16 April 1942
HMS Enterprise finished off--for sure this time--with significant loss of Betties
Bay of Bengal
The cruiser sheltering in Colombo made a run for it today, and it turned out to be the Enterprise, which had taken at least one torpedo and five bombs in previous combat. She didn't get far and was hit by a Betty raid at sunrise. But, that pesky bomber-to-fighter coordination issue happened. 13 Betties flew without escorts, running into 15 Hurricanes on patrol. I lost 12 of those, the sole survivor took a shot at Enterprise and missed. The attempts that followed had Zeroes escorting as intended--which got 2 Zeroes shot down--but also got us a torpedo hit on the cruiser, then Kates flew from my carriers (also with Zeroes), to score 4 bomb hits on it for a confirmed sinking.
We made our first attack on Colombo, reducing forts to Level 2 with slightly better than 1 to 1 assault odds. Combat squads destroyed/disabled favored the enemy at 160 to 116. Good thing I landed the extra division, I'd rather not try to make up the difference with airpower here.
Sweeps of Cochin failed to fly--these likely would have reduced the numbers of fighters protecting Enterprise if they'd flown.
China
The enemy is still flying his bombers to Kanhsien--two more downed.
And our troops captured Kanhsien, destroyed devices 1 to 234.
CENTPAC
Scout aircraft are spotting some surface combattants in and around Fiji. I'm moving the KB south to see if I can get a shot at one of these task forces tomorrow.
Ordered sweep of Suva, Fiji scrubbed by weather for a 2nd straight day.
Reinforcements
14th Ku T-1 arrives at Kwajalein Island - a very welcome Mavis MPA unit
13th Air Flotilla arrives at Hamamatsu - restricted airHQ, might purchase later
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