Part 81: Operational Report: 25/02/42
The I-24 hits a tanker shipping fuel to Pearl Harbour.
Another of our Subs supporting the Marshall Islands invasion attacks a ship moving around in the area. The Pompano is a new ship to us, but starts its attack with a dud.
Our ships unloading at Kwajalein are still taking a pounding from the dammed fortress there. We lose one ship to this heavy and constant barrage. But they must be depleting their supplies at a frightful rate.
To make matters worse, the Yugure attacks one of the troop convoys. The destroyer is driven off, but not before inflicting damage on a couple of the troop ships.
The enemy have planes on Maloelap as well, as they come in to support their attack on our convoys, but the mass flack pushes them off with losses.
Their afternoon attack gets a hit on the Idaho, talking out an anti-aircraft gun but not causing that much more damage.
On the ground our forces see some combat, but nothing to heavy, hopefully we can build up our forces on the island and push them off in the next few days.
Towards dusk, the Cuttlefish finds the replenishment boat that was hit yesterday. Still burning, the crew of the vessel are hit once more by an allied torpedo.
The KXVII is off Vietnam when it comes across a supply ship and puts a torpedo into it.
The bombing runs of Sumatra continue.
The battering of the Bastards of Bataan continues today, as it does every day.
This is followed by an assault that pushes our forces back from their front line fortifications.
Not a huge amount to talk about today, the attack on Kwajalein has cost us a number of ships and men, but for a first major assault of the war, this is to be expected, we have little experience with this, and this is a huge learning experience against a experienced enemy.
Again, there is little more than book keeping to report, but the troops from Sidney have left for Port Moresby.
I am sending down more troops to Fiji. This time, maybe we can take Luganville. But that's a good way into the future.