C is for Convoy – Episode 42 – British Legendary Campaign

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Doesn’t matter if you protect them with battleships, the Royal Navy is after your merchantmen.

This campaign was recorded using Admiralsnackbar’s balance mod which you can find here https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/40790-uad-rebalancing-mod-for-13-v1/

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Captain of the 1st Company: Treefrog
Lieutenants: Armande Christoph
Veteran Sergeants: 1stplaceonion, LCG Canyon, Welshy
Sergeants: Jackie, Twitchyknees, Alerik Rahl, paga1985s, Haytor, King Memphis
Veterans: Telemonian Dan, Sunless Sky Nova, Threadoflength, Darth Vendar.
Battle Siblings: Jacky Chan, nagebenfro, scurvekano, Cpt Graftin, Icd, Iroey, Zadrias, JT Bismarck.

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31 thoughts on “C is for Convoy – Episode 42 – British Legendary Campaign”

  10. Secretary of the Admiralty Ricky Kopf
    August 1922

    Taking Ethiopia seems to be more difficult as the Italians have built it as if it was a fortress. The British Army has devised a new plan where they attack Ethiopia on all sides. However, reclaiming Sudan was a cakewalk as the Italians were caught off guard and fled the colony. I am sure the French will be very upset that they failed to claim it for themselves. As compensation, I will make sure they are given some credit for diverting the Italians away from Port Sudan. Speaking of colonies, we would like to welcome the reunification of eastern New Guinea under the British Crown. Soon after, the Indonesian regime seeks to eliminate our influence there. The good news is that the naval force that invaded German New Guinea is ready to take the challenge for king and country. On the diplomatic front, Admiral Munro attempts to convince the French government to not declare war on us. Whether these diplomatic ventures are successful or not remains to be seen.
    Join us next time as we see the results of our admiral’s diplomatic ventures.

    Reply

  17. The Suprema Test

    The Times: 23 July 1922

    How Many Royal Navy Ships Does it Take to Sink a Miseno?

    So far the Royal Navy has had five encounters with the Regia Marina’s Miseno class heavy cruiser. This is the only ship of a foreign navy that can be considered to qualify as this type, and even this is questionable. The Miseno relies on a mixed set up of torpedoes to be a potent threat, while her three 8.1” guns in three triple turrets are not as effective as the 11” armed County class, the first class of heavy cruisers. The first encounter was with the Zara in November in the Western Mediterranean. HMS Norfolk, a County class, sunk her. Thus demonstrating the superiority of a true heavy cruiser design. The next encounter was with the Marco Polo in February. She was able to outfight but not sink the HMS Avon, a River class light cruiser. The third was with the Santa Maria later in February in the Central Mediterranean. She fought HMS Tribune, lead ship of her semi-armoured class and a much older vessel, and five British made destroyers including HHMS Senator. Operating as a convoy escort, Santa Maria was constrained in her tactics and was sunk by six torpedo hits from a pack of destroyers hounding her. The Trieste was also escorting a convoy in April and again faced HMS Tribune and five destroyers. This time the Miseno took only one torpedo hit and had to be herded into HMS Tribune’s range. She was sunk by 3”, 5” and 6” shell fire.

    The fifth encounter was with the Suprema.

    The Suprema was escorting three Vortice class 10 thousand ton 82 man crewed two single 4.3” gun mounts fore and aft armed transports along the west coast of the Italian peninsula. There she was found by the Tribune class semi armoured cruiser HMS Vindictive, the destroyers F-class HMS Foyle and D-class HMS Duke. HMS Foyle, leading the destroyer division, spotted and opened fire on the Suprema. However the squadron’s battle order was to avoid the Suprema and find the convoy, applying enough pressure on the Italian cruiser to keep her distracted. HMS Foyle drew the first of many torpedo spreads from Suprema but was also able to destroy two of Suprema’s deck triple torpedo launchers as well as starting flooding in her steering compartment. Suprema was now opening the range to get away from HMS Vindictive’s many 3” guns.

    Now HMS Foyle sighted the convoy to discover that the Vortice class carries their own torpedoes, two twin deck launchers. But HMS Foyle closed avoiding the torpedo strike from Enrico Dandolo V and was able to sink her with ten survivors. Lince II surrendered with forty-seven survivors. HMS Foyle sent a spread of four torpedoes at Vortice only to get two back. Vortice was sunk with ten survivors after two torpedo hits. HMS Foyle was hit by both torpedoes, had #1 and #2 engines disabled, started flooding in her forward five compartments including two engineering spaces, and lost eighteen men. HMS Foyle was ordered to slow and effect repairs while retiring from the battle and collecting survivors.

    HMS Vindictive and HMS Duke also retired, not intending to engage the Suprema again with HMS Foyle damaged. In total HMS Foyle suffered twenty-seven casualties from hits by Vortice and Suprema. HMS Vindictive had taken one hit but no casualties. The Regia Marina reported that Suprema had taken 243 casualties from her 972 man crew complement. They failed to mention that the Italian Merchant Marine lost another 30 thousand tons of shipping capacity.

    So the answer to the question is three Royal Navy ships can drive off a Miseno, but they can’t sink her.

    Reply

  19. Why was the Kaiserin in Russian Waters?

    The Times: 16 July 1922

    Rumours of a territorial exchange; the Chinese peninsula of Weihaiwei and Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory for a Balkan province?

    The Royal Navy received a request from the Royal Norwegian Navy to assist them in tracking down a Markgraf class pre-dreadnought operating in the Baltic threatening Scandinavian merchant ships. Reportedly the Kaiserin, she was operating with a Seeadler class protected cruiser, the Magdeburg. The Royal Navy sent the Royal George class dreadnought HMS Centurion escorted by the Myrtle class scout cruiser HMS Adventure to Olso where they meet the C-class ’15 HNMS Beagle to escort them into the unfamiliar waters of the Baltic.

    They tracked the Kaiserin and Magdeburg off the coast of Latvia, a province of the Russian Federation, North West of Klalpeda. HNMS Beagle sighted Kaiserin and directed fire from HMS Centurion. With her first ranging shot at 24 kilometers HMS Centurion got a hit on Kaierin’s main deck, destroying a casemate gun and wounding forty-five of her crew. Both battleships turned north to open their broadsides. HMS Centurion got another hit on Kaiserin’s main belt, wounding ten, just as HNMS Beagle spotted Magdeburg. HNMS Beagle, drawing fire from the Kriegsmarine, made smoke and continued to close. Magdeburg also made smoke. HMS Centurion continued to hit Kaiserin and causing casualties. The Norwegian torpedo officer fired his first torpedo spread, driving Kaiserin to avoid them.

    With HNMS Beagle past the Germans and busy reloading, the Kaiserin turned her guns on HMS Adventure. HMS Centurion shifted fire to Magdeburg, taking out a secondary gun and wounding thirty-eight. With her torpedoes nearly reloaded HNMS Beagle turned to rejoin the fight.

    Not enjoying the attention she was getting Magdeburg made smoke and all attention shifted back the Kaiserin as HMS Adventure started taking 4.3” hits back. But the 11” hit on her main belt started HMS Adventure flooding in two compartments including engineering one. HMS Adventure was ordered to retire, still firing on the Kaiserin as she turned away and still taking fire.

    HMS Centurion and HNMS Beagle sighted Magdeburg again and a 13.5” shell hit her through her aft belt, disabling #2 engine and wounding thirteen. This was the final hit, and the Seeadler class protected cruiser Magdeburg sank with seventeen survivors of her 354 man complement.

    With her escort gone Kaiserin turned away from the battle. Finally deciding she wasn’t going to sink HMS Adventure, the Kaiserin turned her guns on the closing Norwegian destroyer. This time HNMS Beagle’s torpedo held his launch. Braving the 11” guns and taking 4.3” fire, HNMS Beagle was within a kilometer when she launched her last two torpedoes. One of the British made 21” fast torpedoes was a dud, the other hit the main belt, disabling #2 engine, flooding the ship in three compartments, and wounding 23 of Kaiserin’s crew. With only about 850 men answering to stations, Kaiserin was undermanned everywhere. As HNMS Beagle pulled away Kaiserin finally got two 11” hits on the destroyer as flooding broke into all five of her forward compartments. Kaiserin sunk with four survivors of her 1227 complement of officers and ratings.

    No senior officers survived from either Kriegsmarine ship, but survivors of the Kaiserin claimed there had been civilians on board.

    The Royal Navy suffered thirty-three casualties on HMS Adventure. The Royal Norwegian Navy suffered twenty-nine casualties on HNMS Beagle. The mission was a success and harassment of Scandinavian shipping decreased markedly.

    Reply

  22. Sink the Bismarck

    The Times: 7 July 1922

    A Westfalen class semi-dreadnought Bismarck accompanied by a Lützow class armoured cruiser Rhineland were escorting a convoy of four Siegfried class 9.5 thousand ton, 53 man crewed armed transports through the North Sea west of Denmark. They were intercepted by the Indefatigable class battlecruiser HMS Inflexible, the County class heavy cruiser HMS Shropshire, and the F-Class destroyer HMS Fervent.

    First order for the Royal Navy squadron: Sink the transports. Second order: Sink the Bismarck.

    HMS Shropshire sighted the enemy and immediately HMS Inflexible opened fire on the Kriegsmarine’s battle hexagon with her pointless twin 7.1” gun turret mounted super firing over the aft twin 10.8” turret. Bismarck turned north to open her eight gun broadside and HMS mirrored her to bring her six 13.5” guns to bear on the German battleship. HMS Fervent and HMS Shropshire continued to close, targeting Rhineland and searching for the convoy.

    At 12 kilometers HMS Inflexible got the first two hits on Bismarck, destroying a casemate gun, setting fires and flooding, and wounding 125 of her crew just as HMS Shropshire sighted the convoy lying behind Rhineland. As HMS Fervent closed on the convoy Rhineland launched her first torpedoes. HMS Fervent hardly had to divert her course to avoid them but took the opportunity to close behind Rhineland’s wake to gain a launch position on Bismarck. Slipping past Rhineland’s starboard launch, HMS Fervent braved the fire of Bismarck to line up a launch when the crew of the Kriegsmarine’s proudest ship abandoned her to fire, 203 officers and ratings surviving from a complement of 1356.

    HMS Fervent launched at Rhineland just as Rhineland sent another torpedo spread at her. Both would miss but Rhineland would be driven towards HMS Inflexible, who took the moment to destroy the cruiser’s main tower and wound fourteen of her bridge crew. With two compartments forward fully flooded and another breached, Rhineland had lost her bridge and was operating from her conning tower but was still battle capable. Then a 13.5” shell from HMS Inflexible took out a main gun turret, disabling #1 and #2 engines. The worst was a flash fire, an explosion of ready powder in the turret spreading through the handling system to the powder magazine and setting off that. Rhineland exploded in flame and only 127 of her 850 man crew able to get off the sinking hulk.

    With HMS Shropshire closing on the transports it was time to complete the primary mission. Hildebrand IX surrendered. Wittelsbach XII, Lothringen IX, and Siegfried V sunk. There were forty-three surviving officers and merchant seamen as the German Merchant Marine lost another thirty-eight thousand tons of shipping capacity.

    HMS Inflexible and HMS Shropshire each suffered nine casualties.

    Reply

  23. I have had that uncommanded 'turn away' manoeuvre a couple of times now in 1.3.9 – annoying when you don't spot it and your flotilla of dds is 30 kms away in the wrong direction

    Reply

  24. Convoy to Istanbul Destroyed

    The Times: 24 June 1922

    The County class heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk, on reports of a movement of supplies along the Albanian coast, scrambled to intercept the convoy before it could reach Ottoman territory. Accompanied by the F-class destroyer HMS Fennel, the Royal Navy task force was able to find the Piemonte class protected cruiser Minerva with two Nembo class destroyers, Sirio and Euro escorting eight Rutenio class 8 thousand tons 42 man crewed armed transports.

    HMS Norfolk sighted Minerva ten seconds before Minerva sighted her. Minerva turned north to open her broadsides, heading towards a distinctive smoke screen hiding Sirio and Euro. Torpedoes came out of the smoke aimed at the closing HMS Fennel, but she dodged four spreads trying to cross torp her. HMS Norfolk finally opened her broadsides only when close enough to launch her own torpedoes on Minerva. HMS Fennel had already destroyed a main gun when HMS Norfolk got an 11” hit on the main belt, taking out a casemate gun and setting flooding and fire. A second 11” hit flooded Minerva aft and disabled #2 engine. A third took out another secondary gun and disabled #1 engine. One torpedo hit was a dud but the second hit the aft belt. Minerva was shattered, and broke apart underneath her seventy-one survivors of her 442 officers and ratings.

    With Sirio and Euro’s teeth drawn HMS Fennel now searched for the convoy, firing on them as she passed. She sighted the convoy and left the destroyers to HMS Norfolk. The Country class heavy cruiser took Sirio out with one 11” shell, the destroyer disintegrating and leaving her twenty-two survivors floating in the debris. Her 11” hit on Euro destroyed a main gun and set the ship ablaze. Seven men managed to abandon the ship.

    HMS Fenne’s 5” guns broke up Manganese with two survivors while HMS Norfolk’s 11” shell shattered Regina Elena with one survivor.

    Cruising their way up the convoy, the two Royal Navy ships pouned the transports into submission or into the sea. Ascianghi sank with six survivors. Falcon III surrendered with twenty-three still alive. Fisalla sank with three survivors. Luigi Torelli sunk with five survivors. Tembien II sunk with two survivors. Finally the convoy leader Rutenio sank with no survivors as HMS Norfolk sent torpedoes at her. In total the Italian Merchant Marine had lost 67 thousand tons of shipping capacity and 294 officers and merchant seamen killed or lost at sea.

    The Regia Marina had lost 622 officers and ratings killed or lost at sea.

    HMS Norfolk lost one man killed in a shell handling accident.

    Reply

  25. How I write my articles

    It’s changed over campaigns. I have a spreadsheet with different tabs, one showing the timeline of the campaign, another a list of the battles, a third a list of the ships in the battles. There is a tab to track data from the politics screen to show the different navies’ sizes and the ongoing wars and alliances. I also track key statistics of the player’s ship classes and the names of the ships in each class. I have special tabs where I keep information about incidents like friendly fire.

    Statistics on enemy ships I keep in screen shots when I can get them.

    I write the articles in a word document and transfer them over to YouTube when they are ready. I try to post the articles in reverse order for the episode so you can read them chronologically.

    I like to watch the whole episode first for enjoyment, though this can give me foreknowledge that can affect my writing. Recently I’ve been putting all the data I can into the spreadsheet before writing, then watching each battle in turn, or in reverse order to write the flavor of the battle but get the statistics into the article.

    I generally try to tie the battle into the strategic situation. For instance over the last few battles I’ve been foreshadowing an invasion of Sardinia even though that was a prediction on my part, not information Brother Munro gave me ahead of time. I often lead with some flavor up front, such as noting that an enemy ship had been found in an earlier battle or commenting on the good or horrible designs of the enemy navies. I try to set the battle geographically and let that help me create a narrative.

    The Times editorial policy is strongly in support of the Royal Navy and in the practice of Commerce Warfare. This conflicts with their general humanitarian impulses, which is why they like to note survivors rather than personnel killed, and always note that the Royal Navy accepts surrenders. The Times also likes to fully credit the participation of our Allies and of those of our enemies.

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  26. Another Convoy to Sardinia Taken, Part Two

    The Times: 16 June 1922

    The Big Prize

    As she closed on the convoy HMS Avon kept fire on the remaining Nembos. She sank Solferino with thirteen survivors. HMS Tribune and her sister HMS Vindictive finally came up and engaged Pallade. With their combined fire they sank the ship with seven survivors.

    HMS Avon came up on the convoy, sailing to pass on their port beam. With her fire and the closing destroyers the transports were being ripped apart. Madonna dell Arsenal surrendered when she took four torpedoes from HMS Avon leaving fifty survivors. Narvalo II surrendered with forty-eight survivors. Pietro Calvi surrendered with forty-five survivors. Otaria sank with all hands as HMS Avon started taking 4.4” hits, flooding fore and aft. Clio II sank with three survivors.

    HMS Avon and HMS Fareham were working their way up the column as HMS Tribune and HMS Vindictive closed from behind. Reginaldo Giuliani II sank with ten survivors. Carlo Fecia di Cossato sank with all hands. Pleiadi surrendered with fifty-one survivors as did Tembien III with forty-eight. Squalo III surrendered with forty-eight survivors.

    HMS Fareham was rounding the head of the convoy, HMS Avon and HMS Clacton moving up the port side, and the Tribunes closing from behind to mop up the transports still floating. The convoy leader Malachite surrendered with forty-eight survivors. Libra sank with thirteen survivors. Francesco Morosini II surrendered to the Tribunes with fifty-one survivors. Agostino Barbango took a torpedo hit and sank with twelve survivors. San Vittoria surrendered with forty-six survivors.

    In total the Italian Merchant Marine lost 188 thousand tons of shipping and 773 officers and merchant seaman in the battle. The Regia Marina battleship San Gaetano took 774 officers and ratings down with her. The destroyers lost 376 more.

    The Royal Navy took 89 casualties on HMS Avon, 7 on HMS Tribune, 10 on HMS Fareham, 5 on HMS Clacton and 8 on HMS Alarm.

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  27. Another Convoy to Sardinia Taken, Part One

    The Times: 16 June 1922

    Sinking San Gaetano

    With the port of Olbia clearly interdicted, the Regia Marina tried a novel concept. Force the passage between Corsica and the French Riviera then sail south to get to the southern end of Sardinia and unload at Cagliari. The Vittoria class three twin 13.6” armed AQY pre-dreadnought San Gaetano, accompanied by three Nembo class destroyers, Insidioso, Pallade, and Solferino, escorted a convoy of fifteen Malachite class 12.5 thousand ton, 83 man crewed 4.4” and 3.4” armed transports. They made it past Corsica and down its western coast without being intercepted, then ran into the River class light cruisers HMS Avon, two Tribune class semi-armoured cruisers, HMS Tribune and HMS Vindictive, and the destroyers F-class HMS Fareham, C-class HMS Clacton and HHMS Lochnivar, and the A-class HMS Alarm. The whole Royal Navy squadron out displaced the Regia Marina warhips by about a third of the displacement of HMS Alarm.

    When HHMS Lochnivar reported she had no torpedoes onboard she was ordered to screen behind the squadron. The rest of the squadron was ordered to break formation and close on the sighted enemy battleship San Gaetano. HMS Avon opened fire. San Gaetano opened her broadsides and fired her guns in reply. The destroyers Insidioso, Pallade, and Solferino were sighted closer to the Royal Navy squadron. HMS Avon, sighting the transports and expecting the torpedoes, turned to avoid getting entangled with the destroyers so she could skirt around and get to the transports, thus forcing the destroyers to launch at long range and early. One spread was sent after HMS Avon, the second toward HMS Fareham. With the Nembos’ launchers dry the destroyers closed on San Gaetano while HMS Avon fired on the destroyers as she went by. Once a Nembo has hit and flooding she was pretty much done, only their speed protected them. Insidioso was the first to sink with twenty-four survivors from her 140 man complement.

    The closing Royal Navy destroyers drew the attention of the San Gaetano with HMS Clacton taking the first 4.2” hits. HMS Clacton made smoke to divert the fire to another ship forcing San Gaetano to generate a new firing solution. HMS Fareham, HMS Clacton and HMS Alarm were close enough now to conduct their torpedo runs, closing on San Gaetano to get the best torpedo strike. With San Gaetano firing on her HMS Alarm sent her four torpedoes out first, taking a 13.6” shell as her torpedoes closed on the as yet unsuspecting battleship. HMS Alarm got three good hits, two amidships and one aft that disabled #1 engine, started flooding, and wounded seventy men, the forth passing astern. Crossing San Gaetano’s stern HMS Fareham launched her four torpedoes. Though a bad angle she also got three hits, getting the rudder with a live fish and forward starting flooding.

    Trying for some vengeance, San Gaetano fired on HMS Alarm. But she was rapidly filling up in nine compartments with one engine disables, fires across the ship, over a hundred crew not answering their stations and all departments under manned, especially damage control. HMS Clacton was perfectly positioned and fired her two torpedoes right into the broadside of San Gaetano hitting with two British made duds. Still confident that San Gaetano would succumb, HMS Fareham and HMS Clacton turned to engage the convoy while HMS Alarm withdrew. San Gaetano sank with 148 survivors of her 922 complement of officers and ratings.

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  28. German New Guinea Falls

    The Times: 2 June 1922

    The forces of the Royal Army and the Royal Marines, covered by the Singapore Squadron of the Royal Navy have taken the protectorate of Papua New Guinea from the German Republic.

    Losses have been severe on both sides in this jungle environment, most from disease.

    Calls in Parliament for the next invasion to be of Germany’s protectorates in the Chinese Mainland have been rejected by the Government.

    Rather the fleet has been sent to pacify the newly independent protectorate of Moluccas which has supported terrorist activities against British and Indian concerns in the area.

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