Essay:Clan Naval Forces

With few exceptions, the Clans view WarShips as a point of pride and yet also derision. While almost unimaginable raw military might can be concentrated at a single point, the vessels also require coordination, collaboration, and communal work. This aspect makes the idea of the great warrior-knight difficult to achieve among the subcaste, and such responsibility was quickly seen as disgraceful. A select corp is called to such machines, and most are members of the Aerospace phenotype (only the Snow Ravens maintain Naval Commander Bloodnames), though the Star Adders, Nova Cats, and Sea Foxes were well regarded in select times.

402 WarShips left the Inner Sphere with General Kerensky. Most were mothballed in various Boneyards or Naval Caches, while many were destroyed in the Pentagon Civil War. When Nicholas Kerensky returned with his Clans, only a reported 260 remained. All Clans seem to use mostly updated pre-Exodus vessels (almost all renamed), while a few were able to design and construct new series of vessels. Estimates vary on how many WarShips can be found throughout the touman and reserves of the Clans. Due to the horrors of the conflicts throughout Clan space following the Exodus Civil War, including but not limited to the Wars of Reaving, a final tally may be impossible.

List of Clan Naval Forces

• Clan Blood Spirit Naval Forces
• Clan Burrock Naval Forces
• Clan Cloud Cobra Naval Forces
• Clan Coyote Naval Forces
• Clan Diamond Shark Naval Forces
• Clan Fire Mandrill Naval Forces
• Clan Ghost Bear Naval Forces
• Clan Goliath Scorpion Naval Forces
• Clan Hell's Horses Naval Forces
• Clan Ice Hellion Naval Forces
• Clan Jade Falcon Naval Forces
• Clan Jade Wolf Naval Forces
• Clan Mongoose Naval Forces
• Clan Nova Cat Naval Forces
• Clan Sea Fox Naval Forces
• Clan Smoke Jaguar Naval Forces
• Clan Snow Raven Naval Forces
• Clan Star Adder Naval Forces
• Clan Steel Viper Naval Forces
• Clan Stone Lion Naval Forces
• Clan Widowmaker Naval Forces
• Clan Wolf Naval Forces
• Clan Wolf-in-Exile Naval Forces
• Clan Wolverine Naval Forces

List of Clan WarShip Class Introduction

WarShips are updated Star League Era WarShips unless noted. These classes are mostly found in the leadup to the Golden Century, while some were found at the beginning of the time of the Clans' updated tactics and the introduction of other great leaps forward, such as the OmniMech.

Clan refits usually consisted of updating the armor with the latest improvements in armor: Lamellor Ferro-Carbide, fitting them with the valuable Lithium-Fusion Battery, and/or changing the number of OmniFighter bays to fit the Clan's tactical doctrine.

The Clans of the Political Century, as they began to settle into Warden and Crusader camps, began to explore their surrounding systems, and start to look back at the Inner Sphere. This timeframe introduced the first of the Clans' new designs. The Snow Ravens, Wolves, and Jade Falcons each produced small exploration corvettes that the refit Star League frigates and battleships were ill-suited for. They were unsuccessful in lasting long, as the Clans had lost the inter-discipline focus of the SLDF, and largely misused the new WarShips, and the costs involved in fielding the resource-intensive weapons.

The Great Debate and the preparation for return to the Inner Sphere sparked the Snow Ravens to design several new WarShips in concert with the Ghost Bears. With the confirmation of the absence of WarShips in the Inner Sphere and the end of large-scale cooperation, new production was limited.

Upgrades

• 2835 - Texas
• 2836 - Volga
• 2841 - Lola III
• 2843 - Aegis, Black Lion
• 2845 - Sovetskii Soyuz
• 2851 - Cameron, McKenna
• 2862 - Essex II
• 2875 - Potemkin
• 2901 - Whirlwind
• 2914 - Congress

First New Vessels

• 2915 - Corone - first of entirely new Clan WarShip designs by Clan Snow Raven
• 2932 - Nightlord - new class by the Snow Raven Clan

Golden Century ends, Political Century considered begun

• 2947 - York - refit Riga II-class
• 2950 - Carrack
• 2951 - Molniya - new Clan Wolf design
• 2962 - Fredasa - new design
• 2969 - Peregrine - new design by Clan Jade Falcon
• 2985 - Carrack-Merchant - downgraded Carrack for Merchant Caste use
• 2997 - Vincent Mk. 42

Return to the Inner Sphere

• 3024 - Liberator - refit Avatar-class WarShips
• 3052 - Conqueror - refit Kimagure-class
• 3055 - Leviathan Transport - downgraded new class, eventually restored to battleship parameters as Leviathan II in 3066
• 3070 - Leviathan (Prime) - heavily armed secret Clan Steel Viper vessel based on original Leviathan specifications

Losses and Refocused Importance

The relocation of many Clans to the Inner Sphere began with the Ghost Bears and Nova Cats but eventually encompassed all Invader Clans. Whether a symptom or cause, the Wars of Reaving unleashed untold amounts of devastation and left the Homeworlds in ruin, destroyed many WarShips throughout, ruined or lost a large number of inactive vessels, and eventually the ability to produce new equipment. The end of contact with the Clan worlds after 3090 leaves a void in the goings on in the birthplace of the Clans and their greatest weapons.

Post-Jihad, the Clans that founded the Council of Six were mostly unable to maintain almost any weapon, let alone the largest resource sinks, their WarShips.

Entering the Republic era, the weakest of the technically former Clans, the Wolves-in-Exile and Nova Cats, had no yards and limited access to Snow Raven or Clan Diamond Shark / Sea Fox drydocks. The Hell's Horses kept few manufacturing centers open to them, due to their location. The losses suffered by the Crusader Wolves and the Jade Falcons in the post-Great Refusal time saw them refocus on many other things before their WarShips. The new holdings gained after the invocation of Fortress Republic gained worlds, but no new orbital yards. The Ghost Bears and Snow Ravens are seemingly best positioned, but non-military uses were the priority and no new construction was undertaken. The Sea Foxes and their colossal ArcShips contain mobile yards, but are seemingly uninterested in the use of massive weapons of war, preferring to turn them into centers of commerce.