The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and was a major part of the Naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany’s subsequent counter-blockade. It was at its height from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943.
As an island nation, the United Kingdom was highly dependent on imported goods. Britain required more than a million tons of imported material per week in order to be able to survive and fight. In essence, the Battle of the Atlantic was a tonnage war: the Allied struggle to supply Britain and the Axis attempt to stem the flow of merchant shipping that enabled Britain to keep fighting. From 1942 onward, the Axis also sought to prevent the build-up of Allied supplies and equipment in the British Isles in preparation for the invasion of occupied Europe. The outcome of the battle was a strategic victory for the Allies—the German blockade failed—but at great cost: 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk in the Atlantic for the loss of 783 U-boats (the majority being Type VII submarines) and 47 German surface warships, including 4 battleships (Scharnhorst, Bismarck, Gneisenau, and Tirpitz), 9 cruisers, 7 raiders, and 27 destroyers. Of the U-boats, 519 were sunk by British, Canadian, or other allied forces, while 175 were destroyed by American forces; 15 were destroyed by Soviets and 73 were scuttled by their crews before the end of the war for various causes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Atlantic#Great_surface_raiders
We got together last Wednesday for a WWII naval game using Victory at Sea rules. It was somewhat of a pick up game, so we had to use the minis we had. Since we had Germans and British, it would need to be a Battle of the Atlantic Scenario. This somewhat limits what one can do, due to the small number of ships the Germans fielded. So, I decided to do a what if scenario. Basically, what if the German fleet at Brest decided to run out into the Atlantic, instead of performing the Channel Dash. The scenario represents that two of the ships (Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen) are unsuccessful in their sortie and have to return to Brest.
The British have been tracking them with two county class cruisers and are awaiting support from the HMS Rodney, which is on station (along with a destroyer escort). The British would also have one submarine laying in ambush (located in the upper corner of the escape board edge
The German ships had to traverse the long end of the table (5’x7″) and get off the table (would be safely under air cover and could return to Brest). The Germans dispatched a squadron of destroyers from Brest to escort them in.
The game was quite straight forward. The Germans moved at full speed towards the exit with their capital ships, while shooting at targets of opportunity along the way. The German destroyers attempted to locate the submarine and drive off the British destroyers. The British cruisers attempted to stay out of range until the Rodney closed into closer range, while the Rodney tried to remove the German destroyer screen and then engage the larger ships. The hope was to turn the game into a torpedo attack that would overwhelm the Germans.
Both sides plans went forward as planned. However, some indecisive gunner decisions (and poor critical hit rolls) allowed the British to gain the upper hand with the Rodney. A number of torpedo attacks by both the Germans and British turned out to be of little effect, it was all about the big guns and on this day, the British had the bigger ones!
- Manteuffel