53rd AeroSpace Interceptors

Fifty-third AeroSpace Interceptors
Affiliation Lyran Commonwealth
Parent Command LCAF

The 53rd Aerospace Interceptors was an aerospace fighter command in the service of the LCAF at the time of the First Succession War.

History[edit]

Ustus Tillbert was leading the naval defense of the Bolson Shipyards - one of the Lyran Commonwealth's largest JumpShip manufacturers before the First Succession War.

The Bolson Shipyards in the New Kyoto system were located in orbit above Wang-Chiu, the largest of New Kyoto's moons. The Bolson Shipyards consisted of five box-like construction bays in orbit around Wang-Chiu, the largest of New Kyoto's moons.[1] In addition to being a major producer of both freighters and JumpShips, the Bolson Shipyards were also involved in producing WarShip support systems for various classes of WarShip as well as periodic refits.[2]

The Free Worlds League dispatched a task force sent to attack the shipyards[1][2] in February[3][2] 2787,[1][2] one of many Commonwealth-based naval and aerospace manufacturing facilities to be attacked early in that year as the Great Houses began the First Succession War.[1]

By the time the League task force arrived, the defenses in the New Kyoto system had been increased to no less than five squadrons of corvettes and an aerospace fighter formation, the Fifty-third Aerospace Interceptors regiment.[1] The task force consisted of the Cameron-class[2] battlecruiser FWLS Rasalas as lead vessel,[2] along with two cruisers,[1] three squadrons of destroyers[1][2] and two reinforced wings of aerospace fighters.[2] The Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces had assigned command of the defenses to Hauptmann-Kommodore Ustus Tillbert, who had divided the naval and fighter forces into five separate groups guarding five different approaches to the shipyards.[1]

The task force arrived at the zenith jump point in the New Kyoto system on the 14th of February and made a three-day high-speed approach from the jump point to attack the shipyards. The Lyran corvette screen attempted to intercept and block the League task force, with the Lyran Mako-class corvette LCS Augustus becoming the first casualty of the engagement after being mobbed by aerospace fighters and then flanked by the destroyers FWLS Ripper and FWLS Tomain.[1]

It took the FWLS Rasalas six minutes of battle to break through the corvette screen and begin bearing down on the Bolson Shipyards, but a suicide run by a Lyran[1][2] Chippewa[1] fighter into the belly of the Rasalas inflicted substantial damage,[1][2] destroying the fuel store aboard the Rasalas that powered her drive and maneuvering engines. With no control over her trajectory, the crew of the Rasalas abandoned ship[1] and the Rasalas rammed directly into the heart of the Shipyards, perishing along with the yards in a massive explosion.[1][2]

In total, the League attack on the New Kyoto shipyards cost the Rasalas, seven destroyers, and most of the task force aerospace fighter contingent; for the Commonwealth, in addition to the loss of the shipyards themselves, the LCAF lost almost a dozen corvettes and the bulk of the Fifty-third.[2]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 53rd Aerospace Interceptors

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

Unknown.

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 46: "The Bolson Shipyards"
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 First Succession War, p. 66
  3. First Succession War, p. 114: "Timeline of the First Succession War"

Bibliography[edit]