The battle of Savo island (General Quarters 3 battle report)

 So now is the report of the fight between Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa's South-east area forces and Vice Admiral Victor Crutchly's escort forces.

The defence forces are made up of 2 groups,

The south force is made up of the escort ships from task force 62 and lead by Crutchly

It contains 2 heavy cruisers (HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra) 2 Cruisers (USS Chicago and HMAS Hobart) and 9 destroyers

The north force is made up of the remaining ships in the fire support groups L and M.

It is made up of 3 heavy cruisers (USS Vincennes, USS Quincy, USS Astoria) 1 Cruiser (USS Atlanta) and 6 destroyers.

The attack force is 1 group made up of

1 Takao class heavy cruiser (Chokai)

2 Aoba class heavy cruisers (Aoba, Kinugasa)

2 Furutaka class heavy cruisers (Furutaka, Kako)

1 Tenryu class light cruiser (Tenryu)

1 experimental light cruiser (Yubari)

1 Kamikaze class destoyer (Yunagi)

Deployment

The japanese forces will first approach the southern force. The north force will take time to arrive once the fight starts.

The result

The Japanese fleet approaches the Southern escort force.

The smaller Japanese fleet approached the first US group over the first few truns and was able to close up to one of the paroling destroyers. At this point they loosed a wave of torpedoes at the US group which was lit up by flares dropped by float planes. Their guns mostly missed the smaller destroyers.

The first exchange of fire has little effect.

The US forces now alerted began to react, the main group began to move towards the Japanese fleet reported by the 2 nearby destroyers. The US ships mostly fail to find targets, the 2 destroyers fire their torps at the Japanese fleet, the Chokai and Furutaka are both struck by torpedoes but they are both duds and fail to do damage. Meanwhile the Japanese guns do severe damage to the USS Paterson, taking several hull points, a gun mount and a torpedo mount. A torpedo from the initial Japanese spread also strikes the destroyer USS Taibot and sinks it.

The Taibot is sunk by a Torpedo.

By this point the US north force is fully alert and steaming towards the battle area. The US and Japanese fleet close towards each other. The continue to fire at each other doing some damage but nothing major. Another wave of torpedoes is launched from the second line ships.

In the next turn the ships are closer and a confused heavy fire starts. The Tenryu is struck by a US torpedo, but it is a dud. In the confusion USS Ralph is also hit by a US torpedo but this is also a dud. The previously damaged USS Paterson is hit by a Japanese torpedo and sunk. The Kako is hit by gunfire and takes significant damage losing its float plane mount, an engine and hull points to fire from the HAMS Hobart. The Hobart in turn is stuck by fire and takes a huge amount of damage crippling the ship. Other cruisers also take damage on both sides.

Now the US north forces are beginning to arrive in the area and are directly in front of the Japanese fleet, which now turns into the US south forces on the left. More torpedoes are fired by both sides. The Selfridge is hit by a torp and sunk. The Aoba takes some damage from gun fire including its last functional main gun. The HAMS Australia and Canberra both take damage. The USS Chicago is hit and her ammunition stats to burn among other damage.

The north force arrives.

In the next round the Chicago fails to put out the fire and is destroyed in a huge explosion as its ammunition detonates. The Bagley and Helm are both sunk by torpedoes. The Chokai takes a large amount of damage from the Canberra, including all torpedo mounts and catches fire, however its guns are all still operational. They fire at the Canberra and cause a huge amount of damage which will cause the ship to sink next turn. The Kinugasa is hit and its rudder is damaged and it is locked into a hard turn. The heavily damaged HMAS Australia carrying Admiral Crutchly turns to withdraw.

A massive amount of fire is exchanged by the ships.

Next the north force begins to enter range. The USS Dewy and another destroyer are sunk by torpedo hits. The Kinugasa and Aoba are hit heavily. The Kinugasa also fails to repair its rudder. More damage is done to various ships by gunfire.

The final torpedoes are launched.

The previously fired torpedo swarms now reach their targets. The Wilson is sunk and the Qunicy and Astoria take damage. The Furutaka is sunk buy a torpedo hit. The Chokai takes heavy hull damage from gun fire, but is able to sink the Qunicy as its 5 heavy gun mounts are still functioning. A previously fired torpedo strikes the withdrawing HMAS Australia and it sinks rapidly, Admiral Crutchly is not amongst the survivors.

The Australia is hit by a stray as she withdraws.

By this point it is clear that the damage Japanese forces cannot win and so continue their turns to withdraw. Over the next few turns the crippled cruisers Aoba, Chokai and Kako will be sunk. The heavily damaged Kinugasa will repair its rudder and thanks to its earlier hard tuns will escape into the night. The 3 lighter Japanese ships will also escape. Admiral Gunichi Mikawa will go down with his flag ship.

The north force pursues the withdrawing Japanese.

The lighter Japanese ships make their escape while the crippled Kinugasa withdraws under cover of darkness.

So who won?

It's a hard question. The US fleet was able to drive off a smaller Japanese fleet and sink 4 heavy cruisers and cripple another. Only 2 light cruisers and a destroyer will be able to join in future conflicts in the area from the original 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light crusiers and 1 destroyer fleet. The loss of a skilled admiral is also bad.

While the US won the battle their losses were very heavy. Of the original fleet of 7 heavy cruisers, 1 anti air cruiser and 15 destroyers, 5 heavies were sunk and 1 very badly damaged, 7 destroyers were also sunk and 2 more very badly damaged. This leaves an escort of only 1 heavy cruiser, 1 anti aircraft cruiser and 6 destroyers to protect the whole landing force which still needs at least 5 more days to unload fully. Admiral Crutchly was also lost in the battle.

So now the carrier based cap will have its work cut out. Should the land based Japanese air forces strike in numbers the lightly defended transports could suffer terribly. As for the Japanese fleet, there are no new heavy cruisers in production so these losses will be felt hard.

This was my first game of GQ3 and I really jumped in the deep end. I know I made a few rules mistakes, but these were not as great as my tactical mistakes. I should of kept the japanese fleet at a distance and used their superior night fighting skills to safely attack the US fleet. Going in close was good for torpedoes, but meant that the return damage was greater. As for the US forces, I should have spread out more to protect them from the very effective Japanese torpedoes which sunk many destroyers.

But the war goes on, next the land battles and the Marines move to attack the bases on the small islands and the Japanese air strikes (if they

come) against the transports.

Turn 3 Night to turn 4 night. The landings start

Day 3 Night (august 6)

The weather is fine

 Both Subs encounter and spot a carrier group. The first sub, the I-121 is spotted by escorts dives before it is able to fire. It is then depth chraged and sunk by the escorts, (I forgot to take photos)

The second sub, sights and reports the group but can't get into a firing position.

The landing forces arrive and prepare to land, they are sighted and the main Japanese forces withdraw to the jungle, The forces on the small islands are now trapped and will have to fight.

Vice Admiral Gunichi's forces also arrive and begin to move towards Guadalcanal, his forces are made up of 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 1 destroyer.

Day 4 (august 7)

The weather is windy

 Below blue circles are US fleets, 1-3 are carrier groups and 4 is the landing group. Blue dimonds are ground forces. Red circles are Japanese fleets, 1 being sub I-123 and 3 being Gunichi's forces. The red dimond is Japanese forces on land.

News of the landings reaches the Japanese forces based at Rabaul, but for some reason they fail to send any air craft to attack the ships as they land forces throughout the first day.

Gunichi's force gets closer and is spotted by US scout aircraft at long range.

The I-123 approaches the Task Unit from old TF 16 again. It fails to get into a good position but is not spotted due to the waves caused by the wind.

The marines move ashore and occupy the airstrip on Guadalcanal. The encounter resistance on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo and are forced to fight. (the battle will come later)

Below blue represents the US forces, 1 the marines on Guadalcanal and 2 the Marines on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo. Red is the Japanese base forces.

Day 4 night

There is heavy rain and wind

The I-123 looses the position of the Task unit it was following

Gunichi approaches the amphibious sections of the task forces, as he was spotted the day before the defences are tighter and more ships are precent but they still fail to spot him as he closes due to the weather and poor training and leadership. He easily locates the fleet lead by Rear Admiral V. A. C. Crutchley.

Gunichi decides to strike at the escorts rather than trying to sneak through to the transports. Meanwhile Crutchley has laid out his forces in a conservative fashion keeping his best ships closer to his transports. and clumped together.

The battle will be fought at night and in bad weather. The Smaller Japanese fleet has achived tactical but not strategic surprise and is heavily out numbered.

This battle could have a key effect on the future of the campaign.

Sea plane attack (Bag the hun battle report)

 Just to re-cap, Japanese scouts from the island have spotted to parts of the American task force fast approaching Guadalcanal. It is day 3 (5th August 1942). The base commander, faced with the risk to his planes on the ground made a choice (using an A.I. chart) to attack.

All the carrier pilots have been pre generated and their activities in the campaign will be recorded, the sea plane pilots are all average. The carrier pilots were generated using rules from bag the hun. As this is still early in the war for the American forces they are not yet as skilled as the Japanese in their combat flying.

So we begin.

12 sea planes have launched from the Island of Talugi to attack the carrier groups before they are struck by the carriers own bomber wings. The large and unmaneuverable planes do not stand much of a chance against fighters or AA fire, but their Commander has reasoned that it is better to be lost in combat than on the ground.

The sea planes find thr group after a little searching and are not picked up quickly by radar and so can get quite close. The CAP intercept the flying boats not far from the carriers and can only muster 3 sections against 4 so 1 section of sea planes will get through unharmed (I only have 3 big flying boat miniatures so cant do 1 big battle.)

The first battle is Fighter section 6 

If the sea planes can close the distace with the ships the fighters will have to break off due to their own AA.

The fighters approach the Mavis' from the front, a burst of fire form the squadron leader (T. Bell) rips through the left Mavis causing the plane to fall apart mid air. The debris strikes the squadren leader causing him to loose control of his plane and break formation, but he soon recovers The wild cats then attempt a tricky manoeuvre to get behind their targets, however the rookie fails and heads off on is own in the wrong direction.

The squadron leader of the Wildcats (T. Bell) Now gets on the tail of another Mavis. However his long burst of fire only does light damage to the rugged flying boat. By this point the flying boats are approaching the AA range of the carrier group so the fighters break off pursuit with only one target lightly damaged.

The result is 2 sea planes make it through.

Second battle - Fighter section 3

The second battle feature the most skilled fighter section of the Saratoga, This section also includes the wing commander (T. Smith)

The planes move up and the wild cats have soon manoeuvred behind their targets. However accurate turret fire forces T. Smith to hard evade to the right, breaking the fighters formation. A close shave for the wing leader.

Next the fighers open fire forcing the Sea planes to break formation and cause light damage. However, T. Smith the wing leader, still clearly shaken from the hard evade he was forced to make, accidentally allows himself to slip further to the right. All turret fire misses.

In the next round all fighters get on the tails of their targets with T. Smith damaging the gun sights of his target. Once again the tail gunners have no effect.

Again the Wildcat pilots fire and this round have more effect. A. Du Bois damages the engine of his target while R. Miller kills the tail gunner and severs a fuel line of his target. T Smith has the most success firing again and causing his Target Mavis to break up in mid air.

In the next round R. Miller shoots down his target and T. Smith completes his revenge by poaching A. Du Bois target and shooting it down.

The result is the Cap section have shot down all the Mavis'

Battle 3 section 1

This section is made completely of rookie pilots

The fighters approach from a forward left position and open fire when they are within range. However all they can do is force the sea planes to break formation and do light damage.

Now they find themselves in trouble as they lack the skills to make a good sharp turn and by the time they can catch up, their targets have reformed and have reached the ships.

The result is all sea planes make it to the carrier group.

Review 

The first 2 battles went quite well, The sea planes were able to move faster than i expected thanks to some good roles. I have not played Bag the Hun much so I probably made some mistakes. Turret fire was largely ineffective but there were 2 times when there was the chance to cause real damage.

In the 3rd battle i made a mistake as i avoided the rookies trying for a hard turn. If i had tired this one of 3 should have made it. This compounded by the Mavis' bonus speed rolls and the rookies missing their closing fire allowed all 3 to get through.

The attack on the fleet

Of the 12 sea planes that set out, 8 have reached the fleet. They will now begin their attack runs. Their target is the 'Air Support Force' part of the Task force. It is made up of 1 Carrier (USS Saratoga) 2 cruisers (USS Minneapolis and USS New Orleans) and 5 destroyers, 4 Farragut class (USS Farragut, USS MacDonough, USS Dale and USS Worden) and 1 Porter class (USS Phelps)

Each sea plane carries 2 torpedoes, and they attempt to get an attack line, however they cannot get a good line on the carrier as it is covered by the destroyers who place them selves in the way of the torpedo runs.

The first wing of 3 planes is forced to target the USS MacDonough, a Farragut class destroyer but looses 2 planes to AA fire in the process and misses its target.

The second wing of 3 planes targets the USS MacDonogh too but looses 2 planes and misses its target.

So far the Mavis have lost most of their number and failed to achieve anything, only 1 section is left to make its run.

The final wing of 3 planes targets the USS Phelps. As the planes approach, one is hit by AA fire plunges into the ocean. The remaining 2 releace their torpedos into the water and they head towards the fleet.3 of the torpedos go wide and miss. However one of their number is well on target and strikes the Phelps directly in the side. A huge hole is blown in the ship and she soon begins to sink. survivors are picked up by the other destroyers.

The surviving planes do not make it back past the CAP and are all shot down or crash on the return journey.

The result is the entire sea plane wing has been destroyed. However, the Saratoga carrier group has lost one of its destroyers. This was not a loss that they needed to suffer. the biggest faling here was the CAP's falioure to catch the sea planes at a greater distance.

Due to their experiences 2 of the pilots from section 6 (the first battle) have improved their flying abilities. T. Bell the section leader has become a veteran and O. Morris a rookie has become an average pilot.