Great War at Sea: Atlantic Breakout 1918

Throughout the Great War, staff officers of the High Seas Fleet suggested sending a battle cruiser around the northern tip of Britain into the Atlantic Ocean to prey on enemy shipping. Moltke proved the concept in June 1912 with her visit to New York, and scouting forces commander Franz Hipper urged that she be dispatched into the Atlantic. Later the project would be revived, with the Iron Dog herself, Derfflinger, which boasted 40 percent greater range.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States Navy feared the threat of German battle cruisers attacking the troop convoys packed with tens of thousands of Doughboys. They deployed every American capital ship - dreadnoughts, pre-dreadnoughts, and armored cruisers - to cover the convoys, and asked the Japanese to help as well.

No attacks took place, but you can play them out in Atlantic Breakout 1918, a Great War at Sea Campaign Study. Eight scenarios re-create the situation exactly as it stood in May 1915, September 1918 and October 1918: all of the convoys, all of the reaction forces are in place. And then we inject what the Germans hoped and the Allies feared, a battle cruiser loose among them. And as always, we have the full background story for you, based on original documents.

The operational scenarios take place on the map from Second World War at Sea: Bismarck, with pieces from Great War at Sea: Jutland, U.S. Navy Plan Emerald, Remember the Maine, and Rise of the Dragon.