All Guns Blazing — September 2013

1 All Guns Blazing! Newsletter of the Naval Wargames Society No. 227 – SEPTEMBER 2013 EDITORIAL VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE September 2013 Chairman: Stuart Barnes-Watson Stuart Barnes-Watson Chairman Simon Stokes Membership Secretary & Treasurer Norman Bell Editor ‘All Guns Blazing’ Jeff Chorney Editor ‘Battlefleet’ A very busy month on the bridge with the Brits enjoying their first true summer in 7 years! Needless to say, UK naval wargaming has rather slumbered. Deservedly so! However, the wargamers of Hull came up with a brilliant ‘Sink the Bismarck’ in 1/1200, using 1/144 scale Swordfish. Looked and played terrific. An even bigger inspiration was looking at the club’s Falklands Campaign 1/1250 ships. Most of the merchants were hand made out of balsa wood, plasti-card and brass rods……fabulous. With Skytrex in administration and Navwar up for sale, 1/1200 and 1/2400 will soon be the only scale available. It has been a few weeks since I checked out the NWS Yahoo Group. There were lots of messages to catch up on, with the NWS contribution to Salute 2014 already under discussion - are we putting on a demonstration or participation game? Points for and against raised. If you are not already a member of the Group, then why not? Join in and have your say on existing topics or even start a new one! Some club members may have personal memories of Don Featherstone who died recently. Don born in 1918 was interested in wargaming since the 1950s after reading H. G. Wells’ “Little Wars”. He wrote about 40 books on many aspects of the wargaming hobby. One of his books you may have is “Naval War Games” from 1965, updated in 2009. “Battlefleet”, will be produced soon and the high standard of previous editions will be maintained. Look out for a convoy game from Robert Langlois. Galleys and the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty both feature in this month’s AGB. It is a year since I took on the production of All Guns Blazing. Many thanks to those who have contributed articles for AGB. It was a fear that I would have to spend time producing content to pad it out but that has not been the case. This month’s edition contains contributions from members as usual. Please keep it up. AGB is certainly more interesting for it. In fact this month’s AGB is so packed, that I’ve had to hold over the final “Sink the Bismarck” instalment. See below for the return of the Quiz and other subjects which I hope you find of interest. Somewhere in the World, the sun is over the yardarm. Norman Bell normanpivc@gmail.com

2 I’m putting on the 1855 Baltic Campaign in 1/2400 at Lee Bay Village Hall on Friday 4th October to Sunday 6th October. An oft forgotten campaign, yet one of the most brilliant in RN history. The birth of the RN Hydro graphic Dept, arguably the best in the world. On paper the Anglo-British fleet is clearly superior, but the Russians have the advantage of local knowledge of the coast, and prior knowledge of Allied advance. Plus mines! We will be using Dave Manley’s rules, easily the best for this period. Better still, Dave will be umpiring and so averting any rule misunderstandings. This is littoral warfare, with ocean going fleets. RN players are invited (the Ruskies are already full). Plan Arrive Friday night: Setting up action, Russian Orders of Battle, mines etc. Open mike night in Grampus Inn, get merry! Saturday: After a cooked breakfast to calm the hangovers, the attack on Sveaborg gets underway. Retire in the evening to the Grampus, and/or explore Lee Bay, a fabled smuggler’s beach. Sunday: Cooked breakfast, attack on Kronstadt. Cost: £25 players, £10 per night in hall. B&B are available nearby. Contact me for info. If you are putting on a big show, or have thought about it, let us know. I, for one, would be delighted to attend. September is here! Wargames season restarts! Engage your imagination and let the Bridge know. Stuart Your continued support is vital in this, and as such I urge you to renew your membership asap. I will be at the Taunton Toy Fair on Sunday 15th September with a large range of 1/1250 waterline ship models to suit all pockets. Email: stuart_barnes_watson@hotmail.com or call 01271 866637 Royal Navy seizes multi-million-pound cocaine haul The crew of a Royal Navy warship has seized a massive 680-kilogram stash of cocaine with an estimated street value of £100 million. A high-speed pursuit boat intercepts the 30-foot drug-carrying vessel [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Jay Allen, Crown copyright] HMS LANCASTER made the bust after sailors boarded a speedboat near Puerto Rico. The boat was spotted by a US Customs and Border Protection Agency aircraft in the Caribbean Sea. The Portsmouth-based frigate sped to the area and launched her Lynx helicopter and high-speed pursuit boat to intercept the 30-foot vessel with 3 suspected smugglers on board. As LANCASTER approached, the men attempted to dispose of the evidence by throwing the drugs overboard, but these were quickly recovered by divers. A total of 22 bales of pure cocaine were seized along with the 3 men on board whom, ultimately, were fully compliant with the Royal Navy and US Coast Guard team. The suspected smugglers and cocaine were then handed over to the authorities in Puerto Rico. As is standard practice, the empty drugs boat was subsequently sunk by Royal Navy gunfire to prevent its use in future smuggling operations.

3 HMS LANCASTER is on patrol with a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment which provides intelligence in catching drug-runners as part of a multinational effort to combat drug-smuggling in the Caribbean. The Portsmouth- based Type 23 frigate will continue to combat the illicit smuggling of drugs until the end of the year. The drugs boat burns after being hit by Royal Navy gunfire [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Jay Allen, Crown copyright] Over the past year the US Coast Guard has seized 20,500 kilograms of cocaine and 8,500 pounds of marijuana during 22 law enforcement interceptions. Counter-narcotic operations with the USA and other partner nations is one of a range of tasks HMS LANCASTER is conducting across the Caribbean in support of British interests. Others include providing reassurance and security for British Overseas Territories and the provision of humanitarian aid and disaster relief during the core hurricane season. The Royal Navy contributes to counter-narcotics operations across the globe whether it is cannabis and cocaine in the Caribbean or intercepting insurgent heroin traffic using its Sea King air surveillance helicopters in Afghanistan. _________________________ A veteran of the Second World War Arctic Convoys has been presented with the Arctic Star medal over sixty years after undertaking the dangerous mission. Ninety-two-year-old Tom Burke was aged just 24 when he served with merchant tanker San Venancio on its hazardous journey to deliver supplies to the Soviet Union. Leaving the Clyde on March 11, 1945, Tom and his shipmates ran the deadly gauntlet of German U-Boats, warships and aircraft to reach their destination at the Kola inlet, near Murmansk, ten days later on March 21.

4 Speaking from his Helensburgh nursing home, Tom, who is originally from Cardonald, Glasgow described how the convoy had come under attack from German U-Boats. Tom said: "The tanker I was on was carrying commercial alcohol for chemical works on the White Sea. We were all aware that to U-Boats we were a valuable target so it was particularly frightening to be on the San Venancio. We had almost reached our destination when the convoy came under attack and all hell broke loose. A U-Boat came close alongside our ship, using us as cover from the Royal Navy ships in our escort. It was so close that we were actually bumping into it. Eventually a British Naval Destroyer dropped a depth charge almost on top of it. The explosion blew every piece of ice off the deck of our ship.” Described by Sir Winston Churchill as “the worst journey in the world”, conditions on the Arctic Convoys were some of the bleakest faced by any Allied sailors. Besides the ever-present threat of enemy attack, the crews braved extreme cold, gales and pack ice. From September 1941 when the first convoy left, to May 1945 when the missions ended, 87 merchant ships and 18 Royal Navy warships were sunk, making the loss rate higher than any other allied convoy route during WWII. Joining the Merchant Navy while in his teens, Tom’s life at sea reads like an ocean-going adventure. As well as his service with the Arctic Convoys, Tom also participated in the Atlantic Convoys and was involved in laying portable, temporary harbours – known as Mulberry Harbours – during the Allied invasion of Normandy. Serving on everything from fuel tankers ported at Dubai, to Banana boats bound for Jamaica, he eventually rose to become a Master Mariner and Ships’ Pilot, spending the latter days of his career on board Caledonian MacBrayne ferries. During one trip to Jamaica the merchant seaman even had a brush with Hollywood, meeting actor Errol Flynn who asked him to captain his yacht. Aware of the actor’s hell- raising reputation Tom turned him down, afraid of what his family back home would say if he took the job. They parted company, with the actor bidding the Cardonald sailor farewell with a “so long Burkey” and a wave goodbye. The Arctic Star medal is embossed with King George VI’s cipher – the letters G, R and I – and carries the words “The Arctic Star”. The medal ribbon features colours representing the three Armed Services as well as red for the Merchant Navy and a central white stripe, emphasised by black edging, marking the Arctic. __________________________________ Destroyers for …………Battleships We’re all probably aware that in 1940 the United States gave the Royal Navy 50, ‘four-stacker’ destroyers, in return for bases. But what if they’d have asked for battleships instead? Seems far-fetched? But apparently, during the First World war that was one option considered in 1917, and that, along with a couple of other possibilities, could make for some intriguing wargaming. My holiday reading has been the two-volume “The United States Navy in the Pacific”, by William Braistead, published by the Naval Institute Press (www.usni.org) and currently being sold off as a part of their ‘Clear the Decks’ drive. Between them the two volumes cover US naval policy and plans, not just in the Pacific, but in the Atlantic also. Until the US had a ‘two-ocean’ navy, their battle fleet was responsible for the security of both the east and west coasts. (American battleships were traditionally stationed on the Atlantic coast, and armoured cruisers on the Pacific coast. The opening of the Panama Canal allowed them to consider moving the battle fleet east or west in times of crisis.) Volume 1, 1897 – 1909, covers the growth of US naval power, along with their concerns about foreign intervention in US interests. For example, one intriguing point is the preoccupation with German incursions into the Caribbean, up to, and during the First World War. The US response, “War Plan Black” covered this eventuality, but Braistead also mentions US concerns about the growth of an alliance between the Chinese, Russians and Germans. So, one wargaming possibility that struck me, and which I shall try out sometime, is a squadron of the Kaiser’s pre-dreadnoughts joining the Russian fleet as it sails to do battle with the Japanese at Tsushima.

5 But it was something in Volume 2 that really caught my imagination. In 1916, the US were concerned that the Japanese were considering a move against the US in conjunction with a German attack on the Caribbean. A New York lawyer, returned form a trip to England where he had been selling arms, informed the State Department that Lloyd George, the British PM, had asked him on three occasions how the US would react if Britain gave the five Queen Elizabeth class battleships to Japan. Japan’s naval expansion had been handicapped by a lack of money, but now, with money pouring into her coffers from arms sales, she had the financial ability to expand her fleet. The addition of the five super-dreadnoughts would give her a clear naval superiority over the US Navy. It was even suggested that, in view of Britain’s gigantic naval programme, London might quite possibly give Japan other battleships and battlecruisers as well. And in 1917, at the height of the submarine crisis, Arthur Balfour, British Foreign secretary, visited Washington to discuss the naval situation with the Americans. The US navy’s General Board warned Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels not to allow the demands of the anti-submarine war to obscure the threat of a joint attack by both Germany and Japan. They recommended that US shipyards could be used to turn out large numbers of destroyers, sloops and other anti-submarine craft, which would have meant that the projected US battleships could not also be built. In return, though, the British should consider exchanging these ships for battleships and consider sending her battle fleet to Canadian waters if forced by the U-boat campaign to surrender. These present fascinating possibilities for the wargamers. What would a fleet of fast Japanese ships, say, the Kongo class battlecruisers and the Queen Elizabeths under the Rising Sun, do to a slower, American fleet? Or what about the QEs under the Stars and Stripes, fighting the Japanese? Would they be used to turn the head of the Japanese line, or drive in the Japanese scouting forces? Would they tackle the Germans in the Caribbean? Or even a post-war British Fleet in a 1920s War Plan Red? The possibilities are, as I said, intriguing. Andy Field As usual, Sea Quiz 24 is from the 1950s. Anyone who remembers the questions and answers from first time round is disqualified. 1. How was Campania lost? 2. When and where was the signal 'Well done, Condor' made? 3. Which RN warship survived the 1889 Samoa hurricane? 4. How did Battleaxe differ from Crossbow? (This is the early 1950's, remember). 5. Name five early British Battleships which carried their turrets in echelon. Good Luck! Rob Morgan. Grenades on board. Does anyone know anything to answer Rob on this subject? My colleague Charles Trollope of the Ordnance Society, as a result of some discussion in the Society Newsletter, has provided me with an extract from a Military Engineering training manual published in 1870 at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham. Section 63 of this substantial work is entitled 'Hand Grenading'. Now....the standard hand grenade weighed 3 pounds, and is described as issued for 'land service'. However, a heavier 6 pound grenade is also listed and described as for 'sea service'; remarkably a range is given for each to be thrown, about 34 yards for the 3 pdr and 26 yards for the sea service grenade, by a 'strong man'! Does anyone know any more about the sea service 6 pdr grenade? Why I wondered was it twice as heavy as the 'land' service weapon? Rob Morgan.

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13 On Rams.... Most ACW naval wargamers will know the excellent 'Warships and Naval Battles' book by Tony Gibbons. I believe it's still in print. The book is regarded by many as a classic and is a very valuable resource. On page 36-37 is a most attractive side drawing of USS Roanoake in full colour. She wasn't a particularly useful warship, and spent most of her career as guard ship at Hampton Roads. I suspect most of us only have a model 'Roanoake' in our fleets because she was the only three turret US Monitor! Look at the drawing. At right the bow seems to be carrying a pronounced ram. Is this correct? I've not encountered comment or even brief mention of USS Roanoake as capable of ramming an enemy? Now turn to page 40-41 of the Gibbons' work. there's the very unfortunate USS Keokuk, the one off gun- house warship lost in her first real action. This drawing also, clearly shows a ram bow! She was capable of 9 knots, whereas Roanoake could move much more slowly. So was Keokuk intended as a ram? Had she not failed the first test, might there have been a class of Keokuk rams? Of course there were Monitor Rams built, by the Dutch in the 1870's to protect their close waterways, and they would have been effective vessels; these were the six ships of the Adder class and two larger monitors with ram bows, Draak and her sister. Has anyone any ideas? Rob Morgan.

14 HMS WESTMINSTER tests sub-hunting skills A Royal Navy warship deployed in the Mediterranean has been testing her skills in an anti-submarine warfare exercise with the Italian Navy. HMS WESTMINSTER (left) and Italian ship Francesco Mimbelli [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Dan Rosenbaum, Crown copyright] HMS WESTMINSTER is working as part of the Navy's Response Force Task Group (RFTG) which is on an annual deployment to the Mediterranean and the Gulf to test the flexibility and capability of the force. Part of their tasking includes working alongside NATO allies – and in WESTMINSTER's case this came in the form of the Italian destroyer FRANCESCO MIMBELLI and submarine SALVATORE PELOSI. Taking turns to practise hunting for each other, the sailors from both ships and the submarine were put through their paces in an action-packed few days. As well as testing sensors and weapons skills, the exercise also tested the reactions of those on board. There was also the chance for some of the sailors to experience life on board a partner nation's vessel. Aside from the anti-submarine exercise, HMS WESTMINSTER has been busy undertaking a wide range of tasks including flying, gunnery and boarding as part of her Cougar deployment and also in preparation for operations further afield. HMS WESTMINSTER is due to leave the Cougar force before the end of their deployment and take up station in the Gulf as one of the Royal Navy's long-standing commitments to the region. The ships of Cougar 13 will operate in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Gulf and around the Horn of Africa. This annual deployment involves exercising with partner nations and will show the UK Armed Forces' capacity to project an effective maritime component anywhere in the world as part of the RFTG, which is being commanded by Commodore Paddy McAlpine from the fleet flagship HMS BULWARK. The RFTG is the United Kingdom's high readiness maritime force, made up of ships, submarines, aircraft and a landing force of Royal Marines, at 5 days' notice to act in response to any contingency tasking including humanitarian disaster relief and international military intervention. As well as HMS WESTMINSTER there are 3 other Royal Navy ships – HMS BULWARK, HMS ILLUSTRIOUS and HMS MONTROSE – taking part and all are being supported by 5 Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels. oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo The following letters from UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond and from US Central Command were published in The Times on 4th September. Sir, Your story yesterday 'US leaves 'unreliable' British out in the cold' suggests that British military personnel embedded in the US headquarters in Tampa had been excluded from US meetings because the US feels they cannot be trusted with intelligence material. That suggestion is offensive and wholly inaccurate. The fact is that following Parliament's decision last week not to support British military involvement, the Ministry of Defence decided that, consistent with Parliament's decision, British personnel should be withdrawn from the process of planning for a US response. Our Service personnel embedded at US Central

15 Command remain engaged in other routine military operations as part of our deep and enduring political and military relationship with the United States. Philip Hammond MP Secretary of State for Defence Sir, You incorrectly characterise the relationship between US Central Command and our British military partners. Our British colleagues are valued members of our team here at US Central Command and any characterisation that UK military personnel are being 'ejected' from meetings is inaccurate. Chris Belcher LTC, US Army Chief of Media, US Central Command Communication Integration Directorate SIGNAL PAD! Sept 14-15 2013 Colours The Grandstand, Newbury Racecourse, Newbury RG14 7NZ Those of you who are not members/readers of NWS YAHOO Group will not have seen the following from Drew Jarman. You are cordially invited to attend ESSEX WARRIORS OPEN DAY on Sunday 29th September 2013 from 10am to 4pm at Writtle Village Hall, 18 The Green, Writtle, Essex, CM1 3DU (opposite the duck pond). Entrance is FREE. Display and Participation games, Bring & Buy, Refreshments, and Traders. Traders attending include Wayland Games, Red Knight and Games Gazette Essex Warriors meet in Writtle Village Hall, which is on The Green, on the right as you come in to Writtle from Chelmsford, and opposite the pond. There is free public parking off to the left of the pond (signed). Saturday 5th October from 8 a.m. NAVCON, Community Centre, 8853 S Howell Avenue, Oak Creek, Wisconsin. If you live near Milwaukee/Lake Michigan, perhaps you can visit and write a report for AGB. See the website http://www.nav-con.com for some impressive photographs of previous years. 13th October. South East London Wargames Show. Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. www.selwg.org 27th October. Fiasco, Leeds. 2nd November. Crisis. Antwerp 16th/17th November. Warfare at Reading, Berkshire.

16 The Shows above are only some of the total out there. If you know of a wargames event let me know and I’ll gladly include the details in AGB. If you go to one of these or any other show, how about sending in a few words of a review for All Guns Blazing? We have members in many countries, so you may have information of a show that is not readily available to me. 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. Membership secretary: simonjohnstokes@aol.com NWS Events and Regional Contacts, 2013 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 Devon and the West Country Naval Wargames afternoon/evening/all day on a regular basis. Contact Stuart Barnes Watson to arrange the details. stuart_barnes_watson@hotmail.com 3 Clovelly Apartments, Oxford Park, Ilfracombe, DEVON, EX34 9JS Tel: 01271 866637