Tsutsuji
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| Tsutsuji | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Narukami |
| In service until | 2790[1] |
History[edit]
The Tsutsuji was a Narukami-class destroyer in service with the Draconis Combine Admiralty as the DCS Tsutsuji during the First Succession War. In May 2788 the Tsutsuji was responsible for defeating a counterattack by the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns in the Elbar system; Elbar had been captured by the Draconis Combine during the mass invasion of the Federated Suns that began in May 2787, and the attack on Elbar was one of three major attacks taking place under Operation SOLAR SHIELD, an attempt by First Prince John Davion to disrupt the invasion by attacking on the Terran flank of the invasion route, targeting in particular the front being led by Coordinator Minoru Kurita personally.[2][3]
The AFFS force assigned to recapturing Elbar consisted primarily of the Eighth Syrtis Fusiliers, with support from armor and infantry forces drawn from regional militias within the Marlette Combat Region and escorted by a pair of WarShips, including the Carrack-class transport FSS Port Victoria. The Fusiliers didn't encounter any WarShips on entering the Elbar system, and proceeded to launch their DropShips and proceed with their WarShip escort towards Elbar while their JumpShips recharged. Before the JumpShips could finish recharging the Tsutsuji attacked them, destroying all eight with assistance from two squadrons of aerospace fighters.[2][3]
The destruction of their JumpShips made the Fusiliers aware that they were heading into a trap, with the DCMS forces on Elbar well-prepared and dug-in; the two WarShips escorting the Fusiliers didn't have enough docking collars to transport the entire assault force away, so the Fusiliers abandoned more than a dozen DropShips after transferring as many of the crews, passengers and equipment as possible aboard the Port Victoria before jumping back to a safer system. Similar assaults on Cartago and Schedar were also major defeats for the AFFS, leaving SOLAR SHIELD as an abject failure that cost the Federated Suns men, ships and resources it couldn't afford to lose.[2][3]
The Tsutsuji had the misfortune to be lost in action against the AFFS later, during the prolonged naval action in 2790 that led up to the climactic Battle of Cholame. The AFFS naval action was a desperate attempt to halt the invasion in its tracks before New Avalon could fall to the DCA, whose forces were rapidly closing on the Federated Suns capital. Assembling the bulk of the surviving AFFS WarShip fleet plus escorts, Admiral Kenneth Jones and Vice Admiral Marjorie Stone divided the fleet into two large groups, with the first group - led by Jones - due to strike at the Imbrial III, Kestrel, Saltural, Saunemin, Acoma and New Valencia, while Stone's fleet struck at Evansville, Bogard, DeWitt, Blandinsville and Corydon, before the two fleets converged at Cholame in anticipation of further strikes into the remains of the Draconis March. The fleets only lingered in each system for a week, concentrating on DCA naval assets as targets before jumping out, in an effort to destroy the Combine's ability to support further attacks into Federated Suns by eroding their local aerospace superiority.[1]
The Tsutsuji was one of the DCA WarShips to be destroyed by the AFFS fleets as they moved towards Cholame; prior to arriving at Cholame, the AFFS task forces managed to destroy six DCA WarShips, including the Tsutsuji, twenty-two JumpShips and twenty-five DropShips, while capturing one WarShip and four JumpShips. In exchange, the Tsutsuji and the other DCA ships had managed to destroy a small but notable number of AFFS assets: four WarShips, four JumpShips and eight DropShips.[1]