Raid on Deporpets

The Larvokean Torpedo Boat Flotilla underway to Deporpets in the dead of night.

Image of the location of Deporpets

 Lemetiate of Larvokea:
10 motor torpedo boats

 Lemetiate of Larvokea:
4 motor torpedo boats sunk
36 killed

The Raid on Deporpets was a bold naval raid of the Vostovian port city of Deporpets during the Invasion of Larvokea. The raid would be one of Larvokea's few offensive operations and one of their very few victories.

## Background

With the Vostovian Invasion going poorly for Larvokea on land, Larvokean command hoped that a bold naval victory would be able to help raise morale of troops on the frontlines, and potentially even lead to a full naval invasion of Vostovia to draw enemy troops away. However the latter idea was basically impossible, as Larvokea was already stretched thin with defending itself, and it would not be able to spare the troops to mount a long offensive, so the idea would be discarded essentially immediately after the battle.

The Vostovian port city of Deporpets was home to a significant naval base housing many Vostovian ships, including the battleship GVV Rukkok, which would be the main target of the operation.

## Prelude

At 11PM, 10 Larvokean motor torpedo boats left a small dock near the frontline and headed straight for Deporpets. They aimed to get there by 2 AM, but on the way there they had to stop for two hours to fix a mechanical problem on one of their boats, so instead ended up arriving at 4:13 AM.

Vostovian personnel were on very low alert, as the naval base was far from the frontline and a Larvokean naval offensive in any form wasn't expected due to their weak and outdated navy.

    The Larvokean Flotilla consisted of 10 motor torpedo boats which were named "LTB-X", the specific boats in the raid were LTB-3, LTB-4, LTB-5 and so on until LTB-13.

On the Vostovian side was the battleship GVV Rukkok, the two heavy cruisers GVV Cronnid and GVV Crekkok, the two light cruisers GVV Laner and GVV Tekeb and the three destroyers GVV Aurok, GVV Zivak and GVV Okel.

## The Raid

### First wave

At 4:13 AM, the Larvokean flotilla managed to spot the base and began an attack run, splitting off into two waves that would attack separately to minimise the risk of collisions. Vostovian personnel were not expecting an attack, so the Larvokean flotilla went unnoticed right until they were infront of the port's entrance.

At 4:16 AM, the Larvokean flotilla was spotted, and the Vostovian garrison quickly began to man the guns and however in the darkness of the night they couldn't see very well and were dependent on searchlights being shined onto their targets.

A minute later, the first wave of Larvokean torpedo boats breached the gate and started ther attack runs. The vast majority would correctly identify the GVV Rukkok and attempt to attack it, however 3 would end up mistakenly identifying either the GVV Crekkok or the GVV Laner.

While sailing through the entrance, LTB-4 suffered a fatal hit aft from a 7 inch gun, the shell detonated the boats torpedoes, causing a devastating detonation which completely blew up the boat's centre, killing all of its crew and sinking the boat in seconds.

Several seconds after LTB-4's sinking, LTB-3 would successfully complete an attack run on the GVV Rukkok, launching both of its torpedoes and hitting the battleship with both. At around the same time, LTB-5 would launch both torpedoes at the GVV Laner at an awkward angle, mistaking it for the Vostovian battleship in the darkness of the night. Both torpedoes would hit, but due to the awkward angle and the general unreliability of Larvokean torpedoes, only one would detonate, the other being a dud.

With the rest of the first wave retreating, The captain of LTB-6 knew that it would soon be focused down by the majority of the armaments of the naval base, so quickly turned around while enroute to attack the battleship, turning to launch torpedoes towards the stern of the cruiser GVV Crekkok, which would miss.

During the retreat, LTB-6 would take a hit from a small, 2 inch gun. Although initially managing to survive, the boat would sink a couple of minutes after leaving the port. However, no crew were killed as the below deck portion of the boat was unoccupied when it was hit, and the surviving crew were loaded onto another boat.

### Second wave

In the minutes between the departure of the first wave, and the arrival of the second wave, the Vostovian personnel at the harbour used their time to strengthen their defences. Crew onboard all the ships manned their guns while those onboard the Laner and Rukkok did their best to contain the damage.

The Vostovian fleet would quickly reposition their destroyers to guard the gate of the harbour, which would make things more difficult for the second wave. Searchlights were also pointed at the gate, aiming to illuminate the Larvokean force, making them easy to spot in the darkness of the night.

With the personnel at the base now being alert, more guns were manned and the second wave was met with significantly more fire. LTB-8 was hit twice and quickly sank, it was too risky for any of the other boats to come to a complete stop under fire to pick up any survivors, so the crew of the sinking boat were left to fend for themselves. Due to the close proximity to land, 8 out of 12 crew members who weren't killed during the initial shell impacts managed to make it onto dry land, but were captured by Vostovian personnel, executed after interrogation and then officially labelled as "killed in action" to cover up the crime.

LTB-9 managed to launch two torpedoes at the bow of the Rukkok from directly ahead of the battleship, LTB-10 would also manage to follow up with its own torpedoes aimed at the bow, however a bit more from the side which would miss.

While attempting to conduct evasive manuevers and sail between the two destroyers, LTB-7 accidentally rammed the GVV Zivak, both ships suffered significant damage, however the Zivak would survive, while LTB-7 would sink. A similar story to LTB-8 played out, with the surviving crew making it to dry land but being captured and later executed.

LTB-11 and LTB-12 were at this point the only two torpedo boats with torpedoes left. LTB-11's torpedo run, although a bit rushed due to the fire from the small guns of both the Zivak and Okel, did manage to score hits with both torpedoes on the battleship.

LTB-12's torpedo run took a long path to ensure a good angle, and also resulted in both torpedoes hitting. During the boats escape, it was hit numerous times and sank, again, the surviving crew were captured and later executed.

The remaining boats would manage to successfully retreat out of the bay.

## Aftermath

### Vostovian

In total, the Larvokean raid had managed to score eight torpedo hits on the Vostovian battleship GVV Rukkok, which was the primary target of the raid. Additionally the light cruiser GVV Laner was also hit by two torpedoes. Although the torpedoes were small as two of them had to fit on the small boats, the quantity of them was enough to cause significant damage.

GVV Laner, though initially suffering from severe flooding was able to be saved. However, the GVV Rukkok, struck by eight torpedoes was not, despite the efforts of the crew. The order to abandon ship was given an hour after the Larvokean force had left.

Due to the shallow nature of the port, the tips of the GVV Rukkok's masts were still visible above the water. And on clearer days, the wreck could be seen through the water. The crew losses were fairly light given the very close proximity to land.

In the aftermath, all surviving Larvokean crew members were found and captured by the Vostovian garrison in Deporpets. They were subjected to brief interrogation but the crew were not aware of any important information. The crew were later executed

### Larvokean

The initial aftermath of the raid on the Larvokean side was spent counting their losses, LTB-6, having suffered a hit but managed to temporarily survive and make it out of the harbour sunk, and the crew had to be offloaded onto another boat. The remaining survivors successfully returned back to base and reported the news to command.

Larvokean spies in Deporpets were able to later confirm the sinking of the Vostovian battleship. The news was widely reported in Larvokean media, for a short time, serving as a great boost to morale.