Sink the Bolzano!

 

The Find, Fix and Strike game the other day, The Battle of the Bonifacio Straits, turned out to be a closely fought and very evenly matched clash, with the end result a draw between the Regia Marina and Marine Nationale. The game began with both sides advancing into very long range and trading salvoes, although only the Italians managed to hit anything, with both the Duquesne and Algerie suffering light splinter damage. The Italians then swung 45 degrees and headed due south to cut off the French cruisers, while the latter steamed onwards, both sides continuing to fire but again only the Italians scoring hits or managing to straddle the French. 

By now the two cruiser divisions were on a right-angled collision course but at the last minute they turned, with the Italians now steaming on a parallel track to the French heading east. In the gunnery phase the French now managed to score some hits, with Algerie inflicting light damage on Bolzano, followed by a devastating hit on the Italian cruiser by the Duquesne, causing heavy damage and knocking out an engine room. The Italian fire from Pola and Bolzano by contrast continued to cause only light damage on the French cruisers.

As they were now in close range, both sides traded torpedo salvos but with absolutely no effect. This was quite realistic but a bit of waste of time, as the base chance to hit was 11+ with modifiers knocking it back to 12+ or 13+ unless you get really close. However, Bolzano was hit again by a salvo of 8'' shells from Duquesne, pushing her damage rating up to Crippled and causing serious flooding. The Bolzano was now dead in the water and so the Algerie piled on, her shells reducing the Italian cruiser to Silenced, even though the crew had managed to stop the flooding.

Meanwhile, the Pola made her escape run, setting course for the northeast corner of the table in the direction of the Italian mainland and air cover. The Duquesne pushed her engines to flank speed in pursuit and was gradually making up the distance when a salvo from Pola's X and Y turrets struck home, inflicting Heavy Damage, which escalated to Crippled after a second salvo hit. This caused the Duquesne to fall back and left her dead in the water, the damage control parties working hard to keep her afloat. The Algerie was too far away to make a difference to the outcome allowing the Pola to get away unscathed.

In the end, the Italian attempt to break through the straits into the Western Med failed dismally, with the Bolzano a sinking wreck to be finished off by the French destroyer escort but the Pola escaping unscathed to fight another day. The French, however, paid a very high price for their efforts with the Duquesne severely battered and in a near sinking state. I decided this was a draw, with a marginal Italian tactical win but a French strategic victory, albeit by the narrowest of margins. The Italian gunnery was clearly superior to the French in the opening stages of the action and the French will have some questions to answer about their failure to hit anything until at almost point blank range.

Good fun!