Tiburon ArcShip (Clan Sea Fox)

(Redirected from Snowflake)
Tiburon ArcShip
Vessel Profile
Previous namesSnowflake,
Titanic
TypeArcShip
ClassPotemkin (modified)

As of 3145, the Tiburon ArcShip was part of the Tiburon Khanate in the Clan Sea Fox touman.[1]

History[edit]

In 3061, the Potemkin-class cruiser CSR Snowflake was a WarShip in service with the Clan Snow Raven touman. The Snowflake was one of five WarShips that made up the Snow Raven Brim Naval Assault Star at this point in time.[2]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

In 3068, the Snow Ravens were involved in fighting in the York system. During a Trial of Possession on Strana Mechty against Clan Blood Spirit, the Snow Ravens lost the entire of Zeta Galaxy and a sibko of aerospace pilots to the smaller Clan. When a flotilla of Snow Raven WarShips led by the Snowflake arrived in the York system to deliver Zeta Galaxy and the sibko to the Blood Spirits, forces from Clan Star Adder challenged the Snow Ravens, attempting to interrupt the delivery.[3]

The Snow Ravens defeated the Star Adders' challenge, destroying the Liberator-class cruiser CSA Constantineau in the process. The Blood Spirits put Zeta Galaxy to use immediately, capturing a facility on the surface of York, and the Snow Ravens earned the enmity of the Star Adders for what the Adders perceived as the Ravens' interference in events on York.[3]

On the 20th of 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.[4]

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 Lord Death.[5]

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.[5]

By the time the surviving Snow Raven vessels jumped out of the system, the Potemkin-class cruisers CSR Rook and Snowflake and the Lola III-class CSR Vision of Terra had effectively been destroyed.[5]

Salvage and Restoration[edit]

Despite the ejection of the Diamond Sharks from the Clan Homeworld systems, the Sharks inserted a Watch team back into Homeworlds space in 3075; the Watch contingent consisted of two small JumpShips, a dozen solahma warriors, two salvage teams, technicians and merchants. The mission undertaken was twofold; to infiltrate the remaining Clans still in Homeworlds space and to visit the only remaining Diamond Shark naval cache, located in the Babylon system, and restore any ships they could to operational status. The naval cache contained just two WarShips, of which only one would prove to be in good enough condition that the small party could restore it - the Essex-class destroyer Marseilles.[6]

Having restored the Marseilles and staffed it with a skeleton crew, the bulk of the Watch contingent then traveled to the edge of the Lum system and began searching for the remains of the Potemkin-class CSR Snowflake using information provided by Clan Snow Raven. The party found the Snowflake and confirmed that the K-F jump drive was in working order despite the Snowflake having lost large portions of its hull during the battle in the system. After emergency repairs, the Snowflake managed to execute a successful emergency test jump; this led the Diamond Sharks to rename the Snowflake to Titanic, in honor of the ship destroyed at York. The Sharks also renamed the Marseilles to the CDS Architeuthis and proceeded to make a cautious journey back to the Inner Sphere, both salvage and work teams continuing to conduct what repairs they could en route.[6]

Both the newly-renamed Titanic and the Architeuthis journeyed back to Ramora in the Outworlds Alliance, arriving in 3076 and promptly took advantage of the Snow Raven repair bays there, which the Diamond Sharks had recently secured rights to use. Each ship underwent repairs at Ramora, although neither stayed any longer than was necessary, and both ships traveled to Twycross in 3080.[6]

The ship was renamed to Tiburon ArcShip at some time after the Jihad and assigned to the Tiburon Khanate.

Notes[edit]

  • It was confirmed via a question in the "Ask The Writers" forum of the official Catalyst Game Labs forum that the Titanic had been renamed the Tiburon ArcShip:
The Diamond Shark fleet (what survived from the Jihad) was turned into ArcShips or traded to the Snow Ravens for vessels to turn into ArcShips.

Terror of the Deep --> traded to CSR (Lynn McKenna)
Nagasawa --> Talismantia (Spina Beta)
Space Hunter --> Caleuche (Tiburon Gamma)
Tracy --> traded to CSR (Marshal Ney)
Architeuthis --> traded to CSR (Mulhacén)
Swift Strike --> traded to CSR (Kutkh)
Devourer --> severely damaged and scuttled over Twycross circa 3085
Kraken --> Fox ArcShip
Poseidon --> Spina ArcShip
Titanic --> Tiburon ArcShip
Tsunami --> ilKhanate ArcShip

  — Roosterboy, Catalyst Game Labs "Ask The Writer" Forum, 26 Oct 2014

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: 3145, p. 170: "Clan Force Deployments - Clan Diamond Shark - Tiburon Khanate"
  2. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 124: "Command Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Wars of Reaving, p. 35: "Art of Distraction"
  4. The Wars of Reaving, p. 51: "Closing the Net"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 52–53: "Closing the Net"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 172–173: "Clan Diamond Shark"

Bibliography[edit]