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Russian Convoy Battle Report |
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The British convoy entered the field from the north east lead by a Lance Destroyer followed by the three merchantmen and the other Lance following behind.
Four or five turns in the German uboat came to periscope depth in the middle of the play area and spotted the convoy, radioed the Tirpitz group, and dived. The British intercepted a coded signal and knew they were in for some action. The Convoy continued on with the rear Lance destroyer accelerating to pass through the convoy and join its comrade in the lead.  A few turrns later the Convoy spotted the Tirpitz and Escort heading North from the South East, and immediately screamed for help from the Prince Of Wales.
A ranging shot from the Tirpitz showed immediately just how outgunned the Destroyer escort really was. The Merchantmen executed a turn to starboard and tried to throw up a smoke screen, as the plucky British destroyer crew drove on towards the enemy.  The second shot from Tirpitz caught one of the Lance destroyers across the stern causing serious damage. The Prince of Wales appeared on the scene from the north escorted by a Tribal class destroyer and the Germans turned to port and presented thier broadsides, the Konisgberg took the lead. The uboat having moved a little further north, decided to pop up for a look and discovered it was at the converging point of 3 British Destroyers and a Battleship, it quickly dove again.  The Konisberg turned back to starboard to take on the Lance Destroyers masking the Tirpitz for a short while. The Tirpitz carried on to the same tack heading to the west of the Priince of Wales Shots were exchanged. and one battery scored a hit that destroyed one of the Lances.
The Tribal destroyer turned to starboard (west) preparing to make a depth charge attack on the submarines last position. The UBoat put in another appearance at periscope depth and found itself directly in front of the Prince of Wales, four torpedoes were snapped off in the battleships direction.Unfortunately for the UBoat crew a lucky shot from the incoming Tribal damaged the periscope before it dived. A crippling shot by the Konisberg hit the Eastern most Lance while all returned shots had mearly scrapped the paintwork. Swift manouvering by the Battleship Prince of wales was unable to dodge one of the UBoats torpedoes which caught it midships. A hole ripped out there caused an inrush of water that was slowing the big ship and sinking her. She continued to fire without much effect agianst the Tirpitz. A shot from the Konisberg on the remaining Lance sent it out of control.  One of the British destroyers crossed over the point where the submarine had dived (immediately in front of the Prince of Wales) dropping depth charges. A hit was scored on the sub.
Blown to the surface, the sub came up under the bows of the Prince of Wales both to sink. Here the game ended. With one small destroyer left to protect the merchantmen from a battleship and cruiser, I dont think those merchant seamen would be going home. A very successful day for the Germans and a disaster for the British. With the submarine being a weighty factor and the convoy with too small an escort the result could have been guessed. That said there were some surprises. I hadn't forseen the sinking of all but one Destroyer, and I had thought that the Konisberg might be a casualty from the Destroyers. Overall a good game. Thanks to the players
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