Bloody Talon

Bloody Talon
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassLola III

History[edit]

As of 3061 the Lola III-class destroyer Bloody Talon was a WarShip within the Clan Snow Raven touman and was serving as the CSR Bloody Talon, one of ten WarShips that made up the Lum Garrison Fleet. Paired with the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CSR Scabbard, the Bloody Talon was responsible for patrolling the shipping lanes stretching out from Lum to the nadir jump point and the Hofburg station located there.[1]

The Bloody Talon continued to serve in the Lum Garrison Fleet until at least 3067, operating alongside the Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruiser CSR Avalanche, the Aegis-class CSR Morning Violence and Scabbard, the Potemkin-class cruisers CSR Bonaventure and CSR Eden Rose, two other destroyers - the York-class CSR Corvidae and the Whirlwind-class CSR Drake - and the Vincent-class corvette CSR Huninn.[2]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

In December 3068 the Bloody Talon was involved in a large Trial of Possession in the Lum system called by Clan Star Adder's Delta Naval Star for control of the planet's orbital space. The resulting battle saw almost six Stars of WarShips and DropShips, and almost seven Stars of aerospace fighters, battle each other in one of the largest naval engagements to be fought in the Clan Homeworlds up to that point. The only Snow Raven WarShip to survive the engagement was the Bloody Talon; the other two Snow Raven WarShips present[3] - subsequently confirmed as being the Avalanche and the Morning Violence[4] - and the CSA Cho Polu, a Volga-class transport, was destroyed, burning in Lum's atmosphere before carving large craters in the surface of the planet with its remains.[3]

No sooner had the Star Adders retreated from the Lum system when a second hostile force arrived—Clan Goliath Scorpion's Beta Naval Star. The Goliath Scorpions also announced a Trial of Possession, this time for the Lum naval yards, and the senior Snow Raven officer present, Star Admiral Thomas Waters bid the entire of the Lum system's assets in defense out of sheer exasperation.[3]

Waters' decision proved to be a very costly mistake for the Snow Ravens. When the Lum Shipyards tried to cover the Bloody Talon, which was facing down the Congress-class frigate CGS Bernlad, one of the escorting Goliath Scorpion DropShips, the Carthage, was penetrated by point defense weapons from the shipyards and exploded. This led the Bernlad to immediately fire a broadside on the Lum shipyards, which were subsequently targeted by other Goliath Scorpion vessels as viable targets. Three days later, the remains of the shipyards, perhaps half of which had been destroyed, were in the possession of the Goliath Scorpions, and there were no Snow Raven naval assets left in the system.[3]

The Jihad[edit]

The Bloody Talon and the Morning Violence were both reported in the Outworlds Alliance media as being involved in an attack on a Snow Raven flotilla holding a conclave in the Dante system in March 3071; the transcript, purportedly from a civilian agrofreighter named the Omniss Seed detailed the Morning Violence being badly damaged or destroyed via the arrival of a JumpShip that appeared almost on top of her, followed by the Bloody Talon taking command of the Snow Raven forces and ordering all ships to fire at will on inbound vessels, including Pocket WarShips deployed by a second hostile JumpShip, with the impression being given by the transcript that the Omniss Seed had accidentally - or intentionally - been included as a hostile target.[5]

A Blakist attack on a Snow Raven flotilla in the Dante system did occur - an attack in which the Snow Raven flagship, the Nightlord-class battleship CSR Snow Raven was destroyed via interpenetration with an inbound JumpShip[6] The Snow Raven losses also included a complete Galaxy, although saKhan Broderick Sukhanov was recovered despite being heavily wounded[7] but the provenance of the recording from the Omniss Seed was dubious, given the inaccuracies present within it.[5]

Notes[edit]

  • The destruction of the Avalanche and four other Snow Raven WarShips unaccounted for specifically by name in sourcebooks was confirmed by the BattleTech Developer Øystein Tvedten via the Catalyst Game Labs Ask The Writers Forum:
*Opens Ye Olde Tome of Warshippe*

Avalanche - Lum 3068
Morning Violence - Lum 3068
Eternity - Lum 3070
Blue Lancer - Lum 3070
Tenacity - Lum 3070

With regards,
Øystein

  — Øystein Tvedten, 01 November 2013

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 131: "Lum Garrison Fleet"
  2. Field Manual: Updates, pp. 64–65: "Naval Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Wars of Reaving, p. 40: "Lamentations and the Raven"
  4. BattleTech Developer confirms the destruction of the Avalanche and Morning Violence at Lum
  5. 5.0 5.1 Jihad Hot Spots: 3072, pp. 21–22: "Suicide Jump"
  6. The Wars of Reaving, p. 64: "Machinations and Manipulations"
  7. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 49: "The Jihad in Review"

Bibliography[edit]