OT- CV10's AARs

[cv10]

Aug 2, 2017 0:23:42 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

...alright, I want to see the top secret 50-knot Pinnace which Mons was carrying- or was it a Sopwith Pup which dropped him by parachute after being towed behind the destroyer for 30 hours? LOL

Regardless, an intrepid solution to an unusual situation. :]

I'm not quite sure how he did it. Perhaps he commandeered this as his launch and figured out a way to put it aboard the Mons:

[theexecuter]

The obvious answer is that Jellico is dead and the command responsibility shifted...

[babylon218]

Is that SS Turbinia? I went to see that at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle in June. Very impressive vessel.

[cv10]

Aug 2, 2017 8:56:24 GMT -6 theexecuter said:

The obvious answer is that Jellico is dead and the command responsibility shifted...

In all likelihood, yes, but where's a story without a daring and nearly impossible escape!

[cv10]

Turn 27: 8th August, 1915:Planning

       This turn marks the first full year of the Royal Navy being at war. After the last operation, I have 1 battlecruiser and 9 dreadnoughts currently under repair. I have 8 active battlecruisers, and 12 active dreadnoughts. Furthermore, I’ll get the 1 battlecruiser and 2 of the dreadnoughts back within the next two weeks. Due to torpedo damage, HMS Conqueror will be out of service until November, but the other dreadnoughts should be back by September. For the time being, I will shy away from any engagement with the battleships of the High Seas Fleet. While the last action conclusively proved that the Grand Fleet is capable of pasting the High Seas Fleet, it also demonstrated that concentration of the Grand Fleet is critical to beating the enemy.

    This operation will be much more limited than the last one. With so many of my battleships under repair, the light forces will be doing the heavy lifting for a while. The Admiralty has recommended that a light cruiser force sweep the Skagerrak, and I’m going to send the Arethusa-class cruisers of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla to conduct it. In the meantime, HMS Princess Irene will lay a minefield on about a 45-degree angle from the westernmost minefield (See map). A group of armored cruisers will screen her as she does so. In the meantime, the battlecruisers and the Grand Fleet’s Light Cruiser Scouts are going to train. The remaining units will rest, as I want to build up my ops points again.  

Green Dot represents Light Cruiser Objective, Red Dot represents minefield objective

[cv10]

Turn 27:8th August, 1915:Operation

    The operation was relatively quite. After the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla sailed to the Northeast towards the Skagerrak, German light forces out of Oostende raided shipping in the Channel, and sank a merchantman. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla doubled back to try and catch the Germans, but they were able to flee. As such, I sent the light cruisers back tot the Northeast to reach their objective point. This was done, and in addition, the minefield was laid.This most recent raid by the Germans merits a response. I’m not quite sure what that response is, but at the very least, I’ll need to start deploying more vessels on patrol in the Channel. A good minefield across the path that they took might make future raids unpleasant!

    

[cv10]

Turn 28: 17th August, 1915:Planning

    This should be another quiet turn: the only objective for this turn is to lay a minefield to the Northwest of Oostende. This should cover the route that the Germans took when they attacked my shipping the last turn. I’d place it a bit closer to Oostende, but the Germans have repaired the Coastal Batteries there, and in all likelihood, a minefield laid too close to the ports would be found pretty quickly and swept. Over the next months, I think I focus a fair amount of my mining efforts at making the German force based in occupied Belgium miserable. HMS Princess Irene will lay a minefield, screened by a pair of armored cruisers. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, which is temporality attached to the Battlecruiser Force, will provide roving cover and hunt for any German ships that may come out. In addition, the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron and the 3/3 Destroyer Flotilla will be patrolling near where the minefield is in an effort to provide extra security.

    While the Admiralty has suggested that a force of dreadnoughts sweep the North Sea, I’m going to decline, as to do so would break the cardinal rule about concentration of the Grand Fleet. In the meantime, HMS Monarch and HMS Dreadnought have returned from the yard, with HMS Bellerophon and HMS Erin due to return within the next two weeks. HMS Centurion, HMS St. Vincent and HMS Audacious were sent to the yard for refits. Right now, I have about 10 dreadnoughts that are approaching their refit dates (within the next 1-4 months). Some of the dreadnoughts had their refits expedited by the Germans (the ships were in the yard anyway due to battle damage). I intend to stagger the refits so that I maintain dreadnought superiority over the Germans, and avoid another debacle like I caused during the winter of 1914-1915. Within the next month, I’ll have 8 dreadnoughts back from the yard and good for another year, or until they fight the Germans again.

[cv10]

Turn 28: 17th August, 1915:Operation

    
    Not much to tell, HMS Princess Irene was able to lay the minefield and then return to Harwich. The 3rd Destroyer Squadron sailed from Harwich and investigated a RNAS sighting of German cruisers near Whitby, but they were unable to find them. The only thing interesting was that the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron kept getting a bit too close to occupied Belgium, and the German 11 inch coastal batteries fired several salvos at HMS Active, but failed to do any damage. Feeling that discretion was the better part of valor, I had the 5th return to Harwich, followed by the 3/3 Destroyers. This minefield should help protect my shipping, and I'll be laying another one to help block the approaches to Zeebrugge. In addition, keeping patrols out, but behind the minefields should help prevent future raids

[cv10]

Turn 29: 31 August, 1915:Planning

This will be another minelaying operation, with HMS Princess Irene (protected by two armored cruisers) laying another minefield, which will expand the current blocking field in the Channel. While this will take away from my minelaying operation between Oyster Ground and Horn’s Reef, my minefields have been hit or miss, and my minefields have only sunk one light cruiser (SMS Mainz), so the approaches to the Belgian Coast is as good a place as any to place my minefields. Besides, I might manage to bag a few ships if the Germans try to transfer them in.

In the meantime, the 5th Light Cruisers and the 1st Cruiser Squadron will be patrolling the Channel behind the minefields. If the Germans send light forces out, 3 well-trained light cruisers and a pair of good armored cruisers should give good account of themselves. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla will be sent out to serve as an independent sweeping force that can also reinforce the patrolling vessels if need be.

    Now for a bit of fleet logistics and organization: in the next two weeks, 6 dreadnoughts will return from the yards, including HMS Warspite. This should free up yard space for a growing list of light forces that need refits and repair. I will also be sending 4 more dreadnoughts in for their refits. In the next few weeks, I can loo forward to the arrival of more submarines, and some of the old Cruiser-minelayers are being retired, so that should free up badly needed space in the Channel Ports

[cv10]

Turn 29: 31st August, 1915:Operaton

    This turn was a bit more active than I would have predicted. HMS Princess Irene began to sail to the north in order to lay her minefield. Due to the way I wanted it to be placed (even with the minefield laid last turn), I had HMS Princess Irene sail north, and then down south toward the minefield target. This ensured that it was placed correctly. With two minefields laid, I feel a bit better about security in the Channel Approaches. These minefields should force the Germans to sail through more restricted and easily patrolled areas. My minefield philosophy is more focused on area denial than on inflicting damage.   

    While the minelaying force was maneuvering itself, the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla was preparing to sail to the North to poke around the German minefield edge near Emden. However this was scrapped, as a merchantman near Dunkirk reported that it was under attack by the Germans. The light cruisers were ordered to 28 knots and sailed towards the report. The merchantman was lucky, as my light cruisers were able to reach him in time to engage a flotilla of German A-Class Torpedo Boats. While it was damaged, the Merchantman was able to escape as my cruisers drew off the Germans. 

    My cruisers prepared to engage the Germans, and were trying to maneuver for a more advantageous position when the German torpedo boats attacked HMS Active, which had been on patrol and seemed to have also been attracted by the merchantman’s distress signal. While HMS Active was able to avoid being torpedoed, she was driven a bit too close to Oostende, and was damaged by a near-miss from a German 11 inch coastal gun. At this stage, the Germans, in line abreast, changed course and came straight at my light cruisers, which were in line ahead. I felt a bit of a sinking sensation, as I felt that the Germans were really going to tear my cruisers to shreds with torpedoes (the Germans, in my experience, know their business when it comes to aiming torpedoes). However at this stage, my ships were too close to do a turn away maneuver (doing so would have made them juicy targets) and the best of the worst options was to simply go through them. Much to my surprise, my light cruisers not only made it though without taking any torpedoes, but they sank all five of the German torpedo boats in this short, sharp action.

Above: Going Right Through Them!

    After sinking the German torpedo boats, the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla was sent north to investigate a report of German ships harassing my shipping near Cromarty. While the cruisers couldn’t find the Germans, the ships they had attacked were only moderately damaged, and able to make port. My cruisers returned to Harwich after stopping off near Emden to sink 3 minesweepers. As it turned out, the Germans had sent out 5 dreadnoughts (an incredibly stupid move in my opinion) and the escorting destroyers for them had run into one of my merchants during the night. None of the Dreadnoughts had engaged, as they still had all of their ammunition after the battle (so my spies report). In the end, the Admiralty classified this as a major British victory, as we had bagged 5 torpedo boats and 3 minesweepers for only 2 freighters damaged.

[cv10]

A Word on the A-Class Torpedo Boats

    So in the last turn, the Germans attempted to attack my shipping using A-Class Torpedo Boats (the game lists them as destroyers). The A-Class are a rather weak class of ship, as they can only go a maximum of 20 knots (barely fast enough to outrun the Edward VIIs at Sheerness) and they only mount a single 3 inch gun aft. Aside from this, they have a dual-torpedo mount, and can carry 6 mines. Quite frankly, I was rather surprised that such ships were being used in this capacity. Here's the in-game specifications. These things are tiny.

    So I did a bit of digging. The A-Class were designed specifically as "Coastal Torpedo Boats" by the Imperial German Navy, and specifically for deployment to the Belgian Coast. There were five different subgroups, with the latter 4 subclasses having increased displacement, better speed, and another gun forward. The class did not have good luck, out of the 90 or so constructed, a third would be sunk (they had a nasty habit of being mined or caught by British and French Destroyers). Here's a picture of one of the earlier subclasses:

[cv10]

Turn 30:14th September,1915:Planning

    Naval Intelligence has reported that the enemy is planning an operation of some sort. No word on what kind of operation, or where they intend to strike. This could be anything to another dreadnought sortie, a light forces raid on my shipping, a minelaying operation, or even a raid on the coast. I will be deploying my own forces accordingly. 

    The Admiralty has recommended another light cruiser sweep of the Skagerrak, and I will be sending the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron (C-Class Light Cruisers) to do so. The Admiralty has also recommended a Battlecruiser sweep to the North of the Frisian Islands. I will be sending out the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron along with escorting destroyers. While the battlecruisers are out, they will also screen a minelaying operation. With the minefields in place in the channel, I am going to lay the next minefield near the battlecruiser objective point. The idea is to try and place the next few fields in areas likely to hit the ships coming and going from Emden.

    Having both light cruisers and battlecruisers out should give us the chance to spot the German force and sink it. The only things my ships cannot sink are dreadnoughts, which would require me to deploy the Grand Fleet. With refits, repair, and training, I have 12 dreadnoughts ready for service. If the Germans should send out a fraction of their dreadnoughts as they did last turn, I should be in a good position to sink them. Speaking of sinking, I decided to post the Reserve Squadron up to Cromarty to free up my bases in the South. Unfortunately, HMS Hibernia was mined and sunk.

[cv10]

 Turn 30:14th September,1915:Operation

    Not much to report. The 4th Light Cruiser Squadron swept the Skagerrak without making contact with the enemy. The Battlecruiser Force swept north of the Frisian Islands without making contact with the enemy. HMS Princess Irene laid her minefield, and made it home without making contact with the enemy. As it turned out, the Germans sent out 6 dreadnoughts, but they did not make contact with any of my ships. Hopefully I will be able to find the Germans next time. I’d like to deploy the Grand Fleet and have them hunt for the Germans, but knowing my luck, I’d probably miss them! However such is the nature of the beast, and being unable to find the enemy is one of the reasons Jutland was the only time that the High Seas Fleet and the Grand Fleet met each other.

    In the meantime, this operation has made me consider the viability of laying minefields closer to the German Coast. Perhaps a more ideal place would be to lay them on a line parallel to the area between Helgoland and the German Coast. After all, the High Seas Fleet has to sail out that way for most of the places that it goes.

[cv10]

This AAR will be on temporary hiatus until next Tuesday, as I am working on several things, including a new nation for RTW.

[Airy W]

What share of minelaying is done by Irene?