Battle of the Syaran Sea

Battle of the Syaran Sea
Part of the Divide War
Date 19 – 20 November 1916 Location Syara Sea Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
Cacertian Empire	Republic of Syara
Commanders and leaders
Lea Davion	Filip Kostadinov
Units involved
Cacertian Grand Fleet	Navy of the Syaran Republic
Strength
16 Dreadnoughts 4 pre-dreadnought battleships 8 cruisers 20 destroyers	8 Dreadnoughts 4 pre-dreadnought battleships 8 cruisers 36 destroyers 12 submarines
Casualties and losses
2 dreadnoughts sunk 2 pre-dreadnought sunk 1 cruiser sunk 5 destroyers sunk	3 dreadnoughts sunk 3 pre-dreadnoughts sunk 2 cruisers sunk 11 destroyers sunk 4 submarines sunk

The Battle of the Syaran Sea was a naval engagement of the Divide War, fought between 19–20 November 1916 between the Navy of the Syaran Republic and the Grand Fleet of the Cacertian Royal Navy.

Having been forced to cede the Slaveiko Bay and the Veylo Channel to the ships of the Cacertian Empire, the Republic of Syara hoped to decimate a portion of the Cacertian fleet by drawing them into battle in the Syaran Sea and exploiting the advantages of Syara's torpedo-armed destroyers. The Syarans under Fleet Admiral Filip Kostadinov attempted to bait the Cacertians under Admiral Lea Davion with the bulk of Syara's dreadnought battleships, before springing a trap with a mixture of cruisers and destroyers which would attack the rear of the Cacertian fleet. Davion steamed to meet the Syarans approximately 40 kilometers west of the coast of Scitaria on the Mysian Peninsula. Davion's fleet of 16 dreadnought battleships, 4 pre-dreadnought battleships, 8 cruisers, and 20 destroyers met Kostadinov's fleet of 8 dreadnoughts, two cruisers, and 10 destroyers, after which the Cacertians came under attack from a second battlegroup cluster under Vice Admiral Kosyo Zlatkov Vitanov, consisting of four pre-dreadnought battleships, two cruisers, four submarines and 12 destroyers, and then from a third cluster under Senior Captain Emil Šertić of four cruisers, eight submarines and 14 destroyers.

The Syarans scored initial success, but Davion quickly responded by splitting her force into two groups, one under her own control and the other under Admiral Ateia Iusta. Iusta executed a turn-about with her fleet, which allowed her to bring eight dreadnoughts worth of broadside on Vitanov and Šertićs' clusters. Both Syaran groups were soon forced to veer away to escape the Cacertian firepower, leaving Kostadinov alone to face Davions' Fleet. Kostadinov attempted to break off once Iusta regrouped with Davion, but was unable to escape Cacertian shellfire which claimed three Syaran dreadnoughts. Vitanov and Šertić regrouped to launch a second attack on the Cacertian fleet, which brought enough time and space for Kostadinov's cluster to disengage. Frantic Syaran destroyer attacks managed to throw off the Cacertian fleet and bought time for the Syarans to withdraw south; Davion gave chase, but withdrew once it became clear her fleet couldn't stop the Syarans from reaching the safety of the Bay of Ruchalas.

The Syarans had failed to achieve their goal of decimating the Grand Fleet, but the results were frustrating to the Cacertians and Davion in particular, who lost four battleships over the course of the engagement. Growing frustration at continued Syaran resistance led Davion to launch an attack against the city of Vechad later in the year, resulting in the Battle of the Ruchalas Bay.

Background

Since the start of the Divide War in September the Syaran and Cacertian navies had engaged in two primary engagements in the Slaveiko Bay and the Veylo Channel and numerous smaller skirmishes between flotillas and single-ship actions. By November 1916 the Syarans had lost four battleships, two cruisers, nine destroyers, and six submarines. In exchange, the Cacertians had lost two battleships, one cruiser, and five destroyers. By October frustration was beginning to build within the Cacertian Grand Fleet by the refusal of the Syarans to commit to a decisive battle in line with Cacertian dcotrine. The Syaran preference for hit-and-run attacks and reliance on torpedoes, mines, and submarines were beginning to wear down the Cacertian fleet. The Cacertians largely took out their frustrations on Syaran ports along the northern coast, striking Sena, Lira, Korzhany, and Nemtya.

By November the only remaining naval base available to the Navy of the Syaran Republic in northern Syara was Vechad, located within the Ruchalas Bay. Destruction or capture of the port would have eliminated the Syaran naval presence in the region and forced the Syarans to pull their fleet west of the Mysian Peninsula, ceding the waters nearest to Syara's capital and industrial heart to the Cacertians. Assaulting Vechad however was a daunting task; the Cacertians were aware that the Syarans had heavily mined the Bay and its numerous sounds and bights would play perfectly into the Syaran preference for ambushes and sneak attacks from submarines and destroyer flotillas. Admiral Lea Davion had already decided that no assault on Vechad would take place until the Syaran fleet had been sufficiently degraded, in a letter to her aunt Grand Admiral Cianna Davion;

Pursuit of the destruction of all Syaran naval yards and port facilities sufficient to maintain the continued presence of the Syaran fleet in the Grand Fleet's domain of operations cannot be commenced until the enemy's fleet has been degraded, with specific regard to his large arsenal of torpedo boat destroyers which have thus far in the campaign proven among the enemy's most capable platform.