The fact that there weren’t many divisions in Germany at the time. Obviously Germany would have brought several armies if they landed in Berlin, but maybe they could have assassinated some top Nazis beforehand.
Attacking A British Convoy II
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Did someone say this bar has escorts?
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As commander of Norway, word reached you of another Northen Lend Lease Convoy of 35 cargo ships protected by two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, 8 destroyers and ten corvettes. What do you use to attack the convoy?
Alright,
35 cargo ships
2 heavy cruisers
2 light cruisers
8 destroyers
10 corvettesI’ll distract the cruisers with my brash sense of Humor,
Wittman can convince the destroyers to fight the covettes,
and Raymond will get a shot at one of these “juicy” cargo girls, after picking the best one of the 35. If we’re lucky… 2 of her friends will come along aswell.
Sound good? :P
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With a bit of luck, the Tirpitz could sink the two heavy cruisers while the 4 destroyers provide some cover.
 With all those escorts there would be so many torpedoes in the water that the Tirpitz would be hit multiple times. Stay at home. Too many escorting warships!
That is the main concern, but what is the range of the torpedoes? Has the Tirpitz any speed disadvantage over the escorts?
Don’t worry about the “Range” of our torpedo’s. Once the tubes are flooded, and the ports open, even Raymond’s small french one is fierce.
As for a speed disadvantage over the escorts. Probably. The escorts have immense experience in quickly breaking everything down into just the ‘parts’.
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Once the tubes are flooded, and the ports open, even Raymond’s small french one is fierce.
Ha!
Yrs.,
R. -
With a bit of luck, the Tirpitz could sink the two heavy cruisers while the 4 destroyers provide some cover.
 With all those escorts there would be so many torpedoes in the water that the Tirpitz would be hit multiple times. Stay at home. Too many escorting warships!
That is the main concern, but what is the range of the torpedoes? Has the Tirpitz any speed disadvantage over the escorts?
The escorting destroyers would probably not want to get too far away from the convoy. So they would not attack unless Tirpitz pressed the attack. If Tirpitz kept firing at long range the escorts would have to try and stop her. I would say in calm seas the destroyers could get inside of torpedo range if they did not get hit first. Tirpitz would not have the speed of a pocket battleship but might get away in rough seas as the escorts would not venture far from the convoy.
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According to wikipedia, the Tirpitz had a top speed of 30 knots.
In comparizon, the destroyers had a speed of 27 knots according to this article:
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According to wikipedia, the Tirpitz had a top speed of 30 knots.
In comparizon, the destroyers had a speed of 27 knots according to this article:
The Tirpitz was indeed a fast battleship. WWII destroyers speed ranged all the way to the mid 30s knts. The U.S. Fletcher class ships were rated at 36 knts. I imagine that older types might fall short of 30 knts. So I guess it all depends on which type were in the scenario in question.
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So I guess it all depends on which type were in the scenario in question.
Yes, and depending on the situation there are several factors which can come into play – for example the battleship’s tactical radius, which means how tightly it can swing around on its course when it’s moving at full speed. The Iowa class battleships, for example, were highly maneuverable for ships of their size (as I recall, they had double rudders), and at least one Iowa class captain used to say that he liked to think of his ship as a big destroyer. One advantage of having an agile ship is that it increases your chances of surviving a torpedo attack by “combing” the tracks of the incoming torpedoes: swinging your ship around so that it’s parallel to the tracks rather than broadside to them, which decreases the amount of surface area against which the torpedoes might score a hit.
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Remember that the 4 destroyers can “screen” the capital ship from torpedo attacks, if it comes down to that.
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Would had loved to use the Prinz Eugen and eight destroyers combined with a Luftflotte ,but it would have been hard to arrange it with the Prinz timewise…