Not the Warspite!     

QuoteThe Admiralty regrets to announce the loss of the battleship HMS Warspite during recent convoy operations in the Mediterranian Theatre of Operations.

Nooooo!   

Must be a fault with the rules (or the umpire)!

Cheers Paul

Oh dear!

Mi dispiace molto

Quote from: paulr on 02 September 2024, 07:53:45 AMMi dispiace molto

I bet you're not!

Peter, I wonder if you have read C. S. Forester's "The Ship"?
A short novel describing an RN light cruiser squadron (and some destroyers) defending a convoy to Malta from a sizable portion of the Italian fleet.

It was written at the height of the war and is an iconography of the RN. Still it is much in Hornblower style and I remember enjoying all the tactical and operational details.

Enjoy your game (and Liscarroll as well  ). Awaiting reports on both (and pics, don't forget pics).

Incidentally, before Kitty pounces (as he sometimes does when he sees language use as a ball of twine), I did consider both "hagiography" and "paean to" before using "iconography". It is a study of iconic RN officers and rating types with much of thier interior life exposed. 

Quote from: d_Guy on 02 September 2024, 02:28:18 PMPeter, I wonder if you have read C. S. Forester's "The Ship"?

Excellent book! One of my favourites. It may be called "the Ship" but it is all about the frail humans it carried.

Yes I have read most of C.S Forester's works, including "The Ship", which is based on events at the Second Battle of Sirte. He also wrote "Gold from Crete" about the exploits of a British destroyer flotilla in the Med during the early part of the war.

If you want a slightly gritter human story of the wartime RN from a contemporary author try Nicolas Monserrat's "The Cruel Sea" which was made into a very good film in the early 50's when the last Flower Class corvettes were still in service. "Snorkers for dinner!!" 

There are several other Malta convoy actions that I'd like to try at some stage now I know the scenario concept worked pretty well overall. But with a lot of aircraft and two tables we did not get quite as many turns as I had hoped as each turn takes a while to work through. Still we got a fairly decisive result in the time we did play. Warspite was the only ship that was lost on either side, though as you will see the Italian flagship had a lucky escape.
 

If we're going down that path, I'd add Alistair MacLean's "HMS Ulysses", which about Arctic Convoys, and Monsarrat's short story "HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour" - but "The Ship" is most relevant to the thread.

Hang on ... you lost the Warspite, you didn't sink any Italian capital ships, just swatted a few pesky kites, and the convoy turned back?


I think the Admiral Byng treatment should be resurrected, Sir!   

But I didn't lose Minorca! 

We'll try again in a couple of months from Gibraltar.....code name Pedestal......take the Nelson and Rodney this time....bigger ships with bigger guns to match the Italian Lottorio's (if they can find enough fuel to get them to sea)......carriers with lots of fighters (well Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars anyway  ).....use fast merchantmen with lots of AA.....

If that doesn't work I guess I'll see out the war running a weather station somewhere above the Arctic Circle if I'm lucky.

You can now find my finally completed battle report on the game in the Batrep section of the forum.