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Post by fredsanford on Jul 19, 2017 18:06:00 GMT -6
I wonder if slowing down and heading into the wind (i.e. what you would really do in bad weather IRL) would reduce the damage?
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Post by cv10 on Jul 20, 2017 12:30:50 GMT -6
I wonder if slowing down and heading into the wind (i.e. what you would really do in bad weather IRL) would reduce the damage? That's a good question. My ships were heading into the wind (the wind was coming from the west), and they got into pot with only moderate damage, while the Germans had to sail east to make port |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 20, 2017 12:51:53 GMT -6
Turn 17: 16th March, 1915: Planning
As usual, I will start off with the fleet organization and logistics. The hurricane last turn rendered both the 2nd and 3rd Battlecruiser Squadrons incapable of operations (with the exception of HMS New Zealand, all of the battlecruisers are being refitted after accumulating storm damage). In addition, many of the destroyers attached to the Battlecruiser Force are likewise being repaired due to storm damage. However the good news is that the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron is fully operational, and I still have enough M-Class destroyers to give the 1st BC Squadron a good screen.  The storm really did a number on the Battlecruiser Force While I have enough battlecruisers to continue to have a heavy scouting force, my submarine force has become sadly diminished from losses and transfers to other commands. At present, I have exactly two long-range submarines and two coastal submarines. HMS E-18 will arrive soon, and I get about 5 more towards the end of the year, but the lack of submarines will hamper my ability to detect the German fleet should it deploy to sea.
However I will be ending the discussion of fleet logistics/organization on a positive note. The Grand Fleet had a new and much welcome arrival at the end of last turn. The new arrival came all the way from Devonport Royal Dockyard. Yes, the future "Grand Old Lady" has arrived. I tell you, those 15 inch guns and that 13 inch belt are a beautiful sight. While the arrival of her sisters will take quite a while, I'm darned glad to have her!
 Now to move on to the operation. The focus on mine-laying has been useful, if not somewhat boring to read about. While this will be another mine-laying turn, the Admiralty has suggested that some big ships be sent down to Oyster Ground. I'm inclined to agree, and abiding by the American principle of "Go Big or Go Home", the Grand Fleet will sortied (minus HMS Warspite, she's great but her crew is not). In the meantime, HMS Princess Irene will lay a minefield between the two already laid. Hopefully, my battle-line will find something worth shooting at!
Below is the OOB for this turn
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Post by cv10 on Jul 20, 2017 17:41:26 GMT -6
Turn 17: 16th March, 1915:Operation
Unlike the last turn, we had good weather for this operation. The Grand Fleet sailed down from Scapa Flow in good order, and during the 1st night, only a few ships became separated in the dark. In the meantime, HMS Princess Irene sailed for her mine-laying target. However upon her arrival, it was found that High Command had neglected to order her to load mines, and as such, she made for home. In the meantime, the Grand Fleet was able to get further south. In short order, the Grand Fleet reached its objective point.
It was at this point that Room 40 made a detection reporting a German pre-dreadnought and a pair of cruisers to the south-west of Oyster Ground on a course headed towards towards the East Coast. I must admit that I initially disregarded this report, as there was no follow-up. However, I did end up sending the Grand Fleet down to investigate the contact. They were unable to make contact.
However this was not to remain the case for long. After a few more hours, reports began to come in from coastal patrols that German ships were standing in to bombard Yarmouth. HMS Cherwell reported being fired on by a German dreadnought, and the Grand Fleet went steaming at 20 knots for Yarmouth, hoping to pin the German ships between the Grand Fleet and the East Coast. As my fleet approached the gap to the minefields at Yarmouth (AI minefields that ships can't sail through). A RNAS scout plane reported a sighting of the German fleet.
 Not too long after this sighting, the lookouts aboard my scout cruisers spotted the German ships for themselves. In standard Nelsonian fashion, the Grand Fleet was ordered straight at the Germans in order to bring them into range, and to get a better look at what the Germans had out. As it turned out, it was the German Battlecruiser Force with SMS Derfflinger and SMS Blücher along with a force of destroyers and light cruisers.
The Grand Fleet maneuvered in a manner as to trap the Germans between the East Coast minefields and itself. The Germans could't take advantage of their superior speed as they couldn't fleet to the west, and moving east would only have narrowed the distance between them and my ships. Good shooting on the part of the 4th Battle Squadron ensured that SMS Derfflinger was hit enough early on that she could only make about 20 knots. The Grand Fleet pursued, and in the meantime, my dreadnoughts turned SMS Blücher into a burning wreck. HMS Liverpool broke off and finished the Blücher with two torpedoes.
 While this was occurring, the 4th Battle Squadron (by virtue of the fact that it was at the front of the battle line) continued to hammer away at the Derfflinger. Eventually night fell, and disaster almost struck. The German destroyers made a torpedo run on my battle line. Luckily, the battle line was able to turn away. HMS Monarch and HMS Emperor of India each took a torpedo, however quick action ensured that they reduced speed to 5 knots, and the flooding was contained. A short while later, the Germans got a taste of their own medicine, as SMS Derfflinger ran into my screening destroyers, and was hit by 2 torpedoes, which effectively finished her off. The Germans made another attack with their light forces, however this one was driven off by accurate gunfire, which cost the Germans SMS Kolberg (a light cruiser) While this was a nice victory over the Germans, I was not about to have it undone by the loss of either of those battleships that had taken torpedoes. The entire Grand Fleet was ordered to make port at Grimsby (not sure if that would have even been possible IRL), which it did in good order. I am rather pleased with how the operation went, and so was the country. Nice to finally see that "Major British Victory" on the final screen.
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Post by babylon218 on Jul 20, 2017 19:43:05 GMT -6
I can only imagine the scene when Princess Irene made port.
"When is a minelayer not a minelayer, Commander?"
"I don't know sir."
"When you forget to give it the bloody mines!"
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 7:03:45 GMT -6
I can only imagine the scene when Princess Irene made port. "When is a minelayer not a minelayer, Commander?" "I don't know sir." "When you forget to give it the bloody mines!" If you save the game before running a turn and then exit out, the minelaying stuff gets reset. I put the target back where I wanted it, but forgot forgot to order Princess Irene to take on mines. Rest assured, pixelated heads will roll! |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 7:41:45 GMT -6
Turn 18: 30th March, 1915: Planning After the fireworks of last turn, this one looks like it will be a bit less exciting, but as usual, I will start out with fleet organization and logistics. After the battle last week (form henceforth to be called "The Battle of the Wash"), six of my battleships require repair, with HMS Emperor of India and HMS Monarch requiring 10 and 8 weeks in the yard due to their torpedo damage. The other four require varying amounts of time, with the longest stretch being only 4 weeks. The 4 battlecruisers damaged during the hurricane will be returning to the fleet within the next week. HMS Princess Irene has been placed at the top of the repair list, as there is no beating her 400 mine capacity (when she's actually ordered to load them, that is). Naval Intelligence was also able to get exact details on what we sunk at the Battle of the Wash. It seems that the fleet really did a number on the German Scouting Force. This should give us a good advantage in the future, as our battlecruisers should be able to hammer the German Scouting Force. So far, the fleet has sunk 4 of the German Battlecruisers (3 others having been sunk at the Battle of Horn's Reef). Moving on to this turn's operation. The Admiralty has suggested a light cruiser sweep of the Skagerrak, and since HMS Princess Irene is laid up, this will be the only operation this turn. The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron will be making the sweep from Scapa Flow, while the rest of the Grand Fleet conducts training drills. |
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Post by boomboomf22 on Jul 21, 2017 14:50:17 GMT -6
Every time i pop into this thread I immediatly have to restrain the urge to go buy this game.
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 16:42:58 GMT -6
Every time i pop into this thread I immediatly have to restrain the urge to go buy this game. That is exactly how I ended up buying this. I got hooked on the AAR that they posted the link to, and one day, I found my desire trumped my dislike for spending money |
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Post by boomboomf22 on Jul 21, 2017 17:03:52 GMT -6
Every time i pop into this thread I immediatly have to restrain the urge to go buy this game. That is exactly how I ended up buying this. I got hooked on the AAR that they posted the link to, and one day, I found my desire trumped my dislike for spending money Heh |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 17:21:21 GMT -6
Turn 18: 30th March, 1915: Planning The light cruisers sailed out from Scapa Flow, and their voyage to the objective point went well enough. There was no contact made with the enemy, and a light rain that had started before they sailed died out. Room 40 was silent, and we didn't even spot any neutral coastal traffic. After this, my cruisers began a sweep of the German minefield's edge, looking for any patrol vessels to sink. We found three towards the southwestern edge of the minefield, just to the North of the eastern-most Frisian Island. They were dispatched in due course, as Minesweeper Trawlers really have no hope when confronted by any actual warship. However it was after this that Room 40 reported a group of German cruisers to the northeast of Oyster Ground.
My cruisers were dispatched to investigate, at which point this operation began to go badly for the Royal Navy. As it turned out, the report was accurate, and my 3 light cruisers (six 6 inch guns and eighteen 4 inch guns total) blundered into a German force with 2 armored cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and a heavy destroyer screen. My force was ordered to flee, while the armored cruisers of the Harwich Force were activated and ordered to cut off the Germans from home.
 However my cruisers were badly handled in the meantime. HMS Liverpool and HMS Yarmouth were both badly damaged, but were able to escape during the night. HMS Gloucester was badly hurt, and would eventually sink. However while she was being battered, the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th Cruiser Squadrons sortied out and successfully engaged the German cruiser force. Both SMS Roon and SMS Yorck were sunk by my armored cruisers. Unfortunately, the Germans had also been activating their own ships. 8 German dreadnoughts began to chase my ships, which steamed desperately for the East Coast. HMS Donegal suffered a magazine hit and exploded shortly into the chase. HMS Natal got separated from the main body and began to steam north, but for some reason kept trying to maintain contact with the Germans. This mistake on the part of her brave but foolhardy captain resulted in the Germans chasing it, and the remainder of my force was able to make for Grimsby. HMS Natal was battered into a burning wreck. The final casualty was HMS Cochrane, which was sunk by a german U-Boat, having already suffered too much damage during the battle. This was a defeat for the British. It does give me an idea though about a future operational plan. Planning for Operation Hornet's Nest will begin forthwith, with the idea to be put into place in June.
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 18:26:33 GMT -6
Turn 19: 13th April, 1915: Planning After the last turn, preparations for Operation Hornet's Nest to occur sometime in may (last post, I said June for some reason). In the meantime, this will be a strict minelaying operation. HMS Princess Irene (this time with mines) will lay a field between the other two already near Oyster Bay. In the meantime, the Battlecruisers and Battleships will be conducting drills to improve crew quality. The Battleships are already pretty good,, but the Battlecruisers are very poor. I'll soon see that their crews serve their guns like they ought to serve their pixelated God(s). |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 19:39:13 GMT -6
Turn 19: 13th April, 1915: Operation
The turn was quite uneventful. HMS Princess Irene made it to her objective and successfully laid a minefield. In the meantime, some German light cruisers attempted to bombard Hartlepool, but were prevented from doing so by the naval patrol there. Regrettably, two of the Pathfinder-Class (nine 4 inch guns each) were sunk. |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 21, 2017 21:04:03 GMT -6
Turn 20: 27 April, 1915: Planning
It would seem that my plan for Operation Hornet's Nest will have to be put on hold. Over time, the Royal Navy's intelligence gets better and better. Eventually, it can even tell you what kind of operations that the enemy are running (sweeps, minelaying operation). Right now, I am at the stage when it can start to pinpoint where the enemy is planning to conduct and operation (exact operation still unknown). The reason I'm writing all this is that the Naval Intelligence Service has obtained information that the Germans are planning an operation off the East Coast.
 As such, I will be deploying my forces accordingly. I will be deploying my submarine service in a line 100 miles to the east of the Coast. This should enable them to spot any enemy forces approaching the coast, and perhaps get a shot at any cripples we should make. We have a good number of submarines available and due to the nature of the mission, even the coastal subs can be useful. Also being sent out to gather intel are two cruiser squadrons from the Harwich Force, which are being deployed near Norfolk and Dogger Bank respectively in an effort to help locate the German sortie. In terms of actual forces being deployed, I'm sending out the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron and two escorting destroyer squadrons. The other two squadrons will train, as they are below a good standard.With the sinking of SMS Derfflinger, the 3 battlecruisers of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron should be able to handle anything short of a battleship, and the battlecruisers wouldn't be used against battleships anyway.  In the meantime, the Grand Fleet will be kept on ready alert in case the German Fleet comes out. They have more than enough ops points to sortie their entire fleet. The good news is that almost all of my battleships are at level 2, so if they need to be deployed, they should be able to hit what they shoot at. All but two of the battleships are operational, so the Grand Fleet is about as ready as it will ever be.
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Post by Noname117 on Jul 21, 2017 21:38:01 GMT -6
This is looking like it could wind up being interesting
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