Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 44 Naval Battle
After spending the night on the Isle of Man, the fleet sailed west for most of the day, eventually arriving at a remote coastline in eastern Ireland.

Anchored on the shore, ten turtle ships assembled their hulls and upper decks before sailing south along the coastline. When they reached the bay outside the mouth of the River Liffey, the enemy had assembled a large fleet and was waiting there.

As per the pre-battle plan, Ivar commanded ten turtle ships, responsible for close-to-medium range combat.

Vig commanded five catapult warships and fifteen conventional warships. The catapults bombarded the enemy's large warships from a distance, while the ten conventional warships provided protection to prevent smaller enemy vessels from flanking and attacking from behind.

"This is Sven's fleet? Ivar's information is wrong; there are definitely more than a thousand people on the other side."

Climbing the mast to a high point, Vig discovered that Sven had deployed thirty-two ordinary-looking medium and small warships, as well as three large ships over 30 meters long and over 6 meters wide, capable of accommodating a hundred people including oarsmen.

With current shipbuilding technology, these three warships are also not suitable for ocean-going operations and can only be used for inland waterway and coastal combat.

The salty, damp sea breeze brushed against his cheeks. Vig glanced at the weathervane at the top of the mast; it was a westerly wind.

Accompanied by the rowers' shouts, the fleet slowly sailed against the wind toward the mouth of the River Liffey, and once within firing range, he pulled a small red flag from his waist and waved it frantically.

Upon receiving the order, the five catapult warships lined up in a row, pointing their vulnerable flanks at the enemy ships to the west. At the captain's command, the sailors pulled ropes to raise the counterweight box to a high position, then placed a heavy ceramic pot filled with kerosene into a leather pouch and lit the fuse at the mouth of the pot.

"put!"

The hammer fell, the counterweight box crashed down, and ten terracotta pots flew toward Sven's black flagship with a whoosh. Nine missed their target, and the last one struck a regular Viking longship on the starboard side of the flagship. Before the crew could react, the fire quickly spread throughout the entire cabin, turning the warship into a raging inferno in just a few seconds.

Amidst the horrified gazes of their allies, more than forty crew members jumped into the icy sea. The captain and three veteran soldiers, clad in armor, sank to the bottom after a few struggles. The remaining crew members bobbed and swayed with the waves, crying out for help.

"What kind of evil weapon is this?"

Looking at the five ships with strange machinery in the distance, and the black flag with a gold dragon hanging from the mast, Sven was shocked. Then he learned a strange rumor from one of the shield guards.

“Your Majesty, it is said that last year when Ragnar attacked the capital of Northumbria, a wizard nicknamed ‘The Chosen One’ built a device that could launch fireballs, which seems to be called ‘the catapult’.”

"Trecket. A machine that can launch stones over long distances, and can also launch oil canisters."

After a moment of contemplation, Sven concluded that this method was not witchcraft. As he was about to explain to his subordinates, ten more black dots flew in from a distance.

This time, the closest pottery jar came within ten meters of the flagship, almost grazing the stern as it landed in the sea behind it.

Listening to the gasps of astonishment rising and falling, Sven knew that his morale was at its lowest point and that it was not a good time to fight. However, the westerly wind was strong at the moment, and retreating to Duflin meant going against the wind and the current. If the fleet blocked the river during the retreat, the situation would only get worse.

To continue fighting, or to retreat?

Upon first encountering this new tactic, Sven was thrown into disarray, silently chanting the names of the gods and begging for guidance from one of them.

Before he could come up with an answer, his subordinates pointed at the enormous turtle ships and shouted frantically, "Your Majesty, the enemy's strange ships are approaching!"

The lead turtle ship, flying a grey wolf-head banner, was less than fifty meters from the foremost Dufelin warship. Crossbowmen fired arrows frantically, but most were blocked by the turtle ship's wooden hull. Conversely, the archers on the turtle ship's upper deck had a height advantage, and protected by the wooden hull, they were able to easily pick off enemy crew members within their line of sight, resulting in a significantly higher exchange rate.

Within five minutes of the battle, the eight longships at the forefront had suffered heavy casualties, with only a few survivors huddled in a corner, completely incapacitated to fight back.

With the situation hopeless, Sven was forced to order a retreat. In order to survive, the rowers struggled against the current and desperately paddled towards the river mouth, inevitably becoming a densely packed mass.

"A bunch of trash!"

With the turtle ship getting closer and closer behind him, Sven was forced to order a beaching. At this point, his only remaining thought was to escape back to Dufilin and use the walls to block Ivar's attack.

Under the king's command, the remaining ships rushed to the nearest riverbank, and the entire fleet was wiped out.

"Go down and move these wrecked ships away!"

At the mouth of the Lifi River, Ivar had hoped to take advantage of the enemy's crushing defeat and capture Dufilin in one fell swoop, but unfortunately the river was crowded with more than twenty longboats, completely blocking the possibility of the fleet going upstream.

When Vig's second echelon arrived, he ordered the ordinary warships to use grappling hooks to grab the powerless empty boats and drag them away from the center of the river one by one.

After finishing everything, Ivar ordered the fleet to continue forward, and finally they saw their target – Dufelin.

The town is located on the south bank of the River Liffey, and to the east is a black lake, which is probably the origin of Dyfflin—the Black Pond.

Dufelin had a wooden wall about five meters high, with many panicked crossbowmen standing behind the crenellations. Sven, wearing a black cloak, paced around the wall, assigning his trusted men to guard key positions. Using those precious two hours, he hastily organized a defense, ultimately thwarting Ivar's blitzkrieg plan.

With a grim face, Ivar ordered his troops to set up camp on the north bank, pondering how to attack the town with at least two thousand inhabitants.

“Throw a canister of kerosene and turn Sven into a roasted pig,” Hafdan suggested enthusiastically, only to be met with a glare from his brother.

"I went to great lengths to send troops to attack, only to gain a completely burned ruin?"

At that moment, Vig walked over surrounded by his shield guards. "I have bad news. We've run out of all the oil canisters we were carrying."

Before setting out, the Derwent and Tyneburg families painstakingly collected bitumen, pine resin, and lard, eventually producing 115 oil canisters, enough to support less than twelve salvos. If Swindo had delayed further, the catapults would have been able to only throw small stones weighing ten kilograms each, causing almost no damage.

"Winning this naval battle isn't a loss," Ivar said, gazing at the vast birch forest to the northwest. "I'll arrange for people to cut down trees later to build a large catapult. Sigh, I wonder how long this will take?"

Building a large catapult is extremely time-consuming, taking at least a month, and with the subsequent bombardment of the city walls, it is very likely to take more than three months.

Worried about his wife who was left behind in Tyneburg, Vig looked across the 30-meter-wide river at the opposite bank, planning to find a quick way to capture Duflin.

(End of this chapter)