2nd week of September 1939
Wish all I want, it doesn't change the fact that Leipzig and Koln are lightly damaged and in need of repairs. I begin a series of redeployments, the last of which sees Admiral Hipper and Nurnberg (a CL) leave Germany and risk sprinting the length of the English Channel.
The two ships, which were meant to take up the station previously patrolled by the two wounded light cruisers, run smack into a fat convoy of eight freighters escorted by, again, a single destroyer in the form of HMS Vendetta.
Hipper spies the convoy bearing roughy 40 degrees at a range of about 15,000 yards.
Vendetta is in dire straits....but this time the British have land based air support on call. While an 8" HE shell from Hipper mauls the little ship (impressive first salvo hit at 20,000 yards)...
.... an enemy bomber manages to core Hipper's 'D' turret and rob it of two of its eight guns.
Vendetta is trying to retire under smoke. There are no more enemy aircraft buzzing about. So the two German ships begin a stern chase that sees Hipper systematically murder all eight merchantmen with its forward guns. Those HE shells are just BRUTAL....and I'm managing first salvo bits at 12,000 yards after I confirm my gunners are overshooting their targets (in terms of those first salvos) by about 0.3 degrees.
Our pursuit is aided by air support of our own. A pair of bombing runs by friendly stukas maul one civvie ship to the point that it's nearly dead in the water when the Hipper cruises alongside.
In the middle of all this carnage, the heavy cruiser also applies the coup de grace to Vendetta. All Nurnberg does is trail behind and snap photos of the slaughter. Until the end, that is, when she polishes off the last cargo hauler at 2,800 yards with a pair of 21" torpedoes.
In one battle, the British have lost 56,000+ tons in shipping and a destroyer. But now Hipper is suffering from medium damage and a third German ship is heading back for repairs. The question will be, was it worth it?
Tally so far: two British destroyers, 70,000 tons in merchant shipping.