Before I begin, I'd like to shout out Tyler Jorgensson for his submission to the General War design challenges with his Avalon Class which kicked off my brainbug that lead to these beauties. Liberty I is literally just a slightly modified Avalon. The Great House mentioned below is my player faction in a BT AU Nation States RP with original Great Houses (and a very familiar Free Worlds League).
Over the course of the Age of War, few Nations had their Naval Doctrines and construction doctrines change as much as the United Coreward Federation. They started the age of Interstellar Warfare with the rather simple idea that Speed Was Armor that as long as the ships of the Federation Aerospace Force maintained the advantage of acceleration they could use their heavy foreword firepower to slam opponents with powerful alpha strikes from their heavy forward batteries while maintaining favorable ranges. This was a Doctrine best exemplified by the Federation's First True WarShips, the Constellation Class Battleships.
However, the Great Coreward War would lead to changes of this doctrine. Some of the most intense fighting in space in human history would lead to the realization that the Federation's Energy Fighting Doctrine was flawed to accomplish the mix of heavy firepower and high speed meant that their ships had been built extremely light with thin armor. While they managed to maintain a decent amount of victories using massed Aerospace Fighters and DropShips, they did so more in spite of their Capital Ships rather than because of them.
Additionally, the combat results of engagements by other states during the era lead to the discovery that Capital Grade Aerospace Armor was more effective than had been postulated by Early Federation Strategic Theorists.
While the Federation had previously tried to solve its fleet's staying power issues with the canceled Fleet 2430 Program with the Study 31 Battleships, they realized that even the up armored but still fast Battleships would be insufficient to survive combat with some of the slated monsters planned by the Hegemony and other major powers. Thus a New Solution was needed.
This solution would be the Liberty Class Battleships.
Liberty Battleship (2570)
Mass: 1,500,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 2570
Mass: 1,500,000
Battle Value: 250,995
Tech Rating/Availability: E/E-X-E-X
Cost: 15,075,270,000 C-bills
Fuel: 5,000 tons (12,500)
Safe Thrust: 3
Maximum Thrust: 5
Sail Integrity: 7
KF Drive Integrity: 30
Heat Sinks: 3500 (7000)
Structural Integrity: 150
Armor
Nose: 615
Fore Sides: 615/615
Aft Sides: 615/615
Aft: 615
Cargo
Bay 1: Fighter (40) 6 Doors
Bay 2: Small Craft (6) 2 Doors
Bay 3: Mech (36) 12 Doors
Bay 4: Cargo (100001.0 tons) 1 Door
Ammunition:
480 rounds of NAC/25 ammunition (288 tons),
160 rounds of Heavy N-Gauss ammunition (80 tons),
270 rounds of Killer Whale ammunition (13,500 tons),
51,200 rounds of Machine Gun ammunition (256 tons)
Dropship Capacity: 4
Grav Decks: 4 (100 m, 100 m, 100 m, 100 m)
Escape Pods: 30
Life Boats: 30
Crew: 80 officers, 265 enlisted/non-rated, 103 gunners, 182 bay personnel, 10 passengers, 100 marines
Notes: Mounts 4,500 tons of ferro-carbide armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (1,211 Heat)
3 Capital Missile Launcher (Killer Whale) 60 12(120) 12(120) 12(120) 12(120) Capital Missile
Killer Whale Ammo (90 shots)
2 Naval Gauss (Heavy) 36 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) Capital Gauss
Heavy N-Gauss Ammo (80 shots)
2 Naval Gauss (Heavy) 36 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) Capital Gauss
Heavy N-Gauss Ammo (80 shots)
4 Naval Laser 55 340 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) Capital Laser
3 Naval PPC (Heavy) 675 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) Capital PPC
8 Large Laser 64 6(64) 6(64) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
8 Machine Gun 0 2(16) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (6400 shots)
FRS/FLS (954 Heat)
2 Naval Autocannon (NAC/25) 170 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/25 Ammo (60 shots)
2 Naval Autocannon (NAC/25) 170 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/25 Ammo (60 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
2 Naval PPC (Medium) 270 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital PPC
8 Large Laser 64 6(64) 6(64) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
8 Machine Gun 0 2(16) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (6400 shots)
RBS/LBS (1,079 Heat)
3 Capital Missile Launcher (Killer Whale) 60 12(120) 12(120) 12(120) 12(120) Capital Missile
Killer Whale Ammo (90 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
3 Naval PPC (Heavy) 675 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) Capital PPC
8 Large Laser 64 6(64) 6(64) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
8 Machine Gun 0 2(16) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (6400 shots)
ARS/ALS (954 Heat)
2 Naval Autocannon (NAC/25) 170 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/25 Ammo (60 shots)
2 Naval Autocannon (NAC/25) 170 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/25 Ammo (60 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
2 Naval PPC (Medium) 270 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital PPC
8 Large Laser 64 6(64) 6(64) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
8 Machine Gun 0 2(16) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (6400 shots)
Aft (1,079 Heat)
4 Naval Laser 55 340 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) Capital Laser
3 Naval PPC (Heavy) 675 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) 45(450) Capital PPC
8 Large Laser 64 6(64) 6(64) 0(0) 0(0) Laser
8 Machine Gun 0 2(16) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) Point Defense
Machine Gun Ammo (6400 shots)
Beginning life as the Survivable Capital Ship Design Study, what would become the Liberty Class would go through several changes before it would go from the Drawing Board to service.
The Original Design Study called for a 1.75 million ton design using NAC-30s as its primary kinetic armament. This was the first major change as in the post Great Coreward War budget of the Federation Aerospace Force, the original design with its infrastructure requirements would have left the budget for only a handful of ships available after the needed upgrades to Federation Naval Industries were invested. This lead to the design being pared down to 1.5 million tones to fit with most of the Federation's Capital Yards while investments were slowly made on the Federation's Primary Naval Yards at the Gas Giant Threshold.
The next major change would be the downgrade of the Primary Armament. While NAC-30s were desired for their Greater striking power and weight savings over NAC-20s for an equally powerful turret, NAC-25s were decided on as a cost saving measure by allowing ammo compatibility with the Federation's Destroyer Force.
However, two unplanned upgrades would be made available to Federation Naval Architects to add to the design study. The First was the brand new Ferro-Carbide Armor Plate which greatly increased ship survivability, rendering the ship impenetrable to all but the strongest (and most close range) of Naval Artillery Batteries, Ferro Carbide allowed the Liberty Class vessels to gain their legendary durability from all angles. The Second being Double Heat Sinks and more advanced electronics, allowing the ships to remain in combat and effective in it for far longer.
Equipped with 40 ASFs, and a squadron of Small Craft after both had proved their weight in Gold during the Great Coreward War, the Liberty's complement was completed by a quartet of DropShips and a rather unorthodox addition. Bays for a Battalion of Mechs were added as they allowed the Liberty Greater Multi-Mission capability than they would otherwise possess. While some in Congress Called it unnecessary Gold Plating or as a conciliation to the Marine Corps and Army Airborne for canceling several of their Iwo Jima Class Assault Transports, they would come to be regarded as one of the best ideas present for the design as it granted them tremendous utility in their combat deployments.
In the end, 24 Liberty Class Battleships were originally ordered and started entering service in the Early 2570s. However, as that decade wore on, tensions across the Sphere began to rise with the Terran Hegemony's grandest plan almost exploding in their faces. In the face of this tension, the Federation would unleash the Leviathan it had originally planned to build and with it, establish some of the most legendary WarShips the Inner Sphere would ever see.
More to come in part II.
(Note, it appears that my Code Tabs aren't working.
