Second World Chapter 1705 Captured Ships

Chapter 1705 1705. Captured s.h.i.+ps

After Kaghast was defeated, John went up and joined Water Lily in capturing the enemy flags.h.i.+p. Most of his summons had run out of duration. He resummoned the ones with short cooldowns.

It took them a few hours but they finally managed to purge the enemies from the flags.h.i.+ps. The four other Liguritudum's men-of-war disengaged once that happened. The battle was back to exchanging cannon fires.

Without a high command, the Liguritudum Armada didn't know whether to continue fighting or retreat. Gridhacker who ranked second in the armada was also nowhere to be found.

Some officers called for a retreat but the others demanded they continued fighting. These pa.s.sionate officers announced that anyone retreating would be deemed traitors and deserters. Without a clear chain of command, disarray escalated.

John made full use of the enemy's disarray and had the fleet occupy favorable positions. In the end, some of Liguritudum's s.h.i.+ps decided to flee when the situation became worse.

The battle raged on for another half day after Kaghast fell, and ended with the victory for the combined fleet of Palgrost, Verremor, and Themisphere.

A few Liguritudum s.h.i.+ps fled, some surrendered, and many were sunk. At the end of the battle, only around twenty Liguritudum s.h.i.+ps were seen leaving. These twenty s.h.i.+ps were carrack-sized s.h.i.+ps and smaller. They fled in different directions without any semblance of a navy. It was not clear if they would return to Liguritudum's naval base or wander off and become pirates.

Palgrost also lost many s.h.i.+ps. Their loss came from the initial battle when they were caught off guard by Liguritudum's maneuver during the storm.

Their flags.h.i.+p suffered terrible damage. It required repairs to be able to sail again. An emergency repair was being performed to cover the hole in the lower deck, which was caused by Will. Otherwise, water would keep entering and the s.h.i.+p would sink.

Aside from the flags.h.i.+p, Palgrost lost fifty-four s.h.i.+ps, and another twenty s.h.i.+ps were heavily damaged. Lightly damaged s.h.i.+ps that could continue the campaign were 6 galleons, 6 gallea.s.ses, 8 carracks, 9 frigates, and 5 caravels.

Verremor and Themisphere's fleets fared better.

Themisphere only lost two s.h.i.+ps. The other six galleons were only lightly damaged and could continue heading into Liguritudum.

Verremor lost four galleons and seven gallea.s.ses. Another two gallea.s.ses were heavily damaged and needed immediate repair. The good s.h.i.+ps they still had were the 2 men-of-war, 12 galleons, and 23 gallea.s.ses.

They captured thirteen s.h.i.+ps that were still in good condition from the Liguritudum Armada. One of these captured s.h.i.+ps was the Liguritudum flags.h.i.+p which Water Lily boarded with her troops. Aside from this flags.h.i.+p, they also captured another man-of-war, 3 galleons, 2 gallea.s.ses, and 6 carracks.

Because Palgrost lost the most s.h.i.+ps, it was agreed that these captured s.h.i.+ps were given to Palgrost, except for the Liguritudum flags.h.i.+p. John was shameless enough to ask for that flags.h.i.+p. He said that only Themisphere was without a man-of-war. As a group of equal power, it was only right that Themisphere should get at least one man-of-war.

Neither Thelgrun nor Water Lily considered John's argument to make any sense, but they decided to not argue with him out of respect for Jack. The Liguritudum flags.h.i.+p was given to Themisphere.

They spent another day towing the heavily damaged s.h.i.+ps to the nearest sh.o.r.e for repairs. They also removed good cannons and ammunition from the damaged s.h.i.+ps and transferred them to the good s.h.i.+ps that could continue sailing.

Everyone rested. The next day, s.h.i.+ps that were still in good condition sailed away to continue the campaign. They would be heading into Liguritudum and coordinating with the land troops.

They left some soldiers to oversee the repair. The repair done on that beach wouldn't be optimal. It was only temporary so the s.h.i.+ps could sail again. These s.h.i.+ps would have to return to Palgrost's naval base to undergo full repair.

*

John stayed in the Liguritudum flags.h.i.+p which had now become the Themisphere flags.h.i.+p. He was on the s.h.i.+p's bridge. A flags.h.i.+p was slightly different from the other s.h.i.+ps. While other s.h.i.+ps followed a traditional layout where the helm was on the upper deck, a flags.h.i.+p was similar to a modern s.h.i.+p where the helm was on an enclosed platform.

One country could only have one flags.h.i.+p, and only a man-of-war or better s.h.i.+p could become one. The resulting flags.h.i.+p would always be slightly bigger, equipped with more cannons, and had better stats compared to other same-type s.h.i.+ps.

Themisphere was still several techs away from being able to build one. John didn't research the techs on building the maritime power because Themisphere only had one port city. He couldn't fully utilize the techs even if he learned them.

But having a flags.h.i.+p meant a huge difference to a fleet. Its advantage was not just it being a better s.h.i.+p. A navy with a flags.h.i.+p would normally have higher morale than a navy without one. The morale decrease due to losses would drop at a slower rate unless it was the flags.h.i.+p that was lost. Ally s.h.i.+ps in the vicinity of the flags.h.i.+p would also receive a small boost.

That's why John asked for the Liguritudum flags.h.i.+p they had captured. Even though Themisphere fleet only had a handful of s.h.i.+ps, it was still a huge leap if they had a flags.h.i.+p. This would be as if they bypa.s.sed several research techs.

Capturing a flags.h.i.+p also caused the enemy side a huge inconvenience. The enemy would not be able to build another flags.h.i.+p as long as the captured flags.h.i.+p was still around. They had to claim it back or destroy it before they could build another one.

So, Liguritudum couldn't build another flags.h.i.+p as long as Themisphere kept the one they had captured. Not like it mattered, anyway. The Liguritudum navy had practically been destroyed. They wouldn't be able to rebuild their navy in a short time.

All that was left now was to march toward the enemy capital and settle this war once and for all!