It has been over a century since Britain and France last fought on the high seas. The Napoleonic Wars hardly covered the Marine Nationale in glory. That was then.
This is now.
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Captain of the 1st Company: Treefrog
Veteran Sergeants: 1st Place Onion, Rui, Welshy.
Sergeants: Charles Wright, David Walter, Jackie, Twitchyknees
Veterans: Adrien Young, Sunless Sky Nova, Darth Vendar
Battle Siblings: ArtsyJohnE, Caleb Mayer, DWB001, Haytor, Jackychan97, Jeffery Labbe, Joakim B, JT Bismarck, Laszlo Szidonya, M van Dongen, nagebenfro, Patrick Connerney, Patrick Welsh, PS_Games, Tentacle Shogun, Zadrias, Good Boy 24, Jessica Rae
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Fun to see your ships in action, the AI division system really sucks at times lol. The big battle had all the small ships and the BCs going at like half speed, battle may have been more dangerous if not!
Excellent work by St. Charles. That's what battlecruisers are for.
and so the dismandling of british empire begins…
The first battle shows why light ships are important. A few more heavy cruisers could have handled the cruiser swarm while your Battleships didn't waste ammo on the light ships and focused on the Battleships and battle cruisers.
Why !?
What is going on with the AI's 230mm/9inch belt with mothing else, except turret armor?
They're so common
(Also, you have so much naval funding, you could probably build anything, no matter how absurdly expensive)
The washing machine got the best note for sound effects.
23:31 « Why is the diesels generator on? We still have the main engine, no? »
Commenting during the first battle. Does Jack Aubrey show up? What about the Surprise?
11:28: The British should be running those three battle cruisers across your T, not tucking them in behind the battleships. What a waste.
15:23: I make it the Tyrian.
44:44
Probably the 1 thing aside from Submarines i dislike the most, the swaying of ships when turning, especially in a division, i so incredibly annoying. In my campaigns i tried what i could to fix it but at some point they just start doing it and theres nothing you can do, youd think a less intensive rudder would do the trick but nope.
It has created some funny moments, like one of my DDs going 105 knots, but most of the time its just super annoying cause of the accuracy penalty from Own maneuver <.<
27:07: This is where I wonder why you don't tighten up your battle line and focus on the British battle cruisers.
51:38 a, o and u make letters hard. Prononce it Fokon. E, I and Ymake letters soft. The lettres that have variations are c and g. Also a U can be used to harden a letter ex: Guillaume. And e can be used to soften letters ex : George.
Same name as your french long campaign ep 57 over a year ago
So the victory points make no sense to me, ive finally gone to war with the US and during a battle i lost a single battlecruiser, it cost 50 billion, the ai lost 2 battleships and a lot of smaller cruisers, the ai got 200k points while i got 30k, and its like this every battle, hell in another battle i lost a single heavy cruiser that cost like 5 billion and the ai still got 20k vp from that
And I said, brawling, you need a Tirpitz Class battleship!
Battle of Scapa Flow
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIV, 27 February 1944
The Alsace class Grands éclaireur d’escadre Saint Charles from the Le Havre Base navale principale in Seine-Maritime Department and the Hova class Destroyer torpilleur Bisson from the Helgoland Station navale in Helgoland found the Cressy class heavy cruiser Undaunted of the Royal Navy accompanied by four Royal Belgian Navy Rifleman class destroyers, the Salmon, Vanoc, Winchelsea, and Winter, escorting fifteen Peyton class 5 thousand ton 53 manned armed transports headed for Britain. The odds were a little daunting, with the British and their allies outnumbering and out displacing the French, but Saint Charles and Bisson turned to close to the south when they spotted the funnel smoke over more than a dozen ships moving under the cloudy skies with the sun setting to their starboard.
When they sighted the escorts and counted the number of destroyers Bisson was ordered to close and draw out their torpedo launches. She closed under smoke and was able to get off her own torpedoes while inducing the launches from the Riflemans. Saint Charles got the first hit of the battle on one of the Rifleman while Bisson then took a 129.5mm hit from Vanoc that began her flooding aft and inflicted three casualties. Bisson was ordered out but Vanoc was close enough to get 56.1mm hits. Then Undaunted found the range on Bisson with her 213.2mm guns. Bission got two torpedo hits on Undaunted before sinking with 118 of her 125 man crew.
Saint Charles had strayed too close, and pulled back where she could engage at advantage. She turned to open her broadside and targeted the British cruiser Undaunted. Saint Charles soon had Undaunted flooded amidships with two engines disabled, leaving Undaunted floundering while the Rifleman destroyers zoomed past her, catching an occasional errant shell.
With Undaunted slowed, Saint Charles began to target the Belgian destroyers to take them out before they reloaded their torpedo tubes. Undaunted sank with all but 5 of her 1546 man crew before Winchelsea sank with 347 of her 351 man crew. Winter came next, sinking with 340 of her 351 man crew.
Salmon and Vanoc had disappeared in the gathering gloom, and Saint Charles had to risk closing on them to find the destroyers again. She soon did, and opened fire once more. Salmon was sunk with 277 of her 351 man crew. Vanoc was sunk with one survivor found.
Saint Charles was left with the convoy, which in the dark and after 36 minutes of battle might in years past have gotten away. Saint Charles however had the second generation of RAdio Detection And Ranging systems, RADAR. Saint Charles ran down the convoy and sunk it, inflicting 75 thousand tons of shipping capacity lost, 724 officers and seamen killed or lost at sea, and 71 picked up. Saint Charles then returned to the main battle area, found the seven survivors of Bisson, the five survivors and Undaunted, and the 430 surviving Belgians. Saint Charles took 232 casualties and will take four months to repair.
Battle of Kingston
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIV, 20 February 1944
The Triomphe, lead of her Grands éclaireur d’escadre class from the San Juan Station navale in Puerto Rico was joined by the Triomphe class Cygne, the Cosmao class Croiseur Léger Amiral Cécille, and the Le Flibustier class Destroyer torpilleur Marocain from the Fort de France Station navale in French Antilles in a patrol near the port of Kingston on Jamaica when they encountered the Royal Navy’s Britannia class battleship King Edward VII and the Mexican Republic Navy’s battleship Duncan, lead of her class, and Vivien class destroyer Rigorous.
Triomphe sighted the King Edward VII and Duncan to the south-west. Amiral Cécille and Marocain were ordered to close under smoke while Triomphe and Cygne distracted the enemy. They then sighted the Rigorous closing on them. Marocain and Amiral Cécille turned to cut Rigorous off. Rigorous took the first hit of the battle, a 400mm shot into her main tower, leaving only the conning tower, badly damaged, of the forward superstructure. Rigorous smoked up and turned away, leaving a torpedo spread in her wake headed towards Marocain. Rigorous had hit Marocain with a 107mm shell and Amiral Cécille had hit Rigorous with a 155mm shell. Rigorous took another 400mm shell on the wreckage of her main tower. Rigorous was now in range of the 130mm guns on Triomphe and Cygne. This proved to be too much, and Rigorous sank with 182 or her 190 man crew.
Marocain turned back to closing on King Edward VII. Amiral Cécille, having done so well in destroying Rigorous, was ordered to pull back and wait to pick up survivors.
The Marocain took a 165mm shell through her fore belt and began to flood in two compartments, and was ordered to prepare for her torpedo run. With their destroyer gone Duncan and King Edward VII were in full retreat. Triomphe and Cygne were soon putting shells into Duncan’s main belt. Marocain took a hit, turned, launched her torpedoes, and withdrew. Her one hit was a dud.
Duncan was now badly trailing King Edward VII, and Triomphe and Cygne were targeting her. King Edward VII was still targeting Marocain. Duncan was listing and unable to fire, so Cygne closed on her while Triomphe began to engage King Edward VII. Triomphe soon had a main belt penetration on King Edward VII.
Cygne soon had Duncan flooded amidships with all engines disabled, fires across the ship, and her superstructure damaged. Her aft main turret was destroyed. Duncan broke apart, taking 2543 of her 2697 man crew with her.
Triomphe and Cygne were now able to bracket King Edward VII. The British battleship couldn’t turn her stern to both ships, and was always broadside to one. She was soon listing to starboard, flooded amidships and flooding forward. She had one engine disabled. But she was hitting Cygne and Cygne was taking flooding also. When the flooding took hold of her bow and she began to flood astern King Edward VII sank with 3230 of her 3713 man crew.
Cygne had taken 51 casualties. Marocain 25, and Triomphe 3. Amiral Cécille picked up 483 Mexican Republic Navy survivors and 483 Royal Navy survivors.
Landings against Gibraltar Begin!
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIV, 13 February 1944
The Marine Nationale and the Fusiliers Marins have begun landings to take Gibraltar, the first British stepping stone in the Mediterranean Sea to be targeted.
The Corps d'armée d'Arabie is moving against the British controlled Trucial States.
The Corps d'armée des Amériques is moving from Honduras against the British occupied Guatemala.
The Corps Afrique, which despite its growing size refuses to change its name, is moving against Gambia, Sierra Leone, and British East Africa.
The First Labour of Hercules, Part 3
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 10 December 1943
Wrapping Up
The light cruiser Patrol was leading the destroyers Tirade and Foxhound in the penultimate attempt to finish Masséna. Naturally Patrol was targeted and she was sunk with 656 of her 680 man crew. Tirade quickly followed with 156 men lost her from 190 man crew. The light cruiser Pique was trying to close on Masséna on a different vector than Tirade but was still spotted and sunk with 659 of her 680 man crew. Foxhound was still in Masséna’s wake. A 400mm and a 155mm shell and she too was sunk with all but two of her 193 man crew.
The light cruiser Apollo was attempting to close on the main French body when she was hit by 155mm fire and lost her #3 engine and a secondary gun. She was driven off. Now the light ship attacks were over, and the two battle lines engaged each other. Three destroyers paced with the British battlecruisers to cover them with smoke while the remaining British cruisers, eight Cressy’s and eight Scylla’s simply refused to close.
The French Cuirassés would proceed to destroy the fire control on each of the British battleships in turn, as the British designers had failed to armor the superstructure with adequate protection. Masséna put a 350mm shell into the destroyer Nugent as she flanked the battlecruisers, most likely just an overshot. With their smoke temporarily cleared the destroyers found themselves taking hits meant for Hector, Inflexible, and Resistance. As the battle cruisers tried to turn away Watchman took a 400mm shell and sank with 173 of her 190 man crew.
Lion had fallen back and Hercules was leading the battleships. She lost a secondary gun and her fire control. The light cruiser Raccoon made one last attempt to break formation and charge up to the French, but she was in line of fire to the battle cruisers and taking hits from Implacable. Raccoon would have to slow to fight the flooding she took forward.
Hercules had finally surrendered her position to Hood, falling back to follow Lion. Hood too took fire control damage. Now the British fire power was severely crippled, and the battlecruisers unwilling to close on their own. Danton was tasked to target the Inflexible, Vérité the Resistance, and Courbet the Hector. This resulted in the total destruction of the destroyer Nugent with 168 of her 193 man crew by an overshot form Danton. The destroyer Vivien took a stray hit which she managed to survive.
Finally Implacable reported she was out of 210mm ammunition. With the Cuirassés running low as well they made one final bid to overwhelm Hood. France reported her AP shells expended. Courbet fired one last salvo. Vérité still had eight salvoes worth of AP shells, and was hitting Hood. But when she took a hit the decision was made to break off the battle. The British weren’t going to conduct a port strike on Brest after all.
Losses are very unsure. Masséna reported 133 casualties, Vérité 128, Courbet 111, Danton 101, France 89, Océan 49, and Implacable 38. The Royal Navy admitted to a total of 8339 men killed or seriously wounded, and 575 rescued from their fourteen sunk ships. Hood, who had chased the French the longest at the end of the battle, suffered 300 casualties, Lion had taken 170 while she was the lead battleship, and Hercules took 139. Inflexible had taken 82 casualties, Hector 56, and Resistance 45. The heavy cruisers Bedford, Carnarvon, and Minatour had each taken 300 casualties, Duke of Edinburgh had taken 377. No British ship had gotten off unscathed.
The First Labour of Hercules, Part 2
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 10 December 1943
Hard and Fast
The British began to target Implacable, while Implacable began hitting the light cruiser Pique. Pique was trying to close with Terpsichore behind her. Pique fell back and Terpsichore took the lead, and Implacable, with the help of Masséna, pounded on her as Implacable launched her torpedoes. Terpsichore fell back as Manchester took the lead, again with Implacable and Masséna pounding on her. Manchester sank with 656 of her 680 man crew. The British attempt to run another division of light cruisers into torpedo range had failed.
The British battlecruisers finally got their first hit, putting a 424mm shell on the main belt of Océan, which took 14 casualties. Then Resistance targeted Masséna, getting two hits and inflicting 38 casualties and destroying her X turret. Masséna was ordered to retire, which would draw the attention of the whole British fleet as Talesman was blown completely to bits. The British destroyer took 162 of her 193 man crew to the bottom. Sorceress was able to follow Talesman and get off her torpedoes. These would all miss Océan.
However the torpedoes Implacable had launched minutes earlier had cruised through the British formation until one of them found the battlecruiser Inflexible, hitting on the main belt and inflicting 46 casualties.
Sorceress was the closest ship to Masséna and was taking fire for it. Orcadia was the third ship in Talesman’s division and she also launched torpedoes before being sunk with 183 of her 193 man crew. Her torpedoes were headed for Vérité and Vérité took one torpedo with 8 casualties.
The heavy cruiser King Alfred was leading another attempt to close on the French formation, and was sunk with 1299 of her 1546 man crew. With King Alfred gone Implacable and the battleship secondaries were driving off Bedford. The light cruiser Apollo detected more of Implacable’s torpedoes and was able to warn other ships.
The American heavy cruisers were in range, as were the secondary guns of their battle cruisers, and the French Cuirassés were returning fire with their 155mm guns.
Lydiard was attempting to lead another three destroyer division on an attack on the French line. Lydiard was sunk by 155mm and 210mm fire with 163 of her 190 man crew. Druid was behind her and lost her main tower on the first 400mm hit. Druid sank with 345 of her 354 man crew. To help cover the retreat of Masséna the whole French force turned about. Duke of Edinburgh was now closing alone and receiving especial attention from Implacable. When she lost her main tower and her captain the executive officer retreated the ship.
Sorceress had her torpedo launcher reloaded and was again closing on Masséna. From across the entire width of the battle space Courbet put a 400mm shell into Sorceress, breaking her spell. This amazing achievement is a testament to the design of the Jauréguiberry class. Masséna put one last 350mm shell into Sorceress as she sank with 169 of her 190 man crew.
Cont’d
The First Labour of Hercules, Part 1
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 10 December 1943
A Strike on Brest
The Jauréguiberry class Cuirassé de 1er rang Courbet, Vaisseau amiral of the Brest Base navale principale in Finistère Department, was joined by five more Cuirassés de 1er rang of the Flotte de Brest, the Danton, lead of her class, the Océan, lead of her class, the France, lead of her class, the Vérité, lead of her class, and the Masséna, lead of her class, along with the Vengeur class Croiseur Cuirassés Implacable, on a sortie to drive off the first attempt by the United States Navy to attack French soil.
This however would take a lot of skill and tactics, as the Royal had sent three Vengeance class 43 thousand ton, 21.2 knot fast, 1633 manned, five twin 361mm turret ANBMY armed battleships, the Hercules, Hood, and Lion, three Prince Consort class 67 thousand ton, 40.3 knot fast, 1319 manned, four triple 424mm turret ABXY armed battlecruisers, the Hector, Inflexible, and Resistance, nine Cressy class 19 thousand ton, 31.1 knot fast, 1546 manned, three twin 213mm armed heavy cruisers, Bedford, Carnarvon, Duke of Edinburgh, Immortalite, King Alfred, Minatour, Narcissus, Shannon, and Undaunted, eleven Scylla class 8 thousand ton, 32.8 knot fast, 680 manned, three single 193mm turret ABX armed light cruisers, the Apollo, Arethusa, Boadicea, Brisk, Manchester, Medusa, Naiad, Patrol, Pique, Racoon, and Terpsichore, six Oracle class destroyers, the 1933 refitted Druid at 2604 tons, 32.6 knots, 354 manned, three single 110mm armed, and five 1932 refitted at 2,395 tons, 34.9 knots speed, 193 manned, two twin 132mm armed, the Foxhound, Nugent, Orcadia, Talesman, and Tyrian, and five Vivien class 2,026 tons, 35.5 knots speed, 190 manned, three 107mm armed destroyers, the Lydiard, Sorceress, Tirade, class lead Vivien, and Watchman. No ship with reported construction flaws and all but the battlecruisers torpedo armed.
Since the Cuirassés did not share the same top speed, the division broke up but all the ships reduced speed to 22 knots. They turned to await the incoming British ships, hoping to pick off the light ships and drive off the capital ships. The British were coming out of the south-west. Once they sighted the French ships their light ships burned smoke to hide their formation, but it was clear the battleships were in a division of three in line ahead with their three battlecruisers in a division of three behind the battleships. This was a terrible waste of their speed and potential.
With the British light ships swirling off their starboard beam, the French Cuirassés opened up, quickly getting hits on destroyers and light cruisers. Finally a destroyer caught two 400mm hits, one below her main tower and one just aft of that, and sank, believed to be the Tyrian, with 188 of her 193 man crew. The loss of this ship as she lead the charge on the French cooled the ardor of the British destroyers.
The heavy cruiser Narcissus tried to lead a division of three ships towards the head of the French force, but was driven off by multiple hits. Finally, after having lost one ship and having others damaged the British got their first hit on the Cuirassé de 1er rang France, putting a 361mm shell on her main deck and causing 11 casualties. The French returned the favor, hitting Immortalite, Carnarvon, and Boadicea. France took another hit through her fore deck and began flooding. The heavy cruiser Minatour was hit through her main belt with 192 casualties. France took another 361mm shell through her fore belt and was burning. Carnarvon took a 400mm shell through her torpedo launcher, losing 18 men.
Cont’d
All for the Mediterranean
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 28 November 1943
The Mousquetaire class Cuirassé de 1er rang Athos, Lead ship and Vaisseau amiral of the La Rochelle Base navale principale in Charente-Maritime Department, along with her sister ships the Porthos, the Aramis, and the D'Artagnan, accompanied by The Planchet, lead of the Companion Grands éclaireur d’escadre class and her sister ships the Grimuad, the Mousqueton, and the Bazin, have orders to prepare for operations and make sail south. Destination not made public at this time.
The Premier amiral de France and the Maréchal de France has announced a general outline for the war with Great Britain: “Take their stuff.”
The United Kingdom Declares War!
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 25 November 1943
Apparently London meant it.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has declared war on the Troisième République Française. They assert the reasons are primarily because of provocations by the Marine Nationale. No one credits this of course after the recent comments by First Sea Lord Admiral Edward Chamberlain of the Royal Navy.
Well, the Americans. The United States of America, our recent enemy whose Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William Bailey Bristol also recently took a crack at the Marine Nationale, as if he should talk, has accepted the British diplomacy, as has the Empire of Japan, and the Russian Republic.
Our allies of course, the Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Emirate of Arabia, and the Republics of Columbia and Chile, naturally see the validity of our claims.
The Republic of Columbia reminds us that they are an ally and ask that we resume war with the United States which is clearly violating their agreement not to attempt to extend themselves outside their borders by attacking Columbia.
Change in Russian Admiralty
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 20 November 1943
General-Admiral Oskar Berens has been removed and replaced by Admiral Alexander Viktorov. What a country with one battleship needs with an admiral, but less a full admiral, is an open question.
British Demand Money!
Le Républicain Provence, Marseille
MCMXLIII, 17 November 1943
The British has suggested, strongly, that we demonstrate our ‘good intent’ by turning over to them a huge portion of our contingency funds for the Marine Nationale. Strongly as in ‘do it or we will go to war with you’.
They are the second largest empire in the world. We’ve just allied with the third largest, the Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie. The last remaining empire after we three, the Empire of Japan, seems to be siding with United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. And the Ottoman Empire of course is siding with us. The Dutch Empire is allied with Japan. We shall see.
A my old enemy S T A I R S