Operation Israel and the Falklands

I so want to read Hernan Dobry, the book, Operation Israel: The Rearming of Argentina During the Dictatorship 1976-1983 as I am a geek when it comes to this period of history. It connects two of my loves, anything to do with Israeli history and the Falklands War. Now my only problem is finding an English edition. Oh bother.

For those not familiar with this work it looks at the arms dealing and support offered to the Junta during the war, including support from Israel, Libya, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador. Talk about some strange partners.

Right now I am working from reviews and news stories but it makes for some interesting reading. The publisher site is hard to navigate so I wait to hear from my alerts that the English edition has been released. My Spanish is to poor to get through it. Again, oh bother.

Submarine - Cold War and The Falklands

The spring of 1982...

One of the more pressing issues for NATO during the Falkland’s War was how to replace the Royal Navy submarines that went south to the conflict.

Number Available	Class	Number Sent South
2	Valiant Class	1
3	Churchill Class	2
6	Swiftsure Class	2
6	Porpoise Class	0
13	Oberon Class	1

In general for every boat on station two are needed for support. These other two boats are undergoing refit, training, transiting to their assigned areas or in port. Six may not appear be a big number but assets were already stretched in the early 1980s. NATO did not know how long the conflict was going to last or if it would cause a wider conflict.

Both the Porpoise and Oberon Classes could cover choke points in European waters and were probably doing just that. We will have to wait for the release of official secrets to find out more. It was replacing the five nuclear boats sent south that was a concern for the Royal Navy and NATO. These boats can work in areas not conducive to their diesel brethren, under the ice or in the Arctic Ocean.

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So what does this mean for your naval wargamer? Just think of the possibilities outside of the South Atlantic. NATO is forced to use boats in locations and for missions they were not designed for. It may even give the Soviets a chance and wargamers will have a chance to use lesser known classes.

While not as sexy as the fast attack boats, the crews of these diesel boats were well trained. Any takers?

Harpoon 87 in the South Atlantic

We had a naval day at the club and was well attended with four players and three games going on. Thank you all for playing.

It was a sad day for submarine sailors. I ran two different submarine simulations with trying result for the submarine captains. The players did well in both cases with situations not their own entire making.

The first was Sink the Belgrano from the Falklands. In this one Captain Tony was trying to get past the destroyer escorts to go after the ARA Belgrano. Captain Chal ran an effective interference. So much so that his destroyer was sunk after firing off two ASW torpedoes at the HMS Conqueror. The lose of the ARA Hipolito Bouchard allowed the Belgrano to leave with Captain Mark covering her. The Conqueror would eventually catch the retreating ships but not before aircraft would arrive.

The Argentinians had issues with their sonar with at one point a ghostly image appeared near were they that the submarine was located. This caused the Argentines to be suspect of the real location of the submarine.

This battle can be found to be a success for both sides as Argentinian losses were smaller than historical and I am certain after this event that the Belgrano was going to stay in port. Which was what the Royal Navy was trying to do.

The second was a semi historical scenario with the ARA Salta was trying to get past two anti-aircraft escorts working with two Sea Kings. Captain Mark plan was to go deep and pass the patrols. Unfortunately a Sea King drops its dipping sonar less than a half a nautical mile away.

Ping, PIng, PINg, PING, PING! found you. The Salta was quickly found and a second Sea King dropped two Mk 46 torpedoes on her and it was over in less than 60 seconds.

I would like to run this again (Tony) with a longer approach. I am still uncertain that the ARA Salta can get through, but a lucky shot could cause a British destroyer to limp back to the repair facilities at Ascension Island. A big success for Argentina.

How well does a rule set that is 27 years old hold up? I have to say rather well, in my opinion. I may have to rewrite the play aid but I still prefer Harpoon 87 to Shipwreck or the current version of Harpoon. Your results may very.

Haze Gray and Underway

 My fleets for my up coming submarine games are now ready including aircraft.

The more famous fight is the HMS Conqueror against TF 79.3. In this action the Conqueror fired four torpedoes and hit two targets. While the ARA General Belgrano was hit by two torpedoes one of her escorts was lucky and was hit by a dud.

In this fight we have:

HMS Conqueror – Churchill Class SSN

ARA General Belgrano – Phoenix Class Light Cruiser
ARA Piedra Buena – Sumner Class Destroyer
ARA Hipólito Bouchard – Sumner Class Destroyer

The Belgrano was carrying an Alouette III but I am uncertain if it was used as a utility helicopter or as an ASW asset.  As I can find no record of the Argentines using the Alouette for ASW operations I will not use it in this game.
(Image is from Wikipedia)

In the next battle we have a more balanced ASW operation.

Here we have the ARA Salta trying to get closer to the British carriers.

ARA Salta – Type 209

HMS Brilliant – Type  22 Frigate
HMS Yarmouth – Type 12 Frigate
3 Sea King Helicopters No.820/826 Squadrons

It is reported that the Salta fired six torpedoes but they all misfired. While a blessing to the British it was a sad event for the Argentine.

Now I need to find a couple of able body sailors to take them to sea.

Falklands 1982 - Submarine Action

I have always been a big fan on the second edition of Harpoon by GDW. It was a great mix between game and simulation. You can as a game master work at making the scenarios fair. At least to a point. I feel that the later editions by Clash of Arms have made Harpoon more of a simulation than a game.

So when the idea went out for a naval day at the club I jumped at the idea of doing a Harpoon game based on the Cold War. While I first thought of doing a Third World War naval battle in the North Sea. After running through the games a number of times I found that I was going to need more time than a normal game day. I also needed players familiar with modern naval games. This we will have to work on.

So instead of a convoy battle in the North Sea (I will revisit this in the future) I headed south to the Falklands. Chal has me looking again to the Falklands War 1982 so I will be running a battle that might have occurred on May 1-2 1982 were an Argentinian submarine was engaged with the British. I say might, as the information is still sketchy.

So I will be looking for three to four players to command the ships, air assets and the submarine. If you are attending on September 13th please let me know if you are interested in one of the commands. Knowledge of Harpoon is nice but not required.

Churn at the Shipyard

This week my southeastern Pennsylvania shipyard has been prolific. Completing the 14,394-ton SMS Braunschweig, the American protective cruiser USS Olympia as well as two versions of the 9,745-ton Spanish battleship Pelayo.  (I do have to say I like the look of the WTJ miniatures.)

It is the smallest of the lot the HMS Endurance impresses me.  This is one of the most important ships of the second half of the twentieth century. At 93 meters in length and 3,600 tons displacement this ice patrol ship would easily be over looked in most naval ports. But she is an icebreaker with a pedigree.

Yet this little ship over a misunderstanding started the largest naval adventure in the South Atlantic since the Hunt for the Graf Spee, in 1939 not to be confused with the 1914 hunt for the squadron under Admiral von Spee. It was her planned withdraw from the South Atlantic they gave the Argentines the perceived signal that the British were no longer concerned with the Falkland Islands.

This is understandable as she was the sole patrol ship for Her Majesty Government in these waters. With her withdrawal and no planned replacement the Empire appeared to be giving up her interests in the Falklands and South Georgia island over European Cold War issues.

Once war was to come to the Falklands the HMS Endurance fought bravely carrying marines and support helicopters allowing for the retaking of South Georgia island. She was also the primary platform for the attack that sank one of Argentina’s two operational submarines, the ARA Santa Fe. Not a bad return on an investment of buying a second hand Danish icebreaker.

Would the Junta lead by General Galtier have conducted the invasion if they knew Prime Minister Thatcher was not going to back down? Probably not, but that is far from certain. There would never have been an invasion though if they knew of the pluck and spirit of the Royal Navy and the HMS Endurance.

Naval Reinforcements Part II

For you Mark, here are images of two of my recent purchases. The little one is the HMS Endurance from the Falklands War and the other is an Arsenal Ship a concept that has a certain coolness factor but very misguided.

The figure is a 15mm camera man from the Peter Pig line.

The Endurance is not the smallest of the lot but the easiest to get based.

Naval Reinforcements

Today the USPS made me happy.  The postman brought me a box from Shapeways the 3D Printing people. Often Shapeways boxes are light but this is incredibly so. And it has ten different types of ships here. I think the packing weighs more than the models.

As I still need to base them I can only share a list.

1901 Project
USS Amphitrite
USS Cincinnati
USS New York
USS Baltimore (C-3)
USS Montgomery (1890)

Falklands
HMS Endurance (1967)

Cold War (to current)
Nanuchka + Osa
Grisha & Poti
Arsenal Ships
022 Missile Boat

As you can see I have three naval projects going, although only 1901 is active. In my gaming workshop/studio I have two naval campaigns going on. 1901 is for a joint project (more on that latter) and the other naval campaign is Force Z. We are trying to see how well the Brits can do against the Japanese in 1941.

The Endurance has been in the purchase queue for over a year and has to be the smallest miniature I have ever seen. I should have the 1901 and the Endurance ready to be based by the end of the week. Have to clear out some Imperial German pre-dreadnoughts and colliers first.