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Post by vonfriedman on Dec 17, 2022 11:10:12 GMT -6
US AAR - September 1Q22 A pyrrhic victory With the repair yards full of battleships to repair, for several weeks the American operations were limited to minor actions, some of which were conducted with relative success and in any case without losses. When, finally, most of the ships of the 6th and 8th Battle Divisions are ready, the high command can order yet another bombardment of Aparri (the Japanese call these "visits" with the name: Washington Express). Since Admiral Rodman had been injured in the previous battle, the American battleships are commanded by the Second in Command, namely Vice Admiral Edward W. Eberle, quite a fiery fellow. After carrying out the planned bombardment of Aparri, despite the poor visibility created by heavy rains with increasing wind and sea, he decides to attempt a sweep in the direction of Takao, counting on the reaction of the Japanese capital ships based there. This is not mistaken, since shortly after heading towards NNW unknown ships are encountered which open fire, without the Americans being able to do the same promptly. An extremely confused action follows, in which the USS Wyoming takes a torpedo hit, fortunately without too serious consequences. Contacts are made and lost soon after, guns are fired and torpedoes are launched by both sides (one of the latter hits the old Japanese BC Kurama which later sinks). Finally, the American admiral decides to interrupt the action and slowly withdraws towards Subic Bay, so as not to aggravate the flooding of the precious Wyoming. Shortly before reaching the base, news arrives of guns fired at some American minesweepers off Subic Bay. Admiral Eberle detaches Wyoming near the base and heads towards the sighting area, preceded by a pair of CLs. Also due to bad weather (see attached image), the Japanese are not sighted. It then turns out that it was the companion of the Kurama, the old Ibuki, which had continued its mission together with escorting CLs and DDs along routes that were not very different from those taken by the American battleships. Eberle is reprimanded by an aching and angry Rodman. "Yours is a pyrrhic victory!" barks the old admiral. Actually the superior skill of the Japanese in shooting by night and with low visibility managed to put a large part of the American battleships out of action for several weeks.
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Post by vonfriedman on Dec 18, 2022 12:07:32 GMT -6
US AAR - November 1Q22
"Bring my darts, I can't see enough hits!"
After some minor operations, without significant events, in October there was another run of the "Washington Express" to hit the Aparri facilities. During that operation, a Japanese convoy was also destroyed.
In early November, Admiral Rodman was fit enough to resume command. He decides to repeat a sweep between Formosa and Luzon and to bombard Aparri again.
After his 8 BBs weigh anchor, preceded by 3 CLs he steers N and NE and then cruises along the routes between Aparri and Takao, without much success (only one TR sunk). In the afternoon the CLs come across a flotilla of Japanese DDs. A long skirmish ensues, in which the battleships also join. Much to Admiral Rodman's annoyance, the shooting of the American ships is poor, so that only one DD is sunk. It is on this occasion that the admiral gets impatient and ends up shouting the above sentence, which will be repeated almost exactly as it is 19 years later by the British Admiral Tovey, during the final battle with the battleship Bismarck.
During the night, the American ships carry out a destructive bombardment of Aparri and then head back to base. In this phase, unexpectedly, at least one enemy capital ship is sighted. Although contact is immediately lost, Admiral Rodman is convinced that the Japanese ships cannot be very far away and in fact, at sunrise, two big Japanese ships are sighted to the west. These are two old ships, the BC Tsukuba and the BB Kawachi, armed with 12" guns. Although the Americans continue to shoot badly, the sheer number of their 14" guns enables them to rapidly overwhelm and sink the two Japanese ships.
The day still holds a surprise, when the 7th Battle Division remains separated from the main fleet and ends up on a minefield on which USS Arizona suffers significant damage. After returning to port it is learned that in the meantime the Japanese have carried out, undetected, a sweep with some BCs on the opposite side of the island of Luzon. Definitely both SIGINT and recon leave a lot to be desired.
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Post by vonfriedman on Dec 19, 2022 2:53:16 GMT -6
December 1Q22 "Pax in terra hominibus bonae voluntatis" With an initiative that took even the 25 frequenters of this thread by surprise, the American and Japanese admirals established a Christmas peace, exchanging courtesy visits and appropriate gifts.
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Post by vonfriedman on Jan 4, 2023 14:57:27 GMT -6
US AAR - January 1Q23 - The two fleets go back to sea.
Admiral Rodman puts to sea with nine of his battleships, plus escort destroyers and two older CLs, acting independently as scouts. The purpose of the operation is to lure the enemy into battle, through attacks on the merchant traffic between the homeland and the Japanese bases, which takes place E of Formosa.
Contrary to plans, the enemy is sighted very early by the two CLs sailing ahead, off the northwestern tip of Luzon. Their limited speed (25 knots) prevents the American cruisers from moving away quickly enough from the three modern Kongo-class battlecruisers sailing south, whose gunfire causes serious damage to one of them. Luckily, the American battleships are close and soon engage the enemy, allowing USS Birmingham to escape and slowly sail away towards base. The Japanese BCs reverse course, but the shooting of nine battleships, while not very accurate, is far too much for them. Seeing one of the Japanese battlecruisers on fire and another dead on the water not far from the first, the American admiral decides to go after the third fugitive BC. The USS New Mexico, being damaged, it is too slow to join the chase and is detached. Simultaneously, the USS Chester and some DDs are sent to torpedo the two immobilized and presumably badly damaged Japanese BCs. The decision turns out to be a mistake, because the second BC is far from out of action and soon picks up speed and moves away but not before sending the unfortunate Chester to the bottom. To make matters worse, the third Japanese BC (IJS Haruna) is too fast and quickly disappears over the horizon.
Having lost contact with the enemy, Admiral Rodman sets course for the primary objective, even though his ships have already used up a good deal of their ammunition. Arriving in the area indicated by the plan of operations late at night, he manages to sink an enemy TR before worrying news arrives from USS Birmingham, which is engaged against superior enemy forces. It can be assumed that Admiral Rodman's state of mind was similar to that of Admiral Iachino during the battle of Matapan when, from the bridge of Vittorio Veneto - as he later wrote - he saw the starshells and the great flashes of the big guns of the three British battleships firing against the unfortunate Zara and Fiume. USS Birmingham also is overwhelmed and sinks, but before she manages to place a torpedo hit on a Japanese BC, which imprudently got too close.
Sailing SW, the American battleships - by now deprived of their own scouts - try in vain to establish contact with the enemy who is presumed to be returning to his base in Takao. In doing so they consume a lot of fuel and suffer further wear and tear, returning very late to their base.
Two precious CLs have thus been lost and it is rather small consolation to have sunk the IJS Kirishima.
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Post by vonfriedman on Jan 7, 2023 7:58:07 GMT -6
US AAR - February 1Q23 - "Three walnuts that are too hard to crack" Before starting this AAR, we need to go back in time. The escalation of the confrontation between Japan and the United States for dominance in the Pacific, well before the military insurrection and the coup in Tokyo, had led to a more or less secret acceleration in naval construction in both nations. In the USA the endless discussions about the design of the new battlecruisers had been cut with a presidential decision, so that the first ship of the class was almost ready at the end of 1Q22. At the beginning of February, Admiral Rodman thus had the pleasant surprise of seeing the USS Lexington arrive safely in Subic Bay accompanied by two brand new CLs, the USSs Omaha and Richmond. Although the training level of the large battlecruiser leaves much to be desired, the American admiral decides to send her out to sea at the head of his fleet which, once again, is composed by nine modern battleships. Four old armored cruisers independently sail from Cavite, with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of scouting. The plan of operations envisages a sweep N of Luzon, along the routes between Takao and Aparri, eventually concluding with the bombardment of this latter enemy base. Above all, there is the hope of enjoying a significant numerical advantage in facing the Japanese fleet. Unfortunately, the CA's course leads them into a minefield W of Luzon, where the USS Seattle sinks, despite attempts to salvage her. This incident causes a significant delay so Admiral Rodman is only able to reach the Balingtan Channel in the afternoon. While the Lexington puts her gunners to the test by bombarding - without too much success - an enemy battery on an islet, the new CLs sight big enemy ships to the east. Rodman prudently orders Lexington to join the BB squadron placed at the rear, while the battleships go towards the enemy. At about 2 pm, before the American guns are able to open fire, yellowish flashes appear on the first, second and finally the third enemy ship, while a fourth also appears. From the control top, through the voicepipe, the excited voice of the fire director is heard: "It's Nagato and Mutsu, but what the hell is that other one?" While large columns of water raised by the enemy 16" shells appear around the American battleships, Admiral Rodman must persuade himself that the Japanese shipyards have also worked miracles, so that he must also face at least a Tosa class battleship. Fortunately for the Americans, despite their superior speed and equally superior firing range, the Japanese decide to fight at relatively close range. The fourth ship is revealed to be the old semi-dreadnought Satsuma, on which Lexington's inexperienced gunners practice. The gun battle on parallel courses lasts for about a couple of hours. The attached photo, taken aboard one of the American destroyers, shows a phase of the fight. After 4 pm the Japanese flagship, the IJS Nagato seems to be in trouble, so that the Japanese battleships change course and begin to withdraw, leaving Satsuma to her fate. For their part, the American ships have also suffered damage, which is very serious on USS Pennsylvania, which must be detached. Admiral Rodman tries to maintain contact, pursuing the three Japanese fast battleships in vain in the oncoming semi-darkness of sunset. Equally useless is the search conducted in the night. With the supply of ammunition very low and several ships damaged, the American admiral decides not to carry out the bombardment of Aparri and instead heads for the base, which he reaches without further problems. The Japanese have lost the IJS Satsuma and - according to intelligence - have almost all their capital ships under repair, but the Americans also find themselves with only five BBs ready to sail. Particularly worrying is the information, provided by espionage, that the new Japanese battleships are able to take 12-15 hits from 14" guns without suffering decisive damage. And equally worrying is the continuation of the bad accuracy of American shooting.
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Post by vonfriedman on Jan 15, 2023 5:40:52 GMT -6
US AAR - March 2nd 1Q23 - Another battle of attrition Realizing that the enemy fleet should be in worse condition than the American one and with the aim of hindering as much as possible the arrival of Japanese reinforcements into the Philippines, the high command urgently requests a "Washington Express" mission to destroy the facilities of the enemy base of Aparri and also a raid against the Japanese troopships between Takao and Aparri. Admiral Rodman weighs anchor with his five battleships, two light cruisers, a dozen destroyers and an independent scouting force composed of two old armored cruisers. With good visibility, the American battleships arrive off Aparri in the early morning and effectively hit the enemy's depots and batteries. Then heading NNW they intercept and sink some isolated transport ships. Around noon some big Japanese ships coming from the north are sighted by the scouting force. They are the battleships Ise and Hyuga with a few destroyers. The gun battle lasts almost until sunset and soon becomes a pursuit battle, in the course of which the few Japanese DDs attempt some attacks which are unsuccessful. Eventually IJS Ise escapes, although she is badly damaged (it turns out she has received 16 14" hits), but Hyuga is overwhelmed and finally torpedoed, sinking into the night. The American BB's are also damaged: some of them received half a dozen 14" hits and will be under repair for weeks. The following day, only 3 American BB's are able to go out to sea. March 21 1Q23 - The last war feat of a veteran ship With only three battleships available and all the others under repair, Admiral Rodman decides to limit himself to improving the training level of the ships ready to move, but also to give the enemy no respite, by having the "Washington Express" carry out yet another mission. This time the "Express" is reduced to a minimum, being available only the USS Brooklyn, a very old armored cruiser, and USS Charlotte (formerly North Carolina), a slightly less old armored cruiser of the Tennessee class. The two ships depart, with two escort DDs under the command of Vice Admiral Rodgers, who intends to arrive off Aparri in the middle of the night, so as to minimize the chances of being intercepted by the modern Japanese battlecruisers based at Takao. For the same purpose, after destroying as many land targets as possible, he intends to return to base by circumnavigating the island of Luzon at low speed, so as to reduce fuel consumption and make little telltale smoke. The operation succeeds as planned, but in the course of the action, the Japanese land batteries manage to inflict heavy damage on USS Brooklyn. The attached photo shows her in port the day after this operation. The operation could have ended much worse, since at the same time two modern Japanese battlecruisers, with seven light cruisers and many destroyers were carrying out a sweep east of Legazpi, with the (failed) objective of intercepting the last American transports which were evacuating the garrisons located at east of Manila. In the meantime, the American defenses of Manila are holding firm and the attacks of the Japanese army, thanks also to the bombardment of the "Washington Express", have weakened.
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Post by vonfriedman on Jan 17, 2023 11:08:57 GMT -6
US AAR - March 31 1Q23 - A Kantai Kessen in reverse Thanks to the intense work in the repair yards of Subic Bay and Cavite, Admiral Rodman is once again at the head of a fleet of nine battleships and can settle back in the spacious admiral quarters aboard the USS New Mexico. Having received news of a new enemy naval operation, the American fleet puts to sea again to deliver a decisive blow to the enemy supply line which runs from Takao to Aparri and to destroy the installations of the latter base. This time the USS Lexington is still under repairs, so the scouting force is again composed of two old armored cruisers, joined by the two new light cruisers. The aerial reconnaissance from Clark Field, although incomplete, has identified some routes preferentially followed by Japanese transport ships and Admiral Rodman intends to thoroughly explore at least one of them, with the hope of intercepting a troop convoy. The weather is not favorable, with rain interspersed with showers, however from the beginning of the sweep some transport ships are encountered and sunk and shortly after an entire convoy, apparently without an escort, is completely destroyed. As the American battleships head towards Aparri in heavy rain, a rearward destroyer sights some big Japanese ships approaching from the north. Admiral Rodman then reverses course and heads towards the enemy, determined to do everything in order not to let him escape. First two enemy battleships are sighted, identified (it will later be known erroneously) as a battleship of the Ise class and one of the Nagato class, which presumably had to ensure the distant escort of the convoy. In the gun battle at a short distance (about 5000 yards) with low visibility, a third Japanese battleship soon appears (it will be known later that she is the IJS Tosa). The Japanese lead ship blows up shortly after the first salvos, but in the meantime some 16" hits received by New Mexico on the waterline cause extensive flooding, so that Admiral Rodman must hastily abandon ship and move on Tennessee, while his flagship struggles to survive. Unfortunately she fails to do so and sinks, also due to the intervention of the Japanese battlecruiser Kongo, that has just arrived at the scene of the action. Idaho also receives heavy damage and has to be detached, but in the meantime the two Japanese battleships are hammered by a succession of devastating 14" hits. Mutsu manages to get away, together with Kongo, but Tosa is caught up while heading towards Aparri, overwhelmed and finally sunk. All this is the work of the big guns of the battleships, the destroyers of both sides, despite several favorable opportunities, are unable to place even a single torpedo. In the meantime, night has come and despite Admiral Rodman's repeated insistence, there is no news of Idaho, whose radio transmitter seems to have been destroyed in the battle. The captain of this ship, meanwhile, makes an all too frequent mistake, that is, he continues to sail at cruising speed, worsening the flooding that is progressing in his ship. Luckily for the Americans, the flagship manages to get close enough to allow Admiral Rodman to signal with the searchlight: "Damn you, slow down!" After this episode, day is awaited in order to destroy Aparri at a safe distance from the land batteries and then proceed at low speed towards the base. The balance of the operation (2 enemy BBs sunk against 1 BB lost) is actually very favorable to the Americans, who have now acquired a decided numerical superiority, destined to grow as the repairs proceed on the battleships and on the Lexington. A few days later, an attempted Japanese landing in Mindanao, conducted without adequate naval support, fails disastrously.
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Post by vonfriedman on Jan 19, 2023 12:20:14 GMT -6
US AAR - April 1Q23 - A day with ups and downs Knowing the precarious situation of the Japanese fleet, a division of three battleships plus the USS Lexington carries out yet another sweep between Luzon and Formosa, sinking several merchant ships. The American task force then heads towards Aparri, to carry out the usual bombardment of that base, when, in the vicinity of it, the battleship Ise appears with some destroyers and - shortly after - the old battlecruiser Ibuki also appears. A confused action follows, in which Lexington is more of a hindrance than a strength. The Japanese ships retreat into the port of Aparri, while the Americans turn towards their base. [Note: the Lexington training level, for unknown reasons, appeared to be 1,244,320 and this caused continuous repetitions of warnings in the game] After this inconclusive battle, for some months there were no operations worthy of mention, even though the American fleet systematically repeated the missions of the Washington Express and the Japanese attempted to attack - with varying success - the merchant shipping traffic west of Manila. August 1Q23 - The Last Battle During yet another replay of the "Washington Express" mission by six battleships and two armored cruisers, aerial reconnaissance reports enemy warships heading south west of Luzon. The 7th Battle Division is alerted and sails from Subic Bay, led by the USS Pennsylvania and escorted by 6 DDs. Even the old CL Salem goes out to sea to compensate for the absence of scouts. Shortly before dawn, SW of Manila, the USS Arizona comes under fire from an unknown ship, and Japanese DDs appear in good numbers shortly thereafter. The American battleships carefully maneuver to avoid a torpedo ambush, waiting for the sun to rise and keeping between the enemy and its bases. In the excellent visibility of the summer morning, the old BC Ibuki, two light cruisers and a dozen destroyers can be seen. A battle of pursuit ensues, during which, despite the repeated charges of the Japanese DDs, Ibuki fails to outdistance the American battleships which gradually demolish and sink her. The same happens for the two light cruisers, but the tough Japanese destroyers, despite losing one of them, manage to sink the DD Selfridge and almost put Salem out of action. Meanwhile, far to the north, the two American armored cruisers run into two enemy minelayers and sink them. September 1Q23 - The end The news that a terrible earthquake devastated Tokyo and the KantÅ region, among other things causing irreparable damage to the battle cruiser Amagi under construction (see attached photo), was followed by another unexpected news. The military government is overthrown, by decision of the Emperor, who interpreted the earthquake as a negative signal coming from Heaven. Soon after, a new Japanese government starts peace talks. The war is over.
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Post by gustavgg on Mar 3, 2024 17:58:34 GMT -6
Great campaignpls attach donwload file to use it thinks
gustavo
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Post by vonfriedman on Mar 4, 2024 11:01:38 GMT -6
Thank you for appreciation. I cannot promise to provide you with the files quickly: please excuse me.
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Post by gustavgg on Mar 10, 2024 14:59:42 GMT -6
OK NO PROBLEMA WHEN YOU HAVE TIME PLS SEND BY MAIL manager@navetrans.net
thanks Gustavo
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