December 10th, 1941
Naval Action
As expected, his CVL task force moves down from the Celebes Sea and into the Makassar Strait, intercepting a bunch of fleeing Allied ships along the way. However, the task force breaks off every time with no damage done. I suspect Imperial high command will have the commander's head, as many more losses could have been incurred today. Luckily for us, this was not the case.
On the ASW front, duds, so many duds. Sub commanders are quickly growing exasperated. Today, the Saury caught a merchant sip unescorted south of Saigon and someone managed to unload all 24 of its torpedoes to little effect. It is believed it hit the merchantman 4-5 times without any resulting explosion. Frustrating. It had to resort to its surface guns to at least cause some damage. Elsewhere, some of our own ships suffered at the hands of Japanese subs and their considerably more effective torpedoes. A Dutch sub manages to most likely sink one transport headed for Malaya. The true first blow had been struck.
Submarine attack near Soc Trang at 60,74
Japanese Ships
xAK Yahiko Maru, Shell hits 12, on fire
Allied Ships
SS Saury, hits 1
Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
xAK Yahiko Maru is sighted by SS Saury
SS Saury attacking xAK Yahiko Maru on the surface
SS Saury low on gun ammo, Burnside, J.L. breaks off surface engagement and submerges
Submarine attack near Soc Trang at 59,74
Japanese Ships
xAK Tatumiya Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS KXIII
Japanese ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Submarine attack near Billiton at 53,93
Japanese Ships
SS I-153
Allied Ships
xAP Van den Bosch, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Day Time Surface Combat, near Donggala at 68,97, Range 21,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo
CVE Taiyo
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio
DD Amatsukaze
Allied Ships
xAKL Fortuna
xAKL Princess of Negros
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 21,000 yards
Japanese TF attempts to evade combat
Range increases to 26,000 yards...
Range increases to 30,000 yards...
Both Task Forces evade combat
Air Action
Japanese zeroes continue to decimate their counterparts; and more naval airstrikes hit fleeing Allied boats. In Makassar Strait, the CVL task force manages to sink a CM and AG. In Malaya, they attack some transports but the stil-living Repulse manages to do its jump and eat a bomb with nothing to show for it in damage.
More importantly, the allies have seen their first successful aerial naval attack of the war. B-17's operating out of Mindanao manages to hit a transport with a 500lb bomb near Legaspi. It won't sink the ship, but it's a morale boost nonetheless. Let us hope we can create some more pinpricks in the future.
Afternoon Air attack on Clark Field , at 79,76
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
Allied aircraft
P-35A x 4
P-40B Warhawk x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-35A: 1 destroyed
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
Morning Air attack on TF, near Malacca at 49,81
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 32 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied Ships
BC Repulse, Bomb hits 1
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 64,100
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes
Japanese aircraft
B5N1 Kate x 12
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
CM Prins van Oranje, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Van Outhoorn
AG Albatros, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Legaspi at 82,82
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 10
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Yamafuku Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Yasukawa Maru
Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Land Action
Landings at Legaspi, Miri, and Wake Island. Laoag and Vigan are captured. The Japanese immediately attack Wake, but it holds for now. Maybe not tomorrow.
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 1935 troops, 19 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 63
Defending force 1541 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 22
Japanese adjusted assault: 18
Allied adjusted defense: 16
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)
Japanese ground losses:
511 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 47 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Intelligence
III/81st Naval Guard Unit is planning for an attack on Brunei.
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment is planning for an attack on Lingayen.
3/16th Engineer Regiment is planning for an attack on Mauban.
3/55th Infantry Regiment is loaded on a Japanese AP moving to Singora.
a Tone class CA is moving to Guam (106,95).
4/16th Engineer Regiment is loaded on a Kujira Cargo class xAKL moving to Atimonan.
5/20th Infantry Regiment is loaded on a Akasi Cargo class xAK moving to Atimonan.
Discussion
It wasn't a surprise where his CVL task force is, but it will be interesting to see where it goes. I suspect it will continue through Makassar and up towards Palembang. There seems to be an invasion force off the eastern Malaya coast heading towards there now and I believe the CVLs will try to support this. It might not be the same force we had intelligence on moving to Palembang yesterday, but I am preparing for whatever might come down.
It puts me in an interesting situation. I'd prefer to protect my Asiatic fleet, but I would like to inflict damage on this invasion force. He is escorting it strongly this time with most likely a BB/CA task force of some sort. He is doing this because in our last game I decimated his unescorted invasion fleets. This time, because Task Force Z is alive, I am thinking of sallying forth with
Prince of Wales from Singapore while bringing up the Dutch/American fleet from Batavia to inflict a hammer and anvil attack. We'll see. It might not be worth it. I have mined Palembang as much as I can and only hope it will inflict some damage as well. Meanwhile I have stationed my torpedo bombers in Singapore to try and catch his ships.
Are there any repercussions for trying to take Palembang this early? Any ways I can exploit? What do you think of the above conjecture? It might not be worth it right now to use
Prince of Wales.
