Dogger Bank Battle report

[paulr]

No, not the one with Battlecruisers in 1915 or the one with the Russian 2^nd Pacific Squadron in 1904.

The one with the Dutch during the American War of Independence.

The Dutch had for many years been supplying the Americans, and shipping French goods in support of the American war effort. In December 1780, Great Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic starting the 4^th Anglo-Dutch War.

Admiral Hyde Parker was accompanying a convoy of ships from the Baltic when he spotted the sails of a Dutch fleet on the morning of 5^th August, 1781. He immediately dispatched his convoy toward the English coast and ordered his line to close the enemy. Rear-Admiral Zoutman, whose ships had been interspersed with Dutch merchantmen, signaled his line to form between Parker and his convoy. The wind was light from the northeast.

The British deployed their 7 ships of the line in line of battle, course west, with one cable between ships. Their three frigates were 4 cables to the south. The Dutch, southwest of the British,  deployed their 7 ships of the line in line of battle, course east southeast, with one cable between ships with three frigates 4 cables to the south.

As the squadrons approached the British turned south to cut off the Dutch. The Dutch continued to struggle to make progress, hard against the wind.

(Note Dutch ships are labelled in red and British in blue with their number of guns. Frigates are indicated with an F and flagships with a flag. The white arrow indicates wind direction.)



The lead ships of both squadrons turned away slightly to bring their broadsides to bear and avoid the risk of collision. The British frigates massed at the front of their line.



As the fighting became more general at the head of the squadrons the British started to pull ahead of the Dutch. The Dutch frigates started to concentrate to oppose the British frigates.


 
The two leading Dutch ships bore away and made more sail to avoid being overtaken and raked by the British. Unfortunately, this led to a widening gap opening as the remainder of their line struggled to make way close on the wind. The second ships in both lines were starting to take significant damage.


 
The Dutch frigates concentrated at the head of the battle lines and were raking the British flagship. The Dutch third in line had managed to catch up with the two leading Dutch ships. Damage was mounting on all three leading Dutch ships and the two leading British ships.

The three rearmost British ships had been ordered to break the line and the fourth Dutch ship was caught in a devastating fire. With all the Dutch frigates at the front of the line there was no way for the Dutch commander to relay orders to his rear ships to avoid the looming trap. He did order the Dutch second and third ships to quit the line in an attempt to save them.


 
The leading British ship was forced to veer to starboard to avoid collision with the third of the Dutch frigates. Bringing her close enough to call on the leading Dutch ship to strike her colours which she did (marked with a white X). The damage and casualties on the second ships in both lines was so great that they were more focused on remaining afloat than the battle. The third in the British line called on her opposite number to strike. With most of her crew dead, injured or struggling to stem flooding she did so.


 
In the rear of the lines the devastated fourth Dutch ship struck her colours. The commander of the rear Dutch squadron decided that he needed to break off the action and try and save his three ships.
 


A very clear victory for my British opponent.

The Dutch made two mistakes that proved disastrous. They allowed a gap to open in their battle line as their ships bore away from the wind and sped up. They concentrated their frigates at the head of their line meaning that they were not able to act as signal frigates relaying signals to the rear Dutch ships. The order to the rear squadron to head off and rake the three rear British ships never arrived.

Overall, a very enjoyable game for both players.

It was great to play an age of sail game using my 'homebrew' rules for the first time in several years.

I didn't get my 1/4,800 ships on the table though. But when your opponent can provide such beautiful 1/1,200 Langton ships who would argue.

Our next game is scheduled in two weeks.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks superb, very jealous of those. Great report.

[Ithoriel]

Great looking game and a nice report.

The Dutch do look to have been out-gunned and out-manoeuvred!

[Norm]

The Langton ships truly are beautiful and your game visually stunning.

[Steve J]

What a lovely looking game !

[fred.]

What they all said!

Great looking ships, and the simple annotations on the battle report work well

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Good stuff

[bigjackmac]

Wow, that is a truly a visually stunning game!

V/R,
Jack