Lieutenant Commander Campbell pressed his gloved fingers to the hot mug of sweet kai as he stood on the open bridge of HMS Fury; it was the only warmth to be found in these frigid waters. The snow blew into his face and he squinted at the blurred grey outline of HMS Trinidad ahead. The weather had closed in, gales of the last few days giving way to a long rolling swell which was some relief, but the visibility was down to just a few miles; less, when looking into the frequent snow squalls. How much more of this? The men were at defence stations, but everything was coiled up tight, waiting to snap. He couldn't have kept them at action stations for any longer. He knew that: not in this. Stand them down and get some hot drinks inside them, he'd said. But still he doubted himself. Momentarily lost in his thoughts he was only vaguely aware of the flickering from the cruiser's Aldis lamp.
"Trinidad signalling, Sir"
"What is it, Yeoman?"
"Contact, Sir! Dead ahead"
The First Lieutenant spoke first, "U-boat on the surface, do you think, Sir?"
"Action Stations! Maybe, Number One. We'll soon find out."
"Radar Contact, Red one-oh, range one-three-oh. Too big for a U-boat, Sir"
Nothing was clear, not yet, but Trinidad's was turning hard to starboard, her battle ensigns unfurling.
"Looks like Trinidad's hanging out the washing!"
"Didn't you know, Number One? His Majesty's cruisers get an extra bunting allowance"
They smiled, a rare thing this far North on the Arctic Convoy route, the ‘suicide run' as the matelots called it. They turned as a shot from Trinidad's ‘B' turret cracked the air. What was out there? Just six miles out now, hidden by snow and getting closer?
"Guns! Semi Armour-Piercing: Load! Load! Load!"
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So, me and the lad Henry had a game using GQ1 (with GQ2 updates), replaying the battle between the Trinidad and Fury and a flotilla of three powerful German destroyers in defence of convoy PQ13.
The setup was pretty historic, with Henry as Capt. Saunders and his ships hidden by a bank of snow. I took the part of Kapitan sur Zee Gottfried Ponitz in Z26. Both forces were in line ahead and heading straight towards each other. As per the historical scenario Henry was tracking me by radar, whereas I was blissfully unaware of the presence of the British ships until, at 09:46, the scream of shells and suddenly the sea around me erupted into blue-green geysers as Henry opened up with his radar-directed 6" guns at about five miles.
Henry decided to press on, evidently wanting to use his guns to devastating effect at close range. Not knowing where the shells were coming from I had no idea where to turn so I pressed on into the snow squall ahead. When I emerged Trinidad was turning to starboard to open their 'a-arcs'. With the range at just 4,000 yards this first exchange was bloody.
Unfortunately only one photo turned out, so I'm afraid that's all I've got.
As Z26 had moved out of Trinidad's 'a-arc', Henry fired on the next in line. Z24 was blasted at close range, taking a bridge hit and serious damage before limping off back into the cover of the snow bank, but not before both she, and Z26, had launched all their torpedoes.
Trinidad swung to port but was hit by two torpedoes, crippling her, while Fury entered the fray, launching 'utmost fish' at Z25 as she too emerged from the bank of snow. As Z25 had had her steam pipe severed she slowed to a halt and was a sitting duck. Two torpedoes slammed into her and she began to sink rapidly.
The action was confused and frantic; within half an hour of 'game time' Trinidad was sinking after further damage from gunfire and Fury, having also been damaged, was pulling back. With Z25 sunk and the other two damaged I was in no position to close with the convoy, so I too pulled back, the action concluding at 08:24.
All good fun; Henry and I finished with a salute and a handshake as always. Henry felt he shouldn't have got so close due to my heavy torpedo armament, but he still saved the convoy, sank a destroyer and damaged two others, so honours even I'd say.
Nick
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
