First Battle of Tripoli.
Commodore Duff briefs his Captains, and the ships get under way whilst American captain Patch persues an enemy.
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First Battle of Tripoli.
Commodore Duff briefs his Captains, and the ships get under way whilst American captain Patch persues an enemy.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56131&stc=1 Captain Patch closes with the enemy whilst the Swedish Frigates expertly negotiate the outer shoals.(Raffer J Larwood please take notes)
Patch engages the so called English Fort, whilst the first of the Swedish Frigates anchors just outside the long shoal in the inner harbour and begins the discussion with the formost enemy ships.
As the second Swedish Frigate enters the bay the first line of the enemy turn into line of battle on their springs which had cunningly been set up by their Admiral Mustapha Camel before the battle started. Captain Patch soon disposes of the now anchored chase ship and returns his attention to the Fort.
The action now became general, but it was not long before the Libyan Flagship caught fire.
Within a few minutes the tinder dry vessel went down.
Meanwhile the third Swedish Frigate attempted to outflank the defense line and came to the attention of the guns on the outer fortifications.
At the other end of the Swedish line Captain Patch in USS Boston finally silenced the English fort and opened up the other flank of the defending ships line.
At this juncture the second enemy ship sank under continuous fire from the two Swedish Frigates.
With her first objective achieved Boston now joined the Froja and the Swedish line of battle who had now disposed of the third enemy ship. The Galleys in concert with the only remaining ship now finally go onto the attack.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56140&stc=1 This proves to be too little too late and one Galley goes down almost immediately that it comes into range. Its massive forward pointing gun having little effect on the Froja.
The second Galley after a quick contretempts with Boston also sinks beneath the waters of the harbour, whilst the outer castle is subdued by Camilla and the remaining enemy ship is abandoned by her crew, giving the combined squadron an overall decisive victory. In respect for the losing Admiral Mustapha Camel his identity will remain a closely guarded secret.
Bligh.
Nice battle. Commodore Duff made me proud!
It was like a surgical opperation Jonas. They just sidestepped all the obsticals I had built in and used that hidden shoal as a defensive wall against attack. The vastarray of harbour guns hardly came into it. Only the mole and outer forts getting off any shots. Then each of the enemy ships were dispatched with superb skill and tenacity with complete disregard to incoming fire.
I had to take my hat off to them all.
Four against seven and two forts should have seeen them suffer. Not a single Allied ship was disabled. Even when the fort finally blew up they were out of range.
Rob.
Great action filled battle there chaps. Just out of curiosity how long did it last from the first move to the last?
Two hours and ten minutes including a short briefing and the loyal toast Gary. It was scheduled to last two and a half, but the attack was carried out so surgically that it was all over early.
Rob.
Captain Duff's Campaign game 0ne
Vice Admiral Naharaht surveys the table.
.
The other captains read their orders which sets each one a different objective.
Each captain contemplates his first move.
My objectives were to man the batteries at harbour and gold mine, whilst transporting the gold collecting two decker from the port to the mine.
Additionally I had two Frigates manned by freed slaves with very poor gunnery skills but a huge crew. They were out to run aboard and take any other ship that they could grapple. Simples then, Arrr! me hearties.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56146&stc=1The ships set out.
The ships start to close.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56148&stc=1Captain Manley attempts to make out the colours of an approaching ship. A friend or foe?
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56149&stc=1 That's got to hurt!:smack:
Ships under fire near the gold mine.
Dammn it missed again.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56151&stc=1 And again! From the harbour defences.
Thankfully the return fire was not any better.
Further out to sea the Black Pearl was getting in on the action, as my treasure Galleon made a run for it along the coast and gave the nearest british ship a whiff of grapeshot. Coor blimey those Spanish bilges didn't half whiff an all.
Meanwhile one of my distraction slave crews take a bit of a bashing whilst in hot persuit of a target ship which is about to distinguish itself by running aground. This ship niffs a bit too! What are you trying to do to me Chris? Those slaves could at least have been put under the ships pumps.:dazed:
Now I can smell burning as well. Never mind if things are hotting up. This has turned a long end chase into a simple boarding action. Ramming speed, and lets all get off this ship before we get our toes singed.:cheezy:
Ouch that hurt. This enemy fights hard, but at last the overwhelming hoard of slaves won through. :swordright::swordleft:
:surrender:
With my Treasure ship also safely docked it was mission accomplished.
However by a whisker Black Pearl escaped being boarded by my other slave manned frigate so in that area at least honours were even as both ships sailed off into the sunset.
Look out for part two of this campaign later.
Rob.
Second part of Chris's campaign.
Although I did not participate in the second action, I did manage to get a few photos during my wanderings through to the Wings games.
A new set of objectives were set, and I'm sure Chris can explain them to you all.
You may notice that the British squadron seem to be biding their time as the hostilities kick off.
Soon a free for all seemed to develop.
This continues as more ships, some looking distinctly piratical approach from a distance.
https://sailsofglory.org/attachment....id=56160&stc=1 The pirates appear to fall out among themselves.
The British cruise up.
whilst everyone else fights themselves to a standstill in either obliterating their foes or in taking the town.
Remember that British squadron? Having someone else fulfil all their objectives bar one, still in pristine fighting condition, they now form the blockade in front of the town and take the surrender of all the battered ships and their objectives.
That at least was my understanding of the outcome.
My congratulations to Chris on having conceived and overseen such an entertaining afternoon's gaming for us all.
Rob.
The First Battle of Tripoli Harbour or what really happened. How did you shape up when compared to Commodore Ruldolf Cederström’s Squadron and Captain Daniel McNeill?
It was a naval battle fought on May the 16th, 1802 in Tripoli Harbor between a combined force consisting of the American frigate USS Boston and initially two Swedish Navy frigates against several Tripolitanian Barbary corsairs. The Swedish-American force was enforcing the blockade when an engagement broke out between it and Tripolitanian forces. The Allied fleet damaged the Tripolitanian squadron as well as the harbour fortifications before withdrawing and resuming the blockade.
USS Boston under Captain McNeill had been sent to Tripoli to blockade the port and prevent any ships from entering or leaving. Leaving for Tripoli in January she discovered that four Swedish ships had already begun a blockade of the port. Along with the Swedish vessels she attempted to chase down corsairs attempting to break the blockade with little success, as the Swedish vessels were quite large and cumbersome making it difficult for them to pursue the small Tripolitanian galleys that darted in and out of the port's harbour.
The Battle.
On May 16, Boston with the Swedish frigate HMSS Fröja managed to chase down a Tripolitanian corsair (a ship owned and staffed by Muslim Slave Traders), disabling it by forcing it to beach itself. Six other corsairs then sortied out from the harbour in an attempt to screen the first one. The American and Swedish frigates managed to deter their attempts until another ship arrived in the harbour. The Swedish frigate began bombarding the fortifications whilst Boston sailed to head off the new vessel. This gave the corsairs an opportunity to make another attempt at assisting the beached vessel. Shortly thereafter Boston realized that the newly arrived ship was merely another Swedish frigate. Realizing his mistake, Captain McNeil turned his ship around and engaged the Tripolitanian ships once more firing several broadsides into them and damaging several. The action then concluded with the three frigates resuming their blockade stations having taken no damage while inflicting several losses on the enemy.
Aftermath.
The action did little to prevent corsairs from using Tripoli as a base of operations. Besides this action, no other serious attempt was made by the blockading squadron to enforce the blockade. USS Constellation later arrived to bolster the attempt at denying the harbours use by the Tripolitanians. The Swedish decided to make their own peace with Tripoli, leaving the two American frigates to enforce the blockade themselves, but the Americans soon ran short of provisions and also withdrew, thereby lifting the blockade and leaving the port open to the enemy.
Not bad then eh captains. Well done.
Rob.
Great scenario, great report, great pics!!!
May I please share on socials and BBG, quoting you as the source? Thanks a lot!
Feel free to use any of my photos whenever you like Andrea. If it were not for you there would not be any pictures to show anybody.
You were sadly missed at Doncaster this year.
Rob.