AAR: Guinea [Spoiler Alert]

[Herman Hum]

AAR: Guinea
By Freek Schepers

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My orders were to protect Her Majesty's dominion in New Guinea, a daunting task, indeed. I started by launching most of my Maritime Patrol Aircraft [MPA] to seek out and locate the Indonesians. As with most battles, the initial phase is always about Intelligence. As my MPA spread out from Biak, I was happy to see that they possessed radar more than adequate to search long stretches of water leading me to assume that this battle was going to be a milk run. Well, as every primary school child knows, you never "assume" anything because it makes an "Ass" out of "U" and "Me".

The MPA spread out on their reconnaissance duties while I ordered my ships to potential choke-points that the enemy would, hopefully, be forced to pass through. Sure enough, DD Skoriy was found escorting an LST along with a Komar missile boat just crossing the border near Fakfak. The MPA was loaded with bombs and she immediately proceeded to attack the missile boat. While the DD was far larger and more tempting, the Komar carried Styx SSMs which had much greater range than anything the Dutch navy carried. She was quickly sunk. A follow-up strike by Hunters based at Fakfak sank the DD and the LST was left for the task group to kill with gunfire.

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Another landing force was detected NE of Woendi. I ordered SS Dolfijn to intercept and authorized an impromptu attack by the MPA, as well. This was a big task force so I focused my attacks on ASW-capable vessels in hopes of opening a breach in the defences for my submarine to exploit. She was able to sink one frigate [FF] but then my MPA was blown out of the sky from the intense AAA fire. I immediately launched the bombers from Sorong in hopes of widening the gap. They showed up and sank the DD escort. The PhibRon now lay naked and was pretty much defenceless for my submarine.

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The Indonesian air force retaliated quickly and efficiently by striking my air bases at Fakfak and Sorong; putting both out of commission and destroying their aircraft on the tarmac. My Hunter interceptors were simply too far away in Biak to render any meaningful assistance. Another landing force was spotted near Doka island. Again, the MPA proceeded to make a hasty attack that destroyed two escorts before retiring to keep the TF under radar surveillance.

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Two more landing groups were detected to the NW of New Guinea. Indonesia was pulling out all the stops for this invasion. The MPA that located them put in an attack and killed another ASW-escort so that SS Seeleeuw could make an easier approach for her torpedoes. Smaldeel 4.1 squadron, consisting of three destroyers, was given an intercept vector for these 23 ships. Also, a number of small gunboats were detected near Sorong. A quick pass by fighters destroyed two and the survivors were chased down and destroyed by Smaldeel 4.3 squadron that had been sent to protect the nearby chokepoint.

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I decided not to re-arm my MPA after they had expended their ordnance because I felt that I needed their 'eyes' more than I needed their brawn. Then the Indonesian fighters started appearing throughout the AO. The MPA were pursued mercilessly all the while calling for fighters from my sole surviving base at Biak and Biak was a long ways away. Only by continuously shuttling fighters out to protect the MPA did enough survive to maintain contact with the enemy landing forces. Often, the MPA pilots found themselves surrounded by enemy fighters and forced to evade aggressively.

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As Smaldeel 4.1 raced to intercept the Indonesian invasion forces, a lookout reported, "Periscoop zichtbaar aan bakboord! Binnen schootsafstand!" << Periscope feather off the port bow! Two points below the horizon! >> That was within torpedo range! The squadron commander ordered immediate evasive action and all three ships were told to scatter at flank speed. Two MPA were pulled away from their surveillance duties to drop depth charges on her with no sign of success. Since I had no additional ASW weapons available, I ordered Smaldeel 4.1 to take a wide detour around the submarine since her torpedoes would easily out-range my own ship-borne ASW weapons.

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The enemy fighters were really bad news. They killed more than one MPA before finally being suppressed by my over-worked escorts. However, the MPA survived long enough to see the Dolfijn penetrate the screen of the force aimed at Sorong and then proceeding to sink every vessel within the group. Her colleague, Seeleeuw, was also able to penetrate a second landing force to slaughter the troop-laden transports. With over 50% of their landing forces destroyed for little gain, Victory was granted to the Dutch. Sukarno's plans for expansion would have to wait for another day.

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This is an excellent scenario. The shorter-ranged weapons make for very interesting encounters. The action is constant and unrelenting and made for a very exciting time for my MPA assets. Thanks to Frans Koenz for his linguistic assistance in writing this AAR.

StrategyZone Online hosts the greatest collection of quality scenarios for Harpoon3 and Harpoon Classic on the web. Check it out in the SZO File Archives (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/downloads.php?do=cat&id=36).

[Herman Hum]

AAR: Guinea - Operation Jaya Wijaya - Indonesia
By Freek Schepers

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President Sukarno saw an excellent opportunity to avenge Indonesia's mis-treatment by their former Dutch oppressors. The honour of her ancestors would be restored. Orders were issued to execute operation Jaya Wijaya, the invasion of New Guinea.

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Badger recon aircraft were immediately launched to pinpoint the Dutch defenders. As soon as they were available, a pair of Badger strike aircraft were assigned to attack each of the nearest airstrips at Sorong and Fakfak. The search planes were able to detect many surface targets, but they had to be very cautious of the wandering enemy fighter patrols. By keeping a significant distance between themselves and unidentified planes, they were able to conduct a proper reconnaissance patrol without loss and pinpointed the bulk of the defending Dutch forces.

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Pre-strike reconnaissance of Fakfak proved to be very tricky. It was easy to identify the Dutch Maritime Patrol Aircraft [MPA] by their slow speed. The obvious fighters surged forth in an attempt to intercept the search plane but I made certain to have her turn away with a fair margin of safety. With the air patrols safely distracted by the recon plane, both pairs of Badger bombers were able to make their ingress unopposed and flattened the Sorong and the Fakfak airstrips.

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Two destroyers were detected near Fakfak so a request for the Tu-14 Bosun torpedo planes was sent to Ambon airbase. While they were enroute, a Whiskey-class SS detected the emissions from a pair of Dutch destroyers. She made her approach silently at shallow depth with a few sporadic periscope sightings to confirm her targets. She crept into torpedo range without ever being counter-detected and loosed a full spread of four torpedoes. They had only completed 50% of their run time when the destroyer reacted violently by going to flank speed to evade. The enemy was successful this time.

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Again, she crept into range. This time, she halved the distance before firing a second spread. This time, the Dutch destroyer, DD Groningen, was not so lucky as she was struck by three torpedoes. The resulting detonations left no possibility of survivors and she sank in 37 seconds with little to mark her passage. A second destroyer, DD Evertsen, in the same group died from a spread fired by a second Whiskey-class SS just seconds later. The Evertsen was able to counter-fire a single torpedo back towards my sub. Both vessels attempted to evade; neither was successful.

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Meanwhile, my landing forces were having ASW problems of their own. Ships in the Sorong PhibRon just started exploding and sinking! I soon realized just how insignificant my ASW capabilities really were. The sonar suites were barely functional and as useless as a man on an inner tube with a hearing aid. The only thing that I could do was RUN! The convoy scattered to the three winds. Three ships were lost to a threat that was never detected. After learning of their ordeal, my other naval commanders silently agreed with each other that they would fire first and ask questions later. They got their chance almost immediately. TF 07 stumbled right onto a submarine contact. The destroyer captain ordered an immediate Depth Charge attack while initiating evasive manoeuvres. Luckily, the sub was destroyed without any counter-fire received.

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The two Tu-14 Bosun were just arriving on their targets just off of Fakfak. Both vessels were destroyer-class size and would make worthy prizes. A fighter patrol engaged the Combat Air Patrol [CAP] and allowed the torpedo bombers to make their ingress unmolested. They were approaching the first target from the port bow at a speed of 400kts and at low altitude when they were detected and engaged by the ship's AAA batteries. Fountains of water rose all around them intermingling with the puffs of black smoke from proximity fuses. At a distance of just 2 nm, both planes let loose a single torpedo and banked hard to port; the angry AAA fire following them all the way. There was another destroyer out there that needed servicing.

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The first destroyer suffered two hits and disintegrated under the torpedoes' warheads. The aircrews took no notice it, though. They were totally focused on the second destroyer. Suddenly, one of the bombers took a hit and cartwheeled into the sea. The surviving bomber had no time for regrets as she doggedly closed the distance. 6nm, 5nm, 4nm, 3nm, 2nm before she released her second torpedo. Unfortunately, she was unable to avenge her partner. Follow on strikes were able to kill the destroyer with Iron Bombs where torpedoes had missed.

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Outside of Biak, a force of three destroyers was detected on a sortie to engage two of my landing groups. I had one submarine try and intercept and whittle down the force. She saw one destroyer running between two islets and wanted to ambush her in the passage. After confirming the target's speed and direction, she submerged to make her final approach stealthily. However, much to the disgust of her skipper, she had mis-timed the approach and found herself behind the destroyer! Arggh! The captain threw a fit worthy of a two year-old when he realized his missed opportunity. There was no way that he was going to catch her in a stern chase.

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This defending group of three was able to make their way to nearly contact the landing groups. The escorts were definitely out-gunned. However, they had an ace up their sleeves - Styx SSMs. A pair of SSMs were allocated to each of two destroyers while a submarine had managed to position herself directly in front of the third DD. The SSMs struck without warning and obliterated the pair of destroyers. The sub was able to watch her prey walk deep into the trap before striking it with a spread of four torpedoes from a distance of 1.5nm. Successive waves of Badgers and Dakotas had dropped bombs and paratroops, respectively, all over Biak and smothered her facilities. It appeared as though all the impediments to a successful amphibious landing had been removed.

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However, when the ships were about to make their amphibious assault on Biak, some started to explode! Evidently, there were hidden shore batteries. The Task Force commander ordered an immediate withdrawal so that these batteries could be located and destroyed. After a long wait, planes arrived from Hanasuddin to identify and mark them for destruction. Once the way was cleared, the landing forces were deployed and the paratroops linked up and relieved. I was granted victory, but I was also facing a court-martial. Evidently, the submarine that I had sunk was a neutral vessel! Woe is me...

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A great scenario with lots of action and a superb little surprise at the end. Thanks for sharing it with the community.

StrategyZone Online hosts the greatest collection of quality scenarios for Harpoon3 and Harpoon Classic on the web. Check it out in the SZO File Archives (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/downloads.php?do=cat&id=36
).