Chapter 465: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (IV)
Even though it would take a lot of time for a massive fleet of nearly 300 triremes and 350 warships to complete their tactical action, the experienced Syracusan fleet managed to shorten the time.
Under the guidance of more than a dozen scouting ships, the whole fleet sailed towards the sea near Thurii…
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Mithridates’ ship is at the forefront with the task of navigation. And this position requires a captain who is not only experienced in navigation and naval warfare but must also be familiar with the fleet’s tactics, signals, understanding of the expedition’s purpose, and the strategies to be used. As the spearhead, he must also be brave in naval battles to set an example to the ships behind him.
Apart from his lack of experience as this was his first naval battle(which most of the captains of the Theonian fleet lacked), Mithridates excelled in all other aspects. After all, Davos considered Mithridates to replace Enanilus, who was sentenced to imprisonment, as the navarch.
At this moment, Mithridates had his eyes closed while sitting under the mast, when suddenly, the lookout on the top of the mast shouted, “There’s a sailboat ahead!”
Mithridates immediately opened his eyes and looked at the sea ahead. However, there were only the blue water and the sky, without anything else.
However, he knew that there was almost no merchant ship in this sea area due to the Syracusan navy’s blockade, so it is highly plausible that the ship belonged to Syracuse.
“The sailboat turned around!” The lookout shouted again.
‘It is definitely the enemy. He is likely going back to report after spotting us!’ After a brief pause, Mithridates hurriedly shouted, “Blow the salpinx and hoist the warning flag!”
As soon as they hung the long orange linen flag on the mast, the lookout of the flagship immediately reported, “Navarch, enemy ahead!”
“Great!” Seclian excited did a fist pump without thinking. Then he gave the long-awaited order, “Traverse at normal speed first! Hoist the flag and prepare for battle!”
As the long sound of salpinx sounded, a black flag was raised on the mast, which is extremely conspicuous against the clear sky.
Soon after, the other ships also hoisted a black flag.
‘Under the darkness of the night were countless stars.’
The starry night was a tactical formation the Theonian navy invented to take advantage of the “Corvus”, which requires the ships to scatter like the stars in the sky. This would allow them to attack the enemy like waves, requiring each ship to fight independently while protecting the other ships by requiring them to attack continuously.
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“Your majesty, we have spotted the enemy ahead.” Miltias reported to Davos.
Davos nodded and said while trying to look calm, “Just follow the orders. There is no need for you to report to me so as not to delay the battle.”
“Understood!” After Miltias saluted, he shouted towards the deck, “Normal speed!”
As the rhythm of the piper immediately picked up, the 180 rowers on each side of the trireme speed up. Then they gradually moved away from the surrounding ships as the helmsman turned the rudder.
“Hm? Something happened!” An elderly among those watching the fleet’s movement from the shore exclaimed, “Our fleet’s formation is changing!”
To the casual observer, there is no change from the dense sea of ships, but to these veteran seamen and fishermen, they were acutely aware of the changes in the distance and the speed between the ships.
“Did they spot the enemy?!”
“Is the war going to start?!”
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Everyone began asking with voices full of concerns about the safety of Theonia and their relatives.
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More than ten minutes later-
“The Syracusan fleet ahead! They have cou…countless ships!!” The lookout pointed to the front and shouted.
Mithridates was not surprised as he knew in advance that this was a naval battle with the Theonian navy at a disadvantage in the number of ships.
“Raise the battle flag!”
Then a blood-red flag fluttered from the mast.
“Navarch, there are enemies at the front, and we are about to engage them!”
“Prepare for combat!” Seclian said briefly and concisely.
Then the rapid sound of the salpinx sounded from the flagships to the adjacent warships and then to rest.
At the reminder of their captain, the sailors of each ship began moving and eating the bread and a bit of alcohol and olive oil that they carried while taking turns to get up and move their bodies. And since it has only been an hour since they got on the ship, they are still very energetic. Thus, they only need to prepare themselves for the long and fierce battle that might follow.
Suddenly, an outline of a ship appeared on the sea in the far distance, followed by another…in the blink of an eye, warships began to cover the horizon densely.
“Here they come…” Mithridates whispered.
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Meanwhile, on the Syracusan fleet’s flagship, Leptines got the answer he had long waiting for, “Navarch, there is a ship with a golden colour shining on its mast in the middle of the enemy fleet. It should be the ship with the statue of Hades that you are searching for!” The lookout shouted.
Once Leptines heard this, he shouted with excitement, “The captive was right about Davos! Davos, the archon of Theonia, is on that ship!”
Leptines was very clear due to Dionysius having said that to conquer Theonia, eliminating Davos first would be the best. Thus his brother sent assassins, but without success. And now, a great opportunity lay before him: Whether to capture or kill Davos in this naval battle, it would not only impress his brother but would give an early end to this huge war that had almost consumed Syracuse!
“Order all the ships to do the double column formation!” Leptines decisively ordered.
“Navarch, aren’t we going to surround them?” The flagship captain reminded him.
Leptines shook his head, “That would take too much time and would also scatter the fleet’s attack. At that time, It would be a problem if Davos were to be frightened and run away once the ships ahead of him were to sink one after another. Although we have more ships than them and our handling skills are better than them, Davos might be thinking that he could easily win this naval just like a land battle. Hence he dares to come at us rashly. However, I will crush the Theonian fleet head-on and capture that arrogant Davos!” Leptines said with pride while he outstretched his right hand and clenched it hard as if he was grasping the new king of Theonia.
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Mithridates stared ahead at the visible Syracusan fleet approaching them like a huge wave.
On the contrary, Mithridates even smiled a bit as he was not intimidated by the force of the Syracusan fleet. After all, the Syracusans had not taken advantage of their large number of ships to send smaller fleets to surround them and attack their flanks, which would make it more difficult for the Theonian fleet to win the battle and increase its losses. ‘However, his majesty’s plan to use himself as bait worked! It even made the enemy adopt a head-on attack!’
At a glance, the enemy extended to more than ten ships long and even had the tailwind advantage, but so what?! The Theonian fleet has its Corvus and more heavy infantries than their regular triremes onboard(the normal infantry configuration for a ship varied from zero to ten men, whereas the Theonian fleet had one platoon of heavy infantry per ship). That is also why they lack agility and speed, which they do not rely on to win!
Mithridates became more confident. He also knew that even though he was 5 kilometres away from the nearest enemy ship, it would only be in an instant once they raised their speed. So after giving his orders, he turned to Xanticles, who was resting on the deck and said with a straight face, “Strategos, please be ready as the battle is about to begin!”
As the senior centurion of the second brigade of the first legion, Xenticles, although his status as a senior officer was completely useless in this fight as it is fought with platoon units, he did not want to miss this crucial naval battle, so he had chosen to follow them.
“Aeneas, you should start giving orders.” Xanticles said to the platoon captain, as he did not want to interfere with his men’s command.
“Brothers, gather around and sort your equipment. Afterwards, go down the cabin as the ship would soon speed up!” At the words of Aeneas, the heavy infantries sitting on the deck stood up in a hurry, put on their helmets, picked up their spears and hung their short swords as they quickly formed two columns and headed downward.
On the other hand, the rowers didn’t even bother to pay attention to the soldiers pouring in as they only listened to the sound of the salpinx and the sliding of the wooden oars to the water.
While the piper didn’t increase the rower’s rhythm all at once but gradually sped it up.