The June 2001 AusBG "Battle for Walka".
June 9th - 11th, 2001
| The
Axis Fight Their Boats
Scott Darcy (rear) fights Deutschland while Michael Raue (front) sails the SS Fuso Maru, the most successful Axis convoy ship in the history of the Australian Battle Group. Photo: Shaw |
Sunday Afternoon - The Third And Last Campaign Battle.The Battle.This was easily the bloodiest of the campaign battles with both sides in the groove and battling hard. In the previous two battles it had not been clear who had won or lost when the battle ended. This time there was no doubt as vessel after vessel was sunk or chased from the field. One warship and one convoy ship each took 69 pentrating hits, with a total of 19 hits below the waterline between them. Due to careful management neither of these vessels sank, but numerous others did.
The Axis Attack !The Axis were well aware that they had scored nto a single hit on the Allied merchants in the morning battle and were determined to correct that oversight. With all three warships operational they set out the sink some Allied merchants while still maintaining a defence for their own convoys. Time and again they attacked, getting hits on every Allied convoy ship and leaving many sheltering in port. Finally a great cheer was raised as an Allied Merchant fell victim.
The Margaret Anne Is Lost.It had to happen. The Axis were attacking again and again and they had managed to hole the Margaret Anne below the waterline. Lacking a pump she urgently needed to return to shore for repairs, but her skipper did not realise and she was left holding station just inside the perimeter of the Allies' port. Slowly she settled, then, when her skipper awoke to the danger it was too late, water had reached the servos and she would not respond to the helm. SS Margaret Anne went down in 12 feet of water, 6 feet from safety.
The Axis Defence.Balancing their attack and defence well, the Axis time and again frustrated the Allied attempts to get at their convoy vessels. Bill's Strasbourg was particularly active blocking the Allies attack, with several Allied warships often in port with various problems, the Axis were often able to send three warships against one.The Allies skippers were forced to meet and co-ordinate their efforts closely
to overcome the Axis defence, but eventually the Axis fleet diminished as ships
headed home to repair and replenish ammunition. Then SS Margaret Anne sank due
to an Allied oversight (and an Axis ball bearing). The Allied need to do something
and do it now. Alabama saw an opening and dashed in. Scratch one Axis !
The Italian Imperator Goes Down.Imperator had set sail during a period of weakness in the Axis warfleet and she soon paid the price. Imperator is a tiny tramp freighter and relies upon her manouverability and small size to survive. This time she did not seem to be manouvering well and USS Alabam took full advantage. She dashed in and opened fire. Imperator was drenched by salvo after salvo and it was soon obvious that she was being swamped. Alabama turned away for other prey and Imperator sailed aimlessly far from shore for a short time, then, in the space of a moment she was gone.
Save the Invincible !The battle was now even, but the Allies were slowly gaining the upper hand. They were working well together and the Axis were loosing that co-ordination they had shown at the start.Right at that time the tables were turned once again and the Axis swarmed in for the kill. HMS Invincible had lost power in the middle of the battlefield. Axis vessels swarmed in to finish her. Allies raced to her defence. Gordon Cranfield, her skipper, called '5 minutes' but it was impossible to survive that torrent of fire for 5 minutes. Sudddenly HMS Nelson and USS Alabama were there, but instead of trying to block the Axis fire they balanced Invincible in their bows and pushed, and pushed and pushed. Slowly, then with increasing speed, Invincible was removed from the battle area, pushed further and further away from the attacking skippers. USS Indiana interposed herself between Invincible's rescuers and the Axis fleet, then Alabama slipped away and Nelson caught Invincible on Nelson's (inoperative) guns. She pushed Invincible out to sea till her 5 minutes were up while USS Alabama and USS Indiana threw themselves at the Axis in an all out attack. The Axis turned to engage and Invincible was saved, scored "lost" for the 3rd time (once per battle, and always due to staying out past her batteries' endurance) but saved from sinking by the co-ordinated Allied rescue. The Allies had done the impossible and effected a rescue. From this point
on they were unstoppable.
Sink the Hindenburg !The Allies were still on a high from the Invincible rescue when the DKM Hindenburg, running as a convoy ship, mis-timed a turn and ran aground on the dam wall. Learning from her error in the last battle, where she joined her victim on the wall, USS Alabama approached carefully then settled down to ripping Hindenburg apart. Round after round hit the same point, opening great holes in Hindenburg's skin them smashing the internal blast shielding as well. Hindenburg settled and went down before her 5 minutes were up. By way of contrast, Jean Bart had been running interference for the Axis merchants
and had collected the amazing total of 69 hits (59 above, 1 on and 9 below) but
still made it back to port as her pump was working and she stayed under control.
Complete sections of her hull were missing and huge amounts of silkspan were consumed
rebuilding her hull, but she survived.
Bill's Finest Hour.Bill Kirwan, skipper of the VNS Strasbourg, is the founder of the hobby of Biggun Warship Combat in Australia. He likes to battle, but he also does not like taking damage. "I am pumping, I best go home" used to be his refrain, but it was a different Bill Kirwan who set sail that Sunday afternoon. This time Bill and his Strasbourg were in the thick of it, blocking attack after attack and landing a few blows of his own.Bill refused to back off as the Allied onslaught continued and eventually paid the price. Strasbourg went into a complete electrical shutdown and was left dead in the water meters from shore. Bill did not call '5 minutes' right away, hoping to regain control or be rescued, but soon USS Indiana and USS Alabama forced his hand as they circled Strasbourg at point blank range firing broadside after broadside. Strasbourg settled and then a salvo opened up a 7cm long gash in her side and she went down like a stone. Strasbourg was gone but Bill had covered himself in glory, displaying true grit in the face of adversity. Well done Bill !
Hunting the Japanese Transport "Fuso Maru".There was only one remaining imperfection in the Allied victory, the Japanese troop transport "Fuso Maru". In the hands of Michael Raue she proved to be as slippery as a bucket full of eels and survived attack after attack. She would dodge away at the last moment then use her superior acceleration to break clear. Chased back to port she would wait for her pursuer to put back in to realign guns then dash back out.Over the afternoon she completed 7 complete convoy runs, that is, 21 laps of the course in the face of everything the Allies could throw at her. She was hit 21 times, including 2 below, but single handedly made the Axis score respectable (without Fuso Maru the Axis would have scored -7000 points for the battle) and remained afloat and operational till the battle was over. For their performance that Sunday afternoon Michael and Fuso Maru earned the
respect of the Allied skippers and a certain eagerness for a rematch.
The Rest.No one was in doubt about the result this time. The Axis had been crushed. Looking the the detailed score shows Axis merchants had been hit 109 times vs 19 times for the Allies. Axis Warships had been hit 96 times vs 44 times for the Allies. The Axis had lost 3 ships sunk (inc Strasbourg) and 3 ships lost to 1 sunk (Margaret Anne) and 1 lost (Invincible) for the Allies. The only place they did well was merchant convoys and here Michael Raue singlehandly came close to reversing the Axis fortunes with 7 full runs of the Fuso Maru, but it was not enought and the Axis went down 3020 points to 7790.The Overall Campaign Results.This was the last battle of the campaign and the detailed results were clear. The Allies had won all three battles, and won the last one decisively. The Allies were the overall victors in the campaign, outpointing the Axis in each battle, overall and in each category (Combat and Convoy Points) |
