Nimitz: Battle off Bear Island

 

PQ15 and close escort: CLs Belfast, Perth and 4 x DD

The victory conditions were designed to complicate tactical considerations and prolong the game: whilst the main focus was on the convoy, the RN could also head off the Bismarck in her escape south no matter how late arriving the British battlewagons were - so we could end up with action right along the table...

Geoff and Daniel took the RN team, whilst Darren was the German player. I drove the convoy, under orders from the RN. This was Daniel's first go at Nimitz, and Geoff's second. 

The RN team faced tactical decisions at the outset: how to place both the close escort and roving cruiser screen in relation to the present and developing threats...Bismarck could make an appearance from the north at any point...

They rethought this initial rather anodyne deployment to instead move the two cruisers as close as possible to the 'Scharnhorst' group - actually Gneisenau - to run interference on the immediate threat and hopefully distract from the convoy...

This strategy worked well - Prinz Eugen was pummelled early on, at the cost of heavy damage to Exeter. Unfortunately Gneisenau was not deflected from the convoy, although initially her shooting was poor...

The downsize was that two light cruisers were left as the reception committee when the Bismarck arrived earlier than hoped for! 

Bismarck's shooting at the convoy was on target from the outset and Gneisenau soon also found the range. 

As merships were sinking left and right the British ordered the convoy to Scatter!

At this point the cavalry could be seen just on the horizon in the form of battleship King George V and battlecruiser Renown!

Unfortunately by the time they were on scene the last few ships of PQ15 had been sunk...

Nothing daunted, the British team turned their attention to chasing and intercepting the Bismarck on her run to the south and home...

With only a couple of moves before the Bismarck crossed the 72nd Parallel and was home free, it was unlikely that gunnery from the British battlefleet could sink or even cripple her, unless a lucky 'critical damage' roll found her magazines. Daniel expertly manoeuvred their escorting destroyers instead to launch a series of torpedo attacks...But despite putting over 15 fish in the water from 3 destroyers over two attacks, the Bismarck escaped with light damage - one structure box and 'Dora' turret destroyed...

Game over and a convincing victory for Darren and the Kriegsmarine!

A big game with inexperienced players, so a tribute to the playability and ease of playing Nimitz rules!