Naval Battles of the Great War, Volume I

by Captain Arsenius Silvanus, Vice Commodore of the Imperial Naval Institute

Preface

The Great War between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion ended with the signing of the White-Gold Concordat despite the costly but decisive victory at the Battle of the Red Ring. While the Empire was in no shape to continue to war, the Dominion had no longer had military dominance in continental Tamriel, and the peace brought on by the Concordat came at the price of difficult concessions. First, the worship of Talos was banned, and second, a large portion of southern Hammerfell was ceded to the Dominion. Many survivors of the Great War in the Empire heavily criticized the White-Gold Concordat citing the cowardice and passivity of the Emperor Titus Mede II. Others defend the Emperor’s decision to sign the unfair treaty by claiming that the treaty was simply a way to buy time for the Empire to recover its strengths. Whatever the justification may be, the questions remain. Was the Emperor wrong in conceding to the Dominion? Could the Empire have negotiated a less single-sided treaty to end the war?

To answer these questions, one cannot be too focused on the Imperial victory at the Battle of the Red Ring as the turning point of the war. While the Imperial Legion reclaimed the dominance over the land, the naval supremacy of the Dominion could not be ignored. As soon as the Great War had begun, Lord Naarifin’s troops attacked Cyrodiil from Elsweyr and Valenwood flanking the Imperial forces from the south while Lady Arannelya launched simultaneous amphibious invasions along the Gold Coast and Hews Bay forcing the Imperial Legion to split its forces. By the end of 4E 172, Lord Naarfin had besieged the Imperial City itself. The initial success of the Dominion is largely attributed to the advantage of surprise at the onset of the war and superior magickal troops in both mastery and number. What is often overlooked, however, is the effectiveness of the Dominion’s strategy that could only have been possible with naval supremacy. And this sustained Aldmeri dominance of the seas inexorably led to the White-Gold Concordat in which the Empire was forced to concede to the unfair treaty despite the decisive victory at the Battle of the Red Ring.

Chapter 1: The Battle of the Blue Divide

Before the Dominion gave its ultimatum to the Empire, the Thalmor successfully hunted down every Blades agents in Summerset Isles and Valenwood. During this time, the Empire had no intelligence on Thalmor activities in Dominion territories. Meanwhile, the Aldmeri Navy was paving the way for the Great War. Other than the Gold Coast Fleet of the Imperial Navy, the Aldmeri Navy had to deal with the navies of High Rock and Hammerfell. In secret, the Thalmor sent an ambassador to the corsairs in the islands of Cespar and Herne who reached an agreement with the corsair captains: If the corsairs can harass the Bretony Navy and distract their patrols to the south, they will be granted the freedom to raid the coasts of High Rock and Hammerfell during and after the war. The continued Thalmor support as result of this agreement allowed for the corsair raid on the great Bretony city of Wayrest itself only seventeen years later.

On the 22nd of Hearthfire 4E 171, Hammerfell was notified of an increased pirate activity near Stros M’kai and potential raid on the city itself by the corsairs. The civil war between the Crowns and Forebears had weakened Hammerfell, but what remained of the Hammerfell’s formerly impressive fleet was dispatched to defend against the corsairs. It was a ruse, however, by the Thalmor to draw out Hammerfell Navy to ambush them in open sea. When the Redguard commanders arrived off the coast of Stros M’kai, they saw several corsair ships in the distance and immediately engaged them. The skirmish lasted for only few hours, and as the corsairs began to flee near sundown, the Redguard fleet gave chase.

Meanwhile, the Aldmeri Navy was waiting for the Redguard fleet off the Cape of the Blue Divide under the magickal shroud set by the Altmeri mages in the darkness of night. As soon as the Redguard ships were in range, the Aldmeri fleet fired their volleys. Against the superior magickal firepower, the Redguard fleet was annihilated within less than an hour. While the Redguards valiantly fought back, their ships, having only conventional naval weaponry, were not prepared to engage the Altmeri ships reinforced with Malachite.

Note: Only the ballista using projectiles made of Ebony, which the Emperor Tiber Septim so eagerly sought from Morrowind in preparation of his campaign against the Summerset Isles during the Tiber Wars of the Second Era, could deal significant damage to the Malachite plating. Furthermore, there were only a handful of vessels in the Imperial Navy that had the platings made of Dwemer metal, which the Septim Emperors monopolized in the Third Era, that could withstand the concentrated volleys from numerous Altmeri mages.

At the conclusion of the Battle of the Blue Divide, not a single Redguard ship was left afloat. All the survivors had been secretly taken as prisoners so no word of the battle would reach the Empire. Only the corsairs who took part in this ruse captured by the Bretony Navy by chance during the Great War were able to give details of this battle. With this victory, the Aldmeri Navy gained uncontested dominance over the Abecean Sea until the outbreak of the Great War, and the Empire was left unaware of its vulnerabilities along the Gold Coast.