Like Marina's thread for the Taloran Navy, this is mine, though it's not as complete as her's.
The Stellar Navy of the Alliance of Democratic Nations
The Stellar Navy was formed by the first of the Navy Acts of the 2nd Alliance Council on March 5th, 2148 AST. The Stellar Navy Act created the Stellar Navy and simultaneously transferred the funding to the "Alliance Space Force" to the newly-formed Stellar Navy. Although there was some initial resistance from the Plotinikov Administration, which had sought to deprive the Alliance government of powerful naval force to maintain the "independence" of the member nations, Plotinikov folded on the issue in the course of the week.
The Commission on Naval Strategy was then formed and given to retired American admiral and future Alliance President Robert Dale, inducted into the new Stellar Navy as a full Admiral as a part of the assignment. The Commission's primary purpose was determining the form and timing of naval rearmament, but it did eventually, through its recommendations, play a part on the form of the Stellar Navy.
The Stellar Navy is, in some ways, not one force but two. The member nations that formed the new Alliance came from different timelines and occasionally different technological levels and even developments. As a result, some had taken to a carrier-centric form of naval power, others to a "big ship" mentality. These two views clashed then and would clash for the decades to come, and in the meantime led to the Stellar Navy becoming a two-track force; officers brought up through the carrier fleet would not freely transfer to the "battle wall" fleet, and vice versa, though for fleet command knowledge of both became a preference.
This has been cited as a potential weakness of the Navy, kept minor only by the abilities of the Chief Admirals and Defense Ministers over the years, who have encouraged a balance in the two.
TGG: Alliance Stellar Navy Information Page
#1 TGG: Alliance Stellar Navy Information Page
Last edited by Steve on Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#2
Combat Ship Types
Stealth Ships:
Typically the smallest ships in operation in the Stellar Navy, Stealth Ships are accepted as the "successors" of the old wet-navy submarine fleets. Their hulls are coated with sensor deflecting material to further aide the effectiveness of their ECS system (popularly known as "cloaking devices") and even grant them a measure of stealth independence from it.
Stealth ships operate typically under two major roles; fleet scouts and strategic operations. Able to operate in enemy-controlled space they are capable of providing fore-warning of enemy naval operations and movements. Strategically, their primary role has been supply interdiction, striking at the enemy's supply vessels. Unlike Alpha Quadrant vessels, which cannot fire while cloaked due to the power drain of an ECS, Alliance stealth ships are equipped with backup batteries for using with their torpedo tubes, allowing them to launch torpedoes, including warp-capable Mark XIIIs and Mark XVIIs, at targets with little to no warning before they strike.
Currently there are two classes of these vessels procured by the Alliance Stellar Navy. The Valiant-class is an inter-generational design created by British Aerospace in the 2140s and ordered in 2150. After seeing service in the wars against Cardassia and Plymouth and the Orion Intervention, trial-and-error with the design led British Aerospace, now in partnership with the German National Spaceyard, to upgrade the design and create the Predator-class, which uses the newer generation of Cochrane drives to improve warp speed without sacrificing mass or volume, as well a containing other design improvements.
Strategic Strike stealth ships, known as "boomers", have a different, more sinister purpose. Their intention is nothing less than to annihilate an enemy nation's planetary industry with massed strikes of high-yield warheads. Using Guyverite as a booster material, normal fusion and M/AM warheads can have their yields increased by orders of magnitude, allowing for individual ships to carry enough firepower to literally scourge the land surface of most worlds. Primarily the intent is strictly defensive, as in conjunction with the Alliance Aerospace Force's Bomber Command Strategic Division they are meant to present a deterrent to any other nation performing genocide on Alliance or Alliance-friendly planets, including similar-style attacks. Currently the only class of this type procured by the Alliance Stellar Navy is the Typhoon-class, designed initially by Korolev Aerospace; the Type II Typhoon-class was also a Korolev creation, this time in conjunction with Dyson-Jeffries providing a new Cochrane drive system and lighter reactor, allowing the Type II to carry more missiles and better defensive countermeasures.
Ship Classes of this type: (Note: IG stands for "Inter-generational", signifying ships designed in the 2140s and early 2150s and put into service in those decades, while NG stands for "New Generation" designs that are the result of the Dale Commission's long-term research and production plan, incorporating technologies and concepts proven on IG and OG ships (Old Generation, pre-2140s, usually ships ordered by the participants in the Neo-Nazi Rebellion and the Agresskan War) to create a potent generation of state-of-the-art warships.)
Valiant-class Stealth Attack Ship IG
Predator-class Stealth Attack Ship NG
Typhoon-class Stealth Strategic Missile Ship IG/NG
Stealth Ships:
Typically the smallest ships in operation in the Stellar Navy, Stealth Ships are accepted as the "successors" of the old wet-navy submarine fleets. Their hulls are coated with sensor deflecting material to further aide the effectiveness of their ECS system (popularly known as "cloaking devices") and even grant them a measure of stealth independence from it.
Stealth ships operate typically under two major roles; fleet scouts and strategic operations. Able to operate in enemy-controlled space they are capable of providing fore-warning of enemy naval operations and movements. Strategically, their primary role has been supply interdiction, striking at the enemy's supply vessels. Unlike Alpha Quadrant vessels, which cannot fire while cloaked due to the power drain of an ECS, Alliance stealth ships are equipped with backup batteries for using with their torpedo tubes, allowing them to launch torpedoes, including warp-capable Mark XIIIs and Mark XVIIs, at targets with little to no warning before they strike.
Currently there are two classes of these vessels procured by the Alliance Stellar Navy. The Valiant-class is an inter-generational design created by British Aerospace in the 2140s and ordered in 2150. After seeing service in the wars against Cardassia and Plymouth and the Orion Intervention, trial-and-error with the design led British Aerospace, now in partnership with the German National Spaceyard, to upgrade the design and create the Predator-class, which uses the newer generation of Cochrane drives to improve warp speed without sacrificing mass or volume, as well a containing other design improvements.
Strategic Strike stealth ships, known as "boomers", have a different, more sinister purpose. Their intention is nothing less than to annihilate an enemy nation's planetary industry with massed strikes of high-yield warheads. Using Guyverite as a booster material, normal fusion and M/AM warheads can have their yields increased by orders of magnitude, allowing for individual ships to carry enough firepower to literally scourge the land surface of most worlds. Primarily the intent is strictly defensive, as in conjunction with the Alliance Aerospace Force's Bomber Command Strategic Division they are meant to present a deterrent to any other nation performing genocide on Alliance or Alliance-friendly planets, including similar-style attacks. Currently the only class of this type procured by the Alliance Stellar Navy is the Typhoon-class, designed initially by Korolev Aerospace; the Type II Typhoon-class was also a Korolev creation, this time in conjunction with Dyson-Jeffries providing a new Cochrane drive system and lighter reactor, allowing the Type II to carry more missiles and better defensive countermeasures.
Ship Classes of this type: (Note: IG stands for "Inter-generational", signifying ships designed in the 2140s and early 2150s and put into service in those decades, while NG stands for "New Generation" designs that are the result of the Dale Commission's long-term research and production plan, incorporating technologies and concepts proven on IG and OG ships (Old Generation, pre-2140s, usually ships ordered by the participants in the Neo-Nazi Rebellion and the Agresskan War) to create a potent generation of state-of-the-art warships.)
Valiant-class Stealth Attack Ship IG
Predator-class Stealth Attack Ship NG
Typhoon-class Stealth Strategic Missile Ship IG/NG
Chatniks on the (nonexistant) risks of the Large Hadron Collector:
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
#3
Corvettes
Aside from a handful of national navies, corvettes were not plentiful in the Alliance Navy for the first years. However, following the building of the Federation's experimental Defiant-class "heavy escort" in 2154, leaks of the Defiant's proposed capabilities led to a study in which the Stellar Navy decided to attempt its own copy; a light vessel attached to fleets or to stations, not intended for long-term employments on its own but for augmenting local defenses with small but heavily-gunned warships. British Aerospace, Bath-Ingalls, and Korolev Aerospace received the construction contracts in 2156 for the design, designated the Boxer-class, ironically just months before the Federation would officially commission the Defiant for service at Deep Space Nine.
The Boxer-class, due to the timing of the order, was able to integrate the advances in various naval fields made in the 40s and 50s. The Cochrane drive that provides warp propulsion is lighter than the Defiant model but only gives it a marginal superluminal speed advantage over the Defiant. The power plant is one of the first Dyson-Jeffries ultra-lights, providing the power necessary for the Boxer's impressive weapons array and energy shielding without the fuss of the high-maintainance Defiant-design. These differences and numerous other minor alterations make the Boxer less expensive and less maintainace-intensive than the Federation Defiant, the primary result being a reduction in crew requirements, per-unit cost, and mass (the Boxer-class is only 320,000 tons, compared to the 355,000 ton mass of the Defiant).
These qualitive improvements should not be seen as granting a combat advantage, however. In combat capabilities the Defiant and the Boxer have on numerous occasions been shown to be equally matched to the point that crew quality, circumstance, and luck are the primary determinants of which would win. Sublight maneuverability, weapon firepower and accuracy, protection, and combat sensors are all roughly equal in capability.
The purpose of the Boxer, asides from being a counter to the Defiant, has become frontier defense attached to space stations, non-stealth convoy escort, anti-piracy patrol, and fleet combat. The cruiser-level combat firepower and sheer maneuverability of the design gives it an advantage over destroyer-tonnage warships when not counting torpedo and missile capability, and the vessel's armor and shielding gives it protective ability surpassing anything else in its tonnage range. The vessel is, for all intents and purposes, a flying cruiser battery that can shoot torpedoes; the design tradeoffs consist of the ship's relatively small point-defense system, lack of long-range weaponry, and the fact that it is not suited for long unsupported patrols; corvettes simply cannot carry the necessary provisions and atmosphere reserves to do sustained patrols on their own, but require constant reprovisioning either by fleet auxiliaries or by orbital naval posts.
Ship Classes of this type:
Boxer-class Corvette NG
Aside from a handful of national navies, corvettes were not plentiful in the Alliance Navy for the first years. However, following the building of the Federation's experimental Defiant-class "heavy escort" in 2154, leaks of the Defiant's proposed capabilities led to a study in which the Stellar Navy decided to attempt its own copy; a light vessel attached to fleets or to stations, not intended for long-term employments on its own but for augmenting local defenses with small but heavily-gunned warships. British Aerospace, Bath-Ingalls, and Korolev Aerospace received the construction contracts in 2156 for the design, designated the Boxer-class, ironically just months before the Federation would officially commission the Defiant for service at Deep Space Nine.
The Boxer-class, due to the timing of the order, was able to integrate the advances in various naval fields made in the 40s and 50s. The Cochrane drive that provides warp propulsion is lighter than the Defiant model but only gives it a marginal superluminal speed advantage over the Defiant. The power plant is one of the first Dyson-Jeffries ultra-lights, providing the power necessary for the Boxer's impressive weapons array and energy shielding without the fuss of the high-maintainance Defiant-design. These differences and numerous other minor alterations make the Boxer less expensive and less maintainace-intensive than the Federation Defiant, the primary result being a reduction in crew requirements, per-unit cost, and mass (the Boxer-class is only 320,000 tons, compared to the 355,000 ton mass of the Defiant).
These qualitive improvements should not be seen as granting a combat advantage, however. In combat capabilities the Defiant and the Boxer have on numerous occasions been shown to be equally matched to the point that crew quality, circumstance, and luck are the primary determinants of which would win. Sublight maneuverability, weapon firepower and accuracy, protection, and combat sensors are all roughly equal in capability.
The purpose of the Boxer, asides from being a counter to the Defiant, has become frontier defense attached to space stations, non-stealth convoy escort, anti-piracy patrol, and fleet combat. The cruiser-level combat firepower and sheer maneuverability of the design gives it an advantage over destroyer-tonnage warships when not counting torpedo and missile capability, and the vessel's armor and shielding gives it protective ability surpassing anything else in its tonnage range. The vessel is, for all intents and purposes, a flying cruiser battery that can shoot torpedoes; the design tradeoffs consist of the ship's relatively small point-defense system, lack of long-range weaponry, and the fact that it is not suited for long unsupported patrols; corvettes simply cannot carry the necessary provisions and atmosphere reserves to do sustained patrols on their own, but require constant reprovisioning either by fleet auxiliaries or by orbital naval posts.
Ship Classes of this type:
Boxer-class Corvette NG
Last edited by Steve on Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chatniks on the (nonexistant) risks of the Large Hadron Collector:
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
#4
Destroyers
The term "destroyer" is a carry-over from 20th Century Earth wet-navies and the "torpedo boat destroyer" light warships they deployed for the purpose of screening their battlefleets from small torpedo boats and, later, each other, before the destroyer would in the two World Wars reach its most popular "image" as a sub-hunting ship.
In the modern Stellar Navy, the role of the destroyer has not changed much from the 20th and early 21st Century, and there are multiple designs in the Navy to accomodate the variety of roles and missions that are required for both the carrier and wall portions of the fleet. Typically, destroyers encompass a tonnage range of 450,000 tonnes (450 k-tonnes or kilotonnes is the usual description) to 900,000 tonnes.
The lighest vessels of this tonnage classification are the destroyer-escorts, designated as "DEs"; the only class type designed under Alliance contract is the Guardian-class made by Bath-Ingalls AR-12, which has proven itself a sound enough design to have gone through four revisions as opposed to being replaced by a new class. These are light, fragile vessels, and their crews are known for their black humor given their ships inability to stand up to pretty much any combat warship. The purpose of a destroyer-escort is to protect convoys from pirates and raiding craft (starting with Flight III Guardian-class vessels, newer ultra-light drives and improved deflector shielding have also allowed for a carrier-protection role to be assumed; beforehand it had only been in special circumstances that DEs had been assigned to carrier protection, and never to anything bigger than a battle carrier). Aside from torpedo tubes (and for Flight IV Guardian-class ships, a missile cell) they have no long-range or anti-warship firepower; their weapons are best used against fighter craft or converted merchantmen and other ships likely used by pirates. Their fragility aside, they are quite capable of deflecting a number of long-range enemy attacks with their point-defense and anti-fighter systems, and their per-unit cost and ease of manufacture allows for them to be produced almost in assembly-line fashion for use by a multitude of navies. During the Interuniversal War (the wars waged simultaneously against the Dominion in ST-3 and New Plymouth in CON-5) Bath-Ingalls and New Qiangdo Spaceyards experimented with "assembly-line" functions consisting of specific slipways specializing in certain areas of the ships' construction, allowing for them to be moved by tug from one slipway to another as their building progresses - the process has shown a modest, but effective, improvement in production speed.
The patrol destroyer is another specialized type of destroyer. Better protected and more massive than a destroyer-escort, the patrol destroyer - currently the sole Alliance-contracted design is the Mitsukaze-class by New Osaka Shipbuilding - is equipped with the most powerful and capable sensor suites available. They provide electronic-warfare capability to lighter warship squadrons, Carrier Task Forces (CVTF), Planetary Assault Battle Groups (PABGs) and aid in border defense. As with the Guardian-class, the Mitsukaze has been proven valuable to the extent that it has been upgrade with a Flight II design incorporating New Generation technologies.
The average destroyers of the Stellar Navy range between 550,000 to 700,000 tonnes. There have literally dozens of destroyer classes in service to the Stellar Navy since 2148, but only three classes have been actually ordered by the Stellar Navy. The Ramage and Callaghan-class designs were by Bath-Ingalls PA-6 and Newport News SE-1 respectively, and reflected the biases of their specific national navies; the Ramage-class was built with carrier escort duties in mind, and the Callaghan-class is a fleet destroyer by design. In the early days of the Stellar Navy, procurement officers opted to contract out for the production of both to provide to the carriers and battle walls respectively. As a result, the fleet possessed both types. However, with the advent of the Flight III Guardian-class destroyer-escort, the need for the carrier-escort role waned, and with the New Generation technologies coming on the line, it was decided to seek a new design. The winner of the fierce competition was the Royal Thai Spaceyards of Thailand (AGC-1), and so the Naresuan-class destroyer was ordered and licenses provided to other destroyer spaceyard operators. The Alliance churned out Naresuan-class ships by a large quantity during the Interuniversal War as the losses to the older, less-protected Callaghan-class escalated; with the post-war cutbacks biting into the fleet budget and manpower, the Stellar Navy has now officially ended the active production of the Callaghan-class and has turned to the Naresuan as the destroyer of choice in fleet operations; the remaining Callaghans have been relegated to convoy escort and border patrol commands. Only a handful of Ramage-class destroyers remain in operation with CVBGs, and they are being phased out in favor of the Flight IV Guardians.
Destroyers are designed to primarily fight each other and lighter craft, as is called for by their screening duties when in fleet formation. Armament usually consists of lighter guns for fighting lesser craft and other destroyers, and to provide some threat to cruisers and capital ships, they carry torpedo tubes of fair quality (Flight II Callaghan-class and Naresuan-class also possess missile tubes). They are also capable of independent operation in squadron, division, or even solo operations, and when needed for this are favored for providing numbers and space coverage for border patrol and anti-piracy duties. Typically a destroyer will also be assigned to coordinate the efforts of destroyer-escorts in convoy escort missions.
To counter the threat of stealth-capable craft, the Alliance Stellar Navy fields a specialized class of ASW-devoted destroyer known as a destroyer-hunter, the current class fielded being the 705,000 ton Jianghu-class built by British Aerospace and New Qiangdo. Destroyer-Hunter are equipped with specialized mass sensors to easier find cloaked, stealthed vessels. They possess torpedo and missile armament primarily for destroying such craft, and sufficient deflectors and protection to survive longer than average destroyers would. As New Generation technologies were made available, New Qiangdo overhauled the design, raising the tonnage to 720,000 tonnes and modernized it with newer warp drives, sensor suites, and unique for a destroyer, the addition of two dual-turrets of 165mm coilguns to provide anti-light ship punch.
In recent years, contact with other powers such as the Taloran Empire have led the Alliance Stellar Navy to re-examine the concept of the destroyer-leader. For most of the Stellar Navy's existance all destroyer-leaders were from the national navies that built them; the Stellar Navy neglecting their production as one of the casualties of the carrier-vs.-wall fleet debate. But following joint operations with various fleets in the Gilean Intervention, the Stellar Navy has heeded to pressure from the Darlington Defense Ministry to pursue an independent Alliance design for the destroyer-leader role. The result was New Strathclyde's Shark-class destroyer-leader, a 813,000 ton design based partially on their successful Diligent-class destroyer-leader produced for the Royal Navy from 2136 to 2160 AST. For anti-warship armament the Shark-class carries three major missile cells and four sets of torpedo tubes, as well as mounting Zohan-built 150mm PPACs set into dual-turrets; it also carries a number of point-defense weapons to aid in anti-missile and anti-fighter missions. For the time being, the Shark is still being built up to appropriate level to achieve the desired ratio of 5:1 versus normal destroyers, with the Navy struggling against other needs on the construction budget to get them integrated into the fleet at the best possible pace.
Ship Classes of this type:
Guardian-class Destroyer-Escort IG/NG
Mitsukaze-class Patrol Destroyer IG/NG
Ramage-class Destroyer IG
Callaghan-class Destroyer IG
Naresuan-class Destroyer NG
Jianghu-class Destroyer-Hunter IG/NG
Shark-class Destroyer-Leader NG
The term "destroyer" is a carry-over from 20th Century Earth wet-navies and the "torpedo boat destroyer" light warships they deployed for the purpose of screening their battlefleets from small torpedo boats and, later, each other, before the destroyer would in the two World Wars reach its most popular "image" as a sub-hunting ship.
In the modern Stellar Navy, the role of the destroyer has not changed much from the 20th and early 21st Century, and there are multiple designs in the Navy to accomodate the variety of roles and missions that are required for both the carrier and wall portions of the fleet. Typically, destroyers encompass a tonnage range of 450,000 tonnes (450 k-tonnes or kilotonnes is the usual description) to 900,000 tonnes.
The lighest vessels of this tonnage classification are the destroyer-escorts, designated as "DEs"; the only class type designed under Alliance contract is the Guardian-class made by Bath-Ingalls AR-12, which has proven itself a sound enough design to have gone through four revisions as opposed to being replaced by a new class. These are light, fragile vessels, and their crews are known for their black humor given their ships inability to stand up to pretty much any combat warship. The purpose of a destroyer-escort is to protect convoys from pirates and raiding craft (starting with Flight III Guardian-class vessels, newer ultra-light drives and improved deflector shielding have also allowed for a carrier-protection role to be assumed; beforehand it had only been in special circumstances that DEs had been assigned to carrier protection, and never to anything bigger than a battle carrier). Aside from torpedo tubes (and for Flight IV Guardian-class ships, a missile cell) they have no long-range or anti-warship firepower; their weapons are best used against fighter craft or converted merchantmen and other ships likely used by pirates. Their fragility aside, they are quite capable of deflecting a number of long-range enemy attacks with their point-defense and anti-fighter systems, and their per-unit cost and ease of manufacture allows for them to be produced almost in assembly-line fashion for use by a multitude of navies. During the Interuniversal War (the wars waged simultaneously against the Dominion in ST-3 and New Plymouth in CON-5) Bath-Ingalls and New Qiangdo Spaceyards experimented with "assembly-line" functions consisting of specific slipways specializing in certain areas of the ships' construction, allowing for them to be moved by tug from one slipway to another as their building progresses - the process has shown a modest, but effective, improvement in production speed.
The patrol destroyer is another specialized type of destroyer. Better protected and more massive than a destroyer-escort, the patrol destroyer - currently the sole Alliance-contracted design is the Mitsukaze-class by New Osaka Shipbuilding - is equipped with the most powerful and capable sensor suites available. They provide electronic-warfare capability to lighter warship squadrons, Carrier Task Forces (CVTF), Planetary Assault Battle Groups (PABGs) and aid in border defense. As with the Guardian-class, the Mitsukaze has been proven valuable to the extent that it has been upgrade with a Flight II design incorporating New Generation technologies.
The average destroyers of the Stellar Navy range between 550,000 to 700,000 tonnes. There have literally dozens of destroyer classes in service to the Stellar Navy since 2148, but only three classes have been actually ordered by the Stellar Navy. The Ramage and Callaghan-class designs were by Bath-Ingalls PA-6 and Newport News SE-1 respectively, and reflected the biases of their specific national navies; the Ramage-class was built with carrier escort duties in mind, and the Callaghan-class is a fleet destroyer by design. In the early days of the Stellar Navy, procurement officers opted to contract out for the production of both to provide to the carriers and battle walls respectively. As a result, the fleet possessed both types. However, with the advent of the Flight III Guardian-class destroyer-escort, the need for the carrier-escort role waned, and with the New Generation technologies coming on the line, it was decided to seek a new design. The winner of the fierce competition was the Royal Thai Spaceyards of Thailand (AGC-1), and so the Naresuan-class destroyer was ordered and licenses provided to other destroyer spaceyard operators. The Alliance churned out Naresuan-class ships by a large quantity during the Interuniversal War as the losses to the older, less-protected Callaghan-class escalated; with the post-war cutbacks biting into the fleet budget and manpower, the Stellar Navy has now officially ended the active production of the Callaghan-class and has turned to the Naresuan as the destroyer of choice in fleet operations; the remaining Callaghans have been relegated to convoy escort and border patrol commands. Only a handful of Ramage-class destroyers remain in operation with CVBGs, and they are being phased out in favor of the Flight IV Guardians.
Destroyers are designed to primarily fight each other and lighter craft, as is called for by their screening duties when in fleet formation. Armament usually consists of lighter guns for fighting lesser craft and other destroyers, and to provide some threat to cruisers and capital ships, they carry torpedo tubes of fair quality (Flight II Callaghan-class and Naresuan-class also possess missile tubes). They are also capable of independent operation in squadron, division, or even solo operations, and when needed for this are favored for providing numbers and space coverage for border patrol and anti-piracy duties. Typically a destroyer will also be assigned to coordinate the efforts of destroyer-escorts in convoy escort missions.
To counter the threat of stealth-capable craft, the Alliance Stellar Navy fields a specialized class of ASW-devoted destroyer known as a destroyer-hunter, the current class fielded being the 705,000 ton Jianghu-class built by British Aerospace and New Qiangdo. Destroyer-Hunter are equipped with specialized mass sensors to easier find cloaked, stealthed vessels. They possess torpedo and missile armament primarily for destroying such craft, and sufficient deflectors and protection to survive longer than average destroyers would. As New Generation technologies were made available, New Qiangdo overhauled the design, raising the tonnage to 720,000 tonnes and modernized it with newer warp drives, sensor suites, and unique for a destroyer, the addition of two dual-turrets of 165mm coilguns to provide anti-light ship punch.
In recent years, contact with other powers such as the Taloran Empire have led the Alliance Stellar Navy to re-examine the concept of the destroyer-leader. For most of the Stellar Navy's existance all destroyer-leaders were from the national navies that built them; the Stellar Navy neglecting their production as one of the casualties of the carrier-vs.-wall fleet debate. But following joint operations with various fleets in the Gilean Intervention, the Stellar Navy has heeded to pressure from the Darlington Defense Ministry to pursue an independent Alliance design for the destroyer-leader role. The result was New Strathclyde's Shark-class destroyer-leader, a 813,000 ton design based partially on their successful Diligent-class destroyer-leader produced for the Royal Navy from 2136 to 2160 AST. For anti-warship armament the Shark-class carries three major missile cells and four sets of torpedo tubes, as well as mounting Zohan-built 150mm PPACs set into dual-turrets; it also carries a number of point-defense weapons to aid in anti-missile and anti-fighter missions. For the time being, the Shark is still being built up to appropriate level to achieve the desired ratio of 5:1 versus normal destroyers, with the Navy struggling against other needs on the construction budget to get them integrated into the fleet at the best possible pace.
Ship Classes of this type:
Guardian-class Destroyer-Escort IG/NG
Mitsukaze-class Patrol Destroyer IG/NG
Ramage-class Destroyer IG
Callaghan-class Destroyer IG
Naresuan-class Destroyer NG
Jianghu-class Destroyer-Hunter IG/NG
Shark-class Destroyer-Leader NG
Last edited by Steve on Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Chatniks on the (nonexistant) risks of the Large Hadron Collector:
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
#5
Frigates
The naval term "frigate" has meant a variety of things over the years, with the two most popular incarnations of the type being the Napoleonic-era frigates of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy, powerful and fast sailing ships that, while not ships of the line, were capable of outgunning everything else and of sustaining long-term patrols, and the World War II and Cold War-era frigates, dedicated to anti-sub warfare and meant for escort roles.
In the modern era frigates have mostly been seen in the navies of Universes FHI-8 and PA-6, where they perform fleet screening and escort duties. The Alliance Stellar Navy initially did not express an interest in the concept.
But by the mid-2150s the frigate would make a comeback, but in a fashion more akin to its sailing roots than the escort role. Due to the tendencies of various governments to cut back on naval spending as part of their budget re-alignments to meet Alliance financial obligations, the Stellar Navy was increasingly faced with the prospect of taking over the frontier defense of the Allied Nations; not necessarily border regions, but rather the actual frontier, the limits of explored space in a number of universes, in some cases days or even weeks away from the nearest fleet commands. As a result, the Stellar Navy - then under Chief Admiral Robert Dale - began the process of bringing back the classical frigate. Budget restraints kept the design from becoming a megatonnage-range ship, however, and so instead of a frontier-specializing cruiser-tonnage ship the Stellar Navy got essentially a "large destroyer" design; the contract was won by Claringworld Shipbuilders Ltd. of AR-12, which produced for the Stellar Navy the Tyrwhitt-class vessel - named after Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, the British naval hero of the First World War's Harwich Force - and massing at 950,000 tonnes.
The frigate is especially designed for long-term deployment far from fleet-quality supply. There is no missile armament for the ship despite a growing preference for missiles, though the ship does carry torpedo tubes and has a decent magazine for them. The main armament consists of five dual-turreted 150mm particle cannons (the planned Flight II will replace the standard particle cannons with superior Zohan PPACs). Shielding and armor are both excellent for a vessel of the Tyrwhitt's tonnage, and she carries the necessary space to provide extended stores of parts and supplies for the crew for long-term voyages; a Tyrwhitt-class is expected to be capable of remaining alone on long-term frontier voyages for months at a time.
A handful of Tyrwhitt-class ships were not assigned to frontier command but fleet command to become provisional destroyer division leaders - mostly in the Plymouth Theater, to counter the Plymouthite heavy destroyers favored by that navy - but with the launch of the Shark-class destroyer leader the Tyrwhitts are being freed up for their intended purpose; frontier protection. They will soon be joined by other vessels being specially put into commission by the Stellar Navy for frontier defense roles.
Ship Classes of this type:
Tyrwhitt-class Frigate NG
The naval term "frigate" has meant a variety of things over the years, with the two most popular incarnations of the type being the Napoleonic-era frigates of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy, powerful and fast sailing ships that, while not ships of the line, were capable of outgunning everything else and of sustaining long-term patrols, and the World War II and Cold War-era frigates, dedicated to anti-sub warfare and meant for escort roles.
In the modern era frigates have mostly been seen in the navies of Universes FHI-8 and PA-6, where they perform fleet screening and escort duties. The Alliance Stellar Navy initially did not express an interest in the concept.
But by the mid-2150s the frigate would make a comeback, but in a fashion more akin to its sailing roots than the escort role. Due to the tendencies of various governments to cut back on naval spending as part of their budget re-alignments to meet Alliance financial obligations, the Stellar Navy was increasingly faced with the prospect of taking over the frontier defense of the Allied Nations; not necessarily border regions, but rather the actual frontier, the limits of explored space in a number of universes, in some cases days or even weeks away from the nearest fleet commands. As a result, the Stellar Navy - then under Chief Admiral Robert Dale - began the process of bringing back the classical frigate. Budget restraints kept the design from becoming a megatonnage-range ship, however, and so instead of a frontier-specializing cruiser-tonnage ship the Stellar Navy got essentially a "large destroyer" design; the contract was won by Claringworld Shipbuilders Ltd. of AR-12, which produced for the Stellar Navy the Tyrwhitt-class vessel - named after Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, the British naval hero of the First World War's Harwich Force - and massing at 950,000 tonnes.
The frigate is especially designed for long-term deployment far from fleet-quality supply. There is no missile armament for the ship despite a growing preference for missiles, though the ship does carry torpedo tubes and has a decent magazine for them. The main armament consists of five dual-turreted 150mm particle cannons (the planned Flight II will replace the standard particle cannons with superior Zohan PPACs). Shielding and armor are both excellent for a vessel of the Tyrwhitt's tonnage, and she carries the necessary space to provide extended stores of parts and supplies for the crew for long-term voyages; a Tyrwhitt-class is expected to be capable of remaining alone on long-term frontier voyages for months at a time.
A handful of Tyrwhitt-class ships were not assigned to frontier command but fleet command to become provisional destroyer division leaders - mostly in the Plymouth Theater, to counter the Plymouthite heavy destroyers favored by that navy - but with the launch of the Shark-class destroyer leader the Tyrwhitts are being freed up for their intended purpose; frontier protection. They will soon be joined by other vessels being specially put into commission by the Stellar Navy for frontier defense roles.
Ship Classes of this type:
Tyrwhitt-class Frigate NG
Chatniks on the (nonexistant) risks of the Large Hadron Collector:
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina
"The chance of Shep talking his way into the control room for an ICBM is probably higher than that." - Seth
"Come on, who wouldn't trade a few dozen square miles of French countryside for Warp 3.5?" - Marina