Honorverse favorite one-liners

'"Perhaps you can start off then by telling me—briefly, of course—just why you joined the Service," he invited. "For several reasons, Sir," she said after only the briefest of pauses. "My father was a Navy doctor before he retired and went into private practice, so I was a 'Navy brat' until I was about eleven. And I've always been interested in naval history, clear back to pre-Diaspora Earth. But I suppose the most important reason was the People's Republic, Sir." "Indeed?" Layson couldn't quite keep the surprise out of his tone. "Yes, Sir." Her voice was both respectful and thoughtful, but it was also very serious. "I believe war with Haven is inevitable, Sir. Not immediately, but in time." "And you want to be along for the glory and the adventure, do you?" "No, Sir." Her expression didn't alter, despite the bite in his question. "I want to help defend the Star Kingdom. And I don't want to live under the Peeps."

"It's a tradition in the Fleet that by the time a middy has survived Saganami Island, he's like a 'cat. Fling him into the Service any way you like, and he'll land on his feet.

cthia wrote:Changer of Worlds

For a few more seconds he allowed himself to hope that she might walk right past War Maiden to the ship she actually sought, or that she might be lost. But any possibility of dodging the pulser dart faded as she walked straight over to the heavy cruiser's tube.

Ok, another glaringly gaping ghastly gap in my understanding.

I travel frequently. This passage reminds me of walking through airport terminals. But something seems out of sync. Airplanes are nowhere near the size of Superdreadnaughts. In fact they are nowhere near the size of Heavy Cruisers, which is War Maiden. Yet in airports--LAX and London Heathrow, UK, quickly comes to mind--the terminals are huge, and one doesn't merely walk from one slip to another, one...hikes! Or, if available (yea right) one rides the motorized carts. Yet this passage implies that the abutting of such huge ships are fairly close. Closer even than what can be managed of a 727 jumbo jet. How can this be? Considering the size of Heavy Cruisers and other considerations, it seems that Honor would have had to ride to the next ship's slip.

Jonathan_S wrote:Changer of Worlds

For a few more seconds he allowed himself to hope that she might walk right past War Maiden to the ship she actually sought, or that she might be lost. But any possibility of dodging the pulser dart faded as she walked straight over to the heavy cruiser's tube.

Ok, another glaringly gaping ghastly gap in my understanding.

I travel frequently. This passage reminds me of walking through airport terminals. But something seems out of sync. Airplanes are nowhere near the size of Superdreadnaughts. In fact they are nowhere near the size of Heavy Cruisers, which is War Maiden. Yet in airports--LAX and London Heathrow, UK, quickly comes to mind--the terminals are huge, and one doesn't merely walk from one slip to another, one...hikes! Or, if available (yea right) one rides the motorized carts. Yet this passage implies that the abutting of such huge ships are fairly close. Closer even than what can be managed of a 727 jumbo jet. How can this be? Considering the size of Heavy Cruisers and other considerations, it seems that Honor would have had to ride to the next ship's slip.

Johnathan_S wrote:I had a thought and did a quick check. While CA's are much more massive than a 747, they're actually narrower than one (and I believe Honorverse ships also dock nose is).

It seems if you wanted to you actually could crowd them as close together as the jetways in an airport. (Mind you I'd want to have more clearance between them, since you've got less control on reaction thrusters than you do with wheels firmly planted on the ground)

But a 747 is:
71m long, with a
64m wingspan
19m tall (top of tail)

A representational CA, the Crusader-class is:
479 m long,
58 m wide,
48 m tall

So the CA is much longer, and over twice as tall, but several meters narrower. (Of course the CA is mostly filling those dimensions, while the majority of the footprint of the 747 is empty external space. But that doesn't matter for how close you can dock them)


Now a SD, like the Gryphon-class is a bit different:
1371 m long,
199 m wide,
185 m tall
Couldn't put those as close together as 747s

cthia wrote:

Jonathan_S wrote:I had a thought and did a quick check. While CA's are much more massive than a 747, they're actually narrower than one (and I believe Honorverse ships also dock nose is).

It seems if you wanted to you actually could crowd them as close together as the jetways in an airport. (Mind you I'd want to have more clearance between them, since you've got less control on reaction thrusters than you do with wheels firmly planted on the ground)

But a 747 is:
71m long, with a
64m wingspan
19m tall (top of tail)

A representational CA, the Crusader-class is:
479 m long,
58 m wide,
48 m tall

So the CA is much longer, and over twice as tall, but several meters narrower. (Of course the CA is mostly filling those dimensions, while the majority of the footprint of the 747 is empty external space. But that doesn't matter for how close you can dock them)


Now a SD, like the Gryphon-class is a bit different:
1371 m long,
199 m wide,
185 m tall
Couldn't put those as close together as 747s

Johnathan, thanks for the research. I have been beating my head up over this. This is what happens when one proceeds from erroneous presumptions. I assumed much greater dimensions in width. In fact. I am shocked. Do you recall where you came by those numbers? I can only find references to tonnage.

Even the Superdreadnaught dimensions you gave, though much larger than the Heavy Cruisers, are still nowhere near the sizes I imagined. At any rate, as far as size, it solves the original problem. Thanks again.

Jonathan_S wrote:You might have been confused by the early books that gave much bigger sizes (right up until it was pointed out that at the stated dimensions an SD was lighter than air. Oops. Thus the Great Resizing" was born)

Anyway, I pull the ship dimensions right out of the Royal Manticoran Navy reference section of House of Steel. Sizes and weapons fits are just some of the info held in that series companion tome. (The 747 dimensions were from Boeing's website by way of google)

"Ladies and gentlemen, the King!"

KNick wrote:I am shocked, shocked I tell you. Not one of you remembered the transit tubes Hephaestus uses to move people around. Remember how Honor got to Fearless in OBS? Why would they need to make anyone walk any further than from the nearest transit station. With computer control, it should be fairly efficient.

For a few more seconds he allowed himself to hope that she might walk right past War Maiden to the ship she actually sought, or that she might be lost. But any possibility of dodging the pulser dart faded as she walked straight over to the heavy cruiser's tube.

Chief Stennis disappeared into his pantry, and Captain Bachfisch returned his attention to Commander Layson and Lieutenant Commander Hirake. Honor settled back in her chair, and the pleased buzz of Nimitz's purr vibrated against the back of her neck. If she'd been a 'cat herself, her own purr would have been even more pleased and considerably louder. She watched War Maiden's captain chatting with his officers and felt a sense of ungrudging admiration. This Captain Bachfisch was a very different proposition from the formal, almost cold CO who had presided presided over the meal itself. She still didn't understand why he'd seemed so distant then, but she readily appreciated the skill with which he drew each of his officers in turn into the discussion now. And, she admitted, how effortlessly he had made a mere midshipwoman feel at ease in their company. His questions might be humorously phrased, and he might display an almost dangerously pointed wit, yet he had all of them involved in discussing serious issues, and he managed it as a leader, not merely as a captain. She remembered once more what Captain Courvosier had said about the need for a captain to know her officers, and realized that Bachfisch had just given her an object lesson in how a captain might go about that. It was a lesson worth learning, and she filed it away carefully as she smiled and reached up to take the plate of celery Chief Stennis brought her.

Hutch wrote:
"Too bad," he said gravely, and the sound of his voice startled Honeker into turning to look at him. "There can't be any survivors," Tourville told his commissioner, and shook his head regretfully. "Too bad . . . Lady Harrington deserved better than that."

I believe that is known as a 'Big Damn Heroes' moment.