Elessar2590’s Darkstar Campaign

When Battle Group Nassau arrived at the last known Location of the HMS Bounce they found it almost totally disabled but no sign of any enemy ships. Then as they were making their approach seven “Baroness” class ships were detected making a beeline for them. The Defence of HMS Bounce was imperative but so was finding out what these “Pirates” are after.

The HMS Burnaby starts the game at Velocity 0 in the centre of a 40 x 40 board. The “Pirates” will move onto the board from the “Southern” edge and does not know which edge the British Destroyers will move on from. The Royal Navy get to choose their table edge after the “Pirates” have moved.

The British Destroyers move on at Velocity 12 from the “Northern” edge, the Pirate Gunboats raced ahead at speed 30 anticipating the British would move on from the “Southern” board edge and take the “Pirates” in the rear. They were wrong.

The Burnaby stirs it’s engines to life and starts to turn back towards the Destroyers who came into the conflict at a sensible Velocity of 12.

All four of the “Pirate” Gunboats paid for their failure to predict the Royal Navy’s point of entry as all four were destroyed with ease by the Destroyers.

The Royal Navy took up defensive positions in-between the HMS Burnaby and the “Pirates” as the Burnaby crippled the engines of one “Pirate” Ship and left it floating helplessly in Space.

The Royal Navy quickly dealt with the remaining “Pirates” although the Burnaby had it’s engines partially damaged so they couldn’t pursue their defeated foe who managed to slink away with what remained of their fleet.

None of the British Fleet had suffered any permanent damage but as they were unable to pursue the enemy they sent a message back to Admiral Cuthbert.

“Greater enemy forces than expected. Unable to pursue. Requesting reinforcements”

“Acknowledged. Dispatching HMS Swedish Knight. You will form Battle Group Nassau and eliminate the enemy”

Captain Jacob MacDonald and his Heavy Cruiser the HMS Swedish Knight are en-route to what is now his new Battle Group ready to take on these foe and end these petty raids.

What force of “Pirates” could ever stand up to the might of a Heavy Cruiser not to mention the rest of Battle Group Nassau? 

Established three hundred years ago “Khartoum” was settled by the HMS Gordon which gave the planet it’s unofficial nickname among the men of Task Force Trafalgar.

High in orbit above the planet the aging Commander Herbert Baker commands HMS Burnaby as it monitors the surrounding space for any hostile ships.

Baker has lost two ships during his career, both light cruisers, and has been more or less permanently relegated to duties like this one.

Sixteen days ago Commander Baker was attacked by three gunboats from an unidentified, non-governmental, faction. Baker easily defeated the three ships but in response to the attack and anticipating further attacks Collingwood Squadron Leader Admiral William Cuthbert has dispatched the twin Destroyers HMS Burke and HMS Wills, both of the Royal Australian Navy on loan to the Mother Country, to assess the situation and if necessary prevent the destruction of yet another one of Commander Baker’s ships.

The leader of the group and the largest ship, the HMS Swedish Knight.

The HMS Swedish Knight is a behemoth when compared to it’s subordinates but is equally as able to carry out the maneuvers required in the heat of combat. Angled sideways thrusters enable the ship to quickly roll over and present it’s more formidable armour to the fore while it’s experimental torpedo systems mounted at the front of the ship in hexagonal compartments are designed to be temporarily ejected and held in the cylindrical cut outs in the forward block where they are held until after the current battle.

The Torpedo block descends in line with the ship’s hull when the ship is in combat and when a torpedo station has fired all it’s tubes the entire station can be discarded in the recess and replaced by a fresh station.

This is a costly process to reverse both in time and manpower and so is reserved for only the most desperate circumstances.

HMS Swedish Knight is named after the British Admiral Sir Sidney Smith.

For more on Sir Sidney I can do no better than the mighty Lindybeige.

A British Naval Officer who’s most famous Naval Battle was fighting for the Swedes (which is where he gained his Swedish Knighthood, he would later get a proper British Knighthood) followed by his involvement in the Siege of Acre where he halted Napoleon’s advance, crushed the French armies spirit, negotiated a universally accepted peace treaty that all sides agreed with and that badly hurt Napoleon.

Except the British refused to acknowledge the treaty since he wasn’t an official diplomat and so they fought a battle, got a lot of people killed including Kleber (a very powerful opponent of Napoleon who was loved by the men) and then all sides just adopted his treaty word for word anyway.

The Second of the two Light Cruisers. The HMS Pellew

The HMS Pellew is the more all round firepower Light Cruiser of the two and has older guns than it’s sister the HMS June. This being the older model the torpedo’s are stored in a singular triangular bay in front of the main gun turrets rather than elsewhere on the ship.

The HMS June had provisions for several smaller ships to be launched from it’s Port and Starboard hangers but the majority of the bays are currently used to store ammunition and cargo and the ships can’t immediately take off without difficulty.

The HMS Pellew is named after Viscount Edward Pellew who was an Admiral during the Napoleonic Wars.

One of the Light Cruisers the HMS June

The HMS June is the more Broadside oriented Light Cruiser of the two and has slightly more modern guns than it’s sister the HMS Pellew. This being the newer model the torpedo’s are stored in triangular bays above the main gun turrets rather than elsewhere on the ship and moving them enabled the HMS June to increase their cargo storage capacity and increase their ammunition reserves.

The HMS June also has provisions for several smaller ships to be launched from it’s Port and Starboard hangers.

The HMS June is named after the Glorious First of June, a Naval action during the Napoleonic Wars where Admiral Lord Howe defeated the French Fleet. The British used similar tactics that Nelson would later use at Trafalgar, punching through rather than running parellell with the enemy.

This is the only ship named after a Battle rather than a Person in the Fleet. It replaced the crippled HMS Lord Howe which fought which such valour in it’s last engagement that the HMS June was named in it’s honour.

The HMS Burnaby was the first Royal Navy Ship in the sector and has been on station since the pre-colonial times.

The HMS Burnaby is outfitted with two enormous generators that give the ship a near endless supply of power to run it’s communications arrays and scanners.

The Bridge has two retractable observation decks that allow the ship’s crew to keep a watch in every direction while orbiting a planet or escorting a supply ship.

The HMS Burnaby continues in it’s observation role and mainly operates on the fringes of the system but with the sighting of the approaching American Fleet it has been recalled to the main squadron.

The HMS Burnaby is named after the Legendary Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby, a British Officer in the Victorian Era Burnaby was THE Victorian adventurer. He flew hot air balloons, he traveled all over Russia, Persia and Afghanistan including while the British and Russian’s were at war, he accompanied Gordon to Khartoum (the first time) and managed to just sort of tag along with the Camel Corps as they attempted to relieve Gordon in Khartoum.

He was killed at the Battle of Abu Klea and is death ended the era of the romantic Victorian hero gallivanting around the world totally bulletproof. An apt name for such a maverick ship.