Troll reviews like the recent vote Trump one won't be tolerated.

(Port of Yokosuka: 20:30)

Emily Kerr stood on the foredeck of the Hood, directing her crew as they loaded the final supplies onto the battlecruiser before she was to set off for the day's mission. The crew of the Hood may have not been happy about having to work since the afternoon to prepare for battle, but her captain was not prepared to hear their complaints.

"I don't like this."

"What? even if we set off at night, it'll be daytime the day after tomorrow when we make contact."

"You know what I'm talking about. I know the time doesn't matter to you, but numbers should. You're only taking the Howe with you, and that's not enough."

"We've talked about this." Emily answered firmly. "Yes, it would've been nice to have Harry with me, or Amara."

"Captain Patel only left after you declared that you didn't need any more ships."

"I was counting on the Rodney. But now that's impossible."

"And I have no ship." Amelia said. "It'll take a couple months to get the Warspite back. If I had her, I could've joined you."

"No need." Emily answered. "I think everything's working for the best this time. The Bismarck is fast, and we can't have a reasonable fight with her with slow ships like the Rodney."

"According to blimp recon, the Bismarck has slowed down considerably after the torpedo strike."

Emily ignored this. "We have the Howe, and the Hood, against just one battleship. Sending more ships after her would be shameful. You know how we have a reputation for quantity over quality. It's about time we let everyone see that we still rule the waves with quality."

Amelia shrugged. "I can't go against that judgment. But I believe you're aware that Captain Fernando recently reported on the Howe's gun issues?"

Emily nodded.

"You're aware that the Hood is a battlecruiser, and we've seen that those aren't always good against battleships. At least simulations have proved that."

"This is the Hood, not the Invincible." Emily answered. "And I've fought battleships while on the Hood. I've fought you, and you couldn't sink us."

Amelia frowned. "I don't think I ever meant to sink the Hood in that battle. Cause if I wanted to, I would've done it."

In return, Emily laughed. "Ok, get rid of that attitude."

"I know I'm telling the truth." Amelia said. But then she smiled. "But I guess I can trust your skills against the Bismarck."

"Don't underestimate the Germans."

"I don't. But I'm afraid you underestimate them. I hope you take more care."

"But I do take care." Emily said, putting up a fake look of sadness.

Amelia smiled at her purposefully horrible attempt at gaining sympathy. "Don't get yourself killed or anything."

"That was very encouraging." Emily laughed and walked on towards the Hood's superstructure.

(Philippine Sea: 03:30)

The cruiser patrol in charge of keeping contact with the Bismarck was led by two heavy cruisers; the Norfolk and the Suffolk, and the light cruiser Ceylon. Of these, the Suffolk had maintained contact with the battleship since the beginning, while the other cruisers joined somewhat late.

{Two ships spotted in the horizon. Bearing zero-eight-five.}

In the Ceylon, Kalum was satisfied with this information. "That'll be the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen."

"Then we'll meet the Suffolk soon." Ravindu said, checking his tab for blimp reports.

"Yes, they've maintained visual contact with the Bismarck for over an hour by now. Strangely, no combat has taken place between the two." Jerad said.

"It's too dark for accurate fire. But we can't ignore the possibility. If we can see them, then they can see us. There's always the chance of us being at the receiving end of their fire."

{Bridge, radio. Message from the Suffolk to cruiser patrol. Low on fuel, will leave patrol after transferring command to Norfolk.}

"Radio, message received. Ask the Norfolk what our next course of action should be."

{Aye captain.}

The time it took for the radio operator to contact the heavy cruiser enabled Kalum to pay more attention to the weather, which wasn't at its best state. But this brought more harm than good to the cruisers, as it would create difficulties with fire aiming for the Germans. This was probably a reason why they hadn't fired at the cruisers all this time.

{Captain, the Norfolk is planning to close in on the Bismarck.}

"That's not a good idea. If staying at the edge of their vision worked till now, it's best to stay that way."

{Should I let the Norfolk know your thoughts, captain?}

"No, let the Norfolk know that we'll follow them"

The cruisers began to approach the battleship bit by bit, but it was not long before the Bismarck decided to teach them a lesson on personal space.

{Captain, muzzle flashes from the Bismarck.}

The Norfolk had already seen this, and were making a hard turn to port when eight shells lit the night, flying towards them.

"That's impressive fire control." Anudha said while staring in shock and fascination at the jets of water that erupted on either side of the Norfolk. "Straddled on the first barrage."

It didn't take long for the crew of the Ceylon to realize that, with the Norfolk retreating to safety at full speed, they were the new targets.

"Hard to port!" Kalum shouted as he watched the Bismarck with binoculars, though he could only make out their outlines in the moonlight. The Ceylon was just making the turn when he realized that he was staring down the barrels of eight fifteen inch guns.

"Now we're in for it."

The eight muzzle flashes blinded everyone on the cruiser, but it was what followed them that terrified them. Shells that could destroy them in one hit.

Eight walls of water quickly washed the decks of the Ceylon clean, as she was also lucky to escape with just being straddled by the shells.

{Captain, message from the Norfolk. Now it's best to stay out of visual range. We can keep the Bismarck within radar range instead.}

"Good idea." Kalum said while another round of shells impacted near the now fleeing cruisers. "Deploy smoke, let's get the hell out of here."

Once the two cruisers got away with their structure, though not their honor, intact, they quickly turned to starboard to continue their chase of the Bismarck. Now they were astern of the battleship, and heading in the same direction according to previous plans. They were only supposed to engage in combat after the Hood and Howe joined them.

"Where is the Hood."

"According to blimp recon, about seventy kilometers ahead of us, sailing at 25 knots at the bearing of zero-zero-seven." Ravindu replied, checking his tablet. The accuracy of the blimp recon had been a welcome surprise to everyone during the past weeks.

"Then the real action will begin in a couple hours. Until then we only have to follow, and report if the Prinz Eugen tries something funny."

Shadowing the Bismarck herself was quite unnecessary, considering that the battleship was now only capable of moving forward. But her escorts had complete freedom of movement, and the destroyer Z-31 had used that freedom quite liberally the previous day. And that was before the San Diego, which was nearby, decided to step in.

Kalum yawned. "This is getting boring."

"Ninety percent of war is boredom." Jerad replied.

"And the other ten percent is terror. I'd like something more balanced."

"Why were we chosen to stay awake all night?"

{Captain, message from the Norfolk. Refrain from further combat till we're firmly linked with the Hood.}

"Understood." Kalum replied. "I'm not in the mood to get blown up."

(Philippine Sea - 05:52)

{Captain, message from the Howe. Bismarck spotted 15 nautical miles away. Bearing zero-six-zero.}

A moment later, the Hood's own lookout confirmed the sightings. The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen were sailing comparatively slowly northward.

"Ma'am, do we start the battle or wait for the cruisers?" Emily's X.O asked. Emily thought about this for a moment. The cruisers in question were only minutes away.

"We'll begin. Prepare for anti-surface action."

The call for action stations in the Hood had been sounded well in advance, and the fifteen inch guns were loaded and aimed without delay.

"Send orders to Captain Fernando to target the lead ship."

"Range 26,500 yards. All guns, Fire at will!" The best guns in the Royal navy were once again seeing combat. The Howe followed the Hood's example, opening fire with all fourteen inch guns.

{Ma'am, message from the Howe. One gun in A turret malfunctioning.}

The first barrage from the Hood missed their mark, though only slightly. Both German ships, meanwhile, held fire.

{Ma'am, message from the Howe. We're firing at the wrong ship.}

"The Prinz Eugen?"

"The side profile of both ships is identical. So anyone can make a mistake." The Hood's secretary said, checking his tablet.

"Shift targets to the rear ship." Emily ordered her gunnery officer. "It's fortunate that we found out about this before much longer."

"Yes ma'am," the Hood's gunnery officer said, enthusiastically giving her commands. The Hood fired another salvo, this time at the correct target. Still no hits were scored.

"We're not in a good position." The gunnery officer said, after the salvo. "At this range we'll have to face arcing fire."

"I've thought about that." Emily replied. "We still have time before the Germans decide to fire. Hard to starboard. We'll reduce the range."

"hard to starboard, aye."

"Radio, Bridge, send word to the Howe to turn to starboard to reduce range. Getting T crossed isn't an issue, since we can still bring nine guns to the fight."

Captain Fernando obeyed without hesitation, and the two ships were now headed straight towards their enemy.

"Switch to secondary rangefinders and recalculate the aim." Emily ordered, as the spray from their advance at high speed created issues for the main rangefinder on the Hood's A turret.

{Incoming eight inch shells.} The Bismarck still held her fire, but the Prinz Eugen had grown tired of waiting.

One of the shells from the heavy cruiser found its mark.

"Damage report." Emily said, knowing that this couldn't be much serious.

{Small but fierce fire on deck.} the report came. {The shell's hit the ammo storage for a secondary.}

"Don't risk trying to put out the fire right now." Emily replied. "It doesn't matter for us."

{Ma'am, the Howe scored hits!}

"Good." Emily replied to the joyous lookout. "Can you report on the damage?"

{Ma'am, message from the Howe.} the radio operator said before the lookouts on the Hood could answer accurately. {Three hits scored. One hit amidships, on the superstructure. Second on the bow. Third exploded underwater amidships. Unable to accurately spot the damage caused.}

"Three hits in one salvo. That's excellent work." Emily said laughing. "Let's land hits before first years overdo us."

{Incoming shells!}

Another successful salvo by the Prinze Eugen was enough to convince Emily that they were now in the right range.

{Range, 7.8 nautical miles}

"Turn to starboard, ninety degrees."

And that was when the Bismarck opened fire.

"All guns, Fire!" Emily ordered at the same time.

The full broadside salvo fired from the Hood was glorious, and it took away everyone's mind from the incoming salvo from the Bismarck. But elated spirits could fall very quickly.

{fifteen inch shells incoming.}

The salvo from the Bismarck missed their mark, possibly due to the increasing fire from the Hood.

{Captain, message from the Norfolk. They're prepared to assist.}

"Tell them to target the Prinz Eugen. Let's end this fight." For now elated spirits continued to rise.

"Fire at will!"

{Shells incoming.}

"Brace for impact." Emily yelled as the shells flew straight towards them. She held on as the Hood shook from the impact of the shells that impacted on either side of her.

"Those…those are way too close for comfort." Emily said. "We can't afford to take time. Any luck for the Howe?"

{No ma'am. The Howe hasn't scored any hits since earlier.}

"That's truly unfortunate."

Then the Bismarck fired her third salvo for the day, just as the Hood fired one more time.

This time, she didn't miss.

In the Bridge, Emily briefly lost her footing due to the minor explosion that followed the hit, and the explosions in the water on either side of the Hood caused by the rest of the shells.

"Damage report. Quickly."

{Shell hole on port side deck, amidships.}

{Minor flooding in the engine room. That's not an issue, but something's gone really wrong. We're losing control here.}

{Automatic systems failing to respond. Electronic systems failing.} On cue, the lights began to flicker in the bridge.

Emily turned around as he heard something clank on the floor of the bridge. The secretary, who also served as the technical officer, had dropped his tablet.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." He muttered as he bent down to pick up his tablet, his hands still shivering. He straightened himself with some effort before addressing Emily, who was already shocked by his facial expressions.

"The computer's destroyed." He said. "The shell must've exploded in the electronics room."

In order to reduce crew sizes on ships, all student fleet ships were highly automated. And all these automated systems were controlled by computer systems in what was called the electronics room, which was rarely entered by the students.

"To simply put it…we've been mission killed." The secretary said. "We can't control any of our guns, we can't rely on the damage control systems and most of the pumps. And we'll soon lose our propulsion."

"So we're dead on the water." Emily replied as the Hood began to come to a stop. "We're out of the fight."

Just eight minutes had passed during the battle, and the pride of the Royal Navy had been effectively destroyed.

The bridge crew was silent, but in a moment the silence was disturbed by the X.O.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

For the first time in her life, Emily failed to answer.

"Captain" the X.O. repeated, somewhat softly. "What do we do now? We're sitting ducks."

Nobody needed any explanations on what this meant for them. A stationary target was easy picking for the enemy.

Emily still remained quiet.

But that was only before the next salvo from the Bismarck hit close by, missing their target by miracle.

"Captain!" This time the X.O's shout was urgent, and Emily responded accordingly.

For the first time, the crew of the Hood were shocked to see their captain's voice waver as she gave her orders.

"All hands, Abandon ship!"

Emily turned to her X.O. "We don't have much time. Get everyone on deck, and into lifeboats. I'll be the last person off."

The X.O. met her eyes, nodded and quickly ran to the voice tubes to give her orders. Emily meanwhile went to the short band radio for distress calls, as she didn't know of the status of other communication media on the ship. There she tuned into the wavelength of her ships.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is HMS Hood. Our systems are down after shell damage for electronics. Orders in progress for abandoning ship. Do you copy?"

The reply came just after a moment. {This is the C-30 Ceylon. We'll move into assist evacuation while the Norfolk is in combat with the Prinz Eugen.}

The first year captain was clearly in shock. But he kept his voice steady.

{P-32 Howe is prepared to assist with the evacuations. We'll keep the Bismarck occupied} Captain Fernando, who was also in line, said, much to Emily's relief.

"Thank you. I can't ask you to take hits for the Hood, but…"

{We can take hits till you're safely off the ship. If we are lucky the Bismarck will be less of a threat to us by then.}

{The Ceylon will be with you in five minutes.}

Thanking them, Emily ended the call and quickly ran out of the bridge of her ship and onto the fore deck, where the crew had assembled before lowering themselves into lifeboats from the starboard side of the Hood, which would shield them from enemy fire. The boats had been lowered initially, with the crew getting into them using rope ladders. This process was nearly over by the time Emily reached them.

Before she climbed off the deck, Emily turned one last time towards the superstructure of the Hood, thinking of what she was leaving behind. She only spent a moment in this way, before the more rational part of her brain forced her to climb down the ladder into safety. But before she could get there, another salvo from the Prinz Eugen found their mark.

One shell hit the Hood on the port side below the fore-deck, while the rest fell too short, and Emily was briefly thrown off her feet from the impact. As she rose up she was aware of a sharp pain on her left arm, where a random shell splinter had embedded itself.

The wound seemed to be deep. But at the moment, it did not matter to the injured, as she was just glad to see that the shell damage to the Hood was negligible. The pain only came back to her when she attempted to climb down the rope ladder.

The burning sensation on her arm convinced her to give up the attempted climb. Without wasting time she jumped off the deck into the cold early morning water. Emily was a good diver, and the Hood sat quite low on the water, so she was fine there.

In retrospect, exposing a wound to salt water was a terrible idea. But the increasing pain from the wound, and the coldness of the water, were lost upon Emily as she was dragged into a boat. Her mind was preoccupied.

"Ma'am, you're injured." The medic of the Hood said as she saw Emily's arm. She began to reach for her first aid supplies, before realizing that they were with her assistant on board another boat. But Emily was content with a towel which she used to wipe that area clean of salt water, before wrapping it around her arm to stop the bleeding.

While it still hurt, she felt as if her injury was a necessity. Her ship was badly injured, and it would've felt wrong for her to get out without a scratch.

(Philippine Sea - 06:04)

Kalum stood on the deck of the Ceylon as the crew of the Hood climbed on board one by one. As Emily climbed over last, with more effort than he expected, he saluted.

"Welcome onboard the Ceylon."

Emily nodded without reply, and as the captain noticed her injury and tried to call the medic, she quickly stopped him.

"Priorities! Let's continue this fight first. And my crew is at your disposal if they're needed."

"Yes ma'am. Join us on the bridge."

On the way Kalum gave orders for the medics to report immediately to the Emily was only in the bridge for a couple minutes before the medic entered.

The Ceylon had two medics, a doctor and a girl who worked as his assistant. It was the assistant that was in charge of treating any female crew members on the ship. And this time she entered the bridge, took one look at Emily's injury, and bandaged the arm after removing the splinter and cleaning the wound.

Emily didn't even notice this as she stood watching the Howe, which was visible as the Ceylon had turned to port to head towards the Norfolk to join the fight against Prinz Eugen. The battleship was now under heavy fire from the Bismarck, and she had been hit more than once by now. One shell had hit the superstructure dangerously close to the bridge, as was evident by the smoke that poured out from the area.

"Gehan, I mean Captain Fernando, can manage this." Kalum said, as he saw the look of concern in Emily's face.

Emily didn't reply, and another shell from the Bismarck exploded near the Howe, perhaps hitting her hull underwater.

A moment later a message came from the Howe. {We've been struck four times by Bismarck and once by Prinz Eugen. The most recent shell has penetrated our hull below the waterline without exploding. We have a minor flood in the area, but we still can fight, though our guns are malfunctioning more.}

"Break off from the fight, right now." Emily ordered, calling the Howe directly. "I know you don't want to give up. But I don't want you to put yourself in danger."

Captain Fernando protested, and Emily was going to repeat her orders when a salvo from the Bismarck took her sight away from the radio. It seemed like the German battleship had taken the risk of shifting targets for a moment. And those shells were headed straight to the Hood.

As Emily watched in horror, one of the fifteen inch shells found their mark on the aft-deck of the Hood, possibly near the X turret.

Emily watched, speechless and in horror, as a pillar of flames shot out from where the shell penetrated the deck armor. Her worst fears since the beginning of the battle have been confirmed.

The pillar of flames was followed by a massive explosion that lifted the center of the ship briefly out of the water. Both aft turrets flew off and fell into the sea, as the ship broke in half and began to sink.

Within minutes, the pride of the Royal Navy had disappeared beneath the waves.

All was silent.

What happened a moment ago seemed to be beyond comprehension to the minds of those in the bridge of the Ceylon. This seemed to be the case with the Howe and Norfolk too, since no radio message came to them from either ships.

If the Hood hadn't been hit earlier, and disabled, her crew would've still been on board during what happened moments ago.

But the silence was soon broken by a slightly audible thud. Kalum turned to see Emily, who had slumped onto the floor of the wheelhouse. She was now seated, leaning onto a wall, with her head buried in her hands.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

Silence, which was quickly broken by silent sobs from the former captain of the Hood.

{This is the Howe. Commander Kerr, what do we do now?}

"Ma'am," Kalum said, his voice wavering, "We're still in the middle of a battle."

Kalum didn't believe he was capable of thinking straight at the moment. His head wasn't clear enough to give orders for the Ceylon to make a small turn to avoid the shells from the most recent barrage from the Prinz Eugen. Amina made the necessary moves without authorization, and Kalum was glad about that even if it was against the rules.

The explosion of shells around him cleared his mind enough to assess the situation. The Howe was faring badly in the fight against the Bismarck. And despite being near equal, and in some places superior, in strength to the Prinz Eugen, the Norfolk was yet to have a notable success.

He went to Emily, who was once again silent, and bent down next to her. "Ma'am, we'll suffer more losses if we stay here for longer."

Fortunately for Kalum, it seemed that his commander had also cleared her head during this time. She nodded, slowly rose up and went to the radio and spoke out the order she had been giving before the explosion of the Hood.

"All ships, retreat eastwards" she ordered, her voice breaking slightly. "We'll regroup, and then we'll sink the Bismarck."

(Yokosuka Girls' marine High School - 06:12)

Instructor Somerville had not been able to stop pacing up and down in his office since he received the news of the Hood being abandoned due to destruction to the electronic systems. He had been growing restless with every minute that passed.

A British White Dolphin radio operator shared the office with him, with the job of providing him with the latest news that arrived from his fleet. Just like Somerville, the radio operator was impatient for news.

Now, as Somerville completed another walk across the room, he noticed that the operator had finally received another message. He first read it, looking confused. The look of confusion turned to a look of horror as he read the message out to Somerville.

"Message from the Howe, to Admiral Instructor Somerville. The Hood blew up."

Somerville froze on his tracks. "Repeat the message, please, repeat it."

"It's what it says, sir." the operator replied. "Hood exploded due to magazine detonation at 06:09, fighting the Bismarck. At bearing," here he repeated the coordinates provided by the battleship.

"Oh god!" Somerville leaned against his table for support. "If by any chance the crew didn't escape earlier…"

"The Hood blew up? What do you mean the Hood blew up? How did this happen?"

Captain Amelia Fraser had been the third occupant of his office since the morning of that day, before she briefly left the room a few minutes ago. Now she was back, and her timing couldn't have been worse.

The mentally exhausted radio operator repeated his message.

Amelia turned to Somerville, and her wide eyed expression left no room for doubt on how she felt at the moment. "Please, please tell me the previous messages we received were accurate."

"All hands, including Captain Kerr, safe aboard HMS Ceylon." The radio operator read the last part of his message.

Emily walked up and slumped down on a visitor's chair that was placed next to the office desk. Somerville decided against disturbing her, since she was clearly exhausted from her stay here since three in the morning.

"It's really fortunate that the crew already abandoned the ship before the explosion. If they were in there when she exploded, I'd never have forgiven myself for the rest of my life. I should've accompanied Emily without listening to her."

Neither the radio operator, nor Amelia, addressed him regarding this. But on the part of the former, it might have been because of the receival of another message.

"Message from Howe. Three remaining ships retreated from battle under orders from Captain Kerr. Following order, command was transferred to Captain Fernando."

"The situation can't be good if she decided to transfer command?" Somerville said. "She's technically still capable of commanding the fleet, since she's safe."

"She should be extremely distressed." Amelia answered, looking down. "I think, I think I should be with her right now."

"She will need help, definitely." Somerville said. "Do we have any information on the status of the Howe?"

"Badly suffering from gun malfunctions." The radio operator replied. "They're working on bringing nine guns back to service, since one had been malfunctioning from the start."

"Then retreating was the best option, or she would've suffered a similar fate to the Hood." Somerville said. "Well, not exactly a similar fate, since she has much better deck armor."

He continued. "We should've gone on with those damn upgrades before we let the Hood see battle again. But she was our symbol of power, and we wanted her in the action as much as possible. And now we've paid the price for our negligence."

Nobody was entirely sure whether the instructor addressed them, or whether he was just addressing himself. But both listeners decided not to reply.

At length, Instructor Somerville stopped his walk across the room and addressed the radio operator. "I assume Captain Fernando is preparing for another go at the enemy, and he can still win in a fair fight if he can get those guns working again. But still, call all of our ships in the area, and call foreign ships if ours aren't available. We won't need a huge numerical advantage. But it's better not to take risks after what happened. And I refuse to notify the admiralty about our loss before we have a victory to balance it with, though there's a chance of them knowing it before I let them know."

Amelia had risen up from her seat at the mention of calling all ships to action, and was walking out of the door when Somerville called her.

"I know how badly you want to go out there. But at the moment you don't have a ship."

"I swear I'll find a way." Amelia replied.

(Philippine Sea - 11:20)

Following her orders to retreat, and transfer of command, Captain Kerr had walked out of the bridge without any explanation for her later decision, which had come as a shock to everyone. At that moment, Kalum decided against following her at that moment, and it was hours before he finally mastered the courage to do so.

He found her occupying his thinking spot, made by the transom stern of the Fiji-class cruisers, comforting a girl who he recognized as the executive officer of the late Hood. She was red eyed from crying till a little while ago, and Emily had done her best to comfort her.

On seeing Kalum, the girl hastily saluted before running away, leaving Kalum alone to confront the former commander. Kalum stepped forward, somewhat embarrassed of having disrupted the moment.

"Ma'am, the Howe reported that they managed to bring nine guns back to working condition, meaning they're prepared to face the Bismarck again in battle. But Captain Fernando has decided that the best course of action is to wait till we're back in Japanese waters and have some reinforcements." Kalum reported. "Currently we're maintaining radar contact with the Bismarck without getting close enough for engagement."

Emily's face was expressionless, though it seemed to hide a hint of sorrow, as she addressed Kalum.

"You know you don't have to tell me this. I left this battle when the Hood left for good."

"Ma'am, when we meet the Bismarck again, we'll need you."

Emily refused to answer, and both remained silent before she offered a question to Kalum.

"What do you hope to achieve while in the RNSF?"

Before Kalum could answer, she continued. "Of course you want to be a White Dolphin after graduation. I already know that. What I'm interested in is knowing what you want to achieve while still being part of the student fleet."

"I really don't know." Kalum answered. "But I suppose I'd like to distinguish myself as much as possible while still being a student."

"Yes, distinguishing yourself." Emily said, staring into the horizon in the direction where the Hood had been hours ago. "The Royal Navy likes to emphasize this so much."

She continued. "I think I've never been able to have a good home for long after graduating into the fleet. First I had the Exeter, and our crew was happy there. But that was only until we distinguished ourselves in training exercises and got promoted to the Hood last year when the previous crew graduated. We were, once again, happy in our new home for a year. I believed that the Hood will remain as our home for much longer than the Exeter did, but…" Here her voice broke.

"I don't know why I told you this." She said, after a while. "You aren't ambitious, even if you say you want to distinguish yourself like everyone else. I think you're the complete opposite of Amelia."

Here Kalum was surprised to see a hint of a smile on the previously emotionless face.

"Now there's someone who had worse luck than I did with having a home. She lost the Fiji months after getting it. Then she became captain of the Renown for distinguishing herself during the final moments of the Fiji. I believe you've heard this before."

Kalum nodded.

"She then distinguished herself even more and earned the Warspite, which she lost after a month. But at least for her, the loss is temporary, since her shop will be out of the dry dock in a few months."

Kalum didn't exactly understand what Emily exactly meant by him being the opposite of Captain Fraser, though he believed quite correctly that it had a lot to do with ambition. As for Captain Kerr, she just seemed to be letting out a lot of her thoughts rather than carrying out a conversation.

"I'm wasting your time." Emily said, as if she had read Kalum's mind. "Go ahead and distinguish yourself without relying on me for decisions. You won't be alone, since you'll get plenty of reinforcements when you're close to Japan. But my only concern now is how to keep my homeless family together. You saw Miss Davis, my first mate, when you came here. She was one of the few people who could think straight when the Hood was disabled, and even I was too shocked to react. But losing the Hood forever was too much."

"You won't be homeless for long." Kalum answered. "And when you find your new home, you'll still have a long time to enjoy it."

Emily didn't reply at once, but said, "You have more important things to do now than bothering about me."

Kalum considered this as an order from his commander, and turned to leave. Before leaving the aft-deck, he turned back again for a moment, and was not surprised to see Emily still where he left her, with her gaze still fixed towards the south.

(Philippine Sea - 22:30)

{Captain, message from the Howe. Nine out of ten guns brought back to fighting condition.}

"Finally," Kalum said, stifling a yawn. "Then we only need some help before we can go for round two. I believe Captain Fernando wants to wait for reinforcements before engaging."

{The message included that point, captain. It'll be good if we don't have to fight tonight.}

"Crew rotation will be in ten minutes. You can go to sleep." Kalum answered. Considering the somewhat close distance between them and the enemy, all students were meant to remain in standby for action. Fortunately for the Ceylon, some members of the crew of the Hood had offered themselves as temporary crew to man the posts while others rested.

But neither the Howe nor the Norfolk had the fortune to afford this situation.

"We can expect any allies to be with us by daybreak tomorrow, since that'll be everyone's last chance to stop them before they reach Japan."

He seemed to be the only person on board who was active as he walked up to Amina, who was dozing off at the wheel, and clapped loudly.

Amina was awake in a flash, and it didn't take any time for her to come back to reality.

"I'm so sorry captain." She said, somewhat wide eyed from realizing what she had done.

"No problem." Kalum replied, holding back the smile he had got since he saw what Ravindu was up to. "You can go to sleep soon. I don't want anyone to be dead inside when we fight tomorrow."

"It'll be easier in round two. Especially since the Bismarck is quite slow now." New images from the blimps had reached them hours ago, showing the massive oil spill caused by the Howe's damage to the enemy. A massive environmental disaster, but a fortune to the Royal Navy.

"Any new messages from Yokosuka? Are any reinforcements inbound?"

{No new messages, captain.} The radio operator replied after a yawn. {The Graf Spee won't be arriving anytime soon, and it's the same situation with the San Diego. There wasn't any news from the Pacific Fleet since the report on the destroyers.}

"We really weren't planning ahead, were we?"

"Statistically speaking, the Kriegsmarine has one of the weakest student fleets considering surface combatant numbers." Ravindu answered.

And nobody expected a ship like the Hood to lose.

"According to the last message from Yokosuka, we won't be getting any heavy hitters till some paperwork done." Kalum repeated what everyone knew. "I don't know what paperwork that is."

Novody else offered any explanations.

{Bridge, radar, we have four contacts heading from the north.} The radar operator, at the moment another member of the Hood's crew, said.

"If we're lucky, those are our destroyers. If we're unlucky…" Kalum decided to not think about other possibilities, since even Blue Mermaid or White Dolphin ships wouldn't be close yet.

{Captain, message from Commander Fernando. Incoming ships have identified themselves as Tenacious and Cossack from the Royal Navy, Hamakaze from the Japanese and our Polish exchange destroyer Piorun.}

"That's good news. Any orders from the Howe?"

{Orders to direct torpedo strikes against the Bismarck. Stated intention, to tire the enemy or damage her, but not sink her.}

"On it," Kalum said, losing all his previous drowsiness. "Amina, wake up. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a little longer before crew rotation."

Kalum then gave his orders, knowing well that he would be at the receiving end of the wrath of some of his crew members who remained fast asleep, and didn't want anyone to disturb their peace.

"All hands, we have orders for torpedo warfare. The target is the Bismarck. We'll be directing torpedo attacks of four destroyers."

In five minutes, Aanya had run into the bridge, relieving the Hood's torpedo officer of her temporary duties.

"I'm not going to miss any torpedo action."

Kalum marveled at the speed with which she had left her sleep, while wondering whether she had slept with her uniform completely on, even though they had been given orders to relax.

"We won't be firing any of our torpedoes."

Aanya's face fell, but she kept her composure. "I'll still stay here for the duration of the battle.

Kalum then turned to Amina. "Port, thirty."

"Port thirty, aye."

"Full speed ahead."

Sometime later, the Ceylon was once again within range of the Bismarck, and preparing to get closer. The darkness was a lot of help here, but having previous experience on the enemy fire control, Kalum decided on caution.

Star shells were loaded in six out of twelve guns of the Ceylon, and similar measures were taken on the destroyers under Kalum's orders.

"All destroyers. Prepare for torpedo strikes. Wait till the enemy is illuminated by star shells before torpedo runs." Kalum ordered, when they had approached a considerable distance under the cover of darkness. Kalum had scarcely finished sending the message when the unexpected happened.

The Piorun broke out of the ground and advanced at full speed at the battleship.

"Ok dammit." Kalum yelled as the Polish destroyer fired a full volley of star shells at her enemy. "All destroyers, go ahead with torpedo warfare."

"Destroyers tend to be annoying, and the Poles seem to have a bone to pick with the Germans."

Or I have a lot to learn about command. Kalum thought.

{Muzzle flashes from the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.} The star shells from the Piorun lit up the sky, showing everyone exactly where the Bismarck was. But unfortunately, it also indicated to the Bismarck where their enemy was. It didn't take long for shells to splash around the Polish destroyer.

"Illuminate targets with star shells." Kalum ordered. "The Piorun better get back before the Germans land any hits." This was said mainly as their destroyers still had some distance to close on before launching torpedoes, and the chance of them getting close was getting lower. The enemy was lighting up their search lights.

The Piorun, however, didn't seem to have any plans to fall back. She fired all six of her guns, this time loaded with live shells, at the German battleship. The shells missed their mark, so there was no damage done to the enemy ship. But there was some damage done to their temper.

More shells made their way towards the Piorun, though this time they fell too far. The return salvo by the destroyer fell too short, but the Poles remained persistent, firing salvo after salvo. Meanwhile, the other destroyers had caught the attention of the Prinz Eugen, and were harassing the heavy cruiser with similar success.

"Main guns, Fire!" Kalum ordered, hoping to assist the destroyer. He had ordered half of them to be loaded with live ammunition while the remainder were loaded with star shells. The salvo worked well. A little too well.

The next salvo of the Bismarck was directed straight at the Ceylon which sailed parallel to bring all guns to bear. A wild turn to starboard was attempted, but time was not an ally of the cruiser.

"Brace for impact!"

This time, the shells weren't going to miss.

Kalum had briefly lost his footing as the ship rocked from the explosions in the water around it. Now he regained it, and was astonished to see that the ship still seemed to be in one piece. All around him, bridge personnel were rising up after falling, or regaining their senses after the shock.

"Damage report!"

{Captain} a trembling voice that belonged to the chief engineer answered. {We were hit near the stern.}

"How bad?" Kalum asked, imagining the worst from the engineer's tone. He was a year older than Kalum, and rarely lost his composure.

{That's the thing.} the engineer replied. {No serious damage to report. The shell went right through.}

Kalum was speechless for a moment. "That's…that's.."

"Quite believable." Ravindu interrupted. "Our armor is like paper for battleship level guns. But we're lucky it didn't hit anything important inside."

"Any other damage to report?" Kalum said, after regaining his composure. They've been hit by a fifteen inch shell of the Bismarck, a shell that disintegrated the pride of the Royal navy in one hit. And they've come out of it alive.

{We have minor flooding from the shell hole.} The chief engineer reported. {But they're not high enough to sink us or anything. Damage control is in progress.}

{No other damage to report, captain.}

"Is everyone ok?"

A few light injuries were all that were to be reported.

{Captain, message from the Piorun. Chose to retreat after some very close misses.}

{Captain, light signals from a destroyer. Reading, antenna hit.}

"We can't continue like this." Kalum decided. "Order all ships to retreat at once, before the Germans actually hit something important."

{Yes captain.}

"Radio, send a message to Howe. Ceylon and Cossack damaged. Attack unsuccessful due to inability to get to torpedo range."

{Yes captain.}

"We'll have to fight again tomorrow morning. better stay alive till then."

(Philippine Sea - 08:43)

{Bridge, radio. Message from the Howe. Closing in on the Bismarck. Orders to cruisers Ceylon and Norfolk to close distance before engaging the Prinz Eugen.} The destroyers had left hours ago, being low on fuel.

"He's going to take on the Bismarck alone." Kalum said. "We can't get the Renown to help."

The Renown had arrived at the scene some time earlier, and her enthusiastic crew had been ordered to stay back by a Captain Fernando that did not want a repeat of what happened to the Hood, as the Renown also was a battlecruiser with less armor.

{Captain, message from the Norfolk. Orders to join them and engage the Prinz Eugen.}

"Amina, full speed ahead. We have a job to do." Kalum ordered.

As the cruiser sailed ahead, Kalum watched as the Howe fired her second salvo, while receiving return fire from the enemy. The Prinz Eugen, meanwhile, had broken away from the front of the formation and was sailing towards the Norfolk with the intention of finishing the battle that was left unfinished from the previous morning.

"Anudha, load main guns with live ammo. Our target is the Prinz Eugen."

"Guns locked on target. Range, 13 kilometers." Anudha announced a while later.

"Fire!"

The shells missed. But they straddled the enemy.

"Excellent." Kalum said, a little too enthusiastic about their successful gunnery. "Today's off to a great start."

The Prinz Eugen ignored the Ceylon, maintaining the Norfolk as their main target.

{Captain, shells from the Bismarck straddled the Howe.}

Kalum's enthusiasm died down after that, and it was replaced immediately by worry. Are we fighting a losing battle?

Both battleships were coming close to landing hits on each other. The Bismarck was a slow moving target. But she was a slow moving target with eight working fifteen-inch guns with working fire control.

{Captain, two contacts heading from the north.}

"Identify them, at once." Kalum ordered. "If they're reinforcements…"

Before Kalum could complete his order, and before the radio operator of the Ceylon could radio the incoming ships, they chose to identify themselves.

{This is HMS Rodney,} a well known voice said. {Rodney and Dorsetshire, moving in to assist.}

"Is that…?

Kalum turned around as he heard someone noisily enter the bridge. Emily stood at the doorway, wide eyed from either fear or excitement.

"It's Amelia." Emily said, confirming Kalum's thoughts. "Paperwork. I should've guessed."

"Captain Fraser's taken temporary command of the Rodney." Kalum guessed. The battleship had been without a captain since Captain Mackay who commanded her had been hospitalized for some time.

{Captain, message from the Howe to the fleet. Orders for Rodney to close in before firing for maximum accuracy. Orders for Dorsetshire to engage the Prinz Eugen.}

"So she's letting Captain Fernando remain as the commander of the fleet. Yes, that's something Amelia would do."

Kalum looked at Captain Kerr, trying to see whether she had changed after yesterday's loss. She certainly seemed to be more cheerful since she heard from Captain Fraser, though that was mixed with anxiety. But all this was hardly observable behind her still stoic face.

Incoming shells from the Prinz Eugen turned their minds back to what was important at the moment.

Kalum addressed Emily. "Please ma'am. Now that you're here, help us."

"No help is needed." Emily replied. "Captain, you can handle this. You're not alone. Give your orders now."

Kalum was disappointed. But he nodded. "Fire at will."

The Ceylon returned fire as another round of shells from the enemy fell too short. And with the Dorsetshire joining in, their troubles seemed to be ending. The Prinz Eugen turned back and began to head north again while the cruisers followed.

The battleships still fought on with neither side scoring hits. And then the Bismarck turned her guns towards the Rodney that continued to close the distance at her somewhat slow pace.

With the Ceylon now somewhat closer to the battleships, Kalum could see the shells fly. The fire control on the Bismarck still worked to perfection. And geysers erupted on either side of the Rodney.

And then she returned fire.

Even at a distance, Kalum could feel the raw power of those sixteen-inch shells. The first salvo missed. But this was Amelia directing the fire.

The Rodney fired her second full broadside salvo. Nine of the largest caliber guns in the Royal Navy focused on one target.

And this time, Amelia didn't miss.

One sixteen inch shell blew away the main fire director, missing the bridge only slightly. Another shell hit near the fore-turrets. They ceased firing.

Inside the bridge of the Ceylon, silence reigned once again. One salvo had disabled half of the mighty battleship.

"That girl…" Emily muttered. "It's not just her. I was a fool to underestimate the Rodney."

But the Bismarck still remained in the battle. Someone on board had shifted fire control to the aft turrets, and they fired at the Howe, though with less accuracy. Meanwhile Gehan had received enough encouragement to play his part in this battle with success. He returned fire.

The shells from the Howe hit the rear part of the superstructure, damaging it along with the X turret.

{Norfolk, Dorsetshire, Ceylon. Break off from the Prinz Eugen and attack the Bismarck.}

The Prinz Eugen had seen the state of the Bismarck, and had decided on strategic retreat. Gehan didn't seem to have any intention of preventing this.

"Should we let them get away?"

"Captain Fernando is right here." Emily answered quietly. "Now we have the chance to quickly end our feud with the Bismarck. She's already defeated. Amelia solved our issues much faster than I ever could've."

Captain Kerr was distressed, due to the feeling that she was a failure. Thai wasn't true, but Kalum had no idea how to convince her of that. So he concentrated on the other issue.

He decided that his friend was correct. The battleships had got rid of the main dangers, and could go on with their attacks. But more destruction was not going to help. Gehan was right in getting the Rodney to close in to maximize accuracy. And now he was right in getting the cruisers to do the cleanup before the battleship could be boarded.

Emily seemed to have guessed what he was thinking.

"We aren't going to sink the Bismarck. I feel ashamed of even thinking that earlier."

Kalum nodded. "Full speed ahead."

The Rodney had closed the distance before the cruisers got close. The remaining aft turret of the Bismarck fired blindly at the attacker for a few minutes before Captain Fraser got rid of it with another shot. Less than half an hour into the battle, the Bismarck had ceased to be a threat.

What the Rodney did next surprised everyone. She fired her torpedoes, with one scoring a hit on the hull. The Norfolk decided to join in, firing her own torpedoes. But secondary gun fire from the battleship caused her to turn away at the last moment, and the torpedoes missed.

The Norfolk, joined by the Dorsetshire, then retaliated against the secondary guns of the Bismarck by firing their eight-inch main armament. At the range of less than three kilometers, all shells fired met their marks.

{Message from Captain Fernando to all ships. Message reads, cease fire. Blue mermaids on the way.}

As the message was completed, the Rodney fired one last shell, which hit the Bismarck's hull.

{Captain, contacts heading from the north.}

The pride of the Kriegsmarine was dead in the water, though she continued to move forward at a snail's pace. In the Ceylon,Captain Kerr sighed in relief. Amelia had done it.

But that was when the battleship slowly started to list to starboard.

"She's going to sink. What's going on."

"Her starboard side received heavy structural damage." Ravindu decided. "Hit once yesterday by the Howe, then hit by the largest torpedo in the Royal Navy, and hit by sixteen and fourteen inch shells."

{Message from the Howe. Prepare for boarding.}

"No," Emily said. "No." She walked hurriedly to the communication set and called the flagship.

"Captain Fernando, we can't let the Bismarck sink. Losing two flagships in two days is too much of a blow to everyone."

{Is there anything we can do?}

"We need to stabilize the ship again. There's only fifty kilometers between us and Japan."

Before Emily could think of exactly how to do this, Kalum had run up to her, asking for the receiver; which Emily immediately gave to him as she knew he had an idea.

"Captain Fernando, We request permission to torpedo the port side of the Bismarck."

The reply came without any questions asked. {Permission granted.} Kalum scanned the deck of the Bismarck which was now close by. Satisfied, and slightly terrified, in seeing none of the battleship's crew on the deck, he gave his orders.

The Ceylon sailed around the Bismarck at full speed, with a fully loaded starboard side torpedo launcher. Three torpedoes were in the water, and due to the list, they hit the Bismarck right below the belt, penetrating the armor.

The battle was over.

AN: I'm aware that some Germans referred to the Bismarck as a 'he.' But this chapter is from the Royal Navy POV and they called ships 'she.' Anyway this was another long chapter and your concrit and other reviews will be really appreciated, more than before too since FFN is somewhat down currently and view numbers aren't being updated.