Battle of King's Bay

Battle of King's Bay
Part of the War of the Usurper and the Siege of Telora
Battle of King's Bay, 1 May 1898, Gaius Morsey
Date 1 June 1888 Location Off Telora, Actlpacinarcticadian Ocean Result Cassonnaise victory
Belligerents
Cassonne	Aquitayne
Commanders and leaders
Clément Trausse	Lord Kon'rei of Atlium
Strength
12 protected cruisers 8 gunboats 4 transport ships	10 protected cruisers 6 unprotected cruisers 5 gunboats 2 transport ship
Casualties and losses
625 killed 800 wounded 1 protected cruiser sunk 2 gunboats damaged	3,450 killed 4,000 wounded 4 protected cruisers scuttled 3 unprotected cruisers sunk 2 transport ship sunk 1 transportation ship scuttled

The Battle of King's Bay (French: Bataille de Baie du Roi), also known as the Battle of Telora Bay, took place on 1 June 1888 during the War of the Usurper. The Cassonnaise Foreign Armada under Admiral Clément Trausse engaged and destroyed the Aquitaynian home fleet, under the command of Lord Admiral Kon'rei of Atlium. The battle took place in King's Bay in Aquitayne, and was the first major engagement of the War of the Usurper. The battle was one of the most decisive in Astyrian naval history and is the single greatest defeat in the history of the Aquitaynian Navy.

The battle ultimately lead to the Siege of Telora and the complete modernization of the navy in the latter half of the war and beyond. Aquitaynian naval strength would become an integral part of the national identity during the leadup to the Great Astyrian War in 1920.

Prelude

Voyage of Peace

Main article: Voyage of Peace

The Voyage of Peace (French: Voyage de Paix) was a political and military strategy by Cassonne initially stated to travel through Hesperidesia, Sythith and Insula Fera to promote peace throughout Astyria, by order of Maxime Séraphin. The fleet left Cassonne on the 1st of May, 1888 and never completed its officially stated route. Instead, the fleet descended on King's Bay and Cape Town, leading to the Battle of King's Bay and the Battle of Cape Town on 3 June 1888. The outbreak of hostilities between Aquitayne and Cassonne under the guise of a peaceful show of force display by Cassonne was widely condemned by the international community.

Initially, the fleet's primary mission was to complete courtesy visits to numerous countries along its route to display Cassonnaise naval power to the region. Not only did Maxime eventually want to openly engage Aquitayne, he also wanted those countries who saw the armada prior to the fulfillment of its real mission to understand its strength and power, should anyone think of intervening on Aquitayne's behalf. The mission was largely successful, as Aquitayne was not able to call any allies into the war due to Cassonne's perceived strength after its display. Likewise, however, Cassonne was unable to bring any of its allies to bear as the aggressor in the conflict due to its surprise attack on Aquitayne.

Battle

Depiction of the battle with modern naval markers. Red units indicate Cruisers (CC), gunboats (GB), and transports (TR) of Cassonnaise forces. Green indicates Aquitaynian naval assets.

Naval engagement

On the morning of 1 June, 1888 the Cassonnaise armada descended on the coast of Aquitayne, using the rising sun to obscure their approach from nearby lookouts on the islands of Ceria and Aquilus. Around 7am, the flagship MNC Aquilon fired the opening salvo into the Telora dockyards, where the majority of the Aquitaynian Home Fleet was berthed. The Aquilon lead a column of four protected cruisers - the Mistral, Atalante, Kersaint and Courbet in a broadside attack against the port. Leveling their combined seventeen 8-inch guns, ten 6-inch guns and eighteen 6-inch guns, they fired an estimated 200 rounds into the Port of Telora within the first five minutes of the engagement. During this volley, a shell pierced the magazine of the HMS Valiant, an Aquitaynian unprotected cruiser, which immediately erupted, sinking the ship.

Immediately following the Aquilon's engagement, a detachment of gunboats rushed into the mouth of the King's Bay to close off the Aquitaynian's ability to escape the channel. This maneuver was largely successful, with the smaller gunboats able to hold off the attempts by the Aquitaynian ships to break out into the open ocean. Meanwhile, the five Cassonnaise transport ships attached to the armada began to close with the shoreline to disembark the two regiments of infantrymen they were holding. The MNC Aigle provided shore bombardment for the northern task force while the MNC Achéron provided shore bombardment for the southern landing task force, both of which were designed to suppress enemy shore defenses, which was largely successful.

Within the first ten minutes of the attack, Aquitaynian forces began firing back at the Cassonnaise fleet. Much of the Aquitaynian Home Fleet was on shore leave, thus the ships were understaffed and caught by complete surprise. Multiple ships attempted to leave their berths within the first minutes of the attack, leading to some confusion inside the bay on positioning of ships and how to conduct the counter-assault. Admiral Lord Kon'rei of Atlium was the most senior officer stationed on board the HMS Merovia, a 6,000 tonne protected cruiser that was the flagship of the Aquitaynian Home Fleet. Lord Kon'rei attempted to organize the fleet's defenses by ordering the few operational gunboats they had into the mouth of the bay to spearhead a breakout attempt. Kon'rei attempted to focus the fleet's firepower on the closest threat (that being the Cassonnaise gunboats at the mouth of the bay), but quickly realized the main threat remained the four cruisers that were still aimed broadside into the harbor.

Kon'rei knew attempting a broadside attack in response would lead to the fleet being jammed inside the harbor with no way to maneuver. Instead, he famously ordered all of his ships to attempt a spearhead maneuver at flank speed to break through the Cassonnaise lines. Of the initial 23 ships in the Port of Telora, only 12 were seaworthy to attempt the maneuver after just 30 minutes of fighting. Kon'rei lead the charge and was able to break past the initial line of gunboats, but was quickly overwhelmed by enfilading fire from the HMS Achéron and HMS Courbet. After taking multiple direct hits, the HMS Merovia began taking on water around 8am, with multiple other ships in his daring escape attempt also being sunk or scuttled. Lord Kon'rei ordered the abandonment of the Merovia at 8:15am and was the last to disembark the ship before it sunk completely.

After the sinking of the Merovia and the wasteful attempt to extricate the Home Fleet from King's Bay, just under half of the Home Fleet remained seaworthy. Lord Kon'rei was taken prisoner aboard the Cassonnaise flagship Aquilon, where he was made to surrender officially to Admiral Trausse. By 10am, barely three hours after the first shots were fired, the King's Bay was completely under Cassonnaise control.

Coastal defenses

Castineos

Main article: Battle of Castineos (1888)

Southern shore

The southern shore battery, Fort Hamrick, was almost completely destroyed during the fighting. The fort was manned by one infantry officer and around 25 men with a 6-inch gun and served mainly as a watchtower. The soldiers stationed at Fort Hamrick reportedly were only able to fire one or two volleys at the HMS Courbet before her rifled 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns began pummeling the almost 100 year old stone structure. The destruction of Fort Hamrick opened the way for the transport ships Orion and Cassard to land and offload the 2nd Infantry Regiment who quickly secured the fort and the remaining survivors. This amphibious assault established the first beachhead of the war, and marked the first invasion of Aquitaynian Lorecian soil since the end of the Aquitaynian War of Independence.

Subsequent action

Battle of Fort Tremblay

Main article: Battle of Fort Tremblay

In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of King's Bay, Cassonnaise transport ships with cruiser escorts landed the 7th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Regiment Royal Dragoons onto the coastline nearby to Fort Tremblay. An initial bombardment of over 3,000 shells from the Acheron, Andromaque and Armide initially silenced the fort's defenses while the Royal Dragoons assaulted its walls. The Aquitaynian defenders were initially successful in repelling the attack, and did so for two days. A secondary bombardment of well over an estimated 5,000 shells crippled the Aquitaynian defensive walls as well as its (already limited) cavalry capabilities when a shell directly impacted the stables.

The Cassonnaise were repelled twice from the fort during fierce hand-to-hand combat. It was after the second engagement that General Nilsson famously ordered a counterassault on the advise of his officers, as the fort couldn't withstand further bombardment for long after King's Bay had been completely seized by Cassonne. On the night of 3 June 1888, General Nilsson ordered Major Venuti to lead the counterassault against Cassonne's encampment below the fort. Major Venuti did so with Colonel Pessolano acting as a flanking protection, but it was not enough. Cassonne's 7th Cavalry Regiment flanked around Colonel Pessalano's defenses, routing his men and completely encircling Major Venuti's regiment.

After this defeat, General Nilsson ordered the surrender of Fort Tremblay to Admiral Trausse the next morning.

Aftermath

After the end of the Siege of Telora, the Under Secretary of the Navy ordered the construction of multiple gun emplacements along the northern and southern peninsulas leading into the Port of Telora. At the time, only two large Martello towers made up the shore defenses of King's bay, constructed in the early 1800's. Neither position had modern, rifled guns to support long range shooting against armored targets, and were mainly designed to attack against ships of the line as was the standard at the time of their construction. By the end of the war in 1894, both installations had been upgraded and enlarged to house over 40 modern artillery pieces and were manned by around 1,500 soldiers each.

After the battle, Lord Kon'rei was arrested on orders of the King and tried for treason and dereliction of duty for his actions during the battle. The complete loss of the home fleet and the subsequent siege of the capital was leveled solely on the admiral due to his tactical failures engaging the Cassonnaise armada. Ultimately, though, the court martial found the admiral not guilty of treason and only guilty on the one count of dereliction of duty for not going down with his ship. Lord Kon'rei was fined one month's pay and reduced in rank to Captain.

Additionally, the decisive defeat imposed by Cassonne sent shockwaves throughout the Navy and Ministry of Defense. Tiberius III ordered the immediate overhaul of the Aquitaynian Navy and initiated a modernization movement in 1892 that would carry through to the Great Astyrian War.

Order of Battle

Vessels engaged in actual combat during the Battle of King's Bay ranged in size from 6,000 tonnes to 500 tonnes.

Cassonne

MNC Aquilon on sea trials in 1886.

• MNC Aquilon, flagship, protected cruiser of 6,000 tonnes, with five 8-inch guns mounted in pairs on two turrets, plus eight 5-inch guns and five torpedo tubes. Top speed of 20 knots.
• MNC Mistral, protected cruiser of 5,750 tonnes, with four 8-inch guns on single mounts, plus three 6-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Atalante, protected cruiser of 5,750 tonnes, with four 8-inch guns on single mounts, plus three 6-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Kersaint, protected cruiser of 5,750 tonnes, with four 8-inch guns on single mounts, plus three 6-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Courbet, protected cruiser of 4,000 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Montcalm, protected cruiser of 4,000 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Pluton, protected cruiser of 4,000 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Laplace, protected cruiser of 4,000 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Achille, protected cruiser of 3,200 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Achéron, protected cruiser of 3,200 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Aigle, protected cruiser of 3,200 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Vulcain, protected cruiser of 3,200 tonnes, with one 6-inch gun and ten 5-inch guns. Top speed 20 knots.
• MNC Tonnant, gunboat of 1,800 tons with six 6-inch guns. Top speed 17 knots.
• MNC Glorieuse, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Inflexible, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Andromaque, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Alexandre, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Armide, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Astrée, gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Lapérouse , gunboat of 867 tons with four 6-inch guns. Top speed 12 knots.
• MNC Borda, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns. 77 men.
• MNC Cassard, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns. 77 men.
• MNC Courbet, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns. 77 men.
• MNC Orion, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns. 77 men.

Aquitayne

The wreck of the HMS Merovia after the battle of King's Bay.

• HMS Merovia, flagship, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Capetown, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Oberon, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Pandora, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Queen Elizabeth, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Regulus, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Lion, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Royalist, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Resolve, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Sabre, protected cruiser of 3,750 tonnes with seven 6.5-inch guns. Top speed 18 knots.
• HMS Invictus, unprotected cruiser of 3,289 tons, with four 6-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speet 17 knots.
• HMS Resolute, unprotected cruiser of 1,152 tons, with two 5-inch guns on the starboard side.
• HMS Sparrow, unprotected cruiser of 1,152 tons, with four 5-inch guns. Top speed 13 knots.
• HMS Tempest, unprotected cruiser of 1,152 tons, with four 5-inch guns. Top speed 13 knots.
• HMS Tiger, unprotected cruiser of 1,152 tons, with four 5-inch guns. Top speed 13 knots.
• HMS Justitia, unprotected cruiser of 1,152 tons, with four 5-inch guns. Top speed 13 knots.
• HMS Argos, gunboat of 500 tons, with one 6.5-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speed 10 knots.
• HMS Apollonius, gunboat of 500 tons, with one 6.5-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speed 10 knots.
• HMS Rendower, gunboat of 500 tons, with one 6.5-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speed 10 knots.
• HMS Freyport, gunboat of 500 tons, with one 6.5-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speed 10 knots.
• HMS Tudor, gunboat of 500 tons, with one 6.5-inch and two 5-inch guns. Top speed 10 knots.
• HMS Reliant, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns.
• HMS Hope, transport ship of 1,900 tons, with 2 secondary rapid fire guns.

See also

• War of the Usurper
• Siege of Telora