Silent Hunter UK

Yes, I noticed. Looked at the Range and Bearing Launch rules. The closer we get the better as a ship can move half a mile in a minute and max flight time for a Harpoon is six minutes.

Harpoon Gold 2003.16b3: Cruise Missiles, We're Looking for those Cruise Missiles... Playing this, I now realise why the USSR was so frightened of the Gryphon and Tomahawk cruise missile to the point they set up the Perimeter system. When the other side can launch a devastating wave of weaponry from any point in a very large area with the only way you can know for sure is when it appears over the horizon, at which point there is two minutes or less to impact... that's a great big deal. I would ultimately lose this scenario because of Tomahawks. **** For my penultimate go of Classic Harpoon - yes, I know it took me 18 months to get through it, next time I'll play a shorter scenario - I chose Dead Calm, from the Battle for the North Atlantic campaign from EC2003. Playing the Red, i.e. Russian side, I had a multi-faceted mission: Provide Air Defence for Iceland, currently under occupation by my forces (Question: How seriously did NATO prepare for this scenario?). This involves relaying a large quantity of planes from the Kola Peninsula to Iceland and vice versa. Escort various convoys to various destinations, including returning a carrier group to Kola. I actually had three attempts at this. On the first one, I forgot to set my aircraft on ferry mode and most of them dropped into the ocean. The second time, the game crashed. The third time, I actually forgot to set some units on high altitude and lost a group of Su-25s. Wish the game would actually think about altitude when processing a ferry mission... Barely had I started the scenario that a bunch of TLAMs turn up and two hit one of my airbases. The radars from the ships about to leave went on very quickly and the remaining missiles are shot down. A single Su-33 from my CAG was launched to try and locate the enemy submarine, but to no avail - it was the only resource I had as my dedicated submarine hunters were still on their way. Once that had returned to base, it formed up with the rest of its fellow aircraft and the Su-25s providing tanker support; the ones that would later run out of fuel and crash in Norway. As they were heading back, a F/A-18 showed up and I launched four MiG-25s to intercept it.

Something else I realised last night is that the Sovvie has a Ka-25 helicopter capable of Over The Horizon missile targeting i.e. the source of the Big Bulge. We can't have that detecting us before we're in position to fire the Harpoons, although we may be able to pop them off bearing only if we have a good enough fix from the P-3 (GM, is that allowed?) Suggest that we send off one of the F-4s to localise it and if it gets too close, we'll have to destroy it. **** Movement Orders for Surface Ships Continue on present course.

Good thinking. I also think that holding the FRAM back a bit might be best - sending in just the two Combattantes and keeping the former over the horizon until the Harpoons and your F-4s have done their job. Otherwise we run the real risk of losing Palang in the initial engagement; we should have enough to deal with the Sovvie without the 4 SM-1s we can fire.

I meant to have the ships side by side rather than in a column, but never mind, we can roll with that. Turn all units to bearing 270 (thus changing into my desired formation) and proceed at 15 knots westward, aiming to stop at the -150 line on the grid. Also, can we please call the ships as follows: S010: P-225 Joshan (Combattante 1) S011: Palang S012: P-228 Gorz (Combattante 2)

I've had some further thoughts on our plan for this. If we take out the Sovvie, we can indeed defeat the rest of the force in detail. However, we need to defeat the Sovvie first. The Sunburn missiles face forward on the destroyer and so our best axis of attack is from the rear as it will take them longer to turn and engage us; hopefully too long. Also, only one of their Gadfly launchers will be able to engage our missiles rather than two. My SM-1s are incapable of engaging the Sunburns at all and so their best use is in surface-to-surface mode. As a result, I intend to fire my eight Harpoons at the Sovvie from 20nm out and wait 75 seconds in game (5 fire phases) before launching all four SM-1s at the same target. 12 inbound missiles should prove more than enough to destroy it. Possibly overkill, but we will only get one salvo at it. However, we also need to distract the Krivak and get it to engage something other than the inbounds. Would it possible for you to split your Phantoms and have two attack the Krivak? You may hit home with them as well, which makes our overall job easier. I intend to launch the AB204 chopper shortly before we engage to get it out of the way and use it to assist in any mopping up; I severely doubt it can get close enough to participate in the initial assault. All of this is likely to alter in light of what their actual formation is.

I want my ships in line formation with three nm spaced between them, facing 180: Combattante --- 3nm --- Sumner --- 3nm --- Combattante Keep radars off except for the Sumner's navigation radar.

I am ready as well.

Just completed the penultimate scenario; the write up will appear over the next few weeks.

Not off the top of my head. I can handle all three ships if need be and I think those choices (Sumner and two Combattantes) will the ones we go for.

OK, let us know about the ruling please.

So 4 missiles total? Does the same apply to the Battle? We have three options then; none of them great. Our best option is probably the FRAM as it has the chopper and the best guns; but there are arguments for all the bigger ships. I wish to take the Combattantes BTW.

Also, we have a helicopter, I believe. With two AS.12s.

We need to decide what ships we are taking, divide up the command and draw up an overall strategy. Thanks for letting us have three ships. In that case, I would suggest a FRAM II and two Combattantes.

I'd personally argue for two FRAM IIs as they have more weaponry overall and better air defence capabilities. If we can got the Sovvie to exhaust its SS-N-22s, we can turn this into a gun fight.

Thanks very much.

Our goal is to sink the merchant ships and hopefully take out a warship as well. We therefore need as many Harpoons as possible to ensure success. As a result, I am proposing that we take a FRAM II and two Combattante IIBs, which will give us eight Harpoons, some dual-capable SM1s and also the most capable SAM platform available to us; I do not trust Sea Cats as far as I can throw them. A Sunburn missile hitting any of us will basically be enough to sink that ship in one hit. As for the plan, I would agree with waiting near the target - but don't get into firing range - until the warships are in position. Then I intend to fire all eight Harpoons in one go, two on each merchant and two on the Krivak I. This only has close in SAM defences and we will hopefully be able to overwhelm it. If we can put that ship between us and the Sovvie, then so much the better. Harpoons are Inertial guided with active terminal radars, so as soon as we have launched, we try to get out of there as fast as possible. That said, we need a formation that will maximise our air defence coverage. How do you want to split command? Me with ships, you with planes?

Where do we find stats for the Soviet merchant ships? Is it only the bit in SITREP #48?

Sign me up for Red please.

I am definitely up for this. Also, if you want to look at the original scenario before kmart494's changes, Sitrep #48 can be bought in PDF form here.

I second that.

Fancy giving your kids a toy Liaoning for Christmas?

Russia has apparently given up using their carrier for airstrikes.

Not me personally. I've just trying it out now though.

Yes, I am definitely interested in the next scenario.