Battle of the Olichara Gulf

Battle of the Olichara Gulf
Part of the Refusal War
A Royalist Nephele flies over the burning HMS Sara Vazzana.
Date 18 October 1985 Location Olichara Gulf, Scitaria Result Cacertian/Warden Victory
Belligerents
Cacerta Wardens	Royalists
Commanders and leaders
Lavinia Doria	Neven Zlatarev
Units involved
Task Force Aspis	441st Fighter Squadron
Strength
Cacerta 2 battleships 3 cruisers 4 destroyers 2 frigates 6 aircraft Wardens 1 fighter	8 fighters
Casualties and losses
1 battleship damaged 1 cruiser damaged 1 destroyer damaged 1 fighter shot down	5 fighters shot down 1 fighter damaged

The Battle of the Olichara Gulf was a naval and air engagement between Task Force Aspis of the Cacertian Royal Navy and aircraft of the Royalist Air Corps during the Refusal War. Eight Nephele fighter aircraft of the 441st Fighter Squadron attempted to strike Cacertian ships in the Gulf of Olichara, approximately 45 kilometers from the coast of Scitaria. The attack damaged three Cacertian ships for the loss of five Royalist aircraft.

Background

Despite the turbulent historical relationship between the Republic of Syara and the Cacertian Empire, the Cacertian Government had elected to support the Wardens during the Syaran Civil War in the hopes of gaining a strategic partner in north-west Siduri. Initial Cacertian support for the Wardens was largely limited to logistical support, but after the election of 1984 Cacerta increased its efforts by deploying Task Force Aspis of the Cacertian Royal Navy, along with other assets of the Cacertian Armed Forces to provide further support, including naval and air power. During the Warden Coastal Offensive Cacertian ships had provided fire support for Warden ground forces. Cacertian involvement had heightened tensions due to Acrean and Ossorian support for the Royalists. The Gulf of Olichara, which is located near the Warden strongholds of Slocova, Iani, and Moddra, had been targetted by naval forces of Acrea and Ossoria early in the war, but both forces had withdrew from the Scitarian coast after Warden forces began firing on hostile vessels with anti-ship missiles supplied by Cacerta and Tennai.

In the Autumn of 1985 Warden and Royalist forces were clashing in northern Scitaria, and Task Force Aspsis sailed into the Gulf to supply the Wardens with naval support with land-attack cruise missiles and surface-to-surface munitions. In September the Cacertian fleet had sailed within 10 kilometers of the coast to launch missiles against Royalist positions near Molochansk, which aided the Wardens in recapturing the city. Between 10-13 October Cacertian air and naval forces had also launched attacks against Royalist forces east of Ghinnari, killing 27 Royalist troops and wounded more than 200 more. Brigadier General Nicolaos Gjuricik, the commander of Royalist air forces in northern Syara, ordered an attack on the Cacertian fleet, believing that the loss of one of the task force's battleships would compel the Cacertians to withdraw. Lt. Colonel Neven Zlatarev of the 441th Fighter Squadron was selected to lead a strike on the Cacertian fleet, which was planned for 16 October, but had to be delayed due to bad weather.

The Cacertian task force, commanded by Admiral Lavinia Doria , had been under fire twice before, but largely had not faced directed attacks from Royalist air power. The task force consisted of two battleships, the Empress Elliana-class HMS Sara Vazzana, the Andrea Doria-class HMS Natalia Barberi, three cruisers (Minerva-class HMS Sostene and Kina, Valentia-class HMS Tiburzio), four destroyers (Grecale-class HMS Therama and Casondria, Verosetta-class HMS Borni and Giarta), and two frigates (Lounde-class HMS Setundra and Kerathea). Air support for the task force was provided by a flight of six NSF-12 Albatross, commanded by Captain Corrado Fiesi with the callsign of Aquilone flight. An additional Warden Nephele, flown by a Syaran pilot Zvonimir Kosanović and a Cacertian Radar intercept officer Lt. Adrianna Fioravanti, also provided assistance.

Course of the battle

Lt. Colonel Zlatarev's eight Nepheles, known as Delta Flight, took off from an airfield south of Trunin on 18 October around 0730 local time and headed north-east. The flight path for the Royalists took them across the Mysian Peninsula before moving into the northern portion of the Olichara Gulf, where they would pivot south towards the task force. The flight flew low to the earth to avoid detection, with only one aircraft keeping their radar on. The flight was nearly aborted after less than 15 minutes when the aircraft thought they flew over a Warden air defense site, but it proved to be a decoy. The flight was nearly aborted again when the lead Nephele detected an active radar signature, but this proved to be a ground decoy a Warden air defense team had set up and activated thinking the incoming aircraft were on a SEAD (suppression of enemy air defense) mission. The flight continued westward for 270 kilometers, passing south of Trenlica. The flight managed to avoid detection by Warden air defense crews by flying low to the ground and following roadways, which Warden forces avoided. Warden air defense crews typically only kept their radars on during active operations, and usually only for 15-30 second intervals to avoid detection.

The Royalist flight met the coast shortly before 0800 and began swinging in an arc towards the task force's estimated position. The flight was divided into two groups of four aircraft each; four aircraft carried anti-ship missiles for targeting the Cacertian ships, while the other four carried air-to-air missiles for overwatch. The primary targets for the Royalists were the two Cacertian battleships and three cruisers, which provided most of the firepower for the task force. At 0811 the flight vectored towards the fleet, the four designated anti-ship Nepheles dropping to less than 1,000 feet while the four overwatch fighters flew between 2,000-3,000 feet. At the time of the vector, Captain Fiesi's six Albatro's were 40 kilometers to the task force's south-east, with Kosanović's Nephele 18 kilometers behind.

The RN-RRAV air search radar aboard the Sara Vazzana, the most powerful fielded by the task force, detected the Nepheles at a distance of 140 kilometers. Captain Doria was alerted quickly, but it wasn't until the aircraft were just over 100 kilometers out that the Cacertians were able to identity the four overwatch Nepheles. The lower flying anti-ship Nepheles weren't identified until 70 kilometers out. Doria directed Fiesi to intercept, with Kosanović joining. A typical tactic of the Cacertians was to use Warden Nepheles as miniature AWACS owing to its powerful radar. Niesi, unaware of the four anti-ship armed Nepheles, vectored for an intercept on the lead Royalist Nephele, Delta 3.

Delta flight's four anti-ship Nepheles carried Diekplous anti-ship missiles, which had a maximum range of 50 kilometers. The size of the Cacertian battleships however were larger targets than the missiles were originally designed for. Delta 5 activated his radar at 60 kilometers out and closing, which alerted the Cacertians that there were more than four Nepheles. Doria informed Niesi, but the Albatro's radar had trouble detecting the low flying aircraft. Delta flight detected Aquilone flight first and Delta 2 fired off an air-to-air missile at the distance of 50 kilometers, which Aquilone flight evaded. Delta flight fired off three more missiles, none of which scored a hit. Zlatarev ordered Delta's flight four overwatch fighters to split to take Cacertian attention away from the lower four.

The anti-ship carrying Nepheles launched their first savlo against the two Cacertian battleships at a range of approximately 45 kilometers. Of the four Diekplous fired, two failed to lock on and fell to the sea. The third was targeted and tracked by the Custode CIWS aboard the Sara Vazzana, but the missile ultimately failed to detonate and instead smacked off the side of the ship's superstructure. The final Diekplous proved more effective, hitting the battleship near her second RN-MBIII turret. The resulting explosion detonated some of the ammunition near the turret, causing a large fireball. Doria immediately ordered the battleship to turn hard to port towards the incoming flight of Royalist aircraft to present a slimmer target profile.

The other Nepheles launched a second volley of six Diekplous. The Tiburzio and Sostene attempted to engage the incoming missiles with defensive countermeasures, one of which succeeded in destroying a Diekplous. Another Diekplous hit the ‘’Sostene’’ but failed to detonate, while two of the Diekplous failed to lock on and flew past the ships before crashing into the sea. The other two Diekplous succeeded in hitting the Tiburzio, one of which failed to detonate. The other punched a hole across the bow and rendered the forward armaments inoperable, though the blast was above the waterline and therefore the ship was not in immediate threat of sinking. The Cacertian frigates, finally able to track the Nepheles, opened fire with a volley of surface-to-air missiles, forcing the Nepheles to evade. The four Royalist craft split up into pairs, which caused an error within the targeting software of the Casondria, preventing a firing solution despite being in the best position to down two of the Nepheles.

The Nephele pilots gunning for the Cacertian ships continued to close the distance, but by now the diminished distance between the Syaran planes and the Cacertian ships meant that the anti-air weapons systems onboard the Therama and Casondria to engage, with both firing a pair of surface-to-air missiles. None recorded a hit, but the four Nepheles split into groups of two, one group heading directly south-east to try another run at the cruisers while the other twon banked west to swing around for another pass against the battleships that were the center of the Cacertian fleet.

In the air, Niesi vectored Aquilone flight to intercept the air-to-air Nepheles, closing to under 30 kilometers. Delta 3, the lead Nephele, opened fire at 25 kilometers with a single missile, and was joined a few seconds later by missiles from Delta 1, 3, and 4. Aquilone flight broke out into evasive maneuvers, but Aquilone 3 piloted by Lt. Cosimo Viari was hit and forced to eject. Aquilone flight attempted to reform, but a second volley of missiles forced them to disperse once more. By now though the two flights were less than 20 kilometers and closing, and Aquilone 2 was able to fire off a missile at the lead Nephele.

The four Nepheles broke into two groups and split east and west, Zlatarev moving west with Delta 2 while Delta 3 and 4 went east. Niesi called out for Aquilone 2 and 4 to follow him and take on the western pair while Aquilone 5 and 6 vectored east, but interference from the four anti-ship Nepheles and missile fire from the fleet confused Aquilone 5, who instead went after the western Nepheles. Upon realizing that they were outnumbered (and at increasingly close range where the Cacertian Albatros were in their element), Zlatarev ordered Delta 2 to break contact by moving swinging north while he tried to circle back and hit the Cacertian flight. Niesi and Aquilone 2 continued to pursue Delta 2, which began heading north. At a range of 11 kilometers Niesi fired two air-to-air missiles, which missed, but Aqulione's second missile launch succeeded in downing the Royalist aircraft. Aquilone 4 pursued Zlatarev but was unable to secure a missile lock before the Zlatarev had managed to turn around and vector towards Aquilone 4, firing at a range of 12 kilometers. The missile failed to lock, but Aquilone 5, which had mistakenly pursued the western Nepheles, was able to lock up and down Alatarev with two missile launches.

Delta 3 and 4 had moved east in an effort to draw apart the Cacertian flight, but found themselves pursued by Aquilone 6 only, with Kosanović's Nephele vectoring behind from the south. Kosanović, flying with Lt. Adrianna Fioravanti as RIO, recorded details of the engagement.

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): Two moving outbound, vector 90 on my radial.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): I'm at 30 K to their west.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): They're at angels 6 (altitude 6,000).

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): I'm going high cover on you, port side.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Trailers on our nose now, range 26 K.

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): Watch for separation.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): You got the second one?

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): No lock.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Bank starboard and vector 30 on radial.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): I'm at angels 6, level with trailer.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Master arm one, strike 1 ready.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Bandit separation! (The two Royalist Nepheles have split up)

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Track leader and stay behind, 6.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Tracking leader, he's banking port, north at 340.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Trailer is south-east, turning hard starboard, 350.

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): Jinking.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): He's translating below my canopy, keeping nose on.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Keep the nose on him.

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): 15 K and closing, select strike 2.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Lock him up, lock him up!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): He's going low.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Say your angels.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): I'm at angels 5.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): No his angels.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): He's at angels 3 and descending.

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): He's on my nose.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Lock up, strike 2! Strike 2!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): I don't have a tone.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Stay with him!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): Rolling right.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Select strike 2! Shoot him! Shoot him!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): (In Syaran) Не можам да немам заебана брава! (I can't, I don't have a fucking tone!)

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Got lock, tone's up, firing strike 2!

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Hit?

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Negative.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): He's going low, angels 2.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Strike 2, Strike 2!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): I still got him.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Strike 2 when ready!

Dagger 1 Pilot-COM (Kosanović): Locked up, firing strike 2! (The missile hits the Delta 4, which crashes).

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): He's pulling hard starboard.

Dagger 1 RIO-COM (Adrianna Fioravanti): Keep him on your nose.

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Locked, firing strike 2. (The missile hits Delta 3, which explodes).

Aquilone 6-COM (Antonia Ghezzo): Bandit down!

While the air battle was still ongoing, Delta's 5-8 attempted to continue the strike on the Cacertian fleet, shielded partially from airborne radar by flying low to the surface. Delta 5 and 6 swung west to get a better avenue of attack on the Cacertian battleships, approaching from 20 kilometers westward of the main fleet. Delta 7 and 8 continued their approach aimed at the Cacertian cruisers, firing off an additional four Diekplous. One of the Diekplous was intercepted by a defensive missile launched from the HMS Kina, while two were distracted by electronic countermeasures and the fourth failed to lock on and fell into the sea. Down to one missile each, Delta 7 fired from the HMS Soestene which failed to keep lock, while Delta 8 was forced to break lock to avoid incoming SAMs.

Delta 5 and 6 pressed their attack on the two Cacertian battleships, firing off two Diekplous each. Two of the missiles were evaded by countermeasures, while one struck the Natalia Barberi but failed to detonate after the impact. The final Diekplous hit the Sara Vazzana and detonated above the waterline, causing serious damage to the ships' stern. Incoming fire from the Cacertian fleet forced both Nepheles to divert. Delta 5 was struck by a SAM and crashed into the sea just 300 meters aft of the HMS Setundra, while Delta 6 reoriented to fire off another Diekplous towards the HMS Setundra. Captain Loredana Albergotti, commanding the frigate, ordered an immediate hard turn to starboard, which successfully caused the missile to "bounce"; the impact caused the warhead to skid across the hull and directed most of the explosive energy towards the sea, destroying some of the hull's railings and damaging some onboard systems but failing to sink the Giarta.

Either realizing that their comrades in the air had been shot down, or simply unwilling to risk another pass at the ship, the remaining three Nepheles regrouped and proceeded to fly east back towards Scitaria. Captain Doria aboard the Sara Vazzana attempted to orient Aquilone flight to intercept, but the flight mistakenly took Dagger 1 for an enemy Nephele and nearly resulted in a friendly fire incidident. By 0850 the Royalists had broken contact and were able to return home safely, despite Cacertian attempt to alert Warden air defense forces along their expected path.

Aftermath

Overall, the engagment is largely seen as a failure for the Royalists. Despite substantial damage to the Sara Vazzana, Tiburzio, and Giatra, the Cacertian fleet remained operational and on station. The fleet did eventually withdraw south the next week, but it was only a temporary action to regroup and resupply before the task force returned to the Gulf. The Cacertians continued to supply fire support for the Wardens in Scitaria, who eventually drove all Royalist forces out of the Realm.

The event was nevertheless of major significance to the Cacertian Royal Navy, who realized the danger posed to ships by airpower. The failure of several defensive systems, including the close-in-weapons-systems, the limitations of interceptor missiles, and the significant damage done to several ships resulted in a number of overhauls to Cacertian naval defenses and system development. The engagement also demonstrated the need for airborne early warning and control for proper fleet defense, something the Cacertians had lacked owing to mission constraints. Although the Royalists would launch additional strikes against Cacertian ships over the course of the war, none of them proved successful enough to warrant Cacertian withdrawal.