Lokasenna
Posts: 9297
Joined: 3/3/2012 From: Iowan in MD/DC Status: offline
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April 11-12, 1945 Wasn't this just about Okinawa time IRL? CENTPAC This will probably be quiet for the rest of the war, but we sent some DDs to bombard Saipan... mostly to clear the MTBs/SSXs spotted there recently. May as well clear them somewhere I don't care about than have to deal with them elsewhere, and any search/transport planes I can bag on the ground would be a bonus. Unfortunately, we just sink 2 MGB and accomplish little else. Asia On the 10th, we had attacked at Kukong - a few thousand Chinese AV vs. 3 IJA Tank Divisions. We almost got a 2:1, dropped forts to 0. The tanks were roughed up a little bit. On the 12th we captured it - the tanks all drove away. I'll take it! Liuchow's airfield expands to level 8 on April 11. Almost there! Nanning goes to 6 as well. Philippines & SRA Lots of planes destroyed on the ground at San Fernando, and lots of night CAP at Clark Field which prevents our bombers from doing much. Batangas is captured on the 11th, allowing us to rail everything from Naga to just outside of Manila. Oosthaven is captured on April 11, and the IJA has no retreat path so they stick around to get beat up some more in future turns. On the 12th, we get a 6:1 attack at Benkoelen. It will fall to us soon, leaving just Palembang after that. On the 12th, we sweep all around northern Luzon. A fair number of Hellcats are lost, but otherwise Corsairs and P-47s help to clear the air. Trying to set up regular daylight bombing now. Need to wear down supply stockpiles as much as possible before the first attack against Manila, which might come sometime in early May. 3 IJA units moved to Mauban, SE of Manila. Don't know why. Will move against them sometime. Puerto Princesa... progress is made here. Forts are down to 1. The IJA are more or less starving. NORPAC On the 11th, SS Sea Fox misses a KB escort outside of Uruppu-jima. In the hopes that they stick around, I've moved my CVs to the SW - away from any focused naval search and bomber fragments based at Paramushiro, and hopefully on an unexpected vector. Hard to tell. Yet another Mixed Brigade is flown in to Shimushiri. I still like this development, even though it delays me. I was going to have to bring in more troops anyway (well, really at minimum the division that simply refused to land from the start), and it was always going to be an overwhelming number. They'll overwhelm an extra 360AV just as easily as they would have overwhelmed what was already present. On the 12th, Ki-83's come to Onnekotan again, but Corsairs and P-51D's trade even with them. Need to get more Corsairs up here, but I also need to the airfield to be bigger first. Will get there... this was always going to be an operation about patience. SS Atule hits BB Mutsu with 1 torpedo outside Kushiro, but damage doesn't look to be very bad. SS Capitaine almost certainly sinks BB Ise on the 12th outside Shikotan, as mentioned above. Immediately in the night phase on the 12th, SS Pipe spots CS Nisshin and some good DDs outside Shikotan. Pretty much as expected/hoped... but could he really have replenished enough of KB's air wings in just a few days? I couldn't really figure out why they were up so quickly. In the first air phase, KB is spotted outside Etorofu. Definitely going to be a battle, and so there is: quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Etorofu at 130,57 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 40 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5c Zero x 36 A7M2 Sam x 48 B6N2a Jill x 10 All shot down B7A2 Grace x 35 13 get through CAP D4Y4 Judy x 129 41 get through CAP Allied aircraft F4U-1D Corsair x 116 F6F-5 Hellcat x 34 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5c Zero: 11 destroyed A7M2 Sam: 3 destroyed B6N2a Jill: 5 destroyed B7A2 Grace: 12 destroyed, 7 damaged B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed by flak D4Y4 Judy: 51 destroyed, 13 damaged D4Y4 Judy: 5 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses F4U-1D Corsair: 1 destroyed F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CV Illustrious, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage CB Alaska, Torpedo hits 1, on fire -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanese aircraft A6M5c Zero x 15 A7M2 Sam x 27 B7A2 Grace x 12 D4Y4 Judy x 48 Allied aircraft F4U-1D Corsair x 103 F6F-5 Hellcat x 31 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5c Zero: 4 destroyed A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed B7A2 Grace: 6 destroyed D4Y4 Judy: 27 destroyed Just 2 get through CAP and miss Allied aircraft losses F4U-1D Corsair: 1 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All shot down/do no damage (lots of KB splintering): B7A2 Grace x 11 B5N2 Kate x 54 P1Y2 Frances x 18 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 3 Ki-32 Mary x 24 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 9 B7A2 Grace x 7 D4Y4 Judy x 10 B7A2 Grace x 9 B7A2 Grace x 3 B7A2 Grace x 10 D4Y4 Judy x 10 B7A2 Grace x 7 B7A2 Grace x 7 A6M5c Zero x 36 A7M2 Sam x 21 B7A2 Grace x 6 D4Y4 Judy x 21 A7M2 Sam x 26 B7A2 Grace x 4 D4Y4 Judy x 8 B6N2 Jill x 9 B6N2a Jill x 39 Not so bad. I would've preferred if Alaska wouldn't have taken a torpedo, but it's fine. She'll sail back to CONUS and rep up. Illustrious isn't too bad off either - damage in the 40s/50s. Then our strikes (I don't think everything flew in AM due to detection?): quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Etorofu at 127,51 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 34 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5c Zero x 59 A7M2 Sam x 82 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 10 Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 21 F4U-1D Corsair x 26 F6F-3 Hellcat x 39 F6F-5 Hellcat x 60 SB2C-3 Helldiver x 57 SB2C-4 Helldiver x 61 90 Helldivers in total get through CAP TBM-1C Avenger x 68 TBM-3 Avenger x 24 Some of these too, but I didn't count because they can't hit anything. Japanese aircraft losses A6M5c Zero: 2 destroyed A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4U-1D Corsair: 1 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed F6F-5 Hellcat: 4 destroyed SB2C-3 Helldiver: 8 destroyed, 13 damaged SB2C-3 Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak SB2C-4 Helldiver: 8 destroyed, 5 damaged SB2C-4 Helldiver: 3 destroyed by flak TBM-1C Avenger: 7 destroyed, 12 damaged TBM-1C Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak TBM-3 Avenger: 1 damaged Japanese Ships CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, on fire CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, on fire CV Katsuragi, Torpedo hits 1, on fire CV Akagi, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage Fuel storage explosion on CV Katsuragi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Etorofu at 127,51 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 34 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5c Zero x 46 A7M2 Sam x 43 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 23 Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 21 F4U-1D Corsair x 11 F6F-3 Hellcat x 38 F6F-5 Hellcat x 73 SB2C-3 Helldiver x 38 SB2C-4 Helldiver x 39 50 Helldivers get through TBM-1C Avenger x 41 TBM-3 Avenger x 36 47 TBs get through Japanese aircraft losses A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed F6F-5 Hellcat: 1 destroyed SB2C-3 Helldiver: 14 destroyed, 6 damaged SB2C-3 Helldiver: 1 destroyed by flak SB2C-4 Helldiver: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged TBM-1C Avenger: 9 destroyed, 7 damaged TBM-1C Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak TBM-3 Avenger: 5 destroyed, 9 damaged Japanese Ships CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage CV Akagi, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CV Taiho, Bomb hits 3, on fire CV Soryu, Bomb hits 1 CV Unryu, Torpedo hits 1 CVL Chiyoda CV Amagi CVL Chitose, Torpedo hits 1 CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires Ammo storage explosion on CVL Shoho Fuel storage explosion on CVL Ryujo Fuel storage explosion on CVL Ryujo Ammo storage explosion on CVL Zuiho Others present (attacked but not hit): CV Kaga CV Zuikaku CV Hiryu A few of our Avenger groups splintered and got shot down to a man by the enemy CAP. I am fairly certain that Akagi sunk, and would be surprised if Shoho and Zuiho lived. I think the others all might have survived, but several will be in the yards for a while. I might see Unryu, Soryu, Katsuragi, Chitose, and Taiho again soon. Ryujo appeared to have taken heavier damage. Some Grace, Sam, and just 2 Judy "DOG"... since he launched strikes also, it's hard to tell exactly what sank. The Judys tell me that Akagi definitely sank, but the Grace/Sam could've been from any of the 3 that I think sank. For what it's worth, multiple sinking sounds were heard... but Ise could've been one of those, too.
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