Someone was asking about the number of boats on the pond at any particular battle. This is most of the reply I wrote him. I used to enter scores into an excel spreadsheet, but the last data I have is from 2010 before I joined the Navy. One battle day records 8 battleships, 2 cruisers, 7 torpedo boats, and 4 transports fought 3 sorties (21 combatants). That year's campaign game consisted of 12 battleships, 1 cruiser, 10 torpedo boats, 7 transports, and 2 shore batteries (32 combatants). The earliest data, from 2006, shows 11 BB, 2 CA, 8 CL/DD, 1 transport, and 2 shore batteries (24 combatants) at the campaign game. Over the course of the year, there was a shift from 3-4 BB, 3-4 CA, 2-4 CL/DD, and 1-3 transports (10-12 combatants) to 1-2 BB, 2-3 CA, 4-6 CL/DD, 1 transport, and a submarine or shore battery (9-11 combatants). The data from 2006 shows the launch of Spahkreuzer and other similar torpedo boats over the course of the year and battleships getting swapped for alternates in response to the changes on the pond. The changes from 2006 to 2010 shows how the club grew in population, but kept an excellent mix of battleships, torpedo boats, and transports. The only exception is the reduced numbers of heavy cruisers such as Lutzow, Mogami, or Oregon City. I'd love to see some numbers from recent battles, to see how the club is doing. I'll also try to graph the data this weekend when I have some free time to see if there is anything else to be learned.
A fast gun battle in Hagerstown, Md in the late or middle 90's drew 45+ ships (on the pond at the same time, not the extra ships {secondaries and cargo} ashore) to battle. The Allied fleet were in a line all the way across the pond. I think that was the largest battle that I ever heard of.
I have a couple pictures (panorama) that counts 49 ships on the water for the monday morning first sortie battle at the MWC 2009'ish Nats in Minnesota. Would have been 50 except my ship developed a CO2 leak and couldn't make the sortie, hence the pictures. Heh. Nats attendance has been down a bit since then, perhaps due to the state of the economy. Even so, the 2013 Nats in Houston had about 37 registered captains, 47 registered warships, and at least 13 convoy ships.
