The Commander’s Log – A Journey Through ‘Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock’ – Part 1

Written by Scott Murray

To Fleet Admiralty:

Per your request to be apprised of any major skirmishes, unusual events, or developments in the situation in the frontier regions, please find attached recording of Fleet Engagement in the nebulae outside Helios Alpha on 15th May 2021. Colonial Fleet Intelligence Council official report follows:

DRADIS data indicated enemy movement of indeterminate size through Helios Alpha region; With Commander Murray's flagship 5th Fleet still re-spooling FTL drives near Sagittaron, he was forced to utilize the understrength 6th Fleet. Cmdr. Murray ordered Commander Baron to move to strike range and begin reconnaissance. Recon ascertained the presence of a sizable Cylon strike force, likely meant either to idle in the region and disrupt travel and communications, or possibly as an attacking force meant for specific military targets beyond. Cmdr. Murray recalled recon, joined 6th Fleet, and moved to attack. Upon completion of FTL Jump into battle formation, it became apparent the Cylon forces had been caught completely by surprise and were still in a travel formation which facilitated visibility but not hard-hitting battle lines.

Viper squadrons were immediately deployed, and the enemy responded in kind. Their Raider Prototypes continue to show weaknesses associated with early, non-battle-tested designs and were no match for the Viper squadrons. Additionally, as you can see from the recording, the new Mark II variant is vastly exceeding performance expectations, and this Intelligence Council further reiterates their recommendation that all squadrons still equipped with Mk. I Vipers are updated to the new variant as quickly as possible. These Viper squadrons quickly secured total fighter-class supremacy over the battle space.

The center of the enemy fleet consisted of three Revenant-class gunships. As you know, these ships – which the Cylons developed from one of our Scorpion-class gunships captured in the early days of the conflict – are capable of annihilating even an Artemis-class Battlestar under a withering barrage of gunnery. Cmdr. Murray split his fleet into two “stacks,”; one consisting of his two Artemis-class Battlestars and one consisting of his four Adamant-class Frigates. Arranging the stacks into a “V” shape, he took advantage of the surprise and used his Viper squadrons to funnel the enemy gunships down the center of the “V” one by one before they could regroup into a proper battle line from patrol formation.

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The result would seem to suggest that Cmdr. Murray’s “Stack” formation idea has merit, especially in terms of providing multiplicative defensive benefits to ships in a stack; while a single Revenant-class has previously been shown to best groups of two Artemis-class or up to five Adamant-class ships, his stacks impeded the enemy from focusing their fire and as a result all ships in the formations shared only light damage, rather than one ship suffering serious harm. The “V” shape, along with the stack, allowed his capital ships to focus their gunnery for maximum effect. Cmdr. Murray suggests other fleet officers’ experiment with the “Stack” formations: quote follows: “Although we saw firepower magnification in the expected levels, the Stacks provided an unexpectedly high effectiveness of defense not previously predicted. I’d love to know whether that extra defense was the result of my Stack formations, the Viper interdiction, or the improvised response the Cylons had to undertake.” The Intelligence Council agrees with his assessment and officially recommends further examination of the Stack formation.
 
Further to the effectiveness of the Viper Mk. IIs mentioned above, later in the recording they are used to singlehandedly sweep up and destroy multiple enemy Talon-class light carriers; this indicates Viper Mk IIs may remain effective even with less-than-usual capitol ship support, as their destructive ability and improved maneuverability allow them a level of operational independence not seen in the Mk. I variant.

System-Wide alert: the enemy only deployed a single Nemesis-class corvette; this is in keeping with the pattern examined in other regions, as the enemy continues to reduce corvette-class numbers. Additionally, we have noticed a reduction in quality of the Nemesis-class ships which are appearing in combat: in the background at 1:51 you can see the Nemesis being destroyed by a single combined missile barrage from Cmdr. Murray’s four Adamant-class frigates. In the past this would have required a minimum of two combined barrages, and typically three barrages plus a gunnery assault. It is the belief of this Intelligence Council that the Cylons are funneling resources previously used for corvettes into new construction. This reallocation of resources may result in larger numbers of more powerful ships, or in the deployment of a previously unseen enemy craft. This Council believes these deployments could come at any time and advises all Colonial Fleet officers to be unusually vigilant about unidentified or unconfirmed DRADIS contacts.

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