Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Napoleonic naval:

British: Mark, Chris & SteveJ - one squadron each. 12 ships with elite crews
French: Mike, Jim & Renfrey - 1 squadron each. 12 ships with regular crews, one Spanish 1st rate with inexperienced crew.
The French & Spanish have more bigger ships to make up for crew quality.
House rules.  Ships & bases are 3D printed.
The battle is set in the Caribbean.  Both sides' fleets have been scattered in a storm & are regrouping in a sheltered strait with scattered islands & sand banks.  The wind is blowing across the strait so the Brits have it from starboard & the French from port.  

The French are on the right.
The forward (3rd & weakest) British squadron on the far side of the table has tacked & is sailing away from the 3rd & 2nd French squadrons.  The 1st & 2nd British squadrons are sailing up the centre of the straight.  The 1st & strongest French squadron is sailing up the windward side of the strait to get the weather guage.
The British 3rd squadron is wearing ship while their other 2 squadrons turn downwind towards the 3rd French squadron.
The 3rd French & 2nd British are passing each other starboard to starboard. 
The French 3rd squadron has passed the British 2nd & is now passing the British 3rd port to port.  The French 2nd squadron is passing the British 1st port to port.  
The British 1st & 2nd squadrons had double shotted their guns & got the better of the exchange of fire of the passing squadrons.  The French 1st is finally in action but only partly & at long range.
The French 3rd squadron has two ships too badly damaged to stay in the fight & the 2nd squadron has one.  Both squadrons are passed the British & reluctant to rejoin the fray.  The French 1st is bearing down on the British 3rd hoping to finish some damaged ships before the other British squadrons can wear ship & rejoin the fight.
The French 1st squadron turns away hoping to sink the British ship on the end of the line, but though badly damaged it stays afloat.

The French are content to have got past the British with no ships sunk.  The British claim victory as the French have sailed away from them, but with no prizes it's a pretty poor victory.

The Brits did better in selecting their ammo at the start, inflicting significant casualties by have a  lot of double shotted first broadsides.  The French 1st squadron sailed too high & was out of the acy=tion for too long.  These two factors gave the Brits just enough advantage to persuade the French to break off when they had the chance to do so.

  

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