Mark V Shipbuilding Programme
The Mark V Shipbuilding Programme
The introduction a few years ago of the Mark V program gave the Holy Empire a new generation of fast, stealthy carriers, cruisers and missile ships. All the ships of the Mark V program boasted light-weight foamed alloy construction, powerful and silent modular integrated electric drives and impressive stealth capabilities. Most were notable for the use of trimaran and catamarran hulls.
Illustration of a Majesty-class carrier, Citadel-class command cruiser and Wraith-class missile ship. Both the carriers and command cruisers are built on trimaran hulls, employ stealth features and are capable of 40-plus knots. The Wraith is built on a catamaran hull, carries 200 vertical launch missile cells and is capable of 50 plus knots. It would seem that the greatest use for this vessel is for costal work, however, they have been used in some more divese areas.
After the initial delivery of five Majesty-class carriers, the Imperial Navy added five additional carriers. Likewise, it has increased its command cruiser-led strike groups from seven to fourteen. The Imperial Navy has also introduced two new classes of cruisers to supplement the Joshua-class cruisers.
The Samuel II-class cruiser, like its predecessor the Joshua-class, is a monohull exception in the Mark V program. Its light-weight, radar-absorbent foamed alloy construction makes it nearly invisible to radar detection and its non-cavitating drive makes it swift and silent. It carries over 600 vertical launch cells, capable of firing a single volley of 600 independently targeted, AI-controlled missiles.
The Daniel III-class cruiser features the same construction and propulsion as its sister classes. However, it reduces the number of vertical launch cells to 200 and replaces them with expanded aviation capabilities and fore and aft magnetic particle weapons. These weapons are rumoured to be based on the Crimson Star weapon developed by the Varessan Commonwealth and deployed by the Upper Virginian Air Force in its coup against General Altman. In that coup, a single Crimson Star, deployed on a single aircraft, totally destroyed Altman's HQ and sank a task group of four loyalist frigates and cruisers on one pass.
