"The Duel" – Action Stations Battle Report
Canadian Flower Class Corvette vs. Type VIIC U-Boat
Copyright 2007
Robert G. Kent, Jr.
Forces
1 x Canadian Flower Class Corvette, HMCS Moosejaw, commanded by Lt. A. Harvey
versus
1 x Type VIIC U-Boat, U-372, commanded by OberleutnantzurSee Friedrich Weber
Weather Conditions – poor, during the winter of 1943, in the North Atlantic, with limited visibility, due to stormy seas, low clouds, and fog – maximum visibility range during the day is 1,400 yds. Air cover provided by long-range patrol planes is not available, due to the poor visibility, and low cloud ceiling.
A Canadian Flower class corvette, HMCS Moosejaw, commanded by Lt. A. Harvey has been escorting an eastbound convoy south of Greenland for some time now, and numerous u-boats have been in contact for the past few days. Several vessels from the convoy have been sunk, and just last night the Moosejaw ran down a Huff-Duff contact, and forced a u-boat to submerge, and then pounded her for a while with several depth charge attacks.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy seas, and challenging conditions, the outcome of last night's attack could not be confirmed.
U-372, a Type VIIC boat has been shadowing the allied convoy for the past few days. As darkness approached, she reported the position, course, and speed of the convoy to B-Dienst, as required by standing orders, and alerted other u-boat commanders in the area that she intended to make a night, surface attack. Shortly afterwards, while attempting to close on the vessels, in darkness, from the starboard quarter, an allied escort vessel was spotted, rapidly closing in from the port bow, so OberleutnantzurSee Friedrich Weber chose to dive in order to evade the corvette's attack.
The enemy escort pounded them for several hours with depth charges, before departing the scene, but fortunately, no serious damage was done to his submarine.
Due to the heavy seas, the convoy was able to make little headway overnight, so U-372 was able to easily catch up and is now positioned to make another try, this time during the poor visibility conditions afforded by the heavy storm, during daylight hours. Her rendezvous with the convoy was greatly aided by reports from the other u-boats in the area, who are also stalking the convoy, as well. Standard procedure is for the first boat in contact with a convoy to report in to B-Dienst, so that other u-boats from the local, and other more distant wolfpacks can be vectored in on the enemy vessels.
Oblt.zS Weber has decided that he dislikes being pounded by depth charges from above, without the ability to reply in kind effectively against his enemy. He has decided that this time he will fight it out on the surface, where he believes that the superior maneuverability of his submarine, the expertise of his gun crews, and the fact that he has torpedoes which can be used against his enemy give him the edge in these heavy seas, not to mention his confidence that under his excellent leadership, his superbly trained crew cannot fail. Once the enemy escort vessel has been sunk, he believes he will be able to easily move in to launch an unmolested attack on the cargo ships, with virtual immunity, and then to dive to safety, before the other escort vessels can react, since they are stretched very thin.
It should be interesting to see if Weber's arrogance will be proved accurate, or not. No doubt, he is staking both his life, and the lives of his crew members on their success.
Once again, an enemy corvette is sighted off of the port bow by U-372's lookouts, atop the spray-washed conning tower. Weber thinks that it seems as if the allied escorts are omniscient, and know just where to look for him, which is a bit unsettling, especially since no radar signal was detected by the Naxos receiver atop the conning tower. Maybe its effectiveness has been compromised by the heavy rains, and continuous sea-spray.
Moosejaw is closing at her maximum speed of 16 knots, on a direct bearing to the submarine, bobbing like a cork in the heavy seas, while the U-Boat is cruising at 12 knots, in order to conserve fuel, and knifing through the large, storm-tossed, gray-green waves. The corvette's crew has once again obtained a strong Huff-Duff signal, and is steaming quickly to investigate it. Spray is flying everywhere, soaking the crews of both vessels, and chilling them to the bone.
Nevertheless, Weber quickly orders his crew manning the 88mm gun to open fire. Shortly afterwards, and before his gun crew can respond to his orders on the drenched foredeck, he sees a flash, and puff of smoke from the forward gun on the Flower class escort vessel. Lt. Harvey's 4" gun crew is first off the mark, getting off the first salvo in the battle. The range is approximately 1,400 yds. when the initial salvoes are fired from each vessel, and both miss wide of their targets.
The corvette jinks slightly to the right, and then back to the left. Obviously, her commander is a bit paranoid about torpedoes, and wants to sidestep any "fish" that may be in the water, and unseen, but the maneuvering is also making it difficult for his gun crew to line up on the u-boat.
Oblt.zS Weber decides not to launch a torpedo, or torpedoes at this distance, towards the corvette, since it is presenting its bow aspect to him, and no doubt, the vessel will be expecting them, and may sight his "eels" in the water. Besides, he must conserve most of his torpedoes for more valuable targets, but he is not against launching one if the corvette's captain makes a mistake at close range, and presents him with a promising opportunity to send her to the bottom.
As the vessels close on one another rapidly, another salvo is fired from each main gun, and both manage to hit home, doing some minor hull damage to both the u-boat, and the corvette, and knocking out the starboard 20mm cannon on board the u-boat's conning tower.
Weber orders his u-boat turned sharply to the left, to open up his flank, in order to permit all of his guns to bear on the target, and to keep the corvette from closing the range too quickly, but all of this maneuvering is really just a ruse to draw in the allied vessel, since he hopes to use his superior speed and maneuverability to gain the advantage over his opponent, in order to sink her with one well-placed stern tube torpedo shot.
He rationalizes that he can always dive, if that doesn't work, and elude the corvette, just as he did on the previous night.
The Moosejaw curves a bit more to port (left), and then turns back to starboard, in a long, continuous turn, hoping to be able to dodge any "fish" that may already be in the water, heading his way. If hit by one, the small escort will almost certainly be sunk immediately, and in these frigid waters, behind the convoy, there is little hope of rescue, or survival for his crew members.
Meanwhile, U-372 turns back hard to starboard, so the two vessels are now only 1,150 yds. apart, and just short of being roughly abeam of one another, on reciprocal headings.
They are both trying to unmask all of their guns, in order to be able to bring maximum firepower to bear on their targets.
The Moosejaw's crew fires again, resulting in a lucky hit on the sub's hydroplanes, preventing her from diving, and doing more damage to her hull, as well as causing a slight fire on board. A hit from the aft 2 Pdr. results in a machinery hit on the sub, reducing her speed by 50%. Due to previous flooding, the u-boat's maximum speed is now reduced to 7 knots.
The expletives from ObltzS Weber are now flying fast and furious, and the young men in the conning tower with him learn many new, colorful words to add to their salty vocabulary. Weber seems even more focused and energized than ever now, despite the unlucky hits to his vessel, and they are confident in his ability to defeat their Canadian foes.
The 88mm and 37mm gun crews on the u-boat are inspired by their commander's leadership, and intensity in battle, and their aim is true. The 88mm shells strike home on the corvette, doing more hull damage to her, and knocking out the vessels starboard, bridge mounted 20mm cannon. In addition, the 37mm shells strike home in the same area, hitting the corvette's helmsman, and causing the vessel to have to move straight ahead, on her current bearing at a critical moment in the battle.
At this point, we have to adjourn for intermission, but will conclude the write-up in about a week, once we are able to conclude our fight. I can't wait to see how this little skirmish turns out. I hope you have enjoyed the battle account so far.
It's time for a nice hot shower, and a warm cup of hot chocolate, to try to stave off the chilling effects of the North Atlantic, and to get rid of the salty grime on my face, caused by the heavy sea-spray over the foredeck.
The above battle was fought in about 30 – 45 minutes of play-time, using Action Stations rules.
Please feel free to e-mail me at the address below, if you have any questions about the rules, scenario, or the miniatures we used for the battle.
Best regards,
Rob
Topgun Marketing LLC
topgunace111 AT yahoo DOT com
