The Mars Offensive

The Mars Offensive was an attempt by the United Nations to seize or destroy the key strategic Imperial Shipyards orbiting Mars. The offensive was also hoped by some to be a decisivie blow that would cripple the Royal Navy.

## UN Plan

The United Nations began preperations for The Mars Offensive four months before the outbeak of hostilities. They did this by secretly predeploying the United States 2nd Marine Regiment at Icarus Base on the surface of Mars.

The overall UN plan called for the main force of the combined fleet to directly attack the Imperial Shipyards. It was hoped to acheive at least some surprise by not declaring war until the attack had happened as well as by approaching from the dark side of Mars. The battle would end up being the first engagement fought in space in human history as such neither side knew how the battle should be fought.

## Disposition of Forces

The United Nations sent its entire avaliable cruiser force to take on the Imperial Federations fleet whilst the federation had to deal with having six of its cruisers station throughout the Solar System. Despite this the Imperial Federation held a numerical advantage of 17 Cruisers to 14 United Nations cruisers. Furthermore, the Federation possessed two Arethusa Class Protected Cruisers with their dual 5 inch guns and plate armour which far outclassd anything the United Nations could field.

### Commanders and key figures:

#### United Nations:

* Admiral Tim McCoy (KIA) - Cruiser Squadron 1
* Rear Admiral Arthur Heath (Prisoner) - Cruiser Squadron 2
* Vice Admiral Semyon Buryov - Cruiser Squadron 3
* Admiral Hans Guryen (KIA) - EUS Charles de Gualle

### United Nations Forces:

* Cruiser Squadron 1
	+ USS Baltimore
	+ USS Calgary
	+ USS Las Vegas
	+ CNS Yangtze
	+ CNS Amur
	+ USNS Safety
* Cruiser Squadron 2
	+ USS New York
	+ USS Oregon
	+ USS Texas
	+ EUS Charles de Gualle
	+ EUS Angela Merkel
	+ USNS Saviour
* Cruiser Squadron 3
	+ KCCCP Voroshilov
	+ KCCCP Tukhachevskey
	+ KCCCP Yegorov
	+ KCCCP Budyonny
	+ KCCCP Rostock

### Imperial Federation Forces:

#### Space Forces:

* HMS Arethusa
* HMS Minotaur
* HMS Essex
* HMS Victoria
* HMS Natal
* HMS Bengal
* HMS Newfoundland
* HMS Antrim
* HMS Canberra
* HMS London
* HMS Delhi
* HMS Calcutta
* HMS Ottowa
* HMS York
* HMS Swansea

## The Battle

At 07:42 on the 24th of May 2056 HMS Calcutta spotted the UN taskforce on her scanners at a distance of 150,000 Km from Mars. The Royal Navy immediatley started to mobilise its ships.

### Events:

* UN Cruiser Squadron 1 enters effective firing range of their 4 Inch guns they in turn come under fire from multiple Imperial ships.
* Cruiser Squadron 2 enters the fight on the right, ventral flank of the 1st but faces the brunt of fire from HMS Arethusa and HMS Minotaur.
* USS New York having been struck by 8 5 inch shells is destroyed
* EUS Charles de Gualle is crippled by fire from HMS Arethusa before being finished off by HMS London.
* HMS Natal is forced to drop out of the battle line due to heavy damage.
* The UN Cruiser Squadron 3 finally joins the battle.
* Facing concentrated fire from Cruiser Squadron 3 HMS Antrim is destroyed.
* KCCCP Yegorov is destroyed.
* KCCCP Voroshilov is abandonded by its crew.
* CNS Yangtze is crippled, its crew remain on board before finally scuttling her an hour later.
* With five ships destroyed or crippled the UN force withdraws to a range of 100,000 Km
* The Royal Navy counter attacks.
* USS Baltimore, USS Las vegas, USS Texas CNS Amur are all destroyed.
* HMS Bengal, HMS York are destroyed with HMS Arethusa and HMS Canberra are damaged.
* The United Nations forces beat a hasty retreat back to the Moon. unable to catch the fleeing ships the Royal Navy breaks off its pursuit.

## Aftermath

The Mars offensive effectivley destroyed the United Nations fleet as an offensive force. From now on the fleet would remain behind a wall of Soviet defensive satellittes except for a dozen small commerce raiders and their support ships which would harrass the Royal Navy from the Asteroid belt until the Royal Navy tracked them down and eventually destroyed them.

By the end of the battle the combinded UN fleet could field 5 Cruisers to the Royal Navys 17 with three more damaged.