The Battle of Storm Bank

The Battle of Storm Bank was the first major engagement of the Cysien War, and was also the first major naval engagement of the 20th century, in which the Cysienese Reserve fleet was engaged and routed by combined Astrian and Astoran forces.

## Background

The Turpol War had been declared in prior months, but no active engagement had occurred between Coalition and Cysien forces.

The Cysien active fleet had been sent to blockade the Luettenburgan coast. Shore bombardment and skirmishes with the weak Lüttenberg navy were expected to occur, but no major sea engagements were expected. The intention was to prevent Astoran trade from reaching Lüttenberg in the hopes of achieving concessions in the Turpol issue.

> Reporter 1:*Admiral, what do you expect the enemy will put forth against your mighty fleet?*
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> Maxil:*My intelligence has indicated that the Luettenburgan navy is rather weak in its current state, since the enemy government has developed their airship fleet rather than their sea fleets. I beleive that because of our numerical advantage and overwhelming firepower superiority, we shall crush the enemy, and ravage his ports and shipping or trading lanes. Next?*
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> Reporter 2: *Over here admiral! What tactics do you think the enemy will use to do battle with you?*
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> Maxil: *As I have said, their small navy will rely upon their nation's slow aircraft force. So, if we develop a moving blockade, and keep moving, then our ships should be able to dodge the bombs. Other than that, their navy may try to out run our blockade, but the point is that we shall be devestating their ports and morale. That is all the questions for now, we shall do another report on return from glory!*
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> -Radio Excerpt, Cysien broadcast
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The blockade of Lüttenberg conducted by the Cysien Navy had placed some strain on Lüttenberg economic activity, and the Coalition soon sought to strike a decisive blow against Cysien forces.

While the Cysien fleet was relatively modern, bureaucratic inertia and nepotism both contributed to stunt Cysien tactical flexibility. This was particularly true of the Reserve Fleet, and under command of High Admiral Felix, individual captains were given very little authority to deviate from the official plan.

This is in contrast to the combined Astoran and Astrian forces, which executed a highly coordinated and tactically brilliant assault on the Cysien fleet, using a combination of surface combatants and submarines which effectively neutralized the Reserve Fleet for the duration of the conflict. Additionally, Astoran submarines had covertly left their ports, presumably due to equipment failures and to reach other ports, but were rather preparing to attack.

## Battle

As a part of Operation Just Cause, Cysienese ships were patrolling the Sea of Yamatai-koku to the north. These encountered Astoran patrols, however. Understanding that they were outnumbered, High Admiral Felix of the Cysienese fleet refused to close in, choosing to engage at a distance with long range fire while attempting to withdraw. He was unaware, however, that he was soon to be under attack by a submarine attack from Astoran Hunting Pack *Bloodhound*. These forces were supplemented by 3 Astrian submarines leaving from Östholm. The retreating Cysienese battlegroup quickly broke formation, despite the light damage inflicted by the submarines.

This disarray was capitalized on by Astrian 1st Fleet, which quickly engaged the Cysienese reserve fleet, soon to be joined by Astoran Battlegroup *Yennefer* led by Vice Admiral Gordon T. Edwards. Although Cysienese discipline held initially, scoring some hits against the advancing Astorans, their gunnery soon suffered and some ships were lost in this exchange. The reserve fleet had been shadowed for some time by submarines, and they had been radioing Cysienese positions to the combined fleet.

The Cysienese retreat was met by the flanking Astrian 2nd Fleet and Hunting Pack *Wolfhound*. The Cysienese fleet was uncoordinated and their crews were panicked, with gunnery calculations being thrown off by their hasty retreat. At this point the Cysienese lost two heavy cruisers to concentrated fire from the Astrian 2nd Fleet.

## Aftermath

The Cysienese reserve suffered catastrophic losses.

Cysienese strength was 1 Dreadnaught, 4 Heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers, 1 submarine and 12 support ships.
Astrian strength was 13 Ships and 3 Submarines.
Astoran strenght was 19 ships and 10 submarines.

For the Cysienese, 2 heavy cruisers and 4 light cruisers had been sunk, and virtually all other ships were damaged in the fighting. In addition, 5 auxiliary ships were sunk by the marauding U-boats.

Astrian losses were 1 Dristighetsklass and 1 Admiralklass from the 1st Fleet. The Astorans lost 2 cruisers from Battlegroup Yeneffer and 2 submarines.

After the battle, Cysien began a series of public executions of Astrian and Astoran nationals. High Admiral Felix was also reportedly replaced by Admiral Galgan as a result of his failures at Storm Bank. The battle would prompt a new highly defensive posture on the part of the Cysiens, which would in turn help contribute to their subsequent annihilation at Vertinge.

#### Lüttenberg

Even though most of the locals from the coastal villages and towns of Lüttenburg had been

evacuated, some people had opted to stay in their homes. The Cysien bombardment, possibly directed against the coastal batteries, succeeded in destroying 3 villages and two small coastal towns, including a historic town center, built in the middle ages. While only two coastal batteries were damaged, the bombardment resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, had the area not been evacuated weeks earlier, the casualties might have been tenfold. After the end of the Cysien naval threat hundreds of people from near and far voluntarily arrived to help with the rebuilding of the destroyed settlements.

As a direct response to this coastal destruction, the Lüttenberg high command greenlit the deployment of the newly introduced Donnervogel class gunship over Cysien. The new Donnervogel class gunship, named "Essiggurke des Todes" [The Pickle of Death] for it's distinct camo pattern, conducted several gun runs during which it fired countless shells at the Cysien royal palace.