Log Bridge, 1989

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AndrewJ
Posts: 2449
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 12:47 pm

Log Bridge, 1989

Post by AndrewJ »

Just finished playing Log Bridge, 1989, so here's a quick AAR.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3830375

The game starts out with the Wisconsin SAG between Iceland and Greenland, a couple of SSNs further on N of Iceland, and a big Soviet SAG (flagship - a modern Kirov) somewhere up beyond Jan Mayen Land. Orders: find it and kill it! Without any CVNs to hold your hand...

I started out by taking the Wisconsin SAG south-east towards the Iceland coast, and then creeping slowly along the coast in the hopes that the rugged shoreline would give me some protection from the fringes of the Soviet radar while my helicopters went searching.

I quickly detected the emissions from the Soviet group, and my submarines started moving to greet them. As they got closer, and I got firm radar contacts with my surveillance helicopters, I found I was off to the left front of the Russian formation, with a Udaloy closest - the worst opponent for my subs. Fortunately it was out on the corner of the formation where it wouldn't get good SAM support, and I hoped a carefully timed double salvo of 4 Harpoons from each sub would sink it. However, the Russian radars were already on so the Udaloy spotted the missiles and engaged with her SA-N-9s - damned effective SAMs those. Only one Harpoon got through, and the Udaloy sailed on.

Moments later, my British sub detected an enemy SSN moving in. It turns out the Harpoon launch had been detected and now the badly outclassed Brits were being hunted. Firing a torp down that bearing gave me time to evade while the Russians were (easily) outrunning the pathetically slow British torpedo. What followed was one of the tensest and most interesting sub actions I've had yet in CMANO, with my two subs working together to pincer the Russian sub, driving him back and forth with manually controlled wire-guided torpedo shots, until (8 torpedos later) he was finally hit and sunk by the LA.

When my next surveillance helicopter arrived there was no sign of the damaged Udaloy, which turned out to have burned out and sunk. With it gone the next ship on the corner of the Russian formation was one of the two Slavas, so my surface group salvoed all their TASMs at it, managing to sink it, and some of the leakers even managed to destroy the Kashin behind it with a lucky hit. That left the left side of the Russian formation open, so my subs moved in again.

The LA got close enough to the Kirov to launch a salvo of 4 Mk 48s at it, and even though the Kirov turned and ran it couldn't escape, and three hits sent it to the bottom. Unfortunately, while it was running it had plenty of time to shoot SS-N-15s at the general location of the LA. I managed to dodge 2, but not 3, so it was a mutual kill.

That only left the noisy old British sub (cavitating anywhere above 12 kts if I wanted to stay in the layer). I tried taking it across the front of the formation to tackle the other Slava, but my odds of success didn't look great, so I turned and did what felt like a suicide run into the center of the formation. The two Sverdlovs there were actually great targets for my old sub, but they were trailed by a creeping Udaloy, so I was sure that would kill me. So flood tubes, fire, and flank speed! Both Sverdlovs went down in turn, and then I somehow found myself in front of the Udaloy which was blind at high speed because it had been running from torpedo contacts, and I sank it too! Celebrating joyfully, my old sub swang around the back of the formation, picked off the blind old Kresta over there, and then came back to the center to take on one of the Sovremenny's with their last torpedo. So far they had killed two gun cruisers, one missile cruiser, one ASW destroyer, and had assists on a second ASW destroyer and an SSN. What could go wrong? Overconfidence kills... The Sovremenny went down, but I was swarmed by ASW helicopters, and that, as they say, was that.

While the submarine rampage was underway I had turned my surface group north, leaving Iceland behind and moving up at full speed to engage the remains of the depleted Russian task group. I was confident I could handle the 16 enormous anti-shipping missiles from the surviving Slava, and then use my range advantage to kill the Sovremennys before they could launch at me with their dangerous OTH targeting. When the Slava launched this turned out to be true: their missiles were high speed, but they were also high altitude, and easy to engage from long distance. The Oscar, however, was an entirely different matter...

Twenty four massive supersonic sea-skimmers came my way at the same time as I was shooting at the high altitude targets, clearing the radar horizon much too close to my ships for comfort, and giving me almost no reaction time. My SAMs were firing in all directions now, and my desperate crews somehow managed to shoot them all down. All but the single one, that is, which tore the nuclear cruiser Virginia in half, sending her to the bottom with almost no survivors.

As if that wasn't enough, two new submarine contacts showed up almost simultaneously to join the Oscar, and my best ASW helicopters were all fitted out for Maritime Surveillance, because they'd been keeping a radar eye on the Russian fleet. The remaining helicopters scurried around, managing to sink the Oscar (multiple torps needed for such a big target), sink an Akula, and severely annoy a suspicious patch of ocean that didn't actually have anything in it.

With that done, the task group continued to advance, and then ruthlessly exploited their range advantage to sink the remaining Russian vessels while they were still out of range to use their own missiles.

Victory! But not a bloodless one, and the loss of a nuclear cruiser and two nuclear submarines will be a sobering memory for the survivors.
mikmykWS
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RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by mikmykWS »

Very entertaining AAR!

Mike
Dimitris
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RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by Dimitris »

Indeed.
magi
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2014 1:06 am

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by magi »

That was a fun AAR.... I've played it a couple of times... It is a cool scenario .....
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Eambar
Posts: 242
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:36 pm

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by Eambar »

Thanks for the AAR, scenario sounds interesting, might give it a go next.

Cheers,
solidgeoff
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:19 pm

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by solidgeoff »

Really interesting. I might have to load this one up!
p1t1o
Posts: 272
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2015 11:35 am

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by p1t1o »

Played this mission from the Soviet side last night after reading your AAR.

Initial EMCON: all passive

I zig-zagged my SAG roughly SW (approx. 100nm per "zig"), with an initial heading of due south.
I kept my Oscar stationary, hiding within the layer as it was pretty well located to cover the entire theater with its Shipwreck missiles.
My other two SSNs I sent prowling at a creep at various depths.

Most of my choppers were constantly engaged with ASW patrols beyond my own sonar coverage.
-Im not sure how useful this was as the border around my sonar coverage included a very large area and I did not have enough choppers to keep it constantly patrolled, but they did periodically put down lots of nice sonobuoy barriers which would bring down the probability of a sub slipping through nicely.

First contact was a sub contact very close to my Oscar (how did they find him?).

Full disclosure here: I cheated a bit and used nuclear weapons on the enemy subs, I had never used nukes in naval warfare and was just curious. FYI, they are VERY effective. So that way went the Los Angeles and the Swiftsure (which showed up near the end of the scenario, near my Oscar again.)

Shortly after dispatching the LA SSN I got my first ping from an enemy recon chopper, so I had a rough bearing to their fleet. My own Maritime surveillance choppers had a fairly short range so I had to wait a short while until I was closer.

When I was able to launch said chopper and pin down the location of the fleet, then the fun started.

Fortuitously, my SAG and my Oscar SSGN were about at about the same range from the enemy SAG so I let loose a coordinated salvo of all 24+20 Shipwreck ASMs. I love this missile. Especially how they very effectively re-target themselves if their target is destroyed. Launched on the concentration of HVUs in the centre of the group, all but 2 HVUs and two escorts survived the onslaught. Watching one Shipwreck turn almost 90 degrees to intercept and sink an outlying escort after its primary target was sunk was an absolute joy :)

I then mopped up using the all-but obsolete sandbox ASMs which would have been useless (flying at such a high altitude they can be intercepted very far away) on an intact enemy SAG. If these were unsuccessful I still had a healthy pile of Sunburns which would have been very effective.

At several points during the mission, groups of 4 or so enemy ASMs appeared but were in all cases shot down (or missed completely, either due to ECM or perhaps when my SAG changed direction sharply during its zig-zag course).

The surface combat was fairly one-sided this time, helped significantly by the fortunate positioning of my SAG and Oscar SSGN when the time came. I think if the salvos were separated, they would have been less then half as successful as more would have fallen to defenses.

I think my Oscar also would have stood about a 50% chance of being sunk before firing if I hadnt used the nukes, at no point did I have a fix on an enemy sub without them knowing. When I finally managed to ping the LA SSN he was well within range of several assets so I doubt he would have stood a chance either way.

All in all very enjoyable scenario from the Soviet side, it showcases the power of a soviet SAGs missile armament very well.

I think I ended with about 1600 points and a Triumph!
giantsquid
Posts: 274
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:01 pm
Location: Milan, Italy

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by giantsquid »


Tried this scenario as SOVIET with 1.09 version of Command.
Congratulations to jun5896 (I think...), I like the setup.

I moved on EMCOM A toward Iceland with my powerful SAG and a dense helicopter ASW screen to the front. I had some interesting sub action, nailing the Swiftsure with my Sierra (the UK Tigerfish are too slow...very easy to evade), and an Improved Los Angeles with a lucky helicopter and Udaloy Silex missiles.
The helicopter gave me with position of enemy ships after a while, but provided no ID on units with radars on. They lack ESM, an important limitation.
My first attack combined SS-N-19 from Oscar and Frunze, but all missiles were shot down by the damn Ticonderoga firing volley of SM2 SAMs.
So I reloaded the scenario and tried a different approach: closing in and firing all SSS-N-12 and 19 together, in a huge coordinated attack on the best protected ships inside the enemy formation. Almost all missiles were shot down (!!) but some enemy units were hit, and one sunk. I took some TASM in the meantime but they were easily shot down, even if one missile sunk a Kresta used as ESM picket ship.
My next move plan was to close and use SS-N-22 on the enemy formation, together with an Akula SSN. I took a lot of Harpoon in the meantime but they were fired in uncoordinated waves (as each ship arrived in range) and all dispatched; only one scored a hit on a Udaloy of the outer screen. When in range I fired all SS-N-22 on Wisconsing BB and a USN Virginia, now identified, scoring hits. Then I changed formation and used SAM coverage from my ships, now only 40 nm away, to remove enemy helicopters, then I stealthily moved on with the Akula SSN. NATO had no helicopter support to hunt down my SSN and it managed to sunk 4 enemy ships including the Wisconsing, who took something like 6-7 torpedoes! I took one Asroc but the Akula survived and slipped away. With the Wisconsin huge 406mm guns out of action, I pressed on to finish enemy ships with the Sverdlov crusiers and powerful 130 mm guns from Slava and Sovremenny. I didn't used SAM in AsuW role. Took some shell, but all enemy ships were sunk.

I got a Triumph - 1300 points.
As always a human opponent could do a far better work fron NATO, coordinating harpoons and TASM to kill a lot of soviet ships.
Please look at the huge amount of ordinance expended.

SIDE: NATO
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x SSN 751 San Juan [Improved Los Angeles Class]
1x S 108 Swiftsure
1x CG 54 Antietam [Ticonderoga Baseline 3, VLS]
2x RQ-2A Pioneer UAV
1x FF 1052 Knox
3x SH-60B Seahawk
4x Lynx HAS.3
4x SH-2F Seasprite
1x CG 16 Leahy
2x DDG 2 Charles F. Adams
1x FF 1052 Knox
1x BB 64 Wisconsin
2x F 85 Cornwall [Type 22 Batch 3]
1x CGN 38 Virginia
1x FFG 7 Oliver Hazard Perry


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
85x AN/SSQ-62B DICASS
100x SSQ-963A CAMBS III
2x UGM-109B Tomahawk TASM
4x ADC Mk3 Mod 0 Sonobuoy Countermeasure
2x ADC Mk2 Mod 0 Torpedo Decoy
6x ADC Mk2 Mod 1 Torpedo Decoy
20x RGM-109B Tomahawk TASM
2x Mk24 Tigerfish Mod 2
1x Type 2066 Bandfish
26x AN/SSQ-53B DIFAR
55x RIM-67C SM-2ER Blk II
81x RIM-66E SM-1MR Blk VI
71x RIM-66H SM-2MR Blk II
48x RIM-66D SM-2MR Blk I
35x 76mm/62 Compact HE Burst [4 rnds]
7x 20mm/85 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 0 Burst [200 rnds]
52x Sea Wolf Blk 1
149x 127mm/54 HE-CVT [HiFrag]
24x Mk214 Sea Gnat Chaff [Seduction]
9x 20mm/85 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 1 Burst [300 rnds]
10x Mk182 SRBOC Chaff [Seduction]
44x RGM-84D Harpoon IC
20x RGM-84C Harpoon IB
7x RUR-5A Mod 4 ASROC RTT [Mk46 Mod 5]
2x Stingray Mod 0
2x Mk46 NEARTIP Mod 5
316x 114mm/55 Mk8 HE(MP) HE
5x 30mm Goalkeeper Burst [240 rnds]
5x Mk186 TORCH Flare [Seduction]
20x 12.7mm/50 MG Burst [10 rnds]



SIDE: USSR
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x Ka-25BSh Hormone A
1x Ka-25Ts Hormone B
1x RKR Kresta I [Pr.1134 Berkut]
4x Ka-27PL Helix A
1x BPK Udaloy I [Pr.1155]



EXPENDITURES:
------------------
78x RGB-75 [Basic Search, Passive Omni]
24x PLAB-250 Depth Charge
2x SS-N-16 Stallion [RPK-7 Vodopei, UMGT-1 Torpedo]
2x SS-N-15 Starfish [RPK-6 Vodopad, UMGT-1 Torpedo]
11x SS-N-14 Silex [85RU, Dual-Role, UMGT-1 Torpedo + 185kg Unitary]
18x AK-100 100mm/70 Frag
154x SA-N-6a Grumble [5R55RM]
15x AK-630M 30mm/65 Gatling Burst [400 rnds]
17x SA-N-4b Gecko [9M33M3]
31x SA-N-9 Gauntlet [9M330-2 Kinzhal]
12x AK-725 57mm/80 Twin HE Burst [6 rnds]
6x PK-2 Chaff [TSP-47]
19x USET-80
44x SS-N-19 Shipwreck [P-700 Granit]
32x SS-N-12 Sandbox Mod 1 [P-500 Bazalt]
1x APR-2 Orlan-M
84x SA-N-7 Gadfly [9M38]
880x AK-130 130mm/54 Twin Frag Burst [2 rnds]
16x SS-N-22 Sunburn [P-80 Zubr]
8x 65-76 Kit WH
8x SS-N-2c Improved Styx [P-15M]
3x Generic Acoustic Decoy
265x 152mm/50 Triple Frag Salvo [3 rnds]
217x AK-726 76mm/60 Twin HE Burst [2 rnds]
267x 100mm/70 Twin HE Burst [2 rnds]
5x AK-630 30mm/65 Gatling Burst [400 rnds]
273x 100mm/70 Twin Frag Burst [2 rnds]
45x 152mm/50 Triple AP Salvo [3 rnds]
200x AK-130 130mm/54 Twin HE Burst [2 rnds]
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wild_Willie2
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Location: Arnhem (holland) yes a bridge to far...

RE: Log Bridge, 1989

Post by wild_Willie2 »

As the Sovjets, you can finish the scenario without a loss within a few hours. Go full EMCON and manually change the formation of your fleet to a more compact missile defense formation to defend against sub launched harpoons. Send out helicopters to search for the allied fleet. Once found, fire your sub and ship based Shipwrecks and Sandbox missiles in one big volley (divided between all opposing ships) and Bobs your uncle. Whatever still floats afterwards is easy pickings for your remaining SSM's and subs.
In vinum illic est sapientia , in matera illic est vires , in aqua illic es bacteria.

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there are bacteria.
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