Origins 2015 Lend Lease Game - Taranto
Battle of Taranto November 11th 1940
23 Fairey Swordfish and 2 Fairey Fulmers took off from HMS Illustrious on the night of 11th November 1940. During the darkness on the morning of the 12th they struck the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto harbour.
(Phillip "Now just how am I going to get through the searchlights and flak?)
In the outer harbour (Mar Grande) were 6 destroyers and the heavy cruisers, Fiume, Pola and Goriza. Within the breakwater 6 battleships; Littorio, Veneto Vittorio, Caio Dulio, Andrea Doria, Conti di Cavour and Giulio Cesare. Within the Mar Piccolo 3 more heavy cruisers; Trento, Trieste and Bolzano and nearby the light cruisers Albruzi and Garabaldi.
Searchlights alerted to incoming aircraft the waters around Taranto were illuminated by a myriad of bright beams of light. The outdated ‘Stringbags’ and Fulmers came on regardless. Attcking from all directions they soon made short work of 5 destroyers. Successive torpedo hits on Fiume and Pola sent them to the bottom of the harbour.
Torpedo just about to strike Littorio
Bolzano was struck by a 500lb bomb but the Fulmer was too quick to be targeted by the AAA. Over 192 AAA guns and machine guns ringed the harbour and each searched for the illusive attackers.
Fiume about to be sunk!
Damage wasn't all one way!
Littorio reeled under a double torpedo strike. Hits on Caio Dulio and Andrea Doria followed shortly after. The AAA was also striking back as successive Stringbags plunged into the harbour.
In quick succession Littorio, Caio Dulio and Andrea Doria settled into the murky waters of the harbour, succumbing to many torpedo and bomb hits.
The attackers switched to Conti di Cavour, and Gulio Cesare; both taking hits. Only Veneto Vittorio of all the battleships, stood alone undamaged. Goriza was badly damaged by a second hit as the Stringbags and Fulmers, anger sated threaded their way through the searchlight beams and AAA to make their way back to Illustrious.
Summary: 23 Fairey Swordfish (includes 11 re-spawns) and 2 Fairey Fulmers. 11 Fairey Swordfish shot down.
Italian Ships Sunk:
BB Littorio 5 TORPEDO HITS AND 1 BOMB HIT
BB Caio Dulio 3 TORPEDO AND 1 BOMB HIT
BB Andrea Doria 3 TORPEDO AND 1 BOMB HIT
CA Pola 3 TORPEDO HITS
CA Fiume 2 TORPEDO HITS AND 1 BOMB HIT
DD Carducci 1 TORPEDO HIT
DD Alfieri 1 TORPEDO HIT
DD Oriani 1 TORPEDO HIT
DD Lampo 1 TORPEDO HIT
DD Baleno 1 TORPEDO HIT
Italian Ships Damaged:
BB Conte di Cavour 1 TORPEDO HIT
BB Giulio Cesare 1 TORPEDO HIT
CA Goriza 2 TORPEDO HITS (SEVERE DAMAGE)
CA Bolzano 1 BOMB HIT
Italian Ships Undamaged:
BB Vittorio Veneto
CA Trento
CA Trieste
CL Albruzzi
CL Garabaldi
DD Gioberti
Individual Player Scores:
Ross: 9 hits: Shot down once: Sank DD Baleno (won best pilot)
Zach: 8 hits: Shot down once: Sank BB Andrea Doria and CA Fiume (won the commando training pamphlet for pilots)
Patrick: 7 hits: Sank: CA Pola
Paul: 6 hits
Josh: 6 hits: Shot down once: Sank DD Oriani and DD Lampo
Eric: 6 hits: Shot down once
Phillip: 7 hits: Shot down twice
Susan: 5 hits: Shot down twice (a close call, by 2 points, but won the honour of most shot down pilot) Mark: 4 hits: Shot down once: Sank DD Alfieri
Ken: 4 hits
Michael/James: 4 hits: Shot down once: Sank BB Littorio
Keith: 2 hits: Sank DD Carducci
Tom: 2 hits
Ray: 0 hits: Shot down once
The Gallant FAA Crews (l to r)
Susan, Eric, Keith, Ross, James (took over from Mark)
Ross, James, Ken, Josh, Phillip, Zach
Phillip, Zach, Ray, Tom, Patrick and Paul
How the game ran:
1. Planes chosen by first come first served.
2. Searchlight beams large split into A damage and B damage sections. end up on one after playing maneuver card take relevant damage (1 brave pilot flew down the length of one!)
3. Searchlight small same as above but A damage from cruisers, B damage from battleships and 1 C damage from Goriza (simulate being the only ship to destroy a swordfish and kill the crew!)
4. Bomb hit = 2 points/1 hit. (low level fly over ship direct hit).
5. Torpedo hit from 2 to 1 range ruler 1 point/1 hit.
6. Torpedo hit from under 1 ruler 2 points/1 hit.
7. Bonus point to last bomb/torpedo to hit a ship and sink it.
8. Littorio/ Veneto Vittorio taje 6 hits to sink.
9. All other BB 4 hits to sink.
10. CA's 3 hits to sink.
11. CL's 2 hits to sink.
12. DD's 1 hit to sink.
13. Odds/Even die roll to decide on aircraft respawn point.
14. 2 torpedo/bomb respawn points. Fly over and you have a torpedo/bomb to use.
15. No altitude.
Behind the scenes:
A big thank you to Clipper1801: David without your Stringbags this could not have happened.
A big thank you to Flying Officer Kyte: Rob again without your Stringbags and Fulmers this would not have happened and for sowing the original seeds of the game into my warped mind.
All the lads at War & Pieces for trial running the game and coming up with many suggestions to make the game run smoother: Michael (Grumpy1), George, Jake, et al.
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Originally Posted by Skafloc
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