fcharton
Posts: 1112
Joined: 10/4/2010
From: France
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June 26th 1942
The music for today is Brahms string quintet op111, an exhilarating piece if there ever was one
And there was evening, and there was morning, and there was Kido Butai
From Truk, KB had been ordered to the coast of New Guinea between Hansa Bay and Madang, off the reach of most bombers based in Rabaul. She arrived today morning and launched four raids against the task forces unloading in Terapo, which all went through, despite heavy losses.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Terapo at 96,127
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 39
B5N2 Kate x 47
D3A1 Val x 56
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 17
P-40E Warhawk x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed
Allied Ships
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DE Litchfield
DD Vendetta
DD Van Ghent
AP President Monroe, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
DD Griffin
DD Tjerk Hiddes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Marella, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Taroona, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Humphreys
Morning Air attack on TF, near Terapo at 96,127
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
B5N2 Kate x 19
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
xAP Marella, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Vendetta
CL Phoenix, on fire
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Terapo at 96,127
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
B5N2 Kate x 60
D3A1 Val x 44
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 13
P-40E Warhawk x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
DE Litchfield
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
DD Vendetta
DD Van Ghent
DE Humphreys
DD Tjerk Hiddes, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAP Taroona, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Zealandia, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Terapo at 96,127
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
B5N2 Kate x 10
D3A1 Val x 15
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
DE Humphreys, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Tjerk Hiddes, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Litchfield
CL Phoenix, xAP Taroona, DE Humphreys, and DD Monssen (must be FOW for Tjerk Hiddes) are reported sunk, but xAP Zelandia and Marella must be in very bad shape, and AP Monroe was seen burning (and was already hit a few days ago).
This came at a price, as KB was fighting at long range. The reports say we lost twenty planes to nine enemy fighters, but the real figures are about twice as many. Still, a Brooklyn class cruiser, a pair of tin cans, and, possibly, three troop transports look like a good trade. And the landings in Terapo were probably quite disrupted, which always is a good thing.
KB wasn’t attacked in return. I suspect we were too far away for short legged bombers, and the long range ones might have been off duty as my opponent sent his fighters to protect the landings. We will now retire, and might turn south and pay a visit to Luganville, were a couple of ships were detected recently.
Building Lunga
In the Solomons, I have been preparing for the next enemy invasions. Tulagi and Lunga have engineers, decent forts, a naval guard unit and guns. An infantry regiment should land soon in Tassafaronga.
At sea, several submarines were deployed in front of the island, just in case, and the large battleship force that bombarded Luganville a few days ago was rearmed in Rekata bay (I am deploying AKE in dot bases close to the front), and is ready to jump on bombardment task forces that might be too bold. Finally, I have mined the harbor in Lunga, and disbanded an ACM in the port.
This paid off today, as SS S-45 came nosing around and hit a mine. Later, S-41 tried to meddle with my unloading cargo, and got hit by her escort.
I don’t intend to fight for Guadalcanal, but I think that such actions can delay enemy operation, which is exactly what I want.
Rude Britannia
Remember those British carriers off Timor? After being spotted two days ago, they went AWOL yesterday, and reappeared today. I still had torpedo bombers on naval attack in Koepang, but not enough, apparently. The first wave barely reached CV Illustrious and Formidable, and the second one didn’t even make it to the carriers, and we lost a dozen more bombers in the process.
The weather was very bad over Timor, and there were no attacks in the afternoon. No British bombers flew, either. Try again tomorrow. I have rotated bombers and fighters. If the British are still in range tomorrow, we will have a second shot at them.
I am curious to see what my opponent has in mind. Will the carriers try to sail east, towards Darwin and Horn Island, in which case I will probably have another shot at them? Or will they retire as they did several times in the past?
Plane production, big fat raids, and PDU off
I have been mulling Roland’s comments most of the evening, and realize that building a strong air force must be my priority now.
My short term options are relatively obvious. I will probably need two or three months to finish China, and then another month to reinforce Burma and the Pacific. By October or November 1942, I should have enough troops to reinforce the front, and stop any Allied advance. Until then, I need to delay, in New Guinea, in the Solomons, in Burma, and prevent a breakthrough.
I believe I can achieve this by concentrating my forces, using the KB and my naval assets to punish the enemy every time I can, but avoid engaging in bold moves. I am on the defensive for four months.
Then, I should have enough units to garrison the front, make allied advance very costly, and perhaps even launch an offensive into India. My goal is to build the large air force I need for such operations, in December 42, or January 43.
With PDU off, this means two things. First, I need to have a precise idea of my frame mix at the beginning of 1943, to organize production, upgrades, and the building of pools. Second, I need to grow the industry in such a way that repairs and upgrades to new models do not deplete my supplies, or slow production.
Just to give an example, by the end of 1942, my main Navy fighter should the A6M3a, which should be available in September. With PDU Off, I can have over 500 of those, and can convert those factories for free into A6M5, which should be available at the end of the year, and would concern over a thousand planes. So far so good.
However, the problem with this line is that the A6M3a upgrades from the A6M3, which is now in production, but only concerns a small number of squadrons (about 100 planes), and not from the A6M2, my current navy fighter.
At present, I am producing 25 A6M3 per month, and repairing 11 more factories, for a final production of 36. For the A6M3, this is the right number, but it won’t be enough for the A6M3a. As such, I probably need to expand, and repair many more A6M3 factories, so as to have a decent production level once the A6M3a comes online.
But then, my A6M2 will become obsolete (most of them upgrade into 3a), and the huge factories (that currently produce over 200 zeroes per month) will need to be converted into A6M3a outfits, ready to upgrade into A6M5. And the total conversion cost would be around 300 000 supply points, and take between three and four months, until the end of the year.
Same goes with army fighters. With PDU Off, the Tojo line is not a very interesting prospect, as you only have 78 planes that can convert into IIa, and 180 that upgrade into IIb (which you be available at the beginning of 43). The Tony line is not really better, as you can only get a hundred 1a, and 200 1b. With PDU off, you have to build Oscars: the upgrade is free from 1c to 2a and then 2b, I already produce 150 1c, and can upgrade up to a thousand IIb, which will be available by November. Compared with the Zeroes, new Oscars will come online very fast, as there is no need to repair factories.
All this means that in October, Oscars and “old Zeroes” will probably be my main duty fighters, with new zeroes appearing at the end of the year. I need to do the maths…
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Printable Version
RE: Perfection, of a kind, spence (A) vs fcharton (J) - 
So, like this episode above, you have to read the report very carefully. Don't read it in english. Read it in special AC Model text. Each line/sentence refers to a specific outcome component in the model. You have to interpret each line carefully to get that outcome, not read it as english text. Not sure if that makes sense or not, but best I can do. 
Anyway, a fun option. 
anticipating the influx of troops in 44-45. It also seems a good idea for buying back destroyed units and rebuilding them. I've turned more armaments on in late 43 to try to make sure i"m okay for next year. 
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