Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[apbarog]

16 May 42

Dutch destroyers are hunting enemy subs around Vava'u. I'm working on building up this base. It is strategically located southeast of Suva and southwest of Pago Pago, and can build to a nice size. Its expansion has caught OPilot's attention, and there are at least a couple of subs around. The destroyers can't hit the sub today.

Chittagong is bombarded again by 4 enemy cruisers. Almost 300 casualties, almost all non-combat and almost all disablements. Minimal base damage this time.

Cuttlefish spots the Midway invasion convoy southwest of the island, but can't get a shot. Enemy destroyers can't hit the sub either. It's a different mix for this invasion attempt, with 3 battleships in with the transports.

ASW attack near Wake Island at 135,100

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna
CL Yubari
DD Yayoi
AMC Kongo Maru
AMC Awata Maru
AMC Akagi Maru
DMS W-8
DMS W-3
AK Aratama Maru
AK Amagisan Maru
AK Ayatosan Maru
AK Awazisan Maru
AK Kinka Maru
AK Sasako Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
DD Yunagi
DD Asanagi
DD Hayate
DD Oite

Allied Ships
SS Cuttlefish

The task force reaches Wake, and the invasion begins. The battleships almost wipe out all of the defenders, wtih there being so few of them. The coastal guns barely get a shot off before being silenced.

Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6128 troops, 29 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 205

Defending force 114 troops, 1 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 322

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 322 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Wake Island !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 11 (11 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Assaulting units:
Guards Mixed Brigade
Maizuru 2nd SNLF /3

Defending units:
Wake (Det.) Def Bn /1
298th(Sep) Infantry Rgt /3

We knew that the Guards Mixed Brigade was coming. The few defenders are eliminated, and their parent units will now fill out completely at Pearl Harbor.

The first TBFs have been sent to a carrier torpedo squadron at Auckland. Most of the TBDs are there, training. The TBFs will make their way to the carriers when they are ready to go.

The first 2 US CLAA's are moving from Panama to the South Pacific.

The Tabiteuea garrison convoy with carrier escorts are making their way west of Christmas Island. KB has been missing for a few days, last seen near Shortlands.

ARD Dewey has left Pearl Harbor and is heading to Vava'u. It will get there sometime later in the war.

OPilot is traveling until Sunday, so I'll be taking my time with this turn for the next few days, and sending it on Saturday. Time to look at every little detail. I'll also do a region by region summary tomorrow or Saturday.

[apbarog]

17 May 42

With Wake lost to the enemy finally, enemy minesweepers clear out all of the mines.
AM Lismore spots I-153 near Trincomalee but can't hit it. 2 sub torpedoes missed Lismore.
I-25 spots APD Humphreys heading west from Christmas Island. Humphreys is in a small task force with a Seabee unit on it, headed to Tabiteuea. These ships trail the main convoy by several days, and the main convoy and carriers have not been spotted.

Oscars sweep a contested hex northeast of Sian. I move 2 Hurricane squadrons to Sian and CAP it, guessing on a raid there instead of the contested hex.

OPilot arrived back home sooner than planned, so the game continues. I'll still try to do a region by region update over the weekend.

[apbarog]

18 May 42

S-35 is patrolling southeast of Rabaul, and spotted PB Koei Maru, fired 2 torpedoes at it, and both hit, sinking the tiny patrol boat.

Bandoeng gets its daily artillery attack. You can see that the massed artillery is having an effect now, while earlier in the year it wasn't. More artillery and bigger guns were brought in. The Dutch will last as long as they can. They've made it 5 months so far, and still have 20,000 supply.

The Allies try their first offensive action in Burma at Kalemyo.

Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6606 troops, 65 guns, 254 vehicles, Assault Value = 317

Defending force 3831 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 124

Allied adjusted assault: 169

Japanese adjusted defense: 262

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker: fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
265 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
200 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Assaulting units:
254th Armoured Brigade
6th Chinese/B Corps
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
21st Infantry Regiment

With the current order of battle, attacks will continue after a day or two of rest. The Allies are on a trailhead from India, while the Japanese are in the jungle. Easier for us to resupply. The enemy will reinforce here soon, however. Since I bombed this hex today to support the attack, I expect that OPilot will respond with some LRCAP. I will have a P-40 squadron LRCAP here also, and another squadron sweep. Bombers with Buffalo escorts will hit the enemy troops.

[Bif1961]

That is a rather large Allied carrier group are you concerned about the coordination penalty or are you going to divde them between 2-3 groups?

[apbarog]

The group right now has 3 task forces. Illustrious will probably join one of those. Not enough escorts to form another task force. 3 TFs should work ok.

[apbarog]

19 May 42

Seal missed xAKL Hanakawa Maru with 2 torpedoes just east of Port Blair. This is the first indication of shipping near Port Blair that is going or coming from Akyab/Rangoon.

Madjene on Celebes is invaded. More enemy cleanup going on.

A US sub had just dropped some mines just south of Kwajalein. 2 patrol boats found them today and didn't hit any.

Oscars swept a contested hex northeast of Sian. My Hurricanes were on CAP at Sian. They move to Changsha to CAP today. It's a constant guessing game to set up an ambush. Sometimes it works.

Sallys with Oscars hit Imphal's airfield. P-40s were just moved there, and were doing LRCAP of the contested hex to the southwest. OPilot guessed right but didn't get any planes on the ground. Moderate damage to the airfield.

Blens and Wellingtons bombed that contested hex, Kalemyo. Moderate enemy troop casualties.

Bettys with Zeros continue to hit Darwin. With every bit of supply gone in Darwin, all of the troops that can move have moved south. A static coastal gun unit remains.

Allied troops will start to land at Tabiteuea today. Not an invasion, but close enough to enemy territory to warrant carrier protection. Tarawa is next, but not for awhile.

I want to change OPilot's mindset to defense as soon as possible, but I also recognize that it is still early. The Marines didn't really land at Guadalcanal until August 1942. Tarawa wasn't until November 1943! It's still early. It's May 1942. And I must not lose the carriers. Not without a proper cost to the enemy's carriers.

[apbarog]

20 May 42

Seal fired 2 torpedoes at a patrol boat and missed. Grayling then fired 2 torpedoes at the same patrol boat, PB Okuyo Maru, and got one hit, but it was a dud. Salmon fired 2 torpedoes at destroyer Ariake north of Truk, but missed.

Dacca was swept by 30 Oscars and then 27 Oscars. 41 Sallys with 26 Oscars then arrived, doing major damage to the airfield. My planes had left.

Sian was swept by 22 Oscars and then bombed by Lilys and Sonias, doing moderate damage. My Hurricanes had moved to Changsha. Some Sonias came later, as well as another sweep by 30 Oscars.

Hurricanes at Changsha find targets.

Afternoon Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27b Nate x 30
Ki-51 Sonia x 27

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 23 (1 lost to ops)

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27b Nate: 5 destroyed (12 lost)
Ki-51 Sonia: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged (5 lost)

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 24

Enemy carrier force, likely CVLs, is spotted near Victoria Point, headed north. They've been used before to escort troops landings at Akyab. Could be again. I fear a direct landing on Chittagong though. The enemy battleships are late for their occasional bombardment, and it could be that they are being held back for a landing. As the map shows, the enemy is starting to move into the jungle in numbers, pushing inland now also. If this is all a ploy to get me to commit more to the Burma border while a big landing occurs on India's east coast near Viz-something-or-another, it's working. I've kept a British infantry division there just in case, but it's moving to the Burma border now. I can't let Ledo get captured or cut off.

Other notes:

I checked my pilots and my highest scoring pilot is currently W.E. Dyess flying a P-40. His squadron started in the Philippines and was bought out and went to China and on to Burma. Dyess is the guy that Dyess Air Force Base in Texas is named after. In real life, he was captured at Bataan but escaped in 1943. He made it back to the US but died in a training accident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Dyess


Carrier Wasp arrives in 17 days. Then it's a long one year wait for Essex.

My big convoy arrived at Tabiteuea unspotted, and the escorting carriers just to the west were not spotted either. Severe storms over both. That helps. One enemy sub was spotted. This may or may not alert OPilot. I've had Catalinas in this area for a long time.

[apbarog]

20 May 42 - China

There are 4 or 5 enemy units in EACH of the three highlighted hexes. Just one division in the more southern hex that had the combat today.

[apbarog]

21 May 42

Dutch sub KXVI tangles with subchasers near Phuket. The ships can't hit the sub with depth charges, and the sub elects not to fire at the small ships.

Kalemyo is swept by Oscars from Akyab, amongst other places, finding no CAP. Sallys with even more Oscars then hit the Chinese unit at Kalemyo. Akyab is then swept by P-40s, looking for those Oscars, and no CAP is found.

Cox's Bazar's port is hit by Blenheims, and Akyab's port and airfield is hit by Blens, B-26s, Wellingtons and B-17s. No CAP is found. Targeting is poor in moderate rain. Bad luck again at Akyab with the weather, on an attack when the CAP was elsewhere. Only light damage to the facilities.

The big landing convoy is spotted at Tabiteuea. About 40% of everything is unloaded. The carriers, just west of the island, are not spotted again, in bad weather again. The cruiser covering force will move from the carriers to the island today to protect the transports.

[apbarog]

22 May 42

Lots of sub versus PB and SC action near Phuket. I've been interdicting traffic to Rangoon. Now there's SCs there and they pack a greater punch than the PBs. Fortunately, these are still using older depth charges. No depth charge hits and no torpedo hits.

Effective enemy artillery attack at Bandoeng on Java now, every day. More enemy are arriving. Could be even more artillery, or a deliberate attack is coming soon. Supply is still very good but the Dutch are getting worn down. The artillery is having an effect.

At Tabiteuea, the transports are again spotted but my carriers are again not spotted. The nice US APs are mostly unloaded now. They still have some motorized support and a little bit of supply. I decide to pull them out and send them to Christmas Island. The motorized support will reload on smaller less valuable ships when there's a dock at Tabiteuea to use. Other xAPs and xAKs continue to unload supply. Carriers stay in place just west of the island. Cruiser TF stays at Tabiteuea. It wasn't spotted either. No sign of any enemy approaching.

Battlecruiser Repulse and some US cruisers and destroyers are leaving Auckland for Noumea. They are going to try to cause some mischief in the Solomons. Hermes may unload its torpedo bombers and load some fighters to help escort Repulse. Maybe a raid on Shortlands. It seems to be a naval hub.

Lots of Allied positioning going on in China and on the India/Burma border. Sub detection levels show that the enemy CVLs did not go to Rangoon, but are west of Rangoon now, northbound, and they are not hugging the coast. The big British slow battleship task force will now head to Madras from Colombo at high speed. If something comes for the Indian east coast, I want them in position.

A US infantry division was bought out at San Francisco today. It is prepping for Guadalcanal and will head to Sydney. Several SeaBee units are arriving on the West Coast now, and they need to be bought out also. I can buy out about one a day.

[apbarog]

23 May 42

Skipjack spots a task force with seaplane carriers Chiyoda and Chitose near Ramree Island. These ships could have been looking around well to the west of Ramree, where my sub was detected recently. CVLs are in this area now too.

Enemy patrol boats find the recently dropped sub mines at Nauru without hitting any. Mining mission failure.

Dutch destroyers continue to hunt enemy subs near Vava'u, unsuccessfully so far. Support ships, including ones that can rearm depth charges, just arrived at Vava'u.

Northeast of Sian, and southeast of the bigger forces in the contested hex, the enemy attacks.

Ground combat at 86,40 (near Sian)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 11984 troops, 98 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 354

Defending force 10279 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 327

Japanese adjusted assault: 108

Allied adjusted defense: 937

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 8

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
864 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 96 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
140 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 22 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
32nd Division

Defending units:
33rd Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps
7th Group Army

The Chinese will hold here unless the enemy reinforces. Small Chinese reinforcements are moving into this hex also. A loss of this hex threatens the big stack that is adjacent. The good news is that any enemy reinforcing this hex in the woods will take some time to get there.

With CVLs now near Akyab, one of the reserve British divisions will move to Chittagong tonight. The British slow battleships will arrive at Madras and refuel.

One possibly interesting note: OPilot has never done recon of Diamond Harbour. He looks at Calcutta daily, and also looks at every Allied airbase that is size 2 or larger near Burma. Diamond Harbour has a size 3 airfield. It could be one of those cases where "I don't want you thinking I'm looking here because I am interested in here". Or it is just on the edge of where he wants to do recon.

Most ships, including the still-not-spotted carriers, will now leave the Tabiteuea area. A few xAKs are still unloading supply. One xAP just arrived with a SeaBee unit on it to unload. Transports and cruiser force will go to Christmas Island to await the Tarawa invasion, which will be in a couple of weeks or so. More prep needed. Carriers will head southeast to an inconspicous unbuilt dot base to refuel from tankers. They'll wait for Tarawa also, and also be close enough to Tabiteuea to intervene if needed.

Hermes has taken on fighters instead of the torpedo bombers it had. It will escort BC Repulse and friends for a foray north into the Solomons.

[apbarog]

24 May 42

Nothing dramatic near Chittagong. Enemy CVLs move a bit south, now southwest of Akyab. British infantry division had railed into Chittagong overnight. It is sent back to the east to its waiting spot again. All of this excitement may have been just another resupply or troop delivery to Akyab.

British slow battleship group refuels at Madras and heads east along the Indian coast. Some fighter protection, at long range, is provided, but not much.

Enemy air seems to stand down in China today. British Hurricane squadrons, which have caught a couple of bomber raids recently, have gone back to Ledo.

The last US sub needing the April 1942 upgrade has started its upgrade at Brisbane. The first P-38 squadron is also there, taking on planes. It's been manned with the best available pilots. Even better Army pilots will become available soon, as there are a number of squadrons withdrawing at the beginning of June. I want the P-38s to have the best, emphasizing the defense skill. The number of P-38s produced are never high. I'll try my best to use them effectively and lose as few as possible doing so. With great pilots, they are effective sweepers.

[apbarog]

25 May 42

Salmon fired 2 torpedoes at a patrol boat north of Truk but missed. Porpoise did similarly near Kusaie Island with the same result. I-23 fired 6 torpedoes at destroyer Helm at Tabiteuea. All missed and the sub avoided all depth charges. Helm is escorting the few remaining ships at Tabiteuea, and will escort them back towards Christmas Island today.

The daily enemy artillery attack at Bandoeng. It's hurting.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 19680 troops, 371 guns, 259 vehicles, Assault Value = 600

Defending force 22918 troops, 219 guns, 58 vehicles, Assault Value = 411

Allied ground losses:
214 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
19th Ind Engineer Regiment
2nd Formosa Inf. Regiment
3rd Ind Engineer Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
65th Brigade
21st Ind Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Mortar Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
1st Cav Regiment
2nd KNIL Regiment
IV Landstorm Cdo
1st KNIL Regiment
Mobiele Battalion
4th KNIL Regiment
ABDA

Nothing can be done but to hold out as long as possible. Maybe OPilot will deliberately attack again before the defenders are too beaten down.

Enemy CVLs were not seen in the Indian Ocean today. The British slow battleship force moved from Madras to Cocanada and were not spotted. Today they will move at full speed to Diamond Harbor, and hopefully disband in port. I'm not sure on the mechanics of disbanding in port though. It seems to me that ships frequently don't disband in port if they've moved a lot during the turn. I moved some fighters to Diamond Harbour to CAP, and I have every fighter squadron at Calcutta set to CAP at range 1. I'm hoping that the ships aren't spotted, one way or the other, and that they can hide in Diamond Harbour and wait for a juicy target to appear at Akyab. Hope for bad weather. I had a ML at Diamond Harbour for about a week, and it was spotted by the enemy about half the time. And that was just one ship. So the odds are low but worth a shot.

[BBfanboy]

Near as I can tell ships need one phase to enter port and one phase to disband. I. E. if the ships movement does not reach the hex next to the port in the morning, it will be sitting there until next morning before it can enter port. Same for disbanding - if it enters port in the morning it can auto-disband in the PM phase, but if it enters port in the PM it will not disband until next morning phase (or you can disband it yourself when you do your turn inputs).

[apbarog]

26 May 42

Chittagong gets its semi-regular cruiser bombardment.

Night Naval bombardment of Chittagong at 55,41

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Lysander II: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
CL Kashii

Allied ground losses:
425 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (4 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 32
Port hits 9
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1

2 of the 3 Allied carrier task forces are spotted at the obscure dot base southwest of Canton Island. Detection levels are 4/4. OPilot may or may not see carriers. I'd hoped to keep them hidden having so much luck in not having them spotted at all at Tabiteuea. I order them further south, to another dot base, to again top off the tanks and wait for troops at Christmas Island to be ready for Tarawa.

No sign of KB for 2 weeks. Could show up anywhere.

Got SigInt that the enemy 15th Army HQ is planning for Ledo. This is new.

[edit: As shown below, OPilot had nothing to mouse over at Diamond Harbour today because of thunderstorms. I omitted that fact in the graphic.]

[apbarog]

27 May 42

Nothing notable with the combat today. The Japanese air force in China again stood down. OPilot asked me the other day if I thought that weather forecast was the same for both sides for a given day. I didn't know, but I expect that it would be. He has had far greater ops losses than I have in the game, and he has asked me about that before. I know that weather does make a difference. In this game, I'm not flying supply into China on bad weather day forecasts. I avoid bombing missions on bad forecast days, but I'm not as strict about that. So, I wonder if he is experimenting in China by sitting his planes on bad weather forecast days. It's unusual for him not to fly. I did burn him a few times with CAP traps from my Hurris. They are back in India now, but he doesn't know that. He did get more cautious after the last trap. But this has happened before. After awhile, he'll fly liberally again, and I'll send fighters back into China again.

The action for tomorrow is at Akyab. The British ships were not spotted in port at Diamond Harbour today.

[Sardaukar]

I think Ops losses might be partially be bigger for IJAF/IJNAF because of smaller durability of planes. Just my guess.

[Bif1961]

over use will lead to higher ops loss as well as no armor, no self-sealing tanks and lack of air frame duralability.

[apbarog]

28 May 42

Things did not go as planned. Some things went better. Some worse.

First cruisers Devonshire and Emerald storm into Akyab looking for shipping. They find it.

Round 1:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 7,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
TB Kari, Shell hits 2, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CL Emerald, Shell hits 1
DD Scout
DD Fortune

Round 2:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 9,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
xAK Toko Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Tamashima Maru, Shell hits 35, and is sunk
xAK Rokko Maru, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PB Kensin Maru, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
PB Kohoku Maru, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
PB Manyo Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CL Emerald
DD Scout
DD Fortune

Round 3:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 18, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CL Emerald
DD Scout
DD Fortune

Round 4:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
xAKL Fukuyo Maru, Shell hits 7, on fire
xAKL Hachirogata Maru, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
xAKL Tonegawa Maru, Shell hits 26, and is sunk
xAKL Yagi Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
SC Ch 33, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA Devonshire
CL Emerald
DD Scout
DD Fortune

This task force then retired towards Calcutta but stopped one hex short of the city on the river.

During daybreak, it's obvious that the battleships did not bombard, and didn't stop one hex from Diamond Harbour either. They moved a few hexes towards Akyab and stopped. This put the ships at a longer range from friendly fighters, reducing the LRCAP over them. Then it becomes apparent that there are now enemy carriers one hex south of Akyab. It is the CVL task force that has been in the area off and on.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Chittagong at 52,41

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 39
B5N2 Kate x 32
D3A1 Val x 7

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 46

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 12 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Royal Sovereign, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB Revenge, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2
BB Resolution, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Ramillies, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
CL Newcastle

The air battle was particularly interesting to watch. The Zeros performed very well, fighting off the Warhawks and keeping them from getting to the bombers.

In the afternoon, the enemy tries again. Fewer Zeros escort. Another exciting battle to watch. The Warhawks slowly go through the Zeros, on by one, until all are shot down or damaged and aborted. About 10 Warhawks remained in the fight. It looked like the British ships would be ok and we'd shoot down some bombers. A couple are damaged and suddenly the fight is over. Plenty of bombers remain. Despair. The battleships are doomed. The bombers attack.

And then a stroke of luck. All of the battleships had detached with a couple of destroyers, leaving the cruisers with a small escort. And the bombers went for the cruisers.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Chittagong at 52,41

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
B5N2 Kate x 28
D3A1 Val x 14

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 9 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Newcastle, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
CLAA Van Heemskerck, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Arrow

Most torpedoes fired at the cruisers missed. All of the torpedoes fired at destroyer Arrow missed. If the targets had been the already damaged battleships, I could have lost them all. All of the torpedo bombers dropped their torpedoes.

It was one of the most exciting battles I've ever witnessed. The highs, the lows. I laughed. I cried. Well, not quite that much. But it was awesome. It was a rollercoaster ride, and both the good and bad was enjoyable gameplay.

In the graphic I show the ships' damage levels. With no further intervention, the battleship task force should get to Diamond Harbour. It may or may not disband into port. There is no fire on the battleships, if they get to port, they should survive. The cruisers should get to Calcutta, where the large port should be able to handle the damage.

Flaws in the plan could include running into a sub on the way home, land-based strikes, another strike from the CVLs, or a naval bombardment of Diamond Harbour after the battleships disband there.

I don't know where KB is. If OPilot had some plans on a big invasion of India or Ceylon, KB could be on the way. It's been missing from the Solomons for 2 weeks. If it was on the way, it could be in a hurry now seeing my damaged battleships, and the chance to block an escape along the coast and around Ceylon. Just speculation. But if I had KB at Singapore now, they'd come running. I have to consider what could happen, not just what I think will happen.

Total air losses for today were 44 Zeros, 8 Kates and 1 Val, for the cost of 19 P-40Es. And a bunch of damaged slow British battleships.

Fun turn though.

[Bif1961]

So why do you think the BBs stopped so short of Akyab, making themselves more vulnerable? What was the TF's setting for danger set at?