1/6000 Naval – Page 8

RJW Naval – Skagerrak 1905

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)

Russian

French

British

Each player had to give initial orders based only on seeing two clouds of smoke on the horizon.

The British maneuver to the east to get the leeward position. The Russian and French attempt to coordinate without being able to communicate.

The French have placed themselves between the British and the Russians.

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.

1/6000 Naval – Armored and Protected Cruisers

Some earlier British, French and German armored and protected cruisers completed between 1892 and 1905, using Figurehead 1/6000 scale models.

WW1 Naval – Brindisi 1915

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a fictitious naval battle set in the Adriatic in WW1. On June 15, 1915, a few weeks after the Italian declaration of war on Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian fleet sails to attack Brindisi and to lure out the Italian fleet. The Italians are alerted and hope to avenge Lissa.

Visibility 14,000 yards. Wind WSW at 10 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Brin IO

Damage output file: Brin output report

Player reports:
Brin Italian reports
Brin A-H reports

Plots of ship movements:
0-20 minutes brin-plot 0-20
20-45 minutes brin-plot 20-45
All brin-plot

Computer code (described here)

The rear divisions of each fleet are not yet in sight and not on the table.

Both sides manage torpedo launches at the opposite battle lines.

Markers indicate visible torpedo launches.

After four hours of play we ended the game with the Austro-Hungarians having lost 2 battleships and all their destroyers and the Italians having lost most of their destroyers. Several cruisers on both sides were badly shot up.

1/6000 Naval – Various Late WW1 or Never

Filling in some of the gaps in the 1/6000 naval fleets.

[EDIT] Added some Austro-Hungarian protected cruisers and Russian seaplane carriers.

South Dakota class of 1920. Owari or Kii class with names invented for Nos. 11 and 12. Figurehead Amagi models were used since there are no Owari models.

Russian light cruisers, Svetlana and Admiral Nakhimov classes. Since there are no Figurehead models for these, Japanese Nagara class models were modified.

British leaders.

Two of Fisher’s ‘Incomparable’ class – names invented. The never completed Washington (Colorado class) and Imperator Nikolai I. The latter is a spare Gangut since no Figurehead model exists.

Austro-Hungarian protected cruisers and Russian seaplane carriers.

Tsushima – Russo-Japanese War Naval AAR

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Russo-Japanese War naval battle based on the Battle of Tsushima. In order to make the game more balanced, the Russian ships were not handicapped to reflect their historical performance.

Visibility 14,000 yards. Wind SW at 14 knots. Seastate 3

Status at the end of the game: tsus2 io

Damage output file: tsus2 out

Plot of ship movements:
0 to 30 minutes tsus2 plot 0-30
30 to 60 minutes tsus2 plot 30-60
60 to 90 minutes tsus2 plot 60-90

Computer code (described here)

Japanese fleet

We called the game after about 4.5 hours of play (90 minutes of game time). The damage was fairly even at that point. The Russian battleships were low on main gun ammunition and several were completely out, so their ability to continue the fight was limited.