Hello all, I was just curious if anyone has built an armed merchant vessel for MWC rules, or if it is even legal. I was thinking along the lines of a Q ship or perhaps the SMS Wolf. Thanks for the help. Cheers
You could build one armed if you really wanted to, but they only get half a unit, so 12bb quarter unit cannon and a quarter unit pump, or a 25bb half unit pump if you forgo the pump. Not worth it in my opinion but maybe you feel differently.
Thank you. I was just curious about them, because I am reading a book called The Wolf about a German merchant raider. I may build one just to have something to shoot at in my neck of the woods. Do you have any idea on the speed?
The amount of time and money, you are better off building a cruiser IMHO. Q-ship is cool, but of very limited use. No one will sink with the few bb's you could carry.
Has anyone thought about maybe making these types of ships a full 1 unit or perhaps even 1.5 units? An example is the HK Atlantis, which had a main armament of 6 X 5.9 inch guns. I just thought with a main battery greater than the French Le Fantasque class destroyers (5 X 5.4 inch guns), they could be equal in armament at 1.5 units in MWC. Since I haven't been to a battle yet and have no experience, I just thought this would be a fun discussion. It would be fune to make three or four identical convoy ships and arm one to run with the pack. Maybe, maybe not. Cheers
They did have a better battery on paper, but they were exposed-mount guns left over from earlier production, or removed from old warships. The raiders lacked proper rangefinders for shooting on the move (in the naval warfare sense of it) and hence even with a better battery would've been owned in a stand-up fight. I know this was not their intended use and I am actually a huge fan of Q-ships and armed merchant cruisers (Naval Institute Press has several good books on them), but they were not very good at fighting warships, apart from when they were able to surprise them. Their damage control was also not very good, a notable exception being the British Q-ship that was savaged in a fight with a u-boat and remained afloat by virtue of having her cargo hold full of a cargo of wood.
But for the record, if you showed up with an armed merchant cruiser with 1.5 units, I'd battle it, no problem. I like the occasional not-too-crazy craziness.
Thanks Tug. I think they would (maybe) make good beginner ships if they could be 1.5 units. One canon, one pump, and often a single prop and rudder. The hulls seem to be roomy (in the bigger raiders anyway), and they look to have fairly simple hull designs for scratch builds. The speed is slow, and that would be tough to overcome, but it could be some fun.
Thanks Tug. I think they would (maybe) make good beginner ships if they could be 1.5 units. One canon, one pump, and often a single prop and rudder. The hulls seem to be roomy (in the bigger raiders anyway), and they look to have fairly simple hull designs for scratch builds. The speed is slow, and that would be tough to overcome, but it could be some fun.
As far as Kormoran goes... see my above statement: '... would've been owned in a stand-up fight.' They were highly successful in using sneakiness (as designed) to get close and thus fight on advantageous terms (A+ grade awarded to the captain of Kormoran for his tactics and employment of his command). Had the cruiser been forewarned, the battle would likely have gone differently. And thus, if I see a convoy ship on the water that is not a convoy ship (must be declared as warship or convoy before launch), I will take appropriate measures and it will not get a lot of rounds into me (with stern guns and a significant speed advantage)
So what would happen if you declared it a warship, would you be able to run with the convoy ships like a decoy until an enemy approached, and then fight the approaching warship? This could work if there were multiple superstructures that could be swapped out between sorties. Could be fun to dress a wolf in sheeps clothes every so often.
You can run any warship at convoy speeds. Until it acts like a warship, it would be hard to tell (apart from having to declare it a warship or convoy before launching). Bob H did great things with three carriers that looked a LOT alike, one of which was the Q-ship, with a pump that had an underwater discharge. As far as combat power, there is so much combat power on the water in campaign that a Q-ship is unlikely to significantly change the outcome of a battle with its gun. Basically, a slow destroyer with big billboard sides.
