broncepulido Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 File Name: Battle of the River Plate, December, 13, 1939. Historical Scenario. File Submitter: broncepulido File Submitted: 04 Sep 2009 File Category: South Atlantic Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939. Historical Scenario. A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the EC2003 Battle for South Atlantic The Americas Battleset and the HCWW-101110 World Wars era Platform Database. Picture: Source Wikipedia Commons from Imperial War Museum. IWM caption : The German battleship Admiral Graf Spee in flames after being scuttled in the River Plate Estuary off Montevideo, Uruguay. 17 December 1939. This is photograph A 3 from collections of Imperial War Museums (collection no. 4700-01). A very fast and furious encounter between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine, in middle of the Phoney War, decisive for aftercoming naval events. Good also for testing the artillery. I did played it many times, and the results can be surprising due to the hazards and random capability of the AI and the Game Engine mechanisms. Playable from Red or Blue sides. December 1939. In this period of the phoney war, while a couple of months the German pocket battleship (classified as heavy cruiser or armoured cruiser for others scholars) Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September, a very extent cruise while avoiding killing anyone but with no very impressive results. And she's now the only Kriegsmarine warship operating in far seas. And the fate led she to fulfil the same destination as her predecessors in the South Atlantic in WWI, not far from the places where the CL Dresden and the rest of the East Asia squadron commanded by her name-sake Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee were sunken 25 years earlier, almost entirely in the now forgotten First Battle of the Falklands (Malvinas) Islands. Her own captain, Kapitan zur See Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff , a not Nazi sympathizer officer and old neighbour of the family of the own Maximilian von Spee, was himself a longstanding naval officer who had seen action at the Battle of Jutland. Now, after a bloodless cruise, enfaced with a group he think is composed of CA Exeter and two DDs, Langsdorff must decide to fight or to flee. His ship is superior in battle capabilities, and she's diesel engined with more rapid response than the steam engined British ships, but the enemy is faster, and aided by his very numerically superior forces,undoubtedly can speed-up and chase his slower ship at middle term. More informations at http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/WH2Navy-fig-WH2Nav03a.HTML Enrique Mas, September 2009. Click here to download this file Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncepulido Posted March 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Tags and picture added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavfin Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Seems to me the recon aircraft are the key to this as Blue or Red. If you're the Graf Spee and you let the Exeter get in first visual detection range (usually doesn't detect till about 6 nm) you'll get smothered before you can fire the big guns more than once or twice, because the CLs are right behind the Exeter, and all the cruisers have a much higher rate of fire. If you use the spotter airplane, you can keep the cruisers at arm's length, and even use your own six-inchers if you work it right. Just keep your distance and work them over with the big guns where they don't have a visual on you. Just have to be patient. The 11-inchers don't fire but once a minute, but if you get hits, they hurt the thin-skinned cruisers. As Blue, you want to use your aircraft to pinpoint the Graf Spee, so you can get all 3 cruisers in range at once, and smother him before he can hurt you too much. Again, w/o the aircraft, if you attack singly, you'll get nailed by the big guns at close range before you can do much damage. Not that the GE simulates it anyway, but at 6nm, the 6-inchers penetrate Graf Spee's armored belt fairly well. Not sure if the secondary batteries could, though. Hmm, looks like 5"/38 AP (better than Brit 4") can't penetrate 3" belt at that range. So, the GE not simulating armor really hurts at that range. TL;DR: if Red, keep Blue at arms length and use your superior guns. If Blue, pinpoint with spotters, attack together, and smother the Spee with your higher RoF. Was fun experimenting with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncepulido Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'm glad you enjoyed it, I've discontinued by the momento the WWII gun scenarios. And yes, this scenario was basically an experiment, for testing the gunnery in the game engine, and I was not very convinced. But the great advantage of HC is you can alter the DB at your own desires. In my personal DBs I increased the hit points of armoured ships simulating armour (considerating thickness but also type of armour), reduced the damage points of artillery (AP round weight /15 or 18, SAP/HEAT weight /15 or 18 /1.5, HE/HC weight/15 or 18/2), and reduced the gun probability of hit from usually 10/60 to a range of values usually between 1 and 9 at long range, and between 3 and 27 at short range. If not, three or four médium caliber shots crippled a big cruiser ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncepulido Posted April 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 April 13, 2013: Scenario slightly modified, added start speed to ship groups (it was one of my first scenarios!), "Phoney War" tag added, light changes in the text. New scenario testing has originated a new issue report here: http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?/tracker/issue-14-ap-gun-ammo-expended-but-remaining-ammo-its-not-0-is-65473-shots/?gopid=76&do=findComment&comment=76 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncepulido Posted January 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Changes 28 January 2015: - Text updated. - Only CL HMS Ajax was equipped with the observation plane Fairey Seafox at time of the battle. CA HMS Exeter (aircrafts K8341 and K8343 of the 718th Flight) and CL HMNZS Achilles (aircraft K8585 of the 720th Flight, disembarked for maintenance previously to the battle) were equipped with Supermarine Walrus. The two Walruses of HMS Exeter were damaged by the third salvo of Graf Spee. Reference: "Nom de code Morse", magazine Avions, numbers 27 to 32, by Vincent Greciet. The original reference link with a detailed scheme of the battle (web page The Royal New Zealand Navy Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939) is: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/WH2Navy-fig-WH2Nav03a.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 I just played this one 5 times while trying to reproduce an issue report. Very fun! I wasn't terribly attentive but even when I put forth a concerted effort commanding the Adm Graf Spee I was unable to avoid taking some damage. That last play through I did manage to sink the entire British force and three scout planes. Gunnery in HC may be basic but playing this scenario was engaging for me! Thanks Enrique 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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