"Worst Case Scenario #3" - Battle of Coronel - November 1, 1914

The Scharnhorst, Gneisnau and Dresden (1:2400 GHQ).

I put together this scenario a few years ago, being inspired by Robert K. Massie's brilliant WWI naval history, 'Castles of Steel'. 


A word of warning: This is a rather lopsided scenario. The British are all but  doomed to defeat, but the battle featured some poignant characters and has real guts behind it.  The German players will be sorely tested to do as well as von Spee while the British side will have to strive to see if they can come away better than Craddock. (I've added a 'what if' option to the British to even the odds somewhat.) The scenario seemed to be well-received the couple times I rolled it out - anyway, if you're interested give it a try and see what you think.


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Painting of The Battle of Coronel.

At the Great War's outbreak in August 1914, Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee, commanding the German East Asia squadron, considered his five cruisers to be in a very tenuous position. Germany, while having significant influence in the European theatre of operations, could project very little power into the Orient or the Pacific. Germany had only the pretence of an Asian 'empire', and so could provide no guarantee of supply to its ships cruising in those waters. Spee's ships required large quantities of coal in which to operate and the demands of re-coaling could not be met by existing German possessions or from its allies in the region.

Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee.

To complicate matters further, Spee had to contend with the possibility that Japan would enter the war against Germany (which it ultimately did) and would proceed to hunt him in the Pacific. Spee saw that he had two options open to him: either break up his command and order his ships to operate individually as commerce raiders, or remain together and attempt to break out of the Pacific as a unified force, and make their way back to the security of the High Seas Fleet in Germany. Being from the 'old school', Spee decided to keep his forces together and attempt to run the gauntlet back to friendly waters.

SMS Scharnhorst - von Spee's flagship.

Conversely, the British had their own set of problems. While they commanded a huge fleet on paper, the British possessed a far-flung empire, which divided both its resources and attention. The vast majority of England's modern warships where jealously husbanded in it's home waters to face the German High Seas Fleet, blockade Germany’s ports and to secure the critical Atlantic convoy routes supplying Great Britain. Also at this time there was a series of crisis occurring within the Admiralty. The First Sea Lord’s position was in chaotic transition and the German’s were in the midst of their historic dash across the Mediterranean to Turkey with the cruisers Goeben and Breslau.  

HMS Good Hope - Cradock's flagship.

So, through a tragic sequence of bungling and miscommunication it fell upon a polyglot force of old, mismatched ships under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock to track down and confront Spee's crack squadron of modern cruisers. Craddock, disgusted with the lack of support from the Admiralty, held no illusions to the chance of his success (much less his survival) but he hoped that with a little luck his squadron could maul Spee's force and give a good account for his command.

Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock.

Craddock left the Falklands in late October, turned the Horn on the 22nd and entered the Pacific in search of von Spee. On the afternoon of November 1, around 100 miles offshore of Coronel, Chile, the two squadrons sighted each other, closed and engaged.

I won't get into any great detail here but the historical outcome was pretty bleak for the British. Craddock's attack was considered a 'death ride' by many. He along with half of his squadron was sent to the bottom with virtually nothing to show for it. The older age of Craddock's ships, their green crews, the comparative small caliber of the British guns and the weather all conspired against his keen desire to at least damage the German squadron. It was the British navy's first defeat since 1812.


Von Spee's victory was bitter-sweet as he knew he would be hunted down and destroyed by the vengeful British. When, after Coronel, he was given congratulatory flowers by the German community in Valparaiso he commented, 'These will do nicely for my grave.' He was correct - von Spee, along with the majority of his squadron (including his two sons who served on the Nurnberg and Gneisnau), met their fate at the Battle of the Falkland Islands the following month. 

HMS Good Hope on fire before her main magazine exploded.

The Game:

The scenario is a 'what-if' that I've cooked up from my readings of the battle. Basically, it’s this: what if the Admiralty had not dithered in its planning and provided Craddock with the reinforcements he requested? Historically, the Admiralty had dispatched the modern armoured cruiser Defence and the pre-Dreadnaught Canopus to Craddock but for a variety of reasons these were not present with Craddock at the historical action. We’ll tests the theory that if Craddock was provided the Defence and Canopus for his sortie against von Spee he may have been more successful.

A few shots of one of our refights of Coronel (GHQ models painted by Curt, photos by Tim Brown)

The action will start with the opposing fleets first sighting each other's funnel smoke at around 26000 yards (15 miles). Spee's German squadron is composed of the two modern armoured cruisers Scharnhorst (his flagship) and Gneisnau, along with three light cruisers Leipzig, Nurnberg and Dresden. Craddock's British command is made up of his flagship, the old armoured cruiser Good Hope, two other armoured cruisers, the Monmouth and the Defence, the pre-Dreadnaught battleship Canopus, the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchantman Otranto. 

Elements of both squadrons closing for short-range fire.

Victory Conditions

British

Crushing Victory: Disable or sink the Gneisnau and the Scharnhorst.

Victory: cause at least 7 victory points (vp) of damage to the German squadron.

• SMS Gneisnau (5 vp)
• SMS Scharnhorst (5 vp)
• SMS Dresden (2.5 vp)
• SMS Leipzig (2.5 vp)
• SMS Nurnberg (2.5 vp)

German

Crushing Victory: Cause 12 vp of damage upon the British squadron and don’t lose either the Gneisnau or the Scharnhorst.
Victory: Cause 15 vp of damage upon the British squadron with no more than 5 vp loss.

• HMS Good Hope (5 vp)
• HMS Defense (6 vp)
• HMS Monmouth (4 vp)
• HMS Canopus (5 vp)
• HMS Glasgow (3 vp)
• HMS Otranto (1 vp)

Fleets should begin the engagement at a distance equivalent to 26,000 yards apart.

The British Squadron on approach.

The Weather

Begins Fresh,

Force 5,

Wind Speed at 20 knots,

Maximum visibility is 26,000 yards / identification at 20,000

Start Time = 5:00 pm

Darkness Falls: 7:30 pm

Exchange of fire between the Gneisenau and the Glasgow.

Ship Notes (Optional Scenario Rules)

Canopus

• While the Canopus was rated as having 12” guns they were of a very early type and as such were regarded to have the same ballistic properties of a 9.2” gun
• If the British decide to have the Canopus begin with them they will be limited to its maximum speed (15 knots) if they wish to keep in formation.  Otherwise the Canopus will arrive on turn 8 + D10 behind the main fleet.

German Gunery

• Spee’s squadron were crack gunners, to the extent that several of the ships had been given awards personally by the Kaiser in fleet competitions.  Adjust the German gunnery as you see fit to reflect their expertise. In terms of 'General Quarters: Fleet Action Imminent' (the ruleset we use) all German ships will cause a singe hit on a roll of 7 in addition to their regular gunnery results. 

British Green Crews

• Several of the British ships present (HMS Canopus, HMS Monmouth, HMS Otranto) were crewed with naval reservists hurriedly put to service at the start of hostilities.  While their seamanship was of good standard many had very little experience in firing their main guns. Adjust the British gunnery as you see fit to reflect their expertise. To reflect this in 'General Quarters III: Fleet Action Imminent' HMS Canopus, HMS Monmouth, HMS Otranto all roll a D20 instead of a D12 for their gunnery.

Rough Seas

• The weather made it too dangerous to use guns located in casemate batteries as they ran the risk of being flooded. Those ships with casemate guns will not be able to utilize them (this will have great impact on HMS Good Hope).