This article grew out of a discussion between Michael J. Martino and myself in the Command at Sea topic on GEnie (M805,1 Category 4, Topic 25).

Photo at right: formation of US cruisers in squadron maneuvers in the summe of 1942, turning from column to line abreast using a simultaneous turn. Note that slightly different turns change the straight column to a ragged line.

In this article, I am operating from the point of view of an officer from a British Commonwealth navy. All references are to the practices of the RN and its sister fleets. These may not be applicable to USN or other navies experience.

Prelude

During the period covered by Command at Sea, naval tactics were dominated by linear thinking. Dispersed formations had been developed, and were employed to counter specific threats but in the main, naval officers of the period still pictured themselves sailing into battle in column. Columns are simple, and in battle simplicity is vital.

From the late 19th century up to the mid 20th century, warships were gathered by class into squadrons. These were originally tactical formations, designed to group similarly performing warships together but as time passed they assumed a greater importance for their administrative role. Large ships (cruisers and up) were typically grouped into squadrons of two to four units, while medium and light ship classes formed squadrons of four to eight units. These formations were then broken into divisions of one to four units. Divisions were again originally a tactical unit which evolved into an administrative one.

When sailing in company, warships were gathered into formations called squadrons, or where the numbers warranted, a fleet, under the command of the senior officer present. Squadrons or fleets that formed a line of battle were divided into three parts: the van, the centre and the rear. These terms stayed in use through WW II to describe the parts of a column or formation.

During WW II, the ubiquitous Task Force and Task Group replaced the Fleet and Squadron organizations as tactical units. The employment of squadrons and divisions within task forces and groups continued up until the very end of the war. For example, a USN WW II Battleship Squadron (BATRON) in late 1944 would normally consist of two modem battleships, each one forming its own division within the squadron.

The Game

Command at Sea is a technically-based took at sea combat. It is primarily a hardware view of naval action. While I do not expect a wargame to lay out for me the tactic to be used in every circumstance, I do expect that consideration be given to the limits which were imposed on real-life participants.

With the CaS rules as written, you can essentially drive your ships like bumper cars. Each can steer on its own in any direction. Each has instant and perfectly reliable communication with die others. The only limit placed upon the player by the rules are the turning limits for your ship class. [Ed Note.. The Referee's Guide provides communications rules).

To control squadrons of ships acting in concert, navies have adopted procedures which take into account the conflicting requirements of speed, flexibility, control, communication, concentration of fire, dispersement of friendly ships, and safety. These procedures are sometimes referred to as sailing orders, which in NATO we referred to as the "Allied Tactical publication - Vol. I." These are guides on how to deploy ships to make the best possible use of their capabilities under a wide range of circumstances, along with lists of the signals for these maneuvers. Ships' officers and crew spend countless hours practising them.

Frankly, you can do things with cardboard playing pieces or metal models that no sane man would ever consider attempting with 10,000 tonne ships steaming at 30 knots in dose proximity. The only way to deal with this in a game is to rigorously enforce rules designed to duplicate the effects of sailing orders. Fleets normally practice formation sailing in line ahead (follow the leader), line abreast (side by side), echeloned on a line of bearing (behind and off to one side) and variations of the diamond AA formation or screen (ships arranged on the periphery of a circle drawn from some imaginary centre). When sailing in the company of a large number of ships, where the major threat is from air or submarine attack, a convoy formation for the main body with various screen formations for the escorts was adopted. Screen formations attempt to place armed ships between the expected direction of an attack and the expected targets of that attack. Screens are normally, but not always, collapsed into some variant of a line formation when a surface engagement with gunfire is probable.

For a ship in formation there is no room for individual action. Maneuvers in formation are limited to immediate turns and turns in succession. An immediate turn is a turn together, all ships in formation turning to a new course at the same time. If the turn is executed from a line ahead formation then the new formation will either be a line abreast (if the turn is exactly 90' from the original heading) or a line of bearing. The usual method of altering course while in line ahead is to turn in succession. This results in a line ahead formation on the new course. This is simpler and safer for the ships in formation but does have considerable tactical disadvantages when performed in the presence of the enemy, including masking the main batteries of the reversed ships, the presentation of a deeper danger zone to enemy shot and the creation of a fixed aiming point for enemy fire (each ship in formation must enter the same point on the ocean to wheel over to the new course). An immediate turn manoeuvre is also used to "track" or "comb" a torpedo threat.

Ships need rime to get "on station" in the new formation before the squadron can safely execute the next manoeuvre. Formations in a board or miniatures game are much more regular than those in real life. A 0.5" square piece of cardboard is considerably less massive than a Brooklyn class cruiser. In practice, the real formations behave almost like coil springs (a slinky toy comes to mind) with various parts opening while other sections compress. A type of 'ripple' effect develops when formations speed up, slow down or change course. It is this irregularity, which you will never see in a game, which requires a significant delay between formation maneuvers. If sufficient time is not given then the formation will break up and control will be lost.

These considerations determine the minimum distance between ships in formation, require standard tactical turning diameters, limit maximum speed alterations, and limit maximum course alterations. At sea, and particularly in formation, your squadron mares pose as great a risk, and a more immediate one, as any enemy. Subsequently I came up with the following draft set of rules that I submit for your consideration and comment:

X Formations

X.1 Ships are either independent or formed (in formation).

X.2 A tactical diameter is 500 yards (2 cables) for a minor unit (size class C or smaller) and 800 yards (3 cables) for a major unit (size class B or larger, all submarines on surface, all merchant units, all auxiliary units and all tows). If two possible TD's apply, the larger is used by all units.

X.3 All ships proceeding in company (visual sight) must be in formation.

X.4 Permissible formations are: Line Ahead/Column, Line Abreast, Line of Bearing, Diamond/Ack-Ack, or Circular/Screen/Convoy. Ships may only engage in surface combat by gunfire while in one of the three line formations (exception: meeting engagements, surprise).

X.5 Ships in formation must proceed on the same heading and at the same speed as all other ships in that formation except when maneuvering to change formation. Changing formation includes changes to the heading or speed of the existing formation. Ships must be manoeuvred during changes of formation to maintain their relative positions with respect to the other units of the formation. (exception when changing from a line formation to any non line formation, or from a non-line formation to a line formation, or when passing a tow, or when replenishing at sea, or when prosecuting an ASW contact or search).

X6 Formation Spacing X.6.1 Ships in line formations (ahead, abreast or bearing) must remain within two tactical diameters (TD) of the adjacent unit which is closest to the flagship of the formation. (exception minor units making surface torpedo attacks may extend formation inter-unit distances to four tactical diameters regardless of visibility) [breaking formation]

X.6.2 Ships in formation may not approach closer than one tactical diameter to one another. If a minor unit is involved, use the smaller tactical diameter. If both are major units, use the large tactical diameter. If they do, check for collision (exception: replenishment at sea).

X7 Minor units may not form line formations with major units. Separate formations of minor and major units may form line dispositions. A disposition is a "formation of formations." In this case, the minor formation must either precede all major units or follow all major units. A minor unit formation may not be disposed between two major unit formations.

X.8 Minor unit line formations may not approach closer than two major tactical diameters (1600 yards) to a major unit formation. (exception joining a non linear formation or a disposition)

X.9 All ships steaming in formation must complete one full tactical turn (3 minutes) on station, on a uniform heading and speed, in that formation, before the formation can be ordered to perform any change of speed, course, bearing, formation type, or detachment.

X.10 Friendly ships proceeding independently, unless under movement orders to some destination, which approach to within two tactical diameters of each other during a Tactical Turn, must form on each other with the senior officer present assuming command of the resulting formation.

X.11 Friendly ships proceeding independently, which approach to within two tactical diameters of a friendly formation must join that formation subject to the restrictions of K6 above.

X.12 Ships conducting cooperative ASW hunts are in formation so long as they are in visual or radar sight of one another, and in communication, regardless of the headings and speeds of the individual units concerned or the distance between them.

X-13 Casualties X.13.1 Ships which, as a result of battle damage or equipment casualty, are unable to maintain the heading or speed of their formation must detach and sail independently. If applicable, such units must meet the two tactical diameter clearance requirement as soon as possible.

X.13.2 Alternatively, if the formation meets the requirements of X-9, and the casualty is able to manoeuvre, the formation may alter speed to allow the casualty to remain in formation.

X. 14 Breaking Formation. Ships which exceed two tactical diameters from the adjacent unit which is closer to the flagship, while in a line formation, have "broken formation." All units which have the offending ship between themselves and the flagship are also "out of command" along with the offending ship (exception: surface units conducting torpedo attacks)

X. 14.1 Out of command ships may not respond to any further orders, nor may they continue to act upon any existing orders from the flagship other than an order to rejoin.

Units out of command may continue to fire at existing targets if so engaged when the formation breaks. If they cannot engage the ordered target, they will engage the closest, largest target that their guns will penetrate.

X. 14.2 Out of command ships must rejoin their original formation if the flagship of that formation is within visual sight. If the flagship is not within visual sight, then the broken portion of the formation must continue on the last ordered speed and course of their original formation or alter to the course and speed of the unit next ahead. (this allows for a follow-the-leader effect, note that if the flag is behind the units they will never return to formation unless they can each, individually, sight the flagship)

Their flagship must be manoeuvred so that the ship ends each tactical turn closer to its original relative position in formation than it began that turn.

X.14.4 Ships which remain out of command and do not maintain visual sight of their flagship for four consecutive tactical turns must form a new formation using the provisions of X.10 and X.11. This new formation has its course and speed randomly determined Every D6 tactical turns (Ed note. in a refereed game, and if there are enough players, one may be assigned to command the "new squadron. 1. If any formation is sighted by this "lost squadron" it will immediately change course to intercept die sighted formation. Use the visual ID rules in section 5.4.2.7 to determine whether they are identified to the controlling player as friendly or enemy. The out of command formation will attempt to join formations thought to be friendly subject to the provisions of X.7 and X.8. Out of command formations will engage spotted formations thought to be hostile.

X.14.5 If a formation breaks, that portion containing the flag may manoeuvre to re-establish command.

X.15 Ships may be detached from a formation. These are usually predefined units, but may be formed ad hoc, Detached units are exempted from the provisions of X.10 and X.11 until they have opened to at least two tactical diameters from the parent formation. Detached ships are required to open to this distance as soon as possible after detaching.

Conclusion

The general idea is that you need to be very conservative with your maneuvers unless you are willing to see a good portion of your fleet sail away to never-never land. Radios and radar are not much of a help under these circumstances, since what we are modelling is what happens when the human element (the bridge staff) has failed to keep abreast of the situation.

It is within the flagship's purview to pursue its lost sheep. There is nothing stopping the ships still under command from chasing after them (subject to the restrictions regarding formation changes and the possibility of being misidentified and shot at by their own side).

The out of command rules are designed to punish players who allow their ships to become separated and subject to defeat in detail. Naval surface combat is always fraught with confusion and the risk of mistaking friend or foe increases if friendly formations scatter. Broken formation rules will typically only come into play during periods of reduced visibility and at night. If the flagship is visible to an out of command unit it will rejoin as soon as possible.

I have attempted to show that there are additional considerations to maneuvering large warships in company, and effectively massing their fires at the enemy than are currently addressed in Command at Sea.

Ed note. Try using these rules with the comm procedures in Ed Kettler's Referee's Guide. For the moment, these are draft and not official rules changes to CaS. Thanks to James for his contribution.

BT