House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (40 page)

Series 282 light attack craft

Mass: 17,750 tons

Dimensions: 121 × 20 × 19 m

Acceleration: 573.2 G (5.621 kps²)

80% Accel: 458.6 G (4.497 kps²)

Broadside: 12MB, 1L, 1CM, 3PD

Chase: 1L, 2PD

Service Life: 1904–1918

The
Series 282
light attack craft was never given a formal class name because it was a prototype LAC, designed by the Weapon Development Board for the Trojan Horse program which saw extremely limited operational service.

While the
Highlander
class was a typical LAC design, built to very similar standards as a conventional warship, the
Series 282
took advantage of advances in both equipment miniaturization and automation to greatly decrease the volume necessary for critical systems. The result was a flattened hull that was slightly smaller than the
Highlander
, despite being half again the tonnage. The small size of the
Series 282
, along with the fact that its “on-paper” offensive capabilities were nearly identical to those of the old design, was cited numerous times by the program’s many critics.

These critics uniformly failed to recognize the qualitative improvements behind the figures. The
282s
carried only twelve cell-launched missiles, but both the missiles and launch cells were far in advance of anything the
Highlander
mounted. Beam mounts were also more powerful, and the addition of a counter-missile launcher in each broadside more than doubled their survivability, as well as allowing them to perform an area defense mission in protection of their launch platform. Perhaps most notably, the
Series 282
was the first LAC to mount an impeller ring powerful enough to accelerate it to the limits of its inertial compensator. This class was the first to serve as testbeds for the early second generation compensator, raising its maximum acceleration to just over 600 G.

Despite the type’s clear advantages, it was never able to overcome the opposition of its critics. Regarded as suitable solely for local defense and burdened with the anti-LAC attitudes of a navy philosophically committed to projecting combat power (and vehemently opposed to attrition-based tactics), it was produced in very small numbers. The number built provided valuable experience in the new technologies and were used as test beds for many of the systems incorporated into the early
Shrike
-class prototypes, however, and the
282s
provided a critical component in the combat power of the
Trojan
-class Q-ships until their final retirement in 1918.

Shrike-class light attack craft

Mass: 20,250 tons

Dimensions: 71 × 20 × 20 m

Acceleration: 636 G (6.237 kps²)

80% Accel: 508.8 G (4.989 kps²)

Forward: 4M, 1G, 4CM, 6PD

Service Life: 1912–1917

The
Shrike
revolutionized the concept of the LAC in many ways. Far from a simple evolutionary outgrowth of the
Series 282
, the
Shrike
has virtually nothing in common with a conventional LAC. Although the
Shrike
carried over many of the
282’s
technology innovations in terms of system miniaturization and increased automation, it represented a complete conceptual break with previous LACs. Earlier examples of the type had been seen as miniature warships equipped with traditional weapon systems; the
Shrike
was visualized as a single-weapon system, optimized for the sole purpose of getting its powerful graser into decisive range.

Historically, LACs have suffered from limited endurance driven by bunker space for fusion reactor hydrogen, so, unlike any warship in a millennia, the
Shrike
class carries a highly efficient fission pile as primary power. Inspired by
Grayson
developments in fission reactor technology, the fission plant means that the
Shrike’s
cruise endurance is limited primarily by crew support consumables. Its combat endurance remains a factor of plasma feedstock for the gravitic subsystems (mostly graser and missile launch systems), but its ability to stay on station for months if necessary is a huge advantage in the system defense role. In addition, while a
Shrike
masses almost twice as much as a
Highlander
(in a hull less than half the size), its remotes and expert systems are some of the most advanced anywhere in space, simultaneously increasing lethality while decreasing crew requirements.

The
Shrike
class was also the first warship to be fitted with the new “beta-squared” impeller nodes, which by 1921 PD have become standard equipment on all new Manticoran construction. In addition to the mass savings the nodes provided, they also allowed the
Shrikes
to transmit FTL communications while under acceleration. The vastly more powerful impeller rings, second generation inertial compensators and enhanced electronic warfare and stealth systems made the
Shrikes
the fastest, stealthiest, and ton-for-ton most dangerous warships in space for their time.

Among all of the other advances seen on the
Shrike
class, perhaps the most notable was the introduction of the all-forward armament, combining the new off-bore launch technology with a bow wall and a powerful spinal-mounted graser for close range antiship strikes, all without relying on the traditional broadside armament carried by LACs up until this point.

For a program that was nearly cancelled by Navy before it could prove itself, the
Shrike
-class LACs performed far above expectations during the Second Battle of Hancock. Able to approach to far closer range of an enemy under stealth than anyone had predicted, their initial attacks were devastating. While their survivability against a prepared opponent was questionable, their ability to isolate and destroy cripples and the savage damage they could do to the enemy’s screen proved their value.

Despite exceeding all expectations, the original
Shrike
was still a transitional design, with many flaws, some major and some minor, appearing during the early simulations, wargames, and battle experience. While the heavy demand for LACs kept many of them in service longer than expected, the last of the original production run was replaced in 1917 by the
Shrike-B
.

Shrike-B-class light attack craft

Mass: 21,250 tons

Dimensions: 72 × 20 × 20 m

Acceleration: 635.5 G (6.232 kps²)

80% Accel: 508.4 G (4.986 kps²)

Forward: 4M, 1G, 4CM, 6PD

Aft: 4CM, 6PD

Service Life: 1914–present

The
Shrike-B
class was a refinement of the original
Shrike
class, based on operational experience with the initial deployed prototypes. Almost before the first of what came to be known as the
Shrike-A
variant was commissioned, simulation data had begun to turn up weaknesses in the design. Its first trial by fire at Hancock provided all the evidence BuShips needed to finalize the new design. The aft hanger and cutter of the original
Shrike
were replaced by a duplicate set of counter-missile launchers and point defense facing aft, which provided much needed protection against the “up-the-kilt” fire which was responsible for the majority of the early losses. A small hanger was retained for deployment of the current generation of Ghost Rider reconnaissance drones or decoys.

Starting from 1915, all new construction added an external sternwall generator modeled on the one carried by the
Ferret
class. Like the
Ferret’s
generator, the power budget was tight enough to provide only enough power to run either the bow or sternwall but not both simultaneously.

Ferret-class light attack craft

Mass: 20,750 tons

Dimensions: 72 × 20 × 20 m

Acceleration: 635.8 G (6.235 kps²)

80% Accel: 508.6 G (4.988 kps²)

Forward: 4M, 4CM, 6PD

Aft: 4CM, 6PD

Service Life: 1914–present

The
Ferret
class was developed in parallel with
Shrike-B
as a screening unit, designed both to accompany squadrons of
Shrikes
on their strike missions and to thicken defenses for the wall of battle.

The
Ferret
is a pure missile-armed craft, with no antiship energy armament. The launch tubes remain in the same locations but the magazine is a far more traditional design, rather than the combination magazine and launch cell used in the
Shrikes
. The mass and volume freed up by the removal of the graser was enough to more than double the missile load of the
Shrikes
, thereby allowing the
Ferret
to carry dedicated electronic warfare (EW) drones as well as sophisticated decoys in addition to shipkillers. The counter-missile launchers remained similar to the
Shrike-B
, but their capacity was expanded as well, and the EW systems were upgraded still further. The addition of a dedicated sternwall generator marked the final difference between the
Ferret
and original
Shrike-B
classes, though the same power management limitations applied as on the
Shrike-B
refits.

Katana-class light attack craft

(for specification, see GSN
Katana
-class LAC)

Service Life: 1920–present

Shortly after the turnover at Admiralty House in 1920 PD, the RMN ordered several dozen squadrons of
Katanas
from the
Graysons
and put the design into Manticoran production, as well. Many of their frontline
Minotaur
and
Hydra
-class carriers are being refitted to carry a few squadrons of
Katanas
in addition to their regular complement of
Shrikes
and
Ferrets
.

DESTROYERS (DD)

From the earliest days of the Wormhole Junction and subsequent expansion of both the Navy and merchant fleet, the destroyer has been the workhorse of the Royal Manticoran Navy. The type itself remained almost unchanged in fundamental design for hundreds of years, but the roles it fills have been in a state of constant flux, especially over the course of King Roger’s buildup.

Destroyer missions generally fit into one of two major roles: screening the wall of battle and fulfilling independent missions such as commerce protection. The primary choice facing designers has always been how—or even whether—to balance these roles.

The destroyer first came into its own as a screening unit because it was an inexpensive platform that could provide tactical reconnaissance duties as well as deny the enemy those same opportunities. A hyper-capable unit was needed to search in nearby sub-bands when a fleet or convoy was in hyper transit. Traditional cruising formations also deployed destroyers and light cruisers far out to the flanks upon emergence into real space to expand the sensor baseline of the formation and provide an outer picket to detect and destroy enemy scouting forces. Once battle was joined, the lighter units of the screen fell into position behind and around the wall, lending their support to the area defense without putting their fragile hulls in the line of fire.

The evolution of small, high-endurance drones began to erode the destroyer’s operational reconnaissance roles, as these new drones were both faster and stealthier than any warship, in addition to being unmanned and therefore more expendable. The destroyer became a crewed node controlling formations of drones and the principle antiscouting platform, designed to localize and destroy recon drones as they approached the flanks of the formation. It still had a place as part of the wall’s missile defense, but remained fragile and limited in that role compared to heavy cruisers and battlecruisers. On the other side of the coin, the traditional roles of a destroyer as an independent cruising unit were being eroded slowly as the Navy built up its inventory of light cruisers, a type that had been traditionally underrepresented in the Manticoran order of battle. The new light cruisers were more powerful, better defended and had longer endurance than any destroyer in service, which made them far better suited to the roles of strategic reconnaissance picket forces, commerce protection, or commerce raiding. The advent of the advanced LAC in 1914 PD, followed by the evolution of LAC antimissile doctrine in the early 1920s, removed the destroyer’s last vestiges of utility as a screening unit. On a ton-for-ton basis, the new LACs were faster, better at localizing and killing recon drones, and far more effective in the missile defense role then destroyers had ever been.