Close Quarters Is Out

My latest book, Close Quarters, a supplement for Cruel Seas is available from Warlord Games and all good bookshops/wargame shops for twenty of your English pounds.

This one took six months of intensive work, mostly spent on research.

I have to admit, I am inordinately and shamefully proud of it.

Cruel Seas: Italian Fleet

The Blue, Blue Mediterranean

Have just finished painting my Italian Fleet - that's fleet 3 if anyone is counting.

The Italians made beautiful ships: ships, cars, planes, suits, just about everything looks more stylish if it come out of Italy.

Night Falls

Keep a sharp look out for those damned Inglese in their Vespas (shurely shome mishtake? ed.) and Dog Boats, Lorenzo.

Great models; Highly Recommended.

Cruel Seas: Modelling Drache - The First Helicopter Carrier

Drache

It's the 26th September, 1943. You are looking through the gun-camera of a Bristol Beaufighter at a ship called the Drache - and she's taking a straffing from the Beau's four 20mm cannon and six .303 machine guns.

This time, she survived.

Drache is a very special ship because she was the very first to carry a helicopter on a flight deck.

Zmaj Sea Plane Tender

In 1928, The Royal Yugoslavian Navy decided it needed a  tender to support its seaplanes operating along the Dalmatian coast so commissioned an 83 M vessel from Hamburg that they named Zmaj - Dragon. The above drawing shows the ship as built with a central crane and two 3.29" Skoda AA guns plus two twin 40mm. The Zmaj carried a De Haviland Moth.

Minelayer

In 1937, the RYN converted Zmaj to a minelayer and used in that role during the German invasion. She was credited - and I use the word advisedly - with the sinking of of some Yugoslav civilian ships.

Zmaj was captured by the Germans on the 17th September, 1941 and renamed Drache - Dragon.

The Kriegsmarine re-designated her as a Flugzeugbergungsschiff (wonderfully expressive language - German), an aircraft rescue ship - pretty much changing the ship back to her original role

Schiff, Showing 4.1" Gun

At the end of 1942, Drache was moved to the Aegean and underwent a refit back to being a minelayer in the spring or summer of 1942. She was re-equipped with two 105 mm (4.1") guns, five 37 mm and six 20 mm cannon.

Stern 

Minedeck

A rear platform was added with space for 240 mines on four rails.

The Germans also renamed her Schiff, but she is better known as Drache so I use that name here. Drache was successful as a mine layer, laying fields sinking two allied destroyers and blowing the bows off a third.

Brandenburg Marine Commando Boarding

She took part in the Aegean campaign, serving mainly as a troop transport; a task for which she was well suited due to the large uncluttered rear upper deck.

Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri ("Hummingbird")

The same deck made Drache ideal for trials as an experimental helicopter carrier. The chopper was unarmed and intended to be used as a spotter - submarines being visible at some depth in the clear, impoverished Mediterranean.

Drache - Final Appearance

On the 22nd September, 1944, Drache was anchored in Vathy Harbour on the island of Samos when the Beaufighters finally got her. Despite her heavy AA, the planes set her alight, killing her captain and many of the crew. She exploded and sank two hours later.

Model

I made the Drache using the resin hull from a Warlord Games German minelayer as a base. This entailed changing the bridge, extending the raised fo'c'sle, flattening the rear, and laying a top deck. I should have moved the 'funnel' aft but it is an integral part of the resin hull and I confess that i just couldn't be bothered to chop it off and make a new one.

Landing Deck

The Flettner is a 1:300 metal model from Heroics & Ross. The chopper is manned and the deck crew are giving the go ahead to launch (more H&R German infantry models).

Successful Launch

The Flettner is up, up and away!

Action Stations

But what's this! After recovery of the aircraft a sneaky Beaufighter attacks at low level.

Kaboom

And straddles the Drache with a stick of bombs, setting the aircraft fuel alight.

Lucky Escape

A Spitfire makes a pass at a Warlord Games Stuka over Bomb Alley in 1940.

I have to say that these Warlord 1:300 planes are amazing. They are so detailed with recessed panels. Old 1:72 kits rarely managed recessed panels. Apparently, it's because of the modern use of CADCAM techniques.

The old unbranded Spitfire model from my collections is nice but it can't compare.

Cruel Seas: Aegean Commando Raid

Raid Flotilla

I've finished my Aegean commando raiding flotilla. The plucky chaps are off to launch an attack on a German held island and blow up some guns dominating a strait.

The commando is company strong, one platoon in each of the LCI(S) and one in the corvette acting as an HQ and escort ship.

Three Type 1 and three Type 2 Vosper 73 footers accompany the troop ships to shoot up port installation, torpedo any merchant or flak barges around and generally act as an escort.

Flower Class Corvette

Not sure there were any Flower Class Corvettes in the Med but they were ubiquitous so there might have been. Anyway, there is now.

Corvette From The Stern

Showing the mine-sweeping gear and depth charge rails, launchers and reloads.

Corvette From The Bow

Showing the 4" Mk IX WWI naval gun for anti-shipping use and shore bombardment.

LCI(S)

Each of these carries a platoon of Marine Commandos and is armed with two 20 mm autocannon for air defence (plus whatever the crew have 'acquired').

Comparison With Dog Boat

LCI(S)s were apparently designed by Fairmile, who made the Fairmile D 'Dogboat'.

Vosper Type 2 MTB

Vosper Type 1 MTB


The Vospers are Warlord Games, the LCI(S)s Scotia Grendel and the corvette Mirage Hobbies. All are 1:300 except for the corvette which is 1:350.

'Allo, 'Allo

Nouvion Fishing Quay

Listen very carefully; I shall say this only once.

Somewhere in this picture are two British airmen waiting for Rene to smuggle them onto a fishing boat which will rendezvous with a British Vosper out in the Baie de Somme.

Ha, now you see them. They are disguised as lobster pots.

Cruel Seas: Scratch Building The Siebel Ferry (Siebelfähre)

Scratch Built Siebel Ferry, Bow To The Left

This is a scratch-built Siebel Ferry flak lighter made by an expert modeller (not me) in large scale.

The ferry has four flak 88mm cannon and two 40mm autocannon. Boats like these escorted convoys and acted as flak batteries, for example during the German withdrawal from Sicily across the Straits of Messina.

WWII Photo

Here is a photo of a real one with four 88s and two quad 20mm flak guns. We are looking at the back.

Luftwaffe Sea Lion Ferry, Rear View

The story of the Siebel starts with Operation Sea Lion. The Kriegsmarine pointed out that they lacked the lift to move anything like the army's requirement for the first wave across the Channel. So the Luftwaffe asked Aircraft Designer Fritz Siebel if he could make rafts from oil drums to be powered by spare French aero engines. The German Army was to cross the Channel on Boy Scout rafts. Of course they fell apart microseconds after hitting the surf.

Siebel had the idea of taking two pontoon bridge floats and bolting a flat deck over them. Actually this worked quite well but the Wehrmacht showed a marked reluctance to a sea voyage lasting four or five hours of bracing themselves to avoid being sucked into a mincing machine. Aircraft engines and air propellers are also thirstier than a drunk waiting for opening time and there was some doubt whether the craft could carry enough fuel to get itself over England's anti-tank Ditch, never mind with a payload.

Fritz Herbert, an Austrian engineer, arrived at the final design which had propellers and diesel engines.

Each ferry would have carried a single 88 and two 20mm flak with their trolleys and prime movers. With this they were intended to guard the flank of the barge convoys and see off Royal Navy Cruisers and Destroyers..........[Facepalm]

According to Peter Schenk, 'the Army rather disingenuously referred to the Siebel ferries as “destroyer substitutes”'......yeeesss, that would be chocolate soldier.

Any that reached Kent were to unload and then act as ship to shore lighters.

Okay, Sea Lion was a dead duck that never tried to swim but the Siebel became one of the most useful coastal boats in the Kriegmarine's inventory. They were used as ferries, escorts, flak batteries and mine-layers. A Siebel could carry a Tiger Tank.

Basic Requirements

This is a really easy model to scratchbuild in 1:300 as it is all straight lines. I used three strips of balsa wood for the hull.

Completed Hull

A bit of sanding and a few simple additions in balsa and plasticard and I had a basic outline. Note that the conning tower could be placed in the middle for use as a flak battery or at the back to allow as much space as possible for vehicles. So feel free to move things around.

Seeing Double

I usually build two so if I screw up one, I still have the other.

Completed Flak Battery

And here is a completed model. I added four 88s, their trolleys, and two 40mm flak sourced from Heroics & Ross: using their German artillery men for the boat crew.

Second Siebel

Both models survived my primitive modelling skills. The second model has two 88s in the bows and two quod 20mm on towers at the rear, with a couple of prime movers.

The Deck

Flat balsa surfaces painted with normal acrylic can look like, well, painted wood - so I used a thick Tamiya textured 'concrete' paint to take out the wood appearance. It looks as if the horizontal surfaces of the ferry have been painted with anti-slip.

Scale Photo

This piccy shows the Siebels alongside a Warlord Games S-Boot and some scratch built I-Lighters.

These things were BIG and they packed a hell of a punch. They were also difficult to torpedo as they had a shallow draught.

Remains Of A Siebel

As far as I know, the only Siebels left are wrecks but, in their time, they gave good service for a quick bodge job.

Cruel Seas: Mirage Hobbies HMS Montgomery

HMS Montgomery

Mongomery was a Town Class Destroyer. These were old USN WWI designed destroyers roughly equivalent to the Royal Navy's W/V class. Britain exchanged a number of strategic bases for a number of these in storage. It was a terrible deal as the ships weren't very good and were often in terrible condition. On the other hand the RN needed escorts.

Mirage Kit 1:400


The model shows Montgomery, aka USS Wickes, as she had been rebuilt in 1942 as an escort frigate. The ship sank an Italian submarine and survived the war.

The model is not easy to make as it has lots of little bits that are almost impossible to get off the sprue. Wargamers are best advised to leave off much of this detail. You will spend hours fitting these bits only to have them fall off anyway. You also have to cut down the hull to make it waterline.

On the other hand the kits are extremely good value and feature unusual vessels.

Crew Added to Bridge and Bow

As usual I added Heroics & Ross artillerymen as ship's crew.

Gunners

And the same for the various guns.

Scale Photo

Montgomery, 1:400, against Warlord Games 1:300 models.

Scale Photo

Montgomery against a Heller M35 Minesweeper, 1:400.

HMS Campbeltown

Mirage make a number of different variants of this kit including Campbeltown disguised as a German destroyer for the raid on St Nazaire.

P-102

One of these destroyers was captured by the Japanese and rebuilt as a patrol boat/escort. This is a very usual addition to a Cruel Seas Japanese fleet.

Review: Warlord Games Cruel Seas Merchant Tanker

Completed Model

A merchant ship with a resin hull and metal additional components is available from the Warlord Games site for the sum of 18 of our Brexit £.

The hull is very thin between the raised fo'c'sle and quarterdeck (go one, admit you're impressed by my grasp of Jolly Jack Tar lingo) and was a little warped in my case. Boiling water treatment on a flat surface soon sorted out - in fact I almost overdid it. The resin is quite thin.

The metal parts have little flash and were no problem at all to fit - apart from my allergy to superglue setting of my sinuses - how I suffer for my art.

The model paints up really well - the resin comes very clean. I used Humbrol grey  spray to coat the model before painting.

Quarterdeck

A metal kit of a cannon and crew is supplied so you can arm the vessel by fitting a quarterdeck gun if required.

Fo'c'sle

A generous supply of naval figures in three man groups come with the kit. I also added some Heroic & Ross British standing artillery crew figures so I could have some individuals on the boat. At 1:300 scale they look fine when painted as seamen.

Bridge

More of the H&R figs on the bridge wings.

Scale Photo

The 1:300 coaster model by the side of a Warlord Games 1:300 S-Boat.

Scale Photo

And beside the lasercut merchant ships I posted earlier

This is a great model offered at a good price.

Recommended