RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/14/2022 8:14:08 AM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

10 Jan 43 - The Battle of Noumea

After many attempts to intercept the US cruiser task force when it went to Noumea to bombard, we are finally successful. However, there was a surprise. It wasn't the cruiser task force. Instead, it was a smaller task force, but led by 3 US battleships: North Carolina, Washington and Indiana. Yamato and Nagato, 7 cruisers and 5 destroyers charged into the fight. Visibility was just 3,000 yards. Allied radar detected the Japanese at 11,000 yards. Then the message:

Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 2,000 yards.

This was an understatement. Japanese ships were pummeled. Cleveland hit Myoko causing a magazine explosion, sinking the cruiser. The US battleships started hitting with the big guns, and it was ugly. I noted that Yamato took hits to 3 guns, although I didn't note which guns hit. I am going to rewatch the replay tomorrow and see if any were the main turrets. I do know that 2 of the 3 hits were from destroyers. Getting surprise at such a close range was a bit of luck for the US. If Yamato lost a big gun or two right at the beginning of the fight, that would be some luck also.

Once the first turn of surprise was over, the Japanese got to work and made a good recovery, although the ships sinking were mostly Japanese. Tenryu was quickly sunk by Indiana. Hasu had a massive explosion. Indiana was hit by 3 torpedoes and sunk quickly, while the fight was still at 2,000 yards. After that, the range slowly increased, and Yamato and Nagato got many misses and just a few hits, while Washington and North Carolina continued to get big gun hits. There were no torpedo hits after the 3 on Indiana. After the early Japanese battleship success, Yamato and Nagato got wrecked, while Washington and North Carolina took just a few hits. It was a lopsided fight and the Japanese battleships just looked outclassed. The range hovered between 8,000 and 9,000 yards for some time, and finally the task forces broke off at 9,000 yards.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,160, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed
F1M2 Pete: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
BB Yamato, Shell hits 39, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]
CA Chokai
CA Myoko, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Nachi, Shell hits 3
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 13, on fire
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
CL Oi, Shell hits 1
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
DD Hasu, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tsuga
DD Hishu, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]
DD Susuki, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Yomogi

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina, Shell hits 3
BB Washington, Shell hits 15, on fire [MANY NON-PENETRATING CRUISER HITS]
BB Indiana, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CL Cleveland, Shell hits 2
DD Meredith
DD Gwin
DD Grayson
DD Monssen, Shell hits 5, on fire

Reduced sighting due to 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 17% moonlight: 3,000 yards

I had 9 Vals and 9 Kates at Koumac. They attacked the enemy. The Vals got one 60kg bomb hit on North Carolina. I doubt that the battleship crew knew that it happened. 6 Vals were shot down by 3 Wildcats which were apparently on a very long LRCAP from Norfolk Island. 9 Kates dropped 5 torpedoes at North Carolina but all missed, and 3 Kates were shot down.

It was brutal. Today was the beginning of the Japanese losing the war. As an Allied player, I'm ok with trading ships. The Allies get replacements. The Japanese do not. This fight was a decisive win for the US, and I feel that I did not play my best, for 2 reasons. I had set a trap at Noumea last week, and my task force did not move to Noumea as I had expected, and no battle took place. My mistake was that I showed my hand. OPilot knew exactly what ships I had in the area. It had been just cruisers earlier, but he saw the 2 battleships. I don't know if he was using battleships in that earlier attempt, but he brought 3 battleships today. My second mistake was being too concerned with the minor to moderate base damage at La Foa and Koumac. I should have loaded up the bases yesterday. I could have had 40 some Bettys with torpedoes and escorts attacking. I'm set up to do so for the next turn, but the enemy may be out of range or at Norfolk Island, where there will be a very strong CAP. Should have done it yesterday.

So now a change of plans. KB has formed up in Japan and is heading south. I will be using the newly trained fighter pilots, with good air to air and defense training, but poor experience. I hope to train them on the job with heavy CAP use. Zuikaku loaded the first Judys and the best of the best naval bomber pilots. All Kates got the best torpedo pilots. The rest of the Val squadrons were split between good pilots and newly trained ones that need experience. I'm revamping my dive bombing training. I've done a great job training new pilots for naval bombing and ASW and ground, but their experience is still too low to be reliable in battle. So I'm sending a Val unit to Java and another to Mindanao, and they will fly daily bombing runs against the isolated Dutch at Bandoeng and the US/Philippine units isolated in the mountains on Mindanao. I have many trained Val pilots that need experience, and will do more of that and less of training pilots from scratch for awhile.

Congrats to OPilot on this battle. I think he outsmarted me this time.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by apbarog -- 2/14/2022 8:15:58 AM >

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Post #: 631

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/14/2022 10:34:21 AM

DesertWolf101

Posts: 1445
Joined: 11/26/2016
Status: offline

Don't be too hard on yourself apbarog, I think you had some bad luck in this battle.

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Post #: 632

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/14/2022 1:45:57 PM

Q-Ball

Posts: 7336
Joined: 6/25/2002
From: Chicago, Illinois
Status: offline

That does look like bad luck, and maybe Allied radar playing a decisive role....who was your commander?

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Post #: 633

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/14/2022 2:08:24 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

That does look like bad luck, and maybe Allied radar playing a decisive role....who was your commander?

Don't remember the commander's name. I do know that it was Yamato's captain, and he was at the top of the list for Naval and Aggressiveness. He was a very highly rated leader.

The US getting surprise at such a close range put the Japanese in a big disadvantage from the start. And the 2 remaining US battleships had great accuracy. So many big gun hits while the Japanese missed. I had great luck with the 3 torpedo hits on Indiana, but not a single hit after that. Kitakami (not upgraded) didn't even fire torpedoes.

There was luck involved, as always, but I could have done better. Did not adapt the plan when spotted.

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Post #: 634

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/15/2022 4:44:59 AM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

11 Jan 43

Sub Gurnard fired 4 torpedoes at undamaged heavy cruiser Chokai just southwest of Luganville. All missed. The ships made it to Luganville safely, although there is an enemy sub at Luganville, one that didn't hit any of the many mines there. Burning destroyer Hasu almost didn't make it. It had many flooding messages. It is now at Luganville but is SYS 79 (+11)/FLOT 63 (+43)/ENG 42 (+7)/FIRE 29 (-11). It is now at port but still may sink. The other damaged ships will head to Japan for repairs. The rest have formed up and will head to the northeast, and possibly bombard enemy islands south of Tabiteuea.

The enemy battleships were not spotted today. OPilot likes to run away at full speed when he can. Oscars swept Norfolk island and got massacred. There was a very strong CAP there, as predicted. 18 P38Gs, 25 P-400s, 25 P-40Es and 9 F4F-4s shot down 20 Oscars, while losing just 1 P-400. I knew it was a suicide mission, but I had to try to clear the way for the Bettys if they attacked ships in the area. It was probably better that the Bettys didn't have a target to fly to.

The Dutch light cruiser task force bombarded Exmouth, causing 339 casualties, and getting a depth charge hit on I-166.

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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/16/2022 6:12:15 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

12 Jan 43

Beaufighters attacked Japanese troops at Daly Waters, disabling 2 squads. I'll have some Zeros from Darwin LRCAP the armor unit in the clear terrain just northwest of Daly Waters. It has been attacked before.

With Noumea and La Foa emptied of Japanese planes, the P-38s and B-17s returned, doing moderate damage to Noumea's airfield.

B-25s and P-38s hit Gove.

Way way up in northern China, northwest of Urumchi, the Japanese 9th Ind. Mixed Brigade further wrecked the Chinese 259th Brigade, but the unit was not destroyed. 463 casualties, almost all destroyed. It retreated west onto a trail, which was anticipated. I have a small armor unit just to the south on the trail, and it will move to finish off the Chinese.

Another Australian attack at Exmouth. The recent Dutch TF bombardment helped the attack. Today a Japanese light cruiser force will bombard.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 872 troops, 0 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 44

Defending force 1767 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 50

Allied adjusted assault: 16

Japanese adjusted defense: 35

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Battalion

Defending units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

Burning destroyer Hasu made it to the size 3 port of Luganville, but the fires didn't go down much. It may still burn up. It is now SYS 81(+2)/FLOT 63/ENG 47(+5)/FIRE 27(-2). Luganville has minimal naval support. I'm starting to fly in a port unit from Noumea to bring in more naval support, but it won't transfer quickly on 6 Mavis aircraft, and it won't make much of a difference anyhow. Still, I try to save the damaged ships.

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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/17/2022 9:29:00 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

13 Jan 43

US ships went to Adak Island to bombard. This time they hit mines.

TF 146 encounters mine field at Adak Island (162,52)

Allied Ships
DD McCalla, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
DD Aaron Ward, Mine hits 1

Light cruisers Phoenix, Boise and Honolulu with 6 destroyers bombarded Adak, causing 282 casualties and minor base damage. There's an enemy DMS at Adak now, with the intent of sweeping mines. I have 3 APDs at Attu and they'll move closer to try to get the DMS. No other Japanese combat ships in the area. I'm sending 3 CLs and 3 DDs from Tokyo.

2 Sallys treid to hit DMS Chandler at Adak, bombing at 1000 feet. I'd been training the group for this mission, but only recently started, so they are still terrible at it. But OPilot doesn't know that. Yet.

Merauke was bombed by B17s. No Japanese unit there. Lae was bombed by B24s. No CAP. I've kept my CAP at Buna and OPilot knows that, so he avoids Buna. B-17s and P38s hit Noumea. B-25s hit Gove.

Japanese light cruisers and destroyers bombarded the Australian 2nd Tank Battalion at Exmouth. Better results this time.

Allied ground losses:
197 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 27 (7 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Bad timing for the tank unit. They were ordered to attack.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 602 troops, 0 guns, 67 vehicles, Assault Value = 38

Defending force 1761 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 39

Allied adjusted assault: 0

Japanese adjusted defense: 25

Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker: disruption(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Battalion

Defending units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

I order the 48th Naval Guard to counter-attack today. At least they have supply. There were 27 enemy vehicles lost in the naval bombardment, so maybe they can kick the Australians back.

I had to scuttle destroyer Hasu at Luganville. Despite being at a size 3 port, its damage continued to increase. It was SYS 88(+7)/FLOT 63/ENG 58(+11)/FIRE 36(+9). It got out of control and I had no choice.

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Post #: 637

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/18/2022 8:38:31 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

14 Jan 43

Had something happen that I don't believe I'd ever seen before.

Night Naval bombardment of Nanumea at 136,141

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Chokai
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
DD Yomogi
DD Tsuga
DD Shiratsuyu

Allied ground losses:
170 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Nanumea at 136,141

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Chokai
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
DD Yomogi
DD Tsuga
DD Shiratsuyu

Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Port hits 11
Port supply hits 3

A task force bombarded twice in one night? I did have them set to bombard, and I accidentally had them to Remain on Station. It does appear that the second bombardment had much weaker results, due to not having ammo, but still, two bombardments in a night?

Scorpion hit xAK Tone Maru near Kusaie Island. The ship was returning to Truk and will probably burn up before making it to a port.

I-25 fired 6 torpedoes at light cruiser Nashville near Coal Harbour. All missed. Nashville was spotted with destroyers Litchfield and Whipple. Don't know if it is going to the Aleutians or coming from them.

Hurricanes swept over and light bombers bombed 1/3 of a Thai division in the jungle northwest of Magwe. Indian division then attacked.

Ground combat at 56,45 (near Akyab)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10615 troops, 128 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 388

Defending force 2069 troops, 40 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 75

Allied adjusted assault: 353

Japanese adjusted defense: 103

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)

Japanese ground losses:
428 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
208 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Allied units will be spilling into the interior plains of Burma soon. Split up Thai divisions aren't going to stop them. I'll defend the bases as best I can, and go after the enemy troops when they get into clear terrain. Japanese fighters are preparing for this battle, a battle that will be against many Hurricane squadrons and US P-40Ks. And of course, many Allied heavy bombers.

Spitfires strafed the 48th Naval Guard Unit at Exmouth just before the Japanese attack.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1494 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 37

Defending force 564 troops, 0 guns, 61 vehicles, Assault Value = 34

Japanese adjusted assault: 6

Allied adjusted defense: 6

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
26 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

Defending units:
2nd Tank Battalion

The enemy tanks are retreating out of Exmouth. Mini-KB is taking a wide turn west of Australia to get into a position to ambush the Dutch task force that has been bombarding Exmouth from time to time. Long range Hudsons are patrolling from Carnarvon. I want to avoid being spotted on the approach.

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Post #: 638

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/18/2022 8:47:03 PM

BBfanboy

Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010
From: Winnipeg, MB
Status: offline

During my months-long constant bombardment of Truk I saw the same TF bombard twice in the same phase only once. I presume it has to do with ammo and ops points being available, and the TF leader being very aggressive or something like that.

Was your TF already in the hex when you ordered the bombardment? That would have saved movement ops points.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/18/2022 8:57:01 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

During my months-long constant bombardment of Truk I saw the same TF bombard twice in the same phase only once. I presume it has to do with ammo and ops points being available, and the TF leader being very aggressive or something like that.

Was your TF already in the hex when you ordered the bombardment? That would have saved movement ops points.

No, the task force had 5 or 6 hexes to run in for the bombardment.

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Post #: 640

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/19/2022 8:29:23 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
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15 Jan 43

The Hurricane horde swept over 2 Japanese artillery units near Magwe. Blens and B-25Cs at 4000 feet destroyed over half of both fresh units, and disabled the rest. Today I've moved several fighter units to Mandalay and have them on range 2 CAP, which will cover these units, as well as others. The overall plan in Burma is now a fighting withdrawal to the south of the plains. Can't defend in the clear. I do plan on pounding Allied units when they enter the clear terrain. This will be part of a big fight with the Hurricanes and P-40s. Oscars at Rangoon are in the process of upgrading to the IIb model, which has armor.

In the far north of China, Japanese armor tried to eliminate a small remnant of the 259th Chinese Brigade. Despite shock attacking and getting 74 to 1 odds, and the Chinese being in movement mode, the Chinese unit was not eliminated. It did take 147 casualties, all destroyed squads, but the unit still exists. And it retreated into a mountain hex without a road. More time needed to track it down. And with armor, it will probably move to another hex before the tanks get there. I'm sending another small unit from the Urumchi area to go around further to the west and be ready for the Chinese if it pops out of the mountains on that side. It's just a tiny fragment, but I plan on leaving all of the captured bases in northern China except for Urumchi, which has a garrison requirement. That tiny Chinese fragment could recapture any of those unoccupied bases.

Near Akyab, the 7th Indian Division kicked the Japanese 1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment out of the jungle and into the clear near Magwe.

xAK Tone Maru, hit by a torpedo yesterday southeast of Truk, had to be scuttled today, as expected. The damage, including FIRE, got out of control. It was too far from any bases to have a chance.

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RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/20/2022 9:16:34 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

16 Jan 43

Dutch sub KXV hit big transport xAP Teikyo Maru north of Brunei. The ship is part of a big task force moving to China from Singapore to pick up unrestricted units. 2 torpedoes hit the ship. The ship then separated into its own task force, and was attacked again by KXV, with 2 more torpedo hits, sinking it.

Gove. P-38s and bombers.
Exmouth. Spits strafing troops.

I was ready in Burma for some LRCAP and the Allies didn't fly. Allied troops now showing movement out of the jungle into the clear near Magwe.

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Post #: 642

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/21/2022 9:06:18 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

17 Jan 43

Japanese subs have had a hard time finding US task forces in the Aleutians. I found the light cruiser task force that has bombarded Adak. It was moving along the Alaskan coast in the shallows, west of Kodiak. It appears that OPilot is using the coastal route there. I don't know if the ships are west or eastbound, but they found I-176 in the shallow water. DD Farenholt got 2 depth charge hits and then DD Lardner got 2 more, sinking the sub.

Spotted Allied task forces northwest of Mornington Island, which is northwest of Normanton, Australia. I'm guessing that they are headed one more hex to the northwest, to an Allied dot base. OPilot has been using a creeping strategy, building up airbases forward and controlling the air with P-38s and heavy bombers. He did so at Mornington. The task forces appear to have transports, and could go to Gove, but I think the target is the Allied dot base. I have a big task force hiding 4 hexes northwest of Merauke, never spotted there. One light cruiser and many destroyers. I noticed that the task force is led by a terrible commander, the captain of the CL, so I split that ship off and will sprint patrol the destroyers to the dot base. Great leader now leading the task force.

Part of OPilot's efforts in that area has been to hit the Japanese airfields. Gove is out of action and was bombed again today, hit by 50 B-24s. B-17s hit Daly Waters and Katherine. Both have moderate damage.

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Post #: 643

RE: Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A) - 2/22/2022 7:56:13 PM

apbarog

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18 Jan 43

Japanese destroyers rushed to Groote Eylandt, south of Gove, and found 2 task forces.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Groote Eylandt at 82,130, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 1
DD Oyashio
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio
DD Shiranui
DD Amatsukaze, Shell hits 1
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CL Adelaide, Shell hits 2
DD Stuart, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Vampire, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Vendetta, Shell hits 1

The fight went down to 2,000 yards and then slowly increased to 10,000 yards, where it hovered for some time. It was a long surface battle with poor gunnery on both sides. Torpedo hits on destroyers aren't seen every day, and I'll take it.

I expected to find ships landing enemy troops at Groote Eylandt. Found 2 tiny ships instead, and they were taken care of quickly. The YO was loaded with fuel.

AM Horsham, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
YO-14, Shell hits 4, and is sunk

Groote Eylandt is an unbuilt Allied dot base. The only reason I can come up with for moving a YO there is to refuel raiding ships as far forward as possible.

Porpoise spotted the Japanese destroyers as they rushed towards Darwin. Porpoise was hit with a depth charge. The destroyers had just enough fuel to do the mission, but they must have expended more due to battle. Now they are out of fuel 3 hexes from Darwin. The light cruiser that separated from the task force will rejoin and hopefully pass around enough fuel. Zeros will fly LRCAP over the task force, just in case.

Gove was hit by Beaufighters and B-25s. The base continues to be wrecked.

Near Port Hedland, a Japanese cruiser force was attacked by 5 B-25Cs bombing at 1000 feet. 5 Zeros were on LRCAP, and 4 of the bombers were shot down, 1 by flak. 3 managed to bomb but all bombs missed. Mini-KB was spotted in its ambush position west of Carnarvon, and the Dutch cruiser task force was not to be seen. The carriers will now go to Koepang and leave OPilot thinking that they may be lurking west of Australia.

The A6M5 Zero was accelerated to 1/43, which is now. We gained 12 days. All carrier Zeros have been or will be upgraded to A6M3a's and A6M5s.

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Post #: 644

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