CMS Batetara

CMS Batetara (CLG-36) was a Sh'water-class guided weapons cruiser in the Caspian Navy, lost to a mine while on tour within Corporate Sector space. She was the sixteenth vessel of her class, and had been in service three years at the time of her destruction. Only 320 of her 680-person crew survived.

The event, while not regarded as an act of aggression, is subject to intense controversy. On the CSA's hand, they question why the Batetara was in a known minefield, while on Caspia's hand, they protest that there were an overabundance of mines in the area, most were not in keeping to patterns of Galactically-regulated deployment, and that the model of mine used was "overkill" &mdash; possessing a yield great enough to damage a Star Destroyer. In any case, the mine detonated just foreward of the engine sections, on the ventral side, and effectively "gutted" the ship, causing an immediate decompression of most compartments. With most of her power grid and engineering components compromised, and no way to stem or counter the loss of integrity, the ship broke up. Most of the survivors were in the foreward third of the cruiser. With a small degree of luck, the now adrift pieces didn't strike or set off any other mines in the vicinity.

The political fallout was rather heated, with several reviews and negotiations taking place between the Union and the CSA. In a particularly crass move, one CSA official even went so far as to demand reimbursement for the mine, but he was later censored by slightly kinder-hearted CSA representatives. It nonetheless caused considerable tension between the two governments. The Union continued to deploy cruisers and frigates on tours of regional star systems, but heavily cut back the frequency and depth of missions to CSA space.

Batetara means Force of the East in Sarian.