Tama system, The Citadel region. On the 24th of December at 20:11 EVE Standard Time a combined Snuffed Out [B B C]\Project.Mayhem. [16-13] force clashed with Spectre Fleet in the system.
The battle was prearranged between the two sides, with Spectre Fleet fielding a 130 pilot Nightmare battleship fleet. This force traveled to the Tama system, where it set up on the ninth planet in the system. Snuffed Out and Project.Mayhem. formed a joint 100 pilot Machariel battleship fleet in response and made their way to the system, warping to the Nightmare fleet’s location and landing at medium range of it.
The two fleets anchored up immediately, with the Nightmare fleet lighting up a cynosural beacon and bringing in 3 force auxiliaries as well as a combat carrier and a lone dreadnought. The Nightmares opened fire on the Machariels, pulse laser batteries firing rapid beams of light into the ranks of the opposing battleships. The Machariels didn’t remain silent and burnt towards the Nightmares, autocannons spitting a hail of bullets at the nimble battleships.
In both fleets, battleships faltered and blew apart as the immense damage overwhelmed shields and armor plating. The logistics wings tried their best to stabilize their fleets, but the rapid fire and constant target switches left them struggling. Both sides kept trading losses, a Nightmare shredded by autocannon fire, a Machariel incinerated by hundreds of pulse laser beams.
Needing to stabilize, the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. fleet lit a cynosural beacon and brought in a couple of Apostle force auxiliaries. The Apostles set to work, capital remote armor repairers bolstering the logistics wing. With the 2 Apostles on field, the stream of casualties subsided, allowing the Machariel fleet to continue and pummel the Nightmares. The Nightmares in contrast, were unable to tank the incoming damage, even with 3 force auxiliaries in the field. They weren’t helped by the fact that the initial bumps from the capitals materializing had caused them to drift apart, getting them out of optimal range and reducing their effectiveness by a great deal.
Their fleet holding, the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders decided to further escalate, bringing in a mixed capital squadron of dreadnoughts and carriers. This was done partly to remove the hostile dreadnought from the field and partly to occupy the attention of the Nightmare fleet, thus forcing it to remain on grid. Dreadnoughts materialized on the field, entered siege cycles and opened fire on the Nightmare fleet, aided by squadrons of fighters launched by the combat carriers on the field.
The Nightmare fleet reacted to the development, bringing a few capitals of its own, mostly combat carriers, and targeting the dreadnoughts themselves. Pulse laser batteries locked on the huge ships, rapidly firing as the battleships maneuvered into optimal range of their guns. Hundreds of light beams struck the hull of the capital ships, melting through the thick armor plating and causing untold damage. Within a couple of minutes, the first Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem dreadnought was down, a Moros which blew up in a blinding flash.
Soon, 3 more would join it, but simultaneously the Machariel fleet continued to pummel the Nightmares. For every dreadnought brought down, between 6 to 8 Nightmares were destroyed, thinning the number of mainline ships in the Spectre Fleet force dangerously fast.
By the time the fourth Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. dreadnought succumbed to the onslaught, the Nightmare fleet had lost critical mass. Suffering extensive losses, it was unable to break the tank of the remaining capitals. Yet it persisted in fighting, trying to spot weaknesses in the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. fleet. As for Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem., they continued to clear the field of hostiles, taking down Spectre Fleet capital ships and battleships while suffering few casualties.
Unable to break any of the remaining ships and having lost most of its mainline ships, the Spectre Fleet force finally retreated, leaving 2 force auxiliaries and 2 combat carriers behind for Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. to dispatch. The latter did just that, destroying the remaining main and support subcaps as well as the capital ships. With the full might of the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. force upon them, the force auxiliaries could do very little to mount a defense and were easily overwhelmed. With the field secure and the last of the Spectre Fleet forces removed, the fleet extracted its remaining capitals, bringing the fight to a close.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. Fleet
Battle report for the Tama system can be found here.
All told the battle raged for 19 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting 280 pilots at the height of the fighting.
Spectre Fleet lost 78 ships in the engagement, including 1 dreadnought, 2 combat carriers, 2 force auxiliary and 49 battleships for a total of 35.15 billion ISK damage.
Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem. lost 16 ships in comparison, including 4 dreadnoughts and 3 battleships for a total sum of 14.48 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0TLA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
