The Orbital Siege

The Orbital Siege was the longest single campaign fought during the Solar War. It is considered to be the single most decisive campaign contributing directly to eventual Imperial victory in the war.

## Background

The United Nations Space Fleets having been badly mauled in the Battle of Mars withdrew to the inital safety of the Lunar Defence Grid. The Grid was a mix of Soviet defence satellites as well some British satellites captured in the inital Battle for the Moon. The purpose of this plus the much larger Soviet Earth Defence Grid was to hold off the overwhelming power of the Imperial Fleet to enable the much larger planet-bound forces of the UN to deal a death blow to the Federation.

## Inital Contact

The first contact the Royal Navy had with the UN defenders of the Moon occured on the 13th June 2056 when the RN's 1st Cruiser Squadron headed by the Protected Cruiser HMS Minotaur which was pursuing fleeing UN vessels engaged the outer edge of the LDG. The engagement resulted in a serious weakening of the LDG however the RN lost two of its precious cruisers.

## Second Battle of the Moon

The second Battle of the Moon began on 11th October 2056 when the full might of the RN battle line including both Protected Cruisers smashed through the LDG. Small landings were made on the surface of the Moon with all remaining UN forces surrendering by the 23rd October under the threat of having their Oxygen supplies bombarded from space.

## Stalemate

Following the fall of the Moon the Royal Navy made a few tentative attempts to probe the Earth Defence Grid. However, it was far more powerful than the LDG had been and several RN ships were lost whilst very little progress was made. The Stalemate would last until June 2058.

## Stalemate Breaks

After almost three years of stalemate during which time the RN lost six more ships whilst destroying just 17 Defence Stations and 5 UN Solar Ships the RN had finally come up with a strategy to isolate and destroy individual sections of the EDG. This strategy relied heavily on using cluster munitions to clear the dense minefields before sending in large numbers of small single seat fighter aircraft to cripple the offensve abilities of defence stations before they could be destroyed by capital ships. It took the Royal Navy just a single month to destroy virtually the entire EDG before finally only Station 14 and a handful other stations were left.

## Battle of Station 14

Station 14 was a Typhoon Class Orbital Defence Command Station, the only one of its kind launched and the single most powerful station in the entire EDG. The Royal Navy launched its final attack on Station 14 throwing all it had the station, the battle lasted only an hour and a half however by the end of it the RN had lost one of its two Protected cruisers HMS Minotaur to a salvo of torpedoes fired from Station 14. In the end though the Royal Navy was victorious.

## Aftermath:

The Orbital Siege was a decisive victory for the Imperial Federation. It enabled the Royal navy to begin massive orbital bombardments of opposing UN forces and key infrastructure on the ground. The shift in the balance of power was so dramatic that the war would end a mere 6 months after the Battle of Station 14.