Battle of the Denmark Strait Re-Fight using GQII

The RN Battle-cruiser Force (HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales [RHS-top below]) has intercepted the German Raiding Squadron[bottom left] in the Denmark Straits thanks to the good work of Admiral Wade Walker's cruiser squadron (see below, historical starting conditions as per David Manly's blog post, with the only exception that we could not position HMS Suffolk on table - she is deemed off table to the rear, [HMS Norfolk top-middle]):

A close up of the German Raiding Squadron (see below, the KM Prince Eugen leads the KM Bismarck):

Seeing an advantageous tactical position the German Squadron turns to try and cross the "T" of the RN Battle-cruiser Force (see below, the Prince Eugen leading is in a very exposed position, but she may inadvertently take some of the heat off the Bismarck - shortening the range at this point may be seen as a controversial choice but it intends to make life awkward for the RN and hurt the Hood):

First moves over, broadside firing commences (see below, the German Commander [me] is choosing a very aggressive [too?] tactic of closing the range and is prepared to have a "knife fight in a phone box" - this could be a very quick and bloody affair):

To the shock and horror of the German Commander [me] the RN gunnery is good, the Bismarck takes hull and armament damage and the KM Prince Eugen is straddled by HMS Hood - but no damage, the RN player was going historical in this regards):

The British keep throwing good dice, they must drill very hard (see below), another hit ["0"] and another "roll on the critical hit table, please" (see below, everybody was expecting a magazine explosion at some point in the battle):

The Germans (aka the Bismarck) is giving the Mighty Hood hell, as she looses two flotation boxes and is reduced to 6 cm speed (see below, Vice Admiral Holland (aka Renko) is absorbing the punishment to close the range and then turn his two full broadsides on the Bismarck - [post script] I did forget this was also a critical on the Hood, but nought save an extra flotation box damage came of it [no catastrophic explosion]):

Bismark plays "follow the leader" part way through her actual move (see below). We were playing the GQ Squadron Rules so this could lead to tactical awkwardness - personally I think that the Bismarck would just do her own thing [in the real battle Lutgens ordered the KM Prince Eugen away from the battle rather than waiting on attracting battle damage]. As it happened at the end of teh move Bismarck maintained a full broadside on her target, the mighty HMS Hood (see below, firing is taken at end of movement despite salvos taking place throughout the move - it is just one of those "rule mechanism things"):

HMS Hood is still suffering from accurate early German firing (see below, both British sides are only firing half their broadsides as their rear arcs are covered):

Again the RN hit the KM Bismarck with telling blows (see below, a turret is "abstractly" put out of action, 25% of the big hitting power is gone - it has to be said that HMS Hood is looking a battered ship too):

Another hit (by HMS Prince of Wales) on the Bismarck and this time a "critical hit" that causes a serious fire (see below, the red counter demoting a fire burning out of control and extra half hull box damage):

The Hood then smashes a broadside into the KM Prince Eugen, destroying two full hull boxes and reducing her immediately to 6 cm of speed (see below, both German ships commerce raiding days are over as a lengthy spell in dry dock would be a minimum):

HMS Hood soaks up more damage but I see no "catastrophic exposition" just a steady advance to a point where she can make a turn to expose her full broadside and that of the Prince of Wales (see below, Admiral Holland must have nerves of steel):

At least good German "Damage Control" puts the fire started by the critical hit out (see below, the Germans at this point have received far more critical hits than the British RN ships - fate, fickle fate):

The KM Prince Eugen has to [? - maybe it was as well that I continued for a chance or threat of a torpedo attack] turn away because of the battle damage she has taken (see below, luckily she does not obstruct the Bismarck's shooting for the next round):

Likewise HMS Hood buckles away releasing the PoW, her speed reduces to 6 cm and she has a "turret" missing (see below, as the Prince of Wales is much further back she can still fire "over the Hood"):

Again the British ships fire with telling effect, the Bismarck (at the bottom of the picture) is clearly losing this exchange (see below, the Bismarck really wants to dispatch the Hood with a quick killing blow - this Admiral Holland has done better than his historical counterpart and now can effect a 3/4 killing broadside):

Bismarck covered the withdrawing Prince Eugen and takes yet another critical hit [black marker] in the process (see below, the Prnce Eugen herself is now being engaged by the British cruiser HMS Norfolk - which thankfully misses):

HMS Norfolk in return is straddled by some very good shooting by the Prince Eugen (see below, this is quite off putting to Vice Admiral Wade Walker, but no real damage is done):

The British have now reached their desired position where both battleship (PoW )and battle-cruiser (Hood) broadsides can be targeted at short range on the Bismarck, this will be the "short and brutal affair but on the wrong side of the statistical line from the German perspective (see below, although very tough the Bismarck cannot this amount of punishment for long):

Especially when the British gunnery is as crack-shot as this (see below, another German battleship  turret disappears and yet another critical hit alongside more flooding): 

Bismarck is a mess. Her bridge is gone, her fire control is gone and she is limping along at 3 cm (see below, credit to her manufacture that she is still afloat at this point):

Both German ships are now engaged in separate duels to the death. The crew of the Prince Eugen are dismayed to see another RM County Class cruiser (HM Suffolk) enter the fray (see below, the German Atlantic Raiding Squadron is racing to a Wagnerian fiery ending (see below, the fighting prowess of both ships are now reduced to a shadow of their former selves):

With only one gun firing defiantly the German battleship with fight on to the last (see below, not even the arrival of a fleet of U-Boats and tug boats would save her now):

The KM Bismarck is now more wreck than fighting warship as all forward propulsion fails (see below, I don't think she will be around long enough for a damage control repair party roll for "impulse power" recovery):

The end is in sight for the German battleship and the KM Prince Eugen has left it too late to make a tactical exit (see below, the Royal Navy gunnery has been excellent):

Gone but not forgotten (see below, the combined weight of broadsides from the "Mighty Hood" and a 100% functional HMS Prince of Wales puts paid to any ambitions of German "Cruiser Warfare" in the North Atlantic):

KM Prince Eugen puts a straddle on HMS Norfolk as it closes the range. This critical hit put takes out the bridge and with it Admiral Wade Walker. This day will not be without loss for the Royal Navy (see below, the two British County class cruisers bar Eugen's exit):

Telling fire including another critical hit puts paid any hope for the escape of the Prince Eugen (see below, this extra damage added to the earlier fore from HMS Hood had doomed her to a watery grave):

The KM Prinz Eugen disappears to the murky depths of Davy Jones Locker, courtesy of a barrage 14" shells from HMS Prince of Wales, 15" shells from HMS Hood and 8" shells from HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk (see below, no independent commerce raiding operation for you - who finally killed her is up for debate as all firing is simultaneous):

The end of the KM Bismarck om close up (see below, 1:1200 scale model diorama succumbing to the might of the Royal Navy bombardment):

The game was tense but ended up with the mathematically expected result. Good game and GQII seems to once again stand the test of time (since 1977) unlike the KM Bismarck in this scenario.

The British Admiralty have also posted a blog post of the re-fight which is well worth a look [savaging the German Admiral somewhat]:
https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/06/denmark-straight-some-naval-gazing.html

The Battle of the Denmark Straits as we took it to the show (Battleground 2017 - Part 2)

The early ranging shots and salvos of both sides were traded with limited damage (apart from HMS Hood's opening salvo) to the point where HMS Hood historically had made it past her second 20 degree turn. Importantly this meant that the full broadsides can bear for both British battleships, as X and Y turrets cleared their arcs of fire. At this point HMS Hood had survived for longer than the historical counterpart (see below, RN bottom KM in the distant, with the little hands of Admiral  "Lutjens" [KM Admiral "A"] just visible):

Turn four saw a really effective exchange of heavy fire with HMS Hood having many visible (in the sense of shell bursts on her or in her) "battle scars" but these were mainly of the non-penetrating nature or penetrating but superficial (in GQII you can do the hard part of hitting but still do no damage). "Lady Luck" was holding out and smiling today for the Mighty Hood! Straddled by the KM Bismark she was in 'harm's way' but had escaped with just a slight reduction in speed to 9cm but still firing with all her main armaments (see below, HMS Prince of Wales sails on unmolested in the Hood's wake in the background):

By way of contrast the KM Bismarck bears the full force of 18 RN naval barrels (8 x 15" from HMS Hood and 10 x 14" [which if looked at closely had the better penetration power] from HMS Prince of Wales). The KM Prince Eugen by this time had suffered by too much attention from HMS Hood. Initially slowed to 6cm, she was then again hit and slowed to a creeping 3cm. Her main armament was also savaged and reduced to half. At the start of play KM Price Eugen would be hard pressed to hurt a battleship, now it was a sliding mathematical scale towards the impossible. Her torpedoes were now her only real threat and there was no way she could get in range to use them. After a few distracting shots to HMS Prince of Wales she tried to retire under smoke away from the 'battleship only' arena. Unfortunately HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk were well placed to make that escape infeasible (see below):

The meat grinder phase of the battle showed that the ratio of 2:1 in RN firepower (when exotic statistical outlier results do not creep in) are brutally unforgiving. There was a steady attrition of straddling and hit (after hit) accumulation began to take its toll on the KM Bismarck's statistics. Before long her batteries were falling silent one by one and her speed slowing down (see below):

There was a brief phase when both sides seemed to throw bad dice but then at the end there was a maelstrom of violence directed at the KM Bismarck. In the exchange HMS Hood had lost half her armament and survived an interesting critical hit but the KM Bismarck was left travelling at 3cm with a lonely solo turret firing. Her end was in clearly sight (see below, "the flashes" indicated critical hits which resulted in extra hull and armament boxes being lost):

In the end it was the HMS Prince of Wales (even with an extra dice roll to see if all her guns worked) that provided the "coup de grace" with a final massive hull critical which that wiped out the KM Bismarck's flotation and then some. The battle ended how the RN Admiralty had intended the historical version to end. No German 'swan-song' on this occasion. Both player admirals shook hands at the end and departed still "best of friends"! It was a good participation/demonstration game, plenty of spectator comment and nice to see the scenario played through to the end.

Second re-fight (without pictures): As the traders were starting the long process of packing up, myself (Admiral "M" RN) and one of the other game organisers (Admiral "I" KM) decided to do another quick replay, not as tied to the historical event, with more latitude of action shall we say. Here HMS Hood decided to concentrate on hitting and dispatching the KM Prince Eugen who seemed to be intent to close to torpedo distance. This meant taking several hits from the KM Bismarck, leaving HMS Prince of Wales to fight her battle for her. HMS Hood was thus reduced to 6cm but thankfully nothing worse. HMS Prince of Wales sadly did not even scratch the paintwork on the KM Bismarck. Admiral "I" KM was happy to play a long distant gunnery duel game with the British battleships. The speed advantage was in his favour (HMS Prince of Wales 11cm and HMS Hood 6cm to KM Bismarck's 12cm). As the range lengthened Admiral "M" RN (me) deemed it prudent to disengage and resume shadowing with the cruisers (HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk) and regain contact with her "lost or misplaced" RN destroyer screen (the four escorting destroyers that could not keep pace with the battleships in the bad weather). This would also give the British time to organise a Swordfish torpedo attack from HMS Victorious (as historically happened) and allow perhaps a damaged KM Bismarck to be re-engaged by the combined force of one battleship (HMS Prince of Wales), two cruisers (HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk) and three destroyers (assuming that one is left to escort the damaged HMS Hood). In addition there were the additional heavy units of the Home Fleet (HMS King George V and HMS Repulse with Tovey) closing in "with all haste" or even those heavier ships still on convoy escort duty (the battleships HMS Rodney, HMS Ramillies and HMS Revenge, plus the cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Edinburgh) that could come into play. Force H from Gibraltar may or may not be needed (probably used as insurance a policy). If not they may have been on hand strategically to help out (or be sunk) in the Mediterranean, as the invasion of Greece and Crete was in full swing at this point.

Wow. All good fun and a very, very enjoyable day out. In between battles I managed to pick up a few other bits and pieces, but more of them later. Also a huge thank you to Renko for kindly lending me the dark blue North Atlantic playing surface and those very useful plastic hit (orange 3D explosion) and critical (red exploding star) markers. The very effective looking smoke came from tumble-dryer belly button fluff! With three kids I seem to have an endless supply of the stuff ;)

Sitting back with a relaxing cup of "RN Cocoa" I was thinking on what the "lessons learned" were for the whole day/experience (but that is for another post).

:)

The Battle of the Denmark Straits as we took it to the show (Battleground 2017 - Part 1)

I have to confess that I got a huge buzz from Battleground 2017 (Stockton, UK) today as for the first time I was involved in a demonstration game (The Battle of the Denmark Straits 1941). Normally when I go to a Wargames Convention I spend most of my time circulating around the traders and "Bring and Buy" looking for essential purchases and bargains, trying desperately to stick to a "budget". My conversations with other wargamers are very restricted to comments to other shoppers and the 'talkative' stall owners. I scan the demonstration games (huge battlefields crammed with excellently painted figures ranging from 28mm to 6mm), consume the vista and move on. I have never as yet really participated in any of the participation games being more keen to move onto the essential shopping and get back to the family before it is too late. This year was different as I had babysitters (although my kids are now not babies) arranged and a full afternoon pass (the wife was also away enjoying herself on a University reunion).

So I spent a whole afternoon "virtually" in the Denmark Straits or talking about the battle and other other naval stories. I was amazed by the level of detail other people had on the subject and also some fascinating anecdotes and personal connections (in particular with HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales). After we set the game up I was called upon to start the General Quarters II (GQII) demonstration. To help me I had two young admirals rolling the dice. We'll call them "P" for the RN and "A" for the KM. The forces were placed on the table (see below, the Germans on the 1/3000 plot approaching at bearing 300 degrees to North):

We also had a 1/1200 representation of the local tactical arrangement, whereby most of the markers would be placed to keep the 1/3000 plot clear of unnecessary 'clutter' (see below, KM Prince Eugen leading the KM Bismarck):

Admiral "P" leads the RN in on their historical 220 degrees to North bearing (see below, both sides have pink "Post-It" notes close to the respective ships with their GQII characteristics on so damage can be easily marked off. Also note the small flag denoting nationality):

Standing back and the table area revealed the 1/3000 'battle area' (middle), the top section of the table with a laptop running various videos and also 1941 facsimile documents [something I discovered in a "remnants shop" one day while I was mooching] and the "messy bottom" area with the GQII rules and also the two 1/1200 tactical areas (see below, you can just see the 1/1200 model of HMS Hood bottom right):

History was immediately rewritten as RN Admiral "P" hit the Prince Eugen with a salvo from HMS Hood (10% chance, don't leave 'dice' in the hands of small children as they can do the impossible) causing a massive two hull box damage and immediate reduction in speed to 6cm. As the KM Prince Eugen slowed and veered away the KM Bismarck passed her and masked her from additional RN shots. It was now a stand up fight between two RN battleships (one old 'The Mighty Hood' and one [too] new the 'PoW') and a KM one at the peak of its efficiency (see below):

The KM held a brief advantage in penetration capability at this long range but the RN battle line was closing fast. The "battle royale" was about to begin!

Next: Let the "big guns" speak!

The Battle of the Denmark Strait 1941: Battle Set-Up - It is all in the Angle of Attack (80 degrees of separation)

Reading through the historical accounts of the battle from various sources and studying the maps has been really interesting. From this the consensus seems to suggest the following battle set-up (see below):

• Germans enter bearing 220 degrees
• British enter bearing 300 degree
• Range 26, 500 yards at first shot from HMS Hood
• German ships will be slightly ahead making British X.Y turrets "out of arc"

The last pre-show run through of the rules and kit we've put together and ever so kindly been lent. It revealed that the odds show the Bismarck "gets it" (again) unless she gets 'lucky' early on. The final fate of the KM Bismarck is shown below (Note: We used the 1/3000 ships are used for the gunnery "plot" and the 1/1200 ships to indicate how the ships appeared to be damaged and when they are being straddled [and by whom]):

The higher level plot showed the 'bird's eye view" (see below, RN at bottom, HMS Hood (left) leading slightly damaged [down a turret but at full speed] and an untouched HMS Prince of Wales (bottom right) whereas the KM Bismarck is well and truly battered laying dead in the water (top right) with only one turret working. The KM Prince Eugen (middle left) is desperately trying to close to a "good" torpedo range on the Hood [aka to slow her down] before trying to make a run for it):

References and sources used to date are as follows:

• The Loss of the Bismarck: An avoidable Disaster (Graham Rhys-Jones)
• Hood and Bismarch: The Deep Sea Discovery of an Epic Battle (David Mearns and Rob White)
• King George V Class Battleships (V.E. Tarrent)
• German Capital Ships and Raiders in World War II, Volume 1: From Graf Spee to Bismarck 1939-41 
• Hunting the Bismarck (C.S. Forester)
• Pursuit (Ludovic Kennedy)
• The Bismarck Chase: New Light on a Famous Engagement (Robert J Winklareth)
• Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story (Baron Burkard Von Mullenheim-Rechberh)

Naturally any additional sources of information would be greatly appreciated

Atlantic Fleet Computer Game: Part of the Battle of the Denmark Straits Project

Well given the heightened interest I have in all things naval and in particular I decided to plunge into my Steam game account and purchase Atlantic Fleet. It is placed in the simulation rather than online game-play (World of Ships), but the graphics are sufficiently detailed for my interest and to see things "come to life" gives me a buzz (see below):

Naturally, even though a novice at the controls, I jumped straight into The Battle of the Denmark Strait (and in the urgent sense of shiny freshness I played it four times, twice as British and twice as German). It was really nice to see all the ships moving in the battle.

Results from four "Play Tests"

HMS Hood leading HMS Prince of Wales into battle (see below, screen shots from the start of the game):

Three as the British (Human Player) and German (AI):

• All three times the KM Bismarck and KM Prince Eugen are sunk with HMS Hood heavily damaged (twice noted as being scuttled).

KM Bismarck with her consort KM Prince Eugen (see below, screen shot from the start of the  game): 

Two as British (AI) and German (Human Player):

• Once, KM Bismarck was sunk and took HMS Hood sunk with her, but KM Prince Eugen "disengaged" [although she had nowhere to go and would have been "hunted down"]. HMS Prince of Wales was untouched in all three. 
• Then in the other simulation the KM Prince Eugen was sunk (as a battleship broadside from HMS Prince of Wales took her out in one fell swoop) but she did manage to launch an annoying spread of torpedoes that worried the British battleships. However the RN (AI) should have been more worried about the KM Bismarck as she sunk both HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales (by crossing their collective "T" - Artificial Dumbness rather than intelligence methinks) albeit at the cost of heavy damage to the paintwork on her hull (OK and some flooding inside to slow her). Note: The Bismarck's heavy armament was firing 8 x 15" for most of the game, only dropping right at the end to 6 x 15". HMS Prince of Wales seemed to go down very quickly one the Bismarck got her range. I am not sure if it was a lucky hit or is she just easier to sink?

The KM Prince Eugen in (one of her many) her death throes (see below): 

I think I might get up to twenty replays before Xmas ;)

The Battle of the Denmark Strait: The Gathering of 1/3000 forces from the Loft

Pulled out of their respective Navy Boxes from the loft the "extended" order of battle for the Denmark Strait (see below, Navwar 1/3000 with basic colour schemes and "blue sea" - nothing fancy):

Trusty old warriors that have been in my collection for a long, long time. They were painted back in the days when the "sea was always blue" (and probably from a pot of Tamiya paint pot). The intention is to present the historical battle alongside the hypothetical counterfactual scenarios (HMS Suffolk and Norfolk engage, and if the six destroyers had managed to keep up and were not diverted to cover "if" the Bismarck and Prince Eugen had reversed their tracks).

Here is one somebody has prepared earlier, David Manly's link to his re-fight:
http://dtbsam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/denmark-strait-75-years-on.html

1941 The Denmark Strait Project: 1/1200 Prince Eugen "The Consort"

Not quite being able to face the modelling knife dilemma of HMS Norfolk just yet I decided to finish the KM Prince Eugen up to wargaming standard for the table (see below):

I quite like the overall effect and it is nice to finish off a model started a long time ago! Now back to HMS Norfolk!

1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait Project: 1/1200 scale and Fletcher Pratt Rules

Courtesy of the old Airfix "Sink the Bismarck" kits (and the re-release some years back), Revell Mini-Ships (aka KGV) plus a strange eBay acquisition of some "destroyers" I have gathered the ships required for both the 'historical' and 'alternative historical' screening destroyers present battle (see below):

It is just a matter of finishing the started paint jobs. The Prince Eugen is almost completed, HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk next then those strange destroyers that look "close enough" to be A-H" class RN destroyers of the period. Note: They are are actually supposed to be Brazilian RN pattern destroyers sold by British shipyards on the export market. I cannot remember the manufacturer!