Encountering the Graf Spee

Game: Atlantic Fleet

My personal hype is starting to build with the announcement some months ago of Task Force Admiral and, more recently, Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age - a long neglected area of war gaming appears to be getting some much needed attention, relieving some pressure on the Command series which appears to be carrying serious naval/air war gaming entirely on its own. So while I impatiently wait lets revisit some gems from this genre. First up is Killerfish's Atlantic Fleet, a slightly dumbed-down spiritual successor to games such as Great Naval Battles (which I will also be visiting soon). For a former tablet game ported to PC, it has an admirable amount of nuance and I have been slowly playing through its 'Battle of the Atlantic' mode as the Royal Navy.

Allow me to set the scene: It is the first half of March 1941 and the tonnage war is in full swing. The The Royal Navy's destroyer fleet has taken a beating and convoy battles with wolf packs continue to rage. The Kriegsmarine are starting to average about 250, 000 tons of merchant tonnage sunk per month, so things could certainly be going better. 

On the positive side, the great German raiders - the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck and Tirpitz have been sunk. The smaller, faster 'pocket' battleships have been  much more elusive in comparison, frequently appearing in the Mid- and South Atlantic to sink a hundred thousand tons and disappear again. Once again they strike and, acting on intelligence, several cruiser-led taskforces break off from convoy protection duties to try and bring the raider(s) to battle. Guessing that the offending parties will try to escape my fury by using rough weather, the HMS Exeter and her escorts (HMS Ashanti and HMS Brazen) move into the Labrador Sea. Sure enough they report contact on a rainy, dark night with the German raider Admiral Graf Spee.

The Exeter opens the engagement by firing several salvos at the radar contact that represents the Graf Spee. The range being almost 25, 000 yards, the Spee is initially fighting a battle that suits it, forcing us to close distance. Surprisingly (and rarely for the AI) the German raider appears spoiling for a fight and does not try to keep its distance. The first two salvos straddle the Spee - better marksmanship than I'm used to - and the third scores a couple of glancing hits. 

The Exeter and her escorts turn to port upon finding the range.

Now on target, the Exeter turns hard to port and begins sending out broadsides at the Spee. The German raider follows suit, firing back at both Exeter and Ashanti, and straddles the Exeter at least once. The destroyers launch a four-torpedo-spread each but the Spee easily dodges these, having fired them at the extremity of their range. The gunnery duel however goes well and two of the Exeter's broadsides hit wholesale, providing me with the satisfying orange glows of penetrating hits, followed by a massive explosion amidships. The Ashanti also sends some shells down range, more for show than anything else.

The Exeter's 8 inch turrets firing.

The view from the Exeter's main fire direction center; a massive explosion amidships is the result of a series of punishing broadsides.

The German raider is a crippled mess, part of its superstructure a twisted heap of melted steel and its fore turret clearly knocked out. She turns hard and begins generating smoke, moving to disengage.

The Brazen breaks off  from the battle line to begin pursuing the retreating enemy.

Despite the punishment she appears to not have lost any of her speed; and she's capable of outpacing the Exeter in a marathon. HMS Brazen, the second escorting destroyer, peels off to close distance while the Exeter and Ashanti continue to send shells and flares flying towards the Spee, scoring additional hits. 

The Ashanti fires on the escaping Raider - note the star shell in the air, illuminating the target.

Finally, they too cease fire and join the pursuit, Ashanti and Brazen moving to attempt a second torpedo attack to try and slow down the wounded escapee. Brazen gets close enough to fire two additional torpedoes, scoring a hit near the Graf Spee's propulsion and propellers and...nothing. The German ship does not appear to lose speed.

The Brazen heels hard to port and fires two more torpedoes...

...a waterspout aft evidences a torpedo hit on the Spee.

At this point I decide to break off the engagement.The Exeter does not appear to be closing distance at an acceptable rate and the two escorting destroyers are wholly out of torpedoes. If the Spee turns around to defend itself again my destroyers, now isolated, will be in considerable trouble. 

Situation at the end of the engagement, Brazen retreating from its last torpedo attack.

The Admiral Graf Spee limps away, thoroughly crippled, its sortie cut short.

However, I can be satisfied with the results. The German raider is going to be in no condition to resume convoy raiding and if it slips my other hunting taskforces to limp back into a German port, it'll be under repairs for several months.