"AAR .. Sept 43' Allied Convoy intercepted" Topic

Had a great time as always!

So here is what you all missed out on……

Sept, 1943….Convoy TN-101, consisting of 8 merchants, 3 DD's and a heavy escort (BB Nelson), having spent 10 days unmolested at sea, came upon a harsh change in luck on their last full night out. With less than 20 hours left in their mission, their luck ran out. Intercepting them were an inumerable amount of U-boats, and a surface raiding force (CL Leipzig, DD's; Kuhne, Galster, Heidcamp and Jacobi). Visibility was extremely low, with no moon, and very little else to go by, one could barely see 16" in front of them. Radar contacts were made simultaneously. And several times shots were fired at extreme ranges, but little was done in damage… though some illuminescent shells were purported to give a visual edge, both sides, experienced sailors quickly avoided being seen for a prolonged period of time. The Leipzig tried to shell several contacts but failed to correctly range in, However HMS hero, the stawarth that she was, gave a pounding to the Gerries with first blood, smashing a shot into the Jacobi. But darkness was the true deterrant, and radar ranging and guidance proved an infant tool at best…. as more misses were drawn. Pings on the sonar gave away hidden dangers from below as several U-boats tried to sneak past the Allied screen and launch their attacks only to have them foiled by the alert British crews. 2 such attacks were driven away, with one Type IX U-boat seeking deeper depth, thus taking himself out of the fight. The other encroaching marauder (type IX), loosed his 4 Torps at the port screening DD Jarvis, but evasive maneuvers or perhaps mistaken shadows, granted a short reprieve as all 4 torpedoes speed past … but not so lucky for the Merchant who swung too wide, behind him, as 2 torpedoes slammed hard into her port side. The first torpedo, tore into her and left her listing hard to port, whilst the second hit with even more destructive force, sinking her out-right… no survivors were seen. Meanwhile the Jarvis, retaliates to the hidden demon, and delivers on target, causing immense damage to the U-boat. Sufficient enough, to make it surface. Startled, and clinging to life the U-boat crew makes a dash for the night, but not without giving one last shot from her rear tubes to drive away the British attacker … this was the UBoats night, as 1 torpedo catches the Jarvis in the Port quarter, tearing into her, a catastrophic explosion is heard as the British bulldog is ripped apart and quickly sinks beneath the waves,…Meanwhile the U-boat slips away to make repairs.
The Convoy presses on….. now even more determined to keep up their zigzagging, the merchants begin scanning the seas for more intruders. More wakes are seen inbound, and the DD's strike back, no hits on the convoy and another U-boat is driven down in depth, but not sunk. The Surface raiders keep attempting to illuminate the convoy and better their shots, as they continually close the range… meanwhile HMS Nelson, holds fire, trying not to disclose its presence. Range down to 50", 40" …. 30" …. 20 … 18" the lead elements of the Convoy become unveiled as the raiders split their forces around an atoll, 2 DD's (Jacobi and Kuhne) attempt to cut off the Convoy starboard, whilst the other 3 raiders head to the Port. The HMS Hero, will not have any of this, and Hammers the Leipzig, causing critical damage to her steering/rudder.. she is an easy shot for torps now… and HMS Hero, senses that… letting loose all her fish, she hopes to strike a fatal blow to the larger raider. But this will come at a cost. For as she saw the raiders… they too saw her. And now, they exchange silent death into the waters below, as both sides exchange fire and loose torps at one another. All three gun shots by the Germans miss the HMS Hero, but she slams the Leipzig once again for good measure. On the other side of the atoll, the Kuhne and the Jacobi, are in a target rich envornment, but are having difficulty in delivering a devisive blow to any of them. The british in desparation are shooting any and everything they got, merchants are returning fire as well. Some shells find the jacobi, but not much is done in damage. again, here both sides unleash ther underwater hounds, as they vy for better positions. But all for nought, it seems for the Germans …. as one torp finds its target on an unsuspecting freighter, ripping a hole in its port side, causing it to list and slow , but not enough to sink her. Meanwhile the torpdeos launched by HMS Hunter to ward off the Kuhne and Jacobi finds the Kuhne… tearing a hole in her Starboard side she begins to list and slow.
HMS Hero, has an unfortunate equal exchange in ferocity, for as she lauched all she had; 8 Torpedoes… 2 found their target, Leipzig, and in return the Germans fearing this unbrandished ferociuos attacker loosed upon her no less that 14 torpedos, with 2 finding their mark. In Both instances both ships were blow apart, slowly slipping beneath the waves. However in the next turn, it is discovered, after maneuvering even closer to the center of the convoy, that the big blip, is indeed a monster on its own, and the Nelson responds in kind to the 2 unveilers (Jacobi and Kuhne) Literally blowing them out of existance with a shot to each ship. No survivors, no wreckage… no nothing.. They just vanished benathe the waves after the smoke and flames drifted away. Seeing the immense volatility of what happend to their fellow seaman, the remaining 2 German DD's break off, in the face of the superior remaining firepower. However, the Uboat arm, still had one more trick up its sleeve, and attempts to draw down on the remaing DD's. One more U-boat is sunk as its periscope lifts dangerously close to the aft end of the HMS Hunter, but the other in desperation looses it forward tubes and is sighted immediately, and succesfully sent to the depths below in a great display of marksmanship. With barrels…. in a dark ocean. However, the torps find an unwanting recipient, the HMS Hunter, takes 2 hits to her port side, and is last seen going down by the stern, while a previously damaged merchant takes one torpedo hit as well, and goes down quickly.

Hostilities decrease for the night, as the U-boats slip back into the night to regroup. Losses have been heavy for the Germans. A Light Cruiser lost,, 2 DD's, and possibly 3 U-boats and their crews. For the exchange of 2 British DD's, and 3 Merchants. A Tactical victory was declared by the British, and went uncontested. Though not a total victory …. a victory nonetheless!

Thanks again to James and Karl for playing the Axis
Whilst I tried to ward them off as Allied commander.

Believe me it was hard going, to let the Nelson sit there without shooting, to draw them in, as one blow from the those 16" guns would have sunk any German ship if it would have just hit them.

-Troy

What rules and models/scale were used?

oh… sorry!
Rules: General Quarters
Scale: 1/2400
Miniatures: varied (GHQ, nav war, CnC, Viking forge)

Twas a good game!

Judging by the ease in which you incorporated subs while retaining a fair amount of detail, I'm guessing it was the new General Quarters 3?

not really… (I dont have GQ3) … I just made subs work like combat vessels, as best as possible. I had a graph of my table spread for the U-boat commander, to "chart" his movement via the grids (2" X 3") then simply left it to him to be honest in his original placement (and maneuvering) of his subs thereafter. Combat priorities were resolved via dice rolls (initiative), and interception before or during attack was ascertained. Then torps were loosed, and resolved, then gunnery if none had already been fired…etc.. (Also I tend to elaborate/embellish in the AAR's to give the indication of happenstance) Sounds better than "German DD took 1 box of armnament and 2 boxes of hull"…etc…).. I just hope it sounded as entertaining as it actually was… At one point, the German Surface commnader was banging his head (or hand) after, in one turn, instead of shooting at ships with AP/HE, he WHIFFED 5 attempts to get star shells over the Convoy to show what they were… that was when the HMS Hero, blasted one of the German DD's on a luck shot! Which stopped the star shells theory and commenced the barrage of anti-shipping shots!

I try to run an easy game, I used the original GQ rules for the most part. (That is because, that is all I have). We had fun nonetheless. Anyone is welcome to participate in the future.

The game actually lasted about 8 turns, with combat being resolved from turn 1 on! Albeit by radar directed shots, but nonetheless it was still fun …. diabolically decieving, as the Kreigsmarine Surface commander kept saying that if one of the "freighters" turned out to be a BB, he was gone. (Hitlers orders) But it took until turn 6 to lure him in, and close, to confirm the existance of that bad boy, as I refused to shoot him until I was at a deadly range. The killer portion of the game was the visibility (only 16").

Smoothe sailing and hot guns!
-Troy

Hi Troy,

Thanks for sharing your battle report.

It sounds like a lot of fun.

I've been wanting to run some convoy battles for awhile now, so will need to break out the minis, and give it a go.

Adding in the surface units is a nice twist.

Best regards,

Rob