Battle of the Byzantine Sea

Battle of the Byzantine Sea
Part of the Five Week War
HMTS Aqituo and HMTS Queen Nezetchi at sea
Date May 17th, 1967 to June 26th, 1967 Location Byzantine Sea, north of Komspukov Result Renolion Victory
Belligerents
The Kingdom of Renolion	The Republic of Rechevvi
Commanders and leaders
Gustavo Contrino	Colin Jauffret
Strength
5 ocean liners One tug boat One minelayer	7 submarines 3 destroyers 4 patrol aircraft
Casualties and losses
12,789 soldiers One ocean liner	7 submarines One destroyer 4 patrol aircraft

The Battle of the Byzantine Sea was a logistical operation undertaken by the Royal Renolion Navy and the Royal Renolion Army during the Five Week War week war. The operation lasted from May 17th to June 26th, and would oversee the transport of troops to the frontline via the requisitioning of civilian passenger liners to act in service as troopships. This conflict is most famous for being the only conflict in the duration of the war in which Renolion loses were not directly tied to enemy actions.

Name

It's believed that the first person to refer to the battle as the Battle of the Byzantine Sea was head of the National Parliament Pio Raineri in a speech on May 20th, 1967. Other sources pin the name on Captain Gino Calvi of the troopship Queen Silvana, who stated on May 19th that "this battle will stretch the whole of the Byzantine span between us and them, and it's best we show them what we can do." Speculation remains to this day.

Early Encounters

On May 27th, 1967 the first reported sighting of a periscope would arrive from the troopship Imperator while under escort by the armed tugboat Trout. Though an attempt was made to investigate the sighting, the sonar faded out before the Trout could make it to the believed location of the submarine. A similar incident would occur on the return trip of the Imperator on the night of the 28th, the exception being that the submarine had surfaced for oxygen and to recharge its batteries, however due to its proximity to the two vessels the Trout was unable to depress its guns to fire on it. In need of a solution top prevent the submarine escaping and posing a threat to the much larger Queen Silvana ten miles ahead, Captain [blank] of the Trout made the decision to ram it. Though crude, the damage done to the submarine was significant enough that it forced the crew to abandon, leading to the submarine's scuttling.

From May 30th to the 1st of June activity was low, but from the 2nd to the 8th of June a spike in debris was discovered along the usual transit route between Komspukov and Toloa, which seemed to be a result of mines laid by the submersible minelayer Grayfish. On June 10th, the troopships Renolion and Aqituo encountered a flight of four patrol aircraft, which were successfully downed by their 40 mm mountings located on their bows and sterns.

The Storm of the Grand Lady

HMTS Queen Silvana during a similar storm

On the 10th of June, eleven days before the end of the war, the Queen Silvana was transiting the Rechevvi Channel en route to the captured port of Belgica when a storm kicked up approximately 5:28 PM. Initially, there were little in the way of concern, as she had dealt with worse both during her service as a troopship and as a passenger liner. By 6:02 PM it was realized that the situation was turning sour, with reports of both the Queen Nezetchi and the Majesty turning back for Toloa, with the voyages of the Byzantine and Aquito being cancelled before they left port. Captain Gino Calvi infamously ordered her heading to 270 degrees East in an attempt to swing her bow around to cut through the waves, however the intensity of the turn began to cause her to roll in the rough waves. At 6:05 PM, a rouge wave was spotted to her starboard side. The wave, some 98 feet in height, would doom the Queen Silvana, as upon striking the starboard side of the vessel she immediately took a heavy list to port. Such was the degree of the list that she surpassed her maximum angle of survivable list, hitting 59 degrees in the immediate aftermath, four degrees over her limit. She would sink in only 19 minutes, at 6:24 PM.

Early rescue attempts were made the very night of the sinking, HMTS Byzantine violating Admiralty's orders to stay put and heading out to sea. Hugging the Europan coastline easterly, the small vessel would travel down into the Rechevvi Channel following a search pattern at low speed (approximately 6 knots). She would find nothing in her search, being forced back to Toloa when a wave blew the glass out of most of her portholes and knocked over her foremost mast. It wasn't until the following day when proper search efforts began. The Trout was the first vessel to depart for the scene of the sinking, only finding a few deck chairs and the ship's National Line ensign. On the second day of searching, the Majesty encountered an overturned lifeboat with three people clinging on to its gunwale. Upon its recovery, a fourth body was discovered inside of it, put there by the survivors. The body was later identified as electrical engineer Jeremy Marconi. Day three would serve as the final day of searching, carried out by the Aquito. Further debris were recovered, but no additional persons were found, and subsequently all remaining soldiers and crew were marked as lost in action.

Of the 12,792 men aboard, there were only three survivors: Telegram Operator Henry Fabbri, Private Angelo Mancinelli, and Private Marco Perego. Queen Silvania's sinking remains as the deadliest maritime accident in Renolion history, and is still a taboo topic in many parts of the country.

Late War

From the 14th to 18th of June, troop shipments were drastically scaled back as discussions with the Rechevvian government began. Both the Majesty and Queen Nezetchi being put into service as makeshift hospital ships, with the Aquito and Byzantine remaining as purely troop transports. On June 18th, the Byzantine and SM-1 Grayfish would encounter the RN Buffone. Byzantine attempted to fire upon the heavily armored destroyer to no avail, receiving a barrage of five inch shells in response. Grayfish submerged and began to run down the destroyer, successfully firing a volley of two 21 inch torpedoes which struck the Buffone amidships. In spite of the vessel's previously hostile behavior, the Byzantine diverted to pick up survivors. No further incidents would occur that day.