BOA personality of the week: Otto Kretschmer - 'The Tonnage King'



From uboat.net:

40 ships sunk, total tonnage 208,954 GRT
3 auxiliary warships sunk, total tonnage 46,440 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,375 tons
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 2,136 GRT
5 ships damaged, total tonnage 37,965 GRT
2 ships a total loss, total tonnage 15,513 GRT

Highest scoring U-boat commander of the war, commanding 3 different boats (U-35, a VIIA; U-23, a IIB and U-99 a VIIB), before his capture in 1941.

Found a possible for 42-44 time frame, and RAF Halifix W1048 TL - S of No.35 Squadron.

This aircraft took part in a raid to lay mines around the Tirpitz on 27-28 April 1942. She dropped her mines, but was hit by flak and badly damaged, the pilot P/O Don MacIntyre managed to put the crippled aircraft down on a frozen lake, and the 6 out of the 7 crew evaded capture and made it to Sweden, the 7th the Flight Engineer Sgt Vic Stevens was injured in the crash landing and captured. The aircraft sank into the lake, Lake Hoklingen. In 1973 the wreck of the aircraft was recovered and now resides in the Bomber command hall at the RAF museum at Hendon, North London. The museum is quite close to where I live and I know it, at W1048 rather well.

Pickded up the Revell 1/72nd Halifax today on a trip to the LHS, Xtradecal sheet 72133 covers W1048. I know the kit has a few issues, and frankly for this build I am not too worried, might add some etch, don't know yet.

Si

BOA Personality of the Week - Frederic 'Johnnie' Walker



His innovative tactics gave the allies their first significant victories in the Battle of the Atlantic. Captain Walker sank more u-boats (14) then any other escort group commander.

Michael,

Great idea featuring a personality of the week for the BOA Campaign. Went to WikiPedia to read more of Johnnie Walker. Good selection. Alternating between Allied and Axis personalities works well too.

This will keep my interest up while waiting for the BOA Campaign to begin. Also interesting from the historical research aspect as well.

Arnie H
Houston

I've never done something like this, what do I do? Provided ii can do this, I'm in with Revell's 1/72 U505 (type IX U boat)

Thank you Michael and you're welcome. I am glad that you and the others like them. I'm just not happy with them myself.

Anyway have fun with your campaign and if I can ever help again just let me know.

Thanks,
Randy

Click on my WWW button and it will take you to the official rules.

Essentially you'd begin your build This September 1st, and provide periodic build pics of your process. We have an 8 month build time where if you've completed your build by that time and provide a final photo of it, you'll be awarded a 'Campaign Ribbon' that will be associated with you profile in the KitMaker Nework forums.

Presently the campaign has 3 sections to build for and I've been discussing with ShipModel Wright's staff about having a distinct ribbon for each section.

The 3 sections are essentially the begining, middle and end of the Battle of the Atlantic Campaign. Specifics are in the rules link.

As an example, I'm building a Polish destroyer from 1939, the begining of the actual battle. Your type IXC could be from the begining, middle or end of the battle, depending on what particular boat you model.

BOA Personality of the week - Theodor Krancke (30 March 1893 – 18 June 1973)



During a five-month-long raiding cruise (October, 1940 - February 1941) while captain of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, Krancke sank 13 merchant ships, one armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay, and captured three merchant ships representing 115,195 tons of Allied and neutral shipping, making the Scheer the most successful surface raider for the Kriegsmarine.

He was promoted to the rank of admiral and was awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Enjoying the personalities of the week Michael.

Meantime my project for 42-43 period has got all bits and pieces. The Revell 1/72nd Halifax BI/II, extradecal sheet 72133 which includes W1048/TL S of No,35 squadron, the freightdog correction / detail for the intakes and he PJ poducations 2000 pdr HC bombs, which whilst not 100% accurate for the mines carried on the night of 27-28 April 1942 to drop on the Tirpitz, they are pretty close.






Si

BOA - Weapon of the week - Type II U-boat



Less than 50 boats were made from 1934 to 1940 but they were the start of a new submarine force for the Kriegsmarine.

Used for coastal patrolling, the Einbaum ("dugout canoe", known by its crews) was just over 134 feet long (40.9 meters) and served as school boats as well as combat deployed boats until 1945.

Their small size allowed them to work in shallower waters, dive faster but were limited in their torpedo inventory and cramped living conditions and their top speed of 13 knots, surfaced.

BOA - Personality of the week - Edward Fegan (1891-1940)



Captain of the HMS Jervis Bay, an armed merchantman. On 5 November 1940 in the Atlantic, Captain Fegen, commanding the armed merchantman HMS Jervis Bay, was escorting 37 ships of Convoy HX-84, when they were attacked by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. Captain Fegen immediately engaged the enemy head-on, thus giving the ships of the convoy time to scatter. Out-gunned and on fire Jervis Bay maintained the unequal fight for three hours, although the captain's right arm was shattered and his bridge was shot from under him. He went down with his ship but it was due to him that 31 ships of the convoy escaped including the SS San Demetrio.

He was posthumously awarded the VC.


HMS Jervis Bay after her conversion to a armed merchanman

BOA - Weapon of the week - Tribal Class destroyer



From Wikipedia:

Originally conceived as a failed design for a light fleet cruiser, the Tribals evolved into fast, powerful destroyers, with greater emphasis on guns over torpedoes than previous destroyers, in response to new designs by Japan, Italy, and Germany. The Tribals were well admired by their crews and the public when they were in service due to their power, often becoming symbols of prestige while in service.

As some of the Royal Navy's most modern and powerful escort ships, the Tribal class served with distinction in nearly all theatres of World War II. Only a handful of Royal Navy Tribals survived the war, all of which were subsequently scrapped from hard use, while Commonwealth Tribals continued to serve into the Cold War, serving with distinction in the Korean War. Only one Tribal survives to this day: HMCS Haida, which is now a museum ship in Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada.

Between 1937 and 1945, twenty-seven Tribals were built, with the last seeing service by 1963.

BOA - Personality of the week - Günther Lütjens (25 May 1889 – 27 May 1941)



In May 1941, Admiral Lütjens commanded a German task force, consisting of thebattleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, during Operation Rheinübung. In a repeat of Operation Berlin, Lütjens was required to break out of their naval base in occupied Poland, sail via occupied Norway, and attack merchant shipping. The operation went array and the task force was soon spotted and engaged near Iceland. In the ensuing Battle of the Denmark Strait, HMS Hoodwas sunk and three other British warships were forced to retreat. The two German ships then separated. Three days later, on 27 May, Lütjens and most of the ship's crew lost their lives when Bismarck was caught and sank.

On the morning of 27 May 1941, during Bismarck's final battle, Lütjens sent a request for a U-Boat to pick up Bismarck's war diary. In this last transmission, Lütjens included: "Ship no longer manoeuvrable. We fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer".

Lütjens was among those who lost their lives — probably killed when a 14 in (360 mm) salvo fired by King George V destroyed the bridge, killing many senior officers.

BOA - Weapon of the week - Bismark



From Wikipedia:

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the unification of Germany in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years later in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.

In the course of the warship's eight-month career under its sole commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat; Bismarck was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank.

The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by obsolescent Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. In her final battle the following morning, Bismarck was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttled by her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life.

What class of German submarines would be allowed during the BOA Campaign?

As the BOA ran between 1939-1945, any class should be admissible
if the class was active in the 39-45 time frame.

Cheers,
Joe

As the wolf said, any active service German sub from '39 to '45

The most common were the type VIIs and IXs but also Type IIs, XXIs and XXIIIs

Great news for me I have a Type-IX to build.

I am in for this. I am going for the Early Years 39-41 with HMS Achilles from the NZ division.
Best known for its participation in the Battle of the River Plate in Dec 1939 so that sets it in the Atlantic.

cheers

Michael

Gosh, I'm ready for this campaign. I may just have to go build a Wildcat just for practice.

BOA Personality of the week - Daniel V. Gallery (July 10, 1901 – January 16, 1977)


Gallery and his prize, the U-505.


From Wikipedia:

An officer in the United States Navy who saw extensive action during World War II. He fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, his most notable achievement was the capture of the German submarine U-505 on June 4, 1944. In the post-war era, he was a leading player in the so-called "Revolt of the Admirals" – the dispute between the Navy and the Air Force over whether the U.S. Armed Forces should emphasize aircraft carriers or strategic bombers.

In 1943, Gallery was appointed commander of the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal, which he commissioned. In January 1944 he commanded antisubmarine Task Group 21.12 (TG 21.12) out of Norfolk, Virginia, with Guadalcanal as the flagship. TG 21.12 sank the German submarine U-544.

In March 1944 Task Group 22.3 was formed with Guadalcanal as the flagship. On this cruise Gallery pioneered 24-hour flight operations from escort carriers (by this time, U-boats were remaining submerged during daylight to avoid carrier-based aircraft). On April 9, the task group sank U-515 (commanded by the U-boat ace Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke). After a long battle the submarine was forced to the surface among the attacking ships and the surviving crew abandoned ship. The deserted U-515 was hammered by rockets and gunfire before she finally sank. Captain Gallery saw that this would have been a perfect opportunity to capture the vessel. He decided to be ready the next time such an opportunity presented itself. The next night aircraft from the task group caught U-68 on the surface, in broad moonlight, and sank her with one survivor, a lookout caught on-deck when the U-boat crash dived.

On the next cruise of TG 22.3, Captain Gallery took the unusual step of forming boarding parties, in case of another chance to capture a U-boat arose. On June 4, 1944, the task group crossed paths with U-505 off the coast of Africa.[4] U-505 was spotted running on the surface by two F4F Wildcat fighters from Guadalcanal. Her captain, Oberleutnant Harald Lange, dived the boat to avoid the fighters. But they could see the submerged submarine and vectored destroyers onto her track. The experienced antisubmarine warfare team laid down patterns of depth charges that shook U-505 up badly, popping relief valves and breaking gaskets, resulting in water sprays in her engine room. Based on reports from the engine room, the captain believed his boat to be heavily damaged and ordered the crew to abandon ship, which was done so hastily that full scuttling measures were not completed.

Captain Gallery's boarding party from the destroyer escort USS Pillsbury was ordered to board the foundering submarine and if possible capture her. The destroyers in range used their .50 caliber and 20 mm antiaircraft guns to chase the Germans off the vessel so the boarding party could get onto her. They replaced the cover of the sea strainer, thus keeping the U-boat from sinking immediately. The boarders retrieved the submarine's Enigma coding machine and current code books. (This was a primary goal of the mission because it would enable the codebreakers in Tenth Fleet to read German signals immediately, without having to break the codes first). They got her under control, making U-505 the first foreign man-of-war captured in battle on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.

This incident was the last time that the order "Away All Boarders!" was given by a U.S. Navy captain. Lieutenant Albert David, who led the boarding party, received the Medal of Honor for his courage in boarding a foundering submarine that presumably had scuttling charges set to explode – the only Medal of Honor awarded in the Atlantic Fleet during World War II. Task Group 22.3 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and Captain Gallery received the Distinguished Service Medal for capturing U-505.

He also received a blistering dressing-down from Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations. King pointed out that unless U-505's capture could be kept an absolute secret, the Germans would change their codes and change out the cipher wheels in the Enigma. Gallery managed to impress his crews with the vital importance of maintaining silence on the best sea story any of them would ever see. His success made the difference between his getting a medal or getting a court-martial. (It is interesting that two noted naval historians, Samuel Eliot Morison and Clay Blair, Jr. are on opposite sides of Gallery's case.) After the war, Admiral King personally approved the award of the Presidential Unit Citation to Task Group 22.3 for the capture of the U-boat.

BOA Weapon of the week - USS Guadacanal (CVE-60)


The USS Guadacanal alongside the captured U-505.

From Wikipedia:

USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was a Casablanca class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was the first ship to carry her name. She was converted from a Maritime Commission hull by Kaiser Co., Inc., of Vancouver, Washington. Originally Astrolabe Bay (AVG-60), she was reclassified ACV-60 on 20 August 1942 and launched as Guadalcanal (ACV-60) on 5 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Alvin I. Malstrom. She was reclassified CVE-60 on 15 July 1943; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon on 25 September 1943, Captain Daniel V. Gallery in command. After shakedown training in which Capt. Gallery made the first take off and landing aboard his new ship, Guadalcanal performed pilot qualifications out of San Diego, California, and then departed on 15 November 1943, via the Panama Canal, for Norfolk, Va., arriving on 3 December. There she became flagship of Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3), and with her escort destroyers set out from Norfolk on 5 January 1944 in search of enemy submarines in the North Atlantic.

For her third Hunter-Killer cruise, after voyage repairs at Norfolk, Guadalcanal and her escorts departed Hampton Roads for sea again on 15 May 1944. Two weeks of cruising brought no contacts, and the task force decided to head for the coast of Africa to refuel. Ten minutes after reversing course, however, on 4 June 1944, 150 miles West of Cape Blanco in French West Africa, the USS Chatelain detected U-505 as it was returning to its base in Brest, France after an 80-day commerce-destroying raid in the Gulf of Guinea. The destroyer loosed one depth charge attack and, guided in for a more accurate drop by circling TBF Avengers from Guadalcanal, she soon made a second. This pattern blew relief valves all over the boat and cracked pipes in the engine room of the submarine, and rolled the U-boat on its beam ends. Shouts of panic from the engine room led Oberleutnant Harald Lange, making his first patrol as her captain, to believe his boat was mortally wounded. He blew his tanks and surfaced, barely 700 yards from the Chatelain in an attempt to save his crew. The destroyer fired a torpedo, which missed, and the surfaced submarine then came under the combined fire of the escorts and aircraft, forcing her crew to abandon ship.

Captain Gallery had been waiting and planning for such an opportunity, and having already trained and equipped his boarding parties, ordered Pillsbury's boat to make for the German sub and board her. Under the command of Lieutenant, junior grade Albert David, the party leaped onto the slowly circling submarine and found her abandoned. David and his men quickly captured all important papers, code books and the boat's Enigma machine while closing valves and stopping leaks. As Pillsbury attempted to get a tow-line on her the party managed to stop her engines. By this time a larger salvage group from Guadalcanal led by Commander Earl Trosino, Guadalcanal's Chief Engineer, arrived, and began the work of preparing U-505 to be towed. After securing the towline and picking up the German survivors from the sea, Guadalcanal started for Bermuda with her priceless prize in tow. Abnaki rendezvoused with the task group and took over towing duties, the group arriving in Bermuda on 19 June after a 2,500-mile tow .Gallery later apologized to Trosino, a pre-war Merchant Marine chief engineer by training who had long since figured out the U-Boat's propulsion system, for not allowing him as prize captain to bring her in under her own power.

U-505 was the first enemy warship captured on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since 1815. For their daring and skillful teamwork in this remarkable capture, Guadalcanal and her escorts shared in a Presidential Unit Citation. Lieutenant David received the Medal of Honor for leading the boarding party, and Captain Gallery received the Legion of Merit for conceiving the operation that led to U-505's capture. The captured submarine proved to be of inestimable value to American intelligence (for the remainder of the war she was operated by the U.S. Navy as the USS Nemo to learn the secrets of German U-boats), and its true fate was kept secret from the Germans until the end of the war. U-505 is the submarine exhibited in the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago).

Arriving in Norfolk on 22 June 1944, Guadalcanal spent only a short time in port before setting out again on patrol. She departed Norfolk on 15 July and from then until 1 December, she made three anti-submarine cruises in the Western Atlantic. She sailed on 1 December for a training period in waters off Bermuda and Cuba that included refresher landings for pilots of her new squadron, gunnery practice, and anti-submarine warfare drills with Italian submarine R-9. Guadalcanal arrived Mayport, Fla., for carrier qualifications on 15 December and subsequently engaged in further training in Cuban water until 13 February 1945, when she arrived back in Norfolk. After another short training cruise to the Caribbean, she steamed into Mayport on 15 March for a tour of duty as carrier qualification ship, later moving to Pensacola, Florida for similar operations. After qualifying nearly 4,000 pilots, Guadalcanal returned to Norfolk, Va., and decommissioned there on 15 July 1946.

Guadalcanal entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Norfolk and was redesignated CVU-60 on 15 July 1955, while still in reserve. She was finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 27 May 1958 and she was sold for scrap to the Hugo Neu Corp. of New York on 30 April 1959. She was in the process of being towed to Japan for scrapping, when Capt. Gallery also made the very last landing and take off from the ship, using a helicopter, off Guantanamo, Cuba.

BOA Personality of the week - Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff (20 March 1894 – 20 December 1939)



On 21 August 1939, Admiral Graf Spee left port with orders to raid enemy commercial shipping in the South Atlantic following the outbreak of the Second World War. For the first three weeks of the war, the ship hid in the open ocean east of Brazil while the German government determined how serious Britain was about the war. On 20 September 1939, Admiral Graf Spee was released to carry out its orders.

Over the next 10 weeks, Langsdorff and Admiral Graf Spee were extremely successful, stopping and sinking nine British merchant ships, totalling over 50,000 tons. Langsdorff adhered to theHague Conventions and avoided killing anyone; his humane treatment won the respect of the ships' officers detained as his prisoners.

Langsdorff's luck ran out on the morning of 13 December 1939 when his lookouts reported sighting a British cruiser and two destroyers. Admiral Graf Spee now suffered engine fatigue that reduced her top speed to 23kn. After Langsdorff had committed his ship to the attack it became apparent that the destroyers were in fact light cruisers (HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles) in addition to the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter. Naval analysts claim that Langsdorff then committed a grievous tactical error. His ship outgunned all his opponents, having 11 inch (280 mm) main guns, to Exeter’s 8 inch (200 mm) and Ajax and Achilles’s 6 inch (150 mm) guns. Exeter was severely damaged and forced to withdraw; later she re-engaged and, further damaged and listing, again withdrew. But she had sent a most consequential 8-inch shell into Spee, destroying steam boilers needed to operate the ship’s fuel cleaning system. Langsdorff learned that he had 16 hours of pre cleaned fuel in his ready tanks—with no hope of replacement or repairs to the system at sea. Soon, the two light cruisers got into range and scored 20 hits on Admiral Graf Spee, including the food stores and bakeries. Simultaneously, Langsdorff and the British commodore decided to break off the action, Langsdorff heading for the neutral port of Montevideo in Uruguay to make repairs.

The Uruguayan authorities followed international treaties and, although granting an extra 72 hours stay over the normal 24 hours, required that Admiral Graf Spee leave port by 20:00 on 17 December 1939 or else be interned for the duration of the war. Langsdorff sought orders from Berlin, and was given instructions that the ship was not to be interned in Uruguay (which was sympathetic to Britain), or to be allowed to fall into enemy hands, but he was given no directive as to what action to take. He therefore considered that he could try to take the ship to the friendlier Buenos Aires in Argentina although it was thought that the channel was not sufficiently deep for the ship; he could take the ship out to sea to battle the British forces again (though British propaganda was trying to persuade people that a large British force already lay in wait for him—though in fact it would not be able to arrive for five days); or he could scuttle the ship. He decided to scuttle, largely to spare his crew further casualties. At the limit of Uruguayan territorial waters she stopped, and her crew was taken off by Argentine barges. Shortly thereafter, planted charges blew up Admiral Graf Spee and she settled into the shallow water.

Langsdorff was taken to the Naval Hotel in Buenos Aires, where he wrote letters to his family and superiors. He wrote on 19 December 1939:

"I can now only prove by my death that the fighting services of the Third Reich are ready to die for the honour of the flag. I alone bear the responsibility for scuttling the panzerschiffAdmiral Graf Spee. I am happy to pay with my life for any possible reflection on the honour of the flag. I shall face my fate with firm faith in the cause and the future of the nation and of my Führer."

BOA - Weapon of the Week - Admiral Graf Spee



Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser (originally termed Panzerschiff or armoured ship, sometimes referred to as "pocket battleship") which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after AdmiralMaximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron that fought the battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands in World War I. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets,Admiral Graf Spee and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) left only a handful of ships in the Anglo-French navies able to catch them and powerful enough to sink them.
The ship conducted five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938, and participated in the Coronation Review forKing George VI in May 1937. Admiral Graf Spee was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II, to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared. Between September and December 1939, the ship sank nine ships totaling 50,089 gross register tons (GRT), before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December.Admiral Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, but she too was damaged, and was forced to put into port at Montevideo. Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces approaching his ship, Hans Langsdorff, the commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled. The ship was partially broken up in situ, though part of the ship remains visible above the surface of the water.

Well I've got those Skywave Buckley DE's winging there way to me as I type, so I'm in.
I will of course be building one as an RN Captain-class Frigate.