June 28th, 1944
Another bloody day in the air. I sent my Death Star forward to draw Japanese air attacks. Overall my CAP did a very good job stopping the Japanese. Only a single Ki-48 Lilly got a hit on a ship: a 100 kg bomb on the
CV Wasp. But on the other side, my CV strike planes went against some ships sitting in Ominato. Here are some combat snippets (but by no means are these all the strikes):
Morning Air attack on TF, near Shikotan at 125,55
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 118 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 39 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 10
A6M8 Zero x 33
D4Y3 Judy x 2
N1K2-J George x 30
Allied aircraft
FM-1 Wildcat x 23
FM-2 Wildcat x 81
F4U-1A Corsair x 200
F6F-3 Hellcat x 335
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed
A6M8 Zero: 4 destroyed
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 4 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Shikotan at 125,55
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-IIb Lily x 24
Ki-48-IIc Lily x 27
Ki-84a Frank x 52
Allied aircraft
FM-1 Wildcat x 9
FM-2 Wildcat x 30
F4U-1A Corsair x 111
F6F-3 Hellcat x 117
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIb Lily: 11 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-48-IIb Lily: 1 destroyed by flak
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 13 destroyed, 4 damaged
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 1 destroyed by flak
Ki-84a Frank: 10 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
Allied Ships
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 1
BB Massachusetts
CVL Princeton
CV Saratoga
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-48-IIc Lily releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 4 x 100 kg SAP Bomb
1 x Ki-48-IIb Lily releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 4 x 100 kg SAP Bomb
2 x Ki-48-IIc Lily releasing from 10000'
Naval Attack: 4 x 100 kg SAP Bomb
1 x Ki-48-IIc Lily releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 4 x 100 kg SAP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Hakodate at 119,53
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 35
A6M8 Zero x 6
A6M8-J Zero x 36
N1K1-J George x 10
N1K2-J George x 40
Ki-84a Frank x 33
Ki-100-I Tony x 2
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 55
SBD-5 Dauntless x 27
TBF-1 Avenger x 44
TBM-1C Avenger x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8-J Zero: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 11 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 16 destroyed, 7 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak
TBM-1C Avenger: 6 destroyed, 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
CA Hikari
CA Kurama
CL Niyodo
DD Kagero
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ominato at 119,54
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 1
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 73
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 31
SBD-5 Dauntless x 54
TBM-1C Avenger x 48
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 8 damaged
TBM-1C Avenger: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires
CM Asadori, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
CM Maeshima, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CM Ajiro, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CMc Kurosaki, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Kashi
DD Kuwa, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Nara, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Kaede, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ominato at 119,54
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 32
A6M8 Zero x 2
N1K1-J George x 6
N1K2-J George x 19
Ki-84a Frank x 30
Ki-100-I Tony x 1
Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 4
F6F-3 Hellcat x 85
SBD-5 Dauntless x 13
TBF-1 Avenger x 8
TBM-1C Avenger x 55
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 5 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
TBM-1C Avenger: 12 destroyed, 2 damaged
TBM-1C Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Kuwa
DD Kaya
DD Kaede, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nara
And the total butchers bill:
Pretty unfortunate day for pilots on both sides. I think I got pretty unlucky with the
BB Fusu. I have sunk bigger battleships with less bombs; the
BB Musashi went down in the Gilberts after 6 1000 lb bombs. My Hellcats continue to get obliterated and losses are hard to replace. I've been pressing FM-2 Wildcats into CVE CAP because of this shortage and they REALLY suck. They have a top speed of about 330 MPH which makes them worse than even the A6M2 Zero. Even in a CAP role they tend to get shot down a lot. But having upsized the number of fighters aboard my carriers and heavy Hellcat losses, they will continue to be used throughout 1944. USN fighter quality has similarly suffered. I'm putting <60 exp pilots on those worthless Wildcats and Hellcats are usually piloted by 60-70 exp crews. Much unlike the USAAF where I have about 500 >70 exp pilots in the pool or being used in rear area CAP in obsolete planes. The USAAF is really the superior air force in basically every way. The P-47s and P-51Bs have a 40 MPH advantage over both the N1K2-J and the Corsair and even my older P-38s have a 20 MPH advantage.
Yet the battle was a success in another measure in that it absorbed 1000+ Japanese planes on naval strike and shooting down 500 of them. Large convoys have been sent to unload supply at Kushiro in Hokkaido to try to rectify the horrible supply situation there. As a result, I have finally based fighters in the base with some cruiser and Fletcher fleets to guard the water. Between CAP and LRCAP I probably only have 250 fighters guarding Kushiro but I hope that after those severe Japanese losses they will call off air attacks for at least a few days. I've also pulled back my Death Star 3 hexes east of Kushiro with range 5 naval strike (Ominato is 7 hexes away). So if they do launch strikes, it won't be against ships in port protected by heavy CAP. I'm still fairly worried about bombardment of Kushiro, however. My surface fleets continue to underperform against the IJN. And even though the
BB Fuso took 8 bombs, it still may be ready to sortie offensively this very turn. That being said, I predict the Japanese will go on the tactical defensive aside for fighter sweeps at Kushiro. But this time I have P-47s and P-51Bs guarding the air space and previous results indicate they are nearly untouchable. But even if my convoys do unload in Kushiro, I really doubt that will be the end of that fight. Rev Rico tends to go down swinging which means for heavy fighting for the air and sea around the base.