Mulhacén

(Redirected from Architeuthis)
Mulhacén
Vessel Profile
Previous namesArchiteuthis
Marseilles
TypeWarShip
ClassEssex

History[edit]

SLDF and Operation EXODUS[edit]

The Essex-class destroyer SLS Marseilles was a Star League Defense Force WarShip that survived the Hegemony Campaign to liberate Terra from the forces of Stefan Amaris, and subsequently followed General Aleksandr Kerensky on the Exodus.[1]

Following the Exodus, the Marseilles languished in mothballs as part of a small naval cache in the Babylon system for centuries. The naval cache with the Marseilles in would ultimately fall under the control of Clan Diamond Shark, but while many of the ships within the various Diamond Shark naval caches would be restored and added to the Diamond Shark touman before Operation REVIVAL, the Marseilles remained in mothballs until the Wars of Reaving.[1]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

Despite the ejection of the Diamond Sharks from the Clan Homeworld systems, the Sharks inserted a Watch team back into homeworlds space in 3075; the Watch contingent consisted of two small JumpShips, a dozen solahma warriors, two salvage teams, technicians and merchants. The mission undertaken was twofold; to infiltrate the remaining Clans still in homeworlds space and to visit the only remaining Diamond Shark naval cache—namely, the cache in the Babylon system containing the Marseilles—and restore any ships they could to operational status. The naval cache contained just two WarShips by this point, of which only one would prove to be in good enough condition that the small party could restore it, the Marseilles.[1]

Having restored the Marseilles and staffed it with a skeleton crew, the bulk of the Watch contingent then traveled to the edge of the Lum system and began searching for the remains of the Potemkin-class CSR Snowflake using information provided by Clan Snow Raven. The party found the Snowflake and confirmed that the K-F jump drive was in working order despite the Snowflake having lost large portions of its hull during the battle in the system. After emergency repairs, the Snowflake managed to execute a successful emergency test jump; this led the Diamond Sharks to rename the Snowflake to Titanic, in honor of the ship destroyed at York. The Sharks also renamed the Marseilles to the Architeuthis and proceeded to make a cautious journey back to the Inner Sphere, with both salvage and work teams continuing to conduct what repairs they could en route.[1]

Both the newly-renamed CDS Titanic and CDS Architeuthis journeyed back to Ramora in the Outworlds Alliance, arriving in 3076 and promptly taking advantage of the Snow Raven repair bays there, which the Diamond Sharks had recently secured rights to use. Each ship underwent repairs at Ramora, although neither stayed any longer than was necessary, and both ships traveled to Twycross in 3080.[1][2]

Dark Age[edit]

In or around 3090, the Raven Alliance found its need for a dedicated transport fleet of WarShips lessening, and Diamond Shark Khan Nagasawa saw an opportunity for a beneficial trade. In 3091, he proposed to Clan Snow Raven that four Diamond Shark WarShips be exchanged for four Snow Raven WarShips. This proved a contentious proposal for the warriors of the Snow Raven touman, but ultimately the trade was agreed. The Diamond Sharks transferred four WarShips to the Snow Ravens—the Nightlord-class battleship Terror of the Deep, the Essex-class destroyers Architeuthis and Tracy, and the Fredasa-class transport Swift Strike—and in exchange received three Potemkin-class cruisers (the Epimetheus, Treachery, and Wild Swan) and the Volga-class transport Scavenger.[3][4][5]

The Raven Alliance renamed the Architeuthis and Tracy to the Mulhacén and Marshal Ney, respectively, and they formed two of the ships of the Alliance Naval Star based out of the Dante system. By 3101, the bulk of the Raven Alliance WarShip fleet had been mothballed, including the Mulhacén, and she would remain in mothballs for a generation. When Star Admiral Iqbal Lankenau was elected saKhan in 3132 his successor was Star Admiral Loretta Gilmour. Under Admiral Gilmour the Alliance Naval Star was a key part of the Raven Alliance defenses against the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns; when the Raven Alliance began bringing their WarShip fleet out of mothballs the Mulhacén and the Fredasa-class Kutkh returned to active service, bringing the Alliance Naval Star up to four active WarShips. The Alliance Naval Star then increased to five WarShips when the Whirlwind-class destroyer William Adams was added to the Star, but the reintegration of the three mothballed ships with the Star didn't go well. The Raven Alliance responded by sending the Star to the spinward frontier of the Alliance for more than a year to conduct training exercises before returning them to active duty and assigning the Star to pirate-hunting missions.[3]

The Mulhacén and the Alliance Naval Star active pursued pirates throughout the spinward frontier of the alliance before vanishing mysteriously; after a sixteen-month absence the Star reappeared in the Dante system just in time for the launch of the Draconis Combine's invasion of the Federated Suns.[3]

Notes[edit]

It was confirmed via a question in the "Ask The Writers" forum of the official Catalyst Game Labs forum that the Architeuthis had been renamed the Mulhacén:

The Diamond Shark fleet (what survived from the Jihad) was turned into ArcShips or traded to the Snow Ravens for vessels to turn into ArcShips.

Terror of the Deep --> traded to CSR (Lynn McKenna)
Nagasawa --> Talismantia (Spina Beta)
Space Hunter --> Caleuche (Tiburon Gamma)
Tracy --> traded to CSR (Marshal Ney)
Architeuthis --> traded to CSR (Mulhacén)
Swift Strike --> traded to CSR (Kutkh)
Devourer --> severely damaged and scuttled over Twycross circa 3085
Kraken --> Fox ArcShip
Poseidon --> Spina ArcShip
Titanic --> Tiburon ArcShip
Tsunami --> ilKhanate ArcShip

  — Roosterboy, Catalyst Game Labs "Ask The Writer" Forum, 26 Oct 2014

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 172–173: "Clan Diamond Shark"
  2. Field Report: Clans, p. 8: "Clan Diamond Shark - Fleet Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Era Report: 3145, pp. 74–76: "Alliance Naval Star"
  4. Field Manual: 3145, p. 166: "The Alliance Fleet"
  5. Field Report: Clans, pp. 18–19: "Fleet Assets"

Bibliography[edit]