Patrol - 1721 - May 11 - defending Turtling Bay

Ships in Action:
Captain Earl Berett - HMS St. George -     Invincible -class first-rate

Captain Sir Leo Davis - HMS Prince George -     Prince -class first-rate

Captain Henrik Highway - Mercy -class Naval Frigate 5th rate

Captain Tom Highway - Mercy -class Naval Frigate 5th rate

Captain Roderick Morrow - HMS Spartan - Mercy -class Naval Frigate 5th rate

Captain Sam Jackson - Shark -   Corsair -class Xebec

Captain Titus Wallenstein - HMS Guardian - Postillionen-class Frigate 6th rate

Captain Jonathan Wignall - Mediator -class Cutter

Type of Battle:
PVE battles against french and pirate fleets (sized 8-12 ships)

Action Setup:
French sneak attack on Turtling Bay trying to occupy this fine city in the evening. However the unrest was settled down after an quick and efficient intervention of the combined british forces including a small division of the St. Georg squadron.

The Action Itself:
It was late in the afternoon as the news spreed along the shore of Yucatan that the treacherous French started to blockade the trading routes towards Turtling Bay. It was quite obvious that there was more behind than a simple act of piracy as several french fleets were sighted incoming form the north-east. The admiralty classified this situation as critical and an direct attack on Turtling Bay was most likely. At this time myself patrolled along the coast near Bluefield with the HMS Guardian hunting down some Pirate scum for the local magistrate.To clear this situation and drive the frogs back into their swamp the admiralty called upon all available squadrons to help breaking the blockade around Turtling Bay and prevent an possible invasion. Entering the bay of Bluefield i identified the Captain Henrik Highway's Mercy-Class Frigate. I found him later in the harbour talking to the local agent of the british admiralty. He was about to join em committed troops near Turtling Bay but had to finish two missions before in Bluefield and Puerto Capezas and without further ado took me along with him. After finishing those mission rather quickly we set sail towards the north coast of Turtling Bay where we joined with Captain Tom Highway commanding also a Mercy-Class Frigate. The Battle about the City was getting fiercely and we heared the first news about unrests within the city walls. At this point the situation was pretty hopeless as we were to less to attack those bigger attack fleets directly and so we concentrated on groups with three to four ships mostly smaller frigate types but not to late reinforcement arrived at the scene Captain Leo Davis with the HMS Prince George, an amazing Prince-class first-rate ship of the line and even the Earl of Stratfield Saye, Captain Rodger Berett with his HMS St. George. As i had never seen such massive ships in action i was flattened by their immense mass and firepower which showed those monsters on the battlefield. With those ships in our squad we started to charge the larger attack groups. With discipline and and well executed maneuvers we were able to beat units which outnumbered us 1:2 including the biggest battleships. The tactic we used was rather simple but most efficient. The first rate ships took the lead followed by the mercy classes frigates. Parallel to those line Captain Collister, i and Captain Wignall formed another line with the smaller ships. Protected by the large ships we waited for holes and weak-points within the enemy formations which gave us the possibility to land several deadly blows even out from the second line. After bringing down the larger ships the rest of em were easy prey. With Fortuna on our side we finally disrupted the enemies support line and annihilate the remaining french fleet. With no chances to turn the battle around again the remaining Frenchmen not wrecked or sunk retreated to their holes and hideouts. With the last rays of sunlight the battle was over. Glory and victory for the British Crown.

The Result:
The order was restored in Turtling Bay late at night, every single suspicious person was under arrest or in an act of justice directly executed by his majesties troops. The french attackers repelled and with God's and his Majesties blessing none of the british defending ships badly damaged or sunk.

Lessons Learned:
Taking part in such an massive clash of those two nations was an exciting moment and of course informative aswell. Several things i've learned first off all sailing in the shadow of an first rate ship of the line is not only healthful for your crew and ship but gives smaller ships the opportunity to engage in massive battle aswell and staying alive without serious losses but also lets you land several well placed shots from the background and finally can make their contribution to win the fight (so its not an observer job only) Second thing a well structured attack line even outnumbered as our Squadron was can bomb an uncoordinated crowd of even bigger and superior ships back to em stoneage in notime. (Sidenote: Especially the line-turn-maneuvers were executed perfectly.) And finally even if we thought Turtling Bay will fall into em frogs slimy hands the tide can turn at anytime.