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Article
The Battle For Prado
by
David Dandridge
It started as a crisp and clear morning among the frenetic preparations for battle. This was my first battle as a participant; I had witnessed several others but this was my first time at the helm. The Legoland/Thuringen (Helgoland class battleship) was finally taking to the water to fight. She had seen the water only for testing but now she was ready for her intended purpose. What is that purpose? Well, some would say to bring carnage and destruction to her opponents, others that she was to take as many holes as those same opponents could put in her and then sink. I'll leave it up to your point of view.
It was a glorious day. Not only was the weather fine but it was also the new captain's birthday as well as there were 14 ships on the water, another SCRAP record! There would be great battling this day. But first, the Thuringen had to overcome a drive issue. The first act of direct support this day came as another captain helped rectify the issue (thank you Bob). Then, the Thuringen had to deal with another issue, its guns. They were working intermittedly, at best. Well, that was as good as it was going to get, so she cast off with one operating gun. It didn't matter though, it was still a thrill.
Battle #1
Due to the number of captains and ships, the fleets broke down along Axis/Allied lines for the first battle:
Team Allies
Captain Ship Units Speed
===================================================================
Bob "Bobby G" Graybill Augusta 3.0 23
Chris "Danger G" Graybill Northampton 3.0 23
"Horrible Harry" Hollins Caifornia 5.5 26
Stephen "Strike" Morgret South Carolina 4.0 28
Imanya "Lady McDeath" Siouxpancic Warspite 5.5 26
Ty "Machine" Siouxpancic Inflexible 4.0 26
Matt "Thumbs" Wilson Brooklyn 3.0 23
===================================================================
Team Axis
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Daniel "Booce Jr." Betts Von der Tann 4.0 26
David "Target" Dandridge Thuringen 4.0 28
"Good Brandon" Olson Derfflinger 4.5 24
Todd "Skippy" Olson Lutzow 3.5 23
"Evil Brandon" Smith Nagato 6.0 24
Steve "Fish" Thrall Konig 5.0 28
Tanner "Rammstein" Thrall Von der Tann 4.0 26
===================================================================
The battle raged hard as two opposition battleships set their sights on the Thuringen, one having vowed to sink her -- twice -- in her first sortie! She took her licks and was doing alright when she started rapidly settling lower in the water. Damage control was working and the pump stream was hard and steady but it was not enough and down she went. I ventured out into the clear water and could clearly see her sitting on the bottom. She was quickly retrieved and brought back to shore which is when I found that she had been rammed! I know not by whom, only that there was a very large hole in her side. So, her first sink was not brought about by battle damage, but by a ram, a comfortable consolation.
There was however one other unfortunate incident in this first sortie and that is when I inadvertently rammed and sank fellow German warship Von der Tann. Again, sorry Tanner.
This is when the next acts support came as three other captains (at least one being from the other side) assisted me in patching my hull for the next sortie (thank you Brandon, Matt and whoever the other pair of hands were). I also tried to work on the guns but to no avail. She would have to go out again with only one mostly reliable gun.
The second sortie was quite special. As the ships jockeyed about for a photo, there was call to implement "Operation Huell". I had no idea what this alluded to but was soon to find out. As battle was begun, every ship on the water -- friend and foe alike -- began firing on the Thuringen. Yes, it was quite a surprise when my own admiral began pumping shots into my hull. Fortunately, this inter-faction cooperation could only last so long and before long everyone was back to shooting at who they were supposed to be shooting at. I took a great deal of damage in this sortie, but managed to survive with something like 30 aboves, 6 ons and 20 belows. Totals for the battle were:
Team Allies
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
============================================================================
Bob Graybill Augusta 9 2 2 649
Chris Graybill Northampton 6 0 0 649
Harry Hollins Caifornia 57 5 16 974
Stephen Morgret South Carolina 23 5 8 800 -367
Imanya Siouxpancic Warspite 37 2 5 974
Ty Siouxpancic Inflexible 63 9 7 800 66
Matt Wilson Brooklyn 4 0 0 649
============================================================================
Total 3595
Team Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Daniel Betts Von der Tann 18 1 4 800 -113
David Dandridge Thuringen 45 11 30 800 -113*
Brandon Olson Derfflinger 16 3 3 687
Todd Olson Lutzow 22 7 4 515
Brandon Smith Nagato 7 8 9 1200W -771
Steve Thrall Konig 16 2 7 773
Tanner Thrall Von der Tann 23 1 1 800 -113
============================================================================
Total 865
* Second sortie damage was divided in half due to Project Huell.
Battle #2
For the second battle, the teams remained the same except that Brandon Smith moved to his Hindenburg due to issues with his Nagato and Kevin Betts took over captaining the Von der Tann from his brother so the fleets broke down as:
Team Allies
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Bob "Bobby G" Graybill Augusta 3.0 23
Chris "Danger G" Graybill Northampton 3.0 23
"Horrible Harry" Hollins Caifornia 5.5 26
Stephen "Strike" Morgret South Carolina 4.0 28
Imanya "Lady McDeath" Siouxpancic Warspite 5.5 26
Ty "Machine" Siouxpancic Inflexible 4.0 26
Matt "Thumbs" Wilson Brooklyn 3.0 23
===================================================================
Team Axis
Captain Ship Units Speed
===================================================================
Kevin "Booce Jr. Jr." Betts Von der Tann 4.0 26
David "Target" Dandridge Thuringen 4.0 28
"Good Brandon" Olson Derfflinger 4.5 24
Todd "Skippy" Olson Lutzow 3.5 23
"Evil Brandon" Smith Hindenburg 4.5 24
Steve "Fish" Thrall Konig 5.0 28
Tanner "Rammstein" Thrall Von der Tann 4.0 26
===================================================================
The second battle was not quite as frenetic as the first and I spent more time maneuvering with my still erratic guns trying to put some damage into my opponents. The third sortie of the day ended with the Thuringen still afloat.
The last sortie was a bit different for me because it was the first sortie I had entered damaged (all other damage had been repaired after the sink and after the first battle). Everyone seemed a bit tentative in that last sortie. People were getting tired, the wind was picking up and many ships were damaged, so there was a lot more maneuvering and avoiding major direct confrontations. I received very few shots, so I was not thinking too much about damage control and my pump. That is when I noticed the Thuringen seemed a bit low in the water and I realized, "oh *&%$! I have prior damage". I flipped on my pump and a very strong stream shot out. As I pumped, it did not look like it was doing very much and I thought that I had passed the point of no return and my thoughts then just shifted to getting her as close to shore as possible before she sank. But she did not sink and after about a minute of moving gently, so as to allow the pump to do its job -- the pump stream subsided -- she had recovered. As I let out a sigh of relief I heard Brian let out a low "Whoooaaahhh."
I decided caution to be the better part of valor and went on my "Five". I had to intermittedly run the pump but things seemed ok. I moved to one side of the battling area where I seemed to be overlooked to wait out my time. Meanwhile on the other side of the battle area things seemed to pick up and this drew my attention. After spending several minutes paying too much attention to this activity, I noticed an odd sight, a pair of matching US cruisers backing up in unison -- side-by-side -- blasting away. It was then that I noticed that they were blasting happily at the Thuringen! (Well done Bob and Chris) I immediately began maneuvering and kept my full attention on my ship for the remainder of my time. The Thuringen managed to survive again.
Team Allies
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Bob Graybill Augusta 0 0 0 50 601
Chris Graybill Northampton 0 0 0 651
Harry Hollins Caifornia 31 4 11 977
Stephen Morgret South Carolina 28 3 2 868
Imanya Siouxpancic Warspite 42 2 4 977
Ty Siouxpancic Inflexible 70 5 10 800 68
Matt Wilson Brooklyn 18 0 0 651
============================================================================
Total 4795
Team Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Points
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Kevin Betts Von der Tann 12 3 2 522
David Dandridge Thuringen 32 12 10 522
Brandon Olson Derfflinger 20 3 14 600 -78
Todd Olson Lutzow 6 0 1 392
Brandon Smith Hindenburg 34 6 16 800 -278
Steve Thrall Konig 36 6 17 587
Tanner Thrall Von der Tann 22 3 4 600 -78
============================================================================
Total 2790
Yet there is more to tell, after the battle -- back at the build session -- I received yet more assistance in troubleshooting my guns (Thanks Brandon and Ty). I now believe that the next time the Thuringen takes to the waves, she will be a bit more dangerous.
Again, thank you to everyone who helped me along in this process and on the day of the battle.
As a whole it was a great experience, I had so much fun. My ship has been a long and often frustrating project, but it was all made worthwhile that Saturday morning.
Thank You All.
Copyright © 2011 David Dandridge
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