U.S. Navy Plan Black
Operational Scenario Ten
Yankee Go Home!
22-30 July, 1922

Background

Imperial Germany has come to the New World and seized Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The political and diplomatic reaction to the seizure of a foothold in the Caribbean has been dramatic.

The huge liner Imperator, 1913. Seen as possible carrier conversion.

Mexico, recalling German military assistance during the Revolution, has announced her neutrality. Anti-American riots have broken out in both Venezuela and Colombia and now have spread to Panama. A Panamanian firebrand, Jose Simon Bolivar de Lorente, has led a movement into the streets asserting Panamanian sovereignty over the canal. The military governor and the United States consul have appealed to Washington to send troops to Panama immediately or face the prospect that the Panama Canal garrison will be overwhelmed.

Two Marine regiments and elements of the “Rainbow” Division (commanded by Douglas MacArthur) have been rushed to Guantanamo Bay and transferred to 12 fast transports. The Navy Department has ordered the troops to be transported to Panama “with all dispatch.” The German government has become aware of the civil strife in Panama and ordered the High Seas Fleet to prevent the reinforcement of the canal zone. Both the U.S. and Germany are wary that the other might use this flare-up as cover for an attack elsewhere, so forces have been spread out to meet threats wherever they may appear. United States control of the Panama Canal (Teddy's ditch) hangs in the balance.

Scenario Specifications

• Time Frame: 70 turns
• Starting Weather Conditions: 1 (Clear)

Central Powers Forces

Detection Force
May start anywhere except any zone within 6 hexes (air search range) of a Cuban or U.S. port. Ships must burn one fuel box per 12 sea zones away from Culebra (V39) they choose to start (round to nearest 12 sea zones to determine number of boxes burned). Germans DO NOT have to reveal starting position(s) of Detection Force until AFTER Americans have plotted the movement of their transports/escorts (They're out there somewhere, but you don’t know where till you try and find out!). Detection force may set up in more than one zone (multiple fleets).

• BB29 Tannenberg
• CV02 Imperator
• 1 x W20 seaplane
• 5 x D17 fighter/bomber
• CL49 Leipzig ii
• CL50 Rostock ii
• CL51 Frauenlob ii
• 9 x V170-class DD

Reaction Force
The Central Powers player rolls one die at the start of each turn, starting with the turn after an American TRANSPORT is located by air search or surface contact (the transports are all the Germans want to engage). On a result of 6, the Reaction Force appears on map between 2 and 12 sea zones away from the fleet that contacted the enemy transports: roll one die and multiply the result by two. Roll a second die and count clockwise (1 = Northeast, 2 = East, etc.) for direction. Reaction Force starts having expended two fuel boxes.

• BC08 Mackensen
• CL47 Wiesbaden ii
• CL48 Magdeburg ii
• 9 x V170-class DD

Allied (American) Forces

The Allied player must plot the movement of all fleets assigned to “Transport” and “Escort” missions BEFORE the Central Powers player reveals the starting location(s) of the Detection Force.

At Guantanamo Bay (S21):

Troop Convoy and Escort

• BB26 South Carolina
• BB27 Michigan
• 9 x Cassin-class DD
• 12 x fast transport

Scouting Force

• CV02 Crown Point
  • 2 x F6C fighter
  • 2 x VE7 bomber
• CV03 Sacketts Harbor
  • 2 x F6C fighter
  • 2 x VE7 bomber
• CL05 Milwaukee
• CL10 Concord
• 6 x Wickes-class DD

Reaction Force
The Allied player rolls one die at the start of each turn, starting with the turn in which an enemy Capital Ship (BB or CV) is located by air search or surface contact (a mere cruiser or destroyer won't make Dug-Out Doug call for help!!!). On a result of 6, the Reaction Force appears on map between 2 and 12 sea zones away from the fleet that contacted the enemy warships: roll one die and multiply the result by two. Roll a second die and count clockwise (1 = Northeast, 2 = East, etc.) for direction. Reaction Force starts having expended two fuel boxes.

• CC04 Ranger
• CL11 Trenton
• 6 x Clemson-class DD

Special Rules

Ports: The Allied player may use all US and Cuban ports. The Central Powers player may use all Puerto Rican ports.

Victory Conditions: The Allied player receives four VP’s for each transport which exits the map from any sea zone of row MM that is west of Colombia (SW board edge). The Central Powers player receives six VP’s for each transport sunk and three VP’s for each transport that survives but does not exit the map from the SW board edge. The player with the most VP’s at the end of play wins.

Writer’s Commentary

This is a scenario that will never play the same way twice. It also requires both sides to do a whole lot of thinking and planning before game start. Specifically:

American: “I don't want to send my transports out to sea until I've located one of the German capital ships so that I have my Reaction Force there to protect me. So, I’ve got to decide how long it’ll take my aircraft and warships to locate the enemy and then preplot my transports not to leave port until then plus up to six turns.”

German: “My Detection Force is outgunned by the American convoy escort. So, I want to hit his transport fleet with my Reaction Fleet plus the Tannenberg. . . . But I DON’T want his reaction fleet on the scene when I do that. I therefore have to find him with my DD’s and CL’s, and keep my CV and BB back until my reaction force is on the scene.”

This creates a situation where the Germans send in their light ships to locate the transports and dance around the Americans with the rest of their ships till the time is right. The Americans, on the other hand, have incentive to send out their CV’s ahead of their transports and use the air search umbrella to try to locate German capital ships that dare too close. It also gives them incentive to use their air and sea power to knock out the searching German light ships before they locate the US transports. And once the important enemy fleet units have been spotted, when and where the reaction forces will show up is completely random (this approximates off-board patrol forces responding to a wireless transmission, with the spotters not knowing who’s in the area). That creates the potential for some scary moments followed by a whole lot of fuel burning while fleets try to get into or out of the scene of action, to say nothing of Hail-Mary airstrikes.

Doug McNair and Warren Sogard
October 2005