Background
Despite having a large Touman, the naval strength of Clan Hell's Horses was rather limited. As the Potemkin class was too valuable to risk and too expensive to man, the main fighting strength of the Horses naval arm was limited. Centred on a Cameron class Battlecruiser with three Lola III class destroyers and a single Congress class frigate formed the main strength of the Horses naval combat arm.
This wasn't too much of a problem until the three Lola's went in for an overhaul and refit and it was found that the CHH Black Knight was suffering from serious metal fatigue of her hull bracing. Similar but not as advanced decay and deterioration was found in the CHH Gold Knight, and CHH Red Knight. With their structural integrity in doubt the three ships were pulled into the Horses naval yard for full investigations. Because of the way the Lola class was armoured and designed, with their multiple hull layers and 'honeycomb' of storage and dead-space behind the main armour, estimates to repair the ships were alarming. Each ship would have to be stripped almost to its jump core to allow the replacement of the structural beams. In the worst case, this would take at least 48 months, assuming a steady supply of material to replace the damaged sections and then another 6 months of trials and shakedown.
The truth was that the Lola's were just tired and very old ships, and in the more modern era, their design was unsuited to the ways of war the Clans had focused upon. A more radical solution was offered. Decommission the ships, strip them of parts and use as many of their components and weapons in the construction of replacement vessels. Construction of a new ship would take about as long as the refit and repair of the Lola III's and by using the older ships weapons, it would reduce construction time and material costs.
With the assistance of Clan Coyote (much to the annoyance of Clan Snow Raven who viewed themselves as the masters of ship design) Clan Hell's Horses designed the Turbulent Class destroyer. Massing 670,000 tons the class as many ‘lessons learned’ from the Golden Century, as well as the Amaris Civil War, and the inter-Clan battles that occasionally featured clashes between WarShips.
Matching the Lola’s performance but with larger fuel tanks and thankfully a full 100-meter Grav Deck, the Turbulent was more comfortable to work on. The hull plating was more traditionally laid out, but made extensive use of Ferro-Lamellor compounds. This was chosen because it was far easier to repair. And the new armour compounds made the ships hull considerably better protected than the old layered scheme of the Lola’s.
Armed with clusters of NL-55s and NAC-10’s as its main punch the Turbulent also had a considerable point defence battery of lasers, autocannons and missile launchers, with AMS batteries adding more protection.
The fighter compliment was built to be larger than the Lola’s with the new ship capable of carrying two Star’s of Aerospace fighters, as well as five small craft. A DropShip collar makes the ship even more versatile.
Although the ships were longer than the Lola’s at 680 meters, their large crew compliments (including 25 Elementals for onboard security) the ships were still very cramped and spartan ships. The materials used in their construction also meant that the three decommissioned Lola’s would be replaced by two Turbulent class ships. This partially mollified the Snow Ravens who were pressing ahead with their Typhon class destroyer, a craft they felt was superior to the Horse/Coyote ship because of their more modern weapons.
The CHH Heart of Courage and CHH Lance Held High entered service in 3040 and 3043 respectively and would become common fixtures in the Homeworlds.
Turbulent Class Destroyer
Mass: 670,000 tons
Technology Base: Clan (Advanced)
Introduced: 3030
Mass: 670,000
Battle Value: 79,394
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-F-F
Cost: 14,039,264,600 C-bills
Fuel: 8,000 tons (20,000)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Sail Integrity: 5
KF Drive Integrity: 15
Heat Sinks: 0 (0)
Structural Integrity: 65
Armor
Nose: 90
Fore Sides: 81/81
Aft Sides: 81/81
Aft: 79
Cargo
Bay 1: Fighter (10) 3 Doors
Bay 2: Fighter (10) 3 Doors
Bay 3: Small Craft (5) 2 Doors
Bay 4: Cargo (67209.5 tons) 1 Door
Ammunition:
1,152 rounds of LRM 15 (Clan) Artemis-capable ammunition (2 tons),
1,500 rounds of NAC/10 ammunition (0.6 tons),
3,072 rounds of Anti-Missile System [Clan] ammunition (8 tons),
720 rounds of LB 2-X Cluster ammunition (1 tons),
320 rounds of LB 5-X Cluster ammunition (1 tons),
80 rounds of Barracuda ammunition (120 tons)
Dropship Capacity: 1
Grav Decks: 1 (100 m)
Escape Pods: 33
Life Boats: 33
Crew: 43 officers, 297 enlisted/non-rated, 67 gunners, 65 bay personnel, 25 BA marines
Notes: Equipped with
lithium-fusion battery system
1 Mobile Hyperpulse Generators (Mobile HPG)
1 Naval Comm-Scanner Suite (Small)
410.5 tons of lamellor ferro-carbide armor.
Weapons: Capital Attack Values (Standard)
Arc (Heat) Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV Class
Nose (490 Heat)
5 Naval Autocannon (NAC/10) 150 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/10 Ammo (500 shots)
4 Naval Laser 45 280 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) 18(180) Capital Laser
4 ER Large Laser 48 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) Laser
4 LB 2-X AC 8 3(28) 3(28) 3(28) 1(8) LBX AC
4 LB 5-X AC
LB 2-X Cluster Ammo (32400 shots)
LB 5-X Cluster Ammo (6400 shots)
4 Anti-Missile System 4 1(12) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] (9216 shots)
FRS/FLS (452 Heat)
4 Naval Laser 55 340 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) Capital Laser
2 Capital Missile Launcher (Barracuda) 20 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) Capital Missile
Barracuda Ammo (20 shots)
4 ER Large Laser 88 10(96) 10(96) 4(40) 4(40) Laser
8 ER Medium Laser
4 Anti-Missile System 4 1(12) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] (9216 shots)
RBS/LBS (184 Heat)
5 Naval Autocannon (NAC/10) 150 50(500) 50(500) 50(500) 0(0) Capital AC
NAC/10 Ammo (500 shots)
6 LRM 15+Artemis IV 30 5(54) 5(54) 5(54) 0(0) LRM
LRM 15 (Clan) Artemis-capable Ammo (4608 shots)
4 Anti-Missile System 4 1(12) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] (9216 shots)
ARS/ALS (452 Heat)
4 Naval Laser 55 340 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) 22(220) Capital Laser
2 Capital Missile Launcher (Barracuda) 20 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) 4(40) Capital Missile
Barracuda Ammo (20 shots)
4 ER Large Laser 88 10(96) 10(96) 4(40) 4(40) Laser
8 ER Medium Laser
4 Anti-Missile System 4 1(12) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] (9216 shots)
Aft (836 Heat)
4 Naval Laser 55 760 49(490) 49(490) 49(490) 49(490) Capital Laser
6 Naval Laser 45
6 ER Large Laser 72 6(60) 6(60) 6(60) 6(60) Laser
4 Anti-Missile System 4 1(12) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0) AMS
Anti-Missile System Ammo [Clan] (9216 shots)