JocMeister
Posts: 8262
Joined: 7/29/2009 From: Sweden Status: offline
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Battle of Namlea This will be remembered as the day when the Allied fleet revealed its true power. Wow. Simply wow. Namlea lies just SW of Ambon. I had no intention of launching this strike as recon had indicated both Ambon and Namlea to be completely empty. I was quite surprised to see the first airstrike take off. And very, very angry to be honest. quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Namlea at 76,108 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 34 minutes Japanese aircraft J2M3 Jack x 13 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 432 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 28 Japanese aircraft losses J2M3 Jack: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses SB2C-1C Helldiver: 9 damaged SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CA Kumano, Bomb hits 1 CA Mogami, Bomb hits 3 DD Oboro I was pissed off to say the least. 400 Fighters for 30 DBs. I was expecting a string of unescorted strikes to go in. Indeed two smaller raids did go in. One completely unescorted and one with a 30 Hellcat escort. Then came the grand finale. quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Namlea at 76,108 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 34 minutes Japanese aircraft J2M3 Jack x 15 N1K2-J George x 12 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 389 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 44 SB2C-3 Helldiver x 145 SBD-5 Dauntless x 27 TBM-1C Avenger x 88 Japanese aircraft losses J2M3 Jack: 6 destroyed N1K2-J George: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 4 damaged SB2C-3 Helldiver: 1 damaged TBM-1C Avenger: 2 damaged Japanese Ships DD Hakaze, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Naka, Bomb hits 3, on fire DD Oboro, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk CA Kumano, Bomb hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage CA Mogami, Bomb hits 30, and is sunk DD Tanikaze, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk CL Kiso, Bomb hits 2 CL Jintsu, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Yuzuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Yukikaze, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires CL Sendai, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage This is followed by a coup de grace! quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Namlea at 76,108 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 33 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K2-J George x 6 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 33 SB2C-3 Helldiver x 29 TBM-1C Avenger x 36 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses TBM-1C Avenger: 1 damaged Japanese Ships CA Kumano, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk DD Yukikaze, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk I´ve never seen such a massive strike before. While it contained all the allotted escorts it was roughly only a third of the available strike planes. A third. This just dwarves everything the KB has done. I feel a lot more confident taking on the KB after this turn. If he gets within 7 hexes of the fleet there will be no more KB. Of that I´m absolutely sure. I´m curious how Erik will react to this. He made no mention of battle in our emails. Will this strike change his strategy? Will it make him more reluctant to take on the CV fleet? Does he think the losses I suffered today weakened me and seek battle? I lost only 28 Hellcats and 19 DBs. Thats about 2,4% of the available planes. Nothing that concerns me much. Interesting turn indeed. Watched the whole replay with a silly grin. Strike two more CAs. Thats 12 off the list and 6 more to go.
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