Battle - 1721 - April 3 - Clash of Giants at Maracaibo

Report by Captain Sir Leo Davis describing the major fleet engagement during our attack on the spanish town of Maracaibo.

Ships in Action:
ALLIES:

 Captain Earl Berett - HMS St. George (Invincible First Rate) - Black Group

 Captain Sir Leo Davis - HMS Prince George (Prince First Rate) - Black Group

 Captain Viscount Wick - HMS Ramillies (Wenden Third Rate) - White Group

 Captain John Raven - (Valiant Third Rate) - White Group

 Captain Nicolas Ventura - (Hercules Heavy Frigate) - Green Group

- and 19 other british ships consisting of: 3 Prince First Rates 1 Couronne Mastercraft Galleon several second, third and fourth rates plus some heavy frigates.

ENEMIES:

-Spanish fleet of 24 vessels:

Consisting of atleast 11 heavy ships of the line with several third and second rates and one Prince first rate. The rest of the fleet consisted of several heavy frigates and MontBlanc Indiamen.

Action Setup:
The battle took place on the Wild Keys map.

Our fleet formed west of the Island, while the spanish fleet took a defensive position in the bay between fortress and city entrance. We had the wind advantage and sailed east to take cover behind the small Island. Our first target was the gun emplacement on the small island, then we attacked the large fortress, a well placed broadside from my ship finaly destroyed it.

The Action Itself:
The Spanish fleet moved into a defensive line next to our fleet and our black group started to exchange long range broadsides with the enemy, for several minutes, while the rest of our fleet remained covered by the island. The fight was undecisive for several minutes. Captain Ben Royan who was leading black group then decided to move slowly forward to lure the spanish line deeper into the bay to push them against the shore line of the main Island. This maneuver was partly succesful and we were finaly ably to sink some enemy ships, now both fleets closed in to medium range and a massive line battle evolved whith losses on both sides. Our black group soon lost two of its Prince first rates. While the spanish lost their Prince first rate and several second rates.

Black and white group soon got outgunned because almost the whole spanish fleet was attacking them. But Captain Royans maneuver now payed out with a gap that opened in the rear of the spanish line. Now our green and red group, which were hold as a reserve, where orderd to push into this gap. This attack caused heavy losses on both sides. After one hour of intense fighting the britsh fleet had lost 12 ships while the spanish lost only 9 ships.

During this fight our whole fleet was pushed into the bay next to the city entrance, where we put up a defensive position. We were able to sink three more spanish ships, while we had to wait for 17 minutes for the city entrance to open. Two minutes before the port opened the spanish tried to charge our position but we were able to fend them of and the whole remaining british fleet safely entered the town.

On the docks we prepared to attack the city garrison, but soon the spanish forces apeared and a wild fight evolved which we unfortunately lost quite fast.

The Result:
We lost the battle, but we dealt a serious blow to the spanish fleet with sinking one prince first rate, three second rates and three Valiant third rates, while we lost two Prince first rates and three Valiants, the rest of the losses where mostly Frigates.

The overall losses where:

British: 12 ships + one click out

Spanish: 10 ships + one disconnect

It was a great archivement that SGS was able to field five captains in mostly heavy ships in this battle. Unfortunately Captain Ravens Valiant got sunk at the climax of the battle, but the rest of our ships made it safely into the harbour. This is truly a day to remember.

Misc.
The colossal groups Black and White leading the fleet into battle



closing in to the enemy positions



The british fleet trapped in the bay, shortly before we could enter the town.