I posted this in another thread, but I figured it might not be seen by those who deserve the recognition, so here it is by itself.
We (Rooks) had some really good moments last night, despite being outnumbered from early on. We fought CV-15 about as well as it could be fought. We sank the Knit fleet twice. At least three times the Knits launched major raids on the CV-15. Each was butchered without loss to us. There never were more than two Rooks airborne, but our tripleA gunners were absolutely brilliant, killing escorting fighters at remarkable distances so that our two fighters (a Wildcat and Seafire) could murder the Ju 88s and Ki-67s. Two suicidal P-38s where intercepted and killed before they could drop. Few torpedos were dropped, and those that were, missed by a huge distance. Wave after wave came in, with the same result. Eventually, the Knits gave up, having suffered what I estimate as 40-50 losses. We lost no aircraft, suffered no hits to our ships. Anything the fighters couldn’t reach in time was dispatched by our outstanding gunners, usually at ranges greater than 4k.
The capper for us came later. As CV-15 headed for 21 to assist there, I jumped to the CV tower to grab an FM-2. Yikes! Just 5,000 yards away was the Knit fleet on a parallel course, unmanned!! I called for gunners, who came instantly. Within 3 minutes, the Knit fleet is on the bottom. This was followed by the killing of 20 to 30 PTs that spawned and respawned, accomplishing nothing but getting dead. Someone must have discovered that their fleet was getting clobbered, and PTs started popping up like worms after a heavy rain (BTW, this only reinforced my opinion that PTs are, essentially, useless).
To all those people (you know who you are) who manned CV-15 fighters and guns throughout the evening and fought so brilliantly, a hearty and grateful WELL DONE is in order. It was a privilege to fight alongside you.
Finally, a big salute to the Knights who braved the ack and fighters to get a crack at that stubborn Task Force.
This was as good as it gets folks, exciting, challenging and rewarding. Major sea engagements, big furballs, high and low level interception. Every element deemed to be fun was experienced at one time or another. Let's do it again soon.
My regards,
Widewing
