NT: Scarborough Raid What If?

[warchariot]

On Saturday, we fought a hypothetical battle based on the Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby Raid, which took place on December 16, 1914 by the Germany 1st Scout Group. This battle is meant to be part of a series of What-Ifs based on the raid.

Germany Forces
Hipper's force included the battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, Derfflinger, andVon der Tann, and the armored cruiser Blücher. He also had four light cruisers Kolberg who was to lay mines, Strassburg, Graudenz, and Stralsund with eighteen destroyers. Fleet Admiral Ingenohl took the remainder of the German High Seas Fleet to a position just east of the Dogger Bank, where they could assist if Hipper's ships came under attack, but was still close to Germany as the Kaiser’s orders had instructed.

British Forces
For this battle we were only concerned with Vice Admiral David Beatty’s 1st Battlecruiser Squadron made up of HMS Lion, HMS Queen Mary, HMS Tiger and HMS New Zealand. Commodore William Goodenough’s 1st Light Cruiser Squadron-HMS Southampton, HMS Birmingham, HMS Falmouth and HMS Nottingham all modern light cruisers, along with the light cruiser HMS Undaunted and eight destroyers, which we added to help hold off the German flotillas.

There were several other squadrons in the area, including the Second Battle Squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Warrender contained six fast dreadnoughts, HMS King George V, HMS Ajax, HMS Centurion, HMS Orion, HMS Monarch and HMS Conqueror. The four armoured cruisers of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron from Rosyth which were added to the force after Jellicoe protested that the main force would not be able to face the main German fleet. The 3rd contained HMS Devonshire, HMS Antrim, HMS Argyll and HMS Roxburgh commanded by Rear Admiral William Pakenham.

Finally, Commodore Tyrwhitt at Harwich was ordered to sea with the two light cruisers HMS Aurora and HMS Undaunted and forty-two destroyers. Jellicoe chose to assemble the fleet 25 miles south-east of the Dogger Bank. There were other forces in the area including four destroyers and a couple of light cruisers at the site of the raid.

Historical Situation
The intention was to allow the raid to take place, and then catch the German ships returning. The weather, which had started with good visibility, had now deteriorated. The Germans completed the raids and move out between the east coast minefields through a 25 mile-wide gap. The light cruisers and destroyers had laid-off and were well ahead of the battlecruisers on the return home. The British squadrons were each covering different exits from the gap.

At 11:25 the British light cruiser Southampton sighted enemy ships ahead. Southampton reported and engaged a German cruiser accompanied by destroyers. Birmingham went to assist as two more cruisers were sighted, but not reported. The two remaining British light cruisers also moved to assist, but misunderstood a message flashed by searchlight and passed it on with the result that all four light cruisers disengaged with the enemy and turned back. The Germans slipped away in the bad weather, but were now heading towards the opposite end of the minefield, where Warrender was waiting. Had Beatty know about the other light cruisers it is likely he would have moved forward as the larger screening force suggested major German ships following behind. Our hypothetical battle assumes Beatty did just that.

[warchariot]

Here is our map, ect. I'm still trying to get my pictures from my phone to my e-mail. I'll post them ASAP.

Attachments:

[warchariot]

I’m not having any luck with my pictures, so let me briefly tell the tale. The German flotillas engage the British light cruisers and closed to torpedo range crippling the HMS Southampton and HMS Nottingham. The HMS Birmingham failed a command check and withdrew.

Of course the German light cruisers also took a pounding as the British battlecruisers found the range and decimated them sinking all three. The surviving German torpedo boats were able to slip in close to the battlecruisers and score hits on HMS Loin (25 hull left) and HMS Queen Mary (54 hull remaining) torpedoing them a total of eight times and starting a fire which knocked out HMS Queen Mary’s forward main guns.

The British battlecruisers also hammered SMS Seydlitz taking her hull to about 2/3 value while the Undaunted and her flotilla finished off the German torpedo boats. It ended in a close victory for the Germans as the British had turned away and would have been hard pressed to catch the battlecruisers before they exited the map.

This was our first battle with NT as we have been playing and helping with CB-MvM since early summer. We are planning to play one of the Japanese/Russian war scenarios on New Year’s day, this time in 1/6000 scale!

[TheDreadnought]

Love this scenario. Played it myself back during the early playtesting days, and it offers a lot of excitement. Love to see some pics. Hope you can get them posted!

What were your thoughts on Naval Thunder versus CBF?

[warchariot]

British BCs swing into firing position


One of three German flotillas move to engage the light cruisers



The British closing with the German BCs



Highlight of the game, Lion and Queen Mary are torpedoed by a German flotilla as the BCs also add their fire. At this point the game was called.

Okay, I staged these pictures after the battle as we forgot to take any after the set-up.

Note: Harry, I like the way both games play. There are somewhat alike, but have a different feel. We like NT so much Ed and I just bought all the Huston ships for Russ/Jap and Span/Amer wars! We'll look at GHQ or WAS ships for WWII. I have British and German fleets from CinC from 30 years ago and just started adding the 1250 Navis ships.

[fastgit]

Thanks for the report and pics! Are the models in the pics CinC?

[TheDreadnought]

Beautiful models!

[warchariot]

The models are the Navis 1250s, I have a few of these, but they are pricey!

[Bluebear]

lovely ships, sir. The Spanish-American War battles were pretty one-sided . . . but if I recall, the Germans were considering aiding the Spanish in the Philippines . . . you might want to add that "what if".


-- Jeff

[afilter]

Excellent....Thanks for sharing.

Love the models!