NationStates Jolt Archive

((Due to colonial reach now being extended beyond the Great Barrier, internal transmissions often leak into deep space, allowing some interceptions. A civilian channel leaks into deep space after being accidentally broadcast through the Alpha-Epsilon jump gate as it was being used))

***Bretonia Colony News***

In an effort to close the rather large gap between the Victoria-class Battleship and the Mark 7 Bretonian Gunboat, the HMS Coventry was today given the go-ahead by the Office of the Admiralty. As per usual, the design of the company Bretonian Mining and Manufacturing was awarded the Armed Forces contract, and all Coventry-class cruisers will be constructed in their Southampton Shipyard facility, in the New London system.
Specifications are not yet final, nor declassified, but official announcements mentioned the following:

Length: 230 metres
Torpedoes: 6x Daranium-enhanced nuclear torpedo tubes (2x starboard, 2x port, 1x fore, 1x aft)
Flak turrets: 2x DU/plasma slug anti-cap ship flak turrets (1x fore, 1x aft)
Secondary: 10x anti-fighter particle turrets
Additional: 1x experimental meson blaster gun (forward turret, classified)
Propulsion: Ion glide drive (Mark 4) (2x emitter plates)
Sheath: Mark 1 energy sheath, 120 external microemitters
Construction: Standard capital ship superalloy endo-exo structure with 50mm Southampton adaptive hull armour plating
Fighter compliment: 10x Light Fighter (up to level 8 class), 2x Clydesdale-B troop deployment vessels
Estimated crew requirement: 15 officer grade, 155 enlisted crew
Power: 2x Class 55 MOX-based nuclear reactor cores
Computer: Mark 7 primary core, mark 1 redundant core, A13 AI compatible, holo-interface available, Class B internal ecology support
Estimated Refit Interval: 15 years
Estimated Hull Lifespan: 90 years
Planned Production Run: 10, 5 planned in 5 years
Misc.: 90 emergency lifepods (mark 3), active protection system (450 emergency forcefield generators, structural support bulkheads, emergency decompression protocol), Class 22 Power Distribution Network

The inclusion of two Class 55 reactor cores instead of a single, more powerful Class 70 Battleship Core as produced by Cambridge Orbital, came as a surprise to military enthusiasts especially considering the addition of the Victoria's energy sheath, which requires substantial power to operate at full settings. The removal of one DU/P flak cannon from the original design plan was also a surprise, as this severely limits its ability to engage larger vessels. The addition of two anti-fighter turrets, however, was expected. The cruiser is expected to face small civilian fighter crafts on a daily basis as it is deployed to terrorist and pirate hotspots.

According to Admiral Rochester, one of the heads of the Admiralty in the BRAF, said "in today’s world terrorism is a great threat. The last full-scale war Bretonia suffered was a civil war, which does not appear likely in the future. Terrorists do not have access to, nor wish to use, capital scale vessels, therefore the Coventry's primary mission has to be successful destruction of fighter level threats. Heavier targets can and already are being dealt with by any of our five battleships with great degrees of success. The Coventry is primarily being commissioned to give the Armed Forces more flexibility with greater numbers of smaller, but similarly potent, capital vessels. Battleships make for excellent multi-role military vessels, but their large size and thus small numbers make them rather inflexible when it comes to fleet deployments."

Terrorist leaders mocked the new efforts in recent communications responding to the announcement. The Mollys claimed that "no capital ship is small enough to navigate the gold asteroid fields of Dublin". The Corsairs suggested that more capital ships made for "riper pickings", while the Gaians used it as "yet another example of Bretonia wasting natural resources on irrelevant things". As usual police attempts to trace the transmissions met limited success. And as usual the police had no further comments on the matter.

The HMS Coventry, first ship of her class, is expected to fly from Southampton Shipyard under her own power in two years time.

In other news, Queen Carina is supposedly meeting with extra-Bretonians. The first aliens to be encountered by the HMS Victoria outside the Great Barrier have been entertained on the primary border station for some time now, in diplomatic talks. The HMS Royale, the monarchy's traditional get-about, has been seen docked at the station for the past day. No official government announcements have been made in regards to either the aliens or Queen Carina meeting with them. Armed Forces ships in the area, under direct command of the HMS Victoria, have declared the station a no-go area, and will destroy trespassers on-sight.

This is John Evans of BC News, signing off until next time.

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( am not a noob : new nation : old nation was airom)
Greetings.
Ambassador Lorenz Von Countstenrom the Desert Oasis here.
Our ministry of defence men are insisting that , as Ambassador to your country, I inquire on the availability of this new battleship.
I trust the price will be negotiable?
Alliances can be arranged, rivals silenced in return for these craft.
I thankyou for youre time.
Ambassador Lorenz Von Countstenrom

( am not a noob : new nation : old nation was airom)
Greetings.
Ambassador Lorenz Von Countstenrom the Desert Oasis here.
Our ministry of defence men are insisting that , as Ambassador to your country, I inquire on the availability of this new battleship.
I trust the price will be negotiable?
Alliances can be arranged, rivals silenced in return for these craft.
I thankyou for youre time.
Ambassador Lorenz Von Countstenrom

Unfortunately the Coventry-class cruiser utilises certain classified technologies and as such is unavailable to alien fleets at the time being.
However, we thank you for your interest.

Admiral Rochester
Office of the Admiralty
Bretonian Royal Armed Forces

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***Bretonia Colony News***

Today the HMS Coventry launched after a reletively smooth two years construction time. According to BMM engineers at Southampton Shipyard, construction went "as smooth as a Sidewinder Fang". There was a report of the computer core being damaged in some way, however the problem seems to have been rectified.

The Coventry is already a few thousand kilometres away from the New London --> Dublin Jump Gate on test manoeuvres. After a full shakedown and any necessary alterations are complete, she will be deployed to the Alpha-Epsilon system, the first area of space claimed by Bretonia outside of the Great Barrier. The forth planet in the system is currently being colonised and the Coventry will stand watch in case assistance is required. She will relieve the HMS Norfolk, the second ship of the advanced Victoria-class line and flagship of the Second Fleet. The HMS Norfolk will join the HMS Victoria in extreme-range exploration missions for several years.

The construction of the second ship of the Coventry class, the HMS Telford, will begin in a few weeks time. In addition to 10 cruisers, thousands of fighters and gunboats are being constructed in facilities all over Bretonian space as part of a universal military improvement program.

The police today announced a similar program of improvements, beginning with additional training for all current officers in the force and culminating in an additional 2,000 Cavalier-class light fighters for patrols. The increase in terrorism and crime has left the police force fairly weak recently, and the Chief Commander intends to change that.

The acid rain season on Planet Leeds looks set to continue for more than a week longer than the predicted time, with almost 100,000,000 residents trapped indoors. BMM says they "are eager to continue with our mining operations". BMM has not forced their workers to continue mining despite the rain as they did last year, due to fighting numerous legal battles with the Bretonian Government. Accusations of malpractice and inhumane working conditions are among the charges brought against them.

In oth...

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In other news: Today, the HMS Illustrious, third ship of the powerful new Victoria-class, launched after five years construction. Some minor alterations to the power systems and energy sheath generation matrix were made to the Illustrious, causing her to currently be the most powerful ship in the Bretonian fleet until the other two Victoria-class vessels receive these modifications in their scheduled refits. In addition, BMM announced the completion of two additional Coventry-class cruisers.

The Victoria-class battleship, the HMS Victoria being the first of the class launched ten years ago, is currently the most sophisticated battleship in the fleet. Boasting powerful offensive, defensive and fighter deployment capabilties, the Victoria line is being put to good use in base defence, exploratory and now first contact missions. The two existing ships of the line, the HMS Victoria and the HMS Norfolk, already have an impressive service record. The HMS Victoria is the first vessel to have breached the Great Barrier and to have made first contact with an alien race, while the HMS Norfolk has destroyed several key terrorist bases in the Dublin system and was the vessel which mapped the Alpha-Epsilon system, the first star system visited by Bretonian ships outside the Great Barrier. Thanks to the Norfolk, a small space station has been constructed next to a permanent jump gate in the Alpha-Epsilon system, making it a permanent addition to Bretonian territoriy. The Admiralty hopes the HMS Illustrious will have a similarly impressive record within the next few years.

The HMS Coventry, meanwhile, already proved itself last week. Having successfully completed testing operations in New London, requiring only minor changes to her PDS, the Coventry saved the capital from a potentially devasting terrorist attack before she was even put on active duty. As the Coventry left the testing area and travelled past the New London --> Dublin jump gate, a terrorist torpedo bombing squadron emerged from the jump gate, having gained illegal access codes. The Coventry was immediately under attack. The HMS Essex, an old Dunkirk-class battleship usually responsible for guarding the area, was away on a scheduled refit meaning the Coventry was alone until reinforcements could arrive from New London. Her energy sheath performed 'admirably', according to the Admiralty, deflecting heavy torpedo attack for a long enough period of time for her fighter-orientated turrets to destroy the entire squadron. Had the Coventry not been passing by at the time, the torpedo bombers would have had a free run to Planet New London herself, and could have initiated an orbital bombardment campaign before local police forces knew what hit them. Her crew has already received commendations for their service.

BMM PLC has assured the BRAF that the next Coventry and Victoria class ships will be of equally high quality. The next Coventry-class vessel is expected to be completed towards the end of this year, bringing the running total to four out of an ordered batch of ten. The next Victoria-class vessel should be ready to launch in one and a half years.

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In other news: Today, the HMS Illustrious, third ship of the powerful new Victoria-class, launched after five years construction. Some minor alterations to the power systems and energy sheath generation matrix were made to the Illustrious, causing her to currently be the most powerful ship in the Bretonian fleet until the other two Victoria-class vessels receive these modifications in their scheduled refits. In addition, BMM announced the completion of two additional Coventry-class cruisers.

The Victoria-class battleship, the HMS Victoria being the first of the class launched ten years ago, is currently the most sophisticated battleship in the fleet. Boasting powerful offensive, defensive and fighter deployment capabilities, the Victoria line is being put to good use in base defence, exploratory and now first contact missions. The two existing ships of the line, the HMS Victoria and the HMS Norfolk, already have an impressive service record. The HMS Victoria is the first vessel to have breached the Great Barrier and to have made first contact with an alien race, while the HMS Norfolk has destroyed several key terrorist bases in the Dublin system and was the vessel which mapped the Alpha-Epsilon system, the first star system visited by Bretonian ships outside the Great Barrier. Thanks to the Norfolk, a small space station has been constructed next to a permanent jump gate in the Alpha-Epsilon system, making it a permanent addition to Bretonian territory. The Admiralty hopes the HMS Illustrious will have a similarly impressive record within the next few years.

The HMS Coventry, meanwhile, already proved itself last week. Having successfully completed testing operations in New London, requiring only minor changes to her PDS, the Coventry saved the capital from a potentially devastating terrorist attack before she was even put on active duty. As the Coventry left the testing area and travelled past the New London --> Dublin jump gate, a terrorist torpedo bombing squadron emerged from the jump gate, having gained illegal access codes. The Coventry was immediately under attack. The HMS Essex, an old Dunkirk-class battleship usually responsible for guarding the area, was away on a scheduled refit meaning the Coventry was alone until reinforcements could arrive from New London. Her energy sheath performed 'admirably', according to the Admiralty, deflecting heavy torpedo attack for a long enough period of time for her fighter-orientated turrets to destroy the entire squadron. Had the Coventry not been passing by at the time, the torpedo bombers would have had a free run to Planet New London herself, and could have initiated an orbital bombardment campaign before local police forces knew what hit them. Her crew has already received commendations for their service.

BMM PLC has assured the BRAF that the next Coventry and Victoria class ships will be of equally high quality. The next Coventry-class vessel is expected to be completed towards the end of this year, bringing the running total to four out of an ordered batch of ten. The next Victoria-class vessel should be ready to launch in one and a half years.

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... s, the forth ship of the Coventry line, launched under her own power earlier this morning. The previous Coventry-class ship has been patrolling the Border Worlds of Bretonia, with some success at keeping pirates at bay. Pirates use these distant regions of our outermost systems as bases to launch attacks on merchant shipping, or any targets of opportunity. One of the Coventry-class' initial mandates was to be fully capable of dealing with these threats alone. That said, this latest vessel will join the previous ship in its patrols. Whether this is because the other ship cannot handle the volume of pirate activity out there alone or is just for added crew safety the BRAF is not saying.

In other news the government investigation of Bretonia Mining and Manufacturing (BMM) has come to a stand-still. Marred by claims of poor worker conditions and even outright exploitation have forced the government to finally take a stand against their long-time ally. BMM was initially given a free run of all Bretonian space when our people first discovered space travel, in an effort to quickly colonise other words and to establish industry everywhere. To assist in this, BMM were released from any 'hampering' restrictions another company may have been subject to.
The investigation was officially launched after claims that BMM had built a workers habitat on Leeds right on top of a known toxic waste dump.
The investigation has come to a halt when the government authorities followed a line of inquiry only to find the person they needed to talk to had been killed in a work-related accident. Although some suspect foul play, there is apparently no evidence. The government is looking at other lines of inquiry, whilst BMM is making progress in establishing acceptable working conditions in a hope to satisfy the government enough to call off the investigation.

BMM claims that these investigations will not hamper their ship production, saying "the military has no part in these foul claims, and we will continue to supply them with high quality vessels as always". The next ship of the Coventry line will take approximately two years to complete, however, due to 'technical difficulties and funding issues'. The next Victoria-class battleship has also been delayed by a year.

With war looking to be al...

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... and reports that all planned vessels have now been completed. BMM shipyards are once again being hired out to civilian shipping companies as the last of the planned Victoria-class battleships left for shakedown operations earlier this week.

With all planned battleships, cruisers and fighters now in place, the BRAF has begun anti-terrorist operations in Manchester, Dublin and Edinburgh, as well as placing battleships at key interchanges in the core world tradelane networks. Dubbed 'Operation: Clean-Up', this move is showing early signs of success, with news yesterday of a terrorist asteroid base being completely obliterated by the HMS Illustrious and her 23rd Saxony Raiders onboard fighter squadron.

The Coventry-class line has been deemed a 'success' by BRAF Command. All technological glitches were ironed out quickly and efficiently with minimal loss of resources or time. Coventry-class cruisers now patrol key systems in Bretonian territory, and there are even plans to send a lone Coventry on a short-range exploration mission to the third-nearest system to Alpha-Epsilon.

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