WCNAW naval tactics and tutorials for new players thread,

No problem Shawn.. sorry we could not get to this sooner. Our
available time has been a bit limited since the launch of v1.0. Keep
watch as we add more tutorials and tactics to the thread.

The torpedo topic has come up a few times now so I figured that would
be a good canidate for the first tutorial.

Thanks.
Christopher Dean
Naval Warfare Simulations
Director of Operations
http://www.navalwarfare.net

To Knot,

For a beginner.. collecting a lot of potentially expensive books may
not be the best course of action. There is enough info on the web
covering a range of naval battles that can help give a general idea of
the tactics used by commanders in battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_battles

There is a good link to a wide range of naval engagements.

Definitely drop posts on our forums here;

http://forums.navalwarfare.org/index.php .. quite a few naval gamers
would be more then happy to toss ideas and some tactics at you.

As to learning naval tactics.. that was, and always will be, a
learning experience in regards to the art of warfare. Even the most
experienced naval armchair generals learn new tactics. That is part of
the fun of wargames and simulations, the learning experience. If you
make mistakes.. learn from them and try again.

Thanks.
Christopher Dean
Naval Warfare Simulations
Director of Operations
http://www.navalwarfare.net

On Nov 2, 10:39 pm, "Mike Kreuzer" <m....RemoveThis@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com> wrote:
> "Warship NWS" <Warshi....RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:822a0dff-cc53-4731-b073-c38819dabce5@15g2000yqy.googlegroups.com...> To Knot,
>
> > For a beginner.. collecting a lot of potentially expensive books may
> > not be the best course of action.
>
> [snip]
>
> Possibly so. I'm a bibliophile, so I'm only using the web under sufferance.
> My recommendation would be to only rely on the web for a while (like how
> long it takes stuff to arrive at your house from Amazon <g>).

Under a week normally

Second hand / like new books can be really cheap on Amazon - recently
got Max Hasting's Battle for the Falklands for $5 or such -
fascinating read - it manages to combine insight into the political
intrigue behind the scene combined with the military operation, mostly
from the British pov

Actually just ordered Japanese Destroyer Captain because Mr. Giftzwerg
mentioned it once to often for me not to take the hint and read
it - was like 15 Euro S&H included

> Then get into particular battles in detail, my favourites are:

> Jutland the German Perspective  - ditto

Don't let the title fool you - it has both perspectives

> Shattered Sword - on Midway, one of my favourite books of all time I think

Yeah, this one is a must - if you only buy one book on WWII or carrier
warfare, this is it

> Then there are the standard references:
> Jane's fighting Ships of WWI or II or one of
> Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-21 or 1922-46,
> or all of those (you'll end up with all of them)

Not to dismiss them - but the info you find in there is exactly the
info you'll readily find on the 'Net, I'd recommend spending your
money on the specific accounts mentioned above

> And by then you've got a decent naval collection on your hands & a whole new
> expensive hobby. <g>

Look at it this way : a packet of cigarettes is around $5 here - if
you don't smoke (like me) that saves you $5 a day you can spend on
what you fancy - well, that's the way I think about it.

Eddy Sterckx

"Naval Battles of the First World War (Bennett) is my favourite, I
can't
think of an equivalent for WW2 off hand "

Geoffrey Bennett.. Naval Battles of WW2.. good book, kind of like a
readers digest of naval battles for the war.

He also did another book called "The Battle of Jutland"

The "Shame of Savo" I found rather biased and opinionated. Very
controversial IMHO. Richard Franks book on Guadalcanal I thought was
FAR superior. To the point, detailed, and backed up his "opinions"
with reasonable evidence and tactical/combat environment/C&C logic.

Shattered Sword is excellent (except a couple of small details I
didn't agree with.. .. arguably the best book on Midway, not very
fitting for WCNAW though.

However, the net has enough general information about the naval
battles to not boggle the mind of a newcomer.. some of the books
mentioned are very detailed and are more for the intermediate to
advanced naval reader.

My time will be short again.. preparing to launch v1.04 - and then
taking a much needed short break before I start work on v1.05.

Thanks.
Christopher Dean
Naval Warfare Simulations
Director of Operations
http://www.navalwarfare.net

On Nov 2, 10:51 pm, Giftzwerg <giftzwerg....RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> In article <4aef517....RemoveThis@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, m....RemoveThis@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
> says...
>
> > And finally you'll end up in the naval architecture debates. Are battle
> > cruisers any good;
>
> Gad, we haven't had the "battlecruiser" flame were in here in ages.

LOL - yeah, but this is about BCalmost2K

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

"Warship NWS" <WarshipFC DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:93e9e0af-9a68-4dfb-b018-2ead5b254ab6@d10g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
> We have started up a new naval tactics and tutorials thread on our
> forums for WCNAW,

I hope someone, either here or there, will recommend
some books for beginners.

In article <oZCdnWbkG9CwgXLXnZ2dnUVZ8j6dnZ2d RemoveThis @brightview.com>,
Knot RemoveThis @Home.com says...

> > We have started up a new naval tactics and tutorials thread on our
> > forums for WCNAW,
>
> I hope someone, either here or there, will recommend
> some books for beginners.

My favorite has always been JAPANESE DESTROYER CAPTAIN by Tameichi Hara.
Great book, tons of historical flavor, and enough OOB and map
information to build a heap of Solomons Campaign scenarios.

--
Giftzwerg
***
"BREAKING: Obama named Motor Trend's Car of the Year!"
- Ace of Spades

"Warship NWS" <WarshipFC.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:822a0dff-cc53-4731-b073-c38819dabce5@15g2000yqy.googlegroups.com...
> To Knot,
>
> For a beginner.. collecting a lot of potentially expensive books may
> not be the best course of action.
[snip]

Possibly so. I'm a bibliophile, so I'm only using the web under sufferance.
My recommendation would be to only rely on the web for a while (like how
long it takes stuff to arrive at your house from Amazon <g>).

First a good overview, like:
Naval Battles of the First World War (Bennett) is my favourite, I can't
think of an equivalent for WW2 off hand

Then get into particular battles in detail, my favourites are:
The Rules of the Game - on Jutland
Jutland the German Perspective - ditto
Shattered Sword - on Midway, one of my favourite books of all time I think
The Shame of Savo - also WW2, just what I'm reading now

Then there are the standard references:
Jane's fighting Ships of WWI or II or one of
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-21 or 1922-46,
or all of those (you'll end up with all of them)

And finally you'll end up in the naval architecture debates. Are battle
cruisers any good; which armour scheme is best ... lots of fun stuff. Some
of the best, though not for starting out with are:
The Grand Fleet (DK Brown)
Birth of the Battleship (Beeler)
British Battleships: Warrior to Vanguard (Parkes)
US Battleships, an Illustrated Design History (Friedman)
Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns & Gunnery (also Friedman, anything by
Friedman really)

Each of those is part of a series, but that's a spread across some of the
more famous authors in the area.

And then there are books about strategy (eg Battle for the Middle Sea is
meant to be good, but I haven't read it yet) specialist books about
submarines of course (any by Clay Blair, but there are a lot), and naval
air ... and ... and ...

And by then you've got a decent naval collection on your hands & a whole new
expensive hobby. <g>

Some random websites from my favourites list to bide your time (also Amazon
mind!)
http://www.navweaps.com/
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/plans/
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/br224/index.htm
http://www.uboat.net/index.html
http://www.german-navy.de/index.html

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

In article <4aef517f$1@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mike RemoveThis @FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
says...

> And finally you'll end up in the naval architecture debates. Are battle
> cruisers any good;

Gad, we haven't had the "battlecruiser" flame were in here in ages.

--
Giftzwerg
***
"BREAKING: Obama named Motor Trend's Car of the Year!"
- Ace of Spades

"Giftzwerg" <giftzwerg999.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.25591e4fdcc80c50989902@news-east.giganews.com...
> In article <4aef517f$1@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mike.DeleteThis@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
> says...
>
>> And finally you'll end up in the naval architecture debates. Are battle
>> cruisers any good;
>
> Gad, we haven't had the "battlecruiser" flame were in here in ages.
>
> --
> Giftzwerg
> ***
> "BREAKING: Obama named Motor Trend's Car of the Year!"
> - Ace of Spades

LOL - I know, happy memories ... <g>

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

"Warship NWS" <WarshipFC DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dbab4b94-b171-42fd-8c5b-af0c73c51666@s31g2000yqs.googlegroups.com...
> "Naval Battles of the First World War (Bennett) is my favourite, I
> can't
> think of an equivalent for WW2 off hand "
>
> Geoffrey Bennett.. Naval Battles of WW2.. good book, kind of like a
> readers digest of naval battles for the war.
>

I didn't think it was as good as his first - but can't think of any other
general book as good as his book on WWI, so sure, add it in.

> He also did another book called "The Battle of Jutland"
>
> The "Shame of Savo" I found rather biased and opinionated. Very
> controversial IMHO. Richard Franks book on Guadalcanal I thought was
> FAR superior. To the point, detailed, and backed up his "opinions"
> with reasonable evidence and tactical/combat environment/C&C logic.
>

Tend to agree so far, but I haven't finished Savo yet & it's been too long
since I've read Frank; must shift that back into the to do pile. But
definitely add Frank's book to the list (it's just called Guadalcanal, for
the OP).

> Shattered Sword is excellent (except a couple of small details I
> didn't agree with.. .. arguably the best book on Midway, not very
> fitting for WCNAW though.
>
> However, the net has enough general information about the naval
> battles to not boggle the mind of a newcomer.. some of the books
> mentioned are very detailed and are more for the intermediate to
> advanced naval reader.

Well I left out the books about specific pieces of fire control equipment,
I'll save those for later. <g>

>
> My time will be short again.. preparing to launch v1.04 - and then
> taking a much needed short break before I start work on v1.05.
>
> Thanks.
> Christopher Dean
> Naval Warfare Simulations
> Director of Operations
> http://www.navalwarfare.net

All good.

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

On Nov 3, 6:44 am, "Knot" <K... RemoveThis @Home.com> wrote:
> Many thanks to all for the advice.
> Naval Battles of the First World War (Bennett) ordered
> from Amazon by way of a toe in the water.

That is a good book Knot.. if you ever want to chatter about naval
topics with me sometime feel free to drop me an email or phone call. I
would be more then happy to talk to you. The naval wargaming community
can NEVER have enough naval combat players..

My email address is nws-online RemoveThis @nws-online.net

Take care friend.

Thanks.
Christopher Dean
Naval Warfare Simulations
Director of Operations
http://www.navalwarfare.net

Many thanks to all for the advice.
Naval Battles of the First World War (Bennett) ordered
from Amazon by way of a toe in the water.