Editing Impregnable (Individual Tharkad-class WarShip)

{{infoBoxIndividualVessel
| image        = 
| vesselname   = Impregnable
| prevname     =
| type         = [[WarShip]]
| class        = [[Tharkad (WarShip class)|Tharkad]]
| prevclass    = 
| servicesince =
| serviceuntil = [[2787]]
}}
==History==
The LCS '''''Impregnable''''' was a ''[[Tharkad (WarShip class)|Tharkad]]''-class battlecruiser in service with the [[Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces]] during the [[First Succession War]]. The ''Impregnable'' was deployed alongside a sister ship, the [[Indomitable (Individual Tharkad-class WarShip)|LCS ''Indomitable'']] in the [[Skondia]] system as part of the Lyran response to the destruction of the [[Bolson Shipyards]] in the [[New Kyoto]] system shortly before. The [[Lyran Commonwealth]], acutely aware of the vulnerability of key industrial systems following the attack on the Bolson Shipyards and other, similar attacks along the border with the [[Free Worlds League]] and had begun concentrating naval assets in key systems.<ref name="FSWp46">''First Succession War'', p. 46-47, "Skondia"</ref>

Skondia had been raided by the [[Draconis Combine]] in [[2786]], a humiliatingly successful raid by the [[DCMS]] that had led to the local garrison being bolstered by an additional two [[BattleMech]] [[regiment]]s, with a naval picket consisting of five WarShips and some twenty assorted assault and carrier [[DropShip]]s for support. The attack on the Bolson Shipyards had made Skondia the focus of a major naval buildup, however; that concentration of force meant that when a DCMS invasion force arrived in February 2787, it was amazed to discover a Lyran naval force consisting of fifty WarShips - including the ''Impregnable'' and the ''Indomitable'' - backed up by more than two hundred DropShips, representing a total combat ship strength of almost three hundred vessels, all located close to Skondia itself and under the overall command of [[Admiral]] [[Seamus van Hatten]], who was using the ''Impregnable'' as his flagship.<ref name="FSWp46"/>

The invasion force was itself a substantial military force with a large naval contingent; under the overall command of ''[[Tai-sho (rank)|Tai-sho]]'' [[Hiroshi Pederson]] from his flagship, the [[DCS Galedon|DCS ''Galedon'']], a ''[[Samarkand Block II (WarShip class)|Samarkand]]''-class carrier. The invasion force consisted of six fully-supported DCMS regiments carried aboard some twenty [[JumpShip]]s and escorted by forty-five WarShips. Arriving at the nadir [[jump point]], Pederson soon became aware of the major Lyran naval presence in the system; unaware of the events at New Kyoto and elsewhere, Pederson assumed that the Lyrans had been forewarned of the invasion, but proceeded to attempt to force his way through the Lyran forces and capture the planet anyway.<ref name="FSWp46"/>

Before launching his attack, Pederson dispatched a courier back to Combine space, carrying the news that the Lyrans appeared to have been waiting for him, and that the LCAF might be aware of the planned DCMS strategy for their major offensive on the Lyran border; he then formed his fleet into a conical wedge, determined to punch through the Lyran naval forces and deploy his ground forces. Van Hatten was a competent but untested naval commander, and he attempted to use his forces to blunt the Combine assault. Van Hatten detailed a third of his naval forces to specifically attempting to interdict and intercept the Combine transports, while the remaining two-thirds of his forces engaged the Combine combat vessels.<ref name="FSWp46"/>

Van Hatten's efforts were only partly successful; the forces assigned to attacking the transports managed to destroy enough vessels to account for perhaps a reinforced regiment, but both portions of van Hatten's fleet were unable to effectively counter the large number of fighter carriers present within Pederson's flotilla. The Lyran WarShips found themselves constantly harassed by [[aerospace fighter]]s and having to either evade, divert more attention to the fighters, or call on their own fighters and DropShips to assist them - and when the Combine transports finished disgorging their troops onto Skonida, those ships and their attendant fighters and assault DropShips were free to rejoin the battle.<ref name="FSWp46"/>

The Lyran naval forces fought bitterly in defense of Skondia, fighting for the better part of four weeks, until reduced to just a third of their original strength, in what would become one of the largest naval engagements between the Commonwealth and the Combine in the entire of the [[Succession Wars (History)|Succession Wars]]. Although the Lyran naval losses were heavy - including van Hatten himself and the ''Impregnable'', which was crippled while battling the [[Bladewind|DCS ''Bladewind'']] and [[Star Spirit|DCS ''Star Spirit'']], a pair of [[Narukami (WarShip class)|''Narukami'']]-class destroyers - van Hatten's forces destroyed half the Combine forces, and the LCAF line regiments on the ground fought for four months before withdrawing.<ref name="FSWp46"/>

== References ==
<references />

== Bibliography ==
* ''[[First Succession War (sourcebook)]]''

[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Battlecruisers]]
[[Category: Individual Tharkad-class WarShips]]