These builds are just going to keep on coming, so enjoy. This is something I started on as a break from the Aurora-class cruiser and eventually turned into a proper project. My airship fleet is pretty set for main combatants but currently has no logistics capabilities to maintain it. As a result, I built a fast combat support ship to provide replenishment underway for a Dauntless carrier strike group. These ships are fast enough to keep up with the strike group and armed to hold their own if necessary, but their primary role is to extend the range of the entire group and resupply vessels with fuel, food, ammo, and parts and keep the Air Navy operational as best as possible.

Specs!


Class: Ariadne

Type: Fast Combat Support Ship (Designation SAOE)

First Flown: 2/22/16

Length: 204m

Width: 39m

Height: 40m

Armament:

• • • 1 5-in naval cannon
      

• • • 6 25mm cannons.
      

• • • 2 Arrow Dynamics M22 Free-Electron Laser CIWS
      

• • • 2 Phalanx CIWS systems (nonfunctional)
      

• • • 1 Trojan Technologies 2-barreled high-explosive 20mm Defense Cannon System
      

Top Speed: Mach 2

Powerplant: 1 Mk V Cold Fusion Reactor

Thrust: 2 Fixed Nuclear Thrusters

Lift: 8 Fixed Nuclear Thrusters

Displacement: 26,000 tons

Commissioned Ships:

• • Skyship Ariadne (SAOE-218)
    

• • Skyship Arachne (SAOE-219)
    

• • Skyship Persephone (SAOE-220)
    

• • Skyship Phaedra (SAOE-221)
    

Crew: 130 (115 enlisted, 15 officers)

Operating Ceiling: 45,000 feet

Cost: $230 million Skylord Dollars

Auxiliary Aircraft:

• • 1 SH-66 Shrike General-Purpose Helicopter
    

The Ariadne was born out of an Air Navy requirement for an ample general-purpose replenishment fleet to ensure the various strike groups and forces could stay in the fight as long as necessary. When the combatant fleet switched to heavier-than-air, the preceding Apollo-class lighter-than-air fast combat support ships found themselves far outrun by the much speedier and more maneuverable carriers and combat vessels they were desperately trying to keep supplied, and their diesel engines ran out of gas long before heavier-than-air fusion reactors came close to needing refilling. Very quickly the Ariadne program was implemented to fix a dangerous gap in Air Naval capabilities, and the result, while rushed, performed admirably. The Ariadne-class is relatively small compared to the Navy's giant Weathershield and Space Fleet's massive Sprinter classes of AOE, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in speed and maneuverability. It can easily match the Sentinel and Indomitable class cruisers for agility. Due to the efficiency of fusion in airships and the move towards room-temperature superconductors over nuclear thrusters, most of the Ariadne's internal space is devoted to dry and refrigerated goods and ammunition, the commodities far more likely to run out in an Air Navy group at any given time. Because of this structure, Brony Aerospace installed side doors in the lower flank of the hull, allowing the vessel to land and take on vehicles and supplies from the ground. This also makes the Ariadne-class a capable landing and assault ship for airborne operations, although due to their small number, the UTS Marine Corps has only tried utilizing them in two exercises. The success of the tests has led the Admiralty to pursue additional Ariadnes modified for fire support and troop carrying, however, so an airborne assault ship might be on the way. Still somewhat new to the fleet, the Ariadnes avoided much of the aerial combat of the Netherborn and ITS incursions, although the Persephone and Arachne did join the massive task force of Operation Free Will, invading the Verge Universe to put an end to Imperial Skylord aggression once and for all. They saw little combat, but served a vital role in running supplies from the portals around the world to wherever Free Will forces needed them. A somewhat rushed ship with great potential, the Ariadne will do well as a multipurpose aerial warship.