Red Lion Event 21-22 July

In late July, 2007 word of an Axis commerce raider breaking out north of Red Lion, PA reached the high command of the Allied Grand Fleet. Orders were sent to the nearest Allied capital ships to engage and destroy the enemy battlecrusier Strasbourg at any cost. The American battleship USS Alabama and British battlecruiser HMS Invincible were the first Allied capital ships on the scene…

Saturday morning began with three ships on the water. Mikey Deskin’s FS Strasbourg played the role of the Axis. Bob Amend was there with his USS Alabama and was the site host. I had my HMS Invincible. We wanted to start off with a traditional Allies vs Axis battle, which left the Strasbourg in a *cough* target rich environment *cough*. Little did we know that the tricky Frenchman had a plan. The Strasbourg looked as though she was sitting a little high in the water, but nobody was too worried about that as the battle opened. Looking for the easiest kill, the Strasbourg went straight after the Invincible and I ran behind the triple sterns of the Alabama giving Bob a few good shots until the Strasbourg was clear of his aft fire arcs. Strasbourg continued to chase me until he almost had a shot with his forward sidemount, and I immediately put the helm over and opened fire with my stern gun, and continued to pour it on as Strasbourg followed me through the turn. The captain of the Alabama was heard to mutter “yeah, that’s what he did to me last time too”. After about a complete circle Strasbourg broke off and I attempted to loop the Invincible around to get my aft sidemount on target. Meanwhile the Alabama engaged the Strasbourg with sidemounts, and I attempted to get in on the other side of the sandwich, but the 31 knot Strasbourg quickly pulled away.

We circled each other for a little while taking shots when they presented themselves, and all of a sudden, the Strasbourg began to list pretty seriously. Like a pair of vultures, Invincible and Alabama closed in. Suddenly, the Strasbourg lurched violently, and a big piece of pink foam we had used to test the guns earlier shot out from under the Strasbourg. While she was listing, her aboves on one side became belows and she had taken some easy shots in the red on the far side. She immediately began to settle. Bob and I were laughing too hard to shoot, and we just kind of sat there and watched the poor Strasbourg sink. To add insult to injury, the Strasbourg’s automatic pump shut off as she settled. This was just the first sortie.

Since we had already determined that the Allies had won the day, the second sortie (and rest of the day) was a free for all. Here is where we started to really see the battling characteristics of the ships we had on the water. My Invincible was dead nasty in any kind of a turning fight, and unlike the other two ships did not bleed off much speed in turns, which was a huge advantage over the weekend. The Strasbourg at 31 knots could outrun anything on the water until New Jersey showed up on Sunday, and turned very well. She also has a lot of internal hull volume and can take much more of a pounding then the Invincible can, and is more stable. The Alabama with her battleship pump didn’t even come close to sinking all weekend long. She could just take massive amounts of punishment, and her 1.25 gpm pump kept her out of Davy Jones’ locker. She was the only ship to not sink all weekend.

In the afternoon, Brendan K and his father showed up (USS North Carolina and HMS Hood under construction) to watch and look at the boats. Brendan took command of the Strasbourg and his father took the Alabama and went after each other. There was some interesting action, and we saw that the Nintendo Generation has a bit of an edge in first time action. Hopefully, we’ll have their Hood and North Carolina on the water soon!

Sunday Morning saw some additional Allied reinforcements as the New Jersey arrived with Chip and Mike P (got an awful lot of “Mikes” in treaty it seems!). New Jersey was quickly set to treaty specifications. This time, the teams were New Jersey and Invincible vs Alabama and Strasbourg. The action was fast and furious, with the Jersey making her presence felt early and often. This is going to be an excellent ship in treaty with her dual side mounts and 32 knot speed, she is hard hitting and hard to catch as well. Her turning is also superb. The only sacrifice an Iowa class captain accepts when choosing this ship is the bad back lifting it will cause!

New Jersey did however succumb to her wounds in the first sortie. This was due to a failure of the mechanism used to restrict her pump. I’m not sure exactly how it was done, but I believe they restricted the pump inlet and this caused a problem as it clogged easily. In the second sortie, New Jersey sank again, due to the same reasons. Somehow, the ship also managed to bend a shaft. This is a mystery to all involved, as the ship was not observed to strike anything which could cause such damage.

Chip and Mike could only be there for the early morning battle, the afternoon was back to the Invincible, Alabama, and Strasbourg. Mikey, captain of the Strasbourg wanted an Allies/Axis fight so once again, it was the Alabama and Invincible vs. the Strasbourg. Those were the teams in theory that is, as Alabama seemed to shoot at anything that moved. Strasbourg came right for my Invincible, and since I had a partner, I was highly inclined to accept battle. It turned into a brutal slugging match. The carnage was awesome, as the fight drew out to longer range, we could hear the crack of BBs on balsa, but we didn’t know who was getting the best of it. It seemed to be fairly even when all was said and done. The Alabama withdrew from the second sortie because of battery issues, so the Strasbourg and Invincible went straight after each other to finish what the started. The hull volume of the Strasbourg made the difference, as Invincible sank after more straight exchanges of fire. While Invincible can take a bit of damage, she’s not exactly built to try and just trade punches, and it was my mistake to battle her so aggressively that last battle.

Fun was had by all, I think everyone had a smile on their face all weekend. Special thanks go out to Bob Amend for hosting the battle, and Mikey driving all the way out from Ohio for a Pennsylvania battle. Having Chip, Mike P, Brendan and his father come out and participate made it better for everyone involved, and I eagerly look forward to the next treaty action coming up in August out in Ohio at Ravenna.

 

Very nice write-up Mike.
Can't wait till the next battle.
I have been wanting to write up something on the foam block encounter, but have been too busy as of late.
Oh well. It will give us something to read later in the year.
Mikey