Post by noshurviverse on Jun 12, 2019 1:59:55 GMT -6
Hello all, I originally wrote this up as a response to the "Midway style battle" thread, but it soon got way out of hand and I decided that moving it to it's own thread made more sense. So if you would allow me some of your time, let me tell a story.
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The year was 1943 and the world was at war. Japan and Germany had both signed pacts with the Confederate States of America a month apart, forming the Tri-Continental Pact. Less than a year later fascist France and the communistic United States joined together in the Trans-Atlantic Trade Security Cooperative to meet this threat.
Both the United States and France had motivation plenty to join together against the Confederate States. In the last several decades both had suffered defeats and had been striped of their holdings in the Americas by the CSA. A weak French government had allowed itself to be frankly humiliated at the negotiating table after only a short few months of "phony" war. Soon after signing over her Caribbean possessions several military generals and admirals banded together and staged a coup.
The United States had it in a rather similar manner. A war at the turn of the century with the Confederacy broke out and ended with Haiti being invaded and taken by Confederate forces. A decade later another conflict broke out and eventually after several clashes at sea the Treaty of Delaware was signed, effectively passing administrative control of Portland and the surrounding cities to the Confederacy.
From this Northern foothold, the Confederacy was well in position to threaten Great Britain. A pair of wars broke out in the 30's, resulting in both Britain's Caribbean and Canadian holdings being forcibly taken. Afterwards, a rather peculiar camaraderie broke out between the two nations, with research treaties being made and tensions calming considerably.
In August of 1942, France made her move. Sensing Britain's weakness, she stepped forward to bring the rebellious nation of Ireland to heel. While certainly no ally to Britain outright, the obligations of the Pact required that all members respond to threats to their co-signers, and a strong France was a clear and present danger to Germany. All three nations of the Tri-Continental Pact delivered an ultimatum to France, back down or face immediate repercussions. Of course France could not withdraw without facing tremendous backlash at home, and called upon the USA to honor their bargain.
And thus the first real "World War" broke out. In all honesty, the first year was a rather subdued experience. Japan turned out to be a rather passive ally to the Pact and despite her undisputed control of the Eastern seas did not pursue any amphibious campaigns while Germany and France seemed content to glower at one another over the Denmark Strait. The North American East Coast, however, was a different story.
In the thirty or so years since the last CSA/USA war, the United States had harnessed it's considerable industrial strength to build a most formidable Navy. While some of her capital ships carried the 15" guns so favored by her neighbor to the South, many others carried modern 16" guns. A new series of Heavy Cruisers made up her raiding force and several CVLs and a pair of fleet carriers made up her naval air force. All accounted for, she outnumbered and outgunned her rival in America.
And so we get to the setting of our story, roughly 300 miles North-West of Bermuda. Confederate intelligence had discovered plans for France to ship a number of experimental munitions and arms via a naval convoy under heavy Union guard. Plans were made to intercept and on the early morning of July 27th, a significant force of Confederate ships, made for the latest spotting report.
The Confederate had 5 battleships of the line present, making up the vast majority of their nation's capital fleet. Armed with 15" guns, there was the entirety of the Texas series of ships. The Texas, Texas II and Texas III-classes were quite typical of the time, twin turrets superimposed fore and aft. The Texas-class was German built, before Confederate shipbuilding had reached worldwide standards. The pair of Texas II-classes, Robert E. Lee and Sweet Tea, had been nearly identical, but home-grown. The Texas III-class, Alabama was a minor refinement once oil-fired engines had become available. All of these Texas series ships were capable of making 22kts in the battle line and had all been commissioned between 1916 and 1920.
Finally, the sole James Longstreet-class, bearing the name of her class, rounded out the bunch. Practically brand new, having launched in 1939, her armament differed from the others, instead mounting a pair of superimposed quadruple turrets fore with an unassuming twin turret behind them. Also setting her apart was her speed, she was the second Confederate battleship to be designed for 28kts, the other (State's Rights, 1926) not being present in this engagement.
There was a total of four Confederate carriers, the light carriers Sumter and Wilson, and two fleet carriers, Secession and Confederate States. Sumter was a first generation conversion of a 16,000 ton battlecruiser and could carry 32 aircraft. Wilson was a bit of an experiment, a 4000 ton seaplane tender given a flight deck and 10 fighters for CAP duties. The fleet carriers were 20,000 and 30,0000 ton beasts carrying 50 and 80 planes respectively. Finally, a small force of cruisers and destroyers rounded out the lot.
In the early morning darkness of the 27th, the Confederate forces prepared for attack. Sumter, Secession and Confederate States assembled their aircraft for launch. Sumter and Secession had typical arrangements of torpedo bombers and dive bombers prepared, while Confederate States prepped her dive bombers for attacking merchant shipping, splitting the dive bombers she carried (60 in total) into 4-plane wings. Even before the first sighting was made, these planes took flight to claim first blood, hoping that they'd leave little but scraps for the battleship line to clean up.
But in fact that was not how this battle was to play out. As dawn broke, the Confederate battleships realized they were well within gun range of the convoy. And much worse, the escort was much heavier than expected. What appeared to be the entire Union battleship fleet was sailing within it.
Immediately the Confederate line turned to the North, swinging their full gunline onto the United States forces. The Union forces did the same, bringing eight sets of 15 and 16 inch guns bear on their targets. For perhaps twenty minutes gunfire raged between the two forces, until 1007 when a round fired from the Union battleship Michigan impacted Alabama's X turret. A moment later she detonated, her stern being blown apart and the rest of her quickly sinking.
It was at that point that the Confederate forces realized they were outmatched. A withdrawal was signaled, only for the realization to set in that retreat was not a viable option. Both Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet had taken significant damage, slowing to less than 15 knots and had little hope of escape. Still, losing a single rather aged battleship was a survivable loss, to lose yet another and the most modern ship in the Confederate fleet was something else entirely. Destroyers charged the Union battle line, hoping to push them away while the remaining planes on board the carriers were prepped for an attack.
It was roughly then that the first wave of planes arrived. While many had their sights set on the object of their original mission, the convoy, many others diverted to cover the Confederate retreat. Dive bombers plunged towards the assorted ships, releasing their brand-new 1,600lb AP bombs upon their targets. Large wings of torpedo bombers, dispatched for just this purpose passed low over the masts of the retreating Confederate fleet to attack the Union battle line. Far to the West, the Naval Air Station at Portland launched her wing of D217-Bs, medium bombers newly introduced to the Navy just before war had begun. Not only did these aircraft posses a devilish speed, outpacing all other aircraft currently in active service, but they had a phenomenal range of nearly 700 miles while carrying a torpedo. To the South, Norfolk lended it's somewhat less capable IM-206 flying boats, similarly armed, to the fight. It would be some hours before these aircraft arrived, but all aboard the Confederate fleet knew help was on it's way.
For a short while it seemed as if the counterattack was going well, the lead Union battleship veered away to avoid the attacks but too late to avoid taking a flurry of destroyer and aircraft launched ordinance. But soon enough a new threat emerged overhead as a number of Union-marked fighters appeared overhead and began picking away at the attackers. The implications were obvious, Union carriers were here as well.
The sun had risen fully by this point and the limping Confederate ships were still well within range. The Union fleet wasted no time in resuming their fire and Robert E. Lee, who had gained roughly a half hour of peace during the air strikes began taking heavy fire. At 1055 two rounds struck her along the waterline and it became clear she would not be saved. As she floundered in the water, a wing of Union dive bombers appeared overhead and dropped a trio of bombs across her decks.
It was at this point that the second wave of Confederate carrier aircraft arrived. While somewhat more organized for fleet combat than the first, this wave was considerably smaller. However, these aircraft and their attack would be all that could hope to save the pride of the Confederate navy, the James Longstreet, from certain destruction. And as if to prove their goal was obtainable, the pilots of the dive bombers triumphantly announced an enormous explosion from one of the Union battleships following their attack.
But despite this, the Union battle line was not stopped. Reports became rather confused, as the destroyers that had made their attacks withdrew, leaving the James Longstreet exposed. Seeing as escape seemed impossible, she turned to bring her 10 gun broadside to bear upon the Union forces, before a 16" shell tore into her front turret, causing a flash fire that burned out the superimposed one above it. With only her twin turret remaining, James Longstreet attempted to fight, but was quickly dispatched with heavy gunfire and torpedoes just past noon.
At this point, only two Confederate battleships remained, Texas and Sweet Tea. Far outnumbered in any case, these ships were not in good fighting shape, Texas' aft turret having been burnt out by an unusually accurate Union shell. At 22kts max, their hopes of outrunning the modern Union fleet was scarce. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
On board the carriers, a frantic operation was taking place. Aircraft were landing in quartets, trios, pairs and alone, only to be immediately rearmed, refueled and sent out again. Every aircraft capable of carrying a bomb, including the escort fighters was sent out with orders to hold back the Union battleships. The airway between the Confederate carrier force and her remaining battleships became a non-stop rush of aircraft moving back and forth. The only reason this relentless pace of launching and landing could take place was the fortunate direction of the wind, allowing the carrier fleet to roughly maintain distance.
Those on-board the remaining Confederate battleships would spend the next few hours watching a constant stream of planes flying to and from the carrier fleet overhead. Pilots from these ad-hoc strike wings constantly reported their results and many hits seem to have been scored, but a coherent picture was difficult to gather. The land-based bombers arrived as well, but reports from these units quickly were lost, overridden by a fierce attack on their land bases by Union aircraft.
But despite the confusion, no Union battleship seemed to be keeping up the chase. Relief spread as it seemed likely that these two ships would survive.In the early afternoon the remaining Confederate battleships met up with their carriers, setting a course for the relative safety of the Northern Confederate holdings. The carriers continued their operations, sending increasingly smaller sets of bombers to the last know position of the Union fleet to keep them occupied.
But at 1450, an unfamiliar group of aircraft was spotted overhead. A set of Union dive bombers came hurtling out of the sky and placed a 1,000lb bomb onto Texas. The damage was not severe, bu t it did highlight the fact that the Confederate forces were still in danger. The fleeing fleet attempted to maintain their formation, but the slow battleships had little ability to keep pace with the much faster carriers. For the next hour, occasional Union strikes appeared, but none managed to do much more than force evasive maneuvering.
It was at roughly 1600 that confusion overtook the command staff of the Confederate fleet. A sighting report mark had been spotted upon the plotting table, dated for nearly an hour and a half ago. It wasn't the age of the report that caused confusion, but rather the nature of the report. According to the marker, the surviving Confederate forces had been steaming almost directly towards a Union carrier force for the last 90 minutes. Rapid checks discovered a confirmation of the sighting as well.
The situation was now extremely conflicted. The Confederates had been apparently been on course for these Union ships, but whether this was a curse or a blessing was uncertain. On one hand, they had placed themselves in a prime location to be bombarded by Union attack aircraft, as evidenced by the strikes upon them. On the other, assuming the reports of the Union battleships to the South were still accurate, this carrier force was likely unprotected.
At this time there were three dive bombers waiting to launch. Instead of becoming the next attack on the battleships, these three were sent to investigate the area of the carrier sightings. Meanwhile, relaunching of returning strike missions was halted. If the carriers were seen again, a powerful strike would be required. Two destroyers were sent South-west to perform recon and see if the carriers had dashed South to join the Union battleships.
The dive bomber scouts searched the area of the sightings and discovered nothing. The Confederate carriers had assembled a somewhat passable force of dive bombers, strengthened by a wing of torpedo bombers. However, the destroyer force spotted a large force of ships to the South at roughly 1830 steering into the wind and heading directly for them. Closing the distance, they were identified as at least three carriers and escorts. Reporting their findings, they made a North-western turn and only a few minutes later spotted another ship on the horizon. Before it could be identified, it slipped beneath the waves.
On the carriers, all aircraft available were launched at the destroyer's contacts. Those aircraft would arrive just before 2000, launching attacks with moderate levels of success. The destroyers that had made the spotting continued past the sight of the sinking ship and discovered a Union battleship limping towards shore. Refusing to pass up the chance for a glory kill, the destroyers made a pass and launched several torpedoes into the floundering ship before setting course to meet up with the fleet.
As the sun set, it seemed as if the battle had come to a close, but the Union would be the ones to strike the final blow. At 2245 the Confederate light carrier Sumter came under attack by 10 Thunderbolt torpedo bombers. Two of them managed to place their torpedoes on target and aging carrier began to flood heavily. The hull she had been built upon had not been designed with passive defensive features and while her crews worked feverishly to get her flooding stopped, she was unable to keep herself going. At 2308 she was declared lost and orders to abandon ship were given.
And thus ended the largest battle the world had seen up to this point. It had been fought from sunup to sundown, by battleships, destroyers and carriers. Within the next few days the results would become clear and with them the balance of power in the world.
The Confederacy had lost three battleships, the battle line ships Alabama and Robert E. Lee and the fast battleship James Longstreet. Three destroyers (T-6, T-7 and C. Lumpkin) had been sunk while trying to cover the retreat to the East and the light carrier Sumter had been lost in the closing minutes of the action. The Confederate air force had taken heavy losses, losing over a third of it's strength. Of 331 aircraft between the carrier force and land bases, 124 had been lost over the course of the day. The vast majority of these losses were due to air raids on land bases, the destruction of Sumter and operational losses.
But while the Confederate losses had been painful, the Union losses were devastating. Seven of the eight Union battleships had been sunk over the course of the day. The sole survivor was Michigan, the ship that had dealt the fatal blow to Alabama. Despite taking hits from ten 1,600lb, roughly half of them failed to detonate. The Union carrier force fared much better; of her three light carriers two had sustained moderate to major damage and one was unharmed. Her sole fleet carrier involved in the action, the Yorktown, similarly avoid being hit. A destroyer was lost to a mixture of gunfire in the opening exchange and carrier strikes, while nine of the fourteen cargo ships were sunk.
It is now September. The United States battle line has been reduced to a single ship, with the latest replacement not due for launch until 1943. But her carrier force is entirely intact, two fleet carriers and four light carriers with two more fleet carriers in construction. Her raiders are similarly unharmed and pose a significant risk to shipping. But with the defeat of her main force, a blockade of the United States is inevitable. The war will go on, but a favorable peace treaty seems certain.
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Aaaand there we go. This battle was almost as exhausting to write up as it was to play. I had to piece most of the narrative the day after, having decided to go to bed after the couple hours of air-wing micromanagement that took place, so some details may be incorrect or not quite line up. I also forgot to get a screenshot of the post-battle battle track, so I did my best to recreate it, although I'm uncertain of just how accurate it is.
I've included most of the major unit 'cards' in a album here: imgur.com/a/IWAtEVN
After action report:
Estimated unit tracks:
Texas and Sweet Tea making their way under cover of the piecemeal strikes:
------------------
The year was 1943 and the world was at war. Japan and Germany had both signed pacts with the Confederate States of America a month apart, forming the Tri-Continental Pact. Less than a year later fascist France and the communistic United States joined together in the Trans-Atlantic Trade Security Cooperative to meet this threat.
Both the United States and France had motivation plenty to join together against the Confederate States. In the last several decades both had suffered defeats and had been striped of their holdings in the Americas by the CSA. A weak French government had allowed itself to be frankly humiliated at the negotiating table after only a short few months of "phony" war. Soon after signing over her Caribbean possessions several military generals and admirals banded together and staged a coup.
The United States had it in a rather similar manner. A war at the turn of the century with the Confederacy broke out and ended with Haiti being invaded and taken by Confederate forces. A decade later another conflict broke out and eventually after several clashes at sea the Treaty of Delaware was signed, effectively passing administrative control of Portland and the surrounding cities to the Confederacy.
From this Northern foothold, the Confederacy was well in position to threaten Great Britain. A pair of wars broke out in the 30's, resulting in both Britain's Caribbean and Canadian holdings being forcibly taken. Afterwards, a rather peculiar camaraderie broke out between the two nations, with research treaties being made and tensions calming considerably.
In August of 1942, France made her move. Sensing Britain's weakness, she stepped forward to bring the rebellious nation of Ireland to heel. While certainly no ally to Britain outright, the obligations of the Pact required that all members respond to threats to their co-signers, and a strong France was a clear and present danger to Germany. All three nations of the Tri-Continental Pact delivered an ultimatum to France, back down or face immediate repercussions. Of course France could not withdraw without facing tremendous backlash at home, and called upon the USA to honor their bargain.
And thus the first real "World War" broke out. In all honesty, the first year was a rather subdued experience. Japan turned out to be a rather passive ally to the Pact and despite her undisputed control of the Eastern seas did not pursue any amphibious campaigns while Germany and France seemed content to glower at one another over the Denmark Strait. The North American East Coast, however, was a different story.
In the thirty or so years since the last CSA/USA war, the United States had harnessed it's considerable industrial strength to build a most formidable Navy. While some of her capital ships carried the 15" guns so favored by her neighbor to the South, many others carried modern 16" guns. A new series of Heavy Cruisers made up her raiding force and several CVLs and a pair of fleet carriers made up her naval air force. All accounted for, she outnumbered and outgunned her rival in America.
And so we get to the setting of our story, roughly 300 miles North-West of Bermuda. Confederate intelligence had discovered plans for France to ship a number of experimental munitions and arms via a naval convoy under heavy Union guard. Plans were made to intercept and on the early morning of July 27th, a significant force of Confederate ships, made for the latest spotting report.
The Confederate had 5 battleships of the line present, making up the vast majority of their nation's capital fleet. Armed with 15" guns, there was the entirety of the Texas series of ships. The Texas, Texas II and Texas III-classes were quite typical of the time, twin turrets superimposed fore and aft. The Texas-class was German built, before Confederate shipbuilding had reached worldwide standards. The pair of Texas II-classes, Robert E. Lee and Sweet Tea, had been nearly identical, but home-grown. The Texas III-class, Alabama was a minor refinement once oil-fired engines had become available. All of these Texas series ships were capable of making 22kts in the battle line and had all been commissioned between 1916 and 1920.
Finally, the sole James Longstreet-class, bearing the name of her class, rounded out the bunch. Practically brand new, having launched in 1939, her armament differed from the others, instead mounting a pair of superimposed quadruple turrets fore with an unassuming twin turret behind them. Also setting her apart was her speed, she was the second Confederate battleship to be designed for 28kts, the other (State's Rights, 1926) not being present in this engagement.
There was a total of four Confederate carriers, the light carriers Sumter and Wilson, and two fleet carriers, Secession and Confederate States. Sumter was a first generation conversion of a 16,000 ton battlecruiser and could carry 32 aircraft. Wilson was a bit of an experiment, a 4000 ton seaplane tender given a flight deck and 10 fighters for CAP duties. The fleet carriers were 20,000 and 30,0000 ton beasts carrying 50 and 80 planes respectively. Finally, a small force of cruisers and destroyers rounded out the lot.
In the early morning darkness of the 27th, the Confederate forces prepared for attack. Sumter, Secession and Confederate States assembled their aircraft for launch. Sumter and Secession had typical arrangements of torpedo bombers and dive bombers prepared, while Confederate States prepped her dive bombers for attacking merchant shipping, splitting the dive bombers she carried (60 in total) into 4-plane wings. Even before the first sighting was made, these planes took flight to claim first blood, hoping that they'd leave little but scraps for the battleship line to clean up.
But in fact that was not how this battle was to play out. As dawn broke, the Confederate battleships realized they were well within gun range of the convoy. And much worse, the escort was much heavier than expected. What appeared to be the entire Union battleship fleet was sailing within it.
Immediately the Confederate line turned to the North, swinging their full gunline onto the United States forces. The Union forces did the same, bringing eight sets of 15 and 16 inch guns bear on their targets. For perhaps twenty minutes gunfire raged between the two forces, until 1007 when a round fired from the Union battleship Michigan impacted Alabama's X turret. A moment later she detonated, her stern being blown apart and the rest of her quickly sinking.
It was at that point that the Confederate forces realized they were outmatched. A withdrawal was signaled, only for the realization to set in that retreat was not a viable option. Both Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet had taken significant damage, slowing to less than 15 knots and had little hope of escape. Still, losing a single rather aged battleship was a survivable loss, to lose yet another and the most modern ship in the Confederate fleet was something else entirely. Destroyers charged the Union battle line, hoping to push them away while the remaining planes on board the carriers were prepped for an attack.
It was roughly then that the first wave of planes arrived. While many had their sights set on the object of their original mission, the convoy, many others diverted to cover the Confederate retreat. Dive bombers plunged towards the assorted ships, releasing their brand-new 1,600lb AP bombs upon their targets. Large wings of torpedo bombers, dispatched for just this purpose passed low over the masts of the retreating Confederate fleet to attack the Union battle line. Far to the West, the Naval Air Station at Portland launched her wing of D217-Bs, medium bombers newly introduced to the Navy just before war had begun. Not only did these aircraft posses a devilish speed, outpacing all other aircraft currently in active service, but they had a phenomenal range of nearly 700 miles while carrying a torpedo. To the South, Norfolk lended it's somewhat less capable IM-206 flying boats, similarly armed, to the fight. It would be some hours before these aircraft arrived, but all aboard the Confederate fleet knew help was on it's way.
For a short while it seemed as if the counterattack was going well, the lead Union battleship veered away to avoid the attacks but too late to avoid taking a flurry of destroyer and aircraft launched ordinance. But soon enough a new threat emerged overhead as a number of Union-marked fighters appeared overhead and began picking away at the attackers. The implications were obvious, Union carriers were here as well.
The sun had risen fully by this point and the limping Confederate ships were still well within range. The Union fleet wasted no time in resuming their fire and Robert E. Lee, who had gained roughly a half hour of peace during the air strikes began taking heavy fire. At 1055 two rounds struck her along the waterline and it became clear she would not be saved. As she floundered in the water, a wing of Union dive bombers appeared overhead and dropped a trio of bombs across her decks.
It was at this point that the second wave of Confederate carrier aircraft arrived. While somewhat more organized for fleet combat than the first, this wave was considerably smaller. However, these aircraft and their attack would be all that could hope to save the pride of the Confederate navy, the James Longstreet, from certain destruction. And as if to prove their goal was obtainable, the pilots of the dive bombers triumphantly announced an enormous explosion from one of the Union battleships following their attack.
But despite this, the Union battle line was not stopped. Reports became rather confused, as the destroyers that had made their attacks withdrew, leaving the James Longstreet exposed. Seeing as escape seemed impossible, she turned to bring her 10 gun broadside to bear upon the Union forces, before a 16" shell tore into her front turret, causing a flash fire that burned out the superimposed one above it. With only her twin turret remaining, James Longstreet attempted to fight, but was quickly dispatched with heavy gunfire and torpedoes just past noon.
At this point, only two Confederate battleships remained, Texas and Sweet Tea. Far outnumbered in any case, these ships were not in good fighting shape, Texas' aft turret having been burnt out by an unusually accurate Union shell. At 22kts max, their hopes of outrunning the modern Union fleet was scarce. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
On board the carriers, a frantic operation was taking place. Aircraft were landing in quartets, trios, pairs and alone, only to be immediately rearmed, refueled and sent out again. Every aircraft capable of carrying a bomb, including the escort fighters was sent out with orders to hold back the Union battleships. The airway between the Confederate carrier force and her remaining battleships became a non-stop rush of aircraft moving back and forth. The only reason this relentless pace of launching and landing could take place was the fortunate direction of the wind, allowing the carrier fleet to roughly maintain distance.
Those on-board the remaining Confederate battleships would spend the next few hours watching a constant stream of planes flying to and from the carrier fleet overhead. Pilots from these ad-hoc strike wings constantly reported their results and many hits seem to have been scored, but a coherent picture was difficult to gather. The land-based bombers arrived as well, but reports from these units quickly were lost, overridden by a fierce attack on their land bases by Union aircraft.
But despite the confusion, no Union battleship seemed to be keeping up the chase. Relief spread as it seemed likely that these two ships would survive.In the early afternoon the remaining Confederate battleships met up with their carriers, setting a course for the relative safety of the Northern Confederate holdings. The carriers continued their operations, sending increasingly smaller sets of bombers to the last know position of the Union fleet to keep them occupied.
But at 1450, an unfamiliar group of aircraft was spotted overhead. A set of Union dive bombers came hurtling out of the sky and placed a 1,000lb bomb onto Texas. The damage was not severe, bu t it did highlight the fact that the Confederate forces were still in danger. The fleeing fleet attempted to maintain their formation, but the slow battleships had little ability to keep pace with the much faster carriers. For the next hour, occasional Union strikes appeared, but none managed to do much more than force evasive maneuvering.
It was at roughly 1600 that confusion overtook the command staff of the Confederate fleet. A sighting report mark had been spotted upon the plotting table, dated for nearly an hour and a half ago. It wasn't the age of the report that caused confusion, but rather the nature of the report. According to the marker, the surviving Confederate forces had been steaming almost directly towards a Union carrier force for the last 90 minutes. Rapid checks discovered a confirmation of the sighting as well.
The situation was now extremely conflicted. The Confederates had been apparently been on course for these Union ships, but whether this was a curse or a blessing was uncertain. On one hand, they had placed themselves in a prime location to be bombarded by Union attack aircraft, as evidenced by the strikes upon them. On the other, assuming the reports of the Union battleships to the South were still accurate, this carrier force was likely unprotected.
At this time there were three dive bombers waiting to launch. Instead of becoming the next attack on the battleships, these three were sent to investigate the area of the carrier sightings. Meanwhile, relaunching of returning strike missions was halted. If the carriers were seen again, a powerful strike would be required. Two destroyers were sent South-west to perform recon and see if the carriers had dashed South to join the Union battleships.
The dive bomber scouts searched the area of the sightings and discovered nothing. The Confederate carriers had assembled a somewhat passable force of dive bombers, strengthened by a wing of torpedo bombers. However, the destroyer force spotted a large force of ships to the South at roughly 1830 steering into the wind and heading directly for them. Closing the distance, they were identified as at least three carriers and escorts. Reporting their findings, they made a North-western turn and only a few minutes later spotted another ship on the horizon. Before it could be identified, it slipped beneath the waves.
On the carriers, all aircraft available were launched at the destroyer's contacts. Those aircraft would arrive just before 2000, launching attacks with moderate levels of success. The destroyers that had made the spotting continued past the sight of the sinking ship and discovered a Union battleship limping towards shore. Refusing to pass up the chance for a glory kill, the destroyers made a pass and launched several torpedoes into the floundering ship before setting course to meet up with the fleet.
As the sun set, it seemed as if the battle had come to a close, but the Union would be the ones to strike the final blow. At 2245 the Confederate light carrier Sumter came under attack by 10 Thunderbolt torpedo bombers. Two of them managed to place their torpedoes on target and aging carrier began to flood heavily. The hull she had been built upon had not been designed with passive defensive features and while her crews worked feverishly to get her flooding stopped, she was unable to keep herself going. At 2308 she was declared lost and orders to abandon ship were given.
And thus ended the largest battle the world had seen up to this point. It had been fought from sunup to sundown, by battleships, destroyers and carriers. Within the next few days the results would become clear and with them the balance of power in the world.
The Confederacy had lost three battleships, the battle line ships Alabama and Robert E. Lee and the fast battleship James Longstreet. Three destroyers (T-6, T-7 and C. Lumpkin) had been sunk while trying to cover the retreat to the East and the light carrier Sumter had been lost in the closing minutes of the action. The Confederate air force had taken heavy losses, losing over a third of it's strength. Of 331 aircraft between the carrier force and land bases, 124 had been lost over the course of the day. The vast majority of these losses were due to air raids on land bases, the destruction of Sumter and operational losses.
But while the Confederate losses had been painful, the Union losses were devastating. Seven of the eight Union battleships had been sunk over the course of the day. The sole survivor was Michigan, the ship that had dealt the fatal blow to Alabama. Despite taking hits from ten 1,600lb, roughly half of them failed to detonate. The Union carrier force fared much better; of her three light carriers two had sustained moderate to major damage and one was unharmed. Her sole fleet carrier involved in the action, the Yorktown, similarly avoid being hit. A destroyer was lost to a mixture of gunfire in the opening exchange and carrier strikes, while nine of the fourteen cargo ships were sunk.
It is now September. The United States battle line has been reduced to a single ship, with the latest replacement not due for launch until 1943. But her carrier force is entirely intact, two fleet carriers and four light carriers with two more fleet carriers in construction. Her raiders are similarly unharmed and pose a significant risk to shipping. But with the defeat of her main force, a blockade of the United States is inevitable. The war will go on, but a favorable peace treaty seems certain.
-------
Aaaand there we go. This battle was almost as exhausting to write up as it was to play. I had to piece most of the narrative the day after, having decided to go to bed after the couple hours of air-wing micromanagement that took place, so some details may be incorrect or not quite line up. I also forgot to get a screenshot of the post-battle battle track, so I did my best to recreate it, although I'm uncertain of just how accurate it is.
I've included most of the major unit 'cards' in a album here: imgur.com/a/IWAtEVN
After action report:
Estimated unit tracks:
Texas and Sweet Tea making their way under cover of the piecemeal strikes:
