Roudland Space Force
Contents
The Roudland Space Force
The Roudland Space Force is the branch of the Roudland Military that deals with the defence of Roudland and the pursuit of its aims in the arena of space. To do this it employs a fleet of armed military spacecraft, literally hundreds of satellites, a ballistic missile protection system and several orbiting installations. Its expressed aim is to ‘further Roudland’s interests, whether on earth, in orbit of the earth or in wider space’. The Roudland Space Force was created from the Roudland Spacefleet, which itself was not a branch of the military per se, but a splinter of the Roudland Air Force. The Spacefleet was renamed and given its own branch of the military when the administration flooded money into the relatively overlooked area of space combat in the days and months following the Southern Gulf War. The war, in which almost half the Roudland space fleet was lost, proved that without adequate direction and funding, a space force was worthless, and nothing more than, in the words of a famous Kegmenistani commentator ‘an enormously priced lame duck’. To this end, the Roudland National Space Command Authority (NASCA) was set up, and with it was established the newly christened Roudland Space Force.
The Space Force comprises, at the present time, 4 Retribution Class Battlecruisers, 11 Vengeance Class Destroyers, 3 Monitor Class Assault Carriers, 6 Serenity Class Maintenance Vessels, 1 Conciliator Class Test Ship. The fleet is supported by two large space docks, Atlantia Dock and Caprica Dock, as well as the three SMART command platforms, Einstein, Newton and Darwin.
The Fleet
Retribution Class
The Retribution Class Battleship is the heaviest class of starship that the Roudland Space Force operates. It sits between the Pheonix and Intrepid-Class Titans of the SRSC in terms of power, armour and speed. The Retribution was planned as a class of six, but so far four have been built; the Retribution, Repulse, Remorseless and Revenge. The fifth and sixth ships, tentatively named Resolution and Roslin, have been put on hold, awaiting funding. This may be given clearance during summer 2007, but nothing has been confirmed at this point. The Retribution Class were built at Caprica Dock along with the Monitor Class vessels and were the first fully-constructed vessels of the new fleet.
The Retribution Class was designed by Major Anthony Barrett of RMID’s famed Keppler Space Vehicle Design Unit. He presented this design to Roudland Space Command and it was later handed over to Avion Space Technologies, based in Whitefall, to adapt the design into structural schematics. The Retribution Class ships have been handed to the four seniormost commanders of the Conciliator fleet, and will be launched first of the new fleet.
Roudland Space Force mantra is vehemently one of anti-capital ship warfare, and the Retribution has been designed with this as its sole purpose. It houses only the bare minimum of fighters, has next to no troop deployment capability, and has the largest weaponry of the entire fleet. It has been said that one Retribution Class could do the job of five Conciliator Class ships. The obvious centrepiece of the vessel is the MajoRail anti-capital ship cannon. Similar in size and displacement to a MAC cannon of the SRSC, it is a development of Roudland’s Rail Gun technology taken to a very large scale.
Dimensions:
Length: 1,450m
Height: 260m
Width: 600m
Crew: 3,800
Troops Carried: 180
Primary Weapons: 1 MajoRail Anti-Capital Ship Cannon, 200 66in Rail Guns
Secondary Weapons: 20 Envoy Missile Tubes, 300 Quad Barreled 25mm AA Batteries,
Air Group Compliment: 25 Viper Mk7
Vengeance Class
The Vengeance Class Heavy Destroyer is the primary class of ship operated by the Roudland Space Force, and is one of the most heavily armed and armoured ships of all the space-faring powers. Planned as a class of 15, these numbers were revised to 11 for the building process, and so far there are no immediate plans for any more in the class, although it has been said that 2 additional ships, the Vehement and Stormcloud, may be constructed if the original 11 prove their worth. The Vengeance Class vessels were constructed at Atlantia Dock, and the crew of the station is apparently very proud that in the time the equally-sized Caprica Dock built seven ships, Atlantia Dock built eleven.
Working with Major Anthony Barrett, Jean Roden-Bury of RMID based the Vengeance Class around the structural schematics of the Retribution Class (hence the similarly themed names for the classes). Roden-Bury adapted the designs to suit a closer-range and more multi-role vessel than the Retribution Class, and so the Vengeance Class has more fighters, more troop-carrying potential and more close-range armaments. Notable for its absence is the famed MajoRail Cannon, the supposed answer to the ‘MAC question’ that the RSF has been facing for some time. As of the January 2007, the MajoRail has been reserved for the heavier ships of the RSF, as the lack of any turning capability did not suit Roudland’s traditional focus on medium and close range space combat. In its place on the Vengeance Class are more of the new 66in guns, and a new class of anti-capital ship cannon, the 155in gun, also called the ‘Zeus’ model.
With survivability in mind when in close range combat, the Vengeance has even more armour than the Retribution class, with a full coating of MULSCATT II, as well as ablative armour and structural supports designed to support such heavy blows to the ship. As with all of Roudland’s space vessels, the Vengeance Class is a purely military ship, and has a honeycomb internal layout reminiscent of a submarine (albeit with more standing room, and a great deal more automation). The ship’s computer can isolate and contain areas of the ship that have been hit by enemy fire and threaten structural integrity, as well as areas in which a boarding party has landed, or those in which fires have broken out. This method of operation helped the Conciliators in battle, and with structural integrity vastly improved upon from the last generation, Vengeance Class Destroyers may be able to take much harder punishment.
Dimensions:
Length: 1,340m
Height: 240m
Width: 560m
Crew: 3,800
Troops Carried: 800
Primary Weapons: 32 Prow-Mounted 155in ‘Zeus’ Rail Guns, 240 66in Rail Guns
Secondary Weapons: 12 Envoy Missile Tubes, 300 Quad Barreled 25mm AA Batteries,
Air Group Compliment: 64 Viper Mk7, 16 ACB-70
Monitor Class
The Monitor Class Assault Carrier is the first move by Roudland from exclusively heavy anti-capital warships to medium-heavy carrier vessels that can deploy large numbers of fighters, bombers and dropships in a troop-deployment role. The Monitor Class Carriers are not only multi-role in the sense that they can deploy swarms of fighters as well as troops to the ground, but also in the fact that they have a compliment of heavy guns that are more than a match for most warships. The Monitor is also the fastest of the Roudland fleet, with a top speed of 47km/s when at full power to engines. Designed as a class of two troop ships to compliment the ‘Super’-Capital Carrier ‘Conqueror’, the Monitor Class and its role was rethought with the cancellation of the Conqueror project. The freeing-up of funds for the project was an unexpected boon for the Monitor Class, which received clearance for another ship, the Moore, to join the Monitor and Mobile, as well as a change in role; gone were the ideas of using the Monitor as a glorified Landing Platform Dock in space, replaced by the notion of ‘Command-Assault-Carrier’. The CAC concept was devised to give full coordination between operations on ground and in space; the Monitor Class is not only the command vessel for the spacefleet, but also a vital comms and control hub for operations on earth with a full Archer suite on board, as well as being able to provide communications and satellite support over enemy territory, as well as anti-satellite and ballistic missile coverage for ground troops.
The Monitor is less heavily armoured than the other two classes in the RSF, but this should not be misconstrued; the Monitor Class is easily as armoured as a Conciliator Class, if not moreso. The Guns carried on board are both quicker to fire and of a larger caliber than those on the Conciliators, and the Monitor Class is more than able to be used in an anti-capital ship context if the need should arrive. The Monitors were built alongside the Retribution Class Battleships at Caprica Dock.
Dimensions:
Length: 1.120m
Height: 310m
Width: 440m
Crew: 4,500
Troops Carried: 1,200
Primary Weapons: 6 Prow-Mounted 155in ‘Zeus’ Rail Guns, 90 66in Rail Guns
Secondary Weapons: 6 Envoy Missile Tubes, 400 Quad Barreled 25mm AA Batteries,
Air Group Compliment: 120 Viper Mk7, 48 ACB-70, 50 Rhino Mk6a VDOD
Deployments
Ships assigned to Atlantia Dock
1st Battlegroup:
RSV Monitor CRN 1106 (Flagship of fleet)
RSV Moore CRN 1307 (Currently guarding Kegmenistani Fleet Yards and Prevenient Grace station)
RSV Retribution RCD 6112
RSV Remorseless RCD 6314
RSV Vanguard VCN-7105 (Currently guarding Kegmenistani Fleet Yards and Prevenient Grace station)
RSV Victorious VCN-7106 (Currently guarding Kegmenistani Fleet Yards and Prevenient Grace station)
RSV Merciless VCN-7210
RSV Furious VCN-7240
RSV Venomous VCN-7103
RSV Vigilant VCN-7107
Ships assigned to Caprica Dock
2nd Battlegroup:
RSV Mobile CRN 1206
RSV Repulse RCD-6213
RSV Revenge RCD-6415
RSV Vengeance VCN-7101
RSV Vanquisher VCN-7102
RSV Vindictive VCN-7104
RSV Tempest VCN-7230
RSV Ferocious VCN-7220
Atlantia Class Space Docks
The Atlantia Class Space Docks were commissioned out of necessity; supporting a fleet as large as Roudland currently has was impossible for the small ‘Roston Station’ that was in place before the Southern Gulf War (and which was subsequently scrapped). The two docks are the hubs of the Roudland fleet, and are capable of supporting a full battlegroup as well as maintaining them and providing adequate fire support if engagements should take place near to them. Atlantia is in geosynchronous orbit above the Retroit Metropolitan Area, and Caprica is in orbit above the Scott Islands (a Roudland Territory off the coast of McGranaghanataria) in the South Sea.
Both docks have over 5,500 crew, as well as a compliment of 4,000 Orbital Marines, and have been designed to support the maintenance of up to 6 ships simultaneously if needed. The docks are similar in shape to an egg crate, with six large docks connected by a support network of walkways and living quarters. On top of the docks there are both runways similar to those of a seaborne aircraft carrier, as well as gun decks, missile tubes and flak batteries. The CICs of the docks are located deep within the ‘egg crate’ part of the dock, and not on the surface.
The stations serve as the home bases of the fleet and are also an important stepping stone in Roudland’s efforts to place a military base on the surface of the moon.
Crew: 5,500
Troops Stationed: 4,000
Primary Weapons: 450 66in Rail Guns, 25 ‘Big Mother Blue’ 96in Anti-Capital Ship Rail Guns, 1 Pivoting MajoRail Anti-Capital Ship Cannon
Secondary Weapons: 900 Quad Barrelled 25mm AA Batteries, 60 ‘Envoy’ Missile Batteries
On-Board Fighter Compliment: 100 Viper Mk7, 25 OMBF-30 ‘Comet’
The Pulse Drive
The most advanced space propulsion method currently in service, the Stewart-Mulgrew Magnetoplasma Pulse Drive (known commonly as a Pulse Drive) is the brainchild of two university professors from Super Rome and Roudland. They were brought together by RMID (Roudland Military Institute of Design) and the HAL Labs in a new joint venture, the Joint Institute for Space Propulsion Research (JISPR), which is based in southern Super Rome, and staffed by scientists from Roudland and Super Rome.
The Pulse Drive works along the lines of accelerating and ionising a propellant. Hydrogen is ionised by radio waves, and is then pushed into a chamber ‘threaded’ with magnetic fields. By spinning the ions in an axial motion, the ions are pushed out the rear of the engine, creating thrust. To power the whole drive, a large nuclear reactor is needed, as there is very large power usage when ionising the hydrogen and creating the magnetic fields.
The reactor is dedicated to the pulse drive, such is the amount of power it requires. Therefore, the drive, when needed, has to be ‘spun up’, very much like changing gears in a car. Modern vessels such as the Vengeance Class Destroyer and the Nebula Class can cruise easily at the lower speeds of around 5km/sec, and combat speeds of much lower proportions (120km/h or lower still) are attainable with the reactor on even a tenth power or less. When it comes to ‘burns’ (the colloquialism used to refer to high-speed travel using the pulse drive which traditionally lasts for a short time), the reactor has to be ‘spun up’ for a short time (minutes, not hours) in order to generate the enormous thrust effect. The higher speed wanted, the longer spinning up time needed.
There are essentially two ‘poles’ of performance for the Stewart-Mulgrew drive. One is acceleration, and the other is sustainable speed. Roudland’s military wanted a lower sustainable speed, but higher acceleration, for the Roudland Space Force required a propulsion system that gave them the ability to make short and sharp burns into (and out of) a firefight. The Super Roman model of pulse drive is different in that it is somewhat slower to reach a high speed; but this higher speed is very much higher than what the Roudland ships can manage.
Speeds have not been fully tested yet, and likely will not be confirmed until the first flights of ships newly fitted with the drives; on its maiden burn the RSV Monitor achieved an astonishing 46km/s. However, the computer simulations carried out at RMID estimated the Roudland pulse drive to max out at 40,000 m/s (or, in RSF terminology, ‘40 Kicks’), with the Super Roman system reaching something in the vicinity of 60-65,000 m/s. These speeds can only be sustained for a short time though without the reactor needing a resting period. 2-3 days is expected to be the ‘burn’ limit, with 12-18 hours of rest needed between burns of this length. It should be noted that this is different in a short combat burn situation; the RSTV Conciliator, the RSF test bed vessel was able to complete twelve burns of 2-3 minutes duration at 14 km/sec without needing rest.
The pulse drive is not expected to get any smaller in the foreseeable future, and so ships under 250m length will not be able to carry it, due to the enormous space taken up by the reactor needed to power it.
MULSCATT II Armour Plating System
MULSCATT II (Multi-Layer Scatter Armour version 2) is the name for the armour plating system utilised on the ships of the Roudland Space Force (RSF). After the poor performance of first generation MULSCATT during the orbital confrontation of the Southern Gulf War, the decision was made to completely reinvent the armour, with new technology, but utilising the same principles, thereby keeping the nomenclature.
MULSCATT II was developed using numerous government agencies, foreign support and private organisations and research institutes. These are formed mainly of: RMID (Roudland Military Institute for Design), RoudCorp Developmental Weapons and Materials, Avion Space Technologies Cladding and Support Research, Roston University Institute for Superhard Material Research, Whitefall Technological University Centre for Nanotechnological Advancement, KegmenistArms Armour Plating Department and the Roudland National Centre for Advanced Materials and Construction. Several smaller companies and departments also contributed in the research and design process, including several small Violet Strawberries companies and research labs.
The armour itself is a combination of several materials and cladding techniques. The main body of the armour is made from (Carbon-60) Fullerite, or, more specifically, polymerized single walled nanotubes (which are made from ultrahard Fullerite) then reinforced with Titanium cladding. This results in an extremely hard surface to the armour, but one, thanks to the polymerised nanotubes, that can sustain levels of impact pressure in the extreme; the structure of ultrahard Fullerite is ideal for the absorption of heavy blows from cannon fire and missiles.
The Fullerite ‘layer’ faces the outside of the ship, with the Titanium cladding effectively acting as a foundation for the bulk of the armour. The ablative nature of the armour is achieved by the layer of Tungsten Carbide, itself coated in Titanium Nitrate, bolted at the characteristic angles of MULSCATT, on or slightly away from the actual Fullerite ‘face’ of the armour. This layer is itself extremely hard (and heat resistant), but is intended not to be the bulk of the armour, but instead to protects against small calibre (up to 40 inch) munitions and anti-ship missiles.
MULSCATT II is a technological leap away from the original armour, and marks a noticeable increase in military technologies in Roudland being developed using multi-national public-private partnerships. It is fitted on all RSF ships, and, although heavy, enhances the ships’ performance immeasurably compared to the frail in comparison Conciliator class cruisers. It gives Roudland the ability to engage ships of all types in orbit, and ensures that vessel integrity is the best it possibly can be.
