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.