OFS Kestrel

The OFS Kestrel, hull designation CVN-30, was a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the Osean Maritime Defense Force. She was one of the most battle-hardened vessels of Osea, having participated in both the Belkan War and the Circum-Pacific War.

Entry to service
The Kestrel was built by the Newport Sargo shipyard (SSN-583) after the Osean Navy issued a contract for the creation of a new Hubert-class aircraft carrier on July 29, 1991. She was completed sometime between 1992 and 1995.

In 1995, the finished vessel was deployed during the Belkan War as part of the Third Fleet under the command of Captain Weeker, who led it through Sapin's Futuro Canal during Offensive Campaign No. 4101 to secure a naval transit route for the Osea-Ustio coalition troops. The extraordinary circumstances of its deployment were unofficially considered "sea trials" by the Osean Navy.

After the end of the war, she was formally delivered to the Osean Navy in February 1999, and officially commissioned into service on March 27. The ship remained as the flagship of the Third Fleet, being stationed in Port St. Hewlett. Her main squadron was VFA-206, a naval air unit led by Marcus Snow.

Circum-Pacific War
On the outbreak of the Circum-Pacific War on September 2010, the Kestrel and her fleet were attacked by the Yuktobanian Air Force while moored in Saint Hewlett, prompting the VFA-206 squadron to take off an intercept the invaders. Under the command of Captain Nicholas Andersen, the vessel escaped to open waters and broke through a Yuktobanian Navy blockade with the aid of the Wardog Squadron, to whom Andersen expressed his gratitude.

Days after the Saint Hewlett attack, she was involved in a naval mobilization with other Third Fleet carriers, the Buzzard and Vulture, at the Eaglin Straits. After surviving a surprise attack, she was the only carrier to survive the burst missile bombardment of the submarine called Scinfaxi; its air fleet, Marcus Snow was the only pilot to escape with his life.

Razgriz operations
The Kestrel and the Third Fleet continued operations until their discovery of the Gray Men through encrypted communications from Jack Bartlett in Yuktobania, and safely recovered Wardog's members after their escape from Sand Island and feigned death in December, using an abandoned airfield in Kirwin Island as a temporary base of operations against the Belkans.

As well, it became the home of President Vincent Harling and Yuktobanian Prime Minister Seryozha Viktorovich Nikanor after their rescue, the latter of whom commissioned Wardog (become the Razgriz Squadron) as his personal air unit after his extraction from the Waldreich Mountains. Her operations were reinforced by a North Osean cargo vessel with aircraft headed to Yuktobania, which the squadron could use while on Kirwin.

On the 29th of December, the Third Fleet was intercepted by a Yuktobanian fleet, whose commander believed that Nikanor was an enemy of Yuktobania, sparking a naval conflict that saw the sinking of Yuktobanian and Osean ships, ultimately forming an international fleet of Osean and pro-Yuktobanian ships.

The day after, she was struck by cruise missiles fired from a hostile submarine as the Razgriz prepared to depart to Sudentor. The squadron successfully escaped from the Kestrel before her crew fled in lifeboats.

Trivia

 * The "CVN" designation used by the Kestrel is used to refer to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. However, the games or supplementary material never explain whether the ship is powered by nuclear energy.
 * The "Hubert" class to which the Kestrel belongs shares its name with Brian Hubert, a USS Nimitz crewman who died after falling in a shaft in 1999.
 * An aircraft carrier in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon uses the Kestrel's CVN-30 hull designation, which is not used by any carrier in the USN. The same carrier also appears in the arcade game Mach Storm, which was built on the Assault Horizon engine.
 * According to Genette in the cutscene before the mission Ancient Walls, the ship hadn't suffered a single hit since the war began. The only time it was in battle after this was in the battle of the Ceres Ocean and no enemy ships or planes actually fired on her (though it depends on the player's speed). This means that the hits that sunk her were the only hits she suffered during the war.