31 March 1942
Battle of Bengal Bay, day 3: Allies suffer worst single-day aircraft loss since 7 December.
Bay of Bengal
The combat between my 'phibs and the coastal batteries continued before the BB joined the task force. Two more transports were damaged, with three then ablaze--and as expected, two sank by morning. A second amphibious task force arrived; the coastal batteries got hits on a cruiser four destroyers, and a cargo ship. Further offshore, HMS Truant intercepted yet another amphibious task force and put two torpedoes into a cargo ship, sinking it with about a third of the base force intended for Colombo.
Inbound for a bombardment run against Colombo, the Ise and Hyuga ran into a minesweeper and sank it.
Daybreak brought with it a flurry of enemy air raids, mostly by medium bombers, and the RAF would fare quite poorly. With the exception of the Unyo, which was just arriving, my carriers were completely defensive, their Kates on ASW patrol and their Zeroes ready to defend the landing area. A total of 7 waves of Blenheims and Hudsons attacked my task forces, most of which targeted my heavy covering task force, which had only 10 Zeroes protecting it. This worked out in my favor as the level bombers just aren't that accurate against ships, so it wasn't a big deal that many got through. They scored no hits. We shot down 7 Blenheims and 5 Hudsons.
We reacquired HMS Enterprise just outside Colombo; a Unyo sent a small strike of 5 Kates with 6 Zero escorts went after her, running into 8 Hurricanes protecting her. Each side lost 2 fighters, Enterprise took 2 more bomb hits.
We also spotted an enemy CVBG approaching from the southwest. Unyo launched an ill-advised strike of just 3 Zeroes and 5 Kates. There were 16 Martlets (Wildcats) on patrol. We got one of the Martlets but failed to keep them away from the bombers; 4 Kates were shot down. The single surviving Kate tried to bomb HMS Formidable but missed.
Formidable launched its own strike, 12 Albacores apparently at maximum range and without escorts (probably because we were too far for the assigned escorts). They went after the main force where they faced a wall of 44 Zeroes. 3 bombers managed to make bombing attacks on CVLs Shoho and Zuiho, but all missed. And none of them made it home.
Finally, to close the day out, our forces took the enemy base rather easily, and I was shocked to find out that most of the medium bombers were in fact coming from this base rather than Columbo. The enemy's loss of the base destroyed an estimated
35 Blenheims, 20 Hurricanes, 1-2 Waipitis, and 1-2 Vildebeest--a serious blow to any further capacity of the Brits to resist this invasion.
West Australian Coast
Enemy minesweepers got to work on a sub-laid minefield at Perth.
I've deployed a surface combat task force of 3 CL and 1 DD to this area to see if I can poach some ASW ships. And we did get a PG, plus a pair of AKLs. No retaliatory airstrikes.
One of my subs joined in on the action and sank an AKL of its own near Carnarvon.
SOPAC
After a long absence, B-17s made an appearance at Noumea--10 of them making an attack on the port. We had 11 Zeroes on CAP and ended up trading one of theirs for one of mine. The bombers succeeded in hitting the battleship Mutsu once and an AMC once. Nothing too serious.
Withdrawals
Four fighter squadrons are due for withdrawal today:
Komatsushima Ku T-1 - 20 floatplanes, will be withdrawn
Komatsushima Ku T-2 - 20 floatplanes, will be withdrawn
Sasebo Ku S-1 - Nate training squadron, withdrawn
4th Ku S-1 - Zeroes in the Marshalls, reluctantly withdrawn. A recent arrival will take their place.