Nimitz Royal Navy v Kriegsmarine 'Murmansk' campaign Part 2

Andy and I played the second part of or 'Murmansk' Nimitz campaign last week. When we left it the convoy had made it about half way and was still undiscovered but the Germans were closing in rapidly with an undetermined force which must be strong in numbers as they hadn't committed much in the way of ships yet:

Day four began with a German air attack on TF 9 containing HMS Implacable. Implacable managed to launch two Hurricanes which shot down one Me109 and a Stuka while losing one of the Hurricanes. AA fire then accounted for a JU88 but unfortunately the remaining JU88 managed to hit the Implacable causing some structural damage:

The British then attempted an air strike of their own from HMS Implacable of TF 9 on TFE (the main German fleet) but the British Skua's failed to find the target and returned to the carrier.

The Germans then successfully identified the convoy (TF 3) with a destroyer. To prevent the German main fleet attacking the convoy TF 6 engaged the main German fleet. Unfortunately the British lost the initiative and had to set up first. HMS York leads followed by Howe, Belfast (damaged in a previous air strike) and Rodney. The destroyers HMS Jervis, Khartoum, Kelly and Jackal form a second line:

The German TF contained the Tirpitz (Bismarck class); Scharnhorst; Scheer (Deutchland class); Nurnberg (light cruiser), 6 of the earlier German destroyers and 3 of the later Type 36A  ("Narvik" class) destroyers. A very powerful force indeed:

Initial manoeuvres:

The British concentrate on the destroyers while the Germans hit the larger British ships:

Several German destroyers are sunk or crippled:

The Germans lose three Destroyers sunk and two crippled. The British lose the Howe, Belfast, York, Kelly and Jervis! It's all over for the British with only the damaged Rodney together with Jackal and Khartoum escaping:

With nothing much left to defend the convoy the British admit defeat and concede the campaign. 

As ever with Sam's rules there is a lot to think about for future campaigns. It's apparent that I didn't pick a suitable force really (too many aircraft that I never used for example), my task forces were badly organised and in the final battle I both underestimated the abilities of the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and overestimated the dangers of torpedo attacks.

  

Our next campaign will be the Sicilian convoy scenario where my British will take on the Italians. I'll certainly be trying to incorporate the lessons from this defeat in my plan for the next game!