by David Weber
The Broadsword’s marine complement consists of a full battalion reinforced with a single assault company in addition to the heavy weapons company. With the newer Mk17 light assault shuttles, a Broadsword can drop its entire marine complement in a single wave. This class also carries a large number of containerized kinetic strike weapons, reconnaissance and communication satellites, planetary probes and other ground support equipment and has an extensive orbital command facility for coordination of Marine forces in the air, in orbital spaces, and on the ground. Additionally, the Broadsword is also equipped with hospital facilities comparable to those of a small station or forward base, making this class a welcome addition to any force.
Star Knight-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 305,250 tons
Dimensions: 523 × 63 × 53 m
Acceleration: 509.3 G (4.994 kps²)
80% Accel: 407.4 G (3.995 kps²)
Broadside: 12M, 6L, 3G, 8CM, 8PD
Chase: 3M, 1L, 5CM, 5PD
Number Built: 74
Service Life: 1893–present
The Star Knight is in all ways a revolutionary design, not simply for the Manticoran Navy but for the heavy cruiser type in general. This class was the first two-deck heavy cruiser in the service of any navy, though a careful disinformation campaign kept that fact from becoming obvious until well into its service life. The fourth and final design built on the Prince Consort hull, the Star Knight was designed to replace both the Prince Consort and Crusader classes. The design takes advantage of decades of research by the Weapons Development board in system miniaturization and it represents arguably the most notable achievement of BuShips in the nineteenth century. Its significantly increased armament, more powerful sidewall generators, heavier armor, better electronic warfare capabilities, and more numerous point defense systems make it at least thirty percent tougher than the Prince Consorts.
This improvement was due to the fact that the Star Knight was the first heavy cruiser designed from the keel out with the laser head threat in mind. The designers realized missile exchanges would begin to dominate, even among the lighter classes, and with half again as many missile tubes as a Prince Consort, the Star Knight could lay down an impressive volume of fire. While the number of beam mounts is equally impressive, the truth is that they are individually much lighter weapons than on some older classes, though the decisive edge in missile combat has blunted any criticism in that respect.
Despite this class’ exemplary performance compared to its contemporaries, combat experience has shown that insufficient volume was allocated to offensive systems. This lack was largely due to one of the most controversial design choices: installation of a third fusion reactor as opposed to the normal two found on most ships of this size. Only a single reactor is required to carry the ship’s combat load and the additional volume could have been used to mount a heavier broadside but, unable to find any way to mount ejectable GRAVMAK reactors and not entirely certain that their passive armor scheme could possibly protect the core hull from laser head strikes, the designers opted for increased power system redundancy.
Despite the exponential increase in lethality over the Prince Consort class, the RMN has come to consider the Star Knight a transitional design. Once wartime experience was factored in, the RMN begun to develop an even more powerful and revolutionary heavy cruiser class as its replacement.
Edward Saganami-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 393,000 tons
Dimensions: 569 × 69 × 57 m
Acceleration: 592.2 G (5.808 kps²)
80% Accel: 473.8 G (4.646 kps²)
Broadside: 14M, 5G, 10CM, 10PD
Chase: 3M, 2G, 6CM, 6PD
Number Built: 46
Service Life: 1908–present
The Edward Saganami-class heavy cruiser was designed to improve upon the Star Knight. As the war progressed, the design underwent several major revisions, and construction was delayed by almost three years as the Manticoran designers studied innovations the Graysons developed for their Alvarez class and other small combatants. When the design was finally completed, the Saganami class became the RMN’s first “all graser” ship since the Warrior. It mounted two additional missile launchers and fewer but more powerful grasers than originally planned, as well as major changes in crew structure using the new automation. Other improvements included significant electronics and systems upgrades, which greatly improved its passive defenses.
The lead ship, HMS Edward Saganami, bears little resemblance to the original design proposed in 1903 PD, and there are significant differences between all of the first flight ships. Indeed, in some ways, the Flight I ships may be considered a series of prototypes, as they were not all laid down simultaneously and the basic platform’s design remained under development and refinement throughout their construction period. Later flights settled down into a more stable pattern. The Flight II Saganamis all carried first-generation bow walls, making them the first RMN warships larger than a LAC to use the new technology.
Saganami-B-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 422,750 tons
Dimensions: 583 × 71 × 59 m
Acceleration: 730.8 G (7.167 kps²)
80% Accel: 584.7 G (5.734 kps²)
Broadside: 19M, 10G, 16CM, 18PD
Chase: 2M, 3G, 6CM, 8PD
Number Built: 84
Service Life: 1917–present
Though it was billed as a block upgrade to the Flight II Saganami, the Saganami-B class is a radical departure from the original design, and the difference in armament led to its redesignation upon commissioning of the first unit.
Less than ten percent larger than a Saganami, the Saganami-B has a modified hullform to accommodate a broadside over fifty percent larger than that of the older ship. Its broadside of nineteen missile launchers and ten grasers more than doubles the armament of some older heavy cruisers still in service and, with active defenses equally upgraded, the Saganami-B is more than a match for most contemporary battlecruisers. On the passive side, electronics have been upgraded yet again, and the bow wall is joined by an equally powerful stern wall. The second-generation missile launchers are capable of limited off-bore fire into adjacent arcs, though the chase telemetry arrays limit them to realtime control of less than half the total salvo they could launch.
For all its improvements, the Saganami-B is another transitional design. It served as a testbed for new technologies and refinements of old technologies, all of which have led to the Saganami-C class.
Saganami-C-class heavy cruiser
Mass: 483,000 tons
Dimensions: 610 × 74 × 62 m
Acceleration: 726.2 G (7.121 kps²)
80% Accel: 580.9 G (5.697 kps²)
Broadside: 20M, 8G, 20CM, 24PD
Chase: 3L, 2G, 8PD
Number Built: 149
Service Life: 1920–present
The Saganami-C class is one of the few new classes BuShips managed to get approved under the Janacek Admiralty, which had focused all construction on LACs for system defense and lighter classes for strategic roles. Six of these were approved as an initial design study, although the first did not commission until after the war resumed.
The Saganami-C is uncompromisingly optimized for missile combat, with a total of forty missile launchers for the new Mk16 DDM. The third-generation launchers and missile allow them to fire off-bore up to 180 degrees, launching a forty-missile salvo into any firing arc, and telemetry arrays have also been upgraded, allowing full control of up to three “stacked broadsides” in any aspect not blocked by the wedge. Additional control channels in the broadsides allow the class to handle large missile pod loads in addition to the shipboard launchers. Its energy armament was reduced to only eight grasers, but each is significantly more powerful than those carried by the Saganami-B, with an output yield closer to the weapons some navies mount on smaller capital ships, and improved fire control modeling increases hit probability per mount significantly. Moreover, simulations indicate the larger beam d
iameters and larger plasma throughput of the new battery will actually increase the probability of kill against other heavy cruisers. It remains to be seen if combat experience will bear this out but early reports are promising.
Another advantage of the Saganami-C design are its two-phase bow and stern wall generators. A traditional endwall closes off the wedge at one end or another, reducing acceleration to zero for as long as it is active, but the two-phase generators carried by the Saganami-C allow the ship to produce what the RMN refers to as a “buckler.” This is a smaller endwall projected across the throat or kilt but not directly connected to the wedge. Its arc of coverage is not as wide as a traditional endwall and leaves vulnerable gaps in some engagement geometries, but the ship retains the ability to accelerate and maneuver when it is active.
Combat experience has been limited to date but early reports have been extremely positive. These are the most modern, powerful heavy cruisers available to any navy, and, between the salvo size they can control and the range advantage granted by the Mk16 DDM, they could easily destroy at least twice their tonnage in older battlecruisers in a stand-up fight.
BATTLECRUISERS (BC)
For almost as long as there has been a Manticoran Navy, battlecruisers have been its primary tools for force projection. Even after the first battleship squadrons were built for system defense following the discovery of the Junction, battlecruisers were the main striking force of the Navy and remained so until the first superdreadnoughts began to be commissioned.
A battlecruiser is designed to outfight anything it can catch, and outrun anything that outguns it. Traditionally, BuShips’ designers believed that any battlecruiser’s life expectancy against ships of the wall would be brief and that battlecruiser-versus-battlecruiser actions would be short and sharp. As a result, BuShips believed it was better to throw more (and better) missiles faster and to incorporate an energy armament heavy enough to make the initial salvo of a beam action decisive. The traditional RMN battlecruiser therefore mounts cruiser-grade missile tubes in larger numbers (and with deeper magazines) than a typical heavy cruiser on a hull which masses two to four times as much as the cruiser’s. In addition to a heavier weapons fit, that extra mass and volume also buy the BC a scaled-down version of a capital ship’s protective scheme, with tougher sidewalls and heavier armor than a cruiser.
Battlecruisers have many roles in the Royal Manticoran Navy. The battlecruiser is envisioned as the minimum platform capable of performing long-range, extended patrol and interdiction, destroying commerce raiders (not necessarily the same thing as convoy protection), and projecting force against anything “below the wall.” They are also useful for showing the flag, rear area security missions, and screening heavier ships and critical convoys. While the force balance and dynamics of warfare have caused certain roles to wax and wane over time, overall RMN battlecruiser doctrine has remained largely unchanged.
The Manticoran romance with the battlecruiser has taken on a different hue with the Nike and Agamemnon classes of recent years. As the balance of combat shifted, especially with the introduction of the missile pod for system defense and the reformed RHN wall of battle, these raids became more and more costly for the smaller ships. However, with the introduction of the Nike class in 1920 PD, the RMN apparently is moving back towards the traditional role for the type. It is a rather pointed commentary on the sheer destructiveness which missile combat has attained that the Navy feels that it requires a 2.5 million-ton platform to replace ships of less than one million tons put into service less than a decade ago.
Redoubtable-class battlecruiser
Mass: 784,750 tons
Dimensions: 686 × 87 × 78 m
Acceleration: 491.5 G (4.82 kps²)
80% Accel: 393.2 G (3.856 kps²)
Broadside: 18M, 8L, 6G, 9CM, 9PD
Chase: 6M, 1G, 6CM, 4PD
Number Built: 118
Service Life: 1786–1918
With over 125 years of service and four major deployed design revisions, the Redoubtable class is the longest serving battlecruiser class in the Royal Manticoran Navy. The Redoubtable’s birth dates back to the aftermath of the Ranier War and the Battle of Carson and the RMN’s shift from a predominantly system-defense force to one that could perform power projection missions. A major new shipbuilding effort was required, and over the next century, the RMN’s battlecruiser strength grew from a few dozen to over two hundred. The Redoubtable was the pinnacle of the Star Kingdom’s battlecruisers during that early period.
Designed for closing engagements against lighter opponents and peers, the design had extremely heavy chase armament for its time, as well as heavy face-mirrored armor over the hammerheads. Even today the Redoubtable’s antiquated (by current Manticoran standards) fire control systems have proven to be more than adequate against most Havenite opponents.
Nonetheless, the Redoubtables, while a solid and frequently updated design, were clearly showing their age towards the end of the First Havenite War. Maintenance and reliability had become recurring issues as components last manufactured a century ago were replaced with modern substitutes, and ships of this class were retired from frontline duties as rapidly as Reliants could be commissioned to replace them. The last were decommissioned or sold to Alliance members shortly before the war resumed.
Homer-class battlecruiser
Mass: 834,000 tons
Dimensions: 700 × 89 × 79 m
Acceleration: 490 G (4.805 kps²)
80% Accel: 392 G (3.844 kps²)
Broadside: 20M, 8L, 8G, 1GL, 4ET, 9CM, 9PD
Chase: 4M, 2G, 4CM, 6PD
Number Built: 86
Service Life: 1863–present
Like the Redoubtable, the Homer-class battlecruiser was built as something of a brawler, mounting an extensive energy broadside, augmented (in later flights) with a grav lance and an array of energy torpedoes for extremely close engagements. Like many Manticoran designs, the Homer’s passive protection relied on sidewalls in preference to thicker skin armor, on the theory that sidewalls could be upgraded more readily than hull armor as technology advanced.
Because of experience with Service Life Extension Program refits for earlier classes, the Homers were built for ease of upgrade. Paradoxically, this was one of the principle justifications for the delay in their prewar refits, as the RMN knew it could be done comparatively quickly. Until the start of the First Havenite War, updates to the electronics and fire control systems were repeatedly deferred in favor of funneling more resources into the Reliant-class building program. With the onset of hostilities, the Homers received defensive armament and compensator upgrades, to increase their ability to get in close, where their short-ranged armament could be used to greatest effect.
In operational service, the mixture of beams and missiles makes the Homer an unremarkable combatant outside of energy range, and only the pressing need for battlecruisers in the wake of the present resumption of hostilities has kept the class in service this long. All surviving units were pulled out of mothballs and quickly pressed into service in the wake of Operation Thunderbolt, even as building programs accelerated to build more modern units.
Reliant-class battlecruiser
Mass: 877,500 tons
Dimensions: 712 × 90 × 80 m
Acceleration: 488.7 G (4.792 kps²)
80% Accel: 390.9 G (3.834 kps²)
Broadside: 22M, 8L, 6G, 2ET, 10CM, 10PD
Chase: 4M, 1L, 2G, 6CM, 6PD
Number Built: 95
Service Life: 1896–present
The Reliant is only five percent larger than a Homer but is a far more capable platform. While perhaps not as revolutionary for battlecruisers as the Star Knight was for a heavy cruiser, they are still extremely capable warships and ideally suited to the fast, slashing tactics that the Royal Manticoran Navy has embraced for over four T-centuries. They are the first units below the wall fitted with fully integrated modern armor materials. While these materials offered improved laser/graser
absorption and far better secondary mechanical and thermal properties, they are difficult to nanoform, requiring specialized coded chemical catalyst gear and careful environmental control to emplace or replace.
Designed from the keel out as a squadron flagship, the Reliant class has three boat bays with reserved visitor space for up to four additional pinnaces. Early in the First Havenite War, the few Reliants in service were most often found leading squadrons of older Homers and Redoubtables. As the wartime construction programs accelerated, they rapidly began to replace those earlier classes in frontline service.
Reliant-class battlecruiser (Flights III-IV)
Mass: 934,250 tons
Dimensions: 727 × 92 × 82 m
Acceleration: 616 G (6.041 kps²)
80% Accel: 492.8 G (4.833 kps²)
Broadside: 24M, 4L, 6G, 18CM, 18PD
Chase: 4M, 2G, 6CM, 6PD
Number Built: 73
Service Life: 1915–present
The Reliant’s combination of acceleration and firepower has made it a flexible, multi-role platform, but the original design did not age as well as others as the war progressed. Later flights became testbeds for a number of new technologies and doctrinal changes, and the Flight III Reliants show a significant evolution of the design, incorporating many lessons learned from observations of the GSN’s Courvosier class.
While six percent more massive than the original Reliants, the incorporation of a third-generation inertial compensator has allowed them to make up any loss in acceleration, while their massively upgraded active defenses allow them to stand in the wall of battle far better than their predecessors. While they didn’t move to the “all graser” armament preferred by the GSN, their beam weapons are fewer in number but much more powerful than the earlier flights, and the additional two missile tubes give them a slightly heavier broadside.