Edward Saganami C class

Name: Edward Saganami C class Type: Heavy Cruiser Affiliation: Star Kingdom of Manticore Date Introduced: 1920 PD Preceded By: Edward Saganami B' class Mass: 483,000 t Length: 610m Beam: 74m Draught: 62m Acceleration: 726.2 G (7.121 kps2) 580.9 G (5.607 kps2) 80% accel Crew: 355 215 naval officers/enlisted 140 Marines Armament: Broadside: 20 missile tubes 8 grasers 20 counter missile tubes 24 point defense clusters Chase: 3 lasers 2 grasers 8 point defense External: 40 Mark 23 MDM flatpack missile pods Magazines: 1,200 Mark 16 DDM

The Edward Saganami-C class was a class of heavy cruisers operated by the Royal Manticoran Navy.

Officially a modernized variant of the Edward Saganami class, it was in fact different enough to qualify as a completely new design.

Class Design

General

Massing 483,000 tons, the Edward Saganami-C-class heavy cruisers were the largest vessels of their types constructed and operated by the Royal Manticoran Navy in its history. Equipped with the latest inertial compensators, they were able to attain a maximum normal acceleration of 580 G and a maximum military acceleration of 725 G. The use of automation in their design allowed for the reduction of their manning needs to the point that only three hundred and fifty-five personnel were needed to crew them (215 naval officers and enlisted and 140 Marines). While the first run of Saganami-Cs were named for predatory animals native to the Star Kingdom, later ships (as of PD 1921) had adopted the Saganami-A's convention of naming the ship after outstanding RMN officers. (SI1)

An Edward Saganami-C-class heavy cruiser required 37 minutes to bring up its impeller wedge when its impeller nodes were inactive. (HH14)

Armaments

While mounting fewer missile tubes than the intermediate Saganami-B-class, the Saganami-C-class was uncompromisingly optimized for missile combat with each broadside's twenty Mark 9-c tubes being individually larger and capable of handling heavier missiles than their predecessors while retaining their predecessors' off-bore firing capability. Launching forty Mark 16 dual-drive missiles every eighteen seconds in any direction along 180 degree firing arcs that removed the need for missile tubes in their chase armaments, they had substantially increased magazine space as well, each ship carrying 1,200 Mark 16s. The increased use of automation and subsequent reduction in manning requirements allowing more tonnage for weaponry, they mounted eight battlecruiser sized grasers in each broadside. The absence of missile tubes in their chase armament permitting the inclusion of two more grasers along with three lasers at each end of the ship. In addition to their onboard weaponry, the ships of the Edward Saganami-C-class had space on their hulls to tractor forty "flat-pack" missile pods of Mark 23 multi-drive missiles to their hulls inside their impeller wedges. (SI1)

Defense

In addition to the standard sidewalls of modern warships, the Saganami-C-class also had the ability to put into place both a stern wall and a bow wall. Their bow walls are unique because of their two-phase capability. The first-stage was a much smaller wall that did not link the top and bottom of the ship's impeller wedge as not to hinder its ability to accelerate. The first-stage, however, was vulnerable to energy weapons from acute angles, and even missiles could slip past it before detonating, since the first-stage wall was only a circle twice as wide as the ship's maximum beam. Against a single opponent, though, it allowed the full strength of a sidewall while allowing the ship to accelerate unhindered. The second-stage was a more typical sidewall, connecting the top and bottom of a warship's impeller wedge and thus cancelling the warship's ability to accelerate using its impeller drive.

Along with their passive defenses, the Saganami-C-class had active defenses consisting of twenty countermissile tubes in each broadside and twenty-four point defense laser clusters. (SI1)

History

Although the Saganami-C class was a radical departure from every heavy cruiser class that had preceded it and constituted an entirely new class by itself, the class nonetheless received its designation as a 'revised' version of the Edward Saganami class in order to hide its development from the Second Janacek Admiralty as Edward Janacek was opposed to the construction of new warship classes in peace time. (SI1)

Since their introduction shortly before the renewal of hostilities between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven, the ships of the Saganami-C-class distinguished themselves in a number of actions against Haven, the Solarian League, and others. (SI1)

The Grayson Space Navy's Burleson class heavy cruiser was a copy of the Saganami-C. (Companion)

Notable actions

• Battle of Nuncio
• Battle of Gaston
• Battle of Hera
• Battle of Lorn
• Battle of Monica
• Battle of Manticore
• Second Battle of New Tuscany
• Battle of Spindle
• Battle of Mobius
• Zunker Incident
• Battle of Kumang
• Battle of Włocławek
• Battle of Swallow
• Battle of the Prime-Ajay Hyper Bridge

Known ships of the class

• HMS Alistair McKeon
• HMS Bristol Q. Yakolev
• HMS Canopus
• HMS Cheetah
• HMS Clas Fleming
• HMS Hexapuma
• HMS Jessica Rice
• HMS Lisa Holtz
• HMS Madelyn Hoffman
• HMS Malcolm Taylor
• HMS Marconi Williams
• HMS Onyx
• HMS Otter
• HMS Peregrine S. Faye
• HMS Quentin Saint-James
• HMS Slipstream
• HMS Sloan Tompkins
• HMS Smilodon
• HMS Tiger Cub
• HMS Trebuchet
• HMS Wolf