Re:MEKO Ships

A word about Modular ships.

A lot of Frigates bumming round these days (including the German F-124,
a VERY capable vessel) are made to a Blohm und Voss GmbH family of
designs. These have one characteristic: the weapons, and to a lesser
extent sensors, are not exactly "plug n play", but are designed as
somewhat interchangeable modules. This means you can get your basic
hull, and (later on) stick upgraded weaponry on it, with a minimum of
fuss/cost/time. The Danish Modular Corvette takes this to an extreme,
having different modules to make it a minesweeper, patrol boat, attack
craft etc.

Yeah, in SFB the Romulan Sparrowhawk had the same idea.

ANYWAY....

I've been thinking about the OUDF, and the idea of the OU having a
zillion M-type stars that it "claims" provided it can patrol them. This
means the OUDF, like the current RAN (Royal Australian Navy) must have a
lot of long-range patrol boats. Just enough armament to call them a
warship (ie Junk-bashers to all Grey Funnel Liners), but with the
ability to become at least partly capable warships in time of need.

Hence the following design: The Freemantle Class Patrol Vessel.

Mass 32
FTL ( 4 mass ) - run at 3/4 power for long-term reliability
Thrust 5 (  8 mass )
Strong (50%)Hull (16 mass)
2 Armour ( 2 mass)
1 Type 1 (1 mass)
1 FC  ( 1 mass )

Cheap, reliable, rugged, and not effective vs any but the smallest
opponents.

Put it in a shipyard for a week though, and it turns into:

Mass 40
FTL -4
Thrust 4 -8
Average Hull(40%) -16
2 Armour -2
1 Type 1 -1
1 FC -1
and 
1 ER SML Disposable Launcher (5)
1 PD -1
1 Type 2 Beam (Fwd arc)
or sometimes
1 Type 2 (2)
1 ADAF (1)
5 PD (5)
or in a few experimental vessels
3 Type 2 (L,R,F) -6
1 PD -1
1 Type 1 -1
but sometimes in peacetime,
4 Cargo (2 each)

Too much of this would be unbalancing, and contrary to the spirit of the
background. But a little bit - standard 8 mass packs for one class, may
not be.

Comments?

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