Battle of Włocławek

The Battle of Włocławek was a battle between forces of the Royal Manticoran Navy and the Solarian League Navy in the Włocławek System in September 1922 PD.
== Prelude ==
Task Group 10.2.9's mission was to call on four star systems suspected of having been contacted by Mesan Alignment operatives posing as representatives of Manticore and to render assistance should the need arise.
Around the same time, the SLN's Battlecruiser Squadron 720 responded to a civil rebellion in the Włocławek System in the hope of adding the system to the Solarian League as a protectorate controlled by the Office of Frontier Security. ()
== Order of Battle ==
=== RMN ===
Task Group 10.2.9, CO Captain Prescott Tremaine
=== SLN ===
* Battlecruiser Squadron 720 - CO Admiral Winslet Tamaguchi
* a destroyer elementEight War Harvest class units.
== Course of Battle ==
Battlecruiser Squadron 720 translated out of hyperspace into normal space thirteen light-minutes from Włocławek and opened communications with Hieronim Mazur on the Stacja Kosmiczna Józefa Piłsudskiego. BatCruRon 720 began to head in system while Tamaguchi spoke with Mazur.
Sometime later as the range to Włocławek dropped to six light-minutes, Tamaguchi was in the middle of an exchange with Mazur when Task Group 10.2.9 translated unexpectedly out of hyperspace almost directly astern of BatCruRon 720 at a range of six point eight light-minutes.
Surprised by the unexpected presence of Solarian League Navy units in the system, Tremaine began to move in system, limiting his acceleration to eighty-three present of his slowest unit's maximum acceleration. TG 10.2.9's velocity rose to 1,500 kps while Ghost Rider drones were sent ahead of its ships to have a closer look at BatCruRon 720 and its escorting destroyers 104,808,572 kilometers ahead of them.
Tamaguchi ordered his ships to reverse their acceleration and direct his command across the system to the opposite hyperlimit at 27,948 kps and an acceleration of 3.83 kps squared. In response, Tremaine increased his ships acceleration to 5.7 kps squared. With BatCruRon 720 at a distance of 687,191,428 kilometers from the hyperlimit, Tamaguchi estimated his ships would reach it in three hours and thirty minutes, sixty-one minutes before his Manticoran opponents could reach the same destination at their acceleration rate.
Nonetheless, Tremaine contacted Tamaguchi, demanding the surrender of his ships and promising their destruction if they chose not to surrender. In response, Tamaguchi contacted Tremaine and invited him to attack if he could. Despite his invitation, Tamaguchi continued to accelerate toward the opposite hyperlimit, his velocity climbing to 29.2 thousand kps at an acceleration of 390Gs.
Meanwhile Tremaine discussed a variety of intercept ideas with his personnel. Eventually, Tremaine decided on a feint. He detached HMS Charles Ward, his David Taylor class FSV, his five Culverin class destroyers, and one of his light cruisers while his remaining ships accelerated to 605Gs, increasing their velocity at 5.9 kps squared. Charles Ward and her escorts began to decelerate at 5.7 kps squared. Undetected by the Solarians, Charles Ward simultaneously deployed the eight LACs of LAC Detachment FSV-39 and released two of the four Mark 17 CUMV(L)s she carried on her external racks. Six of the LACs closed on HMS Alistair McKeon and were tractored inside her wedge while the remaining LACs, HMLAC Raven and HMLAC Parasol, tractored the Mark 17s and towed them behind Alistair McKeon.
BatCruRon 720 detected the separation of the Manticoran force and incorrectly deduced that Tremaine's intent was to have Charles Ward and her escorts - designated Sierra Two by the Solarians - reverse to the hyperlimit, micro-jump across the system, and lay missile pods in BatCruRon 720's path. Tamaguchi assumed he could take advantage of the Manticoran move, believing that Tremaine had erred in detaching 45 percent of his missile defense capabilities. He ordered BatCruRon 720 to reverse acceleration and begin decelerating to intercept Alistair McKeon and her escorts, designated Sierra One by the Solarians.
== Aftermath ==
With the destruction of SLNS Lorraine as an example by the Manticorans, Admiral Tamaguchi surrendered his command to Captain Tremaine.
Hieronim Mazur and his compatriots fled the system.
Captain Tremaine contacted Tomasz Szponder to establish contact between the Star Empire of Manticore and the Republika Włocławek. ()
== References ==
Włocławek
Włocławek