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A scraped together destroyer force on convoy duty intercepts the US carrier fleet...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jun 28, 43
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Aoba Island at 125,150, Range 2,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 20 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 8 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 10 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
CV Wasp, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CA Minneapolis
CLAA San Juan, Shell hits 1
CLAA Oakland, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
CL Helena, Shell hits 2
DD Taylor
DD Waller
DD Laffey, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Duncan
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 1
DD Bailey
DD Caldwell
DD Frazier



Reduced sighting due to 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 17% moonlight: 3,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 19,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 9,000 yards
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
Range closes to 2,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 2,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages CV Wasp at 2,000 yards
Fuel storage explosion on CV Wasp
DD Natsushio engages CV Wasp at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages CLAA Oakland at 2,000 yards
DD Laffey engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
DD Waller engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
DD Kisaragi engages DD Laffey at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages DD Laffey at 2,000 yards
CL Helena engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
DD Laffey engages DD Kisaragi at 2,000 yards
CA Minneapolis engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
CL Helena engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages DD Woodworth at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages CV Wasp at 2,000 yards
DD Natsushio engages DD Laffey at 2,000 yards
CL Helena engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
CLAA San Juan engages DD Natsushio at 2,000 yards
Range increases to 3,000 yards
DD Kisaragi engages DD Laffey at 3,000 yards
Ammo storage explosion on CV Wasp
CV Wasp sunk by DD Hatsukaze at 3,000 yards
Range increases to 5,000 yards
DD Kisaragi engages DD Woodworth at 5,000 yards
DD Laffey engages DD Natsushio at 5,000 yards
Allied Task Force Manages to Escape
Task forces break off...

And from 15 hexes out, a well escorted Betty strike on the day turn execution..
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Aoba Island at 125,150

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 45
G4M1 Betty x 41



Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 41


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 20 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CV Lexington, Torpedo hits 1
CL Honolulu
CA Chicago, Torpedo hits 1



Aircraft Attacking:
30 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

CAP engaged:
VF-8 with F6F-3 Hellcat (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 30000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
VF-2 with F6F-3 Hellcat (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 30000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes
4 planes vectored on to bombers
VF-3 with F6F-3 Hellcat (4 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes

Fuel storage explosion on CV Saratoga

This is something I couldn't have hoped for and a good deal of luck was involved... This just made our fight more interesting!

I wonder what went wrong for Arnhem.. I think a STF in front of his carriers would have prevented all of this as he would have had additional hellcats on station to intercept the G4Ms..

gaah, replaying the turn was painful. Makes the next few months a little dicier than they had to be. Well played sir, well played.

Brave offensive move there Cannonfodder...

Your destroyers did their work properly, and closed to 2000-5000, then used their torpedoes (always beautiful to see).

It's all a plot, a JFB fanboi plot!! 
 
<runs off to don tinfoil hat>
&nbsp;
[:D]

[:D]

Sweet!

Yeah, I was happy with that long lance attack from 2000 yards out. Has been a while. Bit of bad luck for you Arnhem. I guess you will have a cruiser force up front next time..

sometimes (pert' rare imo), the dice-gods smile, & you catch a ray of their sunshine!

props to the TF commander, was he anything special?

By rights, you should have had your 3 DDs rubbed out with little to no damage to the US ships.

I reckon I could come up with a scene that would explain that battle no problem!


Well done Jap DD's!

BANZAI!

Ouch! That had to hurt.

ORIGINAL: Capt Hornblower

By rights, you should have had your 3 DDs rubbed out with little to no damage to the US ships.

Japanese are still very decent nightfighters.

The taskforce commander was a good DD captain. Nothing really special. You can only do this in low lighting conditions though. At long range they would have been torn up.

The key is to have ships in a dedicated Surface TF. Ships escorting (carriers or freighters) fight at a serious disadvantage.

wow that's a nice one. I think as a JFB if I watched that in my replay, I would have wet my loin cloth a bit.

ORIGINAL: Cannonfodder

ORIGINAL: Capt Hornblower

By rights, you should have had your 3 DDs rubbed out with little to no damage to the US ships.

Japanese are still very decent nightfighters.

The taskforce commander was a good DD captain. Nothing really special. You can only do this in low lighting conditions though. At long range they would have been torn up.

The key is to have ships in a dedicated Surface TF. Ships escorting (carriers or freighters) fight at a serious disadvantage.

I know there is nothing that can be done as far as the game engine goes, but its late 43, and the US has learned how to use its radar. Do you really think they would have gotten that close with out at least one DD going to have a look?

Radar detected something at 9000 yards.... Both taskforces steaming full ahead (60 knots closing rate) with all delays involved in turning the taskforce with 3 or 4 other major taskforces nearby in the pitch dark... I don't think it is that weird a result... 3 small DDs have one thing a very large force doesn't have... mobility

What were the exact weather conditions?&nbsp; Rain, or haze, or low lying thick clouds which could cause scattering and extinction with the wavelengths used at that time?&nbsp; In such or similar conditions the operators would see just white noise except at very short distances.&nbsp; Radar in the cm and mm range is not a black box that works at every weather condition.&nbsp; So I wouldn't say the result is not plausible.&nbsp;

Weather conditions:

Reduced sighting due to 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 17% moonlight: 3,000 yards

Just remember not to complain when the dice comes up with 0%, as it will in later years (I think JFB get a -99% DRM)

Its also a reminder to both sides not to get complacent, small raiding TF can create a lot of damage if they get into what you think is a rear area.

Yep, a good die roll on the surface engagement.&nbsp; Not necessarily 100%, but definitely in the 90's.&nbsp; So a possible result.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
The Nettie attack is more like in the 80's.&nbsp; +40 Hellcats on CAP for 2CV is about right, so the CAP looks fine.&nbsp; Don't know what your ingress/egress altitude was, but looks like the CAP was up at 30,000.&nbsp; A low level attack would have a good chance to succeed, as it did, with the CAP like that.&nbsp; Likely the WASP had the low CAP and he forgot to reset his CAP altitudes.&nbsp; That's where your luck came into play ... if you had gotten the SARA and the WASP had their CAP at 10,000 then your Netties would have been decimated.