Editing Yorktown (Individual Samarkand-class WarShip)

{{otheruses|the fighter carrier|the Martial Olympiad winner|Yorktown (Individual WarShip)}}
{{infoBoxIndividualSpacecraft
| image      = 
| vesselname = Yorktown
| prevname   = 
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[Samarkand Block II (WarShip class)|Samarkand]]
| prevclass  = 
| servicesince = 
| serviceuntil = [[3075]]
}}
==History==
The ''[[Samarkand Block II (WarShip class)|Samarkand]]''-class carrier '''''Yorktown''''' was one of the older ''Samarkand'' Block II ships to be constructed and served as a [[Star League Defense Force]] [[WarShip]]. The ''Yorktown'' survived the [[Hegemony Campaign]] to liberate [[Terra]] from the forces of [[Stefan Amaris]] and subsequently followed [[General]] [[Aleksandr Kerensky]] on the [[Operation Exodus|Exodus]].

===Wars of Reaving===
====Reactivation====
The ''Yorktown'' languished in mothballs for centuries until late [[3072]]. By December 3072, the Star Adders had suffered a number of casualties amongst their WarShip fleet as a result of battles during the ongoing [[Wars of Reaving]]. With ships lost in combat against [[Clan Coyote]], [[Clan Snow Raven]] and most recently a resurgent [[Clan Burrock]] the Star Adder leadership decided to activate some of the eight WarShips that formed a part of the Clan's last naval reserve. The naval reserve had been given the designation MSKC-2 and was established in a planetless system; it was in this reserve that the ''Yorktown'' had been mothballed centuries before. A salvage party was duly assembled and arrived at MSKC-2 in late December.<ref name="WORp112+">''The Wars of Reaving'', pp. 112–113: "Constriction"</ref>

The Star Adder convoy discovered shortly after arriving that a group from the [[Dark Caste]] had already been working on activating ships from the mothballed fleet, and had already successfully activated a ''[[Kimagure]]''-class pursuit cruiser and a ''[[Riga (WarShip class)|Riga]]''-class frigate, both of which were missing from the cache;<ref name="WORp112+"/> with the [[Society]] providing WarShip assets to Clan Burrock, it was likely that these two ships were the ''Kimagure''-class [[Admiral Russell Nga|CBS ''Admiral Russell Nga'']] and ''Riga''-class [[Hetherington|CBS ''Hetherington'']] respectively.<ref name="WORp89"/>

As the Star Adders moved to engage the Dark Caste party, another supposedly mothballed ship from the cache, a ''[[Baron (WarShip class)|Baron]]''-class destroyer, powered up and moved to engage the Star Adder forces. Combined strikes from the ''[[York (WarShip class)|York]]''-class [[Exodus Ranger|CSA ''Exodus Ranger'']] and the ''[[Lola III]]''-class destroyer [[Cameron's Flame|CSA ''Cameron's Flame'']], appeared to easily cripple the ''Baron'', but as the ''Cameron's Flame'' transited past the ''Baron'' the crew of the Dark Caste ship fired their main aft batteries and inflicted heavy damage on the ''Cameron's Flame''. The ''Cameron's Flame'' managed to maneuver slowly to try and finish off the ''Baron'' fired her thrusters and caused both ships to accidentally collide. The collision was the final straw for the ''Cameron's Flame'', which suffered a fatal loss of atmosphere, leaving most of the crew dead.<ref name="WORp112+"/>

The remaining Star Adder forces faced no other capital vessels in the system and easily destroyed the Dark Caste ships as they attempted to retreat away from the cache to the solitary [[JumpShip]] nearby; the Star Adders carefully picked off the smaller craft before destroying the JumpShip. The Star Adders then inspected the remaining cached ships before reactivating the ''Yorktown''; based on the information available, [[Khan]] [[Stanislov N'Buta]] made the decision that the Star Adders didn't have the time or resources to reactivate the other WarShips and instead chose to destroy them. N'Buta also ordered the remains of the ''Cameron's Flame'' to be scuttled, denying the Dark Caste any more resources from the system.<ref name="WORp112+"/>

====Priori====
In late [[3073]], the Star Adders found themselves in increasing need of both the orbital facilities and resources available from the world of [[Priori]] - particularly the abundant foodstuffs. Khan Stanislov N'Buta dispatched a force consisting of [[Gamma Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Gamma]], [[Mu Provisional Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Mu]] and [[Sigma Galaxy (Clan Star Adder)|Sigma Galaxies]] under the overall command of Star Adder [[Loremaster]] [[Fletcher Daniels]] to capture the system. N'Buta also dispatched several WarShips as escorts, including the ''[[Vincent (WarShip class)|Vincent Mk. 42]]''-class corvette [[Pegasus (Individual Vincent-class WarShip)|CSA ''Pegasus'']], the ''[[Fredasa (WarShip class)|Fredasa]]''-class corvette [[Arcadian Asp|CSA ''Arcadian Asp'']] and the recently-reactivated ''Yorktown''.<ref name="WORp131">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 131: "Punishing Priori"</ref>

When the Adder task force arrived in the Priori system in late November it discovered a sizeable defensive force assembled in the system ready to oppose them; in addition to three vessels missing from the Star Adder naval reserve and now flying under [[Clan Burrock]] colors, the former [[Clan Smoke Jaguar]] ''[[Black Lion]]''-class battlecruiser [[Streaking Mist (Individual Black Lion-class WarShip)|CSJ ''Streaking Mist'']] was in the system as well. The Burrock forces waited for the Star Adders to approach before engaging in battle near Priori's second moon, Opal. The senior Star Adder naval officer was [[Star Admiral]] [[Lilith Paik]], and opposing her was Burrock Star Admiral [[Kirc Van Houten]]; Van Houten began by using Opal to anchor his position and maneuver his smaller fleet into a superior position, targeting the combined firepower of the ships under his command at the ''Pegasus'' while throwing his AeroSpace Fighters forward to attack the Star Adder DropShips. Paik responded to this opening by launching three Stars of fighters tasked with attacking the ''Streaking Mist'', forcing the battlecruiser to begin withdrawing; the ''Streaking Mist'' attempted to use the ''Arcadian Asp'' as cover, the ''Arcadian Asp'' having been crippled by damage, but Paik was determined to try and capture the ''Streaking Mist'' and dispatched the ''Yorktown'' in hot pursuit. The ''Yorktown'' launched a number of small craft with marine boarding parties aboard in an attempt to board the ''Streaking Mist'', but the ship managed to reach a safe jump point and promptly jumped, the hyperspace wake leaving a number of the ''Yorktown''&#39;s small craft floating as twisted and mangled debris behind the ''Streaking Mist''.<ref name="WORp131"/>

With the ''Streaking Mist'' gone the remaining Burrock ships attempted to retreat; Van Houten's gamble with the fighters had inflicted damage on the Star Adder DropShips, with half of Mu Galaxy destroyed along with their transport vessels, but the gamble had left the fighters out of position to cover the Burrock WarShips, who were pressed hard by the Adders until they reached the protective umbrella offered by the orbital shipyard's defenses and the small [[SDS]] network based on Priori. While the Adder craft pulled back to long range and sniped at the various batteries, the Burrocks continued to retreat away until they reached a pirate point and jumped, leaving Priori to its fate. The resulting war on the ground would take almost a year to resolve, with the Star Adders finally gaining complete control of the world in October [[3074]].<ref name="WORp131"/>

===Destruction===
The ''Yorktown'' was destroyed during the [[Trial of Annihilation|Annihilation]] of [[Clan Steel Viper]] in [[3075]].<ref name="CGL:ATW20130327"/>

==Notes==
===Martial Olympiad===
A WarShip named the [[Yorktown (Individual WarShip)|SLS ''Yorktown'']] is noted as having been the winner of the Best WarShip category of the [[2664]] [[Martial Olympiad]].<ref name=""TSLp135">''The Star League'', p. 135: "Martial Olympiad Champions 2640-2736"</ref> It has been confirmed that the ''Samarkand''-class ''Yorktown'' detailed in this article was an early [[Samarkand Block II (WarShip class)|Block II ''Samarkand'']], not a [[Samarkand Block I (WarShip class)|Block I ''Samarkand'']].<ref name="CGL:ATW20130327">[http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,28120.0.html Catalyst Game Labs: Ask The Writers, 27 Mar 2013]</ref> The Block II ''Samarkand''-class wasn't commissioned until [[2668]], making it impossible for the ''Yorktown'' that won the Martial Olympiad and the ''Samarkand''-class ''Yorktown'' described in this article to be the same vessel, despite sharing the same name.<ref name="TRO:3075p218">''Technical Readout: 3075'', p. 218: "Samarkand"</ref> The fate of the ''Yorktown'' listed as winning the Martial Olympiad is unknown.

{{Quote|No. Yorktown is unlikely to be a Block I Samarkand. TRO 3075 is pretty clear that the only Block Is were Samarkand, Benjamin, Dieron, and Alshain. No more Block Is appear to have been constructed, and all of the Samarkands built when production was restarted were Block IIs.|[http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,28120.0.html Catalyst Game Labs: Ask The Writers, 27 Mar 2013]}}

===Battle at Priori===
''[[The Wars of Reaving]]'' indicates that when the ''Yorktown'' fought in the Priori system in 3073 Clan Burrock had mustered three vessels taken from the Star Adder naval reserve as a part of their defense, but doesn't name the vessels in question.<ref name="WORp131"/>''The Wars of Reaving'' further indicates that at its height Clan Burrock mustered seven WarShips,<ref name="WORp89">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 89: "WarShips"</ref> and that two of the vessels missing from the Star Adder naval reserve designated MSKC-2 were a ''Riga''-class destroyer and a ''Kimagure''-class pursuit cruiser.<ref name="WORp112+"/>

Of the seven vessels within the Burrock WarShip fleet, two were captured vessels from [[Clan Cloud Cobra]], one was a suborned Star Adder WarShip, the ''Lola III''-class [[Yodan|CSA ''Yodan'']], and the other four ships comprised one ''Riga'', the CBS ''Hetherington'', one ''Kimagure'', the CBS ''Admiral Russell Nga'', and two ''[[Mako]]''-class corvettes, the [[Ingrid Bucharev|CBS ''Ingrid Bucharev'']] and the [[Stone Crab|CBS ''Stone Crab'']].<ref name="WORp89"/> Of these vessels, the ''Ingrid Bucharev'' is noted as having suffered an irreparable breach of its helium seals in the Tanis system in July 3072, confining it to that system,<ref name="WORp93">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 93: "Death Rides Forth"</ref> and the ''Hetherington'' is noted as having been destroyed in the [[Salonika]] system in late July 3072 in battle with forces from [[Clan Diamond Shark]].<ref name="WORp102">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 102: "Bearding the Shark"</ref>

This combination of ships and events makes it likely, but not certain, that three Burrock vessels faced in the Priori system in 3073 by the ''Pegasus'' were the ''Yodan'' (renamed the ''Rebirth'' by Clan Burrock), the ''Admiral Russell Nga'' and the ''Stone Crab'', but this has not been confirmed yet by a [[canon]] source.

===Destruction===
The destruction of the ''Yorktown'' was confirmed by the author of ''[[The Wars of Reaving]]'':

{{Quote|Safe to say yes. In response to the question: Was it one of the unnamed ships destroyed during the Steel Viper Annihilation.|[http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,28120.0.html Catalyst Game Labs: Ask the Writers, 27 Mar 2013]}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Manual: Crusader Clans]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[The Star League]]''
* ''[[The Wars of Reaving]]''


[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Carriers]]
[[Category: Individual Samarkand-class WarShips]]