Operation Winter Phantasm

Operation Winter Phantasm
Part of the Sundering Sea Campaign of the Siduri War
The Amika photographed from the Morena during the pursuit, 7 January 1935
Date 2 January 1935 – 9 January 1935 Location Sanguine Sea, Sundering Sea Result Common Axis Victory
Belligerents
Cacertian Empire	Republic of Syara
Commanders and leaders
Jasmine Triscari  † Selene Pedretti	Dragan Bozinovski
Casualties and losses
1 battleship damaged 1 battlecruiser damaged 250 – 270 killed and wounded

Operation Winter Phantasm, colloquially referred to in Cacerta as Triscari’s Gambit and in Syara as the Divide Dash, was a naval operation during the Siduri War which began as a Cacertian Royal Navy commerce raid on Inner Sphere shipping before turning into a fierce pursuit of the raiders conducted by the Navy of the Syaran Republic.

The Amika Carpio and Morena Quintilian arrived in the Andria Protectorate on 30 December 1934 as part of the escort for a supply convoy from the Cacertian Home Islands. Both ships spent the next several days resupplying before receiving orders from High Command to pre-emptively sortie and intercept an incoming Æsthurlav convoy bound for Moddra; the Amika and Morena departed NB, Andria on 2 January 1935 at 1:21AM.

Taking a course wide into the open sea and away from the western coast of Siduri, the raiders began closing the distance on their intended target after two days of sailing. Syaran naval reconnaissance photographed both ships in the late afternoon of 4 January and the Navy was put on standby. Rough seas and stormy weather delayed the Cacertian intercept, but also resulted in Syaran loss of contact. By the time the weather cleared, the raiders were out of position and the target convoy was now close enough to the Syaran coast to potentially receive air cover; despite the risk, Captain Jasmine Triscari decided to engage.

Syarans received the distress call from the convoy at 12:44PM on 5 January and began scrambling aircraft from the closest air bases near the city of Lilov. After receiving visual confirmation that one of the vessels was indeed the Amika, the Syaran Navy was mobilized to cut-off the most likely escape routes back to Andria. It was believed that a return to Cacerta’s home islands via the Sundering Sea would be too dangerous to undertake.

Radio intercepts provided by the Ruvelkan Resistance informed Captain Triscari of the Syaran intention to block their return to Andria. She believed that by taking the Sundering Sea and maintaining full-speed could potentially take the Syarans by surprise and allow her to gain enough of a lead on any pursuers to escape. At 2:22AM on 6 January, both the Amika and Morena sharply turned eastward and made for the northern gap of Psyra.

The ensuing search for and the pursuit of the Amika and Morena through the Sundering resulted in a number of violent and brief engagements along the northern coasts of Syara, occupied Ruvelka, and Allamunnika. Despite both ships suffering heavy damage, the Syaran Navy was unable to cripple either ship and halted their pursuit of the raiders as they approached the coast of Chihon on 9 January.