Guided Missile Corvette: LSS Rio Grande (KG-01)

[Laura Beinbrech]

Well, the parts finally arrived (all on the same day, I might add) to finish up my latest flash of inspiration, the lead ship of the Rio Grande-Class Guided Missile Corvettes (KG) of the Lone Star Navy:

Rio Grande port side by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Info from Jaynes Fighting Ships (2113 edition):

Data: KG-01, Rio Grande-Class Guided Missile Corvette, Manufactured by Gulf Coast Heavy Industries, LLC in Corpus Christi, TX, with some technical data supplied by the Federal Republic of America and the Republic of New Jersey

Launch Date: 2105

Current CO: Lt. Commander Stephanie Del Castillo, Lone Star Republic Navy

Armament:

Guns: 1 Forward 3" (76mm) OTO Melera rapid-fire dual-purpose naval gun, two aft-mounted BA-Industries MG-3/42 machineguns (7.62 NATO) and two bridge-wing mounted BA Industries Lewis-Lexington Heavy machineguns (.50 BMG).

Missiles: Two MK-75 quad medium-range Merculite Multipurpose Missile (MMM) launchers with an effective range of 200 Nautical miles, and one aft-mounted 8-cell twin-arm box launcer for MK-7 "Screaming Mimi" 76mm short-range MMMs with 2 missiles per cell.

Energy Weapons: Two M-13 "Scorcher" Close-in Weapons System utilizing a dedicated search/track sensor (white dome on the starboard side of the mast) and dual 25mm blaster (plasma) cannons primarily for point defense against missiles, aircraft and speedboats.

Torpedoes: Two MK-50 sonar-guided long-range heavy anti-ship torpedoes.

Propulsion: Twin John Reed 12-cylinder 1500 HP bio-diesel engines powering water jets that give the ship a cruising speed of about 47 Knots.

Notes: The Federal Republic of America and Republic of New Jersey provided technical assistance from their joint frigate development project in order to both increase goodwill between their nations and the Lone Star Republic as well as strengthen their 3-way alliance.

Rio Grande Bow by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

View of the ship's bow, showing a good look at the antenna mast, with the long and short-range communications antennae, main Fire Control Radar (front and center), Furuno Navigation radar (white flattened dome in front of the Fire-Control radar), Point-defense blaster cannon search/track radar (white dome on the left) and the weather station (the dohickey on the right, which is supposed to be an anemometer)

Rio Grande Stern by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Aft view showing the aft 7.62mm Machineguns and the armored water-tight door leading inside the ship.

Rio Grande Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Interior view, showing the Combat Information Center (CIC) with handy weapons rack and secure storage lockers for additional weapons and classified information. Forward of that is the bridge with the Duty Quartermaster's station and the Captain's Chair.

Rio Grande Crew by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

The Rio Grande with her proud crew (Captain's on the far left)

Rio Grande & Hawkwing1024 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

...And a bonus pic of the Rio Grande alongside the FNS Hawkwing during a joint training exercise to give an idea of the relative sizes of the two ships.

Hope you guys like her.... I was having difficulty in figuring out how to make a corvette-sized ship with my blue police boat hulls (after I re-built my frigates on the slightly larger hulls of the 2013 Coast Guard Patrol boat hulls), when I just suddenly got inspired and ended up working most of a Sunday afternoon on this puppy.

[Sebeus I]

Pretty heavy armed ship, I like it but I like that modern pirate ship in the last picture a little bit more .

[Laura Beinbrech]

Pretty heavy armed ship, I like it but I like that modern pirate ship in the last picture a little bit more .

Thanks! The ship in the BG of the last picture is one of the Frigates I made a while back, and the Jolly Roger is actually its nation's Naval Ensign, mainly due to the fact that its navy was originally founded by reformed pirates.... (Hence the somewhat piratey uniforms and the Chief Petty Officers wearing tricorn hats and most officers wearing bicorns with skull and crossbones on them). ;)

Oh, and the short, beardy fellow in the crew is a Dwarf. It's that kind of setting....

[King Aragorn]

Very nice ship and awesome crew!

[Laura Beinbrech]

Thanks, Aragorn! I remember, when I first was thinking of creating a Navy for the Lone Star Republic, having some difficulty with trying to come up with a unique, but reasonably-priced uniform set for it. When the 2013 Coast Guard sets came out, with their modern-ish naval-type uniforms and the white-hulled partrol craft, I knew I had my answer (and this Corvette was the answer to what I'd be doing with the 2011 blue Police Boat hulls after I was finished with updating my two Frigates).

[Cult_Of_Skaro]

Great ship! But why is this in Sci-Fi?

[Laura Beinbrech]

Great ship! But why is this in Sci-Fi?

Know any modern ships armed with plasma cannons as point-defense weapons, or missiles with Merculite warheads, do you? It's post-apocalyptic (although I go for a more colorful and less "real is brown" type), which fits here.

Also, this is a map of the nation to which the ship belongs:

Lone Star Republic Map by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

As you can see, the Lone Star Repbublic is a pocket of free, democratic civilization surrounded by undead horrors (the Tomb Kings), Mad-Max themed post-apocalyptic raiders (the Wastes),. Mad-Max meets Poncho Villa post-apocalyptic raiders (the Mexican Badlands), and militant human-supremacists (the Confederate States of America). The only friendly factions on the map are the Federal Republic of America (whose only border territories they share are war-torn hellholes partially occupied by the CSA) and the Rebublic of Lakotah (which again, the only border territory they share is contested between Lone Star, the CSA and raiders).

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Looks good - I like the torpedoes!