CMS Shackleton
Sovereign Colonies Warship at Tau Volantis
The CMS Shackleton was a Sovereign Colonies warship sent with the flotilla to Tau Volantis two centuries before the Marker convergence. Reduced to a field of mine-strewn wreckage, it was the first vessel of the lost fleet that Isaac Clarke passed on his arrival at the frozen world.
The CMS Shackleton was a ship of the Sovereign Colonies flotilla sent to Tau Volantis, the frozen world that the records named the Marker homeworld. By the time later visitors reached the planet, the Shackleton survived only as a field of shattered, mine-strewn debris, the wreck of one more vessel lost with the Armed Forces fleet. (Dead Space 3)
Service at Tau Volantis#
The CMS Shackleton was dispatched to Tau Volantis along with several other Sovereign Colonies vessels, the same expedition that included the CMS Terra Nova, the CMS Greely, the CMS Crozier, and the CMS Roanoke. The game never shows what job it did in orbit. It appears to have been lost along with most of the Armed Forces fleet when the Scenario Five command was carried out, the order under which the fleet turned on itself to keep the Marker threat contained. (Dead Space 3)
Its classification is never stated. What is left of it is now thick with mines, the same hazard that fills the rest of the debris field around the Sovereign Colonies fleet. (Dead Space 3)
Wreckage#
Two centuries later, the Shackleton was the first ship of the lost fleet that the new arrivals passed. The section of hull plating that drifted into view as the USM Eudora emerged at Tau Volantis belonged to the Shackleton. After his life vessel was ejected from the Eudora, Isaac Clarke lost his grip on the compartment and had to make his way through the many mine-dotted chunks of the ship's remains to reach the crew of Captain Robert Norton. So little of the Shackleton survived that it never appeared on the later navigational guides of the debris field, the damage having all but obliterated it. (Dead Space 3)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the CMS Shackleton?
- The CMS Shackleton was a ship of the Sovereign Colonies flotilla dispatched to Tau Volantis. It appears to have been lost with most of the Armed Forces fleet when the Scenario Five command was carried out, and only mine-strewn debris remains.
- Was the CMS Shackleton a warship?
- The game never states its classification, so it's unclear. All that's left is a field of debris thick with mines.
- How is the CMS Shackleton named?
- Like other ships of the fleet, the Shackleton was named after a famous and ill-fated explorer, in this case the Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton, who died of a heart attack just before an Antarctic expedition in 1922.
Sources
- GameDead Space 3, Visceral Games, 2013
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
CMS Crozier
The CMS Crozier was a battered Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces transport shuttle abandoned in the flotilla over Tau Volantis. Repaired by Ellie Langford's team two centuries later, it carried Isaac Clarke down to the planet before breaking apart in the descent.
CMS Greely
The CMS Greely was a Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces research vessel abandoned in the flotilla over Tau Volantis after Scenario Five. Its scientists used the ship to study frozen Alien tissue and, in their final hours, to broadcast a coded order to hide Rosetta from the purge.
CMS Roanoke
The CMS Roanoke was a Sovereign Colonies orbital command platform that served as the flagship of the Galactic Expedition to Tau Volantis. Left adrift in a mine-saturated flotilla after Scenario Five, it was the first wreck Isaac Clarke and John Carver boarded on reaching the frozen world.
CMS Terra Nova
The CMS Terra Nova was a Sovereign Colonies mass driver left derelict among the fleet orbiting Tau Volantis after the S.C.A.F. expedition of 2311. Two centuries later it became a waypoint for Isaac Clarke and the home of a Unitologist cult that worshipped the Brethren Moons.
USM Eudora
The USM Eudora was an Earth Defense Force Special Ops vessel captained by Robert Norton. It pulled Isaac Clarke off the New Horizons Lunar Colony during the Unitologist uprising and carried him to Tau Volantis, where it was torn apart by automated mines in the planet's debris field.
Isaac Clarke
Isaac Clarke was a ship systems engineer for the Concordance Extraction Corporation who survived the Necromorph outbreak aboard the USG Ishimura, became a host for the Markers' replication blueprints, and spent years hunted by EarthGov and the Church of Unitology as he fought to destroy the Markers.
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