Richelieu Class Battle Cruiser

Overview:

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File Excerpt Begin......
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"Someone in the Quartermaster Command must have been out of his mind. Why did they order another Warship to do the job of the Luxor Heavy Cruiser? Just look at its specifications, this new Warship carries less armor and less firepower than our Luxor while still leaving unsolved the same problems encountered with all state-of-the-art military products..."

Excerpt from a protest speech issued by Mitchell Vehicles after the decision of the Quartermaster Command to accept a bid from Boeing Interstellar for a new Battle Cruiser Class.
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"I don't think that we have made a mistake in ordering the new Richelieu Class for the SLDF Navy. We need a new kind of heavy blockade-runner, capable of punching holes deep in enemy defense nets or to hunt protected convoys, while still being able to react quickly to changing battlefield conditions, or even to protect friendly troop transports. Personally I don't think we currently have a ship able to fulfill all of these functions in a single package. As to what the representative from Mitchell Vehicles mentioned about the Richelieu being incapable of correcting the perceived problems of the Luxor Heavy Cruiser, I will respond by saying that the SLDF views the Richelieu in an entirely different class altogether. The new Battle Cruiser is faster than the heavy cruiser and capable of firing all of its offensive weapons without heat concerns. Meaning, this ship will hit as hard as the Luxor and the Black Lion in a fight without freezing up like the Cameron.
But let's face it, enemies of the Star League will have Warships which they will use against our convoys or in blockades around our planets. To date we do not enjoy a dedicated defensive weapon to answer that challenge. To alleviate some of the fears of my esteemed colleague from Mitchell Vehicles, this does not mean that the Luxor has no future. To the contrary, these two classes are not competitors, but instead complementary, performing missions that other warships simply can not successfully accomplish. In addition, I would like to remind the Richelieu's detractors how costly our Warships tend to be, and I would like to add that the final cost of this new vessel class will sit between 30% and 50% lower than Mitchell's Luxor Heavy Cruiser. For a ship expected to engage in the thick of battle, this is something the League believes worth mentioning..."

Extract from a statement attributed to Commodore Dorrell made during an inquiry held after protests from Mitchell Vehicles.
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Excerpt End......
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These are but two small examples of the debate that raged around the design and production of the first Star League's Richelieu Class Battle Cruiser. While our Order does not enjoy a substantial amount of knowledge on the development of the Richelieu, may Blake forgive us, from the reports recorded during the '64 inquiry (Further proof of the lobbying power of the builder of the Luxor and Essex) and the few surviving battle reports of the Richelieu in combat, we have a vague idea of how these vessels were designed and their mission parameters.

Despite these shortcomings even I must confess that this design only came to our attention only while we were doing some additional background research for our Blessed Order's own Dante Class. Only in Blake's wisdom could a ship as interesting and powerful as the Richelieu slip through the proverbial "cracks" of our Order.

In fact, one of the most glaring holes in the history of this warship is attributed to the unknown origin of the class's name: Richelieu. The current theory holds two possibilities: a French statesman credited with rebuilding the French Navy, la Royale or a class of fast cruisers deployed by the French before the Second World War.
Given the parallels between the original class of blue-water vessels and what we know of the League's Richelieu, then there are several interesting correlations between both the historical and League designs.

I can only pray to Blake that in his wisdom we will uncover more information on this peculiar ship.

From the desk of,

Precentor Guy Valez Mu-VI

Weighing in at a hefty 940,000 tons, the Richelieu was heavier than both Mitchell Vehicles's Luxor Class Heavy Cruiser or the SLDF's standard Black Lion Class Battle Cruiser, however, the Richelieu is still faster than either warship class with a cruising speed of 2Gs thanks to its massively powerful Carston Pegasus Interplanetary Engines. The mammoth fusion toruses, specially designed for the Richelieu, are extremely capable. Besides enjoying a superb maintenance record, they are capable of propelling the Battle Cruiser to an astounding 4Gs during combat maneuvers. Although unique to the design, this large maneuvering drive was considered necessary for the Richelieu to quickly react to the evasive tactics of enemy vessels while escorting friendly Dropships at full speed, thereby reducing their vulnerability to enemy fire.

Although the propulsion system of the Battle Cruiser was central to the class's design  and function, the ship's designers did not ignore the vessel's capacity to deploy a large offensive armament. The weapon suite of the Richelieu were among the most powerful of the era, using a combination of Naval Lasers, Heavy Naval Gauss Cannons, large caliber Naval Autocannons and Heavy Naval PPCs. Additionally, given the class's mission parameter as a heavy escort/blockcade runner, the weapons deployment unsurprisingly favors a heavy nose and broadside for blistering dive assaults. ( During the Mitchell Vehicles Inquiry of '64, one of the central themes of their protest against the Star League for the reduction in Luxor production was the distribution of the Richelieu's armament. The company believed that the vessel lacked the overall strength of the Luxor and that the reduction of firepower in some of the Battle Cruiser's arcs would prove to be dangerous to the vessel in combat. - G.V)

Despite the presence of a large number high-heat energy weapons, an impressive number of heat sinks allowed the Richelieu Class to fire of all its weapons in combat. Both the presence of the heavy nose and broadside armament, and the effective heat-dissipation system clearly displayed how the ship's engineers intended the vessel to operate in a strike capacity, using its mobility and firepower to decimate the enemy.

This strike profile was also a necessity for the Battle Cruiser since the vessel's armor sleeve was not thick enough to sustain the ship in a prolonged slugfest. Unfortunately Boeing Interstellar, the Richelieu's producer, was forced to reduce the ship's protection in order to afford the warship its impressive speed and armament. Still, the designers considered the armor tradeoff acceptable since the Richelieu's mission profile necessitated a quick Alpha Strike capability. Also, to help complement the vessel's short-range protection from small craft and enemy Aerospace assets, two squadrons of Aerofighters are available, ensuring that most small threats will be dealt with quickly.

Finally, as the warship neared its completed design the Boeing engineers decided on working something special into the new warship that would truly set the class apart from all other SLDF warships. Taking a page from the ancient shipwrights of Terra, who often built ships that were as much a work of art as they were functional tools, master crafted a special nose for the warship in replica of the Jolly Rogers of old. (Again, protested by Mitchell Vehicles as a waste. The League's Quartermaster Command was quick to point out that the Richelieu was still millions of Star League Dollars less than the Luxor. - G.V.) This was chosen after Boeing consulted a number of psychological professionals and naval historians to help create a vistage that would strike fear into the heart of the enemy.

From the reports we could decipher, it succeeded beyond any expectation.

In December 2766 Stefan Amaris plunged the Star League into Civil War when he staged his illegal Coup to take over the Terran Hegemony. The bloody sneak attack devastated the unaware citizens of the Hegemony and her industries. Boeing Interstellar's Terran assets were no exception and as Republican troops bombed the orbital yards housing the two ships both Richelieu captains scrambled to extricate their stricken vessels and any personnel able to get aboard in time. Despite the best efforts of the Rim Worlders, and thanks to the sacrifice of Boeing's security force, the two unfinished Battle Cruisers managed to blast their way free of their moorings at a significant cost. Fighting a running battle all the way to the nearest jump point, the two SLDF warships barely escaped intact.

After escaping the clutches of Amaris's forces, the two warships slowly made their way out of the beleaguered Hegemony. Traveling through uninhabited star systems, the two Battle Cruisers eventually linked up with League forces in the Free Worlds League. Once in the hands of the SLDF, both ships were eventually repaired.

Over a period of eighteen months, the SLDF completed the two armaments of the two warships, changing their original profiles with whatever materials were available. Following the conversion the two Battle Cruisers were assigned to SLDF resupply operations, protecting the Dropships trying to deliver supplies to besieged forces behind Republican lines.

Fortunately for the Richelieu and the Jean-Bart, this was the mission for which they were designed to fulfill. Even with the jury-rigged and patched weapon suite, which often required constant maintenance, the warships were nevertheless devastating. (It should be noted that in the early stages of the Civil War, the SLDF assigned units to these desperate supply missions as a necessity, with the rule of thumb being improvisation in the interests of survival. - G.V.)

An important number of holovids show footage of the two vessels in operations during the later years of the Coup, with an impressive level of coordination during operations, even for sophisticated SLDF warships. (From what we could ascertain the captains were not related but did attend military school in the same class. - G.V.) A more intensive research into the surviving Battle ROMs could provide us with precious information on the subject.

Throughout the intervening years of the Coup before the Liberation of the Hegemony, the two Richelieus operated on the outskirts of Terran space, testing the Republican defenses. Often the last sight a Rim World's Dropship Captain saw, the Battle Cruisers would play a crucial role in the liberation of the Terran Hegemony by providing the SLDF High Command with vital recon information on the conquered worlds.

The final tale of this proud class ends with the last major naval battle of the civil war: the Liberation of Terra. After extensive research and analysis of battle casualties, and survivor after action battle reports, we found that the two Battle Cruisers were among the volunteer flotilla that jumped in the second wave with the sole mission of destroying as many Caspars of the Republican Space Defense System as possible before the arrival of the invasion force.

Although exact information surrounding the specifics of the resulting suicide mission do not exist, thanks in part to the total destruction of all forty warships and their brave crews, we know that the Richelieus, along with their fellow SLDF brethren, accounted for more than 150 drone warship kills.

Even though the Richelieu Class Battle Cruiser almost ended in its infancy, the class enjoyed a number of refits, conversions and variations during its brief history. Of the two Battle Cruisers, it was the Jean-Bart that suffered most of the changes necessitated by the Amaris Coup. Leaving Boeing's shipyard only partially complete, Star League engineers were able to add a wide variety of weapons and equipment to the Bart, some in haphazard fashion. From the surviving Coup-era League engineering records it would seem that the Jean-Bart was outfitted predominately with Naval Lasers, and a host of AR10 Launchers. Notably absent from the vessel were the Heavy Naval Gauss Rifles located in the ship's nose, though the ship-to-ship missile batteries would have been wildly successful in interdicting enemy Dropships and fighters. We also have reason to believe that the Jean-Bart had a portable HPG installed as its superstructure was finally completed. However, given the difficulty and length involved in installing such a sophisticated piece of equipment, its value to the warship is highly dubious.

According to our extensive research of the surviving SLDF production records on Terra, we have ascertained that only two Richelieu Class Battle Cruisers were ever produced: the Richelieu, namesake of the class, and the Jean-Bart.

Due to the time delay imposed by the '64 Inquiry, production of the warship was delayed until 2765. When the Amaris Coup devastated the Terran Hegemony at the end of 2766, Boeing Interstellar had only the Richelieu nearly operational, undergoing its final shakedown tests before being assigned to active operations. The Jean-Bart, however, was but 75% completed, without its weapon suite installed, large portions of its armor package and only a skeleton construction crew to service her.

Although the devastation of the Civil War would prove to be the death knell of any future members of the Richelieu Class, along with so many other glories of the Terran Hegemony, research has led us to believe that a copy of the Battle Cruiser's technical schematics were transmitted to Boeing Interstellar's Galax Headquarters during the occupation, however, we currently have no way of confirming this theory. (Attached is a copy of a proposed Shroud Mission for ROM's consideration. Perhaps a Schatten can be deployed. - G.V.) To date we have been unable to obtain tangible proof as to whether or not the Richelieu's engineering plans have survived the Succession Wars in Boeing's hands, or if they were lost with the technological decline. We do know for certain that no copies of the Battle Cruiser were taken with Kerensky and the SLDF into Exodus. If the Boeing copy remains viable it is likely the only one in existence.    

There are also persistent rumors pointing to the hulk of a surviving Richelieu, perhaps the Jean-Bart, placed in deep orbit outside of Pluto along with a number of wrecks left over from the invasion. As a member of our Blessed Order, I can lend no credence to these baseless rumors. Our research has confirmed that there is no such derelict orbiting anywhere near Pluto. In all actuality the rumor probably developed in the early 2800s after Terran prospectors located the remains of a destroyed Texas near the system's Kuiper Belt.