Naval Invasion

[Sophie]

The non-blockading half of the Yayuri fleet remained in the bay. This included the original Mzukarakana Class Aircraft Carrier, all five of the Yayuri fleet’s Kii Class Battleships, six Shinsoku Class Battleships, two Uji Class Battlecruisers, ten Aka Class Heavy Cruisers, five Tone Class Heavy Cruisers, seven Niikata class Light Cruisers, thirteen Oyodo Class Light Cruisers, six Chikuma Class Light Cruisers, ten Kawakaze class Hunter Killers, Thirty-Three Michizuki Class Hunter Killers, and thirty-six Momi Class Hunter Killers. The remaining Hunter Killers scouted the slots between minefields, as well as worked on finishing the mining operations within them.

The fleet escorted one thousand landing ships filled to the brim with marines. The landing ships could only hold half of the fifty thousand marines. The other half rested within the hearts of the ships within the fleet. Forty minesweepers lead the nose of the fleet dragging mine anchor cutting wires through the water as the entire fleet sailed from Elna.

The fleet headed directly south in a protective formation called Fox-Five. Small groups of capital ships were surrounded by escorting ships in half-circle formations. All the formations formed a protective barrier around the lightly armored Mzukarakana. The Fleet made a direct line for the deepest water of Aundi Bay. The plan from there was to travel directly west. Its target was thirty-two kilometers north of the Eika river. Once the fleet was within sixty-four kilometers off the coast, the organization of the fleet shuffled. The minesweepers were to depart and wait in the deep for the fleet to return for escort. Now the heavily armored capital ships took the lead, ready to tank any incoming shells from enemy ships or shore batteries.

Any shore targets that could be seen were to be bombarded. All five Kii Class battleships had four double eighteen-inch turrets with double guns for a total of forty eighteen-inch guns. Loaded with high explosive shells, they could launch over forty kilometers with a high level of accuracy against immobile targets. They were supplemented by the Shinsoku Class’s guns. Six ships with the ability to put nine of eleven turrets onto a single target. Adding one hundred and eight fourteen-inch guns to send shells down onto the shore. The Uji Class Battlecruisers added an additional twenty-four fourteen-inch guns; all fourteen-inch guns had a range of thirty-nine kilometers. The Heavy Cruisers contributed two-hundred-and-twenty eight-inch guns to the barrage with a range of twenty-five kilometers.

[callmedelta]

Pareau Harbor

It was a strange thing, watching one's life's work go down in flames. Admiral Blaise Guillaume stared at the assembled Franerri fleet. The entire naval might of the nation, sans submarines and minesweepers, was assembled in port. 12 Restoration-Class Ironclad Battleships, 7 Mordred-Class Light Cruisers, 7 Artoria-Class Torpedo Cruisers, 1 Independence-Class Monitor, 20 Imperative-Class Destroyer Minelayers, 25 Promise-Class Torpedo Destroyers, 5 Pearl-Class Frigates, and 5 Starfish-Class Corvettes. And yet, Guillaume knew that they would be little more than tombs for the sailors aboard. He faced a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of Kumosenkan's true naval might. They'd done their damn best to bottle themselves into they Bays so they only had to deal with whatever fleet Kumo had stationed inside the Bays rather than the whole damn thing. And even still, they might be outmatched. The telegram from Elenerre said that Kumo's navy had been spotted off the coast - they weren't certain about the fleet size, but Blaise wasn't quite sure how much it mattered with the technological advantage Kumosenkan possessed.

Before the war, everyone else in the Franerri government had called his dream a waste of time and money. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps they were wrong. Today would see the question answered decisively. The Admiral had to be there. Captains went down with their ships, so why shouldn't an Admiral go down with his fleet? Back at the Naval Headquarters, he'd left three things - a will, a letter addressed to his cousin, and a poem. The naval orchestra played a funeral dirge for the fleet as they left port. The smallest ships were in the lead, widely spaced, the sizes getting progressively larger until they reached the Battleships in the rear.

Toubonne, Franerri side of the River Taln

Only the second train to Elenerre frontlines had left the station when word reached the Franerri Field Command in Toubone: Kumosenkan’s navy had been seen off the coast of Elenerre, right across the river. There weren’t any targets of strategic value there, at least in the mind of the Franerri High Command. There was only one reason the boats would risk getting that close to shore and risk coastal artillery bombardments: a naval invasion. The cursed Taln struck Franerri logistics again. Only 3,000 Standard Infantry a day could cross the few bridges on the River Taln. Not even a full division. There was no one to guard where Kumosenkan was landing against a naval invasion - all of their forces in the region were either on the border or garrisoning Elenerre itself. 

[alxeu]

Franneri Fleet Action

The Franneri Fleet was not immediately available at the landing site to contest the landings. It would arrive only after the Kumosenkan forces had landed ashore.

When the fleet finally did arrive, it would be spotted well before it came in range.



Amphibious Landing

The most action at the moment revolved around a pair of star forts at the mouth of the river. Both were obliterated by the Kumosenkan capital ships, their garrisons and artillery destroyed without ever having a chance to fire back – the guns of Kumosenkan’s fleet far outranged what they could hope to fire.



Casualties:

Franerre – 2 Star forts, 236 soldiers, 16 artillery guns

[Sophie]

Now at the nose of the fleet were the Capital Ships. Leading were the Kii Classes. With a main belt of armor more than a foot in width, fore and aft belts with over half a foot, and heavyweight deck armor of seven inches, the Kii class was lauded as nigh impenetrable. Behind them were the Shinsokus and the Ujis. The escorts remained in flanking formations, creating a half circle around the Capital Ships. The Mzukarakana remained in the center, guarded directly by four flanking Aka's. They circled the carrier like the anglerfish they pretended to be, though now the carrier was the lantern.

The Capital Ships stopped their advance thirty kilometers from the shoreline. The Kii classes formed a line, ass to nose, with less than a hundred meters between them; the other capitals followed suit just behind the Kiis. The turrets began to traverse. Two thousand tons of steel in each turret rotated free from the ship to their port beam. Their guns individually maneuvered upwards to lock into the estimated range of thirty kilometers. They did not fire as they normally would during a planned naval invasion. They weren't even within visual range of their targets. Instead, they waited for their parliament to guide their shells.

"This is Owl one." A voice crackled alive on the fleet's radio. "Parliament one is in the air and en route to the target." All fifteen of the Mzukarakana's Mukō Class Fighters had departed the flight deck and made three separate formations of five fighters.

"We hear you, Owl one." The Rear Admiral in command of the fleet's flagship RBS Hizen, a Kii class battleship, responded via her radio officer. "Remember, you're just giving ranging estimations to our guns. Don't get any fancy ideas up there."

The buzz of the fighter engines roared as they peeled ahead at two hundred kilometers per hour. In eight minutes, they were mere miles off the shore. A new voice crackled onto the fleet radio. "Good morning, ladies of the Yayuri fleet!" The voice was so cheery it could be clearly read through the static of the radio broadcast. "This is Owl Five, your local Franerri weather reporter! Today you can expect a nice calm wind around five miles per hour directly to the east. Now it may seem like the clouds above don't threaten rain, but if your thinking about going to work at your local coastal battery, be warned. Meteorologists are predicting a typhoon of steel in very directed bursts on all military targets near the beach."

"Hey! Owl Five! Get off the radio unless you're giving ranging." A barking order came from the fleet commander Rear Admiral Hitomi Oshima.

"As we speak, the weather front is gathering out in the Aundi Bay, about twenty-nine point seven kilometers from the nearest shore battery." The pilot ignored the fleet commander and continued to have fun, to the delight of fleet radio operators.

Boom is not nearly enough of a word to describe the sound of a single four-hundred-and-fifty-eight millimeter gun firing. Let alone the symphony of a full Kii class's battery. The air rattled violently. The water below the guns was disturbed in such a way it looked as if the entire ship had been pushed fifty meters starboard. When in reality, the ship barely moved at all. Each high explosive shell departing a Kii class ship weighed almost a full ton on its own. In each shell was over a hundred and fifty pounds of actual explosive, a mixture of RDX and TNT. The fourteen-inch guns joined the bombardment. Up and down the beaches, the orchestra played digging ditches. With the aid of parliament one, the batteries specifically targeted coastal batteries and any form of coastal fort or entrenchment. This was not a constant bombardment; it was targeted. Ships fired until an owl confirmed hits. They then waited for new targeting information before firing again.

If and or when all batteries were destroyed, a single patrol boat snagged from the Elenrian coast guard was sent up towards the coast. The P-class boat pushed itself within five kilometers of the shore and began to punt hundred and twenty-millimeter shells at random at the shore. Zigzagging at flank speed, eighteen knots, the boat hoped to draw out any further defenses before retreating back into the fleet while more heavy shells were punted into targets. This strategy would continue for a full day before any more moves were made.

---

"Parliament two, in the air." Ten Gyorai Class Torpedo Bombers mounted with eight hundred pound bombs and ten Baku Class Dive Bombers mounted with four hundred pound bombs, and a two hundred and fifty pound bomb took flight. They began their departure from the fleet, but none of their targets were on the coast. They flew southwest at a height of three kilometers until they came upon the river. They followed the river east, reporting any static military emplacements along it, taking special note of artillery larger than seventy-five millimeters.

The second parliament would continue up the river, not dropping their payload on anything until they came to a bridge. Then five of each plane would drop their payload in an attempt to destroy the crossing. The Torpedo bombers would level bomb, staying at altitude and dropping their bomb. The dive bombers would live up to their name and dive before releasing all five bombs. Once depleted of bombs, the aircraft were to return to the carrier for new arms. They were to redeploy immediately and return to cruising the river for a bridge, including the bridge they had just bombed, if it hadn't been sufficiently disabled. This was, of course, not intended to destroy small pedestrian bridges like ones made of wood. This was for major crossings, highways, rails, and any bridge that could carry more than a dozen people at once.

---

Yukikaze a Momi class Hunter Killer departed its escorting position within the fleet. Normally an act like this would be tantamount to treason, however Yukikaze was on a special mission. She sailed the same path that parliament two flew. Straight to the river. With a draught of only one point nine meters she easily slipped into the running waters.

While the running waters did limit the ship’s speed, the Momi class engine was more than enough to steam ahead at thirty knots. She steamed ahead, all her guns on a metaphorical swivel for any military targets that may try and engage her as she sailed west. She would receive any reports that Parliament two dolled out and would properly prepare to engage any targets they called out.

Though more than just the ships crew stayed on station. A company of one hundred marines were on deck with weapons drawn, some mounted the newly retrofitted anti-aircraft guns on the deck.

The ship was intended to sail all the way until the end of the notch, blowing to pieces any bridge it came across, even simple rope bridges if there were any. They’d use their main 127mm cannons, as well as one of the squads of marines were EOD specialists. The ship would only destroy a bridge once it had passed it as to not pin intself behind rubble.

[callmedelta]

At the bridge the Kumo planes found themselves flying towards, there was a large mass of troops on both sides of the river. Franerre needed to get as many men as she could across the River Taln, but the bridges formed natural bottlenecks that the Army had to get men across day and night. For this mass of fighting men, the sight of the planes coming in set panic in their ranks. Some, particularly those at the edge of the masses, in the least danger from the planes, and those in the center of the bridge, with nowhere to run, unslung their rifles and began to try and shoot down the planes, however useless it may be. For those at either edge of the bridge, they stampeded, trying to get off the bridge and out of the way of any explosions or gun strafes that may be raining down on them from above.

~

The first thing the Yukikaze would meet on the River Taln wouldn't be any bridge or artillery emplacement. It would be a river of naval mines, extending five kilometers deep from the mouth of the river. Unless the Kumo fleet had a minesweeper that could traverse the river, they would need to thread the forest of mines.

~

With the bombardment of the shores of Elenerre taking a full day, that was enough time for the fleet from Pareau to meet the Kumo fleet for battle. As the ships were still in transit, a message from the Admiral went out to every ship in the fleet save for the smallest of patrol boats that lacked a wireless receiver.

“Sailors! Heroes! Fear not the outcome of this engagement. I have already declared every ship in the fleet, along with myself, as sunk in action. The only thing your noble actions can affect, then, is how many Kumosenkan vessels you send to the bottom of the bay with you, how many Franerri lives in Elenerre you may save with your sacrifice, and how soon we can see Franerre victorious in this war. The memories we leave behind as Franerri sailors must not be stained today by cowardice or incompetence. For the honor of our great King and our great Nation lay on our shoulders. Viva la Franerre! Chassons les envahisseurs étrangers!”

[Sophie]

RBS Yuruginai a Shinsoku Class battleship was part of the rearguard of the fleet. Commanding the bridge was the recently promoted Rear Admiral Kazuki Sakanashi. "Captain!" The bridge radio commander called out. "Radio Contacts bearing seven zero!"

The Admiral climbed over her officer's shoulder and stared at the RSDM screen. Several green blobs gathered along the top left edge of the monitor. "Max range. Twenty-eight Kilometers. Call the fleet Lieutenant. Get us orders."

The Fleet Commander quickly handpicked ships from her grouping to establish fox-four. One Kii class battleship, two Shinsoku class battleships, and both Ujii class battlecruisers formed the rear battleline, showing their entire broadside to the incoming enemy with all available guns drawn and loaded. Six of the Aka class heavy cruisers rested five hundred meters in front of the battleships. Rather than a broadside, they showed their noses with superheavy icebreaker armor. The Maws of the Anglerfish stood ready to engage targets. Fourteen eight-inch guns on seven turrets awaited fire orders. In front of the heavies were the light cruisers, all seven Niikata classes, and six Oyodos at broadside ready to fire. Then the hunter killers, twenty of the Michizuki classes snaked the waters between the light cruisers and the enemy. Each with sixteen twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes. While this fleet had not yet been upgraded with thread guidance they were still a fearsome ship-killing weapon. They were ready to flood the waters with high explosive warheads to brunt any advance.

Aboard the Yuruginai, Sakanashi was on the phone with her fire-control elements. "Who the fuck told you to load armor piercing? Get HE in my guns now or I will have you court-martialled for insubordination."

"The combat alert was sounded, ma'am. The standard protocol is to load ship-to-ship combat arms. That includes armor-piercing shells in the shells for the big punters. For engagement with capital class ships." The fire control answered through the phone.

"Franerre's most heavily armored ship is an ironclad. Something Kumosenkan did away with before even the Hawaii war. Do you know what happens when you send a steel-capped seven-hundred-and-twenty-kilo shell into an ironclad battleship?"

"It goes straight through it."

"It goes straight through it. I'm not about to let you spend hundreds of thousands of the Empress's yairen punching ineffectual 14-inch holes into the enemy. I want their hulls blasted open. I want their ships up in flames. I want them to suffer for daring to confront the Empress's pride. Show them fire. Show them fury."

"Aye-aye ma'am. Loading HE."

The Kii class, RBS Fukutsu, called and requested a single owl from the parliament of fighters to act as scout. While the ship had a maximum firing range of forty kilometers, its effective firing range was nearly half that at twenty-four kilometers. She was the first to fire the moment the owl reported the enemy fleet to be within that range. The boom of her four-hundred-and-fifty-seven-millimeter guns firing high explosive shells could be heard throughout the fleet. The shells screamed through the air as they made way to their target.

Behind the battle line were five Kawakaze Hunter killers. They swam at max speed behind the fleet while injecting powderized staol from their fuel bunkers straight into their funnels. In the funnel, the staol burned hot and spewed nasty and billowing orange-grey smoke. This formed a smokescreen for the rest of the fleet that was not slated to engage in the upcoming battle.

---

The Yukikaze was more than prepared to deal with mines. Be they drifting or anchored, command-detonated or impact. After spotting one mine in the river the crew was on high alert for the rest of their cruise. Whenever a mine was spotted in the water the Yukikaze maneuvered well away from it before firing on it to destroy it. For submerged mines, depth charges were at the ready to be launched. The intense size of the river gave the Yukikaze plenty of room to move freely of mines in the water. Still, the crew remained on alert for any mine hits to immediately begin damage control measures.

---

After the torpedo planes' second bombing run, they were outfitted with a completely different payload. With a new payload comes a new target. Now off the deck of the aircraft carrier, the bombers headed north. The divebombers continued their current mission, and the rest of the fighters received a call.

[alxeu]

The first Kumo naval volley landed mainly in front of and around the various ships of the Franerri fleet. The sheer number of shells plunging around the fleet forced emergency maneuvers by many ships, scrambling the fleet formation and dazing many on board. Of particular concern to the captains of the fleet was that the shots fired were from positions far out of sight to the west. This, coupled with the admiral’s speech, led to a sense of doom overtaking the officers of the fleet. None would leave their positions or abandon their part within the fleet, but more than a few questioned the judgment of the admiral. Nevertheless, the fleet would continue onwards into the waiting arms of the Kumo fleet.


Elsewhere, Kumo bombers would deal damage to a pair of bridges along the Taln. The first was a footbridge, destroying segments of the bridge and inflicting dozens of casualties as segments of the bridge collapsed into the river, but the bombers did not fully obliterate the bridge, with a few segments intact. Repairs would take time, but a determined effort could reopen the crossing within a couple of weeks, albeit at a lesser throughput. Meanwhile, though rifle fire was hopeless against the level bombers high up in the sky, the dive bombers were at far greater risk. One squadron of soldiers took this opportunity to concentrate fire on one of the dive bombers as it flew towards the bridge. Peppering the aircraft, causing light damage overall, the fire panicked the Kumo pilot and caused her to overcorrect while pulling up and away from the bridge, crashing, hard, into the river’s bank, with both aboard confirmed dead in the aftermath.

The damage to the second bridge, a rail bridge, would take much longer to repair. Though a similar amount of damage was done to the bridge, the entirety of the bridge would need to be rebuilt in order to allow trains to cross once more. Still, if the bridge were repurposed for foot traffic, it would enable the crossing of soldiers at a reduced rate once more. If there was any good news, it was that there was no train on the bridge at the time of its destruction.


Fortunately for its crew, the Yukikaze would sail into the Taln, unaware of most of the mines* until after they were mostly through the field. Near the end, a lone mine was spotted and reported, though with the ship through the rest of the field, the minefield would be a problem for later.



Casualties:
Franerre: 315 Soldiers, 2 Star Forts, 16 Artillery Guns (+79 Soldiers)
Kumosenkan: 2 Soldiers, 1 Dive Bomber


*NB: The writer presumes no more than a couple dozen mines at the mouth of the river. Franerri minelayers (which are of an undefined type) are presumed to be able to hold 60-80 mines; with five minelayers assigned to the entirety of the bay coastline where the Taln was located, only so many could be placed at the river’s mouth on such a short notice.