WWI Naval – Page 8

Bay of Algiers, 1914, Again

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using a modified version of a scenario tested previously.

This fleet action is based on the Triple Alliance naval convention of 1913, as described in “The Great War at Sea” by Sondhaus. The plan was for the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets and any German ships in the Mediterranean to engage the French Fleet and block the Algerian troop transports. This scenario assumes that the war starts in February 1914, and that the British Mediterranean squadron joins the French.

The confrontation occurs north of the Bay of Algiers.

Visibility 18,000 yards. Wind NNW at 3 knots. Seastate 1

Status at the end of the game: alg2 io

Damage output file: alg2-output

Plot of ship movements:
0 to 20 minutes alg plot 0-20
20 to 40 minutes alg plot 20-40
40 to 55 minutes alg plot 40-55
55 to 70 minutes alg plot 55-70
full plot alg plot all

Computer code (described here)

Both fleets turn to the north, away from the coast.

French and Italian destroyers pass each other to attack the opposite fleet.

Goeben and Dante Alighieri head around the southern French flank while the rest of the forces close.

Two British battlecruisers, Inflexible and Indefatigable, are lost.

The Austrian battleships take heavy damage, as does Dante Alighieri and Indomitable.

The French had more undamaged ships when we quit, so the troop transports should be safe.

Seekrieg 5 – Newcastle Raid

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using the Seekrieg 5 rules. A German squadron has bombarded Newcastle and is returning home but is spotted by a British dirigible. While still 200 miles from Heligoland, it is intercepted by a British squadron to the SSW.

German Squadron:
Armored cruisers Roon, Yorck, Prinz Adalbert
Light cruiser Pillau

British Squadron:
Armored cruisers Defence, Shannon
Light cruisers Arethusa, Aurora

The Pillau uses its speed to pass the head of the British squadron. The British light cruisers are at the rear and attempt to close with the German line without fouling the range for the armored cruisers.

A lot of shooting but no significant damage. The Pillau holds her fire to avoid interfering with the heavier ship’s gunnery.

The Arethusa is blown up by the Prinz Adalbert.

View from the east. The Pillau runs down the back side of the British line, taking heavy fire and launching a torpedo.

We quit after 11 turns due to the time. On the British side, Defence and Shannon were lightly damaged with no critical hits, Arethusa was gone and Aurora was down to 16 knots with boiler and engine damage. On the German side, Roon had more than 40% damage and had lost a main turret, Yorck was gone, Prinz Adalbert had light damage and Pillau had medium damage.

WW1 Naval – Churchill’s Idea

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a World War One naval game based on this March 9th 1915 memo (item 121 Jellicoe Papers) from the 1st Lord of the Admiralty. The idea was to send a fast division into the Baltic Sea and, in cooperation with the Russian fleet, blockade German ports. The Germans send the ships that were in the Baltic for training exercises.

The confrontation occurs off Aarhus, Denmark: aarhus-10nm-grid

Status at the end of the game: io

Damage output file: chur-output

Plot of ship movements:
First 25 minutes: chur-plot-1-25
Last 25 minutes: chur-plot-25-50
Entire plot: chur-plot

Computer code (described here)

The light cruiser screens have engaged. A data entry error by the twit running the game (me) resulted in one British cruiser division driving through the German fleet.

The forces close, but frequent course changes, smoke and high speeds keep hits low.

The heavy ships passed by at close range, resulting in the loss of a British dreadnought, a British battlecruiser and a German battlecruiser.

Seekrieg 5 – North Sea Encounter

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval game using the Seekrieg 5 rules. Initially the game was set up with a four ship division on each side, but we scaled it down to two ships on each side due to the low holiday weekend turnout.

The forces started 20,000 yards apart in good visibility. The British had two Iron Duke class battleships and the Germans had the Baden and a Konig class. The players rolled for crew quality and all ended up the same. The game ended when the lead British ship was destroyed by a magazine explosion.

1/2400 scale resin models.

The German Baden and Konig.

Both sides maneuver to get their A-arcs open.

The sudden end of the Iron Duke, and of the game.

Coronel and the Falklands

The book “Fatal Choices, Wargames, Decisions and Destiny in the 1914 Battles of Coronel and Falklands” by Seth Owen includes historical and non-historical wargame scenarios associated with the cruise of the German East Asia Squadron. Several of these were played as solo exercises using this computer code. The code is not intended for small scale actions. The main drawback in using it is that orders can only be changed every 5 minutes. Using the options for automatic target selection and opening fire mitigates this to some extent.

The Battle of Cocos

The fight between the Sydney and the Emden. The damage the Sydney sustained seems to be more than in the actual battle.

Status at the end of the game: cocos-io-10-10

Damage output file: cocos-output

Plot of ship movements: cocos-plot-10-10

The Battle of Samoa

A hypothetical battle between an Australian squadron including the battlecruiser Australia and von Spee’s squadron. The Australia takes significant damage. The Gneisenau runs out of 21 cm shells (her primary battery), in part because while the Australia was firing at Scharnhorst, Gneisenau could keep up a higher rate of fire. According to the NAVWEAPS site, the Scharnhorst class had 87.5 rounds per 21 cm gun.

Status at the end of the game: samoa-io

Damage output file: samoa-output

Plot of ship movements: samoa-plot

The Battle of Coronel

The historical battle between Cradock’s squadron and von Spee’s squadron. The Scharnhorst runs out of 21 cm shells and the Gneisenau nearly runs out. This may be because the range was generally longer than in the actual battle, or because the penalties on rate of fire for poor visibility are not severe enough.

Status at the end of the game: coronel-io

Damage output file: coronel-results

Plot of ship movements: coronel-plot

The Battle with Canopus

The fight between the pre-dreadnought battleship Canopus and the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Both armored cruisers ran out of 21 cm shells and the Canopus was finished off with the 15 cm secondary batteries. Torpedoes may have been a better choice. If this encounter had occurred historically, low ammunition after the Coronel battle would probably have caused von Spee to avoid Canopus.

Status at the end of the game: canopus-io

Damage output file: canopus-output

Plot of ship movements: canopus-plot

The Battle of Coronel including HMS Defence

A battle between Cradock’s squadron, reinforced by the armored cruiser Defence, and von Spee’s squadron. This is a lot closer fight than the actual battle. With Scharnhorst sunk and Gneisenau out of 21 cm shells, von Spee’s squadron would probably break up into individual raiders.

Status at the end of the game: defence-io

Damage output file: defence-output

Plot of ship movements: defence-plot

The Battle of the Falklands

The historical battle between Sturdee’s battlecruisers and von Spee’s armored cruisers. The battlecruisers took more damage than in the actual battle, possibly because von Spee’s armored cruisers did not try to run.

Status at the end of the game: falklands-io

Damage output file: falklands-output

Plot of ship movements: falklands-plot

The Battle of Stanley

A hypothetical battle between Sturdee’s squadron and von Spee’s squadron, assuming that von Spee attacks before Sturdee is underway. The scenario in the book started with the Gneisenau and the Nurnberg approaching Stanley and the rest of von Spee’s squadron 15 nautical miles away. To give von Spee more of a chance, this exercise assumes that he approached with his squadron together. Timings for Sturdee’s ships getting underway are from Corbett, not from Owen’s book.

Status at the end of the game: stanley-io

Damage output file: stanley-output

Plot of ship movements: stanley-plot (the outlines of Stanley harbor and Port William are not shown on the plot, but were used for the game)

Initial positions showing coastlines: stanley-coastlines

Updated plot with shorelines: stanley-plot-shorelines