Herman Hum
02 Feb 06, 20:09
AAR: Broken Arrow [Spoiler Alert]
A Harpoon 3 scenario
By Paul Bridge
On the 4th July the Soviet Union launched a massive strike across all fronts in Europe. NATO forces are pinned against the wall with their backs to the sea. Most of W. Germany has fallen, Norway has conducted a withdrawal and is barely holding the line at Trondheim.
The cause of the Soviet Strikes is stem from the problems caused by Cuba in diverting American attention from Europe. Iceland was a great catch by the Soviet Union using special forces landed by submarine and paratroopers from the air. The initial strike on Iceland was done by long-ranged bombers catching most of the US aircraft on the ground. Soviet Engineers have now repaired the facilities at Keflavik and have established a strong presence there. Forces include long-range Yak fighters tanked in from the Motherland and Badger bombers. A ring of steel now protects Iceland including a large number of submarines. Elements of the the 2nd Fleet and other NATO forces are now enroute to re-take Iceland.
Soviet Forces have now established a strong base on Iceland. After the initial surprise attack, their airbase is now up and running with fighter and bomber support. Land-based bombers from the Soviet Union now have a stepping-stone base in Iceland to conduct further anti-ship strikes into the Atlantic. Convoys have now stopped travelling the SLOC's due to this and your Task Groups have been assigned to re-take Iceland.
ORDERS
1. At least 5 LPH / LSD / LPD / APA / APD / AO must reach ref point PIM within 3 days.
2. Conduct air strikes on Keflavik. Targets are the Hangers, A/C Revetments, and A/C Tarmac Facilities ....do not hit the runways or fuel dumps as we need them intact!.
3. Use of Nuclear weapons is granted for use against Aircraft, Submarines, and Ships. No use is authorised against Land targets.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9315/stormstart2rw.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormstart2rw.gif)
Captain Takayuki read and re-read the nuclear release authorization of the orders, once more. Aboard the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, he was the only man who truly understood the enormity of those orders. He had been a boy living outside of Hiroshima the day the world changed. The commander of Strike Fleet Atlantic had ordered his ships to spread out in case of nuclear attack. Evidently, if the United States was willing to cross the nuclear threshold, once again, then they better to be ready for the other side to do the same. He looked on as the nuclear depth charges were loaded onto waiting helicopters and thought that they were probably going to be needed if there was any hope of stopping Russians before they reached the Channel. After one final pause, he stepped back into the 22MEU Plans and Operations office to continue work on logistics for the upcoming invasion.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/4285/snooper6lx.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snooper6lx.gif)
The Oriskany, Bennington, Hermes, Bonaventure, and Karel Doorman task groups all made a direct line for the landing zone on Iceland. A lone jammer was spotted by Hermes group, but no interceptors were ready. All of the planes were being armed for the upcoming strike against Iceland. It looked as though the Russians were going to get a free and unmolested look at the Hermes and her entourage. The plane turned out to be a Badger L snooping around the Hermes. All that the escorts could do was fire AAA. The Soviets had also managed to get the AGI Lentra into position to report on the Hermes operations. She was going to be given the prestigious honour of being the first Soviet vessel to have a chance at winning a Hero of the Soviet Union award posthumously. However, the Badger outlived her welcome and hung around for too long. Two Scimitar were re-armed and sent up and killed her handily before bombing the AGI Lentra ineffectively. Two more Scimitar bombed Lentra, but the plucky little vessel was only damaged. Only after Scimitar armed with Bullpup missiles were sent was the vessel finally destroyed.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1863/aaavsbadger1ue.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aaavsbadger1ue.gif)
Bennington sent some of her helo assets to beef up the nearly non-existent ASW defences on the Oriskany and Amphibs. Experience early in the war had proven the importance of immediate and timely prosecution of submarine contacts. Therefore, every force would be given a modicum of ASW coverage and not need to call upon other groups for prosecution assets. On the other side of the strike force, more Badgers were detected nosing around. Banshees from Bonaventure intercepted and killed two more interlopers.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/2782/airraidone2pm.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=airraidone2pm.gif)
AEW aircraft from Oriskany detected a large number of Mushroom radar emissions. It looked like a Badger raid was taking advantage of the intelligence gained from the now-dead recon planes. Bonaventure and Oriskany scrambled to launch their Banshees and Furies, respectively. Four Banshee intercepted and totally shredded the strike group of eight Badgers with their cannon. The RCN [Royal Canadian Navy] was having an excellent day.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/1600/subhuntfrombonaventure6ss.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=subhuntfrombonaventure6ss.gif)
Although submarine contacts were being reported by the SOSUS system, the Strike Fleet Commander decided to only prosecute immediate submarine threats. Unless the suspected submarine was capable of affecting the landing, he wasn’t going to be distracted into chasing Goblins all over the North Atlantic. One Goblin was detected close to Bonaventure and it was deemed a threat as it was astride their PIM [Path of Intended Movement].
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2595/subhuntfrombonaventure20gl.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=subhuntfrombonaventure20gl.gif)
Strike Fleet Atlantic tried to keep the enemy blind by destroying all of his Recon assets. They thought that they had done a good job, but evidently missed one because a raid was detected approaching the Karel Doorman group. Eight Sea Vixen scrambled from Hermes and brought down all eight Badger B, nuclear-capable bombers. However, by intercepting the bombers, they were unable to kill a lone recon Badger loitering around their own task force. Once again, it was another case of, "not enough assets to go around".
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/2464/kareldoormanraid0oa.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kareldoormanraid0oa.gif)
The Badger certainly got an eye full as she cruised right through the formation. The pyrotechnics created by the AAA fire must have been spectacular in the twilight sky as every gun within range tried to bring her down, but to no avail. The TF knew that they had been discovered. Now the wait was for the attack. Two SAGs [Surface Action Groups] had been detected. BPK Krupny was off to the west of Iceland and another SAG, consisting of KR Dzerhinsky, a Kotlin-class DD, and a Kildin-class DD, was just rounding the SE of Iceland. The only question was if it would be a surface or an air attack.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2077/spottedagain3uz.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spottedagain3uz.gif)
The bombers came first as HMNLS Walrus reported Badger-type emissions from her ESM mast. Unfortunately, the first Sea Vixen would not to be ready for another 15 minutes. Obviously, the enemy was not going to cooperate and give them the time they needed. However, through Herculean efforts by the deck crew and ordnance men, the Sea Vixen were re-fuelled, re-armed, and made ready far earlier than expected. The fear of being turned into a nuclear cinder must have been the underlying motivation to break all performance records aboard the Hermes, today. Six Sea Vixen were launched and immediately raced towards the Badgers approaching from 018 T.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/5138/closerace2du.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closerace2du.gif)
These were Badger C models and they could also carry the nuclear-tipped AS-2 Kipper which intelligence suspected as having a launch range of 115nm. The bombers were currently 164nm out and the Vixen were still 105nm away. This was going to be a race to the death, quite literally. Only one side could come away from the ensuing confrontation. The Vixen caught the Badger 122nm out and let loose with a full volley of Firestreak missiles. The enemy raid commander must have seen his impending doom because the flight began to climb to launch altitude in order to loose their lethal payloads. However, the climb rate of the Firestreak easily beat that of the Badger and all four lumbering bombers were torn apart before they could unleash hell on the Hermes group. Everyone aboard the entire task group exhaled a sigh of relief.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/7288/agmiceland2wa.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=agmiceland2wa.gif)
Strike Force Atlantic’s commander then elected to deal with the Krupny group first and sixteen A-4 Skyhawks were launched from Oriskany. A pair of Bullpups against each vessel was enough to kill the Skory, Krupnyy, and Kotlin. With much of their ordnance as yet unexpended, they elected to try and raid Iceland. They arrived undetected and quickly sent their Bullpup missiles smashing into the aircraft hangars. Out of 5, four were smashed outright, but a second raid would be needed to finish the job.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/9692/aswwalrus0dp.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aswwalrus0dp.gif)
HMNLS Walrus reported to the Hermes group that a subsurface contact was close by before diving to prosecute it. Three SeaBats from Hermes were ordered into the air to back up her efforts in case she failed. They were operating weapons tight so that there would be no chance of a blue-on-blue engagement with the Walrus in such close proximity. However, the ASW co-ordinator aboard the Hermes ordered them to assist in the localization efforts of the Walrus by dipping their sonar often and pinging away loudly. If they were lucky, the enemy submarine would not know that there was a submarine in the area and the active sonar might cause him to act rashly.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/3706/aswwalrusii4nt.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aswwalrusii4nt.gif)
The SeaBats found the mark first and reported a definite submarine contact. Now, the question was, “Whose submarine was it?” They signalled for Walrus to come to radio depth with a series of explosions from dropped hand grenades. Once she restored radio contact, it was confirmed to a certainty that the submarine in question was not her. Fishnet 401 immediately dropped her Mk43 torpedo and listened in on the dipping sonar as it struck the enemy submarine. Break up noises were also heard before the helos broke off their attack and returned to the carrier.
Six Scimitar laden with AGM-12B Bullpup missiles visited the Dzerhinsky group and killed them all in a single pass. Soon afterwards, Skywarriors and Skyraiders from the Oriskany finished off the destruction of the Soviet aircraft facilities along with smashing two artillery units guarding the anticipated landing zone. The threat had been reduced to a one-dimensional one. As the various strike groups made their approach to Keflavik, several more subsurface contacts were detected and successfully prosecuted. None were able to fire before being destroyed. Once the Marines arrived on their beachhead, victory was awarded. It was just one step in the liberation of Europe.
Thanks for another interesting scenario.
SZO file archives (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/downloads.php?do=cat&id=30) - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB
FilesOfScenShare (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FilesOfScenShare/)
HarpGamer.com (http://www.harpgamer.com) - Home of the HCDB.
A Harpoon 3 scenario
By Paul Bridge
On the 4th July the Soviet Union launched a massive strike across all fronts in Europe. NATO forces are pinned against the wall with their backs to the sea. Most of W. Germany has fallen, Norway has conducted a withdrawal and is barely holding the line at Trondheim.
The cause of the Soviet Strikes is stem from the problems caused by Cuba in diverting American attention from Europe. Iceland was a great catch by the Soviet Union using special forces landed by submarine and paratroopers from the air. The initial strike on Iceland was done by long-ranged bombers catching most of the US aircraft on the ground. Soviet Engineers have now repaired the facilities at Keflavik and have established a strong presence there. Forces include long-range Yak fighters tanked in from the Motherland and Badger bombers. A ring of steel now protects Iceland including a large number of submarines. Elements of the the 2nd Fleet and other NATO forces are now enroute to re-take Iceland.
Soviet Forces have now established a strong base on Iceland. After the initial surprise attack, their airbase is now up and running with fighter and bomber support. Land-based bombers from the Soviet Union now have a stepping-stone base in Iceland to conduct further anti-ship strikes into the Atlantic. Convoys have now stopped travelling the SLOC's due to this and your Task Groups have been assigned to re-take Iceland.
ORDERS
1. At least 5 LPH / LSD / LPD / APA / APD / AO must reach ref point PIM within 3 days.
2. Conduct air strikes on Keflavik. Targets are the Hangers, A/C Revetments, and A/C Tarmac Facilities ....do not hit the runways or fuel dumps as we need them intact!.
3. Use of Nuclear weapons is granted for use against Aircraft, Submarines, and Ships. No use is authorised against Land targets.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9315/stormstart2rw.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stormstart2rw.gif)
Captain Takayuki read and re-read the nuclear release authorization of the orders, once more. Aboard the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, he was the only man who truly understood the enormity of those orders. He had been a boy living outside of Hiroshima the day the world changed. The commander of Strike Fleet Atlantic had ordered his ships to spread out in case of nuclear attack. Evidently, if the United States was willing to cross the nuclear threshold, once again, then they better to be ready for the other side to do the same. He looked on as the nuclear depth charges were loaded onto waiting helicopters and thought that they were probably going to be needed if there was any hope of stopping Russians before they reached the Channel. After one final pause, he stepped back into the 22MEU Plans and Operations office to continue work on logistics for the upcoming invasion.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/4285/snooper6lx.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snooper6lx.gif)
The Oriskany, Bennington, Hermes, Bonaventure, and Karel Doorman task groups all made a direct line for the landing zone on Iceland. A lone jammer was spotted by Hermes group, but no interceptors were ready. All of the planes were being armed for the upcoming strike against Iceland. It looked as though the Russians were going to get a free and unmolested look at the Hermes and her entourage. The plane turned out to be a Badger L snooping around the Hermes. All that the escorts could do was fire AAA. The Soviets had also managed to get the AGI Lentra into position to report on the Hermes operations. She was going to be given the prestigious honour of being the first Soviet vessel to have a chance at winning a Hero of the Soviet Union award posthumously. However, the Badger outlived her welcome and hung around for too long. Two Scimitar were re-armed and sent up and killed her handily before bombing the AGI Lentra ineffectively. Two more Scimitar bombed Lentra, but the plucky little vessel was only damaged. Only after Scimitar armed with Bullpup missiles were sent was the vessel finally destroyed.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1863/aaavsbadger1ue.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aaavsbadger1ue.gif)
Bennington sent some of her helo assets to beef up the nearly non-existent ASW defences on the Oriskany and Amphibs. Experience early in the war had proven the importance of immediate and timely prosecution of submarine contacts. Therefore, every force would be given a modicum of ASW coverage and not need to call upon other groups for prosecution assets. On the other side of the strike force, more Badgers were detected nosing around. Banshees from Bonaventure intercepted and killed two more interlopers.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/2782/airraidone2pm.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=airraidone2pm.gif)
AEW aircraft from Oriskany detected a large number of Mushroom radar emissions. It looked like a Badger raid was taking advantage of the intelligence gained from the now-dead recon planes. Bonaventure and Oriskany scrambled to launch their Banshees and Furies, respectively. Four Banshee intercepted and totally shredded the strike group of eight Badgers with their cannon. The RCN [Royal Canadian Navy] was having an excellent day.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/1600/subhuntfrombonaventure6ss.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=subhuntfrombonaventure6ss.gif)
Although submarine contacts were being reported by the SOSUS system, the Strike Fleet Commander decided to only prosecute immediate submarine threats. Unless the suspected submarine was capable of affecting the landing, he wasn’t going to be distracted into chasing Goblins all over the North Atlantic. One Goblin was detected close to Bonaventure and it was deemed a threat as it was astride their PIM [Path of Intended Movement].
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2595/subhuntfrombonaventure20gl.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=subhuntfrombonaventure20gl.gif)
Strike Fleet Atlantic tried to keep the enemy blind by destroying all of his Recon assets. They thought that they had done a good job, but evidently missed one because a raid was detected approaching the Karel Doorman group. Eight Sea Vixen scrambled from Hermes and brought down all eight Badger B, nuclear-capable bombers. However, by intercepting the bombers, they were unable to kill a lone recon Badger loitering around their own task force. Once again, it was another case of, "not enough assets to go around".
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/2464/kareldoormanraid0oa.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kareldoormanraid0oa.gif)
The Badger certainly got an eye full as she cruised right through the formation. The pyrotechnics created by the AAA fire must have been spectacular in the twilight sky as every gun within range tried to bring her down, but to no avail. The TF knew that they had been discovered. Now the wait was for the attack. Two SAGs [Surface Action Groups] had been detected. BPK Krupny was off to the west of Iceland and another SAG, consisting of KR Dzerhinsky, a Kotlin-class DD, and a Kildin-class DD, was just rounding the SE of Iceland. The only question was if it would be a surface or an air attack.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/2077/spottedagain3uz.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spottedagain3uz.gif)
The bombers came first as HMNLS Walrus reported Badger-type emissions from her ESM mast. Unfortunately, the first Sea Vixen would not to be ready for another 15 minutes. Obviously, the enemy was not going to cooperate and give them the time they needed. However, through Herculean efforts by the deck crew and ordnance men, the Sea Vixen were re-fuelled, re-armed, and made ready far earlier than expected. The fear of being turned into a nuclear cinder must have been the underlying motivation to break all performance records aboard the Hermes, today. Six Sea Vixen were launched and immediately raced towards the Badgers approaching from 018 T.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/5138/closerace2du.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=closerace2du.gif)
These were Badger C models and they could also carry the nuclear-tipped AS-2 Kipper which intelligence suspected as having a launch range of 115nm. The bombers were currently 164nm out and the Vixen were still 105nm away. This was going to be a race to the death, quite literally. Only one side could come away from the ensuing confrontation. The Vixen caught the Badger 122nm out and let loose with a full volley of Firestreak missiles. The enemy raid commander must have seen his impending doom because the flight began to climb to launch altitude in order to loose their lethal payloads. However, the climb rate of the Firestreak easily beat that of the Badger and all four lumbering bombers were torn apart before they could unleash hell on the Hermes group. Everyone aboard the entire task group exhaled a sigh of relief.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/7288/agmiceland2wa.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=agmiceland2wa.gif)
Strike Force Atlantic’s commander then elected to deal with the Krupny group first and sixteen A-4 Skyhawks were launched from Oriskany. A pair of Bullpups against each vessel was enough to kill the Skory, Krupnyy, and Kotlin. With much of their ordnance as yet unexpended, they elected to try and raid Iceland. They arrived undetected and quickly sent their Bullpup missiles smashing into the aircraft hangars. Out of 5, four were smashed outright, but a second raid would be needed to finish the job.
http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/9692/aswwalrus0dp.th.gif (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aswwalrus0dp.gif)
HMNLS Walrus reported to the Hermes group that a subsurface contact was close by before diving to prosecute it. Three SeaBats from Hermes were ordered into the air to back up her efforts in case she failed. They were operating weapons tight so that there would be no chance of a blue-on-blue engagement with the Walrus in such close proximity. However, the ASW co-ordinator aboard the Hermes ordered them to assist in the localization efforts of the Walrus by dipping their sonar often and pinging away loudly. If they were lucky, the enemy submarine would not know that there was a submarine in the area and the active sonar might cause him to act rashly.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/3706/aswwalrusii4nt.th.gif (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aswwalrusii4nt.gif)
The SeaBats found the mark first and reported a definite submarine contact. Now, the question was, “Whose submarine was it?” They signalled for Walrus to come to radio depth with a series of explosions from dropped hand grenades. Once she restored radio contact, it was confirmed to a certainty that the submarine in question was not her. Fishnet 401 immediately dropped her Mk43 torpedo and listened in on the dipping sonar as it struck the enemy submarine. Break up noises were also heard before the helos broke off their attack and returned to the carrier.
Six Scimitar laden with AGM-12B Bullpup missiles visited the Dzerhinsky group and killed them all in a single pass. Soon afterwards, Skywarriors and Skyraiders from the Oriskany finished off the destruction of the Soviet aircraft facilities along with smashing two artillery units guarding the anticipated landing zone. The threat had been reduced to a one-dimensional one. As the various strike groups made their approach to Keflavik, several more subsurface contacts were detected and successfully prosecuted. None were able to fire before being destroyed. Once the Marines arrived on their beachhead, victory was awarded. It was just one step in the liberation of Europe.
Thanks for another interesting scenario.
SZO file archives (http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/downloads.php?do=cat&id=30) - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB
FilesOfScenShare (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FilesOfScenShare/)
HarpGamer.com (http://www.harpgamer.com) - Home of the HCDB.