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Outer Passage: Tackled Rorquals Cause the Destruction of Two Hel Super Carriers in Y-UO9U

April 21, 2017

By Salivan Harddin

Y-UO9U system, Outer Passage region. On the 20th of April at 16:37 EVE Standard Time a battle unfolded in the system resulting in the destruction of two Hel super carriers belonging to Solar Citizens [SLR.C].

The battle happened when members of achtung partizanen [.OHAI] went looking for new hunting grounds to project into from their wormhole home. After collapsing wormholes to find an active region, one of the interdictor scouts of the corporation chanced upon six Rorqual industrial ships mining peacefully in an anomaly. The interdictor swooped in swiftly and launched warp disruption probes, trapping the ships while calling for reinforcements.

With the information received the corporation quickly formed a mixed strategic cruiser fleet with a couple of Machariel and a Bhaalgorn battleships in tow. These battleships would later prove pivotal. The fleet burned ahead to the target system and joined its scouts which had been keeping the ships tackled. They then started the slow process of dismantling the Rorqual’s shields. The fleet managed to strip the ship of them relatively easy when the directional scan showed three Hel super carriers suddenly appear. The ships accompanied by a couple of Minokawa force auxiliaries and a Nidhoggur combat carrier landed a 100 kilometers from the distressed Rorquals who by then entered their invulnerability mode to avert their destruction.

Suddenly presented by much juicier targets, achtung partizanen diverted its focus to the new arrivals, swarming the giant hulls. The fleet quickly changed targets and opened fire on the fighter squadrons the ships were deploying. The fighters descended on the attacking ships and managed to destroy one unlucky Tengu strategic cruiser. However even with a very light logistics backbone achtung partizanen managed to hold the field and tank the incoming damage, keeping the super carriers tackled.

With the super carriers tackled achtung partizanen decided to deploy one of its pilots’ Nyx super carriers which was stationed in the vicinity of the region. A ship equipped with a cynosural field generator was rushed to the field while the fleet continued to chew through fighter squadrons. In the flurry of activity and commotion, the Rorquals exited their invulnerability mode and quietly warped off as all eyes on the field were occupied. Other parties were notified of the battle and started forming to aid achtung partizanen including Project.Mayhem. [16-13] and Inner Hell [-INHE]. These entities hastily assembled their own strategic cruiser fleets and made their way to join achtung partizanen on the field.

With more reinforcements coming, achtung partizanen lit its cynosural beacon and let through its single Nyx. The ship deployed fighter bomber squadrons and targeted the Hels’ support. The first ship to come under fire was a Minokawa. The force auxiliaries had been bumped away from each other and the super carriers thanks to the Machariels. Further more, the Bhaalgorn proved invaluable in shutting down the ships as its energy neutralizers drained the Minokawa’s capacitor dry. Unable to remote shield transfer or boost its own shields, the first Minokawa easily fell to the achtung partizanen’s onslaught. It was soon followed by the Nidhoggur and second Minokawa.

achtung partizanen turned its attention to the Hels who lost their support ships. The interdictor on field however had run out of warp disruption probes and before a replacement could come in and take its place the Hel not tackled by the heavy interdictors used the opportunity to warp off. Though one Hel escaped, the other two were pinned down and going nowhere. The corporation started working on the two hulls. Shields and armor were quickly removed. However once the fleet hit structure it held its fire to wait for the other fleets which were held back by mobile warp disruption fields deployed by the region’s inhabitants.

With the reinforcement fleets trickling in, the Hels remained at the mercy of the attackers who patiently waited for their allies to arrive. Finally with the other fleets arriving in full, achtung partizanen proceeded to destroy the two super carriers. In quick succession the behemoths exploded as the attackers easily chewed through their remaining hit points. With the two ships reduced to wrecks the attackers started to loot the field while extracting their heavier assets – Mainly the Nyx. With the Nyx safely out of the system and the hostiles having salvaged whatever of value remained on the field, came the time to depart. The different fleets dispersed back to their respective staging systems, bringing the fight to an end.

Battle report for the Y-UO9U system can be found here.

All told the battle lasted 1 hour with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 150 pilots by the end of the fighting.

achtung partizanen and allies lost only 2 ships in the fighting, 1 being a strategic cruiser for a total of 786 million ISK damage.
Solar Citizens lost 8 ships in the fighting including 2 super carriers, 2 force auxiliaries and 1 combat carrier for a total of 79.14 billion ISK damage.

Salivan Harddin is a member of Hoover Inc., Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden