“Think
in Oceans. Sink on Sight”
A
Scenario for DBSA
by
Peter
Hunt
To
implement his global vision for the Royal Navy Admiral Fisher built his
fleet around three principles:
Find
- Cruisers and Battlecruisers would scout ahead of the battlefleet
to find the enemy’s main fleet. These
scouting forces would be strong enough to fight through the enemy
screening forces.
Fix
- Having found the enemy’s main body the scouts would transmit its
position to their own battlefleet and lead the enemy on to it whilst
preventing enemy scouts doing the same.
Fight
- Based on the superior intelligence passed from his scouts the
battlefleet commander would be able to deploy his force to the best
advantage to destroy the enemy main fleet.
The
Battle of Jutland was the acid test of these principles.
Although there were many failures with the British ships and
systems that day, the circumstances of the battle fully vindicated
Fisher’s doctrine. Beatty’s
scouts fought their way south through Hipper’s screen and located
Scheer’s main force. This
was then led northward and just enough information was passed to Jellicoe
to allow him to deploy the Grant Fleet across the High Sea’s Fleet’s
route ~ “crossing the T” for the greatest tactical advantage.
This
game attempts to test the doctrine using two equal pre-dreadnought fleets.
The game is played in two parts ~ the cruiser action followed by
the fleet battle. The events
of the cruiser action will determine the deployment for the fleet battle.
The game takes place in the
Mediterranean Sea
at the turn of the century.
The Entente, (Britain
and France) oppose the Triple Alliance, (Germany, Austria-Hungary
and Italy). Each
side has an equal number of ships, points and squadrons.
The Cruiser Action
Only
the three cruiser squadrons on each side one used in this part of the
game.
The
table is 126” x 84”.
Specify
squadron formations and entering points on the short edges.
Up to two cruiser squadrons can enter each spell.
The
cruiser action continues until:
Ÿ
The end of the 2nd
Player’s spell when an uncrippled ship of one side is within 10” (4
cables) of the other side’s short edge.
If both sides have non-crippled ships within 4 cables of the
enemy’s short edge the cruiser action is a draw.
Ÿ
The end of the 2nd
Player’s 15th spell. In
which case the cruiser action is a draw.
It
only one side has a ship within 10” of the opponent’s short edge it is
presumed to sight the enemy battle fleet and its side has won the action.
Check the position of the leading, uncrippled, ship of each
squadron, scouting points are then awarded for each squadron of both sides
as follows:
Ÿ
Within 4 cables (10”) of
enemy short edge
: 5 points
Ÿ
Within 1 mile (25”) of
enemy short edge
: 2
points
Ÿ
On enemy side of table
: 1
point
The
Fleet
Battle
Before
the start of the game specify the formation and separation of squadrons.
There are three possible types of deployment.
Deployment
Type One : “The Fog of War”
If
the cruiser action was a draw. Add
one additional table to each end of the Cruiser action tables and the main
battlefleets start to arrive next spell on the new short edges.
The cruiser action continues as part of the larger battle.
It
the cruiser action was won by one side remove all the cruisers and
re-arrange the tables. The
losing side’s battle fleet is deployed according to its instructions
with the rearmost ship’s rear base edge touching the short table edge.
The cruisers play no further part in the game and are assumed to be
continuing their own fight having led the battle fleets together.
The
winning side now deploys his battlefleet according to its instructions in
an arc up to 60o on the beam of the forward edge ships of the
enemy fleet, no closer than 80” away.
Now compare the scouting points of the two sides as a percentage.
Deployment
Type Two : “Enemy in Sight”
The
scouting totals are not higher than 149% of each other.
The winning side takes the first spell.
Deployment
Type Three : “Equal Speed Charlie London”
The
scouting totals are 150% or more of each other.
The winning side may make two spells of normal movement using NIPs.
The losing side does not move.
Neither side may fire. The
winner then takes the first spell and the game proceeds as normal.
This represents Jellicoe’s position at
Jutland
brought about by better scouting and better judgement.
Victory Conditions
The
first side to sink 120 points worth of enemy ships in both the cruiser
action and battle fleet action wins. Compare
its own losses to determine the level of victory:
100 – 119 =
Phyric Victory
80 – 99
= Marginal
Victory
60 – 79
= Decisive
Victory
–
59 =
“The New Trafalgar”