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Article
Breaking A Record
by
Brandon Smith
Photos for this battle are available at http://www.scrapcombatships.com/photos/2010.html.
The day was crisp and calm, almost perfect for a battle. Prado was relatively calm as we arrived to set up for battle. Steve brought his tape measure to set up the speed course. After everyone got on speed, we divided up the fleets and discovered that if everyone made it on the water we would break a SCRAP record of nine (9) ships in one battle! The teams ended up as old school allies and axis:
Team Automatic Bullets
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Glenn Brandon Smith Fuso 5.5 26
Imanya Siouxpancic Warspite 5.5 26
Ty Siouxpancic *Fylgia 2.5 26
Ty Siouxpancic *Inflexible 4.0 26
Matt "Big Man" Wilson Brooklyn 3.0 23
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*: Ty switched ships between battles.
Team Total Axis
Captain Ship Units Speed
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"Horrible" Harry Hollins Von der Tann 4.0 26
"Good" Brandon Olson Derfflinger 4.5 24
Todd "Iron Dog" Olson Lutzow 3.5 23
Steve Thrall Konig 5.0 28
Tanner Thrall Von der Tann 4.0 26
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Battle 1 - Sortie 1 : The first sortie of the first battle started with a disaster on Fuso. Only one cannon was working! Never afraid of malfunctions, Fuso battled with only her starboard sidemount cannon. The axis fleet immediately fell upon her and a 3-versus-1 chase began. Fuso twisted and turned, shaking off what seemed at times to be the entire German high seas fleet. The germans landed several good hits, the pair of Von der Tanns working well together. Meanwhile the Derfflinger was pursuing the elusive USS Brooklyn, leading Matt to giggle profusely every so often as his cruiser hit its target. Ty and Imanya mostly stayed out of trouble, the axis cautious to shoot at "a little girl" after the ribbing they received lakeside. Fuso made it off her five, with most of the axis running low on ammo. Warspite moved in and fired several rounds of dual sterns at the Konig before going on five. DKM Lutzow, participating in her first battle, was a quiet customer, taking a few pot shots at Warspite . The battle wound down with the Von der Tann and Lutzow chasing the Warspite off of its 5. With all the carnage and shell splashes, nobody sank! Guns were reloaded, C02 charged, and the cruisers swapped batteries. Gunnery crews on Fuso corrected the problem and all her cannons were back in operation.
Battle 1 - Sortie 2 : The second sortie began just as the first, with three axis ships falling on the Fuso. This time, however, Fuso fired back from all sides, furiously turning the hunters into the hunted. As the running 4-way fight came close to shore, the DKM Lutzow found itself in a bad place: under the guns of an angry battleship. Fuso scored hit after hit on the cruiser before she moved off. Further out near the middle of the pond, Brooklyn and Derfflinger continued their dance, with the same occasional giggle erupting from Matt for any number of reasons. Warspite moved to engage Konig, which peeled off from the chase of Fuso leaving only the two Von der Tanns to "finish the job." As in the first sortie, Fuso called 5 and made it off the water with the axis having expended much of their ammo. Ty and Imanya peppered the Konig before calling 5 and escaping without much damage. As battle wound down, the Lutzow was listing heavily and pumping but refused to slip beneath the waves. After the battle ended, no ships had been sunk and the victors would be found by damage alone. Not surprisingly, the Fuso took high damage after being the victim of 3-versus-1 and 4-versus-1 engagements. In the end the axis could claim a narrow victory; albeit over a little girl, an inoperative armored cruiser, the biggest man (for his size), and a badly outnumbered battleship. With the axis beaming we made ready for the second battle of the day.
Damage was counted for battle #1 and these were the totals:
Team Automatic Bullets
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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Glenn Brandon Smith Fuso 55 8 18 476
Imanya Siouxpancic Warspite 16 1 2 476
Ty Siouxpancic Fylgia 7 1 1 211
Matt "Big Man" Wilson Brooklyn 7 1 3 317
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Total 1480
Team Total Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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"Horrible" Harry Hollins Von der Tann 10 2 0 477
"Good" Brandon Olson Derfflinger 4 2 2 300 177
Todd "Iron Dog" Olson Lutzow 19 1 12 358
Steve Thrall Konig 6 1 2 537
Tanner Thrall Von der Tann 4 0 2 477
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Total 2325
Battle 2 - Sortie 1 : Battle #2 was the same teams as #1 but with Ty switching over to his Inflexible. The axis decided that if they were going to get ribbed for shooting at a little girl, they might as well not hold back any shots. They vowed to sink the Warspite . This change in strategy would prove to be the turning point. Battle began with Konig and the Von der Tanns charging in at Warspite, but then quickly degenerated into a melee with Inflexible sizing up Konig, Fuso matching Harry in the Von der Tann, and Tanner running back and forth trying to pin down one of the bigger allied ships. Derfflinger and Brooklyn tangled. But as Matt turned, Derfflinger ran him over and rolled the cruiser under. Resting on her beam ends, Brooklyn sank but deployed her float and was easily recovered. Matt checked for damage and found none. The cruiser returned to battle. Tanner's Von der Tann seemed to be having a problem as it was listing. Fuso and Inflexible moved in to investigate, but after firing only a handful of shots the German battlecruiser rolled on her side and sank with very light damage. It was agreed that Tanner had been sunk by "a little girl." Then, perhaps so as not to be out done, Todd's Lutzow sank by the stern at the end of the battle. With everyone running low on ammo, battle ended with the axis looking at trying to make a comeback in the second sortie. The allies made a plan to keep that from happening and would concentrate on Konig.
Battle 2 - Sortie 2 : The second sortie began with Fuso and Inflexible pounding Konig as Warspite kept Harry busy. Konig took hit after hit from Inflexible and Fuso and was soon pumping hard and getting low in the water. Without much fanfare Konig went down by the stern. But moments later, Inflexible's pump seemed to be not working and she was moving slowly. With only light damage, the British battlecruiser sank as well. The remaining axis ships tried to put the hurt on Fuso, which they seemed to do as the mighty battleship slipped under the water by the stern. It was discovered later that an unseen ram had opened a large hole in the stern. But such things happen in battle. While there hadn't been any sinks in the first battle, the second certainly made up for it. Ships were counted and the Konig came off with high damage, having suffered 22(!) belows. We packed up and heading back to Brian's for sushi and boat repairs.
Damage was counted for battle #2 and these were the totals:
Team Automatic Bullets
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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Glenn Brandon Smith Fuso 24 2 12 800 -314
Imanya Siouxpancic Warspite 22 2 4 686
Ty Siouxpancic Inflexible 26 3 3 800 -190
Matt "Big Man" Wilson Brooklyn 0 0 0 458
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Total 640
Team Total Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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"Horrible" Harry Hollins Von der Tann 11 1 2 410
"Good" Brandon Olson Derfflinger 7 2 3 600 -190
Todd "Iron Dog" Olson Lutzow 8 2 2 600 -446
Steve Thrall Konig 33 2 22 800 -539
Tanner Thrall Von der Tann 5 1 0 600 -390
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Total -1155
Copyright © 2010 Brandon Smith
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