Spring Rumble in Ravenna 2008

All
Renown and Strasbourg are leaving port to engage German forces
reported to be at sea to the north.
It has been reported that the Germans are ready to rumble in Ravenna.
Here we go again.
Mikey

 

Good luck this weekend guys. Wish I could have been there.

 

I hope someone gets some video....

 

The airways are silent from the Ravenna area. The Axis must have defeated the Allied hord.

 

All
Photos are posted in the photos section.
Mikey

 

Battle report from the HMS Renown
2008 Spring Rumble in Ravenna
Saturday May 3 2008

Ships
DKM Bismarck (battleship), (Roland)
6.5 units, 29 seconds speed.

SMS Markgraf (battleship), (Eric N.)
5 units, 38 seconds speed.

HMS Renown (battlecruiser), (Mikey)
4.5 units, 30 seconds speed.

FNS Suffren (heavycruiser), (Phil A.)
3 units, 27 seconds speed.

We decided to go axis/allies for fleet battle #1. The allies would be heavily outnumbered, but we were hoping that our speed would be able to keep us in the game.
Allied strategy was to team up on the Bismarck, and try to avoid engaging the slower Markgraf.
Suffren was set up with a long range bow cannon, and a short range stern cannon.
Renown was set up with a short range starboard stern sidemount in the aft turret, a short range port sidemount in A turret, and a medium range sidemount in B turret.
At the start of the battle, both Renown and Suffren charged past the Markgraf and attempted to drive the Bismarck away from his slower team-mate. We were both doing our best to work over the big German as early in the first sortie as possible, so as to have him hurting in the second sortie, in hopes of either having him too hurt to be a threat, or more importantly, to have him hurt enough that we could finish him off for a sink.
As the sortie progressed, it reminded me of a race on an oval track. The two allied ships, and the Bismarck were running around the oval track, and the slower Markgraf was cutting through the middle of the track trying to stay in the battle, as the faster ships went by.
On the other hand. Over time, it bacame appearant that the Bismarck was shortening the track, and the Markgraf was getting in the allied ships way more and more, and staying in the battle.
About 15 minutes into the sortie, Renown was starting to run low on ammo, and pumping a mild (but steady) stream of water, with a Bismarck that could not only outrun her, but was also not pumping hard at all, and seemed content to tangle with a heavy cruiser, and a battlecruiser all by himself.
It seemed that the time had come to weigh my options.

1. I could run home to mama. But that wouldn't be very British-like.
2. I could call on the old saying that I don't have to be able to out-run the Bismarck. I just have to be able to out-run Phil.
But not only could I not out-run the Bismarck. I also couldn't out-run Phil'S Suffren. Not really an option at this point I guess.
3. I could just carry on with the orignal plan, and dump my remaining ammo into the Bismarck in hopes of slowing him down to the point of not being able to out-run me, and call my 5 minutes.
Of course, that would leave Phil's Suffren on it's own, but he is French after all. And he does talk a lot of trash, and the British never really liked the French.. hehe.
So that's it. I dumped the rest of my ammo into the Bismarck, and called 5, and made a run for it.
I don't recall informing the French of my new plan, but hey. What the heck..
I was chased a little by both of the Germans, but they both seemed content with trying to run the Frenchie to earth. Oh well. Better him, than me eh.

Fleet Battle #1 Sortie #2

Well, our allied master plan hadn't worked out the way we had hoped in the first sortie. We were now facing a pretty much un-damaged Markgraf, and although the Bismarck had some nice damage, it was about as noticable as a fart in a wind storm, when it came to slowing the big guy down. Roland had taken all that the allies could dish out to him, and he was laughing at us.
Eric wasn't laughing on the outside, but he was grinning. On the inside, however he was indeed laughing at us also. They had played us pretty good.
But now it was crunch time. I didn't think we could sink Roland, but I was almost certain that we couldn't sink the Markgraf either. And we needed to sink someone if we wanted to win. But then again, so did they.
In Treaty, we do not count damage points. Only sink points count.
So the game plan was to try to avoid getting sunk mainly, but to also pound on the Germans in hopes that either one would sink.
So at the start of the sortie, I again concentrated on the Bismarck. For two reasons. One was that he was the faster of the two, and had the best chances of running me down after I went on five. But secondly because he was on me like a cheap suit. He had about a two second speed advantage on me as I was not able to make my max allowed speed. He could also out-turn me. He went where I went. When I turned left, he turned left. When I turned right, he turned right. It was almost like we were doing manouvers, except that he was also shooting at me.
So I dumped my ammo, and called my five.
Bismarck chased me most of the sortie, except for a few instances when he took some interest in the Suffren, which gave me a chance to pump out a little. Markgraf came over just as my 5 minutes was getting ready to end, and I was low in the water aft, and had a slight list to port. Had either one of the Germans come over just a minute earlier, I would more than likely have sunk.
As it turned out. There were no sinks in this battle, and it was a draw. But what a great battle it was.
Mikey

 

Great report Mikey, thanks. Renown's little step-sister Courageous has all her wood on and sealed now, and just needs a paint job and sea trials. Next time will be different, and the battlecruiser force will sail into the glory that is its rightful destiny!

 

Battle report from the HMS Renown
2008 Spring Rumble in Ravenna
Sunday May 4
Fleet Battle #2 Sortie #1

As Josh was able to make the drive up on Saturday evening with his Deutschland, it was looking like we were going to have 5 ships on the water on Sunday, but Eric's Markgraf had a drive-line problem, and had to drop out.
So the fleet make up was allied/axis.
Axis fleet.
Ships
DKM Bismarck (battleship), (Roland)
6.5 units, 29 seconds speed.

DKM Deutschland (pocket-battleship/heavy cruiser), (Josh F.)
3.5 units, 32 seconds speed.


Allies
HMS Renown (battlecruiser), (Mikey)
4.5 units, 30 seconds speed.

FNS Suffren (heavycruiser), (Phil A.)
3 units, 27 seconds speed.


We allies didn't think we could sink the Bismarck, so we decided to put the pressure on the P/B. Renown was still running a few seconds slow, and so the P/B would have about a one-second speed advantage on her, but the Suffren was the fastest ship on the water, and should have no problem dealing out damage with both her bow, and stern cannons.
When battle commenced, the Suffren was able to get in front of Deutschland, and Renown worked in behind her, and we started to put some damage on her, but it seemed like the Deutschland was comfortable with the situation, as Renown was taking a beating from the little German's stern turret.
After a few minutes of this, the Bismarck joined the frey, and when the Suffren turned out of the line, the Bsmarck followed her, and so the battle now became two one-on-ones, with the Renown chasing the Deutschland, and the Bismarck chasing the Suffren.
It looked to me like the cruisers were having better luck stern-gunning the larger, and less responsive capital-ships, when the Deutschland's pump outlet blew inside the hull. Josh had been leading the Renown out into the middle of the pond, which was working to his advantage, but now, he had a long way to go to get back to the launching area, and not only was the Renown in hot pursuit, but the Suffren was also between him and the port area.
So now the chase was really on, with Renown hounding him to keep the pressure on, and with Suffren dis-engaging from her action with Bismarck, she was able to get some bow shots into the low-in-the-water German cruiser, as she went by.
Just as the Deutschland neared the shore-line, her stern deck finally slipped beneath the water.
At this point, Renown was pumping a steady stream, and low on ammo, so I called 5, and tried to protect our win, by not getting sunk.
Although Bismarck did show me a little love on occasion, he was content with trying to sink the Suffren, to avenge the loss of the axis cruiser, but Phil would have none of that, and after emptying his cannons into the big German, was able to survive his 5 minutes.

Sortie #2

It seems like Phil let Eric run his Suffren in the second sortie, and although we had a couple spare boats at the event, he decided to run the camera.
So as the allies had a win going as long as we didn't get sunk, we decided to put some pressure on the Bismarck, but not so much that we would get in
trouble ourselves.
So with the start of the sortie, we both engaged the big German, and Roland again seemed content taking us both on. Eric schooled Roland a little with his cruiser tactics, while I played a more defensive role as I was pumping enough to concern me, but not enough to warrent Roland's un-devided attention it seemed.
When I ran out of sidemount ammo, I called my 5, and Roland continued to try to sink the French cruiser.
We all survived our 5 minutes, and so the allies bagged a win.
Mikey

 

Mike
Courageous was missed. Our two battlecruisers working together would certainly have made a difference. Oh well. It is what it is, and it didn't work out for the May meet. But we can now make plans for the future, and it will be great fun indeed.
Mikey

 

Battle report from the HMS Renown
2008 Spring Rumble in Ravenna
Sunday May 4
Fleet Battle #3 Sortie #1

After having some fun running the Suffren, Phil decided to put her away, and break out his Lutzow.
Now there would be three German ships, and my new Renown.
Well I have been known to take on a superior enemy in the past, but with Renown running slower than all three of the Germans, and still having some minor teething troubles, I thought better of it, and asked that one of the pocket-battleships be put on my team. I guess I haven't gotten the hang of keeping a stiff upper-lip just yet.
So the teams shaped up like this..

Axis fleet.
Ships
DKM Bismarck (battleship), (Roland)
6.5 units, 29 seconds speed.

DKM Deutschland (pocket-battleship/heavy cruiser), (Josh F.)
3.5 units, 32 seconds speed.


Non-axis (?)
HMS Renown (battlecruiser), (Mikey)
4.5 units, 30 seconds speed.

DKM Lutzow (pocket-battleship/heavy cruiser), (Phil or Eric).
I think Phil might have run her in the first sortie, and then Eric in the second sortie, but I am not sure.
I am also not sure how she was set-up for cannons. Except that I do know that she had stern cannons.

We did not think we could sink the Bismarck, with the ammo on hand, so decided to concentrate on the Deutschland, and take shots of opportunity on the Bismarck, just to hold him off.
Josh was also experiencing a troublesome transmitter battery, and we aggreed that if his battery failed, we would allow him to call 5 out of control, and remove his boat after his first minute. Normally when 5 minutes out of control is called, you are only a target for the first minute, but then you still have to survive the other 4 minutes.
So with the battle started, Josh was chased by both Renown, and Lutzow, but was doing a good job of pounding the bow of the Renown. Bismarck seemed intent on chasing the Lutzow.
Eventually we again broke into two seperate angagements with Bismarck trying to sink Lutzow, leaving Renown to try to sink Deutschland. It again looked like the cruisers were doing pretty good, when Josh started having control problems with a low transmitter battery.
I was able to finally bring my port sidemount into play and got several hits on him, before his minute was up. Which was nice as he had been able to frustrate the crap out of me all day, by being able to just stay ahead of the two cannons which could do the most damage to his cruiser.
So with that, he pulled his ship off the water, and put his radio on charge, and Renown joined the Lutzow in trying to hold the Bismarck at bey.
Kinda reminded me of Oddball in the movie Kelly's Heroes.
The only way my Renown could keep the Bismarck busy was to let it shoot holes in me..
But as the sortie started to come to an end, we heard a sickening noise coming from the Bismarck's pump.
We all survived our 5, and got ready for sortie #2.

Sortie #2

Well all weekend the allies (or in this case, the non-axis), felt that the Bismarck just couldn't be sunk with ammo we has on-hand. But with his pump making a noise, we thought we should put the pressure on and keep it on to see which held out longer. His pump, or ours.
So when battle was called, both Lutzow, and Renown closed in on the big German, and showed him the love. And kept showing it.
Deutschland stayed in the battle really well, and although we didn't show a lot of attention to the cruiser, Josh was just enough of a pain that we had to swat at him on occasionaly. He was like a fly that just won't leave you alone.
He seemed tickled to be able to pound on us freely, and he made the most of it.
We were after the Bismarck. We wanted to sink the Bismarck. Where the Bismarck went, we went. Well except when he went into the weeds.
Bismarck has a really large drive motor that is very powerful, and he was

 

Mikey,
Great reports. The best that I've seen in years. You should put them in Hull Busters.
Wish I could have been there.

 

All
Phil A. said that I could cross-post this from the yahoo site.
Too funny.
Mikey


I think the gentleman in mikey kept him from relating two incidents
that occured at ravenna,to protect the captians in question from
embarassment. I have no such restrictions.

Incident 1
The bismark is doing the circle of death,and roland is beside
himself.The allied wolves have smelled blood and and are in route.It
was then that roland in despiration ,tried an old chinese remedy, He
switched to the proper stick on his radio Voila

Incident 2
I brought the lutzow in without a scratch on it. I did have some
water in the hull from roland trying to drive over it. As i pulled
the last draw on the sucker I noticed a bb hade gone into the
sucker.No mater what I did I could not get the bb to come out,sooo I
laid the bulb on the table and came down with a mighty fist. THWACK
CRACK was the sound I heard as the bb put a hole 1 inch below the
waterline on the lutzow.This would cost me in the next sortie.I have
learned several valuable lessons from this.

ALWAYS ASSUME A SUCKER IS LOADED ,CHECK THE CHAMBER
YOU CAN HAVE MY SUCKER WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY DEAD COLD HANDS
WHEN SUCKERS ARE OUTLAWED ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE SUCKERS
SUCKERS DONT KILL BOATS,CAPTIANS KILL BOATS

 

Would an off duty sucker be a baby bulb and would it be legal for consealed carry

 

Anyone hear how the battle in central Ohio went this weekend?

 

Went pretty good, I was there for Saturday.

We had the Strasbourg, Dunkerque, Newport News, Suffren, New Zealand, and Bismarck all partake in battle. The Kumano patrolled the shores while the other ships went into port for repairs.

Overall there were 6 of us that day. Mikey and Phil went home I believe, as did Greg, Alan, and I. (Lee stayed). I believe Josh, Buddy, and Lee were going to battle today.

New Zealand sank twice. Newport News was run aground to save the crew, and the Bismarck was sank once. Overall, we only managed 3 sorties.

 

Hope everyone had a good time.

 

Kenny, What do you need to get your ship in fighting order? I may have something extra around here that could be sent your way.

 

Well, it appears I received a bad batch of batteries - the guy I bought them from offered to reimburse me if I returned them, but since I waterproofed them they can't be sent back. No big loss tho, 3 batteries for $8 a pop just to prove the Kumano is seaworthy is worth it I guess...

I'm trying to decide what ESC to get, as well as pick up a few new batteries... other than that it appears I'm good to go... although by the looks of it the Kumano may not see battle for another year - the July battle for BBS is being turned into a fun-run (currently put to the vote at least) and I can't attend our 3 day Micro-Nats.... so after a few more shakedown cruises she may be drydocked for the year.

After that I'll have the IJN Kagero to get to work on...

 

So the July event looks like a fun run only. Dang it. I was hoping to come out but, I don't want to be the only ship out there with working guns.

 

Well I'm thinkin about pushin for a battle - I can't make micro-nats, so I'd like to battle the Kumano at least once this year.

If you think you can come, then Lee has a working ship, Greg does, I do.... Buddy should I'd think... Josh as well. Thats enough for a battle...