apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002 Status: offline
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11 Mar 42 The 2 surviving heroic Philippine patrol boats Q-111 and Q112 are headed to Borneo for fuel, hoping for an impossible escape to Java and beyond. Near Puerto Princesa, they run into 2 DMS and 2 xAPs, but both sides decline combat. The PT boats have no torpedoes, which is why they left their base at Manila. North of Kwajalein, sub Silversides spots the big transport task force that was at Wake Island. The sub gets hit with a depth charge and will go to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Near Kolaka in the Celebes, Dutch sub KIX spots a patrol boat and an xAK, fires 4 torpedoes at xAK Meigen Maru, and get a hit. There's no mention of heavy damage or fires. KIX immediately attacks again, spotting the same patrol boat and a different cargo ship. 2 torpedoes are fired at xAK Madras Maru, one hits, and the ship is on fire with heavy damage. Could be 2 different ships, could be the same ship and little to no damage done with the first torpedo. Regardless, good work by the Dutch sub. Fighters sweep and bombers bomb Changsha and Hengyang in China. Runway damage at both locations is now near 50. H81s are moved to a nearby base and will LRCAP Hengyang today. In the morning, enemy ships are spotted still at Lunga. Yorktown, Enterprise and Indomitable launch a coordinated strike. Tulagi and Lunga don't have airfields built yet, so air opposition was not expected, and none was found. Morning Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 114,138 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Allied aircraft Albacore I x 18 F4F-3 Wildcat x 27 SBD-3 Dauntless x 72 No Allied losses Japanese Ships CA Kinugasa, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires CA Kako, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage CA Aoba, Bomb hits 3 CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Kikuzuki, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Uzuki DD Yuzuki In the afternoon, another coordinated strike identical to the first is sent out. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 114,138 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Allied aircraft Albacore I x 18 F4F-3 Wildcat x 27 SBD-3 Dauntless x 72 Allied aircraft losses SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CA Aoba, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage xAK Syunko Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk xAK Mansei Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk xAK Ryoka Maru, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk xAK Yae Maru, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk DD Uzuki DD Yuzuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire Cruiser Aoba appeared to be the least damaged from the first strike, and was hit hard in the second. The torpedo bombers were still poorly trained, with most torpedo skills in the 50's. They did well against the cargo ships but missed the combat vessels in the morning. Good work. 4 heavy cruisers either badly damaged or sunk. There are enemy troops on Lunga so it's just a matter of time until there's an airfield here. Allied task forces will return to Auckland now, after an accompanying cruiser force bombards Tulagi tonight. Maybe they'll be some disbanded ships there. I want to show some aggression before I pull back and wait for the next opportunity while I reinforce and build. I have no doubt that KB will be rushing south from the Kwajalein area now that Allied carriers have been spotted. We all know what cannot happen: the Allies cannot lose their carriers this early. Hit and run.
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