F-YH5B system, Providence region, on the 9th of November at 20:20 EVE Standard Time, Providence Bloc forces clashed with an Imperium fleet.
Imperium forces had found a wormhole linking their space and Providence Bloc’s, bringing through it a 100 pilot fleet to camp Providence Bloc’s staging station in the F-YH5B system. The fleet was mainly composed of combat recon cruisers, specifically Rooks.
Providence Bloc had a Ferox battlecruiser fleet out roaming at the time which was given the order to come back while two stealth bomber squadrons were organized outside the system. Providence Bloc members still in F-YH5B quickly assembled their own assorted battlecruiser fleet as well, bringing the total of Providence Bloc pilots to an estimated 140 spread across 4 fleets.
The Providence Bloc stealth bomber squadrons kept the hostile fleet occupied, running a couple of bombing runs in an attempt to find their resistance hole while the Providence Bloc Ferox battlecruiser fleet burnt back to system. Once it arrived, it entered and warped to a perch above the station. The Imperium fleet started to burn towards it thus clearing the undock area of the station which allowed a second battlecruiser fleet to undock as well.
Quickly, Imperium forces found themselves sandwiched in between two battlecruiser fleets. Rail guns, artillery cannons and heavy missile launchers opened fire on the combat recons, bombarding them on two fronts. Providence Bloc fleet commanders feared the potential of heavy electronic warfare from the Imperium Rooks. But these fears were soon dispelled when it was revealed the Rooks were fitted mostly for tanking rather than electronic warfare.
Providence Bloc kept hammering the Imperium fleet, taking losses, but dishing out a great deal of damage in return. The constant bombardment and crossfire from the 2 Providence Bloc fleets did its part and the Imperium fleet was simply torn to shreds, losing ships in rapid succession.
Finally, the Imperium force was utterly defeated, only a few ships managing to escape its total ruin, leaving Providence Bloc forces to hold the field.
Battle report for the F-YH5B system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 30 minutes with the system seeing less than 300 pilots in local and Time Dilation not reported by any of the combatants.
Providence Bloc lost 26 ships, including 10 battlecruisers for a total of 3.17 billion ISK damage. Imperium forces lost 81 ships including 56 recon combat cruisers for a total of 18.72 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
