Second Battle of Seaford Nine

The Second Battle of Seaford Nine was an armed engagement between the Royal Manticoran Navy and the People's Navy. It was fought in the Seaford Nine System in 1913 PD, when the system was attacked by the Havenites as part of Operation Icarus.
== Prelude ==
Despite the advice of his operations officer, Commander Andrea Jaruwalski, to abandon the system when it was attacked by the much stronger Havenite force, Rear Admiral Santino relieved her and chose to meet the enemy head on.
One of Santino's assumptions was that the Havenites' missile defense would not stand a chance against his 54 missile pods. The enemy ships, however, where equipped with pods as well, a fact that would seal Santino's fate. ()
== Order of battle ==
=== RMN ===
The task group - Seaford Nine System Defence, Commanding Officer - Rear Admiral Elvis Santino
* a battle divisionincluding Rear Admiral Santino's flagship, HMS Hadrian, CO Captain Justin Tasco
* a battlecruiser element
* a heavy cruiser squadron
Another heavy cruiser squadron was responsible for evacuation of the base and survivedincluding HMS Cantrip..
=== PN ===
Task Force 12.1 - command team: People's Commissioner Randal and Vice Admiral Ellen Shalus, Commanding Officer
* wall of battle:
** a superdreadnought element
** a battle squadron (DN)
** a battleship element
* a battlecruiser element
== Course of battle ==
The Havenites engaged the enemy picket force directly. Admiral Santino's ships opened fire, killing off one superdreadnought and crippling another.
Then, the Havenite counter-attack began: each of their new missile pods had sixteen launchers to the Manticorans' ten, and the ships' internal launchers sent another 1500 along: all together, over 6700 missiles were launched against the Manticoran vessels and, after only nineteen seconds of flight time, destroyed all but three ships (two heavy cruisers and a battlecruiser). These ships were taken out with internally launched missile moments later. ()
== Aftermath ==
After the battle, the entire RMN picket force was destroyed and the People's Navy had retaken Seaford Nine. ()
Vice Admiral Shalus was reassigned to the Octagon to serve as Admiral Bukato's deputy. She was replaced in Twelfth Fleet's command structure by Vice Admiral Groenewold.
Andrea Jaruwalski's career took a turn to the worse due to her insubordination, but Admiral Honor Harrington restored it because she knew from personal experience how bad a leader Rear Admiral Santino had been. ()
== References ==
Seaford Nine, Second Battle of
Seaford Nine, Second Battle of