War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

18 October 1943
Heavy cruiser IJN Nachi torpedoed in Sulu Sea
Hellcats lose to Georges, again


Sulu Sea
USS Grouper scored 2 hits on IJN Nachi on the western side of the north-of-Mindanao sea route. Damage appears to be severe. The nearest shipyard is Manila--I'll have a pair of subs looking for him outside that harbor. Curiously, this appears to be a replenishment task force; the other reported ships are 2 AOs and a kaibokan.


CENTPAC
That apparently-elite George squadron handed our asses to us again. I cancelled the Avenger raids and replaced them with sweeps, mostly from CVEs with more experienced pilots than the newly-arrived Bunker Hill. But, coordination was awful, instead of arriving in a group they mostly arrived 1 squadron-of-9 at a time. We got 1 Zero and 2 Georges, while losing 11 Hellcats.

I've ordered the most depleted carriers (Essex, Yorktown [it's aircraft, not its sorties], Independence, Casablanca, Belleau Wood, and Duncan) to fall back to Wake for replenishment. That leaves Bunker Hill, Princeton, Cowpens, Monterey, and several CVEs.


DEI
USMC paratroopers seized Maurmere, Endeh, and Ruteng.
Of the 6 bases captured, I only intend to build up Maurmere. But he won't know which one it is until there's already a fighter squadron based there. I'll be using landing craft to reconsolidate the Marines, and amphibious ships are moving base forces and engineers over.


Reinforcements
DD Cotten arrives at Eastern USA
DE Parks arrives at Eastern USA
AS Aegir arrives at Balboa
LSD Lindenwald arrives at Los Angeles

[Molon Labe]

19 October 1943

Japan
USS Shad torpedoed and sank a PB near Torishima. A few hexes to the south, USS Corvina scored a non-fatal hit on a Type-1 TL tanker.

Sulu Sea
USS Albacore torpedoed and sank an Aden-class cargo ship off the coast of Borneo


Reinforcements
DE Duffy arrives at Mare Island
71st RG/110th RS arrives at Eastern USA
494th BG/867th BS arrives at Eastern USA
58th FG/310th FS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

20 October 1943
USS Raton forced to surface by depth charging, but survives
CVBG replenishment underway



Palau Islands
Interesting submarine engagement here. USS Raton attacked a convoy, striking a cargo ship with a Mk14. Probably a kill. Two Kaibokans prosecute the Raton, and they quickly score two solid depth charge hits plus a few damaging near misses. Raton forces to surface. It trades fire with the Kaibokans, hitting one of them with its deck gun and taking at 2-4 hits from the various guns aboard the skimmers. Then Raton is able to break contact. I'm not sure how...the top speed of these ships is 19 knots; considering that the Raton was taking on water its top speed was lower than that. So it looks like they got things under control enough to dive again. Current damage report from Raton is that they have significant flooding but have it under control, they're expected to make it back to base.


China
The enemy 11th Tank Regiment has been destroyed near Nanchang.
Enemy troops are advancing from Hangkow to Sinyang, probably trying to break the stalemate there. They have to cross open ground to get there and are now a bomber priority.


The enemy has also quietly increased their forces in the small mountain base hex of Tisatso. I'm thinking the high defensive bonus will help me hold out if he's planning on that hex becoming an active front.



CENTPAC
I've decided it was a bad call to only retreat half my carrier forces--he's not going to fall for it and the KB is lurking. Admiral Halsey is taking all remaining US warships back to Wake for replenishment and to rendezvous with the reinforcements from Guadalcanal. Along the way, the task force spotted a Japanese sub trying to penetrate the screen, and the escorting destroyers drove it off while inflicting serious depth charge damage. That left the sub vulnerable to the next task force coming through, one of the amphibious groups. The destroyers in that task force finished the enemy boat off.


The first carrier task force to retreat has fully replenished their fuel and aircraft fuel/bomb/torpedo supplies. All ships except Yorktown have taken enough replacement aircraft to return to full strength; Yorktown's attack aircraft are mostly replaced but fighter aircraft will take longer; I'll probably have to fly some from Wake to her once she heads back.


Reinforcements
PF San Pedro arrives at Mare Island
6th PG/25th PRS arrives at Eastern USA
58th FG/69th FS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

21 October 1943

Philippine Sea
Enemy PBs prevented an attack by USS Greenling against a tanker convoy of at least 5 tankers on the eastern end of a sea lane passing south of Luzon. Not sure if these guys are inbound or outbound; my guess is outbound.


DEI
24 Sally bombers escorted by 7 Nicks attacked the USMC paratroopers on Ruteng. We had 3 P-40s on a long-range CAP providing cover, which shot down 1 Nick and 1 Sally without loss. The raid destroyed 1 squad and disabled another (17 nominal casualties), which is probably all that's there to begin with.


CENTPAC
The sub killed yesterday appears to be part of a deliberate effort to intercept traffic headed to Wake. At least 4 more subs are lurking along that route according to searchplanes. One hit was claimed on one of those subs.

[Ostfriese]

Quite a lot of reports

From those reports it sounds that the strategic initiative already is firmly in your hand, even though you still suffer heavy losses at times.

The KB (or what's left of it) also seems to become less and less of a factor. It still is a thread, no doubt, but it seems it is no longer able to stop you at the center of attack. Except for sinking the KB it sounds that you are ahead of the historic progress.

How are things regarding VP? From your point of view: do you think your opponent still has good chances to win the game?

And once again thanks for your reports, which I still enjoy with the game in it's 20th month.

[Molon Labe]

22 Oct 1943

CENTPAC and Truk

Near Marcus, USS Corvina attacked a Gozan-class cargo ship (tonnage: 2375) from the surface, scoring 3 torpedo hits for substantial overkill.


Halsey's battle group was approached by an enemy sub, which was seriously damaged by depth charges before it eluded us. I doubt this one makes it back to port.


At least 3 more subs are approaching Wake.



The second group of carriers is nearly fully-replenished. It would take another day to finish off a pair of CVLs. No problems issuing replacement aircraft.


Taking advantage of the building enemy fighter presence in the Marianas, I guessed, correctly, that meant fighter coverage at Truk would be weak and hit it with heavy bombers from Rabaul. Damage to the base was rather light, although we did get a mine tender sunk. One enemy Tony was shot down by the bombers, and we lost one bomber to the CAP.


An enemy ground attack on Tinian cost them 1700 casualties to our 70. That defensive bonus again!


Sulu Sea and Philippines
Just a quick screenshot of the two sea lanes he's probably using. The number of subs around these will be increasing in the coming days.




Reinforcements
DD Franks arrives at Seattle
58th FG/311th FS arrives at Eastern USA
855/868th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Quite a lot of reports

From those reports it sounds that the strategic initiative already is firmly in your hand, even though you still suffer heavy losses at times.

The KB (or what's left of it) also seems to become less and less of a factor. It still is a thread, no doubt, but it seems it is no longer able to stop you at the center of attack. Except for sinking the KB it sounds that you are ahead of the historic progress.

How are things regarding VP? From your point of view: do you think your opponent still has good chances to win the game?

And once again thanks for your reports, which I still enjoy with the game in it's 20th month.

The VP score is rapidly narrowing, I might overtake him soon. The timing of this makes it look like maybe my sudden territorial expansion had a lot to do with it, but those were really low-value bases for the most part. I think it's mostly ships sunk by subs days/weeks/months ago finally being confirmed and counted, plus land unit losses--including those going down with transports all over the place.


I think any chance he had of pulling off an auto-victory died when he aborted the Burma campaign to save Java. He's playing for a stalemate now by trying to stop my invasions when I make them.

[Molon Labe]

23 October 1943

Philippine Sea
USS Grouper hit an Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) with a pair of Mk14s, sending it to the bottom. The ship was transporting artillery and was was passing north of the Palau Islands.

This is interesting, given how many unescorted cargo ships carrying land units have been sunk over the last week or two in the Sulu Sea. This is much further south than I'd expect them to be if they're using the "north-of-Mindanao" route (henceforth known as the Leyte Route as Leyte Gulf is its eastern terminal). So this suggests the merchant traffic may be on a dog-leg course east of the Philppines to try to throw me off. Grouper just happened to be passing through the lane on its way back to port to refuel.





Japan
USS Shad scored 2 hits on yet another Aden-class cargo ship, this one southeast of Shikoku.


CENTPAC and Truk
The enemy made a large-scale medium bomber attack on my forces still fighting on Tinian. They were as ineffective as my own raids previously.

B-24 raids on Truk met 16 Zeroes this time. Light airfield damage again--4 Zeroes shot down by the bombers though. 1 bomber lost to flak. I'm suspending these attacks for a bit; even though the Zeroes aren't getting kills outright they're still damaging the planes resulting in some operational losses and fewer overall ready aircraft. I'd rather let them repair and attack with a bit more mass and maybe get better results on the ground.

My newly-arrived amphibious group from Guadalcanal was detected as it started to make its way from Wake to Tinian, along with the first group of carriers to be replenished. Rather than let this be an inviting target for the KB while the other carriers are catching up, I'm having these guys double back a bit to make sure we link up ASAP. The marines on Tinian have plenty of supplies to hold out an extra day.



Reinforcements
DD Hoel arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

24 October 1943

Japan
USS Drum was detected and depth charged by a kaibokan near Iwo Jima and is returning to Midway for a repair assessment.


Java Sea
USS Hake was depth charged by a subchaser trying to slip out of the Java Sea between Sumatra and Java. It was going to return to Colombo, I've since redirected it to Brisbane and reviewed all over subs in the area to make sure they'll be resupplying at Darwin instead of Colombo. The Strait of Malacca as well as the smaller straits in the Java Sea are just too hot to cross right now.


CENTPAC
Having my carriers backed off from the Marianas, they are now using medium bombers to attack my Marines on Tinian. Fortunately they're just as ineffective as my Avengers were.


Reinforcements
DD Sigourney arrives at Balboa
AD Denebola arrives at Balboa
VT-8 arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

25 October 1943
Fight for Tinian now unwinnable


Marshall Islands
I had a 3-destroyer task force cruising the Marshalls looking for a fight, and it looked like they might get one. An enemy destroyer briefly engaged them near Roi-Namur, but broke contact before either side landed any hits.


CENTPAC
Now at least 2 enemy task forces have begun to bombard our Marines on Tinian, one of which includes the battleships Ise and Kongo.

An enemy land attack came which was about 4x as strong as the prior one--they've reinforced, big time. Maybe it was a horrible mistake to back my carriers off... Even with my troops from Guadalcanal, we can't beat them on Tinian anymore. That said, they haven't worn us down yet, casualties 3665 (J) to 567 (A) this time. But that's going to get worse fast.


Japan
USS Blackfish scored a torpedo hit on an enemy cargo ship, but it wasn't lethal. This was well southeast of Japan, further east than I'd have expected.


DEI
I sent a B-24 raid to Makassar base as our airfields continue to expand, allowing the heavy bombers to move to more forward bases. Unfortunately the B-24s arrived before a P-38 sweep instead of after as intended. That miscue cost us 5 B-24s. Damage to the airbase was light, but was enough to destroy 2 Topsy transports and 2 Sally medium bombers.


Celebes Sea
An enemy surface combat task force, including the Musashi and Haruna, crossed the Celebes Sea, drawing the attention of 16 Beaufighters and 11 B-25Gs:

CL Naka, Shell hits 12
BB Musashi, Shell hits 2
DD Hatsuzuki, Shell hits 4
DD Niizuki, Shell hits 4
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
---
stragglers:
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 2
E Kiji, Shell hits 2

A second raid in the afternoon on the same task force:
CL Naka, Shell hits 4
----
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
DD Hatsuzuki, Shell hits 4
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 5
CL Naka, Shell hits 4
E Kiji, Shell hits 1
No ships were seriously damaged; the bombs hitting the battleships didn't get through the armor.

[Molon Labe]

26 October 1943
Trying to salvage the Mariannas operation

CENTPAC
So, I have all these extra troops from Guadalcanal. I know I can't beat him on Tinian. But maybe these troops can rapidly overwhelm Saipan or Guam? I didn't like this option. He has over 100 fighters on Saipan and Tinian now, with the KB lurking nearby, and Betties flying in from the Palaus and Truk. Evacuate Tinian then? That's problem for the same reason.

My answer to this problem: Take Truk. The Betties from Palau aren't in torpedo range. Recon says there aren't many troops there. Having Truk as an airbase puts the Marianas in B-24 range to support my Marines there. After Truk is neutralized, I can reinforce or evacuate Tinian but with a significantly reduced land-based air threat.

I attacked Truk with B-24s and B-17s from New Britain, causing light damage and destroying a transport on the ground. Disappointing results. The combined task forces approaching Truk reported 2 hits on enemy submarines by ASW aircraft. I hope that doesn't mean he anticipated my move...

The enemy garrison attacked our Marines on Tinian and again it did not go well for them, 707(J) vs 21(A).



DEI
We swept Makassar with P-38s; 2 were shot down while shooting down 4 Tonies. B-24s hit the base later, remaining Tonies got 1 bomber. Damage on the ground was minor.


Burma
Beaufighters made a low-altitude attack on an seaplane tender at Tavoy, causing moderate damage.

Off the coast, HMS Trespasser torpedoed and sunk an Ehime class cargo ship (3425 tons).

Damage at Rangoon is looking fairly accumulative, it may be worth attacking directly in a week or so.


Reinforcements
SS Rock arrives at Eastern USA
SS Burrfish arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

27 October 1943
Light carrier IJN Nisshin makes its first appearance--as a submarine target.


South China Sea
USS Cisco attacked a tanker convoy and missed.


China
We suffered a land attack at Tsiaotso--a confusing target, as this is a flank base for the frontline in the northeastern region, but it's in the mountains, making this a very hard nut to crack. He had significantly reinforced his army presence to make a major push here. Forts reduced from level 4 to 3, casualties 3015(J) to 580(A), and it looks like many of the units that participated in the attack are now going back to wherever they came from.


Burma
I lied yesterday. The cargo ship hit by Trespasser didn't sink. But Trespasser hit her again today and finished her off. The ship's cargo included military vehicles.
3 B-25Gs attacked another cargo ship in the same area, scoring 3 bomb hits as well as strafing it. I believe this was lethal damage. That ship was also carrying vehicles. Finally, a wave of 14 Beaufighters attacked and sank a PB that was escorting the Trespasser's target.


Celebes Sea
USS Albacore connected with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired at the CVL Nisshin along the Borneo coast near the entrance to the Sulu Sea. The damage was severe, although no secondary explosions were reported. Intel believes the ship was sunk. It's certainly disabled. Albacore was depth charged afterwards and is returning home for repairs.


DEI
P-38 sweep of Makasar shot down 1 Zero with no losses. B-24s following destroyed a Tony and 2 Tina transports while dealing moderate airbase damage.

B-25D1s and B-25Gs attacked an enemy task force, also at Makassar base. We lost 3 planes to flak. In exchange:
APD Susuki, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 3, on fire
---
2nd sortie:
DD Hatsuharu, Shell hits 4
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Usugumo, Shell hits 1
DD Murasame, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire

I'm comfortable calling that--10 500lb bombs hits--a kill on the cruiser.


CENTPAC and Truk
B-24/B-17 raids on Truk destroyed an Emily on the ground. At this point I'm mostly trying to catch combat aircraft rebasing and to make the airstrip cratered enough to cause losses when the rebasing happens. Airbase damage was moderate.


Reinforcements
CA Boston arrives at Eastern USA
DD Hudson arrives at Eastern USA
TK J.A. Moffett arrives at Portland
185th USAAF Base Force arrives at Dacca
123rd RAF Base Force arrives at Aden

--------------------

28 October 1943
Landings begin at Truk, face heavy resistance from coastal artillery


Japan
USS Sealion torpedoed and sank a kaibokan that was on an ASW patrol. You love to see it.


South China Sea
USS Cisco scored two hits on a Yusen-N class cargo ship (6400 tons), sending it to the bottom along with its cargo that included military vehicles.

Sulu Sea
USS Grunion attempted an attack on a tanker convoy near Palawan but was spotted and forced to break off.

Makassar Strait
USS Seal fired torpedoes at tanker convoy passing from the Celebes Sea to Makassar Strait, but missed. (I usually don't report failed attacks but these two were major missed opportunities)

DEI
Another P-38 sweep of Makassar base this turn. This time we shot down 3 Tojos with no losses. No bomber losses for the B-24s after that, but again little damage on the ground.


CENTPAC and Truk
The Truk operation isn't off to a great start. I didn't consider just how powerful their coastal defense batteries are. The battleships Indiana and Alabama opened our attack, both were shot up, the Alabama with moderate damage, Indiana light. An APA in the amphibious group hit a mine, then that task force faced the wrath of the coastal defense guns:
CA Canberra, Shell hits 16, on fire
CA Baltimore, Shell hits 7, on fire
CLAA Oakland, Shell hits 9, on fire
DD Downes, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Anderson, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Barton, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Farenholt, Shell hits 3, on fire
AKA Algorab, Shell hits 1
CVE Casablanca
AKA Titania
AKA Libra, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKA Alchiba, Shell hits 5
AKA Almaack, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
---
and more reports like that throughout the day.
The destroyers Land and Anthony hit mines.

Another APA ran aground.

Overall, the damage to the 'phibs was actually bad enough that they stopped, detached several ships for retreats, then resumed the attack. Which was stupid because that just left the attack at partial strength; I ordered the damaged (but still troop-filled) ships to resume the attack. They can retreat once they're empty. I'd rather lose the transports on the beach than land too weak a force to take the base.

The good news in this is we really didn't take all that many casualties to our ground forces...they made it to the beach.

Another enemy shock attack at Tinian; casualties 1743(J) to 149(A). Burning the candle at both ends. Too aggressive in my opinion, but it's going to burn through my supplies fast. And after that happens, my troops will fold. I suppose the question is just whether he can afford to lose that many troops that it's worth it.


Reinforcements
AP Gen. G.O.Squier arrives at San Francisco
ARD AFDB-2 arrives at Seattle
No.79 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

29 October 1943

Sulu Sea
USS Grayback became the latest sub to attempt an attack on a tanker convoy and fail, this one passing south of Palawan. An escorting PB spotted the sub before it could attack and forced it to evade deep.


DEI
Enemy Tonies shot down a P-47 that was escorting B-25s to attack Kendari.


CENTPAC and Truk

Our combined carrier fleet sent a massive raid of 115 Hellcats and 128 Avengers to pound Truk, hopefully covering the landings in progress and disrupting the enemy enough for a counterattack. 9 George fighters opposed the raid; we shot down 4 at the cost of 3 Hellcats. Pathetic, given the overall numbers. Damage on the ground was insignificant despite the size of the raid.

Some of our ships started succumbing to the damage dealt by the coastal batteries/mines:
AKAs: 3

The KB is confirmed to be in the immediate vicinity of Tinian and is supporting ongoing air raids there.


Reinforcements
TK Pueblo arrives at San Francisco
5318th PAU/FS arrives at Karachi

[Molon Labe]

30 October 1943

South China Sea
USS Cisco torpedoed and sank a destroyer-minesweeper off the Jesselton coast. I'd have preferred it if it got some of the tankers that had been passing through, but this is a pretty high-value ship too.


DEI
A minesweeper detected a new minefield at Babar and got to work. We never spotted the sub responsible. That is, unless the submarine that surfaced near Dili was the same boat. That boat shelled and sank a landing craft returning to Dili from our base under construction on Flores island.


CENTPAC and Truk
We lost a B-24 to flak over Truk. I reduced the size of our Avenger raids over Truk due to the lack effectiveness and to preserve sorties with the KB so close. 84 Hellcats and 52 Avengers... little results.

An APA sank near Truk due to damage sustained from the coastal batteries.


Burma
Out of targets at sea, the Beaufighters flew back to Tavoy to attack that seaplane tender and hit it with another bomb and a few cannon bursts. She's still not dead.


Reinforcements
CL Ceylon arrives at Aden
TK Mission Carmel arrives at Alameda
70/100th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

31 October 1943
Kido Butai headed east... objective unclear... possible carrier v carrier battle setup.

Burma
Beaufighters got another bomb hit on that pesky seaplane tender, maybe we finally put her down?


DEI
A second minesweeper arrived at Babar to speed up the clearance operation. The harbor was mine-free by day's end.


All the way to the east near the New Guinea coast, an amphibious task force headed for Manado detected an enemy sub approaching. Escorting destroyers caused a small amount of damage to it before it got away. I'm concerned enough about enemy subs being here because of the traffic that will continue to pass through this area; I've put an ASW task force together to patrol this route and I've ordered fuel to be transported to Taberfane to sustain it.


CENTPAC and Truk
We lost 1 B-24 to George fighters over Truk, and another to flak.


Another damaged AKA went down today.


I still haven't actually attacked Truk with the troops I've landed. Many units were disabled in the landing and I'm hoping the support units can bring them back online. I don't want to make a weak attack.


The enemy continues to raid our marines on Tinian with naval bombardments and air raids. Of significance right now is that a lot of these raids appear to be Judies coming from the KB. The dive bombers are taking significant damage, even some losses, due to them exposing themselves to more and more AA fire the lower they get in their dives. I strongly suspect a significant percentage of the KBs bombers are now down for repairs.


The KB was tracked moving east of the Marianas, in the general direction of Wake. I don't know why. Maybe they're trying to cut off my fleets at Truk from any reinforcements from the east. Maybe they're trying to engage my amphibious ships retiring from Truk. Maybe they believe, correctly, that I have valuable forces standing by at Wake that would make good targets.


If he's looking for a fight, I'll give him one. My non-CVE carrier forces right now are the fleet carriers Essex, Bunker Hill, and Yorktown, plus 5 CVLs. Total air strength: 155 F6Fs, 71 dive bombers, 144 Avengers. I'm really just guessing at his total strength, but he'd need about 5 fleet carriers to match me in fighters. I don't think he has that. Recon flights say 3 carriers, which sounds right: The Zuikakau, Shokaku, and probably the Hiyo. If the Kaga wasn't sunk, she might be back in action by now. If the Akagi survived, I'd be pretty damn surprised if she was back in action this soon. I suppose there could be new ships we haven't seen yet.



To hedge a little, I've ordered a CVE that was intended to provide replacement aircraft to the CVEs still at Truk to cover the withdrawing phibs. That task force already had a CVE with dive bombers aboard; I've flown them to Wake and replaced them with fighters from the CVEs still at Truk. And finally, the Lexington II is nearing the AO; I've thrown a respectable amount of surface combattants from wake into a screen/escort and set them to rendezvous near the retiring phibs. So the actual fighter numbers in any combat might tilt as high as ~245 to 120. I doubt he'd engage my carriers and Wake at the same time, but if he does that's another 50 P-40s and the 27 SBDs from the escort carrier.





Reinforcements
VRF-2F arrives at San Francisco