Akawhk Crisis

Akawhk Crisis
Part of the Ochoccola War and the Great Game
The Mascyllary battleship MSS Alden fires her 16-inch guns in response to Cuthish fire on 24 April
Date 24 April – 5 May 1994 (1 week and 4 days) Location Akawhk, Ochoccola Result Inconclusive Mutual withdrawal of strategic forces in Alvinia Agreement with Cuthland pertaining Mascylla's neutrality in the Ochoccola War Permanent forward deployment of 2nd Carrier Group at Naval Base Akawhk Marthasbucht Missile Scare Rekindled Cuthish–Mascyllary enmity and Great Game tensions
Belligerents
Cuthland Supported by: Mageiros League List Rovina	Akawhk Mascylla Supported by: BDTA List Falland Lavaria Sarrac
Commanders and leaders
Cuthland	Lukas III Michael Meilke Alexander Schuman Norbert Rüdt Karl Friedrich Maiberd Kurt von der Blücher
Casualties and losses
HMS Stenmouth damaged HMS Meerlan damaged 1 X shot down 15 military personnel killed	MSS Friedrich Hainnecke damaged and capsized 26 military personnal killed
3 Mascyllary civilians killed

The Akawhk Crisis (Hesurian: Akokh-Krise), also referred to as the 1994 Alvinian Crisis (Hesurian: Alwinische Krise) and Godrican Scare (Hesurian: Godrika-Schreck), was an approximately one week-long military confrontation that took place from 24 April to 5 May 1994 between Cuthland and Mascylla along with Mascyllary Akawhk during the Ochoccola War. The intense standoff was precipitated by Cuthish military action in the Alvinian Sea and surrounding Akawhk territorial waters after the Battle of Lyndon Ridge on 21 April and Battle of Pinhoti on X April, a brief and sudden climactic engagement between Cuthish and Mascyllary forces deployed to the region on the night of 24 April, and a continued state of heightened alert by both sides in the subsequent week.

In response to the Cuthish naval invasion of the Ochoccola Republic on 8 April at Oktamulke Beach, Mascyllary Prime Minister Michael Meilke ordered the deployment of the 2nd Carrier Group, then led by the Lütjens-class aircraft carrier MSS Hermann von Martinsen under the command of senior Admiral Karl Friedrich Maiberd, to Akawhk and Alvinia at large on 10 April, with the official intention of "policing international waters" and "deterring any transgression against the law of war." Tensions came to a head when the fleet arrived at Akawhk on 22 April, and routinely patrolled the Alvinia Sea some 30 km (18.6 mi) off Socapatoy and the Ochoccolan coast, directly hindering Cuthish naval and aerial activity. While Mascylla was officially not a party of the conflict, it secretly provided Ochoccolan forces with military-grade equipment and financial aid as well as covert DSA operatives serving as foreign internal defense advisors, and supplied them with signals and geospatial intelligence.

On the night of 24 April, at 01:49 a.m. local time, the Royal Cuthish Air Force destroyed a supposed convoy of Mascyllary vehicles without insignia operating near Pinhoti through an airstrike by X attack aircraft, killing 17 Army and Marines service members; the circumstances surrounding the initial attack remain a matter of dispute between the Cuthish and Mascyllary government viewpoints. The Hernach-class guided-missile destroyer MSS Friedrich Hainnecke, which accompanied and supported the convoy as part of the 2nd Carrier Group, swiftly returned anti-aircraft fire and launched multiple Sekara cruise missiles to destroy the runways of Cuthish-controlled Widdelton International Airport. A 30-minute intense exchange of fire ensued, severly damaging the capsized Friedrich Hainnecke through fire by the cruiser HMS Stenworth, striking a direct hit on HMS Meerlan, and killing some 9 Mascyllary and 14 Cuthish sailors. Because the naval engagement took place in a small and crammed area just 4.2 km (2.6 mi) off the shoreline, the CIWS of MSS Alden mistook chaffs fired by Friedrich Hainnecke for protection as legitimate targets and several friendly fire stray rounds from the firing further damaged the tilting vessel, amplifying the initial confusion among Mascyllary and Cuthish commanders. With the politically volatile situation becoming increasingly apparent, the 2nd Carrier Group immediately retreated by early morning, and in response, Michael Meilke convened an emergency meeting of the Security Committee on 25 April.

Several days of tension followed as the public in nearby Mascyllary Akawhk feared a potential military response by Cuthish forces in Ochoccola. Governor Kurt von der Blücher attempted to keep panic buying and peace demonstrations-turned riots at bay in what is now called the "Marthasbucht Missile Scare", while large-scale demonstrations advocating for de-escalation quickly took to the streets in both countries. On 30 May, Cuthland deployed a X nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear SLBMs to the Alvinian Sea, and on the following day, its presence was due to be matched by a Mascyllary Pritnitz-class submarine with an equal stock of weapons traversing the Agric Ocean. Simultaneously, Meilke publically threatened to invoke the BDTA's commitment to mutual assistence and the casus foederis, citing the casualties suffered as evidence for an hostile act of war against Mascylla. After lengthy and careful consideration, and with the onset of the Battle of Socapatoy by 4 May, Meilke and X reached an agreement to withdraw nuclear weapons from Alvinia and pursue diplomatic negotiations. On 5 May, the crisis was formally ended. However, the political and cultural fallout of the Akawhk Crisis as well as the outcome of the Ochoccola War itself re-ignited Great Game tensions between Cuthland and Mascylla and transformed the political and security landscape of Alvinia, and the events surrounding it remain controversial to this day.

Progression

Standoff

Michael Meilke holds the press conference unveiling the Alvinian night-time events of 24 April to the public four hours later.