Battle of Lovat

Battle of Lovat Conflict Second Havenite-Manticoran War Date 15 May 1921 PD Place Lovat System Result Allied victory Combatants Manticoran Alliance 8 FLT Republic of Haven 3 FLT, RHN Commanders Adm. Honor Harrington Adm. Javier Giscard † Strength 18 SD(P) 14 CLAC with 1600 LAC 1 BC(L) 15 BC(P) 12 CA 6 CL 48 SD(P) 12 CLAC with c. 2000 LAC 24 SD 8000+ system defense LAC Casualties none 32 SD(P) 8 CLAC 24 SD (scuttled) ~ 10,000 LAC

The Battle of Lovat was an armed engagement between the Republic of Haven Navy and the Royal Manticoran Navy, which hit the Lovat System as part of Operation Sanskrit.

Prelude

After the failure of Operation Cutworm III, the RMN devised Operation Sanskrit as a heavy, state-of-the-art technology based assault on Lovat, one of the backbones of Haven's overall economy.

The plan was delayed for a while after the Republic of Haven's offer for peace talks on Torch, but when the assassination attempt on Queen Berry destroyed all good will on the Manticoran side, it was set in motion again on the direct order of Queen Elizabeth III. (HH11)

Order of battle

RMN

Eighth Fleet, CO - Admiral Honor Harrington:

• Task Force 81, CO - Admiral Honor Harrington
  • Battle Squadron 61, CO - Rear Admiral Alistair McKeon
  • CLAC Squadron 3, CO - Vice Admiral Alice Truman
  • battlecruiser element, CO - Rear Admiral Erasmus Miller, GSN:
    • a battlecruiser squadron, CO - Rear Admiral Erasmus Miller, GSN
    • Battlecruiser Squadron 81, CO - Rear Admiral Michael Oversteegen
  • Cruiser Squadron 7, CO - Rear Admiral Winston Bradshaw
  • Cruiser Squadron 12, CO - Commodore Charise Fanaafi
  • Light Cruiser Flotilla 18, CO - Commodore George Ullman
  • reconnaissance destroyer element
• Task Force 82, CO - Admiral Judah Yanakov, GSN
  • Battle Squadron 15 (GSN), CO - Admiral Judah Yanakov
  • Battle Squadron 23, CO - Vice Admiral Morris Baez
  • CLAC Squadron 6, CO - Vice Admiral Samuel Miklos

RHN

The Third Fleet contained an equivalent of six battle squadrons (pod-laying) and two CLAC squadrons, evenly distributed to three task forces (Bogey Two - Bogey Four) , CO - Admiral Javier Giscard:

• Bogey Two (astern), CO - Admiral Javier Giscard †:
  • wall of battle
  • a CLAC division
• Bogey Three (northern) †:
  • wall of battle
  • a CLAC division
• Bogey Four (southern):
  • wall of battle
  • a CLAC division
• subordinate Lovat System Defense, CO - Admiral Alessandra Giovanni:
  • wall of battle (SD) - Bogey One †, CO - Admiral Wentworth Trask
  • a LAC group †
  • system defence missile pod clusters control, CO - Commander Lucas

Course of battle

Lieutenant Commander Theophile Kgari dropped Task Force 81, Eighth Fleet's leading task force, into normal-space barely 40,000 kilometers outside the Lovat hyper limit. Admiral Truman deployed her almost 900 LACs and jumped into hyper, while the rest of the Task Force entered the system.

The Manticoran units accelerated towards the planet Forge at a steady 4.81 kps². When they were 70 minutes from turnover the Havenite defenders executed Tarantula, the signal for Admiral Giscard's 16 hidden superdreadnoughts to fire up and accelerate towards the invaders.

12 minutes later, the Manticoran force executed Ozawa, calling Task Force 82 with 12 pod-laying superdreadnoughts and six LAC carriers, led by HMS Ambuscade, out of hyperspace well outside the hyper limit. The carriers began launching their full LAC complements.

Giscard's SD(P)s started rolling pods, while TF82 made use of their new Apollo pods and Keyhole II platforms, effectively gaining real-time correction ability at any attainable powered missile range: 288 Apollo pods launched 1,900 attack missiles and 400 EW platforms, along with 288 control missiles.

Havenite counter-missiles stopped 300 of the attack missiles, point defense clusters killed another 400. The other 1,200 got through the defense envelope and destroyed two superdreadnoughts, including Sovereign of Space, killing Admiral Giscard. The following eleven salvos destroyed the rest of his force.

Later, while Task Force 82 engaged another Havenite force labelled Bogey Three in the same manner, Admiral Harrington had the Mistletoe system activated, using laser-headed recon platforms to destroy the Moriarty platforms and almost three quarters of all system defense pods. Admiral Giovanni ordered Admiral Trask to stand down his superdreadnoughts and surrendered. (HH11)

Aftermath

After the defenders had surrendered, all Havenite LACs, support ships and munitions in the system were destroyed. The Republic's economy took a serious blow, and the Republican Navy had lost one of its greatest officers.

The vast superiority of the Manticoran Alliance's new missile technology forced President Pritchart and Admiral Thomas Theisman to decide whether they wanted to surrender or hit Manticore in one last, hard strike before the new systems could be installed in the whole RMN fleet. They decided to try the second alternative, executing Operation Beatrice, which led to the Battle of Manticore, the largest space battle in the history of the human race. (HH11)