World War 2 Naval, Nimitz, 1/2400 scale 

We were keen to try out Nimitz again, and this time we added more ships. I opted for a fictitious action of the Malta Striking Force, a night attack on a well-protected Italian convoy as it headed into the Gulf of Sirte. We set it off Kelibia, on the Tunisian coast. In this game, Nick commanded while British, Sean and I shared command of the Italians between us. We played the game out on a bare 6×4 foot table. For this game, the Italians had a three-ship convoy to protect, carrying much-needed supplies and fuel to Tripoli. The close protection was made up of the heavy cruisers Trento and Trieste , the light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleone, and six destroyers (three Navigatore and three Soldati class). The warships formed a screen around the convoy as it plodded on towards the south-east. Coming at it was a light cruiser squadron made up of Achilles, Penelope and Aurora, supported by the destroyers Lance and Lively, and a second squadron, made up of the light cruiser Neptune and the destroyers Janus and Jarvis. Because it was night, nobody could engage at long range, even though the Royal Naval ships had the advantage of radar. If they fired though, they could be shot at from long range. So, that meant getting in close, and that’s exactly what Nick did. While both British squadrons moved to intercept the Italian convoy, Lance and Lively made a mad dash towards it, to carry out a night torpedo attack. However, they were spotted by the destroyers Nicolo Zeno and Ascari, and the shooting began. The honours were roughly even in this first clash, but Lance lost her torpedo mount, while Ascari was crippled. Lively though, fired her five torpedoes, and one of them struck a merchant ship, which was sunk, taking her cargo with her. Then it was the turn of the British cruisers. Achilles, Penelope and Aurora opened up, targeting the Italian heavy cruisers. In the exchange of salvos which followed both Trento and Trieste were hit badly, and both lost a forward turret. Of the British, Achilles led a charmed life, but Penelope took a few bad hits. At that stage the second British formation opened up, a little to the south-west of the convoy, with Neptune hitting Trento. Things were certainly hotting up, and the gun flashes of all the British cruisers meant they were visible to every Italian ship on the table. Trento turned her guns on this new threat, while Trieste and Colleone kept firing at the Achilles and Penelope. The convoy though, didn’t really change course – it just kept heading towards the south-east – in our case the short table edge ahead of them. The ring of British ship-s were closing in, but by bow everyone was firing, and the battle was turning into something of a free-for-all. The ranges though, were now really close – so much so that each side was clearly visible – and therefore a tempting target! Trento and Trieste were hit again, and things looked bleak.The British cruisers were almost within effective torpedo range of the remaining merchantmen, but the British ships were all getting pounded now, with shells whizzing each way and some of the destroyers started to really suffer. Alpino was caught by Achilles and was sunk – losing all her flotation boxes, and Bersagliere was shaken about a good bit. Surprisingly though, it was the British who suddenly met disaster.Throughout the short battle, the flagship Trento had been firing at Neptune. It was getting a little hairy, as the destroyer ahead of the British cruiser  crew past the convoy, and unleashed torpedoes at a range where you couldn’t really miss. Somehow though, the crew of Jarvis managed to do just that. Then, a shell from Trento hit Neptune, and for damage Sean rolled a double six. It was a magazine hit, and Neptune was blown apart.That though, wasn’t quite the end of the Royal Navy’s misfortunes. In the next turn another cruiser, Penelope, was hit by a mass of fire from the other two Italian cruisers, and the destroyer Bersagliere. It suffered several hits, and pounded into scrap, the gallant cruiser capsized and sank. With that the British withdrew into the darkness, leaving the Italian convoy battered but unbowed, and free to limp its way on to Tripoli. The Italians though, didn’t emerge unscathed. That night the destroyers Alpino and Alviso da Mosto were lost, while Bersagliere was damaged. The cruisers Trento and Trieste suffered a lot of damage too, and the Italians lost one of the ships from the convoy. Still, on points, with two British light cruisers sunk, it was a clear Italian win on points. We enjoyed the game, but for this scale of ships, the ranges in Nimitz still seem decidedly strange!

Tags: Nimitz