Leviathan (Individual Leviathan-class WarShip)
Sarna News
| Leviathan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Leviathan (Battleship) |
| Previous classes | Leviathan (Heavy Transport) |
Contents
History
As of 3061, the Leviathan-class battleship Leviathan was serving as the CGB Leviathan within the Clan Ghost Bear touman and was serving alongside a sister ship, the CGB Great Bear, within the substantial flotilla of transport WarShips available to the Ghost Bears during this era.[1] The Leviathan remained an active part of the Ghost Bear touman for the next decade and by 3067 a third ship of the class, the CGB Rasalhague was also under construction,[2], although the Rasalhague was nearly lost to Clan Nova Cat in a Trial of Possession in May 3067 that cost the Ghost Bears half their black water navy.[3]
Active throughout the Ghost Bear Dominion campaign against the Word of Blake during the Jihad, the Leviathan was providing WarShip support to the Ghost Bear forces attacking Kaus Borealis in October 3075 when a similar invasion force in the Ascella system was ambushed by a number of groups of Blakist Pocket WarShips and aerospace fighters, losing almost a full Cluster of troops in part because of their lack of WarShip support. As a result the Leviathan was promptly redeployed to Ascella from Kaus Borealis, where it hunted down the surviving Blakist aerospace forces.[4]
The iconic Leviathan's final battle was the liberation of Dieron during Operation SCOUR as part of a massive allied coalition task force drawn from the DCMS and the Dominion. The campaign began on the 8th of October 3077 and would last for several months before Dieron was free.[5]
The Blakist forces on Dieron represented one of the largest commitments by the Word of Blake during the Jihad; in terms of ground support the Blakists had deployed a task force consisting of Protectorate Militia Divisions from Acamar, Asta, Fletcher, Liberty and Milton, along with the 2nd, 3rd, 14th, 19th and 23rd Militia Divisions.[6] Backing up the ground forces was a substantial naval force - substantial enough that no less than ten Blakist WarShips were destroyed or captured during the campaign, more capital ship losses for the Word of Blake than any other single engagement of the Jihad save the battle for Terra in 3078. From their core fleet, the Word of Blake lost three destroyers: the Baron-class WoBS Light of Glory, the Essex-class WoBS Dawning Horizon, and the Lola III-class WoBS End of Wisdom.[7] The Blakists also lost seven WarShips from their fleet of vessels suborned from the Free Worlds League navy: the Zechetinu-class corvettes FWLS Karelia and FWLS Tirana, the Zechetinu II-class corvette FWLS Araneida, the Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser FWLS Aineas, the Eagle-class frigates FWLS Mordred and FWLS Tristram and the Thera-class carrier FWLS Sardis - although the latter was captured rather than destroyed, and would be pressed into service by Clan Snow Raven[7] as the renamed SRS Raven's Nest.[8]
The underground news agency known as Drake released what it claimed to be the combat logs kept by Star Admiral James Lankenau, the Clan Snow Raven Admiral commanding the Conqueror-class carrier CSR Ark Royal during the campaign. If the logs are accurate - and it is noteworthy that the logs contain no mention of the FWLS Araneida or the WoBS Dawning Horizon - the major naval combat actions took place on the 20th of November 3077, after the Blakist task force jumped in-system on the 19th. The logs record that the Clan forces in the system comprised the Ark Royal and two Ghost Bear battleships, the Nightlord-class CGB Ursa Major and the Leviathan. The Ark Royal reportedly suffered light damage and the Ursa Major moderate damage, but the Leviathan was evidently scuttled, as the Blakists had concentrated the fire from their WarShips and their considerable Pocket WarShip fleet on the mighty battleship.[8]
Notes
- The cover of the original (unrevised) Technical Readout: 3057 depicts a Leviathan-class vessel, although that class was not mentioned in the book and did not receive stats until later. Two such ships, the Leviathan and the Great Bear, were under construction when the Explorer Corps initially released the Technical Readout: 3057 document. A canonical picture of the paint scheme of the Great Bear shows that its Ghost Bear crest was on a red background,[9] therefore the vessel depicted implicitly is the Leviathan.
References
- ↑ Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 86, "Naval Assets"
- ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 60, "Naval Assets"
- ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 81-83, "The Second Naval Battle of Alshain"
- ↑ Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 47, "Cebalrai Free, But At What Cost?"
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 58, "The Jihad in Review"
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 127, "Word Of Blake Militia Divisions"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128, "Original Word Of Blake Fleet" Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "J:FRp128" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 68, "Flight of the Raven" Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "JHS:Tp68" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Photo of a painted miniature captured as the Great Bear and canonically depicting its paint scheme, on the color pages in Aerotech 2 Revised between pages 32 and 33