Battle off Vostok Island

[Borys]

Desertfox     
Posted: Jan 19 2006, 07:04 PM


Commander Johann Wyss
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Joined: 5-March 05



   
Note: The following is OOC view of what will later be known as the Battle of Vostock. this is my first attemt at a story so comments are really welcome. (part of the story might also apper in another newspaper)

Febuary 29th* 1901

From his post in the hill Sargent Schlock took one last view of the lagoon. Below he could see the rouge ACM fleet. In the distance, barley discernable, lay the NSN squadron. Sargent Schlock took a look at his watch, 15 minutes to go. It was time to return to his squad. Sargent Schlock was in charge of three "special weapon" squads. They were armed with a weapon that Schlock himself had invented, the Schlockgun. In later times this weapon would be known as the bazooka. Now all that remained was to wait.


As the ACM Gunboat #13 entered the anchorage everything seemed normal, but looks are deceving. She was no longer #13 but the NSS Interepid. She carried not ACM sailors but Swiss Marines and Special Forces. As she entered her captain saw smething was going wrong. The trade cruisers and the torpedo boats where already under way. The trap was closing almost too late. But not everything was lost, the heavy cruiser and most of the merchants where still anchored.


Fifteen minutes. A flare sudenly burst over the anchored ships, iluminating the entire island. Gunboat #18 had a good crew, within 20 seconds of the flare, she was firing back at the Swiss troops in the hill. This was what the special weapon squads under Sergant Schlock where waiting for. As #18 passed in front of their conceled positions, they fired. All three 50mm shells struck #18. One of them striking the foward 3" mount. The ready ammunition ignited in a spectacular explosion. Remarkably no one on the briges was seriously injured. But the damage had been done. The burning gunboat spun out of control and ran aground. Within minutes her crew where prisioners and the the burning ship now bore a Swiss flag.


Historians would later comment on the split second precision of the Swiss attack. Remarkably the flare and the attack where mere seconds of. This would be attributed to luck, which no doubt played a part. The Marines and Special Forces on board Intrepid swarmed aboard the heavy cruiser, the surprised ACM crew offered no resistance. But the trap had failed to fully close. The trade cruisers and the torpedo boats where already running at the fastest speed posible, and the armed collier was picking up speed.


Schlock and his troops sudenly found themselves without targets. For him and for the rest of the Swiss troops on the island the battle had ended. They where now mere spectators.


The mission of the SS Ulysses had been a dangerous one. She was to pose as a smuggler and infiltrate the ACMs anchorage. She managed to pull it of. Now she reveled her true identity. The AMC sudenly opened fire with her 6 inchers on the collier. The collier needed no encuragement after a brief duel the collier managed to escape from the anchorage. SS Ulysses now turned her attention the the other merchants. Two surrendered immidietly, one needed some encuragement from the 6 inchers before surrendering, the other two made good their escape.


Unfortunately plucky Intrepid was destined not to survive. A shell from a unknown source struck her magazines. The heavy cruiser was also damaged in the resulting explosion. Now the task of destroying the fleeing ACM ships fell upon the waiting squadron outside. Unfortunately they where not well positioned. Now they would have to catch the ACM ship on the open sea.


The first trade cruiser had the worst luck. She ran straight into the arms of the waiting Swiss squadron. Eight and six inch shells struck her and in minutes she was a smoking wreak. The other cruiser was more fortunate, she did managed to escape, ableitly heavily damaged. The collier surrendered after a hit from Polaris 8 inchers. Two torpedo boats cornered by Cerebrus and the destroyers surrendered, the last one was sunk in a running battle. Of the two merchants one managed to escape, the other surrendered. The Battle of Vostock had ended.


* Might we assume that the Navalism calendar is screwed up? Actually the date is Feb 14th.


ACM
1 AC (Tuna class) captured
1 collier, captured
2 TPCs (salmon class) 1 sunk, 1 escaped
3 TBs (T40 class) 2 captured, 1 sunk
3 GBs, 2 sunk, 1 captured
misc merchants (5?) 4 captured, 1 escaped

total
2 escaped
9 captured (4 merchants)
2 sunk

NSN
1 AC Polaris
1 SGX Vesuvius
1 LC Cerebrus
3 DDs (Johann Wys class)
   
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swamphen    
Posted: Jan 20 2006, 04:45 PM


Großeadmiral Sumpfhühn
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Ah, no wonder I hadn't seen it before (ref 'Battle reports' thread).

Where is this taking place, again?
   
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Desertfox    
Posted: Jan 20 2006, 06:04 PM


Commander Johann Wyss
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Group: Head of State
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Member No.: 41
Joined: 5-March 05



   
100 point to whoever finds Vostock! (points?)
   
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RLBH    
Posted: Jan 20 2006, 06:23 PM


Hegemon
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QUOTE
100 point to whoever finds Vostock! (points?)


Vostok Island, also known as Staver Island is an unhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Line Islands belonging to Kiribati. It is located at 10°05?S 152°54?W.

First sighted in 1820 by the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named the island for his ship. Only 1.5 kilometers in length and approximately triangular in shape, it rises to a height of about 5 meters above sea level, with a dense thicket of Pisonia trees covering the central portion of the island. Vostok was claimed under the Guano Act of 1856, but was never mined for phosphate.

The island has also been known as Reaper, Stavers, and Anne.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_Island

RLBH