BOTA 10 – The Narrow Sea
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC PART 10 – THE NARROW SEA:
The ground situation in Europe is critical. Soviet forces are driving relentlessly into West Germany and Denmark. On the North German Plain, NATO divisions are trading ground for time, holding defensive lines under constant pressure from Soviet armour. Around Hamburg and Bremen, rearguard actions are the only thing preventing a breakthrough to the Elbe. In Jutland, Danish troops and elements of the British Army are cut off and fighting a delaying action with dwindling supplies. NATO is holding the line by its fingernails. Everyone knows reinforcements must arrive soon.
Task Force 24.11 “GREYHOUND” is that lifeline. Its convoy carries the weight of the US Army III Corps—tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, helicopters, artillery, and tens of thousands of tons of munitions and supplies. If GREYHOUND reaches Bremerhaven intact, NATO will have the combat power to blunt the Soviet offensive and stabilise the front. If it fails, the defence of Central Europe may collapse within days.
The convoy has already endured a trial by fire. In the central Atlantic, it survived an attack by the Novorossiysk carrier group and a Soviet submarine wolfpack. With support from TF BRUISER and TF TRIDENT, GREYHOUND broke through, but at a heavy cost. USS Taylor and USS Elmer Montgomery were lost, other escorts damaged, and munitions reserves drawn down. TRIDENT has now detached, returning to Atlantic patrol, and has handed over ASW escort duties to TF24.14 “BLUEBIRD.”
MISSION:
BLUEBIRD, a dedicated American ASW task force, pushes thirty-five nautical miles ahead of the convoy, sweeping the Western Approaches with helicopters and sonobuoys. Two Los Angeles-class submarines, USS Memphis and USS Salt Lake City, guard the flanks below. Meanwhile, Royal Navy TG24.14.2 “MERLIN”—HMS Ambuscade F172, HMS Active F171 and HMS Jupiter F60—has sortied from Plymouth to tighten the defensive cordon in the Channel approaches. NATO is building a layered corridor through which the convoy must pass.
Overhead, a NATO E-3A Sentry maintains a constant radar watch, while RAF Nimrods (MR.2) from No. 42 SQN, RAF St Mawgan, patrol the waters, hunting for submarines and shadowing Soviet reconnaissance trawlers. Naval Intelligence believes multiple Soviet submarines are on station in the deeper waters west of the Channel. Royal Navy pickets have reported ambiguous sonar contacts in recent days, though heavy seas make confirmation difficult.
The threat is as much historical as it is modern. Intelligence analysts believe Marshal Ogarkov is mirroring the German U-boat strategy of World War II—deploying submarines in picket lines across the convoy’s likely approach routes. In the words of Winston Churchill, the English Channel is “The Narrow Sea”—too shallow for submarines to operate freely, but still vulnerable at its entrances. The Soviets are expected to strike at precisely that point, where the depth and geography favour their attack.
Ogarkov knows the stakes. He has failed to stop the convoy in mid-ocean, but he can still destroy it before it reaches Europe. The sinking of GREYHOUND will not only cripple NATO’s ability to reinforce the front, it will deliver a severe psychological blow across the Alliance.
As dusk falls over the convoy, tension runs high. Every escort is at full readiness, every submarine hunting ahead, every aircraft flying extended patrols. NATO controls the Channel itself, but the approaches remain contested. The next hours will decide whether III Corps makes it to the front—or whether NATO is left to face the full weight of the Soviet offensive alone.
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 @PushbackApproved and @Stealth17Gaming for the YouTube playthrough videos.
Required items:
Click the title to search on this site.
The Royal Navy Mod Pack — Steam Workshop
NATO E-3A Sentry — Steam Workshop
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
