Battle of Wittelsbach Bank
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| Battle of Wittelsbach Bank August 29 Incident | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of August Revolution | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Arthurista |
 Liothidia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Archibald Troubridge |
Franz von Reuter Paul Mueller | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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3 battleships 3 battlecruisers 1 seaplane carrier 8 light cruisers 12 destroyers |
2 battleships 3 battlecruisers 4 pre-dreadnoughts 8 light cruisers 18 destroyers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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2 battlecruisers sunk 1 battleship damaged 2 cruisers damaged 1,549 killed 455 wounded |
1 battlecruiser sunk 1 pre-dreadnought sunk 2 cruisers damaged 1,196 killed 335 wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Wittelsbach Bank (Liothidian: 29. August Vorfall, the 29 August Incident) was a naval battle fought by Arthurista's Commonwealth Navy under Admiral XX, against the Liothidian People's Navy under Vice-Admiral Franz von Reuter during the August Revolution. The battle saw a major clash of both fleets in the former of parallel lines, before the Commonwealth Navy used extensive maneuvering. It was also preceded by a close pursuit of the HHS Irresistable and HMS Hilburn which were attacked in Vechta port by a torpedo boat on August 25. It was the largest naval battle and full-scale clash of battleships of the 20th century for some years.
From June 1917 until August 12 1918, Liothidia had been gripped by revolution, which overthrew the monarchy and established the world's first socialist state. On August 1, the Imperial Liothidian Navy mutinied en-mass in support of the revolutionaries. On August 13, the ILN was unofficially renamed to the People's Navy and firmly embraced the new regime, however, many of its senior staff officers were either imprisoned or killed by the new government, forcing them to elevate lower-ranking officers to senior command positions. The purges also resulted in a radicalisation of many ship-crews. Owing to historical closeness in both familial and cultural areas, during the final months of the revolution, there were over 2,500 Arthuristan citizens residing in Liothidia. Eager to evacuate its nationals, in light of reports of wealthy civilians being lynched or imprisoned by the revolutionary government, the Arthuristan government dispatched the Invictus-class battlecruiser HHS Irresistible and the Town-class light cruiser HHS Hilburn to Vechta.
The two ships arrived in Vechta on August 22 1918, where they ferried awaiting Arthuristan nationals from the quayside. The arrival of the warships caused much anger within Vechta and the People's Navy, during this time the revolutionary government had yet to assume full-responsibility over government, denying both Arthurista and Liothidia an official channel of communication. On August 24, shortly after dawn, a Liothidian torpedo boat approached the anchored vessels at high speed. At 06.44am, the torpedo boat fired two torpedoes toward the HMS XX, one missed and the other struck the hull but failed to detonate. The vessels telegraphed Loweport to report the attack and was ordered to raise anchor and make an emergency sail back home. At 07.03am, the same Liothidian boat returned but was sunk by the cruiser HHS Hilburn, killing all 74 onboard. In response, the People's Navy hastily dispatched the II Battle-squadron (II Kampfgeschwader) to under Franz von Reuter, who was promoted from captain to Vizeadmiral. The II Kampfgeschwader was ordered to pursue the two Arthuristan vessels and sink them.
The II Kampfgeschwader encountered the Commonwealth Navy's Force Z, a contingency task group which had been dispatched to back up the Vectha evacuation ships in case they ran into difficulties. The resulting battle was tactically indecisive, although the Arthuristan force suffered heavier casualties owing to their deployment of first-generation battlecruisers, whose design faults became apparent during the battle.
On the morning of 29 August, Troubridge encountered Von Reuter's scouting force, much to the surprise of Von Reuter. In a running battle, Troubridge successfully drew the Liothidian fleet into the path of Force Z. Mistaking the scouting force for the main Liothidian fleet, Troubridge maintained his course, directly into the path of the primary Liothidian fleet, which promptly engaged Force Z at 10.10am. At 17.33pm, Von Reuter ordered his fleet to break-enagagement and sail west back to Liothidia through fear of his fleet's coal supply. Using his destroyers to launch volleys of torpedoes, Von Reuter succeeded in breaking his fleet off and pulled away into the night. Troubridge, having successfully covered the withdrawal of HHS Irresistible and HHS Hilburn, opted to pursue the II Kampfgeschwader.
Two Arthuristan and Liothidian ships sank, with a total of 2,745 deaths. After sunset, and throughout the night, Troubridge manoeuvred to cut the Liothidians off from their base, hoping to continue the battle the next morning, but under the cover of darkness Von Reuter broke through the Arthuristan light forces forming the rearguard of Force Z and returned to port.
News of the battle came as a major surprise to both countries, though the response within Liothidia was mixed and relatively muted owing to the ongoing revolutionary turmoil. In Arthurista, the general public issued demands for a declaration of war in revenge for the two battlecruisers sunk. Both sides declared victory, with the Liothidian People's Navy claiming it had avenged the G-85 torpedo boat sunk off-shore at Vechta, while the Arthuristan government and Commonwealth Navy praised Force Z for saving the Irresistible and Hilburn from "radical socialist murderous rage." The engagement though relatively small and limited did little to alter any strategy or policy, with the naval arms race between Arthurista and the former Liothidian Empire, being maintained under the new socialist government. The same time, the "August 29 Vorfall" (August 29 Incident) became a major event in Liothidian society in the immediate months, the battle merged with the mythology of the Navy, which had sparked the ultimate overthrow of the Liothidian monarchy only days prior.
Subsequent reviews commissioned by the Commonwealth Navy generated strong disagreement between supporters and critics of Troubridge concerning his performance in the battle, while significant overhauls of battlecruiser design took place in the immediate years. Debate over their performance and the significance of the battle continues to this day, while many still debate the nature of the Liothidian deployment in the first place, with many historians arguing that Von Reuter pursued the Irresistible and Hilburn without authorisation from the Liothidian revolutionary government.
