Ok Sports fans here it is the news right off the presses !! With a reasonable turn out of appromixatly 8 captains saturday morning and interested people also showing up it was bound to be a real eye opener !! First off Lee and his small fleet of Axiz IJN ships rolled in to the Friend Drydock around 4 pm, unloading into the Dungeon for some last minute details to work out. This ssmall fleet was a IJN Mogami heavy cruiser, IJN WW1 Kongo Battle cruiser. To reperesent the Allied fleet in this area wa the ever trusted USS South Dakota BB, USS Oregon City heavy cruiser and last but not least another IJN Mogami. To add to this mangal of ships I will call him Eric the light and the Duck man rolled in about 8 pm, they too unloaded to the dungeon. in to this mess of steel (balsa wood) they arrived with the HMS Courageous Light Battle cruiser, the ever deadly Viribus Unitis or VU for short ( sorry if I missed spelled it Duckman !!) Not Duckie also brought his beautiflly done Radesky although not yet ready it was a show stopper ! Now tur eto form we all stayed up till wee hours in the night with little sleep revalee was called at 6 am and the crews reported to chow hall, pancakes and bacon were served with choice of coffe, tea or juice. Now it boiled down to getting to the pond !! Ok we made the pond about a 8:15 little late. Mark , Dan,JJ and Cliff was waiting at the gate for us. Down to the club house and unload .Being we were running late we did not get to battle unitll after 9:45 am. Allied Fleet would compose USS South Dakota -- Buddy HMS Courageous-----Eric the Light USS Roanoak---------Mark Axiz Fleet would compose IJN Mogami---------Lee Viribus Unitis-----Duckman IJN Mogami --------JJ (rookie by fire !!) Pressed ganged in !! Ok The Allied Fleet took position at the east end of the pond and Axiz took the west. WAR !! Sodak heads for VU , some bad blood has been sturring here , she looks like she has a bone to pick with the smaller ship. VU is ready with her own bone !! These two do the dance each sizing up their opponent and finally shells fire off !!So Dak lands a quick handfull, Vu fires right back landing a few of her own, a turn and burn war starts but the Sodak breaks and waits yes her oppoent goes behind and a quick report from the triples wakes the VU !large number of hits are seen to hit her skin, pump lights off !! Now just out side of this circle is another dance between the Courageous and the Roanoak dancing with a pair of IJN Cruisers. Mogami (Lee ) is working the angles to get shots on the BC getting the range , but the BC is not letting the pesky cruiser off easy and thudding in shells of her own. Roanoak also landing shells on the cruiser, Mogami (JJ)being aRookie runs in to help his team mate lands a few shells of his own and gets holed in returned, Just as he is peeling away he runs into the Sodak that unloads well placed sidemounts into to her. She is pumping and loseing speed that is trouble !!VU comes to the add of her team and runs into the waiting teeth of both the BC and Sodak for her trouble. Roanoak is dueling with Mogami Lee which is trying to cover the retreating Mogami JJ Both turn to enegage Roanoak and all ships are taking shells, Now Every ships is pumping, slowly 5 is called and ships begin to pull out of battle to lick their wounds and pump out. We reload and refill co2 and new batteries are changed out. All ships report back to the pond and war starts as before, VU and Sodak tangle like Mohammad Ali and Joe Fraizer each looking for the right angle . It is getting heated in there , Courageous decides she wants a shot at the VU and lands some shells in what can best be described as a drive by shooting!! SoDak and Courageous then try to saandwich the VU giving her the feeling of being a piece of cheese , but she does a quick about turn and slipps away pumping and leaning, the Roanoak is gettign a slight edge on Mogami Lee when Mogami Jj sneaks in and lobbs a few in to her side, she quickly pays for this by taking sterns shots from Roanoak in to her bow and peels away , Mogami lee takes advanatage and turns the tables and lands well placed shells of her own. both are pumping Sodak and Vu are dancing around the ring when in a slug fest a loud boom goes off in VU !! That doesnt sound good !!! So dak keeps up the pressure! not letting the VU slipp away this time Axiz seem to come out of the wood work, Mogamis come in to help their team mate and the ALLied fleet is in hot pursuit !! Mogami JJ takes a beating beside the VU, Mogami Lee engages both BC and Roanoak ! Taking shells and giving. VU is low in the water and her rate of fire has dropped, it is believed one gun crew was killed when their turret was hit for now shells are coming from that area. So Dak pounds her with triples and parts of the bridge area and even life boats are flying over the side !! VU is on 5 and barely makes it ! The rest of the Axiz fleet is hard hit and nort doing very much better. The Allies Almost had the first sinking in their hands !! Well with the winding down the put in to shore and a much needed repair and refurbursh. I will continue more later !! Stand By For News !!Hats off to the great Paul Harvey ! Buddy
And Now for the rest of the story !! Last Battle befor lunch. Allies changed stragye SoDak and Roanoak make a pass by VU exchanging brief sidemounts and peel off after the pesky Mogami JJ. This catches the IJN cruiser off guard having to run. At the same time Courageous is slinging lead at Mogami Lee, she diaengages and goes after Mogami JJ. Now feeling the heat from both sides it doesnt look good barely escapeing with balsa on her sides, she takes another beating but her pump manages to keep up.Mogami Lee manages to draw some of the fir ean dis pounced on by both heavy units, Roanoak still hammers the slowing Mogami JJ who is now next to shore. Vu comes in with her guns to help out and is engaged by SoDak. When a loud boom is heard again by all the captains, another dead gun crew !! Vu gets hammered and runs on 5 , Mogami JJ also on 5 barely makes away. Mogami Lee now gets full attention by the Allied fleet. Courageous leads in the chase of the lone IJN crusier, Sodak turns to try and finish off the wounded in process putting more shells in VU and then changing to the Mogami JJ, then just after 5 minutes is out VU Sinks next to shore befor the Duckman can touch it YES!!! So Dak now out of Ammo retires to the shallows soon joined by Courageous . Lunch break and the batter is talked up! Dan shows off his landuing craft WOW !! Mark has brought his new ship model of the tiny French transport ships !! Very neat in deed ! We have a good lunch brought out by my wife Debbie. Thank you very much !! JJ is really getting a crash course on patching and changeing batteries and co2 !! Pretty much everyone takes a little break and laughs and enjoys the others. Niki shows and we all get together to welcome her and her mother.It was great to visit with Cliff and chat about how things have changed, and looking forward to meeting up again Ok Last battles . We are on the water and most every one is ready to go when Niki wants a group photo. In the process of getting everyone together Mogami JJ Manages to go in reverse across the pond in to the brier patch unnoticed so when we turn around to start battle the ship is no where to be seen ! We can hear it but can not see it ! Finally found Lee goes into the shallows to free her up an dout she comes ! War ! SOdak and Vu is at it again, Vu not lookign for a straight up fight like befor , more like waiting for a opening, Sodak doesnt give and soon Vu is in trouble again. Mogami JJ comes in and fires into Sodak OH NO YOU DID NOT JUST SHOOT AT ME !!!SHe gets paid in triples for her trouble !!Courageous and Mogami Lee exchange shots and Courageous slipps away to hammer on VU now on 5 . Roanoak now exchanges with Mogami Lee in a turning war like a mad old fashion dodge ball game we did as kids !!Some where in this madness Niki an dthe little french transport is put in to axiz side !! AN dis quickly pounced apon by the Allied fleet first up is Courageous, blasting a fe wsides in to her, then it is Roanoak who seems to not beleive he rluck in finding this little ship ! Next up is Sodak with a big ear to ear grin! She unload 2 sets of triples in the little ship and with that she rolls over to the right side heading for Davey Jones Locker! She didnt sink so with a little help she was gently pushed into shore. ANd a few more exchanges went on for a couple more minutes and then 5 was called by all the ships out of ammo.In the process of getting Mogami Jj out of the water I slipped and some how as I was going down with ship in hands turned her upside down and rammed her into the bank and doing a face plant in the bottom of her hull. Unlike what some would say this was not on purpose !! A lot of damage was done to the upper works, luckly major systems seem to still work, oh well more to fix at the dock yard , didnt need that bridge anyway right ? Last Sortie after a fever of patching and refurbeshing. Vu is hurting and after some last minute coaksing she returns one more time. Makes for a long day as Sodak head once more for VU, another dance and a bump and Sodak goes dead in the water. Zengine room gives no responce !!Gun crews do their best to get off shows and repair crew keeps the pumps going! Here come the vultures !! First off VU wants blood and hammers a shell or two in, then Mogami Lee parks just out of range and lobbs shell after shell into the left side. In a little deep water the captain graceouly push Sodak in to shallower water and I think Vu took some friendly fire in doing this !!Roanoak takes advantage of both Mogamis as they try to get at the BB and put several shells in to both again Mogami JJ limps away and a bad condition. Courageous unloads at the cruiser but runs out unable to finisher off. Mogami Lee and Roanoak slugg it out with both hurting and out of ammo. Sodak makes her 5 minutes out of control with out in being in real danger of sinking. Ok I would like to thank every one for making it a FUN DAY Eric the light, Scott Duckman, Mark, Lee, JJ, and Niki. It was great to meet Cliff, Dan and the gang from Delware.We packed up and headed for the dockyards and I cooked out with brats and grilled chicken, bushes baked beans, potatoe salad, and all the good foods !! I would also like to thank my wife Debbie for putting up with us and all the things she did to help out. We decided to call it a build session for sunday and only going out if we could manage to get some badly needed repairs done. Vu was in very rough shape and Mogami JJ had major damage done Sunday we rebuilt and swapped stories until it was time for our friends to head for home. Buddy
hey Buddy! Thanks for letting me get the boats in and out of the water, That should be my job at the Treaty Nats as well! and i'm hoping to my Little girl up! I thing Eric, Ran little golo over Nikki
