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Fylgia's Maiden Voyage

Ty Siouxpancic

All week, it had been predicted that rain would mar our February battle at Prado Lake. The gods smiled on us instead. While it rained during our drive there and back, it was dry when Brian and I loaded the van, and it was dry enough throughout our three sorties that nobody put bags over their radios.

The teams were Axis; SMS Konig helmed by Steve and SMS Von Der Tann helmed by Tanner. The Allied fleet was captained by Brian with USS South Dakota and your humble correspondent at the helm of HMS Fylgia. After a successful shake-down cruise which only suffered the loss of one not-quite-waterproofed servo, Fylgia seemed ready to bring her bow and stern cannons to bear on the enemy.

Team Allies

Captain              Ship                Units       Speed
==========================================================
Brian Eliassen       USS South Dakota      6           26
Ty Siouxpancic       HMS Fylgia            2.5         26
==========================================================

Team Axis

Captain              Ship                Units       Speed
==========================================================
Steve Thrall         SMS Konig             5           28
Tanner Thrall        SMS Von der Tann      4           26
==========================================================


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However, for whatever reason, the Axis hordes decided to focus most of their attention on the SoDak. Not that your correspondent wasn't thankful for the easy going, but Fylgia does prove to be a small target. When the first sortie was over, Fylgia was missing her rear superstructure, had a mast shot entirely through-and-through, 2 aboves, 1 on, and a glitchy rudder servo. Your correspondent needs more than a correspondence school on waterproofing apparently.


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Deciding that (what proved to be a three hour job) replacing Fylgia's HiTech HS81 with the new waterproof Traxxas 2065 sub-mini servo was not a lakeside job, Fylgia was withdrawn from further action that day and assessed a penalty.


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The second sortie featured special guest co-captains, Chris and John Taylor at the helm of HMS Warspite. Chris battled one sortie in 2002 and was sunk by Brian with his Blue Death (SoDak). John flirted briefly with the hobby and was supposed to be Fylgia's builder, but then he got distracted. Perhaps they're both back for good - only time will tell.


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So the second sortie began with the Allies to the South and the Axis to the North. This sortie proved to be more decisive. John was the designated captain with Chris acting as first mate. While he tried valiantly to engage the enemies, they were again primarily focused on the South Dakota. It proved their undoing. Both Axis ships sank in the second sortie with the following scores recorded after recovery:

Team Allied: No Sinks

Team Axis:

Captain              Ship                A   O   B   Pen  Sink  Damage
======================================================================
Steve Thrall         SMS Konig          24   2   2    0   1000     390
Tanner Thrall        SMS Von der Tann   17   3   8    0    800     645
======================================================================
Total                                                             1035


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Steve later determined that Konig's sink with so little damage was due to old batteries which he vows to replace.

After the Axis patched their ships the fleets met again for a third sortie. This time, Chris was at the helm with John acting as first mate. The other ships retained their former crews. It was a brutal battle as evidenced by the accompanying images, but despite the carnage, there were no sinks in the third sortie. It was not for want of trying however. This time the Axis more evenly engaged both Allied ships, but as evidenced by the scores, SoDak continued to absorb the most damage.

The final scores for the day were:

Team Allied

Captain              Ship                A   O   B   Pen  Sink  Points
======================================================================
Brian Eliassen       USS South Dakota   62  11  16    0      0    1367
Ty Siouxpancic       HMS Fylgia          2   1   0    0    400(W) -218
Chris Taylor(*)      HMS Warspite        9   1   1    0      0     410
John Taylor(*)       HMS Warspite        9   1   1    0      0     410
======================================================================
Total                                                             1970

Team Axis

Captain              Ship                A   O   B   Pen  Sink  Points
======================================================================
Steve Thrall         SMS Konig          66   8   9    0   1000      90
Tanner Thrall        SMS Von der Tann   36   4  12    0    800     174
======================================================================
Total                                                              270

(W) Withdraw
(*) Chris and John both captained for one sortie so damage was divided evenly.


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I suspect it would have been a very different battle had either side been blessed with an additional ship. The Allied/Axis arms race is on. Who will be next to join their respective fleet, Craig with one of his many American ships or one of the David's with their German ships? Will Chris and/or John take the plunge and embrace their uncle's offer to battle HMS Inflexible? Perhaps one of our grizzled captains from the past will return in glory? Perhaps there are currently former slow-gun ships being refitted in secret?


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2009 will prove to be a very interesting year regardless. The Thralls are expert pilots, only needing to improve their gunnery and their ship reliability. After watching his big beauty slip beneath the waves in January, Brian is far from complacent. Your humble correspondent is about to undertake a major refit for Fylgia, but will he battle her at 2.5 units instead of Warspite at 5.5? Stay tuned, or better yet, show up to our next battle!