VictorInThePacific
Posts: 169
Joined: 10/30/2008 Status: offline
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Phase 2, part 3 Nothing interesting happens for a while. All the light bombers head back to the Kitty Hawk at top speed for more weapons and fuel. One Vigilante scans the path the B-52s will fly, just in case there are any bad surprises there. 2 more enemy fighters get shot down. After this, our fighters have nothing left to do. At 6 h 40 min, 2 Intruders have been re-ARMed and head for the combat zone at top speed. Wasting fuel is not a consideration now, but time is crucial, and the distance is short enough that we can do this even on just the internal fuel tanks. 10 min later, 2 more ARMed Intruders head out, followed by 2 Intruders with Walleyes. The B-52s start launching in pairs; they also travel at top speed. 5 min later, 2 groups of 4 Corsairs with rockets head out, followed by 2 pairs. At 7 h 10 min, the Intruders (I) start shooting again. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgR2.png The last pair of Corsairs is just launching. The bomber stream consists of 12 B-52s, escorted by one Vigilante. The first Standard missile destroys the AS radar of mobile SAM 3 (see Ground Attack Plan 3 map). The second Standard missile does serious damage to fixed SAM 1, destroying all its radars and some other systems. The next 2 Standard missiles are shot at a KS-19 battery but have no effect. Lacking better targets, the next 2 Standard missiles are shot at the airbase near Thanh Hoa Bridge. After that, only mobile SAM 1, AD battery ZS, and the units near Hanoi still have usable radars. None of these units are near enough to be able to defend Thanh Hoa Bridge, so they will be ignored. The Walleyes have no effect. The Intruders head back to the Kitty Hawk at top speed. Next the Corsairs have a go. The rockets work as expected, and the 12 Corsairs destroy 1 KS-19, 1 KS-12, 1 ZU-23, and 3 Grail units, as well as damaging some other units. At 7 h 53 min, all of the defences SE of Thanh Hoa Bridge have been eliminated. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgS2.png However, there are still some units right at the bridge, and I don’t consider it appropriate to commit the bombers yet. It will take the Corsairs 2 hours to return to the Kitty Hawk for more ordnance and fuel and come back for another go, flying at top speed. Meanwhile, the bombers are parked nearby. They still have a huge loiter time. One tanker (T) is immediately available, but it will not be needed. At 8 h, while in the process of manually resetting the ASW helicopter patrols, we get a sonar contact. This is odd, because the Vietnamese do NOT have subs. It is close, real close (5 nm)! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgT.png The fleet turns away from the contact, increasing speed to 15 kn. There are no inbound torpedoes, so there is no reason to panic – yet. One spare Sea King is sent to meet and greet the contact. At 8 h 10 min, there is a surprising late kill. I guess ground units are also susceptible to critical damage (flooding ?). http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgU.png At 8 h 14 min, we have identified the unknown sub. Since North Vietnam does not have subs, this one must be Russian-operated. Anyway, the Russians wouldn’t be letting this technology out of their hands at this time. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgV.png Standing orders are: if it moves, kill it. If it gets too close, kill it. Any questions? Rule Britannia! Sure, this may cause an international incident, or worse, but we can always claim that it wasn’t our fault. Maybe they had a reactor accident? That’s plausible deniability. Two torpedoes later … http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgW.png The fleet slows down to creep speed again. At 8 h 55, another sub is detected. What is this, a convention? http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgX.png This one is 29 nm away. Send a Sea King. A fresh one, that is. The Sea King that has been hanging about, forgotten, for the past half hour has no torpedoes. However, it does have some sonobuoys left, so it can at least do some detecting. 16 min later, we know that this, too, is a Russian November-class sub. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgY.png This one is far enough away that it doesn’t present an immediate threat. But what if it gets away and later sneaks up on us? Better to kill it now and ask questions later. Two torpedoes later … http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZ.png In the meantime, starting at 9 h, all the bombers from the Kitty Hawk have been heading for Thanh Hoa Bridge. We will have enough time to do one more strike with rockets, but no more, so all the planes with only iron bombs are going to be in place so as to be immediately available when the rockets are expended. As they become available, all the rocket-armed Corsairs head for Thanh Hoa Bridge at top speed. At 9 h 45 min, 4 Walleyes are on the way. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZA.png They destroy one KS-12. New enemy ground units are now present. These ones are actually moving. At 10 h, the Corsairs have destroyed 1 Grail team at Thanh Hoa Bridge, 1 KS-19 nearby, and 1 moving Grail team. There are no longer any enemy units that can interfere with our bombers, as long as they approach Thanh Hoa Bridge from the SE. We still have plenty of rockets left over. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZB.png Phase 3 We shoot 14 rockets at the bridge itself, doing 3% damage. This is about 36 points. One B-52 does about 9 times as much damage as this, so 4 B-52s should be plenty. B-52s over Thanh Hoa Bridge. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZC.png 2 B-52s suffice. No more Thanh Hoa Bridge. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZD.png The victory screen after PhotoShop. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/bridge/brdgZD-m.png My tactical brilliance and decisive strategy … I like that. In real life, it wasn’t so easy. Or maybe they didn’t use decisive strategy or brilliant tactics. “Between 1965 and 1972, during the Vietnam war, it was the objective of many unsuccessful attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft. Eventually, in 1972, it was destroyed by A-7 Corsair bombers using laser-guided bombs and conventional bombs.” and “the US recognizes the loss of only 11 aircraft during attacks against the bridge” and “873 air sorties were expended against the bridge and it was hit by hundreds of bombs and missiles before being finally destroyed.” (From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanh_Hoa_Bridge) Notes One comment that doesn’t really fit in anywhere else. The Phantoms totally own the MiG-17Fs, which only have guns, MiG-19s, and MiG-21MFs, because their missiles outrange all the enemy weapons. However, anyone putting a Phantom mano-a-mano against a MiG-17F in a dogfight will be getting an unpleasant surprise. In Harpoon, anyway, and I have no reason to believe that that is unrealistic.
< Message edited by VictorInThePacific -- 6/19/2009 5:50:13 AM >
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