After Genoa was attacked, more than a dozen mounted messengers rode out of the city gates, carrying the shocking news to other coastal towns.
The ports that were attacked afterward did the same.
Since horses traveled faster than fleets, the Eastern Roman navy in Sicily had already received word by the time the Vikings struck Naples.
"Viking Fire?"
The fleet commander laughed at the strange new term.
He immediately summoned ships stationed at Syracuse, Messina, and other ports, hastily assembling a fleet of one hundred warships.
Taking advantage of a strong southerly wind, they set sail for Naples.
May 31st
The Eastern Roman fleet reached the devastated harbor of Salerno.
According to local reports, the Vikings had already turned north after attacking the city.
"Follow them!"
The Roman fleet gave chase.
They sailed past Naples and Ostia in succession.
Information from riders on land suggested that the Viking fleet was lingering somewhere near Genoa.
Studying his charts, the commander altered course toward Nice in the northwest.
June 2nd, Morning
Commodore Haddawa stood on the stern deck of his flagship, gazing across the endless blue sea.
The fleet carved thirty-six white wakes across the calm Mediterranean, their sails swollen by the southeastern wind.
Suddenly, a cry from the masthead shattered the tranquility.
On the southwestern horizon, a spreading mass of sails appeared.
It continued expanding until it seemed to fill the sea itself.
Red Eastern Roman banners fluttered atop the masts.
A colossal fleet of one hundred warships was approaching at full speed.
"Battle stations!"
Signal flags flashed throughout the fleet.
The Viking formation shifted.
The four gunships moved to the front and formed a line abreast, opening their gunports.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Roman fleet spread into a broad battle line and surged forward, exploiting its numerical superiority.
Oarsmen shouted in rhythm as their ships cut through the waves.
The distance rapidly closed.
Two thousand meters.
One thousand.
Five hundred.
"Fire!"
The four gunships unleashed their broadsides simultaneously.
Walls of white smoke erupted.
Solid iron shot screamed through the air.
Splinters exploded everywhere.
Broken oars flew through the sky.
One light galley had its bow shattered.
Another lost its mast entirely, the sail collapsing over struggling sailors like a funeral shroud.
On the gunships, crews swabbed the overheated barrels with wet mops before loading fresh powder and shot.
The second volley proved even more accurate.
One Roman warship was struck at the waterline.
Seawater poured into the hull.
The vessel began to list.
As the fleets drew closer, the remaining Viking ships launched jars of incendiary oil with their ballistae, attempting to use superior firepower to halt the enemy advance.
The Eastern Roman momentum faltered.
Never before had they experienced such concentrated and terrifying long-range bombardment.
The Roman commander immediately altered tactics.
He ordered all light galleys to sweep around both flanks and encircle the enemy fleet.
The battle entered its fiercest phase.
The gunships continued firing relentlessly, but they could not prevent the noose from tightening.
Ignoring casualties, the Eastern Roman light vessels endured volleys of bolts and missiles as they closed with the outer Viking warships.
"What incredible morale!"
Haddawa stood on the stern deck.
A haze of white smoke drifted across the sea ahead.
More than thirty dromons were approaching.
Their hulls were heavily built.
The cannonballs could not penetrate their waterlines and sink them.
At best, they could slaughter the crews on deck.
Meanwhile, large numbers of light galleys had completed their flanking maneuver.
The encirclement was closing.
Using their numerical superiority, the Romans attacked in groups of two to four ships against every Viking vessel.
"Signal the fleet!
"Break formation!
"Have the conventional warships protect the nearest gunships!
"As long as the gunships survive, losing every conventional ship is acceptable!"
By ten o'clock, fierce melee combat engulfed both Viking flanks.
The blue waters turned pale red with blood.
Corpses and shattered planks floated everywhere.
The gunships now stood less than a hundred meters from the enemy.
Dense white powder smoke hung over the sea.
One captain issued new orders:
"Gunners, fire at will!
"Use solid shot or grapeshot as needed—but don't hit friendly ships.
"Twenty armored marines will guard the rails.
"Everyone else, take crossbows and boarding weapons.
"Prepare for close combat."
Following the command, a gunner loaded a powder charge and a sack filled with iron pellets.
He aimed at an approaching galley and fired.
Instantly, hundreds of iron balls swept across the enemy deck like a storm.
Sailors and officers alike were cut down.
"Well done!"
the captain shouted.
But his satisfaction lasted only moments.
A stream of fire suddenly shot toward him.
Then another.
And another.
Flamethrower ships had entered range.
Metal tubes mounted on their bows spewed blazing jets of fire toward the Viking fleet.
The battle reached its most brutal stage.
The Viking gunships fired solid shot and grapeshot as fast as they could reload.
The Romans answered with Greek Fire.
Four conventional Viking warships on the outer edge of the formation were soon ablaze.
The crews desperately pumped seawater onto the flames.
It made no difference.
The cursed Greek Fire floated atop the water and continued burning.
Finally, the captains rang the bronze bells.
"Abandon ship!"
Without the outer warships serving as shields, the gunships themselves came under direct attack.
Flames washed over them.
Within seconds, powder bags near the gunports ignited.
The fire spread rapidly.
Surviving sailors threw themselves into the sea, clinging to barrels and broken planks while praying for rescue.
"These Greeks have gone mad.
"Was all this really necessary?"
Standing at the rail, Haddawa surveyed the chaos.
The Roman fleet was hardly faring better.
Several fireships had suffered damaged hulls and broken flame-projectors.
Leaking Greek Fire ignited their own vessels.
Others had been swept by grapeshot, leaving nobody alive to steer them.
They drifted helplessly across the battlefield, blocking friendly ships.
The battle continued until eleven o'clock.
By then, almost all Roman fireships had been destroyed.
Only sixty warships remained operational.
Morale among their crews was collapsing.
Ships near the edge of the battle began withdrawing.
The Vikings had suffered heavily as well.
They had lost:
2 gunships13 conventional warships
The surviving vessels regrouped into three clusters and withdrew northward together.
The Romans made no attempt to pursue.
Instead, they turned southeast and disengaged.
The battle was over.
The Eastern Roman fleet had suffered the greater losses.
Yet they had achieved their primary objective:
The Vikings had been driven back and prevented from entering the eastern Mediterranean.
The Vikings, meanwhile, could claim significant successes of their own.
They had:
Devastated the major ports along Italy's western coast
Destroyed numerous Frankish vessels
Inflicted severe damage on the Roman fleet
Greatly weakened Eastern Roman naval dominance in the western Mediterranean
After this mutually destructive battle, however, the greatest beneficiary was neither side.
It was the Aghlabid Dynasty of North Africa.
With both major fleets battered, Moorish pirate vessels once again began prowling the sea, raiding Corsica, Sardinia, and the coasts of Italy.
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