This
is another AAR by Club Member Chris, from last Wednesday. Again it's
using General Quarters First Edition Rules and ship models at 1/3000
scale (aircraft 1/600). I must say I don't envy Lawrence having to
fend off all those bloody U-Boats and air attacks! Once more there
are no photos from the game - although I'll certainly take some when
I get along to the club next.
This
time it was a poorly defended Western Approaches convoy which had
left Freetown, around the Cape, via Gibraltar, and was now heading
through the Bay of Biscay. Destination: Liverpool.
The
convoy ran in two columns and consisted of the following
vessels.
RMS
Laconia
Built
in 1921 this passenger carrying liner was owned by the Cunard White
Star Line. Displacement was 19, 695 tons. Her maximum speed was 16
knots.
Normally
she carried 2,200 passengers, but having been taken over for “war
work” she carried 3,000 Australian troops.
MV
British Motorist
Built
in 1924 this ship was an oil tanker. Gross displacement was 6,891
tons.
SS
Empire Morn
Built
in 1941 this cargo ship was converted to a “Camship” (Catapult
Armed Merchantman”). Displacement: 7,092 tons. Speed: 10 knots.
MV
Brisbane Star
Built
in 1936 this ship displaced 11,076 tons. Refrigerated cargo ship. She
was a DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) equipped with 2 x 4”
low angle guns (one fore, one aft) and 1 x 12 pdr QF Mk V (AA) gun.
She
also had Direction Finding equipment and an Echo Sounding Device.
SS
City of Cairo
Built
in 1915 she displaced 8,034 tons (7,422 tons of cargo and 311
passengers & crew). Speed: 12 knots.
SS
Clan Alpine
Built
in 1918 she displaced 5,442 tons. She could (under extreme
circumstances) carry up to 11,317 tons of general cargo in her
hold/on her deck). Speed: 11 knots.
SS
Clan Forbes
Built
in 1938 she displaced 7,529 tons. Her maximum speed was 17.5 knots.
She was also a DEMS. She also had 2 x 4” low angle guns (one fore,
one aft and 1 x 12pdr QF Mk V (AA) gun. On
this occasion she was carrying ammunition.
She
had Wireless Direction Finding Equipment & an Echo Sounding
Device.
MV
Dunedin Star
Built
in 1935 she displaced 12,891 tons. She was a DEMS. Wireless Direction
Finding Equipment & an Echo Sounding Device were also fitted.
She
had 2 x 4” low angle guns (one fore, one aft) and 1 x 12pdr QF Mk V
(AA) gun.
SS
Dover Hill
Built
in 1918 she displaced 5,818 tons. Her maximum speed was 10 knots. She
was equipped with 1 x 40mm AA gun, and 1 x 20mm AA gun.
MV
Automedon
She
was built in 1922 and displaced 7,528 tons. Maximum speed of 14
knots.
That
comprises the convoy. Now to the escort.
HMS
Witch (V
& W Class destroyer). Built in 1924 displacing 1,550 tons,
speed 34 knots. Armament: 4 x 4.7” guns, 2 x 2pdr QF pompoms (40mm
AA), & 6 x 21” torpedo tubes.
HMS
Ledbury (Hunt
Type 2 destroyer). Built in 1941 displacing 1,430 tons, speed 27
knots. Armament: 6 x 4” QF guns, 4 x 2pdr QF pompoms (quad
mounting), 2 x 20mm, 110 depth charges (2 x depth charge throwers + 3
x depth charge racks).
HMS
Violet (Flower
class corvette). Built in 1940 displacing 940 tons, speed 16 knots.
Armament: 1 x 4” gun, 2 x 0.5 mg (twin mounting), 2 x .303 Lewis mg
(twin mounting), 2 x depth charge throwers + 2 x depth charge rails
(40 depth charges).
TURN
1
Poor
weather, reduced visibility.
HMS
Witch’s radar picks up aircraft approaching the convoy. They are
some distance off. The convoy continues on course (Convoy commanded
by Laurence).
TURN
2
The
Convoy commander orders the Camship (SS Empire Morn) to launch her
solitary Hurricane fighter. The German air attack consists of 2 x
Me-110 fighter-bombers (each with 2 x 500lb bombs) and 3 x He-111’s
(torpedo bombers) each carrying 2 x torpedoes.
The
Hurricane attacks the escort and shoots down 1 x Me-110. It goes on
to attack the He-111’s but fails to hit any.
The
German aircraft split up and 2 x He-111’s attack RMS Laconia
(troopship), and 1 x He-111 and the surviving Me-110 attack MV
British Motorist (oil tanker). Defensive AA fire is ineffective. RMS
Laconia is hit by a torpedo from one of the He-111’s. She sinks
slowly (4 turns) allowing a number of the Australian troops to get
off the ship into the lifeboats. The Convoy commander (Laurence) is
asked what orders are to be given in light of this disaster. He
orders the convoy to continue on course leaving the survivors to fend
for themselves (not sure the loss of 3,000 Australian troops, many of
whom could have been saved, will be ‘welcomed’ in Liverpool).
TURN
3
HMS
Witch’s radar picks up a further air attack. Again 2 x Me-110
fighter-bombers and 3 x He-111 bombers. They link up with the
surviving Me-110 (minus bombs) from the first air attack. The
Hurricane makes a further attack on this raid driving off an Me-110
(unfortunately the one without bombs). The Hurricane continues onto
the bombers and damages/drives off 1 x He-111. This leaves 2 x Me-110
fighter-bombers and 2 x He-111 torpedo bombers attacking the convoy.
Defensive AA fire is (again) ineffective. The He-111’s attack MV
Dunedin Star from both sides but the torpedoes miss her. The 2 x
Me-110’s bomb SS Dover Hill causing damage to her hull and rudder
and reducing her speed. The Hurricane ditches near to SS Empire Morn.
U-76
surfaces in the poor weather conditions. She isn’t spotted.
TURN
4
No
air attacks this turn. The convoy reforms. SS Dover Hill begins to
drop behind the convoy. The first “straggler”.
TURN
5
The
convoy continues on it’s path towards Liverpool. The Convoy
commander (Laurence) decides once and for all to leave the Australian
troops from the Laconia, to their fate in the water. (That won’t go
down well with the Admiralty, Laurence).
U-201
fires torpedoes. The U-boat isn’t spotted. All the convoy is aware
of are torpedoes coming towards them from their starboard leading
quarter.
TURN
6
The
Convoy Commander orders the convoy to turn 45 degrees to port to
avoid the torpedoes. U-76 surfaces ahead and to starboard of the
convoy. HMS Witch spots U-76 on her radar (and visually) through the
murky weather. U-201 is not detected although she fired her torpedoes
at the convoy. All 4 torpedoes miss due to the convoys turn. An
“object” is detected on asdic ahead of the convoy by HMS Ledbury.
As yet this remains unidentified. HMS Witch opens fire on U-76
with both of her fore 4.7” guns. She fails to score any hits.
TURN
7
Aircraft
are picked up on HMS Witch’s radar. The Luftwaffe return. U-76
crash dives, her captain having decided it’s too unhealthy on the
surface with a British destroyer firing at him. The “contact”
ahead of the convoy is still unidentified this turn. 3 x He-111 high
level bombers attack MV Dunedin Star. They fail to score any hits.
TURN
8
No
air attacks are detected this turn (much to the Convoy commanders
relief). U-47 (Gunther Prien – Ace. Dave’s idea) surfaces
undetected. The “unidentified contact” is now virtually under SS
Empire Morn. Further torpedoes are launched from the starboard side
of the convoy. There are two different sources of these torpedoes
(U-76 & U-201). U-201’s 4 x torpedoes have been fired at MV
British Motorist. One hits, and the oil tanker is sinking (she takes
6 turns to sink – some of the crew spend 5 turns pumping out water,
but eventually she succumbs to a watery grave). Not good. U-76’s 4
x torpedoes have been fired at the Dunedin Star. One torpedo
hits and she sinks (taking 6 turns to go under – time for some of
the crew to get off).
U-201
is detected by HMS Witch’s asdic. U-201 fires her stern torpedo at
HMS Witch (very unsporting). HMS Ledbury fails to detect the anomaly
in the water with her asdic which is now inside the convoy (good job
Dave had decided it was a whale, Laurence, otherwise more ships would
be heading to the bottom. I think Laurence had worked out it wasn’t
a sub as it may well have fired torpedoes long before now).
TURN
9
No
aircraft detected this turn.
By
now the Convoy commander (Laurence) has had enough of “sitting and
taking it”. HMS Violet is ordered to leave the starboard side of
the convoy (where she was covering for HMS Witch who was hunting
U-201) to join HMS Witch in attacking U-201. HMS Ledbury also leaves
the port side of the convoy and heads to join in the “hunt”.
Laurence is determined to sink a U-boat and says words to that
effective (which I can’t repeat here, but he does question their
crews’ parentage !!). The torpedo U-201 fired (un-sportingly)
at HMS Witch, misses.
The
escorts then lose contact with both U-boats.
TURN
10
HMS
Witch’s radar picks up aircraft.
U-47
surfaces directly ahead of the convoy. U-135 surfaces ahead and to
port of the convoy. The aircraft appear (3 x He-111 high level
bombers and 2 x Me-110 fighter-bombers) over the unescorted convoy
(Laurence’s worst case scenario – a combined air/sea attack and
the three escorts are away hunting 2 U-boats). The 3 x He-111’s
attack the Dover Hill who has by now dropped well to the rear of the
convoy due to her hull and rudder damage earlier reducing her speed.
The AA fire (such as it is) is ineffective. HMS Ledbury luckily
hadn’t gone too far from the head of the convoy. She turns with the
intention of returning to her position, and opens fire with her 4”
guns on U-132. No hits. U-135 fires her 3.5” deck gun at MV
Brisbane Star. No hits. U-47 fires her 3.5” deck gun at SS
Automedon. She hits her, causing 50% hull damage (and a “Critical
Hit”). The crew’s morale breaks and they abandon ship (I’d say
that’s a fairly “Critical Hit”).
HMS
Witch re-acquires U-76 on her asdic. She launches a depth charge
attack and sinks it. Perseverance paid off Laurence. You ‘got one’.
TURN
11
No
aircraft detected this turn.
U-47
fires torpedoes, as does U-135. Both submerge. The convoy resumes
it’s original course which is north (towards U-47 & U-135’s
last known position ahead of the convoy). The escorts head towards
the last known position of U-47/U-135. They re-join the convoy. The
abandoned SS Automedon narrowly avoids colliding with the Dunedin
Star (which is still sinking slowly). The torpedoes fired from
U-47/U-135 fail to hit anything.
There
you have it. The end of another Wednesday evenings Naval game, packed
with 10 x turns of action. As Dave put it afterwards, “that
was something really different”. It certainly was. I thoroughly
enjoyed it (and I think everyone else did, including Laurence who
said it had been a challenge, but an enjoyable one).
Dave
took the part of the “Game Master” – he brought on the German
aircraft (random die rolls to determine what if anything came on each
turn). He also ‘positioned’ the U-boats at the start (some not in
a good position) and then it was left to Paul to command/manoeuvre
the U-boats and decide which target/s the aircraft went for. I did
the ‘paperwork’ (mainly for the write-up) for the convoy and
escorts leaving Laurence free to manoeuvre the ships, launch attacks,
etc. He did well. The only thing he may have done differently would
have been to try and rescue some of the Australian troops instead of
leaving them to (eventually) drown. But that’s the difficult
decisions that had to be made. Attacking two U-boats and leaving the
convoy unescorted was a gamble. Yes, he did well sinking one. There
are a number of documented instances of just that occurring.
Certainly in the early part of the war. Mediterranean convoys were
heavily escorted (even in 1941) at the expense of Western Approaches
(hence a destroyer, destroyer escort and a corvette – very typical
of those I’ve read up on in 1941).
For
those who like “statistics” here’s the final tally.
RMS
Laconia - sunk.
19,695 tons
MV
British Motorist – sunk.
6,891 tons
MV
Dunedin Star – sunk.
12,891 tons
That’s
a total loss of just under 40,000 tons of shipping (39,477 tons to be
exact).
Add
to that SS Dover Hill badly damaged and lagging behind the convoy
(5,818 tons) where she would no doubt be “picked off” by any
lurking U-boat.
In
addition SS Automedon badly damaged and abandoned by her crew (7,528
tons). How long would she last !!!!
That’s
5 lost out of 10. The most keenly felt would be the troopship and the
tanker.
Next
time I’ll be able to put more individual detail to the merchantmen
(although a convoy ran at the speed of the slowest ship unless it was
a “fast convoy” – these tended to be Mediterranean convoys with
6-8 ships or even the Queen Mary crossing the Atlantic at a speed too
high for the U-boats to catch her).
Watching
Laurence have to make decisions faced by the convoy commander’s
during the war brought it home to me just how good this game was
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