Liberty Navy 46th Fleet - Internal Comms

[Levenna]

Incoming Transmission

---

Liberty Navy 46th Fleet
Security Clearance: < GRANTED >

---

Sender ID: Lt. Lillian Olson

Recipient: 46th Fleet High Command

Subject: 27/06/829| Project: UPPERCUT

---

Good day, Admirals.

I come to you today with a request. As I'm sure you are aware, Savannah has been spending much of her time of late in Vespucci, a place which can only be described as a harsh and unforgiving battleground. As Rear Admiral Brown had a chance to observe with her recent inspection, the Savannah and her crew have adapted to this environment by taking the opportunity to lighten our vessel as much as we can as to improve her manoeuvrability. As Savannah is perhaps best described as being fitted for long range fire support and anti-snub and gunboat picket duty, we found it imperative that we be able to escape any larger threats as easily as we could. Furthermore, in larger engagements, we have found the additional manoeuvrability from the lighter hull to greatly assist in avoiding damage. The caveat is, of course, that any damage we *do* receive is perhaps more problematic. It is a fine line to toe. Nonetheless, Savannah's modifications have certainly helped to extend the time we spend on deployment before being required to return to Norfolk for repairs, and the crew have grown used to the additional force put upon their bodies in heightened manoeuvring speeds.

On our most recent repair and refit, Savannah was seen fit to be equipped with a cloaking device. Prior to our departure to our next deployment, an idea struck me which I felt was worth the time to run simulations. With a cloaking device and Savannah's heightened manoeuvrability, I found her able to confuse and heavily damage, if not outright destroy, some battleship-class vessels which lack the cruise disruption technology essential to stopping a charging cloak. To put it simply, it's a matter of appearing, laying down as much firepower as possible, and disappearing again while taking minimal return fire, only to do it again seconds later.

Such a tactic is, of course, incredibly risky, especially due to the lack of shielding involved in such manoeuvres, however it is equally incredibly promising, especially if done in conjunction with other more regular forces employing conventional tactics. Any opponent, cruise disruptor or not, would either be forced to engage the fast, light cruiser which can retreat at will, or to ignore it and suffer the devastating hit-and-run attacks ad infinitum. Should the cruiser be consistently disrupted of course, it can simply revert to standard siege cruiser doctrine.

It is at this point that I make my request. As already pointed out, Savannah's loadout is sub-optimal for going toe-to-toe with a cruiser, let alone anything heavier. I would request that I be granted the opportunity to take a standard Archer-class, perhaps one already battle damaged or otherwise superfluous, and take it to Juneau to be modified in a similar way to Savannah however in a less ad-hoc manner, improving the ratio of internal protection lost to speed gained. It is likely that the power core will also require additional shielding as the armament for this hypothetical cruiser would put a significant degree of strain on it. I would ask that five pulse cannons be fit in lieu of any traditional anti-snubcraft primary weapons, in addition to two "Impact" heavy fire support cannons, as well as the traditional Star Lance forward gun as seen on any other Siege Cruiser. Crucially, a cloaking device would also be required to be able to fade after delivering the devastating alpha strike this armament promises. The purpose of this vessel would be to punch as far above its weight as the Archer chassis can manage. While any who crew it may require special training to better withstand the G forces involved in heavy manoeuvring, or perhaps even just a few weeks to acclimate to the higher rotational forces involved, it is my belief that a heavily specialised vessel such as this could potentially serve to remove or harass enemy capital ships which would otherwise require deployment of a battlecruiser-class vessel or above, freeing up such vessels to deploy as line ships where they are needed most.

As previously mentioned, tests of these types of tactics against an Atlantis-class carrier in training simulators were promising, with just Savannah winning in certain situations outright in a one-on-one with a ship three times her size, and dealing crippling damage on almost all attempts. It is my firm belief that with a dedicated platform for this kind of tactic, as well as refinement of the tactic itself, this performance could indeed be even further increased. Furthermore, such a platform would be devastating in a fleet fire support scenario, able to strip battleship shields in seconds allowing more mortars and other heavy weaponry from our dreadnoughts to strike the hull, all the while being difficult to deliver returning fire on due to the heightened speed of such a vessel. I would request that I be allowed to test the viability of this prototype for a few weeks after its modification from the standard Archer hull. Should results be dissatisfactory, modifications will be completely reversible to turn it in to a standard archer, as seen across the Navy, for use within the 46th fleet.

Given the purpose of the vessel, I have taken the liberty of fittingly naming this Project: UPPERCUT, and have tentatively named the hypothetical prototype LNX (Due to it not being a mainline warship) Uppercut to match.

I sincerely hope you see the value in my proposal, and allow me to explore it further.

-

---

Lillian Olson
Lieutenant
Liberty Navy 46th Fleet

---

< ACCESS GRANTED >

Attachments

None required.

---