|
|
Post by babylon218 on Jun 20, 2017 17:44:09 GMT -6
German Sailor: Sir, these charts are very confusing. This area is filled with mushroom shapes! Kapitan: Crewman, that is a military map! It is unlikely to detail interesting flora and fungae! Read the key and you'll find those mushrooms aren't for picking! Sailor: Ah, yes sir! The key says the mushrooms indicate "mine". Hm, so whoever made this map must own the mushrooms! Kapitan: Either that, crewman, or we're sailing through a mine field! Sailor: Ah, so he owns the field as well! (OOC: I'll show myself out.  ) |
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jun 20, 2017 18:53:30 GMT -6
German Sailor: Sir, these charts are very confusing. This area is filled with mushroom shapes! Kapitan: Crewman, that is a military map! It is unlikely to detail interesting flora and fungae! Read the key and you'll find those mushrooms aren't for picking! Sailor: Ah, yes sir! The key says the mushrooms indicate "mine". Hm, so whoever made this map must own the mushrooms! Kapitan: Either that, crewman, or we're sailing through a mine field! Sailor: Ah, so he owns the field as well! (OOC: I'll show myself out. ) Bless you for your "Blackadder Goes Forth" Reference! Allow me to finish: Sailor: Sir, what should we do if we collide with one of these mines? Kapitan: Standard procedure is to jump 60 meters in the air and scatter yourself over a wide area! |
|
|
|
Post by Enderminion on Jun 20, 2017 20:52:24 GMT -6
mushroom+mine... (several minutes later) OH GOD WHO PUT SADMs IN THE NAVAL MINES
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jun 23, 2017 11:11:37 GMT -6
Turn 14: 2nd February 1915: Operation Notice: I am currently typing this post in sunny South Carolina as I am on vacation. Tomorrow I depart for Port Canaveral to board a cruise ship for an 8 day cruise to Puerto Rico and some of the islands that are still part of the UK, France, and the Netherlands. After that, I will be spending a further week in Charleston. As such, this will be my last turn until about two weeks from now. In the meantime, I hope this AAR will continue to be a place where the game, history and other naval subject can be discussed.
And now back to your scheduled programming:
This turn ended up being something of a comedy of errors. The mining force left port from Grimsby in good order. A slight worry came when Room 40 reported German cruisers near my mining objective. However my cruiser escort seemed like more than a match for what Room 40 reported, and I continued on. My ships reached their objective. A minefield was laid. I must express my love of HMS Princess Margaret and HMS Princess Irene, as each of them can lay more mines than three of my cruiser-minelayers. A long line of them was deployed, and my ships turned back home for Grimsby. However I quickly received word from patrol vessels that a force of German ships was nearing the Channel Approaches. The patrol vessels claimed it was a force of German cruisers led by one battlecruiser. I decided to chance an emergency activation of my pre-dreadnoughts as I felt that the six of them could handle a battlecruiser and a few cruisers. However I forgot that I had not rebased them to Harwich when they where reassigned to the Harwich Patrol. As such, they were still in Scapa Flow. In the meantime, the Germans began to shell the Ramsgate Battery, and the gunners asigned to it reported a considerable force. However upon contact with a squadron of destroyers that I activated from Harwich, it turned out to be 4 light cruisers. The Germans failed to deal any damage to the Ramsgate Battery, and my destroyers torpedoed a German light cruiser for two destroyers badly hit. My minelayers and their escorting cruisers sailed to Harwich so the Minelayers could make port, thus freeing the cruisers for intercept. However luck was not with us and we failed to intercept. Here was the final tally:
In addition, HMS Princess Irene and HMS Drake were both lost to mines after trying to rebase back to Grimsby. While I regret the loss of HMS Princess Irene more than I do HMS Drake, these losses really make this turn a German victory.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jun 23, 2017 11:16:56 GMT -6
Looking Ahead I intend to make the following changes. First is that I will rebase the pre-dreadnoughts to Harwich along with some escorting light forces. I also intend to reorganize the armored cruisers of the Fleet. So far, I have allowed them to be a sort of hodge-podge with 7 and 9 inch gun cruisers mixed in with each other, often with varying speeds. I should have done this a while ago. I will be organizing them into new Squadrons based on their class. This will lead to some squadrons having more ships than another, but that's alright. That's one of the reasons that I don't regret losing Drake: she's the only one of her class that I have, and she's the oldest armored cruiser in the fleet.
|
|
|
|
Post by director on Jun 24, 2017 0:39:05 GMT -6
Here's a link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Princess_IreneShe was a moderately large liner (5300 tons) and had a good turn of speed. Evidently she was lost in 1915 in 'real life' as a result of an internal explosion. |
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jun 24, 2017 4:23:49 GMT -6
Here's a link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Princess_IreneShe was a moderately large liner (5300 tons) and had a good turn of speed. Evidently she was lost in 1915 in 'real life' as a result of an internal explosion. The pair of them are two of my favorite ships. They can lay massive minefields in one turn that would take three or 4 using the others. Her loss is really lamentable! The game models internal explosions, and I've lost dreadnoughts on occasion, but fingers crossed that my well trained crews and attention to record on time prevent them! |
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 4, 2017 12:26:30 GMT -6
Still on vacation. I've been re-reading the Aubrey-Maturin Series (Master & Commander) by Patrick O'Brian. I forgot how well-written they were. I'll be back by Sunday and will probably have the next turn ready by Monday.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 13, 2017 12:18:40 GMT -6
Turn 15:16th February,1915:Planning I'm going to start by discussing a bit of fleet organization. At the end of the last operation, I mentioned a desire to reorganize my armored cruisers into more homogenous squadrons. This has been completed, with cruisers being organized into squadrons based on their class. Naturally, this has led to a certain degree of uneven numbers (1st Cruiser Squadron has 2 cruisers, the 3rd Cruiser Squadron has 6 cruisers). However this has given the squadrons uniformity of both speed and gun caliber. Three of the Squadrons (#1, 2, and 4) have 9 inch guns while the 3rd Cruiser Squadron (made up of older vessels) has 7 inch guns.
In addition to reorganizing the armored cruisers, I have also shifted the pre-dreadnoughts down to Harwich and Sheerness. While they won't be used to counteract German dreadnoughts, I might use them if the Germans should send out their battlecruisers to attack the South Coast.
Moving on to this week's operation, it will be another mining operation using HMS Princess Irene. This field will be laid to the north-east of the last field at Oyster Ground. In the meantime, the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron will sail down from Scapa Flow to screen HMS Princess Irene and maybe hunt for some German light forces. The Battlecruiser Force will conduct more training drills, as will selected battleships from the Grand Fleet. The newly reorganized armored cruisers will also be training.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 15, 2017 10:29:46 GMT -6
Turn 15:16th February,1915:Operation
This was a slow and boring turn, so much so that I forgot to snip any screenshots for the AAR. My cruisers escorted HMS Princess Irene to her target, where her mines were laid. My ships spotted no germans, and neither did the ships on the Dover and Northern Patrol. The only real excitement came when Room 40 made a report, but it turned out to be a light cruiser on a course well inside the Helgoland Bight, and was therefore out of reach of our forces (and in all likelihood was a patrol cruiser). I wish that there had been a bit more excitement, as these kinds of turns don't make for interesting reading or writing.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 15, 2017 11:34:50 GMT -6
Turn 16:2nd March,1915:Planning
This turn has some potential for fireworks (God willing), but I'm going to start out with some logistics. HMS Invincible and HMS Indefatigable have arrived as reinforcements, giving the Battlecruiser Force 3 Squadrons. This should enable me to have my desired "Ready Squadron" for emergencies while the other squadrons are training. Also reinforcing the Battlecruiser Force are more of the wonderful M-Class Destroyers. With 34 Knots as their top speed, they are excellent screening vessels.Many thanks to the forum goers who advised me of their suitability for this role! Also of note is that in the next game week, HMS Warspite, first of the glorious Queen Elisabeth-Class Battleships will arrive. The only bad news in that regards is that the next one doesn't arrive till October (damn the need to build more light forces to fight the German U-Boats!)
Now getting to the moment that you have all been waiting for: the Germans are coming! Naval Intelligence was able to obtain the following information.
Best case scenario, the German Fleet is coming out at a moment when my battleships have never been so well trained as they currently are. Worst case scenario, this is a minelaying mission by a bunch if elderly cruisers unable to break 18 knots. I don't want to get too excited, as I don't know if the Germans would really send two dreadnoughts to the yard if it intended to come out. I'm going to keep the Grand Fleet on ready-alert and send out the Battlecruiser Force to sniff around.
In the meantime, I am also deploying a squadron of armored cruiser and a squadron of light cruisers from the Harwich Force to patrol Dogger Bank and to the east of Norfolk Banks. I am also deploying all of my submarines to help me spot any German ships entering or exiting the North Sea. With some luck, we will get a sighting and have a good idea of what we are up against.
Note: the red dot was an optional objective I am not going to do. I am focusing on preempting the Germans.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 18, 2017 17:22:48 GMT -6
Turn 16:2nd March,1915:Operation My battlecruisers sortied out from Edinburgh in good order and began to sweep south-west, keeping between the English Coast and the submarine picket line that I deployed. Room 40 made sporadic reports of German ships in the Helgoland Bight, but nothing really useful was reported. In the meantime, the weather really picked up, and a heavy rain enveloped my forces in the North Sea. In spite of this, one of my submarines was able to report a force of German cruisers headed to the Southwest. 
My battlecruisers continued Southwest on a course to try to intercept. In the meantime the weather worsened considerably, and that heavy rain progressed into a storm with hurricane force wind. My ships began to take weather damage, with several of my destroyers taking a moderate amount of damage. The storm progressed in severity to the point that my battlecruisers were being damaged by the storm. With the weather so bad, and my ships taking damage from the weather, I decided to have the Battlecruiser Force put into port at Grimsby to ride out the storm until they could get home to Edinburgh. Due to the bad weather, visibility was extremely poor, and I would not risk my big ships against torpedo-carrying craft. I seem to have made the right decision, as the Germans stayed out and one of their destroyers was almost sunk. One of my subs failed to return.  The storm really took a toll on my battlecruisers. Operating in that bad weather caused enough problems that they are all in need of some yard time for a refit. |
|
|
|
Post by boomboomf22 on Jul 18, 2017 20:43:08 GMT -6
Jeez, wow super bad weather there
|
|
|
|
Post by director on Jul 19, 2017 8:14:35 GMT -6
Something like Halsey's Hurricane, only in the North Sea.
|
|
|
|
Post by cv10 on Jul 19, 2017 15:21:16 GMT -6
Something like Halsey's Hurricane, only in the North Sea. I was lucky that my ships were already near the East Coast. I was able to get them in before things got too bad |
|
)
