OFS Kestrel
OverviewThe OFS Kestrel was the seventh Hubert class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) constructed for the Osea Maritime Defense Force. Ordered on July 29th, 1991, she was assigned the hull number CVN-30 and built at Newport Sargo Shipyards. [1]
During the Belkan War she was deployed as a pre-commissioning unit alongside a 3rd Fleet battlegroup on April 24th, 1995, tasked with breaking through the Futuro Canal. [2] Serving as the Kestrel's shakedown cruise, the operation was a resounding success, but she was not commissioned into the OMDF until March 27th, 1999. [3] At the outbreak of the Circum-Pacific War she was berthed at Saint Hewlett's naval station, commanded by Captain Nicholas A. Andersen. She came under surprise attack by Yuktobanian fighter jets and ships moments after the declaration of war on September 27. [4] The Kestrel's battlegroup survived the attack and regrouped with the Hubert class carriers Buzzard and Vulture. The three ships attempted to seek refuge in the Bannion Sea, accessible only through the narrow Eaglin Strait. While transiting the strait, they came under ballistic missile fire from the Yuktobanian submarine Scinfaxi, sinking the Buzzard and Vulture while the Kestrel again escaped unscathed. [5] The Kestrel contributed to Osea's war effort against Yuktobania over the next two months, but had lost all of her pilots aside from one by December. Having lost her combat effectiveness, she was posted in the North Ceres Ocean, far from the frontlines. Meanwhile, her battlegroup seized a Belkan freighter supplying fighter jets to Yuktobania and intercepted an encrypted message being transmitted from Belka. On December 7th, when the OADF 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron was betrayed by Belkan infiltrators, the Kestrel's surviving pilot, Lieutenant Snow, shot down all four 108TFS aircraft. However, this was part of a scheme concocted by Captain Andersen to rescue the pilots and fight the Belkan conspiracy. Marines from the Kestrel recovered the pilots after they ejected and brought them to the carrier. Breaking the intercepted message's encryption, the pilots discovered that Osean President Harling was imprisoned in the Waldreichs. Flying the aircraft seized from the Belkan freighter, 108TFS's three pilots plus Lieutenant Snow conducted a combat air patrol while marines liberated Harling and returned him to the Kestrel. Renaming themselves "The Ghosts of Razgriz" - an allusion to a fairy tale where a demonic figure dies and returns as a hero - the four pilots operated from the Kestrel and took commands directly from President Harling. Between December 19th and 23rd President Harling departed the Kestrel with a marine escort, intending to confront the Vice President and Belkan conspirators in Oured. The Razgriz then sortied into Yuktobania and freed its Prime Minister from imprisonment by the country's junta. On December 29th the Kestrel engaged a Yuktobanian fleet, though several destroyers and frigates defected after receiving a transmission from Prime Minister Nikanor. The OMDF's Barbet carrier battlegroup appeared in the area and intervened, attacking both the Yuktobanians and the Kestrel's battlegroup. Ultimately the hostile Yuktobanian forces and the entire Barbet battlegroup were sunk. The next day, however, the Kestrel was overwhelmed by anti-ship missiles launched from a Yuktobanian submarine. With the ship taking on water, Andersen ordered the Razgriz to launch before essential personnel abandoned ship. Although the submarine was eventually sunk by an escort ship, the Kestrel was lost on the afternoon of the 30th. OperatorsOsea Maritime Defense Force
SpecificationsRole: Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier
Crew: Ship's company: 3,200 Air wing: 2,480 General characteristics Length: Overall: 332.8 m Waterline: 317.0 m Beam: Overall: 76.8 m Waterline: 40.8 m Powerplant: 2 × nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines driving 4 × shafts 194 MW Performance Speed: 30+ knots Range: Unlimited distance, 20–25 years between reactor refueling Armament Internal Cannon AIM-9M Sidewinder AIM-9X Sidewinder R-73 Archer Darkfire BVRAAM Aircraft Complement 90 fixed wing and helicopters Citations[1] Gaze 8/2008
[2] Jimmy Carter's Controversial Nuclear Targeting Directive PD-59 Declassified [3] Front Line 4/2004 |
The Kestrel's island illuminated at night.
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