Blake's Sword
Sarna News
- HEXTECH Review - Wave 3 Brings More Urban Options To Your Battlefield
- Your BattleTech News Round-Up For March, 2024
- Crashing 'Mechs With Jennifer Brozek, Author Of The Rogue Academy Trilogy
- Getting The Word Out With Rem Alternis, Catalyst Community & Marketing Director
- Bad 'Mechs - Yeoman
- Read more →
| Blake's Sword | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vessel Profile | |
| Previous names | Zughoffer Weir |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | McKenna |
The Blake's Sword was a former Star League Defense Force naval McKenna-class WarShip that later served with the Word of Blake navy.
Contents
History[edit]
Star League Service[edit]
The WBS Blake's Sword was originally commissioned into service as the SLS Zughoffer Weir in 2717, with the keel having been laid down in 2712 at the Titan Shipyards. The SLS Zughoffer Weir was a part of the Star League Defense Force navy and was initially assigned to Army Group Davion before being reassigned to Army Group Liao in 2743, and in 2746 the SLS Zughoffer Weir received the McKenna Wheel award.[1]
With the outbreak of the New Vandenberg Uprising in 2765 the SLS Zughoffer Weir was dispatched to the Magistracy of Canopus before being assigned to Task Force Hammer for the SLDF campaign against the Rim Worlds Republic led by General Aleksandr Kerensky following the coup launched by Stefan Amaris. Having survived the Rim Worlds Republic campaign the SLS Zughoffer Weir was assigned to Task Force Sun for the campaign to liberate the Terran Hegemony, suffering moderate damage during the liberation of Terra in 2777. That damage required the Zughoffer Weir to be taken out of service for repair and overhaul, and the SLS Zughoffer Weir would finally rejoin the navy on active duty in 2780. The last record of the SLS Zughoffer Weir maintained in the Inner Sphere indicated that the ship joined General Kerensky as a part of the Exodus Fleet in 2784.[1]
Wolverine Annihilation[edit]
Described as an older McKenna which had been in service with Clan Wolverine for some time prior to the Trial of Annihilation that saw the Wolverines destroyed, the Zughoffer Weir was last seen by the Clans during the battle in the Barbados system in the Deep Periphery. The bulk of the survivors from Clan Wolverine were resupplying in the system when the Great Fleet assembled by ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky jumped in via at least two jump points and began engaging the Wolverine WarShips and JumpShips. The Zughoffer Weir—then still known as the SLS Zughoffer Weir—fought during the naval engagement, and was observed crippling the Clan Hell's Horses WarShip CHH Mustang via a point-blank run along her keel that destroyed the Mustang's CIC. The Zughoffer Weir had waded into the middle of the various fire arcs for several WarShips to strike at the Mustang, and then jumped out of the Barbados system before nearby WarShips from Clan Cloud Cobra could engage it.[2]
It isn't known if the Zughoffer Weir subsequently met up with the surviving Clan Wolverine elements led by Khan Trish Ebon when she led the Texas-class battleship SLS Bismark and a small fleet of ships which had been acting as screening forces back to the Barbados system to pick up the few survivors of Kerensky's purge.[3]
Word of Blake Service[edit]
Records allegedly recovered by Chandrasekhar Kurita during his investigations into the Word of Blake before and during the Jihad included further detail on the SLS Zughoffer Weir, claiming that in late 3061 an inoperative, heavily-damaged McKenna-class battleship had been delivered to the Titan shipyard, and that this inoperative vessel had been discovered rimward of the Outworlds Alliance. Due to the lack of any record of a major WarShip action in that area of space during the Periphery Uprising, the Word of Blake believed the vessel to be one of those that left during the Exodus and which had been abandoned as a result of damage taken. It was also annotated that the same description had been given to every McKenna-class WarShip known to have left with General Kerensky for which no other known fate was recorded.[1]
These records, when cross-referenced with those of the WBS Blake's Sword, show that the ship was rechristened the WBS Blake's Sword and reentered service, this time with the Word of Blake, in July 3065. The WBS Blake's Sword was deployed to the Tharkad system in 3067,[1][4][5] and then used in the opening throes of the Jihad in January 3068 when it and the Essex-class WBS Deliverance, were used against the predominantly Com Guard forces on Tukayyid. After successfully destroying the ComStar naval forces in-system, the CSS Hammerstrike and CSS Blake's Vengeance, the WBS Blake's Sword initiated a planetary blockade and bombarded ComStar forces on the ground.[6] The WBS Blake's Sword would remain in the Tukayyid system, with records supplied by Chandrasekhar Kurita indicating that the ship may have been stranded due to drive failure.[1]
In July 3070, it was reported that a Clan Ghost Bear Task Force had arrived in the Tukayyid system, led by the CGB Rasalhague, a Leviathan II-class heavy battleship. In the ensuing battle, the WBS Blake's Sword was disabled by the powerful Clan battleship.[7] Subsequent investigation apparently indicated that a survey of the hull of the WBS Blake's Sword conducted in November 3072 showed the ship to be unsalvageable, with the Word of Blake closing their files on the vessel.[1]
Clan Wolverine Service[edit]
Evidence provided as Canon Rumor suggests that the SLS Zughoffer Weir was a part of a group of survivors from Clan Wolverine which escaped the annihiliation of that Clan conducted within Clan space in 2824 and which escorted the survivors back to the Inner Sphere, becoming involved in the events surrounding the group known as the Minnesota Tribe. The presence of the Zughoffer Weir as a part of the Word of Blake fleet was used as evidence that at least some of the survivors of Clan Wolverine—the "Not-Named Clan"—had encountered ComStar and joined the order during the twenty-ninth century.[8]
Notes[edit]
- The Zughoffer Weir first appeared in an image on p. 9 of Field Manual: Updates depicting Aleksandr Kerensky planning his Operation Exodus, with a screen in the background listing the names and class of numerous WarShips plus an (unexplained) percentage number. The Zughoffer Weir, misspelled as "Zughoffer Wier" in this picture, is the only vessel listed with a percentage greater than 100 (it is given as 112%).
- According to BattleTech writer Øystein Tvedten[9] several BattleTech writers had WarShips that went on the Exodus named after them in this picture and the Zughoffer Weir was named for longtime forum user "Weirdo."
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 117: "What's In A Name"
- ↑ Betrayal of Ideals, part 4, p. 41
- ↑ Betrayal of Ideals, part 4, p. 67
- ↑ Blake Ascending, p. 41: "Death From Above"
- ↑ Dawn of the Jihad, p. 41: "Death From Above"
- ↑ Blake Ascending, p. 87: "Tukayyid Hit, Heavy Casualties Reported"
- ↑ Blake Ascending, p. 264: "Tukayyid Free at Last!"
- ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, pp. 121–124: "The Not-Named"
- ↑ In this posting on the official BattleTech Forum