Battle of the Cape

The Battle of the Cape was a major naval battle in the Revolt of 752 and the only naval battle of the conflict. In the battle, a combined Tassian and Demaiadonian fleet intercepted the numerically superior Callian navy as they rounded the infamous Cape Sawtooth, making use of the area's treacherous naval terrain. In the resulting combat, majority of both navies were destroyed, earning the rebel forces a costly victory.

Prelude

The Revolt of 752 emerged from a period of Callian hegemony in Fossa, maintained in part due to the longstanding rivalry between erstwhile regional powers Tassis and Demaiadon. By the 740s relations had warmed between the latter two cities, in large part thanks to the efforts of Lord Adrian of Tassis, who in 751 was also crowned Lord of Demaiadon after the death of the previous Lord, who was incidentally his father-in-law. By the beginning of 752, the two city-states were in active cooperation, and active revolt against Callas.
Both Callas and the revolters were largely reliant on their navies to protect their power. However, the erstwhile hegemonic Callas had up to that point the capacity to regulate the size and composition of their competitor's navies, placing even the combined fleets of Tassis and Demaiadon at a numerical disadvantage. To prevent the Revolt's decisive naval defeat, Demaiadonian naval commander Atticus Aracion proposed sending their fleets west to intercept the Callian fleet as it rounded the cape towards Tassis and Demaiadon - specifically, Cape Sawtooth.
Cape Sawtooth, named as such due to its tendency to shred ships like a saw through wood, was and is the bane of every navigator across the Fossan Peninsula. The water is extremely choppy and inconsistent, and does an excellent job at concealing the many jagged rock formations that protrude from the seafloor. It is a difficult stretch of water to navigate for experienced seamen, let alone those being harrassed by an enemy fleet. Faced with the prospect of contending with the Callian fleet head-on, the other Tassian and Demaiadonian elites reluctantly agreed to Aracion's plan. The Tassian-Demaiadonian fleet was rushed towards the Cape, where it docked in the shallows for several days before the arrival of the freshly mustered Callian fleet. Soldiers were hidden along the Cape's headland, to watch for any Callian activity.

The Battle

Callian forces, still unaware of the presence of an enemy fleet, arrived at Cape Sawtooth around midday, having previously been docked in the city of Ilouil. The first fifty or so ships were able to carefully round the Cape with little issue, owing to the good weather conditions. As the next round of Callian ships were preparing to navigate the Cape, the enemy fleet came into view, rapidly advancing on the separated vanguard. Armed with rams and with the element of surprise, they were able to sink several Callian vessels before the Callians could respond. To relieve their allies, the contingent rounding the Cape attempted to rush their navigation forward, as they would greatly outnumber the Tassian-Demaiadonian fleet if they could close in the distance. As expected, several ships collided with the rocks around the Cape as they attempted to press forward, beginning to sink. Nonetheless, enough successfully made it through the Cape to pose a serious threat to the enemy fleet, and more Callian ships prepared to more carefully round the Cape to reinforce them.
At this point, Aracion had only sent half of his fleet to engage with the Callians. He had successfully aimed to bait his enemies into rapidly advancing with the prospect of greatly outnumbering his contingent, and having succeeded in this goal he waited until more Callian ships had begun to round the Cape before he sent the rest of the fleet into the fray. Only a small proportion of the Callian fleet was yet to begin rounding the Cape, and those who had done so were restricted in maneouverability due to the Cape and the number of other ships in the area. While the Callian fleet was in some level of tactical disarray, having been ambushed and outmanoeuvred, they retained an advantage in fleet size and firepower, and the fracas was not as weighted towards the Tassians and Demaiadonians as some may believe. Nor were the Tassian and Demaiadonian forces immune to the treachery of the Cape, with several of their ships also smashed against the rocks. Through the combination of combat and terrain, both navies were utterly ravaged as the battle continued into the late afternoon.
Ultimately, however, Aracion's tactics and gambits had won his side the battle, as a few remaining allied ships survived the Callian assault.

Aftermath

The Battle of the Cape essentially destroyed the navies of Callas, Tassis, and Demaiadon, and consequently essentially destroyed either side's ability to advance on the other - at least by sea. Despite the loss of their fleet, news of a close victory against the Callians was greatly celebrated among the revolting city-states, in part because it quashed any anxieties regarding an imminent invasion. The victory over a superior foe was also used as a symbol of the revolt's predestined success, with Lord Adrian using it to convince other dissatisfied city-states to swear fealty to him and founding the Kingdom of Fossa on the basis of these fealties in 753.
In Callas, the defeat of their prized navy at the hands of an inferior foe was viewed as a national humiliation. The Lord of Callas, determined to save face, sunk much of his personal fortune into the rapid expansion of the city's shipbuilding industry, and began furiously ordering the mass production of a new navy. Despite the grand embarrassment, Callian attitudes towards the war remained somewhat optimistic, as they were confident they and their allies could outproduce their rivals on a naval front, and return to the offensive in only a few years. This fixation on naval expansion would ultimately be Callas's undoing, as an unexpected land invasion just three years later would take them unawares and unprepared once more.
The wealth of naval wreckages left by the battle helped to establish Cape Sawtooth's reputation as both an extremely dangerous stretch of water and a trove of sunken treasure, both of which would lead to the area becoming a hub for enterprising treasure divers.

Conflict Type

Battle

Battlefield Type

Naval

Start Date

752

Conflict Result

Tassian-Demaiadonian costly victory, both navies near totally destroyed

Location

Cape Sawtooth

Belligerents

Tassian-Demaiadonian Coalition

Callas

Strength

120 ships

200 ships

Casualties

Roughly 90% of ships

All ships destroyed

Objectives