Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post descriptions of your brilliant victories and unfortunate defeats here.

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Andav
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Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Andav »


So I am trying my hand at an AAR. I have enjoyed reading many of the AARs over the years while playing UV, moving to WiTP and eventually AE. My problem is, I am currently involved in a 2x2 game and a 2x1 game. I really like the 2x2 format especially since I am co-commanders (Japanese in each game) with one of my good friends. Unfortunately, there are sometimes lags in the game. This often leaves me thinking I can handle another game. In reality, I know I can't but I think I can handle an AAR and it might be interesting and fun.

This is a 2x2 Scenario 1 CG which is currently in October 1942. We started way back at the end of 2009. Jay and I are the Empire while witpqs and aperezto are the capitalist horde. Jay or (Harmasaki as he likes to call himself) is going to be out of touch for a little while so I will be covering all of the Japanese until he returns. This AAR will give us opportunity to air our laundry while I have the keys to the Japanese War machine.

We have minimal house rules most of which I would have to look up to remember. We are all gentlemen here and we figure things out if something seems strange. With great confidence I can say witpqs and aperezto are excellent opponents who play the game instead of game the game. I am honored to be their opponent.

Anyway, I will give a recap in a little while along with some screen shot and such. I not a big fan of Combat Report AARs so expect regional updates with some screen shots of what is happening with the occasional snip from the report if it is especially interesting.

Witpqs and Aperezto, I will let you know when this thread is closed to you.

Wa
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Cribtop »

Give 'em hell!
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Olorin
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Olorin »

Good luck!
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by khyberbill »

I always enjoy reading an AAR when Wobbly is involved. His was the first I ever read.
"Its a dog eat dog world Sammy and I am wearing Milkbone underwear" -Norm.
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by aprezto »

Much obliged Khyberbill.
 
From my (well Witpqs and my opinion), the banter has been as enjoyable as the game. Also, thanks to George (Witpqs) who obliged me by picking up co-command of the decadent Capitalist Hoard when we lost his predecessor.
 
I won't steal anymore of Admiral Wa's thunder, except to say we are at a very very interesting part in the game. It will be a pity to drop out when he starts that part of the story.
 
Admiral Nitwitz - commander SWPAC, SOPAC, PacAreas, NOPAC signing off.
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by witpqs »

We have had some great banter, like this issue of the Nuku News.


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Andav
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Andav »


Ah yes ... Our stunning victory at Nukufetau! Who could forget!

The current game turn is October 25th, 1942. This is Scenario 1 with PDU on, subs allowed to shoot anything. Allied torpedoes are crappy. The usual …

In this game, I have control of pretty much everything west of New Guinea up to and including the Philippines (Jay did the initial assault on the PI). Jay has the rest of the Pacific and China. I have done most of the production. I can only hope that Nemo and some of the other Production Gurus will follow this thread and help me fix the mistakes I know I have made.

Some highlights are in order to bring us up to date. Looking through the ships sunk list shows some good days and some bad days on both sides

Dec 7th – In a mostly historical start (we might have played it this way) the Japanese hit Pearl with KB and score many hits. Since it is this late in the game we know they lost Maryland, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Tennessee plus 7DDs. We did not get any of the cruisers at Pearl. Over all a very nice result. Despite putting 5 fish into Repulse on Dec 7th, it does not show up on the sunk list. Most disappointing. POW is still out there as well.

Over the next few weeks, the Japanese Army took a pretty standard approach to conquering the DEI and the PI while the Allies took a pretty standard approach of fleeing. We wanted to deal with them quickly so there were no deep strikes early. I think Singapore fell in late January and the PI was done in early March. I don’t remember the exact dates. Palembang was captured without damage fairly early.

We had some running battles in and around Borneo but mostly it was the Dutch missing a lot and the Japanese having their way with the early war Allies. I seem to remember some Swordfish and Vildebeasts causing problems in and around Malaysia. I am pretty sure they hurt one of our BBs really badly. Fairly typical stuff.

January 4th – This was a banner day for the IJN since we obtained recon of the location of Saratoga … Permanently … Al was sending it just north of Suva when it ran into the Suva invasion force covered by KB. Needless to say this was a pretty one sided affair with Saratoga , CL Concord and 2 DDs going under. We also ran across 3 large TKs which were sunk. This was an early highlight of the war.

Come March, the Japanese were invading northern Oz. Not having any experience with the Allies I sailed my invasion TF directly into the harbor at Darwin. Not wanting to tip my hand I had done no previous softening up of the base. Needless to say, those CD guns did a number on my ship including sinking CA Chokai. This was a pretty hard lesson but in the end, the northern coast of Oz fell to the Japanese.

April 13th -- We have had some spectacular luck sinking Allied TK in the early going. KB ran across 2 AOs and 2 TKs in the south Pacific. On the 27th, we found two more. We have no idea how much this really hurts our opponents but we figured it could not be good. The tankers were all loaded.

April 30th – The last day of April sees the first Japanese CV sunk. Fresh out of the ship yards, CV Junyo eats 2 Mk 14 torpedoes and sinks while supporting one of my attempts to take Horn Island. So much for the crappy Allied torpedoes … Horn Island has ended up being a huge PITA to this day.

That is the first quarter of 42. More later.

Wa
Andav
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Andav »


Before we leave April we need to have a discussion about infatuation. You see sometimes there comes a time in an Admirals life when you get so fixated on a target you just can’t see the waves for the ocean. At the end of April, I decided Horn Island was a pain in my back side. Really it was my left flank but that is not the point. Anyway, in the first part of April, I started the Great Japanese Oz Walkabout of 1942. I quickly realized I really should have taken Horn Island before I started the walkabout.

Well, without really doing any thinking, I dispatched the 20th Infantry Regiment to take care of what should be a small garrison. Certainly those sneaky Allies pulled everything back. It should be a walk in the park. Hmm … Looks like there might be a few more guys there. Crap … It is an atoll. 1 to 99 attack. Bummer. Regiment is trashed. Time to pull them off. This was April 29th.

Here is a GREAT idea! Lets send 38th Division to take the place. It would have been a great idea if it had been the entire 38th Division. But nooooooo … I send 38th Div /A. The shock attack is much better at least. It was only 1 to 38. Well, I sent some bombardment TFs to try to help my guys. On June 1st, I sent a TF with 3 CAs and 4 CLs. In a very nice move, the Allies ambushed this TF and sunk all 7 of the cruisers plus their DD escorts. Brilliant of me!

While I was spending 2 month focused on Horn, Harmasaki was busy taking pretty much all the South Pacific. There was a major battle over Suva with Harmasaki dropping 4th Div to sweep aside the New Zealanders holding the island. Al ups the ante with 8th Marines (or maybe they were there first). They also counter land at Nadi and seem to have things in hand. Harmasaki counters the counter with Mix Guards and ends up destroying 8th Marines and an army unit as well the Kiwis who were there originally. Al was less them pleased with the performance of his virtual countrymen. It was much fun to watch. Of course, by the end f June Harmasaki had abandoned the place and pretty much gave it back to the Allies.

Below is the strategic map as of July 1st, 1942.



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Andav
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RE: Doomed I say! Doomed! Andav and InHarmsway (J) v witpqs and aprezto(A)

Post by Andav »

The third quarter of 1942 saw many battles with the Allies offering stiff resistance on all fronts. The main theaters were Burma, Oz and the South Pacific.

In Oz, I discovered just how long the IJA tail can be before it becomes impractical to advance any more. From Darwin that is about Alice Springs. At some point I tried to take the dot base on the rail line to the south but the Sneaky Allies had just enough troops there to hold of two units of paratroopers. They were eventually eliminated in the Samaria tradition by conducting a last gasp Banzai. With Allied medium bombers harassing me it was very difficult to move in all that open country in Oz.Tthe Allies eventually took back Alice Springs and have not moved any further. I have managed to get three recon units completely destroyed by Allied air in the open ground between Alice and Daly.

Burma saw some major air battles with those stupid Hurricanes ruling the skies. Zeros and Nicks can hang with them but Oscars seem to get chewed alive. Tojos seem to do well once they got into the fight. I don’t even want to talk about Allied bombers. They darken the skies were ever they appear.

The real fun started in late September when the Allies launched their first real counter offensive in the South Pacific. I am going to do a day by day recounting of this since it was one of the most epic battles I have seen in AE. Two AE gunslingers went all in and the result was Old School night surface combat with capital ship slugging it out in Iron Bottom Sound. It also included BBs showing CVs who was king of the night. It also showed that will the BB might be king radar can save your bacon and air power was the king of the day.

Wa
Andav
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Prelude to an epic confrontation

Post by Andav »

The first major Allied counter offensive took place in September 42.

Harmasaki was off on one of his many work trip/vacations so I had the keys to the game. Taking full advantage of this absence of the local commander, the Allies launched a major offensive.

I think this first sighting is September 19th. We were pretty sure something was up but were not sure were the hammer would fall.





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Andav
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RE: Prelude to an epic confrontation

Post by Andav »



This is what we saw on the 20th. Needless to say there was MUCH discussion among the Japanese High Command about what to do. I have a screen shot of the Japanese disposition but that will remain classified for now. I was ready for Harmasaki to return so he could deal with this mess!



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Andav
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Epic encounter around Guadalcanal

Post by Andav »

The first major Allied counter offensive took place in September 42.

Harmasaki was off on one of his many work trip/vacations so I had the keys to the game. Taking full advantage of this absence of the local commander, the Allies launched a major offensive.

I think this first sighting is September 19th


This is what we saw on the 20th. Needless to say there was MUCH discussion among the Japanese High Command about what to do. I have a screen shot of the Japanese disposition but that will remain classified for now.


The target was Guadalcanal which was unoccupied at the time. Landing commenced on the 20th and saw a violent reaction from the Japanese.

For the Japanese, we were hurt by 3 of our CVs being back in the HI either upgrading or repairing damage. Mini KB was sunk in the summer trying to raid shipping between the West Coast and Pearl. This left only 4 CVs to face 5 US CVs plus whatever CVE/CVLs and any Brit carriers which might have been summoned. Clearly, we needed to be very careful with the not only our CVs but also our surface forces. Fortunately, the CVs were in the area and were able to show themselves. The Japanese were also fortunate to have two fairly strong SCTFs in the area as well.

I might have the events slightly wrong and unfortunately, I do not have the combat report for the 20th but I think Japanese carrier based planes made a weak attack on landing site on the 20th along with weak LBA attacks. I am speculating here but I think this lead the Allies to believe there was little opposition and it might be a good opportunity to defeat a less then full strength KB. On the night of the 21st, US CVs tried to move north of Tulagi and ran into two Japanese SCTFs heading to hit the invasion beaches. I have never seen this much action in one replay. It took 45 minutes to watch fast forwarding thought the combats.

The weather in the area was:
Improved night sighting under 85% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 85% moonlight: 12,000 yards

The Japanese force consisted of the following

TF1:

BB Nagato
BB Mutsu
BB Yamashiro
CA Mikuma
CA Kinugasa
CL Sendai
CL Naka
CL Kitakami
DD Akizuki
DD Kazegumo
DD Arare
DD Yayoi

FT2:
BB Haruna
BB Hiei,
CA Chikuma
CA Myoko,
CA Haguro
CA Kumano,
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu
DD Urakaze,
DD Fubuki
DD Shinonome
DD Kuri


The Nagato TF was the first to encounter a TF.

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise
CV Hornet
CA Louisville
CLAA San Juan
CL Nashville
DD Grayson
DD Patterson
DD Ellet
DD Aylwin

But unfortunately, the Allies saw this group on radar and were able to evade.

The Nagato group next encountered this TF.

CV Lexington
CV Yorktown
CA Indianapolis
CLAA Atlanta
CL Helena
DD Lardner
DD Selfridge
DD Farragut
DD MacDonough

Again radar spotted the Japanese and the CVs were able to evade.

Two US CV TFs running in tight space with IJN BBs lurking in the night! This is shaping up to be fun. If only we can find them!

Nagato group again encountered the Lexington group but again they were able to evade. Needless to say, there was MUCH gnashing of teeth and cursing of radar from the Japanese commanders.

The Nagato group ran into a DD escorting an xAP at Auki and sunk the AP which had some troops on board.

The Haruna TF ran across the Enterprise TF and finally the Japanese were able to see the Allied TF. A long battle ensued in which Hornet was confirmed sunk along with another DD. Enterprise was hit 6 times and on fire.

(I know I said I was not going to use Combat Reports but this is kinda different.)
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Hiei, Shell hits 2
CA Chikuma
CA Myoko, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Haguro
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu
DD Urakaze, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Fubuki
DD Shinonome
DD Kuri

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
CV Hornet, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CA Louisville
CLAA San Juan, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
CL Nashville, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Grayson, Shell hits 1
DD Patterson
DD Ellet, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 1

A CA gets credit for the kill but the torpedoes are what really did the damage.

CV Hornet sunk by CA Haguro at 7,000 yards

The Nagato TF then encountered a CA TF and pummeled them but took some shots in return.
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 10, on fire
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 4, on fire
CA Mikuma
CA Kinugasa
CL Sendai
CL Naka, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
DD Akizuki
DD Kazegumo
DD Arare, Shell hits 2
DD Yayoi, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Portland, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CA Chester, Shell hits 26, and is sunk
CA Chicago, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Benham, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Sterett, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Hull, Shell hits 3
DD Allen, Shell hits 1, on fire

The Haruna TF encountered the Lexington group but radar allowed them to evade again. We offered kudos to the Allies for their night blackout discipline. Maybe they were shielded by the fires from Enterprise because that was the next TF Haruna found.
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
BB Hiei, Shell hits 7
CA Chikuma
CA Myoko, on fire
CA Haguro
CA Kumano
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 1
DD Fubuki
DD Shinonome
DD Kuri

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Louisville
CLAA San Juan, heavy fires
CL Nashville, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Grayson, Shell hits 1
DD Patterson
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 1

Most of the hits on Enterprise were not large except the last one which was from one of the BBs. Heavy fires and heavy damage are a good sign.

Now if we could only find the Lexington group again.

Haruna ran over another AP and sank it with gunfire.

Haruna then found the Enterprise group minus Enterprise and two DDs. Did they detach because of damage? One wonders …
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna, Shell hits 6
BB Hiei, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Chikuma
CA Myoko, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
CA Haguro
CA Kumano, on fire
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 1
DD Fubuki
DD Shinonome
DD Kuri, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Louisville, Shell hits 9, on fire
CL Nashville, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Grayson, Shell hits 4, on fire

A reduced Haruna TF found some ACMs and sank them. Notice Hiei, Myoko and 2 DDs are now detached.

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Chikuma
CA Haguro
CA Kumano, on fire
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu
DD Fubuki

Allied Ships
ACM Birch, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
ACM Trapper, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
ACM Planter, Shell hits 14, and is sunk

The Haruna TF finds another troop convoy and sinks several along with CL Trenton. No troops lost here. Bummer …

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna, on fire
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1
CA Aoba, Shell hits 1
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
CL Trenton, Shell hits 26, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Peary
APD Kilty, Shell hits 1
AP President Jackson, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
AP President Adams, Shell hits 8, heavy fires
AK Fomalhaut, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
AK Alcyon, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage

A US Cruiser TF raids Shortlands and sinks an AK we have off loading supplies. This group would come back to haunt the Japanese. The good news is they were not covering the US landings. This is a potent force which could have caused a lot of trouble.

Japanese Ships
xAK Kasyu Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Salt Lake City
CA New Orleans
CA Astoria
CA Minneapolis
CA San Francisco
CA Quincy
CL Leander
CL Honolulu
DD Craven
DD Stack
DD Phelps
DD Kennison

The Haruna TF found some burning DDs but was unable to finish the job. At this point, ammo must be running low.

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Chikuma
CA Haguro
CA Aoba
CL Abukuma
CL Tenryu

Allied Ships
DD Benham, on fire
DD Hull
DD Allen, on fire

Subs from both sides were very active as well. The star was I-18 who found a wounded CLAA San Juan and put what we think was the finishing touches on her.

Japanese Ships
SS I-18

Allied Ships
CLAA San Juan, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Aylwin

At this point, the sun raises over the eastern horizon and it is time to see what made it far enough to avoid the US air power that remains.

Edit: Fixed the quotes
Andav
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Epic encounter around Guadalcanal cont.

Post by Andav »

So remember that US Cruiser force which was visiting Shortlands? They found the Nagato TF during the day and attacked. I am sure the IJN was spent at this point from all the action over night.
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 2
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 2
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 8, on fire
CL Sendai, Shell hits 5, on fire
CL Naka, Shell hits 1
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
DD Akizuki, Shell hits 1
DD Kazegumo, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 1
CA New Orleans, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1
CA Astoria, Shell hits 2
CA Minneapolis
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 3
CA Quincy, Shell hits 1
CL Leander, Shell hits 1
CL Honolulu
DD Craven
DD Stack
DD Phelps, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Kennison, Shell hits 1

With the sun shinning and TFs scattered across the area around Guadalcanal, search planes had plenty to spot. The Japanese air force made a few attacks which were for the most part defeated by either weak CAP or AA. The US planes had better luck against the exhausted IJN. Only light CAP was available for the Japanese ships.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ontong Java at 115,130

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 32


Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Bomb hits 6, on fire
CA Aoba
CA Chikuma
DD Akizuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1

More attacks from the USN.
Allied aircraft
TBF-1 Avenger x 15


Allied aircraft losses
TBF-1 Avenger: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Chikuma, Torpedo hits 1

In the afternoon the USN has their revenge.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 112,136

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6



Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 17
SBD-3 Dauntless x 51
TBF-1 Avenger x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Shinonome, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Kuri, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage


Hiei is in trouble and Myoko and a DD are lost.

Next is an attack on Kumano.


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 18
TBF-1 Avenger x 18


Allied aircraft losses
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Fubuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

The final attack of the day finds a BB group. Damage is very heavy at this point.


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13
SBD-3 Dauntless x 29
TBF-1 Avenger x 12


Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Kitakami, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Kinugasa, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 4
CL Tenryu, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Mikuma, Bomb hits 1
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Sendai, on fire
CA Haguro

All I can say it what a day. George compiled a total hits for the day.

This was the email he sent.

Holy cow!

I cobbled together this conglomeration of damage reports from the Combat Report. Epic is right.

Damage summaries extracted from Combat Report and joined together. Some ships appear multiple times, lines showing no damage not copied:

Allied Ships
DMS Dorsey, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Agwimonte, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CV Enterprise, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
CV Hornet, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CLAA San Juan, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
CL Nashville, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Grayson, Shell hits 1
DD Ellet, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 1
CA Portland, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CA Chester, Shell hits 26, and is sunk
CA Chicago, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
DD Benham, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Sterett, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Hull, Shell hits 3
DD Allen, Shell hits 1, on fire
CV Enterprise, Shell hits 13, heavy fires, heavy damage
CLAA San Juan, heavy fires
CL Nashville, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Grayson, Shell hits 1
DD Aylwin, Shell hits 1
CA Louisville, Shell hits 9, on fire
CL Nashville, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
DD Grayson, Shell hits 4, on fire
ACM Birch, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
ACM Trapper, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
ACM Planter, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
CL Trenton, Shell hits 26, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
APD Kilty, Shell hits 1
AP President Jackson, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
AP President Adams, Shell hits 8, heavy fires
AK Fomalhaut, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
AK Alcyon, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Benham, on fire
DD Allen, on fire
DD Sterett, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CLAA San Juan, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 1
CA New Orleans, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1
CA Astoria, Shell hits 2
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 3
CA Quincy, Shell hits 1
CL Leander, Shell hits 1
DD Phelps, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Kennison, Shell hits 1

Japanese Ships
DD Yayoi, Shell hits 1
BB Hiei, Shell hits 2
CA Myoko, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
DD Urakaze, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 10, on fire
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 4, on fire
CL Naka, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
DD Arare, Shell hits 2
DD Yayoi, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Myoko, on fire
BB Hiei, Shell hits 7
CA Myoko, on fire
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 1
BB Hiei, on fire
CA Myoko, on fire
CA Kumano, on fire
DD Mustin, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Alcoa Polaris, Shell hits 6
BB Haruna, Shell hits 6
BB Hiei, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Myoko, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
CA Kumano, on fire
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 1
DD Kuri, Shell hits 2, on fire
CA Kumano, on fire
BB Haruna, on fire
CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1
CA Aoba, Shell hits 1
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 2
xAK Kasyu Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
BB Nagato, Shell hits 2
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 2
CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 8, on fire
CL Sendai, Shell hits 5, on fire
CL Naka, Shell hits 1
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
DD Akizuki, Shell hits 1
DD Kazegumo, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Nagato, Bomb hits 6, on fire
CA Aoba
CA Chikuma
DD Akizuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1
CA Chikuma, Torpedo hits 1
BB Hiei, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Myoko, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Shinonome, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Kuri, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kumano, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Fubuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Kitakami, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Kinugasa, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 4
CL Tenryu, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CA Mikuma, Bomb hits 1
CL Abukuma, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Sendai, on fire
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perkinh
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RE: Epic encounter around Guadalcanal cont.

Post by perkinh »

Epic is right! That should put a damper on future operations for both sides for a while. It looks like it could be high times for subs for the next couple of months as they will be picking off stragglers and unescorted supply convoys. At least the shipyard worker will be getting paid overtime for some time to come.
One of the serious problems in planning the fight against American doctrine.... is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine
Andav
Posts: 484
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RE: Epic encounter around Guadalcanal cont.

Post by Andav »

ORIGINAL: Gabede

Epic is right! That should put a damper on future operations for both sides for a while.

This was actually just the first act!

Wa
Andav
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Butcher's Bill

Post by Andav »


Here is the Butcher's Bill for the 21st to the 24th. Subs picked off some stragglers including a mercy killing of Hiei. I was about ready to torpedo that proud ship myself.

Wa


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Andav
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Butcher's Bill cont

Post by Andav »

Looking at the air losses from the 21st, there were a LOT of USN planes "Destroyed on Ground". We know part of these were from Hornet. It also seems to confirm Enterprise was really sunk. At this point it is still unconfirmed. We did not have any sighting of Enterprise over the days following so we think she probably did sink. We had so many subs in the area Al said in email:

"If you can just keep your subs in place I'll continue reinforcements of the landings by walking my troops across their hulls..."

Harms and I were uncertain if shell hits on CVs would destroy planes or not. It seems likely that it would/should.

Wa

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Cribtop
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RE: Butcher's Bill cont

Post by Cribtop »

DAMN!! [X(][X(][X(][&o][&o][&o]
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aprezto
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RE: Butcher's Bill cont

Post by aprezto »

A serious stance of overzealous aggression shown by the allies.
We had done very well sniping the Imperial forces, I am surprised that Adm Wa has forgotten the battle of Midway jnr, fought to the east of Midway, almost directly due north of Pearl. Where Adm Witpqs (I was away) managed to attack mini-KB with the whole US carrier force (less Saratoga, which was making 'like a reef' north of Fiji). REVENGE
All of the KBs CVEs and CVLs take on water and do the submarine thang to no losses for allied forces. An attack by CAs on the retiring and damaged Yamashiro (I think, memory again alluding me) turned sour when the old-timer managed to show she still had a tough hide and big guns. Damaging two CAs and not being slowed for the chasing carriers to deliver the coup de grace.
 
To the South Pacific
 
Basically I had noted that Lunga had not been garrisoned but had only been 'turned' by Adm Hamasaki.
That the Santa Cruz Islands were only held by one unit and that the Solomons and New Caledonia were strongly held with IJA units.
The plan, you know, the one that never survives contact with the enemy, was to take Lunga and Tassafaronga, plus the two dot bases (1000 ship bay and another, north and north west of Tulagi), garrisoning them with small forces and laying tended minefields (so attacks on Lunga down the slot would be difficult), and take a base in the Santa Cruz Islands for search purposes.
The successful conclusion would have the Allies heavily holding Lunga and isolating Tulagi, which was the real Imperial base in the south of the Solomons, and making any attempt to get the IJA troops out of New Caledonia and Vanuatu completely requirous of KB support. At that point I figured I could really throw an anvil at the IJN.
 
However, firstly in What was rather a rude shock, was the complete ineptitude of early allied invasion forces at unloading their cargo. I've read plenty about how wonderful APAs and AKAs are, but hadn't quite grasped that the reason they're so good is because of the gulf between them and their older xAP and AP cousins.

So, when I started unloading at Lunga and Tassafaronga I was very unpleasantly surprised at what had gone ashore.
Anyway, as Adm Wa has pointed out, the IJN was gathering, and when the sub cordon NNE of Lunga informed us there were carriers coming in, and in fact the giveaway was a small attack on the Lunga invasion, I decided to close rather than allow them to get a 8-hex attack on the likely location of my carriers (that were defending themselves and the two invasion hexes: Tassafaronga and Lunga).
So the scene was set for the day that Admiral Wa has posted. Essentially we knew that Shokaku had recently eaten a Mark 14 torp, so that should have made up for the loss of Saratoga. We did not know other KB carriers were back in home waters.
The carriers and the main carrier defensive units were located in the hex West of Tassafaronga, we had missed on receiveing an 8-hexed carrier raid on our carriers by one hex..

The plan for that day was to send a strong CA force through the gap out to the east of the Solomons with a high reaction setting. We wanted to attack the KB with surface forces - oh the irony.
That the carriers would also traverse the gap to close the range. And that a small cruiser force would keep the pressure on Tulagi, that had already been hit by a BB bombardment and a strike from the carriers.
What transpired was that the IJN heavy hitters thumped the 1000-ship-bay invasion, and the other little invasion, the mine tenders and the empty invasion ships of Tassafaronga, but more importantly, they intercepted the carriers traversing the gap.

The surface groups tasked with defending the carriers never engaged/defended the carriers, and the strong CA reactive force must have traversed the gap faster than the carriers and also didn't take part in defending them.
After the damage was done to the carriers, the IJN heavy hitters found the Tulagi bombardment group, and it's these guys that died fighting so that there were damaged IJN ships within range in the daylight hours when the flyboys could get some revenge.
Now though, of course, the Lunga invasion was in serious trouble. With only 3 carriers against (what I thought) was 5 full CVs of KB. So little had unloaded in the 3 days we had been there, that the whole plan had to be scrubbed, and the poor troops who'd taken and were tasked with blockading Tulagi, were now tasked with 'hanging on'.

The great retreat started, mainly back to Oz and Fiji, with the IJN and US subs having a field day.
 
The first battle of the Solomons was coming to a close, but not the battle for the Coral Sea...
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InHarmsWay
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RE: Butcher's Bill cont

Post by InHarmsWay »

Aprezto,
Yes, the first Battle of the Solomons was a real doozy. As Admiral Wa (Andav) stated, I was out of pocket during the initial setup stages, but came back just in time to "enjoy" the immediate beginning of the battle. I did have the KB, or as were calling it at the time "KB lite" given the torpedo Shokaku had eaten earlier. Plus we had "several" CV back in the home islands refitting. Your timing on the invasion was impeccable as I had just put them (quantity still a state secret. ;-) ) in refit about a week before we saw you coming to Lunga. I was convinced you had a spy at the Toyko shipworks radioing status!

With just KB lite to stop you, Admiral Wa sailed 2 large surface groups as a front for KB lite and positioned everything north of Lunga.
I won't go into more detail as Wa and yourself summarized it nicely above, but here are my thoughts when Wa and I talked at length on what to do to at least slow down what looked like the biggest invasion of all time bearing down on us.

On the first day of the Lunga invasion, we positioned ourselve north of lunga. A measly little airstrike was flown off of KB lite. I think this caught 3-4 of your minespweeper/layers. This was the one you saw that alerted you and Witpqs to something being out there. I was miffed it went off as I was trying to catch the transports instead, while still staying away from what we felt was overwhelming allied CV power. At the time, we could see where your CVs were and I figured you would keep them to the south of Lunga. Having a pretty high aggressivness rating, and with Admiral Wa's blessing on this, I sent both surface TFs into Lunga to hopefully at least bloody the invasion fleets nose, with the thoughs of retiring back north. The rest was history during that epic nighttime battle. Very lucky for us that the ships movements were timed so that we caught the CVs, bad luck that we missed one CV TF entirely. To me the next day was even more nerve wracking (probably on both sides).

Maybe Wa will post a picture (hint) of the next day (I am away from home for a while with no AE access (sigh). From what I remember, we both had subs everywhere, to the point of you just about could walk from sub to sub across the ocean. The day following the night battle, Wa and I gave some thought to chasing the US fleet back, but at the same time, just about every ship had shot all its ammo, and felt that KB lite would only give ~even battle even with the unpredictable LBA support to what we still thought you had left. We knew you had 2 US CVs, and indications were that there were other CV/CVLs still out there, possibly the Brit ones. In the end, discretion won out as we elected to retire and cover our damaged ships, while still threatening the landing force with KB lite. We honestly didnt know if you would chase us, while pushing the landing, or retire and start moving back. We had a bunch of our longer legged girls (Betty and Nell) around to make life interesting but still feared the massed ships you had out there.

We knew we had a depleted KB, but yourselves didn't which helped explain why you retired instead of fight, but it was a nerve wracking thing going into the next day after the battle!
Adm Harmasaki
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