Ship Designs

The Navy is divided into three branches, line, shipping and support, all of which have different requirements and doctrines, and so different design philosophies.

Line Branch

The line branch is prepared to fight serious black-sky engagements. The doctrine rests on the idea of concentration; the fleet which can apply the most force in the place it chooses is the fleet which wins. This leads to two key design points.

• All ships have thrust 6; fast ships can outmaneuver a slow enemy, allowing them to apply considerable force where the enemy is most vulnerable (this is also a bonus when facing SMs, and has benefits to strategic movement)
• Short-ranged but powerful weapons (2-batteries, pulse torpedoes) are used, as these maximise the firepower that can be applied, given that the fleet will the maneuvering edge

A secondary consideration is that naval units may have to operate far from home ports, as few of the Navy's missions are within or in the Commonwealth's borders. This leads to two more design points.

• Fighters are not used, as they tend to be destroyed very rapidly
• Ammunition-expending weapons (SMs, MTMs, SMPs) are not used, as they require a substantial logistics tail

Given that a fleet will have no fighter cover, it is imperative to have a defence against fighter and missile attacks. This leads to a final two design points.

• ADFC on all ships, to allow cooperative defence
• Escorts which actually do escort the primary ships, providing area defence and soaking off SM attacks

Holland BB

The Holland class battleships are the heart of the line branch and, indeed, the entire Navy. They are somewhat larger than is typical for ships designated as battleships, and, indeed, some would classify them as battledreadnoughts. They epitomise the philosophy of fast, hard-hitting ships, but remain reasonably balanced. Their key failing is their shortage of FireCons; three is a bare minimum for a ship this size, and with two primary weapon systems, it leaves them vulnerable to damage.

Van Amstel CA

The Van Amstel heavy cruisers are essentially cut-down versions of the Holland battleships; indeed, they are designed as 'pocket battleships', able to fight in the line of battle, but to be cheaper and more flexible than a full-blown battleship. Like the Hollands, their paucity of FireCons shows, and in addition, their point defence is weak.

Jan Van Toch CA

The Jan Van Toch heavy cruisers are an older generation of ships; a few remain in service, most having been replaced by Van Amstels. They are similar in philosophy to the Van Amstel, with the notable absence of a pulse torpedo; these ships were built before the decision to use torpedoes was taken.

De Ruyter CE

The De Ruyter escort cruisers are designed to be attached to the line of battle when it is engaging an enemy well-equipped with fighters or missiles. It sacrifices almost all anti-ship capability to become a highly effective defensive platform. The key weakness of the De Ruyter stems from the tension between the need to be an excellent defence platform and a useful general-purpose ship; if the meagre main battery (two class-1 beams) was dropped, along with its FireCon, an additional three PDS could be added, but this would leave the De Ruyters effectively unable to engage any enemy ships.

Tromp CE

The Tromp-class escort cruiser is an obsolete design, no longer used by the RDC. It was designed to fill the same niche as the De Ruyter, with virtually no anti-ship capability. The fatal flaw in the design was the inclusion of only a single ADFC, severely limiting the usefulness of its PDS array. Limitations in the design of the hull and data systems made it impractical to add an additional ADFC, so the class was closed after just a handful units had been bulit. All have since been scrapped or sold.

Shipping Branch

The shipping branch has a very different role to the line branch; its key task is escorting convoys through hostile space, but it is also responsible for all aspects of shipping security, from patrolling freeports to hunting down raiders (except where the raiders are particularly well equipped, when that task falls to the line branch). The raiders against whom the shipping branch is prepared to fight is either a pirate, travelling in a small vessel, typically a converted civilian craft, or a commerce raider from an enemy power, typically a ship of frigate or destroyer size.

Schiedam CL

The Schiedam light cruisers are the mainstay of the convoy escort fleet. They lack the high speed of the line ships, but compensate with a weapons fit ideal for their task.

Schelde FF

The Schelde frigates are a crucial part of the shipping branch; they are cheap enough to be deployed in a multitude of situations where even a token naval presence is an asset.

Support Branch

The support branch has two key kinds of ship; small, quick ships suited for a multitude of combat missions, and larger non-combatant suport ships.

The small ships (classified as corvettes) are a key part of the Navy; they are all based on a common highly modular hull design, and have been fitted out to play an enormous variety of roles. Given their diminutive size and short lives, they are colloquially known as granaatscherven, or shrapnel. They are frequently semi-robotic, allowing their crews to get out early in tight situations.

The larger ships are essentially variations on civilian craft, designed to carry supplies, fuel and other combat stores, as well as, in a few cases, marines.

Type 23 FLE

The Type 23 corvette is an escort; it is basically designed as a 'banzai jammer', to sacrificially protect larger, more valuable, ships from SM attack.

Type 24 FLS

The Type 24 corvette is a scout, equipped with powerful engines and sensors, allowing it to close with and observe targets well ahead of the main body of the fleet.

Type 25 FLJ

The Type 25 corvette is an electronic warfare craft, a jammer. It carries an ECM kit able to screen surrounding craft from prying sensors.

Type 26 FLT

The Type 26 corvette is a torpedo lancer, packing a powerful one-shot punch useful for stinging or finishing off large enemy ships, or for commerce raiding. Note that this class violates the general prohibition on one-shot weapons, but since this is essentially a disposable ship, in this case this is justified!

Type 27 FLA

The Type 27 corvette is a gunboat, designed for customs and police work, and as a general-purpose patrol craft.

Type 28 FLC

The Type 28 corvette is a courier, designed to transport important personnel, equipment and information.

Type 29 FLX

The Type 29 corvette is a stealth courier; it plays a similar role to the ordinary courier, but is geared towards transporting more sensitive cargoes.