Through a hard fought, 2 hour long battle the Allies inflicted a major defeat on the Axis. Although outnumbered (4 battleships, 1 carrier, 1 light cruiser, 1 destroyer, 1 transport, 2 shore batteries vs. 4 battleships, 1 destroyer, 1 transport, 1 LST) the brave Allied navy held off the Axis fleet long enough for the LST to begin an invasion. During the course of the fighting, the axis lost 1 destroyer and 2 shore batteries. Caualties for the Allies include 1 battleship disabled by mines (later repaired and fighting again) and 1 sunk transport.

Having won the battle, the Allies won the Arizona Cup for the year, as well as bragging rights.

A little bit more info on the battle: a grand total of 21 ships, two shore batteries, two docks (with targets), and an island (with targets) showed up for battle.

Rob, feel free to elaborate on the event.

It may be a while before pics are up on the website because Carl and I are going off to freshman orientation at UC Davis Mon thru Wed.


www.westernwarshipcombat.com
[edit]link repaired

carrier? was it just a target ship or did it have planes?

sounds violent


i didnt know you had docks?

The carriers that are built usually had some sort of 5-8 inch guns mounted under the flight deck, or at either end of the tower island.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys.../cv-2-specs.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys.../cv-4-specs.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys.../cv-5-specs.htm

etc...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/old.htm

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I hope they have a pond on campus...

As a matter of fact, yes there is a pond and stream on campus. However, I was told it was slightly radioactive. I have also been informed by an alumni in the WWCC that people at freshmen orientation tend to exaggerate just a little bit.

The carrier was the Graf Zeppelin. In our club, carriers are allowed "aircraft representative guns" fixed off the bow, stern, and both sides. The ship had just been redone, or built, or something like that, and didn't get it's guns tested (the builders arrived too late to do any of the safety tests). Apparently it was shooting hot, and actually drew blood from two other captains at the pond. Then it got hung up on mines. Thats when I came in to prey on it in the King George V. Thats also when I started to have problems with my cannons (sometimes they worked, other times they didn't. I think there's a leak between the poppet and the actuator.)

Right at the start of the battle HMS Hood got hung up on mines right in front of two Axis gun turrets and docks. After they played around for a bit, the Axis ships came to share the fun. Tirpitz ran into some gun problems and was out for most of the fighting. Shcarnhorst had only one rotating turret (the other was fixed off the stern), and so was trading three 7/32 for six 1/4 balls. eventually a large hole developed in the stern and the front cannon was hit rather hard and disabled. About this time the Graf Zeppelin got mined as well. USS Wisconsin came back out to play just after KGV. While I took my chances with a disabled carrier, the Wisconsin went after the gun turrets. One was "un-sinkable" and had a target that would disable the power, and was quickly knocked out. The other developed a gas leak that plagued it throughout the rest of the battle, effectively neutralizing it. I have a pic of it (I'll post it sometime next week when I get more time) and all the damage done by the Wisconsin. This whole time a Dutch battlecruiser, called the Prince of Orange (or, Orange for short), as well as the French dreadnought Normandie were occasionally exchanging rounds with the USS Alabama and any other targets of opportunity. The Hood was a favorite target. However, being a large boat and with most shots hitting above the waterline, it was in no danger of sinking.

Rob's LST made two attempts at landing. He had to circle a course before coming into the LZ. It turns out that since he was using a hacked servo to open and close the ramp, it would develope a slight drift during the run and would over tighten. The ramp became stuck so the tank couldn't come out, and eventually one of the cables broke. When he loaded the tank in an made an immediate run on the LZ (before the battle, without running the course), it landed, opened up, dropped the ramp without any problems. The tank rolled out and drove up the beach. Hopefully one of the other club members can get some pictures out of the video we took of the practice landing. There was some controversy over whether the LST could be shot once it had hit the beach and revealed it's inviting red area below the boot, but hopefully has been smoothed out for future battles.

At the halfway mark, a captain who has been absent from the season so far due to police training showed up. Unfortunately, the guns on his Nelson needed servicing and he left at home a crucial part to gas up his submarine. So instead of fighting, he cheered on his team. Once the battle was over, he took out the I-400 for some test driving to make sure it was still in good working order. It looks good on the video and pictures I got of it.

POssibly the most important part of it all was that a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News visited to write an article about us. The article was published Monday on page 7A. You could probably look it up online, but I'm not sure where.

Anyway, thats all that I can think of to report to you guys.

The official battle report is up! As are some pics of the battle. No action shots yet, but they're on the way. Come check it out at www.westernwarshipcombat.com