Uncivil Engineer
Posts: 1014
Joined: 2/22/2012 From: Florida, USA Status: offline
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Jul 19 The Allies switched to night aerial bombardment at Buna, Lae, and Milne Bay, all ineffective. A major naval battle occurred west of Milne Bay. On the 18th an IJN TF of 2 fast BBs and some destroyers advanced toward Port Moresby, but targeting 1 hex SW of PM where several 1 ship TFs had been sighted. Several indecisive battles occurred, with both sides taking some damage to destroyers. On the 19th our battleships retired to Milne Bay, and 2 damaged destroyers retired at cruise speed. The Allies pursued with a TF consisting of BBs Maryland and Arizona. An IJN sub intercepted and put 2 torpedoes into Maryland. quote:
Sub attack near Milne Bay at 99,134 Japanese Ships SS I-19 Allied Ships BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage BB Arizona DD Blue DD Humphreys DD MacDonough DD Hull DD Clark SS I-19 launches 6 torpedoes at BB Maryland The Allied BB TF overtook the damaged IJN DDs and damaged them further. quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 99,134, Range 26,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Amatsukaze, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Wakaba, Shell hits 1, on fire Allied Ships BB Maryland, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage BB Arizona, Shell hits 1 DD Gwin DD Grayson DD Mustin DD Blue DD Patterson DD Reid DD Phelps DD Clark DD Hull DD MacDonough DD Humphreys This additional damage took Maryland out of the fight, but a pursuing cruiser TF sank the IJN DDs. quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 99,134, Range 24,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Amatsukaze, Shell hits 3, and is sunk DD Wakaba, Shell hits 7, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Chicago CL St. Louis DD Morris, heavy damage DD Gridley But, unbeknownst to the Allies, BB Yamato and 3 other IJN BBs sat at Milne Bay and reacted to the advancing Allied naval force quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 99,134, Range 26,000 Yards Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses SOC-1 Seagull: 3 destroyed OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships BB Nagato, Shell hits 8, heavy fires BB Yamato, Shell hits 4 BB Fuso, Shell hits 12, on fire BB Ise, Shell hits 6 DD Hatsushima, Shell hits 4, heavy fires DD Ariake, Shell hits 1 DD Oite, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Hayate, Shell hits 5, on fire DD Sawakaze DD Namikaze, Shell hits 4 Allied Ships BB Arizona, Shell hits 34, and is sunk CA Chicago, Shell hits 4, and is sunk CL St. Louis, Shell hits 6, on fire DD Gwin, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Grayson, Shell hits 4, heavy fires DD Mustin DD Blue, Shell hits 1 DD Patterson, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Gridley, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Reid, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage DD Phelps, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Clark DD Hull, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage DD MacDonough Then sub I-19 put another 3 torpedoes into Maryland, and she sank (although the combat report doesn't show that) quote:
Sub attack near Milne Bay at 99,134 Japanese Ships SS I-19 Allied Ships BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage DD Humphreys It was reported that 4 of the Allied DDs also sank. As BB Yamato retired from this fight an Allied sub fired several torpedoes, but missed. The 3 BBs with Yamato will require yard time to fix damage, but Yamato is fine, as are the 2 fast BBs. All need ammo. But, 2 more US BBs are out of the fight for good.
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