"Smoke screens at sea..." Topic

Played a home brewed fast play set of WW2 Naval rules last night and ran into a few snags that we're stumped with. I would like to ask for your help.

We played a convoy escort (with distant [i.e. off board]cover force)opposed by elements of the German surface fleet with long range air support game.

The allied small ships laid a lot of smoke. This effectively hog-tied the surface threat – forcing the Germans to either plunge through the screen (with a "Morale" roll) or to get around it. The convoy turned tail and dispersed with the small escort ships buying time with gunfire, more smoke and self-sacrifice and frantic radio calls for help. The questions:

1. Did ships with smoke have unlimited ability to produce it? If not – how long should we let them?

2. Are allied large surface ships the only ones able "see" through the smoke with their radar? Did small allied ships have it too? Did any Axis ships have the capability? Is the radar tied into the fire control solution process somehow enabling the allies to shoot through the smoke (with some penalty, of course)?

Thanks,
Mike

I just finished reading "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfishcher, and that sounds plausible from the accounts of the exploits of Taffy 3 at Leyte Gulf in terms of smoke generation, with the note that the ship(s) at front laying the smoke are not hidden by it most of the time.

He also describes the inability of the Japanese to target through the smoke, but I am unsure of German capabilities.

US gunnery is also given a lot of credit for being highly accurate. These were all destroyers and destroyer escorts, so definitely on the small side. I'm no naval expert, but if I understood it all, the guns were tied to a central system using radar for targeting.

- Bob

The smoke is produced from the ship's fuel supply. It's not an efficient use of fuel, but the average destroyer runs its engine nonstop for weeks on end, so there's plenty on board. Radar fire control is *better* than visual fire control. Smoke doesn't do anything to it. You may read up on it by looking up USS Washington, particularly in the night actions around Guadalcanal.

If you're close enough to get into the enemy's smoke, you're not in a destroyer battle. Torpedos and 5" guns have ranges measured in miles.

Ships produce smoke by injecting fuel oil into their engine exhaust system. So as long as they had fuel, they could produce smoke. Like Bob says, the smoke not only does not hide the producing ship, it actually makes it a much better target until it reverses course back into its own smoke screen, assuming it survives that long.

Radar was the only way to see through smoke, at least until the screen started to dissipate, when visibility would vary considerably.

"forcing the Germans to either plunge through the screen (with a "Morale" roll) or to get around it."

Sounds pretty close to what actually happened in convoy actions such as JW51B.

2. I agree with the others the capability to see through the smoke is not a case of Allied ship size but rather if they were radar equipt or not. WW2 radar was not all the same. Especially among small craft. Some ships would have only radar capable of surface detection and others radar for avaiation detection use.

In our 'Coastal Command' rules we indicated which type and how common they were on various ship classes.

The quality of radar of radar and the availability of radar was dependent on the year of the war. The later the more available to ever smaller ships. Allied radar was far superior after '41.

German capital ships had surface/air search radar (Wurzburg designs).

I believe many of their cruisers did as well.

Not sure on their destroyers.

Mike your 'home brewed' rules worked perfectly. You faced the Kreigsmarine player with the same decision-making process as his historical counterpart.

Well done!

My grandfather worked on smoke production equipment during WWII – lived near Leith. Should ask my father if he remembers anything about it.

Actually there were different ways to make smoke. What people have referenced here is via the funnel and it tended to foul the boiler system if done regularly or for long periods of time. Of course that risk was worth running rather than be sunk, but unlimited smoke is a relative concept because engineers hated it. To avoid this many warships, including destroyers, began to ship chemical smoke generators that were independent of the propulsion system. Usually they produced white smoke whereas funnel smoke tended to be that oily black stuff.

Also, it's worth noting a few things about radar here. Basically there were sea search and targeting types. Sea search, which was more present, was of very limited value for shooting. The other type of radar WAS used for targeting -- one group for ships and another group for aircraft. Except for the end of the war when really good surface targeting radar was directly tied to the fire control director accuracy was still usually improved by visual spotting. On smaller ships the idea that shooting was MORE accurate with radar than visual spotting -- depending upon the rig and the quality of the crew manning it -- is anywhere from optimistic to wishful thinking.

There were two counters to smoke (which should eventually dissipate in a wargame of course,) before radar that did not involve moving through or around it. In WW2 the primary one was to launch spotting aircraft (if available) which would direct fire from above the screen. [NB: ships typically hid BEHIND the smoke screen so they could navigate, not inside it unless they were cripples.] The other practice was blind fire…and this latter did result in hits occasionally in big battles like Jutland. In WW2, for example, when the Americans laid smoke at Komandorski Islands, the Japanese fired right into it achieving repeated straddles…so you may want to use a negative modifier rather than preclude firing outright.

One last thing…the ship laying smoke is OUTSIDE the protection of the smoke unless it doubles back inside intentionally. Occasionally this is overlooked and it's important because from a rules perspective smoke then ends up like some Romulan cloaking device.