Part 44: Operational Report: 19/01/42

The Louisville continues to support our invasion of Luganville.



Just think what we could be doing with a battleship anchored off there. The battle on the ground continues, tomorrow we should have enough troops landed to attack on our own.







The Japanese Imperial Navy make another move, this time they attack Midway with a destroyer, catching the unloading tankers by surprise, sinking two of them.








The S-40 attacks a small cargo ship off Hainan. It takes four torpedoes to get a hit, but at least that one explodes.







In today's bombing of Kauntan the Japanese go overboard with their protection – sending more fighters than bombers to an area that I've withdrawn the CAP from.



The ground forces continue to advance though, and they soon capture the base as well as many of the defenders.

Their strikes on Langsa continue to increase in size, but this raid only scores one runway hit, making it a massive waste of resources.




The Hermes is now operating off the south of Celebes, and strikes at the invasion force at Watampore. Annoyingly they decide to sink the patrol boat rather than the troop carrier. I suppose I can't blame them to much for targeting the thing shooting back, but those things are cheap, the cargo ship was the more valuable target.



They do return in the afternoon to more effect though.



We also lose Ambon today, as every defender surrenders to the enemies attack.



But today's big news is that the Japanese Army has reached Singapore with its lead elements. The attack was rash, and we think that over half of the attackers were killed in their attempt to seize the city by surprise, but this will be the vanguard of a much larger force.








The bombing of Bataan continues today, and the battle on the ground heats up once more.







The enemies advance on Rangoon has begun, it is now only a matter of time before they are marching on that city as well.









We lost some key bases today, and the dip in the scores show this, why we lost 25 planes to operational losses I do not know, but I will be investigating.



I do have to ask, but what did the nine men based at Kochi do to get lumbered with such a backwater post?
The Japanese are also planning to enforcer their attack on Manilla.

Although, once again, losses on the ground are balanced by new shiny toys, as today the repairs on the Colorado are finished, and we can now move her and the Warspite to Pearl.
This means we are getting closer to our invasion of the Marshall Islands.

The British have sent us another carrier as well. A battleship yesterday and a carrier today, what will I get tomorrow, and actual army?



While destined for the front, the HMS Indomitable will first stop off at the port of Colombo, where I have five cruisers waiting, they were there to protect us from any naval actions against India, but I can spare three of them to reinforce our actions in and around Java.

As you can see, the HMS Indomitable is a different kettle of planes to the Hermes while still half the size of an American carrier, she can carry twice the planes as her older sister, and she has some Sea Hurricanes on board, these planes will be invaluable in the coming battles.
Of course, both the Fulmars and Albacores are outdated hunks of junk, but hey – Hurricanes!




After the raid on Midway, I am now worried about an invasion, so its time to let my beautiful daughters out of the ivory tower and let them play.
The Saratoga, Lexington, Yorktown and Enterprise have all been given four cruisers and five destroyers each as an escort and told to move to areas around Midway.
If nothing turns up in the area, then I will move them off to raid Wake and the Marshall's in preparation to the invasion.

Time to get some practice in combined carrier ops.