C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999

Started by IICptMillerII, December 31, 2017, 12:44:12 AM

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IICptMillerII

Backfires!

The situation is dire, but not unwinnable. Its time to get the flyboys into the air. The first thing I do is establish a no-navigation zone over the two enemy surface groups. This will make it so none of my CAP fighters will fly in said zone, thus will not be engaged by SAMs. I also quickly designate all known bogies as hostile, then start tasking aircraft. Unfortunately, all my Tomcats are still busy rearming, but I have plenty of AMRAAM equipped Hornets ready to go. 8 aircraft are tasked and begin takeoff procedures. Shortly after, 4 aircraft are launched into the air, soon to be followed by 4 more.



It soon turns into a worst case scenario. The enemy surface ships are rapidly closing with my Task Force, and their SAM coverage is protecting their bombers. Then the situation gets even worse.



The bombers unleash their VAMPIRES. My best option now is to tell my planes to try to shoot down the incoming VAMPIRES with their AMRAAMs. Each aircraft holds 6 AMRAAMs, and I have 8 aircraft in the air. That's 48 AMRAAMs total, and I can launch more CAP aircraft as well. Between all the AMRAAMs and my ship based SAMs, I should be able to fend off the incoming VAMPIRES.

Both my ships and aircraft begin targeting and shooting down the incoming VAMPIRES.




A few of the VAMPIRES go down, and more are targeted and fired on. This volley of VAMPIRES is smaller than I expected. My guess is the Indians still do not have a perfect fix on my Task Forces location, so the bombers are closing in for a closer shot.

There is more bad news however. Another group of bogies has been detected. Moments later, more incoming VAMPIRES are detected.



With the enemy surface ships closing in, they continue to restrict the airspace more and more. They are even firing some SAMs at long range to further harass my aircraft. My ASuW aircraft are still at least a half hour away from being ready. Meanwhile my own ships target and engage the incoming VAMPIRES.



A third volley of VAMPIRES is shot down, only to be followed by a 4th.



The 4th volley is defeated as the last remaining Backfire launches its two missiles. I am confident they too will be shot down. However, the second bogey group has grown.



To tackle this threat, I'm going to task some Tomcats on a long route to the West of the enemy surface ships. I'm hoping the long range of the Phoenix missiles will allow me to engage the enemy aircraft before all of them have a chance to fire their ordinance.

However, its too little, too late.



There is some good news however. 4 of my ASuW aircraft are now rearmed and ready to go. I'm faced with a tough decision; attack the enemy fleet piecemeal, or wait another 15 minutes for all the ASuW aircraft to be ready and attack all at once? Against my better judgement, I decide to launch the 4 ready aircraft now and try to sink or at least damage one of the enemy surface ships.

SKUNK #8 is the only surface ship to have lit off its radar. The type of radar it lit off was a surface to air, so I know this is the contact that has been firing sporadic SAMs at my aircraft. SKUNK #8 will be my first target. The mission is planned, and the aircraft are launched.



Suddenly, the Olympia detects a sub-surface contact, designated GOBLIN #144. Nothing else is known about it yet. I immediately task the Olympia to turn around and close with the contact will gathering more information on it. If I can keep Olympia between my carrier and this and any other subsurface contacts, I should be able to keep the task force safe from this threat.



A large group of VAMPIRES fired from the second bogey group starts to close in on the Task Force. More VAMPIRES are fired as more of the bogies close the range. While my AEW aircraft have not been able to identify the enemy aircraft of the second group, I suspect they are the B-6 Badger bombers based on their slower speed.

The number of VAMPIRES headed my way has me very concerned. While I still have enough ship based SAMs to take out the incoming VAMPIRES, I'm worried that there are too many targets and I could be overwhelmed. So, I decide to launch 6 more Hornets in a close in CAP to the carrier, with the task of engaging any VAMPIRES that get too close.



My ASuW Hornets get close enough and fire their SLAMs at SKUNK #8. With the SLAMs away and requiring no additional guidance from the Hornets, I decide to retask the Hornets to help shoot down the incoming VAMPIRES.

The Olympia is able to classify the GOBLIN; it's an SSGN! SSGN denotes a Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Attack Submarine. Specifically, this submarine is a Soviet model Charlie I. This is a serious threat, as it could launch ASMs at my Task Force from a different direction than the current incoming VAMPIRES. If that is allowed to happen, my anti-missile defenses could easily be overwhelmed trying to deal with multiple salvos from different vectors. The Olympia still doesn't have a solid fix on the Charlie I's position. The good news is the Charlie hasn't fired on my Task Force yet, meaning it likely has not detected it. I'm hoping it stays deaf to my Task Force long enough for Olympia to close and destroy it.



Here is a general sitrep on everything happening right now. There are hordes of VAMPIRES streaking towards my Task Force, and there are likely more yet unfired. I have some Tomcats taking the long way West to attempt to get some shots off on the large second bogey group. If they're able to do so, it will interrupt and frustrate the enemy bombers ability to lob more missiles my way. At the same time, my SLAMs are streaking towards SKUNK #8. If they are able to damage/sink the ship, it will make interdicting the enemy bogies and missiles much easier, as well as making follow on ASuW strikes easier as well. Farther to the West the Olympia is closing in on the enemy Charlie I submarine and will hopefully sink it. At the very least it will give the Charlie something to worry about, frustrating its efforts to find and engage my Task Force with its ASMs.

The amount of VAMPIRES coming my way is really starting to concern me, but I still have a lot of my SAMs left, as well as point defense systems, and scrambled aircraft. All of these assets give me more than a fighting chance against the mass of missiles coming my way.

Pete Dero


JudgeDredd

Alba gu' brath

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

IICptMillerII

Mayday!

Note: This update is rather helter skelter. There was a lot going on all at the same time, and it was hard to capture everything that was all happening at once. I focused in on the most important things that were occurring and tried to portray it all in a coherent manner. It was chaotic as you will soon read.

Missiles crisscross the sky. Friendly SLAMs and SAMs race to intercept their targets, as more and more VAMPIRES are detected. At the same time, the enemy surface group continues to launch sporadic SAMs at any of my planes that come in range. It is a very hectic situation.

My Tomcats begin classifying some of the enemy bombers in the second bogey group. It appears to be a mix of Tu-16 Badger bombers and Tu-95 Bear bombers. The badger is an older airframe, but the Bear is top of the line Soviet. I'm hoping my Tomcats, who have being lobbing Phoenixes, can fire enough missiles into the group of bogies to start slowing down the amount of VAMPIRES being sent my way.

My SLAM missiles are closing in on their target, and have not been fired at on yet. This is a good sign, it means that the enemy ships have not detected the missiles yet. Hopefully, all 8 are able to get through to insure a kill.



Damn! I've taken my first casualty. Argonaut 11 is unable to dodge the incoming SAM and is hit. There is a second SAM targeting Argonaut 12. Luckily he is able to evade the missile. A third SAM is fired at Argonaut 12, but I think by the time it gets to him it will be out of energy and not very likely to score a hit.

With everything going on, It's becoming very hard to keep track of everything.



Most of my attention is on my SLAMs as well as in the incoming VAMPIRES. The SLAMs are getting very close to their targets, and it still seems like they have not yet been detected.

Two VAMPIRES have gotten through the missiles and are now within 6nm of my carrier. More missiles are fired at them. A single hit from one of these VAMPIRES could cripple any of my ships, including my carrier. Losing any of my ships could spell doom for the Task Force. This is a very tense moment.



At the same moment that the two VAMPIRES close on my carrier, the lead volley of SLAMs gets extremely close to its target.



The first SLAM is engaged and destroyed by a point defense system. It appears the enemy ship does know it's under attack.



The second SLAM hits! Then the 3rd SLAM hits its target as well, flying through a hail of 30mm shells fired by the point defense system. Before striking the target, the SLAMs infrared seekers were able to identify the enemy ship and relay it back to me via datalink. The ship is the RKR Admiral Nakhimov, a Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Battle Cruiser (BCGN) This is a serious warship and poses a massive threat to me. This ship is large enough and carries enough radar and missile systems to serve as a flagship. I'm glad the first volley of SLAMs were able to score some hits. Its likely going to take the rest of the volley in order to sink her.

Just after the first volley of SLAMs hit home, the FFG Ford  escapes a VAMPIRE by the skin of its teeth, destroying it with its point defense CIWS.

As the second and third volley of SLAMs close in, a horde of SAMs are loosed from the BCGN are fired, and most of the remaining SLAMs are shot down by point defense systems. A few moments later, the final SLAM is destroyed by point defense systems before it can hit its target. 2 of the 8 SLAMs fired have hit the target, and while she is damaged, she is still operational. To take out the BCGN, I'm going to need a follow up strike. There is some good news however. Before the rest of the SLAMs were shot down, they were able to relay battle damage assessments back to me. It appears the BCGN is flooding pretty badly. It's possible the damage control parties on her will not be able to get the flooding under control and she will eventually sink. What's more, the SLAMs were able to identify the other two ships close to the BCGN. They are a Kresta II (CG) and a Kara (CG). These ships also pose decent threats in their own right, but thus far have been mostly dormant. I'm hoping they stay that way long enough for my remaining ASuW aircraft to re-arm.

Moments later, the Hawkeye is able to identify the suspected carrier as the Viraat. She has lost her air wing and is lagging behind the rest of the ships, so she is a low priority right now. The situation remains hectic.



There is a large mass of SAM missiles inbound fired from the BCGN. They are likely targeting my CAP aircraft. They were fired close enough as to retain most of their energy by the time they reach my planes. I'm likely going to take some losses here. I brace for their impact.

Two Hornets, part of the Blue Diamond squadron, are shot down. There are more SAMs being fired now as well. It's time to clear the airspace. Another Hornet goes down, this time from the Black Knight squadron. Many more SAMs are fired, and while most are evaded, another claims Argonaut 10. Shortly after Argonauts 12 is hit.

Enough is enough, I order all aircraft to egress south and attempt to return to the carrier. Still more SAMs are fired my way.

There is a silver lining. All of the incoming VAMPIRES have been shot down. For now, my carrier is safe from ASMs.



The SAMs are being fired at my planes in their landing patterns. Most are evaded, but every now and then another Hornet goes down. This is an infuriating situation. I decide to divert DDG Benfold and FFG Ford from the carrier group to head north, and attempt to engage the enemy BCGN with their ship launched Harpoon missiles. I have to do something to help my pilots out, and keep the enemy ships at bay. I order them North on an intercept course with the enemy BCGN, all ahead flank.



Soon, both the Benfold and Ford fire their Harpoons at the BCGN.



I'm not expecting these Harpoons to get through the enemy defenses. The Harpoon is not as capable as the SLAM, and most of the SLAMs were shot down. However, it should be enough to keep the damaged BCGN busy long enough for me to get more of my planes back on the carrier.

The first volley of Harpoons is shot down, though one of them did make it rather close to the target before being destroyed. More importantly, it has caused the BCGN to do defensive maneuvers, which has slowed its rate of closure with my carrier group.

Miraculously, two of the Harpoons get through and strike the BCGN. The third Harpoon got through as well, but malfunctioned. This is a big victory. With any luck, the BCGN is now too damaged to function anymore, and may even be sinking. At the very least, I've bought my planes a few more minutes of peace to get on the carrier before and more SAMs are fired at them.



The last aircraft in the landing pattern gets back safely on the carrier. The Tomcats sent to interdict the enemy bombers are returning as well, and will be out of range of the BCGNs SAMs for a little while. The Olympia continues to creep towards the last known location of the detected enemy submarine. And that is where the good news ends.

This air battle has cost me dearly. I've lost 7 US Navy Hornets and 1 USMC Hornet. While we were able to score multiple hits on the BCGN, it was not enough to keep her from firing hordes of SAMs into the air. Further, despite the many hits now scored against her, she has turned back on an intercept course with my carrier group. It appears that despite the damage she has suffered, she is still mission capable.

But we are far from out of the fight. As John Paul Jones once said, "I have not yet begun to fight!" I should soon have enough ASuW aircraft re-armed to carry out a mass strike against the BCGN which should be enough to finish her. After that, I can begin to target and destroy the remaining surface ships. Once the BCGN is down it will make it much easier for me to operate in the airspace undisturbed, which will in turn make it easier to carry out strikes against the remaining enemy ships.

Taking losses is always a setback, but the losses suffered were not crippling, and by and large I am still in much better shape than my opponent. After all, my carrier is safe and unharmed, as are the rest of my ships. My follow on strikes should be enough to cripple what is left of the enemy surface fleet. Blood has been drawn, and the pilots who just lost friends will be eager to return the favor to the enemy.

Sir Slash

Don't know about you CptMiller, but after all this action, I need a nap. Great AAR.  :bd:
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

IICptMillerII

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Nice to know that there are people actually reading this  ;D

This post isn't an update to the AAR, but rather a quick personal analysis by me. I made a huge mistake in allowing my CAP aircraft to stay airborne with the enemy BCGN closing in so quickly. I paid dearly for my mistake as well. I believe I lost upwards of 7 Hornets to SAM fire. I overestimated the severity of the incoming VAMPIRE volleys, thus allowed my CAP to stay airborne to assist my surface ships in shooting down the incoming VAMPIRES. That was my reasoning anyways. The right call would have been to recall all the CAP planes to the carrier and let the ships of the CVBG do their job and defend against the enemy missile threat.

I'm not certain how many VAMPIRES my AMRAAMs shot down, but I suspect the number was rather low. This is because the CAP planes did not have good geometry against the incoming VAMPIRES. The VAMPIRES were flying high and very fast, meaning the only good shot my planes would have had was nose on. However, with the BCGN firing sporadic SAMs at them, and the restricted maneuvering airspace also because of the closing enemy BCGN, many of my planes were kept out of position to effectively engage the incoming VAMPIRES. I realized this too late due to the amount of stuff that was going on all at once. Regardless of my reasoning at the time, this was a mistake by me.

Aside from this relative setback, I've been having a ton of fun playing and writing this AAR. At first I thought that it could become tedious or tiresome, but it really hasn't. Its been a lot of fun to do the whole way so far. The scenario itself has also been a lot of fun to play through as well, after of course you suspend your disbelief about the US Navy and Indian navy going head to head. The Indian navy is extremely capable, in many ways comparable to the Soviet navy of the 1980s, and in a few ways (the Viraat) more capable. Granted, if the Soviet Union had continued to exist through the 1990's I'm sure they would have increased their capabilities as well (for example, they were in the process of building their own supercarrier, the Ulyanovsk when the Soviet Union collapsed) and likely would have remained a serious threat to NATO. The Soviet supercarrier is featured as one of the hypothetical units in C:MANO, and it would be interesting to play around with at some point. Could even make for a fun AAR.

That's my quick mini-analysis addendum to what happened in the most recent AAR update, titled Mayday!. As always, feel free to post questions or comments, either about the AAR itself or the formatting/presentation. After all this is my first posted AAR here and I'm still learning how to best depict it all. Any feedback is welcome!

Stay tuned, there should be another update out sometime this week!

IICptMillerII

To Kill a Hydra

The BCGN has to go. I've devised a special flight package to take it down. 4 S-3B Vikings armed with 2 Harpoons each (which just became available) will target the enemy BCGN. Shortly after those aircraft launch, I will launch my just re-armed ASuW Hornets against the other two ships in the BCGN surface group. I debated sending an OEW (offensive electronic warfare) aircraft with the strike packages as well, but I only have 1 available right now, and the BCGN is close enough that any attempts at forming up will likely be interdicted by more SAMs. I've decided to carry out the strikes without the jamming support.



Less than 2 minutes after being launched, the Vikings have fired their Harpoons and are RTB.



Just as the Vikings enter the landing pattern, the first Hornet strike is launched. The second Hornet strike is assigned and the planes move to the flight deck to take off. It's important to remember that the Vikings fired Harpoons, and the Hornets are using the SLAMs.



The first strike of Harpoons closes in on the BCGN, and we score hits!



2 of the 8 Harpoons strike the BCGN. Again, this is not surprising because the Harpoons use active radar seeker heads when on the terminal phase of their attack. This allows the enemy to both know that they are under missile attack, and gives them the location of the missiles, making them easier to target and shoot down. The SLAMs with their IR seekers give no such warning, and should be more successful against their respective targets.

Soon the SLAMs begin their terminal guidance phase of their attack. Through them, they datalink back to me information on the BCGN. Amazingly, it is still floating, though it is suffering from extensive flooding as well as a roaring fire. Despite all of the hits its received, and the extensive damage caused and accumulated, she refuses to sink.



There is good news however. The BCGN is slowing down. It appears she may be dead in the water. What's more, none of the ships in the BCGN group have fired at my returning Tomcats. This means they are likely both blind and deaf now. The airspace should be much safer to operate in. However, I won't feel completely safe until the BCGN, the Kresta and the Kara are sunk.



The SLAMs take some fire from the Kresta, but the strike is successful. The Kresta is sunk. The last SLAM, having lost sight of the Kresta, automatically targets the next ship which happens to be the BCGN. I could get a free shot in against it, finally sinking her.



As the SLAM closes with the BCGN, it begins to take fire from point defense systems. This damn ship just doesn't know when to give up.

The SLAM gets within 600 meters of the BCGN, but is shot down. Damn!



The second SLAM strike is fired. Note the off axis attack vector. This is to avoid some of the SLAMs getting intercepted by the still operational BCGN.

The second SLAM strike closes on the Kara, which begins firing short range SAMs to defend itself. One SLAM is intercepted, then another by point defense systems. Then the rest of the SLAMs get through, sinking the Kara.



Two SLAMs are left over, but instead of retargeting they end up slamming into the sinking hulk of the Kara.

All of my ASuW aircraft except for one Hornet have been used in these series of strikes. However, I do have some Prowlers armed with HARM missiles. The HARM is an anti-radiation missile, meaning it is used to target enemy radar emissions. Normally these types of missiles are used to destroy enemy radar SAM sites, but they can be employed against any target emitting radar or jamming waves. The BCGN is actively jamming, and is actively lighting off some of its other radar systems. I'm going to attempt to finish her off with my HARM armed Prowlers.

The Prowlers are launched and as they enter their attack vector they become jammed. This actually works to my favor though, as the HARM is able to home in on the source of the jamming emissions. The stronger the jamming, the more accurate the HARMs will be.



The 4 HARMs are launched. Hopefully this is the last of the BCGN. The HARMs enter the terminal phase of their attack and immediately lock on to the BCGN.





The BCGN is hit and finally sinks. The remaining HARMs are unable to find viable targets in range and self-destruct. 

This strike was very successful. Though it took more munitions than I thought, all three enemy ships are now confirmed sunk. The only ship left is the Viraat, which poses little threat. Its air compliment was destroyed. It has point defense systems, but that's all. Not even any short ranged SAMs. Whats more, the last surface group has turned around and is steaming away from me. Strangely, the Viraat is not turning around, but still steaming towards me. This may be an oversight by the scenario designer. Regardless, I do not have any assets in position or re-armed to take her out. This is hardly problematic, as I already explained she has no weapon systems that deny my air space or pose a threat to my ships.

Meanwhile, the Olympia is still searching for the enemy submarine detected. She will continue her search, as well as acting as a screen to keep any threats coming from the West away from my carrier, or at the very least warning me that something is coming.



This is the current situation. For the first time in a while, I finally have some breathing room. This is good, as the majority of my planes are currently re-arming, to include my CAP aircraft. The lull I've created for myself after the successful ASuW strikes is sorely needed. I've re-vectored the Task Force on a more North Easterly course. The screening force will continue to move towards the Viraatand, if they get in range before any of my ASuW aircraft rearm, will engage and sink her. I also have some Vikings loaded for ASW which I could send out to help Olympia find the enemy submarine. For now at least, things have quieted down, and I am thankful for that.

Additional Note: I'm shocked at how much punishment that BCGN took before finally going down. It was hit by something like 4-5 Harpoons, and 6-8 SLAM missiles before finally being finished off by the HARMs. I named this update "To Kill a Hydra" for this reason. Despite being hit repeatedly, the damn thing just wouldn't die. The most amazing part was that her weapons and radar systems were still mostly functional to the bitter end. That was the single hardest ship kill I've ever earned in C:MANO.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

IICptMillerII

Apologies for the delay in updates recently. The bad news is I will be away all weekend so there won't be an update until sometime early next week, hopefully Tuesday. The good news is that with the BCGN out of the way and most of the other ships reversing course, the rest of the AAR should be mop up. I am expecting to have the entire AAR wrapped up in two more updates. Hopefully by the end of next week it'll be done. Hang in there!

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

IICptMillerII

Elusive Submarines, a Carrier Sunk, and a Crazy Udaloy

We finally return to the action!

Things have quieted down a lot now that the BCGN has been taken care of. The last report was that it was sunk by the HARM missiles, however there is still a contact showing up on radar. This is likely the sinking ship. To be sure, and to get a slightly better picture of what's going on out there, I decide to launch a Sea Shadow aircraft to snoop around. My screen force is still moving towards the BCGN. I'm planning on having them close with the last location of the BCGN and making sure she is sunk. Then, they will get a chance to sink the Viraat  with direct fire. This is a bit unconventional, but the Viraat is entirely unprotected and should prove to be an easy kill. Besides, it's going to be at least 5 hours until I have any ASuW aircraft rearmed.

Elsewhere the Olympia continues its hunt for the enemy submarine.



All of a sudden, a new submarine contact appears. It is detected by ELINT equipment, meaning the submarine is close to the surface and using its radar. It is likely trying to get a fix on my Task Force's location. This sub is a diesel powered SSK – Hunter Killer Submarine. According to the database, it only carries torpedoes. No anti-ship missiles. Plus, the contact is 96nm away at its closest estimated position. This is hardly a threat. However, this is no reason not to sink it quickly. I'll task a Viking to head out and drop a torpedo or two on top of her and dispatch the threat. Based on the activity of the various Indian naval vessels, it would appear that the Indian navy is becoming somewhat desperate. The fact that they are not turning around their aircraft carrier, but the 4th surface group of DDGs has turned around clearly advertises a state of confusion.

Both the Shadow and Viking are launched at the same time, and each aircraft head to their respective mission stations.

Shortly after taking off and turning its surface search radar on, the Shadow confirms that the BCGN has sunk. There is no longer any radar return from the vessel. However, I am receiving jamming. I believe this jamming is coming from the group of three DDGs milling around to my North. This is a nuisance, but it will do little to interrupt my current operations.



Shortly after I realize the jamming is coming from the Viraat. The Viraat has also changed her course to run parallel with my Task Force. The DDG group farther North has done the same. It appears both the DDG group and carrier have adopted an intercept course with my Task Force. This is not very concerning though, as it will be a long time before such an intercept closes to a dangerous range. By then my ASuW aircraft should be back up and ready.


The enemy submarine continues to emit radar as the Viking closes in on her. This should be an easy kill.



The Viking first drops an active sonobouy to ensure the torpedo has the best guidance parameters, and then drops a Mk50 nearly on top of the submarine. Seconds later, its all over. The enemy submarine is sunk, simple and painless. For me that is.

Instead of sending the Viking back to the carrier, I decide to send it over to where the Olympia is stalking the other submarine contact. Its been over an hour since the contact was last spotted. With any luck I'll be able to fix its location with the Viking and take it out as well.

As the Viking begins transiting to the last known location of the other enemy submarine, the Indian surface vessels again turn directly towards my Task Force. This is rather odd behavior. Soon my screening force will be in weapons range to engage the Viraat.



As my screening force closes in to engage the Viraat, it detects 3 ASW helicopters on the deck. No matter, these helo's do not pose a threat to my ships, and my own submarine is over 100nm away, and so no threat is posed to it either.



Shortly after, my two ships begin engaging the Viraat with their deck guns. While this should be an easy kill, it will likely take a while. The Viraat will be able to absorb a decent amount of damage before she goes down.

The first volley scores a number of hits, and my ships determine the enemy has suffered light damage. My ships maneuver and fire off a second volley. Just as the second volley is being fired, my Hawkeye detects VAMPIRE launches. They're coming from the enemy DDGs farther to the north.



While the launches of the missiles are detected, the missiles themselves are not tracked. This likely means they are sea skimming. This is dangerous, but not overly so. There is a good chance the enemy DDGs do not possess ASMs in abundance, and the combined missile and point defenses of my DDG and FFG should be more than enough to defeat the few incoming VAMPIRES. As an additional note (one that I would never admit in front of the Captains of my screen ships) I would rather have the enemy DDGs firing VAMPIRES at the screen force than directly at my carrier. A few minutes later, the two VAMPIRES are picked up and engaged by my FFG. Moments later, both VAMPIRES are shot down. Seconds later, a larger volley of VAMPIRES is detected. This time its 4 missiles. Again, this should be easy enough to deal with.



The second volley of VAMPIRES is dealt with and they cause no damage.

Strangely, the enemy group of DDGs has come to a full stop. They're just sitting there in the ocean, not moving. It would appear that they do not know what to do.

My screen continues to pound away on the Viraat, and the damage is beginning to add up. They are now reporting the enemy carrier has suffered medium damage, and a fire has been spotted on her decks. It should take a bit more to sink her.



After some more punishment, the Viraat is dead in the water, heavily damaged, on fire, and is no longer jamming or emitting any radar. She is officially a dead stick, will not pose any threat to my Task Force, and will likely sink if the fires are not gotten under control. With this, I task my screen force to move on an intercept course with the Task Force to rejoin. Meanwhile, the Charlie class submarine continues to evade both my submarine and Viking. The search continues for her, but as for right now I am confident my Task Force is far enough away from the possible location of the enemy submarine so that it does not pose a threat to me.



After some more searching, Olympia finally picks up the enemy Charlie submarine again. It is much farther to the north than expected, but still well out of position to cause my surface ships any harm. What likely happened was, while Olympia was moving south to the Charlie's last known location at a very deep depth, the Charlie must have slipped overhead, above the layer at a shallow depth. No matter, now that we have an idea of where she is, it should be easy enough to kill her.

The first Viking hits Bingo fuel and has to RTB. I launch another Viking to go hunt down the enemy submarine. As I am doing so, I get the report that the Viraat has succumbed to its damage and is now sinking. Scratch another enemy ship!



The Udaloy is then detected breaking away from the other two DDGs and heading straight for me at flank speed. It seems like the skipper of the Udaloy is not happy about the Viraat being sunk and is coming in for vengeance.



With it getting closer and most of my ASuW aircraft still turning around, I decide to do something a bit unconventional. I launch a single F-18 armed with SLAMs against the Udaloy. The hope is that at least one of the SLAMs is able to get through and hinder the Udaloy long enough for a more appropriate strike to be brought against it.

While the SLAMs close in on their target, the Viking and Olympia continue to search for the elusive Charlie submarine. It appears it has slipped through our search nets once again, as both of my assets continue to reacquire the contact. Other than that, it has been smooth sailing ever since the BCGN was destroyed, and it appears that it will remain that way. Once the three DDGs are taken care of, it will be a straight shot to the Sri Lankan coast. Task Force Nimitz is almost out of the fire.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

IICptMillerII

The Enemy Gets a Vote


We return to the action in the middle of a few things. SLAMs are closing in on the Udaloy, and my Viking and the Olympia are still searching for the enemy submarine that continues to elude me. There are also the two enemy DDGs farther to the North that will eventually have to be dealt with.



The SLAMs close in, but are shot down by the Udaloy.



There is good news however. Most of my ASuW aircraft are re-armed and ready to sortie. My plan is to use my SLAM equipped Hornets to take out the two DDGs, and my Harpoon equipped Vikings (flight of 4, with 2 Harpoons per plane) to take out the Udaloy. If the Viking strike is not enough, I have some HARM equipped Prowlers that can hopefully finish the job. Meanwhile, the Olympia finally regains contact with the enemy submarine. Both Olympia and the Viking on station close in to engage.



Shortly after, the Vikings are launched and quickly fire their Harpoons at the Udaloy.





Unfortunately, all Harpoons are intercepted. Time to call in the Prowlers with their HARMs. I really hope the HARMs will get through and sink the Udaloy, because I do not want to have to use SLAMs against it. I want all of my SLAMs for the two enemy DDGs.



And we get a hit! 1 of the 4 HARMs fired makes it through.



While this is good news, it appears the damage to the Udaloy is light. It is still emitting its radars and jammers, but it has come to a complete stop. Its possible its propulsion has been knocked out. I decide to redirect my Carrier group slightly to the north to bring the stricken Udaloy into range of my ship based Harpoons. The task force closes into range, and a volley of 16 Harpoons are fired. This should be the end of the Udaloy.



As the Harpoons approach, the Udaloy begins knocking them out of the sky with counter fire. Amazingly, the stricken Udaloy defeats all 16 Harpoons fired at it. The last of my ship launched Harpoons, 8 in total, are fired at the Udaloy. However, after the Udaloy swatted all 16 Harpoons out of the sky from the previous volley, I have little hope of these 8 getting through. There is some good news. The enemy subs location has finally been pinned down, and the Viking is moving to engage with torpedo's.







Finally, the second submarine is sunk. It took a long time to track her down and sink her. I'm glad I can strike another enemy contact marker off my map. The following is a picture of the area that was searched, primarily marked by the various sonobouy's.



It took a while, and a lot of ocean had to be turned over before the sub was finally destroyed.

At nearly the same time as the enemy sub was sunk by the Vikings torpedo, the second Harpoon volley closes in on the Udaloy. Already, 3 of the Harpoons have been shot down.



As expected, the rest of the Harpoons are shot down. This Udaloy is really giving me a headache. I now have a decision to make. I have 8 ASuW aircraft, all loaded with SLAMs. Each Hornet carries 2 SLAMs each for a total of 16. My current plan is to hit the DDGs with a 4 ship strike, 4 SLAMs per DDG. At the same time, I'll hit the Udaloy with a 3 ship strike of 6 SLAMs. The missions are assigned, and the Hornets are launched.



Both flights of Hornets are in the air. I'm having them keep their radars off and guiding them in with the AWACs and Sea Shadow. I'm hoping this will make the SLAMs harder to detect. The DDGs have not emitted any radar for at least 25 minutes, so they will likely not see the missiles coming. The Udaloy is still emitting and jamming.



The volley of SLAMs is fired against the two DDGs, but I've made a mistake. I accidentally set the mission to only fire a single volley of missiles and not all missiles at once. I have to re-route the Hornets and fire off the second volley of missiles. Hopefully this doesn't doom my attack.



At the same time, the SLAMs close in on the Udaloy and begin taking fire. One SLAM is lost right away. This sucker just won't die.



All but one SLAM is shot down. The final SLAM gets close enough to the Udaloy to relay BDA information, and then:



Malfunction. The weapon got through the point defenses, but failed to detonate on impact. This is very frustrating. I'm not going to have to improvise a way to sink this Udaloy. No luck with the DDGs either. As the SLAMs close in, they fire SAMs at them. The SLAMs are defeated by the DDGs. I decide to reroute the remaining Hornets with SLAMs to engage the Udaloy. If 1 missile was able to get through last time, I'm hoping 4 should be able to. I think it may be out of SAMs, and the 4 sea skimming SLAMs should be enough to defeat the point defenses.



Wrong again! 3 of the 4 SLAMs are shot down by SAMs. But one gets through, and this time it detonates. Finally, we have another hit against the Udaloy.



The Udaloy is still jamming and emitting radar. If she is sinking, it will likely take a while. The two enemy DDGs have been identified by the failed SLAM strike. They are Soviet made Sovremenny class destroyers. These will be just as hard, if not more difficult to kill than the Udaloy has been.



This is the current situation. After everything that's happened in this update, all I've managed to do was sink a submarine and damage the Udaloy. I was not expecting these last 3 ships to pose such a problem. I was hoping to have this AAR wrapped up, but it appears the enemy has voted that down.

In light of the current situation, I am re-arming a large chunk of my Hornets to carry SLAMs. It will take another 6 hours for the strike aircraft to be ready, but when they are ready, I will have 2/3rds of my Hornets for sinking these last 3 ships. There has been no air threat for a while now, but if there is I still have my Tomcats and a squadron of AMRAAM equipped Hornets to defend the airspace with. For now, we'll just have to keep our distance from the DDGs and buy time for the strike aircraft to get ready. The silver lining here is that it appears the enemy has lost most of his offensive capabilities. No SSMs have been fired in a long time. The biggest threat now is getting into a naval gunfire duel. Aside from that, there is still a threat of enemy air action, but as previously mentioned I am prepared for that possibility.

A quick note on the upcoming conclusion of this AAR: I'm going to post an actual after action review, in which I discuss my interpretation of what happened in this battle, mistakes I think I made, and a few comments on various things. That will come after the final AAR post as its own post. Hopefully this will all be done soon, as long as I can force the Indian navy to cooperate!

Sir Slash

Fantastic read CatMiller!  :bd:   Any chance of the Olympia being able to take out those damned-hard to sink Destroyers?
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.