Raid on Balikpapan

Raid on Balikpapan is the fifth campaign mission and involves Henry Walker taking his newly assigned prototype Fletcher-class destroyer named John D. Ford along with a supporting destroyer to Balikpapan in occupied Borneo and destroying a poorly defended merchant fleet anchored there.

## Mission Background

"January 24, 1942.

As the Lexington retreats after its success, Henry has received new orders - and new responsibility. A Japanese transport convoy has been located at Balikpapan in Borneo, and Henry has been ordered to attack it.

Now in command of a modern Fletcher-class destroyer, and accompanied by the USS Parrott, Henry leads his division towards the target, knowing that he will have only a short amount of time to wreak destruction among the Japanese cargo ships before enemy reinforcements arrive on the scene."

-In-game background

## Sinking the anchored fleet

As stated above, the anchored merchant fleet is poorly defended and the defenses can be completely ignored (if you are skilled enough) as they aren't mission critical. The merchants themselves can be easily sunk with torpedoes and gunfire considering the lack of armor.

## Japanese reinforcements

(This section can be skipped if the previous was completed quick enough) The enemy reinforcements consists of the light cruiser Naka and destroyer Harusame. Harusame is faster than Naka, and will therefore be the first to engage. The superior firepower of John D. Ford and, if were careful enough, Parrot should easily overwhelm her. Then you have to fight Naka, the light cruiser. Use your destroyer's superior speed, maneuverability and torpedoes to good effect and sink the light cruiser. Once the last enemy ship apart of the reinforcements sinks, the mission ends.

## Objectives

### Primary

* Destroy all Japanese cargo ships
* The USS John D. Ford must survive
* Eliminate any enemy reinforcements

### Secondary

* Destroy the Japanese fortress
* Destroy the PT Boat hangar

## Enemy Order of Battle

### Ships

#### Minekaze-class destroyers

* Kawakaze
* Natsugumo
* Harusame

#### Gyoraitei

* Gyoraitei No. 13
* Gyoraitei No. 14

#### Merchant ships

* Fukusei Maru
* Kuretake Maru
* Meiko Maru
* Myoken Maru
* Nana Maru
* Unikei Maru
* Harbin Maru

### Land Installations

* PT Boat Hangar
* Fortress

## Historical Inaccuracies

* The raid actually occurred at night.
* There is no mention of the critical ongoing land battle that the Japanese transports were attempting to support.
* In reality, the merchant ships were spaced much further apart.
* USS John D. Ford was actually a *Clemson-class destroyer*.
* USS Parrot is actually spelt *USS Parrott.*
* Kawakaze was actually a *Shiratsuyu*-class *destroyer**.*
* Kawakaze was hunting for the submarine *HNLMS K XVIII* and was not defending the convoy*.*
* Natsugumo was actually an *Asashio-class destroyer.*
* Natsugumo was hunting for the submarine *HNLMS K XVIII* and was not defending the convoy.
* Harusame was actually a *Shiratsuyu-class destroyer.*
* Harusame did not intercept the American destroyers that attacked the convoy.
* No ship named Fukusei Maru was present at the naval engagement of Balikpapan.
* Meiko Maru was actually sunk 21 days prior to the time of this mission.
* Myoken Maru was actually near Kendari at the time of this mission, where she was sunk by *USS Swordfish*.
* Nana Maru was actually sunk one day prior to the time of this mission.
* Harbin Maru was actually sunk 14 days prior to the time of this mission