Feinder
Posts: 6589
Joined: 9/4/2002 From: Land o' Lakes, FL Status: offline
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Knavey never really got a chance at PM. While he was grabbing Buna and steaming his CVs south, I had stuffed PM with 5 fighter squadrons, had moved up all the other elements of the New Guinea Division, and further support with additional AAA and base force units. It took me all of 10 days (5 turns) to get an 80% of the forces to PM. I steamed Lex and Yorktown full speed to intercept the convoy as it left Australia (as it took 3 - 4 days to load). The next trip was mostly supplies and the other 20% of the troops. He would have had the opportunity to risk an engagement at that time, as my CVs only had the 21 F4f3s that the time. But in order to get at me tho, he would have had to round Gili-Gili and have been in range of my 7 level-bomber squadrons at Cooktown plus the LCAP from PM. Making PM the focus of Allied attention (and resources) sort of checks the initial IJN ambitions towards PM. It's the sort of situation that says, "I'm going to reinforce PM, one way or the other. If you want it, you have to go for it NOW with only 2 1/2 carriers and only a gaggle of troops. You'll be going up against my entire fleet (including both of my carriers), and every plane, and sub that I can scrounge anywhere near Australia. Do you really think you can pull that off with just Shok and Zui? I don't think so." Yes, it leaves eastern side weak, but if he captures Lunga and Tulagi, who cares, he's going to anyways. You also immediately form up TFs to spread around the Americal Div around to defend Luganville and the other eastern bases. This requires that if he does land anywhere in east, he has to do so at least in division strength. And after having reinforced PM, he'd have to land with at least 3 divisions and keep them supplied. Theorhetical : Even if he goes after Luganville, that sort of thing gets telegraphed early (it's a LONG way to steam), you can scramble your bombers out of Australia to Noumea and divert your fleet back to engage him. Again, it's more of "If you want something important, you have to fight EVERYTHING." At this point PM and Gili-Gili are fully operational with at least a division at each. There are subs, mines and shore batteries guarding each from bombardment TFs. The air war is still "pitched" over PM, as my P39s pretty much suck. I can exact a toll, but Zero vs. P-39 usually the Zero wins (there are never enough P-40s). Knavey is usually able to shut down PM for a day or two with massive raids by Bettys (his Nell squadrons have been decimated), but it appearently becomes too costly after a few days. He rests/rebuilds his bomber formations and I fill in the holes in the AF. -F- Edit : About the Nav Search and Recon. I -totally- agree. ALWAYS know where he's at. If you have not spotting reports on your desk, your bombers have nothing to bomb. There's no shame in setting some of those long-range Hudsons or B-17s to Nav Search. They're VERY good at this. Again, if they don't have any targets, your bombers just sit on the ground. And knowing where his CVs are means knowing whether or not to send the convoy, or just having it steam in a circle for 4 days until he leaves.
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