This is chapter 6 of this fanfic. I should start by mentioning that this is the first large scale battle I've written in this fanfic, so I might've done some mistakes which I hope you'll help me to correct and improve before I write another battle like this. When I first planned this battle, I believed that it would have at least 7000 words which is larger than my usual word limit in a chapter but I wanted to keep this in one chapter as you might not like a cliffhanger. But I was two thirds done with the battle as the chapter crossed the 8k word line. So, I decided to write the battle in two chapters, and this is part one. I apologize if a cliffhanger ending is an inconvenience for you. Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy part 1.
(HMS Hood – East China Sea – 09:00)
The force of the Pacific fleet lead by HMS Hood sailed at a moderate speed towards the Northeast. All ships in the force could maintain speeds of up to twenty-five knots, and at that speed they were closing in on the target that had been acquired by the drones of the carrier Hermes.
It was a day since the fleet had received the radio message from the Hermes. After a little less than a day's sailing the Pacific Fleet had reached the carrier, and joined with the escort fleet which was with the carrier. This was done after ensuring the safety of the Hermes which was sent back to port in Japan as her escort was hard to maintain. The enemy force the drones had encountered was much larger than the Pacific Fleet had expected, not consisting of solely British warships. From the images they've studied it was clear that a part of the Japanese ships that had caught the infection had now joined those of the Eastern Fleet and were now heading towards Japan from the North.
Under these conditions a battle would not bring an easy victory. But the Pacific Fleet was under the command of one of their 'born commanders.' The reputation of Emily Kerr had not begun when she joined the student fleet as the captain of the heavy cruiser Exeter, but long before that; even before her time in maritime training back in the United Kingdom. The force led by her was the largest a student fleet had mastered for a non-training mission. But it was necessary considering their opposition.
Emily was joined in the bridge by Senior Instructor Somerville who had taken it upon himself to see that everything would go on without a problem, and to take on command if things go wrong. This didn't bother Emily much, as she was fully confident in her ability to control the situation.
"In thirty minutes, we'll be within visual range of the Warspite. Are you nervous?" Instructor Somerville's voice stopped her from pacing up and down the bridge which she had been doing for some time.
"No, sir." She replied.
"You know where we're going to." The instructor said. "The Tsushima Strait."
"Yes," She replied. Considering the reports from land-based drones operating from Japan, the courses of the two fleets would connect at the venue of the last great naval battle of history.
"We'll go down in history," She said, putting to words what Somerville was thinking. "It's a shame we're fighting our own friends."
"I know you don't like to cross blades with Amelia." Somerville said. "I've heard she was quite close to you back home."
"She was a good friend from childhood. I was Instructor Fraser's adopted daughter." Emily replied.
Seeing the surprise on Somerville's face, she decided to elaborate further. "My father and Instructor Fraser had been good friends while in the White Dolphins. He's even saved Instructor Fraser's life once. But unlike Instructor Fraser, my father didn't stay with the Blue Mermaids for long. I don't know what changed him, but after that he became really depressed and went for alcohol. I was only four at the time when dad died from a stroke."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Somerville interrupted.
"No, it's okay." She replied. "At that time my mother didn't have a job, so she couldn't afford to look after me well. Instructor Fraser decided he owed his friend a favour and adopted me temporarily till my mother finds a good job. So, during the time with Instructor Fraser, I became friends with Amelia. With Instructor Fraser's help I could go to Devonport, and both me and Amelia went there for Blue Mermaid Training. During my second year in academy, my mother managed to get a job in the Maritime Safety Department at home, and I could return to live with her again."
"You know, this explains one thing." Somerville said. "You managed to surprise us a lot with your naval knowledge during your time in the Devonport. I think you learnt a lot while staying with Instructor Fraser."
"Yes, and it was Amelia who taught me several things those days. And I'll have to fight her today."
"You know it's our only way to help her." Somerville said. Just then they were interrupted by a lookout calling from the voice tubes.
{Captain, Admiral. Land based drones have spotted a formation of ships towards our port side.}
"There they are."
(HMS Hood – Tsushima – 09:30)
"Sir, they're teaming up quite well." Emily said while passing a tablet she had received from the Hood's secretary to Instructor Somerville. The tablet was showing a new image sent by the land-based drones which showed the entire enemy fleet and the information of the ships belonging to it.
The infected ships from the Eastern Fleet had teamed up with the infected ships from the Maizuru and Kure marine training schools, forming a fleet large enough to challenge what the Pacific Fleet had assembled.
"There's the Kongō and Takao from Kure Girls' Marine Training School." Somerville said. "And two destroyers, one from Maizuru and one from Kure. Does Principal Munetani know this?"
"She'd been notified. So have the principals from Kure and Maizuru."
"Very well, so now we're facing three battleships, one battlecruiser, three heavy-cruisers, two light-cruisers and three destroyers."
"Yes sir, we don't exactly have the numerical advantage needed for an easy victory. And the Arkhangelsk is still behind us by half an hour."
"But we outnumber them slightly, not to mention we have more modern ships. We can pull it off."
By now the distance between the two fleets was reducing. All the ships were on standby to open fire at the slightest command. Yet no one was firing the first shot.
"Distance, thirty kilometers. At this range we'll most probably miss if we fire. And I think they know it too."
The Hood commanded a force of fourteen ships which included three of the most modern battleships of the Royal Navy; the Vanguard, Howe and Anson, along with the Russian Arkhangelsk which had agreed to join them for a battle, as a victorious battle in Tsushima was needed for the Russians who had suffered greatly at the last battle fought there. Apart from this there were the battlecruisers Hood and Renown, the Repulse's sister-ship, the heavy cruisers Norfolk, Cornwall and Suffolk, the light cruisers Belfast, Ceylon and Newfoundland along with three destroyers; the Fortune, Tenacious and Termagant.
This force was larger and stronger than their adversaries who had three battleships; the Warspite, Resolution and Kongō, one battlecruiser which was the Repulse, heavy-cruisers Dorsetshire, Takao and Myōkō, light cruisers Royalist and Agano and the British destroyer Griffin along with two Kagerō-class Japanese destroyers. But a conventional victory was going to be costly.
"Range, 25 kilometers."
"Fire when you're ready." Somerville said. "Let's start this fight."
"Yes sir," Emily said, "Radio, send a message to the fleet. Prepare to fire at the lead ship by using the information from the drones."
A moment later, once the guns of the battlecruiser that had been loaded in advance, opened fire. Eight 15" shells from the Hood's guns started a sixty second journey towards the opposite battle line, followed by the rest of the large caliber guns the fleet contained. The enemy replied with a barrage of their own.
"They're well-coordinated." Instructor Somerville said, seeing the enemy ships fire in perfect unison. "That's to be expected when they're being controlled by the same brain."
The returning shells from the enemy missed their marks and fell close by, creating huge explosions in the water. Unfortunately, their own shells had similar luck in hitting the enemy.
Somerville turned to Emily. "Captain, you'll be in charge from now on. I'll take back command if things go wrong."
Emily was surprised, but she wasn't going to fail when she had a job to do. "Yes sir." Instances like this were common in the Royal Navy, though this time it was unexpected.
"Then give your orders captain."
Emily nodded and turned to her helmsman. "Continue this course so we can get all our capital ships withing effective gunnery range. Keep the same speed."
Then she faced her gunnery officer; a classroom silent kid type girl who had showed her resourcefulness during previous instances of the Hood's gunnery. "Fire at will. Focus your fire on the lead ship, and make sure not to hit anywhere close to the bridge."
The eight guns of the battlecruiser opened up with a deafening roar as another group of shells soared towards the enemy battle line. By now Emily had got used to the sound of the big guns firing, even though the sound the training shells made during her usual gunnery was much lower than the sound of live ammunition, a few times of firing actual ammunition had trained her ears to endure the noise. But this time what shocked her most wasn't the 'bang' of the guns, but what the shells were going to hit. She was fighting a friend, with the possibility of badly injuring or killing her by accident, but that couldn't be helped.
"Radio, send a message to all the ships in the fleet to follow our actions. Fire at the infected ships. Tell them not to worry about finishing their stocks of shells. We're close to the mainland, so we can easily replenish them."
But their enemy won't be having the same luxury, so they were bound to be more cautious.
Once again, their shells fell too short off their target. This was to be expected. Even with the much higher training standard of the Royal Navy, there were things that would never change.
The enemy battle line fired a return salvo. In the minute it takes to reach the opposing battle line, two more salvos were fired. But they failed to hit their target, unlike the first salvo which drew first blood. A shell from the Warspite made contact with the Pacific Flee ships, hitting the Anson which was positioned third in the battle line.
"24 kilometers. A hit at that range_"
Emily's astonishment and horror were mixed with a sense of pride towards her friend. That was indeed an excellent hit. But her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the damage report from the Anson.
{Captain, the shell pierced the Anson's rear funnel and detonated inside it, according to them the smoke from the resulting fire is making it impossible for them to stay in their boiler rooms and six of the eight boilers are now out of action. the Anson's speed is now limited to fifteen knots, and dropping.}
"Casualties?"
{Three injured. But they said they aren't critical.}
"So, they won't be able to keep up with us anymore. Tell the Anson to provide artillery support as much as possible, and break off the battle line to safety."
The radio operator carried on her commands. Less than fifteen minutes into the battle, the Pacific Fleet had suffered their first losses. They were against a monster. Turning to her instructor, Emily could see that he had similar thoughts.
"Amelia is good. But this is some excellent gunnery."
"How much of this is her own skill?" Emily asked. "Is she this good, or is this some force that's controlling her?"
"She is this good." Somerville replied. "The RATt virus doesn't change her abilities. From what we know the infected person is subconsciously aware of their actions, so she's giving these commands. Only, the virus might enhance her skills because she doesn't have to think about anything other than this battle."
She won't be thinking about who she was up against. She would be aiming to skill. She would not think about sparing them the way they were going to spare her. Amelia with all her skills and none of her humanity.
Several more shells fired by the Warspite fell near the Anson. The latter was now out of the battle line, but still in combat, firing the ten 14" guns of theirs at the enemy. The shells from the Warspite were missing their target solely by luck, since their target had no way of avoiding their fire in their damaged condition.
"Captain," Somerville said, interrupting Emily's thoughts. "At this rate it won't be a good idea to keep the Anson with us. They're likely to get hit again since they're a slow-moving target."
"But we can't lose their support now. Without the Anson we'd lose the numerical advantage we have in capital-ships. It'll be four against four."
"No captain," one of the Hood's lookouts called. "The Arkhangelsk is here. We still have a slight advantage over Captain Amelia."
Emily paused a moment to think about this. Knowing Amelia's nature, it was probable that she would destroy the straggler completely before moving on to another target. She didn't have to think a lot before taking a decision. She went to the ship's telephone to make a call directly to the King George V class battleship.
"This is the Hood. It is best for the HMS Anson to disengage and return to Japan for repairs than fighting while badly damaged."
The reply from the other end was expected. {Commander, we can still put up a fight. We still have all of our guns in perfect condition. And we can withstand heavy fire for some time.}
"Nevertheless, you can't dodge the enemy fire at your speed. You'll make an easy target for the Warspite. So, return to Fukuoka for emergency repairs."
{Understood commander. We'll follow your commands.} The disheartened reply was to be expected.
"Thankyou." She said. "I know you want to help, but I don't want to risk anyone here."
She put down the receiver and resumed her position in the bridge. The fight was going on around her with the Anson firing one last salvo before retreating under her commands. After that initial hit, none of the shots fired were hitting their mark.
"Radio, tell the Arkhangelsk to fire at will. And we'll close the distance some more to fire more accurately. Tell the fleet to follow us."
(HMS Ceylon – Tsushima – 10:15)
By now the battle had gone for forty-five minutes. The Ceylon, like most other ships engaged in the battle from both sides, had failed to score any hits. The number of times they've fired was comparable to the rate of fire of the battleships and battlecruisers of the fleet. While the rate of fire of the light cruiser's 6" guns allowed them to fire more salvos than the heavy guns of the capital-ships, considering the actual chance of hitting something at the long distance, they had been conservative with their use of ammunition; a fact that had frustrated Kalum's gunnery officer, Anudha.
This was something common with most gunnery officers Kalum had met. They loved to fire, no matter at what. This was the same with Anudha, or the Indian gunnery officer who served under Gehan. Torpedo officers and operators were quite similar but, since anything above a destroyer could considerably damage a target without getting into torpedo range, they rarely got the chance to use their weapons, making them less ambitious in combat. Maybe the thoughts of gunnery officers in other ships was comparable to the thoughts of torpedo officers in destroyers where torpedoes were stronger than their main guns, or submarines that relied mostly on torpedoes to destroy targets.
"Captain, the Eastern Fleet is changing course."
The two battle lines were moving in opposite directions from the start of the battle. But now the Warspite was making a turn to her port side, followed by the rest of her fleet. Since the Ceylon was positioned somewhat to the rear of their own battle line, Kalum could observe the movements of the enemy better. They were also in relative safety despite the enemy fire, since the battle was mostly between opposing capital ships.
"Alert the Hood." Kalum said. "But I think by now they've noticed this. The enemy probably wants to keep us engaged by changing course to move in the same direction we're moving in."
This was a rare occurrence. In most occasions infected ships had tried to target civilian infrastructure or major shipping lanes and didn't willingly go to fight against enemy warships. Either Amelia Fraser was different, or she was confident enough that she would score a victory here.
The combined British Japanese fleet were making a complete 180 degree turn to keep engaging them with their broadside. They were mirroring their movements, even keeping their cruisers and destroyers in the battle line like the Pacific Fleet continued to do.
"Fire!"
The Ceylon fired another twelve-gun artillery barrage towards the enemy, mirroring the actions of the Hood. This time a few of the shells scored hits. Though they made no serious damage his was good. The reduced range of a less than twenty kilometers between the two line was making the battle more dangerous, and several explosions near the Ceylon showed that their moments of relative safety were leaving them. Now they were all in the enemy's effective firing range with a good chance of getting hit.
The Pacific Fleet was led by their capital-ships, leaving the cruiser and destroyer forces to follow them at the rear of the formation. This was the area which was now parallel to the position of the capital-ships of the enemy and getting hit by a 15" gun would be disastrous for a lightly armored vessel.
{Captain, we have a radio message from the Hood. They're asking us to slow down and let the Eastern Fleet catch up with us.} Captain Emily seemed to have understood this situation, and with the reduced range and higher possibility of damage due to enemy fire, she was willing to let her stronger ships receive the punishment and keep the lighter ships safe.
"Understood. Amina, reduce speed gradually to twenty knots."
The Ceylon began her deceleration, likewise done by the remaining ships of the Russo-British fleet. At their slow speed they would be easier targets for their adversaries, but a few minutes in the danger zone would save them from danger in the long run.
Another Pacific Fleet barrage was answered by enemy fire, this time falling extremely close to the light cruiser force's port side. The resulting explosions were massive and everyone onboard the Ceylon were feeling their impact.
"Now we're going to have it."
Another barrage followed, narrowly missing the light cruisers. The Town-class Belfast and the Fiji-class Ceylon and Newfoundland were now directly in the enemy capital-ship line of fire. The fire from the three light cruisers were scoring hits, but not enough to seriously damage their heavy armored adversaries. Their torpedoes still didn't have a suitable range to be fired from.
"Captain, what do we do?" Jerad asked as several more 15" shells detonated close by. "How much longer till we're up against ships we can fight. At this rate we'll get hit, and a single hit from those 15-inches will blow us up. And it won't be easy to avoid this fire, not to mention we're up against someone who scored the longest ship-to-ship hit half an hour ago."
"We won't have to hold on for long, now that the Hood resumed firing at the Warspite. They'll start to ignore us again. On the meantime, let's use that rate of fire of ours. We have enough shells."
This was enough to improve the mood of Anudha.
On Kalum's command the Ceylon fired all her main guns at the HMS Resolution which was now sailing parallel to the British light cruisers. As soon as the six second reload ended another barrage was fired, followed by another. This was mirrored by the Belfast and the Newfoundland.
Considering the smaller caliber of their guns their shells weren't powerful enough to seriously damage the battleship, despite their rate of fire. But they were able to disturb the Resolution's aiming.
"This won't be enough to keep us safe." Jerad said. "If we go on like this, we'll run out of shells soon."
"We only have to keep it up for a bit longer. the Warspite's speed is twenty knots, so now they're using their full speed to get to the Hood. Since we're slow they'll catch up with us soon." Ravindu said, calculating without taking a single look at his tablet.
"I know that. But it'll take at least another half an hour for that to happen, and a lot can happen by then."
At that moment their radar operator shouted. {Enemy shells incoming!}
The Resolution had fired blindly while being hit by a hail of six-inch shells, and the shells had reached them after a forty second journey.
The shells fell into the water, much closer to the light cruisers than before causing the deck of the Ceylon to briefly get flooded by water from the splashes. While the shells still missed their mark the close proximity of their explosion was enough to set the alarm bells off in the cruiser.
"Damage report. Were we hit anywhere?"
{No captain. No identifiable damage to the ship.}
"That was too close." Kalum turned to Jerad. "You're right. We're going to get blown to pieces."
"Be serious captain, try to contact the Hood. We're still ahead of them. Can't we cross their T."
"That is a viable strategy in this situation. But there has to be a reason Captain Kerr isn't going for it."
"We'll have to do something. We can't stay like this for long."
"I know that!" Kalum said, failing to control his frustration. "It's not like I know what to do in a situation like this. We've only done naval battles in the academy through simulations. I don't know what to do."
He looked at his bridge crew who seemed to be momentarily stunned at his sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, but for now the best we can do is follow Captain Kerr's command."
"Then let's try our best to survive this."
(HMS Hood – Tsushima – 10:30)
The dire situation of the light cruiser force at her rear was not unknown to Emily, and the situation was starting to frustrate her who had a reputation of remaining calm under pressure. They were sailing at just fifteen knots, giving the Warspite enough time to catch up with them. But for some reason, Amelia was still keeping to their rear, giving a bad time to their heavy-cruisers, light-cruisers and destroyers.
{Captain, radio message from the Howe. They're asking why you aren't trying to T cross the Warspite.}
This was not the first ship to ask her the question. Half an hour ago Harry had come up with the same question, followed by the Russian captain of the Arkhangelsk. This had been repeated a few minutes ago by the Suffolk and just a minute ago by the Ceylon which was under heavy enemy fire. The situation was ideal for them to cross the T, getting into a position perpendicular to the enemy in front of them, blocking their path and bringing all their guns to fire at the enemy while he enemy would only be able use their aft turrets. It was a good way to get an upper hand over their enemy.
But something bothered her.
"Captain, why aren't you going for that tactic?" Somerville asked. Even the admiral saw it as the best strategy for them.
"If we try to T cross them, they'll just turn to port again and continue damaging our rear. I know Amelia, she'll figure out what I'm trying to do and counter it just like that."
"But our light cruisers won't be able to hold on for long." Somerville reminded. "At this rate we'll have critical injuries, or even deaths. And I don't want to lose any of my students."
Amelia went to the voice tubes. "Radio, tell the Howe and the capital-ships to fire as much as possible to distract their capital-ships. Also, inform the cruiser and destroyer squadron to break off the battle-line and get to the front of the formation, as fast as possible."
This second command was met with concern. "Removing our cruisers and destroyers will expose our rear to potential enemy torpedo attacks. They'll be able to get close enough without much resistance."
"Doesn't matter." Emily replied. "With the lighter ships gone, their capital ships will move forward to attack us. Then we can change the position of the light cruisers and destroyers again to keep our rear safe. Send the message immediately."
If this plan succeeds everything will be settled till it was time for Emily's second plan. The Hood continued firing its X and Y turrets which could target the Warspite which was still behind them.
(HMS Ceylon – Tsushima – 11:15)
The decision to move the lightly armored vessels to the front of the fleet had achieved their objective. The Warspite, instead of sending her destroyers to attack the enemy capital ships with torpedoes, had accelerated in order to resume her battle with the Hood. This was a relief to everyone onboard the Ceylon.
Now the Ceylon was engaged in fighting a foe more equal in strength to her. While the three light cruisers of the pacific fleet were much stronger than the Royalist and the Agano in the Eastern Fleet, the enemy had the upper hand in heavy cruisers. The Takao and Myōkō of the Japanese were stronger and more modern than the three County-class heavy cruisers the British operated. This caused the British cruisers to concentrate on their Japanese counterparts while ignoring the two light cruisers.
The Suffolk and Ceylon were now targeting the Takao, the Cornwall and Newfoundl and the Myōkō and the Norfolk the Dorsetshire. This left the Belfast to hold their own against the two enemy light cruisers. For the crews of the Suffolk and the Ceylon, the Takao was proving herself as a powerful adversary.
The Japanese heavy cruiser possessed ten 8" guns which gave it an edge in armament over the eight 8" guns of the Suffolk and the twelve 6" guns of the Ceylon. Th range of 15 kilometers between the three ships made sure that the guns of both calibers had a decent chance of hitting the enemy.
{Captain, the Suffolk ordered us to concentrate our fire on the Takao's main guns.}
"Understood." Kalum said before giving the orders to Anudha. All three cruisers were lightly armored and even the 6" guns of the Ceylon stood a chance of penetrating the armor of the Takao. Cruisers were not divided as light and heavy based on their armor but on the caliber of their main armament alone and neither light nor heavy cruisers could rely on armor to survive the battle. Instead it was a battle of constant maneuvering by the cruisers while keeping up with their battle lines.
While the Suffolk had intended to disarm the Takao by targeting their main armament and damaging her guns, the Takao was the first to succeed in this tactic. A shell from the Takao fired at a range of 15 kilometers penetrated the armor of the turret B of the Suffolk, completely destroying the two guns. The safety systems had ensured that all the crew members in the turret came out with minor injuries, and the Suffolk continued to return fire despite the loss of 25 percent of their firepower.
"That was a close call." Anudha remarked. "If that shell penetrated a little more than the turret it could've exploded in the ammo storage destroying the whole ship."
This was true as the lack of armor would allow any shell from the cruisers to sufficiently damage their opponent with one critical hit. For the Pacific fleet cruisers who had no intention of getting destroyed in that manner, or getting rid of their foes in that manner, this was a serious liability in two ways.
This was one of the main advices Instructor Somerville had given the fleet before the mission. "You should always remember the reason you're firing at another ship. These are also students of the same age as you are and what they're doing now isn't their fault. When you aim your guns, aim either to disarm the enemy ship, or to disrupt its movement. You've all studied the weak points of ships, so make sure to fire carefully and try to reduce the harm to the crews as much as possible."
However, their enemies on board these ships would not have the same thoughts. Their intentions would be to remove every single obstacle that stood between them and their objectives, including their former classmates.
"Fire!" Anudha commanded through the voice tubes, following Kalum's orders. Another round of shells was fired from the twelve guns, with the Takao successfully avoiding the shells by some careful maneuvers. But this was proof that their aim was improving.
"It won't be easy to hit a moving target like that." Aanya said. "Maybe if we could get our torpedoes in the water, they might damage the Takao's steering."
"We're still out of torpedo range."
"I know that." She replied. "It's just sad we don't get to use our torpedoes."
"Not necessarily," Ravindu said. "The Takao has sixteen torpedo tubes in four launchers compared to our six and the eight on the Suffolk. We'll be at a serious disadvantage in torpedo warfare."
The Takao-class consisted of four of the best heavy cruisers possessed by the Japanese, crewed by some of the best crews of the four major Japanese maritime training schools; Yokosuka, Kure, Maizuru and Sasebo. Of these, the Takao belonged to the Kure Maritime Training Academy.
{Captain, incoming shells from the Takao.}
"Hard to starboard." Kalum repeated a command that had been used several times during the past few minutes. The four shells fired from the Takao's aft turrets had similar success to the shells the Ceylon had fired seconds ago.
"We can't keep on like this forever." Kalum said. "Ravindu, considering the amount of shells the Takao has, how much longer can they remain firing."
"They have enough to go on for a couple more hours captain. We're out of luck if we're trying to make them run out of shells."
"Then the only good way out of this is to damage their steering and make them a softer target. And we can't do that without our torpedoes."
Another round of shells from the Japanese heavy cruiser were avoided by the Ceylon while the same happened in the side of the Takao. The situation in the battle between the rest of the cruisers was similar, with a stalemate that continued as both sides fired rigorously at the opponent. The stalemate was continuing in the larger battle where the capital ships were scoring hits, but not enough to seriously damage the enemy and sway the tide of the battle.
"Anudha." Kalum said turning to his gunnery officer as the battle continued. "Is there a chance we can damage the Takao's steering with our main guns?"
"If we hit their stern below the waterline, we might be able to damage their propellers with a screw shot." Anudha replied. "But hitting them like that won't be easy."
"Why don't we try it?" Kalum asked.
"We have to consider how hard it'll be to hit them. But if we do hit them our six-inches can cause enough damage to slow them down temporarily."
"No need to completely destroy their steering. We have twelve guns. Even with the shell dispersion we'll be able to land several hits enough to damage their screws. I say we give it a try."
Anudha nodded and went to the voice tubes to give the command. A minute later he spoke.
"Main guns locked and ready to fire."
"All turrets commence firing."
The Ceylon fired at their target; the Takao's stern. The Takao had to turn to starboard rapidly to escape the Ceylon's bombardment, aligning it with the course of the shells from the Suffolk, with one of them scoring a hit on the turret B of the Japanese cruiser.
The radio message with a thanks from the Suffolk had its effects on the mood of the crew of the Ceylon, but it wasn't enough to make them cheer. Their own shells had missed their mark. And the Takao would continue to dodge their shells no matter how many times they fired.
"Anudha, get turrets A and B to distract the Takao for a moment," Kalum said, thinking of a solution for their problem. Once the Takao turns to port to escape those shells her stern can be easily hit by turrets X and Y. that's about our only chance to score this hit. Radio, tell the Suffolk to hold their fire till our screw shot gets through."
The gunnery officer and the radio operator went on to carry their orders. Once this was done Anudha once again confirmed that their guns were aimed and ready.
"Turrets A and B locked on the Takao. Turrets X and Y are aiming a little ahead."
"Understood. Commence firing from turrets A and B."
Eight of the six-inch guns of the light cruiser opened fire, and as predicted the Takao made a wild turn to port to escape the coalition with the shells. This put the Takao's stern straight in the Ceylon's line of fire.
"Aft guns locked and ready."
"Fire!"
Another eight shells from the Ceylon soared towards the Takao, locked squarely on the cruiser's stern. While shell dispersion prevented most of them from hitting their target, two of the shells landed hits on the Takao close to the waterline.
"Our shells made contact with the enemy." Anudha said.
"Yes, now let's hope they achieved their objective."
Their effort was proved to be successful when one of the lookouts called a minute later. {The Takao is reducing speed."
"Perfect." Kalum said feeling happy for the first time during the day's combat. "Radio the Suffolk. Now we have a better chance at winning this fight."
(HMS Hood – Tsushima – 11:45)
The situation in the capital-ship side of the battle was still at a stalemate. By now the Hood had been struck by four shells of the enemy. Careful maneuvering by the battlecruiser had made sure that the hits only made contacted with her well armored hull, as their deck armor was too weak to withstand a direct hit by an enemy armor piercing shell, and the ship had survived with minor damage.
The rest of the fleet were in similar conditions. The Howe had been putting up an unexpectedly good fight against its fourteen-inch armed Japanese counterpart, the Kongō. The first-year captain who had survived his previous encounter with the Warspite was now showing his skill in scoring hits on the Japanese battleship. The Russian Arkhangelsk was going toe to toe with the Resolution, the ship that belonged to the Revenge-class that the Russians had copied to build the Arkhangelsk. All their capital ships were managing well against the enemy.
But they weren't changing anything. Blows were being traded by both sides, with none achieving a decisive result to sway the course of the battle. The only good news that had reached Emily had come from the Suffolk, which had notified her of Ceylon's screw shot, and the resulting pressure exerted on the enemy cruiser force.
{Captain, the Warspite is showing a change in course. She's turning to starboard.}
Amelia definitely knew about the situation at the rear of the formation, and she had to relieve the pressure her cruisers were receiving.
"She's trying to turn back to go save her cruisers. We can expect a complete 180 degree turn by their whole battle-line."
"What should we do captain?"
"Get all ships to turn to port, 180-degrees." Emily commanded. "Let's continue to face them with our broadside."
As expected, the Warspite completed her turn to starboard, followed by the rest of her capital ships and, with some difficulty, their cruisers and destroyers. This was followed by the Pacific Fleet that turned to port reducing the range between the two fleets to just ten kilometers, and now sailing back towards the East China Sea from where the Pacific Fleet entered the battle.
The combat was entering its third hour, as both fleets continued to fight at the edge of their stocks of shells. The Pacific Fleet had complete freedom to disengage and join the Blue Mermaid supply ships that were waiting out of range for resupplies. But that would take time, and during that time the depleted Eastern Fleet was sure to escape northward riding the British of the chance to rescue their comrades.
"Commander, the Eastern Fleet is somewhat ahead of us. If we continue at this speed and let them keep ahead us, they will get the chance to cross our T."
"Yes, I've thought about that." Emily said, answering the call she had received from the Vanguard. "I know Amelia, she's quite conventional when it comes to tactics. She'll definitely take the chance to T cross us if we let her."
"What's your plan?"
"We'll accelerate to get into position parallelly to their fleet."
Once the call was over, she gave her orders for the fleet to accelerate to catch up with the enemy who, having the head start they received from turning earlier, had their flag ship a hundred meters ahead of the Hood. All this went on while the enemy continued to straddle them with their fire, but their rate of fire had drastically decreased over time owing to their inability to resupply themselves later. The Pacific Fleet was more liberal with their use of shells, but since they also had to fight without resupply, their rate of fire too decreased gradually.
"We need to do something," an exhausted Emily said as the Hood continued to catch up with the Warspite and continued to fire one barrage per minute, while their autoloaders allowed them four. "We can't go on like this forever."
Her complaint was directed at Somerville who, understanding her need for advice, addressed her.
"Even I'm not sure what to do at a moment like this. We're fighting the largest naval battle since Tsushima, and our numbers in capital ships is directly comparable to Tsushima. Of course, if this was completely like Tsushima and our objective was to destroy the enemy, we would've accomplished at least part of it by now. But we're restrained by our objectives. I suggest we continue like this till we get a chance to act decisively."
"If we would've sunk them if we were more aggressive, what's preventing them from doing that to us? They have no restrains."
"I don't know." Somerville said, "Maybe they want the infection to spread to us, and to do so we should remain in one piece. Whoever controls the actions of the infected must be eager to add more ships to his collection."
"So, they're being controlled by one individual?"
"The RATt virus allows them to be controlled in that manner. But I don't know if anyone's involved right now. When the virus broke out the last time there hadn't been any identified force controlling the students though they took collective decisions."
Their conversation was interrupted by shells that hit the water ahead of the Hood. With the decreased range it won't be long till both sides started to score more damaging hits. These few shells were extremely close and seemed to be a warning against the Hood's attempt to catch up with the Warspite.
The Hood responded by firing her front turrets at the battleship, managing to score hits with two of the four shells, though they didn't change anything. Throughout the battle the Hood had scored five hits on the enemy flagship.
"Accelerate to twenty-five knots." Emily said to her helmsman. "I know the Arkhangelsk won't be able to manage that speed, but we don't have a choice."
The command was relayed to the rest of the Pacific Fleet who obliged without question. The Warspite must've understood their intentions, as she chose that moment to send one more warning to the Russo-British force.
The Warspite fired her aft guns at the direction of the Russian ship, which was now at the rear of the British capital-ship formation. Just like her shot that had started the battle, this shot proved decisive, penetrating the A turret of the Russian battleship. The ship stopped in its tracks, causing the rest of the fleet to do so.
Everything was quiet for a moment after the hit, the entire Pacific Fleet holding their breaths to see if the shell had managed to reach the ammunition storage of the battleship. But the continued silence showed that either it had exploded short of the turret, or the advanced Blue Mermaid damage control systems had done their job properly. But the Pacific Fleet had to slow down till a damage report from the battleship was received.
{Captain, damage report from the Arkhangelsk. Turret A is completely out of action. Their automatic damage control systems have contained the fires to the turret so there's no chance of further damage to the ship. But they said it won't be easy to do emergency repairs.}
"Understood. Tell them to postpone repairs till the battle's over. We have enough firepower even if we lose one of their turrets. We can't stop till they do repairs."
The damage to the Arkhangelsk had slowed down the fleet considerably, and Emily knew this was a problem. They were still behind the Warspite, and the latter would seize the slightest chance to gain an advantage. They had to hurry up, but the few minutes they've stopped due to the Arkhangelsk's damage had given Amelia the chance she needed.
{The enemy is turning to port.}
During the few minutes between the turret hit on the Arkhangelsk and Emily's final order, the Eastern Fleet had sailed at full speed to outrun their enemies, resulting in them getting ahead of the Pacific Fleet by nearly two kilometers. This would've put their cruisers and destroyers at the mercy of the heavy guns of the Pacific Fleet under a normal condition. But the Pacific, shocked by the damage to their Russian ally, didn't think of firing. Now, before the Pacific Fleet could regain the initiative, Amelia had chosen to act. Just as Emily had predicted, the Warspite was planning to perform a naval tactic that had existed since the age of sail.
"Damn it."
The entire fleet turned to port by sixty degrees and continued straight ahead. In about ten minutes they would successfully cross ahead of the Pacific Fleet and block their way in a classic T cross, drawing the Hood in to concentrated fire by all main guns of the entire fleet.
"Full speed ahead. We can't let them_"
Emily's shouts were cut off by a barrage by the enemy ships just ahead of the Hood. They were making sure she was kept at bay till their trap was complete.
"Captain, what do we do? Even at top speed we won't get the chance to stop them."
"Turn to port." Emily commanded. "That's our only way to keep facing them with our broadside."
But this was quickly proved to be the wrong decision when the Eastern Fleet managed to hold their T cross by just a bit of maneuvering.
{Captain, we only have five minutes till they completely block our path.}
For the first time in her life Emily was feeling helpless. She had maintained the initiative, understanding all her foe's decisions and acting accordingly. But one unlucky hit on a ship that wasn't hers' had brought her misfortune.
{Captain, they've completely blocked us. If we continue ahead, we'll go straight into a Kill zone.}
As proof to the lookout's statement, the radar operator confirmed, shouting, that the fleet had opened fire.
"Hard to port!"
The momentary turn saved the Hood from the heavy shells from the capital-ships. But the eight and six-inch shells of the cruisers landed on point.
{No damage to the ship, captain. Eight-inch shells can't penetrate our armor.}
But they had just survived the first of many barrages that might come, and the Eastern Fleet wouldn't keep missing their target for much longer, as the distance between the two fleets was just about six kilometers.
Emily turned to Instructor Somerville, who looked stiff. "Do you want me to take back command?" He asked, though at this situation even the experienced admiral would only be able to do so much.
Emily refused. This was her battle, and she would have to win it. Seeing this, Somerville decided to tell her his thoughts on the situation.
"Currently we have two choices, either turn to port or starboard. If we turn to port, they can move o port too to maintain the cross. If we move to starboard, we can escape this situation. But when our capital ships move out of the way there'll be a short period of time when our cruisers will be under heavy fire, and there's a chance they might not make it. But that's our only chance of continuing this fight, even though I'm against it."
Emily had considered these two options a while earlier. "And continuing straight ahead will get us all killed." She added. "Seems like we're fighting a losing battle."
Another round of shells exploded ahead of her ship causing a huge wave to wash over the Hood, obstructing her view of the enemy for a moment. The wave washed over the deck putting out a small fire that a six-inch shell had created. The fact that the shells missed was quite surprising. Maybe the infected ships wanted more to join them, and sinking them would not allow them to do that.
"We're going forward."
The entire bridge went silent. The momentary confusion on Instructor Somerville's face told Emily that she had achieved the impossible. Shock the single instructor in all student fleets who was known for not displaying that emotion.
"You realize that's exactly what your enemy wants? If they're planning to sink them, you'll be giving them the perfect chance. If we go forward all their guns will be concentrated on us while we can only use half of our guns."
"I perfectly understand that."
"Then why are you going to give them that chance?"
"I'm not." She replied. "Radio, tell all our ships to form parallel to the Hood. In that way they won't be able to concentrate fire on the lead ship. That'll make them lose most of their advantage."
"But our ships will only be able to use their front turrets, so they'll still have more firepower per volley. Not to mention one of our capital ships lost their A turret."
"We still have the numerical advantage. The distance between our fleets is quite less, so we won't have to keep this up for long."
Somerville had now lost his shock, but still seemed to be doubting her plan. "If we move forward this way, we'll reach their line in about thirty minutes. What are you going to do?"
Emily smiled. "I'm going to pull a 'Nelson.' Let's send this plan to the rest of the fleet and see what they think about it."
AN: The historical Arkhangelsk was the HMS Royal Sovereign which had been given to the USSR, and was not a copy of the Revenge-class as shown in this fic. But I decided that it would be better for the Russians to have their own ship modeled after the Royal Navy as the Royal Sovereign was sunk in chapter 2.
Title inspiration: Dreadnought by Sabaton
Part two will be out soon. And I would really appreciate your reviews about this chapter. Thankyou.