A new beta scenario, part of the 1957 Khrushchev's War campaign. This one is a slugfest between a Soviet battleship group and an American battleship group south of Greenland. Who will prevail?
As always, please let me know what you think. Gameplay, units selected, orders, missions, scoring, events, etc. What can I do to make this scenario better, more challenging, more interesting, and/or more fun?
South Dakota and California are not sister ships, with the former the lead of her class which started commissioning in 1942, while the latter is of the Tennessee class and was commissioned in 1921, and as naval history enthusiasts will know, was sunk in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor and actually participated in the real "last battleship action" at Surigao Strait in 1944.
I'm also happy to see USS Nautilus in a real combat scenario for (possibly) the first time.
You are in command of a battle group of available vessels assembled to intercept and destroy the Soviet battle group. It is a curious collection of ships for the late 1950s, being centered on two World War II-era battleships, South Dakota and California. Both vessels had been reactivated shortly before hostilities erupted in Europe with the idea of using them as test platforms for new technologies. However, once the Soviet attacks started, these plans were put on hold.
(It occurred to me I had not explained why the ships were even available for missions...I'm guessing it takes a while to get a ship ready for combat when it has been sitting in reserve for several years.)
Looking at South Dakota says goodbye I'm curious why you chose to pair SoDak with California? California's slow speed would inhibit TG ops. Edit: I can see activation of one Fast BB and one Standard for upgrade experiments. But I still think at least one more Fast BB would be pulled out at a rush to back up SoDak for 2nd Fleet use while California would be dispatched to ComPhibLant.
My understanding is the "Big Five" including California were retained because they were 1. Newer 2. In the overall best shape and 3. The most modern of pre-war Standards but primarily with NGFS of amphibious ops in mind as in WWII the Standards and the Fast Battleships were maintained in separate formations.
Was thinking that one of her sisters, maybe Big Mamie, or one of the North Carolinas, maybe her Guadalcanal partner Washington, as they were all in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet?
Looking at your question about ready times I looked at some old post war documents and Proceedings articles. Because reserve ships activated in 1917 and 1941 had been in a poorer material state than expected FDR had around 1943-1944 had directed the USN to have a more effective plan and process for the Reserve Fleet. Ships entering reserve were supposed to be overhauled prior to decommissioning for storage and large ships (cruisers, battleships, and carriers) were to have caretaker crews maintained so that ongoing maintenance could be performs and certain systems run to prevent deterioration from non-use. Smaller ships were to be inspected periodically, and system checked. Ships were to be on 30, 60, and 90 day activation notice. My understanding is that the Iowas were always on 30 day, the other Fast Battleships and Alaska class Large Cruisers were generally on 60 day although 2 may have been moved up to 30 day on a rotation, while the "Big Five" were at 90 day readiness.
However, pressure to send crews home post-VJ day meant in practice some ships were overhauled prior to decommissioning while others were decommissioned strait to reserve. Preservation work also varied, and the caretaker crews were never in place. During the Korean War activation some ships actually were ready ahead of expectation sometimes being ready in just over a week for DDs and DEs while even some small ships were in such a state a year of work was needed.
I don't have the current db yet so I'm guessing we're not up against Ganguts here and in this world at least some of Stalin's big guns were completed and in service. That might mean some NATO BBs are kept active and others are on shorter activation notice in reserve. It also may have made keeping the Reserve Fleet in the ideally planned state more politically feasible so ships could be brought into service within their 30, 60, 90 day readiness levels.
A relatively simple but enjoyable scenario. The game started to slow down when the battle was properly joined, no doubt due to the crapload of shells flying through the air.
I attempted to strike the Soviets with Nautilus's torpedoes before the surface engagement began, but I only got a minor hit on one destroyer before the battle began. Nautilus actually contributed by helping to finish off one destroyer and two capital ships after they were already immobilized.
When i got a firm closing course on the soviets, I split off some of my ships into two independent groups separate from the BB force, each led by a Heavy Cruiser accompanied by 2x destroyers.
I had them maneuver to the Soviet's flanks, hoping for a Pincer maneuver. I was only partly successful, in that one of the smaller forces was engaged first by the Soviets, which actually allowed my BBs to engage a partially distracted Soviet force.
In the ensuing gun battle, I lost two destroyers and damage to several other ships, but managed to destroy the entire Soviet fleet!
I'd only add a "victory" state to be reached to call an end, since I ended up spending alot of time just hammering away at the Stalingrad and Sovetsky Soyuz when they were impotent flaming wrecks until they finally went down.
Any other thoughts on this scenario or is it ready for the Community Scenario Pack?
This may be the last 1957 scenario I write for a while. I've never tried to put together a full campaign (I've done a few linked scenarios, but never anything more than two or three) and this was kind of a practice run so I could learn by experience. I plan to eventually come back to it...my idea is that along with others I'll write additional scenarios with some version of the surface groups already introduced in earlier scenarios, so we can follow their progress through the war. But I've realized an entire World War is a huge project and I think I better work on something else (e.g., a smaller campaign) for a while before I get burned out. I do plan to come back to it eventually, though.
