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Article
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
by
John Flores
The day started off very cloudy, foggy, cold and windy at Lake Irvine for the first battle of 2003. We normally battle on Saturday but due to scheduling issues with the lake, we decided to battle late on Sunday in order to allow everyone a window for church. Mike Aono, Joe Dworniczak and John Flores all arrived at the Lake Irvine "Lagoon" first then followed by Brian Eliassen, Mark De Antonio and finally David Asman. Brandon Cartwright arrived to watch the battle before the first sortie started and he was most helpful at lake-side with transmitter holding and other acts of assistance.
Everyone got their boats ready and we called for our first sortie at 12:30 in the afternoon. By this time the clouds parted and the weather got slightly better so we were not freezing when battle was called by David, our CD for this battle. The sides were the Nassau, Von der Tann, and Moltke against the feared SoDak, Brooklyn and the Drottning. As amazing as this sounds, it ended up being Axis versus Allies for the first time in quite a while. The Axis had 6 side mount cannons to the Allies 2 so it was hoped that this would offset the SoDak somewhat.
Axis
Captain Ship Units Speed
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David Asman Nassau 4 28
Joe Dworniczak Von der Tann 4 26
John Flores Moltke 4 26
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Allies
Captain Ship Units Speed
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Mike Aono Drottning 3.5 28
Mark De Antonio Brooklyn 3 23
Brian Eliassen South Dakota 6 26
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As we all approached to mix it up I (Moltke) rammed the Nassau and caused her to sink causing our side massive points and a bad start to the first sortie. We continued to battle with the remaining boats getting in their fair share of hits on each other. The first sortie lasted until 12:55.
The second sortie began at 1:30pm. The Drottning failed to sail out due to what was believed to be a wet receiver which was causing her to have electrical problems so she was not able to participate in the second sortie. We all decided to let David back in with the Nassau after he patched his ram damage and below damage. With all the remaining boats reloaded and gassed up we proceded to engage each other for our second sortie of the day. Once again we mixed it up and in the middle of the run the Nassau was sunk due to what appeared to be a pump failure and battle damage. Mike helped to retreive Dave's sunk Nassau. Plenty of chasing and shooting by all involved. A few close calls here and there but no major rams this time out and more holes punched into wet wood.
Before we counted and patched, Dave called a quick Captain's meeting and it was decided that, due to a lack of available time until the lake closed, we go with a 3rd sortie with no patching just reload and gas up. There were lots of onlookers during these sorties as they were all fishing before and after we set sail to do battle. So we started the 3rd sortie around 2:30 and poor Mike still could not get the Drottning on the water due to that wet receiver/electrical problem. Turned out afterwards to just be a drained main battery. Mike just bought this ship and is still learning the charging routine. Trickle charging a drained NiCad just doesn't work when you only have 30 minutes to charge it. So the rest of us sailed back out and in the ensuing 3rd sortie Joe's Von der Tann got sunk due to a blocked pump outlet and battle damage. Joe almost had the Von der Tann to shore before she rolled to her port side and sank in all her glory. Joe was able to get her out and return to battle a bit later. There were no more sinks, rams, or problems as we finished the final sortie with no ammo and lots of holes.
So here is the break down by ship and points:
Axis
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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David Asman Nassau 25 4 5 800 1400
Joe Dworniczak Von der Tann 36 19 3 800 1785
John Flores Moltke 136 16 10 1000 3260
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Total 6445
Allies
Captain Ship A O B Pen Sink Total
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Mike Aono Drottning 3 1 0 1400* 1455
Mark De Antonio Brooklyn 17 2 2 320
Brian Eliassen South Dakota 34 6 4 690
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Total 2465
* Mike was assessed double withdraw points for missing the last two sorties.
So to end it all we had a fun day at the lake and it was a great turn out for our first battle of 2003. Next months battle is a tenative for the 2nd Saturday for February. We are also trying to see if we can host a 'mini regional' for April 1st as suggested by our fearless club President, Brian. He would like to invite the Northern California bunch to see if they might be interested in coming down on that weekend to do battle with us. So that's it from your new Secretary of SCRAP for this battle January 12, 2003.
Copyright © 2003 John Flores
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