This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a fictitious naval battle set in the North Sea during the Russo-Japanese War.
The Russo-Japanese War has been in progress since 1904. Historically, the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 did not require France to support Russia since no Triple Alliance member state was involved. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 did not require Britain to support Japan since Japan was not at war with more than one state.
In this somewhat altered history, Germany has decided to spend money on the army and not build a large fleet. Anglo-German relations are good. France finds it necessary to support Russia due to the military balance in Europe. Japan, assuming that this is the case, attacks French assets in Asia. Thus France and Russia are at war with Japan and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (Article 3) is invoked.
Player briefings: Skagerrak 1905 Briefing
Visibility 18,000 yards. Wind westerly at 14 knots. Sea state 3.
Status at the end of the game: sk1905 IO
Damage output file: sk1905 output
Player reports:
sk1905 side 1
sk1905 side 2
Plots of ship movements:
0-40 minutes sk-plot-0-40
40-70 minutes sk-plot-40-70
All sk-plot-all
Computer code (described here)
The British concentrated their fire on the Russian ships and damaged all four of the Borodino class (the most valuable Russian ships). The French placed themselves between the British and the Russians. The Russians fought on, declining to leave the French to fight alone against a much larger British force. After about 3.5 hours of play and 70 minutes of game time, many of the heavy ships were low on ammunition. A minor British win perhaps, but all sides acquitted themselves well.
ncc1717.com 