After Action Report - Capt S Watts, UZN, ZSS Harukaze
OBJECTIVE:
Elements of the 2nd Fleet (BLACK FORCE) were tasked with defeating local Star Guard and pacifier defences (WHITE FORCE) at sector capital Gum and securing the Orbital station.
BLACK FORCE Orbat:
CLI (ZSS Kedma): Captain M Lippmann o/c - exercise fleet commander due to seniority
DDI (ZSS Harukaze): Capt. S Watts
DDI (ZSS Firefish): Capt. Staff
DDI (ZSS Yesha): Capt H Gerber
WHITE FORCE Orbat:
C5A (ZSS Borag)
C5A (ZSS Judge)
C5A (ZSS Dexter)
C3A (ZSS Satanus)
Gum Station Squadron (8 Pacifiers)
Gum Station
NARRATIVE:
BLACK FORCE approached slowly with 3 ships (Kedma, Harukaze, Firefish) in arrowhead formation (CLI forward) to port and 1 ship (Yesha) operating
independantly to starboard.
Merchant elements of WHITE FORCE formed echelon left in front of Gum Station at approx 6km distance, and fired chaff to disrupt any long-range PAD fire from the CLI.
BLACK FORCE turned so that all elements would converge at the WHITE FORCE line. Port element moved from arrowhead to line ahead.
At HELL range WHITE FORCE Pacifiers were launched in two clusters and WHITE FORCE merchants burned ahead at maximum Delta V to close. One Pac cluster attacked ZSS Yesha, one ZSS Harukaze. Seven pacifiers were destroyed or disabled. Yesha and Harukaze sustained light damage.
BLACK FORCE began a close engagement against WHITE FORCE merchant ships, concentrating fire on one ship at a time. Two WHITE FORCE ships were destroyed and one left drifting at speed from combat with maneuver gone in the first 40 seconds of combat. The final WHITE FORCE ship was disabled soon after, and the last pacifier also shot down. Gum Station surrendered when ZSS Harukaze and Yesha moved to HELL range.
COMMENTS:
The attack proceeded with fewer BLACK FORCE casualties than predicted by VERNOIS-9000. This was judged to be chiefly due to poor tactics on the part of the Pacifiers. Clustering makes them highly vulnerable to DEW fire.
Flying directly into the front of DDIs so that all DDI HELLs could be brought to bear also led to very heavy casualties for only moderate effect.
Some discussion ensued of correct Pac tactics. Weapons mix should be more varied - perhaps with a mixture of twin-HELL and 6 x seeker missile weapon fits. Probably earlier launch would have been justified to give pacs time to try and attack from multiple angles, catching DDI rear arcs and so minimising HELL hits on pacifiers, as well as forcing DDIs to expend more energy on defensive countermeasures. A combination of this plus simultaneous forward attack from the merchants could have probably achieved the VERNOIS-9000 prediction.
The effectiveness of DDIs was amply demonstrated. One would probably have been enough to cope with all four armed merchantmen, in view of the DDI's superor firepower and maneuverability.
The effectiveness of DEW-armed military vessels in tight formation was demonstrated, probably best employed in line or echelon. The concentration of fire which can be achieved has apparently greater effect than that of the vessels individually. This does require good coordination among ship commanders to avoid collision and maintain formation.
Overall a useful training exercise. I look forward to further experimentation with pacifier tactics and hopefully a more even fight next time to keep us more on our toes!
Capt S Watts, UZN
ZSS Harukaze