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[Erkki]

April 8th



East Indies and Indian Ocean: Here we go!

Japanese cruiser TF bombards Kendari, hitting pretty hard the airfield and port but no planes are destroyed. Hmm. Against orders, most escort DDs did not bombard and the bombardment squadron went in too fast, arriving before daybreak.

During daylight, Allies flew lots of naval air search.

DD Yugumo (Zrk2): CL Sendai TF and the heavy cruiser squadron were in the Celebian archipelago near Kendari, 9 Zeros patrolling above them. The Zero pilots knew the Allied bombers at Kendari, Timor or Ambon might fly, and were ready for tthe 9 Dutch 139WHs. Yugumo's crew got to admire the Zero pilots breaking the formation and one by one shooting down the bombers, but one of them, already damaged and smoking, got through. In the distance they could see it dive towards CA Suzya, release its bombs, take a couple of hits more from Suzya's 25mm AA guns and then dive in the rising sun, back towards its base at Kendari while Suzya sailed through a huge water splash one of the bombs had just created.

For tomorrow, Yugumo and CL Sendai TF will meet CarDiv5 off Kendari, while other units spread out to form a defensive arc to protect the amphibious force.

Kaga and Ryujo undetected, they arrive at their station tomorrow and will then turn to West, towards map edge(and Cape Town).

Timor Sea raiders undetected, they will be at the southern coast of Timor tomorrow and will be able to attack any Allied surface units trying to directly engage the invasion fleet or CarDiv5.

On Borneo, Balikpapan falls! Oil wells and refineries are 4/5 intact.


South Pacific: 3 Japanese CVs arrive at Truk tomorrow.

[thobal]

I'd like a unit. A bomber of some description. With KB maybe.

[Erkki]

I'd like a unit. A bomber of some description. With KB maybe.

An air group leader that is? We have some new air groups being formed:

14th Ku S-1: A6M2-N unit, 9 planes, most probably wont be seeing combat any soon
78th Sentai: army fighter, 36, same thing
94th Sentai, army bomber, 27, same
203rd Sentai, army fighter, 27, same
5th Ku S-1, A6M2-N, 9, same
38th Sentai, Ki-46

Above units in 14 days.

Next new CV units arrive with CV Junyo in 27 days, fully trained and equipped air groups of Zeros, D3A1s and B5N2s.

[Erkki]

April 9th


East Indies:

Invasion fleets advance in schedule. However, the Timor Sea Raider CVs for some reason dont move at all(most probably my mistake), while their escort surface combat squadron keeps sailing and gets sighted today. Nothing catastrophic but we might have missed some kills... Theres a slight chance of something reacting out from Darwin tomorrow.

Indian Ocean raiders almost at position: they're at shooting range but nothing sighted. Tomorrow Kaga and Ryujo will split up to cover as much as sea as possible. Atago and Chikuma position themselves between Timor and Darwin.

Japanese bomb Djokjarta's airfield: 12 D3As go in first and run across 10+ P-40Es, and lose 3 of their number. Rookie pilots so nothing valuable lost. Then Ki-43 sweep kills 6 P-40s and damages 3 to no loss while bombers get 2 more P-40s on the ground and 6-7 other planes - not bad for 2 dozen Japanese bombers...


South Pacific:

Another xAK is lost to a sub... Again escorted but escorts dont even try to engage - they arent even mentioned in the combat report. 

Submarine RO-66 near Sydney attacks CL Java!!!!!! So 6 shell hits and a Long Lance did not sink her after all. Unfortunately the hit is a dud and so Java escaped again.

3 Allied combat ships pay visit to Horn Island: CL Glasgow escorted by DDs Vitte de With and Pillsbury. They sink 2 transports, 3rd is about to sink and bombard the island. They retreat towards Darwin and were so out of Port Moresby's G4Ms range by daybreak. Lets see if Timor Sea raiders, CarDiv5 or Atago & Chikuma will catch them! Interestingly CL Glasgow that bombarded Horn Island against troops in combat mode did about twice as much damage as a Japanese battleship TF with Ise and her 14 escort ships(all ships firing) did at point blank range at Makassar and the 4 Japanese CLs and 10 DDs did at Kendari 2 days ago.

Spoiler: East Indies, April 9th 1942 (click to show/hide)

[gamefreak1]

I wonder if your units just report the damage to enemys wrong?

[Sheb]

What a cliffhanger! I'm really looking forward to the next few days. I'm actually more excited at the prospect of sinking those two CLs than about the Timor invasion proper.

[Erkki]

I wonder if your units just report the damage to enemys wrong?

Yep, it could have been Fog of War again, but that cruiser squadron (Marblehead, De Reyter, Java) took part to 2 battles the same night. Java got hit in the first by Oi and was not present in the second clash against Kuma and Natori, so I believe the torpedo hit was real. If anything, this shows how good the Allied damage control is, as that was 490kg/1100lbs of amatol going off below waterline and the Java, basically just a oversize destroyer at 6700 tons, still made it to at least Batavia within 24 hours, 360 nautical miles...

What a cliffhanger! I'm really looking forward to the next few days. I'm actually more excited at the prospect of sinking those two CLs than about the Timor invasion proper.

Java and her escort, DD Koertenaer, are probably heading to Sydney. Theres 2 more submarines but she'll probably make it away even if they take the shortest route and not sail further from the coast(and Japanese subs).

CL Glasgow should be all but out of ammo now, so she'll have to visit Darwin first(Normanton most probably cannot rearm her main guns). Tomorrow, the Timor Sea raiders are within torpedo delivery range from Darwin and Atago & Chikuma squadron is closer with orders to react in and pursue any targets. Glasgow is a Southampton class CL, 3rd best the Royal Navy has. 2nd largest of their light cruisers but for some reason without torpedoes, and as such fairly easy prey for Japanese heavy surface units.

[Erkki]

And here you see unupgraded IJN Tone class CA vs. RN CL Southampton class.

Notice that different weapons and systems such as radars have more into them than just range, penetration, ammo and possible mount armor. Each gun has different value for "size" which determines how costly they are to repair and rearm and where those can be done, effect, penetration, range, ceiling(for AA guns and dual purpose), anti-armor and anti-soft effect as well as accuracy(which includes the rate of fire in).



As you can see the Tone(especially with better captains and/or crew) is hands down much better with 200mm vs. 155mm main guns, Type 93 torpedoes, better speed and durability but equal armor and anti aircraft armament. Southampton's only advantage are the air and surface search radars that help avoiding getting surprised in low visibility conditions, night or bad weather. Tone also doubles as a fast transport, being able to carry 300 troops and 100 tons of supplies.

[Erkki]

April 10th

I'll write more tomorrow, but a quick update: we have successfully landed at Koepang, and first 5000 troops are ashore with minimal losses. No sign of CL Glasgow TF but Dutch destroyer DD Vitte de With was found at Darwin and got attacked by D3A1s, taking a bomb hit through deck. On Java, 4 or 5 Dutch P-40Es are shot down, 3-4 more bombed on the ground together with 4-5 search/recce aircraft to no Japanese loss.

No targets sighted in the Indian Ocean so Ryujo and Kaga continue to SW.

[Erkki]

April 10th


Indian Ocean: Raiders at station, nothing sighted. They'll move slightly to the SW overnight...

East Indies:

Surprisingly the aerial battles over Java carry on for the 3rd day as 5 more P-40Es try to stop the Japanese bombers, achieving nothing but getting themselves shot down. Bombers destroy 3 more P-40s on the ground together with 6 bombers and search planes.

Koepang invaded! First troops are ashore with minimal losses and the place should fall tomorrow.

DD Witte de With is sighted and attacked near Darwin by CVE Hosho's D3A1s, getting heavily damaged by a 250kg bomb through deck. The rest of the CL Glasgow TF is not sighted.

SigInt: Allies admit the loss of CV Yorktown on February 24th 1942 to a submarine-launched 53cm Type 95 torpedo - Banzai!!!

[Anvilfolk]

Looking good! After those days of annoyance, with transports being taken down by subs, today brought welcome news indeed!

[Erkki]

Looking good! After those days of annoyance, with transports being taken down by subs, today brought welcome news indeed!

And better to come!


April 11th


East Indies:

CA Atago(Fishbreath) & CA Chikuma SQDN: were ordered to make a sweep near Darwin, sail West and after daybreak head North back towards the Japanese carriers. This sweep didnt miss but found the damaged Witte de With trying to escape to the West. At relative point-blank range of 2,000 yards, the only ship to engage was CA Atago. Expending a Type 93 torpedo, 18 200mm shells and 1 120mm shell the Atago scored 7 hits on the Dutch destroyer which immediately capsized and sunk. Not a big or particularly good warship destroyed, but a kill is a kill! CL Sendai TF with DD Yugumo(Zrk2) was also nearby but missed this action.

Koepang falls to the Japanese! Patrol H6Ks and the crack Zero group Tainan Ku S-1 are flown in.

Indian Ocean: still no contacts.

Submarines: I-20 takes a shot at 3 British destroyers near Sydney, but misses. They were a part of the CL Java TF... I-20 escapes with minor damage from a depth charge near miss.

EDIT: also, today the Allies admit the loss of xAP President Johnson near Lahaina, Hawaii(by a submarine). It was a huge 10410 ton liner, that could have later been converted to AP and an assault troop transport mothership APA.

[timferius]

So, question of curiosity, what do pilots do in this game when there's no combat missions to be flown? Can you send them on training each day to keep their skill up, is there skill rust at all? Or do they just sit and are assumed to be training when not flying missions?

[Erkki]

So, question of curiosity, what do pilots do in this game when there's no combat missions to be flown? Can you send them on training each day to keep their skill up, is there skill rust at all? Or do they just sit and are assumed to be training when not flying missions?

The squads can be set to train, but very few of my front line squadrons do that. They fly CAP or are ready to escort bombers, or just dont fly at all to keep the fatigue down. Unit can also be forced to "ground" a certain % of planes for resting and pilot & plane fatigue control - they'll only scramble if their home field is attacked.

There are sliders for each missions, for example my CV air groups are usually 40% CAP(meaning that about 25% are in the air, 10% in cockpit readiness and 5% refueling/taking off/returning to base), 10% rest(meaning that 10% are reserved for scrambling and will not escort strikes). At port, CV groups are 100% training as the CVs are protected by land-based fighters and are far from enemy threat any way.

Its also possible to set the maximum distance they will fly and whether they use drop tanks or not - the further they fly the more fatigue and ops losses, especially if they go "extended range", beyond normal range, or very high or low altitude. Drop tanks help increasing range but they are not available everywhere and not to every plane and drop tank sorties cost more supply than sorties without.

EDIT, about the training. One of the reasons its not a great idea to set front line squads to train is that as long as they are fully trained and experienced pilots, they train very slow. The higher pilot experience and the better he is at a particular skill the slower he trains. This effectively prevents the creation of superpilots, so that they will need actual combat experience to skill up. For example making an average greentag of 30 experience and 40 in respective skill into a 50 experience 70 skill + 60 secondary skill will take 3 months or more. Training him to experience 60, 70 skill and 70 secondary skill will take another 2 months. Once they're experience 70+ and skill 70+ they train very slowly, even the skills they still are poor at.

[timferius]

That is intense detail. So many mechanichs at play! This is why I could never play this game, I'd just be so overwhelmed, and never learn it properly.