Hi all!
Abhainn-/Chevallier-Class Fast Fleet Support Ship
After the second World War, Thiaria had to cede most of her warships, but retained much of her support fleet. There was however one remarkable exception. Together with the Germans, they had pioneered one-stop replenishment at sea, using a single ship type to carry both liquid and dry stores. This approach had worked remarkably well and provided the Thiarian fleet with a kind of staying power all out of proportion to its modest size. Therefore, all remaining fast fleet support ships were confiscated upon armistice and divided between the victors. To support their remaining warships, the Thiarians were down to four River-class tankers, which had been designed to civilian specifications, and a few ammunition ships based on civilian freightliners. Due to the cut-down size of the fleet, this would be enough for the time being. Blue-water aspirations in the early sixties led to the acquisition of two used Essex-Class carriers in the USA, but replenishment capabilities were not augmented before Thiaria’s flirt with communism after 1966, which put all fleet expansion plans on hold for the next eight years. By the mid-70s, the fleet was quite run-down, but the ongoing oil-boom allowed not only for the purchase of new warships, but also for a new support fleet. At that point, Thiaria opted for a mixed fleet of replenishment oilers and dry stores ships, four of each type; all were based upon contemporary French designs (Durance- and Jules-Verne-Classes). This programme was complete by the mid-1980s.
Unfortunately, the oilers, whose design was rated highly satisfactory, were single-hulled, which was perfectly OK in the 1970s, but became outlawed during the 2000s for safety reasons. Moreover, the Thiarian fleet was not satisfied with the dry stores ships, whose design dated back to the mid-60s and who lacked rapid transfer gear. Although the French oilers were retrofitted to transfer dry stores, the hull configuration could not be changed, so both navies were asked to replace their replenishment oilers by 2005, despite all being in good material shape. Both navies were in agreement that their future replenishment ships were to be of the combined, single-stop type; the French had already made that step with the Durance’s retrofit, and the Thiarians considered six dual-purpose replenishment ships a cheaper solution than four each tankers and dry stores carriers. A first basic design for a successor vessel was drawn up in 2006 in France under the designation BRAVE; it was chosen as baseline for a joint design and considerably enlarged and upgraded. The final design was approved in 2010, at a time when the extant replenishment ships were to be phased out already; they had to be operated with special permissions after 2010, which were repeatedly challenged by lawsuits from environmental organizations. That year, a contract for construction of eleven hulls was struck: Six for Thiaria, four for France and one for Argentina (the latter was cancelled in 2014 for financial reasons). Many fittings were jointly produced for both navies, and the sheer size of the project allowed for some economy of scale; unit cost could be limited to € 250 million despite design’s size and capability. The first hull was laid down in mid-2012 at Corcaigh, to be followed by one more every year, divided between the SCI- and Riordan-yards. Projected gestation time was four years per hull; the usual delays nearly doubled that for the class ship, which was commissioned early in 2019, and the sixth Thiarian ship was laid down as late as 2020. These delays require the Thiarian Durance-class oilers to be operated for an average of 40 years; two are currently still in service, alongside two of the new units, with a third undergoing acceptance trials. To bridge the gap, two civilian tankers have been leased in 2018 for eight years and fitted with refuelling gear removed from retired Durance-class vessels. Construction of the first French ship commenced in 2014; it was completed early in 2021 and will be commissioned around year’s end. The others will follow in two-year intervals; so far, the project is proceeding on schedule, although the French building pace is slower to begin with. The Thiarian Navy named their ships for rivers:
Ship / Pennant (laid down / launched / completed / commissioned)
Liathui / L44 (2012/2015/2018/2019)
Siorrad / L45 (2013/2016/2018/2019)
Sirannui / L46 (2016/2018/2020/2021)
Teabhainn / L47 (2017/2019/2021/2022)
Foire / L48 (2019/2021/2023/2024)
Cliud / L49 (2020/2022/2024/2025)
The French Navy named their ships for notable marine engineers.
Ship / Pennant (laid down / launched / completed / commissioned)
Jacques Chevallier / A625 (2014/2017/2020/2021)
Jacques Stosskopf / A626 (2016/2019/2022/2023)
Émile Bertin / A627 (2018/2021/2024/2025)
Gustave Zédé / A628 (2020/2023/2026/2027)
These double-hulled vessels comply with every relevant safety regulation and can operate worldwide without restrictions. They are built to military standards and have a certain amount of compartmentation, and very extensive damage control facilities. The originally planned heavy self-defence armament (the Thiarians wanted to mount a total of 64 VLS cells for VL-Mica and Polyphem missiles, plus four 30mm cannon) was axed during the construction process; the Thiarian ships now only mount two Millennium CIWS and four 13mm HMGs to deal with asymmetric threats. The relatively advanced electronics including an S-band 3D-radar and a full ESM suite were however retained. A considerable degree of automation kept crew requirements small, although it is still larger than on many contemporary replenishment vessels due to the relatively complex diesel-electric powerplant, which is capable of 24 knots. In this respect, these vessels are superior to every other European design and more properly comparable to the bigger US Supply-Class or Chinese Type 901, and the smaller Japanese/Kokoan Mashu-Class, currently being the largest and fastest replenishment ship type without gas turbine propulsion. They are not normally assigned a permanent helicopter but can accommodate one Znamenany Foiche heavy transport helicopter or two Caracals for VERTREP operations; the former is more usual, and the class ship LT Liathui has already carried two Foiches (one in the hangar and one on the pad) for prolonged operations. They are the only Thiarian ship class which regularly operate the heaviest helicopter in Thiaria’s inventory. As the French are among the Znamenany’s export customers for the Foiche, they will also operate Foiches from their Chevallier-Class replenishment ships. Like their predecessors, the French ships are equipped as command ships, which the Thiarian vessels are not. Both versions carry extensive medical facilities including operating and X-Ray rooms. For their primary job, they carry two double fuel transfer gantries, one stern refuelling position, two large and two small cranes; they carry two service boats and two RIHBs. Inflatable rescue floats for 240 persons are provided (on top of the hangar, in double rows). Their technical data are:
Displacement: 25.500 ts normal, 40.500 ts maximum
Dimensions: Length 213,00 m, Beam 27,00 m, Draught 8,50 m normal, 11,50 m maximum
Propulsion: Diesel-Electric; 2 OSD E-195 diesel generators, powered by 4 Nairn D42N-4 diesels (80.000 shp)
Speed: 24 knots maximum at normal displacement, 22 knots maximum fully loaded, 20 knots sustainable fully loaded
Range: 15.000 nm @ 18 kts
Crew: 150 (including 40 medical staff) + berthing for another 80
Armament: 2x 35mm Millennium Gun CIWS, 4x 13mm HMG, 8 water cannon for firefighting and as nonlethal weapons, hangar for 1x Foiche or 2x Caracal helicopters, helipad
Capacity: 12.000 m³ liquid stores (Diesel, Jet Fuel, Water, Lubricants), 3.000 m³ dry stores (incl. 250 m³ refrigerated), 16 containers
The class ship LT Liathui was commissioned on April 10th, 2019 and achieved FOC on October 1st, 2020. Her first deployment – accompanying a carrier battlegroup around LT Andraimeide – brought her into the Indian Ocean for joint exercises with Indian and Recherchean forces in demonstrative proximity of Lemurian waters.
Cheers
GD