"Combat Meeting-2000"
by Bill Kirwin
01/30/2000

G'day Skippers,

What a fantastic weekend of Warship Combat at our AGM. Over the 1 ½ days of combat, there were 5 warships and about 9 transports and tankers, our best effort yet. Our hosts, John Pearsall and family, had prepared the site at the small village of Bowning, near Yass in NSW. John, with his mate Brett Farquharson, had erected a tarpaulin for shade, cut the grass and built a launching platform on top of milk crates.

Saturday saw 10 sinkings as each side sent off its convoy runs with the other side in pursuit. Then there was an all-in battle with both sides warships and merchantmen involved. The Allies clearly won that round. After lunch, another similar round had the Allies cleaning up the convoys with their better gunnery, but the Axis gained a few good hits in the all-in battle. Still, with the Allies ahead, Anthony Burden's South Dakota and brother Stephen's Houston were clearly the danger ships.

We adjourned to the Pub to book in for the night but never got past the bar. 2 hours later we remembered the AGM and BBQ at Brett's and rushed through the business in hand, breaking all records for the shortest AGM meeting! Then into the barbecue proper and more drinks, and now fully relaxed, set about repairing all ships in Brett's shed. Back to the hotel and more drinks and a game of snooker and bed (for some of us oldies).

Sunday, we arrived at Brett’s to complete last repairs and back to the dam. The convoy runs won by the Allies with superior eyesight/gunnery. Another 6 sinkings. Now for the Last All-In Battle, caution would be thrown to the wind, the Mother of all Battles was about to begin! My Richelieu had earlier survived a 5 minute call and was retrieved just before it would have sunk. Frustrated Captain Anthony Burden of the USS South Dakota warned me "Kirwan, this time you are going down and in the deepest part of the pond!" Famous last words, almost as good as Titanic’s -"Look at all that *#@ water".

Battle commenced with young Matt Burden's DKM Deutschland ramming me midships and dislodging Richelieu's lead ballast, causing a bad list to starboard. Also, the ram had disconnected the pump which was now not working. Not a good start! A protracted duel between the Richelieu and South Dakota, with barrages at close range, was being enjoyed by the spectators and skippers with many hits on both ships. Then, the SD began to take water and list slightly to starboard and was in serious trouble. She sank in 17 feet of water, the site marked by CO2 bubbles as her superstructure drifted away. No float was seen.

Stephen Burden's USS Houston realized that my foredeck was dislodged, and my list increasing, and attacked me on the port side, safe from my guns which were unable to depress further to engage him. When he attacked on the starboard side, I was able to get off several salvos which eventually forced him to beach, but the damage was done and the Richelieu was settling fast. I headed for the shore 20 metres away. The list was so bad that water was entering the open foredeck and my shouts of encouragement were drowned out by the chants of "Sink, sink sink!" 2 metres from the bank, the Richelieu sank and the floats deployed. I was able to retrieve it and pull the remains out. It was the Richelieu's first sinking although she had been beached several times and declared sunk.

The rescue boat could not find the SD and Ant Burden stripped, and ignoring the leeches, (these boats cost real money!) joined the boat. He dived several times and finally found the float 2 feet below the water. It had deployed but was too short for the depth there. All recorded on video for later enjoyment. (Editors note: ALWAYS pack twice the length of line you think you need.)

A very satisfying 2 days. Those that did not make it missed out on something special. Trevor Gotte's Scharnhorst had battery problems on both days but he stayed and tried. We all left on a high and so did many of the spectators. Some came up from Melbourne with Tony Collins and ended up buying hulls from Brett, are now committed to the hobby (seeing is believing). Most ships were reliable over the 2 days and we had about 20 sinkings from all that combat. This meeting was a huge improvement from our previous AGM Meeting and most ships were back in the water in time for the next battle. We are getting better.

Thanks to all who made this a great occasion. John Pearsall and family who provided the Site, Shelter and Toilet facilities, Brett and Lesley Farquharson who did the AGM and provide the BBQ and Anthony and Stephen Burden and Tony Collins who helped repair ships and keep the battles going. Also a thanks to Bob Booth who helped me launch and recover the very heavy Richelieu and saved my back.

An AusBG after-battle report
by Brett Farquharson
01/30/2000

Through the haze, the light slowly dawned. As it rose, the sunlight gradually lifted the gloom until a great cry arose. Well, actually it was more like a great long moan - really. The AusBG awakened to the second day of battles.

The day before there was lots of battles and lots of boats on the water. Several new members and their new boats turned up and were fed to wolves, but they came back smiling! There was the Richelieu, Lutzow, South Dakota, Houston, Scharnhorst, DKM Sea Slug (a modified Cimerron), Neosho (Cimerron), two liberty's (the Lucky and the other unnamed), Tokyo Rose, Fujikowa Maru (a Mamiya), Wrath of Khan (a Mamiya), San Christofo (modified tramp), and The SS Hornet (a coastal tramp).

Numerous of these tasted the bitter taste of the bottom of the pond. (Fujikowa Maru, Sea Slug, Khan, Sodak, Lutzow, Lucky and a few - twice (Neosho, Tokyo Rose, etc.) However a few successful convoy runs were completed, including some from the quickly refurbished sinkee's. The skippers of the AusBG greeted the second day of the AGM battle with a moan, then slowly smiled. Yesterday, after the final battle for the day, the tired, sunburnt and very thirsty skippers headed back to various wardrooms for a clean up and to stock up on supplies. They then flowed back to the Bowning Ship Yards for repairs and refreshments. But first, the debrief occurred (ie. The AGM).

The icy cold bottles of the "emergency rations" beckoned, so the meeting was up (about 1845) and racing with a flying start. A fast furious pace was set and maintained. Any one waving a fly away was instantly put down as either a "mover" or "seconded by". The speed was helped by that a majority of the previous committee masochistically putting themselves up for reelection. Some new faces appeared and were quickly voted into a position or two, even one that wasn't there. General Business was quickly gone through (Bloody Flies!). Coming up to the 19 hurdles of the rules changes, the members were not given a chance to slow down, a blistering pace was set, which lasted till a particularly tall hurdle was reached. But this was quickly taken care of, by going around the side of it (We'll get back to that one later after some investigation). The smell coming from the galley quickly gave a fresh burst of energy to the members and the remaining rules flew right by!

Before the committee members collapsed from exhaustion, they gasped "Meeting closed at 19.59" and were quickly revived by ample and numerous applications of liquid medicine and some good tasty BBQed meat.

After a hearty meal every one moved into the Dock Yards, armed with liquid refreshments, and a huge effort was commenced in repairing the battle scarred boats. Everybody got stuck right in, and much work was done, everyone hopped in. So much so that boats that didn't need repairing - were! Nothing was impossible, re-wirings, re-planking, whatever - it was done. Ah, thirsty work though!

Eventually they run out of boats (any boat!) to fix, so they dock yards slowly emptied, and they went onto some very fruitful and liquid discussions. Back to the bright light of day, Sunday. After a quick counting of bodies, (none unaccounted for), the fleet moved back to the Bowning Sea. A slightly depleted fleet hit the water for a couple of short but nasty (but fun!) battles.

The Wrath of Khan was renamed after its re-wiring, a changed ship - it became the Flatulence Maru. The sight of it . um .. "powering" through the water around the convoy route, with it's one second "bursts" of 50-knot speed, was . unusual to see, to say the least.

Several ships were lost/sunk during the morning, some spectacularly. The Sodak went down in the deep part of the Sea, requiring the use of divers to find the float. But until the divers came upon the scene, the observers were treated to repeated displays of bubbles and "oil slick" (bottom muck, black and stinking!) rising from the murky depths.

The Richelieu, Neosho, "Lucky" and Flatulence Maru also bounced off the bottom, during the two short nasty battles. However some successful convoy runs made it through. The SS Hornet dodged and weaved through the battle, out turning everything on the water, as it had on the first day.

The members then packed up and cleaned up the Bowning Sea foreshore facilities, kindly provided by the owner. Much thanks was heaped onto him, and in return, he kindly invited all and sundry to return to battle any day! (Private motive is suspected - he gets to keep any boats left on the bottom - the Sodak divers worked hard!)

A good time was had by all, the Dock Yard did some brisk business and several new members came away with hulls, a membership receipt and a wonderful battle vision in their eyes!

An AusBG after-battle report
by Brett Farquharson
01/31/2000

Hi All,

Now that all the Skippers have finally gone home (Tony Collins and Khan Beaumont left at 0800 this morning to return to Melbourne) I can now complete my battle report.

As the news flash on Saturday night said, there were some furious battles on Saturday. The local press was in attendance as was the local police sergeant, new members and other interested spectators. They all thought we were mad to build ships and sink them, but all wanted to come and see more battles. After a lot of rebuilding and repairs at the Bowning Ship Yard facilities that night, the fleets were ready once again to contest their supremacy of the Bowning Sea on Sunday.

The state of the fleets for Saturday’s battles was; the Axis Bill Kirwan's Richelieu, Trevor Gotte's Scharnhorst, Matt Burden's Deutschland, Bill Kirwan's Tokyo Rose Maru (a liberty), Brett Farquharson's Fujikowa Maru (a Mamiya), Khan Beaumont's Wrath of Khan (a Mamiya) and the Trevor Gotte's Turbo Slug (a Cimerron). The Allies were Anthony Burden's South Dakota, Steve Burden's Houston, Tony Collins Neosho (a Cimerron), Anthony Burden's Viper (a Liberty) Bob Booth's Lucky (a liberty) Barry Brown's SS Hornet (a tramp)

During the course of Saturdays battles there were 6 sinkings, with a number of beachings due to mechanical problems or to prevent sinking. The score line was; the Tokyo Rose Maru sunk twice (9th & 10th sinking for her), the Wrath of Khan once, the Fujikowa Maru once (her 2nd) with a beaching, the Neosho once (her 6th sinking) and the Lucky (her 1st). The Richelieu, South Dakota, Turbo Slug (the last salvo to hit her disconnected the battery leads and she drifted to shore) and Deutschland and managed to beach before they sunk. The Viper, Hornet, Houston and Scharnhorst survived the day with small amounts of damage.

Khan Beaumont had his Wrath of Khan (a Mamiya) on the water for the first time and she was carrying a very valuable cargo as ballast, which a number of us claimed salvage rights to if she sank. Khan was using bags of 50 cent pieces for his ballast instead of lead.

On Saturday night after the AGM and the BBQ, tea, and a few drinks to get the chill out of the bones, (sounds good even if it was a nice warm summers night) the repair work began. Khan’s boat need rewiring to replace his electronic speed control with a simple micro switch and resister type. Brett's boat needed a micro switch on the speed control replaced after the switch arm broke. All ships were patched out.

Only Brett's ship didn't make it to the battle on Sunday (he wanted to take photos) There were two all-in Grand Melees with all warships and freighters on the water. The result was that all ships except the Scharnhorst, Turbo Slug, Houston, Deutschland and the Hornet were sunk at least once. The last battle was a slug fest with the Richelieu and South Dakota going down. The South Dakota went down in deep water (the float line wasn’t long enough) which required a salvage diver (her Skipper Anthony) to go looking for her. One of our hosts, John Pearsall, was disappointed that Anthony salvaged the South Dakota. He has claimed rights to every thing left on the bottom of his dam. He thinks that would be the cheapest way to get a ship of his own.

Tony and Khan stayed at the Ship Yards for one more night so that Khan could build a Tirpitz hull for himself. Next time he battles he wants to defend himself and give as much as he gets. Also the Smith brothers Andrew and Dean (from Victoria) bought Cimerron and Liberty hulls.

Its been suggested that another weekend battle be held at the Bowning Sea in the middle of the year.

All in all a great weekend, plenty of battles, good company, good refreshments and excellent facilities. Many thanks to the Pearsall family for the us of their dam (the Bowning Sea).