found a use for the ex-Sollie SD.

The E wrote:The only time where we've seen a warship converted to something approaching civilian use is HMS Duke of Cromarty, and that only worked because it was based on an Agamemmnon-class BC(P), which unlike a traditional warship, has a large hollow space inside of it that can be filled with civilian accomodations.

Remember, only half the pod core was converted to royal accommodations.

I want to see a short story or chapter where someone (SLN?) attacks the Duke of Crometry in an attempt to capture or kill Queen Elizabeth. Imagine a squadron of SLN BCs or even SDs attacking. This would enable the much maligned BC(P) to demonstrate that it is not totally worthless. Perhaps Abigail Hearnes might even be on board for some reason and has to assume command after the bridge is taken out. Of course having Queen Elizabeth (who looks like Haley Berry in my mind) and Abby on the same ship inspires ideas for an after battle shower scene.

namelessfly wrote:

The E wrote:The only time where we've seen a warship converted to something approaching civilian use is HMS Duke of Cromarty, and that only worked because it was based on an Agamemmnon-class BC(P), which unlike a traditional warship, has a large hollow space inside of it that can be filled with civilian accomodations.

Remember, only half the pod core was converted to royal accommodations.

And at that, I believe the conversion was done *during* construction. They didn't take a fully operational BC(P) out of the OOB and rip out some of the guts and refit it - they diverted it from a point just before the internals were being fitted and changed it from there. Much easier to do than converting something already finished.

2 converted for rich bored SEM people. 28 for rich company officials in the league, should be a few of those. That right there would pay for the rest of the 100.

Mind you you could probably sell 80 of them to various Sollie companies, intact as is. Not only would a company, or several of them, want such a ship which battle fleet wouldn't sell to them, in the best of times. Once things start falling apart, well this might even be better than converting them. Keep one or two for personnel use refitted etc....

Keep one or two for personnel use refitted etc....

There actually may be a market for this. Hauptman and the other Manticorian cartel heads have too much common sense for this. But in a universe the size of Honorverse, there have to be a few Vanderbilts out there. Of course if they spend like the Vanderbilts (and the operating costs of your own personal (de-weaponed) SD would qualify), they like the Vanderbilts will soon disappear from the lists of the richest people in the galaxy. The question is how many really stupid spendthrift ultra-rich are there who would like a de-weaponed SD to use as their own personal toy?

http://www.earlytorise.com/how-the-worl ... nt-broke/#

MaxxQ wrote:And at that, I believe the conversion was done *during* construction. They didn't take a fully operational BC(P) out of the OOB and rip out some of the guts and refit it - they diverted it from a point just before the internals were being fitted and changed it from there. Much easier to do than converting something already finished.

I believe you're right for HMS Duke of Cromarty. But IIRC converting the existing Keyhole I SD(P) ships to Keyhole II required the installation of additional shipboard support computers and electronics. I seem to recall that they pulled a similar trick and slightly shorted the pod bay by sticking all that new hardware at the forward end of it.

And that definitely was a post-construction alteration.

I assume those electronics aren't as well armored / shielded as they'd be in a ground up Keyhole II design; but on the other hand if you catastrophically lose your pod bay your offensive FTL fire-control probably isn't your top priority

[edited to clarify I'd switched from discussing BC(P)s to SD(P)s]

BC(P)s have Keyhole 1 not Keyhole 2. Any prospective conversion is impractical. Not only would to much of the modest ammo capacity be lost (Medusa class SD(P) carries >500 pods verses only 360 on an Agememnon), the Keyhole 2 platforms are much more massive than a Keyhole 1 platform. The docking bays which already compromise the armor and survivability would have to be enlarged.

Of course given the performance of the Mk-16 G, I would expect an Aggy to be able to ream a squadron of SLN SDs unless it is the Duke of Crometry which has lost ~1/2 of the pod bay to staterooms and ball rooms and conference rooms. The Aggy going up against such a threat would be an interesting battle.

Jonathan_S wrote:

MaxxQ wrote:And at that, I believe the conversion was done *during* construction. They didn't take a fully operational BC(P) out of the OOB and rip out some of the guts and refit it - they diverted it from a point just before the internals were being fitted and changed it from there. Much easier to do than converting something already finished.

I believe you're right for HMS Duke of Cromarty. But IIRC converting the existing Keyhole I ships to Keyhole II required the installation of additional shipboard support computers and electronics. I seem to recall that they pulled a similar trick and slightly shorted the pod bay by sticking all that new hardware at the forward end of it.

And that definitely was a post-construction alteration.

I assume those electronics aren't as well armored / shielded as they'd be in a ground up Keyhole II design; but on the other hand if you catastrophically lose your pod bay your offensive FTL fire-control probably isn't your top priority

namelessfly wrote:BC(P)s have Keyhole 1 not Keyhole 2. Any prospective conversion is impractical. Not only would to much of the modest ammo capacity be lost (Medusa class SD(P) carries >500 pods verses only 360 on an Agememnon), the Keyhole 2 platforms are much more massive than a Keyhole 1 platform. The docking bays which already compromise the armor and survivability would have to be enlarged.

Yes. I know.
I see my post was unclear (and I've gone back and edited it).

I'd mentally switched from talking about the BC(P)s to the SD(P)s where the Keyhole 1 equipped ones were being updated (a non-trivial refit) to Keyhole 2.

It was that SD(P) update that stole some of the pod bay length for the internal support electronics. But in addition you're right they should have had to enlarge the semi-recessed Keyhole bays (requiring painful modification to armor)

Hi NamelessFly,

We have textev that the Duke of Cromarty will never be alone in the first place, but wondering can be fun.

If half the pods [ie 180] were left, though the original number of pods was closer to 14 minutes or around 280, which I assumed to be 288 pods; 180 pods means 2520 Mk-16 missiles, or 1440 Apollo's if the Duke of Cromarty is upgraded to Keyhole 2.

Whether 160-180 Apollo's or Mk-16's each, that would kill anywhere from 8 to 14 BF SD's; not a bad tonnage ratio of a 32-1 minimum to 56-1 maximum, and again that, only if the Duke of Cromarty was alone.

L

namelessfly wrote:

The E wrote:The only time where we've seen a warship converted to something approaching civilian use is HMS Duke of Cromarty, and that only worked because it was based on an Agamemmnon-class BC(P), which unlike a traditional warship, has a large hollow space inside of it that can be filled with civilian accomodations.

Remember, only half the pod core was converted to royal accommodations.

I want to see a short story or chapter where someone (SLN?) attacks the Duke of Crometry in an attempt to capture or kill Queen Elizabeth. Imagine a squadron of SLN BCs or even SDs attacking. This would enable the much maligned BC(P) to demonstrate that it is not totally worthless. Perhaps Abigail Hearnes might even be on board for some reason and has to assume command after the bridge is taken out. Of course having Queen Elizabeth (who looks like Haley Berry in my mind) and Abby on the same ship inspires ideas for an after battle shower scene.

House of Steel states a load of 360. At battle of Location Henkey's ship had over 300.

5 DDs firing 24 Mm-16s each or 120 total nuked 4 BCs. But an Aggy firing 56, 108, 164, 216 missiles depending on staking might have more difficulty SLN SDs.

If the Grand Alliance (GA) had any long term planning sense, perhaps they will just hang onto all the various sized captured Sollie warships. Ther must be many uses for which they could be used, both short term and long term. However, there may be a problem with that.

If I were ordered to "slag down" a captured enemy warships computer and weapon systems, just how would I do so? Would I also receive orders to do such with a notion or idea or potential for future use out of the aforementioned Sollie warship? What does "slag" mean?

If it meant just making sure the captured warship was not going anywhere and not shooting anything, then it may be possible to just "decommission" the various computer systems throughout the ship. Physical destruction may not be required, nor desired.

But....the problem with that is that it may be possible to undo whatever was done. Therefore it would also be necessary to physically disable the weapons systems. My fear again is that all of these captured light Sollie ships may end up having a nasty use sometime in the future.

Just me. HB of CJ (old coot) Lt.Cm. But, they could be put to good use also. It all depends upon the future situation. The Dark Ages are coming after all the shooting stops.