A number of posts have been floating around the Internet recently about a game called Cod Wars, set in the period of the Royal Navy’s losses to the plucky Icelanders. The game was developed by David Manley, run at Salute this year and there is a write up on his blog, Don’t Throw Bloody Spears at Me! This had me reading about the Cod Wars. The Cod Wars led on to the Turbot Troubles of Newfoundland (and I learned a lot about Newfoundland’s political history at the same time). All this then naturally enough led to the Lobster War.
Briefly, [from Wikipedia] the Lobster War (also known as Lobster Operation) is a name given to a dispute over spiny lobsters which occurred from 1961 to 1963 between Brazil and France. The Brazilian government refused to allow French fishing vessels to catch spiny lobsters 100 miles off the Brazilian northeast coast, arguing that lobsters “crawl along the continental shelf”, while the French sustained that “lobsters swim” and that therefore, they might be caught by any fishing vessel from any country. The dispute was resolved unilaterally by Brazil, which extended its territorial waters to a 200-mile zone, taking in the disputed lobsters’ bed.
There was, however, two fleets mobilised and involved and it could have got nasty. Best reason yet for this as a project however is the chance to use some 1960s naval technology and by 1960s I mean anything from about 1942 onward. The competing fleets were the Brazilian and French Fleets. The Brazillians utilised:
- Ipiranga (V17) – a corvette
- Paraná (D29) – a Fletcher class destroyer
- Babitonga Pará (D-27) – a Fletcher class destroyer
- Acre (D 10) – a destroyer
- Araguari (D-15) – a destroyer
- Greenhalgh (D 24) – a destroyer
- Almirante Barroso (C-11) – a cruiser
- Tamandaré (C-12) – a cruiser
- Minas Gerais – an aircraft carrier
- Riachuelo (S15) – submarine
- 1 Squadron of B-17 maritime patrol aircraft
- 1 Squadron of P-15
- 4 x P-16 Tracker
Arrayed against this formidable force were the French forces offshore Brazil and the west coast of Africa:
- Offshore Brazil:
- Tartu (D636) – escort vessel (I guess like a frigate)
- Paul Goffeny – despatch boat
- Offshore West Africa:
- Clemenceau – aircraft carrier
- De Grasse – cruiser
- Cassard (D623) – escort vessel
- Jauréguiberry – escort vessel The Picard – destroyer
- Le Gascon – destroyer
- L’Agenais – destroyer
- Le Béarnais – destroyer
- Le Vendéen – destroyer
- La Baise A625 – tanker
What’s not to like about this – could make for some fun wargaming. Now to hunt up my Navwar catalogue!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
