OBT Forum

Blacknova's correct that I read TH and presumed that you meant the Hegemony.

However I also presumed that you meant the years before that conflict, so two mistakes for the price of one.

In any event, the line between ships like the Dreadnought and armed starships (as I refer to pre-civilian core ships) isn't necessarily as obvious as it seems to us. They were larger and with more formidable weapons than those used before, but this seems to have been a difference of degree not kind in contemporary eyes.

After all, a considerable portion of the 300-strong HAF Navy in the 2330s would presumably have been early corvettes and the like not much larger than armed-equivalents of the Aquila class. Since small states like Liao could field very large fleets of the latter (Elias Liao had a fleet of 1,000 starships IIRC), the major warships were presumably capable of being fought, if not on even terms then at least by outnumbering them. Clashes like this probably characterised the early expansion of the Terran Hegemony: modest numbers Dreadnought and Dart class ships acting as command ships and fire support to squadrons of smaller combatants not notably better than those of their enemies.

It is a shame that the regs weren't adjusted a bit when the new rulebooks were released. It would have been easy to build in some obsolescence in older designs, add a % or two to the drives of older designs then there would be no need to leave vast tonnage unused to make inferior older designs.

Warship class & Designation (Mass) - Faction (Sourcebook) - Year Introduced
Dreadnought class Battleship (960k tons) - Terran Hegemony (H:RW) - 2300
Dart class Light Cruiser (680k tons) - Terran Hegemony (TRO3057R) - 2305
Black Lion I class Battlecruiser (720k tons) - Terran Hegemony (FR CCAF 2765) - 2315
Bonaventure class Corvette (240k tons) - Terran Hegemony (TRO3057R) - 2317
Vigilant class Corvette (140k tons) - Terran Hegemony (TRO3057R) - 2320
Cruiser class Cruiser (500k tons) - Terran Hegemony (FR DCMS) - 2325

Incidentally I also believe there are more Terran warship classes in the 24th century which have yet to be detailed. For example the infamous collision between the warships Wildcat and Yalu could indicate another class not yet seen. Could there be a Destroyer introduced in 2310 which was flawed in some way? SLSB page 13 and Explorer Corps page 31 note McKenna’s dissatisfaction with the government because of the poor navigation in this incident. To me it even implied this incident could have been the impetus for his move against the corrupt Alliance. Was the design of this first Destroyer mangled in some way by the Alliance bureaucracy that led to a tragedy that began its downfall?

So if you include a Destroyer class warship which very well could be the Essex Block I you'd have 7 classes to divide that 300 around (which is a 10 warship a year average that obviously picked up). Only 7 Dreadnoughts were ever made according to its fluff and they are likely the flagships of their respective fleets. So based on their age and imagined fleet breakdown how would you envision the Terran Navy at this time?

There would be more Black Lions then Dreadnoughts but likely built at a slow pace. If we say one a year that is roughly 15 Battlecruisers by the time of this statement.
The Dart meant for independent operations could be built quite generously and was around for 25 years at the time of this statement. 2 a year for them would equal 50. Would the Hegemony continue building them?
The Cruiser to me is a new supplemental ship that could be built quite rapidly giving you between 5 and 10 ships.

That is roughly 220 ships short of the 300 number by 2330. Could mean a great number of Essex class Destroyers or possible other Destroyers. And how realistically fast could you manufacture Bonaventure and Vigilant class Corvettes? 3 a year each gives you almost 70 by 2330 but that is 150 Destroyers?! If you started in 2310 with the Destroyer number as I suggest that is 40 (2 per year made), 60 (3 per year made), or 80 (4 per year made). That is still 70 ships short. You really can't have a Transport yet because modern Docking Collars aren't established. Perhaps a Carrier of some type? But still not 70 ships worth. If you up the Bonaventure and Vigilant class Corvettes to 4 per year that would be a little over a hundred Corvettes and give you a 30 ship margin which isn't bad.
If you boost the Dart to three per year, which is enough Cruisers for me thanks, that gives you 75.

So to conclude my thinking out loud and please let me know if you agree that is -
7 Dreadnought class Battleships
20 Black Lion I class Battlecruisers (could be more here lets boost the original to say 18-20 total)
75 Dart class Cruisers (could be more here closing the margin, 60-70 total)
10 Cruiser class Cruisers (not gonna go overboard with 2 a year a good pace)
80 Essex I class Destroyers (which is 4 made a year which is impressive and somewhat questionable with early nav errors)
60 Bonaventure class Corvettes (four per year pace has got to slow you'd think but justified with Campaigns of Persuasion)
40 Vigilant class Corvettes (same thoughts for the Bonventure and they are buddy system warships)

292 total with another 5 Cruisers (3 per year made) or some other unknown class ( makes for a pretty interesting 300 warship Navy. Especially when no one else fields anything but Pre-Dreadnoughts and Sleeper Missiles/Mines (Symra Incident) at this time. Guess I could see why Konrad McKenna got so over confident. 

Well the Vigilant and Bonaventure are small but as of 2330 they were only in production for ten and thirteen years respectively. Building more than 4 of these Corvettes each (8 a year) is pretty damn good. How much higher would you go with an average level of production per year?

I just read up on the Campaigns of Persuasion again and the first conflict lasted from March 2316 to 2317. The Second Campaign of Persuasion began in 2320 and its hard to say when it end but the third wave lasted from 2335 to 2339. So obviously a naval buildup would help facilitate such conquests and help intimidate other worlds into the fold. As these Campaigns had the effect of spooking other worlds into defensive alliance against Terran subjugation such warship construction could have also been aimed against them. However these new states are distant threats unable to really threaten Terran nation building right away so that would a secondary concern.

Irregardless the Hegemony would want to gear up shipbuilding at this time certainly. How much they could? Well thats the question.