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After Action Reports => Digital Gaming AARs => Topic started by: IICptMillerII on December 31, 2017, 12:44:12 AM

Title: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on December 31, 2017, 12:44:12 AM
Bay of Bengal 1999
(https://image.prntscr.com/image/-0-ioAANQguT10Z2i4qHWA.jpg)

Introduction and Briefing
This is a fictional scenario from Fleet Command, ported to Command: Modern Air Naval Operations that follows a CVBG (Carrier Battle Group) as it attempts to interdict the Indian navy.

Two things to point out first; (1) this is not a 1:1 copy of the mission from Fleet Command to Command: Modern Air Naval Operations (CMANO from here on) as there are differences in the force compositions for both the US Navy and Indian navy, and (2) the CMANO scenario has been modified by me. More on this later.

Here is the briefing that comes with the scenario in CMANO:
CMANO Briefing:
Intelligence Message.
The Indian CVBG is operating in the Gulf of Mannar (about 35 NM Northwest of Colombo). Russia has deployed TU-22M Backfire aircraft to India. China has delivered a squadron of B-6 Badger aircraft to India. Indian Submarine activity in
the region is significant. U. S. Embassy in Sri Lanka is urging all Americans to leave the country.  All Indian Naval forces are considered hostile.
India has mobilized amphibious assault forces and has deployed INS Viraat in the Gulf of Mannar.  Your forces are to transit to Southwest coast of Sri Lanka to pressure India to withdraw forces.  Sri Lanka fears Indian military buildup in preparation to final invasion force and collapse of the government. The United Nations has requested that a U.S. CVBG be sent to the area to stabilize the region.

Tasking Message.
Transit to within 35 NM Southwest of the Sri Lanka coast.  Repulse Indian Naval forces which attempt to prevent U.S. CVBG forces from completing this mission.  U.S. Ambassador may be extracted from Embassy in Sri Lanka if situation worsens.[/center]

An important addendum to the briefing; the Indian navy begins the scenario hostile to US forces, so there will be shooting right from the get go.

Situation and Forces

I am in command of Task Force Nimitz, a CVBG based around the USS Nimitz, a CVN. The Task Force is composed of:
  •   CVN 68 Nimitz
      o   VF-211 "Fighting Checkmates" (x12 F-14D)
      o   VFA-146 "Blue Diamonds" (x12 F/A-18C)
      o   VFA-147 "Argonauts" (x12 F/A-18C)
      o   VMFA-314 "Black Knights" (x12 F/A-18C)
      o   VAW-122 "Steeljaws" (x4 E-2C)
      o   VS-33 "Screwbirds"  (x8  S-3B)
      o   VAQ-138 "Yellow Jackets" (x6  EA-6B)
      o   VQ-5 Det. 9 "Sea Shadows"  (x8  ES-3A)
      o   HS-8 "Eight Ballers"  (x2 HH-60H x6 SH-60B)
  •   CG 57 Lake Champlain
      o   (x2 SH-60B)
  •   CG 73 Port Royal
      o   (x2 SH-60B)
  •   DDG 65 Benfold
      o   (x2 SH-60B)
  •   DD 965 Kinkaid
  •   FFG 54 Ford
      o   (x2 SH-60B)
  •   AOE 1 Sacramento
      o   (x2 CH-46)
  •   SSN 717 Olympia

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/rRVG9ddbS569lEeBdTqwuw.jpg)

All told I have 92 aircraft and an immense amount of firepower spread between my surface units, sub-surface unit and air wing. However I am not invincible. Most of my anti-surface warfare (ASuW) capability lies with my air wing. Strike aircraft armed with anti-ship missiles have a turnaround time of 6 hours. If I'm not careful, I could get caught with all of my strike aircraft re-arming while my ships are left to defend against a determined surface attack against me.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/QNc31DCVT5WWt-50o8Lwqg.jpg)

Arrayed against me is the Indian navy and air force. Based on the briefing, I'm up against the carrier Viraat and an amphibious assault force. I also know that the Indian air force will be operating land based TU-22M "Backfire" bombers and B-6 "Badger" bombers. In addition to that, Indian submarine activity is said to be "significant." There will be plenty going on, and all components of my Task Force (AAW, ASW, ASuW) will have their hands full.

In order to deal with the threat the combined Indian forces pose while still accomplishing my objective, I will need to maintain a constant combat air patrol (CAP), have more aerial warfare (AAW) on standby, and seek out the enemy fleet. All while in transit to the coast of Sri Lanka.

All that said, the plan is simple: Move towards the Sri Lankan coast. If I am able to keep an active CAP, and identify any threats to my CVBG and keep them beyond standoff range, I should be in good shape. However, this is easier said than done.

Final Notes

The base scenario gives you a CVBG that is a bit neutered. The Nimitz only gets half of its air wing, and less surface ships in support. To make the scenario more realistic and fun, I have rebuild Task Force Nimitz based on its September 1, 1997 – March 2, 1998 deployment. (Source for this below) I have not modified the Indian forces at all, nor have I opened them up in the editor.

Sources:
•   https://www.navysite.de/cvn/cvn68deploy.htm
•   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_air_wing#1991_Gulf_War_and_Post-Cold_War_(1992%E2%80%932000)
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on December 31, 2017, 12:48:54 AM
Apologies for some of the formatting. It is my first post after all! Been a long time lurker, specifically of the AAR section of the forum. Very much enjoyed the Tom Clancy-esque AARs for CMANO done by Airborne Rifles. I don't have quite the writers touch that he does, so I'm hoping screenshots add to the fun.

More to come!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: mirth on December 31, 2017, 02:28:39 AM
Nice!  O0
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on December 31, 2017, 12:26:04 PM
The Battle Begins

First things first, I need to establish my carrier CAP, get ASW helo's out and listening, and my AEW (Airborne Early Warning and control) aircraft in the air.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/6vz66JmDSJeuccPueyi4wQ.jpg)

Four aircraft are pumped into the air, quickly followed by another 3 only a minute later.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/_8YNPbvpT4uwqqS2EPP0Bw.jpg)

My CAP and AEW aircraft quickly establish themselves. The Tomcats mission loadout has been set to "Heavy BARCAP," as I anticipate any aerial attack against my Task Force will be large. This gives each Tomcat x4 Phoenix missiles, for a total of eight per flight. Each Tomcat is also equipped with the AN/AAQ-25 LANTIRN Pod, which is a targeting pod that can use FLIR to track aerial targets out to 100nm. It should give the Tomcats an additional edge in acquiring and engaging targets at long range.

I've decided to turn the radars of the Tomcats on. I figure that between the Tomcats and the Hawkeye's radars, I should be able to spot anything coming towards me at a comfortable standoff range. That will give me plenty of time to scramble more aircraft to intercept any incoming bogeys. My ships however will keep their radars off for now. While it's only a matter of time until the Indians get a fix on my ships, I don't have to give them any help.

Meanwhile, I've set the Olympia to "sprint and drift." This is a tactic commonly used by submarines that are transiting large distances. They cruise at speed for a while, then slow down to a creep to listen passively with their sonar systems. If nothing is heard, they speed back up and repeat until they arrive on station or pick up something to investigate.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/sCpFjSxsQkyXucWY9todQg.jpg)

Contact!

After 5 hours, we have our first contact. It has been designated SKUNK #4 by the E-2C. This means it's a surface contact, a ship. It's over 200nm away, but it appears to be on an intercept course with the Task Force.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Eievr8-JSFSE6sRABA00pA.jpg)

For now I'm content with monitoring the contact from a distance. Given more time, my ELINT (electronic intelligence) sensors spread across various platforms should be able to classify the contact. If it does end up being hostile, a single ship hardly poses a threat to the Task Force, and should be easy to deal with. The question is, is it alone?

More to come!


Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: undercovergeek on December 31, 2017, 12:29:40 PM
<< enter popcorn smiley here >>

good stuff
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on December 31, 2017, 03:23:35 PM
The Situation Develops

Despite the new contacts distance, I decide to re-task the Olympia to move more directly towards the location of SKUNK #4. I'm assuming there are more vessels in that direction, and I want to use my SSN as an early warning/screen. The Task Force will continue on its original course, which takes it farther to the East of where Olympia is not headed.

20 minutes after SKUNK #4 is discovered, the Hawkeye picks up 2 more surface contacts, SKUNK #5 and #6. They are all headed towards my Task Force. I now suspect that these surface contacts are Indian warships.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/o_CTVCqVSeGOz8kv2Hw_XQ.jpg)

Its time to be more proactive now that there are 3 contacts. I decide to launch an ES-3A "Shadow," an ELINT version of the S-3 "Viking."

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/HoSlyObZT3awQ-3XT9cjWg.jpg)

The "Shadow" should be adequately protected by both the CAP aircraft and my ship based SAMs. I've given it a health standoff distance so if any of the SKUNK contacts are equipped with SAMs of their own, the "Shadow" should be well outside their lethal envelope.

As my "Shadow" is climbing to station, a 4th SKUNK is detected by the Hawkeye. I can now see two distinct surface groups of two ships per group.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/CwUdthkySU_mhzQ4dNiIFQ.jpg)

10 minutes later, as my "Shadow" approaches its station, it discovers another surface group of two ships.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/n598ooamRyq6Z2i3SVURMw.jpg)

I now know with near certainty that these are hostile warships. What I do not know is what type of warships they are. Depending on the type of vessel they are, these could either be a minor, or a major threat to my Task Force. I'm hoping my ELINT mission will be able to get me more information about these surface contacts so that I can begin drawing up a strike package.

My "Shadow" arrives on station and begins its sweep. Immediately it identifies more contacts in the 3rd group, bringing the total to 4 contacts. It then quickly discovers a 4th group of 3 surface contacts farther to the North.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/SY0GIm2lT3ya_tsN4SSSgA.jpg)

This is a serious threat to my Task Force. I am now facing more surface ships than I myself have in my own Task Force. I suspect that group 3 contains a capital ship, as it is the largest group and is at the center of the formation of groups.

This now puts me in a difficult situation. The enemy surface threat is significant to say the least, and I have not yet encountered Indian air or subsurface assets yet. I'm going to be hard pressed dealing with the surface threat as it is. If the Indians are able to get a fix on my Task Force and focus all of their assets against me at once, I could be overwhelmed.

I now need to start taking apart the enemy and reduce his capability while I still have the luxury of holding the initiative. Its time to get the fighter jocks involved.

Stay tuned!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on January 01, 2018, 12:41:31 AM
Here and awaiting developments CptMiller.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 02, 2018, 01:58:10 AM
First Strike

Its time to take the fight to the enemy. First things first, I've classified all SKUNK contacts as hostile.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/ZjFaVjqESKG0IL3Ue8qJTw.jpg)

I've decided to move my "Shadow" aircraft closer to the enemy formation. It is unlikely that it will be able to identify specific types of ships without getting far too close. However, there is a possibility the enemy ships light off their radars to paint the "Shadow." If they do this, the "Shadow" may be able to identify the ships based on their radar emissions. It's a bit of a risk. The "Shadow" will be close enough to be engaged by SAMs if the enemy vessels are so equipped. But the "Shadow" should be able to egress away from the vessels and out of the SAMs envelope and escape without being shot down.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Eb1aZZBOTMGABH6TiDRE-g.jpg)

Meanwhile, I begin drawing up my strike packages. The type of ship being engaged determines a lot about the characteristics of the strike package. Larger vessels require more munitions to ensure a kill, and certain vessels are better protected by systems such as CIWS, radar, and anti-missile missiles. Because I don't know the specific ID of the vessels I'll be striking, I have to use a generic strike package.

The packages will be identical. 4 F/A-18C's armed with 2 AGM-84E SLAM's per plane, escorted by an EA-6B Prowler. The Prowlers will provide jamming support, which should blind the enemy vessels to the attack, and reduce the chance of counter fires from them as well. Each SKUNK contact will be fired on by 4 AGMs. If all four missiles hit, it should ensure a kill on smaller vessels such as destroyers and frigates, and should cripple anything larger.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Bdyg6BAnSTqnr9tfIS5W_g.jpg)

If all goes well, I should severely cripple or destroy the enemy screening force, which in turn will pave the way for strikes against the 4 ship capital ship (suspected) group.

With the plans all drawn up, its time to see how it all plays out.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/zLHSuVwFRv_Ay0fBtFjzSw.jpg)

15 minutes after launching from the Nimitz, the first shots of the battle are fired.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/vBBAz0iqTOu-Hgwdr9vmLQ.jpg)

And just like that, 16 missiles are fired at their targets. The enemy vessels haven't lit off their radars, nor fired at any of my planes. Its possible they have no idea they're under attack. If this is the case, it is the best case scenario.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/8XygB08OSYqMye-zNUGsJQ.jpg)

As the missiles streak towards their targets and the strike packages RTB, I decide to pull the "Shadow" back. If the enemy detects the incoming missiles, they will likely begin to light off their radars and engage defensive. I don't want my "Shadow" anywhere near this soon to be busy, and hostile airspace.

The AGM-84E SLAM uses an infrared seeker instead of a radar seeker in order to find its targets after entering the terminal phase of attack. Unlike radar, IR seekers do not give the enemy any warning that he is being targeted. As the first SLAMs get close to their targets, their seekers are able to identify the vessel type, and send that information back to me via datalink.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/0lXMLmxsRpyDffriw95c6Q.jpg)

The SLAM identifies the first ship as a PCFG – a Fast Guided Missile Patrol Craft. This type of vessel makes sense, as it is part of the screen for the larger group of ships behind it. While small, these craft are extremely dangerous. They are small and fast as their name implies, and they are able to volley fire anti-ship missiles (ASMs) that can do tremendous damage if fired en masse. The 4 SLAMs should be more than enough to destroy a small craft such as this.


In ASuW Strike Package 2 group, a SLAM identifies another enemy ship. It's a DDG – Guided Missile Destroyer. This vessel poses a threat to my surface ships (its equipped with ASMs) my submarine, and my aircraft. If this first strike does not cripple or destroy her, I will need to follow up with a second strike to neutralize it.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/nhtzNcCBSqSBql6HoS2keg.jpg)

A hit! One of the SLAMs smashes into its target, vaporizing it. Two weapons malfunction, and the final missile splashes harmlessly into the ocean.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/16C7Otz-SfmlQrpkIFdhUA.jpg)

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as overkill. When I first learned that 4 SLAMs were targeted against a ship that ended up being a PCFG, I was slightly annoyed by the amount of firepower used against such a small target. However, it seems to have paid off, as two of the missiles malfunctioned and failed to hit the target. I'm hoping all of the SLAMs targeting the DDG hit home. Even one missile malfunctioning and failing to hit it could mean a DDG left damaged, but still operational.

As the first PCFG was destroyed, the IR seeker of another SLAM identified the 4th and final enemy ship, in ASuW Strike Package 2 group, another DDG.

Moments later, the first pair of SLAMs impact the first DDG.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/ROy9F1SxQz2BAqm5cozvrw.jpg)

Seconds later, the second pair of SLAMs hits the DDG, sinking her. At the same time, the PCFG is hit and destroyed.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/DIGmIfNhQ9ONt1DSaloIag.jpg)

Finally, the remaining SLAMs hit and sink the second DDG.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/38-S8FkRTcqxe1Sz60o18w.jpg)

The ASuW strike packages are overwhelmingly successful. All 4 enemy surface ships have been sunk, with no losses to friendly forces. Further, the enemy didn't even get a chance to shoot back, and did not detect the SLAMs until it was far too late. Task Force Nimitz has seen the elephant and come out unscathed, with 4 new combat victories to its credit.

While the first round is a decisive success for Task Force Nimitz, the battle is far from over. The force arrayed against me is still more than formidable. 2 enemy surface groups, one of which I suspect contains the Indian carrier Viraat still stand between me and the coast of Sri Lanka. Somewhere beneath the waves, yet undetected Indian submarines are lurking, waiting for an opportunity to get in close and sink my carrier. Finally, the Indian air force has not yet joined the fray. The battle is young, and the threats are many.

More to come!

P.S if anyone has any feedback for me, be it questions or tips/advice on formatting, don't hesitate to ask!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on January 02, 2018, 10:48:32 AM
Great AAR. Enjoying it hugely. What have the Indians got on their ships in the way of weapons and defenses do you think?
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: mirth on January 02, 2018, 11:03:20 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 02, 2018, 10:48:32 AM
Great AAR. Enjoying it hugely.

+1
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 02, 2018, 03:02:16 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 02, 2018, 10:48:32 AM
Great AAR. Enjoying it hugely. What have the Indians got on their ships in the way of weapons and defenses do you think?

The Indian navy is actually surprisingly modern and capable. The two DDGs I just sunk were both made in India, and are equipped with Soviet/Russian weaponry.

This is a screenshot of a page in the in-game database on the Rajput:
(https://image.prntscr.com/image/i_Llr3NvT3mQLBvnt3TBqw.jpeg)

Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Rajput_(D51)

Here is the same page but for the Delhi:
(https://image.prntscr.com/image/xyNpLIvMSUO0CbW83DMrCg.jpeg)

Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Delhi_(D61)

These are more than capable warships, and I'm glad I've neutralized both of them as they could have posed a decent threat to both my surface ships and aircraft.

As far as what else the Indian navy has in this scenario, all I know for sure of is the aircraft carrier Viraat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Viraat

Its capable of launching VTOL aircraft such as the Harrier (which I suspect is what it has) as well as ASW helicopters.

I'm also expecting some type of large ship, such as a missile cruiser or even a heavy cruiser of Soviet/Russian make to be protecting the Viraat. It'll likely be heavily armed with lots of SAMs and ASMs, and should be able to shoot down a lot of what I end up throwing its way.

All in all, the Indian navy is no slouch, and I suspect things to get much more difficult as my task force approaches the Sri Lankan coast.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Oleksandrs Pet Gimp on January 04, 2018, 05:41:09 AM
When are you going to carpet nuke Delhi?
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 04, 2018, 08:14:04 PM
Quote from: Oleksandrs Pet Gimp on January 04, 2018, 05:41:09 AM
When are you going to carpet nuke Delhi?

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but there will not be any nuclear releases in this scenario. Though I do admit, it would be rather funny to go through all the effort of setting up the AAR, just to go nuke crazy.

Updates are going to be a bit delayed over the next few days. Apologies in advance.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 12, 2018, 05:11:50 PM
Naval Aerial Warfare

Apologies for the delay in updates. Things should return to a more regular schedule.

We return to the action with a startling realization: one of the enemy DDGs is still out there. Though she's damaged, it appears she hasn't been sunk.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/jXUslr02T1W8lVfxM8wEJQ.jpg)

I'm going to re-route my "Shadow" and try to get a closer look. Its possible the ship has been abandoned and is out of the fight. I hope so, because I currently have no ASuW aircraft to carry out a second strike against it, and if it is not out of the fight, it is going to be a thorn in my side.

A few minutes later, the "Shadow" confirms the second DDG is in fact sunk, and I breathe a sigh of relief. If it had not been destroyed, it would have complicated my efforts to strike the suspected enemy capital ship group. With it gone, I can now focus all of my ASuW aircraft against the 4 ship group now.

The 4 ship suspected capital group is becoming a real threat. It's only 150nm away from my carrier, and I'm still 3 hours from having any ASuW aircraft to strike them. I decide to re-route my Task Force farther to the East, to give myself more distance and time.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/L4-4vpZBTNS49n2xPl8Uaw.jpg)

Suddenly, multiple bogeys appear over the 4 ship group. Carrier launched aircraft! My hunch is confirmed, the 4 ship group contains the Indian carrier Viraat, and she's launching her fighters!

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/w1SzfrhCSyi5Xwu2_khy9g.jpg)

The Tomcat flights that are in the air immediately vector towards the bogies, and I begin to scramble more Tomcats into the air to counter this new threat. Though initially exciting, I am not too concerned by these bogies. They are likely Harriers, which are no match for my Phoenix armed Tomcats. Further, there is no indication that the enemy knows where my Task Force is, so the bogies are likely not coming to strike my ships. Nonetheless, I want to quickly deal with this threat.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/EwC7QpRMR2yKm2KpXqw60g.jpg)

The first volley of Phoenix missiles are fired. The bogies are not maneuvering, so it's likely they don't even know they're being engaged. I'm reminded of the adage, "The only fair fight is the one you lose."

There are now 18 confirmed bogies in the air. The Phoenixes rapidly close the distance, and the bogies still aren't maneuvering.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/ewEtMjSoQCePkeKi3wSPuQ.jpg)

Two more bogies are launched, bringing the total to 20 bogies. This time, I am able to see where they are being launched from, and mark the SKUNK as the suspected carrier.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/gtKnjTvMQNiEUrpHGsX7qA.jpg)

Meanwhile, as the Phoenixes close in and go active, the bogies begin to maneuver defensive.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/LEAO4yfCTCa-oV5LBZCpLw.jpg)

It's too little too late for most of the bogies. 4 of the 6 Phoenixes hit their targets, and more are launched. The Harriers don't have a chance.

It appears that the enemy planes are all vectoring towards my "Shadow", so I recall it to the carrier. As the "Shadow" beings its return to the carrier, two more bogies are splashed, bringing the total to eight.


(https://image.prntscr.com/image/5ApJJt-VSH6hI38cSKE2rA.jpg)

4 of the 5 Phoenixes hit in the second volley, bringing the splashed bogey total to 10. A 3rd volley of 5 Phoenixes are on the way. The "Hawkeye" is able to classify some of the bogies. As suspected, they are Sea Harriers.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Yrw8fvsMS6eg6KeFPZuwRQ.jpg)

The Sea Harrier is hardly a match for my Tomcats. They are equipped with R. 550 Magic 1 missiles, with are within visual range air to air missiles. It is also possible for them to be equipped with the R. 550 Magic "Sea Eagle" missile, which is an anti-ship missile. However, none have been fired, so I suspect none of the bogies are equipped with them. Even if they are, by Task Force should easily shoot them down if they are fired.

A few more volleys of Phoenixes are launched, and reduce the Sea Harrier formation down to only 4 remaining. At this point, the Tomcats are all out of Phoenixes and I order them all to RTB. 2 flights of Hornets (4 aircraft total) armed with 12 AMRAAMs per flight (24 AMRAAMS total) should be more than enough to finish off the remaining Sea Harriers.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/T30gnwQ4Tvyibxvj9NcTTg.jpg)

Things start to get a little dicey. The Sea Harriers are flying low, very low. This makes it hard for the Hornets to pick them up on their radars. Remember, the Tomcats had the attached LANTIRN pods which allowed them to visually identify and track their targets. My Hornets do not have LANTIRN. The distance between the enemy aircraft and my own rapidly closes, as my Hornets dive down on the Sea Harriers.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/bBZb8I5QSRK0CKrtaP3J9Q.jpg)

Though closing with the Sea Harriers is more dangerous, it also works to my advantage. At these close ranges, it is very hard to evade the AMRAAM. Within a minute, only 1 Sea Harrier remains.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/pIpg40GzTB2-CXVZ9ApAWw.jpg)

The last Sea Harrier is hunted down and splashed, and the airspace is clear.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/NgadvB7gSNCkugw7TZyuvA.jpg)

This was a lopsided engagement to say the least. Not a single missile was fired at my aircraft, and all 20 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Most of my missiles hit as well. I believe I had a hit percentage around 75%, which is more than adequate. What's more, I still have plenty of AAW aircraft ready to go, so if my Task Force comes under another air attack I will be able to mount another significant defense.

All in all, things could not have gone better. However, my ASuW aircraft still aren't ready, and the enemy capital ship group is only 108nm away, and taking it down is going to be no easy task.

Stay tuned for the capital ship strike!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 16, 2018, 02:03:24 AM
Vampire!

The action is rejoined by a tactical dilemma. I need at least another hour before any of my ASuW aircraft are ready, and more like 2 hours if I want the majority of them ready to carry out a strike. Meanwhile, the enemy capital ship group continues to close the distance with my Task Force. For now my best option is to continue to head East and trade space for time. My primary advantage is the enemy has and continues to refuse to light off their radars. I have not lit off my ship radars either, but I have the benefit of AEW, whereas the enemy does not. He is flying blind (literally in the case of the Sea Harrier attack)

For now, my only move is to redirect the Olympia farther to the East to compensate for the Task Forces course changes.

I've spoken too soon:

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/hvtVylmXQgmhinb3vI-Mhw.jpg)

All of a sudden, 2 SAMs streak into the skies after my Hornets on CAP. My Hawkeye is the first to identify the missile launch.

A third SAM is launched.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/g5ambiGLSSGFp1JFTvg64w.jpg)


It appears the Indian navy is awake after all.

This is far too close for comfort. If the Indian ships are able to get a relative fix on my Task Force's location, they can start lobbing ASM's at me. Further, they can shut down my airspace with their SAM coverage. Its time for a drastic course correction that will bring me Southeast. I need to create more space while I wait for my ASuW aircraft.

I also decide to reposition the DDG Benfold and the FFG Ford farther North in the formation, to act as a screen against any incoming threats.

A few more moments pass, and all hell breaks loose.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/klKkXzfNTcGf44e6Nco0xA.jpg)

Warning alarms go off as the sky is filled with VAMPIRES. VAMPIRE is the designation given to an anti-ship missile (ASM) Though it is an unpleasant occurrence, and no one likes being shot at, my ships should be more than capable of defending against the incoming missiles. It's time for the CGs to earn their pay.

More SAMs are launched, and I decide its time to recall all CAP aircraft back to the carrier.


(https://image.prntscr.com/image/hTxKsl8fSmeffGDZubeOhg.jpg)

More VAMPIRES are detected. Meanwhile, my Hornets are able to evade the SAMs fired at them. No more SAMs are detected, and I breathe a sigh of relieve that my Hornets are out of immediate danger. However...

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/pObavNN7RHGyX6OYcaWi7g.jpg)

It looks worse than it is. Between my two CG's and my recently repositioned DDG and FFG, I should have more than enough defensive capability to knock down all the VAMPIRES before they can do any real damage.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Pl4MzAd6SRKSMwNVyenPKQ.jpg)

The Benfold (DDG) is the first to engage the incoming VAMPIRES. Shortly after, FFG Ford joins the fray, then CG Lake Champlain.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/ybByHd_wQHGCVqGbR4PWOQ.jpg)

The enemy ASM's are supersonic and sea skimming. They have an average speed of around 1000 knots and are at an altitude of 60 feet. This makes them very hard to track and destroy. For every 2 anti-missile missiles I fire, only 1 is likely to hit. While I should be able to defeat this incoming volley of VAMPIRES, follow on strikes may be more successful against me due to depleted missile stocks.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/L-9bK0_FR-KKdIgYiwSCgg.jpg)

Most of the VAMPIRES are down, but the Benfold is in trouble. The last two VAMPIRES are closing fast on her, the closest one only 1.8nm away.

After getting close enough to be engaged by the Benfold's 127mm deck gun, the last VAMPIRES are shot down.

That was a close call. I'm not out of the woods yet however. The enemy capital ship group is bearing right at my Task Force, and I'm still at least 32 minutes away from having ASuW aircraft ready, and 1 hour 30 minutes from having the majority of my ASuW aircraft ready. Meanwhile, the enemy capital ship group continues to steam directly towards me at 30 knots. They're closing the distance.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/pPAwml31QzmD8R9RUag6ig.jpg)

Then, more VAMPIRES are detected. So far, it appears to be a smaller volley, fired by the three-ship surface group, farthest away to the North. It also appears to be somewhat of a blind fire, as some of the VAMPIRES are not headed towards my Task Force.

Two of the VAMPIRES run out of fuel and self-destruct more than 30nm away. Shortly after, the 3rd and final VAMPIRE does the same. It appears they were blind fired, and didn't acquire their targets in time.

Just as I relax and begin to take stock of my predicament with the enemy capital ship group, I get a radio call that I've been dreading. The Indian air force has arrived.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/g1dDhPX-Q-29jHPlaEow3Q.jpg)

This is a bad situation. I have 4 surface ships bearing down on me, closing distance faster than I can separate. They are followed by another 3 ships doing the same. There is a large formation of aircraft coming towards me, likely armed with long range ASM's. What's worse, in order to intercept them, my fighters will have to steer far to the East and West in order to avoid SAMs fired by the surface ships. While I still haven't heard or seen anything from the suspected enemy submarines, this would be an opportune time for them to strike, adding a third dimension to the dilemma. This is quite the pickle.

Will the Hornets and Tomcats of Nimitz be enough to parry the incoming air strike against the Task Force? Can I buy enough time to get my ASuW aircraft back in the fight? Or will Rear Admiral IICptMillerII be responsible for the worst US Naval disaster since WWII?
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 26, 2018, 04:34:32 AM
Backfires!

The situation is dire, but not unwinnable. Its time to get the flyboys into the air. The first thing I do is establish a no-navigation zone over the two enemy surface groups. This will make it so none of my CAP fighters will fly in said zone, thus will not be engaged by SAMs. I also quickly designate all known bogies as hostile, then start tasking aircraft. Unfortunately, all my Tomcats are still busy rearming, but I have plenty of AMRAAM equipped Hornets ready to go. 8 aircraft are tasked and begin takeoff procedures. Shortly after, 4 aircraft are launched into the air, soon to be followed by 4 more.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/I16-PcphRUm3o4oEGRYCtw.jpg)

It soon turns into a worst case scenario. The enemy surface ships are rapidly closing with my Task Force, and their SAM coverage is protecting their bombers. Then the situation gets even worse.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/dkLbRE1IQgyYqEIqAOJQLA.jpg)

The bombers unleash their VAMPIRES. My best option now is to tell my planes to try to shoot down the incoming VAMPIRES with their AMRAAMs. Each aircraft holds 6 AMRAAMs, and I have 8 aircraft in the air. That's 48 AMRAAMs total, and I can launch more CAP aircraft as well. Between all the AMRAAMs and my ship based SAMs, I should be able to fend off the incoming VAMPIRES.

Both my ships and aircraft begin targeting and shooting down the incoming VAMPIRES.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/pP6tNwn0TFWoFMC8Rdrnow.jpg)


A few of the VAMPIRES go down, and more are targeted and fired on. This volley of VAMPIRES is smaller than I expected. My guess is the Indians still do not have a perfect fix on my Task Forces location, so the bombers are closing in for a closer shot.

There is more bad news however. Another group of bogies has been detected. Moments later, more incoming VAMPIRES are detected.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/gxfQSqFjQcmCmSXe5_jDbg.jpg)

With the enemy surface ships closing in, they continue to restrict the airspace more and more. They are even firing some SAMs at long range to further harass my aircraft. My ASuW aircraft are still at least a half hour away from being ready. Meanwhile my own ships target and engage the incoming VAMPIRES.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/bzyH5eqFQHqMhbp5bl3Cbw.jpg)

A third volley of VAMPIRES is shot down, only to be followed by a 4th.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/12qH2MwoRPa5-xyZrqVUCw.jpg)

The 4th volley is defeated as the last remaining Backfire launches its two missiles. I am confident they too will be shot down. However, the second bogey group has grown.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/1F-FpkpSTYiuKWX8UTCEdw.jpg)

To tackle this threat, I'm going to task some Tomcats on a long route to the West of the enemy surface ships. I'm hoping the long range of the Phoenix missiles will allow me to engage the enemy aircraft before all of them have a chance to fire their ordinance.

However, its too little, too late.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/RyuUHaMjQMeqqSjK9iw1_Q.jpg)

There is some good news however. 4 of my ASuW aircraft are now rearmed and ready to go. I'm faced with a tough decision; attack the enemy fleet piecemeal, or wait another 15 minutes for all the ASuW aircraft to be ready and attack all at once? Against my better judgement, I decide to launch the 4 ready aircraft now and try to sink or at least damage one of the enemy surface ships.

SKUNK #8 is the only surface ship to have lit off its radar. The type of radar it lit off was a surface to air, so I know this is the contact that has been firing sporadic SAMs at my aircraft. SKUNK #8 will be my first target. The mission is planned, and the aircraft are launched.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/Io0U7Lz3QlmoK2vZCq4nBg.jpg)

Suddenly, the Olympia detects a sub-surface contact, designated GOBLIN #144. Nothing else is known about it yet. I immediately task the Olympia to turn around and close with the contact will gathering more information on it. If I can keep Olympia between my carrier and this and any other subsurface contacts, I should be able to keep the task force safe from this threat.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/3vAeQGsbSVKcvLT6s1PJaA.jpg)

A large group of VAMPIRES fired from the second bogey group starts to close in on the Task Force. More VAMPIRES are fired as more of the bogies close the range. While my AEW aircraft have not been able to identify the enemy aircraft of the second group, I suspect they are the B-6 Badger bombers based on their slower speed.

The number of VAMPIRES headed my way has me very concerned. While I still have enough ship based SAMs to take out the incoming VAMPIRES, I'm worried that there are too many targets and I could be overwhelmed. So, I decide to launch 6 more Hornets in a close in CAP to the carrier, with the task of engaging any VAMPIRES that get too close.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/tqq07z5OTPSRMWu_RZFFog.jpg)

My ASuW Hornets get close enough and fire their SLAMs at SKUNK #8. With the SLAMs away and requiring no additional guidance from the Hornets, I decide to retask the Hornets to help shoot down the incoming VAMPIRES.

The Olympia is able to classify the GOBLIN; it's an SSGN! SSGN denotes a Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Attack Submarine. Specifically, this submarine is a Soviet model Charlie I. This is a serious threat, as it could launch ASMs at my Task Force from a different direction than the current incoming VAMPIRES. If that is allowed to happen, my anti-missile defenses could easily be overwhelmed trying to deal with multiple salvos from different vectors. The Olympia still doesn't have a solid fix on the Charlie I's position. The good news is the Charlie hasn't fired on my Task Force yet, meaning it likely has not detected it. I'm hoping it stays deaf to my Task Force long enough for Olympia to close and destroy it.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/8zuNcja5TdG0Nh1MMFEbaQ.jpeg)

Here is a general sitrep on everything happening right now. There are hordes of VAMPIRES streaking towards my Task Force, and there are likely more yet unfired. I have some Tomcats taking the long way West to attempt to get some shots off on the large second bogey group. If they're able to do so, it will interrupt and frustrate the enemy bombers ability to lob more missiles my way. At the same time, my SLAMs are streaking towards SKUNK #8. If they are able to damage/sink the ship, it will make interdicting the enemy bogies and missiles much easier, as well as making follow on ASuW strikes easier as well. Farther to the West the Olympia is closing in on the enemy Charlie I submarine and will hopefully sink it. At the very least it will give the Charlie something to worry about, frustrating its efforts to find and engage my Task Force with its ASMs.

The amount of VAMPIRES coming my way is really starting to concern me, but I still have a lot of my SAMs left, as well as point defense systems, and scrambled aircraft. All of these assets give me more than a fighting chance against the mass of missiles coming my way.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Pete Dero on January 26, 2018, 04:57:05 AM
Very enjoyable AAR.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: JudgeDredd on January 26, 2018, 05:10:30 AM
Quote from: Pete Dero on January 26, 2018, 04:57:05 AM
Very enjoyable AAR.
+1  O0  :notworthy:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: mirth on January 26, 2018, 05:23:20 AM
Good stuff!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on January 28, 2018, 05:02:52 AM
Mayday!

Note: This update is rather helter skelter. There was a lot going on all at the same time, and it was hard to capture everything that was all happening at once. I focused in on the most important things that were occurring and tried to portray it all in a coherent manner. It was chaotic as you will soon read.

Missiles crisscross the sky. Friendly SLAMs and SAMs race to intercept their targets, as more and more VAMPIRES are detected. At the same time, the enemy surface group continues to launch sporadic SAMs at any of my planes that come in range. It is a very hectic situation.

My Tomcats begin classifying some of the enemy bombers in the second bogey group. It appears to be a mix of Tu-16 Badger bombers and Tu-95 Bear bombers. The badger is an older airframe, but the Bear is top of the line Soviet. I'm hoping my Tomcats, who have being lobbing Phoenixes, can fire enough missiles into the group of bogies to start slowing down the amount of VAMPIRES being sent my way.

My SLAM missiles are closing in on their target, and have not been fired at on yet. This is a good sign, it means that the enemy ships have not detected the missiles yet. Hopefully, all 8 are able to get through to insure a kill.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/cW4fnQs6SNWQf2MlY2-PdQ.jpg)

Damn! I've taken my first casualty. Argonaut 11 is unable to dodge the incoming SAM and is hit. There is a second SAM targeting Argonaut 12. Luckily he is able to evade the missile. A third SAM is fired at Argonaut 12, but I think by the time it gets to him it will be out of energy and not very likely to score a hit.

With everything going on, It's becoming very hard to keep track of everything.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/FkiAPLZsRWG0l5HgVgpSsg.jpg)

Most of my attention is on my SLAMs as well as in the incoming VAMPIRES. The SLAMs are getting very close to their targets, and it still seems like they have not yet been detected.

Two VAMPIRES have gotten through the missiles and are now within 6nm of my carrier. More missiles are fired at them. A single hit from one of these VAMPIRES could cripple any of my ships, including my carrier. Losing any of my ships could spell doom for the Task Force. This is a very tense moment.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/uwe7VDEHTX2fp_yAe37Mdw.jpg)

At the same moment that the two VAMPIRES close on my carrier, the lead volley of SLAMs gets extremely close to its target.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/GJix6AGGSu__6GW8w8vX2Q.jpg)

The first SLAM is engaged and destroyed by a point defense system. It appears the enemy ship does know it's under attack.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/H7kDNTTCSB6COtj49rcuJQ.jpg)

The second SLAM hits! Then the 3rd SLAM hits its target as well, flying through a hail of 30mm shells fired by the point defense system. Before striking the target, the SLAMs infrared seekers were able to identify the enemy ship and relay it back to me via datalink. The ship is the RKR Admiral Nakhimov, a Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Battle Cruiser (BCGN) This is a serious warship and poses a massive threat to me. This ship is large enough and carries enough radar and missile systems to serve as a flagship. I'm glad the first volley of SLAMs were able to score some hits. Its likely going to take the rest of the volley in order to sink her.

Just after the first volley of SLAMs hit home, the FFG Ford  escapes a VAMPIRE by the skin of its teeth, destroying it with its point defense CIWS.

As the second and third volley of SLAMs close in, a horde of SAMs are loosed from the BCGN are fired, and most of the remaining SLAMs are shot down by point defense systems. A few moments later, the final SLAM is destroyed by point defense systems before it can hit its target. 2 of the 8 SLAMs fired have hit the target, and while she is damaged, she is still operational. To take out the BCGN, I'm going to need a follow up strike. There is some good news however. Before the rest of the SLAMs were shot down, they were able to relay battle damage assessments back to me. It appears the BCGN is flooding pretty badly. It's possible the damage control parties on her will not be able to get the flooding under control and she will eventually sink. What's more, the SLAMs were able to identify the other two ships close to the BCGN. They are a Kresta II (CG) and a Kara (CG). These ships also pose decent threats in their own right, but thus far have been mostly dormant. I'm hoping they stay that way long enough for my remaining ASuW aircraft to re-arm.

Moments later, the Hawkeye is able to identify the suspected carrier as the Viraat. She has lost her air wing and is lagging behind the rest of the ships, so she is a low priority right now. The situation remains hectic.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/o_yAmeTETQC87jX3jX1RgA.jpg)

There is a large mass of SAM missiles inbound fired from the BCGN. They are likely targeting my CAP aircraft. They were fired close enough as to retain most of their energy by the time they reach my planes. I'm likely going to take some losses here. I brace for their impact.

Two Hornets, part of the Blue Diamond squadron, are shot down. There are more SAMs being fired now as well. It's time to clear the airspace. Another Hornet goes down, this time from the Black Knight squadron. Many more SAMs are fired, and while most are evaded, another claims Argonaut 10. Shortly after Argonauts 12 is hit.

Enough is enough, I order all aircraft to egress south and attempt to return to the carrier. Still more SAMs are fired my way.

There is a silver lining. All of the incoming VAMPIRES have been shot down. For now, my carrier is safe from ASMs.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/_z6xO2iuQCiJ1CuJHdI-bQ.jpg)

The SAMs are being fired at my planes in their landing patterns. Most are evaded, but every now and then another Hornet goes down. This is an infuriating situation. I decide to divert DDG Benfold and FFG Ford from the carrier group to head north, and attempt to engage the enemy BCGN with their ship launched Harpoon missiles. I have to do something to help my pilots out, and keep the enemy ships at bay. I order them North on an intercept course with the enemy BCGN, all ahead flank.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/yTKWFdE9RCKxxCvNty-7cA.jpg)

Soon, both the Benfold and Ford fire their Harpoons at the BCGN.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/p4jR2prTRqWPbrZxlFmSnQ.jpg)

I'm not expecting these Harpoons to get through the enemy defenses. The Harpoon is not as capable as the SLAM, and most of the SLAMs were shot down. However, it should be enough to keep the damaged BCGN busy long enough for me to get more of my planes back on the carrier.

The first volley of Harpoons is shot down, though one of them did make it rather close to the target before being destroyed. More importantly, it has caused the BCGN to do defensive maneuvers, which has slowed its rate of closure with my carrier group.

Miraculously, two of the Harpoons get through and strike the BCGN. The third Harpoon got through as well, but malfunctioned. This is a big victory. With any luck, the BCGN is now too damaged to function anymore, and may even be sinking. At the very least, I've bought my planes a few more minutes of peace to get on the carrier before and more SAMs are fired at them.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/54W_Rqc_TO2Of54gTXgzBA.jpeg)

The last aircraft in the landing pattern gets back safely on the carrier. The Tomcats sent to interdict the enemy bombers are returning as well, and will be out of range of the BCGNs SAMs for a little while. The Olympia continues to creep towards the last known location of the detected enemy submarine. And that is where the good news ends.

This air battle has cost me dearly. I've lost 7 US Navy Hornets and 1 USMC Hornet. While we were able to score multiple hits on the BCGN, it was not enough to keep her from firing hordes of SAMs into the air. Further, despite the many hits now scored against her, she has turned back on an intercept course with my carrier group. It appears that despite the damage she has suffered, she is still mission capable.

But we are far from out of the fight. As John Paul Jones once said, "I have not yet begun to fight!" I should soon have enough ASuW aircraft re-armed to carry out a mass strike against the BCGN which should be enough to finish her. After that, I can begin to target and destroy the remaining surface ships. Once the BCGN is down it will make it much easier for me to operate in the airspace undisturbed, which will in turn make it easier to carry out strikes against the remaining enemy ships.

Taking losses is always a setback, but the losses suffered were not crippling, and by and large I am still in much better shape than my opponent. After all, my carrier is safe and unharmed, as are the rest of my ships. My follow on strikes should be enough to cripple what is left of the enemy surface fleet. Blood has been drawn, and the pilots who just lost friends will be eager to return the favor to the enemy.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on January 30, 2018, 07:41:12 PM
Don't know about you CptMiller, but after all this action, I need a nap. Great AAR.  :bd:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on February 01, 2018, 04:27:43 AM
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Nice to know that there are people actually reading this  ;D

This post isn't an update to the AAR, but rather a quick personal analysis by me. I made a huge mistake in allowing my CAP aircraft to stay airborne with the enemy BCGN closing in so quickly. I paid dearly for my mistake as well. I believe I lost upwards of 7 Hornets to SAM fire. I overestimated the severity of the incoming VAMPIRE volleys, thus allowed my CAP to stay airborne to assist my surface ships in shooting down the incoming VAMPIRES. That was my reasoning anyways. The right call would have been to recall all the CAP planes to the carrier and let the ships of the CVBG do their job and defend against the enemy missile threat.

I'm not certain how many VAMPIRES my AMRAAMs shot down, but I suspect the number was rather low. This is because the CAP planes did not have good geometry against the incoming VAMPIRES. The VAMPIRES were flying high and very fast, meaning the only good shot my planes would have had was nose on. However, with the BCGN firing sporadic SAMs at them, and the restricted maneuvering airspace also because of the closing enemy BCGN, many of my planes were kept out of position to effectively engage the incoming VAMPIRES. I realized this too late due to the amount of stuff that was going on all at once. Regardless of my reasoning at the time, this was a mistake by me.

Aside from this relative setback, I've been having a ton of fun playing and writing this AAR. At first I thought that it could become tedious or tiresome, but it really hasn't. Its been a lot of fun to do the whole way so far. The scenario itself has also been a lot of fun to play through as well, after of course you suspend your disbelief about the US Navy and Indian navy going head to head. The Indian navy is extremely capable, in many ways comparable to the Soviet navy of the 1980s, and in a few ways (the Viraat) more capable. Granted, if the Soviet Union had continued to exist through the 1990's I'm sure they would have increased their capabilities as well (for example, they were in the process of building their own supercarrier, the Ulyanovsk when the Soviet Union collapsed) and likely would have remained a serious threat to NATO. The Soviet supercarrier is featured as one of the hypothetical units in C:MANO, and it would be interesting to play around with at some point. Could even make for a fun AAR.

That's my quick mini-analysis addendum to what happened in the most recent AAR update, titled Mayday!. As always, feel free to post questions or comments, either about the AAR itself or the formatting/presentation. After all this is my first posted AAR here and I'm still learning how to best depict it all. Any feedback is welcome!

Stay tuned, there should be another update out sometime this week!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on February 02, 2018, 08:18:12 PM
To Kill a Hydra

The BCGN has to go. I've devised a special flight package to take it down. 4 S-3B Vikings armed with 2 Harpoons each (which just became available) will target the enemy BCGN. Shortly after those aircraft launch, I will launch my just re-armed ASuW Hornets against the other two ships in the BCGN surface group. I debated sending an OEW (offensive electronic warfare) aircraft with the strike packages as well, but I only have 1 available right now, and the BCGN is close enough that any attempts at forming up will likely be interdicted by more SAMs. I've decided to carry out the strikes without the jamming support.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/YIQ8nfydSLS_asd-wrkm9g.jpg)

Less than 2 minutes after being launched, the Vikings have fired their Harpoons and are RTB.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/cIafcOPQRVmsztxnNsqTQA.jpg)

Just as the Vikings enter the landing pattern, the first Hornet strike is launched. The second Hornet strike is assigned and the planes move to the flight deck to take off. It's important to remember that the Vikings fired Harpoons, and the Hornets are using the SLAMs.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/RlvWBUKxR8iD7ZzX03-T1g.jpg)

The first strike of Harpoons closes in on the BCGN, and we score hits!

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/MKsc2uBXRCCYZyniwdn2Eg.jpg)

2 of the 8 Harpoons strike the BCGN. Again, this is not surprising because the Harpoons use active radar seeker heads when on the terminal phase of their attack. This allows the enemy to both know that they are under missile attack, and gives them the location of the missiles, making them easier to target and shoot down. The SLAMs with their IR seekers give no such warning, and should be more successful against their respective targets.

Soon the SLAMs begin their terminal guidance phase of their attack. Through them, they datalink back to me information on the BCGN. Amazingly, it is still floating, though it is suffering from extensive flooding as well as a roaring fire. Despite all of the hits its received, and the extensive damage caused and accumulated, she refuses to sink.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/rxknKPA4RG66RWZTNMm4eQ.jpg)

There is good news however. The BCGN is slowing down. It appears she may be dead in the water. What's more, none of the ships in the BCGN group have fired at my returning Tomcats. This means they are likely both blind and deaf now. The airspace should be much safer to operate in. However, I won't feel completely safe until the BCGN, the Kresta and the Kara are sunk.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/hhvVAAWrQ8KuIwtL4wpeWA.jpg)

The SLAMs take some fire from the Kresta, but the strike is successful. The Kresta is sunk. The last SLAM, having lost sight of the Kresta, automatically targets the next ship which happens to be the BCGN. I could get a free shot in against it, finally sinking her.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/InpfZAHHQLGeUXBZJbVpkg.jpg)

As the SLAM closes with the BCGN, it begins to take fire from point defense systems. This damn ship just doesn't know when to give up.

The SLAM gets within 600 meters of the BCGN, but is shot down. Damn!

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/brTA3v4PQvuhUfiJC--iBQ.jpg)

The second SLAM strike is fired. Note the off axis attack vector. This is to avoid some of the SLAMs getting intercepted by the still operational BCGN.

The second SLAM strike closes on the Kara, which begins firing short range SAMs to defend itself. One SLAM is intercepted, then another by point defense systems. Then the rest of the SLAMs get through, sinking the Kara.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/6lciZ3EERIa5vAdz4H7gpQ.jpg)

Two SLAMs are left over, but instead of retargeting they end up slamming into the sinking hulk of the Kara.

All of my ASuW aircraft except for one Hornet have been used in these series of strikes. However, I do have some Prowlers armed with HARM missiles. The HARM is an anti-radiation missile, meaning it is used to target enemy radar emissions. Normally these types of missiles are used to destroy enemy radar SAM sites, but they can be employed against any target emitting radar or jamming waves. The BCGN is actively jamming, and is actively lighting off some of its other radar systems. I'm going to attempt to finish her off with my HARM armed Prowlers.

The Prowlers are launched and as they enter their attack vector they become jammed. This actually works to my favor though, as the HARM is able to home in on the source of the jamming emissions. The stronger the jamming, the more accurate the HARMs will be.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/6sqWT0ZNR0u0CznFN0I67g.jpg)

The 4 HARMs are launched. Hopefully this is the last of the BCGN. The HARMs enter the terminal phase of their attack and immediately lock on to the BCGN.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/kKFgXY6JRTuNhzFBG_m6DA.jpg)

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/DJQfdnflRcGdwLXYlrvHog.jpg)

The BCGN is hit and finally sinks. The remaining HARMs are unable to find viable targets in range and self-destruct. 

This strike was very successful. Though it took more munitions than I thought, all three enemy ships are now confirmed sunk. The only ship left is the Viraat, which poses little threat. Its air compliment was destroyed. It has point defense systems, but that's all. Not even any short ranged SAMs. Whats more, the last surface group has turned around and is steaming away from me. Strangely, the Viraat is not turning around, but still steaming towards me. This may be an oversight by the scenario designer. Regardless, I do not have any assets in position or re-armed to take her out. This is hardly problematic, as I already explained she has no weapon systems that deny my air space or pose a threat to my ships.

Meanwhile, the Olympia is still searching for the enemy submarine detected. She will continue her search, as well as acting as a screen to keep any threats coming from the West away from my carrier, or at the very least warning me that something is coming.

(https://image.prntscr.com/image/IgORsH0vQ0GhNUexFcusFg.jpeg)

This is the current situation. For the first time in a while, I finally have some breathing room. This is good, as the majority of my planes are currently re-arming, to include my CAP aircraft. The lull I've created for myself after the successful ASuW strikes is sorely needed. I've re-vectored the Task Force on a more North Easterly course. The screening force will continue to move towards the Viraatand, if they get in range before any of my ASuW aircraft rearm, will engage and sink her. I also have some Vikings loaded for ASW which I could send out to help Olympia find the enemy submarine. For now at least, things have quieted down, and I am thankful for that.

Additional Note: I'm shocked at how much punishment that BCGN took before finally going down. It was hit by something like 4-5 Harpoons, and 6-8 SLAM missiles before finally being finished off by the HARMs. I named this update "To Kill a Hydra" for this reason. Despite being hit repeatedly, the damn thing just wouldn't die. The most amazing part was that her weapons and radar systems were still mostly functional to the bitter end. That was the single hardest ship kill I've ever earned in C:MANO.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on February 02, 2018, 10:51:50 PM
Loving it CptMiller.  O0
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on February 15, 2018, 02:35:57 AM
Apologies for the delay in updates recently. The bad news is I will be away all weekend so there won't be an update until sometime early next week, hopefully Tuesday. The good news is that with the BCGN out of the way and most of the other ships reversing course, the rest of the AAR should be mop up. I am expecting to have the entire AAR wrapped up in two more updates. Hopefully by the end of next week it'll be done. Hang in there!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on February 15, 2018, 10:51:53 PM
Hanging-in Sir.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on February 22, 2018, 03:55:44 AM
Elusive Submarines, a Carrier Sunk, and a Crazy Udaloy

We finally return to the action!

Things have quieted down a lot now that the BCGN has been taken care of. The last report was that it was sunk by the HARM missiles, however there is still a contact showing up on radar. This is likely the sinking ship. To be sure, and to get a slightly better picture of what's going on out there, I decide to launch a Sea Shadow aircraft to snoop around. My screen force is still moving towards the BCGN. I'm planning on having them close with the last location of the BCGN and making sure she is sunk. Then, they will get a chance to sink the Viraat  with direct fire. This is a bit unconventional, but the Viraat is entirely unprotected and should prove to be an easy kill. Besides, it's going to be at least 5 hours until I have any ASuW aircraft rearmed.

Elsewhere the Olympia continues its hunt for the enemy submarine.

(https://i.imgur.com/UmPke2n.jpg)

All of a sudden, a new submarine contact appears. It is detected by ELINT equipment, meaning the submarine is close to the surface and using its radar. It is likely trying to get a fix on my Task Force's location. This sub is a diesel powered SSK – Hunter Killer Submarine. According to the database, it only carries torpedoes. No anti-ship missiles. Plus, the contact is 96nm away at its closest estimated position. This is hardly a threat. However, this is no reason not to sink it quickly. I'll task a Viking to head out and drop a torpedo or two on top of her and dispatch the threat. Based on the activity of the various Indian naval vessels, it would appear that the Indian navy is becoming somewhat desperate. The fact that they are not turning around their aircraft carrier, but the 4th surface group of DDGs has turned around clearly advertises a state of confusion.

Both the Shadow and Viking are launched at the same time, and each aircraft head to their respective mission stations.

Shortly after taking off and turning its surface search radar on, the Shadow confirms that the BCGN has sunk. There is no longer any radar return from the vessel. However, I am receiving jamming. I believe this jamming is coming from the group of three DDGs milling around to my North. This is a nuisance, but it will do little to interrupt my current operations.

(https://i.imgur.com/0LvlH4m.jpg)

Shortly after I realize the jamming is coming from the Viraat. The Viraat has also changed her course to run parallel with my Task Force. The DDG group farther North has done the same. It appears both the DDG group and carrier have adopted an intercept course with my Task Force. This is not very concerning though, as it will be a long time before such an intercept closes to a dangerous range. By then my ASuW aircraft should be back up and ready.


The enemy submarine continues to emit radar as the Viking closes in on her. This should be an easy kill.

(https://i.imgur.com/8SZUvfK.jpg)

The Viking first drops an active sonobouy to ensure the torpedo has the best guidance parameters, and then drops a Mk50 nearly on top of the submarine. Seconds later, its all over. The enemy submarine is sunk, simple and painless. For me that is.

Instead of sending the Viking back to the carrier, I decide to send it over to where the Olympia is stalking the other submarine contact. Its been over an hour since the contact was last spotted. With any luck I'll be able to fix its location with the Viking and take it out as well.

As the Viking begins transiting to the last known location of the other enemy submarine, the Indian surface vessels again turn directly towards my Task Force. This is rather odd behavior. Soon my screening force will be in weapons range to engage the Viraat.

(https://i.imgur.com/iVtLM8G.jpg)

As my screening force closes in to engage the Viraat, it detects 3 ASW helicopters on the deck. No matter, these helo's do not pose a threat to my ships, and my own submarine is over 100nm away, and so no threat is posed to it either.

(https://i.imgur.com/5sHQc30.jpg)

Shortly after, my two ships begin engaging the Viraat with their deck guns. While this should be an easy kill, it will likely take a while. The Viraat will be able to absorb a decent amount of damage before she goes down.

The first volley scores a number of hits, and my ships determine the enemy has suffered light damage. My ships maneuver and fire off a second volley. Just as the second volley is being fired, my Hawkeye detects VAMPIRE launches. They're coming from the enemy DDGs farther to the north.

(https://i.imgur.com/IXkkOXn.jpg)

While the launches of the missiles are detected, the missiles themselves are not tracked. This likely means they are sea skimming. This is dangerous, but not overly so. There is a good chance the enemy DDGs do not possess ASMs in abundance, and the combined missile and point defenses of my DDG and FFG should be more than enough to defeat the few incoming VAMPIRES. As an additional note (one that I would never admit in front of the Captains of my screen ships) I would rather have the enemy DDGs firing VAMPIRES at the screen force than directly at my carrier. A few minutes later, the two VAMPIRES are picked up and engaged by my FFG. Moments later, both VAMPIRES are shot down. Seconds later, a larger volley of VAMPIRES is detected. This time its 4 missiles. Again, this should be easy enough to deal with.

(https://i.imgur.com/nCyqvQo.jpg)

The second volley of VAMPIRES is dealt with and they cause no damage.

Strangely, the enemy group of DDGs has come to a full stop. They're just sitting there in the ocean, not moving. It would appear that they do not know what to do.

My screen continues to pound away on the Viraat, and the damage is beginning to add up. They are now reporting the enemy carrier has suffered medium damage, and a fire has been spotted on her decks. It should take a bit more to sink her.

(https://i.imgur.com/5Xqcsh6.jpg)

After some more punishment, the Viraat is dead in the water, heavily damaged, on fire, and is no longer jamming or emitting any radar. She is officially a dead stick, will not pose any threat to my Task Force, and will likely sink if the fires are not gotten under control. With this, I task my screen force to move on an intercept course with the Task Force to rejoin. Meanwhile, the Charlie class submarine continues to evade both my submarine and Viking. The search continues for her, but as for right now I am confident my Task Force is far enough away from the possible location of the enemy submarine so that it does not pose a threat to me.

(https://i.imgur.com/eA7sfLt.jpg)

After some more searching, Olympia finally picks up the enemy Charlie submarine again. It is much farther to the north than expected, but still well out of position to cause my surface ships any harm. What likely happened was, while Olympia was moving south to the Charlie's last known location at a very deep depth, the Charlie must have slipped overhead, above the layer at a shallow depth. No matter, now that we have an idea of where she is, it should be easy enough to kill her.

The first Viking hits Bingo fuel and has to RTB. I launch another Viking to go hunt down the enemy submarine. As I am doing so, I get the report that the Viraat has succumbed to its damage and is now sinking. Scratch another enemy ship!

(https://i.imgur.com/Zo558vK.jpg)

The Udaloy is then detected breaking away from the other two DDGs and heading straight for me at flank speed. It seems like the skipper of the Udaloy is not happy about the Viraat being sunk and is coming in for vengeance.

(https://i.imgur.com/UZRxu5e.jpg)

With it getting closer and most of my ASuW aircraft still turning around, I decide to do something a bit unconventional. I launch a single F-18 armed with SLAMs against the Udaloy. The hope is that at least one of the SLAMs is able to get through and hinder the Udaloy long enough for a more appropriate strike to be brought against it.

While the SLAMs close in on their target, the Viking and Olympia continue to search for the elusive Charlie submarine. It appears it has slipped through our search nets once again, as both of my assets continue to reacquire the contact. Other than that, it has been smooth sailing ever since the BCGN was destroyed, and it appears that it will remain that way. Once the three DDGs are taken care of, it will be a straight shot to the Sri Lankan coast. Task Force Nimitz is almost out of the fire.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on February 22, 2018, 09:56:27 AM
"Cool Hand Miller".  O0
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 06, 2018, 02:01:56 AM
The Enemy Gets a Vote


We return to the action in the middle of a few things. SLAMs are closing in on the Udaloy, and my Viking and the Olympia are still searching for the enemy submarine that continues to elude me. There are also the two enemy DDGs farther to the North that will eventually have to be dealt with.

(https://i.imgur.com/6ClBHZ8.jpg)

The SLAMs close in, but are shot down by the Udaloy.

(https://i.imgur.com/3sJImc3.jpg)

There is good news however. Most of my ASuW aircraft are re-armed and ready to sortie. My plan is to use my SLAM equipped Hornets to take out the two DDGs, and my Harpoon equipped Vikings (flight of 4, with 2 Harpoons per plane) to take out the Udaloy. If the Viking strike is not enough, I have some HARM equipped Prowlers that can hopefully finish the job. Meanwhile, the Olympia finally regains contact with the enemy submarine. Both Olympia and the Viking on station close in to engage.

(https://i.imgur.com/BFVhm9Y.jpg)

Shortly after, the Vikings are launched and quickly fire their Harpoons at the Udaloy.

(https://i.imgur.com/A0ns3pD.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/oawXpHX.jpg)

Unfortunately, all Harpoons are intercepted. Time to call in the Prowlers with their HARMs. I really hope the HARMs will get through and sink the Udaloy, because I do not want to have to use SLAMs against it. I want all of my SLAMs for the two enemy DDGs.

(https://i.imgur.com/N0c4k1y.jpg)

And we get a hit! 1 of the 4 HARMs fired makes it through.

(https://i.imgur.com/urMa2Y8.jpg)

While this is good news, it appears the damage to the Udaloy is light. It is still emitting its radars and jammers, but it has come to a complete stop. Its possible its propulsion has been knocked out. I decide to redirect my Carrier group slightly to the north to bring the stricken Udaloy into range of my ship based Harpoons. The task force closes into range, and a volley of 16 Harpoons are fired. This should be the end of the Udaloy.

(https://i.imgur.com/JpBp8ZC.jpg)

As the Harpoons approach, the Udaloy begins knocking them out of the sky with counter fire. Amazingly, the stricken Udaloy defeats all 16 Harpoons fired at it. The last of my ship launched Harpoons, 8 in total, are fired at the Udaloy. However, after the Udaloy swatted all 16 Harpoons out of the sky from the previous volley, I have little hope of these 8 getting through. There is some good news. The enemy subs location has finally been pinned down, and the Viking is moving to engage with torpedo's.

(https://i.imgur.com/YpS5RMX.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/QRIuUAG.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/bFkJjl7.jpg)

Finally, the second submarine is sunk. It took a long time to track her down and sink her. I'm glad I can strike another enemy contact marker off my map. The following is a picture of the area that was searched, primarily marked by the various sonobouy's.

(https://i.imgur.com/RsQVdfR.jpg)

It took a while, and a lot of ocean had to be turned over before the sub was finally destroyed.

At nearly the same time as the enemy sub was sunk by the Vikings torpedo, the second Harpoon volley closes in on the Udaloy. Already, 3 of the Harpoons have been shot down.

(https://i.imgur.com/undefined.jpg)

As expected, the rest of the Harpoons are shot down. This Udaloy is really giving me a headache. I now have a decision to make. I have 8 ASuW aircraft, all loaded with SLAMs. Each Hornet carries 2 SLAMs each for a total of 16. My current plan is to hit the DDGs with a 4 ship strike, 4 SLAMs per DDG. At the same time, I'll hit the Udaloy with a 3 ship strike of 6 SLAMs. The missions are assigned, and the Hornets are launched.

(https://i.imgur.com/xrWV4qa.jpg)

Both flights of Hornets are in the air. I'm having them keep their radars off and guiding them in with the AWACs and Sea Shadow. I'm hoping this will make the SLAMs harder to detect. The DDGs have not emitted any radar for at least 25 minutes, so they will likely not see the missiles coming. The Udaloy is still emitting and jamming.

(https://i.imgur.com/Wqktqfd.jpg)

The volley of SLAMs is fired against the two DDGs, but I've made a mistake. I accidentally set the mission to only fire a single volley of missiles and not all missiles at once. I have to re-route the Hornets and fire off the second volley of missiles. Hopefully this doesn't doom my attack.

(https://i.imgur.com/1PE7iO1.jpg)

At the same time, the SLAMs close in on the Udaloy and begin taking fire. One SLAM is lost right away. This sucker just won't die.

(https://i.imgur.com/5A6EnRk.jpg)

All but one SLAM is shot down. The final SLAM gets close enough to the Udaloy to relay BDA information, and then:

(https://i.imgur.com/jgQ8o8J.jpg)

Malfunction. The weapon got through the point defenses, but failed to detonate on impact. This is very frustrating. I'm not going to have to improvise a way to sink this Udaloy. No luck with the DDGs either. As the SLAMs close in, they fire SAMs at them. The SLAMs are defeated by the DDGs. I decide to reroute the remaining Hornets with SLAMs to engage the Udaloy. If 1 missile was able to get through last time, I'm hoping 4 should be able to. I think it may be out of SAMs, and the 4 sea skimming SLAMs should be enough to defeat the point defenses.

(https://i.imgur.com/4elZe0P.jpg)

Wrong again! 3 of the 4 SLAMs are shot down by SAMs. But one gets through, and this time it detonates. Finally, we have another hit against the Udaloy.

(https://i.imgur.com/5RkUDbW.jpg)

The Udaloy is still jamming and emitting radar. If she is sinking, it will likely take a while. The two enemy DDGs have been identified by the failed SLAM strike. They are Soviet made Sovremenny class destroyers. These will be just as hard, if not more difficult to kill than the Udaloy has been.

(https://i.imgur.com/DAVI6pq.jpg)

This is the current situation. After everything that's happened in this update, all I've managed to do was sink a submarine and damage the Udaloy. I was not expecting these last 3 ships to pose such a problem. I was hoping to have this AAR wrapped up, but it appears the enemy has voted that down.

In light of the current situation, I am re-arming a large chunk of my Hornets to carry SLAMs. It will take another 6 hours for the strike aircraft to be ready, but when they are ready, I will have 2/3rds of my Hornets for sinking these last 3 ships. There has been no air threat for a while now, but if there is I still have my Tomcats and a squadron of AMRAAM equipped Hornets to defend the airspace with. For now, we'll just have to keep our distance from the DDGs and buy time for the strike aircraft to get ready. The silver lining here is that it appears the enemy has lost most of his offensive capabilities. No SSMs have been fired in a long time. The biggest threat now is getting into a naval gunfire duel. Aside from that, there is still a threat of enemy air action, but as previously mentioned I am prepared for that possibility.

A quick note on the upcoming conclusion of this AAR: I'm going to post an actual after action review, in which I discuss my interpretation of what happened in this battle, mistakes I think I made, and a few comments on various things. That will come after the final AAR post as its own post. Hopefully this will all be done soon, as long as I can force the Indian navy to cooperate!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 06, 2018, 10:18:04 AM
Fantastic read CatMiller!  :bd:   Any chance of the Olympia being able to take out those damned-hard to sink Destroyers?
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 06, 2018, 04:20:48 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 06, 2018, 10:18:04 AM
Fantastic read CatMiller!  :bd:   Any chance of the Olympia being able to take out those damned-hard to sink Destroyers?

Thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying it!

I have Olympia running deep at flank speed to try to catch up to at least the Udaloy. The enemy DDGs are too far away however. Olympia is only equipped with torpedo's for anti-surface work, meaning she has to be pretty close to the enemy in order to engage them. She is equipped with tomahawks, but they are land strike only.

An over abundance of land strike missiles, and not enough anti-surface missiles is going to be a main point of my AAR post.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: mirth on March 06, 2018, 04:24:01 PM
Great job on the AAR!  O0
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 06, 2018, 11:51:28 PM
Thanks for the explanation CptMiller. I thought it was a bit of a long-shot anyway.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 07, 2018, 12:47:39 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 06, 2018, 11:51:28 PM
Thanks for the explanation CptMiller. I thought it was a bit of a long-shot anyway.

Not to spoil anything, but in this next update, you get your wish. Stand by, making the post now!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 07, 2018, 01:03:42 AM
Light at the End of the Tunnel

The last update was long and frustrating. I'm hoping that this update will be the opposite. However, once again I am reminded that the enemy gets a vote. After an hour or so of inactivity, my AEW aircraft detects bogies.

(https://i.imgur.com/XQrzLmv.jpg)

Its possible that, because I have moved closer to the Indian coast, I'm now able to detect coastal patrol aircraft. It is also possible that this is a strike group forming, and we could have another air battle on our hands. If another large scale raid is launched against my carrier, I doubt the ship based defenses will be enough to defeat it. At this point, I believe over 75% of my SAMs have been used up. The screening force is even worse off, having only a handful of SAMs left to defend itself with. The good news is, there is plenty of undefended airspace to intercept enemy bombers with my CAP aircraft, and well before they come within firing range of my ships.

After monitoring the new bogies for a little while, I can at this point safely assume they are in fact coastal patrol aircraft, and not a strike group forming up.

(https://i.imgur.com/lGrWHCF.jpg)

More time passes until the silence is broken by some good news. The Udaloy has succumbed to its flooding and has sunk!

(https://i.imgur.com/C3Rxe7J.jpg)

This is great news. Now, there are only two enemy ships left, and though they are well armed defensively, they appear to be out of offensive weapons. At this point, they are also stopped in the water, and are not attempting to close with my carrier. Could this be the Indian navy signaling to me that they wish to de-escalate?

I will continue to distance myself from them, while making my way towards the Sri Lankan coast, my primary objective. I'll also re-direct Olympia towards the two DDGs. If they continue to stay where they are, its possible Olympia could get in range to fire off some torpedo's at them. Until I get word from higher authority that the Indians are no longer hostile, I will continue to treat them as such.

More time passes, and the two DDGs come back alive.

(https://i.imgur.com/FWXjMAW.jpg)

They are not on an intercept course with me. My guess is they're screening me. Tactically, this is wise of them. They are at a distinct disadvantage if they tried to close in and sink my ships with naval gunfire, and they cannot or will not disengage completely with me. Thus, this is their only viable option. I do wonder why they do not just break contact and retreat. I believe this comes down more to mission making and AI scripting than tactical prudence. Regardless, as previously mentioned this is their most prudent tactical maneuver given their situation.

More time is allowed to pass, and it becomes apparent that the DDGs have split up. One is traveling straight north, while the other is parallel to my forces.

(https://i.imgur.com/3pco4X9.jpg)

This is not the most prudent tactical choice. There is safety in numbers, especially when it comes to defeating missiles. Regardless, if the enemy insists on making a mistake, I am not going to correct him. My ASuW aircraft are almost ready, and the now split DDGs should be easier targets.

After passing more time, my ASuW aircraft become available. I now have 17 SLAM armed Hornets ready to go. The plan is simple, hit each DDG with a flight of 6 Hornets, and if either of them survive, hit them again with the remaining Hornets and follow up with HARM equipped aircraft if necessary. If all goes to plan, this should be the last major exchange of the battle.

The first strike package of 6 Hornets is launched.

(https://i.imgur.com/xaidKoH.jpg)

Minutes later, the first volley of 12 SLAMs is fired at the closer DDG. While this is occurring, the second strike package is launching and forming up.

(https://i.imgur.com/y70AQ5N.jpg)

As expected, as the SLAMs close in on the first DDG, it begins firing SAMs defensively.

(https://i.imgur.com/nHfDYyY.jpg)

As mentioned earlier, the Sovremenny is a very capable ship. Based on its own merit, and my previous luck, it is possible it takes more than these 12 SLAMs to get through to inflict damage. The DDG fires off volley after volley of SAMs, whittling away my SLAMs. One SLAM gets in close, but is defeated. The first volley against the closer DDG has failed.

The second strike package is flying to the West to come up behind the farther DDG in the hopes that this will make the fired SLAMs harder to engage. To help with this, I turn the jammers on my screening ships on. I'm not sure how much of a difference this will make, but its worth a try.

The second strike package fires its SLAMs.

(https://i.imgur.com/gI2G5Fp.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/mpGkre8.jpg)

Damn! The second DDG turns and begins firing SAMs at my SLAMs.

As with the first strike, the second strike is defeated by the DDGs. Time for the HARMs to try. The strike against the closer DDG will be 4 Prowler equipped HARMs and 4 SLAM equipped Hornets. Maybe the mix will be enough to overwhelm the defenses of the DDG and damage/sink it. 

(https://i.imgur.com/SvZgdE3.jpg)

The SLAMs are fired first. The Prowlers are approaching their weapon release point. Shortly after the HARMs are fired.

(https://i.imgur.com/YDz8T9o.jpg)

After the DDG fires a few volleys of SAMs and shoots down half of the SLAMs, the SAMs suddenly stop coming. A lucky break?

(https://i.imgur.com/Wr2Yr35.jpg)

As the SLAMs close, the point defenses on the DDG come alive, but in vain. All 4 SLAMs make it through and obliterate the enemy ship.

(https://i.imgur.com/1xbOd9z.jpg)

Unfortunately this means I've wasted 4 HARMs. The good news however, is there is now only 1 Indian ship left in the water, and I may be able to let Olympia finish her off. As if to confirm this, as my Hornets return to the carrier, I am told that there are no more SLAMs in the magazines. A few Hornets will re-arm with SLAMs, the rest will have to be given new loadouts. Although, unless the Indian navy throws another fleet at me, this shouldn't be a problem.

Olympia, travelling quickly to catch up to her prey, finally gets close enough to the second DDG to fire torpedos. However, because she has to travel quickly and did not have time to slow down before firing, both guidance wires for the torpedo's broke. This shouldn't be a big issue however, as the DDG should be an easy target.

(https://i.imgur.com/rvDgFHL.jpg)

The torpedoes acquire their target and home in.

(https://i.imgur.com/0Y2qurO.jpg)

The first torpedo hits...

(https://i.imgur.com/RzrBUIh.jpg)

Quickly followed by the second torpedo.

(https://i.imgur.com/f6xGbJY.jpg)

Amazingly, the DDG has not been killed. Instead, it has come about to face Olympia!

(https://i.imgur.com/9omyI1P.jpg)

The DDG has definitely been damaged however. It can only make 7 knots. Olympia creeps towards the wounded DDG at a silent 5 knots, trying to get back in range to finish off the last enemy ship.

She gets in range and looses two more torpedoes. This should be the end of the last DDG.

(https://i.imgur.com/2YW8n2Y.jpg)

The first torpedo closes on the DDG and...

(https://i.imgur.com/jfppRiG.jpg)

Misses! It begins coming around for a re-attack as the second torpedo closes in.

(https://i.imgur.com/XwRwTMY.jpg)

The second torpedo hits home and finishes off the DDG.

Finally, I have cleared the Bay of Bengal of all hostile forces. The way is clear to the Sri Lankan coast.

(https://i.imgur.com/Q7yI95D.jpg)

Boy did I speak too soon...
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 07, 2018, 10:50:51 AM
Damn! How many ships/planes do the Indians have?  :o
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 09, 2018, 10:48:27 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 07, 2018, 10:50:51 AM
Damn! How many ships/planes do the Indians have?  :o

Too many!  ;D

I believe I make mention of this at the beginning of the AAR. Essentially, whoever decided to remake this mission from Fleet Command in CMANO decided to juice it heavily. Both the Indian navy and air force get a massive boost. You could make the argument that in this scenario, the Indians have a legit blue water navy. On top of that, the CAG the Nimitz is carrying in the vanilla version of this mission is half strength for some reason, and you also have half the time to complete the mission. I added more time to the scenario (I added an extra 12 hours) and made the CAG composition more realistic, based on what the Nimitz actually deployed with in its 1998-99 cruise.

A quick note on the current situation: the fact that I was not able to properly interdict and shoot down the Indian air force the last time it appeared due to the presence of the BCGN has really come back to haunt me. I have some pretty significant doubts about my ability to defeat all the anti-ship missiles the bomber wing is capable of firing. My plan right now is to get as many CAP aircraft into the air as possible and then frankly, hope for the best. One thing is for sure, this mission is going to end with quite the grand finale!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 13, 2018, 09:58:04 AM
I'm still here CapMiller and waiting on that bodacious finale.  :bd:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 14, 2018, 10:47:40 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 13, 2018, 09:58:04 AM
I'm still here CapMiller and waiting on that bodacious finale.  :bd:

More updates will follow soon. Thanks for your continued interest!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: nelmsm on March 16, 2018, 05:34:53 PM
This is one hell of a good story
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 21, 2018, 02:54:13 AM
Finale Part One


This is it. This will be the final engagement of the battle. Attacking me is what looks like the entire bomber wing of the Indian air force. I immediately turn all jamming and radars on my ships off to make them harder targets, though I suspect his won't help much. I've also tasked by screening force to rapidly close with the rest of the Task Force. I'm going to need to combine all of my remaining SAM systems if I'll have any chance of defeating this attack. Finally, I've assigned all available CAP aircraft to a carrier defense mission. Right now, the total CAP force consists of something like 8 Tomcats and 10 Hornets. I have more aircraft being re-armed, but they will not be ready in time. It's down to these 18 or so aircraft to defend the Task Force.

The closest Backfire is 180nm away, nearly in weapons range. I'll be lucky to get planes off the deck before the Backfires start lobbing VAMPIRES at me. I've set the Tomcats to only fire their Phoenix missiles at the bombers, while Sparrows and AMRAAMs will be used to shoot down both bombers and incoming VAMPIRES.

The stage is set for the final showdown.

(https://i.imgur.com/d2oqX3w.jpg)

The first two flights of Tomcats are in the air. The second they clear the deck, they begin burning towards the incoming bombers. Shortly after, another 4 aircraft are pumped into the air. One of the many impressive features of the Nimitz is her ability to pump aircraft into the sky. In just two minutes, 8 of my CAP aircraft are in the air. That's nearly half my total CAP force.

Moments later, the first flight of Tomcats fires a Phoenix at the closest Backfire.

(https://i.imgur.com/FBvngeS.jpg)

The closest enemy bomber is only 145nm away from my carrier, but it has a missile fired against it. With any luck, I will be able to get enough Phoenixes off to force the enemy bombers to go defensive before they have a chance to volley fire VAMPIRES.

(https://i.imgur.com/vIx34E8.jpg)

Damn! I've spoken too soon again. Its not all bad news however. Another Phoenix has been fired against the second Backfire bomber. At this rate, it is likely that the enemy bombers will get a few missiles off, but I may be able to close the distance enough to intercept the rest before they get a chance to fire.

A duel of missiles develops.

(https://i.imgur.com/UxXnA8p.jpg)

I have both Phoenixes being fired against the Backfires and Sparrows being fired against the VAMPIRES streaking towards their targets. It is unlikely that my Sparrows hit their targets however, as the VAMPIRES are high flying missiles. This makes them difficult to shoot down due to their altitude and speed. Still, even knocking a few VAMPIRES down before they get to my Task Force would help immensely.

This is also an excellent example of fire discipline. My flights know who is shooting at what, thus no missiles are wasted on already engaged targets. This is due to the datalink between planes, as well as communication between the Radar Intercept Officers, the number 2 seat in the Tomcats. It is likely that as missiles and aircraft close, and a furball begins to develop, a lot of this coordination will be lost. But for now, I'm thankful for the efficient use of munitions. Its worth noting that CMANO does this automatically, without me as the player needing to do anything. CMANO appears daunting at first, with all of its menu's and complex simulations of a multitude of weapons systems, but generally speaking all the player needs to do is give relative orders and the tactical AI takes care of the rest.

(https://i.imgur.com/UtAdNyI.jpg)

Getting back to the action. The first Phoenix closes on its target. The bad news is, the Phoenix is nearly out of fuel and the target has both turned cold and gone defensive, giving it the kinematic advantage. The good news is that the active Phoenox has been picked up by the second Backfire, who has also gone defensive because of it. This is good news because it means the second Backfire won't be able to fire its VAMPIRES for another few precious seconds, and gives the Phoenix targeting it a kinematic advantage. The Backfire is losing speed by going defensive, which makes it an easier target for my yet to maneuver Phoenix missile.

Moments later, we score our first kill! The second Phoenix targeting the second Backfire connects with its target, splashing it. That Backfire had not yet had a chance to fire its VAMPIRES. Hopefully, more successful interdictions like this follow, reducing the VAMPIRE threat to my depleted Task Force.

However, there is a problem.

(https://i.imgur.com/9lse1gy.jpg)

There are a lot of bombers coming. Right now there are 10 in the air that my various radars can see, and there are likely more being launched. It is possible that the Indians send more bombers at me than I have missiles to shoot them down. If that is the case, I'll have no choice but to close in and try to splash bombers with guns.

The first two VAMPIRES fired by the first Backfire bomber are closing in on my ships.

(https://i.imgur.com/CLTm61s.jpg)

It appears that they are targeting the screening force. This is both good and bad news. The bad news is, the screen force has precious few SAMs left, and will likely have to rely on their point defense weapons to defeat the incoming missiles. The good news is, the VAMPIRES aren't going after my carrier. It is a harsh reality of surface ships in a CVBG that they are ultimately more expendable than the carrier and while tragic, their loss is much preferred to losing the carrier.

So far, it appears the two incoming VAMPIRES will be defeated by the combined efforts of AAMs, SAMs and point defense weapons. However, if the Indians are able to volley fire VAMPIRES at my ships, it is doubtful that they (at least the screen by itself) will be enough to ward off disaster.

(https://i.imgur.com/aeu9Bi8.jpg)

A SAM misses, and an AMRAAM hits. One VAMPIRE left, which is quickly re-engaged by the flight of Hornets closest to it. Again, I'm thankful for the datalink and good coordination between plane and ship, as more missiles aren't wasted against the sole remaining VAMPIRE. I cannot afford to wantonly fire off missiles at this point.

Luck is with the second VAMPIRE. Two more AMRAAMs are fired, and the VAMPIRE slips past them both. Then, it happens.

(https://i.imgur.com/Zwu9HSk.jpg)

USS Ford is struck by the massive anti-ship missile and immediately begins to sink. This is a frustrating loss. Sometimes despite your best efforts, luck just isn't on your side. In this case, my bad luck has cost me a guided missile frigate with a compliment of around 225 sailors and officers.

The battle rages on.

(https://i.imgur.com/vAzQ4YW.jpg)

Another Backfire is shot down, while more are forced to go defensive instead of firing their deadly VAMPIRES. I have all of my CAP aircraft burning to close the distance with the bombers to keep the pressure on them. It is now more important than ever that I reduce the amount of VAMPIRES fired at my ships.

More Backfires are destroyed, and none have yet gotten another opportunity to fire on my ships.

(https://i.imgur.com/2IPXyJT.jpg)

Then the inevitable furball develops.

(https://i.imgur.com/pypJcpM.jpg)

The fighting gets close, and at least one Backfire is shot down by Sidewinders. It takes multiple hits from the smaller, shorter ranged heat seeking missiles to bring down the large Backfires. Despite this, I'm glad at how the situation is developing. As long as my fighters are tangling with the bombers, the bombers cannot fire VAMPIRES at my ships. There is some danger that my fighters can be engaged and destroyed by the radar guided tail guns on the Backfires, but this is a risk I'm willing to take to keep my ships safe. My fears are not realized however, as all my fighters remain unscathed.

Soon, there is only one Backfire left, with a Phoenix closing in fast.

(https://i.imgur.com/2S1aWgf.jpg)

The Phoenix finds its target, and with that, the last bomber is shot down and the airspace is now clear.

(https://i.imgur.com/epyOInl.jpg)

However, there are more blips appearing on the radar. Could these blips just be more coastal patrol aircraft, or is it an indication of another wave of bombers?

A few minutes later, two more blips have appeared, bringing the total to 3. They are all headed along a similar vector as the previous bomber attack was. It is safe to assume this is another wave of bombers. I quickly take stock of my CAP aircraft. I only have a handful of Phoenix missiles left, but I have an abundance of AMRAAMS. Further, my aircraft are already in position to intercept the incoming bombers. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I am certainly in a better position than I was for the first wave.

As my aircraft position themselves to intercept the new wave of bombers, I realize that in order to keep this CAP going, I'm going to have to refuel the aircraft in the air. Luckily, I have a few Sea Shadows equipped with tanker wing drogues. I set up a quick refuel mission for them to orbit behind my CAP fighters, to refuel any that begin to run low. The downside is, the Sea Shadows wing tanks do not carry an abundance of fuel, so it is likely that some of my CAP aircraft will be forced to return to the carrier regardless. Still, a little is better than nothing.

Suddenly:

(https://i.imgur.com/aBEOG8Z.jpg)

I have no idea how, but the new bombers are already firing their VAMPIRES. All my ship sensors are off, and these VAMPIRES have been fired from even farther away than the first wave. They must be blind firing in my general direction. This is not good.

One of the VAMPIRES is shot down by a Sparrow as it closes on my CAP fighters. The second makes it through. Its up to the ships to take down the second VAMPIRE.

We get a classification on the new bombers. They are older Tu-16 Badger bombers. Less capable than the Backfire, but still a threat.

The second VAMPIRE is shot down from SAMs fired from my carrier group of ships. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Things are getting confusing with the second bomber wave.

(https://i.imgur.com/yuGxkiB.jpg)

Its mixed up with the coastal patrol aircraft, and there are some new ground based contacts as well. They are emitting aerial search radars and appear to be short ranged. These are likely Indian SAM sites protecting the airfield. It may be worth launching a SEAD strike against these targets, though there likely isn't enough time left in the scenario for such a strike to be carried out to completion. Plus, it would do me little good. For reasons I will explain in the post battle analysis, I cannot attack the airfield itself.

More of the Badgers are shot down, mostly by AMRAAMs as I'm out of Phoenixes at this point.

(https://i.imgur.com/oO8uZbo.jpg)

The Badger is a slower, less sophisticated aircraft than the Backfire. This means it is easier to engage and shoot down, among other things.

Then I detect a third type of bomber, the Tu-95 Bear G. This is yet another aircraft capable of firing VAMPIRES at me. But now, I am in a difficult position. Most of my CAP aircraft are queuing up for refueling. I have precious few aircraft that are still patrolling on station. Aerial warfare is very fuel intensive. This has become a fight of logistics more than anything else at this point.

(https://i.imgur.com/yTDCCEh.jpg)

I order most of my Tomcats to RTB. They are out of Phoenix and Sparrow missiles, and are generally low on fuel. Better to have them safe on the deck re-arming then flying around with only short range weapons, and the potential to take fuel from the tankers that my Hornets need. Most of my Hornets have all of their AMRAAMs left, and I'll need them to intercept this third wave of Bear bombers. One flight (two aircraft) of Hornets carries 12 AMRAAMs, which is more than enough to take on a wing of bombers by themselves. As long as I can keep at least 1 flight of armed Hornets in front of the incoming Bears, I should be ok. So far, so good.

I get a very bizarre radar return from an unidentified bogey.

(https://i.imgur.com/IbbC8Ip.jpg)

Its flying above the service ceiling of most contemporary fighters, and flying at an incredible 1350 knots when its first detected. As I maneuver the closest flight of Hornets to the Indian coast back towards the carrier, the bogey moves as if tracking them. It would appear that this is some kind of long range missile that has been fired at my Hornets, and is being guided by some type of radar that doesn't immediately register as a weapons tracking radar. Odd.

(https://i.imgur.com/R087BsE.jpg)

Yup, its definitely a missile. Its gone active against my Hornets now. The Hornets should be able to kinematically defeat the missile, as they are turned away and the missile has been airborne for a while now.

Suddenly the source of the missile is revealed.

(https://i.imgur.com/CjTURNu.jpg)

The Soviet made Mig-25 Foxbat! This scenario continues to throw surprises at me. The Foxbat was a Soviet interceptor aircraft that was designed to fly high and very fast in order to intercept NATO bombers. It caused quite the stir in NATO countries when its capabilities were first learned of, and even inspired the development of the American F-15. Now, I'll get a chance to experience why so many defense analysts were worried by the Foxbat.

The first missile fired by the Foxbat is defeated, but there is another one on the way.

(https://i.imgur.com/p1fPQKG.jpg)

The second missile is also defeated, and the Foxbat appears to disengage and turn back towards the coast.

A few moments of relative peace go by. My Tomcats are now all RTB, and many of my Hornets are refueling at the aerial tankers. The situation seems almost under control.

(https://i.imgur.com/QICdVT4.jpg)

Nope. More VAMPIRES in the air, this time with only a single flight of Hornets between them and my ships.

At this point, I am at a loss for words as to how to properly describe the situation.

Unfortunately I am going to have to break the finale of this AAR up into two parts. In what has become a theme for the past few updates, the enemy continues to exercise its combat voting rights by keeping the battle going. I was hoping to finish up this AAR in this update, but seeing how long this update is at this point, I've decided to cut it here and (hopefully) finish everything out in part two. I know there was a long gap between this update and the last one, which I apologize for, but I can promise that part two of the finale will be out by tomorrow evening. I am just as eager to finish this up as I suspect many of you are.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 21, 2018, 06:47:57 PM
No, no. I'm in no hurry until my heart stops pounding.  :hide:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 22, 2018, 03:32:23 AM
Finale Part Two


Most of my Hornets are refueling. Only one flight stands between the enemy bombers and my ships. Two VAMPIRES are on their way, with more likely to follow. As we resume the scenario, the flight of Hornets gets close enough to the VAMPIRES to fire AMRAAMs at them.

(https://i.imgur.com/SMkeiph.jpg)

You'll notice that the AMRAAMs are not technically in range of the VAMPIRES yet. The reason they can be fired at this range is due to the rate of closure and the fact that the VAMPIRES are non-maneuvering targets. Simple physics will get my AMRAAMs close to the enemy missiles. After that, its up to the seekers to inertially guide the AMRAAMs home.

Moments later, with still half of their fuel/flight time, the AMRAAMs close with and destroy one of the VAMPIRES. The second manages to miss two AMRAAMs and continues on towards my ships. The flight of Hornets press on farther to engage the enemy bombers.

One of the flights of Hornets currently refueling is able to fire off an AMRAAM shot at the closing VAMPIRE. This is likely the wingman of the aircraft currently in the process of refueling.


(https://i.imgur.com/i0w1wp9.jpg)

It's a bit of a wild shot, but if its able to knock down the second VAMPIRE then I'm all for it.

The AMRAAM misses, and none of the other refueling aircraft are in a permissible weapons envelope. The VAMPIRE continues on.

One of the Sea Shadows on refueling duty is able to identify one of the SAM sites near the Indian airfield with its ELINT suite.

(https://i.imgur.com/dBCXDzd.jpg)

Even though the SAM site is now identified, none of my ELINT equipped aircraft are able to get an exact fix on its location, so I am unable to fire any Tomahawks at it.

There is little time to be frustrated however, as the second VAMPIRE is now within SAM range of my ships. Two missiles streak out to intercept it.

(https://i.imgur.com/FEVwPYH.jpg)

At the same time, my flight of Hornets begins engaging the incoming bombers with AMRAAMs. Hopefully this flight is able to keep these incoming bombers distracted long enough to prevent more VAMPIRES from being fired.

(https://i.imgur.com/ZCad21S.jpg)

In a heart pounding moment, the first friendly SAM fired at the VAMPIRE misses its target. Luckily, the second SAM finds its target, and the immediate threat to my ships is once again eliminated. Its really coming down to the wire.

The closest Badger bomber is shot down by the flight of Hornets, with the second Badger behind it already being engaged by another AMRAAM. However...

(https://i.imgur.com/Tl7Lsk5.jpg)

Damn! The Bear bombers, farther back behind the Badgers, are able to fire off another two VAMPIRES.

The two new missiles quickly close on my Hornets, and two more AMRAAMs are fired after them.

(https://i.imgur.com/PNMGfad.jpg)

One of the VAMPIRES is shot down, but the other makes it through. This is becoming a theme...

Both Badger bombers are hit by AMRAAMs, but neither are shot down. However, both turn tail and head back to base, with more AMRAAMs following them. I order my flight of Hornets, now running low on AMRAAMs, to burn for the Bear bomber to the rear. Hopefully they can close the distance fast enough to get missiles on the Bear before its able to fire on my ships.

Two of the three flights refueling finish and begin heading towards the enemy bombers. They have 3/4ths fuel load and plenty of missiles. At the least, they may be able to interdict incoming VAMPIRES as they make their way to the intercept point.

The bad news is, there are still more bombers appearing over the airfield. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

Another AMRAAM slams into an already stricken Badger bomber, but still it refuses to fall out of the sky. Then, his wingman is hit by an AMRAAM. A few moments later, the first Badger is hit by a third AMRAAM, yet still refuses to go down.

Then there is a spasm of good and bad news. First, the remaining VAMPIRE is shot down by the refueled Hornets making their way to the intercept point. At almost the same moment, this happens:

(https://i.imgur.com/8wA0EKs.jpg)

The enemy bombers that appeared above the airfield are identified. More Bears. This is not good. These Bears are able to fire their missiles at ranges that are on the edge of my ability to interdict. What's more, there is another Foxbat flying around near the coast, chasing down any of my aircraft that get too close.

(https://i.imgur.com/m6xp72A.jpg)

Just after taking this screenshot, an intercepting Foxbat starts firing missiles at my Hornets. Then, I get a message that one of my ASW helos ran out of fuel and had to ditch. The situation is now completely absurd.

The two incoming VAMPIRES are shot down by my SAMs, but moments later more VAMPIRES are fired.

(https://i.imgur.com/5d87pLm.jpg)

At this point I decide to task all of my Hornets to intercept incoming VAMPIRES. It is clear that I will not be able to get close enough to the Bears before they are able to fire their missiles. I'm better off positioning the Hornets to shoot down the fired missiles.

A bit of a brawl occurs. Some Bears are shot down, then a Foxbat gets in and fires a few missiles at my Hornets, but all of them miss. More VAMPIRES are fired, and yet more bombers appear in the sky over the airfield. The circus refuses to end.

There is some good news however. My ELINT aircraft have finally nailed down the locations of the enemy SAM and radar sites, and I begin engaging them with the Benfold's Tomahawks. Finally, I can put the massive stockpile of these weapons to some use.

(https://i.imgur.com/tgZ6zb6.jpg)

With the good news comes more bad. I now only have 1 CAP flight left in the air with radar missiles. And there are yet more bombers being launched from the airfield. In another few minutes, more VAMPIRES are in the air, and I've expended the last of my AMRAAMs.

My ships are dangerously low on SAMs and it appears that there will be plenty more VAMPIRES on the way. There is one saving grace. A handful of my SLAM equipped ASuW aircraft have re-armed. Each aircraft carries two AMRAAMs. I may have to launch these aircraft as close in defense of my ships against the incoming VAMPIRES.

As if to illustrate the point, a single VAMPIRE, dodging everything thrown at it, closes on the Benfold.

(https://i.imgur.com/ozTGgDK.jpg)


Seconds later, the inevitable happens:

(https://i.imgur.com/Dt5GQHS.jpg)

The Benfold is sunk.

To add insult to injury, there is a Foxbat chasing down my aircraft that are returning to base, and 5 more Bear bombers bearing down on my remaining ships.

(https://i.imgur.com/pkKpW7z.jpg)

Suddenly it becomes clear what the Foxbat's real target is. Its going for my AEW aircraft!

There have been enough disasters and ridiculous circumstances in this battle. I'm not losing my AEW aircraft. I immediately retask the closest Hornet flight, armed with only Sidewinders and with 20 minutes of fuel left to intercept the Foxbat.

A knifefight ensues.

(https://i.imgur.com/Hu8pb6V.jpg)

Absurdly, both Sidewinders fired at the Foxbat miss. The Foxbat presses on the AEW aircraft. I retask two more Hornets to turn around and use their remaining Sidewinders on the Foxbat, but it might be too late. Suddenly, the Foxbat turns and gives my Hornets one last chance to fire a Sidewinder. It's a hit!

(https://i.imgur.com/oFHuhXO.jpg)

The damn thing survives the hit however. My Hornets close in and fire guns. The first volley misses. Then, the second Hornet in the flight gets an opportunity and fires the last remaining Sidewinder. It hits the Foxbat, and kills it for good. I order the Hornets to RTB.

The Bear bombers are starting to get uncomfortably close, but for some reason have not fired any missiles yet. Its time to intercept them. I have a single Tomcat that is armed and ready to go. He will fly alone and lob Phoenix missiles at the incoming Bear bombers. I also have a single Hornet with AMRAAMs also ready to go. He will also be launched by himself. Generally speaking, it is a cardinal sin to fly without a wingman, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, it is already clear based on the events of the battle thus far that there will be quite the shake up in the chain of command of this carrier group.

The Tomcat gets in range of the Bears, and fires all 4 of his Phoenix missiles.

(https://i.imgur.com/5pB5F2S.jpg)

I've set both aircraft to expend all of their munitions, including their guns. This is a desperate act, but a necessary one.

Consistent with my luck this entire battle, all 4 Phoenix missiles miss their targets. It's time for the AMRAAMs and Sparrows to have a go, then the Sidewinders, and then cannon.

As this engagement begins to unfold and Sparrows and AMRAAMs are launched, the Tomahawks fired by the Benfold smash into their targets, destroying a long range search radar. The Benfold gets vengeance from the grave, though it is little consolidation for the loss of the ship.

All radar missiles are fired, and we manage to score 4 hits. 3 Bears have been shot down, with one more being hit and damaged.

(https://i.imgur.com/CkZ6hbO.jpg)

2 of the Bears turn tail, while the 3rd decides to keep coming. The Hornet goes after the 3rd Bear while the Tomcat chases the other two down.

The Hornet hits its target with a Sidewinder. A few moments after being hit, the Bear falls apart in mid air. The Tomcat closes with one of the fleeing Bears and engages with a Sidewinder, but misses. Then, as he screams past the Bear, the bomber lets off a rip of its tail guns. Seconds later, as the Tomcat is swinging back around, another burst of tail gun fire chases after it. Luckily, both bursts miss the Tomcat. As the Tomcat comes back around, the Bear, already damaged from a previous missile hit, succumbs to its damage and falls out of the sky. Now there is only one enemy bomber left, and he is running.

I order the Tomcat, now out of all missiles, to RTB while the Hornet with one Sidewinder left pursues the remaining Bear. Another one on one brawl erupts. The Hornet fires its last Sidewinder and misses, then fires a burst of its cannon which also misses. Then the Bear returns fire with its own cannons, but also misses. The Hornet closes in from the front and fires a burst head on, but misses again. The Bear fires at the Hornet as it pulls away and misses. The Hornet turns, closes in for another burst, and lets loose. It's a hit! But the Bear stays airborne. The Hornet comes around again and lines up a head on shot. He fires, and hits! The Bear's cockpit is shredded by 20mm rounds, and the aircraft finally tumbles from the sky.

(https://i.imgur.com/truy0U3.jpg)

The skies are clear and all aircraft are RTB. I allow around 20 minutes of game time to pass as my aircraft return and land on the carrier. Then...

(https://i.imgur.com/RgI0qmR.jpg)

More bogies appear. A whole lot of them too. They appear to be mostly smaller aircraft, such as the Su-17 Fitter and the Mig-27 Flogger.

As if the situation could not get any more absurd.

Its time to take inventory of the situation. There are 30 minutes left in the scenario time. All of my CAP aircraft are still rearming. I have a handful of SLAM and AMRAAM equipped Hornets ready to go. My ships SAM batteries are nearly dry, and reduced to close in SAMs like the Sea Sparrow. I've lost two ships and at least a dozen aircraft. The battle has been raging now for 35 hours and it appears there is no end in sight.

The good news is, I have caused some pretty significant damage to the Indian bomber fleet, and completely destroyed the Indian surface fleet. The threat of a naval invasion against Sri Lanka has been averted.

The bad news is, I simply do not have the combat power necessary to continue to reduce enemy capability. The single biggest limiting factor is my inability due to the scenario to strike the enemy airfields. This will be explained and discussed in the post battle analysis that will follow this final update.

My conclusion is this: I am withdrawing my Task Force to the Southeast of Sri Lanka, and requesting additional assets if continued action against the Indians is required. The Olympia will remain on station and patrol the coast of Sri Lanka, providing intelligence data as well as engaging any remaining Indian naval vessels that attempt to approach the Sri Lankan coast.

(https://i.imgur.com/wIYKMnO.jpg)

This is the final sitrep. I allow time to run out, and the scenario comes to an end.

This is the final screen showing the scoring:

(https://i.imgur.com/NjXoNTz.jpg)

India suffered the following losses:

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x MRK Nanuchka I [Pr.1234 Ovod]
1x D 61 Delhi [Pr.15]
1x RK Osa II [Pr.205U]
1x D 51 Rajput [Pr.61ME Kashin II]
20x Sea Harrier Mk51
5x Tu-16K-26PM Badger G Mod
1x BPK Kresta II [Pr.1134A Berkut A]
1x BPK Kara [Pr.1134B Berkut B]
1x RKR Admiral Nakhimov [Pr.1144.2 Orlan, Ex-Kalinin]
1x S 44 Shishumar [Type 209-1500]
3x Ka-28 Helix A
1x R 22 Viraat [Hermes]
1x S 71 Chakra [PLARK-670 Charlie I]
1x BPK Udaloy I [Pr.1155 Fregat]
1x EM Sovremenny I [Pr.956A Sarych]
1x EM Sovremenny I [Pr.956 Sarych]
10x Tu-22M-2 Backfire B
2x MiG-25PD Foxbat E
1x Tu-16N Badger A
6x Tu-95K-22 Bear G
1x Radar (Flat Face B [P-19])

The US Navy suffered the following losses:

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
7x F/A-18C Hornet
1x F/A-18C Hornet
3x F-14D Tomcat
3x SH-60B Seahawk
1x FFG 36 Underwood [Perry Class]
1x DDG 51 Arleigh Burke [Arleigh Burke Flight I]

Note: The Seahawks were not shot down, but had to ditch due to running out of fuel.

This concludes my AAR of the scenario Bay of Bengal 1999. It certainly was a wild ride. I hope everyone here who has read from the beginning has enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed making this AAR. As mentioned above, there will be a post combat analysis post by me in the coming day or so where I will go into detail about various things, like why I could not engage the Indian airfields, or my thoughts on my overall performance. Stay tuned for that. I'll also end that post with a bit of a surprise announcement.

In the meantime, feel free to post any feedback you may have, whether it is tactical or technical. Do you think Admiral Miller will keep his command? Or are the losses suffered too great? Further, do you think Task Force Nimitz was able to accomplish its mission given the circumstances? Any and all feedback is most welcome.

Thanks again for sticking with the AAR till the bitter end!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Pete Dero on March 22, 2018, 04:12:37 AM
Thanks for a very entertaining AAR.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 22, 2018, 03:05:31 PM
My hair wasn't grey before this AAR began, it is now.  :o   I'd put Admiral Miller up for every award known to Navy History. This was like a modern-day Jutland of the east with nobody supposing so many enemy targets could be handled with so few, but costly, losses. My opinion. Question, would engaging the Vampires closer to your ships been more effective--regarding the many misses I mean?
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 26, 2018, 12:06:12 AM
Bay of Bengal 1999
Post Combat Review

To begin, I'll start by reiterating a few things:

Logistical/Misc Notes on Scenario:

This is a fictional scenario from Fleet Command, ported to Command: Modern Air Naval Operations that follows a CVBG (Carrier Battle Group) as it attempts to interdict the Indian navy.

Two things to point out first; (1) this is not a 1:1 copy of the mission from Fleet Command to Command: Modern Air Naval Operations (CMANO from here on) as there are differences in the force compositions for both the US Navy and Indian navy, and (2) the CMANO scenario has been modified by me. The base scenario gives you a CVBG that is a bit neutered. The Nimitz only gets half of its air wing, and less surface ships in support. To make the scenario more realistic and fun, I have rebuild Task Force Nimitz based on its September 1, 1997 – March 2, 1998 deployment. I have not modified the Indian forces at all, nor have I opened them up in the editor.

Further, due to the way the Indian airfields were originally made in the scenario, I cannot attack them. As seen later on in the AAR, this proved to be a bit of a problem. Especially considering my CVBG had hundreds of Tomahawks that could only strike land targets. More on this specific missile issue later.

The base version of CMANO does not have any way of simulating downed pilots or sailors in the water after a ship is sunk. However, there are a few community made scripts that adds this feature into specific scenarios. At the time I started this scenario I did not know about such scripts, which is why it was not included. I will try to include the CSAR scripts in any future AARs I do in CMANO.


Losses and Expenditures:

SIDE: India
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x BPK Kara [Pr.1134B Berkut B]
1x BPK Kresta II [Pr.1134A Berkut A]
1x BPK Udaloy I [Pr.1155 Fregat]
1x D 51 Rajput [Pr.61ME Kashin II]
1x D 61 Delhi [Pr.15]
1x EM Sovremenny I [Pr.956 Sarych]
1x EM Sovremenny I [Pr.956A Sarych]
3x Ka-28 Helix A
2x MiG-25PD Foxbat E
1x MRK Nanuchka I [Pr.1234 Ovod]
1x R 22 Viraat [Hermes]
1x Radar (Flat Face B [P-19])
1x RK Osa II [Pr.205U]
1x RKR Admiral Nakhimov [Pr.1144.2 Orlan, Ex-Kalinin]
1x S 44 Shishumar [Type 209-1500]
1x S 71 Chakra [PLARK-670 Charlie I]
20x Sea Harrier Mk51
5x Tu-16K-26PM Badger G Mod
1x Tu-16N Badger A
10x Tu-22M-2 Backfire B
6x Tu-95K-22 Bear G


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
13x 23mm AM-23 x 2 Burst [50 rnds]
4x 23mm AM-23 x 2 Burst [50 rnds]
18x 30mm Twin Gatling Gsh-6-30K Burst [375 rnds]
5x 40mm/60 Mk3 Single Bofors Burst [2 rnds]
3x AA-6 Acrid C [R-40RD, SARH]
3x AA-6 Acrid D [R-40TD, IR]
20x AK-100 100mm/70 Frag
37x AK-130 130mm/54 Twin Frag Burst [2 rnds]
5x AK-230 30mm/65 Twin Burst [50 rnds]
8x AK-630 30mm/65 Gatling Burst [400 rnds]
10x AK-630M 30mm/65 Gatling Burst [400 rnds]
6x AK-725 57mm/80 Twin HE Burst [6 rnds]
22x AS-4 Kitchen A Mod 2 [Kh-22M ASM]
46x AS-4 Kitchen A Mod 3 [Kh-22N ASM]
20x AS-6 Kingfish A Mod 3 [KSR-5M, ASM]
2x Generic Acoustic Decoy
2x Generic Acoustic Decoy
53x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges]
40x Generic Chaff Salvo [8x Cartridges]
5x Generic Flare Salvo [4x Cartridges, Single Spectral]
50x PK-10 Flare [SO-50]
8x PK-2 Chaff [TSP-47]
38x SA-N-11a Grisom [9M311K]
80x SA-N-20a Gargoyle [48N6]
10x SA-N-4a Gecko [9M33]
62x SA-N-7 Gadfly [9M38]
64x SA-N-9 Gauntlet [9M330-2 Kinzhal]
20x SS-N-19 Shipwreck [P-700 Granit]
8x SS-N-22 Sunburn [P-80 Zubr]
8x SS-N-22M Sunburn [P-270 Moskit]



SIDE: Sri Lanka
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------


EXPENDITURES:
------------------



SIDE: USN
===========================================================

LOSSES:
-------------------------------
1x DDG 51 Arleigh Burke [Arleigh Burke Flight I]
7x F/A-18C Hornet
1x F/A-18C Hornet
3x F-14D Tomcat
1x FFG 36 Underwood [Perry Class]
3x SH-60B Seahawk


EXPENDITURES:
------------------
280x 127mm/54 HE-CVT [HiFrag]
66x 127mm/54 HE-PD [HiCap]
14x 20mm/85 M61A1 Vulcan Burst [100 rnds]
4x 20mm/85 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 0 Burst [200 rnds]
6x 20mm/85 Mk15 Phalanx Blk 1A Burst [300 rnds]
130x 76mm/62 Compact HE Burst [4 rnds]
88x AGM-84E SLAM
16x AGM-84G Harpoon ICR
12x AGM-88C HARM
104x AIM-120A AMRAAM
75x AIM-54C Phoenix
16x AIM-7P Sparrow III
20x AIM-9M Sidewinder
39x AN/SSQ-53D DIFAR
24x AN/SSQ-62C DICASS
47x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]
16x Generic Chaff Salvo [8x Cartridges]
3x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Single Spectral]
10x Mk214 Sea Gnat Chaff [Seduction]
4x Mk48 Mod 5 ADCAP
2x Mk50 Barracuda Mod 0 ALWT
4x RGM-109C Tomahawk Blk III TLAM-C
8x RGM-84D Harpoon IC
28x RGM-84G Harpoon ICR
9x RIM-116A RAM Blk 0
35x RIM-66E6 SM-1MR Blk VIB
108x RIM-66M-1 SM-2MR Blk III
108x RIM-66M-2 SM-2MR Blk IIIA
8x RIM-7M Sea Sparrow
17x RIM-7P Sea Sparrow


The data speaks for itself. A massive amount of ordinance was consumed by both sides during the duration of the fighting.

A quick note on the Seahawk losses. One Seahawk was lost as sea due to running out of fuel and having to ditch. The other two Seahawks went down with the DDG.

Combat Analysis:

What did I do wrong?

The single biggest sin I committed was not grounding my CAP aircraft when the enemy BCGN got close to my carrier. It was able to fire loads of SAMs into my patrolling aircraft at ranges that made the SAMs difficult to defeat. As a result, I lost a lot of aircraft. I should have grounded my aircraft sooner, but I was too preoccupied with everything happening all over the map. A poor excuse, and my air wing suffered for it.

A second mistake I made was not having some form of active CAP in the air towards the end of the scenario. If I had had an active CAP in the air, it likely would have been enough to initially interdict the incoming bomber waves. That in turn could have prevented the bombers from getting a chance to fire their VAMPIRES, which may have saved the Ford from her fate. The reason I failed to establish a CAP was not because I thought I wouldn't need it, but because I lost track of my aircraft rearming. Just prior to the bomber attacks, all of my attention was devoted to getting ASuW aircraft armed and in the air to take out the last of the enemy surface ships. By the time this task was accomplished, I had lost track of how many aircraft I had ready for CAP, nor did I have any aircraft assigned to the CAP mission so they were not automatically launching. Again, a poor excuse and oversight that cost me the Ford.

Aside from these two, there are a number of little things I can always be working to improve on. Better mission plans, stricter control over EMCON, keeping and maintaining situational awareness of the whole battlefield, etc.

Overall, considering the number of threats I had to deal with, sometimes all at once, and the complexity of the scenario due to these threats and the size of the scenario, I think I did ok for myself all things considered. Losses are always tough to take, but if you look at what I was up against on paper, its almost a miracle my losses weren't much higher given the circumstances. Of course if anyone has constructive criticism, whether it be tactical, technical or on ways to improve the AAR itself, please feel free to post it!


My Gripes:

This is the part where I complain about things I think caused me to suffer losses/misfortunes, completely ridding myself of any blame.

Just kidding of course, though I do have a few things to complain about.

First, the Harpoon missile. When it first came out in the late 70s, it provided the Navy with a much needed reliable and effective anti-ship capability. Plus, the fact that it could be fired by aircraft, surface ships and submarines was a big bonus as well. However, it is not the 1970s anymore. Anti-missile defense systems, specifically anti-missile missiles and point defense systems have come a long way. By 1999, the base model Harpoon is largely obsolete, and I suffered from that in this scenario. Both the ship and aircraft launched versions of the Harpoon were frankly disappointing. Their range was mediocre at best, and their active radar seekers made them easy targets for enemy defensive systems. Further, the amount of Harpoons I got, specifically the ship launched ones, were not nearly enough to punch through enemy defenses to score hits. All of these factors came together to make the Harpoon a nearly worthless weapon in this scenario.

Note: I am talking about the base model Harpoon here, not the SLAM. The SLAM, as shown in the AAR numerous times, is far superior to the Harpoon. It is in fact an upgraded version of the Harpoon, and really goes to show just how outdated the base model Harpoon is by the time the scenario takes place.

My next gripe is by far my biggest, and its with the Navy itself. Specifically, the concept of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG). First some clarification: the briefing for this scenario labels me as a Carrier Battle Group (CVBG) even though in composition I am in fact a CSG. What is the difference between a CVBG and a CSG? Without delving too deep into the nuance, the primary difference is a CSG is much more focused/outfitted for carrying out land strikes. A CVBG is much more rounded, with a higher emphasis on engaging enemy surface ships. Practically speaking, a CVBG has many more anti-ship missiles (both aircraft and surface ship based) than a CSG does. Seeing as I was primarily up against enemy surface ships and aircraft, I was put in a tough situation from the get go. In my Task Force I had hundreds of Tomahawk missiles, but not a single one of them was capable of striking ships. All of them were the land attack variant (the TLAM). Seeing all those useless munitions was frustrating to say the least. The only ship based anti-ship missile I had were base model Harpoons. A CSG essentially puts the entire burden of sinking enemy ships on the carrier air wing.

Now, in context this shift from the CVBG to the CSG makes sense. The shift happened in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. At the time, there really were no other large navies that posed a threat to the US Navy, so they switched over to focusing on land strike missions. This makes sense for the decade of the 90's, but I argue that it goes against the primary mission of the Navy in the long run. The primary mission of the Navy is naval supremacy, which means sinking other enemy ships. This AAR (though the scenario is admittedly outlandish and to the extreme) is a very good case study as to why the Navy should always be focused on naval surface (and subsurface) warfare first, ground strike second. If I had a CVBG in this scenario, it would have been much easier. I could have easily sunk the first four enemy destroyers I encountered with long range ship based, anti-ship missiles, as well as some of the other enemy surface ships I was up against. This would have freed up my aircraft to launch massed strikes against hard to kill targets such as the BCGN, while still giving me standoff strike capability with my anti-ship missiles while my aircraft rearmed.

There is a lot of dense information there, so I'll do my best to summarize quickly. I would have been better off with a CVBG configured Task Force as it would have given me much greater anti-ship capabilities. Both due to the size of the surface threat arrayed against me, and due to the fact that I could not strike any of the land based targets due to scenario restrictions.

Closing:

I didn't mean for this AAR to drag out as long as it did. Between some pesky real life considerations, and the ever constant enemy vote to keep fighting, that's how it turned out. Everything considered, I had a lot of fun doing this AAR. At the least, it shows a CSG going up against every possible conventional threat it could encounter. Attacks from the air, from a large capable surface fleet, and from submarines. The battle also managed to keep interesting, with all the twists and turns it kept throwing me. I hope it was as interesting to read as it was to play!

I'm not sure when I'll be doing another AAR. I need to find a suitable scenario first, and I won't be able to start another one for a little bit. But rest assured, I will definitely be doing more AARs in the future. That is, if there is enough demand for them!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Pete Dero on March 26, 2018, 04:02:55 AM
Quote from: IICptMillerII on March 26, 2018, 12:06:12 AM
But rest assured, I will definitely be doing more AARs in the future. That is, if there is enough demand for them!

Please do !   :bd:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Airborne Rifles on March 26, 2018, 08:56:39 AM
Great stuff, IICptMillerII! I'll be reading!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Sir Slash on March 26, 2018, 10:06:20 AM
Me too. Keep 'em coming.  :notworthy:
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on March 26, 2018, 09:28:28 PM
Quote from: Airborne Rifles on March 26, 2018, 08:56:39 AM
Great stuff, IICptMillerII! I'll be reading!

Glad you enjoyed! Your amazing AARs were a large inspiration for doing mine.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: Old TImer on May 25, 2018, 03:21:56 PM
Very well done AAR.  Thanks for doing it.
Title: Re: C:MANO AAR: Bay of Bengal 1999
Post by: IICptMillerII on April 06, 2022, 01:31:28 AM
Apologies for the necro.

I've compiled and posted this AAR in its entirety to my blog, which can be found here: https://millerswargamingvault.blogspot.com/2022/04/bay-of-bengal-1999.html

For some reason the screenshots no longer work on this forum. For those of you who are so inclined, you can see them in all their glory again!