sailing, sailing ...
This
year's call from the Admiralty for ship captains brought 23 eager
to inherit the mantle from Lord Nelson. Once outfitted with
ship(s) and crew they took to the high seas to see who among
them would best the enemy and the sea. The user-friendly format
from previous years was continued allowing players to choose
between shorter single ship actions or longer multiple ship actions.
Players could play as little or as much as they wanted receiving
points for the matches with the top two point getters meeting
in the finals. New this year was the use of miniatures for all
matches. Bill Rohrbeck bested the field winning the wood in
a tense, if short, 100 point DYO final match with Tim Hitchings.
His fleet of three crack French 80's proved up to the task against
Tim's fleet consisting of a French 110 and two 74's. Revised
Tournament Edition rules were again used cleaning up the 2nd
Edition Rules as well as adding a different flavor.
Again, the high
point of the tournament was the Fleet Action on Saturday using
actual miniatures. Each player controlled a squadron of 2-4
ships. This year's action was based on a 1794 land/sea action
between the English and the French/Spanish in the Caribbean.
The English had embarked on a campaign of seizing the rich islands
in the Caribbean from the French to help finance the ongoing
war effort. The scenario opens with the English having landed
troops on Grand Terre in the hopes of capturing Fort Fleur d'Epee.
With her troops marching overland, England's escorting frigates
are in position to fire on the fort in the hopes of reducing
it and hence pave the way for the invasion force. Unknown to
the British is the offboard arrival of a French/Spanish relief
force. Thus the race is on, can the English reduce and capture
the fort before the French/Spanish relief force can drive off
the English fleet of frigates? And can the French/Spanish forces
achieve their mission before the English reinforcement fleet's
arrival? Under the command of Vice Admiral Larry York, the French/Spanish
relief force entered with the plan of moving as quickly as possible
against the British frigates at anchorage against the fort before
the arrival of the British reinforcements. Quickly dispatching
the frigates will allow the fleet to turn against the new threat
posed by the British reinforcement fleet. The British under the
command of Vice Admiral Stephen Fields had different ideas. The
frigates would sail in line past the fort, yielding to the oncoming
French/Spanish as necessary but maintaining fire on the fort
to create a breach while their troops marched overland. The hope
was this could be accomplished without taking too much damage
before the arrival of the main British fleet. The plans for
both fleets unfolded according to Hoyle, the French/Spanish moving
with all speed to tackle the frigates and the frigates attempting
to reduce the fort while staying out of range ofthe fleet now
bearing down on them.
Of
course, no plans ever survive contact with the enemy and these
were no different. The British frigates simply proved unable
to accomplish the task assigned to them. They were never able
to reduce the fort and secure its capture. Much of this can be
attributed to the pressure applied by the lead elements of the
French/Spanish fleet. Of course, the French/Spanish were having
problems of their own. The random arrival of the British reinforcement
fleet came sooner rather than later. Further, the British frigates
were proving more difficult to dispatch than hoped. Thus they
were faced with the arrival of the British main fleet while still
heavily engaged with the frigates. Never known for their sailing
ability, the French/Spanish quickly proved why by having several
ships collide and foul while attempting to maneuver into position
to take on the British main fleet just arriving onboard. This
created a gap between the elements of the French/Spanish forces
directly engaged with the frigates and the main body moving up
and now blocked by the fouled ships. The British, never shy at
taking advantage of an enemy's misfortunes had their reinforcement
fleet sailing for that gap, hoping to split the French/Spanish
line. They never got there. First, the on-shore wind the British
were enjoying as they sped towards the gap, turned and became
an offshore wind, hampering their efforts to split the line as
their movement slowed to a crawl. And second, a French 80 commanded
by Bill Rohrbeck moved and anchored itself in the path of the
on charging British. This sacrifice both bought the French/Spanish
time and gave Bill Rohrbeck a ticket to the finals. To add insult
to injury, the 80 exploded, causing even more damage than it
had already caused to both British ships and egos. With no chance
to capture the fort and now no chance to split the French/Spanish
line, the battle became a slugfest as the two main bodies came
to bear on each other. As time ran out, the French/Spanish emerged
as the victors on the strength of sinking two frigates and a
Portuguese 84 against the loss of the 80.
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