WCNAW Submitted Scenario Thread - WW1

[William Miller]

Battle of the Falklands:

Date: December 8, 1914
Location: Falkland Islands

UPDATED FOR WC-NAW V1.02!

Von Spee decides to use his cruisers to bombard the British port in the Falklands before returning to Germany -- unfortunately for him two British battlecruisers had arrived a couple of days earlier.

The below scenario presents the situation at about 12:45 local time, after the British forces had been pursuing the German squadron for some time and a few minutes before the British BCs opened fire. The OB Canopus is not included in this scenario as she was setting in the harbor basically acting as a floating battery.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on the battle for a general overview:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Falkland_Islands

I have also included an AAR for my playthrough of the battle, from the German side. I attempted the same tactic that Von Spee did, i.e. using my two Armored Cruisers to delay the RN while my light ships got away. In the end I lost the Scharnhorst and had damage to a couple of other ships. The RN sustained only light/moderate damage to BC Invincible and negligible damage to BC Inflexible. If the map continued on (instead of disengaging at the edge) no doubt I would have lost most of the rest of my ships, just like in the actual battle.

[asnrobert]

In November 1914, Admiral Cradock was ordered to intercept Von Spee's cruiser squadron in the Pacific. His force consisted of two old armored cruisers manned by reservists and naval cadets, one modern light cruiser, and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto (which took no part in the battle. He was also sent the predreadnought Canopus, another scrapyard refugee manned by old men and boys, but whose worn out engines made her unable to keep up. Off Coronel, Chile Admiral Cradock's force met Von Spee's squadron (modern ships with crews who had been awarded for gunnery excellence) at sunset, and in the fight that followed the two British armored cruisers were lost with all hands with negligible damage to the Germans.
Three scenarios are attached.

Coronel: The historical scenario.
Coronel alt 1: a what-if scenario where Cradock is able to employ the Canopus.
Coronel alt 2: Cradock had requested the modern armed cruiser Defence, and this ship was going to be sent to him, but a false report that Von Spee was headed back west resulted in the cruiser being diverted to the Med and being sent Canopus instead. In this hypothetical scenario, Defence is attached to Cradock's force.

Crew quality: the German ships are all Crack. The ACs Good Hope and Monmouth, and the OB Canopus are all Poor, due to the age of the ships and the lack of training. The Defence and Glasgow, being regular Navy ships, are Good.

EDIT: Updated to WCNAW 1.02.
EDIT 2: Now that you can edit the max speed of ships in the .txt file, I would recommend that those downloading these scenarios in the future edit the speed of the ACs Monmouth and Good Hope to 18, and that of the OB Canopus to 16, to depict the lower speed of these ships due to their worn-out engines.

[asnrobert]

In late 1904, the Russian Baltic fleet was transiting the North Sea on its way to reinforce the Pacific squadron at Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. During the night, while in the area of the Dogger Bank, the Russian ships fired on what they believed to be Japanese torpedo boats. They were actually British fishing boats, and the gunfire resulted in one sunk and two damaged, with at least two fatalities. There was some saber rattling, but the matter was settled by arbritration. The website http://navalwargamessociety.org/ had a what-if scenario for miniatures based on a war breaking out over this incident titled "Perfidious Albion."
I recreated the scenario for WCDB and now for WC-NAW. The Russian OOB is the same as it is for the miniatures; however for the RN I had to make some changes. The Majestic class BBs are not available, so I substituted the Canopus (since they were fairly similar) class, but used the Majestic class names. The Edgar class AC is not available either, so I used two Cressy class cruisers (with Cressy class names) since they were in service at the time.

EDIT: Updated to WCNAW 1.02.

[asnrobert]

The following scenarios depict battles of the Russo-Japanese War.

Chemulpo: 1904. The Russian cruiser Varyag (side 1, strongly recommend the player plays this side) attempts to break out of the Korean port of Chemulpo and past a squadron of Japanese cruisers (side 2). The cruiser was heavily damaged; she returned to port where she was scuttled. The Russian cruiser starts at the top of the map with the Japanese cruisers to the south; she has to get past them to reach the south edge of the map to disengage.
Liau-ti-shan: 1904. Two Russian destroyers (side 1) encounter four IJN destroyers (side 2) while scouting off of Port Arthur. One of the Russian destroyers, the Steregushchy was lost with all but four sailors.
Yellow Sea: 1904. The Russian fleet (side 2) attempted to leave Port Arthur and escape to Vladivostok. Admiral Togo (Japan, side 1) gave chase. After a few hours of fighting, the Russian flagship's bridge was hit, killing everyone, the ship started turning, which ended up leaving the Russian fleet in disarray. Those ships not sunk returned to Port Arthur or were interned in neutral ports.
Ulsan: 1904. A Russian cruiser force (side 2) was sent from Vladivostok to rendevous with the fleet based at Port Arthur, but said fleet was dispersed due to the battle of the Yellow Sea (see above). They encountered a Japanese cruiser force (side 1) and after several hours of battle, the old Russian cruiser Rurik was sunk.
Tsushima: 1905. The classic battle where the IJN fleet under Admiral Togo (side 1) crosses the 'T' of the Russian fleet (side 2) and wins a major victory.

These scenarios are compatible with WC-NAW 1.02.

[Mikekiller16]

1904- Russo-Japanese war

August,24th, Russian Protected Cruiser Novik is heading South to pass Le Perouse Strait when is attacked by Protected Cruiser Tsushima.

Novik is in disadvantage in gunnery.


for v1.02

[asnrobert]

After the battle of Coronel, Admiral Sturdee had a force in the Falklands consisting of four armored cruisers and two light cruisers. This was about an even match for Von Spee's force, but the British were in no mood for a fair fight, so the battlecruisers Inflexible and Invincible were sent to the Falklands to reinforce Sturdee, and the battlecruiser Princess Royal was sent to the Caribbean in case Von Spee transited through the newly opened Panama Canal. However, Admirals Jellicoe and Beatty protested having their commands deprived of the battlecruisers.
In this hypothetical scenario, Jellicoe and Beatty get their way and the BCs remain in home waters, forcing Admiral Sturdee to engage Von Spee with the force he has at hand.

[asnrobert]

Side 1 is the British, Side 2 is the German in all the following scenarios.

First Battle of Heligoland Bight 28 August 1914: At the outbreak of war, Commodore Keyes (commander of British submarine forces) and Commodore Tyrwhitt (commander of the Harwich destroyers) conceived a plan to lure out and ambush the German patrols off the Heligoland Bight. The plan was approved, and Admiral Sturdee positioned the battlecruisers New Zealand and Invincible 40 miles NW of Heligoland and a handful of old Cressy class armored cruisers 100 miles west. Admiral Jellicoe was concerned at the lack of heavy support, and wanted to send out the Grand Fleet, but was told this was not necessary. However, he did send Beatty's battlecruiser squadron and Goodenough's light cruiser squadron to support the raid. The resulting battle was a confusing melee due to the fog and piecemeal way the Germans deployed their forces. Also, neither Tyrwhitt nor Keyes were aware that Beatty and Goodenough had been sent, nearly resulting in a friendly fire incident (the submarine E-6 fired torpedoes at the cruiser Southampton which missed; the cruiser returned the favor by attempting to ram the sub). In the end, the Germans lost the destroyer V187 and the light cruisers Mainz, Koln, and Ariadne, while the British lost no ships (although Arethusa was disabled and had to be towed home, and several destroyers were damaged).
Due to size limitations, I was not able to include all the ships that were present, particularly destroyers. I also omitted the battlecruisers New Zealand and Invincible as they were left behind by the faster BCs and took virtually no part in the battle. All ships have Good crews except the light cruiser Arethusa (Tyrwhitt's flagship) since she had only been commissioned 15 days before, had an untried crew and had problems with her 4" secondary guns jamming. For those who would like to learn more of the battle, check out the following pages from the WW1 Naval Combat website:
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/heligoland-bight.html
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/heligoland-bight-2.html
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/heligoland-bight-3.html
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/heligoland-oob.html
First Heligoland alternate 1: As mentioned above, Admiral Jellicoe sent out Beatty and Goodenough for additional support. In this hypothetical scenario, they stay home, leaving Keyes and Tyrwhitt pretty much on their own. I was able to give the British 8 additional destroyers (although they still don't have the full number that they historically had), plus the battlecruisers New Zealand and Invincible which were 40 miles away (the four old Cressy class armored cruisers were 100 miles off, and thus too far and too slow to be of any help).
First Heligoland alternate 2: During the battle, the German capital ships were unable to participate as the low tide meant they could not cross the Jade sandbar. In this hypothetical scenario, the tides are more favorable and the HSF is able to send some of their battlecruisers to help.
Second battle of Heligoland Bight 17 November 1917: The "large light cruisers" Glorious and Courageous, BC Repulse, in addition to CLs and DDs engage a German minesweeping force that retreats to the cover of two German battleships. The Germans lose a minesweeper and the British suffered damage to the light cruiser Calypso.

[asnrobert]

For the following scenarios, Side 1 is Britain, Side 2 is Germany.

Action off the Thames 17 October 1914: Light cruiser and HMS Undaunted and four destroyers encounter four German torpedo boats on a minelaying mission. All four German ships were sunk. NOTE: The S90 class (aka Grosse torpedoboote 1898) are not in the game, so I used the G169 class (aka Grosse torpedoboote 1906) which is slightly larger and faster, but had the same armament (and appeared virtually identical).
Battle of Dover Strait 20 April 1917: Destroyer leaders Swift and Broke encounter a German destroyer flotilla on a minelaying mission at night. Swift torpedoed and sank the G85, while the Broke rammed the G42. The two crews actually engaged in hand-to-hand combat until the German destroyer sank. The badly damaged Broke had to be towed home, while the Swift, also heavily damaged, returned home under her own power. The Broke's skipper, CDR Evans, was hailed by the British press as "Evans of the Broke." NOTE: the destroyer leader Swift is not available in WCNAW-she was a one of a kind ship intended to be a sort of super destroyer that Jacky Fisher wanted to use to replace light cruisers; it was unable to make its design speed and had a limited range-so I used a Parker class DD as that is the closest in terms of size, armament and speed.
Live Bait Squadron 1914: By 1914, the Cressy class armored cruisers were worn out and slated for scrapping, but the outbreak of war delivered them from the shipbreaker. They were given a fresh coat of paint, manned by reservists and cadets and used to form the 7th Cruiser Squadron and sent out to patrol an area of the North Sea known as the "Broad Fourteens" (so called because the water depth is consistently 14 fathoms, or 84 feet). Officers in the Royal Navy referred to this group as the "Live-Bait Squadron" and petitioned the Admiralty to remove these ships. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill agreed to this, but it wasn't carried out until the submarine U-9 sank three of them in one day in September 1914. In this hypothetical scenario, three of the Cressy class encounter two modern German armored cruisers. NOTE: the British ships have poor crews and their speed reduced to depict the lack of training of the crews and the decrepit status of their engines.

[asnrobert]

Baltic Showdown 1915: About four or five years ago on the old NWS forum, a forum member posted the OOB for a hypothetical 1915 Baltic battle between the German and Russian fleets using miniatures rules. I thought the scenario would be excellent for WC-WW1 (Warship Combat- World War 1; it and WC-WW2 were the predecessors of Warship Combat: Dreadnoughts and Battleships), so I created the scenario making only slight changes to the OOB. When WCDB came out I recreated the scenario for it and now am adapting it for WC-NAW. Side 1 is the HSF, Side 2 the Russian fleet.
Gotland Island 19 July 1915: The German minelaying cruiser Albatross and cruiser escort were on a minelaying mission when they are intercepted by a Russian cruiser force. The Albatross was badly damaged and was run aground off Gotland Island (Swedish territory) to avoid sinking. Her crew was interned for the duration of the war. After the war the ship was returned to Germany and scrapped. Side 1 is the German, Side 2 the Russian. NOTE: The Albatross is not in WC-NAW so I used the Hela class CL, which was the same size and had the same speed. The minelaying cruiser had double the number of 3.5" guns that the Hela has, but OTOH the Hela has torpedoes (which the Albatross didn't) so I figure it evens out).
Gulf of Riga - DD Action 17 August 1915: The Russian destroyer Novik pursues two German destroyers that were attempting to enter the Gulf of Riga. She scored several hits on the V99, setting it on fire (V99 subsequently sank after hitting two mines). Side 1 is the Russian, Side 2 Germany.
Operation Albion October 1917: The Germans launch an amphibious invasion of Oesel, Dago and Moon Islands. As a result of the fighting the Slava(last of the ill-fated Borodino class predreadnoughts, built too late to sail with the fleet to Tsushima) is badly damaged and subsequently scuttled. Side 1 is the HSF, Side 2 the Russian fleet.

[asnrobert]

Hunt for the Goeben August 1914: With the outbreak of war, the Royal Navy was hunting for the battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau on the loose in the Mediterranean. Admiral Troubridge had a force of four armored cruisers under his command pursuing the German ships, but broke off as he felt his ACs were no match for the larger German warship. Troubridge (and his superior, Admiral Milne) were acquitted by court-martial, but their careers were effectively over. Could Troubridge's ACs have taken on Goeben?
France versus the Goeben: At the beginning of the war, France had three armored cruisers searching for the battlecruiser Goeben. In this hypothetical scenario, they find her...
Preemptive Strike: Two of Admiral Milne's battlecruisers (Invincible and Indefatigable) encountered Goeben on the eve of war, but the German ship was able to give them the slip before war broke out.
Cape Sarych 9 November 1914: The Goeben (now Yavuz) and Breslau (now Midilli) were on a raiding mission in the Black Sea when they encountered some old Russian pre-dreadnoughts. One of them, the Evstafi, took three hits, but scored a couple hits on the Yavuz, forcing the German ships to withdraw.
Imbros January 1918: Yavuz and Midilli sink the British monitors Lord Raglan and M28, but the Midilli (ex-Breslau) is lost due to mines. NOTE: The M28 was an M15 class monitor, which isn't available in the game, so I used a Lord Clive class monitor instead. The M15 class was much smaller (540 tons, one 9.2" gun versus 6,150 tons and two 12" guns), but I figure it didn't matter as the deck is pretty much stacked against the British as it is.

[asnrobert]

At the beginning of World War 1, the British acquired the German radio codes, enabling them to decipher German radio messages and react to them. The Germans never discovered this, but they suspected something, since every time the High Seas Fleet put to sea, the Royal Navy was waiting for them. The Germans thought that British trawlers fishing the Dogger Bank might be acting as spies and radioing reports to British authorities. So the Germans planned to send a battlecruiser force to sweep the Dogger Bank of any of these suspected spy trawlers. At dawn on 25 January 1915, as the German force approached the Dogger Bank, smoke from Royal Navy ships was spotted. Thus began a running gunfight in which the British BC Lion and German BC Seydlitz were badly damaged, and the German AC Blucher was sunk. German losses might have been greater, but a communications error sent the British squadron in pursuit of the crippled Blucher.
The first scenario includes most of the light forces (CLs and DDs) that were present. However, since most of the fighting involved the running gun battle between the battlecruisers, the second scenario focuses on them and leaves the smaller vessels out.

[asnrobert]

The other day while surfing the web I came across info regarding naval battles between the Greek and Ottoman navies during the First Balkan War. There were two major battles, Elli in December 1912 and Lemnos in 1913, which gave Greece decisive control of the Aegean. As the two battles had pretty much the same order of battle, I decided to recreate Lemnos due to the slightly larger OOB (more destroyers on each side).
Of course, since the Greek and Turkish navies are not (yet) in WCNAW, I had to improvise. For the Greek armored cruiser Georgios Averoff (the main player in both battles), I used the British Minotaur class since they were nearly identical in terms of armament. The battleships were tougher. Two of the Turkish battleships were ex-German Brandenburg class, which was an unusual pre-dreadnought in that it had three twin 12" gun turrets (the midship turret having smaller caliber guns), but since they are not in the German database, I decided to use the Austrian Radetsky class OB. The Greek Hydra class and the Turkish Mesudiye were tougher, since they were real antiques, the Greek ships dating back to the 1880s and the Turkish ship back to the 1870s (they were ironclads, rather than pre-dreadnoughts). For the Greek ships I used the IJN Chenyen class (which superficially resembled them as well), and for the Turkish ship I used the Habsburg class. For the Turkish CL Medjidiye I used the IJN Otowa class CL.
From what I could find on the internet, the Greeks had seven (though some sources say eight) destroyers and the Turks five, but don't list which ones actually were there, so I had to make a educated guess on what was there. The Greeks had four new destroyers of the Aetos class, and the French Adventurier was identical in armament (and looked pretty similar, too, except the Greek ships had five funnels). They also had some German built torpedo boats that were similar in size and armament to the Japanese Shirakumo class. The Turks had four ex-German DDs (S165-168), so I used three G169 class in the scenario, and for the other two destroyers in the OOB I used the Murakumo class, as they were in similar in size and armament (and looks too; I find it always helps when a ship class resembles the ship it is proxying) to some French built torpedo boats they had in service.
The Greeks have Good crews because of their accurate shooting (two of the Turkish OBs were badly damaged) and the Turks/Ottomans have Fair, since they fired off 800 rounds during the battle, most of them missed.

EDIT: I forgot to mention- Side 1 is the Greeks, Side 2 is the Turks.

[asnrobert]

While looking up information on www.bigbadbattleships.com (silly name, but a neat site with chock loads of information on the predreadnought era with lots of great pics), I discovered that a Russian dreadnought, the Imperatritsa Yekaterina, had engaged the Goeben twice in 1916. I decided to recreate the second battle, where the Russians also had a Bogatyr class cruiser present. The Goeben was on a bombardment mission when intercepted by the two Russian ships in the Bosphorus, but tactical errors by the Russian commander allowed the German ship to get away. I included the German CL Breslau even though she wasn't mentioned since she did seem to always be tagging along with the Goeben. The Germans ships are given their Turkish names, and the German BC has her speed reduced to 24 knots since according to what I've read, that was all she could make since the Turks didn't have the facilities to overhaul her engines.

[asnrobert]

Adriatic Showdown 1914: At the beginning of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Navy sent out units to rendevous with the Goeben, when the German battlecruiser entered Istanbul, the fleet turned back without making contact. In this hypothetical scenario, they are intercepted by units of the Italian Navy. (Side 1 A-H, Side 2 Italy)
Otranto Straits 15 May 1917: The A-H Navy sends out 3 CLs and 2 DDs to raid the Otranto Barrage (drifters with steel cables to impede enemy submarines) at the entrance to the Adriatic. They encounter two British cruisers along with French and Italian destroyers. The Austrian cruiser Novara is disabled and needed to be towed home, but the British light cruiser Dartmouth is damaged by a torpedo from the Austrian submarine UC-25, and the French destroyer Boutfeu is sunk by a mine laid by the same submarine. Side 1 is the Allies, Side 2 the Austrians.

[asnrobert]

Some hypothetical scenarios involving the hunt for Admiral Von Spee's cruiser squadron in 1914. In all the following scenarios, Side 1 is the Allies, Side two the Germans.
Von Spee versus the IJN: Two IJN semi-battlecruisers and light cruisers after Von Spee's squadron.
Von Spee versus the RAN: The battlecruiser Australia along with two CLs and 3 DDs of the Australian Navy backed up with the French armored cruiser Montcalm search for Von Spee in the South Pacific. NOTE: The Montcalm was a Gueydon class armored cruiser, which is not in WCNAW. I used a Gloire class AC since they were virtually identical.
Von Spee in the North Pacific: In 1914, Japan, England and Canada had warships patrolling off the West Coast of North America looking for Von Spee's squadron. In this scenario, the Japanese OB Hizen, AC Izumo, the British cruiser Newcastle and Canadian cruiser HMCS Rainbow make contact. NOTE: The Japanese predreadnought Hizen was the ex-Russian Retvisan. Since the Hizen isn't in the Japanese database, I had to use the Russian version. The HMCS Rainbow was an old Apollo class protected cruiser that entered service in 1893 and transferred to the RCN in 1910. SInce the class isn't yet available in WCNAW, I used a Japanese Suma class CL to represent her, as it is similar in size and armament. Her crew is poor for reasons explained in the scenario description below.
Rainbow Alone: As mentioned above, the Rainbow was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1910- she and the former HMS Niobe (an antique Diadem class cruiser) formed the core of Canada's embryonic Navy. She spent the years prior to WW1 patrolling Canada's western coastline on the lookout for Yankee fishing boats poaching in Canadian waters. At the outbreak of war, it was decided she should be sent out to look for Von Spee's force. At the time, armor-piercing shells for her main guns were unavailable, so they had to make do with black-powder shells normally used for practice. Additionally, there was a shortage of trained naval personnel, so her captain accepted the services of "naval enthusiasts" (civilian volunteers with no naval training) to fill out her complement. She was then sent to patrol off the West Coast of the United States. She missed the German cruiser Leipzig off San Francisco by one day, probably a good thing. In this scenario, the Rainbow (again represented by the Japanese cruiser Suma) confronts two of Von Spee's light cruisers.

[asnrobert]

The first three scenarios were originally created by other forum members for WCDB...

A Fisherian Dream 1914: Admiral Jackie Fisher (who liked anything fast) decides to build a fleet of fast armored cruisers to engage German predreadnoughts. Side 1: RN. Side 2: HSF.
König Albert's Delay 1914: A German squadron is returning home from South America when WW1 breaks out. Side 1: HSF. Side 2: RN.
Troubridge in the Adriatic 1914: Admiral Troubridge's armored cruisers take on an Austro-Hungarian battle squadron. Side 1: RN. Side 2: KuK.
North Sea Götterdämerung October 1918: As the war situation deteriorated for Germany, Admirals Scheer and Hipper planned to take the High Seas Fleet out to engage the Royal Navy and to "salvage German honor" even if they lost. However, they had not counted on the ship's crews, who were tired of war and were in no mood to see their lives thrown away on a war that was already lost. Many sailors deserted, and ship after ship flew the red flag of mutiny (on the battleship Markgraf a sailor who stood on a gun turret and called for three cheers for President Wilson was met with shouts of approval from his shipmates). In this hypothetical scenario, Hipper and Scheer get their chance to go out in a blaze of glory...

[asnrobert]

Admiral Jackie Fisher had a plan to conduct amphibious landings in the Baltic, and to this end he built a series of lightly armored, shallow draft battlecruisers (except he classified them as "large light cruisers" in order to get around Parliament's ban on capital ship contruction). The Glorious and Courageous (armed with four 15" guns in two twin mounts) and half sister Furious (planned to have two single 18" guns but completed with her forward turret landed to make room for a flying off deck) were nicknamed in the fleet as the Uproarious, Outrageous and Curious.
In the first hypothetical scenario, (RN side 1, HSF side 2), Glorious and Courageous face off against two German battlecruisers. In the second (side 1 HSF, side 2 RN), they encounter light cruisers and destroyers in a night action.
In playing these scenarios, I can see why the Royal Navy converted these turkeys into aircraft carriers after the war. The AP rounds of the German BCs usually passed right through the ships, and their armor couldn't even keep out the light guns of the CLs and DDs (which the British discovered at Second Heligoland, which scenario can be downloaded at post #23 on page 3 of this thread)- one time when playing this scenario in WCDB I was able to score a magazine explosion with a 4.1" gun hit from one of my cruisers.

[asnrobert]

On 16 December 1914, German battlecruisers shelled the English coastal towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. Beatty's battlecruisers and a detachment of the Grand Fleet was sent out to intercept, but supporting the Hipper's raiding force was Admiral Ingenohl and most of the High Seas Fleet. Germany had a golden opportunity to inflict serious losses on the British fleet and change the balance of power at sea, but caution prevailed. On the British side poor communications hampered their efforts.

[Warship NWS]

This thread will be for players to post and download WCNAW WW1 scenarios. Scenarios can be posted as attachements in TXT format.

Please only post scenarios with short descriptions - this thread is not for discussions.

Note: Please add into your breifing which fleet is commanded by each fleet number. Example: Fleet 1 = [some or all of the following: ships/divisions/nationality].

Players can discuss and suggest scenario topics here;
http://forums.navalwarfare.org/showthread.php?t=1519 (http://forums.navalwarfare.org/showthread.php?t=1519)

To play a custom scenario in WCNAW simply go to the thread above and download the TXT formatted scenario and then place it in the appropriate folder in your WCNAW directory; Scenarios-WW1 and Scenarios-WW2. After that you can select a scenario to play by choosing the option to "LOAD SCENARIO" during the startup options which will then show a list of selectable scenarios in those directories based on the time frame chosen at startup.

A good link for a collection of historical naval battles,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_battles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_battles)

Thanks.

[asnrobert]

The Germans are Side 1 in all the following scenarios.

Zanzibar 20 September 1914: SMS Konigsberg catches the elderly cruiser HMS Pegasus anchored in Zanzibar harbor and sinks her after a 45 minute battle.
Emden at Penang 28 October 1914: SMS Emden sneaks into Penang (with a dummy fourth funnel rigged up to pass as a British cruiser) and catches the Russian cruiser Zhemchug (which had only twelve rounds available for her guns and no lookouts stationed) by surprise, sinking her with two torpedo hits.
End of the Emden 9 November 1914: The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney corners the Emden and sinks her.
End of the Dresden 13 March 1915: HMS Glasgow (survivor of Coronel and the Falklands) tracks down the Dresden (last of Von Spee's squadron) to Mas a Tierra, Chile. Violating Chilean neutrality, the Glasgow opens fire and inflicts heavy damage on the German ship- she is scuttled by her crew.

[asnrobert]

Back in the days of WC-WW1, forum member and beta tester Kyle Holgate created two scenarios involving the 1914 Scarborough raid: one which involved most of the heavy ships and some of the screening vessels, and another which left out the cruisers and destroyers, but included the German predreadnoughts. The first one I converted to WC-NAW a few days ago and posted it on this thread; the second one I am attaching here.

[asnrobert]

I originally became interested in the Warship Combat series because I was interested in recreating the WW1 and pre-WW1 battles (at the time I was basically focused on Fighting Steel for recreating battles of the WW2 period). Since I've gotten involved in the Warship Combat series, the Russo-Japanese War order of battle has been added, which has piqued my interest in the pre-dreadnought era. I think this period is a gold mine for exploring potential what-ifs, and with that in mind I've created a couple hypothetical scenarios that focus on predreadnoughts. At this time, not all of the ships that were in service in the early years of the 20th century are in the WW1 database, so I had to be content with using the ships that are in the database that were in service in the time period these battles take place. Hopefully in the future these ship classes will be added so I can really do these hypotheticals justice.
Jutland 1906: The Great War breaks out 10 years early. The Royal Navy and High Seas Fleet meet in a major confrontation before the Dreadnought can enter service.
Lissa Redux: This scenario was originally created way back when for the original Warship Combat: WW1 game, and was adapted for WCDB. However, the original was set in 1918 and involved dreadnought battleships. For WC_NAW I decided I'd take a different tack and recreate it as a predreadnought battle between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian navies circa 1910.

[asnrobert]

This is a scenario I had originally created for WCDB. Four Baden class BBs of the Hochseeflotte slug it out with four Queen Elizabeth class battleships of the Royal Navy.

[asnrobert]

I originally created these scenarios for WCDB. This is what I wrote when I originally posted them:

A while back when doing some research for Russo-Japanese War scenarios for WCDB, I happened across some info on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 (something I knew little about), particularly the battle of the Yalu River. I thought this would be an excellent scenario for WCDB, and while the Chinese fleet isn't yet available in the game, I figured I could proxy the rest with the available ships. I found the naval portion of the Sino-Japanese War interesting since it was the first battle between modern ironclads. On paper the Chinese Navy was quite formidable, with 2 modern battleships, which Japan lacked (except for the old ironclad Fuso), plus a number of modern cruisers, and many western observers believed the Chinese would be victorious. However, the Chinese navy (and government) was rife with corruption- many shells supplied to the navy were filled with sawdust instead of powder, and some of the ship's guns had been sold on the black market. Training was also rather poor, and it is believed that the Chinese ships were more prone to burning due to multiple layers of paint and varnish.
When creating the Yalu River battle, the Japanese side was relatively easy since most of the ships were already in the game. The only exception was the old ironclad Fuso, for which I used the Russian Admiral Ushakov, which came closest in terms of armament, and the Tatsuta for the dispatch vessel Akagi. On the Chinese side, the battleships were already in the Japanese database (Chenyen class, the Chen Yuen was captured by the Japanese in 1894 and served during the RJW). The rest of the fleet was a bit tougher. Available information was a bit spotty (most of the technical data I obtained from Wikipedia), and variations in spelling of ship names among the different web sites made figuring what ship was what a bit tougher. I was planning to use the ships from other navies, but all the Chinese ships were proxied by ships in the Japanese databases, since theirs were closest in terms of size and armament. Chinese crew quality is poor, to reflect training (and the materiel deficiencies mentioned above) while the Japanese have good crew quality.
In the process of creating this scenario I also came across a small naval skirmish named Pung-do, which ignited the war. Three Japanese cruisers encountered the Chinese cruiser Tsi Yuen and two gunboats escorting the British transport Kowshing, which had been chartered by the Chinese to transport soldiers. The battle commenced when the Chinese refused to salute the Japanese vessels. In ensuing action one gunboat was run aground and blew up, and the other was captured. The Kowshing was sunk by the Japanese after she had been taken over by the Chinese soldiers on board. The Tsi Yuen was hit 400 times, but escaped after a 100 mile running gun battle. For the gunboats, I used the Yaeyama for one, since that seemed to be the closest in armament I could find. For the other, I could find no info other than that she was 572 tons, so I used the Tatsuta for her.
Japanese crews are Good, and I gave the Chinese fair crews, since they (at least the cruiser) fought fairly well.
In both scenarios the Japanese are side 1 and the Chinese are side 2.
For more information on the battles, ships and the Sino-Japanese War in general, check out these web pages:
http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1894YaluBattle.htm (this site also has a map of the battle, attached below)
http://sinojapanesewar.com/
http://www.wtj.com/games/battlefleet_1900/ships_cn.htm

WCNAW note: I reduced the speeds of the Chinese ships to reflect their actual speeds based on my research.

[asnrobert]

On 31 May 1916, British and German fleets clashed in one of the largest battles in naval history. I've broken the battle down into three scenarios, but due to current limitations (4 divisions/32 ships) I've had to leave some ships out. When WCNAW is expanded to allow 64 or 128 ships per side, I'll be able to improve these scenarios.
Jutland- BC Action: Contact is made at 4:30 in the afternoon when the light cruiser screens detect one another. Beatty's battlecruisers engage those of Admiral Hipper. The 5th battle squadron is also present (four new Queen Elizabeth class BBs), but due to various snafus are unable to engage the enemy for 10 minutes (they are present in the scenario, but positioned away from the rest of the British forces). Two British battlecruisers (Queen Mary and Indefatigable) blow up. The light forces are also skirmishing, resulting in the loss of two destroyers on each side. NOTE: most of the ships present are in the scenario, although I had to leave out a number of destroyers on each side (and a few light cruisers on the British side).
Jutland- Fleet Battle: The main forces of Jellicoe and Scheer show up (as well as the three BCs under Admiral Hood). One of Hood's BCs (HMS Invincible) is blown up, but in return Admiral Hipper's flagship, battlecruiser Lutzow is badly damaged (and later scuttled). The light cruiser Wiesbaden is mauled by British gunfire and a torpedo hit, and sinks during the night (with a stoker as the sole survivor), but the British armored cruiser Defence blows up with all hands, and another armored cruiser, Warrior is disabled, but is saved when the Warspite is hit and suffers a jammed rudder, which forces her in circles around the Warrior and draws fire away from her (the cruiser is eventually abandoned the next day). NOTE: I was not happy with this scenario. There were a lot of ships involved in this portion of the battle and the 32 ship per side limitation made it difficult in deciding which ships to include and which to leave out. In looking at the scenarios for the old WC-WW2 I noticed there was a scenario that just had the battleships, and I thought of going that route, but I didn't want to since the battlecruisers were still involved; also, German destroyer attacks caused Admiral Jellicoe to turn away twice, and I felt that threat should be represented (although I only have one German DD div in the scenario).
Jutland- Night Action: Admiral Jellicoe held his battleships back as the sunset, as he felt the risk to his ships in a night action would be too great, so it was up to the light forces to duke it out with the German ships in close range knife fights. The armored cruiser HMS Black Prince blows up with all hands and the British lose several destroyers as well; but the Germans lose three light cruisers (Elbing, Frauenlob and Rostock) and the predreadnought Pommern blows up with all hands when she is hit by a torpedo from a British destroyer.

[asnrobert]

In 1918, Britain, the US and Japan landed troops in Russia not only to oppose the Bolsheviks, but to try get Russia back into the war and to keep the Germans from acquiring war materiel the Allies had shipped to Russia. There were also some naval skirmishes in the Baltic between the Royal Navy and units of the Russian Baltic fleet under Bolshevik control. Most of the work was done by CMBs (Coastal Motor Boats, which were forerunners of the WW2 era MTBs), but I thought the situation still had the makings of a WC-NAW scenario. Information on the ships available was somewhat spotty (most of my info came from Wikipedia) , so in some instances I had to guess, particularly with regard to British destroyers. The 'D' class light cruisers are not in the WW1 database (from what I could tell, at least three of them were present), so I had to use the Caledon class to represent them). From what I read, the British crews suffered from morale problems related to war weariness and poor conditions, so they have only average crews. The Russians, given the turmoil in their country at the time (and considering that most Russian naval officers were anti-Red) have fair crews.

[KG V]

In 1906 the Royal Navy launched a warship that would forever change the design parameters of major warships for most of the next 50 years. This ship was called HMS Dreadnought and she combined speed, armor and firepower unlike any other ship then in existence. Overnight the capital warships of all the worlds navies were obsolete.

She was the brain child of Admiral Jackie Fisher, who envisioned a fleet of these “all big gun battleships” to be escorted by the Battlecruiser, another one of his ideas. The battlecruiser was to do to the Armored cruiser what the Dreadnought did to the older model Battleships of the day, they were to be faster then battleships proper, carry almost the same firepower as a battleship, but sacrifice armor protection to obtain all of these traits. They would sweep away all manners of skirmishers, from the lowly Destroyer all the way up to the Armored Cruiser; but be able to outrun the more powerful ships of the line.

The French were one of those world powers who’s battleships and Armored Cruisers were now considered “obsolete” with the introduction of these new concepts... or were they?

French builders had already designed and laid down the first ships of their new Danton Class of, what would be considered now as, "Pre-Dreadnought" Battleships. Danton, who launched on 4 July 1909 was to be the culmination of the Pre Dreadnought Battleship, and would be the most powerful of these types of ships to ever put to sea. They also were (like dreadnought) turbine powered, had excellent armor protection (the equal to the British Lord Nelson Pre Dreadnoughts, and superior to the Dreadnought herself), a standard main battery consisting of 4 12"/45 Cal guns in 2 turrets, and a powerful secondary battery of 12 9.4"/45 Cal guns in 6 twin turrets.

For the next few years, vessels of the Danton class continued taking up French yards; who built 5 more of these ships in the coming years, and they formed the Backbone of the French battlefleet, until they finally got around to launching their own all big gun capital warship, the Courbet class, in 1911.

Reasoning for the French (a major world power) keeping these older designs and not switching right away, are many fold; cost, a questioning eye to a new and foreign idea, and the fact that they had spent considerable money researching and designing the Danton Class to name a few. But also the French Admiralty wasn’t convinced that additional big guns were better then the high rate of fire they were achieving with a reasonably powerful secondary battery (The most powerful secondary battery ever fitted to a capital warship), and so had faith in the Danton design. The French took a further 2 and a half decades to embrace the battlecruiser concept as well, having never built any until the eve of the Second World War (Dunkerque Class). However, the Marine Nationale did posses powerful Armored Cruisers...

This fictional scenario pits all 6 Dantons and a host of Armored Cruisers on the side of the French against the new style ships of the Royal Navy, 4 early Dreadnought battleships (including the Dreadnought herself) and 3 Battlecruisers of the early “I Class” along with the newer HMS New Zealand, in the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean. It is a battle that pits the old ideas of fleet composition directly against the new, and it will either vindicate Frances insistence of building the 6 Danton Class ships; or show how flawed their decision making paradigm was...

[1] Royal Navy
[2] French Navy

[asnrobert]

I originally created this scenario for WCDB, and now with WC-NAW's 2D mapping and ability to set speed I can depict it more accurately.

On the night of 8/9 February 1904, the 1st Destroyer Flotilla (comprised of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd destroyer divisions) entered the Russian harbor of Port Arthur. While the Japanese had broken off diplomatic negotiations a few days earlier, the declaration of war would not be for a few more hours (the Japanese would follow a similar modus operandi thirty-seven years later at Pearl Harbor). The 1st destroyer division made their attack. The Second and Third divisions came some time later as they had become lost after evading Russian destroyer patrols (two of the ships collided) and made their attacks piecemeal and no longer had the advantage of surprise. The last destroyer, Oboro (one of the ships damaged in the collision) made her attack nearly two hours after the start of the battle, and her attack was fruitless. As a result of the raid, the battleships Retvisan and Tsarevich and the light cruiser Pallada were disabled for several weeks.
This scenario was designed to be played as the Japanese. This is basically a hit and run mission- get in, launch your fish and get out before the Russians wake up and can bring their superior firepower to bear. The Russian ships have their speed set to 0 as they were at anchor during the entire battle. Since the Russians did not believe the Japanese would attack before a formal declaration of war was made, they are surprised.
Although this scenario is basically target practice, historically the Japanese fired 16 torpedoes and achieved only three hits (a PK of less than 20%), despite having the advantage of surprise against non-moving targets. Can you do better?

For those who are interested, the Russo-Japanese War Research Society as a web page about the battle:
http://russojapanesewar.com/torp-attk-pa.html
They also have an animation of the raid:
http://russojapanesewar.com/map3.html

EDIT: I also reduced the speed of the Oboro slightly since she was damaged in the collision.

BTW, during the last test play I fired 22 torpedoes and achieved 5 hits (a PK of about 22%), and I was able to sink one battleship and one light cruiser.

[asnrobert]

When the US declared war on Germany in 1917, the US Navy sent a number of battleships to operate with the Royal Navy's 6th Battle Squadron. By this stage of the war, the High Sea Fleet's ships were pretty much limited to swinging at their anchors, but in this hypothetical scenario, some of them put to sea, and Uncle Sam's battlewagons are sent out to test their mettle against the Kaiser's dreadnoughts...

WCNAW v1.1+ required

[asnrobert]

When the pre-dreadnoughts Mississippi and Idaho entered service in 1908, they were already obsolete- partly because the advent of dreadnought style battleships, and partly because they were smaller, scaled down, less successful versions of the Connecticut class. As a result, they were sold to Greece in 1914, who were concerned about the build-up of the Ottoman Navy. The ship classes I used to proxy the Greek and Turkish ships in my Lemnos scenario reprise their roles here.
Thunder in the Aegean I: The Greek ships take on the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau (renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli, respectively).
Thunder in the Aegean II In this hypothetical scenario, the start of WW1 is delayed, allowing the Turks to take delivery of the two dreadnoughts ordered from British yards.

WCNAW v1.1+ required

[asnrobert]

When the US entered WW1, the US Navy's cruisers were used to escort convoys to France. In this hypothetical scenario, Germany is desperate to stop the flow of American troops to the Western Front, and decides to send some of its battlecruisers out in a last-ditch attempt to prolong the war. Two of the HSF's battlecruisers are able to successfully break out into the Atlantic and engage a screening force of American cruisers...

WCNAW v1.1+ required

[asnrobert]

The turn of the 20th century saw two new players enter the world stage. The United States had defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, and a few years later Japan would defeat Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. As a result, these two powers would compete for power and influence in the Pacific and China, eventually leading to Pearl Harbor a few decades later.
These scenarios have the United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy going head to head earlier. The first one takes place circa 1912, and the second takes place circa 1922.
In the first scenario, the USN has the advantage of two dreadnought battleships, while at best the Japanese have the Kawachi and Satsuma class "semi-dreadnoughts." However, the IJN is slightly better off in the cruiser department as they have the "sorta-battlecruisers" of the Tsukuba and Ibuki classes.
The second scenario was a bit harder for me to create. The Japanese have only four dreadnoughts (the Nagato and Mutsu were built in the early '20s and not in the WW1 database); they do have the Kongo class BCs (which are faster than the US BBs but not as heavily armored). I had a similar problem with cruisers. I would have liked to have used the post-war Omaha class cruisers as the US has few cruisers in the WW1 database, and while most of them were still in service at this time, they were fairly obsolescent (a digression: is it just me or were the US cruisers of the WW1 period crappy? The Denver class was rather slow compared to their contemporaries, and then there was the woefully under-gunned Chester class "scout" cruisers; OTOH, their ACs were on a par with other navies, but made obsolete shortly after they entered service by the advent of the battlecruiser). The Japanese were better off, but I would have liked to have used the postwar CLs like the Jintsu or Sendai. In the end I left the cruisers out. Regarding the destroyers: six of the Japanese Momo class destroyers in the OOB are actually Enoki class destroyers (virtually identical except they're a few tons heavier). Also, the names of the eight Wickes class destroyers in Division 3 are the names of destroyers that belonged to DesRon 11 (the division that ran aground off Honda Point in 1923).

[asnrobert]

In 1906, the British launched the first all big-gun ship, HMS Dreadnought. The US had the same idea (their South Carolina class was actually on the drawing board prior to Dreadnought), although their first big-gun battleship was a couple years later in entering service. This scenario pits first generation dreadnoughts- the two South Carolina class and the two Delaware class of the USN against the Royal Navy's Dreadnought and the three Bellerophon class- in order to compare and contrast the different designs.
The South Carolina class represents an evolution in design rather than a revolution like Dreadnought. They were a development of the Connecticut class pre-dreadnoughts (size was also limited due to Congressional restrictions), and due to limitations in US maritime technology, retained the conventional reciprocating engines, making them 2-3 knots slower than the Dreadnought. However, the superfiring guns on the centerline meant that they had the same eight-gun broadside as the British battleship despite having one less turret, and the weight savings resulted in improved armor protection. The follow-up Delaware class was larger, which allowed for an additional turret, resulting in a 10-gun broadside- the follow-up to the Dreadnought, the Bellerophon class, retained the same layout (The British would not adopt superfiring turrets until the Neptune class), and while still having reciprocating engines (although the Delaware's sister, North Dakota had Curtiss turbines which were unreliable and eventually replaced) were as fast as Dreadnought.

[asnrobert]

A few years ago I bought the novel 1901 by Robert Conroy. In the novel, Germany invades the United States in an attempt to force America to hand over some of her newly acquired overseas possessions. The Germans had actually drawn up plans for such an attack (which Robert K. Massie mentioned in Castles of Steel) and had even sent spies to the Eastern Seaboard to scout out possible landing sites. The book had some neat naval battles.
I had long thought of recreating some of the scenarios using WCNAW once the USN OOB was added. However, currently the only ship class available from that era is the German Gazelle class light cruiser. I had thought of creating a battle circa 1905, but even with that date there was almost nothing in the USN database from that period. I decided on creating a battle between the US Navy (side 1) and the High Seas Fleet (side 2) circa 1908, as that date gave me a pretty good selection of warships. The only exception was destroyers- there was only one German destroyer class available for that date, and the earliest US destroyer class (the Monaghan) wasn't available until 1911)- so I left destroyers out of the battle completely. Hopefully, in the future more ships from the 1890-1910 period will be added so I can improve on this scenario.

[asnrobert]

This is a hypothetical scenario pitting the US Navy against the Royal Navy in the years following WW1. As with my 1920s battle pitting the USN versus the IJN, the US Navy's paucity of cruisers was a problem. However, from my research, I discovered that the US Navy had recognized as a result of fleet exercises held in 1915 that it lacked sufficient cruisers for scouting. This led to the development of the Omaha class, but the first of these would not see service until 1923. Furthermore, in the years following the Great War, most of the US Navy's cruiser force was being decommissioned. Many of them were Spanish-American War vintage, obsolete and worn out. However, even the newer ones were outdated (America had built no more cruisers since the Chester class scout cruisers in 1908) and many of these were being decommissioned at this period. So if a war had broken out in the 1919-21 period, the USN would have hardly enough cruisers for scouting and patrolling (some of the newer cruisers that had been decommissioned could have been brought back to service, but there still would have not been enough, and limited value due to their obsolescence).
Therefore, I decided to create a scenario reflecting this situation. The USN has a scouting force of four armored cruisers (about the only ones that were still in service) ahead of the battleships and destroyers, about to meet up with the British scouting force of four battlecruisers (which are ahead of the British battleships and escorting light forces).

[asnrobert]

When I posted my Plan Red scenario recently, I commented on the the small number of cruisers in the US Navy's inventory during the the 1900-20 period. I started a thread in the Military History Forum on this subject, and there forum member Campy made the following post:


I had a reprint of the 1913 Naval Annual. It also took the U. S. Navy to task for it's unbalanced composition, citing the same reasons the U.S. took two-three years to find out for itself. Scouting is a key element of naval warfare. The U. S. fleet was ill equipped to accomplish that.

Even worse, the program was in response to the German blockade of Venezuela. Note the Germans built up an impressive scouting group. (Battle Cruisers, a number of quality light cruisers, both with the battle cruisers and the main fleet.) A rematch against the U.S. relying on destroyers, armored cruisers and a few small light cruisers might not have gone well at all for our side.

Frank

I thought this was a good idea for a scenario. However, I made a couple changes from the Plan Red scenario. When I created the Plan Red scenario, I limited the number of cruisers on the British side for the sake of play balance. In this I stacked the deck against the US somewhat more. Also, due to size limitations, I decided to create two scenarios- one with the cruiser scouting forces and another for the main battle (I then decided to create a third scenario with light cruiser forces). Side 1 is the USN, side 2 the HSF in all scenarios.

Plan Black I: A group of German light cruisers, engaged in commerce raiding, fall upon a trio of Denver class "peace cruisers" on patrol.
Plan Black II: An American scouting force of three armored cruisers and two Chester class scout cruisers encounters a German scouting force of three battlecruisers and two armored cruisers. This scenario is rather like the Falklands, only this time the Germans have the upper hand.
Plan Black III: The main event. Both sides have a division of battleships and two divisions of destroyers. The Germans have a division of eight cruisers, while the Americans only have the three cruisers of the St Louis class (interesting ships- the size of an armored cruiser with the firepower and armor of a protected cruiser :rolleyes: ).

[KG V]

In the early stages of the war Germany sent one of her Molke Class Battlecruisers to it’s ally, Turkey. This ship, the SMS Geoben who was escorted by the Light Cruiser Breslau, was able to sneak through the Mediterranean and rendevous at Constantinople as planned, there she and her escort remained the only major Axis surface unit in the area as the Mittelmeer-Division under the command of Admiral Souchon.

To deal with this powerful Battlecruiser, the Royal Navy sent its two Lord Nelson Battleships (Two of the most powerful Pre Dreadnoughts afloat, behind the French Dantons), HMS Lord Nelson and HMS Agamemnon, to the Aegean to keep tabs on the big German.

In this Hypothetical scenario, Admiral Souchon has concocted a plan to surprise the two old British tubs on a moonless night, hit them hard and fast, and break out into the Mediterranean using the two Ancient Turkish Battleships (Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis) to keep the British surface units busy while he and his escort slip away into the Med.

However he is in for a bit of a surprise himself... HMS Dreadnought is also in the area patrolling with the two British Pre-Dreadnoughts.. a situation Souchon is unaware of...

I used the Russian SissoiVelki class as stand in for the Two Turkish Pre Dreadnoughts. The Turks bought both of their Battleships second hand from the Germans, the ones I went with are actually a bit slower then their actual German built counterparts, but this would be appropriate due the age of the two old German Boats, and their poor Turkish Maintenance. Their firepower and armor looks to be real close to the same.

Player [1]
The Allied player has more firepower, protection and better crews across the board (but inferior crews to the German Battlecruiser), but they will suffer in the speed department against the powerful German Unit and suffer from the “surprised” locked course result until contact is made. Your goal here is to stop the Goeben using whatever means necessary. Night time is also a disadvantage to you as the Germans can try and skirt your Spot Light Range, while illuminating you with flares.

Player [2]
The Axis Player will have an edge in speed as far as their German Units are concerned as the British are caught with their trousers somewhat down and steaming as a unit so Dreadnought will loose some of her speed advantage because of it. The German ships also have well trained combat ready crews and solid leadership under Souchon. However the old Turkish Tubs can scarcely make 15 kts, and will be fairly easy to outmaneuver, and their crews (while eager to fight), are very poorly trained. The Goal here (no matter the scrore) is to get the German units off the map as quickly as possible, the Turkish ships are rather expendable to get this done.

[asnrobert]

The nationalism and naval arms race that gripped the early 20th century was not confined to Europe. South America also experienced this (albeit on a smaller scale). Brazil got the ball rolling by ordering the Minas Gerais and Sao Paolo, with twelve 12" guns, two of the most powerful ships in the world at the time (according to one book I have, there were rumors that the Brazilians were fronting for someone else, since the ships were much more powerful than what Brazil needed). They ordered a third dreadnought, the Rio de Janeiro, but their economy tanked and they ended it up selling it to the Ottomans, but before they could take delivery of it WW1 broke out and the British seized the vessel and it entered Royal Navy service as Agincourt, the world's only seven-turreted battleship. Argentina followed suit, ordering Rivadavia and Moreno from US shipyards. They also ordered destroyers from German, British and French shipyards, but the British-built ships were sold to Greece as the Aetos class, and the ones being constructed in France were commandeered by the French Navy at the outbreak of WW1 and entered the Marine National as the Aventurier class. Chile had signed a treaty with Argentina in 1902 to end the naval arms race between them, but Argentina's response to Brazil prompted her to add ships to her fleet as well. Chile ordered two battleships and six destroyers from British yards, but by the outbreak of WW1, none of the battleships and only two destroyers were delivered. The remainder of the vessels were absorbed (with the permission of the Chilean government) in the Royal Navy. the dreadnought Almirante Latorre entered the Royal Navy as HMS Canada and would return to Chile after the war; the other would be completed as an aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle and would serve in the RN until sunk by a U-boat in WW2. The four destroyers entered service as the Faulknor class. One (HMS Tipperary) would be sunk at Jutland, with the three survivors returning to Chile after the war.
In these two hypothetical scenarios, World War 1 does not occur (or at least doesn't start for a few more years) allowing the South American nations to acquire more ships, which increase tension, which lead to conflict.
Southern Cross I: Argentina (Side 1) versus Brazil (Side 2). Argentina has her two Rivadavia class BBs (represented by the Arkansas, since I felt that was the closest match, plus they were US built ships), her four Garibaldi class armored cruisers, two Catamarca and two La Plata class destroyers (these were built in Germany, but their armament, size and appearance were almost identical for the British 'L' class, so that is what I used). The Brazilians have three dreadnoughts: Sao Paolo and Minas Gerais (I used the French Courbet since they had the same main gun layout) and the Rio de Janeiro represented by Agincourt (in this hyppothetical, I assumed that Brazil's economy remained stable, allowing them to take delivery of the ship). They have two light cruisers (the only cruisers in their fleet) of the Bahia class (based on the British Adventurer class scout CL, which isn't in WC-NAW, but its functionally equivalent to the Blonde class, so I used that), and a screen of destroyers based on the British River class (which isn't in the game, so I used some of the IJN DDs of the RJW era, since they were the closest fit).
Southern Cross II: Chile (Side 1) engages Argentina (side 2) -I was going to have Chile vs. Peru in this scenario, but as the Peruvian Navy at the time consisted of two small light cruisers and a French torpedo-boat destroyer, I figured it wouldn't be a challenging opponent. The Chileans have their two BBs and six DDs (since their ships are already in the British database, this was a no-brainer). Argentina has their two BBs (Arkansas class standing in), their 4 German DDs (again represented by the UK 'L' class) and the four Aventurier class DDs.

[asnrobert]

England and France had been enemies for centuries, since at least the Hundred Years War (and perhaps even further back). However, the rise of German imperial power in the 19th century led to a thaw in their relations and eventually to an alliance (Robert K. Massie's book Dreadnought gives an excellent account of this). In this hypothetical scenario, this doesn't happen. France and Britain remain enemies, and as a result the Royal Navy and Marine National Française refight the battle of Trafalgar with predreadnought battleships.
NOTES: I had two problems in designing this scenario. One had two do with the French light cruisers. There are only two classes in WW1 database: The Jurien (full name Jurien de la Gravière) which was a one-off, and the D'Estrees, which had only two ships (a member of the old NWS forum said that the French Navy was a fleet of prototypes). I wanted them to have at least six, so I picked three other ships that were not in the database but close in characteristics to those that were. Chateaurenault and Guichen were one-offs, and the Galilee was a Linois class cruiser (one of three). The other was with destroyers: all the ones in the game all entered service in 1908-1909, and I really wanted to set the scenario a few years earlier, and the destroyers in service were smaller. I had thought about using the Russian and Japanese RJW-era DDs, but in the end I just decided to leave them out.

[asnrobert]

The four Kongo class battlecruisers were designed by Britain's Sir George Thurston, based on experiences with Britain's Lion class battlecruiers, and their design influenced HMS Tiger. During WW1, there was talk of Britain leasing these ships for use in the Royal Navy (according to one book I read many years ago, Britain actually made the offer, but the Japanese government politely declined). In this hypothetical scenario, two of the Kongo class are deployed to the North Sea, and encounter the two of the best battlecruisers in the Hochseeflotte.

[asnrobert]

Russia was another nation seen by Great Britain as a potential rival to her naval power. On at least two different instances, the Royal Navy built vessels as a “reply” to the perceived threat of new Russian construction. For example, when construction of the armored cruisers Rurik and Rossia were announced, the Royal Navy built the large armored cruisers Terrible and Powerful (which were such fuel hogs they saw little service). A few years later, Britain built the Duncan class battleships in response to the Peresviet class “fast” battleships.

I’ve already done a pre-dreadnought era matchup between England and Russia (“Perfidious Albion,” located on Page 1 of this thread, post #3) , so I decided to set this battle in a later time period. Britain has six dreadnoughts against the four Russian Gangut class battleships (along with two Imperator Pavel class OBs, the last pre-dreads to enter Russian service). The RN has three battlecruisers (the “splendid cats”) and five CLs against four armored and four light cruisers, and each side has two divisions of destroyers.

[asnrobert]

I had recreated the battles of Manila Bay and Santiago a few years ago for WCDB, but held off on re-creating them when WC-NAW came out, partially because I wasn't satisfied with the ships I used to represent the ones that fought (both the USN and the Spanish fleet had some oddball ships that didn't fit well with any of the classes in the database), and partly because the USN WW1 ship classes would be coming available. However, all the ships that were added for the USN WW1 database were post-1898, and only a couple of them were close to the ships available for the Spanish-American War. However, I've decided to bite the bullet and recreate the scenarios, plus I added a new hypothetical scenario. The USN is side 1, the Spaniards side 2 in all of these scenarios.
The US ships have good crews, while the Spanish (owing to training deficiencies and the poor material condition of their ships), have poor crews.
I used the information on http://spanamwar.com/index.htm in researching my scenarios.

Manila Bay, 1 May 1898:Admiral Dewey steams his squadron into Manila Bay and annihilates Admiral Montojo's fleet. The Spanish ships have their speed reduced to 10 knots to reflect what they were actually capable of (From what I've read, only a couple of the Spanish ships actually got underway, but I figured the deck was stacked enough against them as it was).
Santiago de Cuba, 3 July 1898: Admiral Cervera's cruiser force (with two TBDs) attempts to escape from Santiago, but they are pursued and destroyed by the battleships and cruisers under Admirals Schley and Sampson. If you play as the Spanish, try to get away to the west as soon as possible. Consider it a victory if any of your vessels are able to get off the map.
Manila Bay alternate 1, June 1898: Spain ordered the predreadnought Pelayo, armored cruiser Emperador Carlos V and three TBDs to the Philippines. Dewey was concerned for how his squadron of light warships would deal with them, but fortunately for him they recalled when they reached the Suez Canal (Spanish authorities were fearful that US warships might raid the Spanish coast). In this hypothetical scenario, they continue on their mission and engage Dewey's forces.

PROXY NOTES:
As I mentioned, the US and Spain both had some oddball ships that didn't match well with what's currently in the database (hopefully, in the near future the SAW-era ships will be added to WC-NAW). In some cases, all I could do was pick a ship of similar vintage that I felt best represented the qualities of the ship I was trying to portray.
USN:
The three Indiana class OBBs (Indiana, Oregon and Massachusetts- the latter of which participated in the blockade of Cuba but which was 40 miles away during the battle of Santiago and took no part in it) were titled "seagoing coast defense battleships" (a dodge to wheedle money from the purse-strings of Congress, who didn't like the idea of a blue-water navy) that were the first real battleships the USN had. They had four 13" guns, eight 8" guns and a number of 6". None of the ships in WC-NAW have 13" guns, so I chose the Mississippi class since they are very similar in terms of SB and TB.
The Iowa was another "seagoing coast defense battleship" that had four 12" and eight 8" guns, but a TB of only six 4" guns, so I used the Canopus.
The Texas was the first battleship to enter USN service- she had two twelve inch guns in single turrets in a weird layout that allowed them to fire across the deck, plus a half-dozen 6". None of the ships in WC-NAW have single 12" guns (at least, not as far as I can tell), so I used the Chenyen, as her 12" battery is the weakest in the game, plus the layout and SB is similar.
The Brooklyn had eight 8" in four twin turrets (one fore, one aft, and one on either beam) plus a dozen 5". Nothing in the game came close, so I used the Roon as she had four 8" in two twin turrets, and I figured the 5.9-ers would approximate the firepower of the beam turrets.
I considered the Takasago to be a pretty good match for Dewey's flagship, Olympia. The Baltimore and Boston were harder to match, so I picked ships that were fairly close.
Raleigh had one 6" and ten 5", so I picked Denver which had ten 5" guns, but no 6" or torpedoes (which Raleigh carried), but I figured close enough.
Dewey had two gunboats in his fleet, Concord and Petrel which were fairly well armed (six 6" and four 6", respectively) but rather small. Nothing in the game really suited, so I used a Campania class CL to represent both.

Spain:
The Pelayo was one of those oddball ships- she had two 12.6" (one fore, one aft) and two 10.8" guns, one on either beam (all four guns were in barbettes rather than turrets). I decided to use the Navarin.
Emperador Carlos V had two 11" guns, as well as an assortment of 5.5" and 3.9" guns. None of the ACs in the game have 11" guns, but I felt the Pisa was a close enough match.
The three ships of Infanta Maria Teresa class that were in Cervera's squadron also had two 11" guns, and had assortment of 5.5" and smaller weapons. They were slightly smaller than the Carlos V, so I used the Garibaldi class (I also reduced their speed slightly as their hulls were fouled).
I thought the Cristobol Colon would be the easiest to match, as she was a Garibaldi class AC. However, she sailed without her 10" main gun battery, so she was forced to fight with her 6" and 4.7" guns. I felt the Vittor Pisani was a pretty good match in this case. I gave her a slightly higher speed as she was brand new and the fastest of Cervera's ships (at least until the high quality coal lasted, then she was screwed).
Reina Cristina had the same caliber of guns as the Jurien class, but had two fewer, so I went with the Svietlana (six 6" guns).
Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonia de Ulloa were small cruisers (gunboats, really), that were pretty close to the Tatsuta and Yaeyama.
I used the Shirakumo class DDs to represent the Spanish TBDs as they were fairly close in size and armament, although slightly slower.

[asnrobert]

Recently I created a hypothetical scenario where the Franco-English alliance never occurred, and French and British fleets clashed in 1905, one hundred years after the Battle of Trafalgar. The scenario focused on the pre-dreadnought era, so I decided to create another scenario, set 10 years later, that allows British and French dreadnoughts to slug it out. Each side has a half-dozen dreadnought battleships. The Royal Navy has a quartet of battlecruisers, while the Marine National Française has a half-dozen armored cruisers (since the French have the same limited number of crappy light cruisers as they did in 1905, I left the CLs out completely in this scenario). The British and French each have two divisions of destroyers.

[asnrobert]

In August 1904, Viceroy Alexeiev (commander of Port Arthur) ordered Admiral Vitgeft (commander of the First Pacific Squadron) to sortie and join the cruiser squadron at Vladivostok. Vitgeft demurred, feeling he could accomplish more by staying at Port Arthur. Alexeiev used his connections with the throne (he was Czar Nicholas' uncle) to compel Vitgeft to obey orders. Vitgeft sortied his fleet on August 10, 1904, resulting in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The Russians might have pulled it off, except for the Fickle Finger of Fate. Admiral Vitgeft's flagship, the battleship Tsarevich was hit by enemy fire, killing him and everyone on the bridge. It also jammed the helm over to the left. The other Russian ships, not knowing anything to be amiss, followed the flagship until it had made a 180 degree turn. The Russians were then thrown into disarray. A few ships managed to escape to neutral ports, where they remained until war's end. The rest limped back into Port Arthur, to be sunk at their moorings by siege guns of the Japanese Army (and later to be raised, repaired, and commissioned in the Japanese Navy). This eliminated the Russian Pacific Fleet as a fighting force, and allowed Admiral Togo to focus solely on defeating Admiral Rozhdestvensky's Baltic fleet when it arrived in early 1905.

In this hypothetical scenario, the Russian Pacific fleet is able to successfully withdraw to Vladivostok, which means Admiral Togo now has two ports to attempt to blockade. While Vladivostok is not an ideal port (freezing over in the winter), the Vladivostok cruiser squadron had been active, sinking a number of Japanese transports loaded with troops and siege guns needed by the Japanese Army besieging Port Arthur (at least until they were mauled by Admiral Kamimura's cruiser squadron), and having the whole Pacific fleet there might increase the opportunity to prey on Japanese shipping. Furthermore, Vitgeft might have been able to support Admiral Rozhdestvensky's fleet when it entered Tsushima Strait.
Admittedly, this is a best case situation, but for the sake of this scenario, I assume that the Russians are able to achieve this, and Togo is trapped between the two Russian fleets.

Due to the 4-division, 8-ship-per-division limitations of WC-NAW, I wasn't able to include all the ships that might have been available. I left out the destroyers as I wanted to focus on the battleships and cruisers; besides at the historical battle of Tsushima, the destroyers/torpedo boats weren't engaged until after dark (the Japanese destroyers anyway; the Russian destroyers seemed relegated to rescuing survivors). For the Russians, Divisions 1 and 3 represent Rozhdestvensky's Baltic squadron; the Pacific fleet ships under Admiral Vitgeft are in Divisions 2 and 4. For the Russian OOB, I left out the antique ironclads Imperator Nikolai I and Navarin, as well as the Admiral Ushakov class coast-defense ships, but added two of the armored cruisers of the Vladivostok squadron (Rossia and Gromoboi). For the Japanese OOB I lumped the obsolete ships (OB Chenyen, armored cruiser Chiyoda, the three Matsushima class CLs with their 12.6" guns) and the small dispatch vessels (Chihaya, Yaeyama and Tatsuta) together in Division 4.
The Japanese all have crack crews. As for the Russians, divisions 1 and 3 (Rozhdestvensky) have poor crews, since they were pretty worn out from transiting from the Baltic (plus their crews had little time or ammo for training); while divisions 2 and 4 (Vitgeft) have fair crews (since they might have been somewhat more rested, and perhaps had a little more training or combat experience).
The Vladivostok divisions are placed much farther away from the Japanese ships than the Baltic divisions, giving the Japanese player the opportunity to attempt to destroy the Russian fleets in detail (as Admiral Togo probably would have done in real life). Players can experiment with this, deploying the IJN divisions closer to the Vladivostok division, or place all 4 Russian divisions close to the IJN force, to see what might have happened had the Russians had their act together and were able to link up before engaging Togo's fleet, something not likely to happen unless they got really lucky. Who knows?
If Admiral Makarov- Vitgeft's predecessor and one of the best commanders in the Russian Navy- had lived (he was killed in April 1904, when his flagship, the battleship Petropavlovsk, suffered a magazine explosion and sank with all hands after striking a mine), then events might have played out far differently than they did historically...

[asnrobert]

The Royal Navy's Minotaur class and Germany's Blucher were the ultimate in armored cruiser design, but the advent of the Inflexible class battlecruisers (which entered service at the same time they did) rendered them obsolete in a stroke. In this hypothetical scenario, the Inflexible isn't built, prompting the Germans to build two more of the Blucher class, and the three of them meet in the North Sea to slug it out with their British counterparts.
The names of the two other Blucher class ACs in the scenario are taken from older German cruisers.

[asnrobert]

I'm currently re-reading Defiance at Sea: History's Greatest Naval Battles by Jon Guttman. I'm in the chapter "Swan of the East", about the exploits of the German raider Emden at the beginning of WW1.
On 22 September 1914, the Emden shelled Madras, a port on India's southeast coast, destroying 346,000 gallons of fuel and throwing the area into chaos. A Japanese light cruiser, Chikuma was supposed to be guarding the approaches to Madras, but she was taking her time coaling in Columbo, as her captain believed that Emden's skipper wouldn't venture that deep into British waters. As Mr. Guttman wrote:


That assumption threw away Japan's last chance to claim a naval victory of any sort during the First World War, and left Madras wide open for Emden's attack on 22 September.

In this hypothetical scenario, Chikuma's skipper is more diligent in his duties, and intercepts Captain Müller's cruiser as he is approaching Madras.

Although the sides are evenly matched point-wise, I find it a challenge from the German side. The Emden (like all of the German light cruisers at the beginning of WW1) are equipped with 4.1" guns, which don't pack much punch, plus the ammo load-out is so scanty, you're empty by the time your gunners find the range... :rolleyes: (you also have two torpedoes, but hitting anything with them is mostly a matter of luck, even at point-blank range)

[asnrobert]

Some time ago I created three scenarios pitting the Royal Hellenic Navy against the Ottoman Navy: Lemnos (a historical scenario that takes place in 1913 during the First Balkan War) and Thunder in the Aegean I and II (hypothetical scenarios that pit the ex-US Mississippi class battleships in the Greek Navy against Sultan Osman I and Reshadieh- aka Agincourt and Erin in the first scenario and against the Goeben in the second). Of course, neither navy is yet in WC-NAW, so I had to use the existing ships in the database to represent their ships. I was recently doing some research on these navies, and decided to revise the scenarios based on what I've uncovered.
Georgios Averof: this Greek armored cruiser was equipped with four 9.2" and eight 7.5" guns, and I used the British Minotaur to represent her, even though the British ship had two more 7.5" guns and two more torpedo tubes, plus was larger. However, I recently discovered she was the third Pisa class cruiser built by Italy. Since this ship is in the game, I decided to use this class in the revised version, since she is a much closer fit. Pisa has 10" guns, not 9.2", but the FP is the same (although with slightly greater range and penetration power).
Medjidiye and Hamidiye: in the original scenarios, these near sisters (one was built in England, the other in the US) were represented by the IJN Otowa. In the revised scenarios they are represented by the Italian Libia, which is a closer match (interestingly, Turkey ordered a light cruiser based on the design of these these ships from Italy. She was to be named Drama, but when Italy declared war on Turkey, she was commissioned into the Regia Marina as Libia).
Aetos class destroyers: I originally used the French Aventurier class DDs to represent these vessels as they had similar armament (four 4" guns, 2x3 TT). However, I found that this was after their 1920s rebuild; beforehand they had three 4" guns and four TT, so I've replaced them with the British 'L' class (the British ships have two twin mounts, whereas the Aetos class had four single mounts, but I figure it's a close enough fit).
Hayreddin Barbaros and Turgut Reis: I originally used the A-H Radetsky class OBB to represent these ex-German Brandenburg class OBBs (which had 2x2 11" guns fore and aft, Two 11" guns of smaller caliber in a midships turret, and eight 4.1" guns), figuring the 9.4" SB could represent the 11" midships gun. However, I noticed forum member KG V used the Russian Sissoi Veliki to represent them. Doing some digging, I discovered the Radetsky's SB were twin, not single, mounts so the firepower would be too great (plus the A-H ship was much larger). I decided to follow KG V's lead and use the Russian ships in my revised scenarios (they aren't ideal either, but nothing else comes close).
The IJN Chenyen OBB reprises its role in representing the Greek Hydra class OBBs, but with their speed reduced to 12 knots (as that is all they were capable off by 1912-13).


I've also attached two new scenarios.

Elli: A naval battle that took place in December 1912 during the Balkan War (a few months before Lemnos). The OOB is similar to Lemnos, but with fewer DDs, plus the Turks have another antique ironclad (represented by the IJN Chiyoda).
Thunder in the Aegean III: Both the Turks and Greeks were planning to modernize their fleets, but the outbreak of WW1 put a damper on those plans. In addition to the ships that were acquired by the British as Agincourt and Erin, Turkey planned to buy two more Erin class battleships (one was cancelled, another broken up on the slip) and four destroyers (which became the Talisman class in the RN) from England, plus a light cruiser from Italy (see above). Greece ordered a Provence class BB from France (never completed) and a battleship from Germany to be equipped with American 14" guns (hull ended up being used by the Germans as a hulk); in addition they ordered two CLs and four DDs from England (which entered service in the RN as the Birkenhead class and Medea class, respectively). In this hypothetical scenario, the onset of WW1 is delayed, allowing both navies to build up their fleets, and duke it out for control of the Aegean.
Addendum: The ships of the Talisman class never received Turkish names (as far as I can tell) before being acquired by Britain, so I used the names of torpedoboats that had been decommissioned.
The Salamis would have had eight 14" American-made guns, so I was initially tempted to use an American BB (although they all had ten guns), but the ship would have had a large 6" SB, and the American ships only had 5" guns, so I decided to use Bayern since the ship would have been built in Germany.
See my post in the WW1 warship list: http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2294-WW1-Warship-list-for-WC-NAW&p=46444#post46444

for more info on the ships of these fleets, and why I chose the ships I did to proxy them.

[asnrobert]

I came across this battle while looking up information on British destroyers at this website:
http://www.worldwar1atsea.net/WW1NavyBritishDestroyers2.htm

On the night of 20/21 March 1918, Nine German destroyers, four large torpedo boats and four small A-class torpedo boats of the Flanders Flotilla sailed to attack the coast between Dunkirk and Nieuport. They encountered three British monitors, as well as British and French destroyers that were sent to intercept. In the ensuing action, HMS Botha rammed and sank the German torpedoboat A-19 but was damaged when the French destroyer Capitaine Mehl torpedoed her by mistake. Capitaine Mehl and her sister ship Bouclier then sank the torpedoboat A-7 with gunfire in torpedoes.

I though this battle would make a great scenario for WC-NAW. The Allied side was pretty easy, since almost all of their ships are in the game. A couple notes: The monitor Terror was actually an Erebus class monitor (not in the game) with 15" guns, but I figured the Abercrombie class with 14" guns was close enough (a third monitor, M25, <700 tons with one 7.5 " gun, was left out of the scenario as there was nothing close to approximate it in the game). The French destroyer Oriflamme was a Durandal class destroyer which is not currently in WC-NAW, so I used a Japanese Murakumo class destroyer which is pretty close.

On the other hand, I have almost no information on the German OOB, except for the two A-class TBs that were sunk (they were 150 ton ships with a 50 mm gun and two 18" torpedoes built for operating off Flanders; they are much smaller than anything in the game, so I simply left them out). I was able to draw up a list of German destroyers that operated with the Flanders flotilla, but couldn't tell which (if any) were in this battle.
I also could find no information on the "large torpedo boats." I know the S90 class (Germany's first generation destroyers) were renamed with a 'T' designation, but I couldn't discover if any were assigned to the Flanders flotilla; what makes it more confusing is that Germany referred to most of their destroyers as "large torpedo boats" ("grosse torpedoboot"). In the end, I simply gave the Germans 13 destroyers based on the list of Flanders based ships I was able to compile.

[Anromar]

Two ahistorical WWI scenarios from the game Dreadnoughts, 1992.

SEATRIAL: Introductory and balanced scenario, with two light cruisers divisions that patrol the Channel. I played a lot this scenario to test navigation orders, gunfire and torpedo launch, and I liked the nice and colorful ships and coasts of that game.

CHANNEL: DD Flotillas of Royal Navy against predreadnoughts. Asymmetric engagement: speed and torpedoes against armor and powerful gunfire. This scenario is better suited to play with WCNAW than Dreadnoughts. In that game the RN destroyers were difficult to control because they tried to escape and they usually did not obey the torpedo attack order (poor AI, in my opinion), but I find this scenario very playable with WCNAW due to his good AI. And the player can tweek the AI aggressiveness, visibility and crew quality to make it more challeging.