DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Good morning Beasts on War / OTT:

I’m happy to roll out a new warship class requested by another Darkstar contributor, who had the honestly fantastic idea of including references to the United States Coast Guard as well as the US Navy the future American “navies” of the Darkstar universe.

So this class actually has two variants, one for the United States Aerospace Guard (spiritual descendants of the US Coast Guard) and one for the Navy.

The Clarino class is an unusual design for the United States Navy, probably because it didn’t originate with the United States Navy.  The first ship of the class, USAGS Salvatore J. Clarino Jr., was actually laid down for use by the United States Aerospace Guard, the 26th Century descendant of the long-standing US Coast Guard.  When the US Navy made the jump into interplanetary space in the 2200s and then interstellar space in the early 2400s, the US Coast Guard naturally followed suit with specialties in port security, defense of planetary orbital zones, safeguarding commerce, search and rescue, and enforcement of maritime law.

The Clarino Class started as a design for the USAG, the first of a new, highly-advanced line of starships specially suited for the Aerospace Guard’s mission portfolio.  The larger, expanded Todd Shipbuilding hull accommodates the GE / JPL “Starwind 9100” reactor plant and engines, putting out more power than the Navy’s recent Valcour class fleet destroyers.

But it’s what the Clarino puts this extra power towards is what makes the design special.  The Clarino is actually quite slow in sublight speed, her Hughes FDX-201 ion drives pushing her only at a 5G acceleration curve.  Instead, the additional power is put into a very powerful weapons suite, including four double turrets of 5GW rail guns (as opposed to the Valcour class’ three turrets).  There are also expanded bays for additional troops, and a much larger cargo capacity for longer-ranged missions (the cargo and troops bays on a Clarino actually resemble those on a light cruiser).  Passenger bays are also expanded for greater rescue capacity.

But where the Clarino really shines is in mass driver protection.  The anti-aerospace protection is almost double that of a Valcour class, especially since it is guided by an advanced Raytheon “Able Archer” targeting and tactical CIC system.  In fact the Clarino has more than the Sacramento and San Antonio class light cruisers, and runs side by side with Endeavor class light fleet carrier for sheer anti-aerospace and torpedo protection firepower.

For this reason, the US Navy also opened a contract for its own line of Clarino class, which they designated as “heavy destroyers.”  Opponents of the contract cited the Clarino’s slow sub-light speed, but Navy strategists maintained that the Clarino is mostly to escort larger cruisers ad battleships,  classes which have slower SLD thrust anyway, and to achieve fire suppression against enemy orbital or ground installations.  As for actual fleet screening or interdiction missions, the Navy still has the superb Valcour class for such traditional destroyer roles.

There was brief discussion of taking the Darkstar drives down to 9th Wave capacity as well, but this was quickly quashed.  Slowed FTL capability would ruin the Clarino’s ability to keep up with the ships she was meant to escort, and drastically cut the ship’s ability for rescue and law enforcement interdiction, vital for the USAG’s mission platform.

In fact, the stats shown on this page are for the US Navy’s variant of the Clarino class.  In true maritime USAG configuration, the Clarino removes one pair of Mark 48 gravitic torpedoes (carrying four tubes instead of six), carries an extra launch in the forward hangar bay, and an 11th Wave Darkstar drive.  This faster, longer-ranged FTL drive allows the USAG to expand its envelope for deep space search and rescue operations, as well as interception missions against enemy corvettes, pirates, and  smugglers (in this configuration, the Clarino costs 42 scenario points instead of 50).

The Clarinos are large, slow, and expensive, especially for a destroyer-type warship.  But the value they bring in safeguarding American flagships, aerospace carriers, or ports is beyond dispute.  They’ll never outnumber the Valcours or the older Kinkaids, but they will be a proud staple of the US Navy and US Aerospace Guard for decades to come.

Ships in Class (US Aerospace Guard Configuration)
DSGA-109 / USAGS Salvatore J Clarino Jr. – 2510, New Virgina Orbital Yards, Earth – On Duty
DSGA-110 / USAGS Douglas A. Munro 2511 – Fort Dyson, Proxima Centauri – On Duty
DSGA-111 / USAGS Russell Waesche 2511 – Olympus Mons, Mars – On Duty
DSGA-113 / USAGS Elmer F. Stone 2516 – New Virgina Orbital Yards, Earth –  Lost in Rescue Attempt, Greensea, Psi Serpentis
DSGA-114 / USAGS Phillip F. Roach 2516 – Fort Dyson, Proxima Centauri – On Duty
DSGA-115 / USAGS Merrill W. Hoover 2519 – Fort Dyson, Proxima Centauri –  Undergoing Trials

Ships in Class (US Navy Configuration)
DSGN-811 / USS Robert J. Yered 2512 – New Virgina Orbital Yards, Earth – On Duty
DSGN-812 / USS William P. Fessenden 2513 – Fort Dyson, Proxima Centauri – On Duty
DSGN-813 / USS Frederick C. Billard 2514 – Triton Navy Shipyards, Neptune – On Duty
DSGN-814 / USS Quentin Walsh 2517 – Triton Navy Shipyards, Neptune – On Duty
DSGN-815 / USS Dwight Dexter 2518 – Fort Dyson, Proxima Centauri – On Duty
DSGN-816 / USS Raymond Evans 2518 – New Virgina Orbital Yards, Earth – On Duty

Thanks so much to our continuing supporters!  I’m seriously going to have to think about shutting this donation pool down, I am running out or warship classes in the book.  I’m also really trying to focus on getting the book done by Christmas, or New Years at the latest.  So if you’d still like to contribute a small amount, I thank you in advance, but I’m probably just going to name a ship for you in one of the existing classes (we can talk about which ones) – or I can write you as a “historical character” in the Darkstar history / canon.

Darkstar Rules Donation Pool