Action in The North Atlantic
DOS - 1989
Description of Action in The North Atlantic
One of General Quarters' best games, Action in The North Atlantic is a fun and accessible naval simulation set in the World War II. The game focuses on only a single battle: the Murmansk run in World War 2, where your objective as British naval commander is to sink the German's formidable Scharnhorst, or survive the British onslaught as the German commander.
There are many starting options that affect the length and difficulty of the game. You can choose whether to play on the tactical or strategic level, control the British or German navy, and the number of turns (for tactical level) or days (for strategic level) before the game terminates. If you choose to play on a tactical level, you will command a single battleship, complete with a realistic radar screen and ship characteristics. You can make smoke, train and fire guns, as well as disengage from battle, or even scuttle the ship if the probability of losing is too great.
Graphics, being CGA only, is more than adequate for the game's focus on realism. One nice touch is that any shot you fire is animated on the screen, and leaves a visible hole in the enemy's ship upon impact. You can therefore gauge the damage level of enemy ships by looking at the size and number of holes in their hulls. Unfortunately, this also applies to YOUR ship, and maneuvering becomes key to success, especially if you are controlling the Scharnhorst on the German side, which is greatly outnumbered by numerous British warships. After the battle is over or the maximum number of turns is reached, battle outcome is displayed with vital statistics, which can be printed as a hardcopy (I doubt any modern printer would make this feature work anymore, though).
The game's strategic command mode, in contrast to the tactical mode, places you in charge of the entire fleet. In addition to plotting courses for various ships in your fleet, you can also call in air attack, perform an aerial reconnaissance, and utilize submarines. As with any other good strategic-level wargame, astute planning and good timing is key to your mission's success.
With two very different gameplay modes, solid computer AI, a good balance between realism and playability, and a user-friendly interface, Action in The North Atlantic is a fun "beer-and-pretzel" naval simulation that's worth a play-through for all armchair commanders. Thumbs up!
Review By HOTUD
External links
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
Alex Kilpa 2025-04-11 0 point
Owen P. Hall Jr. was the owner, developer, and programmer of General Quarters Software (GQS) and was a major contributor to the book PC Bible 1992. He had a Doctorate and was a university professor, a pioneer in the area. of computer studies and released a series of computer Naval War games. Hi products were largely delivered via a mail order service, which probably explains why they are so difficult to obtain today.
Sadly he passed away in 2021 aged 79.
In respect to the GQS material there were 16 naval games released by GQS. The titles were:
The Rising Sun (the Russio Japanese War 1904-1905)
War at Sea (the cruise of the SMS Emden)
German Raider Atlantis (actually has Penguin as well)
Mare Nostrum (war in the Mediterranean WWII focusing on the Battle of Cape Matapan)
Return to the Falklands (British recapturing of Falklands 1982)
The Warship that changed History (the escape of SMS Goeben WWI)
Action in the North Atlantic (Scharnhorst with a Tirpitz variant thrown in)
War in the Falklands (Battle of The Falklands and Coronel WWI)
Midway (Battle of Midway)
Marianas Turkey Shoot (last major carrier battle WWII)
Raid on Pearl Harbor (what started it all 1942)
Prelude to Jutland (Battle of Dogger Bank 1915)
Banzai (last cruiser of the super battleship Yamato)
Bismarck (last cruise of the Bismarck)
Action off the River Plate (Graf Spee)
Battlestations (Houston saga with British, Dutch, Australian and US forces taking on the Japanese navy 1942)
At least now we know what these games are about, as the titles were pretty vague. Let's hope we can recover these games. Anyone having these games please let us know I would dearly like to purchase these games to share.
Alex Kilpa
Messianic114 2019-04-01 1 point
Is it possible to get the source code and manual so I can run this on QB64?
anon 2018-03-17 3 points
@Artemis, If you're not bullshitting and have more GQS games please send them to the site. We only have access to the 3 DOS variants. Looks like this one in particular got the most revision attention and is probably the best though. It's manual is non-existent on the internet. The other two are easy to find.
Agathosdaimon 2018-01-31 0 point
Artemis, i am very interested in what you are saying - i would love to get a copy of this game its disks and manuals- could you in some way upload the manual or something?
Artemis 2017-11-12 2 points
Since this is active, I'll share a memory. With the exception of the last couple, all the GQS scenarios started as one player Apple versions coded by Dr. Hall (who teaches at Pepperdine U if anyone wants to ask him for the rest of the series). I was the programmer for the PC versions... added some things like both sides payable but most importantly to me, he laid out the gameboard for the Apple versions based on a flat earth map projection, so that threw off travel distances. I ended up going to a pilots forum on the Well to ask questions, learn about rhumb lines, to talk him into letting me redo the map. Anyhow, I'm probably boring everyone except me.
Artemis 2017-11-11 1 point
It was fun to stumble upon these; it's kinda neat that you've kept these alive. :) I tossed all my notes years ago but kept a set of discs and manuals. Those were considered pretty good at the time and it's funny how hokey they are now.
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DOS Version
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