Naval Thunder report: Raid on Rabaul

I ran a game recently at Nav-Con, a long-running convention dedicated solely to naval wargaming. This year I once again used my trusty naval combat ruleset: "Naval Thunder: Battleship Row" by Steel Dreadnought Games.

It's a fairly simple system with a limited amount of bookkeeping and doesn't take all day to play out. For the scenario, I took a real event and modified it slightly. The basic premise was an attempt by the American Pacific Fleet to raid the newly captured Japanese port of Rabaul, which became their most important possession in the Southeast Pacific region.

At this point in the war, the port was poorly fortified. Because of that, Allied command sent Task Force 11, centered on the old carrier USS Lexington, to bomb the base and any warships anchored there. Historically, the Japanese spotted the Americans using a flying boat, and then the Americans saw the flying boat. The Japanese launched an ineffective air raid against the task force, and the American ships fled for safer waters.

In my scenario, the Japanese spotted the Americans while remaining undetected and instead sprang a clever trap. Attacking at three different points, the Japanese ships have caught the Americans napping, despite the fact that they are individually less powerful.

The main Japanese force consisted of their four oldest cruisers, Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka and Kako in Cruiser Division 6. Two light cruisers, Kuma and Tama, attacked from the opposite side. Steaming in with Aoba's group was the real-life Destroyer Squadron 6, composed of six old destroyers and led by the light cruiser Yubari.

On the American side, the carrier USS Lexington was at the center. She was the oldest US fleet carrier to fight in the war and still had her eight-inch guns available, which proved to be quite powerful in this scenario.

In close protection were three heavy cruisers, USS Indianapolis, USS Minneapolis, and USS San Francisco. Along with them were eight destroyers, most of which were of the WWI era. A small force had pulled ahead of the main group containing one heavy cruiser, USS Pensacola, and two destroyers.

For this game there was effectively only one objective. The Japanese had to sink the Lexington while the Americans would sacrifice every other ship to save her.

To make the Americans' lives even harder, the Japanese crews were experienced, which made it easier for them to hit things, while the Americans were stripped of their powerful radar-directed fire control. Also, USS Lexington was effectively a floating bomb, and any time she was hit in the first two turns there was a decent chance a fire would start.

On Turn 1 the Americans turned around while sending Indianapolis with two destroyers to assist Pensacola's group in sinking Kuma and Tama. They succeeded the following turn with heavy losses but basically removed themselves from the game as a result.

Japanese CruDiv 6 turned to cut off the Americans in a line abreast formation, while DesRon 6 began assembling itself into battle formation. USS Lexington hit Kima with her eight-inch guns, making her captain grin wildly at the thought of his carrier engaging in a gunfight.

The cruisers exchanged fire, started a few fires, and Kinugasa blew the old US destroyer USS Litchfield apart with surprisingly accurate fire. USS Pensacola began to flood, and ineffective damage control teams made the problem worse.

Turn 2 proved to be quite bloody for both sides. USS Lexington and her escorts continued running despite the Japanese ships in front of them. CruDiv 6 turned to starboard to clear all their guns for action while DesRon 6 just kept racing forward. Lexington was hit several times, sparking a fire which would last the rest of the game. USS San Francisco took an engine hit but caused a magazine explosion on Aoba which blew the Japanese cruiser apart. Furutaka burst into flames thanks to accurate fire from USS Minneapolis but remained afloat and fighting. USS Lexington continued her destructive streak by sinking Yubari.

On the other side of the board, Kuma was sunk by USS Indianapolis but managed to sink USS Porter and USS Pensacola with torpedoes. Tama hit USS Winslow with gunfire but didn't sink the plucky destroyer and then fled the board with a mangled hull and raging fires that were barely extinguished.

With both Japanese light cruisers gone, USS Indianapolis and the surviving destroyers tried to catch up to USS Lexington but didn't make it by the end of the game.

Turn 3 proved to be the decisive turn for the Japanese. DesDiv 6 split in half, with three destroyers quickly turning their broadside to USS Lexington, while the other three crossed the T of the beleaguered carrier. Continuing her hot streak, Lexington sunk Furutaka with accurate gunfire. Kako hit USS Minneapolis and started a flood. Minneapolis hit back and started a fire. Then USS San Francisco raked Kako with five-inch shells and sent her to the bottom, while the destroyer USS Zane blasted Mochizuki apart.

But it was too late! Three torpedoes slammed into USS Lexington and shattered the proud ship, taking her from 113 hull points to 41 and then quickly to 37 from flooding damage. Fortunately, the other three Japanese destroyers all missed.

On turn 4 Kinugasa launched her carefully husbanded torpedo salvo on USS Lexington, hoping desperately to sink the tough ship. But the salvo missed completely while her gunfire was slightly more successful. Kinugasa was finished off by San Francisco and almost all of the remaining Japanese destroyers joined her beneath the waves.

It looked bleak for the Japanese, but inept damage control teams finished the work of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and USS Lexington capsized.

The ripples from this battle will surely echo through the history of the Pacific War. Without Lexington, the US fleet would never have opposed the Port Moresby invasion and they might not have sent USS Enterprise and USS Hornet off the launch the Doolittle Raid. In addition, the loss of CruDiv 6 would create problems for the Japanese. Those four heavy cruisers were vitally important to the Guadalcanal operation. Needless to say, history shifted drastically from this what-if battle.

-- Mike, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Naval Thunder report: Battle of the Denmark Strait

A few months ago four of us made the long trek out to Games Plus in Mt. Prospect to play our club's first naval game. With only a few people attending, it made sense to play a battle with a small number of ships. The one I picked happened to also be one of the classic battles of WWII.

In late May, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck tried to break out into the North Atlantic. Accompanied by a heavy cruiser, the Prinz Eugen, the two German ships set a course for the Denmark Strait. They were met by the Royal Navy's newest battleship and the pride of the fleet, HMS Hood. HMS Prince of Wales was so new that she hadn't even gone through her trials yet and still had civilian dockworkers on board. Hood was a ship built at the end of WWI and was considered at the time to be the most powerful in the world, at least by the British.

The miniatures we used were all 1/3000-scale ships from a variety of manufacturers. That scale is getting quite rare in the US and can really only be found in England. All the miniatures except Hood were made by Skytrex. Hood was brought from a fellow named Mick Yarrow, who makes these ships in his basement. He makes some odd ships like German carriers, and I have dealt with him many times.

The rules we used for this skirmish are called Naval Thunder: Battleship Row and the expansion, Bitterest Rivals. It is a very well-polished rule system that I have used many times for naval games. It covers time periods from the Spanish-American War of 1898 to WWII.

There were a handful of specific rules for this scenario, mostly to accurately reflect the conditions of the ships during this particular battle — and they all affected the British. Prince of Wales had to roll each turret separately and any ones rolled would negate that turret's fire, reflecting the poor state of affairs aboard that new ship.

In addition, the British would have to roll a command check if either ship was sunk. I had Hood, Tim had Prince of Wales, Karl had the powerful Bismarck, and Kevin was stuck with Prinz Eugen, a ship which was totally outclassed in the battle. Here are the British ships:

After a short explanation of the rules, we were off. Turn one had Hood and Prince of Wales, turning to starboard (right). The Germans moved toward their exit point, still unsure about the rules. Hood fired at Prinz Eugen and missed. Bismarck hit Prince of Wales, as did Prinz Eugen. However, the smaller guns on Prinz Eugen did no damage at all.

Turn 2 had the British continuing their turn to cut off the Germans and uncover all their guns. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen continued on course, as the British shooting hadn't done much the previous turn. Hood fired on Prinz Eugen again and hit, penetrating the weak armor and causing the cruiser to begin flooding. Bismarck and Prince of Wales exchanged fire, both hitting but not causing major damage. Prinz Eugen failed to fix her flooding and took more damage.

In Turn 3, the Germans changed tactics. Realizing that they were being overwhelmed, Bismarck turned to port (left) to unmask all her guns. Prinz Eugen continued on course while the British continued on their previous course to keep the Germans from their objective. Bismarck fired on Hood for a change and hit, but didn't penetrate Hood's moderate armor. Prince of Wales hit Bismarck and did some hull damage, but not a lot. Hood smashed Prinz Eugen's engine room, reducing the cruiser's speed while Prinz Eugen managed to hit Hood and do some damage, but nothing critical.

On Turn 4 Bismarck continued to turn while all the other ships remained on their previous course. Hood switched fire to Bismarck and did some damage. Bismarck replied and did some damage to Hood, while Prince of Wales caused a fire to start on the beleaguered Prinz Eugen. But Prinz Eugen hit Hood again and damaged the large ship's engines.

During Turn 5 Bismarck reversed course now headed to starboard while the British continued on their course. Hood blew up after a devastating barrage from Bismarck, while Prince of Wales smashed one of Bismarck's main battery turrets. Prinz Eugen sank as a result of fires and flooding.

Turn 6 started with only half the remaining ships in the fight. The loss of Hood had not scared the British, and they continued to fight. Both ships moved in close, blasting away with everything they had. While Bismarck did some damage to Prince of Wales, she took a lot of damage in return. Her bridge was smashed and she was on fire.

 On Turn 7 it was all over. Prince of Wales crossed the T of Bismarck and raked her with a well-aimed round of fire, causing the Bismarck to slip under the waves and vanish into the pages of history.

Everyone had a lot of fun playing and all agreed to try it again in the future. Our results differed greatly from those of history, and yet some things remained the same. In reality, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen briefly exchanged fire with the British before Hood blew up and Prince of Wales turned around and sailed away, having accomplished nothing in the battle. Bismarck sailed on and was damaged a few days later, making her attempt to return to Brest in occupied France for repairs. She was attacked and sunk by the Royal Navy on her way there.

— Mike, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member