Today marks the 109th anniversary of the initial stages of the biggest naval battle of the Great War, the Battle of Jutland.
Map showing the course of the Battle of Jutland.
Over the years, many naval wargamers have re-fought this crucial battles, and I took part in two such wargames. The first – which was staged the the US Naval War College in the Queen’s House at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich – was in November 2018, and the second staged by the Jockey’s Fields Irregulars in Holborn, London in December 2021.
The former used rules written by the staff of the US Naval War College in 1922 in light of the experience gained and data gathered during the Great War, ...
An example of the individual ship record cards used in the US Naval War College's 1922 Naval War Game.
... and the latter used a simplified, fast-play version of Fletcher Pratt's Naval War Game. Both used 1:1200th-scale model ships ... and the sight of so many model ships was stunning!
The final positions of the British and German fleets at the end of the Jockey's Fields re-fight of the Battle of Jutland..
Now that I can no longer crawl about on the floor, I doubt if I’ll ever be able to take part in such large naval wargames in the future … but I have some wonderful memories of those two wargames!
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Bob -
ReplyDeleteTry 'my' system, based of course, on yours.
I was interested in the table for hits in the Naval College war game. I did a little maffs. Eight gun broadside at 20,000 yards, you have roughly 21-22% chance of a hit. That is not too bad, considering.
At 11,000 yards you'll be scoring hits every salvo - it's just a question of how many. Whether this is a rules reflection of the superior German gunnery, I'd have to see the stats of an equivalent British ship to judge.
In fact a comparison with the respective 'Resisting Power' would be equally interesting.
The floor game looks bally good!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteThe US Naval War College's rules had no element of chance in the assessment of damage caused by gunfire etc. It was all determined by the range at which the guns were firing at a target, and the results were dependent on an assessment of the damaged caused by naval gunfire during the First World War. These are set out in the rules.
The reason for this is that the wargame was designed to teach officers tactics, command, and co-operation rather than gunnery.
Our re-fight of Jutland - during which I acted as commander of the Grand Fleet - was the biggest naval wargame I have every participated in ... and was very, very impressive.
All the best,
Bob
It's so cool to see how those formations would look at scale. Then you sit back and consider just how much steel went into making all of those ships and all the men that made up the crews along with the vast, open expanses of ocean where the battle took place. It leaves me in awe when I can see a moment of a battle as a moment frozen in time.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pavone,
DeleteWhen you see games of this size, its very difficult not to have such thoughts.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, you are a venerable wargamer, but I find it hard to believe you refought Jutland in 1918 ...
ReplyDeleteTim Spanton,
DeleteThere are days when I feel old enough to have been around in 1918 ... but you are right, the date should have been 2018, and I have now corrected it in the blog post.
All the best,
Bob
When my brother and I began collecting 1/1250 models of WW1 warships we had no idea we would eventually have enough to refight Jutland. Bob (and other Admirals on the day) used binoculars to view the enemy line of battle, which added an extra touch of flavour to the game. We should do this again!
ReplyDeleteIan Drury,
DeleteYour ship collections are very impressive ... and I'd love to take part in a future World War II naval wargame! Perhaps the Battle of Dogger Bank, the Battle of Coronel, or the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
All the best,
Bob