Chains of War - Politics are Local 1958

[fitzpatv]

It is September 1958 and Mao’s China has been escalating a long-running dispute over the islands in the Taiwan Strait, bombarding Quemoy and Machen. The USN is charged with escorting four Taiwanese amphibious vessels to within 3nm of Quemoy (just off the Chinese city of Xiamen), unloading them (expected to take four hours) and then returning.

To do this, you have three US carrier groups and a close escort. TF77.1 is off the N tip of Taiwan with the Midway, Shangri-La, Essex and the smaller Princeton (which carries support aircraft only), escorted by a CA and 7 destroyers, with two more destroyers on detached picket duty. TF77.2 is at the N end of the Taiwan Strait, just 78nm from a Chinese airbase at Fuzhou and consists of the Lexington II and four destroyers. TF77.3 is at the other end of the Strait, some 93nm from Quemoy and comprises the Hancock (like several of the others, a veteran of WW2), a CA and two destroyers. TG72 has detached from TF77.3 to provide close cover for the two LSMs and two LSTs and is led by the CA Helena, with four destroyers. None of these ships has a SAM of any description and they rely on 76mm AA guns for air defence (no sign of the forests of lighter AA weapons such vessels mounted in the Pacific War).

The carrier air groups are a lot of fun to study, being made-up of a variety of unusual early jet-era planes rarely seen in CMO. F-8 Crusaders are fast, manoeuvrable for the time but have lousy radar. The F-6 Skyray has better radar (20nm with no height-finder) but lacks the Crusader’s speed. F-11 Tigers (not to be confused with the later Freedom Fighter development) have the radar and speed but not the manoeuvrability, like F-3 Demons, which turn even worse. There are other types, too, which have most of the drawbacks. Most fighters carry the AIM-9B Sidewinder, which is rear-aspect, inaccurate, only useful at point-blank range and doesn’t work below 5,000’. Otherwise, you are reliant on cannon of lower calibre than the Chinese equivalents.

For strike aircraft, you are mainly stuck with A-6 Skyraiders, which are derivatives of the WW2 Helldiver and are slow and clumsy, though you do have a few faster Skyhawks and Furies and a few support aircraft with rockets. These planes carry a variety of bombs and rockets but, as with the Sidewinders, there is a chronic lack of reloads. Many of the Skyraiders have no available loadouts whatsoever beyond Ferry.

For realism, the carriers have some Skywarrior and Savage jet bombers with nuclear weapons!. Needless to say, you are not allowed to use these and it is not possible to switch loadouts, so they are destined to remain in the hangars.
In support, you are given some AD-5W Skyraiders, which make decent AEW planes, supplemented by a P-2 Neptune (which starts airborne off Northern Taiwan). There are more Neptunes available after a few hours at Okinawa and in Japan but you shouldn’t need them. Boko Island, SW of Taiwan, has a few Marlins with combined ASW and rocket armament but there is no submarine threat in this scenario.

Against all this, the Chinese have a large number of land-based MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters, which have only basic range-only radar and no missiles but carry heavier cannon with more reach than the USN aircraft. The MiG-17s can out-turn and outpace some of their opponents. At Zhangzhou (just 40nm from Quemoy), there are Beagle and Tupolev Bull bombers, the latter having lots of turret-mounted cannon and 175nm ranged surface search radar. Numerous torpedo boats are known to be lurking near Quemoy and batteries of 152mm howitzers, warded by 100mm AA, are within range of the island and its anchorage.

Taiwan has a force of F-86 Sabre and F-84 Thunderjet fighters, with some recon types and supply planes. Also based on Taiwan are some USAF F-100 Super Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. All of these aircraft are under AI control, to simulate inter-service communication difficulties.

7/9/58 08:00L: It wasn’t a long journey to Quemoy for TG72 – the difficulty was staying afloat. As they headed inshore, Hancock sent four Crusaders as immediate support while TFs 77.2 and 77.3 tried to close the distance somewhat. The Neptune over the Strait moved back and S to make it less vulnerable and to cover for the lack of AEW aircraft in TF77.3.

The Chinese bases were too close for comfort and there would be little warning of any impending attack. Perhaps they might struggle to find us, given their lack of radar?. As their air bases were of the single-unit variety, there was scant value in trying to bomb them and, besides, China starts as Unfriendly, not Hostile. As Hancock had just 20 fighters and China could choose when to attack, there was a balance to be struck between shielding the amphibs and maintaining CAP over the carrier (similarly with Lexington).

A Cougar recon plane from Hancock found four torpedo boats off the headland just SW of Quemoy. Unfortunately, the plane lacked ground-search radar and couldn’t spot artillery or AA, so we had to wait on the arrival of a more-advanced RF-8A Crusader from Midway. Meanwhile, a Marlin helped the Cougar verify that the other surface contacts scattered around the S Taiwan Strait were all harmless fishing junks.

USAF fighter cover had launched from Taichung, Taiwan and appeared to be helping-out around Quemoy. Suddenly, an aircraft approached from well inside Mainland China and went for one of my Crusaders at over 500 knots. I told the pilot to engage the unidentified aircraft but, before the F-8 could do so, it was revealed, impossibly, as a USAF Starfighter!!. I immediately unassigned the plane, but the damage had been done and the USAF started attacking us with effect all over the map!. Angrily, I quit and restarted the game.

TAKE TWO
08:00L: Things went much as before, without any more incidents with the USAF. The RF-8A arrived and found three batteries of 152mm guns right where they needed to be to bombard the Quemoy anchorage, flanked by two 100mm AA units and a ZPU 14.5mm AA gun. While doing so, it was shot-at without provocation by Taiwanese 40mm AA on an outlying islet. The best counter to the artillery seemed to be to halt the amphibs out of its range and use the longer-ranged guns on the cruiser Helena, which required the RF-8A to remain on-station and spot for her.

09:00L: Undetected Chinese artillery to the NW of Quemoy began shelling Taiwanese positions close to the offending AA gun. Happily, these were out of range of the anchorage so long as I kept to its Eastern side.

A general engagement unfolded. A dozen torpedo boats approached from either side of Quemoy and were annihilated by Helena’s attendant destroyers. Huge numbers of aircraft (too many for our available CAP) swarmed all over us. As there are not too many options for smart tactics with AIM-9Bs and cannon, all I could do was feed-in groups of my more capable fighters from Hancock, Lexington and even TF77.1 and trust to CAP Mission instructions to get the job done. We lost 6 Skyrays, a Crusader and a Demon for 9 MiG-17s, 17 MiG-15s, a Beagle and a Bull. Some enemy fighter-bombers got through to the amphibs and lightly damaged the LSM Mei Hua with bombs. Fortunately, the Beagles and Bulls either bombed land targets or stooged around, seemingly unable or unwilling to engage the ships – their only losses came when I specifically told fighters to go after them. Perhaps the Bulls had their radars off?.

Meanwhile, Helena destroyed 11 of the 18 guns threatening the anchorage, while the RF-8A dodged about, spotting while avoiding MiGs. Eventually, things got too unhealthy for it and it had to RTB.

At 09:54, a message arrived from the Taiwanese, mostly stating the staringly obvious but informing us that they would be sending three supply planes to Quemoy with escorts, one at 11:00 and the others at 14:00.

10:00L: The air battle continued, costing us another six fighters for 17 Chinese. Four Skyraiders were sent with rockets and incendiary bombs to hit the remaining artillery. They did some damage, but were all lost to fighters and flak (most of which was destroyed in reply). Helena profited from their spotting efforts and, helped by a second quartet of A-6s, wiped-out the artillery position. Meanwhile, a lone torpedo boat tried its luck and was sunk, leaving three more close to their port.

11:00L: The Skyraiders damaged the NW coastal battery (which appeared to have wasted its ammo on the Taiwanese bunkers on the islet to little effect). A follow-up quartet of Skyhawks finished-off the torpedo boats and eliminated all but one element of the NW battery, AA guns and all.

By now, the Taiwanese supply plane and its escort were nearing the island. Suddenly, the AI flagged a fighter as Hostile and knee-jerked me into sending a fighter to engage it. Almost immediately, it was revealed as Taiwanese. Once again, I aborted the attack but the Taiwanese and the USAF immediately went Hostile once more!. I had to RTB everything (the Chinese had gone by now) and still lost a fighter, with the Sabres and Starfighters chasing Hancock’s planes all the way back to the carrier where, mercifully, they were able to land. Agreed, mistakes in identification can happen but the scenario takes this much too far. In effect, one of my pilots THOUGHT ABOUT attacking an unidentified aircraft that was behaving suspiciously, but DID NOT DO SO. This caused the Taiwanese and USAF to attack all USN aircraft everywhere, with no prayer of the misunderstanding ever being rectified. I gritted my teeth and battled on, leaving the airspace to my vindictive former allies…

12:00L: With the amphibs all in the anchorage and unloading, TG72 headed away at Flank towards Hancock. A Skyraider destroyed the last 152mm gun after the USAF/Taiwanese had departed, with no Chinese planes in evidence. I addressed the lack of Sidewinder reloads by putting planes on Ferry, which still enables them to use their cannon.

13:00L: Around 13:15L, the Chinese mounted a second air surge, so we rushed planes to Quemoy. By now, TF77.1 was appreciably closer and could properly bring its numbers to bear. The Chinese lacked their former co-ordination, sending their fighters and fighter-bombers in ones and twos as they readied, with no bombers in sight (presumably limited to one strike per game). Our CAP established a pool over the amphibs and were assigned to bandits as required. It was pretty one-sided this time and we lost just one plane as the Chinese were shredded.

14:00L: Eventually, with just a single MiG-15 left, the second escorted Taiwanese supply run approached. The escorts predictably ignored the MiG and went after us, so my remaining on-station planes RTB’d and escaped. The Taiwanese did, at least, switch to the MiG and downed it – their only useful contribution all game.

15:00L: The two supply Dakotas made it to Quemoy but, like everything else so far, this scored precisely nothing. However, at 15:16L, we were awarded 1,000VP for getting the amphibs on-station and unloading them, making it a Triumph.

20:00L: We kept flying CAP over Quemoy but nothing else happened. The USN lost 16 fighters (several to ‘friendly fire’) and four attack planes. China lost 16 torpedo boats, 74 fighters, two bombers, 36 artillery and 23 AA elements.

Overall, an interestingly different scenario but something needs to be done about the crazy behaviour of the Taiwanese and USAF. Perhaps having them clearly identified as Allied throughout would help?. If the identification issues are seen as indispensable, a time limit might possibly be set on the Hostile reaction or an actual attack on a Taiwanese or USAF plane be made necessary to trigger it.

The next one is fairly small and might well be played from both sides. Before that, though, I’m hoping for a less buggy Indian Ocean Fury experience than recently in ‘Hormuz Hoedown’.

[tylerblakebrandon]

Sounds like an INI file got missed on an update. I remember there being more ammo.

[Eboreg]

Taiwan has an exclusion zone over Kinmen Island that marks anything that strays into it as hostile. I've asked the developers to get rid of it but it very quickly came back for some Shiva-forsaken reason.