SIRIUS01
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Heres another great AAR from Chris Comars aka Randomizer
Torpedo Run was played using H3 v3.63 at full reality so some of the narrative may suffer from the same lack of accuracy as happens now and then in real life.
TORPEDO RUN AAR
This AAR is taken from transcripts of a presentation made at Halifax, Nova Scotia to the Officers and Petty Officers of the Royal Canadian Navy’s new submarine squadron in December 1966 by the former Captain of HMS Oberon, LCdr X. It is provided for informational and training purposes and should not be communicated to any who might not have a need to know.
Good morning gentlemen. Thank you for coming, there is nothing quite like having a captive audience as it were. The events of 16-17 June of this year are still crystal clear, we had been snorting at 20 metres, the box (1) was full up and the latest from Eastern Command HQ was being decoded. So far our part of the Indonesian fracas had been limited to scouting and air attack warning picket, necessary perhaps but not too satisfactory work for a crew looking for a bit of action. Just before 2100 (2) Sparks (3) had handed over the OPO (4) from Fleet and now we were to seek out and destroy a convoy, exactly like Nasmith, Horton or Wanklyn (5) might have done. The excitement in the boat became so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Gathering Number 1 and Pilot (6) around the chart we considered our options for although we had been under for nine days now, we had snorted frequently and had a solid LORAN (7) fix. That’s more than the bloody staff gave us though, the last known position for the convoy had no time, course, speed or composition included, we were almost completely in the dark. Number 1 said, “They haven’t given us much to work with have they, Sir?” “Shut your gob Number 1” I replied quietly.
As you can see from the chart, the convoy was supposedly about 80 nm away from our current position, I suspected that they would use this route and ordered to secure from snorting and make our depth 60 metres. At this time we had sonar contact with two Indonesian Hui Class converted minesweepers and two AWG-9 airborne radars showing on Spark’s box of tricks, none of which constituted a threat to Oberon but they did require watching. We closed up at defence stations and set a cruise speed of 7-kts on a course to cross the probable line of advance of the convoy at near right angles.
At around 2230 sonar reported a new contact on the general direction of the two Hui minesweepers and the tracking team soon identified it as a T-43 Class which Jane’s showed, could do us no harm and in any case, was moving away from our track. Number 1 spoke up, “The water’s fairly shallow here, Sir. Perhaps a minesweeper group indicates the presence of mines.” I didn’t think so and replied, “Shut your gob Number 1”. The next bit of drama was around 2328, a new contact designated M049 was reported. The tracking party soon identified it as a 5000-ton merchant moving right at 15-kts and we changed course to intercept. Everything unfolded just like a session in the Attack Teacher (8) but then Number 1 quietly said, “She’s sailing alone, Sir, I think that she’s probably neutral.” I silenced him with a look and continued with the attack but when the scope finally went up, there she was, 5000 GRT at 15-kts and as neutral as a Swiss convent. Number 1’s I-told-you-so smirk was terminated with a “Shut your gob, Number 1.”
By 0015 we resumed course to intercept the proposed convoy track but the box was now at 86% and we had spent two hours on a wild goose chase. Fishing boats and another neutral cargo vessel provided some distractions but after the 5000-tonner, we stayed at defence watches. At 0240 we reached the area where I wanted to start our search pattern. Taking a page from the Hun’s book of submarine warfare, we commenced ‘sawing’ across the projected convoy track (9). Another neutral came and went and I was getting concerned that they might have passed us unheard. By 0500, dawn was starting to break and Number 1 opined that “Perhaps they’re just running a bit slow today, Sir.” The inevitable “Shut your gob, Number 1” followed but I feared that it was likely that unless he was correct, we had missed them.
In quick succession however, everything changed. A new contact was detected on a bearing that put it exactly on the predicted convoy track and the Hui minesweeper group showed up again almost 90-degrees to the left of the new contact. I must say that the tracking party worked like clockwork, and the new contact, now designated F057 was quickly identified as an Indonesian Pattimura Class Corvette. These are an Ansaldo built escort capable of 22-25-kts and possessing AS weapons that posed a real danger to the Boat. They were only doing turns for 6-kts though and so either they cannot go faster or they will not go faster. I decided to ignore the Hui’s and intercept the Pattimura, since it seemed to be acting like a convoy escort might act. Time now was 0548 and the box was down to 72% what with all of the diversions across the course of the night. Pilot determined a suitable intercept course at 5-kts and I sent the troops to breakfast. At 0620 we closed up at Action Stations and commenced the attack.
By 0830, the plot showed that the escorts were using a bent line screening formation and that Oberon’s manoeuvres had placed us right in their path with the range down to 10-12k yards. Since the water was beginning to shoal, I decided to come around as shown in an attempt to do an end-run around the outside of the screen. We were not to concerned about the nearest Kronstadt Class escort since did not seem to be using her active sonar but a Surapati Class frigate had been identified and it had both the sensors and the weapons fit to give us some trouble. Her we wanted to avoid and so far it seemed that we had not been detected. Several minutes after the turn however, things started to go wrong. Sonar reported that they had lost the Surapati and when they re-acquired it seemed that she had closed to within 4k yards and almost within range of her Hedgehog batteries. By now it was just past 0900 and it was time to act. I still did not want to risk exposing a mast and since the plots for three of the convoy and three of the escorts were pretty solid, I ordered a full eight-shot salvo of Mark-8’s and Mark-20’s with two Mark-8’s allocated to the Surapati as the closest threat.
This was the start of a 40-minute melee during which Oberon sank all of the auxiliaries that made up the convoy and two of the escorts. The Surapati died first followed by two of the high-value units and then one of the Kronstadt’s. Once we had three tubes reloaded I risked exposing the periscope since the plot had gone right out to lunch and got to actually watch an Indonesian Gannet drop a Mark-11 depth charge on my boat. The nerve! Obviously I’m here today so it missed but, although shaken, we set up snap shots on the remaining targets but all three fish missed their mark. Two more distinct attacks claimed a landing ship close in and a 20-knot oiler with a long-range shot by a Mark-20 that seemed to have gotten away but didn’t. The surviving escorts, another Kronstadt and the Pattimura corvette seemed content to flee the scene although we were bothered by several air-dropped torpedoes and some more Mark-11’s. By 1400, with the box down to 43%, all was quite and we risked sending a situation report to Fleet. Subsequently we were ordered to Singapore where I had to justify why it had cost 16 very expensive torpedoes to sink a “mere” six ships. Now it seems that the Treasury Board wants me to pay out 22,000 Pounds to cover what they call “An excessive expenditure of Crown assets not warranted by the situation”.
If anybody has any questions, they’ll be 10 quid each.
Notes:
(1) The “box” is slang for the batteries in a diesel-electric submarine.
(2) Times used here are Local, which during this period was Coordinated Harpoon Time, 7-Hours behind GMT due to orbital mechanics and some sort of punch-card programming thingy.
(3) “Sparks”, slang for the Communications Officer.
(4) “OPO” slang for Operations Order.
(5) “Nasmith, Horton and Wanklyn” were all distinguished Royal Navy submarine aces.
(6) “Number 1” and “Pilot” – Executive Officer and Navigation Officer respectively.
(7) “LORAN” – LOng RAnge Navigation. A radio based global positioning system based on triangulating signals from shore stations.
(8) “Attack Teacher” – A simulator where they teach attacks.
(9) During WW2 U-Boat patrol lines would “saw” across the projected track of an Allied convoy at 45-degree angles to increase the probability of detection.
Real stuff:
TORPEDO RUN can be found in the Colonial War scenarios and is part of Sirius’s Indonesian Campaign series for H3 Version 3.6+. I found it quite enjoyable and an excellent example of the ‘Lone Diesel Boat against the World’ style of H3 scenarios. Thanks Paul, well done.
The Scenario can be found at Colonial Wars DB Site
_____________________________
"Well old boy,this happens in war.I am sorry your ships have been sunk"
- C-in-C PAF to his naval counterpart in 1971
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