Royal Navy Upholder Submarine:
In the beginning of the twenty-first century the Royal Navy had many
designs on the drawing table, all of which were supposed to replace elderly and
obsolete equipment. Many of these projects floundered and died a silent death, due to the
new "Golden Age" that man had entered. So too the project known as the Future
Attack SubMarine, or FASM. Originally meant to replace the Trafalgar class of
nuclear attack submarines the FASM would have been large, fast, and heavily armed
subs, the equal of anything in the western world. Unfortunately, the dwindling
defense budget (due to the diminishing threats to the remainder of the British Empire)
and the coming of the so-called "Golden Age" cut short the development of the FASM.
Instead the Royal Navy ordered five more "Astute" class nuclear attack submarines, the development
of which had been done nearly two decades previously.
It wasn`t until after the second Falklands war and the renewed growth of the Empire that
the Royal Navy once again had enough funds to order the development of new submarines.
And these were now urgently needed. The Trafalgar class SSN`s that needed to be replaced were by
then more than seventy years old! The replacements would be known as the Upholder class.
The new FASM design that was ultimately chosen to replace the Trafalgars was
by a quantum leap the most advanced of its time. It outdid any submarine then
in service in stealth and noise reduction, and was incredibly heavily armed
for its size. The design had no less than ten torpedo tubes, because it had been
recognised that even the sound of the reloading of tubes could now be picked up by
some sonars. Thus, ten tubes would provide the subs with a sizable amount of torpedoes
to be fired before any reloads had to be performed, which could compromise stealth.
Rreloading itself was done by a fully automated magazine. There was no human help needed
for that, and in fact the torpedo room was only accessible to humans for the unlikely
event that maintenance was needed during deployment. Further weaponry was in the form
of eight VLS tubes behind the large sail, from which cruise missiles could be fired. These too
had automated magazines, enabling the sub to carry a total of thirty two cruise missiles.
A small laser turret mounted on the sail provided the submarine with a shortranged
defense, in the unlikely even that it should have needed it.
Sensor systems included state of the art active and passive hull-mounted sonar arrays,
as well as a very sensitive towed sonar array.
But the true innovation was the development of a new kind of submarine stealthing. When the new submarine was first deployed during NATO wargames it consistently defeated the attempts of its opponents to detect it. Often the first sign of its presence was the fact that the simulation computers registered a torpedo "hit" upon its targets. Only when the sub was pushed to great speeds did it become detectable like a normal submarine. The secret was that the sub carried a set of chemicals onboard which, when combined with seawater and a electric field, would form a hard layer of gel around the sub. Since the electric field in which the gel would form was generated by the subs hull, the layer of gel was conformal to the hull of the sub. This layer of gel not only absorbed the incoming soundwaves of active sonar arrays, it also muffled any sounds that came from the sub itself, making it very difficult to pick up on passive arrays as well. The only disadvantages were that at high speeds the gel layer would slough off due to the friction forces, which led to a sudden increase in the subs detectability, and the fact that the sub only carried enough chemicals onboard for a few applications of the gel layer.
The Upholder class had a small space to carry troops for assault missions or shipboard defense. Up to 24 could be carried without power armor but more commonly carried were eighteen soldiers (often Royal Marines or a SAS squad) with X-10A Predator Power Armors.
Ultimately the Royal Navy would recieve twelve Upholders. Of these, two were undergoing a refit to their reactor cores, four were patrolling the far reaches of the Empire, and four more were attached to various NATO battlegroups when the Rifts came. All are presumed lost. The only two that survived were the Upholder herself and the Astute, as they were moored alongside the Hood in Portsmouth harbor. They had arrived there several weeks prior to the coming of the Rifts to become the submarine escorts for the battlegroup that was to be formed around the H.M.S. Temeraire. Like all other ships in the battlegroup they were locked away in a stasis bubble by a group of druids, moments before the great catastrophe.
Model Type: Upholder class
Class: SSN.
Crew: 85; 8 Officers, 10 Chief Petty Officers, and 67 Enlisted
(Has a high degree of automation)
Troop Capacity: 18 (With X-10A Predator Power Armors) to 24 (Without
power armor)
Robots, Power Armors, and Vehicles:
| 18 | X-10A Predator Power Armors |
M.D.C. by Location:
| Pop-Up Laser Turret (mounted on sail): | 150 | |
| Cruise Missile Silo Hatches (8, aft of sail): | 200 each | |
| Torpedo Tubes (10; in front): | 300 each | |
| [1] Bow Planes (2): | 250 each | |
| [2] Pump Jet Propulsor (1): | 500 | |
| Main Sail: | 800 | |
| [3] Main Body: | 3,600 |
Notes:
[1] Destroying the submarine's bow planes will reduce the submarine's
ability to change depths but will not eliminate it. It also makes it difficult
for the submarine's crew to control the submarine giving a penalty of -25%
to all piloting rolls.
[2] Destroying the submarine's Pump Jet Propulsor causes serious problems.
The submarine will no longer be able to use forward momentum and the bow
planes to keep the submarine level. It is recommended that ballast takes
are immediately blown so submarine comes to surface.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body destroys the submarine's
structural integrity, causing it to sink. If the submarine is underwater,
the entire crew will die unless protected by environmental armors that
can withstand the pressure that the submarine is under. If on the surface,
there are enough flotation devices and inflatable life rafts to accommodate
everyone aboard.
Speed:
Water Surface: 34.4 knots (40 mph/64.3 kph)
Underwater: 43 knots (50 mph/ 80 kph)
Maximum Depth: 2.2 miles (3.5 km)
Range: Effectively Unlimited due to fusion engines (needs to
refuel every 25 years and requires maintenance as well). Vessel carries
10 months of supplies for crew and troops on board.
Statistical Data:
Height: 69 feet (20.8 meters)
Width: 38.1 feet (11.8 meters)
Length: 402 feet (120.6 meters)
Displacement: 8,200 tons
Cargo: 60 tons of nonessential equipment and supplies (normally
used for equipment for marines). Each enlisted crew member has a small
locker for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space
for personal items. Most of the ship's spaces are taken up by extra ammo,
armor, weapons, and engines.
Power System: Nuclear; average energy life of 30 years. Normally
refuels every 15 years
Market Cost: Top secret! Not available; but costs hundreds of
millions of credits to build with all the standard features and weapons.
Weapon Systems:
Special Systems:
The submarine has all systems standard on a robot vehicle plus the following special features:
[Golden Age Weaponsmiths and Triax are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc.]
By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa ).
Copyright © 2001, Mischa. All rights reserved.
