[Molon Labe]

13 May 1942
Pago Pago endured alpha strike from Kido Butai

Timor
As the enemy landings continued, 4 of my PT boats were arriving from Darwin that were meant to be stationed at Koepang. We never got them close enough to hit anything; they were spotted coming in and the escorts blocked their advance and forced them to retreat. But they did cause an alarm that caused the enemy to temporarily abort the landing and try to evade. A transport collided with an escort in the chaos. Later in the day, two destroyers hit mines, one of which probably sank.

Our resistance to the enemy's air raids was of little consequence, a few planes shot up but nothing shot down on either side. We sent out bombers to hit the enemy ships, losing 2 Falcons to AA and 2 B-26s to Oscars. B-17s from Darwin managed to hit a transport, but it was mostly empty by then.

Malaya
Our Wirraways managed to hit a cargo ship at Kuantan, but we lost a Hurricane and a Beaufort to enemy fighters in the attempt. The Beaufort squadron is essentially done at this point, I'm standing it down until it gets replacement aircraft. I have to say I had high hopes for these aircraft and I'm very disappointed in them...their accuracy was just horrible even with reasonably well-trained pilots.

SouthPAC
Defying my prediction, the KB aggressively charged south and launched a full-strength strike against Pago from rather close range. It was 54 Zeroes escorting 150 Vals and 153 Kates. All 6 fleet carriers are there, with the Junyo taking Soryu's place. Against that, we had 22 P-39s and 14 P-40s. They were excellent--so good that it makes me wonder if the Japanese have taken more pilot losses than I've realized: 2 P-39s were shot down, we got 10 Zeroes, 5 Kates, and 3 Vals. Another 4 Vals were taken out by AA.

Damage was lighter than you'd expect for over 300 attacking bombers:
xAK Minnesotan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Admiral Day, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Fomalhaut, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Admiral Senn, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Mormacmar, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires (SUNK)
AP Wharton, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Challenger, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PC Taney, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKE City of Elwood, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP President Hayes, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AG Sirius, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP President Polk, Bomb hits 1
xAK Charles H Cramp, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AP President Monroe, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK President Quezon, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tambua, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK American, Bomb hits 1, on fire

I think I can be criticized for having that many ships in port, but I had been planning to return to Palmyra with these guys soon (hence why they were there in the first place) and moving them away from Pago would likely have gotten them attacked without fighters and base AA protecting them. So I think it was the right call.

I didn't attempt to use any of Pago's bombers this turn because I figured they'd just get torn to pieces. For next turn, the A-20s are in position and I've brought in another fighter squadron. So between wearing down their Zeroes and having more assets to bring, I'll attempt a strike next turn if he's in range. Dive bombers up high with escorts with the A-20s coming in low and fast. With a little luck one will draw the CAP and the other will get through and score some hits. The numbers still favor him, though.


Java Sea
USS Stringray attacked a transport convoy near Batavia and hit a troop-carrying cargo ship. It sustained light depth charge damage in exchange but got away.


Makassar Strait
The O16 found a convoy of 3 oilers and a destroyer. It put 3 of 6 fish into the side of one of the oilers for a confirmed kill. The destroyer was one of the few with deep-reaching depth charges, and it dealt the O16 a serious hit, but the sub eventually got away and will live long enough to be repaired--unless she's hit again.

Thailand
A sweep over Tavoy cost the enemy on Oscar. The enemy is apparently having second thoughts about his manuevers. The southern army that appeared to be headed for Tavoy through the mountains now looks more interested in Force Lauren. One of two groups of enemy land forces on the road to Raheng now appears to be moving off of it. This changes nothing, though, I'll proceed as before.

The troop convoy at Calcutta loaded faster than expected and will depart tomorrow. ASW is a huge concern. He clearly has multiple subs along the route waiting for me, and my ASW assets here are simply inadequate. I'm routing this convoy differently than the ones before to hopefully throw him off. The US fighter squadron has also arrived in Calcutta by rail and is assembling its aircraft, they'll be contributing in 3 days or so.

China
Day 2 at Kaifeng did not go well. Apparently we burned through a ton of supplies yesterday and should have used today to replenish. Casualties 1500 to 2700 favoring them, forts holding at level 2.

Reinforcements/refit
SS Herring arrives at Balboa
YMS-118 arrives at Los Angeles
No.99 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (2/16 Wellington bombers--fees like a bad joke)
209th Field Artillery Battalion arrives at Seattle (full strength, unrestricted)
256th USAAF Base Force arrives at Santa Barbara (40% strength, fully restricted)
138th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco (full strength, unrestricted)
6th Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego (43% strength, unrestricted--and the squads it needs to fill out are available so we can get this one ready pretty quickly)