Baltimore Shipyards

To some the symbol of The Beltway, and to others a symbol of corporate greed and corruption, Baltimore Shipyards is a controversial, yet notable, company.

Founding

Baltimore Shipyards began with a group of ex-US Navy and ex-US Coast Guard admirals, along with officials from the Department of the Navy, who got together each month and designed ships together. One suggested the idea of buying a dying shipyard and making it their own corporation; the idea divided the group, but three admirals signed on: Admiral Thad Cochrane (CEO), Admiral Michael Mullen (Head of R&D), and Admiral David Jeremiah (CFO). They started out with a redesigned CGN-38 Virginia, a modified Wasp-class LHD called the CVH-1 Hornet, and a battleship, the Columbia-class BB; their first sale was of one CVH-1 and one CGN-38 to The Beltway's navy.

Expansion

Baltimore Shipyards has expanded its product line dramatically. Some designs were completely original, especially the more recent ones. Others were based upon designs sold to Baltimore Shipyards by Waldenburg II and by Dostanuot Loj. Still others were joint projects, such as the DN-1 America and the DDG-61 Michael Busch.

Naktan & Samaran

Contracts with Naktan and Samaran have proven valuable for expanding the scope of the product line of Baltimore Shipyards. Naktan provided $44 million US to help aid the Shipyards in R&D after they successfully fulfilled contracts to design and build a patrol craft and a frigate. The patrol craft, the PG-1 Hampton Roads, has proven especially successful on the export market; the frigate, the FFG-29 Kent Island, has proven somewhat less successful, yet still worthy of being sold by the Shipyards. Meanwhile, Samaran has recently requested bids for new designs for its navy, including a requirement for an aircraft-carrying, 30" gun-toting dreadnought and a requirement for a frigate carrying the AEGIS system. The former requirement spurred the development of the DN-47 United States, while the latter spurred the development of the AN/SPY-1E Frigate AEGIS and the FFG-44 Chincoteague.

Gage Munitions

In addition to expanding the number of ship designs available, Baltimore Shipyards has branched out into selling small arms with the purchase of Gage Munitions. Originally only selling clones of existing small arms designs like the M16A4 or the P90, along with shells for the designs sold by Baltimore Shipyards, Gage Munitions has recently released the M-17 assault rifle, an original design that uses the 6.8 x 43mm SPC bullet.

Weapons & Systems

Finally, Baltimore Shipyards, along with its subsidiary Gage Munitions, sells missiles and systems. The first missile to be offered was the AIM-350, a design created by Dostanuot Loj; the first original missile design was the BGM-355 Winchester. The first missile launch system was the Mk. 42 Vertical Launch System, designed for the BGM-355; the first radar was the AN/SPY-1E Frigate AEGIS, designed to be carried aboard frigates.

Controversy

Within The Beltway, Baltimore Shipyards is a controversial corporation. While it is a symbol of the nation, the alleged bribing of Defence Minister Benjamin Cardin with company stock and the so-called "Crime of Lewes" both serve to stain the reputation of Baltimore Shipyards.

Shipgate

The very first order that Baltimore Shipyards received was from Defence Minister Cardin, who at the time owned several thousand shares of company stock. Many, such as Terry Lierman, attribute nefarious or corrupt motives to Cardin's order for a light carrier that, some argue, did not fit the previous needs of The Beltway and for a cruiser that was, some claim, unnecessarily nuclear-powered. Soon after the scandal broke, Cardin sold off his shares of Baltimore Shipyard stock to "avoid the appearance of corruption."

The Lewes Project

Introduction

The Lewes Project, in which a sleepy beach town was converted, by request of Baltimore Shipyards, into an industrial port city centered around a massive shipyard owned by Baltimore Shipyards, is seen as indicative of Baltimore Shipyards's excessive power within The Beltway. Baltimore Shipyards convinced the Sussex County Council to use its power of eminent domain to condemn massive amounts of property near the coastline.

Bunche et al v. Sussex County,

Disgruntled propertyholders in Lewes sued the County Council; however, in Bunche et al v. Sussex County, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that, due to the public benefits accrued from the massive increase in the tax base of the County, the condemnations issued by the County Council were constitutional. The Bunche ruling has led much of Virginia, and Frederick and Cecil Counties in Maryland, to pass laws forbidding the use of eminent domain to promote private enterprise.

Notable Designs

BB-72 Columbia

The first entirely original design created by Baltimore Shipyards, the Columbia, according to Baltimore Shipyards, "[...]is a small, modern, and relatively inexpensive version of a battleship. It is designed to be more survivable in modern battles than modernised Iowa-class battleships." It carries two triple 16" gun mounts, sixty-four cells of Mk. 41 VLS, and the AEGIS air defence system, along with one helicopter and one UAV.

PG-1 Hampton Roads

According to Baltimore Shipyards, "this inexpensive patrol craft is meant for anti-pirate operations. Its speed and armament make it a perfect weapon to ambush pirate nests, while its small size and crew requirement makes it ideal for navies on a budget." Originally designed for the Navy of The Holy Empire of Naktan, it has proven wildly successful, with over sixty sold to various navies throughout the world. It has two 76mm guns, two 12.7mm (.5") machine guns, and two 324mm (12.75") torpedo tubes.

DN-1 America

A Dreadnought is a large trimaran vessel, armed with a battery of massive guns firing shells at least 18" in diameter, a large VLS battery, heavy armor, and a large AD battery. The DN-1 America, the first developed by Baltimore Shipyards, is a good example of the type, with twenty 20" Electro-Thermal-Chemical (ETC) guns, 900 cells of Mk. 41 VLS, up to twenty-eight inches of steel-titanium composite armor, and an AD battery featuring eighty 6" DP guns, sixty Goalkeeper CIWS mounts, and nine hundred sixty Rolling Air-Frame Point Defence Missiles. The America was a joint project, developed with Consolidated Arms, Carson & Wolff Shipyards, Wuller and Farthing, MP Ordnance Corporation, and Neo-Athenia; so far, eight have been sold.

The Future

Baltimore Shipyards intends to eventually build its first submarines and develop new radars to replace the aging US Navy radars used on all designs of the Shipyards. The AN/SPY-1E Frigate AEGIS, developed in secret, is a stepping-stone to the radars of the future, with new automated systems and advanced electronics providing faster reaction times - one launch per second, as opposed to the one per two seconds of previous AEGIS systems - and more effective identification of (especially) littorial targets.

Further, it has recently released a Dreadnought that will displace 2.5 million tons - for comparison, the America only displaces 600,000 tons. Finally, plans are being made at Gage Munitions, where proposals for machine guns using the 6.8 x 43mm bullet and surface-to-air missiles for the Mk. 42 VLS are currently being considered.

The future appears bright for Baltimore Shipyards. Although its quiet endorsement of Foreign Minister Mark Warner for Prime Minister has not gone unnoticed, it is doubtful that the eventual prime minister would attempt to curtail the operations of Baltimore Shipyards. Further, sales have been rather brisk of late, with both Gage Munitions and Baltimore Shipyards receiving orders. Finally, with several new designs in the planning stages, the Shipyards seem adequately prepared for tomorrow.