WesWorld

Teniente de Fragata (Lieutenant) Ricardo stood on the bridge of his first command, the elderly destroyer San Juan. He paced over to the starboard side scanned the horizon with his binoculars before sitting down on his chair. Feeling proud of his first patrol he had just issued another change of course when his Number One, Alfrez de Fragata (Sub Lieut) Costa rushed onto the bridge, "Sir we've received a distress call from the S.S. Madame Martinez in African waters, she's been fired upon." The skipper turned and got up, "You mean she's in the illegal ten mile zone, where is she now?" "Heading for home waters some three miles outside the territorial limit." The skipper nodded and ordered full steam ahead. Soon the ship was visible as it emerged from a squall being chased by an SAE sloop. It would be the beginning of a long day.

Lieutenant E.H. Larive of the RSAN was in command of the ASW Launch UJ11 and was, in contrast, having a bad day. While on an early morning patrol the starboard diesel engine had suffered a minor problem and speed had to be reduced to around 13kts while the engineer and his gang tried to repair the starboard engine. At 10:12 am the starboard lookout spotted a freighter and soon identified it as an Argentine vessel. Lt. Larive knew too well the events a month previously when a suspect Argentine vessel was brought into harbour and its cargo exploded. The ship was steaming at 10kts and was heading for the Argentine coast, probably Necochea, a small harbour town on the border. Larive instinctively knew something was wrong by the way the vessel altered course further south to avoid the UJ11. He ordered the most speed the engineer could get out of the machinery and the course was changed to intercept the freighter which turned again to take advantage of a nearby squall. The engines protested but a speed of 16kts was attained. A brief sighting report was radioed to base, "Sighted suspect vessel 1,900grt S.S. Madame Martinez three miles NW of Argentine Waters. Intend stop vessel for search." The crew mustered for action and the small boarding party loaded their rifles and checked their equipment.

Signals by Morse Lamp were made to the S.S. Madame Martinez to heave-to for inspection. The ship signalled back, "Request denied, am aid ship returning to Argentina. Repeat am heading for Argentine waters." Lt. Larive fumed, "Ok then, ready the main gun let's show them we mean business, we must stop them before they reach the limit. How far away is that?" The navigation officer checked his chart, "Only five miles Sir." The freighter then increased her speed to 13kts and headed south west for Mar del Plata and the squall which was reducing visibility. Slowly the gap was shortened and the UJ11 despite her protesting machinery began to close the gap enough to fire a warning shot across the freighter's bows. Then it radioed a distress call in plain language which was picked up on the nearby San Juan only some two miles away behind the squall, the Harbour Master's Office at Mar del Plata, Naval Headquarters Bahia Blanca, the UJ11 and in SAE Grand Uruguay, "S.S. Madame Martinez. Argentine registered under attack by African ship two miles outside territorial waters. Request immediate help. Please send help. African ship gaining and firing on ship. Repeat firing on ship."

The San Juan was called to action stations and soon sighted the S.S. Madame Martinez followed by the UJ11. Teniente de Fragata Ricardo knew the ship would soon be inside Argentine waters and tried to head off the UJ11. At 10:37 the San Juan altered course hard-a-port and came alongside the smaller vessel some 4,000 yards distant to signal her by lamp. The skipper decided to take the hard line, "Signal to UJ11, your in Argentine waters, we will search suspect vessel, request you turn back, will report firing on Argentine merchant ship to my superiors." The UJ11 immediately signalled back, "Suspect ship refused to stop in SAE 10nm limit. We will search ship. Stay away while we make legal inspection. Report what you like to your superior officers." Teniente de Fragata Ricardo decided to force the ship away from the freighter and ordered the ship to cut across UJ11's bows. The UJ11 turned to starboard just in time to avoid a collision (Lt. Larive shook his fist as the ship passed and other crew members made gestures to the Argentine ship) and the UJ11 turned back onto its interception course once the San Juan had overtaken them and swung further east. The San Juan turned south and then sharply to northward, heeling as she turned at 20kts, to come up behind the UJ11 Ricardo turned to his number one, "Well that didn't work, bring us alongside at 16 kts, train A, Q and X guns onto her and make a signal, you are in Argentine waters, I'm authorised to force you to leave territorial waters and if you continue present course will consider your actions an act of piracy."

Lieutenant E.H. Larive was by now angry of the attempts to frustrate his duty but he felt obliged to radio his Shore Commander for further instructions before he continued the chase as the freighter neared shore and the African town of Mar del Plata stood out on the sunlit shoreline as the squall again passed over them. He was now just inside Argentine waters and could turn back to the SAE limit, he was unsure though whether the Argentine destroyer would follow him. Also the mechanical problems dogged his mind, what if he had to fight it out? No, thought Larive, that wouldn't happen, the Argentine skipper wasn't a fool was he?

Teniente de Fragata Ricardo too was agonised, despite his bullying tactics he was unsure of what to do, he had never faced anything like this scenario in his training and he paced up and down while the UJ11 continued some 5,000 yards abeam on her course trying to cut off the freighter. The more experienced Alfrez de Fragata Costa argued the skipper should fire a warning shot and try one last time to force the ship to leave, by then reinforcements could arrive and the S.S. Madame Martinez would be safely enough near port. Ricardo stared at Larive across the sea and both men looked at each other, neither knew what the other was thinking. Just as Larive was about to give up on receiving his reply from HQ and turn back Ricardo gave the order to fire a shot across the bow of UJ11.

Larive saw the puff from the number one gun and instinctively ducked as the shell whistled nearer, but instead of hearing it pass over the ship lurched as the 100mm passed through the forecastle deck and exited through the hull before exploding. The UJ11's Second Officer was hit by a splinter and the Captain turned and gave the order to open fire in retaliation and he radioed back to HQ just as the reply came to disengage from his superior officer ashore. He radioed, "Attacked by Argentine destroyer near Argentine territorial waters trying to search suspect vessel. Am returning fire to cover my withdrawal." The twin 40mm gun began spitting out fire in revenge.

Aboard the San Juan the first hits amidships caused little damage. Teniente de Fragata Ricardo was still in shock and he began to panic and ordered the guns to return fire and he ordered another message in plain language which was also picked up in Grand Uruguay, "Attacked by African vessel committing an act of piracy on an Argentine steamer. Have been damaged. Request immediate assistance. Am returning fire to drive ship from territorial waters." UJ11 was hit by two shells aft from San Juan's second salvo. One blew the portside boat into matchwood and the other entered just below the funnel and exploded in the engine room putting her port engine out of action. The third salvo resulted in two hits, one passing through the hull forwards and exiting below the water line and the other exploding in the deckhouse below the twin 20mm mount aft. This last hit caused a fire and by quick action Sub Lieut. Grogge ditched the Depth Charges to avoid them being hit but he was soon killed by shrapnel from a near miss. In revenge 40mm shells ripped into San Juan's Q mount and six men were killed and the 20mm twin mount aft raked San Juan's bridge. Two men were wounded and Ricardo had to dive underneath his seat as cannon shells ripped through the structure. Ricardo then opened up the range to 6,500 yards and ordered another salvo. The Engineering Officer aboard the UJ11 struggled to keep the pumps going but another two hits forward started a five degree list and once the engine room began to flood all power was lost. The fire aft had got out of control and the aft 20mm mount was abandoned as the flames and smoke got too much to bear, all of the gun crew received burns and they jumped straight into the sea. By now the after part of the ship was completely cut off from the bow and the crew stranded here also jumped overboard as another near miss sprayed the deck with shrapnel. San Juan's final salvo hit the bridge and the 40mm gun crew were showered with shrapnel and debris. The Petty Officer in charge of the gun was blown overboard but survived. Lieutenant E.H. Larive was hit by shrapnel in the left arm and leg and only the helmsman's quick application of a tourniquet stopped the bleeding from a severed artery. The helmsman himself was badly wounded with a gash on his forehead and shrapnel in the left thigh. The First Officer, who had gone aft to supervise the fighting of the fire, ordered the crew to abandon ship, the starboard boat being well ablaze. He went back to the bridge, threw the confidential books overboard and helped the captain onto a piece of floating wood and he was the last to leave the ship, being washed overboard by a wave. Teniente de Fragata Ricardo seeing the African boat begin to sink and the fire spreading aft ordered the ship boats lowered to rescue the crew. Altogether seven men and twenty-one wounded (three seriously including Larive) were rescued. Four had been killed and another was missing. UJ11 then capsized and slid beneath the waves. Overhead a patrolling Fokker T.IVa seaplane, which had heard the distress calls from the Madame Martinez and the San Juan, circled guiding the other reinforcing Argentine ships to the area.

San Juan after rendezvousing with T-102 (a Corrientes Class torpedo boat partially armed and operated by the Customs Service) and the Mendoza then headed back to Necochea where commotion reigned on the quayside. The population having heard about the action from the African town of Mar del Plata some fifty miles further north crowed the quay and the press where there taking pictures of the ship and the African sailors as they were carried down the gangplank. News soon flashed back to Cordoba and Bahia Blanca and from there across the world via the NBC and BBC networks. By nightfall some 2,000 people were still milling around the San Juan and the S.S. Madame Martinez and speculation grew by the minute of what had really happened.

The Navy too, wanted to find out the truth and summoned Teniente de Fragata (Lieutenant) Ricardo and Alfrez de Fragata (Sub Lieut) Costa to Naval Headquarters. It was the beginning of the investigation.

Once Lieutenant E.H. Larive had recovered enough the investigation began. The RSAN requested the immediate return of the sailors but the Argentine authorities refused claiming they were witnesses to an act of piracy. Larive gave his testimony on the first day. He told the court that the S.S. Madame Martinez had refused to stop and the threat of force had not worked either so he intended to stop the vessel outside Argentine waters, when this was not possible he intended to continue the chase until the ship was forced to stop. He then blamed Ricardo for interfering and letting the ship escape. It was established that no inspection had been carried out until three days later and the ship was found clear of any illegal activities. The RSAN, of course, protested at the gross inefficiency of the Argentine authorities and demanded the arrest of the Captain of the Madame Martinez and his extradition to SAE Grand Uruguay. This request was turned down (indeed by now the he could not be found). By day two analysis of the radio messages revealed some differences in the stories. The UJ11s transmissions in code were picked up in Argentina but they could not be deciphered but the few plain language transmissions of the San Juan were picked up in Grand Uruguay. Larive was criticised for not informing his Shore Commander that he intended to continue the search in Argentine waters until he was confronted by the destroyer. Ricardo was blamed for not asking for further instructions from his Flotilla commander and for giving false impressions that he was more heavily damaged than was the case. The case rumbled on for another five days in the corridors of power in both countries and various meetings were held before the final verdict was announced.

[OOC: great stuff.]

The German ambassador to Argentina cabled a diplomatic note to his superiors in Berlin. "The match is lit, the only hope is that the tinder is not yet so dry that the fire will catch."

Great Story !!! Where is the beer and the Popcorn ?

The Atlantean government regrets the unfortunate incident involving the UJ11 and San Juan and hopes that both Argentina and the SAE can let cooler heads prevail following such a debacle.

You'd have thought the Argies would have learned from their war with Nordmark, about the consequences of tangling with a stronger fleet.

But you'd have thought wrong.

Quoted

Originally posted by AdmKuznetsov
You'd have thought the Argies would have learned from their war with Nordmark, about the consequences of tangling with a stronger fleet.

But you'd have thought wrong.

But now they have the ABC treaty. While the combined fleets maybe are weaker the point is that IMO the ground forces in the South American theater are maybe in favor of the ABC powers and the resupply of Grand Uruguay could turn into WW version of the North Atlantic naval front of WW2.

Quoted

Originally posted by perdedor99
But now they have the ABC treaty. While the combined fleets maybe are weaker the point is that IMO the ground forces in the South American theater are maybe in favor of the ABC powers and the resupply of Grand Uruguay could turn into WW version of the North Atlantic naval front of WW2.

Atlantis, having its own south American territory, has to sit back and wonder.

If the rest of the ABC powers decide to interveen, and achieve even a slight victory how long before they decide they want to see how they fair against even bigger fish?

Being part of NATO has its advantages as the worry's about just such a senario are eased for the most part, that and relations with each nation are fair to good, particularily with Argentina.

Who knows a war may change things..

[Brazil]

The Empire regrets that the situation in South America has come to this. We repeat our opinion that the South African 'blockade zone' is in violation of International Law and the Laws of the Sea and again request that Pretoria reconsider their actions...

The Chinese government regrets this incident and asks the governments which were involved to consider their next steps well.

War is no solution to solve any problems ! China hopes anyhow that this small skirmish does not release an area conflagration.