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Molon Labe · 03-26-23, 02:02 PM

26 January 1944
The Naval Battle of Salajar

Well, it's been a slow several weeks. And they say war is weeks on end of boredom interrupted by moments of absolute terror...

Philippines
USS Pargo torpedoed and cripped a 4875-ton troop-carrying cargo ship in a convoy off the Luzon Strait. The kaibokan escorting the convoy retaliated and hit Pargo badly enough to cause major flooding and a fire. Pargo is limping back to base, crippled.

At about the same time, another convoy reached a freshly-laid minefield at Aparri. A troop-carrying cargo ship in that convoy hit one of the mines, and it too is likely to sink.

USS Guardfish then attacked the same convoy hit by Pargo, putting 2 torpedoes into a 3675-ton troop-carrying cargo ship; almost certainly a kill. The kaibokan escort failed to find Guardfish after the attack. But, Guardfish attempted another attack later in the day, this time getting spotted and ending up with light damage. Not finished, late in the afternoon, Guardfish found the cargo ship that Pargo crippled and finished her off with a torpedo hit.

Our troops attacked the enemy base at Cebu, eliminating all fortifications. Casualties were 133 to 15 favoring us. Clearly, we'll get this quickly.

South China Sea
USS Puffer got in on the Silent Service's slaughter today, sinking a PB (830 tons) off Miri, Borneo.

Japanese Home Waters
You guessed it... another sub action... USS Corvina with a kill on a PB off Iwo Jima.

DEI: The Naval Battle of Salajar

As big a splash as the US sub fleet made today, it was far outshadowed by the carrier v carrier action in the east Java Sea.

Before sunrise, just off Salajar island, one of the two enemy heavy surface groups was blundered into by one of our AGPs and a destroyer headed to Makassar to replenish the surviving PT boats. Both task forces declined to engage, but I did confirm this group's composition: CS Chiyoda, BB Ise, BB Hyuga, 2 CA, 4 CL, and 6 DD. The dis-engagement may have cost this task force the chance to bombard Salajar before sunrise.

This task force would then be the target of the first of many air raids today. The airbase at Salajar launched a (very disorganized) strike: 13 Beauforts, 65 SBDs, and 18 Avengers escorted by only 16 P-47s and 7 Corsairs. We didn't know it yet, but the KB was with this task force, and gave it a CAP of 132 Zeroes (it appears that no enemy fighters were held in reserve for bomber escort duty, the KB was in a purely defensive role today, as it's been in the past when operating near my airbases). As you might imagine, this became a bit of a slaughter; we lost 1 Corsair, 1 P-47, 30 SBDs, 3 Beauforts, and 14 Avengers. In exchange we got 6 Zeroes. But, 19 of the SBDs, 6 Avengers, and 8 Beauforts managed to make it to the targets, and the Hyuga and Ise each took a torpedo hit from the Beauforts, and an SBD hit Ise with a bomb. Akagi, Shokaku, and Zuikaku, Unryu, and Kongo were also attacked.

The Yankee Butai was up next, having transited into the east Java sea from the south near Bima. This strike was 108 Hellcats escorting 27 SB2Cs, 27 SBDs, and 62 TBFs; plus 6 P-47s that jumped in from Salajar. The enemy CAP was down to 68 Zeroes. This should have been a slaughter, but as things seem to go, we weren't able to keep them off our bombers, despite the massive number of Hellcats. Only 5 Zeroes went down in the air battle, while on our side 1 Hellcat, 4 SBDs, 5 SB2Cs, and 7 Avengers bought it. And our accuracy was horrible. Ise was hit by one torpedo, while Hyuga ate 2 and was severely damaged. Unryu was hit by a single bomb, while Akagi was hit by two bombs, one of which caused a secondary fuel explosion. A destroyer was also hit by a bomb and engulfed in flames.

Salajar launched another attack in the afternoon, this time with just 8 SBDs and 3 Beauforts, a mere 2 P-47s escorting. We lost 7 of the SBDs and 2 Beauforts while shooting down 1 Zero. The SBDs actually all made it to the ships, attacking Zuikaku and Musashi, but they all missed.

The Yankee Butai's strike was next; 104 Hellcats with 18 SB2Cs, 20 SBDs, and 42 Avengers (and another 4 P-47s from Salajar to help out). The enemy CAP was now down to 66 Zeroes. And the enemy reached the bombers once again, shooting down 7 SBDs, 6 SB2Cs, 11 TBFs, and 6 Hellcats. We got 10 Zeroes. And once again, despite how many planes got through to attack, we only managed two hits; one on Akagi and one on Shokaku.

6 Beauforts with 8 P-47s came in next, we got one Zero but lost all 6 Beauforts. 1 torpedo was fired at Kongo--a miss.

In an action the enemy probably wishes would have come sooner, 2 CA and 2 CLs shelled Salajar airbase, damaging most of its remaining aircraft.

So, at the end of the day, it appears that we've knocked out the Akagi--hopefully for good this time--and damaged a pair of battleships pretty significantly, at a huge cost of aircraft and pilots. We had a slight desynch, so my observed air losses cited above won't match the official totals... but officially overall air losses today were 131 to 34 favoring Japan (and 49 pilots wounded, 47 killed). I won't bother trying to chase them to re-engage as it would be fairly easy for them to get fighter cover from Surabaya or elsewhere in Java if they retreat.

Other raids:
Koepang (ground forces) 12 casualties
Kendari (ground forces) 37 casualties

Burma and Thailand
Air strikes:
eastern road (ground forces): 48 casualties
western road (ground forces: 6 casualties

China
Air raids:
Hankow (ground forces) 17 casualties
near Chengchow (ground forces) 40 casualties

Land combat:
The Japanese made another ill-advised attack on Sinyang, despite having just 43k troops to my 75k, while dealing with level 3 forts and a defensive terrain bonus. They managed to knock the forts down to Level 2, but casualties were 8303 to 947 favoring me. I'll be counterattacking tomorrow.

Reinforcements
CM Ariadne arrives at Balboa

03-26-23, 02:02 PM	#802
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	26 January 1944 The Naval Battle of Salajar Well, it's been a slow several weeks. And they say war is weeks on end of boredom interrupted by moments of absolute terror... Philippines USS Pargo torpedoed and cripped a 4875-ton troop-carrying cargo ship in a convoy off the Luzon Strait. The kaibokan escorting the convoy retaliated and hit Pargo badly enough to cause major flooding and a fire. Pargo is limping back to base, crippled. At about the same time, another convoy reached a freshly-laid minefield at Aparri. A troop-carrying cargo ship in that convoy hit one of the mines, and it too is likely to sink. USS Guardfish then attacked the same convoy hit by Pargo, putting 2 torpedoes into a 3675-ton troop-carrying cargo ship; almost certainly a kill. The kaibokan escort failed to find Guardfish after the attack. But, Guardfish attempted another attack later in the day, this time getting spotted and ending up with light damage. Not finished, late in the afternoon, Guardfish found the cargo ship that Pargo crippled and finished her off with a torpedo hit. Our troops attacked the enemy base at Cebu, eliminating all fortifications. Casualties were 133 to 15 favoring us. Clearly, we'll get this quickly. South China Sea USS Puffer got in on the Silent Service's slaughter today, sinking a PB (830 tons) off Miri, Borneo. Japanese Home Waters You guessed it... another sub action... USS Corvina with a kill on a PB off Iwo Jima. DEI: The Naval Battle of Salajar As big a splash as the US sub fleet made today, it was far outshadowed by the carrier v carrier action in the east Java Sea. Before sunrise, just off Salajar island, one of the two enemy heavy surface groups was blundered into by one of our AGPs and a destroyer headed to Makassar to replenish the surviving PT boats. Both task forces declined to engage, but I did confirm this group's composition: CS Chiyoda, BB Ise, BB Hyuga, 2 CA, 4 CL, and 6 DD. The dis-engagement may have cost this task force the chance to bombard Salajar before sunrise. This task force would then be the target of the first of many air raids today. The airbase at Salajar launched a (very disorganized) strike: 13 Beauforts, 65 SBDs, and 18 Avengers escorted by only 16 P-47s and 7 Corsairs. We didn't know it yet, but the KB was with this task force, and gave it a CAP of 132 Zeroes (it appears that no enemy fighters were held in reserve for bomber escort duty, the KB was in a purely defensive role today, as it's been in the past when operating near my airbases). As you might imagine, this became a bit of a slaughter; we lost 1 Corsair, 1 P-47, 30 SBDs, 3 Beauforts, and 14 Avengers. In exchange we got 6 Zeroes. But, 19 of the SBDs, 6 Avengers, and 8 Beauforts managed to make it to the targets, and the Hyuga and Ise each took a torpedo hit from the Beauforts, and an SBD hit Ise with a bomb. Akagi, Shokaku, and Zuikaku, Unryu, and Kongo were also attacked. The Yankee Butai was up next, having transited into the east Java sea from the south near Bima. This strike was 108 Hellcats escorting 27 SB2Cs, 27 SBDs, and 62 TBFs; plus 6 P-47s that jumped in from Salajar. The enemy CAP was down to 68 Zeroes. This should have been a slaughter, but as things seem to go, we weren't able to keep them off our bombers, despite the massive number of Hellcats. Only 5 Zeroes went down in the air battle, while on our side 1 Hellcat, 4 SBDs, 5 SB2Cs, and 7 Avengers bought it. And our accuracy was horrible. Ise was hit by one torpedo, while Hyuga ate 2 and was severely damaged. Unryu was hit by a single bomb, while Akagi was hit by two bombs, one of which caused a secondary fuel explosion. A destroyer was also hit by a bomb and engulfed in flames. Salajar launched another attack in the afternoon, this time with just 8 SBDs and 3 Beauforts, a mere 2 P-47s escorting. We lost 7 of the SBDs and 2 Beauforts while shooting down 1 Zero. The SBDs actually all made it to the ships, attacking Zuikaku and Musashi, but they all missed. The Yankee Butai's strike was next; 104 Hellcats with 18 SB2Cs, 20 SBDs, and 42 Avengers (and another 4 P-47s from Salajar to help out). The enemy CAP was now down to 66 Zeroes. And the enemy reached the bombers once again, shooting down 7 SBDs, 6 SB2Cs, 11 TBFs, and 6 Hellcats. We got 10 Zeroes. And once again, despite how many planes got through to attack, we only managed two hits; one on Akagi and one on Shokaku. 6 Beauforts with 8 P-47s came in next, we got one Zero but lost all 6 Beauforts. 1 torpedo was fired at Kongo--a miss. In an action the enemy probably wishes would have come sooner, 2 CA and 2 CLs shelled Salajar airbase, damaging most of its remaining aircraft. So, at the end of the day, it appears that we've knocked out the Akagi--hopefully for good this time--and damaged a pair of battleships pretty significantly, at a huge cost of aircraft and pilots. We had a slight desynch, so my observed air losses cited above won't match the official totals... but officially overall air losses today were 131 to 34 favoring Japan (and 49 pilots wounded, 47 killed). I won't bother trying to chase them to re-engage as it would be fairly easy for them to get fighter cover from Surabaya or elsewhere in Java if they retreat. Other raids: Koepang (ground forces) 12 casualties Kendari (ground forces) 37 casualties Burma and Thailand Air strikes: eastern road (ground forces): 48 casualties western road (ground forces: 6 casualties China Air raids: Hankow (ground forces) 17 casualties near Chengchow (ground forces) 40 casualties Land combat: The Japanese made another ill-advised attack on Sinyang, despite having just 43k troops to my 75k, while dealing with level 3 forts and a defensive terrain bonus. They managed to knock the forts down to Level 2, but casualties were 8303 to 947 favoring me. I'll be counterattacking tomorrow. Reinforcements CM Ariadne arrives at Balboa __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 03-26-23 at 02:35 PM.