STGOD!

[The Cleric]

Letter to London:

A representative from the Conseil de sécurité will attend the summit. France will also guarantee safe passage to any representatives passing through her borders.

[Cynical Cat]

September 2, 1930

The Hungarian ambassador informed His Majesty's government that, if the prevailing circumstances so allowed, a senior delegation would attend the summit.

[frigidmagi]

Spain, Roman Carrier Strike

It was impossible not to notice the sheer mass of planes coming in towards the fleet. 500 strong the air armada closed in on the port of Lisbon where the Spanish fleet had gathered to oppose Roman designs for the continent. The alarm went out, the bombers were loaded, fueled and sent off deeper into Spain to preserve them and the ships began to move to try and get into the deep sea. The Roman air armada was to close for that however.

The Spanish naval and army authorities had been deeply conservative and had not believed that air craft launched from ships at sea would ever pose a large scale threat. As such they were unprepared. There were no interceptor formations close enough to fight off the Roman attack, only 3 squadrons of long range escort fighters, meant to protect bombers. Still that was 288 aircraft. The pilots knowing they were outnumbered almost 2 to 1 volunteered to man. Such Spanish Gallantry still live.

They flew high and in a good formation showing off the Spanish discipline that let them dominate earlier ages of tericos and matchlocks, like hawks they dived down on the Roman planes eager for the bloodletting. But Roman birds are not anything less then eagles. The Roman fighters turned themselves eagerly throwing themselves at their Spanish counter parts and all formation and rigid doctrine vanished in seconds as pilot dueled pilot and fought to the death.

The Spanish pilots were braved and skilled, but they were outnumbered and flying inferior aircraft. Despite taking a heavy toll on the Roman Eagles the Hawks fell burning into the indifferent sea one by one. The Roman Air Armada flew ever closer to it's target. The escorts were ready and many of them had anti-air guns mostly conceived to fight off airships at night. They opened fire but the Romans came on fast and reckless disregarding their loses.

The Spanish Battleships Vitoria and Numancia bore the burnt of the attack, unlike their sisters Dom Carlos and Vasco da Gama they didn't have reinforced bulkheads. They made them easier to sink and they did, slowly in a holocaust of flame and smoke screaming alarms and firing guns the whole time. The Cruiser squadrons were savaged by the Romans as well, who followed their orders to concentrate on the larger ships.

The few survivors of the Roman Air Armada withdrew under fire, leaving behind them a savaged and mauled Spanish fleet and in doing so had utterly changed Naval warfare forever. For the 1st time in history a mass naval engagement had been fought where the ships of one fleet never came in contact with the enemy. The news of this battles would shake naval colleges around the world. Rome had fired a shot that may just end up in the heart of the battleship fleet and it's era.

Causalities:

Spain 2 battleships sunk. 6 Cruisers sunk. 4 Cruisers requiring dry dock. 30 escorts sunk. 25 escorts requiring dry dock. 288 long range fighters shot down.

Rome 412 fighters.