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Post by Greywall on Aug 27, 2022 15:59:49 GMT -5
"Everything is ready Admiral", the officer saluted and exited the private quarters of Admiral Vokuyo, the entire UST fleet was prepared for a full assault on whatever blockade was stifling trade flow. The UST fleet was outdated, still used sailing ships as the bulk of it but the blockade needed to be broken. "Winter is coming, we don't have much in the way of ice breakers but keeping trade flow is critical." the Admiral mulled to himself.
The fleet began its departure, it would refuel and resupply at Mwamdan on Boamba island, the main trade routes ran by the island and for the Admiral it made sense to try and use a smaller gap of water to enclose the trade lanes. "Let's get resupplied, rest and then we begin our hunt."
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Post by Greywall on Oct 4, 2022 8:00:18 GMT -5
Admiral Vokoyo finally got the warm waters he needed, he left some 12 caravels in harbor as UST ground forces reported the invasion of the kithium league. He sent another 4 caravels back to noscovo to report the invasion. But the rest of the fleet moved East, hunting the franch naval blockade.
He sailed north of the island sending some monitors ahead to scout. Once they saw the franch they would fire a flare alerting the fleet to prepare for battle.
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Post by callmedelta on Oct 7, 2022 10:10:16 GMT -5
Aboard the KFS Alcasse
Captain Colin de Villiers couldn't quite believe what he was looking at. When he read the report from the crow's nest, the flare and UST ships sighted 18 kilometers away, he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't a bunch of wooden warships and a few monitors. The Franerri patrol was just three ships, the Battleship Alcasse, the Torpedo Cruiser Dauntless and the Light Cruiser Authority, but Colin wasn't sure if any of them were in any sort of danger at all so long as they could neutralize the monitors.
"Bring us around for a broadside," Captain Gerard said, "And message the Authority to prepare her guns and the Dauntless to prepare her torpedoes as well. Aim for the monitors, ignore anything made out of wood for the time being. Once we get the monitors out of the way this battle's over."
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Post by aimway921 on Oct 7, 2022 23:03:11 GMT -5
Aboard the Ironclad Battleship, ARS Svarog, flagship of the Ashinaran Royal Navy
Admiral Georgi te Kolvan was on the bridge when a junior officer brought the long-awaited sighting from the crow's nest. Smokestacks on the horizon. Several minutes later, distant vessels came into view. A few minutes more, and the lookouts were able to make out the flags on the ships they spotted - Franerri. They have found their allies. They now just had to get close enough to send flag signals. Wait - what's this? More ships, with a different flag... UST? It seems that the Ashinaran navy came just in time to assist their allies in an engagement.
"Signal to 3 Cruisers, 1 Battleship and 5 Corvettes to match our top speed. We should reach the action in 20 minutes. Alert the crews. Battlestations, have guns loaded, and as soon as we get in range, train them on the UST ships. Wait for my command before opening fire. The rest of the fleet should hang back and keep escorting the Marines transport."
With that, the hastily formed task force set out towards the brewing engagement, full steam ahead.
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Post by Greywall on Oct 25, 2022 1:21:50 GMT -5
The UST fleet came in force, most of it wooden sail ships that moved in a flanking motion while their battleships and monitors set up in the center moving toward the Frannerre.
If the sail ships got in range they would open fire, followed by the monitors and battleships. It wouldn’t be until the first few minutes of engagement that the Ashinara fleet would be noticed.
A set of monitors in the rear would be a fall line for the ships as the ugly entanglement of iron and wooden ships began their work.
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Post by callmedelta on Oct 25, 2022 11:02:55 GMT -5
Aboard the KFS Alcasse
The Alcasse let out her first broadside towards the Union monitors, the thunder of the guns shaking the ship and drowning out any conversation on the bridge. As the noise dissipated, Captain de Villers asked, "Status report?"
"Can't tell if we hit the Union, Captain," his gunnery officer replied.
"Well then keep hammering them!" de Villers demanded. If those Monitors were anything like the ones he knew, they had armor made of paper, while his Ironclad Battleship could take a few hits. Still, at this range, neither of his cruisers could engage with the monitors, and de Villers didn't want them rushing in just yet. As the second broadside fired towards the Union fleet, an officer, slightly winded, burst into the room.
"Captain de Villers, Sir!" he saluted. "Message from the crow's nest. The Union's wooden ships are flanking around our sides, and we have some Ashinaran ships coming up on our rear."
'The hell are the foxes doing here?' de Villers thought. "Get the Authority and Dauntless engaging those wooden ships. With any luck, it'll be shooting fish in a barrel, but there's a chance the Union has something nasty in store for us. Message the Authority and Dauntless over the wireless, tell them we've got friendlies in the area, and get someone to try and signal and Ashinaran vessel and get them in communication with us."
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Post by aimway921 on Oct 25, 2022 17:26:54 GMT -5
Aboard ARS Svarog
The battleship was steaming towards the action at maximum speed, her escort following right behind. It was mere minutes until the enemy ships would be in range of the main battery. The front-facing battery began aiming it's guns at the closest enemy ship. Heavy high explosive shells were ready to start sending the Union fleet to the bottom of the sea, clearing the way for the Marines to land on UST's Southern shore.
Finally, the flanking ships were in range. Admiral te Kolvan ordered to wait another minute, giving time for the artillery crews to calculate their aim perfectly. Then finally, it was time. "FIRE!" The main guns fired, the two shells hurdling towards one of the UST ships flanking the Franerre fleet.
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Post by Greywall on Oct 26, 2022 1:10:53 GMT -5
The UST wooden ships to say quite frankly, did not do well. The Coalition fire took one shot eradicating them when hit, the fast sinking of these ships put the UST navy in a severe situation early. Their battleships and monitors quickly entered seeing the caravels and man o wars sinking. The initial fight had the UST put up something but as time went on their fleet would be decimated, Admiral Vokoyo ordered the remaining fleet to pull back.
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Post by Greywall on Oct 26, 2022 1:12:55 GMT -5
Casualties:
UST: Caravels 17, 3 galleys, 3 sloops, 3 frigates, 9 clippers, 2 man o wars. 9 monitors
Frannerre: 1 battleship
Ashinara: 4 corvettes, 1 frigate
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Post by callmedelta on Oct 26, 2022 11:15:06 GMT -5
Aboard the KFS Authority
The battle was over, and it was by all accounts a complete victory for the Franerri and Ashinaran fleets. They had their losses, though at the least the Authority and Dauntless has been able to rescue a good portion of the crew from the Alcasse. Now it was time to reorganize and regroup. Captain de Villers had been injured in the sinking of the Alcasse, and was currently recovering in the Authority's medbay, and so Captain Woodward of the KFS Authority would be acting in his place for the time being. He sent a message in morse code with the signal lights towards the Ashinaran fleet. He didn't want to attempt to chase the Union fleet with just two ships, but if a decisive battle was to be the order, the Franerri fleet would need to be gathered for the fight.
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Post by aimway921 on Oct 27, 2022 2:39:26 GMT -5
Aboard the ARS Svarog
The battle hasn't been long, but came at a cost of a few Ashinaran ships. The Svarog herself sustained a few hits, but received minimal damage - all the hits failed to penetrate her armor, and some even glanced off - with one of the ricochets, unfortunately, hitting one of her escorts that in heat of battle ended up being dangerously close, and fatally injuring her. However, now the battle has been over, and the UST fleet - or what was left of it - was running with their tails between their legs. But Admiral te Kolvan wasn't satisfied. He wanted to remove as much of the threat to the Marines he was charged with transporting as he could. And that is when he spotted a Caravel that was lagging behind, as it had to turn around from it's flanking attack - and being powered with a sail didn't do it much good. Te Kolvan was out not only to fulfill his duty and destroy the enemy - he was also out for personal glory. Who could blame him - this was the first actual war he was ever in - since it was the first actual war Ashinara has ever been in in centuries - and he wanted to prove himself - especially as he was irritated by the fact that the General commanding the Marines currently on his transport ships commanded more respect from his men than te Kolvan did form his - as the General was of common birth and achieved his position by merit - and while te Kolvan also worked hard to be the Admiral he was, one couldn't deny that partial reason he was an Admiral was his connections he has thanks to his noble birth. It was this motivation that had him order the remaining escorts to hang back - and rendezvous with the Franerri ships.
The Svarog steamed ahead towards the UST Caravel. He was so tunnel-visioned on his target, however, that he forgot something very important - the bow gun was turned almost full 90 degrees to the port side. There was not enough time to turn it around and aim before Svarog sails past the Caravel. Swinging the ship around to face the enemy with her port side also risked loosing too much time - time in which the enemy could either pop off some shots of their own, or slip away. But the Admiral was determined not to let this ship get away. He had ordered the main gun to be raised to it's maximum elevation and swing it to the front. Then ordered the helmsman to step away, and took the helm himself. Adjusting the course just a bit, he pointed the Svarog at the Caravel's path. They were going to intercept. "Sound the general alarm," the Admiral ordered. "And pass down the order to all hands - brace for impact."
20 seconds to impact. The Admiral adjusted the heading by a degree. 10 seconds to impact. Some of the officers on the bridge seemed to begin praying. After all, they had no idea if the Svarog would survive this herself. 5 seconds. The gun finally faced fully forward, and pointing up at around 25 degrees, safe from harm's way. 4 seconds. A single cannon on the Caravel fired, but it missed completely. 3 seconds. Te Kolvan gripped the helm as hard as he could, and changed his stance, propping his left leg forward, getting ready for the impact himself. 2 seconds. The Admiral missed this one as he blinked. 1 second to impact...
Svarog violently vibrated, and a screech of scraping metal and snapping wood filled the air. The bow of the Svarog collided with the port side of the UST Caravel, and began ripping through the enemy ship. Within seconds the wooden ship's central mast has been snapped as it was first thrown up out of the ship, then fell between the two guns of Svarog's forward-facing main battery. Something exploded on the stern side of the Caravel. Finally, Svarog's ironclad bow emerged from the starboard side of the Carvel. The enemy ship was fully torn in half, it's bow and stern halves thrown several meters to the left and right from the inertia of Svarog's movement. The whole ordeal lasted only 3 to 4 seconds, but to Admiral te Kolvan, they felt like 3 to 4 hours. He snapped back to reality only after Svarog's stern has already passed the scene of the carnage.
Stepping away from the helm, he immediately ordered to lower the speed and go rendezvous with the Franerri. When he looked out the window of the bridge at what he had just done, he could see his sailors cheering - weather it was at the successful defeat of the enemy, or at the fact that Svarog didn't suffer devastating damage herself from this reckless move - he didn't know - nor did it matter. Just beyond the deck, he saw some humans in UST struggling to stay afloat, as most of the ship has already went under, and the suction of the vortex from the massive sinking hull - though split in two - pulled many down. But the Admiral felt no pity for them, given what he heard about UST's brutality against the civilian population of Tafatu and Franerre. No rescue efforts for the enemy crew would be made.
As Svarog sailed to the Franerri fleet to meet with them, te Kolvan went to his cabin. Pulling a bottle of mead out of a dresser, he poured himself a full glass as he slouched in his chair, and proceeded to chug in down. He was expecting the be overjoyed with his achievement. Instead, even if he didn't feel pity for them, the feeling of dread over taking lives came over the Admiral. How many did he, technically singlehandedly, just kill? He would surely be hailed as a hero for this, but... at what cost? The young noble Admiral was starting to realize what many soldiers many miles away at the Tafatu battlefields have learned over a year ago - war is no adventure. It is nothing to aspire to, and the glory? It may as well be something perceived only by those who haven't seen the horrors of combat.
10 minutes have passed before a knock on the door pulled the Admiral from his thoughts. An officer came to inform him that a boat was ready to take him to KFS Authority to meet with his Franerri counterpart.
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Post by callmedelta on Oct 27, 2022 23:19:12 GMT -5
Aboard the KFS Authority
As soon as the Ashinarans' boat made their way to the Authority, the small party was welcomed on board the cruiser by Captain Woodward himself. "Welcome aboard," he said, extending a hand to the Ashinaran Captain, "I'm Captain Woodward of the KFS Authority. I must say, you Ashinarans have incredible timing, but I had no idea Ashinara was conducting any naval operations in this war. Are you here to join our blockading efforts, or do you have another mission?"
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Post by Greywall on Oct 27, 2022 23:25:21 GMT -5
The UST fleet or what remains of it pulled into Noscovo bay, the admiral would report the bad news. Utter failure to breach the blockade, his ships now defending the capital harbor.
Okeena didn’t respond to the report, the admiral picked up from his connections how dire the situation was becoming. The UST government was all but disbanded leaving okeena as the only real representative along with the military.
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Post by aimway921 on Oct 27, 2022 23:33:21 GMT -5
"Admiral Kolvan, Admiral of the Ashinaran Royal Battlefleet and captain of ARS Svarog," the fox wearing the white jacket and cap adorned with gold said, accepting the handshake after exchanging salutes. The man was still visibly shaken form the experience he just lived through - even though - no, precisely because - he was the one who created that experience in the first place.
"We have been furloughing over the winter in Mil'Nor while the ocean was frozen. We are under orders to put the UST capital city of Noscovo under siege and demand Okeena's capitulation and end this war. Other than my battlefleet, I bring 5,000 Marines with me to conduct that operation."
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Post by callmedelta on Oct 28, 2022 9:39:20 GMT -5
'Ironic how we have Gaelian ports ad Ashinara doesn't,' Captain Woodward thought. "This meeting is good luck for you then; if you're willing to delay your invasion a little for the Franerri fleet to gather, we could have 7 - no, 6 Battleships with the sinking of the Alcasse, 4 Light Cruisers, 4 Torpedo Cruisers, and 5 Torpedo Destroyers to add to your invasion, as well as 10,000 Marines and 10,000 Standard Infantry. During the meantime while we're gathering, you could scout the Union coast and see what defenses we need to prepare for."
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