Fleet Sterling

The British Isles and the monarchy have a very long tradition of maintaining a strong fleet, a strong military and acting as a separate entity from the European Continent. This has not changed in the Cosmic Era. The United Kingdom occupies a strange position in the Atlantic Federation. It is not technically part of the EuroZone, the AmeroZone, or the AfroZone. It is a sort of extra-holding like New Themyscira, but more so. It is technically part of the Federation and is not an allied nation or territory like the Lunar Free States or the Kingdoms of Scandinavia, but retains a level of autonomy like those all but satrapies do. To that end, exist Force Sterling, and Fleet Sterling. Force Sterling is the army/ground forces of the UK, and Fleet Sterling is aerospace/spacecraft.

Space capable ships are expensive, and few single nations can afford them, and the UK has far more ships than it should be able to support. There are two major reasons they have so many. The first reason is that when the call came to start building, the ancient shipyards and shipwrights of England were among the first to swing into action. The yards that laid down the British High Seas Fleet and the Home Fleet, and the White Star Liners were the first to start building heavy hulls to launch into space. This was done with the support of SEMDRC and a commitment to that organization to act as a subcontractor. A large number of independent spaceships and non-military cruisers are either built under contract or have support work done by UK corporations. Despite the enormous legacy of operations like Union Aerospace Corporation, the UK yards generally do more work, launch more ships, and complete more tonnage. The difference is while UAC is building experimental ships, and long-term contracts to complete next-generation warships, yards like Campbell and Laird, Falmouth, and Hartram and Wulfe were putting out ships almost as fast as they could build them.

Campbell and Laird earned a name for themselves building carry-all dropships, destroyers, light cruisers, patrol ships, and torpedo ships in large numbers. When they weren't building ships, Campbell and Laird were manufacturing and shipping small and medium engine assemblies, power plants, navigation equipment, and communication gear. Falmouth was in the big business of building cruisers. While UAC and SEMDRC were hashing out how to build the next generation of ships, Falmouth was putting almost a dozen capital ships in orbit a year. The corporation built hulls and engines and was often contracted to be a final assembler for ships they didn't completely build themselves.

Hartram and Wulfe have an important place in the economy and military of the United Kingdom. The shipyard is the holding of the Royal Crown and has the honor of building the capital warships for the King. The yard lays down heavy cruisers, and heavy carriers, and is among the small number of yards in the solar system with the ability to build battlestars. Of the existing twelve Federation class battlestars, six were built by Hartram and Wulfe.

The British are no strangers when it comes to shaking up the navies of the world. They forced the world to change with their Two Powers plan of ship building, having as many ships as the next two world powers combined. Then, as ironclads and battleships replaced ships of the line, they made the world change face with the Royal Sovereign. Before the Royal Sovereign, warships were built in ones and twos, and keeping a fleet line was a challenge because no two ships handled or steamed the same, and then along comes the Royal Sovereign and her seven sister ships. Everyone else struggled and played chase. Then they did something unexpected, they launched HMS Dreadnought, considered to be the first modern battleship. Like the coming of an armored Christ, Dreadnought split the naval world into Pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought era warships.

The Cosmic Era was not far from that pre-Dreadnought stage. The great powers were building ships, but there was no consensus, and there were no fleet actions. When there were multiple ships engaging, it was task forces and small groups, one or two capital ships and screens of fighters, attack craft, corvettes, and destroyers. Almost every capital ship at the time was functionally unique. Even supposed sister ships often shared less than thirty percent of components and most of those were structural.

Pirates, Privateers, and the Merchant Marine

While the other powers were fiddling with uber warships, the Crown looked in a different direction, and that was outwards towards Mars, the Belt, and beyond. There was a fortune to make out there, and it would require ships. The Crown's yards stayed relentlessly busy putting ships together and then into orbit. Most of these were cargo haulers, ore ships, mining and industrial platforms, and the like. Very few were armed in any appreciable fashion, but there was a demand. Beyond the reach of Earth, the system was dangerous. The difference between an asteroid prospector and a pirate was the opportunity. There were almost no military ships going beyond the defense of Earth range at the time.

The Ector class was a quiet change in naval planning. The Ector was to be a long hulled light cruiser built for long duration and good speed. Armor was moderate and weapons were likewise modest. The ship had a forward-facing ball turret with two large naval lasers, six capital missile launchers, and a good deal of laser-based anti-aerospace weaponry to fend off fighters, asteroids, and larger slower missiles. It also had the ability to carry a single large launch (the Captain's yacht) and six escort fighters. The ideal fighter complement was considered four Vickers-built Starfury interceptor/scout fighters and two Croyden-built Wellesley strike craft. This would not be the case, as the Vickers Starfury was a massive failure and the Ector's official launch was delayed six months after a Starfury failed its docking procedure and exploded in the capture cradle. Once repaired and launched, Ector carried six Cascadian sourced Grumman Star Cat interceptors.

Ector was quickly joined by five more light cruisers in a similar pattern. While there were differences and they could be told apart by visual cues, most of the components were similar, and creating a logistic system for repair and reload was easy. The Bedwyr, Cador, Gawain, Perceval, and the Medrawd proved capable ships. The light cruisers served the interest of the Crown valiantly and paved the way for the next great ambition, the Conqueror class.

Conquerer and Liberator

The Conquerer and the Liberator were a pair of heavy cruisers, intended to be the figureheads of two new ship lines. The hulls were laid down for the gun-heavy Conquerer and the missile boat Liberator. Both ships ran over budget, and failed to meet their overly ambitious goals, and were ultimately steps backward. Conquerer was just another gunned-up cruiser in a space where there were already plenty of mediocre gunned-up cruisers. Liberator was a less than stellar missile boat and was plagued with electronics problems and double damned by the overall dismal performance of the fleet's Leviathan heavy missile.

Following several resignations and a shake-up in the navy, the brass went back to basics. At the time maligned Ector class was still running, and the ships had racked up millions of miles running convoy escort, pirate hunting, and just patrols. This was seen as inconsequential because these were small ships, not large and sexy, certainly not impressive. There were also other nations that wanted to buy their own Ectors, or if the Crown would approve that, lease them, or sign contracts to gain the protection of the Fleet Sterling.

Majestic

The Majestic class was put together quickly. The design deliberately pushed no envelopes, employed no new cutting-edge technology, and was intended to be cost-effective, low maintenance, and easy to build. The first Majestic was in some nations considered a laughing stock. Larger than the Ector, with a greater crew, nine large naval lasers, ten anti-ship missile tubes, and a large variety of secondary weaponry, it was considered a secondary ship when it slipped from its moorings. In many ways, it was. The Majestic could not stand toe to toe against the New Hanseatic League's newest cruiser, the Rhineland. It likewise was not really a match for the NorthAm Constellation class cruisers, which were notoriously heavily armed with naval autocannons and rail guns. What the Majestic could do was super-cruise across the Solar System, engage in prolonged action due to its reliance on beam weapons, and provide a zone of protection around it.

Four months after Majestic launched, it was joined by the HMS Churchill. Then the Belfast, Albion, and Caledonia is the span of three years. Within ten years, the Majestic class had grown to include Eire, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and the Rodney.

These cruisers might have not been considered front-line ships, but they were fleet ships. The UK had space squadrons. New light cruisers and destroyers were built, most considered mediocre, but they were laid down in numbers. The builders got better, the ships improved and became more reliable, and the crews gave feedback to the designers. The accommodations on the Fleet Sterling ships were far superior to anything shy of a cruise liner, and the ships had better range, endurance, and performance than their peers. Sure, the NorthAm's NAS Farragut could blow the guts out of the Majestic in an exchange of broadsides, but the Farragut spent eleven years in service and never left the orbit of the Moon. Meanwhile, Majestic would serve for sixty years and transit the solar system fourteen times.

Fleet for Hire

Shipbuilding is an expensive venture. Most terrestrial nations lack the ability or finances to pull it off. Those nations have the choices of forgoing naval assets, purchasing other nations' ships when they are retired, or contracting out their fleet operations. For this last option, there are two choices, Cratos corporation or Fleet Sterling. Cratos is ultra-macho and paints penises on the sides of their ships, and having several standing feuds with different nations, corps, and a few planets. Fleet Sterling has the pomp and circumstance of the Royal Navy, and a history of naval excellence going back to the days of flag and sail, cannon and cutlass.

Fleet Sterling was busy.

Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific Rim Coalition states hired Fleet Sterling to protect them against the ACPS fleet and aggression. Canada partnered with the Crown to have its own fleet assets but still relied on Fleet Sterling for larger ships. Fleet Sterling saw work in the South African United Republics, for the Lunar Free State, and dozens of principalities in the Asteroid Belt. Many of those factions would have collapsed to piracy if not for Fleet Sterling, and later the appearance of the Five Metal Dragons and their stabilizing influence.

When no one was watching, Fleet Sterling almost reestablished the Old British Empire.

The Atlantic Commonwealth quickly became the Crown's largest and most important customer. The shipyards started building the heavy aerospace carriers, then the battlestars favored by the Federation. This slowed production for the home fleet but didn't stall it. The Ector class was retired and replaced by the Liverpool light cruisers, and the Majestics were replaced with the Victorious class heavy cruisers. These would pale in comparison to the King series of battleships.

The King series battleships took all the lessons from the previous cruisers and the technical acumen gained from Federation contracts and put them into one hull. Each of the ships was named for influential and important kings in British history, Henry VIII, Richard I, Edward I, and so on. They garnered their own nicknames shared among crews, and quietly became the backbone of not just Fleet Sterling, but of the Atlantic Federation itself.

Operation Valkyrie

Operation Valkyrie is a contingency plan within the Atlantic Federation Navy to deal with the potential rebellion of the New Hanseatic League and its fleet. While technically part of the Federation, the League has always stood apart, and Hanse warships have been off-limits to Federation fleet personnel. Only Hanse crews serve, and the ships are only serviced at Hanse docks. Combined with the League's devastating advantage in weapons technology, like their Austerhagen torpedoes and Higgs Particle cannons, and the overall quality of their ships, this was a serious concern.

Operation Valkyrie has two major thrusts, the Federation launching the full might of all its Battlestars and their complements of aerospace fighters and space-capable mecha, and Fleet Sterling engaging. The thought is that being caught between massive numbers of heavily armed fighters and the battleship backbone of Fleet Sterling, the Hanse warships would take serious damage and either be destroyed or forced to retreat.

Operation Jutland

Jutland is the Crown's answer to Valkyrie, and it is very much different.

Fleet Sterling has a non-aggression pact with the New Hanse Fleet. The two groups have no reason to fight, especially when the only reason presented is that the AmeroZone distrusts the EuroZone in general, and NorthAm generals and admirals are peeved that they cannot have Hanse warships. The Crown also is aware that Valkyrie uses Fleet Sterling to soak the damage the Hanse can throw, and that they will pay with many of their ships, and thousands if not tens of thousands of lives, while the Federation ships hang back behind walls of fighters and long-range missiles. The Crown has no intention of throwing away its ships and its crews over NorthAm anxiety and saber-rattling against their own allies.

The Dream of Yamato