Cape Salamis, Dawn of the Second Day
The yesterday's fire had worn out. The obfuscated clouds moved to the wind's whim. The climate continued its blessings for the defenders whose commanders used it as opportunities to monitor their enemies within concealment.
The Sardegnian battlefleet had retreated further north toward the Pindus mountain range. This impractical piece of terrain for ships separated the Österreich and Sardegnian holdings from the Hellenic and the Redmoon. It made the Salamis Pass and the eastern Mediterranean the only way to reach the Gate of the Black sea or Alexandria. Both sides were aware of this strategic location.
Georgios Averof remained skeptic of their position. The position was important, yet without proper support, it would be impossible to defend. Planes had proven quite dangerous, especially in the tight space of the Mediterranean. Sitting on an ammunition crate, Averof was trying to put herself in the shoes of her enemies. Why would the Sardegna Empire need their territory? Why did they want total war with them?
She scratched her head. Was it to use Athens as a naval base against the Royal Navy? Was it for the Sublime Gate of the Black Sea? No matter how she spun it in her head, it came down to simple human emotion. Glory, prestige, wealth! She hate to think her Sardegnian sisters, her homeland, would fight the Hellenic Navy for such petty excuses.
Averof came back to her senses. She had one mission: defend the Salamis Cape. Failing it would mean the end of her country.
"You seemed pondering," Salamis said while finishing her breakfast.
Averof faked a smile.
"I am just feeling uneasy to fight… Sardegna."
Salamis and Konstantinos chuckled.
"I am from Ironblood and Konstantinos is from the Iris Orthodoxy, now divided. Do you see us complaining about whom we fight?"
"Shouldn't we be loyal to our builders? They made our existence possible after all."
Salamis and Konstantinos lost their enthusiasm. Salamis answered plainly: "Wouldn't you betray their work? After all, if they sold us to foreign powers, they would not want us to turn on our masters. It would prove we are… unreliable."
For Salamis, who came from Ironblood, loyalty was of prime importance. For Konstantinos, who came from Iris, faith was everything. They would not betray these qualities they are so proud about because of feelings.
"I would argue, Averof," explained Salamis, "that our devotion for a foreign navy is to proud of. If we were to suddenly betray them, wouldn't that make us potential betrayers in the mind of our old owners? To fight them with all our might, devotion is something they are going to see as valiant, worthy of them. Don't lower your head now. Let's stay strong."
Georgios Averof felt at ease, like a big brick had been taken off her shoulders. She should be proud to fight, not ashamed. In today's battle, she would prove to the Royal Navy, alongside her sisters, that they were worthy of being defended.
[…]
Naval Base of Sazan, Pindus, Sardegna
Littorio was waiting in the docks, biting her nails furiously.
The failure that the assault on the first day had bring and the failure to clear the way for the bombers had pushed the commander of the base to call for help from the headquarter at Città Eterna. Littorio disapproved his move completely.
"What a fucking clown, they cannot be trusted."
She blamed the failure of her offensive on the bombers getting in the way, offering unneeded smoke to the defenders. She tried to convince him to offer her a second chance, without any support. The commanders always answered with the same old phrase.
"Don't overextend, let our bombers and bombing-boats do the work."
Was the Regia Aeronautica trying to snatch away her own work? The precious fighters were not at Taranto when they were needed, but the bombers sure made it fast to the battle when they were not needed. As for the suicide-boats, they interrupted the flow of the fight.
And now, she had to live with the humiliation to be help by her allies because she was not able to do the job when it was her superior who had been complete incompetents. She just wanted to put her mind at ease. All those emotions created a violent storm inside her mind. She remained unfazed in front of her comrades.
"Stop crying!" shouted Giovanni dalle Bande Nere to her sisters Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto da Giussano who were sobbing over the presumed death of Bartolomeo Colleoni. Littorio looked at Giovanni dalle Bande Nere with satisfaction. They could not let the loss of one of their cruiser get in the way.
"This was but a minor setback by our incompetent high-command!" shouted Camicia Nera. "Believe in Littorio and we shall see the final victory!"
Littorio was flattered. It was better her sister did not see the praise she was receiving.
"pfft! I follow Tegetthoff and no one else!" shouted Dubrovnik.
The two destroyers stared at each other with ill intentions. Camicia Nera had her crop whip in hand. Both Tegetthoff and Littorio separated them.
"Don't start becoming enemy now," Tegetthoff said.
Littorio was more and more dubious about her decision to bring the Osterreich into the fight. They were offering firepower, but at what cost?
[…]
Naval Base of Berlin
Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen was awaken from his sleep. It was early in the morning.
"What is happening?"
"Prepare yourself," said Donitz, "you are going to the Hellenic Dictatorat.
'Again with the Mediterranean Sea!' he thought.
The commander just went with Prinz Eugen on a visit to the Österreich some weeks ago. He dressed himself and went to a prepared torpedo-boat. After eating, he evaluated his group. He had the battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, the cruisers Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Numberg, Admiral Hipper and six destroyers at his disposal. Planes had already been sent during the night. He went on the bridge.
"Gneisenau, are you girls ready?" he asked.
"Apart from Admiral Hipper, Scharnhorst and me, everyone received their proper refit and upgrades."
The list was up to date. Gneisenau looked at the bearded man going back inside.
"What are we going in the Jewel of Calabria for?" asked Scharnhorst.
"It seems Littorio and Vittorio Veneto are having a bad time. So much for our incompetent allies."
She pronounced the last bit with anger in her voice. Prinz Eugen had allowed the Österreich to be fitted with their technology with the compromise to be commanded by Sardegnian officials. If it happened to turn wrong, she would tell a piece of her mind to both her high-command and Supermarina.
[…]
Cape Salamis, Midday
Their arrival galvanized the troops. Formidable, Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, Valiant and Barham saluted the Hellenic soldiers and, in return, they saluted the Queen. The old Georgios Averof, like a grand-mother, complimented Queen Elizabeth's height which she did not take kindly. They laughed of the Queen's reddish expression, except Warspite.
"Little Virgin Queen," mocked Valiant who patted the head of the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth took her by the twin tails.
"Repeat that you little pest."
Georgios Averof looked at the squabble with a smile. She never had the chance to play with Pisa, nor Amalfi. Not that they were ever converted to shipgirls to begin with. What would have they looked like?
"Sorry for our impatience," Formidable said with a smile. "She had multiple diplomatic missions to accomplish in the space of three weeks if you were noticed."
Averof had been briefed by Salamis and their flagship, Vasilefs Konstantinos, on the matter. Queen Elizabeth, after her trip to the Redmoon Republic, had come to their land in Athens (this day, Averof had been away for exercises with the destroyers). Queen Elizabeth wanted to make sure they would stand together or, at least, neutral in case of Sardegnian aggression. Konstantinos swore that the outer defenders of the Gate of the Black Sea would remain neutral and, if hostilities arose, they would fight together. Georgios Averof had been a little bit frustrated that the decision had been taken in her absence and doubted a future fight against her own kin. Salamis reassuring words took care of her worries.
Alongside the capital ships, eleven cruisers and some destroyers joined the force. Their leader was none other than the anti-air light cruiser Dido. Also, the heavy cruiser York was part of the force.
"Good day, Miss. Averof. I am the light cruiser Dido. I am in at your service as a Royal Maid."
"Don't be so distant," Averof said. "I might be the size of a large cruiser or similar to a Panzerschiffe if we use Ironblood's jargon, I do not require any distinction, especially since our light cruiser Elli is not here with us anymore."
"These cowards sunk her in peace time! Unforgivable!" Gloucester said.
We fell silent.
"Well, we can always go shopping if you want to look like us!" Fiji said.
Fiji rubbed Averof's head with her fist in a friendly matter. It then came to Averof's attention. A destroyer not of Royal Navy origin stood in their rank. She asked for her name.
"It's Isaac Sweers from the Benelux," answered York. "With the power of the force, she escaped the Benelux and joined our forces."
She wore some beautifully orange clothes.
While they were relaxing, the commanders were making plans with the admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham in his frigate. Collins had been replaced by Edward King. They had to assemble a comprehensive force to face the Sardegnian. They went with a 2-3 formation.
Order of Battle : Battle of the Salamis Pass
Azur Lane (Commander Pyrros Lappas and Edward King)
Covering Force A
Battleships: Formidable / Queen Elizabeth / Valiant / Barham
Cruisers: Dido / Phoebe / Sydney
Destroyers: Gurkha / Leon / HNLMS Isaac Sweers (Benelux)
Covering Force B
Battleships : Vasilefs Konstantinos / Warspite / Salamis
Cruisers: Calcutta / Carlisle / Coventry
Destroyers: Aetos / Ierax / Panthir
Heavy Cruiser Squadron A
Cruisers: Georgios Averof / York
Destroyers: Vasilefs Georgios / Vasilissa Olga / Hydra / Spetsai / Psara / Kountouriotis
Cruiser Squadron B
Cruisers: Fiji / Gloucester
Destroyers: Hero / Kelly / Kashmir / Juno / Imperial / Greyhound
Cruiser Squadron C
Cruisers: Orion / Naiad
Destroyers: Hyperion / Ilex / Hereward / Hasty / Havock / Legion
Submarines: Katsonis, Papanikolis, Upright, Ultimatum, Unbeaten, Upholder, Undaunted, Union, Usk
Reserve: Abdiel (cruiser-minelayer)
[…]
The clouds, which had play in their favor up until now, became a hindrance. Bombers were invisible though their payloads fell around the island, like rain.
"They are dropping blindly, doesn't made their bombs less devastating," said York.
The cruisers were at work, shooting randomly in the sky in the hope of hitting planes. It was like a shooting range where the bombers served as target. Sometimes, you would see burning debris falling from the sky followed by the cheers of the allied battlefleet. They never stopped coming.
Then, they had to focus on the enemy going toward them. It was their cruisers squadrons. From the horizon, volleys of gunfire appeared. Communications were intercepted.
"The enemy is a little bit to the south of the pass. Come forward," Giovanni dalle Bande Nere said.
"Just harass them… We have…"
The communication cut.
"Do they have radio-jammer now?" Queen Elizabeth asked on the radio.
"They are using the power of the force to cut interception!" York said.
"I think they know we can intercept them," simply replied Averof.
But it had been enough to know what their enemy would do. Harass. No major engagement like yesterday. Were they simply testing the water or were they waiting for reinforcement? It would be impossible for Sardegna, since Ramilies, Renown and Ark Royal were tying down some forces at Cape Spartivento. It meant a single thing for Averof.
"Now that they know somehow that we outnumber them, they are going to use other means to destroy us," Vasilefs Konstantinos, the leader of the Covering Force B, said like she had been reading her mind.
Despite her words, volley came from the horizon which meant imminent attack. Did it not?
"How do we know for sure that they are going to do that?" Queen Elizabeth asked by radio.
As soon as she spoke, black planes with the symbol of Ironblood on their wings dove from the thick clouds catching everyone by surprise. The Cruiser Squadron B, on the right flank of Averof, was soon overwhelmed by a swarm of cricket-like machine. Their sound made the water wiggled, the air trembled and their mind became blank with terror. Bombs and downed planes fell, crashed. Soon, the battlefield was engulfed both in black fumes from the debris and in white fumes from the smokescreens.
[Battle B-1]
When the cruiser squadron A and C tried to go toward squadron B, they were intercepted by the closing-in cruisers of Sardegna. The fast cruiser laid down torpedo barrages that cut them from the cruiser squadron B. Averof and York shot back at the fast cruiser. They missed.
"We need to believe in the power of the force if we want our shots to hit!" York said.
'Again with her force,' thought Averof who could not guess if York was kidding or not.
York held her hands in front of her. A salvo of three torpedoes were going away. The torpedoes were fired in the enemy barrage. Their collisions lift the water. A message from the Queen came.
"To group A and C, charge at the enemy squadron!"
This order came suddenly. The covering force B had come behind them.
"Αέρα!" Vasilefs Konstantinos shouted as her slogan.
Averof felt the same energy she had felt that day. On the day of the first victory, on the liberation of Malta, on the liberation of the Gates. In her eyes, the Sardegnians became the former Siren of the Great War. Averof charged with her comrades toward their enemy, with her hand on her sword, ready to unsheathe, showing no mercy to the enemies of Hellas.
She still felt like some people were missing.
[Battle B-2]
Littorio's gaze was focus on the hell their enemies was subjected to by Ironblood's planes. Her formation was in awe.
"This is the power of the planes…" Doria said by radio. Her voice sounded rarely on such a low tone.
They had been subjected to a similar kind of attack by the Royal Navy at Taranto, but not on this scale. Biplanes could not compare to the bombers and dive-bombers that Ironblood had bring.
Littorio failed to realize their harassing force had been tailed by enemy surface units. The retreating cruiser duo, Armando Diaz and Luigi Cadorna notified her.
"Wait! They are attacking?!" Littorio shouted, her eyes still wide open.
"Cover us! We are receiving heavy fire! Our barrage failed," Cadorna shouted.
She sighed.
"Tegetthoff, let's concentrate our fire on the heavy cruisers."
"Shouldn't we scare their destroyers?" she asked.
"They won't be scared, but if we destroy their firepower, it will be easier to deal with their frontline."
Littorio thought it was the best course of action.
"Duca degli Abruzzi and Giuseppe Garibaldi, go reinforce them as fast as you can."
Duca degli Abruzzi did not want to go. Her demand to stay with the anti-air cruiser Dalmacija was denied. She would have to move. The honorable Garibaldi asked her to follow her lead.
Littorio kept Dalmacija closed to her with the pretext of Tegetthoff's presence, but the show of force by Ironblood's planes changed her mind; it was for Dalmacija anti-air cover. For the first time in her life, the sound of a siren scared her. Maybe they would have to finish Aquila and Sparviero before her own sisters Roma and Impero.
[Battle B-3]
Gloucester held the unconscious Fiji in her arms.
"Wake up!"
The cruiser squadron B had already lost Juno, Imperial and Greyhound to planes. They were running out of ammunitions fast and they were all damage by explosions and shrapnel. Gloucester held onto the bleeding body of Fiji, knocked out by an explosion.
"Retreat!" the Queen ordered.
Gloucester looked up. Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and Barham were firing their main gun in the sky, hoping to hit the planes. Dido, Phoebe and Sydney offered quite needed anti-air reinforcement. In the meantime, they threw ammunition boxes to put into their turrets. Gloucester refused.
"You will need it more than me."
No further than two kilometer beyond the smokescreen, the cruisers Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Alberico da Barbiano, Alberto da Giussano and Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta appeared alongside the confident smile of Doria and the indifferent Caio Duilio. Sardegnian destroyers already unleashed their torpedoes.
"Your majesty, you shouldn't put yourself in the line of fire!" Calcutta said.
The group was now stuck with protecting the Queen at all cost, but she did not want to abandon her comrades. The situation grew desperate as more planes and the danger of the enemy became apparent. She obeyed her subordinates. In a close formation, they retreated.
"Stay with us!" ordered Valiant to Gloucester who still held the body of her friend.
She released a smokescreen on herself to cover their retreat.
"We serve crown! Kelly, Kashmir! We will counter-attack. Get the planes attention."
Without any doubt, Kelly and Kashmir released their smokescreen further on the side of Gloucester's screen, lengthening the cover. Gloucester fired until her guns and ammunitions were out. Kashmir, Kelly and, finally, Gloucester fell to enemy gunfire and the plane's bombs.
Their fearsome resistance and vain resistance showed the Queen that they attacked too soon. They had been cocky to search a battle with their enemies, unaware that they had came close to the enemy's airfields. Their tight formation came in handy against waves of planes. Before they had time to retreat to the protection of the pass, Calcutta was hit on the portside and immobilized.
[…]
On the other side of the battle, Covering Force B and cruiser squadron A charged the enemy while the cruiser squadron C went to help Covering force A.
A quick skirmish between the attackers and the defenders resulted in a single casualty, the destroyer Zagreb. A single blow from Averof took her out. Their confidence was rapidly destroyed as two waves of suicide boats appeared from a smokescreen laid down by the Sardegnian destroyers.
[Battle B-4]
The faster destroyers had no trouble to dodge these suicide boats. Averof hit every single one of the suicide boats with a volley like a sniper at a shooting range. Was it her lucky charm? Impressed, York tried to do the same with her "force". Her little experiment turned haywire fast. She had to dodge them as her guns were not precise enough to land a shot. She had to use her torpedoes in close quarter and they exploded right in her face. Averof rushed to her side.
"Everyone! We have a wounded!" Averof said with a small panic in her voice.
Vasilefs Konstantinos rushed to her side.
"It's deep. We have to get her to safety."
The left side of her body had been torn open by the explosion like a sardine can. Blood was gushing out her sides. Vasilefs Konstantinos, on a serein tone, reassured the wounded girl coughing blood. Vasilefs Konstantinos accepted to retreat for now. Today had been a disaster of a military operation and they had to retreat to the pass.
Demoralized, Salamis and Averof escorted York out of harm's way. Averof could only wondered. Was she thoughtful because of the name her sisters had coined her, Lucky Uncle George, or did she received it because she tries as much as possible to put luck on her side? Georgios Averof wondered why time and time again, only her allies had been unlucky.
"Don't worry, Geo," Vasilefs Konstantinos affectionally said, "We were lucky there wasn't more victims."
She pointed at the dark clouds to the north, less than four kilometers. The battle had been fearsome.
And the Cruiser Squadron B had been annihilated. Averof wanted to cry, to disappear from this world of suffering and madness. She wanted to see him again. All of this for some islands! Vasilefs Konstantinos wrapped her arms around her.
"Just a little longer."
[…]
The Hellenic admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis stood in the dockyard with his mouth wide opened. A miracle had been brought to life.
"What happen to my ship!" he screamed at the Sardegnian scientist in a white robe.
"We converted her to a shipgirl. We need everyone in those desperate time."
Pavlos Kountouriotis thought they were kidding when he submitted a drawing made by one of his Sardegnian friends. He had seen them before, but they seemed like such expensive project. Cubes were worth a fortune, but with the invasion of these strange species, money let place to necessity and the Royal Navy gave cubes all around the world for a maximum of conversion and completed all hulls and all plans stopped because of the Great War. It was a struggle to save mankind.
And they were delivered on the same day Salamis and Vasilefs Konstantinos to fight alongside them. It was a miracle the admiral accepted with joy. Embarrassed, silent, impressed, the admiral with a cool mustache looked all day long at the shipgirls like a child in a zoo. When the girls tried approaching him, he took his distance. They grew impatient and surprised him on his way out of the bathroom.
"Why are you looking at us like this, admiral Kountouriotis!"
They knew his name! How embarrassing. To be scolded by the ship that propelled you to fame. He stuttered. They laughed. He giggled then explained himself. They thought nothing of it. They had come into this world to help them out. To his discomfort, they remembered their past life as machine of steel. He was curious but, for now, he had a promise to fulfilled.
"Would you come with me?" he asked specifically to Averof.
Around little group of ten sailors, who were now common soldiers with her conversion, were surprised and ecstatic of the girl.
"I knew she would be a blond!" said one sailor.
"Another card to collect!" said another.
"Lucky George is truly lucky now! She has to fight as herself and not with a bunch of crusty dudes like us."
Flattered, she still tried to calm their eagerness. To her, they had been sailors aboard her and she could remember them manning one her 76mm battery. She stayed silent on that matter. Their gaze suddenly turned to the two taller girl.
"Who are they?"
"They were delivered by the Royal Navy today, said the admiral, they are Vasilefs Konstantinos and Salamis."
"Named after our first king and a battle? What an honor!"
They bowed in front of the girls. The shipgirls couldn't understand their reference. They talked for some minutes when admiral Kountouriotis remembered that it was not their only deliveries. Some destroyers and light cruisers waited for him. He ran back to the naval base of Venezia. Averof had a glimpse of his back. A timid and silent man he had been this day. The opposite of the daring and bold man who commanded her in the Balkan Wars.
"So, Uncle George, where do you want to go first?" said a guy who made the other laughed. Her surname from the war had not aged well.
Her first glimpse of the world has a machine had been Sardegna. Her first glimpse of the world as a shipgirl had been Sardegna. She had seen their faces. She had seen their sailors. She had seen their shipgirls. The Hellenic Navy and the Sardegnian Navy had two different names and institutions. Yet, she felt like they were the same. Two different worlds felt the same and she couldn't explain her own feelings not shared by the rest of her friends. Littorio light up a flame she did not want to see.
"I'll find whoever started this bloody civil war and kill them."
[…]
The New Palace, Redmoon Republic
At a round table inside a luxurious palace, erected after the war against the Sirens on top of the destroyed palace before it, the Gate Council held an urgent meeting. The flagship, Yavuz Sultan Selim, of the Redmoon Navy ordered it upon the admiralty's demand.
"You are reunited today to discuss Ironblood, Sardegnian and Österreich expansionist ambitions. As you can see, it seems to be a repeat of the Great War conflict. Weirdly enough, not by the same people and with Sardegna and Sakura on the side of the enemy's side. I think you know what it means for us?"
"Joining the Crimson Axis?" asked Sultân Osmân Evvel, "I'd rather not trust warmongers. Not that Azur Lane is better."
"And put our trust into the Royal Navy who abandoned the Iris Orthodoxy, the Intermarium and the Scandinavian Kingdom like they abandoned us during the Gate War?!" the battleship Reshad-I-Hamiss said, "They only started helping the Hellenic Dictatorat and it seems it has been done on a pure strategical basis for the island of Malta, Cyprus and Crete."
"If the Hellenic Dictatorat fall, we are the next in line, that is the truth" the battleship Fatih Sultan Mehmed, "What if Sardegna get the control of the Gate? Their intentions seem quite in line with other bad people we had to fight in the past…"
"The Sirens?" simply said Yavuz Sultan Selim who was at the end of the table, on the chair of the flagship. Her expression became livid. If it were the case, the Gate would need to be defended at all cost. For what other reason would they need it anyway?
"You are right," finally said Reşadiye who had been silent since the beginning, "for what other reason would they attack the Hellenic? For simple warmongering reasons or for the Gate themselves? I believe in the later. It seems that other forces are at play and disguising it to take control of the gates without using force."
"We will have to join Azur Lane, is that it?" said Yavuz.
Sultân Osmân Evvel nodded.
Yavuz Sultan Selim had never been part of the Redmoon Republic forever. Indeed, she was originally a battlecruiser of the Ironblood. With the Great War, she was hastily taken into service by the Redmoon who offered their hospitality. With the invasion of the Siren, she made her way to Sardegna, then Ironblood where she met a Royal Navy battleship squadron for the defense of mankind. They were Reşadiye, ex-HMS Erin and her sister Fatih Sultan Mehmed. The third sister, Reshad-I-Hamiss, was converted to an Evvel class battleship to offer a sister to Sultân Osmân Evvel, ex-HMS Agincourt*. (see note 1)
The battleships successfully led multiple battles against the Sirens. Yavuz Sultan Selim distinguished herself as a charismatic leader, Sultân Osmân Evvel and Reşadiye, with their experience of Jutland's battle, made them brilliant tacticians. Their unorthodox alliance, the Royal Navy and Ironblood steel, and their unexpected victory during the Gate War earned them an incredible reputation.
The elite battlecruiser Yavuz was now torn apart on what the best course of action would be. On one hand, she was from Ironblood. On the other hand, she fought her career under the red crescent and she was not over the betrayal of Azur Lane. For the former Royal Navy battleships, who were sipping on some coffee, the decision had been to leave the Gate War to the past and focus on the present. They wanted the best course of action and did not care about their homeland anymore. For Yavuz, it was more complicated. She kept her worries inside.
"We will need to decide of the best course of action," said Yavuz.
Reşadiye and Evvel looked at each other from across the table.
"And we know exactly what to do in both cases..."
[…]
Salamis Naval Base, almost midnight
Georgios Averof, upon their return, silently ate her tin can of food. The entire B squadron had been wiped out in the blink of an eye. A military disaster orchestrated by their cockiness and the surprise of unforeseen Ironblood planes. Their cruel efficiency took the spotlight away from the number that were shot down. So many they could not count.
Exhausted, she visited York at the infirmary. She had nothing better to do and she met Sydney who was also feeling down. They stayed by her side and discussed.
"We will have to hope that the defense on the Salamis Pass hold."
"We will go back," answered Sydney, "we just need to replenish for anti-air ammunition and torpedoes. It's unfortunate for Cunningham who has to take the responsibility for this utter failure."
They could not even blame their own commanders because it had been unfortunate. The circumstances had not played in their favor. They were lucky that Squadron B stayed behind against Queen Elizabeth's orders to stop Caio Duilio and Andrea Doria push. The three girls were thankful.
In the meantime, the battleship Vasilefs Konstantinos prayed at the cemetery of Salamis on the hill where the commander, admiral and president Pavlos Kountouriotis had been buried six years ago. From the first time she had met him until his last breath on a chilly night of summer, she had never stop believing in the man of many miracles. Averof's stories of bravery were like fairy tales of war. The humble man, until his last days, had been honorable and had been buried with all military honors. His inspiring leadership led to a prosperous Hellenic Republic and, upon his death, a new regime established his hard grip on power for the betterment of Hellas. With the invasion of Sardegna, was it all for naught?
Salamis crossed the gateway of the cemetery and saw her comrade.
"You should get some sleep for tomorrow's operation," Salamis suggested.
Vasilefs Konstantinos stayed silent, her eyes closed, her hands together.
A loud siren noise.
They assembled at the port where Cunningham and his officers had gathered.
"We have to evacuate earlier than expected. We are in danger of encirclement," he admited.
Already? The enemy had push even into the night. Cunningham mumbled to an officer who rushed to the radio tower.
"We will need your help. To battle!" he said on an imperative tone.
From the horizon, balls of fire light up the night and the city.
[…]
(note: Valiant just got released! Just in time for my story!)
(Edit 1 (August 25, 2020): I made some mistakes regarding which class of ship was which, it is now correct.