20 January 1942
Combattants escape Enterprise and Saratoga, transports destroyed
Hawaii
Four BB (same 4 as yesterday) continued to pound Pearl. Even the shore batteries seem to be knocked out at this point. The KB, or perhaps just a detachment of it, are sprinting towards the Lexington and Yorktown. But I've got a head start. For now, the SBDs on Palmyra have been pulled back to Christmas Island, no point in attacking the KB without escorting fighters.
I've got fighter support along the chain of southern islands and can move some Banshees there as well. If KB wants to chase me I'll make a tower defense game of it.
Malaya
This seemed like a really uneventful turn until I got to the ops reports. There was a raid on Singapore. We traded 2 Hurricanes and a Mohawk for a Zero, three Nells, and 7 Sallies. They hit the Repulse again. But one of those Hurricanes was our leading ace, G.L. Hesketh of the 488th, with 14 kills. May his memory be an inspiration to those still in harm's way. We also lost 3 Hudsons trying to bomb enemy troops outside Singapore.
Battle of the Coral Sea
We did not get the slaughter we hoped for. Did we get the slaughter we deserved? He opened the day by bombarding Port Moresby with every combattant he had, bringing them to within 1000yd of shore and firing every gun down to the AA. The airfield took some damage, removing a few planes from the coming fight:
Wirraway: 4 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 7 damaged
Catalina I: 4 damaged
A-24 Banshee: 1 damaged
Then they turned and ran towards Milne and back north to Rabaul. They ended up in two groups (maybe the original 2 groups?), one fast and one slow. The fast one made it far enough my carriers didn't try for it.
The first air mission was their Oscars sweeping PM again. I put some P-39s on CAP this time because I was worried about bombers. The Oscars shot one down. SBDs acting as scouts spotted the task forces, but 2 were shot down by the CAP. But now the strikes began. The Wirraways went first with a low-level attack. They slipped past the CAP, but these rookies failed to hit anything. Then came the Banshees, which split their attacks between the two groups. Only the attack on the fast group had escorts: it was 4 P-39s against 4 Zeroes. The Zeroes took out 2 P-39s and moved onto the Banshees, getting two before their bomb runs and one more after. The 2 bombs were aimed at the CL Nagara but missed. The slow group drew only 2 unescorted Banshees. The CAP splashed them without difficulty.
Finally, the air strike I've wanted since I first spotted these task forces near Milne happened. A package of 20 Wilidcats and 62 SBDs arrived over the slow group. They had 10 Zeroes defending. They fought the F4Fs to a stalemate, but a few snuck past and shot down 4 SBDs before they got on target. But 58 SBDs dropping bombs is going to ruin your day. Somewhat frustratingly, every warship in the group that was attacked was missed (1 CL, 2 DD). But it appears that the transports were wiped out:
xAK Hauraki Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Lyons Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Tusima Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Kongo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Teiryu Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
CL Tatsuta
xAK Shinsei Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Hokoku Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Hayate
xAK Daihachikyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Huzikawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Akikaze
So that's where it stands. I'll try to bomb any stragglers tomorrow, but the CVBG's focus will now shift to supporting the troops fighting in PM. Meanwhile I'm moving in fighters and level bombers in expectation of an air campaign with Rabaul.
Dutch East Indies
Makassar, now being invaded, was my PT base. So I sent the PTs there to do something about it. They were driven off by a cruiser-destroyer SAG. Makassar was overrun as they left.
China
I wiped out the last of the troops hanging out in the open around Ichang. Nothing to interfere with my siege anymore. My question now is whether my troops can handle the forts without combat engineers, while the enemy is probably hurting for supplies and with low morale due to being cut off for weeks and being bombed almost daily.