Victory at Sea

[33LIMA 972]

I just had a first try-out with a Victory at Sea mod, namely Alane's Japan Ship Mod. This adds many additional IJN warships, although the inability, for now, to add new 3d models means each must use an existing VaS one. Somewhat confusingly, in-game, ship names appear as Japanese characters! Below are some pics from a fairly mad Custom Battle, set up to pit a heavily-escorted Japanese carrier group at close range against a smaller US task force, without carriers. Playing the IJN side, I just let the AI slug it out under 'attack' orders, and a real old slug fest it was. The fight started with the IJN carriers launching air strikes, with the planes flying s shuttle service, returning quickly to land on, rearm and take off again. These animations are rather basic and I saw no sign that carriers were turning into wind to launch and recover planes, but it was certainly fun to watch.

 

Having left my ships under AI control, I zoomed across the intervening ocean to watch the incoming enemy for a while. The USN task force is closing the range, with a North Carolina class BB, perhaps the 'Showboat' herself, in the centre of the formation:

 

 

Our airstrikes have begun to arrive, with the US battleships singled out for attention:

 

 

As the range winds down, the destroyers accompanying our force join the action, sending fans of Long Lance torpedoes towards the Americans. These reach their targets just as one of the BBs is turning across their path and is unable to evade in time (they DO need to enable us to toggle off those torpedo labels, though!):

 

 

With my view re-set on my own force, I watch as my airstrikes come and go, while my battleships, cruisers and destroyers run down the enemy at 28 Knots:

 

 

At the heart of my force is one of the mighty Yamato class Battleships:

 

 

By the time my leading BBs have come into range and started shooting, some of the US ships have already been hit hard by airstrikes or torpedoes:

 

 

My BBs turn to open their A arcs and soon the air between the two sides is filled with salvos of heavy shells:

 

 

One of the US cruisers is soon in fairly serious trouble:

 

 

But the enemy seem to be concentrating on my flagship, which is also taking hits. The range is soon close enough that secondary armaments on my battlewagons have begun to engage, and even my carriers have started shooting, as we try to cross the enemy's 'T':

 

 

Still the battle rages on:

 

 

The Americans have turned broadside too, but before long, superior Japanese numbers tell, and one by one the USN ships go under, one of the last this South Dakota class battleship, dead in the water and burning:

 

 

Very simplified as it may be in various respects, I'm definitely still enjoying this one!