Xargun
Posts: 3690
Joined: 2/14/2004 From: Near Columbus, Ohio Status: offline
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Well the turn starts off slow - as usual lately but heats up in the air phase... An IJN AP unloading supplies at Rabaul (all I have are APs in the area at the moment, so I am using them to haul supplies around) hits a mine - ouch. Luckily the damage isn't critical, and the flooding / fire is easily contained [Damage: 18/0/1] but its still another ship I will have to send off for repairs... IJN I-9 locates and makes an attack against a US surface fleet. The sub sneaks up and launches torpedoes against the BB New Mexico - unfortunately I miss... I-9 is not as lucky, as the escorting DDs hit her with a depth charge [Damage: 26/42/0]. I-9 has been ordered back home for repairs. She should make port before sinking and then head home once the flooding is stopped. I was surprised at the target actually. I saw the allied TF sitting in a hex last turn and thought I would come over and investigate and I find 3 BBs and 5 DDs sitting in a hex by themselves.. It would have been nice to score some hits on the New Mexico, but oh well. Daylight comes and brings with it a lot of air activity.. My first strike hits Andaman Island's airfield, claiming 2 supply and 4 runway hits. Then my planes proceed to bomb the hell out of the chinese some more... Then the excitement starts... My 3 CV TF stopped 4-5 hexs from Pago Pago and was jumped by enemy aircraft. Apparently a US CV TF snuck up on me and launched a lagre wave... The wave consisted of 2 F4F-3's, 71 F4F-4's and 54 SBD bombers. My 32 zeros on CAP were overcome. The CAP fought bravely downing 1 F4F-3 and 34 F4F-4s. My CAP and TF flak brought down 7 SBDs and damaged another 20+, but the bombs flew... CV Hiryu took 1 hit, and CV Junyo took 2. BB Hiei took 2 as well, and BB Kiroshima took 1. Then my CVs launched back - luckily the first wave didn't do enough damage to shut down any of my CVs so I fired back a full strike... 11 Zeros escorted in 55 Vals and 58 Kates - against what I thought was 2-3 CVs at first - boy was I mistaken... Rob's TF had only 2 F4F-3s and 20 F4F-4s flying CAP - looks like the majority of his fighters were flying escort... The dogfighting was fierce as was the enemy flak.. In all my planes shot down 2 F4F-4s and lost 3 zeros, 11 Vals and 24 Kates.... another 10 bombers were damaged. My bombers flew straight at their targets though and landed a combination of bomb and torpedo hits. To my surprise, CV after CV after CV showed up as targets In all 4 allied CVs were targetted and hit... The Yorktown took 3 bombs (only 2 penetrated) and 1 torpedo. The Saratoga took 2 torpedo hits, with one causing an AMMO EXPLOSION The Lexington took 1 bomb and 2 torpedo hits. The Enterprise took 2 bomb hits. I was ecstatic at the Ammo Explosion, but nothing sank This all happened in the AM air phase and I was worried about the upcoming PM phase as I know my CVs cannot take 500 pound bombs very well. I knew I hurt all 4 enemy CVs, but figured they would all launch a second strike come the PM phase - just not enough damage to any single CV to shut them down... on either side... I was expecting another massive launch from his 4 and my 3 CVs.... and I was dreading it... Heavy damage to my CVs this far south is nearly a death sentance... The PM air phase started with an RAF air raid on Rangoon Port. They killed a few min, and hit the port with 1 bomb. 9 RAF planes were shot down and another 4 damaged by Oscars and Zeros flying CAP - 2 Oscars were lost to enemy fighters. Then the CV battle began again... Unfortunately the damn US launched first - must be the benefits of that damn radar. The strike was 2 F4F-3s, 13 F4F-4s and 18 SBDs - a lot less than I was expecting... I still had 18 zeros on CAP to defend with... I lost 1 zero to the enemy fighters and claimed another 2 F4F-4s. My CAP and AA claimed another 6 SBDs and 5 damaged... But as earlier, my CAP and AA was not able to stop the attack Luckily the surviving SBD pilots decided that the BB Hiei looked like the best target and concentrated on her.. In all 4 bombs struck her, but all bounced off her armor. 1 bomb did find its way onto the desk of the Junyo, adding to the fire brewing there. My return attack was more powerful than his second strike, but lightly protected.. 4 zeros escorted 30 Vals and 8 Kates on a counterstrike. My last raid must have hurt his fighters badly, as only a total of 6 fighters were flying CAP. I lost 5 more Vals (10 more damaged) and 1 Kate (3 more damaged) and managed to land 2 bombs on the Enterprise - which resulted in an AMMO EXPLOSION... I also landed 1 bomb and 1 torpedo on the Lexington. As my survivors flew home, both CVs were burning. The rest of the turn was nothing important, just my troops beating up on more chinese men, including another 350+ at Lanchow. Apparently my Ammo Explosions on the 2 enemy CVs were either FOW or just minor explosions, as nothing sunk on either side. But the next turn will tell the tale.... I may have 30 fighters left on all CVs, as well as 40 bombers total.... The bombers are all tired and have very low morale with over 2/3rds of the planes damaged. I have ordered all bombers to stand down for rest and repair and ordered all fighters aloft for CAP - I pray that the damage I inflicted to Rob is enough to drive him off... Another air strike will really hurt my CVs... Right now the only CVs hurt is the Junyo [Damage: 43/9/10] and the Hiryu has some minor damage [3/-/-].. Needless to say neither BB is hurt, although Hiei does have 6 points of fire damage - which should be fixed this turn. I am not leaving any ships behind and am heading away from the battle zone as fast as possible in what I hope is a surprising direction... My TF is starting to get low on fuel, but I'm more worried about his CVs finishing them off than anything else... If Rob can scrape together 1 full CV worth of planes I could be in trouble.. If he has 2 usable CVs (and planes) I am definately in trouble, as he will close and use 1000 pounders on me... I damaged a lot of SBDs, but probably not enough to stop him from sinking 1-2 of my CVs if he closes the range. Total air losses in this CV battle are [All sources, but mostly Air to Air, Flak and Ops]: 56 F4F-4s lost vs 24 A6M2 Zeros 29 SBDs lost vs 18 Vals & 28 Kates The only good news is that in 8 days the Hiyo will arrive, but I may lose 3 CVs by then... I cannot afford to evenly trade CVs with Rob at this point, although a 2:1 trade would not be bad... But with the current state of my aircraft I doubt that is a possibility, unless the CVs sink from flooding damage. If he leaves any ships behind, I may have to detach a BB to sink it, as I doubt my aircraft can muster another strike for several days. The excitement is growing into fear as I wait for Rob to send the turn back... This could be a turning point in the war if his CVs are not badly hurt and mine are... We will see... I still don't know how he caught up with me and with 4 CVs.... Oh well.... At least he only has 1 real CV left out there to defend with... Maybe its time to hit Pearl again ? Hmmm...
< Message edited by Xargun -- 4/19/2005 8:45:06 AM >
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