Battle of Arzon

The Battle of Arzon was a naval battle fought between the coastal forces of the Armada de Antargentina and the Royal Liotainian Navy, fought offshore from the island of Arzon, Breizh, on October 14, 1805, during the War of the Fourth Coalition.

### Initial Situation

Following the raid on Laizuva on March 10, 1805, both the Liotainian and Antargentine coastal fleets spent several months recovering their strength.

In late September, Rear Admiral Luis-Antello Murguia gathered a fairly strong squadron of the Flota Littoral, and sailed to attack coastal convoys off the coast of Breizh. Following his success in the first raid, Murguia leaked news that he planned to attack Girkalnis in October. This was intentional misinformation designed to mislead the Liotainians into patrolling that area more heavily, thus stripping down the coastal forces off Breizh.

This misinformation campaign failed, however - the Liotainians did not hear these rumours until March 9th, and no orders were sent to Flotillieadmiral Varnelis until the 11th, by which point the battle had already been fought.

### Order of Battle

#### Liotain

Flotillieadmiral Mykolas Varnelis

* 3x 32-gun perlinés (*Turkis*, *Ulonas*, *Barsukas*)
* 1x 28-gun perlinés (*Pelikanas*)
* 2x 12-gun littoria (*Girkalnis*, *Cedasai*)
* 4x galleys
* 16x barcaccias and kanonjolas

148 guns

#### Antargentina

Rear Admiral Luis-Antello Murguia

* 1x 36-gun frigate (*Celeste*)
* 1x 28-gun perlinés (*Feroz*)
* 2x 14-gun littorias (*Tiburón*, *Delfin*)
* 2x 12-gun littorias (*Meritorio*, *Marlin*)
* 12x galleys

116 guns

### Action

In the pre-dawn hours of October 10th, Murguia's small squadron arrived off Breizh, hoping to raid the small island of Arzon, where they had observed Liotainian merchant ships sheltering during their prior raid. Murguia landed a party of fifty marines, who slipped unnoticed across the island and seized the martello tower overlooking the island's anchorage, located between Arzon and mainland Breizh.

Murguia found the anchorage empty, however, and noticed a signal tower burning on Breizh. Leaving a long fuse burning to destroy the martello tower, the Antargentines began to withdraw. As they rowed away from Arzon without achieving anything of consequence, they spotted the Liotainian coastal flotilla under Varnelis coming from around the headland. Murguia suspected a Liotainian trap, and realized his best opportunity was a swift assault against the Liotainians.

While Varnelis and his squadron had seen the signals from the coastal tower, they did not expect to meet an Antargentine squadron of comparable size. Murguia's swift assault gave them relatively little time to prepare before the Antargentines were in their midst.

A vicious close-quarters fight developed between the two squadrons. Although they possessed the advantage of superior firepower, the Liotainians were unable to use it effectively in the short period before Murguia's ships rushed them. The leading perlinés *Ulonas*, Varnelis's flagship, was swiftly overwhelmed; Varnelis himself was mortally wounded by the first exchange of fire, and died shortly thereafter. The trailing *Barsukas* was then forced to strike her colours.

Frigatiekapitaine Jessica Vynmedis, in command of the 32-gun perlinés *Turkis*, had more time to prepare a defense, and together with the 28-gun *Pelikanas*, attempted to recover the situation. As the two trailing perlinéai entered the battle, the outcome appeared to be in doubt. At this critical moment, the 14-gun littoria *Tiburón* rammed the *Pelikanas*. The Liotainian ship lost her foremast during the collision, and her captain was killed, causing her crew to strike their colours.

Aboard *Turkis*, Captain Vynmedis determined the situation was no longer retrievable, and broke off the action. The Liotainian littorias *Cedasai*, next in line after the *Pelikanas*, failed to see or obey the signals from *Turkis", and was captured. The* Girkalnis*, at the rear of the formation, successfully evaded the Antargentine ships.*

A number of light Liotainian craft, including four rowing galleys and sixteen small gunboats, were present during the fight. One barcaccia was declared sunk, while the rest fled into Arzon harbour. The gunboat crews rushed ashore and re-occupied the martello tower; a local fisherman had stamped out the fuse, and the fortification remained standing.

Murguia, feeling he'd had a lucky escape, declined either to pursue *Turkis* and *Girkalnis* or the small Liotainian gunboats, and returned to Valpo.