Nightwind (Individual Potemkin-class WarShip)
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| Nightwind | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Potemkin |
History
The Nightwind was a Potemkin-class cruiser in service with the Lyran Commonwealth as the LCS Nightwind during the First Succession War.[1]
In 2787 the Nightwind acted as the escort WarShip for the Tamar Tigers as they launched a daring deep-penetration raid against the world of Luthien, the capital of the Draconis Combine. The raid involved making a series of challenging jumps before emerging at a jump point in the Luthien system, at which point the Tamar Tigers dropped onto the surface of the planet to attack and destroy a trio of factories. As the Tigers hit their targets the Nightwind attacked and destroyed Luthien's orbital shipyards,[1] having already destroyed Luthien's naval picket. The LCAF had anticipated that Luthien would be heavily defended, and as a result all twenty-five of the Nightwind's hard points were in use, giving her a full compliment of assault DropShips and fighter carriers, but the actual defending forces were minimal at best - a single Naga-class light destroyer named the Blue Lotus - and while the Blue Lotus was joined by a half-complete Narukami II-class destroyer that was under construction in the shipyards when the Nightwind arrived in the Luthien system, neither ship could halt the vengeful Lyran forces.[2]
In addition to the loss of the orbital shipyards and two WarShips, the Lyran attack destroyed a Luthien Armor Works satellite BattleMech factory near the city of Obuchi, an ammunition factory on the outskirts of Skytower City and a food processing plant in Galileo, an agro-industrial city.[2]
As a consequence of the raid and the resulting psychological damage inflicted the Combine would ensure throughout the remaining Succession Wars that at least four regiments of BattleMechs would be assigned constantly to the defense of Luthien;[1] the two defending units at the time of the attack had been the Sun Zhang Military Academy Cadre located in the Imperial City and the Third Pesht Regulars assigned to defending the main LAW factories, leaving both units half a world away from the Tigers' drop zone on the Aichi continent.[2]
The final fate of the Nightwind is unknown, but by the end of the Third Succession War WarShips were effectively extinct within the Inner Sphere, indicating that the Nightwind had been destroyed or somehow otherwise removed from service.