Kantai Kessen - After Action Report

ericjohn · Kantai Kessen - After Action Report

For fun, here's an after-action report of one play through of the Kantai Kessen scenario:

Provoked by mock torpedo attacks from Japanese destroyer flotillas, dry-run strafing passes by Zeros and persistent submarine harrassment Admiral William Halsey (or "Bull in the china shop" Halsey as he's since come to be known) commits the U.S. to war. He later tells the Congressional Hearings that preemtive action was necessary to ensure the fewest possible American casualties and the bare survival of his fleet. Given the ferocity of the ensuing battle, he may be right.

The U.S. first strike sets the Japanese Navy back on it's heels. The IJN light cruiser and destroyer squadrons are decimated, pummelled by long range battleship fire and hunted down by the U.S. cruiser screen, with little chance to get off a torpedo. Similarly the I-boats deployed to impede the Americans are efficiently dispatched. A dawn attack by SBD aircraft land a hit on the Tone and long range fire from the USS North Carolina wrecks the primary range finder on the Kongo.

However, Japan has succeeded in appearing as the "injured party" and is now ready to strike back. Immediately a vast wave of aircraft blankets the U.S. capital ships. The North Carolina takes a torpedo hit and two bombs land on the USS Enterprise, briefly halting aircraft operations. The mighty Yamato steams headlong at the U.S. battle line while Kongo and Tone edge past the U.S. cruiser screen toward the vital Enterprise.

In the forefront of battle the U.S. sailors watch in disbelief as the Yamato shrugs off close-range pummeling from no less than 4 battlewagons. From time to time a shot does tell, and truth be told the Yamato is lucky more than once with shells that come dangerously close to piercing critical compartments. The USS California isn't so fortunate, blowing sky high as point-blank 18" gunfire slices through it's armor belt. Yamato's powerful 8" secondaries set the USS Arizona's superstructure ablaze, while her main guns shift their fire to the North Carolina with effect.

On the flank the U.S. cruisers fight a lopsided duel with Kongo and Tone. Rapid fire from USS Boise is ineffectual. The USS Salt Lake City does better, managing a hit on Kongo, and then shifts fire to cripple the Tone; but despite sterling damage control she soon falls victim to the overwhelming weight of shell from Kongo.

The Enterprise's strike wing attempts to even the odds, but with little success. The Japanese CAP methodically hunts down the hapless Devastator torpedo planes, and stifling AA fire from Kongo decimates the U.S. Dauntless squadrons.

Now the U.S. destroyer flotillas are called upon for a desperate torpedo attack. They are annhilated by Tone and Kongo's secondary batteries, helped by long range fire from Akagi. However they put a torpedo into Kongo, crippling her. And as a final act of defiance by the "tin can" flotilla, gunfire from the USS Ward sinks the Tone.

Second and third waves of Japanese aircraft break over the U.S. fleet. Vals from Shokaku put a third bomb onto Enterprise, causing massive fires, cutting her power in half and eliminating water pressure in her fire-control system. Then, in a dramatic curtain call, the Kongo sinks the crippled carrier with long range gunfire. Kongo is soon dispatched herself by the Boise, but the U.S. fleet has lost its only source of fighter cover.

The Japanese aircraft now turn their attention on the U.S. battle line, concentrating on the USS Tennessee, but her skipper miraculously steers her through no less than 16 torpedo tracks, incurring but a single hit. Tennesee takes further damage from Yamato's main guns, however Yamato herself is finally silenced, reduced to a shattered and smoldering wreck by the sustained point-blank pounding of Arizona, Tennessee and North Carolina. The hulk remains afloat for 2 days until finally dispatched by a Japanese I-boat.

Short on fuel and ammunition, the U.S. battle line steams towards Manila. This leaves the American cruiser screen to bear the brunt of the Japanese aerial wrath. Although several Vals and Bettys are splashed, U.S. losses are heavy, with the USS Pensacola sinking despite heroic measures and the Boise crippled by a torpedo hit.

The Japanese navy is badly hurt, but her crucial carrier strike force is undamaged. Meanwhile the U.S. Pacific Fleet is still a force in being, but its air cover and most of its light forces have been destroyed and every capital ship is significantly damaged. Both sides claim victory in the engagement, but it's clear to everyone that a long and costly conflict lies ahead. The fact that Americans fired the first shot in distant waters may undermine the fortitude of the U.S. war effort, but only time will tell...

holt

Okie

Totaly cool alternate begaining for the war!! Must play this myself!! Good idea!!

cealigh the MadScot

I've 'oft wondered what if the Japanese had waited another 6mo to a year b4 committing to overt aggression.
This presents an interesting scenario....

What if Hitler had waited another year or two before moving into the Balkans, Austria, Chech/Yugoslavia, etc.
What if Hitler pulled the belt tighter around the laughing fat man's balls and allocated more funding to the Kreigsmarine instead of the Luftwaffe to complete the Graf Zep and other critical naval assets before committing to a losing battle against a grossly inferior and demoralized Royal Navy. What if Raeder had bigger balls to stand up and follow thru and completely destroy the Northern fleet at Scapa Flow?
Instead of wussing out and turn tail thru the slot.
Makes one wonder...

Hawker Hurricane

cealigh the MadScot

Hawker Hurricane

The ships that showed up in 1943 were part of the "peacetime" naval budget bills of 1940. We were in the process of fortifying the Phillipines, Wake, Midway, Oahu, and other locations as Japan attacked in December 1941. New equipment was en route to the forward bases. Giving Gen. Mac a additional 6 months to a year to organize the Phillipine army, and he might have been able to hold out: He was in the process of putting together 4 more divisions of Phillipine troops when the Japanese attacked, he would have had the equipment if the Japanese had waited for him to 'be ready'.

The "Two Ocean Navy" act was signed in *1940*, and funded
2 Iowa class battleships
5 Montana class battleships
6 Alaska class cruisers
18 aircraft carriers
27 cruisers
115 destroyers
43 submarines
15,000 aircraft
The conversion of 100,000 tons of auxiliary ships
$50 million for patrol, escort and other vessels
$150 million for essential equipment and facilities
$65 million for the manufacture of ordnance material or munitions
$35 million for the expansion of facilities
(All dollar totals are in 1940 dollars, of course.)
This massive "public employment project" as some called it at the time was what ended the depression.

This material was just barely beginning to show up in late 1941... Imagine if Japan had waited until late 1942, when the shipbuilding program was starting to bear fruit.

The simple truth is that the U.S. could outproduce the Japanese. The Japanese economy could not support the military they had on the long term, much less expand it to any meaningful degree, while the U.S. economy had plenty of "give" left in it. The Japanese would have been better off attacking in the Summer of 41. American carriers were still operating Brewster Buffaloes, land bases protected by P-35 Hawks, the Phillipine Army non-existant, Wake Island with almost no garrison...

SJG Gamer

The Pacific Fleet's Battleships in 1941 were among the best of the World War One designs and were modernized very effectively in the 1920s and 1930s. The BBs California and West Virginia already had radar installed. Cool

The idea that they were anything less than formidable is ridiculous, and not historically accurate. The excellence of the USA's Pacific Fleet was one of the reason's the Japanese did their sneak attack on 7Dec1941. Shocked