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81
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by besilarius on March 15, 2024, 07:44:58 PM »
509   BC   Installation of the first consuls: L. Iunius Brutus & L. Tarquinius Collatinus

44 BC   G. Julius Caesar, 55 -- "Et tu, Brute?"

1330         Azzone Visconti stages a coup in Milan, which his descendants will rule until 1535

1781         Battle of Guilford Court House: The Brits barely defeat the Yankees, and decide to retire from the Carolinas into Virginia, where they will have an unfortunate encounter with George Washington at Yorktown

1924   Born Richard Topus, in Brooklyn, senior US Army pigeonmaster, 1942-1945, d. 2008

1937   Death of Rear Adm. Richmond P. Hobson, Medal of Honor, at 66 --
After the U.S. Navy blockaded the Spanish fleet in Santiago Harbor in May of 1898, some thought was given to permanently sealing the channel by sinking a block ship.

Richmond Pearson Hobson, a 27-year old Assistant Naval Constructor, ranking as a lieutenant, j.g., was entrusted with the task, using the collier Merrimac. Hobson rigged the ship for demolition. Anchors were set at her bow and stern so that they could be dropped in an instant with one or two blows from an axe, while explosive charges were affixed at intervals along her port side, below the waterline. Hobson planned to take the ship into the channel by moonlight with a running tide. At the narrowest point, about 350 feet, he would cut loose the bow anchor and stop the engines. This would cause the ship's stern to swing around until her 322¾ foot hull was athwart the channel, whereupon the stern anchor would be dropped and the charges exploded electrically, ripping opening the ship's side. Then, as the ship settled to the bottom the crew would make its getaway in small boats or by swimming to shore.
Some 200 sailors worked for nearly two days to prepare the ship. But Hobson now had to address the delicate question of who could go along. Everyone in the U.S. Navy wanted to go. All 690 officers and men aboard the battleship Iowa volunteered; one was chosen, ultimately by a coin toss, and he refused an offer of $50.00 – an enormous sum at the time – to let someone take his place. Six men were chosen to go with Hobson: Daniel Montague and George Charette, petty officers off the armored cruiser New York; Osborn Deignan, coxswain, John F. Philips, machinist, and Francis Kelly, water tender, all off the Merrimac, and J.C. Murphy, coxswain, from the Iowa, to whom was added a seventh, Coxswain Rudolph Clausen of the New York, who stowed away in order to join the party.
On June 3rd, at just about 3:00 am, Merrimac began her run into the channel, from about 2000 yards off the entrance, at her maximum speed, nine knots. At about 500 yards from the entrance a Spanish picket boat opened fire, trying to hit the ship's rudder. Closing on the channel entrance, Hobson ordered the engines stopped. Gliding on, Merrimac was subject to increasing light artillery and machine gun fire. With shells and bullets hitting the ship, she glided past the cliffs, passng beneath the Morro Castle by just 30 feet. Hobson ordered the bow anchor dropped. As Coxswain Murphy chopped through the line to drop the bow anchor, Hobson ordered the first charge detonated, then the second, and ordered the wheel put hard over to port. But the wheel failed to respond, the rudder having been shot away. Then the stern anchor was shot away, and the bow anchor line parted. Hobson ordered the other charges detonated, but they failed to go off, Spanish fire apparently having cut the wires. The ship was sinking, but too slowly and at too poor an angle to block the channel.
Merrimac drifted on, the target of numerous bullets and shells. Then, quite suddenly, she fell off to port, and her bow angled downwards as she took her final plunge. Hobson and his men abandoned ship, jumping overboard and swimming to floating debris. Within minutes Merrimac had settled on the bottom, her upper works just above water. Although in the center of the channel, she offered only a minor hazard to navigation. From the start to finish, Hobson's mission had taken little more than half an hour.
The Spanish began searching for the crew. Hobson gathered his men around a raft. They drifted quietly for more than an hour, until dawn. Then he hailed a passing Spanish launch. In a coincidence so remarkable a novelist would be embarrassed to use it, the launch was that of Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete, the Spanish commander, and the old man himself helped Hobson and his men out of the water, all the while complimenting them on their courage. Cervera promptly informed the American ships offshore that Hobson and his men were all safe and uninjured, and announced that he would return them after they had rested.
True to his word, the following day Cervera dispatched Hobson and his men in a small boat. But as they were being transferred, some of the American sailors present noticed that Daniel Montague wore a bandage on his head and was bruised about the face. Knowing that Cervera had said all the men were uninjured, the Americans immediately assumed that the Spanish had beaten the prisoners. But all was soon cleared up; Montague had imbibed so much at a party the Spanish had thrown for the men that he had gotten drunk, lost his footing, and given himself a nasty cut to the head.
Each of the enlisted men who took part in the operation was awarded the Medal of Honor. Since at the time naval regulations barred officers from receiving that decoration, Hobson was advanced ten numbers in grade, and promoted to Naval Constructor, ranking as a full lieutenant. In 1933, by which time award regulations had been changed, Hobson – long retired – was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the following year advanced to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list by special Act of Congress.
Hobson was the only naval officer to receive the Medal of Honor for the Spanish-American War.

 1957. A ZPG-2 airship driven by Cmdr. Jack R. Hunt lands at Naval Air Station Key West, Fla., after a flight that began March 4 at South Weymouth, Mass., then circled over the Atlantic Ocean toward Portugal, the African coast and back for a new world record in distance and endurance, covering 9,448 statute miles and remaining airborne 264 hours 12 minutes without refueling.
82
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by besilarius on March 15, 2024, 07:36:53 PM »
If the map goes back to Sickies' ordered position on Cemetery Ridge, you might find it a better game.
According to the Park Service's account, it was a gross mistake to advance III corps into the Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard.
The frontage was too wide for just two divisions and this led to the corps being overwhelmed.  Meade was angry at the move but it was too late to fall back.
Having the corps tightened up on a shorter front, might make it a better fight?
83
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by bob48 on March 15, 2024, 06:19:50 PM »
....get some better blue dice................. ;D

I don't know what the victory conditions are for that particular game, so cannot tell if the Union are holding or not. I can only say that in the games I have, whilst there are some swings in fortune, that the games seem to be pretty balanced. I have found that the way the system works can often result in some very good and varied outcomes..

To be honest, the reason I did not get that particular game is because its (obviously) just a part of a larger event, and thus what happens in it is, for me, a bit out of context.

I think I would have recommended one of the smaller games, such as 'Stonewalls Sword' as a starting point to the series.
84
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by JudgeDredd on March 15, 2024, 06:09:23 PM »
Thanks bob.
I have to say I'm a wee bit bored with this.

The Union player is hobbled so much with bad command. I've played two turns...I've got 6 Union brigades to activate and in 2 turns not one of them has had a full activation. And with their placement that means some of them aren't doing anything.

2 turns in and I've got 3 Union units in the Broken 2 box and several more on their battle worn side with morale hits.

It may be realistic...but the Confederates are just steam rolling over the Union. I don't have a dog in the fight...but I like some semblance of balance

I'm going to crack on through this scenario and decide at the end

I know I'm in the minority regarding this system...so two turns is no reason to dump it. I'm just doing a lot of eye rolling at the moment
85
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by bob48 on March 15, 2024, 05:55:10 PM »
I assume this will be the same as it is in the two games I have, in which case I think the key here is that you pick the unit(s) in one hex to move and then conduct the assault. I would therefore say that any units that did not start off in this selected hex are not included in the assault - that's my take on it, and that's the way I have been playing it. :-)
86
Age of Gunpowder / Re: Longstreet Attacks
« Last post by JudgeDredd on March 15, 2024, 05:34:59 PM »
Rebel Yell

I have a Confederate unit I can move adjacent to a Union unit to play this Command Event.

Question...there's already a Confederate unit adjacent to the Union unit...so if I move this other unit to engage with the Union unit, can I combine the other Confederate unit (that will be in an adjacent hex to the newly moved Confederate unit) into the attack...which you can do normally with a Close Combat?
87
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by besilarius on March 14, 2024, 02:49:14 PM »
1489         Queen Catherine Conaro of Cyprus (1474 to 1489) sells her realm to Venice

1503         Cesare Borgia investes Ceri, aided by Leonardo's siege engines & Machiavelli's advice

1757         Vice-Adm. John Byng, 52, executed "to encourage the others"

1795  Battle of Genoa. British-Neapolitan fleet of 14 ships, under Vice Admiral Hotham, defeated French fleet of 13 ships, under Rear Admiral Pierre Martin. French ships Ça Ira (84) and Censeur were captured. HMS Illustrious (74), Cptn. Thomas Lennox Frederick was too badly damaged and was set on fire.
1844  Born   Umberto I, King of Italy (1878-1900), on his father's brithday. Assassinated, 1900, after four or five earlier unsuccessful attempts

1864. Born Alfred Redl (1864-1913): An Austro-Hungarian officer, by 1901 he headed the army’s espionage and counter-espionage office, and uncovered several foreign agents. In 1907, needing money, Redl began selling mobilization plans, details about new weapons, plans of frontier defenses, and so forth to Russian intelligence. He continued to do so after his promotion to colonel and transfer to duty as chief-of-staff of the VIII Army Corps in Prague. The corps was part of the Austro-Hungarian strategic reserve, and thus Redl had access to plans for war with Serbia or Russia or both. In 1913 German intelligence uncovered his activities and passed the information on to their allies. Amazingly, rather than interrogate Redl, the arresting officers permitted him to commit suicide. Although Chief-of-the-General Staff Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf expressed outrage over this, he apparently was not displeased, perhaps because his own son had been among the many officers who – unwittingly or not – had supplied Redl with useful information. One of the most financially successful spies in history, Redl, a colonel with an annual salary of 14,000 kronen, left an estate worth about 75,000 kronen, more than Conrad’s assets, and today equal to perhaps as $7,500,000. This included a house in Vienna, a luxury three bedroom apartment in Prague, three horses, and a Daimler limo (itself costing kr 19,000), as well as “. . . wardrobes . . . stuffed with uniforms and the softest batiste shirts, ninety-five of them . . . sixty-two pairs of gloves”, not to mention jewelry, objects d’arte, and more. He also had about kr 30,000 in debts. Redl seems to have inspired the roguish “Colonel Count Alfred Renard”, played by Maurice Chevalier in the 1929 Paramount romantic comedy The Love Parade.

1863. A squadron of ships led by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut passes the heavy batteries at Port Hudson, La., to establish blockade of Red River supply lines during the Civil War. USS Mississippi becomes grounded, catches fire and blows up, killing 64.
88
Intel Dump / Re: New Column - #TBT / Throwback Thursday!
« Last post by Sir Slash on March 14, 2024, 11:45:24 AM »
Truly a Blast From the Past.  :dreamer:
89
Intel Dump / Re: New Column - #TBT / Throwback Thursday!
« Last post by bayonetbrant on March 14, 2024, 11:29:15 AM »
#TBT ~ The General Magazine Special Edition, 1988
This special 64-page edition was designed to showcase Avalon Hill wargames and boardgames. Looking back this Throwback Thursday, for me the issue evokes feelings of nostalgia, boredom, and some rueful thoughts.

https://www.armchairdragoons.com/articles/tbt/tbt-genmagspecial88/

90
History and Tall Tales / Re: This Day in History
« Last post by besilarius on March 13, 2024, 11:04:55 PM »

1489         Ottoman Sultan Bajazet II agreed to pay Pope Innocent VIII 40,000 ducats a year to keep his brother Djem as a "guest"

1758 the French Army had 181 generals, among whom were three royal princes, plus five ordinary princes, 11 dukes, 44 counts, 38 marquises, 14 chevaliers, and six barons.

1811  Battle of Lissa. Cptn. William Hoste with 3 frigates and one 22 gun ship defeated a Franco-Venetian squadron of 6 frigates and 6 smaller vessels under Bernard Dubourdieau.

1821. Although the "Metric System" had been introduced by the Revolutionary government during the early 1790s, Napoleon apparently never learned it, and during his campaigns habitually used the old traditional French system of toises (c. 6.4 English feet) and ligues (c. 3 English miles).

1855  Ladies at the court of Tsar Nicholas I (1825-1855) were normally addressed by the military titles of their husbands.

1920. Berlin: The "Kapp Putsch" fails

1945, as his glorious Third Army was driving across the Rhineland under rainy skies, Gen. George S. Patton spotted a number of troops gathered around a tank parked a rod or so off the road. Driving up in his jeep, Patton jumped out, and asked what was up. He was told that the men were trying to repair the tank, which was suffering from some malfunction. At that, the general in his natty uniform and all promptly crawled beneath the vehicle to join the two surprised mechanics who were actually working on the problem. After nearly a half hour under the tank, Patton crawled out, his normally splendid uniform torn and covered with mud and grease. Climbing back into his jeep, Patton ordered his driver to press on.
As they drove off, the generals driver asked What was wrong, General?
To this, Patton replied, I donït know, but I'm sure that the word will spread throughout the division that I was on my belly in the mud repairing a tank.