Terra Ferra

The World of Terra Fere a wargame campaign

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the_battle_of_island_no._42

The Battle of Island No.42

Kessler studied his fleet. It had been steadily steaming upstream since leaving the dock in the pre-dawn. Now as it approached 10 am his little fleet was approaching the last last bend in the river before Klien-Hoysee and as yet no sign of the Hoysee steamer. Wemar had no illusion about what was about to happen. The Jakob was a proper warship. Purchased from Osterreich along with its two sisters The Jakob gave the Hoysee a significant naval presence in this section of the river. Keller on the other hand had little but some 200 men manning a bunch of small cutters for customs and policing duties. All that had changed and following a secret meeting with the Chancellor no less Wemar had begun to fashion a navy of some sort. The result was not great just 5 small river steamers hastily armed with a motley collection of obsolete cannon and armoured with a few bales of flax. What could they do against the iron clad turreted warship awaiting them?

The four steamers in line abreast rounded the final bend Wernar immediately saw the plume of the Jakob's smoke stack as she made away from the docks at Klien-Hoysee. “Hoist the signal for a customs inspection” Wernar ordered. The object was to provide at least a fig leaf for the official story that Keller was a liberator not an aggressor. Wernar wondered who would actually believe that but at least at this range even a professional crew such as the Hoysees aboard the Jakob were unlikely to get a hit in on their first salvo. Who actually opened fire Wernar could never really tell, the Van Dorn fired at the same time as he heard the Jakob's guns. Had the captain of the Van Dorn seen the flash of the guns and ordered his forward guns to open up? That was for the powers that be to argue Wernar thought as he ordered his own ship to fire.

The fire became general and smoke began to obscure Wernar's view. Hits registered on the Jakob but seemed to bounce of the heavily sloping armour, meanwhile his own vessels were taking hits and casualties. Suddenly a load crash and the Königin des Westens who had edged ahead of the rest of the fleet belched a column of fire and smoke. A hit in the engine room she was no longer in the fight . Wernar could see men jumping overboard from the burning wreck. They would have to fend for themselves for now.

The Jakob was now in amongst the fleet with no apparent damage Wernar noticed. Suddenly she veered to port. Was she hit, hope arose for a few moments before it he saw the Jakob's ram line with the Baumwolle gekleidet. The crashing and rendering of timbers reached across the waters. Simultaneously the Jakob's rear turret now unmasked for the first time spoke. Wernar felt his ship lurch she was hit and crew and equipment had been smashed but the Van Dorn and his own ship the Fluss Ram were still in the fight. While the Jakob disentangled herself the two remaining Kellerite vessels reversed course and began to head down stream towards the defenceless transports an hours steaming away.

With the Jakob now free of the stricken Baumwolle gekleidet the final chapter in this opening conflict started. Van Dorn and Fluss Ram closed desperate to do some damage at least to the impervious ironclad. The decks of the Fluss were awash with blood and debre when a sudden grinding noise announced the engines had stopped. With a final salvo of gunfire Wernar with ears ringing rushed to the scene of devastation in the engine room. As he survayed the carnage cheering peculated through his damaged hearing. Rushing up to the remains of the bridge a sight to behold greeted him. The Jakob was adrift, hatches on her top were opening and men escaping from her interior. The feared ironclad was a threat no longer, at least for today. The Van Dorn was manovering to commit the fianl act, but Wernar had had enough. Signalling the Van Dorn to crease fire and go back up stream to aid the Königin des Westens and Baumwolle gekleidet, he set his own men to securing the 'Fluss' and trying to restart her engines to get her home. As for the Jakob drifting downstream he would see about her after his own battered fleet was safe.

the_battle_of_island_no._42.txt · Last modified: 14/08/2016 07:05 by mikep