South of Gibraltar
In the few minutes after the airstrike, both the Northwest Front and Southwest Front finally made visual contact with Gibraltar. Their plan of encirclement was unfolding. Deutschland noticed the absence of signals from the capital ships of the middle force. Finally, the pocket battleship received a signal from the remaining cruisers.
"Canarias, San Marco! What are you doing! What happened!"
"We… We were annihilated."
"Where's Alfonso and Victoria!?"
"Alfonso is dead, and… Victoria joined Azur Lane."
Deutschland would have eaten her own microphone if it would not have been for Algérie calm temper. It is not one less ally that would hinder their plan. Her mere presence made the cruisers run for their lives. And two enemy battleships were missing. They might have run for their lives after seeing Dunkerque and Provence.
"To everyone," announced Dunkerque. "We will separate in two taskforce to encircle them in the north."
"They have gone after the north?" Deutschland asked.
"It seems they forgot the cruisers from the middle force. We will use our speed to flank them from the front. The slower ship will go around the island."
Deutschland was suddenly worried about Scheer. Ajax's words came back like a nightmare.
"Before coming here, she had a showdown with me, Achilles and Exeter. We defeated your sister."
[…]
The faster Ajax was tailed by the slower Lezo and the terribly slow Albuquerque and Dias. The destroyers had already explained the situation to Buiza. He didn't believe that Riachuelo and São Paulo vanished during the battle. Ajax confirmed. At the start of the battle, they were separated by a mist and bad weather. They were stormed by planes and she had pick up submarine activities on her sonar.
"Let's hope nothing bad happened."
The news of their disappearance did not shake Minas Geraes in the slightest. Now that the planes were gone, and they had taken out the center, he had an important decision to take.
"We will attack the north where they have the most outdated capital ship. When this is dealt with, we will defend ourselves against the south."
"Understood!" they cheered.
Eagle, Rivadavia, Moreno, Geraes and Latorre accelerated toward the north. A sudden explosion was heard in the distance. It was beside Jaime I who had exploded earlier. The flag of Alfonso's faction was burning in a puddle of oily mixture. Alfonso could not be seen through the rain and smoke. Deep down, he knew Alfonso was gone. They never had been on the best terms. Weeks before the civil war, she became cold toward him. He did not know why. Did she know he would never join her? Was the civil war inevitable with the Crimson Axis at their doorstep? He wanted to know, but the answer disappeared along with her instigator.
A silhouette came out of the smoke. It was Reina Victoria Eugenia. Her guns were pointed away and her hands were in the air. It was a clear sign of surrendering. While his shipgirls were now one kilometre ahead of him, Buiza welcomed her while Libertad pointed her with her guns.
"Libertad, it is unnecessary."
"It might be a trick."
He looked at the blazing fires. It was a massacre. Alfonso, Jaime I, San Giorgio and Baleares were gone. The sight of Victoria was his last hope before breaking down. Buisa listened to her with his heart.
"Now that I am not bound to follow Alfonso's heart, I will follow mine. And it wants to continue both Alfonso's and Espana's legacy."
"I want you to tell me everything if there is an after-battle to all of this. Can you promise me? For now, go back to the base and help Exeter to fight the fires in the port."
She acknowledged. In a single formation, they steamed toward the northern formation. Eagle sent preemptive torpedo strikes.
[…]
"Scheer to Southern force, we made contact with Buiza's forces. They are outnumbering us."
"We are way too slow to retreat!" noted Schleswig-Holstein.
"It seems we went in the mouth of the beast," Schlesien added.
"Prepare for a defense in depth!" Sachsen declared.
The Vichya's destroyers, Panthère, Tigre, Verdun, Le Hardi and L'Indomptable were the perfect candidates for this strategy with their superior speed. The only problem was that the rest of the fleet, especially their much slower comrades Velasco, Huesca, Ceuta, Libeccio and Grecale, made it much more difficult to execute.
"While you retreat, we will use our superior speed to harass them!" L'Indomptable suggested.
"I will help you!" Scheer said. "I might not have much speed, but I won't let you be pounded by their guns."
"Don't underestimate us," Verdun said. "Speed and firepower are our greatest assets."
While the fast destroyers and Scheer charged at the enemy, the taskforce slowly retreated to a safe distance to wait for the southern formation.
The second part of the Battle of Gibraltar was a game of cat and mouse. Buiza did not have the initiative in the engagements and relied heavily on Eagle's useless torpedo bombers against the agile destroyers. Scheer fired at their formation from a safe distance while Latorre tried hard to impress her sister with her sniper shot. The lone queen of the south did not believe in any sun god, but the malediction of the rain made their shots ten times harder. It was difficult to not believe some other unearthly forces were at play. These terrible meteorological were reminiscent of their battles against the Siren during the Great War. When they battled around La Plata, the sky darkened, and thunder covered the field. When they battle battled in Antarctica, snow almost engulfed the battlefield and would have killed them all if it had not been for her sister and the early aircraft carriers who had destroyed the meteorological equipment of the Sirens. Had Ironblood found and reverse-engineered such a powerful technology? She had little doubts. The rain and waves were now playing at their disadvantage.
[Battle A-1]
The mist suddenly made the enemy backline disappear from her sight. Latorre could only faintly see the shark rigging of Admiral Scheer. Thunderous sound resonated throughout the battlefield. Faint yellow glow traveled in the mist and splashed in the water. Latorre stopped the useless firing and concentrated herself on the distant sound of heels against water. Admiral Scheer's speed was distinct from the speedier destroyers battling it out in front of them.
The 283mm made a distinct sound. Latorre studies their pattern with the speed of Admiral Scheer. All alone in the south, the lone queen did not waste any time to lament her fate. She studied the progression of armored warfare and the different technologies developed over the time. Her sister being an aircraft carrier and seeing the impact she had in the battle of Antarctica, she had predicted that battleship would be replaced by aircraft carrier as the center piece of a taskforce. In order to move with the time, she fitted herself with more anti-aircraft guns. More and more. If another war were to start, she would be able to defend her sister or any carrier with her anti-air capability. It did not mean she did not practice her gunning ability. She practiced.
And now she was applying it.
Each triple-gun 356mm turret fired in a beautiful synchronized melody.
[Battle A-2]
In the thick mist, the fast destroyers benefited from the element of surprise on their numerically superior enemy. Le Hardi and L'Indomptable were releasing torpedoes in a X shape throwing their enemies in disarray. Buenos Aires complained about their complete uselessness against their superior enemies.
"We are only small destroyer!"
An explosion was heard. In the mist, it was impossible to know who had been hit.
"We should go back to our cruisers!" Guadiana pleaded.
As she said that, a small silhouette drove by. The predators were closing in.
"Yeah go back to your friends Arrr!"
Tigre and Panthère started making a rumbling sound. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Guadiana saw Vouga disappeared after a catastrophic explosion that made the mist orange. She went toward the smoke. On her side, she was surprised by Verdun's 138mm. Guadiana missed.
[Battle A-3]
The total lost of initiative and the complete mess that was the destroyer line, the cruiser stayed at a distance awaiting Buiza's order.
"We can't catch up to them, what do we do?" Bahia said.
No answer.
"Again with this problem!" Rio Grande do Sul said.
"What is the problem?" Blaz de Lezo asked.
"Earlier, we had this problem with our communication, and we lost sight of São Paulo and Riachuelo in the process."
"Let's regroup with the battleship!" Afonso de Albuquerque said.
"Let's help the destroyers!" Bartolomeu Dias pleaded at the same time.
They looked at each other. They defended their decision while the other were trying to contact HQ. Liverpool sighed. What was this mist and how did it interact with their radio? At this point, no one thought of it as a natural phenomenon. They all reached the conclusion that it was one of the new technology Ironblood was testing.
"For now, we should regroup with Buiza," Miguel de Cervantes insisted.
Ajax looked at her compass. It had gone haywire spinning out of control. Liverpool made sure she would report that back to his highness Somerville. A distant explosion, to what they remembered as the north, was heard in the distance.
[…]
Latorre smiled with satisfaction.
"Eagle, send your torpedo bombers to these northern coordinates."
Eagle did not hesitate in the least. Latorre's calculation seemed to have worked. Buiza was impressed by this shipgirl that had been stuck in the south for so long. The Great War seemed to have shaped her greatly. He liked the southern girl more and more. The Espana's class battleship had perished and the disappearance of Riachuelo and São Paulo left him a bitter taste in his mouth. They, who had been a great power, were reduced to a ghost and needed other countries to defend them. They were truly a devastated nation.
As he was lost in his thinking, sudden enemy fire reached them. His gunboat was pierced in the front bow and taking on water. The sudden attack left him speechless. From the south east, Württemberg appeared alongside Deutschland and Algérie. The destroyers Sella, Crispi, Riboty and Gerfaut were going so fast toward their formation that Latorre calculated they would not be able to defend the rear.
As if anything could get any worse, Canarias, San Giorgio and Navarra reappeared with them.
"Rivadavia, Moreno, Geraes," Latorre said. "Don't waste your time trying to outgun them. Eagle! Hide behind us and we will wait for your planes. cruisers… act as my shield, would you?"
"No need to ask!" Cairo said valiantly.
Mendez Nunez, Almirante Grau and Coronel Bolognesi prepared their gun. Now they would act as cruisers of the line and not anti-air units. Libertad was holding the gunboat while Buiza was dealing with the leak from the shell.
"Go help them Libertad. I am abandoning ship. Everyone, prepare the lifeboat."
The three sailors alongside him agreed. Libertad let go of the gunboat.
"Commander, I will be waiting for you at the beach."
[…]
Deutschland fired without consideration at the enemy formation. Algérie tried to calm her down.
"If I don't come back with Ajax as my slave, I'll be pissed."
"For now, let's try to win. The odds are against us," Almirante Cervera said with pessimism.
"I won't tolerate defeatism!" Deutschland vociferated. "There is no place for cowardice under my command, be obedient and nothing else."
"Yes, your highness Deutschland."
The pocket battleship had thought of a plan. Her faster units, the Dunkerque, Provence and the super-fast destroyers were going around Gibraltar in a slight mist to take them from the west. Completely encircled, their numerical inferiority would be compensated by fire from all side. She thought of her plan as incredible. The mist jamming their communication and radar was the best tool at their disposition. There was no way she would let pass the occasion.
"Deutschland to HQ IR, we ask for Gibraltar to be engulf in mist. Make it that their ground plane cannot make it to battle."
"Understood," said the voice on the other side.
For now, they would attack. Deutschland lead the charge.
[Battle A-4]
Provence and Dunkerque were proceeding around the island of Gibraltar at great speed when they were suddenly fired upon by a mysterious formation.
"We were not made aware of such units," Provence screamed.
"It seems they had even more unit on the way," Dunkerque said.
"Listen to me sisters," Richelieu's divine voice reached them. "Azur Lane's battle is not finished. Your place is not beside them, but beside me. Your divine destinies are to help us win our divine battle."
"To hell with Azur Lane!" Provence screamed. "You'll pay too in due time."
Dunkerque and Provence agreed to not go further. They didn't know if more unit were on their way. They retreated with their fast destroyers back to Vichya's Dominion territory. They were attacked by submarines.
"Do not think we will let you get away!" Santa Fe thought.
"We got bad news for you!" said Veinticinco de Mayo. "But we have Sardignian's engines! We are in the competition for fast cruisers."
"Who cares!" Provence said. "Lion, Lynx, Guépard. Show them who's faster!"
[Battle B-1]
In the open field, the fast destroyers were heavily wounded and easily taken care of. Richelieu ordered a cease-fire on the destroyers. She didn't want to see her comrades getting killed again. She warned them.
"We won't kill you. Go think about your actions. The holy script shall guide you in the light."
The battleship disappeared around Gibraltar. The destroyers slowly walked away.
"What a boring encounter. We were not even scratched!" Veinticinco de Mayo complained.
"We should count ourselves lucky," La Argentina said.
"They thought we were a bigger force," noticed Almirante Brown. "Good work, little friends."
Mendoza, La Rioja and Tucumán celebrated their first naval victory. The submarines surfaced and asked for additional orders. In less than ten minutes, they were behind Deutschland's forces.
[…]
Schleswig-Holstein, Schlesien and Sachsen were going back in the battle when planes came from the north. Swordfishes deployed their torpedoes and shells started landing near them. On the horizon, Ark Royal, King George V and Rodney appeared. They had lost contact with the south. The operation was failure. They ran away in the mist. Dupleix, Alberto Di Guissano and Alberico Da Barbiano, not willing to risk any further deaths, sent a signal to Admiral Scheer.
"We lost! Retreat now."
"I am damage you dumbdumb! I need help."
Guissano and Barbiano went to the damage pocket battleship. The 356mm shells had pierce everywhere. Her second battery was destroyed. Her engines were leaking, and her chest was open like a tin can.
"You were not missed by an inch."
Additional planes came in.
[Battle B-2]
"That should scare them of," King George V said.
"This mist is still in our way," Rodney said.
"We will have to get closer… I can't wait to see these little southern girls!"
[…]
Deutschland received the news from Provence that it was too late. They had to retreat. She had done enough damage to their formations. Deutschland was cut apart by Almirante Latorre shot of a surgical precision. Her torpedoes exploded in the front of her rigging destroying the rear turret. Her front turret was smashed to pieces. Algérie was luckier with her speed but still suffered damage from a torpedo. Only Almirante Cervera didn't suffer any damage. Her old allies were not shouting at her and Almirante Cervera was having second thoughts. Was she doing what was expected of her? Seeing her determined sister Libertad reinvigorated her. It was like being alone in this camp left her with a hole in her heart. For now, she continued firing at the destroyers and she missed every shots.
[Battle B-3]
"Deutschland, we lost. Operation Felix is a failure. Let's go back."
"No! No! No! I need to avenge Graf Spee!"
"We don't have the confirmation that she really sank!" Algérie argued. "For now, we need to retreat."
They stepped away from the battle without another shot being fire. The Battle of Gibraltar had come to an end.
Latorre sighed with relief. She felt like she had over-capacitated her brain. Eagle went to her sister and congratulated her. She was about to launch a last strike when Latorre's hand placed itself on her hangar.
"We did our job… Let's try to tow the bodies of the deceased."
Eagle saw in her eyes the same anguish she had in the Great War. Her face toward the sky, she felt the light and cold rain on her skin. In the middle of the carnage, silence. They regrouped at the port where the fire ravaged the installation. Still, the people came down from their house and celebrated Buiza's accomplishments as a hero. Somerville stepped over the rocky stairs and came in person congratulating him. Under the ovations, the shipgirls were tending to their wound.
At sea, Latorre searched for Alfonso. She could not locate her body.
"I need to save her," had said Alfonso.
Was it prophecy?
She found the burnt body of Jaime I drift. Latorre took it her arm and want to the beach where, with Eagle, she buried Jaime I in the north of Gibraltar, under a rock, out of the common people's view. Only sailors would be able to see this weird looking shrine from afar. The rocks formed a beautiful star oriented toward the sunrise and could be seen until midday.
"You are not forced to take the burden of the dead every time," Eagle said.
"And letting her drift away forever on never ending seas? At least, let her turrets rust forever toward the sun."
Jaime's four batteries were arranged behind the star and would point the sun forever. Even if there was only one body, Latorre marked down in the sand the name of Espana and Alfonso. At least, they would never end up alone.
"You know… We can try to get you some vacations in England."
"Don't worry. I am accustomed to this. Against the Siren, you remember? How much we lost in that stupid war. I still remember the last one I had to bury in deep snow. Who was she already? The girl with a determination of steel."
"I still remember Viribus Unitis."
"What a shame. Maybe Dante Alighieri would have decided to live if she had survived. I feel like it's not far from far-fetched."
"I feel this too. I feel like we are living in a weird dream. Like it was not our true destiny. Someone messing with time."
The two girls went back to the celebrations. The shipgirls in the port were obviously not in the mood but were trying to keep a fake smile. Liverpool, Cairo and Belfast were doing their maid stuff. The newly arrived Richelieu was stealing the spotlight from the bragger Veinticinco de Mayo. Latorre searched among the survivors of the battle.
Still no trace of Riachuelo and São Paulo.
[…]
After the battle, the Crimson Axis submarines ran for their lives as their friends above ran faster than them without any consideration. It left the underwater attacker vulnerable. The Royal Navy submarines accompanied by Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Salta pursued them at full speed. They did not engage right away. They waited for their allies to disappear from the perimeter. After minutes, it happened. Weirdly, one of them had to surface and it was Durbo.
"This mechanics on this are complete trash," she said as she vomited in the water while pounding her chloromethane leaking rigging.
The confuse submarine did not see the other submarines surface beside her. Durbo was completely induced in her hallucinations that she did not see them as enemy.
"`That's what I said to our stupid superior," Durbo ranted about her riggings like she was talking to friends. "These stupid riggings always leak! Didn't they see what happened to Macallé!"
Upright did not want to break her disillusions but São Paulo was of another opinion.
"Amigo! We are the enemy and you are coming with us."
"What!?" Durbo said while looking around. She still saw these weird silhouettes. Suddenly, her eyes seemed to fall in an endless pit. She vomited again. The little girl in pain took the phone and screamed in it.
"Lafolè! Get back here! I need your…"
She fell back like an emotionless doll. The voice of Lafolè could be heard on the receiving end.
Ultimatum intervened, "Inspect her rigging! Their must be important codes and orders."
The emotionless doll, with her bloody eyes, tried to scuttle herself with a torpedo.
[Battle B-4]
Upright held her arms in place as the submarine tried to free herself but the poison had completely engulfed her in madness. Santiago del Estero felt sick not from the poison but from what would be ahead of them. Santa Fe comforted her as she received some of the keys from Unbroken. As they held the code keys in their hands, Urge took the Blackbox out of the control room. The rigging was now leaking water. Upright released her from her grip.
"We can't leave her there," São Paulo argued.
"Then throw away your keys and enjoy the punishment," Upholder abruptly said.
São Paulo looked at the three keys the size of a hand. They were neither light nor heavy. Their blue color reflected the sun and São Paulo could see her indecisive face in it. She had no pockets nor free opening in her rigging to store the information. Her eyes in her reflection were begging her not to make the wrong decision.
She threw the keys.
As Durbo was slipping beneath the waves, São Paulo took her by the arms. The Sardignian submarine was unconscious. São Paulo held her in her arms as she sailed back to Gibraltar behind the group. When they reached the docks, they were greeted by a party. The babble of the workers in addition to the gossiping of the different groups animated the damaged dock.
Admiral Somerville and commander Buiza greeted the returning submarines. Their cargo was immediately handled by men in black and secured for decryption. São Paulo dragged Durbo's body to the infirmary with the help of her sisters. Buiza and Latorre followed the nurses with the red cross. The Royal Navy submarines, who were not questioned by Somerville, kept the situation as a secret.
In the following days, the submarines decrypted on Durbo's keys were hunted down by Ark Royal, Eagle and destroyers in the area.
Lafolè and Tembien, spotted by Ark Royal, were forced to immerge and were torpedoed by destroyers.
In the vicinity, Iride surfaced after seeing the balls of fire. Eagle's torpedo bombers charged at her. Seeing she would have not the time to dodge them, Iride fell in the water hoping some of her rigging would remain. It was disintegrated. Iride drowned.
Naiade, Rubino, Diamante and Capitano Raffaele Tarantini tried to run back to ally waters when they were spotted by a group of destroyers lead by HMS Thunderbolt. The ten destroyers rained hell on their head as they tried to dodge depth charges. The cruel accuracy of the destroyers sank all except Tarantini who surfaced and was rammed by Thunderbolt. The danger of Crimson Axis planes made them depart rapidly from the scene leaving Tarantini to drown.
Sorry for delivering the last part of the story later (I forgot to add it last week)
Intervention Force North
· Carriers : Ark Royal
· Battleships : King George V / Rodney
· Cruisers : Belfast / Sheffield
· Destroyers : Sikh / Zulu / Maori / Mashona / Tartar
Intervention Force South
· Battleships : Richelieu
· Cruisers : Almirante Brown / Veinticinco de Mayo / La Argentina
· Destroyers : Mendoza / La Rioja / Tucumán
Submarines : Santa Fe / Santiago del Estero / Salta