grumbler
Posts: 214
Joined: 12/4/2000 From: Falls Church VA USA Status: offline
|
Okay, just finished the three-turn run of the Hirohito bombardment of Pearl plan. I grounded all US aircraft and assigned KB to attack only naval targets (as this maximizes the suppression of the coastal guns). I kept all USN ships in port (though the AI created PT boat TFs at PH in spite of all allied HQs being on human). The japanese used all 6 heavy BBs. DDs were for in seperate ASW groups assigned to escort the BBs. The relevant combat reports: Dec 7 & 8 - no bombardment action. Dec 9 - quote:
Naval Gun Fire at Pearl Harbor (112,68) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 8 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships CL Yura BB Fuso Allied Ships PT PT-21, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 126 casualties reported Guns lost 2 TF 2 encounters mine field at Pearl Harbor (112,68) Japanese Ships DD Sanae, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Night Time Surface Combat, near Pearl Harbor at 112,68 Japanese Ships BB Nagato, Shell hits 4 BB Mutsu BB Fuso, Shell hits 1 BB Yamashiro BB Ise BB Hyuga, Shell hits 5 CL Yura CL Kinu CL Kitakami CL Oi DD Yugumo DD Mikazuki DD Sawakaze DD Yakaze DD Yukaze DD Hokaze DD Tachikaze DD Wakatake DD Kuretake DD Sanae, on fire, heavy damage DD Sagi Allied Ships PT PT-24, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage PT PT-25 PT PT-26 PT PT-28, Shell hits 39, and is sunk PT PT-29 PT PT-42 Naval bombardment of Pearl Harbor, at 112,68 - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 118 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships DD Yugumo DD Sagi, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage BB Mutsu DD Tachikaze, Shell hits 5, on fire DD Hokaze, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage DD Kuretake DD Wakatake, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage DD Yukaze DD Yakaze DD Sawakaze, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Mikazuki BB Hyuga BB Ise, Shell hits 2 BB Yamashiro BB Fuso, Shell hits 5 BB Nagato Allied Ships BB Nevada, Shell hits 1, heavy damage CA New Orleans, Shell hits 1 BB Arizona, Shell hits 1, heavy damage BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 1 BB California, Shell hits 1, heavy damage BB Tennessee, Shell hits 2 BB Maryland, Shell hits 2 Allied ground losses: 332 casualties reported Guns lost 9 Vehicles lost 1 Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 3 Port hits 1 I turned around the retiring BBs for another run, to give the Hirohito plan its best chance of succeeding: December 10th: quote:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval Gun Fire at Pearl Harbor (112,68) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 86 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships DD Sagi, and is sunk DD Hokaze, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk BB Mutsu, Shell hits 1 BB Ise, Shell hits 6 Allied ground losses: 33 casualties reported Guns lost 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval Gun Fire at Pearl Harbor (112,68) - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 11 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships DD Yugumo, Shell hits 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Pearl Harbor at 112,68 Japanese Ships BB Nagato BB Mutsu BB Fuso, Shell hits 1 BB Yamashiro, Torpedo hits 1, on fire BB Ise BB Hyuga Allied Ships PT PT-20, Shell hits 138, and is sunk PT PT-23 PT PT-25 PT PT-26 PT PT-27 PT PT-29 PT PT-30 PT PT-42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Pearl Harbor at 112,68 Japanese Ships BB Nagato BB Mutsu BB Fuso BB Yamashiro, on fire BB Ise BB Hyuga Allied Ships PT PT-23 PT PT-25 PT PT-26 PT PT-27 PT PT-29, Shell hits 15, and is sunk PT PT-30 PT PT-42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naval bombardment of Pearl Harbor, at 112,68 - Coastal Guns Fire Back! 34 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships BB Mutsu BB Hyuga BB Ise, Shell hits 9 BB Fuso BB Nagato, Shell hits 9 Allied ground losses: 55 casualties reported Guns lost 1 So, the BBs were out of action due to ammo. Yamashiro had 35 SYS, 10 FLT, and 16 FIRE. The rest of the BB force had SYS in the range of 5 and no other damage to speak of. 2 DDs were sunk, 3 would sink en route to japan, and 5 had suffered serious damage (dunno why the DDs got in range of the guns, unless 16" shore batteries reach everyone). The US lost 5 PTs and received 9 hits on already-damaged warships in port. None of the latter were sunk. I think it is clear who won this exchange. Adding more japanese ships to the mix just adds to the number of rounds of combat - while they may get some more US ships they also lose more to shore battery fire (no more japanese ships showed up in the three days that I ran this, though I sent every ship north of Formosa into the fray - that included only some Light cruisers that I kept in the ASW groups, as they would be slaughtered by shore fire). The Japanese bombardment gambit does not trump the USN flak gambit (during this time the Japanese CVs - all "ten" of them - pounded the US fleet and lost 64 DB/TB to flak - and this was with the USAAF grounded throughout and no planes dedicated to anti-airfield attacks). The USN did lose 2 BB, 1 CA, and 3 SS due to the air attacks, but most of those were first-day losses. I think it is hard to pound scrap metal into more scrap metal (and there were 12 USN ships "in the red" besides those sunk) and that the idea of the KB sustaining itself against PH long-term seems unfounded. In my run, in fact, there was the amusing sidelight of the US PTs actually sortieing against KB and torpedoing two DDs and a CA! That was due to my movement of the KB next to PH to get in maximum airpower against the coastal guns, though, and shouldn't be considered a result of any realistic test. It is a fun idea to play with. I have a game with everything "frozen" on Dec 7 so that turns pass very quickly for only what is activated, and I enjoy running these little hypotheticals. Hirohito, anything you wanna change for the next run?
|