apbarog -> RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J) (5/27/2019 6:15:55 AM)
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17 Jan 43 The war has resumed! And there was no shortage of action. First, the two surviving enemy motor torpedo boats went back into Port Blair, and ran into DMS Hovey. Hovey took a single gun hit, doing next to no damage. The MTBs escaped. Grayling fired 4 torpedoes at destroyer Isonami near Port Blair. Uh oh. Didn't see these guys coming. Torpedoes missed. Then the first naval battle of Port Blair took place. Night Time Surface Combat, near Port Blair at 46,58, Range 6,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Mogami, Shell hits 2 CA Mikuma CA Suzuya CA Kumano CL Sendai, Shell hits 1 DD Shinonome DD Usugumo, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Shirakumo DD Isonami DD Murakumo DD Uranami DD Shikinami, Shell hits 1 DD Ayanami Allied Ships DD Arrow, Shell hits 1 DD Decoy, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Electra, Shell hits 1 DD Encounter, Shell hits 2 DD Express, Shell hits 1 DD Fortune DD Hotspur Usugumo was hit the hardest. Decoy is SYS 3/FLOT 9-5/ENG 2/FIRE 0, and was slowed a bit, so it was ordered back to Colombo. Arrow has SYS 14, Encounter is SYS 18 and FLOT 3, and Electra is SYS 9. All Brit destroyers are now out of torpedoes. Most significantly, the enemy used a lot of torpedoes trying to hit the Brits. This probably saved a Brit battleship, because... Night Time Surface Combat, near Port Blair at 46,58, Range 3,000 Yards Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships CA Mogami, Shell hits 2 CA Mikuma CA Suzuya CA Kumano CL Sendai, Shell hits 5, and is sunk DD Shinonome DD Usugumo DD Shirakumo DD Isonami DD Murakumo DD Uranami, Shell hits 1 DD Shikinami, Shell hits 1 DD Ayanami, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships BB Resolution, Shell hits 23, Torpedo hits 1, on fire CL Birmingham DD Stuart DD Arunta DD Warramunga A few big shells from Resolution hit Sendai. One big shell hit Ayanami. One enemy torpedo was a dud. Resolution and friends were supposed to bombard Port Blair tomorrow, but that won't happen now. Resolution soaked up a lot of cruiser shells, and probably saved the invasion task force at Port Blair. Resolution is now SYS 15/FLOT 22-6/ENG 9/FIRE 0. Battleship Valiant, cruiser Hawkins, and destroyers Inconstant and Isis are escorting the invasion shipping at Port Blair, which starts to unload. The escorts expended most of their ammo in the invasion bombardment. The enemy is still there, and didn't find the invasion task force. The Brit destroyer TF then engaged those two enemy MTBs at Port Blair, and both MTBs were sunk. OPilot tried the first night naval bombing of the war, with about a dozen Bettys going after Wasp and Hornet. All bombs missed with 3 Bettys lost to flak. I will reply in kind. A token strike from the US carriers went after shipping at Tavoy. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tavoy at 54,60 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 18 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 18 SBD-3 Dauntless x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed [3 lost] SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 damaged Japanese Ships xAP Hoten Maru, Bomb hits 1 And another strike went to Mergui, unescorted. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Mergui at 53,62 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 3 Allied aircraft SBD-3 Dauntless x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged [3 lost] Japanese Ships SC Ch 21, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk Here's the order of battle at Port Blair: Assaulting units: 1st Raiding Regiment 41st Infantry Regiment 302nd Ship Eng Coy 303rd Ship Eng Coy 34th Field Const Co 1st Base Force 5th JAAF AF Coy Defending units: 17th Australian Bde /1 147th(Sep) Infantry Rgt /1 24th (Sep) Infantry Rgt /1 111th RN Base Force /1 2/1st Lt AA Rgt /1 I need to unload more troops here, but anything can happen with the enemy TF still there. Speaking of which, just yesterday (in game) I restricted my carrier naval bombers to a range of 5, keeping them away from Bangkok. That worked. Of course, I didn't anticipate the enemy cruiser task force at Port Blair, which just so happened to be 6 hexes away from my carriers. I would have had them for sure. This does make me think, though, what OPilot's plan was. He got to Port Blair at night and stayed. Maybe he was going for my carriers, which were just southwest of Port Blair. I don't know. He had to have thought that he was going to lose them with 6 enemy carriers right there. It didn't appear that he had any fighters at Port Blair itself, but I could be wrong about that. Now, what will happen today? How effective will the enemy cruiser task force be at tearing into the invasion task force, assuming the enemy stays? Will they run to Rangoon and get intercepted by Repulse? Or will they run away to the south? I need to unload all of the Port Blair invasion troops to take the base. In the next turn, the armada will be within striking range of Rangoon, Pegu and Moulmein. It is worth noting that an enemy unit at Myitkyna shows movement west, which can only mean towards Rangoon on the rail line. Not today, but tomorrow I'll plot the first para landing at Toungoo, which will cut off any quick reinforcement of Rangoon and Pegu from the north. Today P-38s will sweep heavily defended Rangoon. 3 P-40 squadrons will sweep a slightly less defended Akyab. A heavy bomber squadron will hit Rangoon's airfield at night. Another couple of B-24 squadrons, with about half of their planes ready, will hit Port Blair from Trincomlee.
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