Turn 5 Tactical Intelligence - Spring 1943

Two massive base assaults...

TURN 5	UK	GE	Result
SECTOR 23	1 BB, 4 CV, 9 CA, 8 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 24	1 CV, 2 CA, 3 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 25	2 CV, 4 CA, 3 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 26	1 CA, 2 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 27	3 CA, 3 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 28	1 CA, 2 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 29	1 CA, 2 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 30	1 CA, 2 DD	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 31	Nothing Detected	1 BB, 1 CV, 3 CA, 5 DD
SECTOR 32	1 CA, 2 DD	1 BB, 1 CV, 2 CA, 6 DD, 1 Aux	UK flee
SECTOR 33	Nothing Detected	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 34	1 BB, 2 CV, 6 CA, 6 DD	1 BB, 6 CA, 6 DD, 1 Aux	Battle
SECTOR 35	1 CV, 3 CA, 2 DD	Nothing Detected	Battle
SECTOR 36	Nothing Detected	1 BB, 1 CV, 5 CA, 4 DD, 1 Aux
SECTOR 37	Nothing Detected	3 CA, 7 DD, 1 Aux
SECTOR 38	Nothing Detected	1 BB, 1 CV, 2 CA, 2 DD, 3 Aux
SECTOR 39	Nothing Detected	Nothing Detected
SECTOR 40	2 BB, 2 CV, 5 CA, 9 DD	1 BB, 5 CA, 8 DD	Battle
SECTOR 41	Nothing Detected	1 CA, 2 DD, Aux
SECTOR 42	Nothing Detected	3 DD, 2 Aux

The Germans have some submarines and other small stuff in sector 35, but 34 and 40 are the main attractions.  The British flee from 32 - that one would've been a tad one-sided.

Summary and After Action - Fall 1942

Turn 4 Final Map

British Losses:

 1 Battleship

 0 Carriers (2 crippled)

 6 Cruisers (1 crippled)

10 Destroyers (2 crippled)

 1 Submarine

 8 Aircraft

German Losses:

 1 Battleship

 1 Carrier

12 Cruisers (2 crippled)

 7 Destroyers (1 crippled)

 3 Submarines

 2 Aircraft

After Action (UK): The bloodiest turn since the first one and my air losses were especially painful.  My consolidation of the central area did not go as well as hoped, but there is promise for the future, considering the blow his cruiser forces took.

Battle Report - Sector 35, Fall 1942

Sector 35, Fall 1942

British Forces:

     HMS Rodney (1 dmg)

     HMS Glorious

          Martlet Mk.II

          Hurricane Mk.IIC

     HMS Belfast

     HMS Euryalus

     HMS Jamaica

     HMS Croome (x4)

     HMS Javelin

     Land-Based

          Sunderland Mk.I (x4)

German Forces:

     Graf Zeppelin

          Bf109 (x2)

     Nordmark

     Blücher

     Prinz Eugen

     Nürnberg (x2)

     Z28 (x2)

     T27

     ZG3

     U-510

     U-552

     Land-Based Air (4 turn re-arming)

          FW200 Kondor

          He111 (x3)

There are islands in C5 and E3 and squalls in A4, F4, and F5.  The standard 25-point objectives are in F1, F4, and F7.

START: The Glorious, Euryalus, and a Croome start in A1, the Belfast, Javelin, and a Croome in A2, the Rodney, Jamaica, and a Croome in A3, and the last Croome hiding in the squall in A4.  The Graf Zeppelin and Nordmark start in K7, a Nürnberg/Z28 pairing in K6 and an identical pairing in K5.  The Prinz Eugen and the ZG3 start in K4, the Blücher and the T27 in K3, and the U-510 and U-552 start, respectively, in G4 and G5.

Turn 1: The British win initiative.  The Blücher’s formation advances to I4, the Prinz Eugen’s to I5 and the two Nürnberg formations to I6 and J5.  The u-boats advance into the squalls, to F4 and F5.  The Graf Zeppelin’s formation remains in place.  The Glorius’s formation moves to B3, the Belfast’s to C3, and the Rodney’s to C4.  The lone Croome remains in place.  All three He 111s, escorted by a Bf109 go after the Rodney in C4 and the Kondor, escorted by the other German fighter deploys to B4, preparing to use its anti-ship missile.  The Glorious sends to Martlet against the Kondor and the Hurricane against the He 111s.  A single Sunderland goes after each of the u-boats while the other two go after the Prinz Eugen.  The British flak aborts all of the He 111s, but the Bf 109 is able to knock down the Hurricane.  The Martlet fails to abort the Kondor.  The Prinz Eugen’s flak downs one Sunderland while the ZG3’s aborts the other one.  Either through inaccuracy or the weather, neither u-boat is damaged.  The Kondor’s missile hits the Glorious.  The squalls move to B5, E4, and G5.

Turn 2: The British win initiative.  The two Nürnberg formations move to H4 and H7 while the Prinz Eugen’s formation advances to H6 and the Blücher’s to H5.  The U-552 moves to F6 and the U-510 moves to F5.  The German carrier again remains in place.  The British carrier group moves to C3.  The carrier’s Croome escort continues on to D4 but is replaced by the Croome that had been hiding beneath the weather.  The Belfast’s formation moves to E4 and the Rodney’s to E5.  The Bf109s deploy to cover the two u-boats and the British focus all of their efforts on the U-552.  The German fighter fails to stop any of the Sunderlands, who succeed in sinking the u-boat.  Surface gunnery is impacted by the squall in G5, but goes on around it.  The two Z28s combine to sink the Croome in E5 and the Nürnbergs combine to land one hit on the Jamaica.  The Blücher lands a hit on the Belfast.  The Belfast and Jamaica combine to cripple the Nürnberg in H4 while the Rodney destroys the other one with a vital hit.  The British battleships secondaries, however, fail to finish off its sister ship.  The U-510 gets a torpedo attack off against the Rodney, but misses.  The squalls move to A6, E3, and G4.

Turn 3: The British win initiative.  The Nordmark suffers some engine trouble, limiting the Graf Zeppelin’s formation to a move to K6.  The remaining Nürnberg, with its Z28 escort combine with the U-510 under the squall in G4.  The orphaned Z28 combines with the T27 in H5 and the two heavy cruisers combine behind them in H4.  The now orphaned ZG3 heads toward the carrier, moving to J6.  The Croome from the Belfast’s formation moves into G4 and unsuccessfully attempts to ram the U-510.  The Belfast and Javelin advance to G5, the Rodney’s formation to G6, and the lone Croome to F5.  The Glorious and its escorts remain in place.  The Bf109s deploys to cover the carrier and the pair of destroyers in H4.  The Martlet deploys to pin the Bf109 over the destroyers while the three Sunderlands go after the two heavy cruisers.  The German flak is devastating, knocking down two of the patrol bombers.  The surviving one lands a hit on the Prinz Eugen.  One Z28 fires at Battleship formation, hitting the Croome with its guns but missing the Jamaica with its torpedoes.  The other Z28 is unable to target the ramming Croome with its guns through the squall.  The two German heavy cruisers fire their main guns at the Jamaica, but only the Blücher lands a hit, crippling the British cruiser.  The Blücher’s seconaries do manage to cripple the bold British destroyer, but the Prinz Eugen’s secondaries are unable to finish off the ship through the squall.  Both heavy cruisers even try to land torpedo hits on the Croome, but both miss.  The crippled Nürnberg tries to finish off the Croome with its guns, but also can’t target effectively in the weather.  The torpedo attacks from the Nürnberg and its Z28 escort both miss the Belfast.  The T27 then produces a smoke screen, protecting the heavy cruisers from return fire.  Without the bigger ships to focus on, the British concentrate on destroying the smaller ones.  The Croome, after using the cover from the squall so effectively, manages to land a vital hit with a depth charge on the U-510.  The Belfast, adept at fighting in these conditions sinks the Nürnberg with its main guns and cripples the T27 with its secondaries.  The Croome in the Rodney’s formation then finishes off the smoke producing German destroyer.  The Croome in F5 fires and manages to hit and cripple the Z28 in the squall.  The Jamaica is unable to target that Z28 through the squall with its main guns to finish it off, but is successful with its secondaries.  The Rodney blow up the ZG3 with its main guns, but neither its secondaries, or the combined gunnery and torpedoes form the Javelin can target the remaining Z28 through the smoke screen.  The Squalls move to A4, F4, and F5.

Turn 4: The British win initiative.  The Nordmark again has engine trouble, so the Graf Zepplin leaves it behind and moves to K4 while the Auxiliary follows at its best speed, ending up in K5.  The Blücher and Prinz Eugen pull back to I3 and the Z28 retreats to I4.  The Rodney and Belfast combine in I5 while the crippled Jamaica and Croome combine with the Javelin in G5.  The undamaged Croome advances to H5 and the carrier formation moves to E4.  The Bf109s both deploy to cover the heavy cruisers, drawing in the Martlet, but the Sunderland goes after the Nordmark.  The dogfight has no lasting effects, but the Nordmark suffers a bomb hit from the Sunderland.  The Blücher and Prinz Eugen both fire at the Belfast, with the latter scoring a hit, crippling the British cruiser.  The Z28 fails to either finish off the Belfast with its guns or damage the Rodney with its torpedoes.  The Nordmark tries its hand at sinking the British cruiser, but fails.  It is finally the Graf Zeppelin which manages to land a hit and sink the British cruiser.  The Belfast in return misses the German carrier with its main guns and torpedo, but hits the Z28 with its secondaries.  The Croome tries to finish off the Z28, but fails.  The Rodney succeeds in hitting the German carrier with its main guns and finishes off the German destroyer with its secondaries.  The Javelin produces a smoke screen.  The squalls move to B5, E4, and G5.

Turn 5: The British win initiative.  The Graf Zeppelin moves up to K2 and the Nordmark to K3.  The Blücher and Prinz Eugen move to I4.  The Rodney’s engines fail to produce maximum steam so the Battleship is limited to advancing to I5.  The Croome makes a mad rush, ending up in J4.  The Jamaica and Javelin advance out of the smoke to H5 and the Glorious’s formation advances to G4.  The Bf109s deploy to protect the Graf Zeppelin and Nordmark and the British send both planes after the latter ship.  Despite the Martlets escort of the Sunderland, the Bf109 knocks it out of the air. The Nordmark and Graf Zeppelin combine to sink the Croome while the Prinz Eugen and Graf Zeppelin sink the Jamaica and Javelin with their secondaries.  The torpedo attacks from the German cruisers, however, fail to damage the Rodney.  Both cruiser fire their main guns at the Glorious, but only the Blücher is able to target through the smoke and hit the carrier.  The Rodney fires its main guns at the Graf Zeppelin, landing a vital hit and blowing up the carrier.  Both fighters, however, make it back to land.  The battleships secondaries cripple the Prinz Eugen and while the combined gunnery from the Jamaica and Javelin fail to hit the German heavy cruiser, the torpedo from the Javelin finishes off the ship.  The Croome manages to land a hit on the Nordmark with its guns before going  down.  The squalls move to C4, F4, and G3.

Turn 6: With most of the British bonuses gone, the Germans win initiative.  The Rodney and damaged Croome combine in H5 and the carrier group moves into the squall in F4.  The Nordmark escapes but the Blücher attempts to avenge the loss of the German carrier by sinking the British one and moves to G3.  The Martlet deploys to F4 while the three He 111s and the Kondor all go after the Rodney in H4.  The Martlet uses Combat Air Patrol to redeploy to cover the battleship.  Flak manages to abort one of the He 111s, but the remaining planes get their torpedoes off at the Rodney.  All miss.  Between inaccuracy and the weather, the Blücher is unable to hit the Glorious.  The Rodney manages to hit and then cripple the Blücher with its guns, but none of the fire from the other British ships is effective at hitting the cruiser within the squall.  The squalls move to D4, F3, and G3.

Turn 7: The Germans win initiative.  The Glorious moves alone, behind the island and under the squall to D4.  The Rodney moves to H4, the Euryalus and Croome move to F4, and the crippled Croome moves to G4. The Blücher moves to F3, hidden from the Rodney’s guns.  The German ship is unable to target the Euryalus with its weapons and is in turn missed due to weather effects by the British light cruiser.  The Croome, however, manages to land a hit with its guns and sinks the German cruiser.

Surviving British Forces:

HMS Rodney (1 dmg)

HMS Glorious (2 dmg)

HMS Euryalus

HMS Croome (crip)

HMS Croome

Martlet Mk.IIC

Surviving German Forces:

Nordmark (2 dmg)

He 111 (x3)

FW 200 Kondor

Bf109 (x2)

After Action (UK): By far the worst day in RAF history, suffering move losses in one battle than typical for an entire six month period.  Considering by how much the British forces outnumbered the German ones, it was somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory, but taking the sector was important, as was the destruction of the German carrier.

Battle Report - Sector 33, Fall 1942

Sector 33, Fall 1942

British Forces:

     HMS Warspite

     HMS Victorious

          Martlet Mk.II

          Hurricane Mk.IIC

     HMS Jamaica

     HMS Cleopatra

     HMS Croome (x2)

     Land Based Air (2-turn re-arming)

          Fairey Fulmar

     Land Based Air (2-turn re-arming)

          Sunderland Mk.I

German Forces:

     Gneisenau

     Admiral Hipper

     Blücher

     Nürnberg

     Köln (x2)

     Karlsruhe

     ZG3

     T27

     Z28

     U-66

     Land Based Air (2-turn re-arming)

          FW190

          BV138

The weather is fine and there are four islands on the map (G5-G6, C5, E3, and J3).   Standard 25-point objectives are in F1, F4, and F7.

START: The Warspite, Jamaica, and a Croome start together in A5 while the Victorious, Cleopatra, and the other Croome start together in A7.  The Gneisenau and Karlsruhe begin in K4, the two Kölns in K5, the Hipper and ZG3 in K7, and the Blücher and Nürnberg in K6.  The T27 and Z28 begin in K3 while the U66 starts in G4.  The Kölns use Lead the Attack to move to I4.

Turn 1: The Germans win initiative.  The Warspite’s formation moves to C4.  The Kölns combine with the U-66 ion H4 while the other units advance, the Gneisenau’s formation to I3, the T27’s to I4, the Blücher’s to I5 and the Hipper’s to I7.  The Hurrice, escorted by the Martlet goes after the Kölns in H4 while the Sunderland deploys to G7.  The FW190 moves to defend the cruisers while the BV133 deploys to I3, under cover of the battleship’s guns.  The FW190 aborts the Hurricane while the Sunderland mines G7.  The Warspite and Gneisenau take long shots at each other, but both miss. 

Turn 2: The British win initiative.  The Hipper’s formation moves into H7 where the Hipper hits a mine and is crippled.  The Kölns move to F3, the Gneisenau’s formation to G3 and the two destroyers to H4.  The Blücher’s formation combines with the U-66 in G4.  The Jamaica and Croome leave the Warspite and move back to B4, leaving the battleship to face the German guns alone.  The Hurricane and Sunderland go after the Kölns, with the Fulmar shadowing from E3.  The Sunderland is aborted by flak, but the Hurricane lands a hit on one of the cruisers.  The big ships exchange fire, but while the Warspite and Blücher both miss, the Gneisenau lands a hit on its British counterpart. 

Turn 3: The Germans win initiative.  The Warspite, slowed by engine trouble, combines back with its escorts in C3.  The Hipper’s formation crawls ahead to F7.  The Kölns advance to D3.  The Gneisenau’s formation moves to E4 and the Blücher’s to E5.  The destroyers combine with the U-66 in F4.  The Hurricane and Sunderland go after the Hipper, but are both aborted by German flak.  The Warspite hits the Gneisenau with its main guns, but misses a Köln with its secondaries and tertiaries.  The Jamaica hits the undamaged Köln with its main guns, misses with its secondaries, then finishes off the cruiser with its torpedo attack.  The Croome cripples the remaining Köln with its guns.  The Nürnberg misses the Jamaica with its main guns, but the Karlsruhe lands a hit.  The two Kölns fire their guns at the Jamaica, one managing to land a hit and cripple with cruiser, while both land hits on the Warspite with their torpedoes.  The Gneisenau cripples the Warspite with its main guns and sinks the Jamaica with its secondaries.  Its tertiaries, however, miss the Croome.  The Blücher takes a long range shot at the Victorious, but misses.

Turn 4: The Germans win initiative.  The crippled Warspite leaves its remaining escort, the Croome, and advances to D4, wanting to do as much damage as possible before going down.  The carrier formation moves to A6 to try to keep the island between it and at least some of the incoming German ships.  The Hipper’s formation advances to E7.  The Blücher’s formation advances to C6 and the Gneisenau’s to C4.  The crippled Köln moves to D4.  The destroyers, still grouped with the U-66, advance to E4.  Both the Sunderland and Hurricane, escorted by the Martlet go after the Blücher, which is defended by the FW190.  The Nürnberg’s flak knocks down the Sunderland but the Hurricane gets through, landing a hit on the Blücher.  The northern Croome manages to sink the crippled Köln.  The Warspite opens up, missing the Gneisenau with its main guns.  The battleship fires its remaining guns at the Nürnberg, but only the secondaries hit.  The Victorious misses the Blücher with its main guns, but the Cleopatra is able to land a hit on the German cruiser, crippling it.  The Croome attempts to finish off the German cruiser, but misses.  The Cleopatra then manages to cripple the Karlsruhe with its torpedo.  The Gneisenau’s tertiaries and the crippled Köln combine to sink the northern Croome while the cruiser’s dying torpedo attack sinks the Warspite.  The Karlsruhe, the Blücher, and the secondaries from the Gneisenau combine to sink the Cleopatra.  The Karlsruhe and Nürnberg combine to sink the southern Croome.  The Gneisenau then lands a hit on the British carrier with its main guns.

Turn 5: The Germans win initiative.  The Victorious moves to A7 to create as much space as possible while still hugging the end-line.  The Blücher’s formation advances to B7, the Hipper’s to D7, and the Gneisenau’s to B6.  The two German destroyers move to D6.  The Hurricane and strafing Martlet go after the Blücher, with the Fulmar shadowing from B8.  The two attacking planes dodge the flak, but neither lands a hit, despite the 10-die bomb attack of the Hurricane.  The Victorious manages to sink the Blücher with its guns then faces a barrage of fire from every German weapon in range.  Luckily, only the main guns from the Blücher and Gneisenau land hits, crippling but not destroying the carrier.

Turn 6: The Victorious escapes.

Surviving British Forces:

HMS Victorious (crip)

Martlet Mk.II

Fairey Fulmar

Hurricane Mk.IIC

Surviving German Forces:

Gneisenau (1 dmg)

Nürnberg (1 dmg)

Admiral Hipper (crip)

Karlsruhe (crip)

ZG3

T27

Z28

U-66

FW190

BV138

After Action (UK): Both my gunnery and bombing were generally poor and leaving his battleship effectively untouched while mine went down was a tough pill to swallow.  It quickly turned into just trying to cripple or kill as many of his cruisers as possible before my entire fleet was destroyed.  The escape of the Victorious was a nice bonus, but hardly makes up for how bad of a loss it was.

Battle Report - Sector 32, Fall 1942

Sector 32, Fall 1942

British Forces:

     HMS Warspite

     HMS Illustrious

          Martlet Mk. II

          Hurricane Mk. IIC

     HMS Cleopatra

     HMS Jamaica

     HMS Croome (x2)

     Land-Based Air (2 turn re-arming)

          Fairey Fulmar

     Land-Based Air (4 turn re-arming)

          Sunderland Mk. I

German Forces:
     Bismarck
     Blücher
     Admiral Graf Spee (x2)
     Köln (x2)
     ZG3
     U-66
     Land-Based Air (2 turn re-arm)
          Bf109
          Ju87E 'Stuka'
          Ju88A-4
          FW 200 Kondor
     Land-Based Air (4 turn re-arm)
          Do-24T-1

The weather is fine with two islands on the map (J7, H2+I2).  Three 25-point objectives were placed in the standard locations (F2, F5, and F8).

START: The Kölns and the ZG3 start in K1, the two Graf Spees start in K3 and the Bismarck and Blücher start in K4.  The U-66 starts in G1.  The Illustrious forms up with the Cleopatra and a Croome in A1 with the Warspite, Jamaica, and the other Croome below them in A2.  The Kölns use their lead the attack to move to J2.

Turn 1: The British win initiatives.  The Kölns advance to H4.  The Spees combine with the ZG3 in J2 and the Bismarck's formation moves to I4.  The U-66 advances to H1.  The Warspite's formation moves to C3 while the carrier formation remains in place.  The Ju87 and Ju88,  escorted by a Bf109 attack the battleship group in C3.  The British send the Hurricane and Martlet to defend.  The Sunderland goes after the u-boat.  The Kondor deploys to B2, in order to use its missile and the Do-24 deploys to B3 to use its Shadowing ability.  The combined air and flak aborts both German bombers.  The Sunderland's ASW attack misses the u-boat but the anti-ship missile from the Kondor hits the Illustrious.  The Warspite takes a long range shot at the Bismarck and hits, importantly removing its range-4 ability.

Turn 2: The British win initiative.  The Spees join the u-boat in H1 while the Bismarck's formation moves to G4.  The Kölns advance to H6.  The Jamaica moves back to B3, out of range of the big cruiser guns while the other ships remain in place.  The Sunderland, Hurricane and strafing Martlet all go after the Kölns, supported by the Fulmar in G6.  The Hurricane is aborted by flak but the other two planes, aided by the Fulmar's shadowing cripple one of the Kölns.  The surface gunnery is ineffective with the Blücher missing the Warspite and the British battleship missing the Bismarck in return.

Turn 3: The British win initiative.  The Bismarck's formation advances to F5, the two Spees advance to F2 and the Kölns stay together and move to G6.  The u-boat moves to G1.  The Jamaica rejoins the Warspite's formation in D2 while the carrier again remains in place.  The Sunderland, Hurricane and strafing Martlet again go after the Kölnss in G6.  The Sunderland's attack is aborted by flak but the Hurricane's bombs sink the crippled Köln Koln .  The Blücher misses the Jamaica with its main guns while the ZG3 hits and cripples the Croome.  Both Graf Spees fire their main guns on the Warpsite, scoring one hit.  The Spee secondaries fire at the Jamaica, scoring one hit.  The Croome hits the ZG3 with its guns and the Jamaica's secondaries finish off the German destroyer.  The Jamaica's main guns hit one of the Graf Spees.  The Warspite opens up, scoring a vital hit and destroying the undamaged Graf Spee and crippling the other one with its secondaries.  It's tertiaries and the torpedo from the Jamaica both miss the crippled Heavy Cruiser.

Turn 4: The Germans win initiative.  The Warspite's formation stays together and retreats to D3.  The crippled Spee advances to E2, the Bismarck's formation moves to E3, and the lone Köln moves to F5.  The U-66 moves to F2.  The Sunderland deploys to F2 to go after the u-boat and the Hurricane goes after the crippled Graf Spee in E2.  The Bf109 flies to E2 to protect the cruiser while Ju87, Ju88,Do-24, and Kondor all deploy to  D3 to go after the Battleship formation.  The British Martlet moves to cover the Battleship.  The Martlet downs the Stuka while the Kondor's attack is aborted by Flak.  In turn, the Bf109 knocks down the Hurricane. The Sunderland's ASW attack cripples the U-66.  The Ju88 and Do24 both miss the Jamaica.  The Croome fires at the Graf Spee, sinking it.  The Warspite hits the Bismarck with its main guns and the Blücher with its secondaries.  The Jamaica's main guns miss the Bismarck but its torpedo attack scores a hit.  The Germans fire a barrage of guns at the crippled Jamaica with the Köln's guns, the Blücher's secondaries and the Graf Spee's secondaries all missing until finally the Bismarck's secondaries finish off the British cruiser.  The Bismarck's tertiaries also finish off the Croome.  The Bismarck's main guns, however, are not as fortunate, missing the Warspite as do the main guns of the Graf Spee.  The Blücher ignores the Warspite and takes a longer shot at the Illustrious, scoring a hit.  All of the German ships able to launch torpedoes at the Warspite, but all miss, as does the one launched from the U-66.

Turn 5: The British win initiative.  The Bismarck and  Blücher advance to C2 while the U-66 and  Köln move to E2 and E3 respectively.  The British ships remain in place.  The Sunderland and strafing Martlet go after the remaining Köln, supported by the Fulmar in D3.  The German flak is ineffective, allowing the Sunderland to score a hit on the cruiser.  The Köln's main guns sink the crippled Jamaica and the  Blücher's secondaries cripple the Croome in the carrier formation.  The Bismarck's tertiaries score a hit on the Cleopatra, but its secondaries miss the Illustrious.  The  main guns from the Blücher and Bismarck fire at the carrier, but only the latter's hit, crippling it.  The Blücher's torpedo misses the Warspite.  The British return fire is effective.  The Cleopatra's guns cripple the Blücher's  while its torpedoes cripple the Bismarck.  The Croome's gunners are highly accurate, hitting and sinking the Blücher at range.  The Warspite's secondaries cripple the Köln and its main guns sink the Bismarck.

Turn 6: The British win initiative.  The Köln and U-66 combine in D3.  The crippled Illustrious and Croome retreats off the map.  The Cleopatra advances to B2 while the Warspite remains in place.   The Sunderland goes after the U-66, avoiding the German flack and sinking the U-boat.  The Köln misses the Cleopatra with its guns and falls to the Warspite's gunnery.

Surviving British Forces:
HMS Warspite (1 dmg)
HMS Illustrious (crip)
HMS Cleo (1 dmg)
HMS Croome (crip)
Sunderland Mk.I
Martlet Mk.II
Fairey Fulmar

Surviving German Forces:
Bf109
Ju88A-4
FW 200 Kondor
Do-24T-1

After Action (UK): A good but bloody win, helped by some careful maneuvering early on and bad German gunnery later in the fight.