Ersatz Warships
Ersatz Warships
At the very beginning of the war, the advanced base at Trumanat had a desperate need for warships and no way to build them. What they had was a group of Castles, a group of Auroras, and a small ability to repair and modify ships. Several or the Auroras were modified to serve as emergency-use-only warships.
The "Light Cruisers"
The first Aurora had all pods removed and all but the front two mounting rings disassembled. Then, while the removed materials were converted into bracing for the two remaining rings, four sets of Castle weapons were built and mounted on the rings. A set consisted of a power plant at one pod-mount, a plasma torpedo launcher at the next mount, and a particle beam turret on the other side.
The front ring received two sets opposite each other on the port and starboard sides. The 'aft' ring, which had been the second ring when the ship had six rings, received two sets on top and on the bottom. After trials showed that everything worked, the ship was commissioned as the 'light cruiser' CNS Apollo.
Two more Auroras were converted the same way becoming CNS Mercury and CNS Hermes.
The particle beam projectors were in turrets, while the plasma torpedo launchers were fixed. The two forward launchers were mounted to fire forward, while the two on the second ring were mounted to fire outwards. This meant that these ships could fire two torpedos and four plasma beams directly forward. If a target was to one side, the ship could roll as needed to fire the other torpedos, one at a time as they bore, as well as at least two particle beams in any direction at any time. The only weapons which could fire directly aft were the two particle beams on the second ring.
These three ships went into service as the CMC was developing their doctrine, equipment, and tactics. All three 'light cruisers' were modified to serve as company-level transports while the Marines tried different things on the Sa'arm on the ground at Tulak.
Note that while these ships were building at Trumanat, Earthat received the "Mercury" class of landing-capable freighters, so for some time the fleet had two "Mercury"s, two "Apollo"s, and two "Hermes"s. This caused a great amount of confusion over the years as veterans would 'clearly remember' being on one ship when it was nowhere near what was being discussed while its namesake was present.
- Apollo - Scrapped after the Battle of Tulakat
- Hermes - Scrapped after the Battle of Tulakat
- Mercury - Lost during an attempt to capture a live Sa'arm unit on Tulak
The "Heavy Cruisers"
Once Apollo had demonstrated that the concept was viable, an additional pair of Auroras went under the knife to become heavy cruisers. In addition to the forward two rings, the aft-most rings were also retained and modified the same way.
The fire which could be directed forward along the ships axis didn't change, but as the "heavy cruisers" rolled they could now fire six plasma torpedos and eight particle beams at an enemy to the side. Only the aft-most pair of particle beams could fire at a target directly aft of the ship.
- Exeter - Retained as headquarters, berthing, and supply ship for Tulakat blockade fleet
- York - Scrapped after the Battle of Tulakat
The "Battleships"
Once the "light cruisers" were in use and the "heavy cruisers" were being built, the last pair of Auroras went in for reconstruction as 'battleships'. For this, all six rings were retained, and a cylinder was built connecting the six into one rigid mass. As "Patrol Commander" puts it:
"When Gorgon and Medusa finally commissioned they had 26 of those plant/turret/projector sets or clusters. Each ring had four complete sets, and there were six rings. The forward ring had all four torpedo launchers aimed forward, while the other five rings all had theirs aimed outward. Then, to ensure that no matter how close someone got we could still fire at an enemy on the centerline, we added two more sets on the forward face of the cylinder. That allowed them to fire six plasma torpedos at once at an enemy directly forward of them, as well as five at once to an enemy to port, starboard, above, or below. If the ship could spin, it could fire each battery of five in turn as they bore. It would be the crew's task to time the spin to have each weapon ready to fire again by the time it bore a second time."
As poor as the designs were, events proved the builders right. The two 'battleships' were instrumental in the Confederacy's victory in the Battle of Tulakat. The largest Sa'arm ship was destroyed by missile barrage while the Navy still had surprise. The two battleships were completely outmatched by the two largest remaining Sa'arm ships, but they kept them busy long enough for the rest of the fleet to eliminate all the smaller Sa'arm ships. Then, a combined attack by all surviving ships accompanied by a missile barrage finished them off. Unfortunately, Gorgon did not survive the battle.
- Gorgon - Lost during the Battle of Tulakat
- Medusa - Scrapped after the Battle of Tulakat
See Also
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