We now present, the first two Dreadnaughts:
- Historical Description:
- The South Carolina-class battleships, also known as the Michigan-class, were built during the first decade of the twentieth century for the United States Navy. Named South Carolina and Michigan, they were the first American dreadnoughts — powerful warships whose capabilities far outstripped those of the world's older battleships.
In the opening years of the twentieth century, the prevailing theory of naval combat was that battles would continue to be fought at relatively close range using many small, fast-firing guns. As such, each of the ships in the United States' previous battleship class (the Connecticut class) had many medium-sized weapons alongside four large guns. This paradigm, however, was soon to be subverted, as naval theorists proposed that a ship mounting a homogeneous battery of large guns would be more effective in battle.
I had to delay the adoption of dreadnaught style ships, until the previous classes had finally come out of the yards, but also until I had finally researched the ability to have 4 centerline gun turrets, as well as the fore and aft super-firing turrets, a hallmark of American dreadnaught design. While I have had to make compromises in my following dreadnaughts, given the fact I cannot mount more than four centerline turrets, and the needs of war have driven me to build more ships than I could wait to design, the
South Carolinas are as close to an accurate portrayal as I could make. I spent many hours poring over the ship designer, and reading the Wikipedia articles to make sure I had her perfect. Any deviations are entirely due to game limitations.
My
South Carolinas had just barely come out of the yards when the British declared war. As my newest and most powerful ships, they were assigned to the U.S. East Coast Fleet, and saw no action during the
Battle of the Gulf Coast.
As explained in my write-up on the
Connecticut class, the
Battle of the Gulf Coast was a severe wake-up call, resulting in the destruction of an entire regional fleet.
When the chance came for a Full-Fleet Battle of the coast of
Cape Cod, my blood was up, and I snatched at the opportunity.
The
Battle of Cape Cod was the result of that decision.
It was 11pm, on a clear night. My entire East Coast Fleet, led by both
South Carolina class dreadnaughts was drawn up in double columns, being trailed by
Mississippi, and
Idaho, my last two traditional Battleships ever built...
- Historical Description:
- The Mississippi class of battleships comprised two ships which were authorized in the 1903 naval budget: Mississippi and Idaho; these were named for the 20th and 43rd states, respectively. These were the last pre-dreadnought battleships to be designed for the United States Navy, but not the last to be built, because one more ship of a prior design was completed later under the 1904 naval budget. While the quality and technology of the weaponry and armor were first-rate, these ships included a variety of main, intermediate, secondary, and tertiary gun sizes in a pre-dreadnought configuration which became obsolete before the ships were completed.
My
Mississippi class ships took a departure from historical accuracy, as I endeavored to live up to the "spirit" of the class, and simply make the absolute best ship I could cram into their 13,000 ton displacement.
Using the absolute best technology available, the best guns, thickest armor, and most capable fire control, these two ships may be very small compared to their enemies, but as we shall see, they're extremely tough ships, capable of surviving against the odds...
With a cloud of
"Thousand Tonner" Destroyer Escorts, the
Tennessee class cruisers,
Tennessee,
Washington,
Montana, and
North Carolina forming the detached reconnaissance force, the East Coast Fleet looked like an imposing force. Somewhere out in the darkness, the British main battle fleet lay waiting, led by the 40,000 ton dreadnought
Inflexible.
Contact was made by the reconnaissance force, and quickly went the wrong way. The enemy scouting force consisted of a 20,000 ton battlecruiser, known as
Incomparable. They quickly pushed aside my cruisers, while I was forced to carefully manage the engagement range to maintain something approaching parity in firepower. While my secondary batteries proved useless, my three cruisers each mounted 4 ten-inch guns, for a combined total of 12 guns. They were facing a total of 8 heavy guns from the British side, which gave my side a slight advantage.
I was confident in my crews, and our emphasis on night fighting during training. Meanwhile, my battleship force strained to close the gap at their best speed of 19 knots.
The disparity in firepower soon became evident as the
Incomparable began to receive hits. Ten-inch shells slammed into her with frightening regularity. She caught fire soon afterwards, and vanished into the darkness, never to be seen again.
Buoyed by this event, I began to hope I might pull a famous victory to erase the stain of our previous encounter. That hope was dashed when my battle line ran into the
Inflexible, followed by another 40,000 ton dreadnought
Rodney, leading a second column consisting of the 20,000 ton battleships
Renown,
Mars, and
Howe.
Visions of the
Battle of the Gulf Coast began to flood into my mind. I must avoid a repeat of that carnage at all costs. The order was given, "Retreat to Boston, save the fleet!"
What began at that moment was a running gun battle that would last two hours.
The British fleet held the outside track, while my fleet was following the coast. One obstacle lay in my way, Cape Cod. I would have to traverse around it to make it into Boston.
Gunfire flashed in the night, all my battleships and cruisers opened with all their heavy guns. The British replied in kind as we steamed north as fast as our engines would carry us.
Repeatedly the
Inflexible attempted to close the range and engage our line at a more direct angle, and repeatedly the 'Flotilla Attack' flag was raised from
South Carolina, forcing the British to remain at a safe distance.
By maintaining a longer range, I could use plunging fire to hit my enemy's deck armor, which was the only part of the ship vulnerable to my guns.
My night fighting training enable me to maintain a higher accuracy than my enemy, so the massive disparity in firepower never proved decisive.
As we approached Cape Cod, I decided on a long shot, and left the 'Flotilla Attack' flag raised. My entire cloud of some 17 destroyers turned and charged directly into the enemy force.
Under cover of darkness, they ran in close, and barraged the enemy line with torpedoes. The
Inflexible was hit four times, the
Rodney twice, and the British line was thrown into disarray.
Under cover of this mass confusion, the American East Coast Fleet slipped around Cape Cod, and ran into Boston Harbor.
The last two ships in the fleet, both
Mississippi class battleships, stayed in the rear to cover the dreadnaughts' escape, long enough to verify the sinking of the
Inflexible, and to take a few shots at the remaining British ships.
They then turned and ran into Boston harbor, and the battle was over.
While the Battle of Cape Cod wasn't a heroic fleet engagement, in fact, it resembled a panicked rout more than a battle, it did accomplish one very important thing:
The 20,000 ton
Incomparable, and 40,000 ton
Inflexible were both sunk, at a loss of only one of my own ships, the 15,000 ton
USS Montana.
This battle broke the British blockade of the American East Coast, and the invasion of New Brunswick followed shortly afterwards.
During subsequent coastal raids, the British lost even more ships, and so far have failed to re-establish their dominance over any contested area in the world.
Meanwhile 1 new dreadnaught has joined my navy, and I have seven more building, along with a new generation of fast cruisers.
While I do not know what the future might hold, so far, we have given as good as we've taken, and that's good enough for me.
However long this war lasts, I'll be here to document how well historical style ships hold up.
Until next time, keep your powder dry, and double-shot those guns. We'll take a look at my 'Thousand Tonner' Fleet Destroyers, and the USS Delaware.