The January 2001 AusBG "Battle of the Bowning Sea".

Sunday Morning.

Owen Foster Shows What He Is Made Of.

The start of this battle was delayed until 10.30 am but even then the Allies were slow to get their full strength on the water. It was left to Owen Foster's HMS Nelson to protect the convoy ships.

Nelson was unarmed but that did not prevent Owen from taking on the task of protecting Tony Lawson-Brown's Savannah and Nelson pushed her way between Littorio and Savannah until armed Allied warships were available to assist. Unfortunately, Savannah suffered an engineering failure and was declared lost despite Nelson's bravery.

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Littorio attacks Savannah.	HMS Nelson put her unarmed hull between Savannah and her attacker.	A portrait of the SS Savannah - Tony Lawson-Brown builds great models.
Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson	Photo: Kirwan

Richelieu Hunted.

The previous evening at the BBQ, the 3 Sodak skippers had decided that the the Richelieu was having too easy a time of it. Sunday, Richelieu would be the target of all 3 Sodaks.

Richelieu eventually launched and once all 3 Sodaks were present, they pounced.

Dave Howard, Richelieu's skipper, was happy to take on South Dakota when she attacked, he was happy to fight Alabama when she came in as well, but when Indiana arrived too, Dave decided it was time to get out of Dodge City.

Indiana and Alabama closed with the Richelieu and attacked in a frenzy of point blank gunfire while South Dakota stayed off Richelieu's bow to herd her away from her port and safety. Richelieu appeared doomed until South Dakota drifted out of position. Dave took his chance. Pumping hard, he turned Richelieu hard a'starboard and shot between Alabama and South Dakota for home (quite impressive for a vessel that steers like a supertanker). South Dakota pursued her all the way back to port but she made it home, down by the bow and with a nasty list but safely home nonetheless.

Richelieu did not make it back onto the water that morning and Dave had to leave once the morning battle was done, so that was the last appearence of the Richelieu at the 2001 January Nationals.

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South Dakota and Alabama await the Axis fleet.	Dave Howard recovers Richelieu after surviving the 3 Sodaks, as South Dakota looks on.	Some of Richelieu's damage forward.	Some of Richelieu's damage aft.
Photo: Simpson	Photo: Kirwan	Photo: Howard	Photo: Howard

Strasbourg Flees.

After the Richelieu was chased form the Bowning Sea, VNS Strasbourg made the shortest known sortie of any warship in the history of the AusBG.

When she launched, USS Alabama was waiting for her and before she had gone 2 boat lengths Alabama was 6" away and firing.

A huge hole was opened in the side of the Strasbourg, her pumped kicked in with a torrent of water and she ran for home. It was only 20 feet away but she did not have much bouyancy left as she slipped into dock. If she had suffered that sort of damage further out to sea she would have certainly sunk.

Starsbourg did not return to the battle that morning.

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Damage to the Strasbourg from her short fight with the USS Alabama.

Photo: Kirwan

Littorio and South Dakota Sink Each Other.

With the Strasbourg and the Richelieu knocked out (though not sunk) only the Littorio remained to carry the Axis cause.

She did so in style.

Alabama's skipper was on a high after thrashing the Strasbourg, but Littorio was another matter and Alabama was soon sent home pumping hard.

South Dakota and Invincible took her place and South Dakota went straight for Littorio. Two Axis warships has escaped destruction this morning. This could not be allowed to happen again.

South Dakota got between Littorio and her port and they settled down to fight. South Dakota was going to sink Littorio even if it meant sinking herself. Littorio, unable to get home, was determined to take South Dakota with her.

They both succeeded.

USS South Dakota went down first and Glendon Pryor, Littorio's skipper, thought he had won. He found out that he was wrong when he tried to return to port. The firing and flooding had knocked out Littorio's rudder servo and try as she might, she could not get home. Seconds later she joined South Dakota on the bottom of the Bowning Sea.

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South Dakota fires on Littorio in their classic duel to the death.	South Dakota is sunk by Littorio.	Littorio lies just outside the Axis port, unable to manoeuvre.
Photo: Hawkins	Photo: Hawkins	Photo: Hawkins
Littorio rolls to port and sinks by the stern.	She straightens up as her bow dips under.	Littorio afterward, weed covered and with her side like swiss cheese.
Photo: Hawkins	Photo: Hawkins	Photo: Hawkins

Strasbourg Sinks !

to be completed

Sunday Afternoon - the 1st Hour.

The Hunting of the VNS Algerie.

Sunday afternoon was divided into two parts. The first was a standard scenario of an hour's length, the 2nd part was the "Last Man Standing" battle.

The "standard scenario" that afternoon was generally a fizzer as everyone was reluctant to engage seriously for fear of not having time to repair before the "Last Man Standing" battle came around.

The exception to this general cowardice was Richard Single who took his VNS Algerie (unarmed) out for a convoy run. She was a very fast vessel and the Allied fleet were reduced to taking pot shots at her as she passed. This is, until the USS Houston swung in beside her and chased her down to the far buoy. Houston shot off both of Algerie's aircraft catapults but more importantly got in some good hits so that the Algerie's motors suddenly died and she was easy meat for the pursuing Allied.

Post battle damage analysis showed Algerie's motors had actually managed to ingest some of the ball bearings rolling around in her hull.

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South Dakota engages the passing Algerie.	Houston slides in beside Algerie. Notice Algerie has two catapults at this point.	Houston shoots off the last catapult. It can be seen clearly, flying throught the air in the left of the photo.	Algerie's motors die and the vultures descend, HMS Invincible in the foreground.
Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson
Algerie's stern slips under.	Houston takes a final shot at the rapidly disappearing French heavy cruiser. One of Houston's front guns is firing late and slow.	Algerie's bow pitches up as she starts her final plunge.	A brave, if futile, effort from Captain Single.
Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson	Photo: Simpson

The End Of The Matter - The Campaign Results and Final Score.

At this point the teams part of the competition was over and the allies had one a decisive victory.

Final scores to follow.