Fleet action of 2165

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Fleet action of 2165
Conflict:	Interplanetary War Jupiter Campaign
Date:	August 2165
Location:	Jovian Space, Sol system
Outcome:	UNSC Victory
Belligerents United Nations Space Command Friedensbewegung Strength 287 ships 411 ships Casualties Heavy Heavy
[Source]

The fleet action of 2165, known otherwise as "The Jovian Action", was the largest and costliest space battle of the Interplanetary Conflict. Jovian Space had been in open rebellion since late 2163 and in preparation for a massive invasion, the United Nations Space Command massed an enormous fleet near Mars in the spring of 2165. Frieden space forces anticipated the UNSC expedition and gathered in considerable strength within Jovian Space. The UNSC deployed its invasion fleet in late July, approaching Jupiter in early August 2165, and was engaged by the assembled Frieden ships in a bid to delay or prevent entirely the UNSC invasion.

Frieden forces made repeated attacks on the UNSC invasion fleet throughout August, with engagements lasting anywhere from less than a minute to several hours. Despite the tenacity of their attacks and the staggering losses inflicted on UNSC forces, Frieden space forces were unable to turn back the invasion fleet. Frieden losses in ships and personnel were greater than those of the UNSC, and by September 1, all surviving Frieden fleet elements had withdrawn to the relative safety of the Jovian Trojans.

Background

Following the Jovian Crisis of 2160, the Unified Earth Government established sizable military garrisons on the Jovian Moons and the United Nations Space Authority created a standing Jovian Security Flotilla to protect Jovian shipping. These garrisons were maintained throughout the Inner System Crisis, despite significant political pressure to recall them to reinforce UEG armies across Earth, Luna, and Mars. Frieden and Koslovic forces on the Jovian Moons continued to grow at a rapid rate regardless, with considerable resentment towards Earth Government troops. After Nadia Mielke was assassinated in 2163, the tensions again exploded into open violence as Frieden militias resumed attacks on Koslovic communities and organizations. Garrison troops repeatedly interfered in these attacks with considerable success at discouraging and derailing sizable offensives. By the time of the UNSA assault on Mars, the Jovian Moons had leveled out into a quasi-stalemate of limited skirmishing between the Frieden and the Koslovics. Even the declaration of the new United Nations Space Command and their subsequent bloody attack on Frieden naval forces in 2164 did not upset the apparent "quiet" of the Jovian Moons.

In late September 2164, however, the UNSC began gathering an enormous fleet near Mars. Combined with their colossal ship construction program and massive recruitment drive, it was painfully clear to the public by early October that the fleet would be directed against Jovian Space. Groundside violence began escalating between Koslovics and Friedens throughout the last months of 2164, expanding into renewed open war by February 2165. UEG garrisons were targeted and besieged by both opposing forces, curtailing any real intervention attempts. Frieden forces particularly targeted UEG/UNSC camps and forts with artillery and airstrikes. If the UNSC was coming in force to Jovian Space, the Frieden movement would give them the hardest start possible. Contrary to the hopes of Frieden commanders of discouraging the UNSC Jovian offensive, the UEG rallied public support for the expedition, and denounced both the Koslovic and Frieden movements in Jovian space; the UNSC for its part simply continued its buildup into early July. When the fleet departed Mars, the UNSC Jupiter Expeditionary Fleet number 315 ships, carriers and battleships among them.

Order of battle

United Nations Space Command

The UNSC Jupiter Expeditionary Fleet was the largest assembled force of the war. The fleet comprised twenty carriers, three battleships, thirty-six cruisers, and over one-hundred-fifty destroyers and frigates, with a further ninety-five transports and support ships.

Carriers
The fleet possessed seven heavy carriers: two of the new Endurance-class, four Empress of Mars-class, and the old Prince of the Solar Seas.

• Endurance-class: UNSC Courageous and UNSC Endurance
• Empress of Mars-class: UNSC Empress of Callisto, UNSC Empress of Europa, UNSC Empress of Ganymede, and UNSC Empress of Io
• UNSC Prince of the Solar Seas

The fleet possessed eight assault carriers: four of the new Fearless-class, two of the Firestorm-class, and both of the large Typhoon-class.

• Fearless-class: UNSC Dynamic, UNSC Fearless, UNSC Impetuous, and UNSC Shooting Star
• Firestorm-class: UNSC Blaze and UNSC Firestorm
• Typhoon-class: UNSC Tempest and UNSC Typhoon

A further five light carriers rounded out its complement, all of the newly commissioned Spirit-class. Another four Spirit-class and five of the old Celestial Radiance-class light carriers reinforced the fleet throughout August, though none of these new arrivals saw frontline service.

Battleships
The UNSC possessed only three unique battleships in 2165, and all three accompanied the fleet: the heavy battleships UNSC Ajax and UNSC Deep Tranquility, and the light battleship UNSC Armstrong.

Cruisers

• UNSC Charlemagne, unique super-heavy cruiser
• UNSC Vanguard, unique super-heavy cruiser
• 2 Indomitable-class heavy cruisers
• 1 Washington-class heavy cruiser
• UNSC Napoleon
• UNSC Lion
• UNSC Saladin
• UNSC Bolivar
• UNSC Swift
• UNSC Yamato
• UnSC Bagration, unique heavy cruiser †
• UNSC Star Dragon
• UnSC Adventurer, unique heavy cruiser †
• UNSC Enterprise
• UNSC Captain
• UNSC Tiger
• UNSC Archimedes
• UNSC Bonaventure
• 11 Accordance-class light cruisers
• UNSC Athena
• UNSC Sentinel
• UnSC Eagle, unique light cruiser †
• UNSC Condor
• UNSC Caesar
• UNSC Prosperity

Destroyers

• UNSC Thus Into Darkness
• 4 Reprisal-class super-heavy destroyers
• 22 Trondheim-class heavy destroyers
• 12 Shanghai-class heavy destroyers
• 16 Berlin-class heavy destroyers
• 19 New York-class heavy destroyers
• 6 Bordeaux-class heavy destroyers
• 10 Rio de Janeiro-class light destroyers
• 32 Alexandria-class light destroyers
• 23 Halifax-class light destroyers

Frieden space forces

Frieden forces assembled primarily in the Jovian Trojans in an attempt to conceal their strength ahead of the arrival of the UNSC fleet. Frieden forces included battlecruisers, zerstörers, raiding cruisers, and missile ships.

• 7 battlecruisers
• 37 zerstörers
• 55 raiding cruisers
• 645 missile ships

Battle

As the UNSC fleet approached the limits of Jovian space, multiple battle groups of Frieden ships moved to intercept and engage the forward destroyer screen.

Throughout August, Frieden units made daily attacks on the forward screen of the UNSC fleet, usually being met with escorts and cruisers. Larger attacks were usually rebuffed with the immense firepower of a battleship, either the Ajax or Deep Tranquility. As well as these daily actions, additional Frieden operations were aimed at reaching UNSC carriers and troopships, but each of these were countered and fought off.

While casualties were high on both sides, Frieden commanders made special note of the lethality of UNSC battleships, conducting several offensives aimed solely at putting one of them out of action. These attacks proved especially costly for the Frieden with little realized benefit, with the exception of the destruction of the heavy cruiser UNSC Bagration and some minor damage to the light battleship UNSC Armstrong.

Another unrealized objective for Frieden forces was the hoped for depletion of UNSC anti-ship ammunition. Despite the availability of intelligence to the contrary, Frieden naval command massively underestimated the logistical capabilities of the UNSC, both for the production of space weapons and the rapid transport and resupply of them to frontline units. The scale of this error of judgment was realized in mid-August, and desperate efforts were made to destroy or damage UNSC support ships. This resulted in a stepping up of daily attacks on the invasion fleet and a rapid increase in Frieden losses. The only real success of these desperation attacks was the crippling of the combat support ship UNSC Janissary, which was subsequently withdrawn from service and scrapped.

Despite Frieden senior commanders concluding the battle was effectively lost on August 28, the last four days of August witnessed a succession of major strikes on the invasion fleet's forward screen. In just those four days, the UNSC lost the cruisers Adventurer and Eagle and thirty-eight destroyers and frigates damaged beyond repair or destroyed outright. But it was Frieden forces that finally broke. In the same four days, two battlecruisers, seven raiding cruisers, a dozen zerstörers, and seventy-three missile ships were lost in battle, a backbreaking loss that compelled Frieden forces to withdraw entirely.

Frieden space forces would conduct minor attacks on UNSC forces in Jovian Space and in the belt for the rest of the war, but never again with the same overwhelming force. When the UNSC fleet stormed the Jovian Trojans in January 2170, Frieden forces had still not made good on the losses suffered in August 2165.