Concepts: Today's similarities and differences to the HV

Perhaps we do differ. I disagree with Jonathan that there are things that a Ghost can do that a Shark cannot. Sharks can carry platforms. The only thing I personally think that sets a Ghost apart from a Shark is that a Ghost is stealthier simply because it is much smaller. I think the MA intentionally built the smallest possible spider driven ship for maximum stealth. Of course they did.

Here's the thing. For a Shark to have been a test bed and training for an LD, it has to be able to perform as close to an LD as possible. If a Shark cannot provide its own fire control, then as a warship, it is useless. Ditto for the LD.

A Ghost is sent for reconnaissance on the very difficult systems like the MBS where there is always rush hour traffic. So premium stealthiness is required. Every last bit. So a Ghost would be sent. That is only my opinion.
Rush hour traffic in first tier systems compounded by their advanced arrays etc , would be a purely Ghost operation. Or rather, better suited for a Ghost. IOW, a weak enough task for a Shark, but made for a Ghost.

I understand the notion though. I think Jonathan sees Ghosts as very specialized ships with specialized hardware and sensors, etc., much like Harvest Joy which I imagine is chock-full of specialized hardware and sensors as well. But if warships don’t have the same then they are useless.

I also assume Jonathan was pointing out that since Sharks were not meant to be used operationally that the specialized hardware would not be wasted on them. But then, how could they be used as training vessels for LDs?

It seems that the addition of the fire-control platforms used by the Ghosts in the Sharks would bridge the gap.

Although I think the LDs as well as the Sharks would use much smaller, specialized, even slower, spider-driven probes instead of platforms.* But for close in attacks neither are needed. Just my opinion.

*And or a specialized computer like Behemoth.

penny wrote:Perhaps we do differ. I disagree with Jonathan that there are things that a Ghost can do that a Shark cannot. Sharks can carry platforms. The only thing I personally think that sets a Ghost apart from a Shark is that a Ghost is stealthier simply because it is much smaller. I think the MA intentionally built the smallest possible spider driven ship for maximum stealth. Of course they did.

Here's the thing. For a Shark to have been a test bed and training for an LD, it has to be able to perform as close to an LD as possible. If a Shark cannot provide its own fire control, then as a warship, it is useless. Ditto for the LD.

A Ghost is sent for reconnaissance on the very difficult systems like the MBS where there is always rush hour traffic. So premium stealthiness is required. Every last bit. So a Ghost would be sent. That is only my opinion.
Rush hour traffic in first tier systems compounded by their advanced arrays etc , would be a purely Ghost operation. Or rather, better suited for a Ghost. IOW, a weak enough task for a Shark, but made for a Ghost.

I understand the notion though. I think Jonathan sees Ghosts as very specialized ships with specialized hardware and sensors, etc., much like Harvest Joy which I imagine is chock-full of specialized hardware and sensors as well. But if warships don’t have the same then they are useless.

I also assume Jonathan was pointing out that since Sharks were not meant to be used operationally that the specialized hardware would not be wasted on them. But then, how could they be used as training vessels for LDs?

It seems that the addition of the fire-control platforms used by the Ghosts in the Sharks would bridge the gap.

Although I agree on many points with Jonathan_S, I do not agree that the Shark was never intended to be an operational warship. It is possible to be a warship while still helping train crew for the much larger Leonard Detweiler class. The specialized equipment that a survey ship has, is unnecessary and too bulky for a warship; but would be fine in a scout ship without offensive weapons. Both the LD and the Shark are podlayers (with the storage requirements that entails, note that ThinksMarkedly thinks the Shark is inadequate in that respect) and have massive energy weapons. Note that Harvest Joy was specially fitted out with survey gear, meaning that equipment was NOT standard on a warship.

There is a scenario where the Sharks were planned to carry out some version of Oyster Bay: consider the possibility that the 3s-graser was developed after the Sharks were designed. It was then decided that the resulting graser-torpedo was better suited to the attack on orbitals, so the production of Sharks was stopped and the Leonard Detweiler was designed. That reduced the Sharks to a training role while the LD's were built, but events moved too fast for that change.