HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?
>> BB BARACO> THIS IS INTOLERABLE!
THIS MAKES NO FSCKING SENSE!
>> BB BARACO> I KNOW, RIGHT?!
>> BB BARBARA> I'm sorry Admiral. Sis.
>> BB BARBARA> It's all my fault.
Huh?
>> BB BARACO> What are you talking about?
>> BB BARBARA> Weren't you, like, fighting over why we lost?
Whut.
No of course not.
>> BB BARACO> Yes, we are quite clear on why we lost.
We were too arrogant.
>> BB BARACO> We wasted too much time trying to take down that CA.
We overestimated the value of our armor.
>> BB BARACO> We felt we were invincible.
Hubris is to be punished.
>> BB BARACO> But it turns out our instinct were also partially correct-
So now all we care about -
>> BB BARACO> Is trying to understand this GREAT ITALIAN TALENT -
OF SNATCHING
DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF
VICTORY!
We lost this one, no question.
>> BB BARACO> The question is how in the heck did we even managed to
survive without any ships being sunk.
As you can see from the track, contact was made around noon.
BB BARACO and BB BARBARA chased CA VETTOR PISANI north for a while until contact was established with the Italian battlegroup consisting of the Dreadnought BB LEONARDO DA VINCI and two Battleships of the B ROMA class and one Battleship of the B VITTORIO EMANUELE class and a Light Cruiser division consisting of a CL NINO BIXIO class and three DDs of the AQUILONE and NIMBO class.
Until 2:00 BB BARACO and BB BARBARA hammered the CA VETTOR PISANI while the Italian battleship division followed on an oblique angle North West.
And then what followed was a broadside exchange headed due West, with the CA VETTOR PISANI getting in the way between the two Battleship formations.
Meanwhile as you can see from the track, the CL and DD squadron disengaged and went to dock into port.
Trading broadsides, the twelve 12-inch guns of our Dreadnoughts against the 18 + 7 heavy guns of the Italian battlegroup left BB BARBARA flooding from breaches in the hull exacerbated by 20 knot high speeds.
The gun exchange took a turn for the worst when a hit knocked out all electrical power and left BB BARACO dead in the water.
The BB LEONARDO DA VINCI approached as if to deliver the killing blow, but focused fire from BB BARACO and BB BARBARA caused it to reconsider chasing BB BARBARA.
By 16:00, BB BARACO managed to get some movement possible, but at a painfully slow 9 knots that might as well be sitting still.
BB BARBARA was fleeing due west and was out of enemy gun range by 17:00.
BB BARBARA was hammered by heavy guns, alone against four battleships from 16:30 to 18:00, at which point for
reasons the enemy decided to turn away.
They
ran all the way back to port and docked to safety there.
BB BARACO and BB BARBARA were left alone in the ocean, and BB BARBARA turned back to see if there was anything to be done to help or rescue any survivors if BB BARACO sank.
But not only did BB BARACO NOT SINK, she was able to move away from the battle zone and back into Spain on her own power.
>> BB BARACO> I should have died.
Yeah you should have.
>> BB BARBARA> Admiral!
>> BB BARACO> No, no, that's fair.
>> BB BARACO> I don't get it.
>> BB BARACO> All it would have taken is a couple of torpedoes into my unmoving hulk and I'm done.
>> BB BARBARA> But they... didn't have...
>> BB BARBARA> (amazed) They didn't have torpedo-carrying CLs and DDs.
>> BB BARBARA> Their torpedo squadron fled the battle.
>> BB BARACO> But I know period battleships have submerged torpedo tubes.
>> BB BARBARA> We don't though.
>> BB BARACO> But do they know that?
I don't know about the state of Pasta intelligence, but that's... doubtful.
>> BB BARACO> As night falls, any gunnery could only be done in what is
also torpedo range.
>> BB BARACO> At that point blank range, I could be sunk - but I might also get a lucky torpedo into their Dreadnought.
>> BB BARACO> It's hard to see torpedoes in the dark.
>> BB BARACO> BUT I
DON'T HAVE UNDERWATER TORPEDO TUBES.
>> BB BARACO> IF THEY JUST HAD THE NERVE - !
>> BB BARACO> I COULD BE SUNK!
Pastas.
>> BB BARACO> Oh, truly, the old saying holds true-
>> BB BARACO>
"Not afraid of godlike opponents, only afraid of pig-like teammates"
.
What even the hell is that.
>> BB BARACO> I have no idea.