The Coronel 1914

 In 1914 the German Far East squadron abanded their base in China before the Japanese (who were on the Allies side that war) could crush them. The Emden went raiding in the Indian ocean, the rest of the fleet, commanded by Adniral von Spee. crossed the Pacific & on the 1st of November was intercepted by a Royal Navy force commanded bu Admiral Cradock 

The German had 2 armoured cruisers, Gniesnau & Scharnhorst, & 3 light cruisers, Dresden, Nurnberg & Leizig.  The British has 2 armoured cruisers, Monmouth & Good Hope, an armed liner, Otrano, a light cruiser, Glasgow and an obsolete battleship, Canopus.  When the Germasn were sighted late in the day, the Canopus which was not only old, but in great need of an engine overhaul, had dropped back behind the faster cruisers.  Imbued with Nelson spirit, Cradock did not wait for the Canopus & charged into action. Von Spee completely out-manouvred him & both British armoured cruisers were sunk whle the Germans suffered little damage.

The Germans are at far end of the table.  The forward LCs have sighted the enemy.  The Germans are steaming on, but our British Admiral isn't a Cradock.  The Monmouth is doing about face leading his cruisers back to consolidate his fleet.

The Brits are doing a second U turn to get the Canopus to the head of their column.

The Britsh have competed their manouvres to put Canopus at the head of their fleet.  The Germans have turned their CAs to starboard to try & cross the British T with the Leipzig & Dresden on their left flank.

The Glasgow & Oranto turned again to starboard to engage the Liepzig & Dresden.  Leipzig was hit hard by the 9" guns of Good Hope & turned away leaving Dresden facing Glasgow & Oranto alone.  Next turn she too had to turn away.
A brief rudder problem sent the Scharhorst to port & robbed the Germans of any chance of cross the British T & the main fleets passed each other at close range trading blows. The Monmouth blew up & sunk under a hail of 8: shells, but while the Canopus was obsolete ,she packed 4 12" guns & had plenty of armour to resist the largest German guns (8"), so the Germans were also being hit hard.

The Gniesnau is now sinking & Canopus turns to bring her guns to bear on Scharnhorst.

The Scharnhorst is following her sister to the bottom.

The 3 german light cruisers made their gettaway into the night, all with heavy damage.  The Brits can claim victory losing 1 CA to the German's 2.  Our more sensible Godard cannot celebrate his victory as he had gone down with the Monmouth, but the Brits can afford to lose her, they clearly have gained command of the Eastern Pacific.

Our von Spee was out-manouvred, but the game demonstrated very clearly that Godard was foolhardy to attack without Canopus.  Old & slow as she was, she was still a battleship & a tough nut for armoured cruisers.  The Germans should have tried to use their speed to stay away from Canopus & concentrate on the British cruisers.

The ships for the game are 3D printed at 1:1500 scale.   The rules are our Cruiser house rules for small naval actions in the battleship era. They are a modification our Dreadnought rules.  The Dreadnought rules are designed for large fleet actions with cruisers & destroyers treated ina simplified way as ther battleships are the main game.  These rules are for smaller actions with cruisers & destroyers the main game.