Escort

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Escorts are vessels intended to protect and assist larger vessels.

  • They are capable of independent action, but are usually assigned to support Battleships and Cruisers.

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Starship:

Description (Specifications)

Small starships of up to 20,000 tons intended to be light support craft for larger ships, primarily cruisers. Escorts are also widely used for convoy protection and commerce raiding roles.

Strategy & Doctrine (Operations)

The mainstay of the escort fleet is the ED series. These escort destroyers are typical of Imperial needs. The ED-13, derived from the ED-12, was relatively unsuccessful, and the naval architects returned to the ED-12 for inspiration for the later ED-14. The EF-12 served as the design basis for two divergent ship types: the escort fleet (and later escort strike designs) and the escort missile EM-13/-15.

Lightcraft Hierarchy

  1. Smallcraft
  2. Corvette
  3. Close Escort
  4. Frigate
  5. Escort
  6. Destroyer

Supraclass Roles

Escorts typically serve the following roles:

Supraclass Archtypes

Close escorts (CE) are very small starships intended for anti-piracy operations in organised squadrons. An example is the Gazelle class Close Escort.

Destroyer escorts (DE) are the first type capable of accompanying a regular Imperial fleet. They are also used for convoy protection, orbital patrols, police operations, garrison duties, and even limited strike missions. An example is the Chrysanthenum class Destroyer Escort.

Fleet escorts (FE) are the largest of the escorts. They are primarily designed to accompany Imperial fleets. However, some classes have often been sent on independent missions - gunboat diplomacy, showing the flag, orbital support of ground operations, transport of diplomats or refugees, fleet courier operations, and even flagship duty for some smaller squadrons. An example is the P. F. Sloan class Fleet Escort.

These are relatively low displacement vessels (1-10,000tons) designed to support larger squadrons of ships. They are typically deployed for support and play a defensive role for the formation. The usually have the jump and maneuver performance to keep pace with the capital ships with which they are assigned. They might be tasked with protecting fleet refueling, assault or carrier operations from enemy strike elements. They are noted as necessary but not necessarily glamorous fleet assignments for officers. [1]

Supraclass Archtypes for Escorts
Type Remarks
Escort Escort is an often used term for any ships whose primary focus is on providing escort duty to either military or civilian vessels. These ship range in the 200 - 5,000 ton category. The classification of "Escort" is usually reserved for larger vessels of this class and is often commingled with that of "Fleet Escort", but they lack the ability to support longer term deployments of the later type.
Missile Escort Escorts of any size whose primary weapon load is missiles. These are not common vessels and they are usually pair up with other types of escort vessels. When that is the situation, they can add an unsuspecting punch to an unwary opponent.
Strike Escort Strike escorts share similar characteristics of other ships of the "Strike" designation. They tend to be larger vessels to support an enhanced jump and maneuver capability, but nevertheless still sacrifice weapon loads and armor to achieve those capabilities. They are not a common ship type and are usually deployed with strike fleets. These are one of the smallest vessels carrying a "Strike" designation.
Escort Corvette Escort Corvettes are at the other end of the spectrum from "Fleet Escorts" and only range about 200 - 500 tons. They do not have much in the way of weapons, armor, or crew, but they are usually enough of a deterrent to most pirates, especially smaller ones, that they do fill a valued role in convoy duty.
Close Escort Close escorts tend to be one of the smallest class of escort vessel and are primarily found in the 200 - 500 ton range. They are considered to have low endurance and are tend to be cramped, uncomfortable vessels with small crews. Although they are jump capable, they can conserve their resources by clamping to unoccupied hardpoints on other vessels when not in jump space. This feature is source of their designation.

Originally, the close escort was designed and produced by the Imperium for fleet operations. The small, fast close escorts were committed as the flank screens for cruisers or small fleet task forces. Their speed and size also made them ideal for naval courier and personnel transfer duties. But ultimately, they found their true niche. Many close escorts have been assigned to specific star systems or groups of systems for commerce protection.

Close escorts may be encountered in nearly any star system, including in amber and red coded zones, protecting local merchant traffic. Because of this duty, they may be expected to stop much of the local traffic for inspection of cargo and to determine the correctness of ship's papers. Close escorts may also be encountered in nearly any star system in convoy with merchant ships or on naval operations in a task force with larger naval ships.

Fleet Escort Fleet escorts are small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, usually in the 1,000 - 5,000 tonnage range. The main difference between fleet escorts and others of the type of vessel is that they tend to be larger and be equipped with fuel scoops and purification plants. They have the jump and maneuver performance to keep pace with the capital ships with which they are assigned. The goal for these vessels is to be able to support fleet deployments and pose the least burdens on fleet supply capabilities. Typical missions include protecting fleet refueling, assault or carrier operations from enemy strike elements. They are noted as necessary but not necessarily glamorous fleet assignments for officers.
Corvette Corvettes are the smallest class of escort usually massing about 200 tons. Although they do possess jump capability they are more often used as an in system defense asset. Their jump capability gives them a little more flexibility then SDBs and some systems use them as armed couriers.

History & Background (Dossier)

No information yet available.

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Patrol Ship:

  1. Type T class Patrol Ship
    1. Lurushaar Kilaalum class Corvette
    2. Salient class Patrol Frigate
    3. Sang-O class Patrol Ship
    4. She Zhenɡ Zhe class Patrol Boat
    5. Shivva class Patrol Frigate
    6. Trinity class Patrol Ship
    7. Xadis class Patrol Ship
    8. Yugo class Patrol Ship
  1. Type T class Patrol Cruiser AKA Type TP class Patrol Cruiser
    1. Barekdoldin class Patrol Cruiser
    2. Dyaus class Patrol Cruiser
    3. Jaghara class Patrol Cruiser
    4. Kharsis class Patrol Cruiser
    5. Rudra class Patrol Cruiser
    6. TC17 Deckert class Patrol Cruiser
    7. Vayu class Patrol Cruiser

Ship Summary List

14 Representative Escort (E) Classes
Class Mission Code TL Tons Jump G Origin Canon Quick ship profile
Class Mission Code TL Tons Jump G Origin Canon Quick ship profile
Biter class Close Escort EL 11 500 2 2 Sword Worlds Confederation EL-ES22
Cerberus class Gunboat EB 12 500 3 5 Charted Space No HT-S553
Chaiik class Frigate EF 11 800 2 6 Sath Alliance No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
Hotspur class Sloop of War EH 12 2,000 2 5 Unity of Sed No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
KE6c Plague class Brigantine EB 12 600 3 4 Korsumug Empire EB-6P43
Leedos class Frigate EF 11 1,200 2 6 Yimin Jiti No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. FG-MS62
Musuna class Frigate EF 11 2,000 2 2 High Senate No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
Phoebe class Armored Escort EB 12 600 3 4 Charted Space No EB-6P43
Sii'kha class Escort Corvette ECE 11 400 2 6 Sath Alliance No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
Sirocco Converge class Attack Boat E 9 3,000 0 6 Uffan Strategic Space Forces No information yet available.
Sirocco Converge class Attack Boat E 9 3,000 0 6 Uffan Strategic Space Forces No information yet available.
Taranil class Patrol Frigate EF 10 1,600 1 1 Maujen Defense Bureau No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
Turku class Light Escort EL 12 400 3 5 The Reach No. Unpublished, non-canon fan design. TBD
Yarostnaya Ataka class Combat Sloop E 10 200 1 5 Maujen Defense Bureau TBD


Image Repository

No information yet available.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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  1. ↑ Information provided to the library by Ronald Kline, Jr.
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