Author Topic: From the Ashes - part 31  (Read 2807 times)

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Offline Haji (OP)

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From the Ashes - part 31
« on: June 18, 2017, 12:49:41 PM »
30th June 2411

   For the past two weeks the Commune has been re-evaluating it's strategic situation trying to see if their confidence made them careless. Overall while there were no great mistakes there are certainly things that can be improved upon.
   First and foremost are the current naval deployments. By and large the Commune wants the bulk of their force in the home system, which is the most central location allowing for relatively easy reinforcement of any front. However despite their best efforts to spread out the fact remains that the Sudetes sector accounts for nearly forty percent of the population and the Committee admits they cannot to continue simply ignoring that fact. And while reinforcing the primary task force in orbit of Wieliczka is not currently possible, additional gunboats can be sent to the Pacific system which borders Hegemony space.
   Those reinforcements will consist of nine flotillas of Sharks stationed in the capital. Those were kept in reserve to quickly establish a new frontier base should a new route into Hegemony space be discovered. Of course while this will double the gunboat strength in the system the task force will be light on escorts, but the planet Ceylon has significant defences and there are simply no more ships to send. In the future additional frigate squadrons, and maybe destroyer formations will be assigned to the system, but that's for the future.
   The base in Atlantic will not be reinforced despite also bordering Hegemony space and being attacked twice already. There are two reasons for that. First the Pacific is the more likely target due to the importance of the Sudetes sector. Second the Atlantic system itself is of little importance and is located two jumps from any other colonised system. Not only that but it can be reinforced rather easily by Home, Third and Fourth Fleets so while no one intends to give it up for free, some risks can be taken on that particular front.
   The larger and more important issue than fleet positions however is the current shipbuilding. Due to economic issues it has not been expanded in a long time, but for the past several years the situation has been stable and the recent improvements to economy has given the government a significant budgetary surplus. Admittedly the Committee has not been sitting idle and a new colony of Gdansk in the Phoenicia system has already constructed it's first shipyard with two more planned to support and expand the destroyer formations, but nonetheless there is a lot of slack in the economy that may be used for shipbuilding.
   Two options are presented. The first one is to expand the shipyards above the Eden and to begin fully utilising the Knossos shipyard which builds gunboats so fast it lays idle a lot of the time. As the officers who proposed it point out such combination has served the Commune well, is flexible and has dealt even with the Destroyer. The Administrator also supports this position, at least to the extent of wanting more gunboats.
   The second option is to expand the shipyard above Gardatis in order to speed up production of new cruisers, preferably ones with shields as those have proven to be quite useful in some situations. This option is favoured by the Committee due to how well the larger formations survived the battle.
   This quickly leads to a general discussion of whether the Commune should focus more on small ships or larger ones. As the Administrator and the officers point out the survival of the larger warships is somewhat deceptive, for the Travellers have spread out their fire. If there were fewer, but larger targets, the end result would be essentially the same, it just so happened that with the enemy targeting the smaller ships suffered more. They also point out that in the end the greatest danger to humans are the Destroyers and so far the best way to fight them off was to launch as many missiles as possible, a tactic for which the gunboats are suited the best.
   In addition while shields are certainly useful, they are somewhat situational. They are quite heavy for the amount of protection they offer and their main strength lies in the ability to regenerate, an ability that is irrelevant in short battles, like fights using energy weapons or a single, large missile salvo. It simply happened that the Travellers used the type of fire that the shields were good against, but there are many other enemies out there and against them the shields will not be useful.
   As the discussion progresses the Defence Overseer presents a letter from Vice Admiral Chitul, who also analysed the situation and presented his conclusions to his superiors. As he points out while it is true that shields are very situational the fact remains the most immediate danger, even if not the greatest one, are the Travellers and the Hegemony. In addition there is also no reason why the Commune cannot has different formations dedicated to countering different threats, as long as it's not taken to dangerous levels.
   What he proposes is effectively a compromise. A new cruiser class will be designed, focused more on survivability mostly in the form of shields but also possibly in the form of internal armouring as many secondary explosions were detected in Dunkirk. Meanwhile Knossos will speed up production of new gunboats to serve against the Destroyer but also other threats. In particular he points out that the Commune has stopped even considering jump point defence, but with sufficient numbers of gunboats, especially the Hammerhead class, there is no reason this could not be attempted.
   In fact he and his officers run some simulations based on the recent battle. If the Eight Fleet been positioned about a million kilometres from the anomaly and if they had properly set up their firing priorities, they would know that the laser armed ships pose no immediate danger while the destroyers had too few launchers to get past gauss cannons in any significant numbers. In effect it would allow the fleet to kill the missile battlecruisers at the very start of the battle for minimal loses, head back to Trots, re-arm and finish of the rest. This is problematical and by no means a criticism of Vice Admiral Mikola but it does show perfectly tactical options to which the Commune has blinded itself due to fear of loses.
   While neither the officers nor the politicians are fully happy with the option, they also agree that it is a reasonable compromise. The shipyard above Knossos is already producing new gunboats to replace loses and will continue doing so even after that. Meanwhile the first task of newly assigned head of Bureau of Shipbuilding Admiral Eric Chitul will be to design the proposed cruiser. After that, if there is still some slack in the economy, the government will consider further changes to its stance.

22nd July 2411

   The Indomitable carrier group is formed above New Earth and begins training. It has no destroyers in its order of battle, but it does have nine of the newest cruisers and a total of twenty four frigates for support. Indefatigable, the fourth Invincible class carrier, is already undergoing training despite lack of any escorts as it's possible there may be no time to form a full group and train it before the operations against the Kinharans resume.
   By now a total of seven Lindos class jump cruisers, thirteen Omar Bradley class jump destroyers and ten Ceasar class assault destroyers have been constructed. While the number of Ceasars is indeed low, sixteen more are under construction and older vessels can be used as well. The most critical ship, the Dauntless, won't leave the yards until November next year however. Even so many in the Navy wished the construction would have taken even longer.
   The ongoing stalemate, which by now have lasted over four years, is heavily annoying many in the government who push for as quick an attack as possible. In fact, considering how limited use the Dauntless have, there is a significant minority who wants to launch an assault as soon as the ship is ready. The Navy heavily opposes it, pointing out complete lack of intelligence. As they explain considering the sheer amount of forces that will be committed to the attack, failure will result in the Hegemony fleet being crippled in a single action, so they have to do it right. In particular they want to have at least fifty assault destroyers at their disposal so that together with other escorts, they could launch an attack with well over a hundred warships, not even counting the carriers, but that would require several additional years for construction and training. The Hegemon himself is sympathetic, but he also argues that the fear of the unknown can not possibly paralyse the Navy. Fortunately as the head of state is still uncertain to whom he should listen, no actual date of an attack has been decided upon although many officers are still worried.

27th July 2411

   The Commune completes their design of next generation cruiser, the Nihoggr. While at first glance the vessel is disappointing, having armament almost exact to that of the Kraken despite being seventy five hundred tonnes larger, the ship should be much more survivable.
   The first reason for that is the most obvious as the vessel has quite powerful shields. In addition to that however the turrets and magazines has been armoured for better protection and additional fire controls for the energy weapons have been added for redundancy, as during the Battle of Dunkirk many Krakens have lost theirs and had to repair them, a situation made possible only by the time it took the enemy to advance.
   In addition to those the vessel has two more anti-missile launchers and deeper magazines, additional damage control facilities and smaller but more numerous engines. As secondary explosions were quite frequent on board the vessels of the Eight Fleet and as they were sometimes reaching a hundred mega tonnes of TNT, this will hopefully make the Nihoggrs safer.
   Last but not least two lasers of two hundred millimetres were replaced with a single gun of three hundred millimetres. While fifty percent larger and twice as powerful it had also twice the recharge rate which means it was actually less damaging overall. However the smaller weapons had maximum range of nine hundred thousand kilometres which is more than sufficient for current fire controls but would require replacement should better technology be developed. The three hundred millimetre gun has potential range of over two million kilometres which means in the future it will be possible to easily upgrade the fire controls without the need to replace the weapons, making refits easier, quicker and cheaper. It also means the larger gun is more damaging at longer ranges, as the energy dissipates much slower.
   Overall the design is heavily controversial to say the least. Yes it is much more resilient to fire, which should work well against an opponent who splits his fire against many targets. However the vessel has rather limited offensive capability, especially in energy weapon range, is much larger than the previous cruisers and the proportionally lighter active defences mean more enemy fire will actually hit it and the ship will of course have significant trouble protecting other vessels from fire. The Nihoggrs will have much to prove in the future.

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Nihoggr class Cruiser    32 500 tons     664 Crew     17079.52 BP      TCS 650  TH 8970  EM 6000
13800 km/s     Armour 15-90     Shields 200-300     Sensors 128/160/0/0     Damage Control Rating 55     PPV 127.12
Maint Life 5.36 Years     MSP 9211    AFR 338%    IFR 4.7%    1YR 536    5YR 8042    Max Repair 1163 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 2   
Magazine 864   

Bostrom Incorporated Small Naval SCAM Drive (39)    Power 230    Fuel Use 21.56%    Signature 230    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 3 300 000 Litres    Range 84.8 billion km   (71 days at full power)
Xi Shields (40)   Total Fuel Cost  400 Litres per hour  (9 600 per day)

Montemayor Cybernetics Advanced 750mm Laser (1)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 147-12     RM 8    ROF 65        147 147 147 147 147 147 147 147 130 117
Aberg-Lindberg 300mm Laser (1)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 24-12     RM 9    ROF 10        24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 21
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Turret Mk 3A (2x6)    Range 50 000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jasso-Ibarra Point Defence Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 200 000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Jasso-Ibarra Long Range Beam Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 800 000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 32    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Parra & Banuelos Large Missile Cell (70)    Missile Size 6    Hangar Reload 45 minutes    MF Reload 7.5 hours
Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (12)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Wozniak Research Inc Missile Fire Control (5)     Range 223.1m km    Resolution 60
Goransson-Nilsson Anti-Missile Fire Control (2)     Range 153.6m km    Resolution 1
Spear VI (444)  Speed: 156 000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702
Hydra (70)  Speed: 23 300 km/s   End: 128.5m    Range: 199.6m km   WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 77/46/23

Martinsson Dynamics Medium Resolution Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 1200     Range 214.7m km    Resolution 5
Goransson-Nilsson Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 380     Range 152.0m km    MCR 16.6m km    Resolution 1
Martinsson Dynamics Low Resolution Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 16000     Range 452.5m km    Resolution 200
Laksono Heavy Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km
Budiarto-Sugiantoro EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 160     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  160m km

Compact ECCM-6 (7)         ECM 60

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

   The Raziel class jump cruiser was built on the same hull as Nihoggr but the need to squeeze the large jump drive, shields, fleet sensors and all other additional reinforcers meant there was basically no space for armament, leaving a basic design that nonetheless will be an essential part of the fleet.

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Raziel class Jump Cruiser    32 500 tons     804 Crew     13077.8 BP      TCS 650  TH 8970  EM 6000
13800 km/s    JR 10-2000     Armour 15-90     Shields 200-300     Sensors 320/400/0/0     Damage Control Rating 67     PPV 12
Maint Life 3.53 Years     MSP 10305    AFR 228%    IFR 3.2%    1YR 1269    5YR 19040    Max Repair 1466 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   

Saleh Aerospace Large Cruiser Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 33300 tons    Distance 2000k km     Squadron Size 10
Bostrom Incorporated Small Naval SCAM Drive (39)    Power 230    Fuel Use 21.56%    Signature 230    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 3 300 000 Litres    Range 84.8 billion km   (71 days at full power)
Xi Shields (40)   Total Fuel Cost  400 Litres per hour  (9 600 per day)

Sudiro-Yulianto 400mm Laser (1)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 42-12     RM 8    ROF 20        42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 37 33
Jasso-Ibarra Long Range Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 800 000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 16    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Spear VI (444)  Speed: 156 000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702
Hydra (70)  Speed: 23 300 km/s   End: 128.5m    Range: 199.6m km   WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 77/46/23

Gilca-Grul Wide Area Active Search Sensor  (1)     GPS 8000     Range 1 011.9m km    Resolution 10
Sudiro Electronics Industries Large Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 320     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  320m km
Sudiro Electronics Industries Large EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 400     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  400m km

Compact ECCM-6 (1)         ECM 60

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

   The production of the new cruisers won't begin for some time however. There are currently two shipyards in the Commune dedicated to the production of similar vessels. The first one is Bogoescu Shipyard and Machinery Works above Biskupin and is currently building additional escort cruisers so that several battlecruisers still awaiting assignment can finally be assembled into proper formations. That yard however cannot expand as it orbits a habitat.
   The second shipyard is Daratista Space Industries above Gardatis, currently busy refitting the older Elatha class cruisers with modern energy weapons and once that is done a similar upgrade will be necessary for the Harpy class. As this yard can expand, the refits will have to be done on Biskupin, although that should not be such a large issue.
   While the government gives the go ahead of the yard expansion, also ordering two more slipways for a total of ten, they question whether or not the refits will be necessary. The Force explains that while their ships are faster than many enemies, the Harpies have actual energy weapon range range of about half of what the modern ships, or the Travellers, have, which means they will take significant fire before they can actually close on their enemies. To make matters worse the power of energy weapons drops with distance so even if they reach their maximum range, they will do far less damage then their adversaries. Having such weak energy weapons may be better than nothing, but using them would be an act of desperation, reducing the ships to de fact missile barges in any fleet engagement where other, modern warships are present. In such a case it would actually be better to replace the energy batteries with more missile launchers.
   The government is somewhat unhappy with that but they cannot deny the logic, so the refits will continue as planned.

27th August 2411

   Most of the ships damaged in the Battle of Dunkirk has been repaired. In fact only two ships are still undergoing repairs – the destroyer leader Lanzarote and the destroyer Woehstan. Those two were so damaged in fact they won't leave the yard until late December.
   The First Battlecruiser Division as well as the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Cruiser Divisions have already been reinforced and will soon begin their training in orbit of Mjolnir. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Destroyer Squadrons as well as the Second Frigate Squadron will be out of fight for a long time however as they still need replacement vessels.

18th October 2411

   Thanks to their much more fuel efficient engines the Republic was finally able to deal with the ADS presence in the ECN 4782, previously left alone due to significant distances between the two components of the system. With that there are no more alien strongholds left within Phoenixian territory.

5th January 2412

   After Admiral Eric Chitul took over Bureau of Shipbuilding he begun looking over the existing formations and their functions and one of those stood out as completely unremarkable – the Commune destroyer squadrons.
   So far those did not perform badly but they also, at least in the eyes of the Admiral, failed to impress. Originally those were supposed to be better versions of frigate squadrons, providing similar point defence and close combat capabilities while also having long range offensive punch that would allow them to function independently and work better with gunboats, as they used the same ammunition. Looking at it from another angle, they could also be considered a cheaper substitute to cruiser divisions.
   The problem was that in the end, while performing well enough, they didn't really fit any of the two roles. Their much larger size meant they were much more expensive to build and maintain than frigate formations, new gunboat classes meant missile compatibility could not be guaranteed and their small size and fragility meant they could not survive as long as cruisers while also lacking the ability to perform a full squadron jump for offensive operations. They were relatively cheap and did what they were supposed to be doing, but just barely well enough to be worth the effort.
   However thanks to the Gdansk colony new possibilities have been opened. In particular, since there will be no more size restrictions, it will no longer be necessary to create mixed formations with frigates. This was of particular importance to Chitul as during the Battle of Dunkirk essentially everything below the size of a frigate was annihilated – but the Beowulf class destroyers survived surprisingly intact.
   Using the hull as a baseline the Bureau designed a new multi-role warship, the Luna class. Despite being only half as expensive as the Nihoggr class cruiser, it has point defence capabilities almost as good as those of the Kraken class cruisers or the Yamanaka class frigates, while also incorporating lasers, and offensive missiles.

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Luna class Destroyer    15 000 tons     315 Crew     8430.8 BP      TCS 300  TH 4140  EM 0
13800 km/s     Armour 11-54     Shields 0-0     Sensors 128/160/0/0     Damage Control Rating 7     PPV 71.74
Maint Life 4.28 Years     MSP 2459    AFR 257%    IFR 3.6%    1YR 216    5YR 3234    Max Repair 1125 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 2   
Magazine 520   

Bostrom Incorporated Small Naval SCAM Drive (18)    Power 230    Fuel Use 21.56%    Signature 230    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 1 500 000 Litres    Range 83.5 billion km   (70 days at full power)

Aberg-Lindberg 300mm Laser (2)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 24-12     RM 9    ROF 10        24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 21
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Mk3 Turret (2x6)    Range 50 000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jasso-Ibarra Long Range Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 800 000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Jasso-Ibarra Point Defence Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 200 000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 32    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Mihaili Dynamics Anti-Missile Cell (200)    Missile Size 1    Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes    MF Reload 1.2 hours
Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (8)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Wozniak Research Inc Missile Fire Control (4)     Range 223.1m km    Resolution 60
Goransson-Nilsson Anti-Missile Fire Control (1)     Range 153.6m km    Resolution 1
Needle (200)  Speed: 156 000 km/s   End: 4.3m    Range: 40.6m km   WH: 3    Size: 1    TH: 520/312/156
Spear VI (320)  Speed: 156 000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702

Goransson-Nilsson Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 380     Range 152.0m km    MCR 16.6m km    Resolution 1
Laksono Heavy Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km
Budiarto-Sugiantoro EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 160     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  160m km

Compact ECCM-6 (4)         ECM 60

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

   The Admiral envisioned such ships as operating in groups of six to eight and without a dedicated leader. As he points out the Commune is really strapped for hulls and those ships are based on proven, survivable design, are multi-purpose, cheap and there are so many command ships that it is virtually certain one will be around when needed. Even if not, the ship itself has all the sensors it needs for combat (although finding the opponent may be difficult) and the vast majority of jump points have gates on them.
   Many officers are unhappy with it however seeing the vessels as a way to merely pad the numbers, while taking away from truly critical ships – cruisers, gunboats and to a lesser extent frigates. They specifically point out the many compromises the vessel had to make to fit all that armament such as lacking the powerful spinal mounted laser or the fact the ship carried only Needles as missiles.
   Nonetheless despite certain lack of faith in the design, the government was very interested in it. As they pointed out eight such ships operating together would actually have better anti-missile capabilities than the previous destroyer squadrons despite being cheaper while also providing significant short and long range offensive firepower. And even those who derided the design had to admit that the Commune truly needs more warships, especially larger ones. There were more than enough gunboats but protecting them from enemy fire was difficult to say the least.
   In the end the decision is made to build the new ships on Gdansk. One shipyard there is already of the needed size, another one will reach it soon and a third shipyard is almost ready. The discussion about how many should be built simultaneously is still ongoing but it appears a total of ten slipways will be assigned to the class, same number as for the new cruisers.

30th January 2412

   Admiral Chitul has completed his revaluation of the frigate squadrons and prepared new designs.
   The formations were always seen as somewhat expendable, using cheap but numerous ships to quickly deploy large numbers of individually weak and specialised ships that covered each other weaknesses and had wide range of capabilities as fleets. Taking this into account it should not be surprising that the only frigate squadron in Eight Fleet has been almost completely wiped out but even so the Admiral believed it could have been done better.
   The primary mistake with the current frigates is, in his opinion, an attempt to make them more survivable while giving them wider range of capabilities. As he pointed out the ships are too small to take a lot of damage so the focus should be on trying to avoid that by ensuring point defences are as strong as possible, and giving additional weapons to a ship only seventy five hundred tonnes means it couldn't do any job well enough. As a result he presented a new corvette, the Ortoire.
   The first notable difference from the previous class was the use of custom-designed components. First the beam fire control was miniaturised, lowering tracking speed slightly below the speed of the ship. The other version was fifty percent larger and had enough tracking speed to accommodate next generation engines without any modification which while smart, was a luxury a small corvette could not afford. Other than that the vessel had even smaller passive sensors, as it was a mere escort and a smaller, custom build power plant as the previous one was generating more power than needed. All of those save in total a couple of hundred tonnes that could be better used.
   The other major difference was the lack of anti-missile sized box launchers. Those were added to thicken the defensive fire in case of short range combat and to possibly give the ship an offensive capability by using Needles. As the Admiral pointed out however most currently used gunboats are still quite long ranged, the corvettes are too small to fight at short distances unless they are in a desperate situation and adding offensive capability is pointless as the primary function of the ship is to escort gunboat flotillas, which have more than enough missile launchers. Removing those cells have yielded additional six hundred and fifty tonnes which could be better spent.
   Even so Chitul was unable to add two more changes he wanted due to opposition from the other officers and the government. He wanted to completely remove the single laser the ship had and to remove some of the armour. The former was impossible due to the fact that energy weapons were too important at the time where the very value of missile was in question and the latter was impossible due to the fact that small as the ships were they could take at least some hits first and most people bulked at building a ship that was far weaker structurally than it could be.
   Even so the resultant ship had forty percent more anti-missile launchers and total interceptors than the previous class which should make it a lot easier for it to protect other vessels.

Code: [Select]
Ortoire class Corvette    7 500 tons     179 Crew     3541.2 BP      TCS 150  TH 2070  EM 0
13800 km/s     Armour 6-34     Shields 0-0     Sensors 40/40/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 20
Maint Life 4.88 Years     MSP 1476    AFR 90%    IFR 1.2%    1YR 102    5YR 1536    Max Repair 750 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 2   
Magazine 560   

Bostrom Incorporated Small Naval SCAM Drive (9)    Power 230    Fuel Use 21.56%    Signature 230    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 700 000 Litres    Range 77.9 billion km   (65 days at full power)

Montemayor Cybernetics 200mm Laser (1)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 10-12     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Feliciano International Small Long Range Laser FC (1)    Max Range: 800 000 km   TS: 12500 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Feliciano International Corvette Sized SCAM Power Plant (1)     Total Power Output 12    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (14)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Goransson-Nilsson Anti-Missile Fire Control (2)     Range 153.6m km    Resolution 1
Spear VI (560)  Speed: 156 000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702

Hadisapoetro-Baizura Small Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 80     Range 32.0m km    MCR 3.5m km    Resolution 1
Kania -Drazek  Miniature Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 40     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  40m km
Kania -Drazek  Miniature EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 40     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  40m km

Compact ECCM-6 (1)         ECM 60

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

   Judging the Havana class frigates was much more difficult as the ships were supposed to be short range combatants but never had an opportunity to show off their capabilities. Even so Chitul believed that the design could be tweaked a little bit, resulting in the Kyoto class.
   The primary difference between the two ship lay in the energy armament. The Havana had five lasers of two hundred millimetres while the Kyoto had three lasers of three hundred millimetres. While arguably a downgrade the new weapons had better damage output at long ranges and will be fully compatible with potential next generation fire controls, thanks to their much longer range, allowing easy refits. This also allowed reduction in total reactor tonnage. In addition the passive sensor have also been replaced with the same ones used for new corvettes and the single active sensor was replaced with another new custom designed one, which was much smaller.
   The mass saved thanks to those changes went into adding the fourth gauss cannon turret and the second point defence fire control. Not only it meant thirty three percent increase in defensive capability on a per-ship basis an entire frigate squadron will now have additional six turrets capable of intercepting additional thirty six missiles and the second fire control will make the defence more flexible to boot.
   The changes were somewhat controversial as the vessel was supposed to be primarily a short ranged combatant but while secondary weapons have proven to be useful many times there were very few instances in which they were truly critical. As such in the Admirals opinion the Commune does need to have respectable capability in that area but it cannot focus on it unduly least it weakens it too much in missile exchanges. Most officers and Overseers agreed with that.

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Kyoto class Frigate    10 000 tons     272 Crew     7289.6 BP      TCS 200  TH 2760  EM 0
13800 km/s     Armour 9-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 40/40/0/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 58.48
Maint Life 4.24 Years     MSP 2734    AFR 133%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 244    5YR 3665    Max Repair 1125 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   

Bostrom Incorporated Small Naval SCAM Drive (12)    Power 230    Fuel Use 21.56%    Signature 230    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 980 000 Litres    Range 81.8 billion km   (68 days at full power)

Aberg-Lindberg 300mm Laser (3)    Range 800 000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 24-12     RM 9    ROF 10        24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 21
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Mk3 Turret (4x6)    Range 50 000km     TS: 50000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jasso-Ibarra Long Range Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 800 000 km   TS: 18750 km/s     99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Jasso-Ibarra Point Defence Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 200 000 km   TS: 50000 km/s     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Feliciano International Corvette Sized SCAM Power Plant (3)     Total Power Output 36    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Kania -Drazek  Miniature Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 24     Range 9.6m km    MCR 1.0m km    Resolution 1
Kania -Drazek  Miniature Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 40     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  40m km
Kania -Drazek  Miniature EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 40     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  40m km

Compact ECCM-6 (2)         ECM 60

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

15th April 2412

   With the planned increase in the number of gunboat flotillas the Commune government begun taking closer look at the frigate squadrons. By now there were one hundred and four flotillas in service although twenty of them comprised the Hammerhead class torpedo boats which were so short ranged, they really needed support from larger, more resilient vessels. That still left eighty four flotillas in service which were supposed to work together with frigates. However there were only nineteen squadrons of those, one of which existed only on paper due to loses and three more were essentially obsolete and unsuited for modern combat. Overall fifteen squadrons were supposed to work together, and protect, eighty four flotillas.
   Most people weren't really that bothered by that. First as gunboats required a lot of ammunition their production was often halted and once the last three squadrons were modernised, many new ones would be constructed taking care of the issue. In addition while destroyer squadrons were in fact multi-role formations that could operate fully alone, they were conceived as larger versions of frigate squadrons and emphasised missile defence and close combat capabilities, with their missile batteries being purely secondary. That added sixteen more formation to the roster, and the destroyer squadrons were much larger.
   Even so the introduction of the new Luna class and the ongoing refits mean very soon the number of flotillas will far exceed the number of their supporting squadrons. Coupled with potential ammunition issues this means the government has decided to limit the number of new flotillas to be constructed to thirty bringing the total number of Sawfish flotillas to fifty and the total number of long ranged gunboat formations to one hundred and fourteen. Even taking into account the fact the existing destroyer squadrons won't be going anywhere, it will leave the Force with far too few light formations. In fact the Committee would like to see at least thirty frigate squadrons and see them sooner rather than later as production of the gunboats is very fast.
   As a result they order the shipyards above Eden to double the number of their slipways. Currently they can work on an entire squadron at a time, six corvettes, six frigates and three destroyer leaders, as those are also sent to Courland when necessary. Soon they will work on twelve corvettes and twelve frigates at any given time.
   Another issue raised by the government was the use of destroyers to lead frigate formations, as smaller, cheaper ships could be designed. Here the Force was strongly opposed to the idea, pointing out corvettes are so small they don't have proper sensors to detect the incoming missiles, relying on other ships. As such the single leader, which is the only ship in formation with standard sized missile detection system have to be as resilient to damage as possible and in fact the Force will try to ensure the frigates are always supported by at least one larger formation to ensure proper sensor coverage.
   The decision will have its drawbacks of course. The Commune was trying to move away from small, easy to destroy combatants, but it is also true they need numbers considering the sheer number of their commitments. For that matter eighty four million people live outside the established sectors and are essentially unprotected. At the same time the planned expansion of shipyards above Gardatis and Gdansk coupled with the new planned expansion of Eden shipbuilding will not only strain the currently healthy budget but will also severely increase demands on missiles, forcing expansion in that area as well. As a result it will likely be impossible to further expand shipbuilding, especially for the preferred medium combatants, for years to come.

20th July 2412

   The anomaly in the Rampart system disappears much to the relief of everyone in the Commune. With that the Seventh Fleet is disbanded. Two battlecruiser and two cruiser divisions will be sent to the Dunkirk system to reinforce the Eight Fleet while the remaining cruiser division, two destroyer squadrons and six gunboat flotillas will be sent to join the Home Fleet.

28th October 2412

   The jump battleship Dauntless have been launched making many in the Hegemony government push for an immediate attack against the Confederation. The Navy protests that they simply do not have enough ships.
   By this point the Hegemony has a total of fourteen carriers although one of those is without any escorts. Four are in Rochester and those are supposed to be joined by Dauntless, the four Invincible class carriers and their support groups and any assault ships built. However while certainly sounding impressive, the officers argue it is not enough.
   As only the Invincibles will jump and frigates have next to no offensive armament, it means the total number of ships is lower than may appear. The four groups already on the front have a total of only thirty seven cruisers and destroyers, some of which are quite old while other are command versions, meaning limited armament. The four Invincibles have forty three ships, not counting the carriers themselves. The worst part however is the fact that only forty six dedicated assault ships have been built and a significant number of them have no armament – as those are the actual jump ships – while others are still untrained.
   Of course this adds to over a hundred and thirty warships, not counting eight hundred fighters, but the enemy has proven to have large fleet and will be heavily favoured. He will launch first, the short range means it will be impossible to launch enough anti-missiles to defend and any group unlucky enough to end up in enemy weapon range will likely be annihilated within seconds. More ships are needed.
   In the end a compromise is reached. By the end of January ten of the most modern cruisers available will be launched. They will be allowed training and after than an overhaul, which will also allow the other already mentioned forces to also reach full readiness. However as soon as that is done the attack will be launched. The fleet will be allowed to use additional, untrained assault ships if they wish – and a couple of dozen should be ready by that point – but that's it. In the end no one is really happy with that option but it's certainly better than launching now.
   The training and the following overhaul will likely take another two years, during which the war against the Confederation will be essentially on hold. Another Dauntless have been laid down to have a spare in case the original is lost and one more have been authorised to ensure swift advance once the enemy lines are breached. Once those ships are completed, production of new carriers will resume.

26th June 2413

   The Commune government receives news of a new anomaly in the system of ES – 229 GH9. The system is quite far from inhabited areas, has jump gates and has been traversed numerous times by exploration ships moving elsewhere, so it must have appeared only recently. Due to distance and other priorities the system did not yet receive tracking stations and to make matters worse it is only two jumps from a Republican system, although an uninhabited one. A forward base will have to be established.
   The good news is that there are already pre-fabricated missile bases waiting on Eden so the system should be much more defensible much more quickly. The bad news is that the base in Dunkirk left very little orbital bases available and even with all the pieces in place transferring them will take time. Worse while thee three divisions of Krakens are back to full combat readiness, the number of available formations is rather low and will leave Home Fleet very weak once again. Unfortunately no one sees any way around it and a least in the coming months the first Luna and Nihoggr class ships will begin leaving the yards.
   Nonetheless as the Force is faster than the Travellers and the area is generally uninhabited, retreat is always an option so the new Sixth Fleet is assembled and sent. The system is renamed Kraken after the cruisers which won the recent Battle of Dunkirk while the planet itself is named New Mars, after a god of war, although some questioned the need for “new” in the name as it's unlikely anyone in the Commune will ever see the old Mars.
   It should be noted that the planet which will serve as a naval base is very close to habitable. It actually has quite a diverse biosphere and while the temperature is on the low side, it is well within human tolerance. The only problem is low oxygen content which can be fixed easily and quickly. Coupled with low, but reasonable water coverage of thirteen percent, near perfect day-night cycle and comfortable gravity, once modified the planet may easily become one of the most inviting objects in the Commune, attracting people from many less pleasant planets, like Wieliczka or Peles.

29th February 2414

   The Hegemony jump battleship Dauntless completes its training, but the vessel and the crew have been pushed hard to accomplish that. The vessel, and many others, are ordered back to New Earth for overhaul and shore leave, but once that is done they will be sent to the front to finally break the stalemate with the Confederation.

25th July 2414

   The Hegemony lays down their third and final jump battleship allowing them to retool the yard for their next generation carrier, the X-249 Unconquered. The vessel is a pretty straightforward upgrade of the preceding X-235D Invincible class with slightly thicker armour, some more CIWS but also fifty percent larger flight deck allowing it to carry three hundred of the newest strike craft. Massing four hundred and forty thousand tonnes it will also be the largest warship even seen by far, more than twice as massive as a Spectre Behemoth or the Destroyer.

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X-249 Unconquered class Carrier    440 000 tons     7655 Crew     81329.5 BP      TCS 8800  TH 70400  EM 0
8000 km/s     Armour 20-515     Shields 0-0     Sensors 700/900/0/0     Damage Control Rating 430     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.47 Years     MSP 49676    AFR 3601%    IFR 50%    1YR 25721    5YR 385816    Max Repair 2400 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 1   
Hangar Deck Capacity 150000 tons     Magazine 18000   

Marlin -Kibaki Naval Inertial Fusion Drive (44)    Power 1600    Fuel Use 20%    Signature 1600    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 45 300 000 Litres    Range 92.7 billion km   (134 days at full power)

Phalanx CIWS Mk3 (30x10)    Range 1000 km     TS: 40000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Maverick (9000)  Speed: 88 000 km/s   End: 17.4m    Range: 91.9m km   WH: 7    Size: 2    TH: 293/176/88

Angre International Battle Management System Mk3 (1)     GPS 24000     Range 1 366.1m km    Resolution 10
Zou Manufacturing Long Range Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 576     Range 103.7m km    MCR 11.3m km    Resolution 1
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge Thermal Sensor  (1)     Sensitivity 700     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  700m km
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 900     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  900m km

ECM 40

Strike Group
300x X-244 Harrier Bomber   Speed: 19200 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