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On my third attempt, I "won" this scenario.

There is a reason why I put "won" in quotations. I technically lost, but that is only because the Tankers were just short of the safe zone, as in less than a mile, when the timer ran out. Given the losses and expenditures below, I don't think you can realistically call this anything but a victory.

But anyway, unlike my last two attempts, I was able to launch the first airstrike of the battle, after blasting all four of 25 de Mayo's S-2 Trackers. This strike succeeded in causing some damage to the carrier, as well as destroying four Skyhawks, presumably sitting on the flight deck. The 25 de Mayo never launched any airstrikes, which I guess wouldn't qualify this as a true "carrier battle". I lost one Sea Harrier due to a second pass to try and get a better BDA.

After that strike, I was able to get HMS Splendid into the 25 de Mayo's baffles, and four Tigerfish later, Argentina's sole aircraft carrier started sinking. Subesquent torpedo attacks sank the destroyer Santísima Trinidad.

The remaining two ships in that group, destroyers Hercules and Comodoro Py, were attacked by my aircraft. Hercules blew up and sank, Comodoro Py drifted, heavily damaged and on fire, for a long time before being abandoned.

In the mean time, i sent HMS Splendid southward toward the Belgrano group. She expended all 12 of her remaining torpedoes without scoring a single hit, but threw the SAG off balance. I was able to attack this group with two separate Lynx attacks armed with Sea Skuas. All four from each attack slammed into the Belgrano, the second attack sinking her. I finished off Belgrano's two companions, Old Sumner class destroyers, with Exocets from the Tanker Escort Group.

Then, having been infected with Victory Disease, i sent the TEG northward to finish off Argentina's last 3 ships, the Drummond class Corvettes. In a duel of Exocets, I sank one Corvette, but lost HMS Amazon and HMS Broadsword, and HMS Antelope was seriously damaged, and all of it's missiles destroyed. I was able to get her out of there and she survived. I finished off the two remaining corvettes with two separate airstrikes. I'm still kicking myself over being confident that the TEG would wipe out the corvettes.

I never found any Argentinean Submarines, nor did any attack any of my ships.

As said above, the tankers were less than a mile from the safe zone when the timer ran out. I didn't get them moving faster, fast enough.

As a result, my score was Disaster -200 for the loss of HMS Amazon and HMS Broadsword, and having 'failed' to get the tankers through, even though that is realistically BS.

anyway, here are the losses/expenditures:

SIDE: UK
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x F 169 Amazon [Type 21, Exocet]
1x F 88 Broadsword [Type 22 Batch 1]
2x Lynx HAS.2
1x Sea Harrier FRS.1


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
17x 114mm/55 Mk8 HE(MP) HE
10x AIM-9L Sidewinder
10x Corvus Chaff [Distraction]
16x Corvus Chaff [Seduction]
25x Mk13 1000lb GPB
9x Mk24 Tigerfish Mod 1
11x Mk8 Straight-Runner
8x MM.38 Exocet Blk I
5x Sea Cat Mod 1
1x Sea Dart Mod 0
8x Sea Skua
1x Type 2066 Bandfish



SIDE: Argentine
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
9x A-4Q Skyhawk [A-4B]
1x C 4 General Belgrano [Brooklyn Class]
2x D 1 Hercules [Type 42]
2x D 25 Segui [Sumner Class]
1x D 27 Comodoro Py [Gearing FRAM II]
3x P 31 Drummond [A 69]
4x S-2E Tracker
2x SA.319B Alouette III
6x SH-3D Sea King
1x V2 Veinticinco de Mayo [Colossus]


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
9x 114mm/55 Mk8 HE(MP) HE
4x 127mm/25 Mk10 AA-VT [AntiAircraft Common]
7x 127mm/38 Twin HE-PD Burst [HiCap, 2 rnds]
30x 40mm/70 Single Bofors Burst [4 rnds]
1x 76mm/50 Twin Frag Burst [2 rnds]
3x A.244
8x MM.38 Exocet Blk I
1x Sea Cat Mod 1
4x Syllex Chaff

Glad to see you AAR. This is the first medium size scenario I design and I'm happy to see it works.

I won in a similar way. To be successufl with those old torpedoes you must be within 1000 yards from fast targets. The SSN is really the weapon of choice, given the poor ASW of the argentinians.
You can successfully use Sea Dart in surface mode too.
There is a Salta SSK hidden somewhere but it must have problem keeping up with fast moving targets.

I would like to make the argentine version, but it's difficult for me to model some Royal Navy choices: keeping tankers with escort or just separate them (like I did); use the invincible carrier to protect the tankers or to attack the enemy? Programming Arg. behaviour is easier, because is just "seek and destroy" with two primary targets, carrier and tankers.

Francesco

After the exchange in the other thread, I was inspired to try something... I modified the mission by setting the Santissima Trinidad (Type 42) to Active Radar/OECM, as well as one of the Sumner class ships in the Belgrano group. I also set 4 of the A-4s to a new Intercept mission, armed with Sidewinders (didn't set a max range, but maybe should have). Then I made a large exclusion zone that covers the entire expected area that the UK will come through, setting contacts to hostile. The Argentines are going to shoot first and ask questions later...

===
AAR:

I set the Broadsword in the Tanker Escort Group to active radar, as well as the Sheffield (Type 42) in TF Invincible. Sent out 1 Sea King and 1 Harrier to about 150 nm west of Invincible. Harrier picked up 2 Trackers on RWR. Took out one with guns, turned to get the other one and ran into an A-4, shot it down, and then got the second Tracker. Harrier went RTB for a very successful mission. Two more Harriers launched out to stand patrol, one took a surprise attack from an A-4. Both the Harrier and the A-4 are modeled as Agility 3 in the game, and they turn at almost identical rates, makes one-on-one turning fights last a long time.

With the enemy jamming it's a lot harder to pick up planes at long distances, and the ELINT of the Sea Kings doesn't have nearly as long a range. I kept sending up Sea Harriers and knocking down whatever I could find, eventually killed all the Trackers and all 4 interceptor Skyhawks. I lost one Sea Harrier to a Skyhawk in a gun duel when I was caught out of Sidewinders, and before another Harrier could relieve that one on its patrol station. I ordered my planes to fire as soon as they got a classification (like "Attack Aircraft"), which allowed me to use the all-aspect AIM-9Ls to their best advantage in head-on attacks.

Everything came to a head when my Tanker Escort Group was nearing Exocet range from the ARA Hercules. I launched my anti-carrier strike at absolute maximum range, had to override the Bingo behavior, and I even ran Invincible in at flank speed to lessen the distance as much as possible. My strike hit the carrier when ARA Hercules was only 5 miles outside of Exocet range, so timing was pretty good. I ran the two Harriers in from astern, 80 ft, mil power, popping up to 1000 ft starting at 2.0 miles which gives a near perfect drop, then running for home at wavetop height to stay under the Sea Dart floor (100 ft). Of the three bombs off the first plane, the first missed by 149 ft, and the other two were direct hits, with 89% and 91% penetration. It was a devastating attack. The bombs destroyed 4 of the remaining Skyhawks (leaving only 1), and did heavy damage throughout the ship. (Looking briefly from the Argentine side, the carrier had 47.4% damage from that strike, no fire, but some flooding, heavy damage to the flight deck and engines, crippling the carrier.) Then the next three bombs hit. All of them, with 87%, 91%, and 100% penetration. Huge explosions ripped through the carrier and she was aflame from stem to stern. In only a few minutes, Veinticinco de Mayo disappeared beneath the waves, victim of a perfect attack...

Minutes later, HMS Broadsword launched the first pair of Exocets against ARA Hercules. Both missed (one malfunction, the other spoofed), so launched another pair. One of those hit, doing heavy damage. Meanwhile Broadsword shot down the 4 incoming Exocets with Sea Wolf missiles (make sure to turn sideways to the incoming so both your missile launchers can target them). I sent my Tanker Escort Group's Lynx with Sea Skuas to attack the Argentine frigate group, expended all 4 missiles on one ship, getting 2 hits and doing decent damage. Another pair of Exocets finally finished off ARA Hercules. I closed in to the remains of the Argentine carrier group with 6 Exocets remaining. As soon as I got into range I fired all three, split between the two remaining ships, then turned and ran for the Invincible group. The missiles ran true and the Argentine escort group was destroyed.

As soon as Invincible recovered the strike planes, I turned her north to join up with the tankers, and split off all her escorts except the Yarmouth (Type 12M ASW frigate). This new strike group I sent toward the Argentine frigate group, with a secondary mission of mopping up the Belgrano group in case HMS Splendid couldn't finish them off. I got Splendid in close and destroyed the Belgrano group with Tigerfish. You really do have to be close in order to hit with those, they're barely faster than the ships. I got all three ships though, and so Splendid then became the backup to the group I split off Invincible.

Having expended their ASMs, the Tanker Escort group was going back to rendezvous with the tankers and Invincible. Suddenly out of the blue, Amazon and Antelope exploded! A surprise torpedo attack eviscerated the Tanker Escort Group! I slowed Broadsword down and scrambled her Lynx (armed with Sea Skuas). Pinging away with active sonar, I found a contact and launched ASW torps just as more torpedoes were detected incoming. The weapons passed each other and homed remorselessly on their targets; my Tanker Escort Group was finished, and the Argentine sub joined them on their long trip to the bottom.

Broadsword's helicopter went off to take revenge on the Argentine frigate group. It and Brilliant's heli (also Sea Skuas) attacked the frigate group, sinking one ship and damaging another. Exocets finished off that group as well, and the battle was done.

UK losses air losses were light, with only one Harrier down. Ship losses were heavy though, with two Type 21 frigates (along with their helicopters), and one Type 22, all sunk in one exchange with the ARA Salta. Likewise, the 3 ships in the ARA Belgrano group were sunk in one exchange with HMS Splendid, showing the power of modern submarines against careless opponents. In all, the UK sunk 11 Argentine ships, including their irreplacable carrier and heavy cruiser, and crippled Argentina's ability to project power beyond its shores.

Historically, a UK Type 21, a Type 22, and two Type 42s, as well as two transport ships were sunk during the war. Argentina lost the Belgrano, as well as the ARA Santa Fe, a Balao class sub (disabled and captured by the British). Veinticinco de Mayo was never able to launch a proper carrier strike, and her planes were used from shore bases during the war.

Lessons learned:

* I probably should have set some of my ships to active sonar, might not have stumbled on top of the sub that way.

* There are enough Harriers that you can keep up two at a time, and it's probably best to do that, but don't let them get too far away from each other or the Sea King.

Great scenario, I've really enjoyed playing it.

Must be more fun to try and succeed as the Argentine side!

Hello fellow wargamers, my name is Andrea Galliano, I’m from Italy, and I started wargaming back in the eighties; I was especially fond of the old Harpoon rules and in particular of the South Atlantic booklet on the Falklands War.
I got back in the wargaming world from a couple of years, and recently I have purchased CMANO, and I’m feeling home again.
I started doing the tutorials and simple scenario to start, and obviously the first fully fledged scenario I tackled is the carrier battles north of the Falklands.
Here are my two cents, please be kind to a newbie and to my English.
Before starting the time I modified the route of the tankers and escort a little eastward and set them to the maximum non cavitating speed.
TF Invincible I set at WNW 24 Kn
Splendid racing ahead at 30 Kn at a non cavitating depth on a parallel course to Invincible.
I set a couple of ASW missions around the Tankers group and TF Invincible with areas moving relative to the groups, assigning all the ASW helicopters apart from the sea kings.
Likewise I set a CAP area that followed TF Invincible with a pair of Harrier on patrol.
The sea kings went to a fixed patrol area with Sea Control Mission westward of the tankers route.
The escort group had no emissions while I set radars and sonar active on the TF Invincible, yes acting kind of a bait.
All went well for a while, argentine trackers and sea kings were bounced by the harriers, most of the time using aden cannon burst to preserve the sidewinders and avoiding going winchester too soon.
When the distance from TF Invincible to the Sea Control Area permitted to the sea kings a reasonable amount of flight time the argentine carrier group was discovered; the sea kings approached the skunks to identify them and twice were splashed by gunfire; FIRSE QUESTION: is there a way to instruct them to shadow the contacts without getting too near? In the end I had to set the course manually.
ARA Hercules was well ahead of the 25deMayo while SantissimaTrinidad and CommodoroPy were on her flanks.
I launched the Lynx armed with sea skuas from the Escort Group to strike Hercules, he was able to hit her with a missile but was downed by a sea dart; causing no apparent damage.
I choose not to strike with the bomb laden harriers, in fear of the argentinean sea dart and having put the Splendid just ahead of the apparent course of the argentinean TF I choose to sit and wait silently; the first to arrive was Hercules, I launched one tigerfish at 2/3rd of the maximum range and the fish missed; I had to get much closer to hit and sink Hercules on the third attempt, fortunately the argentinean didn’t use their asw helicopters to hunt Splendid.
In the meantime the carrier and close escort were still speeding toward Splendid so again I sit and wait for them to come; this time I went deep while a sea king kept them under surveillance.
I unlashed a salvo of tigefish as close as I dare and hit every ship; SantissimaTrinidad and CommodoroPY each received a fish, Santissima sinking right away and Commodoro laying crippled at zero speed, 25deMayo received two fish and went dead in the water.
As latins said I was faulty of hubris (arrogance) and instead of finishing the carrier with a couple of straight runners I decided to use her as target practice for my bombers.
While I was laying near the 25deMayo a couple of torpedoes splashed near Splendid and crippled her; damn there was still a arg sea king hovering in the area!
Splendid was immobilizer but still capable of diving, so I sent her to the bottom, and hurried a couple of fighter to erase the chopper; my plan being to finish the carrier with bombers and rescue the crew of Splendid.
The harriers splashed the sea king and spotted a lonely alouette still hovering above Splendid so I ordered them to splash it with cannon fire, which they did, but in the process were both downed by gunfire from 25deMayo, I thought british pilots were better than that!
Now the area around the sub was clear and TF Invincible was steaming to the rescue; Tankers and Escorts were safely behind the TF Invincible en-route to the goal line.
My sea king discovered the argentinean frigate group steaming from the north in the direction of Splendid’s location; I steered the TF Invincible toward them planning to wipe them out with exocets.
In the missile battle that followed I lost Sheffield to the three argentinean frigates; lesson learned: I have to study how to change the group layout, I should have put Sheffield to the rear, her sea dart being unable to intercept the sea skimming exocets, and bring Broadsword to the fore to use her seawolves as first line of defense.
TF Invincible with only two exocets remaining set route to the south, when the Belgrano group was located again by the tireless sea kings.
They were steering toward splendid!
After the sinking of the carrier I choose to re-arm a pair of harriers with bombs leaving only a couple with sidewinders.
So now I had two couplet of strike flight to launch at the Belgrano, albeit the second pair had still a couple of hours to be ready, I launched the first strike with the ready couple and steered the Escort Group away from the tankers on an interception route with the Belgrano, TF Invincible was to stay clear of the action; the asw helicopters from the escort group were still tasked to the asw mission around the tankers
I sent also the second Lynx armed with sea skuas to strike the eastern escort of the Belgrano, this time with a little of micro management I was able to strike it without losing the chopper; BUT a little bug happened here, the Lynx was unable to land on her mother ship even trying at least three times and run out of fuel.
The bomb harriers attacked the same escort but scored no hit.
The escort group had to do the job.
But before they arrived to the spot the escorts finished off the Splendid which was still hiding .
This time I was confident that sea wolves would protect my frigates, I unleashed all my exocets to the escorts, planning to cripple the Belgrano with bombs.
My exocets wiped out the escorts, but i didn’t notice the message that also one of the argentineans exocet had hit one of my frigates slowing her down.
So I found my escort group chased by the Belgrano, without exocets, my bombing harriers still rearming and nothing else to strike the old cruiser with.
The only thing left to do was slip below the waves with the white ensign flying and the guns blazing, I directed the captains to throw all the 114’s magazine to the Belgrano.
In the running battle that followed the two surviving frigates sunk the Belgrano; the damaged one, the name I regretfully forgot, sunk early because of the damage done by the exocets, the Belgrano didn’t fire a single shell.
With the loss of the cruiser the calm reigned on the south atlantic and the surviving british forces reached safely the goal line.
The final score was a disaster, -400 points, which I think I deserve losing Splendid, Sheffield and one frigate because of my arrogance.