South Atlantic War II - #16 - Protecting the Buildup

 

Started this puppy last night. It is 1400 Local. Clear. British ships are 10nm north of Peeble Island and headed on a course of 270 degrees at 12kts. Coventry (Type 42) is leading Broadsword (Type 22) by 1000 yards.

 

At 1406 Brits receive air raid warning. At 1410 A-4's enter anm south of Peeble Island. They are flying at 600kts and VLow. Brits, in their 42-22 missile trap have detected the 4x A-4's, Broadsword (Type 22) virually immediatedly upon the Argentine aircraft entering the board, and is preparing SAM shots.

 

More to follow,

South Atlantic War II - #16 - Protecting the Buildup

 

Started this puppy last night. It is 1400 Local. Clear. British ships are 10nm north of Peeble Island and headed on a course of 270 degrees at 12kts. Coventry (Type 42) is leading Broadsword (Type 22) by 1000 yards.

 

At 1406 Brits receive air raid warning.

 

At 1410 A-4's enter 2nm south of Peeble Island. They are flying at 600kts and VLow. Brits, in their 42-22 missile trap have detected the 4x A-4's, Broadsword (Type 22) virually immediatedly upon the Argentine aircraft entering the board, and is preparing SAM shots.

 

A-4’s spot a Small nautical target at 14nm. The sigma is 4 and the d10 roll is 6, which equals a +1, so final spotting range is 15nm. Since initial distance is only 12nm, British ships are spotted. They will be Identified at 11.25nm and Classified at 7.50nm.

 

14:10.30 Broadsword fires the first Sea Wolf SAM (SAM #1) in the Second Fire Phase of the Engagement Turn.

 

14:10:45 SAM #1, travelling at 5.5nm per movement phase destroys an A-4. The ATA is 5.0, the DATA is 1.0 (each A-4 loaded with 3x 1,000lb bombs). No mods, no countermeasures apply. The Sea Wolf has a 70% ph.

 

Broadsword continues to fire Sea Wolves as the Skyhawks continue to close at 600kts. Each Engagement turn, a D10 is rolled for the NOE/VLOW Crash Probability.

 

1411:00 1st Air Attack Resolution, SAM #2 hits, SAM #3 misses. Second A-4 is downed.

2nd Fire Phase SAM #5 launches.

2nd Air Attack Resolution, SAM #4 hits.

 

By 14:11.30 Broadsword engages with the Laser Dazzler and misses on its D10 roll.

 

This leaves a solitary A-4 at .75nm. The guns of Coventry and Broadsword have not yet opened up.

 

Seems that while flying NOE/VLOW takes Coventry out of the fight, the Sea Wolfs are quite lethal. I even believe that both the Fore and Aft mounts can each effectively launch a missile per engagement Turn – I was only firing one per ET. The A-4 are without countermeasures and lost 3 of 4 aircraft in very little time. It seems like they would have been doomed if it were not for British errors with the Harrier CAP and Coventry getting in between Broadsword and the attackers.

 

More to follow.

Great stuff, Pete. I would definitely like to read more about this. Thanks for posting it.

Played the scenario again using the interpretation that detection of AS radar against V/Low aircraft being 5% of the maximum range.

 

Also, some greater understanding of the rules and more familiarity made for a better experience.

 

I was not using the "Smarter Radar Rules" so radar detection in an engagement turn was 60%. How the interpretation of the AS - V/Low affected it was that the A-4's were not detected immediately by Coventry as the longer ranged British Radar (10nm vs V/Low) did not detect the inbound aircraft and the Type 22's radar was not effective as far.

 

This did not stop one A-4 from crashing into the sea due to blowing his V/LOW-NOE Crash Probability roll while flying at 600kts.

 

The reduced radar effectiveness allowed the three remaining A-4's to make it through the Type 42's Sea Dart effective range.

 

In the end, the final Engagement Turn pitted three A-4's 2nm away from the British ships, with the two Sea Wolf missiles having been launched the previous 2nd Fire Phase, from Broadsword (Type 22), ready to move.

 

I allowed the missiles to engage the aircraft first because the missiles, at 1,320kts, move 5.5nm per movement phase while the planes, at 600kts, move only 2.5nm per movement phase.

 

The missile both hit their respective targets, taking out two of the three A-4's. The remaining A-4 attempted horizontal laybown bombing from V/Low (.05) and the three Mk83 stick plunged into the empty sea.

 

British definitely got a scare while the Argentines did not celebrate their National Holiday as planned either.

 

I am gaining a comfort level in the sequence of play and some of the other basics. I will run through this again once we have definitive word on the effectiveness of AS radar versus V/Low

 

Pete

The South Atlantic conflict is what I'm building up fleets and aircraft for, certainly whetted my appetite, thanks for sharing

I need to dig out my Max Hasting's book on the war so I can refresh my memory on the sea battles. I had been under the impression that SAM performance against VLow Skyhawks was considered poor at best. It would be interesting to compare the actual outcomes to H4 scenarios.