From Freepeedia, the Communal Encyclopedia
The Pacific Campaign (sometimes referred to as Third Battle of Pacific) was a series of battles that took place in the Pacific and Lianluo dian systems between Chinese and Centauri naval forces. The campaign opened with Imperial forces successfully breaking through the Lianluo dian – Pacific jump point, but thanks to risky tactics by the Alliance commander, Tsutaya Seki, it ended with a crushing Chinese defeat.
Background
The Chinese Empire attempted to force entry into the Pacific system twice in 2632 and 2637 with both attempts being unsuccessful, especially the second one when the Imperial Navy suffered particularly heavy loses for little return.
Due to lack of contact between the two nations very little is know about Chinese preparations between 2637 and 2650. What little is known comes from direct observation during battle. In particular the Empire have designed a battlecruiser with very larger and powerful jump drive and missile equipped assault cruisers with multiple launchers and heavy armor. They also seem to have built a significant number of new warships, which on average were usually larger than Centauri vessels.
The Alliance forces were almost completely committed to the defense of the jump point, but due to the missile and mineral shortages the backbone of the defence consisted of twenty thousand tonnes monitors armed exclusively with lasers, rather than missile armed battleships which has proven themselves much more effective in the jump point defensive role. The Alliance carriers, their wings and escorts have also not been upgraded, nor were they increased in number. Due to the need for overhauls and shore leave, usually about sixty percent of the entire Alliance navy was present in the system at any given time.
The Chinese entry
The Imperial assault forces made their jump at six o'clock on 29 November 2650 with a total of forty five vessels split into five separate groups. The largest one, dubbed 'Main Body' used the jump gate on Lianluo dian side of the jump point to make a mass transit. Two groups of three vessels emerged less than thirty thousand kilometers from the jump point and two more groups, each of five warships, emerged fifty thousand and two hundred thousand kilometers, respectively, from the jump point.
The immediate Alliance defenses consisted of fifteen monitors, two battleships standing right on top of the jump point and three missile battleships waiting a little further out. The combination of missiles and laser fire was very successful in the initial stages of the battle, but the enemy had simply too many missiles. As soon as the ten assault cruisers recovered from the transit effect, they have launched an overwhelming wave of missiles that annihilated the defenders in less than twenty seconds.
This phase of the campaign was highly successful for the Chinese. While in tonnage terms they have lost more than the Alliance, their loses were not crippling and for the first time they have managed to get access to the Pacific system. In addition the two carrier groups standing a hundred and fifty million kilometers away could not possibly hope to get through defenses of the remaining ships and begun to retreat. And while it is true that the Imperial forces have lost a significant number of ships with point defense – their assault cruisers, which have survived mostly intact, were pure missile platforms – they still had enough to deal with the fighter strikes.
Fortunately for the Alliance, they have used a large number of missiles and due to their dependence on box launchers some of their ships were forced to return to base to re-arm, and four ships were damaged heavily enough to be sent to yards for repairs. However, any hope of launching a counter attack at the remaining force was squashed as fourteen more cruisers have reinforced the warships guarding the jump point.
The Alliance reinforcements
Once the Alliance government heard about the Imperial break into the Pacific system, they begun sending all they had to the system in hope of repelling the follow up attack that was sure to come. Already in the system were one heavy and one light carrier groups, which represented half of the Centauri fighter strength, but everyone agreed that this was not enough. Immediately available in the Alpha Centauri was a picket group of five monitors that have recently completed an overhaul reinforced by four more ships of the class from new construction. Another heavy carrier group centered around the carriers Kilimanjaro and Mount Fuji and under the command of Vice Admiral Tsutaya Seki (who will later take command of the campaign) was also sent. However, several other ships, including battleship Apollo and entire Eisenhower light carrier group were in the middle of an overhaul and the latter would not be available for a month.
The Chinese advance
Early evening on the 22 December 2650 the listening post on Pacific I detected transit of five Imperial vessels. Shorty after the entire force begun moving towards the inner system, detectable by their thermal and EM emissions. While all Alliance reinforcements – save Eisenhower carrier group and the battleship Apollo – were in the system, they were not yet concentrated. However, considering the Imperial strength and their ability to launch enormous waves of missiles, as well as their heavy anti-missile defenses Vice Admiral Tsutaya Seki did not believe she could fight the enemy in a standard missile duel. As such, she decided to run the enemy out of ordnance to clear a path for the nine monitors, as the enemy was relatively light in energy weapon armament.
Between 25 December 2650 and 12 January 2651 a total of seven fighter strikes were launched, forcing the Chinese forces to expend all their anti-missiles in defense. The strikes achieved little, damaging four battlecruisers but not enough to slow them down. In addition the attacking warships were drown close to the Alpha Centauri jump point, which was on the other side of the system from their entry point, which ensured that they could not escape quickly or easily.
The destruction of the escort force
With the Chinese out of anti-missiles, the Alliance escorts charged the enemy en masse. The carriers remained behind, as they had no point defense and no missile armament, which meant they would be unable to contribute to the engagement. Their ability to attack enemy without being under threat, thanks to the fighters, was also considered far too valuable to be risked.
The battle took place late in the evening on 12 January 2651. In an interview later, Vice Admiral Tsutaya said she expected heavy loses, but she also believed that the long range anti-missile sensors mounted by the Alliance vessel will give her forces enough advantage for at least some ships to survive. However, she was proven wrong, as the entire force was annihilated eighty million kilometers from the Imperial cruisers. Later analysis have shown that the Chinese launched forty percent more missiles than they had to, indicating a severe overkill on their part.
However the Imperial forces had used all their ordnance and begun retreating towards the jump point, most likely with the intention of temporarily returning to their base for re-armament.
The destruction of the Imperial attack force
With the enemy out of munitions, Vice Admiral Tsutaya has given order for the monitors to attack. On 14 January 2651 the nine Alliance monitors and the twenty nine cruisers and battlecruisers of the Imperial Navy begun to exchange fire. While the Chinese built their main combatants with variety of weapons, designed to be able to face any situation, nine of their warships were either jump or assault ships. In addition, being multi-role, their energy armament was relatively light. The monitors on the other hand were specifically designed for close combat and had the speed advantage. While the battle was relatively long, lasting close to twenty minutes, there was never much doubt about the outcome. In the end every single Chinese vessel has been destroyed, in return for only one monitor, although four more had to return home for repairs.
While this was a decisive victory for the Alliance, they were unable to fully capitalize on it, as there was no jump gate on their side of the jump point and they had no jump ships capable of escorting monitors or the larger carriers through the jump points. In addition, an enormous number of fighter missiles have been used, leaving very little for future operations.
The Lianluo dian raid
Despite the dangers, the Alliance government has decided that such a decisive battle left little for the Chinese to guard their systems. On 2 February 2651 the Eisenhower carrier group was ordered to enter the enemy system. This was the first time an Alliance ship have sailed into Imperial territory.
There were no defenses on the other side and the Centauri vessels begun to scan the local space. The Lianluo dian system was known thanks to the interrogation of Chinese prisoners, but the information was uncertain and lacking in details – such as a precise location of the jump points.
Lianluo dian had a very fortunate astrography for the Alliance, as it was a brown dwarf with all jump points close to each other. Two such points were detected very early thanks to the Imperial commercial vessels with transponder codes using them.
At first the Centauri forces were content to watch, hoping to catch a large convoy unaware. However, it was becoming quickly obvious that most of the traffic was in the form of a privately owned single vessels. Because of that on 25 February 2651 the Alliance forces decided to cut off the system, by destroying relay vessels on the jump points and intercepting any and all commercial traffic entering the system.
On 2 March 2651 a command ship, equipped with powerful sensors, was sent to the enemy system believed to be the source of the attacks. The assumption was proven correct as Dabrowski emerged in the Bessel's Star system, which was known to be the Chinese capital. There was no immediate response from the Empire and over the next weeks the Alliance forces intercepted and destroyed a number of commercial vessels.
On 28 March, 2651 five Imperial vessels were detected approaching jump point, prompting Alliance vessels to begin evacuation. The last of them returned to Pacific on 2 April 2651 officially ending what has become known as the Pacific Campaign.
Aftermath
Little is known for certain about the Empire, due to lack of communication. However, considering their slow response to the Alliance presence in Lianluo dian many analysts believes that the Chinese forces have suffered much heavier loses, proportionally, than Centauri ones. However, there was no way to capitalize on that due to the lack of jump gate on the Pacific side of the jump point.
The consequences for the Alliance were enormous. First, it has been proven that their main combatants were obsolete and the concepts on which they were based were simply not working. The inability of the fighter strikes to penetrate the Chinese defenses was also a shock to the Centauri forces. Finally, the lack of large jump vessel has proven to be a significant shortcoming, one that might have stopped the Alliance from ending the war after the Pacific campaign. A jump gate will not be built, as during the first two Imperial incursion several Chinese ships have to be abandoned as they had no way home. As such not having a jump gate is considered a significant advantage for the defenders.