Turn 5: Luzon falls; chaos in WestPac

8 — 14 January 1942

As I observed earlier, the fall of our base in Manila was inevitable—and this week the inevitable happened. The first War Event of the game threw the entire western Pacific into chaos. All boats in port had to evacuate, including the two which had been undergoing minor repairs, and conduct base-to-base movement to our new base in Fremantle or to the newly deployed tender in Surabaya. That’s nine boats doing absolutely nothing useful for the next few weeks, as they transit and refit. At least none of the boats in Manila were so damaged as to require scuttling.

The “Golden Patrol”

Additionally, three boats had to be pulled off station to evacuate the gold reserves of the Philippines. The boats assigned to this special mission were older, so our combat strength wasn’t impacted as much as it could have been. (Not that it ended up mattering much, as discussed below.) In real life, USS Trout famously participated in the gold transfer—she’s pictured to the right with the results of her haul on deck.

Elsewhere, thirteen boats were able to conduct patrols. Not a single one was able to score a kill—so the week amounted to a painful shutout.  Especially frustrating was the fact that two subs damaged their targets, but were unable to finish them off with re-attacks.

The only real silver lining was that, for literally the first time, no boats were damaged this turn—finally, some “Spotted” results started showing up on counterattacks instead. Moreover, the two previously damaged boats that made it in to Pearl this week were quickly repaired and will not be out of action for a significant period.  {I.e., they rolled “Superficial” on the Damage Table.}

I’m starting to feel really nervous about that milestone check coming up at the end of next month. I need to get 53,000 tons in the next six turns. I really need to see some big numbers and soon. A dozen boats are on station to patrol next week. I certainly can’t take another week like this one.