Admiral Mitscher -> December 7th, Day of Infamy. (1/7/2012 4:12:31 AM)
|
Day 1, December 7th, 1941. The war has begun with Rich launching a sneaky morning air-raid with his main carrier force, on my main Pacific base at Pearl Harbor. He has also attacked my forces in the Philippines and Malaya, with land-based aircraft raids from his bases in Thailand and on Formosa. While he has landed troops on Batan Island in the Formosa strait, and along the eastern coast of Malaya as far south as my airbase at Kota Bharu. There were also air-raids by Japanese land based aircraft against Changsha, Chengchow, Hong Kong, Nanchang and Changsha in China. Thought-out the day there has been extensive reconnaissance aircraft over-flights of my bases in China, Malaya and the Philippines. Enemy reconnaissance aircraft have also been detected in northern Borneo and southern Burma, so I must surmise that Rich has operations planned in these areas. Pearl Harbor. The Pearl Harbor raid was the most damaging raid overall, with a DD, DM, SS, and a PT boat being sunk. But there will be some more sinking’s in the days to come for sure, with 8 BB, 2 CA, and a CL receiving damage and flooding from multiple bomb and torpedo hits. The airfields around Pearl Harbor were also hit by enemy carrier borne dive bombers, and number of aircraft were destroyed and damaged, along with damage to the runways and airfield buildings. Rich lost only 4 dive bomber and 4 torpedo bombers in the raid and returning to the carriers. Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 113 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 42 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 52 B5N2 Kate x 90 D3A1 Val x 101 Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged D3A1 Val: 5 damaged D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses PBY-5 Catalina: 68 damaged PBY-5 Catalina: 3 destroyed on ground R3D-2: 4 damaged B-17E Fortress: 6 damaged B-18A Bolo: 20 damaged B-18A Bolo: 2 destroyed on ground P-40B Warhawk: 13 damaged P-40B Warhawk: 2 destroyed on ground B-17D Fortress: 17 damaged B-17D Fortress: 2 destroyed on ground SBD-1 Dauntless: 15 damaged SBD-1 Dauntless: 1 destroyed on ground C-33: 2 damaged A-20A Havoc: 16 damaged O-47A: 5 damaged O-47A: 2 destroyed on ground P-36A Mohawk: 6 damaged P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed on ground F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 damaged Allied Ships BB Maryland, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires BB Nevada, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire DM Sicard, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk PT-22, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire BB Arizona, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 2, on fire BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2 DM Breese, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires BB California, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage CL Honolulu, Torpedo hits 1 DD Helm, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk CA New Orleans, Torpedo hits 2, on fire CL Phoenix, Bomb hits 1 Allied ground losses: 13 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Repair Shipyard hits 2 Airbase hits 19 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 27 Port hits 14 Port fuel hits 6 Port supply hits 1 As you can see overall it is not too bad of a result for me, and my air power is still intact, especially my fighter forces. My hunch is that he will strike again tomorrow for effect, and even though I dread losing more ships. I know it will cost him in aircraft and aircrew big time, if he does strike again. So over night I took the precaution of sending 3 task forces of undamaged CA’s, CL’s and DDs away to the south to mitigate the damage to my fleet. Meanwhile my 2 air combat task forces that are operating from Pearl Harbor are in the process of clearing the area for the time being. The Lexington task force will be about halfway between Midway and Wake Islands in the morning. Lexington will fly on the Wildcats currently based on Wake, she will then head well to the north of Midway. While the Enterprise task force will be just to the south Johnston Island, and will continue on to Pago Pago. Philippines. There were air raids by Japanese LBA from Formosa on my airbases at Iba, Clark Field, and Manila, but here again I seem to have got off lightly, with the damage and aircraft losses again low. So in the Philippines my fighter forces are also basically intact, and when Rich attacks again tomorrow he will suffer. [image]local://upfiles/40482/D4FCBD4DAF194E12BB23ABC272970D0D.jpg[/image]
|
|
|
|