Captain's Log SMS Emden Part III

When we last saw SMS Emden, she was tied up in a Thai cove when three British warships were sighted.   Here's the rough sketch map that I received from our GM, with my proposed response in red.  As you can see Mike spares no expense in providing high quality game aids!  Most of our crew was busy hefting coal from Sophie while a prize crew tended to civilian prisoners on the captured liner St Osmond.  FYI, St. Osmond was William the Conqueror's chancellor (which I would've thought eliminated him from sainthood) and a patron saint of the insane.  

How the heck did we escape this bottleneck, I still have no idea but it was mostly luck  possibly aided by a large tot of scotch sacrificed to Poseidon.  I'll let Mike tell the story.

Well Peter you were unfortunate. And then fortunate. I rolled 4d6 to determine how many minutes it would take for Emden could get under way (the enemy would be on you in 25 minutes) and the result was ten! Your crack crew came through for you. Anyone who was free ran down to the engine room to shovel coal. Two ensigns, your clerk, and a rating got the anchor up. As you got under way you saw your Torpedo officer and two cooks tearing the canvas off the port torpedo tube in case they had a shot. Your Royal Navy prisoners, who were lounging under guard on the fantail, were rushed below, but one of the midshipman took the opportunity to leap over the side and swim for shore.

The guard aimed his rifle briefly, then shrugged and pushed the others below.  Just before you left the cove you saw your two lookouts stumbling out of the trees, still with their red flag, and a launch putting off from St Osmund.

As you leave the cove, you see to port the menacing shape of a Town class cruiser approaching at full speed, her battle ensign flying. You know she is well out of range of your 4.1” guns. As you turn hard to starboard, she fires her bow gun and the splash is astern, but uncomfortably close. A few more shots, both misses, and you realize she is out of range also.

By now you’re at full revs. Your navigator has his head in the charts, which aren’t terribly detailed, but they do warn of reefs in the area. The English cruiser is at flank speed and you order the same. The deck is shaking, smoke and sparks pouring out of your funnels.

After an hour of chasing, it begins to rain and the visibility thickens. You order more sea room in case of the damned reefs, and as it begins to get dark, you realize that you’ve shaken the Englishman.

That night in the wardroom, your Second Officer and an ensign are missing, among the dozen men of the prize crew.

You toast their absence. Your Leutnant Georg smiles sadly. “Will the show go on, Herr Kapitan? It’s only that Ensign Moller, whose absence we have toasted tonight, had a lovely falsetto.” 

I did a quick Google and found out that the Kingdom of Siam was neutral in 1914, before joining the allies in 1917 and sending  a contingent to the Western Front in 1918.   I had signalled my prize and shore crews to go ashore and take their changes with the Siam authorities.  I hope that they got a ship to Manilla and then to the Americas. 

That’s two escapes for Emden. At least you have your grandfather clock.

I burned a point of your coal escaping the cruiser, leaving you with 11 of 18 remaining.

The light cruiser appeared to be accompanied by an armoured cruiser and an armed merchant cruiser.

So having had a second close shave, we decided to put some distance between ourselves and the Allies.  Turn eight was spent moving from the Gulf of Thailand to the Dutch East Indies, where we spotted an American merchantman that we let sail on.  Sparks told us that there was wireless chatter nearby in RN code.  Therefore, on nine we moved from the Dutch East Indies to the Philippine Sea, meeting only local fishermen.

Also on turn nine we received the following signals from SMS Scharnhorst.

Engaging at least three enemy warships in Strait of Macassar, position follows. Will do our duty.  The Makassar Strait lies in the Dutch East Indies, southwest of Borneo and east of Sulawesi.   There was a WW2 air naval battle here in 1942.

Scharnhorst sinking. Have fought the good fight. God save Kaiser and Fatherland. 

By the end of turn nine, things were looking grim for the Emden.  We had lost three prizes and two prize crews, and our coal was at 7 out of 18 max.  We'd had two close scapes with Allied ships, and had news that another of our squadron mates was sunk, possibly by the ships that nearly caught us in the Gulf of Thailand.  

Hopefully, things turn around on turn 10.

My Other Addiction - Books

I got taken in by Cyber Monday this week with a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale on E-books over at Pen and Sword, typically my go to pusher of military e-books.  I like the ebook route for a number of reasons.  Mostly it comes down to the fact that I am both cheap and impatient and most of my hobby wants are way to obscure to be found in a Saskatchewan book store.  ebooks are a cheap and fast way of feeding the addiction!


So what did I get in my electronic package?  Two absolute classics.


This one feeds into my Italian Wars project which is timely as it arrives just before the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and my upcoming side duel with Curt.  Well written, good detail and lots of flavour.  It covers from the 13th century to the end of the 15th, ending with Fornovo.



It doesn't get much better than Marder when it comes to Naval History.  This volume covers a number of topics over the two world wars.  Of particular interest are the chapters on the Dardanelles  Churchill's time in the admiralty in the early days of WWII and the Battle of Mers-El-Klebir.

WW1 Naval Battle of Zante (Flight of the Goeben)

I attempt to look knowledgeable, but Stacy and Sylvain are not buying it!

This week I ran a WW1 Naval game based on the infamous "Troubridge Decision".  This is a historical almost-was scenario (see the link Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau) based on a squadron of armoured cruisers commanded by Adm Troubridge that could have intercepted the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben early in the days of WW1.  Troubridge lost his bottle over night and shied away from the confrontation based on orders that allowed him to avoid superior forces.  Had he met the Goeben and slowed her down, a lot of recent history would have been altered.  However his squadron would have likely have been sunk in a straight up fight.

The game was fought using my 30 year old 1:3000 scale ships (Navwar mainly and some Skytrex) and the General Quarters 3 WW1 variant Fleet Action Imminent.  This was my first time using FAI although I have run GQ3 games several times.  Overall, I am not sure that the GQ system really fits WW1 as well as it fits WW2.  This may be to my inexperience with certain FAI nuances and differences from GQ3.   I may haul out my home brew faster play WW1 naval rules and do a refight.

The forces were as follows

• The BC Goeben and her escort LC Breslau were steaming SE at 18kts with orders to escape to Constantinople.  Sylvain took the Goeben and Jeremy the Breslau.  The Goeben had injured boilers and had a maximum speed of 24kts and would be slow in getting above 21 kts.  Note that the Goeben was still the equal in speed to the British CAs and vastly superior in fire power, range and armour.
• Curt took the role of Troubridge with 4 CAs (Defense, Black Prince, Duke of Edinburgh and Warrior).  I also gave Curt two Beagle class destroyers which with better planning would have been available to Troubridge.  Curt was 20,000 yrs (max visibility) from the Goeben heading SSW and on course to cross her T.
• Stacy took the role of the pesky Kelly brothers with the LCs Gloucester and Dublin plus two more Beagle class DDs.  Historically Gloucester tailed the Goeben for days until her coal ran low.  Dublin and the DDs nearly intercepted the Goeben on the previous night but just missed.  Overall the two LC captains (the brothers Kelly) were the only British officers to do well during the whole fiasco.  Stacy was 20,000 yrs SW of the Goeben heading E and well out of sight of Troubridge.
• Wind was light and variable, and a random die roll had it blowing from East to West initially and then SE to NW.

I didn't take notes for a full AAR, but highlights are as follows.

Stacy plots his move.

• The Goeben kept her speed relatively low (21kts) and got very close to Troubridge in trying to scoot past to the North (to the stern of the British initially).  This was a surprise to me as I expected her to speed up and keep the range long to maximize her advantages.  
• Smoke badly affected gunfire, as did the concentration of 2 or more CAs firing on one target.  it also hillariously affected German signalling.  The photos show Curt's wonderful smoke markers in play.
• Stacy's forces were unable to fire being our of effective range for the whole game.  My apologies to Stacy and I am nervously anticipating the role I get assigned in his next scenario.
• Gunfire was sporadically effective but deadly when it hit.  A single salvo wrecked the Defense, and narrowly avoided achieving the same result on the Duke of Edinburgh instead taking our her searchlights no less than three times.  In return, a few hits from the CAs wrecked the Breslau.  The Goeben also got close enough (6000yds) to let the Duke of Edinburgh take off a stern turret.
• Curt's two destroyers got in close and Basilisk put a torpedo into the Goeben, thus ensuring a British victory.  The hit reduced her speed and took out the fore turret.  It also significantly reduced her value to German diplomacy.
• The Germans were often signally directly up or down wind (i.e. into coal smoke).  The best signal was the one delivered to Jeremy advising him to "maneuver from X flank to Y flank" since every third word was lost in translation!
• The Breslau was dead in the water and struck her flag surrounded by three CAs.  In reality I suspect sea cocks would be opened and the crew to take to the boats.
• We ended up with Troubridge breaking off having hurt the Goeben and sunk the Breslau.  The Kelly brothers would resume their watch and call in the British BCs to the west and more DDs to finish the job.
• Lesson  number 1:  the ship with the bigger guns needs to keep the range long.  It takes longer but has far fewer risks.
• Lesson number 2:  don't let torpedo craft get any where near the big ships.  They can close awfully quickly.
• Lesson number 3:  I need review the  FAI rules again, as I am sure that I did things incorrectly along the way.  Also we were all caught by surprise by the ineffectiveness of many of the lighter guns.

Photos from Curt's iPhone below.

Troubridge's cruisers and destroyers with Curt's oh-so-cool smoke markers.

Looks like we're in range.  Gone under the tape measure, with Breslau on her port quarter. Not sure if this is the X flank or the X flank.  Models are 1:3000 Navwar and nearly 30 years old.  They stand up reasonably well, but my ship labels did not.  Fine point marker over white out were state of the art in 1986.

Destroyers make their run.  The smoke markers are particularly effective here.

Troubridge's squadron steaming to the right side of the pic.  Warrior followed by Duke of Edinburgh, Black Price and Defense.

A hit!  Too bad our 9.2" guns can't penetrate at any range over 6000 yrs.  Or  too bad we didn't keep the range longer if you're German and it is later in the action.

HMS Warrior takes a pasting from the Goeben's 11" guns!

Dardanelles Submarine Game

Last night we were at Sylvain's for two games.  The second was a Star Wars X-Wing game GMed by or host which was very enjoyable.  For the first game of the double header I put on Bob Cordery's Dardanelles Submarine game which can be found over at Bob's treasure trove of goodies his blog
Wargame Miscellany.  This game which was originally published in the 80s or 90s in a Wargames World annual (the yellow specials by Wargames Illustrated).

This game replicates the very successful attack by HMS/M B11 which avoided mines, patrol craft, gun batteries and hostile currents in a very enclosed space to torpedo the Turkish battleship Messudieh (see details over at Bob's site here).  It's a great little game and well worth the hour's diversion.

In our game, our intrepid adventurers wound their way through the hazards through a combination of good luck, good planning and bad umpiring (just kidding) to find them selves perfectly placed for an attack on their target.  The first torpedoes missed at close range, so the B11 lay low until nightfall so that they could reload the tubes and have at her again.  This time the first fish missed but the second struck home and sank the Messudieh.

Their return journey was far less arduous than the original's had been.  Historically, Messudieh open fired as she sank and B11's crash dive threw her compass off.  A nine hour blind crawl on dead reckoning followed.  When B11 finally surfaced, the oxygen was so low that her diesels wouldn't fire up!