No replies to this topic

[Adam H. Jones III]

This is an after action report of a General Quarters 3 naval game played at The Fantasy Store in O’Fallon, Illinois on Wednesday, July 6, 2011. This game is the first of six linked scenarios that outline the fighting of the Royal Navy squadrons stationed at Malta between April and December, 1941. The Royal Navy stationed ships at Malta to intercept the increasing convoys of men and supplies sailing from Italy to North Africa to support the Afrika Korp in their attempt to take Egypt and the Suez Canal. Each scenario will be played in order and winners determined for each scenario. In addition, a cumulative score will be kept and at the end of the six scenarios, the cumulative score will reflect how effective the Royal Navy at Malta was in slowing or stopping the convoys to North Africa.

The first scenario had the following players:

Italians
Terry Callahan-DD Lampo
Mike Connor-DD Baleno
Dennis Hill-DD Luca Tarigo
Ray Gluck Sr.-Convoy Commander

Royal Navy
DD HMS Nubian-Steve Lowry
DD HMS Mohawk-Richard Wright
DD Janus and DD Jervis-Glen Connor


16 April, 1941 found the Italian troop convoy passing by the African town of Sfax as it headed toward Tripoli. Four transports were loaded with soldiers of the 15th Panzer Division along with one transport loaded with equipment and ammunition for the fighting in North Africa. Escorting the group were three Italian destroyers.

The convoy was arrayed in a box formation with the German transport SS Aegina leading one column and SS Iserlhon following SS Aegina three thousand yards behind. SS Arta led the other column that was three thousand yards to port of the first column with SS Adana following SS Arta. Three thousand yard to the rear of the box formation and placed between the two transport columns was the Italian transport MV Sabaudia carrying munitions and vehicles. Leading the convoy three thousand yards to the front was the Italian destroyer Luca Tarico. Three thousand yards off of the starboard bow of SS Aegina was the Italian destroyer Baleno. Bringing up the rear of the convoy and stationed three thousand yards off of the port stern of SS Adana was the Italian destroyer Lampo.

It was an overcast night with 4-6 foot swells. Visibility was poor at about three thousand yards. The convoy struggled to keep station while the destroyers scanned for any possible sign of enemy action. Suddenly, one of Baleno’s lookouts shouted that unknown ships were appearing off to the starboard bow some three thousand yards away….

The 14th Destroyer Squadron of the Royal Navy consisting of HMS Jervis, HMS Janus, HMS Nubian, and HMS Mohawk had been alerted by Ultra intercepts of an important troop convoy headed for North Africa. Reacting, quickly, the squadron sailed to the interception point. Not finding the convoy initially, the force started to sweep the area and around 0200, located the convoy by radar. Using radar as their guide, the squadron set up an approach to cut across the starboard bow of the convoy. HMS Nubian led the squadron with HMS Mohawk, HMS Janus, and HMS Jervis following in line. Sweeping in at twenty knots, a ship looms out of the darkness and takes the shape of an Italian destroyer…

Baleno called for General Quarters as her gun and torpedo directors attempt to acquire the closing ships. The lead unknown ship opens fire and launched torpedoes, with the gunfire smothering Baleno and hitting her twice, damaging her engine room and rudder compartment, throwing Baleno into a hard starboard turn. Baleno responded quickly and managed to fire back at the firing ship but saw no apparent hits. Baleno’s torpedo officer also got a quick solution on the lead ship and fired off both torpedo mounts toward the line of ships...

HMS Nubian continued to push across the front of the convoy hitting Baleno with her rapid firing main guns. HMS Nubian’s torpedoes ran into the night without hitting anything. HMS Mohawk, sensing that Baleno could have launched torpedoes, broke from the line of battle and swung away from the Italians, speeding up to avoid the torpedo spreads. HMS Janus and HMS Jervis were still in the dark as to what was happening and continued forward in line toward the fight...

Baleno was taking numerous hits destroying the just emptied torpedo mounts and knocking out the rear turret. Damage control parties struggled to repair the rudder but found that it was too damaged to repair. The parties then focused on the damaged engine room to repair and restore the engine room. Baleno continued to circle starboard as she slowed due to the engine room damage. Suddenly, the night was split by huge explosions…

HMS Janus and HMS Jervis had been pushing forward in line to try to get into the action. In front of them, the flash of gunfire and explosions flickered on and off. Just as HMS Janus spotted a ship in the distance, torpedoes from Baleno found a target as HMS Janus was hit by one torpedo that split the destroyer in half and sank her in six minutes. HMS Jervis immediately began to swerve to avoid the holocaust in front of her but she too was struck by two of Baleno’s torpedoes. HMS Jervis slowly sank in eighteen minutes.

Baleno did not have any time to celebrate her victories as HMS Nubian continued to pound on the Italian destroyer as Baleno's jammed rudder forced her to continue to circle to starboard and slow down. HMS Mohawk had initially swung away from the fight and after she was out of sight of any ships, turned back to engage the enemy. As HMS Mohawk closed back into visibility range, a destroyer took shape out of the night off of HMS Mohawk’s port bow. Reacting quickly, HMS Mohawk opened fire on the destroyer. As soon as the salvo was away, the fire control director screamed to cease fire as it was realized that the target was HMS Nubian. The mistaken salvo apparently did no visible damage. HMS Mohawk sailed past HMS Nubian and when HMS Mohawk was clear of HMS Nubian, the large hulk of a transport appeared to the front of HMS Mohawk. The British destroyer turned to port to bring her broadside to bear and opened fire on this new positively identified target…

HMS Nubian swung toward Baleno and continued to fire, hitting Baleno in the hull. As HMS Nubian maneuvered against Baleno, a large freighter appeared out of the gloom approaching HMS Nubian from the port side and began to fire at her. In addition, another Italian destroyer appeared behind HMS Nubian and began to fire at her as well.

HMS Mohawk almost could not miss at the close range of sixteen hundred yards as she snapped her spotlight on and opened up on the illuminated transport. Her initial broadside into the German steamship SS Iserlhon smashed the hull and breached multiple bulkheads along with destroying the single 4.1” gun mount that was firing back in defiance. The SS Iserlhon’s crew valiantly attempted to save the flooding ship but the damage was too extensive and the SS Iserlhon sank some twenty minutes later taking soldiers of the 15th Panzer Division with her. After finishing off the SS Iserlhorn, HMS Mohawk spotted another freighter some two thousand yards to the starboard. HMS Mohawk fired her torpedoes at the transport SS Adana but no hits were seen or reported.

Baleno slowly drifted to a stop as she continued to battle HMS Nubian. Although damaged and adrift, the crew stayed at their battle stations and continued to fire at HMS Nubian and was pleased to see that the British destroyer was also slowing down and her return fire was becoming more ineffective. HMS Nubian turned away from Baleno as the large freighter and the second Italian destroyer continued to fire on HMS Nubian.

HMS Nubian, although being swarmed by fire from the two Italian destroyers and the freighter was only hit twice by the incoming fire. The hull hits did begin to take their toll as the destroyer slowed down further due to damage. HMS Nubian remained fixated on Baleno and continued to fire back at the Italian destroyer.

Italian destroyer Luca Tarigo was originally stationed at the lead of the convoy when the battle erupted to her starboard. She turned to starboard and sped up to assist in the fight. At first, only gun flashes and explosions marked the location of the fighting but soon one of the lead transports hove into view and shortly after that, the two sparring destroyers, HMS Nubian and Baleno came into sight. Luca Tarigo opened fire with her bow guns to assist Baleno in her struggle with the British destroyer. The lead transport; the German transport SS Aegina was adding her single gun to the fight. HMS Nubian had turned and was running away from Luca Tarigo. Luca Tarigo lined up and fired both torpedo mounts toward the disappearing HMS Nubian. The torpedo officer was confident that the two spreads of torpedoes would miss the lead transport as it was reported to him that the transport SS Aegina would be turning away from the fight. After the torpedoes were launched, the torpedo officer watched in horror as the SS Aegina did NOT turn quick enough and one spread of torpedoes merged with the slowly turning transport. A huge fountain of water rose from the rear of the transport as one torpedo found the wrong target. The SS Aegina slowed to a stop and took on an increasing list as crew and passengers began to abandon ship. The SS Aegina sank twelve minutes later. Luca Tarigo continued down and screened the dead in the water Baleno from further attacks by the British.

HMS Mohawk continued her hunt for transports. After sinking the SS Iserlhon, HMS Mohawk turned to starboard toward where her radar was reporting a target. After completing the turn, HMS Mohawk increased speed and soon another transport appeared from the night off of her port bow. The Italian ammo transport MV Sabaudia has lost all situational awareness and believed the convoy was under air attack. Her attention was directed upward as the HMS Mohawk came into view, illuminated the transport with her spotlight and opened fire. HMS Mohawk was spot on with her initial attack, hitting the MV Sabaudia in the hull and twice into the volatile cargo holds filled with ammunition. The MV Sabaudia erupted in a volcanic explosion that disintegrated the transport and almost caught HMS Mohawk in the blast. Just as the light of the explosion began to fade, splashes from shells surrounded HMS Mohawk. A quick look to the stern found the Italian destroyer Lampo had entered the fight.

The Italian destroyer Lampo had been stationed to the rear of the convoy and was tasked with the job of assisting any transport that strayed from the convoy. When the attack started at the front of the convoy, Lampo sped up and started to move to the sound of the guns. Lampo swung to the rear of the transport MV Sabaudia and had turned to close toward the mass of explosions and flashes off of the bow. Just as Lampo began her run into the battle, the destroyer spotted a ship off of her port bow and heading away. As Lampo laid her guns and torpedoes on the unidentified target, the ship illuminated and opened fire on the transport MV Sabaudia which immediately erupted in a huge explosion. Crossing the stern of the now illuminated British destroyer HMS Mohawk, Lampo opened fire. Shell splashes surrounded HMS Mohawk but apparently did not do any visible damage. Lampo also launched both torpedo tubes at HMS Mohawk.

HMS Mohawk realized that she was not in the greatest position to attack Lampo. Convinced that the Italian destroyer had launched torpedoes, any attempt to turn to attack Lampo could result in Italian torpedoes sinking HMS Mohawk. HMS Mohawk’s only defense was to try to outrun the torpedoes. Accelerating to her max speed of 35 knots, HMS Mohawk quickly drew out of sight of Lampo and held a collective breath hoping that that they managed to avoid being hit by torpedoes. After a few minutes, HMS Mohawk was satisfied that she had avoided the torpedoes. Lookouts quickly scanned the area and spotted a transport slowly fading into the dark some two thousand yards to starboard. HMS Mohawk quickly fired at this disappearing target. The salvo smashed into the SS Adana who had earlier avoided the torpedo spread fired by HMS Mohawk. This time, HMS Mohawk did not miss as bulkheads quickly collapsed and the SS Adana slowly drifted to a halt and eventually capsized and sank.

Both HMS Mohawk and HMS Nubian were low on ammunition and HMS Nubian was slowed by damage. Both ships decided to disengage and sailed off into the dark, leaving the Italians to rescue survivors and reorganize what was left of the convoy.

Final results of the battle:

Royal Navy:
Sunk
DD HMS Janus
DD HMS Jervis
Damaged
DD HMS Nubian

Regia Marina:
Sunk
MV Sabaudia
SS Adana
SS Aegina
SS Iserlhon
Damaged
DD Baleno

Battle Honors for the British was awarded to HMS Mohawk as she was responsible for sinking two transports and an ammo freighter. Considering that HMS Mohawk’s first salvo was targeted at a friendly ship certainly makes her performance that much more impressive.

Battle Honors for the Italians was awarded to DD Baleno. The fact that the crew of Baleno remained at battle stations on a drifting and damaged destroyer along with the effective torpedo launch that was responsible for sinking two British destroyers made the selection very easy.

Adam H. Jones III