The Avendahls destruction really stepped up Escalation for me. The Avendahl had always been my favourite ship in the entire Frontiers Saga, so I was very sad to see it go. It put up a grand fight, but now I'm speculation about its future.
It's captain is still alive - Navarro is arguably the best tactician in the series, possibly only beaten in space combat by Nathan. He will obviously get a new command, and I was thinking about the possible Jung assassination of the Captain of the protector class ship on Earth, so what about that?
Another possibility resides in the Industrial capacity of the PC. Obviously it wouldn't have been idling for 7 years, they must have managed to build an impressive fleet. Perhaps an entirely new class of ship? Maybe a new, beefed up version of the Avendahl, essentially a moving battle platform?
Personally, I'd like to imagine that Celestia has been rebuilt and that Navarro could command CV-03, if that ever does get built and the Explorer class ship like continues. What would you like to see happen to the Navarro and the Avendahl? Also, side note, names for his new ship?
It's stated in Escalation that the only armed systems in the PC were Takar and Darvano, both of which were defeated by the Jung. Takar was pressured into keeping its fleet size small by Navarro's threat of military action should its fleet expand beyond the size it needed for self-defense. Darvano was focused on rebuilding its civilian infrastructure while under the protection of the Avendahl. So, I doubt there are more military warships in the PC at the moment.
Now, we know that Navarro survived the destruction of the Avendahl because he wasn't aboard when the Jung attacked. More than likely we'll see him possibly later in the series in one of three ways. One, he'll join Dumar and the others at Dumar's resort somehow. Two, he'll reappear post-liberation of Corinar and assume command of a warship as you said. Three, the Jung learn his location and either capture or kill him.
I doubt the Celestia was rebuilt. All signs indicate that the Alliance focused on the construction of more jump-capable frigates (re-designated as destroyers) and only one Protector-class ship. The construction time for an Explorer-class ship is two years from laying of the keel to launch, meaning from the ceasefire to the resumption of hostilities the Alliance could have constructed two or three of them. But none were mentioned other than the Aurora. More than likely, as I said, the Alliance focused on the construction of destroyers and the design and construction of the Protector-class while abandoning the Explorer-class.
As for the Protector-class, I'm sorry but I feel like the lead ship should have been named Protector and not Cape Town. I'm sure an argument could be made about it, but to me naval tradition says the lead ship of the class is always named after the class itself. It's confusing too because in the books, the lead ship of the Defender-class is named Defender. However, the next class of Earth ship (the Explorer-class) has its lead ship named the Aurora when according to tradition it should have been named Explorer. For the Aurora to have its name, it should be the Aurora-class.
Because we are so far in the future, and after a near extinction-level plague, we get to play fast and loose with current tradition.
The explorer class ships were never meant to be warships. They were given those capabilities as a compromise. What made her so formidable was the fact that she had a jump drive, and the enemy did not. But she was lightly armored, and fast, and was expected to strike quickly and run away, not to stand and slug it out. The defender class ships were just the opposite. Lots of big guns, lots of missiles, and heavily armored. They were designed as warships, nothing else. It makes sense that the jump KKVs would become the primary long-range strike weapon, and that the Protector class ships (which are a redesign of the Defender class) would be used to defend the Sol sector. And since the Orbital Assembly Platform was destroyed, there was not existing infrastructure to take advantage of, hence, they were able to start from scratch.
The production of destroyers based on the Jung Frigate design was simply a matter of necessity. They needed to put out ships quickly, and the Cetian shipyards were already tooled for Jung Frigate production, and their workforce was trained for the task. A few alterations to the design, and jump drives, and you have Destroyers.
Considering the need for large numbers of ships and the application of weapons like the KKV / JKKV / and Jump Missile, why build any ships bigger then the Aurora? The Cape Town seems so wasteful (Wasteful as of now - in the future, when it does stuff, it will probably be amazing!!!)
(Yes, I know that there are 300+ Cobra's out there now, and their are likely 20+ Destroyers by now and that there were only 2 bigger ships - but the smaller ships are so much more useful)
That's something I always wonder about. Is bigger truly better? The smaller and faster (and more maneuverable as a consequence) ships must be that much harder to hit than one big battle platform. Of course, there's that much more firepower in a big ship - but couldn't a number of small ships make up for it? Especially if they happen to carry some JKKVs. Ah, well, if there's a swarm of leetle ships, then blindly firing into the swarm is bound to hit some.
Well vast fleets of tiny jump ships could end up wiping themselves out by mis-timing / making minor course errors on their combat jumps. Having the ability to take a hit would be handy on occasion. There is a need for big ships from time to time, but I wonder if Battleship (and bigger) sized ship is worth it when they could be taken out by a single J/KKV equivalent.
Big ships have there uses. (If for nothing else, then shock and awe.) They also serve as mobile bases of operations, and establish 'presence' in areas where one might not yet have any permanent bases.
Even with jump drives, there are still logistical challenges in operating offensive forces in distant areas. I would think that the key to operating a big ship safely is to keep it's location secret. Hard to target a big ship with a JKKV if you don't know where it is.
All things considered, however, I'd rather have a lot of destroyers than a lot of protectors. Just more flexibility. And that's really what the Alliance needs right now, since they have so many systems to protect.
Hmm, having a base of operations is indeed a very good reason to have the occasional big ship in your fleet. Although it must be quite challenging to keep such a ship hidden. Jump and hide might be the best possible solution in order to keep a big ship hidden, since it cannot cold-coast it if it's supposed to be a base. The logistics behind it must be complicated, though.
