Anachro
Posts: 2506
Joined: 11/23/2015 From: The Coastal Elite Status: offline
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June 29 1942 Okay day, but our carriers are in a precarious situation and our fighters decimated. My TF will attempt to retire south with CAP and ASW as Japanese subs are in the area. Meanwhile the CV Lexington and BB North Caroline will continue west in an attempt to intercept John's remaining carriers and the BB Yamato. This is okay given that his carriers are damaged (and slower), seem to be devoid of bombers. BB North Carolina will remain under Lexington's air cover till she can get in range of potential surface action. In the air battles, escort fighters again suffer tremendously against CAP even with even numbers. My bombers have a lot of misses, but hit some (with a few torpedo strikes). I can only chop up their sloppy performance to CAP interference and fatigue from long use (they came all the way down from the Aleutians and over without R&R). If Lexington gets in range, her bombers might do better. We'll see. The key here is that we hear sinking sounds so we believe at least one CVL is sunk. This should be the Shoho, which was by herself south of Luganville (most heavily damaged yesterday and probably too slow for the rest) and was actually sunk by a few old Vindicators near Efate. At least one more CVL (most likely the Zuiho) is heavily damaged. It's a shame we didn't manage to sink his G.6's which can be converted into Hiryu-esque carriers. However, a few CLs/CAs are also hit. We can only hope some more ships burns up or sink over the next few days. quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Vanikoro at 122,146 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 31 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 72 A6M2-N Rufe x 3 Allied aircraft F4F-3A Wildcat x 11 F4F-3 Wildcat x 43 F4F-4 Wildcat x 19 SBD-3 Dauntless x 73 TBD-1 Devastator x 19 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 4 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 destroyed SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 13 damaged TBD-1 Devastator: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged Japanese Ships CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire BB Yamato, Bomb hits 2 CVL Tokachi CL Ishikari CVL Kushiro CL Suzuya CA Chokai CL Tokoro DD Kagero quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 117,144 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft SBD-3 Dauntless x 13 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Umikaze CL Otonase, Bomb hits 2, on fire quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Vanikoro at 122,146 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 28 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 51 A6M2-N Rufe x 2 Allied aircraft F4F-3A Wildcat x 7 F4F-3 Wildcat x 24 F4F-4 Wildcat x 8 SBD-3 Dauntless x 73 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed F4F-3 Wildcat: 5 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed SBD-3 Dauntless: 5 destroyed, 14 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CVL Tokachi, Bomb hits 1, on fire CVL Kushiro CA Chokai, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires BB Yamato CA Maya, Bomb hits 2 Heavy smoke from fires obscuring a Japanese CVL Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CA Chokai quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Efate at 120,154 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 17 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft SB2U-3 Vindicator x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage The big danger for tomorrow is surface interception of my carriers. We'll see. I am forming some DDs and CA/CLs into a new TF to escort the carriers and try to fight off surface intercept attempts.
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