I was going to only do heel ships this time...... then it dawned on me that Volkhov-M is kinda cute, too (as is the idea of having four of them)......
I realized that I am once again compelled to do a face ship, so that's how it went.
More heel ships(s) incoming...... no solid timetable, I know I have disproportionately more face ships, I can't guarantee I won't convert more, but the bad guys will get more ships to show for as well.
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One of the first capital ships mass-produced for the League of Kings' raiding fleets and indeed their first warship capable of area air defense, the warlord alliance acquired the design of this class of missile cruisers from an early patron as a reward for lending their subversive capabilities to off-world insurgencies. Its S-75M-2 anti-aircraft missile system (known to the League's founding warlords as "Volkhov-M"), two of which would arm each ship of the class, provided a missing piece for the League of Kings' puzzle of fleet operation capabilities although they had to apply technology stolen from the KS-1 missile programme on their homeworld (who regards them as terrorists and all, with only fringe countries willing to do business with them) to put together something truly useful. This includes an all-solid-state SJ-212 fire control radar and various improvements to the missile itself.
Naturally, other components that can be replaced with those readily-available the warlord alliance are indeed replaced on the mass-produced ships, such as a new sensors suite, 100mm automatic main guns, radar-guided 37mm autocannons with PL-8H launch rails, 533mm torpedo tubes, and a heavy anti-ship missile system indigenously-developed by arms-dealing elements within the warlord alliance. A "Command" variant also exists, with differences being 130mm main guns and a correspondingly more-crowded accommodation.
This design as modified does also share a common weakness of League of Kings warships- it avoids problems with overcrowding and severely straining the warlord alliance's pool of available manpower (which does not have the size or the quality to match those of their enemies to begin with, a situation not helped by the fact that much of their arsenal is still manpower-intensive) by devoting its crew complement to manning weapons and command-and-control facilities. Despite efforts of automation in other aspect of shipboard operations, ships of this class suffer from weak damage control capabilities for their size, leading to a reputation of being able to dish out damage but not able to take it.
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A prototype fleet air defense and command ship, this missile cruiser is in fact an indirect predecessor of sorts to the above mentioned cruiser. To reflect her emphasis on anti-aircraft warfare, as built she was armed with four S-75M-2 missile launchers (known to the Armies of Frontier Nations as "Volkhov-M"), two experimental launchers for V-600 missiles (known to FN forces as "4K90" or "Volna") with horizontally-loading magazines, four twin 100mm/L70 guns, and two depth charge racks. The downfall of the government that funded her creation prevented the existence of any sister ship to come to pass, but rather than joining the insurgency responsible for the downfall, she fought until the insurgency's League of Kings benefactors attracted the wrath of the Armies of Frontier Nations, who helped evicting both the insurgents and the warlord alliance from her homeworld.
She remained hard-worked in various policing operations around her homeland during the subsequent years until efforts to contact the industry interests of FN forces' homeworld eventually paid off just in time for her to get a much-needed refit, and the enlisted defense contractors are more than happy to supply the SJ-231 phased-array fire control radars and to re-manufacture the V-753 missiles used by the ship to a more consistent and potent standard. In addition, her sensors and fire controls are improved upon, the V-600 missile launchers proved somewhat clumsy for the intended use and were replaced by two Type 730 gatling guns and six Sylver A-35 vertical launchers loaded with quad-packed Crotale VT-1 missiles, depth charge racks would give way to two twelve-tube anti-submarine rocket mortars, and anti-surface capabilities are enhanced with the installation of two quad C-602 missile launchers aft.
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This is my (much-belated) Clear Your Workbench GB entry...... please proceed to
here for the full story.
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Comments and suggestions welcomed.