Difference between revisions of "Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy"
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[[Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy]]: This is a list of the classes of ships currently employed by the [[Royal Caledonian Navy]]. | [[Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy]]: This is a list of the classes of ships currently employed by the [[Royal Caledonian Navy]]. | ||
| − | * | + | * It is a very large local Navy located in [[Reaver's Deep Sector]] with nearly 12,000 vessels, from battleships to militarized free traders, serve in the fleet. |
[[File: Technical Data.jpg|right]] | [[File: Technical Data.jpg|right]] | ||
Revision as of 11:45, 15 August 2019
Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy: This is a list of the classes of ships currently employed by the Royal Caledonian Navy.
- It is a very large local Navy located in Reaver's Deep Sector with nearly 12,000 vessels, from battleships to militarized free traders, serve in the fleet.
Library Data Referral Tree
Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Starship:
- Advanced Ship Classifications
- Ship Mission Code / Supraclass
- Ship Type Code / Superclass
- Ship Class Code / Class
- Model (TL)
- Bloc (Lot)
- Astronomical Unit (AU)
- FTL
- Light Speed (c)
- Light-week (lw)
- Light-year (ly)
- NAFAL (STL)
- Parsec (pc)
Description (Specifications)
The major classes are listed, and described at a high level, below.
Line Combatants (Primary - Capital)
Battleships
Caledonian battleships are named after historical ruling monarchs, legendary leaders of the nobility, and notable regents. Name ships of classes are always Princes. The latest - the Stuart IV and John III classes, based at the Class A startports - verge on dreadnaught size, but are much more agile. Older designs - the Roger III, Ian II and Morris I classes - are smaller, but still stack up well against designs from Caledon's neighbors in the Imperium and the Islaiat, at comparable tech levels.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Prince Stuart IV class Battleship | - 320,000 tons. Follow-on to John III. 16 in service, 8 building, 20+ planned to replace Morris I and Ian II classes. |
| * Prince John III class Battleship | - 320,000 tons. 40 in service. |
| * Prince Roger III class Battleship | - 240,000 tons. Improved Ian II class. 24 in service. |
| * Prince Ian II class Battleship | - 240,000 tons. Improved Morris I class. 32 in service. |
| * Prince Morris I class Battleship | - 240,000 tons. 24 in service. |
| * Prince Colin III class Battleship | - 160,000 tons. The last remaining TL11 battleships. 16 remain in service, tasked with escorting and providing fire support for the Marine Landing forces. Due to be retired in coming decade. 16 have been scrapped. |
Carriers
Caledonian carriers are named after desirable or ominous attribute adjectives. They tend to be heavily armored.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Indomitable class Fleet Carrier | - 160,000 tons. Improved Victorious class. 50 in service. Carry "over 100" 80 ton heavy fighters. |
| * Victorious class Fleet Carrier | - 160,000 tons. 18 in service. Carry 120 80 ton heavy fighters. |
| * Collossal class Light Carrier | - 36,000 tons. 52 in service. Designed to escort convoys, provide air support for landings and system defense forces, provide screens for Forward Operating Bases, and serve as platforms for flight training. Carry 24 80-ton heavy fighters, over 90 20-ton light fighters, or some combination of the two. |
Escort Combatants (Secondary)
Frigates
A "Frigate" in Caledonian service is the equivalent of a "Cruiser" in Imperial parlance.
Heavy Frigates
Heavy Frigates primarily serve as screens, scouts and covering forces for Strike Task Forces. Command of a Heavy Frigate is usually seen as a make-or-break steppingstone to command of one of the big battleships. Heavy frigates are named after counties on the various planets.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Antrim class Heavy Frigate | - 42,000 tons. 88 in service, 24 building or planned. |
| * Sunderland class Heavy Frigate | - 40,000 tons. 108 in service. |
| * Forfar class Heavy Frigate | - 40,000 tons. 72 in service. |
| * Scapa class Heavy Frigate | - 50,000 tons. TL 11 ships. 4 in service as training cruisers. 8 in reserve. 14 sold, 70 scrapped. |
Light Frigates
Light Frigates are largely patrol, scouting and commerce protection vessels. They spend a lot of time in harm's way even in peacetime. As such, they are a great place for a young officer to make a name for him or herself.
As a result, posting to a light frigate on frontier patrol duty is highly prized by young officers - and such postings are often used to groom young captains and First Lieutenants who are intended for bigger and better things. Light Frigates are named after Cities.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Dunfermline class Light Frigate | 22,000 tons. 64 in service, 32 under construction or planned. |
| * Edinburgh class Light Frigate | 20,000 tons. Improved "Montrose" design. 96 in service. |
| * Montrose class Light Frigate | 20,000 tons. 64 in service. |
| * Kilbride class Light Frigate | 20,000 tons. Refits upgraded class from TL-11 to TL-12. 12 in service. |
Destroyers
Caledonian destroyers are named posthumously after Caledonian naval and Marine heroes, and historical Admirals and other prominent officers.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * McKenzie class Destroyer | - 5,200 tons. 160 in service. 40 building or planned. |
| * Hall class Destroyer | - 5,000 tons. 160 in service. Improved "Coleridge" design. |
| * Coleridge class Destroyer | - 5,000 tons. Improved "Rajivs". 160 in service. |
| * Rajiv class Destroyer | - 5,000 tons. 160 in service. |
| * Herrick class Destroyer | - 4,500 tons. 132 in service. |
| * McClaren class Destroyer | - 24 of these obsolescent 3,000 ton TL11 class ships serve as escorts to the Marine Landing force, and are due to be replaced soon. |
Sloops
"Sloop" is the Caledonian term for a light escort ship. It's analogous to a Patrol Frigate, Escort Cruiser or Escort in other navies. They are usually built to TL11 standards (although often refitted with TL12 armament); they are slower than most warships, but more heavily armed than most buccaneer ships. They also feature high endurance; they are designed to remain on station in a zone for eight or more weeks, patrolling for pirates, Reavers or other bandits.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Castle class Sloop | - 1,280 tons. Improved "Flower" class. 630 in service. |
| * Flower class Sloop | - 1,200 tons. 720 in service. |
| * River class Sloop | - 1,000 tons. 212 in service. |
| * Predator class Sloop | - 1,200 tons. 360 in service. Unrefitted from TL11, still on front-line service. Hundreds sold to other navies, private hands. |
System Defense Ships
These non-jump-capable ships serve as local defense vessels for the Principality's various constituent systems.
Monitors
These 50,000-60,000 ton ships are essentially non-jumping battleships, designed for close-in defense of the various systems.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| MacHeany class Monitor | These 50,000 TL-12 monitors are named after local military heroes and statesmen. A total of 132 serve. |
| Harris class Monitor | At 60,000 tons, 132 of these TL-11 ships still serve. |
Corvettes (SD)
These 1,200 ton vessels are non-jump-capable intra-system escorts and screening ships.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * K1074 class Heavy System Defense Boat | 528 of these 1,200-ton TL-12 vessels serve intra-system escort, screening, policing and rescue duties, as well as their primary system-defense role. A total of around 1,000 are planned. |
| * K282 class Heavy System Defense Boat | 732 of these TL-11 are still very much in service. At 1,200 tons, they are obsolescent, and mostly serve in second-line roles Many have been partially refitted to TL12; others are being retired. |
| * K56 class System Defense Boat | Of the 226 of these 300-ton TL-10 vessels built, a bare few serve as training vessels. Dozens of others have been sold to private buyers, while dozens more have been scrapped. |
Fighters
Caledonian "fighter" doctrine calls for heavy fighters carrying the most capable possible computers in the weight allowed.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| Fairbairn Buccaneer class Fighter | A TL-12 fighter with a crew of 2 (pilot, weapons officer), the 80-ton Buccaneer is the standard fighter of the Caledonian Fleet's heavy carriers. |
| Bell-Arkwright Scimitar class Light Fighter | The Scimitar is a 20-ton light fighter with a crew of 1, largely found on planetside and asteroid bases, but also found on some light carriers. |
Military Auxiliary (Tertiary)
Fleet Replenishment Vessels
Fleet Replenishment Ships carry supplies - and above all fuel - to units operating away from fixed fleet bases. Their primary purpose is keeping squadrons supplied with food, consumables, and power plant fuel.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Mountain class Replenishment Ship (AMA) |
- 206 of these 90,000 ton ships accompany units of the fleet in the field. A group of four AOR-B ships carry enough power plant (not jump) fuel and consumables - everything from food to sandcaster sand - to support a battle squadron on station away from base for a month. Groups of four will rotate between the squadron and a base (or the Forward Supply Area - see below) to keep a steady stream of fuel and supplies going to the fleet. These vessels have self-defense armament. |
| * Hummock class Replenishment Ship (AML) |
- These smaller 5,000 ton replenishment ships provide fuel and logistic support to smaller squadrons and "FOBs". 151 in service. |
Fleet Auxiliaries
Fleet Tankers
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Duke class Jump Tanker (AFA) |
A class of Strategic Tanker . There are 542 of these 75,000 ton tankers, and they have one purpose; provide battle squadrons enough fuel to make a big jump. When a large squadron needs to operate away from a base, groups of these enormous tankers relay from bases, gas giants (where AX-H refinery ships will be stationed) or forward supply bases to provide the massive amounts of fuel needed. 4-8 of these vessels contain enough fuel to allow an entire battle squadron to jump 2 zones. |
| * Regent class Station Tanker (AFA-Stn) |
A Station Tanker is basically a semi-mobile fuel dump. Equipped with J1 and M1 drives, the Station Tanker is intended to hold a huge supply of fuel in place for other ships - AORs and AO-JBs - to haul to other places. They are found at major starports, FOBs, and the Fleet Train, where they serve as an immense mobile fuel dump. Station tankers have limited refinery capacity of their own, but groups usually travel with one or more AX-H or AX-L class refinery ships and AU-M fuel lighters. 274 of the 80,00 tons vessels in service. |
| * Baron class Transport Tanker (AF) |
In wartime, these ships haul fuel from the bases or gas giants to the FOBs, or to the Station Tankers of the Forward Supply Area. 240 of the 60,000 tone vessels are in service. |
General Auxiliaries
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Modular Heavy class Fleet Auxiliary (AXH) |
- These are modular ships - essentially "spines" with jump drives, to which pre-fabricated or custom modules can be attached. With the proper modules, these auxiliaries serve in a variety of supporting roles - repair, small-craft depot, ammunition storage, refinery, accomodation/barracks and hospital ships, transports, stores ships and many, many others. 208 of these 20,000 ton auxiliaries serve in a variety of support roles. |
| * Modular Light class Fleet Auxiliary (AXL) |
- Similar to the AX-H, but much smaller. 441 of these 2,000 modular auxiliaries serve in a dizzying variety of capacities. |
Minor Support Ships
These ships - both commissioned naval ships and civilian reserve vessels called back into service - serve myriad utility uses; personnel transports, cargo-haulers, ambulances, and all the other slogging, unglamorous jobs a big fleet needs to have done.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Medium Utility Vessel (AU) | - A militarized Far Trader, in both TL11 and TL12 varieties. Nearly 1,800 currently serve in the fleet. |
| * Small Utility Vessel (AUL) | - A militarized 200 ton free trader. Almost 2,600 currently serve the fleet. |
Scout, Communications and Surveillance Vessels
Thousands of these small ships serve as frontier scouts, as well as fleet and system dispatch boats providing communications between fleets and headquarters.
Dispatch Boats
The Navy owns roughtly 600 "dispatch boats". These are the equivalent of Scouts (indeed, many of them are Fairmile Model G/C vessels, close cousins of the Scouts definitive Fairmile G/R scout platform). They provide the communications between fleet bases, stations and units in the field.
Key designs include:
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Fairmile Model G class Scout | Using the G/C courier/communications variety. 200 tons, 365 serve as dispatch boats. |
| * Starsream Model 226 class Courier | Another commonly-found dispatch boat, built to the same specification as the Fairmile boat. 180 in service. |
| * Midlothian A5 class Dispatch | A 200 ton dispatch boat from the Midlothian Yards. 55 in service. |
System Surveillance Ships
The Principality maintans an immense network of surveillance ships to provide early warning of incursions or pirate activity. This network covers every non-system zone (hex) within the Principality, and every zone within two parsecs of the Principality's formal border.
- The key to this surveillance is the fleet of roughly 500 or so surveillance platforms. They are equipped with J-1/M-1 drives - but their goal is not to maneuver, or fight for that matter. These ships - buffered asteroids ranging from 5,000-10,000 tons - are intended to be invisible, or to appear as space junk to all but the closest observation. They include hangar space for three Dispatch Boats, intended to carry word of any incursion or other news back to higher headquarters.
- Every non-system zone inside, and within two parsecs of, the Principality has a number of surveillance ships, on station for three-month rotations watching the area for incursions.
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| * Lake class Surveillance Vessel (QS) |
Built from buffered asteroids, no two of these ships look alike from the outside. On their surface, they appear to be nothing more than bare unadorned rocks; arrays of sensor antennae are concealed beneath the surface. Under the surface, a network of tunnels conceals command and control spaces, working and accomodation spaces, hangars for two dispatch boats (...carefully concealed under conformal hatches designed to look like surface features), and storage space to contain enough provisions to stay on station at least a year (although 90 days is a more typical tour of duty), as well as J-1 and M-1 drives. They have also by far the most capacious living quarters of any Caledonian warship - the better to facilitate the long tours of duty aboard. 512 of these TL-12 vessels currently serve. |
| * Bay class Surveillance Vessel (QS) |
60 of these TL-11 vessels still serve, all of them in internal sectors. |
Surveillance Tactics
Most surveillance "rocks" will keep one of their dispatch boats deployed and "silent" - radiating no signals, basically laying dormant, but with a pilot on watch and a jump to the nearest Caledonian naval station programmed, and constantly reprogrammed, into the computer. The dispatch boat will usually lie in wait within a half-day's impulse cruise from the rock.
- If the surveillance ship's sensors detect an incursion worth reporting, the "rock" sends a signal to the dispatch boat via LACOMM - laser communications, a hyper-directional communication mode - containing the number and nature of the incursion and the "Rock" commander's recommendations. The dispatch boat will then jump as quickly as possible; its distance from the surveillance vessel helps prevent the "rock" from being detected.
Marine Assault Ships
Assault Landing Ships
| Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy | |
|---|---|
| Ship Class | Remarks |
| LSM 12 class Assault Transport | 32 "Landing Ship, Marine" serve as the the backbone of the Marine landing forces. These 40,000 ton vessels carry a battalion of marines/troops in bunk berths and two more in low berths, and enough equipment and supplies to support them in action for two weeks. The LSM also carries an array of "assault boats" - armored re-entry vehicles to bring the troops planet side. |
History & Background (Dossier)
Traditionally, the navy has been one of the largest group of fleets for a polity that is non-major race and non-supra-polity.
Caledonian Design Doctrine Notes
Caledonian naval architects work under the following assumptions:
- Riders - Caledonian doctrine eschews "Battle Riders", noting that Rider fleets have only two options; absolute victory or complete destruction. Tactical retreat is extremely difficult with Riders - damage to the carrier, and the extreme difficulty of re-docking with a carrier while under fire, make what should be a tactical option (withdrawal) somewhere between risky and suicidal, involving at best a sacrifice of part of the Rider fleet to cover the docking and jumping. Caledonian officers are keenly aware that several of their major victories throughout history began as tactical retreats - and at least one crushing strategic victory was over an opponent's Rider fleet that couldn't escape when it needed to.
- Carriers and Battleships - While some navies, including the Imperium, have experimented with building hybrid battleship/carriers, combining heavy spinal armament with large fighter groups, Caledonian design philosophy has called for building specialized, optimized ships for each role. The belief is that a hybrid is both an overly-expensive carrier that risks taking too much damage and a battleship with a huge amount of structure that must be protected from the catastrophic damage risked on the battle line.
- Endurance - Caledonian Battleships and Carriers always allot 2% of their gross weight to cargo space, and sufficient power plant and maneuver fuel, to allow enough stores and expendables to support a month of (non-jump) operations without external support. Frigates allow 2-3%, to allow two months operations. Sloops and scouts allot 4%, which generally facilitates 2-3 months' unsupported patrolling in a sector. (The fleet of Surveillance asteroids is designed for even more endurance - while they normally work 90 day tours of duty, it's possible for a "spook rock" to spend a year on station without resupply, although it's only prescribed in extremis, and hasn't actually happened for non-experimental reasons.
- Decisive Escorts - Caledonian "sloops", or escorts, tend to be larger than other navies' vessels with similar missions. Part of it is the demand for higher on-station endurance; a larger vessel carries more supplies, and is more habitable for a crew that may in some cases spent 60-80 days on station. More importantly, the Navy noted the dismal record of single 400-600 ton escorts protecting small convoys; most Reaver and buccanneer ships are between 200-600 tons, which makes a one-on-one fight an even match - and given that they are able to pick the time and place of their attacks, they frequently assemble 2-3 vessels against a weak convoy, to overwhelm it. Thus, most Caledonian sloops are 1,200 tons - to deter small attacks, to give solid odds against larger ones, and to force Reavers and buccanneers to assemble forces so large that they sacrifice the stealth that keeps them alive.
References & Contributors (Sources)
|
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- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author: Mitchberg
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science