January, 24. European battle AAR

[bolitho]

yesterday a nice battle was fought without any technical issues despite the fact that we had one player from the U.S.
Participants: von der Tann, Derfflinger, Tanyrhiew, Admiral Hipper, myself and as special guest from overseas, Evil Koala.

We played the 1911 revised scenario in which vdT, Derff and Adm. Hipper fought as germans, the others as the Brits.
View attachment 28485
After maneuvring the fleets into position the battle first started at the eastern part with the brit. AC interfering the german CL but must retreat when Moltke und von der Tann opened fire.
View attachment 28480
After the brit. BC came into range they returned fire on the germans but with minor effect. Invincible was damaged badly and has to leave the battle line (sunk later duo to flooding).
View attachment 28481
Indefatigable exploded a few minutes later like a number of brit. AC (both ACH off!) In the battle of the BB two brit. BB exploded, there was minor damage to the german BB.
View attachment 28484
In the last chapter the Brits started Topedo runs, both the DD of the BB and the DD of the BC fleet. In this part suddenly BC von der Tann disappeared (maybe the responsible player checks his logs?) Explosion?
View attachment 28482
The battle ended in a clear german victory
View attachment 28483
brits losses:
BC Invincible
BC Indefatigable
BB Neptune
BB Vanguard
AC Lancaster
AC Kent
AC Donegal
FL Swift
DD Druid
DD Ariel

german losses:
BC von der Tann
DD V184
and about 2 in sinking state

as summary, this scenario is one-sided due to the better quality of the german guns especially the Nassaus, even 4 brit BC could not stand against 2 german BC.

 

[Von der Tann]

Somewhat mysterious, as both ACH settings were off and several British CA were press-ganged into the German navy.
The division of the forces was: Derfflinger directed the battleships, and Admiral Hipper took care of the BL escorts, while I was in charge of the vanguard. The probing attempts of two British CA against a few of my CL were thwarted by our BC which enjoyed a considerable range advantage, and the battle of the advance forces evolved into a long artillery duel. Although the British superiority in terms of firepower was significant, the damage inflicted was manageable in most cases. Von der Tann lost two turrets, Moltke lost one and had one damaged, while most British/German CA ate a lot of shrapnel as well, but stayed afloat. When the British van started a torpedo run against my line, the first attempt was repulsed and Moltke made short work of flotilla leader Swift, which was sunk with one salvo only. At some time during that action, Von der Tann must have gone down, as she was unobtainable afterwards, and although she had fought well, sinking two British CA, she was sorely missed, as Moltke ran out of ammo for her main battery. About this time, the battle on the van was mostly over, and the German forces further back had succeeded in clearing their way towards Wilhelmshaven.

How did it go with the main battle forces?

 

[Admiral_Hipper]

Here are some more screenshots from the Germans:

The German Battleships are forming the Battleline.
View attachment 28498
SMS Moltke open fire. SMS Von der Tann is following.
View attachment 28501
SMS York (HMS Roxburgh) is escaping to the south with moderate damage. The ship could be saved.
View attachment 28502
German light cruisers at the end of the battleline.
View attachment 28503
The Battleships move away from the attacking british Destroyers.
View attachment 28504

 

[Tanyrhiew]

I had the brit battlewagons, which I formed into two columns, one composed of the 'Wobbly eight', the other of the dreadnoughts which pressed on ahead. Which proved to be a mistake, Neptune was sunk early after being engaged by the german dreadnoughts and Vangaurd was sunk about 20 minutes later. At which point, I reversed course to open the range and stop anything else go bang, intending to form behind the pre-dreadnoughts in the hope that the Germans would give chase. To cover the 'tactical withdrawl' I had the light forces make a torpedo run but 27kt destroyers are easy prey for german dreadnoughts running away at 20kts. Still the player (Derfflinger) in control of the German battleline did have the grace to say he got a little worried...

Having my own problems I was unable to see much of Bolitho/Josh's action in the van, hopefully they will report on what happened up there!

So 2 BB's, a couple of BC's, AC's and a flotilla worth of destroyers or two were traded for a BC and a pair of soiled german underpants. Not the RN's greatest moment!

 

[Von der Tann]

Just tried rgreats Log Analyser on the game log file - it seems Von der Tann took a critical hit into a magazine at game time 2:32.32...