Battle Report - Sector 26, Spring 1941

Sector 26 Spring 1941

British Forces:

HMS King George V

HMS Belfast

HMS Javelin (x2)

HMS Tynedale

Land –based Aircraft (2-turn re-arming)

Martlet Mk.II

Spitfire Mk.1A (x2)

Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV

German Forces:

Gneisenau

Admiral Scheer

Karlsruhe

Z20 Karl Galster

Z18 Hans Ludemann

U-66

Land –based Aircraft (2-turn re-arming)

BF 109

BF 110 (x2)

Ju87B (x2)

The weather is fine with no terrain on the map. Three 25-point objectives were placed in the standard locations (F1, F4, and F7).

START: The British are in two formations, with the King George, a Javelin, and the Tynedale together in A3 and the Belfast and the other Javelin right below them in A4. The Germans also start with two formations with the Gneisenau and Scheer up in K2 and the Köln, Galster, and Ludemann at the bottom at K7. The U-66 is guarding the center objective from G4.

TURN 1: The Germans win initiative and all four formations of ships move two zones directly toward the center while the U-66 remains where it is. The British immediately send the Blenheim, escorted by the Martlett against the submarine while the Germans return the favor, sending both Stukas, the BF 109 and a BF 110 against the smaller British formation, with the fighters escorting the dangerous bombers. A German BF 110 moves in to defend the submarine while both Spitfires fly CAP over the Belfast. In the ensuing dogfight and British flak, the Blenheim and a Stuka are shot down while the other Stuka is aborted, leaving no aircraft to perform attacks against vessels. Seeing that they are within range of the Gneisenau’s long range attack, both formations pop smoke. While the smoke doesn’t impact the German Battleships targeting, their gunnery fails to damage the British Battleship.

TURN 2: The Germans against win initiative. The British formations split up to each threaten two objectives, with the King George’s group moving up to E2 and the Belfast’s to E5. The U-66, seeing the Battleship as the bigger threat, moves up to G3. The other German groups close with the end objectives, the Gneisenau’s to G1 and the Köln’s to G6. With all of the air re-arming the action moves straight to surface gunnery. In the battleship battle, the German secondary guns destroy the Javelin but the main guns fail to even hit the King George. In return, the King George gets a solid hit on the Gneisenau and the Javelin’s torpedo cripples the Scheer, a worthy sacrifice for the Destroyer. In the battle of cruisers, both cruisers are hit, but the advantage in numbers results in the other Javelin sinking while the Galster only suffers a single, albeit crippling hit. The U-66’s torpedoes continue the German tradition against the King George and miss.

TURN 3: A decisive turn, with the Germans again winning initiative. The King George moves on top of the objective at F1 while the Tynedale leaves the Battleship to join the Belfast on top of the objective at F4. The Germans seek to maximize the Scheer’s firepower while it is still afloat and follow the King George to F1. The crippled Galster moves as close as it can to the action, to F6 while the Köln and Ludemann move up to F5 to engage the Belfast and Tynedale. The U-66 moves up to G2 to maintain shooting range to the King George. While the King George’s main guns make another hit on the Gneisenau, the secondary’s fail to make the relatively easy kill-shot on the Scheer. In return, the Gneisenau hits the King George once, while the crippled Scheer sees its respectable firepower bounce off the tough hull of the British Battleship. Below, the British make the canny move of having the Tynedale pop smoke, allowing the Belfast to use its special abilities to full effect. The action has mixed results with the Belfast’s main guns unable to get a shot at the Köln. While the smoke does protect the Belfast from the German gunnery, the Tynedale is not as fortunate taking a hit from the Ludemann. The German torpodomen are able to target through the smoke, however, and both the Belfast and Tynedale go down to 21” torpedoes. Continuing the trend, the U-66 gets a torpedo hit on the King George as well.

TURN 4: While the British have only the King George remaining, the air power from both sides is available. Losing initiative again, the King George tries to create some distance, from the submarine at least, by moving to D1. Both German heavy ships follow together to E1. The U-66 follows to F2 while the Köln and Ludemann move to E3. The crippled Galster closes at best speed as well, to E5. Lacking real anti-ship capability, the British air is forced to focus on the crippled Galster, sending in the Martlet to strafe with a Spitfire for support. The other Spitfire pre-empts the Germans and flies CAP over the King George. The Germans send in all its fighters to defend the Galster and hold the Stuka at the base. The BF 109 is able to destroy the Martlet, and any hope of sinking the Galster while the Germans take no losses in return. The surface gunnery is uneventful. While the Gneisenau takes a third hit from the main guns of the King George, the secondary’s again fail to sink the Scheer. Perhaps distracted by the aerobatics of the covering Spitfire, none of the German gunnery, or torpedoes, gets a hit on the King George.

TURN 5: Again losing initiative, the King George moves across to C2, enabling it to use its secondaries on the smaller German ships. The Germans comply and close with all of their vessels, the heavy ships to D2, the light ships to D3, the U-66 to E1 and even the Galster to E4. The Stuka held in reserve last turn makes a swooping attack on the British Battleship, but accurate flak aborts its attack. In surface gunnery, the British secondaries finally sink the Scheer and the main guns again hit the Gneisenau, crippling it. The German gunfire is of typical effectiveness, as in the Scheer misses again while the Gneisenau scores another hit on the King George. The ace German torpedomen on the Köln and Ludemann are unphased and, buoyed by their recent sinking of the Belfast, exceed that shot by each hitting the King George, sinking it. Surviving British Forces:

Spitfire Mk.1A (x2) Surviving German Forces:

Gneisenau (crippled)

Karlsruhe

Z20 Karl Galster (crippled)

Z18 Hans Ludemann

U-66

BF 109

BF 110 (x2)

Ju87

AFTER ACTION (UK): I knew this would be tough as I was outgunned by quite a bit, but I think the game was far closer than the end result. Smoking the Belfast should have worked better than it did and while I can’t argue with losing both ships that turn, I should have crippled the Köln in the process, which would have helped even things out. The shots on the Scheer were the key moments. Had the first, or even second round of secondaries sunk it (5 dice vs. 3 hull), I would have been able to withdraw toward my map edge, creating more space from the torpedo armed submarine and smaller vessels and potentially just focusing on an advantaged shoot-out with the Gneisenau. I was reluctant, however, to allow it to escape and, losing initiative every turn, was forced to take a chance and get closer to the smaller units than I had wanted. AFTER ACTION (GER): The Luftwaffe was not able to land any hits on British surface units which was a disappointment. I any battle where there is a British BB it is imperative to land at least one hit on them before any surface engagement. In the case of slower British BB’s this is even more important as you can try to remain out of their main battery range. I was very pleased with the Kriegsmarine destroyer’s performance in this battle. Any time a DD lands killing blows on enemy cruisers and battleships is a time for celebration. Though I lost a heavy cruiser & Stuka and had to retreat a crippled Gneisenau & Galster, the Kriegsmarine won the day by a good margin in this sector.