"Cruel Seas up arming Boats?" Topic

There was a discussion awhile ago about up arming MTB's and different types of weapons put onto E Boats. I thought I had it bookmarked it but cannot find it now.

As I am a complete numpty regarding Naval matters I would like some help.

I have modified an MTB with a 6pdr gun and relocated the AA gun to the rear as here.

The gun was converted from a 40mm Bofors gun from the US pack but the one I have left has a broken barrel and not worth the effort to convert. (I should have bought the Brit set as well as the German and US)

I am thinking of converting the two early MTB's as used at St Nazaire but am unsure what effect that would have on game play. (Tubes pointing straight ahead on fore deck)

I also put some 40mm Bofors on to the sterns of some E-Boats but am unsure of what other guns to put onto the other locations on the boats.

I have two Early E boats which I would also like to modify.

Next batch to paint will be a Merchant Tanker, 4 E-Boats and 4 MTB's, but I am a little stuck.

Thanks.

A lot of the British boats got the steadily increasing armament treatment as the war progressed.

They mostly started off with .303 and .50 caliber guns, but by mid-war started sporting 20mm, 37mm, 40mm, and even the 6 Pdr. guns, as you mention.

A variety of single, double, and quad mounts, depending upon the vessel, period of the war, type – MGB or MTB and short or long hulls, etc.. It seems to have been a reaction, in my opinion, to the heavier armament of the S-Boats, and other German coastal craft, and the desire to be able to put more metal on their targets, when not attacking with torpedoes.

Apparently, during the very early to mid-war period, even machine guns and light cannon were hard to come by for the small, coastal forces vessels. By 1944 though, experiments/trials were progressing very quickly, and by D-Day, even some MGBs were getting torpedo tubes and being redesignated as MTBs.

Some boats needed deck reinforcing to carry the heavier weaponry.

Same goes for the S-Boats too, but they started out with at least 2 x 20mm cannons (fore and aft) from the start of the war, and by the mid-late war period, were sporting a single or double 20mm cannon amidships too.

Most retained the 20mm foredeck gun as a single mount, though there were plans for some boats with 30mms at all mounts (single, and double, IIRC). I think that only a few, if any of those were produced, due to the scarcity of the 30mms for the coastal forces vessels – most were allocated to their fighter aircraft, instead.

Rear mounts for the S-Boats were usually single 20mm, 37mm, or 40mm guns, though it appears from my analysis of late-war units, that at least one per flotilla of 8 – 12 boats would have a quad 20mm cannon aft, instead. Those were usually deployed in the rear-most position on ops, in case they were attacked by enemy fighter aircraft (presumably during the daytime, if late getting back from their night-time sorties).

Only one vessel, that I'm aware of, had their tubes mounted on the foredeck, and that was MTB-73 (or possibly 74?), for the St. Nazaire raid, as you mention. The torps were so fitted to fire over the anti-torpedo barrier(s), or locks.

I hope that helps.

You'll want to carefully balance the firepower and hull points for your scenarios for both sides, since numerous heavy guns can quickly make battles very one-sided.

Thanks Thresher01, that gives me plenty of options to up the armament on the boats.

Thresher is correct, there was only the one modified MTB with tubes on the focsle, and that was indeed MTB74. She also had her superstructure cut down, so she makes quite an interesting subject for a conversion. There was an article in Wargames Illustrated that covered this (I don't think it included the superstructure mods, but the changes are easy to see in photos of the boat)

Yes thanks I have some photos of MTB74 but was unsure if it was only one modified for the mission. Could be an idea to have one modified for an attack on a U Boat base equiped with anti torpedo nets. I bought the German gun pack to make a Gun protected Harbour.

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