1997 Event Notes
Marysville, November 28th, 1997
A windy, cold and rainy day in true Northwest fashion saw four ships
do battle on the pond. The event started out by a tour of the
rather large lakes and by the trial running of the partially
refitted Warspite. Careful ship handling was demonstrated when
the Warspite lost way and had to be pushed gently back to shore
by the other ships. Constant wind and rain slowed the preperations
but all four ships were ready for battle. "30 seconds to battle"
was called and all ships turned and started towards the center.
The Montcalm promptly sank and battle was held until she could be
retrieved. The three remaining ships fought an indecisive battle
until no ammo remained. Soon afterwards the Graf Spee and the
Montcalm were back on the water and ready to go. Problems delayed
the other ships so the two ships on the water started to battle.
Lots of manovering and slow shots were exchanged until no ammo
remained and both ships returned to shore. The result was one
clean above waterline hit on the Montcalm and one serious dent on
the Graf Spee. All ships returned to the water and "2 minutes to
battle" was called. The Montcalm turned back towards the center
and sank. She was retrieved and battle started. The Montcalm
entered the battle a couple of minutes later. This battle found
the Graf Spee's pump inoperative and with one or two holes on
the forward waterline she soon started to list. The other ships
milled around be didn't press the advantage for fear of being hit
by others. Eventually the Graf Spee slipped below the surface. The
sinking flooded her radio and she was out of action for the rest of
the day. The other ships were readied for battle and before battle
was called the Montcalm sank. At this point some tatical discussion
ensued and a section of the Montcalm's superstructure was removed.
After this point, the Montcalm did not sink again. Another sortie
was sucessfully completed with indecisive results before the
captains decided they were all too wet and cold to continue.
It was also decided to wait for warmer weather to resume battling.
Redmond, November 9, 1997
Three ships turned up at a small private pond in Redmond for our
second outing. Limited space and clumps of weeds made for tricky
navigation. The first two sorties were indecisive and the third
ended up with two ships stuck hard in the weeds. Unfortunately,
the Montcalm was within range of the Invincible's guns even though
both were stuck. The Montcalm was out of action due to run down
receiver batteries but the Invincible and the Lutzow headed back out.
A close encounter with the weeds slowed the Lutzow down long enough
for the Invincible to put a neat row of holes below the waterline.
Breaking free of the weeds and pumping water, the Lutzow replyed
with with a shot that slipped through a small hole in the
Invincible's internal armor and dented the magazine of her sidemount
gun so bb's couldn't be loaded. The battle was called due to lack
of ammo and both ships prepared to continue the battle. Without
the sidemount, the Invincible was not able to cause any more
below waterline damage to the Lutzow and her pump easily kept
up with the water.
Yakima, October 4, 1997
The four ships from the WCC headed over the mountains to participate
in the NW regionals. This was a combined IR/CWCC and Queen's Own
event held in Yakima with ships from Oregon, Yakima and Seattle.
The pond is an ideal place for combat and the weather was warm
and sunny. Five Queen's Own ships hit the water for a series of
3 battles. From three to eight IR/CWCC ships split their time
between battling and repairs. The four ships from Seattle and
one from Oregon were participating in their first battle.
Reliability under fire does not come easily. At the end of
the day only a few ships were still fully operational but
everyone had a great time. Learning about other ships and ways
of solving problems and making new friends are what it's all about.
After months of work and learning how to make the various systems
work, it is a real thrill to actually engage in battle even if the
results from an objective standpoint were dismal. The fun is not
in winning but in getting your ship to run and being able to
participate. (I must admit that I am biased in the last view.
Two sinks, one out of control into the weeds, and one unable
to start out of five battles is not a particularly good showing,
even at my first battle)