GreyJoy
Posts: 6750
Joined: 3/18/2011 Status: offline
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Nov 1, 2 1943 Diffucult to say if it was a good turn or not. Let's begin saying weather, this time, was on Rader's side. Despite the forecast, Thousands was covered by storms for two days...not a single phase (AM or PM) saw a piece of clear sky over the damned island. However Rader acted as previewed. He sent a big TF of barges and 2 Fast Transport TFs, composed of CAs, DDs and APDs to save parts of Thousands garrison (the 38th and the 5th Divisions being the most important units Rader is saving). Our PTs were out in waves, and we had a DD division and a Cruiser TF out there. Let's try to analyze the different moments... November 1st - Night Our Cruisers found and sunk several barges 1 hex north of Thousands...they were all empty cause we got them during their getting near phase... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Thousand Ships Bay at 114,136, Range 2,000 Yards Japanese Ships LB-144, Shell hits 1, and is sunk LB-520, Shell hits 1, and is sunk LB-521, Shell hits 3, and is sunk LB-522, Shell hits 2, and is sunk LB-523, Shell hits 6, and is sunk LB-524, Shell hits 4, and is sunk LB-525, Shell hits 1, and is sunk LB-526, Shell hits 3, and is sunk LB-528, Shell hits 1, and is sunk LB-529, Shell hits 1, and is sunk LB-530, Shell hits 5, and is sunk Allied Ships CL Leander CL Detroit DD Dyson DD Eaton DD Radford DD Renshaw DD Strong DD Taylor Then our PTs found and sunk 3 ACMs that were trying to lay mines at Russell... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Russell Islands at 113,136, Range 2,000 Yards Japanese Ships ACM Kongo Maru #2 ACM Misago Maru #11, heavy fires, heavy damage ACM Sonobe Maru, Shell hits 3, and is sunk ACM Tamaura Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk Allied Ships PT-132 PT-357 PT-359 PT-372 PT-376 Then, while our Crusers and Destroyers moved north of Russell Island to close the circle, his CAs, moving from Rekata Bay and passing near Auki, opened their way through my PTs, sinking at least 8 of them in various encounters...but the Takao ate a torp...nothing serious but enough to stay in port for a while i guess... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Thousand Ships Bay at 114,136, Range 4,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Tone CA Takao, Torpedo hits 1 CA Chokai CA Myoko DD Shimakaze DD Akizuki DD Hayanami DD Suzukaze DD Arikaze Allied Ships PT-344, Shell hits 1 PT-365 PT-366 PT-367, Shell hits 2, and is sunk PT-378 PT-379, Shell hits 1, and is sunk PT-382, Shell hits 1, and is sunk PT-383 The night battles made Rader's cruisers spend most of their op points and when the day came they were still loading troops... (Bad weather all over btw...) November 1st - Morning Our DD division arrived and chased the enemy CAs while they were loading on the beaches... we fought bravely but, despite some decent hits, DD Shaw got clobbered by the heavy guns of CA Haguro...and sunk... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Thousand Ships Bay at 114,136, Range 19,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Haguro, Shell hits 4 CA Ashigara, Shell hits 2, on fire CA Mikuma, Shell hits 1 CA Furutaka, Shell hits 2 DD Kiyonami DD Nowaki, Shell hits 1 DD Arashio, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Asagiri, Shell hits 1 DD Amagiri, Shell hits 5 APD Asagao DD Susukaze, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Ishikaze, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships DD Dunlap, Shell hits 2 DD Mahan DD Conyngham, Shell hits 1 DD Shaw, Shell hits 10, and is sunk Japanese ground losses: 259 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled For some reasons our Cruisers lost their route and were found in daylight one hex south of Rekata Bay... It started a serie of air attacks....luckly i had some LRCAP over them and the Netties never found their target... Our LRCAP performed well in this circumstance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 112,135 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 29 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M2 Nell x 6 N1K1-J George x 9 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk III x 2 Spitfire Vc Trop x 2 Kittyhawk IV x 2 P-40K Warhawk x 3 FM-1 Wildcat x 1 F6F-3 Hellcat x 6 Japanese aircraft losses G3M2 Nell: 3 damaged G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed No Allied losses Allied Ships CL Detroit Then our 4Es from Cooktown attacked again Buna AF...the Beaufighters were on escort and not a single fighter was found... (probably because at Salamua it was stormy) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Buna , at 99,129 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft Beaufighter Ic x 10 B-24D1 Liberator x 109 B-24J Liberator x 25 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses B-24D1 Liberator: 3 damaged Japanese ground losses: 5 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Airbase hits 9 Airbase supply hits 13 Runway hits 39 November 1st - Afternoon Despite having nearly 200 different bombers on naval attack from Auki and Tassafaronga, the weather was so awfull that not a single a/c took off to attack his CAs at Thousands, not to sweep Russell or Thousands as i ordered... Instead more enemy a/cs attacked my cruisers near Rekata... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 112,135 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 15 P1Y1 Frances x 9 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk III x 6 Kittyhawk IV x 4 P-40K Warhawk x 7 P-40N5 Warhawk x 3 FM-1 Wildcat x 5 F6F-3 Hellcat x 24 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 4 destroyed P1Y1 Frances: 7 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-40N5 Warhawk: 1 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CL Detroit DD Radford ...and my DDs at Russell... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 112,136 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 62 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3 Zero x 28 A6M3a Zero x 14 G4M1 Betty x 13 N1K1-J George x 46 Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 24 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 33 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 16 Ki-84a Frank x 41 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vc Trop x 6 Kittyhawk IV x 2 P-40K Warhawk x 2 P-40N5 Warhawk x 4 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 2 destroyed Kittyhawk IV: 1 destroyed P-40K Warhawk: 1 destroyed P-40N5 Warhawk: 2 destroyed Allied Ships DD DeHaven DD Converse Then finally, one of the 2 CA TFs he had, the one that managed to move out of Thousands (the other one was still there), got attacked by a very limited number of bombers (1 hex north of Thousands)...results were poor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Thousand Ships Bay at 114,136 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 71 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 28 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 15 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 10 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 12 SBD-3 Dauntless x 11 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 5 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged Japanese Ships APD Asagao, Bomb hits 1, on fire CA Myoko CA Chokai CA Tone Japanese ground losses: 63 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled So the 1st November ended with very little results and with a DD sunk on my side... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 2nd - Night -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our brave DDs tangled north of Thousands with enemy's E class, sinking 2 of them... Night Time Surface Combat, near Rekata Bay at 112,135, Range 5,000 Yards Japanese Ships E Sanae E Wakamiya, Shell hits 14, and is sunk E Maeshima, Shell hits 17, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Converse, Shell hits 2, on fire DD DeHaven DD Foote Then, when the day came, our cruisers finally arrived at Thousands and tried to interdict his CAs still loading men at Thousands... The battle was pointless, but we surely damaged a couple of DDs... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Rekata Bay at 113,135, Range 27,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Haguro CA Ashigara CA Mikuma, Shell hits 2 CA Furutaka, Shell hits 1 DD Kiyonami, Shell hits 1 DD Nowaki DD Arashio, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Asagiri, Shell hits 2, on fire Allied Ships CL Leander, Shell hits 5, on fire CL Detroit, Shell hits 4, on fire DD Dyson, Shell hits 1 DD Eaton DD Radford DD Renshaw, Shell hits 2 DD Strong DD Taylor Japanese ground losses: 183 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 12 destroyed, 2 disabled Then the enemy moved 1 hex northwards...and found again the same DD TF that tangled with them yesterday... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Time Surface Combat, near Rekata Bay at 112,135, Range 29,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Haguro, Shell hits 1 CA Ashigara CA Mikuma CA Furutaka DD Kiyonami DD Asagiri, on fire Allied Ships DD Converse DD DeHaven, Shell hits 1 DD Foote, Shell hits 1 Japanese ground losses: 60 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled The bastards managed to get away....but another CA TF is loading at Thousands...under heavy storms.... ...while at Russell the sun finally came out of the clouds and our fighters took off...sweep missions... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Russell Islands , at 113,136 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 36,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 2 N1K1-J George x 22 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 41 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 70 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 21 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 3 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Russell Islands , at 113,136 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 45 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 1 N1K1-J George x 14 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 30 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 44 Allied aircraft F4U-1 Corsair x 24 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed N1K1-J George: 7 destroyed Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 7 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4U-1 Corsair: 2 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Russell Islands , at 113,136 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 39,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 4 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 25 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 8 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 25 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 16 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Russell Islands , at 113,136 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 37,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 1 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 18 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed No Allied losses We cleared the skies over Russell.... ....and when his bombers arrived to attack my DDs at Russell...they found no local CAP to count upon... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 113,136 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 30 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M2 Nell x 6 N1K1-J George x 7 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk III x 2 Spitfire Vc Trop x 1 Kittyhawk IV x 1 P-40K Warhawk x 2 P-40N5 Warhawk x 2 FM-1 Wildcat x 1 F6F-3 Hellcat x 6 Japanese aircraft losses G3M2 Nell: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed No Allied losses Allied Ships DD Renshaw And then, finally, our bombers took off in decent numbers...(not nearly enough but still....)... Not having the chance to localize his CAs under those clouds, they targeted another Fast transport TF that wasn't seen during the night phase... Despite some heavy losses on my part, the escort was decent and the previous battles over Russell have significantly lowered his leaky CAP... Our bombers got through and mauled the enemy DDs... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 4 N1K1-J George x 11 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk III x 9 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 10 SBD-3 Dauntless x 17 SBD-5 Dauntless x 22 TBF-1 Avenger x 11 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Japanese Ships APD Asagao, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Arashio, on fire, heavy damage DD Amagiri, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Susukaze DD Nowaki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Ishikaze Japanese ground losses: 184 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 4 destroyed, 1 disabled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 112,135 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3 Zero x 7 N1K1-J George x 14 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 8 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 11 Allied aircraft P-40K Warhawk x 12 P-40N5 Warhawk x 11 F6F-3 Hellcat x 3 SBD-5 Dauntless x 18 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-40N5 Warhawk: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships DD Asagiri, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 3 N1K1-J George x 6 Allied aircraft SBD-3 Dauntless x 13 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged Japanese Ships APD Asagao, and is sunk Japanese ground losses: 22 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 2 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 1 Allied aircraft Beaufort VIII x 9 No Japanese losses No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Arashio, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 6 FM-1 Wildcat x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Nowaki, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage Japanese ground losses: 54 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled November 2nd - afternoon His bombers, in the afternoon, took off again...but the escort got slaughtered over Russell... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 113,136 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 20 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 6 P1Y1 Frances x 6 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 20 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk III x 1 Spitfire Vc Trop x 1 Kittyhawk IV x 1 P-40K Warhawk x 2 FM-1 Wildcat x 1 F6F-3 Hellcat x 7 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed P1Y1 Frances: 5 damaged P1Y1 Frances: 1 destroyed by flak Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed No Allied losses Allied Ships CL Leander -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then it was time for my escort to get mauled south of Rekata Bay.... Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 5 N1K1-J George x 37 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 15 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 17 Allied aircraft Beaufighter Ic x 16 Kittyhawk III x 5 Spitfire Vc Trop x 5 Kittyhawk IV x 8 P-40K Warhawk x 11 P-40N5 Warhawk x 7 FM-1 Wildcat x 10 SBD-3 Dauntless x 14 SBD-5 Dauntless x 6 TBF-1 Avenger x 9 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Beaufighter Ic: 7 destroyed Kittyhawk III: 2 destroyed Kittyhawk IV: 2 destroyed FM-1 Wildcat: 2 destroyed SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 damaged TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships DD Susukaze, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Amagiri, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk DD Ishikaze, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk Japanese ground losses: 313 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 11 destroyed, 14 disabled -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rekata Bay at 113,135 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2-N Rufe x 1 N1K1-J George x 34 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 14 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 14 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vc Trop x 5 P-40K Warhawk x 11 P-40N5 Warhawk x 4 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 9 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed P-40K Warhawk: 1 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged Japanese Ships DD Susukaze, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage Japanese ground losses: 110 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 8 destroyed, 1 disabled By the end of the turn we had exchanged 1 DD for 6 DD, 2 APDs, 2 "E", while in the air we obtained a decent 1-1 kill ratio....unfortunately we lost 50 pilots cause we were fighting over enemy territory... There's still a CA TF at Thousands now...and i want to chase it down... time for the big guys to come in! I cannot count on the air interdiction much...weather is too less predictable and our i really do not like those losses in terms of pilots lost...i think i'll use LRCAP and fast BBs tomorrow... At PM the first convoy arrived and start unloading...no sign of any attempt of his to interdict it... KB disappeared...
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