WarShip of the Week: Black Lion I

[BrokenMnemonic]

Well, the Dreadnoughts were kept simply because they were the first. As for the rest, it increasingly looks like the Hegemony would gladly sell any and all obsolescent hulls to other states, or scrap unneeded ones. While it may be ingrained in players and in anyone who has lived in the Battletech universe for the past few centuries, the HAF never saw the 'life is cheap, Battlemechs are expensive' setting that continues to define Battletech today. They've never had to worry about salvage(beyond investigating enemy tech), or treat every war machine(no matter how old) as a precious(or at least usable) commodity. As a result, they could gleefully sell or scrap old gear and actually dismantle WarShips, because they could always build new ones(in fact, the replacements were probably already built, or taking shape in a shipyard). When the Terrans kept a really old ship intact, it was purely out of sentimental value.

It looks like there might've been a few exceptions, though - the fluff for the Monsoon in TRO:3057R talks about how the Hegemony kept upgrading and refurbishing the class even past the point where it was obsolescent simply because the Admiralty didn't want to concede that the time for the class was over and take a number of famous ships out of service. They held onto that class until the end of the Reunification War... but it may be that it was noteworthy with the Monsoon because it was perhaps the exception? The Hegemony certainly didn't seem to have any problems passing on Vigilants, Barons and the like.

[BrokenMnemonic]

Forgot which source. It might be from the same battle for Hesperus II during the First Succession War. Hence I included the term "IIRC" :-[

Are you thinking of the Alexander-class destroyer from the fan-made TRO:2800? There's a class by that name on Solaris 7 referencing the TRO: http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/Spaceship/ShipInfo.asp?ID=1300

[Wrangler]

I have the Battletech: Shattered Dawn fan-book TRO:2800, their Alexander Class Destroyer was listed there.  There nothing mentioned in the TRO about Hesperus II though.  Nasty ship gun wise, but still amuses me that mentioned as the mentions that the Alexander has been described as the space going Charger class Battlemech.   

[Liam's Ghost]

Are you thinking of the Alexander-class destroyer from the fan-made TRO:2800? There's a class by that name on Solaris 7 referencing the TRO: http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/Spaceship/ShipInfo.asp?ID=1300

Ooh, one of my babies!

EDIT: To continue, the Alexander was my entirely non-canon creation. As far as I can recall, the only canon examples of Free Worlds warships (aside from the Atreus) in the early texts were unidentified "cruisers" and "battlecruisers" mentioned in single sentences. I would need to do some searching to dig up the specific references.

SECOND EDIT: The original house marik book states that House Marik lost "many of its best battlecruisers" in a failed attack on Hesperus II during the First War. A second line in the same book notes that the Principality of Gibson's "tiny navy" was supported by House Marik "cruisers" in border clashes with Regulus. In neither case do class names appear, and exactly what constitutes battlecruiser and cruiser is debatable.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Arrrgh...I was posting after 12 hours of work and a further 3 hours in front of the computer. Apologies everyone. Thanks for pointing the fan design out, but I've never been through that part of Solaris VII, so it must be a figment of my imagination. Apologies Weirdo, Broken Mnemonic and Liam's Ghost :-[

However, I am curious what kind of navy the FWLN was. The existence of the Atreus points to a traditional navy like the Hegemony that prefers big-gun ships. Besides the Aegis and Black Lion I and possibly Soyal and mentioned imported Hegemony ships, I can't exactly conclude just how varied the FWLN was. Even the fluff on Fleet Admiral Thaddeus says the FWLN liked massive set-piece battles that suggests their ships are big brawlers.

[gyedid]

The Hegemony certainly didn't seem to have any problems passing on Vigilants, Barons and the like.

That's because they were outright crap.

cheers,

Gabe

[Wrangler]

I'm not sure, but if reading though the Star League sourcebook.  Early era of Terran Hegemony was all about resources shinking, and lack of growth.   Thats why McKenna's campaign bring worlds into Hegemony's charge was so important.

I do think though, if this early era was correctly depicted prior to Hegemony getting into the Shared worlds campaign....that selling old obsolete WarShips would be logical bring in trade and resources to replenish the coffers of the Hegemony.

I was surprised too, considering the Taurians had some Terran Hegemony vessels as well and road they went down together into war.

I think though that was result of CGL not being able to put resources into making additional ships to fill out the ranks of the fleets.

[marauder648]

Are you thinking of the Alexander-class destroyer from the fan-made TRO:2800? There's a class by that name on Solaris 7 referencing the TRO: http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/Spaceship/ShipInfo.asp?ID=1300

Where might one find this fan made TRO?

[Gryphon]

Click on that link. At the top of the resulting page, is a dark grey link. Click on that link. Then, have fun, since being there is akin to being lost in trophland, or wikiland, or similar!   8)    A wonderful way to waste hours and hours of your life!

[Wrangler]

I wonder if the first THS Black Lion was commissioned, the Captain gave the command "Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up; mega-thrusters are go!"

[BrokenMnemonic]

That's because they were outright crap.

cheers,

Gabe

They're relics of their respective times. If you have Barons and Vigilants and your opponents have Aquillas with a few extra AC/5s on, how crap are your Barons and Vigilants?

[BrokenMnemonic]

Where might one find this fan made TRO?

I think Red Pins also has the downloadable version on record somewhere, as I'm sure that's where I first read about the Alexander - he maintains a thread here on fanon publications.

[Trace Coburn]

Where might one find this fan made TRO?

I think Red Pins also has the downloadable version on record somewhere, as I'm sure that's where I first read about the Alexander - he maintains a thread here on fanon publications.

  Like most of the BattleTech: Shattered Dawn fan-books, TRO:2800 and RS:2800 are available from the OurBattleTech downloads section.  ;)  /threadjack

[Jellico]

They're relics of their respective times. If you have Barons and Vigilants and your opponents have Aquillas with a few extra AC/5s on, how crap are your Barons and Vigilants?

Barons aren't that old. They are relics of need (and in the case of the Baron something of a failure anyway). One thing consistent to most SLDF ships is that they just work. House ships rarely have the time on station persistence of a SLDF ship, both cargo wise and fluff wise.

I still keep coming back to the example of Napoleonic French and English ships. Look em up. Captains loved the French ships as they had great lines and were generally better performers than the English ships. Admirals and quartermasters hated them as they fell to pieces in the field at a time when ships were spending 360 days a year at sea.