The other day I celebrated the anniversary of the Third Battle of Ushant (or the Glorious First of June) in grand style, with a massive naval engagement near the Solomon Islands between Her Majesty's 12th Fleet and an Imperial Blazing Sun (I just call them Japanese) fleet. By the way, the Glorious First was commemorated in one of the most inspiring naval anthems ever, Heart of Oak. If you didn't click on the link, shame on you! It's a good song, and very rousing.
Anyway, my 12th fleet entered into the straits around the Solomons after being tipped off by spotters about the approaching Japanese armada ready to take the islands. The Solomons are a vital forward lookout and coaling station for my fleet, and the gateway to Her Majesty's dominions in Australia so I made haste with a full head of steam to the engagement point at the northernmost tip of the archipelago. The Japanese didn't stand a chance, my Hawk scout squadron, and tiny flyers manage to strafe the incoming frigates and cruiser, sinking two cruisers and crippling the third one. Now it was the turn of my own fast arriving cruisers and frigates to get in close and unleash one hellish broadside after another. If you're going to play Britannians, then line of battle formation is highly recommended. That is for you non nautical chaps, all the ships line up one behind the other and follow the leader across the enemy's bow and rake her with shot after shot. Turns the whole battlefield into a shooting gallery. It's also VERY effective with a Britannian fleet. Spartan Games at least got that part right. The Russians play it weird, all the guns on the bow, makes crossing their T Nelson style almost suicidal, which is why I take them broadside on, all their guns count for nothing when lined up abreast at their BOW!
So I maul the Japanese advance squadrons pretty quickly, which leaves the best meat for last, their dreadnought and battleship vs. MY dreadnought (HMS Invincible, which is still, I'm happy to say, invincible.) and battleship (HMS Triumph) AND submarine wolf pack. Gracefully striding into the thick of it, Invincible fired off a thunderous salvo off the port bow into the now retreating Yamato's stern (the Japanese dreadnought). Nearly all 18 shots hit home as her systems failed on an unlucky damage roll, and my subs came in to fire off torpedos into the wounded beast. Another 12 hits which was one short of her critical.
The battleship was run off the table after a couple of well placed critical hits that disabled her so badly, her captain felt it best not to follow the age old Japanese tradition of kamikaze, I mean seppuku, I mean hari kiri, I mean suicide. The Yamato was not so disposed. The Invincible and Triumph had her hemmed into a reef while the subs approached from the stern and sank her with more torpedoes. Thus ended a thundering victory for the Brits on the Glorious First of June.
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