Anyone have a miracle ship story?

[snwh]

I do, i happened to make a ship, the B-201 Olivia. Lead, and only, ship of her class. By the way, she's called that as an easy way to know what type of ship and generation she's from. B means CA, the 2 means second gen, and the 01 means first ship in class. I made it cause naming all your ships on very large fleets are hard. This way only the ships that deserve names get them, and boy did olivia deserve a name.



This little CA took out no less than four battleships in three battles in three different wars. You could even argue that she saved the country once.

She finished building during my first war, a very early war with germany. I was allied with GB at the time, so i had been spoiling for a fight. The only problem is, i forgot to station a battleship in southeast asia! I had five of them,and they were all powerful for their day, but i had made them short ranged.

Anyway im digressing, olivia found herself as the only CA in southeast asia, along with a couple CL's and four dd'

And it didnt take long at all before she was drawn against a battleship. Oddly enough though, it had no screens, while olivia had her four dd's.

Seeing this, i decided it was worth a shot, after all, the enemy b still only had four 12 inchers, whereas olivia could double that on a broadside. Not to mention the 6" belt. Olivia kept the destroyers in reserve until she had closed considerably before unleashing her charges, not close enough though. All four dd's were sunk, but not in vain. They had managed one torpedo hit. It was enough, olivia was able to close and begin pounding away at the enemy, who at this point was having trouble with their rear turret. She was still damaged pretty heavily in the end, but won.

But thats not the end of her story, a few years after that war, came an unintended one with the US. It wasnt a fight i had intended to pick to be honest, but not everything goes your way. Soon i got pulled into a convoy raid
. I figured it would be fairly easy. Especially after i saw my forces. Two CA's (the other was an legacy one), several CL's and a swarm of dd's.

Dusk fell before i had even reached the convoy, i had set up for my usual way of doing these things, running helter skelter through the TR's, only once my group had broken into the pack, i noticed something disturbing. Directly ahead of Olivia were two ships identified as B. Obviously this was bad news, but it being nighttime did afford some advantages.

I sent olivia and her pack of DD's directly between the two B's at full speed. I couldnt let a torpedo chance like that go to waste, and was rewarded with a pair of hits on one of the B's, enough that i left it to one to a CL to finish the job and turned the group about at thd second one, attempting to run.

It didnt make it though. Under fire from multiple ships, it had a hard time hitting any shots. It was quickly set on fire, while the Olivia and Co came alongside and started scoring dozens of hits. Not to say the olivia didnt get damaged, it lost about half of both its structure and flotation to the dying battleships. Terrified she would sink, i made her putter about shooting tr's and a crazy cl for the rest of the encounter. The war ended not much later as a minor victory, and not a moment too soon, because the US was much more powerful than me, and i wasnt sure i could keep up my success much longer.

Finally her last fight against a battleship. This time against the russians. The political climate was very bad for japan at that time. I had been trying to provoke a war with germany, who held the oil rich province of north korea. Obviously it had to fall into japanese hands no matter what.

However in the process of provoking germany, i had also managed to inflame russia, france, and my one time ally Great Britain. Two alliances formed, the RU-GE alliance, and the FR-GB alliance. While i managed to get my war with GE-RU, it was about all i could do to take the two on. But the slightest provocation would pull in GB as well. I couldnt afford a war with them, let alone a war with them plus half the world. Lucky for me i got drawn into another battle with olivia, this time against the russians, this time against a battleship with a screen. But well, i had managed it so many times before, i could do it again.

The plan was pretty simple, i rushed forward with all my ships tight together, soon olivia began to draw fire. This was when i let my two cl's ahead, they exploited a crack that formed between the enemy dd's and the bb, and managed to shepard the enemy screen away. This was perfect because now i could send up my dd's. These were much more modern ones by now, faster, larger, carried two torps apiece. And they managed to hit it in the side with two fish.

When olivia came alongside this time though, there was a fireworks show. Penetrating hit, flash fire. The entire B was destroyed. Three months later the alliance surrendered. I had just enough points to aquire north korea. All the tensions subsided. It was the shortest yet perhaps the most nervewracking war that game. Now you xan see how olivia perhaps saved the country, and went down in history as the most ferocious CA ever made in that timeline. (Tho obviously the light forces did a lot of heavy lifting too). After that i never mothballed her, and kept her refit all the way to 1926.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I'd love to hear some similar stories if you have them!

[bcoopactual]

Deserves a permanent berth next to Mikasa for sure.  Sounds like a lot of luck was involved but many times you make your own luck.  Congrats and thanks for sharing.  

[joebob1337]

Not a story in game, but just look up the USS B. Roberts. It’s nickname of “The Destroyer Escort That Fought Like a Battleship” is well deserved.

[snwh]

Dec 20, 2018 7:57:18 GMT -6 bcoopactual said:

Deserves a permanent berth next to Mikasa for sure.  Sounds like a lot of luck was involved but many times you make your own luck.  Congrats and thanks for sharing.  

Lots and lots of luck, and captains mode. Actually heaps of luck lol. But it was still a very nice outcome. Thanks for the kind words ^^

[snwh]

Dec 20, 2018 8:12:18 GMT -6 joebob1337 said:

Not a story in game, but just look up the USS B. Roberts. It’s nickname of “The Destroyer Escort That Fought Like a Battleship” is well deserved.

I will definately do so! Sounds like a story. I dont know too many irl stories, but it sounds like something similar to the HMS glow worm.

youtu.be/oxMoGzHvm5Q

I've started getting pretty in to real ship stories, so ill make sure to check it out.

Sorry for the double post, but im stuck on mobile, and its a lot easier to do it this way

[aeson]

Dec 20, 2018 5:11:50 GMT -6 snwh said:

I'd love to hear some similar stories if you have them!

I had a 19,600t 8x11" battlecruiser sink a 40,000t 10x14" battleship by gunfire in a fairweather daytime engagement once. It and one of its sisterships went on to engage a 40,100t 10x16" and a 38,900t 12x16" battlecruiser in a night action in foul weather, sinking both of the larger ships - though one managed to reach port despite its sinking state and so survived the engagement. I posted about it here (look for Chih Yuan), and in a little more detail further down the thread.

Also once had a pair of light cruisers and a few destroyers bait a pair of battleships away from a convoy all day long and then sink them after night fell.

[bcoopactual]

I don't know if you would call it a miracle but I did have a major convoy defense battle against the Royal Navy which featured two American battlecruisers of 26,400 tons each against a British 41,000 ton leviathan, HMS Niobe.  USS Ticonderoga and USS Vincennes were sister ships.  Vincennes was knocked out of the fight in the first thirty minutes due to heavy flooding but luck was actually on my side that day.  I think I briefly mentioned this fight in another thread because of the number of turret hits Tico scored.  Like a big game of whack-a-mole where just as the British would restore one turret, another would be disabled.  So anyway, almost single handedly, Ticonderoga sank Niobe causing massive flooding and eventually, after the crew was already abandoning ship causing a flash fire in B turret that blew the forward end of the ship apart.  

Ticonderoga and Vincennes would both eventually have seven battlestars apiece.  Unfortunately Ticonderoga would be lost two months later (immediately after getting out of the yards for repairs from this battle) in a duel with the smaller HMS Courageous (23,700 tons, 8x14 inch guns).

I wrote a somewhat wordy recap of the month's events and battle at the time.  I'll post it below.  I apologize if I've posted this previously and for the length.  I'm not good at paring things down to the essentials.  





Sep 1923

    -Destroyer USS Mahan struck a mine while on patrol off of the American East Coast. It limped into port and reported to Boston NSY for five months of repairs.

    -A major battle erupted at the northern entrance to the Windward Passage when the British attempted to intercept a convoy of six American merchant ships escorted by destroyers USS McKean and USS Cassin steaming from the Panama Canal to various ports on the Eastern Seaboard. The British force was led by the new super-Albion battlecruiser HMS Niobe of 41,000 tons displacement commissioned only a year previous in August 1922 and armed with eight 16 inch guns. Escorting Niobe were the cruisers HMS Brilliant, HMS Astraea, HMS Sappho and HMS Retribution along with destroyers HMS Kale, HMS Ribble and HMS Derwent.
    Unknown to the British, a strong American squadron led by the battlecruisers USS Vincennes and USS Ticonderoga were training in the area. The two battlecruisers were screened by light cruisers USS Harpers Ferry, USS Harrisburg and USS Columbus and destroyers USS Murray, USS Taylor, USS Gridley, USS O’Brien, USS Israel, USS Bell and USS Stribling.
    Columbus, a month out of the yards after having spent the five months prior repairing damage from a British submarine’s torpedo, was to the first to spot the Royal Navy ships approaching over the eastern horizon. The American merchant ships and their destroyer escort turned west while the American battlecruisers led the charge east. The Americans were shocked to see Niobe storm over the horizon. Rumored to have a top speed of 29 knots and an armored belt twelve inches thick the British leviathan was over one-and-a-half-times the tonnage, more heavily armed and armored and faster than either American battlecruiser individually. The Americans only advantage was in the number of main guns with the two battlecruisers carrying a combined twelve 14 inch guns.
    The two forces turned northeast on roughly parallel paths. Niobe opened fire first with its longer ranged guns and within 30 minutes had scored four penetrating hits on Vincennes that caused heavy flooding and forced Vincennes to detach and slow down to combat the inrush of water that threatened the ship. Vincennes had managed only one hit on Niobe in return but it proved significant disabling one of Niobe’s main turrets. Ticonderoga’s gunnery officer took advantage of Niobe concentrating on Vincennes and Tico scored eight hits of its own in that first thirty minutes. Fortune was with the Americans from that point because in addition to the one hit by Vincennes, the last two of Ticonderoga's hits each disabled a turret on Niobe as well so that the British battlecruiser was reduced to one functioning main turret. A short while later that final turret was also disabled and for seven minutes Niobe was unable to return fire. For the next several hours the two battlecruisers exchanged fire but Niobe’s crew was unable to get ahead of the damage inflicted by Tico’s guns to its turrets. Over half of the fight was spent with at least two turrets disabled or destroyed. Ticonderoga’s spotters recorded fifty hits in total by the main guns and at least twenty of them found one of Niobe’s turrets. Two hours into the battle, the fight was effectively decided when a 14 inch shell crashed into Niobe’s primary fire control director followed thirteen minutes later by the destruction of A turret. Within two more hours, the continuous pounding by Ticonderoga’s guns had reduced Niobe to a flooded, flaming wreck. The ship drifted to a halt. American destroyers raced in and two torpedoes from Bell and four more from Israel slammed into Niobe’s sides. As Ticonderoga turned south to pursue the remaining British light cruisers Niobe had still not lowered its ensign and a 14 inch shell from one final volley from Ticonderoga crashed through the damaged face of B turret. The resulting flash fire reached the magazine blowing up the front half of the ship. Only twenty-seven survivors would be rescued from the water later by the cruiser Harpers Ferry.
    During and shortly after Niobe’s final moments the American and British light forces clashed in a mêlée around the stricken battlecruiser. Shortly after launching its torpedoes, the American destroyer Israel was lost to gunfire from the aptly named Retribution. British destroyer Ribble was sunk by gunfire from the three American light cruisers and destroyer Kale lost to gunfire from several American destroyers and the secondary guns of Ticonderoga. British light cruiser Sappho was struck by gunfire and a torpedo from Harrisburg in the scrum and also went down.
    The remaining British ships withdrew through the Passage and the Americans ceased their pursuit when Ticonderoga had exhausted its ammunition. The Americans turned back to pick up survivors and regrouped with the heavily damaged Vincennes prior to returning to port.
    The Americans had lost Israel and suffered heavy damage to Vincennes and destroyer Murray; moderate damage to destroyers Taylor, Gridley and Bell and light damage to Ticonderoga and destroyer O’Brien.
    In addition to the loss of Niobe, Sappho, Ribble and Kale the British suffered heavy damage to light cruiser Brilliant and light damage to cruisers Retribution and Astraea and destroyer Derwent. None of the American merchant ships suffered any damage.
    Spontaneous celebrations erupted in the streets of US cities (+2 prestige points) when the news spread of the sinking of the giant British battlecruiser and the captains and crews of the American battlecruisers were hailed as heroes.



Commissioned:
    Ger – 42,000 ton BC Scharnhorst
    Ita – 1 MS
Laid down:
    Ger – 1 DD
Decommissioned:
    Ita – CL Milano

[joebob73]

I've got one. 

Built as a legacy fleet ship and then refitted with better engines and 5" secondaries.

Already made a post about the incident.

Jan 21, 2017 3:58:11 GMT -6 joebob73 said:

So I got into a fight with Britain in 1927 as the USA.  I promptly send my entire battle fleet to the Caribbean, where the British have sent their main fleet.  First battle that pops is a battleship engagement, maximum size.  I accept, and am greeted with a shocking force arrangement.  1 ancient BC I now use as a raider, 6 CAs of similar vintage, and 2 CLs from the same time frame.  Supporting them is a division of 4 excellent modern destroyers, with 35 knot speed and no compromises on armament thanks to a lucky "Exceeds design speeds" event.  So I assume that the British have a similarly weak fleet.  WRONG.  They got 1 BB, and 4 BCs, all newer than my heavy combatants.  Aside from a single one of their BCs, they are all armed with 14" guns, between 8-10 per ship.  This other ship is armed with 10 16" guns.  However, they only have a single escorting destroyer.  But I don't yet know this.  My CL squadron spots an enemy in the haze, at night, less than 3 kilometers away.  I order all my ships to flank speed, and set them on course to converge at the sighting.  When I hit the turn button, however, I am greeted with the message "CL Minneapolis is sinking".  The "unidentified ship" turned out to be a massive 40k ton BC, and had sunk her on the first salvo.  At this point, I realize that the enemy fleet has modern capital ships displacing about twice as much as my squadron's heaviest ship, and likely more than one of them.  I order the fleet to head for port, and that's about when the rest of the enemy fleet appears.  What the enemy doesn't realize is that they have actually put their ships in the one situation they could possibly lose in.  I have several torpedo-armed destroyers, and my CAs, while ancient, have been upgraded with both advanced director fire control as well as modern 13" guns.  My own battlecruiser runs headfirst into a British battlecruiser division and takes 14 heavy caliber hits, while only making 5 in response.  This leaves it with about 400 flooding and only half flotation remaining.  I order her to turn away from the new threat, while giving the DD squadron orders for a torpedo attack.  Several torpedoes are fired, but only two hit, one of which bounces harmlessly off the hull of the battlecruiser without exploding.  The other knocks out her engines, leaving her dead in the water.  I order one of my 3-ship CA divisions into close range, hoping the 13" guns can take out this ship before she can get back underway.  Meanwhile, my other CA division has run into a battleship.  Several minutes of furious main battery fire later, both enemy capital ships are dead in the water, while I have only suffered medium damage to one of my cruisers.  As her forward turret is destroyed, I detach her and send her to port.  The CA division that had just sank a battleship then stumbles upon a third battlecruiser, and a short exchange of fire leaves one of my ships moderately damaged and the British battlecruiser sinking.  As dawn finally approaches, I set course for the base, hoping that my battlecruiser will be able to repair enough of the flooding to make port.  I then realize that more of my ships had taken hits than I noticed, and it's about then when a 4th BC pops up, this one with an escorting destroyer.  But a fake torpedo run from my own destroyers, who have no remaining torpedoes, is enough to drive her off.   Shortly thereafter, my fleet reaches port and the battle ends.  It was one hell of a ride for those old cruisers, and probably the most tonnage sunk in a single engagement during this run.

And the result of the battle


This ship in particular had other unusual occurrences, such assinking multiple battleships via ramming without taking much damage in return, taking a magazine hit but then reappearing almost undamaged the next turn, and being duplicated during a battle.

[cuirasspolisher]

Not exactly miraculous, but still one of the most heroic ships I've had. I was playing the British in my second or third game ever and fought a fleet battle with the Russians. One of my battlecruisers lost power near the enemy battlecruisers, and I thought she was doomed, but one of the screening destroyers charged in and torpedoed the leading Russian ship in a suicidal attack, forcing them to break off. My battlecruiser got clear and I won the battle (which I also remember for introducing me to Hidden Flaws with a magazine explosion). If my AI destroyer captain had had a name, I'd have named a ship after him.