Cutworm Operations

Operation Cutworm, Cutworm II, and Cutworm III were three offensive military operations conducted by the Royal Manticoran Navy during the Second Havenite-Manticoran War. They comprised a number of deep raids against inner systems of the Republic of Haven.
== Operational premise ==
Under the overall command of Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington, the Eighth Fleet had the goal to destroy ships and orbital equipment in Havenite territory, forcing the Republic of Haven Navy to cut of forces from the front lines in order to protect other inner systems from similar raids.
There was also a psychological component involved: the sudden appearance of a powerful enemy strike force led by one of Manticore's greatest naval heroes was supposed to weaken Havenite morale and hide the true military weakness of the RMN. ()
== Conduct ==
=== Cutworm ===
The first Operation Cutworm included several raids on weakly defended star systems in the inner Republic. Admiral Harrington's forces hit Gaston, Tambourin, Squalus, Hera, and Hallman, destroying as good as every bit of orbital industry in each of them. They also destroyed two battleships, seven battlecruisers, four old cruisers, three destroyers, and over a thousand LACs.
Cutworm saw the first use of Katana-class light attack craft against enemy forces. ()
=== Cutworm II ===
The four star systems hit in this operation included Augusta, Chantilly, Des Moines and Fordyce. ()
=== Cutworm III ===
The RMN reduced its objectives list for Cutworm III to two star systems, Lorn and Solon. The operation turned into a disaster for Manticore when Admiral Harrington's Task Force 82 was ambushed into the Battle of Solon. ()
== Aftermath ==
In the Battle of Solon, Rear Admiral Michelle Henke was taken a prisoner of war by the Republican Navy, but, like all of her surviving crew, was well treated after her arrival on Haven. After the defeat at Solon, further operations under designation "Cutworm" were abandonedOne secondary reason was that Cutworm had been leaked to the newsfaxes. During scouting of the Suarez System the same pattern of Havenite defense was confirmed and signatures of the Moriarty platform were recognized. Eighth Fleet's staff began planning the follow-up Operation Sanskrit, in which information gathered in the Suarez System was used. ()
== References ==
Category:Manticoran Operations