ULFBERHT CLASS GUNBOAT
Overview:
Despite the Lyran Commonwealth stealing a march on all the other great houses and being the first out of the gate with their Jäger class gunboat Lyran gunboat development didn’t take off after that and the LCN gunboat force is, despite its qualities, the smallest in the Inner Sphere. This situation originates partly in the early devastation of the Lyran shipbuilding industry and commitment to other projects. Another important factor is that the LCN for a long time was not exposed to full scale gunboat warfare the way other states was. Both the Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine, who learned about gunboat warfare from the Terrans took those experiences elsewhere and proceeded to use them mainly in their efforts against the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation.
While both the DCA and FWLN did use gunboats against the Lyrans they usually only deployed primitive converted ships in limited numbers to support operations along the Lyran fronts. It was not until the campaigns in the Kalidasa and Bella I regions towards the end of the Succession War that the LCN came up against serious gunboat opposition when the FWLN redeployed two full flotillas of Ryersons from the Capellan front to halt the Lyran advance in those regions.
Despite having solid data on the FWLN gunboats both from LIC and Terran sources the Ryersons still were a rude surprise to the LCN, which had grown accustomed to the far inferior Freebooters the FWLN had used on the Lyran frontier so far in the war.
The LCN first responded to the Ryerson threat with fighters and their own primitive gunboats before sending in the precious Jägers and finally even exposing some of their few remaining warships to direct combat in order to keep the momentum of the offensives going. While the Lyrans mostly managed to achieve their objectives the casualties endured by the fleet were heavy for little return and the LCN decided that it urgently needed a proper gunboat, less costly and easier to manufacture than the Jäger, to match the sheer numbers of Ryersons the FWLN was able to deploy.
The proposal from Semier Data Tron to use the drive units of their Excalibur troop transport in a much smaller gunboat eventually won over Tharkad Aerospace Group’s proposal to essentially make a Ryerson copy using their Mule production line. Since the drive units for the new ship came from the Excalibur class, named after the legendary sword, Semier named their new gunboat after the famous medieval Ulfberht swords.
Capabilities:
Obviously heavily influenced by the Ryerson class the Ulfberht seeks to match and surpass its intended adversary in thrust, protection and firepower. While the development of the Ulfberht started in the closing years of the Succession War the project was delayed as the war ground to a halt and priorities shifted. This lead to a great deal of mission creep now that the original urgency of the Ulfberht project had been somewhat diminished.
Originally intended to be a fast strike craft of 8000 ton using the GM 48000 drives from the twice as massive Excalibur troop transport the Ulfberht would have been capable of a max thrust of 4.5g. But the increased demands for protection and the added design requirement to also carry a squadron of fighters pushed the tonnage up to 9600 tons and dropped the max thrust to 4g.
With over 250 tons of armor the Ulfberht is a very well protected ship however the LCN, weary of the heavy losses experienced in all gunboat forces, still wanted added survivability and added a full 360 degree anti-missile system. Although this system is focused on the more exposed fore and aft sections the sides are also covered giving the ship an added chance of surviving incoming anti-shipping nukes from any direction as well as taking the edge off conventional missile attacks.
The primary weapons of the Ulfberht are the quartet of Killer Whale missile tubes mounted in the bow. Having a throw weight twice that of the Jäger it will provide the LCN with a proper first line gunboat and hopefully release the Jäger from being pressed into this duty, one it was never suited for in the first place.
The LCN added the more expensive longer ranging missile systems to the Ulfberht to complement the laser layout originally planned after many Lyran fighter pilots reported great successes against the Ryerson with long range sniping once their heavy Chippewa fighters managed to get into good firing positions.
A squadron of fighters round out the arsenal of the Ulfberht giving it an extended engagement envelope as well as the ability to take out Freeboothers and other more primitive gunboats without exposing the ship itself to potential nuke retaliation. Unlike the Jäger which often carries swift lighter fighters able to match its high thrust the Ulfberht is intended to carry heavy strike fighters.
Variants:
There are no variants of the Ulfberht since the ship is just entering service.
Deployment:
Although originally intended for mass deployment Semier Data Tron, the primary contractor of the Ulfberht, have proven unable to boost the output, not of the drives which are the usual bottleneck in the post-Succession War era, but rather it is the heavily reinforced spaceframes needed that is the problem for the yard. Semier has so far failed to produce the contracted numbers of the Ulfberht class. While not exclusively the fault of the company since much of the delays are related to the Lyran reconstruction efforts the Lyran Commonwealth is still threatening heavy fines if Semier doesn’t improve. In addition the Shipil Company of Skye have offered to produce the design even though their repaired and salvaged facilities at Skye are in much worse shape than Semier’s mostly intact yards and would require a massive government investment to get operational to the level where they would be able to output the required volume. Even so the LCN strongly favors a small scale satellite yard for the Ulfberht at Skye both to boost production and for easier repairs and maintenance.
 
ULFBERHT CLASS GUNBOAT
Type: Military Spheroid
Tech: Star League
Mass: 9,600 tons
Dimensions
Length: 90.00 meters
Width: 90.00 meters
Height: 125.00 meters
Fuel: 400.00 tons (12,000)
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 5
Max Thrust: 8
Heatsinks: 240
Structural Integrity: 70
Armor: standard
Nose: 2312 (231)
R/L Wings: 600 (60)
Aft: 800 (80)
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(102 Heat)
4 KW (40 rounds) 16 16 16 16
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
6 Small Laser 2*(18*) - - -
LF/RF(58 Heat)
2 LRM15 (64 rounds) 2(18) 2(18) 2(18) -
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
3 Small Laser 1*(9*) - - -
AL/AR(58 Heat)
2 LRM15 (64 rounds) 2(18) 2(18) 2(18) -
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
3 Small Laser 1*(9*) - - -
Aft(22 Heat)
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
6 Small Laser 2*(18*) - - -
Cargo: 115.0 tons
Bay 1: Fighter ( 3 ) 1 Door
Bay 2: Fighter ( 3 ) 1 Door
Bay 3: Cargo 1 Door
Escape Pods: 12
Life Boats: 0
Crew: 60( 10 Officers, 12 Bay personnel, 10 Gunners, 12 Marines)
Ammunition:
40 Killer Whale missiles (2000 tons)
256 rounds of LRM 15 ammunition (32 tons)
Note:
Equipped with 252 tons of standard armor.
Cost:
554 million C-bills
