Malta Convoy: August 11, 1942 - 1100 Hours to 1400 Hours

August 11, 1100 hours: 

It was a very peaceful morning in the open seas. I even had time for coffee and some toast, right before the Chief walks in and started yelling at everyone for their slumber. Well can’t blame him, we are in the middle of enemy territory.

Then again, ever since the incidence outside Tobruk; he had been very particular with our readiness and discipline. Perhaps the uneventful torpedo hit by the Italians does leave a mark on us permanently.

Its been hours sitting on the deck, not a single enemy fighter plane, not even one warship, NOTHING~~!!

Excerpt from a seaman aboard HMS Phoebe. – Meeting its end few hours later, on a contra to its real service history.

A very peaceful 1st phrase of the campaign - no sight of the Axis anywhere~~!! 

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Post August 11, 1400 Hours

 

As Admiral Hyiktsay disembarks from the flagship Scharnhorst, a reporter from Panzerschiffe asked the following question: I heard that 2 British ships were sunk and we had 3 destroyers sink. Is that true? How will it affect our morale? 

 

"While our force engagement was a minor lost, we were able to cripple and damage their main fleet, which will slow their progress towards Malta, and bear in mind that our objectives is to prevent them from reaching at all cost so that our Fuhrer vision and Third Reich will continue forever!!

HEIL HITLER~~~!!!"

HMS Rodney - Nelson class Battleship. In Mediterranean service camouflage

Transmission begins: Vice Admiral Eric Lew, report casualties and state confidence level of achieving mission.

"Dear Sirs, on August 11, 1400 hours, we were attacked by the combined arms of the Axis forces, consisting of various fighter planes, warships and submarines.

Along with Vice Admiral YS Oon, we decided to divide our fighter planes to provide combat air patrol to our fleet, while our torpedo bombers were sent to hunt down the Axis warships.

As we scramble to aim our anti-air guns onto the approaching Axis air assault, however, they still managed to find their mark onto our warships, Force X, damaging both HMS Nigeria and HMS Kenya; puncturing the deck and causing severe listing to the later. With our superior crew expertise, we managed to contain it and sail on.

Soon later, Force Z managed to detect the incoming submarines patrolling the area. Among the waves of torpedoes, HMS Eagle, an aircraft carrier, was squarely hit. The damaged caused fire to breakout but thankfully, the crew managed to contain the fire before it is able to spread and create more harm.

In the middle of the jumble, Force Z at the lead role, encountered a fleet of Kreigsmarine Mediterranean Raiders, lead by the battleship Scharnhorst, consisting of 9 warships, fierce surface battle ensured.

Scharnhorst Class Battle Cruiser

The skirmish lasted about 20 minutes before they withdrew from combat. Despite that, we suffer the loss of HMS Phoebe, a CLAA Cruiser, and suffering damages to destroyer HMS Tartar. 

Kreigsmarine Formation

Royal Navy - Force Z Formation

Despite the loss, we were able to sink both cruiser Leipzig and Z15 destroyer, and hence, successfully reducing the German naval power in the area. Only time will tell exactly when we will meet them, this time, we are more than ready.

Force Z charging into Kreigsmarine formation

After several super structure repairs on the damaged ships, the convoy continues its journey.

Both Vice Admiral YS Oon and I believe that the convoy will succeed in delivering the cargos and reinforce Malta."

 

Stepping out from the Regia Aeronautica office, Comandante David was swamped by a journalist from La Scala Aero. The question was simply: Was our air force superior?

“Si, si, mucho presto superior. After all, we eat spaghetti, they don't.”

Naval Thunder - Malta Convoy

After a long hiatus, we decided to kick start another WW2 naval campaign based on 1942 expedition - Malta Convoy - conducted under the Naval Thunder rules.

Some information on the real thing (copied from Wikipedia):

"The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War. Malta required military reinforcements, food for its military garrison and civilian population, and fuel for air and naval forces. The convoys bringing these men and supplies were strongly opposed by Italian and German naval and air forces during the Battle of the Mediterranean"

For this campaign, it is expected to be wrapped up in a couple of weeks time, and if not possible, couple of months time, with our very first briefing run coming this Saturday.

With the combatants confirming their factions and unlike the real campaign, the trash talk among the opposing forces already begun more than a week ago. 

The combatants as follows:

Kriegsmarine    - Hyiktsay

Regia Marina    - Dave

Royal Navy       - YS Oon and Eric Lew

Picture 1: Courtesy of YS Oon

Picture above: Part of the fleet of ships to be fielded in the upcoming Malta Convoy mini campaign. From top to bottom : Scharnhorst, Rodney, Zara, Bolzano, Duca D'Aosta, and Montecuccoli.

For this campaign purpose and keeping to the naval tradition of the respective factions, we will do our best to simulate the actual combat formation and tactics. The warships are divided to the according to their squadron and order of battles are in place.

Apart from warship formation and order of battle, each combatant must also take into account of their air assets available and submarine deployment as this campaign is designed to generate a series of interlocked engagements, representing the constant attack of the convoy by Axis air and sea power. Each engagement represents the action that takes place in a three hour slice of time, except for night turns, which represent eight hours.

Special thanks to YS Oon for once again drafting the campaign details and gathering us all for our next naval miniature adventure~~!! 

To add some spice into the campaign, and from YS Oon own words - 
"I have added some additional creative liberties to provide a ‘what-if’ scenario. Supposedly the Kriegsmarine decided that the Mediterranean Sea was worth to invest some effort in and to bring some of their heavier vessels into play, would it had turn out differently? 

The question remained though as the refusal of the Germans to cooperate in joint-operations with the Italians were infamous and it would be interesting to see how it would have panned out. This precipitated my decision to include in the most-feared ship in the German Navy, the Scharnhorst into this mini-campaign."