Walker84
Posts: 850
Joined: 7/5/2009 Status: offline
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Feb 18, 1942 A flotilla of six Dutch MTBs attack near Denpasar but are driven off and troops start to unload on the beach. An Allied carrier force is detected near Oosthaven in the morning and 15 Nells based at Singkawang launch an attack but fail to cooordinate with their escorts and at least 9 are lost. The CAP indicates a joint US/UK strike force: Sea Hurricane Ib x 6 F4F-3A Wildcat x 22 F4F-3 Wildcat x 14 A second attack goes in with fighter escorts but is met by heavy CAP again. quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Oosthaven at 46,95 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 62 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 15 G4M1 Betty x 9 Allied aircraft Sea Hurricane Ib x 6 F4F-3A Wildcat x 21 F4F-3 Wildcat x 11 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat: 3 destroyed Allied Ships CVL Hermes Aircraft Attacking: 2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp Nine Dutch bombers then attack transport ships unloading at Palembang but are met by Oscars now based there and five are shot down. Finally, the sledgehammer arrives and there is little that the Oscars can do to protect their charges against the overwhelming attack that has been assembled: quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 48,91 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 6 Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 15 Allied aircraft Fulmar II x 9 F2A-3 Buffalo x 27 F4F-3 Wildcat x 27 SBD-2 Dauntless x 18 SBD-3 Dauntless x 54 TBD-1 Devastator x 15 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 2 destroyed Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 2 destroyed No Allied losses Japanese Ships xAK Yodogawa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires xAK Kosin Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Kirishima Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Toa Maru, Bomb hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Kagu Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires xAK Nitisan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires xAK Tacoma Maru, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage PB Eiko Maru #2, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage PB Kamitsu Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage Japanese ground losses: 819 casualties reported Squads: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 45 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled Guns lost 8 (5 destroyed, 3 disabled) The attack continues in the afternoon: quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 48,91 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 6 Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 12 Allied aircraft F2A-3 Buffalo x 20 F4F-3 Wildcat x 23 SBD-3 Dauntless x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F2A-3 Buffalo: 2 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships AK Tosan Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire AK Kinka Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage TB Manazuru DD Asagiri, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires So, a highly effective Allied coup-de-main at this stage in the war. By concentrating the US and British carrier assets in one place and achieving total surprise (no detection levels obtained on the previous turn), Roger has bagged a good haul of transports and pretty much annihilated a base force and port unit that were about to debark at Palembang. It would have been much worse if the invasion force was still approaching Palembang as both it and the heavy cover force would have taken a beating notwithstanding the CAP I had covering them. Fortunately, the bulk of our forces had already rebased to Singapore as I have a policy of not hanging around to unload supplies and provide sitting duck targets once an invasion has been successful. It's hard to avoid this type of attack - would the existence of more Mavis planes at Singapore have pushed my naval search out better? I think he must have come in from the direction of Cocos Is or perhaps further to the south and made a fast approach to avoid being detected. At least I can now build up an early warning system based around Palembang hopefully to avoid being surprised when I take Java proper.
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< Message edited by Walker84 -- 12/29/2014 11:26:02 AM >
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The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -1882)
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