Community Vessel Cutter

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CDF Naval Service
Community Vessel
Vessel class: Cutter
Role: Coast guard
Displacement: 3 500-4 000 tonnes
Length: 130 m
Total crew: 100 + up to 100 passengers
Captain: Lieutenant

Frigate.jpg

Most real world and many NationStates nations have separate coast guards and navies, sometimes with complex relationships like the RL United States Coast Guard which reports to the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and to the Department of Defense in wartime. In contrast, the Community of Sober Thought has no separate coast guard in the unified Community Defence Forces and these duties are exercised mainly by relevant portions of the CDF Naval Service.

Cutters are the main purpose-built vessels for conventional lightly or unarmed coast guard duties, assisted by similar-sized small craft tenders and much smaller minesweepers/layers. Heavily armed coastal defence in Sober Thought is provided by frigates, Naval Reserve corvettes, diesel-electric attack submarines and patrol boats.

Cutters are used for search-and-rescue, fisheries protection, sovereignty patrols, scientific research and goodwill visit missions. As such, many more long-term or short-term passengers join their normal crew, and the ship's captain might report to a civilian government official for the duration of the mission. Fortunately, the crew is half that of a normal frigate and housing provisions tend to be much more generous.


Building

Like the tender, the cutter’s hull is based upon that of the mass-produced frigate but substantially less armed and hence a smaller crew. Its only fixed weapon (for dual purpose anti-aircraft/anti-surface) is a pair of 40 mm guns a single turret. It is identical to those on cruisers and landing ships and is placed near the bow where the frigate’s 80 mm gun goes. Furthermore, the cutter lacks a good deal of plate armour found on the frigate.

Like light aircraft carriers, cutters were not part of the regular building programme of the Community Defence Forces. None were built before the CDF twentieth wave, but since that time two per wave have been built and assigned to CDF Coastal Command. They bear pennant numbers in the XG series to indicate their role coast guard auxiliary vessels.

During serious crises or open warfare, cutters still under construction could be completed as full-blown frigates or tenders. If the war were prolonged, existing cutters could be converted to frigates by adding anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft missiles, guns and other weapons. In practice, the twin 40 mm gun would remain rather than be replaced with a single 80 mm gun, but since conventional ammunition is rarely important in most naval warfare this would have little effect on their combat capability.


Sections

Like other naval vessels, the crew of the cutter is divided into departments or sections based upon their roles. The Bridge Section of 25 all ranks from the Naval Service is responsible for the navigation, communications and command functions of the ship. A Lieutenant serves as commanding officer, a Vice Lieutenant as ship’s executive officer and de facto section CO, a Vice Lieutentant as navigation officer and de facto section XO, one Warrant Officer (ship's petty officer), three Leading Sailors, six Master Sailors and twelve Sailors.

The most visible operational section on the ship is the Naval Air Section of 20 all ranks from the CDF Air Service and its lone HUS-77 Hudson search-and-rescue helicopter. It has two Vice Lieutenants (pilot-commanding officer and copilot-executive officer), one Vice Warrant Officer (ground crew commander), two Leading Fliers, three Master Fliers and 12 Fliers.

The vestigial Naval Weapons Section of 15 all ranks also includes the marine squad normal for a frigate, so most of its members are from the CDF Land Service. The crew operating the twin 40 mm guns consists of a Master Sailor and three Sailors while the boarding party consists of a Leading Soldier, a Master Soldier and nine Soldiers.

The Naval Engineering Section of 30 all ranks is only slightly reduced from that of a frigate or tender, since engines are engines regardless of armament. A Vice Lieutenant engineering officer and a VWO engineering petty officer oversee a section including two Leading Sailors, five Master Sailors and 21 Sailors.

The small Support Section of 10 all ranks is really an odd collection of three small teams:

  1. Medical Team: one Vice Lieutenant medical officer, a Master Soldier pharmacy technician and a Soldier medical orderly
  2. Stores Team: one Leading Sailor quartermaster, one Master Sailor and three Sailors
  3. Galley team: one Master Sailor cook, one Sailor assistant cook