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Admiral Mitscher -> Hailstones, and Lotus Blossoms -Admiral Mitscher(A) vs Richard III(J) (1/12/2012 6:38:16 PM)
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Day 2, December 8th, 1941.
Central Pacific Area.
No repeat airstrike on Pearl Harbor by KB, and today’s air search reveals the enemy carrier force steaming away to the west. This is a surprise to me, as I was sure Rich would strike again at Pearl Harbor for effect. But more importantly it means that KB’s air groups are only down a few aircraft (10 I think), and I would have gladly traded a battleship, or two for 20 to 40 of KB’s aircraft and Pilots.
One of my SCTF’s that had left Pearl Harbor overnight ran into trouble after the CA Minneapolis took 2 torpedoes from an enemy submarine in the morning. With the CA heavily damaged this force was unable to clear the area, before being spotted by KB’s morning air search. In the air strikes that followed, the CA and 3 destroyers (Blue, Cassin, and Mugford) were sunk and 2 destroyers (Phelps, and Ralph Talbot) were heavily damaged.
All the damaged ships at Pearl Harbor are now under repair, and I am confident can be saved. That is apart from the BB California, which still has some fires burning (35), and therefore cannot have the flooding (94) pumped out yet . So there is a distinct possibility that the California could sink overnight, but still considering the number of torpedo and 600kg bomb hits on battleship row, I have got off lightly.
Meanwhile most of the damage to the airfield and port infrastructure at Pearl Harbor has repaired, and is now down to 23 port damage, 22 airfield service damage, and 0 airfield runway damage. Most of the aircraft have also been repaired, with only 7 fighters, 3 divebombers, 8 level bombers, and 6 patrol, reconnaissance, and patrol aircraft remaining in a damaged condition. There are now 143 modern fighters, 13 heavy bombers, and 26 PBY patrol aircraft available for action. Also 26 more PBY patrol aircraft have been deployed to the out-laying sentinel Islands, to beef –up their air search.
Southwest Pacific Area.
Today 10 USAAF B-17D Fortress heavy bombers launched a raid on the Jap port at Babeldaob from Mindanao, causing only a few (9) casualties to the enemy. The B-17s Forts were intercepted by 3 enemy Claude fighters, that were patrolling over the target. These enemy fighters managed to damage 3 of my Forts, and unfortunately 1 of these was destroyed when landing back at their airfield at Cagayan.
Meanwhile on Luzon, Rich launched air raids on Clark Field again from his airfields on Formosa. These raids began with a fighter sweep by 20 of his Zero land based naval fighters, which resulted in the loss of 9 of my P-40B and P-40E fighters for the loss of only 1 his Zero. Then there was a raid by 40+ Betty medium bombers, escorted by 25+ Zero fighters on the airfield destroyed an aircraft, while bringing the damage up to 30 service, and 50 runway. This last raid cost the enemy no aircraft, as none of my fighters were available to intercept it.
I had the fighter squadron of 20 P-35A’s based at Clark Field set on naval attack, at 4000 feet. They launched a raid on a Jap convoy off Cagayan Island, in the Formosa Strait, managing 1 100lb bomb hit on a Jap cargo Maru. But unfortunately there were 3 enemy Zero fighters patrolling over this convoy, and the Jap fighters managed to down 2 of my P-35A’s.
One of my evacuation convoys of cargo and service ships that left Manila overnight was attacked by Jap Kate carrier aircraft off Busuanga Island in the afternoon. These aircraft are from a Jap CVL which is operating to the east of Legaspi, and they sunk 3 cargo ships (Ethel Edwards, Tantalus, and Capillo) with their torpedoes.
There was also the reported signing of a Jap CV off the Northern Coast of Borneo near Brunei by a Dutch flying boat. Don’t know whether to believe this report or not, but have beefed-up the air search in the area tomorrow.
Rich has mined Bataan at the exit of Manila Harbor and 2 of my SS’s (Seadragon, and Seal) were damaged by mines as they were leaving Manila to deploy onto their war patrols. These 2 large fleet boats will have to return to Manila to stabilize their flooding, and enough temporary repairs that they travel to Pearl Harbor.
Also Rich took Aparri on the Northern Luzon Coast today, by a landing with naval parachute troops. My guess is that he will land by sea, or fly in an airfield unit in the next few days. So that he can base his fighters there, to protect amphibious troop landings on Northern Luzon.
Southeast Asia Area.
Heavy air raids by Jap land-base Army Air Force aircraft based in Indochina, continued today on my airfields in Northern Malaya, and my troop positions defending Kota Bharu. The raids against the RAF fields resulted in damage to the runways at Alor Star, Georgetown, and Kota Bharu. But there was no loss of Commonwealth aircraft, as all equipment from these RAF stations have been evacuated to Southern Malaya.
There were casualties to my ground units defending Kota Bharu, as the Jap aircraft struck in support of their troops assaulting the town. Then the expected Jap ground assaults were held (1 to 1) today by the defending British and Indian units, but at very heavy loss (120 to 789).
China Area.
Jap aircraft attacked Hong Kong in 3 raids, with one on the airfield, and 2 more on the Hong Kong Fortress. The raid on the airfield caused damage to the runway (9), while the raids on the Hong Kong Fortress inflicted over 50 casualties. Also several Jap ground units have been spotted moving on the Colony from the north.
There were also 2 air raids on the Chinese airfield at Changsha, which caused damage to the runway (26), and the loss of 1 Russian built medium bomber on the ground. Elsewhere in China, there does not seem to be any significant Jap troop movements at present.
[image]local://upfiles/40482/91C1CCF7A37745CEBBB61CEC6492E1CC.jpg[/image]
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