Light bulb Captured Solly fleet

Hutch wrote:

Joat42 wrote:
Hmm, that's actually a good idea. There is a lot of stuff in those ships that can used in the civilian sector.

If Manticore advertised that they where going to scrap those ships and they now where accepting tenders for the contract of scrapping them they could make a little profit from it.

I would also like to point out that you should never underestimate how much profit a scrapdealer can make on stuff you consider to be worthless.

I agree, that may be the most workable idea yet. Of course, you do want to account for things like missiles and grazers (I wonder if lasers/grazers can be used for mining purposes?), but even just broken down to their consitutent elements, they may provide a cheap and ready source of material to the Talbott (and for that matter, Silesia or some of the smaller, weaker Havenite worlds).

Interesting.

If some of the ships Haven built when they were buying SL tech are still in service, Haven might be interested in buying spare parts from the scrappers. Most of those ships are probably destroyed or decommissioned already though.

Joat42 wrote:

Direwolf18 wrote:Now giving the ships away with the expectation of scrapping them could be a worthwhile enterprise. I imagine there are certain systems on those ships that could be worth salvaging on some of the poorer worlds in places like the Talbott quadrant. IE Nuncio might like to have a few fusion reactors or sensor suites something. The SLN stuff was not poorly made, its just obsolete as military hardware goes. It may not be worth the time and cost of a Manticorian salvage crew to take apart but a much more poorly paid Nuncion crew could be gainfully entertained and employed looting the things.

Hmm, that's actually a good idea. There is a lot of stuff in those ships that can used in the civilian sector.

If Manticore advertised that they where going to scrap those ships and they now where accepting tenders for the contract of scrapping them they could make a little profit from it.

I would also like to point out that you should never underestimate how much profit a scrapdealer can make on stuff you consider to be worthless.

Scrapping the major systems of an SD isn't all that easy -the entire structure of the ships is built of the hardest materials possible to protect against the most powerful millitary weapons possible. Read the notes in HoS on the Anduril Class of SDs - it was the toughest SD ever built by the Manties - but they built only with maximized protection in mind, NOT changing out shipborn systems every few years. Even with SD capable shipyards, the Manties found it impossible to swap out many systems and had to leave them in the ship because there was no way to reach them and had to leave them in place. While the Anduril was the worst example, EVERY warship ship is built to resist damage, and any SD is the absolute best at absorbing it and the hardest to swap out systems.

While it may be possble for a Talbot system to pull out the fusion reactors (which are buried deep inside the ships with multiple layers of armor surrounding them) with just VERGE tech at hand, the time and effort needed may be completely un-economical.

There is this little invention called a plasma cutter.

It cuts everything. Why? Uh, duh, it is plasma with a cutting temp way above any substance. You can cut zirconium carbide with a plasma torch if you wish. IT will cut anything in the Honorverse as well. Destruction ability is always easy to obtain. Creation is hard.

That being said, it is a heck of a lot of work to cut through THICK layers of armor.

PS. Have you seen the absurdity come across the news. Afganistan, the army is destroying things like treadmills and microwaves because there is a timer in them that COULD be used to operate a bomb. So, said terrorist is going to pay what? $50 for a treadmill instead of buying said timer for less than a $1 elsewhere? Are you F'ING KIDDING ME! So, we the stupid tax payer pay to destroy something that now cannot even be sold for pennies on the dollar. Now it is nothing but scrap. BRILLIANT!

Relax wrote:There is this little invention called a plasma cutter.

It cuts everything. Why? Uh, duh, it is plasma with a cutting temp way above any substance. You can cut zirconium carbide with a plasma torch if you wish. IT will cut anything in the Honorverse as well. Destruction ability is always easy to obtain. Creation is hard.

Canon would disagree. Short Victorious War would suggest it would take at least a week to cut through the armour of a Battlecruiser, much less an SD (Paul says that avoiding the armour cuts two weeks off his estimate, so assume an equal amount of time for cutting through and putting back).

That said, I don't think it would be all that difficult to disassemble the SDs for parts. Yes, refitting an SD takes a long time, but you're doing that with the expectation of putting things back together. If all you want to do is strip it for parts, you can just cut it in half lengthwise through the unarmoured top/bottom to get to the juicy bits. Sure, you'll be working in vacuum, but that's space for ya.

Werrf wrote:

Relax wrote:There is this little invention called a plasma cutter.

It cuts everything. Why? Uh, duh, it is plasma with a cutting temp way above any substance. You can cut zirconium carbide with a plasma torch if you wish. IT will cut anything in the Honorverse as well. Destruction ability is always easy to obtain. Creation is hard.

Canon would disagree. Short Victorious War would suggest it would take at least a week to cut through the armour of a Battlecruiser, much less an SD (Paul says that avoiding the armour cuts two weeks off his estimate, so assume an equal amount of time for cutting through and putting back).

That said, I don't think it would be all that difficult to disassemble the SDs for parts. Yes, refitting an SD takes a long time, but you're doing that with the expectation of putting things back together. If all you want to do is strip it for parts, you can just cut it in half lengthwise through the unarmoured top/bottom to get to the juicy bits. Sure, you'll be working in vacuum, but that's space for ya.

What the Hell is wrong with the world. If someone points out that cutting a material is simple and straightforward but requires quite a bit of work, they are now WRONG? Holy Hell. It ain't black or white here.

PS. SVW agrees with me. Cutting the armor is possible, but time consuming. Instead went through a ton of decks and systems. Why? They could get more manpower repairing the holes and systems whereas the shorter route would require fewer man hours, but actually be slower as not as many can physically access or work in the area as, here I am presupposing, bots, probably help, "regrow" the armor. Took shorter time, was actually more expensive.

Relax wrote:<<SNIP>>
What the Hell is wrong with the world. If someone points out that cutting a material is simple and straightforward but requires quite a bit of work, they are now WRONG? Holy Hell. It ain't black or white here.

PS. SVW agrees with me. Cutting the armor is possible, but time consuming. Instead went through a ton of decks and systems. Why? They could get more manpower repairing the holes and systems whereas the shorter route would require fewer man hours, but actually be slower as not as many can physically access or work in the area as, here I am presupposing, bots, probably help, "regrow" the armor. Took shorter time, was actually more expensive.

I think that basically he agrees with you. What he (and I) suggest would be to cut an appropriate size hole in the top and/or bottom through the minimum amount of armor and hollowing the ship out from the inside, rather than trying to peel it like an orange. Once the good stuff is out, then worry about the weapons systems.

You know, scrapping a ship is quite easy.

1. Cut the ship in half.
2. Start dismantling the inside and move the stuff through the big, honking hole in the middle due to the ship being cut in half.

Cutting through the thick armor is a no-brainer, you do it once. When the insides are totally gutted you dispose of the armored hull in the most efficient way you have at your disposal.

Hollow them SDs out and use them as independent shipbuilding slips for smaller ships. I suppose a BC can fit inside an SD. On second thought, not the current Manty BCs which are in the million ton range already. So shipbuilding slips for destroyers to heavy cruisers.

Theemile wrote:While it may be possble for a Talbot system to pull out the fusion reactors (which are buried deep inside the ships with multiple layers of armor surrounding them) with just VERGE tech at hand, the time and effort needed may be completely un-economical.

Probably un-economical for Manticorians to do it, but if the average cost of a Manticorian ship builder is say 30 Manticorian dollars in hour, the Nuncions could be doing it for 2.50 an hour. Its not like it would be tying up the massive shipyards in Nuncio or anything, check out how ships are salvaged in India sometime. It's what gave me the idea. You want to compare those guys to the shipyard workers at Hampton Roads?

There is a difference between taking something apart with the intent to put it back together again, and taking it apart permanently.

Edit: Never mind.