LAUNCH ALL THE TORPEDOES!!! A Big Game of "Snorkers! (Good Oh!)"

I wanted to try and push the boat out a bit with Snorkers (Good Oh!) and see if I could run a bigger, multiplayer game and try some battleships. The book has a scenario for the 1st and 2nd Naval Battles of Guadalcanal fought over two nights between 12 and 15 November 1942. 

For the Second battle, the Americans, all their cruisers having holes in them from the First battle, sent a force of two battleships with every available destroyer to intercept another Japanese attempt to bring some big ships down to shell Henderson field.

The Orders of Battle aren't exact. Historically the US put out a scratch collection of four different destroyers. Essentially anyone fully fueled, undamaged, and ready to sail. The Japanese should have a couple of light crusiers, and the Americans only four destroyers, but both fleets are matched at 668 points. (New points values for ships can be found here.) Although the IJN have a significant Force Morale advantage: 54 to 44.

Top row is the USN force: two battleships (USS Washington and South Dakota) and six Fletcher class destroyers divided into two squadrons. The battleships will operate as independant units.

Middle row: the Kongo class Fast Battleship/Battlecruiser Krishima, two Furutaka class Cruisers Chikuma and Maya, a squadron of three Kagero class destroyers.

Bottom row, two squadrons of 4 destroyers each. One squadron is all Fubukis, and the other has a Kagero and three Fubukis.

The battle is at night, using dummy markers for initial moves. The Japanese players need to get their Bombardment Group consisting of the Krishima, Maya, and Chikuma off the opposite corner to shell Henderson Field.

DesRon 1 detects the Krishima and opens fire, a torpedo hit causes some flooding and significant hull damage.

The IJN heavy cruisers in the back make some long range torpedo attacks sinking two of the destroyers. The third has been reduced to a floating wreck by gunfire.

USS South Dakota moves up and blasts the Krishima with an effective broadside. The Japanese battleship is crippled with multiple flooding markers and three fire markers, and is now just a burning hulk.

IJN Destroyer squadron wheels around the fiery holocaust and launches all of their torpedoes at the South Dakota. She takes three devastating torpedo hits and goes under.

Meanwhile the IJN heavy cruisers are trying to sneak around the American flank through the fog bank. DesRon 2 moves up and launches all 20 torpedoes at the rear ship, since the lead ship is effectively hidden.

The IJNS Maya is blown out of the water by the first spread! The Americans could have saved themselves some ammunition.

The Washington has moved up and take the IJN destoyers under fire. But DDs are a very small target for 16" guns and the Americans divide their fore, aft and secondary batteries between three different targets instead of concentrating on one. The Japanese commander then deftly brings another destroyer squadron wheeling around the burning Krishima and launches every thing he's got. 35 Long Lances slice through the dark waters. They needed everyone of them. The Washington isn't finished off until the final spread got a hit.

And that, as they say, was that. 

A Pyrrhic Victory. 

But for who?

The Japanese certainly score on points; two battleships and four destoyers sunk, the USN Force Morale reduced to 4. The IJN suffering a battleship and a cruiser sunk, so their Force Morale is still at 30.

But the IJN Bombardment Group was crippled. Losing two capital ships that can't be replaced is not a Good Thing. And the objective was to get those ships off the table.

The Japanese destroyer commanders can race back to Rabaul for some sake and boosting, very happy with a good night's work sinking two American battleships and four destroyers with no significant wounds to their destroyer squadrons. The two surviving American destoyers will need a lot of therapy and Admiral Halsey is probably screaming into his phone. The Americans are temporarily vulnerable, but would the Japanese have the resources to exploit it?

The Japanese players certainly used their technical advantages, exploiting the range of the Long Lance. Compared to previous games most of the gunnery and torpedo launches were at longer ranges this time. They also "flooded the zone," taking an aggressive "use it or lose it attitude" and going after the American battleships with devastating salvoes of torpedoes, trusting that eventually enough would hit, and hoping they would survive to reload if necessary. We calculated that we launched over 100 torpedoes during the game!

Of course with fewer targets to concentrate on, the Japanese could afford to swamp the Americans, whereas the American responses to the IJN destroyers were too diffuese to make an effect.

When the Americans did launch torpedoes they were pleased to roll quite well for hits and rolled only 1 dud out of 30 or so launched.