COMM IDHanson, Kimberly R. :Secondary Fleet Fighter Corps TARGET ID:Secondary Fleet Command SUBJECT:After Action Report ENCRYPTION:High PRIORTY:Medium SIGNAL LOSS: 12%
Sirs,
I regret to report the loss of my Avenger Strikecraft, to enemy action near the Bering Gate in the Texas System. Report as follows
Earlier today, I was part of a Fighter Flight attached to Secondary Fleet Dreadnought Codename "JudgeDread", we were responding to reports of very heavy Liberty Rogue activity in California, which the LPI was not equipped to handle at the time. We lost the Rogues in the Whitney Ice Field, about which time we received reports of a Rhineland Fleet entering Liberty, Via the Bering System.
Jumping to Texas Via Virginia, we found several Naval assets on scene. I rendezvoused with Sub-Lieutenant Thorn, the senior officer on site. Other Primary Fleet personnel included Sub-Lieutenant Dimitrova, Ensign Smith, and Recruit Zann. Primary Fleet officers processed all the Allied Bombers present in the group.
The Rhineland fleet had made it as far as the tradelane between Houston and the New York jumpgate. It is obvious that had our forces not intercepted, the Rhinelanders could have, and most certainly would have, continued into New York.
The size of the Rhineland battlegroup, 3 Fully armed Rheinland Battleships, with an additional Cruiser in support, necessitated that we not engage until a suitable counter could be assembled.We pulled off some distance, and awaited for additional ships to arrive. Call signs of the Rhineland vessels are as follows-
RNC-Munster - Battleship
RNC-Wallenhorst - Battleship :I lost sensor and visual contact with this vessel at 21:09:25 SMT. I don't know what became of it. After action analysis indicates that it may have been equipped with some type of cloaking device. I believe it probably escaped Liberty undamaged.
Toph.Beifong -Battleship :Note this vessel behaved differently than the others. I suspect it may have even been controlled by an artificial intelligence.
RNC-Kassel -Rhineland Cruiser
With the arrival of LNS-Fluffy.Bunny, command was deferred to Lieutenant Commander Redline
Several Secondary Fleet Capital Ships arrived on station, composed in part of -
At approximately 21:09:00 SMT, the Rhineland Fleet, apparently noting our massing forces, abruptly commenced a course towards the Virginia jump hole. If Virgina was their actual destination, or the jump hole merely coincidentally in their path, I am not certain. Either to a sucessful disruptor hit by one of ours, or their own action, the Rhinelanders halted, not far from the Virginia hole. Near this point I lost sensor contact with the third Battleship.
At 21:10:49 SMT, the Rhineland Fleet opened fire. LNS-Arkansas led the first assault, with other ships in support. Having little way to actually hurt the battleships with my Avenger, I did my best to follow and support the Primary Fleet Bombers, I commenced Razor fire on the Rhineland Cruiser, and attempted to present a tempting and quick moving target to the less disciplined of the Rhineland gunners.
At 21:12:27 LABC Finarfin was downed by enemy fire.
By 21:14:17, LNS-Columbus and LNS-Revenge had closed with, and engaged the enemy.
At 21:15:09, Secondary Fleet Dreadnought Codename "JudgeDread" was downed by the combined fire of the Rhineland Battlegroup. Human losses are believed to be high.
LNS-Fluffy.Bunny was under concentated fire, and several of us moved to provide support.
At 21:16:02, the enemy Battleship RNC-Munster was downed, followed an instant later by the Rhineland Cruiser. At this, the last remaining Battleship, the Toph.Beifong, began a retreat. Liberty forces began a pursuit, with some disorder over the Rhinelanders heading.
21:17:40 LNS-Fluffy.Bunny, with its sustained damage, returned to base, leaving Sub-Lieutenant Thorn as senior officer
21:20:52 Liberty forces cornered and destroyed the escaping Battleship.I was between the Hudson and Bering trade lanes at this time.
The threat from enemy capital ships addressed, all Liberty Capital Vessels returned to their other duties.
21:21:00 Recruit Zann reported hostile forces at the Bering jump gate. I moved to close with this fighter.
I arrived on site, and scanned the contact, a 90-ARKM-N45 "Wraith" class Rhineland VHF, call sign "Frantz.Bunny". He was already engaged with Liberty Forces, and I opened fire.
21:38:51 After surviving nearly seventeen full minutes against several Liberty Strikecraft, the Wraith continued to attack. Another Wraith entered the system, call sign Barent.Adalbert.
At 21:40:40, Ensign Smiths' strikecraft was downed by one of the Wraiths.
21:58:57, Recruit Zann reported systems failure and had to withdraw from the engagment.
The Wraiths took harbor in the Bering Jumpgate, using it as over from our fire
At 22:05:03, a nuclear mine stuck my Avenger, and I lost hull integrity, my ejection system activated. My pod was recovered after a few hours, by rescue elements from the Mississippi.
Lessions Learned-
*The large number of Liberty Vessels on one channel, severely hampered tactical coordination of assets once they were in place. The loss of the Dreadnought might be attributed to its commanders belief that his ship was being covered by others, when in fact, the ship went to close quarters with two Rhineland battleships without allocated support. Details had to be often repeated, and tactical voice procedure protocols where not followed. A lack of clarity in some transmissions led to several ships misinterpeting instructions, or acting on incorrect information. Smaller comm channel groups may have helped prevent this. In fluid engagements, this is of course not practical or desirable, however, in this case, there was amble time to plan the attack in advance.
*Lack of adequate fighter support. While during the engagement with the capital ships, this was mostly irelevant, once we engaged the Wraiths, they had an advantage of the Bombers present, and each one was at worst an even match for my Avenger. Though to be fair, the Wraith presence was indeed a complete surprise to our forces.
I take full responsibility for the loss of my craft to enemy action. My mistake was allowing my fighter to be drawn into the close quarters of the Jumpgate, making an easy target for a mine. A failed to realize my target had apparently been resupplied by his compatriot. I won't make the same mistake again.
If I may speak freely,
I was very impressed with the Wraith pilots, in paticularly the one that took me down. He fought for over forty minutes against a numerically and technologically superior force, and still managed to down at least three of us. I've gained a better respect for their Fighter corps as a result.
That said, their capital ships were easy pickings for our guys.
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