After Action Report: Crete Convoy

A scenario by Mark Gellis

 

So, I had to get a convoy through possibly hostile waters. Well, lotsa experience doing that, so her goes ...

 

I had very little fixed wing air support, so that meant I would need to use my two helicopters sparingly and carefully. I moved into the Strait of Sicily at a decent cruise speed of 16 kt without energizing any radars or launching any helos. No sense in letting an enemy know my position too early ...

 

It wasn't long, however, before I figured it was getting a little too dangerous to be cruising along blind. In fact, a neutral oil tanker had reported on open channels about being overflown by a military aircraft moving at high speed. Libyan, no doubt.

 

My Seasprite spotted a Osa II missile boat south of Sicily, again undoubtedly Libyan, and moved closer to investigate. Once its identity had been confirmed, the helo pivoted to make the return trip to the Knox class frigate Jesse Brown. The Osa II turned to follow.

 

Once the Osa II was getting to dangerous missile range, the skipper of the Jesse Brown made the call that it was hostile, and launched a pair of Harpoons to negate the threat. One missile connected, and the Osa II disintegrated.

 

Perhaps having had time to report the incident, the Osa II's friends showed up soon thereafter. Six L-39 Albatros light attack aircraft swept in from the south. All were downed by Standards from the Charles Adams destroyer Robison, but the Libyans had pressed the attack hard enough to shoot a few rockets and drop a few iron bombs near the Jesse Brown, inflicting minor damage.

 

Next, a pair of MiG-25s arrived, and although I had moved an orbiting Seasprite to the far side of my formation, it wasn't enough to protect him from the fast movers. I traded the Seasprite for a Foxbat, a trade I wasn't particularly happy with.

 

Two more L-39s arrived on the scene, but these were both shot down before getting close enough to make their own attacks. Brave pilots, dumb tactics.

 

My convoy was now moving through the somewhat confined waters south of Sicily, and I made a decision to avoid the Malta Channel, which would be a great spot for a submarine to hang out, and navigate instead south of the island of Malta. It would take me closer to the Libyan coast, but at least I had a better chance of seeing the planes and ships coming. A submarine might be a different story.

 

An Assad missile craft was soon detected patrolling in the Gulf of Sidra, not far from Qaddafi's old Line of Death. But it was still pretty far away.

 

At this point I decided to launch some Greek fixed wing air support to show the flag and try and protect the convoy. The Libyans weren't impressed. MiG-25 Foxbats ate three of my elderly Phantoms alive.

 

Hmm, maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Oh well, too late now. Press onward.

 

A Combattante IIG missile boat was spotted and promptly sunk by a pair of Harpoons from the Robison. Almost immediately thereafter, however, four incoming Vampires (later id'ed as Otomats) were detected moving in, low on the horizon. Two of the attacking missiles were shot down by Robison's Standards, and luckily, the other two missed their run on Jesse Brown. Phew.

 

Another Combattante IIG, perhaps the perpetrator, was spotted and sunk with another pair of Harpoons from Robison at about 20 nm.

 

Another four Otomats arrived. Hmmm, over the horizon targeting. Was there a helo out there ? Or were the orbiting Foxbats calling targets. The crew of the Jesse Brown would never know. Two Otomats were splashed by Standards, but this time, one hit Brown and exploded, and the ship quickly came apart.

 

A pair of Assads soon appeared on the horizon. Why didn't somebody thinking of arming the Seasprite with a decent air-to-surface missile ?

 

One Assad was sunk by a pair of Harpoons, and the other by 127mm gunfire, both angrily launched by the vengeful crew of the Robison.

 

Things seemed to quiet down after that. The convoy pressed onward. And the skipper of the Robison took some comfort in the fact that satellite recon had spotted a Libyan submarine on the surface in the Malta Channel. Was it better to have lost only a few friends rather than many ? He would have to think about that one.

 

My convoy arrived in safe waters off southwestern Crete but not quickly enough. The game clock had run down and the battle was declared a draw. Oh well, I still had fun, and ya can't win em all.

 

Thanks, Mark.

It is possible to get to the rendevous point on time (I always check) but it is a tight squeeze. One thing I noticed...sometimes if a ship gets hit, the whole convoy slows down to something like 9 knots and you have to speed them up again if you want to reach the rendevous point. I'm not sure why that happens.

 

It's interesting you didn't encounter any submarines...there are a few out there...no, I'm not saying where.

 

Mark

AAR: Crete Convoy [spoiler Alert]

A Harpoon Classic scenario

By Mark Gellis

It is 1990 and the world is at war.  America and its allies are gradually preparing to liberate Iran from the Soviet Union, which invaded that country earlier this year.  Several allies of the Soviet Union have declared their support for the Soviet invasion.

 

Blue Orders:

Convoy AAS (Flag Robison) should proceed to the waters off the southern shore of Crete in preparation for a rendevous with other vessels.  Once at the rendevous point, you will receive additional orders.  Libya has declared its support of the Soviet invasion of Iran.  It is possible that Libyan aircraft, surface vessels, or submarines will attempt to attack your convoy.  Soviet submarines may also be in your area.

“Why is it that the Beans and Bullets brigade is always sucking hind-tit?” Commander Russell opined to himself as he passed from his stateroom to the bridge. “Don’t those Rear-Admirals understand that without their precious supplies, they wouldn’t be able to conduct this war for more than a few days?”

 

Talk about near-naked. Only two escorts had been provided for the eight merchant vessels under his command. The Greeks said that they would help, but they are a LONG ways away. Still, a pair of F-4 Phantoms was immediately launched from Araxos to provide a modicum of aerial protection.

 

Two Foxbats quickly rose out of Tripoli to challenge them over Sicily. Captain Gregorii Papadopolous was leading the mission and he was glad that they would not be subject to the regular boredom that pilots experience when assigned to BarCAP [barrier Combat Air Patrols]. However, had Cpt. P followed eastern philosophy, he would have know of the adage, “Beware of what you wish for. You just might get it.”

 

The two Greek pilots carefully set up their approach and took their time for Sparrow release before all eight AIM-7F Sparrow missiles were volley-fired. They were confident that they would achieve success and report their first victories of the war. However, it was very nearly their last mission because all eight missiles missed! Both pilots thought, "Oh, Shit!" as they yanked on their joysticks. However, Gregorii's RIO was the squadron wag and he had the right attitude. Over the intercom, he quipped, "So, this must have been how you felt when the Wing Commander almost caught you in his daughter’s bedroom last Saturday, eh?” As they pulled into a loop to evade the fast-approaching MiG-25 Foxbats, the Libyan pilots fired their AA-6 Acrid missiles. The Phantoms fled like thieves caught by a spotlight in the act. Their final burst of afterburner was sufficient to carry them out of range of the AAMs [air-to-air missiles]. They landed badly shaken, but ‘Papa’ quickly regained his composure. "I wonder what Kristina's doing tonight?" He preferred facing Libyan missiles to getting caught by the Wing Commander.

 

The relief mission had been warned of the Foxbat’s phenomenal sprint speed. As they intercepted a second flight of bogeys, they closed to point blank range before firing and managed to splash a second pair of 'Bats. While sitting on their BarCAP position, they detected an Osa-class missile boat that was attempting a blockade in the Sicilian Channel.

 

Right afterwards, a sub was detected by FFG Jesse L. Brown. The convoy was ordered to immediately turn away as her Sea Sprite helos were launched to prosecute the contact. Both helos dropped sonobuoys as they ran down the bearing of the contact and soon had her localized after dropping only a half-dozen sonobuoys each. The Captain had exercised his crew aggressively and they had learned their lessons well. The first and most important lesson was to get airborne ASAP in order to minimize the time a contact had to move.

 

The first helo went into hover and dropped her torpedo. Someone else had also been training his crew hard. The skipper of the Libyan Foxtrot had his crew honed and they were able to evade the torpedo. The second Sea Sprite moved in and dropped her torpedo from a range of 100 yards. This time, the American training regimen would triumph over Libyan practice as the Mk 50 Barracuda struck just behind the manoeuvring room. The little submarine and Libya's best crew plunged to the sea floor.

 

To deal with the Osa in the Strait, four Mirage were called out from Araxos but they ran short of fuel over Fontanarossa and had to abort the mission. The convoy would have to deal with the missile boat on their lonesome. However, forewarned is forearmed. As the convoy began to cross the Strait, the convoy commander ordered his helos to sweep the area. He found the Osa sitting dangerously close to his PIM [Path of Intended Motion] and decided that she could not be avoided. Two Harpoon missiles from DDG Robison (a Charles Adams-class destroyer) promptly destroyed the little missile boat before she even realized that she was under attack. The passage appeared to be clear for the moment.

 

Once clear of the Strait, the commander elected to take a slightly more circuitous route to Crete and angled towards Araxos in order to minimize the flight time of his aerial coverage. The voyage was mostly uneventful. Only when the convoy neared Crete did two Combattante-class missile boats appear on the horizon. A judicious application of a pair of Harpoon missiles to each of them was sufficient to nullify the threat. Victory was awarded as the convoy made landfall. Commander Russell only hoped that NATO command could do something useful with the newly arrived supplies.

 

Thanks for an interesting scenario.

 

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