6 replies to this topic

[W. Clark]

Night Fight in the Med 1940

Franco declared war on the Brits and the Dutch after the fall of France in this What-If. The Royal Netherlands Navy came to the assistance of the RN in the Western Med.

Wind: Force 5 Westerly   Wind Speed: 20 knots      Squalls/Sea Haze: None

Watch: 0400 hours           Dark GT: 6

Dawn Reduction: 6000 yards w/3,000 decrease per GT

Max Daylight Visibility: 20,000 yards Sky: Overcast          Moon: New

RNN: VAdm Helfrich

CL HrMs De Ruyter FF                  DesDiv 1                               DesDiv 2

CruDiv: RAdm Doorman              DD HrMs Banckert             DD HrMs Van Galen

CL HrMs De Zeven Provincien   DD HrMs Evertsen            DD HrMS Van Ghent

CL HrMs Endracth                          DD HrMs Kortenar            DD HrMs Van Nes

CL HrMs Java                                   DD HrMs Piet Hein            DD HrMS Witte de With

CL HrMs Tromp

Heading: 225 degrees      Speed: 25 knots

Armada Espana: VAdm Juan Valdez

CA AES Canarias FF                       DesDiv 1                               DesDiv 2

CruDiv: RAdm Gravina                 DD AES A. Antequera       DD AES Churruca

CL AES A. Cerveva                         DD AES Ciscar                     DD AES Jose L. Diez

CL AES Galicia                                 DD AES Gravina                  DD AES Escano

CL AES Miguel de Cervantes      DD AES S. Barcaiztegul    DD AES A. Ferrandiz

Heading: 315 degrees      Speed: 25 knots     Relative Bearing: Ahead

 

It was a dark, but not stormy night as the Armada Espana steamed to intercept an Allied naval force off the Balearic Islands. VAdm Valdez had deployed in three columns abreast from east to west, DesDiv 1, CruDiv. and DesDiv 2 respectively with 3,000 yards between the columns.

 

At 0424 hours enemy destroyers appeared ahead to DesDiv 1’s starboard quarter at 4,000 yards. The enemy destroyers were steaming at about 35 knots. All 4 of the enemy destroyers opened on the leading three destroyers of DesDiv 1 and they returned fire. The trailing destroyer, Barcaiztegul still could not see the enemy. Antequera suffered serious structural damage while Gravina lost a torpedo mount. Their return fire slowed the lead (later identified as Banckert) destroyer but otherwise seemed to have little effect on the other enemy destroyers.

 

By 0430 hours it was obvious that enemy were trying to cross his Tee and VAdm Valdez ordered his cruisers and DesDiv 2 to turn together to port while DesDiv 1 turned to port in succession to shelter the cruisers.

 

DesDiv 1 and identified enemy destroyers continued to engage each other with both sides scoring some minor hits. Gun fire now erupted from what turned out to be a cruiser column that Valdez’s cruisers could not yet see. Antequera was smothered by 5.9” fire that left her DIW and she also took a magazine hit. This resulted in an early dawn when Antequera blew up. The other recipient of this 5.9” fire was Canarias herself who lost her fore turret and took a hit to her engine spaces that reduced her to 21 knots. The accursed Protestants (Valdez was now sure his opponents were Dutch) lit his cruisers and DesDiv 2 up with star shell from what turned out to be yet another destroyer column beyond the enemy cruisers.

 

At 0436 hours Valdez could smell a torpedo attack coming and turned his cruisers together to port so that he had now reversed his original course with Canarias trailing in an effort to get some distance between him and the pounding he was taking. Valdez also ordered DesDiv 2 to turn together to starboard to try and cross the enemy’s Tee. Canarias could now see at least three cruisers at about 6,000 yards (their firing had allowed acquisition) and Canarias targeted the leading cruiser (De Ruyter) and hit her four times. But Canarias was pummeled by the Dutch cruisers in return losing all but her aft turret. DesDiv 1 and 2 continued to exchange fire with their opposite numbers and generally got the best of it although Gravina lost her remaining torpedo mount. Churruca blew up Van Galen

 

At 0442 hours Churruca torpedoed Van Ghent and De Ruyter. Van Ghent sank and De Ruyter would shortly follow because of other damage caused by Canarias. But Canarias was knocked DIW and her black gang managed to break both her engines over two turns leaving her in need of a tow.

 

It was dawn now and DesDiv 2 fired off all of its five remaining torpedo mounts at the Dutch cruiser column. Ferrandiz did the same from the other side. Thus, there were seven triple mounts aimed at the remaining four Dutch cruisers. But there were wrecks and destroyers in the way. Van Nes succumbed first to two hits and then Endracht also took two hits and sank. It is believed that Java also took a hit but survived.  But the Spanish did not see any of this as DesDiv 2 turned away under chemical smoke. The remains of DesDiv 1 covered the Spanish light cruisers with chemical smoke as they broke contact. That left VAdm Valdez and Canarias DIW in the midst of the enemy. Dutch vengeance was swift and they sank Canarias in a flurry of 5.9” fire.

 

At this point it all came down to morale. The Dutch morale held and the Spanish broke. The Dutch won. And what about Dutch torpedoes you might well ask. We never saw any, so we never evaded.

 

This AAR was written from the Espana POV and all errors are its author’s.

 

WMC

 

[simanton]

Impressive action!

[W. Clark]

The Dutch could see 8,000 yards and the Spanish could see 4,000. So, my head was in a bag the whole time and it was looking bad. So, I fired off every torpedo that would bear, dropped chemical smoke and ran. My thinking was to preserve my CLs to fight another day and I knew when the Admiral died that I only had a 25% chance of making morale. I was in the first range band and those are Brit torpedoes (early marks, but Brit nevertheless). But there were wrecks in the way and I angled every torp into what I figured would be a traffic jam. I got lucky, hit with 5 torps (not counting the ones that hit wrecks) out of the 21 I fired that turn. When you add that to the two hits out of 6 I got the previous turn it was a good torp day. But I was running for my life when all of that happened and the smoke I laid kept me blind. Then the Dutch sank the Canarias and killed my admiral, and I failed morale. I see it as Kharma, I did not deserve to win, and the God of Games saw to it that there was a just ending.

[healey36]

Give me your fairest, honest-injun assessment of the Royal Dutch Navy going into WWII, given the mission. The cruisers look sparse and old to me, based on German and Italian designs of questionable capabilities. The DDs are pretty old as well, and far too few in number. 

[W. Clark]

IMHO, the Dutch legislature wanted the payoff from their empire without having to pay for its defense. They looked at what Japan was doing and knew they were going to be aggressive against either the Dutch or the Russians (that was who was in reach and had the resources Japan needed). The Navy had been warning since at least 1908 that it would be the DEI. But the Dutch politicos saw Japan's aggressions towards Russia and decided the Russians were the target. Thus, they successfully resisted the Navy's desire for an increased fleet size. The navy finally got them to build the third cruiser (De Ruyter) to replace the canceled Celebes (Java class) and then to stiffen the destroyers with the Tromp class. Then came Khalkin Gol and the realization that Russia was not going to be where the Japanese would take the resources they needed. The DEI was next up, and the Dutch realized their cruiser force was totally inadequate to face the IJN heavies. So, they went shopping to the Germans for BC plans and still had some hopes there when the Germans invaded them on 10 May.

 

The Endratch class that they had laid down in 38(?) would have been a serious improvement of their cruiser force. But still too little and much too late. The DDs are derivates of the Brit prototypes Amazon and Ambuscade. Good boats, but small and deficient in AA as all Brit DD designs were at the time. The Tjerk Hiddes class DDs that were launched but not completed when Germany invaded were also a serious improvement. But one division of DDs was not going to be enough. 

 

​So why didn't the Dutch see the handwriting on the wall earlier as their navy asked them repeatedly too? IMHO, they didn't want too. Instead, they decided that the US and the UK would come to their defense no matter the cost. The fact that they were a colonial power and that expending American blood and treasure to defend their empire was political suicide in the US seemed to elude their thinking. I could go on, but the short of it is; they were outnumbered, outclassed and out generaled from the start. IMHO, we threw the crews of our Asiatic Fleet away when we committed them to the defense of the DEI and we didn't slow the Japanese down at all.

 

WMC

[healey36]

Thanks for that; it confirms my impressions in a number of areas. I was recently having a discussion with a number of historians at USNA, and opinions seemed rather diverse. I've come around to the notion that some historians today take up viewpoints that run counter to prevailing assessments simply to sell books (rather than spew/regurgitate the same stuff again). A lot of it seems nonsensical.

 

One other question...were any of the navy's weapons proprietary to the Dutch, i.e. did they have their own torpedo technology, AA, guns/ammunition? All I have here is H. T. Lenton's Royal Netherlands Navy and, being a small book, it doesn't have that much detail.

 

 

[W. Clark]

I believe their torpedoes and 5.9" were home grown and they were way ahead in light AA mountings. But they lacked the ability to make heavier guns and the turrets for the Endratch class were purchased from Sweden. They would have constructed the Scharnhorst knockoffs in Dutch yards, but the guns and turrets would have had to come from Germany or elsewhere. 

 

WMC