Destroyer Action off Tartous, June 1938

 

Inspired by an article in Los! magazine on the Battle of Sidon in June 1941, here's my scenario for Find, Fix and Strike, set in June 1938 in an alternate, fictitious Franco-Italian conflict. The Italians have landed troops in Lebanon and they are advancing north against the French defending forces in Syria. A flotilla of Soldati class destroyers has been tasked with the interception of a southwards sweep made by two Le Fantasque class destroyers from Tartous, which has been blockaded by Italian submarines. 

The two French destroyers - Le Terrible and Le Malin - are under a brilliant commander and have veteran crews, the best gunnery crews in the Marine Nationale (+1 Attack Modifier). However, they are suffering from a shortage of ammunition and can only sustain fire for five turns, after which they must disengage and evade via the north of the map. Their objective is to cripple, silence or sink at least one of the Italian destroyers before this happens.

The Italian commander is experienced but average, while the crews of the four destroyers - Ascari, Alpino, Lanciera and Aviera - are also average. Their task is simple, to prevent the two French destroyers from escaping and, if possible, heavily damage both, or cripple, silence or sink at least one of the pair. The Italian destroyer captains must not allow the French destroyers to get away, as they are a thorn in the side of the land forces and have been engaged in shore bombardment.

The sea state is moderate, visibility is excellent (30''), the wind direction is westerly and the wind strength is fresh. The French destroyers start on table at the eastern centre point heading on a SW course with le Terrible (F) at the front followed by Le Malin in line astern. The Italian destroyers deploy in the SW corner heading on a reciprocal course to the French, spaced in a staggered line astern pattern, with Ascari (F), Aviera and Alpino grouped together and Lancieri trailing 6'' to the SE of the group.

In the actual engagement, the Italians (British) were hammered by accurate long range fire and lost one of their destroyers - HMS Janus - to several hits which caused her to stop dead in the water. The other British destroyers harried the retreating French, with both sides laying smoke screens to impede gunnery and screen their forces. The British did hit one of the French destroyers - Le Guepard - but failed to cause any significant damage before both of the Vichy warships managed to escape.