As a amateur Naval historian, it annoys me to no end when Star Trek or Star Wars goes off an invents ships out of nowhere. It's particularly inexcusable for Star Trek because the show is set on what is ostensibly a Naval Vessel. (Though whether Star Fleet is actually a Navy is a debate for another time).
For the Sublight Universe I aimed to do better. Each faction has a finite capacity to make new ships. Their existing fleets require continual maintenance. Every disruptive new technology causes decades of ripples in inventories. You also see surges in production immediately before and after wars.
I built a half-assed computer model in Microsoft Excel to track when ships are ordered, commissioned, destroyed, or retired. Each ship under construction occupies a graving yard until it is launched. I assume there is a massive delay in building the first ship to incorporate a disruptive new technology. I assume there is a moderate delay when a graving yard builds a new type of ship. After the first hull, I assume they can crank out ships more or less at a steady rate. That rate depends on the faction and the complexity of the vessel.
ISTO has a habit of designing an entire fleet concept at a time. They call these "projects". Each project has a code word, and represents an era of their history. During each "project" they will design a brand new version of each capital ship and support vessel.
The dates used in this chronology are according to Metric Time. 6680 is around about 1945 A.D. The events happen in a parallel universe to ours that diverged in 1777.
Project Oregon represents the founding years of the ISTO, 6680-6690. During this period the ISTO was mainly concerned with the construction and defense of outposts. Technology in this age was still confined to chemical rockets.
A standardized space platform, with limited propulsion for station keeping. These were constructed at commercial yards in the Near Earth Asteroids.
Number built: 4
Number lost: 3
A small warship intended to defend the Andromeda class. Four were lost during Krasnovia's surprise attack during the Inner System War of 6697. These were constructed at commercial yards in the Near Earth Asteroids
Number planned: 10
Number built: 8
Number lost: 4
Number retired: 4
Number cancelled: 2
After a nuclear testing accident in 6688, ISTO discovered that thermonuclear fusion could be catalyzed with lithium 7. This discovery lead to the first practical fusion drives. This era also saw the start of ambitious mega projects to settle the main asteroid belt.
A city-sized self-contained habitat. Constructed to be anchored to larger bodies, and rotate to provide artificial gravity. The first were constructed in-place on the planetoid of Psyche.
A small craft designed for long-duration mapping missions. These were constructed at a leased facility on the asteroid Ganymed.
Number planned: 4
Number lost: 3
Notable Craft:
| pennant | name | ordered | laid_down | launched | decommissioned | fate |
| XR-01 | Challenger | 6687 | 6691 | 6695 | 6725 | Retired - Preserved as museum ship |
| XR-02 | Discovery | 6687 | 6691 | 6695 | 6703 | Presumed lost. Rogue A.I. killed crew and commandeered vessel. |
| XR-03 | Columbia | 6687 | 6695 | - | 6697 | Destroyed while under construction |
| XR-04 | Atlantis | 6687 | 6695 | - | 6697 | Destroyed while under construction |
The Gienah Class Frigate adapted the lessons learned from the Challenger class into a general purpose military vessel. These were considered the "low capability" ships capable of patrolling space, search and rescue, and pirate interdiction. The 4 cancelled ships were destroyed during the Inner System War of 6697 while under construction.
These vessels carried an autocannon for ship-to-ship warfare.
Number planned: 10
Number built: 6
Number lost: 3
Number retired: 3
Number cancelled: 4
Pennants: F-01 thru F-10
The Antares Class Support Vessel was a modified Gienah class that was optimized for cargo hauling and logistics. The two cancelled ships were destroyed during the Inner System War of 6697 while under construction.
Number planned: 8
Number built: 6
Number lost: 0
Number retired: 6
Number cancelled: 2
Pennants: AF-01 thru AF-08
The Polaris Class Destroyer was a modified Gienah class that was optimized for anti-ship warfare. Three were finished at the outset of the Inner System War of 6697, two under construction were destroyed, and the final planned hull was cancelled before construction commenced.
These vessels carried an autocannon for ship-to-ship warfare, as well as rocket pods for stand-off attacks.
Number planned: 6
Number built: 3
Number lost: 0
Number retired: 3
Number cancelled: 3
Pennants: DF-01 thru DF-06
Project Gilgamesh was a clean-sheet redesign of Spacey Doctrine based on the lessons learned from the Inner System War of 6697. This project also incorporated several new fundamental technologies:
The first class of vessel to incorporate muon Catalyzed fusion. This vessel was a mothership for smaller attack craft, and twice the mass of an Andromeda class space platform. Her immense volume is dedicated to the launching and landing of a fleet of assault craft as well as a squadron of escorts.
Each vessel can operate for 25-30 years, before they are brought back in for a mid-life rebuild and overhaul. The vessels are essentially torn down to the frame and reconstructed during this process.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | midlife | relaunch |
| BB-2 | Klint | Hilma af Klint | 6697 | 6697 | 6701 | 6726 | 6729 |
| BB-4 | Carr | Emily Carr | 6697 | 6701 | 6706 | 6730 | 6734 |
Officially the Amaral Class was simply a refined the Battle Carrier concept based on lessons learned from the Klint class. The design introduced improvements and refinements to the propulsion and engineering systems. The main improvement was to replace a number of smaller reactors with a reduced number of large, more efficient reactors.
Recently declassified documents, however, reveal that the real purpose was an emergency redesign. The design of the Klint utilized a number of 9000 series AIs inside of virtually every key system. The accident investigation into the loss of the Discovery identified a number of flaws with the concept of relying on artificial intelligence, and with the 9000 series in particular. Every one of those systems had to be redesigned to utilize simpler computers. Retaining the two Klint class vessels was deemed an acceptable risk, that would be addressed with safety training and retrofitting during normal maintenance.
Externally, Amarals and Klints are very hard to tell apart. Every effort was made to keep the design as close as possible to the Klint, in order to exploit the facilities that were already built and under construction for the planned class.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | midlife | relaunch |
| BB-6 | Amaral | Olga de Amaral | 6705 | 6705 | 6710 | 6735 | 6739 |
| BB-8 | Agar | Eileen Agar | 6705 | 6790 | 6714 | 6740 | 6744 |
| BB-10 | Nampeyo | Nampeyo | 6705 | 6713 | 6717 | 6745 | 6749 |
| BB-12 | Höch | Hannah Höch | 6705 | 6716 | 6720 | 6750 | 6754 |
| BB-16 | Skłodowska | Marie Skłodowska | 6720 | 6723 | 6726 | 6760 | 6764 |
| BB-18 | Franklin | Rosalind Franklin | 6720 | 6726 | 6729 | 6765 | 6770 |
| BB-20 | Carrington | Leonora Carrington | 6730 | 6731 | 6734 | 6770 | 6775 |
| BB-22 | Lehman | Inge Lehman | 6730 | 6735 | 6749 | 6775 | 6780 |
| BB-24 | Hypatia | Hypatia | 6740 | 6750 | 6754 | 6780 | 6784 |
The Hokusai adapted the engineering section of a Klint class battle carrier, and replaced all of the military hardware with agriculture and fabrication facilities. The class does retain some docking facilties for support craft, but only for a squadron of shuttles and two escort vessels.
The Hokusai uses an innovative gimbaled habitat that permits accelleration from the engine's thrust to be balanced out with rotational gravity to produce a near-constant direction for gravity.
The Hokusai are much larger in volume and mass than the Klint class battle carriers they are derived from. And thus they need special docking and service facilties. One particular difficulty is that the habitat must be kept rotating, even while in dock. For this reason, the engineering module can be detached. A special "parasite" connection allows the habitat to connect to an external source for electrical power.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched |
| AB-1 | Hokusai | 葛飾 北斎 (Katsushika Hokusai) | 6697 | 6697 | 6707 |
| AB-3 | Podkowiński | Władysław Podkowiński | 6697 | 6698 | 6705 |
The Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne were intended to be a one-off experiment which added a third habitat vessel to evaluate less tegically intense cultivation practices. The extra 50% capacity was mainly to implement crop rotation. They were also designed at the same time as the Amaral class. Instead of tuning the extra reactor performance toward propulsion, the Van Gogh's applied it to power generation.
The extra mass on essentially the same engine output made the Van Goghs slower to accelerate , and less maneuverable than the Hokusais. However, their primary design requirement was for long term endurance. Time to station is not an important consideration.
Early success with both of the Van Gogh hulls led to the decision to finish all of the AB series with the modified design.
The loss of the Discovery did have some impact on the design. Management tasks that were handled by expert systems now had to be assigned to human experts on-site. The central control system that managed Quins was eliminated, meaning that the android workforce had to be assigned using a much less capable remote console. Several 9000 series systems were retained, but only in non life-support/mission management roles. In particular the automated distance learning system, and several to manage the agriculture systems. These systems employ a full-time psychologist to monitor their well being, and act as an emissary to the crew.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched |
| AB-5 | Van Gogh | Vincent Van Gogh | 6715 | 6715 | 6722 |
| AB-7 | Cézanne | Paul Cézanne | 6715 | 6721 | 6728 |
| AB-9 | Frölicher | Otto Frölicher | 6715 | 6727 | 6734 |
| AB-11 | Købke | Christen Købke | 6715 | 6633 | 6740 |
The Rigel was an emergency build program to replace the Gienah frigate, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. Most of the design changes were incremental technological improvements, as opposed to wholesale changes in role. The principle change was the elimination of the autocannon, and the installation of anti-ship missiles. The sensors enhancements to support the missiles also allowed the class to take on basic scouting missions.
Number planned: 10
Number built: 10
Number lost: 0
Number retired: 10
Number cancelled: 0
Pennants: FF-11 thru FF-19
The Betelgeuse was an emergency build program to replace the Antares support vessel, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. The production was cut short in favor of the Cervantes class.
Compared to the Antares, the engineering systems on the Betelgeuse were far more complex. This class tried to introduce Muon-catalyzed propulsion on a scale far smaller than had been attempted before.
Number planned: 10
Number built: 5
Number lost: 0
Number retired: 5
Number cancelled: 5
Pennants: AF-09 thru AF-13
The Bellatrix was an emergency build program to replace the Polaris destroyer, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. The production was cut short in favor of the Cervantes class.
Like the Betelgeuse, the Bellatrix attempted to incorporate Muon-catalyzed propulsion into a small vessel. At the same time the design added a tremendous number of dubiously considered sensor and weapon systems.
Number planned: 10
Number built: 3
Number lost: 0
Number retired: 3
Number cancelled: 7
Pennants: DF-16 thru DF-18
In the 6710s, a decade after the Inner System War, the realities of a massive military buildup were becoming obvious to the public in ISTO. Stakeholders were looking at the disasters that were the Betelgeuse and Bellatrix projects, and noting that neither design, even if the bugs could be worked out, could be manufactured on an industrial scale.
The result has been deridingly called "the swiss-army ship". While it can perform each of those roles competently, it is not as capable in any specific job as a dedicated vessel. However, what it lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity. There is also little argument that having one platform to maintain has greatly simplified ISTO's logistics train. A full description of the Cervantes is here.
While the ships serve a number of roles, Spacey has assigned every hull an F- series penent number.
In production: 6710+
Number planned: 84
Number built: 84
Number lost: 5
Number retired: 0
Number cancelled: 0
Pennants: F-20 thru F-104
With the G-drive in the hands of both superpowers, a race began to be the first power to reach another star system.
The Payne was intended as a one-off project to evaluate the reaction-less drive technology (G-drive) captured from the Krasnovians in 6741. The Payne was originally laid down as an Amaral class, but was decommissioned in 6739 following a catastrophic accident which wiped out her entire engineering section. As her mission areas were still serviceable, it was decided to use her as a test hull to evaluate the G-drive, with a stretch-goal of devising a refit strategy for the existing Amaral class.
As with the Amaral, every effort was made to introduce new technology while still allowing the vessels to interoperate with existing port and logistics facilities. After a very long teething period, the configuration was copied verbatim as the new Payne class. The final design needed so many structural changes that it was deemed impractical to try to retrofit to the existing Amarals.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | midlife | relaunch |
| BBG-14 | Payne | Cecilia Payne | 6720 | 6719 | 6723 | 6741 | 6750 |
| BBG-26 | Clapp | Cornelia Clapp | 6755 | 6755 | 6760 | 6790 | 6795 |
| BBG-28 | Mayer | Maria Mayer | 6755 | 6760 | 6765 | 6795 | 6800 |
| BBG-30 | Murray | Grace Murray | 6755 | 6770 | 6775 | 6800 | 6805 |
| BBG-32 | Agnodice | Agnodice | 6770 | 6775 | 6780 | 6805 | 6810 |
| BBG-34 | Mirzakhani | مریم میرزاخانی (Miriam Mizakhani) | 6780 | 6780 | 6785 | 6810 | 6815 |
| BBG-36 | Meitner | Lise Meitner | 6780 | 6785 | 6790 | 6815 | 6820 |
| BBG-38 | Elion | Gertrude Elion | 6780 | 6790 | 6795 | 6820 | 6825 |
In 6741, the ISTO captured reaction-less drive (G-drive) technology from the Krasnovians. Picasso was originally planned as a Van Gogh class. However, the construction was early enough along to allow significant structural modifications. While she was built from the keel up with the G-Drive in mind, her habitat had provisions to allow her to be retrofitted back to the Van Gogh specification if the technology proved to be not worth the effort.
The modifications made to the Picasso were deemed impractical to retrofit to the Hokusais or the Van Goghs. It was also not economical to reproduce, and instead the Einsteins and Leonardos were built as a clean-sheet designs.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched |
| AB-13 | Picasso | Vincent Van Gogh | 6715 | 6740 | 6750 |
The Einstein class is a G-drive replacement for the niche fulfilled by the Hokusais and the Van Goghs. They are only intended to operate inside the Solar System, however their tremendous speed allows them to easily work in the scattered disk, and even as far out as the Oort cloud. They utilize essentially the same habitat vessel as the Hokusais and the Van Goghs, but they install 6 to the Van Gogh's 3.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched |
| ABG-15 | Einstein | Albert Einstein | 6742 | 6742 | 6747 |
| ABG-19 | Pasteur | Louis Pasteur | 6742 | 6755 | 6760 |
| ABG-23 | Takakazu | 関 孝和 (Seki Takakazu) | 6740 | 6760 | 6765 |
| ABG-25 | Newton | Isaak Newton | 6760 | 6765 | 6770 |
| ABG-27 | Ramanujan | Srinivasa Ramanujan | 6760 | 6770 | 6775 |
| ABG-29 | Archimedes | Archimedes | 6780 | 6780 | 6785 |
| ABG-31 | Milanković | Milutin Milanković | 6780 | 6785 | 6790 |
| ABG-33 | Germain | Sophie Germain | 6780 | 6790 | 6795 |
| ABG-35 | Khayyam | Omar Khayyam | 6780 | 6795 | 6800 |
The Leonardo class began as a modified Einstein, but adapted for Interstellar exploration. While they superficially resemble the Einsteins, there are a number of internal differences that permit the vessel to operate for the extremely long durations required for Interstellar travel at sublight speed.
Detailed description of the Leonardo Class.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | destination | distance |
| IB-17 | Leonardo | Leonardo da Vinci | 6742 | 6742 | 6750 | Alpha Centauri | 4.31 ly |
| IB-21 | Gim | 김정희 (Gim Jeong-hui) | 6742 | 6750 | 6755 | Bernard's Star | 5.95 ly |
Two hulls were originally constructed for project Iliad, but later finished as modified Einsteins:
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched |
| ABG-42 | Adams | Douglas Adams | 6742 | 6742 | 6805 |
| ABG-43 | Pratchet | Terry Pratchet | 6742 | 6742 | 6810 |
For the next Iliad Missions, ISTO took a clean-sheet approach. ISTO's space administration had been lambasted for being too conservative with their designs. Their engineers sought to combine the endurance of the Leonardo class with the sheer speed of the Krasnovia's Jörmungandr. The result was ... wel... the Wells class.
Detailed description of the Wells Class.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | destination | distance |
| IB-40 | Wells | Herbert George Wells | 6750 | 6760 | 6762 | Xi Boötis | 21.8 ly |
| IB-41 | Verne | Jules Verne | 6750 | 6760 | 6763 | Beta Hydri | 24.33 ly |
The Asimov Class was a return to the style of the Leonardo class. Slow and steady. Early on it was determined that return flight from distant stars was utterly impractical. The resources that were stowed for a return flight could be better spent on providing a bootstrap to allow the colony to flourish.
Detailed description of the Clarke Class.
| pennant | name | namesake | ordered | laid_down | launched | destination | distance |
| IB-45 | Asimov | Isaac Asimov | 6810 | 6815 | 6821 | Mu Cassiopeiae | 24.6 ly |
| IB-46 | Clarke | Arthur Charles Clarke | 6810 | 6820 | 6827 | 18 Scorpii | 46.1 ly |
| IB-47 | Heinlein | Robert Anson Heinlein | 6810 | 6825 | 6832 | 47 Ursae Majoris | 46 ly |
| IB-48 | Kroeber | Ursula Kroeber Le Guin | 6820 | 6830 | 6837 | TBA | |
| IB-49 | Shōichi | 佐野 昌一 (Sano Shōichi) | 6820 | 6835 | 6842 | TBA |