Part 50: San Francisco: September 13, 1944
After the first few days of our invasion, we're running into stronger resistance. We aren't making advances, but we are holding the ground we've taken so far.
Axis Turn 10: September 13, 1944
Fair (Dry)
The Hien is proving its capabilities against some of the better American planes.
It's an excellent day in the air for us all-around.
Our tanks force the Americans down from the hills, into open ground where the bombers can easily target them.
Fighting intensifies at the south end of San Jose, where the foot soldiers are making a push.
The East Bay probe finally discovers some forces; an artillery unit in San Leandro that seems to have no other units accompanying it. However, our own units are now out of fuel, and are forced to hold off from making any attacks.
Allied Turn 10: September 13, 1944
Fair (Dry)
Our bombers did eliminate those tanks, but they end up flying too close to the flak emplacements in San Jose.
Yet another unit of Shermans comes along the ridge to disrupt our western forces.
Even more tanks show up; it's going to be quite a struggle to deal with all of them.
Axis Turn 11: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
We work on taking out the carrier-based planes, now that we've eliminated their carrier.
The cruisers get a chance to view the San Francisco shoreline. There are some units garrisoning the city, but they don't look particularly strong.
Air power is the only possible way to deal with the American tanks.
But even then, it only manages to create a stalemate position.
Allied Turn 11: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
Our southeastern forces come under attack from the air.
The American tanks may be better than ours, but their crews have much less experience, and it shows sometimes.
Axis Turn 12: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
Somehow those American Helldivers are able to just break away from our fighters.
Our ships sail triumphantly through the 'Golden Gate' and we commence shelling of San Francisco.
A few more units have shown up to fight off our meager forces in the Hayward/San Leandro area.
We're getting better at knocking out the Shermans now, using combined air and ground attacks.
Allied Turn 12: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
We had made a bit of progress, but it gets pushed back just as quickly.
The 2nd Hohei is cut off and then eliminated after multiple attacks.
Axis Turn 13: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
We actually gain ground in the battle for Hayward; our light tanks knock out some Stuarts.
Once the shelling of San Francisco began, more troops were mobilized to defend the city.
Those Helldivers may have escaped from the Zeros, but when they come to attack us on the ground, Sabai's Flying Circus gets the best of them.
The battle of San Jose continues, without much change in position.
Allied Turn 13: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
With all our planes forced to operate out of Monterey, we don't have enough to deal with the air threat here.
More tanks hit continue to hit us in the hills, and our AT units just aren't up to the task.
Axis Turn 14: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
We send our ships toward Alameda to soften up the defenders there. With enough support, even the few units we have there might be enough to take control.
The Fuso is able to start shelling San Francisco. We focus on reducing the defensive guns.
The Zeros really want to take out those Helldivers, and pursue them all the way to Moffett, putting themselves in danger of being shot down. They do, however, succeed in shooting down the enemy squadron.
At San Jose, we achieve a slight breakthrough, and knock out a number of AA guns.
The tank battle is still a tough one. We're starting to grow desperately short of supplies, and can't keep all our units at full strength anymore.
Allied Turn 14: September 14, 1944
Fair (Dry)
The Zeros manage to survive the flak over Moffett.
Another unit of Shermans shows up, this time on the east side of San Jose.
At the same time, tanks on the west side blast us back even farther.
Unit Spotlight
It turns out this is the last naval combat for the Japanese side, and unfortunately we couldn't afford picking up these units, but here's a look battleships that we could have had.
Yamato-class Battleship (2 built)
PG Name: Yamato Type:Battleship
Effective Date: 5/42
Value:32 Cost:576 Spot:3 Move:5 MM: Deep Naval Fuel: 64
Init:5 Range:8 SA:7 HA:10 AA:[6] NA:25 DA:0 GD:25 AD:17 TD:10 Ammo:40
Special: Night Optics
The Yamato is one of the most famous battleships ever built. It was definitely the biggest ever, and possibly the toughest. The design was conceived after Japan decided to ignore treaty limitations on size, and they went all out with the Yamato, a massive beast armed with 460mm (18.1") guns. It possibly represented the culmination of the battleship as a concept. The fate of the ship also seemed to reflect the destiny of the battleship in large-scale conflicts as well, when the Yamato was sunk in 1945 by carrier-launched aircraft.
In-game analysis: This would be the best naval unit stat-wise in the game, if there wasn't something on the horizon even bigger. Of the actual ships that existed in the world, this one is indeed the best in-game. It's a difficult task to take one down in combat. The anti-air power makes it quite resistant to air attacks. It can easily outrange anything on the water, and is almost impervious to opposing fire. If you're doing naval operations, this is an unbeatable addition to the fleet, although it is one of the few capital ships that might need to monitor its fuel consumption in longer battles.
Super Yamato-class Battleship/Design A150 (none built)
PG Name: Yamato Type:Battleship
Effective Date: 12/44
Value:64 Cost:1152 Spot:3 Move:5 MM: Deep Naval Fuel: 64
Init:5 Range:8 SA:7 HA:10 AA:[18] NA:26 DA:0 GD:26 AD:17 TD:10 Ammo:40
Special: Night Optics, Radar
This was a design that was actually complete by the early 1940s, but there was never a need to build it. Despite its name, it wasn't a reworking of the Yamato class. It was meant to be an even more powerful battleship, possibly to be used in the event of an escalation of battleship size that never occurred. While the full details are not known since none were constructed and the plans were later destroyed, this would have had even larger guns than the Yamato, potentially a large number of AA guns, and belt armor so thick that it could not have been built from a single piece. It doubtless would have been a more of a deadly monster than the Yamato, but it's also not hard to imagine that it would have suffered a similar fate.
In-game analysis: Well, there simply isn't a better battleship to be found in the game (though the American Montana-class is a close contender). That said, there isn't a more expensive unit to be found in the game, either. The improvement over the Yamato is really rather slight for something nearly twice the price. This just feels like it'd be a super-attractive target, and while it would also be fantastically tough to take down, I don't think the enemy would need to spend equivalently in prestige to do so.
Shinano-class Carrier (1 nearly built)
PG Name: Shinano Type:Carrier
Effective Date: 5/45
Value:55 Cost:990 Spot:2 Move:5 MM: Deep Naval Fuel: 89 Capacity: 3
Init:3 Range:0 SA:3 HA:6 AA:[18] NA:8 DA:0 GD:25 AD:20 TD:12 Ammo:100
Special: Radar
As the Yamato was to the battleship, the Shinano was to the aircraft carrier - the biggest and the toughest on the seas. The Shinano was in fact the third Yamato-class hull, converted to a carrier. Unfortunately because it was a conversion, it had a rather meager aircraft capacity relative to its displacement (although it did have quite a lot of storage space for supplies). Despite its strength it would likely have been used as something of a resupply/escort carrier. It never sailed into combat, since it was transferred between ports in open water before completion, and was sunk easily by an American sub.
In-game analysis: This isn't unit you should get even if you can afford it, although it is indeed a ridiculously strong carrier. That said, the capacity of 3 and the sluggish movement rate give one pause, especially at this price. My opinion is that if it gets to the point where a carrier needs to rely on its own combat abilities instead of its planes or escorts for protection, things have gone seriously wrong.