Engaging at Sea Chapter

Being aboard a frigate had its excitements, but it also had its miserable moments. Lieutenant Aloc Otkerson knew there were times a frigate’s crew would hardly see action. The other miserable times would be those times of evasive action. Another would be trying to avoid your own damned depth charges. It was even worse at night while on hunts for enemy submarines. He recalled one incident he heard about while on the island of Vollantrodha. This event happened in late 1846 between the coasts of Vidothra and the Boathrin islands.

A lone destroyer went after a Nazdar U-boat after a week long battle between a fleet of Nazdar vessels against two fleets of Vestrisian ships. This lone destroyer chased a partially damaged U boat to one of the islands of Vidothra. He remembered hearing how some of the depth charges exploded prematurely bringing attention to the Destroyer. All alone for two whole days the Destroyer known as “Blue Dagger” engaged coastal guns and twelve enemy ships. She was heavily damaged by the time seven other Vestrisian destroyers and fifteen frigates came to her rescue. Casualties were eleven Nazdar ships sunk, two damaged frigates, four damaged destroyers, one sunk destroyer and three frigates lost.

Having a fleet of over 2,000 ships for over eight years of this conflict made it possible to cover the Valde Ocean, the Southern oceans, and parts of the Castarian seas. In the course of this conflict the Vestrisian fleet has lost over two hundred or so vessels along with thousands of good sailors. Most of their losses were in the Valde Ocean against the combined fleets of Nymres, Gontrella, Vidothra, Vodwania, the Nazdar and the Gantronese.

Lieutenant Otkerson served six years in the Vestrisian Navy aboard the VNS “Golden Mace” whose crew and hull survived the heaviest fighting in the sea warfare. He stood in the bridge of the frigate command center aka control room 1) with three officers and four of the crewmen who were acting as back up pilots. Captain Jekar Milestones was in the command center of the frigate with the other pilots who were steering the ship. Aloc turned to his left to gaze outside at the ocean between Al-Dadoria and Gaskouth Ladai. The Lieutenant saw seventeen frigates, twelve destroyers, and six battle ships all spread out in the ocean. On the other side he saw thirteen frigates, eight destroyers, and one battle ship. His gaze turned to the ships in front of the Golden Mace. In front were twenty frigates and between them and those up front were fourteen destroyers and at least three of their Cruisers. He knew they had over ten destroyers and another sixteen frigates behind them.

Under the command of Kraken Viketh Silver-Guard who apparently had orders from Admiral John Edestar. These orders said to engage the Gantronese fleet from the south while another one hundred of their own ships attacks the Nazdar fleet from the North. They each will attack while scores of Shark (Ravid?) U-boats (submarines) sink any enemy vessels that try flanking or ambushing them as they retreat. Over the radio the crew of the Golden Mace overheard that the fleets up north routed the Gontrellans and Vodwanians. The enemy routed while the one hundred ships heading towards the Nazdar defended two islands from the enemy assaults. From what he recalled from reports they had over one hundred and fifty ships protecting the Vullanese half of Boathrin. There were now well over 2,500 ships in the Vestrisian navy since the production tried to keep up with their losses. Vestrisia ended up with spare ships which were filled up with new citizens and mostly elf sailors. Other ships were given to their smaller allies to the south and some neutral nations.

These new citizens were young people who had reached the age of eighteen. Many of their new citizens were able to fill the crews of these ships along with the elves who knew the seas. Seeing these young recruits reminded Aloc of his first days as a new recruit in the Vestrisian Navy. Lieutenant Otkerson served in the Vestrisian Navy for six years. It was in the year 1843 when he entered his first battle. This Frigate and hundreds of other ships engaged the fleets of Vullan, Gontrella, and Nymres for over four years. During those years the Vestrisian fleets fought between Adroth, Narice, Bosantra, Vascel, Eusvame, Mothgar, Izvar, and the main Vullanese islands. In the years of 44 and 45 the Nazdar and Gantronese stepped in. Their battles with the Nazdar fleets centered around Adrath, Norice, Loce, and Asnar. His involvement in the battles involved attacking or defending ports and landing sites.

Their sea battles with the Gantronese were off the coasts of Gaskouth Ladai and south of the Boathrin Kingdom. In each battle they forced their way close to the coasts of Galaia and Zekmar. Despite the numbers of Gantronese and Nazdar ships the Vestrisians reigned supreme for two years. In the years of 47 and 48 their forces were beaten back in the south. The Gantronese pushed them out of Zekmar, and Dorntalla while taking prisoners in the process. A large number of their own ships were seized along with a few hundred thousand men.

“It looks as though we are engaging the Gantronese again eh Lieutenant Otkerson.” Another Lieutenant said to Aloc drawing his attention from the windows. On the right of the window on the left was Lieutenant Kyle Valentius. He was an average height Zedarrian from Zedarkhaand with a single blonde blade of hair sticking out of his cap. Valentius had served for six years alongside Aloc. Both of them served their Captain well and hoped to succeed him.

“Let’s hope the Vanguards can make port aboard those cargo ships.” Aloc Otkerson responded as he turned to the right. Behind the thirteen frigates, eight destroyers, and the one battleship were the cargo ships headed for the island of Kollarnis. As the ships neared the areas of engagement the Captain himself joined them at the bridge control room. At the same time six frigates four destroyers broke away from the fleet.

“Okay defensive squadron is leaving with the cargo ships prepare this ship for battle now!” Captain Milestones ordered and the Golden Mace sprung to life with active crews. Sailors rushed to their stations and others prepared the Golden Mace’s four x 4.2 inch guns and her three anti-aircraft guns. Alarms sounded as the Golden Mace’s crew readied for battle. The ship turned with the vessels around her as they drew close to the enemy’s positions.

“With the Cruisers Argrithe Greymir, the Maccontis, and the Carganhi we should crush the Gantronese fleet. Along with the fire power of this summoned fleet of course.” Captain Milestones boasted with confidence as he watched the ships up front fire on the enemy. Otkerson witnessed the fleet begin to spread out as they attacked the Gantronese ships. Destroyers, Frigates fired their turrets as Battleships’ Zenarrad, Ezonel, Tioban, Queen Lizan, Cutlass, and the Complication turned their five turrets. Two of the turrets had 16.5 inch barrels and the other three had 12.7 inch barrels. Each battleship was armed with about six to eight 4.2 inch guns, nine anti-aircraft guns, six mounted armored machine guns.

As the turrets of their battleships turned the Golden Mace and three other vessels maneuvered around their neighboring ships. Golden Mace, Saber, Shiothe, and the Destroyer Chieftess made their way up to the front where the bulk of the fleet was firing shells on the enemy. From what Otkerson witnessed it appeared the Gantronese fleet had no chance. Flames and smoke rose up from various vessels that sustained hit from Vestrisian ships. He watched two Gantronese vessels slowly sink to the bottom as one or two more exploded. His own ship fired on the Gantronese as did the other three ships that maneuvered with the Golden Mace.

Officer Mel Crestforce communicated with the gunners near the bow of the ship while Itham Silverclaw communicated with those at the stern and center. Lieutenant Otkerson watched the Gantronese struggle to prepare for engagement as the Vestrisians bombarded them. As several minutes passed the Gantronese seemed to have prepared for battle. Already seventeen Gantronese vessels were smoking, in flames, retreating, or sinking. The Lieutenant saw the Gantronese guns open fire in retaliation against the Vestrisians.

Three Vestrisian vessels were hit, but not enough damage was done. They exchanged fire with the massed Gantronese fleet for several hours as ships on both sides received hits. Otkerson watched hundreds of projectiles hit the ocean splashing water all over the place. Some more ships were hit while the Gantronese suffered more losses. He saw two of their frigates and three Destroyers sustained plenty of damage. All five ships pulled back letting the ones in the center replace them. Those still at the front maneuvered themselves to avoid enemy fire. The Golden Mace and Shiothe’s Child moved in place of two of those vessels while four Destroyers circled around Battleship Queen Lizan. Each vessel blasted away in the attempts to overwhelm and hit the Gantronese fleet.

He turned to see Captain Milestones looking through binoculars and ripped them from his face with a terrified look. The Captain turned to Lieutenant Otkerson with an urgent expression. “Lieutenant…Lieutenant Otkerson… go out there with our rescue boats and life rafts. There are sailors out there who need rescuing. Go out there and rescue them! That’s an order!” Captain Milestones barked the orders at the Lieutenant.

“Aye, aye sir!” Otkerson yelled and saluted. He exited the bridge with crewmen Jade Elfsun, and Norros Bladestar following him. The three sailors marched down the steps to the armament room and the quarters of the rescue teams. As they descended the deck to the lower decks he heard Officer Mel Crestforce’s voice over the loud speakers.

“Attention, attention all available rescue staff and operators prepare the rescue boats and life rafts immediately. Rescue teams join Lieutenant Otkerson for a rescue mission.” Mel’s voice went away replaced by alarms, feet scampering on metal platforms, guns shooting and the sounds of the boats being released.

When they came to the armament room they found the rescue teams were ready for the rescue mission. Rescue officer Wyllers handed Otkerson a life jacket and a weapon. He put his on as did the others and the assembled rescue teams rushed outside to the outer deck. Lieutenant Otkerson split the rescue teams into six groups and sent three of those groups to other boats at starboard. He turned to see rope ladders dropped over Portside where the operators lowered the rescue boats. Before Otkerson went down the ladder one of the staff got his attention.

“Everything you’ll need is those boats sir. Including a rocket launcher in case any gun boats come after you!” the staff told him.

“Thank you hope to see you after this!” he responded to the staff and saluted him.

“May the goddesses get your through this day!” the staff member yelled back as Otkerson descended the ladders. He dropped down on to the boat with three others.

“Alright boys get this boat in gear and lets rescue some sailors.” Otkerson hollered above all the noise as one of the rescue members cranked the engines on. The Lieutenant and six other boats made their way across the ocean in the middle of the sea battle. He counted down the seconds it took to reach halfway to the survivors. The Lieutenant looked through his own binoculars to get a look at how the survivors were doing. Most of them floated in the water thanks to their life vests. Aloc observed the group of survivors as they made their way to them. When he took the binoculars away from his eyes he noticed more boats were joining them in the rescue.

Within a minute it grew dangerous as the enemy started to fire on the rescue boats. A few rounds blasted the water around the boats. It was a nightmare to become a target for enemy vessels, but fortunately three of the enemy vessels were hit hard. He saw the smoke rise from the vessels as they drew closer to the survivors. As the first boat came to the survivors thick smoke and the haze of battle enshrouded the sea around the sailors. Lieutenant Otkerson’s boat came to fifteen survivors who were on the verge of drowning. He reached out a hand for one of the stronger sailors to help him get the others on board. Over a dozen rescue boats came to pick up the survivors.

“Thank you sir, I’ll help you with the others!” a survivor said as Aloc pulled him up. The other rescue teams pulled men out of the water as the fleets exchanged fire.

“Just make sure we get all of them!” Otkerson yelled over the guns.

“Yes sir! Captain, sir, Captain Khelonson over here! Boys swim over here!” the rescued sailor shouted at a group of sailors swimming towards the boats. Otkerson rescued about thirteen more men when the Captain reached their boat. By then most of the survivors were on board the rescue boats. A few began to head back to their ships while others searched for more survivors due to the rescued survivors. He grabbed the hand of the Captain Khelonson who looked up at him. Other men helped Aloc bring the Captain on board. Captain Khelonson smiled at Aloc.

“Thank the gods for you. Who are you sailor?” The Captain asked Aloc happy to be rescued from the sea.

“Lieutenant Aloc Otkerson of the frigate Golden Mace captained by Milestones who sent me to rescue you paddling dogs!” Aloc replied with a relieved feeling.

Captain Khelenson nodded then took a seat with his other crewmembers. Otkerson used his binoculars to see if there were any more survivors. He scanned the ocean as best he could and saw something he dreaded. In the haze he spotted lights of gun boats, the Gantronese Krua-Toan gun boats. A team of four gunboats was hunting down the survivors.

“Get ready for company! Get down everyone get down!” Aloc yelled at those in earshot of him. As the others ducked down Lieutenant Otkerson picked up the rocket launcher and launched the projectile at the leading gunboat. He watched the projectile reach the leading gun boat causing a tremendous amount of damage to the gun boats. The gun boat exploded and began to sink. It was not long before others fired on the gun boat to get them off their trail.

“Elfsun, get us out of here!” Otkerson hollered and the rescue boats went straight for the frigate.