28 February 1942
SOPAC
Have I mentioned I'm going to turn the Australian coast into a sea of fire? I don't think I have. Anyways, that's the KB's current assignment, and we're getting close to our station from which to bomb Melbourne and Sydney. Slight problem: I also have a pair of midget sub carriers and an aircraft-carrying sub standing by to try to attack Sydney's port (the floatplane was supposed to tell me if Sydney's harbor had anything worth attacking, but got shot down by CAP on its first flight, so since then the SSXs are waiting on my carriers to tell them when to attack Sydney). These guys got spotted and are being harassed by at least 3 ASW vessels now, enough that I need to move them to evade. The KB is going to pass close enough to this patrol area to attack them--which I DON'T want, because the more surprise I'm able to get when I attack, the less fighters I'm likely to encounter. So I'm actually restricting my bomber's attack range to prevent an airstrike on these guys. Sorry subs, you're on your own for at least another turn.
Burma and Bay of Bengal
One of those 4 subs returning to base was damaged off Calcutta this turn. I-158 was engaged by a highly accurate depth charge attack by the PG Lawrence. I'll try to remember that little ship is a problem.
Philippines
A minesweeper arrived at Bataan and cleared 40 mines. Might be a lot more.
CENTPAC
One of my submarines shifting patrol areas to intercept Yorktown got spotted an attacked, sustaining a solid pattern hit. So she's RTB... Allied ASW skill is improving; I now have 4 subs returning to base due to depth charge damage and at least 2 currently under repair.
Java and Banda Sea
Pretty quiet as our troops advanced without resistance. A flight of 3 139WH-3 tried to bomb our eastern amphibious task forces; one was shot down and the others aborted the mission.
Another claim of a hit on a sub outside Ambon, this time by an Ann light bomber. Probably not the same one as yesterday, since the Jakes and Anns have different patrol areas.
Reinforcements, upgrades, and withdrawals
Hong Kong Det disbands
47th Naval Guard Unit arrives at Tokyo
44th JNAF AF Unit arrives at Tokyo
March upgrades will include lengthy refits for the Takao class heavy cruisers, which are getting their AA mounts and depth charges upgraded. I'll be sending 2 for upgrades right away while the 3rd waits a month for the first two to complete. The Tomozuru-class torpedo boats will be converted to kaibokans, a 45-day evolution that will double both their AA and ASW ratings. I'm sending all 4 for the full upgrades immediately. Lastly, many of my subchasers will be upgraded to carry deep-water depth charges, which will take 2 weeks. This is a critical upgrade and I think I'm sending about 2/3 of them to have it done immediately.
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