Malta Convoy - 12 August 1942, 0500 hours
"At dawn,
jolted by the sound of sirens. Enemy planes spotted, yelled another. And
indeed, it will be a long day." - Excerpts from a journal found on-board
HMS Nelson.
After a successful defense from Axis air
raids the evening before, their will to stop the convoy from resupplying Malta
resumes.
For this round, the Axis air asset consist
of 5 dive bombers and 7 level bombers attributing from the Kreigsmarine
along with 2 waves of Italian planes involving 2 torpedo bombers and 5 level
bombers. All escorted by 1 flight of CAP.
Note house rules: Attributing to difference
in Axis air strike type and grouping, total Force Z's AA value were divided, as
per player choice.
"I want
those bombers up there 10 minutes ago!!" - Aboard HMS Victorious.
Axis surface ships were detected and it’s within
the operational range of Force Z. All level bombers available from Force Z’s
aircraft carriers were launched; escorted with a flight CAP.
"Re-direct
all planes to Gibraltar." - HMS Eagle upon the destruction of its flight
deck.
Despite having CAP presence above Force Z and
coupled with numerous AA guns at their disposal; it proved insufficient to
deter Axis level bombers from scoring hits to all 3 aircraft carriers. No hits
recorded for other ships present.
HMS Victorious and HMS Eagle were squarely
hit by the Axis level bombers; resulting bombing run damages the all important
flight deck; effectively putting both aircraft carriers out of flying action.
HMS Indomitable, however, registered a
non-penetration hit by the level bombers. Subsequent to that, they were hit by
Axis torpedo bombers; in which resulted the ship to catch on fire. This was
quickly extinguished by the well trained crew.
"That
must have hurt!!" - excerpts from Royal Navy's torpedo bomber.
All available torpedo bombers from Force Z aircraft
carriers managed to inflict a significant blow to the Kreigsmarine surface
fleet; registering hits and successfully destruction of both Z10 and Z15
destroyers.
Scharnhorst was also not spared by the
torpedo bombers, recording a penetration hit and subsequently caused flooding.
Damage control checked on-board managed to contain it.
 |
| The setup |
"They are
there, somewhere, just can't see it Chief. It's just too dark" - reported
a seaman on-board HMS Quentin.
Note house rules: Attributing to dawn battle,
the first 2 turns were conducted as though its a night battle, at turn 3
onward, day battle. Spot & detection applies.
 |
| Force Z moving forward |
"What is
that? Up there?" - Right before the sinking of HMS Westcott.
The first 2 surface turns been a quiet affair
and having all ships in Force Z moving forward, Scharnhorst's reconnaissance
plane spotted HMS Westcott at turn 3, and took almost no effort in sinking
it.
Attributing to that, all remaining war ships
in Force Z were able to spot Scharnhorst, however, they were only able to
return fire at turn 4; proved to be costly.
 |
| Force Z continuous advancement while Kreigsmarine plotted across from their starting position |
Force Z was unable to spot any Kreigsmarine
surface warships mainly due to lack of reconnaissance planes available. They
were able to spot them, only when both fleets reaches the minimum threshold of
view range - 20 inches.
"All
ships continue advancing. The enemy is not going to escape." - Ordered the
Admiral Eric Lew on-board HMS Rodney.
Scharnhorst continues its destruction, taking
out HMS Wilton, while she and her escorts continued to plot their way out of
battle area.
 |
| Kreigsmarine about to make an exit |
The head strong forward march by Force Z proved
ineffective as Scharnhorst once again claimed its next victim, HMS Zetland, at
turn 5.
 |
| Final action of the phrase |
Force Z, on the other hand, managed to lay
waste on Kreigsmarine light cruiser Emden, also in turn 5, with shots coming
from HMS Nelson.'
"Alright
boys, call off the chase." - Admiral Eric Lew
By turn 6, Kreigsmarine had left the battle
area, and thus end the surface action and thus end for this phrase.
Rear Admiral Hyiktsay was once again mobbed
by the press and this time, the concerned press asked for the fate of the
Kriegsmarine Commerce Raider group, who coincidentally is down to just the
Scharnhorst - "Is that true? Is the
end of Germany?"
The enemy only manages to hit our weakest state
ship, BUT, where we took 3 of their healthiest ship without a fight. Bear in
mind, their 2 main aircraft carriers were disabled thanks to our ever furious Luftwaffe,
and our Italian compatriot Even with Scharnhorst alone, they still will face
the furious of Valderland itself!!
HEIL HITLER!!!
Dave was not available for the game
attributing to “important
operation”.
