Serpentes

Serpentes
Vessel Profile
Type	WarShip
Class	Potemkin

The Potemkin-class cruiser CSV Serpentes was a WarShip within the Clan Steel Viper touman serving alongside her sister ship, the CSV Ophidian as of 3061.

History

When the Steel Vipers made an opportunistic move against the last Clan Snow Raven convoy to try and leave the Homeworlds, the Serpentes was one of the Steel Viper WarShips directly involved. The Snow Raven convoy consisted of the Hellgate Battle Star and no less than one hundred and nine JumpShips all traveling slowly away from Hellgate. Anticipating that the Snow Ravens would move via the Snow Raven guidepost at Ghent, the Steel Vipers arranged to work with Clan Star Adder to seize or destroy the convoy.

On 29 July 3072, the Steel Viper force, consisting of the Leviathan Prime-class battleship CSV Perigard Zalman escorted by the Essex-class destroyer CSV Martial Legacy and the Serpentes jumped into the system, arriving in the middle of the vast Snow Raven convoy, and announced their Trial of Possession for the entire fleet, declaring all of the forces at the disposal of Star Commodore Terrence Moffat as their bid.

Star Admiral Anta McKenna accepted the Viper bid as-was and declared all of her forces in defense. What Admiral McKenna hadn't realized was that Clan Star Adder had assigned a naval Star of their own to the command of Commodore Moffat, a naval Star consisting of the Black Lion-class battlecruiser CSA Admiral William S. Preston, the Fredasa-class corvette CSA Arcadian Asp, the York-class destroyer CSA Exodus Crusader and the Lola III-class destroyers CSA Hagar and CSA Warlock. Moffat neglected to inform McKenna of the additional forces, communicating their presence less than a minute before the Steel Viper vessels began firing on the Ravens.

Moffat didn't limit his targets to the four Raven WarShips defending the convoy and their attached escorts. Instead, he had the Perigard Zalman open fire on whatever targets were in range, with the first Raven ships destroyed being fifteen JumpShips before the Ravens could close. The Martial Legacy proceeded to work in tandem with the Serpentes against the Ravens, first targeting and destroying the Lola III-class CSR Sagitta, which had still been carrying the damage inflicted on it from the Trial of Possession in which the Ravens had acquired the Hellgate Battle Star from Clan Goliath Scorpion. In response, the Potemkin-class CSR Enceladus managed to inflict some damage on the Serpentes before the Perigard Zalman blocked both the Serpentes and the Martial Legacy from fire from the heavier Raven ships.

Despite the best efforts of the Ravens, the battle was effectively a foregone conclusion once the Star Adder forces jumped in. The Ravens still managed to cripple the Serpentes when the Congress-class frigate CRS Garlon intercepted the Serpentes as it attempted to close on a group of JumpShips. The Potemkin-class CSR Prometheus was destroyed quickly by the Star Adders, although her sister vessel the Enceladus worked with several Raven DropShips to gut the Admiral William S. Preston before being destroyed in turn by the Asp, and the Perigard Zalman accounted for the Garlon. None of the Raven AeroSpace or combat DropShip forces answered Moffat's single call to surrender, instead fighting until they had all been destroyed.

Moffat's actions secured the Steel Vipers and the Star Adders a total of fifty Raven JumpShips and almost eighty full DropShips of cargo as isorla. At least sixteen Raven JumpShips managed to escape, although only thirteen were eventually reclaimed by the Ravens. The Serpentes was scuttled, although the Vipers claimed the Garlon as salvage. The Star Adders tagged the various other Raven hulks and marked their courses with a view to later stripping the hulks for their materials. The Star Adders and Steel Vipers then spaced any Raven civilians considered unnecessary before moving their booty back to their holdings.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• The Wars of Reaving