25 February 1942
Lexington and Enterprise vanish, but Yorktown now raiding Wake; the last stand of the Dutch Air Force
Java
The destroyer-minesweepers I brought with the western invasion force got to work on the minefield they landed inside, clearing 40 mines.
The Dutch Air Force hit us with pretty much everything they could today, which wasn't much. They did manage to slip in some medium bombers in on the west force, low under our fighters, scoring a hit on a cargo ship. But we absolutely dismantled their other raids, wiping out a raid of 6 Vildebeests and a Buffalo, and shooting down another 3 139WH-1 and 3 T.IVas.
We captured both our landing areas, Banjoewangi and Kalidjati, destroying 11 FK-51s and 11 L-212s at Kalidjati, which presumably were too damaged to evacuate. Total air losses for today across all theatres were 5 to 41.
Bay of Bengal/Burma
I-123 took a serious depth charge hit from a minesweeper off Columbo.
We shot down a single Hurricane raiding Rangoon's airbase. Damage on the ground was minimal.
SOPAC
I ordered my two commerce raider AMCs to rendezvous east of the Solomons to begin a patrol to the south to try to find merchant lanes to then send my subs after. One departed Guadalcanal and was immediately torpedoed by the Gato, so it turned right back around to attend to damage control in port.
The KB and its covering force are fully refueled, and the replenishment group is now headed for Luganville to give the rest of its cargo to my amphibious shuttle operation to Noumea before heading back to Rabaul to top off.
China
In the north central region, I noticed a concentration of fighters at Yenan and became worried they might try to CAP trap my bombers. To try to preempt this, I pulled a few fighters off escort duty to sweep the base, which reduced the enemy fighter force by 3 with no losses.
Meanwhile, the Nanyang stack looks like it wants to retreat, but my armored force is blocking the road to the west, leaving them trying to off-road through the mountains as their only choice. I'm going to attack next turn, but if it fails I think I'll just let them. They'll be effectively immobilized, isolated from supply, and building up fatigue if they do this, leaving me free to make an attempt at Sian and then come back for them when they're even more worn down.
CENTPAC
We no longer hold contact on the Lex and Enterprise; I can only assume the left headed east at full speed. But now the Yorktown has shown up, raiding Wake's airbase with SBDs, causing light damage. It's a bit harder to evacuate here because I don't have much fighter/bomber coverage to retreat behind. I had 3 submarines in reserve in the Marshalls that I sent after the first CVBG, I'm going to try to have them swing north now to try to get in the Yorktown's path if she returns to Pearl.