Design Date: 2236 Laid Down: 2238 First Example Complete: 2241 Fleets in Service:
Originally designated a Cruiser by the USSF, a classification which was weak even then, these ships have since been designated Destroyers and make up the bulk of the USSF medium weight combatant force, along with 4 Fort Knox class Destroyers. The classification was assigned on the fuelled mass of these ships, while the authoritative Jensons has always used unfuelled mass and has rated these ships as Destroyers from the get go. The design is slightly unusual for today in that it uses a large 75MW MHD Turbine. This was quite common in the early years of space forces, but these ships were laid down as the French were starting to build fusion powered ships. Every watt can be used by the ships stutterwarp in an emergency, but only 1/3rd is normally available for the drive when tactical systems are powered up. This feature was debated a lot, as over MLv10 per ship could have been saved by installing a 25MW instead of 75MW drive. The Bunker Hills are not equipped with solar and are only expected to move the turbines up to full military power in a battle situation, or if used as couriers. Normally the Turbines are run at 5MW. The weapons systems and electronics have been substantially updated. A new network of 11 modern fire control computers has been installed and the lasers have been updated to the modern Hyde Dynamics EA-122 with enhanced fire control. Long ranged weapons have also been installed. The first 9
ships off the line were designed as pure gunships,
none of which remain in Defences
are layered. As an outer layer targets can be intercepted either by carried
fighters or missiles. This may well be a waste of resources however, and USSF
doctrine is to keep missiles and fighters in the offensive role. The next layer
is the ships guns, which can intercept missiles. Currently there is a debate
about replacing some of the laser turrets with Grapeshot launchers, or even Big
Clips for offensive use. The next layer is the ships screens, state of the art
50 years ago, but now very inefficient. Finally, unlike newer The
oldest
American Units 1st Light Division (Reserve) – “Ad Astra” The oldest unit in the USSF and one of only a few able to
trace its origins back to the USAF, and back to the American Legion of the
Twilight Era British Army. It still maintains a different set of traditions to
the rest of the USSF, some of which date back to the Twilight Era (this is
almost certainly the only unit to Toast the British Queen at dinner for
example). They are currently on active service in the Sol system. Orbat: USS King's Mountain (CQ +1) and
USS Yorktown (CQ +1) 3rd Light Division (Reserve) – “Rattlesnakes” The 3rd Division is currently in the process of
being broken up and Orbat: USS Lake Champlain and USS Trenton, both have already had much of their reservist crews
assigned to other hulls. 5th/ 8th Light Division (Reserve) –
“Wild Cards” The 5th/ 8th Light Division (Reserve)
was formed by the amalgamation of the 5th Light Division (Reserve)
and the 8th Light Division “Angry Angels”, and carries the
traditions of both (although the 5ths name). It is generally called “Five
Eight” in conversation. The 8th LD (R) was a high readiness reserve unit
from King, and was entirely made up of DNAMs. Being
high readiness, when the 2nd invasion broke out, the On arrival at Earth it was decided to assign the USS Oriskany to the American Exploration and Colonisation
Agency as an armed survey ship for the French Arm. The remaining USS Valley
Forge could hardly constitute a Division on its own. The 5th LD (R) had been in extremely poor state,
and had just made a trawl through the USMC reserves for suitably qualified
personnel to reinforce it, and had found that several new recruits were former
merchant spacers. They had been drafted into the USSF. It fell to Captain Ross, commanding the After 6 months training in Sol, the 5/8 deployed to Beowulf.
They did not take part in ENTENTE, but were present at the Battle of Queen
Alice’s Star. They were part of the American Battlegroup,
kept in reserve. They took part in the Battlegroups
flanking manoeuvre and were badly mauled along with the rest of the Battlegroup, the Cowpens being completely destroyed.
However, they were repaired and acted as armed troop transports for the
remainder of the war, transporting Marine Rifle companies around the French
Arm. Orbat: USS Saratoga (CQ +2), USS
Cowpens (Destroyed at the Battle of Queen Alice’s Star), USS Valley Forge (CQ
+2) 12th Light Division “John Wayne” The 12th is a regular unit assigned to garrison
and anti-piracy duties in the King system. The name comes from a great folk
hero soldier from the pre-Twilight days who seems to have fought in every
single American war. Orbat: USS Ticonderoga (CQ +2) and
Non-American Units 4th Division, Royal Australian Space Navy The RASN is divided into 4 squadrons, called “Divisions”,
although unlike other nations Divisions these are not homogeneous groupings
within squadrons but rather squadrons themselves. HMAS Reserve Like The Marcillio Dias was bought a short time before the 3rd Rio Plata war
broke out for home defence purposes. She was commissioned shortly after the
declaration of war and spent her entire active career in the vicinity of Earth.
She was decommissioned post-war and may no longer be spaceworthy. Azanian Space Defence Force The
Azanian Space Defence Force is rather small and it
was decided to purchase a 2nd
Combined The
Hirohito is assigned to the Tirane based 2nd Combined Fleet, a home defence
formation which has recently took over responsibility for the defence of Earth,
with the 1st Combined Fleet at Earth moving up the French Arm.
Performance Warp efficiency:
Power Plant: 75 MW MHD Turbine
Fuel: 11,250 tons (10.5 days full power,
22.5 weeks cruising at 5MW) Range: 7.7 light years Mass: 5,558 tons standard (16,798 tons with
fuel) Cargo Capacity: 4842 cubic meters Crew: 160 (16 Bridge, 15 TAC, 21
Engineering/ DC, 100 troops (normally only 10 embarked), 2 stewards, 6 medical); Passengers: none Comfort: 0; Emergency Power: 1 week Total Life Support: 160 for 180 days Cost: MLv143.019 without ordnance Ship Status Sheet Move: 4 Screens: 4 Radiated Signature: 5(6) Radial Reflected: 7 Lateral Reflected: 10 Target Computer: +2; Radial Profile: 0 Lateral Profile: +2 Armour: 4 Power Plant Hits: 200/40 Active: 15 Passive: 10 Other: Weapons 11 x1+1 lasers in jack turrets with UTES (1x 4567, 3x 1678, 1x 3456, 3x
1234, 1x 5678, 1x 2345, 1x 1238) Ordnance Load Either: 6 SIM-14 missiles in 2 packs and 2 HD-5 drones or 12 SIM-14 missiles in 4 packs Sensors and Electronics: Phased Active-15 Crew Hits: Damage Control: 15 plus spares Very little design change here. Only really the dropping
of 1 point of armour to make the hull mass right. |