Gefecht auf der Doggerbank: European MP battle February 14th

[Von der Tann]

As we were only three people, and all German as well, we chose to play the localized version of rgreats Dogger Bank scenario. Being the host, I took the role of Franz Hipper, while bolitho and Derfflinger took the Royal Navy.ACH settings were fragile AP grenades OFF, poor ammo handling ON.

In contrast to most other MP scenarios, the opposing forces are able to shoot at each other straight away, and while the British BC targeted SMS Blücher (played by HMS Black Prince), the German BC with their shorter range took it out on the British CL. HMS Undaunted was hit badly and left the line, while the Germans approached on a southerly course, but a dashing torpedo attack by Derfflingers destroyers resulted in Seydlitz and Moltke being hit, causing 11 and 12% flooding on starboard, with the loss of DD Tigress. The torpedoes and an entanglement between the German battlecruisers andtorpedo boats caused an almighty mess, the British BC scored a few hits on Moltke, dropping her flank speed to 25 kts. While the British DD retreated towards the south, the 2nd BC Squadron (HMS New Zealand and HMS Indomitable steered towards NE to attack SMS Blücher. In response, the Germans steered towards NNE to concentrate their fire on the British tin cans, scoring a few hits which damaged their machinery and made them fall behind. The British 1st BC Squadron continued to fire from out of the Germans range, and to shake them off, my BC steered towards SE to close the range. Both sides scored hits, dropping the top speed of both HMS Lion and SMS Moltke to 23 kts, when the engagement ended due to Derfflinger having connection problems and dropping out.

On the whole, the engagement ended in a tactical German victory. Although the Royal Navy lost only two ships (HMS Tigres and HMS Undaunted, the German force was able to shake off the pursuers with no serious losses inflicted.

Well fought indeed, gentlemen!

 

[bolitho]

Yes, it was a nice battle, at the beginning there were a few problems with hamachi, I needed about ten minutes to log-in. Maybe there was too much load on theirs server so Derfflinger´s problems may have caused by this.
The doggerbank scenario starts with action, there is no need to maneuvre the fleets into battle position.
I was certain to have a screenshot showing the situation but I have none... :OHNO:
The british light forces were commanded by Derfflinger, I had the british BC in two squadrons and their DD-escorts. Derfflinger performed a brilliant torpedo-attack just at the beginning, confusing the germans and,lateron, with the success of two torpedo hits.I tried to catch Blücher (Black Prince) with the weaker tin cans but the battle was fought mostly on max. distance so the hit ratio was very low. The german AC was assisted by its larger cousins and so the tin cans had to retreat. Their speed was reduced by damage so they had no chance to join the battle lateron.
The splendid cats tried to catch the german BC but the visibility was poor due to the wind blowing the smoke against us. At the end of the battle I tried to launch a torpedo-attack at Blücher but without success. Just at this time Derfflinger could not take part at the hamachi chat (Jutland Chat worked!) and shortly after this dropped out of the game completely when hamachi told that he had reestablished his connection, strange behaviour...