Battle of Ragnar Anchorage
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| Battle of Ragnar Anchorage | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Galactica provides cover fire while the civilian Fleet escapes | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Conflict: | Second Cylon war | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Days 1-6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place: | Ragnar Anchorage | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Successful escape from Cylon-occupied Colonial space | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| [[Colonial battles chronology ({{{series}}})|Battle Chronology]] | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Ragnar Anchorage was the successful breakthrough by Galactica of the Cylons' blockade around Ragnar Anchorage, and subsequent escape of its armada after being tracked and attacked for 5 continuous days (Miniseries, "33").
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 many battlestars, including flagship battlestar Atlantia and its fleet admiral, were destroyed, Commander William Adama assumed command of any remaining Colonial forces in the solar system and ordered them over wireless to rendezvous with his ship at a munitions depot, Ragnar Anchorage, for counter-attack preparation. Orbiting within the tenuous upper atmosphere of the gas giant Ragnar, the ammunition station held critical ordinance 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 causes damage to Cylon technology with sufficient exposure, and also jams any DRADIS detection, making attacking within the cloud threshold problematic at best.
Galactica was joined by a convoy of faster-than-light capable civilian ships rescued from throughout the spacelanes near Caprica, led by new President Laura Roslin. Despite the overwhelming odds, Commander Adama intended to proceed with a counter-offensive. However, after persuasion by Roslin, Adama realized that the ship was in a no-win battle situation: the Colonies were destroyed, Galactica was massively outnumbered, the human race was near extinction, and he was surrounded by nearly 50,000 of the only known survivors. Adama decideed to take the new rag-tag fleet away from the home solar system of the Colonies, never to return.
Lt. Kara Thrace discovered at least two Cylon basestars and their fighters outside of the cloud during a reconnaissance mission. With an avoidance of attack made impossible since a Jump within the cloud would likely distort the FTL calculations with fatal results, Galactica left the storm and oriented 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 created a defense perimeter against two basestars while her Vipers engaged any Cylon Raiders that attempted to move around Galactica and to her fleet. A third basestar later appeared and threatened to pummel Galactica with successive missiles.
Once the last civilian ship was away and the last of the Vipers returned to the flight pod, Galactica Jumped away to escape the onslaught.
After the battle ended at Ragnar, approximately 1 day later, the Cylons continued 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, failed to Jump with the Fleet in a recent escape. The Cylons also failed to attack in the next 33-minute interval as well. When the Carrier reappeared a short time later, a suspicious Adama commanded the 33-minute countdown to resume immediately. Adama's fears about the Carrier were confirmed when the Cylons appeared 33 minutes after the Carrier's return, indicating the Carrier had been used to track the Fleet throughout that time. When Galactica detected a radiological signature from the Olympic Carrier, suggesting it was boarded by Cylons and now carried a nuclear warhead, Vipers were dispatched to destroy the Carrier. After the Fleet Jumped once more, the Cylons could longer immediately track their movements.