rattovolante
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Joined: 8/30/2009
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FROM AMBON TO KOEPANG (JAN 1-24, 1942)
Part 1. the aftermath of Ambon
Last days of December and first days of January see many allied air strikes on Ambon trying to sink the damaged Haruna anchored there. Ambon's airfield is a mess, my Zeroes have a bad time trying to fly from the cratered runway (though they score a number of kills too). Haruna's deck armor proves to be too resilient for the bombs available to the allies, but she takes a lot of damage to weaponry, so it will be under repairs for a long time (and I still have to move her to the HI anyway).
On Jan 7, SS Tarpon sights the (heavily escorted) convoy evacuating Haruna to Ternate. I moved a bunch of Zeroes to Ternate, just in case... also, the air base here actually works!
On Jan 9, SS KVII spots my support convoy entering Ternate, containing AR Akashi, AKE Kashino and an AS. This pretty much equals to informing Hartwig that I am building a main base in the Moluccas...
Part 2. The invasion of Kendari
Jan 4
Kendari invasion begins, but finds the allies prepared.
Bombardment TF meets PTs, sinking 2 boats before they disperse. Anyway, this prevents a night bombardment from taking place.
During the day Allied planes attacked the bombardment TF, luckily without serious results. Intel gathered during the (daytime) bombardment showed Sparrow Bn was there (well, looks like gunshells can identify the unit they hit...).
Jan 5
PT boats try another couple of runs at the bombardment TF, losing 1 boat without scoring any hits.
SS-38 is sighted by the amphibious convoy escort and damaged.
Landing begins overnight - but an an Allied surface combat TF engages the amphibious convoy during the day. Unfortunately, the surface combat escort had withdrawn, and the amphibious TF was caught unloading! As I found out, this has a very bad effects on all ships - you know, I thought that the game would only model the transports to “be unloading”, with the warships staying battle-ready and covering the landing ships. But especially Ise's performance was so dismal that I now believe that all ships in the TF take the “getting underway” penalty – in other words, I should have formed two Tfs with the same ships, an amphibious one and a SCTF. At least, all troops were already on shore...
quote:
Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Shell hits 5
CA Chokai, Shell hits 16, heavy fires, heavy damage [see below]
CM Itsukushima, Shell hits 5, heavy fires [fires out of control, had to be scuttled]
DD Kuroshio
DD Sawakaze
DD Tachikaze
DD Hasu
DMS W-13, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage [will sink later]
xAK Tarayasu Maru
xAKL Yagi Maru, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Fukuyo Maru, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Tango Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage [will sink later]
Allied Ships
CA Australia
CA Canberra, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CL Dragon, Shell hits 3, on fire
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 1
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 1
DMS Southard, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
More air strikes on my TFs after this (no hits). Later in the same day SS KXIV torpedoes and sinks the crippled CA Chokai.
First day of ground bombardment shows a larger concentration of enemy troops that I had anticipated:
quote:
Kendari Garrison Battalion
Sparrow Battalion
Kendari Base Force
107th RN Base Force
Ternate Det. Base Force /2
Manado Base Force /1
Since my units onshore are just 16th Naval Guard Unit and 9th JNAF Coy, they are pretty much stranded there. Anyway, the naval bombardment probably disrupted Sparrow Bn enough to prevent it from launching a counterattack
Jan 6 to 10
Many Allied air strikes over Kendari - and I could not provide adequate air cover. Anyway, no land counterattack takes place, which is good.
Jan 10
I attempt to reinforce the beachhead with a large fleet, including separate Tfs for surface combat, air combat (Ryujo, Zuiho and Hosho), bombardment and ASW. Again, this found the Allies prepared, I guess the operation was given away by Allied recon or intel.
The SCTF got under attack, first by PTs (1 PT lost, no hit on axis ships), then by SS O20 (no hits), and finally by a largish Allied surface force:
quote:
Japanese Ships
CA Atago, Shell hits 2
CA Myoko, Shell hits 13, on fire
DD Akikaze
DD Shiokaze
Allied Ships
CA Indianapolis, Shell hits 2
CA Australia
CL Marblehead
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 1
CL Honolulu, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Phelps, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Alden
DD Edsall, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
DMS Dorsey
Combat ended up quite well for me, as the Allied commander had managed to cross the T.
Later the same day another submarine was spotted and engaged by my ASW TF
Anyway, the separate SCTF worked, since later in the same day, the bombardment TF and amphibious TF reach the beach unopposed. After the landing was over, the bombardment TF had to fend off the usual PTs (1 boat sunk, no hits), but SS KXVI sunk a xAK.
11 Nells tried to torpedo Indianapolis without results. Zeroes from the CVE/CVLs shot down a Dutch Buffalo, two WH139-3s and two Vildebeests.
Part 3. Allied raids on Ambon
Jan 10
At the same time I was unloading troops at Kendari, an Allied bombardment TF attacked Ambon, sinking two PB, two SC, one xAK and one xAP. The SCTF I usually had at Ambon had moved to Kendari to support the operations there...
Then... a small disaster struck. I had moved the three Katoris in the Moluccas area, planning to use them as raiders in the Indian ocean. The Katori are quite light weapon- and armor-wise, but have a remarkable fuel economy ratio and a floatplane, so they make very nice raiders IMO. Unfortunately, their react setting was too high (I had already set it to their “raiding” value of 6), and they reacted to the Allied TF while cruising between Ambon and Darwin, trying to reach the Indian Ocean. They managed to surprise the Allied ships and to launch Long Lances, but missed with almost everything they had. Engaging proved not to be a wise decision...
quote:
Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Shell hits 16, heavy fires, heavy damage [will sink later]
CL Kashima, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage [will sink later]
CL Kashii, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage [will sink later]
DD Hatsukaze, Shell hits 3
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 1
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 2, on fire [will sink later]
Allied Ships
CA Minneapolis, Shell hits 4
CL Java
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 3, on fire
CL Tromp, Shell hits 1
DD Vampire, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Vendetta, Shell hits 3
DD Witte de With, Shell hits 4, on fire
Result... all 3 Katoris sunk at 24 VP each. Most disappointing thing was that the raiding plan had to be scrapped after I had already grouped the other units allocated to it (some smaller ships, a small AO, a couple of glen submarines...)
Since I had moved away the SCTF defending Ambon, I had placed IJNAF on alert, but the results were quite disappointing...
quote:
Morning raid:
8 Zeroes, 3 Nells, 9 Betties tried to hit the retreating allied TF, but scored no hits, losing 1 Nell and 1 Betty (in exchange of a Demon).
11 Nells attacked the allied TF at Kendari instead, with no hits.
5 Betties attacked a small TF docked at Koepang, with no hits.
Afternoon raid:
8 Zeroes and 9 Betties scored a single torpedo hit on CA Minneapolis, shooting down a Demon in the process
9 Nells attacked the TF at Koepang again, with no hits
At least, SS RO-34 torpedoes CL De Ruytier, which was lagging behind the rest of the TF, having received engine damage during the battle with the Katoris.
Jan 11
As an example of the kind of bad decisions I make when I don't have enough time to plan turns, I had sent DD Hayashio to engage the crippled CL De Ruytier (which by now I knew was traveling very, very slowly). Slow known target against a fast torpedo-armed destroyer, what can go bad? Well, for example, the destroyer firing its torpedoes at maximum range and missing, then closing up, only to be mauled in very few hits by the cruiser's guns...
quote:
Japanese Ships
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 4, heavy fires [will later sink]
Allied Ships
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
Back in Kendari, the first Japanese deliberate attack failed, with low losses on both sides.
Jan 14 to 18
From now on Kendari was hit by allied air strikes on an almost daily basis, which prevented my units to recover disruption. Of course I did the same with Betties. Neither side managed to provide decent fighter air cover...
Second Japanese deliberate attack on Kendari failed on Jan 13, this time with heavier Axis losses.
On Jan 16, more reinforcements land at Kendari, and on Jan 17 the first successful japanese attack is made, bringing forts down to 1. The next attack was repulsed by the Allies with heavy losses (axis:allied at 1:2 ratio, losses were 93:344). By now the forces on the field were:
quote:
Assaulting units:
Kendari Garrison Battalion
Sparrow Battalion
Kendari Base Force
107th RN Base Force
Defending units:
15th Naval Guard Unit
Sasebo 3rd SNLF
III./4th Infantry Battalion
16th Naval Guard Unit
9th JNAF Coy
At Ambon, the lone DD Piet Hein bombarded Ambon on Jan 15. A daring move, but effective – it destroyed a Zero on ground and sunk three PB that engaged it. I suppose CL Durban was initially supposed to take part in the bombardment as well, but it ended up being too near my Koepang invasion fleet and had been sunk by Kates the day before (see below). Another PB was lost to a submarine.
Piet Hein, still alone, was finally sunk by I-156 on Jan 18 near Kolaka – no idea where it was headed, possibly another raid.
Part 4. Invasion of Koepang
The invasion of Koepang was initially planned to begin after Kendari was secured, but the stall there as well as the vulnerability of my rear lines at Ambon induced me to hit it sooner, drop the troops and let them work it out on their own. I assembled a large fleet, using many of the warships that supported the reinforcement landing at Kendari of Jan 10.
Jan 13
Betties and Nells launch a strike on allied shipping at Koepang, torpedoing a TK and sinking a xAK. I tried to make this look like a routine air raid, but it probably caused every good cargo ship in the harbor to flee south.
Jan 14
The bombardment TF finds some shipping in the harbor and sinks two AM and a TK, and causes serious damage to the runway – which anyway was empty of enemy planes.
Some Betties, which were supposed to support the invasion, find CL Durban near Lautem (on the other end of Timor) and attack it without results; anyway a second wave of Kates from Zuiho torpedoes and sinks it.
Jan 15
The real invasion begins.
Pre-invasion bombardment showed a surprise since the previous day... 55th British Brigade is at Koepang. I guess the Allied plan was to repeat the Kendari stalemate on a larger scale, but I felt I have enough firepower to handle this...
The unloading of IJA 65 Brigade is a mess though, and I get 149 casualties reported. Very important thing to note: it is new moon (3% moonlight)!
The surface combat TF (this time quite big, 12 ships including Hyuga) sinks the last transports leaving Koepang (1 xAK, 2 xAP)
I was trying to trap as much shipping as possible in Koepang, but a large number of transports had already left Koepang in the previous days, because Ryujo, which was acting as forward scout (a role that was originally assigned to the now-sunk Katoris...), had a quite close encounter with...
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Sawoe Islands at 64,117, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo
DD Yugumo
DD Amatsukaze
DD Tokitsukaze
Allied Ships
AM Wollongong
xAP Rochussen
xAP Rooseboom
xAP Siberg
xAP Speelman
xAP Van Neck
xAP Van Rees
DE Sutlej
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 20,000 yards
Japanese TF attempts to evade combat
Range increases to 20,000 yards...
Both Task Forces evade combat
Ground combat showed the defending units in Koepang to be:
quote:
Timor Garrison Battalion
Dili Detachment
55th British Brigade
Den Passer Base Force
107th RN Base Force /2
102nd RN Base Force /1
100th RN Base Force
Manado Base Force /2
Koepang Base Force
Kendari Base Force /1
Asiatic Fleet /4
Mataram Base Force /1
Jan 16:
A large number of Allied submarines converge on Koepang. My ASW TFs manage to keep them at bay, though.
Jan 17:
DD Van Nes tries to raid Koepang and stumbles into my very small bombardment TF.
quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Koepang at 68,118, Range 8,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 1
CA Tone
DD Ushio
Allied Ships
DD Van Nes
...It is remarkable to note that my TF had surprised Van Nes – only to fire long lances on it and miss... are those guys aware of how much 61 cm torpedoes cost, anyway? ;)
The funny thing is that during the day, Van Nes struck back:
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Koepang at 67,117, Range 16,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 1
CA Tone
DD Ushio
Allied Ships
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 2
...but only on the third attempt my surface combat TF finally decided to react!
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Koepang at 68,116, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Ise
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1
CA Ashigara
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hibiki
Allied Ships
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
Part 5. End of the Moluccas campaign
Koepang
After Van Nes' raid, no relevant Allied actions took place at Koepang, except for long range air strikes, not very effective in any case.
The huge disruption caused by the new moon landing forced my troops at Koepang to wait for reinforcements, which arrived on Jan 20. The first Japanese attack took place on Jan 21, reducing forts to 1. A second attack on Jan 23 reduced forts to 0; Koepang was finally captured on Jan 24.
Kendari
Air raids from both sides continued. Allied forts were reduced to 0 in the Japaneseattack of Jan 20, but both a shock attack on Jan 21 and a deliberate attack on Jan 22 failed to capture the base (each time reducing forts from 1 to 0...). Finally by Jan 23 the forts had not rebuilt to 1, and Kendari fell.
Pursuing the Koepang transports
After the close encounter with Ryujo, I had sent a number of units trying to sink those fleeing ships, with somewhat disappointing results...
Kates from Zuiho sunk xAP Van Neck, xAP Van Rees, xAP Rochussen and xAK Hanyang (RO-33 failed to torpedo the last ship the day before)
Jeans from Hosho (yes, I'm keeping Jeans on it, trying to mimic the historical limits of the ship) sunk xAK Gogra.
I-157 sunk xAP Siberg.
I had sent three DD on patrol south of Koepang in search of escaping cargoes, but...
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Broome at 61,121, Range 17,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Kamikaze
DD Asakaze
DD Yakaze
Allied Ships
xAK Taiyuan
AVP Arend
AG Albatros
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions: 20,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 17,000 yards
Allied TF attempts to evade combat
Range increases to 17,000 yards...
Allied Transport TF evades combat
In the end I decided to substitute the Katori cruisers with Ryujo, and slipped it west of Koepang after the invasion... but I kept forgetting to give new orders to her resting Mabels, until...
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Christmas Island IO at 48,114, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CVL Ryujo
DD Yugumo
DD Amatsukaze
DD Tokitsukaze
Allied Ships
TK Marpessa
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards
Range increases to 20,000 yards...
Both Task Forces evade combat
Ryujo has since reached my secret base in the Indian Ocean along with a few submarines. Even if it was spotted twice by enemy transports near Koepang, I think my opponent is still unaware of its presence west of Java!
< Message edited by rattovolante -- 6/6/2010 3:32:10 PM >
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Printable Version
RE: Imperial Japanese Noob - 
). Anyway, the subs involved spotted a number of cargo ships in the area, which led me to conclude that Pago-Pago is a major USN base in this game. 
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