Ships of the Sol Defence Corps/Classes

The Sol Defence Corps Navy operates and maintains hundreds of ships in active service. This page details the ships and ship classes that make up the brunt of the SDC's Fleet.

SDC vessels are split into three designations:


 * SDCN (Navy) is used for commissioned warships.
 * SDCA (Auxiliary) is used for noncommissioned ships.
 * SDCX (Experimental) is used for prototype and experimental ships or craft.
 * SC is used for shuttles.

Commissioned vessels are armed warships designed for direct or indirect engagement against an enemy. Noncommissioned vessels are support craft that serve non-combat roles such as medical or cargo, and have a majority crew of civilian personnel.

FTL Capability
All Sol Defence Corps ships corvette-sized or larger, and support or noncommissioned vessels explicitly labeled as FTL-capable, are equipped with FTL drives. Usage of FTL is rare in Sol, however, and is typically only used for emergency response or for travel outside the Sol system.

Vessels in the Hermes and Odysseus fleets are the first vessels to be fitted with any upgraded FTL technology developed by the SDC, followed by the rest. As a result, while the ships in main fleets such as Ares and Aegis can go faster-than-light, they are nowhere near as fast or efficient as those used by vessels in Hermes or Odysseus.

Flag Carriers (FCV)
Carriers that act as flagships for their Fleets, FCVs are the largest ships in the SDC, often measuring up to kilometres in length. These carriers are capable of deploying entire small corvettes as part of their carrier deployment along with hundreds of smaller shuttlecraft, bombers, dropships and fighters.

Space doctrine has transformed the role of a carrier into doubling as a mobile shipyard for fleet repairs and supplies. As a result, they are invaluable to naval battlegroups and serve an additional role as providing support.

Light Carriers (LCV)
Smaller in size than Flag Carriers, Light Carriers carry fewer craft and are more lightly armoured, designed to keep up with smaller ships. While they do not possess mounted corvettes, they still carry craft and dropships. As a result some light carriers serve dual purposes as landing ships for Marines, capable of carrying entire companies of troopers from planet to planet.

Battleships (BBS)
The rise of long-distance space warfare has once again given rise to the illustrious Battleship, heavily-armed capital ships with extreme amounts of firepower. They often carry the largest guns, the most missiles, and are capable of laying waste to the face of an entire planet.

During planetary campaigns, battleships can also act as bombers, shelling planetary surfaces with their railguns as orbital bombardments.

Cruisers
Cruisers are the most versatile ships of a battlegroup, and can take on many roles. Larger than a destroyer but smaller than a battleship, they possess large amounts of armament and sometimes can even be considered as "mini-battleships".

Destroyers
Destroyers form the largest amount of ships in the fleet. These vessels are capable of performing equally as well solo as in a battlegroup. These are frequently dispatched for counterpiracy operations or patrols throughout the Sol system.

Frigates
Frigates are similar in size to destroyers, however they are distinguished from destroyers by having more support and niche specialisations than destroyers.

Corvettes
Corvettes form the smallest proper ship class, one step above a shuttlecraft. These vessels are often piloted by a minimal crew of less than 50 and mostly serve as either picket or scout vessels, with some being highly specialised.

Small Craft
Small craft are identified often by alphanumeric models and a nickname rather than a simple "Class". These craft are used for multifunction duties and are smaller than full-sized "ships".

Non-commissioned Vessels
Non-commissioned vessels (prefix SDCA) are auxiliary support ships staffed by civilian support personnel (and sometimes military), intended for non-combat operations undertaken by the fleet.