LHD-5 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 defend Vs Somali/Yemeni assault*
*
"Historical" Situation:*
By early 2015 the area surrounding the Arabian Sea has, at least in American 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. . . *
*
Design Notes:*
Designed to be played as the USMC/USN.*
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 Somalia and USMC OOBs, .SHP files and .LBM pictures.* 
*
*
Sources: Fictional scenario*
(various sites around the interweb and the good folks of the Camo Workshop forums)*
*
Design by:  Scorpio_Rocks.*
scorpio_rocks@blueyonder.co.uk*
[underscore between Scorpio and Rocks]*
**



