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Article
Don't Get Cocky
by
Brian Eliassen
I carpool with Ty Siouxpancic to all the battles as he would have to drive by my house to get to the lake anyway. Once he arrives, we load my mini-van which has a roof rack for the retrieval boat. On the way to Prado, we passed through several bands of rain and I worried aloud that we'd all get wet even if we didn't sink. However, despite a forecast for occasional showers all day, not a drop fell from the clouds while we were at the lake.
As we arrived at Prado, the fog hugged the ground and it was quite cool. The usual Axis suspects were waiting for us at the lake as we always attempt to be fashionably late. The time was drawing near for the captains of SCRAP to assemble and exercise their monthly battle lust. The Axis, headed by Admiral Olson -- beaten on a monthly basis -- showed up once again, expecting the usual pummeling. The Allies, headed by Admiral Siouxpancic, were confident another easy victory was just a few hours away so they quickly loaded and launched. As with the current trend within SCRAP, the fleets were broken down by normal wartime affiliations:
Team Allies
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Brian Eliassen USS South Dakota 6 26
Ty Siouxpancic HMS Warspite 5.5 26
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Team Axis
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Todd Olson SMS Derfflinger 4.5 24
Steve Thrall SMS Konig 5 28
Tanner Thrall SMS Von der Tann 4 26
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Sortie #1
Unlike previous battles, the Allies decided to go into this battle without a battle plan. Recently, the Allies have held to specific battle plans causing extreme damage to the Axis. It was decided to try a new tact and see how a lack of a battle plan would work.
The first sortie started with all ships attempting to line up shots. The SMS Von der Tann, captained by Tanner Thrall decided to chase my ship, the USS South Dakota. For some strage reason, this seems to be a normal process for Tanner. The SoDak maneuvered with the VdT for several minutes and managed to put some damage into the smaller ship but the VdT sank unusually early in the sortie. Meanwhile Ty, captaining the HMS Warspite, had been dancing with the quick SMS Derfflinger captained by Todd Olson and the SMS Konig captained by Steve Thrall. The SoDak, needing a new target assisted Ty with inflicting damage to the Konig which sank with little damage. After this, the SoDak and Warspite attempted to catch the Derfflinger, a near impossible task for two slow ships against a fast ship on a large body of water. Todd was able to get off his five minutes and remove the Derfflinger from the battle before the SoDak and Warspite could do enough damage to sink him.
Historically, SCRAP has been doing a single battle of three sorties to get off the water before the afternoon winds make the water choppy. Surviving three sorties is a challenge and some people do sink. As such, if a ship sinks, the damage is counted, the ship is patched, batteries are changed and the ship is allowed to return for the next sortie. This makes it a challenge for everyone and maximizes battle time. With this in mind, the damages at the end of the first sortie were:
Team Allied: No Sinks
Team Axis:
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Steve Thrall SMS Konig 9 3 5 0 1000 1350
Tanner Thrall SMS Von der Tann 5 0 2 0 800 950
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Total 2300
In the pit area, it was discovered that the Von der Tann had two rams on the port side that may have contributed to the low damage total before her sink.
Sortie #2
Before the second sortie started, a large number of spectators showed up to watch the battle. There were at least ten people watching what would turn out to be a really exciting sortie. At the beginning, the Axis felt the SoDak had taken a decent amount of damage in the first sortie and decided to concentrate on her. A most enjoyable situation as I enjoy a target rich environment. The VdT did the usual "chase the SoDak's stern guns" so he sank early in the sortie. Once again, the Warspite had been mixing it up with the Derfflinger, which for once, wasn't speeding around the lake but trying to hit the SoDak. While the SoDak attempted to engage the Konig, the Derfflinger rammed the SoDak amidship. Todd immediately asked, "Are you going to call that?" and I answered, "No, your bow is flat unlike these ugly WWI ships with a ram bow so don't worry about it." Within minutes of the ram, the Derfflinger succumbed to her damage but she would have her revenge.
While Todd retrieved his ship, I noticed that the pump on the SoDak was at 100% capacity pumping a stream 20' into the air. Not a good sign but it quickly slowed as I wasn't moving. Once Todd had the Derfflinger back on shore, both the SoDak and the Warspite immediately went after the Konig. A few minutes later, the Konig settled to the bottom. While Steve retrieved his ship, I noticed the SoDak once again was pumping at 100% capacity and was getting lower and lower in the water. Not a good sign since I hadn't called my five as I needed to help kill off the Konig. Steve left the water and I did a quick calculation and realized 300 seconds was not going to be survivable so I started to back the SoDak towards shore. She was sinking very flat, which is what you want as it's optimal for surviving the longest you can. However, survival was not going to happen and the SoDak settled on the bottom very gracefully near shore. Everyone cheered including Ty. <sigh> All I said was "She went down level and angry." This effectively ended the sortie with Ty having the only ship that didn't sink in that sortie.
Counting up the damage, the scores were:
Team Allied:
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Brian Eliassen USS South Dakota 34 10 33 0 1200 2415
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Total 2415
Team Axis:
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Todd Olson SMS Derfflinger 81 6 9 0 800 2210
Steve Thrall SMS Konig 50 4 4 0 1000 1700
Tanner Thrall SMS Von der Tann 20 3 5 0 800 1325
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Total 5235
Immediately upon removing my ship from the water and getting it into the pit area for the standard post-sink procedures, the Axis were hovering around it to count up the damage and that's when we all saw what I knew we would find. A huge ram hole extending the full one inch below the waterline and 3/4" of an inch above the waterline amidship on the port side...right where the Derfflinger had hit her. The whole thing took a piece of silkspan larger than a silver dollar to patch. The Axis were dismayed to find the sink was due to a ram but I insisted that it was a legal sink and counted as I had failed to call the ram. The last time the SoDak kissed the muddy bottom of a lake was May 11th, 2002 so I told everyone I'm happy with a sink every six years. Later, while everyone except Ty patched, it was discovered that all ships had ram damage including the Warspite so Ty was given permission by the Axis Admiral to repair the ram damage before returning to the water for the third sortie. Everyone else patched all their holes as all the other ships had sunk in that sortie.
Sortie #3
For the third sortie, I was looking for some payback. As amazing as it sounds, the Von der Tann was no where near the SoDak throughout most of the third sortie. I think Tanner saw the sneer which was my current game-face. Ty chased the Derfflinger and I went after the Konig. As luck would have it, I ran out of ammo much too soon as, previously mentioned, I wanted to cause carnage. Once I was out of ammo, I noticed that the Konig had a slight list to starboard and was having trouble maneuvering so I did my 'prop wash' dance and watched the Konig settle on the bottom. I felt good but it was just one sink. After all the ships were counted and all the previous damage added up, the totals for the day came out as follows:
Team Allied
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Brian Eliassen USS South Dakota 54 15 42 0 1200 1300
Ty Siouxpancic HMS Warspite 39 12 12 0 0 2250
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Total 3550
Team Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Todd Olson SMS Derfflinger 103 7 15 0 800 578
Steve Thrall SMS Konig 95 10 11 0 3000 -1450
Tanner Thrall SMS Von der Tann 37 5 11 0 1600 -222
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Total -1095
After the counting, we packed up the ships and headed out. The Tanners headed home but Todd decided to join Ty and myself back at my garage for the after-battle build session. On the way back to the garage, Ty and I had some time to talk and we agreed that the Axis are getting better. I also told him I need to keep one thought in mind when I'm on the water. He asked what that was so I answered him.
"Don't get cocky."
Copyright © 2009 Brian Eliassen
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