Mediterranean Fury 2 - Syrian Surprise 13/2/94
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 3:16 pm
On the first day of WW3, Syria and local Soviet forces attack exposed NATO assets in the Eastern Mediterranean, which must try to survive. You can only play the NATO side. While still a complex scenario, this one has a duration of 24 hours and isn’t as much of a marathon as some I’ve played lately.
The USSR has positioned a strong naval squadron at Latakia in Syria, consisting of the helicoper carrier Moskva, two cruisers, three destroyers and two ASW frigates. These are supported by the Syrian Navy, which has about a half-dozen Osa boats, some modest Petya corvettes and a few essentially useless Zhuk harbour patrol boats. A Victor III is at large in the region and Moscow has given Syria a couple of Kilos, along with on-board advisors.
The Russians have also moved an air group to Latakia, with Flogger Ks, assorted Fencers and some Badger recon and EW types further back near Damascus. The base is warded by Grumbles and other SAMs.
Reinforced by hand-downs from the former East Germany, Syria’s Air Force has swollen to formidable proportions – intelligence estimates credit them with 430 aircraft. Many of these are obsolete MiG-21s and Albatros light attack planes, but they still have 72 Fulcrums, 84 Floggers, 30 Foxbats, 86 Fitters, 22 Fencer Ds and 32 Flogger Hs. Their bases have plenty of SAM defence, including four 22-element Gammon sites. Worse, you get NO VP for destroying Syrian aircraft, making it a very low percentage game engaging them at all. Unfortunately, you have to...
NATO has several naval task groups in the Eastern Mediterranean, none of which inspire much confidence. Just 164nm SW of Latakia, the white elephant (sorry, battleship) Iowa is escorted by the Leahy-class cruiser Halsey and the frigate Wadsworth. If the Iowa class carried any SAMs at all, they would be more useful, but they are merely mounts for TLAMs and Harpoons (and not that many of those).
Some 200nm SW of Latakia steams the helicopter carrier Kearsarge, on an amphibious exercise with the Spruance destroyer Deyo, Mahan-class Dahlgren, the weak (no SAMs) Knox-class frigate Bowen and five vulnerable amphibs. Air cover consists of SAMs on the CVH and destroyers and a handful of Harriers, not all of which start with fighter loadouts. Otherwise, Kearsarge ships a pile of useless choppers.
To the S of Kearsarge, and serving as the opposition in the exercise, the British destroyer Southampton and the Spanish Numancia (such a magnet for enemy torpedoes later-on in Northern Fury) have Sea Darts and RIM-66s for defence and reasonable ASW.
Just off the S coast of Cyprus, the British frigate Andromeda is trying to shepherd an oiler and ammo ship out of the danger zone and hoping the enemy have better things to do. On detached duty are the British frigate Monmouth (100nm W of Kearsarge) and the Spanish Cazadora (87nm S). The latter is supposed to be heading for the Suez Canal to link-up with NATO forces in the Red Sea region. Turkey has the Yavuz-class frigate Yildrim some 175nm W of Latakia. Not far away is a US auxiliary, the Concord, which trying to clear the area with no close escort.
Three SSNs, the American Memphis and the British Torbay and Superb, are deployed around the Kearsarge group at distances of 40-60nm, providing a good degree of sonar coverage (in theory). The Turkish SSK Dolunay is 13nm off the point of North Cyprus – as noted in my Scenario 1 AAR, she has anti-ship torpedoes but no ASW armament whatsoever.
Things aren’t much better in the air. A so-called ‘Aggressor Squadron’ of 16 AMRAAM-armed F-16s is based at Incirlik in SE Turkey, with Sentry, tanker and SAR chopper support. Only four Falcons are available at the start. The base has a Patriot battery for defence. It even points the right way!.
At RAF Akrotiri in SW Cyprus, the UK has four Tornado fighters with long-ranged but SARH Sky Flash missiles, plus four Phantoms with an older, short-ranged version of the same and a recon Tornado that carries a couple of Sidewinders. Five of these are ready at the start. Also at the base is a selection of vulnerable and high-value assets, including two U-2s, a pair of Nimrods, three tankers, two Canberra recon planes and another duo of SAR choppers. Some Rapier Blindfires provide light SAM cover.
In Eastern Turkey, the Turk Hava Kuvvetleri has 14 F-16s and the same number of Starfighters, all armed with Sidewinders at Diyarbakir. Further W, at Malatya, they have two dozen F-4s with Sparrows and a half-dozen recon Phantoms. Less than half of these aircraft are available at the outset and their range doesn’t allow them to do much more than defend the area of their bases.
Far to the W, at Souda Bay in Crete, there are a dozen mostly unready Marine Hornets with Sparrows, two Prowlers, a couple of Orions and an Aries, as well as a pile of Greek Corsairs. The fighter-model Corsair is completely useless, as it lacks the range to reach the area of operations and can’t refuel in-flight. The twelve attack models can refuel but , like the Turkish aircraft, have very limited munitions to choose from. Sending this sort of thing against the massed Syrian fighters and SAMs would be suicidal. There are some still more useless F-5s at Heraklion in Central Crete.
Two tankers are based at Sigonella in Sicily, while there are two Hercules transports at Souda and Athens, primed to carry A2A missile supplies to Akrotiri in a few hours’ time. There is also a VC.10 at Gibraltar with a similar mission and a C-141 Starlifter at Rota in Spain which can optionally bring supplies to Incirlik.
Israel is classified as Friendly, but you are urged to do nothing to drag her into the conflict and risk alienating America’s Arab allies. Jordan is Neutral, having rejected overtures from both sides. An exclusion zone covers the airspace of both countries.
Assessing the threat levels, I calculated that the Soviet ships could hit me early-on with maybe 16 Sandbox ASCMs but that their supporting Sunburns and Switchblades would initially be well out of range and could be kept there so long as we didn’t lose speed. The submarine threat was moderate, but would be sharpened if we retreated at speed. Clearly, the enemy air forces were too big to defeat and, even though they would mostly be limited to short-ranged missiles and bombs, they could swamp us if they were prepared to accept the losses, as the AI generally is. In theory, our hugely-outnumbered pilots had a qualitative aircrew advantage but I haven’t noticed that this makes much difference in practice. The enemy Gammon sites near Homs could just about reach the vicinity of Incirlik, so I confined my CAP zone there accordingly.
The initial score of zero was a Major Defeat, so we needed to score points somehow. Short of demolishing the Soviet Latakia squadron, there was no obvious way. Perhaps there were some missions pending that I could score for or maybe there was credit for ships and/or aircraft surviving the scenario?.
13/294 13:00Z (15:00L): At the start, hostilities have not yet commenced, which affords a little breathing space, though I’ve known the AI not to respect such things before.
I began by altering Concord’s course to the NW to reduce the risk of a pre-set sub ambush. Yidrim was ordered to meet her and they could then wait to escort the Andromeda group on their escape to the W.
I diverted Cazadora to rendezvous with the other diverse elements to the SW of Cyprus. As the Spaniard had no ASW chopper, I sent an Orion, already airborne, to keep an eye on her. Given her lack of ASW torpedoes, I had Dolunay pull back to the W.
Two Russian AGIs were detected shadowing the Iowa group. I could have shelled one of them with the battlewagon’s 16” battery, but we weren’t at war yet and needed to get away at speed.
Dolunay then had a probable Kilo contact to her NW and snuck past at Creep.
At 13:07, we were notified of the coup in Turkey. Diyarbakir and Malatya appeared unaffected.
A Spetsnaz squad was detected briefly near Akrotiri, but I had nothing to attack them with. I later found another one in NW Cyprus.
At 13:09, we were authorised to attack Soviet, but not Syrian units, as reports were coming-in of fighting across Europe. Actually doing so was another matter, but Iowa disposed of the nearby Alpinist AGI with a Harpoon for 10VP, briefly making it a Minor Defeat. Another two Harpoons sank the larger and more distant Meridian-class AGI Odograf.
A Soviet Sandbox launch was detected. Most of the 16 heavy missiles were stopped by Halsey’s RIM-67 battery, but at least one hit the battleship, damaging her over 50% for the loss of 200VP and leaving her down to 7 knots, with fires and flooding.
Meanwhile, four Foxbats approached Akrotiri and were engaged by our two ready Tornadoes, which were thus prevented from aiding Iowa. Despite everything I tried to do to prevent it (ordering Follow Missile Straight In once the action began), they insisted on cranking after firing, so their Sky Flashes went blind and the range advantage was lost as the enemy barrelled-in at 1300 knots. Perhaps fatally, the Foxbats diverted some of Halsey’s RIM-67s, as I didn’t wake to the danger and alter WRA to ignore them in time. All of the MiGs were eventually destroyed, but they downed a Tornado with the one missile they got-off, leaving me 5VP down for the encounter.
A squadron of MiG-21s then approached the ships at low altitude and were savaged by SAMs, which were being used-up at a prodigious rate.
Meanwhile, some Albatros attack planes hit a couple of radars near the Turkish-Syrian border.
At 13:58, a directive arrived from CINCLANT, basically telling us to get to a safe distance, then destroy what enemy assets we could, with the emphasis on Soviet ships and aircraft and both Soviet and Syrian air defence and Styx SSMs. With what?, I wondered...
14:00Z: Some Syrian Flogger Gs approached Incirlik and lost two of their number to Patriots, which were frustratingly inaccurate.
An enormous force of Fitters and Flogger Hs attacked the Iowa group, with a heavy fighter escort. It was impossible to avoid being swamped, despite committing the handful of fighters available at Akrotiri and on Kearsarge, as well as two Hornets from Souda Bay. The enemy took a mauling, but got ahead points-wise by downing a Tornado and F/A-18, while scoring more hits on Iowa and Halsey. As the mass attack finally ebbed away, Iowa was left 64.2% damaged, with ongoing fire and flooding and speed down to 5 knots. Halsey was 67.9% damaged, dead in the water with her engines destroyed and out of SAMs. The Syrians had lost 30 Flogger Hs, 5 Fitters and 10 Flogger G escorts, none of which scored anything.
Remarkably, Iowa had sustained hardly any systems damage and, while I still had them, I launched a TLAM strike on a pair of Gammon sites, reasoning that these SAMs would be unable to intercept the missiles and that I could do without their massive reach. USS Deyo joined-in. Halsey was beyond help and had to be left behind as Iowa and Wadsworth (down to three SAMs) headed W separately at best speed. Choppers from Akrotiri and Kearsarge hurried to pick-up our downed pilots.
Meanwhile, USS Memphis was ordered to close with the Soviet naval squadron, in the hope that her 21nm-ranged torpedoes would give her a fighting chance of attacking and getting out again. Dolunay was also ordered to reverse course and move into an attack position.
A Nimrod from Akrotiri was told to search the area of Concord’s original course in case the Victor was lurking there. All non-combatant aircraft were being evacuated from Akrotiri and Incirlik as quickly as they became ready, save only for a Sentry at the latter base and SAR choppers at both.
Four Foxbats, abusing their Afterburners, threatened the SAR operation, so the other two Tornadoes intercepted. This time, I was able to concentrate properly and, with the Follow Missile Straight In order in force before they took-off, the cranking problem disappeared. All four bandits were downed without loss.
Two Phantoms from Malatya got into a tangle with two rather clueless Syrian Fulcrums as their patrol zones overlapped. Veteran pilots or not, the Turks couldn’t shoot straight and missed about nine times in a row before the Fulcrums finally fired back, immediately getting better odds than I’d been given (56% for their Alamos compared to about 25% for our Sparrows). So much for quality!. Thankfully, the one Alamo launched missed and we were able to RTB.
The TLAM strike took-out two Gammon sites (all 44 components) for 5VP each, despite the attentions of hordes of fighters. The Syrians still had two more…
The SAR choppers rescued the downed pilots for 3VP each and got home OK. The earlier Tornado loss had not resulted in a downed pilot.
Another Phantom-Fulcrum duel S of Malatya resulted in two MiGs downed for one F-4. Enemy Archers were hitting on about 80%. This was getting us nowhere, so I resolved to cancel all flights from Malatya and Diyabakir once we’d rescued the downed pilot.
15:00Z: Iowa was down to 1 knot, 73% damaged and still had flooding, though her fires were out. It didn’t look good…
The ferry mission from Athens to Akrotiri launched. I was well aware that losing the Hercules would cost lots of VP and that it could be destroyed on the ground even if it got to Cyprus. Still, it might be a way to score…
A Huey from Incirlik rescued the downed Turkish F-4E pilot for 3VP, taking care to stay low and out of Fulcrum radar range.
I realised belatedly that the problems I’ve been having with units disobeying Doctrine instructions result from the AI restoring all the rubbishy default settings (AutoEvade, don’t ignore plotted course when attacking, refuel, withdraw after one air-to-air engagement) WHENEVER a unit is Unassigned from a Mission. One more overhead to consider…
16:00Z: Iowa was 80% damaged, but with her flooding diminishing and now capable of 3 knots. The other task groups were out of immediate danger and converging SW of Cyprus, but their ability to retaliate was practically nil. Andromeda was on her way with her charges to meet Yildrim and Concord off the Turkish coast.
Another quartet of Foxbats approached Akrotiri, no doubt trying to coincide with the supply flight from Athens. Two Tornadoes and a Phantom combined to shoot them all down.
This, however, was only the preliminary. A big Fencer and Fitter strike came-in against the base, escorted by numerous Fulcrums and Floggers. I held-off the Hercules until it blew over, scrambled the two Wessex SAR choppers and got them clear to the W to avoid losing them on the ground and used every available fighter save those at Incirlik, which might soon be facing something similar. An F/A-18 from Souda Bay was refusing to refuel for some unaccountable buggy reason and had to be sent home to stop it crashing. Again, it was a case of being swamped and three fighters (a Hornet and two Phantoms) were lost to escorts and Aphids. The raid itself did very little damage to the base, destroying one ammo revetment and the Syrians lost 7 Fitters, 5 Fencers and a few late-arriving Fishbeds.
In an infuriating postscript, a Tornado readied in time to pursue the retreating enemy but, having destroyed one MiG-21, found every possible way not to kill another (bad shooting and erratic AI behaviour) before going too far and being downed by a pair of Gammons, which were given 45% chances to hit at 99nm against a target fleeing at Afterburner.
17:00Z: Another four Foxbats swept over Cyprus, showing a remarkable ability to sustain Afterburner all the way from their base and hindering RTB and SAR operations as well as further delaying the inbound Hercules. A recon Tornado and the two Wessexes survived by getting below the engagement level of the Foxbats’ Acrids – the things don’t mount cannon.
A further heavy strike went for Iowa and Halsey, sinking the latter for 100VP but somehow failing to find the stricken battleship. She sailed slowly onward.
In a real body-blow, USS Memphis, travelling Deep at Cruise to make her attack on the Soviet Navy, just happened to pass too close to the Victor III as it lined-up an attack on Iowa. Two Stallions sank the US sub for another 100VP, though there was some consolation when her reflexive answering torpedo took revenge for 50 back. Iowa survived again.
Iowa’s five useless Pioneer UAVs were flown-off to Heraklion to save VP loss. Three downed pilots were rescued by our Wessexes.
18:00Z: Iowa was now 83.2% damaged, but no longer had fires or flooding and was up to 5 knots. With the Victor gone, it looked just possible that she might survive to make repairs in Naples or wherever.
The Hercules from Athens finally reached Akrotiri, scoring nothing. It would be four hours before she could return. The C-130 from Crete then arrived within the hour. The base had two fit Tornadoes, a recon Tornado and an F-4 under repair, so the value of the ammo was highly debatable.
19:00Z: The Andromeda task group was fooled into thinking that a contact approaching at 3 knots was a Kilo. It stubbornly refused to be identified and, when torpedoed by a Lynx, proved to be a school of fish. No penalty, thankfully…
The Tornado pilot hit by the Gammon just off E Cyprus was rescued by a Wessex.
20:00Z: What appeared to be a single Fitter with a large escort of Fulcrums and Floggers went after the Iowa (at night). We had insufficient fighters to oppose such a force, but the attack plane’s solitary hit did little damage, leaving Iowa 84.1% of the way to sinking but still steaming slowly along.
21:00Z: There were issues at Heraklion Airport, where I’d evacuated several planes, as the taxiway (though not the runway) was just too short for large aircraft like Sentries and Victor tankers, which were consequently trapped on the ground after being allowed to land. It brought back memories, as I was nearly stranded at Heraklion myself at the end of an otherwise enjoyable holiday in Crete in 2021, long queues and slow service almost preventing me from checking-in on-time for the last EasyJet flight out to Edinburgh that autumn.
Another strike went after Iowa, four Fitters being escorted by over 20 fighters. I committed all remaining fighters and used the two Tornadoes to draw-off the mob of Floggers, enabling the Hornets and Harriers to close with the bombers. Both Tornadoes were lost for 3 Fitters and an escort and the enemy still managed to hit Iowa, which went 85% damaged but still sailed on. Four Foxbats then tore-in and chased the retreating CAP until they were all shot-down by Sea Darts and our last remaining RIM-67s.
The VC.10 from Gibraltar reached Akrotiri, for what it was worth. I’d seen little reason to send the Starlifter to Incirlik, as the enemy appeared to have scant interest in attacking the place.
22:00Z: A Wessex rescued the two Tornado pilots and headed home. Both Hercules began their return flights to Athens and Crete.
23:00Z: Carefully stalking the Russian fleet, Dolunay detected a probable Kilo nearby. The Turkish skipper held his nerve, altering course slightly away from the Syrian sub while closing on the targets.
A Foxbat got too close to the Patriot at Incirlik and paid the price.
14/2/94 00:00Z: Albatroses bombed the defenceless city of Iskenderun, doing little damage. Apparently, Syria and Hezbollah launched a ground attack on Israel during the night, but little word of this reached us.
01:00Z: The VC.10 got safely away from Akrotiri, wondering why she’d bothered.
Some Fishbeds soaked-up Patriots near Incirlik.
There was evidence of clashes between Syrian and Jordanian aircraft as the conflict spread.
02:00Z: The enemy just wouldn’t leave Iowa alone!. This time, Fencers arrived, armed with Kazoos and with a big fighter escort. Southampton and Numancia had gone back to assist the battlewagon and downed most of the missiles, but Iowa took another hit and went 87.7% damaged, sailing on at 4 knots. I sent Monmouth and Cazadora back to add to her escort.
To Dolunay’s frustration, the Soviet ships steered NNW away from her at speed, moving out of her reach. The Turkish sub had a scare when four vessels rushed towards her at 30 knots, but I guessed correctly that these were Osas and posed no threat, letting them pass by. Superb and Torbay were coming-up from the SW, ready to follow-up the Turk’s attack, but it would all be for nothing if the enemy maintained their present heading.
03:00Z: It occurred to me that the Soviets might be trying to establish a No Fly Zone over Incirlik with their SAMs, which is what I would have done. To prevent this, I flew-off every operational plane from Incirlik to Malatya, a move that proceeded without enemy interference.
04:00Z: I’d clearly given the AI too much credit, as the Soviet ships turned-about and came back towards Dolunay and the British SSNs.
I hasten to say here that I would not have done what I now did were it not my only chance of retrieving a lost game. In real-life, I’d have withdrawn all subs to a safe distance.
05:00Z: The extremely stealthy Dolunay crept to within 7.8nm of the Soviet squadron as it went past. Her Seeaals only had a range of 5nm, so my only chance was to use their kinematic range of 20nm and hope for the best. At this moment, it became clear that one of the several patrolling Soviet ASW choppers had Dolunay’s number, so it was a case of fire and be damned. She managed to loose nine of her 14 tinfish before being blown out of the water for 40VP. However, she hit the helicopter carrier Moskva, destroying 10 choppers onboard, sank the Kashin-class DDG Skoryy for 50VP and also hit the Sovremenny-class DDG Bezuprechnyi (with another chopper) and the highly-dangerous Neustrashimy-class ASW frigate Nepristupnyi. Choppers score 3VP each.
07:00Z: HMS Superb attacked when a Syrian Petya corvette got too close, sinking it for 5VP along with the Nepristupnyi for 20 and the Bezuprechnyi for 50. Two torpedoes hit the Moskva and brought him to a dead stop, but the near-instant rejoinder by Silex from the Krivak IV-class frigate Dostoynyy was unavoidable and offset these gains by 100. You can sneak into range, but only kinematic range and firing fatally betrays your position, giving you no chance of survival.
09:00Z: The enemy STILL hadn’t finished with Iowa, which was being tracked by a Badger D over the Syrian mainland. Too many Fencers came-in, carrying Kryptons and Kazoos and escorted by too many fighters. The remaining F-4 and recon Tornado at Akrotiri did their best, downing one Fencer and damaging two more, which RTB’d. As these were Soviet aircraft, the kill actually scored 3VP. The Tornado managed to RTB, but the Phantom couldn’t get down in time and, smothered in fighters, was lost (her pilot was rescued, giving me an unprecedented 100% SAR record in this scenario – I still hate the script, though). Southampton, with her last two Sea Darts, Monmouth, Cazadora and Numancia tried to defend Iowa, but to no avail. A cruel blow, which cost 400VP.
Maybe I should have tried harder to maintain a Hornet CAP from Crete with tanker support, but the fighters would have struggled to catch the Fencers, which could launch from range, would have been hugely-outnumbered by the escorts and probably couldn’t have stopped the missiles with two Sparrows and two Sidewinders each.
12:00Z: I waited for Moskva to die of his wounds, but he refused. With the game over anyway, I threw away HMS Torbay in a last attack, just to inflict some retribution. Similar story to before. Getting into kinematic attack range was straightforward and I sank the carrier for 250VP, the Slava-class cruiser Sevastopol (for which I received NOTHING!) and the Krivak for 20VP, as well as a Syrian Petya that got in the way for 5. Torbay was almost instantly pinpointed and sunk as soon as the last of her torpedoes left the tubes. That left the Russians with the Kara-class cruiser Vladivostok and a Kashin Mod DDG – nothing Eisenhower couldn’t handle.
13:00Z: So, it ended in a Disaster, with a final score of -534.
NATO lost 3 SSNs, an SSK, a battleship, a CG, 10 fighters and 3 ground elements.
The WP lost a CVH, CG, SSN, 2 DDGs, 2 FFGs, 2 AGIs, a Fencer D and 16 choppers.
Syria lost 2 corvettes, 53 fighters, 64 attack planes and 44 SAM elements.
Jordan lost a Mirage.
If anyone can win this on the present game settings, I’d be interested to know how. I’ve a nasty feeling that the next one isn’t going to be any easier...
The USSR has positioned a strong naval squadron at Latakia in Syria, consisting of the helicoper carrier Moskva, two cruisers, three destroyers and two ASW frigates. These are supported by the Syrian Navy, which has about a half-dozen Osa boats, some modest Petya corvettes and a few essentially useless Zhuk harbour patrol boats. A Victor III is at large in the region and Moscow has given Syria a couple of Kilos, along with on-board advisors.
The Russians have also moved an air group to Latakia, with Flogger Ks, assorted Fencers and some Badger recon and EW types further back near Damascus. The base is warded by Grumbles and other SAMs.
Reinforced by hand-downs from the former East Germany, Syria’s Air Force has swollen to formidable proportions – intelligence estimates credit them with 430 aircraft. Many of these are obsolete MiG-21s and Albatros light attack planes, but they still have 72 Fulcrums, 84 Floggers, 30 Foxbats, 86 Fitters, 22 Fencer Ds and 32 Flogger Hs. Their bases have plenty of SAM defence, including four 22-element Gammon sites. Worse, you get NO VP for destroying Syrian aircraft, making it a very low percentage game engaging them at all. Unfortunately, you have to...
NATO has several naval task groups in the Eastern Mediterranean, none of which inspire much confidence. Just 164nm SW of Latakia, the white elephant (sorry, battleship) Iowa is escorted by the Leahy-class cruiser Halsey and the frigate Wadsworth. If the Iowa class carried any SAMs at all, they would be more useful, but they are merely mounts for TLAMs and Harpoons (and not that many of those).
Some 200nm SW of Latakia steams the helicopter carrier Kearsarge, on an amphibious exercise with the Spruance destroyer Deyo, Mahan-class Dahlgren, the weak (no SAMs) Knox-class frigate Bowen and five vulnerable amphibs. Air cover consists of SAMs on the CVH and destroyers and a handful of Harriers, not all of which start with fighter loadouts. Otherwise, Kearsarge ships a pile of useless choppers.
To the S of Kearsarge, and serving as the opposition in the exercise, the British destroyer Southampton and the Spanish Numancia (such a magnet for enemy torpedoes later-on in Northern Fury) have Sea Darts and RIM-66s for defence and reasonable ASW.
Just off the S coast of Cyprus, the British frigate Andromeda is trying to shepherd an oiler and ammo ship out of the danger zone and hoping the enemy have better things to do. On detached duty are the British frigate Monmouth (100nm W of Kearsarge) and the Spanish Cazadora (87nm S). The latter is supposed to be heading for the Suez Canal to link-up with NATO forces in the Red Sea region. Turkey has the Yavuz-class frigate Yildrim some 175nm W of Latakia. Not far away is a US auxiliary, the Concord, which trying to clear the area with no close escort.
Three SSNs, the American Memphis and the British Torbay and Superb, are deployed around the Kearsarge group at distances of 40-60nm, providing a good degree of sonar coverage (in theory). The Turkish SSK Dolunay is 13nm off the point of North Cyprus – as noted in my Scenario 1 AAR, she has anti-ship torpedoes but no ASW armament whatsoever.
Things aren’t much better in the air. A so-called ‘Aggressor Squadron’ of 16 AMRAAM-armed F-16s is based at Incirlik in SE Turkey, with Sentry, tanker and SAR chopper support. Only four Falcons are available at the start. The base has a Patriot battery for defence. It even points the right way!.
At RAF Akrotiri in SW Cyprus, the UK has four Tornado fighters with long-ranged but SARH Sky Flash missiles, plus four Phantoms with an older, short-ranged version of the same and a recon Tornado that carries a couple of Sidewinders. Five of these are ready at the start. Also at the base is a selection of vulnerable and high-value assets, including two U-2s, a pair of Nimrods, three tankers, two Canberra recon planes and another duo of SAR choppers. Some Rapier Blindfires provide light SAM cover.
In Eastern Turkey, the Turk Hava Kuvvetleri has 14 F-16s and the same number of Starfighters, all armed with Sidewinders at Diyarbakir. Further W, at Malatya, they have two dozen F-4s with Sparrows and a half-dozen recon Phantoms. Less than half of these aircraft are available at the outset and their range doesn’t allow them to do much more than defend the area of their bases.
Far to the W, at Souda Bay in Crete, there are a dozen mostly unready Marine Hornets with Sparrows, two Prowlers, a couple of Orions and an Aries, as well as a pile of Greek Corsairs. The fighter-model Corsair is completely useless, as it lacks the range to reach the area of operations and can’t refuel in-flight. The twelve attack models can refuel but , like the Turkish aircraft, have very limited munitions to choose from. Sending this sort of thing against the massed Syrian fighters and SAMs would be suicidal. There are some still more useless F-5s at Heraklion in Central Crete.
Two tankers are based at Sigonella in Sicily, while there are two Hercules transports at Souda and Athens, primed to carry A2A missile supplies to Akrotiri in a few hours’ time. There is also a VC.10 at Gibraltar with a similar mission and a C-141 Starlifter at Rota in Spain which can optionally bring supplies to Incirlik.
Israel is classified as Friendly, but you are urged to do nothing to drag her into the conflict and risk alienating America’s Arab allies. Jordan is Neutral, having rejected overtures from both sides. An exclusion zone covers the airspace of both countries.
Assessing the threat levels, I calculated that the Soviet ships could hit me early-on with maybe 16 Sandbox ASCMs but that their supporting Sunburns and Switchblades would initially be well out of range and could be kept there so long as we didn’t lose speed. The submarine threat was moderate, but would be sharpened if we retreated at speed. Clearly, the enemy air forces were too big to defeat and, even though they would mostly be limited to short-ranged missiles and bombs, they could swamp us if they were prepared to accept the losses, as the AI generally is. In theory, our hugely-outnumbered pilots had a qualitative aircrew advantage but I haven’t noticed that this makes much difference in practice. The enemy Gammon sites near Homs could just about reach the vicinity of Incirlik, so I confined my CAP zone there accordingly.
The initial score of zero was a Major Defeat, so we needed to score points somehow. Short of demolishing the Soviet Latakia squadron, there was no obvious way. Perhaps there were some missions pending that I could score for or maybe there was credit for ships and/or aircraft surviving the scenario?.
13/294 13:00Z (15:00L): At the start, hostilities have not yet commenced, which affords a little breathing space, though I’ve known the AI not to respect such things before.
I began by altering Concord’s course to the NW to reduce the risk of a pre-set sub ambush. Yidrim was ordered to meet her and they could then wait to escort the Andromeda group on their escape to the W.
I diverted Cazadora to rendezvous with the other diverse elements to the SW of Cyprus. As the Spaniard had no ASW chopper, I sent an Orion, already airborne, to keep an eye on her. Given her lack of ASW torpedoes, I had Dolunay pull back to the W.
Two Russian AGIs were detected shadowing the Iowa group. I could have shelled one of them with the battlewagon’s 16” battery, but we weren’t at war yet and needed to get away at speed.
Dolunay then had a probable Kilo contact to her NW and snuck past at Creep.
At 13:07, we were notified of the coup in Turkey. Diyarbakir and Malatya appeared unaffected.
A Spetsnaz squad was detected briefly near Akrotiri, but I had nothing to attack them with. I later found another one in NW Cyprus.
At 13:09, we were authorised to attack Soviet, but not Syrian units, as reports were coming-in of fighting across Europe. Actually doing so was another matter, but Iowa disposed of the nearby Alpinist AGI with a Harpoon for 10VP, briefly making it a Minor Defeat. Another two Harpoons sank the larger and more distant Meridian-class AGI Odograf.
A Soviet Sandbox launch was detected. Most of the 16 heavy missiles were stopped by Halsey’s RIM-67 battery, but at least one hit the battleship, damaging her over 50% for the loss of 200VP and leaving her down to 7 knots, with fires and flooding.
Meanwhile, four Foxbats approached Akrotiri and were engaged by our two ready Tornadoes, which were thus prevented from aiding Iowa. Despite everything I tried to do to prevent it (ordering Follow Missile Straight In once the action began), they insisted on cranking after firing, so their Sky Flashes went blind and the range advantage was lost as the enemy barrelled-in at 1300 knots. Perhaps fatally, the Foxbats diverted some of Halsey’s RIM-67s, as I didn’t wake to the danger and alter WRA to ignore them in time. All of the MiGs were eventually destroyed, but they downed a Tornado with the one missile they got-off, leaving me 5VP down for the encounter.
A squadron of MiG-21s then approached the ships at low altitude and were savaged by SAMs, which were being used-up at a prodigious rate.
Meanwhile, some Albatros attack planes hit a couple of radars near the Turkish-Syrian border.
At 13:58, a directive arrived from CINCLANT, basically telling us to get to a safe distance, then destroy what enemy assets we could, with the emphasis on Soviet ships and aircraft and both Soviet and Syrian air defence and Styx SSMs. With what?, I wondered...
14:00Z: Some Syrian Flogger Gs approached Incirlik and lost two of their number to Patriots, which were frustratingly inaccurate.
An enormous force of Fitters and Flogger Hs attacked the Iowa group, with a heavy fighter escort. It was impossible to avoid being swamped, despite committing the handful of fighters available at Akrotiri and on Kearsarge, as well as two Hornets from Souda Bay. The enemy took a mauling, but got ahead points-wise by downing a Tornado and F/A-18, while scoring more hits on Iowa and Halsey. As the mass attack finally ebbed away, Iowa was left 64.2% damaged, with ongoing fire and flooding and speed down to 5 knots. Halsey was 67.9% damaged, dead in the water with her engines destroyed and out of SAMs. The Syrians had lost 30 Flogger Hs, 5 Fitters and 10 Flogger G escorts, none of which scored anything.
Remarkably, Iowa had sustained hardly any systems damage and, while I still had them, I launched a TLAM strike on a pair of Gammon sites, reasoning that these SAMs would be unable to intercept the missiles and that I could do without their massive reach. USS Deyo joined-in. Halsey was beyond help and had to be left behind as Iowa and Wadsworth (down to three SAMs) headed W separately at best speed. Choppers from Akrotiri and Kearsarge hurried to pick-up our downed pilots.
Meanwhile, USS Memphis was ordered to close with the Soviet naval squadron, in the hope that her 21nm-ranged torpedoes would give her a fighting chance of attacking and getting out again. Dolunay was also ordered to reverse course and move into an attack position.
A Nimrod from Akrotiri was told to search the area of Concord’s original course in case the Victor was lurking there. All non-combatant aircraft were being evacuated from Akrotiri and Incirlik as quickly as they became ready, save only for a Sentry at the latter base and SAR choppers at both.
Four Foxbats, abusing their Afterburners, threatened the SAR operation, so the other two Tornadoes intercepted. This time, I was able to concentrate properly and, with the Follow Missile Straight In order in force before they took-off, the cranking problem disappeared. All four bandits were downed without loss.
Two Phantoms from Malatya got into a tangle with two rather clueless Syrian Fulcrums as their patrol zones overlapped. Veteran pilots or not, the Turks couldn’t shoot straight and missed about nine times in a row before the Fulcrums finally fired back, immediately getting better odds than I’d been given (56% for their Alamos compared to about 25% for our Sparrows). So much for quality!. Thankfully, the one Alamo launched missed and we were able to RTB.
The TLAM strike took-out two Gammon sites (all 44 components) for 5VP each, despite the attentions of hordes of fighters. The Syrians still had two more…
The SAR choppers rescued the downed pilots for 3VP each and got home OK. The earlier Tornado loss had not resulted in a downed pilot.
Another Phantom-Fulcrum duel S of Malatya resulted in two MiGs downed for one F-4. Enemy Archers were hitting on about 80%. This was getting us nowhere, so I resolved to cancel all flights from Malatya and Diyabakir once we’d rescued the downed pilot.
15:00Z: Iowa was down to 1 knot, 73% damaged and still had flooding, though her fires were out. It didn’t look good…
The ferry mission from Athens to Akrotiri launched. I was well aware that losing the Hercules would cost lots of VP and that it could be destroyed on the ground even if it got to Cyprus. Still, it might be a way to score…
A Huey from Incirlik rescued the downed Turkish F-4E pilot for 3VP, taking care to stay low and out of Fulcrum radar range.
I realised belatedly that the problems I’ve been having with units disobeying Doctrine instructions result from the AI restoring all the rubbishy default settings (AutoEvade, don’t ignore plotted course when attacking, refuel, withdraw after one air-to-air engagement) WHENEVER a unit is Unassigned from a Mission. One more overhead to consider…
16:00Z: Iowa was 80% damaged, but with her flooding diminishing and now capable of 3 knots. The other task groups were out of immediate danger and converging SW of Cyprus, but their ability to retaliate was practically nil. Andromeda was on her way with her charges to meet Yildrim and Concord off the Turkish coast.
Another quartet of Foxbats approached Akrotiri, no doubt trying to coincide with the supply flight from Athens. Two Tornadoes and a Phantom combined to shoot them all down.
This, however, was only the preliminary. A big Fencer and Fitter strike came-in against the base, escorted by numerous Fulcrums and Floggers. I held-off the Hercules until it blew over, scrambled the two Wessex SAR choppers and got them clear to the W to avoid losing them on the ground and used every available fighter save those at Incirlik, which might soon be facing something similar. An F/A-18 from Souda Bay was refusing to refuel for some unaccountable buggy reason and had to be sent home to stop it crashing. Again, it was a case of being swamped and three fighters (a Hornet and two Phantoms) were lost to escorts and Aphids. The raid itself did very little damage to the base, destroying one ammo revetment and the Syrians lost 7 Fitters, 5 Fencers and a few late-arriving Fishbeds.
In an infuriating postscript, a Tornado readied in time to pursue the retreating enemy but, having destroyed one MiG-21, found every possible way not to kill another (bad shooting and erratic AI behaviour) before going too far and being downed by a pair of Gammons, which were given 45% chances to hit at 99nm against a target fleeing at Afterburner.
17:00Z: Another four Foxbats swept over Cyprus, showing a remarkable ability to sustain Afterburner all the way from their base and hindering RTB and SAR operations as well as further delaying the inbound Hercules. A recon Tornado and the two Wessexes survived by getting below the engagement level of the Foxbats’ Acrids – the things don’t mount cannon.
A further heavy strike went for Iowa and Halsey, sinking the latter for 100VP but somehow failing to find the stricken battleship. She sailed slowly onward.
In a real body-blow, USS Memphis, travelling Deep at Cruise to make her attack on the Soviet Navy, just happened to pass too close to the Victor III as it lined-up an attack on Iowa. Two Stallions sank the US sub for another 100VP, though there was some consolation when her reflexive answering torpedo took revenge for 50 back. Iowa survived again.
Iowa’s five useless Pioneer UAVs were flown-off to Heraklion to save VP loss. Three downed pilots were rescued by our Wessexes.
18:00Z: Iowa was now 83.2% damaged, but no longer had fires or flooding and was up to 5 knots. With the Victor gone, it looked just possible that she might survive to make repairs in Naples or wherever.
The Hercules from Athens finally reached Akrotiri, scoring nothing. It would be four hours before she could return. The C-130 from Crete then arrived within the hour. The base had two fit Tornadoes, a recon Tornado and an F-4 under repair, so the value of the ammo was highly debatable.
19:00Z: The Andromeda task group was fooled into thinking that a contact approaching at 3 knots was a Kilo. It stubbornly refused to be identified and, when torpedoed by a Lynx, proved to be a school of fish. No penalty, thankfully…
The Tornado pilot hit by the Gammon just off E Cyprus was rescued by a Wessex.
20:00Z: What appeared to be a single Fitter with a large escort of Fulcrums and Floggers went after the Iowa (at night). We had insufficient fighters to oppose such a force, but the attack plane’s solitary hit did little damage, leaving Iowa 84.1% of the way to sinking but still steaming slowly along.
21:00Z: There were issues at Heraklion Airport, where I’d evacuated several planes, as the taxiway (though not the runway) was just too short for large aircraft like Sentries and Victor tankers, which were consequently trapped on the ground after being allowed to land. It brought back memories, as I was nearly stranded at Heraklion myself at the end of an otherwise enjoyable holiday in Crete in 2021, long queues and slow service almost preventing me from checking-in on-time for the last EasyJet flight out to Edinburgh that autumn.
Another strike went after Iowa, four Fitters being escorted by over 20 fighters. I committed all remaining fighters and used the two Tornadoes to draw-off the mob of Floggers, enabling the Hornets and Harriers to close with the bombers. Both Tornadoes were lost for 3 Fitters and an escort and the enemy still managed to hit Iowa, which went 85% damaged but still sailed on. Four Foxbats then tore-in and chased the retreating CAP until they were all shot-down by Sea Darts and our last remaining RIM-67s.
The VC.10 from Gibraltar reached Akrotiri, for what it was worth. I’d seen little reason to send the Starlifter to Incirlik, as the enemy appeared to have scant interest in attacking the place.
22:00Z: A Wessex rescued the two Tornado pilots and headed home. Both Hercules began their return flights to Athens and Crete.
23:00Z: Carefully stalking the Russian fleet, Dolunay detected a probable Kilo nearby. The Turkish skipper held his nerve, altering course slightly away from the Syrian sub while closing on the targets.
A Foxbat got too close to the Patriot at Incirlik and paid the price.
14/2/94 00:00Z: Albatroses bombed the defenceless city of Iskenderun, doing little damage. Apparently, Syria and Hezbollah launched a ground attack on Israel during the night, but little word of this reached us.
01:00Z: The VC.10 got safely away from Akrotiri, wondering why she’d bothered.
Some Fishbeds soaked-up Patriots near Incirlik.
There was evidence of clashes between Syrian and Jordanian aircraft as the conflict spread.
02:00Z: The enemy just wouldn’t leave Iowa alone!. This time, Fencers arrived, armed with Kazoos and with a big fighter escort. Southampton and Numancia had gone back to assist the battlewagon and downed most of the missiles, but Iowa took another hit and went 87.7% damaged, sailing on at 4 knots. I sent Monmouth and Cazadora back to add to her escort.
To Dolunay’s frustration, the Soviet ships steered NNW away from her at speed, moving out of her reach. The Turkish sub had a scare when four vessels rushed towards her at 30 knots, but I guessed correctly that these were Osas and posed no threat, letting them pass by. Superb and Torbay were coming-up from the SW, ready to follow-up the Turk’s attack, but it would all be for nothing if the enemy maintained their present heading.
03:00Z: It occurred to me that the Soviets might be trying to establish a No Fly Zone over Incirlik with their SAMs, which is what I would have done. To prevent this, I flew-off every operational plane from Incirlik to Malatya, a move that proceeded without enemy interference.
04:00Z: I’d clearly given the AI too much credit, as the Soviet ships turned-about and came back towards Dolunay and the British SSNs.
I hasten to say here that I would not have done what I now did were it not my only chance of retrieving a lost game. In real-life, I’d have withdrawn all subs to a safe distance.
05:00Z: The extremely stealthy Dolunay crept to within 7.8nm of the Soviet squadron as it went past. Her Seeaals only had a range of 5nm, so my only chance was to use their kinematic range of 20nm and hope for the best. At this moment, it became clear that one of the several patrolling Soviet ASW choppers had Dolunay’s number, so it was a case of fire and be damned. She managed to loose nine of her 14 tinfish before being blown out of the water for 40VP. However, she hit the helicopter carrier Moskva, destroying 10 choppers onboard, sank the Kashin-class DDG Skoryy for 50VP and also hit the Sovremenny-class DDG Bezuprechnyi (with another chopper) and the highly-dangerous Neustrashimy-class ASW frigate Nepristupnyi. Choppers score 3VP each.
07:00Z: HMS Superb attacked when a Syrian Petya corvette got too close, sinking it for 5VP along with the Nepristupnyi for 20 and the Bezuprechnyi for 50. Two torpedoes hit the Moskva and brought him to a dead stop, but the near-instant rejoinder by Silex from the Krivak IV-class frigate Dostoynyy was unavoidable and offset these gains by 100. You can sneak into range, but only kinematic range and firing fatally betrays your position, giving you no chance of survival.
09:00Z: The enemy STILL hadn’t finished with Iowa, which was being tracked by a Badger D over the Syrian mainland. Too many Fencers came-in, carrying Kryptons and Kazoos and escorted by too many fighters. The remaining F-4 and recon Tornado at Akrotiri did their best, downing one Fencer and damaging two more, which RTB’d. As these were Soviet aircraft, the kill actually scored 3VP. The Tornado managed to RTB, but the Phantom couldn’t get down in time and, smothered in fighters, was lost (her pilot was rescued, giving me an unprecedented 100% SAR record in this scenario – I still hate the script, though). Southampton, with her last two Sea Darts, Monmouth, Cazadora and Numancia tried to defend Iowa, but to no avail. A cruel blow, which cost 400VP.
Maybe I should have tried harder to maintain a Hornet CAP from Crete with tanker support, but the fighters would have struggled to catch the Fencers, which could launch from range, would have been hugely-outnumbered by the escorts and probably couldn’t have stopped the missiles with two Sparrows and two Sidewinders each.
12:00Z: I waited for Moskva to die of his wounds, but he refused. With the game over anyway, I threw away HMS Torbay in a last attack, just to inflict some retribution. Similar story to before. Getting into kinematic attack range was straightforward and I sank the carrier for 250VP, the Slava-class cruiser Sevastopol (for which I received NOTHING!) and the Krivak for 20VP, as well as a Syrian Petya that got in the way for 5. Torbay was almost instantly pinpointed and sunk as soon as the last of her torpedoes left the tubes. That left the Russians with the Kara-class cruiser Vladivostok and a Kashin Mod DDG – nothing Eisenhower couldn’t handle.
13:00Z: So, it ended in a Disaster, with a final score of -534.
NATO lost 3 SSNs, an SSK, a battleship, a CG, 10 fighters and 3 ground elements.
The WP lost a CVH, CG, SSN, 2 DDGs, 2 FFGs, 2 AGIs, a Fencer D and 16 choppers.
Syria lost 2 corvettes, 53 fighters, 64 attack planes and 44 SAM elements.
Jordan lost a Mirage.
If anyone can win this on the present game settings, I’d be interested to know how. I’ve a nasty feeling that the next one isn’t going to be any easier...
