apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline
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11 Nov 42
First of all, I haven't plotted my turn yet. Too much to do and it's too late in the day. I did screw up big time. Not within the game, but with my email to OPilot. I told him that it was a long replay and that I couldn't do the turn tonight. I shouldn't have told him that the replay was long. For some reason, I started to think recently that he was seeing the turn before me. But I'm the Japanese player, and I see the combat first. We've been very good for years about not giving away ahead of time when something is happening. And now I screwed up. He'll know something big happened. I will apologize to him tomorrow, after he sees the combat, but there's nothing I can do. Can't take back a sent email. I feel awful about it though. At least I didn't discuss anything about what actually happened.
Now for the action. The enemy moved due east from Wake. I expected a move of 8 hexes. I was thinking of a fast AP moving at mission speed. They, and everything else, moved 10 hexes. No matter, KB was very close and a big battle ensued. The morning weather was light cloud.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Wake Island at 146,98
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 78
B5N1 Kate x 9
B5N2 Kate x 97
D3A1 Val x 106
D3A2 Val x 23
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 40
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
B5N1 Kate: 1 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 28 damaged
D3A1 Val: 6 destroyed by flak
D3A2 Val: 7 damaged
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 6, on fire
BB North Carolina, Bomb hits 12, on fire
BB South Dakota, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CLAA San Diego, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Astoria
DD Ralph Talbot
CLAA San Juan
DD Russell, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Henley
DD Patterson
DD Bagley
DD O'Brien
DD Mustin, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Houston, Bomb hits 3
DD Selfridge
DD Helm, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Mugford
The Wildcats never got to the bombers. 105 torpedoes were dropped. Only 2 hit, with way too many of them going after destroyers. US battleships attracted a lot of attention. 2 main guns on a battleship were destroyed by bombs, but I'm not sure on which battleship. Heavy smoke obscured both Lexington and Saratoga, causing many bombers to go elsewhere. I had a good ratio of fighters, and got good hits. I would have liked more carrier hits.
The US struck back.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Wake Island at 145,100
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 116
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 27
SBD-3 Dauntless x 103
TBF-1 Avenger x 30
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 24 destroyed, 13 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 8 destroyed, 11 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
CV Zuikaku
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 2, on fire [SYS 23/FLOT 20-12/ENG 8-2/FIRE 0]
CV Akagi
CA Atago, Bomb hits 1 [SYS 25/FLOT 3-1/ENG 6-1/FIRE 0]
BB Kirishima
CVL Ryujo
BB Haruna
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 2, on fire [SYS 29/FLOT 13-5/ENG 0/FIRE 0]
CV Hiryu
DD Hatsushima
CA Chokai
CA Myoko
A strong CAP shot down many bombers. 56 SBDs dropped bombs. 17 TBFs dropped torpedoes.
In the afternoon, the weather worsened to severe storms. Most Japanese planes struck again.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Wake Island at 146,98
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 58
B5N1 Kate x 9
B5N2 Kate x 88
D3A1 Val x 86
D3A2 Val x 17
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 21
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed
B5N1 Kate: 2 damaged
B5N1 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
B5N2 Kate: 14 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed, 29 damaged
D3A1 Val: 4 destroyed by flak
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
DD Helm
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB South Dakota, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Wasp
CLAA Atlanta
BB Washington, Bomb hits 5
DD Henley
DD Patterson, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Selfridge
DD Bagley
DD Jarvis
CA New Orleans
DD Ralph Talbot
The Wildcats didn't get to the inbound bombers, but they did down some on the way out. Wasp was a target many times, but lived a charmed afternoon. No hits at all. Audio of 2 ships sinking afterwards. Saratoga took 4 bombs and 2 torpedoes. It won't be moving far. South Dakota won't be either. Lexington could be burning but may not be slowed much.
And then, no afternoon strike from the US carriers. Wasp was not damaged at all, but there was no afternoon strike. Either Wasp isn't carrying bombers, or the ones they had were on ASW duty. I did notice ASW activity yesterday from a TBF. So, I can't completely ignore more naval strikes from the US carriers, but they will be reduced tomorrow. Probably drastically reduced. It's possible that Saratoga and Lexington are too damaged for flight operations. Or they just didn't get the roll for a second strike.
Total air losses (flak losses in parentheses):
60 SBD-3s (6)
20 TBF-1s (1)
20 F4F-4s
22 Zeros
20 D3A1 Vals (15)
8 D3A2 Vals (3)
7 B5N2 Kates (5)
1 B5N1 Kates (1)
In summary, US battleships attracted much more bomber attention than the Japanese battleships did. There were 7 Japanese battleships in the hex. Only 2 were spotted and they weren't hit at all. Few bombers went after them. South Dakota and North Carolina got a lot of attention, attention that could have been given to the carriers.
Now what.
Undamaged combat ships and Wasp could flee at full speed in any generally easterly direction and get away. KB cannot do another full speed run. The fast US APs will move 10 hexes. I can almost guarantee that. They have lots of fuel having come from Pearl (probably), and will sprint again. I'd like to cover as much of those possible hexes as possible. But it is more important to finish off Saratoga and Lexington.
Another consideration is the Japanese battleship TF with 3 battleships. I could turn them loose in a generally eastern direction and see what they can engage. That would be risking air strikes, which may or may not occur.
I will be working on my turn on Tuesday. It was a big day. The plan was good. The positioning was good. The mix of CAP and escort was good. I'd say that the bombing was not as good as expected. Weather played a part in the afternoon but not in the morning. Could have been more decisive. When you see 200 bombers get to the ships unscathed, I expect more. Now we'll see about finishing the job.
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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 
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