Star Knight Saga Lore: The Baden-Powell, Lord Roland's Starship

Baden-Powell (Longboat-class)

General & Technical Data
Class: VGSS-CS-M20
Name: Longboat
Ships of the Line: Longboat, Baden-Powell, et. al.
Unit Type: Corvette
Manufacturer: Shipwright's Guild, Earth
Operator: Vatican Solar Guard (Baden-Powell: Sir Ramsey Hennepin, Lord Roland)
First Deployment: AD 2950
Length: 100 meters
Width: 35 meters
Height: 20 meters
Crew: 2 (capacity for another 10, albeit in cramped conditions)
Armament: Tri-gun beam cannon in dorsal universal turret, missile launchers x2 (fixed forward, recessed in ventral hull).
Compliment: Destrier-style hover cycle x2.

Technical & Historical Notes

The Longboat is an old design, but it remains in service because it served as a first-order field testbed for many technological refinements that would go into more recent designs. Originally designated for long-range reconnaissance patrols and other similar scouting duties, the Longboat's ease of maintenance and rugged design made it a venerated favorite even for Guard officers who went on to the Admiralty.

It is now most often seen in service now as a litoral cutter across the Terran system performing customs and law enforcement functions, but its capacity to operate at long range for long lengths of time make it ideal for covert operations and several are still used in this capacity. Others remain in use as scouts, performing their original duties, often in conjunction these days with backup from a nearby Arrowhead-class cruiser if required.

Common Longboats use the universal turret on the dorsal side, but mount only a single beam cannon. There is no provision for mecha storage, requiring external mountings to carry any, but the duty profile of this ship class rarely calls upon needing such a capacity. Powered armor can be kept in the modest hold, but ground craft or a small boat are more common.

Certain older models have been retired from active duty and are seconded to honorably retired Guardsman willing to use it in private service on condition of reporting their doings to the Guard periodically as well as remaining in the Reserve for emergency recall. It is this provision that allows the Guard to routinely assign such ships to their elite class.

When Sir Ramsey Hennepin of Earth became the 13th Lord Roland in AD 2995, he received a reconditioned Longboat for his personal use as part of the panapoly of his new office. This recent refit upgraded many of the systems aboard, some of which were test-type items.

The turreted weapons were a new tri-cannon design; each barrel has its own traverse on the horizontal, allowing three targets to be engaged independently. (As of AD 2990 this was a test-type item; by 3001 it was being implemented throughout the fleet.) The power of these cannons were on par to what would be expected on larger capital ships, making Baden-Powell able to punch well above its weight class. (Deemed a successful test, but too expensive to make standard on subsequent refits of active units.)

The missile launchers, while standard, featured several new munitions types over the course of Sir Ramsey's adventures. Some did meet later approval for fleet-wide deployment and others remains reserved for limited use by elite actors. The automation aboard the ship easily allowed Sir Ramsey and one other to effectively operate the vessel, and Ramsey's access to Durendal made moot the lack of on-board mecha. It performed like a fighter in its flight operations, allowing it to keep pace with units such as the Sun Imperium's Ryujin units (a high-performance transformable design by House Kawamori).

It would remain as the 12th Lord Roland's personal starship until the conclusion of the Battle of Onares in AD 3010, where it was lost in the final moments of the battle.