US Battleships in T2K

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

The Norwegian front is probably the best venue in the European theater for a battleship to make a contribution as a fire support asset, at least until the fighting moves into Finland. Given the road network in Norway any Soviet attempt to move south would provide lots of serious targets for 16" naval gunfire as long as the NATO side of the naval fight could maintain enough superiority to keep ships in close to the land front.

I can conceive of a naval engagement brought about by the success of an Iowa's 16"ers against Soviet ground columns in Norway- it's such a hinderence to the road-bound Red Army that the Soviet navy is called on to sally forth in an attempt to eliminate or drive off the battleship task force, leading to a major surface action. I'd love to wargame some naval battles in the Norwegian/North Sea. I almost got the latest iteration of the venerable Harpoon series for my PC but I just don't have the time to play with it- and if I create the scenario, playing it out wouldn't be as satisfying.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I can conceive of a naval engagement brought about by the success of an Iowa's 16"ers against Soviet ground columns in Norway-

That reminds me of something I read in one of the Horatio Hornblower novels. He was commanding (IIRC) a 74-gun ship of the line off the Spanish coast when they spotted a French cavalry brigade moving along a coastal road, with bluffs behind them that prevented their escape. It was target practice, essentially.

USS New Jersey in the Norwegian Sea might play hide & seek among the fjords, like the Germans did with Tirpitz in WW2. Sure, a big missile could sink her, but it would be a bear to get a clear line of attack to her. If she survived to 1998, she'd be pretty dominant until she ran out of fuel.