NationStates Jolt Archive

SNS Pestilence, Arterusian Waters
Fleet Admiral Porter cursed as he tried to figure out how in God’s name he could expect to complete the orders that had just come through from Central Command. It seemed impossible- after all, they were so damn close to the Kravenite dread. Not, of course that the Doujin-class was in danger. They were the most feared for a reason, but Porter still didn’t like the fact they were close enough to almost be able to send over boarders.

Nonetheless, they had to get the diplomat off the ship or simply remove him from the game entirely. That option was far easier and Porter never really like Laabs all that much anyway. So, with a slight smile, he dropped the dispatch on a crowded ready room console and pressed the button himself. A signal was sent near-instantly to the pacemaker inside Laabs’ chest.

Kravenite Conference Room, Kraven Corporation Dreadnought
Labs jerked upright as his chest tightened. His pacemaker! something was going wrong with it! shouted his body, but it could in no way interfere. Electrical signals, once tightly regulated, suddenly screamed out in sharp, furious bursts. The end result? He jerked forward, an arm waving up over his whitened face, body slumping to the floor. Laabs had died of seemingly natural causes. A pacemaker malfunction. Something quite prosaic.

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Arterusian Waters
“General Quarters! All hands to General Quarters!” screamed the bullhorns, as sailors on board the fleet itself jumped from near-battle readiness to full battle readiness in a heartbeat. No one fully trusted the Kravenites, so everyone had been standing near stations, idly waiting for what they guessed would be a call that did come. So, what one instant looked like a slumbering fleet became a fully-awakened battlefleet the next moment.

The Pestilence, almost next to the Kravenite dreadnought, suddenly opened up with every gun that had been pointing at the vessel. Normally, at least two main batteries were set to the sides, so the mass devestation of a 30” cannon at close range was visited upon the Kravenite vessel multiple times. The firing of the guns rocked the Doujin to its side, as its smaller guns opened up. The broadside obscured the Pestilence in smoke, as the detonations so near threw up burning bits of the vessel and obscured the short distance between the two.

At the same time, emergency orders had been issued to the engine room and the vessel began pulling away as quickly as possible, so errant shells already being sent by the fleet wouldn’t hit it. CAP was already coming up, out of both the Doujin and off the rest of the fleet, but no offensive measures were taken by the aerial units yet. This was strictly a naval battle, one in which the Kravenites were outnumbered, outgunned, and even outmaneouvered. When an entire fleet was currently capping the T against you, the outlook tended to be pretty grim indeed.

The 30" shells of the Pestilence impacted the belt armour of the Annihilator class superdreadnaught and created massive, gaping holes in it. The ship rocked in the water as it took impacts, and the sailors quickly leapt to battle readiness, putting fire back across to the Doujin class now assaulting it. The Annihilator fired it's own 30" guns, as well as the secondary 18" and 12" guns. It began firing it's rapid-fire 5" DP guns across to the Doujin, and it began to move away from the battlefield. It sent a transmission to a Whyatican fleet 90 nautical miles away.

We are under attack by a Samtonian battle fleet, we are retreating to your position, order thrust against Samtonians.

The Annihilator pulled a wide turn, testing the maximum turn radius of the superdreadnaught while damaged, and began to sprint away at 30 knots. Shells continued to impact it as it returned fire at the offending Doujin, and as it launched 1,700 Knight class heavy anti-shipping missiles at it. The next missile assault was five hundred HARM missiles to destroy RADAR and other targetting systems. A shell impacted one of the 5" DP guns, destroying it and killing the Kriegsmarines manning it. The Annihilator was a hardy warship, and wouldn't be destroyed instantly by the sneak Samtonian attack, and could easily give as well as it got. It pulled off at 30 knots as it's Whyatican saviours began to pull in..

SNS Pestilence
Marine Captain Jensen pushed his way through the crowded corridors that were filled with a crew hurriedly going about their activities in the midst of what was becoming a very large naval battle very quickly. The Pestilence had already been rocked several times by explosions and Jensen had been near a CIWS gun when it exploded, leaving behind scant traces of any men unfortunate enough the be near it.

“Emergency Maintenance crews to Deck Level Theta. Emergency crews to Deck Level Theta.”

AS he pushed his way through the ebb and flow of humanity, the emergency klaxons that pealed constantly were beginning to grate on his nerves, with the constant announcements of a ship at battle echoing over everyone across the ship.

“Venting of subunits twelve through fourteen to commence now.”

All Jensen had to do was report back to the men under his command, not an easy task in a ship with corridors the length of dozens of football fields and jammed with other men going about on their own tasks. He’d already had to take multiple detours around corridors still not safe enough to traverse through.

“Radiation levels in Unit Gamma have abated. Radiation levels in Unit Beta approaching 12 roentgens, all nonessential personnel are advised against entering Beta for their safety.”

All in all, being on board a warship this size was not an improvement over the smaller ships he had served on. There were just more people to get in your way.

SNS Pestilence, Command Bridge
Already, the escorts and other ships of the line had formed up around the Pestilence in the protective layers Porter wanted almost the moment that firing started. It had been close too- a number of missiles had eked a pathway through the wall of fire thrown up to stop them and the Pestilence had the first of what were sure to be many casualties within the fleet.

Furthermore, portions of the CIWS system had been blown away, a number of secondary turrets were out of commission, and Turret Two had become jammed in place as a result of a lucky missile shot. Porter had been assured that that problem was being fixed, but having a main turret jammed into a firing position (albeit the broadside position that it had been in) was not something that inspired Porter with glee. Nonetheless, the battle was going well, with the enemy Dreadnought having rather more holes in her than the Doujin. The fact that numerous smaller vessels had substantial holes across various areas did not trouble Porter in the least- only a few were in danger of sinking and the majority of the crew had been transferred off those vessels listing the most.

At this point in the battle, Porter was gratified to see the numbers of fighters in the air that he needed to adequately establish both defensive and offensive air assets, along with the defensive posture that his fleet was now entrenched in. With both a larger fleet and a more battle hardened one, Porter was read to begin the Samtonian reply.

He turned to his second in command. “An addendum, Mr. Druthers, to all captains. Target firepower on escorts first, except in the cases of designated vessels. I want their defensive ring shot through.” His plan, drawn up while the Pestilence drew into position with the rest of the fleet, called for numerous surgical strikes against various components of the enemy fleet. AS it bled through many wounds, it would fall down on itself. That, at least, was the hope. But they could afford to make a few mistakes. Numerical superiority assured that.

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
As the defensive rings unfolded around the all-important command ships and aircraft carriers, the Samtonian fleet began moving its pieces into play across the calm waters of the open sea that it lay upon. The Corporations fleet was now easily within range of every main gun on the capital ships and they opened up, targeting the smaller vessels that provided so much of a defense to the Kraven fleet. Guns were not the only armaments used, as the Samtonian missile reply was soon sent on its way, mainly targeting the escorts again. Nonetheless, a variety of missiles including anti-radiation and a relatively new smart cluster missile were sent against the larger vessels, in the hopes of scoring at the very least partial mission kills.

This was aided by the bombardments that soon began coming from the Allegiance-class Dreadnought Hunter-Killers. The admirals had been a bit surprised to see these vessels in the opposing fleet, but were in no way troubled by the export vessels that the enemy had bought. After all, Samtonians had helped design the things and the originals had some surprises that the exports were not privy to. In addition, many of the higher-ranking officers had aided in designing and knew of the relative weaknesses of what was known to many as the Argentine-class Galleon. These vessels were deemed more dangerous than any other enemy dreadnought and so the full force of the Samtonian Allegiances were turned against them.

Meanwhile, a substantial section of the more moderate ships of the line began what at first glance was a pincer movement. Traveling fast enough that the rotation of large guns should not trouble them, these baby-battleships and mini-dreads escorted a mixed force of destroyers and cruisers, who launched their torpedo spreads at the apex of their optimal run distances. Samtonians had never put much faith into Shkval-type torpedoes and instead improved the more traditional designs, meaning that this clipping attack was more powerful than many nations could put up, simply because of the relative strengths of the Anzalduas that the vessels launched. These vessels quickly laid down chemical smoke and drew back, waiting for the next opportunity to commit such an action while staying within the AA envelope provided by the majority of the fleet.

Submarines also began moving forward, at a creeping pace that allowed them to use their numerical superiority for offensive work. Escort subs hung back around the main fleet along with most of the older models, whose noise had always been a bit of a problem. Not so the newer classes- these were the subs that were moving forward to detect and destroy any Corporation submersible advances.

On the aerial side, a number of attacks were launched, each coming at a slightly different point of attack, all intersecting on the relative center of the zone that was to be most hit by surface-launched missiles. The commanders were playing it safe on this one- firing at their relative maximum effective ranges and then pulling back to cover of protective air escorts that prepared near attack wings. Porter played every card in his hand a bit conservatively- even though he had superiority of numbers, he didn’t want to needlessly waste lives.

Battle of the Tarantagio Sea
The sounds of battle rocked across the Kraven Corporation fleet, as picket-line destroyers took torpedo hits and exploded, sending shrapnel all across the decks of the remaining destroyers. They returned fire, booming throughout the first tier with their heavy and light guns alike. The frontline destroyers and cruisers opened up with their heavy torpedo launchers, targetting the front escorts of the Samtonian fleet, taking careful aim at the ones surrounding the Doujin. As the picket line suffered, they gave as good as they got, as they shot down incoming missiles and shells with extreme accuracy.

The torpedo-wall tactics of the Whyatican navy came into effect as the escort destroyers, cruisers, and frigates unloaded their ASROCs and tube-launched torpedos, sending a veritable wall of submerged hell to their Samtonian enemies. The submarine picket line advanced forward, firing on any Samtonian submarine they happened to detect with their 500mm and 800mm torpedos. The heavy ships of the fleet, ranging from Warspite class heavy battleships to the massive Hood class, the Flagship, opened fire at once, sending enough shells to sink Atlantis over at the enemy Doujin class.

The order was sent to keep the Whyatican planes grounded, so as to not waste them in combat. Copious amounts of surface-to-air missiles were thrown up at the Samtonian planes, especially the ones targetting Whyatican picketlines. They came up, at least two to every Samtonian jet.

The beleaguered Annihilator continued to speed back to the Whyatican fleet, continuing to fire it's heavy guns at the Doujin which started the conflict. It kept eating shells, taking massive chunks out of the belt armour which had served it so well as of yet. A shell impacted one of the CIWS mounts, blasting it to shreds, and killing all the Kriegsmarines and Capitol Police near it. The main gun turret nearby swung around, and fired a 18" shell at the escort that destroyed the CIWS gun. It continued to jet to the fleet at 30 knots, hoping there would be a fleet remaining..

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
The battle had turned into a slugging match, with the two fleets having closed to ranges low enough to bring nearly every gun into play. This was a naval action the like of which had not been seen for some time, with broadsides delivered by Samtonian vessels into the hulls of enemy ships, while the same process was turned against the fleet. Indeed, the battle appeared more to be one that might have taken place in the era of sails than a modern naval action.

The Corporation's escorts had been devastated, to the point that significant gaps now existed across the fleet. Missiles were beginning to leak through more and more, as superior numbers ground down a naval opponent as determined as the Samtonians. The only place where the scene was repeated was along one of the outer flanks of the center of the Samtonian fleet, where the majority of enemy fire had become directed. What was at times a 3:1 superiority in fire in other sectors became a 1:2 disparity. In essence, a small section protecting the Doujin was unraveling.

Porter, on board the command ship of the fleet, saw this, but was unable to do anything about it. The massed torpedo attack had forced total devotion to defensive measures in order to protect the open sides of many ships that were arrayed in broadside forms. The Corporation had decided to favor torpedoes over naval gunfire and was rewarded in the fact that they were able to execute a pinpoint attack upon a sliver of the fleet upon which the main axis of their attack rested. It was much less successful in destructive nature, mainly due to disciplined reactions upon vessels with underwater defenses, most notably escort submarines.

The escorts were taking hits, yes, and sinking, but not at the rate necessary to justify the heading given by the necessity of turning to fire forward torpedo tubes in many vessels. Submarines were keeping each other at a standstill, while Samtonian aircraft rewarded the hail of missiles with chaff and flares, as well as low-yield nuclear missiles against the largest blocks of missiles. While the planes dove, self-defensive measures such as plane-launched mini missiles firing, they were effectively removed from the battle.

And that was the setup the Whyaticans wanted.

SNS Pestilence
It seemed as if God himself had decided to strike the Pestilence from the seas. The entire superstructure and deck erupted into massive explosions as the massed Whyatican attack slammed home. They had neglected the rest of the fleet, to the chagrin of many captains whose vessels were immolated by the fleet, but had heaped plenty of punishment upon the proud command ship of the Samtonians. And now the investment was paying dividends.

Main guns dropped into mounts, jammed and buckled beyond comprehension. Secondary mounts erupted into thunderous roars as they exploded, the deck vanishing of personnel in an instant as the rain of shells slammed home. The superstructure was hammered, chunks of metal flying into the area around the Doujin. Both main radars were down in the first instances. Three back-up mounts were disabled. An entire stabilization wing of the trimaran snapped off, while the runways of the plane were entangled with twisted wreckage and destroyed planes.

And then a reactor blew. Reactor 3, the ill-fated reactor that had been shattered years earlier, reached the limits of its tolerance and vomited its radioactive load into its surroundings. It was as if the proud ship had been kicked while she was down. The vessel began moving away, venting steam and radioactive clouds, limping at a slow 12 knots. There was no more fighting ship left, only a hulk of a vessel trying to crawl away under all the power she could manage. The ship was burning, her crew shattered by the attack and much of it dead or overboard, and the fleet was forced to realize the imminent loss of the pearl of it.

SNS Plato, Secondary-Command Dreadnaught
Rear Admiral Shaw could only stare in utter horror at the sight that greeted him, the burning hulk of what had once been the flagship of the fleet trying to limp away under a hail of shellfire. The sight didn’t just enrage him, it filled him with disgust at the reversal of the natural order of things. The Pestilence was not meant to look as it did and that idea alone filled him with revulsion. But he was forced away from these thoughts as the situation of what was about to happen dawned upon him.

The Corporation ships didn’t care that they had turned to unfavorable facings. They were in the facing they needed to be. They were advancing at full speed. Directly into (or through as they probably wished) the Samtonian fleet. Shaw screamed orders, as the fleet began trying to reform to meet the threat. Every ship in the line of advance desperately fired everything they had at the approaching ships, which were seriously outgunned as a result of their forward movement. Not that it mattered. They had enough ships to absorb casualties.

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
The entire fleet began to roil, as if it were about to erupt in some horrific expansion of water and metal. Every ship available was hurried to the impact point, while those regarded as too far from the point of impact between the two fleets (generally those vessels engaged in the pincer thrust) were simply ordered to harass the flanks of the enemy fleet and move towards any defenseless vessels in the rear, especially vessels such as aircraft carriers that might stay back. Every plane available was re-routed and more were hurriedly launched, to try to smash down anything that was coming at them from the air. The enemy might be trying to drive through the fleet, but the Samtonians would work their hardest to trap them inside a tightening noose of the entire fleet.

"Grand Admiral," said the First Office of WSS Wake Island proudly, "The enemy Doujin is attempting to retreat, their reactor has blown and all systems are down. Most of their crew is dead or dying. We have damaged hundreds of Samtonian ships and our casualties are about the same."

"Decrease range, get all of our heavy guns into the firing arc. We're going to drive through the centre of the Samtonian formation and hit their aircraft carriers and other caps. Continue firing torpedos and anti-aircraft missiles, make sure our carriers are protected by some escorts. Get some fire over at their pincer, they're attempting to move in at the carriers."

"Aye, sir." the comm and weapons officers said, as they transmitted orders and punched keys.

The main guns of the Wake Island rotated to face a Samtonian target with a full broadside, and fired, unloading 635mm salvos at the Samtonian capital ship. It's 155mm dual purpose guns locked onto the same target, spraying the top decks of the target with massive amounts of gunfire, possibly killing every sailor on the top deck. Other heavy capital ships began to spread their fire across the centre of the Samtonian fleet, aiming to rip the heart of the Samtonians out by destroying their main capital ships. Ships that were aligned in the proper manner fired their hyper-cavitation torpedos at targets of opportunity, aiming to keep them occupied with the torpedo salvos.

Hundreds of anti-air missiles were continually pumped at the Samtonian warplanes, and as the salvos continued to increase, the chances decreased that the Samtonians could avoid them. Whyatican warplanes were preparing to launch, as the Samtonians were becoming steadily more occupied staying alive rather than attacking the Whyaticans.

The picket line was reinforced by second-echelon ships, adding their firepower and increased armour to the mix of the picket line. The remaining first-echelon ships were being picked off slowly as the second-echelon ships took their place. They fired their main guns at the other Samtonian escorts, using them as cover against other inner-tier Samtonian ships. Railgun equipped ships attacked the heavily armoured enemy capital ships while the coilgun equipped battlecarriers threw their lot in with the assault team, as well as covering the normal carriers.

Pincer ships slowly began to advance at the carriers, which were being guarded by the battlecarriers and some heavy escorts. The carrier escorts fired their armaments at the pincer ships, which ranged from 8" DP guns to 25" coilguns. The firepower of the escorts should deter any assault on the carriers..

Submerged forces were holding out against the Samtonian vessels, popping in and firing torpedos and restealthing. A massive game of cat and mouse took place below the waterline, with torpedos shooting through the waters to no end. The wreckage underneath the ocean was getting to the point where submarines used the wreckage as cover. A Whyatican sub waited for a Samtonian submarine to cross across some wreckage, when it suddenly sprung up and fired three torpedos at the enemy sub.

Although outnumbered, the Whyatican sailors were brave and brash, and more importantly, they were unafraid of engaging at extreme close range, making this a naval battle to remember...

”They came in close enough that even the smaller secondaries were coming into play. The smell of burning flesh mingled with the powder drifting up from our guns and the sight of those massive Kravenite vessels moving in towards the center of the line inspired fear across the deck. I remember that at the time it seemed as if they were going for a knock-out thrust right through the center of the line and it didn’t look like we were going to be able to stop it.” -Excerpt from “Annihilator- A true account of the Battle of the Tarantagio Sea”

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
The main thrust of the Corporation’s fleet had already pushed through the first line of secondaries, with the Samtonian center slowly unpeeling in front of the Kravenite attack. AS ship after ship fell to broadsides fired at point-blank range it seemed as if two ships jumped in to replace them. Though Samtonia had numerical superiority the Kravenites had managed to achieve tactical superiority at the breakthrough point and it was telling. For every vessel that fell behind in the advance at least three moved forward and it seemed as if the mass of Kravenite vessels was unstoppable.

The aerial and naval actions had been fought to stalemates, as Samtonian planes were too busy dodging ordinance to help in any strong way with the battle and the Samtonian submersible forces continued to slug with the Kravenites. Their superior numbers were winning through as they ground their way across a sea filled with newly-formed wreckage that came from combatants both above and below the sea, but they too were too held up to contribute to the battle above except in small numbers, numbers that were not able to sway anything in a decisive way.

SNS Plato
“What’s the use of allowing them in if we can’t stop them?” asked Shaw to the assorted officers who were even now participating in a teleconference while the battle raged around them. “Captain Wainwright, you are to detach the third of the fleet I have specified and move immediately to support the pincer formation. I want you in between that support group and the exit for the rest of their fleet. Prepare to provide aid to the rest of the fleet should that be required, but focus on destroying those ships that hung back. And, of course, be careful about those carriers.”

The gaunt captain nodded as his image winked out. The conference was by now down to only Shaw and the highest ranking officers of the fleet. “Gentlemen, as you can tell the enemy has now fully entered the zone that we widened expressly for this purpose. Your job is to halt their drive or they’re going to break out the other side of our fleet and that is something I specifically do not want to have happen. Conner, you’ll have the intercept detail. Stop that enemy super dreadnought and we stop their advance.”

“Aye aye sir,” answered the captain who had been one of Shaw’s closest friends at the naval academy, precisely the reason he had been trusted to a role as important as the one he was being given now.

SNS Restless
“Conner out.” Captain Nicholas Conner turned from where he had been transmitting to the impromptu conference and cursed out loud as he surveyed the tactical view of the battle he had laid out before him. The noose had closed around the rear of the Kravenite fleet that had advanced, meaning that the enemy vessels were trapped in what had become a cauldron of fire that roiled out from both sides. Of course, the closure of the exit route was moot if he couldn’t fulfill his command and stop the Corporation from simply smashing through the other side of the now solidified battle line.

He had the remaining Dreadnought HKs that were in the sector assigned to him and those were even now pouring broadsides into the advancing fleet. He had the largest dreadnoughts in the zone, including his command dreadnought. And the enemy fleet was still bearing down on them. By this point the escorts had been shot away to fall behind the advancing ships of the line, so Conner stared into the growing face of what was now close enough to be revealed as the Wake Island. Which, befitting its status as the lead ship, was now having every round of ordinance poured into it that could be brought to bear.

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
The men in the column moving to the support of the pincer group could by now not see what was going on inside the mass that was the center of the Samtonian battle line. Smoke and debris was being thrown up in quantities so thick that even some types of radar were being blocked out and ships were by now so close together that what radar could pick up it often couldn’t identify as friend or foe. That was not a problem in the area that Wainwirght was moving into, an area where he outnumbered the enemy by an even greater margin as a result of having detached a larger portion of the Samtonian fleet that was too far outside the melee taking place not even 25km away.

Inside the pocket it was as bad as it appeared from the outside. Ships whose progress had been slowed were turning to match Samtonian broadsides with their own, while the part of the fleet that was still able to move ahead at full or nearly full steam was continuing to do so. As the Wake Island proudly led the way, the Kravenite fleet smashed into the wall that had been thrown up to stop them from breaking through. Literally, at times.

SNS Plato
Shaw gasped as he saw what was about to take place. He grabbed a pair of binoculars that were lying on the ready room console and dashed out onto deck, heedless of the danger that was present in the air around him. Only an instinctive duck saved his head from being detached from his shoulders as a railgun round smashed its way through the armor directly above him, the small hole mere inches from his scalp. But even this near-death did not phase Porter as much as what he saw when he looked into his binoculars.

The lead Kraven ship, its engine outlets shot to pieces, had apparently lost the ability to steer and was by now too close to the Restless to slow in time. And because it was larger than the Restless it didn’t need to. Shaw gazed across the smoke-filled distance between him and one of his best friends as Conner turned towards the Plato and saluted at the man who he had known for thirty years. Fleet Admiral Shaw choked back a sob as he watched the massive prow of the enemy super dreadnought plow into the side of the Restless which was trying to get out of the way even as it was being rammed into.

With a terrific grinding Shaw could hear even from the position he stood at, underneath one of the secondary guns on the Plato, the Restless began to crumple under the mass of the larger ship. The bridge was crushed under the mass of the prow as the Kravenite vessel pushed its way out of the water and onto the Samtonian vessel, pushing both down. A pall of smoke rose over the debris-strewn decks and the next sight that Potter saw after the smoke cleared away filled him with disgust.

The Restless was nearly shorn in half, her superstructure mangled and her guns bent out of shape if they weren’t blown off. The upper deck was a shambles, with burning ordnance and mangled bodies strewn about it. But the prow of the enemy Dreadnought was wedged too deeply in to extricate itself and the two vessels were now stuck together.

Conner had stopped the advance. But now was no time for ruminations, as the men on board the vessel that still lived needed to be rescued. So Shaw hurriedly dashed back into the command room to transmit the order for the first time in over 150 years- the order to board.

SNS Babylon
The head of every man on the ship turned up to look at the loudspeakers as they blared out something that not one of the crew, marine or navy, ever though they would hear. “All marines- prepare for boarding! All marines- prepare for boarding!”

The assault troops chosen to lead the assault on both the enemy super dreadnought and the ships that now had taken up position around it and were being grappled with by Samtonian vessels moving in close had never participated in a boarding action during a naval battle before. they had never had to and had never thought that naval combat could regress to the stage where they would have to. But the same call that went out to their ancestors hundreds of years earlier resonated in their minds as the iron gangplanks thudded down into the side of the enemy ship. “All marines- fix bayonets. No quarter, no mercy!”

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
The scene was playing out all over the battlefield. As Samtonian ships drew in to aid the ships that already were engaged in boarding actions, they were forced to attempt to close with Kravenite vessels to avoid the massive guns of ships that they were now getting so close to that tracking was simple. Boarding actions did not often result- it often became a brutal slugging match at ranges close enough to use rifles, with Samtonian ships crowding around the outsides of the battlefield and pushing their way in to try to engage the enemy. In some areas the Samtonians outnumbered three to one and in others the reverse was true. But the nexus was the massive melee between the surviving crews of the Wake Island and the Restless and the multiple Samtonian dreadnoughts that fought their way in close enough to board.

From a distance, it looked strangely like a pack of animals attacking prey, as the attackers latched on at points all around the ship to try to overbalance the Wake with their weight of numbers. It was a historic occasion, though the men participating might be excused if they didn’t think of it that way at the time. They were too busy trying to stay alive.

The Samtonians had become our most deadly of enemies at sea - This fight was the most hard-fought battle in the history of the Whyatican Navy. We had closed to the point where the Capitol Police onboard all of our vessels were shooting at the Samtonians on deck while our gunners fired at them without the computers, just shooting at whatever Samtonian vessels they saw. I was on the bridge of WSS Jailhouse, and [Grand Admiral] Salazar sent the order for us all [captains] to penetrate the Samtonian line at any cost. That order itself sent a chill down my spine, as I knew there was a high probablity of my ship not making it out.. Excerpt from "Annihilator - A True Account of the Battle of the Tarantagio Sea"

Kraven Battlefleet
On the command bridge of WSS Hood, the secondary flagship of the Kravenite Battlefleet, a massive brawl over the continued strategy ensued.

"We cannot wait up for Wake Island, we must push past her! The Capitol Police onboard can hold her for a very long time, and as we push past we can remove some of the Samtonian bastards."

"No, we have to slow down and destroy all of the ships that are boarding Wake Island, we can ill afford to lose a capital ship at this point."

"If we slow down, we're lost. We have enough momentum to break through the Samtonian line as it is, we cannot afford to lose any speed at this point."

"I agree," said Grand Admiral Salazar, "we will not halt for Wake Island. Order the missile destroyers to fire a salvo at any vessels currently boarding Wake, and try to get the ship dislodged from the Samtonians. Other than that, the advance continues. Move out, gents!"

As Salazar ordered, the massive battle-line formation of Kraven Corporation capital ships flew past Samtonian vessels at speed, firing ungodly amounts of munitions at the Samtonian ships ahead and to the side of them. To any observers of this battle, it appeared as though a massive tidal wave of Kravenite vessels was bearing down upon the Samtonian fleet, carving them straight down the middle as the advance continued. The picket line of destroyers and cruisers was a non-sequitur at this point, having recieved the brunt of the initial Samtonian fire. Here and there, one would find a lone destroyer or a cruiser continuing to fire at Samtonian vessels, largely ignored now due to the advance of the capital battle-line.

The Whyatican aerial doctrine was simple for this battle - Contest aerial superiority through all fleet-based launchers. This doctrine was carried out very simply through the use of fleet-based StA missiles, which fired with such intensity as to warp some Pulsar class cruiser's VLS cells, making them utterly unusable for the rest of the fleet action. Those ships relied on their 5" dual-purpose guns to assist the capital wave, aiming at targets of opportunity such as smaller Samtonian escorts. Other ships, however, were within range to use their 30mm CIWS gun systems to take potshots at Samtonian aerial assets.

The submerged battle became a deadly game of hide-and-seek, as Whyatican submarines would hide in the wreckage of sunk ships and wait for Samtonian submarines, and in other places the tables were turned, the Whyatican sub hunting the Samtonian in unlikely hiding places. It remained mostly even under the sea, as neither side had made any serious pushes to destroy all submerged assets. In one case, a Samtonian capital ship was sunk and as a Whyatican sub went through it, it encountered, Surprise! a Samtonian submarine.

WSS Wake Island was the operational flagship for this fleet, and as such it led the way proudly through the Samtonian formation, hundreds of Whyatican ships followed, fighting bravely for their nation. As the Wake Island slammed into the SNS Restless, everyone onboard was jarred violently, although due to the much larger mass of Wake Island it was mostly undamaged by the impact. On the bridge, Captain Rudtzinger began barking out orders to get the ship dislodged from the Samtonian.

"Order all our DP guns to fire at the point of impact, open us a hole so we can push ourselves out. Rotate our main guns to face the dreadnaughts circling us, focus on their top decks to prevent them from boarding. Mobilize all Capitol Police, get sailors manning the machine guns on deck. All hands, prepare for boarding!"

Gunners on Wake Island rotated the 26.75 inch main guns around as quickly as they could to bear on the shark-like Samtonian dreadnaughts now circling them, firing rounds at very close range. Other ships were much too close for the main guns to depress far enough, so they met the brunt of the 155mm DP gun fire. Missile cells were sealed so as not to provide a tempting target for the Samtonian fire, and as the first Samtonian marines boarded, they would find a hailstorm of .50 calibre machine gun fire. Wake Island, as well as any other Questarian ship used in Whyatica, was equipped with top-mounted machine guns so as to discourage boarding attempts such as this one.

Capitol Police onboard the Wake Island fortified all available positions such as hallways and doors, bulkheads were immediately sealed and certain doors were completely blocked off, providing advancing Samtonian marines with only one direct path through a hallway that had a dozen Capitol Police with heavy machine guns in it. Sandbags were brought up from below-decks, providing an additional layer of fortification for the Capitol Police. Kriegsmarines on the lower decks immediately fixed bayonets to their assault rifles and went above, firing at the Samtonian marines as they boarded. A fireteam of Kriegsmarines quickly formed, one heavy weapons man with them. They moved to the boarding ramp from one of the vessels quickly, shooting across the decks of both ships. The goal - Attach a block of C12 to the boarding ramp and destroy it. Similar fireteams were forming all across Wake Island, their crew experienced in such matters.

The pincer movement did not go un-noticed by the carriers, submarines, escorts, and capital vessels on the outside of the fleet movement. Five Warspite class heavy battleships turned their broadsides to meet the pincer movement, firing 27.1in shells at the new vessels. The Warspite escorts immediately formed up around the vessels, providing a CIWS and AA net around them. Fighters, albeit not part of the Kraven doctrine for battles, prepared on the Gorgoroth class aircraft carriers in case the order came to launch. Submarines dove below the thermocline and went complete stealth, preparing to fire their torpedos and missiles at the newcomers.

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
By this point in the day, the engagement had been going on for hours and still showed no signs of slowing. The clustered Samtonian ships were taking damage, but inflicting a horrific toll on the Corporation’s navy, as its nexus continued to run the gauntlet that was the Samtonian trap. Not only were the Kravenite vessels finally outnumbered in the sector the engagement was taking place in their average size was by now substantially smaller than the Samtonian capital ships that were participating.

And the fairly straight course the navy was taking in trying to cut through the Samtonian trap was giving the gunners on board the fleet easy targets, with broadside after broadside slamming into the quickly moving ships. The lack of escorts was also severely impacting the Kravenites, with the smaller turrets of Samtonian escorts able to be brought in extremely close to enemy vessels and still be able to fully track the Kraven ships. A problem that many Kravenite vessels were running into, despite the small engagement ranges, was the simple fact of traverse power- they couldn’t target the immobile Samtonian ships quickly enough as they moved past. The decimation of the escorts meant that a Samtonian ship often only had to endure one or two shells coming at it before the Kraven ship was out of their angle of fire, meaning that the gun either had to attempt to traverse enough to hit it again or simply had to try to range to the next target.

Samtonian ships didn’t need to do this. They were able to simply plug away at the line of advance, almost guaranteed some kind of hit on anything moving past. Had the sector been as outnumbered as it was when the attack had first started, this wouldn’t have mattered. But weight of numbers had a major impact now and it appeared that the trap was going to succeed. Though Samtonian vessels continued to be sunk or taken out of action the disparity in their numbers and Kraven numbers continued to widen. Admiral Potter’s plan was working.

SNS Plato, 1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
It was a good feeling for Shaw when he saw the morass of Kraven ships slowing ever so gradually. As damage mounted, ship after ship was taken out of the advancing line and cut to pieces by the Samtonian vessels simply waiting for that eventuality. However, Potter did not like what he saw continuing to advance- a number of damaged enemy capitals and their largest vessel, the mighty Annihilator-class Super dreadnought. He’d be damned if those escaped or if that massive ship wasn’t a victim of the Samtonian fleet.

“Shaw to Hensley. They’re getting close to the end. I want that gap sealed if they break free. Which, I daren’t have to remind you, they should most certainly not.”

WSS Wake Island, Tarantagio Sea
While the dreadnoughts were absorbing the hits of the Wake’s cannons, they were replying in kind. With so many more dreadnoughts attacking it than it had guns that it could focus on gun after gun was ripped apart by Samtonian ships. They took heavy damage in return, but when over a half-dozen smaller vessels are attacking a larger vessel weight of fire soon plays a pivotal impact.

As boarding party after boarding party began moving towards the Kraven vessel, free of worry from the smoldering DP guns, the gunfire against them trebled in its intensity. Mounted machine guns began to take a toll on the advance parties and some of the boarding lines were actually halted. That is, until the shield bearers came up.

It was an innovative concept, borrowing from the examples of past cultures that were masters at shrugging off ranged fire. A marine would position himself behind an extremely large version of the body armor that they all wore, one with far more ceramic plates inside to provide protection against everything up to heavy machinegun bullets. Using this shield as mobile cover, the marines began leapfrogging forward, with squads prone behind the protection that the leading men could provide.

It wasn’t total protection- indeed, far from it. Forming up into a tortoise formation like the Romans would have been disastrous if a grenade landed nearby. But the protection that it did afford allowed marines to begin streaming onto the deck, their guns getting well within the range required to be able to easily penetrate Kraven armor. 5.56mm NATO ammo might not have, but Samtonia never had trusted 5.56mm ammo and used a round that was far better at penetrating body armor. In physical terms, this meant a lot more marines were able to survive by killing Capital Police and Kriegsmarine before they themselves would have died.

It wasn’t all fun and games. In a number of areas, Kriegsmarine were actually able to detonate explosives on boarding ramps, destroying them before they could be gunned down. But as one boarding ramp went down, another went up and the deck was soon being wrested under Samtonian control, one bloody foot at a time. And the cargo one dreadnought carried was helping immensely in swaying the tide.

4th Division (Urban Assault) II Corps, WSS Wake Island, Tarantagio Sea
With a maniacal laugh, gunner Matthias opened up with the massive flame cannon carried on the I-9 Infernus. The burning gouts of a napalm-like substance arched directly into the machinegun nest that was preventing the marines around the vehicle from advancing. The cheers of the men as they watched the screaming soldiers manning the gun leap off the superstructure into the sea, their skin boiling and burning off their bodies, managed to penetrate the thick armor of the Assault Tank (Chemical) that was one of the many surprises that the 4th Division was equipped with.

AS marines moved forward again, sweeping the stunned Kriegsmarine before them, the men of the 4th Division moved with them. Trained as urban assault troops and equipped as such, the division was literally the best allies the marines could have had for the action. Flamethrowers and tanks equipped with massive flame cannons were clearing corridors and rooms with ease, the asphyxiation of the defenders caused by the flames being shot into the small, enclosed spaces often doing more damage than the flames themselves. Up-armored for defense against surprise attacks within cities, the tanks were often shrugging off anti-tank weapons that should have disabled or destroyed them. And the training of the division was allowing them to advance with the marines into the very corridors of the ship itself, a variety of gadgets allowing them to see where MG nests were and then be able to take them out.

It wasn’t easy going for the men of the division though. A tank brewed up, its massive explosion killing multiple squads huddled nearby. And the corridors within the massive ship were often deathtraps, with bodies piling up by the hundreds on both sides of the fight. But the men were aiding in the attack immensely and it was proceeding far more quickly than anyone on the Samtonian side thought was going to be possible.

The attack groups began to split up as they penetrated further into the ship. Groups headed for munition storage bays, groups headed for the Command Bridge and various back-up bridges. Groups headed for damage control rooms and groups head for the engine rooms. They were going to try to take the ship. And, if that wasn’t possible, demolitions groups were preparing charges to drop down the barrels of the massive main guns of the ship, guns now silent as their crew engaged in the fight against the marines and assault troops that had boarded.

The Battle of the Tarantagio Sea was a massive strategical loss for the Whyatican Navy - 900 ships lost, over seventy thousand deaths. We inflicted the same losses on them, but it didn't matter. They outnumbered us three to one. The surviving Captains and Admirals drew straws to determine who would report to the High Command - Captain Whitman of WSS Aristotle lost. We never saw that man again. I heard a rumour when we made it back to Norska that Whitman had been sent to one of the worker camps in Northern Arterus. Excerpt from "Annihilator - A True Account of the Battle of the Tarantagio Sea"

Breakthrough Pocket, Tarantagio Sea
The massive Hood, the new flagship of the Whyatican battlefleet now that the Wake Island was compromised, continued to advance past the Samtonian lines and to the solid barrier of ships preventing them from leaving. There were roughly fifty capital ships with Hood, ranging from Emperia class to the Warspite class, protecting the Hood from the running battle raging around it. There were dozens of Samtonian vessels firing broadsides into the advancing Whyatican ships, and the forward guns of the capitals responded in kind with shells that were heavier than some ancient Men O' War. The breakthrough attempt began with a concentrated missile and shell bombardment using the ahead launchers, tearing apart enemy vessels as the range crept closer. A hole began to form slowly, as Samtonian escorts at the edge of the battlefleet could not replace themselves fast enough.

Hood was the first Whyatican capital ship to break the Samtonian trap; There was a hole in the Samtonian line exactly wide enough for her to exit, blasting ships with her rear cannons all the while to support the trapped Whyatican ships remaining. WSS Warspite soon followed, her huge frame crushing a smaller Samtonian escort frigate as she passed through, basically ignoring the smaller ship as she passed. All-in-all, fifty capital ships made it out, out of over one hundred entering. Every ship that made it out immediately made for Norska, North Arterus, for repairs, refit, and relaxation, or so they thought. Annihilator was one of the lucky vessels to make it out alive, although she was one of the most bruised vessels of the breakout pocket.

WSS Wake Island, Tarantagio Sea
The battle had quickly closed to hand-to-hand combat, as Capitol Police fixed combat bayonets to their GPMGs and closed with Samtonians, stabbing and gutting marines left and right. Kriegsmarines born in Whyatica drew their family combat swords, encrusted with their family symbol, using them to deadly effect against the thousands of boarding Samtonian marines. Hunter-Killer squadrons had formed up quickly, hunting out Samtonian marines whenever spotted.

In one case, a Samtonian fireteam had entered a chamber in Wake Island, and that chamber had no door sealing them from entry. The Capitol Police fireteam quickly closed the door behind them and cut off airflow using the shipboard computer, choking the Samtonian fireteam. This scene repeated itself occasionally, as the Whyaticans knew their vessel far better than the Samtonians. Any fireteam that came across a munitions dump would find the door sealed, and Capitol Police hunter-killer squadrons closing in on those locations to defend them to the death.

The Command Bridge itself was fortified immensely, with nine Capitol Police squadrons guarding it with a machine-gun nest, smoke grenades prepared, and chemical weaponry at the ready on the off chance the Samtonian fireteams were not prepared for it. As Samtonian explosives blew the command bridge door off it's hinges, a maelstrom of fire met them, explosive penetration rounds being the specialty to penetrate any Samtonian infantry armour attempt to seize the bridge. All bridge computers had been locked by the Admiral, who had a gun and Capitol Police armour on, so as to defend him from most fire.

Wake Island wasn't going down without a fight..

SNS Plato, 1st Expeditionary Fleet, Tarantagio Sea
“Enemy vessels have broken off and are retiring from the action. Permission to engage is requested.”

“We’ve secured the port back up Command Bridge and are holding against firm counterattack. Request reinforcements.”

“Main deck is cleared of enemy units. There are no more hostiles anywhere on upper deck or decks A to C. Am erecting defensive positions to cover entryways.”

Reports were coming in fast and furious, and Shaw was having a hard time keeping up with everything that was going on. He knew that the naval battle was won and at this point, both sides were so mauled that any further engagement would be pointless to the extreme. “Permission denied. Prepare defensive positions against any counterattack and watch for subs. All that’s left is picking up the pieces.”

Meanwhile, Shaw watched as the majority of ships moved away from the crippled enemy flagship and its attackers, content to let only those ships perish should something blow up that shouldn’t. And by this time, formation didn’t matter too much anymore. Only defensive measures were now needed.

WSS Wake Island, Tarantagio Sea
The first attackers to peek their heads around the corner had them chewed off by heavy fire coming from the main Command Bridge. After that, the other attacking marines were a bit more cautious in their approach. They had already received word that both secondary bridges had been captured and held against counterattacks, so the main bridge really didn’t matter too much. It would just be nice to have.

Thus, where perhaps they wouldn’t normally have been used, grenades went flying into the room, ripping through soldiers near them and wreaking havoc in such a confined space. As grenades continued to fly, a flamethrower nozzle peeked through the door and let off a gout of flame. The soldier who had carried it so deep into the ship was exceedingly lucky at having not blown up by a lucky shot glancing off his fuel tank, and so immediately withdrew the nozzle and fell back down the corridor, his self- preservational instinct working well.

With the slacking of fire coming from the command bridge, marines now began laying down increasingly accurate hails of fire at the defenders cooped up inside, each falling enemy cutting the firepower even more. And grenades continued to be employed judiciously, with near constant explosions showering the room with shrapnel. The action was going its successful way- but it could all be undone if the other teams didn’t fight their way through all the reactor facilities and secure them all. And that area was almost as well defended as the bridge.

Wake Island was possibly the bloodiest part of the Battle of the Tarantagio. Samtonian marines were fighting hand-to-hand against the feared Capitol Police, reduced in number because of the combat. The dead paved the steel decks of the Wake, soldiers kicking the corpses to the sides, in their mad rush to kill anything Kraven, to destroy life. - Excerpt from "Annihilator - A True Account of the Battle of the Tarantagio Sea"

WSS Wake Island
The Samtonian marines continued to flood onboard the ship in massive numbers, creating what would be one of the few naval boardings since the 18th century. Top deck defenders were long since overrun, forcing the battle down into the bowels of the once-might Warspite. Gory hand-to-hand combat ensued, with Capitol Police and Kriegsmarine fireteams ambushing Samtonian marine squadrons in small numbers with bayonets, and even combat swords, gutting them end-to-end, and pinning them to the walls to show what would happen to those that stood in the way of the Corporation. A particularly merciless commander ordered his men to flay any dead Samtonians, despite the time wasting factor which was so criticle in this conflict.

They did it anyway.

In the reactor chamber, the last remaining defenders stood. With massive, thick lead/steel/titanium walls and doors protecting them from the final Samtonian thrust to capture the ship, it could take days to dislodge the final resistance from the embattled ship.

"Grand Admiral!" a Kriegsmarine saluted with his gun extended, facing Grand Admiral Salazar, "The Samtonians have captured the main bridge. They are advancing on us with possibly hundreds of men. We cannot survive much longer."

Capitol Police stood still in their defensive positions, guns facing teh possible points of entry, stoic as ever. The last Secret Police man stood near a computer console, and said, "You don't want to surrender now, do you, Grand Admiral?"

He armed his pistol quietly, with the barely-audible click echoing in the space between the Grand Admiral and the Police officer.

Salazar turned around, yanked out his officer's pistol, armed it swiftly, turned off the safety, and fired at the officer. The Capitol Police soldiers took note of the death, and waited for an order from the Command Relay as to their next move.

"Now that he's done with..Ensign, what is the status of the nuclear reactors?"

Slightly shaken (but not stirred!) the Ensign said, "As fresh as we got her, Sir, there's no battle damage on 'er whatsoever."

"Disable all the computer-controlled safeties. Do it now."

"Why, sir?"

After a pause, Salazar said one of the most famous orders in Whyatican history, "We're going to blow the reactors and turn the fuckin' Samtonians into little green-faced monsters."

Stunned, the ensigns began to work on removing the computer-controlled and the physical safeties to the reactor, using the last vestiges of heavy equipment remaining in Whyatican control. As the slamming against the walls proceeded, with directed explosives detonating against the massive barrier, the reactors were finished, hastily, but did it really matter anymore?

The nuclear inferno would kill nearly everyone on the ship instantly. Reactors 1, 2, 3, and 4 went off as the uncontrolled reactions exploded out, the energies vaporising men and steel alike, leaving a carcass afloat, with nary a soul alive and unharmed. She floated still, with a slight list, massive holes in the deck, belt, and bulge armour, but in otherwise good condition. If one ignored the lack of reactors, sailors, armour, guns, superstructure, radars, and everything else.

One boat, already out and away from the ship, coasted and fought the massive waves of overpressure created by the reactors, the radiation blowing through the already-broken armour of Wake Island, coating the last survivors of the Battle of the Tarantagio Sea in their death-cause. Lieutenant Commander Vittorio Al-Qayara, along with nine Kriegsmarines floated along in a small pontoon escape raft, with a white flag made of undershirts on a pole, to the nearest Samtonian vessel..