Ship of the Week: Home One

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

Endor wasn't a 'small task force' at all, Seafort. It was a massive attack force, comprising of most, if not all the Rebel Alliance Fleet.

[Deepcrush]

I think large or small task force is relative to the forces involved. The Empire had about 50 ISDs but had the Executor there. The Rebel fleet was about 2/3s that size, but needed a command ship only 1/5 the size.

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

I think large or small task force is relative to the forces involved. The Empire had about 50 ISDs but had the Executor there. The Rebel fleet was about 2/3s that size, but needed a command ship only 1/5 the size.

No, it was the entire Rebel Fleet. 24 large vessels and hundreds of smaller ones, all lead by the Home One.

[Deepcrush]

We're talking about cap ships, not fighters.

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

We're talking about cap ships, not fighters.

I'm talking about cap ships too. There were hundreds of them in the Rebel Command Fleet, Corellian Corvettes, Nebulon-B-class Frigates, smaller Mon Calamari cruisers, corellian battleships, Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers, Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruisers, Quasar Fire-class Bulk Cruiser, Kessialan Blockade Runners, Corellian Gunships, GR-75 Transports, Braha'tok-class Gunships and Alderannian Gunships. There were hundreds of them in the Rebel Fleet, supplamanting the MC80's and MC80a's in the fleet.

[Deepcrush]

Umm... since when?

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

Umm... since when?

That they're Cap Ships or their numbers? We heard from various sources there were hundreds of smaller capital ships that the Rebel Fleet was using in the battle from the novel, EU, etc. and On Screen evidence. This was a kind of desperate attack, where they were throwing the bulk of their fleet into the attack to destroy the second Death Star and kill the Emperor. There were 500 starfighters and hundreds of capital ships.

In Star Wars, any ship larger than 100 meters is classified as a Cap Ship.

[Deepcrush]

You're over shooting the numbers by a bit but that really doesn't matter. The point still stand thaty if you have 50 caps or 500. The command needs dont change much. Which leaves that you don't need an 18km ship if a 4km can do the same job.

[Graham Kennedy]

Isn't it kind of important that your command ship doesn't get itself blown up, though? For that reason I would think that you would want to use a pretty powerful - and hence large - ship.

Though I guess you could use a small one on the "hide the tree in the forest" principle.

[Sionnach Glic]

While you could easily use a Neb-B as a command ship, you wouldn't really want to due to the ease with which it could be destroyed. Having your command ship be the largest and most powerful ship in the fleet does serve a reason: it makes it harder to bring down.

Also, IIRC, the Rebel Fleet at Endor numbered about as much as an Imperial Sector Fleet.

[Deepcrush]

Home One was some little frigate. She was a 4km warship. Seeing how most ships in SW are under 2km, Home One works just fine for being a command ship. Plus again we already know it works.

When I was reading about Home One I found some very interesting stuff.
She didn't have 29 turbolasers, this was the battery count with each having 5 turbolasers. This gives her a total of 145 turbolasers. A number which sounds much better. It would also explain the EU where she is always a hero ship. No standard ISD has a hope of going up against Home One and winning.

[Captain Seafort]

What reason is there to replace a working ship with something so much larger and more costly? Is it just because you want something bigger? The Home One is a solid Heavy Cruiser/Carrier/Command ship design. Proven in battle, being the most important thing.

She's certainly a very effective design for her size, but she doesn't have anything like the firepower to go toe-to-toe with battleships (i.e. 10km+ ships) - for that you need other battleships

This didn't make sense so I think you're saying "I'm suggesting using them as the backbone of the fleet, but NOT as commanding ships for large formations."

Quite right. Bloody typos.

In which case if you're going to be building ships of this class then why couldn't one of them be in charge of the others?

Because smaller ships are more flexible - given equal resources a fleet of Home Ones would be less numerous than a fleet of Liberties with a Home One command ship. Given that fleet actions make up only a small part of naval warfare, that flexibility is critical.

That's right, designs proven to be superior in almost every way. So why shouldn't they? It wasn't until the Nebula Class SD that Imp designs caught up to MonCal.

Mon Cals were technically superior, but the dagger-form design of the Imp ships gave better firing arcs. Why not combine the two and get the best of both worlds (as seems to have been done with the Neb)?

If we count the ISD as the standard cruiser design. Then the Liberty would be closer to a light cruiser and the Home One design would fair as a good heavy cruiser.

I agree with the relative placements, but not the absolute definitions. The Imperial-class Star Destroyer was too small to be considered a cruiser (except in the general sense of a ship that cruises). It was, as the name states outright, a destroyer.

Though I would agree that per the cost of a MonCal design the Liberty is not cost effective. Seeing how the MonCal's will be out numbered, they have to have ships that can atleast be a promised win vs a ISD. The Liberty was not that ship.

Agreed. The solution, therefore, is a new class of ship, capable of taking on ISDs and Tectors and be confident of winning. Assigning Home One types to that role is overkill.

Then she's twice the size and power of the standard cruiser OF THE TIME.

Not even close. These are star cruisers:

The Mediator was a single ship, not a class run that I've ever heard of.

Making one of ships when you've got the resources of a galaxy to draw on makes no sense.

Are you saying that the Home One design isn't able to hold out against an ISD? Battle of Endor showed that this isn't the case. The Home One held out very well and brought in a large payload of fighters. This is the perfect Battle-Carrier that you speak of.

Exactly - I'm simply pointing out that fighters are not the be-all and end-all of Wars combat by a very long strech

Why couldn't you upgrade them further?

Gutting the heavy guns for hangers isn't an upgrade - quite the opposite.

Heart of small task forces? Yet again, why? Why should they be limited to small groups?

They shouldn't, however for those missions where a small group is all you need, a Home One would be an excellent flag.

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

Seafort, the Home One is classified as either a Mon Calamari Battleship or Mon Calamari Heavy Cruiser. At 3.8 kilometers long, she is more than large enough to handle commands over a massive fleet. And not being able to beat an ISD? So I guess all those times that it did beat multiple ISD's don't count huh?

[Captain Seafort]

Endor wasn't a 'small task force' at all, Seafort. It was a massive attack force, comprising of most, if not all the Rebel Alliance Fleet.

Which just goes to show how pathetically small the Alliance fleet was. It was massively outgunned by a single sector group, reinforced by Death Squadron. By comparison the CIS Coruscant attack force and the Republic's 5th Open Circle Fleet each mustered thousands of warships of destroyer size and upwards.

Seafort, the Home One is classified as either a Mon Calamari Battleship or Mon Calamari Heavy Cruiser.

I'm not talking about official classifications, I'm talking about the size of the ship relative to the destroyers, cruisers, battleships and dreadnoughts of the galaxy's premier fighting force - the Imperial Starfleet.

At 3.8 kilometers long, she is more than large enough to handle commands over a massive fleet.

As Rochey pointed out, a Neb-B could handle fleet C3. However, as Graham pointed out, it makes sense to command from the most powerful ship in the fleet, and for big fleets, rather than the ignsignificant forces engaged at Endor, the biggest ships should be Star Dreadnoughts like the Executor and Viscount classes.

And not being able to beat an ISD? So I guess all those times that it did beat multiple ISD's don't count huh?

What are you waffling about? Where did anyone say she couldn't take down an ISD?

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

Must of misread, I thought you said she couldn't beat an ISD.

Endor was a large battle in terms of tonnage, I'd wager. 24-30 MC80 Liberty-type, 3 Home One type, Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, 500 meter bulk cruisers of different types, Neb-B Frigates, hundreds of Corellian Corvettes...vs 50+ ISD's, 1+ VSD, 1+ TSD, 1 ESD...