Battle of Comro Gulf - A 'Jono's World' report

By late Octember 66944, the Great War of the North had already entered its fifth year. The expansionist Ra'esharn island imperialist tide seemed to have passed its peak - at least in the Saabian archipelago - but signs of its receding were yet scarcely visible. Having taken the Jehoshaphat Island Group early in the war, Ra'esharn forces still held it, though maintaining the garrison beyond the scanty resources the island could provide were becoming seriously problematic.

Comro Island, daybreak 23 Octember 66044...

The problems were exacerbated by the commitment of Ra'esharn's military effort on two distant fronts, separated not only by the seas east and west of Ra'esharn, but also that vast island itself. 

By mid-year, the Allied High Command thought the time propitious to begin the recovery of the Jehoshaphat Island group. Gathering a vast fleet of warships, aircraft, landing craft and troop ships, the meticulous planning - begun years before - gathered pace. The forces assembled around the main island of Saabia itself, and sailed westward. 

General view, looking northward

None of this activity could be kept from Ra'esharn prying eyes for long. Apart from anything else, increased air activity - especially daylight reconnaissance - might have suggested something was in the wind. As news of the size of the counter-invasion force filtered through the murk of rumour, misleading announcements and hearsay, the local Island commander let it be known to Imperial General Headquarters that his available occupation forces were too slender to hold the entire island group. He proposed to consolidate his defences upon Comro Island, leaving skeleton occupation forces on the other, nearby islands of Ulus and Ramas.

For their part, Imperial High Command decided that rather than reinforce the garrisons with ground troops, which would have had to be drawn from the vastly distant Kiivar Front anyway, it would be more economical of their remaining resources to defeat the counter-offensive at sea, or, failing to assemble the forces betimes to intercept it, during the landing itself.

So it transpired. Assembling large naval forces took time. The Ra'esharn fleet split into three striking groups, each including at least one carrier and one battleship. The Admiralty planned a concentric three pronged attack, with the central objective to defeat, sink or scatter the covering forces, and to break up the landing craft and ships. Any Allied troops that landed ashore would be isolated, starved of support, and rounded up.

Apprehending some such effort, the Allied covering fleet also comprised three covering groups. The northern comprised ships from Kiivar's exiguous navy, the remainder of the whole expedition was supplied by Saabia.  The Allied forces comprised:

Allied Counter-Invasion Force.

11th Fleet: Admiral Setiyawan

Covering Force North - Task Force Kiivar (Admiral Yogi Yueh, attached to 11th Fleet)

Fleet Carrier: KNS Condor (01) 
Battleship: KNS Harrier (1)
Battlecruiser: KNS Pteranodon (83)
Destroyers: K9, K10, K41, K713
Oiler: MS Wotatanker

Covering Force North (Kiivar)

Air assets, KNS Condor: 
Squadrons 111, 112 - Fighters
Squadrons 123, 124, 135, 136 - Dive bombers
Squadrons 147, 148 - Torpedo bombers

Saabia's landing force, SNS Cockatrice in attendance

Landing force TF19 (Commodore G. N. A. Lolobrdzhda):

Cruiser: SNS Cockatrice (55)
Oiler: MS Permalink
Landing ships: MSS Kikbut, Kaspar, Fizbucket, plus landing craft
14th Marine Division (Major-General R.U. Oldenuff)

Covering Force East (Saabia)

Covering Force East - Admiral Setiyawan

Fleet carriers: SNS Bahamut (22), SNS Bake-Kajura (29)
Battleship: Karkinas (71)
Battlecruiser: Scylla (111)
Cruisers: Gullincambe (40), Sarimanok (57)
Destroyers: S6, S7, S8, S9 
Oiler: MS Tarbukkit

Air Assets, SNS Bahamut:
Squadron: 611 - Fighters
Squadrons: 241, 244 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 201 - Torpedo bombers 
Air Assets, SNS Bake-Kajura:
Squadron: 622 - Fighters
Squadrons: 242, 245 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 202 - Torpedo bombers

Covering Force South - including the detached screen (Saabia).

Covering Force South - Vice-Admiral Sirega

Fleet Carrier: SNS Calypso (31)
Battleships: SNS Celeano (72), SNS Hakamai (77)
Cruiser: SNS Chimaera (51)
Destroyers: S1, S2, S3 
Oiler: MS Oleaginus
Detached screen - Captain Hidayet
Cruiser: SNS Hydra (48)
Destroyers: S4, S5

Air Assets, SNS Calypso:

Squadron: 633 - Fighters

Squadrons: 243, 246 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 203 - Torpedo bombers

All these forces were laid out along the strait separating Comro and Ramas Islands.
Meanwhile, submarines were patrolling the likely sea approaches: 
SU23 - southwest of Comro Island
SU78 - west of the northern tip of Comro
SU66 - North of Ramas Island.

The three Ra'esharn battle strike forces were confidently expected to sweep away this armada from the entire Jehoshaphat Island Group. Had they been more thoroughly apprised of the forces they faced, they might - just might - have been less sanguine. At daybreak of 23 Octember, they had available:

Ra'esharn Jehoshaphat Expeditionary Taskforce Liberation Initiative (JETLI).

Admiral of the Fleet: Hideoki Suzumaha 

Strike Force North: Admiral Hiroki Honduki

Fleet carrier: RNS Azir-Dahak (14)
Battleship: RNS Botis (16)
Cruisers: RNS Chemosh (44), RNS Chironzon (43)
Destroyers: R71, R74, R81, R121
Oiler: MS Hishi No

Air Assets, Azir-Dahak:
Squadron: 51 - Fighters
Squadrons: 21, 22 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 31 - Torpedo bombers

Strike Force Centre - and submarine SU78 
lying in wait...

Strike Force Centre: Admiral Kaito Yamazuki

Fleet Carriers: RNS Apollyon (12), RNS Angra Mainyu (13)
Battleships: RNS Barbatos (17), RNS Bushyasta (18)
Cruiser: RNS Cimijes (46)
Destroyers: R83, R84, R123, R125, R127
Oiler: MS Omoneru

Air Assets, Apollyon:
Squadron: 52 - Fighters
Squadron: 23, 24 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 32 - Torpedo bombers

Air Assets, Angra Mainyu
Squadron: 53 - Fighters
Squadron: 25, 26 - Dive bombers
Squadron: 33 - Torpedo bombers

Strike Force South - also bearing down on a 
patrolling submarine: SU23

Strike Force South: Rear Admiral Takashi Tohatsu

Fleet Carrier: RNS Achlys (11)
Battleships: RNS Banshee (2) RNS Belphegor (4)
Cruisers: RNS Crocell (51), RNS Charun (52)
Destroyers: R61, R62, R63, R64, R73, R82
Oiler: MS Iyama Na

Air Assets, RNS Achlys
Squadron: 54 - Fighters
Squadron: 27, 28 - Dive Bombers
Squadron: 34 - Torpedo bombers


Although the plan was that all three strike forces arrive simultaneously at dawn within range of air strikes, it could scarcely be anticipated that all three could indeed achieve such concert of effort. Nor did they, but what they did achieve was remarkable all the same. The timing was decided by dice rolls for each Strike force. The low dice arrived at dawn, the higher dice later by the difference from the lower. So what were the rolls? South: 4; Centre: 4; North 5. The first two arrived at daybreak; Strike Force North, almost an hour and a half later - a remark feat of coordination!

Comro Gulf - looking southwest as the Ra'esharn 
Strike forces Centre and South approach ...

The screening force west of the tiny Spot Island espied the approaching southern strike force just as the sun broke over the horizon. Very soon the whole complement of aircraft aboard SMS Calypso were aloft and winging their way westward. Meanwhile, the patrolling submarine, hoping to profit from the seeming obliviousness of the Ra'esharn fleet to its existence, let fly two torpedoes into their midst. Hitting nothing at all, all the torpedoes did was to draw down upon SU23 a series of depth charge attacks that left it crawling away, too badly knocked about to continue its attacks.

Aircraft from SNS Calypso on their way...

With the breaking of dawn, and the first airstrikes under way, we'll call here a pause in the narrative...
To be continued...