Chapter 301: Pre-emptive Strike
While Berengar"s armies were marching towards the Swiss and Italian borders that Austria shared with the two realms, his Navy was on a more important mission, one that Berengar had learned from the Imperial j.a.panese Navy in his previous life.
In Berengar"s previous life, Pearl Harbor was a term that every American citizen knew by the time they were out of elementary school; it was a degree of defeat and humiliation that the United States had never suffered before on its homefront.
As such, Berengar fully intended to learn from the Pre-emptive strike the j.a.panese had taken against their rivals and utilize the same tactics to eradicate the fleets of his enemies. The young Austrian King who had yet to be coronated fully intended to take advantage of the time it took for the Holy Roman Emperor to receive his declaration of Independence by striking at the heart of their Naval support.
With this in mind, Berengar had tasked his Admiral to immediately sail the fleet to the Italian coast, where Berengar intended to attack the Venetian and Genoan fleets while they were docked in the harbor.
Admiral Emmerich was at the helm of the SMS Berengar, the first in the cla.s.s of the 75 fifth-rate frigates constructed over the last year. By now, the Grand Austrian Navy had a total of 40,000 men among its ranks. Among these men, 33,750 were on board the s.h.i.+ps as sailors, officers, or marines.
The Armada of 75 frigates had a total of 3,300 twenty-four-pound cannons capable of launching explosives sh.e.l.ls. The sheer degree of firepower that these s.h.i.+ps possessed was unfathomable for this day and age.
As such, Admiral Emmerich had split the fleet into two groups; the main fleet would comprise 38 frigates that would sail to the coast of Venice. The other group would consist of 37 vessels that would sail around the Italian Peninsula and strike at Genoa"s harbors.
After nearly 14 hours of sailing at a speed of 13 knots, the main fleet had arrived at the Venetian Coastline in the dead of night. Undercover of darkness, the Austrian fleet had snuck its way into the Venetian Harbor without incident.
At the moment, Emmerich was standing upon the helm of his s.h.i.+p, giving out a brief overview of the operation details to his Officers. Every officer within the fleet was already aware of the attack plan, and as such, this was just a quick summary while the enlisted men got to work making preparations.
"We will set anchor here, 2,000 yards away from the coastline. Now that we are within range of the enemy"s harbors, we will load our cannons and fire upon them, devastating the s.h.i.+ps within the city. After annihilating both civilian and military vessels, we will turn our sh.e.l.ls onto the harbor itself, destroying Venice"s ability to receive and deploy s.h.i.+ps.
After we have destroyed the harbor, our guns will target the s.h.i.+pyards, making Venice utterly incapable of producing new vessels for the war effort. When the a.r.s.enal is in ruins, we will turn our cannons onto the Castle itself, wiping out the command structure of the city.
Any remaining sh.e.l.ls will be fired into the industrial district of Venice. I want the Venetians to remember the price of conspiring against Austria. Let this forever be known as the day Austria struck first!"
With that said, the officers responded in the affirmative after they had received their orders.
"Aye, Admiral!"
After this, they quickly set about their tasks and began to load the 836 cannons facing the city of Venice. After all of the cannons were loaded among the 38 vessels, Emmerich grinned wickedly as he gave the order by shouting to the crew members of his s.h.i.+p.
"Fire!"
With those words, the cannons on the s.h.i.+p"s side pointing towards the harbor immediately erupted as the explosive sh.e.l.ls were sent from thousands of yards away onto the ports where most of the Venetian naval vessels were currently docked.
The moment the SMS Berengar began to fire its cannons, the 37 other s.h.i.+ps nearby unloaded their barrage onto the same target. Because the Venetians" vessels were treated with tar on their planks and ropes to preserve the materials, they were highly susceptible to fire.
As such, when the explosive sh.e.l.ls impacted the hundreds of s.h.i.+ps docked in the harbor, the fires rapidly spread from the affected vessels to every s.h.i.+p in the port. Civilian and military vessels alike were lit ablaze, and those unfortunate enough to be on those vessels were either engulfed in the explosive blast or were burnt alive by the rapidly spreading flames.
However, the bombardment did not stop with a single barrage as the cannons were rapidly reloaded and fired a second barrage onto the harbor; not only did Emmerich plan to eradicate every single vessel docked at Venice, but he also planned outright to devastate the very foundations of the port itself.
Thus the City bells began to ring as another barrage of cannon fire drowned out its tone with their thunderous echoes. It was as if h.e.l.l itself had reared its ugly head upon the Venetians as the residents of the city of Venice gazed in horror at their mighty harbor, and the a.r.s.enal used to construct their fleet became engulfed firey explosions.
Because the swiss agent who was sent to deliver the message to the Holy Roman Emperor was not granted a horse and had to travel on foot to the capital of the Empire, Berengar had struck first and eradicated the majority of the Venetian Navy.
However, that was not the greatest insult to the Venetians; the fact that Berengar"s Naval forces had continued their bombardment onto the port, the s.h.i.+pyards, and the factories; the sea-faring city was in an absolute state of humiliation the like they had never suffered.
Despite this, Emmerich commanded the sailors to load the cannons and fire their barrages onto the city. While doing so, the Admiral laughed like a maniac as he roared along with the thunderous echoes that resounded from the hundreds of guns.
"Henceforth, this shall be my anthem!"
Despite his bold words, they went completely unnoticed by his crew as they were completed drowned out by the sound of the guns firing onto the city.
While Emmerich was immersed in the sight of the attack, the Venetian citizens who had survived the onslaught scrambled to put out the flames that had spread across their city. Despite their best efforts, the flames continued to spread, consuming life and property in the process.
The sheer level of destruction that Emmerich had unleashed upon the city of Venice and its population was enough to be tried as a war criminal in Berengar"s previous life; Despite this, Berengar would not punish the man; in fact, he might even give the man a commendation for his actions here on this night.
It was only after half of the city was a smoldering ruin did the fleet finally run out of sh.e.l.ls, and as such, they reeled in their anchors and set sail into the rising dawn back to the coast of Austria. Within a single night, Berengar"s most significant rival on the Mediterranean had been brought to ruin.
A year"s worth of progress in building the largest Armada in the world was blasted to the depths of the Adriatic sea overnight. It would take decades for the Venetians to recover from this humiliation, and they would never forget what the Austrians had done this day.
Though not all of the Venetian Navy"s s.h.i.+ps were present during the attack, the overwhelming majority of them were, thus significantly leveling the playing field in the number of vessels Austria would have to fight at sea.
Though Venice was not the only target of the Austrian Navy, after all, Genoa would soon suffer a similar fate. With hundreds of s.h.i.+ps at the Holy Roman Emperor"s command destroyed in a matter of days, the Empire would quickly find its most significant advantage against Austria snuffed out of existence before the war had even officially begun.
As such, the first battle of the War for Austrian Independence was a rousing success. By the time Emperor Balsamo Corsini heard of this news, he would be severely weakened in his ability to wage war against the Kingdom of Austria.
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