House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion

by David Weber

  LAC CARRIERS (CLAC)

  While there is no doubt that early experience with the prototype HMS Minotaur drove some of its design decisions, the GSN began to reevaluate LAC carrier (CLAC) design with its customary independence by looking at commercial impeller drive asteroid mining operation ships. These ships hosted numerous subordinate mining craft and were a natural place to look for inspiration when designing a LAC-carrying ship. The GSN designers quickly realized, however, that a large mobile hangar could not reasonably be made survivable and decided early on that the LAC carrier had no place in the wall of battle. Thus, Grayson doctrine declares that a GSN CLAC’s primary offensive weaponry is carried by its LACs, and the offensive armament on planned Manticoran designs is wasted space. They designed their first and only CLAC to date with this doctrine in mind.

  Minotaur-class LAC carrier

  (for specification, see RMN Minotaur CLAC)

  Number Purchased: 6

  Serice Life: 1914–present

  While the GSN was heavily involved in the original design of the Shrike-class LACs, they let the RMN take the lead on initial carrier design. Six Minotaur-class carriers were ordered from 1914–1915 PD while the Covington class was still working up.

  Covington-class LAC carrier

  Mass: 6,244,250 tons

  Dimensions: 1135 × 189 × 175 m

  Acceleration: 476.7 G (4.675 kps²)

  80% Accel: 381.4 G (3.74 kps²)

  Broadside: 30CM, 28PD

  Chase: 12CM, 10PD

  LAC Bays: 124

  Number Built: 30+

  Service Life: 1915–present

  While only slightly more massive than a Minotaur, foregoing all offensive missile and energy armament allows the Covington class to carry almost twenty-five percent more LACs. The Office of Shipbuilding decided that the increased operational flexibility was desirable, even if doctrine required two squadrons of LACs to be held back to protect the carrier. The professional disagreement between GSN and Manticoran designers applies only to offensive armament, as the Covingtons retain defensive capabilities fully comparable to the Manticoran counterparts and, if necessary, can protect themselves quite well.

  In 1917 PD, several of the Flight I Covingtons underwent minor refits to their ammunition handling machinery to rearm and service the new Katana-class LACs with the Mk9 viper anti-LAC missile. The Flight II units are being constructed from the keel out with new ammunition handling machinery to more efficiently store both the shipkillers and counter-missiles for the Shrikes as well as the Vipers carried by the Katanas.

  SUPERDREADNOUGHTS (SD)

  The GSN is not unique in using its superdreadnoughts for one thing and one thing only: controlling the space around its stars and the stars of those who would oppose it. As with their battlecruiser force, the differences between Manticoran and Grayson strategic problems can be seen in several areas. Lacking numerous wormhole termini and distant stations to protect, the GSN opted for concentrated combat power in its purest form. The GSN is alone amongst Alliance space forces in never having built battleships or dreadnoughts. Their first true power-projection force consisted entirely of captured, donated, and newly built superdreadnoughts.

  Manticore’s Gift-class superdreadnought

  (Note: Specification reflects base class only)

  Mass: 7,187,250 tons

  Dimensions: 1305 x 189 x 176 m

  Acceleration: 417.5 G (4.094 kps²)

  80% Accel: 334 G (3.275 kps²)

  Broadside: 36M, 12L, 12G, 28CM, 24PD

  Chase: 10M, 4L, 6G, 12CM, 12PD

  Number Captured: 28

  Service Life: 1906–present

  The original eleven units of this class were DuQuesne-class superdreadnoughts captured at the Third Battle of Yeltsin, turned over to the GSN by Admiral White Haven and heavily refitted on a crash basis, using a mixture of cannibalized parts from wrecked Havenite ships and Alliance equipment. As a result, their specifications differ from the original People’s Navy configurations, and the haphazard nature of their refits resulted in eleven unique units, each with a slightly different weapons fit.

  The units that survived the Fourth Battle of Yeltsin were refitted to a more consistent standard between 1910 and 1911 as the early Steadholder Denevski-class SDs were being commissioned.

  Seventeen more ex-Havenite superdreadnoughts were added in 1917 PD when the remainder in RMN service were decommissioned by the Janacek Admiralty. Despite tensions between the two navies, Second Lord of the Admiralty Houseman was more than willing to defray expenses in that year’s budget by selling them to Grayson for scrap value.

  These ships are remarkable in that their spacious designs made them relatively easy for the Graysons to repair, maintain, and modify, especially after they had been refitted with compact Alliance equipment. As a result, they frequently act as testbeds for new GSN equipment. The hulls still in service have been split equally between Systems Command for use as testing platforms and System Defense Command as part of the ready reserve squadrons.

  Steadholder Denevski-class superdreadnought

  Mass: 8,352,250 tons

  Dimensions: 1372 × 199 × 185 m

  Acceleration: 402 G (3.942 kps²)

  80% Accel: 321.6 G (3.154 kps²)

  Broadside: 37M, 34G, 28CM, 30PD

  Chase: 9M, 8G, 10CM, 10PD

  Number Built: 22

  Service Life: 1908–present

  The Steadholder Denevski-class superdreadnought represents a uniquely Grayson take on capital ship design, much like their versions of smaller ships. The original pattern was the Manticoran Gryphon class which, at the time, was the most advanced superdreadnought in service anywhere in space. The most notable Grayson change included the complete elimination of all lasers on the broadside, in favor of additional grasers.

  Built with the advantage of several years of battle experience, these ships were designed with a full understanding of the combat environment they were likely to face. They are some of the best-protected ships in space, with area and point missile defenses fully adequate to the pre-pod laser head threat. Intense study of Havenite weapon characteristics allowed the armor designers to take full advantage of face mirroring techniques designed to better protect against the known X-ray wavelengths.

  Incorporation of new technology as a result of all this recent combat experience had at least one unintended consequence. The construction of two of the Denevskis was delayed by eight months when critical parts were diverted to meet construction deadlines for the first unit of the Honor Harrington-class pod superdreadnought. Along with the RMN Gryphon class, they are considered the best pre-pod SD design in existence, although they have been relegated increasingly to secondary duties, particularly since the Havenite acquisition of multidrive missile capability.

  Benjamin the Great-class command superdreadnought

  Mass: 8,517,750 tons

  Dimensions: 1381 × 200 × 186 m

  Acceleration: 468.3 G (4.592 kps²)

  80% Accel: 374.6 G (3.674 kps²)

  Broadside: 38M, 32G, 30CM, 34PD

  Chase: 9M, 8G, 10CM, 10PD

  Number Built: 3

  Service Life: 1911–present

  This class was originally designed as an advanced variant of the Denevski class, but with the secret SD(P) program already starting up, the ships were modified after laydown into dedicated command ships. The hull was extended an additional nine meters, and two grasers were removed from the broadsides to accommodate an advanced command deck, room for flag staff, larger and more sensitive sensor arrays, more extensive communication equipment, and a significant increase in active defense.

  While they have, arguably, the finest flag deck of any ship in commission anywhere and are still highly sought after in the GSN, they are beginning to show their age, and dedicated command variants of Harrington-class pod superdreadnoughts have begun to supplant them.

  Protector-class superdreadnought

  (for specification, see RMN Victory-cla
ss SD)

  Total Purchased: 34

  Service Life: 1917–present

  This class consists of all of the remaining RMN Victory-class ships scheduled for disposal after the First Manticore-Havenite War. Protector Benjamin took a personal interest in the acquisition of these units because he was convinced that the RMN under the Janacek administration would find itself critically short of capital ships if hostilities resumed. As with the Havenite superdreadnoughts in Manticoran service, Janacek was convinced that maintaining these ships was a waste and was more than happy to sell them to Grayson for their material reclamation value.

  The original intention was to place the ships immediately in mothballs as a ready reserve for both Navies, since the GSN lacked sufficient crews to man them at the time. However, when the war resumed and the Janacek Admiralty collapsed, instead of transferring any back to the RMN, the Office of Personnel and BuPers arranged to loan Manticoran crews as they came back from civilian life to supplement the GSN crews who were themselves returning to active duty. While all of these ships officially fall under the GSN, operationally they are part of the Alliance fleet and serve under RMN and GSN command as necessary.

  POD SUPERDREADNOUGHTS (SD(P))

  While the Grayson Space Navy was the first fleet to place pod-laying superdreadnoughts in commission, the SD(P) actually originated as a top-secret project of the Royal Manticoran Navy.

  The GSN, lacking a huge long-term investment in a traditional wall of battle and already engaged in a revolutionary rethinking of established tactical doctrine, were more able and more willing than even the RMN to quickly adopt a technology that would radically challenge current practices. In short, the GSN had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Moreover, their procedures for authorizing new construction were more flexible and adaptive than Manticore’s because they had so recently created a modern fleet effectively out of nothing. The combination of those factors allowed the GSN to lay down the very first “podnoughts” and to complete its first units a full year ahead of Manticore. This speed in turn pushed the pace of Manticoran construction of its own Medusa class.

  The essential technological elements enabling viable podnoughts are the laser head, the multi-drive missile, and the missile pod itself. Operationally, the pod superdreadnought fulfills much the same role as the superdreadnought. It simply relies on a different main battery weapon to control the space around it.

  Some theorists regard the retention of energy weapon batteries as wasteful, given the primacy of missile warfare. In the Alliance’s eyes, however, it provides a degree of security in the admittedly unlikely event of an enemy attaining energy-range in an “ambush” scenario, as well as providing at least limited ship-to-ship combat capability once the SD(P)’s ammunition has been exhausted. In addition, it is seen as providing a highly useful anti-infrastructure and space-to-ground capability. Expenditures of missiles against infrastructure targets are wasteful, less precise, and carry more risk of collateral damage than energy weapon fire. Additionally, the frequency and power of a graser beam give it substantial through-atmosphere capability against ground targets once a ship controls the high orbitals. Kinetic strike weapons are, of course, preferred because high-power space-to-ground beams require direct line of sight to the target. The ability to select the yield of a graser strike, however, has proven useful.

  Harrington-class pod superdreadnought

  Mass: 8,629,250 tons

  Dimensions: 1387 × 201 × 187 m

  Acceleration: 498.5 G (4.889 kps²)

  80% Accel: 398.8 G (3.911 kps²)

  Broadside: 32M, 22G, 54CM, 52PD

  Fore: 10M, 8G, 18CM, 22PD

  Aft: 6MP, 6G, 18CM, 22PD

  Pods: 492 Mk11/798 Mk17

  Number Built: 104

  Service Life: 1913–present

  The Harrington class is the Grayson counterpart of the RMN’s Medusa class. In addition to a huge increase in offensive firepower, it is far more automated than pre-pod superdreadnoughts, requiring smaller crews. The chassis and pod rails are identical to those of the Medusa class, but the broadside and chase armament reflect the GSN preference. While the RMN still includes a mix of lasers and grasers, the GSN accepts fewer, but more powerful, grasers and more missile launchers. This power actually improves the utility of the broadside batteries in their secondary space-to-ground role, in addition to the anti-shipping role. The benefits of this arrangement were not lost on the RMN, which subsequently adopted it for its follow-on Invictus-class pod-layers.

  As with LAC carriers, the professional difference of opinion between Manticoran and Grayson designers is largely limited to offensive armament, with the defensive armament of the Harrington class being identical to the Medusa’s.

  GNS Honor Harrington, the lead ship in this class, had the distinction of being the galaxy’s first warship designed from the keel out as a pod-layer, commissioned one year to the day after the reported death of Admiral Harrington. The GSN’s Office of Shipbuilding actually has a policy forbidding the naming of ships after living persons, which produced some consternation after Harrington’s return from Cerberus. An official exception was adopted and the class retained the name, much to the her reported embarrassment.

  During the interwar years, while the Janacek Admiralty was rapidly cutting back on the RMN’s own SD(P) construction, the GSN was accelerating its program, a fact that proved prescient after the Haven sneak attack when the Alliance’s “junior” member had more of these ships in service than Manticore.

  Harrington II-class pod superdreadnought

  Mass: 8,779,250 tons

  Dimensions: 1395 × 202 × 188 m

  Acceleration: 561.9 G (5.511 kps²)

  80% Accel: 449.5 G (4.408 kps²)

  Broadside: 24M, 24G, 64CM, 62PD

  Fore: 12M, 6G, 16CM, 24PD

  Aft: 6MP, 6G, 16CM, 24PD

  Pods: 984 Mk17

  Number Built: 61+

  Service Life: 1919–present

  This design is similar to the Invictus class and, like the Invictus, it carries a Keyhole II platform and can launch Apollo missiles. Unlike the Invictus class, however, this design sacrifices some pod-core volume in order to retain internal missile tubes on the broadside. The RMN built the Invictus with only beam mounts and no integral missile launchers at all, but the GSN was concerned by the potential for catastrophic loss of combat capability if a single attacking missile successfully completed a stern-aspect attack that breached and crippled the pod core. Internal armored doors in the pod core were considered but were found to slow down pod deployment, consume mass, and complicate the arrangement of engineering systems in the after taper to an unacceptable degree. Hence, the GSN gave the second flight Harringtons internal tubes and modest ammunition storage for them.

  The Grayson Army

  The Grayson Army can trace its roots back to 1337 PD, the date young Benjamin Mayhew rallied the shattered remnants of the other Steadholders’ Guards in Mackenzie Steading and forged them into the army that defeated the Faithful. When the Constitution was ratified after the war was over, those units formed the core of the Grayson Army, operating under the direct command of the Protector.

  Prior to the fourteenth century, each Steadholder’s Guard had owed personal and direct allegiance to its own Steadholder, answering to no higher authority and hence representing a perpetual and serious check to any Protector’s power. Benjamin’s creation of a unified Grayson Army was thus also intended as part of a comprehensive package of reductions in the Steadholders’ collective power vis-à-vis the Sword. The next reduction in their power was to limit a Steadholder to a maximum of fifty personal armsmen, referred to as the Steadholder’s Own. The older Steadholders’ Guards continued to exist, at least in theory, but now consisted of those fifty armsmen plus all members of the Steading’s police and emergency services and included no regular military units at all. The Steadholder’s Own, despite its small size, remains extraordinarily powerful, as its members are exempt from the legal
consequences of any act performed at their Steadholder’s order; the other members of the Steadholder’s Guard, however, are not. In addition, all member of the Steadholder’s Guard other than the Steadholder’s Own hold regular commissions or enlisted ranks in the Grayson Army as well, allowing the Protector to summon all of them to active Army service in the event of a conflict.

  In addition, while a Steadholder remains in direct command of any other Army units based in his Steading, by longstanding policy the Army has made an effort to rotate units, and avoid situations where the majority of personnel in a given Army unit come from the Steading in which the unit is based. This assures that, even with the possible defection of the Steadholder’s Guard, the Protector will still be able to take control of the garrisoned troops. In addition, the oaths of all members of the Grayson Army and Navy are directly to the Protector, whose military authority is supreme and overrides that of any Steadholder. Thus Steadholders act as the Protector’s deputies and their orders may be countermanded by him at any time.

  The primary mission of the Grayson Army has always been planetary defense, with secondary focus on the traditional roles of emergency services, disaster relief and occasional police duties. Prior to the Manticoran Alliance, few Army units served aboard regular Navy ships, though some specialized units were trained for boarding actions and were carried on specialized transports.