I believe we should try sailing as far as possible from Sicilly using the red route instead of the shorter yellow, even if it means adding another mission. If we sail too close to Sicily we will see convoy attacks from the very first few mins of the mission and very quickly we will lose the CV's which will completely screw the entire situation. Our convoy only has short range radar and the shorter yellow route places us no more than 25-30km from several axis airfields along the coast of Sicily and far from Malta, this means the axis forces can make attacks long before Malta based aircraft arrive to assist the CAP also we will be vulnerable at the end of the mission as our aircraft have to return to Malta giving two windows of opportunity for air attack against just machine gun armed naval fighters, naval fighters that at most should be considered a nuisance or anti-recon defence
I would reach column 'BO' and then turn south keeping Pantelleria between Sicily and the convoy, the objective being to keep as far from Sicily as possible to give our Malta based aircraft a chance to reach the convoy. Once in BO17 I would change course to head for BS15, then head to BW14 and finally turn due east for Malta. Taking this route is not without danger of course but it sails us directly away from the biggest threat which is the Sicilian airfields. Yes this route sails us closer to the airfields of Pantelleria, Lampedusa and Tripoli but those small island airfields can be kept under observtion by submarine and knocked out by air attack
I would also suggest the following
Delay the convoy until the NE convoy is also on the map, we can use this time for recon and to soften up their airfields
The CV's need to operate away from the convoy, they are irreplaceable and essential for the reinforcement of Malta without which we will quickly lose the campaign
Heres a sketch of the alternative route, it is a slightly longer route then the shorter yellow route but I think a lot safer plus we can gain some extra time by changing the first part of the journey to go more direct
We also need to remember that the axis have spies in Gibraltar
We will need to plan how to fool the axis spy network who can see our harbours in Gibraltar
When a large convoy departs or major surface vessels move the spies will alert axis command
For the purposes of this discussion the reinforcement carrying carriers and supporting warships will simply be called the CV group, the merchants will be referred to as the convoy and Bone our safe haven which represents Gibraltar will be referred to Gibraltar. Lastly the area of the map that the CV must reach to 'launch' the reinforcement Hurricanes to Malta shall be referred to as the Hurricane launch area
In mission 1 all ships sail from Gibraltar heading into the mediterranean apparently destined for Malta. Once clear of coastal observers we turn back and our end mission position will be north of Gibraltar effectively back where started but off shore out of sight of coastal observers and beyond the 'range' limits of axis aircraft
The rules are that axis aircraft must remain at least 50km east of Gibraltar
In mission 2 we remain in position north of Gibraltar relying on the axis command searching the area of the map north of Bizerta and Cape Bon assuming we are running the gauntlet whilst we are happily holding position at sea out of harms way
In mission 3 we will start moving the convoy east, the CV group remains on station
In mission 4 the convoy will continue moving east timed to arrive 10km west of the Hurricane launch area by mission end. Also in this mission the CV group will head east at full speed aiming to be approx 60km short of the Hurricane launch area by the end of the mission
In Mission 5 which is the first night mission our convoy will make its dash south wards past Pantelleria aiming to get as far as possible from Sicily by dawn. The CV group will arrive at the launch zone overnight and will dispatch its Swordfish and Fulmars to attack Pantelleria airfield with flares and bombs or attack Italian ships in harbour with torpedo during the night mission
In mission 6 which is the first mission of the second day the CV group will be at the launch site and 10-12 new Hurricanes we will launched bound for Malta with ferry tanks. HMS Eagle (the fast carrier) will launch all of its naval aircraft to transfer to and top up the Argus (slow carrier) then the Eagle will head back to Gibraltar at best speed with escort to pick up its compliment of naval fighters. By mission end the convoy will be ready to turn eastwards and make its run between Pantelleria and Lampedusa. The Argus will hold position off Cape Bon for this mission giving us a platform to launch aircraft to protect the convoy which by now will be well south of Pantelleria
In mission 7 the Eagle will arrive back at Gibraltar to pick up fresh aircraft and the Argus will sail back towards Gibraltar. The convoy will push east past Lampedusa and by mission end Malta will be in sight. Mission 7 will be critical as the convoy will be its greatest seperation from allied aircraft but hopefully in the previous 6 missions we can destroy most aircraft based on Pantelleria and Lampedusa reducing the threat
In mission 8 the convoy will reach friendly harbours. The Eagle will launch a compliment of naval aircraft to top up the Argus. The Argus will continue moving back towards Gibraltar
In mission 9 the Eagle will depart Gibraltar with approx 16 new Hurricanes linking up with the Argus
In mission 10 which is the second night mission the CV group will arrive at the Hurricane launch zone and will again send another night strike of Swordfish and Fulmar
In mission 11 the fresh Hurricanes will be dispatched and the CV group will be released from theatre by sailing back to Gibraltar or we can bring them into the med
my draft plan for Thusday
1 - Small anti recon CAP in the north-west - 2 to 4 a/c
2 - Strong CAP over Malta - 18 to 22 a/c
3 - Bombing at least 2 axis airfields - 4 to 8 a/c
4 - Photo recon to follow up on ultra decrypts - 2 a/c
5 - Photo recon on axis airfields - 4 a/c
more details soon
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