Dreadnought
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:16 pm
The Dreadnought class of battleships were the largest and most powerful vessels in the Forum Navy in the 21st and 22nd centuries. Originally constructed for the ruling Ad Captandum Vulgus party during the <<SMB Civil War>>, they did not see use in combat until the <<War of 2101,>> about 40 years later.
At the start of the Civil War, the Forum was five years into an economic boom that started with the development of the Generalized <<Postcount++ Formula>> in 2045. The hawkish ACV wasted no time in putting this new wealth to use expanding the military, and directed the <<Immortal Nine>> to make preparations for outright war against the steadily growing Zach Can't Draw faction. Anticipating that the ZCD rebels might seek assistance from foreign navies, Major-General <<Edprimeminster>> ordered the construction of four ultra-heavy warships. Funds dried up rapidly as the war progressed, however, and the ACV was forced to put the project on hold.
Production resumed in 2054, and all four ships were completed the following year. They were commissioned in the order they were completed: On March 11, SFNS Echidna; on May 18, SFNS Jormungandr; on July 7, SFNS Grendel; on August 19, the flagship, SFNS Tucker's Mom. Each ship displaced 80,000 cubic feet of water, and was armed with a primary battery of twelve 50-Caliber Carthage Ship-Mounted Railguns, nine Pandemonium Land/Sea/Air Mortars, and four torpedo bays. Other features included self-healing armor and active buoyancy control, allowing the ships to submerge for short periods of time. They were designed for a crew of 3500, but could be run for long periods by as few as 1500. The total cost was estimated at 15 billon posts, over twice the initial projected cost of ΒΆ6 Billion.
From their construction until 2101, the Dreadnoughts stayed on semi-active duty with a crew of approximately 2400 apiece, performing occasional patrol, escort, and police missions. They were continually modernized as new technology became available, and during this time the Forum was considered a significant naval power, on par with the much larger navies of more established nations.
The bombing of the SFNS Grendel on 9 January, 2101 is widely considered to be the deciding factor that pushed the Forum into the War of 2101. Echidna was instrumental in breaking the siege of <<Weiner Island>> early in the war, but was destroyed in that battle. Jormungandr fared better, winning a number of key battles before being scuttled in a boarding attempt shortly before the conclusion of the war. Only Tucker's Mom survived the conflict.
Because the Forum had no organized Navy during the Great Nomadship, ownership of Tucker's Mom was a point of sore contention. Virtually all of the major factions from the old Forum had some claim to the vessel. The two strongest claims were made by Zach the Evitable, and Morgan Asherian, the Head of <<House Asherion>>. Zach the Evitable's argument was that, because Tucker's Mom was formally commissioned in the name of his uncle <<Zach the Magnificent>> (as was traditional at the time), she belonged to his next of kin. Asherian claimed that, since House Asherion provided the largest portion of the funding for the ship of any surviving faction, the ship was rightfully theirs.
House Asherion ultimately won out, and Tucker's Mom remained in service for almost three decades more. Eventually, though, as world navies began to rely more on spacecraft than water vessels, it became increasingly difficult to justify the expense of keeping Tucker's Mom afloat, so on August 19, 2130, she was decommissioned. Plans were made to cannibalize her weapons and armor for use in newer craft, and to melt down her hull, but they never came to fruition. Finally, in 2157, to commemorate the Reunification of the Forum, Tucker's Mom was returned to Weiner Island and opened to the public to serve as a Museum of Forum History.
Author's Commentary:
Most present-day military historians agree that a fleet of smaller, cheaper warships would have been a wiser investment on the part of the ACV. However, the Dreadnoughts provided a very real benefit during peacetime: They made the world take notice of the Forum in a way that a bunch of smaller ships would not have.
At the start of the Civil War, the Forum was five years into an economic boom that started with the development of the Generalized <<Postcount++ Formula>> in 2045. The hawkish ACV wasted no time in putting this new wealth to use expanding the military, and directed the <<Immortal Nine>> to make preparations for outright war against the steadily growing Zach Can't Draw faction. Anticipating that the ZCD rebels might seek assistance from foreign navies, Major-General <<Edprimeminster>> ordered the construction of four ultra-heavy warships. Funds dried up rapidly as the war progressed, however, and the ACV was forced to put the project on hold.
Production resumed in 2054, and all four ships were completed the following year. They were commissioned in the order they were completed: On March 11, SFNS Echidna; on May 18, SFNS Jormungandr; on July 7, SFNS Grendel; on August 19, the flagship, SFNS Tucker's Mom. Each ship displaced 80,000 cubic feet of water, and was armed with a primary battery of twelve 50-Caliber Carthage Ship-Mounted Railguns, nine Pandemonium Land/Sea/Air Mortars, and four torpedo bays. Other features included self-healing armor and active buoyancy control, allowing the ships to submerge for short periods of time. They were designed for a crew of 3500, but could be run for long periods by as few as 1500. The total cost was estimated at 15 billon posts, over twice the initial projected cost of ΒΆ6 Billion.
From their construction until 2101, the Dreadnoughts stayed on semi-active duty with a crew of approximately 2400 apiece, performing occasional patrol, escort, and police missions. They were continually modernized as new technology became available, and during this time the Forum was considered a significant naval power, on par with the much larger navies of more established nations.
The bombing of the SFNS Grendel on 9 January, 2101 is widely considered to be the deciding factor that pushed the Forum into the War of 2101. Echidna was instrumental in breaking the siege of <<Weiner Island>> early in the war, but was destroyed in that battle. Jormungandr fared better, winning a number of key battles before being scuttled in a boarding attempt shortly before the conclusion of the war. Only Tucker's Mom survived the conflict.
Because the Forum had no organized Navy during the Great Nomadship, ownership of Tucker's Mom was a point of sore contention. Virtually all of the major factions from the old Forum had some claim to the vessel. The two strongest claims were made by Zach the Evitable, and Morgan Asherian, the Head of <<House Asherion>>. Zach the Evitable's argument was that, because Tucker's Mom was formally commissioned in the name of his uncle <<Zach the Magnificent>> (as was traditional at the time), she belonged to his next of kin. Asherian claimed that, since House Asherion provided the largest portion of the funding for the ship of any surviving faction, the ship was rightfully theirs.
House Asherion ultimately won out, and Tucker's Mom remained in service for almost three decades more. Eventually, though, as world navies began to rely more on spacecraft than water vessels, it became increasingly difficult to justify the expense of keeping Tucker's Mom afloat, so on August 19, 2130, she was decommissioned. Plans were made to cannibalize her weapons and armor for use in newer craft, and to melt down her hull, but they never came to fruition. Finally, in 2157, to commemorate the Reunification of the Forum, Tucker's Mom was returned to Weiner Island and opened to the public to serve as a Museum of Forum History.
Author's Commentary:
Most present-day military historians agree that a fleet of smaller, cheaper warships would have been a wiser investment on the part of the ACV. However, the Dreadnoughts provided a very real benefit during peacetime: They made the world take notice of the Forum in a way that a bunch of smaller ships would not have.
