Alikchi2
Posts: 1785
Joined: 5/14/2004
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Feurer Krieg:
quote:
I clocked this turn run at 1 hour, 15 mins. So much to write about, I
don't know where you'll start. :)
I still don't know, but I'm going to launch into this thing anyways. What an intimidating combat report. 
12/9/41
Lots of submarine and aerial combat today!
The first casualty was Japanese submarine I-162, presumably returning from a minelaying mission. Unluckily for her, Dutch battlecruiser De Zeven Provincien and her task force had received new orders during the night from Admiral Helfrich - to turn back from their strike at Balikpapan and avoid exposing themselves to Japanese land-based or carrier-based air in the vicinity of Davao. Two of the escorting destroyers, Vlieland and Piet Hein, happened to pass almost directly over I-162's position as the RNN sped southward through the Makassar Strait. The Dutch destroyers detected I-162 and summarily pummeled her under with DCs.
 I-162 pre-war.  End of the war for I-162.
The submarine had her revenge, however - even as she began to take on water, the flush-decker USS Steward (already damaged in yesterday's combats) slammed into a sub-laid Type 88 mine in Balikpapan harbor. Ouch...
There were a few more submarine attacks throughout the day. Admiral Hart had finally gotten his act together (whoops) and sent the fleet boats out on their missions (S-boats had left Cavite late yesterday afternoon). S-39 sent Jouban Maru to the bottom off Legaspi, but Swordfish's newer torpedoes failed to detonate. RO-68 barely missed AVD Sirius fleeing through the Makassar Strait, O-20 was caught by IJN destroyers as she attempted to infiltrate the anchorage at Kuching, and the Dutch tramp Merkus was sunk by a single torpedo from I-155.
At the same time, Japanese destroyers and small armed craft were cutting another vicious swathe through the transports, tankers and passenger ships attempting to escape from Hong Kong, and Filipino MTBs sank a small Japanese gunboat off Butuan. It was a busy night.
The day proper began with a massive "Alpha strike" attack on Manila's airfields and port facilities by G3M, G4M and G5N bombers - more than a hundred bombers escorted by a hundred Zeroes.
 IJNAF bombers en route to Manila, mostly G4M "Betties". G5N "Lizzies" can be seen in the far left distance.
The raid itself was actually less damaging than expected, perhaps because of the unexpectedly heavy flak. The four Warhawks on CAP managed to shoot down a Zero and damage a few Nells before being swatted out of the sky, but otherwise made very little impact on the enemy strike. Two transports took a bomb each, and the airfield took a few bomb hits, but most of the aircraft were away bombing Japanese shipping. General Brett has decided that the most effective use of his pursuit planes at this point in the war is in dive-bombing Japanese troop transports.
 USAFFE Warhawks dive-bomb a Japanese convoy disgorging troops onto Legaspi beach.
Meanwhile another IJNAF raid encountered opposition in the skies over Georgetown, Malaya. After the effective loss on December 7th of Alor Star airbase, reinforcements had been shuttled into Georgetown, in order to protect the harbor facilities there and preserve the airbase as a safe launching point for bombers. Unfortunately, the Japanese were well aware of this and sent a raid against Georgetown (and secondarily Penang) on the 9th. Georgetown airfield was alerted early by ground-based radar installations and had nearly two dozen Hurricanes in the air to meet the Japanese force when it arrived. 64 Zeroes escorted 59 Nells towards their targets.
 A Hurricane from No.21 Squadron RAAF streaks into the sky to engage incoming Japanese aircraft.
The air battle was not quite a disaster on the scale of previous engagements over Malaya, but still bad. 14 Hurricanes were shot down, taking 2 Zeroes and 4 Nells with them. The bombers' attack was disrupted, however, and the airfield was not knocked out.
These events, however, were overshadowed by the sudden appearance of multiple Japanese carriers in the southern entrance to the Makassar Strait.
 1: Fleeing Allied shipping being picked off by Japanese submarines 2: Balikpapan, temporary home of Boise, Marblehead, and several other Asiatic Fleet refugees 3: Japanese carrier taskforce. Unknown composition, but Soryu identified 4: De Zeven Provincien's TF, covered by clouds in the AM phase.
--
I'll finish this later.. I've just always wanted to write a cliffhanger. *smirk* 
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RE: Iron Storm Playtest - Feurer Krieg vs Alikchi - 
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