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Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: January 27, 2024, 01:35:43 PM »

Once again you are early, however I note with approval that at least you have not been brief.

- it was designated as a Strike Cruiser not a Cruiser.

One wonders what the difference is, and for once as we shall see one need not wonder for too long.

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The previous effort of the Ilford Plasmasmiths had been the Prometheus class Battlecruiser, a powerful ship built around a large main battery of Plasma Cannons she had a long and victorious career, however she never had any sister-ships as the Admiralty continued to prefer the 'standard' railgun armed Renown-class.

I realize this is a tome about unbuilt ships, but a singly-built ship is quite nearly as interesting and to be frank I am curious here, not only why the Chatham office favors plasma so heavily, but even more so why the Admiralty approved the design at all given their hesitancy and chronic conservatism.

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Elswick 14"/4keV Mk.I Plasma Cannon (14)

Far be it from me to doubt the Chatham fellows, but 4 keV does seem a bit on the low end for a highly destructive weapon, though it seems to work out in practice and more importantly, I am sure, this is actually a British Imperial Space keV which bears only historical relation to the present-day units.

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however by this point the Naval Estimates were so called because that was name they had always had and there was no obvious reason or need to change them.



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This was something of a fiction as while on paper a cruiser squadron was a City-class jump cruiser, a Colony-class escort cruiser and two County-class cruisers, in reality only the 7th Cruiser squadron out on Halifax Station matched that pattern. The five other cruiser squadrons were all of wildly different sizes and compositions, many still had Daring-class destroyers attached for extra anti-missile firepower and of course the 4th Cruiser Squadron continued to not exist after it's 'temporary' amalgamation with the 3rd at the start of the decade.

Here we see a further exercise of tradition, indeed each exercise is as iron as the last in its certainty.

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Parliament was not quite as foolish as it's reputation suggested so this subterfuge did not go unnoticed, however it did provide a rationale (or excuse) for many waverers to alter their position without anything so gauche as 'changing their mind' or worse 'compromising'.

Indeed.

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but the well known benefits of large volume mass production never seemed to result in any efficiencies or decrease in cost.

Labour party members have noted an increase in efficiency of wealth transfer to the Sterling shareholders, but as no one listens to Labour party members this finding has yet to come to light.

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however the Renown-class had literally been built for assaulting heavily defended jump points and were both far more capable and already in service, while the existing C-class cruisers classes had proven perfectly capable at jump point defence when required.

Further tantalizing adventures I am sure we will never hear of again.

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A bolder design would have sacrificed some 'general purpose' qualities like range or endurance for a substantially higher speed, committing to short range engagement tactics and optimising for that rather than trying to be a match for the Counties in all things.

Conversely, a rather more conservative design could have replaced only a few of the railgun batteries of the Tiger class with plasma cannons, perhaps 2-4 as a forward/chase armament. Such a relatively minor alteration could have seen at least minimal acceptance, not least if it could be interbuilt from a shipyard tooled for Tigers.

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For the rest I did build the Tiger-class and did designate them as Strike Cruisers as it seemed cooler, but I cannot articulate how they were different from a normal Cruiser in any meaningful way. Clearly therefore the explanation had to be politics and bureaucracy.

At least you are honest about it and that is what really separates us from the politicians at the end of the day.

Much like the Naval Estimates, the El Pip Update Estimate has long since lost all real meaning, nevertheless we persist for the sake of tradition. I currently am pegging sometime in late summer for the next one, but I admit that early autumn is within the realm of plausibility, though surely sometime as soon as early summer would be far too much of a rush.
Posted by: Andrew
« on: January 27, 2024, 04:25:34 AM »

Not than any real navy would play  games with names to get a ship through procurement I mean the Invincible class through deck cruiser and the Hyuga Helicopter Destroyer are both definetly not carriers in any way
Posted by: El Pip
« on: January 27, 2024, 01:02:29 AM »

Chapter 7 To Cruise or Not To Cruise Part III

Technically the winner of the cruiser contest was the County Mk.V, a gentle evolution of the standard design that allowed the existing hulls to be retained without refits that would cost more than a new build. In practice it was the Tiger-class design from the Chatham design office that won, officially and in part because of some innovative features but mostly because of an entirely administrative feature - it was designated as a Strike Cruiser not a Cruiser. While this seemingly trivial detail would occupy a surprisingly large amount of parliamentary and Admiralty time, the design itself cause a stir, because Chatham was in the Ilford System and the governing Quorum of that system was known to be excessively keen on Plasma in all it's variations. The previous effort of the Ilford Plasmasmiths had been the Prometheus class Battlecruiser, a powerful ship built around a large main battery of Plasma Cannons she had a long and victorious career, however she never had any sister-ships as the Admiralty continued to prefer the 'standard' railgun armed Renown-class. Given their well known obsessions another plasma based design had been expected from the Chatham designers, so the railgun armed Tiger-class was a pleasant surprise to many in the Admiralty. However, to use an appropriate metaphor the leopard had not changed it's spots and the Chatham team still believed a plasma cannon based design was the best option but had chosen to play the political game with their entry to the contest. The Tiger-class was put forward to build the system's reputation as designers and hopefully shipwrights, that reputation would then be used to argue for the follow up batch to be their actual preferred design, the Lion-class. As should be obvious this plan failed because the Tigers were too good and the Admiralty still unconvinced by Plasma weaponry, dooming the Lions to be an unbuilt design and thus eligible for our consideration.

Code: [Select]
Lion Mk.I class Strike Cruiser      30,000 tons       865 Crew       5,040.1 BP       TCS 600    TH 3,600    EM 7,140
6000 km/s      Armour 5-86       Shields 238-476       HTK 218      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 30      PPV 217.36
Maint Life 1.02 Years     MSP 2,050    AFR 720%    IFR 10.0%    1YR 1,983    5YR 29,748    Max Repair 900 MSP
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Rolls Royce Griffon Mk.III MPD-1800 (2)    Power 3600    Fuel Use 50.31%    Signature 1800    Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,026,000 Gallons    Range 24.2 billion km (46 days at full power)
GKN Rampart Mk.II Epsilon Band/S119 Farad Shields (2)     Recharge Time 476 seconds (0.5 per second)

Elswick 14"/4keV Mk.I Plasma Cannon (14)    Range 320,000km     TS: 6,000 km/s     Power 32-4     RM 10,000 km    ROF 40       
Beardmore Mk.II Quad SBGC Turret (20k) (12x16)    Range 30,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Marconi Type 903 TFC 160-20000 (2)     Max Range: 160,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s     94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Racal Type 502 BFC 320-6000 (2)     Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 6,000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B (3)     Total Power Output 75 kBTU/s    Exp 10%

Ferranti Type 600SR 46m/R20 (1)     GPS 1680     Range 46.6m km    Resolution 20
Racal Type 250EMWS 700k/R1 (1)     GPS 21     Range 8.6m km    MCR 771.7k km    Resolution 1

Anderwave ILIC Mk.I ECCM (3)         
TRE Asprin Mk.I 10kMx ECM Projector

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

An obvious question on reviewing the design details should be, why is it a Strike Cruiser? Having the same speed and displacement as a standard C-class and with the same role within doctrine as a County-class by all rights it should be a cruiser. There were of course cruiser variants in service but they all had rational justifications; the City-class had jump engines so were Jump Cruisers, the Colony-class had traded half their main guns for additional coil gun turrets so were Escort Cruisers. This was not the designers or the Admiralty being lax with designations, as discussed in previous chapters the Ship Naming Committee had an entire classification system and had to be heavily pressured to accept the 'new' class. The answer to the importance of the title, and why it attracted so much attention, is not in the details of the design but in politics.

The Royal Navy is funded by parliament through a system Naval Estimates, officially annual requests from Admiralty to the Imperial Parliament for the funds required for the next year. It is sometimes claimed the name of 'Estimate' is an acknowledgement from Parliament that it is not possible to know how much the Navy will spend in any given year until after the year is over. All bar the most economically minded agreed the Navy should respond to new threats as they emerged and not limit it's action to those that the budget had allowed for, hence the budget was not fixed as the exact amount that would have to be spent on fuel, ammunition, repairs and other consumables would vary. This is a fine theory and the facts are correct, indeed it may even have once been true, however by this point the Naval Estimates were so called because that was name they had always had and there was no obvious reason or need to change them. A key part of the Naval Estimates was the authorised strength and the fleet establishment, figures set by Parliament which limited the number of ships that would be funded and the amount of personnel available to crew them.

In the late 2220s the establishment allowed for 28 'C' class cruisers, based on a nominal target of 7 cruiser squadrons, the make up of the squadron also being defined. This was something of a fiction as while on paper a cruiser squadron was a City-class jump cruiser, a Colony-class escort cruiser and two County-class cruisers, in reality only the 7th Cruiser squadron out on Halifax Station matched that pattern. The five other cruiser squadrons were all of wildly different sizes and compositions, many still had Daring-class destroyers attached for extra anti-missile firepower and of course the 4th Cruiser Squadron continued to not exist after it's 'temporary' amalgamation with the 3rd at the start of the decade. With this background in place the reasoning should be obvious, if the Tigers had been cruisers they would count against this limit and the Admiralty would have to either sacrifice some existing tonnage or convince Parliament to expand the cruiser establishment, a task they had been attempting without success for a number of years. As Strike Cruisers the Tigers were technically a new class of ship which would need an entirely new establishment which would be in addition to the existing cruiser establishment. Parliament was not quite as foolish as it's reputation suggested so this subterfuge did not go unnoticed, however it did provide a rationale (or excuse) for many waverers to alter their position without anything so gauche as 'changing their mind' or worse 'compromising'. As the Lions were intended to fill out the Second Strike Squadron they too had to be Strike Cruisers, hence their designation.

Looking at the design itself the key feature is obviously the large bank of axially mounted  Elswick Plasma Cannons, arranged in seven twin mounts. As with all Ilford plasma designs of this era the relatively small reactor output (smaller than on a County class) are supplemented by direct taps from the Magneto-Plasma engines to build the plasma pressure. It was this feature that often caused concern in the Admiralty as it meant a fault in the tap system could disable weapons and engines, yet it is undeniably tonnage and size efficient. The cannons themselves formed a 14" plasma ball that had sufficient flux density to stay at least somewhat coherent out to the maximum range of the standard fire control systems, as was typical of plasma weapons the short range damage was considerable but so was the fall off in damage with increasing range. Despite using the latest Dowty 4keV charge inverters the plasma fill rate was another weak point, the resulting rate of fire did not compare well with the baseline railgun system. The other interesting system was the choice of the Quad SBCG coil gun turrets in place of the standard Twin Sterling turrets. SBCG stood somewhat unimaginatively for Small Bore Coil Gun, essentially the turret was built around cut down coil guns which had shorter barrels and so traded a decrease in mass for decreased accuracy, both of which were considerable, the intent being the increase in number of firing barrels would more than make up for each shot being less likely to hit. The SBCG was also found on the successful Tiger-class but this was not the Chatham design office taking a position in the Accuracy vs Weight of Fire wars that were a regular feature of Admiralty bureaucratic warfare. It was something even more political as the key feature of the turret was not it's capabilities but it's manufacturer; WM Beardmore and Daughters.

At this time the Sterling Amalgamated Aether Armaments Company, almost always shortened to Sterling, had an effective monopoly on coil gun turrets. A proven design with well established supply chain it worked and while commanders would occasionally wish they had more of the weapons they had no issues with the weapon itself. The group who did have a problem was the procurement department, for almost everything else there were a variety of suppliers and so some ability to compare costs and keep prices competitive. There was no in-service alternative to the Sterling Twin and so the Procurement Board just had to accept their prices which had been gently rising year on year, never anything egregious and always with a plausible reason, but the well known benefits of large volume mass production never seemed to result in any efficiencies or decrease in cost. They were ultimately naval officers so were not going to knowingly order something sub-standard, but they were pre-disposed to look very favourably on any alternative coil gun turret manufacturer. This internal Admiralty support, along with Beardmore committing their substantial resources to a lobbying campaign in support of the Tiger-class, and thus their turret, the Ilford Quorum was showing it had learnt that success was as much due to 'soft' political factors as any 'hard' technical capabilities. Sadly for them even this mastery of the political game was not enough to get the Lion-class built.

Turning to the potential of the class in combat, after the success of the Tiger-class the Chatham office had built enough reputation for the design to be taken seriously and so officially holo-simed and assessed by the Admiralty Tactical Office. These assessments did not yield any unexpected results and to the disappointment of the Ilford Quorum broadly vindicated the existing views of the Admiralty about plasma weaponry. Aside from the armament much of the rest of the equipment (engines, sensors, defence systems) was common to other cruisers and so had similar capabilities in those areas, leaving only the weapons as a point of difference. To simplify somewhat at any kind of range the Lion-class was inferior to an County-class cruiser and especially a Tiger-class due to the lower rate of fire and decoherence of the plasma field with time. At very short ranges (engagement distances in the low tens of thousands of km) things changed as the shear brute power of a fully cohered plasma ball was devastating and more than compensated for the slow rates of fire. Point blank ranged engagements also meant the 'wall of lead' effect of the massed SBCG was particularly pronounced; at such short ranges even the short barrel coil gun was highly likely to hit resulting in dozens of 0.303' solidshot rounds impacting a second, each individually minor but cumulatively highly damaging. Situationally the class could dominate, however the tactical officers were concerned that the Lion-class lacked the speed to be sure of controlling the engagement range or even being able to get close enough, fast enough, for it's advantages to count. On the positive side it was noted that the design's armament was well suited to jump point assault or defence, however the Renown-class had literally been built for assaulting heavily defended jump points and were both far more capable and already in service, while the existing C-class cruisers classes had proven perfectly capable at jump point defence when required.

Overall the Admiralty assessed the designs as being inferior as general purpose cruisers, but not specialised enough in any niche roles to justify procurement on those grounds and it is hard to argue with that conclusion. Had they been built it is likely they would have been moderately successful ships because they were not bad designs, just not as good as the alternatives in most situations. A bolder design would have sacrificed some 'general purpose' qualities like range or endurance for a substantially higher speed, committing to short range engagement tactics and optimising for that rather than trying to be a match for the Counties in all things. The Ilford Plasmasmiths would continue to develop warships built around enormous plasma cannons but would at least make an effort to address the Admiralty Tactical Office judgements on the Lion-class. It is perhaps unexpected given their vastly different sizes and intent, but the notorious Dark-class sloop-of-war (essentially a battery of plasma cannons, a targeting system and a massive engine) was the most tangible legacy of the Lion-class, for all it's lack of capability elsewhere few could argue that it lacked the speed to very rapidly close the range with any possible opponent.

---
Notes:
The middle of this this chapter inspired by wondering about whether including a mass production bonus for ships and components would improve the game. It does seem odd that I built probably hundreds of twin gauss turrets all with identical stats, but the last unit cost the same as the first, thus a mild detour into Admiralty procurement policy to consider this anomaly. For the rest I did build the Tiger-class and did designate them as Strike Cruisers as it seemed cooler, but I cannot articulate how they were different from a normal Cruiser in any meaningful way. Clearly therefore the explanation had to be politics and bureaucracy.
Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: November 22, 2023, 01:38:51 PM »

I note, in a fashion no way belated, that my prediction of a summer update was in fact correct. I have the next pegged for Spring '24, we shall see if my intuition is any good.

The Challenger project emerged from the Daedalus design office in the Laconia system which had a complex relationship with the rest of the Empire.

Ah, yes, the nominative determinists. One notes that the Challenger was as it says on the tin, although in this case the determinism more likely worked in reverse.

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As an example of the issues in the system even the name of the office had been controversial. The Admiralty had vetoed a dozen suggestions as 'insufficiently British', 'ridiculously pretentious' or in one caustic case 'named after a pathetic failure their Lordships have absolutely no desire to be associated with'.

A rare brash moment from the normally quite British Admiralty. The readership clamors for further details, unless the details are already contained in the companion piece and this is not a reference to any new material, in which case the readership clamors for new material.

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particularly for 'stone frigates' (the baffling archaic way the Admiralty persisted in classifying anything that was a ship or space station),



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Along with the usual selection of paper projects, none of which are interesting enough to detain us here,

Aww.

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Vickers 10" Mk.I Railgun V50/C4 (10x4)    Range 250,000km     TS: 6,000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 50,000 km    ROF 20
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B (2)     Total Power Output 50 kBTU/s    Exp 10%

I am pleased to see that Space Imperial Units continue to become ever more convoluted and nonsensical. Truly there is nothing greater than fine traditions like this.

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The heritage of the Leander-class design is clear in the Challenger, the removal of half the main turrets to make space for the twenty five pentuple 5' Torpedo Tubes is hard to miss.

Perhaps here it has been taken too far, though. The idea that 25 x 5 = 75 is more a question of basic arithmetic than units of measurement, though I have no doubt the Admiralty is equally terrible at both.

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The choice of where to place the tubes is interesting,

Jorgen approves of this discussion.

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The space instead was used for two GKN Rampart shield generators, while this is sometimes described as a redundancy choice to have a way to generate shielding even if one generator was battle damaged, in truth it was a technical limitation - at this time the Empire was unable to build a larger shield generator without burning out the flux coils. The preference for shields reflects the way the Automaton loomed large in Laconian thinking, against spaced out waves of torpedoes a defence system that could regenerate was more valuable than a simple defence/ton analysis would indicate.

It would not be until several decades later that Imperial naval theorists would fully abandon the defence [sic]/ton analysis, after the groundbreaking work of the esteemed military statistician and occasional game show host Monty Karlow established that even if solid armour [sic] contributes more defence [sic] per ton, only a fraction of those defences [sic] would contribute to actually protecting a ship from internal damage, typically on the order of ~50%.

There is an interesting, though minor, historical debate as to whether Dr. Karlow did this work himself, or cribbed his papers from posts written on ancient "Internet Forums" by now-unknown authors.

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Other matchups had similar outcomes as the missile 'punch' was potent but rarely decisive, defenders of the design are often keen to point out that the County Mk.IVB fared quite badly against the Brimstone salvo but that is to somewhat miss the point.

Indeed, since if there were ever a scenario in which the County Mk.IVB and the Challenger were actually shooting live ordnance at one another, there would be rather greater concerns to occupy the time and energy of the Admiralty.

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Overall the conclusion must be that the designers lacked the courage of the convictions, in trying to appease the gun lobby by leaving half the turrets on they merely ensured the resulting hybrid was compromised in both roles.

Once more we see the vicious ravages of politics whenever the politicians deign to interfere with the noble art of war.

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OOC Notes: Look a summertime update. It's even the same summer. And for the low, low price of stretching this out to a 3 part update.

I have addressed my commentary at a time befitting the majestic pace of this work, that is my story and I am sticking to it.

I do hope that the Spring '24 update, one hopes this will be the promised Part III but accepts that there are no guarantees, will include a more prodigious helping of the political and economic nonsense that usually constrains these designs. While a lack thereof is perhaps eminently suitable for a Sparta-based ship design, if nominative determinism is to be considered at all tenable as a theory anyways, it will not do for this AAR to diverge too far from tradition.
Posted by: El Pip
« on: August 11, 2023, 01:54:23 AM »

Clearly the empire maintains an aEtherInch (EIn) and a Terrestrial Inch (TIn), after all space is big so the measurements used for it should be big as well! Alas this leads to some confusion as torpedos, as primarily space based weapons, use EIn while railguns, which are really just regular old cannons that some bofin got frisky with when you think about it, and other such weapons use TIn to reflect their ancient and honored past of use in warfare on Earths surface.
This is absolutely the explanation I should of used and I thank you for providing it. :)
Posted by: Warer
« on: August 10, 2023, 03:28:34 PM »

Fortunately the British Imperial Space Inch is much larger than it's terrestrial counterpart, the reformation of the unit system was quite radical and perhaps not entirely thought through. But it is traditional now so the Empire sticks with it.
Clearly the empire maintains an aEther Inch (EIn) and a Terrestrial Inch (TIn), after all space is big so the measurements used for it should be big as well! Alas this leads to some confusion as torpedos, as primarily space based weapons, use EIn while railguns, which are really just regular old cannons that some bofin got frisky with when you think about it, and other such weapons use TIn to reflect their ancient and honored past of use in warfare on Earths surface.
Posted by: El Pip
« on: August 06, 2023, 06:43:44 AM »

Chapter 6 To Cruise or Not To Cruise Part II

The Challenger project emerged from the Daedalus design office in the Laconia system which had a complex relationship with the rest of the Empire. As an example of the issues in the system even the name of the office had been controversial. The Admiralty had vetoed a dozen suggestions as 'insufficiently British', 'ridiculously pretentious' or in one caustic case 'named after a pathetic failure their Lordships have absolutely no desire to be associated with'. With the name Daedalus having a long tradition in the Navy, particularly for 'stone frigates' (the baffling archaic way the Admiralty persisted in classifying anything that was a ship or space station), this was finally agreed as acceptable. Along with the usual selection of paper projects, none of which are interesting enough to detain us here, the Daedalus office had produced the Bellerophon battle-cruiser design (though that was more of a modification than an actual design) and more relevantly the Leander-class frigates. The Challenger fell somewhere between the two, being in part a redesign for local preferences but in part a radical fresh approach. It is also worth noting the name, the contest was held at the end of Laconia's Spartan phase and the Ancient Greek obsession of that system was subsiding, hence why the ship did not have a name from classic antiquity but was named after a survey cruiser that had been lost in Epsilon Indi, the home of the ancestral foe - the Automaton Menace. This was not just another affectation as we will see.

Code: [Select]
Challenger Mk.I Prototype Cruiser      30,000 tons       825 Crew       5,662.5 BP       TCS 600    TH 3,600    EM 7,140
6000 km/s      Armour 5-86       Shields 238-476       HTK 157      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 21      PPV 217.85
Maint Life 1.10 Years     MSP 2,297    AFR 655%    IFR 9.1%    1YR 1,914    5YR 28,709    Max Repair 900 MSP
Magazine 375   
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required 

Rolls Royce Griffon Mk.III MPD-1800 (2)    Power 3600    Fuel Use 50.31%    Signature 1800    Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,087,000 Gallons    Range 24.7 billion km (47 days at full power)
GKN Rampart Mk.II Epsilon Band/119 Farad Shield Generator  (2)     Recharge Time 476 seconds (0.5 per second)

Vickers 10" Mk.I Railgun V50/C4 (10x4)    Range 250,000km     TS: 6,000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 50,000 km    ROF 20       
Sterling Mk.II Twin Coil Turret (20k) (5x8)    Range 30,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Marconi Type 903 TFC 160-20000 (1)     Max Range: 160,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s     94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Racal Type 502 BFC 320-6000 (1)     Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 6,000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B (2)     Total Power Output 50 kBTU/s    Exp 10%

Hawker Mk.I 5' External Torpedo Tube (75)     Missile Size: 5'    Hangar Reload 111 minutes    MF Reload 18 hours
Shorts Type 901 MFC 72m/R160 (3)     Range 72.1m km    Resolution 160
Brimstone Mk.I (75)    Speed: 28,560 km/s    End: 23.4m     Range: 40m km    WH: 7    Size: 5    TH: 209/125/62

Ferranti Type 600SR 46m/R20 (1)     GPS 1680     Range 46.6m km    Resolution 20
Racal Type 250EMWS 700k/R1 (1)     GPS 21     Range 8.6m km    MCR 771.7k km    Resolution 1
GEC Type 1000LR 114m/R160 (1)     GPS 20160     Range 114m km    Resolution 160

Anderwave ILIC Mk.I ECCM (3)         
TRE Asprin Mk.I 10kMx ECM Projector

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The heritage of the Leander-class design is clear in the Challenger, the removal of half the main turrets to make space for the twenty five pentuple 5' Torpedo Tubes is hard to miss. The choice of where to place the tubes is interesting, despite in theory being able to launch from any aspect the tubes are all forward facing and concentrated on the front third of the hull, an aggressive choice to prioritise a very slight missile advantage (not having to course correct post-launch) over the effective coverage of the main guns. The standard County-class boasted an all round 3-2-2-3 turret arrangement (3 fore, 2 amidship on both flanks, 3 rear), the removal of the B, C, P, Q and W turrets left the Challenger with 1 fore, 2 amidship and 2 rear. As you might expect this was not a choice which endeared the design to the more traditional Admirals, particularly as despite the entry of the Leander-class into service at this point the Brimstone Mk.I was still unproven in actual combat. With the class solely deployed on patrol and internal security duties there had been an unfortunate lack of anything to shoot at. It would not be until the belated introduction of the jump and command capable Captain-class Frigate Leaders that the class and their torpedoes would see combat.

The changes to the defence side of the triad are less obvious but in their own way just as major. The design also used the EDEN ceramic composite armour from the Centurion project, but thinned it out even further down to only 5yd HDAE (Hi-density Duranium Armour Equivalent) versus 6yd on Centurion and 8yd on a County Mk.IVB. The space instead was used for two GKN Rampart shield generators, while this is sometimes described as a redundancy choice to have a way to generate shielding even if one generator was battle damaged, in truth it was a technical limitation - at this time the Empire was unable to build a larger shield generator without burning out the flux coils. The preference for shields reflects the way the Automaton loomed large in Laconian thinking, against spaced out waves of torpedoes a defence system that could regenerate was more valuable than a simple defence/ton analysis would indicate. This thinking can also be seen in the additional Sterling twin CG turret that has been squeezed onto the design, further improving the organic anti-torpedo capability of the design and therefore making it a better match against a torpedo heavy foe, such as the Automaton.

Ultimately the Challenger committed one too many heresies; it relied too heavily on an unproven main weapons system, heavily compromised the remaining tried and true Vickers 10" railgun turrets and optimised it's defences for one foe at the cost of poorer performance against everything else. While never officially assessed by the Admiralty Tactical Office the design was holo-simed and became a regular feature in Academy exercises both on Sparta and back at Britannia, though admittedly for somewhat different reasons. Many an officer cadet would come to curse the class, either as an unexpectedly dangerous simulated foe or as an unwieldy challenge to try and command. What emerges from those exercises is a class that in some respects met it's intentions, against a missile opponent it was indeed more durable and better able to weather the storm, but as an offensive platform was somewhat lacking. Taking the classic check of balance - two of the same class attacking each other - the 75 missile Brimstone salvo was indecisive. While there is always a degree of uncertainty around the precise performance of a PD system, on average enough of the salvo survived the gauss gauntlet to batter down the shields and punch one or two penetrating holes in the underlying armour. This left the target damaged, but not especially weakened, meaning the matter would come down to a gunnery duel of the type the design had compromised on. Other matchups had similar outcomes as the missile 'punch' was potent but rarely decisive, defenders of the design are often keen to point out that the County Mk.IVB fared quite badly against the Brimstone salvo but that is to somewhat miss the point. The whole point of the design contest had been to produce a replacement for that design, being 'better' than the Mk.IVB was the absolute bare minimum requirement not a noteworthy achievement. In fairness it should be noted there were certain scenarios were it shined, the multiple fire controls allowed salvos to be split across targets so gunboat/FAC swarms could be dealt with effectively at standoff range, but this was a fairly niche capability. A relevant comparison would be that the 8kt-aether Leanders had mounted 50 tubes, scaling that up Challenger should have had 200 or more. Overall the conclusion must be that the designers lacked the courage of the convictions, in trying to appease the gun lobby by leaving half the turrets on they merely ensured the resulting hybrid was compromised in both roles.

Some unbuilt designs can be seen as missed opportunities or at least visions of an alternate path the Navy could have taken. Challenger is neither of those things because of it's confused hybrid nature, even if the Admiralty had decided to embrace torpedo warfare it is hard to imagine the First Space Lord of the time, Admiral Haynes, doing so in such a half hearted manner. A lack of self belief and conviction is not a problem the designers of the final submission suffered from, as will be discussed in Part III.

---
OOC Notes: Look a summertime update. It's even the same summer. And for the low, low price of stretching this out to a 3 part update.
Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: February 16, 2023, 08:47:55 AM »

It always amuses when a perfectly serious company purporting to be the height of competence names itself "Nimrod". I realize there is a certain precedent for a rather more impressive connotation to the name than what the general public perceives, but as a member of the general public I choose to perceive the less impressive one.
For the US general public perhaps, I think the less impressive definition didn't survive crossing the Atlantic as I've no idea what you are talking about. Or I am entirely out of touch with popular culture, also possible.

Must be unique to the Freedom Hemisphere, then; around these parts a "nimrod" is a stupid person, generously. I'm honestly not sure why, but I think it might be the fault of Looney Tunes.

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The problem was that the Army were demanding lots of budget to deal with this nasty enemy that can shoot back and which their current guns can't shoot through. So if nothing else the Admiralty needed very expensive plans for new ships that can, reluctantly, be cut down and end up with what they wanted in the first place.

This is reasonable enough I suppose. If it wasn't the Army it would be the Air Force or something, and that would make even less sense in this bold and bright future of naval aviation.

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I do hope to get Part II out this year. I'm not saying when this year, but if you take an 8/9 month gap as typical then I think it should just squeak in.

 ;D
Posted by: El Pip
« on: February 16, 2023, 03:10:20 AM »

I am, of course, the very least surprised member of these forums to see this work return to form.
As it should be.
And in fact we are now setting new precedents of form imported from the other forum. Excellent.
I will raise standards here, just at a suitably slow and majestic pace.

And thus all involved were satisfied, for what better objectives could there be?
The Admiralty cannot imagine, yet some scruffy ground types keep trying to complain about something. Fortunately the Royal Marine guards are keeping them outside.

Clearly the report writers peruse these forums.

And clearly, the First Lords are not members of these forums.
This may be why they have time to run the Admiralty.

Me, every time I forget that shield generators actually take up a lot of tonnage.
They are surprisingly large aren't they?

It always amuses when a perfectly serious company purporting to be the height of competence names itself "Nimrod". I realize there is a certain precedent for a rather more impressive connotation to the name than what the general public perceives, but as a member of the general public I choose to perceive the less impressive one.
For the US general public perhaps, I think the less impressive definition didn't survive crossing the Atlantic as I've no idea what you are talking about. Or I am entirely out of touch with popular culture, also possible.

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The use of Farads as the unit for shield strength is quite ingenious, not least because no one, including the actual scientists and engineers who work on capacitors, actually knows how much a Farad is other than "gesturing broadly a lot".
It is a wonderfully vague unit for such things.

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It is worth putting a stick in this bit, in all honesty it is not as if the dockyard time was a terrible strategic problem from the perspective of the Admiralty, after all the Expedition was already properly resolved by that point anyways, and the cost of repairs surely serves to justify a budget increase in the next set of talks.
The problem was that the Army were demanding lots of budget to deal with this nasty enemy that can shoot back and which their current guns can't shoot through. So if nothing else the Admiralty needed very expensive plans for new ships that can, reluctantly, be cut down and end up with what they wanted in the first place.

Excellent. Next summer's update should be properly exciting, then.  ;D
I do hope to get Part II out this year. I'm not saying when this year, but if you take an 8/9 month gap as typical then I think it should just squeak in.
Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: February 15, 2023, 07:39:31 PM »

I am, of course, the very least surprised member of these forums to see this work return to form.

Part I

And in fact we are now setting new precedents of form imported from the other forum. Excellent.

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from a naval perspective, the expedition entirely met it's objectives:

And thus all involved were satisfied, for what better objectives could there be?

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Various options for long range fire power were discussed and much of the report was bogged down with old arguments about the desirability or otherwise of plasma cannons as either a secondary or main weapon on a second line cruiser or dedicated planetary assault/support ship.

Clearly the report writers peruse these forums.

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Towards the end the report's authors noted that had the cruisers been protected by shields then such repairs would likely would not have been required. As this idea did not involve yet more circular discussion about plasma weapons, a subject that was hurled back to the weapons doctrine sub-committee with almost unseemly haste, it was only the part of the document the Fleet Lords particularly wanted to talk about.

And clearly, the First Lords are not members of these forums.

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a perfectly successful operation, marred only by the apparent inability of the Army to defeat a foe that could shoot back.

Simply maddening, that.

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It is unclear if the Admiralty deliberately left the scope [...] they just neglected to do so because they only expected minor tweaks to be suggested,

Me, every time I forget that shield generators actually take up a lot of tonnage.

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Developed by EDEN (Empire Defence Establishment Nimrod)

It always amuses when a perfectly serious company purporting to be the height of competence names itself "Nimrod". I realize there is a certain precedent for a rather more impressive connotation to the name than what the general public perceives, but as a member of the general public I choose to perceive the less impressive one.

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Code: [Select]
GKN Rampart Mk.II Epsilon Band/119 Farad Shield Generator

The use of Farads as the unit for shield strength is quite ingenious, not least because no one, including the actual scientists and engineers who work on capacitors, actually knows how much a Farad is other than "gesturing broadly a lot".

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Against the actual prompt, the Hatha Expedition, the Centurion's shields would certainly have saved the dockyard time for the repairs but were arguably overkill as the County Mk.Vs would also have been fine.

It is worth putting a stick in this bit, in all honesty it is not as if the dockyard time was a terrible strategic problem from the perspective of the Admiralty, after all the Expedition was already properly resolved by that point anyways, and the cost of repairs surely serves to justify a budget increase in the next set of talks.

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A lack of radical change is not something that the other submission to the competition can be accused of, as we shall see in Part II.

Excellent. Next summer's update should be properly exciting, then.  ;D
Posted by: El Pip
« on: February 15, 2023, 03:14:23 PM »

Chapter 5 To Cruise or Not To Cruise Part I
Not all of the Royal Navy's unbuilt designs are flights of fancy or the mildly deranged visions of people who should have known better. Some are just not as good as the alternative or are potentially good concepts killed by politics or doctrine. The rash of cruiser designs from late 2227 are a good example of these latter types.

We begin in the aftermath of the First Hartha Expedition, the prompt for many an unbuilt warship. After the destruction of the Palmerston V Parliament demanded a punitive expedition to deal with the issue and, from a naval perspective, the expedition entirely met it's objectives: the 1st Cruiser Squadron had suppressed then destroyed the enemy STO weapons; the Montgomery and Round Table class troop ships had gravchute dropped the Hartha Expeditionary Army without loss; and finally the fleet had recovered the battered survivors of said Army (the remnants of 2nd and 4th Armoured and the 5th Infantry Divisions) when the evacuation order was given. While it was the Army's review that attracted the most political and popular attention, not least the heated debate about the future of the Holloway Reforms and the quite alarming technological gap between the Army's forces and those found on the planet, the Admiralty conducted it's usual post-campaign review, which is where we find our interest for this chapter.

It was noted that the County class cruisers of the 1st Squadron had been out-ranged by the ground defences and had taken a degree of armour damage while closing in. None of the ships had been in danger, but half the squadron had been order into dock after their return to get their armour repaired. Various options for long range fire power were discussed and much of the report was bogged down with old arguments about the desirability or otherwise of plasma cannons as either a secondary or main weapon on a second line cruiser or dedicated planetary assault/support ship. Towards the end the report's authors noted that had the cruisers been protected by shields then such repairs would likely would not have been required. As this idea did not involve yet more circular discussion about plasma weapons, a subject that was hurled back to the weapons doctrine sub-committee with almost unseemly haste, it was only the part of the document the Fleet Lords particularly wanted to talk about. Of course they would have preferred not to talk about the report at all as they considered the Hartha Expedition a perfectly successful operation, marred only by the apparent inability of the Army to defeat a foe that could shoot back. Sadly Parliament was in the throes of a deep panic and thus incapable of such discernment, they only saw a failure and were demanding action. Therefore to appease the defence committees and avoid them imposing any ill-advised action of their own the possibility of shielding the cruiser fleet evolved into a specification for a prospective new cruiser design. That the Admiralty lacked the budget to build a worthwhile number of brand new cruisers was something their political liaisons hid in the minutes until it was used to ambush the Treasury in the annual discussion on the Naval Estimates.

The specification itself was quite broadly written, an upper limit of 30kT was specified, to maintain interoperability with the City class jump cruisers, and the same minimum patrol time, operational range, sensor capability and engine provision were required. It is unclear if the Admiralty deliberately left the scope broad to attract new ideas or if they just neglected to do so because they only expected minor tweaks to be suggested, regardless of their expectations the specification would attract wide interest. An argument in favour of the former point is that there were a number of new technologies emerging from the various research institutions and establishments of the Empire that had not yet been integrated into the fleet and a design contest would lure such ideas out of the lab and into practical designs. While this did indeed occur give the track record of the Admiralty around new technologies it would be rash to assume that this was actually one of the intended outcomes.

The Centurion Project
The Britannia design office made two submissions to the competition, the first was was an evolution of the County Mk.IVB design that was the backbone of the cruiser fleet. This design slightly thinned out the standard armour scheme to make space for a light shield generator set and improved electronics, this design would eventually be built as the County Mk.V (if admittedly only as a refit of existing Mk.IVs and in limited numbers before itself being replaced by the improved Mk.VA design) so will not be discussed in detail here. Our focus is on the second design, developed as the design office was concerned they were reaching the end of what could be done with the standard Type 'C' 30kT ceramic cruiser hull. As mentioned the Mk.V was an incremental improvement and the shield generator installed was a small 30 Farad unit so in raw figures the class actually had less protection than the Mk.IVs, though this was arguably compensated for by the other advantages of the shield. Shield generation however was not a linear exercise, doubling the size of the core flux coils and projector would more than double the strength of the resulting shield. The problem was that stripping off enough armour to fit in a larger shield system while still keeping within the 30kT aether tonnage limit would break inter-buildability with the existing cruisers and there really wasn't much else that could be taken off; stripping of a turret of main guns would save enough mass but would be rejected out of hand. The Britannia team therefore took the opportunity to redo the entire hull and armour scheme of the class, incorporating one of the new technologies that the Admiralty had been interested in seeing; ceramic composite armour.

Developed by EDEN (Empire Defence Establishment Nimrod) ceramic composite armour interleaved layers of graphene between the ceramic neutronium plates to increase heat and energy dissipation. This meant the plates were no longer thermally limited so they could be thinner while providing the same nominal protection as the ticker ceramic only armour system. In practice this meant the same protection for less mass, that space and volume could be put towards other systems. The Centurion design made full use of this new armour system but also thinned out the effective armour protection, from 8yd HDAE (Duranium Armour Equivalent) down to only 6yd HDAE, almost all the saved space going towards the large GKN Rampart shield generator. There were also a few upgrades to the sensor system and the arguably long overdue addition of two ILIC (Iterative Loop Integration Control) ECCM system that could cut through enemy jamming and be slaved to any of the onboard fire control systems.

Code: [Select]
Centurion Mk.I Prototype class Cruiser      30,000 tons       1,025 Crew       6,305.2 BP       TCS 600    TH 3,600    EM 3,570
6000 km/s      Armour 6-86       Shields 119-476       HTK 200      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 20      PPV 225.28
Maint Life 1.08 Years     MSP 2,379    AFR 686%    IFR 9.5%    1YR 2,045    5YR 30,675    Max Repair 900 MSP
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Rolls Royce Griffon Mk.III MPD-1800 (2)    Power 3600    Fuel Use 50.31%    Signature 1800    Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,100,000 Gallons   Range 25 billion km (48 days at full power)
GKN Rampart Mk.II Epsilon Band/119 Farad Shield Generator (1)     Recharge Time 476 seconds (0.3 per second)

Vickers 10" Mk.I Railgun V50/C4 (20x4)    Range 250,000km     TS: 6,000 km/s     Power 15-4     RM 50,000 km    ROF 20       
Sterling Mk.II Twin Coil Turret (20k) (4x8)    Range 30,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Marconi Type 903 TFC 160-20000 (2)     Max Range: 160,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s     94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Racal Type 502 BFC 320-6000 (2)     Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 6,000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B (4)     Total Power Output 100 kBTU/s   Exp 10%

Ferranti Type 600SR 46m/R20 (1)     GPS 1680     Range 46.6m km    Resolution 20
Racal Type 250EMWS 700k/R1 (1)     GPS 21     Range 8.6m km    MCR 771.7k km    Resolution 1

Anderwave ILIC Mk.I ECCM (2)         
TRE Asprin Mk.I 10kMx ECM Projector

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

While some of the ideas in Centurion would eventually make their way into the main cruiser line, ultimately it was too big a change for not enough benefit. The County Mk.V filled the low-risk, upgradeable, niche while other designs had taken full advantage of not being inter-buildable to make more radical changes. The Britannia design office was far from upset by this, they retained a certain distrust of shields as they felt at anything below pre-Dreadnought scale they were too space inefficient compared to armour. The limited deployment of the County Mk.V and the swing away from shields in the later far more widespread variants suggest the Admiralty at least somewhat agreed.

As befitting a design from the main fleet design office the Centurion had been holo-simed and the Admiralty Tactical Office assessed it as broadly similar to a CountyMk.V. There were certain scenarios were the shield was more or less effective than an addition armour plate but given the variety of enemies the Empire had and was facing this was hardly decisive. Consequently in considering any what-ifs then it is likely it would have performed on average just as well as the actual cruiser squadrons that were deployed. Against the actual prompt, the Hatha Expedition, the Centurion's shields would certainly have saved the dockyard time for the repairs but were arguably overkill as the County Mk.Vs would also have been fine. While not a lost opportunity the Centurion is a vision on where the standard fleet cruiser line could have gone had the Admiralty not stuck to the path of gentle but sustained evolution of the County and it's sibling classes the City and Colony.

A lack of radical change is not something that the other submission to the competition can be accused of, as we shall see in Part II.
Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: October 02, 2022, 02:04:29 PM »

Fortunately the British Imperial Space Inch is much larger than it's terrestrial counterpart, the reformation of the unit system was quite radical and perhaps not entirely thought through. But it is traditional now so the Empire sticks with it.

Much like the British Imperial Space Ton, or the British Imperial Space Btu. Actually, given the identity of the game's developer this makes a lot of sense...

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Such static defences would be quite counter to the spirit of naval doctrine. It's not quite The Legions "Fly me closer so I can shoot them in the face" but it is in a similar vein.

Faces are for infliction upon of violence, if this were not true why would politicians have two?
Posted by: El Pip
« on: October 02, 2022, 01:30:19 PM »

It returns in the least surprising long delay followed by an unsolicited update in the history of this forum, as is traditional.[/quote]
Standards must be maintained.

Clearly the ideals of the Empire are centered on silly turret designs, ugly superstructures, and and mercurial admirals who grant +300% construction rate through sheer force of will.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, all may (or may) become clearer if a Dreadnought ever graces these pages.

[/QUOTE]
Much of the controversy is due to the rather hilarious sight of 2.5-ton torpedoes which are only 5" in diameter but several dozen meters in length, giving the Leanders rather the appearance of an ammunition belt wrapped around a frigate hull.[/quote]
Fortunately the British Imperial Space Inch is much larger than it's terrestrial counterpart, the reformation of the unit system was quite radical and perhaps not entirely thought through. But it is traditional now so the Empire sticks with it.

Despite the name, and the above-mentioned considerations regarding STOs and planetary defense, curiously this was not a design for a heavily fortified orbital platform in which an old-money nobleman would ensconce himself in the face of the alien menace.
Such static defences would be quite counter to the spirit of naval doctrine. It's not quite The Legions "Fly me closer so I can shoot them in the face" but it is in a similar vein.

Aside, I begin to suspect that this AAR is actually being cobbled together from multiple campaigns, with a prodigious application of timey-wimey-flavo(u)red Handwavium used to disguise the joins. Such an approach would not only explain the sporadic nature of the work, not that such ever requires an explanation, but also would allow the author to stealthily partake of the latest updates with no great loss to the work itself.
As it happens it is quite the opposite. I had to take a step away from the last game as it was sucking up more free time than I actually had, as is the way of Aurora. While the new version has got me tempted to dive back in, it also reminded me I have a very large pile of notes from that game. It seemed a shame just to abandon them so this work awoke from it's short nap and here we are.
Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: October 01, 2022, 03:24:12 PM »

It returns in the least surprising long delay followed by an unsolicited update in the history of this forum, as is traditional.

Chapter 4 - When is a Frigate not a Corvette?

If the Dreadnoughts are the avatars of the ideals of Empire, then frigates are the embodiment of the practical gritty realities.

Clearly the ideals of the Empire are centered on silly turret designs, ugly superstructures, and and mercurial admirals who grant +300% construction rate through sheer force of will.

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Controversially the main armament being fifty Hawker 5" 'light torpedo' tubes externally mounted around the hull.

Much of the controversy is due to the rather hilarious sight of 2.5-ton torpedoes which are only 5" in diameter but several dozen meters in length, giving the Leanders rather the appearance of an ammunition belt wrapped around a frigate hull.

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Though in fairness some of that was an expectation of another failure and great scandal.

Naturally.

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the most interesting of these alternatives was the Castle class. The design was another attempt to answer the same question but one which resulted in a quite wildly different outcome.

Despite the name, and the above-mentioned considerations regarding STOs and planetary defense, curiously this was not a design for a heavily fortified orbital platform in which an old-money nobleman would ensconce himself in the face of the alien menace.

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Castle Mk.I class Corvette
[...]
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B 25MW (1)     Total Power Output 25 kBTU/s    Exp 10%

I note approvingly that the confusion about proper Imperial units for things has reached new heights in this promising future you write of.

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There were many productive meetings and discussions about what classification to give these new ships, not productive in the sense there was any useful output but in the sense that it kept the people involved safely distracted and unable to ruin anything else.

The absolute best and most critical to society sort of production.

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Considering the what-ifs is a challenge here, because the frigates that were built very rarely fired a shot in anger themselves. In the guard ship role or distant picket mission the design would doubtless have performed well, because such missions were about presence more than capability.

NPR fleet doctrine in a nutshell.

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The Raj

Truly, some things never change no matter how alternate the history...

Aside, I begin to suspect that this AAR is actually being cobbled together from multiple campaigns, with a prodigious application of timey-wimey-flavo(u)red Handwavium used to disguise the joins. Such an approach would not only explain the sporadic nature of the work, not that such ever requires an explanation, but also would allow the author to stealthily partake of the latest updates with no great loss to the work itself.
Posted by: El Pip
« on: September 29, 2022, 12:41:15 PM »

Chapter 4 - When is a Frigate not a Corvette?

If the Dreadnoughts are the avatars of the ideals of Empire, then frigates are the embodiment of the practical gritty realities. The frigates emerged as a response to the ever growing requirements for patrol squadrons and planetary guard ships to protect the new colonies of the expanding Empire. In theory the Army and their formidable surface-to-orbit gun batteries were supposed to cover such colonial defence duties, but the continued delays in large calibre railgun production precluded this. It should be admitted that this was in no small part due to the Admiralty refusing to share it's large calibre gun pits with the Army, prioritising production for it's own warships over deliveries to the Imperial Artillery. In fairness it should also be said that this was not just motivated by the typical lack of inter-service co-operation, but because the Admiralty believed it's existing railgun manufacturing capacity was woefully insufficient, a point illustrated by the armament of the new frigates.

The Leander class frigates were somewhat smaller than a standard Tribal class destroyer (8kT aether vs 10kT aether) and marginally slower, they also had thinner armour and were generally less robust with fewer redundant backup systems. What they did have was a considerably greater endurance, longer range and a wildly different weapons fit out, the design being cheaper both to procure and then to operate being taken as a given. Due to the bottlenecks in production of the standard Vickers 8" railguns the frigates instead mounted four twin 4.5" Molins light rail guns which provided both point defence and a coup de grace weapon against crippled foes. Controversially the main armament being fifty Hawker 5" 'light torpedo' tubes externally mounted around the hull. Very heavily influenced by the similarly sized weapons captured after the Sourmagh campaign, the 5" Brimstone light torpedo was the latest attempt to fix the increasingly blatant failure of the heavyweight 15" Tigerfish/Spearfish family of torpedoes and great things were expected of it. Though in fairness some of that was an expectation of another failure and great scandal.

As one would expect from such a deeply controversial concept there were many unbuilt alternatives. Leaving aside the numerous variants on the Leander theme that tweaked the ratio of railgun to torpedo tube or other minor adjustments, the most interesting of these alternatives was the Castle class. The design was another attempt to answer the same question but one which resulted in a quite wildly different outcome.

Code: [Select]
Castle Mk.I class Corvette      6,400 tons       196 Crew       1,263.6 BP       TCS 128    TH 640    EM 0
5000 km/s      Armour 4-30       Shields 0-0       HTK 42      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 4      PPV 40.32
Maint Life 2.74 Years     MSP 493    AFR 82%    IFR 1.1%    1YR 95    5YR 1,419    Max Repair 320 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Morale Check Required   

Rolls Royce Osprey Mk.II MPD-640 (1)    Power 640    Fuel Use 48.83%    Signature 640    Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 561,000 Gallons    Range 32.3 billion km (74 days at full power)

Molins 4.5" Mk.I Railgun V50/C4 (8x4)    Range 50,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 50,000 km    ROF 5       
Sterling Mk.I Twin Coil Turret (16k) (1x6)    Range 30,000km     TS: 16000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Plessey Type 900 TFC 192-16000 (SW) (1)     Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 16,000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Racal Type 503XE BFC 240-5000 (1)     Max Range: 240,000 km   TS: 5,000 km/s     96 92 88 83 79 75 71 67 62 58
Brown Curtis Gorgon Mk.I SFR-B 25MW (1)     Total Power Output 25 kBTU/s    Exp 10%

Racal Type 250EMWS 700k/R1 (1)     GPS 21     Range 8.6m km    MCR 771.7k km    Resolution 1
Ferranti Type 600SR 46m/R20 (1)     GPS 1680     Range 46.6m km    Resolution 20

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a c for auto-assignment purposes

The Castle class took the frigate principles and followed them further, not perhaps to the extreme but certainly further than was wise. It was even smaller, even slower and so even cheaper to build. Being a single engined design it lacked any redundancy in the propulsion system while even the standard TRE 'Asprin' ECM magnetic flux jammer had been removed to save weight and cost. Interestingly it was these cost saving choices and not the lack of torpedo armament that prompted the first great fight over the concept, the frigate lobby wishing to disassociate themselves from such a compromised design while the more economically minded sections of the Admiralty insisted it was perfectly reasonable submission. There were many productive meetings and discussions about what classification to give these new ships, not productive in the sense there was any useful output but in the sense that it kept the people involved safely distracted and unable to ruin anything else. In the end the Admiralty Board quite sensibly ignored all those discussions and just threw the problem at the Ship Naming Committee, who were genuinely delighted to develop a new classification naming scheme. They decreed that the Castle design was indeed not a frigate but was actually a corvette, going so far as to produce the first classification system for the aether age;

  • Single Engined Warship, second rate - Corvette
  • Single Engined Warship, fleet service - Sloop
  • Twin Engined Warship, second rate - Frigate
  • Twin Engined Warship, fleet service - Destroyer

The system was somewhat arbitrarily capped at 15kT, any warship larger being a cruiser or one of the capital ship classes. It is tempting to call the exercise something of a waste of time as the Castle class corvette was never built, but the system did endure and eventually corvettes would be built. The Admiralty of the time was spared any discussion on classification because a 'time honoured and traditional' system was in place, so it did eventually prove worthwhile.

As to the Castle itself, it proved to be the peak (or perhaps low point) of the economical warship movement. Despite a whole host of compromises on capability and suitability the design was projected as barely 5% cheaper to build than a Leander while having a very fractionally larger crew. For these fairly minimal savings the result was a ship that the Tactical Office feared would be too slow and too weak for many of the projected missions. A flotilla of the design could probably have handled a jump point picket with reasonable confidence and as a planetary guard ship it would have been impressive enough to reassure most civilians. But there had been a good reason the Admiralty Board had raised the standard fleet speed and the Castles were just too slow, particularly for a warship with such short ranged beam weaponry. While much of the Admiralty had no problem with fobbing off the planetary guard ship mission onto cheap ships, they were adverse to building ineffective ones. It was correctly believed that at some point the army would get enough STO batteries in place that the guard ship mission would disappear, at that point the fleet would have to make use of the ships that were released. It was this that finally tipped the balance in favour of the frigates and marked the retreat of the economical warship faction, while price, strategic minerals and industrial capacity would remain important limits the faction had proved that certain savings were not worth the cost.

Considering the what-ifs is a challenge here, because the frigates that were built very rarely fired a shot in anger themselves. In the guard ship role or distant picket mission the design would doubtless have performed well, because such missions were about presence more than capability. Some have raised events such as the Vistonida Incursion into The Raj through a hidden jump point as an example of the sort of scenario a Castle would struggle with and certainly they would not have performed well in that case. Being far slower than the standard Vistonida destroyer they never could have caught them and would have been reduced to trying to withstand a missile barrage while defending the key points, hoping to outlast an enemy they could not harm. The issue is of course that The Raj never rated a frigate squadron as it was only ever a listening out post, at least until the discovery of the hidden jump point, so the Castles would not have faced that situation. If one uses hindsight then it is likely that the Castles would have been an acceptable choice, but without that benefit it is hard to find fault with an Admiralty that preferred a very slight increase in expenditure to get a considerably more capable design.