| colspan=2 |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Battle of Ragnar Anchorage | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Second Cylon war | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | Days 1-6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Ragnar Anchorage | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Succesful Colonial escape | ||||||||||||||||
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The successful breakthrough by the Galactica of the Cylons' blockade around Ragnar Anchorage. (Mini-Series)
Battlestar Galactica was the only known surviving capital ship able to mount a counter-attack against the Cylons after the devastating attack that led to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. After getting word that several other battlestars, including battlestar Atlantia and its fleet admiral, were destroyed, Commander William Adama assumed command of any remaining Colonial forces and instructed them to rendezvous with his ship at a munitions depot, the Ragnar Anchorage. Orbiting within the atmosphere of the gas giant Ragnar, the depot held critical munitions needed by Galactica, which had destroyed its own munitions earlier as part of its scheduled decommissioning. The depot's location offered effective cover against Cylon attack as a particular form of electromagnetic radiation generated by the planet's upper atmosphere caused damage to Cylon technology with sufficient exposure, and also jammed any DRADIS detection, making attacking within the cloud threshold problematic at best.
Galactica was joined by a fleet of faster-than-light capable civilian ships gathered by new President Laura Roslin. Commander Adama intended to attack the Cylons in a counter-offensive on his own. However, after persuasion by Roslin, Adama realized that the ship was in a no-win battle situation: the Colonies were destroyed, they were massively outnumbered, the human race was near extinction, and he was surrounded by nearly 50,000 of the only known survivors. Adama decides to take the rag-tag fleet away from the Cyrannus system, beyond the FTL Red Line and never come back.
Lt. Kara Thrace discovers at least two Cylon basestars and their fighters outside of the cloud during a scouting mission. Galactica leaves the storm and orients itself as a shield for the remainder of the fleet to safely jump from behind the battlestar and to its new coordinates. With her weapons now fully armed, Galactica creates a defense perimeter against two basestars while her Vipers take on any Cylon Raiders that attempt to move around Galactica and to her fleet. A third basestar later appears and threatens to pummel Galactica with successive missiles.
Once the last civilian ships are away and the last of the Vipers are back, Galactica jumps to escape the onslaught.
After the battle ended, approximately 1 day later, the Cylons would continue tracking and pursuing the remnant of the Colonial Fleet, appearing every 33 minutes for five consecutive days and over 240 Jumps (33). A passenger liner, the Olympic Carrier, did not jump with the fleet in a recent escape. Adama commanded the 33 minute countdown to begin once it had reappeared. Adama's fears were confirmed when the Cylons appeared 33 minutes later, indicating the Carrier was used to track the fleet all this time. When Galactica detected a radiological signature on the Olympic Carrier, suggesting it was boarded by Cylons and was now carrying a nuclear warhead, Vipers were dispatched to destroy the Carrier. After the fleet jumped once more, the Cylons were no longer able to immediately track them.