Cruel Seas is a fast-paced tabletop game recreating the swirling naval dogfights taking place on the seas during the dark days of the Second World War. Powerful, well-armed boats manned by skilled crews stalk enemy shipping lanes, lying in wait for an unsuspecting target to present itself. With a roar of engines the motor torpedo boats would surge forward...
Originally a US destroyer, HMS Campbeltown was transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the Destroyers for Bases agreement after the outset of World War Two. She was arguably the most famous of these ships due to her role in Operation Chariot in 1942. Though she saw a brief service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, her most famed action was that against the...
Great Britain never built a vessel as fast or as deadly as the E-boats, instead, fielding many types of MTB and motor gunboats. After a slow start, the Royal Navy helped by construction in the USA, Canada and India, built an extraordinary catalogue of excellent small boats, supported by larger vessels which gave serious firepower and, using the...
Kaiser Wilhelm’s vision, indeed obsession, with building a vast fleet of dreadnoughts came to nought during the Great War. He knew that his excellent fleet could not risk significant battles with the Royal Navy, it was a one-shot weapon. The lighter units, particularly the U Boats, did most of the real work on a weekly basis. The German Navy was only...
Imperial Japanese Navy Fleet Cruel Seas focuses on the cat and mouse hunts that happened nightly in the Philippines, Guadalcanal and the Solomon’s. They could be IJN sub chasers stalking a crippled US submarine, or mine layers playing their trade at night. Most commonly it will be Japanese barge convoys defending themselves in shallow water against...
The Schnellboat or ‘E Boat’ as the British Admiralty called them, E for enemy, was a truly formidable beast, in many ways incomparable in detail to the other nation’s boats. In sheer size alone, the E boat was much, much bigger. Allied boats tended to be 70-80 feet in length, the E boat 115 feet long, and the laws of physics, though complex, favour a...
At the outbreak of war, Britain had 3 formed MTB flotillas, precious few to cover the world’s largest empire. But with judicious use of what were pre-war civilian boatyards and the huge resources of their empire and help from the USA, the Coastal Forces would in 1944 have 25,000 sailors in over 2000 small craft! These Flotillas, enhanced by Commonwealth...
By 1941 there were 29 total PT’s total in the US Navy, by December ’43 there were 29 squadrons. Indeed, by the end of the war the small ships, PT’s LCI etc. numbered 7,000 craft of 80 types. Many Early PT boats had up to 4 torpedoes and 2 twin .50 Cal guns in powered mounting, a heavy load for the day. As with most American hardware, this was only the...
On December 7th, 1941, the US Navy could only boast 3 squadrons of motor torpedo boats, or PT boats (patrol torpedo) as they were named. PT squadron 1 was based on Pearl Harbor and the 12 boats opened fire on the incoming Japanese bombers, claiming 2 planes downed for sure and others damaged. Squadron 2 was based in Manila Bay of the Philippines and had a...
Regia Marina Fleet The Italians favoured their fast small boats, typically the MAS boats ( Motoscafo Anti Sommergibile) weighing in at between 20 and 30 tons, smaller than most other nations small craft. They were, however, good boats and gave the Allies a tough time. They had a ten-man crew; their principal armament was two torpedoes and a 20 mm Breda A/A...
Soviet Navy Fleet The Soviet Navy then is not a glamorous fleet for the gamer. Rather it’s a solid, unsophisticated affair, with no radar, little radio, few automatic cannons or other refinements. As ever with Russian forces, quantity has a quality all its own. Your best tactic is to get in quick, torpedo your target and escape fast as you are likely to...
The Imperial Japanese Army started developing small gunboats for close support of amphibious landings in 1924 and by 1927 had the AB-Tei gunboat. By WWII these would be diesel-powered. They would be transported to the landing zones on merchant ships. They were also used as patrol boats in rivers, harbors and coastal zones and to escort supply barges. In...