RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/27/2018 7:56:04 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

10 Jun 42

2 enemy sub attacks on DMS Chandler southeast of Tabiteuea. All torpedoes missed.

B-26s with Hurricane escort hit Myitkyina's airfield, doing moderate damage. B-17s hit also. No CAP. Myitkyina is the nearest base supply point for the enemy push near Ledo.

No sign of Kaga or other carriers heading southeast from Truk. Shipping has left Tabiteuea as a precaution.

Reinforcements moving toward Ledo and Imphal areas. The enemy threat is real, but not overwhelming. We'll have a good fight there.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/28/2018 4:15:53 AM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline

11 Jun 42

45 Zeros from Port Moresby sweep Cooktown but there's no CAP.

I've been playing a shell game with fighter squadrons in China and in India/Burma. Stay in one place more than a day, sometimes two, and pay the price with an overwhelming fighter sweep and enemy bombers. I paid the price at Imphal.

Morning Air attack on Imphal , at 60,40

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 37

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed

and then

Morning Air attack on Imphal , at 60,40

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 25
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 42

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Allied ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 47

I can defend something with multiple fighter squadrons, like Calcutta and Ledo, and that prevents the enemy from trying to fight there, but I can't do that everywhere. Imphal isn't on a rail line, and isn't a great place to put a bunch of aircraft. 15 P-40s are lost for the downing of just 2 Oscars. Most of the Warhawk losses were ops losses, probably from trying to land on a damaged runway. This was a Flying Tiger squadron, with good pilots, some very good, but they were no match to high sweeping Oscars today. The good news is that only one Warhawk pilot was KIA. Just one plane remains operational, and it flys to Calcutta to reconstitute the unit. It will be tough getting the 10 damaged Warhawks out. They'll probably get bombed there now. This isn't the kind of attritional battle I want to fight. I have some overlapping CAP on bases west of Ledo, on the rail line, so that should help some. But I have to try to avoid sitting in one place elsewhere.

Massive numbers of fighters do help. It will someday be my turn to make use of massive numbers.

A third TBF squadron joins the Allied carriers today. Battleship North Carolina arrives in Panama in less than a week.

3 damaged slow British battleships will arrive at Trincomalee from Madras today. They'll go to Colombo soon, then probably to Bombay to repair enough SYS damage that I'm confident they can move off-map safely.

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Post #: 422

RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/28/2018 7:32:03 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
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12 Jun 42

The enemy battleships spotted yesterday do bombard Tabiteuea overnight. Could have been worse. Just one P-40 lost.

Night Naval bombardment of Tabiteuea at 137,134

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 9 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna
CL Yubari

Allied ground losses:
227 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 9
Port hits 11
Port supply hits 1

Anything short of a counter-invasion is just a nuisance, in my opinion. The base is building and well defended. It will be the stepping stone to Tarawa, Ocean and Nauru Islands, and beyond.

Oscars sweep Sian. I've had fighters there for a few days. They had been on CAP. Today they were on LRCAP over a contested hex to the northeast. No engagement. They move out to a base to the northeast to disappear for a few days. Hide and seek. Only thing that works at the moment. Helens bomb Chinese units in the clearer terrain (rough) further up north. No way to protect them there.

There's been the daily artillery attacks at Bandoeng. Today there's several more infantry units there, back from Batavia from resting from the last deliberate attack. Another is coming. Sooner or later, the base will fall, but the defense has caused a massive headache for the enemy.

Damaged battleship Ramilles, the most damaged one, will leave Diamond Harbour today with an escort destroyer. It can only move 4 hexes in a day at full speed. It can't repair anymore of its FLOT damage there, so it has to move as is. Fighters are moved west of Calcutta to protect. Moving just 4 hexes, there's a decent chance of it getting spotted. If it does, I'll have to decide whether to run back to Diamond Harbour, or continue west.

The other 3 lesser damaged battleships made it to Trincomalee today. They haven't been spotted since leaving Diamond Harbour. Today they'll move to the base at the southern part of Ceylon, moving 6 hexes a day, and on to Colombo tomorrow.

Damaged cruiser Devonshire is now at Bombay and will take 24 days to fully repair in the shipyard.

More activity than normal in the Solomons. Carriers that covered the battleship bombardment of Tabiteuea could get to Ndeni at any time.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/28/2018 9:28:15 PM

BBfanboy

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From: Winnipeg, MB
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Many IJN players have subs patrol the SW corner of Ceylon for obvious reasons. If you have any ASW ships available it would be good to sweep ahead of your BBs at Trincomalee.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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Post #: 424

RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/28/2018 9:41:18 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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I've hit a few subs there. OPilot moved to the east of Ceylon after that. I am regularly patrolling that area though. Another sub just showed up near Karachi. I'd sunk one there about a month ago. I have a bunch of ML there that are excellent for ASW, but unfortunately, most are in upgrade there right now. I have 2 MLs patrolling the route to Abadan.

The battleships do hug the coast as much as possible. I haven't seen any subs in the shallows in this area so far.

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Post #: 425

RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/29/2018 7:00:05 AM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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13 Jun 42

PT-47 hit a mine and sank at Diamond Harbour. An enemy sub apparently snuck in and laid the minefield and missed my mines there. This may be the first time I've run into a mine. Not sure. OPilot has certainly used them sparingly if at all. I wonder if he likes to stock up and use them in large quantities. I have a small minesweeper at Calcutta. It is ordered to Diamond Harbour.

I wonder if he was trying to trap my ships in Calcutta/Diamond Harbour. He knows that there are 2 cruisers at Calcutta, with a destroyer. There had been 4 damaged battleships at Diamond Harbour. There are none now. He may or may not know that. Dropping mines at Diamond Harbour could be a sign of a big move on Chittagong. There are ships to the south approaching the area. Could be the real thing. Or another figment of my worrying.

B-26s aided a deliberate attack southwest of Imphal. B-17s hit Myitkyina's airfield again, putting damage over 50. No attempt to defend it from OPilot so far.

S-45 moved to Nauru Island and hit xAK Hohuku Maru with a torpedo. The ship was not seen sinking. A patrol boat did some minor damage to the sub, which will retire to Suva.

I was right about Bandoeng. Another attack. I've lost track of which attempt this is.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 46594 troops, 604 guns, 305 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256

Defending force 21932 troops, 208 guns, 50 vehicles, Assault Value = 317

Japanese adjusted assault: 1019

Allied adjusted defense: 742

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2924 casualties reported
Squads: 91 destroyed, 165 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 24 (5 destroyed, 19 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1097 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 33 (2 destroyed, 31 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

The enemy is getting closer to finally conquering the mountain stronghold. But the cost. It has just been enormous in enemy troops lost and in time lost for all of the units involved. If only I could invade Java and save the Dutch. They deserve it. Here's what the enemy has there now. What could these guys have been doing in the past few months if they weren't tied down trying to clear Bandoeng?

Assaulting units:
16th Division
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
65th Brigade
2nd Formosa Inf. Regiment
21st Division
48th Engineer Regiment
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Mortar Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

There's 40 enemy bombers at Lunga now. This is new.

I discovered that there were some APs at Christmas Island that were disbanded but still had supply on them. They will unload completely before starting to load troops for Tarawa. That will take 2 or 3 days.

More SigInt about the Aleutians. 303 Independent Infantry Battalion is planning for Amchitka. That's the third unit for a third island. All still in the far western Aleutians. Nothing noted for Adak yet, which is still empty, and will be. Troops are now on the way to Umnak near Dutch Harbor, but that's as far west as I'm going for now.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/29/2018 8:03:23 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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14 Jun 42

2 MLs find I-32 northwest of Karachi and hit it with a depth charge. Later in the day a Hudson get a bomb hit on the sub as it moved south.

Tiny AMc Patna completely sweeps the enemy sub-laid minefield at Diamond Harbour. Looks like just one sub dropped mines that did take out a PT boat. The two damaged Brit cruisers at Calcutta will move to Diamond Harbour and then sprint for safety after refueling.

S-34 spots a patrol boat in the shallows east of Port Moresby. I've known that the enemy has been hugging the coast with shipping going to and from the base, but I haven't been able to interdict it. A load of mines were not hit in the shallows. It looks like just small cargo ships and patrol boats on the route lately.

45 Zeros from Port Moresby sweep Cooktown again. I'm not defending the airspace here. I am defending Townsville.

B-26s again hit troops at the battle southwest of Imphal. Allied troops attack again, but the odds are getting increasingly long. Casualties were about even today. It's becoming a stalemate here, which is acceptable.

I tried my luck with a surprise B-17 raid of Magwe. Magwe is a big enemy airbase. 41 Oscars were on patrol and the bombers got chewed up. Almost no damage to the airfield. 9 bombers lost and 11 Oscars destroyed in the air and by ops losses.

B-26s from Tabiteuea hit Tarawa's port, doing minimal damage. They'll hit Ocean Island today. I don't want to show too much attention to Tarawa, but it is worth keeping the forts from building further.

S-42 fired 2 torpedoes at xAK Sakido Maru northwest of Nauru Island but missed.

My gut feeling was right. Enemy carriers appear north of Ndeni. Allied carriers remain at Pukapuka, east of Pago Pago. CLAA Atlanta will join them today, arriving from Panama via Pearl Harbor. APs at Christmas Island continue to unload supply. When all are empty, they'll start loading troops for the Tarawa invasion. After that, if the enemy hasn't invaded the Aleutians yet, I'm tempted to send the carriers up there and wait in ambush.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/30/2018 2:21:10 AM

DOCUP

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Nice job getting those damaged ships out.

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Post #: 428

RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 9/30/2018 8:01:00 PM

apbarog

Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
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15 Jun 42

Battleships Kirishima, Hiei and Haruna bombard Ndeni. Moderate damage to the one-day-old airfield and port. All supply destroyed. Ndeni is still my moderately defended speed bump. OPilot can keep his interest there while Luganville builds.

32 Bettys with 15 Zeros bombed Ndeni's airfield, doing light damage.

Cooktown gets additional enemy attention. 45 Zeros sweep in the morning and 27 Bettys with 27 Zeros bomb in the afternoon (probably secondary mission). This is the first time to get the combined sweep and escorted bombing. I moved 2 fighter squadrons to Townsville today. Tomorrow I will load up Cairns with 4 fighter squadrons and have them all do LRCAP over Cooktown and mix things up there.

B-26s hit Ocean Island's port, doing very little damage. Torpedo-dropping Catalinas move back to Tabiteuea today. Nauru Island is still getting my recon, and there are still ships there. The Cats may attack tomorrow.

Just east of Ontong Java, the Dutch submarine force strikes again:

Sub attack near Ontong Java at 117,131

Japanese Ships
AO Nippon Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Oboro
AO Toei Maru
AO Ken'yo Maru
DD Ushio
DD Sazanami

Allied Ships
SS KXVII

The AO's are undoubtedly supporting the carriers to the south. It's very nice to get a big AO, and this one did sink as the fuel was burning. KXVII already had 2 probable sinkings in May at Ponape, 2 xAKs.

Again. Another brave defense by the Dutch at Bandoeng. The end is coming, but not yet.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 41460 troops, 578 guns, 305 vehicles, Assault Value = 1034

Defending force 21061 troops, 205 guns, 48 vehicles, Assault Value = 250

Japanese adjusted assault: 393

Allied adjusted defense: 637

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3553 casualties reported
Squads: 124 destroyed, 99 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 26 (10 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
795 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 42 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 26 (5 destroyed, 21 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (3 destroyed, 13 disabled)

OPilot overstacked Bandoeng to over 50,000 men, but it wasn't enough.

I took note of where my big fast AO's are. I've been using them for routine fuel deliveries from the West Coast. If I send my carriers to the Aleutians, I want them going also. All are diverted from current missions and ordered to go to Pearl Harbor, where they would meet up with the carriers after the Tarawa operation.

A bit of frustration with the Indian Punjab Division. 2 parts of it were static, while one was not. I looked up the division in the editor, and the division didn't show the Frontier Scouts that are in the 2 static parts but not the other. I assumed that the division would not be static, but I formed the division and hit has the Frontier Scouts in it, and it is static. A waste of about 100 combat value as the unit is at Lahore.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/1/2018 4:12:57 AM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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16 Jun 42

I-168 missed DMS Hopkins with 2 torpedoes southwest of Luganville. Hopkins is escorting a few small transports to safer waters at Noumea. Enemy carriers moved southwest to near the eastern Solomon islands, and the AO task force joined them there.

Permit fired 2 torpedoes at PB Tomitu Maru near Victoria Point. One hit but it was a dud. The patrol boat is escorting at least 7 xAKs, and I believe they are northbound.

Catalinas from Tabiteuea attacked enemy shipping at Nauru Island, as hoped for. 2 torpedoes hit xAK Sakido Maru, sinking the ship. Another torpedo hit a different xAK, but is was a dud. There were at least 3 cargo ships there. The Cats will go again today. This is possible because Nauru Island, Ocean Island and Tarawa don't have an airfield built yet.

South of Akyab, at Ramree Island (which is still an Allied dot base by the way), Dutch sub KVIII fired 4 torpedoes at destroyer Fubuki but missed. The sub avoided depth charges in the shallow water. 3 cruisers and 5 destroyers are spotted. They can bombard Chittagong from here tonight, and my guess is that they will. A US sub will mine Ramree tonight, and the Dutch sub is redeploying nearby but away from Ramree.

Hmmm. A Brit division moved to Dimapur, hoping to defend against the 33rd Infantry Division, but once again that division is showing movement to the east, to approach Ledo. And the Brit division is restricted, so I can't go after the enemy since it is still in Burma. It will stay at Dimapur for now, and can rush to Ledo if needed.

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Post #: 430

RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/1/2018 7:57:52 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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17 Jun 42

Sub Gar is patrolling near Babeldaob. Gar spots 3 AOs and fired 4 torpedoes at big AO Sata. One torpedo hits and it's a dud.

My LRCAP of Cooktown found the enemy today.

Afternoon Air attack on Cooktown , at 92,137

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 24,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 43

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 21
P-40E Warhawk x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 3 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed

and

Afternoon Air attack on Cooktown , at 92,137

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 66 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
G4M1 Betty x 27

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
Catalina I: 1 destroyed on ground

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hit

It's notable that the sweeping Zeros are A6M3s. First combat with the new model. I have no doubt that the enemy pilots in this unit are elite. It showed in the combat. Total air losses were 12 P-40Es and 9 P-39s while downing 8 of the new A6M3s. All Allied fighter units moved back to Townsville to recover and brace for enemy carrier activity. Heavy bombers all moved out of Townsville to Charter Towers.

Catalinas from Tabiteuea again go to Nauru Island to attack cargo shipping. One torpedo hits an xAK but it's a dud. They will keep trying until Nauru gets some CAP or the ships leave.

One small interesting note: I've trained some Australian Wirraways for ASW work. They carry just a 100 pound bomb, but it's better than nothing, and the planes aren't great at anything really. I have a squadron at Townsville and they got 2 sub hits today. They have been making bomb drops almost every day for the last week, so it's working out using them for ASW.

The 2 damaged Brit cruisers will leave Diamond Harbour and head to Madras. All damaged ships have now left Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. The first damaged Brit battleship will leave Colombo today headed for Capetown.

US troops start to land at Umnak Island, near Dutch Harbour. A base force, an engineer unit, and an infantry regiment will garrision the island. No sign of the expected enemy activity in the western Aleutians yet. It could be tomorrow, it could be 3 months from now. All I have is 3 units prepping for different islands in the western Aleutians.

Battleship North Carolina has arrived in Panama and starts to move to Pearl Harbor.

The Tarawa invasion is about to kick off. Loading has begun at Christmas Island.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/2/2018 6:43:56 AM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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18 Jun 42

Battleship Revenge, the least damaged of the 4 damaged near Diamond Harbour, left Colombo and headed due west towards Capetown, escorted by destroyer Scout. Scout has seen lots of action, with fighting north of Borneo, and at Akyab, where it was the only ship to survive from a cruiser task force. It witnesses another disaster.

Sub attack near Colombo at 24,48

Japanese Ships
SS I-164

Allied Ships
BB Revenge, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
DD Scout

SS I-164 launches 4 torpedoes at BB Revenge

Revenge was SYS 16/FLOT 15-15/ENG 0/FIRE 0. Now it is SYS 36/FLOT 68-46/ENG 10-5/FIRE 0, and can only move one hex. I'll try to go to the Indian coast instead of Colombo, as that will be expected. With blood in the water, the enemy subs will come running. And I suspect there are more of them out there than I know of. Time to try to save the ship, again.

Sub Permit spots battleship Hyuga near Victoria Point. During the day, a big CVL task force is spotted, and it looks bigger than the previous ones. I think these task forces are headed north but I can't be sure of that, yet.

Cooktown is swept and bombed again but no Allied planes show up. Not after the losses from yesterday.

I catch a break in China. An enemy brigade was crossing a river into a hex where both sides have been for awhile. It triggered a shock attack. I'm sure that OPilot didn't expect that.

Ground combat at 86,40 (near Sian)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6750 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 524

Defending force 29329 troops, 144 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1020

Japanese adjusted assault: 0

Allied adjusted defense: 2341

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 99

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), supply(-)

Japanese ground losses:
4308 casualties reported
Squads: 258 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 110 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 26 (21 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
4th Ind.Mixed Brigade
32nd Division

Defending units:
43rd Chinese Corps
34th Chinese Corps
33rd Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
7th Group Army

That unit was wrecked.

The 2 damaged Brit cruisers ran from Diamond Harbour towards Cocanada at full speed. CLAA Van Heemskerck almost sinks on the way. It went from SYS 70/FLOT 16-16/ENG 19-4/FIRE 0 to SYS 70/FLOT 56-26/ENG 19-4/FIRE 0. It made it to the size one port, and it will be stuck there indefinitely while it repairs, particularly its FLOT damage. It can go at cruise speed fairly safely from Cocanada to Ceylon, but that won't be for a long while. The other cruiser split off and will arrive tomorrow. It did not take much additional damage.

The APs were loaded for the Tarawa invasion and have headed that direction from Christmas Island. Because I'm using slower xAKs for supply, they'll move 6 a day instead of 8. Allied carriers start to move north from Pukapuka and will rendezvous with the transports east of Baker Island. 3 slow battleships will provide bombardment support. I cringe just saying that. I have such bad luck with the slow battleships. Torpedo magnets, I say!

The approach to Tarawa will be from the east southeast rather than directly from Tabiteuea. There will be subs on the route, I figure. I haven't set up any air ASW at Tabiteuea yet, but I should. Too busy putting CAP up and using the Catalinas to bomb. Once the airfield grows more, that won't be a problem.

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< Message edited by apbarog -- 10/2/2018 6:44:45 AM >

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/2/2018 6:49:55 AM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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I realized that I didn't report my PT boat attack at Akyab, which occurred yesterday, on 17 Jun 42.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Akyab at 54,45, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Fuji Maru #4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Akita Maru, Shell hits 1
xAKL Heiku Maru, Shell hits 3
xAKL Haguro Maru
xAKL Kasui Maru
xAKL Kaishi Maru, Shell hits 2
xAKL Kyuei Maru, Shell hits 2
xAKL Bokuei Maru, Shell hits 2
xAKL Chosen Maru
xAKL Matsutan Maru, Shell hits 3
xAKL Kokuei Maru, Shell hits 12

Allied Ships
PT-37
PT-38
PT-40
PT-45
PT-46

It looked better than it really was. All of those shell hits were .50 cal hits, and none produced any visible damage to the ships. It was a nice attack though.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/2/2018 7:19:03 PM

apbarog

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Joined: 5/23/2002
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19 Jun 42

Destroyer Fortune gets some minor hits on I-164 west of Colombo. Fortune is fortunately in the right spot to appear to be where the damaged battleship could be, headed east to Colombo. It being spotted and the damaged battleship not being spotted is fortunate.

Sub Tarpon fired 2 torpedoes at xAK Taifuku Maru near Kusaie Island. One hit but was a dud.

I-22 moved into Noumea and fired 2 torpedoes at APD Alden but missed. It wasn't hit by any depth charges. The big APD TF was loading supply for a fast transport mission to Ndeni.

Zeros sweep Cooktown again, but again it isn't defended. Bettys bomb again.

Dimapur is swept by Oscars. A fragment of 4 Oscars comes in first, and the 5 Hurricanes may have shot them all down. Later the other 37 Oscars arrive with 4 Hurricanes defending, and a couple of planes are lost on both sides. P-39s at a nearby base were range capping here too, but didn't fly. Total losses on the day were 6 Oscars and 3 Hurri IIb's.

Shipping moving toward Tarawa. Invasion in about a week. Nothing spotted leaving Christmas Island. Enemy carriers last seen near Milne Bay aren't seen. Something at Shortlands Island, and mouseover suggests it could be carriers, but nothing definite.

Can battleship Revenge survive?

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/3/2018 6:00:38 AM

apbarog

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20 Jun 42

S-38 spots a huge task force just outside of Port Moresby. It sure looks like an invasion type task force.

Sub attack near Port Moresby at 97,131

Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Kashima
AMC Kiyosumi Maru
AMC Kinryu Maru
CM Ukishima
CM Tsugaru
APD Tade
AK Yamasimo Maru
xAP Huso Maru
xAP Manzyu Maru
xAP Huzi Maru
xAK Arimasan Maru
DD Susuki
DD Asagumo
DD Minegumo

Allied Ships
SS S-38

SS S-38 launches 4 torpedoes at CL Katori

Enemy carriers are well to the southeast, in a guarding position that OPilot has used before when getting important shipping into and out of Port Moresby. He doesn't guard them directly but prefers to guard from a distance.

A midget sub got into Sydney's harbor. Jarvis was in the port, not in a task force. This was an unusual encounter in my experience. I've seen midget sub attacks, but don't recall an ASW attack by a ship not in a task force.

Midget Sub attack inside harbor of Sydney!!!

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-5, hits 3, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Jarvis

The midget sub took 2 depth charge hits and must sink, but I have no confirmation of it.

Chittagong is attacked by bombers. There's a cruiser task force just to the northwest of Akyab. It may be guarding against another run by my PT boats. Or it could be setting up a bombardment of Diamond Harbour, or even Calcutta from that position.

I had spotted a sub 4 hexes to the northeast of Pearl Harbour. I haven't been using that route, but I want to show activity there, so I sent out destroyers Laffey and Duncan, and sent them a bit further than the contact to patrol. OPilot seems to have moved subs away from my bases to avoid air ASW, but keeping the subs in the general area of a base. The sub fired 4 torpedoes at Laffey but missed. One depth charge hit I-6.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/3/2018 6:01:24 AM

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20 Jun 42 - Tarawa

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/3/2018 8:12:56 PM

apbarog

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I've received my turn for today. OPilot will be out of town until Sunday night, so I'll be taking my time with this turn and doing all of the little things that only get looked at occasionally. I will also give a region by region update during this downtime.

I did just fill OPilot in on the voyage of ARD Dewey months ago. I didn't want to say anything sooner because SigInt had told me that he had at least one cruiser in the area near Iwo Jima after Dewey passed by and was spotted. He probably had all sorts of ideas of what could be going on, and probably none of them included that there was a drydock passing by danger close to Japan. If he thought I had bait out there with carriers potentially lurking, I didn't want to dispel that kind of thought.

It was quite an exciting 2 months following Dewey from Manila to Pearl Harbor. It was a small thing in the big scheme of the war, but one of the most interesting and exciting accomplishments I've done. OPilot will appreciate the story of Dewey.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/4/2018 3:13:16 AM

apbarog

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21 Jun 42

The cruisers that were just to the northwest of Akyab bombarded Chittagong. They didn't have to be that close to do so. Probably one of those cases where the bombardment run didn't go as planned.

Night Naval bombardment of Chittagong at 55,41 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
CL Kashii

Allied ground losses:
506 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Manpower hits 1
Fires 398
Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 10
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1

It's a pretty effective bombardment for having no battleships. Just a few float planes based there, and none lost. Without an invasion, it's just a nuisance though.

Cooktown got another enemy sweep and bombing. No defenders. Enemy carriers moved west, closer to Port Moresby (and Australia).

Lots of enemy bombing in China. It's a shell game with OPilot also. He moves around his bombing, staggering targets and times between bombings. I haven't found a pattern and quit guessing, moving the Flying Tigers squadron back to Burma. He saw it at Sian recently, and I hadn't guessed correctly, so he probably thinks it is still in China, somewhere. He recons bases behind the lines too, looking. Credit to OPilot - he does LOTS of recon. The operations report has many lines of enemy recon, every day.

I made a major effort to LRCAP Kalemyo in Burma today, in conjunction with bombers hitting enemy troops there. No enemy air transport dropping supply was found, and no enemy CAP was found either. I'm glad that I based the 4 fighter squadrons at Comilla instead of Chittagong. He did recon of Comilla, so the fighters will redeploy.

The enemy did an artillery attack at Kalemyo for the first time, now that all of the units that were headed there got there. The Allies will hold.

Ground combat at Kalemyo (59,42)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 8730 troops, 139 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 267

Defending force 6772 troops, 48 guns, 253 vehicles, Assault Value = 326

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
42nd Infantry Regiment
21st Infantry Regiment
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
5th Field Artillery Regiment
5th Engineer Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th RF Gun Battalion

Defending units:
254th Armoured Brigade
6th Chinese/B Corps

B-26s bombed Tarawa's port, doing minor damage. When the invasion gets closer, I'll switch to hitting the troops. I believe there are 2 units there, and not big ones. All shipping headed towards Tarawa were not spotted yet, I believe.

Hermes is still at Balep Island, near Koumac, slowly repairing minor FLOT damage. It was at 82, now it's down to 64. It can repair down to the major FLOT damage level of 47. Then I'll move it to Noumea to repair some SYS damage, then on to Vava'u Island where ARD Dewey will be, by then.

Region by region updates will follow in the next few days, as I take my time with the turn with OPilot unavailable until Sunday.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:10:15 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Aleutians

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:10:43 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Burma

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:11:10 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Gilberts

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:11:56 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Java

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:12:27 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Northern Australia

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:12:53 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Northern China

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:13:25 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Philippines

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:13:51 AM

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21 Jun 42 - Solomons

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 1:14:17 AM

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21 Jun 42 - South Pacific

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/6/2018 7:04:14 PM

apbarog

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21 Jun 42 - Planning

Assuming that the Tarawa invasion goes without loss, the next question is what to do next. Major units are prepping for Nauru Island, Kusaie Island, Lunga and Tulagi, but it's too early to do any of those, and too risky with KB in the Coral Sea.

Unless I want a big carrier battle now.

Allied carrier power is at a peak in terms of numbers. 5 US carriers and 3 British carriers are in the Tarawa invasion armada. Indomitable has to withdraw in 29 days, so it's gone after this operation unless we charge KB immediately. Formidable withdraws in 74 days.

Upgrades are a concern too, but they can be managed. Lexington and Saratoga are overdue for their June 42 refit. It's a 42 day long upgrade, and actually lowers the AA value while improving the radar. It can wait. Yorktown and Enterprise have 10 day upgrades in July, which is just 10 days away. This upgrade is minor but improves AA some.

While carrier numbers won't be higher until the Essex class starts to arrive in May 1943, we'll still be improving in lots of areas as time goes on. Better trained pilots, continued upgrade from TBDs to TBFs and F4F-3s to F4F-4s, and upgrades for supporting ships. Battleship North Carolina is on the way from Panama. Battleships in carrier task forces help soak up bombs, as do the armored decks on the British carriers.

So the question is, do I want a carrier battle sooner or later?

An alternate plan is to send the carriers to Pearl Harbor after the Tarawa operation and ignore KB in the Coral Sea. Carriers that can upgrade could do so. The ones with the 10 day upgrades could go to the Aleutians to lie in wait for enemy invasions up there. We have SigInt of enemy troops prepping for Aleutian islands, but that could happen very soon or not, or not at all. But it would be a great ambush if it could occur, as most if not all of the enemy big carriers are in the Coral Sea, and most if not all of the smaller ones are, or recently were, in the Indian Ocean. But the Aleutians would be a fishing expedition.

If what is in the Coral Sea right now is not all of the big enemy carriers, due to upgrades or whatever, 8 Allied carriers could do some damage. We'd take losses, but we'd cause losses also.

Let's see if KB comes running towards Tarawa when the operation kicks off.

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/7/2018 12:13:40 AM

BBfanboy

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The AA value may drop on an upgrade, but like the AV in ground combat that is raw value, which gets modified by evaluation of rate of fire, range, accuracy, effect, and reliability. The June 42 upgrades may cause your carriers to end up with lower AA value, but effectiveness is improved.

_____________________________

No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth

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RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 10/8/2018 7:01:50 PM

apbarog

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22 Jun 42

Dutch sub O16 spotted an xAK with 3 destroyers near Kavieng. 2 torpedoes were fired at DD Maikaze but missed. Ships continued south towards Rabaul.

Cooktown gets pounded again. The usual from Port Moresby: A6M3s sweep and Bettys with A6M2s bomb. In addition, carrier planes attack. 81 Vals and 90 Kates with 36 Zeros hit the airfield also. OPilot really wants Cooktown's airfield out of action, which it is. There's lots of shipping at Port Moresby, including a big transport task force, but I'm not seeing the number of troops on the ground change, so I can't tell if they are coming or going. Cooktown could be suppressed just to protect the shipping at Port Moresby, or it could be a beginning to an Australian invasion. My guess is still a longshot, but it is that the enemy is picking up the 4th Infantry Division at Port Moresby and Horn Island and going to Darwin to invade.

The enemy does a probing artillery attack southeast of Imphal. A British armored unit had just arrived there in the jungle. Should be another stalemate.

Ground combat at 60,41 (near Imphal)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 8821 troops, 78 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 287

Defending force 4791 troops, 25 guns, 94 vehicles, Assault Value = 215

Assaulting units:
146th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
56th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
16th Light Cavalry Regiment
6th Chinese/C Corps

The ships approaching Tarawa have not been seen. Invasion in 3 days.

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