Allanooka Case Study

This case study was made during the finalisation of the Allanooka class Scout Frigate's design process.

## General Information Surrounding the Class

On the 24th June 2115, the Oceanian Federation gazed outside of Sol, hoping to explore the vastness of space. Research on Jump Theory had just begun, hopefully creating the torch to illuminate the darkness of space. As a result, plans for a interstellar survey ship had been hatched.

The Allanooka class Scout Frigate was to be the first ship class that was jump travel capable, with the intention of exploring systems outside of Sol. Due to the threat of the Aether Raiders, a ship that would've likely been unarmed became armed.

Specifications for the unarmed variant didn't get past the discussion phase, as due to the Aether Raiders, the armed version took precedent.

The armed version was originally designed to be 7,500 tons, have a moderate compliment of missile launchers, be relatively fast and be a suitable survey and sensor platform. Unfortunately, due to tonnage constraints at the OSC Naval Yard, the ship had to be downsized to 5,400 tons which severely limited the capability of the design.

## Timeline of Design

Design process started on the 12th March 2119 and continued till the 7th May 2120.

1. 12th March 2119 - Design started and main components were identified for research.
2. 13th March 2119 - Designing halted until High Density Duranium Armour was completed due to tonnage concerns.
3. 1st April 2119 - Research into the SUVLS (12.5T) and ASR-4a was started, being the main weapon system of the Allanooka class Scout Frigate.
4. 16th September 2119 - Research into the SUVLS (12.5T) and ASR-4a was completed.
5. 16th Jan 2120 - Research completed for High Density Duranium Armour. Other components could continue research.
6. 7th May 2120 - All other components needed for ship construction were completed. Ship design completed.

## Limitations of the Design and Why

The Allanooka class Scout Frigate was originally designed to be 7,500 tons, giving it enough space to competently complete all the tasks it had been assigned. Due to the design now having to fit a slipway of 5,400 tons, much of the combat, sensor and surveying power had to be reduced in order to create a usable ship. The ship was still very functional in its role, but didn't excel in any area particularly.

The main cause of the limit in tonnage was due to improper expansion of the OSC Naval Yard to 7,500 tons from 5,000 tons. While the design was talked about prior to any component research or even a blueprint, plans for expanding the yard didn't occur until the 1st January 2119. At that point, it had been realised that the original design for the ship would no longer be reachable.

There were some secondary reasons for why the design was the way it was.

The first of these was the threat of the Aether Raiders. Evidence of them was discovered on Pluto on the 17th February 2113, causing any thoughts or discussions of unarmed survey vessels venturing outside of Sol to very quickly disappear. Due to this threat, the Allanooka class Scout Frigate had to have weapon systems installed to protect the crew and potentially the Oceanian Federation Colonies if needed. This change from a purely scientific vessel to a mixed scientific military vessel caused much strain on the tonnage allocation that each component could have, as now weapon systems were needed. Thoughts of a two-ship survey team were floated, with one dedicated survey and one dedicated military ship, to try and help alleviate the tonnage allocation problem but due to the lacking military shipyards, this idea was abandoned.

The second of these was the possibility of a mineral crunch. At the time of designing, much of the Oceanian Federation's mineral income came from comets. Corundium, Gallicite and Mercassium were all comet-exclusive minerals at this point, as Earth had exhausted the deposits for them. The comets also wouldn't last forever, so it was decided that waiting for larger shipyard capacity wasn't an option. This lack of ability to push back the design meant that it had to suffer from much lower tonnage than desired and without being able to do much about it.

## Mismatch in Planning and Action

During the design process, many mismatches in planning and actions were discovered. Some of them severe while other minor or turning out to be positives.

The most severe of these was the lacking shipyard capacity leading to a stunted design. This had occurred due to very poor prior planning in terms of expanding the OSC Naval Yard. This was the sole reason for the stunted design, as it had originally been planned for 7,500 tons. This meant that the armour was severely lacking, being only one layer instead of three. This made the addition of the 15cm LAKA 60/4 II questioned somewhat due to close-combat concerns. Survey sensors also had to be cut back, with 1 gravitational survey sensor being removed. The missile armament only contained 4 launchers instead of the 6-8 hoped for and the ship was much slower than what had been desired, Starting off at 2500 km/s and ended up around 1400 km/s. While these issues didn't doom the ship, it was only a shadow of its planned self.

Almost all the remaining issues were moderate to minor and could be dealt with without too much hassle. The only moderate issue was the discovery of how lopsided research priorities had been. This was particularly noticeable with the armour, being outdated for military ships and sensors being fairly insensitive and lacking detection range at lower component tonnages.

The lopsided nature of the research did have some positives, with engine technology being rather developed, for the ship itself and the missiles it carried. It allowed for needed adjustments that really helped the positives of the design flourish. The engine priority did also lead to favourable reactor technology, that allowed for some tonnage to be saved for extra deployment time.

There were only 2 issues with components themselves and they were somewhat related to each other. The LAKA SWFC (144k/2000) had been overengineered for the 15cm LAKA 60/4 II, having too high of a targeting range without providing much more of an accuracy bonus. This meant that the 100 tons that the fire control took up was being wasted, where a 50 ton fire control would've been perfectly acceptable. The 15cm LAKA 60/4 II that was on the ship was questioned on its usefulness as well, as the armour would not be able to tank shots while engaging an Aether Raider ship. The railgun was inevitably kept, as it provided some limited point-defence and could be used as a last resort weapon if needed.

Overall, the issues heavily outweighed the good things that came with the ship, but the ship was still capable of doing the tasks it needed to, just a lower capacity than wanted.

## Lessons to Learn

The main and most important lesson to learn is that shipyards need to be prepared for the design that's being introduced. This means that way before the design gets underway, the shipyard needs time for a capacity expansion.

The lack of alternative shipyards was also a problem, which was identified before this study was written, and had started being rectified on the 15th December 2119.

A more difficult to implement lesson was that research priorities need to be more evenly spread. Due to the commercial nature of research before this point, it would've been difficult to identify problems earlier on but now military ships are becoming more important. This means that research will need to be more evenly split between each specialisation, hopefully stopping certain categories from falling too far behind. This likely more more research labs and/or cutting back on some categories like Power and Propulsion.

Aside from those, a more realistic approach to ship designs may be warranted, with certain ships being specialised to certain roles. This needs the shipyard numbers and capacity need to be sufficient and has its own downsides. This may stop ships from become jack-of-all-trades but not being good at any of them and is definitely something to look into for future military designs.

## Final Notes

The Allanooka class Scout Frigate, while flawed will likely go on to be a reliable vessel, able to do the tasks assigned to it but never having its heyday as the ship to be remembered. It will, however, live on as a living reminder as the Oceanian Federation's first attempt in proper military ship design and being a major learning experience as such.

We hope this report is taken seriously, as any mishaps like this in the future may become major problems.

- Oceanian Board of Naval Designs (7th May 2120)