Chains of War 3 - Push 7/2/18

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fitzpatv
Posts: 345
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:29 am

Chains of War 3 - Push 7/2/18

Post by fitzpatv »

Six days after the Chinese attack on Vietnam, two American SSNs are ordered to track two Chinese SSBNs, which have sortied from Sanya naval base at the S tip of Hainan. They are reported to be escorted by 1-2 SSNs and screened by an ASW group of Luyang destroyers, Jiangkai frigates and Jiangdao corvettes. Numerous Cub ASW planes, plus Haitun and Super Frelon choppers will be additional hazards. In the briefing, the US subs are ordered not to initiate hostilities.

You can only play the American side and are given a leading-edge Seawolf SSN (Connecticut) and an older but still highly capable San Juan class boat (Santa Fe). Both are armed with the latest Mk48 dual-purpose torpedoes, with an impressive range of 21nm, plus TACTOM cruise missiles for use against land targets. The Connecticut can dive to -450m, which enables her to avoid at least some of the ASW torpedoes used by the Chinese, but Santa Fe has no such reassurance.

There are no convergence zones anywhere on the map (warm tropical ocean?) and plenty of deep water in which to operate. The US subs are faster than any Chinese vessel in the scenario, probably quieter, have better sonar and longer-ranged torpedoes (though the 30nm ranged ASROC on the Jiangkai class frigates compensates). There are no neutrals or biologics in the scenario, so anything found will be Chinese.

The Chinese ASW choppers have a typical patrol radius of 35nm, so it is a good idea to keep at least that far from their bases on Hainan and Woody Island in the Paracels.

2/7/18 22:00Z: Connecticut headed N at Cruise, just above the layer, while Santa Fe went NW, then W on the same settings. Supposedly, the SSBNs had ‘just’ left Sanya, so we didn’t expect to encounter them early.

3/7/18 03:00Z: News arrived of Chinese attacks on US forces in the Pacific. We were ordered to destroy the SSBNs and also to launch a cruise missile attack on Woody Island airbase.

There was a case for dealing with the SSBNs first, but I decided that it was better to launch the Tomahawks while our subs were still afloat, doing my best to make sure that the missiles from the two boats arrived at the same time. Both subs soon picked-up emanations from Cubs, one too close to Connecticut for comfort, so we dove after unleashing the missiles that we had loaded (note that that has to be done manually in advance, as both subs helpfully start with their tubes full of torpedoes instead). I risked popping-up and firing the remainder once they were ready, then left the scene of the crime on divergent courses at Full speed.

The TACTOMS were engaged by HQ-9 SAMs and 30mm Gatling fire (the resident fighters from God of War must have been elsewhere), with the Chinese using-up their entire magazine of 32 SAMs. Some missiles got through regardless and destroyed a couple of hangars for 100VP each, as well as a Cub and 3 Haituns, which scored nothing. I aimed a lot of missiles at the 8,000m runway, but too few hit to put it out of action. Closing runways is always very difficult.

08:00Z: Having gotten far enough away, we went back over the layer and slowed to 15 knots to enable our advanced TB-29A sonar (100nm range) to work. Both subs were put on Weapons Hold to prevent the AI launching torpedoes prematurely.

10:00Z: By this time, both subs had rounded Woody Island and established interlinked sonar detection zones between there and Sanya, but there was no sign whatsoever of the Chinese. I trawled back to regain coverage of the area S of the Paracels, calculating that, at Cruise, the SSBNs would be in the Woody Island area by now.

15:00Z: We were fined 1,000VP for an SSBN escaping and, at 15:59, this was repeated for the other one. Disaster.

What did I do wrong?

It was possible that the SSBNs went through the Paracels and neatly bisected a gap in my sonar coverage so, in a second attempt, I approached Woody Island more slowly and made sure there was no sonar-free way through. This time, the TACTOM attack went better because I didn’t waste ammo on the runway and I destroyed five targets. However, by 07:00Z, when I calculated that they could have reached Woody Island at Flank, the Chinese had failed to appear.

The only other reasonable theory was that they had gone NE, taking the shortest route to the US West Coast via Taiwan. On this basis, I rushed Santa Fe N at Flank, slowing to Creep for 5-10 minutes every hour (just above the layer) in an effort to cut them off, while Connecticut continued to cover Woody Island. It did no good and I again found nothing. Even going to periscope depth made no difference, as the enemy no doubt had everything switched off.

It might simply have been that my advanced sonar failed to detect the Chinese. It might be that I’m simply a lousy guesser. It’s just possible that they either slipped down the coast of Vietnam or even remained in Chinese home waters. Regardless, I have little enthusiasm for trying this again and would prefer to move on to the next scenario.

Incidentally, why is it called Push?
BDukes
Posts: 2577
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:59 pm

Re: Chains of War 3 - Push 7/2/18

Post by BDukes »

fitzpatv wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:33 pm Six days after the Chinese attack on Vietnam, two American SSNs are ordered to track two Chinese SSBNs, which have sortied from Sanya naval base at the S tip of Hainan. They are reported to be escorted by 1-2 SSNs and screened by an ASW group of Luyang destroyers, Jiangkai frigates and Jiangdao corvettes. Numerous Cub ASW planes, plus Haitun and Super Frelon choppers will be additional hazards. In the briefing, the US subs are ordered not to initiate hostilities.

You can only play the American side and are given a leading-edge Seawolf SSN (Connecticut) and an older but still highly capable San Juan class boat (Santa Fe). Both are armed with the latest Mk48 dual-purpose torpedoes, with an impressive range of 21nm, plus TACTOM cruise missiles for use against land targets. The Connecticut can dive to -450m, which enables her to avoid at least some of the ASW torpedoes used by the Chinese, but Santa Fe has no such reassurance.

There are no convergence zones anywhere on the map (warm tropical ocean?) and plenty of deep water in which to operate. The US subs are faster than any Chinese vessel in the scenario, probably quieter, have better sonar and longer-ranged torpedoes (though the 30nm ranged ASROC on the Jiangkai class frigates compensates). There are no neutrals or biologics in the scenario, so anything found will be Chinese.

The Chinese ASW choppers have a typical patrol radius of 35nm, so it is a good idea to keep at least that far from their bases on Hainan and Woody Island in the Paracels.

2/7/18 22:00Z: Connecticut headed N at Cruise, just above the layer, while Santa Fe went NW, then W on the same settings. Supposedly, the SSBNs had ‘just’ left Sanya, so we didn’t expect to encounter them early.

3/7/18 03:00Z: News arrived of Chinese attacks on US forces in the Pacific. We were ordered to destroy the SSBNs and also to launch a cruise missile attack on Woody Island airbase.

There was a case for dealing with the SSBNs first, but I decided that it was better to launch the Tomahawks while our subs were still afloat, doing my best to make sure that the missiles from the two boats arrived at the same time. Both subs soon picked-up emanations from Cubs, one too close to Connecticut for comfort, so we dove after unleashing the missiles that we had loaded (note that that has to be done manually in advance, as both subs helpfully start with their tubes full of torpedoes instead). I risked popping-up and firing the remainder once they were ready, then left the scene of the crime on divergent courses at Full speed.

The TACTOMS were engaged by HQ-9 SAMs and 30mm Gatling fire (the resident fighters from God of War must have been elsewhere), with the Chinese using-up their entire magazine of 32 SAMs. Some missiles got through regardless and destroyed a couple of hangars for 100VP each, as well as a Cub and 3 Haituns, which scored nothing. I aimed a lot of missiles at the 8,000m runway, but too few hit to put it out of action. Closing runways is always very difficult.

08:00Z: Having gotten far enough away, we went back over the layer and slowed to 15 knots to enable our advanced TB-29A sonar (100nm range) to work. Both subs were put on Weapons Hold to prevent the AI launching torpedoes prematurely.

10:00Z: By this time, both subs had rounded Woody Island and established interlinked sonar detection zones between there and Sanya, but there was no sign whatsoever of the Chinese. I trawled back to regain coverage of the area S of the Paracels, calculating that, at Cruise, the SSBNs would be in the Woody Island area by now.

15:00Z: We were fined 1,000VP for an SSBN escaping and, at 15:59, this was repeated for the other one. Disaster.

What did I do wrong?

It was possible that the SSBNs went through the Paracels and neatly bisected a gap in my sonar coverage so, in a second attempt, I approached Woody Island more slowly and made sure there was no sonar-free way through. This time, the TACTOM attack went better because I didn’t waste ammo on the runway and I destroyed five targets. However, by 07:00Z, when I calculated that they could have reached Woody Island at Flank, the Chinese had failed to appear.

The only other reasonable theory was that they had gone NE, taking the shortest route to the US West Coast via Taiwan. On this basis, I rushed Santa Fe N at Flank, slowing to Creep for 5-10 minutes every hour (just above the layer) in an effort to cut them off, while Connecticut continued to cover Woody Island. It did no good and I again found nothing. Even going to periscope depth made no difference, as the enemy no doubt had everything switched off.

It might simply have been that my advanced sonar failed to detect the Chinese. It might be that I’m simply a lousy guesser. It’s just possible that they either slipped down the coast of Vietnam or even remained in Chinese home waters. Regardless, I have little enthusiasm for trying this again and would prefer to move on to the next scenario.

Incidentally, why is it called Push?
Thanks for playing and the AAR. I designed this 6 years ago, so very hazy, but pretty sure the strategy was one sub drifts while the other dashes ahead. This is probably where I got a push from unless I had eaten too much macaroni and cheese or something 8-)

M
Don't call it a comeback...
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