Buckeye5
Posts: 77
Joined: 10/21/2003 From: Findlay, Ohio, USA Status: offline
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June 12-13, 1942 Wow, do I really need to work on operational coordination, because I screwed up BAD yesterday. Both a bombardment group and two carrier groups had maneuvered to the eastern tip of New Guinea without being spotted, and I was setting them up to nail Port Moresby--a night bombardment run, followed by a massed airstrike from both carrier groups the following day, supported by a fighter sweep from the Zero squadrons at Rabaul. The evening of the 12th starts well, with the I-27 blasting the cargo ship Rhesus out of the water with a pair of torpedoes as it approaches Noumea from Australia. Then daylight breaks, and things start to go south.... My fighter sweeps from Rabaul go off -- and were probably the one thing that saved my bacon, as they encountered a very strong Kittyhawk/Wirraway/P-400/P-39 CAP over Port Moresby and thinned them out very well, before losing several Zeroes to ground fire as they strafe the base (idiots! I want you to kill fighters, not strafe entrenched ground-pounders!). Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 54 Allied aircraft Wirraway x 7 P-400 Airacobra x 8 P-39D Airacobra x 23 P-40E Kittyhawk x 12 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 8 destroyed A6M2 Zero x 10 damaged Allied aircraft losses Wirraway x 2 destroyed P-400 Airacobra x 2 destroyed P-400 Airacobra x 1 damaged P-39D Airacobra x 6 destroyed P-39D Airacobra x 2 damaged P-40E Kittyhawk x 3 destroyed P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 damaged LTJG D.Banno of F1/Tainan Daitai is credited with kill number 7 CPT W. Bennett of 36th FS bails out WOUNDED and is RESCUED Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40 (Later in the day) Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 37 Allied aircraft Wirraway x 6 P-400 Airacobra x 6 P-39D Airacobra x 19 P-40E Kittyhawk x 15 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed A6M2 Zero x 3 damaged Allied aircraft losses Wirraway x 5 destroyed P-400 Airacobra x 1 damaged P-39D Airacobra x 1 destroyed P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 damaged LTJG O.Ibusuki of F2/1st Daitai is credited with kill number 3 Now I really start to notice problems. My bombardment group hasn't made it in--they're stuck one hex out of Port Moresby, an untouched airfield crawling with LBA and, as it turns out, what looks like most of the air wings from Lexington and Yorktown. To make matters worse, only ONE of my carrier groups follows the surface ships in--the other task force is merrily steaming in circles 150 miles east of Gili Gili. So instead of having the full might of the Kido Butai to fend off airstrikes from PM, I only have 2 CVs (Kaga, Junyo) and 2 CVLs (Shoho, Ryujo). Mercifully, I had their Zero squadrons set to 60% CAP, and boy! do they get a workout. Air attack on TF at 14,43 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 38 A6M3 Zero x 10 Allied aircraft F4F-3 Wildcat x 27 SBD Dauntless x 47 Beaufort x 4 P-400 Airacobra x 11 P-39D Airacobra x 9 P-40E Kittyhawk x 6 B-26B Marauder x 11 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed A6M2 Zero x 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat x 4 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged SBD Dauntless x 11 destroyed SBD Dauntless x 29 damaged Beaufort x 2 damaged P-400 Airacobra x 3 destroyed P-400 Airacobra x 1 damaged P-39D Airacobra x 2 destroyed P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed B-26B Marauder x 3 destroyed B-26B Marauder x 9 damaged LT Y. Shiga of DII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 3 Japanese Ships CV Kaga, Bomb hits 3, on fire CV Junyo CL Abukuma, Shell hits 4 CA Myoko, Shell hits 4 CVL Ryujo CVL Shoho CA Mogami CA Kinugasa Air attack on TF at 14,43 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 17 A6M3 Zero x 5 Allied aircraft Wirraway x 6 P-400 Airacobra x 5 P-39D Airacobra x 3 P-40E Kittyhawk x 4 A-24 Dauntless x 8 A-20B Havoc x 4 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Wirraway x 3 destroyed P-400 Airacobra x 3 destroyed P-39D Airacobra x 1 destroyed P-39D Airacobra x 1 damaged P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 destroyed P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 damaged A-24 Dauntless x 2 destroyed A-24 Dauntless x 6 damaged A-20B Havoc x 2 damaged WO D.Fujita of EIII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 2 Japanese Ships CL Nagara CL Abukuma CV Junyo CV Kaga, on fire Air attack on TF at 10,41 Allied aircraft F4F-3 Wildcat x 15 SBD Dauntless x 23 TBD Devastator x 24 Beaufort x 6 Wirraway x 6 P-400 Airacobra x 9 P-39D Airacobra x 6 P-40E Kittyhawk x 12 A-24 Dauntless x 3 B-26B Marauder x 18 A-20B Havoc x 7 Allied aircraft losses SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed SBD Dauntless x 3 damaged TBD Devastator x 2 destroyed TBD Devastator x 5 damaged Beaufort x 4 damaged B-26B Marauder x 1 destroyed B-26B Marauder x 6 damaged A-20B Havoc x 2 damaged Japanese Ships CA Tone, Shell hits 16, Bomb hits 1 BB Kirishima DD Asanagi DD Matsukaze, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 1, on fire BB Kongo DD Mochizuki CA Kako, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Yukaze DD Yayoi DD Uzuki Air attack on TF at 14,43 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 21 A6M3 Zero x 10 Allied aircraft F4F-3 Wildcat x 13 Wirraway x 5 P-400 Airacobra x 5 no losses Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 destroyed Wirraway x 3 destroyed Wirraway x 2 damaged PO1 I.Nagano of EIII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 3 Japanese Ships CA Ashigara Air attack on TF at 10,41 Allied aircraft F4F-3 Wildcat x 3 SBD Dauntless x 34 TBD Devastator x 17 Beaufort x 6 Wirraway x 11 P-400 Airacobra x 3 A-24 Dauntless x 8 B-26B Marauder x 18 A-20B Havoc x 9 Allied aircraft losses SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed Japanese Ships DD Asanagi CA Kako, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CA Tone, Shell hits 16, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire BB Kongo DD Oite DD Uzuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Ushio, Bomb hits 1 DD Yukaze BB Kirishima, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Yayoi, Bomb hits 1, on fire All things considered, I got off relatively lucky. Kaga is hurt, but probably not fatally. I don't see Allied carriers anywhere nearby, and Kaga can still make 17 knots, so she should be able to withdraw to Rabaul. Two of the cruisers from the bombardment squadron are torn up, the Kako quite badly--she may not make it home. Four destroyers have also taken moderate damage, and I may lose a couple before they get home; I'll lose them for sure if they're hit again. My other carriers miraculously escaped damage, and my wayward second carrier task force will be on site to provide additional fighter cover tomorrow. My battleships are barely scratched, so they're going to push on with the bombardment of Port Moresby--there should be plenty of damaged planes on the ground to hit. At least my fighters and flak did make the Allies pay for their success against my ships. Seventy-three allied aircraft were confirmed destroyed today, with many others damaged. Most of the planes lost were from the land-based fighter squadrons--the Wirraways, in particular, took it on the chin from the Zeroes, which they're completely incapable of dealing with. With a little luck, the bombardment will score some more kills, and my carrier strikes will be able to put paid to the airfield later in the day. There are still a lot of Allied aircraft parked there, but I'll have even more Zeroes available tomorrow than I had today, so if more strikes come in tomorrow (with a greatly-reduced fighter escort, thanks to today's action), my flyboys should take another big chunk out of them. Here goes nothing....
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