Statesmen Class Warship Program
The Statesmen Class Warship Program has produced a large number of hulls, with many replacement programs having failed to produce a new ship to replace the aging Statesmen class. Instead numerous upgrade programs kept replacing systems on the ship with the latest weapons and sensors.
History
At the time of their production, the statesmen was built with the most advanced technologies available to the Union. This included artificial gravity systems that allowed the ship to have a ‘space boat’ style internal layout, powerful fusion drives that enabled long distance travel, and a miniaturized superluminal travel small enough to fit on a starship that would enable travel between star systems. The original batch of starships were produced at Lunar shipyards and were then deployed to conflict areas in the solar system.
Various replacement programs for the statesmen have been started over the past decades, though poor management from the Union has led to these programs being discontinued or otherwise scrapped. Improvements from technological progress have been rolled into the existing statesmen class ships, resulting in the Union government requesting more statesmen class hulls rather than seeking entirely new ship designs. This has led to modernized Statesmen being produced in a second wave at the Lunar shipyards, then a third and fourth wave being produced at Earth, Luna, and the AU’s outer colonies such as the massive Rotislav Megastructures complex in the Hawking Starsystem.
Statesmen class ships were already preparing to travel to the Hawking star system prior to the New Year’s Revolution that saw the Magnetic Assembly ousting nearly all Union-aligned politicians during their local elections and withdrawing the Hawking System from the Union. The speed and decisiveness of the Magnetic Assembly’s movements left the Union without any presence in the star system, and it would fall to the statesmen class starships to restore communications with what remained of the Union in system.
Various replacement programs for the statesmen have been started over the past decades, though poor management from the Union has led to these programs being discontinued or otherwise scrapped. Improvements from technological progress have been rolled into the existing statesmen class ships, resulting in the Union government requesting more statesmen class hulls rather than seeking entirely new ship designs. This has led to modernized Statesmen being produced in a second wave at the Lunar shipyards, then a third and fourth wave being produced at Earth, Luna, and the AU’s outer colonies such as the massive Rotislav Megastructures complex in the Hawking Starsystem.
Statesmen class ships were already preparing to travel to the Hawking star system prior to the New Year’s Revolution that saw the Magnetic Assembly ousting nearly all Union-aligned politicians during their local elections and withdrawing the Hawking System from the Union. The speed and decisiveness of the Magnetic Assembly’s movements left the Union without any presence in the star system, and it would fall to the statesmen class starships to restore communications with what remained of the Union in system.
2165: Initial order and Development
The development of ship-portable superluminal devices changed the face of warfare, and the American Union was the only nation with the resources to make use of it. The various nations of the Union would try to put together a requirement for a warship with Interstellar range resulting in various competing warship programs. By 2169 this has been narrowed down into a single Joint-Warship project. Hulls would start being produced at the shipyards of Luna in 2171 though construction would halt in 2172 as costs ballooned out of control due to the expense in producing the miniaturized superluminal system It was around this time that a join command for all American Union space forces was being considered and the experience of the Joint-Warship program was folded into the Statesmen program under new leadership that would eventually become ISOC. In 2179 the first Statesmen ships were being completed, with only three of them entering into service with nations of the American Union. The rest of the Statesmen produced in 2180 onward would be taken by the newly formed ISOC rather than being under direct control of one of the Union's client nations.
2199: Operation Distant Flock
The collapse of the CCP and the sudden need to secure important infrastructure would finally validate the Interstellar-fleet doctrine that was proposed in the 2160s. ISOC's fleet of superluminal-capable starships was able to reposition themselves within a month, making trips from the outer major planets of the Human Sphere like Atlantica and New Texas to CCP controlled space in dramatic numbers by bypassing the need to use an SLE to transit between star systems. As such, ISOC was the only force in the Human Sphere that could even hope to conduct an interstellar scale operation to secure the SLEs in CCP space. Operation Distant Flock has sense become THE example of power projection for the American Union
2229: Next-Generation Stealth Warship Project
on the 50th anniversary of the first statesmen being launched, a new replacement program was started to evaluate a new warship design. The Statesmen had already received numerous upgrades and life-extensions by this point, and ISOC was now seeking a full replacement for the design. Various designs were solicited and three different hulls were built for this ship by 2234 however none of the ship designs approached the level of stealthy-ness required for the project. Much as scientists projected at the start of the project, there is no stealth in space. Because of the stealth-shaping and the lack of effectiveness of the stealth ISOC was left with three new warships that were more expensive and less effective than the Statesmen.
2320: Operation Overflowing Patriotism
Following the New Years Revolution on the current administration of the American Union authorized Operation Overflowing Patriotism with the goal of overthrowing the new government of New Cambridge in the Hawking System. Admiral Willma Moreland would pull a fleet together using the Statesmen class starships in the Atlantica system, supported by tanks and support freighters from Atlantica, with the goal of capturing Reiss, the outermost planet in the Hawking Star System.
Though they would successfully manage to land some forces on Reiss, the attack was stopped by the efforts of Captain Geiben Folami, Exemplar Heram Wazu and the crew of the Edward Deming using the laser emplacements on Riess originally intended for pushing objects around the Hawking Star System. The attacking force had expected to lose a number of ships to the laser system, but additional ships were lost on route to other reasons. The AUS Lord Palmerson was disabled by a complex Cyber Attack employed by Exemplar Dorris Muler that exploited social-engineering and unsecured personal devices to cause the ship’s engineering crew to mutiny under the impression they were about to be rounded up and imprisoned due to their cybernetic enhancements. The AUS James Tully and AUS Jerry Brown were disabled by drones and lasers piloted by the Edward Deming’s pilot Enid Halliday and Dr. Knowledgebot.
Though the initial force sent into Hawking was defeated, the Union would continue its buildup by transferring a large number of its Statesman class ships from Earth and New Texas to Atlantica. These would have the latest upgrades, and receive additional equipment after the loss at Reiss. This would include a large amount of laser-resistant aerogel being added throughout the statesman class starship, especially near the engines and reaction mass storage, to better protect against long range laser strikes. Additional armor and fire-doors were added in the forward sections of the ship to prevent the massive loss of life from fires such as those experienced by the AUS Jerry Brown when laser strikes from Dr. Knowledgebot’s drones passed through the armored windows, cutting right through the interior of the ship and igniting much of the interior. Though the Union has had a good amount of experience in electronic warfare for its surface combatants, it had not employed such systems to a large extent on its starships. This was largely due to the difficulty in employing electronic warfare over the extreme distances involved in space combat, but after the loss of the Lord Palmerson the nature it became clear that new assumptions on electronic warfare were needed.
2320: Elder Statesmen Project
The Dramatic loss of an entire wing of Statesmen called into question ISOC's entire strategy across the entire human sphere. What worked well for the American Union over 100 years ago was no longer viable against the range of threats that the Magnetic Assembly could bring to battle. With few options to turn to, as one of their major weapon suppliers was now working against them, ISOC would contract Stellar to produce a series of upgrades for the Statesmen that could be ready in only a few months with the intention of launching another attack against the Magnetic Assembly at the start of the next year. This would lead to the introduction of the upgrade package that would be known as the Statesmen MK2, and the non-FTL equipped Statesmen MK3 which would eventually become known as the Chairmen.
2322: The Serviceman
By the second battle of Atlantica, ISOC was still struggling with rebuilding its logistical infrastructure after decommissioning their supply ships built in Hawking a few years ago. The emergency stopgap solution would be rolled out mid 2322 in the form of the Serviceman. Older Statesmen hulls being upgraded to the Eldar Statesmen configuration instead were configured for carrying cargo. Some of the major weapon systems were removed, and cargo storage area added both internally and externally within the space reserved for the turrets. This arrangement allowed the new hulls to deploy with no changes to their SLE systems, creating a supply ship that could make the trip between Sol and Atlantica.
Statesmen Class
Statesmen MK 1
Statesmen MK 2
The Statesmen is the primary warship of the American Union and ISOC. It has its own Superluminal engine allowing for interstellar travel, making it extremely capable and extraordinarily expensive. While the ship became the most well known type belonging to the American Union thanks to the events of Operation Distant Flock in 2199, the massive losses sustained in 2320 during the New Years Revolution resulted in major upgrade programs.
- Statesmen Class Mark 1 Warship
- Statesmen Class Mark 2 Warship
Elder Statesmen Class
Elder Statesmen MK 1
Developed and built in 2321, the Elder Statesmen is a new hull design based on the changes made for the Chairmen class, including the latest weapons, a completely re-designed deck layout, and new electronics as well as a Superluminal Engine system to allow interstellar travel.
Chairmen Class
Statesmen MK 3 / Chairmen
Developed from the Statesmen hull, the Chairmen has similar weapon systems but no Superluminal engine making it much more affordable (and expendable). Chairmens were originally designed to fight ships of the Magnetic Assembly toe to toe, and rely on SLE systems to reach their destinations.
- Statesmen Class Mark 3 Warship
- Chairmen Class Warship
Serviceman Class
Serviceman MK 1
Developed from the Eldar Statesmen Hull, the Servicemen focuses on cargo transport as a stop-gap measure for resolving supply issues into the Atlantica system