Yes , it is normal to wipe on any of the nodes . You are not alone in your struggles Things I would change Instead of running with so many drums , you might want to run more guns . Give DDs 2 guns and a drum Abukuma is 72 . Do you have blueprint for her to get to kai ni ? Might be worth BP ' ing her for her opening torp . If you go that route , 1 torp and 2 daihatsusdrums . Otherwise , 2 gunsseaplane setup . Ditch the saiun and put on a fighter . Add a bomber to both first slots of Souryuu and Ryuujou , rest fill with fighters best fighters on biggest slots . If FP overachieves AS , remove a fighter from the 3 rd slot of either CVL and add another bomber . You ' ll have to play around with this yourself . I personally ran E 4 H using only 1 CV with 3 fighters 1 bomber on first slot . Was enough , so I have a feeling your FP is way too high . I ' d lose Maya and put in a strong CA , and then swap out YuudachiShigure with Akizuki AACI setup . This would mean only 1 drum in your entire fleet on the 2 nd DD . You can also opt for 3 drums on that 2 nd DD if you find your overall fleet is strong enough to survive . Yes , you will have to run the map a lot more times with less drums . No , I don ' t think support expeditions are worth it for this map . Either way , you have to make sure you sparkle both your supports and your main fleet . Lots of work , but your call . Transport maps are a grind anyways , so I pray for your sanity . Good luck !