Walker84
Posts: 850
Joined: 7/5/2009
Status: offline
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Dec 11, 1942
When bombardment missions go wrong
Keen to deny my opponent the ability to build up his bridgehead bases at Tagula and Rossel Island, I ordered two night naval bombardment missions, one for each island respectively.
Spearheaded by BBs Yamato and Kongo, the Rossel TF did a nice job, blasting through the PT boat screen and damaging plenty of planes on the ground and the airfield itself.
I realised that there was a problem with the second operation, however, when it was reported engaging PT boats at Rennell Island, which is a well-established Allied base much further SW in the Solomons, in fact only a few hexes from Lunga. After seeing off the PT boats, the IJN TF sank the French DD Le Triomphant as well as TKs Sunadmiral and War Sirdar.
The massive diversion from its original target left the TF out of ops points and perilously close to substantial Allied LBA at the Guadalcanal base complex once the sun rose, with predictable results:
quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 8
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 27
Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CL Naka, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Jintsu
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
20 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 18
Allied aircraft losses
Albacore I: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
CL Naka, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Kumano, heavy fires
DD Asashio
DD Kuroshio
Aircraft Attacking:
18 x Albacore I launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Mk XII Torpedo
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Allied aircraft
SBD-2 Dauntless x 18
Japanese Ships
CL Jintsu, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kuroshio
DD Akigumo
DD Makigumo
Aircraft Attacking:
10 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
4 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
4 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 26
Japanese Ships
DD Hagikaze, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Asashio
CA Kumano, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shirayuki
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
6 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
12 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CA Kumano
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 7 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 17
F4F-3 Wildcat x 16
Japanese Ships
DD Makigumo
DD Akigumo
DD Makinami
Aircraft Attacking:
17 x Albacore I launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Mk XII Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Allied aircraft
SBD-2 Dauntless x 18
Japanese Ships
CL Naka, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shirayuki
DD Asashio
CL Jintsu, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
Aircraft Attacking:
12 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
6 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
fternoon Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 111,139
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 7 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 6
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
DD Hagikaze, on fire, heavy damage. Sinks later
CL Naka, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage. Sinks later
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
Kumano was to sink the following day but, in the meantime, I had asked my opponent to pause the game while I tried to figure out if this egregious TF diversion was due to a bug or if it was simply an unfortunate case of TF reacting badly. To cut a long story short these things can happen in the game as a result of the bombardment code and the TF reaction settings among other factors, and so I just need to treat this as a learning opportunity  . Those who would like to find out more about the issues when ordering naval bombardments can read the Tech forum thread:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3960906
Here's the position on the map:
 Attachment (1)
< Message edited by Walker84 -- 11/8/2015 11:02:26 AM >
_____________________________
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most -
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -1882)
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RE: Great Tides that Ebb and Flow: Apbarog (A) vs Walke... - 
. 
Sooner, rather than later.
Hope you get back to the game soon!
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