"Combat Meeting-2000"
by Bill Kirwin
01/02/2000
G'day Skippers,
What wonderful day after all that rain, Canberra BG met at their site at Tuggeranong Ck Bend with 4 warships, the USS South Dakota (BB), the VFNS Richelieu (BB), the USS Houston (HC), and the DKM Deutschland (PB), and 3 transports, the INS Lucky, the IJNS Tokyo Rose Maru, and the USS "Shortarse", the last being a very short, small coastal freighter of the Royal Oak class which turns on a 5 cent piece.
The 2 Axis warships left to attack the 2 Allied transports but they all survived due to bad gunnery by us and cunning tactics by the Allies. The next run had 2 Allied warships against INS Lucky and the Tokyo Rose. 'Lucky' got through but the 'Tokyo Rose' paid the supreme sacrifice and was sunk for the 8th time, (her crew are now doing submarine training) She settled and then bum up, she slid nose first into the deep. Her float failed to detach as it was caught up and as her deck and superstructure floated away, we took a fix on her position. Brett Farquharson was brave enough to wade out and with his 'sunken-ship-finding boots' located the hull and brought it to the surface. I was very relieved to see her again - thanks Brett!
The combined final battle ( 7 ships) saw the Axis fleet attacking the 'Allied' Convoy, protected by their warships. The VFNS Richelieu blew off her own A turret cannon ( a construction fault) and expended all her BB's and took several direct hits from the USS South Dakota and the USS Houston. Like hyenas sensing a wounded animal, they followed me into the sanctuary of the 'safe' harbour, still blasting at my sinking ship. There has to be an official inquiry into this 'ungentlemanly behavior', something not expected from the Captain Burdens in command (you think you know someone, must have been on something strong during New Year). As I ran for home, I yelled out to Captain Matt Burden of the DKM Deutschland, "sorry, but I have to leave you as I am sinking" only to hear him say "I am in deep trouble too" (I think he said trouble). Not a good day for the Axis!
A good day's sailing and combat. Lots of repairs and final adjustments required before the 29th and 30th in Bowning. Pity that Colin Jones could not make it as his wife arranged a tree-feller to come at that time, and Trevor Gotte's Battlecruiser DKM Scharnhorst took a raincheck (on a beautiful dry day) but Brett's mate, Bob Booth's new transport Royal Oak class "Lucky" got its baptism of fire. It was NOT sunk, still there is always next time.
Again, many thanks to Stephen Burden for all the work setting-up and to Ant Burden for working on my radio settings. We have booked accommodation at the Bowning Pub for the AGM Battles and will have a great time. Don't forget that subs ($50- for our Public Risk Policy) are due before the voting for any officials and changes- see Brett. Try to get there and battle even if you only have a transport-it's a lot of fun.
We are not going to spend hours at the AGM selecting Officials and amending rules-we are there for battling! We are there to see Tony's new HMS Rodney and how he has set it up. We are there to see how effective the DD and BDE cannons are and enjoy Brett's BBQ and cold drinks. If 'Gadget' Gage makes the trip, we will see his Conte Di Cavour Battleship and its armaments. Knowing Glendon Pryor, if it is at all possible for him to make it, he will get there. We may see Bob Booth's Littorio hull in construction stage. We hope to see Jo Lawson-Brown's freighter, another Shortarse class and see her husband Tony's HMS Malaya and Shane Boydell's HMAS Canberra under construction. We might even see Trevor's Scharnhorst in action with his new cannon. Anything is possible in 2000 now.
"Canberra Battle"
by Brett Farquharson
01/02/2000
Hi All,
Another glories day for battle on our little patch of water. We had the South Dakota, Richelieu, Houston and Deutschland and 4 freighters on the water. First off we had an Allied convoy run with the Axis warships attacking. Quite a few hits but no sinkings. Next was the Axis convoy run and Bill's Tokyo Rose Maru became the most sunk ship within AusBG (8 times). Admittedly he had run out of power and graciously allowed his ship to be used for target practice. His float didn't deploy and he had accepted the fact that the Tokyo Rose Maru was well and truly sunk never to be recovered.
However the AusBG salvage diver (me) waded out into the murky uncharted waters to carry out a grid search. On the second leg I located the Tokyo Rose on a sand bank in only 700mm of water. Photos were taken of the salvage operation. Salvage rights will apply to Bill, involving some Scotch at the AGM to take the chill out of my bones. The damage to the Tokyo Rose was so sever that repairs at the battle site were abandoned.
The two new Allied skippers Bob Booth and Barry Brown had a good day with neither of them being sunk. In fact very few hits were registered on either boat. Barry's tramp turned inside of the warships and made them look clumsy and no hits were registered below the waterline.
Bob's Liberty (a Burden made ship) suffered some hits and the rule book was consulted to see if having the superstructure hanging over the side could be considered as illegal extra amour. Bob got off lightly with only 4 hits below the waterline and luck that he was close to finishing his run when hit.
The last battle was an all in melee with warships and freighters. All the warships took hits with Bill taking more than the others and was pumping a lot of water and had to make a run for port. Bob's Liberty ran out of power and was a sitting duck, but the Deutschland was out of ammo and Bob was lucky. If the Deutschland had more ammo Bob would have gone to the bottom.