War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Ostfriese]

So, even if your opponent has all the late carriers operational you are on par already - with you having waaaayy more reinforcements on the horizon.

[Molon Labe]

13 August 1943

Burma
Our amphibious landing at the vacant base of Ramree Island is now underway. They'll secure the area tomorrow, then advance to Prome. 19 P-40s from Magwe swept Pegu, shooting down 5 of the 12 Zeroes waiting for our B-24s, which was enough to prevent any bomber losses today.


SouthPAC
Essex again failed to launch a strike despite sitting in range. The Betty raids are getting more numerous and more effective. Yorktown II and the CVLs are getting close so can relieve Essex soon. I'm a little concerned about the relative experience of the Yorktown II CVBG's attack pilots, though. The pilot reserves were badly depleted from wave after wave shot down in the DEI since spring, so I haven't been able to replace rookies in those squadrons to my satisfaction.


Subs have cleared the most dangerous parts of the ocean that might be concealing an enemy CVBG out of searchplane radius.


DEI
We now have tanks landing on Timor, should secure our beachhead tomorrow.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

So, even if your opponent has all the late carriers operational you are on par already - with you having waaaayy more reinforcements on the horizon.

I only counted the carriers that have actually appeared in the total aircraft strength. The dates they enter service are just too speculative to count them...I basically assumed they'd all been accelerated so I know the earliest they can show up. Realistically speaking, I don't believe he can accelerate that many of them, especially with how much difficulty he must be having getting oil/fuel back to Japan and how long he went without being able to import any at all.


Here is our carrier reinforcement schedule:

[Ostfriese]

That are some 30 additional flight decks over the coming seven months.
Yes, the majority of them are CVE, but as it happened in reality they can support invasions while your CV/CVL-fleets go for enemy ships.

If I read it right you have already checked your opponent's offensive capabilites. He might be able to go on offensive against single weak points, but he no longer has the ability to pull of a major offensive.

And shouldn't the dreaded Mk 14 finally become a reliable weapon towards autumn 1943, so that your submarine offensive can finally unleash its full potential?

As victory in the game is measured in victory points: does your opponent have realistic chances to win an (early) victory by points?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

That are some 30 additional flight decks over the coming seven months.
Yes, the majority of them are CVE, but as it happened in reality they can support invasions while your CV/CVL-fleets go for enemy ships.

If I read it right you have already checked your opponent's offensive capabilites. He might be able to go on offensive against single weak points, but he no longer has the ability to pull of a major offensive.

And shouldn't the dreaded Mk 14 finally become a reliable weapon towards autumn 1943, so that your submarine offensive can finally unleash its full potential?

As victory in the game is measured in victory points: does your opponent have realistic chances to win an (early) victory by points?

Ha! I wish the Mk14s problems would go away. We hit a cargo ship twice on the next turn, both duds. The current dud rate should be 20%, which will decrease to 10% in September 1943. But, as frustrating as that is, the Mk14 is still responsible for more ship kills than any other weapon by a wide margin. Since 27 June 1943, we sank these ships:

I've highlighted just about everything not killed by a Mk14--I left the depth charges and the Dutch sub torpedoes alone since it's easy enough to figure out how those kills happened. (In the case of the Tokyo Maru, it was also sunk by a Mk14, I think credit is given to the Mk13 because it was originally hit by an Avenger/Beaufort near Shortlands, but its convoy was harassed by submarines all the way back to Japan, with USS Tunny delivering the killing blow on 3 August.)


Victory points: he leads me by a 1.106:1 ratio right now.
An auto-victory would require 4x victory points in 1943, 3x in 1944, and 2x in 1945. So there's no risk of that happening against me. I expect this ratio is going to hold pretty constant until I start retaking really important territory--failing at Java was a large lost opportunity.

[Molon Labe]

14 August 1943
9th Marine Regiment running out of time

SouthPAC
USS Nautilus approached Ponape and torpedoed a docked cargo ship...which didn't detonate. It turned around and engaged a second time, only to hit with a dud again.

Zeroes on CAP got 2 B-24s trying to help our our Marines, but the B-24s took 2 Zeroes with them.

Essex failed to launch a strike, again. Be more aggressive, Halsey! Yorktown's CVBG is now in position to relieve her, so Essex has been ordered to leave station and proceed to Pearl for maintenance, with the USS North Carolina to leave Essex and join Yorktown.

Enemy marines our now shock-attacking the 9th regiment.. we took 400 casualties today while dishing back only 100. Not sustainable.


Burma
P-40 sweep over Pegu got 5 Zeroes, no losses. B-24s got through after with no resistance.

Enemy units at Taung Gyi are reportedly "surrounded" but appear inclined to fight to the last man.


DEI
The enemy attacked on Timor, apparently not expecting tanks. They've only got light marine infantry. Casualties 440 to 50.

Reinforcements and Withdrawals
-The recently arrived 407th bomber group had to be withdrawn, with their aircraft (30 A-24 Banshees). Very disappointing. Needed in Europe, I guess.
DD Guest arrives at Eastern USA
DD Sigsbee arrives at Eastern USA
DD Spence arrives at Balboa
DD Stevens arrives at Eastern USA
SS Redfin arrives at Balboa
LST 11 arrives at Aden
VMTB-131 arrives at San Diego (Avengers--restricted)
VD-4 arrives at San Diego (recon Liberator variants)
No.211 Sqn RAF arrives at Calcutta (B-24s-insufficient pool numbers to fill out)
V US Amphib Corps arrives at March Field (HQ unit)

[Molon Labe]

15 August 1943
Meet the new CVBG, same as the old CVBG....

SouthPAC
The Yorktown II battlegroup relieved Essex, and did send a sweep I ordered over Ponape (no Zeroes came out to play) but once again did not launch a strike against any of the nearby transports. The thought occurs that maybe selecting drop tanks on the SBD-5 is responsible, but the Essex was using drop-tank-less SBD-3s, and I thought I tested the SBD-5 earlier to make sure its strike mission is compatible with drop tanks. The -5 won't make the trip without drop tanks unless I also bring the battle group within torpedo-carrying range of the Betties on Truk.

Avengers from VT-23 (Princeton) claimed to hit a sub shadowing the Yorktown CVBG, twice, with 500 lb bombs.

USS Gar laid a minefield at Ponape, then surfaced to engage a docked cargo ship, expending all of its reduced Mk14 load to get 1 detonating Mk14 hit along with several gun hits. Safe to say it's going down. Gar received several gun hits in exchange, but mostly from AA guns with no serious damage caused.

9th Marines took another 150+ casualties today as the enemy reinforcements continue to hit us hard.

Lexington-II is probably 2-3 days out. I'll probably reorganize York/Lex into 2 task forces that travel together. A replenishment group that had refueled the Essex group is nearly done refilling their tanks at Noumea and will soon be in position to support the 2 CVBGs.


Burma
An enemy sub attempted to interfere with my nearly-complete amphibious landing. It was engaged by DD Racehorse and DE Arrow, who had no trouble scoring multiple depth charge hits, forcing it to surface, and gunning it down.

Beaufighters attacked a pair of cargo ships at Rangoon, which thanks to the P-38 and P-40 sweeps at adjacent Pegu, had no air cover. Both ships were strafed, but we only scored bomb hits on one--10 250-pounder hits--definitely enough to sink the one.

The surrounded 7th Royal Thai Army division at Tuang Gyi has been eliminated.


DEI
The surface activity at Ambon was a bunch of transport barges; I chased them away with a pair of destroyers. I'm disappointed the destroyers didn't actually engage them as they might have had troops aboard. It appears rain hampered the intercept: visibility was just 2,000 yards.

USS Finback torpedoed and sank (2 hits) a troop-carrying cargo ship in the straits south of Makassar.


Solomons
I think the enemy garrison at Guadalcanal is finally out of supplies, as the enemy airfield doesn't appear to be getting repaired anymore. I imagine their morale sucks, too, after being cut off for months and being bombed almost daily during that time. It may be time to eliminate them. I think my best bet to do this will be to land on the opposite side of the island, set up a small supply base, and attack overland.


Reinforcements
SS Bonefish arrives at Balboa
AO Neshanic arrives at Balboa
APA Calvert arrives at Eastern USA
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco (probably a unit destroyed on Java being reformed)

[Molon Labe]

16 August 1943
9th Marines surrenders at Ponape; close call for HMS Victorious; USS Mingo lost -- Enemy CVBG approaching Yorktown CVBG

DEI
The barges apparently came back to Ambon. One hit a mine and sank.

Japan
USS Mingo attempted to attack an enemy ASW group but bit off more than it could chew. After missing the kaibokan Wakataka, its sister ship Kuretake detected the Mingo and prosecuted it with deadly accuracy. Mingo was forced to surface and eventually gunned down by PBs operating with the kaibokans. Kuretake took a rather serious hit from Mingo's deck gun in the process, but battle scars build character.

Burma
Another Japanese sub approached the landing area, this time firing a spread of torpedoes at HMS Victorious, which all thankfully missed. The sub was prosecuted and moderately damaged by the destroyers Rotherham and Norman. This was a rather large, durable sub and was able to take quite a bit of punishment without going down.


SouthPAC
USS Nautilus torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Ponape.
Nicks attempted to interfere with our B-24 raids, but this time instead of having Hellcats sweep Ponape, I had a few on patrol. They shot down 2 Nicks and prevented the loss of any bombers.

Of course, Yorktown's SBDs stayed on the deck for another day. The air support provided by the B-24 raids proved insufficient, as the reinforced enemy garrison overran the 9th Marine's defensive positions and forced a surrender.

A fleet including a battleship and 3 fleet carriers is was spotted by Catalinas moving east towards Ponape. It appears they're going after what they think is the Essex operating alone, not knowing the Yorktown and 3 CVLs have taken her place.


Assuming the report is accurate and that's the Akagi, Zuikaku, and Shokaku, that would probably be 81 Fighters and 135 dive/torpedo bombers. The Yorktown battle group by herself has 70 Hellcats, 35 SBD-5s, and 72 Avengers. Almost even. But, there's a spot in the Marshalls that's about a day's run for Yorktown-II, Lexington-II, and Essex where they can all meet up. So as long as we can prevent a strike happening too early tomorrow, my matchup would be more like 142 Hellcats, 107 SBDs, and 108 Avengers. Personally, I don't expect him to chase. But if he does, maybe I'll finally get a carrier battle that goes my way.

[Ostfriese]

What's that with the carriers not launching aircraft? Can you influence that, or is that a random chance?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

What's that with the carriers not launching aircraft? Can you influence that, or is that a random chance?

Back around the Oahu recovery operation, the problem was that some aircraft like the old Helldiver could carry drop tanks, but those tanks were on the bomb pylon. So when I selected the tanks I accidentally precluded naval attack missions. Essex has SBD-3s, which don't have drop tanks, and Yorktown-II has SBD-5s, which do--but the drop tanks are on wing pylons which leaves the center bomb pylon free so it shouldn't be a problem.


Besides that, whether a mission is flown depends on a number of factors and I probably don't know all of them. But they include finding the target in time with enough daylight left to hit it, the inspiration and administrative stats of the squadron CO and the base/task force commander, and the morale and fatigue stats of the individual pilots.

[Molon Labe]

17 August 1943
Enemy carriers elect not to pursue Yorktown.

DEI
Another barge hit a mine at Ambon and sank. I sent a pair of destroyers and a PT squadron to Ambon to further harrass the barges. The destroyers found a midget sub, depth charged it and sank it. The PTs found the barge group and sank 6 out of the 10.



Burma
A third enemy submarine attempted to attack the landing ships, HMS Racehorse depth charged it for a confirmed kill.


SouthPAC
All 3 of my carrier groups successfully rendezvoused in the Marshalls. We didn't spot the enemy carriers at all today, which strongly suggests they didn't follow--in addition to the SBD scouting from all 3 fleet carriers, the entire Marshalls are under constant Catalina surveillance.


There were still a few of our troops left on Ponape, the fighters escorting raids on them for the first time included the N1K1-J George. I'm not all that familiar with this airplane, but it appears to be a Navy fighter but not carrier capable. Similar in speed and manueverability to the Zero, it is more durable and more heavily armed, so I'd expect it to be a good fighter and superior to the Zero at bomber interception.


Reinforcements
SS Aspro arrives at Eastern USA
LSD Ashland arrives at Los Angeles

[Molon Labe]

18 August 1943
Tonies massacred over Kendari as Boela launches its first P-38 sweep

SouthPAC
USS Raton penetrated the harbor at Ponape and surfaced to engage an AKL there. But it didn't press the attack, only moderately damaging the ship and setting a small fire. USS Skate followed up, firing a pair of Mk14s at the damaged ship, hitting with both and with one detonating, sinking the ship.

B-24s encountered 10 Tonies on CAP, and although we suffered no losses today, I am going to suspend these raids since we no longer have troops there to protect. Maybe I'll get a chance to get some transports if they try to leave. I'd really like to confirm their carrier strength first, though, especially since the Essex really needs its maintenance time.


DEI
20 P-38s from the base being built up at Boela swept Kendari (eastern Makassar), meeting 22 Tonies on CAP. But the Tonies were arriving peacemeal, so at any given time the fight was only 4-6 Tonies vs my 20 P-38s. We shot down 13 of them with no losses.


China
Enemy troops have moved to block the road between Canton and Hong Kong. I've been harassing these troops with bombers as they approached and I'm sending troops from Hong Kong to engage them.

Another group of troops has moved onto our base hex at Kiukang, in the central region near Wuchang (Japanese-held). This area doesn't yet have a lot of stategic importance; it could be part of cutting off Wuchang, but Wuchang has other routes so my controlling this doesn't put Wuchang in immediate danger. I have troops enroute from Changsha to reinforce.

In the northeastern region, enemy troops abandoned their positions staring down my units across the river west of Taiyuan. So we gladly filled in that space and marched on Taiyuan. We took it with minimal resistance today. I plan to also take Chenting, one hex east, before having about half this unit head back south to try to break the stalemate at Keifeng that seems to have existed since the US entered the war. This movement is being mirrored by my troops advancing south of Keifeng, crossing rivers with the intention of engaging enemy forces protecting Keifeng's flank.

I think a lot of the enemy's movements have to do with his taking massive casualties fighting me along the coast near Wenchow. I think he's conceding some territory while reinforcing the Shanghai area.


Burma
Having received reports of multiple ships docked in Rangoon, including a tanker, I attacked the port with Vengeance dive bombers. They found no ships and inflicted light damage on port facilities. Flak claimed 2 bombers, 2 more crashed on the return trip thanks to flak damage, and a fifth was scrapped after landing.


Reinforcements
BB Alabama arrives at Balboa
DD Bradford arrives at Los Angeles
SS Cod arrives at Balboa
SS Corvina arrives at Balboa
15th FG/6th NFS arrives at San Francisco (destroyed on Java, being reformed)
156th USA Base Force arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

19 August 1943

DEI
Two DMs added to the minefield at Ambon. Another 3 destroyers patroled to keep those barges away; a midget sub attacked this group and missed. The sub was then destroyed by a depth charging by USS Lamson.


SouthPAC
USS Raton returned to Ponape's port and found another AKL. This time the captain engaged aggressively, doing enough damage with gunfire to sink it.

After Raton left, recon patrols detected yet more merchant ships at Ponape as well as the 3-CV battlegroup. Looks like they're getting ready to pull out. I'm considering a strike. But my ships need fuel first, so they're headed towards the replenishment group.


CENTPAC
A merchant convoy was spotted southeast of Marcus. Trying to get to the Marshalls? A few PBYs attacked unsuccessfully. It's headed back towards Marcus, I'm sending a few tin cans out to try to catch them, they'll be out of search range soon, though.


Burma
I was trying to move tanks and infantry to Pegu together, but the tanks outpaced. The enemy noticed this at set up an attack to try to defeat my gathering forces in detail, but fortunately the infantry arrived in time which prevented an overrun. 500 casualties on each side. But now, this is open terrain, and I have air superiority, so the enemy units are going to get bombed mercilessly.

Near Taung Gyi, the last enemy troops in the area have surrendered, and I have yet more troops streaming down towards Rangoon.

One of my airfields in the Mandalay area is now big enough to support medium bombers without penalty. I still don't have enough aviation support to fully take advantage of this, but I figured I could move some B-25s down there. The elimination of the last enemy troops in the northern areas means the potential targets are near Rangoon, with the exception of the Wellingtons my medium bombers need to move to the Mandalay area to make that trip without a reduced payload.


Withdrawals and Reinforcements
55th FG/338th FS has withdrawn, taking 25 P-39Ds with it. This was a training squadron based in San Fransisco.
CL Emerald arrives at Aden
DD Thompson arrives at Seattle
VF-33 arrives at Seattle (36 Hellcats)
433rd TCG/68th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (13 transports)
23rd USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

20 August 1943

Solomons and SouthPAC
The freshly-repaired Arizona and New Mexico bombarded Guadalcanal. They'd departed Syndey prior to the appearance of carriers near Ponape, so I didn't intend for them to be bait, but they're totally bait now. If the enemy carriers decide they're worth it, we have plenty of airpower from Rabaul all the way down to the east end of the Solomons.

Recon flights continue to hold the enemy CVBG at Ponape and strength estimates are pretty consistent at 3 CV. There is also a convoy of at least 8 ships there, so it looks like they're already trying to move their troops out.

My carriers and AOs somehow blew past each other without linking up, so I'm having my carriers slow down to let the AOs catch up again. So at least one more day before them attacking is even an option. Not sure I want an "even" fight just to try to get those transports, though.

I'm going to order a rare long-range night attack on Ponape tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

USS Skate was bombed and has been ordered back to Midway for repairs.


DEI
Our PTs found the last of the enemy transport barges at Ambon (for now) and sank them.


Burma
USS Barb and HMS Trident attacked cargo ships at Moulmein; both missed. But the Trident made a second attack, scoring 2 hits on a cargo ship, sinking it.


Reinforcements
LST 73 arrives at Aden
VF-38 arrives at Seattle (36 Hellcats)
VMF-311 arrives at Eastern USA (18 Corsairs)
433rd TCG/69th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (13 Transports)
6th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
1st Army Tank Regiment arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

21 August 2022
Enemy carriers pulled back?

SouthPAC
The night B-24 raid was ineffective. Switching to daytime raids for tomorrow.

We did not hold contact on the enemy CVBG today, despite recon flights over Ponape and Truk and Catalina runs everywhere in between.

The Yorktown and Lex battlegroups are traveling together to position themselves for a strike as we still hold merchant contacts at Ponape. The thirstier of the two groups got gassed up by the AOs. Wish it would have been both.

Enemy units that had retreated from Rabaul came back to look for a fight and were soundly routed. II/81st Naval Guard Unit was destroyed along with either another naval guard unit or SNLF (marine) unit.


Burma
HMS Trident attacked a cargo ship on the surface at Tavoy, expending quite a bit of torpedoes and getting 4 total hits for substantial overkill.

Our bombers hit Pegu ridiculously hard, causing 400+ enemy casualties on the ground. They also got some Betties in, which I thought would be intercepted by P-40s, but unfortunately we had none overhead because supplies at our airbases dropped too low to support drop tanks. Going to try to have P-38s overhead tomorrow, supplies look fine for the time being. The enemy land attack cost us 440 casualties, and 730 for them, but with many more of his squads destroyed instead of disabled.

It could still be weeks before we can build a suitable fighter base closer to Rangoon. The forces we landed amphibiously will help with that, but their movement is being hampered by the lack of adequate roads.


DEI
Air raids on Ambon destroyed a Thalia transport on the ground, which is concerning. Apparently they want to try to fly troops out. I'm putting a long-range CAP over Ambon to try to intercept the transports. Eventually they'll run out of supplies to repair the airbase, too.

Our marines on Timor are trying to break through; 340 to 18 casualties in our favor today, but our troops are getting fatigued so they'll get to rest tomorrow. The force levels are rather even, but we have tanks and they have only light naval infantry, also they're being bombed by B-25s daily and we're not, so it's only a matter of time before we wear them down.


China
The situation at Hong Kong is worse than it looked. The enemy force that moved onto the roads between HK and Canton is over 3 divisions strong. Too strong to dislodge with my current force levels, and strong enough to possibly threaten either base. The troops I sallied out have been ordered to return and defend HK. This is now my priority bomber target, and I'm calling in reinforcements from central China.


Reinforcements
DD Harrison arrives at Balboa
DD Roebuck arrives at Cape Town
SS Escolar arrives at Balboa