For all that followed along with this PBEM, please post your comments in this topic. I would appreciate any feedback about the game, the process we used to play it, and especially if you used SimPlot Viewer to follow along. Also, any general thoughts about the game flow including units and tactics can go here (Armchair Admiral ).

 

The misunderstanding about the Don-2 was mine. I thought only the Mod Kashin ships had the upgraded radar, but I might have been mistaken about that. Since the ship in play was never modified, I thought it only had Don-2.

The merchant did not use any radar during the game.

The Project 61 (NATO Kashin) class ships built at Nikolaev received the Volga navigation radar vice Don-2 from Smyshlenyyy onward (so, from 1968), including Sposobnyyy. Units constructed at Leningrad received the Volga nav radar later, probably in the mid 1970s.

 

There will always be some discrepancies in H4 data annexes (or database in a computerized version of Harpoon), whether because of differing sources, outdated information, or human error.

 

What matters, however, is that the game proceeds on the basis of the information supplied or agreed upon by the parties involved, most preferably at game start and only later if it is mutually acceptable and doesn't substantially or materially change the course of events.

From the perspective of the Red player, I think it was the correct decision to attack and attempt to disable or destroy the warship first.

 

Ordinarily, and from a philosophical point of view, I would typically advocate pitting your strongest weapons against the enemy's weakest defences, but in this case, there was really only one opponent. The merchant ship would be, for all intents and purposes, completely defenceless once the Kashin had been put out of action.

 

Attacking the Kashin with the extended reach of the Sea Killer antiship missiles and following up with the 4.5 inch gun was absolutely the correct move, imho.

 

[The fact that there is unlimited ammo for the 4.5 inch gun is no small factor to consider. Noting that she had a little over 300 rounds available in real life, there is a possibility in some scenario that Sahand could have run out of ammo and been unable to continue the fight or destroy the merchant.]

 

If nothing else, Eric can take some comfort in the fact that Sahand met her own fate a year to the day later, on 19 April 1988.

My role was encouraging Blue (Eric) to participate and providing guidance both bidden and unbidden.

 

The discussion started with tactics while we each fired up the SimPlot viewer.

 

The scenario appeared to be 1 warship on each side. For our discussion we assumed no helo available. Taking a run through the scenario with a helo would have been interesting.

 

Eric didn't have data sheets for his warship. kmart494 had provided one for the merchant earlier. So I dug into HC and quickly found that the enemy outgunned Eric both from a gun and missile standpoint. Eric's torps weren't even surface capable. On top of it all, the enemy was faster.

 

My suggested strategy focused on staying quiet in hopes of denying he enemy an easy ESM fix to chase down. Past that it was going to come down to luck. We set up range rings in the SimPlot viewer (very handy). On my end at least a fictional opponent was placed to the SW to get a feel for the dynamics of the upcoming engagement.

 

 

As expected, the enemy was fearlessly radiating, Eric quickly got an ESM hit to the SE. This didn't match the scenario description so I urged caution. Eric threw caution to the wind and almost immediately barreled his warship toward the ESM contact, expecting it to be the enemy. I expect he was right (but you know, I haven't checked the later turn files to double-check).

 

It was death by a hundred cuts from there with a small hope that the enemy would run out of gun ammo plinking away at Eric's warship.

 

If I had commanded Eric's forces, the result would have been much the same with the exception that I would have been more indecisive.

 

For kmart494's part, he was a fantastic GM/umpire. He didn't get stuck on small details, if he had, the experience would have been miserable for Eric since Eric has neither the paper rules nor the annexes. kmart494 took Eric's commander's intent and applied it reasonably to the situation at hand.

 

I look forward to reading Yishten's account and digging through the turn files.

 

Hopefully I'll post more at a later time and call out SimPlot more specifically.

As expected, the enemy was fearlessly radiating, Eric quickly got an ESM hit to the SE. This didn't match the scenario description so I urged caution.

 

Iranian Setup: Sahand approaches the convoy from the southeast, at 35 knots.

 

Me thinks you got east and west confused.

 

As expected, the enemy was fearlessly radiating, Eric quickly got an ESM hit to the SE. This didn't match the scenario description so I urged caution.

Iranian Setup: Sahand approaches the convoy from the southeast, at 35 knots.

 

Me thinks you got east and west confused.

 

Doh!

Further comments, this time from the perspective of the Blue (Soviet) player.

 

In my opinion, victory was going to be very difficult for the Blue player to achieve in this scenario.

 

It would be difficult for Blue to achieve a 'tactical victory' (no damage to the merchant, <25% damage to the warship) and virtually impossible to achieve a 'decisive victory' (no damage to either vessel).

 

The Sposobnyyy's Volna (NATO SA-N-1a) surface-to-air missiles are less than satisfactory in the air defence role, let alone in the ASuW role. Mind you, he could potentially bring a lot of firepower to bear (two missiles per director, for four in all) but he would have to close within lethal range of Sahand to do so and expose himself to serious damage.

 

The situation is only aggravated by the fact that the merchant lies between Sposobnyyy and the aggressor.

Although I was a player, I figured I would also post here briefly to add my thoughts on blue side, mostly because I concur with CV32. When I had considered what I would've done from the blue side, I figured I would mostly be playing to try to achieve a draw.

To that end, I worry that trying to remain undetected would have served me poorly in that red side had a fairly good idea of where I would be. Since red has the initiative, I would've started with my radar is active and upon detecting an opposing warship, would move to intercept with all speed. I would already be moving in the presumptive direction of the red warship prior to detection.

The goal would be to close to within 8.5 nautical miles as quickly as possible and to launch missiles at maximum rate thereafter. In all likelihood this would result in more than 25% damage to my warship, thus ensuring that I do not achieve victory, but may be able to think the red warship without damage to the merchant.