Sept 23 Report!

I figure I should do a quick writeup of the events of Sept 23. We had a battle at Cle Elum. The pond was strangely a bit lower than usual, perhaps they've been dipping in it for firefighting? No idea, but it created an interesting set of shallows along the shore that normally aren't there.
Present for the day: Myself with the Derfflinger, Phil with the Westfalen, Hovey with the Insufferable, Stephen with the South Carolina, Darrel with the Warspite.
Caveats: I'm doing this out of memory, because once again I didn't take notes. I may have missed a sink or two, and I may not have all the details and viewpoints, but hey, I'm biased!
For the first Battle, we decide to start the day off with British and Americans vs the High Seas Fleet. (Insufferable, Warspite and SC vs Derf and Westfalen)
Sortie #1 - The Derfflinger hounds the South Carolina, and pops off the occasional shot at anyone else who ventures near. The Warspite strafes in and out, as her Captain is well known for preferring slash and run tactics over a standing fight. The I-boat and Westfalen almost immediately begin tangling with one another while the SouthCarolina attempts to shake off the pursuit of the Derfflinger.
After much maneuvering and chasing and disengaging and re-engaging, the Derf and the South Carolina tie up along side eachother for a nice lazy arc around the pond, pouring sidemount fire into eachother. I soon realize that the SC has gotten the better of this exchange. My leaks seem slow, but inevitable. Not wanting to call 5, I head for the shallows where I linger with the Derfflinger and attempt to help out the Westfalen and deal what damage I can. Sensing blood in the water, the Allied dogs attempt to sniff around the Derfflinger and are reminded sharply each time that while she may be mortally wounded and bleeding out (or in as it may be), she can still maneuver and shoot back. As the battle winds to a close, the Derf settles and sinks. In their jubilation, the treacherous yanks ram and sink their friends in the Insufferable.
At the end of the sortie, with the Derf sunk and the Insufferable sunk, the score stands as 4 points for the Allied Dogs, 3 points for the High Seas Fleet.
Post-sink examination reveals that the rough and tumble play that we engage in had led to un-noticed and undeclared ram and contact damage on the Derf which contributed to her eventual loss.

Sortie #2 - Same teams - Having patched my waterlines and belows, as our ruleset allows me to do since I sank during the previous sortie, I was determined to avenge my earlier defeat and to inflict maximum damage upon the Allied dogs, starting with the SouthCarolina, the beast that put me under! My noble teammate and fellow member of the High Seas Fleat, Phil with the Westfalen, quickly moved to engage and interest the Insufferable and attract the attention of the Warspite, while the Derfflinger forced off the SouthCarolina and proceeded to attempt to force battle in her favor. The SC is fairly nimble and Stephen could easily slip away if he was able to get inside of me on a turn.
Back and forth the chase and occasional shot went, as we sailed across the pond, back, and across again. Around and around we went, jockeying for position, both trying in vain to line up an advantage on the other. Stephen used his small size and nimbleness effectively, while I used my superior speed and size to attempt to bring him to a position more to my liking. Pot shots and ranging shots were taken by both of us, until finally, in the same general area as the previous sortie, I got inside of him in a big lazy arc around the pond and we both opened fire. Around the pond we came, from the back quarter to the front quart, sidemounts hammering away, only this time it was I who had the better range and the upper hand. As we reached the near shallows it was obvious that the SC was in trouble. Her bow sat low, her pump worked hard and she came about slowly... and then she slipped beneath the ripples.
The Derf rejoined her fleet-mate, the Westfalen, who was preoccupied with attempting to perforate the I-boat and Warspite - this continued for the remainder of the sortie.
I will take a moment here to make note that during the sortie, all ships fought hard, and overall it was an extremely well fought and hard-fought battle. No one came off the pond without scars and I think we all came off without any bbs in any guns. Also without the Westfalen tying down the attentions of the Warspite and Insufferable, I would have been likely unable to chase down and sink anything (two events ago we proved this quite conclusively actually with a set of SC&Westfalen vs Derf sorties, in which I found myself on the bottom both times).
After Sortie #2, the score for Battle 1 stands at High Seas Fleet 6 (South Carolina and Insufferable sunk), Allied Dogs, 4 (Derfflinger sunk). A mighty victory!

For the second battle, my recollection is a little more sparse and who sank precisely when is a bit muddled..
Sortie #1, Warspite suffered an accidental sinking prior to the battle and had to sit out for repair work, so we adjusted the teams - Westfalen and South Carolina vs Derfflinger and Insufferable.
Very early on the Insufferable rolls over on her side and sinks. Now it is Derfflinger vs Westfalen and South Carolina. This isn't a particularily good match up for me, both turn well and are short, whereas the Derf turns ok and is not short. I also have a half unit pump and they each have full unit pumps. I am not a person who is inclined to call 5 with ammo remaining, so we had a proper dance for a while. At some point Phil and the Westfalen called 5, and I began my systematic 'use no ammo' attack and began attempting to sink him via prop-wash. As he was already suffering, though within the capacity of his pump, from some waterline and red damage I was able to shove enough water in through his open barbettes to send the Westfalen to the less-than-briney shallows. Then I chased the South Carolina around the pond as we expended our remaining ammo.
Sortie #2, the Warspite was ready to go again, so we switched teams yet again, and sailed out the Westfalen and Warspite (Father and Son) vs Derfflinger, Insufferable and SouthCarolina. I dont remember what happened in this but I know the Warspite sank (pump wasn't working, hard throttle forward + a turn, threw all the water to the stern and put a list into her, driving the stern sideways and down under), soon after something or another happened with the Westfalen and it devolved into a free-for-all where we had fun but no one really 'won'.

At the end of the day, we all had fun and that matters more than whatever the scoreboard may say, however much any one sank or didn't sink. Yay for toy boats!

 

Ah yes, the French opted to mostly sit this one out. The Suffren is in drydock awaiting replacement of her main reductions, the Richelieu is out awaiting replacement command bridge (radio box), and the Mogador did come to fly the flag, but never needed to taunt the Brits a second time. Maybe next battle!