Battle of the Dover Strait

* The Imperial Navy is defeated and suffers heavy losses
* The evacuating Imperial Army suffers heavy losses
* The Royal Navy sinks 3 Imperial Aircraft Carriers
* The Pride of the Imperial Fleet is sunk
* The Royal Navy becomes the dominant Navy of Europe

Combatants| * The British Empire

Commanders| * Admiral of the Fleet Phillip Mountbatten
	+ Admiral Prince Edward

Forces| Task Force West ( Adm. Charles)

1 "Elizabeth-Class" Aircraft Carrier15 "Mountbatten-Class" Destroyer 9 "Clyde-Class" Light Cruisers100 Hawker Harrier jet fighters50 Typhoon multi-role fighters Task Force East (AoF. Mountbatten)

2 "Elizabeth-Class" Aircraft Carrier5 "Mountbatten-Class" Destroyer 11 "Clyde-Class" Light Cruisers250 Hawker Harriers jet fighters50 Typhoon multi-role fighters | Imperial North Atlantic Command

 The Battle of the Dover Strait was a naval battle of the British War of Independence, fought in the Dover Strait from the 6th to the 17th of October 1998. It was fought between the Royal Navy of the British Empire and the Imperial Navy of The Imperium. The Battle was concurrent with the Battle for Dover fought by the British and Imperial Armies.

The Battle of the Dover Strait is considered to be one of the biggest Battles since the 60s. It would see the defeat of the Imperial navy, who lost 3 Aircraft Carriers one of which being the Pride of the Fleet. The Battle brought the British War of Independence to an end and it crippled the Imperial Army who were desperately trying to evacuate the slaughter at Dover. As such, the Battle has become remembered as "***The Revenge of Dunkirk***" by the British who compare it to the devastating evacuation during 1940 amidst the Imperial Assault into Northern France.

## Background

The Battle takes it roots to 1992 when a large shift occurred which would cause the British War of Independence. The Battle of the Dover Strait was only fought due to the British Naval Build-up in Scotland during the 90s. The election of Bill Clinton in 1992 would see a rise of British Independence Movements and small scale uprisings which were enough to force him to evacuate the British Isles. In doing so, two things occurred, the Irish declared Independence and The Imperium invaded and occupied The British Isles. The Imperium however, installed a Military Government under British General Nick Carter. The British Imperial Military Government allowed the British Military to finally have partial power over their country but the 15,000 Garrisoned Imperial Troops proved to be an obstacle.

General Carter deployed troops to The Gulf War in 1993 but even from the beginning of The Military Government, Carter put great focus on building a Navy as he realised in order to defeat the mighty Imperial Navy they would need a strong navy no matter the number of ships available. He made sure that at least two active Aircraft Carriers were available by declaration of Independence along with enough Fighter Aircraft and escort ships.

Carter also appointed Prince Philip and Prince Edward as Admirals of this new fleet. The 3 Men had planned that the Imperial Force if defeated on land would ultimately evacuate from Dover as a logical and strategic choice. Prior to outbreak of war, the Royal Navy was split into two fleets, Task Force West and Task Force East.

The Plan was for when the Imperial Army began their evacuation, the two fleets would pincer and ambush the Imperial Fleet and their convoy chain. The aim was to damage the Imperial Navy and hopefully trap as many Imperial Soldiers in Dover as they could and destroy the convoys heading to Dover.

During the later stages of the War, the Imperial Army had reached Dover by the 5th of September and the retreating Imperial Garrison began their evacuation as 15,000 Imperial Soldiers moved in from the Imperial Fleet. This 15,000 Force was an invasion force as Behrmann wanted to recapture Southern England for more reasonable negotiation terms. On the 9th of September, Carter's force broke the attack and begin withdrawing to London when Eastman's Force arrived and prevented a fall of Hastings. the 1st Army then reorganised at Canterbury to defend the City.

The Two Armies then launched an offensive on the Imperial Line and forced them back closer to Dover on the 13th. It was at this point ,under the command of Admiral Prince Edward and his Father Admiral Prince Phillip, the two fleets left the Naval Base Clyde and Edward sailed south and Phillip sailed North to travel around Britain. By October, the fighting on the frontline had halted but the Two fleets were in position.

## The Battle

Unknown to The Imperial Fleet, The Royal Navy had perfect aerial strike range on the fleet. On the 5th of October, General Carter's Forces fell back to Canterbury to draw The Imperial Forces further inland and Eastman's Force now supported by Hadfield's fell further to Brighton. The Royal Navy broke radio silence and ordered the Sea Harriers to be scrambled.

At 2 am on the 6th of October, 350 British Hawker Harrier and 200 British Typhoons descended on The Imperial Fleet. By the time the Imperial Escort Ships had realised what was happening, 3 Squadrons of Harriers had began an attack run on the INS Goliath and several other Harrier Squadrons had sunk several escort destroyers. Within minutes, The Imperial Fleet opened anti-air fire on the British Aircraft, illuminating the sky with tracer rounds.

During the opening strike of the Battle, the INS Goliath and INS Citadel had both received fatal hits. 3 Destroyers and 4 Light Cruisers were destroyed during the opening strike. The INS Goliath would sink at 05:23am on the 6th taking over 800 lives, but it was enough time to deploy several squadrons of Hades Air superiority Fighters . The Citadel would soon follow at 06:01am also being able to deploy aircraft.

For the whole of the morning of the 6th, a Great Dogfight broke out above Dover between the British Harriers and Typhoons and the Hm-Hades. The British were heavily outnumbered but managed to hold their own against The Imperial Airforce. The Dogfight would be over by the early afternoon and the British Aircraft were forced to return to their ships regularly during the dogfights.

The Imperial Generals decided to begin a full evacuation after watching the INS Goliath sink. The now weakened Imperial Force began rapidly retreating to Dover in order to get on one of the remaining Imperial Transport Ships to return to Calais.

During this from the 7th to the 11th, the Royal Navy continued to hammer into The Imperial Fleet who had formed a corridor to protect the Convoys. The Royal Airforce had dominated the Imperial Airforce who had lost most of their aircraft by this point. Two of the Aircraft Carriers had retreated for repairs with one being sunk on the 11th during the retreat leaving a single aircraft carrier, The INS Aerial Defender , a modernised 1950 Aircraft Carrier.

The Royal Navy continued to harass the Imperial Corridor and began targeting the Convoys. By the 12th, The Royal Navy had outnumbered the Imperial Navy. With reports that the British Army had stormed Dover on the 8th, The Royal Navy began moving in their fleet for close battle using their destroyers and light cruisers. From the 13th to the 16th, the Royal Navy and remaining Imperial Navy would clash as the Imperials desperately protected their retreating army.

On the 17th, Admiral Klause ordered a withdrawal of the Navy after the last Imperial Convoy made it back to Calais. After assessing the damages, The Imperial Navy had been obliterated. The Royal Navy had suffered very little losses.

## Aftermath

The Battle of the Dover Strait was the final battle of the British War of Independence and it brought a new era of Naval Dominance. The Imperial Navy was defeated and crushed at sea but it was also humiliated. The Royal Navy took the place as the dominant Naval Force in Europe. The Biggest Hit was the carrier losses and the loss of hundreds of modern aircraft. The Imperial Navy was already struggling before and had been using a Battleship Primacy Doctrine up until the mid-70s. The Imperial Navy would build 7 New Goliath-Class Aircraft Carriers by 1998 and the INS Goliath became the Pride of the Imperial Navy. But it would be sunk in the opening hours of the battle.

The Battle highlighted the weakened state of the Imperium as a whole and their incapability. The Battle pushed the War in favour of the British. The Navy's failure led to the deaths of thousands of Imperial Soldiers at Dover and during the evacuation. The failure of Behrmann's overall leadership also left a mark on both the Imperial Navy and Army. The Leading Officers who took part in the Battle saw that Behrmann's tactics were flawed and wouldn't have worked. General Ernst Reinhard who was the commander of the Invasion Force largely blamed Behrmann for the defeat in the Battle and stated that the Imperial Navy shouldn't have been positioned so narrowly. Behrmann was now no longer trusted by the Military High Command.