he has in range? Does it look like he beefed it up in preparation for this "death ride?"

[Canoerebel]

To be honest, I have no idea what's going through his mind at the moment.  I'm sure it makes sense from his standpoint, so I'm just missing something.
 
He probably is counting on LRCAP from his airfields at Victoria Point, Bangkok, and probably Rangoon.  He must think my carriers aren't anywhere close, or perhaps this is an elaborate dangling of bait as a deception.  But it still seems awfully risky, susceptible to disaster.

[bradfordkay]

It seems obvious to me that he has no idea that your carriers are anywhere nearby. Of course, we all have two choices in performing operations when we have no idea where the enemy carriers are: be extremely cautious, doing nothing until we find those carriers or plan and perform the operations to the best of our abilities and hope for the best.

Everyone reading this AAR knows that Steve's BB TF is in extreme danger, but someone who is not privy to Dan's information would not be quite so concerned. It does appear that he is trying to keep them under the umbrella of LBA, which is probably not enough in the face of all those allied carriers.

[John 3rd]

Banzai!

Oppps. I mean "Tally Ho!"

[Canoerebel]

4/13/42
 
Those Japanese TFs hung a left turn, made for Port Blair, and sailed right into disaster.
 
Bombardment Run:  First, a big bombardment TF including BBS Kongo, Ise, and Haruna hit Port Blair, sinking an xAKL and doing some damage to the facilities.
 
Allied Carrier Strikes vs. Combat Ships:  The Allied carriers were in perfect position to hit everything, beginning with IJN combat ships.  During the day, Kongo took 1 torpedo and seven bombs; Ise 4 T and 11 B, Haruna 2 T and 9 B, CA Kako 5 B, CA Furutaka 1 B; and DD Umikaze 1 B.
 
Allied Carrier Strikes vs. Amphibious Ships:  9 xAP, 4 xAK, one APD and 2 xAKL were damaged or sunk.  Groud troop casualties:  Infantry squads 19 destroyed, 33 disrupted; non combat 59 destroyed, 59 damaged.
 
What Next?  I haven't seen the combat replay or turn file yet, so I'm not sure the relative positions of the enemy ships.  The Allies will try to finish off as many enemy ships as possible.  I'm nearly positive this puts a stop to the invasion of Port Blair, which is a signal victory in and of itself.  But the damage to the enemy combat line is decisive.  More about that below.
 
Singapore:  To add to Japan's woes, a B-17 strike against the Port of Singapore was highly effective despite CAP contriubted by CVs Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu.  Believed sunk:  CL Kashii, DD Tachikaze, DD Hasu, and three xAK.  An AV was damaged.  Some of these ships had suffered damage during yesterday's highly successful RN CL/DD raid on this port.
 
Oosthaven:  To add further to Japan's woes, enemy air sortied in large numbers against the RN CL/DD force as it pulled into Oosthaven.  Japan lost something like 40 Nells and Zeros.
 
Strategic Impact: Now that I know how badly Steve wants Port Blair, the Allies will reinforce with a Brit brigade that's just a day or two away.  More importantly, Japan just suffered a major blow to its capital ships, and this could/should play a major role in the Battle of Sumatra.  When the Japanese invasion finally gets under way, at least these three BBs should be missing, making the Allied combat TFs that much more menacing by comparison.  To be honest, the Battle of Port Blair may be the crescendo to all the other Allied victories up to this point.  I'm wondering if Japan can recover now.
 
Japanese Carriers:  That at least four fleet carriers are near Singers makes for a little drama.  Will Japan dare to send them up the contested Malacca Straights to try to engage the Allied carriers?  I doubt it, but the Allies would accept battle if the Japanese indeed bring just the four.  Theb Allies would have four American and two RN fleet carriers plus CVL Hermes.  But they'll first need to retire to Colombo briefly to replenish, assuming there are more naval strikes against the tattered, stricken IJ invasion fleet tomorrow.

[Cribtop]

In the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, I will offer to negotiate an honorable peace. Well done. [&o]

PS - as a confirmed JFB, ouch. [;)]

[bradfordkay]

And the trap closes... nice work, Dan! [&o]

[paullus99]

Excellent work - your methodical prep & planning has really shown through here. His carriers were closer than I would have imagined, but then again, he probably realized that he'd need some mobile air cover for his operation, but a few turns too late.

Maintaining focus on the "area of decision" you've been able to muster superior forces against a very fragmented enemy. Congratulations - I do hope your opponent continues the fight (because I want to see his reaction to what you've built up in Sumatra), but I give it 50/50 that he'll throw in the towel.

[Smeulders]

Any ideas on the actual losses ? Battleships seem to be pretty good at shrugging off bomb hits, so the question is whether Kongo and Haruna can survive one and two torpedoes. Of course, they'll have big trouble escaping the next days of strikes.

[Miller]

Do not forget those APs are like gold dust for Japan, who only get about 60 in total........

Assuming you finish off all those damaged BBs and CAs next turn, I think his morale will be shot and he may well concede, perhaps after sending those 4 CVs after your CVs and praying for a reverse Midway[X(]