Battle Report - Sector 32, Spring 1941

Sector 32 Spring 1941

British Forces:

      HMS Repulse

      HMS Glorious

      Martlet Mk.II

      Swordfish Mk.II

      HMS Belfast
      HMS Kent

      HMS Javelin

      HMS Croome

      Land-based (2-turn re-arming)

           Sunderland

           Fairey Fulmar

German Forces:

      Graf Zeppelin

           BF 109 (x2)

      Guisenau

      Lützow (x2)

      Z20 Karl Galster (x2)

      Z18 Hans Ludemann (x2)

      U-66 (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 start in two combat formations, with the Belfast and the two Destroyers in A1 and the Repulse and Kent in A2. Relatively safe, with no German offensive air, the Glorious is alone in A7. The Germans match the two British combat formations with a Lützow, Galster, and Ludemann in K1 and the Gneisenau, a Lützow, and a Galster in K3. The Zeppelin and a Ludemann are below in K7 while the two u-boats threaten from G2 and G3.

Turn 1: The Germans win initiative. Wary of the range 6 shot of the Gneisenau, the British only advance at half speed, moving to B2 and B3. The Germans, with three ships with range 4 (and greater) guns advance at full speed to I1, I3, and I7. The u-boats also advance to F2 and F3. While outgunned in ships, the British do have an advantage in air. The Germans are forced to separate their BF 109s to cover both submarines, so the Sunderland, Martlet and Swordfish all converge on the one in F3. The Fulmar is held back. The 109 aborts the Swordfish and the Sunderlands depth charges miss their target.

Turn 2: The British win initiative and this time it is the Germans who show some caution. The two combat formations advance at only half speed, to H2 and H4 while the Carrier and its escort, farther from the British guns, advance at full speed to G7. The U-66s both advance, moving to E2 and E3. Wary of the u-boat threat, the British separate. The Belfast leaves the formation and advances toward the top objective, moving to D1. Its former escorts, the two destroyers advance to threaten the destroyers, in D3 while the Repulse and Kent keep the range open and move down to C4. Seeing the guns on the Graf Zeppelin, the Glorious moves to A5. The British air coordinator takes advantage of the initiative to force the Germans to commit both BF 109s to defend the submarines, sending the Martlet to E3 to pin the German air, allowing the Sunderland and Swordfish to be sent against the Carrier formation. Hoping for the best, the Fulmar is committed to G5 in hopes of using its Shadowing ability. While the fighter duel is ineffectual, the German flak is not, aborting both attackings planes. That was, however, the only bright spot for gunners in the battle as the Gneisenau misses with its range 6 shot on the Repulse while both submarines, under threat from the destroyers, also miss with their torpedoes.

Turn 3: The Germans win initiative, forcing the British to show their hand. The Belfast advances to the objective at F1, hoping to divide the German attention. The Croome successfully rams and cripples the U-66 in E3 before ending up in E4 while the Javelin advances to E3 to form part of a screen. The Repulse and Kent advance on the carrier group, moving to E5. Puzzled by the bold moves, the German formations hold back. The Carrier formation moves to H7 while the Lützow and Gneisenau formations move to I3 and I5 respectively. Only the u-boat captains move aggressively, with one submarine moving to F2 to attack the Belfast and the other moving to F4 to maintain a threat on the Repulse. While the Germans are again forced to cover both u-boats with air cover, the British concentrate on the crippled one. The defending BF 109 kills the Swordfish, but the Sunderland's depth charges destroy the u-boat in return. The British focus the Repulse and Kent gunnery on the Graf Zeppelin, with the former scoring a hit. The Gneisenau and accompanying Lützow each hit the Repulse with their main guns while failing, along with the Zeppelin, to hit the Kent. The other Lützow opens up on the Belfast and blows it up with a vital hit from its main guns at range 4. The remaining u-boat, surprised to have no target fires two poorly aimed torpedoes at the Javelin, missing with both.

Turn 4: The British win initiative, but unfortunately there is little guile in the German maneuvers. Both the Gneisenau and Zeppelin formations advance at full speed, to G6 and F7 respectively while the Lützow and destroyers in the other formation move to G3. The U-66 moves toward the nearest enemy, moving to F3. The Croome immediately goes after the U-boat moving in for a depth charge attack. The Javelin retreats from the u-boat moving to support the heavy ships and moves to E5. The Repulse and Kent want to avoid too much fire from the heavier German ships and move to D7, allowing range 2 shots on the carrier formation but only range 3 from the Gneisenau and Lützow behind them. All of the remaining armed air converges on the Croome and U-66. The Germans use one BF 109 for cover while strafing with the other one. The Martlet is able to abort the strafing 109 but its partner is able to abort the Sunderland in return. Safe from the strafing fighter, the Croome is able to land a successful depth charge attack on the U-66, crippling it. The Galster and Ludemann take range 1 shots with their main guns and get revenge on the u-boat, sinking the Croome. Down below, the main action occurs. The Repulse hits the Zeppelin with its main guns and then follows up with a successful torpedo attack, sinking the carrier. The 109s were unfortunately still in the air when the carrier went down and fly off to land at the nearest base. The Repulse's secondaries then hit the Ludemann, allowing the main guns of the Kent to finish it off. The return fire from the Germans is equally deadly. The secondaries from the Lützow and the Galster combine to sink the Javelin while the dying carrier and destroyer cripple the Kent. Main guns from all three heavy German units focus on the Repulse, with the Gneisenau getting the crippling hit. The Gneisenau then finishes off the Kent with its secondaries. The u-boat is left with no targets in range.

Turn 5: The British win initiative and use it to buy time for the carrier, who will be able to withdraw next turn. The crippled Repulse advances to E5 to force the attention from the German heavies while the Glorious moves back down to A7 to avoid the farthest Lützow. The Germans advance, the Battleship formation moving to point blank wi the Repulse, in E5 while the Lützow group advances to E3. The U-boat moves to F4, but mostly tries to keep a low profile. Not wanting to risk either the Fulmar or Martlet dying in strafing runs, only the Sunderland attacks, finishing off the U-66. Trying to do as much damage as possible before going down, the Repulse cripples the Galster and hits the Lützow, but its torpedo fails to hit and sink the damaged cruiser. The Repulse attempts to evade the Galster torpedoes and fails, but they fail to hit regardless. The Gneisenau sinks the Repulse with its secondaries and allows the Lützow to shoot first at the Glorious. The heavy cruiser makes the most of it, hammering the carrier with the vital hit and blowing it up. Luckily the Martlet squadron had been flying cap and flew off to land on a nearby base.

Surviving British Forces:

Martlet Mk.II

Sunderland

Fairey Fulmar

Surviving German Forces:

Gneisenau

Lützow (x2)

Z20 Hans Ludemann

Z18 Karl Galster

Z18 Karl Galster (crippled)

BF 109 (x2)

AFTER ACTION (UK): Going in to the battle, I was willing to lose everything except the Glorious to kill his Graf Zepplin. The plan was executed well, but instead of retreating with 2 hits on my carrier, the Germans managed to vital it on their first shot. Still, taking out the carrier was important and bagging 2 u-boats was a nice bonus. I also realized, too late, that I really need to remember to use my SAs - the Kent's Escort Killer might have bagged me a crippled Lützow had I remembered to use it.

AFTER ACTION (GER): Losing another Graf Zeppelin was a serious blow as I will have to rely heavily on land-based air next turn. My last front line carrier will be sorely needed and I will have to choose its deployment very carefully. Production deployment will be critical for me to avoid losing any more territory to the British in the fall. Leaving the British with only aircraft again after the battle helps ease the pain of previous losses.