Editing Blake's Sword

{{infoBoxIndividualSpacecraft
| image      = Navalcamowob.png
| vesselname = Blake's Sword
| prevname   = Zughoffer Weir
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[McKenna (WarShip class)|McKenna]]
| prevclass  =
| servicesince = 
| serviceuntil = 
}}
The '''''Blake's Sword''''' was a former [[Star League Defense Force]] naval ''[[McKenna (WarShip class)|McKenna]]''-class [[WarShip]] that later served with the [[Word of Blake]] navy.

==History==
===Star League Service===
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|the ''McKenna Wheel'']] award.<ref name="JS:TBDp117">''Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents'', p. 117: "What's In A Name"</ref> 

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]].<ref name="JS:TBDp117"/>

===Wolverine Annihilation===
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 [[Clan]]s 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 [[JumpShip]]s. 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 [[Mustang (Individual 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.<ref name="BOI4-41">''Betrayal of Ideals'', part 4, p. 41</ref>

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 [[Bismark|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.<ref name="BOI4-67">''Betrayal of Ideals'', part 4, p. 67</ref>

===Word of Blake Service===
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.<ref name="JS:TBDp117"/>

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]],<ref name="JS:TBDp117"/><ref name="BAp41">''Blake Ascending'', p. 41: "Death From Above"</ref><ref name="DotJp41">''Dawn of the Jihad'', p. 41: "Death From Above"</ref> and then used in the opening throes of the [[Jihad]] in January [[3068]] when it and the ''[[Essex]]''-class [[Deliverance|WBS ''Deliverance'']], were used against the predominantly [[Com Guards|Com Guard]] forces on [[Tukayyid]]. After successfully destroying the ComStar naval forces in-system, the [[Hammerstrike|CSS ''Hammerstrike'']] and [[Blake's Vengeance|CSS ''Blake's Vengeance'']], the WBS ''Blake's Sword'' initiated a planetary  blockade and bombarded ComStar forces on the ground.<ref name="BAp87">''Blake Ascending'', p. 87: "Tukayyid Hit, Heavy Casualties Reported"</ref> 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.<ref name="JS:TBDp117"/>

In July [[3070]], it was reported that a [[Clan Ghost Bear]] Task Force had arrived in the Tukayyid system, led by the [[Rasalhague (Leviathan)|CGB ''Rasalhague'']], a ''[[Leviathan II]]''-class heavy battleship. In the ensuing battle, the WBS ''Blake's Sword'' was disabled by the powerful [[Clan]] battleship.<ref name="BAp264">''Blake Ascending'', p. 264: "Tukayyid Free at Last!"</ref> 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.<ref name="JS:TBDp117"/>

===Clan Wolverine Service===
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.<ref name="JS:TBDp121">''Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents'', pp. 121–124: "The Not-Named"</ref>

==Notes==
*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 W'''ie'''r''" 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]]<ref>In [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58337.msg1343915#msg1343915 this] posting on the official [[BattleTech Forum]]</ref> 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==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[AeroTech 2 Revised Edition]]''
* ''[[Betrayal of Ideals]]''
* ''[[Blake Ascending]]''
* ''[[Dawn of the Jihad]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents]]''

[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Battleships]]
[[Category: Individual McKenna-class WarShips]]