Mike Solli
Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000 From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku Status: offline
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25 Oct 43 Sub War Rough day for Japanese subs south of Manus. Ted has at least 4 ASW TFs running around down there. I'm pulling out of that area. Too hot right now. The I-184 was attacked by two different ASW TFs south of Manus, hit by both and sunk. The RO-104 was also hit in the same area, but her damage wasn't too bad: 15-34(22)-0-0. She's trying to make her way out. 5 Fleet 4 Fleet Nothing to report. SE Fleet The US carriers are sitting at Manus. I think he's still afraid of my carriers ambushing them. Does he know about my 3 Unryus? He hasn't spotted them or attacked them, but maybe he got some intel. *shrug* He may just be waiting for the rest of his thundering herd of carriers to arrive. Why do they sit at Manus? Maybe because he's afraid of my subs. So many questions... Not much happened here today. Just the usual 2E bombing, this time of Rabaul and Talasea. SRA Well, my 2 BBs ran into that little TF at Darwin. It was composed of DDs Walke and Stuart, an xAK and an xAP and sank all 4 ships. The xAP was empty. Then they bombarded Darwin causing light airfield damage and the following plane damage: Catalina I: 1 dest, 3 damaged Beaufort VIII: 2 dest, 15 damaged SBD3: 2 dest, 8 damaged On their way out, they found a small TF of 3x LCTs and sank them. In retrospect, the TF should have gone to Merauke to try and kill some 4E bombers. That's much more important than sinking a ground unit. I have 4 CAs heading back to Ambon from refit at Soerabaja. They're being diverted to Merauke. Unfortunately, it'll take a couple days to make it there. I've noticed that the number of 4E bombers at Merauke has decreased to ~30. I suspect the undamaged planes have flown out leaving some juicy damaged bombers remaining. I tried to send some bombers there for a night raid or two, but the moonlight is currently at 0%. Figures. Burma A sweep of Cox's Bazaar netted 9 Allied fighters shot down (+4 op losses) to 2 Tojos shot down (+1 op loss). The number of fighters spotted at Akyab, Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong keeps decreasing. I figure as long as I can keep air superiority, I can hold off the inevitable offensive there a little longer. I know, I need to pull back and I will eventually. Right now I have 9 divisions in the line with a reserve of another division and the 2 Tank Divisions. All 10 divisions are at full strength. I'm unable to sweep Ledo because of a lack of supply in the NE of Burma. That damn monsoon isn't over yet. Rangoon has plenty of supply, but it just isn't making its way that far. China The number of destroyed squads is beginning to creep up from the air bombardment. It still isn't much, but it's definitely on the rise. Today, 5 squads were destroyed with another 33 damaged. There will be a deliberate assault in a few more days. Other Stuff The N1K5-J George R&D advanced to 5/45 (will become operational 5/44). Confirmation on 3 more ships sunk earlier, an AM and xAK, and the SS Guardfish, sunk by Helens off Truk on 5/28/43. I'm counting 53 Allied subs sunk so far in the war. Some of them haven't sunk in reality, but the number is creeping up.
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