Between the Storms

[John 3rd]

ALWAYS with a W Sir!

[John 3rd]

Found the Scouting Force OOB:

CRUISERS, SCOUTING FORCE, PACIFIC FLEET
Rear Admiral John H. Newton
Captain S. S. Lewis, Chief of Staff

CHICAGO (CA-29) (F)
CRUISER DIVISION FOUR
Rear Admiral John H. Newton

CHICAGO (CA-29) (F)
Capt. Bernhard H. Bieri
LOUISVILLE (CA-28)
Capt. Elliot B. Nixon
PORTLAND (CA-33)
Capt. Clifford E. Van Hook
INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35)
Capt. Edward W. Hanson


Air Units - VCS-4
Lt. Cmdr. G. A. Mclean
4 VSO per ship


CRUISER DIVISION FIVE
Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

NORTHAMPTON (CA-26) (F)
Capt. W. D. Chandler, Jr.
PENSACOLA (CA-24)
Captain Norman Scott
SALT LAKE CITY (CA-25)
Captain Ellis H. Zacharias
CHESTER (CA-27)
Capt. T. M. Shock


Air Units - VCS-5
Lt. E. A. Yunghans
4 VSO per ship


CRUISER DIVISION SIX
Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher

MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36) (F)
Capt. Frank J. Lowry
ASTORIA (CA-34)
Capt. P. B. Haynes
NEW ORLEANS (CA-32)
Capt. Howard H. Good
SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38)
Capt. Daniel J. Callaghan

Air Units - VCS-6
Lt. Cmdr. M. T. Evans
4 VSO per ship

[btd64]

John, That sounds like a great idea for the Wessels. But would the CLV's be with the cruiser TF's? GP

[oldman45]

What was the final outcome for the Hawkin CLV. I was thinking that if the British transferred the two ships to Australia and New Zealand in the 30's in exchange for them paying for cruisers for the Home Islands. The conversions could be done in game. That way the Gladiators can stay in the game.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: oldman45

What was the final outcome for the Hawkin CLV. I was thinking that if the British transferred the two ships to Australia and New Zealand in the 30's in exchange for them paying for cruisers for the Home Islands. The conversions could be done in game. That way the Gladiators can stay in the game.

I ended up using Exeter as the template for the Brit CAV. The plan had been to have one British (Vindictive) at Trincomalee with a standard Brit development line for aircraft and then the Melbourne at Sydney with a more American line of aircraft development. Really LIKE the idea of the Brits pawning the other off on New Zealand! What do people think of that? Could simply start at Auckland...

The Sea Gladiators would be fun but I couldn't find any existing work to base their performance numbers on. I'd ask (again) if anyone is willing to take a stab at creating the stats for these venerable aircraft? If we made Vindictive a NZ ship, I could follow the improvement line of Sea Gladiator--Buffalo (US Lend Lease)--Martlet--Improved Martlet and for TB go Swordfish--Devastator--Avenger.

To RECAP:
1. What do people think of making the Vindictive a NZ ship and--if so--what name should we have?
2. Can someone come up with AE stats for the Sea Gladiator?

COOL!

[John 3rd]

See below the image:







There is real consistency with doing this deployment. It makes sense that nearly all of the deployed ships at sea on Dec 7th are from the Scouting Force, while the Battle Force--in its entirety--sits at Pearl Harbor.

We have at sea on Dec 7th the following TF:
1. Enterprise TF returning from Wake.
2. Lexington TF going to Midway.
3. Louisville TF with an AP and xAP near Luganville returning to the West Coast.
4. Pensacola TF with an AGP, AP, 3 xAP, and 3 xAK moving SW from Canton heading for the Philippines.
5. Vc-Adm Wilson Brown's Scouting Force covers the 3rd and 4th TF by being just west of Baker. ORDERS: Move SW for two days, patrol for 2-3 days at that position, and then return to PH after providing enough time for these two TF to switch positions and move past the closest Japanese bases in the area while having their northern flank protected.

Wilson's TF consists of BCs Ranger and Constellation, CA Indianapolis, CLV Charlotte and Jacksonville, and 4-6 DDs with longer legs (fairly modern).

How about that idea?

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Red Lancer

John (& Mrs John)

My apologies I had assumed that given that michaelm’s ‘new’ functionality has been around for four years it was now de rigeur and everyone would be using Cathartes work.  Have a look at the document posted by michaelm in the first post of this thread.  http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2405660

What you need to do is:

1.  Decide on which slot number you are going to allocate the plane art to e.g. 0455  (same as ships really).  The easiest way to do this is when you are adding the aircraft in the editor make sure you have mapped the art file so the images appear in the editor and looking for the blank slots. 
2.  Each plane has three files – for each aircraft rename them to the correct slot e.g. A_PlaneSide0455.bmp, Aptop0455.bmp and Aptop_alpha0455.bmp.
3.  If the AlliedPlanes folder exists in ART then drop them into there – if not create the folder and do so.
4.  Don’t forget to create the folders for the following years and add the files in a similar way.
5.  Much simpler than playing with the worlds largest bitmap.

RL: I tried to work the plane stuff and am being fairly incompetent. Could I send you (or you use the plane info in DB-C) the Allied Plane Tops/Sides in a zip file and you load the new artwork? Sorry that I am fairly useless here...

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

It's the Bofors that are the problem in the upgrade. The Casablanca has the same typo with the Oerlikons.

I'll make sure that this is fixed.

[Terminus]

Here's my attempt. The Sea Gladiator was a navalised Mk II, for which stats are difficult to come by, so it's a bit futzy.

[oldman45]

I could think of lots of reasons not to, but I like the idea of adding it to the fleet, adding the gladiator and then sending it to the states for conversion to a CVL. As far as naming it, one of the major cities would work, or name it New Zealand since it would be one of the bigger ships in its fleet.

[oldman45]

I was going to say that using the I-16 that is in the game as a template with some minor tweeks would work also. [;)]

[Terminus]

I looked at the I-15 (the I-16 is the monoplane), but chose to futz around elsewhere.

[oldman45]

The thing about using the I16 is the power plants and some of the stats are closer to the Gladiator than the I15. Thats my thought.

[John 3rd]

You boys come to agreement and I will USE it! Thanks Terminius for the beginning. If you and Oldman agree or want to tweak it by discussing it here then we can enjoy that and then add it to the game. Be a nice, useless addition for Dec 1941. Like that a lot!

[John 3rd]

No comments regarding possible US Fleet deployments?

[DOCUP]

Transferring Vindictive to NZ isn't a bad idea.  Might make SoPac/CentPac dangerous for Japan.  BCs patrolling around the PI convoy isn't a bad idea. I can see it as a security force for the convoy and American interest in that area.   Melbourne needs some DDs.  How about this.  Take the DDs at HK and move them to Singers.  Take the Australian DDs with Force Z move them to Brisbane.  Also could move the DD at Melbourne to Brisbane.  That would give Melbourne 4 DDs as escorts. 

Here's a thought. Why not make Langley a CS ship.

[John 3rd]

Like the thinking.

1. The South Pacific WILL be dangerous for any uncovered Japanese invasions.
2. Move the 3 DDs at HK to Singers? Like THAT. A force of 4 DDs for the Aussies would provide at least some escorting possibilities.
3. I planned to start Langley at Cebu with an AS and a few SS to reflect the Asiatic Fleet being slightly more spread out then IRL.
4. Remember that Langley has a sister in this campaign. They will be the same ship and class. Right now she provides support for--I think--6 Planes. Might be wrong but think that is close.

[oldman45]

Our numbers were not that far apart, so I would just go with what T has already posted.

I wish Don Bowen was around, he posted a while back about some possible additions of DD's to the Australian Navy. Its been so long I can't remember what they were or I would share them out of my mod. Symon might know a way to get ahold of him outside the forum.

[Terminus]

Just remember to put an engine on her. I usually design ships, not aircraft, and I see that I forgot.

[DOCUP]

John, Langley provides support for 24 with 4 flight ops. I think. I know JWE said something about the flight ops for them being gamey. I didn't know that Langley had a sister in this mod.

I was thinking with all this naval build up and better prepared troops in the PI. Why not simulated better prepared and mobilized LCUs. I thought decrease the disruption and bring in the later arriving PI LCUs a few days early. Also what about having some of the ait units at Darwin in the PI. Fighters at Cebu to cover the new base, some DBs to atleast scare a merchant captain.

Oldman: I thought it was Greek DDs in the IO. I might of missed th Ozzie DDs though.