JocMeister
Posts: 8262
Joined: 7/29/2009 From: Sweden Status: offline
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Battle for Balikpapan Day 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ Kicking myself a little for sending in the modern CAs. In hindsight it was unnecessary and the TF did not achieve much, if anything. quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,97, Range 12,000 Yards Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 3 destroyed Japanese Ships BB Hiei, Shell hits 11 CA Mikuma, Shell hits 6 CA Suzuya, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 3 DD Oyashio, Shell hits 2 DD Natsushio, Shell hits 4, on fire Allied Ships CA Wichita, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage CA Boston DD Bennion, Shell hits 2 DD Luce DD McCord, Shell hits 1 DD Mullany DD Philip DD John Rodgers, Shell hits 1 DD Saufley DD Stevens CA Canberra II CA Sleipner, Shell hits 22, and is sunk It was not an enjoyable battle to watch. The Fletchers spent all their torps firing at Jap DDs instead of the Hiei. Hieis first two 36cm salvos hit Sleipner and then Wichita dooming them both. Boston and Canbarra II was content to do absolutely nothing and I don´t think either of them fired a single salvo during the battle. Wichita sinks right after the battle. After this battle the Fletchers (who I had hoped would go in first) have several very disappointing battles where they spend most of their ammo hitting nothing. With one exception. quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,97, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships CL Kinu, Shell hits 2 DD Yuzuki, Shell hits 24, and is sunk DD Shiokaze, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Nokaze, Shell hits 2 Allied Ships DD Charles Ausburne DD Beale DD Callaghan DD Erben DD Healy DD Richard P. Leary DD Norman Scott DD Sigsbee DD Stembel, Shell hits 1 DD Thatcher DD Trathen DD Twiggs, Shell hits 1 A very disappointing night. And to add insult to injury this is the last sighting of Hiei and the Japanese CAs. In the morning they are simply gone. Daytime Morning dawns and the USAAF comes into play. It turns out they will be the saviors of the day. Multiple sweeps hit the Balikpapan CAP doing a little bit worse than expected but gets the job done. I deliberately did not use my best groups for this job as they are sweeping on extended range. Turned out well anyway! quote:
Morning Air attack on Balikpapan , at 64,97 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 26 NM, estimated altitude 43,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 36 N1K2-J George x 81 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 28 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 46 Ki-61-Id Tony x 9 Ki-84a Frank x 78 Allied aircraft P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 16 Japanese aircraft losses N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed Ki-61-Id Tony: 2 destroyed Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed This is followed by more sweeps with similar results. Then the bombers came in. I was expecting carnage but it actually wasn´t that bad. quote:
Morning Air attack on Balikpapan , at 64,97 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 25 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 30 N1K2-J George x 63 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 19 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18 Ki-61-Id Tony x 1 Ki-84a Frank x 54 Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 3 B-17E Fortress x 9 B-24D Liberator x 7 B-24D1 Liberator x 10 B-24J Liberator x 68 PB4Y-1 Liberator x 28 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 4 damaged Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed on ground P1Y2 Frances: 17 destroyed on ground B6N2 Jill: 3 destroyed on ground P1Y1 Frances: 13 destroyed on ground B5N2 Kate: 4 destroyed on ground Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy: 1 destroyed on ground M6A1 Seiran: 14 destroyed on ground E13A1 Jake: 4 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged B-24J Liberator: 3 destroyed, 14 damaged PB4Y-1 Liberator: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged Airbase hits 24 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 73 All in all I think about 35 B24s are lost. Could have been a lot worse. No enemy strikes took off but so I guess the airfield was either closed or most of the planes were damaged enough to be able unable to do flight OPS? Thanks to some productive sweeps in Burma we still get out on top with 226 Jap planes destroyed for 132 allied. CV OPS What I was hoping to be a "coup de grace" for Japanese naval power in the region turns out to be pfffzzzz instead. This is the only strike that flew. I have no idea why no strikes flew against what was/is left at Balikpapan. Bah. quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Balikpapan at 64,98 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft F6F-5 Hellcat x 42 SB2C-3 Helldiver x 29 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Shikinami, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk DD Amagiri, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Shikinami Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Amagiri The Hiei and the two CAs has just vanished. No idea where they went. Its possible they are still sitting at Balikpapan as I have a 6 ship DD TF identified there. Now I just have to figure out what to do tomorrow. All in all. I´m quite disappointed. Losing 2 CAs for the price of a few DDs is just not worth it. If I had bagged 2 CAs and a BB it would have been a good day. Not so now. The positive is that it looks like I might have the airfield suppressed. I still have 150 4Es ready to go again tomorrow to make sure. Question is if Erik will continue to fight for it or not. Is it time for me to send in the Fast BBs....lots to think on.
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< Message edited by JocMeister -- 9/7/2013 5:14:52 AM >
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