CIFS Eminent Domain

This article is about the ship. For the mission, see Eminent Domain (mission).

"Confirmed hit on target, [laughs] that’s #15 down, reload main battery!"

― Captain Woodward enjoying the vessel's heavy firepower

FNS Jerusalem, rechristened CIFS/CCS Eminent Domain, was the most advanced battleship of the Federation Navy, seized by Cascadian Independence Force-aligned Coast Guard members during the Cascadian Conflict.

For most of the war, the Eminent Domain served as the flagship of the CIF's naval force, participating in SAR, covert, and coastal shelling missions. It was responsible for defeating the 1st Naval Battlegroup at the Pacific Ocean, and was later sunk by Crimson 1 in the Presidian Disaster.

Overview

The Jerusalem/Eminent Domain was a brand-new battleship of the Federation, equipped with hi-spec armaments (including long-range ASMs and five quadruple gun turrets), an EW suite, and engines giving it a top speed equal to destroyers. Overall, its utility was considered almost equal to an entire battlegroup and its speed, armor, and firepower allowed it to make devastating hit-and-run attacks on numerically superior enemies and still survive.

Before its capture, the battleship contained vital intel, and its captain's quarters contained various personal effects including a whiskey bottle.

History

Eminent Domain in battle

The FNS Jerusalem, while cruising the Burning Coast for unspecified reasons, was attacked and captured by Cascadian Coast Guard remnants (three cruisers) led by Woodward on March 7, AC 432, a few hours prior to Operation Sea Farer.

Renamed CIFS Eminent Domain with Woodward as the new captain, the battleship began fighting off the Federation Navy, sinking at least 15 ships but losing much of its AA complement before regrouping with CIF reinforcements (one cruiser and the resupply ship CCS Court) heading to repair, resupply, and extract vital intelligence from the ship's computers, the ship itself having lost most of its AA weaponry. Once it made contact, its CIC transmitted target data to Hitman Team's AWACS for them regarding the intercept battlegroup, reloaded, and activated secondary guns.

The battlegroup was eventually annihilated. Federation HQ, realizing it had all but lost the Eminent Domain into rebel hands, decided to just sink the ship using coast-launched Kiiyo cruise missiles, but all were intercepted by Hitman. After surviving the operation, it reached CIF territory safely and underwent refit and resupply. From then on, it launched offensive operations on Federation coastal emplacements and blockaded their naval logistics routes. Combined with the suppression of air logistics in Operation Broken Chain, they seriously hampered the Federation's military efforts in Cascadia.

Eminent Domain vs. the 1st Naval Battlegroup

The Eminent Domain was present in Operation Guillotine conducting SAR for downed CIF-aligned pilots from the Bering Strait furball and at the Scarred Sea picking up Sicario's SOF Ronin along with several Federation scientists from the now-destroyed Harkema Industrial Park as well.

A solid week later, the battleship assisted in the invasion of Magadan. During Mission ASKAR-59, it was briefly mistaken as friendly by the Federation Reserve Divisions before AWACS Vita identified its new allegiance. Heading to action stations, the Eminent Domain activated all armament and complied with Cascadian Marine Guard force recon JFO designations, vaporizing the Federation Ground Reserve CO's post. Shelling continued against the remaining Ground Reservists for the rest of the landing; the flagship stayed with the entire fleet due to the fire support being a brief Independence Force HQ favor, and then returned in-country to report back per the orders of General Faust, supreme commander of the invasion.

The invasion was stalled and turned back within less than a month, causing a theaterwide retreat of all rebel forces in Magadan. The Eminent Domain returned, standing by at Whiskey Station and this time without any gun battery support due to danger close risks with CIF Marines; instead, its task was priming AA duty against threats to evacuation transports. Woodward was forced to oversee the evacuation after Faust went rogue. In a failed attempt to save as many lives as possible by buying time for an evacuation through calling for a tentative ceasefire using the battleship's inherited Federation keycomm codes, the evacuation fleet was decimated. Adding insult to injury was Federation Peacekeepers inflicting on the Eminent Domain heavy casualties on all decks, the aces routing the entire invasion fleet including the battleship.

Eminent Domain sinking

The battleship took part in the final battles of the Cascadian Conflict, specifically at the Pacific Ocean sinking the 1st Naval Battlegroup at close range (the ocean's thermal interference prevented long-range engagement). It tried to help Hitman by engaging its sister ship FNS Dejanus and arming secondary guns again in a suicidal charge. Once the battlegroup was sunk, it formed a naval blockade cutting off surviving Federation forces in Cascadia from any further support and resupply.

During Operation Manifest Destiny, it and three of its four cruiser escorts approached Presidia and sank the last of the Federation Navy in-country before stationing themselves to provide artillery fire for the capital's liberation. It and its escorts were sunk in the Presidian Disaster, though at least Woodward abandoned ship.