DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction; Ace combat belongs to Namco.
AN: I have based this story on the tale of the Bismarck in world war two. The specs of the Dinsmark are based on those of the Bismarck class. The same goes for the Osean ship Hood and the British Hood. The Waldreich is based on the Hipper-class cruiser Prinz Eugen, which was involved in the attempted breakout of the Bismarck.
The time was the early 1940s, the Bekan-Osean war was at its peak. The Belkan Battleship Dinsmark was getting ready to set sail from the naval base at Anfang. Its captain, Heinrich Albrecht was standing on the bridge. The Dinsmark was the pride of the Belkan fleet, its taskforce consisted of the Cruiser Waldreich, two destroyers, the Heierlark and the Hoffnung, and a tender, the Lumen. Slowly, the Dinsmark pulled away from the dock, engines growling. The other ships of the fleet disembarked as well, pulling docking ropes onboard as they pulled away from docks where sailors and soldiers waved goodbye.
Their mission was simple, harass Osean shipping in the Ceres Ocean. They were ordered to move to the Osean coast near Cape Landers, although they were warned to watch for ships from St. Hewlett Naval Port, a major Osean base where the carriers Kestrel and Vulture. As well, the Battleship Oured and cruiser Donnell were known to be in the area. In late 1941, the ships arrived off the coast of Cape Landers. Immediately, Osean cargo ships were spotted. It was a convoy from Yuktobania, probably carrying troops and equipment. The Dinsmark battle group moved into the path of the oncoming convoy. The Dinsmark was the first to fire, shells as big as tree trunks flying toward the escort cruisers. The Osean commanders were caught by surprise and the first shots sank the escort cruiser Waldron. The convoy scattered and the remaining two Osean escort ships moved to engage the Belkan fleet. The next ship to fire was the Waldreich, there was a roar as her main guns fired, lobbing shells toward the Osean ships. Two of her four shells struck one of the Osean cruisers, causing a large fire in her midships. The Osean cruiser began to list heavily to the port and slowed to a crawl. The third Osean cruiser fired next, her shots hitting the side of the Dinsmark, denting her hull but doing little else. The 320mm armor doing its job well. The DInsmark immediately responder, firing her 38cm guns at the smaller escort cruiser. The shots hit the center of the escort cruiser, puncturing the armor and hitting the magazine, the ship erupted in a massive explosion. When the smoke faded, there was almost no trace of the cruiser left, just and oil slick and a few floating bodies. The convoy, now unescorted, was doomed. The Dinsmark turned her guns toward the now unprotected convoy. Her first shots shattered a bulk carrier. The next shots, fired by the Waldreich, cored a repurposed passenger liner. The fleet made quick work of the remaining ships. The fleet steamed through the wreckage, passing oil slicks and bodies.
At St. Hewlett Naval Port, Osean ships were scrambling into action. The Osean battlecruiser Hood was leading a small taskforse of cruisers and destroyers to assist the convoy, not knowing that they had already been sunk. The also didn't know if the attack was from Belkan ships or submarines. Captain Walter Cole of the Hood was a combat veteran from earlier in the war, but that wouldn't end up helping him against the Dinsmark. The Hood's battle group set sail early in the morning of October 26th, 1941. They sailed slowly along the coast, heading for the last known location of the convoy. They saw the smoke first, then the massive battleship in the middle of a small cluster of ships.
Onboard the Dinsmark, the crew were racing to combat stations. The radar had picked up a force of what were assumed to be Osean ships approaching from the East. In ten minutes, the Dinsmark was ready for action. The massive guns on her deck rotated toward the approaching ships. When they reached optimal firing range, the Dinsmark fired. Her first shots hit the light cruiser Walker, the impact split her in half and she sank quickly. Meanwhile, the Hood was steaming toward the Dinsmark, guns primed. The Waldreich fired next, her shells crashing through the Hood's superstructure and damaging her exhaust stack. A small fire started aboard the Hood, and dark smoke billowed up from the ship. One of the Hood's escort destroyers fired on the Waldreich, but its shells pinged uselessly off the larger ship's armor. The Waldreich struck back, breaking the back of one of the destroyers. The other destroyer, under orders from the Hood, fled. The Hood, now listing heavily, fired at the Dinsmark, but missed. The Waldreich and the Dinsmark returned fire, crippling the already damaged Hood. Burning, broken, and flooded, the Hood sank into the Abyss.
The survivors, the few that there were, bobbed on the surface. Burning oil slicks covered the area. The Belkan ships floated there among the symphony of the dying. Small boats launched from the Waldreich motored around the area, picking up survivors from the Osean ships. Their destination would be a Belkan prisoner of war camp. Seaplanes launched from the catapults on board the Waldreich buzzed overhead, keeping a good view of the area. Broken survivors were hauled aboard the Belkan capital ships, their faces haunted. The would be loaded onto the Hoffnung and transported back to Belka. The Hoffnung departed shortly after the last survivor was picked up.
At the Osean command center at Mcnealy Air Force Base, there were bomber commanders preparing to strike. Reports had come in about a fleet of Belkan ships off Cape Landers. Their main target was a massive battleship in the center of the fleet. The surviving ship of the most recent combat action with the Belkan fleet, the OSS Akerson, had radioed to the mainland about the fleet, and scout planes had spotted them moving toward Sand Island. The bombers were ready to launch, B-25 flight crews prepared for combat. Meanwhile at St. Hewlett Naval Base, the carrier battle group centered around the Kestrel was also preparing to depart. Accompanied by the battleship Oured, the group was being sent to hunt the Belkan battleship.
The Osean carrier battle fleet moved slowly out of port, the captain of the Kestrel, Walter Anderson, ordered his ships into formation. The Oured moved into position leading the fleet. Meanwhile, bombers were launching from Mcnealy Air Force Base, heading for Cape Landers. Their pilots were prepared for anything, or so they thought.
On Sand Island, pilots were scrambling to their planes. Belkan ships had been spotted on the horizon, steaming toward the island. Unfortunately for the Osean pilots, Sand Island was primarily a training base, and there were very few live bombs or torpedoes on the island, just dummy versions with no warheads. Still, the fighters launched, a motley assembly of T-6 trainers accompanied by three F-4U Corsairs. They cruised toward the Belkan fleet, which was approaching fifteen miles away from the island. When they hit the fifteen-mile mark, the massive cannons on the Dinsmark fired, big clouds of white smoke billowing from her battery. Shells started to land on the small island, detonating fuel dumps and unlaunched planes. The planes of Sand Island had now reached the flak range of the Belkan fleet. Flak bursts ripping into the training squadrons, destroying many of the fighters. Flaming plane debris rained down on the ocean. On the Waldreich, Captain Karl Forst was ordering his ship into battle. The Waldreich was entering maximum range of her guns, and when she did, she started firing on the Sand Island hangers. Her first shots went wide, cratering the runway. Her next shots detonated in the hangers, killing the Osean crews that were operation in and around the hangers.
On the bridge of the Osean carrier, the commander of the fleet, Captain Walter Anderson, was ordering his fighters and torpedo bombers launcher from the carrier. Word had come in over the radio from sand island. The Dinsmark battle group had arrived and was pounding the island. As the fleet approached Cape Landers, the sound of cannon fire could be heard in the distance. The fighters from the Kestrel took off with a sudden urgency. The fighters maintaining a patrol above the fleet and the torpedo bombers speeding off toward the fighting. Meanwhile, over the Dinsmark, the fighters and trainers from Sand Island were getting decimated by anti-aircraft fire from the Dinsmark's escorts. The Waldreich had moved into position between the Dinsmark and the approaching Osean fleet. The commander of the Heierlark, Captain Hans Adler, ordered his Z23 destroyer into position behind the Dinsmark, anti-air guns at the ready. Meanwhile, the captain of the Lumen, Commander Wolfgang Klaus, ordered his ship moved behind the Dinsmark. As the torpedo bombers of the Kestrel approached, the Walreich's Anti-air cannons opened fire, flak shells exploding in the air, some of them ripping chunks out of the Osean aircraft. Unknown to both battle groups, a Belkan U-boat, the Mt. Schirm, was approaching the Osean battle group, torpedoes loaded and armed. Suddenly, a torpedo struck the Osean carrier, blasting a hole in the waterline. Water rushed into the carrier and it began to list heavily. Captain Anderson was quick to order his men to abandon ship. On the Dinsmark, cheers erupted at the sudden death of the carrier. The battleship Oured moved to cover the stricken carrier. While the Osean destroyers recovered lifeboats. Now lacking their air support, the Osean fleet was forced to flee. Sailing at flank speed, the ships fled toward St Hewlett, shells impacting the waters around them from the Dinsmark's fleet. The Osean ships zigzagged across the ocean, trying to avoid the massive shells of the Dinsmark. One of the shells slammed into the Oured's stack, ripping chunks out of the ship's superstructure. A fire started on the battleship, black oily smoke billowing up from the decks. Osean sailors dived off of the ship in an attempt to put out the flames.