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History > The Battle of Elin
The Battle of Elin of 2845, one of the first engagements in the
history of the Naval Service, was a protracted chase engagement
over the length and breadth of the Ikeopo system. It began with
an attempted by the Customs Cutter HMS Rememberancer to intercept
a suspected specialist-legger (A vessel smuggling specialists onto
Sivad in order to avoid the payment of the Specialist Retail Tax
and the General Naval Levvy, both large parts of the heavy taxation
brought in by King Franklin I to pay for the Royal Navy). The vessel
fled, and the Rememberancer gave chase, only to find the vessels
mother ship, a dreadnought which had apparently been stolen from
the shipbreaker and been refitted. In a brief engagement, the Rememberancer
was lost with all hands, but not before transmitting the coordinates
of the enemy vessel.
Within moments the HMS Resilience and the HMS Endeavour, two of
the newest class of RNS frigates, gave chase, converging on the
enemy near the small moon of Elin on the outer fringes of the Ikeopo
system. A lengthy stern chase ensued, in which the Resilience was
damaged by a missile from the enemy vessel, dropping it from the
engagement. The Endeavour, however, continued to close, drawing
alongside the enemy at a distance so near that the vessels shields
were ineffective. Broadsides were exchanged which caused terrible
damage to the vessels, the Endeavour losing almost half its crew,
and prompting it's captain, Sir Winston Woolfe, to take a desperate
gamble. He equipped his crew with vacuum suits and proceeded to
ram the enemy vessel, dispatching his marines in an impromptu boarding
action which carried the enemy ship. Sir Winston was created the
first Earl of Elin for his action, and each man on the crew received
prize money in excess of 7,500 yojj, worth approximately 100,000
yojj-sterling today.
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