Stealthships In The Time Of Emperor’s War 2678-3275

TSS Samara, a converted scout attack stealthship on its way to the breaking yards in 2674.

The Emperor’s War

The Terran Campaign 2678-3275

   The first Terran launch of a serjaum based hyper-jump ballistic missile (SSM-N-17 Roma) from a stealthship occurred in July 2677, from the TSS Tawny, a Second Consular War era stealth boat modified to carry the missile. Tawny and its sister boat, Basra, were the Terran’s first ballistic missile patrol stealthships. Development of fusion generators improved boat power supply. Equipment was also developed to extract oxygen from atmosphere skimmers. These two innovations gave stealthships the ability to remain on station for extended periods. Most of the naval stealthboats built since that time in Terra, Reittia, the Briddarri Kingdom, and the Rutak empire were powered by nuclear fusion generators. In 2689–2690, the first ballistic missile stealthships were put into service by both the Terran (Sturgeon class) and the Reittian (Gaff class) navies.

   During the Emperor’s War, the Terran and the Naplian navies maintained large stealthship fleets. The Naplians lost at least 40,000 stealthships during this period. Many other Naplian boats, such as the Katufai class, were severely damaged by fire or serjaum leaks. The Terran lost more than 20,000 stealthships during the war.

INS Katufai underway. Naplian practice was to convert scout ships to stealth boats. 

They were prone to mechanical failure, serjaum drive leaks, and fire.

   During Indria's intervention in the Hiero Takatu Liberation War, the Hiero Navy's RTS Helgat destroyed the Indrian frigate ISS Kolchri. This was the first kill by a stealthship since the Second Consular War. During the same war, the RTS Gozon, a Tava class stealthship on loan to Hiero Takatu from former Northern Alliance agents, was destroyed by the Indrian Navy. It was the first stealthship combat loss since the Second Consular War. In 2682 during the Laterad War, the Laterad cruiser LSS General Benla was destroyed by the Consortium stealthship UCS Conquest, the first kill by a serjaum-powered stealthship in war.

   Before and during the Second Consular War, the primary role of the stealthship was anti-ship warfare. Stealthships would attack using hyper-jump torpedoes. They were particularly effective in killing Terran transgalactic shipping in both Consular Wars and in disrupting NA supply routes and naval operations in the north in the Second Consular War.

   Mine-laying stealthships were developed in the early part of the 27th century and used in used in both the Consular and Emperor’s Wars. Stealthships were also used for inserting and removing covert agents and military forces, for intelligence gathering, and to rescue aircrew during attacks on planets and moons, where the pilots would be told of safe places to crash-land so the stealthships could save them. Stealthships could carry cargo through hostile space or act as supply vessels for other stealthships.

Stealthships could usually locate and attack other stealthships only when decloaked, although TSS Vengence managed to scupper NAS S-9641 with a six torpedo spread while both were cloaked. The Outland Colonies developed a specialized anti-stealthship stealth boat in the Second Consular War, the “L class.” After the Consular Wars, with the development of the improved hyperjump torpedo, better scanners, and advanced serjaum propulsion, stealthships also became able to hunt each other while cloaked.

TSS Ranger, a Sturgeon class ballistic missile boat
underway in the Bara Nebula 2689. 

   The development of stealthship-launched ballistic missile and FTL cruise missiles gave stealthships a long-range ability to attack both planet and space targets with a variety of weapons ranging from proton bombs to nuclear weapons. The primary defense of a stealthship was its ability to hide in the voids of space. Early stealthships could be detected by the sound of their ripwave drives. Later versions were built with an emphasis on stealth. Advanced ripwave drive designs, extensive sound-reducing measures, and special machinery kept stealthships as quiet as the space around them.

   The spidery Q'Kwagat Navy utilized an advanced stealth technology for an entirely different purpose. Q'Kwagat stealthboats were used to approach an unsuspecting vessel, grapple, and pierce the hull to board and take the ship. The captured crew were immediately eaten or stored away as provisions.

Q'Kwagat Kutha class stealthboat.
(124 meters in length)

   Active scanning with search arrays was the best method to detect stealthships. Starships, stealthships, and aircraft (via dropped buoy arrays) was the standard tactic used to identify enemy stealthships, but it revealed the emitter's location, allowing counter-measures.

   A concealed military stealthship was a real threat, and it could force an enemy to expend valuable resources searching large areas of space to protecting starships against attack. This advantage was vividly demonstrated in the 2782 Falastur War when the Stelltron-built Aquia Imperium stealthship AIS Comva destroyed the Falastur battlecruiser FSS Gavral Imero. After the loss of their best battlecruiser, Falastur Navy recognized that they had no effective defense against cloaked stealthship attack, and the Falastur squadron withdrew to the Terelessi starport, and the Falastur treated with Aquia Imperium to end the conflict. 

Next... Civilian Stealthships

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Artwork by Bhumit Padilla, Camilo Aldana and Dmitry Borodin

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