| Private Matter | 08 Dec 2015 7:20 a.m. PST |
On this date in 1914 the British Royal Navy dealt the Imperial German Navy a stunning blow in the Battle of the Falkland Islands. The British battle cruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible as well as several smaller cruisers engaged the German fleet which under the command of Admiral von Spee which was comprised of five cruisers. The British opened fire from long range, keeping outside of the range of the German guns. Admiral Spee's flag ship was sunk first followed by the Gneisenau and NÜrnberg. The Germans lost four warships and more than 2,000 sailors (including Admiral Spee and his two sons) compared with only 10 British deaths. |
| Chokidar | 08 Dec 2015 7:42 a.m. PST |
..and widely seen as a badly needed affirmation by the Royal Navy to the disaster of Coronel that had shaken the myth of "ever victorious" … |
 ColCampbell  | 08 Dec 2015 8:17 a.m. PST |
.. which was orchestrated by said Admiral Spee. Thanks for the reminder. Jim |
| Wackmole9 | 08 Dec 2015 8:41 a.m. PST |
Weren't both battles pretty loop sided. |
| idontbelieveit | 08 Dec 2015 8:48 a.m. PST |
They make for great games :rolls eyes:. "Let's play the Battle of the Falkland Islands. You be the Germans." |
| Only Warlock | 08 Dec 2015 9:03 a.m. PST |
might be fun if you added in a heavy fog bank, limiting visibility and allowing the Germans to close. |
| Martin Rapier | 08 Dec 2015 9:12 a.m. PST |
I have run this a few times, generally as a paired battle 'mini campaign' of Coronel and Falklands with losses carried over and the occasional surprise appearance of the Canopus. Even if the German get hammered at the Falklands, they have the fun of winning at Coronel. Yes, both battles are 'unbalanced', but since when was warfare fair? They can be interesting engagements for both sides. The horror if the paint gets scratched on Invincible…. |
| 15th Hussar | 08 Dec 2015 10:41 a.m. PST |
What you could do, is either: Continue the Spirit of the game and play a third round of the River Plate to see who wins two outta three OR… Play a hypothetical Falklands with a chance of both the Canopus and a TIME WARP LINEAR PHASE SHIFT appearance of the Graf Spee and the British Cruiser squadron literally showing up out of the blue…so to speak! |
| idontbelieveit | 08 Dec 2015 11:15 a.m. PST |
@Andrew: and even Enterprise and a Romulan Bird of Prey! |
| 15th Hussar | 08 Dec 2015 11:47 a.m. PST |
That's a bit over the Top, don't you think? 
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| idontbelieveit | 08 Dec 2015 7:59 p.m. PST |
Did you ever see that movie where the Nimitz (I think?) gets time-warped back to before Pearl Harbor? |
| Alan Lauder | 09 Dec 2015 6:18 a.m. PST |
I play both Coronel and Falklands regularly. I can't say I'm that worried about a balanced game – although Martin's idea above appeals. The story of von Spee's East Asia Squadron is one of the great tales of naval warfare IMHO and gaming the main engagements is more of a commemoration than a competition. But that's just me.
HMS Invincible launches its first salvo against SMS Scharnhorst at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8 December 1914 |
| Blutarski | 09 Dec 2015 2:45 p.m. PST |
One way to even up the Falklands battle is by substituting HMS Defence for Sturdee's two BCs. BTW – Invincible was hit 22 times at the Falklands (Inflexible 3 times). B |
| spontoon | 12 Dec 2015 4:11 p.m. PST |
Only time battle cruisers were used properly! Outgunning smaller cruisers with similar speed. |
| Blutarski | 13 Dec 2015 7:22 a.m. PST |
One interesting aspect to the development of the British BC which does not receive much attention is that one important design criterion was the ability to run down the very fast and long-legged German passenger liners which were expected to be employed by the IGN as armed merchant cruisers in event of war. B |
adds a machinegun platoon to his WWI Brits.
