Guarded Knowledge

(Redirected from WBS Guarded Knowledge)
Guarded Knowledge
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassLola III
In service until3068

History[edit]

One of many WarShips to be disabled and abandoned or lost during the Star League era or the early Succession Wars, the Lola III-class destroyer later known as the Guarded Knowledge was one of a number of ships publicly recovered by the Word of Blake and restored to working order by 3067 with the assistance of the Free Worlds League.[1]

The WoBS Guarded Knowledge was actually one of three Lola III-class destroyers to serve in the Blakist fleet during the Jihad;[2] prior to the Jihad, the Word of Blake was only known to be operating a small black water navy of some six WarShips, of which only the Guarded Knowledge was public knowledge,[1] but the Word of Blake had secretly recovered two additional Lola IIIs from sites around the Inner Sphere such as the abandoned Star League Defense Force facility known as the Ruins of Gabriel and restored them to operational status. These two sister ships to the Guarded Knowledge were the WoBS End of Wisdom and WoBS Faith's End.[2]

Following the defeat of the Allied Mercenary Command operation on Mars in 3067[3] the First Circuit of ComStar ordered the execution of Case WHITE, a plan for a massive counterstrike against Terra by the bulk of the Com Guard black water navy and ten divisions of troops. Case WHITE had originally been constructed in 3058, and by the time it was implemented in March 3068 the Word of Blake had been preparing additional defenses in the Sol system for a decade.[4]

The Com Guard task force was bedeviled with problems even before arriving in the Sol system, with the Com Guard flagship, the Cameron-class battlecruiser CSV Invisible Truth, delayed from joining the operation due to sabotage, and various other ships such as the Potemkin-class cruiser CSV Vision of Truth also suffering attacks from saboteurs.[5] Other ships such as the Aegis-class CSV Swift Justice were at least partially suborned, firing on their companions before being disabled themselves,[5][6] and the operation was a massive defeat for ComStar, effectively neutering their forces during the early years of the Jihad.[4]

While the Blakist victory over the Com Guards in the Sol system was total, the Blakist fleet did take casualties; six Blakist WarShips were destroyed in action and not recovered, including the Guarded Knowledge. The Aegis-class heavy cruiser WoBS Herald of Wisdom was the largest Blakist WarShip to be destroyed as a result of Case WHITE; the other WarShips destroyed were the Naga-class destroyer WoBS Enlightened Direction, the Riga-class frigate WoBS White Devil and the Pinto-class corvettes WoBS Gorgon and WoBS Syrstart. The losses taken by the Blakists as a result of Case White would be partly offset by the successful recovery of several former Com Guard WarShips which were salvaged, repaired and restored to operational duty as a part of the Blakist fleet after Case WHITE.[2]

Notes[edit]

  • The Guarded Knowledge isn't recorded as a casualty in any of the sources discussing Case WHITE. However, this is most likely an omission, as the Guarded Knowledge is listed as a Blakist asset in Field Manual: Updates as of 3067, but is missing from the list of Blakist WarShips produced after the Jihad and published in Jihad: Final Reckoning that was believed to be an exhaustive list. It was indicated by one of the BattleTech Developers that the absence of the Guarded Knowledge from the latter source was most likely an omission and that she was most likely destroyed during Case WHITE.
Seems to be an omission. I'd say it died in Case White (chalk up one more for ComStar).

With regards Øystein

  — Øystein Tvedten, BattleTech Developer, 15 October 2013

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 90, "Naval Assets and Militia Divisions"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128, "Word of Blake Naval Assets"
  3. The Last Full Measure
  4. 4.0 4.1 Dawn of the Jihad, p. 88-92
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Breaking of Chemical Bonds
  6. Stars in the Time of Dreaming

Bibliography[edit]