Chapter 1681: Chapter 1705. Captured Ships

After Kaghast was defeated, John went up and joined Water Lily in capturing the enemy flagship. Most of his summons had run out of duration. He resummoned the ones with short cooldowns.

It took them a few hours but they finally managed to purge the enemies from the flagships. The four other Liguritudum's men-of-war disengaged once that happened. The battle was back to exchanging cannon fires.

Without a high command, the Liguritudum Armada didn't know whether to continue fighting or retreat. Gridhacker who ranked second in the armada was also nowhere to be found.

Some officers called for a retreat but the others demanded they continued fighting. These passionate officers announced that anyone retreating would be deemed traitors and deserters. Without a clear chain of command, disarray escalated.

John made full use of the enemy's disarray and had the fleet occupy favorable positions. In the end, some of Liguritudum's ships decided to flee when the situation became worse.

The battle raged on for another half day after Kaghast fell, and ended with the victory for the combined fleet of Palgrost, Verremor, and Themisphere.

A few Liguritudum ships fled, some surrendered, and many were sunk. At the end of the battle, only around twenty Liguritudum ships were seen leaving. These twenty ships were carrack-sized ships and smaller. They fled in different directions without any semblance of a navy. It was not clear if they would return to Liguritudum's naval base or wander off and become pirates.

Palgrost also lost many ships. Their loss came from the initial battle when they were caught off guard by Liguritudum's maneuver during the storm.

Their flagship suffered terrible damage. It required repairs to be able to sail again. An emergency repair was being performed to cover the hole in the lower deck, which was caused by Will. Otherwise, water would keep entering and the ship would sink.

Aside from the flagship, Palgrost lost fifty-four ships, and another twenty ships were heavily damaged. Lightly damaged ships that could continue the campaign were 6 galleons, 6 galleasses, 8 carracks, 9 frigates, and 5 caravels.

Verremor and Themisphere's fleets fared better.

Themisphere only lost two ships. The other six galleons were only lightly damaged and could continue heading into Liguritudum.

Verremor lost four galleons and seven galleasses. Another two galleasses were heavily damaged and needed immediate repair. The good ships they still had were the 2 men-of-war, 12 galleons, and 23 galleasses.

They captured thirteen ships that were still in good condition from the Liguritudum Armada. One of these captured ships was the Liguritudum flagship which Water Lily boarded with her troops. Aside from this flagship, they also captured another man-of-war, 3 galleons, 2 galleasses, and 6 carracks.

Because Palgrost lost the most ships, it was agreed that these captured ships were given to Palgrost, except for the Liguritudum flagship. John was shameless enough to ask for that flagship. He said that only Themisphere was without a man-of-war. As a group of equal power, it was only right that Themisphere should get at least one man-of-war.

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Neither Thelgrun nor Water Lily considered John's argument to make any sense, but they decided to not argue with him out of respect for Jack. The Liguritudum flagship was given to Themisphere.

They spent another day towing the heavily damaged ships to the nearest shore for repairs. They also removed good cannons and ammunition from the damaged ships and transferred them to the good ships that could continue sailing.

Everyone rested. The next day, ships that were still in good condition sailed away to continue the campaign. They would be heading into Liguritudum and coordinating with the land troops.

They left some soldiers to oversee the repair. The repair done on that beach wouldn't be optimal. It was only temporary so the ships could sail again. These ships would have to return to Palgrost's naval base to undergo full repair.

*

John stayed in the Liguritudum flagship which had now become the Themisphere flagship. He was on the ship's bridge. A flagship was slightly different from the other ships. While other ships followed a traditional layout where the helm was on the upper deck, a flagship was similar to a modern ship where the helm was on an enclosed platform.

One country could only have one flagship, and only a man-of-war or better ship could become one. The resulting flagship would always be slightly bigger, equipped with more cannons, and had better stats compared to other same-type ships.

Themisphere was still several techs away from being able to build one. John didn't research the techs on building the maritime power because Themisphere only had one port city. He couldn't fully utilize the techs even if he learned them.

But having a flagship meant a huge difference to a fleet. Its advantage was not just it being a better ship. A navy with a flagship would normally have higher morale than a navy without one. The morale decrease due to losses would drop at a slower rate unless it was the flagship that was lost. Ally ships in the vicinity of the flagship would also receive a small boost.

That's why John asked for the Liguritudum flagship they had captured. Even though Themisphere fleet only had a handful of ships, it was still a huge leap if they had a flagship. This would be as if they bypassed several research techs.

Capturing a flagship also caused the enemy side a huge inconvenience. The enemy would not be able to build another flagship as long as the captured flagship was still around. They had to claim it back or destroy it before they could build another one.

So, Liguritudum couldn't build another flagship as long as Themisphere kept the one they had captured. Not like it mattered, anyway. The Liguritudum navy had practically been destroyed. They wouldn't be able to rebuild their navy in a short time.

All that was left now was to march toward the enemy capital and settle this war once and for all!

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