French Gloire class Lance-Missiles Frégate de Fusion (Missile Cruiser)

French Gloire class Lance-Missiles Frégate de Fusion (Missile Cruiser)

Design Date: 2283

First Example Laid Down: 2282 (as a liner, conversion started in 2283)

First Example Completed: 2284

Fleets in Service: France

Number in Service: 2, in French service (Gloire and Invincible). As of summer 2301 only Gloire is in fleet service. Invincible is being rebuilt into a fighter carrier

History

With the outbreak of the Central Asian War, France looked immediately to expanding her space forces. One asset used was the use of merchant vessels, and French registered liners, like the “Tall Ships” were brought into service. However, at the time there were three of these vessels under construction. The most complete had much of the hull constructed and so was converted into a fighter carrier (Couronne), it not being worth deconstruction. The remaining two were less complete, and hence construction as a cruiser was possible. They were renamed Gloire and Invincible. In both cases the engineering section was essentially complete, and the ships completed with the fusion reactor and stutterwarp intended for the liner. The hull was unarmoured, and so two options were considered:

1.      Add armour to the skin, and complete the whole vessel as a conventional fusion frigate

2.     Leave the hull in its civilian specification and accept that the vessel should avoid close combat with heavily armoured ships. A heavy defensive armament would be provided, and offensive armament would be a large complement of missiles.

This second concept, a fast and unarmoured missile carrier, would be influential beyond France. However, for the French the Gloire and Invincible were budget vessels, utilising available materials to quickly expand the number of fast hulls capable of running down raiders.

The weapons systems were patterned on existing frégates but there was a production shortfall in the number of advanced targeting computers. A less effective commercial model was substituted. The heavy missile armament of 8 launchers was provided, each with a 3 round magazine capable of handling the Ritage missile. Unlike some other ships of the period, whose launchers were oversized to allow the use of the old stocks of Silke missiles, the launchers used were small and could only accommodate the Ritage. Hence in the 2290’s they could not accommodate the latest enhancements and were stuck with the baseline Ritage-1 (as it had become). A fairly standard complement of small craft was provided, with a single hangar carrying 2 Voir class utility/scout vehicles.

During the Central Asian War, and the German Revolutionary War these proved to be relatively effective at their designated anti-raider tasks. However their lack of armour or screens, combined with their inability to utilise more powerful missiles, lead to a reconsideration. These vessels could not stand up to a destroyer in a straight fight, and three options were considered for them:

1.   Demilitarisation and conversion to a long range explorer

2.   Rebuilding as a more typical frégate

3.   Rebuilding as a fighter carrier, an improved version of Couronne unrestricted by wartime build pressure.

It was decided to adopt option (3) and when the vessels came to their first reactor rebuild in the 2300’s to do a radical reconstruction of both into fighter carriers. This schedule was accelerated with the Kafer invasion of Aurore, and especially the loss of USS Sanchez in 2299. The Sanchez was patterned after the Gloire, albeit improved as a purpose built ship for that doctrine. It was decided to rebuild both ASAP. In late 2299 the Invincible was taken into dockyard hands for a two year rebuild. She was completed on schedule and took part in the Battle of Beowulf in 2302. The Gloire was in reserve in summer 2301, winding down for her planned decommissioning for the rebuild in December. It had been mooted placing her in service for the pursuit of the “Lone Wolf” earlier, but the amount of work needed to make her competitive against a Kafer Alpha was considered too great. With news of a more concerted invasion though she was temporarily recommissioned, but was used to replace ships on Earth defense duty. With the Invincible undocked as a fighter carrier, Gloire was docked and decommissioned for the rebuild, ending France’s experiment with “fast missile carriers”.

Cost Breakdown

Systems	MLv	Ship %
Offensive	57.483	31%
Defensive	3.42	2%
Propulsion	112.2	60%
Other	12.47	7%
Total	185.573

NB: Propulsion numbers assume no double counting of power used for tactical systems, hence this is really an undercount.

Performance

Warp efficiency: 4.40 (unloaded, all power to engines), 3.85 (unloaded, weapons etc. powered  up)

Power Plant: 180 MW fusion

Fuel: nil (may carry bladders for small craft)

Range: 7.7 light years

Endurance: six months life support

Mass: 8,713 tons unloaded

Cargo Capacity: 2,200 cubic meters

Crew: 119 (28 Bridge, 41 TAC, 8 Small Craft, 28 Engineering, 10 troops, and 4 medical); Passengers: upto 1

Comfort: 0;

Emergency Power: 1 week

Total Life Support: 120 men for 180 days

Cost: MLv185.6 (excluding launched weapons etc.)

Ship Status Sheet

Move: 9(8)

Screens: nil

Radiated Signature: 4(7)

Radial Reflected: 6

Lateral Reflected: 9

Target Computers: +1 (27 sets, each FC system has a TC);

Radial Profile: -1

Lateral Profile: +1

Armour: nil

Hull hits: 21/6 (by SC)

Power Plant Hits: 120/24

Active: 2x13, each with a redundant antenna

Passive: 2x10, each with a redundant antenna

Weapons

27 x1dbl lasers in masked turrets with UTES (2x 1238, 1x 1278, 1x 4567, 1x 3456, 11x 1234, 11x 1678)

Ordnance Load

8 launchers capable of handling Ritage-1, each with a 8 round magazine

Other Sensors and Electronics:

Navigation Radar

DSS

Gravitational

Hangar:

Carries 2x Voir class scouts (based on Voir drone, but put a hull around it. Far more sensible)

Crew Hits:

Bridge: Captain, Navigator, Helm, 3 Engineer, 4 Communications, 4 Computer

TAC: 27 Fire Control, 8 Remote Pilot, 2 Flight Control, 2 Active Operator, 2 Passive Operator

Damage Control: 14+10+14 = 38 (13 teams) (spare engineers plus troops and spare bridge pax – only 5 teams get +4 for engineering hits)