Indian Ocean Fleet Battle

@Omega1759:

I wonder what the impact of an earlier Midway attack might have been.  It seems like Midway had limited strategic value such that the Americans might have decided to leave it alone. Maybe an earlier attempt to take the Solomons and Isolate Australia would have been more beneficial.

Depending on how much earlier it might have happened, and on whether the Japanese had captured the island, one thing that could have been affected was the mid-April 1942 Doolittle Raid.  After the actual raid, Japan started to view Midway as a dangerous “keyhole” whose air cover gave the US fleet an entry route into the central Pacific west of the Hawaiian Islands; this was one of Japan’s motives for trying to capture Midway in early June 1942.  If Japan had captured Midway in, let’s say, early April, this would probably have required the Doolitle Raid task force to take a different and longer route; it’s even remotely possible that the raid might have been cancelled (unlikely though that might have been).

We played our Pacific War  scenario “Operation C”.  I decided to go with the original Japanese plan of sending an additional occupation fleet/force in order to conquer Ceylon.  It quickly became obvious why the planners shelved that plan.  Attrition, attrition, attrition.  Of course, this would force some commitment of forces by Britain given the fact that so much of the Desert War’s supply line was based on the cape of good hope shipping routes. It turns out that there wouldn’t be much (or very possibly ANYTHING of any use) left for Midway (which would of course have had to be postponed) except maybe some empty carriers and some surface assets.  We’ll keep working on it though and hammer out a workable scenario eventually….

We were play testing the Operation C for Pacific War last night again.  It’s 98% there and we had an excellent game.  I just took an HOUR typing up a recap of the game complete with pictures and in depth commentary.  While I was working on literally the second to last sentence, I somehow highlighted the ENTIRE POST while typing and ERASED IT!!!  I am sick to my stomach right now.  I can’t just retype it because the creativity is gone.  I’ll get stuck trying to remember what I already typed……this SUCKS!!!    :cry:

@Pacific:

While I was working on literally the second to last sentence, I somehow highlighted the ENTIRE POST while typing and ERASED IT!!!Â

Very sorry to hear this.  I’ve had similar mishaps over the years.  I’ve lost messages typing them into browsers, which taught me to block-and-copy them as a safety measure before hitting “Post”.  If what I’m writing is at all long, I’ll compose it in Word rather than the browser, then copy it to the browser.  I formerly used Notepad for such drafting until I discovered that Notepad only remembers one set of text alterations, and thus that Control-Z (undo) only works once in Notepad.  In Word it works more than once (letting you recover multiple previous versions of your text), so there’s less danger of accidentally wiping out a whole block of stuff (as happened to me just two weeks ago).  And Word also periodically stores a temporary draft of your text, even if you haven’t actually saved it, which is an added layer of safety.

That’s pretty much what my buddy just told me.  My problem is that I’m a technoidiot.  This world of computers astounds and confuses me……even my watch is a wind up!  Now I just gotta figure out Word…yuck.  Thank you very much for your sympathies…I appreciate it!  :-)

You have mine too Pacific War.
I am a technophobe. All my posts are done on my phone as it corrects me, so I am faster.
I have lost 3 3-400 word posts, because my phone cannot always retain long pieces.

Gentlemen,

––I recently read a very good book,…“THE GREAT SHIPS, British Battleships in WW2”, one of the Stackpole series of military books I’m sure everyone is familiar with. It explains the broad and complete issues that all of the British Battleships encountered in WW2, including the Indian Ocean operation of the Japanese. Basically it projected that the Japanese airpower would have been dominant and overwhelming against these old and SLOW Battleships that had very outdated and weak anti-aircraft defenses. It’s a Great book, that is very thorough and even-handed in it’s study of it’s subject,…from before the 1st battleship to the end of the last British one. I reommend it.

“Tall Paul”

Well, we finally got the Op.C scenario for Pacific War balanced. � Here’s the general board situation at the end of round seven � (sorry it’s blurry):

�

The outline of the southern tip of India is at the top and Ceylon is mostly occupied by the Japanese in the center. � To the east is the Japanese base in the Andaman islands and to the west is the British base in the Maldives. � Both players are dead even in victory points and victory for one side or the other is imminent. � Both have strengths and weaknesses. �

Here’s the Japanese situation:

Most of Ceylon has been occupied with only Colombo still in allied hands. � While they have taken considerable losses, the Japanese still have a lot of aircraft left and enjoy extreme air superiority bordering on supremacy. This perceived airpower can be deceptive though as it is very brittle. � More than a few more lost aircraft and Japan will certainly lose the game. �  Land forces have been stretched to the limit while reinforcements are far away in the Andamans and will take time to cycle to the front. � In the meantime, the growing British fleet presence around Ceylon is taxing Japanese surface forces to the breaking point. � Couple this with reconnaissance reports of a British relief convoy bound for Ceylon and you have all the elements necessary for a potential disaster for the IJN. �  This is just the situation that Nagumo had dreaded……

And the British situation:

The British , particularly the Ceylon Defense Forces, have taken heavy losses on Ceylon but they have fought a brilliant delaying action against the Japanese. � Paratroops and aircraft from India coupled with supplies thrown in from wherever they could be scraped up throughout the Empire have taken a heavy toll on Japanese occupation forces. � Although the only thing standing between the Japanese and Britain’s last port on the island is the remnants of the CDF, fresh troops are en-route from the Andaman islands and airdropped reinforcements are being readied in southern India. � These troops could well turn the tide on the island provided they are not intercepted by Japanese forces and they arrive in time….  Meanwhile, exercising tenacious audacity, Somerville has finally managed to bring his Far East Fleet within range of Nagumo’s strike force. � With Japan’s air assets nearly overwhelmed with priorities on both land and sea, the time to close in has arrived. � It’s a risky gambit though because the brittle British fleet is flirting with disaster. �  At this point victory is with reach of both players. �

That’s where we stopped because it was getting late and Randy (my crafty opponent) had a long drive home ahead of him. � The game was neck and neck and could go either way. � At this point, after multiple playtest games, we thought it fitting to declare the game a tie and not play the final round to see who would emerge victorious. � It’s balanced and that’s what we wanted. � Next time it’s to the death!

Thank you Pacific War.
I do see your “draw” argument, but feel “to the death” is more fitting!
Hope you get to play again soon.