Battle of the Byzantine Sea

Battle of the Byzantine Sea
Part of the Five Week War
HMTS Aqituo and HMTS Cheveca 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 Army 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

The tugboat Trout

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 it's batteries, however due to it's proximity to the two vessels the Trout was unable to depress it's guns to fire on it. In need of a solution top prevent the submarine escaping an 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 40mm mountings located on their bows and sterns.