10/3 Incident

10/3 Incident
Part of the South Akkadiya Ocean War
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Date 3 November 1959 - 15 November 1959 Location South Akkadiya Ocean, Sea of Spartans, Kuolemankaltainen Sea Result • The sinking and damaging of several Tulese warships and damage to Belfro-Belhavian warships. • The illegal commandeering of several Belhavian-flagged civilian ships. • The worsening of Belhavian-Tulese relations leading to the South Akkadiya Ocean War.
Belligerents
Belhavia Belfras Template:Country data Tippercommon	Template:Country data Tule
Commanders and leaders
Yavin Leibniz Azriel Horowitz Yitzchak Levy Adam Cohen Template:Country data Tippercommon Clarissa Aspe	Template:Country data Tule Vilhelm Móberg Template:Country data Tule Askur Arnadóttir
Strength
2 Aircraft Carriers ?? Cruisers 2 Destroyers 2 Frigates 1 Submarine HIMS Emperor Aaron HMS King George HIMS Vanguard HIMS King's Mantle HIMS Divine Fury Template:Country data Tippercommon TNV Mariposa HMS Unabashed	3 Cruisers 2 Destroyers 1 Frigate 1 Corvette 1 Submarine Template:Country data Tule PNT Barátta Template:Country data Tule PNT Óshólmi Template:Country data Tule PNT Landakot Template:Country data Tule PNT Dugnaður Template:Country data Tule PNT Norðhvalur Template:Country data Tule PNT Landsheiði Template:Country data Tule PNT Gráhvalur Template:Country data Tule PNT Vald
Casualties and losses
1 destroyer sunk (scuttled) ( HIMS Divine Fury) ~14 sailors killed ~89 sailors injured or wounded 2 civilian ships commandeered 2 civilian ships damaged ~23 Belhavian civilians injured or wounded	1 destroyer sunk (Template:Country data Tule PNT Dugnaður) 1 submarine sunk (Template:Country data Tule PNT Gráhvalur) ~150 sailors killed ~300 sailors injured or wounded

The 10/3 Incident (3 November 1959 - 15 November 1959) occurred during the initial stages of the South Akkadiya Ocean War on 3 November 1959, when Tulese Premier Vilhelm Móberg attempted to interdict all Belhavian sea traffic through the South Akkadiya Ocean region. In response, Belhavian President Yavin Leibniz initially ordered all Belhavian ships into convoys and to use self-defense. As the incident escalated, he ordered all Belhavian military forces to use hostile force against all Tulese ships.

After twelve days of mounting losses of ships, personnel, and war material for a few impounded Belhavian civilian ships, the Tulese ended the interdiction plan and released their detained Belhavian ships and crews, in exchange for the release of detained Tulese sailors by Belhavian and Belfrasian forces.

The incident directly set up the tensions that would lead to a broader regional war a mere month later.

Background

Belhavia was one of the leading anticommunist powers of the world, but had gone through political and military turmoil, internal rebuilding and social re-harmonization, and had supported the defeated Tulese monarchists in Tule's revolution.

The Tulese communist government had been militarizing and viewed Belhavia as a looming threat. The small Communist country was in the direct path of Belhavia's eastward shipping lanes in the Sea of Spartans, and close enough to Belhavian colonial possessions including the Weissland Islands and the Ross Archipelagos. Between 1953 and 1961, Belhavia was led by President Yavin Leibniz, a committed liberal of the center-left. Leibniz's large naval cuts and reforms in the late 1950s piqued Tulese interest.

In an April 1959 memorandum, Tulese Premier Vilhelm Móberg asked his leading military commanders to explore the feasibility of interdicting Belhavian merchant and military sea traffic in the South Akkadiya Ocean as well as the feasibility of invading and occupying the Ross islands.

In June and July 1959, his senior military officials reported back that the Tulese military had the power to unilaterally interdict Belhavian sea power as the Belhavian navy had grown too small to police the entire region and had several obligations across the world. The report also added that with Estovnian help, they had a 60% chance to successfully invade and hold the Ross island chain. Móberg ordered preparations made and had the construction on several new destroyers and cruisers rushed to be completed by the target date, set for November 1st, 1959.

Incident

Day One

With several delays in prepping two new destroyers, the launch of Tulese naval interdiction plan was pushed back to November 3rd, 1959. At 5:54am that morning, the Tulese fleet set sail into international shipping lanes. By 11:22am the same day, the Tulese destroyer PNT Barátta fired upon the Belhavian merchant ship HIMS Glat Seyling. After attempting to flee, the engine of the Glat Seyling was damaged in a direct hit from the Barátta and was forced to surrender and its crew was detained.

Later that day, the Tulese frigate PNT Óshólmi ordered the Belhavian oil tanker HIMS Bright Horizon to heave to and was ignored. After firing on the tanker and damaging the hull, the ship was dead in the water. Several Belhavian sailors took up small arms and fired on the incoming Tulese marine troops being motor-boated over. After an hour of hostilities, the captain of the Bright Horizon surrendered.

By this time, the Tulese warships were broadcasting cease-and-surrender orders to all Belhavian vessels, civilian or military. This order was picked up by neutral civilian ships and relayed back to Belhavian authorities. At 11:34pm Belhavian time, President Leibniz convened the Imperial Military High Command and Cabinet and solicited for opinions. Admiral Azriel Horowitz offered that they should dispatch all available warships to the region and counter the Tulese with a similar order to surrender. Leibniz's Foreign Minister, Norman Danziger, vigorously opposed this move and sparked a debate with Horowitz. After listening to both men, Leibniz sided with Horowitz and wrote presidential decrees that night to mobilize all Imperial military units in the region to force back the Tulese.

Day Two

At 3:55am Tulese time, the HIMS Sea Voyager, a luxury cruise liner, surrendered to the Tulese cruiser PNT Landakot without any resistance.

Tulese Premier Vilhelm Móberg summoned foreign press at 7:30am Tulese time, and announced the People's Republic of Tule's plan to interdict Belhavian maritime traffic in the South Akkadiya Ocean "for threatening the Tulese people's freedoms from decadent and oppressive fascist-capitalist systems." In a counter press conference an hour later, President Yavin Leibniz called the interdiction plan "blatantly and categorically illegal, an act of piracy and theft, and likely an act of war." Leibniz said all Belhavian ships would be organized into convoys with Imperial Navy escorts and any Tulese ship that engaged in "hostile behavior" would be sunk without quarter.

Around 8:12am, about thirty miles off the Weissland Islands, the HIMS Weiss's Joy, a private yacht, was fired upon the PNT Dugnaður, a brand-new destroyer whose completion had been rushed in time for the interdiction plan. The Weiss's Joy radioed an SOS and used its faster and agile speed and size to outrun the destroyer Dugnaður. The HIMS Vanguard, an Imperial Belhavian Navy frigate that had been put out on patrol that morning from Leibniz's midnight orders, answered the Joy's call and caught up to the scene. The Vanguard and Dugnaður exchanged communications each ordering the other to surrender, then simply to cease-and-desist and leave the area. After the captain of the Dugnaður started on a tirade over the radio against Belhavian capitalism and ideology, the Vanguard commander, Captain Yitzchak Levy, ordered his forward batteries to fire, and the warships exchanged shots. After damaging the Dugnaður in the firefight, the Tulese warship continued to vehemently refuse to surrender or flee, and the Vanguard fired several more surgical shots, sinking the Dugnaður. The surviving Tulese sailors were rescued by the Vanguard and detained.

Approximately around 12:34pm in the far eastern Sea of Spartans, the Tulese cruiser PNT Landsheiði ordered the Belfrasian-flagged merchant freighter Leviathan's Spear to stop and be boarded after the Tulese watch officer mistook the Belfrasian flag for the Belhavian flag. After the Landsheiði fired a warning shot, the Leviathan's Spear reluctantly complied and allowed a team of Tulese marines to board and talk with her captain. After realizing their mistake, the Tulese marine officer apologized profusely and returned to the cruiser, and the Belfrasian ship was allowed to leave.

The Leviathan's Spear relayed the incident to the Belfrasian Ministry of Foreign Relations, which condemned the act and called for world powers to support Belhavia in this crisis.

Day Three

Most governments across the world had condemned the Tulese actions and supported Belhavia's right to international navigation in peace. President Leibniz issued a new ultimatum to Premier Móberg, demanding that he end this crisis or that Belhavia would unilateral engage in hostilities against any and all Tulese-flagged vessels. The Tulese government refused the ultimatum.

The Belfrasian Royal Government announced its intention to deploy warships to the area "to protect international shipping, including Belhavian vessels, and to deter and counter illegal Tulese piracy and war-like behavior."

At 9:46am Arcevian time, the Tulese corvette PNT Norðhvalur encountered the Tippercommon Navy destroyer TNV Mariposa and was ordered to leave the area; the captain of the Norðhvalur refused and attempted to assuage the captain of the Mariposa that he was "only hunting" Belhavian ships. The Tippercommon destroyer persisted, and fired a warning shot. The Norðhvalur withdrew.

Day Four

The Belfrasian submarine HMS Unabashed (SSN-657) and Tulese submarine PNT Gráhvalur encountered each other and stalked each other 150 miles east of the Weissland Islands. After eight tense hours of playing "cat-and-mouse", the Unabashed entrapped and sunk the Gráhvalur in an underwater canyon. A passing Arcevian merchant ship picked up the surviving Tulese submariners.

Day Five

The Tulese People's Republic government accused Belfras of initiating war and demanded that all Belfrasian military forces leave the disputed region. The Belfrasian Royal Government refused. The Tulese authorities then added Belfrasian-flagged vessels to the interdiction decree.

Day Six

A Tulese task force, headed by the cruiser PNT Vald and two destroyer escorts, approached a Belhavian convoy approximately 88 miles west of the Ross Archipelagos. The convoy consisted of eleven civilian vessels and the Imperial Belhavian Navy frigate HIMS King's Mantle and its two destroyer escorts. Commander Askur Arnadóttir of the Vald demanded the surrender of the convoy.

Captain Adam Cohen of the King's Mantle refused. Cohen ordered his ship to fire, causing superficial damage to one of the Vald's escorts. The Vald and one its escorts returned fire and hit the conning tower on the King's Mantle and facially grazed the side of the HIMS Divine Fury, a destroyer.

After both sides fired again, the Vald scored a direct hit on the port side of the Divine Fury, causing her to become dead in the water. As the Divine Fury began to list, her captain ordered her scuttled and the crew abandoned ship. The Belhavian ships withdrew, and Commander Askur Arnadóttir declined to engage further considering the existing risk of the surviving Belhavian warships. He would be court martialed upon return to port for "cowardice" and "failure to obey orders" but the military court would later find him innocent.

Day Seven

At 7:33am Tulese time, a Tulese frigate, the PNT Húsafell, and two destroyer escorts intercepted an international convoy guarded by the Belfrasian heavy cruiser HMS Furious and a destroyer. Captain Joseph Blacksmith of the Furious ignored Tulese attempts to radio the convoy's surrender and opened fire on the Húsafell and its companion ships. The Húsafell withdrew.

At 1:24pm Tulese time, the Belhavian destroyer HIMS Royal Adjudicator spotted the Tulese corvette PNT Norðhvalur and gave chase, following the smaller vessel and taking occasional potshots at it over the two-hour-long chase. The Norðhvalur entered Tulese territorial waters and headed for a small port city near the Tulese-Arcevian border, where several coastal artillery batteries opened fire and dissuaded the Royal Adjudicator from continuing the pursuit, and the Belhavian warship withdrew towards Belfro-Belhavian naval lines.

At 4:51pm Arcevian time, a half-flight of ground-based Tulese fighter-bombers spotted the Belfrasian light cruiser HMS Lion's Shield and strafed it. The fightercraft damaged the engines and destroyed the communications tower and first forward gun battery. Although damaged and smoking from lit fires, the Lion's Shield successfully fired enough anti-aircraft ordinance to dissuade any further attacks and the flight returned to Tule. The light cruiser limped back to Belfrasian lines for repair.

Day Eight

In a retaliatory strike, the local Belfrasian naval command coordinated with the Belhavian maritime authorities and organized a counter-assault. The Belfrasian heavy cruiser HMS Furious was teamed with the Belhavian cruiser Vainglorious, less than a year old heading a new class of then-cutting-edge guided-missile cruisers, along with six Belhavian and Belfrasian destroyers. The task force left port in the Weissland Islands at approximately 5:11am Tippercommoner time, and took a circuitous route near Arcevia to avoid Tulese patrols.

At around 7:56pm Tulese time, the task force arrived at Stormey, a small offshore barrier island on the Tulese coast that hosted a Tulese airbase and fuel depot. Allied naval planners had pinpointed this base as the likely home of the fighter-bombers that hit the Lion's Shield a day earlier. The task force sent a small team of Royal Marines to mark the facilities, and the force's two guided-missile cruisers unleashed several barrages that destroyed 13 Tulese fightercraft, checkered the tarmac, destroyed two hangars, and sparked the explosion of the fuel depot. The task force withdrew shortly thereafter.