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Description

The Paladin-class represents the culmination of Gallan Royal Navy carrier design in the atomic age. The last supercarriers to be built by Gallia prior to the Dorestad-bi-Lek/AD 2049 Incident, they are tied with the preceding Saint-class carriers as the largest military naval ships built for the Royal Navy, but feature improvements in the flight deck layout, in elevator placement, and nuclear protection. Compared to the Saint-class supercarriers' 80 sorties/day, the Paladins can sustain a sortie rate of 100 sorties/day with larger aircraft. With their numerous redundancies in radars and air surveillance capacity, the Paladins can continue air operations with half their elevators damaged, one catapult knocked out, and a single island, although at a greatly reduced rate from normal.

In ordinary practice, Paladins operated in groups of between two to four, staggering their flight operations every 12, 8, or 6 hours, and allowing the other carriers in the task force to perform maintenance on their air wings, or maximizing their aircraft loads towards attacking targets.

Each Paladin is (ideally) escorted by two Admiral-class nuclear cruisers, which mounts the same naval combat system, but in a much smaller and more heavily armed hull of merely 24,000 tons; two Battle-class destroyer leaders, carrying the "Aigis" Combat System; four Town- or County-class anti-submarine/general purpose destroyers, and between two to six Castle-class destroyer escorts, and one or two Wolf-class fast attack submarines. Occasionally a Paladin may sail with an anti-submarine warfare carrier if it is necessary, and its attendant battlegroup nominally becomes a task group under the ranking admiral. Each fleet of the Royal Navy generally has four supercarriers as part of its Battle Force, but in practice the Far East Fleet and Home Fleet only operated the much smaller armored carriers, which keeps the requisite number of supercarriers between 10-12.

A Task Group, when organized under a fleet, generally comprises a single Paladin and her battlegroup, while a Task Force is typically 3-4 battlegroups. Their associated replenishment groups, allied maritime patrol squadrons from land based units, and occasionally an anti-submarine carrier group or two, are separate Task Forces under the Fleet. Task Forces are commanded by vice admirals while Task Groups are commanded by rear admirals, and admirals command the Fleet.

Despite being nuclear powered, the Paladin-class features a pair of 25,000 horsepower gas turbines below the aft (air) island, which can provide for surge electrical capacity in lieu of reactors and can be used as emergency propulsive power when combined with the ship's electric motors. Four 9,400 HP diesel generators provide for hotel electrical load. The air island has the majority of ACLS directors, a long-range L-band radar, a short-range X-band air search radar (which can be used for self defense fire direction), and the TACAN beacon. Below the island is the secondary CIC, which is nominally operated as damage control central (DCC) if the primary CIC is still operational. The fore island contains the bulk of the radar combat system including the P-band early warning radar (mattress antenna), the X-band long range illuminator, and the S/C-band dual band search radar. Both islands have a comparable throughput of SATCOM antennae. A pair of 25mm CIWS guns and broadband jamming antenna rounds out the "battle island" of the ship. Below the island, within the armored citadel of the ship, the primary CIC handles the bulk of air combat capacity. The large anti-submarine bow sonar and its associated sonar control central, located immediately above it, are connected to both CICs. A pair of 16-cell VLS batteries and two 8-round traversable anti-submarine rocket launchers sit astern the islands, providing the ship with the bulk of its local- and zone air defense, and anti-submarine/anti-surface firepower. Nominal air wing size is 80-85 aircraft with 1,600-1,800 aviation crewmen. Ship's complement is approximately 3,000 crewmen. Surge crew capacity is slightly smaller than its preceding Saint class, standing at around 5,200, while the excess crew space has generally been converted into fuel bunkers. Ammunition capacity was reduced, with a greater emphasis on precision guided weapons and magazine protection, rather than large quantities of iron bombs, standing at around 1,200 tons of ordnance. 100 tons of which is reserved for nuclear weapons (generally 100x 500 lbs nuclear weapons, 50x 1000 lbs nuclear bombs, and 40x 2,500 lbs nuclear bombs).

As the name implies, the Paladin class is named for the Twelve Paladins of Karolus Magnus in the Matter of Gallia. The Paladins were legendary heroes that slayed dragons, defeated the Catholics during the Cathar Crusade, and traveled to the Moon, among other deeds both epic and humorous.

Ships in class:

HMS Reinhold (CVN-69) 2006 - 2049

HMS Ragnvald (CVN-70) 2010 - 2049

HMS Roar (CVN-71) 2014 - 2049

HMS Roland (CVN-72) 2018 -

HMS Holger (CVN-73) 2022 - 2049

HMS Hastulf (CVN-74) 2026 -

HMS Huon (CVN-75) 2030 - 2049

HMS Arvid (CVN-76) 2034 - 2049

HMS Alfhar (CVN-77) 2038 -

HMS Gerier (CVN-78) 2042 - 2049

HMS Gerhard (CVN-79) 2047 - 2049

HMS Bradamante (CVN-80) 2049 - 2049

Unnamed Hull #81 2049 - 2049

The unfinished HMS Bradamante (CVN-80) was destroyed within the first eight minutes of the Incident as the Admiralty Yards were considered a priority target by Frisian nuclear missiles. Of the nine supercarriers to escape the immediate destruction within the opening volley, only the Hastulf (CVN-75), Alfhar (CVN-77), Saint Karolus Magnus (CVN-68), and Roland (CVN-72) survived the following week (primarily due to being at sea, on combat alert, and with fully armed fighter patrols airborne) as part of the Royal Navy's Task Force 88. The remaining supercarrier Task Units, which attempted to piecemeal sortie to their designated Task Group rendezvous during the next 72 hours, would mostly be destroyed. Submarines and sea mines destroyed a majority of the carrier groups, while air launched cruise missiles eliminated at least two. One carrier, the Saint Marcion, was thrown nearly 300 feet inland when a nuclear weapon detonated inside the bay she was navigating. The Saint Marcion has since been declared a war grave by the War Graves Commission, and a holy site by the Cathar Church, although the lingering radioactivity of her hull has led to this being something of a formality as the few people who are willing to take souvenirs often end up entombed inside the hull. A memorial gazebo was built when the ship was identified, and a massive, black granite wall listing the names of the Saint Marcion and her battlegroup was built several years after the Incident. It remains the most popular pilgrimage site for Cathar Christians.

The few supercarriers which did manage to conglomerate into the doomed Task Force 90 would be annihilated after a near miss by several ICBMs, about 48 hours after the opening shots of the Incident. Many of the ships, including HMS Holger, of TF.90 became highly radioactive ghost ships. A similar fate was averted for TF.88 when the majority of strike aircraft of TF.90,a few hours earlier, had scrounged together from flight officers and naval crewmen, embarked on a "death ride" into Vepsian Sea and destroyed several SSBNs and anti-ballistic missile sites with the Holger's stock of thermonuclear bombs. Few of these pilots would survive for want of landing areas, although a couple aircraft managed to return to TF.90. The fate of the remaining ships of TF.90, including the supercarriers Reinhold and Saint Paul, remains unknown. However, in 2082 an oceanic research ship, mapping the seafloor for potential lodes on contract with Northern Mining Company, discovered what is believed to be the partially submerged island of the Saint Paul inside a debris field. The extent of the debris field has yet to be fully mapped; an area of approximately 10,000 square miles was declared a "provisional war graves site" by the War Graves Commission meaning it is now off limits to further dredging/minerals exploitation until requisite undersea surveys have been completed.

Holger herself was reported to have been adrift at sea as early as 2051, with some of her crew found dead at their consoles during this initial boarding incident, and as late as 40 years after the Incident. With the destruction of much of the orbital infrastructure of low- and medium- Earth orbits, the ability to track adrift ships has become similar to the situation of a century ago, and only visual or radar spotting by aircraft or surface ships can provide accurate information. The few remaining radar satellites in geosynchroneous equatorial orbit (GEO) do not have any significant coverage over the stormy North Sea, especially at the polar regions, making the ship's exact location (and current nature) difficult to ascertain. As many of the vessels which have sighted Holger were wholly unequipped to salvage even small craft, these curious boardings typically reported no signs of life, and most of the aircraft onboard were missing. Much of the final battle action information of the Holger and her task force come from several recovered log books found during the first boarding.

There are at least two reported sightings of an adrift Admiral-class nuclear cruiser, although the only sketch shows that there is severe superstructure damage on the aft hangar (possibly from a internal explosion caused by fire, or missile impact on the aft, elevated VLS magazine), and several photographs of a Battle--class escort (which is only identifiable by her hullform). It is uncertain as to which of the two destroyer classes it could be, as the bulk of the superstructure, evident from photographs taken by a trawler crew, was destroyed in an uncontrolled fire.

Small village cults along the Peninsular Coast (as documented by the Society for the Reclamation of the Alarian Mainland, a Crown chartered private anthropological research group and Ch'ti nationalist lobbying group) believe that the Holger and her battlegroup lie waiting in the North Sea, and that the admiral of the battlegroup, who is said to have grown a beard so long it flows down to the floor, will awaken his crew when "the next one comes". Then the Holger and her escorts' missiles will shower the Earth in a great fire, sweeping the trolls and Catholics from the world; henceforth the Paladins, as apostles, will come down from Heaven with Christ himself riding white horses to judge the survivors of Christendom. The SRCA has identified aspects of medieval legends, Biblical Catharism, and conventional Cathar nature spirit beliefs in the cults. Generally the identified cults do not number more than 200-300 people, but are unusually consistent in their beliefs despite being spread across thousands of miles of islets and fjords, perhaps indicating some level of contact between the communities in earlier decades.

In the aftermath of the Dorestad Incident, the remaining Paladins are kept docked at the only functional supercarrier maintenance facility, HMS Vitklippor, in Western Gallia. Backlogs of work and a paucity of spare parts keeps the Royal Navy from sortiing more than one or two of the supercarriers at a time, at best. The ancient Saint Karolus Magnus has long since been placed in mothballs at the nearby Naval Reserve Fleet Base, awaiting scrapping. As a result of the outcome of the Incident and the associated economic rebuilding plans, the Royal Navy has no plans to construct a follow-on class for the Paladins during the current 20-year shipbuilding plan, as much of the monies which might have been used for a new supercarrier have instead gone to developing advanced attack submarines, modernizing dockyards, and producing a new class of merchant-auxiliary shipping vessel. However, the Paladins have recently been budgeted for a third refueling and overhaul cycle to take place in the coming months, which will potentially make them the first class of Royal Navy carriers to serve past 100 years.

Name: Paladin (Reinhold) class aircraft carrier

Type: Attack Aircraft Carrier

Builders: Admiralty Yards

Operators: Gallan Royal Navy

Preceded By: Saint-class aircraft carrier

Succeeded By: -

Built: 2006 - 2049

In Service: 2006 -

Planned: 12

Completed: 10

Lost: 7

Canceled: 1

Retired: 0

Displacement (light): 70,000 tons

Displacement (full load): 85,000 tons

Length (w/l): 1,000 feet

Length (o/a): 1,050 feet

Beam (w/l): 130.5 feet

Beam (o/a): 250.75 feet

Draught (full load): 35 feet

Powerplant: 2x Navy Type 956 Atomic Boilers (280,000 HP); 4x geared turbines (80,000 HP ea.)

Propulsion: 4x electric propulsion motors (60,000 HP ea.)

Speed: 32 knots and a bit (clean)

Complement: 4,800 (surge 5,200)

Aircraft carried: 85+

Armament: 32x VLS cells; 4x 25mm chainguns; 4x 5" SAM batteries; 2x 8-round rocket launchers; 6x .50 caliber machine guns; 2x 3-round deck torpedo tubes (fantail)

Catapults: Steam powered

Boats carried: 5-8 (2-4x RHIBs; 2x Combat Boat 90's [shore party use]; Captain's gig; 2-3x workboats)

Description

The Paladin-class represents the culmination of Gallan Royal Navy carrier design in the atomic age. The last supercarriers to be built by Gallia prior to the Dorestad-bi-Lek/AD 2049 Incident, they are tied with the preceding Saint-class carriers as the largest military naval ships built for the Royal Navy, but feature improvements in the flight deck layout, in elevator placement, and nuclear protection. Compared to the Saint-class supercarriers' 80 sorties/day, the Paladins can sustain a sortie rate of 100 sorties/day with larger aircraft. With their numerous redundancies in radars and air surveillance capacity, the Paladins can continue air operations with half their elevators damaged, one catapult knocked out, and a single island, although at a greatly reduced rate from normal.

In ordinary practice, Paladins operated in groups of between two to four, staggering their flight operations every 12, 8, or 6 hours, and allowing the other carriers in the task force to perform maintenance on their air wings, or maximizing their aircraft loads towards attacking targets.

Each Paladin is (ideally) escorted by two Admiral-class nuclear cruisers, which mounts the same naval combat system, but in a much smaller and more heavily armed hull of merely 24,000 tons; two Battle-class destroyer leaders, carrying the "Aigis" Combat System; four Town- or County-class anti-submarine/general purpose destroyers, and between two to six Castle-class destroyer escorts, and one or two Wolf-class fast attack submarines. Occasionally a Paladin may sail with an anti-submarine warfare carrier if it is necessary, and its attendant battlegroup nominally becomes a task group under the ranking admiral. Each fleet of the Royal Navy generally has four supercarriers as part of its Battle Force, but in practice the Far East Fleet and Home Fleet only operated the much smaller armored carriers, which keeps the requisite number of supercarriers between 10-12.

A Task Group, when organized under a fleet, generally comprises a single Paladin and her battlegroup, while a Task Force is typically 3-4 battlegroups. Their associated replenishment groups, allied maritime patrol squadrons from land based units, and occasionally an anti-submarine carrier group or two, are separate Task Forces under the Fleet. Task Forces are commanded by vice admirals while Task Groups are commanded by rear admirals, and admirals command the Fleet.

Despite being nuclear powered, the Paladin-class features a pair of 25,000 horsepower gas turbines below the aft (air) island, which can provide for surge electrical capacity in lieu of reactors and can be used as emergency propulsive power when combined with the ship's electric motors. Four 9,400 HP diesel generators provide for hotel electrical load. The air island has the majority of ACLS directors, a long-range L-band radar, a short-range X-band air search radar (which can be used for self defense fire direction), and the TACAN beacon. Below the island is the secondary CIC, which is nominally operated as damage control central (DCC) if the primary CIC is still operational. The fore island contains the bulk of the radar combat system including the P-band early warning radar (mattress antenna), the X-band long range illuminator, and the S/C-band dual band search radar. Both islands have a comparable throughput of SATCOM antennae. A pair of 25mm CIWS guns and broadband jamming antenna rounds out the "battle island" of the ship. Below the island, within the armored citadel of the ship, the primary CIC handles the bulk of air combat capacity. The large anti-submarine bow sonar and its associated sonar control central, located immediately above it, are connected to both CICs. A pair of 16-cell VLS batteries and two 8-round traversable anti-submarine rocket launchers sit astern the islands, providing the ship with the bulk of its local- and zone air defense, and anti-submarine/anti-surface firepower. Nominal air wing size is 80-85 aircraft with 1,600-1,800 aviation crewmen. Ship's complement is approximately 3,000 crewmen. Surge crew capacity is slightly smaller than its preceding Saint class, standing at around 5,200, while the excess crew space has generally been converted into fuel bunkers. Ammunition capacity was reduced, with a greater emphasis on precision guided weapons and magazine protection, rather than large quantities of iron bombs, standing at around 1,200 tons of ordnance. 100 tons of which is reserved for nuclear weapons (generally 100x 500 lbs nuclear weapons, 50x 1000 lbs nuclear bombs, and 40x 2,500 lbs nuclear bombs).

As the name implies, the Paladin class is named for the Twelve Paladins of Karolus Magnus in the Matter of Gallia. The Paladins were legendary heroes that slayed dragons, defeated the Catholics during the Cathar Crusade, and traveled to the Moon, among other deeds both epic and humorous.

Ships in class:

HMS Reinhold (CVN-69) 2006 - 2049

HMS Ragnvald (CVN-70) 2010 - 2049

HMS Roar (CVN-71) 2014 - 2049

HMS Roland (CVN-72) 2018 -

HMS Holger (CVN-73) 2022 - 2049

HMS Hastulf (CVN-74) 2026 -

HMS Huon (CVN-75) 2030 - 2049

HMS Arvid (CVN-76) 2034 - 2049

HMS Alfhar (CVN-77) 2038 -

HMS Gerier (CVN-78) 2042 - 2049

HMS Gerhard (CVN-79) 2047 - 2049

HMS Bradamante (CVN-80) 2049 - 2049

Unnamed Hull #81 2049 - 2049

The unfinished HMS Bradamante (CVN-80) was destroyed within the first eight minutes of the Incident as the Admiralty Yards were considered a priority target by Frisian nuclear missiles. Of the nine supercarriers to escape the immediate destruction within the opening volley, only the Hastulf (CVN-75), Alfhar (CVN-77), Saint Karolus Magnus (CVN-68), and Roland (CVN-72) survived the following week (primarily due to being at sea, on combat alert, and with fully armed fighter patrols airborne) as part of the Royal Navy's Task Force 88. The remaining supercarrier Task Units, which attempted to piecemeal sortie to their designated Task Group rendezvous during the next 72 hours, would mostly be destroyed. Submarines and sea mines destroyed a majority of the carrier groups, while air launched cruise missiles eliminated at least two. One carrier, the Saint Marcion, was thrown nearly 300 feet inland when a nuclear weapon detonated inside the bay she was navigating. The Saint Marcion has since been declared a war grave by the War Graves Commission, and a holy site by the Cathar Church, although the lingering radioactivity of her hull has led to this being something of a formality as the few people who are willing to take souvenirs often end up entombed inside the hull. A memorial gazebo was built when the ship was identified, and a massive, black granite wall listing the names of the Saint Marcion and her battlegroup was built several years after the Incident. It remains the most popular pilgrimage site for Cathar Christians.

The few supercarriers which did manage to conglomerate into the doomed Task Force 90 would be annihilated after a near miss by several ICBMs, about 48 hours after the opening shots of the Incident. Many of the ships, including HMS Holger, of TF.90 became highly radioactive ghost ships. A similar fate was averted for TF.88 when the majority of strike aircraft of TF.90,a few hours earlier, had scrounged together from flight officers and naval crewmen, embarked on a "death ride" into Vepsian Sea and destroyed several SSBNs and anti-ballistic missile sites with the Holger's stock of thermonuclear bombs. Few of these pilots would survive for want of landing areas, although a couple aircraft managed to return to TF.90. The fate of the remaining ships of TF.90, including the supercarriers Reinhold and Saint Paul, remains unknown. However, in 2082 an oceanic research ship, mapping the seafloor for potential lodes on contract with Northern Mining Company, discovered what is believed to be the partially submerged island of the Saint Paul inside a debris field. The extent of the debris field has yet to be fully mapped; an area of approximately 10,000 square miles was declared a "provisional war graves site" by the War Graves Commission meaning it is now off limits to further dredging/minerals exploitation until requisite undersea surveys have been completed.

Holger herself was reported to have been adrift at sea as early as 2051, with some of her crew found dead at their consoles during this initial boarding incident, and as late as 40 years after the Incident. With the destruction of much of the orbital infrastructure of low- and medium- Earth orbits, the ability to track adrift ships has become similar to the situation of a century ago, and only visual or radar spotting by aircraft or surface ships can provide accurate information. The few remaining radar satellites in geosynchroneous equatorial orbit (GEO) do not have any significant coverage over the stormy North Sea, especially at the polar regions, making the ship's exact location (and current nature) difficult to ascertain. As many of the vessels which have sighted Holger were wholly unequipped to salvage even small craft, these curious boardings typically reported no signs of life, and most of the aircraft onboard were missing. Much of the final battle action information of the Holger and her task force come from several recovered log books found during the first boarding.

There are at least two reported sightings of an adrift Admiral-class nuclear cruiser, although the only sketch shows that there is severe superstructure damage on the aft hangar (possibly from a internal explosion caused by fire, or missile impact on the aft, elevated VLS magazine), and several photographs of a Battle--class escort (which is only identifiable by her hullform). It is uncertain as to which of the two destroyer classes it could be, as the bulk of the superstructure, evident from photographs taken by a trawler crew, was destroyed in an uncontrolled fire.

Small village cults along the Peninsular Coast (as documented by the Society for the Reclamation of the Alarian Mainland, a Crown chartered private anthropological research group and Ch'ti nationalist lobbying group) believe that the Holger and her battlegroup lie waiting in the North Sea, and that the admiral of the battlegroup, who is said to have grown a beard so long it flows down to the floor, will awaken his crew when "the next one comes". Then the Holger and her escorts' missiles will shower the Earth in a great fire, sweeping the trolls and Catholics from the world; henceforth the Paladins, as apostles, will come down from Heaven with Christ himself riding white horses to judge the survivors of Christendom. The SRCA has identified aspects of medieval legends, Biblical Catharism, and conventional Cathar nature spirit beliefs in the cults. Generally the identified cults do not number more than 200-300 people, but are unusually consistent in their beliefs despite being spread across thousands of miles of islets and fjords, perhaps indicating some level of contact between the communities in earlier decades.

In the aftermath of the Dorestad Incident, the remaining Paladins are kept docked at the only functional supercarrier maintenance facility, HMS Vitklippor, in Western Gallia. Backlogs of work and a paucity of spare parts keeps the Royal Navy from sortiing more than one or two of the supercarriers at a time, at best. The ancient Saint Karolus Magnus has long since been placed in mothballs at the nearby Naval Reserve Fleet Base, awaiting scrapping. As a result of the outcome of the Incident and the associated economic rebuilding plans, the Royal Navy has no plans to construct a follow-on class for the Paladins during the current 20-year shipbuilding plan, as much of the monies which might have been used for a new supercarrier have instead gone to developing advanced attack submarines, modernizing dockyards, and producing a new class of merchant-auxiliary shipping vessel. However, the Paladins have recently been budgeted for a third refueling and overhaul cycle to take place in the coming months, which will potentially make them the first class of Royal Navy carriers to serve past 100 years.

Name: Paladin (Reinhold) class aircraft carrier

Type: Attack Aircraft Carrier

Builders: Admiralty Yards

Operators: Gallan Royal Navy

Preceded By: Saint-class aircraft carrier

Succeeded By: -

Built: 2006 - 2049

In Service: 2006 -

Planned: 12

Completed: 10

Lost: 7

Canceled: 1

Retired: 0

Displacement (light): 70,000 tons

Displacement (full load): 85,000 tons

Length (w/l): 1,000 feet

Length (o/a): 1,050 feet

Beam (w/l): 130.5 feet

Beam (o/a): 250.75 feet

Draught (full load): 35 feet

Powerplant: 2x Navy Type 956 Atomic Boilers (280,000 HP); 4x geared turbines (80,000 HP ea.)

Propulsion: 4x electric propulsion motors (60,000 HP ea.)

Speed: 32 knots and a bit (clean)

Complement: 4,800 (surge 5,200)

Aircraft carried: 85+

Armament: 32x VLS cells; 4x 25mm chainguns; 4x 5" SAM batteries; 2x 8-round rocket launchers; 6x .50 caliber machine guns; 2x 3-round deck torpedo tubes (fantail)

Catapults: Steam powered

Boats carried: 5-8 (2-4x RHIBs; 2x Combat Boat 90's [shore party use]; Captain's gig; 2-3x workboats)