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.