The 'Goeben' Incident - Retests

You would have thought, wouldn't you, that a force whose combined Flotation Points at 36FP versus 48FP, and firepower not much in excess of the enemy, and in fact less at short range, would be on a hiding to nothing. Well, wouldn't you? I sure thought so, which was why I matched my battlecruiser and 'heavy' cruiser against four 'light' cruisers, and watched the lights get scrambled.

OK, then: next pass. The battlecruiser, representing Saabia this time, had a light cruiser - 12FP - by way of a consort. The game as before, was set up with the Ra'esharn's 4-vessel cruiser squadron in pursuit of the Saabian 'Middle Sea Division' of battlecruiser, let's call it SNS Charybdis and cruiser, SNS Cockatrice. The pursuers were just out of range of the battlecruiser's big guns, the chase heading due south.

The pursuit. The hex-grain, right to left is north-south.

Tiring of the pursuit, Rear-Admiral Karl Trummler ordered the two, in line astern, upon a West-Nor'west course, to close the range. Of course, Rear Admiral Trewford, nothing loth, eagerly entered the action. The single battle line comprised Trewford's flagship RNS Andronicus, and RNSS Bucephalus, Caractacus, and Demosthenes.

SNS Charbdis fires its first salvo at long range.

Bringing his squadron together in a single line of battle, Trewford set a course converging upon the enemy. His plan was to close the range. Now, I played this out twice. The first of these seems to have been inconclusive, and, as I took few pictures, I will omit its narrative. So what follows will be the second.


It might have been in the interests of the battlecruiser to keep the range long, but although immune at that range, it would take it a long time to inflict serious damage. Charybdis's long range gunfire scored two early hits, but Trummler needed to get closer to inflict sufficiently discouraging damage. All the same, it wouldn't do to permit the four enemy vessels to get into short range. Apart from the risk of torpedo attack, their combined firepower would exceed their own. Medium range seemed ideal.
 

The range closes, with Kiivar squadron within
medium range of the lead Ra'eshar ships. The two rear cruisers
are still not in range of their own main guns.

As the squadrons closed, Trewford found that only his two leading ships had the range. The twelve combined guns requiring sixes to hit, they score a par result: 2 hits. Cockatrice also scored a par with its six-gun salvo. The secondary batteries aboard Charybdis chimed in with two hits (out of 6) of their own. But he primary batteries, 9 guns requiring fives and sixes at medium range, were less impressive. Still and all, the lead Ra'esharn ship, Andronicus, had now taken 6 hits - not very far from its 'let's get outta here' point. The second ship, Bucephalus, had taken the hit from Cockatrice. Meanwhile both Saabian ships had taken a hit.

The range closes further. I've shown only the dice that 'hit'.

Reluctant to close the range too much, Trummler edged away slightly before bringing his squadron back onto the WNW course. Trewford doggedly maintained his own course. That only the lead ships were within short range of each other rather suited Trummler. At this range Charybdis would take more damage, but should hand out more in turn.

So it proved, receiving two hits, Charybdis threw five aboard the Andronicus (9 guns, 4to 6 to hit). I rather think I omitted a pic of an earlier exchange of salvoes, as the five hits were enough to put Andronicus under - along with Admiral Trewford.  Cockatrice and the Bucephalus also exchanged blows. Although the third and fourth cruisers were in range at least of their forward main guns (four apiece) neither managed to score any hits at all.

RNS Andronicus turns turtle and goes down.

The sinking of the lead cruiser rather threw the whole squadron into a turmoil, having to avoid the wreck. Although the range was precisely as Trewford desired, just two hits registered upon Charybdis. The battlecruiser handed out five upon the already battered second cruiser, whilst Cockatrice shoved three aboard the third. 

The Ra'esharn ships have fallen into a tangle on account of 
the sinking of Andronicus. I daresay we should look at how long 
the wreck remains on the surface filling with water.

Torpedoes, then. At this range, the probabilities weren't too good, 1 die only, requiring a six. None of the three launched scored hits.

'Torpedoes away!' No hits.

The damage to Bucephalus forced that ship out of the line, leaving just Caractacus and Demosthenes in the fight to cover its withdrawal. It was all very one sided. Although the cumulative damage was eventually sufficient to force Cockatrice out of the battle, Charybdis battered the two remaining, crippling one and sinking the other. 

A badly wounded Ra'esharn cruiser exits the action.

Two enemies sunk, and two in sore need of a major repair, the Charybdis resumed its former course towards the Omez Narrows, escorting its wounded consort, Cockatrice.

The Ra'esharn squadron is routed. But Cockatrice
has been badly mauled.

Well, that was fairly interesting, but Trummler's little squadron had a huge measure of luck. Charybdis took a fair amount of damage enough, had it been given 18 Flotation Points instead of the 21 I assigned it probably would also have been badly injured.

It was around this point, checking up the rule set upon another matter, I realised that I had given the battlecruiser 21FP. Nothing wrong with that, but the standard (according to the rule set I wrote, after all) is 18FP.

Of course, I had to give that a try.  Here are some of the pictures...

Final action. Some phenomenally fine shooting 
by at least three of these ships...

The action already well under way with broadsides delivered at long and medium ranges. Once again the heads of the columns have converged, this time with the Chrarybdis slightly ahead of Andronicus. I've shown all the dice rolled here, including Andronicus's torpedo. In effect the Saabians have practically 'crossed the Ra'esharn 'T'. Charybdis's ten hits well and truly sank Andronicus, and the damage Cockatrice inflicted upon Bucephalus - four hits - is not slight, either. But Ra'esharn has dropped seven hits on the Saabian ships - especially Cockatrice, which has taken at least four itself.

Ra'esharn salvoes: 8 hits.
Four on each of the |Saabian ships

A subsequent exchange of blows, this time pictured separately. The Saabian ships take four hits apiece. That's enough to drive Cockatrice out of the battle, and the situation aboard Charybdis is looking grim as well. Unfortunately blurry, the subsequent picture marks the end of Bucephalus's role in the action, and the other two cruisers take further damage.

Saabia replies. Eight hits on Bucephalus alone 
would drive it out of the action.

Here the action was broken off. On the Ra'esharn side, one cruiser was sunk and another seriously damaged and barely afloat. The other two ships were knocked about but still 'fightable'. On the Saabian side, Cockatrice was also in a near sinking condition, and Charybdis itself was happy to break off the action. Although still fightable, another hit would have been enough to force its retreat.

Close of action. 

I don't know about you, but I found this very interesting, in view of the comments and conversations that followed on upon the previous posting on this topic.

I really did think that the battlecruiser, even paired with a heavy cruiser - as defined under my rule set - would have very slender chances of survival against 4 cruisers. We're not talking 'real world' here, by the way, but it would be nice if this rule set does at least in some measure reflect what might have been observed in real events. 

Here's the math. To begin with, I will be coining an expression 'dice equivalents', that is to say 1 'dice equivalent' equals one die rolled requiring a six. If a die is rolled requiring a five or six, that is the same as two dice requiring a six (i.e. 2 dice equivalents); and a die rolled requiring four, five or six, counts as three 'dice equivalents'. I want to compare the total Flotation Points and firepower measured in 'dice equivalents' of the forces used in these exercises.

- Ra'esharn Squadron: 4 cruisers

Total FP = 4x12FP = 48FP
Firepower:

• long (7-9hexes) - 0DE; 
• medium (4-6hexes) - 4x6 = 24DE; 
• short (1-3hexes) - 4x12+4x6 = 72DE

- Kiivar Squadron:  B/cruiser @ 21FP, H/cruiser @ 15FP 
Total FP = (21+15)FP = 36FP
Firepower: 

• long - 9DE; 
• medium - 18 + 6 + 9 = 33DE
• short - 27 + 12 + 18 + 6 = 63DE

- Saabia Squadron (a): B/cruiser @21FP, Cruiser @12FP

Total FP = 21+12 = 33FP

Firepower:

• long - 9DE
• medium - 18 + 6 + 6 = 30DE
• short - 27 + 12 + 12 + 6 = 57DE

- Saabia Squadron (b): B/cruiser @ 18FP, Cruiser @ 12FP
Total FP = 18+12 = 30FP

Firepower:

• long - 9DE
• medium - 18 + 6 + 6 = 30DE
• short - 27 + 12 + 12 + 6 = 57DE
  

On the whole, under this rule set one might imagine that, if the four cruisers survive reasonably undamaged running the gauntlet of the battlecruiser's heavy guns until they get to 3 or less hex range, they would stand a pretty good chance of winning the action. In one of these scenarios, I had the cruisers in line abreast rapidly closing the range, but they took a bit of stick doing so, and could fire of only their forward armament until they could adopt a course parallel to the battlecruiser. At the same time, it isn't always a simple matter to bring the whole firepower of the four ships into action - especially at long and short ranges, oddly enough.

It seems to me that this scenario - even with a rule set as simple and basic as that I've adopted here - presents an interesting challenge for both sides. The balance, apparently skewed by the 'math' in favour of the cruisers might not be quite as imbalanced as the numbers might suggest. Note, by the way, that all the ships had equal speed - 3 hexes the turn. A disparity in speed would probably be decisive in favour of the faster ships.

The 'Goeben' Incident - a 'Jono's World' Scenario

 A short while ago - a week or two, maybe - the subject came up in someone's blog, or comments therein, of an incident early in World War One involving a German battlecruiser, SMS Goeben, accompanied by a light cruiser SMS Breslau, encountering a British force of four armoured cruisers. The German ships had been sent to the Mediterranean, destined to enter the service of the Ottoman Empire.

Without going into the adventures of this miniscule, 2-vessel, German Mediterranean Battle 'Division' against the French Navy and the British Mediterranean Fleet, there was a point at which Rear-Admiral Troubridge's armoured cruiser squadron, HMSS Black Prince, Defence, Duke of Edinburgh and Warrior, might have brought the two German ships into action. Following orders that were never quite up to date with real events, Troubridge let pass the opportunity. 

This, of course, has become one of those fascinating 'what if?' scenarios. What might have been the result of the four armoured cruisers taking on a battlecruiser accompanied by a light? Was Troubridge correct in his assessment that the German ship constituted a 'superior force', and therefore, following orders, to avoid an engagement?

One of the reasons for my particular interest being piqued, was that, some 40 years ago, this scenario was the basis of one of several scenarios used for a competition in a Wellington war games club (not the Warlords, the other one at the time). After several rounds, SMS Moltke (standing in for its sister ship Goeben) and Breslau had been universally victorious. So then I drew the Germans for my battle.

It was the type of 'rotten show' that described the Coronel disaster for the Royal Navy. I simply could not buy a straddle, let alone a hit. Under the rule set, the main guns were operated under a central control system, which gave better odds of a straddle, and therefore of hits, and consequently damage, upon the enemy. I was getting nothing (except accumulated damage to my own ships) - a whole string of sh.. cr.. horrible dice rolls. In sheer desperation, I split my 2-ship force, and shut down the central control to give the guns independent fire. At least I improved the odds of scoring a hit, even though reducing the odds of scoring multiple hits, and hence less damage. 

If memory serves, I didn't actually lose the battle, but I didn't win it either, which was, in view of the other results, tantamount to an ignominious drubbing. I seem to recall amused murmurs of 'Courts Marshal' being uttered...

At any rate, the recent blog comments sparked my interest in trying the thing out. Now, my Chubby Marine just doesn't have the mix of ships to make the thing a goer. But my Mini-Chubbies might be adapted. My entire inventory includes just one 'armoured cruiser', and a formidable unit it is, but it seemed to me that 4 standard cruisers would suitably make up the 'British' force. What would the battlecruiser's consort be?

For much of this exercise, I assumed (forgetting my own rule set) that the Battlecruiser stood at 21 Flotation Points (FP). It should have been 18FP (we'll come to that!). It carried 9 heavy guns (primary weapons), and 6 mediums (secondary). All five cruisers carried 6 mediums and 6 lights, and stood at 12FP apiece. Now, look at the 'math', per broadside:
B/C Squadron: 33FP total, 9 heavy guns, 12 mediums and 6 lights.
A/C Squadron: 48FP total, 24 medium guns and 24 lights 
All vessels carried torpedoes. 
Although the 9 heavy guns outranged the enemy, and were more effective than the rest at all ranges, I did wonder whether under my rule set, that would outweigh the disparities in protection and numbers of guns.

The range closes to medium for the battlecruiser's 
main guns. On the Cruisers' side, Rear-Admiral Trewford's
flagship has already taken two long range hits (the green die).
The Cruisers' gunnery is woeful!!

So, for the first 'passage of arms'  the armoured cruiser joined the battlecruiser. This really did beef up the B/C Squadron: 36FP, 9 heavy guns, 15 mediums and 6 lights. But, would it be enough?

As Trewford's ship staggers badly wounded out of the battle.
the rest of his squadron bravely (rashly) closes the range
in the hope that the increased firepower will redress the balance.

It was. In spades. The cruiser squadron was quickly and easily crushed.

Terrific exchange of gunfire at short range. But
the damage so far accumulated (12FP vs 3FP) places
the cruiser squadron at a disadvantage.

A terrible mauling on both sides. Another cruiser 
exits the battle critically injured, and then a third is sunk
under a decisive salvo. But the battlecruiser
has taken a lot of damage itself.

The surviving cruisers turn to flee, but the pursuing 
battlecruiser sends another to the bottom. Not without
receiving bites in return. With 18FP damage (out of 21), 
KNS Pteranodon abandons the pursuit.

Well, that was interesting. Clearly the balance was wrong, whatever the 'math' had to say to the matter.

So I redid the scenario. The Saabian Navy took over from the Kiivar, whilst the Ra'esharn continued its role as the 4-cruiser squadron. The battlecruiser's consort was to be a standard 6-gun cruiser instead of the 9-gun heavy. 

I'll leave the other AARs until next time. I will also add a little 'math', for whoever might find that sort of thing as interesting as I do.

To be concluded...

Backlog of Reports

In the last couple of months I have been having trouble putting fingers to keyboard (and pencil to paper) to keep this blog spot going. The muses Calliope, Clio and Hexahedra seem to have deserted my literary creativity. I don't know why, but it is not the first time, and it is the reason I am no novelist (my first tentative essays in that direction quickly dried up the well of inspiration).

But I have at least to keep this blog spot alive, so, here are some teasers for items to come...

Portable Battle of Aspern-Essling, 21 May 1809

Early morning. Marshal Massena's Corps on the march
just as the Austrian Army appears on the skyline.

French cavalry attacks by the cavalry Divisions of 
d'Espagne, Lasalle and Marulaz holding back the Austrian |centre

***

Portable Battle of Aspern-Essling, 22 May 1809

A clash imminent, all along the front line

Marshal Bessieres leads a Division of 
cuirassiers into the attack on the Austrian centre

The battle rages, the issue still in doubt...

***

Battle of Isla Santa Maria

The Ruberian Far East Squadron intercepts the 
Azurian Khitai Station group attempting to return home 

Early action, the gallant charge by the armed merchantman 
O.K. Fjord ends tragically...

***

The Azuria Convoy.

A Ruberian hunter group comprising battleship RMS Royal Sceptre and protected cruiser RMS Ewalda 
intercepts a convoy of four freighters protected by an ironclad battleship, and armoured cruiser and an armed merchantman.

The lumbering freighters turn about whilst the escort 
ships face off against the attackers

***

The Glacial Ocean Convoy.

A Ra'esharn convoy intercepted by a 4-squadron 
Group of bombers. 

A mid-ocean melee as the escorts try to hold off 
a Kiivar intercept squadron. White = Kiivar; Red = Ra'esharn
Now: what can that green die, showing a six, portend?

This last game was played under the rule set I proposed in the latest Portable Wargame Compendium, the Fourth in the series.

I hope to give these actions a more sensible write-up in due course, though the Aspern-Essling battles will receive a fair brief summary for each day. 

Heads up -

Two projects in one: Jono's World.

 As it seems likely that in not distant enough future an uncomfortable level of chaos is likely to descend upon chez nous, traffic on this blog will probably be a whole deal thinner for the next several weeks or months. My 'Little Great War' will be put on hold (there's three small command stands to add to the Azurian Army anyhow). I had planned a naval clash between the fleets of Azuria and Hellenia (why DIDN'T I call it Hellas?!), but that may have to wait a bit. It was partly a play test, but also an early encounter at the outset of the Little Great War.

In the meantime, I took some pics to test out my new mobile phone...



Two projects are depicted in the above pic. The land forces in 1:300 (6mm) scale are formations of the Ra'esharn, Sa'abia and Kiivar armies. Two infantry and two armoured Divisions for Ra'esharn; two and one for Sa'abia, and a Mechanised Division for Kiivar. These will be companion land forces for the navies that featured in the 'Battle of the Laroc Sea'.

The aircraft are Trumpeter inter-war or early WW2 types that have been drafted into the other Jono's World naval project - the one featuring toy battleships made, I think, in Hong Kong.

Turcowaz Regular Cavalry

Just these last few days I finally put together a regular cavalry formation for Turcowaz. It becoming clear that I'll never get hold of any Turkish cavalry from the 1877 war with Russia, I opted for WW1 types instead. As the HaT box comprised 12 horses and 15 riders, I scrounged from among other bits and pieces, the extra horses. It turned out, two of the boxed horses were munted. One of them required a head, the other was irretrievably mangled. 

The extra figures became a 12-figure formation, with a single figure Brigade command stand, and a two-figure Division command. That will do for the Turcowaz cavalry.

Şimdilik hoşça kalın!

A Naval Excursus -

 

Hex grid as pencilled. The white lines is just the overhead 
light reflecting off 2B pencil

Interrupting the Roman Civil War narrative is this little item - what I did today. This was based on a discovery I made a couple of days back that a hex grid with cells 60mm between opposite edges is very convenient and easy to make. The measurements required are 30 and 60mm in one direction (north-south, say) and 17.5, 35 and 70mm in the east-west. The only tricky one is the 17.5, and that is the one least used.

Horrible photo, but you get the idea

Some time ago, a visit to the city Art Emporium yielded a 102cm by 83cm sheet of heavy card stock, coloured on one face. Although I would have preferred a lighter blue, I decided this would be used for naval games. Instead of across the board (a feature of my well used hex-board), the 'grain' on this one goes along the length, which accommodates exactly 17 of my 6cm hexes. The board measures 15 hexes across, with a small 10mm margin.

Looking down on part of the board. All my care doesn't obviate the 
occasional stapid mistuke.

This board accommodates better my 'very tiny' navies, and will, I think be suitable for actions with limited presence of carriers, or none at all. This does not mean my 5cm hex sheets have been superseded - I'll still use those for more ambitious naval operations...

In the murk and mist of the Omez Strait -
A Ra'esharn task force off to deal woe to someone. 

I am now debating how to 'finish' the grid - black, darker blue (the sheet is pretty dark already), light blue or white. I was going to do white, but am now undecided. 

Roman Civil War update...

Meanwhile Curio has landed his army at Thapsus, in North Africa. Varus has shown up and is offering battle, like Afranius, hoping that a stream across his front will aid his defence against the aggressive Curio. The circumstances being what they are, it seemed to me that either side might be the attacker. So this was decided by a die roll, which, after 3 consecutive doubles, came down on the side of the Caesarians under Curio. More on this in due course...

Battle of the Laroc Sea: The Invasion Convoy

The Invasion Fleet turns to escape the Kiivar
warships...

 


Whilst the Ra'esharn Navy was winning some sort of victory off Petosi Point, the Kiivar Task Force 34 was concentrating its efforts against the Invasion Convoy in the Lindisfarne Strait. The lead vessels rashly having entered the narrow waters, the lack of sea room offered problematical chances of escape as Kiivar's two big warships closed to short range. 

At this point the problem of turning circles required a review. The distance across a hex represented a couple or so nautical miles, but I didn't want ships darting hither and thither at will. For this action, I enacted that the convoy's ships could face about, but, in so doing, could not in the same turn move from the hexes within which they stood. It was this delay that brought them under the guns of Task Force 34.



Since then I have provisionally formulated this rule:
If a vessel travels 2 or 3 hexes in a Turn, it may change direction up to 60 degrees during its move;
If a vessel travels 1 hex in a Turn, it may change direct up to 120 degrees during its move;
A vessel wishing the change direction more than 120 degrees, must do do in the same hex, with no lateral movement at all.

So it was with the Convoy. All the ships turned 120 degrees to escape the trap. But the situation was becoming dire.

Some relief was to be had as RNS Barbatos approached from its victory over SNS Hakawai. At first the main island of the Petosi Group masked the approach of KNS Harrier, so the first salvoes hit the cruiser, Heirax. But as the Harrier came into view, Barbatos found itself  'crossing the T' of the Kiivar battleship. The result can be imagined. Already having taken damage from earlier encounters, Harrier took a deal more than it was able to inflict in return. All the same, Harrier used its secondary armament, and Heirax its own guns, to pound the leading Ra'esharn transports. Soon the two leading - now rear - vessels, MSS Chubbi Maru and Barracuda were stopped, dead in the water, and aflame from end to end. 

And then the air attack came in.

After beating off a Ra'esharn air attack (see previous episode) SNS Bake-kujira had completed rearming its own bombers, and launched them in an air strike against the Invasion Convoy. The fighters  unavailable owing to their recent sorties, the bombers flew without escorts.

Under strict instructions that the transports were the priority targets, they overflew the escort carrier. The attack was somewhat reduced on account of earlier losses, a dozen aircraft aimed towards the MS Ramjam, alongside the carrier, and eight took on the lead vessel in each column, MSS Shagnasti and Mangla.

 

The fighters from Angra Mainyu naturally intercepted the strongest attack, and drove the bombers away from Ramjam, though losing some aircraft (1FP) in doing so. But the other attacks went in with nothing to concern them but the light flak. The bombers got through to Mangla without loss, but were unable themselves to score a hit. Only four (1FP) torpedo bombers survived the flak to attack Shagnasti. Their determination reaped its reward: a torpedo strike amidships (the single die threw a six) that stopped the transport vessel dead in the water. In a near sinking condition, the ship had to be abandoned. Casualties among the soldiery and the loss of equipment left the battalion being carried unfit for operations for a long time thereafter.

At that, the following ship, Ramjam, very nearly ran aboard the stricken Shagnasti.  

With the sinking by gunfire of Chubbi Maru and Barracuda, and the rout of the rest of the Invasion Force, the Kiivar squadron concluded it had done enough to save Port Fewersby. Harrier was under damaging close range gunfire from Barbatos and taking a deal more damage than it was handing out. The Saabian Task Forces had been scattered, and there was little more that the Allies could achieve. The Battle of the Laroc Sea was over.

For ever afterwards, historians would argue who 'won' the Battle of Laroc Sea. Undoubtedly the Ra'esharn Navy had borne off the tactical laurels, as indicated by the respective damage to the rival forces:

Ra'esharn losses:
1 cruiser sunk,
3 destroyers sunk
2 cruisers critically damaged 
1 light carrier moderately damaged
8 fighters (2FP) and 28 bombers (7FP) shot down 

Allied losses:
1 battleship sunk
1 fleet carrier sunk
3 destroyers sunk
2 cruisers critically damaged
1 battleship (KNS Harrier) badly damaged (-14FP out of 24)
4 fighters (1FP) and 36 bombers (9FP) shot down.

But against that slight disaster to the Allied Navies, the invasion fleet had been stopped dead. Of the five transports, two had been sunk and a third had to be abandoned and scuttled.  Could the still distant carrier group have still carried the invasion fleet through? Possibly, but for the fact that the 3000-strong brigade group had effectively been wrecked. There was no chance that what was left of it, no more than a couple of battalions, could have taken and held Port Fewersby...

On the whole I was rather pleased with the way this playtest went. I wanted a complex action, with plenty and various events happening. I was moderately surprised at the result, it didn't seem to me 'out of the way'. When I do something similar in future, it will be on a field larger by 50% - 6 hex sheets instead of 4. I'm also looking at giving a Midway a try, and part of the Leyte Gulf battle: Surigao Strait. 

* * *

My apologies to readers for the week-long gap that separated postings in this series. I really ought to have resisted the temptation to allow myself to be sidetracked into what will be the topic of my next posting...

Battle of Laroc Sea - Action off Petosi Point

 

Action of Lindisfarne Strait. RNS Charun and R21 have taken
a terrible battering, but KNS Harrier has been holed by a torpedo.

As the Kiivar Task Force 34 brought concentric fire to bear upon RNS Charun and S21, RNS Choronzon and S22 were just rounding Petosi Point to the east. The invasion convoy itself had entered the Lindisfarne Strait - a move akin to sticking their heads in a noose. For the moment, however, TF34 concentrated their firepower against the battered enemy warships nearest to hand. 

Action joined off Petosi Point

The planned intervention by the other half of the escort squadron very quickly found their intervention interdicted. Coming up fast from the east, two destroyers led the rest of TF7 - a battleship (SNS Hakawai)and a cruiser (SNS Sarimanok). Closing rapidly into torpedo range, they opened a brisk fire upon Choronzon and S22, a fire as keenly returned. Lurking beneath the growing battle, submarine SU19 awaited its chance. To complicate the situation, the Ra'esharn Covering Force was also approaching from the northeast. The battle was about to become confused and frenetic. 

TF1 throws itself in the way of the Ra'esharn 
Carrier group south of Guanocanal.

Far to the east the gun-armed vessels of TF1 threw themselves into the path of the much more powerful Ra'esharn Carrier Group. The submarine SU47 having made its unsuccessful torpedo attacks soon found itself under depth charge attacks by destroyer R26. That abruptly ended SU47's part in the battle - and the war.

Action off Guanocanal

By this time a gunnery duel had begun between the Ra'esharn major units and SNS Gullincambe. Once SU47 had been dealt with, R25 and R26 set about dealing with the nearest enemy destroyer, S11. For the moment, S12 was too distant to offer much help. Before the range had closed, RNS Bushyasta had fired off a salvo or two at extreme range against SNS Bahamut, causing a certain amount of damage and a few fires. However, the carrier's operational functions remained unimpaired. As the cruiser Gullicambe and its consorts closed the range, Bushyasta and Cimijes had enough to do to clear them out of the way of their progress westward.

Ra'esharn takes some losses off the Petosi
Island group

Here was where the climax of the surface action was being played out. RNS Charun finally succumbed to the gunfire from Harrier and Heirax; and R21, heavily damaged tried to crawl away from the action. Choronzon also took a fair bit of incoming from Harrier, and began to withdraw northwards towards the Retosi Gap.  As the Saabian destroyers swung north to face the fresher Ra'esharn units, it was left to SU19 finally to put R21 out of its misery. Whilst the gunnery battle developed between TF7 and the Ra'esharn escort - such as survived -  and covering groups, the carrier Baki-kujira altered course to the southwest, and nearer to Bahomet, well south of the main action. 

Saabia carriers steering clear of the surface action.
SNS Bake-kujira is bombing up its aircraft for a strike...
against whom?

After a gunnery exchange with Ra'esharn's light units, Task Force 7's destroyers became the vanguard of the task Group. As S78 and R22 engaged in a running duel, S77 ran bull-headed, straight for the Barbatos. Releasing its forward torpedo at the battleship, S77 launched a battery at the cruiser, Chemosh. Dashing and bold as was this reckless charge, it received scant reward. Incoming fire from Barbatos's secondary armament and from Chemosh quickly sent S77 to the bottom. None of the destoyer's torpedoes hit their targets. 

By this time the main duel had begun. Hakawai and Sarimanok were facing Barbatos and Chemosh; but the latter duo had the destroyer R24 - and it was well within torpedo range of the enemy battleship. 

The end of SNS Hakawai.

The difference was decisive. The Ra'esharn concentrated most of their firepower against the Saabian battleship. Only the destroyer faced off against the Saabian cruiser. At that, Ra'esharn gunnery proved as good as it has always been (don't know why, but the dice always seems to run Ra'esharn's way, as previous actions have shown). The superior gunnery of Barbatos was augmented by torpedo strikes - the first from Chemosh, and the second from R24. That finished Hakawai. On fire and dead in the water, the battleship blew up, and sank.

Not that the Ra'esharn had come off unscathed. Although the damage to Barbatos was scarcely worth mentioning, Chemosh had taken a fair battering from less hard-pressed Sarimanok. Speed reduced, 'B' turret out of action, and smoking from several fires, Chemosh began to turn about, out of the action. Meanwhile, the duel between S78 and R22 left both in a sinking condition; and the cruiser Charonzon, lucky to survive the one-sided exchange of fire with TF34, was also staggering northwards, hoping to get by through the Petosi Gap. 

General view looking westwards

It was about this time that the Ra'esharn Carrier Force launched its air strikes against the Saabia carriers. Those attacks went in just as the battle off Petosi Point was reaching its climax.

Saabian carriers under air attack!

With fighter escorts, the squadrons from Azi-Dahak attacked Bahomet; whilst, some miles to the northwest, those of Achlys drove in on Bake-kujira. The fate of the attacks were very different.

Taking the latter first, the carrier, quite without escort, had only its own resources with which to fight off the attack. The fighters of both sides neutralised each other at the cost of four Ra'esharn escort fighters (1FP). 

Nor did the anti-aircraft fire prove effective in stopping the bombers. Already having taken losses earlier in the day, the three bomber squadrons between them comprised just 28 aircraft (7TF). 
Seven dice rolled: 2,2,3,3,4,5,5 => zero hits! Weaving and dodging as best it might under a deluge of bombs and torpedoes, SNS Bake-kujira survived the lot! 

What happened to SNS Bahomet?

So ... what happened to Bahomet? The attack that went in was about as strong as that against Bake-kujira. Again, the fighter escort kept the interceptors off the bombers, even shooting down some (1TF) of their number. Anti-aircraft fire, however, accounted for as many Ra'esharn bombers. Also reduced from earlier sorties, the bombers lost further aircraft, and reduced to 24 aircraft (6TF). Greatly determined, the attacks went in...

Six dice rolled: 2,2,4,5,5,6 - a hit.
... but what a hit! A six is required to score a hit, but any (and all) fives rolled with it also count towards the damage. Sixteen FP of damage Bahomet took. Added to the slight damage incurred a short while back, that was enough to finish off the aircraft carrier. The radio traffic crackled with the triumphant shouts of the jubilant pilots.

The orphaned Saabian fighter squadron could count itself lucky to find refuge upon the still afloat and operational Bake-kujira.

The defeat of TF1

Meanwhile south of Guanocanal, the overmatched TF1 'gun' vessels were being overcome. S11 disintegrated under gunfire and two(!) torpedo hits; and Gullincambe was reduced to a smouldering wreck, its after turret out of action, and forced to reduce speed (10FP damage) . Although Cimijes had taken a few damaging hits, it was still in good shape for further action. Bushyasta had received but one slightly damaging hit (1FP). Nothing could stop the Carrier Force joining the main action nearer New Sterling.

There, in a short space of time, Saabia had lost a battleship and an aircraft carrier - two major and valuable units. For their part, the Kiivar Task Force was still well and truly in being, only K43 being too knocked about to stay in action. Harrier and Heirax closed in upon the head of the invasion convoy, just then scrambling to escape from the bottleneck of Lindisfarne Strait.  But Ra'esharn had at the same time pretty much lost the services of three cruisers; Charun (sunk), Choronzon (crippled) and Chemosh (also barely afloat and under way).  Although TF7 had been effectively repulsed, there remained the convoy to protect.

Wild action in the Lorac Sea...

  The battle as yet was still far from over!

The invasion convoy - with large enemy units
far too close for comfort!

To be continued: one last air attack, and more surface action. Can the invasion group yet force their way through?