1140
8 May 1942
Greetings, and welcome to my return to the Pacific! Both the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy are on the prowl in the southwestern Pacific; the Japanese have their eyes on Australia, or at least cutting off the lines of communication between the US and Australia, and the Americans are looking to not allow that to happen. On 3-4 May 1942, while fighting raged on New Guinea, the Japanese attempted secure their flank, sending an invasion fleet into the Solomon Islands to put troops ashore on Tulagi (across the channel from Guadalcanal), in order to conduct an amphibious assault on Port Moresby on 10 May.
But the Americans noted the Japanese invasion force in the Solomons, and the USS Yorktown launched strike aircraft that sunk or damaged several Japanese warships, though now the Japanese were aware the US carriers were in the vicinity, made doubly worse by the fact the Americans were shorthanded: they had only the Yorktown and the Lexington in the area because the Hornet and Enterprise had just returned to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid. These were faced by the Japanese fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the light carrier Shoho. The two opposing forces marshalled their troops, refueled, consolidated, and began searching in earnest for each other.
This morning, Lt(jg) Casey led the fighter escort for the Lexington strike force which, combined with the Yorktown's strike force, managed to sink the Japanese light carrier Shoho. But the Killer Pelicans' escorts had a rough go: they downed three Zeros and damaged another, but they lost one Wildcat, had the other three damaged, and five of their six assigned dive bombers were shot down, the sixth returning to the Lexington, damaged. Lt Casey scored two more kills to become a Veteran (total of four kills), but he was shot down and badly wounded, which will cause him to miss the Battle of Midway.
Both sides carried out preparation for battle throughout the night, then launched scouts shortly after 0600 the next morning, to find the other side's carriers. The Americans got lucky first, sighting the Japanese carriers at 0820, though the Japanese were only two minutes behind. Both sides hurried to turn into the wind and launch their strike groups! The Japanese launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers, while the Yorktown and Lexington launched a combined 15 Wildcats, 39 Dauntlesses, and 21 Devastators, though the Lexington's contingent was about 10 minutes behind the Yorktown's.
At 1055 the Lexington's air search radar acquired the inbound Japanese strike group at a range of 68 nautical miles and vectored nine Wildcats to intercept; it was 1113 local time when Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons again led the Lexington CAP into battle. And this time he found the enemy, but it didn't work out very well for the Americans. Lt Fitzsimmons and Lt Allen saw their aircraft damaged, Ens Chipman had to disengage and retreat, but that wasn't the worst of it. Three Wildcats were shot down, with Ensign Camili being wounded, but Ensigns Gordon and Mann were killed in action, while no Japanese aircraft were shot down, and enemy torpedo bombers managed to put three torpedoes into the USS Lexington.
At 1123, radar contact acquired another Japanese strike group, comprised of Val dive bombers escorted by Zeros, and vectored the Lexington's Combat Air Patrol to intercept. The six Wildcats charged headlong into the Japanese formation, suffering two aircraft lost (and one pilot KIA) and one damaged in brutal action that saw Ensign Head awarded the Navy Cross for shooting down four enemy aircraft! Lt Allen added another two kills, and Ensign Chipman added one, with the rest of the Japanese aircraft breaking off the attack, so not a single Val dive bomber was able to press home the attack. However, the Lexington is still in trouble caused by the torpedo hits earlier.
At 1130, LtCmdr Case led a four-ship escort for "Scouting Two's" SBD Dauntless dive bombers to attack the Japanese carrier Shokaku. The Japanese CAP was successful, shooting down four of the SBDs and forcing the last two to return to base, damaged, though they lost four of their own (two to defensive fire from SBDs!), with LtCmdr Case and Ens Riggins both scoring kills.
It is now 1140, and LtCmdr Case has re-formed his flight, which is now escorting Bombing Two's SBD Dauntlesses as the Americans make a run on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku.
This is my arena for aerial combat; simple, yet durable and, to me, beautiful (in a simple, durable way). I'm using tiny aircraft designed by my buddy Thomaston; not sure what size they are, just that they are much smaller than 1/600. They're 3D printed models that I mounted on cut-down bases from Litko, and I'm using a very simple rules system called "Battle of Britain," which I found for free over on The Miniatures Page (I've already played a good 20 or so fights with them). Left is north, with the Japanese carrier Zuikaku and a three-ship CAP, while the American strike group is at right.
The US strike group, from top:
Ensign Riggins, a Regular with two kills on two sorties
LtCmdr Case, an Ace with eight kills in three sorties (and winner of the Medal of Honor!)
D02 D05
D01 D04
D03 D06
Ensign Dahlgren, a Regular with one kill on two sorties
Ensign Didier, a Regular with no kills on one sortie
D01 through D06 are SBD Dauntlesses, a dive bomber, each carrying a 1000-lb bomb it's hoping to plant smack on the deck of the Japanese carrier. The Dauntless has three MPs per turn, and can fire defensive fire to its 12 o'clock (front) and 4 to 7 o'clock (rear quarter).
The target, and the Japanese Combat Air Patrol, which is severely depleted and consists only of three A6M Zeros. From top:
Zero 01: Veteran
Zero 06: Regular
The Americans should win, just through pure attrition. Here's how I handled it; the Japanese have six slots. They have two fighters Zero 05 and Zero 06 already on the table, so they take two of the slots. Now I have to roll four D6 for the other slots:
1-3 = no aircraft (because of previous losses)
4 = one Regular*
5 = one Veteran*
6 = one Natural Born Killer*
*The Japanese had one Reg, one Vet, and one NBK left in this squadron, plus the Vet and the Reg already on the table.
So I rolled it up and the Japanese only got one Veteran, because one dice came up for a shot down aircraft (it was a '2'), and the other two dice were both '5's.
C'est la guerre! Yes, of course I cheated for the Americans. But not too much; well, maybe a bit. The Americans still had three of their four slots filled (Case, Riggins, and Dahlgren), and one pilot left, Ens Didier. I could have (should have?) rolled to see if Didier filled the slot or it remained empty, but I just slammed Didier in there. Oh, and Case and Dahlgren were damaged, so I'm leaving them damaged, so stop crying about me cheating! ;)
We fast forward through the first two turns, and now the battle is met. Let's get it on!
Ensign Riggins comes up and left, to protect the Dauntlesses.
As LtCmdr Case jinks aroud, staying between the Zeros and the Dauntlesses.
While at the bottom, Ensign Dahlgren cruises ahead, straight and level.
While Ensign Warren cuts right, between the Zeros and Dauntlesses, the Wildcats doing their job.
Zero 01 comes in straight and level, wanting to get at the Dauntlesses, but waiting to see what Ens Riggins (far right) and LtCmdr Case (bottom right) are going to do.
While at the bottom, Zero 05 cuts left and takes a front quarter shot on LtCmdr Case. 20mm tracers zip past the US squadron leader's canopy...
But no hits are scored and the Zero peels right.
As Zero 06 runs in, straight and level, letting the fight develop.
The Dauntlesses push north...
Which brings Dauntless 01 into a head to head fight with Zero 05! Both pilots squeeze the triggers...
I'll be damned... With the Dauntless hitting on '6' and the Zero hitting on 4+ (5+, +1 for being Veteran), they both manage to not only hit, but smite each other from the sky! For the second straight fight a dive bomber gets the first kill of the game!
Lt Cmdr Case comes left, showing his tail to Zero 01 (top left), looking to lure the veteran Japanese pilot away from the bombers, with his wingman, Ens Riggins (top right) watching his six.
But Ensign Riggins is overanxious, and he cuts right and takes a front quarter shot on Zero 01! The American's .50-cal MGs hammer away...
But he misses and flashes past!
Oh yeah, I felt the US attack values were too strong, so I changed them again. Now they are:
5+ 4+ 5+
6 t 6
4+ 3+ 4+
The Japanese are unchanged:
6 5+ 6- t -
4+ 3+ 4+
I also made it so that both aircraft in head to head attacks use their normal attack value, rather than the defensive fire 'to hit' value of '6.' So you'll see a lot fewer head to head attacks.
Ens Dahlgren comes right, worried about Zero 06 (bottom left) but trying to assist his squadron leader (top center left) out, now that Ens Riggins abandoned his wingman. Ens Didier (far right) sees his Section Leader playing defense, but he's got other ideas...
"Let's end this now!" he exclaims, then rolls his Wildcat left to take a front quarter shot on Zero 06. He stands on the triggers and walks his tracers onto the enemy aircraft...
And smiles as it plummets into the sea, scoring his first kill of the war!
Zero 01 chuckles to himself as suddenly he finds himself between the escorting Wildcats and their accompanying SBD dive bombers. He coolly and calmly jinks over into a head on attack on Dauntless 02. Both pilots open fire...
These Dauntlesses are absolutely incredible (black is US, red is Japanese)!
Zero 01 is damaged, then runs in on Dauntless 05, continuing to fire, but now taking fire from 05's nose guns and 02's tail guns!
This is ridiculous!
Dauntless 02's tail gunner finishes what its pilot started, knocking Zero 01 from the sky! So two of three enemy fighters were downed by the dive bombers, and now the dogfight is finished as the Japanese have no more fighters in the air.
Oh, and before he got shot down, Zero 01 damaged Dauntless 05. I roll to see what he's going to do, he decides to jettison his 1000-lb bomb and head for home.
The Wildcats pull off high and right as the Dauntlesses form line astern and make their run on the Zuikaku...
One by one the SBDs push over into their dive and release their bombs...
And then pull out at wave-top level, before turning for home. Anxious pilots call out to their tail gunners for updates on the bomb drops: "Tell me, Charlie, did I hit her amidships? Tell me I put it down her stack! Tell me I hit the bridge!" But the answers are not encouraging: the tail gunners sheepishly inform their pilots that no one scored a direct hit, and only a couple even scored near misses, as I rolled an absolutely miserable 8 points on four D6!!! Yeah, with no aircraft even dropping on the first strike (Scouting 2's), and with this terrible showing, two strikes yields a horrendous 8/30 damage points...
The Wildcat pilots fight back some chuckles as they re-form up on the dive bombers for what will be a very, very long flight home for the dive bomber pilots. Though they completely missed the Zuikaku, luckily pilots from the Yorktown were able to attack the Shokaku and hit her with three 1000-lb bombs (in real life, Yorktown pilots hit with two and Lexington pilots added one more, with all torpedoes missing and Zuikaku untouched)! With her flight deck ablaze and thus unable to conduct air operations, the Shokaku and two destroyers retired to the northeast at 1210 local time.
I'm not sure what to call this; I suppose it was a successful outing for the Killer Pelicans. I mean, they didn't lose any of their own aircraft while shooting down one, and they one lost one SBD (with another damaged and returned to base), so they did their job, but it was the dive bombers themselves that did most of the work, shooting down two Zeros. Guess all that air to air combat threw off their dive-bombing aim, though... Still can't believe they only rolled eight on 4D6. Hell, if they would have at least gotten 13 or so I could have claimed that one of them scored a direct hit.
LtCmdr Case failed to score
Ensign Riggins failed to score
Ensign Dahlgren failed to score
Ensign Warren got his first kill of the war!
The Americans are a bit shocked at clearing the table of Zeros, getting four dive bombers to the target, and not scoring, which is very much on their mind as they form up and head south for home, wondering how well their Japanese counterparts fared, and hoping the Lexington is still there when they arrive. Unbeknownst to them at this time, the Lexington has been hit, but her damage control parties are finally getting a handle on the situation. Little do the Killer Pelican escorts realize their excitement is not finished for the day.
But before we get to that, having made their runs on the Lexington, the Japanese strike group is forming up and turning north to head back home, but in order to get there they have to run a gauntlet of fighters, as the Lexington's CAP is sstill airborne and hungry. Coming up next!
V/R,
Jack
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