Admiral Class Battlecruiser
In an effort to replace the Black Lion class Battlecruiser, the Hegemony launched a design requirement for a new Battlecruiser that was to be faster than the previous classes of ships but was to retain parts commonality with vessels already in service. Whilst several firms put forwards tenders for consideration the design from the Titan yards won out with a ship based on their already successful and powerful Monsoon class Battleship. Matching the Monsoon’s weight, the new ship was 200 meters longer with all the extra space devoted to her far more powerful engines as well as a dedicated reactor that was fed into the new thruster array. The new engine array with the extra power and 7,500 tons of fuel could hit a maximum sustained thrust of 3g, considerably more than the cruisers, destroyers and other Battleships in service and only the Davion’s Defender class was faster.
But the Titan Yards design wasn’t anywhere near as fragile as the Davion vessel, despite lacking some of the structural rigidity of the Monsoon class to save weight and allow for the installation of the enhanced thruster array.
The new vessel would use weapons familiar to the Hegemony navy including a wide array of naval autocannons from the lightest of their kind to the heaviest then in production. A series of missile launchers provided additional long-range firepower and its main anti-fighter punch whilst at short range, clusters of large lasers could engage targets. A final layer of defence was clusters of machine guns to defend against hostile missile strikes. This large emphasis on anti-fighter weapons was due to the theory that these ships would be operating with less escorts than the battleships and could even be operating alone or with other ships of their class. Without escorts able to keep up with them, the new battlecruiser was built to be ‘self-escorting’. Given the designation Admiral class, the new battlecruiser was seen as a fast reaction vessel and would give the battle line a ‘fast wing’ that it was sorely lacking.
With their reduced structural integrity, other sacrifices had to be made to save weight and the Admirals could only carry a dozen fighters and four small craft. Cargo space was also limited by Hegemony standards with little over 130,000 tons of cargo space carried compared to a Monsoon’s 184,000 tons. The class also only had 2 DropShip Collars and carried 2255 tons of standard armour with the majority being focused across the forward arcs.
The first ship the THS Nelson would enter service in 2378 with trials and shakedown being completed in 2380 and she would join the 1st Terran Battlegroup based out of Sol for her initial deployment which was seen as being very successful and further ships of the class were ordered and authorized. By the start of the Age of War a dozen of the Admiral class were in service and the ships would see heavy service during this period. Unfortunately, the rigors of wartime exposed flaws in the class that had not been apparent during the peace beforehand. The powerful engines, already maintenance intensive suffered from a serious spike in maintenance problems and engineering faults when pushed for too long. The THS De Ruyter suffered a hydraulics and coolant leak which sparked into a major fire, leaving her crippled and eventually forcing her evacuation as the fires crippled the ships power systems and hindered firefighting efforts. The engines power linkages and their general bulk also created several blind spots which could be exploited by hostile fighters and the THS Zheng He was destroyed by a strike from Lyran fighters that used this blind spot to close the range and detonate the ready to use ammunition for the rear autocannons.
The Admiral Class was also cramped and uncomfortable to serve on with a majority of her internal space given over to the ammunition linkages for her heavy weapons and power relays for the reactors. This cramped nature also made the class very hard to refit and the survivors were not able to be upgraded following the Age of War.
Growing increasingly obsolete as the years progressed the eight survivors were put into mothballs and would be joined by the Monsoon class. The THS Nelson and THS Hipper would be expended as gunnery targets and the THS Nimitz was given to the Rimworld Republic where she was renamed the RWS Oath of Fealty.
Class/Model/Name: Admiral Class Battlecruiser
Tech: Inner Sphere
Ship Cost: $11,665,586,000.00
Magazine Cost: $76,932,000.00
BV2: 110,438
Mass: 1,310,000
K-F Drive System: Compact
Power Plant: Maneuvering Drive
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
8 Naval AC 30
10 Naval AC 25
6 Naval AC 20
14 Naval AC 10
4 Capital Launcher White Shark
8 Capital Launcher Barracuda
14 Naval PPC Light
6 Naval PPC Medium
32 Laser Large
48 Machine Gun (IS)
Class/Model/Name: Admiral Class Battlecruiser
Mass: 1,310,000
Equipment: Mass
Drive: 314,400.00
Thrust
Safe: 4
Maximum: 6
Controls: 3,275.00
K-F Hyperdrive: Compact (26 Integrity) 592,775.00
Jump Sail: (6 Integrity) 96.00
Structural Integrity: 80 104,800.00
Total Heat Sinks: 5337 Single 4,500.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 18750 points 7,650.00
Fire Control Computers: 0.00
Armor: 902 pts Standard 2,255.00
Fore: 159
Fore-Left/Right: 150/150
Aft-Left/Right: 149/149
Aft: 145
Dropship Capacity: 2 2,000.00
Grav Decks:
Small: 3 150.00
Medium: 0.00
Large: 0.00
Escape Pods: 34 238.00
Life Boats: 34 238.00
Crew And Passengers:
66 Officers in Steerage Quarters 330.00
241 Crew in Steerage Quarters 1,205.00
84 Gunners and Others in Steerage Quarters 420.00
44 Bay Personnel 0.00
# Weapons Loc Heat Damage Range Mass
3 Naval AC 20 Nose 180 600 (60-C) Long-C 7,500.00
3 Naval AC 20 Nose 180 600 (60-C) 7,500.00
2 Capital Launcher White Shark Nose 30 60 (6-C) 240.00
4 Laser Large Nose 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) Nose 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
2 Naval AC 30 FL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 FL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
3 Naval PPC Light FL 315 210 (21-C) 4,200.00
2 Capital Launcher Barracuda FL 20 40 (4-C) 180.00
4 Laser Large FL 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) FL 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
2 Naval AC 30 FR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 FR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
3 Naval PPC Light FR 315 210 (21-C) 4,200.00
2 Capital Launcher Barracuda FR 20 40 (4-C) 180.00
4 Laser Large FR 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) FR 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
2 Naval AC 25 LBS 170 500 (50-C) 6,000.00
2 Naval AC 25 LBS 170 500 (50-C) 6,000.00
4 Naval PPC Light LBS 420 280 (28-C) 5,600.00
4 Laser Large LBS 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) LBS 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
2 Naval AC 25 RBS 170 500 (50-C) 6,000.00
2 Naval AC 25 RBS 170 500 (50-C) 6,000.00
4 Naval PPC Light RBS 420 280 (28-C) 5,600.00
4 Laser Large RBS 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) RBS 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
5 Naval AC 10 AL 150 500 (50-C) 10,000.00
3 Naval PPC Medium AL 405 270 (27-C) 5,400.00
2 Capital Launcher Barracuda AL 20 40 (4-C) 180.00
4 Laser Large AL 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) AL 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
5 Naval AC 10 AR 150 500 (50-C) 10,000.00
3 Naval PPC Medium AR 405 270 (27-C) 5,400.00
2 Capital Launcher Barracuda AR 20 40 (4-C) 180.00
4 Laser Large AR 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) AR 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
2 Naval AC 25 Aft 170 500 (50-C) 6,000.00
4 Naval AC 10 Aft 120 400 (40-C) 8,000.00
2 Capital Launcher White Shark Aft 30 60 (6-C) 240.00
4 Laser Large Aft 32 32 (3.2-C) 20.00
6 Machine Gun (IS) Aft 12 (1.2-C) 3.00
Aerospace Group
12 x Fighters
4 x Small Craft
2 x DropShip Collars
Cargo
130,860 tons
Ammunition
Ammo Quantity
Naval AC 20 Ammo 600 rounds
Capital Launcher White Shark Ammo 80 rounds
Naval AC 30 Ammo 400 rounds
Capital Launcher Barracuda Ammo 160 rounds
Naval AC 25 Ammo 400 rounds
Naval AC 10 Ammo 1400 rounds
Machine Gun (IS) Ammo 38,400 rounds
This is my attempt to make a 'counter' to the Defender class, although slower, its far more heavily built and packs a bigger wallop and, like the RN made the Lion class which was a battlecruiser equivalent of the Orion class Dreadnoughts, the Admiral class is a Battlecruiser version of the Monsoon.
As always, thoughts and comments are most welcome!
