The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After observing ten smaller vessels, the shuttle accelerated, bypassing the busy dockyard work area, and arrived at another larger dock where numerous large ships were berthed, most bearing the insignia of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Uran Huda. On the largest slipway, an Imperator-class battleship was taking shape, destined to be one of the mainstays of the future Uran Huda fleet. In addition, three capital ships painted in silver-grey with the markings of the Astral Knights were in the docking area.

"A Dictator-class cruiser and two Lunar-class cruisers have also completed all system checks. Void and warp travel tests have met the predetermined requirements."

The Dictator-class is essentially a variant of the Lunar-class, with a slight increase in length and tonnage. The lance deck has been completely replaced by a flight deck, but it retains the Lunar-class's macrocannon batteries and torpedo tubes. The armored prow, shield systems, and engines remain unchanged; it is essentially a small carrier.

The lack of fighter squadrons is a major problem for the Undying's fleet. Battle Barges are not dedicated carriers; the number of flight decks is limited, and they lack professional flight control systems and departments. However, the stellar performance of fighters in naval battles during the Great Maelstrom Crusade proved that these small combat units are not just for support.

Especially specialized units like the Silent Eagles, which can sometimes turn the tide of battle.

However, these ships were ordered before the crusade. At the time, Soloyan only sensed the fleet's shortcomings but didn't fully grasp them.

It wasn't until after the Great Maelstrom Crusade that he truly realized what the chapter fleet lacked. This is why he chose the Mars-class battlecruiser after the crusade; this type of warship also has carrier capabilities, which can compensate for the Undying's lack of fighter strength.

Speaking of Silent Eagles, or the DSB-LK project, Soloyan highly praised this specialized fighter after the Great Maelstrom Crusade. In addition to its unique anti-psyker capabilities, it is also excellent in terms of speed and maneuverability. Its only drawback is its short range, making it suitable only for medium-range space combat, but this is not a fatal flaw.

Soloyan had intended to import this fighter from Ryza, but besides the fact that it was not yet in full production, another issue was its cost. The special requirements for the coating and pilots made it difficult to mass-produce. Ryza admitted that they could not mass-produce this weapon and could only "cobble" it together little by little.

But this did not deter Soloyan's determination to build a strong carrier-based air wing, because it would make the fleet's tactics less predictable. In recent centuries, the fact that many Astartes chapters often had to fight a desperate last stand was directly related to their single ship type and tactical inflexibility.

"Director Bangula, I remember a rapid carrier proposal in the technical proposal you sent to the monastery fortress last year?"

Hearing Soloyan mention this, a servo-skull flew over to Bangula and unfolded the flexible screen of its lower jaw, displaying a ship structure diagram.

Its shape was similar to the Repulsive-class light cruiser Soloyan was familiar with, but the distribution of weapons was completely different. Most of the Repulsive-class's side defensive weapons had been moved to the dorsal spine, and the sides seemed to have only a few small point-defense turrets. The prow also lacked a ram, and the deck looked too flat to be an Imperial warship.

"This model is a new type of warship redesigned based on the Repulsive-class platform. It is tentatively named the Rogun-class high-speed light carrier. It increases engine power and reactor count, adjusts the position of the flight deck and hangar, further reduces unnecessary weapons and compartments, and raises the height of the superstructure to accommodate more detection and sensor equipment, increasing its length by 3% and tonnage by 1% compared to the Repulsive-class, approaching the standard of a Lunar-class cruiser. The hangar can accommodate 12 squadrons of fighters, interceptors, or 8 squadrons of bombers."

Considering that the 'non-specialized' carrier Imperator-class battleship typically carries 8-12 combat squadrons, this carrier is at least roughly equivalent to the Imperator-class in terms of air power.

"Chapter Master, this model has two very innovative designs. First, the side launch platforms are all designed with an oblique opening, with all launch ports facing 45 degrees towards the rear of the ship, moving part of the launch platform out of the hull. This can greatly save internal space to accommodate more fighters. The launch platforms of existing Imperial ships are completely retracted into the hull, which not only takes up a lot of hull space but also makes the launch port the weakest part of the hull, vulnerable to enemy boarding."

Soloyan was wondering why there was a row of protruding, vent-like structures on the side of the ship. He didn't expect them to be extended launch platforms. This was indeed a bold design, which essentially sacrificed the ship's ability to resist shelling and pushed the air power to the limit that the hull could achieve.

"Each side has 12 launch platforms, divided into two layers. Therefore, in combat, the Rogun-class high-speed light carrier can launch 4 squadrons of 48 fighters at a time, and it is estimated that all the fighters in the hangar can be deployed in 8 minutes."

Soloyan nodded and looked at the prow. Then the structure diagram also adjusted its direction. Only then did he see that although it was still a rhombus-shaped bow, there were six rows of holes similar to torpedo tubes distributed up and down.

"Another feature is the elimination of the bow armor and the relocation of the recovery deck to the bow position. This way, the recovery of fighters will not affect the flight deck's flight path. At the same time, the larger recovery port avoids accidents that may occur when damaged fighters enter the narrow flight deck. We collected and statistically analyzed numerous reports of fighter damage in hundreds of large-scale naval battles in the Storm Zone recently, which showed that at least 13% of the damaged fighters were destroyed during the return and recovery, and the small size of the recovery port was one of the main factors."

Soloyan pointed to the structure diagram and smiled:

"A very bold innovation. Perhaps only Director Bangula can lead this project. Outside, this would be a tidal wave of heretical curses. But if you consider it from the perspective of a carrier, your idea is reasonable. Of course, this also means that it can only be a carrier, with even weaker self-defense capabilities than the Repulsive-class."

"Chapter Master, what can the Repulsive-class's weak firepower do against real enemies? It's better to extremely strengthen the air power. I believe the attack power of one Rogun-class is equivalent to 3 Repulsive-classes! In addition, the speed of the Rogun-class is close to that of the Cutlass-class frigate. Although its own defensive capabilities are indeed very poor, its mobility is good enough. At least it can run away and keep up with the speed of escorting light ships or the main fleet's attack."

Then Bangula pulled up a data panel.

"...In addition, after eliminating unnecessary weapons, reducing some armor plates, and undergoing a series of internal structural adjustments, the Rogun-class is larger than the Repulsive-class, but the construction difficulty, the materials consumed, and the man-hours are less than the Repulsive-class. If all the medium-sized docks in Uran Huda are assembled now to accelerate construction, 50 ships can be built in one year. When the process and procedure are completely proficient and a certain number of slipways are added, even 100 ships can be built in one year! It is a cheap but high-performance light carrier that can be built in large quantities."

"So, has construction started yet?"

"Before I sent you the proposal, the first ship had already been mostly completed, and some internal equipment is still being installed and debugged."