Franco-British and Italian-German 500pt fleets and BR

Duck Crusader · Franco-British and Italian-German 500pt fleets and BR

The two axis fleets finally met up around 5am. It had been a major undertaking for them to slip unnoticed down their respective coasts to meet up just outside Gibraltar like this, but now that it was accomplished it might just win the war for them.

As dawn broke the only immediate obstacle to their plans was revealed, an allied task force of carriers and battleships guarding the straights and hunting subs. They were taken completely by surprise as the mighty axis fleet closed in...

Axis (ARK)
Italians (TG 1.1)
BB Littorio x2
BB Giulio Cesare x2
Ca Zara
C.202 Folgore x3
SM.79 Sparviero
Germans (TG 1.2)
BB Tirpitz x2
CV Graf Zeppelin
DD Karl Galster x4
U 66 x3
U 510 x2
Bf 109 x3
Kondor x2

Allies (Duck Crusader)
French/Dutch (TG 3.1)
BB Richelieu
BB Dunkerque
CA Hr. Ms. DeRuyter
Commonwealth (TG 3.2)
BB HMS Rodney
BB HMS King George V
CV HMS Ark Royal
CVL HMS Illustrious
CVE HMS Fencer x2
CA HMS Jamaica
DD HMAS Arunta x4
SS HMS Truculent x4
Halifax GR Mk. V x3
Barracuda Mk.II x3
Swordfish Mk.II x2
Beaufighter TF Mk.X x4
Sea Hurricane Mk.IB

Played on maps three and four, double map setup.

Turn one: Opening moves
Having espied the allies first the axis held the advantage, but the allies reacted quickly to regain the initiative. Both fleets surged forward at full speed, but on the allied side the carriers held back with a screen of destroyers and cruisers. Initial air attacks were mostly stymied by AA and fighters, but one Beaufighter broke through to strafe a Karl Galster causing a crippling engine hit, while elsewhere a Barracuda and a Swordfish caught a U66 on the surface and sank it. They pay for their sucesses with a Swordfish and a Beaufighter perishing under the guns of a .202 and a 109, respectively. A U510 blundered into a Truculent and also went to the bottom.

Turn 2: The Axis strikes back.
The axis regained the initiative and moved quickly to capitalize. Though the axis tried valiantly to stave them off, allied Swordfish and Barracudas succeeded in dropping their depth charges, sinking another U510 and crippling a U66. Having ranged each other with their guns, the battleships open up. The Rodney and Dunkerque both got quick hits in on a Giulio Cesare but in return the entire axis gun line pounded the Dunkerque into a lifeless hulk before switching to the Richelieu, which was hit once. In revenge one of the Truculents put a torpedo into Giulio Cesare, crippling her.

Turn 3 The Regina Aeronautica to the rescue?
The allies, stung by the loss of a BB so early in the fight, rally their defense. Axis fighters are waiting though, and a 109 kills a Beaufighter, whilst a .202 dives out of the sun to strike down a hurricane. Still, a pair of dive-bombing Barracudas succeed in breaking through to hit the Graf Zeppelin twice with bombs. On the other side one Sparviero succumbs to the hurricane of fire surrounding Richelieu and though one of their number gets through he is so shaken that his aim is way off and the torpedos cause no hits. Allied guns open up But their aim is abysmal, with only the KGV causing a hit on the second Giulio Cesare. Their secondaries do better, sinking one of the Karls and finishing off the first Giulio Cesare with a hit from Rodney. The Aruntas torps go wide but between them their gunners succeed in taking down the other Karl. The Karls in return had been rolling depth charges when they went down and succeed in crippling one of the Trucs before they slip beneath the waves. Then the axis big guns cut loose and Richelieu joins her sister at the bottom of the Atlantic while their secondaries pot both Aruntas. Once more a lurking Truc puts a torpedo into an axis ship, this time one of the Littorios. It doesn't help much as the axis still attain their first objective, number 3.

Turn 4, Beginning of the end.
Once again the allies control the pace of the battle, though things are beginning to look desperate. The carrier's escorts finally advance while they consolidate into a single square behind an island. Even the axis carrier group in closing in now, yet wisely they hold back and send their undamaged Karl ahead. A full attack is ordered on the larger of the battleship divisions, but in a display of unrivaled marksmanship the axis AA nails all three Barracudas, with only the lowly Swordfish breaking through to strike the Tirpitz with a torpedo. The crippled Karl moves to objective five but a pair of strafing Hurricanes put paid to her before she can take it. Guns roar and when the smoke clears Rodney is gone, though before she went she succeeded in putting yet another torp into a Tirpitz, while the KGV hits Giulio Cesare with her mains and a Karl with her secondaries. The indomitable Trucs once more hit the Tirpitz hard, this time finishing her off, but the axis captures objective 4 none the less.

Turn five, Breaking contact.
Outnumbered and out gunned the allies lose control of the battle. A.202 splashes the last Swordfish and the Spavs finally break through to the carriers, hitting Ark Royal twice. Panicked KGV gunners blow their last shot at glory but the grimly determined secondary gunners put paid to the last Karl. It doesn't help them much as moments later a shot form a Littorio hits her magazine and she goes up in a ball of fire. The crippled U66 had been trying to close with the carriers as well, but the pair of Aruntas with them dashed out to finish her off, aided by the trail of oil marking her progress. Her sister fares no better as another Truc puts a fish through her side and it's sisters put another two into the undamaged Tirpitz. The axis takes objective five and the allies objective one, but now out of battleships the allies wisely decide to cede the passage to the axis and run for reinforcements.

I suppose looking back on it I could have continued the fight, but the chances that my subs could have done enough damage before his BBs ranged my carriers was slim, and with only three Halifaxes and two Beaufighters to run a hurricne of fighters and AA fire he was almost certain to get objective six with his carrier group, though my cruisers and DDs could have contested two, briefly. Wink

His AA would have been shooting down Avengers and Hellcats with ease, let alone my poor Brit air. He usually brings a horde of subs, 11-12, at 500 points, so it was a shock to find SIX BBs on his side of the table, and I was all fitted out for ASW. This is a classic example of why 'oh yeah, well if you bring that I'll just bring this' is bunk, because while my force did exactly what it was designed to do, kill the hell out of his subs, not knowing he was going BB heavy I got walked all over by them. Rolling Eyes

jfkziegler

Thanks for the battle report!

Okie

Very good run down of the battle, keep them comming. Okie

ARK

It was a good match, my dice were running very hot all night. This was the first match I have played at this size with the new aircraft stacking rules. The extra aircraft does make it easier to get a shot through even determined AA.

Duck Crusader

That was another thing I did wrong, forgot to take the new stacking rules into account. Duh...

drittal

Totally jealous now!!!

ARK

swarbs

Nice battle report, thanks for sharing.

Bartacus

Great report Duck, thanks.

Duck Crusader

Glad you guys liked it, we'll keep it up until ARK's surgery, and then I'll have to tempt (goad) Seisen over to the right side of the state line...