Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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3/14/43 and 3/15/43 Battle of Cocos Island: Thinking my guys are retiring, Dave presses the attack. But his guys are fagged. His alpha strike on the 14th consist of 68 Zeros and 13 strike aircraft, which get mauled by 140 Allied fighters on CAP. A smaller enemy strikes damages two of three DDs that tried and failed to intercept KB. One of those two (Farragut class) will sink. On the 15th, he commits bombardment TFs against Cocos - they manage modest port damage. My carriers and his are just four hexes apart, with Cocos in between. His bombardment TF hung up at the island. Four Fletchers will try for an intercept tonight on the supposition the enemy is low on ammo. Unbelievably, what looks to be a counterinvasion force is inbound. One of us doesn't know this battle is (temporarily) over! He think I have about 130 AV ashore, but it's 400. Supply will be the issue. I think he will pull back, but I've thought that before. My guys will hang around - at least for three or four more days (or until I begin to fear that somehow that big carrier TF recently in NoPac might show up). Battle of Tarawa: Mini KB shows up eight or nine hexes NW of the island and launches a series of strikes against a small CL/DD TF. My CAP handles things well and Dave loses 70 aircraft to my six. NoPac: No sign of the enemy. Missions to augment supply at most bases have been successful. Bay of Bengal: Dave took unoccupied Car Nicobar but Abdiel inserted a small infantry force at Trinkat. His little detachment then came ashore in bad shape. He'll take it soon, as I'm just messing with his mind around here. He has some real weaknesses here but I won't be able to exploit them anytime soon. Unless nearly all of his carriers show up far, far away, I'll be limited in what I can do until my carriers are fixed. The Year of Attrition: is off to a rousing start. The invasions of Tarawa and Cocos have provoked sharp reactions. Both sides are fighting hard. Both sides are inflicting and taking measurable losses. Overall, I feel like this has gone pretty well. On the debit side, I've lost a handful of low-value DDs and a bunch of xAPs. Three CVEs have been damaged (one badly), as have three CVs. One BB and one CA have suffered torpedo hits. I lost a bunch of strike aircraft. On the credit side, Dave's lost CA Takao (confirmed), CA Nachi took a TT, and CA Kumano just hit a mine at Cocos. Dave's aircraft losses are 2x or 2.5x mine. His carrier air has really taken a hit. The Allied position around Tarawa is strong. The position at Cocos isn't so strong, mainly because it's so exposed. I think Dave will give these areas so much attention that others will receive less. The fighting has been fun and furious.
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