Rook (Individual Potemkin-class WarShip)
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- This article is about the WarShip. For the BattleMech, see Rook (BattleMech).
| Rook | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Potemkin |
| In service until | 3070 |
History[edit]
As of 3061, the Potemkin-class cruiser Rook was a WarShip within the Clan Snow Raven touman and was serving as the CSR Rook, one of five WarShips that made up the Circe Battle Star. Like the other ships of the Circe Battle Star, including the Rook's sister vessel, the CSR Treachery, the Rook was tasked with transporting personnel and matériel belonging to Clan Nova Cat from the Clan Homeworlds to the Inner Sphere at this point in time.[1]
On 20 September 3070, Clan Steel Viper introduced the Clans in the Homeworlds to their new flagship, the Leviathan Prime-class battleship CSV Perigard Zalman. The Steel Vipers did so by striking at Clan Diamond Shark's Black Diamond Naval Star above Strana Mechty; the Perigard Zalman quickly destroyed the Carrack-class transport CDS Bloodletter and the Lola III-class destroyer CDS Predator in the first pass alone, and as the Diamond Shark civilian vessels frantically jumped out of the Strana Mechty system the Perigard Zalman continued its attack, destroying two more Diamond Shark WarShips before the last Diamond Shark WarShip, the Fredasa-class corvette CDS Swift Strike, managed to jump out of the system.[2]
Warned by the Diamond Sharks about the existence of the Perigard Zalman, the Snow Ravens gathered the bulk of their remaining Homeworld naval assets at Lum, where they were gathering a huge convoy of vessels together, destined for the Snow Raven holdings in the Outworlds Alliance. The Snow Ravens gathered together the remains of both the Brim Naval Assault Star and the Circe Battle Star, stripping the convoy of its escort vessels. Included in this impromptu naval flotilla was the Rook.[3]
The Steel Vipers gathered together the remainder of their Naval Reserve and struck at Lum within days of their assault on the Diamond Sharks; when saKhan Hoskins of the Steel Vipers declared his batchall for the entire system, the Ravens declared all they had to defend. The resulting battle pitched three naval stars on each side against each other, making the naval engagement far larger than that at Lum in 3069. While the Snow Raven fleet was by far the more experienced, their level of skill was counterbalanced by the sheer firepower brought to the battle by the Perigard Zalman and her escorts. The battle lasted for seven hours before the last four surviving Snow Raven WarShips—the Fredasa-class corvette CSR Black Beard, the Aegis-class heavy cruisers CSR Black Justice and CSR Lord Death and the Carrack-class transport CSR Venture Star—forfeited the Trial by jumping out of the system, leaving Lum a Steel Viper holding.[3]
By the time the surviving Snow Raven vessels jumped out of the system, the Potemkin-class cruisers Rook and CSR Snowflake and the Lola III-class destroyer CSR Vision of Terra had effectively been destroyed, although a covert Watch team from the Diamond Sharks would salvage the Snowflake several years later with assistance from the Snow Ravens. The Steel Vipers immediately landed ground forces on Lum, but faced little organized resistance and discovered that the Snow Ravens had been in the midst of a mass evacuation of their holdings, with large quantities of supplies and matériel partially loaded onto DropShips at the two main DropPorts. The Steel Vipers gleefully seized the former Snow Raven resources, preparing to absorb the lower castes left behind as the Steel Viper WarShips began repairs in orbit.[3]