The Lars Chronicles:
MWC Nats 2004
The Best Nats So Far
by Lars
Copyright (C) 2004 by
Larry S. Dahl
It wasn’t until the
Monday before Nats that I knew for sure that I could go. Work had been a bear from last September up
until mid-May, but for the last two months it had been slowing down, and so was
I. Still, there was this task, out in
I was somewhat
relieved at getting the go-ahead from work, because I was half hoping that I
could make it, but now I was in trouble, because I wasn’t ready. I’d done some boasting to Ron Horbul that I’d
have the Tiger ready to go and team with his Lion, but other tasks (like a late
refinance of the home loan) had slowed that project down to the point where to
get it done I’d have to knock myself out.
I needed a vacation, and I wasn’t in the mood for a week of late nights
before I went to Nats. So it was back to
Bellerophon. In fair shape from her last
fight, all she needed (I thought) was a new hull skin and fresh coat of paint. That was more manageable. I relaxed a bit, and started work.
The work was made more
manageable in the fact that my two boys, Grant and Andy, who have accompanied
me to my last two Nats, were way behind in some required school work, and there
was no question that they would be going.
It was time to show them that their home-schooling mother and I meant it
when we said that ‘school comes first’.
But it felt rather odd for me, not having to worry about them or their
boats. Grant’s ship was still in the
dockyards, getting an overhaul, but Andy’s was in good shape. I’d even used it earlier that year, up until
I decided that I should fix up my own boat and quit getting his sunk under the
guns of Bob Hoernemann’s Warspite.
On Friday Bob called
up, and we discussed our drive down. We
were to take my stuff, Bob’s stuff, and Ron’s ships, because Ron had to stick
around for a wedding on Saturday, and wouldn’t be driving down until
Sunday. “Can you be here at
I’m a night owl, and
like to sleep in. I tried to bargain for
a few more hours of sleep, but only managed to get one out of Bob. Oh well, at least once I picked him up, he
could keep me awake while I drove.
Saturday came, and my
wife pushed me out of bed at
Finally, we were
almost packed when Kevin Bray called.
He’d left something behind, and wanted Bob to bring his. He called again a few minutes later, this
time with Gerald Roberts on the phone, as Gerald suddenly had room when Jim
Pate had to back out of Nats due to a family problem. I had just managed to wrangle
a single room (one that Patrick Clarke had surrendered when he got Dana
Graham’s room) out of the Nats hotel clerk, and after all that work I had
started to look forward to a nice quiet room to myself. I hemmed and hawed and thanked him for his kindness,
but finally told Gerald that right now I ‘kind of wanted a room to myself’, but
that I might join him later in the week.
Well, we were out of
Bob’s driveway about ten minutes to eight, only fifty minutes late. Bob was instantly feeling like he’d left
something behind. “I always leave
something behind, I just hope that it’s something you can buy down there.” I told him.
It wasn’t long before
he remembered that he’d left some pictures that he wanted to give to Kevin
Bray. Later he remembered some gag that
he’d left at home. Then down in
As we drove there was
a fairly steady stream of conversation.
Bob, that social butterfly, wanted to make it down in time for ‘supper
with the gang’, so we only stopped twice.
Of course, I had to show off how out of it I was by forgetting which
side of the truck the fuel cap was on, when I pulled up to the pump for our first
refueling. Bob matched me by not properly
triggering the gas with his ‘pay at the pump’ credit card. I went in to use the restroom while he went
digging for his travel directions, which were buried in the bottom in the back
of the truck. When I came back we had to
start the pump over.
We took the scenic
route through the capitol of
Later on, we passed
Royal’s Stadium in
We had our second stop
on the freeway between
The last stretch of
road, after we passed through the
We finally reached
Rolla, only forty minutes behind Bob’s planned arrival time, and located the
motel. We drove around the parking lot
and then stopped at the office. Inside
we found Fluegel and his son Dallas. We
exchanged pleasantries. Then Bob and I
got our rooms. For some reason the lady
clerk, when she heard my name, shook her finger at me, and then asked if I
wanted a non-smoking room instead of a smoking room, which is what she’d told
me I would get when I finally got her to give me one. So she moved me from room 146 to room
144. “Should be able to remember that
number,” I said, thinking of my duties as TF144 Ediot in chief. But I was puzzled because Luis Gomez ended up
with room 146, and it was also a non-smoking room. Go figure.
But Luis got a king size bed whereas I only got a double.
Well, as Bob’s stuff
was on top, we went to drop off his and Ron’s stuff first. We were soon surrounded by other model
warship combat captains. The Melton
brothers, Tom and Mike, along with Mike Tanzillo, were in a room nearby. Ted Brogden and Swampy were a few rooms further
down. Kevin Bray also joined us.
We saw Tom first. “Ah, Tom Melton!” I
said. A few minutes later Mike
appeared. “Ah, Tom Melton’s brother!” I
said.
Tom laughed, “Oh, I see it’s who
you meet first!”
With each captain we
met, it seemed like the first question we got was, “Where’s Ron?” We started out by telling the truth, but we
quickly tired of that response. Later,
Bob claimed it was he who started it, whereas I remember it as being me, but
Ron’s staying behind to attend a wedding soon became ‘staying behind for HIS
wedding’.
“Oh really,” said most
folks. Some were amazed that his new
wife would let him run off to a boat meet immediately after getting
married. “Must be some woman to let him
go like that,” they said. Others were
concerned that future anniversaries would keep Ron from attending future
Nats. Only Bryan Finster pushed it
further.
“I thought he was
already married,” said
“This is his third
wife,” we told him.
If Bryan had pressed
it further by asking if Ron had divorced his previous wives, or was widowed, I
planned to respond, “Oh no, he’s a Mormon.”
I told Bob about it after he left, and we had a good chuckle.
Well, since we’d
driven ourselves to get down here in time to join the other captains for the
evening meal, we next got ready for that event. Somehow I got all sweaty unloading my stuff,
and found that most everyone had ‘gone to Shoney’s just up the road’ while I
took a quick shower.
They were all in the
back, having a good meal and lots of yucks while everyone caught up with
everyone else that they hadn’t seen in a year or two. I joined the party late and took a seat next
to Chris Grossaint and Jim Coler. I
didn’t know Jim too well, but we started off well. Grossaint had warned him that he ‘had to
watch what he says because Lars will write it down.”
When the waitress
delivered a plate for someone nearby, I asked if I could place an order. “Oh, you wanted to eat too?” asked the
waitress in a ‘haven’t I got enough to do with this crew’ attitude. I ordered the steak and shrimp special, and
when the steak came I asked the waitress where the shrimp was. She didn’t even get to answer.
“It’s at the buffet,”
said Grossaint, in a tone that suggested that everyone knew that. The waitress just raised an eyebrow in
confirmation.
Later during our
conversation, however, we started off on the subject on what things were like
in the old days. “Back then we had to
make everything from scratch,” I was saying.
“Guns, pumps, switches, props.”
“Back when they made
ships out of rocks,” said Jim, cracking Chris and me up.
“Now I have to write a
Lars Chronicle this year, just for that line,” I said.
After the meal, it was
back to the motel for the standard Saturday Night ‘Check for Leaks and Paint
the Waterline” job in the bath tub. As
usual, minor leaks were found in the area around the props.
I’d left my masking
tape at home (the other forgotten thing!) and stopped by Ted and Swampy’s room
on the way to Bob’s room. We got to
chatting about how fast some folks progress.
“For some folks, it takes forever to get out of their first year,” said
Steve. Then he turned to me. “When are you going to do so?”
In addition to the
waterline, I also got one ship test out of the way. Luis Gomez had a drop test kit, and said that
the CD had told someone to go ahead and start testing. So the tester went from Axis to Allied and
back to Axis and so forth, so that the tests were done by someone on the other
side. The
Bedtime was about
Sunday:
It was out to the lake early on Sunday.
Bob had a number of ships to test.
<Bruder_241> I
had one but as I have had problems in the past few years, that was enough for
me. We loaded the ships on the platform
that we’d used on the trip down, but without the other luggage I was rather
nervous about them staying there between the motel and the lake. I had guessed correctly, despite my best
efforts, the carrier took a tumble, along with Bob’s cruiser. Fortunately damage was minimal. Bob did whine about the loss of several
anti-aircraft guns.
As we were getting out
of my truck, Bob picked up a button that was on my dash. It was a button from
First
things first for tests was the weight test. Dave or Chris Au in years past had told me it
was best to get weighed before putting the ship into the water, as the balsa sides,
even without leaks, would absorb water into the siding. Finster brought out his scale and plugged it
in right next to Bob. John Bruder
produced a ship list with the required weights.
The Bellerophon and all of Bob’s ships passed their weights easily. Lief brought his von der Tann up later, and
found his ship a tad overweight. “Must
be the water,” I said.
“Oh, right,” said Lief. He took the
ship and flipped it over, and water poured out.. He placed it back on the scale, and it was
now a quarter pound under the limit.
“Thanks,” said Lief, and went to get his test sheet for me to sign. He wasn’t the only one. John Bruder had a ship that came in just legal. It also was much better after he removed some
water from the hull.
With the two easiest
tests done, I next went for the regulator test.
This one I usually failed the first time around. Once again Finster came through with a test
gauge. My regulator registered about 145
lbs. of pressure, and Finster signed my sheet.
Now all I had left was the speed test, and it wasn’t even
The first runs had the
ship running a good second slow. It was
odd, however, how the ship was almost two seconds slower in one direction
versus the other. Jacob Bruder, who was
doing my timing, also commented on it.
Well, despite my best
efforts at remembering, I moved to a smaller gear which made the ship even
slower. I ran a speed run and discovered
that it was true. Embarrassed, I thanked
Jacob for his time, and promised to be back shortly. After moving to a gear with more teeth than
the original, the ship came in at 27 seconds one way, and 29 the other,
averaging out right at 28 which was what I needed. With a heavy sigh, I figured I was done, and
it was just a few minutes after
So, I sat back and
relaxed, watching Bob work his way through four ships. I did feel a little guilty, but he seemed to
be enjoying it. Ron’s Lion had finished
first, and Bob’s cruiser had passed quickly too. His Warspite took a few runs to get it nailed
down. But the carrier was more
difficult. With each run it seemed that
he knocked off more anti-aircraft guns.
He played with speed disks for about an hour. Finally he was reduced to swapping props,
trying to find the right combo. <Bruder_239>
Bob wasn’t the only
one having prop problems. Jim Coler was
sitting on the other end of the pavilion, and was complaining that 1 and 3/4
inch 27 pitch props were not to be found in either the inventory of Swampy or
Charley. “I’ve got a set,” I said. Jim was reluctant to take them, as they were
my last complete set of spares. But
since I did have two left handed props (the boys always seemed to break the
right handed ones), he finally took them.
Well, I mentioned that they were ‘somewhat pricey’ and he handed me some
cash the next day, so he took them home with my blessing.
“Just don’t tell me
you threw a prop later this week,” he said as he installed them.
“Oh, I’ve got those
two left handed ones, I’ll just put them on and reverse the one motor so I’ll
only be crabbing through turns,” I said.
He didn’t seem to think that was a good idea. “Then just pray,” I said, slapping him on the
back. “There’s no
rocks here that I can see.”
Jim did have something
else that got him some attention. He had
homemade guns that instead of having plastic tubing to run the gas from the
piston to the back of the magazines and to the breech behind the o-ring, they
had brass metal tubing. “Cool!” was the
response that was heard most from those that saw them. <Bruder_232>
As we were doing all
these tests, we were also visiting. Chris Kessler, who went to college in Rolla and was thus the Site
Host’s assistant, finally found some time to work on his cruiser. The cruiser looked like it had come straight
from last year’s Nats to this one, as it was covered with patches. <Bruder_228> In addition to the patches, folks noticed that
he’d painted “2004, Best Nats Ever” on the ship’s stern.
The Bruder’s, another
one father, two sons team, were quickly done with the ship testing of their
fleet. <Bruder_227> They spent a good deal of time helping out
others, especially with the speed trials.
While I was roaming
around, testing done, chatting with old friends and introducing myself to folks
I didn’t know, I was chatting with the
At
Lief also announced
the additional two items that would be checked on the ships. The down angle on sidemounts would be
checked, along with the pump outlet.
Lief was handling the down angle checking. Jeff Lide was given the task of checking the
pumps, which he seemed to do with great pleasure. “I’ve come to check your orifice,” he would
say slowly. “Your pump
orifice.” For some of the
captains he knew better he accentuated his message by playfully slipping on a
rubber glove.
After the captains meeting,
it was discovered that Finster’s test gauge was 20 lbs. different from the
‘official’ gauges of Dave Au and Rick King.
Of course, my regulator was now showing up as 160 on the official
gauges. I’d been through this before,
and set off to cleaning it. After four
attempts had refused to budge the value on the test gauge, I gave up. Swampy had dropped a “Sunday Special” flyer
on the tables and lightweight regulators were on special. “I give up,” I told Bob. “I’ll just get a new one.” But Swampy had left so I had to wait to go
back to the motel to finish the ship testing.
I knew it had been too easy.
Well, Bob finally got
the CVL to make speed. The ship had been
receiving a lot of attention, both on the water and on the bench. Bob did some more cussing as more work meant
more displaced AA guns. He’d made them
out of electrical connectors, soldering a pin to them. They made pretty good looking AA guns. Chris Pearce took a look at them and said, “I
can get you some that bend when they’re hit, for a decent price.”
“These are free,” said
Bob. “I’m an electrical contractor and
I’ve got these coming out of my ears.”
“Go with it then,”
said Chris.
As he started to
leave, Bob hollered after him, as he had been doing all afternoon, “Remember to
vote for the Carrier for Best of Scale Convoy!”
With the days testing
done, we slowly loaded up the ships. I
do remember certain folks wandering into the nearby tweaking area and testing
their guns. The Bruder’s guns sounded
mean and nasty and I vowed to be very careful when in their vicinity on the
water. Brian Lamb was also tweaking, and
at one point borrowed a file from me.
When he returned it, he said, “Thanks, I’ve now got all seven guns
working for the first time.” His new
As we loaded up the
ships to go home, I dropped the table down to the floor of the truck, to
prevent another mishap. The ships barely
fit in. “I can’t wait for Ron’s truck,”
said Bob.
Back at the motel, I
dropped off Bob and his fleet. I found
Swampy roaming the parking lot, and gave him the money for a new
regulator. He asked if he could drop it
off later, because Ted, his roommate, was taking a nap. I needed a shower, so I said sure.
After my shower, I
returned to Bob’s room and found that Ron had arrived. Ron’s first words to me were, “Thanks for telling
everyone I was getting married.”
“Not a problem,” I
said. Bob was grinning like the Cheshire
Cat.
“First I get is
several handshakes and congratulations and all I can say is ‘huh’?” he
grumped.
“That’s what you get
for being the last one here,” said Bob.
It was time for
supper, and soon a large group was headed for a Steak Buffet. I’ve forgotten the name of the place, but it
had a large statue of a cow on its roof.
Ron and I had fallen behind, but Bob was in his element, in the middle
of all the others. Ron and I took a seat
on the end of the long set of tables the wait crew set up for us. The food was decent but not great, the
conversation was far better.
When it was time to
leave we started the walk back. Ron and
I had lagged behind on the way there, now with the main group, someone
congratulated him on his recent marriage.
By this point he was tired of explaining also, so with a subtle dirty
glance in my direction, he simply said, “Thanks.”
On the walk back, I
had a lengthy chat with Rick King, another Lockheed Martin employee like
me. We compared notes. Where I’d come to the company through a
series of takeovers, he’d come after being laid off at Disney’s
There was an Allied
Captains meeting after supper, in Doug Hunt and Chris Kessler’s room. It was a large room, the ‘bridal suite’ they
claimed. Charley Stephens, the Allied
admiral, gave his plans for Monday’s battling, and assigned us to two and three
man teams. He also picked one captain
from each group to be in charge of that group.
Then he told us to go out and fight.
The opposing line up for the Axis looked tough, but it was hoped that we
could hold our own during fleet battles and make up points in campaign.
After the meeting I
made a run to Walmart with Chris Kessler, to get some masking tape and other
supplies, and some epoxy for Charley.
Someone had discovered that the rudders for the Class 5 or Class 6 boats
were not as big as they could be, by rule, and folks were adding rudder surface
area all over the place as the news spread.
The next task was
wiring up the new batteries. I had to
run back to Ron and Bob’s to borrow some solder (I later found mine), and got
caught in a conversation with Ron, Bob and Jeff Lide. Jeff had us all in stitches until he started
a story on his wife complaining about him making boat noises in the
shower. To him it seemed the most
natural thing in the world. When we reacted
differently, he stopped and asked, “Don’t you make boat noises in the shower?”
All that I had left to
do was check out the pump. I opened up
the watertight box for the second time that week, expecting to find a bad micro
switch, but to my surprise it was working fine.
I tried playing with the whole setup for some time. The pump worked fine on the bench, not even a
hint of trouble. At this point I was
getting mildly tired. So I crossed my
fingers and hoped that it was a one-time thing, and wouldn’t come back. I put the box back together, loaded the guns,
and then signed off and went to bed, about
Monday:
I got up once about
Just as I was coming
out with the last items, I passed Fluegel.
“Fluegel, you just made me feel much better,” I said.
“Why,” he asked.
“Usually I’m the last
one to leave the motel and the last one to get to the lake. I guess I’m not doing so bad,”
I said.
“Maybe you’re doing
great,” he said, “but that bothers me.”
Out at the lake, I
found a table in the pavilion, not far from Bob and Ron. I was surprised, as the pavilion was not large
enough for the whole group. However, at
least half of the battlers had brought tables and chairs and in some cases,
tents, to set up down closer to the water’s edge. The weather was perfect, about 80 degrees and
sunny and a light breeze to keep things cool.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were hotter, but Friday was somewhat
cooler again.
At this point, I
usually try to describe the lake. The
best description I’ve come up with is as follows: Think of a right triangle. The right (or ninety degree) corner is on the
farthest side of the triangle from the point where we battled. The two sides running from the right angle
are roughly equal in distance, and very straight (one
reason, no doubt, why speed trials were done on one of them). The third side of the triangle, the longest
side, is not straight, however. I’m
embarrassed to say this, but looking at the map of the lake from above, the
third side is more like the outline of a lady’s bosom, from above. The bulk of our battling was done from the
left bosom. The right bosom did not go
unused, but was closer to a playground, and so got less play. A home base during campaign was set up there,
in addition. The cleavage between the
bosoms narrowed to a point, at which was found a large stand of cattails, six
to eight feet tall. These cattails were
enough to obscure sight of the lake and ships as one walked (or more likely,
ran) from one bosom to the other. Later
in the week, someone pointed out that a bird was nesting in the cattails, and
it would swoop in on anyone who came too close.
Bob Hoernemann had
made a large map or the lake, and as the week went by and sinks accumulated,
he’d put a flag on the spot where the ship went down. The map, especially in the cleavage, soon
filled with British, American, German, Japanese and Italian flags. <RobertsNatsLake>
But as I don’t think I
can call the locations ‘left bosom’ and ‘right bosom’ and ‘the cleavage’ for
the entirety of this account, I’ll instead refer to them as the ‘Left Bend’,
the ‘Right Bend’, and ‘Cattail Cove’. In
addition, the cove down on the extreme left was partially roped off, due to a
nearby handicapped playground that the Lions Club refused to have us close
down. This cove I’ll call Handicapped
Cove. The visibility was very good along
the shore, except for moving from the Left Bend to the Right Bend, as there was
a ditch behind the cattails and so captains tended to run with all haste behind
the cattails in transferring from one
As for the shoreline,
it started out the week being somewhat soggy.
The shoreline was ringed by long grass, and for those wearing shorts, it
could be nasty. I took a couple of
scratches that left red marks on my legs for the rest of the week. “I see you found the saw grass,” Chris Au
told me at one point. He too had some
marked up legs. However, as the week
went by the grass go trampled down and the soggy
shoreline got progressively muddy. By
Friday it was just down right gloppy.
Shoes and socks (for those who wore them) took a beating during the
week. Here’s a photo of some Axis
captains late Monday <Melton_M_100>. Up by the pavilion was a small water spigot,
and most folks used it to wash off their footwear before leaving for the motel
each day.
The Lineups:
As is normal, the
lineups for the week remained relatively unchanged, but minor tweaking were
done here and there as people left, or ships fell out due to malfunctions. Friday saw a mass change in that the Allies,
with nothing to lose, tried a Fast Fleet and a Slow Fleet. But the line up for Monday morning shaped the
battling for the bulk of the week.
Allied A:
Brian Lamb: Brian was driving the
8 unit
Chris Grossaint: Chris brought his tried and true class 6
Jim Coler: Jim hails from
Kevin Bray: Driving his experienced class 6
Dave Au: Driving a class 5 Queen Elizabeth, Dave is a
tough battler in any ship he captains, and the QEs are known to be slugger type
ships. <QE_Melton>
Doug Hunt: Doug was driving a
class 5
Ted Brogden: Ted was once again captaining the class 5
Valiant. An experienced ship and captain
his only problem was he spent too much time worrying about Lars. <Valiant_Melton>
Lars (me): The class 4 Bellerophon was the only Allied
28 second boat, and it had been mostly sitting on the shelf since the last
Nats. As such it was expected that it
would be fish food. It was only hoped
that she would score some points on Axis ships on the way down. <Bellerophon_Bruder>
Patrick Clarke: Patrick was driving a
class 4 Invincible. Patrick had used the
ship for some time, and it was expected to live up to standard I-boat
expectations. <Invincible_Melton>
Matthew Clarke: The junior Clarke was
driving the 3 unit Houston. A natural
cruiser captain, the shortest Allied battler was expected to be a major
irritant with his well-worked cruiser. <ClarkeHouston_Bruder>
Tom Brown: Also driving a Houston, Tom was back in
battling after a few years absence.
Would he be rusty? <BrownHouston_Bob, BrownHouston2_Bob>
Allied B:
Kevin Hovis: Kevin had the other Allied big boat, an 8 unit
Charley Stephens: As Allied Admiral, Charley was bringing his
well tested class 6
Tony Stephens: Like his brother, Tony
was driving the North Carolina’s sister ship, the Washington, and the two who
work so well as a team were expected to be the main punch for the fleet. <Washington_Bruder>
Don Cole:
Don has been fighting for years, and was once
again using his favorite ship, the class 6
Rick King: Rick left his favored
Scharnhorst back in
Bob Hoernemann: Returning with his second year class 5
Warspite, and heavily refit over the long Minnesota winter, would the ship with
the rotating polar bear head be more than just a flashy display? <Warspite_Melton>
Mike Melton: Mike was back with his class 5
Ron Horbul: Ron’s class 4 Lion was back for another go
round. Even if he had improved the
turning on the arrow-like hull, he was still likely to get a lot of attention. <Lion_Roberts>
Chris Kessler: Chris Kessler, after
improving every day during the previous Nats, was back again with his class 3
Pete Demetri: Pete is one of the
battlers whose name I’ve seen for years, but we’ve never crossed paths until
this year. He was driving a class 3
Steve Milholland: Steve showed up
without a ship. Bob Hoernemann gave him
his class 3
Axis A:
Tim Beckett: Tim had brought back an oldie but a goodie. D.W.
Fluegel’s old 1/150th scale
Chris Pearce: Fighting a well-worked class 6 Nagato, Chris
is tough in any ship he has and was expected to be a major pain for the
Allies. <Pearce_Melton>
Steve Crane: A new battler, originally from the east coast
of Canada, but having since moved to warmer climes, Steve was an unknown to
most of us, but his Nagato looked mean and nasty none the less. <Crane_Bruder>
Gerald Roberts: Gerald had also caught the Nagato bug. However, I’m not sure if his was a new ship or
one that he’d brought back after his stint in the Settsu. I was going to miss that Settsu. <Gerald_Melton>
Lou Meszaros: Lou was back in the Italian big ship, the
class 6 Vittorio
DW Fluegel: DW had brought more than a couple of ships
this year. He’d also brought along his
son Dallas. Between the two of them and
their two ships, the class 5 Baden and the class 2
Tim Krakowski: Tim was back for another year with his Fuso,
hoping for better times with the class 5 ship. I’ve always wondered just how much that tower
superstructure weighs, and what effect the wind has on it. <Fuso_Melton>
Lief Goodson: Lief was back in his tried and true class 4
von der Tann. He’s always been a natural
with this ship, and was expected to be a real pest. <Lief_Melton,
Lief2_Melton>
Chris Au: Chris was driving a new class 4 French
battlecruiser, the
Axis B:
Bryan Finster: Back with his class 6 Nagato with her rear
pointing bow sidemounts, his ship was experienced and dangerous. <Finster_Melton>
John Bruder: The head of the Bruder clan, and President of
the club for the year, John was driving his experienced class 6 Italia. One of three big Italian boats, they figured
to be returning some of the attention that they’d gotten in past years. <JohnItalia_Roberts>
Josh Bruder: Like his father, Josh
was also sailing a class 6 Vittorio
Michael Tanzillo: Mike was driving a
Nagato this year. Unfortunately I didn’t
get a chance to find out much about it.
But being that this was his third Nats, Mike should hold his own. <Tanzillo_Roberts>
Tom Melton: Last year’s rookie of
the year, Tom was driving the Nagato he’d used the year before. With another year under his belt, he seemed
likely to improve. <Tom_Roberts>
Rob Stalnaker: A rookie captain from the east coast (
Jeff Lide: I keep thinking that Jeff’s Kirishima is a
class 6 ship, as it resembles the Nagatos so closely,
and the class 4 battlecruiser fights like it has the two extra guns of the
bigger ship. Maybe that’s why he
occasionally forgets about his pump. <Lide_Melton>
Jake Bruder: The other Bruder brother (and son) likes the
short, compact hull of the World War One German battlecruiser von der Tann, a
class 4 ship, over the longer more elegant Italians. His battling style was much the same, not
flashy but rather steady. <JakeVDT_Melton>
Luis Gomez: Luis, after a good
year as a cruiser captain the year before, opted for one more gun, and was
driving a class 4 Kongo rigged up in the World War One configuration. A good looking ship, it was not expected to
have troubles after his Garibaldi had run so well the year before. <Kongo_Roberts>
Randy Stiponivich: Another von der Tann
captain, the heavy camouflaged paint scheme was graced by a bright blue Smurf
figurine on her stern. The ‘Pirate
Smurf’ proved to be as tough as Randy’s ship, surviving several direct hits and
remaining standing. Only the Pillsbury
Dough Boy would have been more annoying than the Pirate Smurf. <SmurfVDT_Melton,
SmurfVDT2_Melton>
Steve Reynolds: The rookie of the year
from two years ago, having missed last year’s Nats, it was hoped that his class
4 Moltke would continue from where she’d left off. <Moltke_Roberts>
Ship Identification: If
you looked at any of the photos above, you’re probably wondering how I can tell
the
The
There were six
Nagatos, and they were divided up three to a fleet. The Axis B group gave me the toughest
problems. Fortunately there is a picture
with the three of them together <AxisB_Nagatos_Melton>. Finster’s Nagato is the furthest away in the
picture, and is the easiest to identify, due to the smaller pagoda
superstructure and the rear-pointing A and B turrets. Tom Melton’s (middle) and Mike Tanzillo’s
(closest) ships are virtually identical to the casual observer. However, their sidemount turrets are set up as
mirror images of each other
<TanzilloAndTom2_Roberts>.
In addition, Mike’s rear barbettes are white, while Tom’s are painted
dark gray like his turrets. To cause
further confusion for this fleet, the battlecruiser Kirishima has a similar
profile to Finster’s ship, and has a red painted section of deck just above the
rear step deck, just like Finster’s.
In the other fleet, Chris Pearce’s Nagato is also a near match for Tanzillo’s and Melton’s ships. Pearce’s ship differs in that the bow sidemounts are opposite from that of Melton’s, and Chris’s stern haymaker is opposite that of Tanzillo’s. The other two Nagatos were Steve Crane’s and Gerald Roberts <GeraldCrane_Melton>. Steve’s Nagato was painted a lighter gray, and had his radio antenna mounted forward of his A turret, from which he flew a flag most of the week. This made him relatively easy to pick out. Gerald’s Nagato was painted a shade of gray between that of Chris’s and Steve’s. Sometimes this helped, sometimes it didn’t, like when it got cloudy. Gerald’s Nagato was sporting a plane just forward of the rear turrets, seen in this picture along with Pearce’s ship <PearceGerald_Melton>, but it may have been shot off as it is not there later. Another distinguishing mark for Gerald’s ship is that it has several lines with flags flying, coming from the pagoda mast structure.
During the week, at
various times, some of the Nagato captains adopted further identification
aids. Pearce’s, Melton’s, and Tanzillo’s
three ships each has a small wire rod sticking out of the stack. For Monday’s afternoon battle, Pearce mounted
a clown’s head on his ship <PearceClown_Melton>. The clown was removed later in the week. As for Tanzillo and Melton, Tom mounted a
heroic figure holding a sword and wearing a funny hat on the very bow of his
ship (note it’s not there in the group picture which came from Monday), but was
definitely there at the end of the week <TanzilloAndTom_Roberts>.
By the way, I figured
all of this ship ID stuff out after I finished writing the fleet battle on
Thursday, and I doubt if I’ll go back and review 5 hours of videotape to
correct my descriptions. But as I kept
things generic when I couldn’t tell whose ship it was, the description is technically
correct. Hopefully the readers will now
be able to tell from the pictures as to whose ship did what.
The Action descriptions:
I don’t know what it was this year, but I’ve
been tangling with borderline sleep apnea since February, and even had surgery
in an attempt to correct it back in May.
While at Nats I thought the surgery had cured the problem, but I found
when I got home that I’d been half-asleep the whole week. I found that other than a few incidents, like
most of my sinks, I could barely recall any thing from these battles. For some strange reason I remember most of
the evening meals fairly well (go figure!).
So I’m using Bob Hoernemann’s and John Bruder’s videotape footage to
help me with my faulty memory. As for
the photos, they come from mainly three groups of guys, the Meltons, who posted
theirs on the web, and Gerald Roberts and John Bruder. Thanks guys!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then their pictures have turned
the Lars Chronicles from a light pamphlet into a 1000 page brick like ‘War and
Peace’. For the most part, I’ve tried to
match up the photos directly with the narrative, and I think most of them come
from exactly the spot in the battle I’m describing. There are cases where I don’t have an idea
where a good photo went, and so I tried to place it with a description of the
ships involved, but this doesn’t happen as frequently. But I’m pretty sure I’ve got all the photos
matched up with the correct battle sortie, especially for the Bruder and Melton
photos. In addition, late in the
writing, I found myself taking frames from the video. It started because I didn’t have a good
picture of Tom Brown’s cruiser (most of the cruisers were tough), and I’d
thought my video captures were pretty fuzzy.
His ship picture didn’t turn out too bad, so I started doing it
elsewhere.
Fleet
At the lake, I found
out the first battle was delayed to
I’d gotten out to the
lake earlier than I usually do, and so I was ready to go with nothing to do for
a bit, after filling up the CO2 bottle.
I sat on the bench and stared off into space. Folks would walk by and say, “Lars doesn’t
know what to do without having three boats to worry about.” Actually, I was in the midst of a root canal,
and I had problems all week with a temporary structure. Most of the week, when it appeared I was
staring off into space, I was probably working on freeing a piece of meat stuck
in the teeth from the night before. I
was curious if the resident dentist would figure out what I was up to, so I
didn’t mention it to anyone.
Allied A vs. Axis B, first sortie:
The first sortie of
Nats is usually the worst one for butterflies.
The only other battle that sometimes comes close is when the score is
very close on a Friday morning. The contest
director was calling out time intervals to begin, and then there were delays as
one captain and then another needed a few extra minutes, and the admirals each
called for an extension. At last the
extensions were gone and the CD called out the count down to zero.
“Happy Nats
everybody,” called out a small group.
“2004,” added Kevin
Bray. “And a whole lot more.”
The Axis started with
a run around the outside. The rookie
Tirpitz was leading the pack, and the NCs headed out to meet her. “Don’t everyone
counter that,” yelled Patrick Clarke, as the other Allies reacted. Just as the Tirpitz took her first salvo, the
Axis hollered “Bonzai!” and there was much whooping and yelling as the first
shots hit home. <Melton_M_013>
I had been set up in a
three ship team, myself with Bellerophon, Patrick Clarke and his Invincible,
and our leader, Kevin Bray, with his
“Well, should we go
get him?” ask Kevin.
“Might as well,” said
Patrick and I, and we were off. <Melton_M_016> Meanwhile,
the Tirpitz had wound her way around and now came in close to Allied slow boat
country. <Melton_M_014> In addition to Kevin’s group, Ted Brogden’s
Valiant, Dave Au’s QE, and Doug Hunt’s West Virginia were defending the same
turf, and the Tirpitz sailing through our ‘turf’ was an unexpected
surprise. She circled through once
without much attention, and then headed out to deeper water. Some of the Allied fast boats, including the
new
It was too soon for
the ship to have been sunk by gunfire alone, so I later asked Steve what had
gone wrong. He said that his weight
setup in his ship had been towards the stern, which had worked great for speed
trials. “However, it didn’t work when my
ship and the ship I’m sitting next to both hit full forward at the same
time. The stern deck dropped under and
never came up,” he said. “Shifting some
of the weight forward took care of the problem,” he added. On the video, it looks like Dave Au’s QE next
to him as he went down, so to Dave (and the Allies) went the first sink of
Nats.
“Yankee Doodle!” cried
out Charley, trying out a new Allied cheer to counter the Axis Bonzai.
“Tall
Trees! Tall
Trees!” yelled out someone else. I
didn’t understand the reference at all.
After battle resumed,
the Tirpitz swung through again and backed into the Allied slow boats to fire
twin sterns at Kevin Bray’s
“Now’s your chance for
glory,” a spectator said.
“Get him Larry,” Bob,
manning the video, was yelling.
“Why don’t you declare
it sunk,” suggested another spectator.
At this, the Axis started hollering, “Stop, he declared, stop he
declared!”
By this time Ted
Brogden’s Valiant had backed in with his twin sterns, but didn’t fire, and took
a ram from Doug Hunt’s ship in the process, and announced that he was coming in
on ram check. The other Allied ships
drifted away from the big ship, but Bellerophon stayed right beside her. Behind me, the questioning began. “You did declare it, didn’t you,” someone
asked.
“I didn’t say a
thing,” said Rob.
“Never mind, it’s
live,” said Lief.
I started plinking methodically away again with the
“Make up your mind,”
called Ted as the Allied ships cleared the area once more.
Rob went in and picked
up his ship. A pop was heard and Rob
said, “There it is, now it’s working.”
After the Tirpitz’s
departure, the Allied slow boats seemed to control the immediate area close to
shore. The two von der Tanns (Randy
Stiponivich and Jake Bruder) contested the area <Melton_M_020>
while the two big Italians (Josh and John Bruder) picked on the left flank. <Melton_M_018,
Melton_M_019> The Japanese ships (Lide,
Tanzillo, Melton and Finster) were further out, along with the two NCs and the
It was several minutes
of this melee. The Bellerophon floated
down close to shore, in the middle of things, without much to shoot at. She spent more time trying not to run into
Ted’s Valiant than she did engaged with the
enemy. She did have another interesting
occurrence when maneuvering in tight spaces when the
Dave Au’s QE got on
the outside of one of the Italian VVs, and stung the ship with several
sidemounts. <Melton_M_021,
Melton_M_022> The Pirate Smurf
moved in to take on four Allies, the Bell, Bray’s Massachusetts, the
Invincible, and the Valiant, and
appeared to take little damage. Those
VDTs are hard to hit where it hurts. <Melton_M_023>
Finally, not long
after a cry of “Allied cruiser beached” (which everyone seemed to ignore),.the dreaded Kongo caught Tom Brown’s
“Sit and pump,” Bob H.
called to Tom. The dreaded Kongo made it
difficult. The cruiser was obviously
heavy with water. “Go help Tom,” said Bob
to Matt Clarke. Matt was slow to
respond, as he had Bob check to see if his props were both turning. In the meantime Tom drove deeper into Cattail
Cove, and with the dreaded Kongo beside him, the stern of his ship went under,
the bow rising out and then sliding back like a knife into a sheath.
When battle resumed,
Bob H. noticed the pirate Smurf for the first time. “Who’s got a Smurf on their ship,” he called
out.
Out in the deeper
water, one of the NC’s was playing with a Nagato.
“Coler!” yelled out
Chris Grossaint.
“Shut up,” said
Jim. “Or get over here, one or the
other!” The NC headed out towards deeper
water with the Nagato in pursuit.
Back in the shallower
water, the Invincible was low in the water.
Patrick was one of my wing mates, but I had no idea who had stung
him. One of the big VVs was chasing him
with their triple sterns as the I-boat ran along shore. <Melton_M_024> With a little
waddle she turned right and nosed into shore as her stern kept dipping
under. Upon hitting shore, her stern
settled to the bottom. <Melton_M_025>
“Bonzai!” came the cry as Patrick handed his radio to someone else and
went in to recover.
Apparently his pump
quit working. “Worked all day yesterday,
worked all morning, until now,” he said as he poured water out of her
hull. Later he blamed the sink on the
speed controller glitching and somehow knocking out the pump servo.
Out on the water, the
VV now took a pass at the
The main action now
moved into Cattail Cove. The Jap ships
were working on the
After she went back
out, she took a run across the battling area, from right to left. On five, she was just looking to survive, but
her pump was kicking out a heavy stream.
“Brian, if you come back this way, we can protect you,” called Kevin
Bray.
“I’m trying,” called
Brian Lamb. She came in and tucked
between the
By this time, I
realized that the Bellerophon had been out on the water for a good long
time. While the guns weren’t empty, it
was time to think about saving some battery for the second sortie, so I called
five. With the rest of the Axis chasing
Brian, I only had the two big Italians to worry about, and they seemed to be
low on ammo themselves, and didn’t press home any attacks with any vigor.
The Bellerophon was
pumping just fine, and I thought I had no worries. But then with just under 90 seconds to go,
the pump stopped. I knew very quickly
that she wasn’t going to make it. So did
Josh Bruder, who started calling, “Hey, the Bellefonte’s going down!” I tried toggling the power on the
transmitter, and the pump switch itself, but it was no go. I don’t remember trying the throttle, but
probably wouldn’t have helped as this would have sunk her even sooner. The
“Bonzai!” yelled out
the two Italians.
“Larry!” muttered Bob
H, in that mildly scornful tone a parent uses when his kid lets him down, and
so quietly that probably only the camera heard it.
The
“Wait ‘til second
sortie guys,” said one of the watching Axis, referring
to the pursuit.
“Second Sortie!” said
another, as if he wasn’t aware of such a thing.
The
“YES!” said Brian, and
turned the ship towards shore.
Many of the Allied
captains were worried she’d sink, and started yelling, “Hurry up and touch
it!” Brian complied.
That pretty much ended
the sortie, as the ammo was very low by this point, and no one else was in
serious danger. I’d waited for the
action to slow down before I went out to recover my ship. Fluegel took my transmitter from me as I
stepped towards the water. Just as I was
about to step in, a large froggy type critter jumped out of the grass and
disappeared under the water, scaring the jeepers out of me. “I didn’t need that,” I muttered.
When I picked up the
ship, and was wading back to shore, the guns started to fire. Startled, I moved for the off switch, and
then looked at Fluegel. “Oh, I was just
clearing the guns for you,” he chirped.
“I didn’t need that
either,” I muttered quietly to myself.
Allied B vs. Axis A, first sortie:
The Allied fleet set
up on the left side of the left bank, while the Axis took the right. With a minute to go to battle, Bob
Hoernemann’s Warspite and Mike Melton’s
The other
disappointing news for the Allies was that Kevin Hovis had to pull his
War was called. Almost immediately, like a switch had been
flicked, Lou Meszaros’ Vittorio Veneto (VV) started spitting her stern guns on
the fringes of Cattail Cove. “Whoa!”
muttered some of his fellow Axis.
At the same time, a
challenge was called out. “BOB
HOERNEMANN IS A SISSY!” called out Lief.
I’m not sure if it was their gauntlet run a few seconds before, or the
rotating polar bear head on the bridge of the Warspite that generated the
challenge.
Meanwhile, the VV was
still firing off shots at regular intervals.
The other Axis had moved away to attack, except for the Fuso, which
stayed back a safe distance. “I can’t
get the channel!” said
Lou, swearing at his Polk radio.
“Did you try to turn
it off?” asked Tim.
“Yes, but it keeps
going back to channel 17! I don’t care
about channel 17!” said Lou, getting more exasperated.
“Go on five out of
control,” said Tim.
When the VV spit
another load from all her guns, he called, “I’m on five minutes.” Okay, he added a colorful metaphor as well,
but he apologized for it immediately.
With the quick call
for five minutes, the Axis fleet came back to defend their teammate. The Warspite and
the
The increased distance
opened up gaps in the line, and with Don Cole’s
Catching some twin
sterns from Fluegel, the Warspite left the VV.
“Where’s my wingman,” called out Bob as Lief’s VDT
moved in to sidemount the Allied ship.
The
In the distance, a
cheer went up. A ship had sunk on the
left side of Left Bend, and it was the honorary Minnesotan Swampy. The
Bob continued to try
to get to the VV, but finally someone pointed out, “Ah, Warspite, it’s four on one there.”
“I know,” said Bob,
sounding disappointed, dropping the pursuit.
The VV came off five about five seconds later.
The battle now moved
to the left side of Left Bend, some of it moving into Handicapped Cove. The
Then the Fuso called
five, and raced past the firing stern guns of the
Back down in the Cove,
the Warspite was once again in the middle of things. His teammate the
The Allied fast ships,
the two NCs of Charley and Tony Stevens, were trying to keep the Axis big fast
ships busy, but there were too many of them for the twin NCs to pin down. <Melton_M_038,
Melton_M_036>
The Warspite was
getting low in the water by this point, and the Polar Bear Head was spinning
slower and slower.
There was a near sink
as Steve Crane’s Nagato was extremely low, and Steve can even be heard to say,
“I think I’m sunk,” but his pump was working great. The ship was out of trouble by the time the
hard pumping Warspite arrived to try to finish him off. He might have taken on the water while
checking out a ram, as the camera had caught him bending over his ship for a
minute or so. He easily shook off the
slower ship, with the help from a block from the
Now the Axis moved in
to finish off the Warspite. The
Meanwhile, Kevin Bray
jumped into the camera frame, saying ‘Hey, there’s live
critters in there.”
After Bob sank, the
last surviving Minnesotan became the target.
Ron’s Lion became the center of attention, with even the
“Have a triple gun
salute,” said an Axis.
The Lion caught the
Ron laughed. “I’m not stopping!”
Steve Crane’s Nagato
got outside and managed to get alongside for a few sidemounts, before being
forced to swing wide to avoid the light cruiser
The Lion shook herself
free again, but the
With the Lion’s sink,
the battling was soon over, as most ships were out of ammo and on five by this
point.
Allied A vs. Axis B, second sortie:
I didn’t watch this
sortie. After handing the video camera
back to Bob, I went back to check out the intermittent pump problem. I opened up my water tight box for the third
time, and cleaned all the contacts for getting power from the main switch out
to the pump. As the motors seemed to
keep working, I didn’t think I had to work on that as well. I took my time and slapped the thing back
together during the break for lunch.
So this description
comes totally from Bob Hoernemann’s tape.
Down in Cattail Cove,
the Allied slow boats, the Valiant, West Virginia, and QE, tangled with a
couple of Nagatos. The
For the first time, a
large group of captains were over on the Right Bend. The reason was that that was where the
Amidst the cheers was Dave Au and Doug Hunt discussing a damaging ram that
Doug had taken from Dave. Doug wasn’t
sure of the damage, but Dave was, and pulled his own QE into shore. “You got a crunchy there,” said Dave.
“Oh, that’s a big
one,” said Doug.
While Brian Lamb and
Patrick Clarke were recovering the sunken
With all the ships and
all the shots, something had to give, and soon the camera centered in on a
Nagato being worked over by Kevin’s
The camera then swung
to the action near the Right Bend. The
When the battle
resumed, the hard pumping Nagato, which belonged to Mike Tanzillo, now had her
pump momentarily losing prime, so she’d benefited from the small break. But the
“Keep her right there
so I can get your sink on video,” said Bob to Mike.
The
“Yankee Doodle!” came the Allied cry.
Several others cried “Nicely Done!” as the ship
settled upright. And a final “Who Rah!”
was also heard.
The camera stopped for
a time, and then picked up the QE chasing Jake Bruder’s VDT. Jake had called five just after the
The QE was back, and
finished off his haymaker into the German hull.
Jake’s father was coming to the rescue, but just as he was coming up
alongside his son, the Italia miscalculated by just an inch, and caught the
VDT’s stern. The VDT rolled unto her
starboard side and the stern went under.
Everyone gasped as the stricken ship freed herself and started to right herself while she headed for shore, but she had gone too far
and went under by the stern.
“Who did it,” someone
asked.
“His dad did it,” said
Ted.
“Thanks, John,” called
Bob.
Jake took up the theme
too. “Thanks, Dad,” he said in a ho-hum
voice, which generated much laughter.
When battle resumed,
there now began two parallel chases. The
QE came racing by and matched bows with the faster
Kongo. The QE pushed the Kongo over
(without rolling) until her bow matched with the bow of Randy’s VDT. A split second later the VDT was pushed into
the Italia, and the four ships sailed off, the three Axis pushed by the one
Allied. Racing behind, Josh Bruder’s VV
was getting chased by a NC, and a nice block from the
To make matters worse,
Dave jumped into the water to rescue his ship, but he’d placed his radio on the
ground and then caught it’s strap with his foot and
pulled it into the water behind him. The loss of his QE for the afternoon’s
battle was going to hurt.
The next chase was the
two NC’s trying to catch Finster’s Nagato, but the ammo was low and shots were
difficult. The Valiant helped out too,
but seemed to be low on ammo too. As the
ships moved along the Left Bend towards the right, the captains moved up the
shoreline, sloshing as they went.
“Slosh, slosh, slosh,”
Fluegel is heard to mutter, to the accompaniment of sloppy footsteps. “Sounds like war.”
Behind the camera
comes the comment, “There she goes!” The
camera swung quickly but caught only bubbles.
Josh Bruder was out quickly to recover his sunken VV. The VV’s pump had a few bbs clog the pump intake, aiding significantly in her
demise. As he was bringing in the ship,
Bob said, “Why don’t we just extend the battle until everyone sinks. I mean, there’s no one left!”
There was still life
out on the water however. Randy’s VDT
was still alive, and led the two NCs and the Valiant on a merry chase as he ran
out his five. The Kongo was also
spinning out in the distance, but was left to herself. And after the VDT came in off her five, the Valiant
can be seen playing with Jeff Lide’s Kirishima, which had somehow missed the
camera for most of the sortie. The
Allied A beat the Axis B fleet by a score of 18,635 to 15,700.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Brian Lamb (sunk) 3515 74-9-27
Doug Hunt (sunk) 2405 43-5-19
Chris Grossaint 1755 38-9-23
Lars (sunk) 1540
Dave Au 1525 70-5-14
Rob Stalnaker (declared) 3210 46-8-11
Mike Tanzillo (sunk) 2520 77-2-14
Josh Bruder (sunk) 2245 62-5-10
Randy Stiponovich 2135 56-5-29
Jake Bruder (sunk) 1670 32-2-10
Oh by the way, note to
the score keeper, Ted Brogden did not have a score for this sortie. I don’t want to seem to be picking on Tim
Krakowski, who did the bulk of the scoring.
Instead I’m just trying to point out errors as I find them, in the hope
that it might help in future events.
Allied B vs. Axis A, second sortie:
At the start of this
battle, folks were quizzing Bob on which ships would sink. Since they said, “That one and that one, and
that one,” it’s hard for me to guess which lucky vessels they were talking
about.
When battle started,
Kevin Bray hollered out, “Watch out for Fluegel, he’s eyeing the
Fluegel can then be
heard in the background muttering, “It’s a vicious rumor.”
Almost immediately,
Ted told Charley that Gerald’s Nagato called five immediately, and the Stevens
brothers’ NCs soon departed in pursuit.
The camera cuts for a
bit, coming back on the
The Allies were trying
to hold their own and still protect Mike Melton’s
After the fighting
resumed, the melee moved down to Cattail Cove, where there was a chain reaction
ram, VDT to NC to Fuso, with all the last two calling ram and coming in to
check. The action continued here for
several minutes, with fast boats mixing with slow boats and everyone firing for
a few shots before the target disappeared. <Melton_M_056, Melton_M_059, Bruder_294>
Then Fluegel called five. His
Normally that kind of
a call brings sharks like blood in the water.
However, the Allies had trouble disengaging and swarming the new
target. The
“Can I get some help
here, or should I declare?” called Fluegel.
“Just let it go down,”
said Jeff Lide, Axis Admiral.
The Axis closed ranks
now, Lief’s VDT driving off a NC <Bruder_295,
Melton_M_060>, and then the
When the battle
resumed, a call went up, “Hey cruiser, I’m on your side!” Dallas Fluegel was sitting next to the
Chris Pearce’s Nagato
and the Bismarck next took a long run at the
In shore, the
The salvo brought
several exclamations. “Cooter!” drawled Jeff Lide.
“You’re da man, Cooter!”
“Yes,” said Lou calmly
but with a hint of pride, “Yes I am.”
Now the
The camera cuts, and the next shot is Lief’s VDT, pumping hard and
decks nearly awash. “Come on VDT,” a
spectator called, but the ship got lower and lower until the starboard gunwale
was awash, and Lief stepped in and plucked her out. <Bruder_299>
The
The
There weren’t many
folks with BBs left, so the big ships were trying to prop wash the
“Yes, but folks are
blocking me,” the youngster called back.
“Well, you’re on the
wrong side anyhow,” said his father. The
“Ram,” murmured some
of the Allies wistfully. Others just
groaned. The tape ends here, but I’m
guessing, as there was no penalty points given to the
youngster, that Don did the right thing and waved it off.
Axis A beat the Allied B fleet by a score of 17,620 to 10,575.
Top Five High Point ships Total
Pts Hits
Bob Hoernemann (sunk) 3160 71-6-28
Mike Melton (sunk) 3010 51-12-26
Don Cole (sunk) 2910 106-8-13
Charley Stephens 2475 95-7-27
Ron Horbul (sunk) 1840 49-6-8
Lief Goodson (sunk) 1825
Tim Beckett 1540 64-10-13
Gerald Roberts 1410 61-8-12
D.W. Fluegel (sunk) 1315
Chris Au 1220 57-8-9
Fleet Battle Two, Monday Afternoon:
The
Meanwhile we relaxed
and patched. Bob and Ron and I bemoaned
the fact that we’d all sunk in the first sortie. Even Swampy, the
honorary Minnesotan, had done the same.
“At least Ted is upholding the honor of the British Fleet,” said Bob.
When I went over to
get my CO2 refilled, Fluegel, who had very nicely given me a ‘happy birthday
salute’ on Sunday, noticed that I was once again wearing the “It’s my
Birthday!” button.
“Hey, you can’t have
two birthdays!” he protested.
“You’re right, but
coming to Nats is like getting a birthday present,” I said, to which he readily
agreed. “And besides, I’m really a New
Year’s Eve baby,” I said.
Allied A vs. Axis A, first sortie:
The winners of the
morning, both unaware of that fact, although the Axis probably could have
guessed, faced off against each other first.
The Allies were at full strength, but the scoresheet has the Axis going
without the Fluegels.
The battle started off
the center of Left Bend, with the Allied slow boats clustered in towards shore,
and the Axis wolves pecking on their borders.
<Bruder_102> A
Nagato shot through the center and the
This battle seemed to
start with a long series of quick exchanges, with no long running chases for
the video to center on. Bob the
cameraman, kept the camera jumping here and there as series of triples could be
heard, but rarely caught the action as the ships broke away. Towards the end of the sortie, however, the
quick exchanges would change into prolonged chases.
The camera cut, and
came back to the
When the battle
resumed, the Bismarck and a Nagato raced twenty yards from the left to the
right to catch Doug Hunt’s
In the background Lief
called out, “That’s me behind you Steve.
I’m a good guy, not a bad guy.”
Kind of late for introductions, but Lief as CD, can be given some slack
in this case I think.
After having the
WeeVee escape, the Bismarck and two Nagatos now found they had the Valiant
surrounded. <Melton_M_070>
Once again, the target escaped by backing
free. <Melton_M_071>
In the meantime, more
Axis ships had come in from the left, like the
Meanwhile Lief’s VDT
was now playing with Patrick’s Invincible.
<Melton_M_073> A
Nagato and the VV came to help, and then a pop was heard and CO2 started
venting. It was coming from Gerald’s
Nagato. He called five and moved away. No Allied ship took up the chase.
Patrick’s Invincible
and Ted’s Valiant were staying fairly close, <Melton_M_075>
and the
When battle resumed,
the Axis drove the Allies back deeper into Cattail Cove, backing in with their
stern guns ready to bark. It was too hot
for the Bellerophon and she squirted out of the melee like a wet watermelon
seed pinched between two fingers. The
Valiant and the
The camera cuts again,
and then comes back on the Bellerophon, being pursued by the VDT while the
The
The camera now swung
away. Grossaint’s NC had gotten caught
in a sandwich of three Allied ships and one Axis, <Melton_M_082>
and took a beating for it. The
In so doing, the
camera missed the ram sink of the
Immediately Lief said to Chris, “When you said ‘careful’ to me, I was
backing as hard as I could.” It was an
accident, free and clear.
I’d sunk with about
About this time, a
loud call is heard, “Dallas Fluegel is off five!” (Another note to the
scorekeeper.
Grossaint’s NC was now
eating some
While the NC kept up
her lonely fight with Beckett and Pearce, folks started calling to me. “Lars, you can go get it any time,” called
Tony Stevens.
“Lars, look out,
there’s a big stump right about where you sank,” called Kevin Hovis.
With all the
attention, I decided to go get my ship.
Firing the guns again brought a bubble to the surface, <Bruder_122> and I
found her with no trouble. She came up
with the pump still running, and immediately a big stream came out when it
broke the surface. <Melton_M_085> I
almost squirted my own radio with the
The
Beckett-Pearce-Grossaint battle continued when battle resumed. <Melton_M_087,
Melton_M_088> The Nagato was kicking
out a healthy pump stream, but the NC was pumping only sporadically.
A healthy string of
shots was now heard, and the camera caught the tail end of Lou’s VV getting
pummeled by the twin sterns on Matt Clarke’s
When the camera swung
back, Grossaint had been rejoined by his wingman, Jim Coler. Jim tried to continue the work on Pearce’s
bow, <Melton_M_089> but his turn to fire
sterns took him the wrong way as Grossaint headed back down to the
cattails. <Melton_M_090>
While Grossaint tries
to avoid the Bismarck and Nagato down there, I can see the Bellerophon back out
on the water, emptying her guns. After I
had recovered her and dumped the water, I’d noticed that my timer was still
running and had a
After a brief exchange
down in the cove, Grossaint now took his NC for a run back along the shore of
the Right Bend, pursued by Beckett, Pearce and Coler. Lou’s VV looked interested in picking up the
chase too. Way out there, the
The camera cuts, and
back in shore, the Invincible was being tag teamed by Steve Crane’s Nagato and
Lou’s VV, but looked to be holding her own.
Kevin’s
The camera cuts again,
and from the angle, Bob the cameraman had run over to the Right Bend. Grossaint’s NC was pumping very hard. “Get out of there,” hollered Coler, as Chris
was taking hits. <Melton_M_092, Melton_M_093>
The talk on shore was
about the huge holes in Pearce’s bow, plainly visible from shore. But the NC was getting low in the water now,
and target area was disappearing. Pearce
moved in to prop wash now. The
Barely moving, driven
only by her pump stream, the NC’s bow slowly dipped under. “There she goes,” muttered Bob H.
softly. As her bow sank, it pulled the
NC slowly forward, then accelerating slightly as she went down. <Melton_M_095> But then the bow struck
bottom and she stopped abruptly, her stern hanging for a brief second, <Roberts_001> and then falling back and under
like a door swinging closed.
As Grossaint
was recovering his ship, Pearce called from shore. “Hey Chris, by the way,
good work on my bow.” <Melton_M_096, Melton_M_097>
That was the end of
the major action, as the ammo was pretty much exhausted by then.
After the sortie, I
got to talking with Chris Pearce and Lief about my ram sink. Chris wanted to make it clear that he was
going to take the ram sink penalty.
“I forgot you were supposed
to pull your ship off the water,” I said to Pearce, the thought just hitting me
then. Lief and Chris looked at each
other, apparently they’d both forgotten that rule as well. “But then I didn’t go right in and get her
for a full two minutes,” I continued.
“It kind of bothered me but I didn’t know why, so I threw her back on
the water after I’d dumped it out, and at that point you were legal again,” I
said.
“Yeah, sounds fair for
now,” said Lief, somewhat chagrined. I
guess even the old hands like us can forget a rule or two. Either that or we’re all going slowly
senile. Or maybe it was the sun….
Allied B vs. Axis B, first sortie:
About this time, James
Foster showed up with his daughter and her boyfriend. A long time battler, now retired, he had
driven over from
There was eleven Allied boats facing 12 Axis in this battle. Fluegel’s
During the countdown
to the fight, the shoreline chatter was going big time. “Hey Kevin,” said Brogden to Kevin Bray. “Look sideways so I can see through your
ears.” The chatter was needed because
all week long every sortie started with at least one admiral calling a delay,
and usually both. So folks were a little
anxious by the time a battle actually began.
This sortie started
with a Mexican Standoff right off the center of Left Bend. The Allied ships were on the right backing in
with their sterns, and the Axis on the left doing the same. It is a strange dance, watching ships back
here and there, looking for a quick shot, then darting
away.
“Fluegel, don’t be the
only one,” cautioned Lief, as the
“Don’t tell me I’m the
only one,” said Fluegel.
“Get him Fluegel,
you’ve got them surrounded,” laughed Brogden.
“I have them
cornered,” corrected Fluegel.
After a time, the line
started to break, especially further out on the pond. <Melton_M_108> The Missouri circled through the melee, trying
to sidemount an opponent. Randy’s VDT
appeared alongside the
The standoff was now
down to the two NCs of the Stevens brothers, and the
A chatter of shots off
to the left brought the camera around, onto the Lion, the
After a move up the
shoreline, the camera next catches the
Out in deeper waters,
the Lion and the two cruisers had found a VV and were trying to peck it to
death.
The
Charley’s NC now found
itself with it’s stern about 10 feet away from the bow
of Jake Bruder’s VDT. About a dozen
triples rang out, striking the smaller German battlecruiser. The VDT soon left the area, looking for friends. Others moved in to pick on him, like Don
Cole’s
Jake’s ship was now
listing slightly, and after spinning away from the NC’s she cut throttle and
coasted. Randy’s VDT came in behind her,
and Jake’s ship, like a wounded beast, started firing sidemounts to keep her
clear as she passed. The
for some reason, the ship started to move again, maybe to come in
towards shore, but as she turned slightly to port her starboard side rolled
under. Jake hit reverse to try to bring
her back, but it only seemed to pull her under the waves. <Melton_M_110>
After the ship
recovery, Bray called out that John Bruder’s Italia was at half speed. The ship drove right past the camera,
growling menacingly. It sounded as if a gear
was going to pieces. Other folks
speculated that she had lost a prop.
Whatever the case, the tag team of the
Next was a minor
furball centered around the slow movements of the
She dropped pursuit
however, to come back and play with the
The Kirishima drove
away. “Five minutes,” said Jeff
emotionlessly.
The camera cuts next
to the center of Left Bend. The
“Stay there, Kev,” called Mike Melton.
“I’ll bring him to you.” The
Then Finster tried to
back the Nagato down to catch the
Randy’s VDT and the
Italia then sailed past, while someone asked, “What about Bob?”
“WHAT ABOUT BOB,”
responded Bob.
Sailing behind them
were the two NCs, the
The camera stayed
pretty much on the Warspite from here on.
Steve Reynolds’s Moltke approached her from the wrong side and got
caught by the Warspite’s haymaker. After
taking about a dozen shots, the Moltke backed off. “You showed him,” said a spectator, getting a
laugh. The Moltke wasn’t done however,
and managed to get on the Warspite’s starboard side where the Moltke’s haymaker
could now hit home.
The Moltke then
circled around, and the two ships came to dance with both their haymakers
facing off directly. The Warspite’s pump
stream was coming hard, and the stream continually struck the Moltke’s funnel
which diffused the spray into a nice sprinkler effect.
The Warspite suddenly broke
away, and raced up alongside the VV.
“OHHH!” groaned Bob, as the VV’s five minute timer sounded just as the
Warspite was going to open fire.
The Moltke next went
on five out of control. “Hey HOVIS!,” shouted Bob in a call for help, and sent the Warspite in
pursuit.
“I’m just getting a
bit freaked out by that rotating bear’s head,” murmured Lou Meszaros
as he slowly followed the action up the shoreline.
“Kinda
has that ol’ exorcist thing going, don’t it,” laughed Patrick Clarke, walking
along with him.
“Absolutely, it’s
demonic in nature,” agreed Lou.
The Warspite and
Allied A vs. Axis A, second sortie:
This sortie, the last
of the day, started off lazily. Dave
Au’s Iszuzu, a Jap light cruiser but fighting on the Allied side due to the
temporary loss of the QE, was playfully teasing Lou’s VV by backing up to it
while Dave yelled, “Bam! Bam!” A nice little tap of the stern against the
VV’s side was another bam. <Bruder_178>
“Five,
… Two, One!” yelled Lief. “
The Bellerophon,
during her trials in the first sortie, had taken a large, nearly dime sized
hole just under her forward turret.
Fortunately it was a half inch above the waterline, but the sight of the
thing didn’t leave me with the desire to run in circles. Instead, I planned to make as little
movements as possible and let the wolves come to me. I had a full load of bbs and planned to use
them, however. I launched in the center
portion of the Left Bend, while most of the rest had launched down closer to
Cattail Cove. <Bruder_179>
There was no rushing
to start this sortie. Most ships
remained sitting after the call for battle was made. Sporadic firing wafted over the water. <Bruder_180>
Pearce’s Nagato, sporting a clown’s head on top of the rear funnel, drew some
attention. The light cruisers of Dallas
Fluegel and Dave Au seemed to be the most aggressive. Folks explained to
The camera cuts, and
comes back to the Bellerophon, sitting still and pumping. Lou’s VV tried to line up her sterns, but the
“Hey Lou, Bang!”
yelled Dave Au to the VV’s captain. Then
his Iszuzu backed in and fired for real.
“What is that, a
gentleman thing?” asked Kevin Bray.
The VV backed in
towards the
Steve Crane now came
to play, along with Lief’s VDT, but the
“Bellerophon Five out
of Control,” I said with a tired voice. <Bruder_181> At
that point the camera cuts off. Ron
must’ve been trying to save me from re-living the anguish.
I was somewhat
anguished. The only feeling worse than
having a ship dead in the water is not having your ship ready to go at
all. And a sink after a hard fight is
far easier to live with than a ‘gimme’ to the enemy. The ship slowly got lower, taking fire from
the nearby Axis, but they kept some distance, not wanting another ram
sink. Once the ship got low enough for
the water to reach the dime sized hole, it didn’t take long for the sink to
follow.
“Bonzai,” said Lief,
in a half-hearted tone of voice, as if he was already thinking of another
target but couldn’t bring his mind to focus on it. A couple of other half-hearted ‘Bonzai’s’
rang out.
“Oh, COME ON!” I
said. My pride was somewhat damaged but
the
The Axis started to
laugh, and responded with a far healthier ‘BONZAI!’ “Give him another one,” said Fluegel, and
another Bonzai rang out. “He deserved
it,” said D.W.
As I recall, I went in
rather quickly to recover the ship.
Steve Crane’s Nagato was sitting directly in my path, not far from the
sunken ship. I could see the smoky
outlines of her gray masts in the cloudy water.
“Steve, move your ship please,” I asked.
I expected the Nagato to sail in the direction she was pointed, which
would have cleared her nicely, but Steve swung her to port and sailed right
over her. I winced, expecting to hear
the Nagato’s props chewing the
The battle lazily
continued. The Valiant sailed away from
the pack, with the Invincible following for a
bit. “Patrick, you have a Nagato backing
down on you,” warned Ted. The Nagato fired
four long distance twin sterns at the I-boat, which moved off. “That’s what I was trying to tell you,” said
Ted. Patrick then found himself in the
center of the VDT, Fuso and VV, and the I-boat raced away.
Out in fast boat land,
the
Then the camera came
back in, where the Valiant and the Invincible where taking on about five Axis
boats <Bruder_184>. Valiant took a ram from the VV. <Bruder_185,
Melton_M_119> “Kevin, come out and play,”
hollered Lief at Kevin Bray, perhaps feeling the need for more targets while
Ted checked his boat. The Valiant was
soon back, taking haymakers from Pearce’s ship.
<Melton_M_121> The
Invincible, chased herself by the Fuso, came in and chased away Pearce. Pearce returned quickly, her stern now on the
other side where the haymaker could score, and made Patrick pay
for his insolence.
“What’s the matter
Lief,” called out Ted in the background.
“You told me you were
over here,” said Lief.
“Can’t you see me, I
stand out like a big neon sign,” called Ted in response.
Meanwhile, Pearce’s
Nagato continued to score on the Invincible, which was trying to chase but soon
learned that the back end of the big ship was a nasty place to be. But Gerald’s Nagato was trailing in pursuit,
and there wasn’t too many options open for the I-boat other than to peel off.
The camera cuts next
to Matt Clarke’s
“Yah,” said Matt. “I know.”
Steve’s Nagato came
charging back and swung in front of the Valiant, which was engaged with the
VDT. “Ah, I’ll check that,” said
Steve. The Valiant didn’t hesitate, but
headed directly to shore in the correct assumption that there was ram damage.
By this time, Jim
Coler’s NC was on five, after tangling with the
The camera cuts,
resuming on the
The
“OH NO!” yells Lief in the background. Then in a more resigned voice he added, “von
der Tann on five.” As he can be seen on
the video looking in a direction other than the
With the
The Valiant’s death throes was an odd spectacle.
The Axis ships were all gathered around, but the target was in such
delicate shape that the slightest nudge may have sent her to the bottom <Bruder_193>.
Not wanting a ram sink, the Axis ships just kept station alongside <Bruder_194>, as if in salute of an honored
enemy that could do no more harm. Or
else they were standing by to take on survivors. On shore, her captain, Ted, could be heard
laughing along with the rest of the spectators.
Finally, she went down
on her pump side, no doubt the strong stream tipped it just enough to roll it
to starboard <Melton_M_135>. She rolled onto her beam ends <Bruder_196>, hung there for a moment, and
then went down by the stern <Melton_M_136>,
to a chorus of cheers.
With the Valiant’s
demise, the
Axis A beat the Allied A fleet by a score of 19,530 to 8,165.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Patrick
Clarke (sunk) 4160 61-12-49
Kevin Bray 3420 82-10-47
Ted Brogden (sunk) 2825 60-5-24
Chris Grossaint (sunk) 2235
Lars (sunk) 1960
Lou Meszaros 2300 85-10-24
Tim Beckett 1885
Chris Au 1365
Chris Pearce 895 57-3-5
Tim Krakowski 660
Allied B vs. Axis B, second sortie:
The tape for this
battle starts with the battle in progress.
Like the previous sortie, it starts with a relaxed atmosphere. Ships were spread out here and there, and
moving with no great sense of urgency, and firing sporadically. <Melton_M_138> Then a whoop is heard, far to the right. The camera flips over to see the triangular
shape of a ship’s bow disappearing, far over on the Right Bend.
“HEY, I SUNK A SHIP!”
hollered out Kevin Hovis. The sunken
ship was Bryan Finster’s Nagato. Later
Kevin would say, “I
didn’t sink him with gunfire, but he’d been chasing me all during the first
sortie and came back for the second, and was so intent he forgot to turn on his
pump. So in a way it was me who made him
sink, and that felt pretty good.”
As for
The bulk of the
action, still fairly spread out, was taking place of the left side of the Left
Bend. On the right side of Left Bend,
the
Back in the big group,
the spread out melee continued. For a
time it seemed like the twin NCs were holding the center <Roberts_011> and driving everyone else wide <Roberts_012>.
In the middle of the battle, someone yelled out, “Hey, is that a SMURF
on that ship?”
<Roberts_010>
While the battle moved
slowly deeper and deeper towards Handicapped Cove, the Warspite was off in
Cattail Cove, tangling with the VV and Italia.
The two bigger ships were doing a good job of keeping the slower ship
between their guns.
The
Back in Handicapped
Cove, the Lion and
The camera then cuts,
and returns with the NCs working over the Kirishima
<Melton_M_142>. Fluegel’s
Every time the Moltke
kicks on her pump she sends a heavy stream high into the air <Melton_M_140, Melton_M_141>. This finally catches the eyes of the NCs, who
start to pursue. The
Running right along
the shoreline, the Moltke suddenly nuzzles up to the side of the NC, safely
under her guns, and turns out to sea.
This opens up some room to turn away temporarily, but the
The Moltke now got a
brief moment of relief, slowing slightly to edge between the Baden and shore,
and the Baden then shoved her way to shore after the Moltke’s passing, which
effectively cut off the Alabama. The
Moltke continued her run, shadowed by the Kirishima, while the
The camera cuts then,
and comes back for the final moments of the Moltke. The Kirishima and the Baden are working on
the ships circled around the barely moving Moltke, but then move off in pursuit
of the
The camera cuts again,
coming back with the Moltke still afloat.
The ship was being escorted by the VV, but the
“Good job, Steve,”
said Don Cole, and the others watching agreed.
A VV now raced in, as
if to shoo the Allied ships away, and then ran off back to the right herself <Melton_M_137>. The
Allied B beat the Axis B fleet by a score of 15,710 to 11,810.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Bob
Hoernemann (sunk) 2455 33-7-21
Mike Melton 2035 61-9-24
Charley Stephens 1650 65-10-15
Don Cole 1180 58-2-11
Ron Horbul 1090
Steve Reynolds (sunk) 2685 51-11-22
Bryan Finster (sunk) 2130 43-6-11
Tom Melton 1770 42-10-22
Mike Tanzillo (sunk) 1605
Jeff Lide 1455 68-9-11
After the battles were
over, it was time to pack up and head for the motel. However, as there was limited parking, I
usually waited for folks to clear out so I could bring my truck in closer. So I sat and patched at the lake. Bob and Ron did likewise. While we were working, Lief came up to
examine Bob’s large poster of the lake.
Bob had been putting the flags of the nationality of the sunken ships
onto the map, marking the approximate spot they had sunk. Lief continued to check on
the map all week, to see if Bob was ‘keeping it accurate’.
Soon most folks were
gone. Kevin Hovis, the site host, had a
huge covered trailer to carry all his gear, and was usually the last one to
leave each day. Several others stayed to
help him, Jeff Lide being the most outstanding in my mind.
Back at the motel it
was unload, take a quick shower, and relax for a short bit. When I went out to find out what the others
were doing for the evening meal, most were already gone, and the ones that were
around were all munching on pizzas. I also
noticed that several pairs of shoes were carefully propped here and there. Some were against walls, some leaning against
the air conditioner outlets, and still others were sitting on windshields. Most were facing the sun. My own were back in the room, propped in
front of the air conditioner to get lots of air movement through them.
As for my meal plans,
I decided to go shopping for some needed items instead, which included a run
out to the edge of town to Lowes, and on the way back I stopped at Papa John’s
to order my own pizza.
Back at the motel, I
only had power concerns to really trouble me.
With only the pump being bad Sunday and Monday morning, and the cleaning
in the morning, I was thinking the problem lay with my brass connections for
getting power into and out of the water tight box. The brass screws go right through the
plywood, and the brass nuts on the inside and outside allow for somewhat easy
disconnects. I opened up the watertight
box for the fourth time, and spent the night working over and cleaning these
connections, some which seemed like they needed it. It worked well when I got it all back
together, but then as it was an intermittent problem only lengthy runs would
prove that it was gone.
I had taken my time
doing the repairs, and was astonished to see that it was
Tuesday:
Tuesday was brighter and hotter than the day before, but it was not intolerable, like the 2000 Nats in Perry. I got up without much trouble, and was instantly wide awake when I put on my still wet lake shoes, which, if you recall, had been leaning against the a/c all night.
The table setups out at the lake were pretty much like the day before. The cycle started again of unloading, setting up, getting the CO2, and then waiting for the battle.
Fleet
Allied B vs. Axis A, first sortie:
This battle started
with Bob Hoernemann pulling his Warspite out of the water just ten seconds
before the battle started. He asked for
an extension, was told there were no more to give, and then asked if he could
get into the next sortie.
The battle started
slowly, with the Allies waiting for the Axis to come to them. Two fast Japs and the Bismarck circled in
from the deep water. About thirty
seconds into the battle, Josh Bruder asked if the fighting had started.
“Yes, we are
battling,” replied another, to the sound of a smattering of shots.
“Oh, I guess I was
confused,” said Josh Bruder, “because Tim Beckett was supposed to go out
there.”
“Ooo, an evil plot,”
said another spectator.
The tape cuts, and
comes back on the Allied group in a big circle on the left side of Left
Bend. Ron’s Lion is pumping hard, and
the Axis slow ships are sitting in the foreground, waiting for their
chance. The
Away from the Allied
circle, the
One of the NCs was
enticed away from the group, trying to briefly catch a napping VV, but then got
caught herself by Lief’s VDT when she retreated to the circle. The
A call for Man in the
water is heard, and then another call to resume comes almost immediately. The camera didn’t pick it up, but this may
have been the declared sink of the
In the Allied main
circle, Axis are chasing the Lion, which just keeps
circling through his friends so that they can fire on his pursuers <Melton_T_001>.
Off to the right, the
The Lion also runs
afoul of the
Due to the quick
recovery, battle soon resumed, but Ron didn’t hear the call. When the VV started hitting him with triple
sterns, he protested. “’Man in the
water’ and I’m getting blasted,” he said calmly.
“Resume was called,”
he was told.
The Allied circle was
breaking up. The
The NCs were staying
fairly close to the
The Bismarck and
Pearce’s Nagato appear, backing into the battle. The
As the battle
continued, the three Nagatos, the Bismarck, and the VV were taking shots at the
bows of the NCs as they presented themselves.
The battle started to spread out.
The Axis slow ships were off somewhere else, probably chasing the rest
of the Allied fleet.
The camera cuts, and
comes back <Melton_T_007> on the slower
ships, back over on the left again. The
Lion can been seen skirting by on the outer fringe of
the fighting. The
The wind is blowing,
whipping up the waves a bit, making the ships bounce as they sail. The wind has also been buffeting the camera’s
microphone, drowning out the shore chatter.
Then a rasping sound like a kid making propeller noises by humming and
blowing bubbles in the water is heard.
Soon it is obvious that the noise is coming from Gerald Robert’s Nagato,
whenever the ship goes into reverse.
Thinking she was in
trouble, this attracts the attention of the
The chase is halted by
Ron’s recovery of the sunken Lion. This
got several folks to wondering where the Warspite was.
After the battle
resumed, it moved to the center of Left Bend.
The
The
The NCs and the
At this point, it
seemed like we were back to the beginning of the sortie. The
The
No one was really
hurting at this point, and so the battle broke up gradually into smaller chases
as folks called five. The
Allied A vs. Axis B, first sortie:
I had assumed that Bob
Hoernemann had asked to fight in the second sortie with his Allied B fleet, but
to my surprise he and his Warspite showed up on the shoreline with the Allied A
fleet. Too much of a measly minion to
say anything in protest, I left the matter for others to worry about. If Bob was looking to fight a full battle,
he’d have to change his battling style, after all. And besides, having another Minnesotan for a
target should’ve increased the odds for the Bellerophon’s survival.
The battle started in
a cluster between the two Bends, but outside Cattail Cove. I believe captains were standing on either side
of the cattails. Once again, the Allied
slow boats and cruisers clustered together, like a herd of nervous sheep, while
the Axis wolves were waiting to race in to nip at the slowest and weakest one.
The firing was quickly
hot and heavy <Melton_T_014>. “Spectators please stand back,” called the
Contest Director.
“Including those with
cameras!” added someone else. As Ediot of the
club newsletter, I feel that I must protest this callous censorship of the free
press.
The Bellerophon is in the video footage only briefly. The Warspite and Valiant are pounding the
Pirate Smurf while a Nagato looks on, and the Bellerophon breaks away to swing
alongside the Kirishima’s unengaged side as she worked over an opponent. Then the camera cuts to a point after the
Working from my faulty
memory, I remembered being challenged by one or two powerful ships. My memory has it being Beckett’s
The suddenness of it
surprised everyone, especially me. “WHAT
THE HECK WAS THAT?” I asked loudly of no one in particular.
The camera starts
again with a pumping Moltke, free of the battle, but then she backs in again
with the Nagatos and VVs. The sound of
firing is quick and heavy <Melton_T_015>. Doug Hunt’s
The camera cuts, and
comes back on me, picking up a piece of superstructure in the water. A few seconds after I got to shore, the QE
showed up with a large open area amidships, I’d say the superstructure came
from Dave Au’s QE, and it was his ship that had been rammed. After grabbing the QE’s smokestack, I then
needed a burst of gas from the
When battle resumed,
the Warspite tried to follow three Jap ships that were after Bray’s
Meanwhile Finster’s
Nagato and Lide’s Kirishima had sandwiched the
The Warspite and the
WeeVee caught the Pirate Smurf momentarily napping, forcing the VDT to back
away. Matt Clarke’s Houston cut through
the scene, having called ram and pumping a healthy stream, and then Dave Au’s
QE, with her smokestack returned to its proper location, drove off a Nagato
which may have been following the Allied cruiser. The
The camera cuts to Tom
Brown’s
Next the two VDTs
swing in on the Valiant, Jake Bruder’s ship doing the bulk of the firing into
the Allied ship’s port bow <Melton_T_22>. The Warspite returned to put some double
sterns into the Pirate Smurf, while Dave Au’s QE came outside of Jake and
caught him for some action.
The camera now follows
Tom Melton’s Nagato as it chased the Warspite <Melton_T_23>. The Warspite was pumping quite frequently
now. The Nagato looked like it gave up
the chase when the Warspite got out into the waters where the Kongo was
cruising.
The
camera cuts now, coming back to a Nagato pumping hard, surrounded by the
Warspite <Melton_T_024> and the Valiant <Melton_T_025>. It’s not Melton’s ship however. It belongs to another. Although wounded, it is still firing shots
that count into the hulls of its attackers.
Down nearly to the gunwales and pumping hard, she attracts the
attentions of friend and foe alike. The
two VDTs try to torment her attackers <Melton_T_026>,
but also end up blocking her path <Melton_T_027>. A NC tries to bring her stern guns to bear,
but the Pirate Smurf pushes the Warspite into her path to block the shot and
drive off both <Melton_T_028>. It was like a running back blocking a
linebacker and a defensive end from getting to the quarterback.
Relief is only
temporary. The Warspite is like a hungry
hyena, returning again and again to strike at the wounded <Melton_T_030>, only to be driven away herself
<Melton_T_031> when Melton’s Nagato plays
the part of a lion protecting its young.
But there are other scavengers to harass the dying ship, the Valiant
especially <Melton_T_035>.
The camera cuts in
what seemed to be a shoreline collision (Ron is heard to say, “Sorry!”) The Allies seem to have backed off as they
didn’t want a ram sink <Melton_T_037>. A couple shots are heard and someone hollers,
“Shore battery! Shore
The Invincible now
swings in for a quick shot, followed immediately by the QE blitzing past her
stern. Melton’s Nagato was hard pressed
to catch her and shove her away <Melton_T_040> from
her sinking sister, her own props and its wash jostling the ship into a further
list and nearly putting it under.
Amazingly the Nagato
righted itself, and the pump stream seemed to pick up in such a strong way that
she looked to be pumping herself out <Melton_T_042>. The Warspite was back and moved in to get her
moving again. The Nagato swung out into
the middle of the cove while the Warspite tried to get in front of her to use
her sterns, but the Warspite rammed the Invincible which cut in front of the
two ships. Melton’s Nagato escorted the
Warspite in a direction away from the action, but the Valiant finally caught up
with the sinking ship <Melton_T_043>,
only to take a fairly hard tap from the Invincible’s bow. At this point the water came over the stern
gunwale of the stricken ship. The pump
stream was down to nearly nothing <Melton_T_045>. An Allied bow appears close, but Jake
Bruder’s VDT forces it rudely aside as the Nagato rolls further to port. “Don’t touch it!” yell the Allies.
The stubborn ship, now
with almost her full port gunwale in the water, still refused to sink. Suddenly reversing, she darted with amazing
speed back away from her tormenters. “Bail! Bail! Bail!” yelled one of the spectators. But then when her captain stopped her reverse
run, she seemed to lose life, and the Invincible came up and tapped her lightly
with the bow, much like Dallas Fluegel had done to Don Cole’s
“Yankee Doodle!”
hollered Charley.
As the Nagato settled
on the bottom, she came to rest on her bottom, and her tower superstructure and
the mainmast stayed defiantly above the surface
<Melton_T_047>. “Good fight
Mike!” said several folks. Mike Tanzillo
reached in and pulled out his ship.
The camera cuts again,
and returns to catch the bow of the sinking Warspite as the ship sinks by the
stern <Melton_T_051>. “Oh Polar Bear!” Don
Cole cries.
“Bonzai!”
yells an Axis.
After Bob’s sink, the
cameraman got confused on the state of the record switch, and I report further
based on audio combined with quick, sideways glances of action on the
pond. Tom Melton and Jim Coler are seen
walking the shoreline, but far enough apart that they didn’t seem engaged with
each other, but maybe not <Melton_T_048>. Other chases seem to be going on up and down
the shoreline. The two NCs and Matt
Clarke’s
In action not covered
by the video, Kevin’s
Allied B vs. Axis A, second sortie:
I thought all the
bumping and banging of ships running into each other in the sortie just past,
was a thing peculiar onto itself.
However, the sortie that follows continued the series of thumpings and
thwackings between opponents and friendlies alike. If these had been cars we were driving, the
police would’ve shut down the freeway and sent us all home. I began to think that something was in the
air to cause this, like say, the sun.
But while the orb was high and bright, it wasn’t square in our vision,
and so the rash of rammings must be due to something else. Tunnel-vision, vendettas, obsessions, or fun,
it could have been any of these.
As the sortie is
starting, our intrepid CD calls out to his Axis brethren, “All the little boats
are us. If you see a little boat, it’s
good.” The little boat he was referring
to was Tim Krakowski’s Mogador. Tim had
been having radio frequency problems with the Fuso, and was running his
campaign ship to get some control time.
Again, the battle
starts in the center of Left Bend. The
two fleets converged on each other in reverse, the Allies teasing with the
Charley’s NC has raced
ahead and then stopped, her bow right in line with the
twin stern guns of Gerald Robert’s Nagato.
Lief’s VDT sails past the NC and nuzzles up to the Nagato, and pushes
her away to take her place. Then the VDT
backs down to bring her haymaker up to the NC’s port bow. Her stern catches the NC’s deck, causing her
to bounce as she slides past, giving the NC a chance to shoot several
sidemounts herself.
The VDT is sitting
still, and the NC turns and pushes the VDT towards the waiting
The ships pull apart,
and the
The action is now hot
and heavy and ever changing, ships circling in and departing like a Busby
Berkeley dance routine (this 1930’s film reference shows my schooling, I having
took several film classes in college). <Melton_T_056>
The camera cuts to an
exchange between the two NCs ,
Then the
Rick later told Bob
(who relayed to me), “As far as I can tell my sink was caused mostly by my own
ineptitude. I was banging sterns with the Dunkerque(I
think) when my stern went under his for a second. I hit the throttle and
attempted to pull away. When I did this, the bow went up and the stern went
even lower. Instead of letting off the throttle I kept pulling away, a huge
pump stream started and she went under stern first real quick. I do have a
pretty good deck seal in the stern but I think that water washed up the deck
into the barbette and by keeping full throttle I never gave the bow a chance to
lower so all the water rushed into the stern and she sank. There certainly
wasn't enough damage to the
Meanwhile, the chase
of the
“Man in the
water!” The call comes just as we hear
the cameraman grunt loudly and the camera swings up to catch the treetops
behind us. No idea on where he took the
shot, however. Kevin Bray went in to get
Rick’s ship, which gave the
When the battle
resumes, three quick shots are heard.
“Thank you Charley,” calls Pearce.
Chris Kessler’s cruiser darts into an opening in the melee, fires some
sterns, and races away, passing in front of Charley’s NC which then rocks the
A blast of firing
attracts the camera’s attention to the
The
Then the camera
returns to Pearce’s Nagato <Melton_T_057>. Both NCs are there now, to block and shoot
for each other <Melton_T_058>. Kessler’s cruiser is there to try sniping,
but pulls back in deference to the big NCs.
Pearce’s Nagato finally turns towards shore, just as waves start lapping
at her starboard gunwale. She continues
on towards shore, but when the rising waters meet her pump stream her doom is
sealed <Melton_T_059>. Her stern hits bottom with her bow about four
feet from shore.
“
“Bonzai!” yelled an
Axis.
“Yankee Doodle!”
yelled Charley.
Pearce went in quickly
<Melton_T_060>, and when battlers on the
other side of the bend ask, Charley responds, “It’s a Yankee Doodle!”
When the action
resumes, the
“Oh, I better check
that,” Don Cole is heard to say. An
off-camera ram no doubt.
The Nagato sat for a
moment, but Charley’s NC sent her off again, to take a nudge from the
While he does, the
“I’m okay,” says Lief,
taking Don at his word even though his ship is pumping hard.
Steve’s Nagato is back
out now, running from a NC and still acting tippy in the turns. He sails off to the right and disappears in
the direction of Cattail Cove. Charley’s
NC is still looking for game, and someone tells Gerald that Charley is coming
for him. “He is?!” asks Gerald. But Charley’s NC finds himself cornered by
three ships with ammo, and the NC turns and heads for open water.
“Allied ship out of
control,” Lief calls out. When others
ask which one, Lief responds, “This one.
The
“It’s a
One
or two Axis race off, but most stay when the two NCs circle back to play. Steve’s Nagato bumps the NC fairly hard as he
slides his bow up along the
The NC finally gets
back alongside the teasing Jap, but first her port sidemount, and then her
sterns spit out breathy bb-less bursts.
“Oooo!” moans Charley.
The camera cuts back
to the left of Left Bend. A hard pumping
“I’m coming, I’m
coming, I want some,” calls Lief, but it is too late. The
“Bonzai!
Bonzai!” yelled the Axis.
At this point most of
the action ceased. The remaining ships
were either off five, pumping hard, or both.
“Don, I wouldn’t sail over here before you sink,” said Fluegel. “Elephants have places where they go to die,”
continued Fluegel as the tape cuts off the last two words.
Axis A beat the Allied B fleet by a score
of 19,575 to 10,050.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Don
Cole (sunk) 4220 122-14-33
Charley Stephens 3600 100-18-43
Chris Kessler 40 4-0-0
Ron Horbul (sunk) 3145 72-9-28
Mike Melton 2670 92-12-29
Pete Demetri (sunk) 2035 46-3-18
Chris Pearce (sunk) 2750 85-6-15
Lief Goodson 1700 40-8-22
Tim Beckett 1210 56-6-10
Gerald Roberts 1210 96-6-2
Chris Au 910
For all the ram hits
the only penalty assessed was an 1800 point one to the Baden, which leads one
to guess that he ram sunk a class 5 ship, probably the Arizona as the only
other candidate was Rick King’s Maryland which had been playing with the
Strasbourg.
Allied A vs. Axis B, second sortie:
This sortie continued the rollicking ram-fest. A new theory came to me as I watched the video. Perhaps folks were more careful on Monday, with the brand-new balsa and the shiny paint jobs. People drove their ships like they were new cars. But now, after a day of heavy battling, with the balsa battered and covered with patches, folks now felt like there was nothing to save, so they drove like they were conning the old beaters. We weren’t quite to the smash-up derby stage, but it was getting close.
This sortie starts
with the Tirpitz calling five just after battle was called. Sitting over next to shore on the Right Bend,
she wasn’t moving. The
The camera cuts now so
that the cameraman could move over to the Right Bend. Tirpitz and
“AAAH! OUCH!” cries Bob the cameraman, the camera
bouncing a bit but remaining on action.
Again, the location of the hit is unknown.
Patrick Clarke’s
Invincible caught Finster’s Nagato napping.
Finster has two bow sidemounts on the port side of his ship, so the
starboard side is unprotected on the bow, and the Invincible fired about
fifteen shots into her before the Nagato broke away
<Melton_T_069>. “Patrick
Clarke, you’re the man!” called Bob.
While the Kirishima
was distracted by the Valiant, the Wisconsin snuck in again to get some
sidemounts into the Tirpitz, which now is nuzzling up to shore just at the
edges of the cattails in Cattail Cove.
The Kirishima backed in quickly, Jeff himself standing nearby and
leaning over to watch closely as he lined up his smoking guns. “Make him pay, Jeff,” yelled Rob, following
quickly with “Yah! Yah!” <Melton_T_070>
Tirpitz now had just a
minute left on her timer. The Allies
wanted to finish him off, but the strong defense by the Axis, Lide and Finster
especially, kept them away <Melton_T_071>. The
Over on the Left Bend,
also in the Cove, the Pirate Smurf was slugging away with the QE, while a NC
tried to get the Pirate Smurf’s attention. (See action in top of picture <Melton_T_072>.) “Give it to him Randy!”
hollers Lief. The QE and the Pirate
Smurf both sink in this sortie, both off camera, but the QE <Melton_T_080> was seen far later than the
Pirate Smurf.
The Invincible has
snuck in and manages to get several sidemounts into the Tirpitz, but Rob is
unfazed by this. Despite the beginning
of a list, Rob says, “She’s only got ten seconds left.”
When the Tirpitz comes
off five, the Kirishima is released to join the two Nagatos chasing the
The camera cuts, and
comes back now on the Left Bend, near Cattail Cove. The Valiant and the QE are working on Jake
Bruder’s VDT. “I think the VDT needs to
get out of there,” said a spectator, which the VDT soon did.
The camera cuts, just
in time to catch the Moltke ramming the Bruder VDT. “Sorry,” said Steve as the Moltke backed
away. The Italia and the VV are trying
to play with the Invincible, which spins easily away from both. The Moltke chases her away and gives her a
little nudge-ram when the Invincible stops.
The action keeps circling back to the Bruder VDT, but no serious damage
appears to be taken by the German ship.
The QE veers away from
the group and catches the attention of the Kirishima and a Gerald’s Nagato as
it sails deep into Cattail Cove <Melton_T_077>,
but the QE reverses to escape <Melton_T_078>,
but then Tom Melton’s Nagato gets alongside for some shooting time. The camera cuts as another ‘Ram!’ call is
made behind the camera.
The camera catches the
Kongo, the Clarke Houston, and the Bruder VDT.
“Ah, that gun’s empty!” says a captain on shore. Man in the water is then called. All the ships are sitting quietly, but then
the captains start saying, “He’s going back in!” as the
The Invincible is back
for a pass through the Bruder squadron, and as she sails off to the right the Moltke, running from a NC, comes in and gives the VDT
another bump with her bow. “Boom!” says
someone, off in the distance. The camera
swings around to try to find some action, and catches a VV and the Invincible
coming at each other. Like a game of
chicken, neither veers away and they ram head on, the Invincible getting pushed
back by the bigger ship’s larger mass and momentum. The
“Invincible off five!”
comes the call, followed by several groans as the I-boat taps a VV with a ‘see
you later, well done’ type tap, and sails in.
The camera cuts.
The next scene is the
Valiant, waving a pretty pump stream, she’s now the
object of affection of at least five Axis.
Running in from deep water, the Kongo takes up a position and tries to
back in for a close stern shot, but miscalculates and takes a ram from the
Valiant. This little ram deflected the Valiant so that she swung and rammed a
second Axis ship. The rams literally came Bang! Bang!
Bang! as the trailing Moltke now rammed the Valiant
right dead under her A turret. “Better
check that,” said Ted. There was damage,
and Ted pulled her off to patch.
“Are there any Allies
on the water,” asked Jake Bruder.
“Just Ted,” said the
cameraman. The Axis ships are forced to
wait <Melton_T_082>.
When the Valiant
returned, Ted sent her out and called “CHARGE!” as she headed left along Left
Bend. He was on five now. The Kongo and the Moltke were closest, and
they tried to get ahead of her to cut off her run. As they finally caught up, the Valiant tried
to turn outwards, cutting across the Kongo’s bow, physically scraping it as she
turned back to the right. “I’ve been
rammed enough, whatever you are,” called Ted.
As the Valiant wormed her way past an oncoming Nagato, someone claims,
“Hey Ted, it wasn’t me.”
“I know,” said
Ted. “It was that Garibaldi
imitation.” Ted had spent all last Nats
tormenting the Kongo’s captain and his previous command, the ‘dreaded
Garibaldi’ Italian heavy cruiser.
The Valiant somehow
managed to keep ahead of the pack, then amazingly
passed the Kirishima. The Jap battlecruiser
was sailing full speed in reverse, but she couldn’t steer as well to come
alongside the British ship. “Go Jeff
Go!” yelled an Axis in encouragement.
The Valiant gave little feints this way and that, and the hard sailing
Jap battlecruiser looked like she’d do the impossible and block the British
ship. But the Valiant feinted left
before a hard turn to right, and the Kirishima slid past as the Valiant crossed
in front of her bow. A pursuing VV,
moving to cut off the Valiant from a turn to the left, plowed into the
Kirishima near her B turret with a strong blow.
As the Kirishima
struggled to come in to shore, the VV was sitting silently in shock, and the
Moltke drifted past like a traffic accident gawker,
the Valiant slowly spun and headed back to the left. “Good job Ted-ly!” said a spectator.
Tom Melton’s Nagato
got a few shots into her as they crossed in opposite directions, and Finster’s
Nagato came in from the outside to keep the Valiant from heading out to deep
water. A puff of air was heard from her
sidemounts, so Ted kept the Valiant alongside the bigger ship as he gradually
guided her towards shore, but the Valiant stopped before they got close. The Moltke was the first of the following
wolf pack to come alongside, but a loud groan from her captain announced that
her guns were empty too.
The Valiant now tried
to escape by backing away, which worked for a moment but Tom Melton’s Nagato
was quickly on her, and the Kongo was coming from deep water on the other
side. The Valiant stopped, and took her
medicine, several sterns shots and so on from the assembled group. She was getting heavier now, the pump was
running hard. She cut inside as an
opening appeared <Melton_T_084>, and the
ship listed to starboard in the turn.
“The wind is not helping him,” said a spectator.
The Moltke and
Finster’s Nagato are hard after him, and despite Finster’s verbal warnings the
Nagato is forced to nudge the smaller Axis out of the way. The Moltke, at full speed, now plows into the
stern of a VV with a thumping ram. As
the Axis groans are heard, an Allied spectator says, “What an Axis blunder.”
Someone else says,
“That was worth the price of admission.”
As the Valiant comes
back to the right again, she swings in close to shore, and then swings away as
if to run up the Right Bend. For some
inexplicable reason she stays in front of the pursuing wolf pack. The Kongo finally manages to cut her off and
force her to head towards Cattail Cove.
“Hey Ted, if you ram a couple of them, maybe they’ll leave you alone,”
suggests Milholland.
Ted laughed and
replies, “When I want to ram people I can’t hardly do it!”
The Valiant continued
her turn, too smart to go into the Cove, and she made a run back left across
the Left Bend. Kongo was coming on the
inside, and the Moltke was on the outside, and this time the Moltke managed to
bring his bow up nicely against the bow of the Valiant. This time the pincers closed on the Valiant,
as Melton’s Nagato passed in front and took the ship away from the Moltke,
which had to reverse to avoid ramming the big Jap. The Kongo slid past too but a VV was
following to pinch in again, but for some reason Melton’s Nagato had stopped
and left the Valiant with an opening on the outside to turn towards deep
water. The VV’s guns were gasping, and
her captain called five. The Valiant
continued her circle until she was headed back towards shore. “Here you go,” said Steve Reynolds, his
Moltke giving the Valiant several stern shots as the ship steamed past.
“You can just feel the
love here,” said Swampy. “And Ted’s
feeling most of it.”
“Valiant off five!”
hollered Ted, just as the Kongo closed on her.
“Good job Ted!” called
several folks, Finster being the loudest.
Axis B beat the Allied A fleet by a score
of 17,900 to 13,000.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Dave
Au (sunk) 4420 97-24-39
Kevin Bray (sunk) 3100 100-8-18
Brian Lamb (sunk) 2760 36-10-19
Bob Hoernemann (sunk) 2040
Patrick Clarke 1645 52-11-17
Ted Brogden 1340 49-6-14
Randy Stiponovich (sunk) 2950 40-10-30
Mike Tanzillo (sunk) 1985 36-1-12
Rob Stalnaker 1760 71-6-18
John Bruder 1715 69-7-17
Bryan Finster 1280 38-6-15
In this battle, three
ram penalties were assessed.
During the morning’s
battling, I spotted a spectator who I thought was not wearing safety
glasses. I approached him, and
discovered that he was a Lions Member, and was wearing safety glasses . I was
worried what he would think of the grassy shoreline that had been turned to
muck by our stamping feet. “Ah,” he
said. “I’m more concerned about the
nasty marks the geese leave when they make their deposits on the concrete
sidewalks.” He didn’t seem concerned
about what we were doing at all, and enjoyed what he saw of the action.
Between sorties in the
morning’s battles, I had take the Bellerophon out to try to recreate her
morning’s sink, in order to understand it better and correct what went
wrong. Unfortunately, I also discovered
that I’d lost reverse. Thus it was hard
to try reversing her and then turning, but I let her fill up with water and
then tried her in some hard turns and found that she was especially tippy in a
sudden turn to port after hitting the throttle from a standing start. Taking her back to the bench, I opened the
watertight box for the fifth time, and discovered that one of the micro
switches on the throttle had stuck, and needed replacement. I was in no mood for a jury-rig repair at
lake-side, and decided to fix it later that night when I could take my time and
do it right. Besides, there was plenty
of other stuff to do during Campaign, which was coming up next.
During the noon-time
break, folks ran off for lunch. It was a
relaxed atmosphere at first. Folks went
off and got food. I ran off to the Sonic drive-in to try it, as we don’t have such things in
On my way back to the
pavilion, I passed Pete Demetri and his wife, walking from the parking lot back
to his ship table by the lake. They were
holding hands and talking and laughing together. She’d been sitting next to his table all day
Monday and today, mostly reading a book but quietly talking at times. Now I hadn’t the heart to interrupt them, but
as I passed, I silently wished that every captain in the hobby had a supporting
partner like Pete’s wife. At the least
the captains old enough to have partners, that is.
There had been other
wives at Nats, and this one had more.
Patrick Clarke’s wife came and checked up on him, running a few errands
and listening quietly but with interest to their stories. I didn’t get to talk to her either but she
seemed totally okay with her husband and son’s obsession with toy boats.
Ron gave the okay for
the use of his zip strips, and soon we were zipping the plastic tubing
together. When the floats had difficulty
staying on, we decided to use the zippies on them too. It was Josh Bruder, Kevin and I putting them
together. When we had both sets of
targets complete, we’d used a whole bunch of zippies, and I hoped that Ron
wouldn’t be upset.
Sometime during the
morning, I noticed a person out on the far end of the Right
Campaign
Allied B vs. Axis B:
When Charley Stephens
is an admiral, he usually has a secret plan.
In
This year Charley had
a micro convoy ship. About a third of
the size of an LST, it was even more maneuverable, and therefore an even harder
target to hit. About eight inches long, that left about five to shot at. I wonder if it had a rib?
In any case, the plan
was to use this ship to keep the Axis convoy ships on the bottom. The Axis had three convoy ships, but it was
known that only one worked with any consistency. Lou’s Yamashiro would be pulling the bulk of
the convoy duties. Two others were
thought to be in very questionable shape.
If the Yamashiro sank in deep water, it was hoped that the Empire
Campton, or ‘the Charley Special’, would force her to stay there the rest of
the battle, due to the rule that ships cannot be recovered while a convoy is on
the water.
The setup for this
battle was as follows: the Axis shore targets were down around the bend in
Handicapped Cove. The Allied shore
targets were way over just to the right of Cattail Cove. The forward bases were up near the center of
Left Bend.
The campaign started,
as most do, with some slow action. Shore
targets were the main attraction. The
Allied cruisers, Chris Kessler’s Brooklyn, Bob Hoernemann’s
The camera cuts,
coming back on the Axis launching a convoy ship. Rob Stalnaker was at the controls. Josh Bruder gave the ship a big push out of
port. “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa,” called Rob, not yet ready. Josh’s VV was there ready to escort her,
however.
The
The Yamashiro turns
for deep water as her thirty seconds free time expires. The
Bob now asks Kessler,
even though he doesn’t have ammo, to help tie up the VV so that Bob can get in
at the convoy. This is enough for Bob to
get two more shots off in the Yamashiro’s direction. But then the Yamashiro and
Jake Bruder’s VDT now
joins the escort, and Finster’s Nagato seems to be heading off to the
right. Out way on the right, an Allied
LST, along with the Charley Special, can be seen out on the waters. At this time, they are ignored. A quick sweep by the camera shows Allied and Axis big ships alike, sitting and waiting off the
Allied home port.
The
There is a big cluster
of ships waiting now in the area off Cattail Cove. They spend several minutes waiting,
interrupted only by a ram call from Don Cole.
The
The Yamashiro again
has the VV for an escort, and little pursuit.
Chris Kessler’s
Just then the ‘Charley
Special’ arrives at the Allied forward port.
Charley had wanted to run her once, and then hand her off to others for
the rest of the week. Jeff Lide’s light
cruiser was in pursuit but the tiny ship turned easily away and sailed into
port. Charley picked her up and said,
“Hey someone did get a hole into it.” <Melton_T_085>
The Axis took great
pride in the single hit, hollering “Bonzai!”
“I wouldn’t try
sailing her back if I was you,” said Fluegel.
The Yamashiro is still
out there, with little attention. She
has a strangely painted blue section on her port stern, that
glows strangely on the video, like a chromo key background on a news
broadcast. She does a few ‘
Finally the Brooklyn
and the
Someone near shore is
taking a pounding, but the camera doesn’t catch it except for the audio. “Don’t let him do that,” suggests a
spectator. The Axis convoy then sails
into port.
The camera cuts to the
The camera cuts to an
Allied convoy run, the John Brown was being run by Tony Stephens, and she was
way off on the right, down by the bridge.
With the
The camera swivels for
a quick glance at the Yamashiro, making another forward run. She either had a huge escort or the Allies
were finally giving her some attention. Then a burst of guns comes from the group
around the John Brown, and the camera swings back. Finster is called for a push, and comes
in. The John Brown waddles through the
crowd of Allied escorts, the
“I was wondering where
you were going,” said Rob Stalnaker, his escort. The two ships floated unmolested in deep
water. In near shore, the Nagatos were
after the
A rarity for the week,
someone calls for ‘Thirty second moss,” but I don’t know who. The
The Yamashiro is soon back for a return run.
Steve Reynolds set her in the water, and then went for the
transmitter. “Give her a push,” called
Lou Meszaros, her owner. “Or not!” he
muttered quietly as she started off on engines only.
“Oh, let her take the
mud with her,” I said.
Lou started to laugh
with a touch of pain in his voice. “I
spent too much time working on her.”
According to him, the ship was one of the army transports that had a
flight deck slapped on her. Lou said he
plans to have her in that configuration next year.
As the Yamashiro
slowly moved out past the VV, the
I bit my tongue, the
Allies hadn’t done much so far to be worthy of the attention of an escort. The
The camera cuts
briefly to the
The action around the
Yamashiro was heating up. The
The camera next
catches the tail end of the
The camera now cuts to
the Allied home port, where it looks like the Princeton CVL is getting ready to
launch. It is the Yamashiro that makes
it back on the water first. A NC sails
after her, and catches her with some triple sterns, but Jake Bruder’s VDT
tugboats the bigger ship’s bow over to swing the stern away. The other NC joins her sister, and the
Stephens brothers start firing. More of
the Yamashiro’s cargo rigging go flying high in the air, to cries of delight
from the shore. The
A few seconds later,
other cries of delight are heard, followed by a ‘Yankee Doodle!’. Finster’s Jap
light cruiser had sunk.
Almost immediately,
the cry came out, “Titanic’s on the water!”, and “LST’s coming back!” The CVL was out there too, struggling already
in the breeze. The Titanic’s motors can
be heard echoing inside its hull, and the sound carries everywhere. The attack ships head for her, and leave the
other convoy runners alone. The
Titanic’s big sides reverberate like a drum as the shots ring home, making a
sound that was irresistible to the Axis captains.
The NCs and the
Meanwhile, the CVL is
drifting quietly outside the Allied forward port. About the time a Jap light cruiser zips in,
the drum-like sounds of the Titanic being shot to bits is heard again. As the Titanic continues her struggle, Doug
Hunt says behind us, “Hey, get this freighter.”
The Yamashiro is
coming in, in a much different state than before. Her one gunwale is under the water due to a
heavy starboard list. She sails serenely
through the stakes of the Allied forward port, just missing the bow of the
still-waiting
“Go baby! It’s gotta be both sides!” hollers Rob
Stalnaker at her controls. Fellow Axis are heard plotting the shortest course for the Yamashiro to
drive to get her into port. But the
Yamashiro turned suddenly and ran her bow into the grass. “Keep going!” said a spectator.
“I lost control,” said
her captain. Then the stern went below
the waves, deciding the issue for good.
The next question was whether the ship could be recovered, or forced to
sit where she was. Ted Brogden, who was
CD last year, informed folks that she could be taken if “Man in the water”
didn’t need to be called. She was
removed, thwarting the Allied plan.
Back to the Titanic
now, she is showing signs of the beating she’s taken. Visibly lower in the water, she’s moving with
only one thought now, steer directly to port and don’t stop for anything. But it’s obvious that she won’t make it. The NCs are guarding each side now, and they
deflect her course away. In the
background, the LST is making its way towards port too. The NCs let the Titanic drift away, and a
Nagato comes in and rocks her bow, in a non-damaging ram, to keep her from
sailing into the Axis forward port.
“Ram!” calls someone.
“If you call a ram,
you have to stop your timer,” cautions Tim Beckett. It is too late, the big ship goes under and
her superstructure starts floating away.
Bob reaches in to start grabbing pieces.
Meanwhile, the camera
cuts to Ron pulling the CVL up after she reached port. The LST is still out there, tormenting two
VVs, and she has a NC escort. However,
the little ship seems only able to steer to the left, and this is keeping her
on the water longer than she should be.
“Six Minutes!” hollers
Lief. The
The camera returns to
the CVL, pursued by a Nagato and a VV.
Her heavy list to port is straightening out, but unfortunately it is
because her stern is now an inch below the waterline. She now looks like a surfboard with 6
Avengers riding the waves.
The Allies now call
for an extension, while Ron protests good-naturedly that the CVL is not
sunk. He’s only kidding the bow is now
gone too, and even the aft part of the flight deck is under water. Still she skates on, reaching port even
though she has been declared a goner by the CD himself.
The Olympic is now out
on the water, causing confusion among the Axis, who protest
that she was sunk. How they could forget
that there are two of them is beyond me.
Perhaps it was the sun. “It’s
your imagination. This one didn’t sink, that one did sink,” Kevin Bray points
out to Fluegel and crew.
“Well, I did imagine
they sank,” said Fluegel.
The question of the
CVL comes up again. Kevin is recording
the score for the Allies. “You see, it’s
like the real press. I only record
things that are the truth, which is OUR truth.
Not your truth.”
“Actually,” said
Fluegel snidely, “the winner writes the truth.”
This was too much for
me. “I thought Lars writes the truth,” I
said. Hey, I’d had a poor showing so far,
and needed an ego boost.
“Yes he does,”
admitted Fluegel. “I’m looking forward
to it, Lars.”
“It’s
gonna be a doozy,” added Kevin.
“One hundred and
thirty-two pages,” said someone else.
“Full of colorful
commentary…” continued Kevin.
“Wet sock stories…”
suggested Fluegel. “’…then I stepped in
the mud…’”
While all this was
going on, the Olympic was sailing slowly but serenely along, escorted by the
The Olympic arrived
off the port, and sat waiting. She
drifted up against one of the poles marking the port, and her stern swung
in. But her timer was still
running. The VV finally got alongside
and fired some sidemounts, and current from his passing pulled the big ship
into the port, forcing her to sail back out again. The Olympic circled around and stopped again,
a bit further out. Behind the Olympic,
the other Axis convoy ship, the Settsu Maru, can be seen sailing for deep water. Charley’s NC races out in front of her, and
hits her with several triple sterns as the merchie passes behind her
stern. Coming in for another pass, the
Maru turns suddenly, trying to touch the NC in order to call a push, but the NC
deftly turns inboard, swinging her stern out and away. It does spoil the NC’s shot, however.
The Settsu comes
about, listing hard to port, and crosses the NC’s bow. “Look how he’s leaning into the wind,”
comments Kevin Bray.
“I’m coming, convoy
ship,” hollers Josh Bruder.
“Oh, I’m already
killed, it’s gonna die before it gets here,” said her captain.
The Olympic comes off
five. “Touch it and go again,” orders
Kevin. There isn’t five minutes left
however. The Settsu stops, listing to port,
and bobbing in the waves as the VV drives off the NC. Her captain gives her quick touches on the
throttle to keep her moving slowly forward.
“Three minutes!” calls Lief.
The Settsu’s bow runs
up against the VV’s side, which straightens her up a bit. Hope revives for the Axis. “Keep her up, saddle up next to her,” Josh is
ordered.
“Prop wash her!” Charley is advised by the Allied spectators. The Settsu starts leaning harder against the
VV, but then suddenly flops over onto her starboard side, to groans and
exclamations on shore. Her list then
decreases as she settles further, moving in reverse now. The
“It’s going!” hollers
a spectator as the Settsu’s bow dips below, and the rest of the ship slowly
follows it under. “Hit reverse!” cried
the Axis admiral, while the stern was still showing.
“I’m going to say it’s
sunk,” said Lief.
A cork deployed as a float, to mark her new address.
The Olympic is now back out, but the Axis quickly discover that her five
minutes will expire after the battle’s end.
The Allies tactfully request that the Axis extend the battle, but the
request is quietly denied. “They made it
pretty clear that they don’t want to,” said an Allied reporter.
The Olympic thus gets
only token attention, a few shots from a VV.
Then the Olympic parks quietly off the home port, waiting quietly. “Campaign is over,” calls Lief.
“Thank you, Lord!”
calls Ted. Ted says the same thing every
year.
Allied B beat the Axis B fleet by a score
of 5,900 to 5,750.
The only warships sunk were cruisers: Bob Hoernemann’s
Campaign
Allied A vs. Axis A:
For this battle, I
don’t have video footage for the beginning. About two thirds of the way through, Bob H.
finally got his paperwork task under control so that he could handle the camera
as well. Up to that point, we’ll have to
do it the old fashioned way, from Lars’ foggy brain cells, the score sheet, and
gentle proddings from the Melton picture album.
Charley decided to
cross up the Axis by launching a large convoy group right away. It was Kevin Bray in the blue LST, Ted
Brogden in his Pundua, and myself running the
Titanic. Thirty seconds after campaign
start, we were all in the water and running up the Right Bend away from
everyone. Chris Grossaint, with his NC,
was running as escort. Jim Coler’s NC was probably with him.
After hanging out down near the bend that led to the bridge, a couple of Axis ships finally made their way down there. They headed, naturally, for the Titanic. By this time we’d wasted enough time that a run back should bring us back to the forward port about the time our timers would expire.
The LST and the
Pundua, recognizing that they were of little interest, ran off on their own,
leaving the Titanic on the main stage with the Axis shooters. The only picture of this run shows a NC
ramming and nearly sinking Pearce’s light cruiser, while the
I remember Grossaint
complaining that the Titanic didn’t try to evade. I’d run the big ship the year previous, and
from that experience found that the ships were slow to start, slow to stop,
slow to turn and very effected by the breeze, if there was one. I’d decided her best defense was just to plow
ahead and keep her speed up. Maybe he
knew better, as they were his ships, but I was going with my gut feel. The run back up Right Bend saw the ship
taking hits, and there was a scary part when I had to race like the dickens
around Cattail Cove, losing sight of the ship, and trying to catch up with her
before she rammed the shore or sailed past the port or some silly thing like
that. I made it around, and found the
Titanic being pummeled, but she was still above water. I had to circle her once outside the port to
let the timer expire, but only once before the timer beeped. John Bruder’s video
has a three second shot of the ship coming into port, about an inch or an inch
and a half lower in the water than when she started, but still plenty of black
showing. The LST was trailing right
behind her. The Pundua made it too.
The Titanic was
determined to be too damaged for a return run.
I wasn’t surprised. Kevin,
however, placed the LST back in the water and sent her back. He spent his time the whole battle, except
for when he had his
The Axis made their
convoy run, with Fluegel running the Yamashiro, now with a very limited
superstructure. The two NCs and the
Invincible came in to attack, but the
The Invincible picks
up the chase on the Axis ship. The other
NC comes up on the other side and begins shooting, and what looks like a Lutzow
tries to interfere, but the NC’s bow catches the Lutzow’s stern and swings it
around. The Lutzow’s bow is rammed
forward and catches the Yamashiro’s props, swinging the merchie around oddly,
and the Lutzow is rolled over dangerously and could have gone down, had not the
NC backed off, allowing the Lutzow to back off and free the Yamashiro to
continue on freely. The Yamashiro is
listing to starboard, but as the video ends she seems to be sailing into port.
Meanwhile, I was
called back to try a run with the CVL.
This one was not as successful.
The wind, which wasn’t very strong, played havoc with the flight
deck. I tried to keep her away from the
attackers, the
At some point the Axis
convoy ship, still under the command of Fluegel, made a successful homeward
run. Kevin Bray also made a second run with
the LST, and despite being pursued by the
Tiring of fighting the
little ant, the
The Allied Admiral
could recognize an opportunity when he saw one.
The chase for Grossaint left little else on the water for the Axis, and
the Pundua made the run home from the forward port. He also had me launch Rick King’s gray
freighter. I took the ship down by the
bridge where the freighter waited unmolested for about three and a half
minutes, and then I ran the ship back along the shoreline and into port. She picked up a couple Axis bbs as I ran
behind the cattails, but it was an easy thing to drive her into port. It wouldn’t be so easy going back, as the
Axis had finished sinking the NC, and were now on their way back.
As the battle entered
the last twenty minutes, Charley wanted to launch the other big ship. The Olympic was in pieces however, and
Grossaint was off elsewhere. Someone
helped me hook up the battery, and we were half way there, having forward and
reverse thrust. The rudder servo wasn’t
working, and it took another few minutes to work that out. We got the rudder servo moving back and forth,
but we forgot to check the rudder itself.
It was to prove costly.
From the video now, an
LST hit the water (driven by whom I don’t know, as pictures not long afterwards
have Kevin Bray’s Massachusetts out on the water), Ted was back in his Pundua,
the little black freighter, and I was driving the Olympic. We launched.
There were Axis on the water, but it took almost twenty seconds before
they appeared to notice. Soon the Axis
swarm was headed after the big ship once again
<Melton_T_102>.
Now the Titanics are
not the most responsive of ships, but right from the start I had a feeling that
we’d made a mistake. Rudder control was
iffy, and she only seemed to answer the helm to port, and then not all the
time. Thus it was a game of trying to
just get the ship going in a straight line, hopefully back to the home port if
nothing else, just to avoid the sink points.
I don’t think one can ‘withdraw’ a convoy ship like that, the subject is
not addressed in the rules, but that was my thinking as I struggled with the
ship.
Pearce’s Nagato was firing a steady stream of double sterns at the
slowly turning big ship. The
The camera cuts,
missing one of the few things I remember.
As the Olympic spun another circle, her bow just missing one of Kevin
Hovis’ yellow depth floats. The float
rubbed along her hull as it moved aft.
“Watch it get snagged,” said an Axis captain. I momentarily killed the throttle just as the
float reached the props <Melton_T_105>. “YEAH!” yelled the Axis, thinking the float
had been caught in the props. Then after
the ship drifted a bit more, I hit the throttle again and the wash sent the
float away. The Axis captains groaned in
dismay.
The camera comes back
with the Olympic now low in the water <Melton_T_106>. Axis ships are picking at the carcass. Soon they back off, and the ship goes decks
awash. Then she sinks by the stern,
going completely under before her four stacks popped off and back to the
surface <Melton_T_107, Melton_T_109>.
The
camera cuts next to Jim Coler’s NC playing with Lou’s VV, but then moving off
to chase the Yamashiro, sitting out near the speed trials area. Soon the NC is alongside, hitting her with
sidemounts, but trailing carefully behind so as to avoid any quick turn for a
push call.
The NC continues the
chase, screened by the
The camera cuts next
to Mike Melton’s recovery of the Olympic. I’d been called back to the forward
port for a return run of Rick King’s freighter.
Patrick Clarke was running Ted’s Pundua back at the same time, but she
had launched a minute or two later. The
gray freighter, in the words of Tony Stephens, was ‘an easy sinker’. She’d only collected three holes on her
forward run, and so there was a chance for her to make it home. She soon attracted the attention of Pearce’s
French cruiser, which knew how to put double sterns into the freighter’s
bow. The camera moves from the gray
freighter, cutting across Cattail Cove, to the Pundua, loitering off of Left
Bend. Further out by the speed trials
area, the Valiant and others can be seen harassing the Yamashiro. The Axis ship looks a bit lower than
usual. The camera cuts away, but the
Axis merchant had used up her luck for the day, and she was eventually sunk,
but I didn’t see or hear how it happened.
I think it was close enough to shore, however, that the Charley Special
ploy didn’t work once again.
As for the Special, I
think Doug Hunt had her out, and had been walking along the far side of the
lake, after his
The camera is back on
the gray freighter. She’s taken on a
list now, to starboard. This leaves only
one side to shoot at. Pearce’s cruiser
seems to be out of ammo, and the little ship is trying to prop wash the
merchie. I reverse the motors and the
freighter backs away, towards the Right Bend shore. Coler’s NC arrives to perform screening
duty. The freighter slows and waits for
the time on the timer to tick off. There
is just a thin light gray line showing the edge of her starboard gunwale.
Then it is back to
forward throttle to circle around and call push as Coler’s NC scares Pearce’s
CL into the freighter’s side. The CL
backs away, and the home port is only yards away. The freighter stops again, as the timer is
still ticking. The occasional wave is
now lapping over the gunwale. The VV
races in, but is blocked by Coler.
With the gray
freighter’s timer nearly done, that means the Pundua’s got about two minutes to
go. Coler is directed to help him. “Get that thing out of deep water,” calls Jim
as his ship races away.
“Five minutes
remaining!” calls Lief. The water is now
over the freighter’s starboard gunwale, but according to the CD, it has to be
over the gunwales on both sides of the ship to be ruled a sink. The port side is still showing a good quarter
inch. Lou’s VV finally gets alongside,
and tries to hit the remaining target area with bow sidemounts. Lou hits, but it’s just too late, the timer
sounds, and I hit the throttle to move her the last half foot into port, and
then tapped her. The watching Allies
yelled “YAA!” in delight.
Now it was the
Pundua’s turn to struggle into port. She
was still riding high, but the camera catches her in a circle of ships. A Nagato and the VV soon sandwich her, but
she backs free. The QE is seen physically
removing the
The camera cuts to
catch the QE still glued to the side of the
“Fifteen seconds,”
says Patrick, now heading the ship towards port. Coler’s NC comes in and gives her a rude shove to the side, just missing the VV but
shoving her into the side of the QE. The
QE redirected her back the right way, and the ship crossed into port to the
sound of Allied cheers.
The next quick cut is
the bow of Pearce’s CL disappearing, leaving her superstructure stranded on the
surface. Pearce said later that he
forgot to turn on his pump.
All that was left was
the last run of the Blue LST. The camera
picks her up as Lou’s VV is pursuing but is rammed by the QE. A Nagato pulls up on the LST’s starboard
side. “I’m almost out of tape,” says the
cameraman, and switches it off.
According to my foggy memory, the LST did make it into home port for a
completed run just seconds before the battle ended.
Axis A beat the Allied A fleet by a score of 7,475 to 7,000.
The warships sunk were as follows: Chris Grossaint’s NC, Doug Hunt’s
It had been a long hot
day, and after all my racing back and forth behind the cattails, I’d become
pretty tired and sweaty. Now Pearce
asked nicely if I would go in and recover his cruiser. I said sure without thinking, but the cool
water felt good. And after the recovery
it was even better, as Pearce handed me his last ice cold Gatorade. It went down real good. Thanks Chris!
Once again I was in no
hurry to leave. I waited for the traffic
to clear, and then finally brought up my truck.
After I was loaded, I noticed Jeff Lide scouting the area, and decided
to do the same. Several items were found
down by the launching points. There was
a table left at the Allied home port. I
asked Kevin Hovis if he wanted the shore targets collected, and he handed me a
box. While we were doing this, Grossaint
and Coler were sitting there talking, their NCs on the table and the Titanics
still down by the lake. Several folks
offered to carry them up, but their help was declined. The two had both had extremely long days, and
were exhausted. I told them that the
rest of the Allies, including the admiral, knew they were outmatched and had no
complaints about their performances thus far.
At last Hovis was
packed, Jeff Lide made off with most of his drinks (I think he brought them
back), and so I left for the motel.
Grossaint and Coler started packing as I left.
Back at the motel, it
was throw the ship back on the work table, unload the rest, and take a quick
shower. Then it was collapse on the bed
for a half hour, watching cable news (I don’t get cable or satellite at home).
When I was ready to eat,
I found the parking lot half empty. Ron
and Bob were gone, I was on my own. I
decided to see if I could find someone different with whom to eat. I succeeded only too well.
I found a room that I
knew belonged to a battler, but I didn’t know who. I could hear the TV playing inside the
room. I knocked on the door. A voice invited me in. It was Finster and Lide’s room. They soon informed me that it was ‘the night
we Japanese are going to eat raw fish’.
There was a sushi place just up the road within walking distance. I’d
heard rumors from others that the Jap captains would be doing this. Most thought they were nuts. Finster invited me to come along.
Now I’m a meat and
potatoes guy, and don’t like ‘exotic’ food.
I hesitated, not wanting to seem stuffy or too timid. Still, I’m a fussy eater, I didn’t want to
order something and then not eat it.
Finster convinced me that the place would have chicken or pork that an
old Lutheran could stomach. I agreed to
go along, as ‘the British Envoy.’
I should’ve known what
kind of night I was in for when Gerald came in and his eyes bugged out. Jeff was fresh out of the shower. I had my back to him and was glad of it. Soon Luis joined us, and we were off.
At the restaurant, a
lady of oriental descent assigned us to a table. A different young lady came up and asked for
our drink orders. We gave them, and she
soon returned with our beverages.
Something about our group intrigued her, and she stayed to chat.
She was college age,
and was of Caucasian descent. She had a
slim figure, was medium height, wore small black rectangular glasses, and had
her dark hair swept back in a ponytail.
Her conversation and attitude is best described as ‘perky’. She quickly picked out that we were from
different areas of the country. She
asked what brought us to town.
At this question,
Bryan Finster looked at the rest of us like he was tempted to give her a better
story than what we were actually doing, but he crossed me up and told her the
truth. “Actually, we build model
warships…” he
started, but got no further.
“You mean the ones
that shoot and have battles and really sink?” she asked enthusiastically.
“Yes,” said
“Oh, I work part time
at the local paper,” she said. That
wasn’t her only accomplishment. She also
wrote magazine articles, attended the local University, helped the handicapped
(that may an invention of mine, but her list was about half a dozen items long
of productive and helpful occupations), and last but not least, “I’m also a
Miller Lite girl.”
We questioned her
choice of majoring in English at a University renown
for its aircraft engineers, and other technical courses. But mostly we pressed her on her last
occupation of the list. She said that
she’d been sitting in a bar one night, and some fellow told her she was fun to
drink beer with, and the next thing she knew she was getting paid to ‘sit in
bars and drink Miller Lite, and have fun.’
This again intrigued
us. “Where would be the best bar for us,
coming in when we’re done battling, all hot and sweaty and muddy from stomping
around the lake?” asked Lide.
“Easy, the Grundge
bar,” she said. “When I go there it
takes me days to shake the smell. They
wouldn’t even notice you coming in.”
Jeff and Finster gave each other a raised eyebrow, as if in code that
here was a piece of information they could put to good use.
“Thanks for the tip,”
we said. “We’ll have to leave you a big
tip for that info.”
“Oh, I don’t work
here,” she said. “I used to, but I quit
a few months back.” We were all
dumb-founded. “But when I saw that the
folks here were busy, “ she continued, “and that you would be waiting quite a
while for your drinks, I decided to help.”
If ONE member of the BOD had been with us, she’d have the Sportsmanship
Award on her mantel right now.
She soon bounced
off. After she left, someone wistfully
drawled what we were all thinking, “If I was ten years younger and not married….”
We sipped at our
drinks, but then Gerald wanted to get some photos <Roberts_013>. After he sat down, another waiter came and
took our food orders. Bryan, Gerald, and
Luis ordered some fancy raw fish things.
“And lots of Mesabi,” added Gerald.
I found my chicken disguised under fancy oriental descriptions. Jeff asked what I got, and then ordered
something midway between chicken and fish, but definitely of the cooked
variety.
The plates soon
came. Jeff handed his set of chopsticks
to Gerald and asked for a fork. Gerald
dug in, a set of chopsticks in each hand.
I was tempted to ask for a fork too, but noticed that my chicken had
been pre-sliced in strips, and I thought I could manage with the chop sticks,
but I felt like a four year old. We were
murmuring over our first tastes of our meal when a thump came from the end of
the table.
“Are you all right?”
asked Jeff of Gerald. Gerald must’ve
slapped the table with his elbow or fist.
“Fine,” said Gerald,
nonchalantly. “And expect more of that.”
Jeff looked back,
alarmed. I was safely on the far end
with Jeff in the middle as the buffer.
Soon I heard Gerald taking a long, deep inhalation through his nose,
about thirty seconds long it seemed, and then he slapped the table again and
said breathlessly on the exhale, “OH THAT’S GOOD.”
While he continued
this display, dunking every bit of his raw fish in the light green sauce,
Jeff couldn’t stand it
either. “Does anyone have something
normal to talk about?” he asked, wild-eyed.
The dentist in him came out.
“Does anyone have any dental problems they want to talk about?”
With another bang on
the table and a holler from Gerald to the wait staff, “MORE MESABI!”, Jeff looked away.
He spotted our drink lady leaving.
“Goodbye Stephanie!”
he called and waved. I didn’t turn to
see her go, I turned to look at Jeff, who had a bright
chipper smile on his face and a glint in his eye.
“I thought she said
her name was Molly,” I said quietly.
Luis and Bryan started laughing.
Jeff’s face fell, and
he mumbled, “Her name’s not Stephanie?”
“No,” burst Luis. “And whatever she once thought of us is now
gone. You killed it. Dead.” We laughed for several minutes.
Gerald kept pestering
the staff, every time he saw one, for ‘more Mesabi’. They brought a few refills.
It was, to put it
lightly, an experience I shall remember for a long time. But if I ever decide to go Axis, it won’t be
Japanese. One sushi bar is enough for
this potato farmer.
Back at the motel, I
ran into Brian Lamb, and we went to my room and chatted for the longest time,
both of us anxious to avoid working on our boats. He finally disappeared, and I decided the
throttle was better left for tomorrow.
Dropping back out for a last breath of night air before bed around
Wednesday
I would have loved to have slept in on Wednesday, but as chairman of the Ship Committee and having not registered a committee report before hand, I felt obligated to attend the BOD meeting. Oh, I also may have considered myself as being a resource for previous BOD decisions, if needed too. I managed to get there only twenty minutes late. The attending BOD members were there, and the missing BOD members were connected via cell phones. Three spectators were there, Pearce, Ron Horbul and myself. Soon my yawning was having a bad effect on Chris and Ron.
Ron finally was
allowed to make a business offer for doing trophies, and then he was free and
gone. Pearce, dragged along by Chris Au,
and I stuck it out to the end, only Pearce’s crinkling potato chip bag keeping
me awake towards the end.
Then it was back for
laundry. It took too long to do, but I
felt better when it was done.
Back at the motel, with
the clean clothes packed away, it was time to finally fix the throttle. It went fairly easily. Around three or so, I took the
As for the one on
ones, from the score sheets:
Crushing
Cruisers: The Flag team lost to the No
Flag team by a score of 835 to 4400. The Flag team had Chris Grossaint
(HMS Fiji), Jeff Lide (IJN Sakawa),
Matt Clarke (
Smurf versus
Clarke: The Smurf (Randy’s VDT) beat
Patrick Clarke’s Invincible by a score of 1620 to 1225. Patrick reported that he did manage to hit
the Smurf in the head with a bb. The
Smurf remained standing however.
Bruder
Battle: Jake’s VDT beat Josh’s VV by a
score of 1160 to 775.
Second
Lief
versus Fluegel:
Lief’s VDT battled to D.W. Fluegel’s
Bob H. versus Tim
Beckett: Bob’s Warspite
lost to Tim’s
John versus Jake Bruder: John’s
Italia was beat by Jake’s VDT by a score of 275 to 1455.
Cartoon Characters
versus Real People: The Cartoon Team
lost to the Real People team by a score of 2310 to 4430. The Cartoon team had the Pirate Smurf (Randy Stiponovich) and the Port Polar Bear head on HMS Warspite (Bob H.).
Bob H versus Josh Bruder: Bob’s Warspite beat Josh’s VV by a score of 2590 to 505.
Night
We knew that we’d not
have a pitch black battle, as there were park lights nearby that couldn’t be
turned off.
The lineup was 9
Allied captains versus 11 Axis. The
Allied captains were: Bob Hoernemann, Charley Stephens, Chris Grossaint, Chris
Kessler, Dave Au, Don Cole, Kevin Bray, Patrick Clarke, and myself. All were driving their major warship except
for Dave Au in the Iszuzu, and Patrick Clarke was running Matt’s
The battle started
with the Allied fleet clustered off the center of Left Bend, the Axis were over off the mouth of Cattail Cove. They slowly moved towards each other in the
darkness. Most ships kept in close to
shore due to the darkness. I had the
Bellerophon out on the outer edge, about 12 feet out. A light cruiser, Finster’s I think, started
backing in. “Hey Lars, watch out for
that cruiser.” Well, I didn’t get to
fire a shot. The ship started drifting,
her power systems gone. Finster fired a
few shots and someone else drove him off.
Then the
Then the sound of a
CO2 line bursting scared the folks just up the shoreline. Soon Charley determined that it was his ship,
and the main line had blown. “Must’ve
gotten too close to it with the soldering iron,” he said as he called five. As his ship exited the immediate area, it
opened a gap that the Axis snuck through.
The battle drifted towards my parking spot. With about thirty seconds left on my timer,
Lief and Jeff were standing next to me, and finally noticed the
“Are you on five?”
asked Lief.
“Yes,” I told
him. I didn’t tell him how much time was
left however.
Gleefully Lide and
Lief sailed in close. To my
satisfaction, their ships got in each other’s way. They took a bit of time to decide who was
going where. Finally they started firing
sidemounts. Then my timer sounded. “Bellerophon off five,” I said gratefully,
and touched the ship. I couldn’t see if
she was close to sinking, but she wouldn’t have lasted long under the
Kirishima’s and VDT’s guns.
I pulled my ship from
the water, as it didn’t require going in.
I took it up to the pavilion, and then started to get mad about once
again losing power. Therefore I didn’t
see the rest of the battle. Bob later
told me that the Kirishima got pinned in next to shore due to coming after the
Allies beat the Axis fleet by a score of 3.905 to 2,790.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Chris
Grossaint 785
Kevin Bray 670
Don Cole 570
Charley Stephens 240 4-0-4
Patrick Clarke 220
Jeff Lide 1225 45-9-11
D.W. Fluegel 915
Tim Beckett 670
Dallas Fluegel (sunk) 570 12-0-1
Lief Goodson 280
Jeff Lide came over
afterwards to see if he’d stung me. “You
could’ve breathed on it and it would’ve gone,” I told him. It may have been a bit of a fib. The Bellerophon had taken 7 aboves and one
below.
After I got back to
the motel, I sat and thought a moment.
The only thing left that could be causing an all out power outage was
the main switch. I mount the main switch
outside the water tight box. I’d had
problems in the past with this system, until I found some really nice heavy
duty switches that seemed to have a double contact slide. I’d been using these on the ships since I
found them. I knew this one had been on
the
Well, it must’ve been
that switch, as it proved to be a devil.
It took forever to get it out.
Mounted simply with a tee nut and a hex-headed 4-40 bolt, the bolts
didn’t show any visible signs of rust but they refused to budge. It was like I’d secured them with
super-glue. I ended up having to destroy
and partially dismantle the switch in order to get enough room to get the
Dremel in there to grind them away.
Putting in a spare and installing it was a breeze compared to the
removal. However, I did have to take off
the lid of the water tight box one more time (the sixth!) in order to make sure
the main power connections going into the box were snugged down. I’d had yet to find a drop of water in the
thing, however.
As that thought
crossed my mind with a bit of pride, I decided that perhaps the rudder box
should be checked too. There I found a
box with about a quarter inch of water in the bottom. Fortunately the Airtronics servos are
shorter, and I always mount them a quarter inch off the bottom, just in
case. I emptied the water, put on a
fresh seal, decided to take a mental note for later to see if there was a leak
that needed finding, and went out for a breath of air before going to bed. It was
Thursday:
I was pretty shot in the morning. I made it out to the lake in time for the battle however.
The fleets had minor
changes. The fickle Frog captain, Chris
Au in the
Fleet
Allied A vs. Axis A, first sortie:
The impression I got
from this sortie was that for the Allies, it was another day at the
ballpark. For the Axis A fleet, it was
time to get serious and clinch the division title. After three consecutive Nats losses, who can
blame them.
The camera starts,
presumably just after the call for battle, by following the
I saw her coming, and
in trying to get up speed in the same relative direction, I found the
“What is this, pick on
Larry day?” asks Bob H., running camera.
“You can pick on Tim,”
said an Axis.
“Hi, Ted,” said
Fluegel, introducing his bored
I saw an opportunity
and drove the
The Nagato accelerated
forward to chase, just as the
“Well we can pick on
Lars,” says Lief, standing nearby. The
A flurry of shots is
heard just off camera, and Fluegel cheerily pipes in, “That was recreational!”
The QE comes in to tie
up the Bismarck and Steve Crane’s Nagato, while Pearce’s ship escapes to
continue the chase of the
Out further, Doug
Hunt’s WeeVee says ‘hi’ to Lief’s VDT with a few sidemounts, the German ship
turning away to say ‘hi’ in return with some sterns. The camera swings, catching the
The camera swings to
follow Pearce’s Nagato pummeling the Valiant, when someone says, “There she
goes.” The camera swings to catch the
Bellerophon rolled to port, her stern long gone and just the tip of her bow
left <Melton_H_005>, but it quickly
disappeared. “Bonzai!” yelled the Axis. The ship closest was the Fuso, and recall I
was trying to swing around to go after her when the ship did her usual roll and
sink operation. The hit tally was too
low for my liking, and I think I had water coming in over the deck again.
I later told my Charley,
“At least I had emptied one side mount before I went down.”
“Atta boy,” said the
Admiral.
As the
I didn’t go in the
water right away, doing my usual ‘wait for a good moment’. A flurry of shots over off Left Bend is
heard, the VV, QE, and
A thump is heard,
followed quickly by groans, and someone follows with, “Ok, I’ll bring her to
shore.” I don’t know who got rammed, but
it looked like Pearce’s Nagato may have been coming in.
The Invincible and the
Valiant are now playing with the Fuso off the mouth of the cove. Deep in the cove the
Off to the side, the
It now seems like the
Allied NCs, the Strasbourg, and the QE have the bulk of the Axis fleet
contained, but maybe the Axis were circling to protect the Fuso <Melton_H_007>.
The Allied have their own hunted, the
When the battle
resumes, the Valiant is running off the Right Bend, her pump stream flaring
higher than a skunk’s tail, and still the
The Valiant escaped
for a few moments, but when she stopped to let her pumps try to remove some of
the water <Melton_H_009>, the
Meanwhile, further up
shore, I asked Ted if he needed a break.
“You bet,” he said. I started
wading out for my ship. ‘Man in the
water’ was called. I found her easily,
and brought her back. When I stepped
back on shore, Ted said, “That was a break?”
I must admit that I didn’t dawdle, but then I wasn’t running out of the
water either. It was more like a waddle.
When the battle
resumed, Pearce’s Nagato and the Bismarck were back on her. The
While the Axis pursuit
of the Valiant continues, the NCs seem to be concentrating on Steve Crane’s
Nagato, and the two pursuits cross paths in the narrow waters of the cove. Tim Beckett thinks the Valiant has taken
enough damage. “Let her sink,” he calls,
as the Valiant floats free. But the Brit
shows life, and so the pursuit resumes.
The Valiant sailed up the Right Bend and then back, the Baden keeping
her company and escorting her back to the
The Valiant now
circles back into the mouth of the cove, but the Bismarck and others force her
to reverse away. Finally Ted yells,
“Valiant off five!” The British ship
tries to now head directly to shore.
Gerald Robert’s Nagato, which wasn’t even chasing the Valiant, now does
a back and forth dance when it finds itself in the Valiant’s path. The Valiant finally goes the long way round
and comes in <Melton_H_010>. A few feet from shore the stern went
under. “Bonzai, decks awash!” calls John
Bruder.
“No, he was blocked,”
says Don Cole, as Ted grabs the ship a few feet out from shore. I didn’t think the action by Gerald was intentional, rather it was a comical guess and guess wrong
type of action. I later heard the Axis
(I think it was Lief the CD) telling Ted that he should put the ship back in
for the second sortie.
When the battle
resumes, the ships are milling about like one of them has lost a contact lens
and the others are helping to look for it.
Finally shots are fired again.
The QE comes after Steve Crane’s Nagato, but Gerald’s moves to
block. ‘Man in the water,’ is heard
quickly again. Jim Coler’s NC sank
somewhere off camera.
After resuming, Steve
Crane finally calls five. The
There’s not much left
for the Axis to shoot at. The Invincible
becomes the next target. The QE is still
fighting, as is Grossaint’s NC. “Good
shot Fuso,” calls Patrick to one of his tormenters. The
The camera cuts, and the NC is now under the Axis guns. The
“Fuso working good for
you?” asks Bob the cameraman. Tim
replies that he had to ‘change radio, change receiver, and change frequency’
but he finally seemed to be free of frequency glitches.
“Changed everything
but the captain,” quipped Ted.
The
Finally, the NC and
“Hey Chris, which side
are you on?” asks Tim Beckett, in a tone that says he has no idea, as the Chris
Au’s Frog ship drifts near the Bismarck’s guns.
There must’ve been ram
damage, is the two Allied boats came to shore.
Allied B vs. Axis B, first sortie:
This battle started
out a bit lackadaisical. I don’t hear
the call for battle on the video, but instead there is several seconds of ships
maneuvering around to get next to teammates.
The Allies were centered off of Left Bend, and the Axis were setting up off the mouth of Cattail Cove. It was kind of like a dodge ball game where
the kids with the balls were still tying their shoes. Finally the sides got into the formation they
wanted, and then they backed down on each other for a stern to stern dance.
This dance has been
the start of many a battle, and it is a bugger to
describe. Like a dodgeball game, there’s the bigger, stronger kids in the front line, teasing
and taunting the other side, hoping that someone on the other side will come
too far, and open himself up for a quick strike. The second row is the smaller, less confident
boys, hanging behind the big boys for cover, but looking to pounce on an
opponent who stumbles. Last and least,
hugging the back row are the timid ones.
The camera doesn’t pick up any of these latter, if there are any. We didn’t drive hundreds of miles to hug the
back row.
Lide and Finster are
the most daring of the Axis, taunting the Stephen’s NCs and the
Left to hold the line
is the Tirpitz and the twin VDTs, facing the
The NCs have gotten
into the rear Axis area, and are rustling the hens there. Most of the action drifts in that direction,
while Finster and Lide are left to play with a few lagging Allied
ships. Out in deep water the Lion is
making a big end run towards the Axis side.
Out of the pack of
ships comes the Warspite, chasing the Kongo <Melton_H_023>. The Kongo shakes the British ship but then
takes a ram to the stern from the
The camera cuts, the
action off the mouth of Cattail Cove is still very hot, but the camera’s eye is
caught by the Kongo. The battlecruiser
is running along the
Back in the main
action, the
“Luis, come back,”
hollers teammate Josh Bruder to the far out battlecruiser.
“Yeah, come back,”
says Ron Horbul of the pursuing Lion.
The two long battlecruisers come racing back, the Lion’s bow just a few
inches behind the Kongo’s stern. Luis
takes him across the Left Bend to Josh’s VV, where the Lion decides he’d like
to use his guns for a bit and pauses to greet the VV. The VV gets the better of the exchange,
getting both sidemounts and then a couple of triple sterns into the departing
Lion. Lion now has a bit of a list, but
isn’t pumping.
The two Melton
brothers seem to be battling with just each other. Mike may’ve been trying to get back at Tom
for the one-on-one of the day before.
The camera swings now,
between spectators, to peek into Cattail Cove.
Mike Tanzillo’s Nagato is pumping hard <Melton_H_040>,
and the pump-side gunwale is touching the water. The Pirate Smurf is pulled up on shore,
probably waiting out a ram repair. The Moltke and Jake’s VDT sail nearby, protecting and watching
their wounded teammate <Melton_H_042>. The Nagato doesn’t last long, she soon rolls
as her stern goes under, the funnel tops nearly reaching the water before she
lands on the bottom and starts to return to an even keel <Melton_H_043>.
Mike grabs the ship before it can settle completely.
Out off the Right Bend
is the Warspite harassing the Tirpitz <Melton_H_044>. The Tirpitz runs up the shoreline and then
back, picking up the Brooklyn and the
Off camera the sound of a CO2 leak is heard. From the mumbles it sounds like it was a Nagato having the problem. If so, then it may have been Tom Melton’s Nagato, as the Arizona seems to spend a good deal of time chasing him and the Jap ship withdraws from battle earlier than normal, running up the Right Bend to wait out her five.
Back to Melton’s
pictures again (he had five times the normal number of shots for this battle,
so he’s filling many of the gaps in the video here, as does Gerald.), the
Tirpitz is set upon by a skewed
The video camera
stares at open water for a few seconds, then the Kongo, followed by the VV and
the Lion <Roberts_044>, races into the
frame. The VV cuts the Lion off with a
well-placed stern, and the Kongo races off.
The Lion swings around, back to his pursuit of the Kongo, but he did get
a stern shot in on Jake’s VDT as he went <Roberts_045>. The Kongo backed down into the cove <Roberts_046> where he was soon surrounded by
Axis friends, and the Lion sailed away to go play with the VV again.
The VV once again
seemed to get the better of the Lion.
“Arrgh!” said Ron in a polar bear growl as the Lion got several triple
sterns. “I know better than to go behind
that thing.” The
The
The pursuit of the
Tirpitz was on again, running along the Right Bend with the Warspite in
pursuit. The Tirpitz’s pump is just
spritzing and not spraying like she looks like she needs to do. She runs up the Right Bend, and low in the
water, she swings around like a wounded rhino preparing to ram the
Warspite. The Warspite steers clear, as
does the
“Animal Rick,” says a
spectator. I hadn’t heard this nickname
before. Maybe he said, ‘you’re an
animal’.
The camera is screened
by Jake Bruder’s blaze orange shirt. When the camera pans further, the other ships
are there, but the Tirpitz has disappeared.
For the longest time I thought that the big ship had sunk here, and even
wrote it up like that, but the Tirpitz must’ve come off her five and reversed
course to shore, as she appears in the second sortie of this battle. A ‘man in the water’ call comes within a few
seconds, which may have been Robert pulling her out.
When battle resumes, a
flurry of shots is heard. “Don! Don!
Don!” yell folks, Grossaint being the loudest.
“Sorry about that,”
says Don. The camera doesn’t catch any
of the incident, so I can’t tell you more.
“Come on Ron, you
wanted to play, so let’s play,” yells an Axis, probably Josh Bruder (but if so
then his voice is changing). The Kongo
and the VV are near the Lion but it is the Lion running now.
“All of a sudden I’m
by myself, this ain’t no fun,” laughs Ron.
“Ah, this is a bit
more even,” says one Axis.
“Are you kidding this is great,” yells another.
The Lion runs towards
the far left, but then stops when his pursuers go wide. The Lion now backs in, a slight list to the
non-pump side. Her pump is kicking out a
steady stream but not terribly strong.
When the VV gets in range again, the Lion returns to forward and spins
away out to deep water.
The camera swings to
an exchange between the
The camera swings away
to check on the Lion. Still chased by
the Kongo and the VV, she’s out on the far left and headed towards infinity.
The camera comes back
to find the Pirate Smurf’s haymaker opening up on the
“Yep,” says Tony,
trying to get them to line up to take out the sword-waving figure. But a flurry of shots announced the sudden
arrival of the Axis Admiral.
As the shots from the
Kirishima fly, Tim Beckett calls out, “Twelve inches, Jeff.” Either he was referring to where the
Kirishima’s sterns were set to hit the water, or he was mumbling something in
code. Whatever it was, the
In the meantime, the
Pirate Smurf is racing back to Jake’s VDT, which is being chased by the
“He’s probably out of
sterns,” says Tim Beckett to Lide.
“You think?” asked
Lide.
“He had the perfect
range and didn’t fire,” said Tim. “He
could have sterns and just didn’t fire.”
“I’m
believing you, Tim,” says the Axis Admiral. “One hundred percent, man!” The Kirishima comes
racing in to follow the Massachusett’s snake dance. “It’s all on you. If I get opened up, it’s your fault,” says
Jeff.
“Okay,” replies Tim.
It’s always easy when it’s someone else’s ship.
“Here I go,” said
Jeff, as the
The camera now swings
quickly to catch the sinking Lion. Her
stern is gone up to the funnels, but she’s still running forward out by a deep
water marker. Her bow then swings high
and slides under. Even in the four and
half foot deep water one could tell when the long ship’s stern hit bottom with
her bow still above the waves. “BONZAI!”
comes the usual call.
After the recovery of
the Lion, which was done by Josh Bruder <Melton_H_081>,
most ships are sitting, waiting out their five.
The
However, the Melton’s
camera catches a further chase. The
Kirishima is after the
As I said earlier,
there were many more photos of this battle than for most, and I’ve tried to
place the best of those where they occur in the narrative above. However, due to the long chases of the Kongo,
Lion, and the Tirpitz, which the video followed but the still cameras did not,
there are many great action photos that I just can’t put together into a
reasonable narrative. It is a pity, as
there are some very good photos like a double tag team <Melton_H_070>,
a continuation of the action <Melton_H_071>,
the NCs working on the Kirishima <Roberts_018,
Roberts_019>, Charley’s NC working on Tanzillo’s Nagato <Roberts_025, Roberts_026>, then Tony’s
Washington and the Alabama on Tanzillo’s NC <Roberts_031,
Roberts_034, Roberts_035>. A
good shot of the action in the mouth of Cattail Cove seems centered on the two
VDTs <Roberts_063>.
Allied A vs. Axis A, second sortie:
Most sorties up to
this point have ranged from fifteen to twenty minutes of video footage. This battle has a mere five and a half
minutes of video footage, and it is the tail end of the sortie when half the
battlers have departed. Of course, some
of those departures were voluntary, but others were forced.
The big interest at
the beginning of this sortie was the Valiant.
After having been invited back into the sortie after the minor
controversy of her exit in the first, the Axis were there to dot the I’s and
cross the T’s on the Valiant’s sink certificate. A year previously the Valiant had limped out
of a first sortie, severely damaged, and had been expected to sink easily in
the second, but had not only survived the sortie but had emptied all her guns
as well. So the Axis weren’t about to
take her for granted again.
The Valiant was in no
shape to run in this sortie. She didn’t
need to, the wolves were already at the door. Ted picked a nice shade tree to stand under,
down in Cattail Cove, and kept the Valiant there. Three Axis ships were floating nearby when
battle was called, <Melton_H_100> the
Fuso, the
The dark gray stern of
the
The next worthy target
is the big ship. Brian Lamb’s
The battle had thus
far been going very well for the Axis.
Things changed. I don’t know how
they got there, but soon both Fluegels were seen in the cattails deep in the
cove. The
D.W. looked down
again. There was no water coming from
the pump outlet. “That’s not good,” he
said calmly to himself. He returned to
fetch the cruiser a minute or so later when it sank into the weeds.
The battle resumed,
but the action was soon shattered by a call, “There she goes!” Most heads were looking out off of Left Bend,
but back in Cattail Cove another ship was seen going down. The long tall superstructure was still riding
high as the ship’s bow swung into the air.
The Fuso was going down <Melton_H_117>.
“NOOOOOO!” came an anguished scream from the bank of Right Bend. “NOOOOO!” Tim Krakowski’s face broke into a grim
smile. “Eight seconds! It had eight seconds left!” he cried in
exasperated explanation. This brought a
relieved chuckle from the other captains.
Most of us know exactly how he feels.
Well, the series of
excellent pictures from Mike Melton quit with the Fuso sink, but the video
picks up with Josh Bruder’s recovery of the Fuso. When battle resumes, the
The
The
As the NC turns and
cuts across into deep water, there is a whole lot of yelling going on. Tim Beckett yells at Gerald to stop and pump,
as his ship follows the NC into deep water but it looks very tippy. The Nagato stops and a healthy pump spray is quickly seen.
Kevin Bray is yelling for Mike Melton go look ‘over there for the
I-boat.’
At some point between
when the I-boat moved for quieter waters, and when the
The
I-boat was found alive and kicking, however. With Patrick at one end of the pond, his ship
had run the gamut unseen and was found by Mike Melton and crew trying to sail
past the roped strung across the tip of Handicapped Cove. Patrick had to come, half sprinting, half
jogging, all the way over to regain control.
If his ship had jumped the rope, she would’ve been ruled sunk as per the
Site Host’s ‘ground rules’. Patrick was
much relieved with the ship now in hand, and laughing with the rest of the crew
who were kidding him all the way back to the pits, and for several minutes
afterwards.
Axis A beat the Allied A fleet by a score of 21,505 to 11,3250.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Brian
Lamb (sunk) 4055 23-13-46
Ted Brogden (sunk) 3945 87-7-40
Jim Coler (sunk) 2610 36-10-20
Tom Brown 0 0-0-0
Chris Grossaint 2250 35-4-36
Dave Au 2115 39-13-28
Tim Krakowski (sunk) 3970 97-16-34
Dallas Fluegel (sunk) 1765 59-3-14
Gerald Roberts 1345 57-9-11
Tim Beckett 1115 44-7-10
Steve Crane 1070 57-2-9
Allied B vs. Axis B, second sortie:
The sortie began
slowly, some ships sitting, others slowly moving, while short volleys of shots
were heard. A few ships moved in the
direction of the Tirpitz. Voices in the
distance are heard on the tape. “Who’s on
five?”
The Warspite and the
As the camera pulls
back, a long volley of shots is heard, but the camera doesn’t catch who was
firing. “Somebody come
get this
In the background, the
Tirpitz can be seen circling with the Kongo alongside, while the Warspite is
sitting wondering where his help went.
In the meantime, the
The camera swings now
to catch the final moments of the Tirpitz.
The ship is on its side, red hull showing, as it heads towards shore <Melton_H_124>. The Tirpitz moves like a slowly submerging
muskrat racing for its den <Roberts_074,
Roberts_075, Roberts_076>, the den in this case being the shore
target stand on Right Bend. But like a
gawky teenager, instead of diving for the safety of the submerged door, it
instead leaves enough of its bow above water to bang its forehead on the
doorsill. With a shudder she stopped,
stayed there for a moment making it look like if she pushed hard enough that
she might stay afloat, but then she surrendered to the incoming water <Roberts_077> and sank on the doorstep of the
mythical muskrat home.
The camera cuts for
the Tirpitz’s recovery, and starts up again with the
“And he put them all
in your bow,” adds Grossaint.
The camera cuts,
returning on the
“Use the terrain to
your advantage,” responds Finster. The
Nagato backs out a bit, and the
“You’re not under yet,
touch it,” says Finster. The
“Ram!” is heard again
immediately. While watching the
“See what happens when
you call a ram sink,” says
While the camera is
off, the
Next shot has the
Allied NCs, the Warspite, and the
Further out, the
The camera swings back
to catch the Warspite and a NC working on the Kirishima. The other NC is playing with a Nagato further
out. “Hey Bruder, kill Kevin,” hollers
Finster, referring to the hard pumping
The battle continues,
the NC swinging by to hit Finster’s Nagato, which has strayed a bit from her
weedy den, but she returns quickly under the volley. “I’m not running, I’m sitting right here,”
hollers Finster in response to a request for him to run. “Come shoot me.”
The Allies are losing
interest in the turtle however, and swing back out to find more traditional
targets. The
The VV circles away,
but now the Warspite comes in to cut her off <Roberts_099>. The Warspite cuts in front, and the VV’s bow
comes up against the Warspite almost dead amidships. The Warspite is pushing hard, but the VV is
pushing even harder <Roberts_100>, and
the bigger ship pushes him sideways for several feet while the Warspite’s
haymaker is emptied. The Italia comes by
and scraps past the VV. The NC and the
Washington seem to pause for a moment, watching the shoving match.
“I’m holding him,
somebody come and shoot him,” says Bob.
The NC and the Washington spring back into action. The NC gets alongside <Roberts_101>, just as the Italia sails into break up the
shoving match from the middle. Four
ships in tight formation are now sailing together <Roberts_102,
Roberts_103, Roberts_104>. The
On the audio, I’m
talking to Ron about our fellow Minnesotan.
Bob’s Warspite is pumping hard but doing all right. “It always looks like he’s going,” says Ron
when I wonder if he is sinking <Melton_H_137>. We don’t even see that the Italia is low in
the water <Roberts_109>. Jake’s VDT has come to help his father, and
the VV draws off the Warspite momentarily.
The Nagato cuts off the Warspite’s return
<Roberts_111, Roberts_112>, but catches volleys from the
The water is lapping
at the lower gunwale of the Italia’s stern now <Roberts_114>. No pump stream is coming, as she’s suffered a
meltdown in the pump’s electrical system, and it’s just a matter of time. “Go V, go V, go V,” I hear myself chanting on
the tape. The ship slowly circles <Roberts_115>, with her family nearby, the VV
on the outer side, the smaller VDT circling inboard. The
“Prop wash him,” comes the next suggestion, but the Italia is out
of range. It isn’t needed however. The Italia rolls to starboard <Roberts_116>, but then returns to a near even
keel as the stern plunges to the bottom.
The bow rises high in the air, where it is
grabbed by the quick moving John <Roberts_117>. “AWWW!” cry Ron and I, seeing a good sink
shot spoiled. “That was a beautiful
sink,” says Ron as John carries the ship back to shore with a smile on his
face.
Next we have video
footage where Ron thought the camera was off.
Folks are calling that Bob was hurt, and Josh Bruder seems to trying to
find someone to help him finish Bob off.
The footage on the
water resumes with the
The camera next shows
the Warspite, sitting in the water. Her
once healthy pump spray is now a drizzle <Melton_H_140>. Some spectators thought it was a bb denting
or jamming the pump outlet, but that wasn’t it.
Just before leaving for Nats, Bob had gotten these nice metal strips
with the Warspite’s name in them, and had mounted them on the inboard portions
of the step deck. Josh Bruder’s VV had
caught the Warspite with her high mounted triple sterns. Instead of bouncing harmlessly off the hard
superstructure, they’d instead hit the metal plate. The plate had bent, and was now blocking the
pump outlet stream, about an inch or two from the outlet. <Roberts_126,
Roberts_127, Roberts_128>
Like a boxer with his
eyes swelling shut, Bob called for help.
“Somebody get it with their gun,” he
called. No one tried it however. The Warspite sat there, waiting for her five
to finish, while much chuckling was heard on shore. “Well, those things are getting ripped off,”
said a disgusted Bob.
The action finally
comes back, the VV worked her way back in despite the best efforts of a NC and
the
“HEY-HEY-HEY!” yells
Bob.
“That was bad,” says
Jim Coler.
The VV is now
alongside the Warspite, and she fires a few sidemount shots. “It ain’t hurting you,” says Charley. “He’s only hitting decks.” The
The spinning bear’s
head on top of the Warspite’s bridge is noticeably slowing by this time. The VV fires three more salvos, which might
have hit. The VV backs in then and her stern
taps the Warspite <Melton_H_143>. “Don’t ram him,” Josh is told.
Now the
The VV returns to
nudge the Warspite with its bow, and a spectator protests. “It’s a high rim,” says another. Off camera, an Allied is scolded for prop
washing the Warspite.
“Keep trying Josh,
have some fun,” says Lou.
“How much time, Bob,”
asks Jim Coler.
“About twenty seconds
now,” says Bob. The VV now has her stern
back against the Warspite’s port side. She
alternates between firing stern shots and prop washing. “Too high!” and “There you go!” are
heard. The Allies think the issue is
over, but the NC seems to consider giving the VV another push away. The VV settles on just prop washing now, and
the NC coasts in to touch the VV. The
By this time Bob is
audibly counting down the seconds. He’s
also covering all bases by counting visibly with his fingers. “Five … four … three … two
… one.” Then all in one breath he
yells, “Warspite off five man in the water!” as he
lunges in to touch his ship. Much
laughter is heard when he proudly carries the Warspite off.
That’s it for the
action footage of the battle. Bob later
told me he gave the bent piece of metal that had been blocking his pump outlet
to Josh, ‘as a trophy.’ I thought it was
an excellent gesture.
Now, according to the
score sheet, the Allies won this battle by a mere 280 points. However, Lief Goodson is included in the scores
for Axis B, but he most definitely fought on the Axis A fleet, and if his 495
points are subtracted from the Allied score, that’s enough to tip the victory
to the Axis. I guess the CD got hold of
the wrong colored score sheet for this sortie.
Officially, Allied B beat the Axis B fleet
by a score of 15,165 to 14,885.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Charley Stephens 2990 49-18-41
Mike
Melton 2615 99-7-29
Kevin Bray (sunk) 2150 40-2-14
Ron Horbul (sunk) 1660 46-2-7
Bob Hoernemann 1560 41-16-15
Rob Stalnaker (sunk) 3875 100-11-32
John Bruder (sunk) 2475 75-5-12
Mike Tanzillo (sunk) 1940 69-0-5
Josh Bruder 1350 60-6-12
Bryan Finster 1345 77-7-8
After the call for the
Ted Brogden and two
others went for the pizzas. When they
came back they had a huge stack of pizzas.
When asked, Ted said,
“I walked in and ordered 35 pepperoni’s and one sausage. The guy taking orders didn’t even bat an eye,
he just went to work.”
When the pizzas were
handed out, most captains were now taken aback.
Everyone who’d kicked in five dollars got a pizza to themselves. They were 14 inch round pizzas. Most folks balked, and suddenly there were
cries, “Anybody want some pizza?” I did hear someone accept, and I’m sure they
were supplied with more than they could handle.
While this call for
sharing was going on, Swampy was balking too, but he was doing it for a
different reason. He’d gotten a
pepperoni, like the rest. Turns out he
was the odd man out who had ordered sausage, and it took a little time to find
the special order. He too was soon
offering to share, but by this time any takers were already swamped.
I ended up taking the
half I didn’t eat back to the motel and threw it in the fridge. I was somewhat leery about eating anymore of
it, after it had been sitting out for four or more hours. But late that night just before bed a case of
the munchies hit, and I tried one piece.
When I survived the night without problems, the rest went for breakfast
Friday morning.
Another item occurred,
but I don’t remember if it was during the
“What was that,” he
was asked. I don’t remember Fluegel’s exact response, just that it was
‘sodium-something’.
“What’s supposed to
happen,” folks asked.
“It’s different every
time,” said Fluegel.
The water was fairly
still for a few moments, then a small cluster of foamy bubbles appeared. Finster had a ship
out on the water. “Should I sail over
it,” he asked.
“I wouldn’t,” said Fluegel. A few more
seconds passed.
Then a loud crack, big
enough to be worthy of a fireworks show, resounded through the air. A small fountain of water shot straight up
into the air, and at it’s peak when it dropped back,
it left a cloud of bluish smoke that hung in the air, then slowly dispersed in
the light breeze.
On shore, Fluegel beamed triumphantly while receiving many slaps on
the back.
Campaign
Allied A vs. Axis B:
There is a few minutes of video footage of this battle, but it is
short and in the middle. Thus this is
from the scoresheets, the still photos, and my foggy
recall.
The Allies were still
smarting from not getting the points they’d expected for Tuesday’s
campaigns. Charley was determined to run
a smarter battle, and decided to start with running the smaller ships that
didn’t have the high sink points if they went down. Ted was picked to make an early run with his
black freighter, and Brian Lamb was ready to run an LST. Jim Coler took the task of running the
Charley Special, to once again walk the far shore to have a convoy on the water
at all times, should the Axis convoy ship go down away from shore.
Myself, I was ready to
run convoys like before, but there were none left for the moment. “What do you want me to do?” I asked
Charley. When he didn’t have a
suggestion, I told him the Bellerophon was ready to go this time. With the Axis looking to warship sink points
to make up for their lack of convoys, and the Bellerophon spending the week
acting like there was a screen door below the waterline, the choice didn’t
appeal to him. He didn’t say as much,
but as he pondered the right thing to say, I could read what he didn’t want to
say audibly.
“Bring it down here
and have it ready to throw it in if we get short of ships on the water. You’ll be the reserve,” he said. That was fine with me. I’d told him earlier in the week that his job
was a tough one, having to keep everyone happy, and I’d try to do whatever he
told me to do. As the other three convoy
captains readied their ships, I brought the
Fortunately, there
appeared to be no damage from this drop, even though she was fully loaded with
guns, CO2, and batteries, whereas the previous drop had only been the empty
hull. Must have been
the
Out on the water, the
initial work of downing the targets was underway. The Axis launched their convoy ship rather
early, taking advantage of the Allied preparations for their own run. Their ship made it to the forward base
successfully.
For the Allies, Brian
Lamb ran the LST for quite a while. The
little ship made two complete runs there and back, and
a third back to the forward base.
Ted’s black freighter
had problems out of the gate. After
having run well on Tuesday, Ted now lost control of her. We could see the rudder moving, but there was
no action from the prop. She was
drifting helplessly, and took a few shots from the Bruder’s VVs before Ted
declared her sunk. The ship was slowly
sinking from the hits she’d taken, and she was drifting past the buoys out into
the deep water. Lief as CD made the call
that Ted could go get her, ‘for safety reasons’, as no one wanted to have to
dive for the ship if it sank in water over our heads. Ted waded out into the water as quick as he
could, and in water up to his shoulders, he grabbed the bow of the freighter
just as it was sinking stern first. This
brought a bunch of cheers from shore. <Vid_001, Vid_002, Vid_003>
The video does show
the second launch of the Yamashiro.
Steve Reynolds was driving again.
She was sailing from the forward port back to the home port. Her thirty second timer (to gain sea area)
was started. The Axis escorts, the VV
and a Nagato gathered nearby. The Allies
had Chris Grossaint’s NC waiting as well.
As the ship sailed out, the warships started moving, and someone yelled
out, “He’s still on his thirty!” The
Axis ships moved in to screen, but Tom Melton’s Nagato caught the convoy’s bow
and swung the ship around, as it was announced the thirty had elapsed. Both Axis escorts were between the convoy and
the shore. The NC floated in from the
deeper water and started firing sidemounts into the Yamashiro.
“I can’t do anything,”
a captain is heard to say. Jake Bruder’s
VDT joined the screen, sailing between the NC and the Axis convoy, as the
convoy backed away. Tanzillo’s Nagato
also came alongside but the convoy backed past that into open water. The
“Way to go, Chris!” yells the spectators.
Then on the port side single shots are seen, splashing right on the
convoy’s waterline.
“Way to go Patrick!” comes the yell for the Invincible’s captain. There’s a bit of jockeying then, as the
Allied attackers probe for openings. The
Axis defenders are riled up, but Tim Beckett says, “She’s not going to make
it. Don’t even try,
just keep her close to shore.”
As another Allies ship
comes near, Lou calls, “Don’t be afraid to call push!” The freighter, listing to starboard,
accelerates forward and manages to nudge the
The camera cuts, just
missing Matt Clarke’s
It wasn’t long after
this that John Bruder’s Italia got it’s prop snagged in one of the yellow float
buoys, near the Allied targets in Handicapped Cove <Vid_005>. The ship was caught, like a fox in a
trap. He was taking punishment from an
Allied battleship (I don’t remember who), but he called thirty second
moss. The CD was called to make a
ruling. The CD looked it over, and ruled
that no one could shoot him after the thirty seconds had expired (which it
had). Unless he could somehow get the
ship to shore, John was also not allowed to go out into the water and get the
ship, unless all convoys were off the water.
With the Charley Special out on the far side of the lake, it looked like
he might be there the rest of the battle.
The Allies were disappointed that they couldn’t continue firing on the
stationary target, but the ruling made sense and there was little grumbling. John is a military man, and as such, for a
time he sported the look of a man under heavy fire being told that the cavalry
coming to his rescue stopped at a nearby road-side rest area for a picnic and a
few lemonades.
For a time my
attention was attracted elsewhere, but about fifteen minutes later I passed
John, and I noticed that his Italia had made it about half way to shore. “Hey, you moved it,” I said in amazement.
“Yep, but I don’t
think she’s moving any further,” he said.
I’m not sure, but I think he did get to go out and get it before the end
of the battle, as the Charley Special was sunk.
I didn’t see that either, but heard a rumor that it happened when the
little ship tried to hide in
The camera next shows
the two
Next there’s a brief
shot of the Axis convoy ship making its last run. The Valiant is there as the main opposition,
but there were other ships lurking nearby.
“Jake, just sink the cruisers if they come in,” calls John Bruder to his
son.
With about twenty
minutes left in the battle, Charley decides it is time to start launching
convoy ships, and getting big points.
The CVL was sent off with Patrick Clarke in command. I didn’t see what happened to her, but she is
credited with a complete run there and back, and I later heard Bob talking to
Ron about ‘that ram damage being the best thing that could have happened to the
CVL.”
The camera cuts
quickly to the big Titanic. I was
sailing her, and the ship is nearly impossible to hide, what with her high
sides towering above the sleek warships, and her single motor and prop echoing
deep within her hull, so after launching I had just run her along the shore towards
the forward port. Jake’s VDT was firing
on her as the footage starts. Tom
Brown’s
The camera cuts so
that the cameraman can get in front. The
big ship knocks bows with the NC when the footage resumes, momentarily swamping
the battleship. Then the big ship turns
towards shore. She turns back parallel
to shore when the VV backs in to fire triple sterns. She backs up too far and an audible thump is
heard on camera when she rams the big ship.
<Vid_006> “Call
RAM!” calls Grossaint, standing right there.
Unfortunately, I was
not standing right there. I was in the
process of passing behind several captains and spectators to get in a better
position to bring her into port. “I
didn’t see it,” I said to Chris.
“RAM!” shouts Don
Cole. “V-Squared.”
This started a lot of
people talking very quickly.
“You’ll have to check
it,” says someone.
“If there’s a ram,
you’ll have to stop the timer to check,” said Tim Beckett.
“If there’s damage we
get a run both ways,” Grossaint says. “Forward and back.”
“I wouldn’t check
that,” says another person.
“That’s right, you’ll
have to stop the timer,” says a third.
Jake Bruder’s VDT was
now in position as the Titanic had reached the forward port, and I now put her
in reverse. “Stop shooting at it,”
called Don Cole.
“He hasn’t said, let
Lars call it,” called Lief. “I’m
checking the ram,” he said in a quieter voice.
“I didn’t see it,” I
said again.
In one of those
moments that seemed to take forever, I looked helplessly at Chris Grossaint,
looking for a confirmation that there was damage. After having sunk the big ship twice before,
(one was the year before, and it should’ve made port but for my screw-up), I
was extremely leery on stopping the timer to look for damage. Keeping the timer running was the most
important thing to me. With all the
voices and hub-bub I hadn’t heard Chris’s comment on the full run penalty
points for ram damage, and thus I didn’t weigh those points (1000 for the
forward run, 2000 for the return) as heavily as I should have. Instead I was more worried about the increased
chances for a sink, which was 1500 points for the Axis, and had cost us heavily
the day before. The ship was getting
lower now as the hull was filling.
Chris looked
helplessly back at me. No doubt he
thought there was damage. If I’d have
asked him, I’m sure he would have been for the ram check. If he’d said so again on his own, I might’ve
called it, but I’m not sure. Instead we
just kept looking at each other.
Out on the water the
action had not stopped. The Titanic was
now rubbing sides with the VDT. “You
could call push,” said a spectator.
“Push,” I said,
without really seeing who it was I’d called it on.
“Sail it next to
shore,” said Tim Beckett. I wondered if
any ram damage might be spotted by a pass close to shore, but the camera cuts
and I think I turned it the wrong way and looked at the wrong side. The hull was so speckled with patches that it
would have been difficult to pick out had I been on the right side. Plus, the way the big ship handles, one likes
to maintain plenty of sea room, so I wouldn’t have brought it in real close.
The camera resumes,
and the big ship is marking time by sailing in reverse and forward, just
outside of the forward port. Getting the
big ships pointed the right way when a breeze is blowing and the hull is
filling with water is not an easy job, and was the reason I’d had one sink the
year before.
As the timer counts
down, I cut the motor, trying not to jump the gun by having the ship sail into
port too soon, and then having to sail her around again. I’d done that the year previously as well. The VDT is there to fire some more shots into
the bow, but there was still a healthy portion left, and the other Axis gave up
as the counter neared the five minutes.
The camera footage
ends here, but as I recall, the Titanic needed help from an Allied battleship,
the NC again if I remember correctly, to get the bow pointed towards the port
opening when the time did elapse. She
had been pummeled heavily but she still had an inch or more of black hull
showing when she sailed into port.
Someone else grabbed the ship and hauled it up on shore. Charley called me off and I didn’t have time
to check her for ram damage, and didn’t remember to come back later and
look. The question was now moot anyhow.
As it is, seeing the
hit on video, and being able to re-run it several times, it is tough to guess
if there might have been damage. The ram
itself does not seem that hard, I’ve seen worse that have caused no
damage. But there is that audible thump
that comes through clearly on the video.
Now the Titanics are like big drums, and every time they take a hit, the
sound echoes within the hull. Perhaps
the thump was just the drum being struck.
On the other hand, it may have been a thump from the rudder or
props. If it hit a rib, then there
probably wasn’t damage, but if it hit midway between ribs then there may have
been a hull breach or crack.
When I had returned to
the Allied home port, Jim Coler had taken the Titanic’s sister ship, the
Olympic, on a run forward. Charley
wanted me to sail another merchant, to take advantage of the attention being
given to the larger ship. The only thing
available was Ted’s black freighter.
There was Rick King’s freighter, but we couldn’t find the frequency pin
for that one.
There was also the
little matter of why the Pundua had lost propulsion on her previous run. Charley popped the deck and together we
peeked inside. The cause was quickly
located. A fitting between motor and
prop shaft had come loose. Charley
located an Allen wrench to tighten it again.
It was soon fixed, and we quickly launched the ship.
After launching, I
spent nearly a minute or more waiting just near the home port, as most of the
Axis warships were still playing with the Olympic. There was an Axis lookout however, who had
announced my launch, and soon a light cruiser or another warship was seen
coming my way. I sailed the ship along
the shore and towards port. About
halfway across the Left Bend, the action picked up, probably due to the Olympic
completing her run forward.
I don’t remember exactly
when it was, but the black ship got near port, but then lost her propulsion
again. I think that an Allied may have
tried briefly to tugboat her in, but it was soon obvious that she wasn’t going
to make it. She floated towards the
mouth of Cattail Cove and disappeared under the waves before she got there.
By this time, there
was little time remaining. I think the
Allies did call an extension to get the LST in one last time.
Allied A beat the Axis B fleet by a score of 7,650 to 6,700.
As for the warships,
Chris Grossaint’s NC, Dave Au’s QE, and Doug Hunt’s
After Campaign was
over, I waded out to find Ted’s freighter.
I had trouble finding it, and so Josh Bruder called to see if I wanted
help. I told him to come on out, and he
ended up finding the ship.
Campaign
Allied B vs. Axis A:
This battle I had no video footage whatsoever. However, I did keep score for the Allies in this battle, and there are a few pictures from the Melton crew. I was given a radio, and parked myself on the Left Bend where I could see the Axis and Allied forward ports. Ted Brogden was our spy over at the Axis home base, also with a radio. Chris Grossaint was running the battle for the Allies, and was running things, like a good admiral, from the home base.
The battle started the way most campaigns do. Both sides headed for the other’s shore targets. The Axis always take a bit more pride in downing the magnetic targets, and go at them from the start. The Allies are usually a bit more ambivalent, saving the targets for when the Axis grow tired of guarding them, or in the middle stages of the battle while they’re marking time for the next convoy run.
Kevin Bray spent most of the
battle sailing the blue LST back and forth between ports. The small ship didn’t sink once all week, and
earned Kevin the “LifeLine Award” for the most completed convoy runs. Now, early in the battle with nothing else to
do, she can be seen in Melton’s photo <Melton_H_145>,
to have an escort befitting a king. The
two NCs and the
Unable to close on the LST, the VDT took out its frustrations on Charley’s NC <Melton_H_146>. This seemed to be the trigger for the Axis choice of which warship to sink. The Glorie, a light cruiser, and thus having unlimited reloads, looks like she’s targeting the NC as well <Melton_H_147>.
Back at the Allied shore target,
the Axis had brought in Steve Crane and Gerald Roberts’ Nagatos to protect the
Remembering the ruling
on John Bruder’s ship, Gerald was uncertain what to do next. He mumbled something about finding the CD, or
the assistant CD, in order to make a ruling.
“Oh, forget that,” said Ron.
“You’re next to shore, just reach over and clear your props.” So that’s what Gerald did.
The next Melton picture
has the Axis pursuing Charley’s NC up the shoreline on the Right Bend. The Bismarck and Pearce’s Nagato (Pearce
must’ve decided to get serious and brought out the big hammer) took on the
challenge, and Gerald’s Nagato is there too.
The
The LST had made three
runs by the time the Axis were forced by the rules to
run a convoy ship. The requirement was
one every twenty minutes. The elder
Fluegel ran the ship for its first run.
Grossaint, in charge of the Allied fleet, launched the Charley Special,
in the hope that the Axis ship would sink in deep water,
and thus be unrecoverable. The Allied
warships, however, seemed to give the Axis merchant ship scant attention,
finally noticing it as it hovered outside the forward port with a minute to
go. It survived easily.
The Charley Special
was being captained by Ron Horbul, who had parked his Lion. He now took a stroll over to the park bench
by the speed trials area, away from the other battlers. There was one problem, however. The little ship had been sunk with just one
hit in the previous battle. The Titanic
and Olympic had been hit with hundreds.
Yet it had been the big ships that had been patched, and the little one
neglected. In this case, the ship sank
below the gunwales, but the raised bow and stern sections kept her afloat. Technically she was a sink. Ron noticed this, but just kept her on the
water as is.
Finally Josh Bruder
noticed something odd about the little ship, and walked around Handicapped Cove
to join Ron. Ron, for his part, drove
the ship out and hid it behind one of the yellow depth marker floats. The sun was also getting low in the sky,
glinting off the water, making it tough for Josh to see. “That ship looks sunk,” he said.
“No, it isn’t,” said
Ron.
“Bring it in to
shore,” said Josh.
“Go out there and look,” said Ron playfully. He would have liked to have kept up the charade, but decided it wasn’t worth it. He brought the ship in for Josh to see. Josh triumphantly announced the sink. Then Ron gave the transmitter for the ship to Josh, who according to Ron, had a great time with the ship as he drove it back on the water to the Allied base. Once there, it was recovered, finally patched, and sent out again later with Ron back at the controls.
Somewhere in here, the
Axis ran their second convoy run. Tim
Krakowski was at the controls, and the ship was sunk. Once again fortune favored the Axis, and the
ship sank on the shoreline. Next year
the Allies will have to find a lake with less shoreline.
Another Melton photo
captures the first warship sink of the battle.
With a large group of Axis ships clustered off the Axis forward port,
the Tirpitz is seen going down in the mouth of Cattail Cove, with no other
ships around her <Melton_H_150>. I don’t recall who was responsible for the
sink, but if I had to guess I’d pick the
The Allies, in turn,
soon lost their Admiral. Charley’s NC
finally succumbed to the guns of the Axis elite <Melton_H_151>. Charley was unfazed by the sink. “I guess I’ll go run convoys then,” he
said. Soon he was at the controls of the
Titanic. By this time, Kevin Bray had
made three complete runs there and back with the blue LST, and was told to get
his
As usual, the big
Allied convoy ship attracted a lot of attention. The
With the NC sink and
the Titanic’s first run having exhausted the bulk of the Axis bbs, the Allies
now began to run as many convoys as they could.
But Ted’s freighter was not to be trusted, and Rick King’s was a known
sinker, and the CVL was not used either.
Ron Horbul was called on the radio and told to bring the Charley Special
in for a run. Then Ron passed the
transmitter to Mike Melton, who took the little ship home for a completed run.
In the meantime,
Charley had come back for the other big ship.
The Olympic came lumbering around the bend, but the Axis guns were
nearly empty, and the big ship had an easier go than her sister.
As for the Axis they
too made a convoy run, their last required one.
Tim Krakowski successfully brought the Yamashiro through to the forward
port this time.
Allied B beat the Axis A fleet by a score of 5,300 to 2250.
After the battle was
over, most folks cleared out quickly.
Once again I took my time.
Grossaint and Coler were once again resting as well. The two Titanics were still sitting down by
the lakeshore, and several folks offered to help carry them in. Grossaint refused all offers. “Well, Lars, I think you’ve seen the last run
of the Titanics,” he said to me when I offered a second time.
“Don’t blame you,” I
said. “They seem like they’re a lot of
work.” Just having to re-skin the ships
each year must have been a bear, and with all the parts of the superstructure
that came off, it was easy to lose one or two or five.
Tim Krakowski and Lou
Meszaros were also slow in packing up.
At one point I overheard them talking about what a good day they
had. Then, not wanting to appear
overconfident, or jinx themselves, they started cautioning each other.
“Careful, don’t forget
the ‘evil Lou’, said Tim.
“And don’t forget the
‘bad Tim’!” laughed Lou in return.
I told Lou that I
thought his triple sterns had the meanest sounding bark I’d heard during this
Nats. “All the credit goes to Charley,”
he said. “I told Charley not to fix my
ship, but to show me how to fix my ship, and the full term at ‘Charley U’ has
paid off.”
When I was finally
loaded up, I talked with Patrick Clarke.
“Where do you want to eat tonight,” asked Patrick.
There was a Ground
Round about a block down from the motel.
Our Ground Rounds up in
“Sounds good,” he
said.
Back at the motel,
after I’d unpacked, showered and changed, I went looking for Patrick. He was not at his room, but a big group of
other people told me they were headed for ‘the steak place’ up the road. I thought they meant the place we’d gone on
Sunday Night, and I told them I wasn’t interested.
Then a group of
captains announced that they were going to ‘the dance place’ next door. I again declined, and they marched off. I was chatting with someone else that had stayed
behind. Soon the dance group had
returned. “We marched in, and while they
were getting tables, we saw the prices, and we marched out again,” said the
reporter. I’m thinking it was Lou or Tim
Krakowski.
So they all got into
vehicles and drove off again, I assumed back to ‘the steak place’. I continued chatting. About fifteen minutes later I finally excused
myself and drove down to the Ground Round.
I was seated in a quiet booth in the restaurant side, and ordered ribs
and shrimp. It wasn’t on the menu, but I
asked nice and they agreed to do it, after quoting a price. While I was eating, Gerald Roberts walked by
to use the men’s room. He didn’t see me. Then Lief did the
same. He also appeared not to notice
me. I figured that they’d gone off by
themselves too, not with the main group.
I finished up my meal, and now full and relaxed, I could’ve dozed off
had it not been for some loud laughter bleeding over from the bar area. So I got up to leave. As I got to the door, I could see into the bar
area. Next to the wall, and taking up
the entire wall, was a long table with most of the Nats captains sitting
there.
Stunned, I walked
in. “Hi, Lars, we were just talking
about you,” said Bob. I was too stunned
to come up with anything stupid to say, as being witty on a full stomach was
out of the question. Folks tried to fill
me in on some of the big laughs that I had missed.
Jeff Lide was sitting near the middle of the group, and was up
to his old antics. When the waitress
came, he had pointed at Lou, sitting down on the end near the door. “Could you do me a favor,” he drawled
slowly. “Could you go down to that
fellow on the end, and tell him he has wonderful triple sterns.”
The waitress had no
idea what Jeff was talking about, but she did it. Lou thanked her, and then cautioned the
lady. “Watch out for Jeff, he’s a bit
wild tonight because it’s his birthday.”
Jeff continued his
antics. When the waitress returned, he
pointed at Fluegel down on the other end.
“See that fellow down there? Well
he just got out of prison last week, and I’d like to buy him a strawberry
daiquiri,” said Jeff. Fluegel and
strawberry daiquiris had been forever linked together during an outing back at
the 99 Nats in
I stayed and chatted
until the waitresses began to pass out the bills. I was there long enough, however to see a
group of four employees roll out with a small cake with a lit sparkler on
top. As they placed it in front of Jeff,
they started to sing “Happy Birthday!”
Jeff’s eyes were dancing, but he let the singers go all the way through
the song.
Back at the motel, one
might have thought that I’d have gotten to bed before
I don’t remember even
looking for Patrick on this evening, but went straight to bed.
Friday:
I don’t remember Friday morning. I made it out to the lake somehow.
Once there, I found that Charley
had changed the fleet lineup. With the
battle lost, it was time to experiment.
He’d placed all the fast 24 second ships on the same fleet, and all the
slow 26 and 28 second ships on the other.
Bob Hoernemann’s Warspite is mistakenly listed with the fast ships, but
the photos and video show she fought with the slows. As for the cruisers, there were two Allied
ships that fought on Friday. Matt
Clarke’s
As for the Bellerophon, I tried one more thing. Stuffing the barbettes with foam had seemed to help, but I still had been disappointed with her sink of the day before, so after I fastened down her deck, I ran a bead of silicone over the crack in the decks. While somewhat messy, I figured it would come off fairly easily, and it might actually help some when the old tub got tipsy.
Fleet
Allied Slow Fleet vs. Axis B, first sortie:
“Listen to those pump motors,” said Ted, as the fleets were lined up, the
Allies on the left and the Axis on the right.
When the battle
started, both sides seemed to surge, the Axis forward, and the Allies
sideways. The Bellerophon was near the
front, next to Finster’s Nagato. I ran
the ship up her side, firing a few sidemounts <Roberts_134>. When the waddling
Further out, the
Valiant,
The camera catches the
Warspite double sterning the Kirishima, then the camera cuts to the Kirishima
taking on the QE. Jeff the admiral is
wearing a Japanese head band, playing the part to the hilt. To go with this getup, he also has a pair of
reflective safety glasses. The dark
mirrored lenses shimmer in a multitude of colors, making Jeff look like he has
the multi-faceted eyes of a giant fly <Roberts_190>. Meanwhile the slow ships
dance, the QE now playing with Finster’s Nagato, while the Warspite works on
the Kirishima <Roberts_140>. Further out the
Further out, the VVs
are seen sniping at the
It catches the Italia
passing the Invincible, hitting her with sidemounts. After she passes, the VV
backs in, her triple sterns discouraging the British ship from pursuing the
Italia. Then the I-boat remembers
that this is Friday, and ignoring the VV it sails off in pursuit of the Italia,
which must have been delighted to be pursued by a slower boat.
The camera pans back
to the right, then cuts.
Gerald has some
pictures of battling near shore that seem to fit here. The Warspite, the
There are also two
great photos on an exchange between the QE and Finster’s Nagato <Roberts_156, Roberts_157>.
Back on the video,
there is a short shot of Dave Au checking his QE for a ram. Someone can be heard on the audio, “I’ll
bring it in, but there’s no way I touched you.”
“Don’t make him,” says
someone else. The camera cuts again.
There is a wide shot
of the battle, then someone, sounding vaguely like Ted, hollers, “Nagato Five
out of control!”. In response, the
camera swings down for a great shot of the mud.
After a few seconds,
the Kirishima can be seen sailing out after a ram check. She sails back to the main furball and
engages the
The
camera cuts, resuming on an Axis line of two VDTs and two Nagatos, resting in
the water. The
Moltke can be seen racing by on the deep end.
The camera swings left and catches a hard pumping QE, also resting, and
waiting for help. The Jap boats don’t
wait however, and back in <Roberts_165>. The guns fire with reckless abandon <Roberts_166>.
The camera cuts,
coming back on a large cluster just outside the leftmost forward base. The Bellerophon (my personal favorite) is
facing down (can it be called ‘facing’ when we’re stern to stern?) the two VDTs
<Roberts_160>, while the Kirishima chases
the Warspite past the
The camera cuts,
returning with the Warspite back out on the water, the Pirate Smurf
nearby. I can hear the Bellerophon’s
captain (my personal favorite) calling out that the
No one else seemed to
care about the dinky dreadnought however.
Instead the QE and the Kirishima were hotly engaged in a sidemount
battle. When the QE turned to use her
sterns, the Warspite joined the battle on the Kirishima’s unengaged side. Dave Au is heard calling a ram on the
VDT. Josh Bruder’s VDT can be glimpsed
in the vicinity of the offended QE. “Boy
I hate when that happens,” says a spectator.
As the ships go this
way and that, I can see the
The attention seemed
to be on the Kirishima. “Jeff’s not shy
about mixing it up,” said a spectator.
Another readily agreed with him.
As the Kirishima started to work over the Warspite in a sidemount
exchange, Tim Krakowski starts talking with Ron, who’s on the camera.
“So was Jeff doing
most of the damage,” he asked, referring to an earlier exchange between the
Kirishima and the QE.
“Kind of,” said Ron.
“Jeff was doing a lot
of damage,” said Tim, as the Kirishima seemed to be winning the exchange
against the Warspite.
“I think it’s about
fair right now,” laughed Ron, as the Warspite gave it up and sailed off with
her pump running hard.
“They were trading
sidemounts and all <Roberts_172>, but,”
Tim paused. “Jeff came out ahead.” Then Tim decided to rephrase it. “I don’t think he necessarily came out ahead,
but the QE certainly didn’t like it.” <Roberts_173>
Concurrently, in
another conversation, a battler can be heard to cry in reference to his
opponent’s guns, “I
thought you were out!”
“So did I,” said his opponent.
As the Warspite dances
through a crowd of passing ships, the Kirishima, also pumping hard, tries to
match course.
“Ted, you dropped your
timer,” said Lou. Then he went and
fetched it for the battling captain.
There are still a lot of circling ships
<Roberts_180>, among them Tom Melton’s Nagato, the
The QE can be seen
returning to the water. “You can go back
in now,” says Tim Beckett, probably to Jake Bruder.
The camera cuts, and
returns to its favorite, the Kirishima.
Along with Tom Melton’s Nagato, they’re teasing the
Further out, Mike
Tanzillo’s Nagato squeezes through an opening, pushing Jake’s VDT away from the
“Ooo!
Dave’s sinking!” calls a spectator.
I can’t quite hear
what the response is, but it sounds like, “Am not.” The sink is not seen, but the QE is listed as
having sunk in the first sortie.
The camera returns to
catch the Moltke and Jake’s VDT trying to swing past the
“Just shoot everyone,”
says a spectator.
“That’s two von der
Tanns, you have them right where you want them,” says another. Then when the spectator is corrected that it
is a Moltke and a VDT, he says again, “You still have them where you want
them.”
The
camera cuts, coming to the Warspite, sitting in the water and pumping hard. On the audio the chase of the
Then Tom’s Nagato
returns with reinforcements, Mike’s Nagato joins the fight along with Josh
Bruder’s VV. The
On the video, the
Moltke and the VDT are now playing with the Valiant. Ted’s haymaker still has some ammo, and he
leaves some with the VDT.
Panning back to the
Warspite, one Nagato is now sitting, but Melton’s ship and the VV are still
very active. Off to the side, the
Invincible and the Kongo are sailing in the same direction but out of shooting
range.
The cameraman moves
down the shore, to get a better shot of the sinking Warspite. Josh Bruder’s VV sidemounts the ship <Roberts_212> as it backs away from Melton’s to
come in for some too. Tanzillo’s ship
sits waiting her turn next to Melton’s <Roberts_213>. Mike doesn’t get the chance, as the
Warspite’s stern slips under <Roberts_214>. “Bonzai,” say the Axis quietly as if in
respect <Roberts_215>, then they repeat
it again a second time, this time more buoyantly. ‘BONZAI!”
With the sink of the
Warspite the video footage ends.
That doesn’t end the
action however. Gerald’s camera catches the
VV and Tom’s Nagato chasing the Invincible <Roberts_217,
Roberts_218>. The Valiant is
still alive, being chased by the Moltke.
Soon the pursuits collide <Roberts_219>. The Kongo arrives too, as the
Allied Fast Fleet vs. Axis A, first
sortie:
With the Allied Fast
boats out on the lake, this looked the battle could be the exact opposite of
the Slow Fleet’s long furball. All the
fast ships seemed to be sailing in long runs and it looked at first like long
chases would be the bulk of the battling.
As the battle started, the
“Who are we chasing?”
asked a captain that I cannot identify.
“Jim and Chris,” was
the reply. But Jim Coler was on the
bench, so one of the Stephens brothers’ NCs must’ve been mistakenly
pursued. Or else it may have been an
Allied captain, and the response was “Tim and Chris.” Now Tim Beckett was certainly pursued, but
Pearce was left to do his own damage, as you shall see.
The camera cuts,
coming back on Crane’s Nagato, the Fuso, and the VV sitting in the mouth of
Cattail Cove. The
After the
One of the Axis
mentions that the one
More
Axis start to gather.
“Fluegel, it’s the camouflaged one,” says Finster.
“Gotcha,” says
Fluegel. The
“Ram,” calls Tim
reluctantly. “I have to call that,” he
explained as he brought the ship to shore.
He steps into the water to check his ship, and “Man in the water” is
called.
Meanwhile, the
“The camouflaged one!”
repeats the spectators.
Meanwhile, the Fuso
has reached shore, but her B turret is floating out in the pond. The turret was rigged as a sink float,
designed to pop off and mark the location of the ship should she go down. That line was now strung out over the water. Tim reached in to grab it and reel it back in
and get it replaced. But the battlers
were waiting while he worked in the water.
“Cut that stuff off,” said Bob from behind the camera. Tim can be seen trying to break the line, but
it is a good one. Meanwhile, the Fuso’s
guns are firing slowly. Ted Brogden is
scolded and told to hold Tim’s radio up higher.
Ted does, holding it up in front of the camera, causing Bob to warn him not
to drop it in the water. In the
meantime, Tim has obtained a knife, and finally saws through the float
line. He replaces the turret top, but
then for some reason removes the top of the tower pagoda superstructure, and
tosses that ashore. Then the Fuso turns
and heads back out to battle. The camera
cuts.
The battle is at long
range now, and the ships are hard to identify.
Lou murmurs that Tim Beckett seems to be getting a bit too much
attention, and someone calls for Tim to come back in. “I’m coming!” he calls. “I’ll lead them past Lou’s stern,” he
says. Bold as brass these Axis are these
days. “We’re gonna have some fun, all of
us together,” he said. “Bring them in,
make them hurt, if they want me, they’re gonna have to fight for me.”
Meanwhile the camera
has swung over to catch the
In closer, three NCs
are now seen, but the
The camera goes up
over the heads of the spectators and turns to follow the
The Axis ships are
doing a good job of keeping the NCs a fair distance from the
Then the Fuso gets
tangled up with a NC, and after taking damage, heads for shore <Bruder_451>.
As she pulls up next to the
Not long after this, a
high-pitched wail can be heard from the water.
“Somebody’s crying out there,” says Ted.
Pearce later claimed that it was his pump motor that was noisily but
slowly failing, but you couldn’t tell it from the way the Nagato continued to
fight <Roberts_230>. The main action continues on near the mouth
of the cove, but out in deep water, the Wisconsin and the Strasbourg can be
seen tangling with Lou’s VV, which has somehow been separated from the Axis
collective <Bruder_455>.
In next to the
shoreline, Gerald’s Nagato catches a NC and hits it with sidemounts <Melton_F_006>, then followed with stern guns
sliding along the NC’s bow <Melton_F_007>. The
The camera cuts, and
rejoins with Gerald’s and Crane’s Nagatos playing with a NC <Melton_F_009, Melton_F_011, Bruder_479>. The
“Yep, and those were
belows,” said Ted.
For a moment the NC
has just one Nagato there, then the
The battle slows
again, as the Allied ships probe for openings, and the Axis are well-placed to
cut them off. Scattered firing is the
order for the moment. Finally some
strong salvos are heard from the cove, but the camera doesn’t move to cover
them. Out in deep water the
Someone else laughed,
“He’s quite giddy with speed!”
While the
The furball continues,
but it seems that the NCs are now the pursued, but they keep battling, standing
off the Nagatos <Bruder_497>, Lief’s VDT <Bruder_504>,
and the
“He’s not firing
intentionally,” calls Tim Beckett to Grossaint, in reference to the Fuso. “He glitches all the
time.”
As the ships keep
maneuvering, “Lion on five!” is heard.
Perhaps another of the
Charlie’s NC then gets
next to Steve Crane’s Nagato. The Nagato
has a good shot with her sterns, but seems to be out of ammo there, and so the
NC gets alongside and gets some good sidemounts into the Jap ship as the two
ships circle. The Bismarck and Pearce come to Crane’s rescue. The
“I thought I had a gun
there,” Pearce is heard to say, and then tries to catch the NC to see if the
gun still works.
The camera cuts, and it is still furball type action. The Fuso is still out there in the middle,
while the NCs break for deep water, possibly trying to cut off Pearce <Bruder_514>.
The Bismarck and Gerald’s Nagato race out to help,
and the action returns to shallower water with out hardly a shot fired. Inshore, the VDT is tangling with another NC,
but when the VDT breaks back towards Cattail Cove, the NC continues on. Running up the shoreline, the Fuso can be
seen trying to sneak off to find a quiet spot.
As the NC charges, the Fuso thinks better of leaving her friends, and
pulls to a stop, presumably to turn around.
The furball has moved
slightly to the left now, in front of the home ports. The endless battle between the NCs and the
Nagatos continues.
Not long afterwards,
the Fuso runs by in the same direction, pursued by Grossaint’s NC. “I’ve had worse and more holes in me,” boasts
Tim as he passes. The NC gets one or two
shots into the Fuso when she pauses, but the Fuso soon reaches safety in the
interior of the Axis defensive circle <Bruder_521>.
Once again the NCs
circle out to deep water, and the Bismarck and a Nagato come out to challenge
them <Melton_F_015, Bruder_518>. The guns are low however, and the NCs pull
the Axis ships out further in search of a good shot. In the meantime the
The Bismarck has also
returned to the roost, as a NC has come in <Melton_F_016>,
but as the Bismarck is driving the NC back out to deep water, the Strasbourg
can be seen headed back into the cove.
The
“Lion
off five!” Ron
survived (yeah for us
Gerald has some
sidemounts left, and tries to get alongside Charley’s boat to hand deliver them
<Bruder_522>, but three triple stern
shots from the NC effectively slams the door in the Nagato’s face <Bruder_523>.
Almost immediately
after this exchange, Tim Beckett calls out, “Does Charley have stern
guns?” The
“No, Charley does not
have stern guns,” says a spectator.
“Thank you,” said
Tim. “That’s important.”
“He has B turret
left,” report the spectators.
The
“Charley, come back,”
says an Allied. The camera stops here.
Somewhere after this,
Pearce’s Nagato goes down, as it’s on the scoresheet as sinking in the
first. Chris was also is dinged with a
700 point penalty, and I recall Chris Kessler later saying his ship wasn’t
heavily damaged in his ‘ram sink’. “It
just got glitchy, that’s all,” he reported.
Allied Slow Fleet vs. Axis B, second sortie:
I had readied the
At the start of this sortie, a few of my compatriots noticed that the Bellerophon was coming back. “It’s the hat!” said Ted. I’d left my favorite black hat back at the motel, and was wearing instead a white ball cap.
A minute or so later, someone asked Ted what his plan was for the battle. “I don’t know, but I guess I have to protect Lars,” he said.
As the battle starts,
once again the Allied fleet is formed off the center of Left Bend. Someone says to the captain of the
“Shred him, Matt,”
adds Bob.
“It’s a Japanese
ship,” adds another.
“I hate that Kongo,” laughed
Ted.
The camera starts on
the cluster of Allied ships. From the
deep water in to the shoreline, it was the Invincible, the
It is the Bellerophon,
matched up with the Pirate Smurf. Next
to the Smurf is the Bruder VDT and then Finster’s Nagato, but they are screened
from firing on the
“LARS GET BACK OVER
HERE,” yells Ted.
“Oh,
WHY!” I ask, like a misguided teenager.
“Don’t take them on by
YOURSELF,” cries Ted, laughing.
The
“I’m the BAIT,” I
protest, as I maneuver the
But Ted is talking to
someone else. “I just don’t want to go
down there and help him out,” he laughs.
The Valiant is not far away however, matching sterns with Bruder’s VDT. Tom Melton’s Nagato has backed in on the
In the background,
Fluegel shouts, “Okay
everybody, Lief has appointed me to be CD!”
“We’re in trouble
now,” laughs Kevin Bray.
As the main circle of Allied ships remain, the
The sound of gunfire
brings the camera back to the Allied center.
The
The Kirishima’s stern
bumps the
That leaves the
The
“Way to ride him!”
calls Fluegel as the
When the two Allied
ships finally pull away to rest their tired trigger fingers, it was like the
clouds parting, leaving the Kirishima floating and pumping very hard in the
middle. Kevin called a ram for his
“Look at that hole,”
calls Fluegel. “He’s pumping non-stop.”
As the Kirishima moved
slowly around, driven mainly by her pump stream, the
When the battle
resumes, the
“I’m gonna check
that,” says Mike. Meanwhile the
The camera swings to
find the Invincible and the
The camera swings to
find the Valiant listing hard under a full pump stream. “Resume,” the call comes, as the Valiant
struggles to stay afloat. But she loses
the battle and rolls to starboard and sinks.
<Bruder_524> As
the camera pulls back, the
I don’t remember who
was responsible for the Valiant’s sink, but I do remember that he was ganged up
on by about three or four Axis. In fact,
I remember bringing the Bellerophon over to try to ‘protect Ted’.
As the Valiant settled
on the bottom, someone says, “Oh the Horror!”
This brings a chuckle and others pick up the call.
Fluegel takes it even
further. “Oh the humanity!” he wails in mock horror, before calling for a cease
fire when Ted went in after his ship.
Ted paused to point at the turbulence coming from the still running
pump. “Good pump,” he said.
“Bail! Bail!” hollered a spectator.
“That deck’s not
awash,” said Bob.
As the Valiant
resurfaces, the pump stream resumes, shooting out under
one of Ted’s arms. “Watch your radios!” comes the call.
“Man, talk about
getting water bombed,” says another.
When the battle
resumes, the camera zooms in on a sidemount battle between the Invincible and
the Pirate Smurf. Fluegel starts talking
like a sports reporter. “Two ships, in harms way, fighting it out.” Then as the VDT gets off a good salvo that
the I-boat can’t answer, Fluegel calls out, “Oh, BABY!”
The Invincible backs
away, giving Mike Tanzillo’s Nagato an opening for some sidemounts. The
The camera cuts briefly, and the I-boat is still there, backing up, as three
Jap ships and the
The camera pans to
follow the
The camera
cuts, returning to the same scene, but it’s the Invincible tackling the
Kirishima, Finster’s Nagato, and the Kongo.
Meanwhile the Tirpitz is nudging the shoreline with her bow, and is held
in place there by her own pump stream.
The camera then pans
back to the Bellerophon’s struggle. The
The Invincible is
running hard, this time from a Nagato charging in reverse. Then the camera swings back as the Pirate
Smurf calls five.
Back at the
Bellerophon, Jake Bruder has been rejoined by his brother Josh, and his VV <Bruder_580>.
For the
As the VV tried to
line up on the
The camera pans away
again, catching the Kongo and the Houston racing together, then past them to
the Kirishima and Finster’s Nagato pummeling the
While Doug was
recovering his ship, the Bruder boys and Tom Melton were waiting impatiently
for the battle to resume. They were
clustered near the Bellerophon, which was pumping harder than ever and getting
lower in the water <Bruder_591>. Before Doug had sunk I’d stopped using her
motors at all, so as not to take on any water.
As she circled slowly near shore, her pump stream swung up and into the
watching attackers and spectators. I
happened to be standing where I could just duck a few inches and the pump
stream went sweeping over my head. Where
I had been surrounded by friends, I was suddenly by myself, until the stream
cleared and the spectators returned. As
we waited for Doug, the ship did it again, a perfect repeat as I again ducked
under the stream while the others fled with their radios.
Doug, who had a case
of ‘water on the knee’ hit him during the week, now had a gun go off and hit
his hand. Fluegel yelled for someone to help
him ‘pin his guns when he gets to shore’.
Then he stumbled and dropped his ship, and someone moved in to help him.
Meanwhile, the
As Fluegel can be
heard yelling, “You can pull it up on shore and pin it,” the
“Yeah, Larry made it,”
cried Bob. He later congratulated me on
‘knowing the exact moment to call five’.
I, for my part, had been muttering to myself, “Take your time, Doug.”
When the battle
resumed, Tom Melton, having lost a choice morsel like the
The
Before the
The camera cuts,
coming back to Mike Tanzillo’s hard pumping Nagato <Bruder_601>.
“They’re gonna lose a Nagato!” calls out Charley.
“Nagato on five,”
calls Mike her captain. Patrick’s
Invincible comes in close to make sure the job is finished, but the Kirishima
blocks her way. Meanwhile Tanzillo is
emptying the Nagato’s guns before the sink.
“Are there any
Allies?” asks an Axis.
“There’s
two,” says another. Patrick’s Invincible
gets past the Kirishima and approaches
<Bruder_603>, and the Nagato moves to get away. “Just sit there,” comes
the instant advice.
The Moltke tries to
scare the I-boat, but Patrick doesn’t bite.
Instead he lines up his stern gun and start firing at the Nagato’s low
side <Bruder_606>. “Get away, he’s going, give him room,” holler
the Allies.
“Get this I-boat sunk, where’s some guns!” hollers Fluegel, and so
Josh’s VDT comes racing in.
“He’s coming back up,”
hollers a spectator.
“There he goes,”
hollers another.
“Deck’s awash!” calls
Tony Stephens. The Nagato’s stern dips
under <Bruder_608>, but Mike hits the
throttle here <Bruder_615> and drives the
ships hurriedly <Bruder_621> but in a
sinking fashion towards shore, but unfortunately for the video, there are
spectators in the way blocking its final demise.
“YANKEE DOODLE!” yell
the Allies, led by Charlie.
However, looking at
John Bruder’s pictures, Mike’s Nagato does another of his patented, ‘roll hard
to one side <Bruder_624>, then straighten
up as you sink <Bruder_628>, and come to
rest on the bottom <Bruder_631> with your
superstructure still above water’ sinks <Bruder_634>.
While Mike is
recovering his ship <Bruder_638>, there
is much bantering among the Axis, much of it indecipherable. “They still have their fighting spirit, let
it be said,” comes the clear tones of Fluegel’s voice.
When the battle
resumes, an Axis says, “Let’s go get Rick.”
Something is heard in the background, followed by the Axis fellow saying
“Oh!” in a disappointed way. “Run like
the wind,” says Chris Grossaint to another Allied captain.
Patrick calls that
he’s going on five. The Axis declare him to be a safe target. “Let’s get the I-boat,” someone calls. Jake’s VDT <Bruder_639>
and the Kongo pick up the chase, but Tom
Melton’s Nagato calls five, and then just sits and empties ammo. “Oh, that’s cheesy,” moans an Allied.
“I got a big ram
hole,” says Tom in explanation. The
Allied spectators start looking for an Allied ship with ammo left. Rick King is asked.
“Let me get my boat,”
says Bob Hoernemann. “I’ll come down and
sink ya.”
The
“I ain’t got any
ammo,” says Matt. Jake’s VDT comes in to
keep the
“I’m going to come and
shoot you with my air,” says Jake, referring to his hissing guns. The VDT nudges the
“Oh, it hurts,” laughs
Matt in mock pain, as the footage ends.
I remember seeing that
bit, standing next to Ron. “Pretty
cocky,” said Ron. “But he’s a great
cruiser captain.”
As for the last two
Allied ships, there is one picture of the Patrick Clarke’s Invincible being
chased by the Moltke and the Kongo, with Matt Clarke’s
Officially, Axis B fleet beat the Allied
slow fleet by a score of 17,095 to 11,985.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Dave Au (sunk) 2915 54-9-25
Mike Melton (sunk) 2675 35-7-25
Patrick Clarke 2450 70-16-27
Kevin Bray (sunk) 2445 97-7-6
Doug Hunt (sunk) 2405
Jeff Lide 2415 144-7-16
Mike Tanzillo (sunk) 1705
Rob Stalnaker 1570 82-4-13
Randy Stiponovich 1555 33-13-18
Steve Reynolds 1105 33-7-12
In addition, Bob
Hoernemann’s Warspite was scored with the Allied fast ships, so the Axis
actually won by 1655 additional points.
Allied Fast Fleet vs. Axis A,
second sortie:
As the action starts
on the last major sortie of Nats, Ted Brogden yells, “GET THE FUSO!”
Tim’s response is
predictable. “What did we ever do to
you?” Ted just laughs.
Once again the fleets
are gathered off Left Bend, shading towards Cattail Cove. The Axis ships seem to be trying to hold the
mouth of the cove. The Axis pull in close to the
Some shots are fired,
and Lief says, “Fired the wrong gun.”
“That’s okay, you can
keep doing that,” says Dave Au.
“It’s been a long time
since I’ve done that,” says Lief quietly.
The ships jockey for
position, very few shots are fired. “This is going to be a DUEL,” croaks a
captain. Just then Grossaint’s NC rams
the
Finally Tim Beckett’s
“Fuso on five,” says
her captain.
“FUSO ON FIVE!” yells
Ted in mock disbelief.
“Rumor has it that’s
Fuso on five,” quips Fluegel, as Lou’s VV races out of the cove to help his
friend, but pulling up as he meets the Fuso racing back for the cove <Bruder_644> on the way.
The camera cuts,
catching the Bismarck out away from the Axis pack, but only one NC is there to
attack, <Bruder_647> and the Bismarck has
big claws. The VV races in front of the
The video cuts to
action down in the Cattail Cove. The
Finally a NC gets a
shot. He fires several stern salvos into
the
“Don’t shoot me,”
protests a voice behind the camera.
“I just asked who you
were,” protests Steve Crane bemusedly.
While the
“Man in the water!” Chris wades in, grabs his ship, turns and
lets the ship drain as he is walking out.
It’s a workman-like bang-bang-bang recovery and the battle resumes before
the cameraman has time to look for the pause button. He hits it anyhow, and so we miss some battle
action.
The action down off
the cattails continues. The two
remaining NCs and the
Fluegel is forgetting
that he is in the cruiser. The
Out in deep water, the
long form of the
Now in the center of
Left Bend, the battle is opening up.
Charley’s NC fires a stern shot at the VDT’s bow, just as someone calls,
“You got a minute left Ron!” The Lion
pulls up to a stationary Fuso, and fires one sidemount
to the wrong side, and then one on the correct side. “That’s all,” he says to Tim. Kessler’s
Then the camera swings
to catch the
Meanwhile the
The
The Nagato swings over to help the VDT with Charley’s NC. The
The
Charley calls to
Gerald. “You might want to pull it out,
you’re gonna get shot if you leave it there.”
Gerald agrees, and pulls his ship out of the water. The Bismarck, VDT and Crane’s Nagato are now
facing down the two NCs <Bruder_666>. The VDT charges stern first after one of them
as the camera cuts.
Resuming, the VDT is
holding off the two NCs <Melton_F_023, Melton_F_024>
while the
The action on the lake
resumes with the same main characters.
After the VDT passes in front of the
The
Crane’s Nagato gets
lined up on the
The camera cuts now
for a different view. The
Meanwhile Tim yells,
“Hey Gerald, try to flip me around. Push
my stern so my stern sidemount is out.”
It’s actually Steve’s ship that Tim is trying to direct, and Steve does
what he is asked without correcting Tim.
There is no need, spectators do it for him. The Nagato straightens out the
Meanwhile, the
Gerald’s Nagato has
returned, and the VDT has come in to take over the tugboat duties <Bruder_670>.
Tim asks to have the
“Things are under
control,” says a spectator.
“That’s right,” says
Tim.
“It’s a shore
battery,” says the spectator.
The Allies now had
four ships in close, but they were hurting for bbs to fling. As the
Charley is in the
water before the ship settles to the bottom, and a stray shot comes from the
port sidemount just before the gun disappears under the waves.
“
“Damn that’s heavy,”
says Charley, lifting a hull full water.
The action doesn’t
seem to stop as Charley reaches shore quickly.
The
The
The camera moves again
as the
Resuming the action,
the Nagato and VDT are harassing the
“He didn’t hurt me,”
said Tim in reference to the ram. “I’m
not worried.” Bold as brass these Axis.
The
“Good job,
The
“Hey, Tim, a case of
beer, almost here, just load them on, go ahead and
depart after that,” rattles Jeff Lide. I
think his Japanese headband may have been on a little too tight.
The
“Lief, just keep him
off me, I’ve only got thirty seconds left,” says Tim. The
But the VDT pushes the
The countdown starts
at fifteen seconds. “Get back in here,”
yells Bob. “Fill him full of
holes.” Tim crouches down, like a middle
linebacker standing over the center, waiting for the center to hike the
ball. The
“Oooooh!” groan the
Allies.
“Who’s left, who’s
left!” shouts Lief as Tim pulls his ship from the
water. This brings plenty of laughter
from both fleets.
The
Resuming action in the
cove, the Lion is now the sitting target.
Fluegel’s
“All right, Baden on
five,” calls
The
Ron protests, and
tries to figure out how much time he has left, but his timer beeps before he
can figure it out. The Lion comes in to
shore. As he does so, the
A few moments later
the
“Eh!” grunts
Fluegel. Then after the
He made this call just
as the
“Prop wash him,” yells another spectator. But the
“You were doing so good!” yells a voice from up the shore.
“I know it!” says
Fluegel. “Come on little pumpy, baby!”
he added, laughing.
Meanwhile the
The
“Is that the best you
got,” taunts Fluegel, as a port marker temporarily separates the two
ships.
“Save the beer,” yells
a spectator. “Forget the ship!”
The
The
“ONLY FIVE MORE
MINUTES,” yells a spectator, getting a good laugh.
The
“I think that’s kinda
it, Fluegel,” says a spectator. The
waves are clearly washing over the stern now.
The Nagato’s pump comes on now and the spray squirts across the
“The torpedoes are
takin’ waves,” says someone, announcing the sink. Still the ship lingers. As the stern slowly dips, people start
humming the ‘Taps’ tune. As the ship’s stern
hits bottom <Bruder_683>, the Axis yell
“BONZAI!”
“A very graceful
sink,” says Lou Meszaros.
The last bit of video
footage was the
Officially, Axis A fleet beat the Allied
fast fleet by a score of 16,315 to 13,885.
Top Five High Point ships Total Pts Hits
Charley Stephens (sunk) 3770 82-12-33
Chris Grossaint (sunk) 3270 42-6-34
Kevin Hovis 2315 84-9-25
Tony Stephens 1715
Ron Horbul 1325 35-1-19
Tim Beckett 4715 169-19-51
Lou Meszaros 2490 109-8-24
Chris Pearce (sunk) 1755 48-7-2
Gerald Roberts 1555 93-3-11
Steve Crane 935 36-1-11
In addition, Bob
Hoernemann’s Warspite was scored with the Allied fast ships, so the Axis
victory was only by 765 points.
An interesting photo
of some unusual damage was taken after the battle. The
After the battle,
there is normally a few one-on-ones for those who haven’t had enough. This year everyone started packing up, except
for Tim Krakowski and Patrick Clarke.
The two had lined up a battle.
However, the local playgrounds had more kids than normal, and we’d had
more battle stoppages to get kids into a pair of safety glasses, or else back
behind the barriers, than we’d had all week.
Kevin Hovis, the Site Host, was obviously tired of doing this to the
youngsters, so the barriers came quickly down.
As a result, Tim and
Patrick fought their battle over near the Speed Trials area. “That was fun, the ship worked the best it
had all week,” said Tim, who’d been having frequency problems with the Fuso.
Most folks headed
off. I waited for the rush to clear,
strangely wishing that there were two or three more battles to fight. After having had problems all week, today the
ship had performed not great, but within expectations, and I was now hungry for
more. It was not to be, the battlers
were packing for home. So with the other
loiters like Lou, Jeff, Tim K., Dave Au, and probably a few more, I helped them
help Kevin recover all the gear and load up his trailer. It was quite a setup, and he had the trailer
well-packed at the end.
Back at the motel, I
brought the gear into the room, expecting to repack it for transit home
later. I flipped the
After unpacking and a
shower, I strolled around the motel, talking to other battlers. I remember a chat with Swampy and Ted and Bob
H. Bob asked Ted about the Valiant’s
sink. “She shouldn’t have gone down,” he
said. “I think she was just tired.”
This sparked an idea
for me. I’d heard a few others with
similar complaints for today. “Hey,
perhaps all those propellers, churning up the water all week, caused the water
molecules to become smaller and more active, and thus the water flowed into our
ships much quicker today than it did back on Monday.”
“A-hunh,” said
Ted. Being a Texan, he was probably used
to folks who’d been out in the sun too long.
“You sound like you need some grant money,” he said, egging me on.
“Of course,” I said,
“I’ll need money, lots of ships, a large, indoor pool where we can battle and
study the problem all year round, and a new computer to do reports on.”
“Go for it,” said Ted.
Later, I was sitting
over by Patrick Clarke’s room, which was next to Charley and Tony Stephen’s
room. The
“Guys, you have got to
hear this,” said Charley when he joined us.
He started telling a story about their drive back from the pond. They’d pulled up to a stoplight, and there
was a long wait there. In the car next
to them, this college-aged girl driving the car started making overtly sexual
gestures to them, including displaying certain anatomical parts. Tony joined the group and confirmed,
corrected, and added to his brother’s story.
There was mild disagreement over whether the girl’s foot actually made
it behind her head. There was no
disagreement about the best part, which was Rick King, sitting in the back of
the truck, rolling down his window and yelling, “I’m too old for you, you’d
kill me!”
Charley finished his
story by saying, “I don’t know how I’m going to tell my wife all this, but a
story like that is sure to get back to her.”
Before the banquet,
the people going Allied next year gathered around the pool. Admiral Charley gave his parting speech
(nicely done) and then called for nominations for next years Admiral. A few captains were suggested, but Bob
Hoernemann was the runaway winner in the voting. “You must all now address me as SIR,” said
Bob, with his usual smile.
After the Allied
meeting, we overheard John Bruder asking Jake if he wanted a new ship. “No, I like the VDT. Don’t want a new one,” he said. A few minutes later, one of the BOD members
came out and announced that they hadn’t yet done the “Early Bird Nats Entry”
drawing. The entries were in a hat, and
a name was selected. The winner was Jake
Bruder. The prize was a new ship
kit. Jake’s desire to stay with the VDT
was put to the ultimate test. I think he
stood firm, and instead of picking a ship kit from Battler’s Connection, he
selected several internal components that he could use in his VDT.
Soon it was time to
head to the banquet. Held at a nearby
restaurant, we had a large dining area all to ourselves. Among the highlights was Charley getting a
laugh out of Chris Au as Chris went up for an award. Charley made a ‘Ribbet!” sound for the Frog
captain.
A surprise for some
was the Axis Most Feared battler was given to Tom Melton, who had been Rookie
of the Year the year before. Tony
Stephens got the award for the Allied side.
Bob Hoernemann was the
only competition for the Best Dressed award.
“And I am NOT Captain Stubbing,” he said as he got his award. Later Bob was back for the “Mo’ Mangled”
award. ‘I must thank Tom Melton as the
Most Feared Axis for this award,” he said.
They gave me the
Sportsman Award. After having been a BOD
member for five years, old habits die hard, and I’d been noticing lots of others
who I thought deserved it, so I didn’t see it coming. Thanks guys.
After the awards were
over, it was time for door prizes. Ted
did his usual great job of calling the numbers, and it’s a job he claims to
loathe. There were a small number of door
prizes until Chris Pearce had dropped off about thirty sets of ship plans that
he no longer wanted. They were very
popular. When my ticket was called, as I
scanned the prizes, Lief called out to me, “GET THE
PUMP, LARS!” I have no idea why he would
suggest such a thing.
At the end of the
banquet, the Axis gathered to select their admiral for next year. A very large group gathered and selected Tim
Beckett to be their leader.
After the banquet, it
was back to the motel. Normally there is
a late night run to some restaurant for ice cream or some other sticky
desserts, but I don’t recall one being done this year. Instead we sat out over by Patrick’s and
Charley’s rooms again, talking about the week’s events, past battles, and the
battles to come. Ships were sold,
alliances altered, and rumors about who was doing what next year were heard.
Bob Hoernemann, the
new Allied admiral, was wasting no time.
He was talking to Jeff Lide. “Hey
Jeff, I could get you a Tiger hull and you could fight for the Allies in basically
the same ship as you had this year.”
Jeff seemed
interested. “Yeah, tell me more,” he
said.
Tim Beckett was
nearby, and started to stutter.
“J-J-J-eff, think about it.” Bob
hadn’t expected Lide to actually switch sides, but he did enjoy immensely Tim’s
uneasiness.
Saturday:
The next morning, half
of the captains had already gone when I got up.
I packed up the last of my gear and then joined Ron and Bob. We said goodbye to those captains we could find,
and while doing so, I noticed a garbage can overflowing with discarded muddy
shoes. Then it was time to set off. After having had sunny weather all week, it
started drizzling as we gassed up the vehicles on our way out of town. It proceeded to downpour on us all the way
through
At a gas station on the edge of the Twin Cities, Ron pulled over to gas up, and for him and Bob to say goodbye to me. We tried to pick a good time for our next battle, but couldn’t come up with a date. Bob was planning to go to other regionals, and was asking if either of us wanted to go. I wasn’t surprised. The self-proclaimed ‘Best Nats Ever” had left me wanting much, much more.
SILKSPAN STOCKHOLDERS REPORT:
Here are the
cumulative damage totals for the entire Allied and
Axis fleets for the week for the fleet, campaign battles and individual
battles. Please recall that only sink
points for campaign are scored.
Armstrong
Steel Silkspan Corporation:
Rank Allied
Captain/Ship Score Sink Pts Total
==== ======================= ====== ========= ======
01 Bob Hoernemann – Warspite 255-59-162 6300 18425
02 Mike Melton –
03 Charley Stephens – NC 395-65-163 2000 15725
04 Brian Lamb - Wisconsin 245-51-125 4800 14775
05 Kevin Bray –
06 Chris Grossaint – NC 178-27-126 4000 12755
08 Patrick Clarke – Invincible 261-54-137 1600 12410
09 Dave Au - Queen Elizabeth 260-51-106 2700 11875
12 Doug Hunt - West
13 Don Cole –
15 Ted Brogden – Valiant 218-20-94 2700 10080
18 Ron Horbul – Lion 231-24-75 2400 9060
23 Lars – Bellerophon 68-22-48 3200 6830
27 Tony Stephens – NC 134-27-86 6315
31 Jim Coler – NC 109-28-59 1000 5740
33 Kevin Hovis -
34 Rick King –
35 Peter Demetri –
40 Matthew Clarke –
42 Tom Brown –
43 Steve Milholland –
44 Chris Grossaint –
47 Rick King –
48 Bob Hoernemann –
52 Patrick Clarke –
53 Chris Au –
54 Dave Au – Izuzu
55 Chris Kessler –
58 Doug Hunt –
Krupp
Steel Silkspan & Manufacturing Corporation:
Rank Axis
Captain/Ship Score Sink Pts Total
=== ======================= ====== ========= ======
07 Tim
Beckett –
10 Rob Stalnaker – Tirpitz 319-31-74 4000 11665
11 Josh Bruder – VV 429-59-89 1000 11215
14 Randy Stiponovich – von der Tann 230-46-120 800 10250
16 Mike Tanzillo – Nagato 233-7-45 5000 9755
17 John Bruder – Italia 400-36-66 1000 9200
19 Jeff Lide – Kirishima 359-38-75 8290
20 Tim Krakowski – Fuso 261-28-74 900 7910
21 Chris
Pearce – Nagato 295-24-38 2000 7450
22 Bryan Finster – Nagato 258-27-56 1000 7055
25 Lou Meszaros – VV 259-30-67 6690
26 Jake Bruder – von der Tann 190-24-46 1600 6400
28 Steve
Reynolds – Moltke 153-21-51 1600 6205
29 Gerald
Roberts – Nagato 323-28-42 6030
30 Tom
Melton – Nagato 220-27-63 6025
32 Lief Goodson – von der Tann 182-25-47 800 5595
36 D.W.Fluegel –
37 Steve
Crane – Nagato 148-10-26 3030
38 Jeff Lide – Sakawa 82-7-16 1200 2995
39
41 D.W. Fluegel –
45 Luis
Gomez – Kongo 34-6-5 740
46 Bryan Finster – Agano
49 Chris
Pearce – Glorie 3-0-0 400 430
50 Josh Bruder – Lutzow
51 Tim Krakowski – Mogador 4-0-4 240
56
57 Randy Stiponovich – Armando Diaz 7-0-0 70
Arsenale de Flip-Flop Silkspan Corporation:
Rank French
Captain/Ship Score Sink Pts Total
=== ======================= ====== ========= ======
24 Chris Au –