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Destroyer Commander

Era: WW2 · Source: Naval Wargames Society

Naval vessel data from Destroyer Commander.

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Destroyer Commander! Destroyer Commander! Draft Page 1 of 7 Pages Small Ship Actions in Victory at Sea VAS has always been aimed primarily at surface actions featuring cruisers and battleships. Because of the scales involved, in particular in defining the weapons carried by ships, smaller vessels such as destroyers and frigates tend to be very “samey”, with limited levels of distinction between them. There is also the point that “weak” guns (which are basically the main armament for light cruisers and below) don’t cause critical hits. A VAS battle fought out solely between destroyers may be entertaining to a point but can also be a rather stale experience. The following rules and formula tables allow players to define destroyers and other smaller ships in more detail for actions fought solely between ships of this type (at present there are no plans to extend this principle to include bigger ships) Revised Scales Ground Scale VAS currently uses an (undeclared) ground scale of 1” to 1000 yards. The revised scale in this variant is 1” to 333 yards (6” to one nautical mile) Time scale The combination of ground scale and ship speed/movement calculation results in a time scale of 2 minutes per turn. To reflect the inevitable “inertia” of warfare I recommend treating each turn as 5 minutes for scenario planning purposes. Damage Points Damage points are calculated as follows: • 2000 tons or less 1 point per 50 tons • 2000-5000 tons 40 plus 1 point per 100 tons over 2000 • 5000 tons plus 70 plus 1 point per 200 tons over 5000 Small craft of under 50 tons, such as MTBs and PT boats have 1 damage point. Destroyer Commander!

Destroyer Commander! Destroyer Commander! Draft Page 2 of 7 Pages Speed Ship maximum speed in inches is calculated as the ships speed in knots divided by 5, rounding up (so the K Class destroyer, with a speed of 36 knots, moves up to 8” per turn). Turning Ships may turn after half their movement and then again at the end of their movement. If they delay their first turn until after the half movement point they may not make a second turn at the end of movement. There is no “agile” trait in DC! Target Number Target numbers are based on length: >250’ 4+ >120’ 5+ <120’ 6+ Armour Smaller ships tended to be very lightly armoured, if at all. Ships will generally have armour values 1 greater than their VAS rating, so destroyers have an armour value of 2+, whilst light cruisers have 3+. Crew Divide crew numbers by 10. Gun Data Gun ranges are determined using the scale above. To reflect their poorer performance as gunnery platforms, ranges are reduced by 25% for destroyers. Each individual gun mount or turret is treated separately, in the same way as capital ship turrets in regular VAS. Example gun types are shown below Typical Gun Types – per gun Type Range AD DD Notes 5.9” 50” 1 5 5”, 4.7” 50” 1 4 4.5” 45” 1 3 4” 40” 1 2 3” 30” 1 1

Destroyer Commander! Destroyer Commander! Draft Page 3 of 7 Pages Gunnery Modifiers (3”/75mm guns or larger) Gunnery in DC! Uses the same basic system as standard VAS. The current VAS gunnery modifiers are replaced by the following:: Target stationary +1 Target speed >7” -1 Range 0”-10” +1 Range 10”-20” 0 Range 20”-30” -1 Range 30”- 40” -2 Range 40”+ -3 Radar +1 at targets over 30” Improved Fire Control +1 at targets over 30” Night -1 Bad weather -1 Natural die rolls of 1 are a miss Natural die rolls of 6 are a hit at 10” or less EXCEPT when firing at Small Craft Critical Hits Change the current system as follows. Roll a d6 for each hit scored. A critical hit is caused on a roll of 5+. Use the current critical hit tables. Treat torpedo mounts as turrets for the purposes of critical hits; in addition, if a torpedo tube mount is lost through a critical hit and its torpedoes have not yet been fired roll a d6. On a 6 the torpedoes explode. The ship is treated as if it has just been hit by one of its own weapons. AAA Current ship’s AAA AD values and ranges are tripled. AAA ADs may be split between Small Craft or Aircraft within a turn. Small Craft are hit on a roll of 5 or 6 out to 10”, or a 6 at ranges up to 20”. Dual Purpose Guns Many destroyers and cruisers employed High Angle gun mounts that allowed their heavy guns to be used as Dual Purpose AA weapons. If a mount is noted as DP in the notes column of the ship stat sheet the mount can be used for AA fire (although not in the same turn as it is used against surface targets). The entry will read DP1 or DP2. The number denotes the increase in AAA AD that the mount allows. For scenarios set in 1943 or later, Allied ships may use VT fuses. If so the nmber is increased by 1. “Secondaries” Some ships may have “secondaries” – small calibre guns fitted to engage surface targets rather than air targets (example: 2pdr “pom pom” bow chasers on some RN destroyers and corvettes for anti-e boat missions). These are treated as AAA but obviously cannot use their ADs against air targets.

Destroyer Commander! Destroyer Commander! Draft Page 4 of 7 Pages Aircraft Use the original AD values of aircraft (or divide post-Supplement ADs by three). Each “flight” now represents an individual aircraft. The limit on attacking aircraft going against a single ship target is increased to 6. Each Bomb damage hit is resolved by rolling a number of d6 equal to the bomb’s DD. This is the number of hits caused. One critical is scored for each roll of 5+ Torpedoes The original system is replaced completely. Torpedoes are represented individually. Each torpedo is now represented by a marker that shows the position and direction of the torpedo, plus its impending movement. Marker lengths are equal to half the effective speed of the weapon. For example, a British Mk8 torpedo has a speed of 45 knots. This equates to a movement of 9”. Its marker is therefore 4.5” long. When a torpedo is fired it is placed alongside the firing ship and pointed to show the direction of travel of the torpedo. Ships are moved before torpedoes. If a ship moves across a torpedo marker during the first half of its movement resolve the torpedo attack immediately. EXCEPTION - if a ship passes through a torpedo marker that has not yet moved there is no attack – the torpedo has to travel a certain distance before it is armed. If it passes across a marker only in the second half of its movement the torpedo misses (it has passed by the track of the ship by the time the torpedo gets there). After ship movement has been resolved torpedo markers are moved. Place a new marker in line with and in contact with the original marker, then remove the original marker. If the newly placed marker passes across a ship resolve the attack.. Then, at the end of the turn place another marker in contact with and in line with the marker that is currently on table, but do not resolve any attacks if ships are now in contact (this happens in the following turn). If a torpedo attack resolution is required roll a d6. The torpedo hits on a roll of 4+. Modifiers are as follows: Target speed >7” -1 Target stationary +1 If a hit is scored the marker is removed.

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