Combined arms - Normandy! Log entry 5.1 - Tactical Discussion

I'm always trying to improve my game, having not played very much VaS despite owning it since release day I really love the game and really enjoy that I can play it during the campaign.

Below we see the approximate movements of the fleet during the game and after some thought I can recognise areas where my tactics were weak and other areas where they are strong.

1. (Red Line) Starting with the Star of the show the Tirpitz (BB), During the game I used smoke from the Destroyers and Damaged Konigsberg to mask her from fire from the Warspite, this allowed me to focus my BB fire on the Allied Cruisers as they closed. A bigger discussion came up during the game 'where's the terrain?' and I believe I'm correct to assume terrain in game of VaS are rare, this leads us further to the discussion on how we're supposed to protect or mask our fleet? SMOKE. The Smokescreen laid down by the Destroyers and Cruisers was extremely effective at allowing my BB to defeat the enemy fleet in detail, avoiding the Armour piercing fire of the Warspite until my own destroyers had made a Torpedo run on the Warspite.

2. (Yellow) During the game my use of my Cruisers was Subpar, the Konigsberg suffered immensely from fire from the Warspite and Leander class Cruiser as I didn't effectively screen it and it was force to turn and retreat from the table, causing little or no damage throughout the battle.

The Koln (Orange) Moved far to closely towards the Tribal class destroyers with their 8 Torpedoes each, the Koln was effectively sunk from Torpedo salvoes without causing much harm at all.

This leads my thinking in another direction, their fast track twinlinked Main guns were built to fight destroyers. In the Map below I've drawn an Orange line to show the direction both cruisers should have moved, getting a broadside view of the Tribal class destroyers. A broadside view, plus fast track means at short range I'd be hitting on 4+ whilst myself being hit on a 5+ by the tribals weak (No crits) light guns meaning in a gun duel with the Tribals the Koenigsburg and Koln would have come out on top.

3. The Destroyers (Red) I think I used well, using them to screen my own BB from Tribal class destroyers and once they were dealt with slipping through the centre and launching a torpedo run on the Warspite.

4. Bombers, I wasn't sure how to use the Bombers properly. I disadvantaged myself by not bringing any fighter cover, next time I think I need to bring some to cover the bombers.