Community Vessel Escort Aircraft Carrier

The Community Defence Forces of Sober Thought rely upon air power, not only in the CDF Air Service but also in the CDF Naval Service. Hence no surface ship is without aircraft -- whether helicopters, conventional jet airplanes or vertical/short take off and landing airplanes. Furthermore, both the fleet and escort aircraft carriers have aircraft as their primary defensive and offensive weapons system.

The CDF relies on the fleet aircraft carrier for strategic force projection of naval air power mainly with conventional airplanes, and the escort aircraft carrier for tactical air superiority with helicopters or V/STOL airplanes. When numbers, weight and staying power are important, and consequently cost, time and space no object, the best choice is the fleet carrier. However, when the job is smaller, harder to get to or more specialised, the best choice may be the escort carrier.

Building

The tactical carrier's real world models are those of the European NATO navies: Britain's HMS Invincible-class, Italy's Garibaldi and Spain's Principe de Asturias. The CDF escort carrier follows the Invincible most closely in size (actually displacing more than four thousand tonnes more); the Garibaldi in profile; and Principe de Asturias in the mixture of V/STOL and rotary wing aircraft.

Sober Thought's equivalent is no longer than its models, so it can only carry helicopters and V/STOL airplanes not conventional propeller or jet propelled airplanes; however, the CDF escort carrier is broader and has an appreciably greater displacement so that it may accommodate more aircraft its RL equivalents but not nearly as many as its larger sibling the fleet carrier.

Since the escort carrier is a niche warship whose main roles could already be assumed by the fleet carriers and hybrid cruisers-helicopter carriers, the escort carrier was not included in the original building programme based on population waves of one hundred million citizens. The Community Defence Forces expansion programme in all three environments was suspended after completing the twentieth population wave, but some naval construction continued to replace obsolescent ships.

Finally, one escort carrier was commissioned in each population wave from the 25th through the 30th as supplemental, not replacement, construction. The first six escort carriers were named with hull or pennant numbers E-1 through E-6 and complimentary adjectives beginning with E, viz: CV Excellent (E-1), CV Esteemed (E-2), CV Eloquent (E-3), CV Eminent (E-4), CV Elegant (E-5) and CV Exemplary (E-6). Names considered for future programmes include Effusive, Efficient, Exciting, Extraordinary, Emphatic, Empowered, Earnest, Exhalted, Exhilarating and Exquisite.

Naval component

The purely naval component on the ship consists of about 550 all ranks organised into five sections: bridge, naval weapons, naval engineering and ship's support. The ship's sharp end is actually provided by the air component, but its non-aircraft weapons are controlled by the Naval Weapons Section consisting of about 150 all ranks under a Chief Lieutenant. The NWS operates four weapons systems:

• quadruple anti-aircraft launchers: one battery in each of the ship's quadrants, located on the exterior hull below the flight deck, 192 missiles
• twin 40 mm dual purpose gun turrets: two batteries located on the flight deck, one fore and one aft the island
• single anti-ship launchers: one port stern and one starboard stern, 20 missiles
• twin torpedo tubes: one port bow and one starboard bow, 12 torpedoes

The ship's soft end starts with the Bridge Section consisting of about 100 all ranks under a Chief Commander acting as captain and Commander as executive officer. The officers and other ranks in this section are responsible command decisions, navigation, communications, sensors, etc. The Naval Engineering Section, consisting of about 150 all ranks under a Chief Lieutenant, keeps the ship moving. The equally well-staffed Support Section keeps the crew moving and the internal fixtures of the ship working.

Air component

CDF naval aviation on the tactical carrier is divided into two parts, both under the command of the same Vice Commander: a permanent or semi-permanent command and support element for the Air Wing, and the mission element of appropriate aircraft and personnel. The command and support element consists of about two dozen all ranks and operates a lone helicopter (HU-77 Huan utility, HUS-77 Hudson search-and-rescue or HTN-55 Hortense transport helicopter) in a supporting or auxiliary role.

When configured for tactical air superiority, the ship carries two squadrons of F-22 Faith V/STOL airplanes with about 360 additional air crew; for anti-submarine warfare, two squadrons of HUBR-77 Hubert ASW helicopters with about 450; for amphibious landings, one squadron of airplanes (F-22s) and one squadron of helicopters (HG-9 Hugo attack, HU-70 Huo land utility, HT-55 Hatty land transport helicopters, or some combination thereof) with about 400.

Land component

The CDF Land Service provides Marines and regular soldiers for service on the ship. At the minimum, there is a 35-strong Light Infantry platoon serving as a security detail, and often it is a full 115-strong company.

The escort carrier may also mount -- either alone or in concert with landing ships or cruiser-helicopter carrier hybrids -- amphibious assaults. For this purpose, the number of marine or air mobile infantry can grow up to a weak brigade of 1 000 all ranks. At this level, however, the ship is hopelessly overcrowded and vulnerable to attack.