Sink the ‘Trifels’! 1941
20th August 2026, 0 Comments
WW2 Coastal Forces, Narrow Seas, 1/600 scale
This week we had something of a treat. World War 2 Coastal Forces games have seen something of a resurgence in the club. This is largely due to one of us, Nick, introducing the rest of us to a new set of Coastal rules, torpedoes and tides, by Thomas Brandsetter. We’ve had a couple of good games with these so far, but this week we returned to an older favourite of mine, Narrow Seas, by David Manley.
The reason was, David was actually up in Orkney this week, and staying with Nick and his wife. Originally I think he planned to playtest a set of single-ship Napoleonic naval rules he’s developing. However, when Nick told him about our Coastal Forces fad, David (second left below) opted for a Narrow Seas game instead.
I got to bring the toys and set the scenario, and so we found ourselves all at sea, at night, somewhere off the French coast. Actually, it was a few miles off Cap Griz Nez, halfway between Boulogne and Calais, and just 16 miles from Folkestone, away to the north-west.
It was the night of 8-9 September 1941, and a German coastal convoy was heading up the Channel towards Antwerp. It had already been attacked by MTBs that night, where it lost one of its two merchant ships. Now the MTBs of Dover Command had returned to have a crack at the remaining merchantman.
She was the SS Trifels, a large 6,000 ton merchant ship, and she was well-protected. Ringing her that night were two VP-boats (armed trawlers), two R-boats (small minesweepers and escorts – one shown below), and two S-boats. Chris and I played the part of the convoy’s defenders. We divided the force in half, but I gave Chris the heady responsibility of keeping the Trifels out of harm’s way.
For their part David took command of the two MTBs, Lt. Cdr. Pumphrey’s MTB-35 (a 70-foot Vosper), and the Norwegian Lt. Danielsen’s MTB-54, a Thornycroft 75-footer. Nick opted for those ‘Spitfires of the Sea’ the MGBs, with Lt. Gould’s MGB-43 and Lt. Leith’s MGB-52. Both were sleek ‘whaleback’ British Power Boat craft – a 63-footer and a 70-footer respectively.
We set the game up so we’d be right into action from the start. Pumphrey’s two MTBs were lying off the headland, to the east of the convoy’s route as it rounded the headland, while Gould’s two MGBs were on the opposite side of the convoy, having just lured away several escorts – S-boats and R-boats. Chris and I (above) had to fend them off.
The game was set up so that the British were right on the edge of the convoy, lurking in the dark, giving us little time to react – much as it was that night in 1941. So, David launched his torpedoes almost right away, and Chris had a turn or two at best to move Trifels out of harms way. 
Chris almost managed it. The Trifels turned hard to comb the approaching 21-inch torpedoes, and in the end three of the four shaved past it on its port side, and continued on towards the north-west. By now, though, the convoy had scattered, and it turned into a free-for-all dogfight. 
The only really safe ship now was the Trifels, as after rolling for it, that one potential hit turned out to be a fourth miss. With all their torpedoes expended, David turned his two MTBs around, and headed away as fast as he could, with Nick’s MGBs covering their departure. 
Soon tracer was flying everywhere, with just about every boat joining in. One of my armed trawlers, VP-202 (top right) was shot up by the two MGBs, as was R-44 (the bottom boat above). Since the game BTW, I cut away her silly torpedo tubes, and replaced them with sweeping gear. 
On her way past Nick’s MGB-43 – a 63-foot BPB boat – even tried dropping depth charges in the way of VP-208, but the timing was a bit off, and the Kriegsmarine armed trawler made it past the spot before they detonated. 
Those British Power Boat MGBs suffered a bit too, and one of them, as well as MTB-54 would probably be lucky to make it back to Dover. Similarly R-44 would need help reaching Boulogne. At least, though, our SS Trifels survived the night – unlike the real one! 
All in all it was a fun, frenetic game, and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. We all thanked David – a lovely guy – for joining us, and for keeping us on track with his rules. Of course there wasn’t much need for that, as Narrow Seas are as straightforward as they are playable. 