Database and Lore

The Adalay Class Guided Missile Battleship

“These great warships mark the beginning of the UHN. It’s my dearest hope that it sets the road of a defensible military in protecting our space from whatever is out there,” Gabatrix, 2285 AD.            When the United Human Navy was forged, a singular warship class would form the beginning of the UHN. The Adalay marked a short time period that became known as the exploration era. Their goal was to explore and find new worlds. While the Adalay is mostly forgotten by most historical standards, their tribute to humanity hasn’t been lost. To know this warship class is to know the UHN’s infancy. Design            The Adalay class is the third guided missile battleship class to be introduced from the Deimos Shipyards of Mars. When the UHN was formed in the mid-2260s, a call was made to create a spaceship design that could handle the rigors of deep space. This resulted in the Deimos Class Battleship, the first “Exploration Battleship.” The goal of the ships was to push the Martian Military into launching deep space exploration missions and serve as a “Long Range Projection War Platform.” While the late years of the 2260s resulted in a few outer system deployments, there were simply not enough vessels to adequately perform that job. This mostly reduced the Deimos as an outer solar system defense warship. As more ships were built, the few sorties resulted in little exploration through the late 2270s.            It was the goal of the creation of the UHN to remedy this issue. The desire to find new habitable worlds and mining ventures was paramount. The military decided on a two- pronged measure to modernize and update all warships currently used. One method was to refit the older Ares class Battleship into long-range warships or, in other words, ships that carried advanced sensors and gate probes. The other method was to create the Adalay class.            The Adalay class battleship was an improved warship design over the Deimos class. However, there were only small updates to the overall frame. Besides a lengthened ship, updated weapons, and additional thrusters, the Adalay was a copy of the Deimos. It would be the last Martian warship design to carry and utilize the box rotating habitat module, which was uncomfortable to live in but “easy to transit” from compartment to compartment.            Much of the pre-UHN staff was pressured around the Adalay class and its design. A criticism made was that the new warships forced the ship designers to think “safely” about what worked. In the end, the Ares Refit, Deimos class, and new Adalay class would form the core of the new “exploration fleet,” whose goal was to defend fledgling colonies outside of the Sol system, conduct exploration deployments, and provide basic defense when needed. Twenty warships were put on order. History            The Adalay class proved to have very few issues upon commission. Again, this was mostly due to the near-direct copy of the already successful Deimos class. By now, the overall new UWA economy showed that all colonies could work in unison in creating new warships, even if they were already mostly Martian designs as it was. However, there were still debates on the expensive Ares refit movement that further put stress on the early UWA economy. Many of the UHN considered the actions to be absolutely necessary as the fleet status was still weak. Prior to the Ares refit and the first ship of the Adalay class completion, only 13 battleships had gate folding capability. With rotational maintenance cycles, it would further reveal that the UHN needed more to defend its borders.            However, by the late 2280s, the UHN was seeing the completion of Adalay class battleships. Once the Ares Refitted vessels finally came, the UHN would begin the “Exploration Era Phase.” All in all, over 186 deployments were made by the Adalay class alone, often making trips to other solar systems and surveying each of the planets and moons. This would even include the UHN Sanctuary that would survey the unknown world that eventually became Palora. Up to twenty of these battleships were built, forming the core of the exploration fleet.            While the long-range expeditions were heralded as a subject of interest by the UWA to the UHN, criticism started to appear by the late 2290s. Much of this stemmed from the use of having civilians and military both conducting separate exploration ventures. Research vessels were already being utilized to their fullest extent. Another issue was the fact that the battleships lacked significant firepower. The use of advanced sensor equipment reduced the number of torpedo tubes and the number of munitions that could be carried. Most historians even defined the Adalay as a “Long-Range Missile Cruiser.” While it performed its job adequately, the fact was that most of the exploration was being conducted by the civilian sector.            By 2300, the military had shifted gears in how it conducted future operations. While deployments by the Adalay would continue as far as 2310, the UHN would ultimately discontinue most of its “Scientific-Exploration” operations. The Helix class battleship was the sign that the UHN wanted to make more powerful warships dropping the advanced sensor packages. Ultimately, the Deimos and Ares Refitted vessels would all be retired in the 2310s and 2320s. Even with the Helix class, however, the UHN still saw a need to keep the Adalay class in service. For one, it was still a new vessel that formed the core of some fleets. The UHN made a debate to give the Adalay class a “Helix Refit,” but this was ultimately dropped with the introduction of the successful Magellan class Battleship. The final fate of the Adalay class was to be retired as a training vessel. Two ships, the UHN Anchorage and the UHN Expedient, have been reduced in operational status. Most of their weapons have been stripped and limited capability. They are stationed in the Sol asteroid belt to help train new UHN recruits. They are slated to be retired in 2360.