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Post by bcoopactual on Jul 22, 2017 6:30:16 GMT -6
Does the campaign expansion work with the R-JW version as well or just the original version of SAI? I looked on the forum briefly but didn't see the answer.
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Post by williammiller on Jul 22, 2017 9:18:27 GMT -6
Does the campaign expansion work with the R-JW version as well or just the original version of SAI? I looked on the forum briefly but didn't see the answer. The Campaign Expansion is only for the original Steam & Iron (SAI) game; however RJW does have part of that functionality build-in IIRC. |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 22, 2017 10:53:21 GMT -6
Turn 20: 27 April, 1915:Operation The turn started out almost immediately with a report from Room 40 of a German Battleship and battlecruiser North of Helgoland, just past the edge of the German minefield. At first, I was a bit leery of this sighting, as Room 40 has currently tended to inflate the class of ships that it is actually detecting. My battlecruisers were held back and sailed south to the west of the submarine line in order to investigate any submarine sightings made by the subs. A short while later, Room 40 reported a mixed force of German light and armored cruisers north of the Frisian Islands. As my battlecruisers had already reached the Wash, I made the decision to send them in to investigate. The battlecruisers sailed to the north of the Islands, but did not find anything. I decided to send them to sweep the southern edge of the German minefield, where they found a group of patrol trawlers, which were dispatched as a bit of gunnery practice to the battlecruisers. Unfortunately, HMS Queen Mary hit a mine, and had to be sent home (she made it). It was at this point that Room 40 reported a pair of German battleships to the Northeast of Oyster Ground (near my minefields).
 Their course was to the West-Southwest, on a perfect course to attack the Coast. Even though I had no visual confirmation of the battleships being out, I decided that a pound of prevention was worth an ounce of cure. The Grand Fleet was ordered to raise steam and head south. The Grand Fleet was able to sortie quickly and head south.
 The final haul was 4 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 3 minesweepers
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Post by williammiller on Jul 22, 2017 11:07:42 GMT -6
Interesting AAR - enjoyed reading it so far.
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Post by cv10 on Jul 22, 2017 11:50:32 GMT -6
Interesting AAR - enjoyed reading it so far. Thank you! |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 23, 2017 16:19:57 GMT -6
Turn 21: 11th May, 1915: Planning The headline says it all: the Germans are up to something and we have got word of it. The boys at Naval Intelligence Division did a good job detecting two enemy operations in a row. Unfortunately, they were unable to determine where the enemy intends to strike, or what kind of operation it is. Last turn's enemy op turned out to be a mining op (one of the German cruisers blew up after its mines were hit), however this could be something different. Not to get hopes up, but the Germans have 1222 ops points stored, and 17 Dreadnoughts capable of service (I currently have 18, as 7 of my operational BBS are Battlecruisers). As such, the Germans might consider a sortie of their big ships to be a good idea. While I was a bit hesitant to engage the German battle fleet without numerical superiority. I intend to give battle if they should come out. As such, the Grand Fleet will be on ready alert.
In the meantime, I will be sending out the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron along with a good destroyer screen in order to locate the German force being sent out. The 1st Battlecruiser Squadron is currently refitting from its last action (HMS Queen Mary will be out of 7 weeks to repair her hull, and since HMS Tiger needed 3 weeks repair, I bumped up HMS Lion's refit), while the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron is in bad need to training. This seems like a good time to get in a quick word on fleet organization. I noticed that I had 1/4 and 2/4 of Acasta-Class Destroyers (30 knots) attached to the Grand Fleet as dreadnought screens, while the 2/1 and 3/1 Destroyer Flotillas (slower Acheron-Class) were still attached as screens to the Battlecruiser Force. I flip-flopped them so that the Acastas are now screening the battlecruisers and the Acherons (27 knots) are screening the battleships. In addition, HMS Botha (a 31 knot Destroyer Leader) was reassigned to the 1/4 Destroyer Flotilla, and HMS Swift (a 34 knot single class destoryer) has been assigned to the 1/10 Destroyer Flotilla. Below is the Battlecruiser Force OOB with the new squadrons circled In the meantime, I am also activating the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla of the Harwich Force which, in spite of its name, is comprised of 7 Arethusa-Class Light Cruisers (two 6 inch guns and six 4 inch guns per ship, 28 knots speed). These cruisers, along with the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron, will endeavor to track down the German force. I am also deploying all available submarines to cover the various routes that the Germans might take during their operation. Here's hoping for good luck!
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Post by cv10 on Jul 23, 2017 20:34:15 GMT -6
Turn 21: 11th May, 1915: Operation The weather was not particularly good as the ships sortied into the North Sea. There was ghastly mist across the North Sea that greatly obscured the sight of lookouts. Not exactly the kind of weather that one wants when trying to hunt down enemy ships. However I was rather lucky, as the weather quickly improved and the mist went away.
 Most of this turn was dedicated to sweeping up and down the North Sea, trying to find the Germans. This process took most of the time allotted by the Admiralty for the ships to be out before they needed to return to port. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla was deployed in a search-line and swept from the Minefield at Texel Road to easternmost of the Frisian Islands. The Battlecruiser Force patrolled up and down the North Sea near Dogger Bank. I figured that the enemy, if they were attempting a serious raid, would likely be spotted by at least one of these forces. This assumption that this deployment would find the enemy was, in part, based on a Room 40 report that looked promising.  The weather worsened, and my ships continued to find nothing. However, it was only after deploying the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla farther into the North Sea (around the center of it more or less) that the enemy was found. HMS Aurora came across a German cruiser in the night. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla was ordered into line ahead. Even though an armored cruiser could outshoot any of my light cruisers, each of my cruisers carried 4 torpedoes each. Considering the bad weather and the darkness, I considered it likely that my ships could achieve a torpedo hit. This belief was correct, as my ships scored two torpedo hits on the German. Turnabout is fair play, HMS Penelope was hit by a torpedo from the German cruiser. She suffered bad damage, but was able to contain the flooding for a while. Shortly after this, the German was identified as the light cruiser SMS Graudnenz. However the weather soon picked up. HMS Penelope was lucky, as the weather eventually calmed, and she was able to make port in Grimsby. My ships were able to safely return home. However the final screen left me a bit disappointed. The High Seas Fleet had sortied and swept the North Sea near Jutland. If only I had deployed some ships into the east of the North Sea, I might have spotted them. This was an opportunity missed! |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 23, 2017 20:58:02 GMT -6
Turn 22:25th May, 1915: Planning Those boys at Room 39 Admiralty House(The headquarters of the Naval Intelligence Division) deserve a massive pay raise. The intel keeps pouring in. Unlike last turn or the turn before that, we have location and mission. It seems that the vile hun are planning yet another of their evil and wicked raids on defenseless citizens. Thus it falls to the His Majesty's Navy to teach the Germans not to attack nearly defenseless cities. Right now, the Germans should have no operational battlecruisers. The Goeben was deployed to the Med. and is not in service, and the rest of the Moltke-Class, SMS Seydlitz, and SMS Derfflinger have been sunk. The next German battlecruiser will not arrive until August. As such, this will be an armored cruiser/light cruiser raid, or an raid by the High Seas Fleet. In spite of their sortie last turn, they have enough ops points to deploy their whole fleet if they should want. I will be deploying my forces accordingly. My submarines have been posted as a picket line on the approaches to my cities. In the meantime, two cruiser squadrons of the Harwich Force are being activated to serve as patrol vessels (I don't know if a ship set to patrol a point needs to be activated, but I'm activating them to see if this is the case). In addition, the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron is being deployed as a scouting force to help find the Germans. In addition, the Reserve Squadron of the King Edward VII-Class pre-dreadnoughts are to be kept ready in case they should be needed. The snip below was taken before I activated the 5th Light Cruisers. The Battlecruiser Force will also be active this turn. I'm sending out the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron again. The 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron still needs a bit more training. In addition, sending the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron out as well would not really add much to the force. If the BCs run into light cruisers, 6 battlecruisers would likely be overkill. If they run into the HSF, than having 3 extra battlecruisers would make it harder to run away. The snip below was taken when I was considering sending out the 3rd as well. It will not be sent out. The Grand Fleet will be at the ready in case it should need to be deployed. |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 24, 2017 13:49:32 GMT -6
Turn 22:25th May, 1915:Operation
The turn started out pretty quickly with a report from Room 40. According to the intel fellows, 3 battleships and escorting destroyers were sailing southwest towards the English Coast. However I was determined not to go haring off searching for contacts. As the enemy was planning to bombard a city on the East Coast, it seemed better to keep my ships near the coast. After a long period of time, Room 40 reported a similar force of ships heading towards Sunderland. RNAS planes out of Tyne Air Station were able to confirm incoming German ships.
As it turned out, the German light cruiser was the SMS Stralsund of G Light Cruiser Division of the Aufklärungsstreitkräfte (Reconnaissance Forces). According to documents recovered from them, every German light cruiser that has been sunk so far has been attached to this cruiser division. It seems that for a time, G Light Cruiser Division was attached to the High Seas Fleet. This division does not seem to want to die! |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 24, 2017 19:09:31 GMT -6
Turn 23: 8th June, 1915:Planning The Germans are planning a minelaying operation near Dogger Bank, and I intend to disrupt it. I have deployed my available submarines in and around the Dogger Bank, and I have cruiser squadrons from the Harwich Force, as well as the 8th Cruiser Squadron (currently attached to the Battlecruiser Force to enable more patrols) near Dogger Bank. The actual disruption of this operation will fall to the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, which will preempt the enemy op. In the meantime, the Admiralty has ordered a sortie by the Grand Fleet to sweep the southern part of the North Sea. In addition, they have recommended that some battleships also sweep the central North Sea. As such, the Grand Fleet will accomplish one objective, and then the other. I doubt that the enemy will send out its battleships to screen a minesweeping operation, so I don't anticipate much in the way of thunder. The red dot in the picture below is the required objective, the blue one is the optional one that I will complete.
 I've also order HMS Princess Irene to lay a minefield to the west of Horn's Reef. Hopefully this minefield will surprise the Germans the next time that they deploy their fleet to sweep the North Sea. The Grand Fleet should be able to help protect HMS Princess Irene. With her massive mine capacity, she's really worth her weight in gold!
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Post by director on Jul 25, 2017 19:35:12 GMT -6
So you've beaten up the German battlecruisers and are rapidly depleting their light cruisers. That should pay some dividends if and when their main force comes to battle.
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Post by cv10 on Jul 25, 2017 21:57:37 GMT -6
So you've beaten up the German battlecruisers and are rapidly depleting their light cruisers. That should pay some dividends if and when their main force comes to battle. I've been lucky enough to poke out one of the German Fleet's two eyes. This should be useful in future engagements in terms of a having a heavier scouting force. The other big consideration is that these German cruisers are all also minelayers (most German light forces are capable of carrying mines, fewer British ships have a similar ability, but more modern ships have that ability as they arrive). While some of the much older German cruisers cap out at 21 knots, almost all of the front-line ones can do 25 or above. So in essence, each German cruiser sunk also removes a fast-minelayer capable of carrying 120 mines each. This could force them to rely on destroyer minelayers, which are no good. What I'd really love are some of the Russian armored cruisers from the Baltic Scenario. They can be upgraded to carry a huge amount of mines, can do 21 knots, and have a fair bit of firepower to scare off most patrol vessels (still a bit dicey as mines explode if hit by a shell). |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 25, 2017 22:36:39 GMT -6
Turn 23: 8th June, 1915:Operation The turn started off with the Grand Fleet sailing southeast to reach objective point blue. This had the added effect of giving HMS Princess Irene a very heavy screening force. In the meantime, the Battlecruiser Force swept near Dogger Bank, however it did not find anything. Since Dogger Bank was already covered by 3 different patrol squadrons, the Battlecruiser Force was sent to search farther east. As it proceeded east, the Grand Fleet reached its objective and turned to the southwest to reach its second objective. It was at this juncture that the scout cruisers made contact. HMS Caroline, the lead ship of the whole fleet, spotted a force of German destroyers. Given how the German light cruiser fleet had been served out, I guessed that this was the minelaying force. Given my past experiences, I did not really want to use battleships against destroyers, so HMS Caroline and the rest of the 4th Light Cruiser Group were ordered to the Northwest to engage.
 However the rest of the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron was able to come up, and quickly set about the German destroyers. The cruisers were able to herd the destroyers to the Northeast, away from out battleships (had changed course again to avoid getting too close) as seen in the picture below. While this occurred, the 15",13", and 12" inch guns of the dreadnoughts blazed away, and hits were achieved in spite of the small stature and fast speed of the destroyers.  The Germans turned east and attempted to flee. Two of their destroyers had already sunk. My light cruisers attempted to keep up close with them, while the Grand Fleet gave pursuit at a safe distance. I ordered the Battlecruiser Squadron, which was further east than the Germans were, to turn to the west and catch the Germans in a sort of a pincer movement. It worked, and the Germans were left with no real options on which direction to go. The other three Germans were quickly dealt with. In addition to this, HMS Princess Irene was able to lay her minefield in a good spot. If the Germans should go North again, we might just get lucky. I intend to focus mining operations near here for the time being  Overall, I'll stand by this turn's result. While HMS Caroline was a regrettable loss, five German destroyers (over half of a flotilla) is not a terrible trade (the Germans did beat me by 500 tons, as five 800 ton destroyers don't quite add up to the 4,500 tons of HMS Caroline). Better yet, I disrupted the enemy's operation and none of my big ships were damaged. I haven't the foggiest where the light cruisers were, but I think that they were patrol vessels, as the German post-game movement image did not have the only German group to leave their protected area in the Helgoland Bight returning to it (if a German ship came out of the area, it was sunk). Still the Admiralty regard the loss of 1 light cruiser to be a defeat, and as such, it technically is, albeit a marginal one. |
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Post by cv10 on Jul 26, 2017 15:18:24 GMT -6
Turn 24: 22nd June: Planning The enemy has planned another operation, but the Intel fellows can't determine location or operation. My intel might be getting to the point where I will simply be detecting every enemy operation. While I am generally forced to react to what the Germans do (if they don't come out and fight I can't really accomplish much). However I cannot surrender all of the initiative to the enemy. The Admiralty has suggested a battlecruiser sweep near the Frisian Islands, and I agreed. In the meantime, HMS Princess Irene will lay another minefield near the one at Horn's Reef. I have also deployed my submarines near Oyster Ground, where they might be able to spot the Germans. Two coastal subs have been deployed to the Belgian Coast in an attempt to torpedo any of the German ships based out of Oostende and Zeebrugge. My plan is for the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron to reach its objective and then sweep to the North. Hopefully this will ensure some cover for HMS Princess Irene. Two Cruiser Squadrons from the Harwich Force will patrol in the Channel Approaches and on the East Coast to try and give some warning of the Germans if they should head there. In the meantime, The Grand Fleet will remain available for active service, except for HMS Bellerophon, which will be training, as her crew is starting to go a bit slack (ironically, the rest of her division are all at 2). While the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron and the 1/10 Destroyer Squadron are out, the rest of the Battlecruiser Force will train.
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Post by cv10 on Jul 26, 2017 17:06:17 GMT -6
Turn 24: 22nd June:Operation Nothing of much interest happened during the course of this turn. My battlecruisers reached their objective, and my minelayer laid its mines. No Germans were spotted during the course of the turn, aside from one trawler which was sunk by a 13 inch shell (big case of overkill). It was not until the operation was over that anything exciting came up. As it turned out, the Germans send out 12 of there battleships, plus one pre-dreadnought. While this might seem like a disappointing missed opportunity, I'm not sure that they ever actually came out to fight. The reason for this is that when I looked at the final force maneuvers screen, most of the German ships maneuvered inside of their own defensive minefield. The only ships to be active outside of it were a handful of their destroyer minelayers. I could rant about this, but it would be rather pointless. After all, when I can bring 21 dreadnoughts to battle, the Germans were smart not to engage. Besides, such a force would be perfect to ambush my battlecruisers, considering my usual pattern of behavior of having them right by that edge. Hopefully I have better fortune in the future. [/div]
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