marbakka
Posts: 410
Joined: 3/9/2012 Status: offline
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Combat Report - 4/14/1942 To my surprise, he continued to push south, which resulted in... The Battle of Espiritu Santo If you look at the screenshot from 4/13 (yesterday), you will noticed a TF right on the "d" in "New Caledonia." This was a transport fleet that I was calling the "Luganville Express." It was carrying the bulk of my Luganville troops, and it was supposed to remain at Noumea. I didn't notice it on the map, so I assumed it was where it was supposed to be and was one of the TFs that I ordered south from Noumea. Instead, it continued all the way to Luganville. Evidently, this caused 3 of his 5 carriers to react even further south than he had ordered them. They attacked the troop transports several times during the day, sinking an AP and 2 AKs, destroying roughly the equivalent of a Brigade, and badly damaging several other ships - two of which may sink before they can get the troops off. It was my mistake not spotting the TF and fixing the problem, but I have to give credit to the fleet commander for ordering the ships to gun it all the way to Luganville. At least they're in port and might can unload some of the troops. Unfortunately for Japan, his attack on Luganville resulted in 4 of my 5 CVs reacting northward (I believe the USS Lexington fell behind only because it required a refuel). First, they had to defend against several morning attacks... quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 21 B5N2 Kate x 36 D3A1 Val x 39 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 10 F4F-3A Wildcat x 17 F4F-3 Wildcat x 47 F4F-4 Wildcat x 8 Japanese aircraft losses B5N2 Kate: 15 destroyed, 6 damaged B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak D3A1 Val: 8 destroyed, 7 damaged D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CV Saratoga CL Helena CA Louisville CV Enterprise CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1 (11 SYS and 2 ENG damage) CA Canberra quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 21 B5N2 Kate x 12 D3A1 Val x 22 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 6 F4F-3A Wildcat x 15 F4F-3 Wildcat x 37 F4F-4 Wildcat x 6 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak D3A1 Val: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CV Saratoga CV Enterprise CA Minneapolis CL Helena quote:
Japanese aircraft B5N2 Kate x 12 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 4 F4F-3A Wildcat x 9 F4F-3 Wildcat x 25 F4F-4 Wildcat x 4 Japanese aircraft losses B5N2 Kate: 8 destroyed No Allied losses Couldn't be happier with the performance of my CAP. He did get a lot of runs at my carriers, but they had my boys right on their tails the whole time. Then it was payback time. First, all 5 carriers launched against the southernmost division of the KB: quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 33 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 11 SBD-2 Dauntless x 18 SBD-3 Dauntless x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F2A-3 Buffalo: 4 destroyed SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged SBD-2 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak SBD-3 Dauntless: 7 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CV Akagi CV Kaga CV Soryu quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 29 Allied aircraft F4F-3A Wildcat x 19 F4F-3 Wildcat x 39 F4F-4 Wildcat x 17 SBD-3 Dauntless x 54 TBD-1 Devastator x 45 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak TBD-1 Devastator: 2 damaged TBD-1 Devastator: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CV Akagi, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires CV Soryu, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage CA Chikuma CV Kaga, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires DD Hatsuharu DD Susuzuki DD Nenohi, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Hatsushima DD Shiratsuyu DD Ariake quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 40 Allied aircraft TBD-1 Devastator x 15 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses TBD-1 Devastator: 7 destroyed Soryu must surely sink. Akagi suffered both fuel storage and ammo storage explosions. In any case, they will be out of the war for a while even if I don't get them in the next day or so. Then came the attacks against the northernmost division of the KB. The morning attacks were poorly coordinated and mostly resulted in the loss of a bunch of my pilots and aircraft, but the afternoon attacks were a bit more...interesting: quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 29 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 6 SBD-3 Dauntless x 14 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged Japanese Ships CV Hiryu CV Zuikaku quote:
Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 27 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 2 F4F-3A Wildcat x 18 F4F-3 Wildcat x 46 F4F-4 Wildcat x 13 SBD-3 Dauntless x 61 TBD-1 Devastator x 58 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak TBD-1 Devastator: 4 damaged Japanese Ships CA Tone, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Wakaba DD Suzukaze DD Yugure, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires DD Teruzuki DD Shigure, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Hatsuzuki Hiryu suffered an ammo storage explosion on top of eating 10 1000lb bombs. I suspect she'll be going down. According to tracker, he lost a total of 92 Vals, 91 Kates, and 57 Zeros to my 28 -3 Dauntless, 19 -2 Dauntless, 17 -1 Devastators, 12 Buffalo, 11 -3 Wildcats, 6 -3A Wildcats, and 6 -4 Wildcats. I don't think those numbers account for the number that may have been lost on board his ships or attempting to land on damaged ships. Obviously, it was a very bad day for Japan. If it hadn't been for the loss of life at Luganville, it would have been a perfect day. I'm elated, though I'm smart enough to know that I should gloat about it to him. Losing that much in a single day has to be pretty hard psychologically. It'll be tough to keep him interested in the game. But a win is a win, and I'm elated. Now what? Well, first I'm going to disband most of that Luganville Express TF just in case he tries any funny business on his way out of town. I will have to leave the badly damaged ships out in a vain attempt to unload them before they sink, but most of them should last a day, so they'll set anchor. Unfortunately, the most badly damaged ship is carrying my Bobcats USN Construction Battalion (although they lost almost all their equipment already anyway). My AGs are pretty beat up, but I will risk at least one day of pursuit in the hopes of finishing off a CV or two. I have reports that the Kaga sank, but I'd rather know for sure than rely on tracker, and I feel like I'll be relatively safe since most of his aircraft would have had to ditch. After that, my carriers will stick around just long enough to cover Luganville from LBA as the troops unload, and then they will retire to PH where I will sort out who is going back to the WC for their April Upgrades and who is going to NOPAC to clobber his sub base there. This does accelerate my own plans a bit. I have another sizable force at San Francisco ready to be loaded and brought to SOPAC, and then I may be in a position to start something of an offensive in the Solomons. I had considered a land war through Burma, Malaysia, and China, but with near total control of the seas, that just doesn't make sense to me know. Thoughts on this? An invasion of Australia seems highly unlikely now, and I'm leaning heavily toward deploying the V Bomber Command to India, but I'm going to give it some thought before doing so. One consideration is that there isn't anywhere near enough aviation support in Australia to handle what I've got much less an influx of more aircraft.
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< Message edited by marbakka -- 6/22/2012 6:14:35 PM >
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