The Head of Development of the HCS Navy Admiral V. Phoebus is a very busy Clone these days as the HCSN is the fastest growing part of the Clone war machine. Here he kindly granted us a short interview.
US : Admiral, recently the first carrier CNS Cloneworld was launched. Some critics have said the carrier is too small for it's role of providing a strike role against an invading enemy who has denied the HCSAF it's air fields.
PH : First of all the carriers' principal role is not this "strike role" that so many mention. The role of the carriers is two-fold : to support and help protect an at-sea fleet and to provide us with much useful experience in carrier aviation operations. Maybe a third role could be seen as this strike role but its likely that the carriers will only carry between 8 to 10 fighters in normal operations so it is hardly likely to matter much in any invasion scenario.
US : "Experience" implies that you plan for larger carriers at a later date.
PH : It does indeed and we do plan to have much larger carriers, able to embark say 40 to 50 combat aircraft some day. However we have other priorities of course.
US : These other priorities being ballistic missiles.
PH : That is one of them! I envisage SLBMs to be the true "counter strike" against an invading force. That is a huge project though. In the shorter term we want to get a viable blue water fleet up and running. Virtually all of our ships fall into the brown water category so far.
US : The Triona class OPV you mean. Some have criticised them for being overloaded with firepower.
PH : Yes guilty! [laughs] The Triona we adopted from the HCS Riverine Squadron and as it was our only ship at the time we tried to get the most out of it! Future OPVs will be less loaded. The Triona is a decent patrol boat though it can run into trouble in heavy seas.
US : Is it frustrating for you that it is taking so long to get a blue water fleet?
PH : Well yes but building a destroyer is far more complicated and far more involved than, say, building a jet fighter or tank. The Olana class will be a powerful and flexible ship however and be the core surface combatant of our fleet for decades to come.
US : One problem you are currently having is with submarines. Why did you have to go to the UNP and is the embargo going to delay matters?
PH : We had no real experience or facilities for building submarines unlike surface ships which is why we tried to jump start our industry by buying those Terran boats. Unfortunately we have had to change plans but the Dinos' submarine technology is probably superior to the Terrans anyway. We still think we can get Seawolf [the new SSKs] by 2112 or 13. Our SSN and SSBN programmes are dependant on Seawolf for experience so there will be similar delays though we currently have no in-stone deadlines for those.
US : Moving to aviation. Your F-40s are now among the oldest in HCS service. Will they be able to stay viable until the F-45Ks start to arrive in around 2115?
PH : Our F-40Ns are old but for around 10 years they were hardly used. After the demise of the old Navy they were transferred to the HCSAF but the air boys did not need them at the time so their hours was not greatly increased. We have managed to refurbish and update them slightly and more updates are planned. We are confident we can get another 7-8 years out of them including a few years of carrier operation.
US : It sounds like in 10 years time the Navy will be truly up to speed, is that your target?
PH : Yes its a long term project. In 2118 we will have at least 2 carriers with F-45Ks, a fleet of new generation destroyers and frigates, submarines and improved patrol assets. There is a lot of work to do before then, but we are getting on with it. Thank you.
