All Thought I would take the time to post up a battle report for the event this past weekend in Versailles. I am going off of my photos, and memory. So you know how that works. It may end up being a fairly accurate account of the events, or not. Of course, there is always the chances that there will be a French twist thrown in as well. In any case. This is my story. And I'm sticking to it. Enjoy! Fleet battle #1. Saturday April 20 2013 Axis fleet. Shinano (Gerry), Bismarck (Roland), Cavour (Mikey), and Lutzow (Phil). Phil had invited me to run the other Lutzow (Jeff C's) with him, but I felt that we needed some more sidemounts on the axis team. Good call! Allied fleet. Ohio (David), Alabama (Xavier), Hawaii (Matt), and Roanoke (Mark). As we were putting all of the boats in the water the Lutzow was found to have propulsion issues, and had to pull out. I do not think she was able to enter the first sortie at all. I do not recall anyone sinking, but it was quite interesting getting used to new boats. It was great seeing the Ohio and Hawaii out on the water together again. As the second sortie was getting ready to start we noticed that the Bismarck was low in the water and not pumping. After a quick look it was discovered that the pump had crapped out. So the Bismarck was pulled, and he was told that he could enter the battle if he got his pump going. But Phil was able to get his Lutzow going, and entered the sortie. It seemed that everyone was doing pretty well, and having a good time. The sortie ended, and I do not recall any sinks. I do not think that the Bismarck was able to get back into the combat, so I am under the impression that the Axis took a withdraw penalty for the big German. If that is the case, then the first battle went to the Allies. Mikey
Fleet battle #2 Saturday April 20 2013 (afternoon). Phil helped Roland install a new pump in the Bismarck. The Bama was taken out of service for some reason. And Xavier wanted to run a convoy ship. Vance and his pal Casey arrived and we decided to put them in the meat-grinders so that they could run together. And we decided to just go one sortie so that they could get the hang of the boats. So the teams stacked up like this. Axis fleet. Shinano (Gerry), Bismarck (Roland), Lutzow (Phil), Jean Bart (Vance), and Richelieu (Casey). Allied fleet. Ohio (David), Cavour (Mikey), Hawaii (Matt), Roanoke (Mark), and possibly the convoy ship Golo. As the battle was starting it was found that the pump in the Bismarck was not working propoerly. And I think Roland sat this battle out. The battle went well. Everyone was having a good time, and the kids were getting the hang of their boats, and did very well. I do not recall any sinks in this battle. But it was great fun. I think perhaps the Golo might have scored a convoy run for the allies. But I am not sure. Mikey
So now that everyone was familiar with their boats we decided to have a 2-sortie battle. Roland's pump was fixed in his Bismarck, and Phil wanted to run his Strasbourg. So we picked up teams for the big showdown in the afternoon. Fleet battle #3 Saturday April 20 2013 (late afternoon). Axis fleet. Shinano (Gerry), Bismarck (Roland), Jean Bart (Vance), Richelieu (Casey), and Strasbourg (Phil). Allied fleet. Ohio (David), Hawaii (Matt), Roanoke (Mark), Cavour (Mikey), and Golo (Xavier). The first sortie was going well when Matt announced that his Hawaii was in trouble. I looked up just in time to see one of the meat-grinders chewing on him with a sidemount. It was the new kid Casey in the Jean Bart. The Hawaii had lost all power. We requested that the big Frenchie hold fire and clear out of the area so that we could make sure that the Hawaii could be brought to shore, as nobody wanted to go in the cold water. But as the Bart pulled away, the Hawaii's stern went under and she sank right in the middle of the pond. It was not looking good at all, when we noticed that the bow of the Hawaii was sticking about 6 inches above water. So we got some boats to push her in closer to shore and she was retrieved with a long net. Nobody had to get wet. The battle got back under way, and most all of the boats were pumping to some extent as the sortie ended. The axis had a nice lead in points. In the second sortie, the meat-grinders both came after my Cavour most of the sortie, and although I did get caught up in a couple/few sandwiches by the big French twins, I was able to survive the sortie. I was pumping very hard at the end of my five minutes, and was running for my life. But then someone mentioned that the Strasbourg was in trouble. She was brought over near the shoreline and went under. So both teams had lost a class 4 battlecruiser. I am not sure if the Golo had made a convoy run or not. I do recall that she was experiencing some sort of drive issue. This was one of the best battles that I have been in for quite a while. Lots of damage, fun and sinks. Others had to head out for home, and the rest of the locals decided to call it a day, and get the boats ready for Sunday. On the drive home, Vance and Casey chatted up all of the days great adventures. Vance said that it was probably the most fun battling that he has experienced. Perhaps because he was able to get one of his friends to tag along this time around. Nobody retired to our boatshop on Saturday after the battling, so we were able to get the boats patched, and the batteries on charge in short order, and relax. We also discovered that Vance and Casey would not be able to attend the battle on Sunday, due to other stuff. Oh well. Perhaps next time. It was indeed great fun. Mikey
I forgot to mention that Mark was able to get one of his speedboats out on the water a time or two, and one of his PT boats as well. And I was able to get my old Bearn out for some sea trials. I have two Bearns. A new one that I have not quite finished, and my old one from my old fast-gun and big-gun days. The new one was there at the event on the table, and almost ready for sea trials. But I just couldn't find the time to get her on the water. But the old one. Well she was driving around really slow due to the radio that I had installed in her not allowing the ESC to give full power to the motors. So I wasn't able to make a convoy run with her, or get her into a battle on Saturday. But just running her sure did bring back some fond memories of my old traveling days when I was making lots of meets in both the IRCWCC and the Midwest Battle Group. That old boat was a mainstay with the big-gun club, and saw lots of action. I only got to use her in the IRCWCC a couple of times. And to be honest. She was not all that great of a ship, because I had too many other things going on to give her the attendion that she needed, in order to be a good ship. But we had a great day of battling with good friends, and chatting up the boats. I like to think that that is what Stan, Jeff, and D.W. had in mind way back when. I myself wasn't involved in the hobby when they first got it started. It wasn't until years later that I heard about it, and thought it sounded like lots of fun. Now my kids are taking part at some of the events, and on Saturday, my son was able to talk one of his friends into giving it a try for the first time. It gave me goosebumps just to be part of it! A line from one of my favorite movies.. What a hobby! Mikey
Mikey, Just be glad, I wasn't there !! that would be fun, having all three of them running together NIkki
Sunday morning I was up early, got all of my batteries topped off, and arrived at the battle site first. I got my table set up, and started working on my aircraft-carriers, in hopes of getting them both on the water. Roland and his grandson had left out after the battles on Saturday. My family was not able to come up either. Nor could David. So we had a smaller crew, but we had plenty of boats. The rest of the folks arrived, and got their boats ready, and we picked up teams. Xavier was wanting to run something big and fast. So we put him in the Jean Bart. Did I mention that he likes shooting up his gramps?? Haha! So the teams looked like this for the first battle on Sunday. Axis fleet. Shinano (Gerry), Cavour (Mikey), and the Lutzow (Phil). Allied fleet. Jean Bart (Xevier), Hawaii (Matt), and Roanoke (Mark). It seemed like Xavier spent the best part of the sortie exchanging fire with the Shinano. I spent the first part of the sortie trying to escort the Shinano, and the last part assisting the Lutzow. It seems that the Hawaii, and Roanoke had set their sights on sinking Phil's brand new pocket-battleship. As the boats were pulled off of the water, I do recall Phil discovering that there were quite a lot of detail parts no longer in place on his cruiser. And Matt and Mark seemed happy with their shooting skills. Everybody had a good laugh about that. Well. Almost everybody. In the second sortie of that battle, I decided to try to stick with the Lutzow, and go after the Hawaii, and Roanoke. Xavier seemed to be doing just fine with the Bart, and I think that he and Gerry were having great fun battling it out. So I spent the sortie chasing the Hawaii, and Roanoke, which were chasing the Lutzow. At times is seemed like the two allies where totally ignoring me. I am pretty sure that there were a couple/few times when they passed me and didn't even return my fire. It was like they had tunnel-vision. I do not recall anyone sinking in this sortie, and I am not sure how the Lutzow was holding up when it ended. But I do recall that Phil was flustered by how much detail work he had again lost off of his Lutzow. And Matt and Mark seemed very pleased with their handywork again. It was really quite funny how we had all seen Phil spend a few months dolling-up his pocket-battleship only to have a couple allied skippers pretty much clear the decks of all of that detail work in just a couple of sorites. That ended the first fleet battle on Sunday. As we started getting ready for another battle, there was some talk of horse-trading going on with some of the folks. Phil's Lutzow was one of the ships being considered for trading. Mikey
