So far in my Harpoon paper career, I’ve only played out single unit verse single unit engagements. Partly because I wanted to see how specific adversaries matched up, partly because I was/am still learning the rules, but mostly because tracking more than 2 units relative positions and ability to detect and maintain a contact for each unit with varying depths, heights, speeds and active or passive sensors constantly changing can be more than a full time job.

 

But now, I’m doing something different. I’m expanding. I’m looking at a multi unit engagement.

 

I’m thinking modern day. I’m thinking one NATO-type unit verse many OPFOR units.

 

I’ve settled on a USA v Iraqi engagement. In the Gulf of Oman.

 

For the good guys while I love the look of a Ticonderoga with so many armaments and advanced countermeasures, I’m going to choose the less capable Spruance class Destroyer. Also, i didnt have the game specs for the LAMP helecopter on the Spruance so i substituted in a Sea King instead, since thats something i did have at hand.

 

It will be up against an Iraqi force of

 

1) Houdong (PT G), small patrol boat common in the area, not technologically advanced but carrying some sting. (Actually, this simple PT turned out to have more toys than I thought – 2G ECM and ESM).

 

2) Saam (FF), the pride of the Iraqi fleet (?). A Frigate to stand toe-to-toe with the Spruance, and

 

3) Targh (SS), an Iraqi diesel electric submarine, some mystery beneath the waves and something the Spruance might not be expecting.

 

 

I am not using any Mediterranean or middle east Harpoon pack. This scenario is 100% fiction and made up in my head. The scenario and rules of engagement will have the Spruance approached by all 3 Iraqi units at the same time. The Spruance must attempt to keep them outside a 7.0nm exclusion zone (again, I don’t know if 7nm is considered close or far for an exclusion zone, or even if they are used in the real world). If a unit enters the exclusion zone then the Spruance may take reasonable action (for example despatch the Helicopter or fire a volley across a bow). The Spruance cannot shoot to kill so to speak, until fired on with intent by the Iraqi forces first. Does that sound too vague? (Yes!) Maybe this is closer to the real world than I thought!

 

I had hoped to come up with a set of victory conditions, but settled for aiming for something realistic re the outcome and would make my mind up at the end.

 

My initial expectations are the Houdong patrol boat approaches aggressively to provoke a response from the Spruance, the Saam Frigate enters the fight after Iraqi is fired on first (protecting its little brother Houdong) and the Targh submarine is available as a means of last resort.

 

Weather

Clear day. Sea state 2. Maximum depth Intermediate I (100m).

 

Initial SetupSpruance travelling due north at 15kts in a recognised shipping lane with a known exclusion zone of 7nm around it to deter close range attacks.

 

Houdong (PT) approaching from the East, range of 13nm at 30 kts. Coming in fast and aggressive to provoke a response and draw resources (Spruance’s Helicopter).

 

Saam (FF) approaching from the North, range of 13nm at 15 kts. Approaching head on, slow and steady. Waiting to retaliate if the Spruance can be baited into tackling the PB.

 

Targh (SS) also approaching from the East (sneaky! Creeping in behind and under the Patrol Boat), range of 13nm at 20 kts & Intermediate I depth (below the layer). A submarine is an unexpected surprise, coming in to provide late muscle if required.

 

Detection situation

This is why I’ve steered clear of multi unit engagements. I’ve just calculated initial radar ranges, radar LOS, ESM and sonar between the units (14 separate calculations) to get a picture of whom can see who and when. I hope no one changes speed, because all 14 calcs will need to be re-worked!

 

Action Stations!

0:00

Spruance travelling N 15kts. ESM detection starts at 13nm (90%) for PB & FF (contact, contact. Bearing and emitter type known).

 

Houdong PB travelling W at 30kts. ESM detection starts at 16nm (90%, contact bearing and emitter type).

 

Saam (FF) travelling S at 15kts. ESM detection starts at 16nm (90%, no contact).

 

Targh (SS) travelling W at 20kts. No chance of detection.

 

The Spruance is travelling at 15kts heading north in the Gulf of Oman. It picked up ESM detections at 13 nautical miles for the Frigate to the north and Patrol Boat to the East, so it knew bearing and emitter types. Readied a Sea King helicopter (because I didn’t have the LAMPs helicopter stats at hand).

 

Both the Frigate and Patrol boat had detected the Spruance at 16nm and were moving in to force a confrontation. The Frigate was moving at 15kts heading south while the Patrol Boat was taking an aggressive posture, steaming in at 30kts making straight for the Spruance. In the background, lurking, is the Targh submarine coming in at 10kts behind the patrol boat.

 

 

3 minutes

The Spruance continued to monitor the ESM on both contacts, but nothing was showing on radar yet.

 

The Iraqi Frigate and Patrol boat both picked up the Spruance on their radars at a range of 11.5nm. The Targh continued to move in silently but registered no contacts.

 

 

6 minutes

At a range of 10nm the Spruance picked up the inbound Frigate and Patrol Boat on radar (range was now known due to additional radar information). Range had closed to 10nm and both contacts were approaching the 7nm exclusion zone rapidly. The Spruance radios to both Iraqi ships to change course to avoid the exclusion zone. The Sea King is tasked to fly out 7nm ahead of the Spruance and hold position to mark the beginning of the exclusion zone in front of the Spruance.

 

Both Iraqi ships continue to move in. I had intended the Patrol Boat to be the aggressor by having it move in fast, however I hadn’t counted on the closing speed of the Spruance and Frigate also being 30 kts. So I had the Sea King fly forward towards the larger, likely more dangerous target to mark the exclusion zone.

 

 

9 minutes

The Spruance radios a second, final warning over the radio which is ignored. The Sea King is within 1.5nm of the Frigate and makes a positive visual ID.

 

Both Iraqi ships continue to move in and the range to both is now 8.5nm.

 

 

12 minutes

The Spruance and Iraqi ships are now at 7.0nm and look like entering into the exclusion zone. 3 radio warnings have been given and the Sea King has made itself known to the Frigate with no affect on course. The Sea King is 2nm from the Iraqi Frigate.

 

 

15 minutes

The Spruance fires a single 127mm round warning shot across the bow of the oncoming Frigate. The Sea King reports no change to the Frigates course but notes a speed change down to 5kts. Meanwhile the Patrol boat continues to speed in at a menacing 30kts. Range to the Frigate is 6.5nm so it is clearly inside the exclusion zone while the Patrol boat is 5.5nm distant and closing faster than the Frigate. I decided to keep the Helecopter near the Frigate believing the Frigate would likely be co-ordinating with the smaller patrol boat. Also, i couldnt have the helectoper flying from one target to the next depending on who was closer at the time.

 

At this point I put myself in the Captain of the Spruance’s shoes. Firing on any Iraqi boat first because they had entered the exclusion zone and potentially starting a conflict (even a minor skirmish with live fire) is a big call. At the same time he had allowed two known enemy units to close on his position and despite radio calls, a helicopter and a shot across the bow of the Frigate, he had allowed both ships to enter the 7nm exclusion zone. Regardless of what happens next, he is going to have to explain to higher-ups how he allowed such a situation to occur. I'd imagine allowing enemy carft inside the exclusion zones would required some sort of "please explain". Looking back, more effort should have been made before the Iraqi forces breached the zone, but due to the radar los being limited to 10nm not allot of time was available.

 

 

18 minutes

With the Frigate 5.5nm from the Spruance, the Spruance orders the Sea King to fire both its Penguin missiles on the Frigate, which it does. The Frigate has no ECM so the chance of the penguins hitting home is quite high (80%). Amazingly, the Frigates anti-air guns work miracles. With only a 10% chance of hitting, the 20mm guns hit one Penguin at long range and another at short range. However both penguins qualified for the 3-second rule and the Frigate is subject to two airbursts rather than direct hits.

 

8 critical hits are scored resulting in the Frigates ESM being knocked out, as well as 4 of its weapon systems.

 

At the same time the Spruance fires 2 Sea Sparrows from its aft launcher towards the fast approaching Patrol Boat. The Patrol Boat protects itself with twin 30mm fire, both miss. With a 53% chance of hitting, a single Sea Sparrow slams into the Patrol boat and despite only doing 6 points of damage, its enough to sink the Patrol boat immediately.

 

While not taking part in any action yet, the Submarine is 9nm to the East of the Spruance and has not been detected.

 

 

21 minutes

The Sea King having fired both its Penguins is ordered to stand off and observe the Frigate from a distance of 2nm.

 

The Spruance is unable to fire Sea Sparrows at the Frigate due to their aft facing. So two 127mm rounds are fired at the Frigate, both missing.

 

The Frigate returns fire with two C802 missiles which both hit home, the Spruance struggling to defend itself due to aft facing Sea Sparrows not being able to be used to shoot down the incoming missiles. Also, the Iraqi Frigate has third generation missiles to fire against the Spruance’s second generation electronic counter measures, which are defeated. 28 points of damage is done to the Spruance but no critical hits occur.

 

 

24 minutesThe Spruance turns to face East, allowing its aft facing sea sparrows a chance to fire on the wounded Frigate. 8 sea sparrows are unleashed, 6 hit home, causing untold damage to the frigate. Two 127mm rounds are also fired, one hitting, sinking the Frigate.

 

The Iraqi frigate is able to fire another two C802 at the Spruance however both miss.

 

Unknown to the Spruance the Targh is lurking 8nm away and the submarine is about to start hunting.

 

 

Observations so far

For each unit in the engagement you need to know what weapons it has, which arc they cover, and if they are offensive only or defensive (& if so against what kind of incoming). Its no use heading towards an enemy unit and then finding your main asset (in this case Sea Sparrows) fire in an aft arc. I had protection behind the Spruance, while the enemy was in front!

 

The Spruance is listed as having forward and aft 127mm guns. I think its 2 barrel’s, so if both forward 127mm are fired I assume two to hit rolls (or do you just double damage if you hit with a single roll)?

 

Being a small boat can be useful, moreso than raw radar range. Radar LOS limits radar range. It appeared in this scenario that the smaller boats had the advantage over the medium sized Spruance because they were able to detect its ESM and on radar first. The Spruance had longer ranged radar but was more than cancelled out by Radar LOS and smaller foes.

 

I’m glad there were few speed changes. Re-working detection ranges (especially active or passive sonars) takes allot of time. Not so much with radar or ESM which can be done at the outset of a scenario.

 

The Spruance is damaged, but not too badly. There is still an enemy diesel submarine out there looking for it.

 

Throughout i've realised i've made some rules mistakes, but thats ok. I write everything down as i go, stepping out rules, decisions, speeds, to hit calculations, sonar calculations etc etc so if i stop at any time i can pick up the game and know what the situation is and what step i am up to. This write up has simply been a "summary" of the action

 

Its taken a few hours to get to this point. I've got some notes i need to go through to specifically look up some rules and make my own cheat sheets to make calculations easier/quicker.

 

Sub verse Spruance should be done early next week.

Spruance DDs have two single-barrel 5" guns, one forward, one aft. Also, I'm not sure what version of the game you are using here, but my 4.1 Data Annex says the Spruance has two quadruple launchers for Harpoon SSMs, which you may want to use on that frigate.

You're meaning Iranian vessels, not Iraqui vessels ...

Warhorse,

I am using 4.1. My data is showing the Improved Spruance has harpoons. The basic Spruance looks to be fitted with Harpoons in 77-79. I chose to ignore that, to dumb down the Spruance a bit to see how it coped anyway. I wasnt sure how good the Iran (thankyou, Iran units, I'm here all week) units were so i chose to be conservative.

 

Re the 127mm. I might be wrong, but i'm seeing F/A(1)2 127mm ..... to me thats saying forward and aft there is a single mount of 2x127mm. So theres 2 barrrels forward and 2 barrels in the back. Maybe i'm interpreting the line of data wrong. Maybe its saying theres 1 forward and 1 aft for a total of 2?

 

broncepulido, thanks for the Iran correction. No idea where i got iraq from. The worst part is while writing the AAR up i swore every time i had to type "Iraq" because every time i went for the "q" key i missed it! And now i find i didnt need to write iraq at all. I chose Iran as OPFOR because i had the stats at hand, no other reason.

 

Sub verse Spruance coming in the next day or two.

Re the 127mm. I might be wrong, but i'm seeing F/A(1)2 127mm ..... to me thats saying forward and aft there is a single mount of 2x127mm. So theres 2 barrrels forward and 2 barrels in the back. Maybe i'm interpreting the line of data wrong. Maybe its saying theres 1 forward and 1 aft for a total of 2?

 

See Rule 2.1.1.6. The line 'F/A(1)2 127mm' should be interpreted as follows: the number in brackets, i.e. 1, refers to the number of tubes (or barrels) per mount; the adjacent number, i.e. 2, refers to the number of mounts carried by the ship. So, we're talking two 127mm single barrel gun mounts, fore and aft. Like this:

 

Warhorse,

I am using 4.1. My data is showing the Improved Spruance has harpoons. The basic Spruance looks to be fitted with Harpoons in 77-79. I chose to ignore that, to dumb down the Spruance a bit to see how it coped anyway. I wasnt sure how good the Iran (thankyou, Iran units, I'm here all week) units were so i chose to be conservative.

 

Okay, fair enough. My copy of 4.1 shows the basic Spruance to have the Harpoons right from the start, as far as I can tell, but I vaguely remember reading somewhere that they were somewhat controversial as built for having just the two guns plus torps and ASROC ...

Spruance class destroyers started to be commissioned before the RGM-84A Harpoon entered service. Hence, the H4.1 reference that they began installation in 1977-79.