Bison Frontier
Posts: 54
Joined: 10/24/2004 Status: offline
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Situation update July 18th to 31st, 1942 Throughout the rest of July, the enemy continued to literally commit "tons of steel" into the battles for the Gilberts chain. Making the most of his industrial might - one must remember that the American economic potential is after all almost TEN times greater than that of Japan(!) - hundreds of combat aircraft and dozens of new naval vessels of all types continued to pour into Tarawa, Apamama and Baker. Despite getting their airgroups severely mauled in their first encounter with Kido Butai, the US carriers quickly replenished these groups with their ample stocks of planes and pilots and returned for a rematch on July 18th. Distracted by its operations against the numerous enemy surface vessels near Tarawa, Kido Butai was sadly caught wrong-footed by the sudden reappearance of the USN carriers. This time, sufficient enemy aircraft got through to hit Akagi with one bomb, Kaga and BB Haruna with 2 bombs each. Minor damage that a short stint in our fine shipyards will redress, but nevertheless an annoyance for the proud ships and crews of Kido Butai. In the process, our Zeros also shot down over 200 aircraft, including 100 SBDs, 54 F4F-4s and 35 TBDs. Unfortunately, our own carriers and airgroups had nearly exhausted their fuel and ammunition (having operated continuously since early July) and were not in a position to mount any substantial counterattack against the enemy, who promptly fled the scene after a Pyrrhic victory. From July 18th to 19th, our Bettys from the Marshalls sank CL Hobart, DMS Hopkins and Hovey, 3 transports. Also on July 19th, after largely defeating the second USN carrier strike, Kido Butai (while retiring to Jaluit to refuel) unleashed a limited backhand blow against the enemy, sinking DDs Helm and Mugford, and 4 transports. Many badly damaged ships continued to sink from damage sustained in earlier battles. DD Dunlap sank on July 18th, DD Mustin on July 19th. On July 20th, crippled enemy battleships Mississippi and West Virginia (badly hit earlier by Kido Butai airstrikes) turned turtle and slid beneath the waves, CA New Orleans sank on July 27th, and on July 28th, after suffering over TWENTY bomb hits from enemy LBA in addition to earlier damage from the first surface action on July 15th, our valiant battleship Hyuga finally succumbed at Makin. Before Hyuga went down, our Zeros providing LRCAP from Mili shot down another fifty enemy aircraft over Makin. On July 30th and 31st, the opposing surface fleets clashed yet again at Tarawa. Our surface forces now included the gargantuan battlewagon Yamato, recently arrived from Osaka, but most of the other ships had been fighting and/or sailing continuously since early July and were low on endurance. As it turned out, an overzealous destroyer commander on our side decided not to wait for our battleships to arrive, and charged headlong against the throng of enemy ships at Tarawa. Despite this inauspicious start, our outgunned and outnumbered destroyers succeeded in sinking the new battleship North Carolina and badly damaged the older BB Arizona, CA Portland and CL Concord. DD Dale was also sunk. Another 6 enemy destroyers and a transport were sunk shortly after. CL Concord also sank on July 31st. Our own losses were the light cruiser Sendai and seventeen destroyers - most of which were lost due to the (in retrospect) reckless actions of our overeager destroyer commander. Heavy cruisers Suzuya and Kinugasa were also badly hit by enemy air and naval attacks. Despite our great successes at sea, the enemy calmly committed ever greater numbers of reinforcements and replacement planes and land forces to Tarawa and Apamama. At most times, his LBA in theater outnumbered our own by a factor of 5 to 1 or more! Also, our own LBA labored under the geographical handicap of having the nearest operable airbase at Mili, 480 miles from Tarawa, making it very difficult for our fighters to properly cover our naval forces. It quickly proved near impossible for our amphibious forces to land sufficient troops to capture the wretched atoll of Tarawa, which by now also bristled with over a thousand coastal guns that fired at anything that moved, including land crabs! Major combat vessels confirmed sunk since the battle for the Gilberts began (July 7th) through to July 31st Allied: 7 BB (New Mexico, Idaho, Maryland, Tennessee, Mississippi, West Virginia, North Carolina), 3 CA (Pensacola, Minneapolis, New Orleans), 2 CL (Hobart, Concord), 28 DD, 2 DMS Japan: 2 BB (Mutsu, Hyuga), 1 CA (Takao), 1 CL (Sendai), 18 DD
< Message edited by Bison Frontier -- 1/14/2005 3:54:27 PM >
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