Brest Breakout 1886 - Part 4

La Charge des Torpilleurs

Following our little interlude, here's the situation at the end of the turn: 

As Spiffington's squadron maneouvres to cut off Désespéré's southwesterly escape route, the French torpedo boats surge gallantly ahead, trying to position themselves for a torpedo attack. In the centre, the gunboats duke it out in a brutal exchange of quick-firers. Meanwhile the Tonnerre and Cerbère exchange pot shots with the Ajax and Inflexible.

It's time for another scroll, this time to the south, so our original Grand Tactical map will have to be binned, and I draw up a new one on A3 graph paper. Much better.

Here's the table after the scroll:

And as the action is clearly moving southwards we make another scroll from here:

...to here:

The torpedo boats are getting dangerously close, so Admiral Spiffington orders his ships to turn away and gain some sea room. The bridge crew hear him muttering "More bloody scrolling...":

They reform in a single line ahead:

The torpedo boats turn in and begin their desperate charge:

They get badly chewed up on the way in:

While Spiffington is occupied by the TB attack, the Shah finds herself isolated and comes under heavy fire:

Only two of the eight original TBs manage to launch their torpedoes. Alexandra and Inflexible take evasive action. The torpedoes fail to reach their targets, but the British line is thrown into confusion:

Désespéré siezes his chance, turning his line 90 degrees to starboard. He hopes he will be able to bring his squadron to bear against an isolated section of the British line, and give them enough of a bloody nose that they'll back off:

The main action commences in Part 5.