Scenario: "Rusty Nickel" at the Gateway of Tears

[scorpio_rocks]

NB - This is NOT ready to play!

This material is presented, at the behest of others (so they can use some elements themselves), in an unfinished form - The Scenario WILL NOT PLAY at the moment.

Work in Progress!


LHD-5 USS BATAAN at the Bab-el-Mandeb
This Fictional scenario is set in the "near future" as tensions rise in the Middle East.
(It is really just an excuse to field the LHD and a bunch of "pirate" small craft).
Names of some leaders may sound "familiar" this is meant as a compliment and no offense is meant.

The .zip File contains:
Scenario files
SPSCN500.cmt
SPSCN500.dat
SPSCN500.txt

Additional .SHP files (Icons)

// Icon0182.shp -- Turreted Icons. (Icons 7648-7657 created/ammended by Scorpio_Rocks)
{18200, 18201}, //7648. Naval SAM Launcher - Hex Base
{18202, 18203}, //7649. Naval SAM Launcher (Sea Sparrow) - Round Base
{18204, 18205}, //7650. Phalanx CIWS
{18206, 18207}, //7651. 25mm autocannon Naval turret

// Icon0184.shp -- Invisible turret Icons. (Icons 7800-7813 created/ammended by Scorpio_Rocks)
{18400, 6976}, // 7800 Pirate Skiff
{18401, 6976}, // 7801 Gunboat
{18402, 6976}, // 7802 Pirate "Mothership"
{18403, 6976}, // 7803 Syrian Compact Missile Boat
{18404, 6976}, // 7804 Suicide Inflatable
{18405, 6976}, // 7805 Patrol Ship (Spain)
{18406, 6976}, // 7806 Container Ship (small)
{18407, 6976}, // 7807 US Patrol Vessel
{18408, 6976}, // 7808 LHD Deck - 5
{18409, 6976}, // 7809 LHD Elevator
{18410, 6976}, // 7810 LHD Deck Landing Pad
{18411, 6976}, // 7811 LHD Bridge
{18413, 6976}, // 7813 LHD Airborne Operations Island
{18414, 6976}, // 7814 RHIB

Additional .LBM files (pictures)

PM01500.lbm - Somali Pirate Flag (colour)
PM01501.lbm - Pirate Skiff
PM01502.lbm - Pirate "Mothership"
PM01503.lbm - Somali Pirates
PM01504.lbm - Pirate Ship
PM01505.lbm - Pirate Gunboat

PM01510.lbm - Syrian Compact Missile Boat
PM01511.lbm - Iranian Missile Boat
PM01512.lbm - Armidale class patrol boat

PM01600.lbm - USS Bataan (colour)
PM01601.lbm - Rolling Airframe Missile Launcher
PM01602.lbm - Sea Sparrow SAM Launcher
PM01603.lbm - Phalanx CIWS
PM01604.lbm - Mk 38 Naval 25mm Autocannon turret
PM01605.lbm - Ship's Superstructure "Island"
PM01606.lbm - USS Bataan
PM01607.lbm - Ship's Superstructure Bridge


Altered .OBF files (OOBs)
Obat013.obf - USMC
New units: #954 - #970 = Elements of LHD
New weapons: #190 - #191 = RAM and SAM
New formations: #800 - #811 = LHD

"Rusty Nickel" at the Gateway of Tears Date: 21 October, 2015

Battle Location: At sea (approx 12° 35' 16" N 43° 23' 00" E) SW of Perim Island, Bab-el-Mandeb, Red Sea/Gulf of Aden

Battle Type: USMC / US Navy defend Vs Somali/Yemeni assault

"Historical" Situation:
By early 2015 the area surrounding the Arabian Sea has, at least in Western eyes, gone from "Bad to Worse".
A revolt in Yemen has seen a pro-Al Qaeda administration installed, Somalia has fallen under fundamentalist sway, ISIS now controls most of Iraq, Iran has become more hardline and anti-"western".

USS Bataan LHD-5, the "Rusty Nickel", is dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to become the latest flagship of Combined Task Force 151, tasked with anti-piracy patrols. She carries most of the 11th MEU and rumours abound of a possible invasion of a gulf state.

Description:
After being delayed transiting the Suez Canal the Bataan, with only the Cyclone-class patrol ship USS Monsoon (PC-4) in company, steams south through the Red Sea. As she passes through the Mandab Strait (Bab-el-Mandeb - which translates as "Gateway of Anguish" or "Gateway of Tears"),
a huge explosion rips through one of her boilers. The "accident" leaves one boiler inoperable and the other severely damaged.
The Captain skillfully nurses his command out of the main shipping lane and into the lee of Perim Island before he loses all motive power.

The renegade administrations of the area couldn't pass up this opportunity to humble a superpower and weaken the "Western" presence in the region.
As the huge ship lies unmoving and hurting, numerous contacts appear on her radar screens. . .

The scenario's genesis was the "purely for my own amusement" design of the LHD and the need to show it / make it available to others.
The result: My first "published" scenario and hopefully a fun and different, "barn-stormer"!

In order to have the correct "look" of the ship and the Pirate hordes, I have had to include edited versions of the USMC OOBs, .SHP files and .LBM pictures.

scorpio_rocks@blueyonder.co.uk
[underscore between Scorpio and Rocks]

ALL COMMENTS WELCOMED!