Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002
From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
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9/22/43
Thin Man: The final Japanese CV TF made a clean break to the NW and avoided the combat TF sent her way. But she lashed out with her strike aircraft, sinking BB Nevada with 5 TT hits.
Allied combat TFs fanned out during the nighttime hours, seeking crippled carriers, but instead found a few combat TFs that John sent in to confuse the radar and serve in rear-guard capacity. There were a series of combat TF clashes, with the Allied TFs showing their lack of ammo. A few hits were scored to slow some enemy DDs, and DD Cony, a Fletcher ate a TT (she had 98 FLT damage, so I scuttled her).
During the afternoon, Death Star strike aircraft hit some of the Japanese combat vessels, sinking CL Yahagi and scoring HF/HD hits on DDs Sagiri, Amatsukaze and Kisaragi.
Over in the Marshalls, Beauforts escorted by Lightnings once again hit a transport TF, sinking 2 xAK and 1 AKL. 20 combat squads and 23 non-combat went down with the ships.
So the great naval battle is winding down, it seems, though subs from both sides are in the vicinity in large numbers and who knows what action might occur to John, who has been hard hit and may be a bit desperate. I don't think he'd send in BBs or reverse course with KB, but it is remotely possible.
All told, I have confirmation that the Allies sank 8 CVE and 1 CV. I'll be very surprised if the total doesn't include an additional 2 CV and 3 CVL. I think John also lost two CL and perhaps 10-15 DD. Other ships took damage, including a CB hit hard. I regret that Akagi, which was out their for the plucking, seems to have gotten clean away. In fact, I was shocked that my NavSearch didn't pick up a single carrier except in the KB TF that hit Nevada. Where'd they all go? Did they sink? Did John scuttle them? Did the damage reports exaggerate so that I'm overestimating the damage? Any of these are possibilities. The points for Ships Lost didn't increase dramatically this turn, so I think there are cripples out there. I just don't know where they are.
But this battle was a staggering defeat for the Japanese navy. Apart from the carrier tally, the loss of CLs and DDs was signficant for John. And his yards should be filled with damaged ships for a long time to come.
But the Allies didn't emerge unscathed. I lost 2 Fletchers and BB Nevada. BB Massachusetts, CL St. Louis, and CVs Enterprise and Hornet suffered moderate damage. And a host of combat ships have light or moderate damage from surface clashes. Pearl Harbor isn't too distant, but enemy subs may claim additional victims.
But I think I can proceed with the Wake invasion sooner rather than later. I have enough combat ships that weren't engaged in surface gunnery that they still have main gun ammo. That will allow the bombardments so critical to atoll invasions. And I have time to quickly replenish some of the smaller combat vessels at Midway, where I'll also see if the carriers can replenish sorties and possibly replace some lost aircaft. Too, fresh SBD squadrons are island hopping to Midway via Johnston from Pearl to take the place of depleted squadrons.
CV Bunker Hill and CVL Cowpens arrived at Pearl today. They refueled and will follow an ASW TF to Midway. Three NoPac CVEs are just a couple of days out of Pearl. The invasion TF is moving so quickly (fast APAs and AKAs) that they'll be on station and chomping at the bit while the replenishing stuff is happening at Midway. Truly, speed is everything. John probably will scramble to reinforce Wake, so I don't want to dally.
I have a great deal of clicking to do. I've decided on a plan that builds on the Battle of Wake Island. There's a huge amount of troops and shipping that needs to be moved. But given current locations and positioning of the bulk of the transport ships, this can be done relatively efficiently and quickly.
So the sequence is this: (1) Replenish at Midway and invade Wake Island within 7-10 days while, at the same time, working on ships and troops and supplies for the next big thing; (2) after Wake, retire to Pearl to make good all air losses, etc., while continuing to bring ships, troops and supply forward to Pearl; (3) proceed with Operation (to be named) possibly as soon as a month from now.
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