Anachro
Posts: 2506
Joined: 11/23/2015 From: The Coastal Elite Status: offline
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November 23-26, 1942 It seems that John had some foreknowledge of my troops coming to Midway; either a lucky guess from sigint radio activity or something else. A number of subs have been posted west of Midway and have been harrying my forces. A torpedo bomber hit the CL Danae, which is struggling, but might be able to make it to home ports if she doesn't run into any further subs or John's carriers. Adding to the damage, the CVE Nassau was torpedoed and sunk, even with a decent escort. Japanese sub menace strikes again! John seems hellbent on ranging across the length of the Pacific to get to my forces that were near Wake, though I suspect given the amount of roving they've been doing without any tankers nearby, they might be running somewhat low on fuel. We'll see if he makes it to my ships, but the mad dash has begun to escape to safer waters. Funnily enough, John's carriers that had raided deeply near Panama seems to have stuck around and are spotted southwest of Pearl Harbor. John's other carriers were last seen five or six hexes northeast of Baker Island. Interestingly, perhaps as retribution for the Nassau, the little S-Class submarine S-44 manages to torpedo a Shokaku-class CV while returning to Pearl for refit. Unfortunately, she took some damage in the process and it remains to be seen if she'll make it home for refit and...now also repair. The key here is that John's western-most carrier task force that seems to be moving northwest (with what fuel, I don't know) might not be slowed down due to one carrier being damaged. John might split off some carriers, but he might also need to split off a escort task force to escort the damaged CV to port. We'll see what happens. I'm worried about my forces north of Wake and can only hope John can't pursue due to fuel already expended.
< Message edited by Anachro -- 3/29/2019 12:33:28 AM >
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