Hadrian

Hadrian
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassMako

History[edit]

The Hadrian was a Mako-class corvette in service with the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces during and possibly before the First Succession War as the LCS Hadrian. In 2792 the Hadrian was one of the six-corvette WarShip squadron deployed by Archon Richard Steiner on Operation HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE under the overall command of Kommodore Gustav Sharae.[1]

Operation HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE - "Shark Fin Soup" - called for Sharae to take his squadron to the Finmark system and either seize or neutralize both the Roe Weapon Systems shipyard in the system and Finmark itself, as both were considered strategic threats to the Lyran Commonwealth by the Archon, and Sharae's orders were explicit that any perceived threat was to be neutralized with extreme prejudice; to ensure that this was accomplished, Richard had Sharae's squadron equipped with strategic nuclear weapons.[2]

Sharae's squadron consisted of six corvettes and ten DropShips. The corvettes were a pair of Vincent Mk. 39s, the LCS Ulm and LCS Potsdam, and four Makos, including the Hadrian and Sharae's flagship, the LCS Constantius. The DropShips consisted of six Leopard CV fighter carriers and four Fury-class DropShips fully loaded with marines, and the squadron easily seized the Finmark zenith jump station after destroying the single defending Achilles-class DropShip. Although Finmark had become the capital of a new minor Periphery state, the Finmark Free Republic, as part of an effort to pull together systems from the former Finmark Province of the Rim Worlds Republic into a coherent state, the Finmark government couldn't resist the strength of the LCAF, and initially appeared to acquiesce to Sharae's demands to cede control of the shipyards to the Lyran Commonwealth.[1]

When Sharae deployed forces to seize the shipyard, a concealed nuclear weapon contained within the shipyard was detonated, badly damaging the Potsdam, destroying four DropShips - two Furies and two Leopard CVs, damaging the Ulm and causing confusion on the part of the remaining ships. Whilst the Potsdam tumbled out of control with raging internal fires caused by the explosion, desperately calling for assistance, Finmark launched strategic nukes and fighters to engage the squadron; at least one if not two more nuclear weapons detonated nearby, destroying the Potsdam and Ulm utterly along with the shipyards.[1]

Share responded to the attack by regrouping his ships and launching an orbital nuclear bombardment of Finmark that lasted a day. Those on Finmark attempted to make pleas for mercy, but the last communications went quiet ten hours into the bombardment, and by the time Sharae's forces stopped bombing the planet, the debris and ash thrown up into the atmosphere was dense enough that the burning cities on the surface were no longer visible from orbit.[1]

As a result of Operation HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE the Finmark Free Republic died stillborn within the following decade.[3]

Notes[edit]

The Hadrian and her sister ships appear to have been named after the leaders of the ancient Roman Empire on Terra; in the case of the Hadrian, the leader in question is the ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 First Succession War, pp. 68–69: "Shark Fin Soup"
  2. First Succession War, p. 67: "The Fist of Defiance: Steiner's Campaigns"
  3. First Succession War, p. 100: "The Finmark Free Republic"

Bibliography[edit]