RGIJN
Posts: 1057
Joined: 11/24/2006 From: far away from battlefield :-( Status: offline
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Bang! Operation RETALIATE commenced last morning. As mentioned before I got on the tail of the allied CVs that had pummeled my BBs. KB had already sailed the day before this debacle, but too late to interfere. So I got to rush south... After three days of sneaking thru bad weather I reached my destination some hexes off Brisbane. Our imperial spies revealed Admiral Frank had disbanded his force here and gave the sailors some time off - to celebrate their earlier success in the watering holes of the city. Unfortunately two times my search planes were noticed by the Allied, what obviously denied complete surprise. Since Fuelli suspected something odd he ordered his aircrews to stand by on the local airstrips. Next day he attacked KB´s "death star", with little success but for tremendous losses in return. Then a single super wave hit the town... and smashed the harbour with the flattops at their piers! See here the battle report: AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/27/42 Weather: Partly Cloudy Naval bombardment of Brisbane, at 22,77 Allied aircraft Allied aircraft losses SBD Dauntless x 3 destroyed SBD Dauntless x 6 damaged Airbase hits 11 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 48 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack at 19,41 Japanese Ships DD Takanami Allied Ships SS Grenadier -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack at 29,35 Japanese Ships DD Kuroshio Allied Ships SS S-46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air attack on TF at 27,71 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 121 A6M3 Zero x 11 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 13 SBD Dauntless x 15 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat x 2 damaged SBD Dauntless x 13 destroyed CPO S. Yoshino of BI-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air attack on TF at 27,71 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 119 A6M3 Zero x 11 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 46 SBD Dauntless x 100 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 11 destroyed A6M2 Zero x 6 damaged A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat x 28 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat x 12 damaged SBD Dauntless x 43 destroyed SBD Dauntless x 62 damaged LT M. Suganami of BI-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 4 CPO S. Yoshino of BI-1 Daitai bails out and is CAPTURED Japanese Ships CV Soryu, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 1, on fire CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 2 CV Hiryu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air attack on Brisbane , at 22,77 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 54 D3A Val x 118 B5N Kate x 164 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 17 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed D3A Val x 6 destroyed D3A Val x 18 damaged B5N Kate x 1 destroyed B5N Kate x 7 damaged Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged PO2 V.Ibusuki of EII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 2 Allied Ships CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 3, on fire CV Hornet, Bomb hits 4, on fire CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 1, on fire CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1, on fire CV Lexington, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage CA Northampton, Bomb hits 1 Allied ground losses: Men lost 27 Guns lost 1 Port hits 29 Port fuel hits 1 Port supply hits 3 Attacking Level Bombers: 27 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet 20 x B5N Kate at 7000 feet 16 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet 14 x B5N Kate at 9000 feet 12 x B5N Kate at 8000 feet 22 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet 18 x B5N Kate at 6000 feet 10 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet 24 x B5N Kate at 7000 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air attack on TF at 27,71 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 89 A6M3 Zero x 11 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 29 SBD Dauntless x 17 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat x 6 damaged SBD Dauntless x 10 destroyed SBD Dauntless x 7 damaged PO2 T.Hamano of EII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 3 LCDR C. Fenton of VF-42 bails out and is RESCUED Japanese Ships CV Zuikaku ------------------------------------------- Now there are 61 F4F and 76 SBD missing at Brisbanes airstrips, 137 a/c total... My losses were a tenth of that... I am short of time right now, but will try to post a map and some details later. and of course day 2 of operation RETALIATE that brought shells on carriers!
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