Anyone interested in some intellectual exercise?

We do have several commerce raiders available. Most of our destroyers are of short range and would be of very limited duration. If we take Rabaul at the start we can quickly build it up and that should ease the range problems of our DD's and would add a good base for our Betty's

 

Do we want to take Rabaul General, before we have secured our resource areas?

 

I see no problem in General Terauchi looking into a alternate approach, but perhaps it would be best for continuity if he were to fashion a complete plan and then present it to the Council in its entirety rather than random thoughts to avoid confusion.

 

We have plenty of sub divisions forces that we can take Rabaul with. We can send the force at the same time.

 

I am not sure if our Auxiliary Cruisers (CX ?) are assigned to aid in our various landings, but if one or more are available, then certainly they should be included in some manner. The greater the level of disruption and confusion we can create the better and they could stay active after we might need to have regular warships recover for other operations.

I think however attempting to take Rabaul on X-Day or shortly after would only create the problem that concerns you the most, diffusion of effort. This being the case since any attack force would have to come from those engaged in SRA operations.

As for our Destroyers accompanying the Hosho and the Cruisers, this seems prudent and if I recall we had done some planning/training to allow Destroyers to sail with our now abandoned Pearl Harbor attack. I am speculating here but I would imagine that the would depart from Truk at a early enough date to reach their operational area while steaming at their most economical speed. Then on X-Day minus 1 draw fuel from a tanker(s) which would then return to Truk.

As with raiders who operated in these waters during the Great War, they would steam at economical speeds except when in pursuit of targets. In most cases the Cruisers and AuxCruisers would do the captures/sinking's while Hosho and the Destroyers held back scouting for new targets. Again as in the Great War it is possible that tankers or merchantmen might be taken with refined bunker fuel that can be used to extend operations. Not something we could count upon, but not a impossibility either.

In any case we must be a viable problem only long enough for us to get firmly situated in the SRA and reach a point when attempts by the RN/RAN to infiltrate surface ships becomes suicidal.

 

The taking of Rabaul can be accomplished with out affecting our primary objective. We have numerous sub division units that van take objectives on New Guinea and near Rabaul.

 

I thought that any diversion of forces from the Malaya/SRA attacks was your primary objection to taking Noumea? If we can afford to take Rabaul, we can easily take Noumea instead for a similar sized force. Noumea is much more valuable from a resource standpoint, has as good a port potential as Rabaul, has as good an airfield potential, has a many times greater potential for development as a hub of bases and would be much harder to isolate and bypass. On top of all of these advantages it's strategic location is greater than virtually any other potential target we have after Singapore.

 

we need Rabaul to hold the area and I am not opposed to Noumea, I just have issue with using too many assets, especially the S and H.

 

I would like to summarize my thoughts on the Noumea operation. I am not opposed to taking the base, but not if it requires assets we need for the DEI. Our first priority must be oil and securing the route for out tankers. Noumea does not help the oil situation it only adds to the drain. Rabaul is critical to securing Truk, especially since it has space for airfields. We also need to take some additional islands in the Solomons to help secure the route to Noumea. Milne bay is also desirable, though it would need extensive work. I see no point in taking Noumea as long as we will have a very long vulnerable route for resupply. Truk right now is limited in its capacity to sustain long term combat.

 

Can you clarify please by what you mean as "S and H"?

 

Soryu and Hiryu. It was proposed they be attached to the Noumea operation

 

I do not believe they are part of this except as part of Admiral Noka's plan to attack Noumea well before our proposed X-Day. Even so they still were going to be available for SRA operations.

 

Belasar wrote:

The Prime Minister is correct. The Soryu and Hiryu were part of a plan for the early seizure of Noumea put forward by Admiral Noka. The concept of an early seizure was dropped, long ago, due to legitimate concerns over how it might affect allied responses prior to our launching the SRA operation. It was a side objective of Noka's plan to allow the forces involved to get some real time training in before they undertook the SRA/Malaya operation. As such he included (and so stated) more forces than required. He also planned for those carriers to be available for the SRA/Malaya operation from the get go. They were never intended to be otherwise committed at the time of our attack to seize key resource points.

From my post #2697

At a later date I added Taiyo to the Southern strike force. The revised Noumea Operation, proposed to be executed in conjunction with the main SRA/Malaya operation only included a CA, 3 CL's, an AV, along with a few escorting destroyers, a couple of APD's and the Hosho. The latter was never intended to be used in a combat role, but as an aircraft ferry to launch aircraft at long range to land at the captured Noumea airfield. Total ground forces slated for the operation were an SNLF Bn, a French Indo-China Bn, an independent SNLF company and two base force detachments.
I hope this clarifies what we had discussed.

 

This is for Admiral Noka, but applicable to anyone else interested. I've updated the Merchant shipping, cargo, oiler/AO and a new AP spreadsheet. If you found the first ones I sent you useful, these are updated and expanded versions with additional information. Just finished them this morning while watching the baby.
Anyone that wants a copy just let me know, they're in MS Office Excel but I can provide a CSV copy if you're using another program.

 

I would also suggest a small force SNLF to take Milne bay, Shortlands, Guadalcanal and Buna along with Rabaul. The others besides Rabaul will take work to make into suitable airbases, but they will go along way to start securing our route to Noumea. We can take other islands if desired, but those are what I feel are the minimal

 

I would indeed be interested in a copy. I would also be interested in a list of our amphibious forces availabe. My own records on SNLFs lack detail or TROs, and I have no tables of organization for IJA forces at all, beyond a few air units.

 

General Terauchi,

Do we then intend to declare war on Australia preemptively? Are not Rabaul and the Solomons Australian territories or protectorates?

 

While Australia has been acting with increasing autonomy, Australia is still "legally" a colony of the United Kingdom, as they have not yet ratified the Statute of Westminster. As such, if we declare war on the United Kingdom, we are effectively at war with Australia.

 

I have the listing in my WITP game as far as TOE, date and such Ill have time a week after this monday

 

AS far as Australia, they have units in Singapore so we would be fighting them by attacking