Battle of Ragnar Anchorage

Battle of Ragnar Anchorage
Galactica provides cover fire while the civilian Fleet escapes
Galactica provides cover fire while the civilian Fleet escapes
Summary
Conflict:	Second Cylon war
Date:	Days 1-6
Related Episode(s):
Place:	Ragnar Anchorage
Result:	Successful escape from Cylon-occupied Colonial space
Combatants Remnants of the Colonial Fleet Cylons Commanders Commander William Adama Basestar command Strength 1 battlestar, 40 Vipers, Raptors 3 basestars, associated Raiders Materiel Losses Approximately 4 Vipers Unknown, minimal Casualties 1,345 civilians Unknown, dozens of Raiders
[[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})|Battle Chronology]]
Previous Next Fall of the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards Battle of Ragnar Anchorage Skirmish over the Red Moon

The Battle of Ragnar Anchorage is the successful breakthrough by battlestar Galactica from a Cylon blockade around Ragnar Anchorage, and subsequent escape from its armada after being tracked and attacked for 5 continuous days (Miniseries, "33").

Galactica is the last known surviving capital ship able to mount a counterattack against the new Cylon menace after the devastating attack that leads to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.

After getting telemetry that many battlestars, including flagship battlestar Atlantia are destroyed, Commander William Adama assumes field command of the Colonial Fleet and orders any surviving units to rendezvous with his ship at a remote munitions depot, Ragnar Anchorage, for a planned counterattack.

Orbiting within the tenuous upper atmosphere of the gas giant Ragnar, the ammunition station holds critical ordnance needed by Galactica, which had destroyed its own munitions earlier as part of its scheduled decommissioning.

The depot's location also offers effective cover against Cylon attack, as a particular form of electromagnetic radiation generated by the planet's upper atmosphere causes interference or damage to Cylon technology with sufficient exposure, and also jams any DRADIS detection, making attacking within the cloud threshold problematic at best.

Galactica is later joined by a convoy of faster-than-light capable civilian ships rescued from throughout the spacelanes near Caprica by new President Laura Roslin.

Despite the overwhelming odds, Commander Adama intends to proceed with a counter-offensive. However, after persuasion by Roslin, Adama realizes that the ship is in a no-win situation: the Colonies are destroyed, Galactica is massively outnumbered, the human race is near extinction, and he is surrounded by nearly 50,000 of its only known survivors.

Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace discovers at least two Cylon basestars and their fighters outside of the cloud during a reconnaissance mission, further decreasing the battlestar's odds in any offensive plans.

Adama decides to take the new rag-tag fleet away from the home solar system of the Twelve Colonies, towards the Prolmar Sector, never to return.

With an avoidance of attack made impossible since an FTL jump within the cloud would likely distort the FTL calculations with fatal results, Galactica leaves the Anchorage and positions itself at Ragnar's storm's threshold, orienting itself as a shield for the remainder of the Fleet to safely jump from behind the battlestar and to their new coordinates. With her weapons now fully armed, Galactica creates a defense perimeter against two basestars while her Vipers engage any Cylon Raiders that attempt to move around Galactica and to her fleet. A third basestar soon appears to pummel Galactica with successive missiles.

Once the last civilian ship is away and the last of the Vipers return to the flight pod, Galactica jumps away to escape the onslaught. The Cylons enter the station shortly after the battle, and retrieve a suspected Cylon agent left there by the Colonials, a Number Five copy posing as a man named Aaron Doral.

After the battle ends at Ragnar, approximately one day later, the Cylons continue tracking and pursuing the remnant of the Colonial Fleet, appearing every 33 minutes for five consecutive days and over 240 jumps. A passenger liner, the Olympic Carrier, fails to join the Fleet after the last jump. However, the Cylons don't appear in the next 33-minute interval.

When the Olympic Carrier reappears a short time later, a suspicious Commander Adama commands the 33-minute countdown to resume immediately. Adama's fears about the vessel are confirmed when the Cylons appear 33 minutes after its return, indicating it was used to track the Fleet throughout that time.

When Galactica detects a radiological signature from the Olympic Carrier, suggesting it was boarded by Cylons and now carries a nuclear warhead, Vipers are dispatched to destroy the the ship.

After the Fleet jumps once more, the Cylons can no longer immediately track their movements (33).