Ships: Keith - Washington Rad - Mushai Darrell - Warspite Danny - Westfalen Phill - InflexibleBoth sorties were fairly intense furballs with some jockying for position but all ships being willing to get in and slug it out. The results from the first sortie was fairly evenly distributed damage. After a couple of minor ram patches, we headed out again. Steady rain was starting to take it's toll on both ships and captains. After about ten minutes of fairly intense battling, there was a lull in the action as all the captains realized the steady rain had become much heavier. Towards the end of the battle, the Warspite had a couple of short out-of-control periods, probably caused by rain in the transmitter. None of the other ships were able to really take advantage of the situation and we were soon out of ammo. We gladly called it a day and tried to get our stuff back in the cars as quickly as possible. Everything was wet, ships, captains, tools - the whole works! Of course, the next day was clear and dry and so I poured the water out of the tool box and set it outside to dry ing the sun.
Washington Keith Inflexible Kiera Warsprite Darrell (Rad had one parent in the hospital and the other just out of the hospital and did not come)Beautiful Fall Day Lots of sun and very nice on the water.
Washington ( Keith) against Inflexible and Warsprite for the first sortie. Washington was very effective and did considerable damage to the Warsprite and some to Inflexible The Inflexible only had the bow gun firing. Warsprite had to be patched before the second sortie, also had gun firing problems which delay the start of the second sortie. Kiera captained the Washington, Keith took the Inflexible (still with only one gun). Kiera did more damage on the Inflexible but Keith kept it afloat. No sinks and more balanced damage on the second sortie. This ended the day.
Brian and I and Adrian went out the weekend of the 14th and I was against them, the Yamato didn't do too bad but shes not a close in slugger like the Bayern and not a runner like the Suffren, kind of a cross really with a lot more guns! Banged up the Bayern pretty good and then turned on the Suffren, We did two sorties and I think it was about even. the Yamato had taken a fall the night before and had a BIG crack in the bow area but the pump handled it fine.
We had six combat ships and three convoy ships. Rad was there, but had no Combat ships. The Scharnhorst is in the middle of being re-sheeted, and the Mushai was not yet combat ready. Doug showed up with another new boat "Greg's old Yamato" in his car. He is getting quite the collection of ships. We decided to split up and have a two sortie battle to start with and then a convoy battle.
The team were as follows. Bill USS Indiana Darrell HMS Warspite Ceara HMS Inflexible Keith USS Washington Doug USS North Carolina Andrea FS SuffrenIn the first sortie the Warspite lost rudder control and was pulled from the battle early. Inflexible chased the Suffren around for much of the battle, but was unable to inflict significant damage. The North Carolina had some gun issues and was unable to do any significant damage. Andrea was captioning for the first time, and although she did not inflict a lot of damage she was able to stay out of too much trouble and keep afloat. Washington lost a prop shaft about midway through the sortie, but was able to do some damage to both the Inflexible and Indiana. At the end of the battle the only serious damage was a ram to the Indiana.
Between battles the rudder on the Warspite was fixed, as was the gears for the Washington. The North Carolina's guns were worked on, and we thought that they would work better. The teams were kept the same for the second sortie. Doug was still having problems with the guns on the North Carolina, so he mostly ran. Ceara continued the offensive on the Suffren, and Keith was kept busy trying to run off the bad guys with the Washington. At different points in the battle both the Inflexible and the Indiana got behind the Washington, and had large holes blasted by the triple afts. At the end of the sortie the only ship with ammo left was the Warspite. Warspite chased the Washington all around the pond.
After the battle Doug gave up on getting the North Carolina going with pond side repairs. Bill did not want to try to repair the damage to the Indiana. With the earlier ram damage destroying on panel and battle damage destroying another, Bill did not want to go another battle fearing that just silkspan would not hold up. Both Doug and Bill decided to head for home. Doug is fairly confident that he can get the Yamato operational in the next month, and with a new set of guns sent by Phill the South Dakota wont be far behind. It will not be long until we have battling in Eastern Washington.
With three captains heading for home the convoy battle was canceled. Three combat boats were not enough to have the battle. Rad had come with his video camera. I am looking forward to seeing the footage.
USS Washington Keith Maxwell SMS Bayern Brian Hanson HMS Warspite Darrell Lowe DKM Scharnhorst Rad Russel HMS Inflexible Ceara MaxwellThe first sortie was the least memorable. Damage was done, but not enough to endanger any of the ships. Ceara got a lesson on what happens when you chase a boat with triple aft cannons. The bow and side of the Inflexible were chewed up, but not enough to cause a lot of concern.
There was no patching between the first and second sortie, we just loaded up and got back on the water as soon as possible. The second sortie. At one time I remember getting a nice bow gun attack on the Inflexible, only to notice that I was taking shot for shot from the Inflexible's aft sidemount. (never a good thing) by the end of the sortie all 5 ships were again pumping hard. Much patching was required between battles.
Teams remained the same for the third sortie. In this sortie the Warspite had the misfortune of going dead in the water right behind the Washington. The Washington dumped most of the magazine of the triple aft canons into the Warspite. Just as suddenly the Warspite regained control and finished out the sortie. Again all boats were pumping heavily by the time they all came in. After the sortie we were all amazed that the Warspite was still floating with the amount of damage taken. Darrell used a piece of silkspan 3 inches wide by 8 inches long, and just laid it across the damaged section. Since all the boats were pumping hard we allowed any who wanted to patch.
For the fourth and final sortie the Inflexible's rudder servo gave out and could not go. The remaining four boat had another hard fought battle.
I would not be surprised to find out that every ship involved this day took home the most cumulative damage than any other battle day they have been involved in. TOO MUCH FUN!!!
Phill brought both the Richelieu and Mutsu. The Mutsu was about 80% finished with a refit and repair. It was getting the rudders and props installed pond-side, but didn't quite make it to the first sortie. We had several rookie captains for the weekend. Doug Hanson took over Rad's North Carolina for the first time. Myles was running the Adm Scheer for the second time as a captain. Alan had only captained a boat one other time, Peter had never seen a battle before and was pressed into battle for the second sortie with the Suffren.
Teams were split up as the boats were being unloaded. Teams were as follows:
Red Flag Fleet Phill Lowe Richelieu/Mutsu Doug Hanson North Carolina Darrell Lowe Warspite Rad Russel Sharnhorst Danny Lowe Westfalen Alan Foch/Colbert Peter Carlson Suffren 2nd (sortie only) No Flag Fleet Keith Maxwell Washington Bill Stubbings Indiana Brian Hanson Bayern Ceara Maxwell Inflexible Brandon Smith Hindenburg Myles Carlson Adm ScheerWhile readying the boats for battle it was discovered that the Foch had a bad radio, and was pulled from the battle, so Alan took over the Colbert. Just before battle was called the Hindenburg was pulled from the battle.
Battle started out with the flagged team of Colbert, Washingotn, NC, Indiana, Bayern, Warspite (I think) vs. Flagless Richelieu, Westfallen, Scheer, Invincible, Scharnhorst. The Colbert was having motor troubles and was running slow. It soon attracted the attention of the Invincible and the Washington. However, as Keith forgot to hook up the power to the triples the Washington never got a good shot on the Colbert. The Richelieu was having range problems and was stuck mostly in the mossey cove. The Colbert was first to call five, and spent most of its time floating in the middle of the pond. After pulling the cruiser off the Bayern went dead in the water after a fight with the Westfallen. There were no sinks that I saw in the first sortie. Mostly it was a round and round melee between the slow battleships and the Washington/Indiana. The North Carolina went out of control and drifted over to the island. No significant battle damage was done to any ships in the first sortie.
The second sortie the North Carolina had a dead servo and couldn't go. Phill had the Mutsu ready to go. He had installed one of his 4 channel radios to replace the troublesome one he had been using. The Mutsu "maneuvered" much better that we have ever seen it. Unfortunately the Mutsu blew a CO2 line just as the battle was called. Phill ran the Musu all over the pond doing his best to bait the non-flag team into wasting ammo, or into a trap between the Westfalen and Warspite. I'm sure that the score would have been closer had the Mutsu been able to defend herself. To make matters worse for the Red team the Suffren had picked up fishing line in her props and was dead in the water for much of the battle. The non-flag team had there own problems the Adm Scheer had taken a non-called ram. The Scheer had a below waterline cut along with a shift of ballast. It didn't take long for her to go down. After the battle was over there were numerous scars from close encounters. If all of the rams had been called the penalty points would have made for a much different score.
Final Scores:
No Flag Fleet:
NAME ABOVE ON BELOW PEN/SINK TOTAL
USS Washington / Keith 8 1 0 0 105
USS Indiana / Bill 14 0 0 0 140
SMS Bayern / Brian 13 0 3 0 280
HMS Inflexible 3 0 3 200 380
DKM Adm Scheer / Myles 3 0 1 700 780
FS Suffren / Brandon 7 0 1 0 120
1685
Red Flag Fleet
FS Richelieu
IJN Mutsu / Phill 57 5 2 0 795
USS N.C. / Doug 3 0 0 0 30
HMS Warspite 15 1 1 0 225
DKM Scharnhorst / Rad 40 0 6 0 700
SMS Westfalen 10 2 1 0 200
FS Colbert / Alan 18 0 0 0 180
2130
The rabble Team Lowe Keith USS Washington Phill Lowe FS Richelieu Rad DKM Sharnhorst Darrell Lowe HMS Warspite Ceara HMS Inflexible Danny Lowe SMS WestfalenThe day started with lots of problems with boats. Washington had lost gears in the gearbox and Warspite had a bad microswitch. Just as we were launching the Inflexible's rudder quit working. The Inflexible was pulled from the water and the fist sortie began. The Washington again lost one of her screws making her slow and un-maneuverable. Richelieu had radio problems, giving Phill only intermittent control, near the end of the battle Danny complained that the Westfalen was not turning.
Between battles it was agreed that Phill and Keith would be allowed to make repairs to keep their boats on the water. Westfalen was checked and worked on the bench. The rudder was repaired on the Inflexible. The second sortie was started with all six boats on the pond. The Westfalen immediately started having control issues again. Danny managed to bring it to shore where it was declared sunk to avoid major damage before next weeks Regionals. Phill was still having control issues with the Richelieu making it the target. Richelieu was at this time pumping very hard, and getting low in the water. Phill brought it in where it sank at his feet. On inspection it had a very nasty ram hole below the waterline. That left the Warspite alone against the Washington, Sharnhorst and Inflexible. Fortunately for the Warspite much ammo has been spent chasing the Richelieu.
After the battle the Westfalens problems were proven to be issues with a bad battery, and the ram damage was found on the Richelieu. The ram must have accrued when captains were distracted trying to retrieve the Westfalen, as no one remembers doing the ramming. The results were a lopsided score. Rad not only had the most reliable boat of the day, he also had the least damage.
| Ship | above | on | below | sink | penalty | total |
| Warspite | 52 | 0 | 3 | no | no | |
| 520 | 0 | 150 | 0 | 0 | 670 | |
| Westfalen | 5 | 1 | 0 | yes | no | |
| 50 | 25 | 0 | 800 | 0 | 875 | |
| Richelieu | 48 | 8 | 4 | yes | no | |
| 480 | 200 | 200 | 1000 | 0 | 1880 | |
| Total | --- | |||||
| Ship | above | on | below | sink | penalty | total |
| Washington | 24 | 4 | 6 | no | no | |
| 240 | 100 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 640 | |
| Scharnhorst | 8 | 0 | 1 | no | no | |
| 80 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 130 | |
| Inflexible | 5 | 0 | 2 | no | no | |
| 50 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 150 | |
| Total | --- | |||||
Phill Westfalen, Darrell Warspite Vs. Keith Washington, Myles Adm Scheer
Phill finally got to understand why the Westfalen is one of the most feared ships on the pond. Also why when it is feared it doesn't get to play much. The fast Adm Scheer and Washington ran away and didn't want to play. Myles had fun, and promised to come back for Regionals next week. As we finished up the sortie it began to rain. By the time we started packing it was a downpour. We were soaked by the time we got the cars packed.
Rad Russel DKM Scharnhorst Bill Stubbings USS Indiana Adam Wyant DKM Derfflinger Brian Hanson SMS Bayern Ceara Maxwell HMS Inflexible Keith Maxwell USS WashingtonWe had (4) with new captains , new boats or both. Adam had his new Lutzow class cruiser the Derfflinger. Adam made it out to every sortie of the day. He was having some gun issues all day, I think that we got it figured out by the last sortie, and should be able to have him much more effective for the next battle.
Brian had the refitted Bayern. Looks like this will be a good combo. The bow cannon is going to need some work to get it to feed. We came to the conclusion that a longer lift tube would be required for the gun to feed correctly.
Ceara had the refitted Inflexible. This boat gave the least amount of trouble of the new boats. The side mounts were aimed a little low, but everything worked. Looks like Ceara is going to have a lot of fun with this boat.
Keith finally got his Washington on the water. Washington had speed issues. It was very slow at first, and the voltage regulator had to be removed. Back on with the oversized drag props. It was running a little fast for the battles(need to order some 1 ½ " props) The triples were a little erratic (1) was spurting, and (1) wasn't firing. It was hard to tell. (I forgot to pack my test fire switch).
Doug Hanson showed up with a very nice looking South Dakota hull. He had the motors and rudders installed, and ran it around the pond for a little while. Looks like a real good start. Doug had his camera and took pictures for the remainder of the day.
In the first battle there was a conflict of frequencies between the Bayern and the Deutschland so the Bayern abstained from combat to change crystals. First sortie was Indiana, Washington, and Derfflinger "yellow fleet" verses Bayern, Infexible, and Scharnhorst. Everyone was still tweaking their ship so there were a few problems. After about 5 minutes the Schornhorst last power and had to be towed in with a retrievil line, the Indiana used this opportunity to slip in and pop off a couple of shots, not knowing the Schornhorst was dead in the water?!? That left the two big American battle ships to beat up on the Invincible and the Deutschland. The Deutschland had gun problems and the Indiana ran out of ammo as did Ceara, leaving the Washington to shoot as he pleased at the Invincible but being the gentleman that he was and not wanting to repair a lot of damage the first battle ended. After the battle it was discovered that Ceara was the Captain with the most holes as she was learning a new ship and fighting style.
After a bit of razing by some of the other Captains about the color of his decking on the Washington, mostly by Bill sides were picked with the Schornhorts, Washington and Invincible against the Indiana, Bayern, and the Deutschland. Then With the gloves off and the boats ready the furrball began! The Schornhorst, and the Washington immediately went after the much louder and more brazen Indiana, Bayern captains to avenge the beating that Keith had suffered on the beach! After being seperated from his fellow Captains the Indiana was pummeled by all three of the opposing ships and when the Bayern tried to assist he was also reminded that newbie Captains should be seen not heard! After many shots fired and jeers exchanged the ships all went on five and battle was called. Experience paid off as the ribs about deck color subsided.
With many repairs now needed by both the Indiana and the Bayern it took a while to get to battle three. Keith again being a gentleman was assisting the new axis captians (Bayern and Deutschland) with cannon problems that they were having and Bill was filling holes, a lot of holes!! We all chatted about how well Keith, Rad And Ceara had done against the Indiana and the two new Captains. After more testing and tweaking the Bayern went in with only 3 cannons working and the Deutschland with only the aft cannon. Rad found out why he lost power in the first battle as it happened again on shore, prior damage from last year that he didn't fix, wanna bet he does this year? This sortie had a couple of interesting events. Early in the battle the Indiana got behind the Washington. The spurting gun blew a quarter-sized hole just under the deck rim in the Indian. It was very impressive, but not all that dangerous. Later in the battle Ceara brought the Inflexible along side the Indiana and let loose with her bow sidemount. It was right in front so we all got to watch. Ceara came away with a big grin on her face. Adam drew his first blood with a couple of nice hits on the Scharnhorst, and received a few hits as well. The Bayern received a couple of high angle hits that opened up a couple of 2-inch gashes near the water line. The Bayern was pumping hard, but managed to survive the battle.
We again patched boats, as this day had developed into more a live fire shake down for all the new ships than true battle. The bow gun on the Defflinger was adjusted so that it was not firing over the ships. At that time we noticed what the gun issues were. The barbs for the guns were on the bottom of the interrupter cap, this causes the 1/8-inch hose to crimp, and not enough air was getting to the guns. New caps will be provided for Adam at the next battle.
After everybody was repaired and loaded and with some insistance from the on lookers the third battle commenced with the same teams as round two, Keith liked this as he wasn't shooting a boat he had to repair. Again the battle was called and again the Washington and Schornhorts went after the Indiana but this time the oppsing side elected the better part of valor and ran. But like all things damage too will come and it did but from the Invincible as she laid in waiting and as the Indiana passed, she opened open and let Bill have a very nice broadside leaving him more repairs to do! The newbie Captains tried to stay away from the Washington And schornhorts but they to fell under the guns of experience. The Deutschland called five and most everyone else did too and left only the Indiana with bb's all beit not enough to do much damage. So ended the 3rd battle of the day. After repairs were made and some talk about how it all went the boats were packed and the area cleaned up and everbody headed home. We called it a day after 3 sorties. We were slow to get on the water for the first sortie due to the number of new boats at the pond.
