NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC-As usual, your side of the battle is more than fair, Iansisle.

IC- It was quickly becoming apparent that the Graf Spee would never be able to catch the Queen Jessica, who would surely be leading the raider toward more R.I.N. forces. Every sailor knew by now that, barring a miracle, they would not see home again soon. The raider could never make it back around the Cape and break through the British and French fleets to return to port with the damage she had taken. Likewise, she could not call for help and hope for some kind of renforcements or rescue. The only options seemed to either press on, which may or may not end in the sinking of the Queen Jessica, but would almost certainly end in destruction for the Graf Spee; otherwise, the captain could chose to scuttle his ship and try to save the lives of his crew, who would then become Iansisle's prisoners.
Off the starboard side, a merchant ship had come into view. The captain knew that she would surely report two damaged warships over the emergency band, which would only serve to draw the hounds to the fox that much sooner. Fleet Command had given a general idea of what the R.I.N. would have deployed east of the Phillipines, but the captain knew he was almost out of time. The only good news he had was that the flooding in the bow had lessened, and the pumps were making some headway.
"Keep us on course after the Queen Jessica, with all possible speed. If we can't overtake her, she'll be leading us into a trap."
"What about the merchant, Captain? Should we fire?"
The captain looked at his XO, also a newly promoted junior officer. God, I never asked for this...
"Leave her. We'll need all the hospitality we can get, soon enough."
Graf Spee continued to pursue her adversary, but she had long ago ceased firing. She would need the precious ammunition in the battle to come.

(ooc:I'll be back in a bit to make this more worth-while. Shower and lunch very much required.)

(For now, just in case anyone else is bored and wants the information, the two WoS subs out of Ceyloba (specified earlier) are to make towards the fight with all speed and recklessness -as I think I've mentioned before, WoS was flustered by U-boat activity near her waters in the Great War, responded with a small fleet, but hasn't the foggiest idea how to make proper use of them, and they'll charge about taking on anything. If there's any text book mistakes a U-boat captain can make, they'll make 'em.

This is the sort of time one wishes he had carriers ..or at least seaplanes. Jesus..I've just realised our Swordfish have a range just over 1,000 miles. If we still have Spee's position when she comes inside their radius from Ceyloba.. well we'll get our Swordfish shot down, I suppose. Heh.)


Edit:So I got distracted with the new fighter project :oops: Never mind, the Subs are hardly going to be first on the scene anyway, trailing some way behind the Ians' cruiser group.

Ceyloba

Walmington's Swordfish at Ceyloba were all still based on the west coast outside Vollombo, but their dust was quickly shed as the order came to re-station on the eastern (artificial) island of Banka Ta. Four of the large biplanes were soon heaving themselves across the central highlands, torpedos swung underneath.

Captain Halders accepted the report with a curt nod before reading it. The 'chase' had been going on for about a half hour now. Lookouts reported that Graf Spee was still coming, but had seemed to sink a little more in the bow, and had stopped firing.

On Jessica herself, that damned fire had at last been put out. The crew - now that the immediate danger was over - was starting to feel some unrest. After all, a 35,000 ton battlecruiser - the newest and largest ship (barring the Behemoth classes, two of which are just getting ready to start sea trials) in the Royal Iansislean Navy - being chased about by a commerce raider hardly half her size? It was disgraceful - some people said that Halders was so scared of another Salvador or Narrows, he was afraid to finish off the Spee.

Captain Halders was, in fact, one of the most experienced ship commanders in the Royal Iansislean Navy. He had served with distinction in the Effitian Invasion, first as a lieutenant aboard the Argus, then as the executive officer of the newly-captured Embassy, before assuming his first command - of the frigate Conference. He had then moved to the steamer Hector - a ship famed most of all for its delivery of a new boiler to the ironclad HIMS Behemoth when she had blown hers enroute to Larkinia. Shortly thereafter, he was given command of HIMS Diomedes - a new, first rank battleship mounting what were then seriously overpowered 110 pound guns.

Diomedes had taken part in Iansisle's last successful naval engagement, "Ngyuen's War", where it, the old Gargantuan, and the frigate Jaizar had shelled an Imitoran fort.

Diomedes was scrapped just five years later, when rapidly advancing Iansislean technology had allowed HIMS Stalwart to sally out of port. An Imitoran bid saved the ship from the breakers, but Halders had to move on. Even now, in command of Queen Jessica, he maintains that Diomedes was his favorite ship, and often imagines being back there.

Stalwart had been involved in the Battle of the Narrows as part of the Diversionary Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Cedric Mayfield. Mayfield's insistence on trying to force the Narrows without clearing the shore batteries or mines first resulted in the destruction of the cruiser Tremendous and the destroyers Telemachus and Safe Harbor.

“Captain!” came a shout from the forward lookout.

Halders snapped out of his self-reflecting state. “Er, uh, yes?”

“Smoke on the horizon, captain. I estimate three ships, ahead of us!”

Although Halders had been waiting for this, it still worried him. What if the message had gotten out to some unsavory types about here, and turned out not to be HIMS Nusheld, Troobodia and Tiger? “Helm, be ready to take us ninety degrees to starboard and run at full speed.” The helmsman nodded, hoping Halders would not choose to run away again.

"Captain."
The Graf Spee's captain turned. He had been watching the Queen Jessica draw slowly away for thirty minutes, uncertain whether to break off the pursuit or not. He had finally realized that there was no logic in his pursuing the heavier warship, but since he had no idea what else to do at this point, better to stick with what he knew.
"Yes, what is it?"
The young enlisted sailor shuffled from one foot to the other, looking guilty and embarrased. His uniform was horribly splattered with blood, but the captain was suprised to see no wound on his body. Blood soaked his sleeves up to the elbow, and dripped from his hands.
"I'm from the surgery, sir. We've........... found Capt. Reinike, sir."
The two hurried back to the makeshift hospital that had been set up below decks. The small room, usually used to house bedding and linen, had been emptied to make room for the wounded. The hospital was a scene of horror; broken and bloodied men cried out for help. Many had lost arms or legs, or even more frightening injuries. The Spee's surgeon was doing all he could, but there was little he could do for the wounded and dying.
The young aid brought the captain to a cot, where a badly burned sailor lay. The majority of his exposed body was wrapped in bloody bandages, but beside him lay the white-topped cap worn by captains in the Kriegsmarine.
"We found him behind the forward turret, about ten minutes ago. He hasn't regained consciousness; to be honest, I don't think he ever will."
He picked up the captain's cap and handed it over.
"I just thought you would want this, Captain."
Taking the symbol of command sent a ripple through the young officer's stomach. Looking down at the dying man, he realized that, very soon, he would find himself in the same position. There was no way he could give up the chase now; if he did, all this suffering and death would be for nothing.

The Ariete sat on the water's surface, just barely in sight of the two ships. Captain Travino's decision could not be taken lightly, and would most likely decide the course of the war for Ercolana. The decision came quickly, but not easily and the fast destroyer began to charge at the Queen Jessica with the two Lancia Class destroyers a short distance behind. The guns were being aimed at the already damaged ship and the torpedo's were being armed. Soon the fire power of this ship, designed for its mobility, would be put to the test.

Aboard U-167 Captain Lantz was at parascope depth cheaking the surface for enemy ships that might have been lurking near by"we are clear gentleman,nothing in sight". The order was givin to surface and try and make dircet radio contact with Graf spee,the U-boat pack under strict blackout of communications were finally allowed to send messages now,first transmission was passed which was"Graf spee state your sector and situation",next was"we sit tight untill reply,location cannot be given,god speed". Only 2 of the U-boats were allowed above water at a time,the others had to wait incase somthing went wrong...

Great Walmington

Mainwaring put the phone back in place for the fith time, again without placing a call. Wilson again assured him that since Iansisle has been attacked, if war were to come, they'd be first to know about it..and they'd certainly come to their allies for support if they were to make a decleration.

"But what if they're unsure of support? We can't let them sit there and take it while Jerry picks his punches, Wilson!"

Within the hour reassurance had been sent to Iansisle that WoS was outraged by the engagement of the Queen Jessica, and would stand by its ally.

The Walmingtonian armed forces were finally put on their very highest degree of readiness, the massive landings on Norbray's beaches wound down, and the next level of the "Walmington needs you!" campaign swang into action.


(hey, while I remember: DK, what's the situation on the continent? I can't remember if I asked already. Has Germany finished France already? )

SUB PEN-TROIDENHEIM NORWAY(command room)

'attack 'Wolfe' patrol are called upon to respond to Sector C on your grid to respond to military shipping movments,fair sized convoys moving in open water between sector B and C,must be stopped or damaged untill we can get planes in the air,SEIG HEIL god speed'. The transmission ended and Captain Wolfe of U-538 sent signals to his Pack and the headed for destination C full speed. The vessels in this group consist of U-538,(leader) U-539, U-540, U-541, U-542,

On U-538 in the captains bunk,a sub leiutennet and the captain stood over a large map cut off into blocks with alphabetical letters repersenting the partol area's"Heer Kapitain all other boats have confirmed movment but the enemy vessels will pick us up in route,their raydars are stronger with more range than ours"said the Leiutennet,a Mid sub cadet walked in"sir we are on the move all systems ago with one fault,one of our gauges are malfuctioning but it will not stall our progress we must watch it closely","what gauge?"asked kaptain Wolfe,"air pressure gauge sir..."replyed the cadet not making eye contact with his kaptain"get on it now,watch it as you said.."said wolfe examining the charts not even looking at the man,the leiutennet nodded and the man left the room. The 2 officers continued their plans,if they wanted to be undetectable they would have to go farther out..but they couldn't,the order was to quickly engauge the allied ships at all costs.

"They're not ours, Captain," reported the lookout, squinting over Jessica's high clipper bow. "Destroyers, sir, three of them. Coming on rather fast."

Halders cursed. The Germans had laid a trap for him! "Helm, hard to starboard! Bring us up to full." With an effort Halders calmed down some. Three destroyers? That's not much... Instantly, Halders started second guessing himself. What if the Germans had WANTED him to turn east? It was the obvious direction - towards Fort Manly. What if they had more of those...er...submersible thingamdoos? Waiting to torpedo his ship as he ran?

"Guns, prepare to fire on those destroyers."

"Sir? We don't even know who they are...they may be responding to our own distress call!"

Halders cursed. He had forgotten about that. What if they were Walmingtonish? "Do we have a flag in sight, seaman?" he called to the lookout.

"Yes, sir," came the return call. "I was just about to tell you - Ercolanian, sir!"

Ercolanian!? What in blazes - they're awful out of their way! And I have no way to contact them - except with a signal.

"Signal! Flash to those destroyers in three places: We are the Iansislean battlecruiser Queen Jessica. Turn away or be fired upon.!"

In the meantime, Jessica finished her slow turn to starboard - the ship was fast, but manouvered like an old Glorious-class cruiser - and started to accelerate - through twentyfive knots, bearing in on thirty. The Jessica had been designed for thirty five, but had only made thirty two in trials.

"How long should we give them to respond, sir?" asked the gunnery officer, watching Jessica's signal men flash Halders' message to the Ercolanian destroyers.

"Two minutes to break off," Halders replied, somewhat distant. "Then we fire." The gunnery officer - and everyone else on the bridge - checked their watches.

"I estimate them at twelve thousand yards, Captain," said a nearby officer, looking through his glasses. "They'll be able to fire torpedoes at five thousand or so."
_______________

In the Commonwealth, news of the Jessica’s plight hadn’t gone unnoticed. Grand Admiral Sir Richard Tri passed it along to Lord Michael of Javial, who brought it to the Council of Ministers. Ernie Banks, the Minister of Space, was away at the launching pad in Copplestone, but the other five had one of the hardest decisions to make - declare war on Germany?

Naturally, such a momentous decision was subject to Parliamentary review, but if they could get enough public support behind it, the men of Jameston wouldn’t dare repel the decision.

After much heated debate between the heads of War, Foreign Affairs, Education, Commonwealth Relations, and Finance, nothing was agreed. Lord MacIntyre (Foreign Affairs) and Lord Javial (War) thought war notice should be served at once. It would be easy to convince IanCorp to stir the population into a patriotic and jingoistic fury. Carlton Interminos (Education) and Dr. Benton Blayer (Finance), who felt their departments would be hurt more than helped by a war of any sort, stood in opposition. Sir Edmond Kaldwell (Commonwealth Relations) staunchly refused to support either, despite numerous attempts to convert him. The final vote was taken - a two to two tie.

Thus was activated a little-remembered clause of the Tablet of James - in the event of a tie in the Council or Parliament, the deciding vote should be cast by the High King.

All eyes turned across the stormy waters of Troobodia Bay to the Ian’s Island - and the Castle Dun Adien.

After a period of hemming and hawwing a decision was finally reached, orders were passed to a "Bat" torpedo bomber base in western Sumatra.

" Load up with a pair of Fuel drop tanks in place of your fish ad head out to XXXlat XXXlong and find the Graf Spee and Queen Jessica, It was one of our Merchanters that alerted everyone, we may as well have a look in on it. Once you reach bingo fuel recover to Gasgage, you should have enough to linger of the fight for 4 or 5 hours."

Shortly afterwards a plane was seen to take off and head westward over the ocean.


OOC: A not on the "Bat" see the Jessica sets sail thread for pic and general data, the plane also has a function not mentioned there, the 18Cyl straight engines have 2 seperate fuel delivery systems, on a long cruise half the cylinders fuel supply can be cut off changing the engine to a 9 cyl, reducing power but also increasing range by 2/3rds. Also fuel tanks look like torpedos minus a screw, however a ship won't be able to see the lack of screw.

The three destroyers continued moving, they were already well within the range limits of the S.L.C. "Troppo" Insidious Torpedo. The Ariete was the only ship carrying them, and only had two. However they were quickly launched with one pilot each. Once they were in the water, and deep enough to be undetectable to the disabled ship the Destroyers came in close to parlay. We put our Flag code up, signifying we come in peace, hoping that you subscribed to the international flag code.

(ooc: I am not completely finished with statistics however it is alot like the S.L.C. Maiale which you can find Here (http://www.regiamarina.net/), under Men & Weapons > Weapons > Insidious Weapons.)

(Ag- Just so you know, the Jessica's still making near thirty knots, which makes the probability of an unguided torpedo hitting her slim. Also, Iansislean torpedoes are of the pure-oxygen and kerosine type, giving a speed of 50 knots over 4,000 yards or 35 knots over 8,000 yards. The Javelin's only an 18"er, but still weighs 2,300 lbs with a warhead of around 825 lbs. Jessica carries sixteen Javelin torpedoes for eight below-water-line reloadable launchers. Of course, we'll probably just use guns.

Like I said, the probability of a hit is low - so I'll tell you what - you roll a six sided dice, and I will too. If yours comes up six, it's a hit. If mine comes up one, it's a hit. I promise to believe your answer if you believe mine, or we can come up with a new system.)

"They're signaling a parlay, captain," noticed the lookout, not seeing two tine splashes over the side of one destroyer.

"We can't stop now!" yelled Halders, looking back at Graf Spee. Signal them that we are unable to stop for parlay now, but if they follow us to Vollumbo, we can talk there."

(damn it!)

(They are giuded torpedos, piloted torpedos actually...They are piloted by scuba divers, check the link I provided. And also I know why your topics are disappearing on the ANH forum, its because yours is set to only show posts made in the last 30 days, they are really still there, but you just cant see them.)

(I don't know much about it (beyond that I had a little plastic toy one when I was six) but can it even catch the Jessica, given her speed, its 1.6hp motor, and the range it has to close before running out of juice? It's going to have to get a way over 30knots over a distance only increasing with time (maybe it can, I dunno, I just imagined it was best for attacking ships at port?) )

(You see you were able to get away from me. It was expected for you to stop or atleast slow down in order to parlay and then the Torpedos would pounce. If you continue on moving at that speed they will never catch up and the mission will be aborted.)

(Ah, I seeee. Though I don't think you're launching at me :) )

(Ah, I seeee. Though I don't think you're launching at me :) )

DAMMIT, I thought you were Iansisle. I am preoccupied, Agrigento is creating a new jet and I didnt read the name of the post :lol:

(Quite alright. I'll take it as a compliment or something. Anyway, I know I made much worse posts while working out how fast Walmington's latest piston engine fighter should go :) )

(ooc: I g2g now, cya guys tom. Check out the Drago 3000, its a nice little aircraft I just designed 8) http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68453)

(ah, yes - the Italian chariot. I remember reading something about those - very cool. At any rate, Halders is a little frightened by the Graf Spee behind him, and isn't terribly eager to present for battle. The best way to avoid that is to run - something Jessica was built for :)

At any rate, see you tomorow!)

OOC-Why anyone would build a manned torpedo is beyond me, but I grew up in the Modern Age. I know there were such things, but their advantage is, to me, questionable. Anyway, my unfocused ranting is over...

IC- Lookouts aboard the Graf Spee spotted the destroyers making their way toward the fleeing Queen Jessica. However, since Agrigento had never been anticipated to be a player in the operation, the lookouts had not been trained on identifying their ships, or even their flag. Therefore, they simply reported them as "unknown destroyers". The captain was, of course, now concerned about the nationality and loyalties of three unidentified warships. As such, he ordered the raider to slow to 20 knots and turn east slightly, in the direction the Jessica had made for, but at a much shallower angle. The result of this was that the range between the two battered ships increased rather quickly. The engineers had reported that the Graf Spee's speed was now something approaching the norm, about 26 knots.
Too many things were going on at once; the captain felt like he was drowning in options, none of which he could take. The fact that the Queen Jessica had turned away from these new ships might mean that she was faced with new enemies; on the other hand, it might just mean that the R.I.N. was hoping to box in his ship, with the battlecruiser leading and the destroyers behind. If he could only know for sure who these new destroyers were, and what their intentions were, he might know what to do now. If the Queen Jessica was indeed turning away from what she percieved as a new threat, the Graf Spee might have a real opportunity to slip away. The captain knew that the Spee was in desparate need of repairs if he was to attempt a breakout and sail back to Germany, and without spare parts from the Nordmark that could never happen. God, I need some help here. Just some sign of what's going on in front of me; that's all I need. The captain raised his binoculars and watched the scene unfold before him.

OOC: I've heard of them, They were mentioned in a book on the RN and about how the HMS York was hit by them, they're supposed to be the same principle as the british one man subs, the warhead is detachable and has a few Magnetic clamps and a timer. As such they're only useful against stopped/anchored ships, wander up underneath, clamp on the warhead and scuttle off unseen. Thats in RL tho. in NS I don't see why they can't bail off at 1000Yds and wait to be picked up, if their ship survives.

IC: The Bat aeroflyers arrive over the ships, having passed over the site of the merchanters radiograph message and licmbed to altitude where the smoke was seen far on the horizon.

Circling around the various groups the aeroflyers drop their tanks to lighten and steamline their flyers having drained the last fuel from them.

OOC- I almost forgot. Walmington, the 1940 offensive across the Siegfried Line should be gearing up about now. Good question, though. I think if war is declared between Iansisle and Germany, that would make a pretty strong argument against Operation Barbarosa, which could make for a very interesting story, if there was never an Eastern Front to WWII.

IC- Far west of the showdown between the Queen Jessica and Graf Spee, the German resupply ship Nordmark monitored the radio for news of either victory or defeat for their fellow sailors. Instead, they got a very different message. The radiogram came from OKW headquarters, announcing the planned offensive against French and British troops along the Siegfried Line had begun early the previous morning. Thus far, the Wehrmacht had smashed all resistance, driving the Allies before them. The Graf Spee, of course, never recieved this message; her captain would certainly have taken this as his sign to retire from the battle, and make way for home, trusting in the confusion created by the offensive to cover his breakthrough into the North Sea. If the operation proceeded as planned, the war at sea would take a very fundamental turn, as the resources available for the Allies would quickly be redirected to stopping the German advance.
All in all, spirits were on the rise on the Nordmark; the only thing now was the lack of contact from the Spee. Nothing had been heard from her in hours; the report from several merchantmen in the area had come through, but nothing from the ship herself. This worried some of the crew greatly, but others thought differently. Surely, the Queen Jessica would have reported the sinking of the Graf Spee, had such a thing happened. There was nothing to do but wait.

“The Spee is gaining on us, Captain,” reported the lookout with a grim glance back at the captain. Halders looked out; indeed she was. He hated to run closer to the Ercolanian destroyers, but they’d just have to.

“Helm, bring us about to a north-easterly heading. Guns, give the Spee one shot from the aft turret.”

As Jessica’s rear guns roared, the ship came about north-east. Halders noticed the shots fall well short of the Spee - he hadn’t really expected to hit anything. Where the hell are those cruisers!?

IC- The captain grimmaced.
"So, it's tit-for-tat, is it?"
The forward 11" turret gave the Graf Spee's answer, sending three high velocity shells screaming to the fleeing battlecruiser. One shell landed 20' off the starboard, showering the upper works with splinters and wounding several unfortunate sailors, but doing little in the way of real damage. The captain called for full speed, and the German raider worked her way up to 26 knots, looking to close in and cripple the Jessica with her more accurate fire. The Kriegsmarine had never placed much weight on radar ranging for their capital ships, partly because radar technology in the Reich lagged so far behind the times. All German warships were equipped with excellent optical sights; while they were at a disadvantage in poor weather or at night, they would function admirably today. The fire control officer in the forward battery worked carefully to gauge the distance, direction, and heading of the Queen Jessica. When his calculations were finished, he reported to the captain that the guns were ready. Shells and powder were loaded, and the firing order given.
Aboard the Queen Jessica, the rear lookouts saw their hunter fire another salvo. For a moment, there was only silence.....

OOC- I'll leave it up to you what effect these shots will have, if any. To be perfectly honest, I'm starting to think you're taking it easy on me! Your ship is certainly a match for the Spee; I know the addition of Ercolania's destroyers changes things somewhat, but if you decide to open up on them, I think it's gg.

IC- Reports are also coming into the War Ministry (or it's equivalent) in Walmington and Iansisle from the British, saying their position in continental Europe has become dire indeed. There are also reports from Naval Intelligence of massive fleet activities by the Kriegsmarine, including both Battlegroups East and West; some reports indicate over 80% of German naval assets are currently on sorties.

OOC- This is just a little background crap; any effect this has on the ongoing story is bound to be minor, for the time being. France won't be capitulating untill this whole mess with the Queen Jessica/ Graf Spee is over. In fact, WoS is probably going to be most concerned with these new fleet activities, including capital ships trying to break out into the North Atlantic around Iceland. Germany is certainly not in anything resembling a state of war with Walmington on Sea, but you ARE Iansisle's strongest ally in the area, and well...... things happen, as we all know.

The 11" shells rained down, catching Jessica mainly on her rear deck and turret as she turned north-east. Her thick - compared to the Spee, at least - belt and turret armor prevented any major damage, but more fires were set. Damage control crews rushed to prevent it from spreading, but sparks and shell fragments made their task difficult.

The crew of the rear 12" turret were quite stunned by the thunder outside, and prayed to every god they recognized that the Graf Spee wouldn't hit them directly.

Meanwhile, Jessica completed her turn, heading nearly directly away from the Spee. With her stern chasers either disabled or stunned, she wasn't able to return fire, but Halders hoped that wouldn't be needed. A single 8"/50 gun crew managed to get their gun operational, and there was no immediate fire danger, so they resumed firing at the Spee, terrible aware of what a pop-gun they were firing.

EDIT: I don't believe I've ever mentioned it, but Jessica's 8" / 50 cal guns are single mounted, with limited fields of vision.

Meanwhile, nearly one hundred and fifty nautical miles north of the showdown, the cruiser HIMS Nusheld rode down a wave at nearly thirty knots, its graceful bow not quite swamping, but certainly getting a little wet.

Captain Albert Pope, commander of the Nusheld and her tiny fleet - the crusier Troobodia and the destroyer Tiger - frowned to himself. They had - as per the limited data available to the Admiralty - been running south, all radrangers on and search flyers at the ready, for nearly two hours now. Maybe the Admiralty was mistaken, or that Calarcan had been fibbing.

Still, if Jessica was having a hard time of it, it was his duty to bail her out. They had no better leads on the location of the Graf Spee - south it would have to be.

(In case you're wondering why I'm moving so slow in declaring war, that's because that's how Iansisle's government works. Slow, ponderous, ineffecient - but once it gathers momentum, there's little stopping it. Sooner or later, we will get around to making this official :) - unless you'd care to do the honors...)

OOC- I don't remember seeing anything about the secondary mounting scheme, but it's really not that vital. As for the war declaration, I see it taking the place of Barbarosa, if you don't mind playing the role of "Russia". I don't expect to see an Eastern Front in this war; a two front war is bad enough, but three? Not even Hitler would be that crazy. Don't expect a declaration from me untill France falls, which won't be on this thread.

IC-Graf Spee followed the Queen around, cutting the angle a little shallower, hoping to get a good shot at her broadside. The guns spoke again, raining down shells on the Iansislians. The Spee crossed the Queen Jessica's wake and took a position (would it be north?) of the battlecruiser, to try and prevent her slipping away into friendly waters. The unknown destroyer group continued to chase the much larger ship; by now the Spee's captain had decided they may not be allies, but they were certainly not friends to Iansisle, either. He had also decided that if the Graf Spee could not finish the Iansislians within half an hour, he would break off for the tip of Africa and attempt to meet with the Nordmark; he certainly couldn't keep sailing around in a blind and half crippled raider, waiting to be hunted down and killed. Exactly how he was supposed to find her when he had no radio was something he would have to work out later....

The Calarcian Torpedobomber finally started to run low on fuel if they were to reach Gasgage, making a final circle around the battling ships they turned away to the west, making a signal as they did so.

Graf Spee, Jessica, three Ercolanian Destroyers location YYYlat YYYlong, Graf Spee and Jessica engaging. Bingo Fuel, recovering Gasgage

While the flyers knew Calarca wasn't at war and didn't want to be at war, they were damned if they were going to be quiet and let a commerce raider which might go after Calarcian shipping slip away. Besides which, even if Iansisle was a rival, they were Calarcas rival and they weren't going to let their international mates down either.


))C: For the international Calarcian/Iansisle situation, think a NZ/Australia situation. They'll cheerfull slag away at each other, but if anyone else trys to step in and be nasty to one, they'll (usually) pull together and team up against the third. Basicly on the basis of the devil you know is better than the devil you dont. especially if one sinks neutral shipping and the other doesn't.

OOC- I KNEW that was going to come back and haunt me! :twisted:

Finally U-boats U-167, U-168, U-169, U-170, U-183 had entred Graf Spee's last reported in grid section. Captain Hubert Lantz ordered his vessel at parascope depth,he stare through scanning the surface,then he saw Graf Spee gliding across the surface"there she is!there is a enemy ship moving the other way,get on the radio i want U-168,and 169 to try and cut her off,"Lantz bellowed,crew members rushed to their positions. Then the captain turned the parascope around to see more vessels incomming"Unidentifyed ships!turn us around now!,tell U-170 and U-183 to move away from us and get into position!,Take us down to 30!"Ordered Lantz,the emergency lights were going off and the crew was preparing to defend their wounded giant Graf Spee.

TRANSMISSION TO GRAF SPEE:

We have you in our sights,engaging enemy vessels now.
unidentifyed ships on your port comming in,sent interceptors.
Please inform of situation immeaditly.

Aboard U-168 Captain Settner ordered full ahead and torpedo's at ready,"we will come out of this ontop and the world and Germany shall know the power of the German U-boats!"he exclaimed,he sat in his chair staring off in space. Sir the markings show that the ship is Jessica..Iansisleian Vessel,that was reported in from U-169 minutes ago,they are at parascope depth now"said the Oberfähnrich zur See (sub leiutennet),he paused then spoke again"also there is unidentifyed ships comming in quickly,the damn weather is so bad we can't see them that well,they are still quite far off". Captain Setter stood up and replyed"Leiutennet Captain Lantz has asked us to engauge Jessica and that is what we shall do Immeaditly!continue corse and ready our wepons,i will give the order to parascope depth when i think is right,now it's not time!"exclaimed Settner,obveiously he was nervous,his hands shook and constantly he would stare off in space,the Leiutennet nodded and gave the order"continue all ahead full,inform the torpedo bays to get ready for fire,tubes 1 and 2!".

(Have these U-boats just made it from Germany to near the Bay of Bengal before the ships making 20/30knots there have made a few dozen miles?)

Ceyloba

"Ach, for God's sake, man, d'you not keep an inventory?"
"Yes, Admiral, but there seems to be a discrepancy, we do have depth charges, but they'd be more use on Dolly than under a Swordfish."

It took another hour before the proper munitions could be found at the disorganised Vollombon water-front. Swordfish carrying depth chargers were thus to be far behind those carrying torpedos. Of course this wouldn't matter, as they were after a commerce raider..

Meanwhile to the east, one of the four Swordfish already on hand set out without its torpedo. Frazer sat back in the island's capital wishing Walmington had faster aircraft with any sort of range on them. Even if we find Spee, she'll be miles away by the time the torpedo planes arrive

(Ideally at this point he'd receive word of Calarca's transmission, but.. I forget who they're sharing with.)

(I think you've probably been on better terms with Calarca than I have, seeing as you're content to take your islandic part of the prize, where as me and Calarca have to share a narrow water way with two opposing forts sitting seventeen miles - or about 30,000 yards - from one another :))

The German shells again tore into Jessica, but Halders had had enough. Spee wasn't going to leave them be - and fire was best answered with fire. As the 35,000 ton battlecruiser shook - with large holes thrashing several AA guns and exploding the MPAF-3F and its launching equipment - he nodded silently to the gunnery officer. "All batteries, return fire. Ready with the port (correct?) torpedoes - fire if she closes to four thousand yards.

While the Spee's catching up allowed her to fire at Jessica's broadside, it also unmasked the large ship's gun batteries. The 8" guns, of course, spoke first - four of them had the angle on Spee and were operational. The 12" guns, slightly slower to track, fired as the second round of 8" shells was launching. Several seconds later, the main 14" guns roared, firing only their third salvo of the protracted encounter.

Of course, in that time, Spee managed to get another salvo off, tearing into the Jessica as Halders attempted to keep the course straight for his own guns. Shells from the rear battery opened a hole in the fairly thin rear armor belt just above the waterline, which had been weakened by a previous impact. Compartment doors were slammed as crewmen tried in desperation to stem the inrushing water. At last, the succeded reducing the flow to a pumpable rate- but Jessica was down slightly in the stern.

The forward battery missed, sailing into the water between Jessica's superstructure and the aft 12" battery, through the destroyed aero-flyer dock.

Gun crews worked frantically to reload, their optical sites providing some degree of firing data - but nowhere near what the radranger had been able to. Iansislean optical fire control was decent - better than Italian or French efforts, but a degree below the Japanese and German's equipment.

The 12" and 14" guns barked again.

[quote="Walmington on Sea"](Have these U-boats just made it from Germany to near the Bay of Bengal before the ships making 20/30knots there have made a few dozen miles?)

I gave them 2 real days to get there,they just arrived

U-168 then fired it's first torpedo,it came speeding out the tube in jessica's direction but missed and went farther out,"damn it!!"bellowed Setter peering through the Parascope,"tube two has a go!!"Ordered the Leiutennet, Torpedo 2 then was fired and cut through the water,the men aboard U-168 prayed this would strike it's target but it skimmed the rear on the ship with it's side,the screach of metal went though the water,"christ! 3 and 4 ready!"announced Settner.

The crew of these U-boats are green,they are not vet submariners..

(Ah but we're not bogged down in the strict rules of the NS masses, we're like..classy and stuff, with RP dictating time, rather than the mechanical reverse. Sorry, I'm off for fish 'n' chips now- back later)

"Sir, they are not falling for it. The Queen Gessica is continuing on its way and we have no chance to catch up.", said a guadamarina.

"Very well, call them back and keep us within sight of the Gessica.", said Travino.

The two Lancia class destroyers went to recover the pilots of the S.L.C.'s meanwhile the corvette, who just arrived on the scene, would pull up their vehicles.

The Ariete began to try to get into contact with the German battleship, either to coordinate the attack, or to organize rescue of the crew of the severely damaged ship.

(well, if they launched two days ago - which was only about an hour in this battle, if I'm reading the times right - that's 48 hours, at 17ish knots, or 816 nautical miles - roughly from Kiel to Gibralter...)

(well, if they launched two days ago - which was only about an hour in this battle, if I'm reading the times right - that's 48 hours, at 17ish knots, or 816 nautical miles - roughly from Kiel to Gibralter...)

We are in Nationstates time though..which is differnt...im not going to interfear with graf spee and jessica no more though,i wanna see how it goes :)

TRANSMISSION FROM U-167 TO 168
Stand down settner,we will not deprive Geaf spee of it's hunt
cease fire immdeaitly.

U-168 halted movment upon that command,Settner was then informed of the commanding U-boats wishes"tell them very well,also ask if any contact with Graf spee has been made",the leiutennet replyed"yes sir then returned to the comms room. He returned moments later and said"Sir,graf Spee sent morse code message to 167,their comm's are out and they have the situation where they want it,also the incomming vessels are Italian friendly's,the only time we are to respond is if Graf Spee is in destress and no direct Destress calls were sent out..","very well leiutennet"said Settner dropping in his chair but still beads of sweat poured down his forehead.

U-167 surfaced and made their presence known,Captain Lantz went up on the tower with 2 of his men and stare at Graf Spee through their bonoculars,then one of the midship crew said"sir she's hit,her forecastle is smoking",Lantz looked at the man and grinned "i know the crew of that ship and by god they won't go down with out a fight,brave damn crew,till then we sit still,also it was a long journey and we must preserve fuel and do systems cheak's but don't take you're eyes off the horizon of Jessica for that matter,they seem determined to stay till the end...even if they do destroy the Graf spee.."he paused,looked into his bonoculars and continued"we will have to hit her hard and get the survivors of the Graf Spee out of the water or go down with them in the process","amen"replyed the midshipman

(Ideally at this point he'd receive word of Calarca's transmission, but.. I forget who they're sharing with.)

OOC: They're all being made in the clear, anyone with a radio on the frequency between bombay to malaya with a good reception will hear.

IC: Captain Geroges, the military Attache from Calarca in Ceyloba watched the swordfish taking off through the window of the Ceyloban governers residence, where he had been visiting for a lunch and some port and cigars after, when this crisis blew up.

"Well sir, I have some powers to provide military equipment to allies if they so ask y'know, The parliment passed some changes to the law about selling military stuff, If ya send some flyers to Gasgage they can take some of our Bats.

You understand we're not getting involved ourselves however?"

OOC: For precedent, look at how the US flew some planes from the Carriers in the mediteranian to Israel, the pilots hopped out and Isrealis hopped in and immediately took off to fight the arabs, not sure which war.

Edited to correct a few spelling mistakes.

(Splendid- we have their last position then, and a scout some miles ahead of the main flight)

The scouting Swordfish, unarmed save for two .303 Walmingtonian Camel machineguns, rattled out over the ocean towards the co-ordinates received from the Calarcans. Four more followed a significant way behind, heaving torpedos with them.

The last two were on the east coast, re-fueling and standing by in ASW configuration.

(Will Spee suffer as Bismark did IRL? Her AA guns were so advanced that they tracked too quickly to target the lumbering Swordfish, enabling them all to escape, and she was reduced to firing main guns in an effort to take out the low-flying biplanes with plumes of water. If not, well obviously the Swordfish are flying to their dooms, which is fair enough, really :) )

Back in Ceyloba, Frazer seems surprised to hear of Calarca's potentially significant aid offer.

"With the Germans' offensive westwards back home, Ceyloba and the African colonies are likely to suffer from lower priority funding and supply- the U-boats and raiders are already making life difficult. "

Frazer wasted little time in setting to organising a mission to aquire much needed equipment.

(WoS I have 3 destroyers, two Lancia class, and one Ariete right with the Spree)

(Thanks for all the help, Calarca and WoS. Just make sure you don't drop on Jessica - unless you've got faulty magnetic detonaters ;))

Calarca and WoS i want you to try and help :),you will never reach Graf Spee if i choose to intercept you..i could also send out some of you 5 U-boats to stalk you then blow you out of the water. There will be for sure 2 or 3 U-boats guarding Graf Spee, that would leave 1 or 2 to hunt you down,think wisely on what you do :) it's a big ocean lots of possibilitys,

Onboard U-167,a radio and comm's officer approached Captain Lantz standing on the tower,he quickly climed up the ladder and said"Sir,we have just got a message over the radio that more enemy vessels are on the way,unknown numbers..",Lantz turned and said"pass this on to the leiutennet below directly from me"he paused"i want 168 and 169 to split up but stay parralell with eachother and move out to sea a slight distance,tell them as soon as they lose sight of us that is their position to intercept the enemy,i don't want that on the radio neither!rally them over here so we can tell them"said captain lantz in deep thought. The comm's man nodded and slid down the ladder,all the U-boats were signaled in to rally,Once breifed the captains agreed to Lantz's plan and they were off.

Heh, New ger.. I have a base on the nearest land mass to the fighting. You're operating half the world away from home. I have ASW dedicated aircraft, and your U-boats only exist because I don't know they're there. If you engage with them I'll know they exist and hunt them into oblivion.

[edit:woops, i didn't mean to post yet. damn, i'm so drunk. Blast.]

Graf Spee rocked under the impact of one of the shells from Queen Jessica's 14" turret. The shell smashed into the ruined conning tower, and blasted a hole strait into the works. The mast was smashed from its mounting and plunged down, scattering debris over the rear deck. The slightly smaller 12" shells splashed around the wounded raider, spraying her with steel splinters that tore the less robust parts of the ship. The Spee fired back; her guns were more accurate, but not as lethal as those on the Queen Jessica. The captain ordered the raider to keep her distance, hoping to use his more acurate optics to his advantage. The Graf Spee opened the distance to just over 6000 meters (Is this more or less than it was? I'm so confused! :cry: ), firing the whole while. Shells rained down around her, doing damage to her superstructure, but nothing life-threatening. The captain called for a check of the ammunition stores; he needed to save enough to break out of the Indian Ocean if things went sour.

New Ger... A U-boat won't do much damage to a flight of torpedo bombers carrying 6 Depth Charges instead of the usual 2 torps. and I have approx 180 stationed around the indian ocean on Southern India (Gallaga to WoS/Iansisle/Me etc...) Sumatra and Java. I also have large numbers of ASW corvettes (2x 3inch guns and lots of depth charges with a hot air balloon and winch on the deckhouse) , smaller numbers of destroyers and a significant number of cruisers with their own floatplanes with dethcharge racks. If I finally get properly in to the war rather than an interested Bystander, the Indian/Gallagan ocean is going to be pretty hot for U-boats.

check the Q J sets sail thread for details on my Cruisers. I'm working (slowly) on a post on my destroyers and corvettes.

Yeah, the Indian Ocean is going to be the absolute last place on the entire planet (after maybe the Gobi Desert and the like ;) ) that German U-boats want to be. The Atlantic will be hard enough on them, this theatre will mean suicide. No where to dock and everyone out to get you.

ic: A lone Swordfish, making barely 130mph appears as a speck in the sky near the fierce Spee/Jessica engagement. Laden with fuel and communication equipment at the cost of her torpedo and third crewman, she makes known her identification of the two capital ships and three hostile destroyers. The four torpedo-carrying Swordfish a few miles behind her are weighed down by the fears of the dozen Walmingtonians who rattle onwards towards their German target, now informed of her trio of escorts. Little is known of the Ercolanan destroyers- will their AA capacity be enough to thwart the attack before it begins?

The hope is simply that the four biplanes arrive on such an approach that the destroyers do not cover Spee against their assault. The possibility that a capital ship might take them all down without reply is a notion simply not worth consideration. It is too late to make a change now.

The scout turns about and makes for home. This theatre is close to the limit of a laden Swordfish's range.

Within minutes the four appear in the west, flying slow and low, they make towards the impressive Spee, one torpedo each, and a top speed below 130mph, when accounting for the drag of their payload. This is Walmington's first ever air-to-sea action, and the crews are ill prepared for the fire they face.

(I'm tipsy, to say the least (it's chuffing painful, to be honest) and I'm happy to let DK decide what happens if he wishes- WoS is a secondary player here, and four Swordfish will hardly swing the war if lost- if you knock them all out without reply, I won't think it remotely unrealistic. Otherwise you'll probably have HOURS to wait for my hungover response ;))

OOC- lol I'll keep that in mind, WoS. I myself would be in a similar state if not for the fact that I'm at work right now. I think this makes for a happy medium...

IC- The AA gunners aboard the Spee had been largely assigned to take the place of dead and wounded members of the gun crews, so the amount of fire directed against the Swordfish was minimal, to say the least. The four biplanes discharged their cargo into the sea, and broke off for home with little damage. As for the raider, traveling at close to 27 knots, avoiding the torpedos was not difficult. On passed agonizingly close to the Spee's screws, but in the end the ship dodged all four of the dangerous little fish. (As an OOC sidenote, the Graf Spee would not suffer the same kind of crippling injury as the Bismarck, should her rudder become disabled. It was more of a design flaw in the German battleship, and one that they knew about long before she was sunk.) The evasive manuvers made firing on the Queen Jessica nearly impossible, however, giving the Iansislians time to catch their breath and regroup.
The next salvo fired by the battlecruiser's 14" battery smashed into the base of the command tower, piercing through the armor and driving deep into the interior of the ship before exploding. The resulting blast tore the inner works of the Spee apart, sending broken bits of men and metal flying through the interior. The keel of the raider snapped, letting in tons of seawater which quickly drowned anyone unfortunate enough to survive the explosion. With no one left alive to seal the bulkheads, the sea surged through the lower decks, flooding room after room.
In the Graf Spee's rear command room, chaos reigned. That the ship had been dealt a serious blow was beyond question, but the severity of the damage was still unclear to the captain, who was not even in a position to see the impact of the shell. Damage reports began to trickle in; the forward turret was jammed at 76* starboard, electrical power had failed in the forward compartments, uncontrolled flooding in the aft magazine. All indicated a mortal blow amidships, as the Graf Spee effectively began to bleed to death. Men were dispached to handle damage control, but the scope of it was beyond their ability to contain.
Graf Spee veered of hard to port, beginning to list as smoke bellowed out of the gaping hole in her deck. Her aft turret began firing as soon as she could get a bearing on the Jessica, but the raider was in its death throes.

(assuem this happened right before D.K.'s post....heh, sorry it was so slow in coming:)

The Queen Jessica’s once proud and clean bridge was now a shattered hellhouse, an 11” shell digging into the superstructure right below them. However, the conning tower was in worse shape, so Captain Halders - grasping the bloodied sleeve of a uniform to his face - struggled to continue the fight,

However bad things were on Jessica, they must be worse of Graf Spee, he reminded himself, clutching at a rail as his ship shook under the departure of another flight of 14” shells. She was now trailing a rather large slick of oil, and some of her machinery had been damage, reducing her maximum speed by about six knots.

“She’s trying to pull away, Captain,” reported a young midshipman - he had taken over for the lookout, who had been disemboweled by shrapnel. Halders could only think how the young man must feel, his feet covered by the intestines of the man whose place he had taken.

“We can’t let them get to range - they’ll murder us with accurate fire!” exclaimed Commander Orson Tapp, his executive officer, who had a torn uniform and several second-degree burns. Halders nodded softly.

“Helm, make your course to follow them. How much can the engines give us?”

“Twenty five knots, at best sir,” shrugged the young man, who seemed to be the only uninjured one on the bridge.

Halders nodded. “I’ll need every bit of it. Get us as close as you can, and ready on torpedoes!”

Just then, more 11” fire lanced into the superstructure, the Jessica’s returning salvo lost in the hail of sparks and steel. Halders picked himself up - he was still alive, thank God, but blood streamed down his face...what happened to that damn sleeve!?

“...captain,” groaned the young helmsman. Halders stumbled towards the voice.

“What is ...” started Halders, before stopping in shock. Where the young man’s right breast had once been, there was now only a large rod of steel, one end protruding from the boy’s side. His eyes were already glossed over, and dark red blood bubbled from his chest, dripping down onto the Jessica’s cold deck.

“gi...ve ‘em ‘ell, cap...t...” wheezed the helmsman, struggling to get each word out. His last thought delivered, the body seemed to relax, moving on to a better place than the hell Queen Jessica had become.

Halders stood with the rest of the surviving bridge crew, brushing debris from his uniform. Calmly, he took the helm, turning Jessica hard towards Graf Spee. Below him, the turrets struggled to track through the move, a 12” gun letting of a totally unaimed salvo that sailed well over the Spee.

(I’ve got the Spee slightly ahead of Jessica, turning slightly to port as wer approach from starboard. Is that about the picture you have to?)

Halders could see the Spee choking as his ship continued to bear in on it. He had at last allowed a replacement crewman to take the helm, and Jessica slowed slightly so as not to pass up the dying Graf Spee.

In one final act of defiance, Spee’s rear 11” guns barked, the shells tearing into Jessica on a nearly flat path. One ripped through her forward superstructure, mowing through row after row of weakened bulkheads, at last impacting just above her forward-most boiler. Machinery snapped and steam hissed as the power plant crumpled, releasing a blast of steam upwards - boiling a few unlucky souls alive - as crewmen raced to cut it off.

Another punched clean through the forward 12” turret, exploding inside. The shell caused a brief chain reaction, but fortunately it didn’t reach the ammunition or powder magazines.

One the bridge, Halders gazed out at the stricken ship as her crews raced to reload. He didn’t intend to allow them the chance. Nodding at a nearby officer, he whispered out a last set of orders - “Take us slightly to starboard - ready all port-side torpedoes.”

The crewman nodded, passing the orders along through Jessica’s stricken lower echelon command structure. At last everything was ready - and Halders gave the order to fire. There was a brief pause before three Javelin torpedoes - each with a more than 800 lb strong warhead - raced out at the dying commerce raider.

Aboard the slowly sinking Graf Spee, the situation had turned desperate. Reports of fires raging out of control near the forward magazine came in; the captain ordered the crew manning the turret to abandon their posts and contain the blaze at all costs, since their gun was practically useless anyway. A magazine detonation would bring the battle to a very swift and bloody conclusion.
Knowing the battle was lost, but unwilling to give up, the captain ordered the raider into a hard turn, bringing her back around untill the two ships were almost head to head. He knew that the Queen Jessica would not risk being crippled or destroyed by what surely appeared to be a dying opponent, and would not risk being rammed. He would veer off, trying to finish her off with his guns. The captain was counting on this; he needed to close with her quickly, before the Jessica's captain could react to what he was planning. He called for full speed again, and the diesel engines responded. He just hoped it would be enough.
The two warships bore down on each other, both firing everything they could bring to bear. As they drew closer, the captain gave the order to arm the Graf Spee's own torpedo tubes...

Edit- Sorry I didn't read your post untill this one came out! If this seems too weird to you, let me know; I'm unsure about this myself. Your torpedos should be hitting momentarily; there's little room to manuver at this range.

(I'm writing up a post now that have my torpedoes missing aft as you turn starboard to start your run. Whatever you think is more realistic is fine with me - my current move is to get Jessica running to port, so she can present her starboard torpedo bank, and take whatever lumps are due me. Your call.)

OOC:

Just a niggle, You have a wheel and helmsman, no WW2 warships above Motor torpedo boat had that method, for a cruise like the Jessica, there would be a intercom/phone/voicepipe from the command platform, whether that is the bridge, conning tower or battle bridge. The captain would say something like "Come to 180*" and the helmsman would pass on a more particular command to the helmsman down below, something like, "5 points starboard rudder, slow starboard screw ten revolutions" later once far enough around, "midships rudder, increase starboard screw ten revolutions." and the ship would then be on 180*.
The helmsman proper is usually down under the armour, not in the superstructure where a hit with a small caliber gun can put the ship out of control. it also means the captain and the helm are separated, so the second in command, usually the gunnery officer in a forward turrent can take over steering commands without having to find a new steersman too.
The Captain, second officer/first lieutenant(often gunnery officer), and third officer (often Damage Control officer) are always in different parts of the ship at all times in combat. one shell then can't kill everyone in charge.

Other than this little niggle a great RP so far.

It's not much, but since these can be learning situations as well as games, It's something that can be learned.

/OOC

OOC-I'd be perfectly ok with letting you get in a hit or two; trying to keep the positions of these two ships clear in my head is giving me a headache! (I finally broke down and used a piece of paper) I'm anxious to see what happens next, but basically the Spee is looking to make a close head to head pass with the Queen Jessica; the theory being, if the raider fires her torpedoes at something like 500 meters, there's little chance of missing with them all. The Spee's still making decent speed, certainly 18 knots at least. I don't know what effect losing that boiler will have on your ship's speed for sure.

(heh, thanks Calarca - I didn't know that! I'll be sure to work that into my future posts - starting with changing the one I've got going right now :)

Thanks again for keeping me from sounding like too big an idiot...anymore ;))

OOC:

Just a niggle, You have a wheel and helmsman, no WW2 warships above Motor torpedo boat had that method, for a cruise like the Jessica, there would be a intercom/phone/voicepipe from the command platform, whether that is the bridge, conning tower or battle bridge. The captain would say something like "Come to 180*" and the helmsman would pass on a more particular command to the helmsman down below, something like, "5 points starboard rudder, slow starboard screw ten revolutions" later once far enough around, "midships rudder, increase starboard screw ten revolutions." and the ship would then be on 180*.
The helmsman proper is usually down under the armour, not in the superstructure where a hit with a small caliber gun can put the ship out of control. it also means the captain and the helm are separated, so the second in command, usually the gunnery officer in a forward turrent can take over steering commands without having to find a new steersman too.
The Captain, second officer/first lieutenant(often gunnery officer), and third officer (often Damage Control officer) are always in different parts of the ship at all times in combat. one shell then can't kill everyone in charge.

Other than this little niggle a great RP so far.

It's not much, but since these can be learning situations as well as games, It's something that can be learned.

/OOC

Hey, let us wage our epic battle in peace!
:wink: Just kidding. Thanks for the info. Personally, I like the notion of the captain being able to steer the boat himself in the heat of battle; highly unrealistic, I admit, but very dramatic.

(Wets pants in anxiety!)

(Wets pants in anxiety!)

Woah! Haven't seen you around it a while...
Hey everyone, it's my benefactor nation! I even named a battlecruiser after her! (Well, two if you count the one The British Navy sank way back when...)

(If it's the one who turned you on to the game, my fondest thanks to him (or her)! I've enjoyed the time I've had playing (alas) against and learning from / with D.K.

I'm getting that last little bit hammered out now - Calarca's information changed the flavor of this last post a margin ;))

Halders winced as the Spee turned suddenly to starboard, allowing his torpedoes to run off into the distance behind her. He watched the German ship curiously - what was she doing? All this rapid moving had to increase the flow of water into her forward breach.

The entire crew of the Jessica gasped as the Spee continued her turn, bearing down for the Iansislean battlecruiser.

“She means to ram us!” exclaimed a young lookout, giving voice to what everyone knew.

“Helm!” called Halders, his eyes falling on the younger man at the intercom.

“Sir?” was the distant reply.

“Order ninty degrees to port! All ahead full!” The boy nodded, shouting the orders down through Jessica’s bowels. All too slowly, the wounded giant, her pre-engagement elegance vanished in the heat of battle.

“If she rams us amidships, we’re finished for,” was the gloomy opinion of one enlisted man, who was taking a very brief break from fighting a fire near the remains of the aero-flyer launcher. The ship strained every last nerve, her remaining boilers managing to thrust the ship forward at a mere eighteen knots. The Spee loomed still closer off Jessica’s port broadside, fire from what remained of her gun batteries (including a half dozen 5.5”/52 caliber gun I just discovered I had mounted as tertiary guns :) - I should make sure I remember the specifications for my own ship) splashing down around the Spee.

All hands waited for the torpedoes, hidden well below the waterline, to be ejected towards the German raider...

But the captain had no intention of ramming.
As the two ships passed side by side, less than 400 meters apart, the Graf Spee's surviving torpedo tubes, all mounted above-water to maintain the integrity of her hull, spat out four torpedos. The weapons officer had chosen to arm the impact pistols on the weapons, in light of recent torpedo failures; the raider would likely not get another chance with any of her weapons, let alone the tubes, and these fish had to count for something. As the Queen Jessica and the Graf Spee passed and then drew away, the dying raider opened up with everything; the rear turret, every secondary gun available, even the AA guns were brought to bear on the battered Iansislian battlecruiser. No gun could miss at such short range; the air was literally filled with flying lead.
But the Queen Jessica gave back as good as she got, firing her remaining batteries as fast as the loaders could shove shells into the smoking chambers. The Spee was hit once, twice, and a third time by heavy shells from the battlecruiser's 12" and 14" guns. The entire upper deck was now a firestorm of destruction, dying men, and flying steel. The conning tower had been almost completely blown away by concentrated fire from the Queen Jessica's guns, and both turrets had been shattered by the heavy shells. One gun on the rear turret fired a last, almost defiant shot that sailed well over the Jessica's stern as the two bloodied warships drew apart.

OOC- The effects of the torpedos I'll leave up to you. If you were planning on firing any of your own, just assume they hit; their effect on the final outcome is almost nil, anyway. The ship's going down whether you do or not; about 30% of the keel is blown out, and there's hardly anyone left alive to try and run damage control anyway. As for Sharnhorst, all they're providing me is the money to complete Kaiser Wilhelm II, which will be finished none too soon, from the looks of things!

Just as Jessica released her own fish with a blast of compressed air, four torpedoes - seen only as long shaped dropping clumsily into the water - shot from Graf Spee. At that range, there was no time to react other than to clutch at rails and hope Jessica could take the damage.

Fortunatly, Halders had presented his relativly undamaged starboard side to the Spee as they closed (that scar I gave myself aft is on the port side, right?), and three of the German ship's torpedoes made little impact - stopped by Jessica's thick armor belt, and only springing controlable leaks in the hull.

However, the fourth (as D.K. alluded may be a danger ;)) struck the submerged torpedo bays, tearing through the still closing outer doors. Behind it, the spare torpedoes being carried on the starboard side cooked off, twisting the metal and shearing a great hole below the waterline.

For a moment, all time stood still.

Then the sea rushed in.

Major flooding in the submerged torpedo bays had been a major concern while building Jessica, luckily, and several compartments were poised to contain the flood...

(And now I leave it up to you, the Peanut gallery: Should HIMS Queen Jessica

A) Prove unable to cope with the flooding, slowly take on water, and sink just as my cruisers arrive on scene?

or

B) Take on a heavy starboard list, just barely making it back to Vollumbo under a combination of her own power and civilian tugs?

The choice is yours!)

OOC-I, for one, would like to see her survive, to fight the forces of the Kriegsmarine another day. That hole in the side may cause some problems, though. Good fight on the part of the Queen Jessica and her crew, by the way.

IC- Off the now badly wounded Queen Jessica's stern, the burning hulk of the Graf Spee stood out against the water, stubbornly refusing to give in and sink. No more shots sounded from her guns; the surviving members of her crew having long before taken to the water. The fires raging below her deck eventually reached the depleated magazines, sparking a devastating explosion that literally tore the ship apart from the inside. The last sight of the Graf Spee was of her war flag, still flying defiantly on the toppled mast as she slipped beneath the waves. Then the only sound was that of the survivors, calling for help from the oil and fire-spotted waters of the Indian Ocean.
Fleet Command and the OKW would learn of the brave raider's fate from the victory reports that soon filled the airwaves. Their fellow sailors aboard the other ships at sea would mourn their fate for many months, and in the dark days to come, would remember the courage of the ship, her captain, and her crew during their daring operations in distant seas.

OOC- Wow! That was long, but definitely rewarding. Although I guess the adventure's not quite over for the Jessica yet, is it? I can't wait untill the next installment!

B) survives with a list.

Where the military mind sees a weakness, there are containment procedures. I'd expect like the Japanese underwater bays of WW1 there'll be a heavy bulkhead around each torp room, so any explosions in the magazine would be contained. Also extra bouyancey design around the area so the QJ stays afloat if the bays flood. All it takes for that is the hull doors and loading doors to jam open, not uncommon with underwter ship bays.

Shortly after learning of the destruction of the Graf Spee, Fleet Command orders all the long-range U-boats and their supply vessels out of the Indian Ocean and into the South Atlantic. No German warship is to travel farther east than the Cape of Good Hope, but all restrictions on attacking targets from Walmington and Iansisle have been removed. In essence, any ship flying the flags of those two nations is a potential target, regardless of her purpose, cargo, or destination. The message is encoded and sent to all commanders.

On the tower of U-167 Captain Lantz stare in great horror as Graf Spee exploded,the screams of men dieing and in horror where everywhere,he looked at the crippled jessica,she would not get away!,it was his duty to finish her off"Take us right to Graf Spee!,we must get those troubled men aboard!!"he yelled with a grim face,the engines of the sub marine started up and they moved in on their great loss,this had truly been a great battle but ended in remorse that Captain Lantz's U-boat pack didn't react earlier. The other 2 U-boats in his pack were ordered to Engauge Jessica then they were ordered out of the area full speed,the battle in the indian ocean was over with the death of many good krigsmarine men.

Captain Halders picked himself off the deck. The next few minutes flew by in a flurry of orders and cries as damage control crews from every part of the ship raced to contain the damage. At last convinced that the flooding had been controlled, and the Jessica was in no danger of sinking, Captain Halders gazed out at the burning hulk of his nemesis. Men were jumping from her side, swimming as far away from the wreck as they could. Still, the Spee wallowed deep in the water, stalwartly refusing to sink to its grave.

Watching the ship in its death throes was a strangely moving experience. What had once been an object of fear was now one of pity. The Jessica's crew watched with removed caps as the fires reached their inescapable destination, and the Spee exploded in a fireball. Bits of steel clanged of Jessica, catching a man or two unlucky to be away from quick protection for the last Iansislean casualties of the day.

When Nusheld and her escorts arrived forty five minutes later, having spotted them both on radranger and by the massive smoke trails in the sky, they found Jessica's remaining crew that weren't assigned to damage control combing the battle site, pulling what Germans they could find from the sea. Even after so bitter a contest, honor remained among the men of the sea.

At long last, Jessica's crew were convinced they had found all of Spee's surviving crew (I'll let D.K. come up with the number). The Germans were transfered to a brig on the Nusheld - though they were hardly in any condition to put up a fight - for the remainder of their journey. Queen Jessica fired her remaining boilers, and at a slow, lumbering pace, set off on the long voyage to Walmingtonish Ceyloba.

(now, I won't presume to assume that the Jessica is out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, but I seriously doubt that any u-boats are operating in the area, for reasons of time and range. However, regardless of what happens to Jessica, this'll take place roughly four days later....)

The incident west of Gallanesia was the absolute last straw. High King James III had only to look at the casualty report and Captain Halders' account of events to nod his head slowly and cast the tie-breaking vote. A week after the sinking of the Graf Spee, a note was delivered from the Iansislean Embassy in Berlin, announcing His Majesty's Government's intention to declare war.

Councils were held with Walmington and news casts about the horrors of fascism were made. IanCorp, convinced by the board to lend their support to the war cause, set about whipping the country into a nationalistic fervor. Parliament, convinced that supporting the war was in its best interest, nearly doubled the Ministry of War's budget, taking away where needed from Education and Space. Conscription rates skyrocketed, though ugly rumors of an impending draft if things should go poorly were circulated. Iansisle, for the first time since the New Tiamat Crisis and the Battle of Salvador fifteen years ago, was going to war.

Iansisle, for the first time since the New Tiamat Crisis and the Battle of Salvador fifteen years ago, was going to war.

OOC: Fifteen years? That timeline doesn't seem quite right...

(Why ever not?)

Military men the empire over knew it was coming -we don't (make a feeble) attempt to torpedo anyone we aren't going to war with. The brief fore-warning made Mainwaring's reluctantly but surprisingly firmly made speech no more easy to hear.

Less than eight hours after Iansisle's declaration wireless listners across Walmington were asked to excuse the interruption to the cricket county championship match between Southend and Burnhampshire. The crisis in the Gallagan Ocean having claimed so many lives, the renewed German assault against France, and the harrasment of Walmingtonian shipping all over the empire had combined to lead Walmington on Sea to war with a European power for the first time this century. Germany's behaviour would no longer go unchecked.

In Ceyloba, Frazer -briefly relieved by the lack of German activity since the duel between Spee and Jessica- now knew that the island would be unlikely to receive much more reinforcement from home. It was all the more important that he co-operate with Calarca, for Ceyloba would need all the help it could find in the event of an uprising by mainland powers.

The African colonies meanwhile felt exposed. It was imperative that Walmington pick Germany's battles for her if the empire was to be maintained.

Seeing the faltering of British and French forces, the WoS top brass were desperate to act before it was too late. If Mainwaring hesitated again France could fall, and the next move would be Germany's.

The Walmingtonian Expeditionary Force- an army of little more than 100,000 fighting men- would be sent to France, via the British Isles (it seemed fairly clear that the British would at this point accept any help they could get).

(I'm not sure if a hundred thousand plus sounds like a lot of men, but it's smaller than the BEF (the only fully mechanised army in the world at the time IRL. WoS isn't about to change that, and still has some horses) in France, and considering the Germans can free up, what, near three million men? From the non-existant Russian front, it's a drop in the ocean, really)

Iansisle, for the first time since the New Tiamat Crisis and the Battle of Salvador fifteen years ago, was going to war.

OOC: Fifteen years? That timeline doesn't seem quite right...

I mean, it doesn't correspond with the aging of the characters.

(Ack, I know. It'd probably be best not to quantify how long it has been since Salvador. I just don't want to lose my characters, but time has passed since then...it's a problem, and I'll just call it a plot hole ;))

OOC- Sorry I can't write anything right now. Something will be forthcoming soon!

The Calarcian High command knows war is approaching, it is a forgone conclusion that eventually Calarca, for all thier wish for neutrality, will be caught up in it. The brass decide to remove the few hundred stored obsolete aircraft from mothballs and refurbish them for combat.

The old "Wasp" fighters will gain a new lease of life as torpedo bombers. their 4x .50 HMGs and 6 rocket rails replaced with 2x 7x57mm machineguns, and their 2x 200 lb bomb mounts repalced with 1 torpedo mount to take a light torp. their engines are upgraded with a more powerful model and their fabric skin covered with metal.
http://www.nzfpm.co.nz/images/prf_i153.gif
http://www.nzfpm.co.nz/images/small/poli2.jpg

Length: 20' 3"
Height: 9' 8"
Wingspan: 33' 5"
Empty Weight: 3,201 lb
Gross Weight: 4,321 lb
Maximum Speed: 285 mph
Service Ceiling: 29,527'
Range: 646 miles
Powerplant: One Shvetsov M-62 1,000 hp 9 cylinder radial (formerly M-43 780Hp 8 cyl radial)
Armament: Two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns
One short Devilfish torp.

The Devilfish torp is the standard Calarcian naval torpedo. It is a pure Oxygen/Kerosine torp with a 760 lb warhead and a range of 7000 Yards at a fixed single speed of 38Knts, this is the standard weapon of the Bat areoflyer in Torbedo bomber guise. The short Devilfish is the same torp modified as a light airborne torp, with a 410 lb warhead and a range of 3000 yards at a fixed speed of 27Knts, especially developed for the "Wasp II" torpedo bomber.

(hey, Calarca. I'm just going to post this (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69075) link here in case WoS misses the thread when he returns. If you'd care, IanCorp newsmen will have spred the letter all over the world within about an hour of recieving it, and you can petition to be included in the conference. Or not. Your choice. ;))

Much faster than our torpedo bombers :)

In fact, our first monoplane fighter can only just out-run them. I think this is a signal to finally cease already reduced production of the MFMkI.

It's also a touch depressing for WoS to see metal skinned bi-planes, as even our second mono-fighter has a skin primarily of starched Irish linen.

[watches Swordfish sprint past at 138mph]

Heh Heh, The Swordfish was an early mid wars design, I think it's orgional engine was a 600Hp one, It could carry a full sized torp tho, this is a re-modeled fighter, and fighter are supposed to be fast and overpowered, even so it needed a larger engine and a smaller torp. with torp speed would drop to 210ish, forgot to put that is the post, oh well, you know now. lol.

It's based on the 1938 Russian Chiaka, it actually entered service after the Rata radial monoplane I have in the QJ sets Sail thread, which was released 1937.

Well, I like the look of 'em anyway :) I'll miss my bi-planes (which is why we're hanging on to the Swordfish for so long, and deploying the old Gladiators to the African colonies rather than scrapping them, or selling them to some loser military like..the US or something.)



(Runs for it)

Calarca is willing to sell military hardware to WoS, as per the ambassadors comment in the Sinking of the Liberty thread. These aren't going to be frontline service planes, just second rank/reserves/training squadrons. We've about um.... 680 (sound fair?) stacked away in dissasembled form, we're currently pulling 250 out of storage, bolting the wings back on and wiping the grease out of the engine them modifying them as above.

For torpedo planes they're limited, only 2x fixed 7.62 machine guns firing forward, a single pilot (swordfish has 3, pilot, bombaimer and gunner, and a short, slow torpedo. They can't manuver to fight other planes with the torpedo attached, and have no gunner with a swivel mount for protection.

You're welcome to buy some tho, and we may be re-starting production as a quick boost to our forces as Bat bombers are built if we join the war, it's easier and faster to re-furbish a stored fighter than to build a new bomber from scratch. At the moment we're looking more to lend-lease sorta deals like america did.

(Ack, I know. It'd probably be best not to quantify how long it has been since Salvador. I just don't want to lose my characters, but time has passed since then...it's a problem, and I'll just call it a plot hole ;))

Yeah, but then can't Hainian also call it a plot hole that he develops new ships too fast?

EDIT: This is Milostein accidentally posting as a puppet.

Yeah, but then can't Hainian also call it a plot hole that he develops new ships too fast?

EDIT: This is Milostein accidentally posting as a puppet.

(touche, my friend, touche.;) However, I tend to think there's a difference, given that Salvador was a different RP all together, and one that took place in a 'modern' world, rather than this 'WWII' one we're in. It's really a matter of characters, rather than production, because Iansisle is so character driven. I make decisions based mainly on what my characters would do - and I'm used to what James, Lord MacIntyre, and Admiral Tri would do. I could come up with a set of all new characters, if you think that's what would be best.)

Aboard FNAN Langley somewhere east of Scotland.

Ships log, September 9, 2003 AD.

Our government has dispatched the Langley and 4 destroyers to patrol a wide sweep of the Atlantic Ocean. After hearing radio messages of an attack, I, as commander of task force 1, have decided to investigate.

So far, no signs of anything to report. the Destroyers have not picked up anything and we are pretty much fogged in to launch any patrol craft.

Commander Smith.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/langley1.gif

Reports of rapid advances by the Wehrmacht into France streamed into the War Offices of Walmington and Iansisle. All indications tell of a crushing defeat at the hands of Nazi ground forces, and units in full scale retreat. The British are driven north to the area around Dunkirk, while the French Army is pushed back to Paris by the 2nd and 5th SS Panzer Divisions. The Luftwaffe's 22nd and 155th Fallschimjager regiments also drop near the city, trying to cut off the retreating French. The reports cause considerable alarm in the two nations.
The Kriegsmarine has been shown a suspicious lack of activity during recent operations. The majority of the capital ships are currently in their home ports, undergoing repairs and being refitted. The U-boatwaffe has been seen to increase its attacks in the Atlantic as far as 1000 miles west of Spain.

"Considerable alarm" was an interesting was of describing the sheer panic that engulfed the Ministry of War on an almost daily basis. Various underlings ran about trying to deliver reports to their scattered commanders, who were busy fretting with each other over one aspect or another of Iansisle's woeful defensive preperation state.

Today's crisis was guns.

"We've got the men and the money, sir - the volunteers RIAC has increased from its pre-war 40,000 to well over 100,000 men, and Parliament increased our budget three times this week - but we haven't got enough rifles to equip two-thirds that number. We're using every last one in our supply, and we could only come up with about 86,000 M74Bs, M74As, and M71Bs."

"What about the old M65Js?" asked Supreme General Sir Ian O'Bannon. "I know they're ancient, but the hollywacks used 'em well in the late unpleasentness. And they were produced in the hundreds of thousands - if not millions - during the Effitian Invasion."

"Sold 'em all, either to foreign powers or the East Gallaga Company. You signed the order, sir."

"So I did. Well, we'll just have to tell Galveston and Co. to step up production. Get on it, man!"

"Yes, sir," slouched the young lieutenant, saluting. He shuddered to think how much G&C would be charging.

The progress of German forces in France has caught even the most pessimistic Walmingtonians by surprise. Currently over forty five thousand men of the WEF are stationed in southern England, with the rest shiping out from Walmington by the day. At this rate, however, it appears that the WEF crossing the channel south might run into the BEF crossing north!

"But France is the nation's second most popular holiday spot, Wilson!" blustered the PM, managing to get right down to the core of the problem..
"The Germans can't have got far at all- they'll never get through the Maginot line!" he went on.
"Ah, they haven't, Prime Minister."
"I thought not!" Mainwaring said with some confidence "I'm usually a pretty good judge of these things."
"..They went around it, sir."
"Good, goo..WHAT? A typical shabby Nazi trick! You see the sort of people we're up against here, Wilson!"


Defence Rooms, Great Walmington, WoS

First Minister For Defence General Sir Jack Jones, Minister For Information Mr.Snoad, Admiral Longworth, General Square, and Air Marshal Pertwee debated Walmington's next step.

There were suggestions that the WEF should link up directly with the British, and break out from Dunkerque, others that Cherbourg would be the best bet- get in behind the fighting, accept that the advance was coming, and dig in to defend Normandy and Brittany- and another vague plan for a landing at Dieppe, from where the WEF might relieve Paris herself.

The Cherbourg plan was quickly shouted down- it'd leave the British cut off and at Germany's mercy, and mean the fall of Paris. Further it'd fragment allied forces and probably lead to them being taken down one at a time by the larg German army.

Despite Pertwee's insistance that the British couldn't be abandoned -we were using their country as a stageing ground, after all!- the favourite possible course of action was to land at Dieppe, and make for Paris. However there was another option- inaction. If France was going to Fall, the WEF was probably too late to stop it. The British army was in danger of being crippled in France- there'd be no one to defend the motherland if Walmington didn't do it.

And so the painful decision was made. Without an unforseen change in our favour, France would be lost. Walmington was to put her efforts into defending Britain, and would offer to aid in the evacuation of allied forces. Paris wasn't going to like this.

Im back sorry i was busy with school work....lol


All the U-boats from the Indian Ocean were on the move back to euroupe once the assult of france began to take place,Spee was a great loss and hurt the Krigsmarine's pride slightly. 150 miles off the coast of Trodenheim norway the U-boatwaffe was ordered to move in and take out merchant ships going through the english channel and near iceland. Aboard U-151 Captain schmidt stare through his parascope,beads of sweat drip off his forehead and hit the floor,hungary for the kill he glances at his men,"let him have it"he said slowly,then over a intercom a voice said"fire 1 and 2",the sub jerked,Schmidt watched the 2 torpedo's speed through the water closing in on their kill,then both torpedo's struck. The enemy ship went up in flames and what must have been a magazine exploded over and over with cracks of gun fire,another U-baot released some of their deaddly cargo and it slammed into another ship,that went up with a massive explosion as well,the crew cheered and Schmidt wiped his face then gave the order to get the hell out of this position.


there is aproximatly 34 U-boats positioned between norway,germany,north africa and the english channel,all groups consist of about 3 or 4 per pack.

Calarca Ministry of War.

The minister was busy, surrounded with reports on the state of the Calarcian military and the Overseas situation.

"All right, you're sure france is falling? We'd best prepare, set up a meeting with the head of the exchequer for me, we may need funds to buid more capital ships, I definately want more corvettes. Dig all our bolt actions that were retired when we moved to the GF-8 (M-1 garand-ish semi auto with 8 round fixed magazine loaded by stripper clips, fired the 7x57mm round.), de-grease them and ship them to Gallaga and Gallanesia (India and Indonesia, our overseas colonies.) We'll need to recruit the natives, they've breed like rabbits since the last wars so theres plenty of cannon fodder there. Good fighters too. how long before the Wasp IIs finish fitting out? get the remainder under refurbishment, I don't think 250 will be enough"

CalarcaMinistry of Commerce

This minister was also reading reports and giving orders.

"We have permission to activate the wartime emergency tariffs, 2 percent tariff on the value of any cargo carried by a ship in wartime, funds to be immediately forwarded to the ministry of war to purchase shipping protection units. Draw up a memo from me to the Minister of war advising increased production of corvettes."

Gallaga Governers office, Gasgage.

"Send out recruiters, we need 2 million men under arms, rifles will be arriving on naval ships shortly, put all armament factories and armories on a war footing, we need more Anti armoured land crawler weapons, the 75mm would be best as it can also double as an artillary unit."

Sumatra, Gallachina Morrison Shipyards.

"Recruit another thousand native labourers and start putting them through training, I recieved a telegram today from the ministry of construction that we may soon be needing to lay down more ships."

Walmington is glad to get at least some small chance to hit back, as u-boats operating in the tiny and crowded English channel commit suicide by launching attacks within at most minutes of ASW aircraft cover provided by British, Walmingtonian, and probably French squadrons.

WoS has too few Swordfish operational for serious assistance to be given to British defences off Scotland, instead extra effort is put into keeping the channel clear. It will be vital in any withdrawl from France, and WoS has nothing better to do than fight there.

As yet (so far as I know) Germany has not attained air superiority over the channel, and some thirty MFMkII Wren on station on the English south coast are dedicated almost entirely to protecting the ASW aircraft on their frequent sorties.
Simlar to the British Hurricanes -but with a touch more speed- the Wrens are capable cover in the face of seemingly little opposition (since I'm fairly sure the Luftwaffe has better things to do (with the invasion of France) than to protect a handfull of suicidal U-boats in the channel), but the RWAF dreads the day that Me262s are available in number enough to be directed over the channel in any force.

(As an aside- I assume Stukas are operational against allied forces in France? The British increasingly bottled up in the north east especially would be suffering?) Supplimentary MFMkI "Highwayman" fighters (two dozen) have enjoyed a brief re-surgance as the somewhat lumbering and under-armed two man fighters prove capable against the feared Stukas, and even achieve some early success against Me109s, as unsuspecting German flyers engage the slower Walmingtonian aircraft from behind, only to be faced with a rear-firing turret.
Of course the MkIs are ultimatelly to be outclassed by all but the greenest of enemy fighter pilots, and their effectiveness will be short lived.

(All this is.. on a low scale. As I describe, there's fairly small numbers of WoS aircraft involved, and I don't expect a vague post like that to change the course of war at all- it's just to let folk know what Walmington's doing in the early stages. We can't maintain air superiority in areas that the British would loose it, merely support them where they have it. I do think U-boats in the channel are asking for a kicking, though, given the fact that both sides are largely in allied hands, and there's not a lot of water to hide in)

At a secret installation in trodenheim a new coding device intact with a raydar is released and is being placed on a new U-boat that just finished construction hours ago,the device is called Nax-Os. The U-boat will set sail for it's madden voyage in 14 hours,crew and weponary is being prepared now. after 2 years and around the clock work Nax-Os will prove to be a revoloutionary device and aid to the German U-boat packs now hunting ships on the atlantic front,all assistance from the vessels will be given.

Im back sorry i was busy with school work....lol


All the U-boats from the Indian Ocean were on the move back to euroupe once the assult of france began to take place,Spee was a great loss and hurt the Krigsmarine's pride slightly. 150 miles off the coast of Trodenheim norway the U-boatwaffe was ordered to move in and take out merchant ships going through the english channel and near iceland. Aboard U-151 Captain schmidt stare through his parascope,beads of sweat drip off his forehead and hit the floor,hungary for the kill he glances at his men,"let him have it"he said slowly,then over a intercom a voice said"fire 1 and 2",the sub jerked,Schmidt watched the 2 torpedo's speed through the water closing in on their kill,then both torpedo's struck. The enemy ship went up in flames and what must have been a magazine exploded over and over with cracks of gun fire,another U-baot released some of their deaddly cargo and it slammed into another ship,that went up with a massive explosion as well,the crew cheered and Schmidt wiped his face then gave the order to get the hell out of this position.


there is aproximatly 34 U-boats positioned between norway,germany,north africa and the english channel,all groups consist of about 3 or 4 per pack.

The North Arkansas destroyer Compton went up in flames. Commander Smith called action stations and then ordered the three remaining destroyers to cover the with-draw of the Langley. The Langley was struggling to achieve 23 knots when suddenly 2 torpedo's slammed into the carrier. Commander Smith ordered abandon ship. As the men were bailing out of the ship, the destroyer Plymoth was hit with a torpedo and it exploded into a billion bits. The Destroyer Bear Creek Springs began taking on survivors. The destroyer Little Arkansas began dumping dept chargers over the sides. Unfortunatly, the chargers were old and most did not explode. One or two did turn up the water but nothing apparently was hit. With all the survivors on the Bear Creek Springs, both destroyers spead up to their 30 knots and began moving back to the Federation of North Arkansas. Commander Smith watched as the bow of the Langley went under the seas.

The Federation of North Arkansas files a strong protest with New germainia for the loss of 2 destroyers and the Langley. We demand just compensation for attacks on neutral ships.

The Federation Council.

The misfires were clearly a pure accident,the crews have been on the ocean for months and radio contact is rarely used in fear that an enemy vessel is over head and happens to be U-boat hunting. The krigsmarine abord U-151 will be questioned on what made them beleif that it was an enemy vessel,most of our crews are professinal,and tend to know what they are shooting at in the english channel that SWARMS with enemy vessels,but do not be mistaken,we will take care of this inccident immeaditly, apoligies from the men on our submersibles.


At 125ft U-151 sat with it's 3 companions spread well apart from eachother,enemy patrols would soon be crossing over head with out a doubt and be letting some depth charges go aswell.

The misfires were clearly a pure accident,the crews have been on the ocean for months and radio contact is rarely used in fear that an enemy vessel is over head and happens to be U-boat hunting. The krigsmarine abord U-151 will be questioned on what made them beleif that it was an enemy vessel,most of our crews are professinal,and tend to know what they are shooting at in the english channel that SWARMS with enemy vessels,but do not be mistaken,we will take care of this inccident immeaditly, apoligies from the men on our submersibles.


At 125ft U-151 sat with it's 3 companions spread well apart from eachother,enemy patrols would soon be crossing over head with out a doubt and be letting some depth charges go aswell.

In times of war, the fog can get very thick. We understand accidents can happen and appreciate your investigations. Thank you for responding so rapidly.

We have instructed all North Arkansan vessles to stay out of an area of a warzone, encircling Iceland, Greenland, Going in a line to burmuda, to the bahama;s islands then back to Britain, and the coast of france.

Be warned, if any of your ships attacks neutral shipping outside this extensive warzone, we will defend ourselves.

Captain James Cook,
Federation of North Arkansas Navy.

It is perhaps worth noting that WoS is situated in the north Atlantic, and more importantly that Iansisle is not. The war zone is in fact global.

(just a ..head's up, I suppose)

OOC: WoS, want to buy a few Wasp IIs? Just have your ambassador to Calarca or the governer in Ceyloba talk to either the minister of forign affiars in Calarca or the ambassador of Calarca to WoS in Ceyloba.

IC:

Due to the fact that German ships are attacking Neutral shipping, Any German warships in Calarcian controlled or patrolled waters will be attacked on sight.

OOC: in other words, anything around RL indonesia, NZ, Indian ocean, Mollacca, PNG, northern Australia and the east coast of india.

Acting on anonymous help, John Montgomery has ordered that the entire Spencertopian War Fleet be sent to England in aid to WoS. Comissioned in the fleet are:

[Carriers]
SWS Shutgart
SWS Gordon
SWS Yeoman
SWS Legend
SWS Regal
SWS Righteous

[Battleships]
SWS Samson
SWS Goliath
SWS Driver
SWS Cleveland
SWS Pontotoc
SWS Delta
SWS Triad

[Destroyers]
SWS Imagine
SWS Pinnacle
SWS Pontiac
SWS Necro
SWS Lancer
SWS Liason
SWS Dread
SWS Coral

[Submarines]
SWS-U Nightmare
SWS-U Panther
SWS-U Cellular

http://www.ehistory.com/wwii/images/naval/CV18-2.jpg

ooc:yeah, I was thinking that Mainwaring would say something on that in the Spot of Tea.. thread. He at least is quite interested in pooling resources some what, and is still working with Iansisle to receive jet technology and donate armour.

(Heck, DK's up against it now. I assume this will only hasten Germany's advance against France. [Wonders what Ercolana's up to])

As the submarines sat at 125Ft listening to depth charges expolding all around the submercibles,men were shaking violently and crying out in fear when close by expolsions went off. Captain schmidt signaled to release the oil slick and scraps,5 minutes later it was sent up,about 10 explosions went off then all was silent. Then the crew rushed into their positions,"I want torpedo tubes loaded,life belts on,life belts on!!"scremed Schmidt charged to his seat and sat down,"all systems are ago sir!we are ready for action"said a midship crewman saluting to the captain. Schmidt then orderd"parascope depth,take it us up".

As the U-boat rose and the parascope came out of the water,the ass end of a light military boat with WoS markings on it"Leiutennet get these cordinates then fire tubes 3 and 4 on the double!!"orderd schmidt,In the torpedo room the shells went in the tubles,the tubes were closed,cordinates were given and the two fish flew out towards it's target and struck the rear end of the ship,an alarm went off and smoke filled the sky,this was too close for comfort to the allied shipping lanes,they had to get the hell back to the coast. Once again the sub was ordered at 125 and to move eastwards for mine patrol.

Ercolana is in the midst of preparing for war

ooc: really busy, will try to crank out a better IC post in a little bit.

[I am assuimg our entrance into the war is acceptable?]

[I am assuming our entrance into the war is acceptable?]

Fine by me, I'm a bit surprised at the lack of Cruisers tho. should have a few light cruisers bristling with AA flak guns. otherwise torpedo boats are gonna be a bit of a danger, even with carrier fighters to chase them.

In the absence of sufficient destroyer cover -a short-comming realised by the Admiralty too late to address it prior to the outbreak of war- a number of fast (ish) trawlers had been converted to serve even more make-shift roles than would be a Czech or French tank captured by the Germans.

These little 'Extras' protected low priority convoys, while destroyers were left to guard military transports to Britain.

E-24 "Clara" was following a merchant laden with ginger beer and boiled sweets -there wouldn't be many more of these coming into Walmy for a while, so the crew of Clara were quite happy to be guarding her. That is, until the 2pdr gun-mounting trawler was filled with the cry "Torpedo in the water! Torpedo astern!"

Shortly the seventeen man crew had been displaced from their boat as she was torn apart.

[I am assuming our entrance into the war is acceptable?]

Fine by me, I'm a bit surprised at the lack of Cruisers tho. should have a few light cruisers bristling with AA flak guns. otherwise torpedo boats are gonna be a bit of a danger, even with carrier fighters to chase them. Indeed. However, we have cruisers coming with the ((invasion)) forces later on.

IC:

The Spencertopian War Fleet, now long into the Med., is continually making its way towards Gibralter, where it will then pass into the Atlantic.

(Well, there is always the problem that Spencertopia is in the southern half of Ercolania....urg, I just woke up from a nap. I'll crank out a better post of what all's been happening in Iansisle of late in a minute. It's, er, not been much....:?

Damn anarchic government.)

It is perhaps worth noting that WoS is situated in the north Atlantic, and more importantly that Iansisle is not. The war zone is in fact global.

(just a ..head's up, I suppose)

With advice from the Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic and with this new data from the Walmington nation, it is clear to the Federation of North Arkansas that the war is infact, a World War. Therefore, German nations are ordered to refrain from attacking neutral shipping. The Ozarks Region is prepared for war if necessary, to defend our right to trade on the high seas. Now, the Federation of North Arkansas has made substancial naval and military purchases recently and we have a modern navy to replace the old units destroyed. Our next actions depend upon New germainia and its allies. They must refrain from attacking any neutral shipping or this Government will be forced to consider the alternatives.

Captain James Cook,

C in C

Federation of North Arkansas Navy.

General naval order to comrad-admiral kruel, Commandant of the central Atlantic and North Atlantic patrol sectors.

By order of the Supreme Soviet, you are to dispatch all 10 of our Kilo Diesel class Attack Submarines to selected spots close to New germainia. You will wait and observe. If you are discovered, quietly move away, if you are attacked, destroy the attacker.

The Supreme Soviet of the Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic

http://www.quiknet.com/~jeruff/subs/kilo.jpg

(What sort of tech level are you working with? 'cause everyone involved is at or around WWII tech)

(What sort of tech level are you working with? 'cause everyone involved is at or around WWII tech)


oops er editing is in progress

(Sure would had been nice to have had those alphas....hehehehe)

Breaking News

(AP) Osage, Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

It has just been announced by Soviet authorites that 5 spies from New Germanina have been captured before they could slip from Soviet territory into North Arkansas Territory. The Soviet Authorities are now interrigating the spies from New Germanina. More news as it is available.

http://pkka.narod.ru/dash2.jpg

Field Marshal Dashinskiy, Head of the Batavian Soviet Military KGB

Nazi Party Rally
Berlin

High standing members of the German military stood overlooking the parade going on below. The OKW was taking this opportunity to blow its proverbial horn, with the impending fall of France and the defeat of the British Army in Europe. The newly formed SS Division Grossdeutschland, arrayed in all their finery, marched before the estatic people of Berlin before going to join the fight for Paris. The feeling of elation was understandable; after the destruction and humiliation of the post-war years, the people of Germany finally had something to be proud of again.
Above the cheering crowds and military ceremony, Admiral Gunther Killinger stood watching the young men below. With him stood Captain Graf Erich Von Deitzer, in Berlin to take command of Bismarck. The two officers, along with the admiral's entourage, had silently watched the goings on for the better part of three hours; it was the admiral who spoke first.
"They look rather impressive, don't you think, Captain? The best of Germany's youth, ready to be fed into the fires like so much cordwood."
Von Deitzer scowled; the admiral's distaste for Hitler and the Nazi party was no secret. He had, however, not come to the rally to discus the admiral's personal opinions on how to run a country.
"The refit on the Bismarck has been complete for nearly two weeks, and still no orders, sir. Are we to remain in port untill war's end?"
Killinger shook his head. This was Von Deitzer's first command of a heavy surface unit, his prior commands having been aboard U-boats. The admiral had served his whole career aboard capital ships, and had commanded an armored cruiser in the Imperial Navy. He knew the risks facing the young captain intimately.
"Relax, Erich. The war is far from over, no matter what the OKW and Hitler may be saying."
"Sir, my ship is ready to sail. We've been inactive far too long; the British will surely take this opportunity to consolidate their forces. We need to act."
The other officers on the balcony turned, shocked to hear the admiral addressed so. Killinger took the captain by the arm and led him a distance away, where they could talk freely.
"The Royal Navy still holds a great advantage over us, Captain. They have more ships, more aircraft, and most importantly, they have allies flocking to them by the day. Since the loss of the Graf Spee, Iansisle and Walmington have both entered the war on Britain's side. The R.I.N. will take some time to contribute anything significant to the North Atlantic, but Walmington is right outside the Channel, and in a prime location to intercept our U-boats. As for your ship, you'll be sailing soon enough. For now, enjoy the freedom you have. Visit your family; there may not be another such opportunity soon."
With that, the admiral returned to the balcony, leaving Capt. Von Deitzer to ponder the implications of what had been left unsaid.

The Supreme Soviet of the Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic was in marathon session. The situation was very grim. 5 spies from Germany had been in Batavia for 2 weeks unnoticed. Now, it became clear that North America was not as safe as everyone had thought.

"Do we really have a chance if war breaks out between the Soviet and Germania? Our weapons and equiptment are not much better than North Arkansas's" said Comrad Konovalov

"We have made substantial purchases of Carriers and other vessles, most of our gift from the former Fatherland is junk, but still there are a lot of good stuff left as well. We have 2 Kirov Cruisers in the docks now undergoing re-fit. They shall be ready soon." said President Malcom

" What about aircraft? Do we have what it will take to rule the air???" asked General Popov the air minister.

"We have substantial P-38, p-39 and P-40 fighters. We also have Yak 1 and yak 3 fighters. However, we only have 4 working B-17A heavy bombers and I would not trust them to fly across the atlantic," said Malcom

"Have you any information on the spies?" asked Konovalov.

"North Arkansas is also interested in them, as well as the United States Club." said Dashinskiy" Unfortunatly, 2 of the spies could not handle our techiniques in gathering information... they died"

" How unfortunate... lets hope the other 3 will yield more information" Said Popov.

"Comrads, I must know if we go to war, will we be able to hold our own, or will we meet with disaster?" Asked Malcom

Silence filled the cold halls of the Batavian Kremlin.....

Another day passed in Ianapalis with plenty of talk but very little action. The Prime Minister was still away in Walmington, with the result of the Council having a rather difficult time persuading Parliament to vote extra tithes from the Dominions and the Empire.

The flow of new volunteers to the RIAC started to slack off at last, with current estimates being about 211,000 men in the army, all but roughly 40,000 raw recruits. The High Command talked about dispatching large units of the trained and equiped - rifles still being in short supply - veteran units to Walmington and Britain, but arguments over a transportation plan caused the matter to be shelved.

Galveston and Co., gunsmiths, recieved the military's orders for five hundred thousand new M74B rifles with pleasure, using funds to start construction on several new plants throughout the Commonwealth. Production of the 15 round .303 magazines used by the 'B' model and the ten round .303 magazines used by the 'A' model was also increased in anticipation of future large orders.

Camstol Guns, manufacturers of the Commonwealth's venerable Version 3 machine-gun announced its plans to start testing of a new V-4 light and V-5 heavy machine-gun, to be available for military tests in "a month or two".

Officials at Royal Mining and Manufacturing persuaded the government to dispatch units of the King's XII Rifles Division - stationed in Oasis, Dianatran - to help guard its oil fields in the eastern Dianatranian wastelands. RM&M also announced plans to step up the extraction and processing of crude over the next year, nearly doubling its projected production.

The Shell Syndicate at last abandoned plans to manufacture a next generation armored car, given the government's increasing reliance of Walmingtonish designs. Plans to implement the production of late-model Walmingtonish designs at Shell factories throughout the Commonwealth were discussed with officials from Walmington. The Syndicate also announced its plans to introduce a new heavy artillery piece to complement the light H-1 howitzer.

11 empty slips in shipyards around Calarca and associated territories became the center of a hive of activity as the keels of a fleet of anti-submersible corvettes are laid down, elsewhere on 8 other slips trainees gain their first experience with Oxy-Acetalyne torches by cutting half built or less trawlers and civilian ships apart to clear the slips for warship construction. In yet more slips keels are laid for chaep modular liberty ship class cargo ships to carry goods quickly between warzones.
More trainees open packing cases and strip and clean old bolt action rifles of the preserving grease, while more experienced ones operate machinery in shifts, keeping the flow of semi-auto rifles coming 24/7 instead of the usual patchy 8 hour weekday production of peacetime.
Old mothballed Wasp fighters are wheeled out of warehouses to have their wings attached.
In munitions factories torpedos, shells, bullets and rockets are churned out in an unending line.

Calarca was preparing for war.

Breaking News

(AP) Osage, Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Supreme Soviet today announced full mobilization for all military of the Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic. This decision came after an all night session discussing the situation of the Global War and the spies that were captured on Soviet Territory. President Malcom has called for an army of 76,000 troops. The already strained economy will be hard pressed to meet this demand.

In the captial city of North Arkansas, the president was bewildered by the actions of the Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

"How can he think of having an army of 76,000... he barely has 7 million people. " Said President Chonos

"What gets me, is that he is mobilizing...I thought the plan was to wait and see if our warnings would prevent Germany from attacking anymore ships" Said Captain Cook.

"It was a good plan, but many in Parlament want us to forget about warnings and declare war now" said Prime Minister Bishop

"Mad, they are all mad" Said Colonel Stevens the head of the army.

Silence filled the small meeting room. Outside rain began pouring in buckets.

"Ok, we have a navy... We have 2 Lexington Class Carriers, 12 Escort carriers, we have those new Soyuz class battleships and we now have a fleet oiler and an burke class destroyer. I think what we can do is form a task force, of the FNAN Concord, one escort, the Vicksburg, the destroyer, the oiler, and 2 Soyuz Battleships, the Arkansas and the Louisana. We can have them patrol close to our shores as a sign of strength." said Captain Cook.

"Is this a good ideal? should we even take any kind of offensive posture?" asked assemblyperson Meeks.

"What does our army consist of... in manpower that is" asked the President.

"8,900 regular troops, and 14,400 Reserve" said Colonel Stevens.

"And Germany is overrunning france, right?" asked the President

"Yes thats right." said Foriegn Minister Tork.

"Stevens, mobilize our forces, notify Parlament I want an army of 120,000 troops. Cook, form up your task force and send it to Britain. Also, send that destroyer to shell the french coast. We will see what Germany thinks of that now eh?" said the President.

"My God....." Was all that Prime Minister Bishop could say.

Colonel Stevens and Captain Cook ran out the door. They were rather pleased with themselves.

"Tork, notify Batavia that we join with them in mobilizing. Send a message to the United States Club, And the other nations in Ozarks region that we need a meeting at once. Maybe the others will join in this as well..."

Everyone left the room. The President looked out the window...

"My God, what are we doing..."

Germany commissioned, amid great fanfare and ceremony, the aircraft carriers Graf Von Richthofen and Deutsch Reich. The vessels will join the Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser after being fitted out with aircraft and equipment. The Von Richthofen will be the first carrier capable of employing the Me-262N "Sea Swallow" jet fighter, which has been under development by Messerschmitt. Also nearing completion is the battlecruiser Rammstein. The Kriegsmarine's flagship, Kaiser Wilhelm II, is not expected to be completed for at least another year, with as much as six months more planned for fitting out.

Breaking News

(AP) North Arkansas

Federation authorities today report that their destroyers attacked a German Submarine 25 miles off the coast of Louisana. The Submarine had attacked and sank a cruise liner. The FNAN Smokey Mount released 30 dept chargers and observed large columns of oil and debre coming up from the depts. over 500 innocent people died on the liner.

Breaking News

(AP) North Arkansas

Federation authorities today report that their destroyers attacked a German Submarine 25 miles off the coast of Louisana. The Submarine had attacked and sank a cruise liner. The FNAN Smokey Mount released 30 dept chargers and observed large columns of oil and debre coming up from the depts. over 500 innocent people died on the liner.

Admiral Donitz has personally denounced NorthArkansas' "report" of sinking a German U-boat, asking them to provide evidence to support their story. At this time, no German warships of any class are operating beyond the Western Approaches and the Cape of Good Hope. The allegations of NorthArkansas are dismissed as "propoganda" and "hysterical accusation".

"How can he think of having an army of 76,000... he barely has 7 million people. " Said President Chonos

That's just under 1.1%, with a government that devotes most of its attention to defense and an industry based on arms manufacturing. Seems reasonable to me. You, on the other hand...

Breaking News

(AP) North Arkansas

Federation authorities today report that their destroyers attacked a German Submarine 25 miles off the coast of Louisana. The Submarine had attacked and sank a cruise liner. The FNAN Smokey Mount released 30 dept chargers and observed large columns of oil and debre coming up from the depts. over 500 innocent people died on the liner.

You shouldn't RP what German ships are doing.

Breaking News

(AP) North Arkansas

Federation authorities today report that their destroyers attacked a German Submarine 25 miles off the coast of Louisana. The Submarine had attacked and sank a cruise liner. The FNAN Smokey Mount released 30 dept chargers and observed large columns of oil and debre coming up from the depts. over 500 innocent people died on the liner.

Admiral Donitz has personally denounced NorthArkansas' "report" of sinking a German U-boat, asking them to provide evidence to support their story. At this time, no German warships of any class are operating beyond the Western Approaches and the Cape of Good Hope. The allegations of NorthArkansas are dismissed as "propoganda" and "hysterical accusation".

The Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic can provide evidence that a Liner was indeed sunk off the coast of The Federaton of North Arkansas. Our own ships witnessed Federationvessels dept bombing a possiable target. However no ship was seen. We believe that President Chrons might had believed that German ships were involved. After all, Germany has announced unrestricted Submarine Warfare. It is true that North Arkansas reported attacking a German ship, but have they provided proof of thus? I suspect it is the result of nervious tensions. When one sees a luxury Liner explode from torpedo hits, one assumes it is the enemy, Correct???

Breaking News

(AP) North Arkansas

Federation authorities today report that their destroyers attacked a German Submarine 25 miles off the coast of Louisana. The Submarine had attacked and sank a cruise liner. The FNAN Smokey Mount released 30 dept chargers and observed large columns of oil and debre coming up from the depts. over 500 innocent people died on the liner.

Admiral Donitz has personally denounced NorthArkansas' "report" of sinking a German U-boat, asking them to provide evidence to support their story. At this time, no German warships of any class are operating beyond the Western Approaches and the Cape of Good Hope. The allegations of NorthArkansas are dismissed as "propoganda" and "hysterical accusation".

Then, my good German Ambassador, please explain how the SS Seven Seas was sunk? I am awaiting your reply.

The Incorporated States of Florence Road, being located in the region of the Ozarks, and not wanting to cause trouble on the world scene, express our disgust in the loss of the liner. We also declare our neutrality in this matter.

Ercolana official invites Germany into an alliance of mutile defense. Following there acceptance war will of course be declared against England and its allied nations.

Telegram read from the captial of the United States Club.

' Shock is my response that 100 citizens of our nation were aboard the liner that sank early this morning, off the coast of the Federation. I am inclined to believe the German message, However. But the fact remains. Something sank the liner. An independent investigation will be conducted by this nation. I will hold all nations responsiable. Until then, I am ordering increased patrols of our territoral waters, from Delaware to Florida. 16 destroyers, 9 Light Cruisers and 4 Heavy Cruisers will patrol the seas. All flags will remain at half staff until thursday in honour of our dead. President Hollings, United States Club.'

South of Cape Jackson, in the Northern Strait between Sentry Island and the Great Shield, a small group of darkened shape slipped through the narrow passage from Troobodia Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Informed observors may have recognized some of the ships: the Mobile Aero-Flyer Dock HIMS Galloquoi, the heavy cruisers Dianatran and Laughlin, seven Tiger-class destroyers - including HIMS Arabian Oryx - and six Protector-class destroyers.

However, in the middle of the formation was a shape most observors had only seen in prints. Its long, balanced lines, simple and elegant superstructure, clipper bow, balanced anti-torpedo buldge, and triple turrets showed it to be none other that HIMS Behemoth, fresh off its seatrials.

The informed observor who cheered the black shapes on throught the night may have known that, back near Troobodia, HIMS Gargantuan was in the very final stages of her working up - the radranger unit was giving her trouble - and that HIMS Colosus was just getting ready to enter sea-trials. They might also know that work on HIMS Augsburg, Iansisle's third MAFD, was nearing the halfway point, or that HIMS Diomedes' bulk was giving the workers trouble.

They might also know that the battlecruiser King James II was just getting ready to enter her own sea trials, and that King Ian V wouldn't be far behind. The production of the last two Queen Jessica-classes had been delayed by information from the Duel in the Bay. The new Jessica's had been modified to take extra armor around their sensitive radranger and wireless antenna, and there were even rumors that King Ian V's main armarment would be entierly 14"/45 guns.

The extremly informed observor may even know that the Admiralty had just submitted a plan to Wright Nautical and Jorgenson and Sons that called for the immediate refit of the old (and very slow) Aegean and Delton class destroyers, outfitting them with modern anti-submersible equipment for convoy duty. The plan also called for the construction of more than fifty new Tiger and Protector classes over the next two years.

The Dominion of Mount Eagle, a member of the Ozarks Region, is neutral. We want no trouble from all sides. We will fight to perserve our neutrality.

In norway at a unknown sub pen location the maden voyage of U-267 with the new NaX-Os equipment,there are 2 more vessels with them that will act as escorts and wait for 267 to tell them what they picked up and the aproximate distance till engaugement. Captain Hydrich wolfe stood on his tower as the 3 U-boats came out of the doors,his vessel carried a very important device,one that could tell the size,shape and class of the enemy ships above"take us down to 50!,we are going ahead north!!"Orderd Wolfe. The tubes were flooded and the sea wolfes were hunting ships.

BatavianSSR there were NO i repeat NO U-boats near the north american coast,we cannot reach the north atlantic anyways,by the time we got there we would be unarmed and emty of fuel probally with casulties! you are insane! purely propaganda Josef Gobbles.

BatavianSSR there were NO i repeat NO U-boats near the north american coast,we cannot reach the north atlantic anyways,by the time we got there we would be unarmed and emty of fuel probally with casulties! you are insane! purely propaganda Josef Gobbles.

(rather reminds me of the Bay of Bengal.)

In norway at a unknown sub pen location the maden voyage of U-267 with the new NaX-Os equipment,there are 2 more vessels with them that will act as escorts and wait for 267 to tell them what they picked up and the aproximate distance till engaugement. Captain Hydrich wolfe stood on his tower as the 3 U-boats came out of the doors,his vessel carried a very important device,one that could tell the size,shape and class of the enemy ships above"take us down to 50!,we are going ahead north!!"Orderd Wolfe. The tubes were flooded and the sea wolfes were hunting ships.

BatavianSSR there were NO i repeat NO U-boats near the north american coast,we cannot reach the north atlantic anyways,by the time we got there we would be unarmed and emty of fuel probally with casulties! you are insane! purely propaganda Josef Gobbles.

The Batavian Soviet has never said any German subs were in the area. We only made the observations that 1. Germany is at war. 2. Germany has declared unrestricted submarine warfare. Logically Germany is a suspect however, as we said, none of our officers saw any sub in the area where the North Arkansas Federation was dept charging.

We realise that Germany cannot reach the coast... YET. But still you have to admitt that you can be a suspect. Many people are and many people are cleared as well. I do suspect someone did the deed, and no one can be ruled out. Not even a nation in the Ozarks Region.

President Malcom,

Leader of the Supreme Soviet.

BatavianSSR there were NO i repeat NO U-boats near the north american coast,we cannot reach the north atlantic anyways,by the time we got there we would be unarmed and emty of fuel probally with casulties! you are insane! purely propaganda Josef Gobbles.

(rather reminds me of the Bay of Bengal.)

A very interesting observation. Very interesting indeed. However, I wonder... I wonder if the Batavian Soviet would support North Arkansas in this if it were indeed a stunt to sway public opinion..... Hum.... We might just support such a notion... Something to think about.

The Batavian Soviet Socialist Republic is prepared to extend most favored nation status to Iansisle. We will also be able soon, to provide forces to assist in driving the Hun from France. I can also tell you that the Federation of North Arkansas feels this way as well.

Malcom
Head of the Supreme Soviet.

Ercolanan Ground Troops are ready for battle, the Germans will not falter, may the Italo-German empire last forever!!

OOC- First of all, NorthArkansas, I never would have "attacked" you. Are you looking for a fight?

IC- The Bismarck's crew had been living the high life for the better part of a month by the time Capt. Von Deitzer returned from Berlin. As soon as he set foot back on the battleship, he called his command staff together to discuss the next operation slated for the Bismarck. Battlegroup West had plans for a sortie by several heavy ships to draw out British fleet units. This would facilitate the breakout of Admiral Scheer into the Atlantic, and also draw attention away from several secret raiders the Kriegsmarine planned to put into service. (OOC- A secret raider looks like a merchant vessel, but is heavily armed with 6" guns and torpedos.) Sailing with the Bismarck would be the cruisers Prinz Eugen, Emden, and Graf Heydrech, as well as several escort and support craft.
Everyone seemed to be anxious for action, and preparations were made to ready the ships for sea.

On board the FNAN Concord somewhere off the coast of Florida.

The air is very sticky. very humid. The two carrier task force was steaming past the Florida Keys. One of the last areas of Florida still under control of the United States Club. In front of the two carriers, were 3 destroyers, these were old 4 pipper ships. But infront of these was a very modern destroyer. Behind the two carriers, two Soyuz class Battleships were churning through the night air.

"Task Force 1" said Commander North.
"Yep... The Bunker Hill reports they are up to steam now sir," said Lt. Kirk.
"Good good" said Commander North.

The bridge was lit by numerous gauges and vacuum tubes. The helmsman continued watching the lit compass.
We are on a mission, Kirk. said North.
"What will we do when we get to the North Sea?" asked Kirk.

Just then, the FNAN Exxon pulled up to the carrier. Several cranes extended fuel lines and began fueling up the carrier.

"One thing Germany doesn't have, re-fueling ships. We have the best one in North America, The Exxon." Said Commander North.

Kirk left the island and walked over to the side to watch the operations. Men were securing lines and connecting long links of pipe. No. Germany couldn't do this. The Planes in this carrier might be basic Buffalo fighters with a few Hell Diver dive bombers but we are number one in re-fueling. In a couple of hours the process was complete and the Exxon moved on to the next ship.

Kirk entered the bridge again.
"Kirk come with me, we have new orders"
Kirk and North entered the Captains ready room, which was located high on the right side of the Island.

NOrth took out a sealed envelope and opened it. North then read the report. Then he turned white.

"They want us to do what???" exclaimed North.

Kirk quickly read the report...

He laid it down on the captains recliner.

"This... This would be an act of war..." Said Kirk.

North said nothing and left the room.........

OOC- First of all, NorthArkansas, I never would have "attacked" you. Are you looking for a fight?

IC- The Bismarck's crew had been living the high life for the better part of a month by the time Capt. Von Deitzer returned from Berlin. As soon as he set foot back on the battleship, he called his command staff together to discuss the next operation slated for the Bismarck. Battlegroup West had plans for a sortie by several heavy ships to draw out British fleet units. This would facilitate the breakout of Admiral Scheer into the Atlantic, and also draw attention away from several secret raiders the Kriegsmarine planned to put into service. (OOC- A secret raider looks like a merchant vessel, but is heavily armed with 6" guns and torpedos.) Sailing with the Bismarck would be the cruisers Prinz Eugen, Emden, and Graf Heydrech, as well as several escort and support craft.
Everyone seemed to be anxious for action, and preparations were made to ready the ships for sea.

OOC-I sent you a telegram.

The Marina Militare has begun wartime operations in support of Germany and its allies. Construction has been completed on many of its new ships and the Marina's Air Corps. are some of the best trained in the world.


(Imagine WW2 Italy, now imagine it without all the problems it had during WW2 [bad chain of command, poor logisitics, and lack of strategy]. Now you have Ercolana. Enjoy)

(German intelligence may be recieving a report of large ship movements out of Iansislean home ports. The main fleet was reported heading "south", but final destination was not revealed.)

N-Ark.. Mind your manners, you're less than a week old and trying to take over the momentum of a thread thats older than you are by a large margin.

Don't post others losses, and if you want to play a post involving unseen attacks/ambushes by others forces, TM them for permission first, you're getting damn close to going on my ignore list.

The Spencertopian War Fleet is now rounding the end of Portugal, and should be nearing dangerous waters any time. The fleet will soon be making a call to WoS, in hopes that it will be received and coordinates will be given in order for the fleet to provide backup.

Today, General Montgomery gave a prep speech to the ground troops, many of whom will be loading onto LTCT (Large Troop Carrier Tranports) to head over to provide assistance to WoS. Many of the soldiers, possibly a majority, are staying back in Spencertopia to protect the homeland from enemy Ercolana, bordered on the north. On Spence (Sicily), Cruisers are being readied to transport the LTCTs, along with the just released submarine, equal to the SWS Nightmare, the SWS Breaker.

Its kind of hard to RP like this, Italy is under control of Der Kriegsmarine I think for this. I am an Italian country located in the Eastern Azores with holdings in India and Africa. There are like 5 threads leading upto this.

- Ercolana

ooc: I have strong peeves against any country claiming to control Sicily because When I first made my nation and attempted to do so I was flamed by like 80 people who said they already did.

And since it is my place of birth it is indeed a place of great love to me.

ooc We had a get together at my house tonight and at the advice of the person who is playing the United States Club, we have decided to with-draw from this RPG. please make some approrate ending to write us out and repair the damage we caused to your RPG.

(Please don't take offense - I'm sure you're all great RPers. It's just that this particular scenario has been under development for some time now, and 'last minute' additions that skew the balance are hard to accept.

If you'd like, the group Walmington and I roleplay with (the Alliance of the New Highlands, or ANH) should be starting a new 'party' soon. You're all welcome to try your hand at that before jumping into war.)

^ Yeah, like he said.

(hehe, oops. Agrigento's a member of the ANH, too. Sorry, man ;))

(hehe, oops. Agrigento's a member of the ANH, too. Sorry, man ;))

No worries.

(German intelligence may be recieving a report of large ship movements out of Iansislean home ports. The main fleet was reported heading "south", but final destination was not revealed.)


Aboard U-151 moving back to sucure waters a radio message to their comms room on orders to intercept and destroy the convoy. All 4 of the U-boats headed 'south' full speed. The thought that occuerd was it might be an ambush but nothing they couldn't see first.

(German intelligence may be recieving a report of large ship movements out of Iansislean home ports. The main fleet was reported heading "south", but final destination was not revealed.)


Aboard U-151 moving back to sucure waters a radio message to their comms room on orders to intercept and destroy the convoy. All 4 of the U-boats headed 'south' full speed. The thought that occuerd was it might be an ambush but nothing they couldn't see first.

They're in the pacific now??? geeze thats some fast U-Boat class! :shock:

Iansisle is north Pacific, I think you might have the home ports refence mixed up with WoS who is in the atlantic area.

(and I don't think you'd want to intercept it anyhow, not with a handful of u-boats. This is a military convoy made up of 'fast' tenders, destroyers, cruisers, an aircraft carrier, and a battleship ;))

Spencertopia is pulling out of the war.

[Sorry for ruining the RP.]

Spencertopia is pulling out of the war.

[Sorry for ruining the RP.]

Its okay, no need to be sorry. If you want, like Iansisle said, we will probably have one of our RP parties you can join.

OOC-I also look forward to seeing NorthArkansas in the future. Also, my appologies for the short posts lately; been kinda busy!

IC- Bismarck gets underway just after sunset, leaving the harbor with the cruiser Prinz Eugen. The other ships are to meet in the North Sea, having departed from other harbors over the last few days. The two ships head north, toward the meeting zone just west of Norway. There, they will refuel before continuing the breakout.

Spencertopia is pulling out of the war.

[Sorry for ruining the RP.]

Thanks, Through as per a comment in the Wos Eliteist thread, its not so much about being offensive or RP, as being too underintroduced and unknown, Iansisle Et Al all know how we will react in situations, what can be done, etc.. so theres a background to use, with new nations, theres noting to go by.

I'll be keeping an eye open on the borads for you fellows and seeing how your nation develops. some may become good Allies later.

OOC- Untill another thread for this comes along, I guess I'll keep using this. I don't want to clutter the "Spot of Tea" thread any more than necissary.

IC- After several days of sailing without seeing any other ships, the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen arrived in Norway. Here they met the Graf Heydrech, which had been in port for about a day; the Emden and their tender vessel had yet to arrive. As soon as all the ships arrived and were topped off with fuel, they would depart or the Iceland Strait and, hopefully, the Atlantic. Resistance from the Allies was anticipated; in fact, it was OKW's intention. All that remained was to collect up the fleet and make way.

Still-darkened ships split the Pacific Ocean silently, navigating the Cormoran Reef and making anchor off Ngetbong, Palau. The ships restocked, then silently slipped off to the south-east. Still no word on their final destination was given.

(German intelligence may be recieving a report of large ship movements out of Iansislean home ports. The main fleet was reported heading "south", but final destination was not revealed.)-Iansisle

I forgot about them being in the pasific anyways lol,sorry,i will just reroute the U-boats to serve as an underwater defence for Bismark untill i decide they should be sent somwhere else.

U-151 and the 3 other U-boats Glided up beside the massive Bismark,Captain Schmidt saluted the Bismarks crew,his eyes scanned the giant,the men behind ihm on the tower commented on it's massive size. Captain Schmidt turned and spoke"have a message sent that we will make sure Bismark has safe passage untill be recieve further orders,Schmidt then glaced over at the Nax-Os,to himself he wisped"now we will find out of you work.

War Rooms, Great Walmington

The PM read the reports wired to him. He began to wish for the technology to see these pictures for himself, but the aerial reconaisance photos were of course several hundred miles east in England.

Bismark. There didn't seem to be much worth saying. The magnitude of the conflict into which Walmington had plunged was apparent even without the imposing images infront of him.

"If she gets past British authority, Walmington's northern area of responsibility is the last thing before major Atlantic sea-lanes." Pointed out the defence minister.

"Yes, thank you, Jones, we're all aware of that" The PM replied, unusually forgetting to address the knight by his title. "Queen Mavis, where is she?"

"Norbray, Mr.Prime Minister" replied Admiral Longworth, pointing to the large chart as if Mainwaring couldn't locate the north western county himself.

Norbray, north western WoS

"She's a fine ship, isn't she?"
"Aye Captain, and a fine crew to match, don't you worry."
"They shall have to be! So they shall."

Captain Pike, transfered again, took one last good look at "Merry Mave" from the shore, before climbing the gangway to assume her command for the first time. This was the finest ship he'd yet set foot upon, and one of the two most powerful vessels at Walmington's disposal.

I have the bridge of the flagship's sister. Pike couldn't quite get used to the fact, and his trademark scarf seemed ready to unravel as he felf a swell of pride. For a moment he was nothing but excited about the possibility of engaging Bismark, before the departure of HMWS Thresher caught his eye, and he came back to earth. Or steel, at least. Up to 7.2" of it on this deck.

Presently HMWS Queen Mavis would cast off to join the destroyer Thresher, and the old battlecruiser Iansisle as they made north to back up British efforts to prevent the mighty German threat breaking out into the Atlantic.

OOC: repeat from the C declares War thread, as this is more about acual deployments.

IC:
As part of Calarcas role in the War, orders are given for a Heavy Cruiser squadron, two Destroyer flottillas and two Corvette Groups, to make for WoS to provide for the defence of the sea lanes.

(two Fast Heavy Cruisers, two Surface Heavy Smasher Cruisers, one Standard Heavy cruiser, two Simple heavy Cruisers, and four Light Escort Cruiser with AA emplacements inplace of torpedo boats. pics and specs Here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66527&start=40) in the cruiser squadron, 8 boats each in the Flottillas, and 14 in each Group (6 Mk II corvettes & 8 Mk I corvettes a group). Specs and pics yet to be made. but fast and big.)

The arrival of the Emden and the fleet tender signal the last preparations are underway to Capt. Von Deitzer. After taking on fuel and provisions, the small fleet is ordered to wait untill cover of darkness can screen their sailing, so the British Navy and her allies will have less time to react and plan for her operation.
Shortly after midnight, the Bismarck and her consorts set sail, heading out into the North Sea.The night is moonless, and dark as any the crew has ever seen; perfect weather for a breakout. The foul weather that accompanied fall and winter was still months away, and the ships would need all the advantages they could get.
That same night, the raiders Deutschland and Admiral Scheer set sail from their home ports, making their way for the Channel. With any luck, the attention of the British will be diverted to the north, allowing them to break out with little risk. The two planned to sail together untill they enter the Western Approaches; there they would separate, in order to cause the most havoc possible.

((Argh!) Heh, I'd make an IC post, but being as we're largely ignorant of the details, there's nothing much WoS has to react against until something blows-up.)

((Argh!) Heh, I'd make an IC post, but being as we're largely ignorant of the details, there's nothing much WoS has to react against until something blows-up.)

Yeah, and I (Calarca if you havn't guessed, saving my UN stooge from death by ignoreship) can't do anything If I don't know of anything to do for, besides my Cruiser and destroyer fleet has only just left for WoS with Corvettes tagging along.

I'm sure your respective Naval Intelligence services would have been informed of the sailing of the Bismarck from Germany to Norway by the British , who observed her leaving port with an "unidentified heavy cruiser" (the Prinz Eugen). The British won't know of the fleet leaving Norway untill early the next morning; by that time, they'll be well out to sea.
As for the raiders, they'll be hugging the coast all the way out to the Atlantic, letting the Luftwaffe screen them from British recon aircraft. I'm sure they'll be spotted as they approach the Channel; I'm hoping that they'll be able to blast through any torpedo boats and the like the British can scrape together, but we'll see.

(Yeah, the battleship Queen Mavis and her little fleet (battlecruiser Iansisle and destroyer Thresher) are moving north based on British intel indicating the Bismark had moved to Norway, but like you say, we won't be sure they've left Norway for a while yet. Mave's one of Walmington's two battleships, and mounts eight 15" guns, for the record, while the Iansisle's an uprated coal-fired vessel (formerly, oil now, of course) with eight 12" guns and a tendency to be really ruddy wet)

edit:I should probably say that the lack of more modern cruisers their is due to the fact that a few are in the Indian ocean, and most are either in southern WoS or else between WoS and the British isles, doing their darndest to escort the flood of men and material headed east (we really need more destroyers/corvettes, and it's a good job Calarca decided to get involved!) so yeah, there's a chance we'll be able to react to the raiders heading out through the channel, but we'll see about that.. it must be a tad awkward for Germany to have WoS sat out here in the Atlantic- gives you a lot less open ocean in the north out of aircraft range and far from enemy ports.. sorry about that! ;)

(Drat drat, and double drat! Something tells me Behemoth is going to be late for all the fun! ;))

OOC:
Hmm. I have a pair of Destroyer flottillas and a heavy cruiser flottilla moving up to WoS followed by a few groups of slower convoy escort Corvettes. Basic premise they left from Calarcian Gallagas east coast while forces replaced them from the west coast, they are replaced from Gallanesia, and those replaced from Home Island fleets from Calarca. musical boats, the Cruisers and one Destroyer flottilla should by now, umm.... just leaving east coast African WoS colonial ports? with Corvettes and their escort the second set of destroyers, about 2/3rds of the way across the water from Gallaga to Africa.

i can have the Cruisers split, some going to WoS, others going out after the Brit and WoS ships, mine are fast boats, so should be able to catch up if WoS can position a fleet oiler off their coast to replenish my ships that are hurrying up to meet the Mavis et al.

I think a Fast heavy cruiser, 6x twin 9.8" turrents, a standard heavy cruiser, 3x twin 9.8" turrents, and a simple heavy Cruiser, 3x twin 9.8" and 2x twin 7.4" turrents, escorted by a light escort AA cruiser, 7 single 7.4" guns and lots of 40mm and 20mm AA with quad .50 HMGs too. escorted by two Destroyers, 2x single 4" guns, 4x triple 18" torpedo tubes on deck, 3 depthcharge throwers and 2 depth charge racks. would be the groups to send.

total of 3 HCr, 2 LCr, and 2 Dd. A good sized group to hunt enemies, and the cruisers betweene them carry 7 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 15 Marlin SeaAeroFlyers with one torp each, to act as scouts or torp-bombers.

Later in the war Calarca probably won't be as profiligate with ships, but for now none have been sunk and the naval command has no reason not to hold them back. not when Calarcian merchants would be at risk from a pair of commerce raiders.

So in the Immortal words of a famous flyboy, "Make it so".
/OOC

IC: Hearing from the British and Walmingtonian intelligence services of the breakout of german ships into the Atlantic where they could menace shipping, the Calarcian Naval High Command pass orders by wireless to where the WoS bound ships are leaving WoS African ports, shortly afterwards seven ships are seen to increase speed and pull away from the rest.

the Naval Authorities are hoping the ships waould be contained by the time the Calarcian ships arrive, but if they haven't, then reinforcements carrying scoutplanes would likely be welcomed with open arms.

WoS Naval Command; General Update, Allied Forces.

The RWN announces its full intent to assist the Calarcan vessels with what so ever fuel and intelligence may be available.

It appears likely that the German vessels shall either have engaged or else escaped by the time the Calarcans arrive, but in either event fast moving reinforcements may be of significant benefit.

It is duly noted by the Admiralty that significant resources are now divided between Ceyloba and the hunt for Bismark, and that this means assistance afforded to the British in defending the channel, or even the strait of Gibraltar is strained. German commerce raiders and potential Ercolanian warships may be hard to contain should they pick their moment well.

The Atlantic game is afoot.

OOC- Fair enough. The intention of the Bismarck sortie is not so much intended to bring battleships into the Atlantic as it is to take the pressure off Admiral Scheer and Deutschland. The more ships head north trying to contain them, the better it is for their operations as a whole. I'm also looking forward to another epic battle!

IC- The German battle group sailed on through the night; dawn saw them far from the Norweigan (Is that even close? I'm too lazy to check) fjords. A heavy morning fog continued to hide the ships from any prying eyes. Capt. Von Deitzer was pleased thusfar. The Bismarck and her consorts had escaped detection for a significant amount of time, putting them far away from their last reported position. He smiled, thinking of the uproar the Bismarck's disappearance would be causing at Naval Headquarters in a few hours.
Aboard the cruiser Prinz Eugen, Capt. Helmuth Heye read over his latest radiogram from Fleet HQ. The long-overdue refit to the heavy cruiser, namely upping her moderately powerful 8" guns to the stronger 11" ones, had finally been ordered at the end of their current mission. The entire Fleet was getting an upgrade in firepower; Sharnhorst and Gneisenau would soon be carrying the 15" guns found on Bismarck and Tirpitz, which had been added to the Brandenberg a few weeks ago. The 11" guns thus replaced would be pushed down to the cruisers, giving the fleet a much deadlier sting.
Behind Heye's cruiser, the Graf Heydrech sailed on, her brand new 11" turrets pointed to the sky...

Back in the South Pacific, now well east of Calarca, the darkened Iansislean ships continued to ply their way towards South America. They had recieved reports of the German attempts to break into the North Atlantic, but knew they'd never be able to make it in time. If - God forbid - the Bismarck should manage to escape to open sea, they'd soon meet up with the best steel the R.I.N. had to offer! Some of the younger crewmen even hoped to get a crack at Bismarck - as if sinking the powerful German battleship would in some way avenge the hundreds of dead and wounded men aboard Queen Jessica.

Dawn breaking saw seven Calarcian warships steaming at speedily speed northwesterly up from the cape of Africa, having rounded the cape in the chill predawn hours of early morning. Making 30 knots in the calm swells the ships expected to be low on fuel upon reaching the rendevous with the Walmingtonian Oilers, The cruisers far behind were steaming at a more economical 26Knts, which would see them to WoS shores with fuel to spare.

Every few hours the Fast Heavy Cruiser (I've just gotta name the damn classes) would slow down to lift a floatplane over the side for takeoff or to lift one back aboard, increasing speed to 36 knots breifly to catch up again.

(How many Nautical miles from Cape of Good Hope to WoS's oiler?) 30 knts an hour is is 720 Nm a day. remember a land mile is not the same as a nautical mile.)

Back on their now disatant trail the remaing ships of the squadron and flottilla were just rounding the cape themselves.

(my slowest ship in this group is 31 Knts, the fastest 38 due to some damn powerfull boilers, tho at 38 knts it uses a hell of a lot of fuel, more than at 30 Knts.)

News finally comes over the wireless of France's capitulation; Capt. Von Deitzer found it pleasently ironic that the treaty was signed in the same railcar where Germany had signed her own surrender so many years ago. The crew cheers the victory for a moment, their spirits lifted by the new stories of victory. Everyone's attention turns back to the mission at hand soon enough; the Home Fleet will certainly be on the hunt for them.

(Hm, you know, I'm not sure. It's probably over 5,000 miles by air from the south of the cape to WoS..in fact it's probably over 6,000! The world seems to keep getting bigger every time I try to estimate. Ugh, I tried to rougly state co-ordinates for WoS once, but I've lost where I did that. I suppose I should decide once and for all now. Okay.. 45N 28W ish? That'd stick us in the middle of the north Atlantic, just about leaning to the European side, wouldn't it? (no, I don't really know what I'm talking about))

The news of France's capitulation, while expected in the highest levels of WoS government and military, came as something of a blow. It had been hoped that the French would muster at least one major counter attack before giving in.

Observers were taken aback by the pace of the German advance, and the combination of land and air assets against fragmented allied forces provided food for thought.

(Of course most of the defence ministry felt that it had better things to do now than to stop and eat)

France's fall, and the ever-worsening relations with Chaing Mai (the war's on this weekend, D.K. - I promise! ;)) found Ianapalis in yet another state of pure panic. Sea and air assets were hastily shifted, mainly to Port Laughlin and Fort Manly, while new RIAC troops practiced with wooden rifle-mockups.

However, Iansislean industry was slowly slipping into a war fitting. Even while Wright and Jorgenson were churning out new ships, they were also expanding their facilities and taking on new personel rapidly with the applyment of government grants. Across the Commonwealth - from the rifle factories of Galveston and Co. to the aeroflyer powerhouses in Lakeriverwood, weapons were being manufactured en masse

Getting the weapons to the front, however, was proving troublesome. While the first shipments of aeroflyers being flown over were landing in Walmington - something to the tune of a dozen MPAF-6s, two dozen MPAF-5s, and a dozen BAF-1s - the Admiralty was proving reluctant to push convoys into the Atlantic until the Behemoth and her battlegroup could arrive on station. Even the promise of Calarcan help was proving worrisome - many more conservative members of the Admiralty viewed the Calarcans in the same category as the Germans and the Japanese - untrustworthy. However, Iansisle would have to learn to like its new ally.

The final dismanteling of Iansislean fixed defenses in Galla-China was underway. Another two weeks would see the shipping out of weapons and ammo cashes, followed in another week by the evacuation of the IX Rifles to Sarawak.

Kewl. I should be around most of the weekend. Plan on the Bismarck engagement, and the Scheer/Deutschland breakout sometime Friday night.

IC- Aboard the raider Deutschland Capt. Jurgen Proctor eagerly awaits the order to make his break for the Channel. The two raiders are holding just out of range of British air cover, waiting for the Bismarck and her consorts to draw away British assets in preparation for their breakout. Soon, he knows, the order will come; untill then, the crews keep a sharp eye for anyone who might give them away.

Come on, British recon pilots.
Where are you when I need you!

"Thank you seaman." Pike said, taking the small strip of paper which would inform him, via Naval Command in Southend, of British intelligence's report on Bismark's absence from Norway.

Moments later Queen Mavis was signaling the other two ships in her flotilla, and the trio were acellerating from 14 to 22kt.

Naval Command was soon contacting the still distant Calarcan vessels to inform them of Bismark's sailing.

(Do you, DK, have any ideas on what the British have where ahead of you? The WoS flotilla comprises one destroyer, one (old) battlecrusiser and one battleship, and Pike should like to know where to put himself, and each of his ships, based significantly on British coverage.)

You should know my forces, lol, it's only one page back, 3 heavy Cr, 2 light AA Cr, 2 DD. All Fast boats as WW2 goes, especially the Fast Heavy Cruiser, and all faster than the Bismark, which was 29 right?

You should know my forces, lol, it's only one page back, 3 heavy Cr, 2 light AA Cr, 2 DD. All Fast boats as WW2 goes, especially the Fast Heavy Cruiser, and all faster than the Bismark, which was 29 right?

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Bismarck. (http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/battleships/bismarck/tech.html) Her speed was alternately 30-32 knots, depending on the source.

British forces in the area would probably be comparable to the forces facing the RL Bismarck/Prinz Eugen sortie. We'll say the Norfolk, Suffolk (Both light cruisers, I believe. Feel free to correct me.), Hood, and Prince of Wales. I'm not committing any more because of the proximity of WoS and Allied naval forces. They also have to worry about escorting convoys and protecting the Channel and the Med.

Before WoS or someone else comments on this, but isn't it "Wales"?

:wink:

Ok, so my slowest cruiser would be either two knots faster than the Bismark, or the same as the Bismark. while my faster ships would run circles around the Bismark. nice.

Heh, good ol' Walmy under-powered engines. Our battleship's official top-speed is 27.4kt, and the old battlecruiser can make 24 :)

*begins to type in specs on his ships' speeds but then realizes he is a lazy bastard and decides to post a link to his spec's thread instead. (Some Pictures aren't working right now, problem with the mother site I suppose.)*

http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66936

*begins to type in specs on his ships' speeds but then realizes he is a lazy bastard and decides to post a link to his spec's thread instead. (Some Pictures aren't working right now, problem with the mother site I suppose.)*

http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66936

So your Fastest Destroyers can match my Fastest Cruiser and Battlecruiser.

Have a poke around and see the Jet that's been made by Walmy and Me. it's a real monster...

(Don't forget King George V, Rodney, and Furious, but they'd be off near the Faores)

(Don't forget King George V, Rodney, and Furious, but they'd be off near the Faores)

Yeah, but they're engaged in other tasks right now. King George is anchored in Scapa Flow, Rodney is on escort duty, and we'll put Furious near the Atlantic side of the Channel.
They're in the area though, yes.

The German battle fleet continued on north of the British Isles. Fog began to settle over the ships as night fell, reducing visability with the coming darkness. The new radar set aboard the cruiser Emden was hampered somewhat by this, and Bismarck's aging ranger was practically useless. Lookouts strained through the fog, trying to pick out any sign of Home Fleet units against the murky water.
Capt. Von Deitzer hated charging blindly into the heavily patroled waters around Britain; he knew the Royal Navy must know by now that he was not still anchored in Norway, and would surely be looking for the German ships.
The radio officer tapped Von Deitzer on the shoulder, handing him a wireless hardcopy. Von Deitzer looked it over, scowling. The radio intercept equipment had picked up a transmission to the west of them; that it was from a British warship he had no doubt. Fleet Command would certainly have intercepted it as well, and Von Deitzer was hoping the codebreakers at Naval Intelligence would be able to tell him who was out there. In the meantime, the fleet was ordered to steer a more nothern course, in an effort to avoid whoever had made the transmission. The order was given by flasher, so as not to give away their own position. It was a risk, to be certain; any ship close enough would be able to see the signal lamp, but the thick fog and close proximity of the German ships made it the best choice. Capt. Von Deitzer hoped his efforts would be enough; the last thing in the world he wanted was to engage the Home Fleet in poor visability, since the powerful optical sights (German warship's biggest advantage over British vessels) would be almost useless.

The seven Calarcian Warships heaved to close to the WoS Oilers omewhere of the coast and shared recogniton signals, never mind that scout planes from both sides had been flying over each other for the better part of a day and knew each other well...

Withing a few hours fuel had been passed across and the last ship was snugging itself up to the side of the oiler to recieve it's fill, the Commander of the Calarcian group was in the captains cabin of the oilers escort confering with his counterpart over maps of the atlantic and intelligence briefs.

Uh.. WoS, Could you give me a few pointers on where your intelligence services think the Bismark is heading?

Quiet in the War threads everyone must be napping after a hard weekend partying.

(Yeah, it has been quiet - I missed out on all the partying, though :()

The sea boiled as the Iansislean Expeditionary Fleet slipped through Drake Passage, enroute to Stanley to refuel. Even the Behemoth, with her massive beam, was having a hard time compensating - Commodore Hansfield could just imagine what it must be like for a tiny destroyer like the Arabian Oryx.

Even some hardend Iansislean sailors were coming down with a touch of seasickness, and the last thing Hansfield wanted was for the fleet to press on through hard waters with men laid low. Still, Iansisle had to show Walminton and Britain that she was in this for the duration.

Aboard HIMS Galloquoi, an MPAF-5N "SeaSteed" broke free of its clampings, tumbling across the hanger and smashing into a second SeaSteed. Damage control crews were quick to contain the wreckage before it could break free and damage more aeroflyers, but already two of Galloquoi's invaluable flyers were lost.

(Well, Naval Command's informed your ships of Bismark's absence from Norway, but since then she has not been sighted, and most of our intel is second hand via the British. The assumption has of course been that she's heading to the Atlantic, via the north rather than the channel, but we aren't even sure which side of Iceland she'll make for.

We're also updating our allies (I think that was in another thread..no idea which) that Ercolanan warships have left home ports, and may be heading to the Trucials, or else to Erco holdings around Karachi. It seems that Ercolana may exist in the Atlantic some way south of Walmington, rather than in Italy itself, but as far as I know it's exact location has not yet been set, though it may be around the Azores. Of course this could make ..everything more difficult for us. You may need to have come through hostile waters shortly before arriving in WoS, and my fleet is a lot less free to wander about now, since we've to guard against Ercolana)

OOC: Hmm.... I'd actually feel happer with Erco in the Carribean... Oh sure, it'd make using the Pananma canal more difficult, but then we could have a battle for that very important stragetic bottleneck.

Besides, My ships have already gone though the area south of WoS without encountering anything... Oh, and I've thought of a name for the Fast Heavy Cruiser leading this sortie. You'll recognise it...


IC: Having Climbed back on board his ship after his conference with the Walmingtonian escorts commander, Commodore Starsky though of the Ironies involved in having a descendant of the Lietenant who first met the Walmingtonians on Ceyloba commanding the ship named after the ship his ancestor was on. The Admiral Coney was one of the fastest cruisers around, and one of the most deadly. with twelve 9.8" guns and 7 torpedo SeaAeroFlyers while making 38 knots on calm seas. What a pity old Captain Hutch of the Battlecruiser Don Quixote couldn't be along on this mission, at least there was young ensign Hutch, his nephew, on the Q class destroyer Quicksilver along.


Giving orders he retired to his cabin to plot courses and to try and think like a Hun as the seven ships turned to the north west and increased speed.

Capt. Von Deitzer's ship bumped into the British cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk shortly after dawn, as the fog quickly burned off. The two forces suddenly found themselves facing off at a distance of less than 6 miles. The British cruisers fired first, then threw off a smoke screen and frantically worked up speed for a dash away from the German warships. The Germans return fire, scoring hits on the British force quickly. A fire breaks out on the afterdeck on the Suffolk, and a 11" shell from the Graf Heydrech strikes throught the armor and ruptures a boiler. Steam shoots through the compartments of the cruiser, burning several members of the engineering crew. The Norfolk circles back, laying down smoke and firing her guns in an effort to cover her sister's escape. The German gunners lost sight of the British warships in the thick curtain of smoke. Fearing a torpedo strike at close range, Von Deitzer ordered Bismarck to open fire with her secondary guns into the smoke screan, while the cruisers Prinz Eugen and Graf Heydrech circled around the smoke to cut off the wounded ship. The battleship's secondary batteries roared, sending high explosive shells screaming through the smoke; what they hit, if anything, was hidden from their view. The cruisers sailed wide around the area, unwilling to be wounded by the Bismarck's guns. Once around the far side, the Germans should be able to engage the British from both sides.

Pike's little fleet sends word to allied forces (besides the British, evidently they already know ;) ) -they're in the Denmark strait!

As luck would have it, the three Walmingtonian vessels were headed north of Iceland, since big British ships such as Hood and Prince of Wales were south.

Pike mopped his bow and had the fleet increase to 24 knots. It was unlikely they'd arrive in time to assist the cruisers, but try they must. The young captain couldn't help thinking that within minutes they could be racing to avenge the cruisers' loss.


(ooc:this post was going to be better, I swear! But I got a call from ..someone and now I'll need a shot or two to get my heart rate back down :D [runs off giggling like a schoolgirl])

OOC- No no, I think I might have been unclear. The Bismarck battle group is north of Britain, near the Iceland Strait. The Admiral Scheer/Deutschland group is just outside the English Channel, waiting for everyone to tear-ass north before breaking out.

ooc:Hm, the Denmark strait is between Iceland and Greenland, not near Denmark proper, right? I believed that as IRL (although maybe I shouldn't trust my pre-90s memory) Suffolk and Norfolk were patroling the Denmark strait when Bismarck et al came steaming along, and then, IRL, from south of Iceland Prince of Wales and Ood moved west to intercept them again coming out of the Denmark strait..
WoS' vessels are aiming to arrive about where Ood and PoW did. Weather or not they'll be there too, I don't know.

ooc:Hm, the Denmark strait is between Iceland and Greenland, not near Denmark proper, right? I believed that as IRL (although maybe I shouldn't trust my pre-90s memory) Suffolk and Norfolk were patroling the Denmark strait when Bismarck et al came steaming along, and then, IRL, from south of Iceland Prince of Wales and Ood moved west to intercept them again coming out of the Denmark strait..
WoS' vessels are aiming to arrive about where Ood and PoW did. Weather or not they'll be there too, I don't know.

Hmmm... you're probably right. I just wanted to make sure we were thinking of the same area. As long as we both know where everything is.

Abord U-151 30 Ft down the U-boat raydar picked up 2 cruser class ships on the surface,a midship crewman then said to schmidt"Nax-Os has picked up 2 crusers above us!!",Schmidt stood up and nodded,Nax-Os had proved to be sucess"tubes 1,2 ready!,take us up to parascope depth!!im sure bismarks under fire,we gotta destroy them before they radio our location out!!"barked Schmidt,crewman rushed around like crazy to positions,the lights were dimmed and the sub started going up. By this time Captain Keiser of U-344 was glaring at one of the enemy ships and marking the range,location, on a peice of paper then handed it to a sailor who rushed to the torpedo bay,"wait..wait..now!"ordered the Captain,the first torpedo sped towards one of the brittish ships,Keiser gripped the parascope handles hard but the torpedo just drew to the far side and missed"god damn it!!"he cussed.

minutes later on U-151 Captain schmidt gave the torpedo fire order,fisrt fish left the tubes and rammed right into the stern of one of the brittish ships,everyone aboard 151 cheered,"she's hurt!but we only have afew fish left,we cannot finish her,som1 else will because once bismark leaves this engaugement we are off to the channel"said a leiutennet.

The U-boatwaffe has only made like 4 kills yet,everything is so far away.. lol,there is 2 packs of 5 U-boats in the channel,the rest patrol between norway,denmark,germany and the odd 1 or 2 around north africa

"Wireless message sir" Came the call up the specking tubes from the wireless shack. "British units report Bismark and two escorts in the denmark strait, position estimated as XXX.XXlat and XXX.XXLong."

"Aknoledged, remain radio silence, Signals, flash the news to the group and announce we'll be making our way independantly, Engineering, make revolutions for 36 knots, Navigation, lay a course for the position given."

The Admiral Coney one of the fastest class of ship in the Calarcian navy came about to the north and increased speed, sure, they would probably arrive too late, but a show of support is better than nothing.

OOC: my ships are to the west of england and northwest of WoS if I have WoS's position right. About 1200 miles west and about level with the Lizard.

We are in the vicinity of the Azores. I am going to be busy so my posts will be even sparcer but I will still try to keep on RPing.

Captain Schmidt gazed at the secound ship,the stern of the hit ship was ablaze,the ship was sure to sink unless by some miricle"good job!,now we will let Bismark take care of them,only thing we must do is sit and wait,wait for more kills"announced Schmidy sitting in his chair after pushing the parascope back up.

OOC- Um.

IC- The newly upgraded cannons aboard the Graf Heydrech roared, sending 11" shells crashing into the wounded Suffolk. The cruiser now veered off course, badly damaged and burning. Her own guns struck back at the German heavy cruiser, punching through the armor on her port side. Norfolk shot out an SOS and turned away from the battle, retreating at full speed. Her captain had seen the futility of trying to duel it out with the German warships, and had decided to break off contact and shadow the battle group untill the Hood and Prince of Wales could arrive, plus whatever else Scapa Flow could produce.
The brave crew of the Suffolk did all they could against the overwhelming odds facing them, but the battle could only end one way. Torn by the heavy shells of Bismarck and Graf Heydrech, the British cruiser soon found herself mortally wounded. The order to abandon ship was given, and the survivors escaped shortly before slipping below the waves. The majority of the British sailors were transferred to the light cruiser Emden, which was then ordered back to German waters to intern the crew. The other ships continued on toward the strait, lookouts watchful for the British reprisal.

(D.K.: Sorry to crash this thread with an O.O.C. question, but I was wondering: would you think that W.o.S., Calarca, and I starting a nuclear arms program be feasable? Naturally, I don't intend it to produce weapons in any sort of useful timeframe, and I mainly want it for the power production uses, but I think it would be a useful addition.

Naturally, I also think the use of nuclear weapons has the tendency to ruin the RolePlaying in a war, and as such - not to mention the indecisive nature of Iansislean government - I wouldn't use them against your or your allies, if they even happened to be developed before this thing has been settled one way or another. However, I understand if you have any objections even to their development as a scare tactic.

Er, I would contribute more to this thread, but there's not much for me to do right now other than cheer for the British, crank up industrial production, and slowly steam my ships north from the Cape ;)

(Go Captain Pike!))

"SOS Sir, Suffolk's going down!" (yes, I really wanted to say "she's sunk", but..I'm not sure others share my affection for alliteration, heh)

"Well don't just give me that, I want something I can use! What the devil is going on?" The young captain's voice shook slightly, as if it had barely even broken. He hadn't lost his composure for long, thank God.

Pike called for all the latest information on British and Calarcan positions, as well as the site of the engagement. Weather. Time..TIME! Pike checked his own watch again almost twice a minute. Even he wasn't entirely sure why.

He was surprised, on evaluation of the information given to him -it had fallen out of his head as quickly as it was gathere- to see just how close the three Walmingtonian vessels were to the source of the distress call.

Christ, we're almost on top of them!

The next few minutes saw young Captain Francis Pike hovering over the ship's coms officer on the bridge, demanding update on the "nothing on radar" whenever he could spare time between..checking the time.

The destroyer Thresher pulled a little further ahead of the two capital ships, hoping to spy the enemy within minutes.

(D.K.: Sorry to crash this thread with an O.O.C. question, but I was wondering: would you think that W.o.S., Calarca, and I starting a nuclear arms program be feasable? Naturally, I don't intend it to produce weapons in any sort of useful timeframe, and I mainly want it for the power production uses, but I think it would be a useful addition.

OOC- Not at all. I think a joint project between the three of you would be perfect, since I plan on leaking word of my own "uber-bomb" project; it's the perfect compliment to the Type-XV thread.

IC- Thresher's lookouts spot the tracks of several large ships on the horizon shortly. The last vestiges of the morning fog seem to have obscured them untill the destroyer closed to within 18 miles; nearly within range of the Bismarck's artillery.
Aboard the cruiser Prinz Eugen, leading the group, the lookouts spotted the radar signature of the Walmingtonian destroyer. The alert was quickly radioed to the flagship; enemy ships to the southwest! The three remaining German warships ponderously turned to close with the contact, and Bismarck radioed into Fleet HQ that she was becoming more heavily engaged, and the time would soon be right for a breakout by Deutschland and Admiral Scheer. Then the crew turned to the grim task of their second battle within a few hours. The wounded Graf Heydrech fell into the rear, allowing herself to be somewhat protected by the Prinz Eugen and Bismarck. It was the 15" guns aboard the battleship that opened the battle at 14 miles, sending heavy shells howling toward the enemy. Capt. Von Deitzer watched closely from the bridge, waiting to see what effect, if any, the shots would have.

(ooh, eck! I'll be turning this into a response later, but I'm afraid I'm just off out the door for a hair-cut, then I'm going the chippy, en route to the pub, heh. If I get time between, or come home and can still see, I'll edit then, if not it might be to-morrow. Sorry!
This could be a freaking disaster for WoS. Oh well, we've a total of eight 15" and eight 12" guns on hand. There's going to be a mess!
(Oh, and if anyone is bored and wants to send any realistic info on the performance of 15 and 12 inch guns (yes yes, all a little different, no doubt) against armour at various ranges, don't let my ignorance stop you ;) Back later, with a hopefully more concise and interesting IC edit.))

[OOC:could you please slow down on tech research?i don't want to be rude, but since Roania managed to waste the time i had set aside for going to war, it's gonna give me a hard time just posting a decent offensive, without having to constantly change plans and update tech....also, can you locate my arms decalration thread and post links to your own latest stuff in it?thanks]

(Mh, yeah, I'm sort of with you on that, Chiang, but a lot of what we're all involved in is theoretical and stuff for after the war. If it helps, Walmington is still dismissing a lot of British reports on German wonder weapons as the fantasy of the lunatic Fuhrer, we still haven't got around to replacing the Turtle Marching Tank, which is more or less Matilda I, and our fighters are outclassed by everything else going. Except for the Cricket jet fighter, that is, which is probably the best thing going- I'm not going to deploy it in great numbers until after the war.
I think most of our developments (the allies) have been spurred on by Hainan and Wabu thingi. Since Walmington started to realise that Wabu whatsit has less chance of launching a cohernt assault against Ceyloba than do a shoal of upper Walmington sticklebacks, I've been less keen to upgrade.
Bleh, this is babble. I missed the hairdressers by seconds, now I'm going to end up all mulleted. [sigh] Now I'm leaving before I end up dinner-less too)

(Edit:Oh, and you're more advanced than The Trucial States, at least! Meh, I'm willing to let Walmy slip a bit. We're good at that.)

[what's the cricket like? :? ]

(Cirdanisan, where have you been?
You havent posted in my threads for ages....)

(Cirdanisan, where have you been?
You havent posted in my threads for ages....)
[OOC:in school :( ]

[OOC:could you please slow down on tech research?i don't want to be rude, but since Roania managed to waste the time i had set aside for going to war, it's gonna give me a hard time just posting a decent offensive, without having to constantly change plans and update tech....also, can you locate my arms decalration thread and post links to your own latest stuff in it?thanks]

First off, he just asked if it would be ok. Second, it will take YEARS of research to bring about anything useful from such a program. So just relax; I won't be dropping nukes on you for a very long time, if ever.

(Hi, Chiang Mai. Yeah, sorry we've been kinda rushing ahead without you. Don't worry, I don't have the intention of ever dropping a nuclear weapon on anyone. Also, it's perfectly reasonable to go "back in time" a little for your invasion - with the BAF-3 and MPAF-8 just being future ideas of Irvin Graye. And my only uranium deposits are the ones south-west of the Ganges delta...if you move fast enough ;)

Of course, I don't intend to let you move fast enough!)

EDIT: Just noticed I've spelled your name wrong near every time I typed it. Sorry; er, pass it off on Shieldian ignorance ;))

Um... If WoS is still watching, we just bumped into each other, and I already fired. I'm getting really anxious to see what happens next, so if you get a chance, cut my nervous breakdown off at the pass. The suspence is killing me!

(ooc:hehe, sorry! 21st b'day gathering for two friends last night. I'm composing this post even as I try to find a few pointers on-line and in neglected books on just how likely each vessel is to hit another, and so on. I'll get right on the IC response now.)

Thresher didn’t hang around for long. Her 4” guns remained silent as the old destroyer swung around. She was barely faster than Bismarck, and wasn’t going to let that lot come within firing range if she could help it!

The somewhat dated battlecruiser Iansisle was really not in a happy situation at all. Her deck armour, even after a major re-fit on entering Walmingtonian service, was only three inches thick, and her 12” guns were likely to be silent in the opening moments of the engagement. She had to close, but with a top speed of 24 knots, the old ship was really up against it.

Queen Mavis meanwhile was more serious about taking on enemy battleships and such, with deck armour up over seven inches, and her own 15” guns.

The battlecruiser made forward with all haste, her Iansislian RSUC model 211FC "Blindman's Bluff" fire control preparing to make first angry use of her Walmingtonian 12” guns. Behind, the battleship took a slightly less direct approach, keen to turn her 15” belt to the fight as soon as the range was right.

Captain Pike glanced back at his bridge crew. He was about to give the order to open the engagement, and wanted one more look at the men he was about to fight with. As he turned his head, however, he saw the sharp intake of breath from his pale coms officer.
“I think it’s the Iansisle..” ventured the first officer, who was peering through his binoculars as Bismarck’s first volley beat Pike to the punch.
The captain didn’t wait for the enemy’s shells to fall before barking out a “Shoot!” of his own. Merry Mave’s fifteen inchers obeyed. Good Lord, they’re no 4”ers Pike considered, as the guns roared.
Seconds later the waters rose around the Iansisle as the bulk of the German volley fell frighteningly close. The blast from one? Two? Of the shells falling just yards ahead sent a few splinters against the face of Monday turret.

“Christ..” the first officer on Queen Mavis exclaimed. “They’ve got her range down already.. she’s not even going to close enough to fire before they give her another!”

Pike felt he perhaps should silence such worries, but he was swallowing too hard.

(Hi, Chiang Mai. Yeah, sorry we've been kinda rushing ahead without you. Don't worry, I don't have the intention of ever dropping a nuclear weapon on anyone. Also, it's perfectly reasonable to go "back in time" a little for your invasion - with the BAF-3 and MPAF-8 just being future ideas of Irvin Graye. And my only uranium deposits are the ones south-west of the Ganges delta...if you move fast enough ;)

Of course, I don't intend to let you move fast enough!)

EDIT: Just noticed I've spelled your name wrong near every time I typed it. Sorry; er, pass it off on Shieldian ignorance ;))
[eh, i don't even intend to pass the Ganges before several years.....i think it would make nice battlelign, like the Somme and the Marne in WWI and the Volga to a lesser extent in WWII.The murderous fighting in the Ganges Valley continues! makes for nice headligns ;) ]

(Sadly enough, it does! Nusheld, the capital of Iansislean Gallaga (New Shield, for all of you who remember it back in the day) is right on the eastern bank of the River Ganges - we could trade it back and forth a couple times, cause deaths by the hundreds of thousands - it'd be fun! Well, for us, at least.

And a cheer for Queen Mavis, an anxious gasp for Iansisle, and a hiss for Bismarck! However, CM, I think we should probably move our OOC discussion to another thread.)

And a cheer for Queen Mavis, an anxious gasp for Iansisle, and a hiss for Bismarck! However, CM, I think we should probably move our OOC discussion to another thread.)

OOC- Thanks for the vote of confidence, Iansisle!

IC- Queen Mavis' salvo sailed far starboard of Bismarck, sending up splashes 100' high. Capt. Von Deitzer gave manuvering orders, and the battleship began "chasing salvos" with the WoS warship. By sailing toward close hits and away from farther ones, Von Deitzer hoped to confuse the opponents gunners. Bismarck fired again, followed quickly by Graf Heydrech, and finally Prinz Eugen as the range closed. Shells rained down on both sides of the battle, rattling crews but doing little in the way of real damage. The first serious blow was struck by the battleship Iansisle when she sent a 12" shell plowing into the armor belt of the Prinz Eugen. Graf Heydrech's captain returned fire with her 11" guns, along with the 8" ones of the Prinz Eugen. Bismarck concentrated her fire on the Queen Mavis, throwing everything that would make the distance at her. The German battleship suffered several near-misses, which showered the upper works with splinters, but kept up her rapid fire, hoping for a disabling hit. The battle had already been raging for almost 6 minutes (OOC- About as long as it took to sink the Hood IRL; go Queen Mavis!), and Capt. Von Deitzer wanted to end things quickly by disabling or destroying the Walmingtonian warship, reasoning that with the striking power of the battle group disabled, the other ships would quit the fight. He ordered the Bismarck closer still, and the rate of fire increased. His command crew hurried to relay the orders, knowing each second was precious.

OOC- Thanks for the vote of confidence, Iansisle!

(I'm sure my hissing'll teach you to go about stealing aeroflyers! :P)

The Iansislean Expeditionary Fleet, consisting of the battleship HIMS Behemoth, mobile aeroflyer dock HIMS Galloquoi, two heavy cruisers, and six destroyers, slipped port at Stanley shortly after midnight, steaming north-north-east at twenty-two knots. The speed and course were a reflection of Hansfield's inability to decide if they were in a sprint or a marathon, as well as his fear of passing too close to Ercolanan controlled waters. The I.E.F. planned to continue with all speed to the British naval base on Ascension Island, whereafter they would turn north-west to Trinidad, followed by a steam north to Halifax, where they would be at last able to turn east and head to Walmington on Sea.

All in all, the journey was roughly another eleven thousand miles, with three refueling stops. After leaving Ascension, they'd be able to accelerate to twenty-five knots, and to twenty-eight between Trinidad and Halifax. Hansfield did some quick mental calculations - nine days to Ascension, almost seven to Trinidad, three and a half to Halifax, and two and a half to Walmington. Twenty-two days - more than three weeks. Hansfield cursed. They'd be lucky to get so much as an ash tray from Bismarck

(Did I start out by suggesting that King Godfrey I was meant to be the battleship setting out, and now she's Queen Mavis? I just woke up this morning and sat up in bed thinking "Bother!" I must have been drunk somewhere along the line [cough] 'cause the fleet tracker read that Godfrey had set out. Blah, changed it now, sorry if that was confusing. The ships are sisters at least.
And I should hope Mave lasts longer than Hood, she's bloomin' well supposed to. We're chuffed that Iansisle's made it this far though.)

With the battle several salvos old for every ship concerned, Pike was begining to think that it could have been going worse.. Iansisle had got through the most dangerous few seconds as she'd see it, at least.

It wasn't going to last. The battlecruiser had made a good showing of herself, scoring what looked a good hit on Eugen, but she was essentially fighting two ships on her own, as Pike's vessel went blow for blow with Bismarck.

The smaller 8" guns leveled against Iansisle proved perhaps unexpectedly deadly, as (presumably?) they were operating at what for them was an extreme range. A shell from Eugen more than made up for the hit she'd taken, plunging through the Walmingtonian ship's unusually thin deck armour as if it weren't even there. A fire caught below decks, and for a few heart-stopping seconds communications seemed to be down.

Quite what caused the interruption -beyond the fact of a considerable explosion- wasn't clear, the problem seeming to fix itself just in time for an 11" shell to take a piece off the super-structure as it whizzed just overhead.

Almost every shell fired at Iansisle now seemed to be at least giving her a spattering of splinters, and the bombardment was quite draining on the crew, over a dozen of whom were already dead.

The captain, an elderly Mr.Vance, briefly entertained the idea of closing to torpedo range, but as yet the warship seemed well enough to fight on in a more conventional means, and he viewed such an attack as more of a desperation strike.

It would surely not matter, as the last volley loosed by the Heydrech was even now descending upon him.

On Mavis, Pike was again drilling the bridge's gunnery officer on the condition of the fire-control radar.
"It's new sir, I mean, this is the first combat use, but, I don't think there's a problem.."
"Why aren't we hitting anything?" Pike demanded in some frustration. "So she's not sitting still? Do we design battleships to engage stationary targets now?"

Pike ordered Mave into some radical manouvering of her own, reasoning that the battleships were not badly matched for armour and firepower, he put grudging faith in the new radar fire-control which was in roughly equal parts British, Iansislian, and Walmingtonian in origin.

Just before the battleship got into the swing of her own evasive manouvers, a shell seemed to scrape down the armour belt, the blast buckling the thick steel slightly just inches above the water line.

(ooc:em, I was going to post more damage to Iansisle, but I seem to be going on too long already. Next post. Now, off to the pub.)

OOC- Oooh, Spider-sense tingling! I have to admit I find all this very exciting. I certainly hope you don't feel obligated to inflict more damage on your ships than you think necissary; I myself have little grasp or understanding of what caliber guns are effective against a given thickness of armor and the like. And you're right about one thing; the guns aboard Prinz Eugen are having a time of hitting you, but she'll be closing in with the Graf Heydrech presently.

IC- Prinz Eugen took another 12" hit as she worked her way along the Iansisle's port side, which smashed her Arado scout plane to splinters and wrecked her catapult. The pilot, who had been standing not 10' from the floatplane when it ceased to exist, picked himself off the deck and ran forward to assist however he could, since his chances of getting airborne without a catapult (or plane, for that matter!) were pretty slim, and the battle was growing more intense by the second.
Bismarck continued to hammer at the Queen Mavis, with salvos coming as fast as the loaders could shove the shells into the guns. The Walmingtonian warship returned fire, sending a shell through the armor just ahead of the forward turret. The shell failed to explode, but severed some of the hydraulic lines powering the turret, causing it to jam. Damage control crews worked feverishly to patch the system, somewhat distracted by the fact that they could now watch the entire battle through the hole blasted through the bulkhead. The crews stepped lightly around the "dud" round, hoping it was, in fact, defective and not just a late bloomer.
Far to the south, the raiders Admiral Scheer and Deutschland got word from Fleet Command that the time had come for them to leave the relatively safe waters of the German coast and start for the Atlantic. The two built up speed and made for the Channel, lookouts straining to see any enemy aircraft or warships. The path had been swept free of mines in the previous weeks by German ships, but the British were diligent in maintaining the minefields on the Atlantic side of the Channel, and the raiders were still in danger of air or submarine attack as well. They sailed without escort; a dangerous gamble, but one Fleet Command hoped would pay off. The limited endurance of the German destroyer forces meant they would not be able to accompany the Sheer and Deutschland any farther than the Atlantic side of the English Channel, and the most danger would come after that point anyway, so it was decided to hold them back for escort duties closer to home. It would be a night and a day before the raiders were clear and able to commence their raids on Allied convoys. The crews anxiously listened for word from their companions to the north, engaging warships from Walmington on Sea near the Denmark Strait.

(Sadly enough, it does! Nusheld, the capital of Iansislean Gallaga (New Shield, for all of you who remember it back in the day) is right on the eastern bank of the River Ganges - we could trade it back and forth a couple times, cause deaths by the hundreds of thousands - it'd be fun! Well, for us, at least.

And a cheer for Queen Mavis, an anxious gasp for Iansisle, and a hiss for Bismarck! However, CM, I think we should probably move our OOC discussion to another thread.)
[indeed.I'll create an OOC WWII thread :)
posted at http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72532 ]

Deutschland and Admiral Scheer continued on for the English Channel. The raiders were intended to sail together untill they cleared the British Isles, then they would split and begin their attacks on the still largely undefended convoys crossing the Atlantic. Their breakout would hopefully be an uncomplicated task, with Bismarck and her cruiser escorts on the attack in the Denmark Strait. Most of the unassigned Home Fleet units in the area would be heading for the battle, desparate to keep a heavy attack force out of Allied shipping lanes. Naval strategists at OKW hoped that the passage of two smaller raiders would go un-noticed against the chaos Bismarck would be causing.
Far north of the Channel, Prinz Eugen took another heavy hit from Iansisle when a shell plunged into her upper works. The detonation wrecked much of the ships controls, sending the cruiser in a wide starboard circle while damage control crews rushed to make repairs. As the Walmingtonian battleship passed aft, Prinz Eugen's rear turret fired from less than 2000 meters. The shells missed Iansisle, but landed within yards of the Thresher, who had been largely ignored by the German capital ships. While escaping a direct hit, the destroyer was showered with shrapel, and plumes of water obscured her view for a few tense moments. Graf Heydrech's guns also chimed in, raining shells down on Iansisle.
As for Bismarck, she had her hands full with Queen Mavis. A hit from one of the battlecruiser's secondary guns had knocked out her radar set, forcing her to rely on her optics for fire control. This didn't cause any immediate alarm; the radar had never been intended as the primary targeting system anyway, and visability was good. Indeed, the fire control officer had been using the optics almost exclusively up untill the radar was disabled. The seriousness of the blow would only be seen later...

(ooc: erp, I think I've confused you with my ever-changing naval arrangements. Queen Mavis is one of our two battleships, mounting 8x15" guns, ten 6" guns, and a whole heap of armour, and Iansisle is an old refitted warship bought from the nation of that name, which we class as a battlecruiser (8x12", 6x6", 6x21"TT below waterline).)

Iansisle was indeed struck by 11" shells from that descending volley- surprisingly most of her critical systems survived the vessel's receipt of two direct hits, but fires had caught all over the ship, and casualties were mounting. Shards from one of those hits peppered the bridge, and Captain Vance was badly cut by broken glass, briefly losing his feet, and seemingly much of his composure.

In the following moments, during which time she managed to score that second good hit on the German cruiser, Iansisle had drifted close to the enemy. On the way in took a stunning 8" blow to Tuesday turret, which along with adjacent Monday was briefly silenced, meaning she missed her chance to reply with her main guns when Eugen fired over her deck. At two thousand meters though, she took the opportunity to loose three 21" torpedos at the rear of the cruiser. A smaller target than ideal at that angle, but well worth a try.

As Heydrech's fire again zeroed in on the burning battlecruiser, she took a third solid 11" hit, the result this time was the begining of what would become a serious list to port. Three of her 6" secondary guns targeted Prinz Eugen as gun crews in the primary turrets fore attempted to recover from the 8" shock.

Damage control crews were finding themselves up against fires above and below deck, significant port side flooding, and their own reduced numbers following the last hit.

Thresher had been surprised to see the German cruiser come so close, and believing her rather out of control, was preparing to make a torpedo run. On her approach, the two forward 4" guns spat at Eugen. The crew were terrified to see powerful enemy shells impact so close, and a split second later were feeling the effects. Even the belt of the old I Class destroyer was only between 1.55 and 2.25" thick, and the weaker superstructure suffered significantly. Needless to say, the charge was put off, as the disoriented Thresher veered off, giving a few more 4" shots on principle as much as anything.

On Queen Mavis Pike was relieved to hear that the glancing blow to the ship's belt had not resulted in any critical damage. Much of the concern on her bridge was for the struggling Iansisle, which was giving off a considerable degree of smoke. It wasn't long though before attention was turned closer to home, as one of the single mount 6" guns was ripped away from the ship, apparently caught by a 15" shell from Bismarck. A 15cm secondary shell clanged against the conning tower's 10.5" armour a little below the bridge proper, and young Captain Pike's teeth gritted so tightly he might have crushed a filling were Walmingtonian dentistry such a sturdy art.

Onboard the Admiral Coney.

"Sir, the Queen Mavis has engaged!" came the call from the wireless shack.

"Very well. Carry on."


OOC: Just to let you know you havn't been forgotten. tho my forces aren't gonna make it in time from level with the Lizard up to the denmark strait.

If english sea patrol planes like the coastal service Hudsons spot the Deutshland it would make more sense to vector me in to them.

I'll be away for a few days tho, Diving trip out to the coast for a bit of SCUBA

AAARGH! My wonderful post.................LOST!

Well, back to the drawing board.

Prinz Eugen caught one of Thresher's torpedos in the aft section, blowing a hole through the armored bulkhead and letting in tons of sea water. The stern of the ship quickly began to drop in the water, but determined work by the damage control crews brought the flooding under control. The shock of the blast also damaged the nearly repaired navigational equipment, forcing the cruiser to continue her slow starboard turn. Her aft turret continued to fire at Iansisle, along with any secondary guns that could be aimed.
Onboard Bismarck, hydraulics were restored to the forward turret. Capt. Von Deitzer saw that he could not continue on like this for long; neither battleship seemed able to get the upper hand, and he still had a long voyage back to Norway. Too much damage could cripple his ship, or make her unable to weather the voyage home. Already he worried about Prinz Eugen's ability to evade any Allied pursuers and return to Germany.
"Send a message to the group: Prepare to disengage and make for Norway. Keep fire on the enemy untill we're well underway; I don't want to be shadowed, in case we run into any problems."
The radio operator sent out the message. Prinz Eugen's response came quickly; the steering gear was smashed, and would take some time to repair. Von Deitzer swore; the crippled cruiser was far too inviting a target for the WoS warships to ignore, and would surely become the target of further attacks. He also came to the realization that Bismarck had little chance of disabling or destroying the Queen Mavis without taking considerable damage herself, especially at relatively short range.
The next radio message from Bismarck was not even coded. It was simply this: All guns target Iansisle. Once she was disabled, the fleet would withdraw.

Aboard HMWS Iansisle Captain Vance was encouraged by an apparent strike by one of his torpedos (ooc:t'was the battlecruiser which launched torps as they came close, Thresher was making to, but disengaged when Eugen's volley landed directly in her path) and the crew, excepting those consumed with fighting fire and flood below decks, were begining to think they might score a victory and get out alive.

The twelve and six inch guns were all (well, except the 3 6"ers that can't see her-) engaging the cruiser Prinz Eugen, hoping to take her out with enough fight left in the old battlecruiser to tip the balance in Mave's favour. Frankly it didn't seem all that likely from Pike's vantage point. Heydrech and Bismarck both seemed to be in good fighting condition, while Queen Mavis was the only Walmingtonian ship with any staying power which didn't seem in immediate danger of going under.

Pike desperately wanted to turn his fifteen inch guns on the Eugen and Haydrech and to perhaps save Iansisle but he daren't let up for a moment against the huge battleship he was currently dueling. Queen Mavis kept up her main fire on her opposite number, while secondary guns took a pop at either of the other warships where they even looked close to coming in range. It didn't seem like a tactic that would win the day, but Pike felt outgunned and low on options.

Iansisle's list was starting to look severe, apparently the flooding was proving difficult to contain, and the ship was already very low in the water following the heavy re-fit to the relatively little warship. Her primary batteries had only loosed perhaps three volleys since the torpedo strike when she took two hits in quick succession. An 8" shell from Eugen thudded against the belt, apparently causing superficial damage only, barely seconds before something rather larger crashed into Thursday turret. The shell passed through the side armour and was headed down, splitting the deck an instant before the actual detonation. Munitions were being hoisted up even as it happened, and a moderate secondary explosion below deck ripped a second hole in the hull, this time far aft, on the starboard side..and just below the waterline.

Wet to begin with, and with a heavy list one side, secondary flooding on the other side was proving too much for the old girl. She was losing speed -from a modest start at 24 knots top- and steering seemed to be rather more than sluggish. The wounded captain was trying to keep his wits about him as blood loss weakened the old man. One way or another he wasn't likely to get off this ship alive, and he wondered when it would be time to have the crew try.

The destroyer Thresher was well placed to see the serious nature of the battlecruiser's plight. Her works peppered with tiny holes, the performance of the ship was still good, and her captain decided to throw what weight he had into evening the odds a little.

A brief flashed communication to Iansisle -and hopefully obscured from the enemy by the bulk of that vessel- saw the struggling battlecruiser laying down smoke. The hope was that it would appear she was trying to cover perhaps her own unlikely retreat. In fact Thresher made for Graf Heydrech at full speed, two 21" TTs at the ready.

What are they doing? Wondered Pike. He signaled Iansisle for a report on their condition, but left out anything about the destroyer's questionable activity. If he hadn't heard anything by now, maybe the Germans hadn't either. If it would even matter.

(mayhap a summary- feel free to skip this if you think it detracts from the purpose of rambling on for hours ;) Iansisle's in trouble, and unlikely to last, putting her final volleys into Eugen, the captain wanting to take someone with him/her. Thresher's attempting a risky torpedo attack on Heydrech, coming out from behind Iansisle and through her smoke-screen, and Queen Mavis is just doing her damndest to hurt Bismarck before she finds herself all alone with no real way of stopping a break-out. )

Graf Heydrech sensing victory and charging the wounded battlecruiser, was caught completely off-guard by the destroyer's charge. Turning to unmask her rear turret, the heavy cruiser had presented her flank to the Thresher's torpedo spread. At less than 1000 meters, evasive action was impossible. The four torpedos slam into the port side, ripping through the bulkhead, and the cruiser began to heel over to port almost immediately. The cruiser continued her turn, but already her speed had dropped almost to nil, and the list to port had become extreme. The cruiser finally came to a stop roughly 2000 meters off Iansisle's bow, with her rudder and props smashed and gaping wounds in her hull. Damage control gave its grim initial report; the engines were too damaged to repair outside of drydock, and the flooding had overwhelmed all efforts to slow it. The order to abandon ship would be delayed untill the cruiser was no longer able to fire, but the career of the Graf Heydrech had been ended by a single destroyer.
From the bridge of the Bismarck, Capt. Von Deitzer saw the fatal blow struck. Bismarck's guns now sought out the wounded Iansisle with a vengence, looking to pay their enemy back in blood for the loss. Prinz Eugen continued her slow circuit of the battle, firing her rear turret at the battlecruiser as she came about. The cruiser was increasing in speed, her captain anxious to unmask the forward turret. Every gun the German ships could bring to bear now lashed out at the Iansisle.

OOC- A very good plan, if I say so myself. Essentially, Graf Heydrech is dead in the water and sinking, but will continue firing untill she either lists too far to aim her turrets or she sinks outright. As soon as control is restored to the Prinz Eugen, she's hauling ass out of there. Capt. Von Deitzer, while not intent on losing his own ship, plans on taking at least the Iansisle out of action before breaking off.

ppl seem to ignore my post's so i quit.....thats err rude..

Iansisle is doomed. Taking two more hits from Eugen and a single, but massive, hit from Bismarck her upper works are completely destroyed. Almost nothing remains. A whole funnel is completely gone. Of over 770 crew, above 400 are dead or dying. The rest, totally without command, are taking to life boats. The battlecruiser fires her last volley into Eugen before the total evacuation is initiated. If another hit is suffered from the 15" guns ..the consiquences aren't worth thinking about. With that 15" hit from the battleship the rear of the Iansisle has completely submerged, if only a couple of feet below the surface. The horrible condition allows a simmer of hope to strike a few hearts before they are over-come by the freezing north Atlantic waters.

Thresher swerves away from her target just seconds after loosing her deadly cargo, and is soon required by Iansisle as crewmen leap into the sea itself rather than take another strike from Bismarck. The destroyer does its level best to pick up survivors.

Queen Mavis finds herself granted a respite. Quite welcome given the proximity in which most of Bismarck's shells were landing. Two? Three? hits had been absorbed, and no one fancied gambling on a fourth smacking into heavy armour as the first few had. Smoke still rose from the former location of the secondary turret ripped off by a 15" shell, and that was enough for most young men to feel like they were in a real fight.

The first officer aboard Merry Mave tried to describe the scene he was observing with regards to Iansisle but words escaped the Walmingtonian. Not in living memory had so much been lost to deliberate hostile gunfire. No one in all Walmington could relate the loss of a battlecruiser to anything they had previously witnessed.

Queen Mavis managed to sustain 16x 15" shells per minute loosed into the air against Bismarck as that vessel finished off Iansisle. The other two German ships looked hurt. Perhaps we could finish them both, but what good would it do if Bismarck escaped? She must be hurt.
Captain Pike prayed for allied assistance. Soon the German battleship would turn her guns back on his vessel, and the odds seemed to be no more than 50/50. Hardly a security blanket for Walmingtoners back home.

The young captain was utterly oblivious to the concurrent break-out of two German commerce raiders via the channel. Even victory here would be secondary in tactical terms.

(ooc:sorry if this sounds utterly daft..i'm drunk off my piddling face, mostly on Guinness and Newcastle brown ale..)

IC- Von Deitzer had seen enough. Bismarck flashed the order to withdraw to Prinz Eugen, who was finishing her repairs. Graf Heydrech was dead in the water, and Von Deitzer was unwilling to attempt a rescue in the middle of a battle. Placing his battleship between Queen Mavis and Prinz Eugen, the German battle group began moving out of the area, heading back east toward their base in Norway. Bismarck continued to fire as the distance opened (I assume Queen Mavis is not going to chase down my fleeing ships, but rather help in the rescue of Iansisle's survivors.)
The cause of the Bismarck's sudden flight soon became obvious to Capt. Pike. Lookouts spotted the British battlecruiser Hood approaching from the west. Signals were exchanged between her and Queen Mavis. Aboard the Hood, British Admiral Holland decided pursuing two capital ships with his lone battlecruiser was too risky a proposition, and gave the order instead to begin rescuing the survivors of the Iansisle and Graf Heydrech. Hood flashed a message to Queen Mavis, telling her captain that he was free to pursue the Germans if he wished.

OOC- I'm sorry that you feel we slighted you, new germania. I assure you it wasn't my intention, and that I wasn't ignoring you. It's just there wasn't much for me to reply to; you weren't attacking me, after all. If you're thinking back to the incident with Graf Spee and Queen Jessica, the raider had her radio disabled early in the battle; that's why your U-boat got no response from her.

[OOC:Shouldn't the Brits have the Prince of Wales hanging around?or has it been decided the Walmingtonians more than make up for that ship with a most unfortunate abreviation (PoW means prisoner of war as well, after all)?just wondering, since PoW was there when Bismarck sank Hood.

Queen Mavis fired a few parting shots after the retreating Germans, but Pike was content to have repulsed the break-out (since he still assumes that the primary purpose of the operation) and survived the fight. Picking up what turned out to be 327 survivors (including many wounded) of Iansisle's 771 complement, as well as German seamen was made a priority.

As the mighty Hood approached, Pike was put in mind of his own vessel. Similar armament layout and stacks made the two ships look somewhat similar, even if the Britsh battlecruiser was actually a little larger. The superiority of Mave's armour was not so obvious to the eye, of course.

We should get the Godfrey up here and clear the seas mused Pike, at once somewhat inspired by the might of the allied vessels, and incensed by the loss of Iansisle.

In the end of course no pursuit was made. If they come back we'll stop them again. he assured himself.

(ooc:Quite true, Chiang, but I suppose like you say, we sort of make up for it. If we chased his one good battleship and one damaged cruiser down with three battleships and battlecruisers.. well, it seems in the first two naval engagements of the war (this and the Jessica/Spee engagement) DK's taken his share of knocks ;) )

[OOC:Shouldn't the Brits have the Prince of Wales hanging around?or has it been decided the Walmingtonians more than make up for that ship with a most unfortunate abreviation (PoW means prisoner of war as well, after all)?just wondering, since PoW was there when Bismarck sank Hood.

Prince of Wales went to the north of Iceland (or is the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland? I thought it was between Iceland and Britain...), in case the Germans would make a move that way and try to avoid the WoS battlegroup. I know it sounds like I'm holding the British back to you, but if Bismarck and her consorts had gone round the other side of Iceland, what would have kept them out of the Atlantic? Since Norfolk and Suffolk were already engaged, they wouldn't be in any position to stop a battleship and two cruisers alone.
I hope that makes sense.... :wink:

(nah, the Denmark Strait's between Iceland and Greenland. If anyone cares (which I doubt they do, seeing as how this isn't the real breakout attempt ;)), various cruisers and destroyers were split up to patrol each of the four passages (Denmark Strait, the Faore-Iceland passage, the Shetland-Faore passage, and the Orkney-Shetland passage). HMS Hood and Prince of Wales were sent to guard the Denmak Strait and Iceland-Faore passage; HMS King George V, Repulse and Victorious the southern. HMS Rodney was attached to a convoy, and only added to the persuit after the loss of Hood, and Force H - HMS Ark Royal, Sheffield, and Renown - was still down at Gibralter.

Man, I've watched Sink the Bismarck! WAY too many times!)

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. Basically, Hood went to one side of Iceland, and Prince of Wales to the other. As luck would have it, I'm watching Sink the Bismarck on the History Channel. That should help me out here!

IC- Deutschland and Admiral Scheer entered the Channel as darkness descended, just as strategists had planned. The battle between Bismarck and Queen Mavis had been closely listened to by the crews of both ships; the news of Iansisle's sinking had been tempered by the loss of Graf Heydrech. As night descended, the surviving German ships had come under attack by RAF pilots from Britain. Bismarck had sustained two torpedo hits during three separate attacks, but both she and Prinz Eugen were now nearing the safe waters around Norway. The men aboard the raiders now felt they must succeed in reaching the Atlantic, or the deaths of their comerades would be for nothing.
Overhead, Luftwaffe fighters circled the raiders, tasked with stopping any air attack the British might direct. Thus far, the efforts of the northern battle group seemed to have been sucessful; no enemy forces had yet spotted the two warships. Once they entered the Atlantic, it would be a different story. The Deutschland and her sister would be leaving the range of land-based aircraft, but they would not be alone by any means. U-boats already on station in the Atlantic would be able to pick up where the Luftwaffe left off, spotting Allied heavy forces so the raiders could avoid them.

ooc: Hehe. I miss that film. Not seen it for maybe fourteen years. I dunno how I fitted it in so many times before that.

ic: Walmingtonian patrols over the channel are light, and mostly made in token support for the British from whose airfields their Swordfish, Wren, and Wasp II operate.

The nation feels it's doing enough what with the Bismarck engagement, the construction of naval airbases (ooc:armaments thread), diplomatic (though that's scarcely the proper term) missions to the US (or "that over-grown pirates'-nest" as Mainwaring recently described it), espionage against Ercolana, and the annexation of Morocco, which is still going largely unopposed (more brackets- I dunno if DK's seen those threads yet. I think there's a ref in my news, and if not a search for Walmington on Sea ought to bring it all up). People don't want to look for new problems of which they're not already aware.

OOC: Any news on if my Cruisers will meet anything? My fastest one is heading north at 36knt while the rest are following at 30knt. I'm not sure how long it has been since my last post.

ooc:I'm not too sure. I expect the raiders will have either exited the channel or sunk to the bottom of it by the time you arrive, but with the Bismarck engagement over now time ought to be getting along a bit faster. We'll have to see what DK's next step is, I think. We're going to need you to chase things about for us, I think :) Everyone can outrun just about everything Walmington has. Not sure what Erco's ships are doing, I think he dispatched some.. but.. [worries]

(Well, I have a rather powerful squadron over in the south atlantic, making for Walmington with all speed. They're currently somewhere between the Falklands and Ascension, with the plan to turn west for Trinidad before making for Halifax. Of course, if Ercolana tries anything...I'd like to see Littorio stand up to a modern 45,000 ton battleship and a 30,000 ton modern mobile aeroflyer dock. :))

OOC: Any news on if my Cruisers will meet anything? My fastest one is heading north at 36knt while the rest are following at 30knt. I'm not sure how long it has been since my last post.

It all depends on where they are now. Deutschland and Admiral Scheer will be exiting the Channel about now. Keep in mind that any U-boats or aircraft that spot your forces will divert the raiders away from you; these ships are looking for convoys, not warships. :wink:

OOC: At the time the Bismark and the SUffolk etc were fighting I had a destroyer squadron and a Cruiser groups about the latitude of the Lizard and about 500miles out into the atlantic, at the news over the radio the main body continued at 30knts north while the Admiral Coney sped up to 36Knts (2 knts short of max speed since I'm assuming nice calm weather) and headed for the battle zone.dunno the time speeds, or where they would be now.

OOC: At the time the Bismark and the SUffolk etc were fighting I had a destroyer squadron and a Cruiser groups about the latitude of the Lizard and about 500miles out into the atlantic, at the news over the radio the main body continued at 30knts north while the Admiral Coney sped up to 36Knts (2 knts short of max speed since I'm assuming nice calm weather) and headed for the battle zone.dunno the time speeds, or where they would be now.

Ok. You might happen upon Admiral Scheer then, as she's bound for the Western Approaches to support U-boat operations there. Deutschland will be heading for the southern Atlantic, near South Africa (since most merchant traffic going from the east will pass through a very narrow area). She'll be well out to sea for the majority of the voyage, to dissuade any shore-based discovery.
Again, as previously mentioned, any U-boat or aerial recon will be used to divert these raiders away from warships. We can also use our limited radio direction finding equipment to try and avoid surface forces as well. Deutschland and Admiral Scheer are under strict radio silence unless it's a dire emergency. Basically, in about 24-36 hrs RP time, Admiral Scheer will be on station west of Ireland. Actually, I should probably put her further out to sea, since air search from WoS could have a chance of spotting her there....