WestPac 3: Philippines (BLUE)

[VictorInThePacific]

WestPac 3: Philippines (BLUE)

First of all, let me thank the HCE development team, who kindly made the demo available, without which this report would not have been possible.

I present this battle report mostly as a walkthrough for inexperienced HCE players, but there may be something here to interest experienced players as well.

This is the first HCE scenario I ever played, although I have a lot of experience with HC. This AAR was compiled during my second run through the scenario. Because the scenario is rather simple, there is no significant variation in how the scenario plays out, which makes it rather easier to create the AAR. It took me only about 7 h to collect the data for the AAR, although there were some things that could still be done at the end. After that, it still took many hours to process the data, write up the report, and format it. The main difference in my second run through the scenario was that the Floggers did not come out to play, luckily for them, and there is one other thing, for which see <note 1>.

Introduction:

This is a fairly simple scenario. The RED side has substantial forces, but they are rather scattered. Most importantly, it has poor search capacity, while the BLUE side has excellent search capacity. An experienced human RED commander would probably use all available assets to immediately strike at the main target, the BLUE land base, thus winning, but the RED AI won’t do this. It will attack in penny packets, and BLUE has enough resources to defeat these attacks, thus winning. It’s a good training scenario. There is no need for BLUE to do anything complicated or clever.

Setup:

I recommend the following game options. Start by displaying the group, unit, report, and message windows, tiled, and resized so that the maps are as large as reasonably possible. Use textured land and water colors in the group window, and light land and water color in the unit window, otherwise you will have difficulty locating and selecting units. I also recommend displaying active and passive sonar range circles and surface and air radar range circles for your units and the enemy units. Bear in mind that you will never be able to detect enemy passive sonar, and often not the other three, so do not use that information if you want to be running a simulation. However, it is too tedious to keep resetting these options. There are many other significant game options, but I won’t discuss them here.

The Mission:

Primary BLUE objective is to defend the land base at all costs. Secondary objective is to kill any RED unit you find.

Force Analysis:

The main BLUE combat unit is the F-35B Lightning II. Only 4 of them are available, but wow, what an airplane! In addition to its powerful armament, the F-35 has excellent electronics, meaning that BLUE will always know what’s going on during the battle. Both its surface search and air search radars have a range of 160 nm, although it has to be at high altitude to get the full benefit of the surface radar. Since the Lightning also cruises fastest at high altitude, it is likely to be spending a lot of time there. The main loadout options are “intercept”, which gives 6 excellent air-air missiles, “patrol”, which gives extended range to the air superiority mission, “SEAD”, which gives a heavy anti-surface capacity (especially anti-radar stand-off missiles) as well as some air-air, “SEAD- LR”, which gives a good anti-surface capacity (especially anti-radar stand-off missiles) as well as some air-air plus extended range, and there are a number of other bombing options.

Another useful unit is the MV-22B Osprey. You get a dozen of these. In this scenario, it has two main functions, “assault”, which delivers a full platoon of US marines, and tanker. I didn’t use the tanker option the first time I played this scenario, because I only learned about it in the past few days, but let me tell you, it can be VERY useful to refuel your combat aircraft at their stations, rather than taking them out of the action for a couple of hours for refueling.

For close air support, you get 8 AH-1W SuperCobras. The armament consists of a cannon, as well as either Sidewinders, heavy rockets (firepower maximized), or anti-tank missiles (number of shots maximized).

You also get the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, although for purposes of this scenario, it acts like any other CV. You get a Ticonderoga (a very powerful AAW cruiser) and an O.H. Perry frigate with the CV. The main purpose of these ships is to ensure that the Wasp remains alive and healthy. You also get a group of 2 frigates to the north.

After you’ve spent some time studying these ships, you may want to restart the scenario, because in principle the force commander would know what he has before the action begins.

Battle Report:

Start by launching all 4 Lightnings: one each to the land “base”, to the west, to the SE, and to support surface group AC. There are not enough Lightnings to allow for a strategic reserve; you will need to think in terms of a dynamic reserve. Search capacity in the SW region will be weakest (and probably least important), so send a Seahawk (with its 160 nm range SS radar) from the carrier group over there.

Ready 4 Ospreys from the default “patrol” option to “assault”. This will temporarily reduce their combat capacity, but dramatically increase it after 30 min. The SuperCobras are currently prepared for maximum firepower; leave this as is. The default ship formations are fairly reasonable, so leave these alone. The CV group should be stationary. There isn’t anywhere useful to go, and there’s no reason to help any enemy subs.

I would like to be able to launch helicopters from my frigate group without the launch point being detected, so move the FF group out of the radar range of the RED airfield. Travel at 10 kn, which I consider to be a good speed for ships in the presence of subs. All sensors are off at this point in time.

It’s broad daylight and visibility is perfect.

There’s about a dozen planes at the north RED airfield (Benito Ebuen), somewhat less at the south RED base (1/9 Inf Bn).

Shortly after the scenario starts: http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil0.png

(An astute observer will note that this screenshot does not correspond to the rest. That’s because I restarted the scenario right after this screenshot was taken.)

3 min after the scenario starts, we detect 2 Fulcrums near Benito Ebuen. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil1.png

4 min: More Fulcrums are launching from Benito Ebuen.

5 min: Activate all radars on the 4 Lightnings. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil2.png

6.5 min: We get a hostile ship contact. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil3.png It’s VERY close to our CV group and headed in our general direction. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil4.png So close, in fact, that we move the CV group away at 10 kn. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil4w.png On a clear day, you can see forever – if you’re a bird, a plane, or Superman. The horizon for ships, however, is considerably less than 35 nm. Therefore the RED ship can’t detect my ships by visual or radar means. The RED ship is traveling at 5 kn, so we will slowly pull away.

8 min: Send Lightning AF to the NE to deal with some of those fighters. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil5.png Distance to attack point is about 90 nm, or 9 min. a Fulcrum can carry 50 nm Alamo missiles or 70 nm ARMs.

Divert Lightning AG to the NE to get a closer look at that unidentified ship. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil6.png

9 min: We locate a second unidentified ship 27 nm away from Lightning AG.

9.5 min: We locate 3 more. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil7.png Note that their radars are off. The SS radar near my fleet is from a Seahawk. Of course, all the Lightnings have their SS radars on as well.

As soon as the hostile ships activate their radar, we get a positive ID. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil8.png Note that Lightning AD has arrived at the land base. Lightning AG is parked 11 nm from the nearest RED ships.

The enemy ships are:

PTM Houku: big ship (might be an error in the database), 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.

PTM Hegu: small, 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.

PTM Osa: medium, 4 x 25 nm SS missile, AA range 3 nm.

FFL Dergagh: medium, 8 x Sunburn, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).

FFL Nanuchka: medium, 8 x 65 nm SS missile, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).

Obviously the FFLs are the most dangerous ships, both in terms of offense and defence. They are also placed on the outside of the formation to protect the more vulnerable ships. The Dergagh is on point to port (ZW 3), and the Nanuchka is on point to starboard (ZW 4).

At this point, the fleet to fleet range is less than 50 nm. If our ships were to be detected by any means (a hostile sub is the only practical possibility), you can bet that we’d be dealing with at least 20 SS missiles immediately.

Now the Wasp has good point defence, the Ticonderoga is an excellent AAW cruiser, and the O.H. Perry is an excellent AAW frigate. My fighters can also shoot down SS missiles, but they are needed elsewhere. In any case, we cannot afford to give the enemy even one shot. Therefore an immediate attack is indicated. The SuperCobras can do a job on the PTMs, but we need more substantial firepower against the FFLs. The only firepower immediately available is 8 x 75 nm Harpoons on the Ticonderoga (AA 3) and 4 on the O.H. Perry (AA 2). Launch 6 at each of the FFLs to maximize the chances of sinking the most dangerous targets. Probably I should do an exact calculation, because I think that both attacks are iffy, but I am just winging it.

First, the Ticonderoga will launch 6 Harpoons at the Dergagh and 2 at the Nanuchka. Shortly thereafter, the O.H. Perry will launch 4 Harpoons at the Nanuchka. Unfortunately, as the firing orders reach the missile crews, command is informed that one of the Ticonderoga’s Harpoons was defective but has not yet been replaced. Therefore the Dergagh only gets 5 Harpoons. Execute first launch order.

12 min: Now launch the Harpoons from the O.H. Perry. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/phil9.png This way, all 11 Harpoons will hit the enemy fleet at about the same time.

Ready 4 SuperCobras with Hellfires for maximum weapons range (4 nm, which outranges all the PTMs).

13 min: Lightning AF is now 40 nm (4 min) from attack point. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philA.png

16 min: Harpoons are 6 nm from target; Geckos start shooting. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philB.png

Lightning AF is loitering because we have the range advantage over a Fulcrum (95 or 75 nm vs 50). It launches 2 AIM-120 D at the approaching Fulcrums. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philC.png

The RED fleet gets off 10 Geckos, which kill 6 Harpoons, and 3 Gremlins, which kill 1 Harpoon. Point defense on the Nanuchka and Dergagh each kill one Harpoon. 2 Harpoons hit the Nanuchka. Boom! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philD.png This eliminates Gecko coverage over the starboard side of formation ZW. The Gecko has a range of 6 nm, and all ZW units are separated by 4-6 nm, so anything with a range of 3 nm or more can attack the starboard side of formation ZW without being engaged by Geckos.

18 min: Down one ship, the RED fleet maintains its steady creep towards my ships. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philE.png

Launch one SuperCobra with 3 nm range rocket pods to attack RED fleet. One Fulcrum bites it.

19 min: Range to the Fulcrum is now 67 nm. Launch 2 of the 75 nm range AMRAAMS. Lightning AF cruises away to keep the range open. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philF.png

20 min: A second Fulcrum bites it. Lightning AD is moving to engage Fulcrum group ZU, to keep them away from the land base. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philG.png With 2 missiles left, Lightning AF resumes course towards its assigned station near frigate group AC.

22 min: 85 nm from Fulcrums, Lightning AD loiters and starts shooting. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philH.png

SuperCobra drops to VL altitude and pours on the juice. Its top speed is 152 kn.

24 min: 2 more Fulcrums are shot down. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philI.png With 4 missiles left, Lightning AD returns to defend land base. Note that AIM-120D travels at 2300 kn. So does the AIM-120C7.

I want Lightning AF to park when it reaches the frigate group, without further attention from me.
You can assign orders to groups for each waypoint of their course. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philJ.png

27 min: 4 more Ospreys are prepared for the assault mission. The Hellfire-armed SuperCobras will be ready in 15 min.

35 min: Having swung wide, SuperCobra AL turns back to attack starboard flank of RED fleet. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philK.png

37 min: Lightning AD detects 4 helicopters 60 nm away, inbound from the south. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philL.png

Thank you kindly, yes we do. 4 x AMRAAM. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philM.png Lightning AD is now out of missiles.

38 min: Lightning AF detects aircraft approaching from the NE, 63 nm away. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philN.png Note that aircraft that are part of base or ship formations do not appear in the group window. If you are not aware of this, it could be very dangerous to your units.

Lightning AF shoots its last 2 missiles. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philO.png

Missiles in flight. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philP.png

39 min: 4 Hind attack helicopters are shot down. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philQ.png

At this point, the risk to the frigate group is greater than the risk to the CV group from the SW. Therefore exchange Lightning AH, which is still fully armed, with AF. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philR.png

39.5 min: 2 Frogfoot ground attack aircraft are shot down in the north. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philS.png

42 min: Hellfire-armed SuperCobras are now available. Launch one to attack RED fleet. This unit, at 4 nm, outranges all the RED PTMs. Target is 47 nm away.

46 min: SuperCobra AL approaches the nearest RED ship with 3 nm range rocket pods. Both the Hegu and Houku can only engage air targets within 2 nm. The Dergagh is 6 nm further away, so it is not a factor. But keep checking the helicopter range to target (with the “attack” command) to ensure that it does not get too close. Park it at extreme range.

It should only take one batch of rockets to sink a Hegu. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philT.png For some reason, the first 2 miss. Perhaps the helicopter is not quite close enough. Bring it a little bit closer.

47 min: The third batch does the trick. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philU.png

49 min: SuperCobra AL is swinging around the flank of the RED formation to attack the Houku, while staying outside of Gecko range. SuperCobra AQ is approaching at maximum speed. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philV.png

51 min: SuperCobra AL shoots its last batch of rockets at the Houku. It’s not really as close as the unit window would indicate. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philW.png 6 seconds later, the Houku is sunk. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philX.png With only cannon left, SuperCobra AL heads for home, while staying outside of gecko range. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philY.png

53 min: Send Lightning AF home for more weapons. It lands about 10 min later. Prepare it for a SEAD mission. This gives it 4 anti-radar stand-off missiles, 2 Paveway laser-guided bombs, and 2 anti-air missiles. Quite a powerful punch. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ.png

60 min: The remaining 2 RED ships are only 3 nm apart. Since Hellfire range is 4 nm and Gecko range is 6, I consider this attack too risky. SuperCobra AQ is ordered to stand by. The RED fleet only has 8 SS missiles left that can hit our ships right now, and in principle, they still can’t see us. We will wait for heavier firepower to become available.

1 h 6 min: Send Lightning AG (still fully armed) to protect land base; send Lightning AD to monitor RED fleet.

1 h 7.5 min: Lightning AD detects 4 helicopters 60 nm away, inbound from the south. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ1.png

1 h 10 min: 50 nm from the enemy helicopters, Lightning AG fires its 4 shorter-range missiles at them http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ2.png 75 s later, they are all destroyed. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ3.png

RED airbase ZV now has no aircraft left.

2 h 4 min: One Lightning with anti-surface weapons is ready on the Wasp. Send it to take out the Dergach. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ4.png It reaches firing position within seconds.

2 h 5 min: All 4 ARMs are launched at the Dergach. This is a bit of overkill. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ5.png

2 h 7 min: Dergach gets off 2 Geckos. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ6.png To no avail. Less than 4 min after the Lightning was ready to launch, 3 ARMs hit the Dergach, destroying its radar, and the rest of the ship along with it. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ7.png Send in the SuperCobra to take out the Osa.

Unfortunately the SuperCobra does not have enough fuel left and has to RTB. Lightning AS will bomb instead. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ8.png Bombing range is 4 nm; the Osa is helpless.

2 h 12 min: Lightning AS drops 2 Paveway LGB. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZ9.png Osa is paved. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZA.png Lightning AD has no weapons left, so will RTB.

2 h 14 min: Lightning AS is about to RTB but, since it still has 2 anti-air missiles left, it is ordered to head over to land base to provide it with additional protection. Lightning AG also has 2 anti-air missiles left. Lightning AH is still fully armed with 6 AMRAAMs.

One more Osprey is readied for an assault mission, after which we will have 9 full platoons of US marines ready to go at a moment’s notice. The remaining 3 Ospreys are readied for in-air refueling. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZB.png

CV group stops moving. It is about 100 nm from land base.

2 h 19 min: Lightning lands. It will be prepared for a “GP” mission: 4 AMRAAMs + 2 JDAM.

2 h 44 min: Osprey tankers ready to go. Lightning AH is low on fuel. Tanker (AU) is launched to keep our missiles and radars flying as long as possible.

2 h 51 min: Lightning AG is low on fuel. Tanker (AV) is launched to keep our missiles and radars flying as long as possible.

2 h 57 min: Unidentified (i.e. hostile) ship is detected about 85 nm north of frigate group. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZC.png It is traveling south at 18 kn.

2 h 59 min: Lightnings AG, AS, both near land base, both loitering at high altitude, join to form one group in preparation for refueling. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZD.png

3 h 10 min: Osprey AU has reached Lightning AH. Both are loitering at high. Joining them into one group initiates the refueling process. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZE.png 30 s later, the fuel transfer starts. 30 s after that, the fuel transfer is complete. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZF.png

3 h 11 min: Osprey AV joins Lightning group AG to start that refueling process. The enemy fleet is now known to consist of 4 ships.

3 h 12 min: Lightning group AG has been refueled.

3 h 13 min: Lightning AH heads north to check out the enemy fleet. Osprey AW (new designation; was AU) is RTB. Osprey AX (new designation; was AV) is RTB. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZG.png

3 h 19 min: Lightning with limited anti-surface capacity is ready on the Wasp.

3 h 23: Lightning on the Wasp is re-armed for SEAD mission. I want to start the attack on surface group ZY with stand-off anti-radar weapons.

3 h 29 min: Having observed surface group ZY for several minutes, we still can’t determine ship type. Now in principle, we could just sink them and ask questions later. But let’s continue to observe them a while longer. Why can’t they just oblige us by turning their radars on? http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZH.png Osprey AX is about to land; Osprey AW is approaching the Wasp.

3 h 53 min: Lightning (SEAD) is launched to attack surface group ZY. A few seconds later, the enemy ships finally turn on their radars, and what a difference that makes! We immediately locate 3 more ships, including a frigate and a smaller vessel. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZI.png Soon, we are able to determine that the convoy consists of 4 cargo ships plus 4 combat vessels, which are:

FF Petya: medium size, AA range 4 nm.

FFL Nanuchka: medium, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).

PTM Houku: big ship (might be an error in the database), AA range 2 nm.

PTM Osa: medium, AA range 3 nm.

Their anti-surface missiles do not have enough range to present a threat to frigate group AC. (Not that they even know we exist.) On the other hand, frigate group AC includes a Type 23 frigate, which has 8 130 nm-range Harpoons that DO present a threat to group ZY (provided the air defences are eliminated first).

4 h 7 min: The 2 Lightnings near the land base have only 4 missiles between them. One (AG) is sent back to the Wasp for more weapons.

4 h 9 min: Lightning AY fires 4 ARMs at the Nanuchka, which has the most powerful anti-air weapons of the enemy group. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZJ.png

4 h 11 min: Nanuchka gets off 2 Geckos, which shoot down 1 ARM. The 3 remaining ARMs all hit. The Nanuchka is seriously hurt: 60% sunk + special ARM hits; speed reduced to 17 kn. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZK.png The Nanuchka flees to the north as fast as possible.

5 h 17 min: Another Lightning is ready with ARMs and things, and is sent north.

5 h 42 min: 4 ARMs are headed for the Petya at 2000 kn. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZL.png One hits the Petya, causing 37% damage + special ARM hits. The Petya can still keep up with the main group. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZM.png

With the Nanuchka out of the way, all ships in enemy group ZY, other than the Petya, can now safely be attacked by 4 nm range Paveway bombs. Lightning BB proceeds to fly around the starboard flank of the formation and pave the Osa. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/Osa.png After this, Lightning BB and AY RTB for more bombs and things.

6 h 16 min: Frigate group AC is now outside the radar range of Benito Ebuen and can launch helicopters without being detected. In addition, they don’t want to get so far away from the convoy that their Harpoons can’t be used. Both frigates stop. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZN.png

6 h 41 min: Both Lightnings on station (AH, AZ) are low on fuel. 2 Ospreys (BD, BE) are sent with more fuel.

7 h: Shortly before the tankers reach their rendezvous points, enemy land forces are detected approaching the maintenance facility! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZO.png This appears to be a reinforced motorized company: 3 T72s, 2 platoons of infantry, plus supporting units. The truck units can’t shoot at aircraft, the truck convoys present a small risk to aircraft, and the tanks present a significant risk to aircraft within 3 nm. (Fortunately, unit ZX camps out 18 nm from my base and takes no further action. They would easily have been in range to capture or destroy the base by 7:30.)

Aside: Not in real life. In real life, MY troops would have been camped out around that base within half an hour of the scenario starting. But in the game, these troops do not exist as separate units, rather as attack factors allocated to the Ospreys. This is a detail, affecting Harpoon overall in only a miniscule way.

A full company of marines is sent from the Wasp, with close support from all 8 attack helicopters. 2 newly readied Lightnings (BH, BM) are also directed to the area. Lightning BH will strike at group ZY with ARMs and then bomb ZX; Lightning BM will bomb ZX and then strike at ZY with ARMs.

7 h 15 min: Lightning BH fires 4 ARMs at the Petya. Lightning BM is launched. Tankers BG, BI (new designations) are returning for more fuel.

7 h 17 min: http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZP.png

7 h 18 min: Even with no defensive fire, only 1 ARM hits the Petya, but does no observable damage. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZQ.png

7 h 30 min: Lightning BH drops 2 Paveway bombs on 2 T72s. One tank is destroyed. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZR.png

7 h 31 min: Lightning BM drops 2 Paveway bombs on 2 remaining T72s; both tanks are destroyed.

7 h 35 min: Airborne assault with US Marines. BO, BP, BQ are Ospreys, each carrying a platoon. The first 4 SuperCobras are armed with Hellfires for maximum stand-off range. The rocket-armed SuperCobras are bringing up the rear. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/assault.png The Ospreys will arrive on the scene first, but the air support will do all the killing.

7 h 42 min: Lightning BM launches 4 more ARMs at Petya. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZS.png

7 h 44 min: 2 ARMs hit Petya, which is now 75% sunk, with special ARM damage, and speed reduced to 8 kn. Petya crawls away to the north. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZT.png

7 h 52 min: Time to use the Harpoons. Enemy surface group ZY has no air defence left. The freighters need to be sunk before they unload. Allocate 2 Harpoons each. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZU.png

7 h 56 min: Each enemy infantry platoon is hit with 4 Hellfire missiles from SuperCobra BF. Both platoons are wiped out. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZV.png

7 h 57 min: All remaining elements of ground force ZX are eliminated with rockets and Hellfires from SuperCobras BF, BJ. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZW.png

8 h: 8 Harpoons are about to wreak havoc on an undefended convoy. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo.png All the attack helicopters and Lightning BM are returning to the Wasp.

8 h 1 min: 2 Harpoons each hit 3 of the freighters. All 3 are sunk. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo1.png, http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo2.png, http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo3.png Transport Jaladurga is lucky (?) to only be hit once.

8 h 2 min: Jaladurga is currently at 62% damage and sinking slowly, with speed reduced to 10 kn. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo4.png

9 h: Lightning BH returns to the Wasp for more ordnance.

9 h 14 min: Both helicopters are launched from frigate group AC to get their licks in against the remnants of the RED convoy. Lightning AH, which has been in the air continuously for over 9 h, still has 6 anti-air missiles and will provide air cover for the helicopters.

9 h 38 min: After rearming, Lightning BW has returned for more fun and games. The Houku gets hit with 2 ARMs. The Petya has no active radar, and is hit with 2 Paveway bombs, http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZX.png and is paved. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/Petya.png Which gives us a level 1 victory. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/victory1.png Lightning BW heads north to catch the fleeing Nanuchka.

9 h 46 min: Lightning BW detects enemy airplanes 50 nm to the east, and shoots them with AMRAAMs. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZY.png Lightning BW turns away from enemy airplanes. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZZ.png

9 h 47 min: Splash 2 more. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZZ1.png Lightning BW continues to chase Nanuchka, which still has active radar.

9 h 50 min: Nanuchka eats 2 more ARMs. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/philZZ2.png

9 h 51 min: Both hit, and the Nanuchka is sunk. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/Nanuchka.png Lightning BW heads back to the Wasp.

10 h 2 min: The 2 helicopters from the frigate group have arrived to join the party. 2 Sea Skuas hit the Houku and sink it. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/Houku.png One Penguin is fired at the freighter, which appears to have stabilized at 90% damage; it misses. Helicopters BX, BY return their ships. The Osprey transports have been ordered back to base and are starting to land.

10 h 15 min: launch Lightning CE to finish off the Jaladurga.

10 h 26 min: Lightning CE fires 4 ARMs at the Jaladurga.

10 h 29 min: All hit, but it’s STILL not enough! Lightning CE closes to bombing range.

10 h 37 min: And the Jaladurga finally goes down. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/cargo5.png

10 h 39 min: http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/Phil/victory2.png At this point, RED has only a few planes left. I suppose We could still go bomb them in their bases, but the scenario is essentially over now.

Notes:

1) I mention the following because I found it quite amusing. On my first run through this scenario, I had a Lightning scouting the RED convoy, as at 3:29. All I saw was 4 generic ships. I brought up a Lightning with ARMs, but was unable to find a target. So then I decided that it would be safe to fire some Harpoons at them from my frigate group (there’s no point in shooting Harpoons at ships that have decent SAMs). Suddenly the RED convoy turned on their radars, and all the “hiding” warships revealed themselves. So my ARMs found targets after all. I was trying to reproduce this in the scenario replay, but was not obliged.

[CV32]

ORIGINAL: VictorInThePacific
The enemy ships are:
PTM Houku: big ship (might be an error in the database), 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.
PTM Hegu: small, 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.
PTM Osa: medium, 4 x 25 nm SS missile, AA range 3 nm.
FFL Dergagh: medium, 8 x Sunburn, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).
FFL Nanuchka: medium, 8 x 65 nm SS missile, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).

All of these ships are classified as "Small" in the database.

Thanks for sharing your AAR. [:)]

[VictorInThePacific]

ORIGINAL: VictorInThePacific
The enemy ships are:
PTM Houku: big ship (might be an error in the database), 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.
PTM Hegu: small, 2 x 52 nm SS missile, AA range 2 nm.
PTM Osa: medium, 4 x 25 nm SS missile, AA range 3 nm.
FFL Dergagh: medium, 8 x Sunburn, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).
FFL Nanuchka: medium, 8 x 65 nm SS missile, AA range 7 nm (Gecko).

All of these ships are classified as "Small" in the database.

Sorry for the confusing nomenclature. I was using my own definition, based on how much damage it takes to sink the ship.

So if I recall correctly, the Hegu is so "small" that a large wave would sink it (in particular, 1 Hellfire missile). By "medium" I meant that one decent bomb or missile would probably sink it (10-30 damage points), and "large" is larger. The odd one is the Houku, which, if I recall correctly, has 45 damage points.

[CV32]

ORIGINAL: VictorInThePacific
Sorry for the confusing nomenclature. I was using my own definition, based on how much damage it takes to sink the ship. So if I recall correctly, the Hegu is so "small" that a large wave would sink it (in particular, 1 Hellfire missile). By "medium" I meant that one decent bomb or missile would probably sink it (10-30 damage points), and "large" is larger. The odd one is the Houku, which, if I recall correctly, has 45 damage points.

Ah, that helps clear the confusion. And, yes, you've found an error. Thanks! It will be fixed in the next iteration of the HCDB.