House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (62 page)

Berilynko-class heavy cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Warrior-class CA)

Number Donated: 3

Service Life: 1904–present

These three old Manticoran
Warrior
-class heavy cruisers marked for disposal were diverted to Grayson in 1904 as part of the Technological Exchange Program. While these ships appear to be named after a Grayson steading, they are actually named after a famous army general who made notable contributions during the Civil War.

Analysis of both Manticoran and Grayson experience with laser heads clearly demonstrated that the primary shipkiller had become the missile, but the traditional energy-range combat scenario clearly could not be ruled out, as Captain Honor Harrington’s engagement at Blackbird Base and against the Masadan battlecruiser
Thunder of God
indicated. Both the GSN Office of Shipbuilding and Doctrine and the Office of Training Command concluded that the high volume of fire which had been a major requirement in pre-laser head capital ship design had become far less relevant than sheer hitting power, however. Missiles had become even more effective at knocking down sidewalls before the energy engagement, improving targeting resolution and capability during the energy engagement, which reduced the need to saturate the potential target zone in order to secure hits. This led to the conclusion that the graser was a superior choice for shipboard energy mounts, despite the weapon’s mass and volume penalties in comparison to the laser, given its greater destructiveness and range, and the Grayson Space Navy conducted extensive simulations to test that conclusion. The simulation analysis was validated in operational practice and played a major role in the GSN’s preference for an all-graser broadside armament in everything from cruisers to superdreadnoughts.

Alvarez-class heavy cruiser

Mass: 319,500 tons

Dimensions: 531 × 64 × 54 m

Acceleration: 508.6 G (4.988 kps²)

80% Accel: 406.9 G (3.99 kps²)

Broadside: 14M, 5G, 8CM, 8PD

Chase: 3M, 1G, 5CM, 5PD

Number Built: 12

Service Life: 1904–present

The
Alvarez
-class CA is similar to a
Star Knight
-class CA, with specific GSN changes, most notably the all-graser broadside offensive beam armament. An even larger missile broadside and armor features better designed to counter laser heads also figure in the class’ larger mass. The emphasis on the missile as opposed to beam combat is taken by some as an indication that the GSN was quicker than the RMN to recognize the family of technologies which, combined, ultimately revolutionized space warfare during the Manticore-Havenite Wars. This view gives the GSN too much credit. The
Star Knight
, of course, is widely recognized now to be a revolutionary but transitional design, and the Grayson designers had the advantage of the better part of a full decade in deployable technology, plus the benefit of the hard-won combat experience both they and the Royal Manticoran Navy had amassed since the Manticoran class was first designed. The
Alvarez
design merely advances down the path Star Knight began, incorporating far heavier grasers in her reduced energy armament and using individually more capable point defense laser clusters.

The
Alvarez
-class CAs were the first locally built Grayson heavy cruisers and the largest mobile space structures the
Graysons
had built at the time of their completion. The importance of the heavy cruiser in Grayson service, similar to the RMN’s battlecruisers, makes the choice to name this class after a foreign officer a poignant reminder of the respect with which Commander Alvarez’s sacrifice is viewed.

Alliance-class heavy cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Star Knight-class CA)

Number Purchased: 5

Service Life: 1904–present

These were
Star Knight
-class ships directly purchased from Manticoran builders. They were largely unmodified in Grayson service and often served in mixed squadrons with the
Alvarez
class.

Protector Adrian-class heavy cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Edward Saganami-class CA)

Number Built: 36

Service Life: 1908–present

Originally on the books as simply the
Alvarez II
, this class was formally named the
Protector Adrian
class once the lead unit was commissioned. The RMN learned a lot from Grayson’s experiences with the
Alvarez
class, and the design for the
Saganami/Adrian
classes was a joint RMN/GSN project. These units represent in many ways the peak of cooperation between the RMN and GSN shipbuilders and were identical to the RMN
Edward Saganami
class in most respects. They are the largest production run of heavy cruisers in Grayson history at the time of this writing.

As built, these vessels corrected the biggest problem that the GSN had with the
Alvarez/Star Knight
line in operational service: their acceleration. Improved compensators, and the more powerful nodes required by a larger hull improved acceleration by nearly ninety gravities. This change shifted the balance of GSN heavy cruiser deployments, with the older
Alvarez
CAs moving into convoy escort roles and the Flight II’s forming the bulk of independent deep-raiding squadrons toward the end of the war. Remarkably, the number of GSN cruiser losses decreased during this period, due almost entirely to the nimbleness of the
Adrians
.

Proselyte-class heavy cruiser

Mass: 477,250 tons

Dimensions: 607 x 73 x 61 m

Acceleration: 501.1 G (4.914 kps²)

80% Accel: 400.9 G (3.931 kps²)

Broadside: 11M, 12L, 12CM, 10PD

Chase: 3M, 3G, 4CM, 6PD

Number Captured: 4

Service Life: 1913–present

These four
Mars
-class heavy cruisers were part of the StateSec forces that Admiral Harrington captured during her escape from the Cerberus system. While too antiquated to serve in a frontline role in an age of multi-drive missiles and too heavily built to be economical to refit, the four together were renamed the
Proselyte
class and have served for several years in the Protector’s Own.

Larger and more modern than any of the early captured specimens of Havenite hardware, they have reportedly received special Grayson-designed inertial compensator upgrades. This, ironically, makes them the only units of the
Mars
class to receive the necessary compensation hardware to make use of the full power capability of their impeller drives. Substantial performance gains have been made, though
Grayson
technicians report that the ships remain difficult to maintain. Unfortunately, most of the captured hardware consists of early production run units and extensive computer modeling and new plant operating software were required to bring the ships’ notorious Goshawk-Three fusion reactors up to GSN acceptance specifications. Nothing short of complete replacement could render the reliability of the plants completely satisfactory, however, and the expense has been too great up to this point. In the meantime, the fusion plants are reportedly known as “the Bombs” by their crews.

Burleson-class heavy cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Saganami-C-class CA)

Number Built: 17+

Service Life: 1921–present

Named for one of the first GSN captains to conduct an attack on the Endicott System, this class is an indigenously produced version of the RMN’s
Saganami-C
-class CA. While there have been some positive reports from the Manticorans on this design, none of the
Burlesons
have yet seen combat.

BATTLECRUISERS (BC)

GSN doctrine uses battlecruisers very differently from the RMN. This is one area where the two nations’ disparate strategic and operational needs clearly show in their tactical decisions. Independent of the need to protect a far-flung trading network and desperate to add mass to their wall of battle, the GSN initially saw battlecruisers as the centerpieces of heavy strategic and tactical scouting/antiscouting formations. As envisioned, battlecruiser missions included coordinating subordinate formations of cruisers and destroyers, concealing the exact makeup of the wall of battle using their powerful electronic warfare suites, hunting down and destroying enemy scouting forces attempting to determine that formation, and finally thickening the wall’s offensive or defensive firepower after battle had been joined. Twenty years of warfare have not fundamentally altered this doctrine, though the introduction of the pod battlecruiser has been seen by some as a move in a new direction, towards short, intense combat and limited individual survivability.

Tomkin-class battlecruiser

(for specification, see RMN Redoubtable-class BC)

Number Purchased: 16

Service Life: 1903–present

The RMN donated two full squadrons of old
Redoubtables
between 1903 and 1906 PD to bolster Grayson’s local defense forces. Like the smaller ships provided at the same time, these were refitted with modern electronics before delivery. Experience with the mixed laser/graser offensive energy battery in simulation and GSN fleet exercises helped form the Grayson opinion that mixed energy armaments were not optimal for their uses, in light of their requirement for battlecruisers to augment the wall and conduct heavy screening duties. In the
Grayson
view, quickly overwhelming a smaller target’s sidewalls with massed graser fire was more valuable than the theoretical antimissile capabilities of a dual-purpose laser weapon unable to fire fast enough to repel the salvo densities common in wall-of-battle engagements in even the early 1900s.

Like all imported ships, these were renamed upon delivery. GSN battlecruisers are named for deceased admirals and war heroes: Admiral Isaiah Tomkin died repelling the first Masadan hypership invasion in the last century.

Courvosier-class battlecruiser

Mass: 903,750 tons

Dimensions: 719 × 91 × 81 m

Acceleration: 514.7 G (5.048 kps²)

80% Accel: 411.8 G (4.038 kps²)

Broadside: 26M, 8G, 16CM, 16PD

Chase: 4M, 2G, 6CM, 6PD

Number Built: 47

Service Life: 1904–present

The
Courvosier
class is in many ways a clone of the RMN’s
Reliant
class. It is somewhat larger, mounts a somewhat heavier broadside, and has greater defensive capabilities. Like other GSN designs, it cut the beam broadside almost in half in terms of mounts, but those that remained were grasers with larger plasma beam emitter diameters and more powerful grav-lenses than previously installed on a battlecruiser in any navy.

The
Courvosier
class was in many ways as revolutionary for a battlecruiser as the Manticoran
Star Knight
was for a heavy cruiser. Uncompromisingly optimized for what was then regarded as high-volume missile combat, these ships have proven themselves to be powerful units, and they have clearly set the pattern for the GSN and the Alliance as a whole when it comes to smaller combatants. Although they have become much more vulnerable in an era of pod-based missile salvoes, they have served well throughout the war. With the resumption of hostilities, an emergency construction program ordered another four squadrons of this well-tried, reliable class, the last of which was delivered in late 1920.