Gorgon Type: Attack Destroyer Producer: Mitchell Vehicles Number in Class: 2 at its height In Service: 2765 Mass: 640,000 Sail Integrity: 4 Thrust: 6/9 Fuel: 2200 tons Structural Integrity: 80 Armor: 720 tons of Lamellor Ferro-Carbide armor Fore: 70 Fore-Sides: 65 Aft-Sides: 55 Aft: 40 Docking Collars: 0 Fighters: 6 Small Craft: 6 Crew: 220 Lifeboats: 10 Escape Pods: 20 Grav Decks: 2 (both 60 meter) Cargo: 18,958 Bay 1: Small Craft (6) 2 doors Bay 2: Fighters (6) 3 doors Bay 3: Cargo (18,958) 1 door Other equipment: HPG Weapons: Heat Sinks: 1000 (2000) Forward (157 heat) 2 ER Large Lasers 1 Medium N-Gauss Cannon 2 NAC-20s Fore Left/Fore Right (239 heat) 2 ER Large Lasers 1 NAC-20 1 NL-45, 1NL-55 Left Broadside/Right Broadside (239 heat) 2 ER Large Lasers 1 NAC-20 1 NL-45, 1NL-55 Aft Left/Aft Right 2 ER Large Lasers 1 NL-45, 1NL-55 Aft 2 ER Large Lasers 1 NL-45, 1NL-55 Ammo 600 rounds NAC-20 ammo 50 rounds NAC-20 ammo Overview With the service entry of the fast cruisers of the Sovremenyy and Milwaukee classes, in 2762 the SLDF found itself on the horns of a dilemma: all its existing mass-produced destroyers lacked the speed to keep up with the new cruisers. Though various designs had been proposed, the admiralty had yet to figure out an answer to a very basic question regarding the proposed attack destroyer (DDA): should the ship be capable of 4g maximum thrust like the cruisers it would screen or should it be faster. The debate could have raged for years had not General Kerensky decided on a truly Solomenic solution to the impasse: he ordered four ships to be built, two to have 4g maximum thrust, and two more to have 4.5 g maximum thrust. The former pair became known as the Bainbridge –class (q.v.), while the latter were named the Gorgon –class (both ships being named after monsters from Greek mythology). The Gorgon project was supervised by Vice-Admiral Alexis de la Moscara, an officer who had spent most of his career as a shipyard attaché. Moscara sought to design a ship that would showcase the high-technology prowess of the Terran Hegemony’s shipyards. While this was a worthy goal, it was given undue priority. Moscara chose the Mitchell Vehicles yards of Graham IV to build the design. These yards had already demonstrated a propensity for design showboating (as witness the Naga –class), and their input on the design followed this pattern. At Mitchell’s request, a medium naval gauss cannon was made the ship’s main chase cannon, even though the ship’s heavy load of heat sinks was better suited to an NAC. The ship was given Lamellor Ferro-Carbide armor and a number of other expensive systems; with the result that the ship’s cost became so high as to force the deletion of the planned docking collar. Despite these problems and cost overruns, the vessel managed to survive the design approval stage, and two vessels were ordered for testing. The two ships (the Gorgon and the Hydra ) were both completed in July of 2765. Capabilities: The Gorgon is designed to hit targets fast and hard. The vessel is armed with a very front-heavy armament scheme, starting with its N-Gauss and two NAC-20s in the nose. The fore-sides and broadside arcs feature an NAC-20 and paired naval lasers. The after arcs have nothing heavier than the paired NLs. 16 ER Large Lasers provide a decent amount of anti-fighter defensive fire. Though this array is good for sweeping charges, it is not well suited to the screening role this class was intended to be able to perform. Worse is the fact that this ship’s armor is not as even distributed as the Milwaukee or Sovremenyy classes; the aft armor has less than 60% of the thickness of the bow armor. The ship’s Lamellor Ferro-Carbide armor means that what armor does have gives maximum protection but increases costs greatly as well. The Gorgon carries the SLDF standard six fighters and six small craft. As is sometimes true however, it is the details that truly tell the story. The ships maintenance hatches and repair systems were poorly designed by a committee that did count among its membership even one person who had served a tour of duty as a warship engineer. The result is that normally routine maintenance often takes notably longer to perform on a Gorgon than other DDs such as the Essex or Dewey classes. Worse yet the vessel mounts only 2200 tons of fuel and less than 20,000 tons of cargo room, preventing her from being an effective deep raider. Deployment: Once Gorgon and Hydra had finished their shakedown cruises they were teamed with the Sovremenyy class cruiser Provornyy for series of trials to determine how well they worked with a fast cruiser. The trials revealed that while the Gorgons proved good at clearing a path through a dropship screen for a cruiser, they were poor at keeping its backside clear. The defining proof of this came during a convoy ambush scenario when the two DDs were unable to kill their thrust and prevent three Avenger –class assault ships from getting behind the Provornyy inflicting severe simulated damage to her engines, damage which allowed the Black Lion –class battlecruiser Admiral William F. Halsey to run Provornyy down and destroy her. Following this failure, (and the competing Bainbridge –class’s success at same mission), the Admiralty decided the competition in favor of the Bainbridge . The two Gorgons continued their trials in the hopes of attracting an export order, but both were in port with their crews on shore leave when Stephan Amaris launched his coup, both being taken intact. Provornyy was luckier; she was close to a pirate point when the Caspar drones started to move against her and was thus able to leave the Graham system before being attacked. Given Rim Worlds crews, the two DDAs were relocated to the Sol system where they remained until 2773. In that year Amaris conceived a plan to use his few manned Warships to draw a large portion of the SLDF navy into a trap in the asteroid belts of the Nusakan system. Gorgon and Hydra assigned as part of Task Group 3.2, a force whose other members were three Avatar –class cruisers (the Aristotle , the Thomas Hobbes , and the Lao-tzu ), plus two Dewey –class destroyers ( The Sullivans and the Spruance ) with each Dewey leading three Baron class destroyers. Originally the Sovremenyy –class cruiser Oktyabrskava Revolutsiva had been assigned to this task group and the two DDAs had been given task of escorting her. As it happened, troubles with her K-F drive kept the cruiser from going and the two DDAs would operate as a fast part of the destroyer screen for the Avatars . The TG’s mission brief was to lure whatever SLDF ships they could towards a section of the asteroid belt and then order a large group of concealed Caspars to attack. After the drones had devastated their section of the enemy fleet, TG 3.1 would move in and attack the ships that had not taken the bait. The drones were programmed to not move or fire until they received a specific coded signal and it was that aspect that undid the whole plan. During pre-assault system reconnaissance the Bug-Eye class spy ship Belle Boyd found the drones sitting waiting for the order. When they failed to move intercept her, the Boyd moved in close to them and using her astounding hacking systems, subverted the drones’ programming and shut down completely. As a result, when the SLDF launched its attack a few weeks later, TG 3.2 fell back towards its planned backup, only to find that its radio signals brought no action from the now-inert drones. The result was sheer catastrophe, with only The Sullivans and Gorgon managing to escape. For her part, Hydra destroyed the Essex –class destroyer Bozeman before being blown apart by fire from her sisters Springfield and Fredericksburg . Retreating to New Earth, Gorgon remained there until 2776 when the impending SLDF assault on that world caused her to flee to the Periphery. There she remained for more than 290 years, making occasional pirate raids but otherwise lying low. With her sister destroyed, few even remember that Gorgon had ever existed. In 3066 one her raids brought her into contact with the Essex –class DD Bloodlust commanded by Thomas Drake. Gorgon’s captain at the time, John Lane, reached an alliance with Drake that should have made them the most feared pirates after Lady Death Trevaline. Indeed, their first raids achieved great success at little cost. But their luck ran out when they hit the independent Carthage system in July of 3068. Fleeing Jumpships brought word of the attack to a Jade Falcon naval squadron on its way to the Inner Sphere, which then changed course to assist the planet (and establish a basis for claiming it for themselves). On arrival, the Falcons seized the Jumpships that had brought in the pirate ground plunders and then cornered the pirate Warships in the inner system. Desperate to escape, Drake and Lane decided to attack and hope luck and speed would carry them clear. However, they then made the error of concentrating their fire on the two cruisers they were facing ( the Dido and the Hermione ) while ignoring the accompanying transport Emerald Fire . It was not until the Fire launched assault shuttles that the pirates realized their error. By then it was too late and both ships were swiftly taken. Upon the squadron arrival in the Waldorf system in October, both Drake and Lane were put on trail and convicted of piracy, both men being hanged along with most of their officers on the 5th of November. Following a short period of Yard-time (which mostly involved armor repair) Gorgon was deployed with Dido to Sudeten, finally operating alongside a fast cruiser (see Dido class cruiser, which I’ll post as an attachment).