Hammer of Justice
The Hammer of Justice is an Imperial Dominator Class Cruiser of Battlefleet Gothic.[1a] It fought in the Gothic War under Captain Grenfeld, where its impressive record led to a renewed interest in Nova Cannons, and the Dominator Class more generally, across Segmentum Obscurus.[2][3]
History
By early M41, the Hammer of Justice was one of the older well known vessels of Battlefleet Gothic, and the fleet's only Dominator Class Cruiser.[2][1a] At this time, it was fitted with long ranged weapons batteries, as well as the Dominator Class's trademark Nova Cannon.[1a] The Hammer of Justice had an undistinguished past record, and had always performed poorly on exercises.[1a]
When the Gothic War began in 143.M41, the Hammer of Justice fought under Captain Grenfeld, where, despite its pre-war record, it rose to the challenge and "fought with vigour and resolution at every opportunity".[1a][1b] During the war its long ranged weapons batteries were upgraded to shorter ranged but much more powerful batteries, matched in strength only by the fleet's Retribution Class Battleships.[1a][1c] At the Port Maw Blockade, the Hammer of Justice destroyed the Chaos Devastation Class Cruiser Unforgivable from long range using its Nova Cannon, catching up to the ship after it had been crippled by Port Maw's Sword Class Frigate squadrons that managed to detonate the Unforgivable's Orbital Mines that were still in its launch bays.[1a][1d][4]
Captain Grenfeld again ably demonstrated the use of the somewhat cumbersome but extremely powerful Nova Cannon during the Raid on Alios.[1a] This led to a number of other ships undertaking major refits to replace their prow weapons with Nova Cannons over the course of the Gothic War.[1a] The Hammer of Justice fought alongside most of the rest of the fleet at the Battle of Gethsemane, which proved to be the turning point in the war, ultimately leading to an Imperial victory.[2]
The Hammer of Justice's impressive record during the war led the other Segmentum Obscurus battlefleets to show a renewed interest in the Dominator Class, which had been relatively rare in the Segmentum, with a majority traditionally being constructed in the Ultima Segmentum at Kar Duniash.[3]
Sources
- 1: Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook
- 2: Shadow Point (Novel), Epilogue
- 3: Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus, pg. 25
- 4: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (Book), pg. 158
