BOTA 09 – The Shipping News
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC PART 9: THE SHIPPING NEWS
Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov was humiliated by the failure of his trap in the Gulf of Cádiz and the Gibraltar straits. As bitter fighting continues in Western Europe, Ogarkov moves into the next phase of his plan — sever the transatlantic lifeline sustaining NATO’s war effort. Like the Battle of the Atlantic, forty years earlier, the flow of men, armour, and supplies from North America to Europe is the artery that must be choked to weaken the Allied defence in Europe.
For NATO’s intelligence community, the “shipping news” has always meant more than merchant movements. In the Second World War, Allied convoys relied on accurate and timely reports to evade German U-boat wolfpacks. A single sighting could mean the difference between safe arrival and a watery grave. Now, four decades later, the same rule applies in a new war in the Atlantic.
From the outset of the conflict, NATO Intelligence warned that Soviet naval forces had been quietly positioned in the Atlantic in the weeks before hostilities began. One group — a Kiev-class aviation cruiser and escorts — slipped out of Soviet waters undetected. Since then, U.S. Naval Intelligence has been unable to locate the Novorossiysk. Its absence from any known theatre has fuelled speculation and unease across the Atlantic Commands. The carrier’s Yak-38s, missile-armed escorts, and submarine screen represent a potent strike capability against NATO’s central ocean convoy routes.
Over recent days, losses to NATO shipping have mounted. Long-range submarine patrols have intercepted unescorted or lightly protected vessels, while surface action groups have struck at the outer edges of NATO’s protective coverage. The inability to fix its position has frustrated NATO’s planners, who know that the longer it remains at large, the greater the risk to the vital sealift now underway.
For days, analysts have been combing through reconnaissance reports, SIGINT intercepts, and sonar plots, searching for signs of the Novorossiysk and her escorts. Each negative sighting has deepened the concern that she might slip past NATO’s watch and begin striking at will. That concern ended an hour ago. A long-range RA-5C Vigilante patrol from RVAH-14 “Eagle Eyes”, forward-deployed to Lajes Field in the Azores, has finally reported a positive radar contact. The Novorossiysk has ventured close enough to fall within strike range.
MISSION:
On 15 July 1984, TF24.11 GREYHOUND is 280NM north of the Azores, escorting a massive Military Sealift Command convoy carrying U.S. Army III Corps’ heavy equipment to Bremerhaven. TF24.10 BRUISER, centred on USS New Jersey, is patrolling north of the convoy to intercept any surface threat, while TF24.5 TRIDENT is moving southwest to sweep ahead for submarines. The returns from the Vigilante are unmistakable: a carrier group, heavy escorts, and support vessels, operating north of the Azores and on a course that could threaten the convoy.
The sighting sends Lajes Air Base into immediate action. E-2C “Screwtops” launch to establish airborne early warning, EA-6Bs prepare to jam Soviet sensors, F-14A “Wolf Pack” fighters arm for combat air patrol, and A-6E Intruders are loaded for anti-ship strikes. This is the contact NATO forces have been searching the vast ocean for — and the opportunity to remove a major threat to the Atlantic lifeline. Orders are issued without delay: BRUISER is to intercept and destroy the Soviet carrier group, TRIDENT to neutralise the submarine threat ahead of GREYHOUND, and Lajes-based air power to engage on command.
The mission is critical. Destroying the Novorossiysk and her escorts will remove a serious threat to NATO’s sea lanes and safeguard III Corps’ arrival in Europe. Failure could see the convoy shattered in mid-ocean, delaying reinforcements and shifting the balance of the war in Ogarkov’s favour. Just as in the grim days of the Second World War, the “shipping news” has arrived — and it may decide the fate of the war.
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. Please let me know in the comments about any bugs or suggestions.
Full credit to @PushbackApproved and @Stealth17Gaming for the YouTube playthrough videos.
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
