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WOW! What a fun night!
First, I must thank those who helped with the planning of this frame. Your input on the forum thread and on Team Speak was invaluable. Second, I must thank all of you for executing the plan with great skill and precision. Finally, I want to thank JABO and everyone else who organizes the S3. It truly is about as close as most of us will ever get to the real thing. The adrenalin was really pumping hard, last night.
T+0: The Mission Begins
All Allied forces were rolling down the runways and down our carrier decks. The strikes called out that everyone was up, with few exceptions due to Internet connections and stick problems. The strikes were told to head to our rendezvous point and hold until all pilots had formed up. We loitered there for what seemed like ages before everyone had worked out their issues and caught up with us. Then, we started our northern trek toward the general vicinity of the enemy CV.
Our carrier based fighters, the 352nd, sent out scouts to locate the enemy CV group. It wasn't long before the American Eagles, led by BESEA (CO), radioed back that the flat tops had been found. In a very professional way, he counted the ships and gave us the direction of their movement and the approximate speed they were churning up the waters. With that information, the strikes turned toward that location.
Before long, the 352nd began calling out that they were engaging enemy cons that were directly in our flight path. The strikes turned easterly to avoid being spotted. Soon, we were passing over our own CV group heading to the North to get out of the direct flight path between the two carrier groups. We were spotted and we knew that our position and strike force composition were surely radioed back to the IJN commanders. The detours cost the strikes considerable time and fuel, which made the mission very tenable. Looking at our remaining fuel, MT-DEW and I considered whether we should risk losing the entire strike force by continuing the mission or to return to the relative safety of our CV group and, possibly, abort the mission. After weighing the options, I gave the go ahead to proceed to the enemy carrier group. The 352nd and American Eagles had refueled and rearmed and were confident they could cover us into the fight.
During this time, the 4th FG kept vigil over our static shipping around F25 and through the Slot. Fairly quickly, I remember seeing that a member of the 4th FG was credited with a kill. I expected to hear more action, but it seemed to be too quiet. Apparently, the poor A6M was a forward scout and too bad for him. Repeated calls throughout the night for PAPPY to give an update were answered that all was quiet. That wouldn't last all night. They would race from one area to the next trying to find the enemy.
The strike force drew closer to the prized enemy CV group and encountered several cons flying through our low TBDs. The 352nd and American Eagles would chase them through and dispatch them without breaking a sweat. Soon, the enemy ships were spotted and our 3-pilot squads would home in on their assigned targets. We had lost several of our a/c due to discos, and various issues, but we believed we had enough to at least sink the carriers. The flights designated for the carriers dropped their torpedoes and made some hits, but they didn't go down. I put out the word for the strikes that hadn't dropped their torpedoes to focus on the CVs. A destroyer was blown up, then the two carriers, and finally, another destroyer. The enemy was without a place to land. Our strikes were told to rendezvous at the 4,10x and head back to land at their CV.
Both the 352nd and American Eagles and the strike force were running low on fuel. The original plan was to have the 352nd to land and refuel before rebasing in the South to continue operations the rest of the night. However, the delays we ran into trying to get tot he enemy CV had used up the extra time we had hoped to have for it.
The 352nd and American Eagles told the strikes that they were engaging the enemy south of our own carrier group. Because of this, they were asked to cover our returning TBDs, so they could land and stand down for the night. They did an outstanding job keeping the enemy at bay even though the fight had moved directly overhead. All the TBDs that hadn't been lost on the ingress, while missing parts and losing fuel to leaks, were able to land safely on the CVs. The fighters continued to cover our ships until the end of the night.
The 4th FG was able to limit our losses in the South with minimal losses. We look forward to hearing their After Action Report.
The American Eagles had several kills and no losses. They and the 352nd were vital to the success of the strike mission.
Thanks again for making the night one to remember.
Darryl <S>
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Darryl
