Cuttlefish
Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007
From: Oregon, USA
Status: offline
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Pershing won without even looking into an airplane, let alone gong up in one. If they had been of such importance he'd have tried at least a ride…We'll stick to the army on the ground and the battleships at sea.
- John Wingate Weeks, U.S. Secretary of War, 1921
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4/20/1943 – 4/28/1943
The next Allied target has been revealed – Tarakan. It makes sense. I don’t think I can win this fight but I can at least try to make it painful. And try I have.
On 27 April Netties out of Davao put one torpedo each into BBs Idaho and Revenge. Neither battleship was seriously damaged, though, as both remained in the battle area.
On 28 April Kagi, Akagi, Junyo, and Hiyo moved into attack position across Borneo in the South China Sea. A few turns earlier I had sent a couple of SCTFs down the Indian Ocean side of Java in an effort to shell enemy airfields off the east end of the island. They were spotted and I think misidentified as carriers. I pulled the ships back but Q-Ball may have thought my carrier force was out of position.
At any rate my carrier planes wreaked some havoc. The escorting Zeros got beat up but kept the enemy CAP away from my bombers and in two attacks they sank BB Pennsylvania, CL Richmond, and a couple of APs. A number of battleships and transports took heavy damage as well:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 31
B5N2 Kate x 50
D3A1 Val x 29
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 2
P-38E Lightning x 3
P-38G Lightning x 5
P-40K Warhawk x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
F4U-1 Corsair x 4
F6F-3 Hellcat x 13
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 3 destroyed, 15 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 destroyed, 21 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CL Richmond, Bomb hits 2, on fire
LST-454, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Jacalope, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB Mississippi, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
BB Revenge, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
LST-452, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
LST-449
BB Idaho
LSI(L) Manoora, Bomb hits 2, on fire
BB Pennsylvania, Torpedo hits 2
xAP Jalarashmi, Bomb hits 1
xAP Jalavihar
BB New Mexico
LST-447, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
LST-450
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Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
B5N2 Kate x 45
D3A1 Val x 33
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 2
P-38E Lightning x 3
P-38G Lightning x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 6
F4U-1 Corsair x 3
F6F-3 Hellcat x 13
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 3 destroyed, 18 damaged
D3A1 Val: 4 destroyed, 29 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Torpedo hits 1
LST-446, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Torpedo hits 8, and is sunk
BB Revenge, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
xAP Varsova, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
LSI(L) Manoora, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB New Mexico, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
APD Stringham
DD Phelps
BB Mississippi, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
CL Richmond, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Jalavihar, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Revenge all look to be in trouble. I am moving numerous SCTFs towards Tarakan and if an opportunity presents itself I will attack. His carriers are hovering nearby, however, and I need to keep an eye on them.
This game is obviously not going very well for Japan, with the Allies looking to occupy all of eastern Borneo by May ’43. Maybe I was doomed when Q-Ball sank Hibiki back in December ’41! But at least I can make my worthy opponent work for his victory.
Scuffles Over Soerabaja: earlier in the week Q-Ball sent 57 P-40Ks against my CAP at Soerabaja. The defending Oscars and Tojos did well, shooting down around 8 against a loss of 3 planes. But the next turn almost 160 fighters – Corsairs, Lightnings, Hurricanes, Spits, and P-40s – came against my planes. I lost about 36 planes while shooting down maybe 14 or so. I have since pulled back my fighters to Palembang to rest and take on new planes and pilots (my pilot losses were 14 killed and missing, with 10 WIA).
In their absence Allied bombers have hit the airfield there a couple of times but there are a lot of engineers there and it will take quite an effort to close the airfield there and keep it closed.
Misery at Miri: I have been trying to pull all the fuel out of Miri while I can. I had almost succeeded in draining the base dry but Allied 2E bombers attacked the last convoy there and sank two small TKs.
Under the Sea: Japanese subs took shots at a CVE and CV Lexington as they proceeded through the Makassar Strait towards the Tarakan invasion but scored no hits. The carriers need to come back that way, though, as do the damaged battleships, and the strait currently swarms with Japanese subs. An I-boat was caught and sunk in the area a few turns back, however.
Allied subs have sunk an SC, an xAKL, and an xAK during the period, keeping up the relentless pressure on my shipping. In the past week, though, I have received confirmation that a pair of damaged Allied subs have sunk this year while trying to get back to base.
Home Front: HI reserves are no longer increasing and have even dropped a bit due to shortages of oil in the Home Islands. Armament levels are at about 280k so armament production has been turned off for the moment. I have also reviewed my aircraft and engine production and shut down excess production for futher thriftiness. Production levels of the Oscar and Tojo have been increased, however.
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