AAR: Matchplay #4 - Battle of Britain II [Spoiler Alert]

AAR: Matchplay #4 - Battle of Britain II [spoiler Alert] - Dutch

A Harpoon 3 scenario

By Freek Schepers

Jonkheer van Hoorn was the S-4 officer for the wing of F-16 Falcons based at Volkel. As such, he was responsible for providing and coordinating supply and maintenance. He was just finishing up his part of the briefing to the pilots gathered around the theatre.

“As you know, our operations against the French have severely depleted our supplies of the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The Brits are coming into this war and they have their bunkers full of the damned things. Now, I’ve managed to find a few more in, of all places, the bunkers of the Belgians that the army has overrun! So, if you fire off your AMRAAM, divert to the airfields at Kleine Brogel and Florennes. It’s easier for you to go to the missiles than for them to come to us. However, if you use them up the way ‘Piss’ does, then there’s no hope for you or any of us and you’ll end up throwing rocks at the Tommies when they come over the coast.”

This brought a wave of laughter from the assigned pilots as the briefing broke up. Lt. Jeroen (pronounced ‘urine’) “Piss” Girerd had acquired his nickname during combat with the French. His Falcon had stumbled upon a French E-3F Sentry. In his excitement at such a prize, he had pickled off all six of his AIM-9M Sidewinders when he could just as easily have shot down the lumbering plane with his internal Vulcan cannon. Except for the scathing rebuke he received from his squadron commander, “Piss” was pleased with himself over his first combat experience. He was more than happy to bear his new nickname so long as no one ever found out about the little ‘accident’ he had when his plane was ambushed by a Mirage over Belgium. His flight suit had dried by the time the mission was over.

Reports were coming in from all around the UK. Many aircraft were seen to be launching and the Royal Navy was planning to sortie. SSK Walrus detected multiple ESM contacts from her periscope mast in the direction of Liverpool and moved to investigate while SSK Dolfijn was ordered to block the channel near the Pas de Calais.

Since the Netherlands did not operate any dedicated Airborne Early Warning [AEW] aircraft, a P-3 Orion from Valkenburg and two helos from de Kooy were launched to provide surveillance and a modicum of early warning. Expecting a sortie from the Royal Navy, frigates van Spejik, van Galen, and van Heemskirck moved south-westwards to intercept. They kept close to the Dutch shore in order to be protected by the SAM umbrella provided by the Zeven Provincien and land-based Patriot batteries.

More information was coming in from the submarines. One vessel was confirmed as DDG Exeter. The jamming environment was fierce so FFG Zeven de Provincien was ordered to radiate her radar systems. The picture cleared up quickly, but not quickly enough. An Orion had moved in to try and pin-point the RN ships apparently departing Liverpool. Only ESM bearing-only [bOL] contacts were detected and more precise data would help SSK Walrus to intercept them. She promptly ate a missile just off the coast. A second Orion crew noted that a radio transmission from her was interrupted in mid-sentence and quickly surmised the fate of the crew. They would not venture as close as their fallen brethren.

Sky Flash met AMRAAM for the first time that day, high over the skies of the English Channel. A pair of Falcons intercepted a Tornado contact. After loosing a pair of AMRAAM, the Falcons turned and fled on afterburner. The Tornado, to her credit, managed to return fire with a pair of Sky Flash Super TEMP, but these dropped into the sea after losing guidance when the Tornado was destroyed by the AMRAAM. Two more Falcons repeated the performance on another unsuspecting Tornado. That was the most common story of the day. When AMRAAM met Sky Flash, the Falcons usually walked away from the scuffle.

And then Typhoon radar was detected! At about the same time a Lynx helo providing AEW support exploded in mid-air! Surprise... Both Falcon flights went to afterburner to close the distance and managed to loose four AMRAAM. They got her, but lost three of their own from return fire. Typhoons are Scary! Another was detected loitering over the Mid-lands. It was decided to postpone the ground missions until aerial superiority could be achieved. Even one Typhoon was very bad news for lightly armed strikers.

The Falcon Combat Air Patrols [CAP] re-grouped just off the Dutch coast. Rather than venturing over English territory, they would fight under their own radar coverage. The English obligingly cooperated. Soon, many flights of Tornado GR.4 were detected at low altitude. They were expertly covered by their Tornado ADV [Air Defence Variant] cousins. KLU high command had decided that each pilot would engage “according to his ability”. It was planned that the AMRAAM-armed Falcons would concentrate on their equally deadly counterparts while the planes armed only with short-ranged AIM-9M Sidewinders would close on the enemy strikers. The arrangement worked exceptionally well and the skies were soon cleared of the Tornadoes.

As everyone was congratulating themselves on their good fortune and expertise, the second wave appeared and they blanched. They had already expended a considerable number of AAMs [Air-to-Air Missiles] in repelling the first wave. Now, low on weapons, they were facing a wave as large as the first. The second wave was even more dangerous than the first for it contained the more advanced Tornado F.3. This version was capable of carrying the same AIM-120 AMRAAM carried by the Dutch.

Orders went out to quickly re-arm the bomb-laden Falcons with AMRAAM. Wing S-4 van Hoorn protested, but was mollified when the Wing Commander asked him if he would prefer the enemy to destroy them on the ground.

Again, the waves of English strikers were well timed with their escorts. The escorts engaged the Dutch interceptors at the cost of their own lives. However, they enabled the Tornadoes to reach their launch points and release their ordnance. A storm of Sea Eagle AShM [Anti-Ship Missiles] dropped off their pylons enroute to the few surviving frigates of Her Royal Majesty’s Naval Ships. Although the majority of them were eventually intercepted by a combination of Sidewinder missiles and Sea Sparrow from the ships, one leaker got through and slammed into frigate van Galen. Like in a lottery, you only need one ticket to win. Today, the number for the men of the van Galen would finally be up. The impact was directly over the ship’s torpedo magazine for its Lynx anti-submarine helicopter. The resulting sympathetic explosion left very few survivors.

The furball over the North Sea consumed missiles, planes, and men at a prodigious rate. The Klu was holding their own, but they were using up every missile they carried in order to do so. Finally, something had to give. After receiving appalling losses to its strike formations, the controllers aboard the E-3D Sentries circling over the British mid-lands decided that they could not complete their mission and withdrew. In the test of men and nations, they had lost their nerve. Not until many years later would they learn just how close they came to victory for every single missile aboard Dutch planes and ships had been expended. A window of vulnerability existed, but the British failed to take advantage of it. They would later live to regret it.

Meanwhile, in the English Channel, SSK Walrus was caught with her periscope up just a little too long. An English Lynx ASW helo saw the feathery wake and closed before dropping its Stingray torpedo on her. The Walrus sent one final report before the torpedo struck.

SSK Dolfijn would avenge her. The carrier task force sailed up the Channel and right into the waiting arms of the Dolfijn. By positioning herself directly on their Path of Intended Movement [PIM], she simply sat and awaited her prey. Vengeance would be swift in coming. Once the task force drew near, she launched three Mk48 torpedoes at the carrier and another at the nearest escort. With her cloak of invisibility removed, she immediately increased speed to full and ran directly at the formation while her husky torpedo men raced to re-load.

Sonar immediately called out, “Transient! Torpedo in the water! Bearing 269.” Evidently, the frigate had detected the attack and launched her own fish back down the bearing of contact towards the sub. It was a race between the ‘steel eels’. The Mk 48 caught the frigate first and snapped her keel with 600lb of high explosive.

Although the crew of the Dolfijn heard the explosion through the hull, they had problems of their own. The Stingray had locked onto them and was in continuous-ping mode. It was time for their ‘last-best move’. The skipper ordered white noise countermeasures dropped and hugged the bottom while everyone kept their fingers crossed. Another explosion was heard, but everyone realized that you had to be alive to hear it. The torpedo must have detonated on the sea floor.

Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Dolfijn immediately sent out a second volley of lethal Mk 48 torpedoes even before their first torpedoes had arrived at the carrier. Every ship in the formation received a present from the men of Dolfijn.

The torpedoes arrived at the carrier and detonated nearly simultaneously and ripped gigantic holes in her hull. She would eventually turn turtle and take 300 of her crew with her after two hours of damage control efforts.

The second round of Mk 48s was just as lethal and gutted the entire formation. Three air-defence destroyers and another frigate were left sinking. Only one stubborn frigate remained. However, this frigate was cagy and refused to approach the little submarine. Instead, he coordinated the approach of several Nimrod ASW aircraft. A second Stingray torpedo was soon in the water. Out of torpedoes and out of luck the Stingray did not miss and the crew of the Dolfijn soon joined their British adversaries on the floor of the Channel

Over the Kent coast, the wave of retaliation was quickly closing on English airbases at Cottishall, Waddington, Wattingham, Marham, Cottismore, and Wittering. With most the air defenders floating in the Channel, only a few Harrier rose in futile defence. Unlike their Battle of Britain predecessors, the Harriers were unable to exact any meaningful price from the Falcon strikers before being torn from the air with AMRAAM. The Dutch survivors quickly dropped their Mk 84 2000lb bombs onto the hangars and crushed them atop the defenders along with any hopes the British had of launching future defences. As they touched down back at their bases, the Queen announced that a message had been received from 10 Downing Street. It acknowledged that the affair between the Netherlands, Belgium, and France was not a concern for the United Kingdom. For now, the war was over.

Thanks for a really fun and challenging scenario.

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