January 20, 2146 - Rear Admiral Grumach, commander of STF 2 sends an update from Groombridge 1618:
Executive Summary: I regret to inform the general staff that our mission to rescue the survivors of the GEV Kilimanjaro was not successful. STF 2 with a force of 1xJD, 4xFFG and 4xSF encountered a force of eight Asgard Alien gunboats shortly after jumping into QY Aurigea. These light forces with advanced propulsion could maneuver at a staggering 12,500 km/sec, exceeding the speed of our yet to be upgraded, mostly ion engine force by a factor of ten times. The battle fought was largely indecisive, as out ASM fire controls were unable to maintain lock on the gunboats, which employed a tactic of moving into engagement range, launching ASM’s, then moving away. While the engagement happened at less than 20M km, well inside our nominal ASM ranges, the inability to maintain lock on the light enemy forces prevented any of our fire from being effective. Likewise, our adversaries employed an ASM that had a respectable 37,000 km/sec speed, and seemed to launch them in size two salvos. Their relatively light weight of fire prevented them from doing anything but a little damage to the JD Specter. With no sign of any life pods, and an inability to bring this elusive enemy to a decisive engagement, I made the decision to retire. We left a thermal sensor buoy on the far side of the jump point and returned to sol to repair and refit.
Based on this engagement, I would have to say our ships are poorly equipped to deal with gun boats. The ability to close with our own fighters would have allowed us beat this threat. The number one issue though, has been the delays to the next generation jump destroyers. At 8,000 tons, the current Ghost class ships cannot jump ferry regular Navy fleet destroyers (10,200 tons). Both the added capabilities of the new 10,400 ton Warlock class jump destroyer and its ability to ferry fleet forces was sorely missed. In addition, I must stress that for contingencies past our jump gate network, having an escort carrier small enough to jump ferry with the new Warlock class ships would have been decisive. It'ss critical that we get the new Warlock Class JD’s and the Hosho class CVE fielded as soon as possible. I also recommend that our engineers reconsider the wide use of the reduced weight missile tubes. Trading initial throw weight for long reload times become a huge issue with an adversary fast enough to duck out. In addition, we may want to consider adding some 20cm tubes to our AAM ships, to fire LAM’s in an anti-fighter role. The high resolution AAM fire controls could have been used to target these threats, but without the ability to launch LAM’s, that tactic wasn’t possible. Last, the twin laser armament of the new Louis Wetzel SF’s should be reconsidered. Their area defense capabilities are effective, but if there weren't additional supporting ships, I doubt those SF’s could defend themselves well enough against longer range threats. I think that a guass cannon and LAM based design may be more practical.
I regret that we could not avenge our brothers and sisters from the GEV Kilimanjaro, but hope at least this updated intelligence on the threat at QY Aurigea will be worth the price paid. Grumbach Out.
For reference, our intergalactic SETA contractors have already done a detailed trade study, and based on these observation, here is a first cut on the revised Warlock JD design:
Warlock class Jump Destroyer 10 400 tons 318 Crew 1850.8 BP TCS 208 TH 240 EM 240
2307 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 3-42 Shields 8-300 Sensors 8/8/0/0 Damage Control Rating 26 PPV 32.84
Maint Life 3.13 Years MSP 667 AFR 144% IFR 2% 1YR 102 5YR 1536 Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Spare Berths 1
Flag Bridge Magazine 267
D-JE-104-1 J10400(3-250) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 10400 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
D-HS-1 160 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (3) Power 160 Fuel Use 54% Signature 80 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 100 000 Litres Range 35.2 billion km (176 days at full power)
B-1 Gamma R300/288 Shields (4) Total Fuel Cost 48 Litres per hour (1 152 per day)
Mk II Single C-6-1 GCR2 Turret (1x2) Range 20 000km TS: 16000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 2 ROF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
D-FFC-1 Fire Control S03 36-16000 (1) Max Range: 72 000 km TS: 16000 km/s 86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
MB-1F-A Size 1 Missile Launcher (8) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
MB-5F-A Size 5 Missile Launcher (3) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 50
C-MFC-AS-HX-1 Missile Fire Control FC47-R60 (70%) (1) Range 47.6m km Resolution 60
C-MFC-PD-H-1 Missile Fire Control FC9-R1 (2) Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
B-PT-Bouy-1 (2) Speed: 0 km/s End: 0m Range: 0m km WH: 0 Size: 4.998 TH: 0/0/0
ASM-5 (30) Speed: 23 500 km/s End: 23.1m Range: 32.5m km WH: 9 Size: 5 TH: 94/56/28
LCM-3 (104) Speed: 28 000 km/s End: 10.8m Range: 18.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 186/112/56
D-MDR-M-1 MR6-R1 (1) GPS 84 Range 6.7m km MCR 732k km Resolution 1
C-PT-M-1 Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 8m km
C-PEM-M-1 EM Detection Sensor EM1-8 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 8m km
ECM 10
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
And here is the CVE Hosho, small enough to jump ferry with the Warlock's:
Hosho class Escort Carrier 10 200 tons 146 Crew 1263.7 BP TCS 204 TH 640 EM 120
3137 km/s Armour 3-41 Shields 4-225 Sensors 8/8/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.63 Years MSP 310 AFR 208% IFR 2.9% 1YR 137 5YR 2052 Max Repair 80 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 85
Hangar Deck Capacity 4000 tons Magazine 143
D-H-1 160 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (4) Power 160 Fuel Use 54% Signature 160 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 400 000 Litres Range 45.7 billion km (168 days at full power)
A-1 Beta R225/252 Shields (3) Total Fuel Cost 32 Litres per hour (756 per day)
B-1 CIWS-120 (1x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
LAM-5 (72) Speed: 22 400 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 22.6m km WH: 4 Size: 2 TH: 104/62/31
C-PT-M-1 Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 8m km
C-PEM-M-1 EM Detection Sensor EM1-8 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 8m km
Strike Group
4x A-2A Strikefighter Speed: 12605 km/s Size: 9.52
2x F-3A Fighter Speed: 16000 km/s Size: 10
2x F-2B Fighter Speed: 16000 km/s Size: 10
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Neither design is completely locked yet, as I have a crunch in shipyard availability right now. Hopefully these can get started sooner.
