...hulks littered the bottom, and flotsam littered the surface, shattered remnants of once-mighty ships... ...the crowd stared, riveted by the battle that had raged, too shocked to even blink... ...and as the smoke cleared, and silence fell, there was one ship left. Her skipper was the LAST MAN STANDING... ...and thus ended the WWCC's 3rd annual Last Man Standing battle,more than 2 hours, 11 sinks, and 4 surrenders after it began. It was an epic fight, with the largest turnout for a LMS I have ever seen. I saw 7 battleships, 5 cruisers, and 4 unarmed transports set sail, for a total of 16 participants. The battle itself took place inside a large bay outside the Axis port, enclosed by 120 feet of rope and foam tubing. The water was never deeper than 6 feet, and underwater visibility was 1 to 3 feet. I specifically brought a wetsuit to this battle, because I remembered getting hypothermia in previous years. The rules were simple: 15 minutes of fighting, 15 minutes to reload and re-gas (no patching). Wash, rinse, repeat. Every skipper had only three options: sink, surrender, or win. I set my battleship, SMS Prinz Eugen, in the water and joined the other skippers for a quick photo shoot. My propaganda responsibilities finished two shutter-clicks later, and then it was time for the carnage to begin. First to fall was the transport USS Neosho, sunk less than 5 minutes into the battle with minor damage and a total pump failure. IJN Haguro set a new world record for "longest sink ever", when it capsized, then spent more than 5 minutes doing the "toilet bowl circle" before finally taking the plunge. My own Prinz Eugen sank early in the 2nd sortie. With 90% of its damage concentrated on the port side, not even water channeling could keep the boat level. It did an excellent impression of its historical analog as it rolled over, and hit rock bottom 2 feet later. But in all that action and carnage, the most memorable moment of all was Neosho's Revenge. Who was the winner? What was Neosho's Revenge? I'll save the juiciest details of the event (and the photos, etc.) for the Scuttlebutt newsletter, so look forward to it there. here's a video taken later during the 2nd round, where my killer meets his own end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EulFv6_n0v4
According to wikipedia, the navy was called the Kaiserliche und Konigsliche Kriegsmarine, often abbreviated as K.u.K. Kriegsmarine. However, the ships were called His Majesty's Ship, or Seiner Majestat Schiffe, just like ships of the German navy.
