Editing Xanthos (Individual Black Lion-class WarShip)

{{infoBoxIndividualSpacecraft
| image      = 
| vesselname = Xanthos
| prevname   = Nelson
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[Black Lion]]
| prevclass  = 
| servicesince = 
| serviceuntil = 
}}
The [[FWLS]] '''''Xanthos''''' was a former [[Star League Defense Force]] [[WarShip]] that was salvaged by the [[Free Worlds League]] in the [[thirty-first century]]. 

==History==
The ''[[Black Lion]]''-class battlecruiser<ref name="FM:SLDFp198">''Field Manual: SLDF'', p. 198: "161st Line Squadron"</ref> SLS '''''Nelson''''' was the winner of the Best WarShip category of the [[2732]] [[Martial Olympiad]].<ref name=""TSLp135">''The Star League'', p. 135: "Martial Olympiad Champions 2640-2736"</ref>

In [[2764]], the ''Nelson'' was serving was the flagship of [[Vice Admiral]] [[Dudley Spencer]], the commanding officer of [[16th Fleet (Star League)|161st Line Squadron]] within the SLDF [[16th Fleet (Star League)|Sixteenth Fleet]].<ref name="FM:SLDFp198">''Field Manual: SLDF'', p. 198: "161st Line Squadron"</ref>

The ''Nelson'' played a valuable part in the [[Amaris Civil War]], taking heavy damage in the battle to liberate [[Oliver]]; the crew of the ''Nelson'' managed to nurse her as far as SLDF fleet station in the [[Castor]] system, only for the SLDF command to declare that the ''Nelson'' wasn't considered a viable candidate for repair. As a result of this decision the ''Nelson'' was scuttled and abandoned in a long elliptical orbit around Castor.<ref name="FM:FWLp119">''Field Manual: Free Worlds League'', p. 119: "Renovation/Construction"</ref>

While the ''Nelson'''s career with the SLDF was over, it wasn't the last time the doughty ship would see military service; after the fall of the Star League the ''Nelson'' was located by [[ComStar]] but was left where she had been found due to the amount of work that was believed to be required to return her to active service. The [[Free Worlds League]] later became aware of the location of the ''Nelson'' thanks to information provided by the [[Word of Blake]], who had relocated to the League after the schism within ComStar and who had decided to assist the League in its [[WarShip]] rearmament program. The Blakists had helped the League locate twenty-two assorted derelict WarShips by [[3059]], of which the ''Nelson'' was one;<ref name="FM:FWLp116">''Field Manual: Free Worlds League'', p. 116: "Aid From The Word of Blake"</ref> a salvage team from the Free Worlds League salvaged the ''Nelson'' in [[3058]] and moved her to [[Ionus]], where she underwent more than two years of renovation work in the secret [[Illium Shipyards]] to return her to operational status.<ref name="FM:FWLp119"/>

The ''Nelson'' represented the single greatest catch of the Free Worlds League's secret reclamation program, and went on to serve in the League's spaceborn navy under the designation FWLS ''Xanthos''.<ref name="FM:FWLp119"/> As late as the eve of the [[Jihad]] in [[3067]] the ''Xanthos'' was still the only battlecruiser in service with the Free Worlds League.<ref name="FM:Up144">''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 144: "Ships Of The FWL"</ref>

In [[3068]], the ''Xanthos'' was suborned by the Word of Blake, a fate that befell a substantial number of League WarShips; her true colors were revealed when the ''Xanthos'' was involved in a pitched naval battle in the [[Atreus (FWL)|Atreus]] system on the 25th of October, where loyalist and Blakist elements of the Free Worlds League navy turned on each other. The ''Xanthos'' joined the ''[[Thera]]''-class carrier [[Corinth|FWLS ''Corinth'']] and one of her escorts, the ''[[Eagle (WarShip class)|Eagle]]''-class frigate [[Mordred (Individual Eagle-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Mordred'']], the ''[[Aegis (WarShip class)|Aegis]]''-class heavy cruiser [[Nueva Badajoz|FWLS ''Nueva Badajoz'']], the ''[[Agamemnon]]''-class heavy cruiser [[Aineas|FWLS ''Aeneas'']] and the ''[[Impavido]]''-class destroyer [[Impavido (Individual Impavido-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Impavido'']]. The Blakist-aligned WarShips attacked the loyalist WarShips in the system, which were mainly lighter destroyers and corvettes, and which consisted of the ''Eagle''-class [[Gawain|FWLS ''Gawain'']], the ''Impavido''-class [[Janos Marik (Individual Impavido-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Janos Marik'']], the ''[[Zechetinu]]''-class corvette [[Sparta (Individual Zechetinu-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Sparta'']], the ''[[Zechetinu|Zechetinu II]]''-class corvettes [[Acari|FWLS ''Acari'']] and [[Scorpion (Individual Zechetinu-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Scorpion'']] and the ''[[Essex]]''-class destroyer [[Raven (Individual Essex-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Raven'']].<ref name="JTP:ABC">''Jihad Turning Points: Atreus BattleCorps Exclusive Track'', p. 2: "True Colors Revealed"</ref>

The naval battle in the Atreus system was a victory for the Blakist forces; none of the Blakist WarShips were destroyed, although all of them had suffered damage, but of the loyalist forces, only the FWLS ''Acari'' and FWLS ''Raven'' escaped to seek refuge in the [[Duchy of Oriente]].<ref name="JTP:ABC"/>

The ''Xanthos'' was subsequently destroyed in the [[Shiloh]] system in [[3070]] along with the ''Aegis''-class [[Impetuous|WoBS ''Impetuous'']] by the ''Eagle''-class frigates [[Galahad (Individual Eagle-class WarShip)|FWLS ''Galahad'']] and [[Lancelot (Individual DropShip)|FWLS ''Lancelot'']] and the ''Agamemnon''-class [[Menelaus|FWLS ''Menelaus'']].<ref name=JHS:3070p108-109>''Jihad Hot Spots: 3070'', pp. 108–109: "Fleet Advisory: Shiloh"</ref><ref name=BAp268-269>''Blake Ascending'', pp. 268–269 </ref><ref name="J:FRp128A">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 128: "Captured Ships"</ref>

==Notes==

{{Quote|Hello,

The SLS Nelson was a Black Lion-class. Field Manual: SLDF was in error.

Thank you,

Herbert Beas<br>
BattleTech<br>
Catalyst Game Labs|[http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,23492.msg523970.html#msg523970 Herbert Beas, BattleTech Line Developer, 02 Oct 2012]}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Blake Ascending]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Free Worlds League]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: SLDF]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3070]]''
* ''[[BattleCorps Scenarios#Jihad Turning Point: Atreus BattleCorps Exclusive|Jihad Turning Points: Atreus (BattleCorps Exclusive Track)]]''
* ''[[The Star League]]''

[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Battlecruisers]]
[[Category: Individual Black Lion-class WarShips]]