Naval Battles of the Great War, Volume II
Naval Battles of the Great War, Volume II
by Captain Arsenius Silvanus, Vice Commodore of the Imperial Naval Institute
Chapter 2: The Battle of the Chain
In the aftermath of the Battle of the Blue Divide, Hammerfell no longer had any presence in the Abecean Sea. The island of Stros M’kai was cut off from the mainland, and the corsairs continued to raid the southern coasts of Hammerfell with unprecedented freedom. The increased level of piracy was noticed by High Rock and the Empire, but they were both unaware of the Thalmor involvement with the corsairs. When the news of the Redguard fleet that never returned reached the ears of the lords of High Rock, they could no longer underestimate the losses caused by the disruption of trade routes due to raids and decided to root out the corsairs once and for all. The Sea Lords of Daggerfall and Wayrest sent an emissary to the Imperial Navy requesting a joint operation on Cespar and Herne.
On 26th of Frostfall, 4E 171, merely four days before the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Admiralty Board approved the joint operation between the navies of High Rock and the Empire on the corsairs. Commodore Quintus Orelius was given the command of the Combined Fleet, and he set sail for the islands immediately. The Combined Fleet rendezvoused off the coast of Stros M’kai on 28th of Frostfall. The combination of Breton battlemages and Colovian marines would prove to be one of the most formidable naval forces ever assembled in the history of Tamriel. While the Bretony fleet provided fire support, the Imperial fleet would launch amphibious assault on the corsair harbor. The Thalmor, of course, warned the corsair captains of the upcoming invasion of Cespar and Herne in advance, and the corsairs assembled their fleet to meet the Combined Fleet.
The two navies clashed near a small archipelago between Herne and Stros M’kai called the Chain the following day on the 29th of Frostfall when the corsairs ambushed the Combined Fleet. While the Combined Fleet tried to navigate around the shoals and reefs scattered throughout the archipelago, much smaller and agile corsair ships were waiting for them behind the isles. The corsair captains knew that they had no chance of defeating the Combined Fleet, and the ambush was only a diversion to distract and delay the opposing navy as much as possible. When the first volley was fired by the corsairs, the Combined Fleet was caught by surprise.
While the Combined Fleet enjoyed the advantages on the matters of size and training, it suffered from two main points of weakness when they engaged the corsair fleet. First, due to the nature of the operation being that of amphibious invasion of Herne and Cespar, a significant portion of the vessels in the fleet was for transporting the Colovian marines with minimal capability for naval combat. On the other hand, the corsair ships were specifically outfitted to raid slow and large merchant ships in and out of open waters. Second, the highly professional and organized command structure of the Combined Fleet traded maneuverability for discipline. The corsair fleet was instead disconcertingly unorganized compared to the Imperial and Bretony naval traditions; however, because the individual captains of the corsair fleet were able to make independent decisions, the commanders of the Combined Fleet could not respond quickly enough to the hit-and-run tactics of the corsairs.
Nevertheless, the highly trained and disciplined officers of the Imperial and Bretony navies were able to quickly regain control of the situation and began to retaliate. Commodore Orelius ordered the Bretony ships to surround the Imperial transports and form a defensive ring. The corsairs immediately began to flee into the safety of the Chain as soon as they saw the Combined Fleet regaining their formation, but the vainglory few that did not escape in time were quickly destroyed by the Breton battlemages. Quickly realizing that the Combined Fleet could not hope to defeat the corsairs among the labyrinthine shoals and reefs in the Chain, he decided to ignore the raiders and push on to Cespar.
The Battle of the Chain ended in a rather anti-climactic fashion. To this day, it is unclear which side of the battle was victorious and which was defeated. Commander Julius Marius, adjutant to Commodore Orelius, reported eight corsair ships sunk compared to a mere three of the Combined Fleet, two of which were heavily damaged in the initial volley during the ambush. Based on the number of the casualties, the battle was a decisive defeat for the corsairs. However, the unavoidable fact is that the Combined Fleet fled the site of battle even though the retreat was strategically necessary to avoid unfavorable conditions and minimize casualties.
History suggests, however, the Aldmeri Dominion was the true victor in the Battle of the Chain. The battle in the archipelago ended more swiftly than either the corsairs or the Thalmor had planned as they both underestimated the training and the discipline of the Imperial and Bretony navies, but unfortunately for the Empire, the decision by Commodore Orelius to push ahead to Cespar ignoring the corsairs only resulted in the majority of the Imperial Gold Coast Fleet being far away and unavailable to defend against the Aldmeri invasion along the Gold Coast and the southern coastline of Hammerfell. The Great War broke out between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion only one day after the conclusion of the Battle of the Chain, and by the time Lady Arannelya’s amphibious forces invaded in the following few days, the Combined Fleet was decisively defeating the corsairs in Cespar and Herne.
By the time Commodore Orelius triumphantly returned to Anvil, he found what remained of the Imperial Gold Coast Fleet annihilated by the Old Mary. Determined to save the Empire, Commodore Orelius annexed the Bretony ships into the Imperial Navy by invoking Imperial Admiralty Order and sailed south to coordinate a defense with the rest of the Imperial Navy stationed at Leyawiin against the Aldmeri Navy in Topal Bay. This move, however, was not received well by the Breton captains who wanted to return to High Rock and defend their homelands. Nevertheless, as the coastal artillery of Leyawiin and the harbor of Bravil were at the utmost priority to defend Niben River—and Lake Rumare by extension—Commodore Orelius sent any Breton officers who resisted the appropriation to the brig and sailed towards Topal Bay.