With the madness of Project Jutland over I wasn't able to go cold turkey and just suddenly stop my 1/2400 WW1 ships habit, medically it would be dangerous !
So with reference material to hand I selected a number of ships to supplement the Jutland collection. There are a few Dreadnoughts who weren't present due to mechanical issues plus the ships which entered service afterwards.
HMS Courageous is one of those ships along with her "sisters" Furious and Glorious which was high on my list of wants. I picked up this GHQ model on a recent visit to Wargames Emporium in Sheffield.
It was an interesting painting phase on this, firstly it wasn't in a batch of twenty or so ships as I had done with the Jutland work, this was on its own. I also decided after some help from people on the net to have steel grey decks on the ship, apparently wood decks weren't fitted to save weight. The overall look therefore is a bit different to my previous fare.
Completed in November 1916 she was classed as a Cruiser but was really an attempt to push the high speed low armour Battlecruiser idea to its absolute limit. Armed with 4 x 15" guns she could definitely pack a punch and with a top speed of 32 knots Courageous was a full 11 knots faster than the battle line and 7 knots faster than the "fast" Battleships of the Queen Elizabeth Class.
But there was a down side and that was armour, effectively she was somewhere between an Armoured Cruiser and a light Cruiser, the 3" belt armour would stop the water getting in but not much else.
She saw action in the second Battle of Helgoland Blight in late 1917 and certainly adds a different dimension to WW1 Naval games, I look forward to seeing her in action.
I currently have Ark Royal and an Armed Merchant Cruiser in the ship yard and plan to finish off a ship every couple of weeks or so to get myself off the habit.
It's the WW1 Gaming Event at the Armouries this weekend so I might see you there.
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