USSAmerica
Posts: 18715
Joined: 10/28/2002
From: Graham, NC, USA
Status: offline
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Dec 12-13 turn:
This was a really long combat replay! There are ships, planes, and troops in contact with the enemy in almost every corner of the map. Generally, Mike is still advancing on all fronts, picking off some stragglers attempting to escape from the PI, and trying to kill off what's left of my meager fighter forces at Manila and Singapore. I have managed to score a few hits in return, mostly with my subs. I'll hit the high points below.
Malaya saw my TBs from Singapore finally fly and they hit 3 or 4 transports off Mersing. The only attacks on Japanese warships missed their targets. His two tank units are still alone at Johore Bahru. I'll be Deliberate attacking them with 3 or 4 brigades that were unpacked out of Strategic mode last turn. I have set 2 bomber groups to hit the follow up troops still marching out of the Mersing hex to try to slow them down. If I get lucky and give him a bit of a bloody nose here, I could force him to retreat back to Mersing and open the rail line for more resources to flow into Singapore for another day or two. That will be a little bit more supply later on for the defense of Singapore.
In the DEI, Mike split up the strong 3 CA SC TF he had been using to bash my xAKLs. I'm sure he was figuring he could catch more of my scattered TFs that way. It was lucky for him that he did. My SC TF centered around PoW and Repulse, reinforced with Marblehead and Boise, caught one of his split TFs that chased some of my ships toward Balikpapan. It worked out well for me:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,100, Range 5,000 Yards
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed
F1M2 Pete: 1 destroyed
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed
Japanese Ships
CA Nachi, Shell hits 29, and is sunk
CL Nagara, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Yamakaze, Shell hits 2
DD Kawakaze, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 11
BC Repulse, Shell hits 1
CL Java
CL De Ruyter
CL Tromp
CL Marblehead
CL Boise
DD John D. Ford
DD Peary
DD Pillsbury
DD Pope
DD Vampire
DD Banckert
DD Van Nes
DD Witte de With
DD Evertsen
DD Kortenaer
DD Piet Hein
DD Tenedos
DD Electra
DD Express
Yamakaze escaped the initial fire fight, but my TF chased her down and finished her off over two more engagements. If all 3 of Mike's previously present CAs were still in this TF I would have likely taken more damage, but he probably would have lost more than 1 of them. I know I had way more ships in this TF than are usually effective in a surface fight, but I was anticipating a meeting engagement with a much larger enemy force and wanted many more targets for them to try to hit. I also wanted as much ASW in the TF as possible as Mike's subs are very active in the DEI.
Now, one of the reasons I decided to move into this area was that Mike had 1 or 2 CVL/E at most in the area of the Celebes Sea the previous turn and they made multiple torpedo attacks on my fleeing xAKLs. I was banking on them being out of torpedoes and I was right. When the sun rose, there were two attacks on my SC TF from CV based Kates with only 1 bomb hit each on PoW and Repulse. A calculated risk on my part but it paid off well in the form of a bloody nose for the IJN.
PoW is out of main gun ammo, so I'm going to retreat to refuel at Balikpapan and then return to Sorebaja to rearm and maybe repair a bit of the 16 Sys damage that PoW took from shells and a bomb. Mike doesn't know I'm out of BB ammo so he will almost have to pull back the other TF's he has operating in the area for at least a turn or two. This is about the best result I could hope for from a quick counter punch this early. Time to look for the next opportunity. It will most likely come in another region as Mike is sure to reinforce his naval forces in this area with some BBs to counter Pow. I won't pick a fight with them nor risk a surface fight with them if I can avoid it.
Up north of Luzon, my misbehaving Sub Patrol TF allowed me to form new TFs after I had a second one join them in the hex. They are now all spread out in the area west of Formosa. I'm trying to stay out of shallow water hexes, especially for the first year when my torpedoes are so ineffective. In deep water my survival chances go way up and I am happy enough with a 20% chance of my torpedoes actually exploding into enemy ships. Home port for all the subs in this area has been changed to Darwin, where I'm slowly building up my forces, building out the port, and relocating several AS support ships to reload torps.
Around Pearl, the large IJN sub presence is still in place. Saratoga arrived on the scene last turn and has added her air group to the ASW efforts, along with two more ASW TFs formed from her DD escorts. I have all 3 of my early CVs at Pearl now with their air groups flying mostly Naval Search and ASW. Sooner or later, Mike's subs will build up some damage that has to be repaired, will run short of fish, or maybe even have one or two sunk. I'm gaining some good experience as well. I have not yet sent any significant shipping out of Pearl yet, or had any major convoys leave the West Coast yet. In a few more days I'll have to take the chance and get a little bit of supply and fuel moving to the SoPac island bases, but I can still afford to play "Whack a Sub" around here for a couple more turns.
The valiant crew of BB West Virginia continues to struggle to save her, but her fires continue to increase. She will see at least one more sunrise, but not too many more.
_____________________________
Mike "Good times will set you free" - Jimmy Buffett "They need more rum punch" - Me  Artwork by The Amazing Dixie |
Printable Version
RE: THREAD War: Mike & Mike - Mike Solli (J) vs. USS Am... - 
There are probably a couple more that are not spotted yet. Even if I don't kill them, my squadrons and DD's will gain a little experience as they attempt to attack, the subs are burning up torpedoes by shooting at my DD's, and I did get one depth charge hit on I-4 (identified as such but who knows which sub it actually was). The goal is to chase off most of these subs so I can start shipping into and out of this region more safely. WV continues to fight off the inevitable. Her fires increased this turn to 78, despite flooding dropping from 98 to 97. Only a matter of time now. 
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