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McNaughton -> Tips for the Royal Navy (7/15/2004 4:08:55 AM)
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The Royal Navy in PacWar was almost totally useless, as whenever you set up a task force you risked losing between none and all of the ships, rather randomly.
The current system gives the Allied player significant leeway, as they choose what stays and what goes. This leads to the question, what to do with the Royal Navy?
I used to leave the disposable ships, like D-Class Cruisers, Stronghold Destroyers, and such in the East Indies with the hope that these could slow down the IJN advance in PacWar, as they were generally useless, and the withdraw system was fairly erratic and out of my control. Now, these ships are more useful trading away as points so you don't have to send your good ships out of the theatre. Since they probably won't sink anything anyway, better to have them 'take the PP bullet' and go off to the Medeterranian than having your good ships desert you (better that these ships sink in battle than to leave).
Saving the Prince of Wales and Repulse is fairly easy, and these two ships are more valuable than all of the R-Class Battleships that soon arrive put together. The AA of the Prince of Wales alone makes it not only a powerful Battleship, (possibly the most powerful battleship in the theatre until the arrival of the new USN BBs) but a perfect platform for protecting your carriers. Warspite Class Battleships are also useful, albiet slow (not as slow as the R-Class).
Carriers are worth a lot of points, as much as a battleship, but one CV is worth more than one R-Class Battleship. The Hermes is fairly useless, and just gives points to Japan when it sinks. It is good for a fleet scouting unit, setting its Swordfish on patrol, but, putting the swordfish and gladiator squadrons on Ceylon, and sending the ship back to the Medeterranian can still give you the use of the aircraft, without risking the ship.
Virtually all RN heavy cruisers are useful, except for the Hawkins Class, and the unmodified London class being the next weakest (in regards to AA power, Exeter is weaker in Gun power). Realistically, modern RN CLs are tougher, and their guns are INDIVIDUALLY weaker (not by much), but, they have significantly more of them. A modern RN CL (Southampton and anything built after) are more valuable than a RN CA in regards to firepower (AA and Surface) and tougher.
The ships with the second best fighting value to PP point value are the D-Class light cruisers. They have weak guns, poor AA and OK torpedos. These should be the second (or first, depending on your need to fight ASW) ships to leave. AFIK, the C-Class Cruisers aren't moddeled COMPLETELY correctly, as many should still be Light Cruisers, instead of CLAAs. Most regular Light and Heavy cruises have comparable AA values as the CLAAs, plus they have a main gun battery. Better to have a ship that is good in all aspects, than one so specialized but not significantly better than a basic ship. Enterprise class Cruisers have a good Torpedo Armament, but little else going for them. The newer early game light cruisers are ranked with the Fiji being the best (they have everything a Southampton class has, plus torpedos) and then Southampton. These two classes should be kept around, as they have a good set of main guns, plus powerful AA.
British destroyers have some of the most powerful ASW factors in the game, especially with the modified Pre-War types which gain hedgehogs in 1943 upgrades. Their AA values are fairly low, until you get the J, N and P-Classes, but all of the relatively modern destroyers have very good ASW capabilities, even the Stronghold class. However, since destroyers are worth 300 PP points, and Light Cruisers worth 500, losing two Stronghold DDs is better than losing the Maritius. Ranking the Pre-War destroyers, from least to best, it goes pretty much alphabetically. S, A, D, E (however there should be an I class, as this class actually had banks of 5 Torpedos instead of banks of 4 Torpedos, instead of being just a copy of the E-Class). Unfortunately, three of the S-Class Destroyers start the game in Hong Kong, and getting them out of there intact is tricky, basically losing the player 900 possible PP points that they could have sent home. The Dutch Admiralen 2nd Generation destroyers, with 4x 40mm AA Guns are amazing vessels. They individuall provide about as much AA values as about 4 pre-war British Destroyers combined. Save these three ships at all costs.
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Historically, after the losses in early 1942 the British were forced to keep a large fleet of obsolete vessels as a defense against Japan. However, one can easily save the Prince of Wales and Repulse, which are excellent vessels for the core of the fleet, as they are both multirole. Each RN ship sunk, even obsolete, means that you lost that equivalency of PPs at the end of the month. Being cautious with the RN can pay off, as if you keep a modern fleet together, regaining control of the Bay of Bengal can be done years in advance, and possibly not having it lost in the first place.
Having a two primary squadrons, full of modern vessels in the theatre at all times (i.e., never send these to the Medeterranian) is important.
One battlefleet, of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, with modern CLs (Fiji with its Torpedos before Southamptons), backed up by CAs and any DD A-Class and later.
The Carrier TF should contain any CLAAs left over, as well as Southampton CLs. Dutch 2nd Generation Admiralen DDs are fantastic. They provide ASW protection, as well as significant AA. P-Class Destroyers are powerful AADDs as well, with J and N class DDs following up next (however, they are also great for surface TFs as well).
The Allied player gets about 1500 PPs per month, some of which could be spared to save a destroyer each month from being sent back. Better to save a destroyer each month (another month you might need it to trade away to save a cruiser), than to risk reaching a point where in order to save a ship you need, you have to get negative PPs.
Saving as many of the Dutch GVT Squadrons is very important. Since the Dutch get replacement pilots throughout the game, and the British are lacking in land based recon, saving these Flying Boat flights, and scattering them around Ceylon and the Indian coast, can give ample long range early warning.
While being a powerful force, there is no way that the RN could hold off a concerted Japanese attack. The IJN could put together a fleet twice as powerful as the RN, and still have forces left over. A single IJN CV is about as powerful as two RN CVs, due to airgroup size (RN does have an edge with their powerful AA), and the IJN has 6 of them, to the RNs 2-3. That means keeping the RN close to the Indian coast, and that a significant number of RAF squadrons have to be detailed to protecting the RN, which in turn protects the shipping routes from Karachi to Burma. If the IJN ever comes into the Bay of Bengal in strength, either take a risk, and try and hold them off at Ceylon, backed up by the RAF, or withdraw to Karachi where it is really safe.
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