Abundantia

Abundantia
Vessel Profile
Previous namesDivine Forgiveness
TypeWarShip
ClassEssex

One of many WarShips to be disabled and abandoned or lost during the Star League era or the early Succession Wars, the Essex-class destroyer later known as the Divine Forgiveness was one of a number of ships recovered by the Word of Blake[1] and restored to working order in secret.[2]

History[edit]

The WoBS Divine Forgiveness was one of six Essex-class destroyers to serve in the Blakist fleet at the height of its power;[1] while the Blakists operated the WoBS Hidden Meaning and her sister ship WoBS Deliverance openly,[2] they also recovered and restored the WoBS Dawning Horizon, Divine Forgiveness and WoBS Enlightened Spark in secret prior to the Jihad, as well as stealing the former Clan Smoke Jaguar WarShip CSJ Dark Claw from her position in mothballs above Dieron and restoring her to working order.[1]

In October 3067, the Divine Forgiveness was positioned in the outskirts of the New Avalon system along with two other Blakist WarShips, the Riga-class frigate WoBS Red Angel and the Aegis-class heavy cruiser WoBS Herald of Justice with orders to jump to New Avalon and reveal themselves as the new defenders of the Federated Suns capital world after the Word of Blake had been accepted into the Second Star League. The collapse of the Second Star League ahead of the vote saw the three ships issued new orders; to punish the Federated Suns.[3] WarShips from the AFFS[4]—the Fox-class corvettes FSS Antrim and FSS Bryceland[3]—attempted to interdict the Blakist fleet as it approached New Avalon, and managed to cripple[4] and then destroy the WoBS Herald of Justice[5] via suicidal collisions[3] but despite the heavy fighting in space the AFFS could not prevent the Word from bombarding Avalon City and dropping almost a division of ground troops onto the city.[4]

Whilst the Divine Forgiveness and Red Angel ensured Blakist aerospace supremacy in the aftermath of the First Battle, the defenders reorganized their forces and called for reinforcements.[3] The first Word of Blake reinforcements arrived on New Avalon on the 10th of February 3068.[6] Arriving using JumpShips that had executed superjumps, the Thirty-sixth Militia Division made planetfall ahead of any of the AFFS reinforcements, initiating the Second Battle for New Avalon with nuclear weapons to make up for a lack of numbers. The nuclear bombardment shattered the First Davion Guards as well as laying waste to much of Avalon City. The Thirty-second was soon close to seizing control of the planet when the Davion reinforcements arrived in-system, each arriving at a different point and approaching the planet via different vectors in an effort to evade or breach the Blakist blockade, with varying degrees of success. All of the Davion Light Guards DropShips were intercepted by the Divine Forgiveness and Red Angel, while pocket WarShips destroyed half of the Third Davion Guards as they made their atmospheric insertion.[3]

The Second Battle for New Avalon ended in a stalemate; just as with the aftermath of the First Battle, the AFFS controlled the surface of New Avalon, but the Blakists continued to exercise orbital superiority, which they further reinforced by deploying a third WarShip to the system in November 3069[3]: the Eagle-class frigate FWLS Mordred, which had been upgraded since being subverted from the Free Worlds League black water navy.[7]

The battle for control of the planet continued for years; as late as November 3072, the remaining defenders on New Avalon were still preventing the Blakists from controlling the world.[8][9] It was during November 3072 that the Blakists received significant supplies, including additional aerospace forces and additional armaments for the three WarShips. Then, in December 3072, the Fifth FedCom RCT arrived in the New Avalon system and attempted to make planetfall. En route to the planet the Fifth FedCom threw their nuclear arsenal at the Red Angel, destroying it and a pocket WarShip.[3][1]

Following the Blakist victory in the Third Battle for New Avalon, the Word of Blake forces were recalled on 14 September 3074.[10][11] The decision to recall the Blakist forces was made by Precentor Martial Cameron St. Jamais as a result of the continuing insurgency being fought by the surviving AFFS personnel and a multisystem blockade enacted by AFFS naval forces that choked off supplies for the Blakists.[3]

The Divine Forgiveness was one of the Blakist WarShips destroyed in action in the Terra system in 3078 in the largest naval battle of the Jihad and the largest single battle of Operation SCOUR. Also destroyed in the same action were her sister ship Hidden Meaning, the Dante-class frigates WoBS Perdition and WoBS Salvation, the Pinto-class corvettes WoBS Milvano and WoBS Mayenne, the Naga-class destroyers WoBS Celestial Threads and WoBS Divine Command, the Carson-class destroyer WoBS Sword of Enlightenment, the two Black Lion-class battlecruisers WoBS Blake Ascendant and WoBS Rays of Enlightenment and the Blakist flagship, the Farragut-class battleship WoBS Righteous Justice.[1]

The ship was repaired by the Republic of the Sphere and named Abundantia.[12]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128: "Word of Blake Naval Assets"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 90: "Naval Assets and Militia Divisions"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Total Chaos, pp. 43–45: "New Avalon (sidebar)"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 44: "The Jihad In Review"
  5. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128: "Original Word Of Blake Fleet"
  6. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 45: "The Jihad In Review"
  7. Jihad Turning Points: New Avalon, p. 5: Naval Support
  8. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 23: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  9. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 51: "The Jihad In Review"
  10. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 52: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  11. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 53: "The Jihad In Review"
  12. Field Manual:3085, p. 185: "Republic Navy"

Bibliography[edit]