The Lars Chronicles:
MWC Nats 2004
The Best Nats So Far
by Lars
Copyright (C) 2004 by
Larry S. Dahl
It wasn’t until the
Monday before Nats that I knew for sure that I could go. Work had been a bear from last September up
until mid-May, but for the last two months it had been slowing down, and so was
I. Still, there was this task, out in
I was somewhat
relieved at getting the go-ahead from work, because I was half hoping that I
could make it, but now I was in trouble, because I wasn’t ready. I’d done some boasting to Ron Horbul that I’d
have the Tiger ready to go and team with his Lion, but other tasks (like a late
refinance of the home loan) had slowed that project down to the point where to
get it done I’d have to knock myself out.
I needed a vacation, and I wasn’t in the mood for a week of late nights
before I went to Nats. So it was back to
Bellerophon. In fair shape from her last
fight, all she needed (I thought) was a new hull skin and fresh coat of paint. That was more manageable. I relaxed a bit, and started work.
The work was made more
manageable in the fact that my two boys, Grant and Andy, who have accompanied
me to my last two Nats, were way behind in some required school work, and there
was no question that they would be going.
It was time to show them that their home-schooling mother and I meant it
when we said that ‘school comes first’.
But it felt rather odd for me, not having to worry about them or their
boats. Grant’s ship was still in the
dockyards, getting an overhaul, but Andy’s was in good shape. I’d even used it earlier that year, up until
I decided that I should fix up my own boat and quit getting his sunk under the
guns of Bob Hoernemann’s Warspite.
On Friday Bob called
up, and we discussed our drive down. We
were to take my stuff, Bob’s stuff, and Ron’s ships, because Ron had to stick
around for a wedding on Saturday, and wouldn’t be driving down until
Sunday. “Can you be here at
I’m a night owl, and
like to sleep in. I tried to bargain for
a few more hours of sleep, but only managed to get one out of Bob. Oh well, at least once I picked him up, he
could keep me awake while I drove.
Saturday came, and my
wife pushed me out of bed at
Finally, we were
almost packed when Kevin Bray called.
He’d left something behind, and wanted Bob to bring his. He called again a few minutes later, this
time with Gerald Roberts on the phone, as Gerald suddenly had room when Jim
Pate had to back out of Nats due to a family problem. I had just managed to wrangle
a single room (one that Patrick Clarke had surrendered when he got Dana
Graham’s room) out of the Nats hotel clerk, and after all that work I had
started to look forward to a nice quiet room to myself. I hemmed and hawed and thanked him for his kindness,
but finally told Gerald that right now I ‘kind of wanted a room to myself’, but
that I might join him later in the week.
Well, we were out of
Bob’s driveway about ten minutes to eight, only fifty minutes late. Bob was instantly feeling like he’d left
something behind. “I always leave
something behind, I just hope that it’s something you can buy down there.” I told him.
It wasn’t long before
he remembered that he’d left some pictures that he wanted to give to Kevin
Bray. Later he remembered some gag that
he’d left at home. Then down in
As we drove there was
a fairly steady stream of conversation.
Bob, that social butterfly, wanted to make it down in time for ‘supper
with the gang’, so we only stopped twice.
Of course, I had to show off how out of it I was by forgetting which
side of the truck the fuel cap was on, when I pulled up to the pump for our first
refueling. Bob matched me by not properly
triggering the gas with his ‘pay at the pump’ credit card. I went in to use the restroom while he went
digging for his travel directions, which were buried in the bottom in the back
of the truck. When I came back we had to
start the pump over.
We took the scenic
route through the capitol of
Later on, we passed
Royal’s Stadium in
We had our second stop
on the freeway between
The last stretch of
road, after we passed through the
We finally reached
Rolla, only forty minutes behind Bob’s planned arrival time, and located the
motel. We drove around the parking lot
and then stopped at the office. Inside
we found Fluegel and his son Dallas. We
exchanged pleasantries. Then Bob and I
got our rooms. For some reason the lady
clerk, when she heard my name, shook her finger at me, and then asked if I
wanted a non-smoking room instead of a smoking room, which is what she’d told
me I would get when I finally got her to give me one. So she moved me from room 146 to room
144. “Should be able to remember that
number,” I said, thinking of my duties as TF144 Ediot in chief. But I was puzzled because Luis Gomez ended up
with room 146, and it was also a non-smoking room. Go figure.
But Luis got a king size bed whereas I only got a double.
Well, as Bob’s stuff
was on top, we went to drop off his and Ron’s stuff first. We were soon surrounded by other model
warship combat captains. The Melton
brothers, Tom and Mike, along with Mike Tanzillo, were in a room nearby. Ted Brogden and Swampy were a few rooms further
down. Kevin Bray also joined us.
We saw Tom first. “Ah, Tom Melton!” I
said. A few minutes later Mike
appeared. “Ah, Tom Melton’s brother!” I
said.
Tom laughed, “Oh, I see it’s who
you meet first!”
With each captain we
met, it seemed like the first question we got was, “Where’s Ron?” We started out by telling the truth, but we
quickly tired of that response. Later,
Bob claimed it was he who started it, whereas I remember it as being me, but
Ron’s staying behind to attend a wedding soon became ‘staying behind for HIS
wedding’.
“Oh really,” said most
folks. Some were amazed that his new
wife would let him run off to a boat meet immediately after getting
married. “Must be some woman to let him
go like that,” they said. Others were
concerned that future anniversaries would keep Ron from attending future
Nats. Only Bryan Finster pushed it
further.
“I thought he was
already married,” said
“This is his third
wife,” we told him.
If Bryan had pressed
it further by asking if Ron had divorced his previous wives, or was widowed, I
planned to respond, “Oh no, he’s a Mormon.”
I told Bob about it after he left, and we had a good chuckle.
Well, since we’d
driven ourselves to get down here in time to join the other captains for the
evening meal, we next got ready for that event. Somehow I got all sweaty unloading my stuff,
and found that most everyone had ‘gone to Shoney’s just up the road’ while I
took a quick shower.
They were all in the
back, having a good meal and lots of yucks while everyone caught up with
everyone else that they hadn’t seen in a year or two. I joined the party late and took a seat next
to Chris Grossaint and Jim Coler. I
didn’t know Jim too well, but we started off well. Grossaint had warned him that he ‘had to
watch what he says because Lars will write it down.”
When the waitress
delivered a plate for someone nearby, I asked if I could place an order. “Oh, you wanted to eat too?” asked the
waitress in a ‘haven’t I got enough to do with this crew’ attitude. I ordered the steak and shrimp special, and
when the steak came I asked the waitress where the shrimp was. She didn’t even get to answer.
“It’s at the buffet,”
said Grossaint, in a tone that suggested that everyone knew that. The waitress just raised an eyebrow in
confirmation.
Later during our
conversation, however, we started off on the subject on what things were like
in the old days. “Back then we had to
make everything from scratch,” I was saying.
“Guns, pumps, switches, props.”
“Back when they made
ships out of rocks,” said Jim, cracking Chris and me up.
“Now I have to write a
Lars Chronicle this year, just for that line,” I said.
After the meal, it was
back to the motel for the standard Saturday Night ‘Check for Leaks and Paint
the Waterline” job in the bath tub. As
usual, minor leaks were found in the area around the props.
I’d left my masking
tape at home (the other forgotten thing!) and stopped by Ted and Swampy’s room
on the way to Bob’s room. We got to
chatting about how fast some folks progress.
“For some folks, it takes forever to get out of their first year,” said
Steve. Then he turned to me. “When are you going to do so?”
In addition to the
waterline, I also got one ship test out of the way. Luis Gomez had a drop test kit, and said that
the CD had told someone to go ahead and start testing. So the tester went from Axis to Allied and
back to Axis and so forth, so that the tests were done by someone on the other
side. The
Bedtime was about
Sunday:
It was out to the lake early on Sunday.
Bob had a number of ships to test.
<Bruder_241> I
had one but as I have had problems in the past few years, that was enough for
me. We loaded the ships on the platform
that we’d used on the trip down, but without the other luggage I was rather
nervous about them staying there between the motel and the lake. I had guessed correctly, despite my best
efforts, the carrier took a tumble, along with Bob’s cruiser. Fortunately damage was minimal. Bob did whine about the loss of several
anti-aircraft guns.
As we were getting out
of my truck, Bob picked up a button that was on my dash. It was a button from
First
things first for tests was the weight test. Dave or Chris Au in years past had told me it
was best to get weighed before putting the ship into the water, as the balsa sides,
even without leaks, would absorb water into the siding. Finster brought out his scale and plugged it
in right next to Bob. John Bruder
produced a ship list with the required weights.
The Bellerophon and all of Bob’s ships passed their weights easily. Lief brought his von der Tann up later, and
found his ship a tad overweight. “Must
be the water,” I said.
“Oh, right,” said Lief. He took the
ship and flipped it over, and water poured out.. He placed it back on the scale, and it was
now a quarter pound under the limit.
“Thanks,” said Lief, and went to get his test sheet for me to sign. He wasn’t the only one. John Bruder had a ship that came in just legal. It also was much better after he removed some
water from the hull.
With the two easiest
tests done, I next went for the regulator test.
This one I usually failed the first time around. Once again Finster came through with a test
gauge. My regulator registered about 145
lbs. of pressure, and Finster signed my sheet.
Now all I had left was the speed test, and it wasn’t even
The first runs had the
ship running a good second slow. It was
odd, however, how the ship was almost two seconds slower in one direction
versus the other. Jacob Bruder, who was
doing my timing, also commented on it.
Well, despite my best
efforts at remembering, I moved to a smaller gear which made the ship even
slower. I ran a speed run and discovered
that it was true. Embarrassed, I thanked
Jacob for his time, and promised to be back shortly. After moving to a gear with more teeth than
the original, the ship came in at 27 seconds one way, and 29 the other,
averaging out right at 28 which was what I needed. With a heavy sigh, I figured I was done, and
it was just a few minutes after
So, I sat back and
relaxed, watching Bob work his way through four ships. I did feel a little guilty, but he seemed to
be enjoying it. Ron’s Lion had finished
first, and Bob’s cruiser had passed quickly too. His Warspite took a few runs to get it nailed
down. But the carrier was more
difficult. With each run it seemed that
he knocked off more anti-aircraft guns.
He played with speed disks for about an hour. Finally he was reduced to swapping props,
trying to find the right combo. <Bruder_239>
Bob wasn’t the only
one having prop problems. Jim Coler was
sitting on the other end of the pavilion, and was complaining that 1 and 3/4
inch 27 pitch props were not to be found in either the inventory of Swampy or
Charley. “I’ve got a set,” I said. Jim was reluctant to take them, as they were
my last complete set of spares. But
since I did have two left handed props (the boys always seemed to break the
right handed ones), he finally took them.
Well, I mentioned that they were ‘somewhat pricey’ and he handed me some
cash the next day, so he took them home with my blessing.
“Just don’t tell me
you threw a prop later this week,” he said as he installed them.
“Oh, I’ve got those
two left handed ones, I’ll just put them on and reverse the one motor so I’ll
only be crabbing through turns,” I said.
He didn’t seem to think that was a good idea. “Then just pray,” I said, slapping him on the
back. “There’s no
rocks here that I can see.”
Jim did have something
else that got him some attention. He had
homemade guns that instead of having plastic tubing to run the gas from the
piston to the back of the magazines and to the breech behind the o-ring, they
had brass metal tubing. “Cool!” was the
response that was heard most from those that saw them. <Bruder_232>
As we were doing all
these tests, we were also visiting. Chris Kessler, who went to college in Rolla and was thus the Site
Host’s assistant, finally found some time to work on his cruiser. The cruiser looked like it had come straight
from last year’s Nats to this one, as it was covered with patches. <Bruder_228> In addition to the patches, folks noticed that
he’d painted “2004, Best Nats Ever” on the ship’s stern.
The Bruder’s, another
one father, two sons team, were quickly done with the ship testing of their
fleet. <Bruder_227> They spent a good deal of time helping out
others, especially with the speed trials.
While I was roaming
around, testing done, chatting with old friends and introducing myself to folks
I didn’t know, I was chatting with the
At
Lief also announced
the additional two items that would be checked on the ships. The down angle on sidemounts would be
checked, along with the pump outlet.
Lief was handling the down angle checking. Jeff Lide was given the task of checking the
pumps, which he seemed to do with great pleasure. “I’ve come to check your orifice,” he would
say slowly. “Your pump
orifice.” For some of the
captains he knew better he accentuated his message by playfully slipping on a
rubber glove.
After the captains meeting,
it was discovered that Finster’s test gauge was 20 lbs. different from the
‘official’ gauges of Dave Au and Rick King.
Of course, my regulator was now showing up as 160 on the official
gauges. I’d been through this before,
and set off to cleaning it. After four
attempts had refused to budge the value on the test gauge, I gave up. Swampy had dropped a “Sunday Special” flyer
on the tables and lightweight regulators were on special. “I give up,” I told Bob. “I’ll just get a new one.” But Swampy had left so I had to wait to go
back to the motel to finish the ship testing.
I knew it had been too easy.
Well, Bob finally got
the CVL to make speed. The ship had been
receiving a lot of attention, both on the water and on the bench. Bob did some more cussing as more work meant
more displaced AA guns. He’d made them
out of electrical connectors, soldering a pin to them. They made pretty good looking AA guns. Chris Pearce took a look at them and said, “I
can get you some that bend when they’re hit, for a decent price.”
“These are free,” said
Bob. “I’m an electrical contractor and
I’ve got these coming out of my ears.”
“Go with it then,”
said Chris.
As he started to
leave, Bob hollered after him, as he had been doing all afternoon, “Remember to
vote for the Carrier for Best of Scale Convoy!”
With the days testing
done, we slowly loaded up the ships. I
do remember certain folks wandering into the nearby tweaking area and testing
their guns. The Bruder’s guns sounded
mean and nasty and I vowed to be very careful when in their vicinity on the
water. Brian Lamb was also tweaking, and
at one point borrowed a file from me.
When he returned it, he said, “Thanks, I’ve now got all seven guns
working for the first time.” His new
As we loaded up the
ships to go home, I dropped the table down to the floor of the truck, to
prevent another mishap. The ships barely
fit in. “I can’t wait for Ron’s truck,”
said Bob.
Back at the motel, I
dropped off Bob and his fleet. I found
Swampy roaming the parking lot, and gave him the money for a new
regulator. He asked if he could drop it
off later, because Ted, his roommate, was taking a nap. I needed a shower, so I said sure.
After my shower, I
returned to Bob’s room and found that Ron had arrived. Ron’s first words to me were, “Thanks for telling
everyone I was getting married.”
“Not a problem,” I
said. Bob was grinning like the Cheshire
Cat.
“First I get is
several handshakes and congratulations and all I can say is ‘huh’?” he
grumped.
“That’s what you get
for being the last one here,” said Bob.
It was time for
supper, and soon a large group was headed for a Steak Buffet. I’ve forgotten the name of the place, but it
had a large statue of a cow on its roof.
Ron and I had fallen behind, but Bob was in his element, in the middle
of all the others. Ron and I took a seat
on the end of the long set of tables the wait crew set up for us. The food was decent but not great, the
conversation was far better.
When it was time to
leave we started the walk back. Ron and
I had lagged behind on the way there, now with the main group, someone
congratulated him on his recent marriage.
By this point he was tired of explaining also, so with a subtle dirty
glance in my direction, he simply said, “Thanks.”
On the walk back, I
had a lengthy chat with Rick King, another Lockheed Martin employee like
me. We compared notes. Where I’d come to the company through a
series of takeovers, he’d come after being laid off at Disney’s
There was an Allied
Captains meeting after supper, in Doug Hunt and Chris Kessler’s room. It was a large room, the ‘bridal suite’ they
claimed. Charley Stephens, the Allied
admiral, gave his plans for Monday’s battling, and assigned us to two and three
man teams. He also picked one captain
from each group to be in charge of that group.
Then he told us to go out and fight.
The opposing line up for the Axis looked tough, but it was hoped that we
could hold our own during fleet battles and make up points in campaign.
After the meeting I
made a run to Walmart with Chris Kessler, to get some masking tape and other
supplies, and some epoxy for Charley.
Someone had discovered that the rudders for the Class 5 or Class 6 boats
were not as big as they could be, by rule, and folks were adding rudder surface
area all over the place as the news spread.
The next task was
wiring up the new batteries. I had to
run back to Ron and Bob’s to borrow some solder (I later found mine), and got
caught in a conversation with Ron, Bob and Jeff Lide. Jeff had us all in stitches until he started
a story on his wife complaining about him making boat noises in the
shower. To him it seemed the most
natural thing in the world. When we reacted
differently, he stopped and asked, “Don’t you make boat noises in the shower?”
All that I had left to
do was check out the pump. I opened up
the watertight box for the second time that week, expecting to find a bad micro
switch, but to my surprise it was working fine.
I tried playing with the whole setup for some time. The pump worked fine on the bench, not even a
hint of trouble. At this point I was
getting mildly tired. So I crossed my
fingers and hoped that it was a one-time thing, and wouldn’t come back. I put the box back together, loaded the guns,
and then signed off and went to bed, about
Monday:
I got up once about
Just as I was coming
out with the last items, I passed Fluegel.
“Fluegel, you just made me feel much better,” I said.
“Why,” he asked.
“Usually I’m the last
one to leave the motel and the last one to get to the lake. I guess I’m not doing so bad,”
I said.
“Maybe you’re doing
great,” he said, “but that bothers me.”
Out at the lake, I
found a table in the pavilion, not far from Bob and Ron. I was surprised, as the pavilion was not large
enough for the whole group. However, at
least half of the battlers had brought tables and chairs and in some cases,
tents, to set up down closer to the water’s edge. The weather was perfect, about 80 degrees and
sunny and a light breeze to keep things cool.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were hotter, but Friday was somewhat
cooler again.
At this point, I
usually try to describe the lake. The
best description I’ve come up with is as follows: Think of a right triangle. The right (or ninety degree) corner is on the
farthest side of the triangle from the point where we battled. The two sides running from the right angle
are roughly equal in distance, and very straight (one
reason, no doubt, why speed trials were done on one of them). The third side of the triangle, the longest
side, is not straight, however. I’m
embarrassed to say this, but looking at the map of the lake from above, the
third side is more like the outline of a lady’s bosom, from above. The bulk of our battling was done from the
left bosom. The right bosom did not go
unused, but was closer to a playground, and so got less play. A home base during campaign was set up there,
in addition. The cleavage between the
bosoms narrowed to a point, at which was found a large stand of cattails, six
to eight feet tall. These cattails were
enough to obscure sight of the lake and ships as one walked (or more likely,
ran) from one bosom to the other. Later
in the week, someone pointed out that a bird was nesting in the cattails, and
it would swoop in on anyone who came too close.
Bob Hoernemann had
made a large map or the lake, and as the week went by and sinks accumulated,
he’d put a flag on the spot where the ship went down. The map, especially in the cleavage, soon
filled with British, American, German, Japanese and Italian flags. <RobertsNatsLake>
But as I don’t think I
can call the locations ‘left bosom’ and ‘right bosom’ and ‘the cleavage’ for
the entirety of this account, I’ll instead refer to them as the ‘Left Bend’,
the ‘Right Bend’, and ‘Cattail Cove’. In
addition, the cove down on the extreme left was partially roped off, due to a
nearby handicapped playground that the Lions Club refused to have us close
down. This cove I’ll call Handicapped
Cove. The visibility was very good along
the shore, except for moving from the Left Bend to the Right Bend, as there was
a ditch behind the cattails and so captains tended to run with all haste behind
the cattails in transferring from one
As for the shoreline,
it started out the week being somewhat soggy.
The shoreline was ringed by long grass, and for those wearing shorts, it
could be nasty. I took a couple of
scratches that left red marks on my legs for the rest of the week. “I see you found the saw grass,” Chris Au
told me at one point. He too had some
marked up legs. However, as the week
went by the grass go trampled down and the soggy
shoreline got progressively muddy. By
Friday it was just down right gloppy.
Shoes and socks (for those who wore them) took a beating during the
week. Here’s a photo of some Axis
captains late Monday <Melton_M_100>. Up by the pavilion was a small water spigot,
and most folks used it to wash off their footwear before leaving for the motel
each day.
The Lineups:
As is normal, the
lineups for the week remained relatively unchanged, but minor tweaking were
done here and there as people left, or ships fell out due to malfunctions. Friday saw a mass change in that the Allies,
with nothing to lose, tried a Fast Fleet and a Slow Fleet. But the line up for Monday morning shaped the
battling for the bulk of the week.
Allied A:
Brian Lamb: Brian was driving the
8 unit
Chris Grossaint: Chris brought his tried and true class 6
Jim Coler: Jim hails from
Kevin Bray: Driving his experienced class 6
Dave Au: Driving a class 5 Queen Elizabeth, Dave is a
tough battler in any ship he captains, and the QEs are known to be slugger type
ships. <QE_Melton>
Doug Hunt: Doug was driving a
class 5
Ted Brogden: Ted was once again captaining the class 5
Valiant. An experienced ship and captain
his only problem was he spent too much time worrying about Lars. <Valiant_Melton>
Lars (me): The class 4 Bellerophon was the only Allied
28 second boat, and it had been mostly sitting on the shelf since the last
Nats. As such it was expected that it
would be fish food. It was only hoped
that she would score some points on Axis ships on the way down. <Bellerophon_Bruder>
Patrick Clarke: Patrick was driving a
class 4 Invincible. Patrick had used the
ship for some time, and it was expected to live up to standard I-boat
expectations. <Invincible_Melton>
Matthew Clarke: The junior Clarke was
driving the 3 unit Houston. A natural
cruiser captain, the shortest Allied battler was expected to be a major
irritant with his well-worked cruiser. <ClarkeHouston_Bruder>
Tom Brown: Also driving a Houston, Tom was back in
battling after a few years absence.
Would he be rusty? <BrownHouston_Bob, BrownHouston2_Bob>
Allied B:
Kevin Hovis: Kevin had the other Allied big boat, an 8 unit
Charley Stephens: As Allied Admiral, Charley was bringing his
well tested class 6
Tony Stephens: Like his brother, Tony
was driving the North Carolina’s sister ship, the Washington, and the two who
work so well as a team were expected to be the main punch for the fleet. <Washington_Bruder>
Don Cole:
Don has been fighting for years, and was once
again using his favorite ship, the class 6
Rick King: Rick left his favored
Scharnhorst back in
Bob Hoernemann: Returning with his second year class 5
Warspite, and heavily refit over the long Minnesota winter, would the ship with
the rotating polar bear head be more than just a flashy display? <Warspite_Melton>
Mike Melton: Mike was back with his class 5
Ron Horbul: Ron’s class 4 Lion was back for another go
round. Even if he had improved the
turning on the arrow-like hull, he was still likely to get a lot of attention. <Lion_Roberts>
Chris Kessler: Chris Kessler, after
improving every day during the previous Nats, was back again with his class 3
Pete Demetri: Pete is one of the
battlers whose name I’ve seen for years, but we’ve never crossed paths until
this year. He was driving a class 3
Steve Milholland: Steve showed up
without a ship. Bob Hoernemann gave him
his class 3
Axis A:
Tim Beckett: Tim had brought back an oldie but a goodie. D.W.
Fluegel’s old 1/150th scale
Chris Pearce: Fighting a well-worked class 6 Nagato, Chris
is tough in any ship he has and was expected to be a major pain for the
Allies. <Pearce_Melton>
Steve Crane: A new battler, originally from the east coast
of Canada, but having since moved to warmer climes, Steve was an unknown to
most of us, but his Nagato looked mean and nasty none the less. <Crane_Bruder>
Gerald Roberts: Gerald had also caught the Nagato bug. However, I’m not sure if his was a new ship or
one that he’d brought back after his stint in the Settsu. I was going to miss that Settsu. <Gerald_Melton>
Lou Meszaros: Lou was back in the Italian big ship, the
class 6 Vittorio
DW Fluegel: DW had brought more than a couple of ships
this year. He’d also brought along his
son Dallas. Between the two of them and
their two ships, the class 5 Baden and the class 2
Tim Krakowski: Tim was back for another year with his Fuso,
hoping for better times with the class 5 ship. I’ve always wondered just how much that tower
superstructure weighs, and what effect the wind has on it. <Fuso_Melton>
Lief Goodson: Lief was back in his tried and true class 4
von der Tann. He’s always been a natural
with this ship, and was expected to be a real pest. <Lief_Melton,
Lief2_Melton>
Chris Au: Chris was driving a new class 4 French
battlecruiser, the
Axis B:
Bryan Finster: Back with his class 6 Nagato with her rear
pointing bow sidemounts, his ship was experienced and dangerous. <Finster_Melton>
John Bruder: The head of the Bruder clan, and President of
the club for the year, John was driving his experienced class 6 Italia. One of three big Italian boats, they figured
to be returning some of the attention that they’d gotten in past years. <JohnItalia_Roberts>
Josh Bruder: Like his father, Josh
was also sailing a class 6 Vittorio
Michael Tanzillo: Mike was driving a
Nagato this year. Unfortunately I didn’t
get a chance to find out much about it.
But being that this was his third Nats, Mike should hold his own. <Tanzillo_Roberts>
Tom Melton: Last year’s rookie of
the year, Tom was driving the Nagato he’d used the year before. With another year under his belt, he seemed
likely to improve. <Tom_Roberts>
Rob Stalnaker: A rookie captain from the east coast (
Jeff Lide: I keep thinking that Jeff’s Kirishima is a
class 6 ship, as it resembles the Nagatos so closely,
and the class 4 battlecruiser fights like it has the two extra guns of the
bigger ship. Maybe that’s why he
occasionally forgets about his pump. <Lide_Melton>
Jake Bruder: The other Bruder brother (and son) likes the
short, compact hull of the World War One German battlecruiser von der Tann, a
class 4 ship, over the longer more elegant Italians. His battling style was much the same, not
flashy but rather steady. <JakeVDT_Melton>
Luis Gomez: Luis, after a good
year as a cruiser captain the year before, opted for one more gun, and was
driving a class 4 Kongo rigged up in the World War One configuration. A good looking ship, it was not expected to
have troubles after his Garibaldi had run so well the year before. <Kongo_Roberts>
Randy Stiponivich: Another von der Tann
captain, the heavy camouflaged paint scheme was graced by a bright blue Smurf
figurine on her stern. The ‘Pirate
Smurf’ proved to be as tough as Randy’s ship, surviving several direct hits and
remaining standing. Only the Pillsbury
Dough Boy would have been more annoying than the Pirate Smurf. <SmurfVDT_Melton,
SmurfVDT2_Melton>