Editing Stone Crab

{{infoBoxIndividualSpacecraft
| image      = 
| vesselname = Stone Crab
| prevname   =
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[Mako]]
| prevclass  = 
| servicesince = 
| serviceuntil = 
}}

==History==
The ''[[Mako]]''-class corvette '''''Stone Crab''''' was one of a number of [[WarShip]]s operated by the reborn [[Clan Burrock]] during the [[Wars of Reaving]].<ref name="WORp89">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 89: "Military Commands (3072)/WarShips"</ref> The ''Stone Crab'' was one of at least three ''Mako''-class WarShips to be operated by the Bandit Caste in the [[Clan Homeworlds]] during the Wars of Reaving; the sister ships to the ''Stone Crab'' were the ''[[Fuchida]]'', destroyed by forces from [[Clan Goliath Scorpion]] at [[Waypoint 531]] near the [[Deep Periphery]] nation known as [[Nueva Castile]],<ref name="WORp128">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 128: "Stellar System Waypoint 531"</ref> and the [[Ingrid Bucharev|CBS ''Ingrid Bucharev'']]<ref name="WORp89"/> which was destroyed defending the [[Tanis]] system in [[3074]].<ref name="WORp144">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 144: "Adder's Assault"</ref>

===3072===
Gathered at [[Salonika]] in early July [[3072]] and under the command of [[Star Admiral]] [[Lori Hawker]], one of the last [[Clan Diamond Shark]] convoys to assemble for an exodus to the Diamond Shark holdings in the [[Inner Sphere]] found itself surprised by forces from the newly-resurrected Clan Burrock.<ref name="WORp102"/>

The convoy consisted of almost sixty [[JumpShip]]s - two with mobile repair stations in tow - along with the ''[[Volga]]''-class transport [[Bold Venture|CDS ''Bold Venture'']] and the ''[[Carrack]]''-class transport [[Star Swimmer|CDS ''Star Swimmer'']], and was waiting for straggling merchant caste vessels to arrive. When the Burrock forces appeared Admiral Hawker presumed the small fleet to be the same group of vessels that had been hitting nearby Diamond Shark stations in recent weeks.<ref name="WORp102">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 102: "Bearding the Shark"</ref>

Admiral Hawker ordered the ''Bold Venture'' and the ''Star Swimmer'' to engage the new arrivals, and both ships responded quickly to her orders. The unidentified vessels were under the command of Star Admiral [[Olson Nga]], and consisted of six JumpShips, the ''[[Riga (WarShip class)|Riga]]''-class frigate [[Hetherington|CBS ''Hetherington'']], and some ten [[Star]]s of [[aerospace fighter]]s crewed by a mixture of Burrock personnel and volunteers from [[Tanis]]. The ''Star Swimmer'' closed first as the Burrock forces began a delaying action, with the Burrock JumpShips hot-charging their engines as the fighters and the ''Hetherington'' engaged the ''Star Swimmer''. The Burrock forces managed to inflict only moderate damage on the ''Star Swimmer'' before it closed on the JumpShip [[Earthen Vessel|CBS ''Earthen Vessel'']], intending to board and capture the Burrock ship; the crew of the ''Earthen Vessel'' panicked at the Diamond Shark WarShip's approach and triggered their K-F drive. With the K-F drive of the ''Star Swimmer'' in close proximity, the result was the ''Earthen Vessel''&#39;s hyperspace field warping and inflicting catastrophic damage to the drives on both ships.<ref name="WORp102"/>

Despite the damage inflicted on the ''Star Swimmer'', both Diamond Shark vessels pressed the attack, with the ''Star Swimmer'' destroying one JumpShip while a second JumpShip surrendered to the ''Bold Venture''. Two Burrock JumpShips and the ''Hetherington'' successfully jumped out of the Salonika system, whilst the last Burrock JumpShip misjumped and was lost. Admiral Hawker believed her convoy to be safe at this point, and transmitted information on the engagement back to the Homeworlds while ordering that the ''Star Swimmer'' be stripped of essentials, as the damage inflicted on the ship meant that it would have to be abandoned as the Diamond Sharks withdrew to the [[Inner Sphere]]. What Harker didn't know was that her message would never be received, as the Burrocks had destroyed or taken control of the [[HPG]] stations between her and the Homeworlds.<ref name="WORp102"/>

Two weeks after the first battle, the Diamond Shark convoy was still gathered at Salonika when the Burrocks returned. This time, the Burrocks had bought their main fleet from [[Tathis]], just seventy light years away, and found that the Diamond Shark convoy had increased to seventy-one ships of various sizes. The Burrocks had brought the ''Hetherington'' back into the fray, along with the ''Stone Crab'', the ''[[Kimagure]]''-class pursuit cruiser [[Admiral Russell Nga|CBS ''Admiral Russell Nga'']], eight Stars of aerospace fighters, and almost thirty DropShips.<ref name="WORp102"/>

The appearance of the Burrock forces caused a degree of panic amongst the Diamond Shark Merchants, but Admiral Hawker responded quickly; gathering together just over twenty combat-capable DropShips of her own from the assembled merchant fleet, Hawker used those DropShips plus the ''Bold Venture'' and the ''Star Swimmer'' - which had been stripped of several systems, but which still mounted most of its weapons and remained maneuverable - to strike at the Burrocks. The battle itself was brutal, and fought amidst the assembled Diamond Shark flotilla, with many of the Diamond Shark ships falling to targets of opportunity; twenty-one Diamond Shark JumpShips were destroyed, along with both Diamond Shark WarShips and most of the combat-capable DropShips assembled by Harker.<ref name="WORp102"/>

Before being defeated, Hawker's forces managed to destroy nearly half the assembled Burrock DropShips as well as the ''Hetherington'', but the forty-eight surviving JumpShips were left unarmed and helpless. With little choice other than to be taken as ''[[isorla]]'', the remaining Diamond Shark vessels surrendered, and the Burrocks used their surviving warriors to place forces on the thirty-three ships they deemed to be the most important. The flotilla was then ordered to jump back to the Tanis system, although the fifteen vessels without Burrock warriors aboard all managed to lose themselves from the convoy, scattering into the [[Deep Periphery]] as the Burrocks brought the rest of their prizes home.<ref name="WORp102"/>

===3073===
In late [[3073]], [[Clan Star Adder]] found itself in increasing need of both the orbital facilities and resources available from the world of [[Priori]] - particularly the abundant foodstuffs. [[Khan]] [[Stanislov N'Buta]] dispatched a force consisting of [[Gamma Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Gamma]], [[Mu Provisional Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Mu]] and [[Sigma Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Sigma Galaxies]] under the overall command of Star Adder [[Loremaster]] [[Fletcher Daniels]] to capture the system. N'Buta also dispatched several WarShips as escorts, including the ''[[Vincent (WarShip class)|Vincent]]''-class corvette [[Pegasus (Individual Vincent-class WarShip)|CSA ''Pegasus'']], the ''[[Fredasa (WarShip class)|Fredasa]]''-class corvette [[Arcadian Asp|CSA ''Arcadian Asp'']], and the recently-reactivated [[Samarkand Block II (WarShip class)|''Samarkand'']]-class carrier [[Yorktown (Individual Samarkand-class WarShip)|CSA ''Yorktown'']].<ref name="WORp131">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 131: "Punishing Priori"</ref>

When the Adder task force arrived in the Priori system in late November it discovered a sizeable defensive force assembled in the system ready to oppose them; in addition to three vessels missing from the Star Adder naval reserve and now flying under [[Clan Burrock]] colors, the former [[Clan Smoke Jaguar]] ''[[Black Lion]]''-class battlecruiser [[Streaking Mist (Individual Black Lion-class WarShip)|CSJ ''Streaking Mist'']] was in the system as well. The Burrock forces waited for the Star Adders to approach before engaging in battle near Priori's second moon, Opal. The senior Star Adder naval officer was [[Star Admiral]] [[Lilith Paik]], and opposing her was Burrock Star Admiral [[Kirc Van Houten]]. Van Houten began by using Opal to anchor his position and maneuvered his smaller fleet into a superior position, targeting the combined firepower of the ships under his command at the ''Pegasus'', while throwing his aerospace fighters forward to attack the Star Adder DropShips. Paik responded to this opening by launching three Stars of fighters tasked with attacking the ''Streaking Mist'', forcing the battlecruiser to begin withdrawing; the ''Streaking Mist'' attempted to use the ''Arcadian Asp'' as cover, the ''Arcadian Asp'' having been crippled by damage, but Paik was determined to try and capture the ''Streaking Mist'' and dispatched the ''Yorktown'' in hot pursuit. The ''Yorktown'' launched a number of small craft with marine boarding parties aboard in an attempt to board the ''Streaking Mist'', but the ship managed to reach a safe jump point and promptly jumped, the hyperspace wake leaving a number of the ''Yorktown'''s small craft floating as twisted and mangled debris behind the ''Streaking Mist''.<ref name="WORp131"/>

With the ''Streaking Mist'' gone the remaining Burrock ships attempted to retreat; Van Houten's gamble with the fighters had inflicted damage on the Star Adder DropShips, with half of Mu Galaxy destroyed along with their transport vessels, but the gamble had left the fighters out of position to cover the Burrock WarShips, who were pressed hard by the Adders until they reached the protective umbrella offered by the orbital shipyard's defenses and the small [[SDS]] network based on Priori. While the Adder craft pulled back to long range and sniped at the various batteries, the Burrocks continued to retreat away until they reached a pirate point and jumped, leaving Priori to its fate. The resulting war on the ground would take almost a year to resolve, with the Star Adders finally gaining complete control of the world in October [[3074]].<ref name="WORp131"/>

==Notes==
* ''[[The Wars of Reaving]]'' indicates that when the Star Adders fought in the Priori system in 3073, Clan Burrock had mustered three vessels taken from the Star Adder naval reserve as a part of their defense, but the book does not name the vessels in question.<ref name="WORp131"/>''The Wars of Reaving'' further indicates that at its height Clan Burrock mustered seven WarShips,<ref name="WORp89"/> and that two of the vessels missing from the Star Adder naval reserve designated MSKC-2 were a ''Riga''-class destroyer and a ''[[Kimagure]]''-class pursuit cruiser.<ref name="WORp112">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 112: "Constriction"</ref>

: Of the seven vessels within the Burrock WarShip fleet, two were captured vessels from [[Clan Cloud Cobra]], one was a suborned Star Adder WarShip, the ''Lola III''-class [[Yodan|CSA ''Yodan'']], and the other four ships comprised one ''Riga'', the CBS ''Hetherington'', one ''Kimagure'', the CBS ''Admiral Russell Nga'', and two ''[[Mako]]''-class corvettes, the CBS ''Ingrid Bucharev'' and the CBS ''Stone Crab''.<ref name="WORp89"/> Of these vessels, the ''Ingrid Bucharev'' is noted as having suffered an irreparable breach of its helium seals in the Tanis system in July 3072, confining it to that system,<ref name="WORp93">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 93: "Death Rides Forth"</ref> and the ''Hetherington'' is noted as having been destroyed in the [[Salonika]] system in late July 3072 in battle with forces from [[Clan Diamond Shark]].<ref name="WORp102"/>

: This combination of ships and events makes it likely, but not certain, that the three Burrock vessels faced in the Priori system in 3073 by the Star Adders were the ''Yodan'' (renamed the ''Rebirth'' by Clan Burrock), the ''Admiral Russell Nga'' and the ''Stone Crab'', but this has not been confirmed yet by a [[canon]] source.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[The Wars of Reaving]]''


[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Corvettes]]
[[Category: Individual Mako-class WarShips]]