OOC Note: As a reminder for the benefit of the reader, the agenda and attendance for the Naval Conference can be found in the first post of Chapter XXI and may be of some use to keep track of the various personalities involved as well as to be apprised of upcoming topics of discussion - about which speculation is as always encouraged!----
24 May 40090800: Session on Jump Vessel Assessment and Future Prospects, Duranium Legion Naval ConferenceAfter the dramatic events of the previous day’s session, particularly during the latter presentations, the general consensus amongst the Lords Admiral had been that they, collectively, had been in urgent need of drinks that evening. Lord Admiral Absolus Criasus had observed this consensus optimistically, hoping that the worst parts of his coworkers’ natures might get the better of them. After all, he reasoned, an assembly of sleep-deprived and hungover Lords Admiral would be far less raucous and thus less stressful to manage for the Speaker. If he was really lucky, he had dared to dream, one particular pair of his coworkers might have gotten themselves into a bar fight and knocked each other out, at least for one or two more sessions of the Naval Conference.
It can therefore be predicted by the reader that Lord Admiral Criasus arrived at the Conference chamber at precisely 0758 to receive a most profound disappointment. Apparently, the members of the assembly had been eagerly anticipating the day’s session, as nearly all of the Lords Admiral were very much awake, full of energy, and ready for another day of stimulating debate. Even Lord Grand Admiral Tethys Argyron and Lord High Admiral Jack Macaria were hale, hearty, and worst of all alive. The sole exception among the bright-eyed assembly was Lord Admiral Gaia Pandia, who was sitting in the back of the Conference chamber cradling her head in her hands and muttering something about “the idiots [she] was forced to work with”. While this was not a promising start to his morning, the Speaker was nevertheless duty-bound and thus at 0800 promptly called the morning session to order.
The topic of the day was, officially, the performance and future directions of the Legion Navy’s jump vessels over the previous decade. Unofficially, and in practice, the topic would be how the future command cruisers of the Legion Navy would be designed - a topic closely tied to the very fundamentals of jump ship doctrine. To begin with, Lord Admiral Criasus ordered that the two primary proposals which were competing for acceptance should be presented by their chief proponents, to review for the assembly not only the ship designs to be considered but also the underlying doctrinal considerations which had led to each design. As the original command cruiser concept had been his own idea originally, Lord Admiral Adrien Agamemnon was called upon first. In preparation for that morning’s session, he had taken some time to refine the original proposed design for a command cruiser, and this refinement is reproduced below for the benefit of the reader:
Off-Topic: Agamemnon Variant class Command Cruiser • show Agamemnon Variant class Command Cruiser 20,000 tons 530 Crew 3,208.4 BP TCS 400 TH 2,000 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 6-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 88 Sensors 72/72/0/0 DCR 18 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.36 Years MSP 2,444 AFR 178% IFR 2.5% 1YR 601 5YR 9,016 Max Repair 500 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 40 Morale Check Required
XN-402 Fleet Jump Drive Max Ship Size 20100 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
X-1000 Heavy Cruiser Engine (2) Power 2000 Fuel Use 24.75% Signature 1000 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 553,000 Litres Range 20.1 billion km (46 days at full power)
XS-102 Long-Range Array (1) GPS 21600 Range 101.7m km Resolution 150
XS-41 High-Resolution Array (1) GPS 1440 Range 41.3m km Resolution 10
XSM-19 Missile Warning Array (1) GPS 144 Range 19.1m km MCR 1.7m km Resolution 1
XR-67 RF Wave Array (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 67.1m km
XT-67 Infrared Array (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 67.1m km
To begin, Lord Admiral Agamemnon noted for his audience that any proposed command cruiser class would require scientific improvements in the field of jump drive construction, as more efficient drive technology would be needed to fit both a jump drive and the necessary sensor suite, etc. onboard such a ship. Much to the relief of the assembly, the Lord Admiral did not immediately launch into a lengthy technical exposition on the subject, but simply proceeded onwards with the main elements of his presentation.
In Lord Admiral Agamemnon’s view, the command cruiser filled three principal doctrinal roles. The first of these was of course the fleet command role, which was accommodated by introducing a new flag bridge component into the ship design, which was distinct from the ship’s bridge and from which a flag officer could direct the entire fleet separately from the cruiser’s captain. The second role was to provide comprehensive sensor coverage for a fleet, effectively replacing the
Bellerophon class in this role. While simply emplacing the
Bellerophon sensor suite into the new class would be adequate, Lord Admiral Agamemnon instead proposed a revised suite of five new sensors, each of 450 tons displacement, with the major intention of matching the similar-sized sensors discovered on both Belaire and Mongolican vessels to ensure that the Legion Navy did not fall behind its opponents in sensor capabilities. Finally, and most controversially, the command cruiser would serve as a fleet jump tender, able to transit an entire fleet of heavy cruisers and smaller by itself but not equipped to carry out jump point assaults except in truly emergency circumstances. This would necessitate a specialized jumpship squadron to carry out such an assault, but would otherwise retain the strategic mobility so essential for Legion fleet operations.
As these three distinct roles demanded a significant fraction of the ship’s displacement, not even a point defense armament would be mounted and the armor, while adequate, would be a small compromise being only as thick as that of the
Invincible-class light cruisers rather than that of the planned heavy cruisers. As the very thick armor of the latter ship class was expected to only be of great importance in a jump point assault or a similar close-range railgun brawling scenario, this small compromise could be considered acceptable given the impressive capabilities of the proposed command cruiser class. Lord Admiral Agamemnon was optimistic that future technological development would eventually allow the armor compromise to be rescinded, and even a point defense railgun suite to be mounted given longer-term research developments.
In a break from the tradition of recent sessions, Lord Admiral Criasus made an immediate proclamation as his colleague finished his presentation, to the effect that no immediate discussion of the specific ship proposal would be had at this juncture. Instead, the open floor discussion would take place only after both proposals had been presented for consideration, and would focus on the doctrinal approach to be taken rather than the mundane details of the ship designs, which after all were not themselves even detailed enough to receive a Z-type planning designation from the procurement offices. Having proclaimed thusly, the Speaker recognized, with barely-concealed trepidation, Lord High Admiral Jack Macaria who would present the second major command carrier proposal under consideration that morning. This design proposal is, as with the previous one, reproduced below for the benefit of the reader:
Off-Topic: Macaria Variant class Command Cruiser • show Macaria Variant class Command Cruiser 20,000 tons 506 Crew 3,177.8 BP TCS 400 TH 2,000 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 4-250 Armour 8-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 91 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 20 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.21 Years MSP 2,386 AFR 160% IFR 2.2% 1YR 657 5YR 9,862 Max Repair 682.6 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 40 Morale Check Required
X-402 Squadron Jump Drive Max Ship Size 20100 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 4
X-1000 Heavy Cruiser Engine (2) Power 2000 Fuel Use 24.75% Signature 1000 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 558,000 Litres Range 20.3 billion km (46 days at full power)
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Missile Warning Array (1) GPS 96 Range 15.6m km MCR 1.4m km Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Long-Range Array (1) GPS 14400 Range 83.1m km Resolution 150
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
As with the previous proposal, the “Macaria variant” also fulfilled three principal doctrinal roles, however one of these was fulfilled in quite a different manner and another was entirely different from the role considered by Lord Admiral Agamemnon. The first role, providing fleet command capabilities, was largely unchanged and was accomplished identically to the earlier proposal, this being the most necessary and straightforward role for the class to fill in any case. The second role, provision of sensor coverage for fleet operations, was in principle the same but was accomplished quite differently. Rather than slightly expanding the sensor suite as Lord Admiral Agamemnon’s proposal had done, Lord High Admiral Macaria’s proposal called for a significant reduction of the sensor suite, by a factor of two-thirds compared to its predecessor on the
Bellerophon class, and notably excising the high-resolution sensor array entirely. While the Lord High Admiral claimed that this had been done because this sensor type had proven unnecessary in battlefield operations, it was clear to all present that this decision had truly been made in service of the third design role of the class. This role was, of course, to provide not only fleet jump capability but in fact jump assault capability for a squadron of heavy cruisers, thus a significantly greater amount of space was necessary compared to the “Agamemnon variant” for the jump drive machinery of the class.
While the component type was superficially similar, the true divergence of this latter role was in its implications for the rest of a Legion Navy battle fleet. In Lord High Admiral Macaria’s vision, a fleet would retain full, organic jump assault capability and the command cruiser would be the leading element of this capability, providing not only strategic but also tactical mobility. The price to be paid for this mobility, of course, would be not only the reduced sensor capabilities of the proposed design but also the necessity for a substantial fraction of a fleet to remain as low-threat jump ships rather than high-threat railgun warships - a price many among the Lords Admiral were hesitant at best to pay. Nevertheless, this approach had been Legion Navy tradition for the past decade and such a tradition had led to many great successes, thus to continue in this direction was an attractive prospect to equally many of the Lords Admiral. To break this deadlock was the present task facing the assembly, and it was in full awareness of this (and, doubtless, with no optimism regarding the accomplishment of this task) that Lord Admiral Criasus now opened the floor for discussion, debate, and ideally few if any punching matches.
In the following hours, reams upon reams of wholly insubstantial rhetoric was hurled across the Conference chamber. In the midst of this gratuitous mudslinging, occasional nuggets of useful thought were found which eventually could lead to some form of meaningful conclusion, and it is to these latter moments that the attention of the reader is now directed.
In favor of the sensor-heavy Agamemnon variant, several arguments emerged in addition to the supposed increase in fleet combat power as previously described. Lord Admiral Pothos Aleus of the Training Corps repeated an earlier point of his, noting that the doctrine of separate jump assault squadrons would allow crews and officers to receive specialized training in squadron jump tactics rather than being occupied by full-time fleet operations. Besides the natural ability to take leadership in jump assault operations, the crews and officers with this training would surely spread throughout the rest of the fleet over time, providing a source of institutional knowledge. A second and perhaps questionable argument was raised quite vocally by Lord Admiral Niobe Chryson, who noted that the weak sensors of the Macaria variant class would provide a compelling case for continued widespread deployment of the fatally-flawed
Bellerophon class. As this would be, of course, intolerable, Lord Admiral Chryson was all but forced to support the far more sensible proposal of Lord Admiral Agamemnon. This argument, along with the fact that the originator of the proposal was her own subordinate, persuaded Lord High Admiral Hilaera Antilochus to support this variant as well, the elimination of the sensor frigate class from the Legion Navy being a high priority of her own as well. A tertiary benefit was noted by Lord Admiral Caerus Priapus, who observed that the jump drive technology required for Lord Admiral Agamemnon’s proposal would place considerably lower demands on the Legion’s scientific establishment, doubtless allowing for far more rapid deployment of the command cruiser class. This last argument was somewhat dampened when other members of the assembly asserted that the required shipyard expansion time would likely prove a greater limitation than the required research and development period, although the astute student of history should note that this was by no means a certain basis for refutation.
Those arguing in favor of the assault-capable Macaria variant were similarly industrious, a phrase here indicating that amidst the cacophony a similarly small but important number of salient advantages were highlighted. Lord Admiral Glycon Limos, in particular, proved stridently insistent on pointing out that the Macaria variant class offered the ability for a Lord Captain to command a jump point assault, a role not only of (arguable - as several Lords Admiral were not shy in noting) importance for a fleet but also which would bring great glory to such brave leaders of the Legion Navy. Careful analysis of the Conference meeting notes indicates that at one point, Lord Admiral Limos asserted that Lord Captains who commanded a jump point assault from a “safe distance” were inherently less valorous than those who led from the front, raising the ire of, and several choice expletives from, Lord Captain Selene Styx in the Honored Guests gallery. A second key point in favor was raised in reply to the assertions of Lord Admiral Aleus, as his immediate superior Lord High Admiral Geras Makedon on multiple occasions rebutted said assertions by emphasizing that the broader doctrine for jump-capable forces espoused by the Macaria plan would ensure that jump ship crews and officers were experienced in training and operating with their better-armed compatriots, with unit cooperation arguably a stronger intangible benefit than jump operations-specific expertise.
While this was considered a reasonably good point by the members of the assembly, arguably the strongest point was raised by the beleaguered Lord Admiral Pandia, who is recorded as having interrupted the debate at a particularly energetic peak by loudly shouting “I HAVE A COMMENT!” from her distant corner, shocking her fellow Lords Admiral with the audacity of her directness. The Lord Admiral is then recorded as having proceeded sotto voce, noting that the shipbuilding logistics of the command cruiser would be immensely complicated by the Agamemnon plan, which would require three distinct classes of 20,000-ton vessels which would not be buildable out of fewer than three shipyards, given the increased cost of both the jump drives and 203 mm railgun batteries required. By reducing the future fleet register to only two classes of this size, not only would the shipyards of Duratus be sufficient for the tasks at hand but the overall building-up of the fleet could proceed perhaps 25% more rapidly. Having made her traditional logistics-oriented comment for the morning, the Lord Admiral finished her interjection by kindly requesting that the lights in the Conference chamber be dimmed, a request which was duly granted.
The dimming of lights appeared to have a similar effect on the Lords Admiral, as the arguments soon died down to a few loud murmurs, no doubt to the great relief of Lord Admiral Pandia. Sensing the mood of the room, Lord Admiral Criasus quickly called the assembly to a vote, an act which proved predictably futile as despite having spent multiple hours arguing until hoarse the Lords Admiral had made no headway in actually resolving the issue at hand. Thus for the second session in a row, the decision fell to Lord Admiral Criasus who was by now thoroughly over being the only mature adult in the chamber. Or it would have, had not Lord Admiral Imperator Aurai Valance interrupted for the second session in a row with a preemptive veto, denouncing the divisiveness of the assembly and strongly recommending that the bickering Lords Admiral develop some form of compromise which all present could be equally dissatisfied with.
In saying this, the Imperator of the Conference succeeded where no man nor woman had done before, that is to say the Lords Admiral were rendered speechless for multiple minutes. After a prolonged, uncomfortable silence, Lord Captain Styx quietly requested the floor, and as none of the Lords Admiral mustered any objection to this the Speaker was satisfied to grant this request. Having been granted the floor, the Lord Captain addressed the Assembly with a simple question: “Why not both?”
Much to the Lord Captain’s apparent surprise, this simple question threw the assembly into a sudden fit of incredulity, culminating in Lord Admiral Limos inquiring as to how exactly building four ship classes instead of three was supposed to be any kind of feasible compromise. Realizing her misstep, the Lord Captain hastily clarified that this was not what she had meant, rather her idea was to combine both proposed classes, and more broadly proposed doctrines, into a single compromise class which could perform both roles adequately. This was a bold proposal, sufficient to pique the interest of even Lord Admiral Pandia from the rear wall of the chamber. Seeing that she had her audience’s attention, Lord Captain Styx quickly began to sketch out on a convenient nearby whiteboard something similar to the design proposal reproduced below:
Off-Topic: Styx Compromise Variant class Command Cruiser • show Styx Compromise Variant class Command Cruiser 20,000 tons 523 Crew 3,264.3 BP TCS 400 TH 2,000 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 4-250 Armour 8-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 87 Sensors 8/72/0/0 DCR 20 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.02 Years MSP 2,040 AFR 160% IFR 2.2% 1YR 666 5YR 9,983 Max Repair 682.6 MSP
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
X-402 Squadron Jump Drive Max Ship Size 20100 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 4
X-1000 Heavy Cruiser Engine (2) Power 2000 Fuel Use 24.75% Signature 1000 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 563,000 Litres Range 20.5 billion km (47 days at full power)
XSM-19 Missile Warning Array (1) GPS 144 Range 19.1m km MCR 1.7m km Resolution 1
XS-102 Long-Range Array (1) GPS 21600 Range 101.7m km Resolution 150
XR-67 RF Wave Array (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 67.1m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
This compromise proposal did appear to lean towards the Macaria variant at first glance, preserving the assault-capable jump engine and armor layout. However, it soon became apparent that Lord Captain Styx’s rough design sketch succeeded in preserving the most essential sensor capabilities of the Agamemnon variant, omitting only the high-resolution sensor which most of the Lords Admiral did admittedly agree had proven rather superfluous, and keeping only a minimal infrared scanner more out of adherence to traditional Legion Navy doctrine than any felt practical need. The key development had been the removal of the hangar space for R-56 and AR-56 reconnaissance craft, which had until this point been considered essential. While several of the Lords Admiral, upon realizing this, raised objections, Lord Captain Styx offered her assurances that she had considered this and that her justification fell under a broader doctrinal framework.
This brought to the forefront the second key problem facing the Lords Admiral: how to reach a tolerable compromise on jump warfare doctrine. As a solution, Lord Captain Styx presented a time-honored traditional solution to the problem, namely the idiomatic solution of kicking the can down the road. In practice, she said, any change in fleet doctrine would take several years to fully implement, not only in construction of new warships but also in terms of upgrading other classes with new technology and reorganizing the various Legion Navy battle fleets. This was a process she had been witnessing in the field with the introduction of the
Hellfire and
Invincible classes, and thus this was a process she was well acquainted with.
Therefore, her recommendation was to begin the Legion Navy doctrinal transformation by maintaining the existing “3+1” squadron organization and introducing the heavy cruiser squadrons as soon as this was feasible. However, as the technology was developed to support larger jump assault squadrons and thus construct improved classes of jump warships, some fleet units should be converted to non-assault-capable fleets in line with the Agamemnon proposal. Since not every fleet would be upgraded at once, this would allow a trial period in which the two competing doctrines could be compared against each other through field operations and respective fleet battle records, thus allowing a more informed and final decision to be made at an indeterminate future date. Finally, she noted, as a knock-on effect of this transition process the
Defiant and
Grand Cross light cruisers could be repurposed as optional attachment squadrons to bring reconnaissance craft as well as additional supporting firepower and armor when necessary to augment a battle fleet. While this would be a marked shift in reconnaissance fighter doctrine, the Lord Captain pointed out that the small craft were really specialized assets and were not necessary for every operation, much like the
Bellerophon or
Hellfire class in this way.
The proposal of Lord Captain Styx was a compromise in the truest sense, as none of the Lords Admiral were satisfied with it. However, the proposal did have three major factors in its favor. First, while none among the assembly were satisfied with the outcome, most present could honestly agree that it would be a tolerable outcome. Second, while the actual compromise was not satisfying in its content, it was satisfying in its essence, in other words the Lords Admiral were admittedly glad that they might not be forced to make a firm decision when instead they could table the matter for future review, given a larger body of evidence and more importantly a new group of Lords Admiral upon whom to foist the decision-making responsibilities. Third, and arguably most importantly, the Lords Admiral were getting hungry.
Thus, while it was not unanimous an informal voice vote confirmed that the majority of the Lords Admiral would support the compromise proposal of Lord Captain Styx, the Agamemnon supporters accepting that some doctrinal progress would be made while the Macaria supporters were content that only some doctrinal progress would be forced upon them. With the matter thus settled, the Naval Conference was adjourned for a light luncheon.
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OOC Notes: Thus has the command cruiser question been resolved, the design is almost certain to be a compromise not only in the literal sense but also on the battlefield, but a command cruiser class will be constructed and that is what matters. The presentation for this update has been shortened, assuredly as a service to the readership and not at all because the author is eagerly anticipating a light luncheon of his own.
Any readers who experience distress at the complete lack of images in the preceding update may rest assured that the following part will be much more closely aligned with their tastes.
