The Aquilan Archives (The War against the Darkness/Great Crusades Lorebook)

Section II, Chapter 4

I do not own any pictures or other media used in the making of this chapter and all credit goes to the original creators.

(Some of this is additionally inspired by the Ancient Cache of Technologies and Gigastructural Engineering mods for Stellaris)
————————————————————

Chapter IV: Imperial Navy Ship Types.

—————————————————————

The Imperial Navy is one of the largest standing armadas in the known multiverse, with quadrillions, if not quintillions of active-duty vessels spread throughout both the 'Old' and 'New' Imperium (or even more).

Due in part to this, there are a multitude of different tonnage groupings and purpose-based sub-groups used to organize and identify different Imperial ship classes.

This chapter will go from smallest tonnage to largest, and then will go by armament size and given purpose. Nautical vessels will not be discussed here due to their rare usage and limited ship classes.

Also keep in mind that many ship-classes are inherently modular, and may have different specialized loadouts.

This chapter will also go over two-to-three letter hull codes (other than the standard IN or HIM) that designate the ship's purpose.

Also please note that the final features of each individual Imperial vessel are constructed and finalized by their first commanding officer/captain, as per Imperial tradition — this makes no two Imperial voidcraft the same, and nearly all have slight modifications commissioned by their first captains.
___________________________

Corvettes (o.5-2km long)(Escorts)
————————————————————-

Corvettes are the smallest recognized tonnage of Warship within the Imperium. They generally have a light armament, armor, and few uses beyond escort and anti-piracy duties. The few truly multipurpose vessels of this tonnage are nearly always Heavy Corvettes. Additionally, Corvettes generally sacrifice shields for heavier armor, or heavy armor for shields; this is primarily due to the lack of space for both (an exception being Heavy Frigates). On the bright side they are cheap and expendable, and able to be produced extremely quickly.

Scout Corvettes:

Scout corvettes are little more than oversized gunboats equipped with long-range augur arrays that are sent in to scout enemy territory or to explore wild space. Generally they are used for light transport duties as well.

Light Corvettes

Light Corvettes are slightly larger than scout corvettes and are generally fitted to a specific role, such as transport, escort, point-defense, and bombardment. They are more durable than scout-frigates but are mainly regulated to patrol and anti-piracy.

Heavy Corvettes

Heavy Corvettes are the most common type of corvette seen, and the most widely-produced. They have much better shields and armor when compared to other types of corvettes (and additionally have both shields and armor). They have much heavier armaments than other corvettes and often see frontline usage as light escorts and in frigate-hunting Wolfpacks (which isolate individual frigates).
___________________________

Frigates (2km-5km)(Escorts)
————————————————————-

Frigates are the second-smallest class of Imperial Warship and are generally treated as light or battle-line escorts. They are often somewhat multipurpose in their roles, and are expendable . . . Something the Imperium truly needs in its conflict with the Archenemy. This is not to say they are not valued, as generally they are exceedingly capable vessels for their roles. This is the first tonnage to nearly always have shields and armor, though one is generally still heavier than the other. They oftentimes act away from fleets in Battlegroups or frigate-wolfpacks lead by cruisers of some sort, and are assigned to low-risk missions when not with their fleet. They are also used in a ground-side fire-support role as exceedingly heavy gunships. They may reach up to 5km, but this is relatively rare in accordance with their role.