Friday the tenth starts Flat Top exercise

 

 

 Greg has chosen to play the Japanese....I will explain the set up and follow as closely as I can in a narrative how we approached the game.

 

 

 

 The ' Western' map sheet showing Port Moresby, Rabual, Lae. Guadalcanal and the Eastern Solomon Island  chain is in the Center.  Australia is to the left and down compared to the map, New Caledonia bases are to the right and down from the bottom of the Eastern map. (not shown)

Greg had bases at Shortland, Lae, Tulagi and Rabual.  I had bases at Port Moresby, Australia and New Caledonia (the last two were off board).

We decided to concentrate on the air component, so the surface ships including the carriers were not used.   Greg launched the 5 Mavis flying boats and  some float planes in an effort to make search patterns.  I concentrated n providing a CAP at Port Moresby, and mounted raids...

from Port Moresby a sortie of three dauntless escorted by a P-39 bombed Lae.

from Port Moresby later in the day two Hudson Bombers and covered by four P-39 returned to Lae and brought more damage on the field, and damaging several aircraft on the ground.

from New Caledonia, a sortie by 5 B-17's and 5 B-26's knocked out the seaplane base of Tulagi and destroyed the seaplanes not out on missions. 

We ended the exercise with same B-25's almost to Rabual, where the large CAP made up of Zeros stood ready to exact a heavy toll on any bombers that arrived.

We discovered was that to produce any appreciable damage, the air groups bombing must be large.  The larger, the better.  What we realized was that the game itself did not lend to creating scenarios for PT Boats directly.  But that is a story for another post.

The upshot to this, playing Flat Top ! is an air ops exercise  and to have (perhaps) large surface/carrier groups against each other.  PT squadron actions will be relegated to the some other campaign system .  

What I guess would fill the list of requirements for what i envision is a map covering 300 or so miles across of coastal areas and islands;  a set of missions to generate,  from simple patrols to hair raising encounters with escorted convoys; finally a way to link the scenarios together with player decisions to make, about the resulting friction losses and missions. 

Flat Top will get another play, to include the carrier groups next time.  But first Cruel Seas for some fun!