1 April 1942
Battle of Bengal Bay day 4: HMS Formidable, HMS Resolution crippled by Kate strikes; land battle for Sian begins
Western Australian Coast
My hunter-killer group sank a minesweeper off Carnarvon. I think I'll give these guys one more day and then pack it in. Recon says there's a heavy cruiser in Perth, which I doubt, but I'd rather not chance it.
Bay of Bengal
Overnight, the I-29 torpedoed and sank a fuel-laden cargo ship outside Diego Garcia--unfortunately blowing most of its torpedoes in the process due to poor accuracy, followed by overkill (4 hits). This sufficiently confirms that Diego Garcia was the point of origin for the enemy task forces trying to stop my invasion. My tripwire subs were watching here but just didn't spot them.
The Ise and Hyuga reached Columbo. An escorting destroyer spotted a mine and blew it up, but that was the extent of the resistance they faced. We shelled the base from 26k yards out, staying safely out of range of shore batteries and not encountering any other mines. Estimated enemy losses: 4 Hurricanes, 4 Blenheims, 2 Hudsons. Not a great result but after the massive haul we took last turn it makes sense that there wouldn't be much here to blow up.
While I was in defensive mode last turn to absorb the enemy's air attacks, this turn I intended to go on offense. The 3 CVEs would guard the phibs, with help from an Oscar squadron that I moved into Trincomalee. The BBs that tried to support the phibs formed up with some destroyers to act as a covering force, as I'd detected a few cruisers to the north at Madras that might try to come down. But now my CVLs formed up with the Hiryu and the main heavy covering force (led by fast battleships Haruna and Kongo) to advance on the Formidable.
Not having disabled the Columbo airbase, they launched several strikes. Against the raids targeting my offensive task forces, we splashed 5 Hurricanes and 11 Blenheims with no losses. And the strikes targeting my 'phibs lost 2 Hurricanes and 7 Blenheims.
In a move I'm still confused about, the enemy task forces did not abort their attack after yesterday's beatdown, instead they moved east as if to box me in. As you can see from the direction I advanced, I was expecting a retreat, perhaps back to Diego Garcia to disengage completely, or to Columbo to get extra protection from land-based Hurricanes (hence why I shelled Columbo). By moving east, he failed to put himself in range of my phibs, while keeping himself in range of my CVBG and also getting into strike range from Port Blair.
As for Port Blair, he got lucky there. A Betty strike did launch, but they failed to find the enemy. My CVBG was not so unlucky. One small strike of just 5 Kates attacked the Resolution--which appears to be off on its own--and hit it with 3 torpedoes. The ship doesn't appear to be in danger of sinking from this, but between the size of the ship, the amount of damage, or the relatively low quality of repair shipyards in this theatre, I think she's out of action for at least a year. We then had two waves of attacks against the Formidable CVBG. The first was 19 Zeroes escorting 14 Kates, opposed by 10 Martlets. The Martlets never got to the bombers, two were shot down trying. We got 2 torpedo hits on Formidable, knocking her out of flight operations. Wave 2 was 31 Kates with 14 Zeroes. Despite the greater size, we managed only 1 torpedo and 1 bomb hit on Formidable, plus a torpedo hit on the cruiser Hobart. Between both waves, we lost 2 Kates to flak. Resolution also had to face a strike from the Hiryu's 18 Vals--we got 9 hits but failed to get anything through her armor. We did at least knock out a few gun mounts, which is sure to keep her in the shipyards even longer should she manage to escape.
Formidable managed to launch 3 Albacore at my CVBG before she was knocked out--probably all she had left after yesterday. They were wiped out, although one did reach the Zuiho for a failed bombing attack. The CVBG also faced a few waves of unescorted Hudsons and Blenheims--we shot down 2 Hudsons and 8 Blenheims with no losses and no hits on any ships.
A third cargo ship succumbed to its damage at Trincomalee.
Burma
As recon had recently spotted enemy fighters, cruisers, and transports in Rangoon, I restarted Oscar sweeps. We were outnumbered 13 to 12 (and then 3 to 2), but shot down 6 without taking losses. That kind of success against Hurricanes makes me think he's having training/quality problems.
China
With the road between Nanyang and Sian clear of the enemy (for now), I began my attack on Sian. Our unadjusted assault odds are just under 2 to 1. Our attack reduced the fort level to 3 (so presumably it was at least 4), we acheived adjusted assault odds of just over 1 to 1, and casualties were 1247 devices destroyed/disabled for me and 1335 for him. I'd consider this a very good result as the casualties will skew my way the more the forts come down. I believe the fort reduction will probably help my bombers wear them down as well. Sian is going to cost us, but it's a major prize, so I find these casualties to be acceptable.
I have suffered an operational level defeat, though. I had three units working their way up the north extremes of China, trying to secure small, relatively unprotected oil-producing bases. I was stopped at Hami, and I have insufficient forces to break through. So, they are turning back, and we probably won't be back until after Sian and other nearby bases fall.
Sumatra
I've reinforced my forces in the northwest and have resumed offensive operations there.