The end of the Amaris Coup had left the Bastion in a state that could rightly be described as an existential crisis. Millions of refugees had come flooding in from the Hegemony, fleeing the disaster that everybody knew was coming, Jonathan Cameron's now generations old vision of disaster had gone from a paranoid and unbelievably expensive delusion to reality, and worst of all, the Bastion's leaders had every reason to believe that they would soon suffer the same fate as their ancestral homeland, at the hand of the very force once sworn to protect it.
While now we know that Kerensky had honored the Bastion's wishes and stayed away, or at the very least may not have actually known where the Bastion was located and thus had no choice in the the matter, at the time it was not an unreasonable concern. After all, Kerensky and his army had already abandoned his oaths and the billions of citizens he'd sworn that oath to, what was one more betrayal? Worse yet, the Bastion was not in any position to actually stop him if Kerensky turned against them.
At the time Kerensky was planning his exodus, the Bastion's primary defense was its SDS network, built around a core fleet of eighty M-5 type capital drones. Though this SDS system wasn't quite configured according to the standards established in the Hegemony proper, featuring a greater degree of human oversight and a positively eye watering number of smaller drones and standoff missile platforms, it was not expected to be any more effective at repelling a determined SLDF assault than any of the other SDS systems that the SLDF had already crushed on their march to Terra. And while the Bastion's military could reactivate reserve M-5s and mothballed M-4s to bolster the strength of the SDS system, no amount of additional drones was going to make the Bastion's citizens and the many millions of refugees from the Hegemony feel safe. After all, the massive and powerful SDS systems protecting the Hegemony had completely failed to stop Amaris in the first place. The nuances and details of the Amaris Coup, and the fact that the Bastion's system didn't even have a single master control computer which could override the entire network without oversight didn't matter. The Drones had their chance, and the Bastion wanted a manned navy.
In this regard, they were not completely starting from zero. While the Bastion's existing manned fleet was limited to small pickets and escort dropships, the refugees streaming in from the Inner Sphere were doing so largely on ships pulled from the Hegemony black fleet, a massive mothball fleet kept "off the books" (ironically) as a hedge against the Star League turning against the Hegemony. This gave the Bastion a fleet of over a hundred capital ships from the stockpile, as well as forty Potemkin class transports and even a Texas class battleship saved from the breakers at the last minute.
But even these ships presented their own problems. Most obvious was a shortage of crews to fully man these ships. The Bastion did not have an abundance of naval personnel, and each refugee ship from the Inner Sphere had been manned by only the barest minimum of a skeleton crew, often with few or even no actual trained military personnel aboard. While massed recruiting could deal with manpower shortages, only time and carefully utilizing what experienced personnel were available could turn these crews into a proper navy. Possibly just as much of a concern was the actual quality of the ships currently available. While the ships pulled from the Black Fleet had each been stored in a carefully controlled environment and were in pristine condition, they were still undeniably obsolete, and further had been chosen to make the trip to the Bastion primarily for their ability to haul vast numbers of refugees, rather than their combat capability. A few Monsoons supporting a battle line of primarily Rigas, Nagas, and Darts was certainly a threat, but it would be no real match for the WarShips and numbers the SLDF could still bring to bear. The many Potemkins and the Texas class battleship Washington were of little help either. Before being obtained, these ships had been either completely or partly demilitarized pending disposal, and while they had been made fit to make the trip to the bastion (as well as transport close to five million refugees on their own), they had not been rearmed or otherwise fitted out for war, and with only a single mobile yard available able to accommodate such massive ships, restoring them to combat capability in a timely matter was effectively impossible. The Bastion needed a modern battle line, and they would need it quickly, if they were to resist an expected SLDF assault.
The Bastion had the plans and design specifications for all of the most powerful ships ever conceived by the minds of the Terran Hegemony's finest naval architects, but they could not just simply build their own McKennas or Royal Sovereigns. The vast majority of the Bastion's large shipbuilding capacity was scaled to build civilian jumpships, meaning most of the existing construction slips could only accommodate small warships like the Hunt class. Even the single military yard was only built to accommodate ships around the size of the M-5 type. This, combined with the need to get these ships out quickly and economically, set a hard limit on just how large the ships of the Bastion's new battle line could be.
The Bastion's government and its Naval architects believed they could solve this dilemma with a "coastal defense fleet" strategy. Standard Terran Hegemony and Star League doctrine of the time dictated that ships be built with a large capacity for internal cargo, in order to allow for extended deployment away from supply, and to provide secondary transport capacity for major operations. By removing that requirement from a design and limiting storage capacity to only what is necessary for home defense operations, a ship could be made significantly smaller for its given firepower and protection, cutting down on resources, cost, and the size of the construction slips needed to build it.
This was not simply a question of loading up an existing blueprint and turning down the scale slider, however. While the initial specifications laid out by the Admiralty for what would become the Agincourt class seemed entirely doable, turning those numbers into a completed design took time. And more time. And still more time. Indeed the restoration and refit of the battleship Washington, once believed an impossible goal, would be planned, started, and completed before the keels of the first Agincourt class ships were laid down. Commenting on the endless delays, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Procurement, Phillip Dwyer, was recorded as saying, "We are all very grateful to Kerensky for getting lost on his way here. Otherwise, we might not have a battle line to repel the imminent invasion."
Despite the delays and the first nagging suspicions that the Bastion wasn't actually under imminent threat, the Agincourt class continued production and the first ships entered service in 2787. In the end, what the navy received is exactly what they asked for; a hull that under standard Star League doctrine be classified as a rather small destroyer, but carrying the firepower of a heavy cruiser or battle cruiser. To do this, designers chose to not only cut out all extraneous storage capacity in line with the Bastion's "Coast Defense" doctrine, but also cut out as many other extraneous elements normally seen on cruiser class ships as well. Primary firepower was provided by a ferocious main battery of forty eight whirlwind naval cannons arrayed in eight triple mounts along each broadside. concentrating the main armament along the broadsides gives the Agincourt greater hitting power in a broadside engagement than even such legendary shipkillers as the Aegis or the Black Lion, and would theoretically allow it to deliver comparable damage in a close range engagement with a McKenna class battleship. In addition to this already devastating main battery, the Agincourt also carries eight quad mounts of dual purpose naval lasers, primarily intended as anti-fighter and chase guns, but easily able to augment the ship's main battery against larger opponents.
This raw firepower comes at a cost, however. In order to maximize the amount of fire the class could bring to bear on the broadside, the Agincourt has very little weaponry it can use to engage targets directly ahead of it, and nothing to engage directly aft. Also, the ship's relatively small size and focus on raw firepower means that its ability to take a hit suffers, and while the ship's protection is certainly good, even impressive given its size and the era it was created in, this protection is still undeniably inferior to the enemies the Agincourt was expected to fight. The emphasis on raw firepower also resulted in relatively limited acceleration capability. Doctrinally, this was seen as acceptable for a main battle line vessel, on the assumption that a large formation operating in a fleet engagement would mitigate the limitations of an individual ship's maneuverability. Even at the time the first examples were launched, however, some members of the Admiralty expressed concerns about a possible flaw in this strategy. The Bastion's main battle line was expected to be one of the last lines of defense, after a hypothetical attacker had spent hours or days burning into the system under continuous harassment and missile bombardment. While this was not an unreasonable strategy on its face, it also dictated that this final battle was likely to take place relatively close to the planet itself. Engaging too far away from planetary orbit would mean that a battle line composed of Agincourt class ships would struggle to interdict a foe capable of greater acceleration, while engaging too close to the planet would not only vastly increase the risk of collateral damage from stray weapons fire, but also force the already lumbering Agincourt to fight against planetary gravity, restricting their movements even further.
While the Admiralty acknowledged the weakness in the Agincourt's design, officially they were deemed acceptable given the present situation, and it was believed that most of the ship's limitations could be covered by heavy screening forces of assault ships and fighters. An Agincourt's standard complement of supporting craft was originally envisioned as two Titan class carriers, three pentagon class assault ships, and a full regiment of aerospace fighters between itself and its supporting units (though a shortage of trained pilots would dictate that Blackwasp drones would have to be used to make up the numbers). In addition to these assets, independent flotillas of the new Lee class escorts and their own fighters would be used to provide additional protection to the battle line while the drones of the SDS operated in concert with the fleet and picket ships harassed the enemy's rear, the intention being that even when the main battle fleet finally entered the fray, it would not do so alone. Fortunately for the many thousands of lives that would have been on the line, this strategy would never have to be tested in battle, and while the occasional renegade or bandit might have to be eliminated by forces in the outer system, none of the Agincourt class was ever called upon to fire its guns in anger.
The Bastion would complete forty Agincourt class ships, but the class would ultimately prove to be the shortest lived of the Bastion's new designs. As the years passed and Kerensky stubbornly refused to show up and invade the Bastion, the immediate urgency to get ships into the field began to fade. As the Bastion's industrial and shipbuilding capacity advanced, larger ships could now be built which didn't require quite as many compromises. With the luxuries of time, hindsight, and wealth available to them, the Admiralty would order further construction of the class suspended in 2800. They would soldier on in active service for a few more years, but would be gradually retired as the new Impetuous class came on line to replace them. While two would be retained as training ships until 2850 and a single example, Cape St Vincent, remains as a museum ship today, the rest of the class would not even get the courtesy of a turn in the mothballs, instead going directly from service to the breakers.
Agincourt Heavy Cruiser
Mass: 500,000 tons
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Introduced: 2787
Mass: 500,000
Battle Value: 190,189
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-E-F
Cost: 10,274,984,000 C-bills
Fuel: 2,000 tons (5,000)
Safe Thrust: 2
Maximum Thrust: 3
Sail Integrity: 4
KF Drive Integrity: 12
Heat Sinks: 1440 (2880)
Structural Integrity: 80
Armor
Nose: 102
Fore Sides: 121/121
Aft Sides: 121/121
Aft: 102
Cargo
Bay 1: Fighter (18) 6 Doors
Bay 2: Small Craft (4) 1 Door
Bay 3: Cargo (8586.0 tons) 1 Door
Ammunition:
1,920 rounds of NAC/20 ammunition (768 tons)
Dropship Capacity: 5
Grav Decks: 2 (100 m, 100 m)
Escape Pods: 0
Life Boats: 0
Crew: 40 officers, 106 enlisted/non-rated, 80 gunners, 56 bay personnel
Notes: Mounts 800 tons of ferro-carbide armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (560 Heat)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
FRS/FLS (640 Heat)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
RBS/LBS (820 Heat)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
ARS/ALS (820 Heat)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
3 Naval Autocannon (NAC/20) 180 60(600) 60(600) 60(600) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/20 Ammo (120 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
