Battle Ocean '64 - Baltic Convoy
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2026 12:10 pm
I had a few hours to spare, so I played this smallish scenario by Mark Gellis, which is part of a series of three. The concept is that there was a rising against Soviet rule in Poland (and, to a lesser extent, East Germany) in 1964. NATO did not immediately intervene, but West Germany decided to send a convoy with humanitarian supplies to the Polish port of Kolobrzeg, which was in rebel hands. Needless to say, the Russians weren’t happy about this and resolved to take any steps necessary to prevent it with the forces they could spare from fighting the revolt. You can only play the West German side. Aircraft Damage rules do not apply, so all hits on planes are lethal.
Your convoy consists of nine modest-sized container ships, escorted by two destroyers, a frigate and two MTBs. The warships are gun-armed, with no SAMs and only basic sonar and ASW torpedoes, making the entire operation extremely vulnerable. The ships all start as individual sailings, so you can group them as you choose. Personally, I prefer to keep units individual, as it improves my visibility of what’s going on and removes a layer of Doctrine specification/confusion.
At Schleswig air base, you have a dozen Starfighters with rear-aspect Sidewinders, which become available over the opening four hours. There are also four Gannet AEW/ASW planes with low-efficiency sonobuoys and torpedoes (none initially ready) and a couple of short-ranged Seabat ASW choppers with torpedoes but no buoys. Four Sabres, armed with bombs, complete the air group.
The Soviets have plenty with which to stop you, making this quite a challenge. At sea, they have two Osas with Styxes and at least three Foxtrot and Whiskey subs, with torpedoes that outrange your ASW weapons. The Foxtrot has decent sonar (for the time), the Whiskey rather less so. There is also a Petya corvette with guns and 80nm ranged search radar.
Worse, they also have some Badgers with good surface search radar (175nm) and Kipper ship-killing missiles (mercifully just one each) with similar range, escorted by Fishbeds with stern-chase Atoll missiles.
All-in-all, a daunting prospect and you have to face the probability that some of your merchantmen aren’t going to make it to Kolobrzeg, hoping that you’ll score enough points for those that do.
It seemed that the only defence against the Badgers was to get Starfighters well to the East and intercept them before they could get into range. This would become harder the closer the convoy got to the Polish port, as the bombers would eventually be able to just launch, fire and RTB.
I was also very worried about the submarine threat. Taking a hint from the initial deployment, I decided to stagger the escorts ahead of the convoy and use the two Jaguar MTBs as pit canaries to spring ambushes and give the Gannets something to go on. It would probably be useless and risky trying to do much with the apologetic ASW weapons on the destroyers and frigate. Otherwise, the merchantmen could only try to travel fast and take advantage of the low speed and poor sonar of the enemy’s diesel subs to escape.
The Sabres were the obvious solution to the Osa threat, provided I could find the PCFGs in time, while the destroyers’ heavier guns could suffice against the Petya.
Another Soviet weakness was that the Atoll missile is useless below 5,000’, so our ASW planes could stay safe by keeping low in the danger area and the Starfighters could dive (as well as using their superior speed) to get out of trouble.
26/8/64 04:00Z: A patrolling Starfighter found a Petya WSW of Bornhom, evaded a pair of Fishbeds and, initiating hostilities, downed two Badgers for 20VP each.
05:00Z: A second F-104 took-out two recon-model Badgers.
A submarine was detected at periscope depth off the East German island of Rugen, so one of the short-ranged Seabats, low on fuel, engaged but missed twice with torpedoes.
06:00Z: The second Seabat and a Gannet finally sank the sub (a Whiskey) for 20VP, though it took a total of six torpedoes to do it.
07:00Z: Two Sabres, escorted by three Starfighters, went after two Osas, sinking one for 20VP and hitting the other. A pair of Fishbeds were kept busy by the escorts and each side lost an aircraft for 20VP each way. Combats with rear-aspect missiles tend to involve planes flying in endless circles, trying to get on each others’ tails and, with aircraft of equal Agility, as in this case, become stalemates. The biggest danger comes when you have to disengage for lack of fuel and timing this requires the sort of micro-management that you can’t get from having planes on a Mission.
08:00Z: The second Osa died of its wounds.
09:00Z: A second pair of Sabres bombed and damaged the Petya as it tried to close with the convoy (now past Rugen). Escorting F-104s downed two Fishbeds.
10:00Z: The destroyer Z-4 followed-up and quickly finished the Petya off with gunfire for another 20VP. Disaster then struck as two Badgers attacked from distance and their deadly Kippers sank the Z-4 for an eye-watering 150VP and one of the merchantmen for another 20. Thankfully, they didn’t have any more sorties. A submarine then popped-up undetected and torpedoed another freighter, which sank.
11:00Z: There was nothing for it but to have the convoy alter course at speed to avoid the area of the sub. Two Gannets tried to engage the latter, but all four torpedoes missed, despite being dropped virtually on top of the probable Foxtrot.
One of the screening MTBs then did its job and detected another sub on the approaches to Kolobrzeg, getting clear and directing the convoy to hug the coast and work around it. A Gannet dropped sonobuoys around the area of the sighting, but was unable to pinpoint the sub. I missed my beloved Orions...
12:00Z: Starfighters downed two more Fishbeds.
15:00Z: The surviving seven merchantmen made it to Kolobrzeg and scored 100VP each. This transformed the result into a Triumph, with a final score of +690.
West Germany lost a destroyer, two merchantmen and an F-104.
The USSR lost two Osas, a Petya, a diesel sub, two bombers, two recon planes and five Fishbeds.
This was a good challenge and certainly not easy, requiring some thinking ‘outside the box’ to win. It was bug-free and made a nice change from the recent run of large scenarios. There are two more in the series and I might play these when time permits.
Your convoy consists of nine modest-sized container ships, escorted by two destroyers, a frigate and two MTBs. The warships are gun-armed, with no SAMs and only basic sonar and ASW torpedoes, making the entire operation extremely vulnerable. The ships all start as individual sailings, so you can group them as you choose. Personally, I prefer to keep units individual, as it improves my visibility of what’s going on and removes a layer of Doctrine specification/confusion.
At Schleswig air base, you have a dozen Starfighters with rear-aspect Sidewinders, which become available over the opening four hours. There are also four Gannet AEW/ASW planes with low-efficiency sonobuoys and torpedoes (none initially ready) and a couple of short-ranged Seabat ASW choppers with torpedoes but no buoys. Four Sabres, armed with bombs, complete the air group.
The Soviets have plenty with which to stop you, making this quite a challenge. At sea, they have two Osas with Styxes and at least three Foxtrot and Whiskey subs, with torpedoes that outrange your ASW weapons. The Foxtrot has decent sonar (for the time), the Whiskey rather less so. There is also a Petya corvette with guns and 80nm ranged search radar.
Worse, they also have some Badgers with good surface search radar (175nm) and Kipper ship-killing missiles (mercifully just one each) with similar range, escorted by Fishbeds with stern-chase Atoll missiles.
All-in-all, a daunting prospect and you have to face the probability that some of your merchantmen aren’t going to make it to Kolobrzeg, hoping that you’ll score enough points for those that do.
It seemed that the only defence against the Badgers was to get Starfighters well to the East and intercept them before they could get into range. This would become harder the closer the convoy got to the Polish port, as the bombers would eventually be able to just launch, fire and RTB.
I was also very worried about the submarine threat. Taking a hint from the initial deployment, I decided to stagger the escorts ahead of the convoy and use the two Jaguar MTBs as pit canaries to spring ambushes and give the Gannets something to go on. It would probably be useless and risky trying to do much with the apologetic ASW weapons on the destroyers and frigate. Otherwise, the merchantmen could only try to travel fast and take advantage of the low speed and poor sonar of the enemy’s diesel subs to escape.
The Sabres were the obvious solution to the Osa threat, provided I could find the PCFGs in time, while the destroyers’ heavier guns could suffice against the Petya.
Another Soviet weakness was that the Atoll missile is useless below 5,000’, so our ASW planes could stay safe by keeping low in the danger area and the Starfighters could dive (as well as using their superior speed) to get out of trouble.
26/8/64 04:00Z: A patrolling Starfighter found a Petya WSW of Bornhom, evaded a pair of Fishbeds and, initiating hostilities, downed two Badgers for 20VP each.
05:00Z: A second F-104 took-out two recon-model Badgers.
A submarine was detected at periscope depth off the East German island of Rugen, so one of the short-ranged Seabats, low on fuel, engaged but missed twice with torpedoes.
06:00Z: The second Seabat and a Gannet finally sank the sub (a Whiskey) for 20VP, though it took a total of six torpedoes to do it.
07:00Z: Two Sabres, escorted by three Starfighters, went after two Osas, sinking one for 20VP and hitting the other. A pair of Fishbeds were kept busy by the escorts and each side lost an aircraft for 20VP each way. Combats with rear-aspect missiles tend to involve planes flying in endless circles, trying to get on each others’ tails and, with aircraft of equal Agility, as in this case, become stalemates. The biggest danger comes when you have to disengage for lack of fuel and timing this requires the sort of micro-management that you can’t get from having planes on a Mission.
08:00Z: The second Osa died of its wounds.
09:00Z: A second pair of Sabres bombed and damaged the Petya as it tried to close with the convoy (now past Rugen). Escorting F-104s downed two Fishbeds.
10:00Z: The destroyer Z-4 followed-up and quickly finished the Petya off with gunfire for another 20VP. Disaster then struck as two Badgers attacked from distance and their deadly Kippers sank the Z-4 for an eye-watering 150VP and one of the merchantmen for another 20. Thankfully, they didn’t have any more sorties. A submarine then popped-up undetected and torpedoed another freighter, which sank.
11:00Z: There was nothing for it but to have the convoy alter course at speed to avoid the area of the sub. Two Gannets tried to engage the latter, but all four torpedoes missed, despite being dropped virtually on top of the probable Foxtrot.
One of the screening MTBs then did its job and detected another sub on the approaches to Kolobrzeg, getting clear and directing the convoy to hug the coast and work around it. A Gannet dropped sonobuoys around the area of the sighting, but was unable to pinpoint the sub. I missed my beloved Orions...
12:00Z: Starfighters downed two more Fishbeds.
15:00Z: The surviving seven merchantmen made it to Kolobrzeg and scored 100VP each. This transformed the result into a Triumph, with a final score of +690.
West Germany lost a destroyer, two merchantmen and an F-104.
The USSR lost two Osas, a Petya, a diesel sub, two bombers, two recon planes and five Fishbeds.
This was a good challenge and certainly not easy, requiring some thinking ‘outside the box’ to win. It was bug-free and made a nice change from the recent run of large scenarios. There are two more in the series and I might play these when time permits.