It seems the trick is indeed to create a massive artificial reef off the coast comprising of many many vessels brutally dispatched by our ships. Lots of action in this one!
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Captain of the 1st Company: Treefrog
Veteran Sergeants: 1stplaceonion, LCG Canyon, Welshy, Rui
Sergeants: Jackie, Twitchyknees
Veterans: Telemonian Dan, Sunless Sky Nova, Threadoflength, Darth Vendar.
Battle Siblings: Jacky Chan, nagebenfro, scurvekano, Cpt Graftin, Icd, Iroey, Zadrias, JT Bismarck, Documentleaker.
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I was getting worried for those older ships in battle after battle. Good to see the more modern ones taking up some of the load!
The Kursk was charmingly derpy.
Also "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
5:02
Have the Russians/Soviets not heard of “plunging fire”?🤣
maybe you get set the min armor limit for decks to be at least 4 or so. in order to avoid ai ships with 0 deck armor. any plans for a 20 in version of yamato?
Now what's voyage of the damned in Spanish?
Congratulations on taking Vladivostok. I've had it in the list of ports waiting for the acquisition date for …
The Kursk looks like the Loch Ness Monster.
Excellent video. What a battle at the end.
i'm loving the changes!
but could you guys remove the end date of 1950?
And just make it unlimited?
unsure if you were able to up the limit if you would spawn further and further.
maybe there is a hard cap on max distance?
loving the mod and great job u madlads <3
16:15: Somehow I doubt the battlecruisers sunk last month had the chance to radio the oncoming fleets to tell them the battle doctrine of the Armada was useless.
24:48: So the developers put Christopher Columbus into the list of Spanish ships with the ó marked with the Acute and without. I wonder if that's something we can fix?
32:27: Why didn't you let the light cruisers into your 3" secondary's range? Too close to their torpedoes?
Relieft Fleet Jumped
Yomiuri shinbun, Tokyo, 6 November 1935
The newly formed Dai-yon Kantai (4th or Battlecruiser Fleet), sent to relieve the battered Dai-ni Kantai, ran right into the Armada Español’s battleship fleet. Containing the lead Norikura and her sister ship Shiomi, the lead Arakawa-Naka and her sister ship Kita, the battlecruisers had been refitted in 1925. Accompanying them were two Tsugaru class light cruisers, the Akitsushima and Hirado, refitted in 1935.
The Armada Español fleet had only two classes of ships, the battleship class lead Campeón and her sisters Guipúzcoa, Hermione, América, Hector, Princesa, San Fernando, and Aragon, and the light cruiser class lead Conde del Venadito and her sisters Neptuno, Cristobal Colon, Covadonga, Ferrolano, Carmén, Favorita, Península, Elcano, Don Álvaro de Bazán, and Guadalquivir. Thus structured much like Dai-ichi Kantai.
The light cruisers sighted the enemy coming in from the South and the battle cruisers immediately opened fire. Shiomi was leading Kita, Arakawa-Naka, and Norikura. Hirado led the screen with Akitsushima. With the Spanish coming at them with one central column and the light cruisers screening the flanks, Shiomi turned the battle cruisers West. The Spanish tried to run their starboard light cruiser division in for a torpedo strike, but it was driven off by accurate fire. The Ferrolano was sunk first it is believed, with 977 of her 1006 man crew. The middle light cruiser division, also of four ships was closing as well and taking hits with its leader Covadonga driven back. Elcano took the lead.
Favorita was closing with the Starboard division with her bow and stern smashed up, but still mostly combat effective. With her 35.8 knot speed she was a difficult target. Norikura got the big hit on Favorita, driving her off the lead. Península came up next. Arakawa-Naka got the first solid hit on her, blasting through her fore belt. Península too fell back. Carmén now headed the division, coming in under smoke, she didn’t close before the smoke generator stopped, with her at the edge of the battlecruisers 3” secondary range. She did get hits on Norikura however. Finally Carmén took two massive 12” hit through her main and fore belts, flooding the length of the ship. Carmén sank as she tried to pull away, leaving only 1 survivors of her 1006 man crew.
Elcano was trying to close with Cristobal Colon behind her, but had lost her 2.7” magazine and was burning across her stern. The battlecruiser fire drove off Elcano and Cristobal Colon.
Favorita was coming back in with Península behind her. This time the battle cruisers targeted the trailing ship so the division would keep coming in. Shiomi swung the battlecruisers to port so the enemy could be drawn into a more favorable range. Favorita came in, her forward guns destroyed, seeking torpedo range, when she broke up under fire, taking 919 of her 1006 man crew with her. Península drove right past her sinking wreck, and she too shattered, losing 917 men.
For a minute Shiomi was able to fire on the enemy battleships, and Campeón was able to get a hit back, when the battlecruisers sighted another division of light crusiers and had to target them. The Neptuno was hit many times and sunk with 972 of her 1006 man crew.
Akitsushima and Hirado reported their 6” shell magazines expended and asked permission to run in for a torpedo strike. They were ordered to withdraw instead.
Shiomi kept trying to finish the light cruisers before they became a torpedo threat, and the battlecruisers targeted the isolated Conde del Venadito, the Spanish class lead. Conde del Venadito broke up under fire and took 960 of her 1006 man crew with her.
Weather was closing in and the sun setting, and the battlecruisers would have to move into the Spanish battleships’ range to continue the fight. With the screen now ammo depleted the battlecruisers broke off the fight.
Kita took 17 casualties. Shiomi took 16. Norikura took 5. The Armada Español has not given detailed casualties to their press as of yet, but they reported they had 6122 casualties and were able to rescue 286 survivors of their six lost light cruisers.
Seventh Battle of Vladivostok
Yomiuri shinbun, Tokyo, 14 October 1935
The Armada Español found the The Dai-ni Kantai.
Though we know the Spanish have battleships in the area, they committed three San Marcos class battlecruisers, the Gaton, Sán Jose, and La Divina Pastora, nine Maria Juan class heavy cruisers, the Canarias, Infanta Maria Teresa, Magdalena, Nuestra Señora, Reina Victoria Eugenia, Santa Barbara, Trinidad Valencera, San Juan, and Begoña, and three Conde del Venadito class light cruisers, the Céres, Petronia, and Isabel Francisca.
The Dai-ni Kantai had controlled their flooding, repaired what damage they could at sea, and gotten replacements for some of their crew, but they were not ready for battle. Still Aso, with 1402 crew on board, was given the lead of the battle line, with Fuji, Kasagi, Sagami, Tosa, and Hou-Ou following. Yasoshima led the light cruiser screen.
The day was clear and the wind calm when the Armada Español ships began sighting the battle line which began to return fire. The Spanish had slipped their three light cruisers forward under smoke, and the battle line would target them when they could, otherwise they targeted the battlecruisers.
The Céres, Petronia, and Isabel Francisca finally closed enough they could not hide, but not close enough they could torpedo the battle line. There they died, with crew complements of 1006 officers and sailors each the Isabel Francisca sank with 996 of her crew, Petronia broke apart taking 885 of her crew with her, and Céres sank with 965 of her crew.
The battle line resumed firing on the Spanish battlecruisers, which maintained their distance at the edge of their range. But the battleline began to find the La Divina Pastora, the last ship in the division. With flooding fore and aft and listing towards the enemy, La Divina Pastora struggled to say afloat. But as more shells splashed around her the Aso took two 17.1” shells, and lost her Pagoda style main tower and 70 men. She was ordered out of the battle line. Sagami was also hit and she too was ordered out of line. Finally La Divina Pastora sank with 546 of her 674 man crew.
Fuji led the battle line until she exhausted her 14” magazine. Kasagi took over as lead with a fully magazine. Tosa fire her whole magazine before taking a 17.1” hit and also withdrawing. Hou-Ou had also gone through her magazine and was ordered to retired. Kasagi was now alone. When she was hit she ordered a general retreat so she would still have ammunition to cover the withdrawal.
Both sides claim this as a victory. The Dai-ni Kantai was driven off station with the magazines of all but one of their capital ships depleted. With crew draft shipped in actual crew levels before the battle were not reported except for Aso, which started with 1402 men and suffered 78 casualties. Kasagi started the battle with 1794 men and suffered 48 casualties. Sagami started the battle with 1795 men and suffered 104 casualties. Fuji started the battle with 1678 men and suffered 1 casualty. Hou-Ou started the battle with 1673 men and suffered 62 casualties. Tosa started the battle with 1673 men and suffered 122 casualties. In total 414 officers and sailors killed or seriously wounded. The light cruisers took no casualties.
The Armada Español of course can be said to have lost because of the loss of the battlecruiser La Divina Pastora. The Gaton took another 56 casualties and the Sán Jose 23 casualties. With the three light cruisers sunk the Armada Español had lost 3471 officers and sailors killed, lost at sea, or seriously wounded, with 300 rescued from the sunken ships.
The Armada Español’s loss on a strategic level however was much more profound. They had six Japanese battleships, slower than their own ships, five with depleted ammunition, and four light cruisers they could pursue and destroy. The Maria Juan class heavy cruisers never got into the fight, and with their 9.8” guns they could have engaged the five battleships from out of their range, taken out the light cruisers if they weren’t detached, and left the two San Marcos class battlecruisers to engage Kasagi. Having come to the other side of the world to fight a war, they failed miserably.
Spanish on their Way
Yomiuri shinbun, Tokyo, 25 September 1935
A substantial portion of the Armada Español is headed through the East China Sea towards the Sea of Japan apparently with the intention of attacking the fleets covering the invasion of the Khabarovsk Oblast of the Far Eastern Krai to invest the Soviet capital of Vladivostok.
This appears to represent most of their naval forces. The Dai-ni Kantai (2nd Fleet) is not in shape to face them. Dai-ichi Kantai (1st or Main Fleet) and Dai-san Kantai (3rd or Reserve Fleet) are but may not be the target.
Armored with Kommissar's Reports
Yomiuri shinbun, Tokyo, 18 September 1935
Deep in Golden Horn Bay, in the Port of Vladivostok, was reported to be the fitting out dock where the pride of the Soviet Navy bureau of ship design lay, being fueled and loaded for her first battle. With their capital ships being unable to penetrate far enough around the horn to engage her, the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Gunreibu (Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff) assigned three 9” armed heavy cruisers with the mission to find and destroyer her, the Asama class Jizō and Tokiwa with their 1935 refits, and the Nikko-Shirane class Neishi. Accompanying them were three Ikazuchi class destroyers, the Kuzu, Nenohi, and Shii, and the Okikaze class destroyer Azusa.
The Daisanbu: Jōhō-kyoku (3rd Department: Intelligence Bureau) had obtained the following information about the Kursk. A 37 thousand ton ship with a 25.8 knot speed from steam turbines using steam from forced boilers burning formula II fuel oil vented by two funnels in an engeering space placed well forward, a crew of 1701, Krupp III armor up to 17.4” thick in a Turtleback configuration, she cost a quarter billion U.S. dollars and took two years to complete. But what she had going for her was quadruple 15.6”/38 gun turrets, one mounted on a barbette forward, two mounted on deck amidships, and a fourth to have been mounted on a barbette aft. This innovation in turret design had not been seen before. The gun and turret manufacturers being unable to finish a fourth such turret in time for Kursk’s completion, she was given a spare triple 7.6”/43 turret instead to mount on the aft barbette. Her design secondary was fourteen 6.4”/46 casemate guns, four per side, two forward, one aft, four amidships per side, and her tertiary was eleven 1.5”/57 gun mounts placed on the main deck where they would not interfere with the amidships main turrets, and one on a raised secondary barbette behind the second funnel. Two 4.3”/43 casemate guns were mounted in the main tower and two scrounged twin 3.7”/38 turrets were bolted on the main deck each side below the main tower.
The weather was clear with an overcast sky as Neishi led Tokiwa and Jizō up the bay when they sighted Kursk sortieing to meet them. Kuzu led Nenohi, Azusa, and Shii towards the battlecruiser. The cruisers opened fire intending to distract the Kursk while the destroyers ran in for a torpedo strike.
Kursk however wasn’t really seeking a fight. She was breaking out of the Golden Horn Bay, and had managed to get west of the incoming raiders and heading towards the setting sun. But as she tried to break away Jizō and Tokiwa, with their thoroughly modernized Mark 5 9”/50 guns, six each firing in a chase, began to hit Kursk, dropping shells into her deck and doing serious damage.
What was wrong with the Kursk? The Daisanbu: Jōhō-kyoku finally found the clue, the Kommissar of the Golden Horn Bay shipyard had, having been told that mounting the second amidships main battery turret would overload the ship, looked for elements of the ship that could be discarded, and decided that having two turrets of such dimensions mounted in the middle of the ship with 4.3” top armor, the 3” armor planned for the main deck was both redundant and counter-revolutionary, as the ship would of course always fight close enough to the enemy that plunging fire would not be a danger, ordered the armor removed without changing the specifications of the ship provided to her eventual Kapitan. So he and his crew were unaware that when they were ordered by the Soviet Naval Ministry to break out of the Golden Horn Bay to meet ships coming from Europe, the Kapitan were giving the Japanese cruisers the perfect target for the 9” guns.
1662 officers and sailors of the Soviet Navy sank with the Kursk as she broke apart from the 9” shells from Jizō and Tokiwa. 39 more were found in the water and taken prisoner. Kursk had fired 9% of her ammo, and gotten not one hit.
And if the designers had done their job better they would have dropped the triple bottom hull from the design at the start, leaving displacement for the deck armor and four quadruple 15.6”/38 gun turrets.
(If you can figure out where the fifth pair of 1.5”/57 gun mounts please drop a comment. If you can correct what and where the two 4.3”/43 casemate guns are please drop a comment.)
I was wondering if after this campain you could do a USA 1890 campain but you keep all ships instead of scrapping them?
Is that brilliant strategy detailed in "Brother Munro's Big Book of War?"