13 September 1943
KB goes to Ambon - evacuation of troops likely underway - Shokaku and Akagi end the day burning
DEI
Well it really sucks that I took such heavy losses attacking an empty port yesterday because the KB is here and went straight to Ambon, and the main objective for all my airbases in the area is to deny the enemy the use of the sea to evacuate their massive troop concentration there. But it's not like I have nothing left...
The first raid was 14 Corsairs and 14 P-47s escorting 16 SBD-5s and 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers out of Babar. Enemy CAP strength opposing this raid was 76! Apparently they moved some fighters to Ambon too to supplement the KBs fighters. This raid never made it to the ships; all 16 SBDs were shot down along with 5 Beauforts, 1 F4U and 2 P-47s.
The raid from Saumlaki was next, 16 Hellcats escorting 35 Helldivers. Enemy CAP strength was still 62 at this point, more than enough to handle this. We lost 7 Hellcats and 21 SB2Cs. 14 SB2Cs actually managed attacks on the enemy task force, going after Zuikaku, Akagi, Musashi, and Ise, but all their bombs missed. 2 Helldivers were lost to flak.
Low level attacks came next with 12 B-25Gs attacking unescorted. 3 were shot down by the CAP and 2 more by flak. They attacked Musashi, Haruna, and Zuikaku with no hits. That was followed by 9 Beaufort torpedo bombers. Enemy CAP strength was down to 28 at this point, between losses (6 Zeroes), damage, maintenance, refueling/rearming. 6 of them got through and fired torpedoes at Akagi and the CA Chikuma--but missed.
The Babar air forces tried again in the afternoon, marshalling just 9 divebombers and 18 fighters against a CAP of 53. The raid was mostly aborted, with 2 bombers shot down. Similarly, a follow up raid of just 3 Beauforts and 15 fighters was routed with all 3 bombers shot down and a P-40 shot down. The fighters at least got a Zero and a Rufe.
Then success finally came with the 2nd B-25G raid of the day. They mostly evaded the CAP and got in low and fast:
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 6, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CS Chiyoda
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 3
DD Tokitsukaze
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 1
DD Amatsukaze
DD Niizuki
BB Ise, Bomb hits 2
DD Susuzuki, Shell hits 1
Shokaku should be disabled and hopefully fighting for her life after that.
China
Kiukiang has finally fallen. Casualties 2004 to 9807 favoring them.
Reinforcements
APD Overton arrives at Balboa
AM Impeccable arrives at Alameda
SS Devilfish arrives at Eastern USA
311th FBG/530th FBS arrives at Aden
211th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Mare Island
__________________
|