We played what I call the Dutch Fantasy Variant. I call it that because it would have required the Dutch to have responded to the growing Japanese threat in the east with naval construction at an accelerated rate that would have had the Dutch navy at a place in May 1940 that would not have been achieved historically until about late 1943 at the earliest.
The fantasy Dutch Navy OOB for this scenario added Tiger and the three Scharnhorst copies (Gelderland, Nederland & Batavia) as well as the 4 Tjerk Hiddes destroyers. The various ships historically completed in the UK such as the cruiser Jacob van Heemskerk were present in that configuration. This was a Dutch only affair, no Brits, Aussies or Yanks allowed. I did not use the newest cruisers as I don't have models for them.
The Royal Netherland Navy thus consisted of:
Battle Cruiser Squadron Cruiser Squadron
BC HrMs Tiger-Admiral Helfrich CL HrMs De Ruyter-Rear Admiral Doorman
BC HrMs Gelderland CL HrMs Java
BC HrMs Nederland CL HrMs Sumatra
BC HrMs Batavia. CL HrMs Tromp
Destroyer Flotilla
CL HrMs Jacob van Heemskerk-Leader
Destroyer Group 1 Destroyer Group 2 Destroyer Group 3
DD HrMs Van Ghent-Leader DD HrMs Van Galen-Leader DD HrMs Tjerk Hiddes-Leader
DD HrMs Evertsen DD HrMs Banckert DD HrMs Gerard Callenburgh
DD HrMs Kortenaer DD HrMs Van Nes DD HrMs Isaac Sweers
DD HrMs Piet Hein DD HrMs Witte de With DD HrMs Van Galen II
I simply added all four Kongos (under Vice Admiral Gunichi) to the historical Japanese OOB for Java Sea
The wind was Force 3 from the south and visibility was 20,000 yards. The start time was 1600 hours with night fall at 2000 hours. We had played this scenario before and dice decided that we would reprise our earlier roles.
The Dutch were steaming at 18 knots on a heading of 315 degrees. The Japanese were also steaming at 18 knots on a heading of 45 degrees. Admiral Helfrich in Tiger headed his line ahead formation with the battle cruiser squadron, cruiser squadron and destroyer flotilla steaming in that order. Vice Admiral Gunichi also lead a Japanese line ahead in steaming order of battle cruiser squadron, 5th Cruiser Squadron, 2nd Destroyer Flotilla and 4th Destroyer Flotilla.
Both admirals felt that their battle cruisers would bear the brunt of the fight but Gunichi having lost before was concerned that the Kongo's gunnery would not be enough to give victory. Gunichi detached Rear Admiral Takagi's cruisers and Rear Admiral Nishimura's 4th Destroyer Flotilla (1 CL & 10 DD) to attack the Dutch rear while retaining Rear Admiral Tanaka's 2nd Destroyer Flotilla (1 CL & 4 DD) on Gunichi's unengaged side for a possible torpedo attack after the Kongo's gunnery had beat up the secondary guns of the Dutch BCs. Both sides repeatedly made their morale, demonstrating their commitment to their missions.
Admiral Helfrich responded to the Japanese move against his rear by turning his cruisers and destroyers away under smoke, leaving his BCs without any light ships in support. The BCs for both sides pounded each other for the next 42 minutes (7 turns) while the Japanese slowly closed the range. The result of the prolonged gunnery duel was the sinking of Kongo, Haruna and Tiger. Hiei was circling to starboard with a permanently jammed rudder while Kirishima had lost all her main armament and starboard secondary guns, was reduced to 20 knots and had turned away under smoke. As for the Dutch, Tiger had blown up, Gelderland had lost all her main armament and was reduced to 15 knots; Nederland had lost a turret and had moderate hull damage while Batavia had minor hull damage.
Rear Admiral Tanaka now saw his chance and popped out from behind a smoke screen and crossed the Dutch Tee within 4,000 yards with his cruiser Jintsu and 4 Kagero DDs. Gelderland pasted Jintsu with her starboard secondary knocking her DIW but the damage was done as there were no Dutch cruisers or DDs to shoot up the Kageros.
The 4 Kageros launched all 8 quad Type 93 mounts they had at the Dutch BC column at 3,000 to 4,000 yards. The Dutch BCs at 15 knots were not able to clear the arc. Gelderland was hit by 3 torpedoes and sank quickly. Nederland also took 3 torps and sank. Batavia was able to speed up to 23 knots and turned to starboard to try escape but took two torpedo hits which knocked out 2 of her turrets and reduced her to 15 knots. Jintsu going DIW jammed up the 4 trailing DDs and while 3 of them managed to avoid her; Amatsukaze was not so lucky and rammed Jintsu causing Jintsu serious hull damage while Amatsukaze suffered minor damage.
We looked at the situation and decided that Batavia at 15 knots was doomed given that Nishimura had 10 destroyers approaching her at 35 knots. We gave the victory to the Japanese. This was the second scenario we played that day and both games including a short break for lunch and set up took less than 5 hours all together.
