BOTA 07 – The Gauntlet UPDATED

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Author: IlDuce-17

Last revision: 13 Mar at 08:20 UTC (1)

File size: 10.65 MB

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BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC PART 7 – THE GAUNTLET:
The Battle of the Atlantic has entered a new and perilous phase. While NATO naval forces have dealt severe blows to Soviet breakout attempts in the northern and central Atlantic, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov remains determined to sever the transatlantic lifeline. His encirclement of Western Europe has stalled, but not failed. Now Ogarkov shifts his strategy south.

Weeks before open war, Ogarkov quietly pre-positioned a Black Sea Fleet aviation cruiser group inside the Mediterranean under peacetime rules. The TAVKR Kiev and her escorts transited the Bosporus behind a screen of “goodwill” visits to Syria and Algeria while auxiliaries loitered at sea. When war broke out in Western Europe, Turkey closed the Straits under Montreux. The Soviet group was already inside and ready to move. The plan was simple. Distract the Sixth Fleet to the east, then run the Kiev west along the Maghreb under EMCON, using weather and merchant lanes as cover.

At the heart of the push is Kiev, escorted by a powerful surface group and a substantial submarine screen. If she breaks into the Atlantic, the Soviets gain long-range strike and anti-submarine reach into NATO’s southern rear. That prospect forced NATO to stretch scarce assets across two fronts at once.

The distraction worked. Soviet submarines and long-range aviation surged in the eastern and central Med. Tu-95RT Bear-D reconnaissance, Tu-16 Badger and Tu-22M Backfire sorties, and a pattern of submarine contacts pulled carrier air and maritime patrols east. In that window Kiev went dark and hugged the North African shelf, advancing west in night jumps masked by weather and heavy traffic.

Complicating matters now is the growing involvement of Algeria. President Chadli Bendjedid has publicly reaffirmed alignment with the Soviet Union, calling it solidarity against Western colonialism. Although Algeria remains officially non-aligned, NATO intelligence has tracked Soviet port calls in Oran and Algiers and rapid upgrades to air facilities along the coast.

What remains unclear, but deeply concerning, is whether Soviet air assets are operating from Algerian soil. Long-range surveillance flights have appeared more often in the Western Mediterranean and are believed to be staging from locations beyond known Soviet bases. If confirmed, Algeria becomes a forward bastion for Soviet air and naval operations and turns parts of the Western Mediterranean into a corridor the Soviets can influence and exploit.

The first hard contact came south of Sardinia. Italian and Spanish surface groups moved to intercept. The Soviet response was offensive defence. Escorts used jamming, chaff, and disciplined missile employment while submarines pressed close on the shelf. Probing frigates were driven back and one withdrew under tow. Hours later the main blow fell at dusk in the central Med. While Soviet aircraft pulled fighters and helos off axis, a Victor III closed inside the screen and fired. USS Saratoga CV-60 took torpedo hits. Damage control fought hard and lost. Coordinated Badger and Backfire attacks then saturated the escorts with Kipper and Kitchen missiles. Sixth Fleet suffered heavy losses.

Since then, Kiev has made steady progress westward, brushing aside further attempts at interdiction. Spanish and Italian formations continue to shadow, but the pattern is set. The Soviets jam briefly, fire with restraint, and vanish into traffic and weather. Each day the range to Gibraltar closes.

MISSION:
In response, U S Atlantic Command has issued urgent orders. Task Force 24.8 IRONCLAD, centred on USS Eisenhower and reinforced by cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, has been rerouted to the Gulf of Cádiz. Its task is to form a picket line and prevent Kiev from entering the Atlantic. Spanish Air Force assets continue to track the Soviet group. NATO submarines have moved into the Tarifa approaches and along the Moroccan shelf. A hastily assembled joint Italian-Spanish-US group, TG60.1 ARGO, is advancing west in the Alboran Sea to close the noose.

Ogarkov’s gamble is clear. If Kiev makes it through, the Soviets gain a southern corridor into the Atlantic, bypassing NATO’s northern blockade and threatening US resupply convoys. The Atlantic war stretches thin. If NATO succeeds here, if IRONCLAD can close the gauntlet at the last chokepoint, the breakout falters and the initiative swings back to the west. Dawn gathers over the Gulf of Cádiz and the next twenty-four hours will decide who owns the Strait.

CAMPAIGN:
The Battle of the Atlantic campaign unfolds in a dark reimagining of 1984, where Cold War tensions erupt into full-scale war. After seizing power in the Kremlin, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov launches a lightning invasion of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Soviet forces pour across Scandinavia and surge into the Norwegian Sea, threatening to sever NATO’s transatlantic lifeline and dominate the GIUK Gap. In response, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and allied NATO naval forces mobilise for a desperate stand to preserve control of the seas.

From the fog-choked Baltic to the windswept North Atlantic, players will command Task Forces through a series of missions: from the defence of Gotland and interdiction of Soviet amphibious landings, to high-stakes carrier battles in the mid-Atlantic and convoy escorts across submarine-infested waters, to full-scale amphibious warfare. In this struggle for maritime supremacy, every decision counts—and the future of Europe hangs in the balance.

A 25+ mission linear campaign, The Battle of the Atlantic, is inspired by famous naval battles of WWI and WWII.

***FULL CAMPAIGN MOD COLLECTION: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718111590

Full credit to @Pushback Approved and @Stealth17Gaming for the YouTube playthrough videos. The mission has been updated since those videos were made and now differs.