AAR: Naval Command - Clash in the North Sea 1986

 I played a very small solo Cold War naval wargame that turned out to be quite interesting.

The setting was is as follows:

1986 Cold War gone hot

Rules of Engagement: unrestricted

Sea Sate: Moderate

Weather Conditions: Rain (-1 modifier on radar detection rolls, visual detection for surface to surface reduced to 6 NM and surface to air 12 NM)

A quite modern Udaloy class destroyer supported by an older (upgraded) Kashin class destroyer patrol towards the east. Unbeknownst an US Ticonderoga (lacking her helo's) sails west on the opposite course. So basically both sides lined up on the table directly opposite to each other and on a collision course.

The Soviet ships, Odaryonny and Vice-Admiral Kulakov

The USS Ticonderoga

Turn 1

Initiative phase

US gains the initiative.

All ships elect to keep radar off. KA-27 #1 turns radar on.

Movement phase

Ticonderoga keeps radar off and moves a steady 4 NM west.

Kashin launches KA-27 #1 which positions 10NM ahead. Udaloy & Kashin move 4 NM east keeping within 10 NM of the KA-27.

Helicopter in the air scanning for hostiles

Detection phase

Ticonderoga tries to locate the KA-27 #1 using passive sensors but fails.

KA-27 #1 tries to detect the Ticonderoga and also fails.

The rain makes it quite hard to get a long range radar signature.

Turn 2

Initiative phase

USSR gains the initiative (the airborne helicopter helps with this)

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 moves 4 NM east

Ticonderoga moves 4 NM west

Kashin & Udaloy move 4 NM east

Ships are still miles away but closing

Detection phase

KA-27 #1 tries to detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Ticonderoga tries to passively detect the KA-27 but fails.

Turn 3

Initiative phase

USSR keeps the initiative.

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 moves 4 NM east

Ticonderoga moves 4 NM west

Kashin & Udaloy move 4 NM east

Detection phase

KA-27 #1 tries to detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Ticonderoga tries to passively detect the KA-27 #1 and succeeds! (rolls a natural 10 on a d10) Positive areal target detected at a range of 62 NM bearing west. Ticonderoga elects not to activate radar.

KA-27 is detected

Combat phase

The Ticonderoga elects not to fire long range AA, but will now change behaviour as a result of this information.

Turn 4

Initiative phase

USSR maintains the initiative.

All ships keep running with radar off.

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 moves 4 NM east.

Ticonderoga changes speed to full and moves 8 NM south.

Kashin & Udaloy keep moving east at a steady 4 NM.

Ticonderoga changes course

Detection phase

KA-27 #1 tries to detect Ticonderoga but fails again.

Turn 5

Initiative phase

USSR retains the initiative.

Ships keep radar off.

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 moves 4 NM east.

Ticonderoga moves 8 NM further south.

Kashin & Udaloy move 4 NM east.

Ticonderoga crosses the T

Detection phase

KA-27 #1 tries to detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Turn 6

Initiative phase

USSR retains the initiative.

Ships keep radar off.

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 moves 4 NM east.

Ticonderoga moves 8 NM further south.

Kashin & Udaloy move 4 NM east.

Ticonderoga really puts some distance between her and the Soviets

Detection phase

KA-27 #1 tries to detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Turn 7 & 8 

Nothing exciting happens, all ships keep following their course. KA-27 #1 doesn't manage to detect the Ticonderoga.

Turn 9

Initiative phase

US gains initiative, but pass to USSR.

Ships keep radar off.

KA-27 #2 turns radar on.

Movement phase

KA-27 #1 returns to Kashin for refeul.

Ticonderoga moves 8 NM north-west.

Udaloy launches KA-27 #2 to take position ahead.

Kashin & Udaloy both sail 4 NM east.

Detection phase

Ticonderoga loses passive detection of KA-27 #1.

KA-27 #2 tries to detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Ticonderoga tries to passively detect KA-27 #2 but fails.

Turn 10

Initiative phase

US retains the initiative.

Ticonderoga turns radar on.

USSR ships keep radar off.

Movement phase

Ticonderoga moves 8 NM north west.

KA-27 #2 and the Kashin and Udaloy move 4 NM east.

Ships are getting quite close, but are sailing blind because of the rain.

Detection phase

Ticonderoga tries to actively detect the Kashin but fails.

Ticonderoga tries to actively detect the Udaloy but fails.

Usually in Naval Command any ship of helicopter can only make a single detection attempt per turn. I house rules it so a ship with a high search value radar can try twice.

KA-27 #2 tries to actively detect the Ticonderoga but fails.

Kashin tries to passively detect the Ticonderoga and (miraculously) succeeds. Positive radar signature 23 NM bearing south east! Kashin activates her radar to get a detailed picture.

Udaloy tries to passively detect Ticonderoga and fails.

Combat phase

Kashin elects not to use her (very limited) long range weapons.

Udaloy elects not to fire her weapons on a bearing only launch.

Turn 11

Initiative phase

USSR steal the initiative! (having more helicopters in the air really helps here)

Udaloy turns radar on.

Movement phase

Udaloy sails 8 NM south south east

Ticonderoga sails 8 NM north west, not having spotted anything yet!

KA-27 #1 takes off and stays with Kashin

Kashin moves 8 NM towards the Ticonderoga so it can use move of its weapons

Suddenly the ships are quite close!

Detection phase

Ticonderoga tries to detect Kashin and succeeds!

Ticonderoga tries to detect Udaloy and succeeds!

Ticonderoga tries to detect KA-27 #1 and fails.

Ticonderoga tries to detect KA-27b #2 and succeeds!

Now everybody sees everybody

Combat phase

Kashin fires her potent AK-276 guns at the Ticonderoga. This battle opens like a battle of the first world war!

4 hits are scored on the Ticonderoga, fire breaks out and a lot of damage is done to the structural integrity of the ship causing her to slow down.

Next up Kashin fires two torpedoes but both miss.

Finally all 4 of Kashin's SSN-2 Styx anti-ship missiles reach Ticonderoga.

Ticonderoga air defence systems come into play and manage to shoot down 3 out of 4 missiles. This does not look good for the Ticonderoga, however the last missile is thwarted by chaff!

Damaged but still very much in the fight

Now it is Ticonderoga's turn and her 5 inch guns fire at Kashin causing a single point of structural damage.

4 Harpoons are launched at Kashin, and because they are surface skimmer missiles Udaloy cannot fire anti-air missiles at intermediate range to help Kashin.

At short range Kashin's own air defence systems only manage to shoot down one Harpoon.

Udaloy manages to shoot down two missiles at close range before the last remaining missile impacts Kashin causing a large fire and flooding.

Ticonderoga hits hard

Then 4 Tomahawk missiles are fired and two hit Kashin causing enough damage to sink her.

While this is happening 4 Tomahawks and 4 Harpoons race towards the Udaloy. Self defence AA manages to take out 3 Tomahawks but fail to take out a single Harpoon. Udaloy is instantly sunk, without having fired a shot, suffering 4 Harpoon hits and a Tomahawk hit.

Bloodied but victorious

Damage control phase

Ticonderoga manages to extinguish the fire and sails on low on missiles and with her speed reduced to half.

After Action Retrospective

This was a very enjoyable solo wargame to play because I found this kind of naval wargame lends itself well to logically controlling the ships and helicopters. Meaning not using the wargamers all-seeing-eye to anticipate every move and act before it has happened.

The rules are sometimes a bit unclear, and I have posted a question on the Facebook group regarding the damage procedure, because it is not possible to inflict ''systems'' damage while this type has a big influence on the capabilities of a ship.