Dilvish said:
Do any of those ideas involve Godzilla? That is the first thing that came to my mind.
I hadn't thought of that.
Dilvish said:
To answer Kevin's earlier question to me, my tankers were slow. The only fast tanker I had was the Lexington.
I got my answer from Glenn's post. I didn't realize my tankers were actually faster. I was thinking they were no faster than the transports.
As it turned out, the tanker speed wasn't a huge issue.
Dilvish said:
I did have one tanker out past Kauai, and it may have been my westernmost task force at one time.
That looks like my solution, too: preposition as effectively as possible.
Dilvish said:
The problem was, while the Lexington TF and the cruiser TF could make high speed dashes towards the enemy, they would still eventually have to meet the tanker for refueling. My sustained speed towards Midway was still 1 zone per turn.
I had the same problem, which was taking me away from Oahu, &
Lex, in the last 4-5 turns.
Dilvish said:
Maybe my sustained speed towards Midway was faster than 1 zone per turn? Lexington could refuel destroyers and the cruisers had big fuel stores. THey could keep going till the tanker (and the BBs) caught up.
Honestly, I wasn't keeping careful track of rate of advance while tanking/not.
For me, the issue was time taken.
If I could have fuelled from subs, I'd have done it.
(I can just imagine a sub with 20000 tons of oil aboard.
)
Dilvish said:
What do you mean by "Cornwalling"?
I'm taking it to mean a curbstomp.
Dilvish said:
Btw, I was both hunting Akagi and worried about Akagi in the last few turns.
So that worked out better than I hoped.
Were you thinking the whole main TF was along, or just her?
Dilvish said:
Kevin, would you have considered pursuing my retreating forces with your cruisers and BBs? A pursuit that headed far enough east would have been my one remaining hope for getting my BBs involved.
Just your surface forces? IDK. I'd probably have kept my BBs & CAs off Midway absent knowing your CAs or BBs were remotely close. I'd have been using carrier air & VSs to track what was left of
Lex's escort, & I'd have finished them with my escort cruisers if possible. If I'd detected your BBs at that point, with almost no CV strike capacity left, I'd probably have avoided, knowing my cruisers were outgunned, unless I could lure you nearer my own BBs, or unless they were bearing down. (A long chase, with need for tanking, would have been a pretty futile exercise for the amount of return.)
It crossed my mind to come after you, but I realized, since you knew where I was, all I had to do was wait & try & meet you inbound after dark.
Dilvish said:
One strategy I've been thinking of for the rest of 1942 is the retaking of Wake Island. The Pacific Fleet won't have much offensive capability, even if Hornet, Wasp, and Saratoga are all active (and maybe Ranger in the rear?) Bring in the CVE Long Island as well, which was with the battleships before June 1942. Wake might be close enough to US bases that the fleet might be risked. Depending on refitting schedules, 6 or more old BBs can be available.
I'm thinking that would be an epic disaster.
I'm seeing Tarawa times...IDK, 10?
That's presuming the Pac Fleet can make a jump that long without support afloat.
Dilvish said:
Taking Wake expands the patrolled zone west of Hawaii. It might also trigger a response from the Japanese, in essence a reverse Midway.
It really has to, IMO. Japan can't afford a U.S. base there.
Dilvish said:
Hmm, would the IJN try for Midway again in 1942? What would the US response be in that case?
Given the results here, & allowing for the amount of overclaiming IJHQ would get (& blindly accept
), IMO there'd be no perceived need to return. Yamamoto got his wish.
Beyond that, Japan has lost so much of her CV striking power, another major attack before the U.S. has overwhelming strength seems unlikely.