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[Erkki]

And heres the naval production... I think I'll need to either stop accelerating one of the CVs or stop some submarines for a couple of days before the Hiyo is completed(one CV is laid and will start taking 3x the points before Hiyo is completed).

[Erkki]

While waiting for the turn file, I noticed, to much of my shame, that the H8K has been available for 6 days already but I havent yet created a factory for it. []


My Seaplane production is currently

H6K5 (10/40 engines)
H6K2-L (5/20 engines)

These use 60 Ha-33 engines a month. Ha-33 engine production is now at 150 a month. Other Ha-33 users:

D3A1 (30)
E13A (30)
G3M3 (22/44 engines, stopped)

If G3M3 production is continued and H6K5 factories converted to H8K(I dont see a reason not to do that), the monthly Ha-33 use would be 124. I think I'm OK with that. In the future first Ki-46-III will also need that engine type(at 30 engines a month). D3A1 production will stop by the end of 1942 so that still leaves me with some extra engines(about 35 a month) until the Ki-100 arrives far in the future. I guess I might as well stockpile 300 or so Ha-33s, its not like they'll go bad, will they?

H8K uses the Ha-32 engine. This engine is also produced 150 a month. These 150 are being used by factories as follows:

G4M1 (40/80 engines)
Ki-21-IIa(35/70 engines)

These use up the 150 monthly engines pretty nicely. However I'd need some of these for the H8K production, and in Spring of 1943 I'll be needing for the J2M Raidens.


I think what I'll do is turn off G4M1 production, turn on G3M3 production again and convert the H6K5 factory to H8K and expand it to size 10 again. That leaves me with somewhat reduced Navy bomber production(which I dont mind, I have good pools of both G3M and G4M and the Allies are likely to be passive for another 3 to 4 months any way. 140 + 183 IJN bombers in the pool, 211 + 191 in groups so I can already replace 100% losses), a better patrol plane in the H8K and some extra Ha-33s I may always use later.

[Erkki]

July 6


DEI: The North Australia invasion force is ready, waiting for the go signal before they start to load troops. However, I'm hesitating: I'm almost sure that the Allies are aware of what I'm doing. 2 days ago they moved patrol aircraft on one of the last islands they still hold, and have(despite the large CAP) been monitoring the Japanese at Soerebaja. Before we go in I want some of my CVs available nearby, the submarine screens in position and the xAKL picket line on station. Those should take another week or so. The main body of the KB will not be committed, but is in the reserve and ready to counter any Allied attacks in the Pacific.

Submarines: A 8000-ton tanker is sunk by an Allied submarine South of Kyushu. My mistake in believing the 40+ planes that fly ASW and naval search in the area that there were no submarines present, and let that TK sail without escorts...

War Economy: This turn I spent a long time optimizing convoys and their routes, creating new ones and adjusting a number of factories. Japanese merchant navy has been able to bring in as much as fuel and oil as the Home Islands' industry and shipping need, but now Japan needs to start stocking as much as as possible. Not one ton of fuel and oil produced can be wasted. Also I have been unable to deliver quite enough resources to the home islands, so I created a couple of new convoys from Singapore and Luzon. Multiple unoptimized(as in route, used ports and ship types and numbers) convoys were also adjusted. I hope these fixes will help the economy a lot, but theres still a lot to do.

[Erkki]

Also, as in preparation for the future air war over Burma, I'm sending many AAA units there. Many. Many many! Magwe alone already has over 100 heavy guns, and I'll move almost every gun Japan used to have in Formosa to Burma. There are also 3 full division's worth of troops and some tank battalions on their way to Rangoon.

Regarding Pearl Harbor: This turn was the 210th after the 3rd strike on PH. Now its your turn, dear reader, to guess how many ships we have confirmed sunk there, and which ones. We attacked PH 3 times with full Kido Butai, also losing about 110 planes in the process.

[Erkki]

July 7

Today I continued adjusting the convoy routes. I created approximately 30 new task forces and convoys and adjusted some existing ones. Lets see if its possible to move all the resources produced in the Philippines, Malaya, Borneo etc. to the Home Islands. Many of the convoys will be running without escorts, as I think I have maybe 1 escort per each task force I'd need to protect, so I'll prioritize them to escort tankers and the few most important resource-supply convoys.

Philippines: San Jose's defenders surrender without firing a shot, 8000 Philippinean Army men are taken as POWs. Situation in the Philippines: All your base are belong to us!

[thobal]

2BBs, Maybe 1 destroyer, and nothing else. I'm a pessimist.

[Erkki]

2BBs, Maybe 1 destroyer, and nothing else. I'm a pessimist.

Not pessimistic enough.

[Delta Foxtrot]

2BBs, Maybe 1 destroyer, and nothing else. I'm a pessimist.

Not pessimistic enough.

Oh my. Our pilots did not die in vain!

[Erkki]

July 8

Not much to report. Ships sailing, a couple more convoy adjustments. I'm also sending more troops to Milne Bay, New Guinea. That one is potentially number 1 on the Allies' to-invade list.



I've now been waiting 211 turns for a SigInt report on something having sunk at Pearl Harbor. During all the campaign we havent had even false reports, and I believe I'm the most unlucky Japanese player to ever attack Pearl: 0, ZERO, ships sunk in 3 attacks. Only vessels that sunk there were the Japanese mini submarines, one of which put a torpedo into West Virginia South Carolina. Banzai for that!

[Erkki]

July 9


The Pacific: A massive task force sails through the Japanese submarine screen near the Hawaiian Islands. Submarine I-9 attacks it, but misses its torpedoes fired at a destroyer. The following depth charge attack hits the submarine once, but the damage is minor. This task force... Well, see yourself:

Allied Ships
      DD Buchanan
      BB North Carolina
      CA Northampton
      CA Portland
      CLAA San Juan
      CLAA Atlanta
      DD Sims
      DD McCalla
      DD Duncan
      DD Aaron Ward
      DD Tucker
      DD Reid
      DD Russell
      DD Hughes

North Carolina is not one of the 8 Pearl Harbor Battlewagons. Today many, at least 5, of the Japanese submarines nearby were also sighted by enemy patrol planes(which hasnt happened ever before!), as far as 6 hex from the I-9. I think that makes it pretty certain that this task force was either escorting, or was being escorted, by the USN CVs.

Economy: After readjusting the factories a little, the daily HI surplus went up from 3350 to 4400.

[Burnt Pies]

CLAA? Light Cruiser fit for Anti-Air, or something else? It's not a designation I recall seeing before.

[Erkki]

CLAA? Light Cruiser fit for Anti-Air, or something else? It's not a designation I recall seeing before.

Yep. Those are basically medium size(or by Japanese, very large) light cruisers with lots of medium caliber dual purpose and AA guns. Depending on the class and timeframe, many of them completely lack the bigger main guns that cruisers typically have. I think those 2 ships at least have 5 inch dual purpose guns for their main armament, where other light cruisers have 6 inch or heavier weapons.

Japan does not have a single CLAA. At least 3 it can get by converting the existing, fairly small, CLs. CL Tenryu and her sister Tatsuta are already being converted at Tokyo, and will be ready in approximately 100 days. Though compared to their Allied equivalents(or, lets be honest, even most of their standard CLs, and even great majority of their destroyer classes) those two have a very modest number of guns.

[Anvilfolk]

It's strange that you didn't spot carriers... or perhaps they're in another TF and these are just sweeping ahead making sure the way is clear?

Could those patrol planes be the cruiser's scouts?

[Erkki]

It's strange that you didn't spot carriers... or perhaps they're in another TF and these are just sweeping ahead making sure the way is clear?

Could those patrol planes be the cruiser's scouts?

Thats way too many planes to be from just 4 cruisers and a battleship. There were probably multiple Task Forces that were not seen, including the Big Girls, and more likely than not dedicated ASW destroyer pairs or small groups sweeping ahead. Also the American float planes do not have the range of Japanese, so Americans rely more on CV aircraft to do the search and patrol job. 5 or 6 hex, or 200/240 nautical miles would be outside the SOC-1 Seagull's range(4/5) and extended range for the OS2U-3 Kingfisher (5/6). I doubt Bart flies anything at extended range, as it increases fatigue even more than usual range increase, and increases operational losses.

Had the planes actually attacked one of the submarines, we would know the exact type and could confirm CV presence.


Shokaku and Zuikaku finished their refits today, but they'll wait another 3 days for CA Chokai, which will join the CV sisters on their way to Truk.

[Sheb]

Well, that's a bitch. How much time before they get in the DEI? Obviously, he either guessed you were going for Australia and decided to move, or he want to invade something.

Will you halt the Australian invasion? Send the Kido Butai to fight the Americans?