DNL continues, Part 3 of Turn 1:

MARCOM HQ

‘Commodore Skoglund Just informed me that our Submarines, his air combined with ours has not been enough to dissuade the Soviets from progressing across the straits. In fact if it was a tad clearer I dare say we could see the bastards out the window!’ British General Richard Bray, paused for effect. ‘But that is not all gentlemen, not by far. That glorious bastard is going to intercept the Soviets in the Baltic, and give him what for!! Yes, a good old fashion spanking with the buggy whip as my Grandfather used to say. He is attacking with TF #1!!’

North West Coast of Denmark:

The Corvette’s Niels class designated Fischer, Trolle, Skram and Juel, were “steaming” at 30 knots across a light chop with the wind at their backs. Not that the wind mattered.  They had been lurking  behind the small island in the Kattegat sea, near the Lasso Rende strait.  With 25,700 shp gas turbines they surged from hiding to secure missile lock via satellite relay center  in Copenhagen.  Their 110 man crews readied RIM based Sea Sparrow for anti-missile missiles. They had a full complement of Harpoons, capable of massive damage due to its 488-pound warhead and excellent range for this close of an engagement.

As the ships cleared the coastline and turned East, they launched at the Krivak Frigates and Kolin class DD’s. If observant walkers on the shores of Copenhagen had looked to sea they would have seen the bright launch flare and missiles take to the sky, only to dramatically disappear as they skimmed the surface of the ocean towards their targets just a 104 kms away.

A storm of missiles slammed into ships, Destroyers attempted to avoid the sea of missiles. LST’s and Transport ships took hits, men were cast overboard, explosions rocked the sea.

At the same time the faster more nimble Krivaks had detected the Danish fleet rounding the coastal waters via its MR-755 Fregat sensor systems and Naval Surveillance air,  and quickly assigned targets to the Task Force.

While the fleet of Soviet and Polish warships was much larger, it had a limited missile capabilities. In fact only the Silex missiles [SS-N-14] were loaded on Krivak class frigates and just one missile boat. The Danes brought metric tonnes of missile firepower to the table by comparison, that was overwhelming for the Soviet forces who had limited or no missile defence measures.

[Red Blocks denote randomly allocated targets in each ‘TF sector’, the orange star is a sink]

The Captains of the Royal Danish Navies quickly communicated and all agreed. It was all or nothing. They closed to gun range. Yes. Gun Range. They navigated the Copenhagen- Malmo gap and close in.

They fired their 76mm guns. The swirling melee lasted for over an hour until both sides broke off the engagement, lacking ammo, and looking to fight another day.

During the fray the screened LST’s broke for the shoreline and deposited now ½ a Division versus the full one that had previously landed, due to effective fire from the combined sub, Naval and Air strikes.

Would the Danish Government persist in the fight or surrender with Soviet Marines now on shore?