Cameron (WarShip class)
Cameron | |
Production information | |
Manufacturer | Daussault-Shimmon Enterprises of New Earth |
Introduced | 2668 |
Use | Battlecruiser |
Tech Base | Star League |
Cost | 3,927,517,000 C-bills |
Technical specifications | |
Mass | 859,000 tons |
Length | 839 m |
Sail Diameter | 1.450 m |
Fuel | 1,000 tons |
Burn Rate | |
Safe Thrust | 2 |
Top Thrust | 3 |
Sail Integrity | 5 |
KF Drive Integrity | 18 |
LF Battery | No |
Armament | 12 x Heavy NPPCs 8 x AR-10 Launchers 16 x NAC/25s 10 x NL55s |
Armor | 779.5 tons of Ajax 7PK300 Ferro-Carbide |
DropShip Capacity | 2 |
Crew | 287 |
Grav Decks | 2, both 75 meter diameter |
Escape Pods/Life Boats | 30 escape pods, 20 life boats |
Heat Sinks | 2,430 double heat sinks |
Structural Integrity | 80 |
BV (1.0) | 134,202 |
BV (2.0) | ??? |
Contents
Description
Despite it's illustrious name, the Cameron-class battlecruiser was a massive boondoggle, heavily flawed and a literal death trap for its crews. The result of contradicting requirements of the SLDF seeking to fill the wide gap between the navy's battleships and its cruisers and a peacetime budget freeze imposing enormous cost restrictions on the defense forces, the small firm of Daussault-Shimmon Enterprises of New Earth beat out the other bidders for the contract, but when the first complete ships were launched in 2668, the Cameron obviously fell short of the sleek, powerful vessel promised by its designers.
While carrying an impressive weapon loadout, the Cameron could only match the acceleration of a battleship, due to the fact it was 50,000 tons over its design weight. Despite the flawed nature of the design, 40 of the ships were ordered, fear of public disapproval and yet further slashing the SLDF budget made the Star League Navy afraid to admit they'd made mistake. This was to have tragic results when the SLS Saint Joan and all hands were lost due to design flaws which an investigation revealed had been covered up by engineers at Daussault-Shimmon in order to save the contract. The remaining examples were relegated to transport duties.
Ironically being removed from frontline service allowed them to survive the Amaris-Kerensky Civil War despite the small number produced, the surviving examples continue in service in the modern era. Once the various flaws of the Cameron were corrected, both ComStar and the Clans have found the class to be a plodding but sturdy design which has proven to be an excellent mobile command center. Amusingly, not even the advanced technology available to the Clans have boosted the performance of the class to match the original design specifications.
Armament
While featuring lackluster speed, there were no complaints about the Cameron's weaponry, with four turrets housing the two Maelstrom AR-10 tubes, a capital class launcher that can fire missiles of any size, along with six other turrets carrying two Super Rand Heavy NPPCs, the largest particle projection cannon available. Combined with secondary armament of 16 Pontiac-25 Series NAC/25 autocannons, ten Tronel-55 NL55 naval lasers, and the ability to carry 16 fighters, these weapons give the ship a tremendous offensive capability.
Cargo
- Bay 1: 20 AeroSpace Fighters
- Bay 2: 2 Small Craft
- Bay 3: 177,640 tons cargo
Variants
While there is little difference between the Cameron Class vessels used by the SLDF and the Com Guards, save correcting it's flawed systems, like many vessels in the their toumans Clan Camerons have been retrofitted with Lithium-Fusion Battery systems.
Named Vessels
- CCC Insence - This Vessel is assigned to Alpha Naval Reserve (Clan Cloud Cobra).[1]
- CGB Dieron's Run - This Vessel is the Flag ship of Clan Ghost Bear and assigned to the Alpha Galaxy.[2]
- SLS Saint Joan - The most infamous of the class, the Saint Joan was escorting convoys carrying personnel and supplies to SLDF units in the Rim Worlds Republic when it encountered six privateer vessels in November 2674. After it lost main power while attempting to defend its charges, the captain discovered that the ship's auxiliary power could not provide life support and fire the weapons at the same time, the now helpless ship destroyed within minutes.[3]
- ISS Invisible Truth - Part of ComStar's 2nd Division and flagship of Task Force Serpent, the Invisible Truth survived the fighting on Huntress to become the flagship of the Com Guard First Fleet. Precentor Martial Victor Ian Steiner-Davion would make it his base of operations during the Jihad.[4]
- Blood of the Coyote - This Vessel is assigned to the Delta Galaxy (Clan Coyote).[5]
Cameron Ship Gallery
- Cameron warship.jpg
Refit Cameron-class WarShip
References
Bibliography
- Dawn of the Jihad
- Field Manual: Warden Clans
- Technical Readout: 2750
- Technical Readout: 3057, pp. 156-157
- Technical Readout: 3057 Revised, pp. 154-155