First Battle of Chosin

The First Battle of Chosin was the largest battle during the First Hydran War, and the turning point which eventually led to Auroran victory over the Hydran Empire. The battle was the first interstellar engagements where two whole fleets of ships of the line (i.e battleships, battlecruisers, heavy cruisers) fought each other.

Background
The Hydran Imperial Navy started the war in 420 P.E on the back foot, losing a series of battles against the Royal Navy. While the HIN had vastly superior numbers, the Royal Navy had much better trained personnel, more modern ships and better equipment in general. After losing the initial rounds of the war, Fleet Admiral Hai Cheung, commander of the Hydran 4th Fleet proposed a series of hit-and-run attacks against the areas held by the Aurorans, to destabilize their rear areas and force them to redeploy much of their fleet strength. The tactic worked successfully and the entire Auroran 2nd Fleet was spread out and used as rear-area defence, cutting the Royal Navy's frontline strength by almost fifty percent. When the HIN started their counteroffensive, the Royal Navy found itself hardpressed and had to retreat from several systems, reducing the frontline to what it had been at the begininng of the war.

Lord Admiral of the Black Sir Joseph Pennefeather, commanding officer of 1st Fleet, pleaded to the Parliament for more reinforcements. His reinforced 1st Fleet then took the war back to the Hydrans, using much of the same tactics. By attacking rear areas and supply convoys dropping out of the Light Way the Aurorans forced the HIN to send larger forces in pursuit of their deep-striking units. Admiral Cheung grew impatient in early 422, and tasked 9th Fleet to hold the forward areas, while he took 4th Fleet to engage and destroy Sir Joseph's fleet once and for all.

The last Auroran convoy attack in this period was on 28 May, in the Chosin System, and Cheung decided that at least some Auroran units had to still be there when he received the news in early June. He immediately took his entire force to Chosin to trap and destroy the units there, before continuing his search for 1st Fleet's main force. Unbeknownst to Cheung, Sir Joseph had already the majority of his forces in the Chosin System, and was waiting for the HIN to walk into a well-planned ambush. Chosin-A, the only inhabited planetary body in the system had already surrendered, having done so the minute the Auroran ships crossed from the Light Way.

The Royal Navy
The 1st Fleet was the primary offensive unit of the Royal Navy, and was at the time the only offensive force above squadron level available to the Aurorans as the 2nd Fleet had been dispersed to provide rear-area security in the systems captured by the Aurorans during the early stages of the conflict. Home Fleet and 10th Fleet, the two other fleet-level units in the Royal Navy was tasked with the defence of the Star Kingdom, in case the HIN attempted a deep-strike into the Auroran home territories.

The 1st Fleet was composed of the following units: Total strength: 11 battleships, 5 battlecruiser, 2 fleet carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 20 light cruisers, 24 destroyers
 * 3rd Battle Squadron [understrength] (Vice Admiral Felipè Torrington)
 * 5th Battle Squadron [understrength] (Rear Admiral Dame Angelica Henry-Thompson)
 * 1st Carrier Group [understrength] (Rear Admiral Erin Saintangello)
 * 1st Cruiser Squadron (Rear Admiral Lady Frederica Saint-Hurst)
 * 2nd Cruiser Squadron (Commodore Lloyd Dempsey)
 * 5th Destroyer Squadron (Commodore Sir Andrew Anstwyth)
 * 6th Destroyer Squadron (Rear Admiral Sir Vasily Milvanovich)
 * 7th Destroyer Squadron (Commodore Countess Georgia Holden-Lyllyth)

The Hydran Imperial Navy
The Hydran 4th Fleet was heavily reinforced over the last few months. Most had come from the 3rd Fleet which had been more or less disbanded following the beating it took in the start of the war (see: Battle of Se-Huang, Battle of New Korea, Battle of Tau Ceti V), and its component units spread out to bolster the other frontline fleets. Unlike their opponents in the Royal Navy, the HIN did not organize their units in semi-permanent squadrons or divisions, but rather assigned ships to temporary units which in turn made up their fleets, over an undefinite amount of time. Ships were assigned on a basis of necessity which gave them good all-round levels of equipment maintenance and crew experience, but a definite lack of espirit-dé-corps and poor inter-unit coordination and training.

The 4th Fleet at Chosin had a very high number of battleships and heavy cruisers, and a very heavy light-ship screen. But they had a definite lack of carriers and small-crafts and their battleships were woefully undergunned when compared to their Auroran counterparts. This became evident at several stages during the battle in which battleships found themselves going toe-to-toe where the Hydran ships were destroyed, crippled or forced to surrender in every single confrontation.

In short, however, the HIN outnumbered the Royal Navy by a factor of almost 3:1, which makes the Auroran victory even more spectacular when considering the extremely low number of hulls lost compared to the Hydrans.

The battle
The HIN ships exited the Light Way close to the inner gravity well of Chosin Star where they were, at least initially, hidden from the Auroran sensors. However, the HIN ships were unable to see the Royal Navy fleet concentration and moved into the system at full speed, expecting a small raiding flotilla of destroyers. Lord Admiral Sir Joseph, noticing the enemy moving in at full speed, oblivious to the RN fleet, decided to "go dark" and cut power to all but the most essential systems on board his ships. He then ordered forward a small group of ships, composed of a single heavy cruiser, a couple of light cruisers and a few destroyers to play the part of "raiding squadron". The HIN fleet soon spotted these and went in for the kill. The RN ships, however, went to full power just before the HIN fleet came into range, and opened fire with long range torpedoes and missiles.

The opening volley crippled many of the heavier HIN ships, including most of their carriers. Realizing that they had stumbled into a trap, Admiral Cheung ordered his ships to go to full reverse and set a course out of the system, despite their numerical superiority. Their formation was clumsily prepared and ill-suited for fighting ships of the line. Sir Joseph ordred his ships to close and engage with short-range weapons. The battle became, at this point, a mess of individual combat as HIN and RN ships closed and engaged in close quarters. The qualitative edge the Aurorans enjoyed, both in crew quality and weapon superiority proved decisive to their victory. After about half-an-hour of interspersed close combat, the remaining HIN ships surrendered with all hands.

Aftermath
The RN suffered light losses, mostly from the lead group of ships, ordered to lure in the HIN fleet. Admiral Cheung and his entire command staff was captured and later provided valuable information in regards to the HIN organization and the weak points in the Hydran defence along the front.

The 4th Fleet ceased to exist from this point on. Most of the fleet's ships were either destroyed or crippled, and many of those captured by the Aurorans were scrapped on the spot. However, several battleships, heavy cruisers and newer destroyers were brought back to the Star Kingdom, refitted and re-launched as ships in the Royal Navy.

The battle was the turning point of the war, for with 4th Fleet's destruction, the front became destabilized, leaving only 9th Fleet to hold a front stretching across an entire quadrant. The Auroran 1st and 2nd Fleets regrouped and launched Operation Interval three months later, which resulted in both the morally crippling Battle of Nebuchadnezzar and the Battle of Quan-Li which ended the war in the Star Kingdom's favour.