Battle Report - Sector 31, Fall 1942

Sector 31, Fall 1942

British Forces:
     HMS Glorious
          Martlet Mk. II
          Sea Hurricane Mk. IIC
     HMS Neptune
     HMS Jamaica
     HMS Javelin (x2)
     HMS Croome (x5)
     Submarine (based on Greek Proteus)
     Land-based Air (2 turn re-arming)
          Swordfish Mk. II
          Fairey Fulmar
     Land-based Air (4 turn-arming)
          Sunderland Mk. I
          Bristol Blenheim Mk. IV
          Halifax GR Mk. V

German Forces:
     Admiral Scheer (x2)
     Blücher
     Karlsruhe
     Z-28 (x3)
     Z-20 Karl Galster
     U-66
     Land-Based (2 turn re-arming)
          Bf 109 (x2)
          FW 200 Kondor
     Land-Based (4 turn re-arming)
          He 111 (x3)
          FW 200 Kondor

The weather is fine with no islands on the map. Three 25-point objectives were placed in the standard locations (F2, F5, and F8).

START: The Karlsruhe and a Z28 start in K1, a Scheer and the Galster in K2, the Blücher and a Z28 in K3, and the second Scheer with a Z28 in K4.  The U-66 starts in G3.  The Glorious and two Croomes start in A7 while the Neptune, the Jamaica and a Croome start below them in A65.  The remaining detroyers, two Javelin and two Croomes are paired, one of each respectively, in A5 and A6.  The British submarine starts in E5. 

TURN 1: The Germans win initiative.  The Glorious's formation moves to B6, the Cruisers to C6 and the two destroyer groups move to C4 and C5.  In response, the Karlruhe's formation moves to I1, the Galser's to I2, the Blücher's to I3, and the last Scheer's group to I4.  The U-66 moves back to H4.  The three He111s, escorted by a Bf 109 go after the carrier group, who sends the Hurricane up to defend.  The Sunderland, Halifax and Sworfish, escorted by the Martlet go after the Scheer-Z28 formation in I4.  The Germns send a Bf109 to help defend the ships.  Both Kondors deploy to B5, well within missile range and the Fulmar flies to meet them.  The Blenheim manages to go after the U-boat in H4 without facing any German air.  The fighting over the Glorious is heavy, with the carrier's flak knocking down an He111 and the other two aborted by the fighter and remaining flak.  It is equally intense above the Scheer as the Swordfish and Halifax are aborted by flak while the Bf109 knocks the Sunderland out of the sky.  The Fulmar is able to abort one of the Kondors but the other hits the Glorious with its Anti-Ship Missile.  The Blenheim's ASW attack misses the u-boat.  The Martlet returns to the land base while the Swordfish takes its place, alongside the Hurricane, on the carrier.

TURN 2: The British win initiative.  The Karlsruhe's formation advances to H1, the Galster's to H3, the Blücher's to H4, and the second Scheer's to H5.  The U-66 remains in H4, wanting to benefit from the cover of the flak guns on the Blücher.  The British cruisers advance to E6,  while the two destroyer groups move to D5 and D6.  Both the carrier formation and the submarine remain in place.  The Hurricane and Swordfish go after the Admiral Scheer in H5.  While the Swordfish is aborted, the Hurricane manages to damage the Scheer with its bomb attack. The Blücher misses the Jamaica with its main guns, but the damaged Scheer gets a vital hit on the British cruiser, destroying it.  The Scheer's secondaries and the guns of the Z28 combine to sink the Croome.  The Neptune returns fire, using Escort Killer to cripple both the Scheer and the Z28 but the Jamaica fails to hit the crippled heavy cruiser before going down.  The British submarine also misses with its torpedo attack.

TURN 3: The Germans win initiative.  The two Javelins separate and move to E5 and E6 while the Neptune combines with the two Croomes in D7.  The Glorious's formation moves up to B7  while the submarine remains in place.  The Karlsruhe's formation moves to E2.  The Blücher, the undamaged Adm. Scheer and the Galster combine in E3.  The two crippled units combine with the U-boat in H4 and the orphaned Z28 advances to E5 to go after the submarine.  The Hurricane and Swordfish move in to finish off the cripples but are both aborted by flak.  The Neptune cripples the Z28 and the torpedo from one of the Javelins finishes it off.  The Javelin in E5 produces a smoke screen.   The ASW attack by the Z28 misses.  The Blücher is unable to target the Javelin through the smoke, but the Scheer is and blows the destroyer to pieces with a vital hit.  The submarine performs a risky attack against the Scheer but misses.

TURN 4: The Germans win initiative.  The British submarine moves to E4, the Javelin move back to D6 and the carrier group moves back to D8. The Neptune's group moves down to F8.  The Karlsruhe's move to D4, the Blücher and Scheer to E4 while the crippled ships and the submarine move back to G4.   The Swordfish and Hurricane, escorted by the Martlet go after the cripples in G4, countered by one of the Bf109s.  The Kondor, escorted by the other Bf109 deploys to D7 where they are met by the Fulmar.  The Swordfish is aborted by flak, but the Hurricane sinks the crippled Scheer with its bombs.  The Fulmar is able to abort the Kondor before it can get its missile off.  The Galster is able to sink the British submarine with its ASW attack while the Karlsruhe and Z28 fire at the Javelin, which had produced smoke to defend itself.  The smoke renders the cruiser's attack ineffective, but the destroyer is able to land a hit, crippling its British counterpart.

TURN 5: The Germans win initiative.  The carrier group moves back to B8, the Javelin moves to C6, while the Neptune's group moves up to E6.    This creates a situation in which the Germans must choose carefully if they want to get a shot at the carrier.  Choosing aggressively, the Blücher, Scheer and Galster advance to E6 while the Karlsruhe and Z28 move to E4.  The crippled Z28 and u-boat move to F5.   The Swordfish and Hurricane go after the Karlsruhe in E3, but the German flak aborts both planes.  The Neptune fires, missing the Karl Galster but hitting the Scheer.  One Croome misses the Scheer, but the other cripples the Galster.  The last Javelin forgoes smoke to attack the Galster with its guns and the Scheer with its torpedo, but misses with both.  The return fire sinks the Javelin and cripples both Croomes.  The Blücher and Scheer concentrate on the Glorious, but only succeed in hitting once.  All of the torpedoes in range and the Blücher's secondaries go after the Neptune, but only the guns hit. 

TURN 6: The Germans win initiative.  The Glorious and her escorts escape.  The Neptune retreats to C7 while the crippled Croomes pull back to D7.  The two crippled German destroyers move to F6, the u-boat moves to E5, and the Karlsruhe and Z28 move to D4.  The Blücher and Scheer advance to E4.  The Croomes' gunnery is ineffective against the crippled German units, but their return fire easily sinks the British ships.  The Neptune, however, uses Escort Killer to finish off both destroyers.  The Blücher fires its main guns at the Neptune, but misses. 

TURN 7: The British win initiative.  The Karlsruhe and Z28 move to C5 while the heavy cruisers and the u-boat move to D6.  The Neptune retreats to A7.  The Neptune uses Escort Killer to cripple the Z28 but misses the Scheer.  In return, the Scheer cripples the Neptune but all of the other German fire is unable to sink the British ship.

TURN 8: The crippled Neptune escapes off the map.

Surviving British Forces:
HMS Glorious (2 dmg)
HMS Croome (x2)
HMS Neptune (criplped) 
Swordfish Mk. II
Fairey Fulmar
Bristol Blenheim Mk. IV
Halifax GR Mk. V

Surviving German Forces:
Admiral Scheer (1 dmg) 
Blücher
Karlsruhe

Z-28 (crippled)
U-66

Bf 109 (x2)

FW 200 Kondor (x2)

He111 (x2)

After Action (UK): It was a slow and disappointing start to the battle; I had been expecting to be finishing off his second formation at the time I was actually finishing off the first one.  Considering the bad start, though, I am pleased with being able to salvage what I could from the battle.  The escape of the Neptune, especially, was a newsworthy story of brash cunning and luck.