Editing Battle of Cholame (2788)

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The '''Battle of Cholame''' would be the largest single naval offensive between the [[Federated Suns]] and [[Draconis Combine]] during the [[First Succession War]].
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The '''Battle of [[Cholame]]''' would be the largest single naval offensive between the [[Federated Suns]] and [[Draconis Combine]] during the [[First Succession War]].
  
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
The opening years of the First Succession War saw the Federated Suns pushed to the brink, the [[AFFS]] mistakenly focusing its full attention on the [[Capellan Confederation]] as the more imminent threat when the war erupted, only to watch the [[DCMS]] surge over the denuded border. [[First Prince of the Federated Suns|First Prince]] [[John Davion]] first attempted to stem the Combine invasion in [[2788]] by striking the Kurita flank using the troops intended for the Capellan offensive, but while initially successful the thrust collapsed at [[Cartago]] and the First Prince barely escaped with his life.<ref name=HDTFS-62>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', p. 62: "History - First Succession War - Retreat"</ref><ref name=HHD-51>''Handbook: House Davion'', p. 51: "History of the Federated Suns - First and Second Succession Wars - First Succession War - Strategic Withdrawal"</ref>
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The opening years of the First Succession War saw the Federated Suns pushed to the brink, the [[AFFS]] mistakenly focusing its full attention on the [[Capellan Confederation]] as the more imminent threat when the war erupted, only to watch the [[DCMS]] surge over the denuded border. [[First Prince]] [[John Davion]] first attempted to stem the Combine invasion in [[2788]] by striking the Kurita flank using the troops intended for the Capellan offensive, but while initially successful the thrust collapsed at [[Cartago]] and the First Prince barely escaped with his life.<ref name=HDTFS-62>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', p. 62 "History - First Succession War - Retreat"</ref><ref name=HHD-51>''Handbook: House Davion'', p. 51 "History of the Federated Suns - First and Second Succession Wars - First Succession War - Strategic Withdrawal"</ref>
  
 
The Federated Suns would spend the next two years on the defensive, as the DCMS advanced deeper and deeper into Davion space, reaching as far as [[Kestrel]], just two jumps from [[New Avalon]]. His people and military increasingly desperate, Prince John knew he had to do something, attempting a second major counteroffensive in [[2790]]. Gathering up majority of the AFFS' remaining [[WarShip]]s and a large volume of auxiliary vessels, the First Prince directed [[Admiral]] [[Kenneth Jones]] to cross the front into Kurita-held space, not to win back worlds but purely to destroy as many as the Combine's naval forces as he could in the hopes of forcing the Kuritan troops to slow their attacks.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/>
 
The Federated Suns would spend the next two years on the defensive, as the DCMS advanced deeper and deeper into Davion space, reaching as far as [[Kestrel]], just two jumps from [[New Avalon]]. His people and military increasingly desperate, Prince John knew he had to do something, attempting a second major counteroffensive in [[2790]]. Gathering up majority of the AFFS' remaining [[WarShip]]s and a large volume of auxiliary vessels, the First Prince directed [[Admiral]] [[Kenneth Jones]] to cross the front into Kurita-held space, not to win back worlds but purely to destroy as many as the Combine's naval forces as he could in the hopes of forcing the Kuritan troops to slow their attacks.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/>
  
Commanding his task force of more than 200 vessels from the FedSuns Navy's flagship, the [[Defender (WarShip class)|''Defender'']]-class [[Golden Lion|FSS ''Golden Lion'']], Jones' troops struck eleven Kurita-occupied systems from [[Imbrial III]] to [[New Valencia]] in quick succession, destroying or capturing every Kurita vessel they encountered, attacking what ground forces they could find and even resupplying embattled AFFS forces and resistance groups along the way. This first wave of attacks proving highly successful, Jones signaled his fleet to rendezvous in the [[Cholame]] system before heading back to [[Rosamond]] in Davion controlled space. Abandoned by the FedSuns early during the war and reportedly one of the many minor worlds bypassed by Kuritan forces, the one-system world seemed ideal as a rest and rendezvous point.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/><ref name=FR2765AFS-26>''Field Report 2765: AFFS'', p. 26: "Defender-Class Battlecruiser"</ref><ref name=HHK-40>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 40: "History of the Nation - The First Succession War"</ref>
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Commanding his task force of more than 200 vessels from the FedSuns Navy's flagship, the [[Defender (WarShip class)|''Defender''-class]] [[Golden Lion|FSS ''Golden Lion'']], Jones' troops struck eleven Kurita-occupied systems from [[Imbrial III]] to [[New Valencia]] in quick succession, destroying or capturing every Kurita vessel they encountered, attacking what ground forces they could find and even resupplying embattled AFFS forces and resistance groups along the way. This first wave of attacks proving highly successful, Jones signaled his fleet to rendezvous in the Cholame system before heading back to [[Rosamond]] in Davion controlled space. Abandoned by the FedSuns early during the war and reportedly one of the many minor worlds bypassed by Kuritan forces, the one-system world seemed ideal as a rest and rendezvous point.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/><ref name=FR2765AFS-26>''Field Report 2765: AFFS'', p. 26 "Defender-Class Battlecruiser"</ref><ref name=HHK-40>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 40 "History of the Nation - The First Succession War"</ref>
  
In truth it was anything but. Thanks to [[ISF]] infiltrators operating within the [[DMI]], the Federated Suns were unaware that the Combine's invasion armada had chosen Cholame as its own redoubt and lay in wait for the Davion forces. As soon as Admiral Jones' fleet entered the system, Kuritan [[aerospace fighter]]s immediately attacked the shocked Davion forces, with a group of WarShips close behind. The largest naval campaign either nation had ever fought, the battle would last a full six weeks as Admiral Jones darted between the system's jump points, desperately trying to buy enough time for at least some of his ships to escape. Ultimately, over a hundred Davion WarShips—from small corvettes to the ''Golden Lion'' itself—had been lost, along with an equally large number of [[DropShip]]s and aerospace fighters; less than a quarter of Jones' fleet was able to flee. The only small comfort to the Davion forces was the fact that they had taken an equal number of Kurita WarShips with them.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/><ref name=FR2765AFS-26/><ref name=HHK-40/><ref name=HHK-41>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 41: "History of the Nation - The First Succession War - Unforgiving Blood"</ref>
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In truth it was anything but. Thanks to [[ISF]] infiltrators operating within the [[DMI]], the Federated Suns were unaware that the Combine's invasion armada had chosen Cholame as its own redoubt and lay in wait for the Davion forces. As soon as Admiral Jones' fleet entered the system, Kuritan [[aerospace fighter]]s immediately attacked the shocked Davion forces, with a group of WarShips close behind. The largest naval campaign either nation had ever fought, the battle would last a full six weeks as Admiral Jones darted between the system's jump points, desperately trying to buy enough time for at least some of his ships to escape. Ultimately, over a hundred Davion WarShips—from small corvettes to the ''Golden Lion'' itself—had been lost, along with an equally large number of [[DropShip]]s and aerospace fighters; less than a quarter of Jones' fleet was able to flee. The only small comfort to the Davion forces was the fact that they had taken an equal number of Kurita WarShips with them.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/><ref name=FR2765AFS-26/><ref name=HHK-40/><ref name=HHK-41>''Handbook: House Kurita'', p. 41 "History of the Nation - The First Succession War - Unforgiving Blood"</ref>
  
The failure of mission and losses suffered would contribute to the constant setbacks suffered by the Federated Suns during the 2790s, the nation virtually on the verge of total collapse until the [[Kentares Massacre]] both reinvigorated the AFFS while demoralizing the DCMS.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/> The Battle of Cholame was also notable for Kuritan fighters' destruction of a Davion [[Titan (DropShip class)|''Titan'']]-class DropShip, the last surviving ''Titan'' in Great House hands.<ref name=TRO3057-90>''Technical Readout: 3057'', p. 90: "Titan"</ref>
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The failure of mission and losses suffered would contribute to the constant setbacks suffered by the Federated Suns during the 2790s, the nation virtually on the verge of total collapse until the [[Kentares Massacre]] both reinvigorated the AFFS while demoralizing the DCMS.<ref name=HDTFS-62/><ref name=HHD-51/> The Battle of Cholame was also notable for Kuritan fighters' destruction of a Davion [[Titan (DropShip class)|''Titan''-class DropShip]], the last surviving ''Titan'' in Great House hands.<ref name=TRO3057-90>''Technical Readout: 3057'', p. 90 "Titan"</ref>
  
 
==Gallery==
 
==Gallery==
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* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''
 
* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''
 
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3057]]''
 
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3057]]''
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[[Category:First Succession War Era Military Operations|Cholame]]
 
[[Category:First Succession War Era Military Operations|Cholame]]

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