Invasion of Japan

[whitehawk_2009]

I'm working on an Invasion of Japan campaign, something with a pre-invasion feel to it. I'm going to do both sides, US and Japan.

Right now I've got the missions planned.
For the US:
2 Airfield attacks
2 day fleet defense
Night fleet defense
3 B-29 escorts

For the RN:
1 Night fleet defense

For the Japanese:
3 B-29 intercepts
2 day fleet attacks
night fleet attack

Aircraft I'm going to use are:
USN
AD-2
F2G
P-51H
F7F
F8F
P-80
B-29

RN
Seafury
Seafire (little unsure of the Mk to use )
Firefly

Japanese
Ki-67
Ki-84
Ki-93
Ki-94
Ki-100
J7W
D4Y
B6N
B7A
A7M
Kikka
And a surprise jet bomber.

Now, I'm not doing missions where you have to cover the beachheads, as that would be WAY to complicated for me at this time. If someone wants to throw those into the mix, I'd welcome them.

I've also got a few questions,

Would the USN and RN flattops have been in separate Task Forces, or would they have been grouped together with mixed escorts? I'm looking for a general layout with ship positions and spacing. Something like CV here, CL there, BB there, as well as representative ship classes so I know what to look for.

If the RN would have had their own TF, then I'll need to do more missions for them.

WH

 

[Jagdflieger]

Pacific: 1946

Great idea!

I've made some fun "what if" missions in 1946 just in order to use the F7F and F8F navy fighters and some of the very late war Japanese planes. They are always fun to make and fly so I think that you're scenario should be a popular addition.

 

[miamieagle]

Sounds very interesting!

In History it could have easly had happen. As we can remember that Japan did not surrender by beign conquered by enemy Armies but buy a experimental weapon. Yes it was soundly defeated but it was never conquered like Gemany. So if the Atomic Bomb had not fuction properly the war could have well have lasted well into 1947.

 

[Collin]

Operation Olympic would have had the BPF south-west of Kyushu in the East China Sea. The fleet or TF would have been made up of mostly British and Commonwealth ships and the fleet train convoy about 50 to 100 miles south of it.

Sometimes the battleships were to be grouped with American for bombardment purposes with American escort ships.

A cruiser was positioned on a carriers port quarter about 1 mile away and was used as a turning point for the aircraft coming into land (especially the RN Corsair's), these cruisers also had a bright light atop of their mainmast for night flights.
Carriers had a destroyer astern for plane guard, and one in front as close escort. The rest of the fleet I'm not sure of, but I would expect it to follow USN doctrine.

regards Collin:ernae:

 

[whitehawk_2009]

AH HA! God bless Wikipedia! There were 6 RN flattops slated for Operation Olympic. They would have been with the US 3rd Fleet under Halsey. Their order of battle was: 20 CV and CVL; 9 BB; 26 CB (Alaska class Cruisers), CA, CL, and CLAA (Atlanta class Cruisers); and 75 DD.

Something odd I noticed was that the 5th Fleet under Spruance only had Escort carriers, but it had the main invasion fleet with it. One would think that they could have put a few of the fleet carriers to cover the men and supplies. 5th Fleet was huge! 36 CVE; 11 BB; 26 CA and CL; 387 DD and DE; 394 AKA, AP, APA, APD, APH; 977 LSD, LSM, LST, and LSV

I'm thinking for a scaled down size of 3 CV (USN) 1 (RN) and 1 CVL; 2BB; 1 Alaska class, 2 Atlanta class, 2 CA, 3 CL; 15 DD.

What do you guys think?

WH

 

[bearcat241]

...Something odd I noticed was that the 5th Fleet under Spruance only had Escort carriers, but it had the main invasion fleet with it. One would think that they could have put a few of the fleet carriers to cover the men and supplies. ...

The answer to the riddle is in the statement itself. WWII escort carriers were just that -- tactical support escorts. They were tasked with covering moving convoys, anchored convoys and invasion beachheads -- in essence the main invasion fleet. Their top speeds were slower than the fleet carriers and often matched that of most of the critical supply and troop transports they protected. Their aircraft were mostly airborne extensions of the BB, CA and DD bombardment elements that supported the landing troops on call.

The much faster fleet carriers of the era became more like rapid-response battlestars in nature as the war progressed, providing broader aerial coverage over wide expanses of ocean, moving quickly to close with and intercept incoming threats to allied invasion forces, conducting pre-invasion strikes, and acting as extended combat air and scout patrol around allied-held islands.

 

[whitehawk_2009]

Their top speeds were slower than the fleet carriers and often matched that of most of the critical supply and troop transorts they protected.

Of course, I didn't think of the speeds of the CVE's! Weren't most of them made from, or at least based off of freighter hulls? I was thinking it was part of a Halsey - Spruance rivalry/feud or something.

WH