Nike-II Class gunboat
Overview:
The Nike-II class is often called the Terran Okha. The development of the Nike started in the latter half of the First Succession War when the TRN started to encounter the Okha and Ryerson gunboats in large numbers. While the Ryerson was far more numerous it was the Okha which concerned the TRN Admiralty the most. Should the Combine manage to produce it in large numbers it would be a serious threat to the Terran dominance in gunboat warfare. The answer to the Okha was to be the Nike, but things don’t always turn out as expected.
During the development phase of the Nike an opportunity presented itself to enter into a joint venture with the Federated Suns who were likewise looking for a suitable response to the Okha. The end product of this international cooperation was the Standard program which was ultimately selected over the Nike as the new multipurpose gunboat of the Republic. That might have been the end for the Nike except for the Terran Civil War, a fierce internal conflagration which erupted just as the flames of the First Succession War faded. One of the victims of the civil strife was the docks making the Terran spaceframes for the Standards. This facility was destroyed in the crossfire between Loyalist and Republicans and the plant manufacturing the reactors was “mysteriously†raided and looted during the chaos of the civil war. Once the civil war was over Federated Boeing’s Galax yards had finally, conveniently, managed to put a domestic production line for the Standards drive units in operation and were considerably less enthusiastic about selling large numbers of Standard class spaceframes to the Terran Republic. Since the Terrans were less than enthusiastic about depending on the goodwill of New Avalon and Federated Boeing for critical components for their primary heavy strike gunboat it was decided to restart the Nike program.
The devastation of the civil war was not limited to yards and production facilities but also civilian shipping and not just from combat losses, the flight of the defeated Loyalist from the Terran Republic to the Rim Protectorate was the largest single migration since Kerenski’s exodus and all that spacelift capacity came from the already thinly stretched Terran transport pool. That over half of all surviving BLOBs left with the Rebels only made the problem worse.
It was decided that the production of military dropships had to be streamlined, the construction of about a dozen different gunboat classes simply was no longer sustainable. Many components needed for the earlier designs were no longer easily available and down teching the existing designs didn’t always produce good results. The production of several military dropship classes would be halted or the designs repurposed in an effort to replace the transport capacity that had been lost. The Gepard was one victim and production was ended in favor of a down teched Cheetah, despite the complaints of the TRN. The Standard was another victim since the facilities needed to build it had either been stolen or outright destroyed although production continued as long as Federated Boeing delivered components.
With many production lines in need of repairs and retooling the TRN decided to finally make a serious effort to restructure the Terran gunboat production, and in the extension the gunboat forces themselves, towards a more standardized force centered around a single design; much like the Free Worlds League had done around the Ryerson. Several production lines in numerous yards all over the Republic were converted to produce the Nike-II as a part of a general retooling and technological downgrading. Despite the Terran Republic’s herculean efforts to speed up the volume of Nikes built they still have not managed to catch up to the sheer numbers of Ryersons the FWL yards are able to churn out each year.
However the Nike was not to be a unique Republican design. In the Terran Rim the escaped Loyalist faction managed to put up at least one production line to manufacture the Nike-II.
Capabilities:
The experiences with the Standard class gunboats were something of a disappointment to the TRN. While the Standard was superb in the heavy strike mission it was rather mediocre in other tasks the TRN wished it to carry out. Unlike the FSNS, which lacked a heavy strike gunboat and push hard for this mission profile, the TRN had several designs to fulfill the heavy strike mission already in service and didn’t need any more. While this fact was pointed out during the design phase it was generally ignored in favor of the drive to surpass the much feared Okha in thrust, protection and firepower. The resulting design in the end became overspecialized for the TRN’s needs at that time.
The Nike-II was designed to become a less specialized general purpose first line gunboat rather than a pure heavy strike craft. Unlike the original Nike which used many advanced materials and weapons the Nike-II only makes use of generally available components like many of the TRN downgrades in the latter half of the war and post-war eras.
At nine thousand tons the Nike-II masses a quarter less than the Standard but still maintains the quartet of heavy missiles as the core of its offensive capabilities. To keep the heavy firepower of the Standard the Nike-II sacrifices both thrust and protection.
In order to compensate for the lighter armor protection a missile defense system have been added to the ship and despite lowering the mass to thrust ratio the Nike is still able to reach four and a half g at peak power output.
The main weapons of the Nike is flanked on either side by banks of 120 long range missiles and a hexagonal mount of large lasers giving the ship a solid punch to deal with lesser targets. Twin mounted large lasers provide protection from fighters and a third hexagonal large laser turret defends the rear of the ship.
The Nike is a rather cramped design, partly a result of the ship being originally designed for more advanced technology than what was available when the design finally entered production. Even so enough space was found to fit a small craft hangar, making independent operations easier.
Variants:
Apart from the base variant there are two main versions of the Nike-II in the Terran Republic, the Terran Rim only uses the Nike-IIA and all its ships are grouped in strike squadrons where the lack of small craft capability is irrelevant.
The Nike-IIA removes the small craft bay for increased cargo capacity in an effort to improve operational endurance. The A variant is most common in the main TRN combat flotillas while the base version are more often found in system defense squadrons.
The Nike-IIB replaces the four Killer Whale missile systems and the double bow mounted lasers with five White Shark tubes. This version was originally designed as an escort for the Mastodon assault ships which is why the ability to score disabling hits in order to immobilize targets for boarding was prioritized over pure destructive power. However the Nike-IIB has spread from this niche to the mercenary market, first as contract replacements and later in outright sales.
Deployment:
The Nike is the primary combat gunboat of the Terran Rim Navy. Lacking yards to produce most of the gunboat designs in service in the squadrons that defected to the Terran Rim Navy the Nike is slowly squeezing out the other dedicated gunboat designs. It is believed that the Terran Rim Navy can deploy at least three squadrons of Nike-IIA gunboats.
The Republic rolled out the Nike-II in large numbers in an effort to replace the losses and defections of the civil war. The continued large scale production of the Nike-II despite the Republic largely staying out of the renewed hostilities has seen a sharp rise in the numbers of units outfitted with this ship. The Nike-II class is filling entire combat flotillas along the Combine border and numerous system defense squadrons throughout the Republic. In addition several mercenary commands are operating Nike-IIB, some in fairly large numbers like the Dieron Defiant, a mercenary group formed by veterans from to long bitter siege of Dieron during the First Succession War.
Nike-II CLASS GUNBOAT
Type: Military Spheroid
Tech: Standard
Introduced:
Mass: 9,000 tons
Dimensions
Length: 84.00 meters
Width: 84.00 meters
Height: 146.00 meters
Fuel: 400.00 tons (12,000)
Tons/Burn-day: 1.84 tons
Safe Thrust: 6
Max Thrust: 9
Heatsinks:(154 free) 300 single
Structural Integrity: 60
Armor: 216 tons standard
Nose: 1616 (162)
R/L Sides: 600 (60)
Aft: 1000 (100)
Weapons:
Arc (Heat) Type Short Medium Long Xtreme
Nose(70 Heat)
4 KW (40 rounds) 16 16 16 16
2 Large Laser 2(16) 2(16) - -
6 small Laser 2*(18*) - - -
LF/RF(168 Heat)
6 LRM20 (180 rounds) 7(72) 7(72) 7(72) -
6 Large Laser 5(48) 5(48) - -
AL/AR(68 Heat)
2 Large Laser 4(36) 2(16) - -
4 medium Laser
6 small Laser 2*(18*) - - -
Aft(54 Heat)
6 Large Laser 5(48) 5(48) - -
6 small Laser 2*(18*) - - -
Cargo:
Bay 1: Small Craft ( 1 ) 1 Door
Bay 2: Cargo ( 101.0 tons )
Escape Pods: 5
Life Boats: 5
Crew: 55, 10 Officers, 16 Gunners, 5 Bay, 12 Marines
Ammunition:
40 Killer Whale Missiles (2000 tons)
360 rounds of LRM 20 ammunition (60 tons)
Note:
Equipped with 216 tons of standard armor.
Cost:
644 million C-bills.
