The Battle of Corrin was a space battle that resulted to the House Corrino ascend the Imperial seat. It took place in the Corrin quasi-nebula in day 97 of 88 BG and lasted two hours - the longest of all known space battles.
Background
Count Sheuset Ecevit wanted to ensure the position of his house waged war against the other important houses of the Landsraad. His greatest military power were his Sardaukar, an invincible fighting force in land battle.
He assembled his fleet of 24 ships for the occupation of Glarus, however Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen it is believed that betrayed him and the Landsraad High Council learned of Ecevit's plan and put 71 capital ships waiting in ambush between Glarus and Salusa Secundus, intending to engage in a space battle before meet them on the ground.
Ecevit's intelligence though, anticipated them and he had transferred his Sardaukar to combat ships and plunged directly into their hiding place.
All the senior officers of Lu-ta of the Sixth Draco Wing ere killed early in the 3-day battle and Demetrios Atreides the gunnery officer assumed command of the vessel.[1]
The battle
During the first minute of the battle, the ship commanded by Abulurd Harkonnen fled.
Sulaiman al-Hajj Kunaitra threatened to turn Sheuset Costin's left flank. Atreides rallied Costin's forces and led an attack that took Kunaitra by surprise. His ship was damaged and himself killed. Historians claim that this action was the key turning point of the struggle
The engaged fleets were restricted to low velocities and their maneuvers often influenced more by the environment of the quasi-nebula, than tacticality.
Torpedoes were affected and Shields were unreliable but nor did lasguns become useful since the bursts were diffused/delected. The navigators could not calculate the extremely complex variables of the situation more than 100-2 seconds before the event and had to be fed with new data very frequently; the navigators who relied on perception were favored.
Matching the vectors, approach closely and follow a barrage of lasgun with a boarding party proved the most effective tactic, suicidal otherwise, since few of the Landsraad warships carried any trained personnel. Even those were still vanquishable by the Sardaukar, who then conquered to take the ship against the remaining Landsraad ships. This Sheuset's ships gained during the first 30 minutes more than compensated for greater Landsraad numbers. The Sardaukar captured 37 of the 71 enemy ships.
19 (including the flagship) were blown up mostly in the second hour due to panic and desperation. 3 surrendered, 11 escaped and 1 was lost. The Landsraad commander Duke Efim was killed.
Of Sheuset's only 2 were destroyed the one having his younger daughter, along with 5 allied ships. Ivan Harkonnen was sacrificed to save his crewmembers' lives.
Aftermath
Due to treachery, House Harkonnen lost its honor. Bashar Abulurd was stripped by rank, titles and his Dahkotah mining interests, but was allowed to live free into exile. Ivan Harkonnen's memory was spared and his son, Nikolai Harkonnen, was created Duke of Eluzai.
After his victory, Sheuset Ecevit became Emperor Sheuset Corrino I and his House ruled for 10000 years. Atreides was ennobled as Baron Tantalos by Sheuset I and was given large estates on Enskog in 86 BG. Ivan Harkonnen's son, Nikolai Harkonnen, was created Duke of Eluzai.
Behind the scenes
The origins and motives of the conflict between Sheuset and the Landsraad are not given. Entry CORRIN, BATTLE OF mentions that Sheuset was a "Count" and fought for his "House", allied with houses Atreides and Harkonnen. However entry SARDAUKAR says that Sheuset was a Burseg and the battle was a part of the Sardau expansion out of Salusa Secundus to the vicinity; no alliances with other Houses are mentioned or implied there.
Sources
- CORRIN, BATTLE OF,
- ATREIDES, HOUSE, Origin of
- HARKONNEN, HOUSE OF
- Terminology of the Imperium
- Almanak en-Ashraf
Appearances
- Dune (Mentioned only)
- ↑ Page 56