Action in the Bay of Vlore 1969

[fitzpatv]

This small Mark Gellis scenario provided some entertainment on Christmas Day. It assumes that Brezhnev took a dim view of Albania’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact in 1968, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The USSR sends a squadron of warships all the way to blockade the Albanian port of Vlore and the Albanians decide to make a stand. You can only play the Albanian side (though a bug makes the peripheral Neutral shipping available as a choice).

The Soviet squadron consists of the cruiser Chapaev (armed with 152mm and 100mm guns and long-ranged torpedoes), escorted by a Kashin DDG with a Riga-class frigate (100mm guns and short-ranged torpedoes), a Mirka class corvette (76mm guns) and a small oiler. The Kashin has 76mm guns and a Goa battery.

To oppose this, Albania has some aircraft and three naval squadrons. In the air, there are 6 Farmers, 6 MiG-17s, 2 Beagles and 2 Polikarpov recon planes. All are low-performance types and the 14 combat aircraft start loaded with bombs. Most of these are 250kg, but the Beagles have FAB-1000s, which can do serious damage.

At sea, two Kronshtadt-class corvettes, with 85mm guns, are approaching the Bay of Vlore from the NE, while three P-4 torpedo boats form a second pincer to the SE. Also en route to the harbour from the S are two unarmed container ships, escorted by a third Kronshtadt.

On land, the Albanians have a battery of six 152mm guns, (which start poorly-positioned) and some observers around the port (with binoculars). Two AI-controlled fishing boats are leaving the bay and can provide intel.

It didn’t look hopeful, as the Albanian ships clearly stood no chance against the Soviet squadron and the attack planes could not fly under the engagement floor of the Kashin’s Goa and still drop their bombs.

11/1/69 06:00L: I ordered the convoy to stop and await developments, while the two warship squadrons closed the range a little but stayed well out of reach of the Soviet guns. Recon wasn’t an issue, as the observers in the bay quickly located and identified all of the Russian ships just outside. They were initially Unfriendly and closely bunched together, leaving no chance of picking-off an outlier.

I had to wait two hours before all of the strike planes were ready, so filled-in time by sending-in a Polikarpov, which tested the readiness of the Goa battery by approaching just within 50% of its official 10nm range. The Kashin duly fired to trigger hostilities and missed twice on 37% as the Po-2 moved clear. The scout plane then dove to low altitude and repeated the exercise but, this time, the Soviets held their fire, so she circled and observed.

07:00L: The Russians sank the two fishing vessels, which cost Albania 30VP.

08:00L: With much pain due to the crazy land movement rules (whatever they are), I tried to manoeuvre the 152mm battery into position to fire on the Kashin and hopefully disable the Goas, but it moved randomly this way and that and, while getting every other Soviet ship in range, couldn’t quite reach the intended target, which was lucklessly on the far side of the formation. In the end, I lost patience and opened fire on the Riga instead. This prompted the Russians to move closer and I was able to switch to the Kashin. Both Soviet ships took heavy damage and the Goas were probably taken-out, as they didn’t fire again. Somewhat miraculously, the Albanian guns (in a built-up area) survived the Chapaev’s rejoinder at a cost of one weapon, used-up their ammo and withdrew.

09:00L: I unleashed the Albanian Air Force, bombing from 2k’. Six Farmers sank the Riga with bombs for 100VP and scored hits on the Kashin and Mirka. The two Beagles followed-up and disposed of the Chapaev for 200, then the six MiG-17s finished the Kashin (200VP) and the Mirka (100). The latter damaged one Fresco with AA, but all aircraft returned safely.

It remained to deal with the defenceless oiler and get the convoy into port. The three torpedo boats made rather a hash of their attack. Their torpedoes have a flat 40% chance to hit and this applies even if the target is dead in the water. Being me, I missed five times in six shots and the Kronshtadts had to finish the job with gunfire. This scored another 100 points and, with 35 each for getting the merchant ships to Vlore, I finished with a score of +740 and a Triumph.

A couple of bugs and rules issues, but an interesting little problem.

[Mgellis]

Thanks for the feedback on the scenario. I'll be posting an updated version shortly with the playable Neutrals error fixed, and the artillery moved closer to Vlore (it's near a church on a hill now, which doesn't give it much elevation but is close to the shore and more likely to hit the Soviet ships if they get any closer). Also tweaked the location of some of the ground facilities (nice to have the open topographic map layer for scenario building).

Thanks again.