Post by Deleted on May 23, 2017 21:52:10 GMT -6
Decisive Fleet Victory 1917-03-31, and the Mines
it was indeed the Harwich Force which sortied towards the Helgoland Bight. to lay mines, to do a sweep, we didn't know. but we did sortie the 2 divisions of BCs. if anything, their crews need the action to retain elite status. when contact was made we were just north of the Texel minefield on the Holland coast. suddenly, 1 torpedo strike on Seydlitz, another torpedo strike on Von der Tann... they got us!!... wait, why are there 2 blue dots? so apparently both of them hit mines. luckily there was no flooding so they were detached and sent home. the rest of the scouting force proceeded to dispatch an enemy CL accompanied by a DD division, plus 2 merchants found at the English channel.
when this was done, we emergency activated CL Brummer and Bremse, AMC Kaiser and Deutschland, plus 2 DDs from each DD division in the HSF main fleet, and sent a huge minelaying force towards the entrance of Scapa Flow. a hefty minefield was thus generated. however DD S165 was stuck in the mines and was struck by a self laid mine. it was still stuck and failed to return to port by scenario end and became an operational loss from the mission.
by the next week the Harwich Force was out again. this time we only sent the V scouting group, with I group's Seylitz and Von der Tann each requiring 4 weeks of repair, plus Derfflinger needing a refit. the Harwich Force was out en masse, 1 CL escorted by 15, 2 or 3 DD divisions. in a prolonged chase we sank the CL and 14 DDs, heavily damaging the other. another 2 merchants fell victim. we repeated the previous mine laying routine, only this time with less DDs, and laid another minefield near Scapa Flow.
by the 3rd turn we got solid intel of the Grand Fleet sortieing towards the central North Sea. knowing what we would face - all of the Grand Fleet's new super dreadnoughts, we decided to send out every capital ship available. excluded from the mission is I. AG, with 3 ships down; B Lothringen and Hannover, who was undergoing refits. everybody else is activated, a total of 7 capital ship divisions. 6, 1, 2, 3 LSD each has 4 ships; 7, 5 LSD and V. AG has 5 ships per. VIII. AG and II. AG are CL scouts. the Scouting Force despite having only 1 capital ship division has 5 escorting DD divs. the main fleet has 1 DD div escorting each division, plus another 4 DD divs, 2 screening the lead Bayern division, the other 2 screens the 2 following divisions. a total of 16 DD Divs, each with 6 ships per.
at this point we had 989 OP points. all of this costs 903 OP. it is risky, but confidence was high. the 2 massive fleets generated thus marches northwest towards the direction of Scapa Flow.
we were fortunate enough to find the enemy. somewhat unfortunately contact was made with the Scouting force just a few minutes from daylight. this was not great, because when visibility suddenly expands at day break the 5 BCs in V. AG will come under concentrated fire from the enemy BB formation. a flotilla attack had to be launched. when daybreak later came we managed to position ourselves somewhat away from the enemy fleet, while the flotilla attack disrupts the enemy line to further reduce their gunnery effectiveness.
ofc, the HSF main fleet who is not too far way is steaming west at flank speed -1 to reinforce the situation. and for whatever reason, our 14" gunned Mackensen BCs are out shooting the 15" gunned Queen Elizabeth BBs, all the while being out numbered 3:1. the superior positioning similar to the battle of Tsushima plus an elite crew really helps, or so i thought at the time. but as the battle went on the QEs did score some hits, and for a time the situation was tight. the division was ordered to speed up to 26kts, to maintain their lead position against the enemy line.
when the main fleet arrived the battle area was moving south, and the BBs simply are not fast enough to follow. might as well, we "crossed the enemy's T" through their stern, aiming at the US 6BS at the back with our own 15" guns, and swung to the NW side. if only the Mackensens could pull through, the retreating enemy line would run right into the guns of ours. thankfully, they did. the enemy lead QE division turned away. and so forms the sandwich. the BB line is the closer block, the BC line the distant block. flotilla attacks were launched. the scouting force's DDs were pretty beaten up in the previous dash, but whatever they could do.
another huge battle it is!
when the smoke settled, the enemy lost 13 BBs, 6 QEs, 5 Revenges, 1 Florida and 1 Wyoming, plus 2 CLs and 10 DDs. we lost 4 DDs, 2 in the scouting force and 2 in the main force.
but more importantly, the mines played a big part. out of the 6 QEs sunk, 4 were struck by mines. no wonder they couldn't even out shoot BCs. BB Barham was struck twice. a CL and a DD was sunk solely by mines. a further 8 DDs hit mines and were damaged, forcing them to return to port or reducing effectiveness. 1 DD hit mines even on its way back to port.
the track chart shows the enemy formation funneled to the mine field center area and struck many times by mines laid by DDs. and the return route of a few DDs passed right through the minefield laid in the previous turn. these were very effective mine fields, even considering the loss of DD S165 this was very much worth it...
it was indeed the Harwich Force which sortied towards the Helgoland Bight. to lay mines, to do a sweep, we didn't know. but we did sortie the 2 divisions of BCs. if anything, their crews need the action to retain elite status. when contact was made we were just north of the Texel minefield on the Holland coast. suddenly, 1 torpedo strike on Seydlitz, another torpedo strike on Von der Tann... they got us!!... wait, why are there 2 blue dots? so apparently both of them hit mines. luckily there was no flooding so they were detached and sent home. the rest of the scouting force proceeded to dispatch an enemy CL accompanied by a DD division, plus 2 merchants found at the English channel.
when this was done, we emergency activated CL Brummer and Bremse, AMC Kaiser and Deutschland, plus 2 DDs from each DD division in the HSF main fleet, and sent a huge minelaying force towards the entrance of Scapa Flow. a hefty minefield was thus generated. however DD S165 was stuck in the mines and was struck by a self laid mine. it was still stuck and failed to return to port by scenario end and became an operational loss from the mission.
by the next week the Harwich Force was out again. this time we only sent the V scouting group, with I group's Seylitz and Von der Tann each requiring 4 weeks of repair, plus Derfflinger needing a refit. the Harwich Force was out en masse, 1 CL escorted by 15, 2 or 3 DD divisions. in a prolonged chase we sank the CL and 14 DDs, heavily damaging the other. another 2 merchants fell victim. we repeated the previous mine laying routine, only this time with less DDs, and laid another minefield near Scapa Flow.
by the 3rd turn we got solid intel of the Grand Fleet sortieing towards the central North Sea. knowing what we would face - all of the Grand Fleet's new super dreadnoughts, we decided to send out every capital ship available. excluded from the mission is I. AG, with 3 ships down; B Lothringen and Hannover, who was undergoing refits. everybody else is activated, a total of 7 capital ship divisions. 6, 1, 2, 3 LSD each has 4 ships; 7, 5 LSD and V. AG has 5 ships per. VIII. AG and II. AG are CL scouts. the Scouting Force despite having only 1 capital ship division has 5 escorting DD divs. the main fleet has 1 DD div escorting each division, plus another 4 DD divs, 2 screening the lead Bayern division, the other 2 screens the 2 following divisions. a total of 16 DD Divs, each with 6 ships per.
at this point we had 989 OP points. all of this costs 903 OP. it is risky, but confidence was high. the 2 massive fleets generated thus marches northwest towards the direction of Scapa Flow.
we were fortunate enough to find the enemy. somewhat unfortunately contact was made with the Scouting force just a few minutes from daylight. this was not great, because when visibility suddenly expands at day break the 5 BCs in V. AG will come under concentrated fire from the enemy BB formation. a flotilla attack had to be launched. when daybreak later came we managed to position ourselves somewhat away from the enemy fleet, while the flotilla attack disrupts the enemy line to further reduce their gunnery effectiveness.
ofc, the HSF main fleet who is not too far way is steaming west at flank speed -1 to reinforce the situation. and for whatever reason, our 14" gunned Mackensen BCs are out shooting the 15" gunned Queen Elizabeth BBs, all the while being out numbered 3:1. the superior positioning similar to the battle of Tsushima plus an elite crew really helps, or so i thought at the time. but as the battle went on the QEs did score some hits, and for a time the situation was tight. the division was ordered to speed up to 26kts, to maintain their lead position against the enemy line.
when the main fleet arrived the battle area was moving south, and the BBs simply are not fast enough to follow. might as well, we "crossed the enemy's T" through their stern, aiming at the US 6BS at the back with our own 15" guns, and swung to the NW side. if only the Mackensens could pull through, the retreating enemy line would run right into the guns of ours. thankfully, they did. the enemy lead QE division turned away. and so forms the sandwich. the BB line is the closer block, the BC line the distant block. flotilla attacks were launched. the scouting force's DDs were pretty beaten up in the previous dash, but whatever they could do.
another huge battle it is!
when the smoke settled, the enemy lost 13 BBs, 6 QEs, 5 Revenges, 1 Florida and 1 Wyoming, plus 2 CLs and 10 DDs. we lost 4 DDs, 2 in the scouting force and 2 in the main force.
but more importantly, the mines played a big part. out of the 6 QEs sunk, 4 were struck by mines. no wonder they couldn't even out shoot BCs. BB Barham was struck twice. a CL and a DD was sunk solely by mines. a further 8 DDs hit mines and were damaged, forcing them to return to port or reducing effectiveness. 1 DD hit mines even on its way back to port.
the track chart shows the enemy formation funneled to the mine field center area and struck many times by mines laid by DDs. and the return route of a few DDs passed right through the minefield laid in the previous turn. these were very effective mine fields, even considering the loss of DD S165 this was very much worth it...