Battle of Spagetihulhu Straits - AAR

First off is the factitious scenario which isn’t part of the typical Axis vs Allies kind of way but a mixture of both separated into 2 teams, Attackers and Defenders. Each team has almost homogenous starting objective; capturing 6 different locations each.

The teams setup as follows:

Team Brotherhood (Defenders):

-       Battleship: Bismark

-       Heavy Cruisers: Lutzow and Boston

-       Light Cruiser: Columbia

-       Destroyers: McDougal, Winslow, Phelps, Selfridge, Z31, Z32 and Z33

Team H&L (Attackers)

-       Battleship: Nagato

-       Heavy Cruisers: Myoko and Cumberland

-       Light Cruiser: Edinburg

-       Destroyers: Asagiri, Amagiri, Akebono, Noble, Kandahar, Juno and Kashmir

The round begins with the defenders placing 3 land masses and followed by the attacker placement of 2 land masses while the moderator places 2 more. Once that is done, both teams commence 3 rounds of “Recon Only” phrase.

Both teams managed to detect each other flotillas of destroyers. It was the Brotherhood drawing 1^st blood by destroying Akebono with its dive bombers. At end of the phrase, both teams deployed their ships as predetermined. Besides the destroyers, all ships deployed are marked as “detected but unknown”; hence it is not legally possible to be targeted by enemy ships.

Turn 1

Team H&L begins the round by maneuvering its destroyers towards their objectives and manages to capture 2 locations. Having captured 2 locations, Team H&L was reinforced by 2 additional destroyers while team Brotherhood was strengthened with 1 additional destroyer, all entering play at turn 2. Both Nagato and Myoko stayed behind and positioning its broadside preparing to fire. To the south, Cumberland and its escorts, Kandahar and Juno, steamed straight ahead.

Team Brotherhood maneuvers most of their ships northwards while having Boston, Winslow and Selfridge moving south. Lutzow was disengaged from the main group and move towards southwards, slowly.

Team Brotherhood managed to scout all of Team H&L ships, while Team H&L were only able to identify the Bismark.

Shots were traded between Columbia and Edinburg, no serious damage recorded.

Turn 2

Team H&L maneuvers 2 of its destroyers towards the 3^rd targeted location and managed to complete it. However, this proves to be a wrong choice at it further strengthens Team Brotherhood by awarding them an addtional destroyer. Edinburg continues its voyage northwards, followed fairly far behind by Asagiri and Amagiri.

Team Brotherhood northern ships managed to move past the center land masses and is now within shooting sight of Team H&L’s Nagato, while its southern ships are within range of Team H&L southern ships, however they are not a valid target as they remained unknown throughout turn 2.

Team H&L’s Nagato drew shots at the Bismark, all miss. Other minor skirmishes soon erupted but no major destruction achieved by both teams.

Turn 3

Team H&L continue its northern voyage and this time, both the Asagiri and Amagiri is within range to support the Cumberland. Its southern flank however, threaded with care and maneuvering its ships towards Team Brotherhood’s Boston and escorts.

Team Brotherhood northern ships managed to regrouped into a fairly tight formation, preventing Team H&L from cutting through. Perhaps the greatest advantage is its southern flank of ships, having remained an invalid target, is able to utilize its element of surprise and make the 1^st salvo of shots.

Team H&L continues its bombardment onto Bismark and managed to land a critical hit; causing it to catch on fire. This was subsequently put off with great efficiency. Cumberland managed to critically damage Z31 which was soon destroyed by Amagiri. Myoko, firing at a distance, directed several hits onto Boston.

Team Brotherhood’s Boston fired all its main battery towards Cumberland, and critically damaging it. On the northern side, Columbia managed to deal a significant blow to Edinburg, damages includes the engine, rudder and destroying 3 of its secondary armaments. This was followed by shots coming from Z33, sealing the Edinburg’s fate.

On the south side of the battle, Cumberland was critically hit by Selfridge, causing major flooding among others. Cumberland will soon meet its untimely end in this turn.

Turn 3 southern part of the battle. Towards the right, Cumberland with 2 flooding tokens. Bottom left: Boston making its way into the battle.

 

Turn 4

Major highlight of this turn is the southern side of the battle, as both teams plotted their ships’ path for greater advantage; collision occurred between Kandahar and Selfridge, causing both ships to be flooded.

At the northern front, Asagiri managed to sneak past Team Brotherhood’s ships and having a clear sight on Bismark, fire its torpedo.

In total, this turn witness 7 torpedo launches, only 1 finding its target, right into Boston.

6 ships were lost during this turn; all destroyer class – Z32, Selfridge, Kandahar, Noble, Asagiri and Amagiri.

Turn 5

Team Brotherhood continued their killing spree and successfully sank both Kashmir and Juno.

In this turn, a total of 5 torpedoes were launched, 3 coming from Team H&L. Not a single torpedo managed to find its target.

With 2 of its starting ships still in play (Nagato and Myoko), Team H&L voluntarily flee from the battle and thus end the scenario.