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ny59giants -> RE: Up North (7/17/2009 1:02:18 AM)
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A behind the scenes look at our three way discussion on using KB I started and their responses.
Michael's
quote:
Gentlemen,
6 CV and 3 CVL will be leaving Attu this turn. The other 2 CV and 1 CVL will join up after refueling. I will have the AOs follow along this last TF. I have chosen a point 4 hexes due south of Armchitka for rendezvous. This is 6 hexes SE of Attu. I plan to move south of the American sub picket line. Hopefully I do not run over any and firm up Allied Intel on where KB is.
Next is how to use KB. I have two immediate thoughts. First, is to have her be within 10 hexes of a full speed run to hit warships between Kodiak and Cold Bay. Second, is to move her SE of Kodiak and move in to hit Kodiak and hopefully the CVs if they move significant forces towards Cold Bay again. To date, they haven't launched any ground combat in any manner. Why not??
It would seem to me that they have decisions to make. If they don't use their CVs, then they will need to use P-38s and P-40Cs to provide LRCAP for any SC TF that they run into Cold Bay. Last turn naval search failed to spot the CA and 7 DDs.
The first Glen equipped sub was dispatched to this area after repairs. I have moved subs around to some degree now that the warships have moved out to use up more of the repair shipyards. It will take some time before they get back in significant numbers.
John spoke of picking up the Gds Mixed Bde at Adak and shipping it in to Cold Bay. If so, then KB will need to be used. Before hand, supplies need to be increased and the port needs to be increased to size 2 to help the unloading process.
Lets use this e-mail to throw some ideas back and forth on what we do now.
Admiral Benoit
BRAD's
quote:
Allied Intentions
First question is what the Allies are going to do? They haven’t attacked at Cold Bay yet; that is either because the troops are still too disrupted and they want to recover that, or it’s because they don’t think they have enough troops there to take it. The former is possible, since we hit a lot of transports on the way in, the surely lost a lot of equipment coming ashore.
Do we agree that they are coming back to Cold Bay? I think they will, not just to land more troops, but also to bombard our guys there to soften them up. They have nearly all their operational BBs up there it seems. This is backed up by the fact that the fleet is remaining at Kodiak. I haven’t seen recon reports, are there Wildcats on CAP over Kodiak still?
Given this, they could get stuff to Cold Bay one of two ways:
Cover via P-38 from Kodiak as you mentioned. At that distance, there wouldn’t be a lot of CAP; they know that, and would figure to lose transports on the way in.
Same setup as before; covered by distant CV force. I think THIS is what they do, as long as we see Wildcats over Kodiak. They can augment with P-38s. It worked last time, right? J
Given this, it’s just a question of where and how we position KB.
Now what?
Do we keep KB out of range? I advocate that we keep it hidden if possible, even at the expense of a few AKs into Cold Bay, and at the expense of getting Gds Bde to Cold Bay. After all, our objective here is NOT to hold Cold Bay; it’s just a frozen rock. Holding it is only important because of the position that we have the Allies in right now.
Where to keep it? The ideal position is about 8 hexes SSE of Cold Bay or thereabouts; ideally, we spot them sailing to Kodiak, and in the day or two it takes for them to get to Cold Bay, we sail to intercept CVs at a point 2 hexes E of Cold Bay. Because they are moving away from their search, other than Sub they would have no way to spot it. The only issue with a “blue water” position is that we could be sitting there awhile waiting for them to do something. We would need AOs available to run fuel out to the fleet. If they move it will be pretty soon, but it could also be 2-3 weeks, we would need to prep for that.
The other possibility is anchored somewhere on the Aleutians chain, (docked, but not disbanded). This position would make it more difficult to pursue the USN after round one of combat, as we would have to come around Cold Bay. It will be easier to lay in wait however. I would probably advocate for this, but either way; if #1, we just need to have a search plan, and AOs very handy.
As a final note, I would have a surface TF or two handy to hit Cold Bay after KB appears. I see KB attacking turn 1 in daylight; once that happens, they may send the transports in anyway, figuring the CV’s will be tied up attacking warships. The surface TF’s will engage at night, force them to withdraw one hex from Cold Bay, where they can get nailed during turn 2 daylight by LBA, as they will have no CAP. The surface TFs can just anchor in the Aleutians somewhere.
Hiding KB
As long as we see Wildcats at Cold Bay, I would even run KB “DARK”, meaning turn off all Nav Search. A risk, but I don’t see them taking their CVs into the wide North Pacific. OR, a way around this is to load GLENS onto a couple cruisers and ONLY use those; that way if there is a sub sighting, they will think it’s just a Glen Sub. Either way, I would recommend right now that at least turn off all VAL search, and only use Jakes (that way they may suspect surface ships, but not CVs).
John's
quote:
Brad and Michael:
Damned good thinking from both of you regarding creating a Plan of Action up North. Enjoyed both sets of comments so I will throw in my .02 regarding the topic:
1. The Americans MUST come back to Cold Bay. Realistically they will have to use the CVs for serious support. We'll have to knockdown those damned Wildcats again so be it.
2. I thoroughly concur with positioning KB in a position to strike at the next American move. Thinking:
a. Run it dark with NO NAVAL SEARCH of any kind. No Cruiser/BC Float Planes and no Vals. That is good thinking Brad.
b. I would place it somewhere due south of Dutch Harbor sitting at Cruise Speed with the AOs. This placement keeps us away from Naval Search and sets us up to either: 1. Hit the American Forces when they approach or 2. Be ready to move SE for a mid-ocean intercept of the Fleet moving away.
c. Michael and I have already spoken about having a STF of BCs ready to hit anything entering the hex (as long as it is NOT 7 BB!!!).
3. LURE the Americans into action by using those AKs and more to unload and try to draw them out. Could look at the prospect of using the Guards Brigade up there to entice them into battle...
4. Make it appear that we are strictly relying upon our LBA up there. Michael--Can we move any Emily into Cold Bay? Are they currently at Dutch Harbor? I think we should blanket the area with at least 3 Chutai of Emily flying their max range from as far EAST as possible. We need to be able to spot incoming convoys and the withdrawl of the American Fleet (if that happens).
5. With Cold Bay getting supplies now, I think we need to raise its AF to 2 and also get the Forts up another to at least 5 (SIX would be far better!). To do this we should probably move a small Base Force from one of the other bases (perhaps once that big Aviation Regiment arives?) to Cold Bay so it can support planes. We get the airfield up to 2 then we can move in 2 Sentai of Army Fighters (or at least have the ability to...) and some of those Emily's mentioned earlier.
6. As to that Wildcat number we saw at Kodiak, we must be careful to not ASSUME all the CVs are there. They might rotate them (stupid) for the coming upgrade. HAS A CV ACTUALLY BEEN REPORTED AT KODIAK? Recon and Air Search...
Those are my initial thoughts...
John
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