Islands of Steel Lost in a Sea of Time

The Ships of the Composite Testing Force / TF 11 (BOAT LORE)

Mar 08, 2023

Fleet Problem XXXVI was to be the largest US naval maneuver since the end of the Second Sino-American War, and would’ve been the largest American naval exercise of the 21st Century. Its start was less than auspicious, having been drummed up by Washington and foisted on the United States First Fleet—the CONUS Pacific coast “port fleet”—with almost no notice. It was ostensibly an exercise to provide proof-of-concept for several capabilities that had been under development at the end of the war and had finished maturing in its wake. It would include a huge joint-combined corps-sized Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations wargame on the Aleutians (as a part of a larger pan-Arctic wargame), battlegroup-on-battlegroup fleet actions across the Northern Pacific, and a FONOP off Kamchatka. It was put together at wartime speed, just two months, even requiring reserve call-ups and the deployment of one of the USN’s most prized assets, the Ronald Reagan Seabase.

On paper, beyond just testing the various “finish-line clincher” experimental ships, it was intended to show that the United States was turning its focus to Polar Affairs and the resurgent Russian Federation. Russia’s status has not completely recovered since its defeat in the Russo-Ukrainian War. The once-ailing nation has had its economic decline (at least temporarily) reversed by serving as “the untouchable factory” for the People’s Republic of China during Second Sino and the influx of Chinese emigrants to an ecologically transformed Siberia. In Russia’s desperation to reclaim its status and fill the PRC’s shoes, the “Last Frontier” of Siberia has become a Tower of Cyberpunk Babel. It is ground zero for the bleeding edge of banned, unorthodox, or otherwise unsavory technologies—combat cybernetics, neural augmentation, global regulation-testing autonomous weapons systems. It is the terrifying playground of aspiring corporate and national powers—supported by the Russian Federation and managed by the infamous Oboron, the Russian Defense Concern.

In short, the United States wishes to remind the Russian Federation that it has not gone complacent since the end of Second Sino.

Big Navy wants a show. It’s gonna be great. We’ll test some new old toys, let the Marines freeze their balls off fighting the Army for some C-Ring buzzwords, and we’ll go do donuts in Ivan’s backyard and see who comes a-knocking. It’ll be fun.

— Vice Admiral Kimberly Josiah Scott (Commander, US First Fleet), c. 2042

The Composite Testing Force (Task Force 11) is the formation assembled for FleetPro 36-1 and is comprised of seven task groups: Carrier Battle Group Nine, Carrier Battle Group One, Surface Action Group Seven, Amphibious Landing Group Four, Advance Seabasing Group Two, and Submarine Flotilla Nine. In addition, the 1st Marine Advance Force is embarked aboard the amphibious task group.

The more than 80 vessels include three carriers, one strike cruiser, one missile test ship, one orbital launch platform, five cruisers, eighteen destroyers, nine frigates, ten destroyer escorts, four landing platform cargos, three landing transport docks, one hospital ship, one landing command ship, two landing ship bases, one landing ship cargo base, seven cargo ship docks, four fast transport docks, one seabase, two fleet tenders, two fast combat support ships, two dry cargo ships, one submarine tender, one research submarine, one guided missile submarine, three attack submarines, one hunter-killer submarine, one chartered commercial vessel.1

Flagships and Capital Ships

Flight II Lexington Class class (United States subclass) Nuclear Command Carrier

USS Harriet Tubman (CVCN-84)

Dimensions: 1,316 ft (length) x 168 ft (beam at waterline), 312 ft (beam at flight deck)

Displacement: 175,000 tons

Complement: 7500

Missile Armament: 8x4 - Mark 57 Blister VLS Cells, 4x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 4 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 8x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: ~100 aircraft on deck, ~40 aircraft on LASH

The Harriet Tubman, lovingly referred to by its crew as “the Tub” or “the Big Tub,” is a unique stretched or “superheavy” variant of America’s current generation of aircraft carrier—the Lexington-class. The CVN-82 class adopted a new hull form in line with the CVN(X) program’s ideal ECBL (Enhanced Carrier Baseline) and a next-generation power plant, along with integrating new industrial practices and materials into the design to keep costs in line with current production. This new design could make the best use of the new carrier shipyard in Priest Point Naval Shipyard in Washington, the expansion of the older Newport News Naval Shipyard in Virginia, and the availability of the new N3D plasma molten salt reactor.2

The even greater dimensions of CVCN(X), originally designated CVB(X), enable the ship to host a massive air complement and a novel “Fleet Operation Center.” The Tub, simply put, is a sailing CINC-PAC packing a massive Sunday Punch.

Her size is so great that she does not merely embark on a Carrier Air Wing—she embarks two CVWs under the Navy’s sole Carrier Air Division (CVD). Her hangar alone is twice the size of those aboard a Nimitz-class carrier. Pushing her strike mass even higher is her Light Aircraft System Handling, an interlinked system of cranes, rails, and racks which allow smaller aircraft (generally drones) to be stored and maneuvers off the ground, inspired by the Swiss Flugzeugkaverne (Aircraft Caverns). Interestingly, Tubman carries fewer aircraft per square foot compared to her other LASH-equipped sisters. This allows Tubman to maintain a higher sustained combat sortie rate than the fleet’s other CVNs, which are generally optimized for massed Alpha Strikes. The ship has the fabrication, repair, and support facilities fitting her size and role—and is also equipped with a “modest and compact” exascale pseudo-quantum supercomputer ostensibly to provide the ship with processing power to handle theater-level on-the-fly logistics management, signals intelligence, and cyberwarfare, all from the front. As the Tubman was built after the start of the FIRESHIP Program, she is also extremely well-armed for self-defense.3

Tubman is the largest actively serving warship in the world and the largest warship built by the United States Navy.4 Initially, the ship was ordered as USS United States in response to the PLAN’s Type 005 superheavy aircraft carrier, Zhōnghuá, a nuclear-powered semi-trimaran design displacing well over 275,000 tons. When Zhōnghuá was unveiled in 2028—and revealed to already be under construction at a purpose-built superyard in Shanghai—Washington was caught totally off guard. The US Intelligence Community believed that the rumblings about a “superheavy carrier” were merely noise and that the Shanghai Yard was for extremely large oil and liquid gas tankers. In the following carrier panic, Congress would pass the Second Naval Infrastructure Act, and the Navy would rush to lay down a counter-superheavy carrier keel—with plans for two more—within months.

The United States and its planned sisters, Constitution and Independence, were smaller than Zhōnghuá, displacing “only” 175,000 tons. These original names would not last and were extremely controversial. Constitution was a lightning rod, as it was already in use by an actively commissioned warship; pure superstition would hold that having a United States and an America in the fleet was bad luck. This ‘CVB(X)’ program would almost immediately develop into a disaster, moving to construction without clear requirements or even a finished design. Mercifully, the ship was mostly cribbed from the Lexington-class CVNs; thus, despite cost overruns and a lack of a core concept with any more depth or nuance than “moar flattop,” the program was not a lost cause.

OPNAV and Congress had ordered something, but had no idea how to use it. In 2030, the program would fall under the “arbitration” of the Defense Production Board and its famed (or infamous) Office of Critical Procurement. The DPB would hone in on the idea of a mobile command post and support carrier, renaming the program ‘CVCN(X).’ The Type 005 would suffer similar issues and be loathed by the PLAN, earning it the nickname “dumpster baby.” Despite being much smaller than the Type 005, the sheer size of ‘CVCN(X)’ restricted the number of ports it could visit, though the sudden rise of ultra-heavy nanocomposite steel-hulled autonomous freighters would ameliorate this limitation over time.

In 2034, United States (CVCN-84) would be renamed Harriet Tubman (CVCN-84) after the 19th-century heroine and the recently lost USNS Harriet Tubman (T-AO-213). The previous Tubman earned renown equal to the tin cans of Samar during the Fifth Gulf War, saving an estimated 47,000 freedmen across 19 trips before being sunk. She was the last ship to leave Dubai before the nuclear exchange with 5,423 souls aboard, forty times her complement. En route to Iraq, she was attacked by Emirati F-16s and the dregs of the Royal Saudi Navy. After her escorts saw off all comers, three CAPTOR-type mines would strike Tubman, breaking her back. Her crew would fight for twenty-six hours, losing a quarter of their number before the ship was evacuated and sank in shallow waters in Kuwait Bay. Despite the immense loss of life among her own crew, Moses would not lose a single passenger.

Harriet Tubman would be a one-off; OCP would reorder Constitution and Independence as baseline Lexington-class supercarriers and change their names to Yorktown and Hornet. The pair would be renamed again while under construction in honor of USS Zumwalt (CG-1000) and USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), after those ships were lost early in Second Sino.

The issues caused by the more—transformational—ideas OPNAV had for the class (e.g. a zetascale supercomputer) taxed Priest Point Naval Shipyard to the limit. Even its experienced corps of shipwrights struggled to handle the demands of building a true superheavy carrier. Zhōnghuá would have an even more tortured construction and was temporarily canceled but reinstated to preserve national prestige. It would take the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s Jiangian Yard No. 7 (built for just the Type 005) more than eleven years to construct the carrier. Zhōnghuá would only go on its shakedown cruise during Exercise JOINT SWORD 2037A. Over that same time period, Dalian Yard No. 1A alone completed work on the Type 003A carrier Hainan, completed both Type 003B and Type 003D carriers Guizhou and Shānxī, and began work on the Type 007 CV Jiangnan

She’s not a carrier, Kisco. She’s a Pineapple Raven Rock with a whole-ass airport and two of the most powerful nukes ever built for Naval Reactors that can crank it at 35-and-a-half knots. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?

— Rear Admiral Marie Coriander (Commander, Task Force 34) to Captain Kimberly J. Scott (Director, Office of Critical Procurement), c. 2036

“Moses” is considered the de facto flagship of the United States Navy, a point that is even begrudgingly accepted by hardcore Corpo Navy apparatchiks. She is an enduring symbol of American naval superiority, wartime hardship, and victory. During Second Sino, she was damaged at the First Battle of Mariana Trench but was quickly repaired and would serve as the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Allied Fleet—Admiral Marie Coriander.

As the flagship of the Composite Testing Force, Tubman is the headquarters for both Rear Admiral Jonathan Granger (Commander, Carrier Battle Group Nine) and Vice Admiral Kimberly Scott (Commander, United States First Fleet). The two are long-time friends, having met at OCS. They are an unlikely pairing. Scott is a small, fiery black woman who grew up shuttling between Detroit and Groton, the daughter of a sonarman. Granger is a seven-foot-tall, pallid-skinned, grey-eyed Lurch from Belleville, Pennsylvania, the son of Amish cobblers.

“The Grim Granger” is a methodical and steadfast leader, sometimes described as “a mountain that moves but does not flinch.” His calm during First Battle of the Mariana Trench is credited as forestalling total defeat. Granger (then the ship’s captain) and Coriander (then the battle force commander) took Battle Force Zulu into the heart of danger against the orders of Commander-Combined Naval Force-Pacific. Four supercarriers—Harriet Tubman (CVCN-84), Franklin (CVN-83), Lexington (CVN-82), and Nimitz (CVN-68)—and their escorts willingly revealed their position in a desperate rearguard action. They faced the full might of the PLAN after a decade-long naval arms race—eighteen PLAN carriers in five battle groups—to cover the retreat of the battered Battle Forces Midway and Quebec toward Hawaii. Granger and Coriander took a leap of faith, trusting their ships and their crews. It would pay off. Battle Force Zulu would blunt the PLAN—at the cost of the twice-overhauled Nimitz. The Battle of Wake Island would give enough time for Vice Admiral Chris “Chowda” Hill to arrive with Battle Force Leyte—the four Gerald R. Ford-class sisters—backed by a tidal wave of airpower scrambled from CONUS to force the assembled might of the PLAN back past the Marianas. First Trench, a fleet action that lasted an entire week, ended as a PLA tactical victory—but a strategic stalemate—in large part due to the time bought by Battle Force Zulu.

“Kill Something Scott” is a politico-bureaucratic lioness, the fusion of Zumwalt and Rickover. She is one of the famed heroes of the Second Naval Battle of the Paracel Islands, the largest surface action of the 21st Century. When in command, she is a Grant-on-Tide, an aggressive leader willing to use the mass to win a war of maneuver, dip her hands in blood if necessary, and trust her subordinates to carry out their missions within her vision of victory. With her prominence at Second Paracel and the Fourth Gulf War would become the standard-bearer for the famed “Revolt of Commanders” and their Sailors’ Charter reforms. After her political death in the wake of the Anzio Incident, she would be reborn as the mistress of intrigue and master of the Office of Critical Procurement, helping to shape the Naval Act of 2030’s Fleet Architecture 2040 (FAX2040). After the bitter failure at First Trench, she would be brought up as Commander, Battle Force, Allied Fleet at the insistence of Admiral Corriander and would go on to lead the planning for the Second Battle of the Mariana Trench—the largest naval action in history. A war hero in her own right for her service as a tin-can driver in First Sino and Fourth Gulf, she was rapidly promoted in her early career, but it would take until she was given COMBAT-ALTFLT for her to be promoted to flag officer, and her promotion to Vice Admiral would be delayed until after the war had ended.

Queen of the Seas, Conductor of Fleets.

Flight II Gerald R. Ford class Nuclear Fleet Carrier

USS Doris Miller (CVN-81)

Dimensions: 1,096 ft (length) x 134 ft (beam at waterline), 252 ft (beam at flight deck)

Displacement: 115,000 tons

Complement: 4400

Missile Armament: 3x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 4x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116F)

Kinetic Armament: 3x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 3x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 3 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Phalanx Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tube

Aircraft: ~85 aircraft on deck

The Doris Miller is the final ship of the Gerald R. Ford-class carriers. She is neither hated nor loved. Her career can be understood as respectable but not extraordinary. She missed the Fifth Persian Gulf War, and she served honorably during the Second Sino. She, however, never built up a legend like the USS Enterprise (CVN-80) or USS Coral Sea (CVN-74 ex-John C. Stennis). A part of Battle Force Leyte with her sister ships, she missed most of First Trench but would be there to turn the tide from total defeat to bitter stalemate. She lacks the strike mass of the Lexington-class carriers, but she is still a supercarrier—equipped with a ‘fighter’ carrier air wing—without pomp or frills.

Doris Miller’s inclusion in FleetPro 36 was a last-minute change ordered by the CNO, Fleet Admiral Coriander, to replace the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) and her carrier group under Rear Admiral Analise Solae. This was a conciliatory move so that not all of the exercise’s task groups would be led by Slate Navy partisans. Miller was a natural choice. The carrier was based in Seattle, and its carrier battle group commander, Rear Admiral Jennifer Kaine, was the President of the Professional Naval Officers’ Society (PRONOS) and considered the successor to the de facto leader of the Corpo Navy faction, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Matt Henwright.

The simplest appraisal of “Knock Out” is that she is considered a lucky ship that no one in their right mind would want to be assigned to. She is wonderful to look at and dependable in any situation, but terrible to have to work on—a ship run like it was straight out of the 2020s (derogatory).

Fuck off! *sounds of violence*

— Commander Jennifer Kaylyn Sahaquiel Kaine, c. 2033

“Kaine the Terrible,” the former skipper of the Dorie (a diminutive she detests), is an extremely competent officer. She is stern, unliked, uncompromising, and a deadly strict disciplinarian, effectively the embodiment of the Corpo reaction to the Slate Navy’s Sailors’ Charter and Fleet Architecture 2040. It was Kaine’s leadership that ensured that Miller avoided damage in the war, nor participated in a defeat, but also would see Miller skipped over by command. Part of her notoriety comes from the infamous “Furry Convention Incident.” Kaine, only an O-5, got into a fistfight with a red fox fursuit in the double-booked hotel convention hall. The fight ended when she kicked the furry down a flight of stairs. She would avoid assault charges but forever hold a grudge against the Slate Navy, who were assumed to have been behind the snafu. Regardless, Kaine is a steady hand and a good officer, but neither trusted nor liked, even by fellow Corpo partisans. Put simply, she is feared by some, respected by most, and loved by few.

Tightest Ship in the Fleet

Okinawa class Nuclear Landing Platform Aviation

USS Okinawa (LPVN-29)

Dimensions: 978 ft (length) x 213 ft (beam at waterline), 314 ft (beam at flight deck)

Displacement: 96,000 tons

Complement: 1500 (without embarkees or air element)

Missile Armament: 16x4 - Mark 57 Blister VLS Cells, 2x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 3x3 - Mark 147 Offensive Adaptable Deck Launcher, 3x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 3 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 8x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tube

Aircraft: ~75 aircraft on deck

Other: 2 x LCAC-100 Ship-to-Shore Connectors, 2 x Maneuver Support Vessel-Medium

Okinawa, or Oki, is the newest carrier in the United States Navy and the culmination of the Navy’s so-called dirty little not-so-secret—the LPV. Originally type-classified as an LVA before the 2033 redesignation of amphibious force ships, they were sold to Congress and the public as a “tilt-rotor forward amphibious assault ship.” In reality, they were the Navy’s insurance policy, allowing two production runs of CVV-sized medium carrier classes to keep up with the breakneck pace of the PLAN's CV-63-sized fleet carrier construction program. The first ships were fitted for (but not with) catapults; but by LVA-20 Kitty Hawk (fourth ship of the LVA-17 Guadalcanal-class), it was decided to build the ships with their cats. Okinawa is a departure from the CVV / LPV concept and a return to something akin to a traditional amphibious assault ship. That is to say, she is a Forrestal-sized, nuclear-powered, well-deck, and angled flight deck-equipped CATOBAR amphibious warfare vessel. She has a gargantuan beam, not particularly fast, but extraordinarily heavily armed for a carrier. She is designed to be the centerpiece of an amphibious landing group and dual command center for at-sea and on-land operations to reduce friction during the Commander, Landing Force-Commander, Amphibious Transport Force transition.

Work began on Okinawa in late 2036 but was suspended to concentrate on the four Da Nang-class LPVs under construction (Da Nang-class saw incremental improvements and space for an extra catapult over the prior Guadalcanal-class). Work resumed late in the war and would continue into the peace. She was commissioned five days before New Year’s 2042, christened by the First Gentleman Riley Roberts.

“Iceberg” is considered something between an affront to God and an ugly duckling. Much of her crew are old hands, with experience going back to First Sino and who have served on LPHs (ex-LHD and LHA) and other LPVs. Yet, none of them is quite sure what to make of a ship that is all of those classes at once. One of the ships that the Fleet Problem was intending to trial, she has been put in the hands of the Navy’s most experienced amphibious warfare commander, Rear Admiral Henry Izikawa—the Father of the Andersen Express.

How in the Hell did Graveline manage to build a gator with vibes more cursed than the fucking Swede?

— Rear Admiral Henry Masaru Izikawa (Commander, Amphibious Landing Group Four) referring to Major General Nils Tuomas Nilsen (Commanding General, 6th Marine Division / 1st Marine Advance Force), c. 2042

Hank Izikawa is a kindly, bookish officer whose demeanor belies his capabilities as a leader and inter-service manager. He is known for having exceptionally cordial and effective relationships with the Marine units attached to his command and terrible relationships with fellow Naval officers. His kindly manner is often misinterpreted as passiveness. However, attempts to bypass or undermine his command, especially bypassing to micromanage his landing force, turn the STEM dad into a malevolent force with a long memory and near-infinite reach. No one crosses Hank Izikawa, least of all someone on Team Blue. Izikawa spearheaded the execution of the Andersen Express, that miracle enterprise that kept the Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, and Aeros trapped on the 53rd State alive and in the fight during the Mariana Sieges. He was a key leader during Operation TROPIC FREEDOM, the liberation of Luzon. In the opening phase of the landings, USS America (LPV-6) was hit by a DF-21, killing the Commander, Landing Force, his deputy, and most of the CLF staff. This twist of fate would ignite a chain of events that would see then-Commodore Izikawa have the unique honor of being the only Naval Officer in history to personally lead an armored assault in what would become known as the “Rice Paddy Thunder Run,” the Battle of the Bitulok Valley.

The First Battle-Gator.

Long Beach class Nuclear Guided Missile Strike Cruiser

USS Long Beach (CSGN-42)

Dimensions: 853 ft (length) x 91 ft (beam)

Displacement: 31,000 tons

Complement: 400

Missile Armament: 48x4 - Mark 57 Peripheral VLS Cells, 24x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 24x1 - Mark 61 MOD (Strat) Centerline VLS Cells, 6x1 - Mark 148 Adptable Box Launchers, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 305mm/50 Mark 10 Strategic Long Range Cannon - Naval, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 12x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 2 x hangars with space for 2 x large or 4 x medium VTOL aircraft

Long Beach—known by a litany of sobriquets including ‘Long Obit’ and ‘Long Bitch’— represents the very pinnacle of the US Navy’s surface warfare development. She and her five sisters are the largest combatants commissioned by the US since USS Guam (CB-2) in 1944 and the largest in-service combatants since the Iowa-class battleships were decommissioned in 1992. The class is the largest and most powerful warship in the world, with greater displacement and firepower than the Russian Navy’s last Kirov-class battlecruiser, the PLAN’s twelve Type 059 Taipei-class battlecruisers, the Marine Nationale’s six Republique-class “croiseurs de défense,” the Royal Navy’s three Type 91 Woodward-class cruisers, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s two Musashi-class ballistic missile defense destroyers.

The class holds the honor of being the first ship to be armed with a combined electro-magnetic assisted electrothermal chemical gun system, a hybrid system that allows for the benefits of both railgun and ETC technology. Long Beach and her first two sisters would be built with three 8”/55 Mark 71 Mod 5 turrets, while all succeeding ships of the class would be armed with two 12”/55 Mark 10 guns, navalized, automatic variants of the Army’s M1865 “Appomattox Annie” Strategic Long Range Cannon. The Mark 71 Mod 5 started life as the Navy’s “Hammerlock Program,” formally the High Energy Electrothermal-Chemical Gun System, before the Navy agreed to standardize on the Mark 10/M1865 chassis. The Mark 71 Mod 5 could fire 5” sub-caliber projectiles at speeds up to 3.5 km/s, while the Mark 10 can fire 8” sub-caliber projectiles at speeds up to 4 km/s; both can fire full-bore shells at speeds of 1.5-2.5 km/s.5

USS Las Vegas (CSGN-78), using her Mark 10s, is responsible for the longest surface-to-air gun kill in history, destroying a pair of J-15C STOBAR strike-fighters at a range of 152 nautical miles with a single AHEAD-pattern shell.

Famously described in the Office of Critical Procurement’s first public Congressional hearing as “eight-hundred-and-fifty-three-feet of fuck off and fuck you,” Long Beach has become a legend. In her career, she has earned twenty-two battle stars, more than the Big E of WW2. However, her beginnings are much less auspicious, starting out as a budget charade. OCP argued that the original contract for CSGN-42 had failed to be properly canceled due to a clerical error (a point that is debated), a failure that was grounds for OCP to take over the half-century-old program. It was subsequently used to operationalize existing work for a ‘conceptual’ heavyweight surface combatant.

As the first of what would become Fleet Architecture 2040, the Long Beach is a ship of many firsts. She was the first ship built with a plasma molten salt reactor (the N2D, rated for 300 MWe) and the first to be built with EM-ETC guns; though most of the technologies in her design had been tested aboard the USS Norton Sound (AVM-2) and USS Salisbury Sound (AVM-3) in the late 2020s.

She made her combat debut in the Fifth Gulf War in Operation DESERT TYPHOON. Her eight-inch ETC rifles proved to be as devastating as her vast missile battery, including at least one probable kill on a nuclear-tipped TBM. She alone could have cleared the Persian Gulf and is arguably the reason why the US facilities in Qatar and Bahrain were spared from nuclear annihilation. During the nuclear exchange, a mid-yield tactical nuclear weapon detonated off her bow, but the ship still continued to fight via CEC despite the partial loss of her onboard sensors suite. The considerable damage from surviving the nuclear blast forced a major refit, despite the ship being freshly commissioned This saw her N2D reactors replaced by the then-standard and more powerful N3D reactors and the installation of more powerful 12” guns like her newer sisters. Ironically, the second ship of the class, Las Vegas, would retain the class’s original configuration longer than the lead ship. Her old reactors would be repurposed and reused to re-engine the USS Midway (CVN-70, ex-Vinson) during her second RCOH.6 During Second Sino, the PLAN would claim to sink Long Beach no less than eight times (ergo, Long Obituary). While formally the flagship for Commander, Battle Force, Allied Fleet, Rear Admiral Scott would often detach Long Beach as a one-ship fire brigade and hoist her flag from USS San Francisco (CSGN-93) or USS Las Vegas (CSGN-78).

“Voltron” gained her callsign from an offhand joke in a meeting about her networked fleet defense-cooperative engagement management system and was promptly chosen as the program’s special access codeword (VOLTRON BLUDGEON). Long Beach is a ship of legends. However, the very hot-cold friendship between her former captain (her current SAG commander) and former XO (her current captain) is the stuff of legends—for decidedly other reasons.

No sailor of mine will poast such cringe as that man has done. Yer poasts reflect not only on yerselves and yer kin but the Navy as ‘er whole.

— Captain Jeduthun Ezequiel MacGregor (Commanding Officer, USS LONG BEACH, CSGN-42) during his infamous social media responsibility and information operations defense seminar, c. 2034

Jeduthun MacGregor, the Commander of Surface Action Group Seven and former skipper of the Long Beach, is an interesting officer and an extremely odd man. He is a hipster of such ironclad commitment that he primarily talks in late-19th century New Englander vernacular (he is from suburban Colorado) punctuated by millennial slang and an unabiding love for ABBA. Despite being in his early 50s, his hair is bone white. He always wears a slightly out-of-regulation beard and peacoat, no matter the weather. No one is sure if it is a bit or straight-up psychosis at this point.

However, what he lacks in approachability, he makes up for in capability.

Jed MacGregor is one of the most skilled surface snipes in living memory. He is a flexible leader with immense will and a voracious intellectual who knows how to spot and develop talent. He is abrasive and baroque, but he never gives up and does not act in bad faith. His style is crystallized during the Anzio Incident. His study of PLAN builders’ plans allowed aged, reactivated Anzio to put a single 5” HE-VT shell into the amidship VLS battery of the rogue brand-new Type 059 Cruiser Taipei, splitting it in half. MacGregor followed up this nautical headshot by wringing every drop of firepower from his haggard cruiser, including two Mark 56 RAPTOR torpedoes from a jury-rigged launching system set by three press-ganged bubblehead torpedomen whom he had personally lightly kidnapped from Subic’s rec room. Anzio disabled six and sank four PLAN vessels in that action, only stopping after running out of missiles and losing most of her other weapons. Jed MacGregor is odd—no way around it—but he is a decent man and a trusted, tested war leader.

If We Can’t Kill It, It Can’t Die.

Liberty class Nuclear Advance Seabase

USS Ronald Reagan (ABN-4)

Dimensions: 1572 ft (length) x 577 ft (beam)

Displacement: 1,000,000 tons

Complement: 7000

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS cells, 6x21 - Mark 149 Mod 4 Integrated Point Defense Weapons (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 4x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 6x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 4x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 24x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 6 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapons (Mark 10 HELIOS), 4 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Phalanx Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 12x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: ~40 aircraft on deck (space in hangars for ~20 at one time, only vertical lift)

Other: 12 x Mark 8 Advance Base High Capacity Printer-Fabricator, 2 x Mark 3 Mod 4 Methanol-to-Jet Synthesizer-Dehydrator Units (5,000 bbl per day), 75,000 tons of hard storage, 25,000 tons of ordnance storage, 500,000 barrels of JP-13/DF-13

The Advance Seabase Concept started out as a pipe dream in the mid-2020s. The hope was that with advances in power generation and forward sustainment, the USN could procure a “mobile Ulithi.” Instead of the offshore airstrip envisioned by the Mobile Offshore Base of the 2000s, this seabase would synthesize fuel from seawater, spin polymers from the glycerol of lab-grown meat, and host forward manufactories to repair anything at hand or produce nearly anything needed. They would provide a mobile supply base that could radically shorten Allied supply lines and defend itself by using the vastness of the Pacific as its shield.

More serious consideration for such a design would be given after satellites detected the construction of the Type 05 CVN superheavy in Shanghai at a specially built yard (such a large yard had, in fact, driven the first American interest). In the shipbuilding panic that followed, the United States launched a domestic program, the United States-subclass superheavy, while Japan ordered the Akagi-class Aviation Destroyers (DDV, a domestically built derivative of the USN’s LPV program). However, there was a belief in many corners that this approach was merely reactive. In response, PACSHIP—the Pacific Shipbuilding Corporation—would commission a “Special Research Group” to devise a counter to the Type 005. The conglomerate of OSATO members’ shipbuilding interests and concerns would be aided by the US’s Office of Critical Procurement. The study would controversially endorse a plan for a massive logistics ship.

The test article would be converted from the partially disassembled civilian drillship Deepwater Hercules, as the stripped vessel in legal limbo presented a lower opportunity cost than a full conversion of a new Reno-class self-propelled Auxiliary Repair Dock Medium (an OSATO/NATO common replacement for the WW2-era Oakland-class ARDMs). Hercules would be renamed USNS Artisan (AB-2) and operate alongside a mobile drydock, USNS Bozeman (ARDM-8), with joint OSATO crews. The experiment would last for sixteen months and have its final test in FleetEx 31-2. It would exceed all expectations, ratifying the Special Research Group’s proposal.

The Bozeman-Artisan Experiment would become the first step in a Nautical Manhattan Project, the progenitors of the largest military vessels ever constructed. One thing was made clear by the experiment: that the SRG had low-balled the size estimate of what was needed for an effective unitary seabase. Artisan would move into the reserves, while Bozeman would return to normal service as a mobile dock. OSATO would sign an agreement wherein the United States would shoulder the bulk of the cost of the program while other OSATO states would provide supplementary funding and technical assistance. The Daewoo Shipyard in Geoje, ROK, would build the massive vessels—effectively splicing together a single ship from two Baltimax hulls and a 160-foot wide drydock. Most technical components would be built in the United States or Japan. And since the US would shoulder the majority of the cost, they would maintain ownership of the vessels.

The seabases were originally named USNS Liberty (ABN-3), USNS Victory (ABN-4), and USNS Endeavor (ABN-5). The economic fallout of the Fifth Gulf War would nearly kill the program. However, the program would limp onwards with the hulls completed between 2035 and 2037 before crossing the Pacific for final outfitting at Priest Point Naval Shipyard.

At the beginning of Second Sino, with ROK maintaining de jure neutrality while de facto assisting OSATO under its ‘defensive non-belligerency,’ the vessels would be ‘seized’ by the United States and commissioned into the US Navy. Originally, the Ocasio-Cortez Administration planned to rename the vessels to USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, USS Harry L. Hopkins, and USS Frederick M. Vinson; however, after the loss of the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and USS George Washington (CVN-73) in the opening phase of the war, it was decided that the latter two would be named in honor the presidents and lost carriers, in a show of national unity and bipartisanship.

The scariest day for me was when a pair of Type 097 SSNs jumped the WASHINGTON Seabase. Percs put a lot of effort into pulling it off. I saw that she’d been hit by nine torpedoes. Nine! I nearly fainted. But it didn’t even stop her. You know what was the next flash? “Scratch two Panthers.” It was like hearing that someone shot down a missile with a school bus.

— Admiral of the Navy Chris “Chowda” Hill (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), former Commander, Combined Pacific Command, discussing the Battle of Kiribati.

The Liberty-class remains the largest commissioned naval vessel in human history and amongst the largest vessels to sail—period. The seabases’ core mission is remarkably simple: replenish the replenishers and sustain the sustainers. To this end, they are built around a 1550-foot-long and 160-foot-wide drydock and can resupply a max of four AO, AKE, AOE, or AOF simultaneously alongside. Internally, they can notionally host and repair six DDG-51-sized destroyers; however, limited personnel aboard the base mean that generally fewer ships are usually embarked. The “outriggers” on either side of the drydock contain vast arrays of workshops and storage compartments; under the dock is a mix of ballast and fuel storage. The ship is powered by six N5D 1000 MWe super-reactors—three per outrigger. The ships are horribly overbuilt—caused by the relative novelty of bulk nanocomposite steel used in their construction—which permits them to sustain twenty-six knots.

A Naval Construction Regiment is embarked aboard each seabase to operate its fabrication facilities. The seabases are so large that only a handful of facilities are capable of anchoring them, so most resupply is delivered by AKE. Their stores are so immense that it would take months for them to be depleted, and many materials they can continue to produce so long as they have power running.

Their wafer chip and field-programmable gate array storage alone equal the GDP of a modest country, and each seabase possesses its own chip fab. The seabases also have four (two per outrigger) Mark 4 “Seascoop” Synthesizers-Dehydrators, which are capable of generating upwards of 10,000 barrels of DF-13 Methanol-DiMethyl Ethel blended diesel at full power (two-thirds of the ABN’s output)—which can then be converted to OSATO’s standard JP-13 jet fuel. Their advanced printer-fabricators are amongst the largest and most powerful in the world, allowing each seabase to produce everything up to replacement-quality turbine blades. Traditionally, the Seabase primarily manufactures spare parts and repairs damaged assets—earning them the nickname “the Islands of Misfit Toys.”

To protect such a massive investment of resources ($35 billion for the seabase without any of the goods aboard them), they are defended by a massive array of point defense weapons and the equivalent of 64 single-canister vertical launch cells. The ships also come equipped with nine Mk 46 Autonomous At Sea Tugs to maneuver traffic and a fleet of support drones to develop temporary forward anchorages.

Each seabase also has a dedicated air group for air transport and anti-submarine work, and a small escort dedicated defensive Patrol Squadron with two optionally crewed anti-submarine corvettes and ten uncrewed patrol ships. PATRON 11 (Night Dredgers) and Seabase Air Group 2 (Ole Gippers) are attached to the Reagan Seabase for FleetPro 36 to provide active close-in defense against uncrewed spar torpedoes, submarines, and low-end aerial threats in addition to EOD and VBSS capabilities.

So we used to call her Toy Island, not only because they had all the toys but because, for some reason, they had a lot of donkeys. I mean literal donkeys, the animals. We once had someone sent to sickbay because he got trampled by 20 donkeys at 3 am while on watch. And they were always smoking cigars while drinking whiskey and eating bubblegum. Who the fuck thinks bubblegum, whiskey, and smoking go together? Like, not even vaping, but smoking! Fucking weirdos, lemme tell you that much.

— Senior Chief Petty Officer Jenny O. Menedez (Gunner’s Mate Senior Chief, USS Passaic FFG-103) on the REAGAN Seabase

The seabases have earned themselves a sordid reputation as the US Navy’s “transitory Tortugas” as the combination of floating city and massive quantities of materiel has led to a culture of semi-official bartering between other ships, ports, and within the seabase itself—and, of course, smuggling. The George Washington Seabase has the questionable honor of having the highest proportion of Fleet Security Force officers to crew and the greatest number of convictions in naval history shortly after she made her first equator crossing. The Neptune King would be arrested after being found in possession of eleven Komodo dragons, an adult bull moose, and an oil drum of kringle-flavored vodka. The FDR Seabase is usually considered the most even-keeled and responsible of the class, while the Reagan Seabase swings wildly between laser-focused competence and pandemonium at the flip of a switch.

The second Liberty-class Seabase was commissioned in 2038 and would be a keystone for the success of Operation HAMMERHEAD and victory in the Second Battle of the Mariana Trench. After the end of the war, the Washington Seabase was moved into the reserves, leaving the Reagan in the Pacific and the FDR in the Atlantic. “Nancy” was assigned to FleetPro 36 after it became clear that it would otherwise be logistically unfeasible to pull together the supply chains needed to support the exercise in the time crunch ahead of the Pacific Fleet. Reagan simply bulldozed all concerns.

In command of the Reagan Seabase is Rear Admiral Troy Holloway. He is the junior-most of the flag officers assigned to the CTF, having only recently fleeted up from Chief of Staff/Deputy Commander, 1st Naval Construction Division to Commander, Advance Seabasing Group 2/Commander, 1NCD. He is often called “the Dude” or simply “Admiral Man Bun” by his sailors, terms of either endearment or derision. Holloway is an atypical officer of Naval Construction Force stock. He is of two worlds: an ex-reserve officer in the Naval Construction Force, but with experience in the private sector in Silicon Valley and ARPA-I (Industrial), the sister of ARPA-E. He has the hallmarks of both a ‘Careerist’ (those who have served their entire career in the NCF, whether Slate or Corpo Navy) and ‘Conversion’ (those who were previously in the private sector or non-military government service). Despite a reputation as a mellow push-over, Holloway has acquitted himself well as an extremely effective leader of his seabase, bringing it to order while keeping it effective and contented. It is with his atypical—cordial and relaxed—demeanor that he is able to navigate the uniquely complex, often baroque, social mores and practices that define the hive of scum, villainy, and industry that is an Advance Seabase.

The Great Coven of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Flight I Yellowstone class (Redwood subclass) Guided Missile Ship (ex-Ballistic Missile Defense Cruiser)

USS Redwood (AVM-4)

Dimensions: 774 ft (length) x 105 ft (beam)

Displacement: 48,000 tons

Complement: 500

Missile Armament: 32x4 - Mark 61 Peripheral VLS Cells, 12x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 1 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 12x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tubes

Launch vehicle Complement: 2 - Rocket Lab Neutron, 2 - Rocket Lab Electron, 8 - Westinghouse-TRW Minotaur VII, 12 - ULA Theseus II

Aircraft: no hangars with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

Formerly a Yellowstone-class ballistic missile defense cruiser, Redwood is a extremely peculiar vessel—an arsenal ship become the United States of America’s Sea Launch Commander. The ship has a vast array of vertical launch cells that remain either empty or used as storage for reloads for other combatants. Its main duties now are to serve as a command and control center and the at-sea vehicle assembly building for rockets to be launched from the mobile launch platform/seabase, USNS Artisan (ABL-1). The Yellowstone-class would be authorized under the terms of the Naval Act of 2025 to free up the surface combatants currently dedicated to defense BMD defense missions in Rota, Japan, and Guam and to affirmative slam shut the “VLS Gap” between the USN and PLAN. The class would use the Flight II San Antonio class LPD hull for the sake of expediency, but would be weaponized—equipped with three 35-foot S-band AESA arrays and the first “Growth VLS” vertical launch system cells—and use a modified version of the DD(X)/DDG(X) turbo-electric drive for enhanced speed and endurance.

As a part of the negotiations for the Comprehensive Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty, the Young Administration would stand down the naval missile defense rotation at Rota. This left the Navy with three Yellowstone-class ballistic missile defense cruisers surplus to its requirements. Congress, with the Bernard Sanders National Defense Appropriation-Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2035, would mandate that at least one Yellowstone-class CBM be modified into an experimental test vessel for a proposed at-sea launch system. The provisions for a “National Reconnaissance Office Launch Combatant” would be enacted over the objections of both OPNAV and the NSRB. The CBMs were floated for conversion because the class was sparsely fitted, with much of their vast internal volume underutilized. Regardless, the Navy and NSRB would strive to keep the vessel’s original capability as a missile defense ship intact and eventually steer the program into the “Redwood-Artisan Afloat Launch Complex.”

Redwood was the obvious choice for the program as it had already been modified to fabricate high-altitude balloons and missile test targets, earning the ship the nicknames the “Clay Launcher” and the “Gulf Golfer.” She had also spent much of her career as the main ship for at-sea recovery of NASA crewed missions. In fact, she passed over for deployments to the primary BMD duty stations in Rota and Guam six times over her career, making only a single missile defense deployment before her conversion. This is all to say she was in extremely good condition.

She would be taken into hand in late 2034 for a refit at Graveline Naval Shipyard. This refit lengthened the ship by 90 feet. Though she would maintain her complement of large diameter 176 VLS cells (reserved for MDA’s Afloat Multi-Kill Interceptor known as ‘Killtacular’ for its five miniaturized kinetic kill vehicles), only the 48 cells in her forecastle would be retained in an active capacity. Her 128 peripheral VLS cells would be deactivated and stay that way—on paper. This was mainly because the entire ship was rewired, and the cells were not hooked back into the new system. These demilitarized cells would be used to carry reloads for escorts (though the ship-to-ship anchor-stabilization system for at-sea reloads would never be fitted).

The start of Second Sino would see Redwood’s refit paused so that she could rejoin the fleet. The ship would be deployed to San Francisco Bay, where she would be a regional air and missile defense network unto herself. She would later see use as an impromptu arsenal ship at the Second Battle of the Mariana Trench. With her deactivated cells hastily brought back online to carry scores and scores of ballistic missiles (causing not insignificant damage to the cells in the process) she would claim the honor of sinking the Type 006 CVN Xizang (scoring no less than twenty six hits on the carrier in two minutes) and several escorts, breaking the back of an entire PLAN Carrier Fleet Group.

After the war, the refitting would resume. Her distinctive payload assembly complex, her turtleback, was erected along the previously flush main deck of the ship, leaving only a modest landing pad quarterdeck. The ship’s structure was reinforced with high-end “Natick Plate” high entropy alloys to support the increased weight. New facilities include her large final assembly floor, a dozen clean rooms of varying sizes, a liquid propellants refinery, a solid propellant printer-fabricator, and a small modular molten salt reactor as an industrial power plant. The ship contains all of the materials needed to manufacture her own payloads—in addition to the final assembly of dissembled ready-use payloads.

THEY WANT TO DO WHAT?

— Captain Kimberly J. Scott (Director, Office of Critical Procurement) reacting to the Congressional mandate for “an NRO launch combatant,” c. 2034

The Navy’s interest in the program skyrocketed after Second Sino came to a close, and the value of forward and attritable C4ISR had been learned the hard way. During the war, NASA and Aerospace Force’s orbital lift capacity was extremely bottlenecked; the Navy found itself without its own lift capability and its specialist space infrastructure at the back of the line. Therefore the Afloat Launch Complex is, by and large, the most important test of the Fleet Problem, as Big Navy is unsure what is the ideal combination of launch vehicles and payloads. Therefore, the Redwood is filled with an eclectic collection of cube-sat constellations, a mix of mid-sized satellites, and high-altitude balloons. The Afloat Launch Complex has invested heavily in a common small multi-role satellite bus developed by the USG (SKELETON KEY) and a current-generation commercial microsat constellation (Marionette) to serve as a theatre-level Flexseal for JADC2.

Satan’s Cruise Ship.

Artisan class Advanced Launch Seabase

USNS Artisan (ABL-2)

Dimensions: 920 ft (length) x 160 ft (beam)

Displacement: 85,000 tons

Complement: 300 [100 ABL + 200 OXW]

Missile Armament: 2x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 4x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 4 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Phalanx Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 12x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: no hangars with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

Artisan is the other half of the Afloat Launch Complex—the Odyssey to Redwood’s Sea Launch Commander. Originally built as the drillship Deepwater Hercules for Transocean Ltd., she was purchased by a venture capitalist fund hoping to revolutionize at-sea resource extraction. It would eventually collapse into insolvency after it was revealed that the founders had spent no less $10 million of their $12 billion CapEx fund just on cocaine and Russian-sourced industrial chemicals for use as designer drugs. The US government would buy the ship under the auspices of testing Seabasing concepts alongside the USNS Bozeman (ARDM-8). After the completion of the experiment, she would be moved into the reserves before being drawn back into the fleet in 2035 to serve as the launching platform for Congress’s pet NRO Launch Combatant Program before being halted by Second Sino.

Artisan retains much of the factory-ship capabilities of her prior role, but instead of providing resources for the repair and sustainment of naval vessels, she is a floating rocket factory. She is responsible for the final re-assembly and limited manufacture of orbital lift vehicles and the final assembly of launch vehicles and payload. She has vast storage spaces for the components of her disassembled launch complement and the ability, like the Redwood, to produce both liquid and solid propellants.

Her primary launch vehicle is the Rocket Lab Neutron, branded the Neutron Defender by the company. It is a variant of the Block III modified to match DOD specifications for wartime usage and to supplement the Dominion Space Exploration (ex-SpaceX) Starship. Neutron Defender is famous for achieving a hard kill on the PLAAeF’s Heavenly Defender II space defense platform, the largest such entirely military space platform ever constructed, during Operation HAMMERHEAD. The ship has only two of these medium lifters, but has the ability to produce no less than two dozen second stages for the pair. These vehicles are launched from the primary launch pad at the stern of the ship, with their exhausting being vented into the ocean and moderated by a water deluge system.

Her forward launch pad consists of four staggered erector rigs for the platform’s three secondary launch vehicles: the Westinghouse-TRW Minotaur VII, the Rocket Lab Electron Prime, and the ULA Theseus II. The three launch vehicles are competing for the Afloat Launch Complex’s expendable launch vehicle contract, and the Navy is interested in maintaining a diverse launch portfolio to ensure launch capacity. These forward launchers are designed for a rapid reload and simultaneous launch (from the two staggered rigs). These goals, however, are not thoroughly tested and are generally considered… optimistic.

Minotaur VII is derived from the LGM-182 Peacekeeper II—formerly LGM-35B Ground Based Strategic Deterrent-Heavy—a heavy throw-weight ICBM developed in response to the PLA’s nuclear build-up in the ‘20s and subsequently decommissioned under the terms of the Comprehensive Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty. The Electron Prime was chosen as the most affordable option from the variety of dedicated launch vehicles that entered into the competition and saw good service in Second Sino with a high launch volume. Finally, Theseus II is derived from Lockheed Martin’s Next Generation Interceptor anti-ballistic missile, with wartime overproduction having been converted to civilian lift vehicles following the signing of the Malmö Accords.

Stairway to Heaven.

Surface Combatants

Saratoga class Nuclear Guided Missile Fleet Cruiser

USS Bunker Hill (CGN-76), USS Khasham (CGN-79), USS Normandy (CGN-81), USS Missionary Ridge (CGN-87), USS Paracel Islands (CGN-91)

Dimensions: 710 ft (length) x 79 ft (beam)

Displacement: 18,750 tons

Complement: 250

Missile Armament: 8x4 - Mark 57 Peripheral VLS Cells, 18x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 4x1 - Mark 148 Adaptable Box Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x2 - 127mm/72 Mark 48 Dual Automatic Naval Gun System, 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x2 - Mark 34 Surface Vessel Integral Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The Saratoga-class is the United States Navy’s definitive air defense combatant and the true successor to the Ticonderoga-class cruiser and a combat focused-successor to the Yellowstone-class cruisers. The ship is built on a reworked and extender version of the latter DDG(X) & DDG(Y) “flat ass” hullform (with a stern designed to accomdate peripheral VLS) and is powered by two N4D reactors, a smaller deriative of the N3D PMSR.7 This immense power reserve is used for an enormous 28’ diameter multi-band (both X and S band) SPY-10 AESA radar, a full-spectrum array of direct energy defense weapons, and a monstrous AN/SLQ-37 electronic warfare array.

Nicknamed “Barad-dûr” or simply “Barad” for the “all-seeing eye” of their integrated air defense suite and dark grey color. These air defense ships can sync the search and fire-control radars of an entire battle group, turning the formation into a ‘Voltron’ of air-missile defense, making the job of the battle group air defense coordinator much easier. An individual Saratoga possesses close to three times the weight of fire of her predecessor, and her expanded electronic warfare suite is nine orders of magnitude more powerful. They are well-liked by everyone save the Nuclear Power School faculty, who have had to train the new generation of surface nukes. They are dependable and highly capable, though not invincible. They can be overwhelmed as their various AD systems overheat from extended, high-intensity use.

I was on the bridge when it happened. A dozen Screamers hit the water all at once. I have never witnessed something like it. If not for PHILIPPINE SEA, we all would have died that day. Wherever God goes, a SARATOGA must guard him.

— Vice Admiral Nakada Hisashi (Commander, Fleet Escort Force), Captain of the ballistic missile defense destroyer JS Musashi (DDB-185) during The Last Ride of Exercise LIBERTY BANDIT, c. 2041

Though the class was not yet in commission for the Fifth Gulf War, they were some of the first ships to see combat during the Second Sino. USS Philippine Sea (CGN-75), assigned to Exercise LIBERTY BANDIT, proved the worth of her clan in a single action. Her skipper, acting on his feet as CJ-200 Satyr high-hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles screamed toward the battle group, overloaded the ship’s electronic warfare suite. In a fraction of a second, the lone ship fried the primary, secondary, and tertiary guidance systems of ten incoming sea skimmers, forestalling an immediate and cataclysmic defeat. The class proved to be matchless and irreplaceable assets for OSATO during the rest of the war. Accordingly, the US Navy has begun production of the Concord-class—originally the Flight IV Saratoga-class (the class was ordered in three batches of eight ships).

The Watchtower of the Free World.

Samuel B. Roberts class Guided Missile Destroyer

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DDG-157), USS Johnston (DDG-161), USS Hoel (DDG-162), USS Heerman (DDG-163), USS Lisa M. Franchetti (DDG-170), USS Jesse L. Brown (DDG-173), USS Peter M. Mitchell (DDG-174), USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-176), USS Paul X. Rinn (DDG-180), USS William D. Porter (DDG-186), USS Willis A. Lee (DDG-193), USS James V. Forrestal (DDG-199) USS Ashton B. Carter (DDG-200)

Dimensions: 560 ft (length) x 79 ft (beam)

Displacement: 11,500 tons

Complement: 185

Missile Armament: 8x4 - Mark 57 Peripheral VLS Cells, 6x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 4x1 - Mark 148 Adaptable Box Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x1 - 127mm/72 Mark 47 Automatic Naval Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x2 - Mark 34 Surface Vessel Integral Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The concept behind the Samuel B. Roberts is simple: what if we did the Arleigh Burke again on a new hull? The Office of Critical Procurement’s “Wet Office” and NSWC Carderock did exactly that with their DDG(Y), designing a smaller, less capable, and cheaper derivative of the DDG(X)—incidentally scuppering the Evans-class in the process. Once joking (and mocking) called the “Burke Flight X Program Office,” the ships were inspired in part by the ‘original’ Flight III Arleigh Burke proposals from the late 1980s—but they would end up a beloved and trailing blazing class of fighting ships.

Like all FAX2040 ships, the new destroyers are a mix of terrific advances in material sciences and energetics (Nanoc Steel, advanced non-polymer composites, and the Slate Haze Grey anti-corrosion radar absorbing paint, electrothermal-chemical guns, and multi-band radars) and thoroughly tested core mechanical systems (Integrated Power and Energy System and the DDG(X) hull-form). However unlike DDG(X), DDG(Y) had the luxury of being designed for production assisted by, or entirely by, the cacophony of industrial practices, technologies, and systems known as a “printer-fabricator.” This gave the class a decisive edge—that and the early Evans-class DDGs ironing out most of the kinks of DDG(Y)’s planned combat suite—over the Evans, the Constellation, and the Arleigh Burke. This also allowed the class to be repaired much faster than anticipated, surprising both the USN and PLAN. In one case, the Naval Station Everett would ‘print’ (direct laser deposition) an entire new bow for USS John F. Kerry (DDG-182) in a mere six days after the ship had the front “fallen off” from an errant mine.

In 2032, when Samuel B. Roberts was launched, the class was not the deadliest or most advanced combatant in the world—far from it. Scores of PLAN combatants, including their newest class of “future” destroyers, carried more weapons on larger hulls with larger radars. However, no other class of ship would match the reliability and dependability of the SBR. It is a class that a fleet, and a nation, can trust. It is the new gold standard. In the wake of Second Sino, the class has become the core of the USN battle force with rapid wartime production, loss of older combatants, and the final drawdown of remaining Flight I and Flight II Burkes into the reserves by the peace dividend. Production is not planned to end until the mid-2070s.

Tough. Fast. Mean. Need More. Fast. Delays unacceptable. Substitution unacceptable.

— Description of the class in a dispatch from Rear Admiral Jonathan Granger (Commander, Carrier Battle Nine), c. 2037

Of note, the USS Peter M. Mitchell (DDG-174) is named after Petty Officer Second Class Peter Maverick Mitchell—named after Tom Cruise’s Top Gun character—who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during the Fourth Persian Gulf War. As an MH-60R Seahawk crewman, he rescued seventy-three service members under fire during the war in thirty-three different CSAR missions. He was mortally wounded during his final rescue. Mitchell’s Seahawk “Danger Four-One” had been tasked with rescuing downed Marine Raiders on the Iranian Coast. P02 Mitchell incurred sixteen wounds during the operation but was able to bring the final Raider aboard before he collapsed from blood loss.

The Anchor of the Free World.

Flight IIA Evans class Guided Missile Destroyer Leader

USS Reuben James (DLG-159), USS Stark (DLG-160)

Dimensions: 640 ft (length) x 79 ft (beam)

Displacement: 15,500 tons

Complement: 200

Missile Armament: 10x4 Mark 57 Peripheral VLS Cells, 4x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 8x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 4x3 - Mark 147 Offensive Adaptable Deck Launcher, 3x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x2 - 127mm/72 Mark 48 Dual Automatic Naval Gun System, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 3 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x3 - Mark 30 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The Samar Skippers—procured under the DDG(X) program—are a clan of warships that would help pave the way for the vessels that would overshadow them. Originally intended as the successor to the venerable Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to begin construction in the early 2030s, the brand new world born from the ashes of First Sino would see the class would be thrust into production immediately under CNO Franchetti’s Emergency Navigation Plan. The EMNAV Plan would see DDG(X) joined by a titanic acceleration of the timelines for Flight III Arleigh Burke DDG buys, orders for the first Yellowstone class CBMs, rapid development of an ‘improved’ Flight II Constellation FFG to fix the class’s simmering issues, and two new dedicated test ships. The first three vessels of DDG(X) would be built as de facto test items, with major differences between them: the first would be little more than a Flight III Burke on a new hull with the IPS from a Zumwalt. The second would have the class’s brand new IPES. The third would test a different ‘full breadth’ stern arrangement, what would become the “flat ass” of FAX2040. These ships—Evans, Copeland, and Kintberger—would serve as test ships that would test the propulsion, sensor, and weapon systems of the next generation of US Navy vessels alongside the purpose-built USS Norton Sound (AVM-2) and USS Salisbury Sound (AVM-3). The Navy would go from a single test ship (the ex-Paul F. Foster) to five in half a decade. Of the remaining six ships, three would be built as Flight II and three as Flight II— with the main difference being the P-VLS cells in the flat aft along the flight deck of the Flight IIA ships (and would become the progenitor of the Samuel B. Roberts and Saratoga hulls). In fact, Flight II and Flight IIA would begin construction at the same time in 2028 (DDG-154 Hathaway at the newly reopened Detroit Naval Shipyard and DDG-155 Kidd at Huntington Ingalls).

If we’re dying, we’re dying in style, and we’re bringing those bastards with us. RELEASE ALL BATTERIES. LET THEM NEVER FORGET THE NAME STARK.

— Captain Sarah Taylor (Commanding Officer, USS STARK, DLG-160) at the First Naval Battle of Wake Island, Taylor would later serve as COM/DESRON1 attached to CBG-1 during Fleet Problem XXXVI, c. 2037

The planned run of forty-eight was cut to nine because the class was simply built for a world that no longer existed. Though good ships, they were simply too expensive and too slow to produce. DDG(Y), at less than half the price of the $4.25 billion pseudo-cruiser, was impossible to resist. The Evans-class would be redesignated as “Destroyer Leaders” in a move to accelerate DDG(Y) production by intentionally creating a “destroyer gap” with the PLAN. A blood feud between the DDG(Y) and DDG(X) program offices exists to this very day, as the former views the latter as stealing their work—and they’re not wrong.

The class would earn their spurs—and battle stars—during Gulf V and Second Sino. Copeland (DLG-152), for example, achieved the highest interception rate for ballistic missile defense during the nuclear exchange, saving millions of lives, and the USS Guadalcanal (LPV-17). USS Stark’s almost-last stand at the First Naval Battle of Wake Island during First Trench is also of note. Three ships were lost in Second Sino, with one more damaged beyond economical repair. Though oft considered a failure—the butt of jokes and a source of frustration—in the end, they were sorted out into dependable warships, overshadowed by their predecessor and successors.

The Lost and Forgotten.

Flight III Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyer

USS Telesforo Trinidad (DDG-139), USS Vincent R. Capodanno (DDG-146), USS Samuel Paparo (DDG-150)

Dimensions: 510 ft (length) x 66 ft (beam)

Displacement: 9,750 tons

Complement: 250

Missile Armament: 12x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells 2x2 - Mark 145 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x3 - Mark 147 Offensive Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x1 - 127mm/72 Mark 47 Automatic Naval Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, (2x4 - 30mm/80 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System)*, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), (2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L))*

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x3 - Mark 30 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The Arleigh Burke-class needs no introduction. They are the Fletcher-class of the 21st Century and the workhorse of the United States Navy. Many expected them to never cease production, and for several congressional hearings, it seemed like DDG(X) and DDG(Y) would be canceled in favor of a Flight IV DDG-51 with a 46’ plug to increase maximum displacement. However, the fact that DDG(Y) had been built with the Fifth Industrial Revolution in mind would ensure that the Burke line would not last forever.

The Flight III was intended to be the ultimate Burke, and in many ways it was, as it took the venerable hull to the very limits of its existing margins. The sub-class would be rushed into bulk production during and after First Sino, with a historic six hulls being laid down at Huntington Ingalls at once in March of 2025 (followed by the first two Evans in October). HII alone would slog through the final order of 17 Flight III destroyers, as Bath Iron Works took over and salvaged the flagging FFG(X) program. The ships of the class have—unsurprisingly—undergone several refits, with most units receiving a kind of B-FRAM (Burke Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization). B-FRAM IV would even experiment with replacing the Burke’s traditional powerplant with a variant of the turbo-electric IPES, in addition to replacing their AEGIS battle management with the Navy’s POSEIDON iteration of the DOD’s unified OLYMPUS battle management system and installing additional weapon systems. The most recent B-FRAM V would actually have to reduce the point defenses of some ships to improve seakeeping; for example, pre-refit, Telesforo Trinidad was armed with no less than fifteen PD mounts of various makes and models.

Three of the famed class of 100 would be displaced during the Departure (another five narrowly avoided the same fate). These are USS Telesforo Trinidad (DDG-139), USS Vincent R. Capodanno (DDG-146), and the final ship of the class, USS Samuel Paparo (DDG-150).

The “Fighting Teletubby” is the oldest ship in the class, being laid down in the ‘Bayou Christmas’ of March 2025. She has gone through three B-FRAM—first after suffering damage from a Saudi C-901 anti-ship missile during Gulf War V, then again during Second Sino in 2038 after striking a “micro meteor” mine, and yet again from 2040 to 2042. She is considered one of the best fighting ships in the Navy; a lucky ship for her crew but a blight for her captain. Bad things happen to her skippers. Such bad luck includes eleven divorces, one murder-suicide, and four deaths in the line of duty in little more than a decade. Her current captain, the ship’s former XO, was field promoted after his skipper was decapitated by errant fragmentation from a 152mm howitzer shell on the last day of Second Sino. He died only thirty-six minutes before the war-ending ceasefire came into effect, the seventh to last person to die in Second Sino. Despite the localized bad luck, the ship has earned eighteen battle stars, surviving the Burning ‘30s in better shape than many of her contemporaries. She recently returned to the fleet after a deep refit, giving her a new lease on life and proving the venerable Arleigh Burkes are far from out of the fight.

Howitzers? At this range? They couldn’t hit uuuuhh fucking eleph—

— The final words of Captain Everett Simmerton (Commanding Officer, TELESFORO TRINIDAD, DDG-139), c. 2040.

Vincent R. Capodanno is named after two Medal of Honor recipients, one from the Vietnam War and one from First Sino—both chaplains killed attempting to save wounded Marines. She is one of the “Sansha Saints,” a run of ships named after those killed fighting on Sansha in the Paracel Islands. Samuel Paparo is the final ship of the class, though not the last ship, as DDG-149 Susan Collins would complete after Paparo due to a dispute over whether workers from BIW would be the ones to symbolically “complete” the ship named after the former Maine senator. DDG-150 would actually be originally ordered as USS Intrepid, but would be renamed after the commander of INDOPACOM during First Sino, who died just four weeks into his term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in a 2027 plane crash.

The Arleigh Burke is the defining symbol of American naval power for the early 21st Century. It is a beloved workhorse and able combatant, though its era has passed but it remains the gold standard for prime surface combatants.

B-52-upon-Sea

Flight II Constellation class Guided Missile Frigate

USS Lafayette (FFG-65), USS Pulaski (FFG-72), USS Macedonian (FFG-82), USS Guerriere (FFF-83), USS Monitor (FFG-85), USS Kearsarge (FFG-85), USS Hopper (FFG-95), USS Romney (FFG-99), USS Arleigh Burke (FFG-100), USS Congress (FFG-101)

Dimensions: 481 ft (length) x 66 ft (beam)

Displacement: 8,100 tons

Complement: 185

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x2 - Mark 145 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 4x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x3 - Mark 147 Offensive Adaptable Deck Launcher, 1x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x1 - 76mm/62 Mark 76 Automatic Naval Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 1 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x3 - Mark 30 Surface Vessel Integral Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

Calling this design Flight II Constellation or “Improved Constellation” is a really quite the misnomer. The ships of the “FFG-62i” class have less in common with the FFG-62 than the FFG-62 had with its Italian FREMM progenitor. In a Hail Mary bid to save the overloaded design, newly-confirmed Secretary of the Navy Elaine Luria and CNO Franchetti ordered a draconia rebaselining of the frigate. Namely, following FFG-63 the class would abandon the modified FREMM hull and instead use existing work by Gibbs & Cox on a shortened Burke hull (proposed for Australia’s SEA 400 Air Warfare Destroyer program) to provide the ships with better seakeeping, stability, and future growth margins (actually make the design seaworthy). The rapid integration process would be overseen by Bath Iron Work and NWSC Caderock with the first ship of the new to be built by BIW, with Fincantieri Marinette Marine rejoining production at FFG-65, with the Navy retaining the option of giving FMM’s potential orders to Austal if needed. The Navy would get its expedited replacement for its Flight I Burkes… by building slightly different Burkes (and an upfront spend of just shy of 50 billion dollars for a bulk order of 20 hulls and expansion of supporting facilities).

Of the “original eight” frigates (those ordered before the rebaselining), only a single ship remains—USS Lafayette (FFG-65), the second of the new “flight.” The first two ships, FFG-62 Constellation and FFG-63 Congress would have extremely expedited construction schedules (FMM was desperate to avoid losing the rebaselined orders to BIW or Austal). However, the ships would have extremely middling careers, despite a dramatic start with Constellation’s heroic showing in Gulf War IV under the command of Commander Kimberly Scott. The lead ship would go on to sink after being struck by a Chinese heavyweight torpedo during the Anzio Incident, despite the titanic efforts of her crew. Congress… would not have such a career, effectively serving as a cutter-cum-training ship in the Caribbean. The ship had more pronounced trim and seakeeping issues compared to her sistership, and due to remarkably poor planning on the part of her captain would embarrassingly founder in Hurricane Dave in 2031 while trying to reach Mobile. Regardless, the class has earned their stripes in hard fighting in Gulf V and Second Sino—with the losses to show for it.

The class has seen several upgrades throughout their lifecycle, including a New Threat Upgrade refit program which, chiefly, replaced their 32 Mark 41 VLS cells with 16 larger Mark 61 VLS cells (equivalent to 64 Mark 41 cells) and upgraded the ships combat suite from AEGIS to OLYMPUS. The ships’ margins have also been put to good use with four 4-cell and two 2-cell ADLs and two 3-cell O-ADLs (the Adaptable Deck Launcher variant designed to accomdate the larger 28-inch canisters of the Mk 57 VLS). The class, only ever intended as an interrim design, would be sidelined by the production of Samuel B. Roberts-class destroyers and Ellington-class destroyer escorts. Particularly, as before their NTU, an Ellington DDE was better armed and nearly half the price and while the Roberts class DDG was roughly 50% more expensive, it had four times the punch. The design, however, did see considerable success in the export market—with 23 hulls sold to Egypt, Romania, Vietnam, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Poland, and the United Kingdom (the Commonwealth buys were to replace lost Type 26 and Type 31 frigates during Second Sino).

Three to one? Should’ve PLAN’ed for more. *post-pun grin*

— Captain Charles E. Jeung, (Acting Commander, Escort Squadron 8) at the start of the Battle of Convoy SKJ/12, c. 2038

While the CTF contains the oldest still afloat FFG-62i—the USS Lafayette (FFG-65) with her Marine National exchange officer XO—it also contains the last three ships of the class USS Romney (FFG-100), USS Arleigh Burke (FFG-100), and USS Congress (FFG-101). The frigate Arleigh Burke (which in and of itself was a controversial naming decision) is the flagship of the equally controversial Escort Squadron Eight under the even more controversial Commodore Charles Entertainment Jeung. The COMO is a protégé of Admiral Scott, serving as a gunner’s mate aboard her first command, USS Canberra (FF-30), during First Sino, before going through OCS. He was with Scott as a surface snipe aboard USS Constellation at the Anzio Incident and was headhunted by the Office of Critical Procurement. Jeung, an Olympic sharpshooter (who went viral with two golds at the 2024 Summer Games), put his expertise to use leading the team for the Mark 10 EM-ETC gun. While, the rest of class have had full careers doing the grunt worked needed to keep the United States the pre-eminent global naval power. For example, USS Kearsarge (FFG-85) would live up to her name and engage a PLAN Q-Ship raider (under the guise of a Panamax container ship) in a surface naval gun action in the Indian Ocean in 2039 during the PLAN’s failed bid to disrupt shipping lanes beyond the WEZ.

I was truly convinced I was dead when I heard the cry of “Torpedoes in the Water!” I expected the ship to break in half, but that bastard of a ship, held out long enough to get most of us free and clear… most of us… It was more than I expected.

— Vice Admiral Kimberly J. Scott (Commander, US First Fleet) reflecting on the ANZIO Incident, c. 2041

USS Guerriere (FFG-82) and USS Macedonian (FFG-83) have a sordid history for modern combatants. Macedonian was actually sunk by a PLAN intercontinental drone torpedo in 2037 but was refloated and brought back into service—before then being sunk during the infamous frogman attack on Yokosuka in 2039 but was recovered and returned to service once again. Similiarly, Guerriere was struck by six YJ-83, destroying almost all of her superstructure which was then rebuilt. In fact, even the naming of the two ships in 2026 ignited a minor diplomatic crisis between the United States and United Kingdom. The naming of new frigates after Royal Navy ships captured by United States Navy caused Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, to crash out and acuse the Department of the Navy of insulting the United Kingdom. An offhand comment by former President Joe Biden to a local news covering the opening of a bagel shop in Wilmington—“They’re lucky we aren’t in a mood to capture more, I’ll tell you that much”—renewed the firestorm on the Opposition Bench and even caused grumbling in Whitehall. There was a move in the Commons to censor the former President, which was stopped when a simultaneous electric fire and errant lightning strike caused the Second Burning of Parliament. Former Prime Minister Starmer, then serving as Ambassador to the United States in the wake of his ouster just before the end of First Sino, would meet with President Biden to smooth over the mess; which would be over-shadow by the fact that the former PM inadvertenly spilled an entire pot of tea into crotch while on camera. The Rayner Ministry would eventually get the US “back” by naming the 7th ship of the Type 83 Bellerophon-class destroyers HMS Bladensburg (D41) after the battle that led to the sack of Washington. The ship would be temporarily canceled despite being more than halfway completed during Dehenna Davison’s brief minority government in 2035, one part of what would be called the Two Weeks Ministry, the Great British Fire Sale, or the Black Fortnight. It would be completed in 2039 during Prime Minister Ed Miliband’s wartime National Unity Government and be jointly christened by First Lieutenant Robert “Hunter” Biden II, actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and former Prime Minister Theresa May.

I’ve Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More ~~Cowbell~~ Burke.

Ellington class Destroyer Escort

USS Puller (DDE-1111), USS Edsall (DDE-1122), USS Riley (DDE-1138), USS Gee (DDE-1145), USS Daly (DDE-1149), USS Munro (DDE-1168), USS Taijeron (DDE-1175), USS Alvarez (DDE-1181), USS Walker (DDE-1185) USS Manoukian (DDE-1200)

Dimensions: 465 ft (length) x 55 ft (beam)

Displacement: 6,550 tons

Complement: 100

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 57 Peripheral VLS Cells, 4x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 4x1 - Mark 148 Box Launcher, 1x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x1 - 76mm/62 Mark 76 Automatic Naval Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 1 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x2 - Mark 34 Surface Vessel Integral Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 1 x large or 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The class is named after Captain James Ellington, the first ship’s captain to be killed in action since Lieutenant Junior Grade Warren R. Person, skipper of the USS Magpie (AMS-25), in 1950. Ellington was killed during the legendary Second Battle of Paracel Islands, where he led a force of six damaged Independence-class light frigates into a surface action against a superior PLAN at night, holding the field despite losing two-thirds of their numbers, to protect the exposed amphibious transports supporting the slugfest on Sansha Island. With the rebaselining of FFG(X) into the Baby Burke, the USN was without a true light surface combatant to provide mass low-end ASW and AA escort capabilities to the fleet. OPNAV struggled between choosing a manned or unmanned vessel for the role, but would eventually agree to “yes” and accept a family of systems under the DE(X) program also known as Project TIN CAN.

The USV side of the program (and its precusors) would remain a mess, with three different roughly 750-1,000 ton MUSV classes (Vigilance, Ronoake, and Giuseppe Abregado) already in production and at least two more to be selected under DE(X), one general purpose and one anti-submarine warfare design. Eventually the Navy would transition the program into optionally manned “patrol corvette picket” (frigate had fallen out of favor after the pains of FFG(X), and to separate the program from FFG-62i) designated PCC, in the 2,000 to 4,000 ton range. This would result in Vigor Industries Speaker-class anti-submarine corvette picket and Gibbs & Cox’s Senator-class corvette picket—however the designs would be handed off to numerous shipyards across the country. The transparent logrolling naming convention was a hail Mary by OPNAV and OCP to get the program funded in the face of congressional reticence (because of the Navy’s mixed record with LUSVs).

For the manned side of DE(X), the USN selected a heavily modified version of the RAN Vampire light frigate (derived from the Improved Mogami FFM) as the crewed combatant for TIN CAN, to be built by both Austal USA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Galveston. The design would be win the contest for OSATO’s Common Escort Force program, beating out Japan’s Chikuma (itself a Mogami FFM deriative), the British-Danish Arrowhead 150 (derived from the Type 31), Spanish Alfa 6000, German MEKO A-300, and French FDI, and Korean FFX-V. The DE(X) design would include much improved inherent damage control principles, a modified ‘flat ass’ stern to accomodate the American practice of larger diameter strike P-VLS along the flight deck, a 76mm ETC main gun, and use a single rotating SPY-10 multi-band array. The ships were originally ribbed by many surface snipes as “Seven Fiddy Benjamins,” as the new “DDE” (a choice which itself was met with some outrage by the fleet) was costed at 750M USD (FY 2032 USD in a pri-fab yard) and fitted for a crew of one hundred. However, the class would quickly earn reputation as good seaboats and for a hardiness not found in their Japanese progenitors (the original Mogami FFMs would suffer badly in the first weeks of Second Sino).

The DDE is the most numerous surface combatant of the United States Navy since the Fletcher-class destroyers of WW2 fame, with 133 hulls produced by 2042, mostly in new yards along the Great Lakes and an additional 83 hulls produced for the Allied Powers and/or member nations of the Osaka Treaty Organization.

Fighting an ELLINGTON is like fighting a goose. Sure, you can beat it on paper—but the cost is much greater than it appears—and God help you if you pick a fight with a gaggle.

— Rear Admiral Tony G. Hullbrook (Commander, Australian Fleet), a former ANZAC-class destroyer escort captain reflecting on the class, c. 2042

Despite being small and cheap compared to the rest of FAX2040, the Ellington-class is not to be underestimated. USS Gee (DDE-1145), named after USMC Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was killed at Abbey Gate during the Kabul Airlift, shows just how tough the tin cans can be. Gee was escorting a convoy of Andersen Express APDs, but before they reached the line of departure, the convoy was jumped by the Type 099 (09-IX) SSN 444, the most advanced submarine in the PLAN’s inventory. The first shot by 444 destroyed the escorting submarine RANS Waller (SSN 84). Gee counter-launched with three RUM-139F, at which point 444 dumped its torps and VLS cells. The APDAs broke into their sprint toward Guam as Gee flung itself toward the attacking “Super Papa.” The DDE lit off her air defense magazine at the blind-fired YJ-18C anti-ship missile as 444 turned to flee—having mistaken Gee for a much less capable Arafura-class OPV. Gee’s third RUM-125 Sea Lance II would hit and cripple 444 just as the SSN’s second torpedo detonated under her bow. The front of the escort tore free as Gee engaged the remaining errant cruise missiles. All of the hull forward of the superstructure was ripped down like a distended jaw and would snap off under the force of water. Gee would then finish off the SSN with a Mark 56 RAPTOR medium-weight torpedo from one of her SVITTs. The crippled destroyer escort then reversed to the David M. Shoup (a forward staging base at Chuuk Lagoon) to install a carbon-composite coffer dam to permit ahead travel before making a run back to Naval Advance Base Majuro. After additional field repairs, the ships would make a long and solitary sprint for Brisbane, firing off the last of her armament to answer a call for fire from the 2/23 Battalion Interdiction Team on New Georgia, who had engaged a depleted PLANMC brigade. Gee would be repaired using the bow from the under-construction Anzac-class destroyer escort, HMNZS Moa (FF 112 ).

Kill Something’s Tin Cans.

Amphibious Warfare Vessels

Chosin class Landing Platform Cargo (LPKN)

USS Chosin (LPKN-118), USS Inchon (LPKN-119), USS Khe Sanh (LPKN-120), USS Korengal (LPKN-121)

Dimensions: 1,170 ft (length) x 190 ft (beam at waterline), 230 ft (beam at flight deck)

Displacement: 117,000 tons

Complement: 400 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 4x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 3x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 4x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 2x8 - Mark 36 Surface Vessel Defensive Torpedo Tube

Aircraft: 1 x hangar complex with space for 30 x large VTOL aircraft

Other: 1 x Mark 3 Common Integrated Printer-Fabricator, 2 x LCT-10 Landing Craft Tank, 2 Maneuver Support Vessel-Light. Plus either 1 x Maneuver Support Vessel-Medium (Aviation variant) or 1 x LCT-10 Landing Craft Tank, 3 x LCAC-100 Ship-to-Shore Connectors, and 16 x Patrol Boat, Littoral (Assault variant)

The Landing Platform Cargo is an abomination, born of the fickle whispering wills of the Good Idea Fairy at OPNAV and NAVSEA. The class began as a high-speed transport, a mere replacement for the Algol-class fast vehicle cargo ships. The original design was an N4D PMSR-powered “sprinter RO/RO” capable of high speeds for swift trips and repeated brief runs into contested environments to significantly increase logistical throughput in austere environs via a small well deck.

However, this “simple” design would become something profoundly different, known ubiquitously as “Drowners” by the Marines destined to sail in them. The first step in this journey was NAVSEA uprating the ship’s structure from conventional naval steel to Nanoc Steel, the global standard for nanocomposite steel. After re-examining the design, NAVSEA realized that the design was comically overbuilt. This permitted them to walk backward into a revision of the infamous MPF (2010) “mega-amphib” napkin design. They embraced the coincidence and redesigned the ships into the largest amphibious assault vessels ever built. Congress jumped at the idea, thinking they could save money, happily accepting the monsters that could carry the same load as seven of the Navy’s MPF(X) designs in four hulls; plus, the LPKNs have the tensile strength to operate the heat of V-87 ultra-lift quad-tilt rotors transports and the F-35B/E.8

The Defense Production Board came incredibly close to overriding OPNAV and ordering the completion of the ships as simple high-speed cargo ships; however, the start of Second Sino pushed the newly reorganized Defense Production Board to keep the hulls under construction since issues over yard space and money evaporated.

Oh God, fuck, the CHOSIN too. *points at the ship engulfed by fire and smoke* She’s gon—wait. *the ship sails out* No. She’s still sailing and doesn’t appear to be listing or down in the water—Jesus, look at the hole. Just what the fuck is that thing, sir.

— Captain J. Francis Menendez (Chief of Staff, Amphibious Landing Group 6) off the coast of Taiwan during the Hailstorm, c. 2040

The ship’s berthing is located in their huge sponsons, this and the number of embarkees led to rather ascetic accommodations. Those baseline conditions led to the ships being dubbed “Drowners” by the Marine embarkees. To tackle this discontent, OPNAV authorized the ships’ galleys to operate under licensed brands (crewed by US Sailors)—including KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King, Five Guys, McDonald’s, Popeyes, and Randy’s BBQ (a local chain owned by the program manager’s wife’s brother’s husband’s sister’s husband, who is currently in prison for wire fraud and smuggling marmosets in the United States).

USS Chosin (LPKN-119) would be delivered in time to see service in Second Sino, bringing reinforcements to Operation LIBERTY, the Liberation of Taiwan, in 2040. The ship’s time at the front was truly unremarkable, right up to the moment when it was hit directly by a DF-21. Chosin shrugged off the blow as USS Fallujah (LHA-8) was nearly lost by similar damage in the same attack. Even with that feat, their reputation has not recovered from their first impressions, and the Navy has still yet to develop a doctrine of how to handle a set of four titanic assault ships that can carry a division-sized MAGTF while keeping pace with a sprinting carrier group.

The Pascagoula Frankengator.

Flight III San Antonio class Landing Transport Dock

USS Compton (LPD-53)

Dimensions: 775 ft (length) x 105 ft (beam)

Displacement: 35,000 tons

Complement: 225 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 3x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x landing deck with space for 6 x medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x hangar with space for 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x LCAC-100 Ship-to-Shore Connector

The Flight III San Antonio-class represents a return to a high-end amphibious warfare vessels, instead of the “cost friendly” inclination of their Flight II predecessors. They are faster and larger, with additional spaces dedicated to command and control to act as an amphib squadron leader.

The ships have more space for vehicles, larger holds for materiel and cargo, more berths for embarkees, more beds for the wounded, and more stations for command and control. It has more. It is also considerably faster than its predecessors, thanks to a modern IPES powerplant and its higher length-to-beam ratio.

USS Compton has had an honorable career, being thrust directly into Second Sino. It served primarily in the Solomon Campaign before moving on to assisting in the South East Asia Campaign, moving troops and materials to the OSATO troops in Vietnam and the Aligned Malaysian Resistance Organizations. It is also the reigning champion of the Puget Drag Race, an unofficial title for the fastest time to clear the Admiralty Inlet starting from Naval Station Bremerton.

The Standard, No Excess or Exaggeration

Flight IR San Antonio class Landing Transport Dock

Flight IIR San Antonio class Landing Transport Dock

USS Anchorage (LPD-23), USS Philadelphia (LPD-32)

Dimensions: 684 ft (length) x 105 ft (beam)

Displacement: 25,000 tons

Complement: 250 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament (Flight IR): 2x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Missile Armament (Flight IIR): 4x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament (Flight IR): 1x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 3x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Kinetic Armament (Flight IIR): 1x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament (Flight IR): 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 3 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Direct Energy Armament (Flight IIR): 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 2x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x landing deck with space for 5 x medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x hangar with space for 1 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x LCAC-100 Ship-to-Shore Connector

The first two flights of the San Antonio-class amphibious assault ship are the beating heart of the United States Navy’s amphibious fleet. The ships would have a total run of 53 vessels—8 for Australia, 6 for Japan, and 39 for the United States. They are well-rounded and extremely dependable, having served in every stage, conflict, and theater of the Sino-American Cold War.

All ships have undergone refit programs to extend their services, enhance their survivability, and improve their capabilities. This includes the installation of the 16 VLS cells that the Flight I examples were fitted for but not with (this occurred during and after First Sino) and the installation of Mark 70 Payload Delivery System and eventually Mark 146 Box Launchers aboard the Flight II ships. Like much of the navy, the ships would see significant increases in the rest of their defense arsenal, with particular emphasis on defense against small boats and drones.

Most people do not drive past the place where they died on their way to work. It reminds me of what I can endure and how very fortunate I am.

— Captain Sayumi Elizabeth Kanto (Chief of Staff, United States First Fleet) on USS Anchorage (LPD-23)

The two examples with the fleet have had starkly different careers. USS Anchorage (LPD-23) is famously known as “Scar” in the fleet. It has suffered battle damage no less than twenty-three times in its career—a legend of bad and good luck in equal part. Most damage has not been severe—for example, its first battle damage was during First Sino, a single YJ-62 hit while operating off in the Paracel Islands. Even the damage it suffered during Gulf V from a nuclear blast was only minor. However, the ship was once at the very knife’s edge when it was struck by a heavy-weight torpedo launched by a Type 095 SSN during Second Sino; the ship’s captain, having recently left her position as the Chief of Staff to Rear Admiral “Kill Something” Scott, would drown and die attempting to reach the bridge, only to be resuscitated. It is a ship that refuses to die despite the best efforts of the fates.

On the other hand, USS Philadelphia (LPD-32) has spent most of her career helping to save lives rather than helping to end them. The ship has assisted in rescue, relief, or recovery operations in the wake of over a dozen calamitous natural disasters, both at home and abroad. This includes the Great Niger Delta Oil Spill and the aftermath of the Great Eruption of Mount Etna. There is a running joke in the fleet that the Philly is a Coast Guard ship, not a Navy ship. There had actually been plans to convert one LPD into a search-and-rescue and disaster relief platform, but the Coast Guard was not interested in investing the capital for overkill. However, she did see combat in Second Sino, making several supply runs to besieged Vietnam, participating in the relief of the Mariana Sieges, and the Liberation of the Sakishima Islands.

Not by Grace, But By Grit

Battle Mountain class Cargo Ship Dock

USNS Atlanta (T-AKD-257), USNS Missoula (T-AKD-259), USNS Sioux City (T-AKD-264), USNS Dayton (T-AKD-266), USNS Milwaukee (T-AKD-267), USNS Ceritos (T-AKD-275), USNS Marlene Dietrich (T-AKD-290)

Dimensions: 973 ft (length) x 128 ft (beam)

Displacement: 65,000 tons

Complement: 100 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 2x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 49 Guided Missile Launcher (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 2x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x multi-mission hangar complex with space for 10 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x LCU-1700 Landing Craft Utility

The Military Sealift Command would finally receive new ships to replenish the aging stock of the Maritime Prepositioning Force and supplant the civ-spec purchases from First Sino in the form of the Battle Mountain-class Cargo Ship Dock. The design is derived from NASSCO’s New Kanaloa-class CONRO cargo ships and has a little bit of everything. It is designed with a well-deck capable of handling two LCU-1700 landing craft, a landing deck/hangar area sufficient for ten medium-sized vertical lift aircraft, roll-on/roll-off capacity for ~300 vehicles, and space for 540 TEUs. The class has been procured in large numbers and is the backbone of the Military Sealift Command.

Beginning production in the late 2020s, they would be some of the first warships to be built with printer-fabricator components in mind, allowing them to be built quickly and for less than their competitors. A single Battle Mountain, though less survivable than a mil-spec San Antonio-class LPD, delivers more capability at about 40% of the cost. Later, San Antonio-class derivatives would integrate the techniques pioneered with the Battle Mountain-class to drastically decrease costs. Like all modern ships of the USN, the class can be armed with missiles; in most cases, up to four Mark 145 Launchers around the deckhouse, usually armed with RIM-162 Super Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles, but some ships have been known to keep at least a few tubes loaded with Precision Strike Missiles for on-the-tap fire support.

Black ‘n White Taxi

Alexander A. Vandegrift class Landing Ship Base

USS Alice M. Hanlon (LSB-22), USS David H. Berger (LSB-29)

Dimensions: 904 ft (length) x 164 ft (beam)

Displacement: 160,000 tons

Complement: 300 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 2x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x21 - Mark 49 Guided Missile Launcher (RIM-116), 2x3 - Mark 147 Offensive Adaptable Deck Launcher

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 155mm/55 Mark 18 Joint Common Magazine Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x deck for 10 x large VTOL aircraft

Other: 1 x Mk 2 Mod 4 Fleet Support Fabricator, 2 x LCU-1700 Ship-to-Shore Connector, 4 x Maneuver Support Vessel-Light, 4 x Maneuver Support Vessel-Medium

Vandegrift-class is the follow-on to the Lewis B. Puller-class landing ship base (ex-expeditionary staging bases). The ships of the “Vandy” class have a greater beam—the same as the Alaska-class tankers the designs are derived from. The class also has a substantially reworked below-flight deck multi-mission area and a ballast system like the Montford Point-class expeditionary transfer dock. The multi-mission deck in the Vandegrift-class is subdivided into seven separate well decks. Combined with the ballast system, it allows the ship to carry a large number of landing craft or other vessels. Its nanocomposite steel structure permits the ballast system and flight deck combo and allows the class to operate much larger and hotter VTOLs. So, the ships can operate as F-35B/G lily pads referred to as “Cougar pads.” With these capabilities in mind, the class is designed to serve as command-and-control vessels, as seabase logistics hubs, and ferries for extra ship-to-shore connectors (or unmanned surface/subsurface craft), not as primary assault ships.

Generally, the ships operate in “gator packs” of three—with two LSBs and one LSBK. This force, with escorts, is capable of providing a major mobile seabasing node for supporting dispersed operations of stand-in forces across the weapon engagement zone or allowing the rapid concentration and movement of forces for decisive action. They can be nodes in a network fighting a war of skirmishes, or they can deliver a massed, singular blow against a key target. They are also quite well armed with the mandated FIRESHIP self-defense missile cells, a pair of automatic 155mm deck guns compatible with standard NATO 155mm artillery shells, and two 3-cell Mark 147 Offensive ADLs for anti-ship/strike missiles. They are unrivaled workhouses of the Navy’s amphibious and littoral operations.

The Unsinking Tip of the Spear.

Albert J. Herberger class Landing Ship Cargo Base

USS Ann C. Phillips (LSBK-34)

Dimensions: 1,004 ft (length) x 164 ft (beam)

Displacement: 230,000 tons

Complement: 400 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 2x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 1x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 3x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 1 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS), 3 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Aircraft: 1 x deck for one medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x improvised deck for 6 large VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x Mk 2 Mod 4 Fleet Support Fabricator, 4 x LCU-1700 Landing Craft Utility

A derivative of the Vandegrift-class Landing Ship Base, utilizing the same hull form stretched for further cargo capacity. The class’s concept is simple, but the execution is impressive. They are floating depots. A sustainment nexus for forces deployed in expeditionary advanced base operations. Their near-unrivaled cargo capacity is paired with medium speed, thanks to a high-density integrated electric propulsion system. A lone LSBK can support a brigade-sized element, usually alongside a gator pack. The ship’s ten ultra-heavy deployment davits and UNREP stabilization system allow it to conduct loading and unloading operations from up to ten SSCs simultaneously.

Aboard the USS Paul Jaenichen, known as the Big Chip, nearly 1,000 Sailors from all 53 states work to deliver food, munitions, and other vital necessities to an undisclosed number of “stand-in forces” along the breadth and depth of the Central Pacific Front in Micronesia. The ship is vast, but one of the unique spaces provides a simple luxury to the troops fighting on what are often desolate islands and atolls—ice cream. The special purpose manufactory, which the Sailors have dubbed “Chip’n Dots” is a point of pride for the crew and a source of relief for thousands of Marines and Soldiers. The space, roughly the size of four standard containers, can produce 15 gallons of ice cream every five minutes—more than twice as much as the WW2 ice cream barge, USS Quartz.

— 60 Minutes Special on the Central Pacific front, c. 2038

The class is a product of lessons learned during First Sino. The USMC learned the hard way in the Paracel Campaign that EABO fights could last longer than expected. They were not the brief but decisive actions of World War Two but grinding slugfests demanding more munitions than expected. The need for persistent direct sustainment became one of the USMC’s biggest asks—but it would take until the Naval Act of 2030 for the need to be filled with a purpose-built class.

America’s Sailing Costco: Killer Deals for Killer Fights.

Brooklyn class Fast Transport Dock

USNS San Juan (T-APD-30), USNS Anaheim (T-APD-30), USNS Rancho Cucamonga (T-APD-37), USNS Honiara (T-APD-42)

Dimensions: 447 ft (length) x 94 ft (beam)

Displacement: 2,500 tons

Complement: 45 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 1x4 - Mark 146 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 1x11 - Mark 15 SeaRAM Close-in-Weapon System (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 1x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 4x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 1 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 12x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x multi-mission hangar complex with space for 12 x small VTOL aircraft, flight deck with space for 4 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x Mk 7 Expeditionary Support Fabricator, 12 x Super Orca Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, or 8 x Roadrunner Fast Infiltration Combatant Craft, or 6 x Patrol Boat, Combat Infiltration Mark III “Medellín”

America welcomed the APD back into the world after nearly a century of absence in 2031. The first ship, USS Brooklyn (T-APD-25), was originally ordered as a Flight III Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF), but her contract was modified so that the ship could serve as a dedicated test-bed for combat infiltration and resupply of Stand-in Forces. She was designed for one purpose—to run blockades.

Shaped by the experiences—the successes and the failures of First Sino—dedicated Combat Resupply and Infiltration (CRINF) vessels were highly sought after by some in the USMC, but budgetary constraints (and the Navy’s unwillingness to engage with the concept or give up yard capacity) would prevent those desires from being realized. Their chance would come in late 2028 when the Navy decided to cut its orders for Flight III Spearheads down to eight from an originally planned twelve. Hoping to keep the line hot at Austal USA, the Navy would assent to the APD program. Congress was more than willing to accept the reprogramming. Four ships would be delivered relatively slowly over the next several years to keep the workforce in gear.

The line would be thrown into overdrive after the start of Second Sino in 2037, as the demand for high-speed shipping skyrocketed. A total of 87 APD-pattern ships would be produced, most of which were general-purpose derivatives—not specialized CRINF platforms. APDs of all sorts would provide critical speed to the logistical backbone of the Allied Powers’ fleets and forces. The Brooklyns would play an especially pivotal role in keeping the American garrisons on Guam and Saipan alive and fighting during 2037 and 2038 until the Mariana Sieges were lifted.

They made the Andersen Express, Operation TOKYO SUNRISE, possible.

The class would be used in the Solomons Campaign as raiding vessels. Famously, they would allow a battalion task force formed from the USMC’s 2nd Raider Battalion and the Australian Army’s 2nd Commando Regiment to destroy nearly four dozen PLAAF aircraft on Bougainville’s infamous Airfield No. 7—built with slave labor from Allied POWs. The No. 7 raid would see nearly eighteen hundred, mostly Australian and French POWs, recused from a base of about 5,000 PLA by an Allied force of about 800 moved by four APDs, escorted by four destroyers (one Japanese, one British, two Australian), two frigates (one American, one Aotearoan), and two cruisers (one French, one American).

We stay. We hold until we get every one of our people out of this hellhole. No matter the cost. We’re going to get it done. We’re getting them out.

— Captain Henry M. Izikawa, then-Commander, Transport Group, Combined Task Force LIBERTÉ, during Operation PERCIVAL, the raid on Airfield No. 7, circa 2038.

The Brooklyn-class has four major design changes from the Spearhead-class. First, the class was lengthened substantially by 110 feet (over 30%). The class was built with an integrated electric propulsion system that more than doubles their range, increasing speed to 45 knots and considerably cutting the ship’s acoustic signature. With a ‘flush enclosed hangar,’ the ships have a much increased working space and an enlarged landing platform. However, this comes at the cost that air ops are throttled by the ship’s twin elevators. The ship is fitted with a large aft boat ramp and two forward moonpools to allow the deployment of its seaborne CRINF equipment.

The ships’ crew does not actually perform the CRINF operations; those are executed by an embarked Combat Resupply Company from a Marine Combat Resupply Infiltration Battalion—the legendary MCRIBs. A typical CRIB is task-organized with four companies: two Assault Companies operating twelve KARGO-II UAVs and eight 80’ Roadrunner Fast Infiltration Combatant Crafts, one Support Company with the KARGOs and twelve Super Orca AUVs, and one Infiltration Company with six 123’ Patrol Boat, Combat Infiltration optionally crewed self-propelled semi-submersible.

The Super Orca is a venerable multi-mission platform that allows APDs to be used as mine warfare platforms or to resupply the most exposed Stand-in Forces. Roadrunners are a general-purpose infiltration craft, based on NAVSOC’s SEALION-II “stealth boats.” They can be used for combat resupply, as they can be armed with up to half a dozen heavy or medium machine guns, but are generally used to make the bulk of the “milk runs.” Often, all of one APD’s Roadrunners will be used as escorts, while the other ships’ FICCs are used as cargo haulers. The PBCIs are almost universally known by the unofficial moniker “Medellín”—in dubious honor of Pablo Escobar’s drug empire. The large Medellín crafts enable long-range, high-speed, high-mass, low-observability resupply missions. It was designed by examining the USCG’s inventory of seized cartel subs and then integrating those lessons learned into the ubiquitous 94’ optionally-crewed multi-mission Patrol Boat, Littoral (PBL) design. There are even stories that HQMC secured asylum for five cartel engineers if they helped design the system.

The APDs, in practice, traditionally operate as the “touching arm” of an LSB-LSBK forward staging group. With the large amphibs serving as motherships for APDs, who then operate as CRINF motherships in their own right. This massively increases the reach and throughput of the Fleet Force’s logistics apparatus while still protecting its largest amphibious forces from direct danger. They keep the Marines fed and fighting, no matter how bad things got—no matter how many Js in the air or Types on the surf.

Speed, Silence, and Smuggling

Auxiliaries and Tenders

Ben Moreell class Nuclear Fleet Tender

USS Ben Moreell (AOFN-17), USS Lynde D. McCormick (AOFN-20)

Dimensions: 991 ft (length) x 128 ft (beam)

Displacement: 94,000 tons

Complement: 650

Missile Armament: 2x8 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS cells, 4x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 4 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 2 x large / 4 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 3 x Mk 3 Fleet Support Fabricator, 2 x Mark 2 Mod 3 Methanol-to-Jet Synthesizer-Dehydrators (500 bbl per day), 2,000 tons of hard storage, 5,000 tons of ordnance storage, 240,000 barrels of JP-13/DF-13

The Moreell-class represents a plain and simple flex on the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The PLAN would achieve quantitative carrier parity with the United States, but to achieve this, they would comparatively under-invest in their auxiliary force. All knew of this Achilles heel, and the assumption that the PLAN would not attempt to sustain all their carrier mass at sea was a key error that laid the ground for the near disaster of the First Battle of the Marianas Trench. The US would accelerate carrier production and invest in Landing Platform Aviation not!carriers, but they would not try to match PLAN carrier construction like-for-like, instead they would create the Objective Fast Replenishment Program. The US would build twenty nuclear-powered fast logistics ships—eight N3D Plasma Molten Salt Reactor-powered Moreell-class AOFNs and twelve turbo-electric IPS-powered Richard M. Nixon-class AOEs (They would actually be built with reactors). This alleged hi-lo mix was in addition to at-pace AKE and AO production. The USN’s “Fast Replenishment Force” alone would end up being a third larger than the PLAN’s entire inventory of at-sea replenishers.

An AOFN is not merely a supply ship; it is part replenisher and part fabricator. They have the endurance to keep pace with a carrier battle group at a full sprint or outrun most threats. They have five times the hard storage and twice the munition storage of the older Supply-class AOE. The 50-ton wafer chip storage alone is mind-boggling, let alone the hundreds of tons of powdered alloys or the Lockpoint-process spinners for at-sea carbon composite production.

The ships are built around three Mark 3 Common Integrated Printer-Fabricator, USG-produced industrial printer-fabricators—which are best described as robotic auto-adaptive additive-and-CNC-manufacturing workshops. They are capable of building anything they need to build anything they want. The ships have a modest fuel-storage capacity that is paired with an equally modest at-hydrocarbon production facility. Every Moreell is equipped with three Mark 2 Mod 3 Seascoops, which can produce a maximum of 1,500 barrels per day of DF-13.

Each AOFN is embarked with a Naval Depot Battalion from the Naval Construction Force. While technically “Seabees,” they are not “CBs.” Instead, they are “DBs” or “Debbies” (to distinguish them from their Construction Battalion and Acorn siblings). They run the ship’s printer-fabricators and synthesizers, can be deployed as surge damage control parties, and can develop temporary forward anchorages with the help of the ship’s small complement of autonomous vehicles. In short, a Moreell is arguably worth more and more highly prized than a nuclear fleet carrier.

Logistics is Victory, Victory is Logistics.

Richard M. Nixon class Fast Combat Support Ship

USS Kamehameha (AOE-12), USS Colin L. Powell (AOFN-13)

Dimensions: 876 ft (length) x 106 ft (beam)

Displacement: 67,000 tons

Complement: 250

Missile Armament: 2x4 - Mark 145 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 6x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 2 x large / 4 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 4 x Mk 4 Compact Field Fabricator, 1,000 tons of hard storage, 2,500 tons of ordnance storage, 160,000 barrels of JP-13/DF-13

The Richard M. Nixon-class fast replenishment ships are an extremely controversial bunch. The decision to rename the lead ship and thus the class would occur while AOE-11, then named Neosho, was roughly one-third complete. However, the true controversy lies with the decision to alter the ships’ power plants.

The classes would originally be built around the Integrated Power and Energy System designed for the DDG(X) class destroyers, to allow for simplified construction, lower operating costs, and better fuel efficiency. Thus, these AOEs would be cheaper, faster, and longer-ranged than comparable conventional designs. However, the Good Idea Fair would not rest, and after work began on Neosho, the DoN would proceed with a design study on converting the ships to “partial nuclear power” by replacing half of the ship’s four turbines with a N4D plasma molten salt reactor. This had already been done ashore when testing the N4D reactor and IPES—and had even be done aboard the USS Salisbury Sound (AVM-3). The Navy would get enough money from Congress for a proof of concept test—Neosho. Part of this gambit involved OpNav renaming the oilers after various figures to curry favor with the new Young Administration and as many factions of Congress as possible. To avoid the existing Congressional caps on nuclear surface vessels, “Tricky Dick” would never be designated an AOEN. This would actually alienate several members of HASC, and eventually, with a turn over in Congress and new budget priorities the Nixon remain the sole “half-breeder nuke” of the class.

The Navy had initially planned to procure six new AOEs and four of the even higher-end AOFNs. The original six AOE orders would be infamous for their choice names: Richard M. Nixon, Kamehameha, Colin L. Powell, Von Steuben, Henry A. Kissinger, and Martin Luther King Jr. Within half a decade, both orders would be doubled. Unlike the AOFNs, the AOEs are not truly factory ships; they are merely high-speed supply ships with a modest ability to fabricate replacement parts, no more capable in that envelope than any other modern replenishment ship.

Tricky Dick from SCAT Rides Again

Sitting Bull class Dry Cargo Ship

USNS Benjamin O. Davis (AKE-20), USNS Sally Ride (AKE-22)

Dimensions: 796 ft (length) x 106 ft (beam)

Displacement: 54,000 tons

Complement: 200

Missile Armament: 2x4 - Mark 145 Adaptable Deck Launcher, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 2 x large / 4 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x Mark 4 Small Common Integrated Printer-Fabricator, 8,000 tons of ordnance or hard cargo storage, 45,000 barrels of JP-13/DF-13

The Sitting Bull-class Dry Cargo Ship, formerly known as AKE(X), is the US Navy’s current generation of dry at-sea replenishment ship and the successor to the USN’s venerable Lewis and Clark-class AKEs. The ships are dry-cargo optimized derivatives of the John Lewis-class oiler. The first five ships were powered by maritime diesel engines like most auxiliaries, but all succeeding ships have been powered by the Navy’s Economical Integrated Propulsion System, a cost-saving focused iteration of the Navy’s standard turbo-electric drive system. This gives the ships the ability to keep pace with amphibious transports and most of the ships of the so-called “Slow Navy.”

Well… Fuck…

— Radio transmission from the Captain of USNS DAVID H. SOUTER (T-AKE-31) just before colliding with the ultra-heavy container ship CMA CGM LES INVALIDES, c. 2041.

The class have seen good service and hard fighting. Nine of the twenty-seven ships of the class were lost in the fighting of either Gulf IV or Second Sino, plus one ship was sunk in a collision with a 300,000-ton ultra-heavy cargo ship off Long Beach in 2041. A further nine vessels of the class were delivered to partner navies, including the Royal Navy, Republican Australian Navy, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Royal Canadian Navy.

Lockwood class Nuclear Submarine Tender

USS Rahm Emanuel (ASN-47)

Dimensions: 771 ft (length) x 106 ft (beam)

Displacement: 34,000 tons

Complement: 600

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 41 Centerline VLS Cells, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 4x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Aircraft: 1 x hangar with space for 1 x large / 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

Other: 3 x Mark 3 Common Integrated Printer-Fabricator

The Lockwood-class mission profile is simple: expeditionary forward sustainment of subsurface combatants. Unlike the Richard O’Kane-class submarine tenders—formerly AS(X)—these ships are not intended to anchor in safe harbors to quarterback attack boats; they are instead designed to be constantly at or beyond the line of contact. They are, in fact, capable of supplying three nuclear submarines at one time—one along each side and one in its massive ventral moonpool. It can even resupply the latter while underway. The ship is extremely automated, so that despite being nearly 50% larger by displacement than the Emory S. Land-class tenders, it requires 40% less crew. The ships are designed for extreme endurance, only intended to return to port to replenish supplies that cannot be replenished at sea and swap to an alternative crew, like a ballistic missile submarine. To enable this forward presence, the two ships in the class are built around very low observability, with most of the systems utilized aboard being pioneered aboard the SHALLOW PRAYER special access program. The VLO design of the ship entails that the various automated cranes and gantries used to replenish boats at sea are kept concealed until deployed, a RCS-reducing design and construction (it has the RCS of a small fishing vessel) with the capability to actively modify that RCS signature at will to present as civilian merchant or cruise ship, and an active disruption array intended to conceal the ship from IR sensors (however this proved less effective than hoped. The class’s showstopper remains its Multi-Mission Underway Replenishment System—developed under the SAP AVALON GLOMAR—the 500-foot by 48-foot moonpool that dominates the keel of the ship. The actual moonpool hanger itself is not massively tall, with merely reasonable headroom over the height of open external tube doors of an SSGN; there is the exception of “The Slot” (the most polite of its nicknames), which has space for the sail of a submarine to rest comfortably inside the ship to permit the reloading sub to act as a remora and be reloaded while underway.

ASN-47 would originally commission in mid-2036 under the name Fluckey (after Rear Admiral and Medal of Honor recipient Eugene B. Fluckey). The Big Fluck would actually commission ahead of the notional lead ship of the class, Lockwood, and be immediately deployed to 7th Fleet in Japan after her shakedown cruise.

She would only be in Japan for barely two months before the first day of Second Sino, after which she would be the forward-most OSATO surface vessel (reaching even further into the WEZ that some covered surveillance ships while transiting the East China Sea), resupplying the big SSGNs as they returned from Operation DOOLITTLE in the days after the destruction of the Reagan-Kaga carrier group. In this role, she would become the de facto flagship of what would be dubbed Task Force Nemesis, the two Submarine Squadrons based out of Naval Activity Ōminato (Three and Five). This would be a critical role in the first weeks of the war, as the SUBPAC headquarters was heavily damaged in the first long-range strikes on Hawaii. This first patrol would be the shortest of the war, ‘only’ 59 days.

Fluckey’s third patrol would be her longest of the war, 413 days total days underway. In fact, during the length of the war, she would only spend ninety-six days in port. The US would learn after the decisive orbital-dominance/industrial-cyber-sabotage of Operation UPPERCUT in 2039 that the PLAN had yet to successfully detect Fluckey (or at least discriminate her as a target). She would be discovered at least once by a Philippine fishing trawler. The civilian ship proceeded to file a false report to PLA authorities in the Philippines on behalf of the tender. The false location and heading sparked panic in the Central Military Commission, which feared the coming of a second DOOLITTLE. In response, they mobilized three carriers, two SAGs, and a bomber division. In the resulting stampede from Ningbo, the Type 06 CVN Shanghai rammed and sank the Type 059 strike cruiser Chongqing. To this day, the bridge wing of ASN-47 is dotted with the kill marking for the cruiser. Her sistership, Lockwood, would be detected and intercepted by the PLAN (actually the China Coast Guard) in the South China Sea while supporting resupply operations to Vietnam across “The Gap,” south of the Spratlys in 2038. ASN-46 would engage the Type 056 corvettes Feiyu and Nan'ao and the Zhaotou-class cutter Nansha. Lockwood, hiding in thick fog and EW jamming, would ambush the Chinese, blowing Nansha out of the water with three heavyweight torpedoes before blasting apart the corvettes at incredibly close range, at about 4,000 yards, with her cannon armament.

In 2038, USS Fluckey would be controversially renamed in honor of Rahm Emanuel by a Congressional rider authored by Rep. Mike Quigley attached to that year’s defense supplemental. The decision to name the ship after Emanuel, who had served as US Ambassador to Japan from 2022 to 2037 and had been killed when the Okura Tokyo’s Legacy Tower had collapsed onto the US Embassy, would be met with voicerfous resistance from the Navy, the ship’s crews, and many local Chicago politicians but heavily supported by members of the infamous “kingmakers of the Diet” and Rahm’s closest allies in Japanese politics, the Constitution of Japan Defense Party.

Damn—so we have to rename the thing after the bastard?

— hot mic of President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upon being informed of the successful inclusion of the “Rahm Rider” in the (First) Supplemental National Defense Adjustment Act of 2038 at an event supporting civilian ‘tech rationing’ efforts and the expansion of the DOL-DOD-SSA Free Childcare Program in Downtown LA, c. 2038

Now, under the name USS Rahm Emanuel, ASN-47, would begin a new phase of its career, which the Navy dubbed proactive materiel exploitation. Its first mission saw the tender successfully disable (still classified but understood to be a mix of AUVs, jamming, cyber-exploitation, and combat divers) and then seize the Type 043 large uncrewed submarine 381. This feat would be repeated on two more Type 043 “sailless” drone submarines before moving onto larger prey under the SAP OUTER HEAVEN. First, the Type 095B attack submarine 426 disappeared on patrol in July 2038. A belated four months later, the Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that 63 members of the 426 had been taken prisoner. After the war, a brief interview of a surviving crew member with a dissident journalist in Hangzhou revealed that the submarine had been disabled by a pair of strange CAPTOR-style mines before being boarded while underwater by an American UDT team and then snatched by Rahm Emanuel. OUTER HEAVEN would have one more mission, that remains shrouded in mystery and controversy. This follow-up mission in March 2039 targeted the Type 096A nuclear ballistic missile submarine 436. It is unclear what went wrong, but during the seizure of the boomer, the entire crew of 436 died from asphyxiation shortly after the boat berthed under Rahm Emanuel. The main theorized explanations are (1) an attempt by the crew to kill the boarders by switching the boat’s highly controlled air supply to exclusively inert gases instead of an oxygen mix or (2) the UDT team released an incapacitating agent intended to subdue holdouts without compromising the ship, which proved fatal. Regardless, Emanuel’s captain and the CO of Underwater Demolition Team Thirteen (JSOC’s combat diver element and successor to SEAL Team Six) were removed from command following this incident.

The ship has had extremely mixed luck since the end of the war, with two collisions and two skippers removed from command (one for drunkness while on duty at an exercise and one for soliciting sex from a United States Senator in a Denny’s bathroom). The name change remains extremely controversial, and it’s common to find letterhead, coasters, challenge coins, and other memorabilia retaining the name Fluckey aboard the ship and in possession of her crew. In fact, before FLTPRO 36, a group of Representatives from Chicago, the Douglass Commonwealth, and Maryland were in the middle of a procedural fight to get the ship’s name back to USS Fluckey.

The Arsenal of Atlantis, Blight of Bastards.

Eldorado class Landing Command & Control Ship

USS Denali (LCC-22)

Dimensions: 775 ft (length) x 105 ft (beam)

Displacement: 40,000 tons

Complement: 350 (without embarked command staff)

Missile Armament: 4x4 Mark 61 Centerline VLS Cells, 6x1 - Mark 148 Adaptable Box Launchers, 2x21 - Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 2x1 - 57mm/70 Mark 110 Close-in-Gun System, 2x1 - 50mm/60 Mark 48 Point Defense Cannon, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 150 kW Mark 149 Integrated Point Defense Weapon (Mark 10 HELIOS)

Other Armament: 4x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x landing deck with space for 6 x medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x hangar with space for 2 x medium VTOL aircraft

The LCC(X) program has its beginning in a mechanical casualty and fire that crippled USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) in 2032. After the incident, the Navy decided to replace its aging—thoroughly geriatric—pair of command ships. The in-production Flight III San Antonio-class LPD would be selected as the hull for the new ships. They would also follow the cue of the Portsmouth-class hospital ships and Flight 0 America-class amphibious assault ships, and their well and vehicle decks would be eliminated in favor of more internal volume for shipboard facilities.

The pillars of this design were simple: capability and endurance. To achieve this, the ships are powered by a single N4D plasma molten salt reactor integrated into a bog-standard turbo-electric IPES powerplant; this is modeled on the successful conversion of the test ship Salisbury Sound (AVM-3) to nuclear power using a commercial small modular reactor and the success of the sole conversion of the AOE(X) program to “partial nuclear power” (the Richard M. Nixon). Therefore, the ships have unlimited range and endurance that is only limited by their food stores—which are unusually large for a surface vessel. In fact, the ships have their own Industrial Protein Incubator—for lab-grown synthetic meats—so they notionally have near-limited food sustainability.9 Functionally, the ships have quality food for 90 days—comparable to an SSN’s endurance—for a crew of about 1000. The ships can support up to 2000 passengers but usually operate with a complement of about 1500 (including crew).

The three—Eldorado (LCC-21), Denali (LCC-22), and Blue Ridge (LCC-23)—would be laid down in 2034, 2035, and 2036, respectively, and all see service in Second Sino. Eldorado would see service as the flagship for General Sakakibara “Tiger” Takahashi (JGSDF) in his role as Commander, Allied Ground Forces from his appointment to the end of the war. Blue Ridge has a bizarre history as, for the final year of the war; the United States Navy would have two ships named Blue Ridge—both LCC-19 and LCC-23. The elder Blue Ridge remained in service past its planned retirement in 2038, continuing as the flagship for Allied Naval Forces, Japan (an administrative command), and the United States Seventh Fleet, while the newer Blue Ridge—known as Two Ridge—would serve as the flagship for the South Pacific Command and the United States Eight Fleet operating out of Brisbane. Denali would honorably serve as the command ship for the entire Combined Pacific Command, though she was mostly used as an administrative annex to COPAC’s headquarters in Hawaii.

This bitch got a mufuckin’ hot tub?

— NewTok of an unidentified enlisted sailor’s reaction to the crew accommodations aboard USS Eldorado (LCC-21), c. 2037

The ships are regarded as extremely plum assignments. Their accommodations are not only some of the most comfortable but also the ships’ unused bunks mean there is even more space for the embarked complement. They also have particularly luxurious creature comforts, including a hot tub and sauna (sometimes incorrectly described as a full-service spa) and two coffee shops—a Dunkin and a Starbucks. There is generally a rivalry between the sailors over their chosen shop, which has occasionally led to scuffles. The two wardrooms are, however, best described as steak “house-esque,” and as the ships were designed after the controversial decision to revise General Order 99, they do, in fact, have a wine (and liquor) store.

Denali was attached to FleetPro 36 to serve as “home plate” for the exercise’s umpires and planning shop. As such, she would have most of the reporters who were assigned to follow the fleet to the exercise, about twenty (including crew), as the rest were planned to join the exercise—once it formally began off of Hawaii.

Pleasure Palace Planning.

Portsmouth class Hospital Ship

USS Beaufort (T-AH-23)

Dimensions: 684 ft (length) x 105 ft (beam)

Displacement: 30,000 tons

Complement: 525 (without embarkees)

Other Armament: 2x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher

Aircraft: 1 x landing deck with space for 5 x medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x landing deck with space for 2 x medium VTOL aircraft, 1 x hangar with space for 1 x medium VTOL aircraft

While the United States Navy’s eight Bethesda-class hospital ships have proven to be true workhorses, the demands of the Sino-American Cold War, the lessons of First Sino, and the resources made available by economic growth and increased military budgets would see the Navy aim for a high capacity complement to go along with the high mobility T-EMS family (later re-designated T-AHF). The Portsmouth-class is the result of that request.

They are derived from the Flight II San Antonio-class landing transport dock, except it has been modified to replace its wheel deck and vehicle storage with more medical and storage space. The ships have twelve cutting-edge, partially-automated operating rooms and six fully-automated operating rooms, compared to twelve ORs aboard the old Mercy-class or three ORs aboard the Bethesda-class. The ship also has a capacity of 100 ICU beds with 300 ward beds in normal operating conditions and a surge ward capacity of 600; this compares with 80 ICU, 400 ward, and 500 surge beds on a Mercy-class ship, and 20 ICU, 52 ward beds, and 48 surge beds on a Bethesda-class.

The USN would procure four examples of the class: Portsmouth (T-AH-21), Guam (T-AH-22), Beaufort (T-AH-23), and Bremerton (T-AH-24). The Navy would organize them into four Medical Alfoat Groups, centered around a single T-AH and two T-AHF. This formation could be deployed in a piecemeal fashion to respond to multiple missions or for the full force to be concentrated in response to a single crisis.

One ship of the class, USNS Bremerton, was lost in Second Sino. It is unclear if it was lost to a mine (disputed if it was of OSATO or PLA origin) or a PLAN submarine. Her sinking in the Coral Sea would be the second-largest single loss of life aboard a US vessel during the war, only exceeded by the sinking of the Ronald Reagan.

Errands of Mercy Never End

Pacific class Container Cargo Ship (MOD, GOCO)

MV Pacific Zephyr

Dimensions: 1082 ft (length) x 150 ft (beam)

Displacement: 136,000 tons (Deadweight)

Complement: 300 (without embarkees)

Missile Armament: 4x4 - Mark 61 MOD Peripheral VLS Cells, 32x4 Mark 70 MOD Payload Delivery System, 3x11 Mark 15 SeaRAM Close-in-Weapon System (RIM-116)

Kinetic Armament: 1 - Mark 21 Mod 3 Special Purpose Large Diameter Multi-Role Electromagnetic Accelerator, 2x4 - 35mm/49 Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System, 6x1 - 30mm/50 Mark 46 Machine Gun

Direct Energy Armament: 2 - 500 kW Mark 13 Direct Energy Weapon Mount, 2 - 50 kW Mark 15 Block 2 Close-in-Weapon System (Mark 6 HELIOS-L)

Other Armament: 10x6 - Flexible Integrated Defensive Launcher, 4 - 673mm Torpedo Tubes

Aircraft: 2 x multi-mission hangar complex with space for 20 x large VTOL aircraft

Other: 2 x Mk 2 Mod 5 Blk II Fleet Support Fabricator, 2 x Commercial Operation Vessel - Electric, 8 x Combatant Craft - Assault Medium, various drones

Project SHALLOW PRAYER is one of the world’s best, worst-kept secrets. She is the crown jewel of the United States’ “Ghost Fleet.” This collection of covert intelligence gathering and special operations enabling covert vessels is technically just a selection of vessels under the purview of the Maritime Administration, but are actually jointly operated by the extremely secretive National Underwater Reconnaissance Office and the National Operations Executive. They maintain roughly three dozen vessels of varying sizes of which MV Pacific Zephyr is the largest purpose built vessel (NURO controls a pair of modified civilian-spec autonomous container ships as intelligence vessels which have yet to be identified). Pacific Zephyr is technically operated by Pan Pacific Seaways (PANPAC), which was chartered by Pacific Community along with the Pacific Shipbuilding Corporation. The United States hoped to use PanPac to back fill its Merchant Marine by bypassing the dregs of the Jones Act (as the ships would be Pacific Community flagged) and, quietly, to build a system of covert observation system along the Pacific Rim. It was seen a “short term meal ticket and cheat-sheet.” Unfortunately, PanPac’s chairman, David Shipman, would not get the memo and strive to build a legitimate and solvent shipping enterprise. It would rapidly grow and become the third largest shipping company in the world, with over 600 vessels, within a decade.

Shipman would leverage the new Pacific flag of convienence, generous Pacific Community (American) subsidies, and existing connections to Korean and Japanese shipbuilders to secure slipway space and build new two extremely large autonomous yards in the United States to corner the early market on ultra-heavy Nanoc Steel-hull high-speed container ships. “PanPac gets there first” would be the motto that blazed the trail. PanPac would also grow its fleet rapidly by signing questionable deals with Micronesian and Melanesian states to buy off their flags of convienence and squeeze captains/shipping companies to join PanPac by creating and managing what would end up being then twenty-third largest sovereign wealth fund in the world (partially financed by the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-day Saints). The Seaways Fund would inadvertenly become a key mechanism to build and maintain pro-OSATO dispositions in the region. He would eventually be indicted in the United States and Japan in 2041 for a littany of criminal charges including racketeering, bribery, extortion, and blackmail.

Nominative determinism comes at you fast, but, yeah—use the MormonBux to get Palau to give up their flags… I’d prefer to spend the money on college degrees for Palau, not a new government.

— Alleged quote by Pan Pacific Seaways David Shipman in The Seapower Broker: David Shipman and the Rise of Pan Pacific Seaways, a biography by Beverly Gage

PanPac would even build a Neopanamax-size covered dock (officially so that it could be operated year round) and shipyard in the Port of Alaska to service the ever growing of Arctic sea traffic and to conform to DoD requirements for a “distributed naval repair base” on the West Coast. MV Pacific Zephyr was assembled in this yard from modules constructed in Nagasaki by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. It would be the only ship to be constructed in the yard, notionally as a proof of concept to draw investment from the Alaska state government which did not materialized. PanPac would build twenty of it original run of Pacific-class container ships, Zephyr would be the twenty-first. With a world-leading hydrodynamic profile and a radically efficient turbo-electric liquid natural gas powerplant, the ships would be capable of a high-30 knot sprints and a cruising speed of 29 knots, equivalent to the Maersk B-class but with more than double the cargo capacity (~10,000 TEUs) and at lower operating costs.

However, Zephyr is no LNG-powered cargo hauler. She is a Pacific-centric successor to the legendary MV Ocean Trader, JSOC’s floating batcave built to deploy off the Horn of Africa. Both Ocean Trader and its twin Ocean Trader II, purchased in 2028, would remain in inventory but would become too hard to hide. SHALLOW PRAYER was built around solving that concern by creating a custom built ship that could hide truly hide in plain sight. There was an expectation at NOX that the various planned ruses de guerre would not last all that long. They were wrong. It would take until an accidental declassification of a single NOX document in 2041 for U.S. Government involvement (and merely involvement) with Zephyr to be confirmed.

Zephyr is outwardly a completely normal commercial vessel, indistinguishable from its sisterships or most pre-autonomous container vessels. This alone grants the ship a meaningful level of concealment among commercial traffic. The ship is also equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare equipment so that it can spoof, jam, or alter AIS codes—enabling it to make another civilian ship appear to be an imposter. The ship carries “Flat Stanley” decoy container so that it can totally alter its container layout and silhouette while underway. Any of its innumerable government operated systems are tucked away in containers and stowed unless in active use (All the Pacific-class have a stabilized stowable crane system to enable moving containers even while underway). The ship is painted in a pain-stakingly developed, extremely long-lasting electro-modular paint which enables it not only change colors but also to add designs and words on the fly. The paint also conceals the ships massive multi-mission bay doors that enable the ship to deploy its coterie of embarked vessels, everything from inflatable dinghies and spar-torpedo USVs to two bespoke 187’ spy vessels designed to appear like Damen-off the shelf fishing boats. The ship also makes use of an Active Detection Minimization System (ADMS) that enables the ship’s external platting to be ‘charged’ (a simplification of an otherwise complicated process) to allow it to alter its radar returns and thermal emissions at will. Finally, the ship’s bridge is actually on rollers and can be moved while underway into one five locked positions (stern, aft, amidship, fore, and bow). The shifting bridge, extra cladding, and container decoys enable the ship to completely alter it appearance. However, total reconfiguration of this “Boat Janga” is a onerous and time consuming process as actually moving all the real containers around with the ship’s relatively throughput limited crane system and internal tram system (the tram is non-standard).

You’re telling me this container ship is a Yankee? You saw radar masts? It changed colors? Put down the spoon and look with your eyes! That is a Swiss ship. It is even red! It has the flag! The markings! Do you think I am some kind of joke? That isn’t a spy ship! If it was a spy ship, I’d be a fool—and am I a fool? *incomprehensible* You’re the fool, boy.

— Hot mic radio conversation between a China Coast Guard flag officer and a Chinese Maritime Militia trawler captain intercepted and recorded by the MV Pacific Zephyr operating under the guise of as the MV MSC LILY, c. 2036.

The ship appears to be conventionally powered and is notionally a turbo-electric LNG ship like her sisters. She is actually powered by a pair of N4D plasma molten salt reactors, the same as a Saratoga-class cruiser. The reactor vessels were smuggled into the Port of Alaska piece by piece over an entire year. The “delays” to the construction of the vessel (it would be constructed on schedule and only 43% over-budget) would be key elements incorporated into the ship’s legend. Most of PanPac’s fleet was called into Allied service during Second Sino and were outfitted with limited defensive armaments—SeaRAM and CIWS. Zephyr by comparison is a full-tilt Q-Ship, which is actually alltogether not particularly novel by the 2040s. What is notable is the sheer volume of weapons. She is officially equipped five SeaRAM/CIWS and officially half a dozen M230LF derived “machine guns” (actually more like double). The ship has a further baseline of four concealed 57mm gun mounts (in semi-fixed false containers), two defensive DEWM high energy lasers, sixteen concealed large diameter VLS cells, four oversized 26.5-inch torpedo tubes (also capable of launching drones) and a “spinal launcher” derived from the Navy’s EMALS catalpult which can fling drones, guided munitions, and 18-inch projectiles with up to 175 MJs of force. It also is capable of carrying vast quantities of Mark 70 containerized Payload Delivery Systems mixed in with its container cargo. The number of Mark 70s varies considerably. The ship also quite often has an entirely false container stack that house full-rate sensor mast that can be quickly hidden away as needed (as that would otherwise be too obvious to keep mounted on a notionally civilian ship).

The ship has a moon pool and submarine ambilical that is derived from early work that would eventually mature under the AVALON GLOMAR advanced submarine tender SAP; notably, Zephyr is not capable of reloading a submarine’s VLS tubes, but is capable of transfering personnel, SDVs, and AUVs to a submarine. The ship has its vast aforementioned multi-mission bay that extends for nearly its entire legnth with space to hold, maintain, and deploy seacraft and aircraft, with sidemounted hatches and three large elevators to bring aircraft up to ship’s strengthened flight deck areas. The ship’s holds also contain office space, a plush command center, a moderate sized medical suite, and even a well-equipped research laboratory for on-site explotation of materials. The ship’s can house anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand personnel depending on configuration.

With its vast space and novel capabilities, MV Pacific Zephyr is, in effect, a surface-dwelling sister to Parche, Jimmy Carter, Halibut, and Narwhal and that also happens to be a covert nuclear expeditionary/forward staging base for NOX and JSOC. Zephyr’s service includes considerable use in Gulf War V (potentially causing the infamous cruise ship incident) and at least three raids on the Chinese mainland during Second Sino that had not been disclosed, even in 2042. Allegedly her first mission saw her deploy a NOX CENTRAFUSE (Foreign Signals Interception Unit) team to a mission onto the Chinese mainland.

In her primary role as a JSOC’s advance forward staging base, she is known as “Point Blank.” She is well acquainted with the Marine Corps’ special mission unit—the Fleet Force Operational Examination Center. Officially, Zephyr is attached to FleetPro 36 to provide additional miscellaneous bulk cargo for the hasty exercise, basically to be the fleet’s grab-bag of random shit they could not find a place for elsewhere. Scuttlebutt already understands that the ship is something related to JSOC but believes the ship is genuinely attached to the exercise, which was not actually the case.

You Didn’t See Anything

The Submarines

Parche class Nuclear Research Submarine

USS Parche (SSRN-861)

Dimensions: 620 ft (length) x 46 ft (beam)

Displacement: 32,000 tons

Complement: 200 (without embarkees)

Torpedo Armament: 4 - 533mm Torpedo Tubes

USV: two Mark 14 SDVs (80-foot), eight Mark 12 SDVs (40-foot)

Parche, named after the legendary Cold War boat, is the successor to USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) along with the Virginia Subsea and Seabwarfare sisters Halibut and Narwhal. Based on a stretched Columbia-class hull, she was built from the keel up as an SOF insertion and an underwater intelligence-gathering platform. She is the largest submarine ever built by the United States and one of the most decorated, especially considering the relative brevity of her service career.

The Navy’s capacity for seabed warfare capabilities would not keep up with demand during Second Sino, especially as Jimmy Carter would be lost on Day Zero. Therefore, Parche would only spend forty-seven days in port during wartime. Parche would almost always complete multiple missions in the same run, including deploying a group of stand-in-forces with her SDVs, resupplying other SIFs, taping undersea cables, and planting mines in strategic waterways. She would earn a total of eleven Presidential Unit Citations and thirteen battle stars.

The perfect boat for when you need to clip a dozen undersea cables, tap a dozen more, and then drop my band of chuckle-fucks off at a place we have no right of being. It’s like having Selina Kyle as your ex-wife after a less-than-amicable divorce.

— Colonel Lafayette Jean-Baptiste Deslondes Saint-Germain DuSaint (Commanding Officer, Fleet Force Operational Examination Center), c. 2039

She would be assigned to the Composite Testing Force along with MV Argent Zephyr, though neither would be assigned to FleetPro 36, despite official scheduling. The pair would be tasked with a real-time climate/environmental assessment of the war games and deep sea climate research. The unofficial no-bullshit story is Parche was attached to provide counter-surveillance against whoever might be interested in shadowing the exercise (the Chinese, Indians, and Russians).

Big Boat, Little Shadow.

Marianas Class Nuclear Guided Missile Submarine

USS Maine (SSGN-835)

Dimensions: 580 ft (length) x 43 ft (beam)

Displacement: 24,000 tons

Complement: 155

Missile Armament: 24x7 - Launch Payload Tubes

Torpedo Armament: 4 - 533mm Torpedo Tubes

Maine is the fourth purpose-built SSGN derivative of the Columbia-class SSBN. She is built with two extra quad-packed missile tubes for a total of twenty-four. The class has further cost-saving measures compared to the Block I/IA/IB/IC Columbia boats, but not as many as the Block II boats built after the Comprehensive Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty. Her missile tubes can either accommodate seven 25” diameter weapons (BGM-109 TLAM or BGM-209 HLAM), three 36” diameter missiles (BGM-200 LRHW) for a maximum of 168 missiles, or a TACKLE BOX underwater uncrewed vehicle deployment system.

Maine and her captain, William Jones (who would later become the Commander of Submarine Flotilla Nine), would distinguish themselves as the lead ship and overall mission commander, respectively, for Operation DOOLITTLE at the onset of Second Sino.

Within 30 minutes of the Okura Bombing, the USN’s four forward-deployed SSGNs would sortie and launch the first major Allied attack of the conflict. The four boats would aim to even the short-term odds by weakening PLA local superiority until the Allied Powers could mass sufficient forces in the region. Marianas (SSGN-831) and Puerto Rico (SSGN-833) would hammer PLA’s amphibious forces as they massed in the cross-channel ports for the invasion of Taiwan. At the same time, the Virgin Islands (SSGN-834) would attack the East Sea Fleet’s anchorage at Ningbo, and Maine would do the same for the North Sea Fleet’s anchorage at Qingdao. The PLA had prepared for this moment—one that they had dreaded and relished in equal parts since the bloody beating they suffered on the final day of First Sino—for more than a decade. Their missile defenses would acquit themselves well, blunting damage that would have otherwise crippled the invasion force and South Sea Fleet. However, the defenses around Qingdao would fail—and do so theatrically.

The Shangdong air defense district commander panicked as a dozen anti-radiation seekers were picked up in the night over the Chinese mainland. In a desperate bid to save his radars and missile launchers from what he was certain was a massed IRON HAND operation that had bypassed his long-range search and discrimination sensors, he ordered his entire command’s radars switched off and relocated. Only a handful of battery commanders refused the authenticated order from the regional operations center, fearing recriminations for disobeying direct orders. However, the incoming anti-radiation missiles weren’t AGM-188B Stand-in Attack Weapons from F-35s screaming towards Beijing; they were a few Tomahawk Anti-Radiation Missiles fired ahead of a swarm of their convention siblings. Captain Jones had staggered his launch, hoping to punch a hole through the local IAMD net. Much to the surprise of everyone involved, nearly the entire sector air defense grid just… turned itself off.

“Bayonets” broke the back of the North Sea Fleet by itself, crippling the best of the PLAN—their Type 004 CVNs. Of the four Type 004s, two were crippled (Jilin and Beijing), one sank but was later refloated and returned to service (Zhejiang), and one was destroyed in a single massive magazine explosion (Hebei). In addition, four of the PLAN’s heaviest combatants—their Type 059 strike cruisers—were knocked out (Ningbo, Moskva, Guangzhou, Shenzhen)10. A further two SSNs, five SSKs, eight DDGs, three CGs, and eleven FFGs would be heavily damaged or sunk before being re-floated—though not all would reenter active service.

Captain Jones is a cunt, but he knows how to kick a door off its hinges. RECOMMENDATION: Retention

— Entry in the “Little Purple Book” of Captain Sayumi Elizabeth Kanto, (Chief of Staff, Commander, Battle Force, Allied Fleet), c. 2037

Rear Admiral William Jones—Commander, Submarine Flotilla Nine—himself is a cantankerous, desperado figure without many close friends. He is an older style of office, preferring the company of an empty bar and a stiff drink to conversation. His acerbic manner and things like cheating at card games have him marked as a kind of scoundrel. However, for some, it becomes apparent this is more affectation than reality. To his few friends, the Medal of Honor recipient is a profoundly empathetic figure burdened by the weight of the deaths by his hand and those few precious friends and colleagues he has lost. As COMSUBFLOT-NINE, he is the United States First Fleet’s senior submariner, riding shotgun for FleetPro 36.

Liberty’s Frontline, Liberty’s Avenger.

Mako class Nuclear Attack Submarine

USS Swordfish (SSN-864), USS Nautilus (SSN-871), USS Daggertooth (SSN-886)

Dimensions: 400 ft (length) x 34 ft (beam)

Displacement: 9,500 tons

Complement: 135

Missile Armament: 3x7 - Launch Payload Tubes

Torpedo Armament: 4 - 533mm Torpedo Tubes

The Mako is a product improved derivative of the Virginia-class attack submarine, based on the Virginia Block VI, the “normal” (non-VPM-centric) follow-on to the Block Vs. The class is built around the new S11G reactor and a high-entropy alloy hull, which allows for greater stealth and greater performance. They are finely tuned multi-purpose boats able to serve as an attacker, SOF hauler, or TLAM chucker. They, like their Virginia sisters, are the bread and butter of the Silent Service and were vital to the success of the Allied Powers in Second Sino.

There are very few problems in this war that cannot be solved by the application of additional MAKOs or VIRGINIAs. If there are any lucky numbers, they surely must include 774 and 852.

— Rear Admiral Jennifer Kaine (Commander, Carrier Battle Group One), c. 2039

The three boats present in Seattle are not the only ones assigned to the Fleet Problem; the rest of Submarine Squadron Three (three more attack submarines) deployed ahead into the Salish Sea. The six boats of Submarine Squadron Eleven were intended as a Red Team and were forward deployed to Hawaii. The boats assigned to the CTF have all performed at least two combat patrols, sinking a combined tonnage of just shy of 3.6 million tons of displacement. USS Nautilus (SSN-871) has the honor of being the first submarine to sink another submarine in Second Sino, the Type 095 SSN 423. USS Daggertooth holds the honor of the last kill of Second Sino, the Type 071 LPD Longhu Shan. The latter was the source of intense controversy as the vessel was flagged as a hospital ship but had been taking place in “combat operations,” firing at sub-launched reconnaissance drones.

The Wolves of World War III.

Barracuda class Nuclear Hunter Killer Submarine

USS Barracuda (SSKN-24)

Dimensions: 430 ft (length) x 43 ft (beam)

Displacement: 14,500 tons

Complement: 125

Torpedo Armament: 12 - 711mm Autoloaded Torpedo Tubes

Barracuda is a predator. She is designed with a single task in mind: hunt and kill high-performance submarines. She is the spawn of SSN-21 and a Fifth Offset under the Sea with speed greater than a Papa and a noise signature smaller than a Seawolf. SSKN(X) is derived from the hull-form of the Columbia and Marianas-classes, but unlike most modern submarines, the Barracuda forgoes vertical launch tubes. She instead has twelve 28-inch torpedo tubes in a triple-deck, fully automated torpedo room. These massive tubes are capable of launching any weapon rated for underwater service. The ship, though, was intended to be loaded with three kinds of torpedoes: the 28” ultra-heavyweight Mark 66 ULTRA, the mediumweight 19” Mark 58 LATE-RAPTOR, and the featherweight 6.75” Mark 59 CRAW. Due to the Mark 66’s troubled development (and remains in only IOC), her main heavyweight weapon remains the Mark 60 HATE, the successor to the Mark 48 ADCAP (though HATE is closer to an upgrade program with pizzazz). Her next-generation S13G PWR reactor has unparalleled energy density and, paired with the ship’s hydrogen fuel cells, allows her to be nearly undetectable by passive sonar.

SSKN-24, along with the Afloat Launch Complex, are the biggest questions that the Navy wishes to have answered by FleetPro 36. Big Navy hopes putting the fresh-out-of-yard boat in a high-authenticity operational environment will prove the program worthwhile and help knock the dust off Mark 66. A feat of note is that the ship, on her shakedown cruise, was able to penetrate an active sonar exercise and get a clear shot on USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77).

Ian, what do you mean “They haven’t live fire tested the torps?” How can you drop six billion dollars on something and not make sure its new high-fallutin’ weaps work? Did some fuck rehire the LCS program office to work on this? What do you mean “They didn’t think to test them underwater?”

— Captain Aabria Okoye (Commanding Officer, USS BARRACUDA, SSKN-24) to Commander Ian Gorra (Executive Officer, USS BARRACUDA, SSKN-24), c. 2041

To help evaluate the new boat, the Navy wisely assigned their best submarine driver and submarine ace of aces, Captain Aabria Okoye. Okoye cuts a striking figure with a terrifying record and skillset. The Nigerian-American skipper’s vitiligo and alopecia make her stand out, but her skills make her a legend. Okoye’s commands have sunk a total of twenty-six submarines (11 SSN, 14 SSK, one undisclosed), and Okoye herself is one of twenty-five individuals to have been a double recipient of the Medal of Honor (one of four in the 21st Century, and one of only two with non-posthumous second award).

Scion of Seawolf.

This only includes vessels that were displaced in The Departure. The CTF was originally tasked with over 100 vessels. Five Burke DDGs, two Ellington DDEs, three Virginia SSNs, and nine Senator DDRs avoided the displacement as they were either in the Salish Seas or at the very rear of the procession. OSATO and NATO Contingents, two separate task forces, were also intended to rendezvous at Oahu.

The Task Force’s landing craft and optionally crewed vessels are not included in the fleet’s total numbers, as these ships are either embarked on other vessels or are not crewed full-time time thus are administratively not considered independent combatants even if they are commissioned by the Navy.

An N3D reactor is rated for 500 MWe (660 MWth) in a smaller footprint than the Fords' A1B reactor. In other words, it produces 130% of the power of an A1B reactor in 70% of the footprint due to a staggering ~75% thermal efficiency.

PPNS—located at Priest Point (unsurprisingly) across Possession Sound from Everett, WA—was built under the auspices of the Naval Infrastructure Act of 2025. It is the world’s most advanced shipyard, costing a whopping 59.7 billion USD. A highly automated facility, it is roughly twice as productive as Newport News but requires only 75% of the personnel, and with a surge productivity capability nearly triple that of NNNS.

FIRESHIP mandated that all new vessels built for the United States Navy, minus those exempted, would be built with space and excess displacement to accommodate additional defense weapons, including no less than four standard point defense mounts and at least sixteen single-cell equivalents of a tactical length VLS. This would allow all ships in a task force to contribute to the formation’s long-range defense, even if they did not have the fire control or radars to properly utilize their VLS, by acting as distributed magazines for their escorts.

This definition excludes certain support vessels, notably the Liberty-class Advance Seabases, the largest military vessels ever built, or the Trident-class Seabase platforms, converted oil rigs. The largest aircraft carrier ever built remains the PLA's Type 05 superheavy carrier.

The Mark 10 is a hybrid ETC-EM system, using a mix of electrothermal chemical and electro-magnetic technology to accelerate its projectiles even faster than traditional ETC weapons technology without the same energy demands as a pure EM railgun system.

Midway had begun her second RCOH (a Reactor Replacement and Complex Overhaul, or R2COH) when the decision was made to re-engine her. By replacing the traditional A4W pressurized water reactors with modern plasma molten salt reactors it was hoped the Nimitzs could be moved into ready reserve. Notionally for the other Nimitzs, their R2COHs would see their two A4Ws replaced by a single N3D. Midway’s overhaul would be successful, but OPNAV and DPB would determine it was neither cost nor time-efficient, so Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) was planned to be the first Nimitz-class carrier to be retired instead of refueled and overhauled a second time; decommissioning work would begin in 2036 but be reversed after the beginning of Second Sino.

Each N4D produces 250 MWe (330 MWth) for a total of 500 MWe.

Full VTOL-capable derivative of the F-35B.

Though an industrial incubator is notionally capable of near-perpetual consumable protein growth to feed the crew (limited only by feedstock for cell growth), the quality of the product would be unappetizing, and the outcome extremely monotonous. The processed meatgruel, pressed into bricks with flash-grown rice, is infamously known by all as “Spamtack” (a portmanteau of Spam and Hardtack).

Moskva, a modified Type 059B nuclear-powered strike cruiser, was originally ordered by the Russian Federation in 2029, but after the Russian Federation defaulted in 2032, the vessel would be “gifted” to the People’s Republic of China as a show of friendship (a contrived process to avoid the embarrassment of the PRC repossessing the ship).

Max

Jul 31, 2024

Whats sets this apart from other near future military fiction, is for lack of a better term, you're not throwing the baby out with the bath water.

A lot pop near future mil fic, *cough* Black Ops 2 *cough* End War *cough* set often only 10-20 years in the future, never sees any presence of any weapon platform currently in use at the date of the medias release. I've always found it to be nonsensical and incongruous that in these pieces of NFMF, you might see jet powered VTOL's or DEW armed tanks, reasonably plausible in future decades, yet you'll never see current helicopters or gun armed IFV's in use with lower tier units or reserve forces.

I absolutely love how you still have F/A-18, Arleigh Burke's, and Ford-class carriers, in service along side much more advance futuristic platforms.

3 replies by Reconstructionist and others