House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (61 page)

Paul-class destroyer

(for specification, see RMN Roland-class DD)

Number Built: 17+

Service Life: 1921–present

The
Paul of Tarsis
-class destroyer (known in service as the
Paul
class) is similar in design and identical in mission to the Manticoran
Roland
-class DD. Built from the same base plans, the unique preferences of the GSN produced several subtle differences between the two classes. The most notable internal difference is the split berthing that the GSN has built into all of their new construction to accommodate mixed-gender crews. Most other changes are minor, reflecting differences in sensor and electronics between the two navies.

Operationally, the GSN expects to use these ships in much the same way the RMN uses the
Rolands
. They have the stowage for extended operations for deep-raid or commerce protection missions. This represents a change for Grayson destroyer doctrine, one made possible only by the tremendous increase in mass and volume of these units.

LIGHT CRUISERS (CL)

Modern GSN light cruisers are the direct descendants of the “cruiser” type of hyper-capable warship used by Grayson in its wars with Masada after the rediscovery of Yeltsin’s Star but before the Alliance with Manticore. The larger of the two GSN hyper-capable designs, these ships were the largest locally produced units before the Alliance and served as the centerpieces of GSN combat formations during the last Masadan War.

Post-Alliance Grayson light cruisers serve as strategic scouts, commerce raiders/protectors, and screening elements for the wall of battle. These roles are often filled by destroyers in other modern navies, but the Graysons, as is typical for them, elected to go their own way. In this case, their decision was that the light cruiser was the smallest vessel they would build for extended-duration, independent operations. For that reason, Grayson CLs typically have proportionally larger hydrogen bunkers, more onboard repair facilities, and greater supply storage than their smaller DD consorts, because DDs are designed to travel with, and gain support from, the wall of battle’s support train.

GSN light cruiser commands thus serve much the same role as battlecruiser commands in other services. As such, assignment to command a light cruiser is an indication to a GSN officer that he is being considered for higher positions.

Glory-class cruiser

Mass: 83,000 tons

Dimensions: 381 × 40 × 30 m

Acceleration: 519.9 G (5.098 kps²)

80% Accel: 415.9 G (4.078 kps²)

Broadside: 4M, 3L, 2CM, 3AC

Chase: 1M, 1L, 1AC

Number Built: 1

Service Life: 1869–1903

Referred to simply as a “cruiser” when commissioned, GNS
Glory
was the first power projection unit of what most consider the modern GSN. Boasting an inertial compensator of home-built design and a true broadside missile battery of first-generation impeller-drive shipkillers, she was the largest and most powerful ship in the Navy for over a decade.

By the standards of the rest of the galaxy, she was hopelessly antiquated even before she was launched, with short-ranged ship-killing contact nuclear missiles, rocket-propelled counter-missiles, autocannon point defense, and a myopic beam armament. However, by the standards of the war with Masada, she was a powerful ship, well suited for duty as the system defense flagship for Yeltsin’s Star and finally capable of true power projection into Endicott.

Damaged during the First Battle of Yeltsin’s Star,
Glory
was decommissioned shortly after the first of the Alliance Technological Exchange program ships began to arrive.

Austin Grayson-class cruiser

Mass: 91,750 tons

Dimensions: 394 × 41 × 32 m

Acceleration: 519.4 G (5.094 kps²)

80% Accel: 415.6 G (4.075 kps²)

Broadside: 5M, 3L, 3CM, 3AC

Chase: 1M, 1L, 1CM, 1AC

Number Built: 2

Service Life: 1880–1904

GNS
Austin Grayson
and GNS
Covington
comprised the remaining two indigenously built cruisers in service at the start of the Alliance. While both are listed as the same class, several minor differences appeared in layout and weapons fit between the two vessels, as each of the three light cruisers in GSN service was rotated through refits at least once during its operational lifetime. Weapons fit was similar to GNS Glory, and equally obsolete by the standards of the rest of the galaxy at the time.

Austin Grayson
was the flagship of the GSN and was lost in the initial Masadan ambush at the First Battle of Yeltsin’s Star, while GNS
Covington
survived the battle only to be decommissioned by necessity along with
Glory
when the first modern units began to arrive from Manticore.
Covington
remains a museum ship in close orbit over Grayson at the time of this writing.

Matthias-class light cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Courageous-class CL)

Number Purchased: 9

Service Life: 1902–1921 PD

RMN
Courageous
-class light cruisers were presented to the GSN as part of the Technological Exchange Program on a similar basis to the
Noblesse
-class destroyers. Given the number of interoperable parts and the remaining stock of Mk50 shipkillers carried by both classes, there were plenty of spares to maintain them.

The
Matthias
class served the GSN well early in the war, when they were desperate for light units; but, like the
Jacob
-class destroyers, these were reassigned to the Polar Reaction Squadrons for System Defense Command by the time of Operation Buttercup. Three of the class were converted to interim early-warning system ships pending the completion of the GSN’s first large space surveillance platforms. All remaining units were placed in reserve by 1917 before complete decommissioning and materials reclamation in 1921.

David-class light cruiser

Mass: 130,500 tons

Dimensions: 443 x 46 x 35 m

Acceleration: 517.6 G (5.076 kps²)

80% Accel: 414.1 G (4.061 kps²)

Broadside: 6M, 5L, 6CM, 4PD

Chase: 2M, 1G, 3CM, 3PD

Number Built: 18

Service Life: 1904–present

The
David
class was the locally built variant of the Manticoran
Apollo
class, though benefiting from two decades of miniaturization advances and influenced by the Grayson’s stubborn refusal to uncritically accept any shipbuilding concepts even from its closest ally. Externally, the two classes are similar, though the Graysons replaced one broadside laser mount with a sixth missile tube and upgraded the chase energy mounts to grasers. Hull space constraints would not allow the total missile loadout to be increased, so each launcher dropped from twenty to sixteen missiles. The
David
-class light cruisers were much better armed than the
Joshua
class, but the defenses were not much better than those of the smaller ship. This fact was not lost on the critics of the platform, especially those who thought all small classes should be effective screening units first, with less emphasis given to other duties.

The
David
class, however, really shone operationally in the other independent duties to which the GSN would not assign destroyers. Its defenses were more than adequate for its primary roles of commerce protection, commerce raiding, anti-piracy, and picket work; and its operational endurance was superior, even for a light cruiser. The GSN has worked the few units of the
David
class hard over their lifetimes. By 1921, almost every senior commander had spent a few years of his early career in command of one of these ships on one of Grayson’s few detached duty stations.

Glory-class light cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Valiant-class CL)

Number Purchased: 7

Service Life: 1906–present

The growth of the GSN’s wall of battle consumed more local shipyard production capacity than was predicted. This led to particular difficulties in procuring lighter units, as the new battle fleet would create a desperate need for strategic scouting. Over the course of two years, seven new
Valiant
-class light cruisers were purchased from Manticore. The
Valiant
was a powerful unit for its time, well suited for deep raids and strikes, part and parcel of the prewar doctrine of the RMN. Its heavy broadside and average defenses are not quite as well suited to the missions the GSN prefers for light units, but the ships have still been well received. All of the
Glory
-class ships still in service are currently serving in the Protector’s Own.

Neophyte-class light cruiser

Mass: 145,000 tons

Dimensions: 459 x 48 x 37 m

Acceleration: 516.9 G (5.069 kps²)

80% Accel: 413.5 G (4.055 kps²)

Broadside: 8M, 5L, 6CM, 4PD

Chase: 2M, 1L, 3CM, 2PD

Number Captured: 2

Service Life: 1913–1916

Two of the Havenite
Frigate
-class light cruisers were bought into GSN service after Admiral Harrington returned from Cerberus with her fleet of captures, and both were assigned to the newly created Protector’s Own squadron shortly after arrival. While cutting-edge technology for Havenite warships at the time, Grayson found little to learn from the designs, and unlike the
Warlord
and
Mars
classes brought with them, these light cruisers had limited ammunition stowage and no interoperability of weapons between them and their larger brethren.

Both ships were relegated to training service shortly after being replaced with new-build
David
-class units and were decommissioned soon thereafter. Their hulks were towed out to the asteroid belt and used as target vessels during workups of the
Paul
-class destroyers.

Disciple-class light cruiser

(for specification, see RMN Avalon-class CL)

Number Built: 52+

Service Life: 1919–present

The
Disciple
-class light cruiser is almost a clone of the RMN
Avalon
class, locally built by the GSN. With numerous small differences in internal space allocation and electronics, the basic weapons fit between the two classes is identical. This faithful GSN reproduction of a Manticoran design is not so much a case of the GSN changing its design philosophy as of the RMN changing its own, as the RMN has begun to follow the GSN lead in terms of the “all graser broadside.” Production of the new class was just beginning when the war resumed in 1919, and the planned first flight was doubled in size as part of the emergency measures.

While the
Disciple
class as a whole has seen limited combat, individual units have more than proved their worth, both as independent operators and as members of the screen. Their off-bore capability in particular has been well received, given that it has multiplied their effective broadside.

The
Disciple
class also has the distinction of being the first of the smaller GSN warships to be built from the keel out to handle mixed crews, with space set aside for gender-segregated berthing facilities in keeping with Grayson social practices.

HEAVY CRUISERS (CA)

The GSN built its first heavy cruisers in the light of the realization that their new Havenite opponents had something the Masadans lacked: a dependence on an extended, potentially vulnerable trading network. The GSN recognized that their light cruisers were capable of conducting commerce attacks but wanted a platform capable of operating for long periods of time hundreds of light-years away from support. The same endurance characteristics that enabled heavy cruisers to hunt down merchantmen on distant stations naturally helped them convoy merchantmen to and from those same stations.

Battlecruisers could have been used, as in the RMN, but the desired characteristics of a deep raiding battlecruiser differed substantially from the fleet support battlecruisers the GSN already had in mind and would have necessitated the construction of two different classes. At this point, the necessary number of yards big enough to produce the desired number of battlecruisers of two types simply were not available when the need arose. Making a virtue of necessity, the Grayson heavy cruiser has thus come to fulfill much the same role as the battlecruiser in Manticoran service and has acquired the same romantic aura: long-range independent deep-space commands both beyond help and absolute master of their own destiny.