Battle Report: Battle of Tarama Island, 1908

Onboard the Mikasa, 21st June 0125

Admiral Togo reviewed the charts on his desk, one last check before he got what little sleep would be possible before the fleet raised steam. Before dawn they would slip out of harbour, aiming to surprise the American fleet that was currently blockading the shipping routes from Formosa to the Homeland. Crushing this force would bring the strategic situation into balance. Failure was not an option. 

This game was the latest played in the office, featuring a fictional US-Japanese conflict in 1908. The alternate history here is that the Japanese refused to drop their demands for an indemnity from Russia during the peace talks to end the Russo-Japanese War, antagonising the United States. After a few more months of fighting, the Russians capitulated and were forced to pay the demanded money, restocking the Japanese war coffers. 

Concerned by the rising power of the Japanese, the US imposed a trade embargo in early-1907, which was initially ineffective, while the British withdrew from the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Shortly thereafter, a Japanese nationalist murdered the US ambassador to Tokyo, leading to a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment in the US. Under pressure from the public, the Roosevelt administration decided to use the Great White Fleet to enforce the embargo, placing squadrons on several key shipping routes in March 1908, strangling Japanese industry. The British contributed a small force to aid the American effort, aiming to keep a foot in at the bargaining table of any peace talks to prevent either potential rival becoming too powerful and threatening British interests in the region.

Faced with potential economic collapse, the Japanese decided to make a naval strike, picking off as many of the US blockading squadrons as they could before the US fleet could concentrate. 

The Japanese brought three squadrons:

1st Battle Squadron:

Mikasa (Admiral Togo)
Fuiji

2nd Battle Squadron:

Shikishima (Vice Admiral Kataoka)
Asahi

3rd Battle Squadron: (Made up of ships captured from the Russians in the Russo Japanese War)

Borodino (Vice Admiral Dewa)
Sissoi Veliki

(Technically neither of these ships survived the Battle of Tsushima, but alternate history so shhh)

Onboard the USS Georgia, 21st June 0530

The first sign of dawn creeping over the horizon greeted Admiral Wainwright as he strode toward the bridge of the USS Georgia, the swell gently rocking the ship as she made her way on the mind-numbingly dull patrol. Another day patrolling the endless ocean beckoned, another day of the crew missing home. 

He reached the bridge and looked back over the row of warships, pride of the United States Navy, with the British contingent off to their north. A faint smile flickered across his face, before he was interrupted. "Sir, report from the lookouts." said Captain Qualtrough "Smoke on the horizon East by North East."

Perhaps today would not be so dull after all. 
 
The blockading force consisted of three US squadrons:

1st Pacific Squadron:

USS Georgia (Admiral Wainwright)
USS Iowa

2nd Pacific Squadron:

USS Kansas (Vice Admiral Emory)
USS Missouri

Hong Kong Squadron (Royal Navy):

HMS Exmouth (Rear Admiral Fisher)
HMS Cornwallis 

The Game

The two forces would clash in the straits between Tamara Island and Minna Island, with the Japanese Combined Fleet sailing in from the North East towards the Anglo-American fleet. Both fleets drew up in line abreast, with the squadrons widely spaced. The Japanese placed their 1st Battle Squadron on their left, 3rd Battle Squadron in the centre and 2nd on their right. Facing them, Admiral Wainwright and the 1st Pacific Squadron took the centre of the Anglo-American fleet, the 2nd Pacific Squadron forming their right flank and the Hong Kong Squadron on their left. 

In the first turn, both fleets advanced on one another, opening fire with their forward turrets at maximum range. Japanese fire was mostly ineffective, with all their fire being concentrated on the USS Georgia, destroying on quick-firing gun in the superstructure. When the US forces returned fire, the extra penetration of the US guns under the rules came into effect when a 12" shell from the Georgia penetrated the armour of the Asahi and exploded in her magazine, sending the ship to the bottom. 

The Asahi explodes in the opening moments of the battle.

The situation after the first turn

The next turn saw the two fleets begin to turn to use their broadsides, the destruction of the Asahi clearly demonstrating the potential lethality of engaging even at these ranges, although the Japanese players had noticed that the US ships had additional armour penetration over theirs, so realised they would need to close to be able to threaten the vital systems of the enemy. The Japanese fleet turned to their port, while the allies had a more complicated approach, with the two American squadrons towards one another, while the British ships turned to their port (heading towards the table edge, leading to some comments from the umpire) giving them an arc of fire over a wide expanse of the combat area. 

Under fire, the Japanese turn to unleash all their firepower while still closing to give their weapons the chance to penetrate the enemy's armour.

The US and British ships turn to broadside the enemy, the US squadrons separating from the British ships

The Georgia again took the brunt of the attention from the Japanese, losing her forward top turret, suffering some machinery hits which slowed her and taking other minor damage, several rounds passing perilously close to her conning tower. Return fire from the Royal Navy caused minor damage to the ex-Russian squadron, including knocking out a secondary turret on the Borodino, while the US ships concentrated on the lead Japanese squadron. The Mikasa took a minor hit in her stern, causing no significant damage, before a second hit destroyed one of her 6" guns. Under the rules, there was a chance (1 in 6 in this case) of a flash fire passing along the ammunition supply route and destroying the ship. "It's only the flagship, how bad could it be?" was the utterance as the dice was thrown. And thus ended the life of the Mikasa, Admiral Togo and her several hundred crew. The situation was looking grim for the Imperial fleet. 

A second catastrophic explosion leaves the Japanese Combined Fleet without its Admiral and heavily outnumbered.

The 1st and 3rd Battle squadrons promptly failed their morale tests, while the Shikishima's crew passed, however the decision was taken for her to follow the rest of the fleet in withdrawing, rather than taking on 6:1 odds. 

The remaining Japanese ships being to withdraw at their best speed.

The British ships brought themselves round to keep the range between them and the rearmost Japanese ships to a minimum, while the US squadrons struggled to give all their ships sight lines onto the enemy as the Georgia's loss of speed prevented the two squadrons from cleanly passing each other. 

The American ships pass each other under fire

The British ships continued their assault on the Russian ships, the Sissoi Veliki and Borodino both taking hits, while the US ships which had lines of sight pounded the Fuji as she was likely to be out of sight on the next turn, knocking out her forward turret, taking out her conning tower, damaging her machinery and destroying several other sections including the ammunition path to her aft turret. Rather than risk the ship, the magazine was flooded. 

The return fire from the Japanese was again focussed on the Georgia, although some fire was directed at the HMS Exmouth causing significant scratches to the paint over her main belt armour. USS Georgia began to take significant damage, many below the waterline hits led to widespread flooding and further machinery damage, more hits around the conning tower and a small fire which was swiftly contained. 

The next turn saw the Shikishima turn towards the allied fleet, while the other ships continued their flight. The Royal Navy ships continued to lurk while the range lengthened, and the US fleet continued to attempt to dig themselves out of the tangle they had found themselves in.

The Shikishima turns into the enemy while the other ships withdraw

Japanese fire was split between the USS Missouri, which took a hit to her steering gear, the USS Iowa, which took a hit just below her forward magazine and the USS Georgia, who took minor damage, while returning fire the US and British ships concentrated on the Shikishima, which suffered horribly, losing her forward turret, several secondary guns, taking several hits to her machinery, leading to significant flooding. Several flash fire tests were required, and handily passed.

The final turn passed with only minor damage being inflicted by either side as the Japanese ships slipped away, and the USS Georgia narrowly avoided grounding. With two battleships lost and the blockading force still in place, it was clear the Japanese had suffered a significant defeat, but both sides had had a blast. The pre-dreadnoughts will definitely be back for additional games.

Onboard the USS Georgia 21st June 1835

Admiral Wainwright watched as the two British battleships steamed after the retreating Japanese, gathering speed as they did. The Georgia and the other US ships were launching boats to hunt for survivors, any who had been lost overboard from their ships or any who had somehow escaped the two Japanese ships that had exploded, unlikely as that would be.  

The ship was listing slightly, two turrets had been knocked out and the superstructure was riddled with holes, small fires were burning in many areas. Losses were undoubtedly going to have been heavy, with the Georgia having faced the brunt of the enemy's fire, but he and his men had won the day. With the attack on his force, however, war had begun. He prayed he and his men would live to see its end. 

After Action Status:

Japanese:

Mikasa: Sunk (Ammunition fire leading to magazine explosion).

Fuji: Minor flooding and minor damage to superstructure and machinery leading to loss of speed, forward 12" turret, two torpedo mountings and conning tower destroyed.


Shikishima: Extensive flooding, heavy damage to machinery, forward 12" turret destroyed, 4 starboard 6" guns destroyed.

Asahi: Sunk (Magazine explosion)

Borodino: Minor damage to machinery, one torpedo launcher and starboard side 6" turret destroyed.

Sissoi Veliki: Minor damage to machinery, one torpedo launcher destroyed and small fire (contained).

American:

USS Georgia: Major flooding, significant machinery damage, extensive damage to superstructure, forward 8" turret destroyed and minor fires (contained).

USS Iowa: Minor flooding from below waterline hit. 

USS Kansas: No damage

USS Missouri: Minor flooding and damage to steering gear

British:

HMS Exmouth: Minor paintwork scrapes.

HMS Cornwallis: No damage 

We used the Perfidious Albion rules from A&A Games, the models used were from Tumbling Dice's Age of Battleships range.