RNS Deep Savannah

From FABT

UMWS Deep Savannah
TranscendenceDreadnoughtCarrier.png

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Alt text
Production information

Manufacturer:

Jafer-Nocsky Shipbuilders
Transgalactic Builders Conglomerate (in colloboration)

Class:

Transcendence-class dreadnought-carrier

Operator(s):

Rannoch Republican Navy
Dominion Dissident Front
Unified Galactic Navy

Technical information

Length:

3400m

Width:

550m

Height/depth:

720m

Max acceleration:

120 kilometers per second

Engine unit(s):

Element Zero Drive Core

Shielding:

Energy Shielding

Hull:

1100cm of Silaris-D Modular/Ablative Super Armor

Sensor systems:

  • LIDAR
  • Radar
  • Spectroscope
  • Electromagnetic Spectral Imaging
  • Celestial Imaging

Targetting system:

Hydaspa

Armament:

Crew:

25,860

Skeleton crew:

2,790

Usage

Commissioned:

14 September 2235 CE

Decommissioned:

10 November 2304 CE

Role(s):

Providing air cover and engaging enemy capital ships

Engagements:

Affiliation:

QuarianInsignia.jpg
Republic of Rannoch


UnifiedRepublicsoftheMilkyWay.png
Unified Galactic Republics

Fleet:

Maginot Armada (2235 CE - 2253 CE)
Milky Way 4th Fleet (2253 CE - 2304 CE)

Commander(s):

Cani'Zomis (2235 CE - 2242 CE)
Caanu'Tofal (2242 CE - 2253 CE)
Saen'Jaadda (briefly in March 2253 CE)
Caanu'Tofal (rest of the Dominion Civil War)
Napoleon (2253 CE - 2304 CE)

 

RNS Deep Savannah, later renamed the UMWS Deep Savannah during its service in the UGN, was a Transcendence-class dreadnought-carrier in the Rannoch Republican Navy and later the Unified Galactic Navy. The second ship of her class to be built, the Deep Savannah was purchased by the Republic of Rannoch in 2235 CE as per the Dominion Strategic and Tactical Arms Exchange introduced after the Post-Apocalyptic War, and it would soon enter service in the Maginot Armada as one of two Transcendence-class dread-carriers serving on the Maginot Line, with the Deep Savannah specifically deployed in the same task group as the Armada's flagship, the Blood Horizon. The vessel would serve extensively during Operation Silent Zealot, realizing its purpose as a heavily armed combat carrier, capable of operating in heavy combat conditions against enemy capital ships or engage in orbital bombardment, while also capable of deploying squadrons of fighters, bombers and interceptors to engage in lengthy carrier engagements or sorties. The Deep Savannah would provide the majority of the Dominion's air cover seen during the Zorya Rainforest Wars alongside its sister ship, the J. Robert Oppenheimer, with support from smaller carriers, refueling and launching aircraft constantly for weeks at a time, launching no less than 7,400 air strikes. The Deep Savannah would later be deployed with a small escort force of two heavy cruisers and a light cruiser in 2243 CE deep behind enemy lines to strike a top secret Covenant weapons testing facility discovered by Prometheus stealth satellites on Odasst. For the mission the Deep Savannah had its entire compliment of aircraft replaced with prototype Vespa stealth bombers, with only enough fighters left behind for patrol duty and protect the carrier from retaliatory strikes if it was detected. The mission was a success, with the Deep Savannah launching 16 air strikes over the Odasst research facility, knocking out communications and air bases simultaneously before going on to strike the barracks, fuel depot, docking facilities, a testing range, a motor pool, a munitions depot and armoury, the testing facility, and a shed housing sensitive Covenant technologies: by the time Covenant forces came to investigate, the Deep Savannah had retrieved its aircraft and left the system completely undetected. However, a bolder second operation launched a month later with the aim of hitting Illium and knocking out its shipyards ran into problems when the Deep Savannah, set to rendezvous with its sister ship the Oppenheimer after it had completed another operation, was ambushed by Covenant forces: Dominion communications regarding the operation had been intercepted by Covenant intelligence and upon learning this, the operation was postponed and the Deep Savannah forced to withdraw, but not before it engaged in a bloody brawl with a Covenant White Wolf-class dread-carrier, the Armageddon's Messenger, that left both ships severely damaged before the Oppenheimer arrived to provide cover for its sister's escape: the Deep Savannah was then able to withdraw, limping back to port for repairs. The Deep Savannah, built specifically as an answer to the Covenant's superiority in dread-carriers, had performed below expectations: despite being able to severely damage a Covenant dread-carrier in open combat, it had failed to destroy it, and had suffered just as much as it had dealt.

The Deep Savannah was a given a chance for revenge in 2244 CE during Operation Torpedo where it was secretly deployed in a hunter-killer mission with the Oppenheimer, as well as a third sister ship, the Meadow's Plight, accompanied by six other carriers, escorted by two battleships, six heavy cruisers, nine destroyers and twenty-eight frigates, all with the goal to hunt down and destroy a Covenant convoy of similar strength containing the Armageddon's Messenger, two other White Wolf-class dread-carriers and several smaller capital ships escorting a convoy of merchant vessels. Communicating closely with Prometheus assets and a Normandy II-class stealth frigate, the Tethys, that was tailing the convoy, the Deep Savannah and the rest of the task force laid a trap for the convoy in the Sowilo system, once again equipped with Vespa stealth bombers. While the previous Covenant admiral commanding the convoy's security detail had been notified of a Dominion operation in the area, his replacement had not, and thus was unaware of the trap he was taking his force into. The Deep Savannah was the first to spring the trap, and would instantly cripple and destroy the Armageddon's Messenger, avenging the beating it took at Fortis, before switching to targeting the convoy. By the end of the operation, the Deep Savannah's compliment was responsible for destroying a dread-carrier, seven destroyers, sixteen frigates and corvettes and forty-two merchant vessels, and the Deep Savannah itself would engage a battleship and two destroyers in a one-to-one ship engagement where it suffered two critical hits, but was able to destroy the battleship and one destroyer, and forced another to limp away badly damaged: during the attack the battleship had attempted to ram the super-dread, but it was able to maneuver around it due to the new captain's expert use of venting the ship's hangars and using its thrusters to quickly avoid the collision, allowing a point blank firing of plasma torpedoes that delivered a devastating broadside on the battleship as it missed the Deep Savannah. The operation was a huge success and repaired the ship's reputation, earning it the highest kill count of any carrier against capital ships in Dominion history.

The Deep Savannah would largely be kept in a defensive role along the Maginot Line until 2250 CE, with the Dominion failing to capitalize on its crucial victory at Sowilo and seize the initiative, and the Covenant Navy becoming more cautious since the devastating defeat, rarely committing their White Wolf-class outside of major strikes, shattering the myth of their invincibility: however, the Dominion's indecisiveness post-Sowilo led to the bold 2250 counteroffensive in 2250 CE that culminated in the Third Battle of Caestus, where the Deep Savannah was boarded by two broadsiding battleships, and if not for the sacrifice of a Dominion destroyer, would have been captured by the Covenant: however, the Meadow's Plight was not so lucky, and was destroyed in the battle and the Dominion fleet was ultimately routed. The Deep Savannah (after going through three months of repairs), along with the Oppenheimer, would subsequently be held in a defensive role for the rest of the war, wasting its strike potential. When the Dominion Civil War broke out in late 2252 CE and Imperial Admiral Xerxes would reject orders from Admiral Awarnach Stanford to mobilize against the DDF, the Deep Savannah almost mutinied, with its captain wanting to join the war effort, and was ultimately relieved of duty by his XO, who had him arrested and was placed in command of the Deep Savannah afterwards, although Xerxes didn't like the commander and viewed him as far too ambitious, having only overridden his commander in the hopes of advancing his career. As such, when the Covenant Navy finally launched an all-out massive assault on the Maginot Line in March 2253 CE, the commander refused to commit his dread-carrier to the battle, making excuses to Xerxes that bordered on insubordination: finally having enough, Xerxes personally led a team of Tecr'fer onboard Deep Savannah and arrested the commander for insubordination, bringing with him the captain and immediately ordering him to resume command. After he left, the Deep Savannah coordinated with its task group to sally out and engage the Covenant fleet, and over the course of the battle was responsible for dozens of ship-to-ship kills, running hundreds of bombing runs and battlefield refueling for aircraft, and in the chaos of the battle even refueled several aircraft from the Oppenheimer. The Deep Savannah would initially refuse to open fire on Dominion loyalist ships when they arrived at the battle, but after the Oppenheimer was rammed by several loyalist blockade runners, it finally engaged, and managed to destroy several capital ships and many of its bombers would score several hits on the Transcendence, its sister ship, before the loyalists finally achieved a breakthrough. Regrouping with the rest of the fleet, the Deep Savannah would participate in the Battle of the Citadel-Ark and Battle of Eos at the end of the war alongside the DDF, with the captain begrudgingly turning against the loyalists.

After the war, the Deep Savannah was one of only two Transcendence-class dread-carriers to survive the civil war, with the Oppenheimer and Transcendence destroyed at the Battle of the Citadel-Ark, the Michael Faraday lost during the Battle of Mars, and the Sergei Yudin at the Battle of Phoenix, leaving only the Deep Savannah and Steel Grinder post-war, with the latter having joined the DDF early in the war, although they would be joined by a third when construction of Paradise's Shield would finally be completed after it was indefinitely postponed by the civil war. The Deep Savannah would be made the flagship of the Milky Way 4th Fleet, albeit under a different captain as its former captain did not want to serve the UGR, where it would later serve during the UGR-Disciples conflict in 2254 CE and the Bucephalus Uprising in 2261 CE, remaining in service until its final decommissioning in 2304 CE, replaced by her successor, Golden Ray. The Deep Savannah was mothballed until 2824 CE where underwent extensive refits to be transformed into a Colossus-class colony ship, renamed the Lake Torrens that would participate in the Grand Andromeda Expeditionary Fleet in 2826 CE and wasn't finally decommissioned and scrapped until 2917 CE.

Service History[edit | edit source]

Development[edit | edit source]