Tuesday 22 March 2016

Thoughts in French Major Combat Starship Production



When examining the “history” of 2300AD combat starship design there are turning points. One of the most significant is the development of starship fusion power and the deployment on the Ypres class (batch 1 Battle class) in 2259. Until this point everyone has been limited to fission reactors or turbine/ solar sail arrangements. The fusion reactor delivers twice the power to mass ratio of fission and requires fewer crew – it is (apparently) fully fuelled for decades and does not need reactor core changes like fission. It’s a much better technology.

Note this won’t examine low-end escort ships or fighters.

In 2259 the French have a monopoly on it. The question is how did these advances change their shipbuilding schemes. 

Let’s consider the pre-2259 warships available. The French we know built 50 MW fission powered, ca. 5-6,000 ton “destroyers” (destructeurs) and 160 MW fissioned powered “cruisers” (croiseur) of ca. 15-16,000 tons. The new fusion powered frigate (frégate) with their 150 MW fusion drives and ca. 10,000 tons are intermediates between these two ships – capable of possibly replacing both and doing the job better.

However, fusion reactors are expensive and supply is limited. If the French want to keep building numbers of hulls then perhaps it’s best to drop the “cruiser” for the new frigates, and if necessary keep building the destroyers.

Thus in the 2260’s the French stopped building large fission powered cruisers and built smaller fusion powered frigates with more capability. The first batch of five “battles” are the Ypres and in 2300-2301 these vessels are reaching the end of their lives, with only Ypres and Foudroyant remaining in French hands (the former is likely retired and sold off after the “Lone Wolf” incursion). The French continued building 150 MW frigates with a second batch (at least) of Battles (Castiglione and Austerlitz are deployed on the French Arm in summer 2301), and the Tonnant and Imperieuse (best translations being Thundering and Irresistible) follow different naming conventions to the Aconits at Aurore (Kersaint, Duperre and Vauqueiin are named after wet naval officers, Aconit is from the British Aconite, as in a British built Flower-class corvette manned by the Free French in WW1 and hence preserved).

Eventually fusion will become more available. The French Paladin class destroyers (sold off, including 3 to Ukraine as Kiev class) are roughly contemporary to the Ypres, as is Constellation class cruiser (sold off as Konstantin to Ukraine). No further cruisers were built but destroyer production continued with an upgraded version of the Paladin (Héros class) being built in parallel to the Austerlitz class. What was the Maréchal we must ask? I suggest that she was a version with a 150 MW fusion reactor built in the early 2270’s.

With fusion reactors becoming more available the French adopt the idea of a double sized frigate or grande frégate (“big ship” in English). Hence the Amiral class (of which Suffren is the lead ship of batch 1) making a huge leap in capability. Within five years of finishing the lead 300 MW frigate the French make another plunge to the “triple frigate” with the Statesman class (Richelieu being the lead ship).

Here it seems the French had need of hulls and couldn’t switch entirely over to the triple frigate – double frigate production continued apace with a second batch of Statesmans laid down during the CAW. The French government may have built a glut of these vessels as war production as at least 11 “cruisers” (i.e. double frigates) and probably 12-15 were built (assuming no CAW or WoGR losses, which is reasonable as neither could match them). If the French LD one per year from 2278 with 3 year build times then the program terminates in the early to mid-2290’s. We likely have say 3 Suffrens (pre-CAW programs, one sold to Japan and two killed at Tithonus), 3 Suffren II’s (Commissioned during the CAW) and then war lessons will cause lessons to be incorporated, along with advanced technologies (advanced composite hulls for example, a major leap akin to moving from simple steel to facehardened Krupp). Previously I’ve used the RN BC program as a guide and suggested 4 Tigre class (war program) as a solid 300 MW big frigate using full NM tech. Then a pair of Résolutions which parallel advances made with the Statemans. After this have the French go slightly crazy after observing the American Kennedy program and building a trio of superfast but unarmoured 300 MW frigates (Gloire class) in the early 2290’s (WoGR emergency program), before deciding to concentrate entirely on “triple frigates”.

Meanwhile, the destroyer program is churning out 150MW solid combat ships designed only for fighting in batches of six – 6 Soldat class, then 6 Patrie class and finally the Paris class of which 3 are in Commission in 2301 and 3 building. The next class with be Arcturus class.

The “superfrigate” by 2301 is building the third batch of five rather than three (the 3x 300 MW vessels that would have been built are instead an extra 2x 450 MW vessels), with 5 in service in summer 2301 (six built and Commissioned, one heavily damaged and effectively lost).

Reactor Production

This suggestion requires a major expansion of French fusion reactor production in the mid to late 2270’s. This is likely when production gets commercialised, and I suggest that the French reactor production didn’t expand fast enough and so with the coming of the CAW the French shared the technology with the major industrial concerns in allied states (like Trilon in America) and contracted for a lot of reactor sets.

Frigate
Program
Destroyer
Program
150 MW
Reactor equivs
2300-2305
5x new
450 MW vessels
Arcturus class
21
2295-2300
5x new
450 MW vessels
Paris class (6)
21
2290-2295
3x Gloire (300MW),
3x Richelieu (415 or 450 MW)
Patrie class (6)
21
2285-2900
Tigre (4)  and
Resolution (2)
Soldat class (6)
18
2280-2285
Suffren (6)
Marechel (6)
18 (9
per 5 yrs)
2275-2280
2270-2275
Tonnant (5)
Hero (6)
5
2265-2270
Austerlitz (5)
5
2260-2275
Ypres (5)
Paladin (6)
5

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting, Bryn! Have you ever thought of doing a sort of line/bar graphic showing what technologies were developed when, and then when each subsequent nation acquired it? It seems you could then have a guide to not only what each space force can make "now" in 2300-2302, but also what they could have had at any given time, thus allowing for a more accurate guide to retroactive design of ships never fully described in canon.

    You also note how building might have increased during international tension/crises (such as the CAW)...but have you considered also applying a "needs" measurement based on expansion of new colonies and development of established ones? As new colonies are established, any country will have to expand its capability to defend them (or maybe they didn't...but the reasons would need to be explained). It seems to me that there would be a correlation in this expansion to fleet size (and thus design as well) at any given time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've thought about it, and it's "to do" list.

    ReplyDelete