The Spectre Class Stealth Corvette
In 2026, the newly reformed RCN had begun its massive, first fleet expansion plan.
For the First combined fleet (combined fleets focus on larger, fleet actions, freeing up the geographical fleets for independent work), a problem was discovered. The Frigates in service were large, almost 150 metres, and heavily focused on AAW. Likewise, the other two corvette sized ships simply were not filling the role of the corvette- the one model being effectively an up-armed Kingston class, and was very small. The other, while larger and stealthier, was a catamaran mothership, primarily used to move patrol boats between sectors, and do scouting missions as well as anti-piracy.
What was needed was a large, stealthy, ASW combatant, to scout ahead of the main fleets for submarines, as well as to act as a support ship to many other forces such as mini-subs, special operations, and Anti-piracy patrols. So, the requirements were drafted up and the design began to be made.
The result was a stealthy corvette, using the same power plants as the Freedom class LCS (License bought by the new Empire), to allow it a high top speed if necessary. Its role is to advance ahead of the fleet, searching for submarines and enemy movements. Most uniquely, it has a large mission bay in front of the flight deck, to launch mini-submarines and swimmer delivery vehicles, giving great flexibility in special operations missions to attack littoral targets, as well as subs for rescue and attack missions, in addition to mine warfare and ASW capability.
The vessel also contains (not seen here), a drone launching system which is taken out to the helicopter deck for daily operations. These begin the day with launching the AAI Aerosande of the ship, to collect as much data on weather as possible. Then, the Epervier mk. 2, a long range drone developed with Belgian assistance, are launched for long range reconnaissance, and work to find enemy ships and submarines.
What was created was the Spectre class.
Top speed: 35 knots
Armament:
1x57 mm mk 110 gun
3x4 Rim-162 SAMS
2x2 Mk.54 torpedo launchers, 8 torpedoes as reloads
Equipment:
2 RHIBs
2 AAI Aerosande UAV
4 Epervier Mk.2 UAV
2 MQ-8C, for recce and light attack
3 S-100 Coptercams, for Sonar dipping
The multi mission bay can support up to 3 Mini-subs (although the exact number depends on the model) for mine warfare, ASW, rub rescue, or scouting, an additional 2 RHIBs, a helicopter (if absolutely necessary, such things are rarely done as the majority of the time the mission bay is full), the various equipment that is part of the ship, and enough SDV for a large squad of special operations troops (2-3 SDV, about 10 to 15 men total).
The first ship was Commissioned on December 29th, 2029, a mere week before the deadline for the program. Only a small, littoral sonar system could be fitted on time. There are, however, plans to add much larger sonar to follow up ships being built, but the current Spectre does not have a long range sonar.
Currently, only HMCS Spectre has been built.
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