Jutland strategies

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

hey folks,

I'm playing a PBEM game as teh British in Jutland. By massing my BB's and cruisers right away i managed to get a marginal victory in the first encounter with the Japanese fleet, but i can only put 25 ships in each surface combat fleet. So i have 3 fleets, with 2 of them following the flagship fleet with the strongest leader. Is this the best way to maneuver or should i break up into squadrons? Will the other fleets benefit from the strongest guy's leadership? Any advice or your experiences would be helpful.

Also, has anyone gotten their carrier to be useful?

And how do you do recon? Much harder in War Plan Orange to find the enemy...

[Terminus]

I nearly always operate in multiple squadrons, with the slowest being followed by the others. Try and group ships with guns of a similar caliber (and thus range).

Scouting is the province of submarines and carrier aircraft. Spread them out in patrol lines moving ahead of your battle squadrons.

[leehunt27@bloomberg.net]

good point i hadn't thought about grouping ships by the gun caliber & range. i've spread the subs out ahead and that's helped.

[KofK]

If you post piquet lines of subs around your enemy's ports then it can serve the useful function of interdicting his movements, and providing early warning of fleet sorties.

In the Jutland scenario your carrier is unlikely to be decisive, but it can be used to attrite your opponent before the battlelines meet.