All Guns Blazing — October 2012

1 All Guns Blazing! Newsletter of the Naval Wargames Society No. 216 – OCTOBER 2012 SALUTE 2013. Simon has again organised a vote on the NWS Yahoo Group Site to find out the preference for the NWS Game at Salute next year. The overarching theme is Jason and the Argonauts. The options for your consideration include the Cod War between Britain and Iceland, an HMS ARGONAUT Damage Control Game (acknowledgements to the HMS BELFAST Damage Control participation Game at Explosion Museum) and others with a link, sometimes tenuous, to Jason and/or Argonauts. Voting takes seconds, so no excuses, make your preference known. Thank you, Simon. EDITORIAL Thanks for your comments on September’s AGB, there were a couple of font and type size issues but overall it could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately I did manage to omit some words on Salute 2013 and the vote for your game preference. So with apologies to Simon for that, Salute is the first entry in this month’s effort. Also I did manage to omit a few from the distribution (including our Chairman) so a couple of you received your AGB about a week or so after most members. Having wondered if I would receive any contributions for this Month’s AGB from Members, I was almost snowed under. Simon and Rob as usual have done more than their fair share. I was faced with the decision whether to include everything and have a bumper edition or hold something back for November. I have held back a couple of articles from Rob Morgan for next month but don’t feel that articles for November are therefore not wanted. All Members can send me something, they will be appreciated. With Christmas fast approaching I have included the book reviews this month so that you can decide if your present list requires amending. New Members have an international flavour this month. Darrel and Tyrone in the USA, Valerio in Italy and Lawrence in Australia. (Sorry Darrel and Tyrone, I must insist, flavour like colour, is spelt o u r.). Welcome one and all. Somewhere in the World the sun is over the yardarm. Norman Bell normanpivc@gmail .com

2 Out with the old........ HMS YORK bows out 28/09/2012 A ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base has officially marked the end of HMS YORK's 27-year Royal Navy career. The Type 42 destroyer clocked up more than 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometres) protecting the UK's interests across the world and has been decommissioned as the ageing fleet of Type 42s makes way for the hi-tech Type 45 destroyers. The decommissioning service was conducted by Royal Navy chaplain Reverend Keith Robus, with music provided by the Band of HM Royal Marines Portsmouth. Among the guests were the ship's sponsor, Lady Gosling, who launched HMS York in 1982, former commanding officers, families of the 240 ship's company and civic dignitaries from the ship's namesake city. The ceremony ended with the ship's White Ensign being lowered for the last time. The last of the Navy's Type 42s, York was built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend and launched on 20 June 1982. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy fleet in 1985 and her first deployment was to the Far East in 1986-87. She was sent on operations to the Gulf four times in the 1990s and saw front line action in 2003 when she provided air cover to aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal during the invasion of Iraq. In 2006, HMS York joined sister ship HMS Gloucester in evacuating British nationals from Beirut during the Israel-Lebanon conflict, ferrying evacuees to Cyprus. In 2011, during her last operational deployment, she was sent to Malta to assist in the evacuation of British personnel during the Libyan uprising. HMS York left Portsmouth for the final time at the beginning of the month and headed for Brest in France where she showed off the capabilities of the Royal Navy to French military students. From there she spent several days in Hull, allowing her ship's company to exercise their Freedom of the City of York for the final time and say farewell to civic dignitaries and affiliated organisations in the city. She returned to her home port for the final time on 20th September. and in with the new...... Ambush sails into base port to begin sea trials Ambush, the second of the Royal Navy's potent, new Astute Class attack submarines, has sailed into Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde to begin sea trials.

3 The 7,400-tonne submarine sailed from the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, where she was built, to HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland. The seven Astute Class boats planned for the Royal Navy are the most advanced and powerful attack submarines Britain has ever sent to sea. They feature the latest nuclear-powered technology, which means they never need to be refuelled and can circumnavigate the world submerged, manufacturing the crew's oxygen from seawater as she goes. The Astute Class of submarines are quieter than any of their predecessors and have the ability to operate covertly and remain undetected in almost all circumstances despite being fifty per cent bigger than the Royal Navy's current Trafalgar Class submarines. The deadly hunter killer submarine is capable of hearing a ship leaving port in New York... while sat underwater in the English Channel. She will carry dozens of cruise missiles capable of hitting targets 1,200 miles away. Her sonar can detect vessels moving on the other side of the ocean. Powerful nuclear reactor allows her to cruise non-stop for 25 years. She cost around £1 billion to build and is believed to be the world's most powerful nuclear attack submarine. Astute-class submarines are the largest, most advanced and most powerful in the history of the Navy, boasting world-class design, weaponry and versatility. HMS Ambush can travel over 500 miles in a day, allowing them to be deployed anywhere in the world within two weeks. The vessel is also one of the quietest sea-going vessels built, capable of sneaking along an enemy coastline to drop off Special Forces or tracking a boat for weeks. HMS Ambush was fitted out with her sophisticated technology at Devonshire dock hall in Barrow-in-Furness Cumbria. Her powerful nuclear reactor allows her to travel around the world without stopping. She can cruise for up to 500 miles in a day. Foreign forces will find it almost impossible to sneak up undetected by her incredibly powerful sonar equipment that can hear halfway around the world. Her listening ability is quite awesome; She has a sonar system with the processing power of 2,000 laptop computers. Many details of her weapons system remain top secret. The UK has formally accepted the F-35B (STOVL) JSF LIGHTNING II the first of a fleet of next generation stealth combat aircraft for the RAF and for the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers. The UK’s lead test pilot is Squadron Leader Jim Schofield and he is mightily impressed by the aircraft’s capabilities: Speed Mach 1.6 25mm cannon in stealth pod 360 degree vision helmet display 2 air to air missiles 2 laser guided bombs 4 external hard points Just a bit different from the Fairey Swordfish. Guadalcanal After Action Report By Simon Stokes Introduction After a cessation of hostilities since August last year, we finally resumed our games at Jeff’s place continuing where we left off, in Ironbottom Sound off the coast of Guadalcanal in November 1942 in the final of our occasional series of WW2 night actions. Historical Background Allied forces, primarily from the U.S., had landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 and seized an airfield, later called Henderson Field, which was under construction by the Japanese military. Several subsequent attempts by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, using reinforcements delivered to Guadalcanal by ship, to recapture the airfield failed. In early November 1942, the Japanese organized a transport convoy to take 7,000 infantry troops and their equipment to Guadalcanal to once again attempt to retake the airfield. Several heavy Japanese warships were assigned to bombard Henderson Field with the goal of destroying Allied aircraft that posed a threat to the convoy. Learning of the Japanese reinforcement effort, U.S. forces deployed aircraft and warships to both defend Henderson Field and prevent the Japanese troop ships from reaching Guadalcanal. In the resulting battle, both sides lost numerous warships in two extremely fierce night surface engagements. Nevertheless, the U.S. succeeded in turning back attempts by the Japanese to bombard Henderson Field with battleships. Air attacks by Allied aircraft also sank most of the Japanese troop

4 transports and prevented the majority of the Japanese troops and equipment from reaching Guadalcanal. Thus, the battle turned back Japan's last major attempt to dislodge Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby Tulagi, resulting in a strategic victory for the U.S. and its allies and deciding the ultimate outcome of the Guadalcanal campaign in their favour. In the action of the night of 14th November Kondo's force approached Guadalcanal via Indispensable Strait around midnight on 14th November, a quarter moon providing moderate visibility of about 3.8 nmi. The force included Kirishima, heavy cruisers Atago and Takao, light cruisers Nagara and Sendai, and nine destroyers, some of the destroyers being survivors (along with Kirishima and Nagara) of the first night engagement two days prior. Kondo flew his flag in the cruiser Atago. Low on undamaged ships, Admiral William Halsey, Jr., detached the new battleships Washington and South Dakota, of Enterprise's support group, together with four destroyers, as TF 64 under Admiral Willis A. Lee to defend Guadalcanal and Henderson Field. It was a scratch force; the battleships had only operated together for a few days, and their four escorts were from four different divisions—chosen simply because, of the available destroyers, they had the most fuel. The U.S. force arrived in Ironbottom Sound in the evening of 14th November and began patrolling around Savo Island. The U.S. warships were in column formation with the four destroyers in the lead, followed by Washington, with South Dakota bringing up the rear. At 22:55 on 14th November, radar on the South Dakota and Washington began to detect Kondo's oncoming ships near Savo Island at a distance of around 20,000 yards. Kondo split his force into several groups, with one group commanded by Shintaro Hashimoto and consisting of Sendai and destroyers Shikinami and Uranami sweeping along the east side of Savo Island, and destroyer Ayanami sweeping counter clockwise around the southwest side of Savo Island to check for the presence of Allied ships. The Japanese ships spotted Lee's force around 23:00, though Kondo misidentified the battleships as cruisers. Kondo ordered the Sendai group plus Nagara and four destroyers to engage and destroy the U.S. force before he brought the bombardment force of Kirishima and the heavy cruisers into Ironbottom Sound. The U.S. ships detected the Sendai force on radar but did not detect the other groups of Japanese ships. Using radar targeting, the two U.S. battleships opened fire on the Sendai group at 23:17. Admiral Lee ordered a cease fire about five minutes later after the radar returns on the northern group appeared to disappear from his ship's radar scopes. However, Sendai, Uranami, and Shikinami were undamaged and circled out of the danger area. Meanwhile, the four U.S. destroyers in the vanguard of the U.S. formation began engaging both Ayanami and the Nagara group of ships at 23:22. Nagara and her escorting destroyers responded effectively with accurate gunfire and torpedoes, and destroyers Walke and Preston were hit and sunk within 10 minutes with heavy loss of life. The destroyer Benham had part of her bow blown off by a torpedo and had to retreat (she sank the next day), and destroyer Gwin was hit in her engine room and put out of the fight. However, the U.S. destroyers had completed their mission as screens for the battleships, absorbing the initial impact of contact with the enemy, although at great cost. Lee ordered the retirement of Benham and Gwin at 23:48. Washington passed through the area still occupied by the damaged and sinking U.S. destroyers and fired on Ayanami with her secondary batteries, setting her afire. Following close behind, South Dakota suddenly suffered a series of electrical failures, reportedly during repairs when her chief engineer locked down a circuit breaker in violation of safety procedures, causing her circuits repeatedly to go into series, making her radar, radios, and most of her gun batteries inoperable. However, she continued to follow Washington towards the western side of Savo Island until 23:35, when Washington changed course left to pass to the southward behind the burning destroyers. South Dakota tried to follow but had to turn to right to avoid Benham which resulted in the ship being silhouetted by the fires of the burning destroyers and made her a closer and easier target for the Japanese. Receiving reports of the destruction of the U.S. destroyers from Ayanami and his other ships, Kondo pointed his bombardment force towards Guadalcanal, believing that the U.S. warship force had been defeated. His force and the two U.S. battleships were now heading towards each other. Almost blind and unable to effectively fire her main and secondary armament, South Dakota was illuminated by searchlights and targeted by gunfire and torpedoes by most of the ships of the Japanese force, including Kirishima. Although able to score a few hits on Kirishima, South Dakota took 25 medium and one large calibre hit that completely knocked out her communications and remaining gunfire control operations, set portions of her upper decks on fire, and forced her to try to steer away from the engagement. All of the Japanese torpedoes missed. Admiral Lee later described the cumulative effect of the gunfire damage to South Dakota as to, "render one of our new battleships deaf, dumb, blind, and impotent.” South Dakota's

5 crew casualties were 39 killed and 59 wounded, and she turned away from the battle at 00:17 without informing Admiral Lee, though observed by Kondo's lookouts. The Japanese ships continued to concentrate their fire on South Dakota and none detected Washington approaching to within 9,000 yds. Washington was tracking a large target (Kirishima) for some time but refrained from firing since there was a chance it could be South Dakota. Washington had not been able to track South Dakota's movements because she was in a blind spot in the Washington's radar and Lee could not raise her on the radio to confirm her position. When the Japanese illuminated and fired on South Dakota, all doubts were removed as to which ships were friend or foe. From this close range, Washington opened fire and quickly hit Kirishima with at least nine main battery shells and almost forty secondary ones, causing heavy damage and setting her aflame. Kirishima was hit below the waterline and suffered a jammed rudder, causing her to circle uncontrollably to port. At 00:25, Kondo ordered all of his ships that were able, to converge and destroy any remaining U.S. ships. However, the Japanese ships still did not know where Washington was located, and the other surviving U.S. ships had already departed the battle area. Washington steered a north westerly course toward the Russell Islands to draw the Japanese force away from Guadalcanal and the presumably damaged South Dakota. The Imperial ships finally sighted Washington and launched several torpedo attacks, but by the skilled seamanship of her captain she avoided all of them and also avoided running aground in shallow waters. At length, believing that the way was clear for the transport convoy to proceed to Guadalcanal (but apparently disregarding the threat of air attack in the morning), Kondo ordered his remaining ships to break contact and retire from the area about 01:04, which most of the Japanese warships complied with by 01:30. The Game Our re-fight of this battle came at the end of a series of games that re-fought the preceding Guadalcanal battles and originally started with the same opposing forces as they did in history. By the time we came to fight this game though, the forces available to the players were somewhat different to the historical forces. The order of battle of the opposing sides in our game was thus: Japanese Admiral Kondo : Hiei, Kirishima, Atago, Takao Admiral Mikawa : Chokai, Isuzu, Kazagumo, Michishio, Makigumo, Yugumo, Mochizuki Admiral Hashimoto: Sendai, Uranami, Ayanami, Shikinami Admiral Kimura: Terutsuki, Hatsuyuki, Shirayuki, Inadzuma, Asagumo, Samidare American Admiral Willis Lee: Washington, South Dakota, Preston, Benham, Walke, Gwin Admiral Callaghan: San Francisco, Portland, Helena, Juneau Admiral Scott: Atlanta, Sterett, O’Bannon, Aaron Ward, Barton, Monssen, Fletcher We divided the forces between the players, Jeff taking the role of Admiral Willis Lee and Rob that of Admiral Kondo. Forces were placed at either end of the board in their sailing order, and moved according to their admiral’s wishes, however at the end of each move a random offset was rolled for each unit, or group of units within visual range of each other. This mechanism meant that players could not be quite certain either of their own or their enemies positions in relation to each other, just that they were out there somewhere. As this panned out, the main looser in this manoeuvre phase of the battle were the Japanese since Admiral Mikawa’s squadron, lost touch with the main body and strayed too close to the Guadalcanal coast causing them to have to slow and alter course away from land so loosing ground on Kondo’s main force and putting them way out of position when the first contact was made. This game was always going to be a bloody affair since maximum visual sighting distance for the scenario was 4000 yards and radar was deemed ineffectual due to the close proximity of land. So it was that the first contact was made between the opposing sides destroyer screens, and in a marked departure from history both commanders’ first instinct was to illuminate the whole area with star shell.

6 First Contact. Mikawa’s squadron can be seen on the extreme right of the picture Both the US and Japanese destroyers altered course to starboard and launched torpedoes against the respective enemy lines. In the ensuing chaos and frantic manoeuvring Callaghan’s and Scott’s squadrons both tried to occupy the same patch of sea, causing Juneau to make some drastic movements of her helm that resulted in her heading directly towards the Japanese destroyer line that had just appeared out of the dark, and more importantly straight into the path of the oncoming Japanese torpedoes. Initially both sides capital ship’s big guns remained silent, awaiting a more worthy target than a mere destroyer, but it wasn’t long before something larger appeared behind the destroyer screens for the gunners to focus on. The Japanese battle line was a little ragged to begin with, meaning that Kirishima as the first ship in line bore the brunt of the first exchange of salvoes, and some early good shooting from the Washington started numerous fires which were only extinguished with some difficulty by Kirishima’s damage control teams. Torpedoes away! - Battle lines engage and Kirishima is hit heavily by 16” shells starting numerous fires The game now entered a short but ferocious phase as both fleets passed on more or less reciprocal courses with a closing speed of about 60 knots. The destroyer screens and cruisers engaged each other at ever diminishing ranges and the shell hits came thick and fast, the capital ship’s secondary guns occasionally adding to the carnage. Worst hit for the Americans were Portland and Helena, which were both holed below the waterline and the Helena set on fire

7 to boot, whilst for the Japanese the Teretsuki was heavily hit and holed below the waterline forward so she was down by the bows and making only 10 knots. Whilst many of the torpedoes came close to their intended targets, only one hit was scored on the hapless Juneau, her collision avoidance manoeuvres took her into the path of a spread of Japanese long lances. Only one hit was scored however as she was combing the torpedo’s tracks, but this hit, forward, left a gaping hole in her side that let in nearly 3000 tons of sea water and gave her a 10 degree list to port. Her machinery was intact though and she was able to make 20 knots still. The capital ships now exchanged full broadsides as the range closed between them to only 9000 yards at it’s closest point, all of them scoring hits, but Washington’s shooting in particular had a devastating effect on the Kirishima whose whole upper works on the port side were demolished and her battery guns silenced, though her main armament remained operational still and her speed only slightly reduced to 25 knots by a hole below the waterline in her bows. As fast as the action had started it now subsided as the star shells died and the opposing forces drew clear from each other in the sudden dark with only the damaged stragglers still in contact, and neither side keen to renew the fighting. We drew stumps on the game at this point. Conclusions The general consensus of the players following this brief, bloody but ultimately indecisive action was that despite the slight material advantage to the Japanese mostly due to the serious damage that they had been done to the American cruisers, the outcome could only be seen as a strategic defeat for the Japanese who once again had been thwarted from landing reinforcements on Guadalcanal and had also been prevented from bombarding Henderson field for the third night in succession. There was however a feeling that in the game we hadn’t quite captured the essence of uncertainty and confusion that a night action in this period should engender, even though the results were not very far removed from the historical events. This is something that I’ll need to mull over to come up with a system which needs to be both playable and at the same time also restricts the god like omnipotence of players as they survey the game laid out before them on the games table. Any ideas from you, dear reader, will be gratefully accepted. Thanks as always to Jeff for the venue and the steady supply of beverages. Also to my fellow players for their patience and thoughtful comments. Details of “War Games” were sent from the publisher to Jeff Crane. Perhaps someone will read it and independently review it for AGB. Bibliographic Infomation Publication: July 2012

8 ISBN: 978-1-78155-042-7 Price: £25.00 / $39.95 Format (mm): 248 x 172 mm Binding: Hardback (dust jacket) Page extent: 288 Illustrations: 318 colour illustrations Rights: World, all languages Bic Codes: WDHW WCW The Author CHRISTOPHER GEORGE LEWIN has been fascinated by war-games since a child. Aged ten, he devised one of his own, the intellectual challenge of strategic games being of interest. The author also specialises in British social history of the 17th century. Currently an advisor to the Government on risk in the public sector, Lewin has had numerous magazine articles printed as well as contributing towards Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Key Selling Points:  History of previously neglected field  Original research and much unpublished material  Unique overview of how warfare developed  Descriptions of many games which are nowadays almost unknown  Fully illustrated in colour Many people interested in military history know little about early war-games. This book fills the gap, starting with those played in ancient and medieval times and continuing through to 1945. War-games often had impressive and colourful graphics depicting real warfare in a dramatic way. Bringing the games together here for the first time gives a unique overview of conflict before the modern era, showing how wars changed as new equipment became available. We first see armies marching across Europe with cavalry and artillery, and besieging cities, while tanks and aircraft appear later, and sailing ships give way to dreadnoughts and submarines. Some games require deep strategic thought and special types were developed for military training purposes. Today’s computer-based games offer a different experience, but the old games are still interesting to play. They sometimes appear in second-hand markets, and the book will help to place them in context. Smollet at Sea. If I were a better naval enthusiast, and had more time to enjoy naval matters, then that era in which the great sailing men o’war held sway would be one to cherish. I’m far too tempted however by the unusual, the oddities of oared warfare, and the ridiculous and often unworldly (yet utterly magnificent) ironclads of the 1800’s. Despite that one source, one delightful view of the splendours of the man o’war always draws me. Tobias Smollett’s finest novel ‘Roderick Random’ is, and of this there can be no argument, the first ever true work of naval historical fiction ever written, much of it deals with the Cartagena expedition to the West Indies and the activities of Sir Challenor Ogle- Smollett served in the navy as an assistant surgeon. “Roderick Random” was published in 1748, and has never been out of print since. Nelson read it, as did Collingwood, Cochrane and John Jervis. Churchill too. My copy slipped into my hand, as the best books always do, last evening when I was searching for something completely different. Mine’s the ‘Everyman’ edition, with an introduction written back in 1927 by

9 H.W. Hodges (of whom I know nothing at all). Worth seeking out, and reading, at least what Hodges wrote; and if you can manage Chapters XXVIII to XXXV it will repay you. This is war at sea under sail. Rob Morgan. ‘Pirates of the Levant’ By Arturo Perez Reverte. Phoenix paperbacks. 263pp, price £7.99. Available from Waterstones. ISBN 978-0-7538-2862-5. I normally reviewed the splendid ‘Captain Alatriste’ novels by the Spanish writer Arturo Perez Reverte in ‘Arquebusier’ for the ‘Pike & Shot’ Society. But the appearance in translation of this new title, it’s number 6 in the increasingly popular English language editions and there are far more to follow, gives Renaissance naval enthusiasts an opportunity for an interesting action read. The year is 1626, and having left the Low Countries and the sieges of the 80YW behind, Captain Diego Alatriste has enlisted as a gentleman soldier (of sorts) aboard the King of Spain’s galley fleet. In this nautical line of work, Diego faces English privateers, sundry pirates and Moorish corsairs and is involved in a raid ashore near the fortress of Oran. In consort with galleys from the Knights of Malta, Captain Alatriste and his comrades see some action in decaying Naples and eventually pursue and destroy Turkish galleys in a very well written encounter which would do credit to Cervantes. This is a sea-borne and rather different tale from those written in the series so far and well worth reading. There are few decent readable novels about the Renaissance period at sea and this book is one of the best. I thoroughly recommend the Alatriste books to anyone, and with ‘Pirates of the Levant’ Arturo Perez Reverte has kept the high standard of writing he always achieves for his ‘early modern’, and very Spanish version of Jack Aubrey. Rob Morgan. “Shipping the Medieval Military. - English Maritime Logistics in the Fourteenth Century.” By Craig Lambert. Pub; Boydell 2011-hb. 240pp. ISBN 978-1-84383-654-4. Reviewed by Rob Morgan. An excellent and valuable book for the medieval naval enthusiast, its ample detail and information for the creation of a campaign or indeed for providing individual ships and fleets, small and large for a number historical ventures from these shores. Lambert starts by ‘raising a fleet’, the sources of ships, the requisition orders which flowed incessantly from the crown with remarkable complexity. The process of requisition, of the passage of fleets to France and Scotland, and their return journeys are considered. I think some wargamers forget that after the archers are deposited in the muddy fields of Picardy, and won, they have to come home! This account is intriguing, and in some ways provides a reverse of the usual naval wargames in the Channel. There are throughout, ample footnotes and references, many of which may not be known to those with any but the most specific 100YW interest. The book moves on to ‘The Supply of Armies and Garrisons by Sea 1320-1360’; the logistics of planning war are dealt with in detail, and of course the ‘wars overseas’ were in not only France, but Brittany, Ireland and Scotland. Lambert reminds us that troops did not survive by foraging alone- they couldn’t rely on that except in extremis. The supply of English armies during the naval war in Scotland between 1322 and 1336 required substantial numbers of ships, large and small, despite there being a land border between the two states. In 1322, some 100+ ships, in transport roles, accompanied by 183 in ‘offensive naval capacities’ sailed, and there were 10,000 mariners in service! The Scots wars from 1337 to 1360 required no less effort, but at the time of Sluys the ship totals were reduced to 96; this long conflict was often, apparently, far more lively at sea than it was on land. Supplying English troops in France up to 1349 included the massive naval activity surrounding the St.Sardos campaign of 1324; which Lambert says is one of the best documented campaigns of the entire period! He ventures to

10 Gascony from 1337 onwards, and deals with the Crecy campaign separately. ’English armies campaigning on the continent’ he tells us, ’brought enough supplies so that living off the land became a secondary consideration.’ He takes away the idea of a small, half-starved force, foraging and fighting its way through enemy territory to a friendly port, and Edward III he tells us was particularly efficient, or his officers and system proved so! In a following chapter, Lambert deals with transporting English armies to France between 1324 and 1360, and assembling and preparing the fleets became a mountainous task, since the English at the outset didn’t control a safe port in France. The author considers many of the key fleets of the War, such as Surrey’s feet of 1325 en route for Gascony, some 84 ships in all, while the later fleets discussed make for interesting reading. In 1338 what he calls the first true military transport fleet of the 100 YW comprised 403 ships with 13,000 mariners. Of course during this entire war, the Channel was without doubt the most remarkable and most active theatre of combat. He looks at the 187 +strong fleet which carried the Black Prince to Aquitaine in 1355, and Lambert’s opinions seem true, that rather than being no more than a footnote to the land campaign which followed ( and sometimes it didn’t) the fleet was one of the crucial elements of all. Interestingly, as ships assembled they often sailed in ‘County’ fleets, until dispersed by orders. This sometimes gave the chance of ‘falling out’ between groups of ships; the Cinque Ports were notorious for this internecine strife, as was Yarmouth. The book concludes with an analysis of the developments of the period; changing fleet organisation, the immense value of Calais, and the impact of the Black Death after 1348. I can’t think of many wargamers who plan the Black Death into their 100YW campaigns! After this little plague incidentally, the tonnage of ships slipped and slumped from a mean of 92 tons per vessel to 53, with a third to a half fewer crewmen! In drawing to a close, Lambert considers that the contribution of the English to war at sea in the 100YW period was if anything far greater than that contributed to war on land. He puts an interesting point….for Crecy, King Edward only assembled 14,000 soldiers ( a substantial army of course) but he recruited 16,000 sailors and mariners to get them to France, sustain them, and protect their supply routes. He rightly says the English Channel and the northern seas ‘were the main artery in England’s wars’. This is an interesting book, one which deserves to be read by any wargamer with an interest in that finest of all periods the medieval! Highly recommended. Bargains? For several years I’ve been receiving the catalogue from Hermann Historica the Munich auction house which specialises in militaria- but I don’t know why! Anyway sometimes this establishment comes up with naval items, and this Spring’s issue contains a couple of bargains for the avid Prussian naval enthusiast. There’s Admiral Hipper’s flag apparently flown on SMS Lutzow at the’ Battle of the Skagerrak’, no holes or scorch marks in it either, that’s a snip at 3,500 €uros. While the Grand Admirals jacket and cap said to have belonged to Prince Heinrich of Prussia c.1897, is going for 12,000 €uros, which seems a bit steep to me. I think I’d rather invest in a 1/1200th Mercator high Seas Fleet for the same money. www.hermann-historica.com Rob Morgan. SEA QUIZ. Now where was I????? Oh yes, after this passage of time, most of you will have forgotten the questions in Quiz No. 17, let alone the answers, but here they are anyway……. 1. HMS Larne became HMS Ghurkha, to replace the Tribal Class Destroyer lost in the Norwegian Campaign. 2. HMS’s Triumph, Glory, Ocean et al had all flown aircraft in action during the Korean War. 3. In 1917 the burst tyre killed Sqn Cdr Dunning, when attempting the second landing on the deck of HMS Furious- his first attempt was, of course successful. 4. HMS Cobra broke her back in a gale in September 1901, en route to Chatham.

11 5. This remarkable vessel was designed by the American Robert Fulton. So, now by popular request, here’s Sea Quiz 18. 1. Provide 12 Royal Navy Destroyer names beginning with SA. 2. Who said……….“Didn’t I tell you they’d have to come out?” 3. Which Fleet Air Arm Squadron had the Ace of Diamonds as its crest? 4. In 1979, what did Daryush, Nader and their two sisters become? 5. When was the last occasion on which the signal ‘General Chase’ was made? Best of luck with them and if all goes well answers next month. Rob Morgan SIGNAL PAD! Coming next month in AGB: LEGO at Sea, get your craft knife out; “The Kaiser’s Korsairs”, First Part of a Battle Report on WWI Commerce Raiders. JOINING THE NAVAL WARGAMES SOCIETY If you have been lent this newsletter and would like to join the Naval Wargames Society, please follow this link to join our Society: www.navalwargamessociety.org. NWS Events and Regional Contacts NWS Northern Fleet – Falkirk East Central Scotland Kenny Thomson, 12 Craigs Way, Rumford Grange, Rumford, Stirlingshire, FK2 0EU Tel: 01324 714248 e-mail: kenny.thomson@hotmail.com - Website: http://falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/ Falkirk Wargames Club meets each Monday night at 7pm with a variety of games running each evening. Naval games are popular with 2 or 3 run each month. Campaign games sometimes feature in our monthly weekend sessions. Games tend to be organised week to week making a 3- month forecast here a waste of time. Please get in touch if you’d like to come along.  Popular periods – Modern (Shipwreck), WW1 and 2 (GQ), WW2 Coastal (Action Stations), and Pre-dreadnought (P Dunn’s rules) NWS North Hants [Every 3rd Sunday] Jeff Crane 31 Park Gardens, Black Dam, Basingstoke, Hants, 01256 427906 e-mail: gf.crane@ntlworld.com