Yamato (Individual Yamato-class WarShip)

(Redirected from Yamato)
Yamato
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassYamato

History[edit]

The Yamato-class battleship was an attempt by the Draconis Combine to reproduce a Clan WarShip. Under construction in the late 3050s in the shipyards above New Samarkand, the construction of this first-of-class vessel was rife with problems up to and including interference from the Internal Security Force, and wasn't predicted to be in a state where it could move under its own power until early 3060, at which point large elements of the construction program would still need to be completed.[1]

By 3067, intelligence agencies had lost track of the work being undertaken on the single Yamato-class prototype, and the hull wasn't reported as an active asset in the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery navy;[2] it was reported by some sources that the Yamato construction yards had been dismantled in 3061.[3]

Rather than being dismantled as some were led to believe, the Yamato hull was instead shipped to the Dover system, along with the allegedly dismantled shipyards, which were rebuilt near the fifth planet in the system. During the Jihad the Draconis Combine refitted both the hull of the Yamato and the hull of another prototype WarShip, the Kaga-class carrier DCS Mount Niitaka. With assistance purchased from Clan Diamond Shark the Yamato was turned into a massive mobile factory ship, which would continue to produce vital matériel for the Combine throughout the closing years of the Jihad and beyond.[3]

Second Combine-Dominion War[edit]

The Yamato was a casualty of the Second Combine-Dominion War. Preparing for an inevitable escalation in the conflict, Khan Aletha Kabrinski responded to an intelligence windfall that identified the location of the Inazuma-class corvette DCS Amber Lotus as well as both the Yamato and the DCS Ryū - the renamed Mount Niitaka. Kabrinski launched a preemptive strike against the three WarShips, which were located in the uninhabited Bikini Atoll system; Kabrinski dispatched the Leviathan-class Rasalhague and six Stars of Pocket WarShips and fighter carriers transported by a small flotilla of JumpShips to hunt down and destroy the three Combine WarShips.[4]

Although the location of the Bikini Atoll system was a closely guarded secret, the Combine didn't realize that the system was known to the Ghost Bears from Star League-era records relating to mass driver testing in the system from 2720 onward. The Rasalhague's task force arrived in the system on the 18th of December 3099; the Combine forces split up and attempted to flee, with the Ryū heading in one direction and the Amber Lotus and Yamato in another. The Dominion ships split up and chased down all three WarShips, destroying them, as well as the three Okinawa-class DropShips attached to the Amber Lotus (the DCS Comforting Silence, DCS Heated Sword, and DCS Iijima's Pride) and their aerospace fighters. The Dominion forces went so far as to destroy all of the escape pods that launched, and the discovery of the wreckage in the system by the Kyushu-class frigate DCS Draconis Rift led to a dramatic escalation in the war. Whilst the wreckage of the Amber Lotus had been left in-system, the Dominion forces had deliberately accelerated the hulks of the Ryū and the Yamato into the corona of the local star, destroying them both utterly.[4]

Notes[edit]

The name Yamato chosen for the prototype battleship class is possibly a reference to the Yamato, lead battleship of a class of the same name serving in the Imperial Japanese navy during World War II.

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 15: "Aerospace Assets"
  2. Field Manual: Updates, p. 105, "Draconis Combine Naval Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Field Report: DCMS, pp. 5–6: "Safeguarding the Wounded Heart"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Historical: Wars of the Republic Era, pp. 32–33: "Bikini Atoll"

Bibliography[edit]