Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

In what has been dubbed a major escalation in tensions in the otherwise peaceful region, a Lodamese Navy ship reportedly fired numerous warnings at a group of four Beiteynuese patrol boats after the vessels were making dangerous manoeuvres towards a Harrington Company ship being escorted through the Migrant’s Pass. At their weekly press conference at the Department of Defence building in Kensington, DoD Press Secretary Kenneth Crawford confirmed the situation after it had been reported in regional news channels. It has been reported in both Malivian and Amudim media that there had been an incident involving a Lodamese Navy ship and a squadron of missile boats from Beiteynu. Although the reporting did not provide specific details of the situation, it nonetheless caused significant uproar within the region as it had shattered the tenaciously held peace in the otherwise turbulent region. Crawford sought to clarify the details surrounding the situation, particularly related to what the DoD deemed as ‘fake news’, in the reporting that it had been the provocative actions of the Lodamese Navy ship that had been the cause for the entire situation. 

He noted that the vessel in question, the LCS-Freddie Jarvis, a littoral combat ship, had been on a routine escort of Harrington Company ships through the region. For the better part of the past three decades, the Harrington Company has been under strict orders to ignore the supposed ‘maritime barrier’ established by the then Selucian-led 3PF (3 Points Federation). As a result of this order, HC ships were to be escorted through the Migrant’s Pass out of precaution that they might have been targeted by bordering attempts by the then visible/present Selucian threat. Even though, by current estimates, the Selucian Navy does not operate in scale as it did then, cargo ships are still made to travel the tumultuous straits under the protection of a naval escort. “The LCS-Freedie Jarvis was conducting operations as part of our effort to ensure Harrington Company shipping remains uninterrupted through the region. These operations are not out of the ordinary, but have existed for decades on a rotating basis out of Naval Station Crockett, in Malivia,” Crawford explained.

A spokesperson for the Lodamese Navy present at the press conference, Commander Clarence Graham, spoke to the operational details of the encounter, attempting to provide additional clarity beyond Crawford’s statement. According to Commander Graham, the four missile boats approached the HC ship, the HC Loxhampton, from the south at high speeds, crossing the vessel’s bow and stern at some 1,000 yards (0.5 nm). Both the Loxhampton and the Freedie Jarvis had attempted to make contact with the vessels, hailing them on both civilian and military channels, but were seemingly ignored. “It ought to be restated that the Harrington Company is under no orders to submit itself to ‘inspections’, even if that was the intention of the missile boats,” he stated. The missile boats then proceeded to execute a flanking manoeuvre on both the Loxhampton and the Freedie Jarvis, wherein their missile hatches were opened.

“At that point, the Freedie Jarvis’ ECM room determined that although the vessels had opened their missile tubes, they were not seeking to obtain a firing solution on either vessel. Nonetheless, it represented a clear and present danger to the ship’s safety and the success of its core mission: to escort the Loxhampton through the Pass,” he added. “Four airburst warning rounds were fired from the Freedie Jarvis’ 57mm cannon above one of the vessels, which inadvertently damaged the vessel’s navigation radar and part of its superstructure.” Commander Graham noted that upon firing the warning shots, the crew was prepared to be fired upon, seeing that one of the four rounds had damaged one of the vessels. “At that point, the crew were prepared to destroy the vessels if it became clear that attempts were being made to gain a firing solution on either ship. I can confirm that such an escalation did not occur, as the vessels diverted their course.” He concluded. Although the Freedie Jarvis remained on heightened alert, it was ultimately able to complete its patrol, wherein it returned to Malivia after approaching Rapa Pile for the Loxhampton to conduct on its own into the Midway Canal.

PS Crawford stated that an internal review of the entire situation was underway within the Department of Defence, but also reiterated that patrols and escorts through the Pass would continue as usual. Marc Horne, a fellow at the Centre for Geostrategic Policy and Research, noted that the situation highlighted the inherent competition which comes with the ‘reactivation’ of the ‘usual suspects’ in the area. Pointing to the Narikaton and Darnussia’s return alongside a general shakeup within Beiteynu/Amudim, which made the missile boat patrols possible, he added that the abandonment of the true (N&D-led) 3PF structure and the assurances therein, skirmishes between those nations who have historically staked their interests in Migrant’s Pass would only intensify. It has been reported that since the incident, Azuron maritime patrol drones have been extremely active in the Migrant’s Pass alongside news of a maritime patrol aircraft being flown from Saridan to Malivia to augment existing efforts.