Was a bit inspired by my chat with Takiro in the SD storyline thread...
Menshen Class gunboat
Overview:
The development of the Menshen class gunboat, named after the guardians of the door who keeps nightmares away, started in the last stages of the Second Succession war. Although the war had not yet reached the more formalized contest that would characterize the Third Succession war the devastation had reduced the Great Houses to levels where the intensity of conflict was simply no longer possible to maintain. One victim of this carnage was the ability to mass produce nuclear weaponry for the gunboat flotillas. Slowly during the long grinding years of the war the quick and dirty conversions of civilian dropships into primitive gunboats gave way to the purpose built gunboats which were generally much better armed and armored and could fight effectively without resorting to the use of nukes.
One ship in particular stood out in this era, the Lyran Jäger class. Originally built to hunt down and destroy enemy dropships, as well as surviving the odd nuke, the conditions of the late Second Succession war fit the Jäger perfectly. The Capellan high command took note of the Jägers which consistently preformed well against the Mariks and sometimes seemed to be the only part of the LCAF capable of fighting the Dragon without embarrassing themselves.
The CCN had been almost wiped out by the catastrophic defeats and disasters of the Second Succession war and was in desperate need of something to turn back the rising tide on all fronts. Although mass production of a design like the LCN Jäger or the TRN Nike-II would have been preferable it was practically impossible to manufacture the number of drive units required to meet the demands of such a program. The Lyrans unfortunately were unable, as well as unwilling, to sell Jägers to the Confederacy. Relations with the Terran Republic were sour following several desperate supply raids by the Confederates on various Terran worlds. Efforts to get license and assistance from the Draconis Combine to produce the Kuritan Okha class also faltered, and the Capellans were unable to produce the numbers needed by themselves anyway. As a result of this a decision was made to go for a more limited production volume of a domestic design and also go for a much larger ship, the Menshen class.
Capabilities:
The Menshen class is by many considered both the first of the proper war-dropships as well as the last of the original gunboats, others hold Dassault-Shimmon’s much larger Terra Nova class to be the first true heavy combat dropship since it was the first dropship which carried spinal mounted capital guns rather than just capital missiles. Regardless of this dispute the capabilities of the Menshen is impressive. The big dropship is capable of a maximum of 4g acceleration, while this is lower than many of its contemporary competitors the Menshen isn’t a dedicated attack ship but rather a substitute warship able to engage incoming assault forces as well as screening friendly convoys and for this mission profile extreme thrust is not mandatory.
The reactors and drive units for the Menshen class, which was the critical component of this ship, comes from Sarna where a substantial part of the manufacturing capacity for the Mammoth dropships engines and drive units were diverted to for use in the Menshen class instead. Despite similar actions taken at Capella in times of crisis the production rate has never exceeded more than one ship every other year. With a lower thrust rating than many modern gunboats the Menshen class can’t reliably dictate the engagement distance so, unlike faster ships like the Jäger which relies on high thrust and short ranged weaponry to do the job, the weapons mounted on the Menshen tends to be long ranged.
The Primary weapons are the bank of ten heavy missile tubes mounted around the bow of the ship. Even without nuclear warheads these weapons are quite able to take out gunboats and even small warships on their own.
Backing up this formidable capital missile array are 800 standard long range missile tubes, an array so vast that it is easily capable of matching the damage output of the primary missile system, although not the range of capital missiles. The aft sections of the ship is protected by massed PPC batteries and backed up by 200 more long range missile tubes to keep enemies in that vulnerable spot at bay.
Twelve fighters and a mix of medium auto-cannons and large lasers serve as added deterrent against hostile fighters and finally if all else fails the entire ship is protected by 360 tons of armor plating. Although the ship was originally designed to use Ferro-Aluminum armor plating no ship have ever been outfitted that way since a Terran raid on Sarna destroyed the orbital armor foundry.
Variants:
There are several variants of the Menshen class, the earliest was the carrier class which removed the capital missile tubes in favor of an extended fighter bay. This variant was planned for already in the original design as a result of the experiences of the troubled conversion of the Celestial intruder during the First Succession war. It was used on the third ship built, mainly due to a shortage of missile tubes at the time.
The second variant replaces the Killer Whale missile systems with White Shark tubes, this version was more commonly produced during the Third Succession war when the higher piercing ability of the White Shark warheads were preferred over the heavier but nuke capable Killer Whales.
Also there are plenty of ships in the class with mixed primary missile layouts either due to shortages and emergency repairs or a deliberate change and apart from the carrier type no other sub-classes are formalized.
Deployment:
The Menshen class has never been very numerous but the rugged design has allowed many ships to survive for a long time causing their numbers to slowly build up over the years. Today the Menshen typically serve as flagships for system defense flotillas over important worlds and in the CCN’s rapid reaction squadrons at Sian and Sarna. A third squadron serves at Capella as a mixed training/security flotilla where new crews are trained and new ships of all types get worked up before joining the regular ranks of the CCN.
Apart from the FSS Nightmare, which was captured at Ulan Batar when its scuttling charges failed to detonate, the Menshen is an exclusive Capellan design.
Menshen CLASS GUNBOAT
Type: Military Spheroid
Tech: Standard
Introduced:
Mass: 34,500 tons
Dimensions
Length: 144.00 meters
Width: 144.00 meters
Height: 256.00 meters
Fuel: 1000.00 tons (20,000)
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 5
Max Thrust: 8
Heatsinks:(276 free) 919 single
Structural Integrity: 100
Armor: 360 tons standard
Nose: 2200 (220)
R/L Sides: 810 (81)
Aft: 1100 (110)
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(216 Heat)
10 KW (100 rounds) 40 40 40 40
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
LF/RF(284 Heat)
20 LRM20 (600 rounds) 24(240) 24(240) 24(240) -
2 AC-10 (60 rounds) 2(20) 2(20) - -
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
AL/AR(232 Heat)
10 PPC 10(100) 10(100) - -
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
Aft(178 Heat)
10 LRM20 (300 rounds) 12(120) 12(120) 12(120) -
10 PPC 10(100) 10(100) - -
2 AC-10 (60 rounds) 2(20) 2(20) - -
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
Cargo:
Bay 1: Small Craft (2) & Fighters (6) 3 Doors
Bay 2: Small Craft (2) & Fighters (6) 3 Doors
Bay 2: Cargo ( 2095.0 tons )
Escape Pods: 18
Life Boats: 18
Crew: 195, 40 Officers, 35 Gunners, 50 Bay, 30 Marines
Ammunition:
100 Killer Whale Missiles (5000 tons)
1500 rounds of LRM 20 ammunition (250 tons)
180 rounds of AC-10 ammunition (18 tons)
Note:
Equipped with 360 tons of standard armor.
Cost:
1751 million C-bills.
