Note: I decided to change to past tense for this campaign. Apologies if that seems a little strange after the previous part being in present tense.
The re-organization of the League in early February 1906 and in particular the formation of an Admiralty for the League Navy removed much of the international bureaucracy that was holding back design of new ships. By early February a new capital ship design was ready. The Dreadnought class battleship was a quantum leap in capability from the existing Royal Sovereign and Kaiser Friedrich III classes. The top speed of 4000 km/s was a third faster than the battlecruisers while the thickness of the armour was almost as great as that of the Kaiser class and the overall amount of armour was actually ten percent greater. While the principle weapon remained the Vickers-Mauser VM4 Missile Launcher, the Dreadnought's main battery was fifty percent more powerful than her predecessors with an equivalent increase in magazine capacity. She was the first capital ship to carry a company of marines and her boat bay was large enough for both the new Avro 501 Scout and a Sturmboot class assault shuttle, capable of dropping the marine company on a planet or conducting a boarding action. Retooling began at the Blohm + Voss shipyard with the first ship planned to be laid down in late July 1906.
Dreadnought class Battleship 18000 tons 1560 Crew 2266.6 BP TCS 360 TH 1440 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 5-61 Shields 0-0 Sensors 12/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 7 PPV 60
Annual Failure Rate: 370% IFR: 5.1% Maintenance Capacity 551 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons Troop Capacity: 1 Company Magazine 1320
Daimler Ion Engine (24) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 320,000 Litres Range 40.0 billion km (115 days at full power)
Vickers-Mauser VM4 Missile Launcher (15) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
LN/SPG-10 Missile Fire Control (2) Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
RGM-1B Hawk (330) Speed: 25,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 55.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
LN/SPS-9 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6300 Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
LN/SQR-4 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 12m km
LN/SLR-6 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Strike Group
1x Sturmboot Assault Shuttle Speed: 9230 km/s Size: 3.9
1x Avro 501 Scout Speed: 7200 km/s Size: 5Sturmboot class Assault Shuttle 195 tons 9 Crew 32.7 BP TCS 3.9 TH 36 EM 0
9230 km/s Armour 1-2 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 39% IFR: 0.5% Maintenance Capacity 0 MSP Max Repair 15 MSP
Drop Capacity: 1 Company
Mercedes SE2 Shuttle Engine (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 36 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 2.3 billion km (69 hours at full power)Avro 501 class Scout 250 tons 23 Crew 83.2 BP TCS 5 TH 36 EM 0
7200 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 50% IFR: 0.7% Maintenance Capacity 0 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP
Mercedes SE2 Shuttle Engine (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 36 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 1.8 billion km (69 hours at full power)
LN/SPS-9 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6300 Range 63.0m km Resolution 100The older classes were in serious need of a refit and priority was given to the Royal Sovereigns, primarily so they could act as faster outriders for a squadron of Dreadnoughts. The refit consisted of replacing the engines, the fire control systems and the active sensor. The result was a very fast ship but with less than half the total armour of the Dreadnought. Her Majesty's Dockyard in Portsmouth began preparation for the refit, intending to take the first battlecruiser into dry dock in mid-April.
Royal Sovereign Mod 1 class Battlecruiser 12000 tons 1108 Crew 1564 BP TCS 240 TH 1080 EM 0
4500 km/s Armour 3-46 Shields 0-0 Sensors 12/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 40
Annual Failure Rate: 230% IFR: 3.2% Maintenance Capacity 407 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons Magazine 880
Daimler Ion Engine (18) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 56.3 billion km (144 days at full power)
Vickers-Mauser VM4 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
LN/SPG-10 Missile Fire Control (2) Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
RGM-1B Hawk (220) Speed: 25,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 55.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
LN/SPS-9 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6300 Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
LN/SQR-4 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 12m km
LN/SLR-6 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m kmOn April 2nd, after a vote of the League Council, Gliese 229 was renamed the Niemeyer System in honour of Commander Robert Niemeyer, captain of the Challenger, and his gallant crew. The performance of the alien anti-missile defences during the brief engagement in Niemeyer was cause for considerable concern and the Admiralty wasted no time in persuading the League Council to divert their scientific resources toward developing the necessary technology required to equip an equivalent League vessel. The result was the République class light cruiser, armed with fifteen Vickers-Mauser VM1 Missile Launchers with a fifteen second reload time. Although it was based on a similar size hull to the New York class armoured cruiser, the République eschewed those features of the older cruiser that were required for sustained independent operations and was unashamedly designed for escorting the battle line. It had only half the endurance of the New York, fewer maintenance supplies and was the first League design without a boat bay. Instead, much of the internal space was devoted to huge magazines with a sixty percent greater capacity than the New York. The focus of the sensor suite was a dedicated missile detection sensor with a range of one point three million kilometers. To accommodate the LN/SPD-12 and three LN/SPG-14 Anti-Missile Fire Controls, the passive sensors were smaller and less capable than previous capital ship and cruiser designs. The République carried six hundred RIM-2A Sentinels, a newly developed anti-missile.
République class Light Cruiser 8000 tons 671 Crew 1240.6 BP TCS 160 TH 720 EM 0
4500 km/s Armour 3-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 6/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 15
Annual Failure Rate: 128% IFR: 1.8% Maintenance Capacity 388 MSP Max Repair 126 MSP
Magazine 603
Daimler Ion Engine (12) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 56.3 billion km (144 days at full power)
Vickers-Mauser VM1 Missile Launcher (15) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
LN/SPG-14 Anti-Missile Fire Control (3) Range 1.3m km Resolution 1
RIM-2A Sentinel (603) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 1.8m Range: 2.6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 170 / 102 / 51
LN/SPS-9 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6300 Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
LN/SPD-12 Missile Detection Sensor (1) GPS 126 Range 1.3m km Resolution 1
LN/SQR-3 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 6m km
LN/SLR-5 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m kmOn 22nd November 1906, the battlecruisers Ramillies, Repulse and Resolution completed their refits to the Royal Sovereign Mod 1 class, making them the first ion-engined warships in the League Navy. Three weeks after the refit, the battlecruisers Ramillies and Resolution collided during a training exercise. Several crew members, including the captains of both ships, were killed. A court of inquiry found that the helmsman of the Ramillies had not adjusted to the dramatic increase in speed and had misjudged a turn while in close formation.
Game Note: The three refitted Royal Sovereigns were the only three ships on Task Force Training Exercises when the random events came up with simultaneous " killed in a training accident" events for two of their captains.
The first pair of Brunel class jump gate construction ships were launched by the AG-Weser Shipyard on January 17th 1907. Construction began shortly thereafter at the Thermopylae and Alpha Centauri jump points.
In June 1907, the population of Mars reached one hundred million. Over the previous few weeks, two million colonists had been transported to Thermopylae II, establishing the first extra-solar colony. Six deep space tracking stations were also in place on the planet in order to watch the jump point to 40 Eridani. The cruisers New York and Brooklyn remained in orbit but the third cruiser from the First Squadron, Pennsylvania, was picketing the Niemeyer jump point.
The other three Royal Sovereigns completed their refits to the Mod 1 standard on July 1st. With all the battlecruisers equipped with ion engines and modern sensors, attention turned to the Kaiser Friedrich III class battleships. While one option was to simply convert them to the same design as the Royal Sovereign Mod 1, the Admiralty decided that having a dozen battlecruisers was unnecessary, especially as the first Dreadnought class battleships were still several months from completion. Therefore, the Kaisers retained their role as battle line units and the intent of the upgrade was to enable them to operate with the Dreadnoughts. The fifteen nuclear pulse engines were replaced with sixteen ion engines. A straight one for one replacement of the engines would have given them a speed of 3750 km/s. As the Dreadnoughts had a speed of 4000 km/s, the sixteenth engine was added to maintain a consistent battle line speed. The required weight saving was achieved by reducing the thickness of the armour by a sixth. An alternative was to reduce magazine capacity but as the new armour thickness would still match that of the newer battleships, it was deemed preferable to a ten percent reduction in ordnance. As with the Royal Sovereigns, the sensor suite was upgraded to match that of the Dreadnoughts. The only other significant change was an increase of twenty-five percent in fuel capacity.
Kaiser Friedrich III Mod 1 class Battleship 12000 tons 1052 Crew 1582.6 BP TCS 240 TH 960 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 5-46 Shields 0-0 Sensors 12/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 40
Annual Failure Rate: 230% IFR: 3.2% Maintenance Capacity 412 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons Magazine 880
Daimler Ion Engine (16) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 46.9 billion km (135 days at full power)
Vickers-Mauser VM4 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
LN/SPG-10 Missile Fire Control (2) Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
RGM-1B Hawk (220) Speed: 25,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 55.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
LN/SPS-9 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6300 Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
LN/SQR-4 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 12m km
LN/SLR-6 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m kmThe first three Dreadnought class battleships, Dreadnought, Deutschland and Texas, were launched on October 25th 1907. Construction of three more hulls commenced immediately. After embarking their shuttles and marines, the Dreadnoughts began a series of training exercises with three of the Kaisers to improve the ability of their crews to operate as a fleet. Three weeks later, construction of the first République class cruisers was completed. République, Liberté and Vérité joined the exercise alongside the capital ships they were designed to protect.
On December 15th 1907, the first jump gate connection was completed, linking Sol to Thermopylae. Two other links were under construction, linking Sol to Proxima and Alpha Centauri. With Thermopylae now open to civilian traffic, as well as the League Navy's capital ships, the small colony on Thermopylae II could be rapidly expanded. The fifty-eight civilian-registered ships totaled close to one point five million tons and included the following types:
7x Bermuda class Colony Ship: 9300 tons
8x Bermuda class Colony Ship: 9300 tons
14x Carrack class Freighter: 34,800 tons
15x Carrack II class Freighter: 34,800 tons
4x Jamestown class Colony Ship 31,150 tons
5x Jamestown II class Colony Ship 31,150 tons
5x Oceanic class Spaceliner: 9350 tons
In early January 1908, the New York Shipbuilding Yard was retooled to build a new armoured cruiser design. Based on the same principles of scouting and sustained independent operations as the New York, the Takao class was 25% larger at 10,000 tons and was improved in almost every regard compared to its predecessor. Fire control was upgraded to the modern LN/SPG-10 and the primary sensor was the new LN/SPY-11 Area Search Sensor, capable of detecting targets out to two hundred and fifty million kilometers. The six VM4 launchers of the main battery were supplemented by a single Vickers-Mauser VM16 Drone Launcher, which was capable of launching the RLN-3A Condor Recon Drone. The Condor had a range of over one point one billion kilometers and could be used to safely investigate suspect planets from outside the inner system. The magazine was enlarged in comparison to the New York in order to carry six of the new drones in addition to the standard loadout of RGM-1B Hawks for the VM4s. If required, the VM16 could act as a seventh launcher for Hawks, although due to firing rates it would only boost the size of one salvo in four. As with all the latest League designs the Takao was powered by Daimler Ion Engines and had a 200 km/s speed advantage over the League Navy's capital ships. Finally, the fuel capacity was greater than any other class, with the exception of the Endeavour class Survey Cruiser. Consideration was given to refitting the New Yorks to the new design but the cost was almost as much as a new ship. For the moment, the six New Yorks would remain in service without modification.
Takao class Armoured Cruiser 10000 tons 1021 Crew 1470 BP TCS 200 TH 840 EM 0
4200 km/s Armour 3-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 12/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 40
Annual Failure Rate: 133% IFR: 1.9% Maintenance Capacity 551 MSP Max Repair 252 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons Magazine 460
Daimler Ion Engine (14) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 112.5 billion km (310 days at full power)
Vickers-Mauser VM16 Drone Launcher (1) Missile Size 16 Rate of Fire 240
Vickers-Mauser VM4 Missile Launcher (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
LN/SPG-10 Missile Fire Control (1) Range 63.0m km Resolution 100
RGM-1B Hawk (91) Speed: 25,000 km/s End: 46.3m Range: 55.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 83 / 50 / 25
RLN-3A Condor Recon Drone (6) Speed: 15,000 km/s End: 1250m Range: 1125m km WH: 0 Size: 16 TH: 25 / 15 / 7
LN/SPY-11 Area Search Sensor (1) GPS 25200 Range 252.0m km Resolution 100
LN/SQR-4 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 12m km
LN/SLR-6 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Strike Group
1x Avro 501 Scout Speed: 7200 km/s Size: 5Three more République class light cruisers, Démocratie, Justice and Patrie were completed on February 1st 1909, taking the total for the class to six. By this time, the League had researched advances in both missile warhead strength and fuel efficiency, leading to a new generation of missiles. Once sufficient stockpiles were available the Républiques would be armed with the RIM-5A Paladin, which was faster and more agile than the RIM-2A Sentinel. Production of the Paladin had only just begun so for the foreseeable future the Sentinel would remain the mainstay of League anti-missile defence.
RIM-5A Paladin
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 17
Speed: 36000 km/s Endurance: 1 minutes Range: 3.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.025
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 612% 3k km/s 204% 5k km/s 122.4% 10k km/s 61.2%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.518x Gallicite Fuel x25
Development Cost for Project: 102RPTwo weeks later the Dreadnought class battleships Italia, Peter the Great and Yamashiro were launched by the Blohm + Voss Shipyard, which gave the League Navy eighteen capital ships, including six Dreadnoughts, six Kaiser Friedrich III Mod 1s and six Royal Sovereign Mod 1s. A further three Dreadnoughts were laid down, as were three more Républiques. Production of a new anti-ship missile, the RGM-4A Falcon, was underway and would be assigned to the Dreadnoughts once enough were available.
RGM-4A Falcon
Missile Size: 4 MSP (0.2 HS) Warhead: 6 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 25000 km/s Endurance: 41 minutes Range: 62.1m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.17
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 250% 3k km/s 80% 5k km/s 50% 10k km/s 25%
Materials Required: 1.5x Tritanium 1.42x Gallicite Fuel x2075
Development Cost for Project: 317RPWith the profusion of new ships since the 1906 Navy Reforms, the missile supply situation was a cause for concern. There were no reloads available for any ships and the Yamashiro had only three-quarters of her standard loadout. Many ships were still using the original RGM-1A Hawk and had not even been issued with the more modern RGM-1B Hawk. As RGM-4A Falcons became available and replaced RGM-1B Hawks, the RGM-1B missiles would in turn replace the RGM-1A, which would be stored for emergency use. The Admiralty decreed that any plans for moving against the Eridani would have to wait until missile stocks were at the level required for a potentially sustained campaign. At a minimum this meant equipping all capital ships with the Falcon so that both models of Hawk could be used for resupply. Otherwise, the League Navy's battle line could quickly be reduced to the status of expensive target. Additional ordnance factories were needed to ease the situation but those were taking second place to an increase in the League's scientific capabilities.
By this point there was still no sign of any Eridani presence in Thermopylae and the League was becoming accustomed to treating the system as part of its territory. The population of Thermopylae II was over thirteen million and terraforming had made the atmosphere breathable, although the temperature remained extremely uninviting at -18C. Theories for the absence of the Eridani abounded, ranging from the idea they had not yet achieved spaceflight to a suggestion that their current government refused to sanction exploration outside their home system. While some officers argued for a scouting mission into 40 Eridani to find out exactly what was happening, caution prevailed for the moment. The Admiralty was content to continue building up its forces and did not want to risk changing the status quo if some philosophical or political constraint was keeping the Eridani at home.
On March 16th 1910, Thermopylae II became the only ideal habitable world except for the Earth. The focus of the League's terraforming efforts moved to Ross 154 II and Alpha Centauri-A IV, both of which had small human settlements, although it would take some time for the slow-moving terraformers to move to their new destinations.
New construction continued, with the light cruisers Redoutable, Gloire and Triomphante joining the fleet in April, the Dreadnought class battleships France, Habsburg and Bellerophon launching in May and the Takao class armoured cruisers Ashigara, Haguro and Maya launching in July. The arrival of so many new ships only exacerbated the League Navy's logistical difficulties and two of the Dreadnoughts entered service with empty magazines. Construction of new warships was halted until the problems could be resolved. Concern was expressed in the League Council that time was passing and no operations had been launched against the Eridani but the Admiralty maintained its position that sufficient ordnance supplies must be built up before any operation could be mounted.
to be continued...
