Dewey Type: Destroyer Producer: Dassault-Shimon In class: 24 with the SLDF and 2 with the RWR at its height In service: 2760 Mass: 600,000 Sail Integrity: 4 Thrust: 4/6 Fuel: 4000 tons Structural Integrity: 60 Armor: 720 tons of standard armor (48+6 each facing) Docking Collars: 0 Fighters: 18 Small Craft: 4 Crew: 160 Lifeboats: 10 Escape Pods: 10 Grav Decks: 1 60 meter Cargo: 46,831 Bay 1: Small Craft (4) 2 doors Bay 2: Fighters (18) 6 doors Bay 3: Cargo (46,831) 2 doors Other equipment none Weapons: Heatsinks: 3120 (enough) Forward 5 Naval Laser 45s Fore Left/Fore Right 5 Naval Laser 45s 3 Maelstrom AR 10s Left Broadside/Right Broadside 4 Naval Autocannon 25s 3 Maelstrom AR 10s Aft Left/Aft Right 4 Naval Autocannon 25s 3 Maelstrom AR 10s Aft 5 Naval Laser 45s Ammo 1000 tons of Naval Autocannon ammo 180 White Shark 180 Killer Whale 180 Barracuda Overview The Dewey was concieved as a supplement and eventual replacement for the venerable Lola III. Though even the oldest Lolas were still less than a hundred years old when the first Dewey was launched, plans were made to begin retiring the Lola III by 2862, and it was decided that rather than begin a crash program to construct a replacement when the Lola III began going out of service, the League would instead begin a slow process of building replacement ships early on. Though the long term cost would be the same, the imediate impact on the military budget would be greatly lessened. Though this program was ultimately enacted, it did have its critics. Because small numbers of Deweys would be built as long as a hunded years in advance, many pointed out that the first Dewey class ships would be through half of their projected service life by the time that they actually started replacing the Lola III, which would just necessitate their early replacement as well. Others believed that this "preparadness in advance" program was actually just a cynical attempt by the SLDF to expand its strength in order to keep ahead of the member states. Their biggest evidence for this is the fact, admitted by the SLDF, that the Lola III's service life could be extended for centuries beyond the projected two hundred years "if the need was felt". To those who opposed the SLDF's buildup, this meant that the SLDF could, and probably would, just forget about retiring the Lola when the time came, effectively increasing their destroyer fleet by a third, four hundred ships, and further tightening their hold on their military supremacy. Another complaint had to do with the company tasked with construction of the Dewey. Dassault-Shimon had previously been responsible for the debacle with the Cameron, and as a result, did not have a very good reputation. On the other hand, the company had been nationalized by the Star League government after the affair with the Cameron, which gave the SLDF unprecedented control over the Dewey's design. Furthermore, government control of Dassault-Shimon allowed the SLDF to ensure that they could get the ship for the lowest possible price, at least in theory. The biggest complaint of all, and the most prophetic, was that this plan opperated on an enormously long timescale and made the very dangerous assumption that the Inner Sphere would be the same in a hundred years. In truth, only five years after the launching of the Dewey, everything changed radically when seventeen worlds in the Periphery rebelled against the Star League government. As the bulk of the SLDF moved to crush this uprising, Stephen Amaris made his move. Capabilities: Because it was meant to eventually replace the Lola III, the smaller Dewey was designed along similar lines, in most regards matching the older ship's performance fairly well. In terms of firepower, the Dewey was one of the most heavily armed destroyers of its time. Sixteen class twenty five naval autocannons make up the core of the ship's arsenal, providing a volume of fire sufficient to threaten practically anything larger than an aerofighter. Originally, however, there was some controversy about using class twenty five guns. The NAC 25 was not a particularly widely used weapon, and as a result there were few sources of ammunition for it. In preparation for the Dewey's eventual status as a front line destroyer, a number of ammunition factories had to be retooled to turn out class 25 ammunition. The ship's secondary armament is twenty medium naval lasers. These guns provide the Dewey's principle frontal firepower, and much like the Lola III, they are not enough to do more than harrass a large opponent. Backing up the lasers is a large battery of Maelstrom AR-10s. The eighteen missile tubes are an unusually large battery for a destroyer, but combined with the integral fighter wing, they give the ship an excelent anti-fighter capability compared to other escorts. It was not uncommon for fleet commanders to use their Deweys as AA ships, opperating one or two hundred kilometers out ahead of the main fleet and engaging hostile fighters before they could close in to effective attack range. The Dewey's biggest weakness, and its most controversial aspect, is its light armor. Because the SLDF wanted an inexpensive escort ship, Dassault-Shimon did not include advanced armor in their design. Though the Dewey carried physically heavier armor than similar designs like the Essex, the standard plate did not provide as much protection as most naval officers would have liked out of a modern warship. Despite these concerns, the high command approved the Dewey as is, stipulating only that more advanced armor might be fitted later on "should it prove beneficial". Deployment: Dassault-Shimon constructed four Deweys a year for six years before the Amaris Coup ended production. Despite the fears of another Cameron fiasco, or perhaps because of them, the Dewey soon proved to be an excellent escort ship. Unfortunately, Amaris' forces were able to gain control of two Deweys when they siezed the Dassault-Shimon yards. These ships, the Sullivans and Spruance, had just been completed and were waiting for their trials crew when the Coup struck. The Spruance was destroyed at Nusakan during the SLDF assault against that world, while the Sullivans remains unnacounted for to this day. Rumors that circulated after the war maintain that the destroyer was sent by Amaris to hunt down the cruiser Oktyabrskava Revolutsiva (October Revolution) after that ship deserted Terra, though there is no way to confirm this, and official star league records maintain the Sullivans was probably destroyed by sabotage. Two other Deweys nearing completion at the Dassault Shimon yards, the Gearing and Kinkaid, were also siezed by Amaris. Though Rim Worlds forces continued work on both ships, partisan activities created no end of delays. In the end, the Gearing was destroyed in its construction slip. The Kinkaid was captured intact and nearly finished by the SLDF, and accompanied the Exodus, along with four other surviving Deweys, the Dewey, Worden, Hull, and Macdonough. As near as could be determined, all five ships were mothballed when the fleet reached the Pentagon. It is not known how many of these ships survived the Exodus civil war that followed, though there is some indication that the Kinkaid at least did end up as part of a clan fleet. Though there are no official records left, there are some bits of evidence scattered in the Rememberance and other sources that seem to indicate that at least the Kinkaid and possibly the other Deweys ended up in the fleet of Clan Wolverine. If this is true, they were almost certainly destroyed during the Trial of Anihilation.