Chapter 467: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (VI)
Under the helmsman’s control, and with all the rowers paddling hard, the ship rushed straight ahead towards the enemy ship at a terrifying speed of 13 knots (24 kilometres per hour).
This forced the Syracusan ship to give up their intention of attacking Mithridates’ ship and turn to face the oncoming Theonian ship.
“Crash that one first! Then we’ll finish that other one after!” The Syracusan captain thought with confidence as he looked at Mithridates’ ship.
“Retract the oars!” He shouted as the powerful inertial speed of the ship was enough to collide with the oncoming Theonian ship. He then became satisfied when the rowers quickly pulled back the oars.
But at this moment, the strange 12-metre long thing on the bow of the Theonian ship fell with a bang, and the spike at the top pierced their deck, sending wooden fragments everywhere.
Amidst the shouting of the Syracusan sailors, dozens of black helmeted and armoured Theonian soldiers crossed the corvus and rushed onto the enemy’s deck and started their killing…
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The Syracusan navy, who disregarded the Theonian fleet, swiftly charged forward while the Theonian fleet bravely faced them without showing weakness. On a several nautical miles battlefront, the two sides fought fiercely.
However, the vast majority of the situation was the corvus crashing down and hooking into the Syracusan ships and turning the naval battle into a land battle, making the excellent ship-handling skills of the Syracusans to be completely useless. On the other hand, Theonia’s platoon units were like tigers jumping into a flock of sheep, easily capturing the enemy’s ship.
Just half an hour after the naval battle started, nearly 40 triremes of the Syracusan navy was captured.
Even though the sea’s wideness made it impossible for every Syracusan captain in the middle of the battlefield to see their losses, they still sense something amiss. Once that strange thing hooked the friendly ships in front of them, numerous enemy soldiers suddenly emerged from the cabin of the Theonian navy and rushed to the deck of their ships through that thing. Soon after, they would see their friendly ship withdrawing from the battlefield, and the Theonian ships would once again rush forward…
Then the captains in the rear of the formation realised that they shouldn’t go head-to-head with the Theonian ships. Instead, they should avoid that thing on the enemies’ bow with their excelling ship-handling skills and better manoeuvrability and attack the enemy ship’s side and rear…
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This large-scale naval battle was fought fiercely off the coast between Thurii and Roscianum, which not only worried the Theonians but also attracted the attention of the Roscianums.
Amikles, the polemarchos of Roscianum, led the council members along the coast with the people to watch the naval battle unfold. After all, this was not only about the rise and fall of the Theonia Union but also an important decision of Roscianum.
Although an envoy of Syracuse had come to Roscianum yesterday and the council led by Amikles did not receive him, they also did not drive him away. Instead, they allowed him to disembark and “rest” at the guesthouse, which already indicates a change in Roscianum’s hierarchy’s attitude.
During these years, Roscianum and Theonia were close to each other and regarded each other as their closest allies. The people of Roscianum were even proud to participate in the various celebrations of Thurii and treated them as if they were family. But an alliance was only an alliance, not a union. After the defeat of the South Italian Alliance on the southern battlefront and the war and political instability in Theonia, the Roscianums, who was in the hinterland of Theonia, directly felt the initial pride of the Thurians turned to panic. Moreover, the massive number of Syracuse’s land and naval forces and the terror of the Scylletian massacre shook the trust of the Roscianums in Theonia.
Syracuse is not Crotone, after all. When the second Crotonian war broke out, the defeated Crotone did not make the Roscianums lose confidence in Theonia. However, a more powerful Syracusan army led by Dionysius, the cruel tyrant who had defeated the mighty Carthage, had come, and their vanguard alone caused the people of Roscianum to tremble. Looking at the ruined farms, burned villages, and slaughtered people outside the city had angered the people of Roscianum and made them feel their helplessness.
But after learning the return of Davos with his army and leading the Theonian fleet into battle with the mighty navy of Syracuse, all the people of Roscianum came to the sea in excitement, praying for Theonia’s victory out of reverence for Davos and anger at Syracuse.
While the top brass of this city-state, like Amikles, also place their hopes on the invincible archon of Theonia, the Syracusan navy is just too powerful…
“Supposing that…no! As long as Theonia couldn’t win this naval battle, the Syracusans would completely own this gulf, while…we would need to find a way back for ourselves…” Amikles thought with a pained heart as he watched the numerous ships moving fast on the sea,…
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On the Syracusan flagship behind the fleet, Leptines thought he misheard the lookout on the mainmast. The lookout reported that the ships on their sides frequently withdrew from the battlefield while the Theonian ships were not only rarely sunk but continued their advance.
“Navarch, the scouting ships reported that the Theonians have installed a wooden bridge at the front of their ships and placed a lot of heavy infantries in their cabin. Once the wooden bridge lodged on our ship, the heavy infantries would rush over while the sailors on our ship wouldn’t be able to resist. Currently, Cleandas and his men no longer confronted the Theonian ships head-on. Instead, they used our excellent ship-handling skills and rich experience in naval warfare to manoeuvre around the Theonians. And due to the installation of the wooden bridges and the numerous soldiers, the Theonian warship is much slower and less flexible than ours, so I believe the war situation would soon change!” The flagship captain comforted him.
After his mood improved slightly, Leptines cursed indignantly, “Damned Theonians! They only know how to play some clever tricks! What do they take the sacred naval battle for!!! Poseidon will surely punish them!…”
Just as he vented his anger, the lookout suddenly shouted, “Navarch, the ship with a statue on top of its mast has come out! It’s rushing out to the frontline! I can even see the strategos wearing a dazzling armour at the ship’s bow!”
Leptines became stunned, but he soon excitedly shouted, “That’s Davos, the archon of Theonia! He is really on that ship! Hurry up! Command our ships to keep on advancing! Sink his ship! Make sure to sink his ship! As long as we could kill or capture that Davos, we, Syracuse, would still win even if we lose more ships!!!”
Since Syracuse has adopted a sailing line formation, one column has ten ships. As the salpinx blew, the flagship took the lead and charged. Then more than 20 ships followed and advanced forward and soon overtook the flagship.
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Theonia’s starry formation was like waves blown by the breeze: Once a wave goes out, another wave would rise again.
Davos’ ship just kept on rushing past their own ships that were entangled with enemy ships one after another. Finally, it came to the forefront of the battlefield.
“Charge!” Miltias, even though he saw enemy ships rushing towards them, ordered without hesitation.
Then their ship suddenly picked up speed and sped forward like a sharp arrow.
The two ships were now only 100 metres apart! 90 metres! 80 metres!…
Davos subconsciously gulped as he pulled out the short sword at his waist.
But the enemy ship suddenly veered to the right.
“Left! To the left!” Miltias hurriedly ordered.
However, due to their previous speed, their turning became too large that before they could complete their turning, the enemy ship had already skillfully drawn a circular arc and hit the ship’s centre.
Miltias, however, remained calm as he ordered, “Continue to turn left!”
The captain of the enemy ship watched as the bronze ram got closer and closer to the large trireme with a smug on his face…
But soon, his smile froze.
Even though the heavy hull of the Theonian ship only deviated slightly to the left, the long wooden bridge-like thing at the bow actually rotated more than a hundred degrees and fell directly backwards. And the ten-metre long drawbridge smashed right into the bow of his ship and linked the two ships together. Although the force of his ships forward momentum pushed the other ship to sway back and the suspension bridge to creak, it did not damage the enemy’s ship in the slightest. On the contrary, the enemy soldiers rushed across the drawbridge.
‘It’s over!’ Seeing the situation worsen, the captain no longer cared about the ship and the sailors as he jumped directly into the sea.
“Your majesty, please stay and let me take my brothers over to fight!” Martius pulled Davos, who was about to cross the bridge and resolutely asked.
Davos didn’t insist either as he knew that only by staying here could everyone be at ease.
“I’ll leave it to you!” Davos nodded.
“Brothers, rush with me!” Martius drew his short sword and led the guards to charge across the bridge. He wanted to repay the Syracusans for nearly losing his life before.
“Enemy ships rushing towards us from the right!” The lookout shouted from the mast.
Miltias and Davos immediately became nervous as they couldn’t escape because they were connected with the enemy ship.
However, behind Davos’ ship was the Theonian flagship, which quickly met the enemy and locked it in place with the corvus.
“Enemy ship on the right!” The lookout on the stern shouted in alarm. However, his shouting ceased after a moment as another ship rushed up and locked it in place.