Battle Report: Castles in the Sky- Jeune Ecole vs. Mahan

[Easy E]

The Jeune Ecole was a school of Naval strategy that was pioneered by the French in 19th Century, perhaps as early as 1820s.  The idea came in vogue as more powerful guns, torpedoes, and similar weaponry became available.  The theory was that smaller, faster, ships armed with higher power weapons could be used to off-set the power of slower, heavily armored battleships.  In addition, the Jeune Ecole advocated for commerce raiding as an effective use of sea power.  France was a leading advocate of this strategy to off-set the British advantage in battleships.   

When the Air Screw was developed and the British launched the HMS Warrior; the first flying warship; the game changed.  Conventional Sea Power was replaced by Air Power by these new developments.  All countries scrambled to acquire the technology for themselves.  However, the British started with an advantage and soon capitalized on it with an early lead in the Air Naval Arms race. 

The British strategy did not change.  They were following the Mahan Doctrine of a large fleet in being with the biggest, most heavily armed ships to act as a defense of the homeland.  They would find, fix, and sink any enemy combatants through superior cannon fire.  The French and L'Aire Nationale were content to continue their strategy of the Jeune Ecole and apply it to their Air Navy.  After all, the British all ready had the lead in flying warship development. 

The French put more time and resources into Air Torpedoes as a weapon system than any other nation.  In addition, their design ethos was less about big battleships and more aligned with cruisers, destroyers, and other Air Torpedo armed escorts to counter the British cannon heavy fleets.

As tensions rose in 1914, the French and British agreed to an informal thawing of relations.  Part of this effort included a more unified effort in the military sphere to potentially counter growing German and Austro-Hungarian efforts on the continent.  The Air Navy commands of both nations were less than thrilled with the decisions of their respective leaders.  However, they did organize a series of "Joint Wargames" to take place off the coast of Spain in the Atlantic.  These were to test each fleets readiness to engage in their preferred combat doctrine and measure their efforts.

You can pre-order the rules from Osprey here: https://ospreypublishing.com/castles-in-the-sky

Mission

Despite this being a "Joint Training" mission, their is no love lost between these two nation's forces.  The event is being refereed by the United States and Japan in order to enforce the results.  New, complex computational systems called Babbages are being utilized to help monitor and calculate the results of mock shooting to simulate actual damage and combat conditions, which will then be relayed to the participants using Marconi wireless devices to inform officers aboard ship of any potential results or judge rulings. 

The two nation's agreed to a series of engagements and scenarios.  Today's mission will be a standard fleet action between the British and the French to test the Jeune Ecole approach vs. the Mahan theory in the heat of combat. 

The game will last 8 turns and take place on a 72MU by 48MU board.  The fleet with the highest remaining armor points is the winner. 

Forces

The Royal Navy

HMS Valiant
Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship
Admiral Jellicoe- Command 3

HMS Benbow
Iron Duke Class Battleship
Captain Sturdee - Command 3

HMS Invincible
Invincible Class Battle Cruiser
Captain Rickards - Command 4

HMS Shannon
Minotaur Class Armored Cruiser
Captain Smythe - Command 3

HMS Dart
Bull Finch Class Destroyer - Torpedoes
Commander Bond - Command 4

L'Aire Nationale

Conde
Gloire Class Cruiser
Commodore Aubrey - Command 4

Algiere
D'Iberville Class Cruiser
Captain Robierre - Command 2

Desaix
D'Iberville Class Cruiser
Captain Montauge - Command 3

Foudre
Foudre Class Cruiser
Captain Bedout - Command 2

Bouclier
Chasseur Class Destroyer- Air Mines
Captain Emeric - Command 1

Epee
Voltigeur Class Destroyer - Torpedoes
Captain Allemand - Command 4

Flueret
Voltigeur Class Destroyer- Torpedoes
Captain Hubert - Command 1

Set-up

This battle is taking place off the coast of Spain in neutral territory over the Atlantic.  We used the terrain generator for each of the 6 grid spaces of the board using the rules in the book. 

No impacting terrain
No impacting terrain
1 Alt Hill
1 Alt Hill
1 Alt Hill
No impacting terrain
It looks like their are a few rocky, uninhabited islands in the combat zone.  They stretch up into altitude 1. 

The British take the side of grid 1-3, and the French the opposite side.  The British form up in line-a-stern steaming onto the board at an angle in section 1, at Speed 4 and altitude 4. 



The French, form up into smaller battle groups, and start on the opposite corner.  The Conde, Algierre, and Bouclier are at the center of the formation at S4, A5 through 7.  They are followed at a distance by the Foudre and Desaix at Altitude 3, and Speed 4.  The Epee and Flouret are far in advance at speed 6 and altitude 7.  They are scattered across section 4 and 5.   



You can read the results of the exercise at the Blood and Spectacles blog here:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/03/battle-report-castles-in-sky-jeune.html