Mike Solli
Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku
Status: offline
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4 Nov 43
Lots of action pretty much all over the map today. I still haven't sent the turn back. I need another once over to make sure I'm doing the right thing everywhere. There is a whole new dynamic here. In the past, Ted would usually focus on one location. Engagements all over the map complicate things. Very interesting. It didn't help that I initiated some actions too. 
Sub War
The I-15 sank an xAK on its way back to San Francisco.
The I-4 sank an xAK SE of Pago Pago.
The RO-100 was popped by a K-gun and is heading home: 19-8(5)-1-0.
5 Fleet
It's been far too quiet for too long here. I decided to send a sweep of Tojos to Unmak to see what's up with his fighters stationed there.
I have a single sentai stationed at Adak split into 3 chutai, 2 of Tojos and 1 of Oscars. I sent the Tojos to sweep and they fragmented into 3 or 4 different sweeps. The first was 9 aircraft, and they ran into 5 P-40Ks, shooting them all down for no loss. The other sweeps found no enemy fighters in the air. I'll sweep again tomorrow.
4 Fleet
A new offensive opened up here. I didn’t see these ships sneak up until the air attack occurred (damn naval search slackers).
I see 3 TFs 3 hexes east of Mili. One is definitely an invasion TF, one is probably ASW and the third shows all BBs, but it’s got to be a carrier TF. He hit Maleolap’s airfield with 63 Helldivers, 47 Dauntlesses and 32 Avengers, escorted by 33 Hellcats. 3 CVs and a CVL or 4 CVs? Not really sure, but I guess it doesn’t matter because my carriers are south of Babeldaob. Anyway, those bombers did light damage to the airfield. That was where I had some Emilies providing Naval Search.
I think he’s going to invade Mili, which is the only non-atoll in the Marshalls. I’ve sortied 2 subs out of Kwajalein to try and intercept as well as 4 midget subs. Three Fubukis sortied from Truk, but they’re 3 days out.
I moved the Emilies back to Roi-Namur in case the target is Maleolap. There are 34 A6M5cs stationed at Roi-Namur. They were training defense but I set them to CAP at 8 hex range to (hopefully) cover everything down to Mili.
I moved 36 Franks from Truk to Roi-Namur and set them at 8 hex CAP as well. I moved a small chutai (size 3) of George 2s to Wotje set to CAP.
Finally, I moved a 27 plane Nell unit to Roi-Namur set to night naval attack with torpedoes. They might actually be motivated to attack and get lucky.
I’m pulling 2 subs back from patrol around Hawaii to try and catch the enemy fleets from behind. Maybe put down a damaged ship or two (see I’m being overly optimistic).
I can’t prevent him from taking whatever base he wants. I have only 1-2k infantry at each, but they do have forts and CD guns:
Roi-Namur: AF 4(1), 6 forts, 24 CD
Kwajalein: AF 1(0), 6 forts, 20 CD
Wotje: AF 3(0), 5.15 forts, 20 CD
Maleolap: AF 4(1), 5.98 forts, 20 CD, Damage 4 runway, 17 service
Majoro: AF 0(0), 4.34 forts, 0 CD
Mili: AF 1(2), 4.04 forts, 23 CD
Jaluit: AF 0(0), 6 forts, 6 CD
My guess is Mili because it’s not an atoll and he can build the airfield up to level 5, pack it full of fighters and 2E bombers and try to suppress the Marshalls. Should be interesting.
Wish I hadn’t been so stupid with my carriers and had a second KB available to send here. Ah well, such is life.
SE Fleet
Things started off here with the Allied bombardment TF sitting at Aitape. The 4 DDs with the TF cleared a few mines. The CL Perth cleared another one, with her hull.
They bombarded Aitape again (4 BB, 2 CA, 3 CL, 1 CLAA – Arizona notably missing after hitting a mine yesterday) and did absolutely no damage. Probably a lack of ammo. 
They left after doing that unfortunately.  KB2 is now sitting 10 hexes to the NW, still unspotted under extreme overcast. Here’s the big dilemma. Do I keep my carriers there, move them closer or pull them out after doing nothing but wasting fuel.
I had noticed some Allied subs in port at Kavieng and decided to take a chance. 27 Nells (the ones at Roi-Namur now) were sent on a suicidal port attack against Kavieng during the day. Ted wasn’t expecting it because only 7x P-38Gs and 2 Corsairs were on CAP. The Nells snuck past the CAP (amazing!) and smacked around the ships in port, but unfortunately were pounced upon by the CAP after the attack, losing 8 aircraft:
Morning Air attack on Kavieng , at 106,122
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 21
Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 7
F4U-1 Corsair x 2
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
SS Dragonet, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AD Hamul, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
SS Cod, Bomb hits 1
SS Bowfin, Bomb hits 3
SS Growler, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS Archerfish, Bomb hits 1
AS Griffin, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AE Henry S Grove, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 3
Aircraft Attacking:
21 x G3M3 Nell bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
VMO-155 with F4U-1 Corsair (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes
8th FG/80th FS with P-38G Lightning (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 5 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 23000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes
Nothing reported sunk, but damaging 5 subs, 2 severely, in one shot makes for a nice day! 
Allied 4E bombers hit Hollandia, causing minor port and airfield damage. I’m sure Ted wants to take out that base so I can’t position planes there to interfere with his Aitape invasion.
Aitape’s troops were hit by 2E bombers once again, causing little damage.
I still have a line of subs between Aitape and Manus, but Ted has ~4 ASW TFs prosecuting the subs, and just out of range of KB2. I’ve decided to move KB2 a few hexes closed to go after the ASW TFs. If the bombardment fleet returns, all the better!
SRA
This is the only place where nothing happened!
Burma
I’ve decided to bomb out the airfields starting with Akyab, then Cox’s Bazaar, and finally Chittagong. I’m not sure if 4 bomber sentai can keep 3 airfields suppressed though. I’ll give it a shot. I want Ted to withdraw the RAF from here so I can start hitting his troops, to keep them from doing anything foolish. Should things go my way in China (unlikely to happen anytime soon), I'll transfer some bombers here to take part in the fun.
First, I swept Akyab with a sentai of Tojos, shooting down the only Hurricane that rose to meet them.
Then, I hit Akyab with 76 Helens, taking the airfield to 45% damage and destroying a Hurricane and Cat on the ground and damaging a handful more. There will be a repeat performance tomorrow.
Over Ledo, things didn’t go quite as well. Only 14 Franks swept them (lack of supply still), against 11x P-40N5s and 3 Mustangs. For a loss of 3 Franks, they took out 3 Warhawks and a Mustang.
My convoy at Rangoon offloaded most of its supply. There’s 31k at Rangoon with another 17k still on the ships. Hopefully, the supply will start moving NE.
China
The bombers didn’t kill many squads today, only 2.
The resting army still needs a day or 2 before they can move back into Chungking. The most disrupted of the divisions in Chungking are moving out. Yeah, about a week or less to the next attack.
Other Stuff
Reinforcements:
I-43, to the SRA
523 Ku K-1, 36 Vals, 13 Air Flotilla, training
523 Ku K-2, 27 Nells, 13 Air Flotilla, training
48 Sentai, 36 Franks, China Expeditionary Army, changed to different HQ, will deploy forward
Confirmation of the sinking of an xAK by sub off Finschhafen on 7/16/43.
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RE: Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A) - 
Now, I'm down to 1 sub in the area. More coming though. 
They're continuing to their target hex, 10 hexes from Aitape and 7 hexes from Hollandia. Hopefully, the meandering will put them in the right place at the right time to punch some holes in some Allied ships. Because they'll leave the next day regardless of what happens. I am really beginning to fear the Allied subs. 
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