castor troy
Posts: 14330
Joined: 8/23/2004 From: Austria Status: offline
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Dec 17, 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Laoag at 80,72 Japanese Ships SC CHa-23 SC CHa-20 Allied Ships SS Kingfish SS Kingfish is located by SC CHa-23 SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Fukue-jima at 100,59 Japanese Ships PB Senyo Maru SC CHa-41 DD Okikaze PB Muroran Maru Allied Ships SS Scorpion SS Scorpion launches 6 torpedoes at PB Senyo Maru Scorpion diving deep .... DD Okikaze fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Muroran Maru fails to find sub and abandons search DD Okikaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Okikaze attacking submerged sub .... SS Scorpion eludes ASW attack from DD Okikaze DD Okikaze cannot establish contact with SS Scorpion DD Okikaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Okikaze fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like I´ve already mentioned, Merauke is on top of our target list, today the invasion begins... Pre-Invasion action off Merauke 218 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CA Hawkins CL Concord CL Marblehead CL Trenton PG Charleston AMC Hector AM Oriole Allied ground losses: 131 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled) Vehicles lost 6 (0 destroyed, 6 disabled) CA Hawkins firing at 2nd Division CL Concord firing at 41st JNAF AF Unit CL Marblehead firing at 2nd Division CL Trenton firing at 2nd Division PG Charleston firing at 2nd Division PG Charleston firing at enemy troops Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious Assault at Merauke TF 6 troops unloading over beach at Merauke, 89,124 Allied ground losses: 110 casualties reported Squads: 3 destroyed, 9 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled) Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled) 13 troops of a USA Rifle Squad 42 lost in surf during unload of 41st Infantry Div /7 13 troops of a USA Rifle Squad 42 lost in surf during unload of 32nd Infantry Div /7 13 troops of a USA Rifle Squad 42 accidentally lost during unload of 32nd Infantry Div /10 Motorized Support damaged beyond repair during unload of 41st Infantry Div /20 losses so far look good, our troops are 100% prepped... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Invasion action off Merauke 235 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CL Durban CL Danae CL Adelaide xAP Jalaputra AM Shepparton Allied ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Vehicles lost 6 (0 destroyed, 6 disabled) CL Durban firing at 2nd Division CL Danae firing at 2nd Division CL Adelaide firing at 2nd Division Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 6,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious Assault at Merauke TF 387 troops unloading over beach at Merauke, 89,124 Allied ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled 8 Engineers lost overboard during unload of 106th USN Base Force /3 Motorized Support lost in surf during unload of 106th USN Base Force /3 8 Aviation Support troops lost overboard during unload of 106th USN Base Force /3 8 Naval Support troops lost overboard during unload of 106th USN Base Force /3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Merauke 114 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CA Hawkins CL Concord CL Marblehead CL Trenton AMC Hector AM Oriole Allied ground losses: 26 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled) Vehicles lost 5 (0 destroyed, 5 disabled) CA Hawkins firing at 41st JNAF AF Unit CL Concord firing at 41st JNAF AF Unit CL Marblehead firing at 2nd Division CL Trenton firing at 41st JNAF AF Unit 2nd Division firing at AMC Hector Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Merauke 188 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CL Durban CL Danae CL Adelaide xAP Jalaputra AM Shepparton Allied ground losses: 78 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Vehicles lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled) CL Durban firing at 41st JNAF AF Unit CL Danae firing at 2nd Division CL Adelaide firing at 2nd Division Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 6,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 2,000 yards we moved into position yesterday to reach the invasion beach today during the night... we´ve got a full day to unload... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Laoag at 80,72 Japanese Ships SC CHa-23 SC CHa-20 Allied Ships SS Tunny SS Tunny is located by SC CHa-23 Tunny diving deep .... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-23 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Talasea , at 103,125 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 41,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3 Allied aircraft P-38G Lightning x 25 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 25 x P-38G Lightning sweeping at 39000 feet CAP engaged: 1st Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes we engage leaking Cap... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Normanby Island , at 102,133 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 27 NM, estimated altitude 40,750 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 24 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 5 Spitfire Vc Trop x 10 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 12 x Ki-43-IIa Oscar sweeping at 36750 feet CAP engaged: No.76 Sqn RAAF with Spitfire Vc Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 37000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes No.77 Sqn RAAF with Spitfire Vc Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 37000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 3 minutes No.54 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIc Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 35600 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes the enemy does the same... all our Hurricanes were bounced but not so the Spitfires... it´s all about altitude, 10ft higher than the enemy would be enough... funny air routines... it was a pretty even fight in losses in the end... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- and here starts the real show of today... Morning Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,124 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 60 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 36 G4M1 Betty x 9 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 6 Beaufighter Ic x 7 Kittyhawk IA x 3 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-400 Airacobra x 5 P-40E Warhawk x 10 F4F-3A Wildcat x 17 F4F-3 Wildcat x 13 F4F-4 Wildcat x 35 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CA Hawkins CAP engaged: VF-2 with F4F-3A Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (17 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 13 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 55 minutes 13 planes vectored on to bombers VF-42 with F4F-3 Wildcat (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (13 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 8 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes VF-8 with F4F-4 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (13 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes 4 planes vectored on to bombers VF-71 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (12 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 56 minutes 12 planes vectored on to bombers No.881 Sqn FAA with Martlet II (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (6 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 55 minutes 6 planes vectored on to bombers VRF-3F with F4F-4 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (10 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes 6 planes vectored on to bombers No.30 Sqn RAAF with Beaufighter Ic (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 7 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 25000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 52 minutes 7 planes vectored on to bombers No.75 Sqn RAAF with Kittyhawk IA (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 59 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers 49th FG/9th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Raid is overhead 12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers 35th FG/40th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers 347th FG/68th FS with P-400 Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 50 minutes our carriers have been unspotted, only the amphibious TFs are attacked during the mornnig... LRCAP from Horn Island and leaking Cap from the carriers one hex South West is taking care of the incoming strike... wonna hear me bitching some more about the borked air routine? Here you go... the coordination "routine" is just a piece of sh*t and together with the altitude issue ruins an air routine that would have had quite some potential... while you get screwed up strikes as the NORM when trying to launch from a huge airfield complex with perfect conditions (even killing a chicken in front of your monitor), the stupidity par excellence of the coordination routine is shown in this example... while the Betties are coming from Darwin (range 12 or 13 hexes, the Zeroes are coming from Hollandia, range 8 hexes)... so tell me what BS went into this routine to see fighter squadrons on sweeps going alone as the NORM (obviously just not possible to launch 50 fighters at once from a level 9 airfield - stupid), this routine is borked enough to manage a coordination from two different airfields (that are some 900 miles from each other) to fly an attack onto a target that has got a different range from each base... so tell me how that works, this must be the most difficult case to get the fighters over the target at the same time as the bombers, well, the routine is borked enough to manage that... doesn´t help the Betties and Zeroes at all though, the Betties come in at 4000ft, means the Zeroes are at 7000ft... they got endlessly bounced, the same would have been true if they would have been on 14990ft as none of my fighters flew below 15000ft... it was a massacre with only one Betty managing to get through Cap... a short moment of hecticness on my part when I saw the Betty attacking CA Hawkins followed by relief when the bomber was taken out by flak before releasing the torp... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,124 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 56 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 19 G3M3 Nell x 9 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 6 Beaufighter Ic x 7 Kittyhawk IA x 3 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-400 Airacobra x 2 P-40E Warhawk x 8 F4F-3A Wildcat x 14 F4F-3 Wildcat x 7 F4F-4 Wildcat x 28 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed G3M3 Nell: 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Beaufighter Ic: 1 destroyed F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed CAP engaged: VF-2 with F4F-3A Wildcat (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 9 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 56 minutes 13 planes vectored on to bombers VF-42 with F4F-3 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 53 minutes 7 planes vectored on to bombers VF-8 with F4F-4 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 56 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers VF-71 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 52 minutes 8 planes vectored on to bombers No.881 Sqn FAA with Martlet II (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 3 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes 6 planes vectored on to bombers VRF-3F with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 45 minutes 4 planes vectored on to bombers No.30 Sqn RAAF with Beaufighter Ic (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 7 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 25000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes No.75 Sqn RAAF with Kittyhawk IA (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers 49th FG/9th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 52 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers 12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes 35th FG/40th FS with P-40E Warhawk (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 5 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Raid is overhead 5 planes vectored on to bombers 347th FG/68th FS with P-400 Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 55 minutes 2 planes vectored on to bombers here comes the next wave, again, the Nells from Darwin with the Zeores from Hollandia... while non combat report AARs surely are a benefit for the readers, it´s a pity there aren´t more combat report style AARs as the so called air team leader always asks for evidence... well, combat reports of those broken things should be enough evidence for someone who actually doesn´t play the game... airstrike coordination? a wet fart... same result as with the first wave, the enemy got bounced endlessly, but the Zeroes did slightly better in taking down some of our fighters too... it still was a complete massacre... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Allied aircraft B-17F Fortress x 15 B-24D Liberator x 25 Allied aircraft losses B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 4 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Airbase hits 2 Airbase supply hits 3 Runway hits 48 Aircraft Attacking: 15 x B-17F Fortress bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb 16 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 9 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft B-24D Liberator x 34 Allied aircraft losses B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 47 Aircraft Attacking: 12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 10 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft B-17F Fortress x 16 B-24D Liberator x 12 Allied aircraft losses B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged Airbase hits 9 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 37 Aircraft Attacking: 16 x B-17F Fortress bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb 12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb we do some airfield suppression... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft B-24D Liberator x 12 No Allied losses Runway hits 18 Aircraft Attacking: 12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Normanby Island , at 102,133 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 37,750 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 7 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 3 Spitfire Vc Trop x 7 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 2 x Ki-43-IIa Oscar sweeping at 36750 feet CAP engaged: No.76 Sqn RAAF with Spitfire Vc Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 37000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes No.77 Sqn RAAF with Spitfire Vc Trop (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 37000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes No.54 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIc Trop (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 3 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 35600 Raid is overhead and the enemy sends in the "second part" of his Sentai on sweep... should I even complain that it isn´t possible to see two USAAF fighter squadrons flying a sweep together when the enemy doesn´t even get a single daitai to fly together? Hey, it´s no problem to launch escorts from Hollandia and bombers from Darwin to fly together though... that´s ridicoulos and needs serious fixing when you consider which historical or realistic claims this game had in it´s commercials... the Hurricanes flying 1150 ft lower than the Oscars got bounced, the Spitfires flying 250ft higher than the Oscars bounced the Oscars... predictable? Altitude the only thing that matters? Nooooooooo.... 250ft... wow, for a European, that´s quite a number, until you realize that 250 ft is something like 80m... now that must have been an advantage in real life... woooohoooo.... thanks for the new details in the airroutines... lol -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- only two attacks in the morning that were shredded, some more in the afternoon... Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,124 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 60 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 22 G4M1 Betty x 9 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 6 Beaufighter Ic x 6 Kittyhawk IA x 3 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-400 Airacobra x 4 P-40E Warhawk x 10 F4F-3A Wildcat x 11 F4F-3 Wildcat x 4 F4F-4 Wildcat x 16 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed CAP engaged: VF-2 with F4F-3A Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (11 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 7 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 53 minutes 6 planes vectored on to bombers VF-42 with F4F-3 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes 1 planes vectored on to bombers VF-8 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 58 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers VF-71 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 55 minutes 8 planes vectored on to bombers No.881 Sqn FAA with Martlet II (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (6 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 6 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Raid is overhead 3 planes vectored on to bombers VRF-3F with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 55 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers No.30 Sqn RAAF with Beaufighter Ic (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 6 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 25000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes No.75 Sqn RAAF with Kittyhawk IA (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 59 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers 49th FG/9th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 57 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers 12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 56 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers 35th FG/40th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes 347th FG/68th FS with P-400 Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes 34 fighters from Horn Island managed to be over the target when this attack came in... sounds like a reasonable number, some 250 fighters were set to LRCAP with drop tanks, range is 4 hexes... like in the morning, it would have been bloody without the leaking Cap from the carriers though... the P-400 proved to be a real Zero killer today... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,124 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 28 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 7 G3M3 Nell x 6 G4M1 Betty x 9 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 5 Beaufighter Ic x 4 Kittyhawk IA x 3 P-39D Airacobra x 5 P-400 Airacobra x 3 P-40E Warhawk x 7 F4F-3A Wildcat x 10 F4F-3 Wildcat x 10 F4F-4 Wildcat x 24 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed G3M3 Nell: 3 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships DD Allen Aircraft Attacking: 2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo CAP engaged: VF-42 with F4F-3 Wildcat (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes 1 planes vectored on to bombers VF-8 with F4F-4 Wildcat (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (8 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 8 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 10 minutes 8 planes vectored on to bombers VF-2 with F4F-3A Wildcat (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes 7 planes vectored on to bombers VF-71 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes No.881 Sqn FAA with Martlet II (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes 2 planes vectored on to bombers VRF-3F with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes 2 planes vectored on to bombers No.30 Sqn RAAF with Beaufighter Ic (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 25000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes 4 planes vectored on to bombers No.75 Sqn RAAF with Kittyhawk IA (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 11 minutes 3 planes vectored on to bombers 49th FG/9th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes 5 planes vectored on to bombers 12th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 27 minutes 35th FG/40th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 20000 Raid is overhead 347th FG/68th FS with P-400 Airacobra (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 3 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 15000 Raid is overhead those "strike packs" are just too small to really harm our invasion TFs and they are all shredded... in this case, two bombers got through Cap though, then attacking an agile destroyer... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- note the different target hex to above´s attacks, our carriers have been spotted in the afternoon and this strike is aimed at our flight decks... Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 88,124 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 30 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 9 G3M3 Nell x 8 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 28 Allied aircraft Martlet II x 4 F4F-3A Wildcat x 16 F4F-3 Wildcat x 16 F4F-4 Wildcat x 48 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed G3M3 Nell: 4 destroyed Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 10 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Martlet II: 1 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed CAP engaged: VF-71 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes 4 planes vectored on to bombers VRF-3F with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 22 minutes VF-2 with F4F-3A Wildcat (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes VF-42 with F4F-3 Wildcat (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes VF-8 with F4F-4 Wildcat (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes No.881 Sqn FAA with Martlet II (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 2000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes therefore also no land based fighters on Cap (this time it seemed to have worked not to see LRCAP leaking out of their ordered target hex)... I wasn´t really amazed to see only 86 of our fightesr on Cap, mostly being on standby on the flight decks... at the beginning there were only some two dozen fighters showing up and I was already thinking about a disaster but more and more fighters managed to get airborne... in the end this strike was mauled just as bad as the earlier strikes on my amphibious TFs at Merauke... the enemy flew lower and our fighters kept diving on the from the beginning until the end... the Oscars proved to be very agile and many of them managed to evade the attacks, they even were able to damage quite a lot of our fighters, which proves again a problem for us as the fighter numbers diminished quite fast... we still had three dozen fighters attacking the small number of bombers and the Nells had no chance as the Nells (as well as the Betty) are really easy to be shot down by our fighters... this was the last wave attacking our Merauke operation for today and I guess Rainer was quite happy that it was the last wave... he told me he feels like being in 44 already, with a total of 3 bombers managing to break through Cap (for no hit) and heavy losses in bombers as well as fighters... understandable, for me it was fun to watch, I felt more or less save as long as I saw my fighters diving and that didn´t change at any time today as we had numerical superiority and were flying higher than the enemy... the kill ratio was totally one sided, we shot down over a hundred enemy aircraft above our ships for the loss of a good dozen of our fighters, kill rate is somewhere between 8-10:1... sounds high and perhaps is a little too high (that may well be discussable) but considering the fact that every enemy attack was highly outnumbered and the enemy fighters were on escort it is probably more realistic than those fighter sweeps when you have equal numbers on each side but one side gets the endless dive due to at least 10ft height advantage to see kill rates of 10-15:1 in the end... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Taihoku at 89,61 Japanese Ships xAK Hakusika Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage xAK Kinryu Maru DD Tatsukaze Allied Ships SS Greenling SS Greenling launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Hakusika Maru Greenling diving deep .... DD Tatsukaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Tatsukaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Tatsukaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Tatsukaze fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Tatsukaze fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub we finally get a working torp again... rare happening lately... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Merauke 116 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships AMC Hector AM Oriole Allied ground losses: Vehicles lost 9 (3 destroyed, 6 disabled) Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Merauke 124 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships xAP Jalaputra AM Shepparton Allied ground losses: Vehicles lost 8 (0 destroyed, 8 disabled) Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 2,000 yards and the unloading phase at the end of the day... we have used far over 150 ships in our invasion (escorts included) to carry two US Inf divisions and two base forces... learning from our previous invasions, this should have been easily enough to unload in one turn and have enough supplies being unloaded to bail out ofter one turn if needed but for whatever reason, the unloading seems to have been totally borked... we got one division more or less completely on shore and this units also holds 15000 supplies now... the other division is still a fragment with all infantry unloaded but more or less none of it´s heavy equipment and no supply... same goes for the base forces... looking at the ships, many of the supply carrying AKs have unloaded only exactly 60 supplies... grmpf... so it will take us at least another day tomorrow, I can only hope that we´re going to unload more then... I´m unaware of KB´s position, nor do I know where the enemy BBs are... with us obviously directing our efforts towards Merauke and the Darwin area, as the Japanese I would keep some surface combatants in the Darwin area so I would expect some heavy cruisers perhaps doing a high speed run at the invasion site and if KB was at Truk today, it could be in position near Hollandia to launch bomb equipped Kates with Zeroes from 9 hexes to attack the amphib TFs... while I haven´t had any SC TF at the invasion site today I will dispatch the surface combat TF (including three BBs) from the carrier TFs and it will take up position at the invasion site... that means we would have an answer to any enemy attempt of attacking our invasion with heavy cruisers (doubt that any BBs would come in as they would probably end up in range of my carriers) and our BBs would be the main target for the hundred Kates that could attack with bombs from KB if KB is positioned at the other side of New Guinea... of course, the worst case scenario would be KB appearing in torp range of my carriers tomorrow as I´m totally sure that my carriers are far from being able to go into infight with the enemy´s carriers... two of my fleet carriers are still in the shipyard, both should be ready within the next two weeks with Saratoga being fixed at Cape Town, which means she needs another two weeks for transfer to Sydney... halve a dozen CVEs are coming in to Australia to help us though, this wll give me over a hundred Wildcats more, the CVEs with the "R" squadrons will have their bomber squadrons removed and will be used as fighter support carriers, each giving us additional 28 Wildcats. The other "normal" CVEs will have 18 Wildcats and some TBFs... all those squadrons already have had their low skilled pilots replaced with 70 skill pilots from the reserve pool... With the 180 aircraft from our two fleet carriers in the shipyards and the CVEs arriving at the front soon we will have quite a substantial force, even if we don´t have Hellcats yet. On the defense against incoming strikes our fighters proved to be deadly anyway (as long as they´ve got the "dive" so with such a reinforced CV force we could think about attacking more dangerous targets... attacking a major land base (like Rabaul with hundreds of fighters) and KB showing up at the same time is a nogo though, at least as long as we haven´t got Hellcats available... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Merauke (89,124) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 11382 troops, 136 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 483 Defending force 15790 troops, 202 guns, 381 vehicles, Assault Value = 619 Japanese ground losses: 16 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled) Assaulting units: 2nd Division Bandasan SNLF 41st JNAF AF Unit Defending units: 41st Infantry Div /18 32nd Infantry Div /1 106th USN Base Force /2 118th USAAF Base Force /2 wow! Besides the fact that the unloading got screwed up due to whatever reason, facing a fully combat ready 2nd Division is a shock to be honest... when Rainer reinforced Merauke we caught his transports with the troops aboard with our carriers (more or less by accident) and from that on I´ve thought Merauke would be an easy target. Recon showed 15000 troops all the time (quite a good result considering the 11400 troops there) so I´ve thought we only would face some remnants of the trashed reinforcement convoy and the Merauke operation has been seen as a cakewalk up to now... Facing now a full division with an assault value of 400+ is not what I wanted to see to be honest... add in the jungle terrain and some forts for sure and our two divs could be bogged down as I´ve again got no combat engineers in this invasion... all our combat engineer units are used against Lae and they are marching overland there, which will take some weeks more... I´ve also more or less got no tank units for my invasions at the moment as all of them have been sent to Kathering to face the five IJA divisions that still hold Northern Australia... it´s a draw at Katherine with no side daring to attack but at least my Army forces the enemy to keep his units in place or withdraw from Northern Australia completely...
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< Message edited by castor troy -- 6/4/2010 1:34:37 PM >
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