Jovian Moons Campaign

The Jovian Moons Campaign of 2160 saw the first concentrated effort by an organized group to achieve independence from the established colonial structure of the Sol system.

History
In March of 2160, multiple attacks were made against advisers and officers of the UNOCA; UN on-site assets proved unable to deal with their attackers immediately, and a nearby UN Navy patrol attempted to intercede. While the UNN was able to extricate UNOCA personnel, the patrol group failed to disperse or critically damage the self-styled Jovian Secessionist fleet.

As the conflict entered its third month, and secessionist forces continued to prey on freighters, the UN Navy gathered a new battle group of more than thirty warships. The battle group was dispatched to Jupiter without delay, with additional vessels scheduled to arrive near Jupiter from other locations. UNN preparations were hastened all the more following an SOS from a Jovian commercial station, apparently besieged by the secessionists.

Following its arrival at Jupiter in early June, the UNN battle group was quick to engage the primary secessionist fleet; additional task groups engaged secessionist forces across the various Jovian moons.

With a near-insurmountable advantage in ships and armaments, the brief engagements of the fleets was more a one-sided slaughter than an actual battle. The operation proved to be decisive in crushing the secessionist movement in 2160, but was marred by the unthinkable: a nuclear detonation that tore through the besieged station and several of its standing-by freighters. Most surprising of all, the source of both the weapon and the cause of its detonation were unknown. While the destruction was not as significant as once feared, it severely damaged the credibility of the UN Navy, especially in its failure to protect national commercial interests.

With the failure of the UNN to protect their "national interests", several member states began constructing numerous warships and building national space forces. While several nations already possessed former UNN ships, this was the first time nations began constructing warships wholly apart from the United Nations. These fleets proved to be more a matter of national pride or power projection that actual asset protection, something that the scrambling UNDF was simply unable to fulfill. Thus, the freighters and other commercial vessels were easy prey to "new" threats: the commerce raiders of the Frieden Movement, and the quietly growing Koslovic military.