-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Commodore Thelamoni walked down the corridor of the admiralty building Napoli. He wore his full dress Uniform with all his decorations - and what seemed odd - a sidearm.
Thelamoni a staff officer in planning center had been in charge of planning and calculating the various options of the Regia Marina.
He had detailerd every option the RM might face in case of a war aggainst the allies after intensive reasearch of his planning team.
The predictions for RM surface action Groups (SAG's) vs. Allied Carrier fleets had all been extremely negative for the RM.
The planning staff had predicted the problems of engaging larger carrier task forces with the means at the disposal of the RM in the secret analysis for Il Duce and Thelamoni had been granted a personal audience to il Duce in the early stages of the war and warned about this.
The only chance would have been to use the RM SAG in combination with all the Air power at Axis disposal - including all GER Nav Bombers and Stukas plus enough INT cover to ensure total airsuperiority in the confined carrier hunting grounds around Italy proper.
However none of this had ever been attempted and the RM had been lost piece-meal in several scirmishes with the superior Royal Navy. In fact the war was almost over for the RM prior to the pointless "Tobruk-Gamble" that had her annihilated.
All the research and IC capacitiy on Naval doctrines and techs over the last 6 months at the least should have gone to the land and airforce.
Thelamoni could only hope theat Il Duce would now be healed from anmy ideas of naval grandezza and finally focus Italys resources on improving and enlarging its vital groundforces.
For him however this war was over, his only son Frederico had been an Ensign on the Littorio and had gone down with her on her last unfortunate sortie.
His beloved RM with so many friends and comrades had been sacrificed for a pointless and futile propaganda operation that was so badly executed that his hair would have fallen out if Thelamoni had had any hair left on his bald head.
He just couldn't see any point of going on in a staff for a non-existent RM - a staff that was apparently superfluos now (and night have been all along). As he reached the hall of honours he considered how much different it would have been to serve on Zidston Churchills staff - a man who truly understood naval warfare.
He saluted the honour guards at the entrance of the hall and strode down to the great old battleflag of the RM. He stood at attention in front of the flag and saluted.
Thinking of his lost son and his comrades - all dead now - he knelt down and shot himself in the head without any further ado.
---------------------
His letter of resignation was later found in his uniform but kept under lock as his venomous accusations of Il Duce were considered too dangerous if published within the already extremely frustrated remnants of the RM.
Thelamoni a staff officer in planning center had been in charge of planning and calculating the various options of the Regia Marina.
He had detailerd every option the RM might face in case of a war aggainst the allies after intensive reasearch of his planning team.
The predictions for RM surface action Groups (SAG's) vs. Allied Carrier fleets had all been extremely negative for the RM.
The planning staff had predicted the problems of engaging larger carrier task forces with the means at the disposal of the RM in the secret analysis for Il Duce and Thelamoni had been granted a personal audience to il Duce in the early stages of the war and warned about this.
The only chance would have been to use the RM SAG in combination with all the Air power at Axis disposal - including all GER Nav Bombers and Stukas plus enough INT cover to ensure total airsuperiority in the confined carrier hunting grounds around Italy proper.
However none of this had ever been attempted and the RM had been lost piece-meal in several scirmishes with the superior Royal Navy. In fact the war was almost over for the RM prior to the pointless "Tobruk-Gamble" that had her annihilated.
All the research and IC capacitiy on Naval doctrines and techs over the last 6 months at the least should have gone to the land and airforce.
Thelamoni could only hope theat Il Duce would now be healed from anmy ideas of naval grandezza and finally focus Italys resources on improving and enlarging its vital groundforces.
For him however this war was over, his only son Frederico had been an Ensign on the Littorio and had gone down with her on her last unfortunate sortie.
His beloved RM with so many friends and comrades had been sacrificed for a pointless and futile propaganda operation that was so badly executed that his hair would have fallen out if Thelamoni had had any hair left on his bald head.
He just couldn't see any point of going on in a staff for a non-existent RM - a staff that was apparently superfluos now (and night have been all along). As he reached the hall of honours he considered how much different it would have been to serve on Zidston Churchills staff - a man who truly understood naval warfare.
He saluted the honour guards at the entrance of the hall and strode down to the great old battleflag of the RM. He stood at attention in front of the flag and saluted.
Thinking of his lost son and his comrades - all dead now - he knelt down and shot himself in the head without any further ado.
---------------------
His letter of resignation was later found in his uniform but kept under lock as his venomous accusations of Il Duce were considered too dangerous if published within the already extremely frustrated remnants of the RM.
Point being that the US can land basically anywhere at any time and Japan has to do something to defend herself from these landings.
Very true. I can't wait to see what happens when the US finally does enter. I am sure the allies have been hashing out a coordinated strategy.
I can only agree. It was a bad idea right from the start. It was a product of desperation. I saw my fellow Axis being pressed back on all front and I could not do shit about it... at least I shouldn't have done the shit i did... Still, I DID recon before - and CAGs had been spotted over France (but perhaps a couple of days before). So that part was fairly accurate. The bad thing was I only took a 3-day "break" after I sunk that Russian Sub. It was that sub that allerted the CV Task Force heading for the Red Sea. Otherwise they would not have gotten a warning until my troops landed in Tobruk. So, as far as I see it, it was a combo of a bad idea, bad timing and bad retreats (AI). And I had fighter cover too - but not as much as I needed to fight CVs. But that wasn't the plan when I sailed out.
With a little bit of luck it could just as well have worked according to plan... but it was too risky and Italy just can't afford that kind of risk.
Nice post there, Thel. And just to be clear... I took your advice but didn't expect to meet those damn CVs... oh well...
o
I just thought I would say that I think you are getting Admiral Nelson confused with Sir Francis Drake, otherwise I agree with the comparison.
Wow, I read at the end of Zid's post about the CTF he'd assembled, and sending it towards Africa...
Then you wrote in your post about sending out the RM to attack Africa... My mind was screaming, "NO CAPTAIN, NOOOOOOO!!!!" :laugh: The inevitable happened, but I had no clue it would be such a severe defeat as it turned out to be.
That being said, though Italy really is not a threat to the Allies in terms of aggressive action (unless you can say otherwise?), you're alive and must still have a credible ground/air force. And you hold VPs. Italy is forced to fight an entirely defensive war now, but you can still help out in a large way as far as a "Fortress Europe" strategy goes for now on.
The key now will be whether a final push for Stalingrad in the spring of 1942 can yield a Soviet defeat (ironic eh?), thus freeing up German forces to make a defence against the US entirely viable. If this fails, a defeat may seem inevitable...or, forces must retreat westwards in-tact and defend an area with a much greater force density, and hope that you can hold onto 1/3 VPs to achieve victory in 1945. Japan may prove the weak point in this strategy, although substantial land forces must exist as a result of holding China, if forces can retreat to "fortress japan-china-manchuria-korea" for lack of a better term
Definitely the most closely fought of your AARs thus far; this will be going to the wire! (Great play CptEasy overall despite the last "blunder" [too harsh to actually call it that mind you], but a special shoutout must go to Zid for maximising the British potential throughout this game)
Then you wrote in your post about sending out the RM to attack Africa... My mind was screaming, "NO CAPTAIN, NOOOOOOO!!!!" :laugh: The inevitable happened, but I had no clue it would be such a severe defeat as it turned out to be.
That being said, though Italy really is not a threat to the Allies in terms of aggressive action (unless you can say otherwise?), you're alive and must still have a credible ground/air force. And you hold VPs. Italy is forced to fight an entirely defensive war now, but you can still help out in a large way as far as a "Fortress Europe" strategy goes for now on.
The key now will be whether a final push for Stalingrad in the spring of 1942 can yield a Soviet defeat (ironic eh?), thus freeing up German forces to make a defence against the US entirely viable. If this fails, a defeat may seem inevitable...or, forces must retreat westwards in-tact and defend an area with a much greater force density, and hope that you can hold onto 1/3 VPs to achieve victory in 1945. Japan may prove the weak point in this strategy, although substantial land forces must exist as a result of holding China, if forces can retreat to "fortress japan-china-manchuria-korea" for lack of a better term
Definitely the most closely fought of your AARs thus far; this will be going to the wire! (Great play CptEasy overall despite the last "blunder" [too harsh to actually call it that mind you], but a special shoutout must go to Zid for maximising the British potential throughout this game)
I have never before seen CptEasy make a blunder like this. A landing at Tobruk offered little potential reward to begin with while it involved high risks. Well that can happen when a capable and cunning player who is used to the main role suddenly finds himself in a support capacity.
Luckily, I can offer some solace: This AAR is the new winner of the Weekly AAR Showcase! Congratulations CptEasy! Well done Zid - your addendums make this AAR even better!
Luckily, I can offer some solace: This AAR is the new winner of the Weekly AAR Showcase! Congratulations CptEasy! Well done Zid - your addendums make this AAR even better!
Cpt Easy, I really love reading your AARs. Don't worry about the bizarre mechanical stuff which sort of messed with Germany in the east, for once I suppose Axis has the moral victory here. The British player played a blinder, wow his naval skills are ridiculous.
Japan has a tough slog ahead but perhaps she can bludgeon the US Fleets enough to give Germany that little time extra.
I know it's tough to do but what is actually the most interesting, is how a player deals in a moment of collapse (if it comes). Numbers, time, IC, resources... everything might not be on your side but I really would like to see WWIII continue from this AAR. Allies and Comitern should be 'competitive' for future allies in this war.
Japan has a tough slog ahead but perhaps she can bludgeon the US Fleets enough to give Germany that little time extra.
I know it's tough to do but what is actually the most interesting, is how a player deals in a moment of collapse (if it comes). Numbers, time, IC, resources... everything might not be on your side but I really would like to see WWIII continue from this AAR. Allies and Comitern should be 'competitive' for future allies in this war.
Tough luck. To minimize such risks, 2-3 spotting subs should be used ahead of your forces. In this case it is even more complex, as usually you expect enemy from one side, but in Mediterranian it can both sides. And such operations should be done in nighttime, giving higher chances of slipping through.
What else, your fleets were split in 2 and pretty small. I would have combined them in 1, even with some hull penalty. Which gets compensated anyway.
As CAGs get ridiculously small penalty, that stack of doom of 7CVs is stoppable only by similar force.
What else, your fleets were split in 2 and pretty small. I would have combined them in 1, even with some hull penalty. Which gets compensated anyway.
As CAGs get ridiculously small penalty, that stack of doom of 7CVs is stoppable only by similar force.
TBH CptEasy didn't get the worst possible result. Imagine what would happen if he actually managed to land in Tobruk and THEN the RN engaged the RM.
I agree, but only for one reason. UK is retreating from France (probably very low on manpower) and they will have units to deploy. Timing was better while UK was busy in France, now it is too late. And, Axis should have gotten Malta. That is quite critical point in Med campaign, providing great airbase and controlling critical convoy routes.
Distracting (I'd go Turkey way though, as it is land connected). Maybe to import camels, or recruit beduins in army.
Just when you are desperate to break existing situation, you may do irrational things. I did the same when enemy landed in Sicily and started killing my divisions. I sent my whole fleet and 5 transports to save 2 divisions or so. Foolish? Yes.
IMO the best strategy for Italy in MP games is to stay cool and behave more like a minor country than a major one. Before that operation, CptEasy's performance had been good IMO. He seemed to understand that Italy is a minor player and it's best to be careful with them.
Addendum to Chapter XXIII - The Regia Marina is sailing out
Excerpt from "Naval Battles of the Second World War", by William Horner, Bantam books, 1962
"During the 14th of December, the Med was a powderkeg just waiting to explode. Cunningham sailed his Carrier task force, consisting of seven fleet carriers and seven light cruiser escorts. His tactics of massed naval aviation warfare was still untested, and he had put his career and the lives of many Brittish sailors on the line to prove ha was correct. A probing attack was launched on Malta by Sparrowhawk bombers, but these were chased off by the fighter cover based there and suffered severe losses in pilots and damaged and destroyed aircraft.
As Cunninghams task force sailed through the Med, the Russians reported that they had been attacked by a large RM SAG. Knowing that the torpedo bombers were out of action for the foreseeable future, he gathered a quick war council. Engaging the RM might prove fortuitous, but would show the RN tactics, and might make the IJN combine their CVs into larger fleets. The previous encountered IJN CV task forces had consisted of about three fleet carriers, and if they combined them, they would be a terrifying force indeed. To confuse any signal interception, Cunningham had named his task force Battlecruiser Squadron, although not a single RN Battlecruiser remained in the navy.
After a short telegram to Malta, he reverted course, going into the Eastern Ionian sea, searching for the RM Battleships. He found none, and considered continuing on to Alexandria. One agressive captain urged him to continue into the Gulf of Taranto, to at least port strike Taranto if no enemy vessels could be found. They decided to push their luck, knowing that Italian Naval aviation could not respond in force.
Soon, albacore bombers found a destroyer scouting task force, led by the chief of the Italian Naval Intelligence, Raoul Galletti. Some hits were scored, but only one of the destroyers suffered any heavy damage, and they all retreated into port under cover of darkness. Galletti quickly radioed to da Zara that he had been attacked by a large number of RN short ranged naval bombers, indicating that there must be several RN carriers close by. Galletti later clamied he meant to warn da Zara, not push him to attack, but no written sources exist to confirm this.
Today, of course no sensible commander would send surface ships without air cover to attack carriers. We must remember that the power of naval aviation were not apparent, and that da Zara probably only thought he would face a mixed RN task force with two or at the most three carriers, supported by battleships. He did not know that he faced almost all of the RN fleet carriers and a totally new tactics. From records, it is also clear that the RA did not make clear to the other Italian service branches that the Sparrowhawk squadrons were out of action. With hindsight, da Zaras decision to engage proved to be disasterous, and destroyed his reputation. But hindsight is 20/20, and such is the power of paradigm shifts: they always seem obvious after they occured. Naval aviation had not been very succesful earlier, and several hours of attacks by Cunningham had not even sunk a single Italian destroyer. Had da Zara won, he would have dealt the RN a blow they would have to spend months, or even years, recovering from.
However, Brittish scout planes found the Italian task force just after dawn on december 17th. A massive strike was ordered, and records are a bit hazy. It is clear that the RM Caio Duillio was hit by at least two torpedoes and the Fiume, Zara and Muzio Attendolo, as well as several destroyers were heavily damaged. da Zara realised that the task force was stronger than expected, and choose to turn eastwards, hoping to avoid futher attacks by outracing the Brittish carriers. He was also sure that the brittish would not be able to launch any futher strikes that day, not knowing the radical changes that had occured with carrier operations.
Several ships had suffered damage, and RN scout planes never left da Zaras task force out of sight. During the afternoon, the carriers had refueled and rearmed their planes, having suffered minimal losses during the earlier sortie. Another strike was launched, with excellent weather conditions. The Zara, and up to ten destroyers were sunk. da Zara became increasingly desperate. He radioed to another RM task force to meet him, and changed course northwards, hoping that the brittish would never venture into the Adriatic sea, where he belived he could rely on strong aerial support.
Moving slowly because of his damaged ships, da Zara had only come as far as Tirane when the third carrier strike came as dawn. He had been joined by other task force, and now had well over thirty warships, a force to be reconed with. But the ships positioned themselves expecting a surface engagement, not the non stop attack of carrier planes. With three light cruisers sunk, and all three battleships heavily damaged, da Zara knew that he had to endure at least one more strike before darkness. Tirane had a harbour, an airfield and AA installations, and during a frantic conference (sadly no written records remain), it was decided to return to Tirane, where the AA of the ships would be able to support each other, and fighter cover could be flown in. It was to be one if the greatest mistakes in naval history.
Tirane did not have a harbour large enough to keep all ships close, and almost before they docked, brittish dive bombers attacked them. Frantic diplomatic telegrams between Berlin and Rome ensured that several squadrons of Fw 190 planes were sent to intercept them. During several days, Italian, Brittish and German planes fought over the Adriatic, but in the end, Cunningham had to retreat. His planes were low on fuel, he had lost most of the fighter cover and he had no more ammunition. But those days had not been spent idle. The Infantry division guarding Jerusalem had boarded transports as soon as the RM had entered Tirane, and Sommerville had taken the Nelson, Ramilles, Queen Elizabeth and Valiant plus escorts and patrolled the waters outside of Tirane. Aerial recon had showed that no significant ground forces were stationed in Albania, and the Brittish simply landed in one of the smaller ports outside of Tirane and started to march. During dec 22nd, they reached the outskirts of Tirane, and da Zara knew he had to leave port, or risk the better part of the RM falling into Brittish hands. Kenmore, in his essays on the war in the Mediterranean, claim that da Zara did not know that Sommerville waited for him. Many records, both written and witnesses contradict this. It seems obvious that da Zara knew he had to sail out with damaged ships, some without ammunition and fuel, to face a full RN task force.
The result was predictable. Sommerville wrote in his diary: "Seems Cunningham had left the dirty work for my lads. Sortie today from Tirane. Uncoordinated and in broad daylight. Sailed to meet, no torpedo attacks, all tried to escape. Crossed his T, lads fired until guns were too hot. Countless opponents sunk. Sole casualy on Nelson, Ensign got skull knocked in by kickback on 16 incher. Sent cruisers and transports to pick up wounded and shipwrecked. Whole thing very unsportsmanlike."
There are those who claimed that Sommerville contradicted his orders to continue to pursue the remaining Italian ships. In truth, no such order was ever sent. Zidston Churchills private secretary later said that when the battle reports were sent to London, "they sent for champange, not orders for more attacks." One italian battleship, two heavy cruisers and some lighter ships got away. Cunningham had broken the back of the RM. As he heard of the second battle of the Adriatic Sea, he stood on his bridge and stared out. "In disarming the Italians, we have given the Japanese a sword as good as our own," he said.
A few days later, Brittish land based naval bombers attacked Taranto, sinking the destroyers that Galletti had managed to save ten days earlier. That marked the end of the age of Battleships, and the start of the Era of naval aviation."
Authors Note: In my frantic screaming, I forgot to send my ships on a intercept course further north. Had I done that, the Carnage would have been total. I can just say I didn´t expect that kind of success.
Some of your have wondered on our tactics when in comes to diplomacy. We have kept at least to countries continously on "Raise threat" mission in Germany with ten spies. Germany killed them off like flies, and ~6 leadership was required to keep up with losses. We could have let USSR keep spies there as well, but I think that that kind of investment of leadership would have made them totally unable to stand up to German attacks. However, US entry is ever closer. Maxyboy and myself were worried that the increase in German threat started to decline. It averaged about 0,5 theat per month. Anyone who wants to take a guess when USA will enter the war?
Engage the enemy more closely
Excerpt from "Naval Battles of the Second World War", by William Horner, Bantam books, 1962
"During the 14th of December, the Med was a powderkeg just waiting to explode. Cunningham sailed his Carrier task force, consisting of seven fleet carriers and seven light cruiser escorts. His tactics of massed naval aviation warfare was still untested, and he had put his career and the lives of many Brittish sailors on the line to prove ha was correct. A probing attack was launched on Malta by Sparrowhawk bombers, but these were chased off by the fighter cover based there and suffered severe losses in pilots and damaged and destroyed aircraft.
As Cunninghams task force sailed through the Med, the Russians reported that they had been attacked by a large RM SAG. Knowing that the torpedo bombers were out of action for the foreseeable future, he gathered a quick war council. Engaging the RM might prove fortuitous, but would show the RN tactics, and might make the IJN combine their CVs into larger fleets. The previous encountered IJN CV task forces had consisted of about three fleet carriers, and if they combined them, they would be a terrifying force indeed. To confuse any signal interception, Cunningham had named his task force Battlecruiser Squadron, although not a single RN Battlecruiser remained in the navy.
After a short telegram to Malta, he reverted course, going into the Eastern Ionian sea, searching for the RM Battleships. He found none, and considered continuing on to Alexandria. One agressive captain urged him to continue into the Gulf of Taranto, to at least port strike Taranto if no enemy vessels could be found. They decided to push their luck, knowing that Italian Naval aviation could not respond in force.
Soon, albacore bombers found a destroyer scouting task force, led by the chief of the Italian Naval Intelligence, Raoul Galletti. Some hits were scored, but only one of the destroyers suffered any heavy damage, and they all retreated into port under cover of darkness. Galletti quickly radioed to da Zara that he had been attacked by a large number of RN short ranged naval bombers, indicating that there must be several RN carriers close by. Galletti later clamied he meant to warn da Zara, not push him to attack, but no written sources exist to confirm this.
Today, of course no sensible commander would send surface ships without air cover to attack carriers. We must remember that the power of naval aviation were not apparent, and that da Zara probably only thought he would face a mixed RN task force with two or at the most three carriers, supported by battleships. He did not know that he faced almost all of the RN fleet carriers and a totally new tactics. From records, it is also clear that the RA did not make clear to the other Italian service branches that the Sparrowhawk squadrons were out of action. With hindsight, da Zaras decision to engage proved to be disasterous, and destroyed his reputation. But hindsight is 20/20, and such is the power of paradigm shifts: they always seem obvious after they occured. Naval aviation had not been very succesful earlier, and several hours of attacks by Cunningham had not even sunk a single Italian destroyer. Had da Zara won, he would have dealt the RN a blow they would have to spend months, or even years, recovering from.
However, Brittish scout planes found the Italian task force just after dawn on december 17th. A massive strike was ordered, and records are a bit hazy. It is clear that the RM Caio Duillio was hit by at least two torpedoes and the Fiume, Zara and Muzio Attendolo, as well as several destroyers were heavily damaged. da Zara realised that the task force was stronger than expected, and choose to turn eastwards, hoping to avoid futher attacks by outracing the Brittish carriers. He was also sure that the brittish would not be able to launch any futher strikes that day, not knowing the radical changes that had occured with carrier operations.
Several ships had suffered damage, and RN scout planes never left da Zaras task force out of sight. During the afternoon, the carriers had refueled and rearmed their planes, having suffered minimal losses during the earlier sortie. Another strike was launched, with excellent weather conditions. The Zara, and up to ten destroyers were sunk. da Zara became increasingly desperate. He radioed to another RM task force to meet him, and changed course northwards, hoping that the brittish would never venture into the Adriatic sea, where he belived he could rely on strong aerial support.
Moving slowly because of his damaged ships, da Zara had only come as far as Tirane when the third carrier strike came as dawn. He had been joined by other task force, and now had well over thirty warships, a force to be reconed with. But the ships positioned themselves expecting a surface engagement, not the non stop attack of carrier planes. With three light cruisers sunk, and all three battleships heavily damaged, da Zara knew that he had to endure at least one more strike before darkness. Tirane had a harbour, an airfield and AA installations, and during a frantic conference (sadly no written records remain), it was decided to return to Tirane, where the AA of the ships would be able to support each other, and fighter cover could be flown in. It was to be one if the greatest mistakes in naval history.
Tirane did not have a harbour large enough to keep all ships close, and almost before they docked, brittish dive bombers attacked them. Frantic diplomatic telegrams between Berlin and Rome ensured that several squadrons of Fw 190 planes were sent to intercept them. During several days, Italian, Brittish and German planes fought over the Adriatic, but in the end, Cunningham had to retreat. His planes were low on fuel, he had lost most of the fighter cover and he had no more ammunition. But those days had not been spent idle. The Infantry division guarding Jerusalem had boarded transports as soon as the RM had entered Tirane, and Sommerville had taken the Nelson, Ramilles, Queen Elizabeth and Valiant plus escorts and patrolled the waters outside of Tirane. Aerial recon had showed that no significant ground forces were stationed in Albania, and the Brittish simply landed in one of the smaller ports outside of Tirane and started to march. During dec 22nd, they reached the outskirts of Tirane, and da Zara knew he had to leave port, or risk the better part of the RM falling into Brittish hands. Kenmore, in his essays on the war in the Mediterranean, claim that da Zara did not know that Sommerville waited for him. Many records, both written and witnesses contradict this. It seems obvious that da Zara knew he had to sail out with damaged ships, some without ammunition and fuel, to face a full RN task force.
The result was predictable. Sommerville wrote in his diary: "Seems Cunningham had left the dirty work for my lads. Sortie today from Tirane. Uncoordinated and in broad daylight. Sailed to meet, no torpedo attacks, all tried to escape. Crossed his T, lads fired until guns were too hot. Countless opponents sunk. Sole casualy on Nelson, Ensign got skull knocked in by kickback on 16 incher. Sent cruisers and transports to pick up wounded and shipwrecked. Whole thing very unsportsmanlike."
There are those who claimed that Sommerville contradicted his orders to continue to pursue the remaining Italian ships. In truth, no such order was ever sent. Zidston Churchills private secretary later said that when the battle reports were sent to London, "they sent for champange, not orders for more attacks." One italian battleship, two heavy cruisers and some lighter ships got away. Cunningham had broken the back of the RM. As he heard of the second battle of the Adriatic Sea, he stood on his bridge and stared out. "In disarming the Italians, we have given the Japanese a sword as good as our own," he said.
A few days later, Brittish land based naval bombers attacked Taranto, sinking the destroyers that Galletti had managed to save ten days earlier. That marked the end of the age of Battleships, and the start of the Era of naval aviation."
Authors Note: In my frantic screaming, I forgot to send my ships on a intercept course further north. Had I done that, the Carnage would have been total. I can just say I didn´t expect that kind of success.
Some of your have wondered on our tactics when in comes to diplomacy. We have kept at least to countries continously on "Raise threat" mission in Germany with ten spies. Germany killed them off like flies, and ~6 leadership was required to keep up with losses. We could have let USSR keep spies there as well, but I think that that kind of investment of leadership would have made them totally unable to stand up to German attacks. However, US entry is ever closer. Maxyboy and myself were worried that the increase in German threat started to decline. It averaged about 0,5 theat per month. Anyone who wants to take a guess when USA will enter the war?
Last edited:
you might have gotten better results for US entry by increasing threat on Japan instead, as they are a lot closer to the US Pacific holdings.
Me and Maxyboy discussed that. But as the Undeclared war events each give -5 neutrality for USA, it seemed to us we would have to get up the German threat to at least UDW3 (20? 25?) anyway.