House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion
Page 52
80% Accel: 413.5 G (4.055 kps²)
Broadside: 8M, 5L, 6CM, 4PD
Chase: 2M, 1L, 3CM, 2PD
Number Captured: 2
Service Life: 1913–1916
Two of the Havenite Frigate-class light cruisers were bought into GSN service after Admiral Harrington returned from Cerberus with her fleet of captures, and both were assigned to the newly created Protector’s Own squadron shortly after arrival. While cutting-edge technology for Havenite warships at the time, Grayson found little to learn from the designs, and unlike the Warlord and Mars classes brought with them, these light cruisers had limited ammunition stowage and no interoperability of weapons between them and their larger brethren.
Both ships were relegated to training service shortly after being replaced with new-build David-class units and were decommissioned soon thereafter. Their hulks were towed out to the asteroid belt and used as target vessels during workups of the Paul-class destroyers.
Disciple-class light cruiser
(for specification, see RMN Avalon-class CL)
Number Built: 52+
Service Life: 1919–present
The Disciple-class light cruiser is almost a clone of the RMN Avalon class, locally built by the GSN. With numerous small differences in internal space allocation and electronics, the basic weapons fit between the two classes is identical. This faithful GSN reproduction of a Manticoran design is not so much a case of the GSN changing its design philosophy as of the RMN changing its own, as the RMN has begun to follow the GSN lead in terms of the “all graser broadside.” Production of the new class was just beginning when the war resumed in 1919, and the planned first flight was doubled in size as part of the emergency measures.
While the Disciple class as a whole has seen limited combat, individual units have more than proved their worth, both as independent operators and as members of the screen. Their off-bore capability in particular has been well received, given that it has multiplied their effective broadside.
The Disciple class also has the distinction of being the first of the smaller GSN warships to be built from the keel out to handle mixed crews, with space set aside for gender-segregated berthing facilities in keeping with Grayson social practices.
HEAVY CRUISERS (CA)
The GSN built its first heavy cruisers in the light of the realization that their new Havenite opponents had something the Masadans lacked: a dependence on an extended, potentially vulnerable trading network. The GSN recognized that their light cruisers were capable of conducting commerce attacks but wanted a platform capable of operating for long periods of time hundreds of light-years away from support. The same endurance characteristics that enabled heavy cruisers to hunt down merchantmen on distant stations naturally helped them convoy merchantmen to and from those same stations.
Battlecruisers could have been used, as in the RMN, but the desired characteristics of a deep raiding battlecruiser differed substantially from the fleet support battlecruisers the GSN already had in mind and would have necessitated the construction of two different classes. At this point, the necessary number of yards big enough to produce the desired number of battlecruisers of two types simply were not available when the need arose. Making a virtue of necessity, the Grayson heavy cruiser has thus come to fulfill much the same role as the battlecruiser in Manticoran service and has acquired the same romantic aura: long-range independent deep-space commands both beyond help and absolute master of their own destiny.
Berilynko-class heavy cruiser
(for specification, see RMN Warrior-class CA)
Number Donated: 3
Service Life: 1904–present
These three old Manticoran Warrior-class heavy cruisers marked for disposal were diverted to Grayson in 1904 as part of the Technological Exchange Program. While these ships appear to be named after a Grayson steading, they are actually named after a famous army general who made notable contributions during the Civil War.
Analysis of both Manticoran and Grayson experience with laser heads clearly demonstrated that the primary shipkiller had become the missile, but the traditional energy-range combat scenario clearly could not be ruled out, as Captain Honor Harrington’s engagement at Blackbird Base and against the Masadan battlecruiser Thunder of God indicated. Both the GSN Office of Shipbuilding and Doctrine and the Office of Training Command concluded that the high volume of fire which had been a major requirement in pre-laser head capital ship design had become far less relevant than sheer hitting power, however. Missiles had become even more effective at knocking down sidewalls before the energy engagement, improving targeting resolution and capability during the energy engagement, which reduced the need to saturate the potential target zone in order to secure hits. This led to the conclusion that the graser was a superior choice for shipboard energy mounts, despite the weapon’s mass and volume penalties in comparison to the laser, given its greater destructiveness and range, and the Grayson Space Navy conducted extensive simulations to test that conclusion. The simulation analysis was validated in operational practice and played a major role in the GSN’s preference for an all-graser broadside armament in everything from cruisers to superdreadnoughts.
Alvarez-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 319,500 tons
Dimensions: 531 × 64 × 54 m
Acceleration: 508.6 G (4.988 kps²)
80% Accel: 406.9 G (3.99 kps²)
Broadside: 14M, 5G, 8CM, 8PD
Chase: 3M, 1G, 5CM, 5PD
Number Built: 12
Service Life: 1904–present
The Alvarez-class CA is similar to a Star Knight-class CA, with specific GSN changes, most notably the all-graser broadside offensive beam armament. An even larger missile broadside and armor features better designed to counter laser heads also figure in the class’ larger mass. The emphasis on the missile as opposed to beam combat is taken by some as an indication that the GSN was quicker than the RMN to recognize the family of technologies which, combined, ultimately revolutionized space warfare during the Manticore-Havenite Wars. This view gives the GSN too much credit. The Star Knight, of course, is widely recognized now to be a revolutionary but transitional design, and the Grayson designers had the advantage of the better part of a full decade in deployable technology, plus the benefit of the hard-won combat experience both they and the Royal Manticoran Navy had amassed since the Manticoran class was first designed. The Alvarez design merely advances down the path Star Knight began, incorporating far heavier grasers in her reduced energy armament and using individually more capable point defense laser clusters.
The Alvarez-class CAs were the first locally built Grayson heavy cruisers and the largest mobile space structures the Graysons had built at the time of their completion. The importance of the heavy cruiser in Grayson service, similar to the RMN’s battlecruisers, makes the choice to name this class after a foreign officer a poignant reminder of the respect with which Commander Alvarez’s sacrifice is viewed.
Alliance-class heavy cruiser
(for specification, see RMN Star Knight-class CA)
Number Purchased: 5
Service Life: 1904–present
These were Star Knight-class ships directly purchased from Manticoran builders. They were largely unmodified in Grayson service and often served in mixed squadrons with the Alvarez class.
Protector Adrian-class heavy cruiser
(for specification, see RMN Edward Saganami-class CA)
Number Built: 36
Service Life: 1908–present
Originally on the books as simply the Alvarez II, this class was formally named the Protector Adrian class once the lead unit was commissioned. The RMN learned a lot from Grayson’s experiences with the Alvarez class, and the design for the Saganami/Adrian classes was a joint RMN/GSN project. These units represent in many ways the peak of cooperation between the RMN and GSN shipbuilders and were identical to the RMN Edward Saganami class in most respects. They are the largest production run of heavy cruisers in G
rayson history at the time of this writing.
As built, these vessels corrected the biggest problem that the GSN had with the Alvarez/Star Knight line in operational service: their acceleration. Improved compensators, and the more powerful nodes required by a larger hull improved acceleration by nearly ninety gravities. This change shifted the balance of GSN heavy cruiser deployments, with the older Alvarez CAs moving into convoy escort roles and the Flight II’s forming the bulk of independent deep-raiding squadrons toward the end of the war. Remarkably, the number of GSN cruiser losses decreased during this period, due almost entirely to the nimbleness of the Adrians.
Proselyte-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 477,250 tons
Dimensions: 607 x 73 x 61 m
Acceleration: 501.1 G (4.914 kps²)
80% Accel: 400.9 G (3.931 kps²)
Broadside: 11M, 12L, 12CM, 10PD
Chase: 3M, 3G, 4CM, 6PD
Number Captured: 4
Service Life: 1913–present
These four Mars-class heavy cruisers were part of the StateSec forces that Admiral Harrington captured during her escape from the Cerberus system. While too antiquated to serve in a frontline role in an age of multi-drive missiles and too heavily built to be economical to refit, the four together were renamed the Proselyte class and have served for several years in the Protector’s Own.
Larger and more modern than any of the early captured specimens of Havenite hardware, they have reportedly received special Grayson-designed inertial compensator upgrades. This, ironically, makes them the only units of the Mars class to receive the necessary compensation hardware to make use of the full power capability of their impeller drives. Substantial performance gains have been made, though Grayson technicians report that the ships remain difficult to maintain. Unfortunately, most of the captured hardware consists of early production run units and extensive computer modeling and new plant operating software were required to bring the ships’ notorious Goshawk-Three fusion reactors up to GSN acceptance specifications. Nothing short of complete replacement could render the reliability of the plants completely satisfactory, however, and the expense has been too great up to this point. In the meantime, the fusion plants are reportedly known as “the Bombs” by their crews.
Burleson-class heavy cruiser
(for specification, see RMN Saganami-C-class CA)
Number Built: 17+
Service Life: 1921–present
Named for one of the first GSN captains to conduct an attack on the Endicott System, this class is an indigenously produced version of the RMN’s Saganami-C-class CA. While there have been some positive reports from the Manticorans on this design, none of the Burlesons have yet seen combat.
BATTLECRUISERS (BC)
GSN doctrine uses battlecruisers very differently from the RMN. This is one area where the two nations’ disparate strategic and operational needs clearly show in their tactical decisions. Independent of the need to protect a far-flung trading network and desperate to add mass to their wall of battle, the GSN initially saw battlecruisers as the centerpieces of heavy strategic and tactical scouting/antiscouting formations. As envisioned, battlecruiser missions included coordinating subordinate formations of cruisers and destroyers, concealing the exact makeup of the wall of battle using their powerful electronic warfare suites, hunting down and destroying enemy scouting forces attempting to determine that formation, and finally thickening the wall’s offensive or defensive firepower after battle had been joined. Twenty years of warfare have not fundamentally altered this doctrine, though the introduction of the pod battlecruiser has been seen by some as a move in a new direction, towards short, intense combat and limited individual survivability.
Tomkin-class battlecruiser
(for specification, see RMN Redoubtable-class BC)
Number Purchased: 16
Service Life: 1903–present
The RMN donated two full squadrons of old Redoubtables between 1903 and 1906 PD to bolster Grayson’s local defense forces. Like the smaller ships provided at the same time, these were refitted with modern electronics before delivery. Experience with the mixed laser/graser offensive energy battery in simulation and GSN fleet exercises helped form the Grayson opinion that mixed energy armaments were not optimal for their uses, in light of their requirement for battlecruisers to augment the wall and conduct heavy screening duties. In the Grayson view, quickly overwhelming a smaller target’s sidewalls with massed graser fire was more valuable than the theoretical antimissile capabilities of a dual-purpose laser weapon unable to fire fast enough to repel the salvo densities common in wall-of-battle engagements in even the early 1900s.
Like all imported ships, these were renamed upon delivery. GSN battlecruisers are named for deceased admirals and war heroes: Admiral Isaiah Tomkin died repelling the first Masadan hypership invasion in the last century.
Courvosier-class battlecruiser
Mass: 903,750 tons
Dimensions: 719 × 91 × 81 m
Acceleration: 514.7 G (5.048 kps²)
80% Accel: 411.8 G (4.038 kps²)
Broadside: 26M, 8G, 16CM, 16PD
Chase: 4M, 2G, 6CM, 6PD
Number Built: 47
Service Life: 1904–present
The Courvosier class is in many ways a clone of the RMN’s Reliant class. It is somewhat larger, mounts a somewhat heavier broadside, and has greater defensive capabilities. Like other GSN designs, it cut the beam broadside almost in half in terms of mounts, but those that remained were grasers with larger plasma beam emitter diameters and more powerful grav-lenses than previously installed on a battlecruiser in any navy.
The Courvosier class was in many ways as revolutionary for a battlecruiser as the Manticoran Star Knight was for a heavy cruiser. Uncompromisingly optimized for what was then regarded as high-volume missile combat, these ships have proven themselves to be powerful units, and they have clearly set the pattern for the GSN and the Alliance as a whole when it comes to smaller combatants. Although they have become much more vulnerable in an era of pod-based missile salvoes, they have served well throughout the war. With the resumption of hostilities, an emergency construction program ordered another four squadrons of this well-tried, reliable class, the last of which was delivered in late 1920.
The lead ship of this class, GNS Raoul Courvosier, was built with a slightly reduced broadside to free up mass for a flag staff and full-scale fleet CIC and communications network. She served for several years as the flagship of the Grayson Space Navy until eventually supplanted by GNS Vengeance, the first of the refitted Duquesne-class superdreadnoughts.
Hill-class battlecruiser
(for specification, see RMN Reliant-class BC)
Number Built: 3
Service Life: 1905–present
Like the Star Knight and Redoubtable classes, a few Reliants were purchased from the Star Kingdom outright while the Grayson shipyards retooled to produce large modern warships. The trio has been seen as the “odd men out” in Grayson service. They tend to operate alongside the Courvosiers most of the time, given their similar performance characteristics in missile combat, yet their mixed laser/graser beam fit is ill-suited to GSN doctrine. All three of these ships are attached to the Protector’s Own Squadron where their unique characteristics are closer to the nature of their operational deployments. These ships are typically and (for Grayson) uniquely often employed as flagships for small independent detachments.
Convert-class battlecruiser
Mass: 918,750 tons
Dimensions: 723 x 92 x 82 m
Acceleration: 487.4 G (4.78 kps²)
80% Accel: 389.9 G (3.824 kps²)
Broadside: 26M, 6L, 6G, 16CM, 12PD
Chase: 6M, 2G, 6CM, 6PD
Number Captured: 5
Service Life: 1913–present
Five of these units, all older first-generation Warlords, came back from Cerberus and were taken into service with the Protector’s Own Squadron. Along with the ex-Mars-clas
s units and the material they brought along with them, the GSN had enough spares to keep these ships operational, though they are decidedly second-class units today and are earmarked for early retirement.
Courvosier II-class pod battlecruiser
Mass: 1,763,500 tons
Dimensions: 817 × 118 × 110 m
Acceleration: 678.4 G (6.653 kps²)
80% Accel: 542.8 G (5.323 kps²)
Broadside: 6M, 6G, 26CM, 24PD
Fore: 4M, 3G, 8CM, 12PD
Aft: 4MP, 4CM, 12PD
Pods: 360
Number Built: 40+
Service Life: 1919–present
The Courvosier II class is a Grayson pod battlecruiser, the first unit of its type developed by any Navy. Its conventional missile broadside is reduced by eighty percent to allow it to mount superdreadnought-sized energy weapons. Under GSN doctrine, the massive salvo size of the pod battlecruiser serves to augment the all-important first salvo in an engagement, after which the BC(P)s retreat to less exposed positions in the formation. The ships then support the wall’s missile defense and continue to augment its offensive salvoes while coordinating the hunt for opposing scout platforms throughout the engagement. In more recent fleet problems, the GSN has reportedly experimented with tying CLACs and BCs together to provide improved protection for both.
Almost double the mass of previous battlecruiser classes, they are also among the first Grayson units to benefit from the wholesale use of automation to reduce crew size and can operate with as few as three hundred spacers. In addition to their central missile cores, these ships also mount broadside missile tubes.
The GSN has been criticized for the decision to retain broadside mounts as an unusual act of conservatism on its part which compromises the pod-laying function, and this criticism would appear to be justified. It does, however, provide at least some limited self-defense missile capacity following exhaustion of the type’s limited pod capacity as well as a backup in the event of a mission kill of the pod core. Development of the ability to fire off-bore missile from broadside tubes has also allowed broadside fire to be integrated with pod salvoes, and Grayson practice has been to use the broadside weapons to augment and replenish EW platforms used to aid in penetrating enemy antimissile defenses.