Troubridge Goes for a Swim (AAR)

[themattcurtis]

After reading some of Halpern's book (bought here through NWS :D), I got the itch to play a hypothetical with the three pre-dreadnoughts of the A-H 3rd Battleship squadron going up against Troubridge and his ACs.

The Austrian navy has fascinated me for years, anyways. I have painted minis of their fleet (Panzerschiffe and Molniya), and the Erzherzog Karls are really interesting. Well designed for their time....even if obsoleted by Dreadnought.....they only displaced 10,000 tons. With four 9.4" guns and some 7.5" secondaries, they could make a hair over 20 knots and to me seem like the closest thing the Austrians had to real armored cruisers (Sankt Georg and Kaiser Karl VI were fascinating designs, but weird).

Anyway, here Erzherzog Karl, Friedrich and Ferdinand Max were supported by the CL Admiral Spaun and three Tatra class destroyers....Tatra, Balaton and Csepel. Point wise, they were dead even with Black Prince, Duke of Edinburgh, Minotaur and Warrior.

We started out with the Erzherzogs trading shots with the Brits at 16,000 yards with oursecondaries, which outranged our 9.4" main guns (how cool is that):)? We had to close. Admiral Spaun and her destroyers were about a 1,000 yards behind our main line. I wanted to shelter them until their torpedo run, which we conducted after Karl took a penetrating 9" hit from Minotaur and Friedrich saw a 7" shell plaster her superstructure (in return our 9.4" guns had knocked holes in Warrior's and Black Prince's decks). Both sides saw more than a new non-penetrating hits, as well, since we maintained the range at 12,000.

Admiral Spaun and the destroyers went out at full speed, conducting Evasive Action until the last minute. They had to close to less than 4,000 yards to launch their fish, and really lead charmed lives. The British tried to pull away, shifting their attention from our main line to our little guys, but they kept missing. The Erzherzogs followed to maintain pressure with their main guns, and then the attack struck home. The Tatras fired wide spreads, and managed hits on both Black Prince and Duke of Edinburgh:D . Black Prince immediately showed heavy flooding and I knew she was a goner. Duke of Edinburgh, already on fire, had minor flooding.

Sadly for our little guys, that same turn saw Admiral Spaun clobbered by two main gun hits and Balaton got mauled by British secondaries. When we turned away under smoke, engine damage restricted us to something like 10 knots before the light cruiser could affect repairs, and during that time repeated hits by the angered Troubridge inflicted further damage:(

It was a price we were willin' to pay. The British line had broken. The two Duke of Edinburgh class cruisers couldn't make more than 10 knots, themselves, and the Erzherzogs had now closed to the point where they could use the RN hulls for target practice. A handful of 9.4" hits saw Black Prince disabled and floating dead in the water, before she finally slipped beneath the waves. And now we shifted our attention to Duke of Edinburgh. On her own, she finally stopped movin', and at 4,000 yards we counted no fewer than five penetrating 9.4" hits and four 7.5" hits in two turns....BEFORE we hit her with a BB launched torpedo and turned away. She died minutes later.

The Brits were in a rage, now. As the two healthy armored cruisers made their way BACK to us, we decided to haul ass since our battleships were dangerously low on main gun ammo and our destroyers bleeding. The Erzherzogs were able to retreat off the board, as was Tatra and Balaton. Admiral Spaun and Csepel, however, couldn't keep up and died under British guns.

So, one CL and a DD in exchange for two armored cruisers. Adm. Haus wouldn't be thrilled with the loss of two of his more modern ships, but sending 1,400+ Brits into the Adriatic might have helped mollify him a little.

Matt

[asnrobert]

Sounds like a good fight. Why don't you post the scenario online here so we all can play it?

[themattcurtis]

Uploaded to the submitted scenario thread.

[Saffron]

I recently played a battle with unexpected results. While I can't decribe it as wonderfully as themattcurtis, here's the frustration in a nutshell.

I generated a battle that pitted the USN against the KM. To my surprise and elation, my side (USN) had two Iowas and a South Dakota against Bismarck, Scharnhorst, and Schlesien (as well as several CAs, CLs, and DDs).

The KM gunnery was frighteningly accurate and pummeled the USN destroyers into scrap metal long before they could get within range for a torpedo run. My battleship's primary guns were focusing on the KM BBs and BC while secondary and tertiary guns were banging away at the KM destroyers. The Iowa and Alabama laid waste to the Bismark in pretty short order while the New Jersey was doing a good job laying into the Scharnhorst. I ignored the Schlesien thinking that, if the Bismarck went down that fast, the poor obsolete Schlesien wouldn't stand a chance.

Except the Schlesien was putting up one heck of a fight. Those 11" shells couldn't penetrate the New Jersey's armor, but the Schlesien was horrifically accurate, plinking away hull, superstructure and floatation one point at a time.

Then the nightmare began. The secondaries and tertiaries of all 3 USN BBs could not stop the KM destroyers. The Z-24 managed to get a single lucky torpedo hit on the New Jersey at 12,000 yards! There are few things worse than seeing that big torpedo splash and hearing that sickening thud when one of your own ships gets hit by an enemy torpedo. I was relieved, however, to see that the torpedo did very little damage ... only 8 floatation points. Unfortunately, the New Jersey started to flood.

Fifteen turns later, the New Jersey was *still* flooding and I was growing concerned. By this time, the Bismarck and Scharnhorst were sunk, the Schlesien was dead in the water, and the target now was the KM heavy cruisers (3 Hippers and a Deustchland). Surely the New Jersey could stop the flooding.

Another ten turns go by and she's still taking on water. I made the decision to withdraw her. Unfortunately, the New Jersey didn't make it and sank due to progressive flooding. A single relatively weak torpedo hit managed to sink the best BB the USN had to offer. In a fit of revenge, I turned the Iowa's and Alabama's big guns on the destroyers and sank them. It wasn't much of a revenge after losing an Iowa to a destroyer, but at least the crew couldn't go home and brag to Hitler. :D

Even though the KM lost a battleship, battlecruiser, an obsolete battleship, 3 heavy cruisers and 2 destroyers, the battle ended in a draw. A DRAW! And here I thought I held all the cards with 2 Iowas and a South Dakota on my side.

It just goes to show you how you can never tell the outcome with this game. :)

[Warship NWS]

To Saffron, send me over the AAR if you still have it.. should be interesting.

[Saffron]

I believe I still have it. Where do you want me to send it?

[Warship NWS]

I believe I still have it. Where do you want me to send it?

nws-online@nws-online.net

Thanks

[Warship NWS]

OK.. I checked your AAR. The "Maine", which you named the Iowa class that sunk.. was hit by a torp at close range but also took a lot of punishment from non-penetrating hits including a bad one that hit the SS. Basically, she went down after taking withering fire from several hits, fires, crew losses, and progressive flooding. In the end it was not one hit that did it but a cumulative effect of a lot of hits.

Overall it was a hell of a fight with more German crews being better quality then the American crews, the rain reduced the effectiveness of the American radars, moderate seas and reduced visibility, and the Germans recieved a 1.3 multiplier VP bonus for being less powerful then the American fleet.

Thanks.

[Saffron]

Thanks for the clarification on that fight. I'm still learning the interpretations of the battle results.

I knew the Maine was taking heavy fire, but I figured she'd lose her turrets and withdraw before she was ever in danger of sinking. Once she was hit by the torpedo, she continued to flood throughout the rest of the game, so I figured the torpedo was the true death knell.

[Warship NWS]

Thanks for the clarification on that fight. I'm still learning the interpretations of the battle results.

I knew the Maine was taking heavy fire, but I figured she'd lose her turrets and withdraw before she was ever in danger of sinking. Once she was hit by the torpedo, she continued to flood throughout the rest of the game, so I figured the torpedo was the true death knell.

Actually, I just reread it.. the torpedo hit contributed to the floatation damage problem but a shell hit later in the game started the progressive flooding.

Thanks.