THE GREAT WAR AT SEA GAME SERIES

VOLUME #5: U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK

ERRATA AND CLARIFICATIONS

By

Alan R. Arvold

The following errata and clarifications are based on a series

of questions put to, and answered by, Avalanche Press, in a

number of phone calls. Also the entries and responses that are

listed in the GREAT WAR AT SEA section on Consimworld was

consulted. However, all errata and clarifications in this article

should be considered to be unofficial.

SERIES RULES BOOK

There have been three different Series Rules Books in the game

series. The first version came in the first three games of the

series (THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE NORTH & BALTIC SEAS, and U.S. NAVY

PLAN ORANGE). The second version came in the fourth and fifth

games of the series (1904-1905: THE RUSSO-JAPANESE NAVAL WAR and

U.S. NAVY PLAN BLACK) and was available as replacements for the

rule books in the first three games. These versions are now

obsolete. The third version came in the sixth and seventh games

of the series (1898: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR and U.S. NAVY PLAN

RED) and the second edition of the first game. This is the

current version of the Standard Rules for the game series.

8.5 Dead in the Water

8.51 Speed Loss (Add): If a ship which suffers a hit whose

printed damage result includes losing one movement, and from the

same hit has more than half of the number of hull boxes crossed

off, than that ship suffers the loss of two movement, not one. A

ship may not lose more than one movement due to having more than

half of its hull boxes crossed off in a game, no matter how many

additional hull boxes are crossed off later on. Additional

printed movement losses from damage results still apply though.

(This rule represents the reduction of a ship's speed due to the

gradual flooding in the damaged hull spaces. The printed movement

losses in the various damage tables represents engine room hits.)

8.6 Referred Pain

(Add): 8.63 If primary hits on primary and secondary armament

with light or no armor cause excess damage, the excess damage can

be taken as a hull hit if the original primary hit takes out the

last armament box of the required type. However, the excess

damage is ignored if the hull has heavy armor.

9.0 Multiple-Ship Counters

9.3 Combat (Clarification): A player can not place all hits on

one ship in the counter if there are more hits than the one ship

can possibly absorb. In addition, once a ship has taken enough

hull hits to sink, it is no longer eligible to receive any more

hits.

COUNTERS

(Clarification): There has been some questions on the absence of

some ships and the mislabeling of others in the American fleet in

the counter set. This following answers should settle this

matter:

The pre-dreadnoughts B23 and B24 (Mississippi and Idaho) were

sold to Greece in 1914 and appear in the first volume of the

GREAT WAR AT SEA game series as the Greek pre-dreadnoughts Kilkis

and Lemnos.

The armored cruisers CA6 and CA10 (San Diego and Memphis) were

both lost by the time frame of the game, the San Diego to a mine

in 1918 and the Memphis to being grounded by a freak tidal wave

in 1917. However, due to the fictional historical backround of

this game, they are assumed instead to have been converted to the

aircraft carriers Crown Point (CV-2) and Sackets Harbor (CV-3)

respectively.

The destroyer leaders Chester, Birmingham, and Salem are actually

the cruisers by the same name in both the games 1898: THE SPANISH

AMERICAN WAR and U.S. NAVY PLAN RED. In 1911 the Birmingham was

converted to a destroyer leader and tender as an experiment.

After three years the conversion was judged a failure and the

Birmingham was converted back to a cruiser. In U.S. NAVY PLAN

BLACK the experimental conversion is considered to be a success

and her two sister ships (the Chester and the Salem) are presumed

to have undergone the same conversion to destroyer leaders (DLs)

before the time frame of the game.

The gunboats Denver, Des Moines, and Chattanooga are misnumbered.

They should be listed as GB28, GB29, and GB30 respectively. These

ships were originally cruisers, just as they are listed in the

game 1898. They were reclassified as gunboats in 1920. In 1921

they were again reclassified as light cruisers (with the hull

numbers of CL16, CL17, and CL18 respectively). In U.S. NAVY PLAN

BLACK it is presumed that they were never reclassified as light

cruisers and remained as gunboats.

If using the variant light ship counters (available on Grognard),

there is an error in the US destroyer counters. US destroyer

counters Cassin 8 and 9 should be Caldwell 1 and 2 respectively.

However since both destroyer types have the same values this does

not effect play though.

SCENARIO BOOK

Special Rules

The following special rules are either from U.S. NAVY PLAN RED

in order to update the game or clarifications to differentiate

the game from PLAN RED to account for some technicalogical

differences.

American Methods (Addition): Large American warships employed

many more labor saving devices than those of the other navies of

the world (which also included more extensive on-board machine

shops). This plus the American practice of heating living spaces

(in colder climates) required power even when in port; therefore,

American BBs and CCs expend fuel while in port (an exception to

12.12), but not while refueling. However, the greater

efficiencies gained plus cross-training and an emphasis on

individual initiative had other benefits. Subtract one from the

die roll when an American BB or CC attempts emergency repairs

(11.27).

19.0 Air Operations

19.1 Aircraft Basing

19.18 (Change): The rule number should actually be 19.16.

19.3 Takeoff and Landing (Clarification): The reason that

takeoffs are prohibited during night turns is because there are

no seaplanes in this game. Seaplanes are the only aircraft,

besides airships, that can fly at night during the time frame of

the game. If some future scenario includes seaplanes in this

game, the takeoff modifier for night turns is -2.

20.0 Air Combat

20.1 Air-to-Air Combat

Sixth Bullet (Clarification): The reason that strike aircraft can

not return fire is that they were single seat planes which had

their armament mounted on front and could not dogfight

effectively when carrying bombs due to the additional weight

slowing them down. These planes were also used as search planes

and secondary fighters. (The German D17 planes were specifically

designed to be duel strike/fighter planes.) Airships are an

exception to this rule.

20.42 (Clarification): The reason that bombs do not penetrate the

armored deck of ships so marked is because they were dropped from

slow flying aircraft and airships at a low attitude. The bombs

just were not going fast enough when they hit to penentrate the

armored decks. (Dive bombing had not yet been developed.)

21.0 Airships

21.3 Attacking an Airship (Addition): Airships may return fire

when attacked by CAP or an airstrike directed against them. This

is an exception to rule 20.31. (Airships are the only aircraft in

the game that are carrying defensive armament, thus they can

shoot back, even when carrying bombs.)

22.0 Submarine Flotillas

22.34 (Clarification): The reason that submarines may make two

attacks as compared to only one attack in the World War I games

of the series and U.S. NAVY PLAN RED is that new submarines

designed at the end of the Great War were just starting to come

into service. These incorporated several lessons learned during

the war including an increased amount of torpedoes carried on

board.

Scenarios

Operational Scenario 6

Allied Forces: The American battlecruisers Saratoga and

Constellation are misnumbered. They should be CC03 and CC02

respectively. The American light cruisers Omaha, Cincinnati,

Raleigh, Detroit, Marblehead, and Memphis are misnumbered. They

should be CL04, CL06, CL07, CL08, CL12, and CL13 respectively.

Operational Scenario 8

The date should be 1 June 1922, not 1917. (Most of the newer

ships in that scenario, even the hypothetical ones, were being

built in 1917.)

Tables

On the Aircraft vs. Ships Table on the last page of the book,

make the following correction:

Die Roll Modifiers

+2 if target is dead in the water.

HIT RECORD CHART

German

The battlecruiser Prinz E Friedrich (BC09) should have a point

value of 102. (The printed point value is partially obscured by

the Primary Gunnery Boxes.)