Robert Kelswa (Individual Fox-class WarShip)
Sarna News
| Robert Kelswa | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Fox |
Contents
History
The Robert Kelswa was the fourth Fox-class corvette to be constructed by the Port Sydney Naval Shipyards in the Alarion system, originally expected to enter service in 3064.[1] The Robert Kelswa was nearly complete in late 3063 when the Loyalist forces on Alarion were ordered to abandon the world by Maria Esteban, in the face of the impending arrival of two elite Allied RCTs, the Sixth Crucis Lancers and the Thirty-ninth Avalon Hussars. Maria Esteban ordered the Robert Kelswa to be launched in her nearly-operational state, rather than allow her to fall into Allied hands.[2] The Robert Kelswa was subsequently responsible for forcing the 244th Division - also known as "the Prince's Men" - to withdraw from Furillo on the 17th of July 3064.[3]
The Robert Kelswa subsequently fought in the Battle of Tharkad[4] on the 18th of August 3066; when a task force composed of the Kell Hounds, Clan Wolf-in-Exile, the Blue Star Irregulars and the Twentieth Arcturan Guards arrived in the system with a WarShip escort, the Robert Kelswa was one of the Loyalist WarShips that moved to engage. Fighting in deep space alongside at least one other Loyalist ship, the Mjolnir-class battlecruiser LAS Yggdrasil, the Robert Kelswa engaged the task force's WarShip escort. The Allied WarShips, led by the McKenna-class battleship CWS Werewolf, defeated the Loyalist WarShips, but not before the Fredasa-class corvette Kerensky's Blues operated by the Blue Star Irregulars took heavy damage. The Yggdrasil was crippled in the battle, taken as isorla, refitted and renamed the CWS Winter Wolf;[5] the Robert Kelswa was also damaged and taken as isorla, but both ships were subsequently returned to the Lyran Alliance under the Arc-Royal protocols. The damage taken during the Battle of Tharkad was extensive enough that the Robert Kelswa wasn't expected to be fit for service again until 3070.[4]
The FedCom Civil War took a toll on the Lyran navy; by the end of the war, the only active Foxes left to the LAAF were the LAS Katrina Steiner, LAS Melissa Steiner, LAS Robert Marsden and the Robert Kelswa.[4]
The Robert Kelswa and another Fox, the Federated Suns WarShip FSS Robinson were captured in the opening stages of the Jihad by the Word of Blake, who operated the ships as a part of their fleet; the Robinson was serving alongside the Robert Kelswa in the Benjamin system in 3072 when both were destroyed in action.[6][7]
Notes
Field Manual: Updates lists the LAS Katherine Steiner as being in service with the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces in 3067, and the LAS Katrina Steiner as still being under construction. This contradicts Field Manual: Lyran Alliance and the FedCom Civil War sourcebook which list the Katrina Steiner as the first Fox to be manufactured at the Port Sydney Naval Shipyards and as having fought during the Civil War. For this article, it has been assumed that Field Manual: Updates is in error.
References
- ↑ Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 25, "WarShips"
- ↑ Storms of Fate, p. 42, the Robert Kelswa is pulled from the shipyards
- ↑ FedCom Civil War, p. 126, "Tikonov"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Field Manual: Updates, p. 165, "Ships of the Alliance"
- ↑ FedCom Civil War, p. 175, "Tharkad"
- ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128, "Captured Ships"
- ↑ Field Report: LAAF, p. 6, "Off The Edge Of The Map"