RELIANT-CLASS BATTLECRUISER
Ships in Class
Alcibiades, Amphitrite, Achilles, Nebojácný, Halsey, Nezkrotný, Ishtar, Lysander, Niké, Nelson, Spolehlivý, Odplata, Royalista, Smrtonosný, Jed, Vítězství, Zmije, Warspite, Xerxes
Estimated Service Dates
1896 až 1946
Specification (Flight I)
Mass: 881,250 tons
Length: 713 m
Beam: 91 m
Draught: 81 m
Acceleration: 488.6 G
Crew: 2105 (151 Officers, 1362 Enlisted, 592 Marines)
Power:
3 Isler Corporation GM-4R Fusion Reactors
Electronics:
AN/SPG-29/b Gravitic Detection Array
AN/SR-14a Phased Radar Array
AN/SL-14a Lidar Array
AN/CAT-23b(64) Fire Control System
AN/CDT-19(40) Defensive Fire Control System
AN/ELQ-146 Electronic Countermeasure System
Armament:
52 Mod 7b Missile Launchers
16 Mk73 105 cm Lasers
2 Mk49 127 cm Lasers
16 Mk15 140 cm Grasers
32 Mod 5b Countermissile Launchers
32 Mk16(6) Point Defense Laser Clusters
Magazines:
1352 Mk13 Anti-Ship Missiles
9632 Mk21 Countermissiles
10 Mk36 Electronic Warfare Drones
Small Craft:
4 Mk28 Condor-class Pinnaces
2 Mk9 Albatross-class Shuttles
4 C3 Dakota-class Cutters
Design and Construction
The Reliant is the newest battlecruiser class in the Manticoran Navy. Five percent larger than a Homer, the Reliant is a powerful ship, ideally suited to the fast, slashing tactics the Royal Manticoran Navy has embraced for over four T-centuries.
Like its contemporary, the Star Knight, the Reliant-class mounts the Isler Corporation GM-4R series fusion reactor. The Isler Corporation was founded by a small consortioum of researchers who split off from the Dillingham Cartel in 1878 over differences in research priorities and intellectual property issues. Using a new technology for the gravitic containment bottle, their first product was smaller, more stable and less costly than the competing product still sold by the Cartel. The Isler Corporation won their first contract with the Crusader/Prince Consort program and have become the RMN’s primary supplier of cruiser and battlecruiser reactors in the intervening years.
Designed from the keel out as a squadron flagship, the Reliant-class has a three boat bays with reserved space for up to 4 additional pinnaces to accommodate visitors. Even without the additional space, it has enough small craft capacity to drop its entire complement of Marines in a single drop.
In an intentional deviation from the Navy’s normal policy, the Reliant has one of the shortest magazines for a ship of its rate. The RMN believed that any BC’s life expectancy against ships of the wall would be brief, and that battlecruiser-versus-battlecruiser actions would be short and sharp. As a result, BuShips believed it was better to be able to throw more missiles – especially better missiles – faster and incorporate an energy armament heavy enough to make close range action decisive, rather than to try to outlast an opponent. It remains to be seen how this deviation from normal shipbuilding practice will fare in battle.
Doctrinal Notes
The newest of the Navy’s battlecruisers, Reliants are often found as squadron flagships. The units of this class have been spread thinly among existing squadrons of Homers and Redoubtables, rarely appearing in anything more than divisional strength.
The Reliant’s combination of acceleration and firepower make it a flexible, multi-role platform. The intended offensive mission was to use Reliants for high speed raids on the orbital industrial and supply nodes – while they cannot stand up to a ship of the wall, if they can get at its fleet train or supply nodes, they can greatly slow the rate of advance, allowing Manticore’s small number of true capital ships the luxury of meeting engagements in space, rather than pitched defensive battles against twice their number. The presence of Reliants, particularly as the class build schedule meets intended deployment levels, will force significant asset shifting to cover supply nodes on the part of an invading force.
otable Units and Battles
Perhaps the most notable member of the Reliant-class is the newly commissioned HMS Nike. A prelacement for the previous Nike, a Redoubtable-class ship due for decommissioning, Nike is the first of the Flight II Reliants. The Flight II series is an incremental upgrade to the class, incorporating new inertial compensators, higher density armor and an incremental improvement in electronics. It is also one of the first ships to receive the first generation FTL communication pulse generator, allowing it to send as well as receive FTL comm signals. A follow-on run of at least twelve more units is planned after Nike, the first to begin acceptance trials in a matter of months.
HMS Nike is currently assigned to Hancock Station as the flagship of Rear Admiral Mark Sarnow, commanding officer of Battlecruiser Squadron Five.
Posted by RicoTheCat
