Mike Solli
Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku
Status: offline
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25 Jan 42
Reinforcement: CVL Shoho - She comes with some really good pilots. I pulled 3 out for TRACOM.
This was, to say the least, an exciting turn and pretty hard on the ole ticker.  On the day where I get my first carrier reinforcement, I also lose my first warship. It was inevitable, but it still hurts. Anyway, here goes.....
China
I attacked Chuhsien and the hex NW of Chuhsien again and took both hexes. Combined, I lost 180 troops for 3721 Chinese casualties.
Burma
I beat up the Allied support forces fleeing Pegu again, this time catching them 4 hexes up the road with the pursuing tank regiment. 158 more casualties for no loss. I did lose an Ann over Rangoon, however. My encircling forces are crawling along.....
Malaya
I downed a Buffalo (the last one, I hope) for the loss of 2 bombers to Flak, all over Singapore.
Ted decided he didn't want to lose any more planes over Billition.
Philippines
More aerial bombing of Bataan, this time without loss. My ground troops should arrive in Bataan (finally) tomorrow.
Ambon
I landed a second SNLF and a third is 1.5 days out with the support forces hovering a day out. I'll wait until the last SNLF lands then attack again.
SE Fleet
Ok, now the heart-wrenching stuff....
First, I sent 3 Furutakas escorted by 2 DDs to scout out Tulagi prior to an invasion. (The Aoba is headed to Japan to repair some minor major damage from Wake Island - if that makes any sense.) Anyway, that little TF runs into the CA Canberra hiding out at Tulagi. That spunky little CA did a pretty good job on my forces considering she was outnumbered 5:1. The Oboro (Furutaka II) sucumbed to her wounds and the remaining forces limped away on both sides. The Canberra was in pretty bad shape with a dozen shell hits split pretty evenly between 8" and 5", as well as a torpedo hit. I don't think she'll make it. My remaining ships should all be ok. Three of the four had minor damage (only 1 major engine hit for the Kinugasa). The Kako took the brunt of the damage: 22-24(4)-12-0. They're headed to Rabaul (where an AR is) to patch them up. They will all be repaired locally. What really irritated me was that I had a sub sitting in Lunga's hex (one hex away) and never saw her.  Here's the battle report:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Tulagi at 114,137, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 2
CA Furutaka
CA Kako, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
DD Oboro, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
DD Yugao, Shell hits 1, on fire
Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Ok, that was the "minor" engagement. At Pt. Moresby, I had a TF composed of 2 BB, 2 CL and 5 DD trying to catch small TFs Ted had running into Pt. Moresby. Of course they never engaged. Well, Ted decided to come looking for them and sent a hefty force. Here's the OOB for both sides:
BB Mutsu
BB Yamashiro
CL Kitakami
CL Oi
DD Yamagumo
DD Sawakaze
DD Yukaze
DD Tachikaze
DD Namikaze
BC Repulse
CL Java
CL De Ruyter
CL Tromp
CL Mauritius
CL Boise
DD Vendetta
DD Evertsen
DD Kortenaer
DD Piet Hein
DD Van Ghent
DD Scout
DD Stronghold
DD Jupiter
That was some hefty firepower on both sides. My two BBs concentrated most of their fire on the Repulse and the Kitakami put a torpedo into her pretty early on too. That took her out of the battle fairly rapidly. She put 2-3 main gun rounds into the Yamashiro and 1 into Mutsu. What saved me was that the Mutsu was a 6" shell magnet, which did little to her and most likely saved many of my DDs. Basically, everyone wasted lots of torpedoes (except for the lucky shot from Kitakami) and blasted off most of their gun ammo. Most ships were hit by only a few small caliber rounds and came off pretty well. My only concern is the Yamashiro: 36-33(6)-19(1)-3. I think she'll make Rabaul, primarily because the largest gun Ted has left is 6". The Repulse went down late in the battle. Her light armor just can't stand up to 14 & 16" shells.
After the battle, my Bettys finally flew. A total of 59 sorties put 1 torpedo into the Java and sank her for the loss of 3 Bettys. (These guys are supposed to be the elite. Geez!) Zeros flying over PM downed 2 P-40s as well.
Here was the final outcome:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Port Moresby at 98,130, Range 17,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 42, on fire
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 2
CL Oi, Shell hits 3
DD Yamagumo
DD Sawakaze, Shell hits 1
DD Yukaze, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tachikaze, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Namikaze, Shell hits 3, on fire
Allied Ships
BC Repulse, Shell hits 39, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
CL Java, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 3
CL Tromp, Shell hits 1
CL Mauritius, Shell hits 1
CL Boise, Shell hits 1
DD Vendetta, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Evertsen
DD Kortenaer, Shell hits 1
DD Piet Hein
DD Van Ghent, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Scout, Shell hits 2
DD Stronghold, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
DD Jupiter, Shell hits 6, heavy fire
Here's the real kicker. KB was headed back to tend to PM, and was 1 hex outside of maximum range and couldn't engage. They were taking their good old time heading back. Had they moved the entire 13 hexes that turn, 4 deckloads of planes would have shredded those ships. It would have been after the battle, but most would be gone. The good news is that Ted doesn't know KB is there. Hopefully, they'll be either in PM port or not too far south. It could be a nice clean-up tomorrow.
It figures work is taking me out of town tomorrow and I won't be back until Friday afternoon. We'll just have to wait to see what happens.....
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