Germany AAR

[mrchuck]

1948, June
Reparations and possessions.
I don't really want this BC, but I can scrap it for cash and it's one less boat the French have. We examined her on arrival at Wilhelmshaven.

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Technically advanced enough, but the scale of protection is far below our standards. Not battleworthy in the opinion of our researchers. Resuming construction of our other Hannover-class instead--much more better!

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Taking the economic boost this time. And we got Malta back.

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Italy resolves to fight on--by themselves. England may still come in, but I'm going to organise a Mediterranean fleet detachment now that we've disposed of the main enemy.
(continues)

[mrchuck]

1948, July
CLs Konigsberg and Koln of the Mediterranean Fleet find and sink Italian CA Bolzano after a spirited gun and torpedo battle at night.
+1P
Our detachment in the Med is co-operating with allied forces to contain the Italians. They are now blockaded by a force totalling roughly twice their own.

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I believe the Duce will soon regret his decision to keep fighting.

1948, August
No activity, however unrest at home increases due to revolutionary ideas from France.

1948, September
26 September, 1230: Cruiser action in the Adriatic, in support of our ally Austria.

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Radar contact. Increasing speed to 25 kts and engaging.
1247: ordering flotilla attack
1312: The Italian gunnery is pretty good. We're taking some hits--dishing them out, too.

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1350: Recalling flotilla attack, it has served its purpose. Italians in confusion.
1354: Italian BB in trouble and breaks formation. Rudder damage? Anyway...likely to be fatal. Italian BCs escaping--let them, we're outnumbered otherwise.

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

The fleet is making its way back to Cattaro. A few Italian units seem to be hanging around.

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No further losses on either side. I am well satisfied with this result. Can't say I like these narrow seas much. May well pull the med fleet out soon--immediately if Britain decides to declare war.

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Major victory, +2P.

[mrchuck]

1948, October.

Declined three battles due to not liking the sit. I'm pulling the Mediterranean fleet out and back to Northern Europe, as the force is too small to operate aggressively, and I'm concerned about Britain. Also the destroyer supports are now in need of rebuilds, and this task is too important to let it slide.

I will leave it to my allies to bring Italy to heel.

1948, November.
Med fleet recalled.

1948, December
15 DDs sent for refits. The DD arm was in bad shape.

1949, January
Unrest at home has unexpectedly spiralled out of control due losses of the merchant marine and consequent shortages. Fleet morale is holding up, but we are in danger of losing the war on the home front.

This is the one and only time I've trade warfare achieve anything substantial in RTW. I've placed large forces on TP in Northern Europe, but I'm not sure if this will help.

Fingers crossed that something gives other than the government...

[mrchuck]

1949, April.

The Italians have invaded Malta, and the only force we have available to oppose them is a USN cruiser squadron.
I am not going to sacrifice them for nothing--the whole fleet will move to the med next month and we'll try conclusions with Italy.

Either that, or we'll be suing for peace--whichever comes first...

1949, May

The entire fleet is ordered to redeploy to the med. But, due to the fuel shortage, less than half of the fleet is able to move so we'll be badly outnumbered.

Here goes nothing. Unrest is at 12, so a defeat will most likely cause a chain reaction of catastrophe. But it we win, something might yet be salvaged.

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To make matters worse, few of the units present in the med have enough fuel to sail. We have mostly light forces. This will require superhuman bravery, and a fair bit of luck.

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May 24, 1252.
Enemy sighted. Ordering an immediate flotilla attack--because that's about all we have.

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1312: Enemy appears to be 3-4 BCs and supports. Recalling flotilla attack until the fleet is in a better position, but the three northermost DDs have caused the Italians to veer off.

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1333: Italian surface forces nowhere in sight now. Presumably they'll try to get the job done with land-based air.
1340: ordering CVs to all strike the lead Italian battleship.
(continues)

[mrchuck]

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1542: A break at last, we've fought off several waves of land-based air with minimal damage, and out TBs have put two torps into the Italian BC squadron.

If we can slow one or two down, the rump of the surface fleet may be able to finish them off and we'll pull a win out of this mess.
1640-1650: CA Alberico da Barbiano dead in the water and being pounded to scrap by the fleet.

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1707: Another CA Calabria-class in our sights.

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And one of the enemy BCs also seems to be in trouble--slowed to 20 kts.
1716: CA Calabria is toast. Trying for the BC as well.

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1721: Our one BB, Austrian Arpad, is hit by a torp. Ordered to return to base, looks survivable at this stage. I'll continue to harry the BC with cruisers and see how it plays. The rest of the Italians have moved away NW.
1804: We have cornered the Italian BC and will press the attack no matter what.

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1812: DD V43 puts two torps into the BC. Another Iron Cross for the DD drivers.
CL Kolberg fires a follow-up spread.

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1814: BC hit by another torp from Kolberg. Done for I think, heading the fleet home.
1820: BC hit by three more torps from S34.

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Dark in 30 mins. I think it's over.
1930: It was. A major victory, +2P. Unrest has been reduced slightly at home by this success against very heavy odds.
If I can get more units to the med, and get hold of some fuel oil, we might be able to turn this around.

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[mrchuck]

It now looks almost inevitable that Britain will join Italy in the war against us.
After 60 years of almost uninterrupted success, the Kaiserliche Marine faces it greatest challenge not on the high seas but at home, where war-weariness and shortages have seriously undermined the standing of the government.

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This month probably represents the last chance to bring Italy to the peace table. I doubt whether Germany can stand another war with another opponent right now. The blockade is lifted and we have fuel, so we will seek battle wherever offered and stake everything on this.

Previously I moved the air groups from Narvik and Tonder to Gibraltar and Malta. Looks I may need all of them now, so raising new air groups to cover the two empty bases.

This looks like a winner. Italy is challenging us near our base at Gibraltar and far from theirs.

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If we can hurt them enough, this nightmare may end well after all.
June 20: The fleet is deployed. One US battleship and DD screen in company.

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1608: Radar contact.
1616: Ordering carrier strikes on the leading Italian BC.
We have a distinct advantage here, and they know it. Pressing the attack.

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1646: Torpedoed an Italian CA. Their BC division wants to fight it out right here--no dancing away at top speed this time.

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I will oblige them.
1648: BC Impero hit by torpedo
1649: BB Friedrich der Grosse hit by torpedo.
1654: BC Impero torpedoed again. Most likely done for.
1700: BB Hannover hit by torpedo. Disengaging due to heavy flooding and lowered speed, but not otherwise badly damaged and should survive.

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1703: Friedrich der Grosse hit by another torp. Disengaging.
1706: Ordering flotilla attack.

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1716: CL Koln torpedoes BC Morosini-class. The noose is tightening.
One kill for sure.

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1736: Heading fleet back to Gib. The Italians have been comprehensively defeated.

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1739: Administering the coup de grace.

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1800-1840: German airstrikes go in. Many hits on disabled Italians remaining in the area.
Result: major victory, +2P

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Not enough to silence dissent at home. Sent the Marines to disperse protesters. Enough though, to force the Italians to abandon the Malta operation and evacuate the surviving assault force.

Fleet morale is down, and there have been some instances of mutinous behaviour.

Everything hangs by a thread.

[mrchuck]

1949, July
We have detected a major Italian fleet movement near Malta. While we still can...intercepting this with the bulk of our Mediterranean force.
July 23, 0203. Dawn in less than an hour. Action stations!

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0240: Radar contact.
0335: They don't seem any more keen to get closer to our airbase than I am to move towards theirs.

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I don't much fancy being bombed and torpedoed from the three airbases in Sicily. Moving SE to maximise friendly aircover.
0405: They seem to be rather half-heartedly giving chase. Picket Z32 spots them following but out of range.
0615-0720: German airstrikes go in. Multiple hits on unknown ships.
0800-1000: Surface forces cover the carriers while the strikes are retrieved
0900-1100: Italian airstrikes incoming. CAP and AA effective, no hits.
1200-1230: Second wave of Italian strikes. No hits.
1417-1526: small groups of Italian aircraft make intermittent and ineffective strikes.
I have been maintaining this general disposition for about six hours. AA fire is concentrated, making it much more effective. We are close to our CAP from the carriers and Valetta. We are well within range to intervene if any enemy surface forces show up, trying to surprise the carriers.
So far, working well. Sunset in one hour 10. I think the Italians will give up then.

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Superb work by the carrier arm. Dispatched a BC and destroyer, damaged 2 BCs, all for the loss of 11 aircraft--and we shot down 23.

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Major victory, +2P, fleet morale is restored and domestic unrest abates a little bit (still 10 though)

The British are hell-bent on intervening. Activating all airbases and ramping our intel effort. No sense trying to make nice now.

[mrchuck]

1949, August.
British still not in but spoiling for a fight. The Italians, however, are much reduced and if I have to I'll ignore them for now and send everything north.

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I don't have any real doubt that the fleet can defeat the British again, but any more unrest at home and the government will collapse.

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Rather than face that, the Kaiser has--thankfully--directed that the war be ended immediately.

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Tensions ease across the board and we're bringing the boys home. No territories change hands, so the war achieved precisely nothing at enormous cost in lives and materiel.
Except that the prestige of the fleet is undimmed...

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[mrchuck]

1950, June
Commenced construction of two new large carriers, and continuing and extensive rebuild programme for the surface fleet. Research into missile tech hasn't yielded any fruit yet, but at least everything else should be done by the time it does.
The populace are still unsettled (7) but no crisis as yet.
1952, June
Massive budget cuts over the last year. I'm going to have to scrap some ships.
1952, November
Scrapped all ships built before 1930--5 BBs, 3 CAs, 2 CLs, 2 CVs. Budget still heavily in the red, and still no missiles!
I wonder how we'll go in the next war. Not well as things stand.
New CV Europa commissioned.
1953, January.
CV Pater Strasser commissioned.
We can start fitting SSMs to our fleet. At last!
Budget in the black again thanks to a convenient crisis in Africa.
Back to work...
1954, January
About half the fleet, and nearly everything CL or bigger, is now missile-equipped. Switching doctrine to plentiful missile supply. The opening engagements of the next war--which I feel is not far off--will be all-important, and that will give Germany an edge.

[mrchuck]

Well, I was right about that last comment.
1954, February.
War with Italy...again!

[mrchuck]

1954, February.

Startegic situation.

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Due to the retrenchments of the early 50s, the fleet is much smaller than it used to be. However, deployment of missiles is pretty wide so perhaps the remaining units will be more effective.
Changing missile stockpile doctrine will have no effect after all, as this war came too soon.

Dispatching the whole fleet to the med in hopes of a quick decision--before Britain joins, which once again they are very likely to try. I'm still allied to USA and Austria. I'm not expecting much from the Americans this time, though Austria is very likely to help out.

One positive side effect of the recent budget cuts is that domestic discord has been silenced and the people are behind us for the time being.

1954, March

The Kaiser has approved our proposal to invade Sardinia. Let's see if we can entice the Italians out of port.

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They were nowhere to be seen last month except for a token force near Iceland.

1954, April.
Convoy defence. The Italians are trying a counter-move against our Malta supply line. We will of course try to stop them

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1954, April 3
1130: Initial missile salvo hitting home.

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1135: Ordering carrier strike on the enemy CAs.
1144: The enemy are regrouping to the north. Covering the carriers, and the CA division is coming up.

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1200: CAs and screens launch missiles. More hits.

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They have BCs present. On paper we're outgunned--but I think the missiles have evened things up quite a bit.

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Not retreating just yet. No Italian missiles in response--I don't think they have any.
(continues)

[mrchuck]

1209: Ordering flotilla attack.
1304: Recalling flotilla attack. We're getting shot up pretty badly, but I'm trying to buy time for the airstrikes to go in.
1341: BCs closing in, they must not get at the carriers. Ordering CVs to steam west and I may have to sacrifice 2 CL division to drive them off. Ordering it to close and attempt torpedo attack.

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1512: Looks like it may have worked. Enemy moving off eastwards.

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1601: Enemy throwing a couple of cruisers at the carriers. Luckily their screens have more missles, so this move fails.

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1629: The Italians are coming back. This could be bad.

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1700: The Italians have retired. Nightfall. I think it's over.
1956: DD Albatros sinks, but if that's the worst of it I'll be well pleased.
Battle result--plenty of damage, but only the one DD lost. On the other side, a BC, three CAs, a CL and 3 DDs
Major victory, +2P, and a resounding success for the new missiles.

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However I can't put my new DDG class into construction until we've made good all this battle damage. In particular I have no operational CAs at all for three months.

[mrchuck]

1954, May
The Italian fleet declined to contest the invasion of Sardinia, so we're ashore.
Britain still poised on the sidelines--as are my allies, USA and Austria.
May 28: Light forces sent out to contest a raid on our invasion forces. Supposedly they aren't sending much out, but I don't trust the intel on this one so our force has been ordered to retire at top speed if heavily overmatched.

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Radar contact!
1230: Don't like the smell of this, and we're far too close to their air bases. Moving away SW.

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Retired, sustaining one missile hit from land based air--one DD damaged.
Also--as I suspected.

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At least they won't be turning on us. Happy enough for them to stay out of it.
I am going to have trouble with Britain though

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(continues)

[mrchuck]

1954, June
Supporting land combat. Supposedly a cruiser action, but this time we're sending out two BBs and carriers just in case.

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June 16, 0625: Radar contact
0638: Missile salvo away.
0640: Many hits spotted, but there's another enemy force NE of this one. Turning to engage it--might be the main body.
0653: This other force appears to be retiring. Turning SE to engage what I think is their scouting force--or what's left of it.
0734: Retiring W. Done enough, too close to enemy airbases for my liking.

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Battle result: minor victory, +1P. Air losses 2:1 in our favour, despite being outnumbered in the air by nearly 4:1
Elite pilot training is paying off.

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