Neptune Submarine

Neptune Submarine
Production information
Manufacturer	Galtor Naval Yards
Mission	Main Battle (Blue Water)
Type	Submarine
Cost	8,586,000 C-bills
Technical specifications
Mass	100 tons
Armor	14.5 SeaSlab Standard
Engine	270 Doorman Naval HyPerOx I.C.E.
Speed	54 km/h
Crew	7
Armament	1 x Large Laser 1 x LRT-20 2 x SRT-6
BV (1.0)	604
BV (2.0)	963

Description

The Neptune submarine, put into service by Galtor Naval Yards in 2950, was designed by House Davion as a means to defend their underwater command posts from enemy attacks, after they had adopted the strategy to build fixed command posts underwater to protect the vital installations from orbital or aerospace bombardment there as well as from most ground units; even BattleMechs operate at limited efficiency underwater. The Neptune proved effective in this role during the 4th Succession War, and was a common defensive unit on Federated Suns (and later Federated Commonwealth) worlds with aquatic installations. After Galtor's conquest by House Kurita during the 4th Succession War, the Draconis Combine began to deploy the Neptune on their worlds as well.

The Neptune utilizes a double hull, rated for a depth of up to one kilometer. The outer hull has fourteen and a half tons of armor protection. The Neptune's Doorman Naval ICE is a diesel design, operating as a normal engine on the surface (or up to twelve meters using a snorkel system) but able to burn a mix of diesel and hydrogen peroxide underwater. Its periscope also extends to a height of twelve meters.

Armament

Being a submarine, the Neptune is primarily armed with torpedo systems, navalized versions of proven missile launchers. For long range firepower, it mounts a Sea Devastator LRT-20 Long Range Torpedo system with twenty tubes, though it only has enough ammunition to fire six volleys. Twin Sea Harvester SRT-6 Short Range Torpedo systems provide close range firepower, again with only a single ton of ammunition between them. As a backup weapon, or for use in attacking land targets, the Neptune also mounts a single Sutel XII Large Laser.

Variants

• LRT - Designed to counter an issue with limited reloads, the LRT variant of the Neptune replaces the Sutel XII with another Sea Devastator LRT-20 launcher and three additional tons of ammunition.

• SRT - Similar to the LRT variant, the SRM variant also removed the Sutel XII to make room for three additional Sea Harvesters and increased ammo for both sets of launchers.

• Hunter-Killer - This version drops the laser and reconfigures the torpedo launchers. In the front it mounts four SRT-6's with three tons of ammunition between them and one LRT-15 with two tons of ammunition. A LRT-5 and a SRT-4 with one ton of ammunition each were added to the rear. The vessel's armor was reduced by two tons, although the rear armor was actually improved over the basic version.

Named Vessels

• FSS Ward - The Federated Suns Ship Ward was a Hunter-Killer variant of the Neptune which served during Kurita's Galtor campaign of 3025. The ship was lead vessel of a "Wolfpack" of four other Neptune Submarines. On May 18th, Ward engaged Kurita 'mechs in water, making their way to underwater planetary command base off the coast of New Derry. The Ward itself managed in destroying a Kurita Jenner, however they were decoys for lance of incredibly fast commando submarines. Later found to be called Koryus, these ships sped past the Ward's Wolfpack and managed to deliver it payload of DEST Commandos to the Davion base. Unfortunately, the Ward and her near-sister ships were too slow catch them in time. After the DEST Commandos destruction of the Command base, the Ward and its Wolfpack were resigned to patrol coast of city of Eire rest of the campaign.

Bibliography

• Combat Operations
• Historical Turning Points: Galtor
• Record Sheets: 3039
• Technical Readout: 3026
• Technical Readout: 3026 Revised
• Technical Readout: 3039