Out of Meggido- The Battle of the Arabian Sea, 1973

[HalfLifeExpert]

Won this scenario on my 3rd attempt just now.

In this scenario, US president Richard Nixon decides to attack Soviet forces around the world due to the tensions resulting from the Yom Kippur War. As the player, I have at my disposal:

USS Coral Sea Battle Group, with the carrier, one cruiser, one destroyer, and one frigate. Additionally, I have on detached destroyer and one Sturgeon class SSN. My main mission is to find and destroy a Soviet Oil convoy that just left the Persian Gulf. There are other enemies in the area, including a Soviet SAG, Submarines, and an airbase on Socotra Island, equipped with Tu-16 Badger bombers.

Due to being vaporized by Badger attacks in my last two attempts, this time, my first act was a first strike against their base on Socotra Island. I sent two Shrike armed A-7s in first to blast the SAM batteries, shortly followed by four A-7s each armed with 6x 500lb Iron Bombs. Their only targets are the two tarmac spaces. I don't have the proper equipment, short of nukes that is, to permanently kill the base, so i'll settle with blasting the aircraft on the ground. (I do have authorization to use nuclear weapons, but none are ready at the outset, and i want to hit these damned bombers before they can hit me at any cost.)

The attack on Socotra is a total success. The SEAD planes arrive first, but enemy radars are apparently off, so I keep them above the base waiting for them to turn on. Then the Bombers show up. All 24 500lb bombs slam into the tarmac, blasting all eight aircraft based there (6x Tu-16 Badgers; 2x Il-38 Mays). At some point after those bombs hit, the enemy radars go on any my SEAD planes let loose, blasting a few AA emplacments. All 6 aircraft return to the carrier, USS Coral Sea, unharmed.


Meanwhile, my Sturgeon class submarine, USS Drum, finds and torpedoes a Victor I submarine with ease, my Surface ships also find and sink a Whiskey SS. Throughout the course of the scenario, my ships, sub and helos sink a number of submarines, they are listed below. However, I jumped the gun on one subsurface contacted and ordered an ASROC fired prematurely, resulting in the tragic death of an innocent whale...sorry nature![:(]

A few hours after the Socotra Raid, I find the Soviet SAG. On thing i learned in my last two playthroughs of this scenario are that the AGM-62B Walleyes are completely useless. The light cloud cover around 5000 feet prevents them from being used at all. Since these ships are a serious threat to my ships, I determine that I must use my most powerful weapon to neutralize them, as I do not want to risk anything by attempting to sink them with Iron Bombs.

I launch Five aircraft. Two A-7s armed with Shrikes, one ECM aircraft, and Two attack A-7s. The ECM plane does it's job well. The SEAD planes successfully hit the Radars on the primary Soviet SAM ship. Then I send in one of the attack A-7s, keeping the other some distance away just in case the first gets shot down. It doesn't, and all three Soviet warships are vaporized with a single 340 Kiloton Nuclear Gravity Bomb.


With that threat eliminated. I launch an AEW Aircraft to find the Convoy. I find it to the Southwest of Karachi. The first think I do is send the SSN Drum to intercept it, but it will take some time. I don't necessarily want to use a Nuke again if I don't need to, so I take a chance and launch Six F-4s armed with Iron Bombs, supported by two ECM aircraft. Arriving over the convoy, I sent two pairs against the tankers, and the final pair against the convoy's most capable escort, a Kashin Class DDG. The bomb run on the Kashin works, damaging it. The first pair to attack the tankers miss with their bombs. I redirect the final pair to make a follow up attack on the Kashin, which sinks it. The Convoy's only other escort is a Frigate without any missiles, so I feel that I do not need to use more nukes.

I launch a second strike with five pairs of A-7s armed with Iron bombs. I send them all against the Tankers. about half of the targeted tankers are hit with bombs, with three ultimately sinking before the next strike comes.

My next strike is with F-4s again, as it will take some time for my A-6s to be rearmed from Walleyes to Iron Bombs. I send one pair to blast the Frigate, to clear the way for USS Drum, and that succeeds. Another Tanker is sunk by my F-4s.

With the USS Drum closing in, i decided to let it finish off the convoy. I order it into the attack, assigning 1 torpedo to each remaining tanker (no escorts left). One by one, the USS Drum blasts the helpless tankers, after one of them is sunk, I meet the victory conditions and win the scenario. However I want to finish off these ships so i press on.

Unfortunately, I shouldn't have done that. USS Drum runs out of Mk48 Torpedoes, and the captain, in his infinite wisdom, launches a nuclear Torpedo, sinking both the target tanker and himself.......[:-]

Now there are only two tankers left, one heavily damaged. I launch a pair of A-6s with Iron bombs which easily finish them off.

So my final score was Triumph: 2630

But my perfect victory was ruined by the stupid captain using that nuclear torpedo so close to the target


Losses and expenditures:


SIDE: United States
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LOSSES:
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1x SSN 637 Sturgeon

EXPENDITURES:
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37x AN/SSQ-47 Julie Active Range-Only
168x Mk82 500lb LDGP
14x Mk48 Mod 1
4x AGM-45B Shrike [ARM]
1x B61 Tactical/Strategic Bomb [340kT Nuclear]
8x Mk46 LWT Mod 2
80x 127mm/54 HE-CVT [HiFrag]
10x 127mm/54 HE-PD [HiCap]
10x 127mm/54 WP
2x UUM-44A SUBROC [10kT Nuclear DC]
5x RUR-5A Mod 4 ASROC RTT [Mk46 Mod 2]
1x Mk45 ASTOR Mod 0 [Nuclear, 10kT]
12x Mk83 1000lb LDGP



SIDE: Soviet Union
===========================================================

LOSSES:
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2x Il-38 May
6x Tu-16KSR-2-5-11 Badger G Mod
1x 23mm ZU-23-2
1x SA-2c Guideline Single Rail
1x SA-3b Goa Quad Rail
1x Building (Control Tower)
2x PLA-671 Victor I [Yorsh]
1x SKR Krivak I [Pr.1135 Burevestnik]
1x BPK Kildin Class
1x Ka-25BSh Hormone A
1x BPK Kara [Pr.1134B Berkut B]
1x PL- 613 Whiskey IV
1x SSV Primorye [Pr.394B/994]
1x PLA-627A November [Kit]
1x BPK Kashin [Pr.61]
1x PLARK-670 Charlie I [Skat]
11x Commercial Tanker - General Purpose [20,000t DWT]
1x SKR Petya II [Pr.159A]


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
10x Generic Acoustic Decoy
4x SA-N-3a Goblet [4K60]
6x SA-N-4a Gecko [9M33]
4x AK-630 30mm/65 Gatling Burst [400 rnds]



SIDE: Neutrals
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------


EXPENDITURES:
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SIDE: Nature
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x Biologic Whale


EXPENDITURES:
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