• 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.
::Monocle pops out of eye:: All hail the Romanian super destroyers!
 
Part Three: The Long Awaited Update

Part Three: Tribulations and Tides Changing

1941 was a stressful year to be a Briton. With France fallen and Japan having entered the war, the Empire was pressed to its limits in a war in every ocean. Things seemed to have started off well enough at first. The Royal Navy triumphed in its first major fleet action against the Japanese, with Glorious' bombers sinking the battleship Nagato and the heavy cruisers Maya and Chokai being blasted to scrap by King George V. On land, however, the sudden Japanese takeover of French Indochina cpresented a grave threat to the security of the British Empire in Asia. With hardly enough troops present to deter Japanese invasion, the British government made the controversial decision to create independent Dominions of India and Pakistan, in the hopes of raising an army quickly to defend the subcontinent. The Guangxi warlords, who had stayed out of "Chiang's War" in the interest of neutrality, were also alarmed enough to begin mobilizing their own army.

Germany, in the meantime, had its own new plan to tip the balance of power in the Atlantic. With the Nationalists resurgent again after their dramatic Winter Offensive, which pushed them within sight of the capital once more, Germany intervened with a declaration of war upon Republican Spain on January 29. The Spanish Republicans quickly aligned themselves with the Allies, hoping to get some British intervention to stave off their imminent doom.

germanyintervenes.png


But Antonio Salazar was not to be topped and had an even bigger surprise up his sleeve. Portuguese forces in the colonies of Angola and Mozambique had become beleaguered under constant assault from the light tank forces of South Africa. While a Portuguese pocket continued to hold out in northern Mozambique, in Angola, the last of Portugal's troops had surrendered and the port of Luanda had fallen.

"Luanda must be retaken," said Salazar, slamming his fist on his desk for form's sake. The Portuguese navy, led by the heavy cruisers Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia dutifully set out to reclaim the distant colony.

portugalinvadesluanda.png


Italy drove further into the Middle East, conquering Iraq. Italian forces then began to move around Vichy French Syria in a great pincer move to attack Egypt from behind, slogging their way through Jordan and Palestine in a long, hard fight. The Germans came down in force in, sweeping down through the northeast before turning westwards to surround Madrid. Italian forces reinforced the German lines from the east, while Portugal contributed many divisions to the Nationalists in the west. Britain gallantly sent what aid it could offer, landing a full corps in Gibraltar, although this force was soon crushed after Republican Spain's demise. The Republicans put the Spanish navy to the torch rather than allow Franco to get his hands on it upon their surrender.

republicanspainencircle.png


republicanspaincollapsi.png


brinkofsurrender.png


republicansurrender.png


Meanwhile, the Portugese expeditionary fleet, which faced a stiff South African defense of the port, ran into its worst fear: Royal Navy ships. They got lucky, however; it was only a pair of light cruisers that came to tangle with them. The Portuguese managed to damage and drive off both of the cruisers, although their own heavy cruiser Matosinhos was badly damaged. The Portuguese ground on, determined to win, and finally dislodged the South African defenders to liberate Luanda. Citizens paraded in celebration in the streets of Lisbon, and medals were handed out generously for the men of both the army and the navy.

portugalrecapturedluand.png


In the Pacific, what had started out promising for the Royal Navy was reversed by a series of disasters. The Hood was lost in a botched engagement with a Japanese cruiser force, being finished off with torpedoes by the light cruiser Natori. Hood's loss was followed by that of the light auxiliary carrier Hermes to the IJN's Taiho.

battleofosumistrait.png


Yet these losses paled in comparison to the catastrophic Battle of Seto Naikai, in which the Royal Navy lost two of its vital modern battleships.

battleofsetonaikai.png


Rodney perished under a hail of torpedoes from the Kaga's Kates, while Howe, a new-generation King George V class battleship, was sunk by the borderline museum piece Fuso. This fiasco was just the start of a year of dismal and humiliating performance from the RN battle line, however. The IJN claimed another victory later in the year in which the old battlecruiser Kongo took down King George V.

kongosinkskgv.png


The Italians and Germans held nothing back either. HMS Valiant went down to the 11-inch gunfire of the heavy raiding cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, while Royal Sovereign perished under the assault of the RM's battlecruiser Genova. Prince of Wales at least managed to die with dignity; mortally wounded by the Littorio, she spent the last of her life ramming into the Italian battleship and firing her guns at point blank range, taking her killer down with her.

Duke of York, the last of the King Georges, did not acquit itself so well.

dukeofyorklost.png


That day, Churchill wept and Horatio Nelson's portrait spontaneously combusted.

triumphoftheregeleferdi.png


The ever faithful Malaya was the only jewel of hope left among the remaining battleships.

tirpitzlost.png


While the big guns were disappointing overall to say the least, the same cannot be said of the Royal Navy's carrier fleet, which truly distinguished itself in that year of hardship. Having already delivered Nagato to the depths, the carrier force followed up with sinkings of the battleship Ludendorff and the battlecruiser Milano, while the RAF's Coastal Command brought down another German auxiliary carrier, the Weser. The British began looking more towards the aircraft carrier as the future of naval warfare and began planning their future construction and research around that doctrine.

On June 4, 1941, Germany declared war on the Soviet Union, joined by its other Axis partners, including Japan. Germany, Hungary, and Romania launched a broad front offensive, driving the Soviets back steadily over the next few months. Significant forces also arrived from Italy, Spain, and Bulgaria, along with minor contribution by other allies.

prewarpositionseurope.png


spanisharmyheadseast.png


easternfrontinfall.png


Finland, however, was completely unprepared for a second war; the Soviets had learned from the mistakes of the horrific six-month Winter War and crushed Finland in a blitzkrieg over within weeks.

finlandfalls.png


With Sweden and its vital resources next in line, the Germans dispatched a northern corps to help slow the Soviet advance.

germannortherncorps.png


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've run out of time to completely update this, but I figured you guys have been waiting long enough, I'd write up as much as I could. Bullet points on other stuff I'll add to this update:

- Soviet Navy's generally acquiitted itself decently fighting against both the Germans and the Japanese, aside from an incident in which a stack of 6 subs got sunk together (being that this is a no fog game, they're not really helpful anyway). Their only losses so far have been obsolete vessels

- Front line right now is from Leningrad to the Crimea. Germany's actually in a very good manpower situation (still well over 1000) because of how much naval spending there's been.

- Royal Navy battle line is megafucked. The only surviving battleships right now are Malaya, Nelson, Barham, and Queen Elizabeth, although Jellicoe and Beatty are due in March. I've taken the liberty of making Malaya the new Pride of the Fleet to honor its improbable accomplishments.

- RN carrier fleet still strong, eight fleet carriers total, Indomitable and Glorious on patrol in the Mediterranean right now under a skill 7 admiral, and new generation carriers will be ordered upon completion of the battleships.

- I've expedited most of the Dutch and French fleets to British control to make up for RN losses and because the UK can supply and repair them far better than either government-in-exile.

- Epic action in South America that needs proper attention. Argentines and Peruvians broke through Brazilian defenses and captured Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. And then Uruguay suddenly entered the Allies...sending the Argentines scrambling back to set up a defense. Too late, the Uruguayans went and took Buenos Aires. They're being contained again now, but Brazil has rebounded and liberated Rio and is in position to attack Sao Paulo. Uruguay saved the day!

- Portugal did that on its own. I didn't do it. Just wanted to establish that.

- Japan is kicking Russia's ass in the Far East at the same time as the Chinese are driving them back. It's...interesting.

- Persia joined the Axis but is not in the war yet

- Italians are fighting the Soviets real hard in the Middle East, Turkey's been cut in half, reconnected, and cut again. Italians appear to be effectively supplying their army by sea when it is cut. They've reached the Sinai and are trying to fight their way into Egypt. The Allies are holding them atTobruk in the West - it's actually the Greek corps from all the way before still there, expedited under British command right now.

- Glorious and Courageous are just murderous. King George V also apparently found the time to destroy six heavy cruisers of both Italian and Japanese nationality before its ignominious defeat.

- Current German major ships afloat are SHBB Fuhrer, 4 CVs, 2 CVLs, 3 BBs, Gneisenau, Schleswig-Holstein, and 6 CAs. 2 new CVs due in May, 2 new BBs in August/September, a bunch of new destroyers to address shortage.

- US doom carrier fleet + the 5th and final Montana due by the end of the year. Japan has not DOW'd US yet, I'm giving them a two month grace period to do it next time I play. If they don't, I will make them do it manually around March 1 or so.

- Those crazy Italians will have two new BBs coming out in summer of 42. Currently afloat are Vittorio Veneto, Andrea Doria, Giulio Cesare, Roma, Cristoforo Colombo, and Niccolo Machiavelli, as well as 3 CVs, 1 BC (Genova), and 1 CVL. Italian admirals are all crazy good and the ones leading the BBs and CVs in the 5-6 range by now.

- India's holding the front fine, not falling too easily but not overpowering the Japanese either. British are also holding out in Singapore. Japan seems too committed with fighting China and Soviets at the same time for any large scale amphibious ops.

- I'll post the fully detailed updates on losses and current strengths later too

Here's a map of the world as it stands now. If there's any other questions you'd like me to cover, please let me know.

navalwarmapjan1942.png
 
Last edited:
I personally would activate Pearl Harbor as soon as possible, as otherwise Britain's navy will be destroyed by the time the United States enters the war. Is Nationalist Spain in the Axis now?

EDIT:Once Persia enters the war, the Soviets will be beyond stretched. That would be their third front(fourth if you want to count the Turkish front)
 
I'll plan for a January Pearl then. Royal Navy's carrier fleet has still suffered no losses apart from Hermes, so those at least will last for a while. Spain did go Axis after Germany DOWd Republican Spain. Their army is fighting both in Russia and in Nigeria, and they have pretty much no navy to speak of; the Republicans controlled almost all of it and they took it down with them rather than handed it back because they surrendered to Germany, not the Nationalists.
 
Yes, it has. The problem is that Germany's AI is averse to building ships on its own, so while the other majors will commission screens as they need them, the Germans never kept up with their losses. I put in about a half dozen runs of destroyers to alleviate their issues, the first batch were completed this year

Here's the new, updated charts:

Allies*
screenshot20120427at908.png


*Notes: Two of the Royal Navy's battleships are actually French, and one is Dutch. One CV is French and one CVL is Dutch. The RN's remaining battlecruiser is actually the Dutch one. There are also a number of minor ships from the French and Dutch as well. One of the Brazilian battleships and a couple other vessels are Chilean.

Axis
screenshot20120427at850.png


Comintern
screenshot20120427at909.png


United States*
screenshot20120427at912.png


*Notes: Massive carrier fleet on the verge of completion.

Losses to Date

United Kingdom
CVL: 1 (Hermes)
BB: 13 (King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Anson, Howe, Rodney, Royal Oak, Royal Sovereign, Valiant, Warspite, Ramillies, Revenge, Resolution)
BC: 3 (Hood, Renown, Repulse)
CA: 14 (Berwick, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Effingham, Exeter, Frobisher, Hawkins, London, Kent, Suffolk, Sussex, Shropshire, York)
CL: 28
DD: 50
SS: 14
TP: 13

Japan
BB: 1 (Nagato)
CA: 7 (Chokai, Ashigara, Hagura, Kako, Maya, Myoko, Asama)
CL: 12
DD: 3
SS: 8
TP: 7

Germany
CVL: 2 (Weser, Main)
BB: 3 (Bismarck, Tirpitz, Ludendorff)
BC: 5 (Scharnhorst, Moltke, Goeben, Von der Tann, Schlesien)
CA: 8 (Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Prinz Eugen, Roon, Frithjof, Nautilus, Albatross, Friedrich Carl)
CL: 8
DD: 10
SS: 14
TP: 5

Italy
CVL: 1 (Falco)
BB: 4 (Impero, Littorio, Caio Duilio, Conte di Cavour)
BC: 3 (Taranto, La Spezia, Milano)
CA: 8 (Gorizia, Zara, Fiume, Bolzano, Trieste, Trento, San Giorgio, Carlo Alerto)
CL: 12
DD: 10
SS: 12
TP: 5

Soviet Union
CA: 3 (Krasni Kavkaz, Kaganovich, Kalinin)
CL: 2 (Profintern, Ordzhonikidze)
SS: 13
TP: 3*

*One of these was sunk by Peru (!?)

Other Nations' Losses This Year

Sweden: 1 CA (Oscar II) to the British
Australia: 1 DD to the Japanese
Mexico: 1 CL to the Peruvians
Nationalist Spain: 2 SS and 1 TP to the British
Netherlands: 1 TP to the Peruvians
Portugal: 3 DDs and 1 SS to the British

Ships with Notable Careers

HMS Glorious
Sinkings:
1 x CVL (Falco)
1 x BB (Nagato)
1 x BC (Milano)
2 x CL (Ortega, Alberto da Guissano)
4 x DD (Japanese and Italian)
4 x SS (Japanese and Italian)
1 x TP (Italian)

If your ship's name ends in 'o', stay the hell away from the Glorious[/]. That goes double for you, Vittorio Veneto.

HMS Courageous
Sinkings:
1 x BB (Bismarck)
1 x BC (Moltke)
1 x CA (Albatross)
1 x CL (Mikuma)
1 x DD (Italian)
4 x SS (Japanese, German, and Italian)
1 x TP (Italian)

HMS Malaya
Sinkings:
3 x BB (Tirpitz, Impero, Caio Duilio)
2 x CA (Admiral Scheer, Haguro)
1 x TP (German)

HMS King George V
Sinkings:
6 x CA (Ashigara, Maya, Kao, Chokai, Gorizia, Trento)
1 x CL (Jintsu)
1 x DD (Italian)
Sunk by:
IJN Kongo (BC)

KMS Gneisenau
Sinkings:
2 x BB (Anson, Resolution)
4 x DD (British)

KMS Peter Strasser
Sinkings:
2 x BB (Warspite, Royal Oak)
3 x TP (Polish and British)

RN Vittorio Veneto
Sinkings:
1 x BB (Revenge)
2 x CA (Exeter, Cornwall)
4 x CL (Caradoc, Danae, Colombo, Helle)
6 x DD (British)
1 x TP (British)

RN Littorio
Sinkings:
2 x BB (Richelieu, Prince of Wales)
1 x CA (Suffolk)
1 x CL (Despatch)
Sunk by:
HMS Prince of Wales (BB)

'Regele Ferdinand' Flotilla
Sinkings:
1 x BB (Duke of York)

Overall K/D Ratios

(Counting only losses in combat, not from surrenders)

United Kingdom
CVL: 3 killed, 1 lost
BB: 8 sunk, 13 lost
BC: 7 killed, 3 lost
CA: 24 killed, 14 lost
CL: 34 killed, 28 lost
DD: 30 killed, 50 lost
SS: 37 killed, 14 lost
TP: 16 killed, 13 lost

France
BB: 0 sunk, 1 lost
BC: 1 sunk, 1 lost
CA: 1 sunk, 1 lost
CL: 1 sunk, 0 lost
DD: 2 sunk, 1 lost
SS: 4 sunk, 2 lost
TP: 0 sunk, 1 lost

Netherlands
CA: 1 sunk, 1 lost
TP: 0 sunk, 1 lost

Soviet Union
CA: 0 sunk, 3 lost
CL: 1 sunk, 2 lost
SS: 0 sunk, 13 lost
TP: 0 sunk, 3 lost

Republican Spain
CL: 1 sunk, 0 lost
TP: 1 sunk, 0 lost

Australia
CL: 1 sunk, 0 lost
DD: 0 sunk, 1 lost
SS: 1 sunk, 0 lost

Germany
CVL: 0 sunk, 2 lost
BB: 5 sunk, 3 lost
BC: 1 sunk, 5 lost
CA: 10 sunk, 8 lost
CL: 9 sunk, 8 lost
DD: 19 sunk, 10 lost
SS: 5 sunk, 14 lost
TP: 11 sunk, 5 lost

Italy
CVL: 0 sunk, 1 lost
BB: 3 sunk, 4 lost
BC: 2 sunk, 3 lost
CA: 5 sunk, 8 lost
CL: 10 sunk, 12 lost
DD: 13 sunk, 10 lost
SS: 3 sunk, 12 lost
TP: 8 sunk, 5 lost

Japan
CVL: 1 sunk, 0 lost
BB: 4 sunk, 1 lost
BC: 1 sunk, 0 lost
CA: 9 sunk, 7 lost
CL: 11 sunk, 12 lost
DD: 28 sunk, 3 lost
SS: 19 sunk, 8 lost
TP: 2 sunk, 7 lost

If you're an RN destroyer crewman sent to the Pacific...pray for your life.

Romania
BB: 1 sunk, 0 lost

Peru
CL: 2 sunk, 0 lost
SS: 1 sunk, 0 lost
TP: 2 sunk, 0 lost

Argentina
CL: 2 sunk, 2 lost
SS: 0 sunk, 1 lost

Sweden
CA: 0 sunk, 2 lost
CL: 1 sunk, 1 lost
DD: 0 sunk, 2 lost
SS: 0 sunk, 2 lost

Nations left off the tally have either seen no action in which ships were sunk (Brazil) or have only taken losses and inflicted none (Poland, China, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Siam, etc)
 
Last edited:
You know, when you put that table together, the UK isn't actually doing too bad on the sea, they're inflicting above 1:1 losses on the Axis. I'm curious to see if the AI will build any other ships without your assistance.
 
It will, Britain started up some huge destroyer runs on its own as well as the two new battleships (Jellicoe and Beatty) and the two carriers under construction. Japan ordered some CVLs in addition to the fleet I'd ordered for them, USA I've pretty much left to itself aside from all the BB, BC, and SHBB orders, Italians ordered the two latest BBs on their own.

It's really just Germany that needs to be micromanaged, they only like to build land and air. Them and the minors.