Ark Royal (Individual Conqueror-class WarShip)

This article is about the Conqueror-class vessel, a class that was only created in 3042. For The Star League era WarShip, see Ark Royal.

History

As at 3061 the Conqueror-class carrier Ark Royal was a WarShip within the Clan Snow Raven touman and was serving as the CSR Ark Royal, one of five WarShips that made up the Storm Crow Naval Pursuit Star. The Ark Royal was newest vessel to join the Snow Raven touman at the time, having been launched in 3059, and was the second of two Conqueror-class vessels to be constructed by the Snow Ravens. The Ark Royal had launched seven years after her sister ship, the Conqueror, due to a series of production delays, and had originally been intended to be an escort vessel for the Leviathan class of WarShips. The Ark Royal continued to serve in the Storm Crow Naval Pursuit Star throughout the 3060s alongside the Texas-class battleship CSR Mountbatten, the Cameron-class battlecruiser CSR Kerensky's Hope, the Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruiser CSR Storm Crow and the Carrack-class transport CSR Nestling.

The Storm Crow Naval Pursuit Star was responsible for the scourging of Galedon V, in which every major city on the planet was bombarded from orbit by Snow Raven WarShips a week after the population was given notice to flee; this massively destructive act was retaliation for the perceived involvement of the Draconis Combine in the destruction of the Swift Wing Naval Assault Star at Ramora on the 5th of January 3069, although later investigation subsequently placed the blame for the action on terrorists backed by the Word of Blake.

Three vessels within the Storm Crow Naval Pursuit Star took fleeing civilians from Galedon as isorla only to subsequently discover that the civilians had brought the Curse of Galedon with them - an Age of War bioweapon later identified as XCON-73 that had been unleashed accidentally during an earlier conflict on the planet. Not only were the civilians infected, but XCON-73 was also being carried through the ventilation systems on all three ships. The three infected ships - the Mountbatten, Nestling and Storm Crow - were declared as targets of a Trial of Annihilation by Star Admiral Troy McKenna, the senior officer amongst the uninfected vessels. The Nestling immediately vented her holds into space, killing all the civilians aboard, but McKenna's forces pressed the attack; the Captains of all three infected ships fought back, but the Ark Royal and the CSR Kerensky's Hope prevailed, disabling or destroying all three ships. However, it was originally reported that the Ark Royal had been one of the vessels infected by the Curse.

The Ark Royal would fight extensively during the Jihad, being involved in the battle to liberate Dieron in late 3077, where the Ark Royal fought a major naval engagement in the system under the command of Star Admiral James Lankenau and was witness to the Leviathan-class CGB Leviathan being scuttled as a result of combat damage inflicted by a large number of Blakist WarShips and Pocket WarShips. The Ark Royal went on to serve as a part of Task Force CRONUS, the predominantly-Clan naval force responsible for capturing the Titan Yards in 3078 as a part of the allied coalition efforts to liberate Terra from the Word of Blake.

As of 3145 the Ark Royal was part of the Ice Storm Naval Star, though it was mentioned that the fleet had been "reactivated", suggesting it may have been inactive, decommissioned or mothballed at some time between 3078 and 3145.

Bibliography

• Blake Ascending
• Field Manual: 3145
• Field Manual: Updates
• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3070
• Jihad Hot Spots: Terra
• Wars of Reaving