Independent Hitmen
11-11-2005, 21:14
OOC: This is just a thread I plan to use for announcements so that nobody can scream WHERE DID THAT COME FROM in RP's that I take part in. Whilst I don't expect to use the thread that much, I hope that it will become a good source of background reading for those that I am RPing with, and those that I hopefully will in the future. Hopefully this will also be the foundation of a NSwiki page that I hope to put together in the near(ish) future.
IC:
Published in a Leading IH Magazine, frequently read by Naval officers.
The Capital Ship Naval Review 2005.
The report commissioned by the Department for Defence was tasked at looking at the current structure of the Independent Hitmen Naval Surface Fleet and whether it will meet the ever expanding needs of the USIH in its current inventory and organisation. A subcommittee was subsequently formed to look at the ways in which the Surface Fleet can expand in order to maintain its assertiveness in the world. This included examining ways of allowing the Surface Fleet to play a larger part in foreign policy, particularly towards maintaining stability in other regions of the world threatened with internal difficulties whilst also being or maintaining a highly capable High Sea’s Fleet capable of large scale actions against an aggressive foreign power.
The report’s findings about the current status of the Surface Fleet highlighted areas which are suffering from under-investment which may adversely affect the ability to deal with the kind of large scale conflict that was only narrowly avoided recently. A particular area that was highlighted during the troubles was the lack of a developed Anti-Shipping Missile for use against enemy capital ships, especially carriers and large battleships. This meant that there was a lack of offensive capability for the fleet’s principle striking arm, the carrier-bourne attack aircraft (FA/18 Super Hornets). This was in direct contrast to the Intelligent Neighbours strike aircraft which used their latest variant Hex-X missiles to great effect off the coast of Ohia Island, sinking the Nimitz Class Carrier Lamboda and heavily damaging the Strike Carrier Independence.
Immediate recommendations to the Naval Department lead to the adoption of the J Corp produced AS-1B missile in order to fill the gap that exists in this area. The missile is being changed from its -1A prototype standard in order for it to be fitted on the new Mk.3 Sea Smart Missile System which is being implemented on fleet units to launch a new generation of missiles. First stocks of this weapon are nearing completion, and some 1,500 units are due to be in active service before the end of the year (RL). The submarine launched version has yet to be fully tested and excepted and so the DoD have not yet given it an official designation. The Submarine Fleet will continue to use the Harpoon Anti-Ship missile, stocks of which will increase as it is gradually phased out of Surface Fleet operations.
In actual vessel strength the current capital ship force was evaluated by a team of serving and retired officers in the IN Navy. The “escort” strength was assessed by a separate committee and the report is expected to be released to the public in the near future.
The Capital Ship report was chaired by Fleet Admiral David Hower Rtd and evaluated the performance of those ships in past conflicts and mission assignments. The conclusions reached were highly complementary to the crews of the vessels, but sited a real and urgent need for expansion in order to maintain levels similar to that of other world powers.
The current number of serving Aircraft Carriers, reduced to 51 after the loss of Lamboda, was evaluated as being too few to meet the demands that would be put on the Navy in the years to come. The construction and implementation of the 8 brand new New England Class Fleet Carriers was praised by the committee, as was the re-designation of other carriers to form more cohesive Strike Groups.
The current Fleet Carrier Inventory includes 8 Fleet Carriers (New England Class), 6 Heavy Strike Carriers (Periocles Class), 7 Strike Carriers (Isomer Class), 26 Standard Carriers (Nimitz Class) and 4 Low Detection Carriers (Cassandra Class).
A recommendation was made that the Fleet Carrier numbers be increased by a further 50% to a total of 12. This would allow a powerful presence to be maintained in specific theatres without leaving the Home Fleet at a reduced status, and would allow more complete defence of major IH assets.
The report also found that the number of lighter carriers should be increased to allow a more flexible response to any given act by a foreign power, or for other needs for the navy. The report suggested an increase in the number of Standard Carriers of at least 25%, within the next three years, with a 50% increase within five. However the report advised that the Nimitz Class should not be the only model considered for this increase, and despite the costs associated with another class being included it recommended that other companies tender bids for at least 50% of the increase.
The construction of an additional 2 Low Detection Carriers was also advised, to bring the total to 6 despite the recent increase in maintenance costs for the four already in service. The use of these carriers for monitoring areas of likely importance to the main carrier groups as well as in covert support of ground forces and surface action groups means that they are a useful, if not completely vital, part of the Carrier Inventory.
The total Carrier Inventory is expected to exceeding 100 by the time that all the findings of the report are carried out. This should enable the USIH to go into 2006 maintaining its strong naval tradition with the newest and most advanced carrier force that it can. The committee’s report was not however limited to just the Carrier Inventory, it included the Dreadnought, Battleship, and Heavy Cruiser inventories as well as numerous Naval Weapons Systems.
The single dreadnought maintained by the IH navy, IHS Firefly has proven its worth as a command and control facility as well as a fearsome proposition with its main guns and missile armament. After the sale of the two Douijin Class vessels, the fire support needs for amphibious landings were primarily handled by aircraft, be it carrier bourne fighter bombers or long range heavy bombers. However there are situations where they are not feasible and so the introduction of the Element Class Battleship led to naval bombardment regaining a much higher profile. This led to questions about the possibility of an increase in the numbers of Dreadnoughts currently serving, especially with several other world navies increasing their own Dreadnought Inventories indicating that this may indeed be a feasible option.
Further investigation into this area led the committee to conclude that the possibility of increasing the number of dreadnoughts in active service to five. However the committee did stop short of recommending the increase, and only included that the possibility existed and that further research should be done into the matter.
The current Battleship Inventory stands at 20 active vessels split between the Iowa, Aasimar and Element Classes. The five Element Class Battleships are the newest of the type and have yet to see active combat having only fired their main armaments at target ranges. The Aasimar Class are tried and tested ships that have proved their worth in several conflicts, the most recent one involved heavy damage to IHS Sabre but due to the heavy armour afforded such ships she was able to survive and is currently undergoing refit in PortHaven.
The usefulness of the Battleship was confirmed in this conflict, where their ability to be a floating missile battery as well as providing backup Command and Control functions and also the ability to support ground operations with long range artillery fire from her main armament. Advocates of the Battleship were pleased with the performance, and the Presidential Citation awarded to the crew of IHS Hawk appears to confirm this. Capitalising on this success the committee believes that the commission of a further five Aasimar Class Battleships and three more Element Class Battleships is warranted and should be completed as soon as possible. The report also advised that further research be carried out into the armour potential of the new compound being implemented in the Element Class vessels (BB-92 onwards). This move is thought to have also been pushed for by Senior Marine and Army Recon units, as well as several Special Forces advocates.
The introduction of the Greek Class Heavy Cruiser’s that is currently ongoing was also examined by the committee. The original order has yet to be completed with only five vessels out of a total of twelve currently being operational, however in numerous training scenarios the class has performed well in its tasks that have been set. The new gunnery systems particularly have received high praise from the committee, as has the standard pattern target acquisition radar on the vessels. Further information on the class was restricted and so was unable for release to the public.
The reports examination of the Command and Control, Organisation and Tactical Doctrine of the Surface Fleet is also being withheld by the Naval Section of the Department of Defence for security reasons.
IC:
Published in a Leading IH Magazine, frequently read by Naval officers.
The Capital Ship Naval Review 2005.
The report commissioned by the Department for Defence was tasked at looking at the current structure of the Independent Hitmen Naval Surface Fleet and whether it will meet the ever expanding needs of the USIH in its current inventory and organisation. A subcommittee was subsequently formed to look at the ways in which the Surface Fleet can expand in order to maintain its assertiveness in the world. This included examining ways of allowing the Surface Fleet to play a larger part in foreign policy, particularly towards maintaining stability in other regions of the world threatened with internal difficulties whilst also being or maintaining a highly capable High Sea’s Fleet capable of large scale actions against an aggressive foreign power.
The report’s findings about the current status of the Surface Fleet highlighted areas which are suffering from under-investment which may adversely affect the ability to deal with the kind of large scale conflict that was only narrowly avoided recently. A particular area that was highlighted during the troubles was the lack of a developed Anti-Shipping Missile for use against enemy capital ships, especially carriers and large battleships. This meant that there was a lack of offensive capability for the fleet’s principle striking arm, the carrier-bourne attack aircraft (FA/18 Super Hornets). This was in direct contrast to the Intelligent Neighbours strike aircraft which used their latest variant Hex-X missiles to great effect off the coast of Ohia Island, sinking the Nimitz Class Carrier Lamboda and heavily damaging the Strike Carrier Independence.
Immediate recommendations to the Naval Department lead to the adoption of the J Corp produced AS-1B missile in order to fill the gap that exists in this area. The missile is being changed from its -1A prototype standard in order for it to be fitted on the new Mk.3 Sea Smart Missile System which is being implemented on fleet units to launch a new generation of missiles. First stocks of this weapon are nearing completion, and some 1,500 units are due to be in active service before the end of the year (RL). The submarine launched version has yet to be fully tested and excepted and so the DoD have not yet given it an official designation. The Submarine Fleet will continue to use the Harpoon Anti-Ship missile, stocks of which will increase as it is gradually phased out of Surface Fleet operations.
In actual vessel strength the current capital ship force was evaluated by a team of serving and retired officers in the IN Navy. The “escort” strength was assessed by a separate committee and the report is expected to be released to the public in the near future.
The Capital Ship report was chaired by Fleet Admiral David Hower Rtd and evaluated the performance of those ships in past conflicts and mission assignments. The conclusions reached were highly complementary to the crews of the vessels, but sited a real and urgent need for expansion in order to maintain levels similar to that of other world powers.
The current number of serving Aircraft Carriers, reduced to 51 after the loss of Lamboda, was evaluated as being too few to meet the demands that would be put on the Navy in the years to come. The construction and implementation of the 8 brand new New England Class Fleet Carriers was praised by the committee, as was the re-designation of other carriers to form more cohesive Strike Groups.
The current Fleet Carrier Inventory includes 8 Fleet Carriers (New England Class), 6 Heavy Strike Carriers (Periocles Class), 7 Strike Carriers (Isomer Class), 26 Standard Carriers (Nimitz Class) and 4 Low Detection Carriers (Cassandra Class).
A recommendation was made that the Fleet Carrier numbers be increased by a further 50% to a total of 12. This would allow a powerful presence to be maintained in specific theatres without leaving the Home Fleet at a reduced status, and would allow more complete defence of major IH assets.
The report also found that the number of lighter carriers should be increased to allow a more flexible response to any given act by a foreign power, or for other needs for the navy. The report suggested an increase in the number of Standard Carriers of at least 25%, within the next three years, with a 50% increase within five. However the report advised that the Nimitz Class should not be the only model considered for this increase, and despite the costs associated with another class being included it recommended that other companies tender bids for at least 50% of the increase.
The construction of an additional 2 Low Detection Carriers was also advised, to bring the total to 6 despite the recent increase in maintenance costs for the four already in service. The use of these carriers for monitoring areas of likely importance to the main carrier groups as well as in covert support of ground forces and surface action groups means that they are a useful, if not completely vital, part of the Carrier Inventory.
The total Carrier Inventory is expected to exceeding 100 by the time that all the findings of the report are carried out. This should enable the USIH to go into 2006 maintaining its strong naval tradition with the newest and most advanced carrier force that it can. The committee’s report was not however limited to just the Carrier Inventory, it included the Dreadnought, Battleship, and Heavy Cruiser inventories as well as numerous Naval Weapons Systems.
The single dreadnought maintained by the IH navy, IHS Firefly has proven its worth as a command and control facility as well as a fearsome proposition with its main guns and missile armament. After the sale of the two Douijin Class vessels, the fire support needs for amphibious landings were primarily handled by aircraft, be it carrier bourne fighter bombers or long range heavy bombers. However there are situations where they are not feasible and so the introduction of the Element Class Battleship led to naval bombardment regaining a much higher profile. This led to questions about the possibility of an increase in the numbers of Dreadnoughts currently serving, especially with several other world navies increasing their own Dreadnought Inventories indicating that this may indeed be a feasible option.
Further investigation into this area led the committee to conclude that the possibility of increasing the number of dreadnoughts in active service to five. However the committee did stop short of recommending the increase, and only included that the possibility existed and that further research should be done into the matter.
The current Battleship Inventory stands at 20 active vessels split between the Iowa, Aasimar and Element Classes. The five Element Class Battleships are the newest of the type and have yet to see active combat having only fired their main armaments at target ranges. The Aasimar Class are tried and tested ships that have proved their worth in several conflicts, the most recent one involved heavy damage to IHS Sabre but due to the heavy armour afforded such ships she was able to survive and is currently undergoing refit in PortHaven.
The usefulness of the Battleship was confirmed in this conflict, where their ability to be a floating missile battery as well as providing backup Command and Control functions and also the ability to support ground operations with long range artillery fire from her main armament. Advocates of the Battleship were pleased with the performance, and the Presidential Citation awarded to the crew of IHS Hawk appears to confirm this. Capitalising on this success the committee believes that the commission of a further five Aasimar Class Battleships and three more Element Class Battleships is warranted and should be completed as soon as possible. The report also advised that further research be carried out into the armour potential of the new compound being implemented in the Element Class vessels (BB-92 onwards). This move is thought to have also been pushed for by Senior Marine and Army Recon units, as well as several Special Forces advocates.
The introduction of the Greek Class Heavy Cruiser’s that is currently ongoing was also examined by the committee. The original order has yet to be completed with only five vessels out of a total of twelve currently being operational, however in numerous training scenarios the class has performed well in its tasks that have been set. The new gunnery systems particularly have received high praise from the committee, as has the standard pattern target acquisition radar on the vessels. Further information on the class was restricted and so was unable for release to the public.
The reports examination of the Command and Control, Organisation and Tactical Doctrine of the Surface Fleet is also being withheld by the Naval Section of the Department of Defence for security reasons.