December 17th, 1942

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> After Action Reports >> December 17th, 1942

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December 17th, 1942 - 11/12/2008 12:58:34 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 17th, 1942
Today one of our hunter groups was attacked by SS Sealion! We will definitely install new leadership once the APD's dock again.

Babo and Guam airfields expanded today. (2 and 5)

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Post #: 481

December 18th, 1942 - Events in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 5:14:17 AM

FeurerKrieg

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Upcoming action in the Pacific - be sure to read the bottom of this post!

December 18th, 1942
Laysan attacks continue.

AK Kosho Maru, another one that was hit at Kiska quite a while ago, after first trying to repair at Attu, moved on to Etorofu and arrived there but was not able to be repaired and the ship was lost.

Our APD's redeem themselves, but their leadership will still be changed. They find and sink the SS Seawolf in the South China Sea today.

Enemy sub sunk

Line Islands/Pacific Ocean
It is now safe for me to reveal that back on December 13th, for the first time in all my WITP playing, I received what I though might be actionable Japanese SigInt. It indicated radio transmissions at 121,77.

Since that hex is slightly south of Hawaii, and given that the ship count at Pearl was only in the 200's, AND the F4F-4 count at Pearl was low, that perhaps the enemy was sailing for points unknown in a southerly direction. So the KB was formed up and set sail at cruise speed to Tarawa with a replenishment task force with enough fuel to keep the KB at sea for about 2-3 weeks if needed.

While it might have been just a sub or something, I figured at cruise speed the KB wouldn't pick up much damage if they needed to just turn around and go home. If the US was going to hit the Line Island, at least we have two airbases there, and only one (Palmyra) is in range of the B-24's/A-29's at Johnson and Hawaii. 95% of my carrier planes are A6M3a's, the carriers are all in tip-top shape, and the enemy naval aviation just lost a several pilots near Midway. So I figured it was worth the chance to at least try and have the KB on the scene - and more importantly - my opponent might not expect me to be there since I was acting off of SigInt. (We do not read the other side's sigint)

SO! Fast forward to today and our Emily's at Christmas Island spotted several enemy ships approximately 750 miles northeast of Christmas Island. If they were going to try to go farther south, one would expect them to take the map side channels down past Panama. Therefore I can only assume they are heading for Christmas Island.

Bettys and Zero's are being move to Christmas Island. CAP levels are being increased at Palmyra, as B-24's will likely try to shut down that airbase. The KB has been ordered to full speed to try and get in range of Christmas Island before the troop transports can land.

As of game day Dec 18, I wasn't sure if I wanted to engage or not, but I wanted to have the option at least. Hopefully the next day or two would provide more info about what I could be facing.

The KB hasn't been spotted, but who knows what the enemy codebreakers know. Several subs have been spotted between Tarawa and the Line Islands, so hopefully we will not stumble across one.

The next few days did and are proving to be very eventful--- stay tuned!

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Post #: 482

December 19th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 5:59:53 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 19, 1942

SS Sealion is hit, but not sunk in the South China Sea.

B-17's are high over Rangoon again - today their bombs hit nothing.

Laysan is bombed.

A division in China moves into the mountains to finish off a pocket of 5 units from early in the war.

SS I-16 is hit by a Ki-21 Sally in the Malacca Strait.

Line Islands/Pacific
As expected, B-24's attack Palmyra. They met a decent CAP and 9 of the planes went down before they dropped their bombs. In total, 18 B-24's did not return to base. Damage to the airbase was surprisingly light.

Enemy attacks in advance of their assault on the Line Islands

Farther out to sea, I-29 stumbled across the path of the enemy convoys and was repeatedly attack by many many ASW ships. By some miracle, the captain evade many of the attacks, although the ship was still hit once or twice. It may not survive to return to base, but it will make for Tarawa now.

Two minor attacks were launched against the enemy fleet from Christmas Island. First 3 Bettys attacked and fled from a strong CAP of 269 F4F-4 Wildcats. Next, 4 A6M2 escorted 13 Bettys in. While most of this strike was shot down, the 4 Zeros did take 3 F4F-4's with them.

Initial attacks to probe the enemy defenses

For the day, losses were:
18 B-24 at Palmyra
10 G4M1 in the air, 5 on the ground at Palmyra
4 A6M2 in the air, 1 on the ground at Palmyra
3 F4F-4 in the air
4 Tony on the ground at Palmyra

Clearly there is a big fleet coming. After careful review of the combat, it would appear that every CV, CVL and CVE available to the US is with this force. The means that there could be as many as 600 some aircraft to contend with. In contrast, the KB has about 300 A6M3a (some TBs were replaced with fighter units), 134 DBs and 118 TBs. However, we do have LBA that might wear down the enemy CAP. For tomorrow, to prevent our planes from attacking at long range, and to try and coordinate attacks from Palmyra and Christmas Island, all planes at Christmas have been order not to fly any farther than 240 miles east of their base.

I'm still not certain what to do the KB, I don't want to lose more carriers, and if damaged, Tarawa is still pretty far away. For now the KB will continue to move towards the island chain and we will see what happens next.

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RE: December 19th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 6:44:18 AM

thegreatwent

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Ok, I'm biting my nails. The KB might not be the best first force IMO let the land based planes absorb the first hits and perhaps hit back. Following a successful hit back send in KB. Just my 2 cents.

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Post #: 484

RE: December 19th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 8:10:58 AM

FeurerKrieg

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Keep in mind at this point (Dec 19/20) I haven't decided whether to commit the KB or not. I'm just getting to a place where I can do something if I want.

I am a few days ahead so I do know what happens... just trying to keep up some suspense.

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Post #: 485

December 20th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 8:30:42 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 20th, 1942
A rather anti-climatic day, consider the storm that is about to break.

No attacks against the US fleet due to our range limits. The US fleet doesn't get much closer - probably because the TF's were spread across 120 miles yesterday and they wanted to get a tighter formation than they had. Hopefully the enemy fleets will not stay perfectly together and maybe half will be within our attack range and some will not. Would be really nice if the transports got ahead of the carriers, but unlikely since the carriers are faster.

After some additional thought, it seems clear that if Christmas Island gets captured, Palmyra will not have any chance given that it already has a tough time handling the B-24's and A-29's from far away. So, the only hope of holding the Line Islands, is to hold Christmas Island. If the Americans are able to land, they will likely take the atoll, and very quickly bring in a lot of USAAF air power. So the KB continues to sail east for now. It will not be in range of the enemy carriers even if they moved full speed towards us. We have not been spotted yet anyway. Tomorrow, we'll again decide if we are going to engage. The decision will be based on whether or not there is the possibility of sinking troops ships before they unload. If that can be done, the KB may have to risk the attack. We'll see though...

Laysan was bombed, and the pocket in China attacked.

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Post #: 486

RE: December 20th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/16/2008 7:03:03 PM

thegreatwent

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Well you know my strategy. Caution until the correct moment then throw in everything.

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Post #: 487

December 21th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/17/2008 2:31:59 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 21st, 1942
For the first time today, our troops began to shell Chungking in China. More artillery and troops are on the way.

Laysan was bombed.

Line Islands
Today the action began in earnest.

B-24s from Johnston attacked Palmyra again. 4 went down before dropping their bombs, and another 3 or 4 went down after. Our enemy is definitely smart - Palmyra would be the perfect place to launch attacks on his invasion of Christmas Island, these B-24's are denying that possibility.

Palmyra continues to be abused

Next was a series of many small waves of aircraft attacking the enemy carrier TFs 240 miles northeast of Christmas Island. Thankfully many of the unescorted bombers turned around before they were all wiped out. We did manage one coordinated attack escorted by A6M2's and that attack did manage to destroy 22 F4F-4s, but the bombers did not make it to the targets.

The attack waves and losses - these were all against the CAP of 293 enemy F4F-4 Wildcat fighters:
Wave 1: 18 Betty - Lost 14
Wave 2: 3 Betty - Lost 1
Wave 3: 12 Nell - Lost 9
Wave 4: 4 Betty - Lost 1
Wave 5: 3 Betty - Lost 3
Wave 6: 6 A6m2, 9 Betty - Lost 6 A6M2, 5 Betty
Wave 7: 4 Betty - 4 Lost
Wave 8: 3 Kate - 3 Lost
Wave 9: 46 A6M2, 24 kate, 9 Nell, 33 Betty - Lost 22 A6M2, 11 Kate, 0 Nell, 18 Betty
Wave 10: 3 Betty, Lost 1

Air losses were heavy today, with several planes lost on the ground at Palmyra. However, the enemy is about 25 fighters weaker than before, so it wasn't a total waste. Our bomber units are still fairly potent and will try more attacks tomorrow.

Enemy carrier group is attack with LBA

Plans for tomorrow:
You can see the location of the enemy fleet in the picture above. Even if our carriers could manage to attack along with a coordinated attack from our LBA, it is unlikely we could penetrate the strong CAP over the enemy carriers. Additionally, that may not have been the full strength of the enemy CAP. One plus is that despite subs all around, KB hasn't been spotted. Since our bombers are stood down, not 'Val spots sub' has been reported either.

Since it would seem that the enemy has a heavy CAP over his carriers, and because the object here is to prevent the fall of Christmas Island if possible, we will NOT target the enemy carriers directly. Instead, we will attempt to cause the enemy fleets to become disorganized, potentially opening up a hole for our Bettys to get to the transports.

In game terms, this means the KB is going to put up max CAP (90%) and all Vals and Kates will be stood down. The KB will move to a position 2 hex west and 1 hex NW (on the game map) of Christmas Island. If the enemy carriers react a hex or two west to engage, then the enemy transports SHOULD be two hexes away from the carriers and may not have any CAP.

This is risky of course, but I'm hoping the large amount of enemy fighters means they will have weak strike packages and our fighters can handle them. In the best case, we'll wipe out most of the enemy offensive capability, and then we can savage his transports, maybe even enough that Christmas Island will be saved.

KB is sailing in 3 TFs, each with one Kongo class BB, one CA, one CL and 3 Kagero Destroyers and 2 Yagumo destroyers. One TF also has Mushashi, and there is an extra CA in the TF without a radar CL (Kitakami/Oi). Its that CA that has a massive 1200 AA or something like that. Two of the TF have about 6000 AA value and the other has around 6800 if I recall correctly.

< Message edited by Feurer Krieg -- 11/17/2008 7:03:47 AM >

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Post #: 488

RE: December 21th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/17/2008 3:25:06 AM

Alikchi2

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Oh, I'm excited.

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RE: December 21th, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/17/2008 3:27:05 AM

FeurerKrieg

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I'm working on the post now... so many things to report on....battles like this are why we play this darned game. :)

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December 22nd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/17/2008 6:51:36 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 22nd, 1942
Attacks at Laysan and Chungking like normal.

Line Islands
The night begins with SS Gunnel being attacked by escorts from all three of the KB TFs. OSO will definitely know we are here now.

Next, RO-61 gets in the way of the enemy carriers and is promptly sent to the bottom by massive amounts of depth charges.

As the dawn rises, a large formation of 13 Kingfishers and 3 Seagulls fly over Christmas Island, apparently taking recon pictures. Battleships are spotted closing on Christmas Island - lots of big ships. B-24's again hit Palmyra. Our CAP is still up, but has weaken considerably, only about four of the B-24's are shot down. The Tonys are not present, as they have transferred to Christmas Island to try and escort the Kates and Bettys today.

Allied carriers have been ordered to take up station just to the northeast of CI (Christmas Island), but as radio reports of Japanese carriers to the west start coming in, there is some internal disagreement about what they should do. About half of the TF commanders decide to head west to close the distance to the KB down to 120 miles. The rest remain on station, but will also send air attacks against the KB.

The first group of carriers (I'll call them CV1) gets off the first strike of the day. 38 F4F-4 Wildcats escort a large force of 89 SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers to their target - the Japanese carriers. They are pounced on from above and below by experienced Japanese naval aviators flying A6M3a's - not yet seen in action before. With Zeros at every 1000 ft from 8000 to 17000 the skies are well covered. In total, 244 A6M3a and 16 A6M2 are in the air to protect their carriers. In the attacking force, there are some of the best US Navy pilots around, having survived many battles, but today numbers are not with them and no amount of skill can save them. All 38 Wildcats are shot down, although they take 20 A6M3a's with them. The remaining Zeros systematically cut through the enemy SBD's, shooting down 85 of the dive bombers.

Following close behind is another strike group from the other US carrier group (CV2). Apparently they are a bit overconfident of their ability, as only 11 F4F-4 escort a fairly large group of 45 SBD-3 and 7 TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. These fly right into the Japanese fighters coverage area. All 11 F4F-4 and 7 TBF Avengers are shot down. 37 of the 45 SBD's are shot down. 4 A6M3a are lost defending this attack.

Additional enemy strikes were launched and defeated as follows:
Wave 3: 6 F4F-4, 7 SBD-3 - all lost - 6 A6M3a lost
Wave 4: 6 F4F-4, 7 SBD-3 - all lost - 3 A6M3a lost
Wave 5: 9 F4F-4, 15 SBD-3 - all but 2 SBD-3 are lost - 5 A6M3a are lost

First enemy attack

Next, as part of the Japanese plan, LBA attacks are launched from both bases in the Line Islands against the enemy ships that are now spread out over 4 hexes. (CV1, CV2, BBs at CI, and the transports)

Several waves are launched and unfortunately most of the fighter escorts stay home. Some bombers do get through, but only one hit is scored.

Against CV1 - 110 F4F-4 Wildcats on CAP:
Wave 1: 3 A6M2, 2 Ki-61 Tony, 22 Betty, 4 Nell. All are planes are lost except 3 Betty and 3 Nell. 12 F4F-4 damaged, no kills
Wave 2: 4 Ki-61, 3 Betty - 4 Ki-61, 1 Betty are lost

Against CV2 - 48 F4F-4 Wildcats on CAP:
Wave 1: 3 Betty - 1 Betty lost
Wave 2: 2 Kate - 1 Kate lost
Wave 3: 3 Betty - no losses
Wave 4: 4 Betty - 1 Betty lost

Against BBs - 55 F4F-4 on CAP:
Wave 1: 4 Betty - 1 Betty lost

Against Transports - 18 F4F-4 Wildcats on CAP
Wave 1: 11 Kate, 3 Nell - 4 Kates lost - 7 Kates penetrate CAP but all miss a pair of AP's.
Wave 2: 4 Betty (from Palmyra) - 1 Betty lost - 3 Betty penetrate CAP and put 1 torpedo into AK vermont - 32 Casaulties reported

A hit is scored!

As the afternoon sun nears the horizon, what appears to be the entire US surface fleet approaches the beaches of Christmas Island and proceeds to blast the island in the stone age. Airfields, hangar, ports, everything is obliterated. Some airframes are still salvageable, but the facilities to fix them in are rubble. The following Battleships take part-
1st TF: Indiana, Washington, North Carolina
2nd TF: South Dakota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Idaho
3rd TF: Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Colorado
4th TF: California, Oklahoma, West Virginia

Summary
In terms of carrier based air, for a price of 40 A6M3a, we've managed to kill 80 F4F-4, 150 SBD-3, 7 TBF. More importantly, no carrier was hit since no enemy planes made it through our CAP. However, Christmas Island's chances of surviving invasion just went down a lot, and even worse several of our air units are stuck there. If the base is captured in the initial landing (expected tomorrow) several air units will be out of the war for a few months. Plus, nearly every coastal defense gun we have there is disable now. A couple are still operating, but not nearly enough to slow the landings.

Overall air losses for us were still high, but 50 or so of those losses were planes blasted by the enemy bombardments.

Thankfully, the enemy fleet is a fair distance from a friendly base so those battleships won't be able to restock their ammo anytime soon. Our troops are still well supplied (10,000) so perhaps some will recover in time to hold while the naval battle plays out.

Plans for tomorrow
The only hope for saving CI now is to severely disrupt the landings that will probably occur tomorrow. With that in mind, I have decided to move our carriers in close to the island and limit all strike aircraft to a range of one. Our CAP will still stay strong, but a few fighters will be released for escort duty (80% CAP). With luck, the enemy carriers will stay north of the island and our attacks will all be focused on the enemy transports or battleships at Christmas Island, instead of going after the enemy carriers and their - potentially - still strong CAP.

If the transports are hit, then maybe we'll sink some troops at sea and weaken the assault. If the battleships are hit, then our fleet will be in a position to consider peeling off our own battleships and moving in to engage the invasion fleets directly at night and then retreating Jarvis, hopefully out of range of the enemy carriers. We'll have to see what happens.

Tomorrow is another nervous day - the enemy may well decide to launch a heavily escorted attack and hit us hard with their remaining DBs and TBs. Hopefully though, they don't have many of those aircraft left.

Christmas Island still has about 20,000 men defending it. Based on our HRs up to 60,000 can invade initially. That's a darn strong force when its coming from the US.

Last thing - Notice in the the picture below there are transports to the northWEST of Christmas Island? Are they going to try and sweep the whole chain of islands in one go? If so, and if they include Palmyra in that sweep, then the enemy will see some losses. Palmyra has 4 times the mines that Christmas Island does (2400 vs 800 at CI) and if his BBs are out of ammo, what's going to shut down the CD guns at Palmyra? Hmm... will be an interesting Christmas and New Year.

EDIT: One more thing - 54 Oscar IIa's are going to fly sweep over Christmas Island from Palmyra. While they might not kill any F4F-4's, they might help disrupt the CAP to increase the odds of subsequent raids getting through.

Plans for tomorrow

< Message edited by Feurer Krieg -- 11/17/2008 7:04:04 AM >

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RE: December 22nd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/17/2008 7:08:04 AM

FeurerKrieg

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The atoll we are fighting for at the moment.

Attachment (1)

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December 23rd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/18/2008 5:59:43 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 23rd, 1942
Bombardment in Chungking is a daily occurrence now. I won't report on that unless something changes.

Line Islands
The battle here rages on.

Through the night our carriers move into position. En route they get a couple scares - SS Hake attempt to attack CVL Ryujo but is spotted before it can attack. SS Sawfish however launches a spread at CV Kaga and thankfully the fish are duds.

Close call!

One US task force begins to unload in the dark, with one AK striking a mine. At the same time the enemy battleships again shell the island, but this time the results are less spectacular - it would seem they have spent most of their main gun ammo.

As dawn breaks, enemy float planes again fly recon over the atoll.

Palmyra is dealt with early as 35 B-24s and 106 A-29 Hudsons pound the island. The airfield is officially closed now. Thankfully our Oscars and Bettys get away before the enemy bombers arrived and 54 Ki-43-IIa Oscars - at the limits of their range - engage 50 F4F-4s over Christmas Island. They lose 14 of their number, but do bring down 1 F4F-4 and more importantly tire out the airborne defenders for the following waves of attack.

Army fighters sweep

The Americans again find their target first today as 42 F4F-4 Wildcats escort 32 SBD-3 and 4 TBF Avengers against the KB. They face 13 A6M2 and 161 A6M3a Zeros. All 42 Wildcats and all 4 Avengers go down. 25 of the SBD's go down and most turn for home. 2 SBD's do sneak past the Zeros though and they split - one tries to hit Ryujo and one tries to hit Ryuho. Thankfully they both miss. 10 A6M3a are lost in the attack.

First US strike

Next, wave after wave of Japanese attacks are launched against the ships at Christmas Island. Bettys from Palmyra attacked as well as our carrier bombers. For some reason the fighters assigned to escort in the morning decided not to fly.

Here's how the morning strikes looked, 49 F4F-4 Wildcats were on CAP
Wave 1: 5 Betty - 1 Betty lost, rest fled
Wave 2: 5 Betty - 1 Betty lost, 4 Betty penetrate the CAP but all miss an AK
Wave 3: 46 Val, 31 kates - 33 Vals, 10 Kates lost - 8 Val, 21 Kate penetrate CAP and put 1 torpedo into BB Colorado and 2 torps into BB Tennesse.
Wave 4: 31 kates - 11 Kates lost, 20 penetrate CAP and put one torpedo into each of BB Oklahoma and BB West Virginia

Enemy battleships are hit!

Once the planes from both sides regrouped, the afternoon attacks were launched. Again the Americans hit the KB. This time with 19 F4F-4 and 4 SBD-3. Our CAP of 21 A6M2 and 166 A6M3a handled this strike easily. All the enemy planes were shot down and 10 A6M3a were lost.

Then even more attacks were launched against the enemy at Christmas Island. The enemy CAP was initially 27 F4F-4:
Wave 1: 28 Kates - 13 Kates lost, the rest returned to their carriers
Wave 2: 2 Kates - 2 Kates lost
Wave 3: 26 Val - 12 Val lost, 14 Penetrate CAP, all miss various cargo ships
Wave 4: 6 A6M2, 46 A6M3a, 25 Val - 2 A6M2, 6 A6M3a, zero Val are lost. 17 F4F-4 are shot down, reducing the enemy CAP against the next attacks down to 10 F4F-4. This strike hits 3 AP and 1 AK with 250kg AP bombs. 71 casualties are reported.
Wave 5: 6 Val, all penetrate, 2 hits on an AK, 14 casualties reported
Wave 6: 3 Val - 1 lost, two penetrate hit an AK, 14 casualties reported
Wave 7: 28 Kate, all penetrate, 4 AK and 1 AP hit, 249 casualties and 3 guns lost reported
Wave 8: 26 Val - 5 lost, 21 penetrate, 1 AK and 1 AP hit, 48 casualties and 1 gun lost reported
Wave 9: 2 Kates - 1 lost, 1 attacks BB West Virginia but misses

Enemy troops being rescued

Oddly, only one unit was landed today, a US Division. The unit was shelled by our forces and the US soldiers established a small beachhead but took heavy casualties in the process.

First enemy unit is ashore

Summary
We lost 26 A6M3a and 2 A6M2. US carriers lost 79 Wildcats, 29 SBD-3 and 4 Avenger. That is quite a few airplanes. I am now thinking their offensive striking capability may be weak enough that I can feel a bit safer hanging around. Also, 4 enemy battleships have been damaged. There are a LOT of transport TFs sitting off shore of Christmas Island, likely they will land tomorrow.

Plans for tomorrow
Given that some of the enemy BBs are damaged, and that the rest are low on ammo, I think the odds look good for a surface attack at night at Christmas. Musashi and Hiei will form one group and Kongo and Haruna will form another. If the enemy battleships stay in place, we might be able to sink them, if they leave, then we'll have easy pickings on a lot of soft ships. The carriers will move one space east so they can continue attacking enemy ships at Christmas Island, and the IJN BBs will attempt to retreat to Jarvis - which hopefully will be out of range of the enemy carriers. Providing everyone survives, our carriers then will head down to meet up with the battleships east of Jarvis the next day.

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Post #: 493

RE: December 23rd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/18/2008 6:57:22 AM

thegreatwent

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Nice narrative

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Post #: 494

RE: December 23rd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/18/2008 8:42:11 AM

Alikchi2

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This is looking good! It all hinges on the KB's CAP staying strong. As long as nothing leaks through, you've got this.

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RE: December 23rd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/18/2008 9:15:44 AM

Terminus

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Enjoy your Uber-CAP while you've got it...

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Post #: 496

RE: December 23rd, 1942 - Action in the Pacific! - 11/18/2008 5:57:49 PM

FeurerKrieg

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Enjoy your Uber-CAP while you've got it...

Well, it might not be AE, but it is better than stock. 32 SBD's hit 180 Zeros and 2 of the did get through at least.

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December 24rd, 1942 - Battleships in action - 11/19/2008 6:49:29 AM

FeurerKrieg

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December 24th, 1942
A good Christmas Eve.

First in China, after some rest, our fighter force attacks Chungking en mass and deals with the AVG. Of the 21 enemy fighters that come out to fight, 20 are destroyed while we lost 5 Tojos, 1 Nick, 1 Tony. During the fight, several new pilots in the Zeros and Oscars gained valuable experience.

AVG is knocked down

Line Islands
As the night began, SS Hake took a shot at Kitakami, but its torpedoes did not detonate.

Next, before our combat fleets could arrive, the enemy transports began to unload. 8 TF's in total unloaded troops and three AK's struck mines. Several MSW, SC and DMS were damaged by our remaining coastal guns. After the landing, an MSW and SC were reported sunk. Also, AP Canberra was reported sunk.

Then the IJN capital ships charged into battle and found that the American combat ships had retreated. So our ships then began engaging anything they could find.

Mushashi and Hiei engaged three enemy task forces.
1: 4 MSW encountered, 3 sunk
2: 4 MSW encountered, 3 sunk
3: 2 DMS, 1 MSW, 10 AP, 6 AK met - 1 DMS, 1 MSW, 2 AP sunk, additional 1 AP and 1 AK damaged. 532 casaulties and 6 guns lost reported
Note this task force was carring the 2nd Marine division so it was nice to hit these ships.

The 2nd Marines are caught at sea

Kongo/Haruna engaged four enemy task forces.
1: 2 MSW encountered, both sunk
2: 1 PG, 1 MSW, 1 SC, 1 AP, 12 AK found - 1 PG, 1 MSW, 1 SC, 1 AK sunk, 4 more AK damaged. 248 casaulties, 9 guns lost reported.
3: 1 MSW found and sunk
4: 2 SC, 12 AK found - 1 SC, 2 AK sunk, 3 more AK damaged. 315 casaulties reported.

2nd TF attacked

4th TF attacked

The three transport TFs that were engaged were chased from the hex. Unfortunately there were still more there. Probably not a big deal since most of the troops unloaded before we could get there anyway. In any case, we had no way to know the enemy battleships would not be there and it would have been risky to split our ships up in to more TFs.

As our battleships retreated southwest under cover of a cloudy night, SS Hake managed to hit Zuiho with a torpedo that actually detonated. Thankfully the torpedo was at a shallow depth and hit near the front of the ship. While there is some flooding, DC teams are confident with their torches and some sheet metal, they can stop the flooding. The actual mechanicals of the ship were not damaged. (sys 7, flood 21)

Sub attack on CVL Zuiho!

As the dawn came up B-24's hit Palmyra. Thunderstorms raged all around Christmas Island and both Japanese and American carriers could not launch any air strikes all day.

So under the safety of bad weather, the Americans that had not been hit by our surface ships continued to unload. 4 more AK's struck mines.

Also, a couple TF's unloaded the 2nd Marine Raider Bn and 2nd Marine Para units at Fanning Island along with a group of Sea Bees. These troops take the empty island. It appears that another TF is enroute to Washington Island. While I would love to go north with the KB and hit these ships, we have a long war ahead of us and my carriers will force the Allies to take longer and arrange proper cover for massive invasion like this one for every jump they make.

Finally, the Allied assault on Christmas Island was held back, but our fortifications did get weakened. (1 to 1, forts 3 -> 2)

Summary and Plans
A good day, although the bad weather spoiled our expected fun hitting easy targets at Christmas Island. However, it also prevented attacks on our TFs allowing most of our fighters to be fixed. Tomorrow our carriers and battleships will meet up to the southwest and then meet our replenishment fleet the next day to refuel. Our carrier strike planes are being given a free reign tomorrow as we expect to be 240 miles from Christmas Island. In theory, the only targets they will have in range will be the transports are Christmas. The enemy carriers will hopefully be one hex farther away to the northeast/north of the the atoll, and therefor will not be attacked.

So the battle continues - will Christmas Island hold? Will our carriers get attacked? Will we get a nice Christmas present? Stay Tuned!!

Plans for tomorrow around Christmas Island

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Post #: 498

December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/20/2008 7:36:18 AM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Denver, CO
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December 25th, 1942
We did indeed get a nice Christmas present today. First - the war elsewhere.

Near Adak, a supply convoy unloading was attacked by B-25C Mitchells and P-40E's from Umnak. We had Tojos and Tonys on CAP and managed to take down 6 P-40Es and 1 B-25 for the loss of one Tojo. Two of our cargo ships were hit.

The MSW in Rangoon hit by a heavy bomber several days ago finally sunk in port. Also, I-16, after having been hit in the north Pacific, sunk en route to Tokyo.

At Johnston Island, PT-20 struck one of our sub laid mines and sunk immediately.

Line Islands
Beginning the evening, 5 TFs continued to unload at Christmas Island. After some time, the three TFs that had been chased away last night returned and by dawn 8 TF's were unloading troops.

SS Runner took a shot at CV Hiryu, but again the torpedoes were duds.

37 B-24's and 84 A-29's attacked Palmyra. 6 Rufe's still on CAP managed to take down 4 B-24's and 13 A-29s, not bad for them!

Our carriers and battleships did indeed manage to meet up and then they were surprised to see enemy airplanes attacking! Presumably they were so far south hoping to catch my battleships. 12 F4F-4s and 25 SBD-3 were coming at the carriers. Thankfully our CAP shot down all the enemy planes.

Enemy carrier planes attack!

Next, it was our turn to attack and a large force easy cut through a small CAP of 10 F4F-4 and pounced upon CV Wasp. Kates put 5 torpedoes into the big ship and it was seen slipping under the waves. An escort, the heavy cruiser Chester, was hit with three 250kg AP bombs that heavily damaged the ship.

CV Wasp is sunk!

EDIT: This graphic has it backwards on the Wasp hits - should be 5x torp and 3x bombs. Sorry about that.

Since our planes were busy attacking Wasp, the landings at Christmas continue through the day undisturbed. An AP and 2 AK's damaged in the past couple days were reported sunk.

A task force landed enemy troops on Washington Island and they captured the empty base. The troops were the 1st Marine Para Bn, 1st Marine Raider Bn, a Base Force and a CB unit. Additional transports are to the north of Washington so it does look like the Allies will be landing on Palmyra. I expect to see many mine hit there.

Enemy troops seize Washington Island.

At Christmas, against my expectations, our defenders barely held on. (3 to 1, forts 2 -> 0) This is good because it is one more day that enemy LBA can't threaten our carrier planes. It is unlikely our troops will be able to maintain control of the airbase another day, though and that certainly is the beginning of the end of this battle.

Summary/Plans
Today the enemy lost 27 F4F-4 and 31 SBD's. Presumably this is everything Wasp had. Tomorrow our ships will head slightly east but still plan to meet up with the replenishment fleet and fuel up. They will still be in range of the enemy transports at Christmas Island and they will try to get them also. Then they will head northwest with an eye towards retreating to the west if enemy bombers start attacking out of Christmas Island.

< Message edited by Feurer Krieg -- 11/21/2008 5:22:02 AM >

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Post #: 499

RE: December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/20/2008 3:41:58 PM

bigbaba

Posts: 1238
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From: Koblenz, Germany
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very iintresting AAR. i realy enjoy just reading this AAR..very well presentation, krieg.

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Post #: 500

RE: December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/20/2008 5:48:49 PM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Denver, CO
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Thanks bigbaba.

I wasn't really trying to get any carriers and we got lucky with Wasp. I'll take what I can get given it is almost 1943. If the weather was more clear I'm sure we could get more ships, but it has been Thunderstorms almost everyday.

CV-7 Wasp after being hit by torpedoes.

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 501

RE: December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/21/2008 3:27:34 AM

LST Express

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From: Texas
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Slow at work today so I read the whole thing and now I'm hooked. Entertaining and informative read!

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Post #: 502

RE: December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/21/2008 5:21:10 AM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
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From: Denver, CO
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Glad you enjoyed the read! Unfortunately you got hook right when I'm going on vacation so I might not have another post for a week.

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Post #: 503

RE: December 25th, 1942 - Carrier vs Carriers - 11/23/2008 4:52:15 PM

LST Express

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Joined: 3/1/2005
From: Texas
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Not a problem, we all know these things are marathons not sprints.

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Post #: 504

December 26th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 5:27:09 AM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
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From: Denver, CO
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December 26th, 1942
The action continues in the Pacific, but the war continues elsewhere also.

Near Adak island, 2 waves of B-25C's attack our supply convoy. The first wave of 5 planes is unescorted and our Tony and Tojo fighters take down 3 of the bombers. The remaining 2 bombers miss. The second wave is escorted by P-40Es and we take down 1 P-40E and 2 more B-25c's but lose 1 Tojo in the process. This time two of our AK's are hit by the bombers. Damage is moderate - hard to say if they will make it home or not.

The airfield at San Fernando in the Philippines is expanded today. (size 3)

Line Islands
As the night begins three cargo ships are reported sunk near Christmas Island - AK's Caleb Strong, San Angelo, and Bellatrix all sink from damage sustained in previous days.

At Palmyra, enemy battleships arrive and shell the beaches. No major damage is sustained since it is only small caliber fire, however, the troops manning the coast defense guns do need to take cover and are disrupted. most of the enemy battleships are hit 10-20 times with 4.7" and 5.5" shells, but none inflict any serious damage.

A group of enemy destroyers came in too close to the beaches and three of them struck mines - DD's Bancroft, MacDonough and Smith all hit mines. The latter two are heavily damaged.

Back at Christmas Island, enemy troops continue to unload. Our gunners are still managing some sporadic defensive fire and a DMS, a MSW, and 2 AK's are all heavily damaged by the remaining CD guns.

As dawn rises, our carriers launch a strike against the enemy shipping at Christmas Island. No enemy fighters are in the area to defend so our bombers score many hits today. Apparently the enemy CV's have moved to positions north of Palmyra where our CV's won't follow due to the risk of heavy bomber attack.

The one and only strike of the morning consists of 9 A6M2, 47 A6M3a, 54 Vals and 69 Kates. CL St. Louis takes 2 bombs, CL Nashville takes 3 bombs. CL Phoenix gets 4 bombs and 2 torpedoes and is in rough shape. CL Helena is pounded by 2 Bombs and 3 torpedoes and sinks late in the day. Three destroyers are hit also, DD's Downes, McCall and Fletcher each take a pair of 250kg AP bombs.

Morning strike finds good targets

Throughout the afternoon our bombers are launched as they are ready since their are no enemy fighters present. The attacks go as follows:

Wave 1: 12 Kates - AP Japara hit with 2 torps, AP Esperance Bay hit with 1 torp
Wave 2: 7 Kates - no hits
Wave 3: 4 Vals, 9 A6M2, 47 A6M3a - AP Macdhui hit with 1 bomb
Wave 4: 4 Kates - no hits
Wave 5: 4 Vals - AK Manulani hit with 2 bombs
Wave 6: 2 Vals - no hits
Wave 7: 2 Kates - no hits
Wave 8: 11 Vals - AP Mataroa and AK Selma City each hit with 1 bomb
Wave 9: 2 Vals - AK John Adams hit with 1 bomb
Wave 10: 2 Kates - CL Phoenix is hit with another torpedo

Through all these attacks 8 Vals and 3 Kates are lost.

While the enemy ships are being harassed at sea, the enemy troops are pushing hard on the island. Today our brave troops managed to fend off the Americans for one more day, but tomorrow they will surely have to fall back. (1 to 1 attack - base holds)

Plans for tomorrow:
Since we have managed to hold Christmas Island for another day our carriers will remain in the same area and attempt to hit more shipping there. Since the enemy CV's are in transfer range of Hawaii now, it has to be assumed they have replenished their fighters. Since we cannot risk our carriers at this time, Palmyra will be left to defend itself. It has about 2800 mines, 33 5.5" guns and 48 4.7" guns that will hopefully do some damage. There are 25,000 troops with an AV of 350 on the island. Christmas Island will likely fall tomorrow and enemy land based planes will be coming in soon after - forcing our carriers to retire back to Tarawa. Subs and Mavis transports are standing by to evacuate as many our of troops as possible once control of the airfield is lost.

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Post #: 505

December 27th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 6:04:54 AM

FeurerKrieg

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From: Denver, CO
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December 27th, 1942
At Adak, two more waves of B-25cs attempt to get out transports. The first wave consisted of 3 bombers, 2 of which were shot down. The second wave was 4 B-25c's escorted by 13 P-40E. We took down another bomber and 3 P-40E but lost 3 Tojos and 1 Tony. No cargo ships were hit today.

At Laysan, our bombers resume their attacks against the ground forces there. Liz and Helen bombers hit enemy troops of a base force today.

Line Islands
A total of 11 enemy battleships hit Palmyra today. Again damage was light, but the fire forced our gun crews to seek cover and prevented them from doing as much damage as would be hoped against the enemy transports. Of the 4 battleships hit by Kates at Christmas island, Oklahoma and Colorado were present at Palmyra so their damage must have been light. West Virginia and Tennessee were not present and presumably headed back to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

The 3rd Marine Para and 3rd Marine Raiders landed on Palmyra throughout the night and day. Four of their ships struck mines - AK's Empire Ortolan, Adm. Chase, Adm. Nulton and Adm. Day. These troops fought their way onto the beach although they did take significant casualties. I suspect they are a recon force and the main enemy force will hit tomorrow.

Attack at Palmyra repulsed...for today

At Christmas Island, enemy troops continued to unload. A DMS was heavy damaged by defensive gun fire and an AK struck a mine.

Our carriers were unable to attack due to bad weather over Palmyra as well as bad weather out at sea.

The enemy troops did managed to push back our troops at Christmas Island today and control of the base has gone to the Americans. Our carriers will try one more attack against shipping there tomorrow since the airfield is still 100% damaged. We did manage to get most of our pilots off the island before it was captured, but we still lost 6 A6M2 and 2 H8K aircraft at the airfield.

Christmas Island is lost

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Post #: 506

RE: December 27th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 6:11:03 AM

scott64

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Joined: 9/12/2004
From: Colorado
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Lucky for you, tonight it's just me

Any ship can be a minesweeper..once !! :)

http://suspenseandmystery.blogspot.com/

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Post #: 507

December 28th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 6:51:14 AM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
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From: Denver, CO
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December 28th, 1942
We hit Chungking today with 106 Lily bombers and 26 Sally's. Also along for the ride were 87 fighters, including some rookies that needed some flight practice.

Line Islands
The story of Palmyra is about 2 things: mines and CD guns.

All night and all day enemy ships landed on the beach secured by the US Marine raiders yesterday. However the approaches were not safe in the least. Mine hits on 19 AK's and 3 AP's were recorded. The AK Alhena actually hit 3 mines. While the transports were clearing mines the hard way, our guns engaged enemy warships. The enemy battleships were still around and took many hits but little damage. However, several smaller ships were hit as well. Five subchasers were hit and sunk, DMS Trevor was pounded and sunk, AP President Adams was shelled as was AK Mathew Luckenbach. DMS Hovey sunk from damage received yesterday. As all these ships were hit many men, guns and vehicles were reported lost at sea. By the end of the day however, enough troops had landed to make progress on the island. With the help of 37 B-24D's from Johnston Island, the beachhead was expanded and our days are numbered here. (2 to 1, forts 3 -> 2)

Near Christmas Island, MSW Heed was reported sunk. In the morning, the island was covered in clouds so our carrier planes did not attack the island. Instead, the bombers - including 3 fresh units of Kates - attacked the heavy cruiser Chester before it could escape to the north. 58 Zeros, 44 Vals and 116 Kates attacked the lone ship and after 7 torpedoes and 5 bombs, the big ship went down.

Heavy cruiser Chester is sunk

In the afternoon, the weather over Christmas Island cleared and 11 Vals with a strong escort attacked Christmas Island. Even though the airbase was 100% damaged, the enemy managed to get a CAP up to thwart our attack. We had a rare significant combat with P-38's. Our Navy fliers performed well, but we can not afford to trade pilots with the USAAF, so our attacks against Christmas Island are over with the appearance of these fighers. We did get the Vals through and they managed to hit two AK's loaded with troops - 84 casualties, 2 guns and 1 vehicle were reported lost. The enemy CAP consisted of 6 F4F-4, 20 P-38G and 9 P-38F. We managed to shoot down 3 F4F-4, 6 P-38G and 7 P-38F but lost 3 A6M2 and 6 A6M3a.

Land based fighters defend Christmas Island

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Post #: 508

RE: December 27th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 6:59:22 AM

Alikchi2

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My god that's a lot of units at XMas!

It's a shame he's starting to counterattack strongly, but it speaks extremely well of you and your strategy that this counterattack is occuring in late December of 42.. at Christmas Island.

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Post #: 509

RE: December 27th, 1942 - Line Islands - 12/1/2008 3:12:38 PM

FeurerKrieg

Posts: 3397
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Denver, CO
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Yes, the counterattack has to happen at some point. At least so far we haven't taken any major losses in this battle and we certainly have inflicted some damage.

Also on the bright side - I think as long as his British carriers are in India, and the US carriers are in the eastern Pacific - that means that I don't have to keep a ton of assets in the NG/Solomons/New Zealand area for defense and I can focus my defensive efforts on two fronts instead of 3 or more.

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