War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

October 3, 1943
Facing reality in the Marianas

CENTPAC
As landings proceeded overnight, the most badly damaged transport at Guam took an additional pounding. Which is sort of OK, they were basically destroying a sunken ship. But they switched to another transport, critically damaging it as well.

A midget sub approached the Saipan landing force but was spotted and driven off.

The main morning air strike targeting the main amphibious body was a shadow of its former self 2 days agao at 17 Zeroes and 3 Tonies escorting 6 Betties. Our CAP was now down to 39 Hellcats thanks to Yorktown being disabled yesterday. We got 7 Zeroes and a Betty with no losses; the remaining Betties turned around. A second raid of 12 Betties and 3 Tonies targeted the Saipan landing; they met 23 Hellcats and lost a Tony and 2 Betties. 9 Betties made attack runs on the BB Alabama and CA Quincy; all missed and 2 were lost to flak.

22 Betties flying in from Truk then targeted the Guam landing. I had assigned them a CAP from one of the CVEs but they were nowhere to be found. A troop transport took 2 torpedoes and a cargo ship took another. The ships are nearly wiped out at this point. 7 Judies followed that up, targeting a destroyer and missing. That same destroyer found a midget sub approaching later in the day and sank it. Late in the day one of the few surviving cargo ships hit a mine; a destroyer was able to clear 2 mines after witnessing that.

Our airstrikes arrived next. Saipan airbase was hit again, destroying 4 Betties, 4 Helens, 3 Zeroes, a Tony, and a George on the ground, along with inflicting moderate base facility damage. The port was also attacked; 2 cargo ships took bomb hits, likely sinking one. The attack cost me 3 SB2Cs. Tinian's ground forces absorbed a raid by 27 SBD-3s from a CVE.

As landing operations proceeded at Tinian, an APD hit a mine, and a DMS trying to clear a path took damage from shore batteries. 7 mines were cleared. One cargo ship each at Tinian and Saipan took substantial fire from coastal defense as well.

Aircraft on ASW patrol reported 11 hits on enemy submarines in the area.

The enemy garrison attacked our landing at Tinian, resulting in 1107 enemy casualties and 568 for us. We benefited substantially from the thick jungle terrain. Our counterattack added 109 enemy casualties and 193 to our count. Overall force strength looks even. Enemy forts are Level 4.

On Saipan the enemy attack was far more even in strength than the other two, which combined with the terrain bonus resulted in lopsided casualties of 1447 for them and 189 for us. Our counterattack resulted in 819 more enemy casualties and 98 for us. But even with these force levels and numbers, it doesn't mean we're going to win--the forts here at Level 5, which is pretty serious.

On Guam, enemy garrison attacked caused 312 to 245 casualties favoring us. Again, terrain helped. But the numbers here look awful; the enemy garrison is about 3 times stronger than our invading Marines.

Based on the force levels on all 3 targets in the Marianas, it's clear that I didn't bring enough to take all 3. Guam is hopeless. Between Saipan and Tinian, the enemy garrison on Tinian is smaller and their forts are 1 level lower. Based on this I'm ordering a retreat from Saipan so I can put as much into Tinian as possible so I can set up my damn airbase there. Hopefully a sustainable airbase will mean second attempts on Guam and Saipan will succeed.



Burma
Wellington bombers attacking the enemy tank regiment got ambushed by a new enemy CAP, and of course, they didn't link up with their escorts. That cost us 5 Wellingtons. A sweep of P-47s arrived in that area later, but by then the enemy fighters were gone.


Reinforcements
AR Ranpura arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

4 October 1943
Massive enemy casualties in China--71st Division nearly wiped out


CENTPAC
The last surviving transport at Guam was heavily shelled overnight and eventually sank. A midget sub approached our forces at Saipan but broke off after it was detected. Judy and Helen bombers from Guam tried to strike our task forces; our own airstrike preempted them, destroying one Judy on the ground, all 5 Judies and 3 Helens that took off were shot down by Hellcats. A light cargo ship and a minelayer were hit by our dive bombers in port at Guam. USS Sculpin, on patrol near Saipan, was hit by an enemy bomber and is returning to base. Our ASW aircraft reported one hit on an enemy sub.

Enemy land attack results:
Tinian: 1683 (J) to 269 (A)
Guam: 78 (J) to 173 (A) (34th aviation base force wiped out)
Saipan: bombardment only, no casualties


DEI
12 P-38s swept Kendari, we lost one and shot down 2 Nicks and a Tojo.


China
At Nanchang, an enemy force 12,323 strong (the 71th Division) made an opposed river crossing to assault our base. We had just under 100k troops there and level 3 forts...it was an absolute massacre. 12,227 enemy casualties reported--the enemy division was nearly wiped out completely.

We attempted a land attack at the enemy units retreating to Vietnam from near Kweilin, casualties 281(J) to 552(A).

[Molon Labe]

5 October 1943
B-25 raid in Burma suffers heavy losses; HMS Trident sunk


CENTPAC
We're starting to get a solid portion of the Saipan troops onto Tinian to give us a shot at taking it. We sank two enemy midget subs that approached an amphibious task force at Saipan. An enemy sub tender tried to escape Saipan harbor but was hit twice by dive bombers.

At Guam, airstrikes destroyed an Emily and a July on the ground and damaged two cargo ships, a minelayer, and a sub tender. The minelayer is almost certainly sunk as it took 3 hits and is relatively small. The enemy garrison overcame our weak invasion force and forced a surrender.

The enemy attempted a similar overrun on Saipan, but our forces still there are mostly tanks and it appears the enemy is short on AT weapons. 685 enemy casualties with no Allied losses there.

Our ASW patrols reported 8 hits on enemy submarines around the Marianas.


Burma
HMS Trident attempted an attack on an enemy transport task force near Tavoy; it missed and was sunk by the counterattack of the escorting destroyers. Their contact report led to an airstirke of B-25Gs coming from Magwe, however they had 17 Zeroes on CAP overhead, resulting in no successful attacks at 8 bombers lost.


Reinforcements
DD Charrette arrives at Eastern USA
PF Glendale arrives at Mare Island
610th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

6 October 1943

Burma
Sally bombers raided Prome overnight, losing one aircraft to flak. They put a pair of craters in the runway, no issue patching those up.


CENTPAC
Tinian's coastal defense guns are perking up and have damaged several ships in the past day or two. Today an LCI was fatally wounded by the 8cm batteries.

We hit Guam's port a little harder today, sinking two mine tenders and hitting 3 cargo ships, a tender, and a submarine. Saipan's port drew a smaller airstrike, sinking a PB.

The enemy made another push to overrun our tanks on Saipan but failed.

Hoping to catch Truk relatively undefended, I sent a raid of 31 B-24s from New Britain. There were 33 Zeroes and a Tony on CAP, so no such luck. We only lost one Liberator, two Zeroes went down. The raid caused light damage on the ground and destroyed 2 Betties.

Our ASW patrols reported 5 hits on enemy subs around the Marianas.

[Molon Labe]

7 October 1943
Shift to Tinian nearly complete; USS Yorktown resumes flight operations

CENTPAC
An enemy sub approached our carrier battle groups and was severely damaged by depth chargings before it broke contact. It's damage caught up to it, though, and it was forced to surface within sight of the swarming destroyers, which finished it off in a barrage of 5", 40mm, and 20mm gunfire. An enemy midget sub was sunk approaching the phibs at Saipan.

At Tinian, an enemy sub had success, torpedoing the destroyer USS Stevens. Remarkably, the Stevens only sustained moderate damage and is still operational. USS Downes retaliated against the sub but only dealt moderate damage before it disappeared.

At Guam, dive bombers hit two cargo ships and a tender, all 3 likely sunk.

ASW patrol aircraft reported 14 hits on enemy subs.

I've formed a CVBG around the Bunker Hill, which recently arrived at Pearl. I'm hoping they can provide some relief for Yorktown's aircraft losses. Speaking of which, Yorktown has dewatered itself enough to resume flight operations, so the aircraft it had that were recovered by other ships flew back today. She's at about 1/3 strength thanks to the mass ditching.


DEI
The enemy lost 1 Nick each raiding the new base at Batjan and Dili. We also finally got supply levels at Namlea high enough to allow the Hellcats there to carry drop tanks and sweep Kendari; that got us 3 more Nicks. The enemy presence at Kendari is a shadow of its former self, apparently a lot of those fighters went to support the Marianas... or went back to their carriers.

We did spot a task force in the Celebes Sea that might be a CVBG. They're going to have to cross a wall of 4-6 subs to get to the Central Pacific. The base at Batjan is already large enough to support offensive operations, so I moved the Beaufighters there for possible airstrikes into the Celebes Sea.

Ambon, still being bombed daily, is finally a complete wreck. Hopefully means they're out of supplies to repair the damage.


Reinforcements
CVE Liscome Bay arrives at Portland
DD Hale arrives at Eastern USA
3rd USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
55th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney
3rd Commando Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

8 October 1943
Task force led by IJN Aoba wiped out off Namlea


Celebes Sea
USS Gudgeon scored two hits on a cargo ship transiting past the southern tip of the Philippines, sinking it.


CENTPAC
USS Scorpion torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship evacuating from the Marianas.

My Avengers are now concentrating on bombing the troops on Tinian to try to turn the tide of the land battle there, while the dive bombers are trying to pick off ships in port. At Guam, we sank a mine tender and damaged a cargo ship.


DEI
An enemy task force of 1 CA and 3 DD approached Namlea and was intercepted by a PT squadron. The resulting combat caused the loss of 6 PT boats, no hits were scored on the warships. But, this combat tied the the enemy up, so they were still present after sunrise when my bombers were active. 35 Helldivers attacked them, scoring 3 hits on the heavy cruiser Aoba. 5 Nicks had been on CAP over the task force; escorting P-40s and Hellcats shot down 3 of them and stopped the rest from reaching the bombers. That attack was followed up by 16 Avengers, which scored a pair of torpedo hits on the Aoba, very likely a fatal blow.

In the afternoon, the Aoba's task force was hit again by 16 SBD-5s. They hit the Aoba 3 more times, sank an escorting destroyer with a single hit, and damaged a second destroyer with one hit. A following raid of 31 Helldivers found only 2 DD, sinking the undamaged one with a single hit, leaving only the damaged destroyer Oboro burning from the prior raid. Aoba would not have broken off without an escort, so it's safe to say she wasn't there because she sank. Oboro wasn't off the hook, 16 Beaufighters arrived next, hitting her with a 250-lb bomb, leaving her with severe cumulative damage and a large fire. There was no sign of the enemy ships after this, so it appears the task force was completely wiped out.


Hellcat sweeps of Kendari shot down 2 of the 9 Tonies on CAP there. B-24 raids on Kendari sank a mine tender in port.

Our ASW aircraft reported 4 hits on enemy submarines. Maybe they're finally running out?


Burma
One British B-24 was lost to flak over Rangoon.
The last of the enemy paratroopers in the Mandalay area have been killed off.


Reinforcements
CVE Battler arrives at Aden
DE Cabana arrives at Eastern USA
LST-41 arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

9 October 1943

Strait of Malacca
USS Dace spotted and attacked a transport convoy while transiting through the Strait. It missed the target cargo ship, then was prosecuted by the destroyers escorting it... to completion.


CENTPAC
The destroyer Spence sank an enemy midget sub approaching a damaged transport at Tinian.

We traded a Hellcat for a Tojo while attacking Guam's port with dive bombers. Only light facility damage, no ships hit.

We attempted a shock attack on Tinian, casualties 1546 to 374 favoring us, but failing to reduce fortifications.

Our ASW aircraft reported 4 hits on enemy submarines.


Marshall Islands
USS Herring scored 3 hits on a cargo ship near Eniwetok, sinking it, in a daytime surface attack.


DEI
Hellcat sweeps at Kendari encountered substantial resistance--8 Nicks and 5 Tonies. We shot down all 5 Tonies and 4 of the Nicks, no losses. B-24 raids following that up sank a minesweeper and a mine tender.


Burma
We eliminated the 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment, near Prome. At this point, all remaining enemy troops in Burma are either in Rangoon, or in or south of Moulmein (south of our current area of operations).


Reinforcements
SS Sand Lance arrives at Balboa
DE Whitman arrives at Mare Island
7th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

10 October 1943

CENTPAC
An enemy sub attempted an attack on a surface action task force that was trying to intercept possible landing barges moving reinforcements to Tinian. The sub missed and sustained light depth charge damage in retaliation. A second sub was spotted approaching but we failed to prosecute it after it dove.

An enemy midget sub approached Tinian trying to pick off a damaged cargo ship but was sunk by the Spence, which apparently has a thing for killing midget subs.

One of my damaged cargo ships succumbed to its damage at Tinian.

My Avengers continued their focus on Tinian's ground forces, and dive bombers on the 3 ports. SBDs hit a cargo ship at Guam, probably killing it.

ASW aircraft reported 3 hits on enemy subs this turn.


DEI
Arizona and New Mexico, previously deployed in the Solomons, shelled Kendari, causing 435 enemy casualties, destroying a Tony, causing 20 instances of damage to aircraft, and causing moderate damage to the airbase. B-24 raids killed yet another mine tender.

Thanks to fighter cover from our new base at Batjan, we were able to send 15 B-25s all the way north to Manado to hit the enemy airbase there, causing moderate base damage and killing a Judy on the ground.


Reinforcements
AS Howard W. Gilmore arrives at Eastern USA
AM Fierce arrives at Cristobal
209th Combat Engineer Battalion arrives at Aden
28th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
10th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

11 October 1943

Celebes Sea
USS Seadragon took a shot at IJN Oyodo, the lead ship in a SAG of 1 CL 5 DD. All 4 torpedoes missed, and Seadragon ended up taking light damage from the destroyers before evading.


CENTPAC
Raids on Tinian resulted in a general tender damaged and a mine tender sunk. The Avengers hitting the troops were mostly ineffective.

USS Scorpion was bombed by enemy patrol aircraft and is headed to Brisbane for repairs.

Our patrol aircraft reported 2 hits on submarines this turn. Looks like they're thinning out. It'll be interesting to find out just how many enemy subs were lost patrolling the Mariannas coast during this operation.

China
Land combat against retreating enemy units near Kwelin resulted in 1973(J) to 337(A) casualties.

The enemy offensive in China, it's safe to say, as been a complete failure. We only lost one base, Kiukang, but this is an insignificant loss. I could take it back, I'm not not sure it's worth the supply expenditure to do so. One thing he did accomplish was cause me supply shortages all over China, to the point some bases are having trouble maintaining defensive CAPs.


Reinforcements
No.89 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
18th FG/419th NFS arrives at Eastern USA
160th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

12 October 1943
Enemy attempts to break out of Rangoon and fails


Japan
USS Shad torpedoed and sank a Type-1 TM class tanker (6400 tons) off Torishima.


Makassar Strait
USS Plunger fired 2 torpedoes at a cargo ship and missed, then surfaced to attack the next one (an Aden-class, 4875 tons), scoring 2 torpedo hits on it and sinking it. The cargo ship was carrying troops.


Burma
Enemy troops sallied out of Rangoon to attack our base at adjacent Pegu. We lost 1 Vengeance dive bomber to flak that was targeting enemy tanks. I ordered my forces to counterattack, betting we had the superior number of troops, and it paid off. Casualties were 5201(J) to 986(A) and the enemy scampered back to Rangoon.

Rangoon is in a siege at this point. Surrounded, being bombed daily, supplies hopefully running a bit low.



CENTPAC
Not too much going on here; Avengers are still trying to support the troops on Tinian but we aren't doing a lot of damage. An attempt to push off the beaches resulted in 431(J) to 503(A) casualties.


DEI
I used paratroopers to seize Ternate. I hope to relocate the base at Batjan to Ternate over the next week or so. The Celebes Sea is already 80% cut off, getting Ternate should close it completely to everything on the surface without a carrier escort.


Reinforcements
DD Heermann arrives at San Francisco
2nd USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
4th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
5th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

13 October 1943

Makassar Strait
USS Plunger strikes again! Night surface attack on another Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) with troops aboard. 3 hits with detonations, confirmed kill.


Japan
USS Bonefish torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship off Chichi-jima. The ship was carrying artillery.


Sulu Sea
USS Finback connected with 1 of 4 torpedoes targeting the heavy cruiser IJN Maya near the west coast of the Philippines. The ship was not severely damaged.


CENTPAC
Two enemy destroyers were spotted operating near Marcus by the Bunker Hill CVBG; this drew an airstrike by 26 Helldivers, scoring a lethal 3 hits on the Hayanami and one hit on the Shimakaze. I suppose that ruins the surprise that my carrier forces are being reinforced. The surviving destroyer was bombed later in the day by another Helldiver that was performing a scouting mission, so it very well may have been sunk too.

I should mention about two days ago, an amphibious task force left Guadalcanal with most of my offensive units that took that enemy stronghold. They're making their way through the Marshalls to try to break the stalemate on Tinian.


Reinforcements
DD Abner Read arrives at San Francisco
DE Dionne arrives at Eastern USA
SS Darter arrives at San Francisco
LSD Epping Forest arrives at Los Angeles
42nd BG/106th RS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

14 October 1943
The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot


Japan
USS Haddo sustained siginifcant depth charge damage after a failed attack on a cargo convoy near Aogashima and is returning to Adak for a repair assessment.

USS Tautog turned the tables on an ASW task force hear Torishima, sinking a PB with a torpedo hit.


CENTPAC
Major air battle in the Mariannas today as the enemy tried to coordinate a strike against my carriers between Palau, Truk, recent arrivals in the Mariannas themselves, and the KB (or whatever of it is left and operational at the moment). The first strike was against my phibs at Tinian still landing supplies by 15 Betties and 4 Nicks. 10 Hellcats intercepted, shooting down 7 of the Betties after their attack run. The bombers carried only bombs and attacked from high altitude...rather harmless. I think they were from Palau.

Next was 36 Betties and 3 Kates... the Kates carried torpedoes. We failed to get any aircraft to intercept, but again, these aircraft were mostly harmless, the Betties bombing from 15,000 ft. Again...probably from Palau, if they were from Truk they'd have had torpedoes.

Speaking of which, the next raid did have torpedoes; 9 Betties, 3 Nicks. Again, we failed to get any fighters to them. Two Betties were shot down by flak, leaving 7 to attack--all missed.

The next raid targeted our task forces standing off from Tinian a bit, intentionally out of torpedo range from Truk. This group includes phibs standing by to land base forces intended for Tinian and Saipan had our troops taken them as planned. Those phibs have a total of 7 CVEs protecting them (and an 8th arriving as a reinforcement just a little behind). The group also includes 3 CVBGs, comprised of the Essex, Yorktown, the recently-arrived Bunker Hill, and five CVLs. So, this enemy strike of 8 Zeroes and 14 Judies faced a CAP of 181 Hellcats--but clearly not all at once. We got 5 Zeroes and 12 Judies while losing 2 Hellcats... 2 of the Judies made attacks targeting the CVL Princeton, but missed.

Shortly after 27 Zeroes arrived with 26 Judies; my CAP strength was down to 163, but the proverbial hornet's nest had been stirred up at this point. With no friendly losses, we took down 16 Zeroes and 22 of the Judies. 7 Judies made attacks on the Princeton and the light cruiser Montpelier; no hits.

6 Judies arrived at Saipan unescorted, where we had a pair of destroyers patroling for enemy landing barges. 1 Hellcat was able to divert and intercept, shooting down 2 of the bombers. The four survivors picked a destroyer and missed.

Then 12 Judies attacked the task force at Tinian with 3 Nicks escorting. This time, we had 53 Hellcats available to oppose...maybe the commanders figures out what direction the attacks were coming from and cheated a little with the CAP? With no losses, the Hellcats shot down all 3 Nicks and 10 of the Judies. No enemy aircraft made it to our ships. Right behind this group was 19 Kates and 2 Judies...no escorting fighters... our CAP was now at 46 strong. The enemy raid was wiped out completely with no losses. Three straggling Judies entered the fray, none escaped.

The afternoon phase opened with 6 Betties--with torpedoes--attacking our task force at Tinian. The CAP was down to 16 Hellcats--about what's expected. All 6 Betties were shot down...only one of them before they dropped on the heavy cruiser San Fransisco. But again, all missed.

In all this chaos, we managed to make a strikes of our own on Tinian; 33 Hellcats, 33 SBDs and 71 Avengers; they sank a general tender in port and caused some minor casualties to their land forces. Once Nick tried to intervene but was driven off. We also hit Saipan's airbase with 26 Avengers, they caused substantial base damage while blowing up a Judy on the ground. 38 Avengers sortied to Tinian expecting to find enemy ships but found nothing.

Meanwhile over Guam, Japan had one of its few bright spots of the day. Our raid of 6 Hellcats and 12 Avengers was opposed by a single George--who shot down 3 of the Hellcats and GTFO'd. The Avengers caused light airbase damage.

Our ground forces on Tinian attempted an attack but suffered the worst of it, 433 to 1290 with the enemy forts holding at level 4. We're clearly not going to win this fight on the ground without reinforcements... so it's either wait for the troops from Guadalcanal or pull out.

Our aircraft on ASW patrol reported 6 hits on enemy submarines this turn.

Total air to air losses: 5
Total air to air victories: 108
(Opponent's report of actual total losses, including flak and operational, was 130)

Meta: My opponent asked for a replay of this turn due to failed coordination of these strikes with the KB. Apparently he meant to order the KB to move at a higher speed, and that error caused the KB to be just out of range this turn. He doesn't realize it at this point, but that probably saved him. I don't think his carrier strength is currently enough to overcome that 180-strong CAP that I have, and I had fighters and strike aircraft on assignment to strike any ships spotted. When it's "safe" to ask, I'd like to find out just how many operational carriers he had available to see how our forces actually stacked up. I suspect he has badly underestimated my force levels.


Luzon Strait
An enemy tanker convoy made its way up the west coast of Luzon, where it was attacked by 12 Beaufighters from China. Probably 3 sunk tankers (Type-1 TS,1120 tons each) and a sunk PB:
TK Juko Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
TK Amatsu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Zosen Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Nissan Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

(Yeah, I think the Juko is dead too, they won't control the fires.)

China
We forced another retreat of the 11th Tank Regiment near Nanchang; 65 tanks destroyed at a cost of 417 casualties (but only 1 "destroyed" squad).


Reinforcements
DE Engstrom arrives at Eastern USA
DE Greiner arrives at Seattle
AGC Rocky Mount arrives at Eastern USA
VC-24 arrives at Portland
VMF-121 arrives at Mojave
No.117 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
30th Group Army arrives at Chungking

[Molon Labe]

15 October 1943
Cargo ship convoy devastated by B-25s and Beaufighters flying from recently captured airbases, announcing the end of easy transits through the Celebes Sea


Sulu Sea
USS Finback torpedoed and sank one Std-C class (converted) tanker (2900 tons) in a convoy approaching the north coast of Mindanao.

On the opposite end of the island chain between the Philippines and Borneo, USS Narwhal torpedoed and sank an Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) carrying artillery.


Marshall Islands
After intermittent sightings by PBYs, an enemy light cargo ship was hunted down by a pair of my destroyers and sunk at Roi-Namur.


Celebes Sea
We flew a morning and and afternoon strike against a convoy of cargo ships (and at least one troop transport) in the Celebes Sea. Strike 1 was 16 Beaufighters and 15 B-15Gs:
xAKL Mitsu Maru #3, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk
xAK Tosei Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Shinnan Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Hinode Maru, Shell hits 5
xAK Tatsuho Maru, Shell hits 3, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Neikai Maru, Shell hits 3
xAK Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Kurohime Maru, Shell hits 4
xAK Peking Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAP Asama Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire

Raid 2: 16 Beaufighters, 6 B-25G
xAKL Hinode Maru, Shell hits 9, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk
xAK Kuroshio Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Uyo Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Kyosei Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kurohime Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Nissho Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Neikai Maru, Shell hits 3

I'd call that 8 ships sunk.


Burma
B-24 strikes on Rangoon hit and damaged a troop transport (Kitano Maru) which I'm pretty sure is the same one that's been getting bombed from weeks ago. A second strike hit it 3 more times--that really should be enough to put it down permanently.


CENTPAC
Avenger raids on Saipan got a George on the ground and caused light facility damage.

The KB has apparently backed off from the Mariannas after the supporting land-based aircraft losses yesterday.


Strategic Picture
Between yesterday and today, the enemy had a tanker convoy hit by aircraft trying to get to Japan sneaking along the coast of Luzon, two ships torpedoed by subs trying to move into or approach routes through the Philippines, and another convoy hit by an airstrike south of the Philippines. It's really looking like there's just not a lot of space left to get ships through, and the more I lock these routes down with aircraft, the denser my submarine coverage gets in the space the aircraft aren't patrolling.


Reinforcements
DE Acree arrives at Eastern USA
DE Doneff arrives at Eastern USA
APD Noa arrives at Balboa
6th PG/26th PRS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

16 October 1943

Celebes Sea
The KIX was depth charged attempting to attack a convoy very near the location of the one hit by bombers yesterday.


Sulu Sea
USS Finback and USS Grouper made attacks against unescorted cargo ships either entering or leaving the sea lane passing north of Mindao. The Finback made a submerged attack and missed; the Grouper attacked on the surface and scored 2 torpedo hits, sinking an Aden-class cargo ship reported to be carrying artillery and vehicles.


CENTPAC
We're trying to beat down the enemy airbases instead of the ground forces since hitting the ground forces was ineffective. The problem is, except for the recent arrivals and the Yorktown (which lost most of its aircraft to mass ditching), we don't have a lot of sorties available, and underway replenishment only works for fuel at this point in history.

Raids on Saipan did light-moderate damage and destroyed a Judy on the ground.

Raids on Tinian did moderate-heavy damage to the airbase and also got a Judy on the ground.

The enemy attempted an attack on our beachhead, suffering 2356 to our 129 casualties. The defensive bonus here is pretty serious.


Reinforcements
DE Dempsey arrives at Mare Island
AGC Appalachian arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

17 October 1943
Georges' revenge


Philippine Sea
USS Skate torpedoed and destroyed a minesweeper guarding the eastern exit of the north-of-Mindanao sea lane that is becoming critically important with both the Luzon Strait and Celebes Sea essentially closed to surface traffic.


DEI
I had been bombing Manado regularly as there were only bombers based there. The bombers were apparently evacuated and replaced by fighters, so for today I switched to sweeps. 15 P-40s came out to play and were challenged by 4 Zeroes; 1 Zero was shot down.

I've divided up my daily heavy bomber raids between Ambon and Kendari. The Arizona and New Mexico are also doing laps from Ambon to Darwin; shelling, reloading.

I'm making an airborne push along the Flores island chain, extending west from Timor south of Makassar. The objective of this push is to establish air cover over the island of Salajar, slightly south of Makassar. This move should make Makassar untenable to hold (which is now their nearest major airbase with Kendari essentially knocked out by air raids). It would also put merchant traffic in the Makassar Strait at risk and, if I wanted to, I could build up the base enough to operate heavy bombers that could reach Surabaya or Balikpapan--although I'd rather just take Makassar and use that base. Recon flights are showing all targeted bases empty of enemy troops. Today, the 1st USMC Parachute battalion landed on and captured Pantar, Lomblen, and Larantoeka.


CENTPAC
A raid of 47 Hellcats and 27 Avengers targeting Saipan was intercepted by 33 Georges and 15 Tojos. Most of this raid came from the relatively inexperienced air wing of the Bunker Hill and the CVLs it deployed with, and it appears they were up against crack Japanese crews flying their best fighter. We got 3 Georges and 1 Tojo... with a loss of 20 Hellcats and 3 Avengers. At least we dealt serious damage to the airbase, accumulating with prior damage. Those enemy aircraft should be taking operational losses from landing at such badly damaged bases, and the George has a terrible service rating to begin with.

Thinking the enemy would be off balance from their ground defeat yesterday, I ordered an attack today... no luck... 306 (J) to 950(A), forts holding at Level 4.

ASW aircraft reported 2 hits on enemy subs this turn.


Reinforcements
DD Izard arrives at Balboa
APA Monrovia arrives at Cristobal