Battle of Whitefish Bay

The Battle of Whitefish Bay, also called the 1st Battle of the Southern Sea in Imperial Sources, was a major naval engagement between the forces of the United Manonan Navy and the Imperial Reichsmarine during the 3rd Great Prairie War. It ended in a tactical and strategic victory for the United Manonan Navy and the Allies, forcing the Imperial Navy to cease further hostile action against the evacuation convoys leaving the F.W.R.

The Battle resulted in the loss of 2 Imperial Submarines and a Destroyer, while the Allies lost 1 Fleet Carrier, the MNS Agamemnon, and an expensive guided missile Destroyer, MNS Implacable.

Prelude

The engagement came about during the middle of Operation Emerson, the mass evacuation of the F.W.R.'s civil population in the wake of Madden's mass invasion of the land. During the Operation, Madden had ordered that all measures be made for the maximum casualties to be inflicted, and to this end, had ordered the Imperial Fleet to sail and intercept as many convoys as possible. Due to the zig-zag courses and high speeds of the United Manonan Navy and Merchant ships, none of these interceptions were successful. However, Hunter-Force 3, led by the ISS Kearsarge, would be detected by the combat air patrols of a Manonan Navy Task Force, including 3 fleet carriers. 

Battle

Following the sighting  of the Kearsarge and her task forces, MNS Enterprise, MNS Vengeance, and MNS Agamemnon launched their aircraft in a torpedo strike configuration. The aircraft were escorted into the action zone by fighters. At the same time, Kearsarge launched more numerous, but older, aircraft in it's own strike wave. These were primarily targeted at Vengeance, the carrier heading the task force. 

Almost immediately after the strike was launched, four torpedoes were observed off the task force's line, being fired by the submarine ISS Noah Allyn Berg. Enterprise narrowly avoided one torpedo, but Agamemnon was hit by two and immediately began taking on water. 

The hull plating of the Agamemnon buckled under the pressure of the rushing water, far in excess of what the carrier had been designed for, and she heeled out of line almost immediately. The destroyer Johnston began to move in to assist, but instead began evacuations as the order was given to abandon ship. The Captain was the only casualty of Agamemnon, opting to go down with his ship, while the rest of the crew was rescued. 

Tracking the torpedoes track, Samuel B. Roberts and Matt Carpenter charged forward, and the combat air-patrol of Enterprise sighted the submarine, along with her compatriot, ISS Seth Kosky. 

At the same time, the aircraft from the task force reached the Kearsarge, but were unable to find an opening through which they could successfully launch their torpedoes. Instead, the aircraft from Vengeance made attacks against the LaBeau and Enterprise's group attacked the Fesmeyer. Agamemnon's airgroup, wanting revenge, continued to attack Kearsarge, and miraculously landed two of their own torpedoes against the carrier. However, Kearsarge was significantly larger than Manonan Fleet Carriers, and so while heavily damaged, she was able to turn north and flee with her task force. LaBeau had managed to escape heavy damage, but the air group of Enterprise had landed a successful strike against Fesmeyer, detonating her magazine and destroying her almost instantly. 

Returning to the task force, the aircraft of Agamemnon landed aboard Enterprise, now playing host to far more aircraft than designed and sitting low in the water. However, the charge of MNS Matt Carpenter against the submarines was reaching its conclusion, and, having dropped most of it's depth charges in two attacks, was falling back into screen to allow Samuel B. Roberts to take over when a massive column of water and oil burst up from the surface. The ISS Seth Kosky had been sunk, and the Berg was in the process of surfacing. Enterprise's fighters began strafing the ship, when suddenly the fleet was distracted by a massive explosion taking place aboard Implacable, a guided missile destroyer that  was providing air defense for the task force. She had been hit by the Seth Kosky's dying breath, a salvo of three torpedoes (possibly four), of which one had hit her vulnerable amidships magazine. 

Enterprise's fighters made quick work of the Berg, but were unable to relocate the retreating Imperial fleet. Having driven off the fleet and protected the convoys of Operation Emerson, the fleet turned south for repairs and rearmament.