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John 3rd -> Here we go AGAIN: "Air Raid Pearl Harbor..." (6/20/2012 5:08:00 PM)
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Combat Report
Turn ONE
Dec 7, 1941
Turn one is in the books and it is a fairly reasonable turn by Allied standards. If I was the Japanese player I would be happy and somewhat mad at the same time.
OK. Here we go folks:
Pearl Harbor
Viberpol tells me a lot when he lands the HAYMAKER at Pearl. All SIX CVs of the KB participate in the attack. The Strike Force numbers 103 Zero, 141 Val, 145 kate. Just nine of my Fighters get caught up in the attack. The frightening part is that FOUR Daitai of Kates delivered Torps: CRAP!
Results:
Battleline
SUNK--Oklahoma (5 Bombs--3 TT) and West Virginia (6 B--5 TT)
Heavy Dam: Arizona (7 B--4 TT), Nevada (5 B--5 TT), California (4 B--4 TT)
On Fire/Heavy Fires: Pennsylvania--On Fire (4 Bombs--5 TT), Tennessee (9 B--3 TT), California (4 B--4 TT)
Why can't I get results like this? Oh...that is easy. I only use 4 CVs at PH for any attack. Got it. NASTY attack on the Battleline!
I usually weigh the true success of the PH Attack not by BBs sunk but by how I do against the more valuable ships--the Cruisers. With all six CVs attacking, he does well here also:
Cruisers
SUNK: CL Raleigh (3 TT)
Damaged: CAs New Orleans (2 B--1 TT) and San Francisco (1 B) and CLs Detroit (1 TT), Helena (1 TT), and Phoenix (1 B)
Hate losing Raleigh as she and her sisters shall be immediately recalled to be converted into CLAA. We'll have to see how damaged the other are and see if I am way short on CA--CL for the CV Escorts.
Aux Shipping:
SUNK: 3 PT, an AVP, DD Conyngham
Damaged: CM Oglala (! TT), 2 DM, 2 AV, 1 AR, DD Jarvis (1 TT)
He goes after the Airfields but they are not TOO damaged. I lose a surprisingly light number of planes.
RESULTS: Excellent attack. The Pacific Fleet is well and truly mauled. Surprisingly Viberpol expressed his desire to launch a 2nd Attack since this one didn't do too well. REALLY? Wow. OK. If he wants to attack again and lose a bunch of aircraft to AA then I WELCOME that! I, personally think hitting PH twice is a Fool's Errand. For minimal results one will lose pilots and planes when the KB should be sprinting elsewhere. If he does stay near PH, I will unleash Enterprise to do some serious damage. Course he could also be trying some disinformation with me too...
Philippines
A surprisingly pleasant opening round of hostilities here:
Clark is hit by two raids for a total of 48 Zero and 93 Betty-Nell. I only lose about six aircraft and the base is not too heavily damaged. Am sure he isn't happy about that!
No MANILA Strike! Man this is good news. I should be able to pull out all the useless SS and the DDs present without too much issue. Am toying with the idea of moving all my fighters to Manila, set a CAP Trap and LEAVE the shipping in Manila for the first day. Perhaps I'll send a few ships out to see what he has around? Hmmm...need to think about it but I'd love to clock some planes coming for Turn Two.
Landings occur at only Atimonan (TK Reg and portion of the SNLF Para Brigade) and Naga (Base Force Bn and SNLF Para Brig). Hmmm...interesting...wonder what his plan is here? I fight aggressively in the Philippines. He'll be in real trouble if he doesn't bring the kitchen sink. I plan to move all my engineers to Manila for the Forts. This will be the redoubt. With stacking limits, Bataan is not as strong as it should be so we'll fight in Manila to the end. Until he pushes my Infantry BACK that is...
Ro-34 hits CL Boise with a DUD! [:D]
Hong Kong is clobbered by about 150 bombers of all types and one of the British DDs (Thanet) takes a TT from a Betty
Malaya
No LANDINGS at all along the coast! He does use Paras to grab Port Swettenham and Pt Dickson. I need Dickson so I can pull back towards Singapore so I will destroy the Paras there. My engineers will DIG at Kloung and Johore Bharu to set a defense-in-depth back towards Singapore. Grabbing those bases is probably a lead-in for a Mersing Gambit but this will be highly dangerous since he used all of the KB at Pearl. There will be no LR CAP if he comes in here. My Swords, Vildebreest, and A-24 will eat him for lunch. Air Search should give me a pretty good idea as what he is up to within a couple of days.
Viberpol commented that Force Z did not make an appearance. Did I retreat it? I said heck no! It was sent to sweep Singkawang just in case he tried something dangerously bold.
The only other landing for the Japanese occurs at Miri.
That is the opening. I've only seen the replay to this point so I don't have anymore details at this point. Commentary?
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