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Wiggy
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Post by Wiggy on Mar 22, 2022 13:38:29 GMT -6
Week 63 - The Yanks are coming!
The fleet is still building up OPs to that magical reserve of 800 I estimate to be enough for a full sortie. Until then, drill and minelaying continue as normal, as the spring weather improves. The spirit of the recent victory certainly boosted the mood of the annual officers' spring ball, especially now the Tsar of Russia is gone, but things have soured after a number of hungover eyes were drawn to an alarming headline the morning after:
American troops – and more to my immediate concern, American warships – are undoubtedly on their way across the Atlantic to come to the aid of the Entente. For us, the war must be won soon, or not at all.
In other news, some new destroyers have started arriving:
Impressed by the performance of the big expropriated foreign destroyers (especially the B97s), we’ve decided to commission some for ourselves. Those big 15cm guns are not going to be easy to lay by hand, especially on a hull that size – and I don’t think the crews will enjoy manually loading 45kg shells – but if they hit something, it will suffer. Although probably intended as leaders, I expect I'll be using them in their own special "heavy flotilla".
This week's plan is a simple minelaying operation off Oyster Ground, with a big operation planned for a fortnight's time. A number of submarines have been pulled off to try and intercept an expected influx of American warships, although intel suggests it will be a few weeks before they are ready to cross the Atlantic.
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Wiggy
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Post by Wiggy on Apr 3, 2022 15:53:32 GMT -6
Week 65 - Attrition
Destroyer losses have necessitated some reshuffling in the flotillas, as some were down to two or three boats. I might start experimenting with using the bigger destroyers as leaders, as I've grown to dislike using valuable cruisers for that, but for now they remain concentrated - where they excel on independent raids.
Crews are drilled, ships are coaled, ammunition is stowed; The High Seas Fleet is putting to sea once again. Emboldened by the apparent weakness of the Grand Fleet at this time, the plan is to make a deep lunge down the English coast towards Harwich with our battlecruisers. Meanwhile, the HSF will screen any response from the north, and hopefully shatter it.
There are a few motives for this mission:- I hope shooting up some coastal targets and patrols will make a good tonic for the 1st scouting group (after the loss of Mackensen and Rear-Admiral Hipper), and if they make it through to Harwich they can cause enough damage to neuter the forces there for a while. The balance of power is such that I can now seriously think about projecting power towards the Channel (I never thought I'd be saying this a year ago!). It will also be the first outing for replacement commander Ludwig von Reuter.
- By playing my cards close to my chest and only showing the battlecruisers, it's possible I could bait the BCF onto my screening force and give it a bloody nose.
- I can deploy my limited submarines in denser picket lines, since the area of operations is bounded to the east by the Dutch coast. This might attrite my opponent or at least give advance warning of the expected riposte.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Apr 4, 2022 6:15:08 GMT -6
Operation Tannenberg
The fleet cuts through the morning swell. Not long after leaving port, the scouting Emden spots a pair of torpedo tracks against the low sun. The first is dodged by going hard over, but it is too late to avoid the second, which strikes just abaft of the last funnel and rocks the ship with a great roar of blast and spray. What's worse, the missed torpedo ran on to strike S65.
Torpedoed.wav (548.04 KB)
Quick counterflooding manages to save the ship, albeit with a perilous volume of water taken on - waves are licking at the quarterdeck. She will have to limp back home. S65 was not so lucky. In the hurried hunt for the offending submarine, another salvo finds its mark.
A day to remember for the Silent Service! Badly damaged, Moltke is detached for home as well. The noise generated by the fleet makes it nigh-impossible for ships' hydrophones to detect our foe, so all we can do is zig-zag west away from the scene in the knowledge our sortie has been detected.
Things continue not going to plan as we pass Texel. Our scouts bump into some enemy cruisers, which appear to be leading a huge gaggle of destroyers.
It looks like the Harwich force are out. Shots are traded as I try to get them into range of the battlecruiser guns, while the main body stands off to hopefully avoid detection.
Approaching with the heavies.
The small ships seem impossible to hit, but I daren't get close to that many destroyers as the sun is setting, lest we get swamped. They hug the edge of gun range as we shepherd them south. As night falls I choose to let them disengage near the Broad Fourteens, in the hope we can break westwards and clobber the coastal targets overnight.
We are successful in silencing the shore batteries, while at the same time Friedrich der Grosse catches sight of a mysterious ship off her stern, apparently alone, that turns away immediately and is not seen again.
The battlecruisers reach their objective off Harwich. I'm reluctant to send them barrelling back north-east until daylight, since those destroyers are still at large.
A right pea-souper.
As the weather further worsens, our own destroyers are struggling to make headway. This is not the weather for battle; it's time for a general retreat. To add insult to injury, we blunder into a minefield and lose more destroyers. The enemies we met may well have laid it - in hindsight I could have been more aggressive to stop them.
Overall, we suffered attrition this week that I'd much rather have avoided. Despite meeting objectives, it was certainly a let-down as we were beleaguered by mines, torpedoes and the winds.
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Post by gregb7111 on Apr 14, 2022 21:35:17 GMT -6
Excellent stuff!! Absolutely love this.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Apr 26, 2022 14:07:12 GMT -6
Week 69 - cat and mouse
There is some good news this week. Although it's not really within my domain, word has spread round high command that there is unrest in the French army, but to what extent is not well understood. The fact that this news has percolated through to me makes it seem fairly important, if it isn't a severe case of war-optimists' whispers. We have recently repelled a major French offensive, so I imagine their morale is indeed low, and that most Frogs would rather wait it out until American bodies can fill their places - I would if I were them.
The other good news is that a new capital ship has joined the fleet, a product of the war-emergency program:
Graf Spee is the second of the Mackensen Class to enter service, and hopefully she shall be luckier than the original. Although it was hard to tell if anything could have been done to prevent Mackensen's magazine explosion, designers have put in some extra armour and safety features (as a fob to the crew if nothing else, who have been circulating dangerous superstitions about the design). Hopefully the ship will return some heft and confidence to the scouting group.
This week's plan is another minelaying op, but I'm choosing to lay on more light cruisers than usual in case we run into the Harwich force. We always tend to bump into light forces, so I hope six cruisers escorting the minelayers will be a nasty surprise to an enemy expecting to chase us away again. The Flemish forces will also be on patrol.
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Apr 27, 2022 11:40:31 GMT -6
The turn opens with a merchant falling victim to the destroyers of the Marinekorps. That night, the mining force reaches its target and gets to work.
Our cruisers linger around until sunrise, based on a submariner's report of unknown warships to the west. The intelligence is proven fruitful, as the daylight illuminates low, grey shapes on the horizon. In the distance, there are a pair of cruisers fanned out in a search line.
We aggressively close the range towards the nearest, hoping to leverage our superior numbers to overwhelm it. As Pillau's gunners begin to find the range, more ships come into view. It's what the cruisers were screening, and it's not the Harwich force!
Time to run.
Huge shells begin to plunge all around. I order a general retreat, as there's little point forming a battle-line against the vaunted BCF; More than a dozen battlecruisers are bearing down on us! The situation is frantically radioed back to base, but with the fleet off on drill there are only some pre-dreadnoughts and five 12-inch battlecruisers ready to assist. They cannot be risked against such a vastly superior opponent, so the grim decision is radioed back - no reinforcements. It is midday, so this will likely be a long chase. To buy precious time the two destroyer flotillas make an attack run, which succeeds in making the enemy bear north a little.
The cruisers' navigators, realizing what is going to happen, check their charts and cross their fingers. The bravery of the destroyers has done the unthinkable - they have pushed the battlecruisers right onto the fresh minefield. A screening destroyer explodes, with the lead Queen-Elizabeth class slewing through the resultant smoke and burning debris. The second in line strikes another mine, as does the fourth which had veered out of the way. The Japanese division behind reacts quickly enough to turn and avoid crossing the field, but the blasts have caused enough confusion to allow us to greatly open the range and get away. Only the wounded leaders give chase, but they are now too slow to keep up.
Looks like we've lost them.
After the chase, aviators from Borkum get some identification practice shadowing the rest of the BCF, with one even trying to drop a bomb on them (which missed). We make it home as night falls, counting our lucky stars. Our efforts have cost them two destroyers and three damaged battleships!
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Wiggy
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Post by Wiggy on Apr 28, 2022 12:22:30 GMT -6
Week 71 - big plans
Owing to losses, the 10th half-flotilla has been merged into the 9th, with both units consisting of older 600-tonners. I like to keep a personal minimum of four destroyers per half-flotilla to at least match a four-ship battle division.
The cycles of drills, weather, repairs, and OPs have aligned to provide me with an excellent chance to stage a full sortie. Almost all capital ships are ready for action bar Graf Spee and some in refit. Inaction breeds boredom and even dissent, despite our victories, so it is time for a summer cruise. Our destination: the beautiful fjords of Norway. The northern end of the theatre has seen little activity this year, in contrast to our recent southern shenanigans, and I intend to change that with an unexpected thrust.
A mission bringing us closer to British bases is befitting of our growing confidence at sea to overtly threaten the blockade (as intel reckons our 26 dreadnoughts are up against, at most, 31 operational RN ones), so that is what I intend to do - convoys and cruisers to the far north will make easy pickings if undefended by the big ships - and if the British do come out, I back the HSF against either the weakened Grand Fleet or against battlecruisers (although not both at once). The plan is to allow our battlecruisers to be spotted by Norwegian coastal freighters and bait out the British. Of course there is a risk involved, in that this is the furthest from Wilhelmshaven I've gone to actively seek a fleet battle. The chance of being cut off from base is an issue, and damaged retiring ships will be vulnerable for much longer. Weather reports are promising, which may help keep the floundering from foundering, and more to the point means I should have continuous Zeppelin coverage for the operation. Converted cruiser Stuttgart will also be bringing along some floatplanes. Therefore, I trust in the combination of aviation, submarines, and wireless to give me good information.
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Post by zederfflinger on Apr 28, 2022 18:04:23 GMT -6
Looking good! I hope the British are willing to party!
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on May 2, 2022 17:05:43 GMT -6
I hope so! Although, no plan survives contact with the enemy...
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Post by wa1971 on May 9, 2022 17:44:04 GMT -6
Wow , Operation Elster / The Battle of Sunderland was a nail - bitter ! ( random thought ; Did individual German ships receive Orders / Medals , or is that peculiar to the American and Russian Navies ? ) Interesting Mod ; First a Japanese contingent , now the U.S. Navy headed for Europe. Everyone is picking on Germany ! Whether Germany wins the war or loses it , in my opinion this German Navy has so far turned in a stellar performance ! If Germany loses , I never the less imagine a book in the future entitled ; " Gross Admiral Wiggy ; the German Rafael Semmes . "
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Wiggy
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Posts: 163
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Post by Wiggy on Jun 20, 2022 18:39:44 GMT -6
Operation Ehrenfest
In the early afternoon on the sixth of June, the crew of a patrolling Zeppelin sight a column of warships in the middle of the North Sea. Weight is at a premium on Zeppelins for the sake of making altitude - fittings are thin and skeletal, and there are few creature comforts - but an allowance is made for a sturdy set of stabilised naval binoculars. Through these the sighting is confirmed, though partly hidden by tufts of cloud: more than a division of large ships, at least armoured cruisers, British.
"Schiff gesichtet!"
At the same time, the High Seas Fleet is casting away. Orders are amended to directly intercept.
There is no tact or subtlety to our approach; the day will be coming to a close by the time we might meet them. We have base at our backs at least. The clouds, now turning orange with the light, have prevented our airships from getting a better look or tailing the target, but nevertheless contact is suddenly made made south of the banks. They must have been heading straight towards us - perhaps looking for a fight with confidence. Are the Americans here already?
Contact!
With our battlecruisers aside, the main line have found them first and begin turning into line. There is plenty of smoke on the horizon. We're up against dreadnoughts!
At ten past seven local time, the quiet sea air is shattered by gun-thunder as both sides open up. An extreme-range gunnery duel develops between our lead division and theirs; the 12-inchers will have to wait for the range to close. Bayern draws first blood at 20,000 yards, scoring a hit on the unidentified van, but the elation is short-lived as a reply screams through her funnel, causing hot gas to vent onto the deck amidships. Burn victims are rushed below. A heavy shell ricochets off Salamis's aft turret, ringing it like a bell and knocking a few gunners out cold with the clang.
It looks like we outnumber them.
The rest of the line begins to fall in as the fight runs south-west. It appears the British are pressing armoured cruisers into the back of their line, such are the losses the Grand Fleet has sustained. Although their medium guns have a good rate of fire, and get a fair few hits in as the range closes, they are no match even for our third-rate battleships.
Brave cannon-fodder.
An uneven fight - at this range we can shell the cruisers without reply, as the splashes show.
At the front, where the battle is fiercest, Salamis continues to be a glutton for punishment. Her upper works are mangled by four more hits. The Royal Navy leaders tend to have ten 13 or 14 inch guns, creating an impressive volume of heavy fire, but our ships are better armoured and seem to be able to take it for now. As sunset approaches I try and close in the hope of pressing my advantage before dark. It seems Salamis's crew can only squint into the sunset as another well-aimed salvo crashes into her side.
For a moment contact is lost and found again. Meanwhile, stokers on the battlecruisers, astern of the action, are still toiling to propel their ships into the battle.
Getting close lets me grapple with the enemy still, but negates my armour advantage - as the explosion of one of Bayern's turrets grimly confirms. Secondary batteries open up as I try and use my numbers to turn the screw. It seems to be working, as an Orion-class, deck smouldering, veers out of line. The heat gets to a Revenge next, which falls out similarly aflame. The cruisers behind seem to have taken advantage of the dark to save themselves.
This, combined with a final flotilla attack, causes the enemy to turn and retreat in disarray into the night. Somehow they evade our arriving battlecruisers in the dark.
No torpedo hits scored. If only I had more daylight.
Normally at this point I would withdraw for the turn, but with flooding surprisingly minimal across all units and ammo reserves decent, I decide to press on north in the hope of intercepting them in the morning. Summer nights are short, after all.
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