Support Escort Deployment and Tactics: A Feasibility Study
Contents
Title
A Feasibility Study
Tactics and Strategic PlanningAuthor
Commander, USS Gettysburg, CA-1863
Abstract
The Cicero-class, along with its scientific counterpart the Lanthanum-class, designed to provide support to facilities and installations, will provide a cheap and easy-to-build alternative to modern warships; fulfilling convoy escort, rear-area security and short-range scout missions while remaining nonthreatening to the Federation’s neighbours.
Introduction
In late 2418, the military appropriations committee announced a build-down in so-called “tactical” units for Star Fleet in order to appease our galactic neighbours and divert resources towards ships of exploration rather than war. While this is a laudable goal, Star Fleet has historically never had the ships it needed to adequately fulfil its mandate as a humanitarian armada/border patrol/police force. This build down threatens to further stretch Star Fleet’s resources thin, as the civilian government focus on scientific endeavours that ignore the needs of the Federation beyond the core worlds. This paper aims to provide a solution to the problem caused by ‘demilitarising’ Star Fleet through the increased production and deployment of Support Escorts in various roles, rather than hamstringing the current inventory of vessels by chaining them to bases.
Personnel and Resource Distribution
According to a recent Star Fleet Corps of Engineers memorandum, one Frigate-sized vessel of Berlin- or Yeager-class masses at seventy-five thousand tons, and takes upwards of eighteen months from the keel being laid down to the first acceptance trials taking place. In contrast, a single Escort-size vessel of either the Cicero- or Lanthanum-class masses ten thousand tons, one-seventh of the total mass, and has an average build and fitting-out time of less than eight months. This means that two, perhaps even three Escorts can be completed in the time it takes to complete a single Scout, without requiring double or triple the number of dock-workers or building slips if several ships were constructed in concurrent runs.
Let us also consider the crew requirements of a single Escort: eight officers and sixteen enlisted crew for a total of twenty-four souls on board. This is a fraction of the personnel requirements for the Berlin-class Frigate or Sun-Tzu-class Destroyer, which have crews of sixty-nine and two-hundred-and-seventeen, respectively. From a personnel perspective, this means that three Escorts can be crewed using the same number of personnel as a Frigate, or nine Escorts for every Destroyer.
This allows Star Fleet to better distribute its personnel, and crucially allow younger officers to gain seniority and command experience in safer rear-area postings; experience that they may be denied if assigned to larger vessels with greater numbers of commissioned and enlisted personnel all vying for the same promotions. A greater pool of command-experienced officers and senior enlisted can only benefit Star Fleet as a whole should there be a Fleet expansion.
While operating aboard an Escort, crews are expected to live in close-quarters and engage with starship operations beyond their own departmental training in a manner similar to which Midshipmen are expected to ‘learn the ropes’ on the vessel they are first assigned; this creates a dynamic and close-knit team of officers and enlisted crew who are able to react to any situation or emergency with professionalism and the skills required, regardless of rank, department, or specialism.
Such distribution of personnel has its drawbacks, however, as trained and experienced Commanding Officers and First Officers will be required for each vessel; thus depriving other vessels of members of their senior staff. Furthermore, officers and senior enlisted who gain seniority aboard Escorts may find it difficult to integrate into postings aboard larger vessels or installations, especially in situations where the chain of command is adhered-to more rigidly, and inter-departmental training is not as highly valued.
Flexibility
The detractors of small vessels, namely to be counted upon command and staff officers who have spent the majority of their careers aboard ships of Cruiser-size or above, are often the first to point out the flaws in assigning Escorts to exploratory or diplomatic missions. The argument used often revolving around limited scientific equipment or a total lack of diplomatic facilities, though the confined living conditions with few amenities are often used to further reinforce the point that Escorts are not a viable choice for long-term operations.
However, Star Fleet’s current modus operandi revolves mainly around short-duration assignments, usually lasting no more than several months, before the vessel returns to its home port or other facility to rest the crew and resupply. The shorter duration of most missions assigned to Star Fleet vessels within Federation borders means that, even in cramped conditions and a sharing barracks room with eleven other members of the crew, an Escort’s crew will likely not suffer any ill-effects of their close confines, lack of Holodecks, or shared accommodation.
Let us once again consider the distribution of personnel and resources; a Frigate can perform one task in one area at a time, while the same number of crew aboard Escorts can be deployed to three locations and complete triple the amount of work. Likewise, in the convoy-escort role, a division or squadron of Frigates or Destroyers can escort at most two medium-sized convoys; though a similar number of Escorts would be required to provide adequate convoy protection, this would be at a fraction of the cost of materiel or personnel. The same is true of rear-area scouting missions; where a Yeager-class might survey a single planet or map a single nebula in a month, spreading the crew across a trio of Escorts would enable triple the number of planets to be surveyed or nebulae mapped for the same expenditure of personnel and materiel.
It is also worth noting that, while a Berlin- or Yeager-class are considered by Star Fleet’s “elite” to be the perfect rear-area vessels, the derision cast upon the Escort classes by these individuals are often made in error; the FSMSA-3 sensor palette carried by the Cicero at least the equal of most larger vessels, and is only outclassed by the dedicated scientific sensors of the Lanthanum- and Einstein- classes of science vessels. Likewise, the HSCS-4 computer is one of the most powerful and efficient on a ship of its size; able to easily monitor and control every function aboard ship with only minor user interaction. A single Cicero-class may require more time on-station to complete a mapping assignment than a Yeager-class due to the smaller number of scientific experts aboard, but despite the extended timeline, Star Fleet’s operating costs will be significantly lower.
It is, however, the firepower and shield strength of the Escort classes that draw the most derisive of comments from those at Star Fleet Command; two Type-G Phasers and a single Microtorpedo Launcher (omitted from the Lanthanum in favour of a Micro-Probe Launcher) are not the makings of a true warship, and nor do Escort crews pretend that their ships can go toe-to-toe with anything much bigger than they are. What this firepower arrangement is better suited for is driving off pirates or low-level raiders, subduing vessels suspected of smuggling, or providing cover-fire against a larger aggressor as the vessels they are escorting withdraw; against such opponents, Support Escorts must use their agility and speed to outmanoeuvre their opponent, buying their charges time with their lives, if necessary. Once again, three Support Escorts can engage as many targets as one Frigate, while also providing triple the number of targets for an aggressor to engage and reducing the number of lives lost by a factor of three if one were to be destroyed.
Force Manipulation
Perhaps the most crucial advantage of the Escort classes, as discussed in previous sections, is the ability to build and deploy multiple vessels for the same personnel and resource levels as one larger vessel. This allows a wider distribution of vessels to “fly the flag” within the Federation, as well as along low-risk areas of the border.
This advantage is most apparent when assigned as escorts to convoys, VIP transports or as outriders and scouts for Star Fleet Battle Groups; three Escorts carry more energy weapons than the single Frigate that the crews might otherwise have been assigned to, on triple the number of hulls for under half the Frigate’s overall tonnage. This creates target saturation, forcing aggressors to engage multiple vessels while allowing Escorts to engage a single aggressor from multiple angles, or to engage multiple aggressors individually; a tactic that has been demonstrated in the past by foreign powers; the Cardassian Hideki-class Escorts and the Klingon Birds of Prey all amply demonstrated the effectiveness of packs of small vessels during the Dominion War and later conflicts, while more recently the Romulan Star Empire has deployed its Pveer-class Attack Craft and Aeh’lla-class Scouts in large numbers to devastating effect on its enemies.
Why then, do we not see more Escorts in forward or combat roles? The answer is reasonably simple: while the Klingons actively look for an honourable death in battle and the Romulans have been known to crew their Attack Craft with crews awaiting execution for crimes against the state or operate them remotely, Star Fleet does not share its neighbours’ views on expendable assets, and is not willing to put ships or crews directly in harm’s way, regardless of any tactical or strategic advantages this may forfeit. While yes, a single Escort is much less resilient than a true combatant, it carries similar energy-based firepower as a Frigate, while accelerating faster and being much more manoeuvrable; this makes it harder to hit, and able to flank opponents even of Frigate or Destroyer scale to attack weak points or unshielded areas. This becomes more relevant when multiple Escorts harry the same target, depriving an opponent the opportunity to reinforce a particular area of their shields. Unfortunately, projected losses among Escort crews are reportedly sufficiently inflated to levels at which Star Fleet believes they are unsuited to combat roles, so this will likely never be proven outside of simulation.
Conclusion
Despite the conclusions of civilian analysts and bureaucrats, and the politicking of Cruiser Admirals at Star Fleet Command, the Escort classes should not be written off as ineffective beyond providing immediate support to outposts or capital ships.
Escort crews are, by and large, some of the most competent within Star Fleet; the on-the-job cross-training they receive takes both commissioned and enlisted personnel to a level of cross-departmental competence beyond what is expected of Midshipmen on training cruises, and produces potentially first-rate senior officers and enlisted personnel who are better able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of other departments, and the limitations they may be working under. This will not only make them better senior officers and Department Heads, but allow a greater appreciation of the efforts a crew is going to when the officer is eventually promoted to command of their own.
The Escort itself is not an incapable platform; though conditions are not ideal for long-term operations, the Escort is well-suited to the kind of short-term border patrol and flag-waving missions that Star Fleet is currently prioritising. Likewise, Escorts can ensure safe passage for a number of convoys through areas of less well-travelled space, and in sufficient numbers can protect their charges from all but the most determined of assaults from modern warships.
The cost-effectiveness of the Escort compared to larger vessels of even Frigate or Destroyer type means that forward and independent deployment of Escorts would relieve pressure on both the traditionally overworked crews of Star Fleet’s larger vessels, but also on the Federation’s military budget; in times like these, with the rebuilding after the Krynar Crisis, cheaper alternatives can only be considered a boon.
Escorts are, therefore, not the waste of resources many among the Admiralty consider them to be; though not as individually capable as many larger vessels in specific roles, there is no duty an Escort cannot fulfil. The only barrier to the Escort proving itself as a truly effective member of the Star Fleet repertoire is the members of the Federation Council and the Admiralty who prevent its deployment in anything other than outpost-bound obscurity.
