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.
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