Battle of Kalyke

Strength| * 1 Light Carrier
* 1 Destroyer
* 4 Destroyer Escorts
* 24 Fighters
* 6 Bombers
* 4 Agility Suits
* 1 Torpedo Boat

Casualties| * 1 Light Carrier Wrecked
* 1 Destroyer Lightly Damaged
* 1 Destroyer Escort Lightly Damaged
* 1 Torpedo Boat Wrecked
* 1 Corvette Lightly Damaged

The **Battle of Kalyke** was a Division War naval battle which occured on 3 February 2615, as part of Operation Arms Phoenix.

The battle was the largest in the old solar system during the Division War prior to the Battle of Galatea.

## Background

Operation Saber Resurrection was the name given to the extremely complicated system of convoys and recovery ships sent to the planets Earth and Mars, and the moon Luna, to recover and reuse weapons from the Devastation War, hundreds of years in the past. These convoys fell under various attacks, starting on October 16th, 2614 with the Battle of Kakhovka. Shortly after a number of protective escort fleets where dispatched to protect the convoys and their essential cargo

The first of these was Task Force Sol-17-A, lead by Rear Admiral Drake Sopwith from his flagship the SS *Longstreet*, along with the destroyer SS *Wright*, and the destroyer escorts SS *Queensmith*, *Caleighway*, *Kelly*, and *Alfred W. Johnson.*

To respond to the protective fleets, and particularly Sol-17-A, Commodore Wiel and his Island-class Corvettes CFS *Barkwurth*, *Deluns*, *Goldy Amaranth*, and *Jadespring*, and the torpedo boat *XT-14*, with the CFS *Deluns* acting as his flagship

## Battle

Early that day, the battle began with Wiel launching a high-speed hit-and-run attack on the SS *Wright* with the CFS *Jadespring* and *Deluns*, while his other two corvettes would shadow and engage the destroyer escorts. while under the initial attack run, before Wiel had any time to attack anyone, a previously scrambled flight squadron from the *Longstreet* had picked them up and attacked the two corvettes, causing them to be in immediate disarray, and although damage was inflicted on the *Wright*, it was slight and resulted with the *Deluns* and *Jadespring* both damaged. *Jadespring,* far more damaged than the *Deluns*, and thought to be the flagship by Sopwith since it lead the attack on the *Wright*, was pursued by the *Wright* and the two destroyer escorts *Caleighway* and *Kelly*. The three ships exchanged shots with the small *Jadespring*, and although the *Jadespring* was far more accurate with its shots, inflicted small damage on both the *Wright* and the *Caleighway*, it was useless as torpedoes fired from the *Kelly* destroyed the *Jadespring*'s aft turret and heavily damaged the life support systems. Shortly after power being cut, shots believed to be from the *Kelly* found their mark into the *Jadespring*'s broadside, severing the ship in two.

Meanwhile, the *Barkwurth* and *Goldy Amaranth* focused efforts on the *Longstreet*, again being engaged by fighters, *Barkwurth* was able to score hits on the *Longstreet*'s flight deck, while the *Goldy Amaranth* was shaken off by the *Queensmith* and *Alfred W. Johnson*. A bombing unit launched from the *Longstreet* targeted the *Goldy Amaranth* and bombed the ship ruthlessly, causing a critical power shutdown and forcing the ship to be abandoned. With the *Goldy Amaranth* destroyed, the two destroyer escorts pursued the *Barkwurth*, which at the time had cut off its attack to pick up survivors of the *Jadespring*, leaving the *Longstreet* to scramble fighters to engage the *Deluns*.

With the ship unprotected and most of its spacecraft in flight, the *Longstreet* made itself an easy target for the previously unseen *XT-14*, who fired a salvo of four torpedoes at the light carrier. Of the four fired, three found their mark into the side of the *Longstreet*, causing massive engine failure and preventing the ship to attack, the ship was abandoned shortly after scrambling its last fighters to engage the *XT*-*14*. The fighters harassed the ship until various hull breaches were reported, and the vessel retreated into the asteroid belt, where the fighters broke off to aid in the pursuit of the *Deluns* and *Barkwurth*. *XT-14* was lost in the asteroid belt, and failed to return to Phaedra. With the *Longstreet* wrecked, but with three of the five Circadian warships out of action, the *Barkwurth* and *Deluns* retreated to Callisto where they returned to Phaedra without accomplishing their mission.