Operation Hound
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| Operation Hound | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Khalistan campaign, Pan-Septentrion War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| New Tyran | Greater Menghean Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Charles Norton |
 Cho Sŭng-chŏl | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
2 battleships 1 aircraft carrier 2 escort carriers 1 heavy cruiser 3 light cruisers 8 destroyers |
1 battleship 1 heavy cruiser 8 destroyers Multiple troop transports | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 light cruiser sunk 1 battleship damaged 1 heavy cruiser heavily damaged |
1 battleship sunk 2 destroyers sunk 3 transports sunk 1 heavy cruiser sunk (undetermined) | ||||||
Operation Hound (also known as the last battle of Chŏngdo) was an Allied operation conducted by the Royal Navy during the Pan-Septentrion War, as part of the Khalistan campaign, that occured on 21 September 1944. The Royal Navy task force Force R led by Admiral Charles Norton, which included the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, targetted Menghean transports leaving Khalistan. While the operation is largely considered a failure as only a small number of transports were actually destroyed, the Imperial Menghean Navy would lose the battleship Chŏngdo with Admiral Cho Sŭng-chŏl going down with the ship.
The operation included what was one of the last engagements between battleships in Septentrion.
Background
After the Imperial Menghean Navy suffered defeat at the Battle of Frederick's Point in May 1941, at the hands of the HCN, the Royal Navy saw an opportunity to fully liberate the Acheron Islands and use it to stage more sorties against the Imperial Menghean Navy, just as Admiral Charles Norton had done previously in mid 1938 until early 1940, when the ad-hoc task force based there was forced to withdraw to New Tyran after Menghean naval infantry launched an amphibious attack on the islands to shut down the naval and air base there.
In January 1942, a combined Crown Army and Royal Marine force reinforced the besieged garrison and after a four month campaign regained full control of the island chain. From there the Royal Navy could better protect its incoming convoys from IMN and IDN raids, helping tip the balance in Allied favor during the Khalistan and Naseristan campaigns.
In the middle of 1944, when the 14th Army under Field Marshall Richard Knight began to push the Axis forces out of Khalistan, the IMA and IDA started to evacuate its forces that weren't trapped in encirclements. Recently promoted Admiral Charles Norton sortied from Acheron to try and prevent the evacuation from succeeding.