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[SIZE=4]Introduction[/SIZE]
Exercise ABC39 takes place in November 1939 off the horn of Brazil, with ships from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile practicing joint maneuvers.

[SIZE=4]Exercise Sections[/SIZE]
- Interception of Commerce Raider
- Submarine Warfare Against Escorted Targets
- Antisubmarine Sweep in Operational Area
- Underway Replenishment Operations

[SIZE=4]Phase One: Interception of Commerce Raider[/SIZE]
This phase of the exercise would represent the defense against and interception of an enemy surface raider.

Quoted

[SIZE=3]Phase One OOB:[/SIZE]

BLUE FORCE (FRIENDLY)
CO Contra Almirante Gomez

Hunting Force One (Brazilian)
CV Cinco de Mayo
CLs Almirante Barroso, Sagitério
DDs Ocelot, Colocolo, Pampas, Parahyba

Hunting Force Two (Argentine)
CLs Almirante Storni (F), Almirante Domecq Garcia
DDs Mendoza, Rioja, Murature, Flotilla Leader Sarandi
ZRS Capitan Prat (Chilean, attached temporarily)

Coastal Defence Group (Brazilian)
BB Santa Anna
CLs Bahia, Barroso
DDs Salvador, Maranhão, Verde, Arara

RED FORCE (ENEMY)
CO Capitan de Navio Klaus Schlafli

CA O'Higgins

Blue Force objectives:
- Protect three simulated convoys
- Find and sink Raider

Red Force objectives:
- Disperse and destroy convoys or, if possible, hunting groups
- Avoid superior forces and end exercise operational

This phase of the exercise featured a fast, lone raider against a number of Blue Force hunting groups, and a trio of convoys composed of the assigned naval auxiliaries (each auxiliary represented four merchant ships). Many planned aspects of the exercise were frustrated by inclement weather from a pair of fronts moving north of the exercise area. This favored the designated "raider", the Chilean heavy cruiser O'Higgins under Capitan de Navio Klaus Schlafli, which was able to avoid searching aircraft by staying near the storm line. Contra Almirante Gomez, commander of Blue Force, laid out a strategy to protect vital convoy targets while luring in the raider for entrapment and destruction. O'Higgins used her radio-frequency detection systems to twice evade the Coast Defense Group, which was aided by the Brazilian commander of the group twice sending ill-timed messages to both the Blue Force command and the ships in his own task force. The Coast Defense Group never spotted O'Higgins, and only made contact the second time due to a planned course change.

O'Higgins also had a brush with Cinco de Mayo while the latter was conducting launch and recovery operations, with her escorting cruisers and all but two destroyers operating several miles astern. Captain Schlafli used the opportunity to attack the Cinco de Mayo, but a prompt and extremely aggressive response by commander of the Brazilian destroyer Parahyba bought the carrier time to flee back to the protective screen, which continued to aggressively engage the O'Higgins with guns and torpedoes, leading to her withdrawal and pursuit.

Despite taking simulated damage, the O'Higgins evaded the Brazilian pursuit and ended the exercise as "Damaged But Operational". Cinco de Mayo and her cruisers Almirante Barroso and Sagitério were likewise deemed damaged, and the destroyer Parahyba was pronounced sunk. However, Contra Almirante Gomez' strategy remained effective in preventing O'Higgins from finding or sinking the convoy targets.

As Red Force's raider remained operational at the end of the exercise, but failed to complete any other goals, the judges pronounced a draw but showed preference to Blue Force's strategies.

[SIZE=4]Phase Two: Submarine Warfare Against Escorted Targets[/SIZE]
This phase of the exercise would represent a submarine campaign against surface commerce operating in convoys.

Quoted

[SIZE=3]Phase Two OOB:[/SIZE]

BLUE FORCE (FRIENDLY)
CO Vice Admiral Peachas

Cruiser Hunting Force One (Brazilian) with Convoy C-1
CV Cinco de Mayo
CLs Almirante Barroso, Sagitério
DDs Ocelot, Colocolo, Pampas, Parahyba
Convoy 4x ships simulating 16x merchants

Cruiser Hunting Force Two (Argentine) with Convoy C-3 (did not engage)
CLs Almirante Storni, Almirante Domecq Garcia
DDs Mendoza, Rioja, Murature, Flotilla Leader Sarandi
Convoy 3x ships simulating 12x merchants

Escort Group 3 (Chilean) with Convoy C-2
DDs 6x Temerario-class
Convoy 2x ships simulating 8x merchants

RED FORCE (ENEMY)
CO Contra-Almirante Arrau (Chile)

O'Brien, Martinez, Union (Chile)
A1, A2, A3, A4 (Brazil)
Spiro, San Rafael and Santa Rosa (Argentina)

Blue Force objectives:
- Protect simulated convoy with antisubmarine-oriented destroyer screen

Red Force objectives:
- Find convoy using submarine scouting
- Simulate sinking convoys

Chilean Contra-Almirante German Arrau took command of the Red Force submarines, with Brazilian Vice Almirante Peachas taking command of Blue Force's three convoy escort forces (each force was placed under the control of a junior officer and operated largely independently). The three convoys were each assigned a lane within which they could operate, whereas the submarines were permitted full movement within the exercise area.

Admiral Arrau arranged his ten submarines in a picket force across the expected transit areas, and the submarines spotted two of the three convoys. Arrau elected to concentrate on the C-2 convoy, which had the smallest escort, and drew together a squadron of the closest submarines (Union, Santa Rosa, A2, and A3) to attack the convoy. Santa Rosa's commander, rather than attacking the convoy itself, elected to attack the lead escort, the destroyer Temerario, and made a textbook approach which the judges deemed successful. However, the escort quickly responded, with a pair of destroyers promptly counterattacking and pinning Santa Rosa down for a half hour, causing her to fall behind the convoy. Union and A3 both waited submerged under the convoy's track, then proceeded to attack the merchant ships. Union accidentally broached during her second pass on a target ship, and attracted the attentions of no less than three escorts, including two of the ships previously tracking Santa Rosa. A3 used Union's misfortune to make six periscope passes on one of the tankers, and then went silent as her batteries were nearly depleted. Union, following her mishap, went deep but continued to be held down by the escorts. The Santa Rosa used the opportunity to launch an aggressive nighttime surface approach to catch back up to the convoy, and launch three more attacks, one on the destroyers and two on the convoy itself. Brazilian submarine A2, although tasked to join the wolfpack, was astern of the convoy and spent the entire time attempting to catch up.

At Convoy C-1, which Arrau elected not to concentrate on, the Brazilian submarine A1 and the Argentine submarine San Rafael faced a simulated sixteen-ship convoy guarded by four destroyers of Blue Force. With each boat acting independently at dusk, the San Rafael's commander chose to launch a surface attack, while A1's junior captain elected to do the same. The Argentine boat, under a skipper with war experience, made another aggressive textbook approach and made two simulated approaches, with the judges awarding her a total of four kills. A1 made one approach, with her captain placing her in an excellent firing position against a freighter and then inexplicably withdrawing to attack one of the escorting destroyers. This proved disastrous as she was spotted in her approach, and pursued mercilessly for over six hours by the Brazilian destroyer Parahyba.

The submarines Spiro, O'Brien, Martinez, and A4 never spotted any Blue Force enemies, although the A4 spotted an unidentified submarine and made two submerged "attacks" on it. (The submarine was not conclusively identified from A4's periscope photography, and the stated position of the boat did not match any logs of the other submarines participating in the exercise.)

At the end of the exercise period, Red Force was judged to have made a large number of successful approaches without conclusive loss, and was judged to win the exercise.

- Santa Rosa made attack approaches against two destroyers and two attack approaches on a target ship, and was judged to sink 1 DD, and 1 tanker, and damage 1 DD.
- A3 made six attack approaches on a target ship, and was judged to sink three ships.
- San Rafael made two attack approaches on a target ship and was judged to sink four merchants
- A4 made an approach on an unidentified submarine.
- Destroyer Parahyba was judged to have heavily-damaged the A1.
- Destroyers Unánime and Valeroso were judged to have lightly-damaged the Union.

[SIZE=4]Phase Three: Antisubmarine Sweep in Operational Area[/SIZE]
This phase of the exercise would represent an offensive antisubmarine sweep, representing an effort to defeat submarine scouting attempts in advance of a battle fleet or convoy deployment.

Quoted

[SIZE=3]Phase Three OOB:[/SIZE]

BLUE FORCE (FRIENDLY)
CO Contra Almirante Gomez

Carrier Group One (Brazilian)
CV Cinco de Mayo
CLs Almirante Barroso, Sagitério
DDs Ocelot, Colocolo, Pampas, Parahyba

Carrier Group Two (Chilean) - Comodoro Waldemiro Wynants
CVE Chiloe
DDs 6x Temerario-class

Surface Group One (Chilean)
DDEs 8x Aldea-class
SCs 12x Subchasers + 2 support ships

Surface Group Two (Argentine)
CLs Almirante Storni (F), Almirante Domecq Garcia
DDs Mendoza, Rioja, Murature, Flotilla Leader Sarandi

Land-Based Air Units
6x SSC-class ASW blimps
Brazilian and Argentine aircraft

RED FORCE (ENEMY)
CO Contra Almirante Arrau

O'Brien, Martinez, Union (Chile)
A1, A2, A3, A4 (Brazil)
Spiro, San Rafael and Santa Rosa (Argentina)

Blue Force objectives:
- Clear area of 50% of submarines in allotted time period (72 hours), or disrupt search line

Red Force objectives:
- Evade ASW patrols
- Maintain search line in anticipation of detecting enemy convoy or battle-fleet

Contra-Almirante Arrau remained in command of Red Force for Phase Three of the exercise, with Argentine Contra Almirante Gomez again taking command of Blue Force. Arrau's command was largely symbolic as he elected to devolve command on the individual submarine commanders. For the purposes of the exercise, submarines judged sunk could move to one of three specified areas to "regenerate" before rejoining the battle, representing reinforcing submarines.

The two surface groups and two carrier groups moved into the operational area, with the carriers operating their scout-bombers and antisubmarine aircraft. Additional land-based units began surface search patterns. An Argentine Vanquish achieved an early success when they dove out of a cloud and landed a string of practice smoke floats directly over the surfaced submarine San Rafael.

The Chilean airship Cadaguala also started an attack on the submarine A4, but the Brazilian commander spotted the blimp's approach and the sub crash-dived. Cadaguala expended all of her eight practice bombs without scoring a kill, but the blimp's commander remained on station, using the blimp's long loiter time to good advantage. Aircraft from the Chiloe took turns patrolling alongside the Cadaguala, which quietly tracked the submerged A4. The Brazilian submarine remained submerged until shortly after dusk, when the batteries were exhausted, and her commander ordered her to surface, presuming the airship would have left to return to land. Instead, the A4 was almost immediately illuminated by a spotlight from the Cadaguala. The A4's commander elected to fight it out on the surface, but before his crew could man guns, a Coati-N from the Chiloe, remaining nearby at the request of the airship, launched an attack on the A4 and landed a set of smoke floats around the A4.

Aircraft additionally launched bombing attacks on the Spiro, the Santa Rosa, and the Union, but the submarines were able to submerge in time to escape the attacks.

On day two, the antisubmarine forces did not gain any further kills, but the aircraft attacked four of the submarines on nine different occasions - with the Chilean Union earning the dubious honor of evading four attacks. Although Blue Force did not sink any opponents, the constant air patrols proved effective in forcing the submarines to submerge, thus limiting their search potential. San Rafael and A4, meanwhile, sailed to the "regeneration box" and then rejoined the fight late in the afternoon. En route, the San Rafael, though she was flying a flag proclaiming that she was "out", was attacked twice by land-based aircraft.

On day three, both sides scored significant kills during the final hours of the exercise. The Brazilians, operating from the Cinco de Mayo, scored an aerial ASW kill with an aircraft attack on the Chilean Union, which didn't see the attacking aircraft until it passed overhead. The Santa Rosa was additionally pronounced sunk after being attacked by a Fanaero HF from the Chiloe.

The submarine Santa Rosa, operating close to the "regeneration zone", was back in action six hours later, and shortly before dusk, with the exercise approaching it's end, spotted the ships of Carrier Group Two approaching. Santa Rosa's commander made a daring surface run to position himself ahead of the squadron. However, his attack was spotted by a Fanaero HF operating off the Chiloe, and the helicopter pilot drove the Santa Rosa to submerge and evade while the carrier turned away. The frustrated Santa Rosa fell behind the carrier and her commander instead elected to attack the destroyer Temerario. The destroyer, summoned by the helicopter, dodged the attack and dropped a number of firecrackers to simulate a depth-charge attack.

Red Force's major victory came a mere half-hour before the termination of Phase Three, when the submarine A1, operating on the surface, blundered into the middle of Surface Group One. Though the Brazilian submarine was dwarfed by her targets, the crew launched an attack that seemed to fuse the best elements of skill, daring, and luck: the A1 approached the Blue Force cruiser Almirante Storni in a simulated attack, and the judges pronounced two hits of three torpedoes "fired". Incredibly, the Brazilian commander elected to remain at periscope depth and turned his single aft tube on the trailing Almirante Domecq Garcia, and gained another simulated torpedo hit. The boat then surfaced and cockily informed the cruisers about the results of their approach. The judges evaluated the attack and eventually agreed that Almirante Storni would have been crippled, but disagreed with the "hit" claimed on Almirante Domecq Garcia.

In the final analysis of the exercise, the judges elected to award a draw to Blue and Red forces, though the judges noted that the tie was due almost exclusively to A1's outstanding performance in the closing act of the exercise phase.

[SIZE=4]Phase Four: Underway Replenishment Operations[/SIZE]

Blue Force objectives:
- Practice underway replenishment of all Blue Force ships from fleet oilers

Most units participating in the exercise participated in Phase Four of the exercise. Six Chilean fleet oilers took up refueling stations. A number of Chilean officers transferred to the Brazilian and Argentine ships to serve as advisers for the delicate task of shiphandling, passing lines and inter-ship communications. A number of Argentine and Brazilian officers and NCOs were additionally transferred to the oilers to observe operations.

Although most of the ships were able to carry out the maneuvers as planned, the commander of the light cruiser Barroso misinterpreted a report from his deck officers and let the distance between his ship and the tanker Península Tres Montes exceed the maximum distance permissible. Both hoses and cables snapped, and two men aboard Península Tres Montes and three men aboard Barroso were injured, fortunately none severely. The Argentine destroyer Murature, having observed the Barroso's accident, also had a close call when her commander tried to compensate too much in the other direction, crowding the tanker Quillagua so closely that the two ships exchanged paint.

Each of the ships made three approaches to take on a token amount of fuel. Once all of the ships had conducted underway replenishment practice, Phase Four of the exercise, and the exercise as a whole, ended.

[SIZE=4]Results and Opinions[/SIZE]
Results and Opinions (Argentina)
- Phase one shows that the Argentine Navy has learnt from the lessons of SA War and the RSAN Hammer incident. A large cruiser and destroyers used aggresively can ward off larger enemies.
- Surface attacks by submarines remain the most potent form, reduced ASDIC vulnerabilty and at night less easy to spot. Underwater attacks are too limited by poor speed and too much reliance on luck for a good firing position. Pack tactics need more practice.
- Radio-Location is a useful tool but more sets are needed and more training to make use of them. Large ships seem to benefit most from them.
- Aircraft seem to be much more reliable and potent against submarines than hitherto thought. The FAA must investigate the increased use of these aircraft and types. The airship seems very useful but the Argentine Staff is still worried over its vulnerability.
- Phase 3 was not as useful as hoped as the Italian ASDIC equipped destroyers did not get to see action. This will need further testing versus foreign types.
- More fuel resupply practice is obviously needed by all captains and crews. Further trials and simulations will be held with existing Argentine tankers.

Results and Opinions (Brazil)
- Radar can be quite helpful for a raider in evading enemy ships. Radar presumeably can also be helpful in finding an enemy raider in poor weather conditions. It is advised the IM places a priority on gaining this technology for its ships.
- The current scouting group tactical mix of 2 light cruisers and 1 carrier is somewhat effective, it should be noted that while the light cruisers prevented the carrier from being Hammer'ed, against a more determined or larger opponent it may be adviseable to have a larger ship to protect the carrier.
- The daring tactics of the various ship commanders shown in the exercise should be rewarded as it will contribute to Brazilian grand strategy in wartime.
- Lighter than air craft are quite useful in ASW operations, as well as scouting due to their long loiter time. The procurement of such craft should have top priority.

Results and Opinions (Chile)
- The carrier-based SN1E Coati operates well as a scout, observation, training, and antisubmarine patrol plane, but should not be misused as an attack aircraft.
- The Fanaero HF is a modest antisubmarine aircraft, but has the advantage of being able to operate off smaller cruiser-sized vessels due to vertical takeoff capabilities. Further investigation of helicopters, and ships capable of their operation, should be looked at in the coming decade, particularly if helicopters advance at rates similar to fixed-wing aircraft.
- The Union-class submarines were technologically the best submarines involved in the exercise, but the Argentines had the best-trained officers and crews, and made the best and most aggressive use of their boats. The Armada should begin more comprehensive training efforts for its submarine officers and crews.
- Non-rigid airships, with their extremely long loiter times and low speeds, can make excellent antisubmarine patrol aircraft, but as always care should be taken in employing them where aerial opposition is present.
- The comparison in success rates between Phase Two and Phase Three suggests that surface forces have substantially better success rates when supported by air power and not tied to defending merchant convoys. Future exercises should investigate better integrating airpower and independent hunting groups in an actual convoy battle.
- Antisubmarine aircraft are useful mainly for forcing submarines to dive, thus limiting their effective search radius. We should pursue the aggressive use of aircraft in antisubmarine operations.
- Underway replenishment operations should be made an integral part of the training of officers of the deck and senior ship officers. This should be practiced in spite of the risks from collisions.

Fascinating lessons. India already is thinking to follow the path of some of those same conclusions. Very interesting how different nations reach similar conclusions through different experiences.

A good writeup of the exercises. Interesting choice of scenarios, a big emphasis on anti-submarine operations. Seems a bit odd given that the SAE doesn't have a great many submarines. I think I'd rate it a Blue-Force win during phase 1 as Red Force didn't really that much do that much. It's more the nuisance value, and having to move over to convoy system where she causes the most problems - as in, pretty much by just being there.

The widespread use of aircraft for anti-submarine duties is interesting. Not even just for reconnaissance, but they seem to be the offensive anti-submarine element as well. If the ABC submarines are operating on the surface most of the time, the aircraft probably have a decent enough chance at spotting them if loitering low. The blimps are likely better as you can carry more people to keep a good lookout. Current carrier attack aircraft are currently a bit limited with only 1-1/2 pairs of eyes.

How did Cadaguala go about tracking the submarine underwater? Good visual conditions enabling the submarine to simply be seen underwater? I'd think it would be difficult to resume contact at night as well unless you're using the searchlight for searching. I'm not really convinced that the airship is that suitable for attack duties against submarines; it's an extremely large and slow moving target. Any anti-aircraft guns on the submarine should be extremely effective.