| abstract | - Under the command of Captain Thomas Theisman, PNS Sword was assigned to Ninth Cruiser Squadron and Commodore Reichman to ambush a five-ship Manticoran convoy and its five escort consistent of two light cruisers and three destroyers. Thanks to Naval Intelligence, Commodore Reichman knew the convoy's schedule and was lying doggo in a "bubble" in the local gravity wave as they detected the convoy, let it pass without being spotted and then took up pursuit of them. Commodore Reichman's tactic was to engage them in hyperspace despite heavier ships' normal defensive advantage being negated there. As merchantmen were slow ships, catching up with the convoy let the Havenite squadron overtake them easily. Once the Manticoran escort detected them, a single destroyer decelerated to get a better look at them before it returned to the convoy, which meant the plan was going accordingly until the Manticorans did something the Havenite Commodore had not expected despite Captain Theisman's advice on it. Instead of scattering as Commodore Reichman had expected, the entire escort turned around to face their both numerical superior and larger opponents. As no impeller drive would function in a gravity wave's powerful gravitational force, both forces had to close to energy range to engage each others with neither sidewall nor their own impeller wedges. While this gave Commodore Reichman's squadron a larger advantage in firepower, the Manticoran only had to take out the forward Alpha nodes as this would bring down any ships forward sails and making it impossible to maneuver in a grav wave. The ambush ended with three of the Havenite cruisers being destroyed and at least one more losing its forward Alpha nodes, forcing the remainder to stop their pursuit to aid their wounded squadron-mate. However, all five Manticoran escorts were destroyed. (HH3)
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