A.C.E. 3/ACE CD 3.iso/files/docs/dreadnpl.lha/Dreadnoughts.doc

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 118KB | 2,969 lines

DOCUMENTATION TO DREADNOUGHTS BY "THE JET" -INC-   ((( [RYGAR] )))

THE DREADNOUGHTS MANUAL OF SEAMANSHIP

Dr. Peter Turcan





CONTENTS

Introduction                                      6

Concept                                           7

Section 1 : The background to the simulator       8
Naval History of the First World War              8
Naval History of the Sino-Japanese War            21
Naval History of the Russo-Japanese War           23
Naval History of the Second World War             28
"The role of warships                             38
Fleet organization                                43
Communications                                    44
Latitude and Longitude                            45
Gunnery                                           46
Damage and Damage Control                         49
Winning and Losing                                52
Game time and scale                               53
Notes on the scenarios                            54

Section 2: Operations                             57

Getting started                                   57
Looking around                                    59
The Telescope                                     61
Taking the helm                                   61
4Giving and signalling orders                      63
A: Reports                                        64
B: Formations                                     65
C: Ship stations                                  67
D: Command structure                              68
E: Setting a course                               69
F: Setting a speed                                70
G: Mayday, Assistance and Rescuing lifeboats      71
H: Engaging and Disengaging the enemy             73
I: Torpedo attacks and defensive measures         74

Appendices:                                       76

Appendix A: Recommended reading                   76
Appendix B: Warship classes                       79
          i) Dreadnoughts scenarios               79
          ii) Ironclad scenarios                  83
          iii) Bismarck scenarios                 86
Appendix C: Naval guns and torpedoes              87
Appendix D: Armor penetration                91
Appendix E: Technical support and
            replacement parts                     94
5Introduction

Welcome to Dreadnoughts.

Dreadnoughts is a simulation program that enables your instant
promotion to Admiral of the Fleet. It recreates the ships, the
atmosphere of naval warfare, and the difficulties of command at a
period in history dominated by the world's battle fleets. In 1906
the World was stunned by the launch of a new class of battleship,
a class so powerful that all the existing battleships were
relegated to third rates overnight. The first of these ships, HMS
Dreadnought, gave its name to all that followed. Before HMS
Dreadnought, battleships contained a whole range of guns,Perhaps
with only two or four of the large calibre, and were not
particularly fast nor had impressive armor plating. HMS
Dreadnought revolutionized the design by concentrating on one big
calibre gun (initially 1 2 inch), a speed of over 20 knots, and
heavy armor plating designed to survive engagements with similar
ships.The arms race that followed this launch led in part to the
First World War,and particularly to the conflict between Great
Britain and Germany, a growing and ambitious European power. The
scenarios included with this simulation concentrate on the period
1914-to 1 9 1 6 (the first three years of the First World War),
and a number of the battles show how the old classes of ships
were no match for Dreadnoughts.
6The biggest battle of them all was the Battle of Jutland, a huge
and complicated engagement between 100 German and 150 British
ships. Jutland was the last major engagement of battleships in
the First World War, and ends the list of scenarios with this
game.A scenario disk covering the earlier Sino-Japanese and
Russo-Japanese wars is titled IRONCLAD(*). A second scenario disk
covers a selection of naval battle of the Second World War, and
is entitled BISMARCK(*).(*) available as scenario disks for the
DREADNOUGHTS program, at extra cost.

The concept

The concept of the game is that you take the role of the
commanding admiral at one of history's great naval battles, and
order your own ship and the rest of your fleet as the historical
admiral would have done. You are not given supernatural powers of
vision, control or communication, and have to workout for
yourself, from visual sightings and reports, what is going on.
All the DREADNOUGHTS scenarios are set-piece battles, the object
being the destruction of the enemy's fleet. The following
historical narratives coverall the battles that DREADNOUGHTS can
recreate, including those on the optional scenario disks.
However, these narrative do not go into the same detail as the
program itself, and the player is invited to find out more about
the battles and the ships involved.
7The Background to the simulator

Naval History of the First World War 1914 - 1918

"The due use and control of the sea is but one link in the chain
of exchange by which wealth accumulates; but it is the central
link" - Alfred Mayan, in The Influence of Sea Power.

Alfred Mayan was a little known Captain in the American Navy when
he wrote his treatise "The Influence of Sea Power", but he so
articulated the importance of it that government were soon
quoting his work in justifying their own policies. However
controlled the seas controlled the channels of world commerce. At
the turn of the century Great Britain controlled much of the sea,
and as a result was both very wealthy and hugely influential in
world affairs. Many countries, especially Germany, looked on with
considerable envy.

However, overcoming Britain as a trading power meant overcoming
the Royal Navy, a formidable task in the early 1900's. The Royal
Navy was kept at a size larger than the next two biggest navies
put together, it had coaling stations across the globe, and,
importantly, it's continuous use meant that it had a huge number
of experienced men, from gunners to admirals, to call upon.

But there were weaknesses in this vast arsenal of power. One of
the most significant was that the Navy had become tradition
bound, upholding the reputation of Nelson and his victories that
ended with Trafalgar. Along with the hidebound attitudes, and
dated views, were the useless organizations that had grown so big
that they were politically difficult to dispose of. An example of
this was the large Admiralty department responsible for the
distribution of
8cutlasses (large swords) to the warships. Given the range of the
big guns was over 20,000 yards, wielding a cutlass seems a
somewhat profitless exercise.

The Royal navy was seriously shaken up, and vigorously modernized
by two men in particular: Jacky Fisher and Winston Churchill.
Both were enthusiastic supporters of the Dreadnought projects,
and both had the great energy to think big and force their ideas
and project through. This created the predictable tensions and
political in-fighting, but resulted in a very significant
modernization of the British fleet.

This great push forward must have, in part, led to Germany's
challenge for naval supremacy. Germany had none of the naval
background of Britain, but certainly had the industrial might to
build a navy, and, starting from afresh,was not tied down with
old ideas or stifling tradition.

The key figure in Germany's naval expansion was Admiral Von
Tirpitz, Like Fisher, Tirpitz was a powerful and relentless
figure who initiated the construction of Germany's battle fleet.
The first few classes of German Dreadnought were nothing special,
but by the outbreak of war Germany had built many that, on a ship
to ship comparison, worried Britain's Admirals considerably.

"Commence hostilities against Germany" - telegram to Royal Navy,
1914

The naval war started well for Germany. One of the most
embarrassing incidents to Britain became known as the "escape of
the Goeben". The Goeben, a Dreadnought battlecruiser, was given
by the Germans to Turkey,in response to the latter's decision to
take sides with the axis powers. The Royal Navy failed to
intercept the ship, after numerous attempts, even in the confined
waters of the Mediterranean.

A further embarrassment was the success of a distant German light
cruiser,the Emden, which preyed on British merchant shipping in
the pacific with considerable success.
9However, it was on the 1st November 1914 that Britain was most
seriously stung. Admiral Von Spee had assembled a squadron of
five German warships to attack British ships and bases in the
Southern oceans. Called the German East Asiatic Squadron, Spee's
two key ships were the armored cruisers, Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau.

The commanding British admiral in the region, Admiral Christopher
Cradock was well aware that he stood little chance on his own
against Spee. Cradock made several pleas to the Admiralty for
more and better ships. But he only gained the old battleship the
Canopus, a ship in which he had so little respect he did not even
wait for it.

Winston Churchill proudly claimed "The Canopus is a citadel
around which "all our cruisers could find absolute security", but
Cradock was unimpressed: "with reference to orders to search for
enemy...consider it impractical on account of Canopus's slow
speed to find and destroy enemy's squadron...Canopus will be
employed on necessary convoying of colliers.

Cradock angrily went off in search of the German squadron, and
found them off the coast of Chile, late in the afternoon of
November 1st 1914, near the port of Coronel. The Battle of
Coronel was a complete disaster for Cradock's squadron, which
consisted of the flagship Good Hope, the cruisers Monmouth and
Glasgow, and an armed merchant ship called Otranto.

Admiral Von Spee managed to manoeuvre his ships to take advantage
of the failing light, so silhouetting the British squadron in the
sunset, and pumped the Good Hope and the Monmouth full of shells.
Both sank with no survivors. Only six inconsequential hits were
recorded on the German ships.

An observer on HMS Glasgow, a light cruiser that escaped from
Coronel, recorded that it was "the most rotten show imaginable"
and watched the last moment of the flagship: "There was a
terrible explosion between her mainmast and her funnel, after
which she lay...a black hull lighted only by a glow".
10The remaining two British ships, the Glasgow and Otranto, escaped
South into the darkness.

The Battle of Coronel was the first serious British naval defeat
for over 100 years. This battle is recaptured in the Coronel
scenario, with a second hypothetical scenario simply called
Canopus which models what might have happened if Cradock had
waited for this old battleship.

The completeness of Von Spee's victory led to his downfall.
Churchill and Fisher, still dominant at the Admiralty, sent two
new fast battlecruisers to the South Atlantic, the Invincible and
the Inflexible, along with a number of older armored cruisers.
The commander was Admiral Sturdee.

Von Spee decided to make one last attack on the British coaling
base at the Falkland Islands, before heading North. A breakdown
in German intelligence failed to inform him of the movement of
the British capital ships, Herounded Cape Horn and sent the
Gneisenau and Nurnberg to shell the base. They both returned in a
hurry. Not only had they been shelled by the Canopus, now
grounded in the harbor, but they had seen tripod masts (only used
by the British on battlecruisers and battleships). At first Spee
did not believe it, but when they appeared on the horizon he
ordered his squadron to turn and run.

Although the German gunnery was excellent, their accuracy was no
match for the British heavyweights. For the likes of the
Invincible the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were only target
practice.

Then the Germans were caught they turned to fight, allowing the
three small cruiser some chance of escaping. But while the
battlecruisers punished Spee's armored cruiser, the British
cruisers split up and chased the Turnberg, Leipzig and Dresden.
Only the Dresden was to escape.  The Scharnhorst was the first of
the German armored cruisers to sink. The captain of the Gneisenau
was soon to follow: "he called for three cheers for
11
His Majesty (the Kaiser) and the Gneisenau was then abandoned. I
fell into the water as she capsized," recalled one survivor.

The remains of the valiant ship looked "like a great patch of
brown seaweed" according to one British rescuer.

This scenario, named Falkland, is probably the most imbalanced of
all, the Invincible on its own could deal with the entire German
squadron, but it don't show how the Dreadnought had so elevated
naval firepower as to render previous navies obsolete.

After this battle the Dresden was relentlessly pursued until it
too was caught, battered and forced to surrender. With the German
raiders now finished, both sides turned their full attention to
the immediate battle front in the North Sea.

Despite the great strength of the German battle fleet, called the
High Seas Fleet, it was well outnumbered by the massed ranks of
the British Dreadnoughts. Early expectations of a major fight in
the North Sea never materialized. Germany was very cautious with
their fleet, and had badly misjudged British strategy.

One of the most important decisions made by the British, before
the start of the war, was not to closely blockade the German
ports, as was expected, but to operate a distant blockade. The
main fleet was based at Scapa Flow, in the Orkneys, and a smaller
older fleet would block the Channel. This both effectively
bottled up the German Fleet into the Baltic and North Sea, and
also avoided many of the dangers from mines, submarines,
shallows, shore batteries, and, later, bombers, that a close
blockade would involve. It was indeed a shrewd move.
12German strategy towards fighting the British was based on the
sensible premise of trying to split the more powerful force, and
defeat it in detail. This it achieved to some extent by splitting
is own fleet into the faster battlecruisers and the slower
Dreadnoughts. The battlecruisers speed would enable them to
escape from most pursuers.

To entice the British to split its naval force, several
bombardments, by the battlecruiser fleet, of English coastal
towns was ordered. One of these raids in particular, on
Scarborough, enraged British public opinion, as several women and
children were killed by the shells. In response to this Admiral
Beatty's battlecruiser force was split from the Grand Fleet, and
based further south at the Forth. This would enable him to
intervene if any further raids were launched. Also, of course,
this was partly what the Germans wanted.

The codebreakers at the Admiralty were impressively successful at
cracking the German naval codes, and in January 1915 they were
accurate in their predictions of a German raid, in the vicinity
of the Dogger Bank".

A message to Winston Churchill read "Those fellows are coming out
again.......four German battlecruisers, six light cruisers and 22
destroyers will sail this evening to scout the Dogger Bank.
Admiral Beatty's battlecruisers rushed to intercept the raiders.
A lieutenant on Beatty's flagship, HMS Lion, remembered the
moment of contact: "The enemy appeared on the eastern horizon in
the form of four separate wedges.....suddenly from the rear most
of these wedges came a stab of white flame...we waited for what
seemed a long time, probably about 25 seconds, until a great
column of water and spray arose in the sea at a distance of more
than a mile on our port bow".

The German force was outnumbered five to four in capital ships,
and at least no to one in cruisers and destroyers, so Admiral
Hipper, the German commander, wisely turned for home.
13In the running fight that followed the old Blucher, the weakest
of the German capital ships, was unable to escape. A survivor
recorded how tension mounted within the ship as its speed
faltered under the heavy bombardment: "now the shells came thick
and fast with a horrible droning hum". The Blucher was sunk much
to the huge delight of the British press and civilian population.
Beatty was not impressed though, in private he said to a
colleague: "the disappointment of that day is more than I can
bear to think of. Everybody thinks it was a great success, when
in reality it was a terrible failure". Admiral Beatty had hoped
to sink far more than just the Blucher.

This battle is recaptured in the Dogbank scenario.

Having successfully split the British fleet, the basic German
plan was to chip "away at British naval power with submarines and
mines, and hopefully to entice Beatty's battlecruisers to chase
the German battlecruisers into a trap laid by the High Seas
Fleer. The German High Seas Fleet now had a new commander,
Admiral Scheer, who, unlike his predecessor, was willing to put
the trap plan into action.

Unfortunately for Scheer, the British had cracked the naval codes
so comprehensively that Admiral Jellicoe, the commander-in-chief
of the Grand Fleet, and Admiral Beatty were fully aware of German
intentions, and able to take advantage of them.

The British plan was to allow Beatty's battlecruisers to take the
bait of the German trap, but then in turn to lead the German
fleet into the guns of the entire Grand Fleet.

On the 31st May 1916 both Beatty's force and the Grand Fleet
sailed from harbor. All the reports of the officers and sailors
of that day show how they expected nothing more than another
fruitless boring sweep of the North Sea, Beatty had a powerful
fleet, the 8th Battle squadron of 15 inch gunned battleships had
been temporarily placed under his command, to add to his
14five battlecruisers, and considerable number of light cruisers
and destroyers.

At around 2pm, near the Jutland bank off Denmark one of the
scouting light cruisers, HMS Galatea, was sent to investigate a
merchant ship. The merchant ship was indeed harmless, but the
Galatea also spotted some German light vessels, and a short
engagement followed. These German ships were scout cruisers of
Hipper's battlecruiser force, Beatty turned South to try to cut
off Hipper's retreat to his bases. The battlecruiser closed and a
fierce running fight took place. This is now known as "the Run to
the South". The firing started at about 3 4-8pm. Soon after 4pm
the first disaster struck the British battlecruisers. HMS
Indefatigable was hit by a salvo from the old German
battlecruiser Von der Tann, and first veered out of line, and
then exploded.

Admiral Beatty, brave to a fault, did not flinch from his
pursuit. However, before 4 30 pm the Queen Mary similarly took a
plunging salvo, crashing through the under-protected armor deck
and causing an explosion which set off the ship's magazines. The
Queen Mary was a wreck in seconds. Beatty showed some of his
frustration to his Flag Captain: "Chatfield, there is something
wrong with our bloody ships today". He again did not flinch from
his pursuit. The German ships were firing very accurately and
although they were being hit, all were steaming well. The other
officers in the British battlecruiser fleet looked to HMS Lion,
Beatty's flagship, after the loss of the Queen Mary, for any
signal that might indicate a change of plan.

But the Lion looked resolute in its pursuit, even though near
misses from German shells were drenching it in spray. But for the
heroic thinking of a gunnery officer on HMS Lion it too would
have exploded. A direct hit on in mid ship turret tore the roof
off and exploded inside. The fire would have reached the magazine
had not the dying officer ordered it to be flooded. Smoke poured
from this wound in the Lion, but the flagship remained active for
the entire battle.
15Before 5pm the battle rapidly changed. The German High Seas Fleet
came into view, an impressive line of Dreadnought stretching back
into the horizon. Beatty signalled his force to alter course to
the North, and the battlecruisers followed in turn to begin the
next stage of the battle "the Run to the North". Fortunately for
Beatty the 5th Battle Squadron took up the rear of this line, and
these powerful modern Dreadnoughts took the full anger of the
firing of the leading German ships. The ships of the 5th Battle
Squadron, the Barham, Valiant, Warspite and Malaya, fired
continuously at the German fleet. The Germans concentrated their
fire on the last ship, the Malaya, in the hope of slowing her
down and picking her off. Despite some very heavy hits, the
Malaya kept her station and kept firing relentlessly back.

Meanwhile Jellicoe, is his powerful Dreadnought the Iron Duke had
increased speed to rendezvous with Beatty and add the weight of
the full Grand Fleet to the battle. His short signal to the
Admiralty in London raised the tension and expectation there to
new height: "Fleet action is imminent". Jellicoe was, however,
confused and uncertain about how the battle was developing, being
none too impressed by the vagueness and contradiction of the
reports: "I have never felt so `out of it' - I could not make out
the situation a bit. Neither the enemy battle fleet was ahead,
abeam or on the quarter.

The accuracy of fire of the German battlecruisers had dropped off
considerably, as all five had taken a considerable punishment.
However the leading German Dreadnoughts had their chance when a
hit on Walpite's rudder jarred it, and forced the great warship
into turning in a huge sweep, initially straight at the German
Fleet. Warspite took a terrific pounding, being hit many times,
but unlike the battlecruisers its heavy armor plating withstood
the battering and it kept firing as it steamed around in its
lonely circle. This may have saved another British ship, the
Warrior, from immediate destruction.
16The Warrior had been following its squadron flagship, the
Defense, about 10 miles or so ahead of Jellicoe. Both ships were
old armored cruisers and had turned to fire into the advancing
Germans, disabling the light cruiser Wisbaden. But when the old
armored cruisers took the fire from the German Dreadnoughts, they
were severely punished. The Defense exploded and sank under a
rain of shells, and the Warrior limped off, fortunately saved by
the Warspite as the German gunners shifted targets.

Despite Jellicoe's uncertainty about the exact German position
and course, he ordered his fleet to change from side columns
abreast to one long battle line, lead by the powerful Dreadnought
King George V.

The Germans, eagerly seeking fresh laurels, were taken aback.
They could not see the British fleet itself, but just the bright
yellow flashes of over 100 heavy guns all along the Northern
horizon. The ships in the van of the British line found great
difficulty in seeing any targets in the mist, but the ships to
the rear fired many broadsides, hitting the leading German
battlecruisers and Dreadnoughts.

The fighting lasted for about half an hour, but despite the
weight of advantage in the British favor a salvo of shells hit
the British battlecruiser Invincible, and it too went into its
death throes, first pulling out of line sharply, and then
exploding.

Admiral Scheer then signalled to his fleet to carry out a
manoeuvre it had practiced many times, a "battle turn away",
where all ships turn together and head away on an opposite
course.
This manoeuvre was carried out with considerable skill and ended
the firing.

Jellicoe signalled to the flagship leading the rear of his line,
the Marlborough: "Can you see enemy!". "No" came the reply.
Admiral Scheer, who had successfully extricated his fleet, then
turned around and again headed straight
17back into the center of the British line. Despite his later
insistence that this was designed to re-engage Jellicoe, it is
far more likely he was trying to steer round the back of the
Grand Fleet and escape back to base. In the event though he gave
Jellicoe a second chance, and had to resort to even more
desperate measures to escape. Scheer order Hipper's badly mauled
battlecruisers to charge the British line. First the Derfflinger,
then the others slowly built up speed and, in an episode that has
motivated seafarers ever since, launched themselves forward
against enormous odds.

As this was being done the rest of the German fleet's big ships
turned away for the second time. The German battlecruisers took a
predictable battering before they turned away, the Lutzow being
so badly damaged that it was abandoned. This was the first
serious German lost. Scheer also ordered his destroyers to launch
a torpedo attack to cover the retreat. This achieved the desired
effect of turning the British Dreadnoughts away, a decision that
was possibly unnecessary as the torpedoes were launched at
maximum range, and a counter-attack by British destroyers largely
drove off the attacking flotillas.

This second escape ended the main engagement between the
Dreadnoughts, although Beatty's battlecruisers, now at the head
of the battle line, did engage some German ships, believed to be
the pre-Dreadnought battleships for a short while.

Throughout the fighting the mist played a decisive role in
shielding each side's ships from the gunnery view. Report after
report in the logs of the British fleet show the frustration at
being unable to make out the targets clearly, if at all.

Admiral Scheer decided to turn a second time to try to make Horns
Reef, and the security of his bases, but this time using the
cover of night. He ordered his ships to maintain course, as they
quite desperately sought to escape from Jellicoe's battle fleet.
18Seer's escape route took him though the rear of the British
fleet, now heading South in its search. The rear was made up of
the British destroyer flotilla's. In the considerable confusion
and uncertainly of battle at night, the British destroyers flung
themselves in torpedo attacks at the German ships as they
occasionally came into view. There were several collisions
between the destroyers, and one even collided with the German
Dreadnought Nassau before making good its escape (the German guns
could not be lowered to be brought to bear on the tiny
destroyer).

These attacks cost the flotillas several destroyer and many
lives, but were eventually successful as a torpedo hit on the
pre-Dreadnought battleship Pommern sent it up in a huge
explosion.

The light of early morning brought huge relief to the German
fleet. Hundreds of binoculars scanned the horizon in the
expectation of seeing the Grand Fleet barring in way home, but it
was too far away to intervene, and the ships of the High Seas
Fleet made it safely back to port.

The Germans were quick to claim victory at Jutland, and certainly
the list of British ships sunk is awesome:

Battlecruisers: Queen Mary, Indefatigable and Invincible

Armored cruisers: Defence, Warrior and Black Prince

Destroyer: Tipperary, Ardent, Fortune, Sparrowhawk Shark Nestor,
Nomad and Turbulent.

The German losses were significant:

Battlecruiser: Lutzow

Battleship: Pommern
19Light cruisers: Wiesbaden, Elbing, Rostock and Frauenlob

Destroyers: V48, V4, V27, S35 and V29

British casualties were painfully high, over 6,000 men were
killed (around 3,000 on the three battlecruisers). German losses
were around 2,500 killed.

Credit certainly has to be given to the skillful handling of the
German fleet, its accurate gunnery and its bravery (especially of
the battlecruisers), but the clear resilience of the German ships
to punishment saved several from going down.

On the British side bravery, particularly of the battlecruisers,
light cruisers and destroyers, is beyond question. The tactics
were again good, although Jellicoe's rigid command discipline
prevented other admirals acting on their own initiative when
perhaps they could have done. The ships however where far from
beyond question, the battlecruisers were not well protected, and
the armored cruisers should have become museum pieces years
before.

In the end though the poor visibility, helped by vague British
communications, probably saved the German fleet from crippling
losses in its escape. Despite British losses, Jutland did not
change the strategic balance in the North Sea. The Grand Fleet
did not lose a single Dreadnought. Beatty still had an advantage
in the numbers of battlecruisers, and British shipyards were
building replacements three times faster than their German
counterparts.

Jutland caused consternation in Britain, and a deep loss of faith
by the British public in the Royal Navy (who confidently expected
a naval battle to be another Trafalgar). However it was most
succinctly summarized by an American journalist who wrote "The
German navy has assailed is jailor - but remains in jail".
20After Jutland the German fleet made few sorties, although one of
which could have led to another battle. Germany though was
exhausted on the land battle fronts, and in capitulation there
led to the surrender of the entire fleet to the British (now
commanded by Admiral Beatty).

"The German flag will be hauled down at sunset, and will not be
hoisted again without permission" - Admiral Beatty, after the
surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, November 1918.

Naval History of The Sino Japanese War - 1894

Japan began the transition from a medieval state to a modern
power around 1850, taking most of its lessons from the colonial
Europeans. Only a small fraction of Japan is inhabitable, the
rest being inhospitable mountains, so the country's lack of
sovereign territory has long dominated its policy towards other
Asian countries.

By early 1894 Japan's rulers felt confident enough to expand, and
were enviously eyeing nearby Korea. Formosa (now Taiwan) and the
huge land mass of China. Deliberate Japanese provocations soon
led to war with China.

Both Japanese and Chinese troop movements to the land around the
Yalu river were carried out by sea, and the escorting squadrons
of warships clashed in the Yellow Sea on 17th September 1894.
Neither side expected the clash to result in one of the biggest
naval engagements for decades, but that is just what happened.
The Chinese, led by two 12 inch gunned battleships, came out from
the Yalu river in near to line abreast formation. The whole
squadron was somewhat slow, maintaining a speed of only six
knots.
21The Japanese, with no battleships but several more modern
cruisers, adopted the traditional line astern formation, and were
capable of twice the speed of the Chinese. In addition they split
into two squadrons, enabling more rapid manoeuvres.

The fleets first sighted each other between the islands of Talu
and Haiyang around midday. The battle that followed is sometimes
referred to as the battle of Haiyang.

As the fleets engaged the Chinese line abreast formation first
became a wedge, then became a mess, as the Japanese moved swiftly
passed them. The Japanese squadrons circled round the hapless
Chinese, with the range at times decreasing to under 1,000 yards.

Both sides had peculiar disadvantages. The biggest Japanese guns,
the French designed 12.6 inch Canets, could only fire once every
five minutes, and proved all but useless. However the Chinese
ammunition was so poor that some reports suggest many shells were
not filled with explosives, but contained sand or were just
empty.

The most effective results were gained by the Japanese cruisers,
in particular the Yoshino, armed with German 21cm (8.2 inch)
guns.

After five hours of fighting the result of the battle were
conclusive. The Chinese ships Chao Yung, Chih Yuen, and King-Yuen
were sunk in the battle, and the Kwang-Chia struck a reef and
later exploded while trying to flee. The Yang_Wei was rammed and
sunk accidentally by the Chi Yuen. The Ping_Yuen also sank in
shallow water after escaping from the fight.

No Japanese ships were lost, although all but one reported
casualties and damage. Newspapers reported that the flagship
Matsushima, and the Akagi and Hiei showed the worst effects of
the fighting.
22All Japan went on to capture the rest of the Chinese fleet in is
harbours at Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei. However its colonization
of the land soon ended under great pressure from Germany and
Russia.

This humiliation of Japan did not stop its attempts at expansion,
as the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, and more recently the
Second World War, show clearly enough.

The battle of Yalu, or Haiyang, is the first scenario on the
IRONCLADS disk and the oldest battle recreated by this program.

Naval History of The Russo-Taoanese War -1904 to 1905

As the Russians and Japanese contested the mainland and islands
of the Far East, considerable interest in the balance of power
there was shown by the other world powers. Britain sided with
Japan, worried about Russian expansion into China, and supplied
the Japanese with modern warships, including four powerful
battleships.

Russia turned to France for assistance, and a naval arms race
began that both sides felt would inevitably lead to war, Japan
was strongly influential in Korea at the time, as the Russians
were in Manchuria (now Northern China). The southern most point
of Manchuria was the strategically valuable port called Port
Arthur.

Showing a willingness to take the initiative without bothering
with War declarations (as with Pearl Harbor), the Japanese chose
a favorable moment and attacked Port Arthur. This attack was
nowhere near as successful as Pearl Harbor, but it demonstrated
the aggression of Japanese
23navel tactics, and the Russian fleet, commanded by Admiral
Witgeft, became crippled by indecision amongst its high command.

The Japanese managed to move troops out of Korea to surround Port
Arthur on the land side, while the navy blockaded the entrance.
The Russians showed considerable courage in the bloody defense of
Port Arthur in the land battles, but the fleet of six battleships
in the port had to be repeatedly ordered by Moscow to attempt a
breakout and sail to Vladivostock.

Eventually, on 10th August 1904, Admiral Witgeft did put to sea,
and initially made good his escape from the Japanese Admiral
Togo. However Togo managed to re-engage the Russian fleet while
it was still in the Yellow Sea, and a shell killed Admiral
Witgeft while he stood outside on the bridge. After this event
senior officers in many navies were ordered to take cover, and
ignore the Nelsonian image of flag officers standing bolt upright
on deck oblivious to danger.

Despite Witgeft's orders to the second-in-command, Admiral
Ukhotomski, to make for Vladivostock regardless, Ukhotomski
ordered the fleet to follow and went straight back to Port
Arthur. No ships were sunk in the battle (named the Battle of the
Yellow Sea, or the Battle of Round Island) but the fighting was
fierce between the battleships for a while. The three leading
Japanese battleships all took direct hits, the flagship Mikasa
having most of its main guns knocked out. Needless to say Admiral
Ukhotomski was relieved of his command on return. Some of the
cruisers and destroyers did attempt to slip away in the night and
reach Vladivostock but all were captured before they made it.

This battle is recreated in the Yellow Sea scenario.

When the Russian Admiral in Vladivostock, Admiral Iessen, heard
that the Port Arthur fleet was attempting a breakout, he rushed
to sea with his small
24force of three armored cruisers. A brave attempt to meet up and
help the larger fleet. As soon as Ukhotomski's turn back was
reported to Vladivostock a fast destroyer was sent out to stop
Admiral Iessen.

Unfortunately this destroyer did not reach the Rossia, Iessen's
flagship, in time and the Russian squadron ran into a more
powerful Japanese force, commanded by Admiral Kamimura, guarding
the Straights of Tsushima.

In a battle that became known as the Battle of Ulsan, the slow
Russian armored cruiser Rurik was caught, pounded, and sunk.
Iessen made several circular sweeps to draw the fire off the
Rurit but it ended in vain, and the Russians fled back to
Vladivostock. Admiral Kamimura did not maintain his pursuit long
enough to catch Iessen's two remaining cruisers.

This small battle is captured in the Ulsan scenario.

Meanwhile the Russian Baltic fleet, commanded by Admiral
Rozhdestvensky in the battleship Suvarov, had been ordered to
start its epic voyage, halfway around the world, to raise the
naval blockade of Port Arthur.

Unfortunately for the Russians, the Japanese captured a famous
hill overlooking Port Arthur, named 203 metre hill, long before
the Baltic fleet was due to arrive. This hill enabled the
Japanese to direct the fire of powerful 11 inch howitzers into
the bay at Port Arthur, and systematically sink the Russian ships
in it.

Soon after this Port Arthur surrendered.

The Baltic fleet completed the journey around the world in six
months. Sailing via the Cape of Good Hope, there was no shortage
of mishaps and adventures on the way.
25The nervousness of the Russians is shown in one incident in the
North Sea when they completely unrealistically took British
fishing vessels to be Japanese torpedo boats and opened fire on
them. Fishermen were killed and a war with Britain was only
narrowly avoided.

One startling feature of the Baltic fleet was its age. The four
new Borodino class battleships were respectable enough, but many
of the ships were hopelessly old, some resembling sailing
men-of-war with funnels.

It is no secret that the Russian fleet was hoping to slip through
the Straights of Tsushima and reach its new destination of
Vladivostock (there was hardly any point heading for Port Arthur)
without a major fight. After six months at sea this is
understandable.

As the fleet closed on the narrow straight, it was obvious from
listening to Japanese transmissions that the Russian fleet had
not been spotted. Hopes were high and nerves were on edge.
However, as the fleet moved on the monitored radio transmissions
changed, they became rapid and excitable. It was clear that the
Russians had been seen.

At first the Russians just saw several Japanese cruiser appear
out of the mist, then after a brief exchange of fire, disappear
again. As the fleet, sailing in a tight formation, got nearer to
Tsushima Island, these brief encounters with the Japanese
cruisers became more frequent. It was the slow build up to a
major action.

About midday on 27th May 1905 the Russians first sighted a line
of big ships heading South on a nearly opposite course. Initial
wishful thinking that this was only part of the Japanese fleet
turned out to be just that, as every powerful ship that Admiral
Togo could muster slowly appeared on the horizon,
26Admiral Togo tried repeatedly to use the extra speed of his main
ships to "cross the T" of the Russians. This is a tactic were the
full broadside of one fleet engaged simply the van of the other,
in the hope of disabling some ships before the rest can get into
action.

Despite this extra speed the Russians consistently turned to
avoid being caught, although they had to endure some punishment
while closing the range to bring their secondary armament and
smaller guns into action.

Both flagships took the brunt of the fighting in the first hour
of the battle, and the Suvarov, the Russian flagship became badly
damaged. The Russian second-in-command, in the battleship
Alexander III took over leading the line when the Suvarov could
no longer keep up a reasonable speed.

It was mainly from the experience of this battle that future
admirals decided not to place their flagships at the head of the
battle line (in particular, note the positions of the flagships
at Jutland).

As smoke poured out of the Russian ships observers on them kept
peering at the Japanese line to see if any were hit. But they
could see nothing but a line of ships firing relentlessly at
them. Hits on the Russian battleships became more frequent as
their guns were slowly knocked out.

A key factor in the fight seems to be the quality of the Japanese
ammunition, its shells exploding violently and causing far more
damage than the Russian return fire seemed to be.

Admiral Rozhdestvensky was injured on the Suvarov, and eventually
a destroyer appeared out of the confusion to take him off. A
number of other officers escaped onto the destroyer, which,
without any small boat, had to come alongside the flagship and
enabled the officer to cross to it while it was lifted by a wave.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime desperate move by the destroyer
captain, which was successful.
27When a destroyer was sent back to the Suvarov to pick up the rest
of the survivors the once formidable battleship could not be
found. It was apparently sunk by repeated torpedo attacks from
Japanese destroyer. One Japanese observer watched the Suvarov's
final demise, his remaining guns firing desperately right to the
end "as is befitting of a flagship".

The rest of the fleet made an effort to continue on course for
Vladivostock but only one armed yacht (the Almaz) and two
destroyers ever reached it.

The Russian battleships Borodino and Alexander III were both sun
and almost ever other ship was sunk or badly damaged in the
fighting that continued well into the night. The next day many of
the Russian ships surrendered, being virtually unable to make
steam and in a clearly hopeless situation.

No Japanese ships were lost during this battle, the Battle of
Tsushima, and it clearly bares comparison with Trafaigar in the
decisiveness of the result. Admiral Togo became a national hero,
Japan had established itself as a world power beyond question,
and the humiliation of Russia helped fuel the discontent that led
to the Bolshevick revolution of 1917.

Naval History of the Second World War - 1939 to 1945

The Second World War involved the World's five biggest navies,
those of Britain, USA, Japan, Germany and Italy, in a fight to
the death. As the War stretched to all the comers of the Globe,
these navies were engaged in the fighting to a degree unknown in
previous wars. It is, for example, impossible to separate the
involvement of the US Army and Navy in the Pacific War with
Japan, as so much of the fighting required combined operations.
28The DREADNOUGHTS simulator do not pretend to encompass the full
scope of naval conflict in this war, but concentrates on the
battles that were good old-fashioned engagements between surface
warships. Easily the most famous of the is the pursuit and
sinking of the German battleship Bismarck although others such as
the battle of the River Plate were important and are well known.

At the outbreak of war in September 1939 Germany's navy was
clearly the weakest of its three main forces. The Treaty of
Versailles, which somewhat humiliated Germany after the First
World War, severely restricted the ships it could build. Hitler
seems to have been anxious to have kept (at least publicly)
within the treaty limits, in order not to provoke Britain. The
limits imposed on German shipbuilding resulted in some clever
designs, none more success than the "pocket battleships" such as
the Grab Spee. The Grab Spee was one of a class of ships built
with the displacement of a cruiser but with the armament of a
small battleship. This made it an excellent commerce raider, as
its speed enabled it to escape from more powerful ships, but its
firepower (six 11 inch guns) could easily out match any cruiser
the British could put against it.

Just before the war started the Grab Spee sailed for the South
Atlantic, escaping unnoticed through the Faeroes-Iceland gap. The
early weeks of the war were dominated by politics and caution,
and the Grab Spee was not allowed to attack French or US ships,
but could attack and sink British merchantmen. This she did with
considerable success, sowing a huge amount of confusion in the
Royal Navy as to the raider's whereabouts, and how many ships
were involved. The pursuing force in the South Atlantic was
commanded by Commodore Harwood in HMS Ajax along with her sister
ship HMS Achilles (both armed with 6 inch guns), and the more
powerful HMS Exeter and HMS Cumberland (both with 8 inch guns).
None of these ships on their own were any match for Grab Spee,
and even all four together were in great danger from 1 1 inch
guns.
29After a cruise of several months and with nine British ships
sunk, Captain Langsdorff, commanding the Grab Spee, decided to
head for the River Plate Estuary to attack British shipping
there. In an inspired piece of guesswork Commodore Harwood
decided to concentrate his force at this estury as the most
likely next target. Unfortunately for Harwood the Cumberland had
to be sent to the Falklands to refuel.

Harwood's cruisers had already worked out tactics on how to fight
a superior ship before they met Grab Spee on December 13th. The
tactics were to split their force, the Exeter attacking
independently with its 8 inch guns, and the smaller Ajax and
Achilles racing in to attack when the Grab Spee's shells started
falling too close to the Exeter. This should force the Grab Spee
to switch targets, so losing the range on the Exeter, which would
then re-engage and force the Grab Spee to switch targets again.

When Langsdorff sighted the three cruisers he decided to close
the range, to enable his secondary armament to deal with the two
smaller gunners quickly established the range on the Exeter, and
started hitting, causing an alarming amount of damage. However,
the Grab Spee was hit both by the Exeter and the small cruisers,
and Langsdorff was worried about allowing the Ajax and Achilles
the opportunity of closing to torpedo range. He therefore
switched his main armament to fire at them, thus giving the
Exeter a respite. Dynamic ship handling on the Ajax and Achilles
spared them any hits, although several near misses showered them
with splinters. The Exeter re-engaged the Grab Spee, but again
the German gunners found their target and punished the British
cruiser with several hits. Again the Ajax and Achilles threatened
with torpedoes, and again the Exeter was saved, now with only one
turret left firing.

For a third time Grab Spee turned on the Exeter, and Harwood,in
the Ajax, steamed towards the German ship to close the range.
Langsdorff again switched target, but this time hit the Ajax
hard, knocking out the two after
30turrets with one hit. Grab Spee was also hit, losing its spotter
plane. The Exeter was now out of the action, and the Ajax and
Achilles were low on ammunition. Harwood decided to call off the
action, and under the cover of smoke, broke free. Grab Spee
headed for the sanctuary of neutral Montevideo in Uruguay,
blazing away with all its guns. Thus ended the battle of the
River Plate, but not the saga of the Grab Spee.

Tied down by the complicated politics of a warship in a neutral
port, and with knowledge of an increasing British presence to
blockade him in, Langsdorff and the German Admiralty were in a
quandary on how to proceed. An initial plan to break out for
Argentina was thwarted by clever British diplomacy, and the Grab
Spee was scuttled on 17th December. Langsdorff felt compelled to
shoot himself. Harwood had already been promoted to Rear-Admiral
following the battle on the 13th.

The battle of the River Plate was a brilliantly handled cruiser
action, and is the first battle on the BISMARCK scenario disk.

The next three battles involve the Bismarck in its famous
breakout into the Atlantic. The Royal Navy committed five
battleships, three battlecruisers, two aircraft carriers, 14
cruisers, 33 destroyers and eight submarines to, in Churchill's
famous order "sink the Bismarck".

The Bismarck was a powerful battleship, claimed to be within the
limits of the Treaty of Versailles, but in fact was well outside
it. With eight 15 inch guns, and a considerable turn of speed at
29 knots, it was both fast and deadly.

The original plan was for it to break out into the Atlantic with
the cruiser Prinz Eugen, and meet up with the battleships
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, currently in Brest. This would create
an impressive and swift fleet of raiders to disrupt the Atlantic
convoys. Unfortunately for the Germans, the
31Scharnhorst, undergoing a refit, was not ready for sea, and the
Gneisenau suffered bomb damage in port. The revised plan was
simply to get the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen out on a raid in May
1941.

Initially events went well for Admiral Lutjens on the Bismarck.
The ships sailed in bad weather and made it to the Denmark
Straight before being spotted by the British cruisers, Norfolk
and Suffolk. These two cruisers shadowed the Bismarck until the
battlecruiser Hood and the new battleship Prince of Wales could
engage it.

At first light on 24th May the German ships saw the British
fleet, commanded by Admiral Holland on the Hood, but initially
mistook them for cruisers. Prinz Eugen engaged the Hood for a
short time, scoring at least one hit. This hit started a fire on
Hood that enabled the Bismarck's spotters to find the range
quickly. The British dispositions were poor. The Hood led the
more heavily protected Prince of Wales, in a tight formation, in
a diagonal course towards the Bismarck that enabled the Germans
to fire full broadsides, but did not close the range as quickly
as they could have done.

In the event the Hood was hit by a salvo from Bismarck that
caused a serious explosion that broke the Hood in two.
Conventional wisdom is that Hood's magazine exploded, although
eyewitnesses reported that the explosion took place well away
from any magazine, and may have been Hood's torpedoes exploding.
In any event, there were only three survivors, and the world's
largest battlecruiser was sunk, possibly after only four salvos
from Bismarck. Contrary to some reports that Prinz Eugen was kept
out of the fight, it played an active part, and the fire from
both ships was then concentrated on the Prince of Wales. HMS
Prince of Wales was not a happy ship, it was plagued by jamming
turrets, and was reduced to firing from its one twin barrelled
"B" turret. It took seven hours from the two Germans before
turning and escaping through its smoke screen. Bismarck took a
damaging hit from the Prince of Wales, which flooded some of the
forward compartments.
32The loss of the Hood was treated as a national calamity by the
British, although careful analysis would show it was simply not
well protected enough to have been put into such a fight. The
Germans have long lamented Admiral Lutjens decision not to pursue
the Prince of Wales.

This battle, the battle of the Denmark Straights, is the first in
the Bismarck trio.

Following this disaster the British concentrated on their
attempts to slow the Bismarck down using torpedo attacks from
ancient Swordfish biplanes. However a clever turn by Lutjens
evaded the shadowing forces and contact was lost with Bismarck
and Prinz Eugen.

The Prinz Eugen then separated from Bismarck to make its own way
back to Brest, the Bismarck taking a more direct route.

After several harrowing days the Bismarck was located by an RAF
Catalina, and the Swordfish attacks continued. After a serious
mistake when the Swordfish attacked the cruiser Sheffield, two
more strikes scored two or three torpedo his on Bismarck.
Although the midship his increased Bismarck's flooding, it was
the one hit on the stern, jamming the rudder, that was to prove
critical.

Bismarck started to turn erratically, and despite desperate
attempts to free its rudder, the great battleship started heading
back towards her pursuers. That night, on the 26th May, Captain
Vian's destroyer flotilla, lead by the Cossack, launched a
further torpedo attack. Because of appalling weather the results,
and even course, of this battle are unknown. However this attack
by four Tribal class destroyers, and the Polish destroyer Piorun,
is recaptured in the Tribal scenario.
33One thing this attack did achieve is that it kept Bismarck's
gunners up through the night. It was an exhausted crew that
sighted two more British battleships, the flagship King George V
and the Rodney, and two heavy cruisers, the Norfolk and
Dorsetshire, the next morning.

The commander of the British fleet, Admiral Tovey, had taken on
board the lessons of the sinking of the Hood, and split his force
up to make life for the German gunners as difficult as possible.
HMS Rodney, distinctive for its three triple barrelled 16 inch
guns, was the first to open fire, at 8 47 am, followed quickly by
the King George V (with ten 14 inch guns), and then the Bismarck
itself. A hit from the cruiser Norfolk first wounded the Bismarck
knocking out its fire control director. A 16 inch hit from Rodney
knocked both Bismarck's forward guns. As the Germans shifted
their fire control to the after position, a 14 inch salvo from
King George V knocked out this fire control station too. The
weight of firepower against the Bismarck was telling rapidly. By
9 31 am all Bismarck's main turrets were out of action, and it
had scored no hits.

The British mercilessly pounded the Bismarck for the next 45
minutes, until at 10 45 am Tovey broke off the action. At the
same time engineers on board the Bismarck were ordered to prepare
the ship for sinking. At 10 36 the Dorsetshire was ordered to
torpedo the burning hulk two of the four torpedoes fired hit, and
the Bismarck sank at 10 40. Although many hundreds of German
survivors escaped into the water, only 119 were picked up by the
Dorsetshire before it was forced to escape following a U boat
scare. A few more survivors were indeed picked up by a U boat and
a German weather vessel. A much relieved Royal Navy, now
desperately short of fuel, turned and headed for home.

The third of the three Bismarck scenarios recaptures this last
fight.

After Japan's undeclared start to the Pacific War, with is attack
on Pearl Harbor, there followed a catalogue of disasters for the
Allied powers.
34Britain was, temporarily, under the illusion that the presence of
its capital ships in Singapore would deter any Japanese
aggression in that area. Some in the Admiralty also believed that
aircraft alone could not sink a capital ship at sea. These
mistakes resulted in the sinking of the battleship Prince of
Wales and battle cruiser Repulse, in their attempt to interfere
with the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Siam.

The ships sailed from Singapore on the 8th December 1941, changed
plan and headed back for Singapore on 9th December, were located
by Japanese submarines on 10th December, and were relentlessly
bombed and torpedoed until they both sank.

As the Japanese attacked throughout the Far East, a joint force
called ABDA (American - British - Dutch - Australian) was set up
to try to organize naval resistance. On the 24th January 1942
this force tried to prevent the invasion of Bomeo at Balikpapan,
but failed.

On the 27th February 1942 the ABDA force tried to intercept
Japanese invasion transport ships heading for the island of Java,
but instead ran into its covering force of cruisers and
destroyers. The battle of the Java Sea marked the end of the ABDA
fleet.

The commander of the ABDA fleet was Admiral Doorman, in the Dutch
cruiser De Ruyter, and the force included the British heavy
cruiser HMS Exeter and the US heavy cruiser Houston. There was
also the Australian cruiser Perth and Dutch light cruiser
Sumatra, along with 9 destroyers. The Japanese covering force,
commanded by Admiral Takagi, consisted of two heavy cruisers, the
Nachi and Haguro, two light cruisers, the Naka and Jintsu, and 14
destroyers.

On sighting the Japanese force Admiral Doorman tried to break off
the engagement, as his intended target was the transports.
However hits on HMS Exeter slowed the allied escape, and soon the
force became heavily engaged.
35The Japanese started using their new Long Lance torpedoes to
great effect. With a range of over 30,000 yards these torpedoes
hit and sunk first the destroyer Kortenaer then the flagship De
Ruyter. Soon afterwards the Java went the same way. HMS Electra,
a destroyer, was sunk trying to help the Exeter.

The Exeter survived, only to be sunk two days later in an attempt
to escape through the Sunda Straight. The remaining allied
cruisers, the Houston and Perth, were also sunk while trying to
prevent another landing at Bantam Bay in the Sunda Straight. The
remnants of the ABDA force headed for Australia and Celyon.

Almost the entire ABDA force had been lost for very little gain.
Churchill called the battle of Java Sea, the fifth scenario on
the Bismarck disk, "forlorn hope". The defeat of the Japanese in
the Pacific was to involve a very different kind of naval action,
a battle of submarines, carrier fleets, and intelligence.

In the war against Germany, Russia was repeatedly asking the
British and Americans for help, which was provided through the
Arctic convoy system to the port of Murmansk. The German navy,
based in the superb protection of the Norwegian fjords,
repeatedly disrupted these convoys with submarines and surface
ships.

The mere presence of the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst in
Norway caused severe problems for the allies. Battleship covering
forces were necessary for convoys if there was just the
possibility that one of these giants was to put to sea. The
Tirpitz was repeatedly bombed by the RAF, and was successfully
damaged in an attack using midget submarines, but the Scharnhorst
was a lucky and successful ship, and had largely escaped serious
damage throughout the war.

On the 26th December 1943, Scharnhorst's luck was to run out. It
left its secure base, Alten Fjord, to try to attack a convoy
bound for Murmansk. The
36close escort of the convoy included the three cruisers Belfast,
Sheffield and Norfolk. The battleship covering force, many miles
more distant (as it had to cover several convoys) was made up of
the battleship Duke of York cruiser Jamaica, and four escorting
destroyers. The British were commanded by Admiral Frazer in the
Duke of York.

The Scharnhorst, commanded by Admiral Bey, was escorted by five
large destroyer. However these destroyers were stationed 10 miles
ahead of the battleship, too far in the very bad weather and
light conditions of an Arctic winter.

The Scharnhorst first ran into the three cruisers, and a short
engagement followed. Admiral Bumett, in the Belfast, broke off
contact to protect the convoy, as he was sure that the
Scharnhorst would continue with is attack. Admiral Frazer, now
steaming towards the action, became very anxious when contact
with the German ship was lost. Nevertheless Schamhorst, now
without is destroyers, did reappear and fight a further
engagement with Burnett's cruisers before calling the attack off.

Burnett shadowed the Scharnhorst, and was reinforced by four
destroyers,the 36th Destroyer division, from another convoy
escort. Frazer, in the Duke of York headed to cut off
Scharnhorst's retreat to Alten Fjord. Finally, at 4 47pm, Duke of
York made radar contact with the Schamhorst, and closed in for
the kill. In the very poor light the heavy guns of the two ships
engaged mostly by radar, and even though Scharnhorst was hit
several times it looked as though it would escape. However a last
salvo from Duke of York penetrated a boiler room in the
Scharnhorst, and destroyed it. The battleship's speed dropped to
around 8 knots, but only for a while.

Admiral Frazer had sent his destroyers in pursuit of the
Scharnhorst, and there was considerable elation on board when the
radar showed the destroyers to be gaining. In the desperate
torpedo attacks that followed, with Scharnhorst flinging her helm
to one side and the other to avoid the attackers, the Duke of
York and the cruisers closed on the now frantic prey.
37The destroyers scored several torpedo hits, and succeeded in
bringing the Scharnhorst speed down again from 22 knots to around
8 knots.

At 7 pm the British battleship opened fire, hitting with the
first salvo. The cruisers joined in to add to Admiral Bey's
trouble. Bey seems to have accepted the Schamhorst's fate at
around 7 pm, with only one main turret left-firing, when he
signalled German high command: "We shall fight to the last shell:
Scharnhorst ever onwards. The Duke of York ceased fire at 7 29
pm,"the Scharnhorst a battered hulk and ordered the cruiser
Jamaica to finish it off with torpedoes. This was easier said
than done. The German ship was still firing her secondary
armament, even after the Abandon Ship order was given, around 7
30 pm. The Belfast joined in with its torpedoes, but it was not
until the four destroyers of the 36th Division joined in that
Scharnhorst finally sank. In the end Schamhorst was hit by at
least eleven 21 inch torpedoes before she went under, at 7 45 pm.
Only 36 survivors were picked up from the icy waters of the
Arctic Sea.

The loss of the Scharnhorst ended the capital ship actions
between the British and German navies, and is the last scenario
for the Dreadnoughts program.

The role of warships

"The main thing - perhaps the only thing - for the
Commander-in-Chief, was to issue a general idea of attack so that
everyone could act with confidence and determination in
destroying the enemy's force" - Admiral Dewar.

A wartime navy is made up of many different types of ship, each
with identified roles. Here is an introduction to the
classification of warships,
38Ship classes

Once a design for a warship has been accepted by the Admiralty,
it is normal practice for several to be built to the same
specification. The first ship built usually gives its name to the
class as a whole. Sometimes the class was limited to one ship,
for example HMS Tiger was the only Tiger class battle cruiser,and
SMS Blucher the only Blucher class armored cruiser. Normally
though several ships are built to the same design before
improvements are made and a new design, resulting in a new class,
is built.

The charts supplied with the games list the names of all the
ships present at the simulations, and in square brackets [...]
the class of the ship is given.

Battleships

A battleship has only one main active role, to overcome and
destroy any enemy ships with its immense artillery. Battleships
were heavily protected with armor plating, mounted 11 to 16 inch
guns in large turrets, and, at the time of the First World War,
represented the ultimate weapon. Properly built a battleship
could withstand an immense pounding.

A battleship would normally serve in a squadron of ships of
similar or identical class, and that squadron would form part of
a main battle fleet.

Battlecruisers

"Rein in dem Feind! Ran!" (Straight into the enemy! Charge!) -
Admiral Sheer's desperate order to his battlecruisers at Jultand

The battlecruisers were an exciting and macho class of ships, but
the concept was distinctly flawed, The strength of a
battlecruiser lay in its high speed and
39hitting power. The guns mounted on battlecruisers matched those
of battleships, but their armor plating was sacrificed in order
to get the speed.

The role of battlecruisers was supposed to be as a powerful
scouting force, capable of drawing the enemy's battle fleet into
action. Their speed also helped them intercept enemy raids.

However the great flaw of reduced armor plating meant that they
were incapable of withstanding the punishment that the big guns
could deliver. The maxim of "speed is life" does not apply in an
engagement between capital ships, it is staying power that
counts.

The list of British battlecruisers destroyed by only a few big
shells is frightful- the Invincible, Queen Mary and Indefatigable
all blew up at Jutland, and of course the famous fight between
the Hood and Bismarck lasted only four or five salvos.

Battlecruisers were eventually discarded in favor of the concept
of the fast battleship.

Armored and Protected Cruisers

Armored Cruisers, at the time of Jutland, were a left-over from a
previous era. They belong to the pre-Dreadnought classes of
ships, but were strangely kept on as third-rate battleships. They
did not possess the speed of light or battle cruisers, and their
role at battles like Jutland was not much more than cannon
fodder. Losses among Armored Cruiser were great when in contact
with more modern warships, and had almost no protection against
torpedo hits.

In theaters far from home, Armored Cruisers were more justifiably
used as small battleships in making up trade protection fleets.
40Protected Cruiser is an older term, referring to any medium sized
ship where some effort has been made with armor plating. They are
only present in the IRONCLADS scenarios.

Light Cruisers

Light cruisers were the light cavalry of the navy. Their main
role was as the eyes of the fleet, gathering information and
sending sighting reports to the flagships. It was common for a
force of light cruisers to be stationed several miles ahead of a
fleet, to act as scout. This was clearly a dangerous role as it
sometimes meant being too close to an enemy battle fleet for
comfort. In this role light cruisers took over from the frigates
of Nelson's time.

Other roles of light cruisers include escorting larger ships, and
in operating as commerce raiders and protection vessels
(particularly in the oceans far from home).

Cruisers

In the Second World War, and since, the term "light" has been
dropped and the role (and strength) of cruisers updated to
include engagements with larger enemy vessels.

Destroyers

It was a wild scene of groups of long low forms vomiting heavy
trails of smoke and dashing hither and thither at thirty knots or
more through the smother and splashes, and all in a rain of shell
from the secondary armament" - Corbett, on the destroyer melee's
at Jutland
41Destroyers were one of the great successes of the First World
War. Originally called Torpedo Boats, then Torpedo Boat
Destroyers, and finally just Destroyers, they were lethal little
craft that were to be produced in huge number both in the First
and Second World Wars.

The uses of destroyers increased as their worth became proven,
particularly in later years as submarine chasers, convoy escorts,
close support for amphibious operations, anti-aircraft gun
platforms, and so on. In the early days they served in small
numbers as escorts for larger ships, and in much larger number
(flotilias) for mass torpedo attacks. These mass attacks were
rarely very successful, but fear of them greatly affected the
movements of much larger ships. A battleship was well protected
if it had a destroyer escort,as it could escape from a heavier
force using the threat or reality of a destroyer torpedo attack
to force its enemy to turn away.

The best protection against such a mass attack was found to be a
mass destroyer counter-attack.

A destroyer relies on is speed and small size for protection, and
on its two or three small guns (typically 4 inch guns) and
torpedoes as offensive weapons.

Gunboats

Gunboats are very small vessels, typically used on rivers or
coastal patrols. Occasionally they got caught up in a major
battle, and so have been included for completeness. They will
have almost no effect on the outcome, being too lightly armed to
have much impact.

For this simulation vessels such as minesweepers, minelayers,
armed yachts and the like are classified as gunboats.
42Fleet organization

Fleets are made much easier to control by their organization into
squadrons. A squadron can by anything from two to 20 ships,
though is typically around four large ships, such as battleships
and cruisers, or six or more destroyers.

A fleet is commanded by the Admiral in his flagship, and the
other squadrons are usually commanded by Rear-Admirals in their
squadron flagships. The fleet flagship may well have a squadron
of its own.

A typical fleet organization might be:

LION
(Flagship)
Battlecruiser

SOUTHAMPTON AURORA
(Squadron (Squadron
Flagship) Flagship)
Light Cruiser Destroyer

BIRMINGHAM PRINCESS_ROYAL ACHERON
Light_Cruiser Battlecruiser Destroyer

NOTTINGHAM TIGER ATTACK
Light Cruiser Battlecruiser Destroyer

+1 other +10 others

43The flagship can order squadrons around as if they were single
ships. The subordinate ships to a flagship will simply follow
their leader, unless specifically ordered to do otherwise.

Communications

"The Germans originally changed their general cipher once a month
but soon changed it to every 24 hours, which they no doubt
believed would defeat attempt to find the key. Twice we had the
good fortune to obtain the new book. The first time from a sunken
submarine; the second time from a Zeppelin. The Zeppelins, being
under naval command, used the Navy signal book and cyphers" -
Commander James (Room 40 - A secret Admiralty intelligence
department)

Radio was certainly in use in the early 20th century, and all
ships are assumed to carry one. If this gets damaged the Signal
Officer is reduced to using either flags (during the daytime) and
lamps (in bad light and at night).

When signalling an order to another ship it must be preceded by:

SIGNAL THE <ship> ........

for example:

SIGNAL THE TIGER SEND ME YOUR SIGHTING REPORT

There is no need to specify radio communications, as it will
always be used in preference to the other two methods. The
tactics of radio-silence are not simulated in this version of
DREADNOUGHTS.
44Radar

Radar was not invented until the Second World War, and is not
simulated in this program.

Latitude and Longitude

"My position 41 degrees 10 minutes South 76 degrees 20 minutes
West, Course North" - HMS Canopus signalling to the flagship HMS
Good Hope, indicating that she was 250 miles away before the
fateful battle of Coronel

Ships will often report their position as a latitude (distance
North or South of the equator) and longitude (distance East or
West of the Greenwich Meridian). This is not a particularly easy
reference and involves some practice to get right.

Latitude and Longitude are measured in degrees and minutes. Each
degree being 60 minutes. Lines of latitude, fortunately, are
evenly spaced, with one minute of latitude being exactly one
nautical mile. Longitude lines are not evenly spaced, being
widest at the equator and narrowing to nothing at the poles.
However, as this over complicates navigation for this simulation,
lines of longitude are also assumed to be evenly spaced, and one
minute of longitude also measures exactly one nautical mile.

A nautical mile is just over 2000 yards, but is taken here to be
exactly 2000 yards, so one minute of latitude or longitude is
also exactly 2000 yards. Both degrees of latitude and longitude
are exactly 60 minutes apart or 120,000 yards.

Another difficulty with latitude and longitude (often shortened
to lat-long) is that the lowest coordinate is only in the bottom
left hand position on a chart
45(assuming North is always to the top or the chart, which is the
Admiralty standard) if the area is North of the Equator and to
the East of Greenwich. An area of sea West of Greenwich (say in
the Atlantic) will have its lowest coordinate in the bottom right
hand position. Needles to say in the Southern Hemisphere the
lowest lat-long coordinates are at the top of the chart.

Because it takes some practice to efficiently place a ship on a
chart using its lat-long position, the chart enclosed with this
game have lat-long coordinates marked every 5 or 10 minutes along
each margin.

Gunnery

There is a whole range of factors which affect the accuracy and
damage caused by naval guns. The most important being the weight
of explosives in the shell, its armor piercing capability,
rate-of-fire, and the maximum range.

This simulation also takes the following into account:

FIRING ARCS

Guns can clearly only fire at targets that they are capable of
pointing at. The firing arcs of any gun are coded into the
graphic descriptions of the ships in the class data files.
Forward and Aft mounted guns have a fairly clean sweep from one
broadside round to the other. Most secondary armaments are
limited to firing out the port or starboard side of a ship. Some
interesting turrets on First World War battleships have a wide
firing arc out of the port or starboard side, but can be rotated
to fire across the deck so giving a small firing arc out of the
other side. All these variations are taken into account,
46
RANGING SHOTS

The more shots a ship has fired at a target the more likely it is
to hit it, and the first few salvos are most likely to fall short
or go over.

"The British guns were ranging. Those deadly waterspouts crept
nearer and nearer. Men on deck watched them with a strange
fascination" - German survivor, SMS Blucher, Dogger Bank

DIRECTORS

Directors are optical sighting systems that help coordinate all
the main guns. Newer battleships and battlecruisers are assumed
to be firing with main directors, which increase the chances of a
hit, German ships had a similar sighting system, which they
called a Periscope:

"All the guns are kept dead on the enemy, without anyone working
the guns needing to see the target at all...as long as the
periscope is on the target, and as long as the proper range from
the enemy has been established, every gun is aiming dead at that
part of the hostile ship at which the periscope is pointing" *
Gunnery Officer, SMS Derfflinger

In this simulation all centrally controlled sighting systems are
referred to as "directors".

Secondary armament, and guns mounted on light cruisers and
Destroyers, are not controlled by central directors. In the
Second World War, Cruisers were fitted with them.

SHIP UNDER FIRE

"All around us huge columns of water, higher than the funnels,
were being thrown up as the enemy shells plunged into the
sea....some of these gigantic
47splashes curled over and deluged us with water" - Lieutenant
Chalmers, HMS Lion, Jutland

The effectiveness of fire depends partly on the state of mind of
the gunners and their ability to see clearly. The accuracy of a
ship under fire is noticeably reduced.

SHELL WEIGHT

The heavier the shell the better the ballistics, so a marginally
improved chance of a hit.

"I felt one or two very heavy shakes but didn't think much of it
at the time,"and it never occurred to me that we were being hit.
I saw two of our salvos hit the leading German battleship. Sheets
of yellow flame went right over her masthead....told everybody in
the turret that we were doing all right and to keep her going;
machines working like a clockwork mouse" - Executive officer, HMS
Warspite, Jutland

NUMBER OF GUNS FIRING

The more barrels that can be brought to bear on the target, the
better. It can be critical not to allow the enemy to fire full
broadsides against a fleet that can only reply with is forward or
aft guns, a famous manoeuvre known as "crossing the T":

"The entire arc from North to East was a sea of fire. The flash
from the muzzles of the guns was distinctly seen....more than one
hundred heavy guns joined in the fight on the enemy's side" -
Admiral Scheer, German Fleet Commander, on having his `T' crossed
at Jutland.
48TARGET LENGTH AND SPEED

The smaller and faster a target the more difficult it is to hit.

"There was handling of ships in that ten minutes such as never
been dreamed of by seamen before" - observer, Jutland

TARGET OR FIRING SHIP TURNING

The more turns made by either the target or the ship firing, the
less likely a hit.

SEA CONDITION

Secondary armaments accuracy is limited above a wind force 6
(Strong Breeze), and main armaments limited at a force 7 or more.

NIGHT TIME

The bad light severely affect visibility and accuracy.

"We had absolutely no idea of where the enemy was and only a
vague idea of the position of our own ships" - Destroyer captain,
during night action, Jutland.

"A lottery" - Admiral Jellicoe on night action.

Damage and Damage Control

A ship is a complicated instrument and shells bursting within
them can cause a multitude of problems. Two general problems are
those of fires and
49flooding. If they are not controlled these will both engulf and
sink any ship. Hits on particular sections of the ship have the
following effect:

BRIDGE: This limits the Quartermaster's ability to see clearly
and react to sudden dangers. The Quartermaster is in charge of
steering the ship.

COMMUNICATIONS MAST: If the communications mast is damaged,
communications will be limited to flags and lamps until it is
repaired.

DIRECTORS: If the ship is fitted with a main director, and it is
damaged, gunnery have to use local (and less accurate) range
finding systems. The main director is too delicate an instrument
to be repaired at sea.

TORPEDO TUBES: If any torpedo tubes are damaged they cannot be
used. Again they will not be repaired at sea.

MAIN AND SECONDARY TURRETS: Main and secondary guns can be
damaged, though in some cases are repairable at sea (for example,
the mechanisms become jammed with shrapnell). A direct hit though
will knock them out for good.

Main turrets are named from "A" through to "J", depending on the
number of them, starting at the bow. Similarly secondary guns are
named "A", "C", "E", "G" and "I" down the port side of a ship,
and "B", "D", "F", "H" and "J" down the starboard side.

ENGINE ROOM: A hit in the engine room will affect both the ships
speed and ability to turn. Some engine damage can be repaired.

"The engines still went on running, which seemed to show that the
cylinders had not been hit. But in the dim uncertain light I
perceived what appeared to be Niagara, though whether the sheet
of water was rising up from below or pouring down from above I
couldn't be sure at the time." - Engineering Officer, HMS
Warrior, Jutland
50"In the engine room a shell licked up the oil and sprayed it
around in flames of blue and green, scarring is victims and
blazing where it fell. In the terrific air pressure of explosions
in confined spaces the bodies of men were whirled around like
dead leaves in a winter blast" - survivor HMS Blucher

RUDDER: The achilles heel of battleships. A hit on the rudder
will clearly affect the ships ability to turn, though it can turn
on its engines alone. Sometimes a rudder is repairable.

"The only thing that could stop a Dreadnought quickly was a
torpedo hit on a vulnerable point - rudders, propellers or
possibly an engine room" - author David Howarth on Jutland

DAMAGE CONTROL PERSONNEL: The damage control parties, set up to
control and repair the damage, can themselves become casualties.

MAGAZINE EXPLOSION: An explosion in a magazine (the storage
compartment for the shells) is the ultimate calamity. It is
unrecoverable and the ship is lost within minutes if not
immediately.

"Is this wreck one of ours?" - Admiral Jellicoe at Jutland to a
nearby Destroyer

"Yes - the Invincible" - Destroyer's reply, after witnessing the
British battlecruiser's magazine explode.

Damage Control

Damage Control parties are set up on each ship by the Executive
Officer during and after any battle, and will attempt to control
and repair the damage done. Generally, if the damage is light it
can be repaired quite quickly, but if there are fires and floods
to fight it can take some time to get round to less
51immediate problems such as communication masts and engine damage.

If a ship is not in action then repairs can be carried out more
quickly (as gun crews can join the damage control parties).

Winning and Losing

"A victory is judged not merely by material losses and damage,
but by its results" - Admiral Jellicoe

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it" - George Orwell"

"A dead enemy always smells good" - Alus Vitellius

As Admiral Jellicoe rightly points out, a true assessment of a
victory or defeat depends not on a simple assessment of damage
and casualties, but on how the battle affected future events.
This, though, is the stuff for historians, as such assessments
are both difficult and controversial: both sides claimed victory
(with considerable justification) after the Battle of Jutland,
for example.

However, such argument are beyond the scope of this computer
program. The player is invited to make their own assessments of
the strategic significance of their victories or defeat when
playing DREADNOUGHTS. A points system is implemented to give a
material assessment, and is based on the tonnage of shipping
sunk, the damage done to ships remaining afloat, and other
factors such as the number of survivors and prisoners rescued.

There are few episodes in naval history where the maxim of Alus
Vitellius applies. Sailors often saw the enemy as the enemy
ships, not their crews, and would genuinely attempt to rescue the
survivors of sinking ships, and then treat them well. This is
very different from the treatment of prisoners on a land, which
has so often been one of a land war's greatest horrors.
52
Captured senior naval officers would be given the best
accommodation available, and, almost traditionally, joined the
senior officers of the winning side for dinner.

Using the material damage point system there are five possible
conclusions:

A draw
A marginal victory
A significant victory
A decisive victory
A complete victory

Game time and scale

This simulation operates in cycles of six minutes. Every six
minutes the admiral may enter up to six orders.

Measurements and ranges are always given accurate to 1000 yards.

A battle starts at the time stated on the maps. And finishes
either at the historical end time (usually at night when contact
between the fleets would probably be lost), or about one hour
after all of one fleet's ships have been sunk, wrecked or fled
from the scene. This extra time is allowed for to enable the
victor to rescue any survivors from the wreckage, carry out any
repairs, and perhaps have the satisfaction of heading for home.
53The Scenarios

The data for each scenario is held in two files, a data file and
a chart file. The data file (such as SEATRIAL.DAT) can be
inspected, using a word processor, to examine any details. The
chart file (say, SEATRIAL.CHT) is a coded representation of any
land within the battle area, and is not in any form that can be
inspected. If no chart file exists, then the entire battle area
is a open sea.

Altering either the data or chart files could result in the
DREADNOUGHTS program crashing in a heap.

"The scenario names are shown in capitals.

First World War scenarios:

i) SEATRIAL (hypothetical)
ii) The Battle of CORONEL -1st November 1914
iii) The CANOPUS at Coronel - 2nd November 1914
iv) The Battle of The FALKLANDS - 8th December 1914
v) CHANNEL Patrol(hypothetical)
vi) The Battle of DOGger BANK -24th January 1915
vii) The Battle of JUTLAND -31st May 1916

On the IRONCLADS scenario disk...

Sino-Japanese War of 1894:

viii) The Battle of YALU -17th September 1894
54Russian-Japanese War of 1904/05:

ix) The Battle of The YELLOW Sea -10th August 1904
x) The Battle of ULSAN -14th August 1904
xi) The Battle of TSUSHIMA -27th May 1905

On the BISMARCK scenario disk..

xii) The Battle of the River PLATE -13th December 1939
xiii) The Battle of DENMARK Straight -24th May 1941
xiv) Attack by TRIBAL class destroyers -26th May 1941
xv) The sinking of the BISMARCK -27th May 1941
xvi) The Battle of the JAVA SEA -27th February 1942
xvii) The Battle of NORTH CAPE -26th December 1943

The ships involved in any battle are listed beside the
appropriate chart.

Each name is followed by the class of the ship in square
brackets, for example:

Princess Royal [BC Lion] implies Princess Royal is a Lion class
battlecruiser.

The abbreviated class types are:

Dn Dreadnought Battleship
BS Battleship (pre or post-Dreadnought)
BC Battlecruiser
AC Armored cruiser
Cr Cruiser
LC Light cruiser
AM Armored merchant ship
PC Protected (or just old) cruiser
Dy Destroyer
Gb Gunboat (or small vessel such as a Minesweeper)
55Refer to Appendix B for brief details of each class of ship
(class type and main armament), and to the class data file for a
complete specification.

Refer to Appendix C for details of the naval guns.

Notes on hypothetical scenarios, Seatrial and Channel Patrol:

i) Both use the chart of the Channel.

ii) Seatrial

This is a fictional scenario, having none of the complications or
imbalance of historical events, and can be used to learn the
ropes of command of a"squadron of ships.

The British Admiral (a fictional Admiral Sheldrake) in command of
four lightcruisers is ordered out into the Channel to intercept a
German force (commanded by the fictional Admiral Tapken), again
consisting of four lightcruisers.

iii) Channel Patrol

This is a hypothetical scenario simulating a mass torpedo-boat
destroyer attack on pre-Dreadnought battleships.


Notes on Jutland:

i) The battle fleets at Jutland were huge, 150 British against
100 or so German ships. In order to make the battle more
manageable for both the human player (and the program), one large
warship in the simulation represents two in the actual battle,
and the flotillas are reduced to one ship representing four
destroyers.
56Section 2: Operations

Getting started

Run the DREADNOUGHTS program, referring to the README file on the
program disk for any tips, amendments to this manual, or machine
specific information.

The first question asked is whether you wish to play the SEATRIAL
scenario. The SEATRIAL scenario is a fairly simple cruiser action
fought in the Channel, designed to help new players become
familiar with the command system.

Answer "Y" if this is your first game, otherwise you may choose
this scenario, or answer "N" and type in the name of one of the
others when prompted.

The other questions you will be asked determine which admirals
are human players and which controlled by the computer. Usually a
human player will take on the computer, but it is perfectly
acceptable to have two human players, or even a demonstration
with two computer players.

Users of computers that do not come with a mouse as standard will
also be asked whether a mouse is being used or not. The mouse is
used to operate a telescope.

The admiral is initially presented with a view of their flagship,
heading on its current course. Also, a current sighting report
will be given if there are any ships in view.
57Files and Hard disk installation

"A new name for the Dreadnought `The Hard Boiled Egg'. Why!
Because she can't be beat" -Jacky Fisher

The Dreadnoughts program can be run from a hard disk simply copy
all the files from the disk(s) supplied into one appropriately
named directory. The files are listed in the README file.

The Compass

The ships compass, shown top left, shows the direction of the
current view, It also gives the wind direction and force. Unless
the wind gets very strong, it can for the most part be ignored.
High winds can effect the accuracy of guns(see the Gunnery
section).
Beaufort Wind Scale:
0  Flat calm
1  Light Air
2  Light Breeze
4  Moderate Breeze
6  Strong Breeze
8  Gale
9  Strong Gale
10 Storm

The Ships clock

The ships clock will appear top right; it shows local time.
58Orders

Orders are typed in English, when a prompt appears, and vary in
their purpose from looking in various directions, controlling the
operation of the game, to ordering subordinates.

Looking around

LOOK <direction> This will give the view from the flagship in any
one of the main eight compass directions.
Example:

LOOK WEST (or LOOK W)

LOOK NORTHEAST (or LOOK NE)

LOOK <direction>FROM <ship/named feature>

This will give the view from any ship in the admiral's fleet, or
from the feature named.

Examples:

LOOK NORTH FROM THE TIGER

LOOK SW FROM PORTSMOUTH

LOOK AT <ship>

This gives the view from the flagship towards the named ship, as
long as it is in sight (but see note i). The named ship can be an
enemy.
59Example:

LOOK AT THE TIGER

LOOK AT THE DERFFLINGER

LOOK AT <ship> FROM <ship/named feature>

Gives the view from any ship in the admiral's fleet, or any
feature, towards any other ship.

Examples:

LOOK AT THE LION FROM THE TIGER

LOOK AT THE BLUCHER FROM THE METEOR

LOOK AT THE CHATHAM FROM PORTSMOUTH

Note i) There are occasional discrepancies when a ship is on the
line between being on one bearing (such as North) and another
(such as Northeast), This means that if only part, or none, of
the ship appears on the screen with one view, try looking at the
adjacent view to see if it appears more complete.

Operational commands

QUIT abandons the game immediately

SAVE saves off the game data at the end of the current six minute
round, but does not terminate the game

POINTS gives the player a tally of damage points inflicted by
both fleets
60
x (or Esc) stops the requests for orders

HELM take the wheel of the flagship and steer the ship yourself

BRIDGE hand back the wheel to the Quartermaster and get on with
the job of being Admiral

COMPASS if the compass is shown, giving this command will remove
it from future views until this command is given again (when it
will instantly reappear)

CLOCK. If the clock is shown, giving this command will remove it
from future views until this command is given again (when it will
instantly reappear)

The Telescope

Use the mouse pointer as a telescope to focus in on distant
ships. This also reveals the most prominent ship's name and
range.

Note that the telescope only works on ships, and not on
recognizing any coastline features. Also you cannot look at your
own ship through the telescope.
61Taking the Helm

If the admiral takes control of the helm (by typing HELM), then
both the ships wheel and engine-room telegraph need to be
operated.

To operate the wheel use the left and right cursor keys if the
current course is to be changed.

To call the engine room with the desired speed use the up and
down cursor keys to operate the telegraph. The water speed
indicator on the left indicates the current speed in knots.

When the required course and speed have been selected, press
<return> to move on.

Note that the ship may well not be able to make a major turn (say
of 90 or 135 degrees) in one six minute time period.

To go back to the bridge, just enter BRIDGE.
62Giving and signalling orders

Commands to subordinates are classified as follows:

A.Reports

B.Formations

C.Ship stations

D.Command structure

E.Setting a course

F.Setting a speed

G.Mayday, Assistance, Abandon ship and Lifeboats

H.Engaging and Disengaging the enemy

I.Torpedo attacks and defensive measures

Notes:

i) in the following formats words shown in capitals are entered
as they appear here, and those in angled brackets are replaced by
an appropriate name.

ii) A name such as Friedrich der Grosse has to be entered with
underscores between the words (typing a hyphen will be
automatically replaced with an underscore). That is, the ship
should be entered as Friedrich der Grosse.

iii) The case of the letters is insignificant, Friedrich der
Grosse can be entered as FRIEDRICH DER GROSSE.
63A. Reports

"The unknown is the governing condition of War" - Marshal Foch

There are three main types of report: for a ships position, its
sightings, and its"condition.

Format:

i) <report type> REPORT

ii) SEND ME YOUR <report type> REPORT

Examples:

To get a report on your own ship:

POSITION REPORT

SIGHTING REPORT

DAMAGE REPORT

To get a report from another ship

SIGNAL THE TIGER SEND ME YOUR SIGHTING REPORT

SIGNAL THE NOTTINGHAM SEND ME YOUR DAMAGE REPORT

SIGNAL THE AURORA SEND ME YOUR POSITION REPORT

64
If you ask another ship for a report, it will always precede it
with its own position. Also, the sighting report will inform the
admiral of any current engagement that the ship is involved in.

Note also that the words REPORT, THE and ME can be omitted, so
the following would be legal:

SIGNAL TIGER SEND YOUR POSITION

Ships will also send sighting reports on their own initiative, if
it is likely that the flagship cannot see an enemy vessel.

B. Formations

In almost all of the scenarios the ships will start off in their
historical squadrons in a specified sailing order. To change the
style and make-up of squadrons and formations use the following
orders:

Format:

i) CHANGE TO <formation> FORMATION

ii) FOLLOW <ship>

iii) RETURN TO STATION

<formation> can be one of LINE ASTERN, LINE ABREAST TO PORT or
LINE ABREAST TO STARBOARD
65<ship> can be any ship's name, or THE FLAGSHIP

Line Astern: <- <-<-<-
Flagship

Line Abreast to Port: Line Abreast to Starboard

Flagship  <-

<-        <-

<-        <-

<-        Flagship

Examples:

SIGNAL THE SOUTHAMPTON TO CHANGE TO LINE ABREAST TO PORT
FORMATION

SIGNAL THE TIGER TO FOLLOW THE FLAGSHIP

SIGNAL THE PRINCESS ROYAL TO FOLLOW THE TIGER

If a ship is sent off on a test which the Admiral later wishes to
cancel, the RETURN TO STATION order can be issued.

SIGNAL THE TIGER TO RETURN TO STATION:
66C. Ship Stations

Format:

i) STATION YOUR SHIP <n> MILES <direction> OF THE <ship>

ii) STATION YOUR SHIP <n> MILES <course> OF THE <ship>

<n> is any reasonable number of miles
<direction> is any of the main eight compass directions
<course> is one of
AHEAD, (OFF THE) PORT BOW, PORT BEAM, PORT QUARTER,
ASTERN, (OFF THE) STARBOARD BOW, STARBOARD BEAM,
STARBOARD QUARTER

Starboard

BOW BEAM QUARTER

AHEAD <=== ASTERN

BOW BEAM QUARTER

Port

If a ship or squadron is stationed by a compass direction, it
will endeavor to keep the correct distance away from the
flagship, whichever direction the flagship is heading.
67If the ship is stationed by course it has to take note of the
flagship's course, and alter its own position accordingly.

Examples:

SIGNAL THE SOUTHAMPTON TO STATION YOUR SHIP 5 MILES EAST OF THE
FLAGSHIP

SIGNAL THE AURORA TO STATION YOUR SHIP 3 MILES OFF THE PORT BOW
OF THE FLAGSHIP

SIGNAL THE AURORA TO STATION YOUR SHIP 4 MILES ASTERN OF THE
TIGER

SIGNAL THE TIGER TO STATION YOUR SHIP 2 MILES OFF THE STARBOARD
QUARTER OF THE FLAGSHIP

D. Command structure

To transfer a ship from one squadron to another it is best to do
it through the squadron leader, in order to avoid confusion
between your subordinates, so use the Transfer command in
preference to the Join command.

Format:

i) TRANSFER <ship> TO <squadron flagship>

ii) JOIN <squadron flagship>
68Examples:

SIGNAL THE AURORA TO TRANSFER THE ACHERON TO THE SOUTHAMPTON

SIGNAL THE SOUTHAMPTON TO TRANSFER THE BIRMINGHAM TO THE FLAGSHIP

If the admiral wishes to order the ship specifically:

BIRMINGHAM JOIN THE FLAGSHIP

This should only be done if contact has been lost with the
Southampton (Birmingham's squadron leader).

E. Setting a course, patrolling and anchoring

Format:

i) SET A COURSE FOR <ship/lat-long/named feature>

ii) PATROL FROM <lat-long/named feature> TO
<lat-long/named feature> TO
<lat-long/named feature> TO (optional)
<lat-long/named feature> (optional)
iii) ANCHOR

<named feature> can be one of:

HOME  (short for home port)

any port, bay, island or other feature marked on the chart
supplied.
69If the SET A COURSE order is given the ship will head for the
given destination, and anchor if that destination is not a ship,
or simply stop within the vicinity if it is. It will make no
further moves unless ordered to do so (or forced by enemy
action).

The PATROL order can rake between two and four points on the map,
which cannot be ship names, and will repeatedly patrol from one
point to the next, and then back to the beginning to start again.
The Patrol will be left off if the ship(s) find any enemy forces,
which they will engage if they can.Ships can ANCHOR anywhere in
this simulation.

Examples

SIGNAL THE TIGER SET A COURSE FOR THE INDOMITABLE

SET A COURSE FOR HOME

PATROL FROM HOME TO 53 25 NORTH 3 15 WEST TO 5 36 NORTH 4 50 WEST

PATROL FROM SOUTHAMPTON_WATER TO 50 0 NORTH 2 0 WEST TO WEYMOUTH
BAY

F. Setting a speed

Format:

i) FULL SPEED

ii) CRUISING SPEED
70iii) HALF SPEED

iv) DEAD SLOW

v) STOP ENGINES

These orders indicate the admiral's wishes to the engine room of
his flagship. In a big ship it can take a few minutes to speed up
or slow down. These orders are as if given verbally, if the
admiral is at the helm (and using the mechanical engine-room
telegraph) then the equivalent speeds are full ahead, 3/4 ahead,
half ahead, dead slow and stop.

It is not possible, in this simulation, to put a ship into
reverse.

In most cases it will not be necessary to set a speed, and the
admiral's permission will simply be asked when a change is
considered desirable.

G. Mayday calls, Assistance, Abandoning ship and Lifeboats

"Of what is store for us there was now not a vestige of doubt. We
fired our last torpedo at the (German) High Seas Fleet. The
Nestor, enwrapped in a cloud of smoke and spray, the center of a
whirlwind of shrieking shells,began slowly to settle by the
stern. I gave my last order as her commander 'Abandon Ship"' -
Captain, HMS Nestor, Jutland.
71Format:

i) ABANDON SHIP

ii) MAYDAY

iii) ASSIST THE <ship>

iv) RESCUE THE LIFEBOATS

Example:

ABANDON SHIP

SIGNAL THE PRINCESS ROYAL MAYDAY

SIGNAL THE AURORA MAYDAY

SIGNAL THE TIGER TO ASSIST THE NOTTINGHAM

SIGNAL THE ACHERON TO RESCUE THE LIFEBOATS

Should things get desperate (the Admiral's officers will probably
inform him when they are), then the Abandon Ship order will
initiate the lowering of the lifeboats and as many crew as are
able will get into them, The Abandon Ship order is a captains
prerogative, and an admiral cannot order any other ship than his
own to do this. A Mayday call will require immediate assistance
from the ship signalled to come and rescue the lifeboats. Should
that ship find it impossible to respond, it will relay the
message to other ships in the area.Assistance is a more flexible
order, if possible the ordered ship will head for the ship in
trouble, and either help fight off its attackers, or rescue is
survivors, depending on the situation when it arrives.
72When lifeboats have been spotted an order can be sent to send a
ship to pickup the survivors (becoming prisoners if they are from
an enemy ship). It is best to send a maneuverable and small
craft, such as a destroyer or lightcruiser, as rescuing lifeboats
from something larger can be awkward.

H. Engaging and Disengaging from the Enemy

Format:

i) CLOSE RANGE (WITH THE <enemy ship>)

ii) MAINTAIN RANGE (WITH THE <enemy ship>)

iii) OPEN RANGE (WITH THE <enemy ship>)

iv) DISENGAGE

v) FIRE AT THE <enemy ship>

vi) PURSUE THE <enemy ship>

vii) RUN

Examples:

CLOSE RANGE

CLOSE RANGE WITH THE KAISER

SIGNAL THE TIGER TO OPEN RANGE

SIGNAL THE SOUTHAMPTON TO MAINTAIN THE RANGE WITH THE EMDEN
73SIGNAL THE AURORA TO PURSUE THE STRALSUND

SIGNAL THE PRINCESS ROYAL TO RUN

The admiral's officers will certainly give advice on the
appropriate commanding an engagement, especially if it differs
from the order given.

The PURSUE order is more complex than the others. It implies both
close the range if within sight of the enemy ship, or use the
latest sighting reports to try to catch up with it.

The RUN order simply tells a ship to run for its home port.

I. Torpedo attacks and defensive measures

"Damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead" - credited to Admiral
Farragut in his attack on New Orleans harbor during the American
Civil War.

Format:

Launching the attack

i) ATTACK (<enemy ship>)

To specify the tactics for future emergencies:

i) TURN TOWARDS TORPEDO ATTACKS

ii) TURN AWAY FROM TORPEDO ATTACKS
74To give an immediate order:

iii) TURN AWAY FROM THE TORPEDOES

iv) TURN TOWARDS THE TORPEDOES

Examples:

SIGNAL THE METEOR TO ATTACK

SIGNAL THE MENTOR TO ATTACK THE DERFFLINGER

..orders the ship, and any under in command, to launch an all out
attack

SIGNAL THE SOUTHAMPTON TO TURN AWAY FROM TORPEDO ATTACKS

..changes Southampton's future tactics

SIGNAL THE AURORA TO TURN TOWARDS THE TORPEDOES

..orders the Aurora to react immediately

Caution:

Any ships can be ordered to attack: it is interpreted to mean
steam at maximum knots to within torpedo range, and loose off
torpedoes until there are none left. Given the short range of
torpedoes, and the extreme nature of the move, it is best given
only to destroyers, or possibly light cruisers. Larger ships are
better controlled carefully with the Open / Maintain / Close
range orders. Only squadron flagships of destroyer flotillas will
initiate a torpedo attack on their own initiative (although other
ships will certainly fire torpedoes if a target comes within
range).
75The default action when being attacked by torpedoes is to turn
away from them (partly to prevent the torpedoes with a small
target, and partly to try to out-run their maximum range). There
is no need to order any ship to turn away unless it has
previously been ordered to turn towards them.

The Torpedo Officer will advise the Admiral when a potential
target is within range, and may request permission to launch a
couple of torpedoes at it.

In this simulation torpedoes will only be fired if the target is
within 10,000 yards, and also within the maximum range of the
torpedo.

Appendices

Appendix A: Recommended reading

There are many good books on the Dreadnought era, and a mass on
the Second World War, but very few on the earlier wars covered by
the IRONCLADS scenario disk:

Historical accounts (First World War):

The Dreadnoughts, David Howarth, Time Life Books

The Great War at Sea 1914-1918, Richard Hough, Oxford Press

Narrative of the Battle of Jutland(*), HMSO.
Naval Operations Vol 1 : To the Battle of the Falklands(*),
Corbett
Longmans (Published as an official account in 1920).
76The Fighting at Jutland(*), Maclure Macdonald & Co. (Published in
1920).

Atlas of Maritime History, Natkiel & Preston, Gallery Books.

Naval Battles of the First World War, G. Bennett.

The Great War, Liddell Hart.

With the Battle Cruisers(*), Filson Young.

Reference books (First World War) :

All the World's Fighting ships 1906-1922, Conway Maritime Press.

Jane's Fighting Ships of World War 1.

Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905 - 1970(*), Siegfried Breyer,
Macdonald Press.

Historical accounts (Earlier wars):

The Battle of Tsushima(*), Captain Semenoff, John Murray Ltd
(1908).

The Fleet that had to die, Richard Hough.

Russia against Japan 1904-05, J.N.Westwood, Macmillan.
77
Reference books (Earlier wars):

All the World's Fighting ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press.

Jane's Fighting Ships: volumes 1898-1905

Historical accounts (Second World War):

"Sea Battles in Close up: World War 2, Martin Stephen, Ian Allan

Frazer of North Cape, R. Humble, Routledge and Kegan Paul.

The Battle of the River Plate, G. Bennett, Ian Allan

The Sinking of the Scharnhorst, Otto Fritze Busch, Futura.

Pursuit: The Sinking of the Bismarck Ludovic Kennedy, Collins.

Battleship Bismarck Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg, Bodley Head.

The Battle of North Cape, M,Ogden, Kimber.

Reference books (Second World War):

All the World's Fighting ships 1922-1946, Conway Maritime Press

Janes Fighting Ships of World War 2.

Naval Weapons of World War Two, J. Campbell, Conway Maritime
Press

(*) These books may only be available second-hand.
78Acknowledgement: Much of the original research for DREADNOUGHTS
was carried out at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, where
there are many documents which are not otherwise available in any
published form.

Appendix B: Warships classes

i) Summary of ship classes used in the DREADNOUGHTS scenarios:

Class name Type Main armament

1:Dreadnought 527ft Battleship 10x12in_45cal/13
2:Bellerophon 526ft Battleship 10x12in_45cal/13
3:St Vincent 536ft Battleship 10x12in_50cal
4:Invincible 567ft Battlecruiser 8 x 12in_45cal/13
5:Neptune 546ft Battleship 10 x 12in_ 50cal
6:Colossus 546ft Battleship 10 x 12in_ 50cal
7:Indefatigable 590ft Battlecruiser 8 x 12in_ 45ca1/13
8:Orion 581ft Battleship 10 x 13.5in_45cal
9:Lion 700ft Battlecruiser 8 x 13.5in_45cal
10:King_George_V 597ft Battleship 10 x 13.5in_45cal
11:Queen Mary 703ft Battlecruiser 8 x 13.5in_45cal
12:Iron Duke 622ft Battleship 10 x 13.5in_45cal
13:Tiger 704ft Battlecruiser 8 x 13.5in_45cal
14:Queen Elizabeth 645ft Battleship 8 x 15in_42cal BS
15:Revenge 624ft Battleship 8 x 15in_42cal BS
16:Erin 559ft Battleship 10 x 13.5in_45cal
17:Agincourt 700ft Battleship 14 x 12in_45cal/16
18:Canada 661ft Battleship 10 x 14_in_45cal
19:Canopus 421ft Battleship 4 x 12_in35cal
20:Grounded Canopus 421ft Battleship 4 x 12_in35cal
79Class name Type Main armament
21:Drake 533ft Armored Cruiser 2 x 9.2in_46cal
22:Monmouth 463ft Armored_Cruiser 4 x 6in_25cal
23:Devonshire 473ft Armored_Cruiser 4 x 7.5in_50cal
24:Duke Of Edinburgh 505ft Armored_Cruiser 6 x 9.2in_50cal
25:Warrior 505ft Armored_Cruiser 6 x 9.2in_50cal
26:Minotaur 519ft Armored_Cruiser 4  x 9.2in_50cal
27:Boadicea 405ft Light Cruiser 6 x 4in_50cal
28:Blonde 405ft Light Cruiser 10 x 4in_50cal
29:Bristol 453ft Light Cruiser 2 x 6in_50cal
30:Weymouth 453ft Light Cruiser 8 x 6in_50cal
31:Acrive 406ft Light Cruiser 10 x 4in_ 50cal
32:Chatham 458ft Light Cruiser 8 x 6in_45cal
33:Birmingham 457ft Light Cruiser 9 x 6in_45cal
34:Arethusa 436ft Light Cruiser 2 x 6in_45cal
35:Caroline 446ft Light Cruiser 2 x 6in_45cal
36:Calliope 446ft Light Cruiser 2 x 6in_45cal
37:Birkenhead 446ft Light Cruiser 10 x 5.5in _50cal
38:Cambrian 446ft Light Cruiser 2 x 6in_45cal
39:Centaur 446ft Light Cruiser 5 x 6in_45cal
40:Caledon 450ft Light Cruiser 5 x 6in_45cal
41:Ceres 450ft Light Cruiser 5 x 6in_45cal
42:Danae 471ft Light Cruiser 6 x 6in_45cal
43:Otranto 600ft Merchant Ship 8 x 4.7in_40cal
44:Tribal 250ft Destroyer 2 x 4in_27cal
45:Cricket 175ft Destroyer 2 x 12pdr
46:Swift 353ft Destroyer 4 x 4in 39cal
47:Palmer 215ft Destroyer 3 x 12pdr
48:Repeat River 220ft Destroyer 1 x 12pdr
49:Beagle 263ft Destroyer 1 x 4in_40cal
50:Acorn 246ft Destroyer 2 x 4in_39cal
80Class name Type Main armament

51:Acheron 246ft Destroyer 2 x 4in_39cal
52:Acasta 267ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_39cal
53:Laforey 268ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
54:New L Class 268ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
55:M Class 273ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
56:Lightfoot 324ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_40cal
57:Faulknor 330ft Destroyer 6 x 4in_40cal
58:Medea 273ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
59:Talisman 309ft Destroyer 5 x 4in_40cal
60:Repeat M 273ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
61:Parker 324ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_40cal
62:R Class 276ft Destroyer 3 x 4_in_40cal
63:V Leaders 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_45cal
64:Shakespear 329ft Destroyer 5 x 4.7in_45cal
65:Scott 332ft Destroyers 5 x 4.7in_45cal
66:V Class 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_45cal
67:W Class 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_45cal
68:S Class 276ft Destroyer 3 x 4in_40cal
69:Modified W 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4.7in_45cal
70:Nassau 451ft Battleship 12 x 28cm_SKL45
71:Helgoland 548ft Battleship 12 x 30cm_SKL50/13
72:Kaiser 565ft Battleship 10 x 30cm_SKL50/13
73:Konig 575ft Battleship 10 x 30cm_SKL50/13
74:Bayern 589ft Battleship 8 x 38cm_SKL45
75:Blucher 530ft Armored Cruiser 12 x 21cm_SKL45
76:Von derTann 563ft Battlecruiser 8 x 28cm_SKL45
77:Moltke 611ft Battlecruiser 10 x 28cm_SKL50/13
78:Seydlitz 657ft Battlecruiser 10 x 28cm_SKL50/16
79:Derfflinger 690ft Battlecruiser 8 x 30cm_SKL50/13
80:Lutzow 690ft Battlecruiser 8 x 30cm_SKL50/13
81Class name Type Main armament
81:Hindenburg 698ft Battlecruiser 8 x 30cm_SKL50/16
82:Mackensen 731ft Battlecruiser 8 x 35cm_SKL45
83:Braunschweig 419ft Battleship 4 x 28cm_KL40
84:Deutchland 418ft Battleship 4 x 28cm_KL40
85:Schamhorst 474ft Armored Cruiser 8 x 21cm_SKL40
86:Konigsberg 383ft Light Cruiser 10 x 10cm_SKL45
87:Dresden 386ft Light Cruiser 10 x 10cm_SKL45
88:Kolberg 426ft Light Cruiser 12 x 10cm_SKL45
89:Magdeburg 446ft Light-Cruiser 7 x 15cm_SKL45
90:Karlsruhe 456ft Light-Cruiser 12 x 10cm_SKL45
91:Graudenz 465ft Light-Cruiser 7 x 15cm_SKL45
92:Pillau 440ft Light-Cruiser 8 x 15cm_SKL45
93:Brummer 442ft Light-Cruiser 4 x 15cm_SKL45
94:Wiesbaden 476ft Light-Cruiser 8 x 15cm_SKL45
95:Konigsberg II 478ft Light-Cruiser 8 x 15cm_SKL45
96:Coln 491ft Light-Cruiser 8 x 15cm_SKL45
97:Gazelle 345ft Light-Cruiser 10 x 10cm_SKL35
98:Bremen 364ft Light-Cruiser 10 x 10cm_SKL35
99:G132 215ft Destroyer 4 x 5cm_SKL55
100:G138 231ft Destroyer 1 x 8cm_SKL35
101:V150 237ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_SKL35
102:V162 242ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_KL30
103:S165 242ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_KL30
104:V1 233ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_KL30
105:V25 257ft Destroyer 3 x 8cm_KL45
106:V43 261ft Destroyer 3 x 8cm_KL45
107:V67 269ft Destroyer 3 x 8cm_KL45
108:G85 272ft Destroyer 3 x 8cm_KL45
109:G92 272ft Destroyer 3 x 10cm_KL45
110:G96 277ft Destroyer 3 x 10cm_KL45

82Class name Type Main armament
111:B97 321ft Destroyer 4 x 8cm_KL45
112:G101 312ft Destroyer 4 x 8cm_KL45
113:V105 2O5ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_L30
114:V125 269ft Destroyer 3 x 10cm_KL45
115:A1 136ft Destroyer 1 x 5cm_KL40
116:A26 164ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_KL30
117:A56 200ft Destroyer 2 x 8cm_KL30

ii) Summary of the ship classes used in the IRONCLADS scenarios:

Class name Type Main armament
1:Borodino 397ft Battleship 4 x R12in_40cal
2:Tsarevitch 389ft Battleship 4 x R12in_40cal
3:Retvisan 386ft Battleship 4 x R12in_40cal
4:Peresviet 434ft Battleship 4 x R10in_45cal
5:Petropavlovsk 369ft Battleship 4 x R12in_40cal
6:Ushakov 286ft Battleship 4 x R10in_45cal
7:Sissoi Veliki 351ft Battleship 4 x R12in_40cal
8:Navarin 357ft Battleship 4 x R12in_35cal
9:Alexander II 333ft Battleship 2 x R12in_30cal
10:Monomakh 296ft Protected Cruiser 5 x R6in_45cal
11:Dmitri Donskoi 296ft Protected Cruiser 6 x R6in_45cal
12:Nakhimov 333ft Armored Cruiser 8 x R8in_35cal
13:Rurik 435ft Armored Cruiser 4 x R8in_35cal
14:Rossia 480ft Armored Cruiser 4 x R8in_45cal
15:Gromoboi 481 ft Armored Cruiser 4 x R8in_45cal
16:Svietlana 331ft Protected Cruiser 6 x R6in_45cal
17:Pallada 415ft Protected Cruiser 8 x R6in_45cal
83Class name Type Main armament
18:Askold 437ft Protected Cruiser 12 x R_6in _45cal
19:Bogatyr 439ft Protected Cruiser 12 x R_6in_45cal
20:Novik 60ft Protected Cruiser 6 x R_4.7in
21:Iztunrud 364ft Protected Cruiser 6 x R_4.7in
22:Almaz 365ft Protected Cruiser 4 x R11pdr
23:Bezstrashni 202ft Destroyer 1 x R11pdr
24:Vnimatelni 185ft Destroyer 1 x R11pdr
25:Boiki 210ft Destroyer 1 x R11pdr
26:Masshsa 412ft Battleship 4 x J_12in_45cal
27:Asahi 425ft Battleship 4 x J12_in_40cal
28:Shikishima 438ft Battleship 4 x J12_in_40cal
29:Fuji 412ft Battleship 4 x J12_in_40cal
30:Fuso 220ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J_9.4in
31:Kongo 220ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J_6.7in
32:Chin Yen 308ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J12in_35cal
33:Chiyoda 310ft Protected Cruiser 10 x J_4.7in
34:Asama 442ft Armored Cruiser 4 x J_8in_40cal
35:Yakumo 434ft Armored Cruiser 4 x J_8in 40cal
36:Adzuma 452ft Armored Cruiser 4 x J_8in 40cal
37:Idzumo 434ft Armored Cruiser 4 x J_8in 40cal
38:Kasuga 366ft Armored Cruiser 3 x J_8in 45cal
39:Nisshin 366ft Armored Cruiser 4 x J_8in 45cal
40:Naniwa 300ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J-10.3in
41:Matsushima 301ft Protected Cruiser 1 x J_12.6in _Canet
42:Itsukushima 301ft Protected Cruiser 1 x J_12.6in_ Canet
43:Akitsushimai 301ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J_6in_ 40cal
44:Yoshimo 360ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J_6in_ 40cal
45:Idzumi 270ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_6in_ 40cal
46:Suma 306ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_6in_40cal
47:Chitose 396ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_8in_40cal
84Class name Type Main armament
48:Tsushima 334ft Protected Cruiser 6 x J_6in_40cal
49:Otowa 341ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_6in_50cal
50:Tsukushi 210ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_10in
51:Katsuragi 206ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_6.7in
52:Takao 232ft Protected Cruiser 4 x J_5.9in
53:Yaeyama 318ft Protected Cruiser 3 x J_4.7in
54:Tatsuta 240ft Gunboat 2 x J_4.7in
55:Chihaya 273ft Protected Cruiser 2 x J_4.7in
56:Maya 154ft Gunboat 2 x J_5.9in
57:Uji 189ft Gunboat 4 x J_12pdr
58:Ikazuchi 220ft Destroyer 1 x J_12pdr
59:Muralrumo 208ft Destroyer 1 x J_12pdr
60:Akauuki 220ft Destroyer 2 x J_12pdr
61:Shirakumo 216ft Destroyer 2 x J_12pdr
62:Harusame 227ft Destroyer 2 x J_12pdr
63:Hayabusa 147ft Destroyer 1 x J_6pdr
64:Ting-Yuen 308ft Battleship 4 x C_21cm_20cal
65:Chao Yung 210ft Protected Cruiser 2 x 10in_Armstrong
66:Chi Yuen 236ft Protected Cruiser 2 x C_21cm_35cal
67:Chih Yuen 250ft Protected Cruiser 3 x C_21cm_ 35cal
68:King Yuen 270ft Protected Cruiser 2 x C_21cm _35cal
69:Ping-Yuen 196ft Protected Cruiser 1 x C_26cm
70:Kwang-Chia 221ft Protected Cruiser 1 x C_15cm_40cal
71:Kwang-Yi 235ft Protected Cruiser 3 x C_12cm_40cal
85iii) Summary of ship classes used in the BISMARCK scenarios:

Class name Type Main armament

1:Nelson 660ft Battleship 9 x 16in_MkI
2:King-George V 700ft Battleship 10 x 14in_MkVII
3:Hood 860ft Battlecruiser 8 x 15in_MkI_BC
4:Kent 590ft Cruiser 8 x 8in_ MkVIII
5:Norfolk 595ft Cruiser 8 x 8in_MkVIII
6:Exeter 540ft Cruiser 6 x 8in_MkVIII
7:Leander 522ft Cruiser 8 x 6in_MkXXIII
8:Perth 522ft Cruiser 8 x 6in_MkXXIII
9:Southampton 558ft Cruiser 12 x 6in_MkXXIII
10:Edinburgh 579ft Cruiser 12 x 6in_MkXXIII
11:Fiji 538ft Cruiser 12 x 6in_MkXXIII
12:A class 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4.7in_MkIX
13:E class 318ft Destroyer 4 x 4.7in_MkIX
14:G class 312ft Destroyer 4 x 4.7in_MWX
15:H class leader 326ft Destroyer 5 x 4.7in_MHX
16:Tribal 355ft Destroyer 8 x 4.7in_MkXII
17:J-class 339ft Destroyer 6 x 4.7in_MkXII
18:M class 345ft Destroyer 6 x 4.7in_MkXI
19:O class 328ft Destroyer 4 x 4in_MkV
20:S class 339ft Destroyer 4 x 4.7in_MWX
21:Bismarck 792ft Battleship 8 x 388mm_SKC/34
22:Scharnhorst 741 ft Battlecruiser 9 x 280mm_SKC/34
23:Deutschland 596ft Cruiser 6 x 280mm_SKC/28
24:Hipper I 638ft Cruiser 8 x 203mm_SKC/34
25:Hipper II 654ft Cruiser 8 x 203mm_SKC/34
26:1934-A type 381 ft Destroyer 5 x 127mm_SKC/34
86
Class name Type Main armament

27:1936 type 393ft Destroyer 5 x 127mm_SKC/34
28:1936A type 399ft Destroyer 4 x 150mm_SKC/36
29:1936A Mobtype 399ft Destroyer 5 x 150mm_SKC/36
30:Sendai 500ft Cruiser 7 x J_140mm/50
31:Nachi 661ft Cruiser 10  x J_200mm/50
32:Fubuki 367ft Destroyer 6 x J_127mm/50
33:Shiratsuyu 339ft Destroyer 5 x J_127mm/50
34:Kaegero 364ft Destroyer 6 x J_127mm/50
35:Asashio 364-ft Destroyer 6 x J_127mm/50
36:Sumatra 509œt Cruiser 10 x N_149mm/50
37:De Ruyter 552ft Cruiser 7 x N_149mm/50
38:Van Ghent 307ft Destroyer 4 x N_120mm/50
39:Van Galen 307ft Destroyer 4 x N_120mm/50
40:Northampton 582ft Cruiser 9 x US_8in/55
41:Clemson 310ft Destroyer 4 x US_4in/50

Appendix C: Naval guns and torpedoes

Technical specifications of the naval guns and torpedoes is
listed, in a readable form, in the following files:

Dreadnoughts: GUN1914
Ironclads: GUN1900
Bismarck: GUN1939

On some computers this file will be followed by the extension
.DAT

The technical information is as follows:
87Gun = the name of the gun, including the bore, calibre and,
occasionally, maximum elevation where there are variants

Shell = explosive weight in lbs

AP = armor piercing category (see Appendix D)

Rof = rate of fire
(1 implies 1 round per minute or less)
(2 or more gives loading time in minutes)

Range = maximum range in yards.
The file GUN1914 is listed here for easy reference, the other two
files can be inspected on the scenario disks.

Gun Shell RoF AP Range

15in 42cal BC 1920 1 A_9 24350
15in 42cal BS 1918 1 A_9 26650

14in 45cal 1586 1 A_8 24400
14in 44cal 1400 1 A_8 19540

13.5in 45cal 1400 1 A_7 23740
13.5in 30cal 1250 1 A_7 12620

12in 50cal 850 1 A_6 21200
12in 45cal/13 850 1 A_5 18850
12in 45cal/16 850 1 A_5 206701
12in 40cal 850 1 A_4 15600
12in 35cal 850 1 A_3 13900
12in 25cal 714 1 A_3 9400

88Gun Shell RoF AP Range

10in_45cal 500 1 A_3 14800

9.2in_50cal 378 1 A_2 16200
9.2in_46cal 378 1 A_1 15500
9.2in_40cal 378 1 A_1 12800

7.5in_50cal 200 1 A_1 15571

6in_50cal 99 1 A_c 14310
6in_45cal 99 1 A_c 14000
6in_40cal 99 1 A_d 10000
6in_25cal 99 1 A_e 8830

5.5in_50cal 82 1 A_c 17770

4.7in_45cal 50 1 A_e 15800
4.7in_40cal 45 1 A_f 9900

4in_50cal 31 1 A_f 11600
4in_45cal 31 1 A_f 13840
4in_44cal 31 1 A_f 13840
4in_40cal 31 1 A_f 11580
4in_39cal 31 1 A_f 10210
4in_27cal 25 1 A_f 77001
12pdr 12 1 A_f 7000

21in_Torpedo 500 1 A_9 12000
18in_ Torpedo 388 1 A_9 5000
89Gun Shell RoF AP Range

38cm_SKL45 1653 1 A_9 25400

35cm_SKL45 1323 1 A_8 25400

30cm_SKL50/13 893 1 A_6 20500
30cm_SKL50/16 893 1 A_6 22400

28cm_SKL50/13 666 1 A_4 19500
28cm_SKL50/16 666 1 A_4 21000
28cm_SKL/45 666 1 A_3 22400
28cm_SKL/40 529 1 A_1 20600
28cm_KL/40 529 1 A_1 16500
28cm_KL/35 529 1 A_b 15800

24cm_SKL/40 309 1 A_1 18500
24cm_KL/35 309 1 A_b 14200

21cm_SKL45 238 1 A_1 20900
21cm_SKL40 238 1 A 117780
17cm_SKL40 141 1 A_b 15850

15cm_SKL45 100 1 A_d 16350
15cm_KL45 100 1 A_d 15850
15cm_SKL40 88 1 A_e 15200
15cm_SKL35 88 1 A_e 13750

10cm_SKL45 38 1 A_f 13900
10cm_KL45 38 1 A_f 10350
10cm_SKL40 38 1 A_f 13340
10cm_SKL35 38 1 A_f 11800

90
Gun Shell RoF AP Range

8cm_SKL45 22 1 A_f 11700
8cm_KL45 22 1 A_f 10500
8cm_KL30 22 1 A_f 7700
8cm_L30 22 1 A_f 10700
8cm_SKL35 15 1 A_f 9940
8cm_SKL30 15 1 A_f 8000

5cm_SKL55 4 1 A_f 7770
5cm_KL40 4 1 A_f 6760
5cm_SKL40 4 1 A_f 5290

60cm_Torpedo 616 1 A_9 16350
50cm_Torpedo 441 1 A_9 11700
45cm_Torpedo 308 1 A_9 6560

Appendix D: Armor penetration table

The armor penetration of any shell is the thickness of armor
plating that it will go through at a certain range.  Fred T.
Jane, the originator of the famous Jan's Fighting Ships research
works, devised a simple system based on a set of ratings (from
"A7" for the most powerful guns to "f" for the smallest).

This system has been modified for the DREADNOUGHTS game (using
data from actual battles), and A8 and A9 ratings have been added
for the later guns not introduced when Jane's system was
published.

To find the rating of a gun, refer to Appendix C.  The class data
file details the specific guns mounted on each ship.

91

Rating Penetration in inches of Krupps armor

      close range medium range long range very long range
A_g 0 0 0 0
A_f 2 1 0 0
A_e 3 2 1 0
A_d 4 3 2 1
A_c 5 4 3 2
A_b 6 5 4 3

A_1 9 7 6 5
A_2 12 10 8 6
A_3 14 12 10 8
A_4 15 13 11 9
A_5 16 14 12 10
A_6 17 15 13 11
A_7 18 16 14 12
A_8 20 18 16 14
A_9 21 19 17 15

The armor plate in the ship class files can be one of the
following, the number in brackets gives the thickness in inches
equivalent to 10 inches of Krupps cemented steel:

Krupps: almost all ships in the First World War will have had
this form of plating, which was a German developed technique for
hardening steel

Harvey (13) (the following are only used with
Nickel (15)  the IRONCLADS scenarios)
Compound (17)
Steel (17)
Solid iron (23
Laminated iron (29)
None (no protection - any shell will penetrate)
92
The four ranges represent the maximum range of the gun divided
into four. For example, a gun with a maximum range of 18,000
yards:
close range <= 4,500 yards

medium <= 9,000 yards

long <= 13,500 yards

very long <= 18,000 yards
93

** [RYGAR] **