PT boat skipper
Posts: 386
Joined: 7/17/2006 Status: offline
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16 jan 1942 - 2nd Fleet Battle Report The enemy did not move northwards in an "offensive spirit" as intelligence had suggested. This meant that the enemy carriers were well protected with several layers of CA/CL/DD screens. 1st contact: Mutsu TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,106, Range 9,000 Yards Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 9,000 yards Not a good start. Japanese Ships BB Mutsu, Shell hits 1 CA Chokai CA Ashigara DD Yukikaze DD Amatsukaze DD Shigure DD Sagiri Allied Ships CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Fanning 2nd contact: Mutsu TF (extra DDs) Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,106, Range 6,000 Yards Japanese open fire on surprised Allied ships at 6,000 yards DD Inazuma launches Long Lance Torpedoes at CL Marblehead at 6,000 yards DD Inazuma launches Long Lance Torpedoes at DD Voyager at 6,000 yards Japanese Ships DD Ikazuchi DD Inazuma Allied Ships CL Marblehead, Shell hits 2 DD Voyager, Shell hits 1 3rd contact: Mikuma TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 64,106, Range 12,000 Yards Sakiyama, Shakao crosses the 'T' Japanese Ships CA Mikuma CL Naka CL Isuzu, Shell hits 1 DD Natsushio DD Maikaze DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagumo DD Shikinami, Shell hits 1 DD Asagiri Allied Ships CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Fanning 4th contact: Mikuma TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 64,107, Range 12,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Mikuma CL Naka, Shell hits 1 CL Isuzu DD Natsushio DD Maikaze DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagumo DD Shikinami DD Asagiri Allied Ships DD Piet Hein, Shell hits 1 DD Van Ghent, Shell hits 1 5th contact: Mikuma TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,107, Range 12,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Mikuma CL Naka, Shell hits 1 CL Isuzu DD Natsushio DD Maikaze DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagumo DD Shikinami DD Asagiri Allied Ships CA Northampton, Shell hits 2 CA Chicago DD Craven DD McCall, Shell hits 2, on fire 6th contact: Mikuma TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,107, Range 11,000 Yards Sakiyama, Shakao crosses the 'T' Japanese Ships CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1 CL Naka CL Isuzu, on fire DD Natsushio DD Maikaze DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagumo DD Shikinami DD Asagiri Allied Ships CA Australia, Shell hits 2 CL Leander, Shell hits 1, on fire CL Perth DD Benham DD Flusser, Shell hits 2, on fire 7th contact: Mikuma TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,107, Range 10,000 Yards Getting, F.E. crosses the 'T' Japanese Ships CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2 CL Naka, on fire CL Isuzu, on fire DD Natsushio DD Maikaze DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagumo DD Shikinami DD Asagiri Allied Ships CA Canberra, Shell hits 1 DD Stuart 8th contact: Mutsu TF Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,106, Range 9,000 Yards Japanese launch Long Lance torpedoes at 9,000 yards before allies detect Japanese presence BB Mutsu fires at CL Marblehead at 9,000 yards CA Ashigara launches Long Lance Torpedoes at DD Voyager at 9,000 yards DD Sagiri launches Long Lance Torpedoes at DD Voyager at 9,000 yards Japanese Ships BB Mutsu CA Chokai CA Ashigara DD Yukikaze DD Amatsukaze DD Shigure DD Sagiri Allied Ships CL Marblehead, Shell hits 1 DD Voyager, Shell hits 1 9th contact: Mikuma TF vs enemy carriers Night Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,107, Range 11,000 Yards CV Enterprise sunk by DD Asagumo at 4,000 yards CA Portland collides with DD Drayton Allied aircraft losses SBD-2 Dauntless: 4 destroyed TBD-1 Devastator: 2 destroyed SB2U-3 Vindicator: 12 destroyed Japanese Ships CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1 CL Naka, Shell hits 1, on fire CL Isuzu, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage DD Natsushio DD Maikaze, Shell hits 2 DD Hagikaze, Shell hits 2 DD Asashio, Shell hits 1 DD Arashio, Shell hits 1 DD Asagumo DD Shikinami DD Asagiri, Shell hits 3, on fire Allied Ships CV Lexington, heavy fires, heavy damage (perhaps the fires went out of control during this battle?) CV Enterprise, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk CA Portland, Shell hits 1 CA Chester CA Astoria, Shell hits 1 DD Gridley DD Ellet DD Dunlap DD Mahan, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Drayton, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Lamson, Shell hits 2, on fire 10th contact: Mikuma TF (-) Day Time Surface Combat, near Salajar at 66,108, Range 24,000 Yards The Mikuma TF is suddenly divided into two groups. The Mikuma TF (-) is then, in this encounter, stopped from withdrawing northwest and instead decide to withdraw to the east (out of LR CAP)! Japanese Ships CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2 DD Natsushio DD Maikaze, Shell hits 2, heavy fires DD Hagikaze DD Asashio DD Arashio DD Asagiri, Shell hits 1, heavy damage Allied Ships CA Australia CL Leander CL Perth DD Benham, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Flusser, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage 11th contact: 2nd Mikuma TF (-) Day Time Surface Combat, near Makassar at 65,106, Range 25,000 Yards This TF manage to withdraw to the northwest as planned, but since it is a new TF, there is NO LR CAP assigned to this TF. Japanese Ships CL Naka, Shell hits 1 CL Isuzu, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Asagumo, Shell hits 3, heavy fires DD Shikinami, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships CA Canberra, Shell hits 3 DD Stuart, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage 1st enemy air attack: 2nd Mikuma TF (-) Morning Air attack on TF, near Makassar at 64,104 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Those aircraft came probably from Kendari. Allied aircraft B-339D x 12 P-40E Warhawk x 7 F4F-3A Wildcat x 1 F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 SBD-2 Dauntless x 19 SBD-3 Dauntless x 5 Allied aircraft losses SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged Japanese Ships CL Naka, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Shikinami, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Isuzu, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Asagumo, heavy fires 2nd enemy air attack: 3rd Mikuma TF (-) Morning Air attack on TF, near Salajar at 66,108 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Those DDs were apparently in another detached TF. Allied aircraft B-339D x 11 SBD-3 Dauntless x 7 TBD-1 Devastator x 8 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Asashio, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Maikaze, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage 3rd enemy air attack: 3rd Mikuma TF (-) Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Salajar at 66,108 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 7 F4F-3A Wildcat x 1 F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 SBD-2 Dauntless x 9 SBD-3 Dauntless x 12 TBD-1 Devastator x 8 Allied aircraft losses SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged Japanese Ships DD Arashio, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk DD Asagiri, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Asashio, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage 4th enemy air attack: 3rd Mikuma TF (-) Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Salajar at 66,108 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Allied aircraft SBD-2 Dauntless x 8 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Asashio, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk DD Asagiri, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk 5th enemy air attack: Mutsu TF Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Donggala at 66,99 Weather in hex: Severe storms Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 21 Allied aircraft B-339D x 22 A-24 Banshee x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses B-339D: 8 destroyed A-24 Banshee: 6 destroyed, 5 damaged A-24 Banshee: 2 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CA Ashigara BB Mutsu KB1 air attack Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Makassar at 65,106 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 14 B5N2 Kate x 20 Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 10 F4F-3A Wildcat x 1 F4F-3 Wildcat x 3 Japanese aircraft losses B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CA Salt Lake City, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires SUMMARY: More than 30 long lance torpedo salvos launched, and only one observed hit (CV Enterprise). The failure to retreat as planned, and the division of the Mikuma TF, meant that no air support (fighters) were available. Thus enemy aircraft once again inflicted severe losses. However, CA Mikuma and 2 DD did manage to escape. Finally, one enemy CV was sunk and another was confirmed to be severely damaged. END
< Message edited by PT boat skipper -- 9/17/2012 9:07:58 PM >
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