Severen Leroux (Individual Black Lion-class WarShip)

(Redirected from SLS Severen Leroux)
This article is about the WarShip. For the eponymous character, see Severen Leroux.
Severen Leroux
Vessel Profile
Previous namesThunderbolt
TypeWarShip
ClassBlack Lion
In service until3078[1][2][3]

History[edit]

Star League[edit]

The Black Lion-class battlecruiser Thunderbolt was a WarShip serving within the spaceborn navy of the Star League Defense Force at the height of the Star League era. The Thunderbolt survived the chaos and destruction of the Amaris Civil War and the Hegemony Campaign and was one of the WarShips to follow General Aleksandr Kerensky on the Exodus into the Deep Periphery. When General Kerensky's efforts to found a society for the Star League in Exile failed after his death and the Pentagon Worlds degenerated into internecine warfare the Thunderbolt was one of the vessels to accompany the forces loyal to Nicholas Kerensky on the withdrawal to Strana Mechty; after the founding of the Clans by Nicholas the Thunderbolt became a serving vessel within one of the nascent Clan toumans.[4]

Operation KLONDIKE[edit]

The Thunderbolt was one of the vessels assigned to the naval group commanded by the Khan of Clan Snow Raven, the former SLDF Admiral Stephen McKenna, for the pacification of the spacefarer communities and their naval forces in the Circe system during Operation KLONDIKE. Alongside the Avatar-class heavy cruiser Korat the Thunderbolt was deployed against the spacefarer community known as Outpost One, a conglomeration of JumpShips, DropShips and WarShips built around what had been the nadir recharge station of the Circe system, which the spacefarers had established eighteen years previously and relocated far afield from its original location, and which now contained tens of thousands of spacefarers.[4]

Initially, the visible defenders of Outpost One consisted of a pair of WarShips, a Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruiser and a McKenna-class battlecruiser. The Korat and the Thunderbolt initially jumped in close enough to Outpost One that the WarShips were already in engagement range, and both the Sovetskii Soyuz and McKenna moved to intercept the Clan ships; while the Korat and the Thunderbolt had well-trained crews and theoretically were superior to the spacefarer WarShips, none of the crews had any experience of actual naval combat. As a result, the combat between the four ships was far more even than it might have appeared; the Korat and the Thunderbolt destroyed both opposing WarShips, but the length of the engagement gave the spacefarers time to jump away a trio of JumpShips in an attempt to evacuate Outpost One. More critically, the battle and evacuation revealed the existence of a Potemkin-class cruiser which had been docked with Outpost One and which escaped with the lion's share of the population of the colony. Despite this the Clans still captured dozens of assorted JumpShips and DropShips as well as thousands of spacefarers.[4]

Clan Era[edit]

The Thunderbolt was in the Clan Nova Cat touman in 3058 as the NCS Thunderbolt and formed a part of the Clan Nova Cat Naval Reserve in the Inner Sphere, serving alongside the Congress-class frigate NCS True Vision, nine Aegis-class heavy cruisers and three Vincent-class corvettes.[5] In April 3062, the Thunderbolt was still a Nova Cat WarShip and as such was serving the Second Star League; however, the Thunderbolt was no longer serving under her original name, as the decision had been made to rename the ship as the Severen Leroux in the wake of the Abjuration of the Nova Cats and their exile from the Clan Homeworlds. The Severen Leroux was made the Nova Cat flagship in place of the NCS True Vision.[6]

By 3067, the Severen Leroux had joined the Mystic Naval Star,[7] and would serve as the NCS Severen Leroux during the Jihad, one of the Nova Cat WarShips which joined the allied coalition efforts against the Word of Blake.[3] The Severen Leroux destroyed the ronin Draconis Combine Kirishima-class DCS Urizen II in the Avon system in July 3072. The Kokuryu-kai-controlled spacecraft was indiscriminately attacking Nova Cat vessels before its destruction.[8][9][10]

The Jihad[edit]

During the Jihad, the Word of Blake established a new Space Defense System around Bryant. This proved to be a nasty surprise for the attacking Coalition forces in March 3078. The Bastion and Capitol-class space stations made short work of the WarShip group commanded by Star Admiral Erik Devalis.[1] The Nova Cats lost two WarShips as they braved the SDS network, the Severen Leroux and the Vincent Mk. 42-class corvette NCS Spirit Vision.[2][3]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 72: "Dire Straits"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 58: "The Jihad in Review"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Field Report: Clans, p. 16: "Fleet Assets"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 44: "Circe Outposts"
  5. Invading Clans, p. 122: "Front Line Unit Summary"
  6. Field Manual: ComStar, p. 133: "Naval Assets"
  7. Field Manual: Updates, p. 96: "Naval Fleet"
  8. Jihad Hot Spots: 3072, p. 98: "Fight or Die!"
  9. Field Report: DCMS, p. 5
  10. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 23: "Timeline of the Jihad

Bibliography[edit]