NationStates Jolt Archive

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The drop of sweat crawled slowly, painfully down the forehead of radar comm man Mark Tens. It was a lonely job, up on Albertson Mountain at the radar station, and he often thought of quitting. But now, it was too late. He picked up the phone, and just as he punched in the number, when the bunker-buster missile tore through the wall like so much rice paper, and detonated inside. Tens was thrown across the other side of the room, and turned round to see the comms stations equipment burning. Another missile flew straight down, slamming inside. Thick black smoke drifted out, visible from the other side of the island. Tens crawled out, wiping crimson blood from his face. He just stood up, when another bunker buster knocked him from his feet, flying off the edge of the moutain.

Admiral Mason rubbed sleep out of his eyes, and peered through his binoculars from the Flagship of Albertson Fleet - HMS Skilled. in the distance he could see ships, Praetonian and Camewottian colours flyiing proudly. Mason cursed silently, and directed orders for the fleet to move out. The four Type 44s and three Tpye 25's glided sleekly (a word?) out of port Albertson to engage the superior enemy force.

Meanwhile, on the other side of teh world, Prince Dorsal VXIII slept soundly in the Royal Palace....

Stats for the ships here: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=351250&page=1&pp=15

The 2 Imperial Navy Divisions lay silently in the water.
Just minutes ago, 15 missiles were launched to communication systems and others on the island....
When that happened, 5 stealth bombers raised from the flydecks to see what the outcome was...

Theyre coming, sir! Theyre coming!

When the bombers landed, a commique was send to the Praetonian fleet.



Missile strike succesfull, youre move

The waves lapped against the sides of the frigates - the Coalition navy drew ever closer to Mason's Home Defence Fleet.

John Mason sighed. This is what happened when not enough funding went into defense of the colonies. Each ship was undercrewed and ammunition was low. He would get one, maybe two salvoes with the GAAMLS and the EMLS before the rocket ammo bays would be empty. Then all he had were the 114MM's. By the end of the day, Mason knew that the chevrons on his shoulder would mean nothing. It would be down to the determination of his fellow captains.

The huge enemy navy neared, and the HDF came into formation, the four Type 44's showing their broadsides while the Type 25's did the same behind the 44's.

PWS Hydra, Flagship 2nd Destroyer Squadron

"Sir we are approaching a Hogsweatian Fleet concentration," said an Ensign, before turning back to his radar screen.

"Very good, we'll give them something back for the Dragon. Ready battleaxe missiles and 8" guns. Bring us to broadside," ordered the Captain. At once the Griffin Class Light Cruiser turned to face the enemy fleet at broadside. Her six eight inch guns raised and readied to fire, exit slats opened above Battleaxe and Lance VLS cells.

The Destroyers and Firgates prepared to pelt the enemy with missiles if the initial attack from the cruiser failed. "Sir, we're ready to open fire. Our guns have targets in their sights," he was of course refering to radar and ladar 'sights', "VLS systems ready for firing."

"Open fire, Ensign," shouted the Captain. The six eight inchers rocked the ship backwards as missiles streaked out of their launchers. Each ship was targetted with a two Battleaxe anti-ship missiles. Some of the most advanced missiles in existance, their SCRAMjet engines pushing them at up to mach 7, tipped with a tungsten penetrator and backed with a heavy anti-shipping warhead. The only factor preventing their wide spread use was their size and expense.

"Weapons systems deployed, the squadron is ready to receive enemy fire," said an Ensign. Aboard the cruiser the autoloading eight inch guns whirred as new shells were loaded and readied for firing.

The VLS missiles were fired as soon as the enemy targets were picked up, but the Battleaxes still did considerable damage to the fleet. Most left damaged hulls and burning decks, but several penetrated vital areas. On The Type 25 Scorn a Battleaxe smashed into the external ammo box, consuming half the ship in flames. In a last act of defiance, as the Scorn fell to the murky waters it unleashed a barrage of gunfire from its three 114MMs and the 10" er, all targeted at the nearest Praetonian ship in the hope of damaging something.

"Captain, we've lost contact with decks Alpha through Omicron. Omicron through Nvidia are burning, Nvidia through Radeon are coping." The ship rocked as flames engulfed the engine, setting off a series of explosions all across the lower of the ship.
Captain James Ryan leaned out to survey the decks - water was lapping over, knocking crates into the cold, wet sea. Engineers struggled to fire off another round, and as they did the whole ship rocked again. The stabilisers were gone, and it was in much danger that the Engineers continued to fire the gun manually. The 114MM's spat fire sporadically, as more engineer crews kept them going. There was a whoosh and a bang, as the Harpoon firing systems exploded when some unfortunate engineers tried to trigger them off. The Lynx however, was still relatively safe, although water was threatening its decks. Ryan flinched again as the 10" let off a burst of flame, the specialised anti-hull round leaping through the air. Ryan grabbed a microphone - looking around him most of the few command crew had fled the now burning bridge - only a few ensigns remained with their vital jobs.

"This is Captain James Ryan to the crew - repeat this is your captain speaking. Everybody haul ass off here - theres a lynx and a few lifeboats on the fore deck. Ryan out"

He turned around, to see the ensigns still there, keeping the ships bloodlines aloft. Out the window, he could see crewmen dragging their wounded comrades into the lynx, and to his astonishment then joining engineer crews in firing guns and putting out the ship. Ryan climbed onto the top of the bridge deck, rain falling down from the sky, he grabbed onto the flagpole, slipping down and getting up again, his hair and clothes soaking, Ryan stood up, bringing down the colonial colours and raiising the full Hogsweatian flag. The heavens opened, bringing down more rain. Below him, the ship lowered, the Lynx took off as a jerk brought the Scorn to a capsize position. Instead, as the engineers took a last blast with the 10", bringing the ship sideways into the water, then capsizing. Ryan grabbed the pole, un clipping it and jerking it out from the top. He climbed to the fore, now abandoned, and held onto the rail, flag in the other hand. That he stayed, until the Scorn went down.
Several hours later, the flag washed up onto Albertson Island shore. Ryan was nowhere to be seen.

On the other ships, as soon as the fires were contained,all hell was let loose. an initial bombardment of 48 Exocet rockets screamed to the decks and upper parts of the Praetonian ships, as the 8" and 114MMs pounded away, acheiving still a rapid rate of fire, even with their skeleton crews. Although, one Type 44 and another Type 25 were taken out of action. The Happy Days was abandoned, its crew floating uselessely in the middle of the ocean in life boats, and the Sunny Downtown Type 25 was utterly annihalated. The ammo areas and engines were hit, sending in flames and setting off explosions all over.

PWS Hydra, Flagship 2nd Destroyer Squadron

"Sir we have destroyed two of their vessels, one is drifting and appears to have been abandoned," said an Ensign, looking up from his radar scree.

"Very good, now finish them off with lance missiles. Order the fleet to open fire with gun armament too, they appear to enjoy sniping at us with it," ordered the Captain, just as a hail of missiles appeared on the radar screen.

"Sir, incoming missiles. The Oberons are dealing with it..."

There was an eerie silence as the two Oberon Class Missile Defence Friagates poured Discus SAMs into the air, knocking down over half of the enemy exocets. As they closed in the rattle of CIWS could be heard as more were brought down, and finally the sickening crash and subsequent explosion as missiles ripped through the hull of a ship.

Two Exocets slammed into an Oberon Class Missile Frigate, destroying much of the superstructure as the bridge went up in flames. The crippled ship listed slightly to one side but the trimaran design stopped it from capsizing. The ship's magazines temporarily fell silent while the crew attempted to fight back the fires and get the ship back under control.

Three impacted on the Hydra. One hit the armoured belt and bounced off with little damage, one hit the extreme bow, destroying the flagpole and ramming tip and sending the smouldering Praetonian Colours into the sea. The third hit the upper aft superstructure destroying the mess and several bunk rooms, although the damage was quickly contained.

A missile hit a Cassius Class destroyer, the PWS Klatchan, flooding a single compartment in one of the outriggers, ruining several tonnes of supplies stored there but causing little damage of any importance.

The remaining four missiles hit an unlucky Cassius Class Destroyer, the PWS Polaris. Two hit the main hull around the thin armour belt, one blasting a small hole, the other penetrating and exploding within the ship. The Polaris was rocked by the explosion and began taking on water as a further two missiles hit the superstructure, destroying much of what was contained within. The ship slowly began to slip under the waves as crew members rushed to life boats or one of the helicopters that was hastily pulled onto the landing deck.

The ship let out a horrific death throw, emptying her magazines into the enemy fleet, 32 Yakhont-3 missiles sped towards them at mach 4 as the 6" gun on the foredeck began to fire as fast as the autoloaders would load it. Every other gun in the fleet followed suit for a total of six eight inchers and seven six inchers. Each ship also fired four Lance missiles, for a total of 64 missiles speeding towards the Hogsweatian fleet.

Admiral Mason's eyes widened. That was, of course, before the eighteen missiles struck the bridge of Skilled. The result was a mighty explosion, rocking the Frigate all over. Crewmen on board Skilled looked up in dismay - they didn't expect it to be over so quickly.

A snarl curled the lips of Gunning Engineer A Michaels - as Mason had said earlier, they had come here to die, and Michaels was only happy to oblige. He grabbed a microphone, screaming down it
"OPEN FIRE!!! ALL WEAPON SYSTEMS ENGAGE"
It must be said, for a volunteer fleet, the Albertson Home Defence Force was brave. Brave, but stupid to engage the Praetonians head on. The guns on board the Skilled burst into action, and as the autoloaders were still operational, gun crews toiled to make them even faster. Shells spat out sporadically from the other ships, but the Lance missiles sealed the fate of Task Force: Last Stand, and appropriate name for the situation. Skilled was already doomed, as a set of Lance missiles penetrated the hull. The locks had not been previously watertightened - as a result the water blasted through the ship, knocking everything out of its way. Firing its guns to the last, Skilled let off all its 24 Harpoon missiles at the Praetonian fleet before going down, all hands on deck.


With only three ships left, the remaining Type-44, HMS Prominent slammed its engines to full blast, shoveling a magnificent 30 knots away from the enemy fleet. Of the two remaining Type-25's, one ran up a white flag, its crew preffering to surrender rather than die. The other, Runner, set its engines to full and set a course for the nearest Praetonian ship, sending off all its Harpoon missiles and firing its gun. Once the Captain had given the order to abandon deck, most crew members abandoned deck, as the Captain set a course for ramming.