Nimitz: Murmansk or bust!

 

At the Wollongong Wargamers for this week's Nimitz theme I laid on a convoy battle set in the Barents sea, a 'what if' set in 1941, when the OKW hoped to have Bismarck and Gneisenau, escorted by very heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen,  ready for sea at the same time... (in reality they weren't, courtesy of the RAF...)

Both sides received some pretty good intel...

The German received the usual OKW 'we vill have ze cake and eat it also!' orders: destroy the convoy at all costs, but do not, on any account, subject the Bismarck to any hazards. 

If it returned with so much as a paint scratch the Admiral would be rueing his decision from the inside of a KZ!

However, the Gneisenau, above, Prinz Eugen, Hipper and certainly all seven DDs were to be considered expendable, so long as convoy PQ27 was sent to the bottom.

The Royal Navy and Merchant Navy forces consisted of the 3 merchant ships of PQ27 outbound from Liverpool to Murmansk, and its dedicated escort of 5 'J' Class destroyers.

Darren, the British commander, also decided to allocate DESRON 2, consisting of 2 Tribal class DDs, to the convoy's escort, to scout and clear the path. 

That part of the Home Fleet able to reach the scene of the action off Bear Island from Scapa Flow on time was centred around the lone Battleship HMS Rodney, but she was ably supported by a goodly mix of County Class CA:

and Town Class CLs, superbly painted by Darren and lovingly mounted on Topside Minis 1/1800 bases which gave the players clarity on ID'ing vessels, unlike my hand painted efforts! (a rethink on my own labelling is underway!)

A good number of players put their hand up for this one, so I had the luxury of being the umpire and coming up with some pre-game planning fun and games with the players (well you have to have some laughs as the umpire!)

On arrival both sides were secretly asked to consider their plans: route to rendezvous or anticipated convoy intercept point, fleet disposition, the degree they were going to commit assets to reconnaissance screens, convoy escort, and so on. 

After combining the rival plans and then both sides rolling a dice for the 'sheer dumb luck' factor, the action plot looked completely different to that anticipated. Both sides made some very astute decisions  - the Germans found the convoy right away and were able to position themselves athwart the convoy's route to Murmansk. PQ27 would either have to scatter, or fight its way through the raiders! 

On the British side, however, the convoy was very adequately protected, and the Home fleet main body had located the raiders reasonably early on. 

With the table set up to match the player's plans... 

action opened very quickly between the German scouting group and the Convoy's escorting Surface Action Group, beefed up by the two Tribals.

This action soon became bloody and both sides quickly lost a destroyer.

Whilst the Home Fleet called for full steam ahead as it struggled to reach the action!

Cleverly, the British main body's destroyer screen relieved the convoy's destroyers who had chased off to delay the Surface raiders. Good thinking that man!

In the heat of the moment, the grave injunctions from German high command to safeguard the Bismarck at all costs were utterly disregarded and the pride of the Kriegsmarine closed the convoy with her escorts like just any old cheap E Boot! British destroyer skippers rubbed their hands in glee at the thought of an easy knighthood and closed to launch torpedoes ... 

The plucky destroyers braved a curtain of secondary fire and launched their fish - which missed - on such attacks is a war won or lost!

With the Rodney only managing a stately nine inches per move at full revs, it was clear the  faster British cruisers would have to bear the brunt of the stoush if the convoy was to be saved!

Which they did pretty well - but not enough to prevent the heavy raiders to range in on the convoy with their 15 inch shells...

The surviving Zerstorers added their remaining torpedoes to the mix...Carnage ensued! 

My thanks to Declan, Darren, John and Peter M for indulging me in another terrific game of Nimitz - I hope they enjoyed playing as much as I did watching all the twists and turns!