Chatham Pictorial Histories - Fleet Battle & Blockade, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1797 and The Naval War of 1812

With my current work progressing on my collection of 1:700th ships for the Age of Sail, I have been rereading some classic works from my library, collected when I was last putting together a set of models for this era of naval warfare.

The Chatham Pictorial Histories are a really great read to reacquaint or indeed get to understand for the first time the particular naval campaigns and wars from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period, summarising as they do, the conflicts into key moments and actions that characterised the period covered by the title.

The books follow the time line covered and as the series title suggests are liberally festooned with images from the period used to illustrate the actions described.

I have the two titles above plus the volume covering navies of the American War of Independence entitled 'Navies of the American Revolution', which pretty well cover the key periods I am particularly interested in, and have recently ordered up a used copy of the second title in the French Revolutionary Wars series 'Nelson against Napoleon, From the Nile to Copenhagen 1798 - 1801'.

The artwork in the books, principally provided by the excellent resource that is the archive of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, is perfect for getting a contemporary view at the ships from these periods, which from a modelling perspective is really helpful for capturing the look of them when painting and rigging.

The action between the USS Constitution and HMS Java, with comment in the text describing the American habit of pulling off to make repairs before taking possession of a struck enemy ship.

As well as depicting the ships of the period the books are jam packed full of other treasures from Greenwich including maps, ship draught profiles, plans of coastal forts and harbour installations and contemporary views of them to compare with the maps and plans.

The books in this series are a collection of contributions from some well known names in Naval History with each book receiving an introduction from Robert Gardiner, another well known name in the field and for an overview of the period and a good way of identifying potential scenarios for the historical gamer are very good value.

What I particularly like about them is the way the books are split into very specific chapters that cover an aspect of the time period of the book, such as 'British Shipbuilding on the Lakes' in the 1812 title or 'Commerce Warfare in the West Indies' in the French Revolutionary War one. The chapters are detailed enough to get to the heart of the important points covered but with plenty of pointers to further exploration of the subject should the reader wish to delve deeper.

In addition the content is not just a rehash of the historical tomes that have become part of the foundational literature, namely William James and Alfred Thayer Mahan, both great reads and sources of information, but both guilty of a liberal smattering of jingoistic rhetoric in their attempts to portray their own national bias as balanced and factual and so that sort of nonsense is most notably absent in the volume covering the War of 1812 especially, where as a wargamer I am interested in understanding some facts about the period rather than the nationalistic fables.

So for example the detail about the American movement to develop powerful frigates to overcome any European type is well covered as well as the counter designs within their naval establishment, with this countered by the fact that a lot of the US designs were often overloaded with too many heavy guns, causing structural issues and 'hogging' where the the stern and bow would bend down  into the water under the weight of those extra guns in the bow and stern, adding to the stress of the buoyancy on the midships to raise the centre of the vessel and over-stress the whole structure of the ship. Some of the very heavy US frigates were well known for handling like a bus and these factors added to that issue. I now need to see if my choice of naval rules allow that sort of aspect to be modelled.

The success of the American sloops of war against British 'Cruizer class' brigs is well presented with the tactic of American ships to take out the rigging of the opponent quickly, using the copious amounts of anti-rigging munitions carried by US vessels, having the added bonus against the two masted brigs of often leaving them helpless once just one of the two masts were taken down or particularly the mizzen and gaff were destroyed using this tactic. The British could get away with using these cheap patrol ships against lesser opponents and only got away with it against the Americans because there were lots of them ready to pounce on any US ship that was damaged in a conflict with another one of them, often forcing a victorious US sloop to head home for repairs, hopefully with a prize in company.

US anti-rigging munitions

The wariness of US captains that any strange sail would probably be another British warship approaching caused them to habitually pull off from a dismasted and struck opponent to commence their repairs before moving in to take possession of it, something that would not be contemplated by a Royal Navy commander in a similar situation, taking possession of the enemy immediately before starting to make repairs on both vessels.

Likewise there is a very good chapter looking at the British response to the American heavy frigate challenge, developing their own 'razee' heavy frigates and the super frigate with good speed and maneuverability, as epitomised by HMS Endymion, who led the pursuit and capture of USS President in 1815

Fleet Battle and Blockade is 191 pages from cover to cover with the following content:

Likewise the Naval War of 1812 is similarly 190 pages with the following content:

If they could be better it would to have had more of the artwork in colour which would have significantly raised the cost from the £30 list price back when they were published in the mid-nineties, however, given that a lot of the art can now be seen for free on the Internet in glorious colour, it now makes these titles a valuable resource in directing further research, with the written information still as useful as when it was first published.

These titles are, as mentioned, by no means new, with my copies dating back to 1996 and 1998 respectively, and have been comprehensively reviewed in other posts, suffice for me to say, I am very pleased to have these books which form an important part of my library and I have thoroughly enjoyed rereading them again over the Xmas break.

Both titles, in hardback, can be picked up quite easily for a really good price with a used copy of Fleet Battle available from Amazon UK at just £4.90 and The Naval War of 1812 for just over £1.00.

Target for Tonight, Op Five - Hannover

The amazing digital artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz, captures dramatically the devastating impact of an attack with Schrage Musik, upward firing cannon.
https://www.behance.net/piotrforkasiewicz

The months of September and October 1943 saw Bomber Command take a two month break from its initial heavy attacks against Berlin as replicated in our first four ops of this mini-campaign using Target for Tonight.

Op 1 - Berlin
Op 2 - Nuremberg
Op 3 - Berlin
Op 4 - Mannheim

In the first half of this eight op series of games Bomber Command set up an imposing position with a Major British Victory in the offing that over the course of the last four games has seen that victory point total gradually pegged back , culminating in our last game in November last year that saw the Nachtjagd cause havoc among the veteran and elite bomber crews as a successful bombing pattern over Mannheim was marred by the loss of large number of very experienced crews.

The balance of the campaign had shifted to just two points keeping Bomber Command in the victory side of a drawn campaign and with the 711 plane attack on the relatively close target of Hannover that was attacked on the 22nd-23rd September 1943, as the next op to be played, there was a great opportunity for Bomber Command to regain its lead.

The historical raid plan for Bomber Command during the Battle of Berlin Campaign. We are playing some of the first eight largest attacks in that campaign to test our campaign system for Target for Tonight

The historical attack on Hannover is described quite succinctly in the Bomber Command War Diaries, stating;

'Visibility in the target area was good but stronger winds than forecast caused the marking and the bombing to be concentrated 2 and 5 miles south-south-east of the city centre. It had not been possible to obtain a German report but it is unlikely that serious damage was caused.'

As our game was to demonstrate Target for Tonight has an often unerring way of replicating the history book.

The campaign map indicating ops completed so far and on which targets together with the victory point threshold

The campaign we are playing is all about results obtained from the area bombing brought against the various city targets our bomber groups are ordered to attack, with the players at this stage of Ops planning looking carefully at the bomb loads to be carried against the fuel load and how to set up their waves to attack in sequence to allow the right mix of bombs to be dropped in the right area; with 'cookie', 4,000lb HE block-buster bombs needed to deal with industrial and transport targets to be followed up by other attacks dropping a mix of general high explosive and incendiary bombs.

The idea is to cause as many large fires as possible with the right mix of bombs on particular target areas in the city attacked, creating the victory point total for Bomber Command, topped up with any nightfighters shot down in the process.

A near full turn out by Bomber Command with just 20% of the force stood down for this attack

The Nachtjagd's mission is to destroy as many British bombers as they can, and preferably gain the added bonus of taking down the veteran and elite crews that gain them extra bonus victory points whilst hoping that a combination of bombing error and weather complications will add to their efforts and reduce the effect of the attacks on the target.

The number of bombers selected for our game ops and the quality of their crews is randomised for each game as is the quality of nightfighters they may run into together with British intruder nightfighters operating in support of them.

Likewise the weather and wind conditions at home airfields (this can affect take-off and landings) and the target (affecting which type of marker is used and any likely drift)is also randomised, forcing the players to make decisions on bomb load out and target marking positioning in the absence of certainty, but withing a margin of error.

The target map for Hannover, with wind direction indicated from the east and, because of predicted cloud over the target,
Paramata flare markers being used to mark the target, yet to be placed. The players select where this marker will be placed
to guide their bombing attacks on the key targets within the city, with the assumption that it is roughly where they have placed it.

As the campaign has developed the players are starting to get more sophisticated with their planning, looking to bomb up their Lancasters and the other Mainforce heavies in a particular load out to suit the target and sending in the waves conscious of crew experience and getting the first drops on target for the less experienced crews to attempt to follow up on.

This is adding another decision level to the basic game of Target for Tonight without taking anything away from the original design and something I was keen to include with the idea behind the campaign module.

The route to the target and back, with enemy and friendly nightfighters set up in each of the legs of the flight in enemy territory and with their ability indicated 2 worst, five best.

Likewise the inclusion of nightfighters with their own skill set, rated one to another, adds another level of granularity to the game when the bomber stream moves through a zone covered by an 'experten' or not as the case may be.

The intelligence briefing for players showing that the Germans have started to make improvements to their capabilities since the Mannheim op.

The game flowed along very quickly and seamlessly as the majority of players are regular and, knowing how this game runs, set up and start very quickly in comparison to when we first started.

Schrage Musik attacks are becoming a common method in the campaign with the ability to spot a nightfighter before it attacks greatly reduced often leaving a surviving bomber badly damaged whilst many others are shot down in the first attack.

The takeoff leg was reasonably drama free with all aircraft getting off safely despite a near miss on the taxiway between a couple of Stirlings from 3 Group and the stream set course for Germany with no mishaps until the enemy coast hove into view as the crews tested their guns and made navigation checks to confirm the time of crossing and headings taken.

No.1 Group with a full turn out of six Lancasters and a strong core of veteran crews led the attack with their cookie load outs. The rest of the groups were not so well prepared with a lot more Novice crews taking part, with two on their very first op.

With a warning to all players that experten from I/NJG3 were operating in the area using JU88's with upfiring Schrage Musik, the crew of Lancaster R-Roger of 5 Group, only on this their fourth op, fell to their guns, unable to corkscrew due to the heavy bomb load, even had they spotted the attacker coming up under their fuselage, they survived the first pass ditching their cookie only to be shot down at the second attempt.

Only the flight engineer, navigator and mid-upper gunner managed to bail out with just the former being picked up alive and the other two recorded as missing presumed lost.

The ops planning is put together on the Cyberboard module and the results are recorded on it through the game with the players handing back their aircraft record sheets on which details of damage, losses and bail outs are recorded and used in the records of each attack posted here on the blog.

The next drama occurred immediately afterwards as the stream crossed the Khamhuber Line with Stirling K-King of 3 Group, the crew on their third op, fell to a II/NJG3, JU88 that again managed to avoid detection to deliver a devastating blast of fire into the bomb bay of the British plane causing a massive explosion and lit up the night sky around, there were of course no survivors.

All the players are getting very used to the system and have the bomb/fuel load outs and bombing plan put together very quickly so that aircraft are taking off and assembling on the route in next to no time.

The most dangerous part of the flight was over the next two legs as the heavily laden bombers, unable to corkscrew immediately should they be attacked, needing to first dump some of their load out, passed through the night sky with German nightfighters readily aware of their presence.

In the end it was only Lancaster T-Tommy from 5 Group, with its crew on their first op, that was intercepted just before the stream went over the Hannover flak belt by another II/NJG3 Ju88 that managed to knock out two of the Lancaster's engines and riddle the wings and tailplane with multiple hits only to be driven off, itself heavily damaged by return fire from the tail and mid-upper gunner, as the inexperienced bomber crew got away with dueling it out with the enemy fighter.

A complete bomber stream assembled over the UK with no aircraft lost on take off, prepares to head out over the North Sea bound for Hannover, carrying a very heavy bomb load and a light quantity of fuel ready to grab back Bomber Command's lead.

As the stream turned over the target, buffeted by flak all but two of the stream were ready to make their bomb runs, with 1 Group Lancaster, A-Apple and its veteran crew on their 20th Op taking flak on the approach that damaged the hydraulics that would leave the aircraft unable to close the bomb bay doors after their pass over the target.

As the groups turned to make their approach to the target the losses and dumped cookies from veteran pilots looking to gain extra altitude over Germany had reduced the bomb lift by six bomb counters as the run-ins commenced.

Interestingly this bomb run would turn out to be one of the most dramatic in the campaign so far, with several novice and jumpy bomb aimers dumping their loads wide of the target and the stream coming under multiple attacks from free-jagd single engined fighters that, in one case, caused the loss of the next casualty, Halifax U-Uncle from 6 Group, its crew also on their first op.

The Halifax took hits in the port wing causing the port outer engine to catch fire, which, with the pilot unable to extinguish it, caused the aircraft to go out of control. All but the rear gunner were lost as the aircraft crashed on the eastern suburbs of Hannover.

The Stirlings of No.3 Group followed the Lancasters of No.1 Group in over the target with a useful bombing pattern starting to develop, as the first drop markers are indicating in relation to the yellow Target Indicator, placed over Hannover city centre. The Stirling is seen over the southern row (bottom) of boxes shown on the target map above

The Nachtjagd were not having things all their own way however, as the alert veteran crew of 4 Group Halifax, P-Popsie on their 19th op spotted an FW-190 trying to make a head on pass at the bomber only to fall to the fire from the nose gunner on the run up, the position taken over by the radio operator as the bomb aimer took his position in the nose

The players were distinctly aware of the potential drift issues associated with Paramatta target marking and, attempting to take into account any likely shift of the target marker eastward, started to create their bomb pattern in a way to allow for that movement whilst trying to get bombs on important target areas.

All in all, as the last Halifax's of 6 Group left the target, the crews felt reasonably confident with the mix and concentration of bombing as they prepared to get home.

With players calling out 'left,left, steady and right a bit Skip' to another player as they guess whether the next playing card turned will be higher or lower and watching for picture cards that determine if a 'jumpy' bomb aimer has released early, or an Ace has appeared declaring the arrival of a freejagd nightfighter ready to deliver a fast raking attack on the bomber, all creates a game of real drama following all the hazards of just getting to the target in the first place and for survivors getting ready for the return flight managing any damage received on the way in.

The final casualty of the night occurred as the enemy coast came into sight, with a spoof raid by Mosquitos on Bremerhaven and the inward route of the stream having drawn the fighters from NJG2 away to the north, the Me110's of NJG1 caught up with the badly damaged Lancaster T-Tommy which losing the other two engines in the attack that followed crashed into the sea with only the rear gunner bailing out and being picked up by the Germans.

The bomber track shows the first group of Lacasters passing over the target having bombed and with the first Stirling of No.3 Group moved in behind with the waves of the other groups on the flak zone behind waiting to make their bomb runs.

We had the most freejagd attacks by single engined nightfighters of any of the ops so far, well replicating the change in over the target tactics developed by the Luftwaffe defenders in the immediate wake of Bomber Command deploying 'Window'.
Most of the attacks inflicted light damage, with one bomber shot down to them and one nightfighter destroyed in return. In this case P-Popsie, 4 Group Halifax disposes of an FW-190 head on attack.

With no more drama the returning groups all landed safely and crews were assembled for the debrief and summary of the raid.

The expectation was that Hannover was well and truly bombed, but, despite the drift over the target being minimal, the Pathfinders ended up placing their markers in the cloudy conditions well off target, to the point that the bulk of the bombing ended up to the south and south east in open countryside, leaving just the bomb concentrations shown on the southern half of the city that resulted in four major fires that destroyed half of the city centre and the central railway station and yards.

The target map and the results of the night's bombing shown to some rather disappointed bomber crews after a long night.
The Pathfinder target marking error captured well the historical result with a roll of six minus two resulting in the marker shifting four boxes south to just off the map in the countryside. All the bomb drops were correspondingly shifted south leaving just the concentrations shown and a vastly reduced victory point total. It looks like you will be going back to Hannover again chaps!

In the the final tally for the night Bomber Command netted 22 victory points for the target value, fires caused and nightfighters destroyed, but with four novice crews lost saw that tally reduced to just 14 points.

The result is not as damaging as it could have been, as the lost crews, all being novices, reduced the tally for the Nachtjagd and ensured the result is 70 points for the five games played thus maintaining the British victory point tally at 14 points with three games to play.

Berry Head - Xmas Holiday Day Out

HMS Bellerophon at anchor off Berry Head with Napoleon on board and drawing interested spectators from the shore - 24th July 1815
The Berry Head Fort can be seen on the headland behind the sail on the cutter to the left of Bellerophon

The Berry Head Fort and nearby Hardy's Battery above Brixham and Torbay in South Devon are scheduled monuments and are described by Historic England as representing;

' ... a major and rare survival of a monument of the Napoleonic era on the south coast of England. The Berry Head defences are exceptionally well preserved and the fort is one of only a very small number from this period which survive with anything approaching completeness.'

Historic England - Berry Head

Historic England - Hardy's Head Battery

The Berry Head site is on the eastern end of the South Hams promontory with the naval base of Plymouth on its western side

In 1780 this part of the south coast of England was in the cockpit of war between France and its allies who had entered the war between Britain and its thirteen colonies in North America, with the Channel Fleet on constant alert against an enemy landing supported by the Combined Franco-Spanish fleet.

Torbay itself was a popular anchorage for the Channel fleet, situated as it is between the two principle naval bases at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and the bay would have served a similar function for any attempt at an enemy landing, providing good shelter from the stormy English Channel.

Torbay, encompassed by the seaside towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham forms a perfect anchorage and shelter on the western approaches to the English Channel from the Atlantic to the west

Thus it was that the first land based emplacement was established in 1780 with the building of a gun battery at Hardy's Head and fort to house a defence garrison at the Old Redoubt.

With the end of the American War of Independence in 1783, the battery and fort fell into disuse only to be resurrected in 1794 with the start of the French Revolutionary and later Napoleonic conflict with a reemergent threat of Franco-Spanish invasion.

Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, commander of the Channel Fleet,
victor at the Glorious First of June in 1794

There was a need to defend an anchorage that became a favourite of Admiral Richard Howe who preferred a tactic of distant blockade of Brest, L'orient and Rochefort with Torbay forming a useful forward anchorage for the fleet.

To further bolster the defences a larger construction, the Berry Head Fort, was built from 1795 and completed in 1809, by which time the principle threat of invasion had subsided.

The fortifications of Berry Head guard the approaches to Torbay from the Atlantic side and date back to the American War of Independence when the gun battery was established in 1780 during the potential threat of a French invasion.

The bay and its fortifications would play host to perhaps its most famous visitor, Napoleon Bonaparte, aboard the veteran 74 gun ship of the line HMS Bellerophon, the 'Billy Ruffian', which had been one of the British ships to resist the Emperor's attempts at defeating his most determined foe from The Glorious First of June, to the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar.

The entrance to the Berry Head Fort

Today the fortifications serves as lovely place to see the glories of the South Devon Coast, with porpoises breaching off the rocks on the day we visited and with a tea room and short walk into the historic harbour of Brixham for lunch offering all the facilities needed for a perfect day out walking in between Xmas and New Year.

The old guard house now serves as a welcome cafe/tea house and information centre. Beyond is the Coastguard observation post and lighthouse

Not only walking in beautiful surroundings but also getting time to reacquaint myself with some local history in a place I hadn't visited for a few years.

The landward gun battery protecting the approaches to the fort from any enemy landings

The view out over the Torbay anchorage from the end of the landward battery of Berry Head Fort, with Torquay in the distance

Small boats were gathered off the point to watch a group of porpoises breaching close by

The view from the opposite end of the fortress wall, looking along the coast towards Plymouth

The point has served through World Wars and Cold Wars with this the remains of the Royal Observation Corps watch tower and entrance to underground facilities

The old 1802 Powder Magazine now serves as a foundation for the Coastguard Observation point

This rather unprepossessing building was once the Artillery Store, dating to 1802

Further on round the point to its western base is the Old Redoubt and this illustration from the information board helps give an idea of its original look during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 

The wall is in pretty good condition as is its forward ditch

The remains of the guardhouse are just to the right as you enter the redoubt

The interior of the position with the defending wall to the right and behind camera and the cliffs on the other sides. Ahead is the accommodation block and commanders office

A gun position on the landward side of the Old Redoubt 

The view out over the cliff top from the Old Redoubt looking in the direction of Brixham and the bay

We had a great day out and the weather was perfect for getting some much needed fresh air, followed by lunch in front of a roaring wood burning stove in a pub on the harbour front at Brixham and a great memory to start the new round of posts in 2020 with.

Next up, I have a book review to do from my Xmas reading list.