1 April 1943
3 CVEs hit by the air forces they were meant to stop; reinforcement of Java by sea probably no longer practical.
Indian Ocean
USS Jack torpedoed and sank a PB near Diego Garcia
Java
An enemy sub finished off the damaged HMS Revenge near Batavia.
Enemy air raids pounded our CVE-centered covering force. We inflicted heavy losses on those raids: 5 Zeroes, 9 Betties, and 23 Vals, while losing 3 Wildcats to the escorts. But bombers got through:
Raid 1:
CVE Suwannee, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Raid 2:
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Chenango, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CVE Suwannee, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Fuel storage explosion on CVE Sangamon
Ammo storage explosion on CVE Chenango
Raid 3:
CA Chester, Torpedo hits 1
CA Astoria, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
We managed some damage of our own, hitting a pair of transports near Batavia with 8 SBDs:
xAP Teiko Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Takatiho Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Timor
I swept Koepang with P-38s to try to deal with the Nicks. Shot down 2 Nicks and a Tojo, no losses.
China
We defeated the 3rd and 63rd Divisions in the open battlefield near Chusien. Essentially these were reinforcements intended to Foochow that I interdicted. Casualties 3150 to 465 favoring us. We still don't have any chance of retaking Foochow, but we may be able to take Wenchow from them thanks to their armies moving to Foochow. Wenchow has factories and Foochow doesn't, so that will benefit us a great deal if it happens.
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