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Dive Bomber1 -> 54 Bomb Hits on a CV (8/11/2007 11:02:34 PM)
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In mid-January 1942 in one of my pbems my opponent moved much of the US Pacific fleet to Noumea. I had been scouting Noumea with long range patrol planes and sub-based Glens so I had a pretty good idea that he had a number of ships at the base. I therefore sent the "KB+" (6 CVs + 2 CVLs) down for a raid.
As luck would have it, on the first day that my ships were within striking range of Noumea ( a hex or so NE of the northern tip of New Caledonia) the KB was spotted by Allied patrol planes and a sizable strike of US fighters and 2E bombers flew out for an attack. Fortunately, the CAP over the KB took care of the Allied attack. Subsequently, however, only one Japanese air unit flew over Noumea and they couldn't find a target. Thus my surprise was compromised for no result other than the eradication of a large number of US Army fighters and 2E bombers.
I decided to continue the mission anyway and sent the KB down along the west coast of New Caledonia to a point a couple of hexes to the west of Noumea. I was hoping to catch some of the Allied TFs before they could escape from the region. However, the next turn to my surprise not only were the Allied TFs and ships still around, but a number of combat TFs appeared around my old position just past the northern tip of New Caledonia.
There were Allied CVs in those northern TFs and they got off their air strikes first, but the CAP over the KB was able to take care of all of the attacks:
US Air Attack Number 1:
Day Air attack on TF at 65,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 83
Allied aircraft
F2A Buffalo x 6
F4F-3 Wildcat x 11
SBD Dauntless x 67
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F2A Buffalo: 6 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 10 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 59 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CV Soryu
CV Zuikaku
US Air Attack Number 2:
Day Air attack on TF at 65,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 53
Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 17
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 16 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CL Abukuma
The morning air phase ended and I was wondering if the KB would again miss out on any attacks despite the large number of targets which were scouted all around New Caledonia. Then in the afternoon air phase the planes of the KB finally took to the air:
Japanese Air Attack Number 1:
Day Air attack on TF at 67,110
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 58
D3A Val x 72
B5N Kate x 103
Allied aircraft
F2A Buffalo x 5
F4F-3 Wildcat x 10
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
D3A Val: 4 destroyed, 23 damaged
B5N Kate: 7 destroyed, 30 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F2A Buffalo: 5 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 9 destroyed
Allied Ships
CA Portland, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CA Minneapolis
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Craven
DD Conyngham
Japanese Air Attack Number 2:
Day Air attack on TF at 67,110
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
D3A Val x 21
B5N Kate x 21
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 2 damaged
B5N Kate: 3 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
DD Patterson
CA Chicago, Bomb hits 1
CA Portland, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese Air Attack Number 3:
Day Air attack on TF at 67,110
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
D3A Val x 21
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
DD Reid, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA New Orleans, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese Air Attack Number 4:
Day Air attack on TF at 67,110
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
D3A Val x 24
B5N Kate x 45
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 destroyed
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Allied Ships
CA Minneapolis
CA New Orleans, on fire, heavy damage
DD Humphreys, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Then at the end of the day there was one more attack on a US TF that I hadn't realized was around:
Japanese Air Attack Number 5:
Day Air attack on TF at 68,108
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 76
D3A Val x 101
B5N Kate x 108
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
D3A Val: 2 destroyed, 11 damaged
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 11 destroyed
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 54, on fire, heavy damage
CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 2
CA Northampton, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Salt Lake City, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chester, Bomb hits 3, on fire
DD Dale, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CA Astoria
As one would hope after such a pounding, the three US CVs all sank at the end of the turn.
While I was going over the results a couple of things stood out to me. First off, of course, were the 54 bomb hits on the Enterprise. That sort of "total overkill" shows up some times in surface combat results when one small ship will sometimes get hit 20 or 30 times before sinking. But 54 bomb hits on a CV just boggles the mind. [X(] [X(] [X(]
The other thing that stood out was how the CVs received so many more hits than the cruisers that were attacked even when there were no CVs around. Look at Japanese Air Attack Number 4 as an example: 67 out of the 69 attacking bombers launched their weapons and there was only one hit. Yet in Japanese Air Attack Number 5 slightly more than three times as many bombers got 59 hits, albeit mostly on the CV. For some reason CVs seem to be much easier targets to hit than surface combat ships.
In any event, this raid certainly convinced me of the value of keeping the KB together.
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